Here’s a sample of what you’ll be missing if you don’t take public relations seriously.

As a business, non-profit, government agency or association manager, you will miss out on the challenge of assembling the resources and action planning needed to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among your most important outside audiences.

You’ll also miss the thrill of persuading those key folks to your way of thinking, as well as moving them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

Rather, if years of experience are to be believed, you’ll probably find yourself preoccupied by communications tactics like special events, broadcast plugs, press releases and brochures. A shame because you will not be getting the best public relations has to offer.

Those managers taking PR seriously, however, will long since have based their PR program on a fundamental premise like this: 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 usually accomplished.

Fortunately, quality public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences. But to do so, you should remember that your PR effort must require more than special events, news releases and talk show tactics if you are to receive the quality public relations results you deserve.

What kind of end-products, or results, are we talking about? Welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects actually starting to do business with you; capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way; customers beginning to make repeat purchases; membership applications starting to rise; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures showing up; politicians and legislators looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; and other community leaders beginning to seek you out.

Since they are already in the perception and behavior business, your public relations professionals can be of real use for your new opinion monitoring project. But be certain that the PR staff really accepts why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Most important, be sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Because you must monitor and gather perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences, involve your PR people from the outset. Rehearse with them questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the exchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Obviously, involving professional survey people will be considerably more expensive than using those PR folks of yours in that monitoring capacity. But whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Now you set a public relations 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 dead in its tracks?

As one good turn deserves another, setting your PR goal demands an equally specific strategy that shows you how to reach that goal. But only three strategic options are available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like fluffernutter on your Chinese potstickers. So be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You certainly don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

As you know, when you’re dabbling in public relations, you cannot avoid doing some writing, and our current example is no exception. Here, you or your people 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 that key external audience. Select your very best writer because s/he must come up with truly corrective language that is not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

Exactly what will carry your message to the attention of your target audience? Communications tactics, of course. And there are many available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. Just be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Because the credibility of any message is fragile and always subject to interpretation, HOW you communicate is a factor to be considered. Which is why you initially may wish to unveil your corrective message before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

A second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience will seem like a good idea when calls for progress reports are heard. You’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the benchmark session. But now, you will be on strict alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

Because momentum can always slow, it is fortunate that you can speed it up by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

If this reflects your current PR program, it’s probably time to take public relations seriously and begin to change the behaviors of your most important outside audiences, while avoiding a preoccupation with communications tactics. This will allow you to alter individual behaviors within those key groups in a way that leads to behavior change, thus insuring the success of your operation.

end

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 1170 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2006.

Bob Kelly counsels and writes for business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has published over 200 articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations.

mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net

Visit:http://www.PRCommentary.com

Non-news professionals often have a hard time understanding why their ENORMOUS news announcement, creates barely a ripple in the media.

That’s not to say a news release shouldn’t be done about it. There are audiences besides the media - like employees, customers and trade allies - to whom news releases may be sent. But the media is interested in things that are different from the norm. So, generally, bad news gets more play. Let’s examine these six categories to help us better understand what the media wants.

MONEY TALKS - In an age where cash is king, financial matters concerning your company can be big news. Mergers, acquisitions, good or bad earnings reports, new technology that will save or make money, all are good copy. Coverage increases the more you mention amounts and values.

TAKE THE GLOVES OFF - This category has a couple of dimensions. First, is in the arena of controversy.

Whether it’s DOS against LINUX, Cable TV against DISH, or Dial-Up against Broadband, the media loves an argument about which standard is better. If an argument is good, an all out war is better. Ford vs. GM, or Apple vs. IBM - those are the kinds of battles that get an editor’s attention. Don’t be afraid to take sides.

GIVE ME A HUG - Editors even like a good love story. It could be a strategic alliance or an outright merger between two companies. No matter, the media are interested, particularly if there are questions about the cooperative effort’s chance of success.

