PR: Let’s Cut to Chase

If your key – that’s KEY – outside audiences don’t exhibit kind of behaviors that lead to results like these, you need to take a closer look at your public relations effort.

Results like fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; rising membership applications, customers starting to make repeat purchases creating bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; community leaders beginning to seek you out; new approaches by capital givers and specifying sources, not to mention politicians and legislators viewing you as a key member of business, non-profit or association communities.

Do you agree that you need behavior change among your most important outside audiences that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives? And that you then need to persuade those key external stakeholders with greatest impacts on your organization to your way of thinking, and help move them to take actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed?

In other words, you may need public relations activity that can deliver results far beyond publicity tactics. And a public relations premise like this one can show way: 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.

But how should you, as a manager, position your public relations to do this? First, you had best be sure every member of your PR team agrees that it’s awfully important to know how your outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Stay at it until you’re certain they REALLY accept reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can damage your operation.

Then it’s time to start working PR blueprint by monitoring and gathering perceptions through questioning members of your most important outside audience. Ask questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Henry Ford taught us that to simplify manufacture of automobiles, that best way to do so was to install assembly line. That one change revolutionized auto manufacturing industry permitting industry to build cars at a cost whereas average person could afford to buy one.

The lesson we should take from this is that having ability to improve process of getting job quicker and cheaper, without compromising quality of job being done, will help catapult person who simplified process to top of his/her field.

Pennies saved in your home business can turn into dollars at end of day, and dollars can quickly multiply into hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.

Doubt me if you will, but let me ask you a question. Do you think a saving of two fifths of a penny could make any real difference in profit margin of a home business? Of course right answer is "it depends on how many transactions are done in a year, utilizing savings of two fifths of one penny."

You only have to think back a couple of decades to really appreciate this question. Do you remember nut that lived and died in a Las Vegas hotel room? You know one who was a billionaire, and was so worried about germs that he died of starvation? If you guessed Howard Hughes (1905-76), pat yourself on back.

Now Howard did not make all of his money on his two fifths of one penny. He did however make a ton of money from his two fifths of one penny. It seems Howard owned a can manufacturing company. And one day, Howard's team figured out how they could make one minor change in design of their food can to reduce amount of tin necessary to make a single can.