The payoff? When those audiences do what you want them to do, achieving your organizational objectives gets a lot easier. That’s why this article is all about how to make welcome, key-audience behavior a regular occurrence.

We learned long ago that people act on their own perceptions of facts, leading to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. We call their cumulative perceptions opinion…public opinion.

Public relations tries to create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-action very people whose behaviors affect your organization.

That’s why it’s quality planning, and degree of perception and behavioral change it produces, that defines success or failure of a public relations program.

Those Painful Behaviors

Let’s look at some of those crucial perceptions (usually leading to crucial behaviors) among target audiences that can make you nervous. If you labor for an association, it might be strong feedback that members perceive your communications organs as devoid of informative material. Or, for regional manager with a motel chain, growing email traffic suggesting that guests perceive rooms as dirty would be unsettling. And for a brand manager, field reports that fast food taste tests result in less than complimentary consumer reactions might ruin his day.

Those kind of perceptions almost always lead to unhappy behaviors such as loud complaints about association communicators, cancelled reservations due to a motel chain’s housekeeping mismanagement, or to falling sales because of a fast food product’s poor taste.

What to do About Them

How can any organization prepare itself to prevent and deal effectively with such key-audience opinion challenges?

Let’s start by walking through a perception challenge facing a typical organization. Because public relations problems are usually defined by what people THINK about a set of facts, as opposed to actual truth of matter, one would be well-advised to focus on three public relations realities:

1. People act on their perception of facts; 2. Those perceptions lead to certain behaviors; 3. Something can be done about those perceptions and behaviors that leads to achieving organization’s objectives.

Awareness is Key

Those responsible for public relations in any organization – let’s say it’s you for purposes of this article -- must be constantly aware of counterproductive behaviors among organization’s key audiences – customers, prospects, community activists, union leaders, competitors and others.

Remaining alert to these potentially damaging perceptions and behaviors requires special vigilance. Among intelligence gathering techniques are regular monitoring of headquarters and field location media, staff activity reports, employee and community feedback, regulatory and other local, state and federal government activities involving your organization and, especially these days, Internet with its emails, ezines, chatrooms and search engines.

What’s Problem?

First, identify key operating problem. Is it declining sales in a specific product line or location? Is it an allegation of wrongdoing? Is it a quality or performance issue? Has an elected official spoken negatively about your industry? Have you learned that a national activist group may target a unit of your organization? Or, is there clear evidence of negative behaviors among your key audiences?

Verify, Verify, Verify

Yes, determine through field staff, key customers, media monitoring and, if resources allow, even opinion sampling, just how serious problem is. If an allegation, is it true or false? If a drop-off in sales, gather and carefully evaluate possible causes. If a quality issue, probe deeply for its probable or likely cause.

How Bad is it? After an exhaustive review of all evidence surrounding behavioral problem you have identified, establish conclusively size and shape of problem rating its damage potential on a scale between an irritation and an immediate emergency. Does it threaten employee or public safety, financial stability, reputation, organization’s mission, or sales? The answers to such assessments help determine resources to be marshalled.

Worst Case?

Let’s assume that probing opinion through personal contact and informal polling out in market place, you determine that, in fact, there IS a negative perception among a key audience that company’s largest customer is about to switch suppliers which would seriously damage your company’s operations. (In a non-profit, an equivalent perception and behavioral problem might involve allegations that its

administrative costs far exceed normally accepted level, or that executive compensation is excessive).

Is it True?

Management quickly determines that, in fact, there is no truth whatsoever to rumor of a loss of company’s largest customer.

The Public Relations Goal

Therefore, because PERCEPTION of a key customer loss is now causing hiring problems (behavioral) within company, and, outside via concerns among suppliers and greater community and its leaders, you establish public relations goal as follows:

Change negative public perception of company’s largest account longevity from negative to positive, thus correcting hiring and retention problems and calming supplier and community concerns.

In my view, raising money for new businesses is a skill best left to others, but smart, aggressive communications is not. As entrepreneur, you cannot rely on your financing source to create broad public exposure your business needs if it is to survive. Ideally from Day 1, you must take lead in this vital effort accepting fact that good results come only after careful planning and implementation of a realistic and workable public relations strategy.

Before you achieve real growth and prosperity, your target audiences must not only become aware that your company exists, they must be motivated to take action. Doing something about how your business is perceived means a well-planned public relations program that can reach, persuade and move those prospects to action.

And, by way, not just prospects. Other target audiences need public relations attention, too, if they are to take actions you desire – employees, residents and leaders of community, unions, suppliers and activists. Put another way, (and paraphrasing advertising great, Bruce Barton), you will have relations – of some kind – with your internal and external audiences whether you want them or not!

At root of it all, is a simple truism we all know but tend to forget: people act on their perception of facts. If small business owner is to have an effect on those perceptions, he/she must deal with them promptly and effectively.

So question for you, Ms. or Mr. Small Business Wannabe, is, have you thought about some of unattended perceptions out there that could nudge your fledgling business closer to bankruptcy than success? Perceptions that, if left unattended, may well result in actions that run counter to those you and your banker may desire?

For example:

0 If sales prospects are unaware of your product or service, you will not get them as customers.

0 And if those customers don’t remain convinced of value of your product or service, you lose them.

0 If employees believe you don’t care about them, productivity suffers.

0 If a minority person believes you discriminate when you don’t, a host of unnecessary problems may ensue.

0 If community residents don’t perceive your business as a good place to work, you have employee hiring and retention problems.

0 If insurance carriers perceive you as a bad risk, they don’t provide business coverage you need.

0 If journalists are suspicious of your motives and you don’t convince them otherwise, you get “bad press.”

0 If business people believe what some competitors say about your firm, that joint venture you want so badly may not come about.