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Atricle Dump - Public Relations' 8 Fix Factors
Absolutely. E-letters should be an integral part of nearly every company’s marketing plan. They are both time and cost effective, reaching all of your clients and as many potential clients as you have permission to solicit via email. I am a huge advocate of e-letters; our company sends one out every month and we receive additional work because of contacts made through our e-letters. Developing e-letters is part of our client services.So why have I recently talked clients out of using e-letters for their businesses? Because e-letters are not a quick fix solution. They should be one tactic in an established marketing strategy.Have a marketing plan If you don’t know where you’re going and what you’ll say when you get there, don’t bother communicating. You need to have your company’s brandin
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception
Patrick, the baby of my extended family, started kindergarten this year. As a graduate of pre-school, we thought he’d be right at home in his new class. But after the very first day, he firmly announced that he wouldn’t be going back to school. When questioned about this decision, he admitted that the teacher was nice enough, and all his friends were glad to see him, but (and to Patrick, this was the deal breaker) there was no naptime.No naptime! In Patrick’s school, 5-year olds are being asked to “pay attention” from 8 am to 3 pm without an opportunity to rest and recharge. Have we learned nothing about educating young children?Which started me thinking about my work . . .I’ve spent the past twenty years helping individuals and organizations thrive on change. Yet, recently, I’v
Which is why I suggest that business, non-profit and association managers embrace what I call PR’s 8 fix factors, those steps necessary to prepare their public relations operation for the battles certain to lie ahead.
The fix factors are based on this fundamental premise: 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.
Fix Factor 1
For starters, I caution Mr/Ms Manager that you may find yourself data-challenged should you be unaware of just HOW most members of that key outside audience perceive your organization.
Has anyone sat down and listed those external audiences whose behaviors could hurt your unit badly? Then prioritized them according to the impacts they have on your operation? A necessary first step in creating the right public relations objective because, while behavior is the goal, and a host of communications tactics are the tools, our strategy is the leverage provided by key audience perception. Sometimes called public opinion.
Fix Factor 2
Lets take a look at the audience you place at the top of your prioritized target audience list. Because there could be negative perceptions out there, someone must interact with members of that audience and ask a number of questions. Do you know anything about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with our people? Have you heard anything good or bad about us or our services and products? Watch respondents closely for hesitant or evasive answers. And stay alert for inaccuracies, rumors, untruths or misconceptions.
Fix Factor 3
Here, fortunately, you have a choice. You and your PR staff can interact with members of that target audience yourselves, which seems appropriate since your PR folks are already in the perception and behavior business. Or, if budget is available, you can hire professional survey counsel to do the work for you.
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception
One of the most important things in a car wash fundraiser is to make sure that you can wash the cars at a pretty good speed otherwise the line will build op and eventually end up in the street. Once cars are parked in the street waiting to get into the car wash fundraiser then you will attract a local police officer who will be upset that you are blocking traffic.This is why it is recommended that you use a pressure washer to wash the cars. You can wash the cars a lot faster with a pressure washer and believe it or not you will save water. Water conservation is important because generally when you do a car wash fundraiser you are using someone else's water to do it because you are in a business district and someone has to pay for that water.A pressure washer uses two thirds less water than a garden
The fix factors are based on this fundamental premise: 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.
Fix Factor 1
For starters, I caution Mr/Ms Manager that you may find yourself data-challenged should you be unaware of just HOW most members of that key outside audience perceive your organization.
Has anyone sat down and listed those external audiences whose behaviors could hurt your unit badly? Then prioritized them according to the impacts they have on your operation? A necessary first step in creating the right public relations objective because, while behavior is the goal, and a host of communications tactics are the tools, our strategy is the leverage provided by key audience perception. Sometimes called public opinion.
Fix Factor 2
Lets take a look at the audience you place at the top of your prioritized target audience list. Because there could be negative perceptions out there, someone must interact with members of that audience and ask a number of questions. Do you know anything about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with our people? Have you heard anything good or bad about us or our services and products? Watch respondents closely for hesitant or evasive answers. And stay alert for inaccuracies, rumors, untruths or misconceptions.
Fix Factor 3
Here, fortunately, you have a choice. You and your PR staff can interact with members of that target audience yourselves, which seems appropriate since your PR folks are already in the perception and behavior business. Or, if budget is available, you can hire professional survey counsel to do the work for you.
