Dont Get Caught With Your PR Down

Why risk the embarassment when with a little basic PR training, you as a business, non-profit or association manager can always be ready for battle?

Never again will you fail to do something positive about the behaviors of those important outside audiences of yours that MOST affect your operation.

Never again will you fail to create external stakeholder behavior change leading directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

And never again will you fail to persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking, or move them to take actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed.

In fact, once you digest the underlying premise of public relations, you'll understand how the right PR really CAN alter individual perception and lead to those changed behaviors you need. Here's how it goes: 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.

However ? and this is a big however ? it requires more than special events, brochures and news releases if you really want to get your PR money's worth.

For example, business, non-profit and association managers who employ this kind of public relations can benefit from results such as new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; rebounds in showroom visits; membership applications on the rise; community service and sponsorship opportunities; enhanced activist group relations, and expanded feedback channels, not to mention new thoughtleader and special event contacts.

As time passes, you should see customers making repeat purchases; prospects reappearing; stronger relationships with the educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities; improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies, and even capital givers or specifying sources looking your way.

Obviously, you want your most important outside audiences to really perceive your operations, products or services in a positive light. So be certain that your PR staff has bought into the whole effort. Convince yourself that they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Get together and go over the PR blueprint carefully with your staff, especially regarding how you will gather and monitor perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the how things went? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

You can depend on professional survey people to handle the perception monitoring phases of your program IF the budget is available. But luckily, 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.

Let's chat for a moment about your public relations goal. You need one that addresses the problems that cropped up during your key audience perception monitoring. Chances are, it will call for straightening out that dangerous misconception, or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or doing something about that damaging rumor.

But as you surely know, goals need strategies to show you how to get there. And you have just three strategic choices when it comes to handling a perception or opinion challenge: create perception where there may be none, change the perception, or reinforce it. Unfortunately, selecting a bad strategy will taste like peanut butter on your sea scallops, so be certain the new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. For example, you don't want to select "change" when the facts dictate a "reinforce" strategy.

Here the right, corrective language must be created, because persuading an audience to your way of thinking is awfully hard work Especially when you're looking for words that are compelling, persuasive, believable AND clear and factual. This is a must if you are to correct a perception by shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading to the desired behaviors. So, meet again with your communications specialists and review your message for impact and persuasiveness.

In order to carry your words to the attention of your target audience, you need to select the communications tactics most likely to reach them. Happily there are dozens of available tactics. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. Just be sure that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Occasionally, the credibility of your message can depend on its delivery method. So, consider introducing it to smaller gatherings rather than using higher-profile communications such as news releases or talk show appearances.

When you sense the need to provide a progress report, it's probably time for you and your PR folks to return to the field for a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Using many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session, stay alert for signs that your communications tactics have worked and that the negative perception is being altered in your direction.

Should those around you wax impatient, things can always be accelerated with a broader selection of communications tactics AND increased frequencies.

You won't get caught with your PR down when you apply your budget to public relations activity that creates behavior change among your key outside audiences that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

That's when it will become clear to you that the right PR really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors that help you win.

end

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 © 2004.

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. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

---

Behavioral Interview Questions You Can Use Monday Morning

If past behavior is the best way to determine future... Read More

Problem Solving - Think Cleopatras Ass

Picture the scene. Anthony pops down to the guardhouse, partly... Read More

Improving Your Inter-Company Communications At No Cost

It's all very well having a flashy (and expensive) advertising... Read More

Work Priorities: Where Can You Spend Your Time Most Effectively?

Understanding where you can spend time most effectively requires concentration... Read More

Assertive Communication - 6 Tips For Effective Use

What IS assertive communication? Assertive communication is the... Read More

People - You Cant Make Them What Theyre Not

Many business people and managers are spending too much time... Read More

Spinning Gold from Straw: Low-Cost Employee Retention and Motivation Tools in a Changing Economy

New York, NY, February 25, 2005 ? Employee retention and... Read More

How to get an Audiences Attention

A trainer dryly discussing how to motivate people in an... Read More

Recruitment - Pick People Who Think

Old style management doesn't encourage personal mind control, employees aren't... Read More

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

You can't build a reputation on what you are "going"... Read More

Regaining Control - Nine Steps for New Managers

My client had faced the same challenge, which was frustrating... Read More

Joint Accountability: Another Key for Your Effectiveness

I once was part of a group of management professors... Read More

Managing Employees Is A Little Like Herding Cats

Q: I started my small business about a year ago... Read More

Employers - Protect Yourself from Custody Battles that Hold Your Company Hostage

Child custody? How'd that get to be an employer's concern?When... Read More

9 Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures

The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Four of SeriesNext: Complete... Read More

The Gift of Gratitude

Gratitude might seem like a soft or even an obvious... Read More

Test Your Hiring IQ

The purpose of any selection process is to discriminate (albeit... Read More

Innovation Management ? how does the user benefit?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Does Your State Like To Keep Your Workers Compensation Secrets Hidden?

Workers compensation secrets are hidden deep within piles and piles... Read More

Management Coaching to Improve Relationships with Work Associates

As a recent employee to your job, you are becoming... Read More

Twitch Speed: Reaching Younger Workers Who Think Differently

Every parent, educator, and manager knows that "Nintendo children"--those born... Read More

Employee Surveys: a Strategic Tool for Positive Change

Do you want to measure your workers' level of satisfaction?... Read More

Interviewing: How to Stay Out of legal Hot Water

Some interviewers ask great questions; others ask dumb questions; and,... Read More

Delegate, Dont Abdicate

One of the key skills for the leaders of growing... Read More

Employees - Treat Them the Way They Expect to be Treated

When you have to deal with one of your team... Read More

Motor Vehicle Policy and Your Employee Risks

It is becoming more common for employers to require employees... Read More

Spirits in the Corporate Boardroom.......Oh, sure......

There is a growing movement in the spiritual... Read More

Performance Evaluation: How To Create Change

STEPS TOWARDS GIVING A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW: Give specific feedback.... Read More

Communication, Feedback, and Participation: Three Easy Tidbits For Smarter Business

On communication: One of the biggest strains on the communication... Read More

Create Your Dashboard for Success

Driving down the road our eyes frequently scan the vital... Read More

Leadership: Stoking The Success Train

Everyone wants to succeed yet everyone has a different perception... Read More

Can Your Business Run Without You?

If you are a business owner or a business owner... Read More

The Leadership Alignment Model

Some time ago we had the privilege of working with... Read More