LEADING EDGE - The rarified air where technological history is made intrigues the media. Show them tangible evidence of how the technology will improve things in the here and now, and they’ll cover the story.

CARRY A BIG STICK - If your name is not GM, Microsoft, or IBM, don’t worry. You can take advantage of a big brand name. Leverage a new agreement, alliance or partnership between you and one of the big boys for your benefit.

CHANGES - Established companies with proprietary methods like the status quo. Shake it up a little with a new system that changes the paradigm and you have the beginnings of a story.

The best stories will include something from each category, and then they will have major media staying power. Rarely does a release get covered if it centers on only one category.

For the business media, focus your efforts on MONEY TALKS and TAKE THE GLOVES OFF categories. Getting trade media coverage typically is a little easier. Although the first two categories will ensure coverage, LEADING EDGE, CARRY A BIG STICK AND CHANGES are good enough for some ink.

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Bray Law Firm, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.

Is there ever a wrong time to try to get free publicity for your company, product, or service?

Oh, yeah.

The "wrong" time isn’t just about bad days of the week, like Monday morning, or bad times of the year, like Christmas Eve.

The wrong time I’m referring to is more internal.

Let’s say you’re almost finished with your web site. It will be up next week, and you’re almost ready to start taking orders. Is that the time to send out a press release? After all, everything will be ready by the time the press release hits. And you do want to get your press release out as early as possible so you can capitalize on the free traffic.

Don’t do it. Do not, under any circumstances, send out a press release before you have everything in place and have tested it at least three times.

Just recently I was going to send out a release about one of my sites, but decided to wait until I’d made a minor change to the report signup form.

That "minor" change threw my entire web site into disarray and it took over five hours to get it back up. This was a live web site. I had to put up a "technical difficulties" note and work non-stop to fix the problem.

Fortunately, I had not sent out the press release, and it was a Sunday evening, New Year’s Day in fact, so traffic was slow, and most people are understanding if you put up a note saying, "It’s 6:31. I know about the problem and I’ll have it fixed tonight. The site still works, it just looks funky."

That is, they’re understanding IF you haven’t just put out a press release stating that your cool new site is ready.

A couple of days is not going to matter in terms of long-term traffic. A big, visible mistake on your web site could matter a lot, if you’re pushing traffic to it with a press release.

Just don’t put out your press release until you’re sure you’re ready. That’s the only right time to send a press release.

Angie Dixon is a professional press release writer. Get a copy of her free report, "Articles: A Dead Marketing Tool?" at http://www.xpressreleases.com.

You do not have to hire a publicist or advertise through a booking service to promote your books on talk radio. My friend Stephen Schochet and I have been scheduling our own radio appearances for several years. Working independently, we have, between us, logged over 1,000 interviews, and we continue to sell our books, CDs, and audiotapes year in and year out.

Our system may not be right for everyone. After all, we are both pretty good amateur publicists. We know how to dangle bait and reel the stations in, and our schedules are fairly flexible. But if you feel comfortable promoting your products, will work harder for yourself than anyone else will, and are well-organized and disciplined, you may want to take advantage of our experience.

Opening Moves

For starters, we work with a comprehensive database of radio shows–one that I research and constantly update–and contact the hosts or the producers directly ourselves. Sometimes we call them. Other times we fax, and sometimes we e-mail them. There is no one magical right or wrong initial approach. Each show operates a little differently, and we often like to mix up the routine.

Regardless of how we make the initial contact, we always follow up. We never assume that the show is not interested if we do not get an immediate response. Hosts, after all, are extremely busy people, and on any given day, they are inundated with pitches from available guests from all over the country.

In fact, we often have to follow up several times. Steve once made as many as 15 calls to one show before he finally got booked. He was told (and he had heard this) that the reason the producer finally called him was precisely because he was so persistent.

