Public relation is a management function that helps achives organizational objectives, define philosophy and facilitate organizational change. Public relatios practitioners communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationship and to create concistency between organizational goals and societal expectations. Public relations pratitioners develop, execute and evaluate organizational programs that promote the exchange of influence and understanding among an organization’s constituent parts and publics (Otin Baskin, et.al, 1997:5).
(PR adalah fungsi manajemen yang membantu meraih tujuan organisasi, merumuskan filosofi dan memperantarai perubahan organisasi. Praktisi PR berkomunikasi dengan seluruh publik internal dan eksternal yang terkait untuk membangun hubungan positrif dan untuk menciptakan konsistensi antara tujuan organisasi dan harapan masyarakat. Praktisi PR mengembangkan, melaksnakan dan mengevaluasi program organisasi dengan mendorong pertukaran pengaruh dan pengertian antara bagian-bagian pokok dan publik organisasi)
Public relations is the continuing process by which management endeavors to obtains goodwill and understanding of its customers, its employees and the public at large, inwardly through self analysis and corrections, ourwardly through all means of expressions (J.C. Seidel)
(PR adalah proses yang kontinyu dari usaha-usaha manajemen untik memperoleh itikad baik dan pengerrrtian dari langganannya, pegawainya dan public umumnya;kedalam dengan mengadakan analisa dan perbaikan terhadap diri sendiri, keluar dengan mengadakan pernyataan-pernyataan)
Public relations is the continued process of keying policies, services and actions to be the best of interest of those individual and groups whose confidence and goodwill an individual or institutions covets and secondly, it’s the ionterpretation of these policies, services and actions to assure complete understanding and appreciation (W.Emerson Reck)
(PR adalah kelanjuatan dari proses penetapan kebikajsanan, penetuan pelayanan dan sikap yang disesuaikan dengan kepentingan orang-orang atau golongan atgar orang atau lembaga itu memperoleh kepercayaan dan goodwill dari mereka. Kedua, pelaksanaan kebijaksanaaan, pelayanan dan sikap adalah untuk menjamin adanya pengertian dan penghargaan yang sebaik-baiknya)
Public relations is the art of bringing about better public understanding which breeds greater public confidence for any individual or organization (Howard Bonham)
(PR adalah suatu seni untuk menciptakan pengertian public yang lebih baik, yang dapat memperdalam kepercayaan public terhadap seseorang atau sesuatu oragnisasi atau badan)
Public relations is the management functions that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationshif between an organizatio and the publics on whom its success of failure depends (Public relations adalah fungsi manajemen yang membangun dan mempertahankan hubungan yang baik dan bermanfaat antara organisasi dengan public yang mempengaruhi kesuksesan atau kegagalan organisasi tersebut) (Cutlip, 2007:6)
Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitides, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance(Betrand R. Canfield, 1964:4).
(PR adalah fungsi manajemen yang mengevaluasi sikap public, mengidentifikasi kebijakan dan atiurans eseorang atua organisasi demi kepentingan publik dan melaksnakan sesautu program kegiatan untuk memperoleh pengertian dan penerimaan publik)
Type of Public
Grunig & Repper (1992:139) in his books “Strategic Management, public and issues” mention four types of publics:
1. All issue publics
2. Apathetic publics
3. Single issue publics
4. Hot issue publics
Function of PR
1. To ascertain and evaluate public opinion as relates to his organization (mengetahui secara pasti dan mengevaluasi pendapat umum yang berkaitan dengan organisasinya)
2. To counsel executive on ways of dealing with public opinion as it exists (menasehati para eksekutif mengenai cara-cara menangani pendapat umum yang timbul)
3. To use communication to influence public opinion (menggunakan komunikasi untuk mempengaruhi pendapat umum)
Public Relations Strategy
•Persuasive Strategy
•Strategy through the contribution on object and mission
Strategies ar formed by some components
1. Objectives component
2. Media component, there are three based pattern: Conservation (mengukuhkan), Change (mengubah), Crystallization (mengkristalkan).
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Public Relations Plans Range From Single
Public relations plans range from single-sentence, common sense aphorisms to hundred-page, hard-bound documents, and the time practitioners devote to planning ranges from nil to nearly full-time. In a similar way, the importance they attach to planning ranges from insignificant to life-saving. There are almost as many approaches to PR planning as there are practitioners.
Planning starts with a mission statement.
The best starting point for public relations planning is to review the organization's mission statement and goals. These documents summarize what the organization is and what it's trying to accomplish, and they should provide the focus for every decision the organization -- or any sub-unit within it -- makes and every action it takes. This should be especially true of public relations efforts.
Consequently, many public relations plans start with a copy of the organization's mission and goals. The next element these plans include is a mission statement for the public relations unit which spells out what that unit does and how it assists and supports the organization in carrying out its mission.
The linked page, Planning starts with mission statements. includes an example of an organizational mission statement and that organization's public relations mission statement which shows how the latter parallels and supports the former.
Target audiences can be the next focal point for planning.
Beyond this point different planners structure their plans in various ways to reflect their views of what public relations is and what it does.
• Some put primary emphasis on policy research and issues management.
• Others put their emphasis on activities like publications, special events, speech writing, and media relations.
• And, those who see relationship-building as the essence of public relations often build their strategic plans around their organization's most important publics and target audiences.
The latter approach is what's used throughout the rest of this reading and the linked pages that help explain it.
The approach outlined here is a fifteen-step comprehensive planning process that combines both strategic and tactical public relations planning. The first ten steps develop a strategic plan and can be used without completing the last five steps. Those last five steps, however, build upon the initial strategic plan and can be used to produce much more detailed tactical plans.
Keep in mind, however, that this is only one of dozens of different but equally valid ways of doing public relations planning. Relatively speaking, it's a moderately complex approach to planning. It's detailed enough to encompass the main elements needed to execute a successful public relations program, but short enough to avoid redundancy and not get bogged down in unnecessary and confusing minutia.
It's similar in scope to the PRSA Planning Grids recommended by the PRSA Accreditation Board and by Guth and Marsh in their textbook, Public Relations: A Values-Driven Approach. With three grids, each of which includes four columns, the PRSA Planning Grid is essentially a 12-step approach. By being just a little bit more specific and not leaving so many things to be assumed, the 15-step method presented here may be a little easier and a little less confusing for first-time planners to use.
Those with more planning experience may prefer a more abbreviated process. For the sake of comparison, note that other popular planning methods range from as few as seven or eight steps to very detailed approaches which have 25 to 30 steps.
Also realize that this approach can be handled in several different ways and can use a variety of different formats for the written plan that is produced.
Take ten steps for a strategic public relations plan.
Audience and goal identification
1. Who are the organization's key target audiences?
2. Why is this audience important to the organization?
3. What view does the organization want this audience to have of it?
Reporting research findings
4. What is this audience's current view of the organization?
5. What issues and appeals are important to this audience?
6. Which media does this audience use and trust the most?
Assessment and plan development
7. How does this audience's current view of the organization differ from the desired one?
This is determined by comparing responses to items 3 and 4 above.
8. What message themes will have the greatest impact on this audience?
These should reflect the findings from question 5 above.
9. What are the best ways of reaching this audience?
These should be selected in light of the findings from question 6 above.
10. Who will serve as the organization's primary contact for working with this audience?
Take five more steps for a tactical plan.
Selecting and setting objectives
11. What short-term objectives will lead to the goals of the strategic plan?
Actions needed to reach these objectives
Answer questions 12-15 for each objective identified in 11 above.
12. What specific actions or messages will lead to achieving this objective?
13. What resources will be needed for these tasks?
Identify specific people, equipment, and funds needed for each item in question 12 above.
14. When should it be done?
Specify a timetable for accomplishing each item listed in 12 above.
15. How will success in achieving each objective be evaluated?
Public relations plans are rarely finished.
Having gone through this entire process and having answered all the questions, a first-time planner may be sorely tempted to consider the planning over and sit back to admire the plan and wait for accolades about it. Veteran planners and experienced public relations professionals know better.
Even though a planning cycle has been completed and a document prepared, no plan is ever final and the planning isn't truly finished until all the goals are reached or acknowledged to be impossible. Until then, a plan is a guide or a working paper, a suggestion of things to try to achieve specified objectives and a draft document that should be constantly changed and modified to fit the evolving conditions.
The portion of the plan which identifies critical audiences and desired relationships may remain unchanged for years, but the rest of the plan shouldn't. It should be constantly evolving. On the tactical level, objectives will be met and new ones will emerge. The latter are added to the plan, and the former removed. Objectives which remain unmet despite the best possible execution of the plans laid to achieve them require re-evaluation and another round of planning to keep them viable.
For fast-moving, high tech organizations, plans need to be checked and revised on an almost weekly basis. For others, quarterly is often enough. And, for still others, an annual review is almost too often. The speed with which the organization and its operating environment change is a better gauge of how frequently its plans should be updated than a calendar. The critical thing is that the plans change often enough and sufficiently enough to adequately reflect the changes in the conditions they're trying to describe. If you have to blow the dust off a public relations plan to use it, the odds are it won't be worth using.
"Your plan should be a living document that assists you in charting your organization's course. It can and should be changed when it is necessary to abandon or redefine a course of action. And most of all, it should not be so inflexible as to prevent you from grabbing a solid opportunity whenever one presents itself"
-- Sheryll Reid
Public Relations Journal (April 1987)
A public relations person who has a clear idea of the mission and goals of an organization and who understands how public relations fits into that mission can construct a strategic public relations plan by sequentially answering the ten following questions. This part of the overall planning process is often best recorded and reported using a grid format.
Audience and goal identification
The first questions that need to be addressed--e.g. With whom does the organization need to have relationships? and What does it want these people to think about the organization?--can be answered after a little introspection and discussion with top management. Keep in mind that these are ultimately top management's decisions, not the public relations practitioners'.The public relations people should speak out and try to influence who is included and who is excluded from this list, but they rarely make the final decision.
Probably the most effective way of dealing with these first four questions is for the public relations staff to develop a preliminary list of target audiences and relationships and then meet with key managers to review and discuss them.
1. Who are the organization's key target audiences?
Depending upon the nature of the audiences, these listings may be as short and simple as the names of key people, organizations, and communities or as long and complex as psychodemographic profiles of prospective buyers of a particular product. For most organizations the list will include a mix of short and long identifications. That's fine. Consistency isn't the goal; useful information is. Long audience identifications, if they include unique characteristics, appeals that are particularly effective with this audience, or the best ways of reaching the audience, can be very useful.
Each of the remaining questions, 2-10, is asked about each audience identified in the first step.
2. Why is this audience important to the organization?
No matter how obvious it seems, each audience should be evaluated in terms of its relevance and importance to the organization. Data about the audience's abstract or general importance--e.g., how big it is, how politically influential it is, or how rich its members are--is not enough and can, in fact, be very misleading. The critical information needed is how and why this audience affects the organization. What does it, or could it do, to help, or to hinder, the organization in reaching its goals?
Padding an audience list with people or organizations who have little or no direct bearing on the organization is a waste of time. It serves little purpose, no matter how prestigious these audiences may be. It might even interfere with or delay meaningful planning.
Be aware, however, that there is a tendency among some public relations people to become enchanted by various elite media and to make them a regular part of their media relations audience simply because of their prestige.
• Media relations specialists all over the world, for instance, dream of getting coverage in The New York Times, not because their constituents read or would be influenced by The New York Times but simply because it is The Times and reaching it is a pinnacle of journalistic success.
• Similarly, lots of promotions people for local festivals and special events spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours of time trying to get Willard Scott to mention their event on The Today Show on the morning it takes place.
A few years ago a southeastern city's special events coordinator, speaking to a public relations class, admitted that getting mentioned on The Today Show had been his number one media relations goal for two years before he finally succeeded. And, it remains one of his primary objectives today. He beams with pride each time he recalls Willard Scott mentioning his event on The Today Show even though he admits it didn't have any effect at all on attendance. "After all," he said, "how could it? -- Over 99 percent of the people who watched The Today Show that morning lived too far away to even think of attending the event."
3. What view does the organization want this audience to have of it?
Or, what kind of relationship does the organization want to have with this audience? Both of these questions boil down to essentially the same thing, a reflection of what the organization hopes to accomplish by interacting with this audience. It may be having them purchase products or services, or voting for specific political candidates, or supporting new legislation, or any number of other things, depending upon the organization and the audience.
The more clearly and concretely this view is expressed, the more helpful it will be for future planning and relationship building. Statements like "We want this audience to think of us as an asset to the community." are practically worthless for planning purposes.
Return to planning overview
Reporting research findings
Once the target audiences and desired relationships have been nailed down, the next step is to explore the existing relationship the organization has with each of those audiences and to decide whether it needs any adjustment. This calls for more than internal discussion. Simply letting the public relations staff and/or organizational managers speculate will never yield reliable information.
You need to check with people who actually know--actual members of the target audiences. Carefully conducted research, whether it's done by the public relations staff or by hired research consultants, is the only way to get vital and meaningful information about the audiences you need to reach. It's critical to successful planning that such research be done, and that its findings then be incorporated into the plan as it's being developed.
4. What is this audience's current view of our organization?
Or, what is the organization's current relationship with this audience? The exact phrasing should correspond to question 3 so the answers can be juxtaposed, showing where the relationship is now compared to where the organization wants it to be.
This is not something to be guessed at. This question, more than any other part of the strategic planning process, requires accurate, non-ambiguous answers. Virtually all the rest of the planning process, including the setting of specific objectives and the measurement of success, is based on the information gathered at this step.
5. What issues and appeals are important to this audience?
and
6. Which media does this audience use and trust the most?
Some bare-bones planners consider these to be extraneous questions, and at one level they may be. They are not absolutely essential for properly assessing the organization's current relationships or for determining what can be done to improve them, but the information they provide can be extremely helpful later, during tactical planning and while carrying out a public relations campaign.
Answering these two questions helps ensure that only the most effective and efficient media for reaching the target audiences are used and that the messages the organization sends via these channels will include the best possible themes and concepts for garnering a response from the audience.
If these questions are included in the planning process, they should be asked in the broadest possible ways. Responses about preferred media or channels of communication should not be limited to the major mass media, but should also take narrower and more selective communication techniques -- everything from interpersonal conversations to public speeches to telephone calls to direct mail to the Internet -- into account. And the list of important or appealing issues should not be restricted only to issues which are directly related to the organization and its mission.
Return to planning overview
Assessment and plan development
This third stage of the planning process integrates the first two stages with a series of questions that build upon and further explore the responses to the earlier questions.
