A while ago we got our brand new company domain up from PageRank of 0 to a very healthy PageRank of 5 in under two months?

Yes, we know PageRank doesn’t mean much, except in terms of branding. But it does give some indication of how effective your link-building techniques are. So what was so remarkable about the way we achieved a decent PR in a short time?

It was more the fact that we used very sound techniques to make that happen. No reciprocal links, no link buying, no techniques that could get you banned. Just completely legitimate methods that you can use time and again to build links to your own website.

Why Press Releases?

Among the most effective techniques that helped us build quality links to our website was the use of press releases. In fact, using an optimized press release is such a powerful method of building links that we now recommend it to all our clients.

Just the single press release here helped us build links not only from high-PR press release sites, but also from competitor sites where our news was syndicated. http://www.seoandmore.com/media/press1.htm

Competitor Sites? How Do You Do That?

Well here’s the secret (if you want to call it that). One of the best sites to submit your press release is on PRweb. Using the $80 option, you can get your release syndicated through Yahoo! News so that it gets picked up and syndicated on a lot of other sites related to your theme or topic.

Result: You can get up to hundreds of theme-relevant links pointing back to your site in just a few hours after your press release has been syndicated. Many of these sites could be your competitors.

Imagine having your competitors working to build links to you. What more effective link-building tactic could there possibly be?

Of course, once your link on Yahoo! News vanishes, your link popularity (and PageRank) could drop. But that didn’t happen to us, because we recommend that you always build redundancy into your link campaigns. So we use article marketing and directory submissions to continue to build quality links to our sites.

Why The New Google Loves Press Releases

One of Google’s recent patents states that it intends to monitor news stories, an indication that the new Google gives more weight to stories and links appearing on news sites.

But building quality links to your site is only one of the benefits of using press releases. They are an effective tool to use in an online PR campaign and have benefits that reach far beyond boosting search engine rankings.

A well-written optimized press release can.

· Create publicity for your company

· Draw attention to new products and promotions

· Get you in the news for the right reasons

· Boost visibility in your industry

· Boost your reach and influence among your target audience

Some marketers are touting press releases as the new “blog and ping” alternative to getting indexed in the search engines? We wouldn’t go so far as to call them that.

But if your business could benefit from the right kind of links and online visibility, press releases may be just the tool your organisation needs.

Priya Shah is a partner in the search engine optimization firm, SEO & More and writes an online marketing blog

Everything, that is, if you ignore those folks whose behaviors have the greatest effect on your business.

What those people see and believe about your enterprise, pretty well determines what their follow-on behaviors will be - for example, do business with you, or move on to someone else.

Is that what you want? Of course not. So let’s do something about it.

While I recognize that there are other factors bearing on the success of your business, this one is simply too important, and its impact too severe and too immediate, to ignore.

You get this airplane off the ground by listing your top outside audiences who, when they like you OR ignore you, you feel it.

In other words, they are groups of people important to you whom we refer to as target audiences or target publics. The one MOST important to you, we call your key target audience. And that’s why you must list them in priority order so you know where you really need to direct your resources.

How do you determine who thinks what about you? Sounds like work, but you must continually monitor that key target audience (and probably others). Are you bothered by what they tell you? Is there a perception problem? If there is, we know it usually turns into a behavior problem, so something must be done about it now, at the perception stage.

What you’ve just done is establish your public relations goal - a specific behavior flowing from an equally specific perception, which we’ll work on creating starting right now.

Now that you’ve got a public relations goal, you need a public relations strategy. Lucky for you (and for all of us), there are only three possible strategies. Create opinion among that target audience where there may be none, change existing opinion, or reinforce it. We’ve picked "create" so let’s proceed.

With your goal and strategy in hand, you begin thinking "messages." And I mean persuasive messages carefully designed to deal with that perception problem you discovered when you interacted with your key target audience. Keep your message focused on correcting that perception problem, and keep it believable and credible. Try it out on a few colleagues to see it if really is persuasive.

Now you need a few "beasts of burden," communications tactics whose job it is to carry those persuasive messages directly to the attention of the folks who make up that key target audience of yours.

And there are tons of them from trade show appearances, awards programs and news releases to speeches, brochures, radio interviews and face-to-face meetings.

