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PR: Your 500 Pound Gorilla
What else, for goodness sake, could you as a business, non-profit or association manager, call a heavy-duty helper who does something REALLY positive about
behaviors of those outside audiences of yours that most affect your organization?
And that uses fundamental premise of public relations to deliver kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives?
And does it all by persuading those important outside folks to your way of thinking, moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed?
Man, that’s one heavy workload for a very large monkey!
And here’s core message he brings to you. Your public relations effort must involve more than news releases, special events and brochures if you really want to get your money’s worth. And, right PR really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors that help you succeed.
Both points well-supported by a public relations blueprint that reads like this: people act on their own perception of 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 very people whose behaviors affect your organization most, public relations mission is accomplished.
What kind of payoff can you expect from such an approach to public relations? How about capital givers or specifying sources making inquiries; stronger relationships with educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities; prospects starting to work with you as well as customers making repeat purchases; and improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies.
Keep your pedal to metal and you could see results like new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; new thoughtleader and special event contacts; membership applications on rise; enhanced activist group relations, and expanded feedback channels; rebounds in showroom visits; and almost certainly, community service and sponsorship opportunities;
Like most managers, you want your most important outside audiences to have positive perceptions of your services and operations or products. Which is why every member of your PR support team must believe in what you are doing. It will also be very helpful if they accept reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.
Review PR plan with them, especially how you will go about monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with interchange? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?
Certainly, perception monitoring part of effort can be handled by professional survey people IF you have budget. Fortunately, however, you can always use your PR people who are also in perception and behavior business and can pursue same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.
With preparations complete, you need to set your public relations goal, one that deals with perception problems that developed during your key audience perception monitoring. The new goal will require that you straighten out that dangerous misconception, or correct that gross inaccuracy, or do something about that damaging rumor.
To show you how to reach goal, you need a strategy. And there are three choices when it comes to doing something about a perception or opinion challenge: create perception where there may be none, change perception, or reinforce it. By way, if you select wrong strategy, it will taste like fish sauce on your rhubarb. So be certain new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. For example, you don’t want to select “change” when reality dictates a “reinforce” strategy.
Some heavy writing needed here. In brief, some carefully targeted, corrective language. Language that is compelling, persuasive and believable AND clear and factual. There is little choice here. You must correct a damaging perception by shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading to desired behaviors.
It’s pick-your-own time when you and your PR group select communications tactics most likely to carry your words to attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure that tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.
By way, experience shows that credibility of a message can depend on how it’s delivered. So you might want to introduce it to smaller gatherings rather than using higher-profile tactics such as news releases or talk show appearances. Experience shows that, by this time, all concerned will be chomping at bit for a progress report. Which will signal you and your PR staff to return to field for a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Using many of same questions used in first benchmark session, you’ll now be alert for signs that bad news perception is being altered in your direction.
Occasionally, momentum will slow in which event you can always accelerate matters by using more communications tactics supported by increased frequencies.
Your 500 pound gorilla will be one happy simian when your data show that you have achieved kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your department, division or subsidiary objectives.
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Bob Kelly counsels managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com