7. How does this audience's current view of the organization differ from the desired one?
Or, how does the organization's current relationship with this audience compare with what the organization wants it to be? Arriving at this answer obviously calls for comparing what the organization's managers said about the desired relationship (question 3) with the audience's responses to question 4.
This comparison lets the organization know which of its relationships are moving along on track and which are most in need of adjustment. A frequent outcome of this planning step is a prioritized list of relationships which need immediate attention.
8. What message themes will have the greatest impact on this audience?
In some instances, especially when an organization is closely tied to an issue that has a strong emotional context for its audiences, the responses to this question end up being identical to the responses to question 5. In other cases, when the issues audiences feel strongly about (question 5) have no connection with the organization, there may be little correlation.
However, something that has become increasingly common in recent years as organizations seek more and more ways to establish additional linkages to their constituents is that the perceived strength of an audience's feeling about a particular topic will "inspire" the organization to take a similar public stance on that issue even though it has no direct bearing on the organization and would otherwise have gone unnoticed by its management.
9. What are the best ways of reaching this audience?
As with question 8, there are some instances in which responses to this item are nearly identical to the media preferences identified for the audience in question 6. At other times, the audience's stated preferences may not be suitable or affordable for the organization to use.
The means of reaching the audience which are identified here need to be appropriate, available, and affordable. In many instances, it may be most effective to list several different means of communicating with each audience, specifying which means and medium is most appropriate for various types of situations.
10. Who will serve as the organization's primary contact for working with this audience?
Even though public relations is concerned with all of an organization's relationships, the public relations practitioners themselves are not always the most appropriate "point persons" for working with every audience.
• Some prestigious, high-profile audiences -- political figures, major business executives, etc.-- may not be satisfied dealing with public relations staff members. They may expect and warrant the personal attention of the CEO or the chairman of the board.
• Other audiences may be so engrossed with technical issues that they need to dealt with by subject matter specialists and technical experts.
• Still others may not care who they deal with, just so someone from the organization pays attention to them.
Consequently, primary audience contacts can include a mix of public relations people, management executives, technical specialists, and others, all of whom are chosen for their rapport with a particular audience rather than their job titles.
Although some people try to do tactical or project planning without first having a strategic plan, it's rarely successful. It's far more common to view tactical planning as an extension of strategic planning. Thus, the steps discussed here are numbered as a continuation of the strategic planning process and frequently refer back to previous steps.
Selecting and setting objectives
Tactical public relations objectives are developed by analyzing the organization's strategic plan, particularly responses to question 7 which reveal how each audiences' current view of the organization differs from what the organization would like it to be. In addition to identifying which relationships are most in need of attention, this analysis allows the organization to identify common threads among its various relationships and its audiences' perceptions of it:
• What do people think it does well?
• What do they think it does poorly?
• What do they like about it?
• What do they dislike about it?
• What would they like to have changed?
These findings then become the basis for developing a prioritized list of objectives--specific, short-term goals--which often include or are linked to a project, publication, special event, or other task whose achievement can be readily measured. The assumption and intent is that successfully completing these objectives will, over time, ultimately lead to the realization of the organization's long-term goals.
11. What short-term objectives will lead to the goals of the strategic plan?
There are any number of potentially useful ways public relations objectives can be identified, organized, and prioritized. Two of the most common are described below.
Project-oriented objectives focus on specific work products (e.g., news releases, publications, etc.) or tasks (e.g., holding an open house, testifying before a legislative sub-committee, etc.) that end up on a giant "to do list" of projects that will enhance the organization's public relations. These can be either new initiatives or a continuation of current activities.
Usually the first consideration in trying to prioritize such a list is predicting how many people will be affected. The more people it will impact, the higher its priority is likely to be, although some consideration is also given to cost, ease of completion, and precedent. If it's relative cheap, easy to do, and is something the organization has been doing for a long time -- e.g., publishing a monthly employee newsletter -- continuing to do it may rise to the top of priority list regardless of how many people are actually affected by it.
Relationship-oriented objectives focus on the organization's various publics and the quality of its relationships with each of them. Recognizing that the ideal of having a perfect relationship with each and every public is rarely attained and that it's almost impossible to devote equal time and attention to every separate audience, this approach tries to list the organization's relationships in the order in which they should be given attention.
The priority given to any particular relationship is based on a combination of that public's importance to the organization and an assessment of how far from ideal its current relationship with the organization is. The more important the public is and the further from ideal its relationship is, the higher its priority becomes.
Generally speaking, performance or production oriented planners, especially public relations practitioners who are using a first or second phase approach to public relations, are likely to prefer the first approach and to emphasize task-oriented planning. Third-phase public relations practitioners and relationship-builders are more likely to use the second approach.
Regardless of which approach is used, the end result of this step in tactical planning is a list of objectives the organization will attempt to achieve. However, given the wide variety of tasks/relationships that may be included in this list and the differing degrees of complexity that they're likely to have, a grid format is no longer suited to reporting the plan. From this point on, it may be far more effective to use a page by page planning format in which each objective is placed on a separate page and questions 12-15 are answered in whatever length and detail is required without worrying about the fact that the plans for meeting some objectives will be longer than others.
Return to planning overview
Actions needed to reach these objectives
Steps 12-15 are applied to each identified objective to fully specify how it will be achieved.
12. What specific actions or messages will lead to achieving this objective?
This is a deceptively short and simple question that really requires multiple answers and may involve far more members of the organization than the public relations staff if the actions that appear to be needed involve more than communication activities, require large expenditures of time and/or money, or if they will require any changes in established policies and procedures.
Planning the communication aspects alone can be an enormous task requiring that media choices and formats be specified down to the level of identifying a spokesperson, selecting styles, tones, themes, and linked appeals, as well as message content. And, each of these decisions needs to take into account all available information about the audience's media preferences special interests, and issues or appeals that are of particular concern to them as shown in their responses to questions 5 and 6 in the strategic planning process.
13. What resources will be needed for these tasks?
This is another deceptively simple question that may take a lot of time and effort to fully answer. However, honest and realistic estimates of the personnel, time, equipment, and money required to achieve each objective let planners compare the expected effort and expense of completing the project with the likely outcome, a rudimentary cost-benefit analysis. It also helps with scheduling and work assignments when/if the project is actually undertaken. For both reasons it's important to estimate the necessary resources as accurately as possible.
Resource estimates need to include routine staff time and effort plus everyday office expenses such as postage and copying in addition to obvious and extraordinary expenses such as hiring freelancers, purchasing materials or outside services, or renting special equipment. When appropriate, estimates should be reported on both a per instance basis and as a total cost over the life of the plan.
A weekly employee newsletter, for instance, that appears to be a bargain when described as costing $800 for printing and 75 hours of staff time per issue may look very different when it's described as costing $41,600 and 3900 person-hours, almost the entire time of two full-time employees, per year. It may seem even more costly if the salaries of the two relatively inexperienced pubic relations staff members (say $30,000 plus fringe benefits) and other incidentals are included. This bargain newsletter may be costing well over $100,000 per year.
14. When should it be done?
In some instances, this answer is a specific day, date, or time or perhaps a recurring, periodic response, e.g., once a year, once a month, or each pay day. In other cases, the answer may outline a contingency that may, or may not ever, occur, e.g., when the company's stock price drops below 15 times earnings or if a high level executive is indicted.
15. How will success in achieving each objective be evaluated?
In selecting or setting up evaluation mechanisms, public relations people need to keep a sharp eye on what it is they really need/want to measure so they're don't inadvertently end up measuring something easy to measure but irrelevant. Not everything measurable is meaningful in all contexts.
• The number of people who attend an open house, for instance, is easy to count but, in and of itself, doesn't indicate how these people feel about the organization or if their tour of its facilities changed their opinions in any way. To find out the latter, you may have to ask them. That's much more difficult than doing a headcount, but it's also much more likely to provide meaningful information.
• Similarly, some media relations people measure their success by the number or percentage of their news releases that are used by the media or by the number of inches or minutes of coverage their stories receive. Still others have a complex formula that assigns a dollar value to their each story that's run based on audience size and amount of coverage. While these measures may gauge the amount of media coverage an organization receives, and perhaps its success in placing stories in the media, they don't necessarily measure the organization's success in building relationships with its key audiences because they don't show how much or what kind of impact this media coverage has on the people who see it. They often don't even indicate whether the people who see the coverage are the people the organization really needs to reach.
Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of public relations is helping an organization maximize the benefits of its relationships with all its various publics. It's goal is not necessarily getting news coverage or publishing employee publications or having a large turn out for an open house or ... You get the idea. Whatever evaluation methods are used must focus on how well the organization's relationships are being handled, not how quickly or how well a to do list is completed.
A public relations plan is meant to do more than look nice sitting on a desk or bookshelf. It's meant to be a working document that gets used and consulted as a day to day reference. How helpful it is and how easy it is to use are far more important than how it looks or how well it conforms to a preconceived layout.
Some planners prefer to organize their information in a grid of rows and columns where each row represents an audience and each column is a different category of information related to that audience. Other planners prefer to organize their work in terms of pages (separate sheets of paper, different displays in an electronic spreadsheet, or discrete records in a data-base file). For them, each page, or series of pages, represents a different audience and is used to organize all information related to that audience.
Some planners use a grid.
Grid planners say their approach does a better job of representing "the big picture" by physically showing the interrelationship of all audiences and audience characteristics at one time. Grid plans also look impressive hanging on a wall or being used in a presentation.
On the negative side, grid plans can be a pain to prepare, update, and reproduce. If all that's needed is a single copy, a large wall chart may not be a problem. But, for a large work team or an organization that wants to circulate copies of its plan to all managers, reproducing a grid plan can be difficult and costly unless the grid is somehow broken down and reproduced in small sections.
The other disadvantage is that the sizes of the cells are interrelated; increasing the size of any one cell automatically increases the size of every other cell in the same row or column. For example one unusually long description of one audience will make the description cell for every audience the same size, even though much of the space in those other cells will be unused. This can waste a lot of space or pressure the planner to inappropriately shorten the long entries. The latter may look better and save paper, but it may also eliminate what would otherwise have been useful information.
Others plan by the page.
Page planners counter those criticisms by saying their approach allows them to use as much room as they need for the information they have, even adding extra pages if necessary. They also claim their approach allows information to be more easily evaluated and edited on the merits of its importance rather than arbitrary space constraints or concerns that a cell looks too empty. And, the plan can be easily updated by adding, deleting, or revising pages as necessary.
On the other hand, plans organized in a page by page fashion appear much less impressive during a presentations than a large, elaborate grid. The use of separate pages for each audience may also tend to overemphasize differences among audiences rather than highlighting their similarities and the common approaches that can be used to reach them.
Combined formats may be most effective.
By the time practitioners have developed three or four complete plans they have a pretty good sense of what works best for them and may have their own ideas of what questions to ask and which formats to use. That's as it should be. However, beginning public relations planners may find it helpful to combine grid planning for their overall strategic plans with page planning for each objective they identify in their tactical plans the first few times they do planning.
Strategic plans which provide a broad overview of what an organization is trying to accomplish often work well in grid format. This is largely because the same types of information are needed about each of the organization's publics, and the amount of information that's needed about each is also very similar and usually in a short capsule form that will fit into the cells of a grid.
On the other hand, tactical planning which addresses specific projects and tasks is much more varied and inconsistent. Some projects simply require more explanation and more planning than others. Consequently, it's more difficult and confusing to employ a grid in tactical planning. With different projects needing different numbers and types of cells (rows and columns) to adequately explain them, a standardized form becomes impractical. Planning an executive's appearance on a television talk show, for instance, might be done in five or six cells outlining the necessary information and steps leading to its completion while plans for publishing an annual report might require 20 or more cells. Thus, starting a new page for each objective and not being overly concerned about consistency in their content or appearance makes much more sense than trying to force this information into a single uniform format.
Since an organization's mission statement summarizes what the organization is and wants to accomplish, the specific role of every operating unit within the organization should reflect that mission statement. Thus public relations plans often start by reiterating the organization's mission and then go on to show how public relations supports the organization's mission through its own mission statement. The following is an example.
Mission statement of
The Iowa Department of Human Services
The Iowa Department of Human Services exists to provide a continuum of integrated human services to Iowans who experience personal, economic and social problems in order to relieve their constraining conditions and develop and enhance their individual productivity and family life.
• The department is dedicated to improving the well-being of Iowa's poor, neglected, abused, ill, and incarcerated.
• The primary responsibility of the department is to help individuals or families become self-sustaining.
• The department's staff provides a continuum of services so that services are available to help clients at all levels and stages of their problems.
________________________________________
Mission of the Office of Communication
of the Iowa Department of Human Services
The Office of Communication coordinates the organization and delivery of information regarding the Department of Human Services' operations and policies and their impact on the department's employees, its clients, and the general public.
Its primary responsibilities are:
• providing public information to the department's constituents,
• maintaining media relations,
• coordinating intra-agency and employee communication, and
• providing communication support and production services to all units and managers within the department.
________________________________________
Perspective on this public relations' mission statement:
The role and mission of the DHS Office of Communication as described here is reflective of a public relations unit operating in the second or explanatory phase of public relations' development, which is a fairly accurate assessment of the unit's status in the mid-1980s when this version of its mission statement was written.
The Department of Human Services was then under the leadership of Dr. Michael V. Reagen, a very strong and dynamic commissioner who chose to personally manage the department's most important and most political relationships. And, because of his commitment to direct service delivery and matrix management, Commissioner Reagen insisted that his deputy commissioners and designated direct service program specialists be the primary managers of the department's other constituent relationships.
Consequently, even though Dr. Michael Turney, the director of communication, served as a member of the commissioner's cabinet and one of his personal advisers, the Office of Communication did not really manage many of the department's relationships other than those with the news media. Instead, the Office of Communication functioned as an in-house communication agency that offered consulting services and advice to key managers and provided communication support services for the department's myriad programs, institutions, and offices all across the state.
Planning starts with a mission statement.
The best starting point for public relations planning is to review the organization's mission statement and goals. These documents summarize what the organization is and what it's trying to accomplish, and they should provide the focus for every decision the organization -- or any sub-unit within it -- makes and every action it takes. This should be especially true of public relations efforts.
Consequently, many public relations plans start with a copy of the organization's mission and goals. The next element these plans include is a mission statement for the public relations unit which spells out what that unit does and how it assists and supports the organization in carrying out its mission.
