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Digg it UP - Are You a PR Chowderhead?
Does your company run like clockwork? Are your accountants pleased with how everything moves smoothly? Are your managers content with how customers are managed by your system?If so, watch out! Your present methods, regulations, policies and procedures may be convenient for the company but utterly frustrating for your customers.Customers discover these landmines of dissatisfaction almost by accident, stumbling upon them in the normal course of business. Dedicated customers will speak up and complain. Others will just go away.I am a customer who makes a point of letting companies know when their policies
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your di
Active business networking gets results. But when you are new to networking, either as a start-up business or as a responsibility in your new job, it can be very scary going to a meeting of business people. Here are 9 tips for networking newbies…Make the meeting as easy as possible for yourself:1) Contact the host or organiser, explain you are new to this and would like some help. Ask if you can have a copy of the attendee list BEFORE the meeting.2) When you get the list, check if there is anyone on the list you know; or a business that your company deals with.3) Then check
No slap at communications tactics. They come in real handy at the right time, as noted later in this piece.
But the real public relations opportunity lies with this reality: 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 those people whose behaviors affect the organization, the public relations mission is accomplished.
What it does for you, is put the spotlight where it belongs by delivering the key external audience behaviors you need to help achieve your mission objectives. So look at tactics for what they are -- no substitute for a primary public relations effort.
For example, change perceptions and, thus, behaviors among those important outside audiences of yours, then watch for activity like customers making repeat purchases, capital givers or specifying sources looking your way, prospects starting to do business with you, community leaders seeking you out, organizations proposing strategic alliances and joint ventures, and legislators and political leaders viewing you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.
It just isn’t that hard to do it right.
Check out the PR work underway in your unit for activities like these. Has anyone listed those outside audiences with the greatest impact on your specific operation? Has that list been prioritized according to the severity of those impacts?
Do you have any real idea of how those key target audiences at the top of the list perceive your organization? That’s really important because, as the fundamental premise cited earlier notes, those perceptions inevitably morph into behaviors that can help or hurt achieving your unit objectives.
Of course there’s work involved in pulling this off. You, your colleagues or somebody, must get out there and interact with members of that key target audience.
And ask a lot of questions like “Have you heard of us? Have you had contact with us? Was it satisfactory in all regards?” Of course, all this time you are listening carefully for any negativity while staying alert for evasive or hesitant responses, and especially for untruths, inaccuracies, rumors or misconceptions.
The data you collect, you will use to establish your public relations goal, i.e., the specific perception to be altered, followed by the desired behavior change. In other words, your objective here is to correct those untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and rumors.
But goals are worthless without strategies. Happily you have three of them to choose from: create perception/opinion where there isn’t any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Let your public relations goal point to the obvious choice.
Now you put on your writer’s hat and write a really persuasive bit of prose – the corrective message you will use to create, change or reinforce individual opinion among members of that target audience. Clarity is really important, as is accuracy and believability. The more compelling the message is, the more it helps alter what a lot of people believe, so try hard to “compel” the reader.
Luckily, you have a herd of “beasts of burden” – the communications tactics mentioned earlier – that will carry your “message of inspiration” to the eyes and ears of your target audience.
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your dir
It may be awkward to openly acknowledge it, but every sale is a kind of seduction. As marketers, we make introductions, pursue courtships and hope for consummation – the sale.And as in any love affair, we know that reason plays a subordinate role to emotion. Logical arguments are insufficient – to win a portion of our prospects’ bank accounts, we must win their hearts first. Obviously, “love” is too strong a word for what we pursue. But make no mistake – without that basic appeal to the prospect’s inner harbor of feelings, whether it’s in a consumer or business-to-business pitch – you will not make any progress towar
For example, change perceptions and, thus, behaviors among those important outside audiences of yours, then watch for activity like customers making repeat purchases, capital givers or specifying sources looking your way, prospects starting to do business with you, community leaders seeking you out, organizations proposing strategic alliances and joint ventures, and legislators and political leaders viewing you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.
It just isn’t that hard to do it right.
Check out the PR work underway in your unit for activities like these. Has anyone listed those outside audiences with the greatest impact on your specific operation? Has that list been prioritized according to the severity of those impacts?
Do you have any real idea of how those key target audiences at the top of the list perceive your organization? That’s really important because, as the fundamental premise cited earlier notes, those perceptions inevitably morph into behaviors that can help or hurt achieving your unit objectives.
Of course there’s work involved in pulling this off. You, your colleagues or somebody, must get out there and interact with members of that key target audience.
