7. Research And Analysis – Analyzing The Environment, The Organization,
The Stakeholder 1-10
8. Prioritising Public 11-19
9. Constructing The Content, Crafting The Message 20-29
10. Strategy And Tactic – Different Strokes For Different Folks 30-38
11. What Is Risk In Pr? 39-48
12. Evaluation Techniques 49-57
******
*****CONTENTS
Unit No. Title Page No
munotes.in
1
7
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS –
ANALYZING THE ENVIRONMENT, THE
ORGANIZATION, THE STAKEHOLDER
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 What is Research and Analysis?
7.3 Defining and analysing environment, the organization, the stakeholder
7.4 Un derstanding Research and analysis: environment, the organization,
the stakeholder, and Public Relations campaigns
7.5 Let‘s sum it up
7.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
Meaning of Research and Analysis
Understanding the environment, the organization, the stakeholder
Understanding the context with respect to Public Relations
Campaigns
7.1 INTRODUCTION Research expects one to be curious. There have been plenty of research
that has been done in the field of public relations . Papers can be found in
media and public relations journals worldwide on various functions of
public relations and public relations campaigns. These could be publicity,
media relations, crisis communication, audience research, campaigns in
public relation s etc. Once the researcher has decided the research problem,
research question and or hypothesis it becomes easier to put together a
literature review for the body of the research to begin. The process of
doing the next phase of research will involve putti ng a research
methodology together before starting data collection for the said research
question and or hypothesis. Analysis is the next big step where the
researcher does the work manually or uses analysis software. This step is
where the findings emerge after all the work done in the research process
so far. munotes.in
2 Introduction to Communication Public relations research can be well explained by the following definition
―Research gives the hard data necessary to provide value to the
organization, and helps provide information to make decisio ns that have
real impact‖ - Gronstedt (1997). If not for research it will be difficult for
organisations to really know where they are headed in terms of
communicating with their audiences. Research helps discover the various
areas of concern which can hel p organisations help into building
relationships, making effective programmes and take on time needed
actions that will stop issues from not being blown out of proportions and
later becoming huge issues. -(Broom & Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, &
Broom, 200 0). Research helps discover the various areas of concern which
can help organisations help into building relationships, making effective
programmes and take on time needed actions that will stop issues from not
being blown out of proportions and later beco ming huge issues. -(Broom
& Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000).
SPSS and SAS are more commonly used for analysing data through
software. Microsoft Excel 2000 (version 9) provides a set of data analysis
tools called the Analysis Tool Pak. This ca n help develop complex
statistical analysis. As you input the data and parameters for each analysis;
the tool presents results based on the specific statistical macro functions.
Even charts and can be generated other than output tables to display
results. R analytics is data analytics programming using R programming
language which is an open -source language used for statistical computing
or graphics. It is now also being used in statistical analysis and data
mining.
7.3 Defining and analysing the environme nt, the organization, the stakeholder The terms environment, organisation, and the stakeholder here in context
is with public relations and the campaigns that are created by public
relations practitioners. Before we define these terms lets first have a
glimpse on what is public relations (PR) and how have experts and
researchers defined this field of communication.
Some definitions: -
―All business begins with the public permission and exists by public
approval.‖ In 1939 at a Public Relations conference, h e said "Public
relations, is not publicity only, not management only; it is what everybody
in the business from top to bottom says and does when in contact with the
public." - Arthur W. Page, Former AT&T Vice President, Public Relations
Public Relations Society of America PRSA agreed upon a definition after
a few thousand submissions: ―Public relations is a strategic
communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organizations and their publics.‖
Public Relations has been an evolving practice, its origin and growth has
traversed many years across the world. Sriramesh quotes James Grunig‘s munotes.in
3 Communication Theory definition of public relations that it is "the management of communication
between an organization and its publics (Sriramesh & White, 1992) .
Public relations serve the functions of information, communication,
persuasion, image building, continuous building of trust, management of
conflicts, and the generation of consensus‖ (Sriramesh K. , 2003) . PR is in
the business of persuasion. You are al ways trying to persuade somebody
or the other.
