Just think about it.
If I come to believe that you really didn't dump those chemicals in the river, I'll probably stop picketing your business.
Or, if I now believe you actually care about me as an employee, I may stay with the company.
And if I become convinced that you provide quality service at afair price, I'll probably do business with you.
All of which means that what I think about you - what perceptionsof you I hold in my mind - can change my behavior in a way thatyou prefer, or hate.
So, since my behavior is affected by my perception of the facts,it suggests that those perceptions might even be created fromscratch, or changed, or existing behavior reinforced through awell-planned public relations effort.
Fact is, they can be, and that should interest you. Imagine beingable to affect the behaviors of members of your key targetaudience! What would THAT do to your bottom line?
Happily, it's not that difficult to do.
Start this way. The foundation on which successful public relationsoutreach is built is, in reality, YOUR outreach. So become a willingparticipant in the public business life in your marketing area.That means activities such as sponsoring special events, makingspeeches before local business and fraternal audiences, andsitting for newspaper and radio interviews. That builds thegood will you may need in troubled times.
A good starting point is staying in touch with those folks whoseactions either help or hurt your operations. When you interactwith them, ask them what they believe about your products, your organization and you. Remain alert for looming problems. Youcan call this the information gathering phase.
Now it's time to list your key audiences. At the beginning,concentrate on those actions that REALLY concern you andstart your interactions with members of that audience. They caninclude stakeholders like customers, employees, prospects, media,community residents, local government agencies and many others.
When you discover a troubling perception, do something about itas soon as you can. Working with your public relations advisor,establish your public relations goal. Examples: neutralize thatnegative rumor that you hire illegals; prove that your processdoes not pollute a nearby lake; or restore the faith of that groupof former customers.
If you fail to attend to them, any one can hurt your business.
So, with your goal set, you must now decide what your strategy willbe in dealing with the perception problem.
We know there are just three choices available to you in dealingwith such opinion problems. Create new opinion, change existingopinion, or reinforce it.
Work closely with your public relations advisor in deciding whichit is. Then, proceed by preparing persuasive messages carefully and creditably designed to counter the misconception you haveuncovered. Run the messages by outsiders so you can gauge just how persuasive they really are.
Here, it's time to select the communications tactics needed to carryyour persuasive message to the attention of that very importanttarget audience. Fortunately, there are dozens of communicationstactics available to you such as print and broadcast media interviews,awards ceremonies, emails, promotions, press releases, newsletters,personal meetings, speeches and open houses.
But your work is still not done. You need to continue monitoringmembers of your target audience to measure not only how awarethey are of your message, but how well they received it.
Depending on the responses you receive, it may be necessary toadjust both your message content and your mix of communicationstactics.
Until something better comes along, we have little choice but tocontinually track perceptions among key audiences by interactingwith them and by monitoring other sources such as media reports,speeches by local influentials and emails from other interestedparties. Then, create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching,persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whosebehaviors effect the organization.
Using this approach, you will find it easier to accept and actupon the notion that what people believe really can bring you success.
Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in yourezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy wouldbe appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.
Robert A. Kelly © 2003
Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit andassociation managers about using the fundamental premise of publicrelations 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 presssecretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degreefrom Columbia University, major in public relations.
Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net |
