Reaching your goal isn’t going to happen if you don’t have right strategy. You’re fortunate that there are really only three strategy choices: create perceptions (opinion) where there isn’t any, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

Now comes a real challenge – writing message that will alter that perception. It must make a compelling case, so think about it carefully. In order to persuade, it must state clearly that offending perception is not a true perception. Instead, you lay out truth in a credible manner, keeping in mind your create-change-reinforce strategy choices.

Getting that message to members of your target audience is least complicated step in problem solving sequence. There are dozens of communications tactics available to you that can reach those members. They range from open houses, announcement luncheons, press releases and speeches to articles, emails and newspaper and radio interviews, and many others.

Are you making any progress? Only way to tell is to go back to other members of your target audience and ask same questions all over again. Only now, you watch carefully for signs that their perceptions reflect corrections contained in your message.

If you’re not satisfied with movement in perception, you should consider using a wider selection of communications tactics with a proven record of reaching that audience. You might want to use them more frequently to increase their impact.

Also, your message should be evaluated again for impact and factual content.

Obviously, if you pay regular attention to your most important external audiences, you will be aware that certain behaviors are beginning to exert a negative impact on your organization.

Using a proven sequence like this to deal with those impacts insures that you will always be aware of brewing target audience behaviors that could hurt your organization.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

3. Then further break down SUB-categories even smaller if you need to. For example, Banking might be broken down into Checking, Savings, and Money Market. Investments might be broken down into Stocks and 401K. See how that works? This level of information should be either in its own hanging folder with plastic tab all way to RIGHT side, or you can also use manila folders inside hanging folder called Banking, and just write names of each account on manila folder.

The thing to remember about creating a filing system is that it's crucial that words you choose are relevant to you and way you think. If you never use word "finances" in your vocabulary, then don't write it on a file folder, choose something that is more your style, such as "money". If you aren't inclined to say "automobile" but rather, "car", then choose "car" for your file name. The reason that language is so important is because filing is all about retrieval and not about storage. The question to ask yourself isn't "where should I keep this?" but rather, "how will I think of this so I can find it again?"

Using above tips to set up an intuitive filing system will make retrieval of information fast and easy.

Monica Ricci has been an organizing specialist since 1999, and her motivational presentations teach effective organizing and simplifying techniques for home and work. She also offers free email tips and ideas on how to make life simpler and more organized. Her topics include clutter control, paper management, time management, organizing space and procrastination.Contact Monica at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com.