The linked page, Planning starts with mission statements. includes an example of an organizational mission statement and that organization's public relations mission statement which shows how the latter parallels and supports the former.
Target audiences can be the next focal point for planning.
Beyond this point different planners structure their plans in various ways to reflect their views of what public relations is and what it does.
• Some put primary emphasis on policy research and issues management.
• Others put their emphasis on activities like publications, special events, speech writing, and media relations.
• And, those who see relationship-building as the essence of public relations often build their strategic plans around their organization's most important publics and target audiences.
The latter approach is what's used throughout the rest of this reading and the linked pages that help explain it.
The approach outlined here is a fifteen-step comprehensive planning process that combines both strategic and tactical public relations planning. The first ten steps develop a strategic plan and can be used without completing the last five steps. Those last five steps, however, build upon the initial strategic plan and can be used to produce much more detailed tactical plans.
Keep in mind, however, that this is only one of dozens of different but equally valid ways of doing public relations planning. Relatively speaking, it's a moderately complex approach to planning. It's detailed enough to encompass the main elements needed to execute a successful public relations program, but short enough to avoid redundancy and not get bogged down in unnecessary and confusing minutia.
It's similar in scope to the PRSA Planning Grids recommended by the PRSA Accreditation Board and by Guth and Marsh in their textbook, Public Relations: A Values-Driven Approach. With three grids, each of which includes four columns, the PRSA Planning Grid is essentially a 12-step approach. By being just a little bit more specific and not leaving so many things to be assumed, the 15-step method presented here may be a little easier and a little less confusing for first-time planners to use.
Those with more planning experience may prefer a more abbreviated process. For the sake of comparison, note that other popular planning methods range from as few as seven or eight steps to very detailed approaches which have 25 to 30 steps.
Also realize that this approach can be handled in several different ways and can use a variety of different formats for the written plan that is produced.
Take ten steps for a strategic public relations plan.
Audience and goal identification
1. Who are the organization's key target audiences?
2. Why is this audience important to the organization?
3. What view does the organization want this audience to have of it?
Reporting research findings
4. What is this audience's current view of the organization?
5. What issues and appeals are important to this audience?
6. Which media does this audience use and trust the most?
Assessment and plan development
7. How does this audience's current view of the organization differ from the desired one?
This is determined by comparing responses to items 3 and 4 above.
8. What message themes will have the greatest impact on this audience?
These should reflect the findings from question 5 above.
9. What are the best ways of reaching this audience?
These should be selected in light of the findings from question 6 above.
10. Who will serve as the organization's primary contact for working with this audience?
Take five more steps for a tactical plan.
Selecting and setting objectives
11. What short-term objectives will lead to the goals of the strategic plan?
Actions needed to reach these objectives
Answer questions 12-15 for each objective identified in 11 above.
12. What specific actions or messages will lead to achieving this objective?
13. What resources will be needed for these tasks?
Identify specific people, equipment, and funds needed for each item in question 12 above.
14. When should it be done?
Specify a timetable for accomplishing each item listed in 12 above.
15. How will success in achieving each objective be evaluated?
Public relations plans are rarely finished.
Having gone through this entire process and having answered all the questions, a first-time planner may be sorely tempted to consider the planning over and sit back to admire the plan and wait for accolades about it. Veteran planners and experienced public relations professionals know better.
Even though a planning cycle has been completed and a document prepared, no plan is ever final and the planning isn't truly finished until all the goals are reached or acknowledged to be impossible. Until then, a plan is a guide or a working paper, a suggestion of things to try to achieve specified objectives and a draft document that should be constantly changed and modified to fit the evolving conditions.
The portion of the plan which identifies critical audiences and desired relationships may remain unchanged for years, but the rest of the plan shouldn't. It should be constantly evolving. On the tactical level, objectives will be met and new ones will emerge. The latter are added to the plan, and the former removed. Objectives which remain unmet despite the best possible execution of the plans laid to achieve them require re-evaluation and another round of planning to keep them viable.
For fast-moving, high tech organizations, plans need to be checked and revised on an almost weekly basis. For others, quarterly is often enough. And, for still others, an annual review is almost too often. The speed with which the organization and its operating environment change is a better gauge of how frequently its plans should be updated than a calendar. The critical thing is that the plans change often enough and sufficiently enough to adequately reflect the changes in the conditions they're trying to describe. If you have to blow the dust off a public relations plan to use it, the odds are it won't be worth using.
"Your plan should be a living document that assists you in charting your organization's course. It can and should be changed when it is necessary to abandon or redefine a course of action. And most of all, it should not be so inflexible as to prevent you from grabbing a solid opportunity whenever one presents itself"
-- Sheryll Reid
Public Relations Journal (April 1987)
A public relations person who has a clear idea of the mission and goals of an organization and who understands how public relations fits into that mission can construct a strategic public relations plan by sequentially answering the ten following questions. This part of the overall planning process is often best recorded and reported using a grid format.
Audience and goal identification
The first questions that need to be addressed--e.g. With whom does the organization need to have relationships? and What does it want these people to think about the organization?--can be answered after a little introspection and discussion with top management. Keep in mind that these are ultimately top management's decisions, not the public relations practitioners'.The public relations people should speak out and try to influence who is included and who is excluded from this list, but they rarely make the final decision.
Probably the most effective way of dealing with these first four questions is for the public relations staff to develop a preliminary list of target audiences and relationships and then meet with key managers to review and discuss them.
1. Who are the organization's key target audiences?
Depending upon the nature of the audiences, these listings may be as short and simple as the names of key people, organizations, and communities or as long and complex as psychodemographic profiles of prospective buyers of a particular product. For most organizations the list will include a mix of short and long identifications. That's fine. Consistency isn't the goal; useful information is. Long audience identifications, if they include unique characteristics, appeals that are particularly effective with this audience, or the best ways of reaching the audience, can be very useful.
Each of the remaining questions, 2-10, is asked about each audience identified in the first step.
2. Why is this audience important to the organization?
No matter how obvious it seems, each audience should be evaluated in terms of its relevance and importance to the organization. Data about the audience's abstract or general importance--e.g., how big it is, how politically influential it is, or how rich its members are--is not enough and can, in fact, be very misleading. The critical information needed is how and why this audience affects the organization. What does it, or could it do, to help, or to hinder, the organization in reaching its goals?
Padding an audience list with people or organizations who have little or no direct bearing on the organization is a waste of time. It serves little purpose, no matter how prestigious these audiences may be. It might even interfere with or delay meaningful planning.
Be aware, however, that there is a tendency among some public relations people to become enchanted by various elite media and to make them a regular part of their media relations audience simply because of their prestige.
• Media relations specialists all over the world, for instance, dream of getting coverage in The New York Times, not because their constituents read or would be influenced by The New York Times but simply because it is The Times and reaching it is a pinnacle of journalistic success.
• Similarly, lots of promotions people for local festivals and special events spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours of time trying to get Willard Scott to mention their event on The Today Show on the morning it takes place.
A few years ago a southeastern city's special events coordinator, speaking to a public relations class, admitted that getting mentioned on The Today Show had been his number one media relations goal for two years before he finally succeeded. And, it remains one of his primary objectives today. He beams with pride each time he recalls Willard Scott mentioning his event on The Today Show even though he admits it didn't have any effect at all on attendance. "After all," he said, "how could it? -- Over 99 percent of the people who watched The Today Show that morning lived too far away to even think of attending the event."
3. What view does the organization want this audience to have of it?
Or, what kind of relationship does the organization want to have with this audience? Both of these questions boil down to essentially the same thing, a reflection of what the organization hopes to accomplish by interacting with this audience. It may be having them purchase products or services, or voting for specific political candidates, or supporting new legislation, or any number of other things, depending upon the organization and the audience.
The more clearly and concretely this view is expressed, the more helpful it will be for future planning and relationship building. Statements like "We want this audience to think of us as an asset to the community." are practically worthless for planning purposes.
Return to planning overview
Reporting research findings
Once the target audiences and desired relationships have been nailed down, the next step is to explore the existing relationship the organization has with each of those audiences and to decide whether it needs any adjustment. This calls for more than internal discussion. Simply letting the public relations staff and/or organizational managers speculate will never yield reliable information.
You need to check with people who actually know--actual members of the target audiences. Carefully conducted research, whether it's done by the public relations staff or by hired research consultants, is the only way to get vital and meaningful information about the audiences you need to reach. It's critical to successful planning that such research be done, and that its findings then be incorporated into the plan as it's being developed.
4. What is this audience's current view of our organization?
Or, what is the organization's current relationship with this audience? The exact phrasing should correspond to question 3 so the answers can be juxtaposed, showing where the relationship is now compared to where the organization wants it to be.
This is not something to be guessed at. This question, more than any other part of the strategic planning process, requires accurate, non-ambiguous answers. Virtually all the rest of the planning process, including the setting of specific objectives and the measurement of success, is based on the information gathered at this step.
5. What issues and appeals are important to this audience?
and
6. Which media does this audience use and trust the most?
Some bare-bones planners consider these to be extraneous questions, and at one level they may be. They are not absolutely essential for properly assessing the organization's current relationships or for determining what can be done to improve them, but the information they provide can be extremely helpful later, during tactical planning and while carrying out a public relations campaign.
Answering these two questions helps ensure that only the most effective and efficient media for reaching the target audiences are used and that the messages the organization sends via these channels will include the best possible themes and concepts for garnering a response from the audience.
If these questions are included in the planning process, they should be asked in the broadest possible ways. Responses about preferred media or channels of communication should not be limited to the major mass media, but should also take narrower and more selective communication techniques -- everything from interpersonal conversations to public speeches to telephone calls to direct mail to the Internet -- into account. And the list of important or appealing issues should not be restricted only to issues which are directly related to the organization and its mission.
Return to planning overview
Assessment and plan development
This third stage of the planning process integrates the first two stages with a series of questions that build upon and further explore the responses to the earlier questions.
7. How does this audience's current view of the organization differ from the desired one?
Or, how does the organization's current relationship with this audience compare with what the organization wants it to be? Arriving at this answer obviously calls for comparing what the organization's managers said about the desired relationship (question 3) with the audience's responses to question 4.
This comparison lets the organization know which of its relationships are moving along on track and which are most in need of adjustment. A frequent outcome of this planning step is a prioritized list of relationships which need immediate attention.
8. What message themes will have the greatest impact on this audience?
In some instances, especially when an organization is closely tied to an issue that has a strong emotional context for its audiences, the responses to this question end up being identical to the responses to question 5. In other cases, when the issues audiences feel strongly about (question 5) have no connection with the organization, there may be little correlation.
However, something that has become increasingly common in recent years as organizations seek more and more ways to establish additional linkages to their constituents is that the perceived strength of an audience's feeling about a particular topic will "inspire" the organization to take a similar public stance on that issue even though it has no direct bearing on the organization and would otherwise have gone unnoticed by its management.
9. What are the best ways of reaching this audience?
As with question 8, there are some instances in which responses to this item are nearly identical to the media preferences identified for the audience in question 6. At other times, the audience's stated preferences may not be suitable or affordable for the organization to use.
The means of reaching the audience which are identified here need to be appropriate, available, and affordable. In many instances, it may be most effective to list several different means of communicating with each audience, specifying which means and medium is most appropriate for various types of situations.
10. Who will serve as the organization's primary contact for working with this audience?
Even though public relations is concerned with all of an organization's relationships, the public relations practitioners themselves are not always the most appropriate "point persons" for working with every audience.
• Some prestigious, high-profile audiences -- political figures, major business executives, etc.-- may not be satisfied dealing with public relations staff members. They may expect and warrant the personal attention of the CEO or the chairman of the board.
• Other audiences may be so engrossed with technical issues that they need to dealt with by subject matter specialists and technical experts.
• Still others may not care who they deal with, just so someone from the organization pays attention to them.
Consequently, primary audience contacts can include a mix of public relations people, management executives, technical specialists, and others, all of whom are chosen for their rapport with a particular audience rather than their job titles.
Although some people try to do tactical or project planning without first having a strategic plan, it's rarely successful. It's far more common to view tactical planning as an extension of strategic planning. Thus, the steps discussed here are numbered as a continuation of the strategic planning process and frequently refer back to previous steps.
Selecting and setting objectives
Tactical public relations objectives are developed by analyzing the organization's strategic plan, particularly responses to question 7 which reveal how each audiences' current view of the organization differs from what the organization would like it to be. In addition to identifying which relationships are most in need of attention, this analysis allows the organization to identify common threads among its various relationships and its audiences' perceptions of it:
• What do people think it does well?
• What do they think it does poorly?
• What do they like about it?
• What do they dislike about it?
• What would they like to have changed?
These findings then become the basis for developing a prioritized list of objectives--specific, short-term goals--which often include or are linked to a project, publication, special event, or other task whose achievement can be readily measured. The assumption and intent is that successfully completing these objectives will, over time, ultimately lead to the realization of the organization's long-term goals.
11. What short-term objectives will lead to the goals of the strategic plan?
There are any number of potentially useful ways public relations objectives can be identified, organized, and prioritized. Two of the most common are described below.
Project-oriented objectives focus on specific work products (e.g., news releases, publications, etc.) or tasks (e.g., holding an open house, testifying before a legislative sub-committee, etc.) that end up on a giant "to do list" of projects that will enhance the organization's public relations. These can be either new initiatives or a continuation of current activities.
Usually the first consideration in trying to prioritize such a list is predicting how many people will be affected. The more people it will impact, the higher its priority is likely to be, although some consideration is also given to cost, ease of completion, and precedent. If it's relative cheap, easy to do, and is something the organization has been doing for a long time -- e.g., publishing a monthly employee newsletter -- continuing to do it may rise to the top of priority list regardless of how many people are actually affected by it.
Relationship-oriented objectives focus on the organization's various publics and the quality of its relationships with each of them. Recognizing that the ideal of having a perfect relationship with each and every public is rarely attained and that it's almost impossible to devote equal time and attention to every separate audience, this approach tries to list the organization's relationships in the order in which they should be given attention.
The priority given to any particular relationship is based on a combination of that public's importance to the organization and an assessment of how far from ideal its current relationship with the organization is. The more important the public is and the further from ideal its relationship is, the higher its priority becomes.
Generally speaking, performance or production oriented planners, especially public relations practitioners who are using a first or second phase approach to public relations, are likely to prefer the first approach and to emphasize task-oriented planning. Third-phase public relations practitioners and relationship-builders are more likely to use the second approach.