Well, here we are again at the monitoring stage. At the start of the program, you monitored the feelings and perceptions of your key target audience so that you could identify the problem and set your public relations goal and strategy.

Now, you monitor all over again to see what kind of progress you made. Specifically, you want to know how many individuals received the message, through what tactics, and how many are aware of your messages’ actual content. Also gives you a chance to make mid-course corrections by adjusting both message content and your mix of communications tactics.

Keep the faith! As time goes by, you’ll begin noticing signs of awareness of your business, and a growing receptiveness to what you have to say. The bottom line, of course, will be welcome indications that the behaviors you have sought to modify in your direction are, in fact, doing just that.

In public relations, that spells 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.

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 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.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

There is a widespread, but unacknowledged epidemic sweeping the country. It’s called Press Release Addiction or PRA. Those suffering from PRA usually display the following symptoms:

* An overwhelming compulsion to distribute a press release — no matter how newsworthy it is.

* Little understanding of how the media consumes information.

* An expectation that every press release will receive significant media coverage.

Fortunately, there are two cures for individuals and organizations suffering from PRA: knowledge and restraint.

The First Rx For PRA: Knowledge

The keys to successfully interacting with the media are understanding their environment, needs and how they use information.

The Environment: Media work in a high-pressure environment. They are responsible for quickly developing well-researched and well-written articles. In addition, they must contend with countless e-mails and phone calls from their sources, editors and people seeking publicity.

The Media’s Needs: Giving the media with what they need is the best way to capture their attention and goodwill. Provide them with relevant information and resources (e.g., spokespersons, reference information) that will help them do their job. Bombarding them with irrelevant press releases and follow-up phone calls only annoys them.

How the Media Uses Information: Recognize that the media use information in a variety of ways — even when it is useful. Sometimes a reporter will include information about your product or service in a story quickly. Other times, they may decide to use the information in a future story to provide readers with context or alternatives. Remember, coverage is valuable . . . whenever it appears.

Think about the environment, requirements and habits of the media when deciding whether to distribute a news release. It will help you to increase the odds that your information will be used.

The Second Rx For PRA: Restraint

Before sending out a press release, ask yourself a simple question: Why will anyone care about this information? This question is important, because reporters ask it everyday. The fact is if a reporter concludes that their readers won’t care about your information, they won’t use it.

Some reasons reporters may ignore a press release include:

* The information is not newsworthy (e.g., not enough people will be affected by the news or it is not local).

* The information is not relevant to the reporter (i.e., the reporter does not cover the topic or industry your release focuses on).

* The information is not material (e.g., it is not of enough import to significantly influence the organization’s profits or revenues).

Before putting together a press release, think about whether it would be better to deliver information to your stakeholders another way. For example, sending an e- mail to a carefully selected group of constituents with the news may be just as effective.

Establishing good relationships with the media is critical. Understanding the media’s needs and providing them with high-value information will earn journalists’ good will and attention. Be sure that the press releases you distribute are relevant and newsworthy to increase the odds that media will cover your product or service.

(c) 2005 Fard Johnmar

Fard Johnmar is founder of Envision Solutions, L.L.C., a full-service healthcare marketing communications consulting firm. Envision Solutions provides innovative products and services to not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. Envision Solutions’ goal is to make our clients more efficient and successful. For more information about Envision Solutions please visit our Web site

Obviously, it hurts when a promising business project you backed financially goes down the tube.

But while you point to many possible causes, seldom do you attribute the wreckage to a lack of effective communications that might have modified the behavior of sales prospects in a positive way, thus averting a money-losing shutdown.

Is it not possible, Mr. or Ms. Venture Capitalist, that aggressive publicity and promotion might salvage the occasional, marginal investment?

I believe it could, so here is a suggestion.

Make it standard operating procedure, starting with your next venture, (a minor cost compared to your investment) that any project you back MUST include an adequately funded, top-notch plan to aggressively publicize the venture.

Here’s why. In public relations, we know people will act on their perception of the facts before them about your new venture. Further, we know that those perceptions will lead to predictable behaviors, good or bad, about which something can be done.

