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 925 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2004. Managers, Got a Grip on Your PR?
What are you trying to do with your business, non-profit or association public relations program? Get a little publicity for a service or product? Or, perhaps, you’re doing what you really should do, persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to
success of your department, division or subsidiary.
To reach that objective, and get a real grip on your PR effort, you need a model 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.
No small matter because this blueprint will help you redirect focus of public relations folks assigned to your unit from communications tactics over to your external audiences in a way that allows you to move ever closer to personal success as a unit manager.
The reason this PR paradigm works is that it requires you as unit manager to zero in on exactly those people who play a big role in how successful a manager you’re going to be – your key external audiences.
The perceptions held by your most important outside audiences are crucial to your success. So meet with your PR crew and hammer out a consensus as to why it’s vital to nail down just how your operation is perceived out there in real world. They’ll tell you quick-like that those perceptions almost always result in predictable behaviors that can help you or hurt you.
Which means you need to interact with members of your most important target audience while posing a number of questions. “What do you know about our organization? Have you ever made contact with us? Was it a satisfactory experience? Do you have an opinion about our people, services or products? Do you have a problem with our organization?
By way, if your budget allows a significant expense, you can retain services of professional survey people to interview target audience members. Of course your own PR staff is already concerned with perception and behavior matters, so they might lend a hand in this regard.
Those participating in monitoring perceptions of your key target audience must watch carefully for negative responses to your questions. In particular for untruths, misconceptions, inaccuracies, rumors or false assumptions.
