Easy To Be Foolish About Pr

Submitted by: Robert A. Kelly

In fact, here are three really foolish goofs made by toomany business, non-profit and association managers.

If that s you, you foolishly do nothing positive about thebehaviors of those important outside audiences of yoursthat most affect your operation.

You foolishly fail to create external stakeholder behaviorchange leading directly to achieving your managerialobjectives.

Then you foolishly compound those goofs by never persuadingthose key outside folks to your way of thinking, or movingthem to take actions that allow your department, divisionor subsidiary to succeed.

Enough already!

What you really need to know is this.

The right PR really CAN alter individual perception andlead to changed behaviors that help you succeed. And yourpublic relations effort must involve more than specialevents, brochures and news releases if you really want toget your money s worth,

The foundation underlying public relations reads like this:people act on their own perception of the facts before them,which leads to predictable behaviors about which somethingcan be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinionby reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action thevery people whose behaviors affect the organization the most,the public relations mission is accomplished.

Just look at the results it can deliver: new proposals forstrategic alliances and joint ventures; prospects starting towork with you; customers making repeat purchases;stronger relationships with the educational, labor, financialand healthcare communities; improved relations withgovernment agencies and legislative bodies, and evencapital givers or specifying sources looking your way

And results need not stop there. For example, you shouldalso see results like rebounds in showroom visits; membershipapplications on the rise; new community service and sponsorshipopportunities; enhanced activist group relations, and expandedfeedback channels, as well as new thoughtleader and specialevent contacts.

Of course your PR crew agency or staff must be committedto you, as the senior project manager, to the PR blueprint andits implementation, starting with target audience perceptionmonitoring.

And furthermore, you must impress upon them the crucialimportance of why your most important outside audiencesreally must perceive your operations, products or services ina clearly positive light. So assure yourself that your PR staffhas bought into the whole effort. Be especially careful thatthey accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead tobehaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Meet with your PR team and discuss the PR blueprintin detail, especially the plan for monitoring and gatheringperceptions by questioning members of your mostimportant outside audiences. Questions like these: howmuch do you know about our organization? How muchdo you know about our services or products andemployees? Have you had prior contact with us andwere you pleased with the interchange? Have youexperienced problems with our people or procedures?

Luckily, survey pros can always handle the perceptionmonitoring phases of your program, IF the budget isavailable. But remember that your PR people are alsoin the perception and behavior business and can pursuethe same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions,unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions andany other negative perception that might translate intohurtful behaviors.

Now a word about your public relations goal. You needone that speaks to the aberrations that showed up duringyour key audience perception monitoring. And it couldcall for straightening out that dangerous misconception, orcorrecting that gross inaccuracy, or doing something aboutthat damaging rumor.

The hard truth is that, when you set a goal, you need astrategy that shows you how to get there. You have threestrategic choices when it comes to handling a perceptionor opinion challenge: create perception where there may benone, change the perception, or reinforce it. A bad strategypick will taste like ketchup on your stringbeans, so be certainthe new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal.For example, you don t want to select change when thefacts dictate a reinforce strategy.

Because awfully hard work really is awfully hard work,persuading an audience to your way of thinking means yourPR team must come up with just the right, corrective language.Words that are compelling, persuasive and believable ANDclear and factual. You ve got to do this if you are to correct aperception by shifting opinion towards your point of view,leading to the desired behaviors.

Review your message with your troops for impact andpersuasiveness. Then, pick out the communications tacticsmost likely to carry your words to the attention of your targetaudience. You can pick from dozens that are available. Fromspeeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumerbriefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetingsand many others. But be sure that the tactics you pick areknown to reach folks just like your audience members.

You ve heard the old bromide about the credibility of amessage depending on its delivery method. So, on the chancethat HOW you deliver your message may affect its believability,you could introduce it to smaller gatherings instead of usinghigher-profile tactics like news releases or talk showappearances.

When you notice mumblings about a progress report, take it asan alert to you and your PR folks to return to the field for asecond perception monitoring session with members ofyour external audience. Using many of the same questionsused in the first benchmark session, you ll now be watchingvery carefully for signs that the bad news perception isbeing altered in your direction.

If things still are not moving fast enough, you can alwaysaccelerate the effort with more communications tactics andincreased frequencies.

No more foolish goofs!

Instead, depend on the reality that the right PR really CANalter individual perception and lead `to changed behaviors thathelp you succeed.

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. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:

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