The Princeton Review notes that: ―A public relations specialist is an image
shaper. Their job is to generate positive publicity for their client and
enhance their reputation … They keep the public informed abo ut the
activity of government agencies, explain policy, and manage political
campaigns. Public relations people working for a company may handle
consumer relations, or the relationship between parts of the company such
as the managers and employees, or dif ferent branch offices.‖ In PR it is
said that there is no such thing as the public - there are in fact different
groups of people - not just consumers, but suppliers, employees, trustees,
members, local and national trade and political bodies, residents , among
many others. Thus, Public Relations is a profession which practitioners of
it will have to look very seriously into the relationship of an organisation
with its stakeholders and always try to improvise upon its communications
and activities to maintai n it.
Environment :
Environment of an organisation is comprised of various external and
internal forces that have an impact on it. These forces either do good or
may become obstacles to the growth of an organisation. These can be both
opportunities and thr eats to the well -being of an organisation. But the
challenge is also that sometimes these resources cannot be easily available
(Riggio, 2018). There are far more complex entities that can influence the
organisations such as competitors that can encroach up on your marketing
territories, modern ever changing technologies, and price increase of raw
materials. These can pose a challenge to an organization‘s position vis a
vis competition (Truxillo, Bauer & Erdogan, 2016).
It is natural then that organisations will then try to control these vital
forces impacting them. If they have to stay in the market and sustain
themselves in the eyes of the customer or any other immediate beneficiary
then they have to manage two important levels of organisational
environment s : a general one and a specific one (also called the
organizational domain ).
The general environment is comprised of the political -legal, economic
and socio -cultural backdrop in which it operates. This has expanded
globally due to modern technology and th e Internet which brings the
world together like a global village. Various transactions and
exchanges bind the organisations and their audiences. The main goal
is that their specific environment or their domain is protected and
their position safe. munotes.in
4 Introduction to Communication The spec ific environment or organizational domain consists of the
various goods and services that an organisation produces for their
stakeholders including customers. This can only happen if a value
proposition is created for especially customers, employees, and a ll
other stakeholders in terms of the goods and services that they create.
The organisation can only maintain its important position in the eyes
of the audience if it continues to prove its usefulness to the audience
in all aspects, failing which it will l ose its specific environment with
the advent of new competition which is doing better than what it set
out to do.
One thing is very clear from the above explanation that there is constant
maintenance and management that needs to be done by the organisation all
the time so that don‘t lose position and thus the stakeholders that make it
what it is. The public relations function is akin to that of the boundary
spanner where any impending danger is caught by monitoring eyes. The
environments in which organisati ons operate in are always dynamic. The
current times are perfect examples where we can see that a pandemic and
a war between two countries can completely upset a lot of other connected
entities that affect business of organisations across the world. It is the
function of a public relations manager to respond to crisis situations by
clear communication and active response to questions raised by
stakeholders.
Organisation :
―A group of people who work together in an organized way for a shared
purpose.‖ - Cambri dge Dictionary
E.g., the World Health Organization, Bennett and Coleman Co. Ltd,
Unilever to name a few.
―An organisation can be defined as an entity or a social unit that comprises
several people who work together to achieve a common goal. It is a
structu red unit where the role, responsibilities, and authorities of each
member are clearly defined, and relationships between all the members of
the organisation are established‖. - marketing91.com
For e.g., A college is an example of a formal organisation. Th e goal of a
college is to provide quality education to all the students who take
admission in this organisation. There can be different types of
organisations they could be doing voluntary work, temporary work. E.g.,
distribution of food and clothing for h omeless, ones fighting for rights of
women and children etc. or it could be an organisation doing continuous
work and long term. Also organisations can be put into various categories
such as government, non -government, corporations, international,
politica l, non -profit, charities, armed forces, educational institutes,
cooperatives, and partnerships, etc. Organisational structures can be
further classified into ecologies, committees and juries, pyramid or
hierarchical and finally matrix. munotes.in
5 Communication Theory From the above tex t it is clear that organisations are built to serve the
public and do business. The environment under which they operate and the
stakeholders that they cater to are very crucial for the sustenance of these
organisations. From a public relations perspective engagement with the
stakeholders is important for these organisations. They engage to build an
image; they engage to sell. These two primary functions is what public
relations essentially caters to. By using various promotional tactics
including the most important media relations the organisations continues
to create and sustain images both during happy and crisis times. Public
Relations function in organisation can be a small or a large one depending
on the structure and size of an organisation. As the au thor has observed
that in organisation the image building and media relations function can be
under the corporate communication team. The corporate communications
manager here directly reports to the CEO, while in some the public
relations function is part of the marketing communication function. The
public relations agencies are outsourced various media coverage works
along with the internal corporate communications team. With the advent
of the digital communication of various kinds it has become imperativ e of
the public relations and the corporate communications functions to look
into the image building, reputation management and crisis management
24/7, 365 days a year on all digital platforms that they can span. The
boundary spanner which is the function of a public relations practitioner,
is keeping his eyes and ears open to any crisis signal which can become
very crucial in current times.