Regardless of which approach is used, the end result of this step in tactical planning is a list of objectives the organization will attempt to achieve. However, given the wide variety of tasks/relationships that may be included in this list and the differing degrees of complexity that they're likely to have, a grid format is no longer suited to reporting the plan. From this point on, it may be far more effective to use a page by page planning format in which each objective is placed on a separate page and questions 12-15 are answered in whatever length and detail is required without worrying about the fact that the plans for meeting some objectives will be longer than others.
Return to planning overview
Actions needed to reach these objectives
Steps 12-15 are applied to each identified objective to fully specify how it will be achieved.
12. What specific actions or messages will lead to achieving this objective?
This is a deceptively short and simple question that really requires multiple answers and may involve far more members of the organization than the public relations staff if the actions that appear to be needed involve more than communication activities, require large expenditures of time and/or money, or if they will require any changes in established policies and procedures.
Planning the communication aspects alone can be an enormous task requiring that media choices and formats be specified down to the level of identifying a spokesperson, selecting styles, tones, themes, and linked appeals, as well as message content. And, each of these decisions needs to take into account all available information about the audience's media preferences special interests, and issues or appeals that are of particular concern to them as shown in their responses to questions 5 and 6 in the strategic planning process.
13. What resources will be needed for these tasks?
This is another deceptively simple question that may take a lot of time and effort to fully answer. However, honest and realistic estimates of the personnel, time, equipment, and money required to achieve each objective let planners compare the expected effort and expense of completing the project with the likely outcome, a rudimentary cost-benefit analysis. It also helps with scheduling and work assignments when/if the project is actually undertaken. For both reasons it's important to estimate the necessary resources as accurately as possible.
Resource estimates need to include routine staff time and effort plus everyday office expenses such as postage and copying in addition to obvious and extraordinary expenses such as hiring freelancers, purchasing materials or outside services, or renting special equipment. When appropriate, estimates should be reported on both a per instance basis and as a total cost over the life of the plan.
A weekly employee newsletter, for instance, that appears to be a bargain when described as costing $800 for printing and 75 hours of staff time per issue may look very different when it's described as costing $41,600 and 3900 person-hours, almost the entire time of two full-time employees, per year. It may seem even more costly if the salaries of the two relatively inexperienced pubic relations staff members (say $30,000 plus fringe benefits) and other incidentals are included. This bargain newsletter may be costing well over $100,000 per year.
14. When should it be done?
In some instances, this answer is a specific day, date, or time or perhaps a recurring, periodic response, e.g., once a year, once a month, or each pay day. In other cases, the answer may outline a contingency that may, or may not ever, occur, e.g., when the company's stock price drops below 15 times earnings or if a high level executive is indicted.
15. How will success in achieving each objective be evaluated?
In selecting or setting up evaluation mechanisms, public relations people need to keep a sharp eye on what it is they really need/want to measure so they're don't inadvertently end up measuring something easy to measure but irrelevant. Not everything measurable is meaningful in all contexts.
• The number of people who attend an open house, for instance, is easy to count but, in and of itself, doesn't indicate how these people feel about the organization or if their tour of its facilities changed their opinions in any way. To find out the latter, you may have to ask them. That's much more difficult than doing a headcount, but it's also much more likely to provide meaningful information.
• Similarly, some media relations people measure their success by the number or percentage of their news releases that are used by the media or by the number of inches or minutes of coverage their stories receive. Still others have a complex formula that assigns a dollar value to their each story that's run based on audience size and amount of coverage. While these measures may gauge the amount of media coverage an organization receives, and perhaps its success in placing stories in the media, they don't necessarily measure the organization's success in building relationships with its key audiences because they don't show how much or what kind of impact this media coverage has on the people who see it. They often don't even indicate whether the people who see the coverage are the people the organization really needs to reach.
Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of public relations is helping an organization maximize the benefits of its relationships with all its various publics. It's goal is not necessarily getting news coverage or publishing employee publications or having a large turn out for an open house or ... You get the idea. Whatever evaluation methods are used must focus on how well the organization's relationships are being handled, not how quickly or how well a to do list is completed.
A public relations plan is meant to do more than look nice sitting on a desk or bookshelf. It's meant to be a working document that gets used and consulted as a day to day reference. How helpful it is and how easy it is to use are far more important than how it looks or how well it conforms to a preconceived layout.
Some planners prefer to organize their information in a grid of rows and columns where each row represents an audience and each column is a different category of information related to that audience. Other planners prefer to organize their work in terms of pages (separate sheets of paper, different displays in an electronic spreadsheet, or discrete records in a data-base file). For them, each page, or series of pages, represents a different audience and is used to organize all information related to that audience.
Some planners use a grid.
Grid planners say their approach does a better job of representing "the big picture" by physically showing the interrelationship of all audiences and audience characteristics at one time. Grid plans also look impressive hanging on a wall or being used in a presentation.
On the negative side, grid plans can be a pain to prepare, update, and reproduce. If all that's needed is a single copy, a large wall chart may not be a problem. But, for a large work team or an organization that wants to circulate copies of its plan to all managers, reproducing a grid plan can be difficult and costly unless the grid is somehow broken down and reproduced in small sections.
The other disadvantage is that the sizes of the cells are interrelated; increasing the size of any one cell automatically increases the size of every other cell in the same row or column. For example one unusually long description of one audience will make the description cell for every audience the same size, even though much of the space in those other cells will be unused. This can waste a lot of space or pressure the planner to inappropriately shorten the long entries. The latter may look better and save paper, but it may also eliminate what would otherwise have been useful information.
Others plan by the page.
Page planners counter those criticisms by saying their approach allows them to use as much room as they need for the information they have, even adding extra pages if necessary. They also claim their approach allows information to be more easily evaluated and edited on the merits of its importance rather than arbitrary space constraints or concerns that a cell looks too empty. And, the plan can be easily updated by adding, deleting, or revising pages as necessary.
On the other hand, plans organized in a page by page fashion appear much less impressive during a presentations than a large, elaborate grid. The use of separate pages for each audience may also tend to overemphasize differences among audiences rather than highlighting their similarities and the common approaches that can be used to reach them.
Combined formats may be most effective.
By the time practitioners have developed three or four complete plans they have a pretty good sense of what works best for them and may have their own ideas of what questions to ask and which formats to use. That's as it should be. However, beginning public relations planners may find it helpful to combine grid planning for their overall strategic plans with page planning for each objective they identify in their tactical plans the first few times they do planning.
Strategic plans which provide a broad overview of what an organization is trying to accomplish often work well in grid format. This is largely because the same types of information are needed about each of the organization's publics, and the amount of information that's needed about each is also very similar and usually in a short capsule form that will fit into the cells of a grid.
On the other hand, tactical planning which addresses specific projects and tasks is much more varied and inconsistent. Some projects simply require more explanation and more planning than others. Consequently, it's more difficult and confusing to employ a grid in tactical planning. With different projects needing different numbers and types of cells (rows and columns) to adequately explain them, a standardized form becomes impractical. Planning an executive's appearance on a television talk show, for instance, might be done in five or six cells outlining the necessary information and steps leading to its completion while plans for publishing an annual report might require 20 or more cells. Thus, starting a new page for each objective and not being overly concerned about consistency in their content or appearance makes much more sense than trying to force this information into a single uniform format.
Since an organization's mission statement summarizes what the organization is and wants to accomplish, the specific role of every operating unit within the organization should reflect that mission statement. Thus public relations plans often start by reiterating the organization's mission and then go on to show how public relations supports the organization's mission through its own mission statement. The following is an example.
Mission statement of
The Iowa Department of Human Services
The Iowa Department of Human Services exists to provide a continuum of integrated human services to Iowans who experience personal, economic and social problems in order to relieve their constraining conditions and develop and enhance their individual productivity and family life.
• The department is dedicated to improving the well-being of Iowa's poor, neglected, abused, ill, and incarcerated.
• The primary responsibility of the department is to help individuals or families become self-sustaining.
• The department's staff provides a continuum of services so that services are available to help clients at all levels and stages of their problems.
________________________________________
Mission of the Office of Communication
of the Iowa Department of Human Services
The Office of Communication coordinates the organization and delivery of information regarding the Department of Human Services' operations and policies and their impact on the department's employees, its clients, and the general public.
Its primary responsibilities are:
• providing public information to the department's constituents,
• maintaining media relations,
• coordinating intra-agency and employee communication, and
• providing communication support and production services to all units and managers within the department.
________________________________________
Perspective on this public relations' mission statement:
The role and mission of the DHS Office of Communication as described here is reflective of a public relations unit operating in the second or explanatory phase of public relations' development, which is a fairly accurate assessment of the unit's status in the mid-1980s when this version of its mission statement was written.
The Department of Human Services was then under the leadership of Dr. Michael V. Reagen, a very strong and dynamic commissioner who chose to personally manage the department's most important and most political relationships. And, because of his commitment to direct service delivery and matrix management, Commissioner Reagen insisted that his deputy commissioners and designated direct service program specialists be the primary managers of the department's other constituent relationships.
Consequently, even though Dr. Michael Turney, the director of communication, served as a member of the commissioner's cabinet and one of his personal advisers, the Office of Communication did not really manage many of the department's relationships other than those with the news media. Instead, the Office of Communication functioned as an in-house communication agency that offered consulting services and advice to key managers and provided communication support services for the department's myriad programs, institutions, and offices all across the state.
An Example of a Public Relations Plan
The following PR plan outline allows you to see the critical parts of a PR plan to use in your own public relations endeavors. The document below was used as a planning tool to help conduct a PR audit while at the same time start delineating the specifics of a more comprehensive and final plan. The approach taken was: 1) Define where the organization is now in terms of its public relations 2) Define where the organization wants to be 3) Determine how to get from where it is now to where it wants to be (identify the tactics) and 4) Define metrics and measure results. Keep in mind, there is no absolute "correct" way to write a PR plan and plans will differ.
Introduction:
XYZ Corporation has historically been very successful defining our value proposition, communicating our message, and delivering the best in quality products, information, support, and value to our customers.
We believe we can further grow our company by extending our marketing reach through a new Public Relations initiative that not only expands upon our current marketing programs, but also explores new ways to communicate with our customers, vendors, media markets, the local community, and other targeted groups.
We have a great story to tell and offer an outstanding value proposition to customers, we simply need to be more effective telling our story in order to be more visible and take our business to great new heights.
I. Where are we now?
A. Review Business and Marketing Plans to gain full understanding of goals of the business. Will also serve as a review and rededication to the plan
B. Review management structure, history, mission
C. Conduct a PR Audit
1. Interviews with management and other key personnel
2. What are the current issues, problems, and opportunities?
3. Define the "publics" or audiences whom we now influence (customers, vendors, trade media, competition, internal staff, etc.)
4. Assess the attitudes and concerns of customers, employees, vendors, local community, and other target audiences
5. Review current media outlets and media contact list and assess whether or not there is adequate coverage in desired segments
6. Literature review of all marketing communications materials, corporate literature, articles archive, press kit, advertising, press clippings, etc.
D. Create written audit report
1. Current substantive PR goals of the company
2. Target audiences and behavioral changes desired from them
3. Messages and current themes being conveyed and how effective we are in conveying them and influencing behavior
4. Changes required in attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of target audiences in order to bring about the desired behavioral changes
II. Where do we want to go?
A. Define audience(s) we wish to influence and how we wish to influence them in order to increase visibility through our PR function
1. Internal staff/employees
2. Customers
3. Vendors
4. Trade media
5. National and regional media
6. Local community
7. Other
B. Target and prioritize audiences to influence
C. Define the Identity we wish to project and the Image we wish to create
D. Formulate themes and messages
We already use established, effective themes in our marketing and PR efforts. We will review our current themes and consider new themes that also effectively educate our audiences about XYZ Corp. These themes will answer the question: 'Why should our target audience(s) turn to us'?
Current and Desired Themes:
We are a source of definitive product information and an authoritative voice in our industry.
We remove the risk of doing business with us by offering an outstanding guarantee, excellent return policy, and lifetime technical support.
We have a long and storied history spanning more than 26 years and we have been successful by listening to our customers and focusing on their needs. We must continue to keep in mind that everything we do is to help our customers.
We will leverage our experience as an established, trusted retailer in the face of new competition-especially in New Media outlets. While other widget retailers may come and go, XYZ Corp. will remain a steady, trusted advocate for our customers for a lifetime.
We deliver the highest value to consumers.
We strive to be a good member of our local community and a helpful neighbor.
Because we are a good neighbor in our local community and because we offer the best value to our customers, there should be no reason people in our region turn to any other source-especially discount retailers and national chains-for their widget purchases.
Other themes
III. How do we want to get there?
These are just some possible ideas on how we might choose to influence the behavior of our audiences.
A. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence our employees
1. Publicly recognize outstanding performance and achievement
2. Encourage employees to submit written articles or story ideas to be used in our newsletter and marketing communications materials
3. Employee Billboards. Create magnetic XYZ Corp. signs that attach to sides of automobiles (or bumper stickers and ask the public to participate!). Request that employees voluntarily place the signs on their vehicles as they travel locally and once a month record the license plate number of a vehicle spotted in town and that employee wins a gift certificate, cash bonus, or other incentive.
4. Other ideas targeted toward particular behavior defined in section IIA
B. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence customers/consumers
1. Clarify and more widely and effectively communicate our story, and integrate corporate history in more of our marketing communications materials
2. Create a strong, visible spokesperson to give the company a face, voice, tone, and personality
3. Explore ways to acquire, organize, and more efficiently communicate product knowledge and information
a. Create "How to" booklets and information guides to be given away freely and used as giveaways at promotional events
b. Explore educational/sales tools such as CD-ROM's, product seminars, workshops, interactive product demonstrations on Website, etc.
4. Participate as Sponsor in local events aligned with our mission and vision such as ...
6. Review all advertising and marketing communications to evaluate whether or not we wish to reach customers in new and different ways or with a new advertising messages
8. Create contests to engage our customers.
Examples:
a. Where have you gone with XYZ Corp.? Have customers take and submit pictures of themselves in unique or far-flung places with XYZ Corp. branded items such as T-shirts or bumper stickers to be used in the print catalog and on the Website. Farthest, most unusual, noteworthy photos, or photos taken with famous people win prizes.
b. Tell us your best XYZ Corp. service story. Have customers submit written details of their happy dealings with our company or technical support staff. Could be used as press releases, testimonials on Website and in print catalog, or as article fodder in vendor newsletter
c. Link to us and win. Place a graphical link on your Website to XYZCorp.com and once a month we will draw a name, verify that the link exists, and award prizes.
d. Consider creating an online auction to liquidate discontinued, obsolete, or returned merchandise. Will encourage repeat visitation to Website
C. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence our vendors and suppliers
1. Establish vendor newsletter to not only educate and inform but also to build and develop our relationships in a light, friendly manner. Perhaps use "war stories" to which vendors will be able to relate and provide information about how to deal with difficult customers, shipping mishaps, etc.
