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10.17.05
Managers: Should Your PR Budget Stress Tactics Or Strategy?
By Robert A. Kelly
If public relations tactics like special events, brochures, broadcast plugs and press releases dominate your answer, you're missing the best PR has to offer.
Such a budget would tell us that you believe tactics ARE public relations. And that would be too bad, because it means you are not effectively planning to alter individual perception among your key outside audiences which then would help you achieve your managerial objectives.
It would also tell us that, even as a business, non-profit or association manager, you're not planning to do anything positive about the behaviors of those important external audiences of yours that MOST affect your operation. Nor are you preparing to persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking by helping to move them to take actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed.
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So, it takes more than good intentions for you as a manager to alter individual, key-audience perception leading to changed behaviors. It takes a carefully structured plan dedicated to getting every member of the PR team working towards the same external audience behaviors insuring that the organization's public relations effort stays sharply focused.
The absence of such a plan is always unfortunate because the right public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, try to remember that your PR
effort must require more than special events, news releases
and talk show tactics if you are to receive the quality public
relations results you deserve.
The payoff can materialize faster than you may think in the form of welcome bounces in show room visits; customers beginning to make repeat purchases; capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way; membership applications on the rise; the appearance of new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; politicians and legislators beginning to look at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; prospects actually starting to do business with you; and community leaders begin to seek you out.
It's always nice to simply hire a survey firm to handle the opinion monitoring/data gathering phase of your effort. But that can cost real money. Luckily, your public relations professionals can often fill that bill because they are already in the perception and behavior business. But satisfy yourself that the PR staff really accepts why it's SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. And be doubly certain they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.
Share your plans with them for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Ask questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?
But whether it's your people or a survey firm asking the questions,
the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions,
unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other
negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.
Read
the Full Article
About
the Author:
Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and
association managers about using the fundamental premise of public
relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR,
Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR,
Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi-
cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press
secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree
from Columbia University, major in public relations.
bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com |
