Monday, March 3, 2008

PR is Essential to your Success

PR is more than image advertising. Effective PR consists of fixing problems within your business and then letting the affected people know about it.

Targeted specific PR campaigns. Internal changes should be made in your business and then spread the word about what is new to fix existing problems. Targeted PR is a good way to "work on your business" instead of getting caught up in the day to day tasks of running your business.

Do that by persuading those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed. The road to that success is filled with potholes, but you'll never feel them if you have the right road-map. Like this one: 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.

Where can such a blueprint take you? Maybe to more qualified proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; or to big givers looking at your 501-c-3; or to interested specifying sources requesting more information; newly qualified prospects showing interest; a big jump in sales floor visits; more requests for membership applications; repeat purchases reappearing; political figures taking a closer look at your unit as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; not to mention new contacts from community leaders. As that business, non-profit or association manager, there are two steps you should take asap.

List those outside audiences of yours whose behavior helps or hinders you in reaching your objectives.

Then note how severe their impact is, and we'll take a shot at the target audience you show as number one. Sad to say, you probably haven't assembled the information that tells you how most members of that key outside audience view your organization. So, presuming there is no sign of a large professional survey budget in your shop, you and your colleagues will have to handle the job of monitoring external audience perception by asking the questions yourselves.

Interrogatives such as "Have you ever met anyone from our organization? Was it a satisfactory experience? What do you know about our services or products?" Stay alert for negative statements, especially evasive or hesitant replies.

And be on the lookout for false assumptions, untruths, misconceptions, inaccuracies and potentially damaging rumors. Any of those must be corrected because we know they usually produce negative behaviors.

Now you must decide which of these nasties is the most dangerous at this moment and correct it before it really starts to hurt. In other words, once you select the target audience, do everything reasonable to solve their objections. Make sure to put the solutions into effect to correct that particular PR problem. Give it some time before putting that audience back on to the list to re-evaluate the solution you've implemented.


Get your Home Income Portal Today. subscribe here

No comments:

Post a Comment