2. Use informational booklets as a co-branding strategy that vendors/suppliers could use as giveaways or premium items for their customers
3. Pursue reciprocal linking strategy with vendors to establish links to and from XYZCorp.com
D. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence the trade, national, regional media, and New media
1. Set goal to be the number #1 rated Website for companies in our industry and submit to review sites
a. Are there ways to improve functionality and customer experience?
b. Can we offer enhanced or expanded information?
c. Can we integrate new features or launch a unique capability that benefits our customers and Website visitors?
d. Syndicate a monthly industry- or product-related column written by us
e. Encourage key personnel to actively participate in relevant online forums and newsgroups. Thoughtful, informative messages should be posted that project the XYZ Corp. image while authors use signature files that contain short XYZ Corp. promotional message and URL at the bottom of each message.
2. Submit informational articles to be used as Feature Articles in trade media, separate and distinct from press release activities
3. Launch concerted effort to be known as the information source in our industry. Position and promote a company representative as a resource for reporters, editors, writers, and other media personnel. Write and issue contact letters that introduce our authority and offer interview opportunities with that person.
4. Co-sponsor events with local or national radio and television stations
5. Participate in charity events and notify media ahead of time so they are given the opportunity to cover the event
6. Explore and enroll in media services such as PR Newswire's Profnet that can increase our visibility within the media community and offer us as an informational resource
7. Cultivate breadth and depth in relationships with all media contacts
8. Dispatch key personnel to speak at industry events, professional association meetings, panel discussions, public forums, etc.
9. Target a frequency rate for issuing of press releases
10. Define media outlets in which we wish to establish/further develop relationships and pursue press coverage/media relations more formally and aggressively in those targeted outlets and regions
11. Establish stronger ties with opinion leaders
E. Review/establish budget
F. Prioritize activities
G. Set deadlines and target dates
H. Create a PR calendar
I. Execute the plan
IV. How do we know when we get there?
A. Define measurables and evaluation methods or otherwise define what success or "satisfaction" with our PR efforts looks like
B. Set new goals, refine our plan, and set new PR goals and objectives for continuous improvement and growth
Contoh Perencanaan Public Relations
Dave Dolak
Garis besar perencanaan PR berikut memungkinkan kita melihat bagian kritis dari perencanaan PR untuk dipakai dalam upaya-upaya keras PR kita. Dokumen di bawah ini telah dipakai sebagai alat perencanaan untuk membantu menyelenggarakan audit PR dan pada saat yang sama mulai menggambarkan hal-hal yang spesifik dari perencanaan akhir dan komprehensif. Pendekatan yang diambil adalah: 1) menegaskan di mana organisasi sekarang dalam istilah PR. 2) mendefiniskan di mana posisi organisasi yang diinginkan. 3) menentukan bagaimana melepaskan diri dari posisi sekarang menuju posisi yang diingikan (mengidentifikasi taktik) dan 4) mendefinisikan matrik dan mengukur hasil-hasil. Harus tetap ingat, tidak ada cara “benar” yang absolute untuk menulis perencanaan PR dan perencanaan-perencanaan akan berbeda.
Pendahuluan:
Perusahaan XYZ memiliki cerita sangat sukses mendefiniskan rencana yang bernilai, mengkomunikasikan pesan, dan menyampaikan kualitas produk terbaik, informasi, support, dan menilai pelanggan.
Kita percaya bisa lebih jauh menumbuhkan perusahaan dengan memperluas capaian pemasaran melalui inisiatif baru PR yang tidak hanya memperluas program pemasaran saat ini, tetapi juga mengeksplor cara baru untuk berkomunikasi dengan pelanggan, vendor (penjaja keliling), media market, komunitas lokal, dan kelompok target lainnya.
Kami punya cerita yang menarik dan menawarkan proposisi nilai yang menonjol untuk pelanggan, kami hanya membutuhkan untuk menyampaikan cerita lebih efektif dalam rangka lebih tampak dan membawa bisnis kami ke level baru yang lebih tinggi.
Di mana kita sekarang?
a. Tinjau kembali perencanaan bisnis dan pemasaran untuk memperoleh pemahaman yang penuh terhadap tujuan-tujuan bisnis. Akan juga menyediakan sebagai sebuah tinjauan dan mendedikasikan kembali rencana.
b. mereview struktur manajemen, sejarah (cerita), misi
c. melaksanakan audit PR
1. Interview dengan manajemen dan pejabat kunci lainnya.
2. Apa isu yang hangat, persoalan, dan peluang-peluang?
3. Mendifinisikan “public” atau khalayak yang sekarang dipengaruhi (pelanggan, vendor, media, persaingan, staf internal, dsb).
4. menilai sikap dan perhatian pelanggan, pegawai, vendor, komunitas local dan khalayak target lainnya.
5. mereview outlet media saat ini dan daftar kontak media dan menilai apakah peliputan media memadai pada segmen yang sangat diinginkan.
6. Literatur review semua bahan komunikasi pemasaran, literature perusahaan, arsif artikel, press kit, iklan, kliping press, dsb.
D. Membuat laporan audit tertulis
1. Tujuan-tujuan perusahaan yang substansif saat ini.
2. Khalayak target dan perubahan perilaku
3. Perubahan yang diharapkan pada sikap, opini, dan keyakinan khalayak target dalam rangka menghasilkan perubahan sikap
Kemana kita pergi
a. mendefiniskan khalayak yang ingin kita pengaruhi dan bagaimana kita ingin mempengaruhi mereka dalam rangka meningkatkan visibilitas melalui fungsi PR
1. Staf dan pegawai internal
2. pelanggan
3. vendor (penjaja, penjual keliling)
4. media dagang
5. media regional/lokal dan nasional
6. komunitas local
7. lainnya
B. target dan prioritas khalayak yang dipengaruhi
C. Menegaskan identitas yang menjadi proyek kita dan imej yang akan kita buat
D. Menformulasikan tema dan pesan
Kita sudah menggunakan tema yang sudah ada, efektif di dalam pemasaran dan usaha PR. Kita akan mereview tema kita saat ini dan mempertimbangkan tema baru yang juga efektif untuk mendidik khalayak tentang perusahaan XYZ. Tema-tema ini akan menjawab pertanyaan: “kenapa khalayak target beralih ke kita’?
Tema menarik dan terbaru:
• Kita adalah sumber informasi produk yang definitive dan sumber suara yang berwenang pada industri kita.
• Kita menghilangkan resiko dari melakukan bisnis dengan kita dengan menawarkan garansi yang terkenal, kebijakan yang baik tentang pengembalian barang, dukungan teknik seumur hidup.
• Kita punya sejarah panjang menjangkau lebih dari 26 tahun dan kita telah berhasil dengan mendengarkan pelanggan kita dan focus pada kebutuhan mereka. Kita harus terus ingat bahwa segala yang kita lakukan adalah untuk membantu pelanggan kita.
• Kita akan mengungkit pengalaman kita yang sudah terbangun, pengecer yang terpercaya untuk menghadapi persaingan baru, khususnya, di outlet Media Baru. Ketika pengecer widget lain mungkin dating dan pergi, perusahaan XYZ akan tetap kuat, penganjur yang dipercaya oleh pelanggan kita sepanjang masa.
• Kita menyampaikan nilai tinggi untuk pelanggan
• Kita berusaha keras menjadi anggota komunitas local yang baik dan tetangga yang selalu membantu.
• Karena kita adalah tetangga yang baik di komunitas local kita dan karena kita menawarkan nilai terbaik kepada pelanggan kita, tidak ada alasan bagi orang di daerah kita yang berpaling ke sumber diskon, khususnya, pengecer dan rantai nasional untuk penjualan widget.
• Tema-tema lain
Bagaimana kita ingin ke sana?
Ada beberapa ide yang mungkin bagaimana kita mungkin memilih untuk mempengaruhi sikap/perilaku khalayak.
A. Taktik dan ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi pekerja kita
1. Memperkenalkan Prestasi dan performance yang terkemuka di depan umum.
2. Mendorong pekerja untuk mengirim artikel tertulis atau ide cerita yang dipakai pada newsletter dan bahan-bahan komunikasi pemasaran.
3. Bilboard pekerja. Membuat stiker temple perusahaan XYZ yang ditempel di kendaraan (stiker bumper dan meminta public untuk partisipasi!). minta agar karyawan secara sukarela menaruh papan (stiker) di kendaraan mereka karena mereka melakukan perjalanan local dan sekali sebulan mencatat/merekam plat nomor polisi kendaraan yang terlihat di kota dan bahwa karyawan tersebut memenangi hadiah sertifikat, bonus tunai, atau insentif lainnya.
4. Ide lain menargetkan perilaku khusus didefiniskan di bagian IIA.
B. Taktik dan ide-ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi pelanggan/konsumen
1. Menjelaskan dan lebih luas dan lebih efektif mengkomunikasikan cerita kita, dan menggabungkan cerita sejarah perusahaan di lebih dari bahan-bahan komunikasi pemasaran kita.
2. Membuat seorang juru bicara yang kuat dan visible untuk menampilkan perusahaan, menyuarakan, sifat/nada dan kepribadian/personality.
3. Mengeksplorasi cara untuk mendapatkan, mengenali, dan lebih efisien mengkomunikasikan pengetahuan dan informasi produk.
a. Buatlah buku saku/booklet “bagaimana untuk” dan informasi yang menuntun pada pemberian cara secara gratis dan dipakai sebagai pemberian cara pada event promosi
b. Eksplorasi peralatan pendidikan/penjualan seperti CD room seminar produk, workshop, demonstrasi produk interaktif di website, dsb.
4. berpartisipasi sebagai sponsor di event local yang sejalan dengan misi dan visi kita seperti …..
6. Mereview semua komunikasi periklanan dan pemasaran untuk mengevaluasi apakah kita ingin menggapai pelanggan dengan cara baru dan berbeda atau dengan pesan iklan yang baru
8. Membuat lomba/contest untuk engage pelanggan kita
Contoh:
a. Kemana kamu sudah pergi dengan perushaan XTZ? Apakah pelanggan mengambil dan mengirimkan gambar mereka sendiri dengan tempat unik atau far-lung dengan item logo perusahaan XYZ seperti T-Shirt atau stiker bumper untuk dipakai pada catalog print dan website. Terjauh, paling tidak biasa, photo yang bergarga, atau photo yang diambil dengan orang terkenal memengangkan hadiah.
b. Beritahu kita cerita pelayanan terbaik perusahaan XYZ. Apakah pelanggan melampirkan deal menyenangkan mereka secara detail dan tertulis dengan perusahaan kita atau staf support teknis. Apakah akan dipakai sebagai press release, terstimonial di website dan catalog cetak, atau fodder artikel di newsletter vendor.
c. link ke kita dan menangkan. Tempatkan link grafik pada website kamu untuk perusahaan XYZ.com dan sekali sebulan kita akan mengundi sebuah nama, menverifikasi bahwa link ada dan menganugerahi hadiah.
d. pertimbangkan membuat sebuah aucline online untuk mencairkan merchandise yang tidak berlanjut, obsolete, atau dikembalikan. Akan mendorong kunjungan kembali ke website.
C. taktik dan ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi vendor dan pemasok.
1. Membangun newsletter vendor tidak hanya untuk mendidik dan menginformasikan tetapi juga membangun dan mengembangkan hubungan kita dalam kondisi yang bersahabat. Mungkin memakai “cerita perang” agar vendor mampu menghubungkan dan menyediakan informasi tentang bagaimana membuat kesepatakatan dengan pelanggan yang sulut, mishap pengiriman, dsb.
2. pergunakan booklet informasi sebagai strategi co-branding yang akan dipakai vendor/supplier sebagai giveaways atau item premium untuk pelanggan mereka.
3. Melanjutkan strategi link timbal balik dengan vendor untuk membangun link ke dan dari XYZ corp.com.
Introduction:
XYZ Corporation has historically been very successful defining our value proposition, communicating our message, and delivering the best in quality products, information, support, and value to our customers.
We believe we can further grow our company by extending our marketing reach through a new Public Relations initiative that not only expands upon our current marketing programs, but also explores new ways to communicate with our customers, vendors, media markets, the local community, and other targeted groups.
We have a great story to tell and offer an outstanding value proposition to customers, we simply need to be more effective telling our story in order to be more visible and take our business to great new heights.
I. Where are we now?
A. Review Business and Marketing Plans to gain full understanding of goals of the business. Will also serve as a review and rededication to the plan
B. Review management structure, history, mission
C. Conduct a PR Audit
1. Interviews with management and other key personnel
2. What are the current issues, problems, and opportunities?
3. Define the "publics" or audiences whom we now influence (customers, vendors, trade media, competition, internal staff, etc.)
4. Assess the attitudes and concerns of customers, employees, vendors, local community, and other target audiences
5. Review current media outlets and media contact list and assess whether or not there is adequate coverage in desired segments
6. Literature review of all marketing communications materials, corporate literature, articles archive, press kit, advertising, press clippings, etc.
D. Create written audit report
1. Current substantive PR goals of the company
2. Target audiences and behavioral changes desired from them
3. Messages and current themes being conveyed and how effective we are in conveying them and influencing behavior
4. Changes required in attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of target audiences in order to bring about the desired behavioral changes
II. Where do we want to go?
A. Define audience(s) we wish to influence and how we wish to influence them in order to increase visibility through our PR function
1. Internal staff/employees
2. Customers
3. Vendors
4. Trade media
5. National and regional media
6. Local community
7. Other
B. Target and prioritize audiences to influence
C. Define the Identity we wish to project and the Image we wish to create
D. Formulate themes and messages
We already use established, effective themes in our marketing and PR efforts. We will review our current themes and consider new themes that also effectively educate our audiences about XYZ Corp. These themes will answer the question: 'Why should our target audience(s) turn to us'?
Current and Desired Themes:
We are a source of definitive product information and an authoritative voice in our industry.
We remove the risk of doing business with us by offering an outstanding guarantee, excellent return policy, and lifetime technical support.
