The Worst PR Mistakes

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Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

The Worst PR Mistakes

For a business, non-profit or association manager, they
could be fatal, coming as they do in four bitter flavors.

Mistake #1 – You limit your PR activity pretty much to
placing product and service plugs on radio and in
newspapers.

Mistake #2 – You fail to embrace the kind of PR plan that
persuades those important outside audiences to your way of
thinking, then moves them to take actions that help your
department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Mistake #3 -- You fail to use the high-impact, fundamental
premise of public relations to deliver external stakeholder
behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving
your managerial objectives.

Mistake #4 -- you fail to get the creative potential of your
assigned PR team or agency which you need to positively
impact the behaviors of the very outside audiences that
MOST affect your unit.

Here’s one way to reverse that hurtful process. Take a look
at this fundamental public relations blueprint. 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.

Such a blueprint will broaden your public relations field
of fire and put its primary focus where it belongs, on your
unit’s key external stakeholder behaviors.

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

Before you begin such a makeover, make certain the
public relations people assigned to your unit really believe
– deep down -- why it’s SO important to know how your
most important outside audiences perceive your operations,
products or services. Make sure they accept the reality that
perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help
or hurt your unit.

Sit down with them and discuss 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 chief executive? Have you had
prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange?
How much do you know about our services or products and
employees? Have you experienced problems with our people
or procedures?

Luckily for you, your PR people are in the perception and
behavior business to begin with, so they can really do a job
for you on this crucially important opinion monitoring project.
Professional survey firms are always available, but they can
be very expensive. Nevertheless, whether it’s your people or
a survey firm asking the questions, your objective is to identify
untruths if not outright lies, false assumptions, unfounded
rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions .

Then you must carefully select which of the above
aberrations becomes your corrective public relations goal –
clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the
false assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.

Selecting the wrong strategy to show you how to reach
your goal is like eating corned beef and cabbage without
the horseradish mustard and potatoes. Fact is, you can
achieve your PR goal by picking the right strategy from
the three choices available to you, change existing perception,
create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it.
But be sure your new strategy dovetails nicely with that new
public relations goal.

But what will you say when you finally get the opportunity
to address your key stakeholder audience that will help
persuade them to your way of thinking?

Select your best writer to prepare the message because s/he
must put together some very special, corrective language.
Words that are 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.

Happily, the next step is easy. You select communications
tactics to carry your message to the attention of your target
audience. Making certain that the tactics you select have a
record of reaching folks like your audience members, you
can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches,
facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings,
media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many
others.

Experience shows that HOW one communicates often affects
the credibility of the message. So, you may wish to deliver it
in small getogethers like meetings and presentations rather
than through a higher-profile media announcement.

Time to look for signs of progress. And that means a second
perception monitoring session with members of your external
audience. Employing many of the same questions used in the
first benchmark session, you will now be watching carefully
for signs that the offending perception is being altered in your
direction.

Aren’t we fortunate that these matters usually can be
accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well
as increasing their frequencies.

This workable public relations blueprint will help you
persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your
way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads
to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.

The people you deal with behave like everyone else – they act
upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and
your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly
and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is
necessary to reach and move those key external audiences to
action.

end