Stakeholder :
―A stakeholder is a party with an interest in an enterprise; stakeholders in
a corporation include inve stors, employees, customers, and suppliers.
However, with the increasing attention on corporate social responsibility,
the concept has been extended to include communities, governments, and
trade associations.‖. -Investopedia.com
By the above definition i t is clear that organisations have internal and
external stakeholders. Both are the equally important. From a public
relations function perspective it means that when an image of an
organisation is built keeping in mind how each stakeholder would perceive
the organisation is crucial, after all reputations in the long run are formed
like that. So working on strategies and doing activities pertaining to them
is important.
7.4 UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS: ENVIRONMENT, THE ORGANIZATION, THE
STAKEHOLDER , AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
CAMPAIGNS Research, analysis involves a constant monitoring of the environment
under which an organisation operates is very important as can be seen
from the data above. Evaluation done during campaigns revel what more
needs to be do ne for amicable and mutual beneficial relationships with munotes.in
6 Introduction to Communication stakeholders. PR campaigns are indeed useful when image of a company
is hampered during a crisis like an accident, product failure, pandemic,
depression etc. In all these situations it becomes impera tive to organize
communication activities to keep the stakeholders well apprised of the
situation and to resolve their grievances. The pandemic was one situation
where the company‘s communication task force was in action. We could
see that in so many forms of communication they did. Whether it was
Swiggy informing about their food delivery changes during pandemic and
the precautions taken, Club Mahindra resorts keeping their customers
aware of the resorts available when it was possible, and all the precauti ons
taken in pandemic times. These are two examples out of many we saw
how companies handled their communication in terms of selling and
keeping up their image and continued business when they could. So, what
are campaigns and how does PR campaigns help t o keep the connection
between the environment, the organization, the stakeholder?
―Campaigns are coordinated, purposeful, extended efforts designed to
achieve a specific goal or a set of interrelated goals that will move the
organisation towards a longer -range objective expressed as its mission
statement‖ - Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's "This is
PR. The realities of Public Relations
In context of public relations, it is basically strategizing and creating
publicity or media coverage for a b rand. Doing activities which will
ensure the above. It is also called a public relations plan or a PR plan.
Whenever a PR plan is put into place it is always dynamic in nature. There
is constant evaluation and is updated as per the change in environment,
any stakeholder update etc.
So what are this campaigns or plans used for? They are designed keeping
in mind to address an issue, to resolve a problem at hand, or to improvise
what one is already doing in an organisation. The research and monitoring
always r eveal the data of the position of the company, thanks to ever
changing modern technology. An organisation can then use this data for
e.g., ―by changing a behaviour; by modifying a law or opinion; or by
retaining a desirable behaviour, law or opinion that i s challenged‖. Even
health emergencies like the pandemic put organisations into action into
resolving the issues that arose due to the crisis. E.g., since the pandemic
began the government has run heath campaigns creating awareness on
how to protect onesel f from the COVID -19 virus. The education,
reinforcement, and finally inducing behaviour change in the publics were
the key parameters of the campaign. Some of the key points were wearing
masks, washing hands frequently, taking the vaccine etc. Many compani es
took to promoting their products like Dettol, Lifebuoy of their disinfectant
soap liquids to encourage people to wash their hands to protect themselves
from the COVID -19 virus. These PR plans not only benefit the
stakeholders of an organisation but also create a positive image of the
government of the efforts taken in a crisis like the pandemic.
