| |
| |
|
PR Information |
|
|
|
Dont Need No Stinking PR?
Almost assuredly you do, especially when your most important external and internal audiences behave in ways that stop you from achieving your organizational objectives. With that attitude, you could have a long wait before you see community leaders strengthening their bonds with you; customers making repeat purchases; unions bargaining more frequently in good faith; prospects becoming customers; employees beginning to value their jobs; political leaders and legislators starting to think of you as a key player in the business community, and suppliers working hard to expand your relationship. Lighten up and use public relations in your own best interest, and benefit from a really cost-effective assist to your business, non-profit or association. And there's another reason to do so. Tough times require tough tactics. Luckily, PR firepower can do for you what it was meant to do - help you achieve your operating objectives by moving those people whose behaviors have the greatest impact on your organization, to actions YOU desire, You know it's worth it, so give it a shot! Best place to start is by listing your most important audiences, or "publics," and ranking them according to the impact they have on your enterprise. Let's work on the outside audience at the top of that list. How aware are you and your colleagues as to how that audience views you? Could there be negative perceptions out there that, inevitably, will morph into behaviors that hurt your organization? You really can't afford to ignore that possibility. So get out there and interact with members of that target audience and ask questions. The alternative is to spend a LOT of money on a professional survey. Instead, make the time commitment to do some home-grown research. After all, PR best practice says you should be in regular touch with target audience members anyway, so this interaction is probably long overdue. Ask questions like "Do you know anything about us? Have you heard anything good or bad about us?" Stay alert to hesitant and evasive responses. Notice any negative undertones? Do inaccuracies crop up? Any misconceptions or rumors that need your attention? The answers you gather are the fodder for your new public relations goal - i.e., the specific perception to be altered, followed by the behavior change you want. Which requires that you set a public relations goal aimed at clearing up that misconception or nameless concern, correcting that inaccuracy or untrue belief, or disarming that rumor for good. Now, what happens to that goal? You select a strategy to get you where you want to be. The choices are few indeed when it comes to perception and opinion. You can create perception where there isn't any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. That's it. You should, however, match your strategy selection to your newly-established public relations goal. Clearly, the most sensitive, even difficult step in this problem- solving sequence is message preparation. At ther same time, it's your opportunity to write something that will change somebody's opinion, and that is a really satisfying experience. First, your message must stick to its knitting and not ramble. Address the inaccuracy, misconception, untruth or rumor clearly and in a believable and as compelling a manner as possible. Remember what it must do if the public relations program is to be successful - alter, change or reinforce what a lot of people believe. And that is a big job and a big responsibility. If the message is the bullet, your "beasts of burden" are the gun, the means by which your communications tactics carry your message to the eyes and ears of members of the target audience. And what a list of tactics offer themselves to you. Everything from open houses, feature articles, press releases and speeches to personal contacts, broadcast appearances, newspaper interviews and so many more. Your measuring stick for each tactic is, does it have a proven track record for reaching people like those who make up your target audience? So, you will get antsy and wonder if you're making any headway with your new public relations program. Best way to tell is to monitor target audience perceptions all over again. Use questions similar to your first monitoring session. Big difference this time, however. Now, you need to see indications that perceptions are being altered as a result of your corrective message. If you want to speed things up, you can always add a few more tactics to the mix, AND increase some of their frequencies. The message should also be re-evaluated for the strength and persuasiveness of its underlying facts, as well as impact and clarity. Yes, you may believe you "don't need no stinking PR," but there's no denying that people in your area behave like everyone else - they take actions based on their perception of the facts they hear about you and your operation. So, you must deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach them. And what that means is, in your own best interest, you must persuade many of your stakeholders to your way of thinking, thus moving them to take actions that lead to the success of your organization. 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. Robert A. Kelly � 2003. About The Author Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to general management personnel about the fundamental premise of public relations. 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. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com
MORE RESOURCES:
