Managers: Let's Call a Spade a Spade!Posted by Nick Niesen on October 28th, 2010 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 1145 including guidelines and resource box. Managers: Let?s Call a Spade a Spade! Brochures, broadcast plugs and press releases ? don?t call them public relations. Call them what they really are, valuable tactical devices which public relations calls upon from time to time to move a message from here to there. Nothing more, nothing less, and certainly not public relations? Mother strategy which (1), marshalls the resources and action planning needed to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among a business, non-profit,or association?s most important outside audiences. And (2), goes on to help a manager persuade those key folks to his or her way of thinking, The management reality behind such an achievement is the underlying premise of public relations: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, The good news for those managers is that the right public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences.
You?ll be glad you took such a step when capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way; customers begin to make repeat purchases; membership applications start to rise; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures start showing up; politicians and legislators begin looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; new (and very ) welcome bounces in show room visits occur; prospects actually start to do business with you; and community leaders begin to seek you out. Go over 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 pleased with the interchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced The cost of using professional survey firms to do the opinion gathering work will be considerably more than using those PR folks of yours, who are already in the It?s time to establish a goal calling for 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? It goes without saying that setting your PR goal requires an equally specific strategy that tells you how to get there. Only three strategic options are Here, good writing comes to the fore. You must prepare a persuasive message that will help move your key audience to your way of thinking. 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 At this point, you must select the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. There are many Since the credibility of any message is fragile and always up for grabs, how you communicate is a concern. Which is why you may wish to unveil your Inevitably, the need for a progress report will cause you to begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You?ll A source of comfort for you, should program momentum slow, will be the fact that you can always speed things up by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies. Calling tactical devices just that, avoids confusing them with the broader, more comprehensive mission known as public relations. A mission that allows managers of all stripes to alter individual perception in a way that leads to changed behaviors among key outside audiences, thus insuring the success of that manager?s operation. Like it? Share it!More by this author |