Knitting and Sewing

Dont Need No Stinking PR?




Beyond The Hype! Aren't You Really In Partnership With Yours
Copyright ' 2004 Ted Borgeas, All Rights Reserved Ted
Borgeas, Author, 35 years Self-Coaching Yourself. Helps
people get insight on .....


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. Word count is 955

including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly 2003.



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 theres 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 its 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. Lets 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,

The Seven Ds - Daring To Discover The Dreamy Details Of Designing Your To Do List


As the days begin to shorten after the summer solstice, many of

us start to experience an unusual seasonal phenomenon: .....
inevitably, will morph into behaviors that hurt your

organization?



You really cant 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

isnt any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Thats

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, its your opportunity to write something that will change

somebodys 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 youre 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.

California Parents Protest RFID Arm Bands
Parents of children attending Northern California's Brittan Elementary were enraged to learn their children are part of an RFID tracking test being carried .....


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 dont need no stinking PR, but

theres 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.



end







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







The articles and content provided on this website have been contributed by guest authors, and may not reflect the views, opinions, thoughts or beliefs of http://www.knitting-and-sewing.com/ or its staff. We are not responsible for copyright infringements by columnists, writers and authors. We do not necessarily endorse or promote the services, advice or products by, from and mentioned by any authors, writers or columnists. http://www.knitting-and-sewing.com/ will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by a user through the user's reliance on information and advice gained through the articles, interviews, stories, columns, and any and all writings viewed on this website.