Why Not PR That Gets REAL Results?

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Word count is 1110 including guidelines and resource box.
Robert A. Kelly 2005.
Why Not PR That Gets REAL Results?
And not results you can measure only in terms of magazine
circulation, TV audience numbers, or news release pickups.
But rather, results that come from a public relations effort that
creates the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads
directly to achieving your managerial objectives.
In other words, results that come from doing something positive
about those important outside audiences whose behaviors most
affect your operation. Particularly as you persuade those key
external audiences to your way of thinking by nudging them
to take actions that allow your department, division or
subsidiary to succeed.
When you think about it, public relations boils down to these
realities: the right PR really CAN alter individual perception
and lead to changed behaviors that help you win. But your public
relations effort must involve more than parties, videos, booklets
and column mentions if you really want to get your money’s
worth. What you need is a basic schematic that gets everyone
working towards the same external audience behaviors insuring
that the organization’s public relations effort stays sharply
focused.
Coincidentally, here is such a schematic! People act on their
own perception of the facts before them, which leads to
predictable behaviors about which something can be done.
When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching,
persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people
whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public
relations mission is usually accomplished.
Look at some real results that can come from this approach
to public relations. Membership applications on the rise;
customers making repeat purchases; capital givers or specifying
sources looking your way; new proposals for strategic alliances
and joint ventures; prospects starting to work with you; and
even bounces in showroom visits.
You may be forgiven for wondering how such managers deliver
those kinds of results.
They take the time to analyze who among their most important
outside audiences behaves in ways that help or hinder the
achievement of their objectives. Then, they list them according
to how severely those behaviors affect their organization.
On the point, just how do most members of your key outside
audiences perceive your organization? If paying for professional
survey counsel isn’t in the cards (or in the budget! your PR
colleagues will have to monitor those perceptions themselves.
Actually, they should be quite familiar with perception and
behavior matters since they’re already in that business.
So you meet with some of those outside folks asking questions
like “Are you familiar with our services or products? Have you
ever had contact with anyone from our organization? Was it a
satisfactory encounter?” And if you are that manager, you must be
sensitive to negative statements, especially evasive or
hesitant replies. And watch carefully for false assumptions,
untruths, misconceptions, inaccuracies and potentially
damaging rumors. When you find such, they will need to be
corrected, as they inevitably lead to negative behaviors.
Big job now is to pick out the actual, offending perception
to be changed, and that becomes your public relations goal.
You obviously want to correct those untruths, inaccuracies,
misconceptions or false assumptions.
The toughest part of this exercise is that a PR goal without
a strategy to show you how to get there, will taste like
hot sauce on your yogurt. So, as you select one of three
strategies (create perception or opinion where there may
be none, or change or reinforce it,) what you want to do
is insure that the goal and its strategy match each other.
You wouldn’t want to select “change existing perception”
when current perception is just right suggesting a
“reinforce” strategy.
With your strategy in hand, you and your PR staff must
create a compelling message carefully written to alter your
key target audience’s perception, as required by your public
relations goal.
An idea to keep in mind: remember that you can always
combine your corrective message with another news
announcement or presentation which may give it more
credibility by reducing the apparent need for such a
correction.
The art in preparing such a message lies in the fact that the
message you convey must be not only compelling, but
quite clear about what perception needs clarification or
correction, and why. Of course you must be truthful and
your position logically explained and believable if it is to
hold the attention of members of that target audience, and
actually move perception in your direction.
It’s understandable when some folks refer to the communications
tactics necessary to move your message to the attention of that
key external audience, as “beasts of burden.” In reality, they
must carry your persuasive new thoughts to the eyes and ears
of those important outside people.
The good news is that you have a really wide choice of
communications tactics because the list is a long one. It
includes letters-to-the-editor, brochures, press releases and
speeches. Or, you might choose radio and newspaper
interviews, personal contacts, facility tours or customer
briefings. There are scores available and the only selection
requirement is that the tactics you choose have a record of
reaching people just like the members of your key target audience.
By the way, you can always speed up things by adding more communications tactics, AND by increasing their frequencies.
Around this time, someone is bound to mention progress reports.
But you will already be hard at work remonitoring perceptions
among your target audience members to test the effectiveness
of your communications tactics. Using questions similar to
those used during your earlier monitoring session, you’ll now
become cross-eyed looking for signs that audience perceptions
are beginning to move in your general direction.
You need actual changes in behaviors among your most
important external audiences, and that’s no small matter. In my
view, the quality of your public relations results will, and should
be directly dependent on whether you spend your PR budget
primarily on communications tactics, or the creation of key
stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving
your managerial objectives.
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