PR - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Media Training: How To Speak During a Media Interview WHITE NOISEA client recently told me about a fascinating new approach to television advertising. Some advertisers, she said, are producing 30 second commercials without even a hint of sound. If Your PR Cant Do This, Bag It! As a business, non-profit or association manager, why continue a public relations effort that doesn't deliver the key external audience behaviors you need to achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives?Time for a change. One that will base your PR effort on a fundamental premise that makes sense. Television Reporters - Questions to Ask Before Agreeing to an Interview Prior to a TV interview it is guaranteed the journalist involved will spend time preparing, writing down questions or goals for the interview either quickly or more in-depth as well as conducting some background research. As the interview subject it is important to undergo a similar preparation process to make the most out of your media opportunity. Dont Put Up With Junk PR In public relations, "junk" is more about attitude and lack of understanding than a measure of quality.Hopefully, if your public relations mission is yet to be accomplished, you agree that its primary thrust MUST be to take advantage of the fact that people act on their own perception of the facts before them leading to predictable behaviors. Media Relations: Ending the Press Release Crutch When most people think of media relations, they think of press releases. To be sure, writing and distributing them is one of the most important parts of the job. PR: Whats the Point? Here's the point: people act on 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. Three Communication Secrets of The Great Communicator I've worked in media and public relations for 20 years, and experience has taught me that communication is an essential skill to master in order to be successful in all aspects of one's life. No one person can do many things without the involvement of other human beings; having superior communication skills, then, is a highly enviable quality, and those who manage such a feat serve as role models to the rest of us. Publicity: Three Tips on Writing a Press Release Use journalistic styleReporters are busy. Just like you. Dont Do This to Your News Release! Hundreds of thousands of News Releases are sent out all the time and many people will show you different ways to write a news release in a way that will result in publicity for you or for your company. However, many people over look the 17 Deadly Sins that you should never do or have in a news release. Two Donts for Financial Planners Seeking Free Publicity Many of my clients have had the misguided perception that they won't be able to get media coverage from a publication that their larger competitors advertise in. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Its Not Who You Know But What You Know Almost every day, I hear the same question, over and over, from motivated, well-meaning financial planners who want to use publicity in their marketing mix. It goes something like this:"Who do you know in the media? (Or, sometimes they frame it as, "Who do I need to know in the media?") Can you get me publicity?"My answer is always the same. Creating Event Magic through Planned Video Production Once upon a time, there was a young, stressed out corporate events planner called Tanya. She was organising a large-scale event for her firm's biggest client. Its the Little Details that Can Make or Break a News Story Have you ever heard of the saying, "One person's trash is another person's treasure?" Well, that statement is a true one, but never more so than in the realm of media relations where so many small-business owners find it so difficult to garner media coverage for themselves or their companies. Allow me to illustrate my point below in an actual incident that happened to one of my clients and the lessons we learned from this experience. Free Radio Publicity for Marketing-Minded Financial Planners Radio is a powerful publicity tool. Most stations offer news and talk programming. 6 Steps to Using Trade Magazines To Reach Customers When developing a publicity campaign for their business many owners overlook the importance of trade magazines and journals as vehicles for reaching new customers. While mass media publications have widespread readership, the targeted nature of trade publications make the information that appears within them even more powerful. Public Relations Writing: Write Better Press Release Headlines With More Impact in Less Time Public relations writing when writing press releases can be a real challenge.When writing press releases the most important part is the headline or title. Media Relations: Should You Pay For News Coverage, Part II Last month, we told you about "pay for play," a practice in which news organizations charge sources to appear on their programs. In other words, if you ante up enough cash, these "news" programs will air a puff piece about your company or organization. Managers, Which PR Is Right For You? An effort built around a string of print and broadcast exposures? Or, a public relations initiative that delivers results far beyond simple publicity tactics. Namely, real behavior change among your most important outside audiences leading directly to reaching your objectives. The Press Pack Is Chasing You - Give Them Room There's good news for public relations execs, marketing professionals and even one-man-band entrepreneurs: journalists are surfing your sites looking for news.It's true - while some PR people spend months trying to win over cynical reporters in order to wrangle a company profile or CEO interview (and get nowhere), an army of journalists are proactively hunting for facts, figures and interview candidates. How To Get Radio-Active PR For Your Non-Profit Cause-Part One "We are in the communications business, the business of conveying messages to the human brain," said the late David Sarnoff, founder and president of RCA. "No man is wise enough to know which avenue to the brain is best.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