So when we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those folks whose behaviors affect your new venture, your public relations effort is a success.

I know you have startup worries beyond public relations concerns, but consider for a moment some very serious PR exposures faced by that new venture of yours, and especially by the new management you recently installed.

If sales prospects are not made aware of your product or service, you will not get them as customers. And, as customers, if they don’t remain convinced of the value of your product or service, you lose them.

If employees believe your new management doesn’t care about them, productivity suffers, and if a minority person believes your new venture discriminates when it doesn’t, a host of unnecessary problems may ensue.

For that matter, if community residents perceive your new business as a lousy place to work, you have employee hiring and retention problems. And if insurance carriers perceive your new management as a bad risk, they don’t provide the needed business coverage.

There’s more. If journalists are suspicious of your new management’s motives and they are not convinced otherwise, the venture gets "bad press." And if business people believe what some competitors say about the new business, that strategic alliance your managers want so badly may not come about. Plus, as you grow bigger, if government regulators believe the venture’s products are not completely safe, sales will almost certainly be negatively affected.

By the way, this article calls addressing these kinds of risks a new idea for venture capitalists because I’ve yet to see it discussed or even mentioned in the public press.

Fortunately, you can put the kind of PR we’re discussing to work immediately on behalf of your newest venture by introducing the new program to its managers with a brief, no-nonsense charter. Possibly along the lines of "yes, yes, I know you’re very busy but it’s our money on the line here and we’re going to do everything possible to make it work!"

From that might flow these "marching orders" to your managers.

You will take the time to meet with members of your most important audiences and evaluate their feelings and beliefs about you and the business.

You commit to take action when you discover troubling perceptions that could lead to negative behaviors.

You accept that what people BELIEVE to be true, versus the truth, defines your public relations problem.

You will raise your profile, and that of the business, by regularly speaking before business and fraternal clubs, by meeting with the media and by promoting your business as appropriate, thus building the kind of good will you will need should things go awry.

You will prepare carefully thought out, persuasive messages that directly address the misconceptions you discover during your periodic fact finding sessions.

You will select effective communications tactics that will carry those messages to your key audiences in a timely manner. And you will choose from a wide array of tactics such as meetings, speeches, luncheons, facility tours, promotional events, emails, media interviews and many more.

And finally, you will track the progress of your public relations effort by speaking regularly with members of those key audiences, and monitoring both the media and the reaction of community residents and other businesses, adjusting your strategy and tactics accordingly.

Yes, Mr. or Ms. Venture Capitalist, it does hurt when a promising project you backed goes down the tube.

Of course, you are, and must be concerned with a host of financial, human resource, legal and competitive issues for each new venture.

At the same time, in my view, you must remain vigilant as to how a single issue - potentially dangerous, unattended perceptions among a key audience — can nudge a fledgling business closer to failure than success.

Fortunately, the "marching orders" outlined above will lead your venture management team to resolve such issues without a major investment in either time or money.

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 © 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 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.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

The spotlights! The Cameras! The Questions… all pointed at you!!! Are you ready?

This is what I dealt with recently when I was on the plane that had the shooting in Miami on the way to Orlando. I was the one who alerted the media within minutes of the shooting since I had been at the NBC Station in Miami that morning. When I realized that we were out of harm’s way, I called my husband and told him that there was a shooting and that I was ok. Next, I called the NBC station;

“This is Mary Gardner. (Pause) I was on your show this morning. (Pause) I am on American Flight 924 (Pause) And there’s been a shooting. (Pause)”

The answer over the phone went like this: “WE’RE GOING LIVE.” “Mary, are you willing to go live right now”?

“Yes… I’ll go live”

And that was how it happened. From that moment on, I was reporting after we got off plane and I was borrowing people’s cell phones. I called and gave constant updates when I was allowed to use the pay phones. My own cell phone was dead so I couldn’t use that and I had to call my husband to get our calling card number before I could use the pay phone.

As a result of my reporting, I ended up on Nightline, MSNBC, The Today Show, FOX, Geraldo, The Early Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and several other radio and TV shows.

I was living on 2 hours sleep for 2 days in a row, but I knew that this was my chance to be clear, concise, and report exactly what I saw. I was calm and responded to every question that came my way and every interview that was requested.

