If Your PR Can’t Do This, Bag It!

As a business, non-profit or association manager, why continue a public relations effort that doesn’t deliver key external audience behaviors you need to achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives?

Time for a change. One that will base your PR effort on a fundamental premise that makes sense. And one that actually leads to outside audience behaviors like these: new proposals for joint ventures or strategic alliances, prospective buyers browsing your services or products, specifying sources or major donors thinking about you, more frequent repeat purchases or a substantial boost in capital donations.

So, you need two things. One, a really personal involvement with public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary. And two, a new foundation for your PR effort.

A foundation like this: People act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action very people whose behaviors affect organization most, public relations mission is accomplished.

It will give you a blueprint that will help you persuade your key stakeholders to your way of thinking. In turn, that should move them to take actions that lead to your success as a business, non-profit or association manager.

First and foremost, you need to know how members of your most important external audiences perceive you because those perceptions usually lead to behaviors that can hurt you or help you in achieving your objectives.

So, you and your PR team must list those outside audiences whose behaviors affect your unit most. Then put them in priority order. We’ll use #1 on your list as our target in this article.

Now, you can spend some real money on professional survey counsel, or you and your PR team can do it yourself by interacting with your target audience. Use questions like these to identify opinion, perception problems. “What do you know about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with us? Was it satis- factory? Do you like our products or services?”

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS, BABY! By Dr Kem Thompson (c)2003

If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in first place.

Sure you want to earn a decent income for yourself, but you also want to provide a useful service don't you?

That second reason should take precedence over first. Your main aim should be to provide a useful service to people. Making lots of money from it should be secondary.

When you have your priorities in that order, guess what happens? The money starts to come in! You literally become a customer- magnet.

Know why? Because when people sense that you genuinely care about them, they'll become loyal customers and will get their friends and family to buy from you as well.

Remember, no matter how much money you want to make from your business, without customers, you won't make a thing.