According to Patrick Jackson's models, as quoted in Doug Newsom, Judy
VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's ―This is PR. The realities of Public munotes.in
7 Communication Theory Relations‖. And an analy sis done of each campaign type's characteristics
by the above authors, following Patrick Jackson's types of PR campaigns
one can understand the kinds of public relations campaigns as quoted
below:
“There are a number of public relations campaigns, in fact about six. First
we have the skills to put on a public awareness campaign, to make people
aware of something. School is starting again so please don't run over first
graders on their way. Simple awareness .
Second, we have the skills to mount public informa tion campaigns , to
offer information along with awareness. Totally different than a simple
awareness campaign.
Third, we have the skills to do a public education campaign ; using the
word education in the pedagogical way, meaning that a person has
encompass ed the material sufficiently, and is emotionally and attitudinally
comfortable enough with it that he or she can actually apply it to daily
behavior. We have the skills to run those campaigns. But there are other
kinds of campaigns that we must also prepar e.
Fourth, sometimes we must reinforce the attitudes and behavior of those
who are in agreement with our position. All they may need is a reminder
of shared values.
And sometimes, fifth, we have to change or attempt to change the
attitudes of those who do not agree with our position. This requires
creation of cognitive dissonance and is much tougher.
Sixth, and finally, we have the skills today to carry out behavior
modification campaigns. ” (Newsom, VanSlyke Turk and Kruckeberg,
2000).
The general model fro m previous PR campaigns can be put together as
below: -
1. Problem: This step puts the problem together to study the issue at
hand. The entire campaign will rest on this problem statement.
2. Research: This step will analyse the current situation in conte xt of
the problem at hand.
3. Planning: In this stage a plan will need to be put into place for
resolving the issue or reiterating what is already been said.
4. Implementation: This step constitutes the activities and action plan
as they call it, so ―str ategies methods, techniques and instruments‖
would be used here to reach the objective set at the beginning of the
plan.
5. Evaluation: This step will test the work done and an analysis with
findings will reveal if the objectives were met or something n ew
emerged. munotes.in
8 Introduction to Communication It will be observed after analysing different types of campaigns, creating
awareness appears to be the most easy as compared to changing a target
audience‘s behaviour when plans are implemented and later evaluated.
The reasons could be many suc h as the extent to which the target group is
involved. In creating awareness stage, the involvement is not so much as
compared to in the behaviour change campaign where there are more
repetition involved and there are more stages when the target group
receives a message, changes in attitudes thus induced and observed, and
finally change in behaviour seen. Of course this kind of campaign will
require far more strong messaging which gives information and is more
persuasive if any behaviour change is expected from the target audience.
Also most important the involvement of the target group is very crucial
here, how strongly do they also feel and relate to the issue.
We can see that the environment under which an organisation operates,
political -legal, economic and socio -cultural backdrop affects its
operations. The stakeholders have an direct impact on the image and
reputation of the organisation. The organisation may create various
campaigns to either create a specific image of themselves with their
stakeholder s or sell their products of services to their target audiences. In
any scenario a thorough research and analysis would be needed to know
the current position of the organisation. Think in terms of all FMCG
companies who sell their food and beverages, elect ronic items and daily
day to day use items to you. Also think in terms of organisations who do
activities to preserve the environment and thus create an image of
themselves or who gave large donations during the pandemic to help the
people. All such exampl es will point out that an organisation is constantly
on its toes to keep up its image and position in the positive light and for
that research and using technology to help in the same is paramount.
Organisations both government and private and non -governme nt will do
various kinds of campaigns as per their goals and objectives defined in
their mission and vision statements of their organisation. Thus research
and analysis will form the basis of all PR campaigns for any kind of
communication to reach out to t he stakeholders of various kinds of
organisations. Evaluation will be crucial at every step to seek insights to
improve the relationship between and organisation and its publics.
Check your progress
1. What is research and analysis?
2. What is public relations research?
3. What is the environment, the organization, the stakeholder?
4. Explain research and analysis in context of the environment,
organisation and the stakeholder in the purview of public relations
campaigns.
