6. When estimating your expenses, consider costs associated with bookkeeping, travel, research, telephone calls, mailing and delivery.

7. Don’t set a price so low that it endangers your financial well-being or your sense of self-worth.

Remember your time, knowledge and energy has got a dollar figure, and you want to get what you deserve. You have to make a living just like everyone else. You have bills to pay, a family to take care of, and yourself to take care of. So be sure to take all of this into consideration when you set your pricing. If you are still not sure on how to do that see our 5 part article on Setting Your Fees.

Copyright 2003 DeFiore Enterprises

So, because obvious objective here is to correct those same untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and false assumptions, you now select specific perception to be altered, and that becomes your public relations goal.

But a PR goal without a strategy to show you how to get there, is like a Mint Julep without mint. That’s why you must select one of three strategies especially designed to create perception or opinion where there may be none, or change existing perception, or reinforce it. The challenge here (a small one) is to insure that 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.

Now you must morph into a writer, if you are not already endowed with that talent, and prepare a compelling message carefully designed to alter your key target audience’s perception, as called for by your public relations goal.

You may find that combining your corrective message with another newsworthy announcement of a new product, service or employee will lend credibility by not overempha- sizing correction.

Your corrective message should contain several values, clarity for example. It must be clear about what perception needs clarification or correction, and why. And your facts must be truthful, of course. In addition, your position must be logically explained and believable if it is to hold attention of members of that target audience, and actually move perception in your direction.

At last, easy part – selecting “beasts of burden” – communications tactics you will harness to carry your persuasive new thoughts to attention of that external audience.

The tactics list is a long one. It includes letters-to-the-editor, brochures, press releases and speeches. Or, you might select others such as radio and newspaper interviews, personal contacts, facility tours or customer briefings. There are dozens awaiting your pleasure.

Sooner rather than later, your colleagues will ask you if any progress is being made. By which time you will already be striving to answer that question by again monitoring perceptions among your target audience members. Using questions similar to those used during your earlier monitoring session, you will now look sharply for indications that audience perceptions are beginning to move in your direction.

Fortunately, you can always put pedal to metal by employing additional communications tactics, AND by increasing their frequencies.

But, as this article suggests, concentrating on tactics is important, but only at right moment. What must come first is an aggressive public relations plan that (as, by now, you have no doubt surmised) targets kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your objectives.

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