We have a long and storied history spanning more than 26 years and we have been successful by listening to our customers and focusing on their needs. We must continue to keep in mind that everything we do is to help our customers.
We will leverage our experience as an established, trusted retailer in the face of new competition-especially in New Media outlets. While other widget retailers may come and go, XYZ Corp. will remain a steady, trusted advocate for our customers for a lifetime.
We deliver the highest value to consumers.
We strive to be a good member of our local community and a helpful neighbor.
Because we are a good neighbor in our local community and because we offer the best value to our customers, there should be no reason people in our region turn to any other source-especially discount retailers and national chains-for their widget purchases.
Other themes
III. How do we want to get there?
These are just some possible ideas on how we might choose to influence the behavior of our audiences.
A. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence our employees
1. Publicly recognize outstanding performance and achievement
2. Encourage employees to submit written articles or story ideas to be used in our newsletter and marketing communications materials
3. Employee Billboards. Create magnetic XYZ Corp. signs that attach to sides of automobiles (or bumper stickers and ask the public to participate!). Request that employees voluntarily place the signs on their vehicles as they travel locally and once a month record the license plate number of a vehicle spotted in town and that employee wins a gift certificate, cash bonus, or other incentive.
4. Other ideas targeted toward particular behavior defined in section IIA
B. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence customers/consumers
1. Clarify and more widely and effectively communicate our story, and integrate corporate history in more of our marketing communications materials
2. Create a strong, visible spokesperson to give the company a face, voice, tone, and personality
3. Explore ways to acquire, organize, and more efficiently communicate product knowledge and information
a. Create "How to" booklets and information guides to be given away freely and used as giveaways at promotional events
b. Explore educational/sales tools such as CD-ROM's, product seminars, workshops, interactive product demonstrations on Website, etc.
4. Participate as Sponsor in local events aligned with our mission and vision such as ...
6. Review all advertising and marketing communications to evaluate whether or not we wish to reach customers in new and different ways or with a new advertising messages
8. Create contests to engage our customers.
Examples:
a. Where have you gone with XYZ Corp.? Have customers take and submit pictures of themselves in unique or far-flung places with XYZ Corp. branded items such as T-shirts or bumper stickers to be used in the print catalog and on the Website. Farthest, most unusual, noteworthy photos, or photos taken with famous people win prizes.
b. Tell us your best XYZ Corp. service story. Have customers submit written details of their happy dealings with our company or technical support staff. Could be used as press releases, testimonials on Website and in print catalog, or as article fodder in vendor newsletter
c. Link to us and win. Place a graphical link on your Website to XYZCorp.com and once a month we will draw a name, verify that the link exists, and award prizes.
d. Consider creating an online auction to liquidate discontinued, obsolete, or returned merchandise. Will encourage repeat visitation to Website
C. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence our vendors and suppliers
1. Establish vendor newsletter to not only educate and inform but also to build and develop our relationships in a light, friendly manner. Perhaps use "war stories" to which vendors will be able to relate and provide information about how to deal with difficult customers, shipping mishaps, etc.
2. Use informational booklets as a co-branding strategy that vendors/suppliers could use as giveaways or premium items for their customers
3. Pursue reciprocal linking strategy with vendors to establish links to and from XYZCorp.com
D. Tactics and promotional ideas to influence the trade, national, regional media, and New media
1. Set goal to be the number #1 rated Website for companies in our industry and submit to review sites
a. Are there ways to improve functionality and customer experience?
b. Can we offer enhanced or expanded information?
c. Can we integrate new features or launch a unique capability that benefits our customers and Website visitors?
d. Syndicate a monthly industry- or product-related column written by us
e. Encourage key personnel to actively participate in relevant online forums and newsgroups. Thoughtful, informative messages should be posted that project the XYZ Corp. image while authors use signature files that contain short XYZ Corp. promotional message and URL at the bottom of each message.
2. Submit informational articles to be used as Feature Articles in trade media, separate and distinct from press release activities
3. Launch concerted effort to be known as the information source in our industry. Position and promote a company representative as a resource for reporters, editors, writers, and other media personnel. Write and issue contact letters that introduce our authority and offer interview opportunities with that person.
4. Co-sponsor events with local or national radio and television stations
5. Participate in charity events and notify media ahead of time so they are given the opportunity to cover the event
6. Explore and enroll in media services such as PR Newswire's Profnet that can increase our visibility within the media community and offer us as an informational resource
7. Cultivate breadth and depth in relationships with all media contacts
8. Dispatch key personnel to speak at industry events, professional association meetings, panel discussions, public forums, etc.
9. Target a frequency rate for issuing of press releases
10. Define media outlets in which we wish to establish/further develop relationships and pursue press coverage/media relations more formally and aggressively in those targeted outlets and regions
11. Establish stronger ties with opinion leaders
E. Review/establish budget
F. Prioritize activities
G. Set deadlines and target dates
H. Create a PR calendar
I. Execute the plan
IV. How do we know when we get there?
A. Define measurables and evaluation methods or otherwise define what success or "satisfaction" with our PR efforts looks like
B. Set new goals, refine our plan, and set new PR goals and objectives for continuous improvement and growth
Contoh Perencanaan Public Relations
Dave Dolak
Garis besar perencanaan PR berikut memungkinkan kita melihat bagian kritis dari perencanaan PR untuk dipakai dalam upaya-upaya keras PR kita. Dokumen di bawah ini telah dipakai sebagai alat perencanaan untuk membantu menyelenggarakan audit PR dan pada saat yang sama mulai menggambarkan hal-hal yang spesifik dari perencanaan akhir dan komprehensif. Pendekatan yang diambil adalah: 1) menegaskan di mana organisasi sekarang dalam istilah PR. 2) mendefiniskan di mana posisi organisasi yang diinginkan. 3) menentukan bagaimana melepaskan diri dari posisi sekarang menuju posisi yang diingikan (mengidentifikasi taktik) dan 4) mendefinisikan matrik dan mengukur hasil-hasil. Harus tetap ingat, tidak ada cara “benar” yang absolute untuk menulis perencanaan PR dan perencanaan-perencanaan akan berbeda.
Pendahuluan:
Perusahaan XYZ memiliki cerita sangat sukses mendefiniskan rencana yang bernilai, mengkomunikasikan pesan, dan menyampaikan kualitas produk terbaik, informasi, support, dan menilai pelanggan.
Kita percaya bisa lebih jauh menumbuhkan perusahaan dengan memperluas capaian pemasaran melalui inisiatif baru PR yang tidak hanya memperluas program pemasaran saat ini, tetapi juga mengeksplor cara baru untuk berkomunikasi dengan pelanggan, vendor (penjaja keliling), media market, komunitas lokal, dan kelompok target lainnya.
Kami punya cerita yang menarik dan menawarkan proposisi nilai yang menonjol untuk pelanggan, kami hanya membutuhkan untuk menyampaikan cerita lebih efektif dalam rangka lebih tampak dan membawa bisnis kami ke level baru yang lebih tinggi.
Di mana kita sekarang?
a. Tinjau kembali perencanaan bisnis dan pemasaran untuk memperoleh pemahaman yang penuh terhadap tujuan-tujuan bisnis. Akan juga menyediakan sebagai sebuah tinjauan dan mendedikasikan kembali rencana.
b. mereview struktur manajemen, sejarah (cerita), misi
c. melaksanakan audit PR
1. Interview dengan manajemen dan pejabat kunci lainnya.
2. Apa isu yang hangat, persoalan, dan peluang-peluang?
3. Mendifinisikan “public” atau khalayak yang sekarang dipengaruhi (pelanggan, vendor, media, persaingan, staf internal, dsb).
4. menilai sikap dan perhatian pelanggan, pegawai, vendor, komunitas local dan khalayak target lainnya.
5. mereview outlet media saat ini dan daftar kontak media dan menilai apakah peliputan media memadai pada segmen yang sangat diinginkan.
6. Literatur review semua bahan komunikasi pemasaran, literature perusahaan, arsif artikel, press kit, iklan, kliping press, dsb.
D. Membuat laporan audit tertulis
1. Tujuan-tujuan perusahaan yang substansif saat ini.
2. Khalayak target dan perubahan perilaku
3. Perubahan yang diharapkan pada sikap, opini, dan keyakinan khalayak target dalam rangka menghasilkan perubahan sikap
Kemana kita pergi
a. mendefiniskan khalayak yang ingin kita pengaruhi dan bagaimana kita ingin mempengaruhi mereka dalam rangka meningkatkan visibilitas melalui fungsi PR
1. Staf dan pegawai internal
2. pelanggan
3. vendor (penjaja, penjual keliling)
4. media dagang
5. media regional/lokal dan nasional
6. komunitas local
7. lainnya
B. target dan prioritas khalayak yang dipengaruhi
C. Menegaskan identitas yang menjadi proyek kita dan imej yang akan kita buat
D. Menformulasikan tema dan pesan
Kita sudah menggunakan tema yang sudah ada, efektif di dalam pemasaran dan usaha PR. Kita akan mereview tema kita saat ini dan mempertimbangkan tema baru yang juga efektif untuk mendidik khalayak tentang perusahaan XYZ. Tema-tema ini akan menjawab pertanyaan: “kenapa khalayak target beralih ke kita’?
Tema menarik dan terbaru:
• Kita adalah sumber informasi produk yang definitive dan sumber suara yang berwenang pada industri kita.
• Kita menghilangkan resiko dari melakukan bisnis dengan kita dengan menawarkan garansi yang terkenal, kebijakan yang baik tentang pengembalian barang, dukungan teknik seumur hidup.
• Kita punya sejarah panjang menjangkau lebih dari 26 tahun dan kita telah berhasil dengan mendengarkan pelanggan kita dan focus pada kebutuhan mereka. Kita harus terus ingat bahwa segala yang kita lakukan adalah untuk membantu pelanggan kita.
• Kita akan mengungkit pengalaman kita yang sudah terbangun, pengecer yang terpercaya untuk menghadapi persaingan baru, khususnya, di outlet Media Baru. Ketika pengecer widget lain mungkin dating dan pergi, perusahaan XYZ akan tetap kuat, penganjur yang dipercaya oleh pelanggan kita sepanjang masa.
• Kita menyampaikan nilai tinggi untuk pelanggan
• Kita berusaha keras menjadi anggota komunitas local yang baik dan tetangga yang selalu membantu.
• Karena kita adalah tetangga yang baik di komunitas local kita dan karena kita menawarkan nilai terbaik kepada pelanggan kita, tidak ada alasan bagi orang di daerah kita yang berpaling ke sumber diskon, khususnya, pengecer dan rantai nasional untuk penjualan widget.
• Tema-tema lain
Bagaimana kita ingin ke sana?
Ada beberapa ide yang mungkin bagaimana kita mungkin memilih untuk mempengaruhi sikap/perilaku khalayak.
A. Taktik dan ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi pekerja kita
1. Memperkenalkan Prestasi dan performance yang terkemuka di depan umum.
2. Mendorong pekerja untuk mengirim artikel tertulis atau ide cerita yang dipakai pada newsletter dan bahan-bahan komunikasi pemasaran.
3. Bilboard pekerja. Membuat stiker temple perusahaan XYZ yang ditempel di kendaraan (stiker bumper dan meminta public untuk partisipasi!). minta agar karyawan secara sukarela menaruh papan (stiker) di kendaraan mereka karena mereka melakukan perjalanan local dan sekali sebulan mencatat/merekam plat nomor polisi kendaraan yang terlihat di kota dan bahwa karyawan tersebut memenangi hadiah sertifikat, bonus tunai, atau insentif lainnya.
4. Ide lain menargetkan perilaku khusus didefiniskan di bagian IIA.
B. Taktik dan ide-ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi pelanggan/konsumen
1. Menjelaskan dan lebih luas dan lebih efektif mengkomunikasikan cerita kita, dan menggabungkan cerita sejarah perusahaan di lebih dari bahan-bahan komunikasi pemasaran kita.
2. Membuat seorang juru bicara yang kuat dan visible untuk menampilkan perusahaan, menyuarakan, sifat/nada dan kepribadian/personality.
3. Mengeksplorasi cara untuk mendapatkan, mengenali, dan lebih efisien mengkomunikasikan pengetahuan dan informasi produk.
a. Buatlah buku saku/booklet “bagaimana untuk” dan informasi yang menuntun pada pemberian cara secara gratis dan dipakai sebagai pemberian cara pada event promosi
b. Eksplorasi peralatan pendidikan/penjualan seperti CD room seminar produk, workshop, demonstrasi produk interaktif di website, dsb.
4. berpartisipasi sebagai sponsor di event local yang sejalan dengan misi dan visi kita seperti …..
6. Mereview semua komunikasi periklanan dan pemasaran untuk mengevaluasi apakah kita ingin menggapai pelanggan dengan cara baru dan berbeda atau dengan pesan iklan yang baru
8. Membuat lomba/contest untuk engage pelanggan kita
Contoh:
a. Kemana kamu sudah pergi dengan perushaan XTZ? Apakah pelanggan mengambil dan mengirimkan gambar mereka sendiri dengan tempat unik atau far-lung dengan item logo perusahaan XYZ seperti T-Shirt atau stiker bumper untuk dipakai pada catalog print dan website. Terjauh, paling tidak biasa, photo yang bergarga, atau photo yang diambil dengan orang terkenal memengangkan hadiah.
b. Beritahu kita cerita pelayanan terbaik perusahaan XYZ. Apakah pelanggan melampirkan deal menyenangkan mereka secara detail dan tertulis dengan perusahaan kita atau staf support teknis. Apakah akan dipakai sebagai press release, terstimonial di website dan catalog cetak, atau fodder artikel di newsletter vendor.
c. link ke kita dan menangkan. Tempatkan link grafik pada website kamu untuk perusahaan XYZ.com dan sekali sebulan kita akan mengundi sebuah nama, menverifikasi bahwa link ada dan menganugerahi hadiah.
d. pertimbangkan membuat sebuah aucline online untuk mencairkan merchandise yang tidak berlanjut, obsolete, atau dikembalikan. Akan mendorong kunjungan kembali ke website.
C. taktik dan ide promosi untuk mempengaruhi vendor dan pemasok.
1. Membangun newsletter vendor tidak hanya untuk mendidik dan menginformasikan tetapi juga membangun dan mengembangkan hubungan kita dalam kondisi yang bersahabat. Mungkin memakai “cerita perang” agar vendor mampu menghubungkan dan menyediakan informasi tentang bagaimana membuat kesepatakatan dengan pelanggan yang sulut, mishap pengiriman, dsb.