Of course, you do not want to become a pest. Again, there are no hard and fast rules about how many times you may have to follow up. My feeling is that if you do not get a response after three or four attempts, just go on to the next show. Be sure to keep good records, though, of when you contacted a particular show and of the names of your contacts there. Chances are that six months or a year from now the host and/or producer will be gone, and you can always try the next host and/or producer.

Materials for a Broader List

When we fax or e-mail, we always provide the hosts with a TV Guide-like capsule description of our books, a list of questions they can ask us, a brief biographical sketch, and information on where the book is available.

I do not want to imply that many talk-show hosts are lazy, but you would be surprised how many times the hosts repeat the information verbatim. Not every host will ask the same questions you provide them, in the exact same order, but many of them will.

We also do not limit ourselves to the top 100 talk shows. Many news shows and drive-time morning shows on oldies, contemporary hits, and even country stations need to fill air space and are looking for interesting guests. These shows are not listed in the more popular media directories, but we have been able to identify them simply by calling the station and talking to the Program Director.

Operating as an Expert

We also get more interviews by positioning ourselves as experts in our fields (in our case, Hollywood) and by offering commentary and anecdotes about topics in the news. For example, even though I promote The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book outside of California, I rarely pitch myself as an expert on L.A. sightseeing. Instead I offer to talk about breaking news stories like Robert Blake’s trial, or the falsification of George Harrison’s death certificate, and tie them in with the other notorious Hollywood scandals and murders that my book covers.

Similarly, after September 11, when talk radio seemed to be "all terrorism, all the time," Steve adapted and continued to get interviews by offering himself as an expert on Hollywood’s response to wars and national crises. He also got Valentine’s Day bookings by offering to talk about Hollywood romances, and bookings in March by talking about the stories and legends behind the Academy Awards. After a celebrity dies, he gets even more interviews by offering to tell anecdotes about that celebrity.

Once we’ve done an interview, we always send a "thank you" note to the host or producer. We also call the station’s receptionist to provide information about the book because listeners who don’t remember or didn’t catch your name or your book’s title may call the station for additional information. The receptionist is the first and very often the only person the listener will ever reach. You’ll want to be sure this radio employee has not only your name and the book title but also your URL and ordering information.

William A. Gordon is the author of "The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book" and the editor of "Gordon’s Radio List," a list of 1,100 locally produced and nationally syndicated radio shows that interview guests. His web site is http://www.radiopublicity.net and he can be reached at info@nrbooks.com. Stephen Schochet is the producer and narrator of the CDs and audiotapes "Tales of Hollywood" and "Fascinating Walt Disney" (http://www.hollywoodstories.org). He can be reached at OrgofHlly@aol.com.

Some would say that a newspaper story isn’t an actual newspaper story unless it appears in the "real" version of the newspaper. That’s just not true. Online publicity is as valuable, and sometimes even more exciting, than traditional publicity. Consider these benefits of online newspaper coverage:

Printed versions of newspapers have a short shelf life. They’re printed, delivered or bought, read, and then discarded. And that’s that. Yes, you can clip your article, photocopy it, and add it to your media kit. But how many of your prospective clients are likely to cut out your article in the event that they, someday, might want to get in touch with you? Online newspapers are archived, and a simple search on a related topic will turn up your article – anywhere, anytime – when the time comes for your prospective client to find you.

A prospective client can cut your article out of a printed newspaper, photocopy it, and mail it to a friend, thus turning your friend into another prospective client. But how much easier is it for one person to send another person a link to your article?

Most daily newspapers are primarily of regional interest. That necessarily means that their subscribers are mostly – not wholly, but mostly – local. So largely people who live in and around, say, the Boston area will see the print version of your Boston Globe article. How many others, though – former Greater Boston residents, relatives of those live or perhaps attend school in Massachusetts, executives who do business in Massachusetts, fans of New England’s sports teams, and so forth – will likely see your article in the online version of the Boston Globe? And how many of these people have the potential to one day need your services or products?