And ask a lot of questions like “Have you heard of us? Have you had contact with us? Was it satisfactory in all regards?” Of course, all this time you are listening carefully for any negativity while staying alert for evasive or hesitant responses, and especially for untruths, inaccuracies, rumors or misconceptions.
The data you collect, you will use to establish your public relations goal, i.e., the specific perception to be altered, followed by the desired behavior change. In other words, your objective here is to correct those untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and rumors.
But goals are worthless without strategies. Happily you have three of them to choose from: create perception/opinion where there isn’t any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Let your public relations goal point to the obvious choice.
Now you put on your writer’s hat and write a really persuasive bit of prose – the corrective message you will use to create, change or reinforce individual opinion among members of that target audience. Clarity is really important, as is accuracy and believability. The more compelling the message is, the more it helps alter what a lot of people believe, so try hard to “compel” the reader.
Luckily, you have a herd of “beasts of burden” – the communications tactics mentioned earlier – that will carry your “message of inspiration” to the eyes and ears of your target audience.
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your di
Factoring software can be defined as an interacting, continuing, future-oriented structure of equipment and procedure, designed to generate and process information flow that can aid business executives in the management of their programs.Factoring software involves broader and more inclusive activity then, say, research. It includes determining and specifying the data needed, the generation of this information by means of research then the processing of this data. While this is a system concept, research usually deals with fragmented, unrelated research projects, done to solve an existing problem identified by some
Of course there’s work involved in pulling this off. You, your colleagues or somebody, must get out there and interact with members of that key target audience.
And ask a lot of questions like “Have you heard of us? Have you had contact with us? Was it satisfactory in all regards?” Of course, all this time you are listening carefully for any negativity while staying alert for evasive or hesitant responses, and especially for untruths, inaccuracies, rumors or misconceptions.
The data you collect, you will use to establish your public relations goal, i.e., the specific perception to be altered, followed by the desired behavior change. In other words, your objective here is to correct those untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and rumors.
But goals are worthless without strategies. Happily you have three of them to choose from: create perception/opinion where there isn’t any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Let your public relations goal point to the obvious choice.
Now you put on your writer’s hat and write a really persuasive bit of prose – the corrective message you will use to create, change or reinforce individual opinion among members of that target audience. Clarity is really important, as is accuracy and believability. The more compelling the message is, the more it helps alter what a lot of people believe, so try hard to “compel” the reader.
Luckily, you have a herd of “beasts of burden” – the communications tactics mentioned earlier – that will carry your “message of inspiration” to the eyes and ears of your target audience.
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your di
Sometimes a hiring process will include having lunch with the hiring manager. Despite anything said to the contrary (like "It'll just be an informal lunch so we can get to know each other."), this is a formal part of your interview!This can be a very tricky situation.Impressions made in a restaurant are just as important as those in an office or meeting room.If you don't want an "eating mishap" to ruin your chances at a new job (or a promotion if you're dining with the boss), follow these tips:1. Avoid ordering messy foods.This includes long pasta, of course, but also anythin
But goals are worthless without strategies. Happily you have three of them to choose from: create perception/opinion where there isn’t any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Let your public relations goal point to the obvious choice.
Now you put on your writer’s hat and write a really persuasive bit of prose – the corrective message you will use to create, change or reinforce individual opinion among members of that target audience. Clarity is really important, as is accuracy and believability. The more compelling the message is, the more it helps alter what a lot of people believe, so try hard to “compel” the reader.
Luckily, you have a herd of “beasts of burden” – the communications tactics mentioned earlier – that will carry your “message of inspiration” to the eyes and ears of your target audience.
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your di
Has your business ever won an award? If the answer is no, then you are missing out on a fantastic opportunity to promote your business. It’s an opportunity that is low cost (often free), highly visible, presents the business as a leader in its field and gives the media a reason to write about it in a positive way. It can turn your business into a star overnight!It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, there is always at least one annual awards competition. You probably know the one for your industry and you’re probably thinking the same companies win over and over again. But that’s not always beca
The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.
Pretty soon you will ask yourself, “Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?” Assuming you don’t want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you’ll have to remonitor that target audience’s perceptions.
Big difference this time is, you’ll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your direction, AND how likely it is to deliver the behaviors you really want.
That is to say, you have no chance of becoming a chowderhead when you use the fundmental realities of public relations to safely nail down the outside audience behaviors that help you reach your objectives.
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.
Robert A. Kelly © 2003.
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