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception
As a beginner, you would be forgiven for thinking that marketing is simply advertising your product or service, how wrong you are.Marketing is the art of allowing people to know that your business exists. You could be selling brand new BMW's at $1 each, but if nobody ever got to hear of your amazing deals then nobody could ever buy into the bargain. You would be left, scratching your head, thinking how do those dealers keep selling them?You must get your message out by every method known to mankind. This can be by direct advertisement, by personal contact, by phone, by chat room, by ebook, by viral methods, by contests, by giveaways, by conference, by affiliation, by broadcast, by joint venture, by email, by by by, the list is endless. The subtleties of branding and image all play their vital roles. of that key outside audience perceive your organization.
Has anyone sat down and listed those external audiences whose behaviors could hurt your unit badly? Then prioritized them according to the impacts they have on your operation? A necessary first step in creating the right public relations objective because, while behavior is the goal, and a host of communications tactics are the tools, our strategy is the leverage provided by key audience perception. Sometimes called public opinion.
Fix Factor 2
Lets take a look at the audience you place at the top of your prioritized target audience list. Because there could be negative perceptions out there, someone must interact with members of that audience and ask a number of questions. Do you know anything about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with our people? Have you heard anything good or bad about us or our services and products? Watch respondents closely for hesitant or evasive answers. And stay alert for inaccuracies, rumors, untruths or misconceptions.
Fix Factor 3
Here, fortunately, you have a choice. You and your PR staff can interact with members of that target audience yourselves, which seems appropriate since your PR folks are already in the perception and behavior business. Or, if budget is available, you can hire professional survey counsel to do the work for you.
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception
How well did your communications strategy serve you in the last year? First, look at your business plan. What were your major business goals? Did you reach them? Did you fall short? Think about the outcomes achieved over the last year. What would you like to get more of in next year? What would you like to avoid? On what product or services or in what customer segment did you realize the highest profit margins?Your communications strategy should grow out of your business plan. It should be your strategy to communicate about your products and services to the most desirable customers, most influential business contacts and more symbiotic vendors so that those groups become your allies in reaching your business goals. A good communication strategy helps your business avoid negative publicity and get po
Fix Factor 3
Here, fortunately, you have a choice. You and your PR staff can interact with members of that target audience yourselves, which seems appropriate since your PR folks are already in the perception and behavior business. Or, if budget is available, you can hire professional survey counsel to do the work for you.
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception
What exactly are we trying to accomplish by proving to others that we’re right? We might win the argument but ultimately lose the relationship. Perhaps a better, deeper-rooted question is this: Why do we lose sight of success, of our big objective, when we feel challenged or intimidated?When I prepare to negotiate, provide a service or turn my employees’ talent into performance, I know deep down that if I make people feel valuable they will see my input as having value. But in that moment when they are just hands-down, across-the-board dead wrong, I sometimes can’t stop myself from letting them know how incredibly wrong they are. When that happens, my ability to influence them vaporizes on the spot, and I’m left dealing with the response I created by making them wrong.I think this is the most consisten
What are you hearing during your perception monitoring sessions? Misconceptions that need straightening out? Rumors that should not be allowed to fester? Inaccurate beliefs about your products or services that could drive people away from you? Do you notice other perceptions about your organization that need to be altered?
Fix Factor 4
The responses gathered by this kind of perception monitoring among members of the target audience provides just what you need to establish your public relations goal – the specific perception to be altered.
You might start with a straightforward goal like clearing up that misconception, correcting that inaccuracy or replacing a perceived untruth with the truth.
Fix Factor 5
Now, the right strategy sends the public relations program off to a good start because it shows you how to proceed towards your goal. Luckily, there are just three strategic choices for dealing with matters of opinion and perception. You can create perception/opinion where there may not be any, you can change existing opinion, or you can reinforce it. An effort should be made to match the strategy to the public relations goal you selected. Obviously, if you want to correct a misconception, you would use the strategy that changes existing opinion, not one that reinforces it.
Fix Factor 6
Here, there is a little more work to do in the form of the message that, hopefully, will alter people’s inaccurate perceptions of you and the organization.
Some serious writing is needed here. The corrective message to be communicated to members of the target audience is an opportunity to write something designed to change individual opinion, and that’s a positive experience for any writer.
Clarity is first, followed closely by accuracy and believability. Stick closely to the issue at hand – like that inaccurate belief, misconception or dangerous rumor. A compelling tone is useful because the message must alter what a lot of people believe, and that is a big job. Tryout the message on some colleagues for effectiveness.
Keep in mind that your message must be believable and that rather than delivering it in a high-profile news announcement, you may want to make the message part of another general interest release, presentation or address.
Fix Factor 7
Now you must throw that message to receivers in the end-zone or, continuing this scintillating mixture of metaphors, every bullet needs a gun to fire it at the target. Which brings us to the stable housing our beasts of burden – the communications tactics whose job it is to carry your message to the attention of those key target audience members.
Fortunately, there are many, many such tactics ranging from luncheons, news releases and personal co
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