Publicity is publicity, and few people would turn down publicity however they can get it. However, publicity that appears in print venues is here one moment and gone the next, whereas online publicity can endure and even perpetuate itself. An article in an online newspaper might include a hyperlink to your Web site or your blog. That can bring prospective clients directly to you. It might also motivate other Web site and blog owners to include references to the article (as well as the hyperlinks) which can create buzz about you on the Net and improve your visibility in search engines.

Some traditionalists still hold tightly onto their belief that a newspaper isn’t a newspaper unless they can touch it with their fingers, carry it under their arms, unfold it on the train and, presumably, stain their hands while reading it on the way to work. “Let me know when the article really appears,” these old-school thinkers will say, “and don’t taunt me by citing all of the publications that carried the story online but didn’t deem it important enough to include in their print editions.” Their winning argument, they believe, is the fact that they “can’t even get a clipping” of an article that has appeared only online.

These traditionalists are missing the point. Given the benefits of online coverage, an article that appears only online, or online as well as in print, will be of far greater value than one that appears only in print. Each time a newspaper (or a magazine, for that matter) prints your article online, the potential readership for that story increases exponentially. And you still have bragging rights you would have if you’re tallying up your publicity “hits” for your Web site or media kit. A USA Today mention is a USA Today mention whether it happens online, in print, or both.

Copyright C 2006 Stacey J. Miller.

===================================================

Stacey J. Miller, founder of S. J. Miller Communications, is a book promotion specialist who develops winning media strategies for authors and publishers, and coordinates national and regional tours. You can visit her online at http://www.bookpr.com.

Parties, videos, booklets and column plugs?

Or public relations that does something positive and directly about those important outside audiences of yours whose behaviors most affect your operation?

How happy are you — as a business, non-profit or association manager — when you see your PR folks futzing around with special events, brochures, press releases and TV talk show mentions?

Especially at a time when you probably need to create the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives?

What it comes down to is this: are you simply looking for publicity, or do you want public relations that really CAN change individual perception and lead to equally changed stakeholder behaviors that help you get your PR money’s worth?

If that sounds more like it, here’s the roadmap for you: 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.

Here’s where that roadmap can go: customers starting to make repeat purchases; membership applications on the rise; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Do you believe your PR team will accept such a blueprint? Will they show commitment to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring? Fortunately, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project.

What they really need to accept is why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Namely, the reality that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Review your game plan with them, especially details for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. 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 problems with our people or procedures?

You may find that using professional survey firms to do the opinion monitoring work can be costly so, as noted, you may wish to use those PR folks of yours in that capacity since they’re already in the perception and persuasion business. But, whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

At this juncture, you want a PR goal that does something about the most serious distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. It may be to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Or correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially painful rumor cold?

Naturally, without the right strategy to tell you how to proceed, you won’t get there at all, So please remember that you have just three strategic options available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like whipped cream on your barbequed ribs, so be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You wouldn’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

Fact is, it’s always a challenge to create an actionable message that will help persuade an audience to your way of thinking. Nevertheless, you must produce that well-written message and send it to members of your target audience. So you must use your strongest writer because s/he must build some very special, corrective language. Words that are not merely compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you want.

With draft copy in hand, you move on to the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. There are scores available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But you must be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach people like your audience members.

The need for a progress report will crop up about now which is your signal to begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session. But now, you will be on red alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

Please remember that efforts such as these usually can be accelerated simply by adding more communications tactics and increasing their frequencies.

Experience shows that the kind of public relations that will matter most to you will be PR that recognizes that the people you deal with behave like everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Which means you must move rapidly to create the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

end

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 1070 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Here’s a quick description of such a passport: a high- impact, public relations action plan which does something meaningful about the behaviors of those important audiences that most affect your business, non-profit, government agency or association.

It does so by creating the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives; then persuades those key outside folks to your way of thinking by helping move them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

When you need to move a message from here to there, communications tactics can do the job. But that’s pretty much all they can do. Caution: a preoccupation with tactics will certainly deny managers the best that public relations has to offer by diverting their primary attention from the very PR end-products discussed above.

