"The Worst
PR Mistakes."
By Robert A. Kelly
For a business, non-profit or association manager,
they could be fatal, coming as they do in four bitter flavors.
Mistake #1 – You limit
your PR activity pretty much to placing product and service plugs
on radio and in newspapers.
Mistake #2 – You fail
to embrace the kind of PR plan that persuades those important
outside audiences to your way of thinking, then moves them to
take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary
succeed.
Mistake #3 -- You fail to use
the high-impact, fundamental premise of public relations to deliver
external stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads
directly to achieving your managerial objectives.
Mistake #4 -- you fail to get
the creative potential of your assigned PR team or agency which
you need to positively impact the behaviors of the very outside
audiences that MOST affect your unit.
Here’s one way to reverse that hurtful
process. Take a look at this fundamental public relations blueprint.
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.
Such a blueprint will broaden your public relations
field of fire and put its primary focus where it belongs, on your
unit’s key external stakeholder behaviors.
A variety of results is likely. For example,
fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; customers
starting to make repeat purchases; membership applications on
the rise; prospects starting to do business with you; community
leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room
visits; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying
sources starting to look your way, and even politicians and legislators
beginning to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit
or association communities.
Before you begin such a makeover, make certain
the public relations people assigned to your unit really believe
– deep down -- why it’s SO important to know how your
most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products
or services. Make sure they accept the reality that perceptions
almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.
Sit down with them and discuss your plan for
monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of
your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how
much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior
contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How
much do you know about our services or products and employees?
Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?
Luckily for you, your PR people are in the perception
and behavior business to begin with, so they can really do a job
for you on this crucially important opinion monitoring project.
Professional survey firms are always available, but they can be
very expensive. Nevertheless, whether it’s your people or
a survey firm asking the questions, your objective is to identify
untruths if not outright lies, false assumptions, unfounded rumors,
inaccuracies, and misconceptions .
Then you must carefully select which of the above
aberrations becomes your corrective public relations goal –
clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false
assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.
Selecting the wrong strategy to show you how
to reach your goal is like eating corned beef and cabbage without
the horseradish mustard and potatoes. Fact is, you can achieve
your PR goal by picking the right strategy from the three choices
available to you, change existing perception, create perception
where there may be none, or reinforce it. But be sure your new
strategy dovetails nicely with that new public relations goal.
But what will you say when you finally get the
opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience that will
help persuade them to your way of thinking?
Select your best writer to prepare the message
because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language.
Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable,
but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion
towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have
in mind.
Happily, the next step is easy. You select communications
tactics to carry your message to the attention of your target
audience. Making certain that the tactics you select have a record
of reaching folks like your audience members, you can pick from
dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails
and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters,
personal meetings and many others.
Experience shows that HOW one communicates often
affects the credibility of the message. So, you may wish to deliver
it in small getogethers like meetings and presentations rather
than through a higher-profile media announcement.
Time to look for signs of progress. And that
means a second perception monitoring session with members of your
external audience. Employing many of the same questions used in
the first benchmark session, you will now be watching carefully
for signs that the offending perception is being altered in your
direction.
Aren’t we fortunate that these matters
usually can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics
as well as increasing their frequencies.
This workable public relations blueprint will
help you persuade your most important outside stakeholders to
your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads
to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.
The people you deal with behave like everyone
else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts they
hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but
to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing
what is necessary to reach and move those key external audiences
to action.
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