2. pergunakan booklet informasi sebagai strategi co-branding yang akan dipakai vendor/supplier sebagai giveaways atau item premium untuk pelanggan mereka.
3. Melanjutkan strategi link timbal balik dengan vendor untuk membangun link ke dan dari XYZ corp.com.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tips for creating a good Annual Report
There are nine distinct sections in most Annual Reports. A good report will usually contain all nine. The following are the sections, where they are located and who is typically responsible. Items 5, 6, 7, 8 are required. 4th is a requirement of the SEC and many lenders. Analysts insist on 9.
1. Chairman of the Board Letter
Within first 5 pages. Should cover changing developments, goals achieved (or missed), actions taken and industry conditions. One or two pages maximum.
2. Sales and Marketing
Closest to the front. Usually written by the marketing department. Where does the company sell and where does it make most of it's money. The scope of Lines, divisions and operations should be clear.
3. 10 Year Summary of Financial Figures
Usually provided by CFO. Front of report is better.
4. Management discussion and analysis
Before financial statements, written by CFO. Discussion of significant trends over past two years
5. CPA Opinion Letter
Either before or after financial statements. Written by CPA firm.
6. Financial Statements
Provided by CFO or CAO
7. Subsidiaries, Brands and Addresses
Last few pages, usually provided by legal department
8. List of Directors and Officers
Last or second to last pages - usually provided by corporate secretary.
9. Stock Price
Analysis's want this. Best to have near front of report. Should contain where traded, stock symbol, High/Low history and price/dividend trends over time. Usually provided by corporate secretary
Some points to consider when preparing an Annual Report.
10. The Budget
11. Desired involvement of COB/CEO/CFO
12. The production team? Committee or one person? Who calls the shots?
13. Expierence of graphic designers/photographers/writers
14. What to include? The major purpose of report
15. How "innovative" should the report be? Die cut layout, inserts, response cards
16. Paper, binding, size, print run
17. Theme for report
18. Items to avoid/explain
19. Competators and competition - how much to include
20. Corporate responsibility - how much to include?
21. Testimonials for outsiders are especially effective when accompanied by photo
22. Test final "galley" copy for readability, interest and comprehension
23. Look at other reports. Critique
It is recommended that the cover contain the following information:
Annual Report for Year ____
The ____th Report
June 30, _____
Name of Firm
Send a copy of your printed Annual Report to:
Annual Reports Library
PO Box 2006
San Francisco, CA 94126-2006 USA
The Annual Reports Library offers personalized consultation services to help with the creation of an Annual Reports.
Don't forget to Tell a story, Keep it simple and Make it readable.
10 Tips for Writing a Great Annual Report
Even though nonprofit organizations aren’t required to produce annual reports like publicly traded companies are, most nonprofit managers recognize the value of producing one. Annual reports can help you demonstrate your accomplishments to current and future donors, cultivate new partnerships, and recognize important people.
But since annual reports aren’t legally required, nonprofits often struggle with what should be included in an annual report and what should be left out. The following ten tips will help you craft an outstanding nonprofit annual report.
1. Focus on accomplishments, not activities.
We want to know what you did, but more importantly, we want to know why you did it. What were the results? Why did you spend your time and money the way you did? What difference did it make? Connect the everyday activities of your organization to your mission statement.
1. Don’t assume that readers will automatically understand how your activities help you achieve your mission. Connect the dots for them.
2. Jettison the administrative minutiae.
Getting a high-speed connection in the office and new accounting software may be big accomplishments from where you sit at your desk, but they have nothing to do with your mission. Inspire donors with accomplishments related to your mission in your annual report and leave all the administrative items for your board report.
3. Don’t over-emphasize fundraising accomplishments.
Donors expect you to raise money, but fundraising accomplishments should not be celebrated in your annual report on the same level as your mission-related accomplishments. Readers are more interested in what you did with the money than how you raised it. While it is appropriate to include information on how well your fundraising efforts are going, it’s best to place this information in the financial section of your report, rather than front and center.
4. Include photos.
Yes, photos really are worth a thousand words. Many of the people reading your annual report won’t actually read it. Show them what you’ve been doing with photos. If you don’t have a digital camera, get one now. It’s also fine to use stock photography to illustrate your work. Type “royalty free stock photos” in your favorite search engine and you’ll find numerous sites.
5. Write captions that tell your story.
Now that you’ve got them looking at the photos, tell a story with your captions. Don’t just state what’s in the photo. Connect the photo to an accomplishment. If people read nothing but the captions in your annual report, they should still get a sense for the good work you did last year.
6. Include personal profiles.
Donors will be more impressed with real stories about real people than general summaries of your work. Explain what you have accomplished overall, then humanize your statistics with some personal profiles. Highlight how your work helped a specific individual. Share a volunteer’s story of how they made a positive difference.
7. Explain your financials.
Many of your donors won’t know how to read a financial statement or won’t take the time to read it. Include a paragraph or two that explains in plain English what the tables say. Where does your money come from and how do you spend it? What are your main fundraising strategies? Did you implement any cost-savings measures this year?
8. If you need space, trim the donor lists.
Nonprofits need to strike a balance between using the space in their annual reports to discuss their accomplishments and using it to recognize donors. If as much as half of your annual report is donor lists, you should consider scaling the lists back to make more room for text and photos. Smaller donors can be recognized in other ways, such as lists in newsletters.
9. Triple-check your donor lists.
There’s no better way to sabotage a future donation than to spell the donor’s name wrong in your annual report. If you are uncertain about a name, don’t guess. Check it with the donor. Also carefully check the names of government agencies and foundations that gave you grants. The names people call these organizations in conversation are often short-hand for the full legal names that belong in your annual report.
10. Tell donors how they can help.
Never leave a potential supporter hanging, wondering how they can help you. Once you’ve inspired them with the good works in your annual report, close by telling them how they can help you do more. How can they support you with their money or time? Do you offer planned giving options, for example? Will you accept gifts of stock? Can they use a credit card? Be clear about the best ways to help.
1. Chairman of the Board Letter
Within first 5 pages. Should cover changing developments, goals achieved (or missed), actions taken and industry conditions. One or two pages maximum.
2. Sales and Marketing
Closest to the front. Usually written by the marketing department. Where does the company sell and where does it make most of it's money. The scope of Lines, divisions and operations should be clear.
3. 10 Year Summary of Financial Figures
Usually provided by CFO. Front of report is better.
4. Management discussion and analysis
Before financial statements, written by CFO. Discussion of significant trends over past two years
5. CPA Opinion Letter
Either before or after financial statements. Written by CPA firm.
6. Financial Statements
Provided by CFO or CAO
7. Subsidiaries, Brands and Addresses
Last few pages, usually provided by legal department
8. List of Directors and Officers
Last or second to last pages - usually provided by corporate secretary.
9. Stock Price
Analysis's want this. Best to have near front of report. Should contain where traded, stock symbol, High/Low history and price/dividend trends over time. Usually provided by corporate secretary
Some points to consider when preparing an Annual Report.
10. The Budget
11. Desired involvement of COB/CEO/CFO
12. The production team? Committee or one person? Who calls the shots?
13. Expierence of graphic designers/photographers/writers
14. What to include? The major purpose of report
15. How "innovative" should the report be? Die cut layout, inserts, response cards
16. Paper, binding, size, print run
17. Theme for report
18. Items to avoid/explain
19. Competators and competition - how much to include
20. Corporate responsibility - how much to include?
21. Testimonials for outsiders are especially effective when accompanied by photo
22. Test final "galley" copy for readability, interest and comprehension
23. Look at other reports. Critique
It is recommended that the cover contain the following information:
Annual Report for Year ____
The ____th Report
June 30, _____
Name of Firm
Send a copy of your printed Annual Report to:
Annual Reports Library
PO Box 2006
San Francisco, CA 94126-2006 USA
The Annual Reports Library offers personalized consultation services to help with the creation of an Annual Reports.
Don't forget to Tell a story, Keep it simple and Make it readable.
10 Tips for Writing a Great Annual Report
Even though nonprofit organizations aren’t required to produce annual reports like publicly traded companies are, most nonprofit managers recognize the value of producing one. Annual reports can help you demonstrate your accomplishments to current and future donors, cultivate new partnerships, and recognize important people.
But since annual reports aren’t legally required, nonprofits often struggle with what should be included in an annual report and what should be left out. The following ten tips will help you craft an outstanding nonprofit annual report.
1. Focus on accomplishments, not activities.
We want to know what you did, but more importantly, we want to know why you did it. What were the results? Why did you spend your time and money the way you did? What difference did it make? Connect the everyday activities of your organization to your mission statement.
1. Don’t assume that readers will automatically understand how your activities help you achieve your mission. Connect the dots for them.
2. Jettison the administrative minutiae.
Getting a high-speed connection in the office and new accounting software may be big accomplishments from where you sit at your desk, but they have nothing to do with your mission. Inspire donors with accomplishments related to your mission in your annual report and leave all the administrative items for your board report.
3. Don’t over-emphasize fundraising accomplishments.
Donors expect you to raise money, but fundraising accomplishments should not be celebrated in your annual report on the same level as your mission-related accomplishments. Readers are more interested in what you did with the money than how you raised it. While it is appropriate to include information on how well your fundraising efforts are going, it’s best to place this information in the financial section of your report, rather than front and center.
4. Include photos.
Yes, photos really are worth a thousand words. Many of the people reading your annual report won’t actually read it. Show them what you’ve been doing with photos. If you don’t have a digital camera, get one now. It’s also fine to use stock photography to illustrate your work. Type “royalty free stock photos” in your favorite search engine and you’ll find numerous sites.
5. Write captions that tell your story.
Now that you’ve got them looking at the photos, tell a story with your captions. Don’t just state what’s in the photo. Connect the photo to an accomplishment. If people read nothing but the captions in your annual report, they should still get a sense for the good work you did last year.
6. Include personal profiles.
Donors will be more impressed with real stories about real people than general summaries of your work. Explain what you have accomplished overall, then humanize your statistics with some personal profiles. Highlight how your work helped a specific individual. Share a volunteer’s story of how they made a positive difference.
7. Explain your financials.
Many of your donors won’t know how to read a financial statement or won’t take the time to read it. Include a paragraph or two that explains in plain English what the tables say. Where does your money come from and how do you spend it? What are your main fundraising strategies? Did you implement any cost-savings measures this year?
8. If you need space, trim the donor lists.
Nonprofits need to strike a balance between using the space in their annual reports to discuss their accomplishments and using it to recognize donors. If as much as half of your annual report is donor lists, you should consider scaling the lists back to make more room for text and photos. Smaller donors can be recognized in other ways, such as lists in newsletters.
9. Triple-check your donor lists.
There’s no better way to sabotage a future donation than to spell the donor’s name wrong in your annual report. If you are uncertain about a name, don’t guess. Check it with the donor. Also carefully check the names of government agencies and foundations that gave you grants. The names people call these organizations in conversation are often short-hand for the full legal names that belong in your annual report.
10. Tell donors how they can help.
Never leave a potential supporter hanging, wondering how they can help you. Once you’ve inspired them with the good works in your annual report, close by telling them how they can help you do more. How can they support you with their money or time? Do you offer planned giving options, for example? Will you accept gifts of stock? Can they use a credit card? Be clear about the best ways to help.
Designing A Performance Management System
Your performance management system should be:
job-related practical have measurable standards Perhaps the most important design consideration is to develop a process that is practical and easy to understand and use. The focus should be on the results of the performance management process - effective and motivated staff - not the steps of the process.
When developing a new performance management process, use a committee made up of employees and managers. A collaborative approach will increase employee buy-in, understanding and support of the process.
Once the process has been developed, communicate with all staff about the purpose and the steps in the performance management process.
You should be prepared to make adjustments to your new system as necessary.
Different Types of Performance Management Systems There are a variety of ways to measure performance including:
Self Appraisal: the employee is asked to evaluate his/her own work Peer Appraisal: staff of equal rank within the organization are asked to evaluate the employee Team Appraisal: similar to peer appraisals; employees who work as part of a team are asked to evaluate the team's work Assessment Centre: the employee is assessed by professional assessors using several types of evaluation such as work simulations and actual activities 360-Degree or Full Circle Appraisal: the employee's work is reviewed by gathering input from representatives of all the groups the employee interacts with such as supervisor, peers, subordinates and clients.
Management-by-Objectives: the employee's achievement of work objectives that are set in collaboration with his/her supervisor are assessed.
Combination of Methods: Some organizations combine different methods into their performance management process. In particular some organizations include an evaluation of competencies - the knowledge, skills and abilities that distinguish superior performance. Establishing competencies for performance management in an organization requires careful thought. Without careful preparation, evaluating competencies can be very subjective.
In the voluntary sector, 360-degree appraisals are sometimes used for evaluating the Executive Director. Management-by-objectives is an effective approach to performance management for all other employees.
Because it's the most practical system for most non-profit organizations, we will be focusing in this section of the website on Management-by-Objectives.
Management-by-Objectives Performance management using a management-by-objectives (results-based) approach has three phases:
Phase 1 - Planning a work plan for the next year is developed; measures for assessing progress are established.
Phase 2 - Monitoring progress toward the goals identified in the work plan is monitored; the plan is adjusted if required; corrective action is taken if necessary.
Phase 3 - Reviewing at the end of the performance management cycle the manager and employee meet to document the work of the past year; accomplishments and shortfalls relative to the work plan are summarized using a performance management form; a new performance management cycle begins.
job-related practical have measurable standards Perhaps the most important design consideration is to develop a process that is practical and easy to understand and use. The focus should be on the results of the performance management process - effective and motivated staff - not the steps of the process.
When developing a new performance management process, use a committee made up of employees and managers. A collaborative approach will increase employee buy-in, understanding and support of the process.
Once the process has been developed, communicate with all staff about the purpose and the steps in the performance management process.
You should be prepared to make adjustments to your new system as necessary.
Different Types of Performance Management Systems There are a variety of ways to measure performance including:
Self Appraisal: the employee is asked to evaluate his/her own work Peer Appraisal: staff of equal rank within the organization are asked to evaluate the employee Team Appraisal: similar to peer appraisals; employees who work as part of a team are asked to evaluate the team's work Assessment Centre: the employee is assessed by professional assessors using several types of evaluation such as work simulations and actual activities 360-Degree or Full Circle Appraisal: the employee's work is reviewed by gathering input from representatives of all the groups the employee interacts with such as supervisor, peers, subordinates and clients.
