PR Where it Matters Most

Written by Robert A. Kelly


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 1135 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

PR Where it Matters Most

What’s more crucial torepparttar success of a business, non-profit or association than its most important outside audiences and stakeholders?

Nothing.

Those stakeholder behaviors directly impact virtually every management and operating activity ofrepparttar 103881 organization. From retail patronage, recruiting, civic activity, contributions, and strategic alliances to membership, program participation, plain old sales, and just about everything else.

Which means, if you are such a manager, you may have a real opportunity to do something positive aboutrepparttar 103882 behaviors of those important outside audiences of yours that most affect YOUR operation.

In other words, you can createrepparttar 103883 kind of external stakeholder behavior changes that lead directly to achieving your own managerial objectives.

You can do so by persuading those key outside folks to your way of thinking, then help move them to take actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed.

When you decide to move your managerial public relations to a whole new level, here’s some real help for you.

It’s calledrepparttar 103884 fundamental premise of public relations and it goes like this: people act on their own perception ofrepparttar 103885 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- actionrepparttar 103886 very people whose behaviors affectrepparttar 103887 organization repparttar 103888 most,repparttar 103889 public relations mission is accomplished.

But it won’t be of much use unlessrepparttar 103890 PR team members assigned to your unit understand that blueprint and commit themselves to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring. Truth is, your PR people are already inrepparttar 103891 perception and behavior business, so they will be of real use for this initial opinion assessment project.

But pause here. You must reassure yourself that your public relations people truly understand just WHY it’s so important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Be certain they accept repparttar 103892 reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Why not take some time to review with them your plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased withrepparttar 103893 interchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Yes, survey specialists can always be brought in to dorepparttar 103894 opinion monitoring work, and they also can run up your costs. But, no matter who asksrepparttar 103895 questions,repparttar 103896 objective remainsrepparttar 103897 same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Your objective, obviously, is to do something aboutrepparttar 103898 most serious distortions you discover during your key audience perception monitoring. Will it be to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially bloody rumor dead in its tracks?

Business success models for the 21st century.

Written by Janet Ilacqua


We will discussrepparttar following success models.

•Geshe Roach’s experiences in a Wall Street diamond company as recounted inrepparttar 103880 Diamond Cutter. •ezboard.com, a customizable Web-based communities developed in 1998 by Vanchau Nguyen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer. •Hewlett-Packard Company.

Two of these models were started by Buddhists. Hewlett-Packard,repparttar 103881 seed company of Silicon Valley, even though it was not started by Buddhists, has been, inrepparttar 103882 past, noted for its generous and benevolent treatment of employees,repparttar 103883 “Hewlett-Packard Way.” All these success models reinforcerepparttar 103884 concept thatrepparttar 103885 seed of success and must be watered with more generosity alongrepparttar 103886 way.

Success Models: Geshe Michael Roach andrepparttar 103887 Diamond Cutter

Geshe Michael Roach is a Princeton graduate and a Buddhist monk. After graduation, he spent seven years studyingrepparttar 103888 wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. Atrepparttar 103889 suggestion of his teacher, he joined a fledgling diamond business in New York to test his ideals in real life. He stayed withrepparttar 103890 business as a member ofrepparttar 103891 core management team for seventeen years. The company grew from a start-up with two owners and two employees to $100 million in sales and five hundred employees in offices aroundrepparttar 103892 world. The Diamond Cutter. The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life tellsrepparttar 103893 story of how Geshe Michael Roach builtrepparttar 103894 diamond division of this company, using principles culled from ancient Tibetan Buddhism asrepparttar 103895 driving force behind his decision making.

Some ofrepparttar 103896 many insights in The Diamond Cutter are as follows:

•A business should be successful; it should make money. There is no conflict between spirituality and success in business. Successful business people haverepparttar 103897 resources to do more good inrepparttar 103898 world than those people withoutrepparttar 103899 same resources do. In addition,repparttar 103900 very people who are attracted to business arerepparttar 103901 same people who haverepparttar 103902 strength to grasp and carry outrepparttar 103903 deeper practices ofrepparttar 103904 spirit. •Money should be made honestly and with absolute integrity. How we make money matters more than anything else does. It determines our ability to keep making money as nobody can indefinitely run a business built on dishonesty or deception. It also significantly affects our ability to enjoyrepparttar 103905 money we make. •Nothing is good or bad in and of itself; everything has a hidden potential. This is whatrepparttar 103906 Buddhists call emptiness. What is bad news for you may be good news for someone else, and vice versa. We must not leap to conclusions about events, but must stop to consider what potential they really have for us. Even competitors can be seen as fairy godmothers challenging us to findrepparttar 103907 correct path to greater accomplishment. It is a matter of perception. Withrepparttar 103908 right state of mind, we can turn our problems into opportunities. •We should look ahead torepparttar 103909 inevitable end of our days in business, and put ourselves in a position where we can honestly say our years in business had some meaning. The idea here is to anticipate our future, and move in a direction that will allow us to look back on our past with total joy and satisfaction. Success Model: ezboard.com

San Francisco, Calif. -- August 1, 2002 -- ezboard, Inc., a subscriber-based online community based in San Mateo and founded in 1998 by Vanchau Nguyen, announced that it recently surpassedrepparttar 103910 10 million registered user level. Atrepparttar 103911 present, ezboard.com has over 400,000 active communities, covering everything and 40,000 communities are being added a month! In a 2000 interview aboutrepparttar 103912 start ofrepparttar 103913 website Vanchau describes plantingrepparttar 103914 seeds of success and watching them grow.

How did you go about promoting your web site? Mostly by planting some seeds about ezboard in existing online gathering places and then watching them grow by word-of-mouth. Most of our new users are referred by an existing user, which isrepparttar 103915 best way to attract loyal customers and a great testimonial aboutrepparttar 103916 value and fun offered by ezboard.

His vision, even inrepparttar 103917 beginning, was ofrepparttar 103918 expotential growth promised byrepparttar 103919 Korwa cycle. In a 2001 interview with Judy Vorfield of Web Builder ezine(, Vanchu noted that

Inrepparttar 103920 recession, ezboard.com had some rough times, but its management was able to reverserepparttar 103921 trend and continuing growing. In a 2002 interview with Jim Cashell Vanchu remarks: ezboard came into existence duringrepparttar 103922 peak ofrepparttar 103923 Internet boom, a glorious but frivolous time. 18 months ago, we realized that we were onrepparttar 103924 road to bankruptcy and we needed to change course. We did that. In a short year, we shifted our revenue model from purely advertising to almost entirely subscription. We also doubled our number of communities created to over 1 million and tripled our number of registered users, now over 8 million. Ezboard has a very strict Terms of Use but relies upon its user community to report violators and to enforcerepparttar 103925 terms, thus freeing up its time and resources for more valuable community-building activities. As Vanchau notes: We do not actively go out and look for content that violates our TOS. We take a more passive stance, but if we are notified of violations, we then go and take a look. Usually, we'll send a warning torepparttar 103926 administrator. Now and then we have to remove a post, ban a user, or on very rare occasions (in fact, I believe only once so far), shut downrepparttar 103927 community.

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