Since you must correct such abberations before they morph into hurtful behaviors, you now select specific perception to be altered, and that becomes your public relations goal.

Unfortunately, a PR goal without a strategy to show you how to get there, is like meatloaf without gravy. 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 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 writing skill enters fray. Someone on your PR team must put those writing skills to work and prepare a compelling message carefully designed to alter your key target audience’s perception, as called for by your public relations goal.

Consider combining your corrective message with another newsworthy announcement of a new product, service or employee which may lend credibility by not overemphasizing correction.

Try to build several values into your corrective message. Clarity for example. It must be clear about what perception needs clarification or correction, and why. Your facts must be truthful and your position must be persuasive, logically explained and believable if it is to hold attention of members of that target audience, and actually move perception your way.

Here is least challenging part of your campaign, picking “beasts of burden” – actual tactics you will use to carry your persuasive new thoughts to attention of that external audience.

There are plenty of communications tactics available including letters-to-the-editor, brochures, press releases and speeches. Or, you might select others such as radio and newspaper interviews, personal contacts, newsletters, or group briefings, always making sure tactics you select have a record of reaching same audiences as those that make up your target stakeholders.

You’ll want to be ready for queries about progress by again monitoring perceptions among your target audience members. Using questions similar to those used during your earlier monitoring session, you will now watch carefully for indications that audience perceptions are beginning to move in your direction.

We are fortunate in PR business that we can always put pedal to metal by employing additional communications tactics, AND by increasing their frequencies.

As this article suggests, you WILL want this kind of PR only after you insist on an aggressive new public relations plan that targets kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your operating objectives.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to 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 communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Brazil .br Canada .ca Italy .it

Some make no sense unless you’re looking under what that country calls itself. Examples would be Great Britain, Ireland and Germany. Here are their extensions:

United Kingdom .uk Ireland .ie Germany .de

Then there are ones that make no sense whatsoever:

Samoa .ws Cayman Islands .ky Mauritius .mu Dominican Republic .do

And then there are ones for a country you didn’t know existed, at least I didn’t:

Sao Tome and Principe .st Chad .td Kiribati .ki

In order to market and succeed you need to know where your business and customers are coming from, so pay attention to extensions.

You may also want to submit your website on search engines covering these countries which are starting to appear.

Here is a website where all extensions and country codes are listed: http://www.bitmedia.com/info . Click on link at extreme bottom left saying "Internet Information."