The PR passport relies heavily on this underlying 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 usually accomplished.

Actually, the premise promises that good public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and result in changed behaviors among key outside audiences. But the fact is, you’ll only get there when your PR demands more than news releases, special events and broadcast plugs. Only then will you receive the quality public relations results you deserve.

Let’s take a closer look at the sort of PR end-products you can expect. Capital givers or specifying sources begin to look your way; new prospects actually start to do business with you; politicians and legislators begin looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit, government or association communities; welcome bounces in show room visits occur; community leaders begin to seek you out; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures start showing up; customers begin to make repeat purchases; and membership applications start to rise.

A good first step is to work closely with your public relations professionals on your new opinion monitoring project since they’re already in the perception and behavior business. However, insure that the PR staff actually accepts why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Essentially, be certain they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Reserve the time you need to review plans for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Try out 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 problems with our people or procedures?

Be advised that the use of professional survey firms for the opinion gathering chore, probably will be more expensive than using your PR people in that monitoring capacity. But whether it’s your folks or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Your number one responsibility now is to establish a clearcut and realistic PR goal that calls for action on the most serious problem areas you uncovered during your key audience perception monitoring. You may decide to stop that potentially painful rumor cold. Or straighten out that dangerous misconception? Or correct that gross inaccuracy?

Goal-setting, obviously, requires an equally action-oriented strategy that shows you the path to your new goal. Here, you have just three strategic options available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. Needless to say, the wrong strategy pick will taste like peach Jello in your lentil soup. So be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You certainly don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

Good writing, always at the core of any public relations activity, requires that the best writer on your team prepare a persuasive message that will help move your key audience to your way of thinking. It has to be a carefully-written message targeted directly at your key external audience. Your writer must develop really corrective language that is not merely compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if it is to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

Now you must identify the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. There are many available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure the tactics you select are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Because the WAY in which you communicate makes the credibility of your message suspect, you may wish to unveil your corrective language through smaller meeting presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

To demonstrate results, you may elect to use periodic progress reports. Which will alert you to begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You can use many of the same questions used in the benchmark session. But now, you will be on strict alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

Because in any human activity, things can always slow down, you can always increase momentum by adding more communications tactics and/or increasing their frequencies.

Thus, any passport to public relations success will require that you move beyond tactics, and be free to use the right PR to alter the perceptions of your most important outside audiences, leading directly to achieving your managerial 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. Word count is 1145 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2006.

Bob Kelly counsels and writes for business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has published over 200 articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.PRCommentary.com

There’s good news for public relations execs, marketing professionals and even one-man-band entrepreneurs: journalists are surfing your sites looking for news.

It’s true - while some PR people spend months trying to win over cynical reporters in order to wrangle a company profile or CEO interview (and get nowhere), an army of journalists are proactively hunting for facts, figures and interview candidates.

Now the bad news: these same journalists say most online press rooms suck. Big time. If you’re thinking to yourself: ‘Uh-oh, we don’t have a press room,’ chances are you’re missing out on important media opportunities. If you’re thinking: ‘What’s a press room?’ you need to act fast.

In an ideal world, a press room is a vibrant, constantly updated section of your corporate website including company backgrounders, executive profiles, news releases (with a comprehensive, searchable archive), media mailing list and - perhaps most importantly - clear and concise contact information if journalists need to get in touch.

Want to see a great press room? As usual, Google pulls it off by keeping things nice and simple:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/index.html

If you haven’t got the time or resources to put together a world-class press room like that, here are a couple of strategies that can help you in the short-term. But keep in mind these are suggested as temporary measures - an accessible, professional press room is no longer a luxury for a company that considers itself professional, it’s an absolute necessity.

• Blog It!

Sign up for a blog at one of the big free providers such as Blogger (http://www.blogger.com). These services are template based and you can have their standard layouts look and feel like your own site in a jiffy. To be honest, even if you use the standard template, change the title and give it the odd tweak here and there you’ve still covered the important bases.

