Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Word count is 955 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2003. Don’t Need No Stinking PR?
Almost assuredly you do, especially when your most important external and internal audiences behave in ways that stop you from achieving your organizational objectives.
With that attitude, you could have a long wait before you see community leaders strengthening their bonds with you; customers making repeat purchases; unions bargaining more frequently in good faith; prospects becoming customers; employees beginning to value their jobs; political leaders and legislators starting to think of you as a key player in
business community, and suppliers working hard to expand your relationship.
Lighten up and use public relations in your own best interest, and benefit from a really cost-effective assist to your business, non-profit or association.
And there’s another reason to do so. Tough times require tough tactics. Luckily, PR firepower can do for you what it was meant to do – help you achieve your operating objectives by moving those people whose behaviors have greatest impact on your organization, to actions YOU desire,
You know it’s worth it, so give it a shot!
Best place to start is by listing your most important audiences, or “publics,” and ranking them according to impact they have on your enterprise. Let’s work on outside audience at top of that list.
How aware are you and your colleagues as to how that audience views you? Could there be negative perceptions out there that, inevitably, will morph into behaviors that hurt your organization?
You really can’t afford to ignore that possibility.
So get out there and interact with members of that target audience and ask questions. The alternative is to spend a LOT of money on a professional survey. Instead, make time commitment to do some home-grown research. After all, PR best practice says you should be in regular touch with target audience members anyway, so this interaction is probably long overdue.
Ask questions like “Do you know anything about us? Have you heard anything good or bad about us?” Stay alert to hesitant and evasive responses. Notice any negative undertones? Do inaccuracies crop up? Any misconceptions or rumors that need your attention?
The answers you gather are fodder for your new public relations goal – i.e., specific perception to be altered, followed by behavior change you want.
Which requires that you set a public relations goal aimed at clearing up that misconception or nameless concern, correcting that inaccuracy or untrue belief, or disarming that rumor for good.