Here is how I’d coach others to deal with the INSTANT SPOTLIGHT:

1. Realize that your day in the sun will come. Prepare mentally for it by not shying away from cameras. When you see any type of camera pointed at you in your life, look in the eye of the camera and be focused. Whether you are smiling or talking, be clear about your intentions. This will prepare you for the REAL DEAL. Besides, you’ll learn to give good film!

2. Practice in the mirror. When you are getting ready in the morning, talk to yourself about the day you’re anticipating. If you’re dealing with a stressful situation, talk to yourself of how you’d like the issue resolved. Talk out loud and speak to yourself clearly. This way, you’re dealing with stress in the moment, and the more you practice, the more you’ll be ready for the moment you’re supposed to shine!

3. Realize it is NOT about YOU. The media could care less about what YOU do or who you are, only that you’re a credible person. Even if you’re brought in as a witness, their main concern is that you’re credible and that you’re well spoken. They wouldn’t book you if you’re not credible, so of course, work hard becoming an expert at your profession so you’ll have the credibility.

4. If and when a media frenzy happens to you: BE AVAILABLE. Return every call, take every interview. You can sleep later. I actually had someone else handle all of my calls while I caught an hour of sleep at a FOX studio during the day. They booked my interviews while I slept.

5. Be accessible. All of the producers found my CELL PHONE number on the internet. I was an easy interview. For me, since I work virtually, it was the best solution. Once my cell phone was clogged, my friends at ABC Network tracked down my husband’s cell phone from friends in NYC. He handled my calls and I called my friend who works at ABC in NYC who got me to commit to ABC first before any other network. Since he was my friend, I was happy to do that.

6. Establish ties and friends in the media. If you’re someone whose career is going to be highlighted at some point now or in the future, it’s best to have friends on the inside. My friends include directors, editors, producers, GM’s, Executive producers, writers, on air talent, anchors, publicists and casting professionals. When I need to know something, or meet someone, I make a few calls and usually can find the right person or gather the right information!

7. Relax and enjoy the ride. If you understand that your day will come, and are ready for it, you will be comfortable. Being STILL and thinking clearly for each interview takes time to perfect. Not letting the adrenaline take over in a moment like that takes practice. Sitting still with the IFP in your ear and looking right in the camera can be intimidating, but if you’ve been practicing it for years in your mirror and at home, it can just be a walk in the park!

I’m confident that the media windfall for me was a situation of being at the right place at the right time. I’ve reviewed the tapes over and over and my main concern was not only that I represented the story correctly and fairly but that I was compassionate towards the family who lost their husband, brother, and important family member. I reviewed to see if I brought my faith into the ordeal and whether or not I relayed information that would help give people support. I reviewed the tapes to see if I praised American Airlines for the way they handled the situation since they were so responsive and helpful.

At this point, I’m collecting tapes and keeping them for my archives. It’s an expensive process but well worth the cost.

And, of course, if you think that this might happen to you, you might consider hiring a coach or consultant to get you ready! You just never know… you could be next!

Mary Gardner is an executive communications consultant and lifestyles coach. She was recently on the plane that had the shooting by the air marshall. She can be found at http://www.marygardner.com

Really? You mean there are NO perceptions and behaviors peculiar to that company’s outside audiences that would help or hinder it in the pursuit of its objectives?

Wow! I need to know more about a company that can ignore what its key external publics perceive about the company AND how they behave. I need to know how such a company can disregard serious negative behaviors by people who make up an influential external audience, and still reach its business objectives!

In fact, it would have to be a miracle! I don’t buy it because it defies logic!

The business world doesn’t believe that’s possible either because it needs public relations big time, and they show it every day.

How? By staying in touch with their prime external publics and carefully monitoring their perceptions about the company, their feelings about any current topic at issue, AND the behaviors that inevitably follow.

Possibly there is an angle here for your business.

Now, with what has been learned about that audience’s feelings and beliefs, the public relations goal, corrective if needed - for example, a specific behavior change — can be established.