7.5 LET’S SUM IT UP munotes.in
9 Communication Theory Research expects one to be curious. There have been plenty of
research that has been done in the field of public relations. Papers can
be found in media and public relations journals worldwide on various
functions of public relations and public relations campaigns. These
could be p ublicity, media relations, crisis communication, audience
research, campaigns in public relations etc. Public Relations Society
of America PRSA agreed upon a definition after a few thousand
submissions: ―Public relations is a strategic communication proce ss
that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations
and their publics.‖
Public relations research can be well explained by the following
definition ―Research gives the hard data necessary to provide value to
the organization, and helps p rovide information to make decisions that
have real impact‖ - Gronstedt (1997). Research helps discover the
various areas of concern which can help organisations help into
building relationships, making effective programmes and take on time
needed actions that will stop issues from not being blown out of
proportions and later becoming huge issues. -(Broom & Dozier, 1990;
Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000).
The terms environment, organisation, and the stakeholder here in
context is with public relations and the campaigns that are created by
public relations practitioners. Environment of an organisation is
comprised of various external and internal forces that have an impact
on it. These forces either do good or may become obstacles to the
growth of an organisatio n. These can be both opportunities and threats
to the well -being of an organisation. But the challenge is also that
sometimes these resources cannot be easily available (Riggio, 2018).
―An organisation can be defined as an entity or a social unit that
comp rises several people who work together to achieve a common
goal. It is a structured unit where the role, responsibilities, and
authorities of each member are clearly defined, and relationships
between all the members of the organisation are established‖. -
marketing91.com. ―A stakeholder is a party with an interest in an
enterprise; stakeholders in a corporation include investors, employees,
customers, and suppliers. However, with the increasing attention on
corporate social responsibility, the concept has been extended to
include communities, governments, and trade associations.‖. -
Investopedia.com. Organisations have internal and external
stakeholders. Both are the equally important. From a public relations
perspective engagement with the stakeholders is important for these
organisations. They engage to build an image; they engage to sell.
These two primary functions is what public relations essentially caters
to.
―Campaigns are coordinated, purposeful, extended efforts designed to
achieve a specific goal or a set of interrelated goals that will move the
organisation towards a longer -range objective expressed as its mission
statement‖ - Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's
―This is PR. The realities of Public Relations‖. There are six types of munotes.in
10 Introduction to Communication of public relations campaigns: Simple awareness, public information
campaigns, public education campaign, reinforcement campaign,
attitude change and lastly the behaviour modification campaign.
It will be observed after analysing different types of campaigns ,
creating awareness appears to be the most easy as compared to
changing a target audience‘s behaviour when plans are implemented
and later evaluated. Research and analysis will form the basis of all
PR campaigns for any kind of communication to reach out to the
stakeholders of various kinds of organisations. Evaluation will be
crucial at every step to seek insights to improve the relationship
between and organisation and its publics.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING https://encyclopedia.pub/7619
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp
https://dictionary.c ambridge.org/dictionary/english/organization
Sibindi, N., & Samuel, O. M. (2019). Structure and an unstable business
operating environment: Revisiting Burns and Stalker's organisation -
environment theory in Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector. South African
Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 22(1), 1 -12.
Chmiel, N., Fraccaroli, F. & Sverke M. (2017). An Introduction to Work
and Organizational Psychology, (3rd. Edition). Wiley Blackwell.
Cutlip, Scott M., Center, Allen H., Broom, Glen M., Effective Pub lic
Relations, eight edition, Prentice Hall Edition, Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey, 2001.
Kunkzik, Michael, Public Relations, Konzepte und Theorien, Bohlau
Editiom, Koln, Weimar, Wien, 1993.
Newsom, Doug, Vanslyke Turk, Judy, Kruckeberg, Dean, This is PR, The
Realities of Public Relations, Seventh Edition, Wadsworth Edition,
Belmont U.S.A., 2000.
Rice, Ronald, Atkin, Charles, K., Public Communication Campaigns, third
edition, Sage Edition, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi, 2001.
Radu, Ion, Ilu , Petru, Mat ei, Liviu, Psihologie Social , Exe Edition, Cluj -
Napoca, 1994.
Flaviu Calin Rus " Types of PR campaigns —means of raising product
sales ". Review of Business Research. FindArticles.com. 17 Dec, 2009.