Management-by-Objectives: the employee's achievement of work objectives that are set in collaboration with his/her supervisor are assessed.
Combination of Methods: Some organizations combine different methods into their performance management process. In particular some organizations include an evaluation of competencies - the knowledge, skills and abilities that distinguish superior performance. Establishing competencies for performance management in an organization requires careful thought. Without careful preparation, evaluating competencies can be very subjective.
In the voluntary sector, 360-degree appraisals are sometimes used for evaluating the Executive Director. Management-by-objectives is an effective approach to performance management for all other employees.
Because it's the most practical system for most non-profit organizations, we will be focusing in this section of the website on Management-by-Objectives.
Management-by-Objectives Performance management using a management-by-objectives (results-based) approach has three phases:
Phase 1 - Planning a work plan for the next year is developed; measures for assessing progress are established.
Phase 2 - Monitoring progress toward the goals identified in the work plan is monitored; the plan is adjusted if required; corrective action is taken if necessary.
Phase 3 - Reviewing at the end of the performance management cycle the manager and employee meet to document the work of the past year; accomplishments and shortfalls relative to the work plan are summarized using a performance management form; a new performance management cycle begins.
Six Steps to Developing Your Public Relations and Media Plan
Marketing experts will tell you that a well planned public relations campaign is often far more effective than advertising. This tutorial will assist you in developing and creating the core of your public relations campaign in six easy steps.
• Step 1: Define and write down your objectives for your publicity or media plan.
How will you design your public relations campaign? Will it be designed to:
o Establish your expertise among your peers, the press, or your potential clients or customers?
o Build goodwill among your customer, supplier, or your community?
o Create and reinforce your brand and professional corporate image?
o Inform and create good perceptions regarding your company and services?
o Assist you in introducing a new service or product to your market?
o Generate sales or leads?
o Mitigate the impact of negative publicity and/or corporate crisis?
You may be wondering why I am asking you these things at the beginning of a tutorial that is supposed to show you how to create and your develop publicity plan? The answer is easy.
Sponsored Links
Restaurant Marketing & PRManuals to Develop Professional Marketing & Public Relation PlansRestaurantResourceGroup.com
App. Development EventBegin Operations Strategy June 30 50+ Sessions W/ Industry Analysts.www.Gartner.com
Marketing Plan SampleExtensive Marketing Plan Template Download it Now & Get the Job Done!BizTree.com
In order for your publicity and media plan to be successful it's first most important to determine and define your objective. With a clear objective in mind you have laid the ground work to the complete the remainder of this tutorial.
• Step 2: Define your goals in achieving this objective. It is important that your goals be specific, measurable, results-oriented and time-bound. These goals must be in-line with your overall business, marketing, and sales objectives.
• Step 3: Determine who your target audience consists of. Who is it that you want to reach with this campaign? What do you want your key message to be?
• Step 4: Develop a schedule for your public relation campaigns. Create synergy by coinciding your public relations plan with other marketing and sales efforts.
• Step 5: Develop your plan of attack. What communication vehicles will you use to get your message to the public? Examples may include:
o Press releases
o Articles
o Customer Success Stories
o Letters to the Editor
o Press Conferences, Interview, or Media Tours
o Radio, Television, or Press Interviews
o Seminars or Speaking Engagements
o Event Sponsorships
Select three from the list and beginning researching and developing your approach.
• Step 6: Put measures in place to track the results of your PR Campaign. After each campaign sit down and review the results. Did you achieve the defined objectives and goals of this campaign? Should you consider modifying your original plan? If so, how and why?
• Step 1: Define and write down your objectives for your publicity or media plan.
How will you design your public relations campaign? Will it be designed to:
o Establish your expertise among your peers, the press, or your potential clients or customers?
o Build goodwill among your customer, supplier, or your community?
o Create and reinforce your brand and professional corporate image?
o Inform and create good perceptions regarding your company and services?
o Assist you in introducing a new service or product to your market?
o Generate sales or leads?
o Mitigate the impact of negative publicity and/or corporate crisis?
You may be wondering why I am asking you these things at the beginning of a tutorial that is supposed to show you how to create and your develop publicity plan? The answer is easy.
Sponsored Links
Restaurant Marketing & PRManuals to Develop Professional Marketing & Public Relation PlansRestaurantResourceGroup.com
App. Development EventBegin Operations Strategy June 30 50+ Sessions W/ Industry Analysts.www.Gartner.com
Marketing Plan SampleExtensive Marketing Plan Template Download it Now & Get the Job Done!BizTree.com
In order for your publicity and media plan to be successful it's first most important to determine and define your objective. With a clear objective in mind you have laid the ground work to the complete the remainder of this tutorial.
• Step 2: Define your goals in achieving this objective. It is important that your goals be specific, measurable, results-oriented and time-bound. These goals must be in-line with your overall business, marketing, and sales objectives.
• Step 3: Determine who your target audience consists of. Who is it that you want to reach with this campaign? What do you want your key message to be?
• Step 4: Develop a schedule for your public relation campaigns. Create synergy by coinciding your public relations plan with other marketing and sales efforts.
• Step 5: Develop your plan of attack. What communication vehicles will you use to get your message to the public? Examples may include:
o Press releases
o Articles
o Customer Success Stories
o Letters to the Editor
o Press Conferences, Interview, or Media Tours
o Radio, Television, or Press Interviews
o Seminars or Speaking Engagements
o Event Sponsorships
Select three from the list and beginning researching and developing your approach.
• Step 6: Put measures in place to track the results of your PR Campaign. After each campaign sit down and review the results. Did you achieve the defined objectives and goals of this campaign? Should you consider modifying your original plan? If so, how and why?
Appealing As Part Of Performance Managment
A procedure for the employee to discuss disagreement with the process should be established.
Some options for dealing with disagreements about performance appraisals are:
Step Review SystemThe disagreement is heard by higher levels of management such as the supervisor's manager, followed by the Executive Director as necessary. In small non-profit organizations there may not be higher levels of management to appeal to.
Peer Review SystemA small group made up of equal numbers of employees and management staff review disagreements.
OmbudsmanEmployees can seek assistance from an individual within the organization who is designated as an impartial ombudsman. An ombudsman does not have the authority to override a decision, but the ombudsman can refer the disagreement up the line of authority, if necessary.
7. Final Checklist for Your Performance Management System As stated previously, performance management has a variety of purposes, one of which is documentation should there be a legal challenge related to performance.
To ensure that your performance management process is defensible:
Base the process on well written job descriptions and job-related activities Have the manager and employee collaborate on setting performance objectives Establish results (objectives) and behaviours for which you can develop observable measures; avoid traits such as 'initiative' which require subjective assessments Ensure that the employee keeps a copy of the performance plan (work plan) and expectations set at the beginning of the performance management cycle Provide ongoing monitoring and feedback on performance to the employee When problems are identified with performance, provide support (training, coaching, etc.) and adequate time for the performance to improve Train managers/supervisors on all aspects of the process and on how to make bias free assessments Ensure that the performance management form accurately documents performance - if overall performance is poor say so Periodically review the performance management process to ensure that it is being applied consistently Establish an appeals process Performance Assessment systems design and implementation, to my opiniion, is a cultural issue. It can neither be developed nor managed in isolation of the business values of the organization. It reflects both the business philosophy and attitude towards people who work for the organization.
Some options for dealing with disagreements about performance appraisals are:
Step Review SystemThe disagreement is heard by higher levels of management such as the supervisor's manager, followed by the Executive Director as necessary. In small non-profit organizations there may not be higher levels of management to appeal to.
Peer Review SystemA small group made up of equal numbers of employees and management staff review disagreements.
OmbudsmanEmployees can seek assistance from an individual within the organization who is designated as an impartial ombudsman. An ombudsman does not have the authority to override a decision, but the ombudsman can refer the disagreement up the line of authority, if necessary.
7. Final Checklist for Your Performance Management System As stated previously, performance management has a variety of purposes, one of which is documentation should there be a legal challenge related to performance.
To ensure that your performance management process is defensible:
Base the process on well written job descriptions and job-related activities Have the manager and employee collaborate on setting performance objectives Establish results (objectives) and behaviours for which you can develop observable measures; avoid traits such as 'initiative' which require subjective assessments Ensure that the employee keeps a copy of the performance plan (work plan) and expectations set at the beginning of the performance management cycle Provide ongoing monitoring and feedback on performance to the employee When problems are identified with performance, provide support (training, coaching, etc.) and adequate time for the performance to improve Train managers/supervisors on all aspects of the process and on how to make bias free assessments Ensure that the performance management form accurately documents performance - if overall performance is poor say so Periodically review the performance management process to ensure that it is being applied consistently Establish an appeals process Performance Assessment systems design and implementation, to my opiniion, is a cultural issue. It can neither be developed nor managed in isolation of the business values of the organization. It reflects both the business philosophy and attitude towards people who work for the organization.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Organizational Readiness To Performance Management
The other HR practices which should be in place prior to developing a performance management process should include the following components:
Well designed jobs written job descriptions comprehensive orientation effective training effective supervision a positive work environment If you do not have these human resource management practices in place then the first step for your organization will be to develop them before you establish a performance management process. Without the necessary human resource management practices in place, a performance management process at best will achieve modest improvements in performance and at worst may result in decreases in performance.
The performance management process must have the support of the Board, Executive Director and other senior managers. The establishment of a good performance management process requires time and resources.
Examples of management support for performance management include:
giving top performers more challenging/enriching work; making money available for training and other types of development; demonstrating commitment to deal with poor performance.
Management support to act upon the outcomes of the performance management process is also necessary. It is essential that:
good performance is recognized inadequate performance results in the necessary support and/or training to improve performance consistently poor performance results in a change of responsibilities or termination, as appropriate.
If your organization will not act upon the outcomes of a performance management process, then there may be little point in establishing the process in the first place.
Organizational Fit A good performance management system must fit the strategic direction and culture of your organization. Following are guiding principles that are consistently found in effective performance management systems and that you should adapt for your organization:
Performance management links the goals of the individual employee to the goals of the organization.
The employee and supervisor collaborate to set goals and review performance.
Performance management is an on-going process; it is not a once a year appraisal.
The performance management process is forward looking; past performance is summarized and future goals are set.
The process is based on two-way communication between the employee and supervisor.
The process monitors and measures result (what) and behaviour (how). The process does not evaluate personal traits, such as initiative - these are too subjective.
The manager provides both positive feedback for a job well done and constructive feedback when improvement is needed.
Training and development opportunities are provided for improving performance.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Planning Starts with a Mission Statement
The best starting point for public relations planning is to review the organization's mission statement and goals. These documents summarize what the organization is and what it's trying to accomplish, and they should provide the focus for every decision the organization -- or any sub-unit within it -- makes and every action it takes. This should be especially true of public relations efforts.
Consequently, many public relations plans start with a copy of the organization's mission and goals. The next element these plans include is a mission statement for the public relations unit which spells out what that unit does and how it assists and supports the organization in carrying out its mission.
The linked page, Planning starts with mission statements. includes an example of an organizational mission statement and that organization's public relations mission statement which shows how the latter parallels and supports the former.
Creating Your 12-Month Public Relations Plan
The following plan will show you how to set measurable goals and develop specific activities throughout the year.
Planning is a critical element of the public relations process--and the one most people skip. Why? Because it's hard, and it takes time.
A public relations plan can be detailed or very basic. At the minimum, it should include activities for a 12-month period.
Preparing to Write Your Plan
Before you start writing your plan, you'll need to answer the following questions:
- What is my budget?
- What are the business goals I’d like to achieve with this plan?
- Who is my target market?
- Who and what are my primary referral sources?
- How will this fit with my other marketing activities?
- How will I measure my success?
Let’s take each of these questions separately.
What is my budget? This varies depending on your industry and your growth plans. Generally, a marketing budget is 2 percent to 10 percent of projected annual gross sales. My recommendation would be to devote at least 5 percent of your projected annual gross sales to marketing efforts.
What are the business goals I’d like to achieve with this plan? Here are some typical business goals served by PR activities. You can have several goals for your PR plan:
- Launch a brand;
- Get a certain number of contacts or have a certain number of conversations per month;
- Launch a new product; and
- Change a perception in the marketplace.
Who is my target market? Your target market is the kind of people you think are qualified and interested in buying your products and services.
Who or what are my primary referral sources? Your referral sources are the lifeblood of your business. Whether they are current clients, colleagues in complementary businesses or discount travel websites, you must make sure you are initiating PR activities to constantly remind those sources about you, so they can refer more prospects to you.
How will this fit with my other marketing activities? Depending on your industry, you may choose other activities to supplement your public relations activities, such as advertising and direct mail. These other activities will have an effect on your overall budget.
How will I measure my success? That depends on your goals. Some goals are very specific, such as 40 contacts or conversations a month. It's pretty easy to measure whether your marketing activities lead you to that. Other goals, such as the perception of your business or your brand, can be measured through surveys.
Create your public relations plan.
Now it's time to create your plan. You can use the following example of a public relations plan for an interior designer as a guide:
Goals:
- Change public perception from generic interior design company to one that specializes in "green" interiors.
- Generate 30 conversations a month.
Target market:
- Moms, ages 30-50,
- With household incomes of $200,000 or more,
- Who own homes worth $500,000 or more, and
- Who live in
Referral sources:
- Current and past clients;
- Realtors who sell $500,000 and higher-cost homes in
- Remodelers who work on $500,000 and higher-cost homes in
Monthly activities:
January:
- Read Do-It-Yourself Public Relations Kit.
- Create annual public relations plan.
February:
- Create fact sheet, backgrounder, biography and press release.
- Attend interior design industry conference.
March:
- Create template for, write and send out first monthly newsletter.
- Create a holiday called "National Green Home Day" to take place in October. Submit this to Chase’s Calendar.
April:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Pitch information included in press release about "How Moms Can Make Their Homes Safer for Kids By Going Green."
May:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Pitch yourself as a speaker on "How to Make Your Homes Safer" by going green.
- Follow up on press release pitch.
June:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Speak at local mommy & me group on "green" design.
July:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Create press release and pitch media on "My Participation in Show House Designing."
August:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Work on show house.
September:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Write and submit article on "green homes" to newsletter for local Realtors' association.
October:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Create press release and pitch media on "National Green Home Day."
November:
- Monthly newsletter.
- Field publicity for "National Green Home Day."
December:
- Monthly newsletter.
A public relations plan will keep you focused on the right activities to achieve your business goals. And that will keep you on the path to business success.
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