Which then requires that a strategy be identified. There are just three choices here, create opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

It’s a logical sequence. With the strategy now set, we need persuasive messages with a good chance of moving perceptions (and thus behaviors) in the organization’s direction. And we make sure the messages talk not only to the current topic at issue, but any misconceptions encountered during our information gathering, and to any problems that might be brewing.

What will we do with our new messages? We’ll carry them to the attention of our priority audience. We’ll use communications tactics that are credible in the eyes of the receiver, effective in reaching him or her. We’ll also want tactics that stand a good chance of moving opinion in that target audience, on the topic at issue, in the direction of the industry’s position..

Fortunately, there are dozens of communications tactics to choose from: newsworthy announcements, letters-to-the-editor, news releases, radio and newspaper interviews, brochures, speeches and on and on.

At this point, we’re back to the monitoring mode as we interact once again with members of the key target audience. With our communications tactics hammering away, we keep one eye peeled for signs of target audience opinion shifts in the industry’s direction. The other eye, (and ears) stay alert for any references by print and broadcast media, or other local thoughtleaders, to our carefully prepared messages.

Our bottom line is, are perceptions and behaviors within the target audience being modified? If not, adjustments to both message and communications tactics - often a big increase in, and wider selection of tactics — must be made.

Gradually, you’ll begin to notice changes in opinion starting to appear along with a growing receptiveness to those messages of yours. This is real progress.

Should you still need encouragement to hang in there with your brand new public relations program, consider this. A single issue - for example, a potentially dangerous, unattended perception among a key audience — can spread like wildfire nudging any business closer to failure than success.

Now, don’t you feel better about public relations?

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 © 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 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.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

By delivering a body blow to their operation when business, non-profit, government agency or association managers, with public relations reporting to them, overlook assembling the PR resources and action planning needed to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among their most important outside audiences.

Those managers’ guilt worsens when they compound matters by failing to persuade those key external audience members to their way of thinking, and then overlook moving them to take actions that allow their department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.

What such managers often have in common is a single- minded preoccupation with simple tactics like press releases, broadcast plugs, special events and brochures, which denies them the best that public relations has to offer.

On the other hand, approaching a public relations challenge as outlined in the paragraphs above, means you, as manager, are doing something positive about the behaviors of the very outside audiences of yours that MOST affect your operation. It is then that PR creates the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your most important managerial objectives.

But managers need a public relations game plan if they are to get all their team members and organizational colleagues working towards the same external stakeholder behaviors.

While PR blueprints do vary, here’s one that can keep a manager’s public relations effort, as they say, “on message:” 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.

Since “results usually tell the tale,” this is what a manager might expect when he or she approaches PR this way: improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies; a rebound in showroom visits; membership applications on the rise; new thoughtleader and special event contacts; capital givers or specifying sources looking your way; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; fresh community service and sponsorship opportunities; prospects starting to work with you; customers making repeat purchases; and even stronger relationships with the educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities.

The public relations people reporting to you are of the utmost importance. But, who will you use? Your regular public relations staff? People assigned to you from above? Or could it be PR agency staff? Regardless, they must be committed to you as the senior project manager, and to the PR blueprint starting with key audience perception monitoring.

Once the right specialists are aboard, satisfy yourself that team members really believe that it’s crucially important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Be certain they buy the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Sit down with your PR troops and go over the blueprint with them, in particular your plan 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 exchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

The use of professional survey counsel for the perception monitoring phases of your program is always an option. But your PR people are also in the perception and behavior business and can pursue the same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

To go further, you must set down your public relations goal from which you can do something about the most serious distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. The new public relations goal might call for straightening out that dangerous misconception, or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or stopping that potentially fatal rumor.

Of course, you need a solid strategy to achieve success, one that clearly indicates to you and the PR staff how to proceed. But do keep in mind that there are just three strategic options available to you when it comes to handling a perception and opinion challenge. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like sea salt on your Lingonberry pie. So, be certain the new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. It goes without saying that you don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

Time to sit down at your computer to prepare and share a powerful corrective message with members of your target audience. But persuading an audience to your way of thinking is no easy task. Which is why your PR folks must come up with words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual. Only in this way will you be able to correct a perception by shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading to the behaviors you are targeting.

