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 830 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2003. Managers and PR Genius
The real public relations geniuses might be managers. You know, managers who pursue their objectives by reaching, persuading and moving those outside audiences whose behavior most affect their organizations, to actions those managers desire.
Their “secret” is probably a PR blueprint something like this one: 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.
What a PR blueprint like this gives YOU, a business, non-profit or association manager, are tools you need to persuade your important external stakeholders to your way of thinking. Then, hopefully, move them to take actions that lead to your success.
Best part is, public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary can run program for you if, that’s IF, you as unit manager stay involved and participate in key decisions along way.
First concern? In all probability, your PR staff will need to shift its attention from simple communications tactics to more aggressive fundamental concept of public relations, and its action blueprint, mentioned above.
It’s worth effort because payoff for you will be target audience behaviors like these: boosts in repeat purchases, or higher contribution and membership application rates, or new waves of interested prospects.
Sit down with PR folks who work for your unit and explain need to list, in priority order, those key outside audiences. And discuss importance of learning how organization is perceived by members of those audiences. In particular because perceptions almost always lead to predictable behaviors, and that, of course, is what will soon concern you most.
To probe those target audience perceptions, you and your staff must interact with members of that key external audience and ask a variety of questions. For example, “Do you know anything about us? Have you had dealings with us? Was there ever a problem with a transaction?