***
munotes.in
11 Communication Theory 7
PRIORITISING PUBLIC
Unit structure
1.0 Objecti ves
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Identifying priority public
1.2.1 What are the types of Media Organisation
1.3 Let‘s sum up
1.4 Questions
1.4 References
Objectives: In this chapter, you will understand how to identify your priority
public
You will understand how to determine your key stakeholder
This chapter will also help you understand how to customise a
campaign to your priority public
INTRODUCTION One of the most challenging things one has to do as a communications
professional is to identify and prioritise the stakeholders and the chosen
public. Each campaign and narrative will be tailored to suit a certain target
audience and to serve a certain purpose, so it is absolutely crucial for one
to identify and prioritise their stakeholders. This is an evolving p rocess
that changes along the way and there are many many factors that play into
this. In public relations, there is a say that there is no such thing as the
general public. Even though you might be communicating with a larger
group of people, it is still not communicating with everybody. In this
chapter, we will understand closely how to distinguish between the
general public and your audience and the art of Prioritising them.
It is important to note that if you are unable to prioritise your stakeholders
and public, your campaign just might not be as effective as it could have
been. For optimum impact, it is absolutely necessary for you to organise
your public into the order of priority. Just like any other form of media,
there is no one size formula that will generate your ideal target audience in
the process. It‘s involving an ongoing process of looking, observing,
reimagining and constantly updating yourself to equip yourself to identify munotes.in
12 Introduction to Communication your priority public. In the current times that we are living throu gh, one
must also keep in mind the possibility of constant feedback. All
communications professionals should keep an open mind to receiving
feedback so that our processes can be sharpened.
Identifying and Prioritizing Stakeholders and publics :
As we discus sed, in the world of public relations there is no general
public. We are all hoping to and actively working towards communicating
with a certain group of people that will be able to serve some of our
purposes, be it selling, brand awareness, brand building or any other
desired actions. Every organisation has its own set of principles and values
and this helps us determine our priorities.
Experts and professionals from the public relations industry have often
met with the same dilemma -how do we prioritise o ur public. Over time
they have been able to come up with several methods that will help us
determine that. And as a starting point we need to answer a key question
How much attention to detail and effort would each of these stakeholders
need? You will only be able to answer this question if you have a correct
and clear view of who your audience is and what their interests and
attitudes are.
It is absolutely impossible for all the stakeholders to have the same interest
and requirements from the organisation and there is a possibility that you
might be expected to manage stakeholders with potentially conflicting and
contradicting interests. As you design a campaign, a big challenge could
be to divide your attention in a justified manner since you might not ha ve
enough resources to give everybody the same amount of attention. While
it might be tough at the beginning, there is a huge scope of success for the
organisation if they are able to identify their priority stakeholders when a
crisis arises.
Q. Why should you define your priority public? :
Defining Stakeholders :
Before we delve deeper into the subjective processes of prioritising, let‘s
understand who a stakeholder is. As per Edward Freeman(1984), a
stakeholder is a group or individual who is affected by or can affect the
success of an organization. This is only a surface -level analysis of who a
stakeholder could be. In today‘s world of global shareholders and new
models of businesses, anybody can be a stakeholder in an organisation‗s
perspective. For inst ance, an educational NGO that works in India can
have several stakeholders -it could be its employees, direct beneficiaries
such as children, parents and communities, could be the board members
and donors, or it could simply be somebody who is interested in
contributing to the educational sector in the future. Grunig and Repper
differentiated the terms ―stakeholder‖ and ―public‖ as - ‗Organizations
choose stakeholders by their marketing strategies, recruiting, and
investment plans, but ―publics arise on thei r own and choose the
organization for attention.‖Grunig and Repper (1992), This classification munotes.in
13 Communication Theory relied on John Dewey‘s definition of a public: ―That it is a group of people
who face a similar problem, recognize the problem, and organize
themselves to do som ething about it‖. From this perspective, it‘s important
for us to note that since these individuals are invested in the organisation,
there might be an action that follows after we communicate and engage
with them.
Defining stakeholders from an organisatio nal perspective :
It‘s important for an organisation to define its stakeholders and that can be
done by identifying their linkage with the organisation. One can
understand and study all the attributes each of the stakeholders have and
bucket them into clas sifications. In a popular model, Grunig and Hunt
break this down and define stakeholders into four brackets based on what
connection they have to the organisation -enabling, functional, diffused,
and normative stakeholders (Grunig and Hunt (1984).