Bring your communications specialists into the planning cycle and, together, decide if your message’s impact and persuasiveness measure up. Then select the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens of available tactics. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure that the those you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

This is when you might want to unveil the message before smaller gatherings rather than using higher- profile tactics such as news releases. Reason is, the credibility of the message itself can actually depend on the perception of its delivery method.

Using progress reports might occur to someone at this point, which should lead your PR team to return to the field and start work on a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. In all probability, you’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session. Only this time, you will be watching very carefully for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

While things can always slow down, you can then accelerate matters with more communications tactics and increased frequencies.

But now is the time to move beyond tactics like special events, brochures, broadcast plugs and press releases to achieve the very best public relations has to offer.

Thus, the bottom line for managers wishing to avoid death-by-bad-PR is this: the right public relations can alter the individual perception among your key external audiences leading to changed behaviors which, in turn, lead 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 1285 including guidelines and resource box.
Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

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

When times are tough, it’s no time to ignore those external audiences whose behaviors matter so much to your organization.

In your own best interest, are you seeing to their care and feeding? I mean, if a certain group of outsiders behaves in ways that really help or hinder your operations, they do rate your attention, right?

Of course they do! That’s why we call them key target audiences, or publics. Either way, what they think about you, then how they behave, can support or derail the best laid plans.

Why take any chances?

Make a list of those important external audiences and put them in priority order. Then pick #1 and let’s go to work.

Since it’s their perceptions that lead to behaviors, you must get inside their heads. That means monitoring members of that key audience and asking lots of questions to determine what they think about you and your operation.

Watch for rumors. And for negativity. Misconceptions and misunderstandings involving your products, services and pricing should be pursued in those conversations.

With that kind of data in hand, you are able to establish the public relations goal. Namely, correct that misconception, or neutralize that rumor, or clarify that fuzziness about your services.

Goals are certainly necessary, but they need a strategy that shows HOW you will alter those worrisome perceptions. In this business, we have just three possible strategies: create opinion (perceptions) where none exist, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

Obviously, you will select the strategy that leads directly to achieving your public relations goal.

Now the tough part. What will you communicate to members of your #1 target audience? Your message is key to the success of your public relations effort.

It must be clear as crystal as to what needs to be clarified or neutralized. It must be obvious that the message is truthful, authoritative and compelling. In short, it must deliver a specific message about what is being corrected.

What do you do with the message? As with a bullet in a rifle, you pull the trigger. Or, to mix metaphors, you call in the "beasts of burden," communications tactics, to carry your message directly to members of that key target audience.

You’re fortunate that there are piles of communications tactics just waiting for you - the Internet, broadcast appearances, press releases, brochures, seminars, personal meetings, special events, emailings, and on and on.

Sooner rather than later, you’re going to want some signs that your public relations program is working. And that means Remonitoring that target audience, again asking lots of questions and seeking evidence that a misconception has been corrected, an inaccuracy cleared up, or a rumor explained away.

If that is the result of your REmonitoring drill, your public relations program has succeeded.

Should your remonitoring not yield those results, you will need to adjust your communications tactics to produce a broader mix of "weapons" going against that audience. You may also decide to increase the frequencies of your tactics. Your message, of course, must be reevaluated for clarity, emphases and factual support.

Handling public relations this way, you’re moving in the right direction because you’re mobilizing your most important external audiences in support of YOUR goals and 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 © 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 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.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

So you’ve decided that getting your name out there is going to be one of your major goals for the New Year. But how do you do that on a limited budget?

That’s where publicity comes in. And you can do it. It just takes time – and a plan. Here are the seven basic steps to creating a plan:

1) Decide who your target market(s) is. There may be more than one, but your target market is not everyone. A good way to find out is look at who currently buys your product or service and create a profile of them.

2)Write down three strategies you will use for each market. They can include:
Speaking/workshops
Press releases
Articles
Ezines or print newsletter
Letters to the editor
Postcards
Networking events
Blogging
Podcasting

3) Set a measurable goal for each strategy. How many speaking engagements do you want each quarter? How many releases will you send out each month?

4)Write down several topics or themes. Create at least one for every goal you set.

