That’s why public relations should play a central role in your business planning in 2002.

Any recovery that takes place this year will be result of industrial, commercial and individual consumers alike starting to behave like buyers, whether of luxury real estate, frozen pizzas, industrial transformers, or running shoes.

So, before this train leaves station, any manager unsure how best to use public relations in upcoming business recovery is hereby advised that changed key-audience perceptions, much stronger confidence levels and clearly modified behaviors will be essential to business expansion as never before. Fortunately, all three are social dynamics at which public relations excels.

Consider its basic mission: Public relations is firmly rooted in principle that people act on their own perception of facts. Then it strives to create, change or reinforce public opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to- action those people whose behaviors affect organization. When behavioral changes become apparent, and meet program’s original behavior modification goal, a public relations venture can be deemed a success.

So, what comes first? In my opinion, a real acceptance that (1) individual perception of facts is THE guiding light leading to behavioral change, and (2) that something really CAN be done about those perceptions. Think about that for a moment – not every one buys it. For me, I can tell you it was an epiphany of immense proportion that actually helped shape my career in public relations.

Next, What Will it Be? Opinion Creation, Change or Reinforcement?

CREATION

O.K., now real public opinion work begins. The public relations squad must decide whether opinion among key audiences is to be created from scratch, requiring a lot of basic data, information and interpretation from which a person can form an initial opinion.

CHANGE

Or, are we talking about a change in opinion, a nudge in one direction or other requiring a clear, credible and well-supported explanation of, and rationale for why anyone should alter their current views?

REINFORCEMENT

Or, do we simply reinforce opinion that pretty much tracks with opinion level we desire? Here, we use simple corroboration and additional third-party support to strengthen existing public opinion.

But for each of three choices, information and data to be communicated must be creditably sourced, crystal-clear and logically presented.

On to Reach, Persuade and Move-to-Action

REACH

Now, reach your key audiences, people whose behaviors will affect your organization. Among others, these stakeholders include customers, employees, prospects, retirees, media, legislators, regulators, and both financial and plant communities.

But reaching these target groups means applying most effective communications tactics available to you. These will include such tools as media relations and publicity- generating news conferences and press releases, newsletters and e-mails, high-profile speeches, charitable contributions, investor relations, informal opinion surveys and many others.

This is especially true in public relations where clients often second-guess careful plans for achieving that end-game change by insisting on premature use of tactics like news releases, talk-show appearances and sports sponsorships.

But obviously, flashy tactics alone will not satisfy those clients once they start looking for a return on their public relations investment. Because it is then that it becomes clear, sometimes painfully, that their goal MUST be kind of change in behaviors of key stakeholders that leads directly to achieving their business objectives. Thus, it is quality planning, and degree of behavioral change it produces, that eventually captures client attention, not tactics.

These days, with public relations budgets in mortal danger from a softening economy, old tactical chats between a client CEO and public relations counsel probably sound more like this: “Do something about those activists chaining themselves to our plant gate and yelling that our emissions go into river. It’s costing us big money each day that plant is shut down.”

Or, “How are we going to calm down those Garden Club members down in lobby waving around those cockamamie newspaper reports and talking to TV cameras about additives we use? Where’d that reporter get those numbers, anyway? It’s costing us sales!”

Or, “Please people, what are you doing to encourage a favorable Town Council vote on our petition for that new highway off-ramp?”