by Robert
A. Kelly
It's
not unusual for clients of service
providers to insist that their
budget dollars be quickly applied
to a variety of flashy tactics.
Yet, when pressed, many
acknowledge that what they REALLY
want for their money is visible,
end-game change.
This is especially true in public
relations where clients often
second-guess careful plans for
achieving that end-game change by
insisting on premature use of
tactics like news releases,
talk-show appearances and sports
sponsorships.
But obviously, flashy tactics
alone will not satisfy those
clients once they start looking
for a return on their public
relations investment. Because it
is then that it becomes clear,
sometimes painfully, that their
goal MUST be the kind of change in
the behaviors of key stakeholders
that lead directly to achieving
their business objectives. Thus,
it is quality planning, and the
degree of behavioral change it
produces, that eventually captures
client attention, not tactics.
These days, with public relations
budgets in mortal danger from a
softening economy, the old
tactical chats between a client
CEO and public relations counsel
probably sound more like this:
"Do something about those
activists chaining themselves
to our plant gate and yelling that
our emissions go into the river.
It's costing us big money each day
that plant is shut down."
Or, "How are we going to calm
down those Garden Club members
down in the lobby waving around
those cockamamie newspaper reports
and talking to the TV cameras
about the additives we use?
Where'd that reporter get those
numbers, anyway? It's costing us
sales!"
Or, "Please people, what are
you doing to encourage a favorable
Town Council vote on our petition
for that new highway
off-ramp?"
What's
common to each of those rants? The
CEO is asking his public relations
people to modify somebody's
behavior. He doesn't want to talk
tactics, or even strategies. He
wants those activists off his
property, he wants those print and
broadcast reporters to do a
fairer job of reporting on his
production methods (hopefully
getting the Garden Clubbers off
his back), and he wants a real
effort made to move public opinion
in a way that encourages local
officials to approve that badly
needed vehicle ramp.
Modify somebody's behavior, that's
his goal, and that's our job.
Fortunately, the key to our
efforts and our success is the
fact that people really DO act on
their perception of the facts. In
so doing, and in a cumulative way,
they form the very public opinion
that we must now inform.
So, what is our strategy? We're
going to reach those perceptions
with the facts as we know them.
Hopefully, our messages will be
clear and persuasive, and will
change negative or inaccurate
perceptions, then alter behaviors
in our direction.
Using the three examples above,
when the activists become
satisfied with our explanations of
the company's new, public
commitment to correct their
emission problems, we expect the
protesters will leave the plant
gates.
We also believe editorial board
meetings with local newspapers and
television stations will begin to
bear fruit with more balanced
reportage of the company's efforts
to meet emission standards which,
in turn, will reduce negative
public opinion.
And, while our briefing sessions
with town council staff do little
to hasten a formal vote, we
believe a targeted communications
effort will lead to a community
opinion poll showing positive
movement in public, then official
sentiment about the new highway
off-ramp.
In the end, a sound public
relations strategy combined with
effective tactics leads directly
to the bottom line -- perceptions
altered; behaviors modified;
client satisfied.
PR
consultant Bob Kelly was
director of PR for Pepsi-Cola
Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR,
Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News
Shipbuilding; director of
communications, U.S. Department
of the Interior, and deputy
assistant press secretary, The
White House.
bobkelly@TNI.net
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