5) Learn how to do each of the strategies by researching. There are hundreds of articles and tips on each PR strategy on the web. All will help you implement your plan better.

6) Schedule time each week to work on your goals and strategies. Research shows that a small business needs to spend about 20% of its time marketing. And if you’re a new business it’s more like 50%.

7) Evaluate every 3 months to see how you’re doing. You may find that some strategies aren’t working well, and others are really paying off. This way you can discard what ineffective and change your focus, if you need to.

Businesses that want a leg up on their competition need to focus on boosting their public relations efforts. This keeps them from going under when the economy is weak, and gets them ahead of their competitors when sales start picking up. With a New Year approaching, now is the perfect time to get a fresh start on your PR planning.

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to be heard. Subscribe today for Be Heard! a FREE biweekly ezine and get a FREE special report. Go to: http://www.cherrycommunications.com/FreeReport.htm

Don’t let yourself be diverted by communications tactics playtime. You know, straying from the main Public relations game plan by juggling a press release against a radio interview, or a brochure against an op-ed.

Those "beasts of burden" who will carry your message to you target audiences will come in handy at the right time.

For you, the main public relations consideration must be attracting the support of those external audiences whose behaviors have the most effect on your enterprise. But you must do it by first achieving the positive changes you need in their perceptions and, thus, behaviors.

You get both using this strategic approach to public relations which means your chances of achieving your organizational objectives are clearly enhanced.

It all starts with the fundamental premise of public relations shown just below.

"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."

The core strength of those comments lies in the behavior changes that can take place among your key, outside audiences. When those changes occur - and the combined perceptions of members of that important external "public" begin to move in your direction - it can spell public relations success.

For instance, with a strong factual basis, you convince area activists gathering at your plant gate that (1) you don’t dump chemicals into the river, and (2) both State and Federal investigations found that to be true. When they finally clear out, you’ve limited the damage an expensive and long-lasting disruption could have caused. That saved the organization cold, hard cash!

What happened? You managed to change the perception of those activists which, predictably, led to the change in their behavior that you desired. In other words, a successful use of public relations’ fundamental premise.

While public relations can bring real power to bear, and while there’s a well-worn path leading to each success, truth is, you can’t change perceptions, and thus behaviors of your important outside audiences if you are not in touch with them on a regular and meaningful basis.

That’s why it’s so important to interact with members of each target audience, and ask questions. What do you think of our services, our programs, or our products? Are you satisfied? Listen carefully for signs of a misconception or a factual inaccuracy. Is there a belief alive out there that simply isn’t true? Do you detect a hurtful rumor that must be squashed?

The answers you receive let you establish your public relations goal. For example, correct that inaccuracy, clear up that misconception, or get out the facts in order to neutralize that rumor.

But how will you actually reach that goal? With a clear and urgent strategy.

Fortunately, in dealing with perception/opinion, we have just three options available to us. Create perception/opinion where there is none, change existing perception, or reinforce it.

The goal you established will quickly tell you which strategy choice you must make.

But, of course, what you say to that target audience, in pursuit of your public relations goal, is crucial. Your message must be persuasive, compelling and clear as a mountain stream. It also must be credible and believable, which means truthful in all detail. It should also address the particular inaccuracy, misconception or rumor head on and not allow room for any further misunderstandings.

Now, how do you get that carefully chiseled message to the attention of members of that key, target audience? I still call them "beasts of burden" because they carry messages from Point A to Point B. Communications tactics are the answer, and you have a huge selection from which to choose. Everything from open houses, contests, news releases and speeches to brochures, community briefings, letters-to-the- editor, emails, radio/TV and newspaper interviews, and lots more.

Sooner rather than later, you will wonder whether you’re making any progress. And the only realistic way to nail that down is to go back to members of that target audience again and ask them the same questions all over again.

The big difference this time around is, you’re looking for signs that opinion/perceptions have begun to change in your direction. By that I mean clear indications that the miscon- ception is clearing up, or the inaccuracy has been corrected, or that a negative impression is slowly turning around.

Truth is, that’s when this strategic, and powerful approach to public relations - supported by appropriate tactical firepower - delivers the altered perceptions and modified behaviors promised in the fundamental premise of public relations.

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 © 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 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.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net