Enabling stakeholders have some control and authority over the
organization, such as stockholders, board of directors, elected officials,
governmental legislators and regulators, and so on. These stakeholders
provide an organization with resources and necessary le vels of autonomy
to operate. When enabling relationships falter, the resources can be
withdrawn and the autonomy of the organization limited, restricted or
regulated.
Functional stakeholders are essential to the operations of the
organization and are divid ed between input —providing labour and
resources to create products or services (such as employees and
suppliers) —and output —receiving the products or services (such as
consumers and retailers).
Normative stakeholders are associations or groups with which t he
organization has a common interest. These stakeholders share similar
values, goals, or problems and often include competitors that belong to
industrial or professional associations.
Diffused stakeholders are the most difficult to identify because they
include the publics who have infrequent interaction with the organization,
and become involved based on the actions of the organization. These are
the publics that often arise in times of a crisis; linkages include the media,
the community, activists, and o ther special interest groups.
Understanding the linkage model should help an organisation and the
communication professional identify all of its stakeholders. While the
diffused linkage stakeholders could be really hard to define since it‘s
different for e ach situation and is completely subjective, the other three are
mostly concrete.
Q. What are the types of stakeholders?
munotes.in
14 Introduction to Communication The Situational Theory of publics :
Grunig created a situational theory that can potentially demonstrate why
some public actively co ntribute while others are completely passive and
often not contributing. Now that we have understood the stakeholder
categories, buying looking at it from this perspective, one will be able to
identify which publics will actively contribute towards your mi ssion and
who won‘t. This should help prioritise your stakeholders based on your
purpose.
Those publics who do not face a problem are nonpublics, those who face
the problem but do not recognize it as a problem are latent publics, those
who recognize the pr oblem are aware publics, and those who do
something about the problem are active publics. He also recognised three
variables that indicate why the certain public can act a certain way in
certain situations. And the factors are - level of involvement, proble m
recognition, and constraint recognition.
If we want to look at our role as a communicator, and use these three
factors to identify your priority public the process would look like this.
The level of investment and involvement will take precedence as a f actor.
Is a certain group of audience actively involved in scenarios where the
organisation is present? For instance, if you are supporting the campaign
that sends out the message of environmental preservation, is your audience
actively involved in climate crisis mitigation or even addressing the crisis?
The second lens would be problem recognition. There would only be any
kind of active participation from the audience if they are able to see the
problem clearly and also understand the impact it could creat e on their
lives instantly. If they are unable to see the problem, there is no motivation
to actively contribute. Once again, if we take the same scenario as above,
is your audience seeing the actual changes that are caused by the climate
crisis around the m? Are you able to do any work that will make them
aware of it?
The last one is more of a psychological element. If a certain individual
believes that there is nothing they can do to actually make a difference in
the given scenario, there is less motivati on for them to actively contribute.
If somebody has high constrained recognition, they will be less active. But
if an individual is able to see the role they could play in actually changing
the scenario, there is more motivation for them to actively contri bute. For
instance, if your audience who is now aware of the issues that are
happening around them, believes that they could play a key role in
actually changing and mitigating the issue, there will be a big chance of
them actively contributing towards it. If your audience believes that there
is nothing they could do about it, they then stay passive. It‘s also
important to note that past experiences social norms and changing realities
would also play a very important role in determining who is active and
who wouldn‘t contribute. If there is a history of active involvement in a
certain something being oppressed it can work both positively and
negatively. munotes.in
15 Communication Theory Active publics are likely to have high levels of involvement and problem
recognition, and lower levels of constraint recognition. Aware publics will
process information and might act, but are limited by lower levels of
involvement and problem recognition, or higher levels of constraint
recognition. The latent publics is not cognizant of how an issue involves
them or doesn‘t see it as a problem. There‘s a potential for them to
become aware at a later stage, however.
Grunig in his further research on the public recognised four different kinds
of publics:
1. All-issue publics, which are active on all issues.
2. Apathetic publics, which are inattentive to all issues.
3. Single -issue publics, which are active on a small subset of the issue
that only concerns them.
4. Hot-issue publics, which are active on a single issue that involves
nearly everyone and which ha s received a lot of media attention.
To help you put this into perspective, all -issue publics will always get
more relevance over the inactive public, especially if their urgency and
environment are more significant. You can predict the possibility of your
stakeholders becoming an active public by identifying if the problem
actually involves them or if they are aware of it. It‘s crucial to note that
active public does not necessarily mean positively responding respectful
public. Given the situation and the nature of stakeholders, the active
contribution should be both positive and negative.
