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I state to service, non-profit and association supervisors, a key part of your job description is– or must be– do whatever you can to assist your company’s public relations effort as it strives to encourage important outdoors stakeholders to your way of thinking. Specifically when it’s YOUR PR program that is entrusted to move those stakeholders to habits that cause the success of YOUR department or division.
Which is why I recommend that organization, non-profit and association supervisors embrace what I call PR’s 8 fix factors, those steps needed to prepare their public relations operation for the fights specific to lie ahead.
The fix factors are based on this basic property: People act upon their own perception of the facts prior to them, which results in predictable habits about which something can be done. When we create, alter or strengthen that viewpoint by reaching, encouraging and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose habits impact the company the most, the general public relations mission is accomplished.
Repair Factor 1
For beginners, I caution Mr/Ms Manager that you might find yourself data-challenged must you be unaware of simply HOW most members of that crucial outdoors audience view your organization.
Has anybody took a seat and listed those external audiences whose behaviors could hurt your system severely? Then prioritized them according to the effects they have on your operation? A necessary initial step in developing the right public relations objective because, while behavior is the goal, and a host of communications methods are the tools, our strategy is the leverage supplied by key audience understanding. Often called public opinion.
Fix Element 2
Lets have a look at the audience you position at the top of your prioritized target audience list. Because there might be unfavorable perceptions out there, someone must interact with members of that audience and ask a number of questions. Do you know anything about our organization? Have you had any type of contact with our individuals? Have you heard anything great or bad about us or our services and products? View respondents carefully for reluctant or evasive answers. And remain alert for mistakes, rumors, untruths or misunderstandings.
Repair Aspect 3
Here, luckily, you have an option. You and your PR staff can engage with members of that target market yourselves, which seems appropriate because your PR folks are currently in the understanding and behavior company. Or, if budget is readily available, you can employ expert survey counsel to do the work for you.
What are you hearing throughout your understanding keeping an eye on sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Unreliable beliefs about your product and services that could drive individuals away from you? Do you discover other perceptions about your company that requirement to be altered?
Repair Factor 4
The actions gathered by this kind of understanding monitoring among members of the target market supplies just what you need to establish your public relations goal– the specific understanding to be changed.
You may begin with a simple goal like clearing up that misconception, remedying that mistake or replacing a viewed untruth with the reality.
Fix Aspect 5
Now, the best method sends the public relations program off to an excellent start due to the fact that it reveals you how to proceed towards your goal. Luckily, there are just 3 tactical options for dealing with matters of opinion and understanding. You can develop perception/opinion where there may not be any, you can alter existing viewpoint, or you can reinforce it. An effort ought to be made to match the technique to the public relations objective you selected. Obviously, if you want to remedy a misconception, you would use the strategy that modifications existing opinion, not one that strengthens it.
Fix Element 6
Here, there is a little bit more work to do in the kind of the message that, hopefully, will change individuals’s incorrect understandings of you and the organization.
Some major writing is needed here. The restorative message to be communicated to members of the target market is an opportunity to compose something designed to alter specific opinion, which’s a favorable experience for any writer.
Clearness is initially, followed closely by precision and validity. Stick closely to the issue at hand– like that incorrect belief, misunderstanding or hazardous rumor. An engaging tone is useful because the message should alter what a lot of individuals believe, which is a huge task. Tryout the message on some coworkers for effectiveness.
Bear in mind that your message need to be believable and that instead of providing it in a high-profile news statement, you may wish to make the message part of another general interest release, presentation or address.
Repair Aspect 7
Now you need to toss that message to receivers in the end-zone or, continuing this scintillating mixture of metaphors, every bullet needs a gun to fire it at the target. Which brings us to the stable housing our monsters of burden– the communications tactics whose task it is to carry your message to the attention of those crucial target market members.
Fortunately, there are many, lots of such techniques ranging from luncheons, press release and individual contacts to print and relay interviews, speeches, news release and dozens of others. Just requirement is that they have a tested performance history for reaching your target audience.
Repair Factor 8
Quickly, partners (and others) will ask whether any progress is being made in changing the upseting understanding or opinion. If you’ve ruled out expensive survey counsel, your finest hope of evaluating that development is a go back to the field for a second perception monitoring session.
Yes, you and your PR group will ask the same questions as you carried out in the initial monitoring session. But this time, you’ll be trying to find evidence in the actions that the offending perception is lastly being changed. You need to see and hear indications that understandings are actually relocating your direction.
That informs you that positive habits by your essential external stakeholders can not be far behind.end
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