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Do You See PRs Real Value

Written by: Bob Kelly

Article Overview: You see the value in doing something positive about the behaviors of those important external audiences of yours that most affect your operation, don't you?

Do You See PRs Real Value

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Do You See PR’s Real Value?

As a business, non-profit, public entity or association
manager, do you see the value in doing something positive
about the behaviors of those important external audiences
of yours that most affect your operation?

Do you see the value in persuading those key outside
folks to your way of thinking?

Do you see the value in moving them to take actions that
allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed?

Then you must see the value in good public relations that
alters individual perception leading to changed behaviors
among those key outside people. And further, that helps
managers like you achieve your managerial objectives.

If you see those values, you also see PR’s REAL value.
And you are a lucky manager!

Truth is, you probably should expand your view of public
relations to emphasize the behaviors of your unit’s key outside
audiences rather than publicity placements, special events,
brochures and press releases.

Why should you go to that trouble? Because the people with
whom you interact every day behave like everyone else –
they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about
you and your operation. Which means you should deal
effectively with those perceptions (and their follow-on
behaviors) by doing what is necessary to reach and move
those key external audiences to action.

Luckily, your own carefully tailored PR plan can make the
job a lot easier. I’m talking about a plan like this. People
act on their own their own perception of the 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 the very people whose behaviors
affect the organization the most, the public relations
mission is accomplished.

Take a few minutes to consider what might result from such
activity. Community leaders beginning to seek you out;
prospects starting to do business with you; customers making
repeat purchases; rising membership applications; fresh
proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; welcome
bounces in show room visits; and new approaches by capital
givers and specifying sources not to mention politicians and
legislators viewing you as a key member of the business,
non-profit or association communities.

Who will do this specialized kind of work? Your own public
relations people? Folks assigned to your operation? An outside
PR agency team? But regardless where they come from, they
need to be committed to you and your PR plan beginning with
key audience perception monitoring.

Be certain that the PR people assigned to you are serious about
knowing how your most important outside audiences perceive
your operations, products or services. They must accept the
reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that
can help or hurt your operation.

Go over your PR plan with them, especially how you will monitor
and gather perceptions by questioning members of your most
important outside audiences. For instance, how much do you
know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact
with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much
do you know about our services or products and employees?
Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

If the budget is available, don’t hesitate to use professional
survey firms in the perception monitoring phases of your
program. But remember that your PR people are also in the
perception and behavior business and can pursue the same
objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded
rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative
perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

With the right PR goal, you should be able to deal handily
with the most serious distortions you discovered during your
key audience perception monitoring. Your new goal could
call for straightening out that dangerous misconception, or
correcting that gross inaccuracy, or stopping that potentially
fatal rumor dead in its tracks.

Now you must take pains to select the right strategy, one that
tells you how to move forward. Keep in mind that there are just
three strategic options available to you when it comes to
handling a perception and opinion challenge. Change existing
perception, create perception where there may be none, or
reinforce it. Since the wrong strategy pick will taste like onion
gravy on your key lime pie, be certain the new strategy fits
comfortably with your new public relations goal. You don’t
want to select “change” when the facts dictate a “reinforce”
strategy.

While it’s tough to write tight and strong, you must write
such a strong message and aim it at members of your target
audience. Because crafting action-forcing language to persuade
an audience to your way of thinking is tough work, you need
your first-string varsity writer because s/he must create some
very special, corrective language. Words that are not only
compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if
they are to correct something and shift perception/opinion
towards your point of view leading to the behaviors you are
targeting.

Now it’s time to select the communications tactics most likely
to carry your message to the attention of your target audience.
You can do this after you run the draft by your PR people for
impact and persuasiveness. There are dozens available to you.
From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer
briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and
many others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to
reach folks just like your audience members.

As you may be aware, a message’s believability can depend
on the credibility of the means used to deliver it. So you may
decide to unveil it before smaller meetings and presentations
rather than using higher-profile news releases.

Requests for progress reports signal you and your PR team
to begin a second perception monitoring session with
members of your external audience. Many of the same
questions used in the first benchmark session can be used
again. But this time, you will be watching carefully for
signs that the problem perception is being altered in your
direction.

Occasionally, momentum will slow, but you can always
speed up matters by adding more communications tactics
as well as increasing their frequencies.

Thus, what you really want PR’s value to accomplish is to
persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way
of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to
the success of your unit.

end

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 authored 245
articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click
Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola
Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport
News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications,
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.
mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

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