Managers: Is PR Crucial to your Success?

by Bob Kelly

Published on this site: March 13th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

The answer is a loud yes if you're a business, non-profit, government agency or association manager. Because somewhere out there is an external audience or two whose behaviors can help or hinder your achieving your managerial objectives. And that spells crucial.

Public relations enters your equation as you begin the action planning and resource assembly needed to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among your most important outside audiences. Then, as a manager, PR goes on to help you persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

That's managerial success you cannot ignore.

And it works because public relations' underlying premise lays the proper foundation: 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 usually accomplished.

What it boils down to, is this: the right public relations planning really can alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences,and thus, managerial success.

But keep in mind as you move forward, that your PR effort will demand more than special events, news releases and talk show tactics if you are to receive the quality public relations results you deserve.

You'll be glad you took such a step when new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures start showing up; new (and very) welcome bounces in show room visits occur; capital givers or specifying sources begin to look your way; customers begin to make repeat purchases; membership applications start to rise; prospects actually start to do business with you; politicians and legislators begin looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; and local leaders begin to seek you out.

By the way, and not so incidentally, your staff PR pros can be of real use for your new opinion monitoring project because they are already in the perception and behavior business. But be certain that the PR staff really accepts why it's so important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Above all, be sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Spend a few minutes with staff PR and review your plans with them for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Ask questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you satisfied with the exchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Another reality of PR life? Bringing in survey pros to do the opinion gathering work will be considerably more costly than using those PR folks of yours, who are already in the perception business. But regardless of whether it's your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Your call for action will establish your PR goal requiring action on the most serious problem areas you uncovered during your key audience perception monitoring. Will it be to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially painful rumor cold?

Of course, setting your public relations goal will demand an equally specific strategy that tells you how to reach that goal. Only three strategic options are available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like chicken gravy on your fried eels, so be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You certainly don't want to select "change" when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

Because you must prepare a persuasive message that will help move your key audience to your way of thinking, good writing becomes paramount. It must be a carefully-written message targeted directly at your key external audience. Select your very best writer because s/he must come up with really corrective language that is not merely compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if it is to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

As you no doubt are aware, your message will be carried to the attention of your target audience by communications tactics. And there are many available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

The way you communicate your message is important since the credibility of any message is fragile and always up for grabs. Thus, initially, you may wish to unveil your corrective message before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

To demonstrate progress, you will need to undertake a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You'll want to use many of the same questions used in the benchmark session. But now, you will be on strict alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

In the event there is a loss of program momentum, you should know that you can always speed things up by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

Clearly, PR is crucial to any manager's success if for no other reason than that s/he needs the kind of public relations effort that leads directly to achieving their managerial objectives. Then, and only then, will they enjoy the best public relations has to offer, especially the quality results they believe they deserve.



Bob Kelly counsels and writes for business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has published 240 articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. 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. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations.mailto:[email protected] Visit:www.PRCommentary.com