Then place a link on your corporate website to the new blog (perhaps label it as ‘News Blog’ or plain old ‘News Room’ or ‘Press Room’) and you’re ready to promote your news. Be sure to include full contact details in the blog’s bio section - remember, journalists are always on one deadline or another and they want your input NOW! If you’re worried about spambots gathering your email address, include them as ‘name <-at-> domain dot com’. If a journalist can’t work that out you probably don’t want to hear from them anyway!

Once your blog is up and running, turn it over to one or two key members of your staff. Have them post news releases - and shorter news updates - to the blog as often as possible. The beauty of this solution is that you get free XML/RSS feeds thrown in via the Blogger engine. If you don’t go for Blogger, be sure to check on XML/RSS feeds before you select a suitable service.

• The Single-Click Press Room

Even if your corporate website is a few pages of plain HTML a friend knocked together as a favour and you’re unwilling to make any drastic changes to it in order to add a press room, you can still provide visitors with a full list of your press releases with the addition of a single link to your main site.

First of all, ensure you’re making full use of one of the free press release distribution services. For the sake of this example I hope nobody objects if I use our own, ClickPress (http://www.clickpress.com).

Enter your company name in quotes as a search term - for example: "Vegetarian Society". Hit search and you will be presented with the results: press releases about or including references to your company. Click on the link below for a live example using "Vegetarian Society":

http://www.clickpress.com/cgi-bin/releases/search.cgi?query=% 22Vegetarian+Society%22

A search for “Your Company” will look something like this:

http://www.clickpress.com/cgi-bin/releases/search.cgi?query=% 22Your +Company%22

Copy that URL (with your own company’s name, of course) and there you have it. Well, almost, you still need to add it to your site. Add a link to the URL, label the link ‘Recent Press Releases’ and every time you add a new press release to the news distribution site it will be included in the dynamic search - you’ve got an automatic, single-click press room.

• Contacts, Contacts, Contacts

Perhaps the most regular criticism made by web-savvy journalists is a lack of media contact info on most corporate sites. If you do nothing else to your site you should add a few lines explaining who journalists should contact at your company and how they should do it.

If you’re worried about spam, encrypt email addresses as explained above or include them as a graphic rather than a hot link. Provide a landline number and explain between what hours someone will be available to take calls (and be sure to include your time zone, unless you’re happy to field calls at three in the morning from a journalist half way around the world).

There are a wealth of additional cost-free additions you could make to your site to make it media friendly (a press release mailing list hosted by Yahoo! Groups or Topica perhaps), so be sure to check out what other companies are doing.

Best place to find them? In the results of a news search engine, because they’re the ones who have probably secured media coverage thanks to a proper press room.

Copyright © 2005 George Hopkin

George Hopkin is a freelance journalist and CEO of ClickPress (http://www.clickpress.com), a free press release distribution service which distributes content to some of the world’s most influential news and web search engines. ClickPress is a propery of Pressventures, a provider of free and fee-based services to PR professionals.

Look out the window! See any external audiences whose behaviors are important to you as a manager, but about whose perceptions of your organization you simply don’t have a clue?

That’s risky because the perceptions of key outside audiences invariably lead to behaviors that can help or hurt a business, a non-profit, a government agency or an association.

Instead, you might think about approaching those key outside folks this way. Try accepting the fact that what you are about to do is something meaningful about the behaviors of those important audiences that MOST affect the organization you manage; create the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives; then follow through by persuading those key outside folks to your way of thinking by helping move them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

A mouthful, but a solid approach to getting the best public relations has to offer, AND measuring the success of this methodology.

Fortunately, it also recognizes that while communications tactics are usually needed to move a message from here to there, it’s not likely that tactics such as special events, press releases, broadcast plugs and brochures can, all by themselves, deliver results like those outlined above.

Again fortunately, in this approach you have the opportunity to base your public relations planning on a high-potential underlying 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 usually accomplished.

What that really says is, good public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and result in changed behaviors among key outside audiences. However, you’ll only get there when your PR demands more than news releases, special events and broadcast plugs. Only then will you receive the quality public relations results you deserve.

No doubt, you wonder just what kind of PR end-products you can expect? A sampling would include welcome bounces in show room visits; community leaders beginning to seek you out; politicians and legislators looking at you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; new prospects actually starting to do business with you; capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures showing up; customers starting to make repeat purchases; and membership applications starting to rise.

Obviously, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business and primed to handle your new opinion monitoring project. Double check, however, that the PR staff really accepts why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Be really certain they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Invest some time in reviewing with your PR staff plans for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Consider asking questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the exchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

The danger in using professional survey firms to do the opinion gathering work, could be the expense. Which might exceed the cost of using those PR folks of yours in that monitoring capacity. But whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Now you should consider establishing a realistic PR goal calling for action on the most serious problem areas you uncovered during your key audience perception monitoring. During this drill, you probably will decide to stop that potentially painful rumor fast. Or straighten out that dangerous misconception. Or correct that gross inaccuracy.

Coincident with setting your goal, will be an equally action-oriented strategy that illustrates how to reach that goal. For better or worse, you have just three strategic options available to you when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. And they are, change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. Of course, the wrong strategy pick will taste like cranberry sauce on your bratwurst. So be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You certainly don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

The best writer on your team must come up with a persuasive message that will help move your key audience to your way of thinking. It has to be a carefully-written message targeted directly at your key external audience. Your writer must use really corrective language that is not merely compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

You’re still not done. You must decide on those communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. There are many available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Caution: the means by which you communicate, that is HOW you communicate, will bear upon the credibility of your fragile and always suspect message. Which is why you may wish to unveil such corrective language before smaller meeting presentations, rather than using higher-profile news releases.

As a measure of PR success, periodic progress reports show how things are going.. Such reports also can demonstrate how resources applied to public relations pay off, while providing a timely alert to begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the benchmark session. But now, you will be on strict alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

This, and most other programs can suffer slowdowns. But you’ll have the option of speeding things up by adding more communications tactics and/or increasing their frequencies.

As it turns out, when managers take control of the public relations being performed on their behalf, the more perceptive tend to move away from dependence on communications tactics and on to a plan for doing something about the behaviors of those important external audiences of theirs that MOST affect their operation.

That’s when they follow through by taking steps to persuade those key outside folks to their way of thinking, then help move them to take actions that allow their department, division, group or subsidiary to succeed.

Clearly, an excellent way to measure PR success.

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 1305 including guidelines and resource box.
Robert A. Kelly © 2006.

Bob Kelly counsels and writes for business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has published over 200 articles on the subject which are listed at EzineArticles.com, click Expert Author, click Robert A. Kelly. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.PRCommentary.com

The wind of changes…

The digital world has changed the form and scope of all communications. The positive aspects of this new world are as overwhelming to interactivity as a truckload of candy is to a three year old. The field of Public Relations is rapidly transforming as well.

PR can bring a human touch to business and, if it is used correctly and effectively, can be that powerful tool bringing you success in all spheres, public and private, commercial and non-profit. Please notice that it is not possible to consider PR as an isolated process, since every act or intervention has a direct effect on a perceptiv market.

Grab the components from your personal marketmix and see if your profile is currently congruent to the basics of the company marketing strategy or trademark policy. To make it move just be out of your mind and pick an activity to trigger the spin-off process. Anything from an ad on the local BBS to actions designed to match and target the market with a performance that will be easy to identify for agents demanding whatever you plan to provide. Combine new ideas even if not evaluated when you are stucked in rigid or predictible behavior which can be obstructive and raise limitations when you approach the position as a confident provider of services and products you wish to expose. /ceteris paribus

Firetail Networks/JF

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