Communication strategy for stakeholders :
While it would be absolutely wonderful to have the active public be your
key stakeholder all the time, It‘s not always the realit y. It‘s quite possible
that your priority stakeholder is inactive or unaware. There are many many
external factors that actually determine what your priority publics is going
to be and not all of them are in your locus of control. So the organisational
strategy should be designed in a way that will help you reach out to your
priority public.
Based on our former discussion, we can divide our stakeholders into four -
one would be the group that is actually active and supportive, one would
be supportive but ina ctive, there will be a group that could be active and
non-supportive and the last one should be inactive and non -supportive.
Category one should be your top priority given both you and they have
something to achieve out of the set strategy. These are the p eople that you
want advocating for you, and their involvement and engagement levels
would be high. The second category is actually the ones where there is
potential for us to inspire and inform them to actually become active. If
you make them aware of thei r problems and show them how this certain
issue impacts their lives, there is a chance of them turning into category
one. The third category is tricky given that they are active but not munotes.in
16 Introduction to Communication supportive of the organisational strategy. There is a possibility that they
will be defensive and actually negatively react to the communication that
you have sent out. This is where the organisation need to come out with
conflict resolution strategies and firefight. The last category is inactive and
non-supportive which mea ns the effort and investment that we will have to
spend on them is much higher. This will almost never be a priority
category. However, there always needs to be communication that is sent to
them that makes them aware of the issues so that the door stays o pen for
them to be around to be supportive.
Once you define your publics and priority group, there is one more step
that you can utilise that optimises your prioritisation. According to
Wilson(2005), there are three types of publics involved in communicati on
strategies: key publics, intervening publics, and influentials. Key publics
are individuals such as board members donors et cetera whose
participation is absolutely important for you and your organisation to
achieve its basic goals. Given a dependency o n them they will always be
the highest priority group. The intervening publics passes the information
on to the priority public and acts as opinion leaders. A fine example would
be media and media houses that disseminate information far and wide and
can ac tually drive change. This might or might not become a priority
segment depending on whether you want your information to be passed on
to the general public. Other influentials can be important intervening
publics, such as doctors who pass the information o n to patients, and
teachers who pass the information on to students. This is why word of
mouth is often seen as a key metric for the success of a campaign.
Influentials can either support an organization‘s efforts or work against
them.
There is a possibil ity that some individuals from certain publics will turn
into their trustworthy opinion leaders to either verify or disapprove a
message coming from the organisation. If there is clear loyalty towards
them, the campaign could only be successful if there is positive
verification from their end.
What’s the process once you define your publics :
Once you have learnt who your priority public is, it‘s important for you to
go through the process of customising your communication strategy and
narratives for them . It often means that, based on the filters that we have
identified throughout this chapter, you are noq able to identify your active
public that you want to target to reach out to. Let‘s take our familiar
example - Let‘s imagine that you are working for a n impact based
organisation that is working towards mitigating the climate crisis. After
going through each of these theories, you have identified your priority
public to be people who volunteer or acted as activists during a movement
that took place a few months ago. This audience is both active and
supportive of the cause. You are a communication strategy for them
should be straightforward and simple enough. They are already invested,
they‘re already aware of the problem, and they have already shown us by
participating in this movement that they do believe in their capacity to munotes.in
17 Communication Theory bring about a change. Since they are hitting all our checkboxes, our
communication should be re -rooted in a call to action. It needs to be
something simple enough for them to do. Som ething for them to show
initiative and their solidarity with the cause. Your second priority which is
your non -active but supportive audience. This is a group of people who
have liked and subscribed to similar causes but haven‘t really come out
and gotten mobilised under the banner of the cause. Your communication
strategy for them should be to make them believe that they have the
potential and ability to bring about the change they want to see in the
world. They are aware of the problem, they are invested in the cause, what
needs to be addressed right there is them not believing in their agency to
take things into their hands. You can start off with simple actions that
don‘t require much investment that they can do and then follow it up with
a proof point o f the impact that they were able to see it.
Another important aspect of prioritising your public is its timeliness.
Depending on what stage of your project cycle you are in, you might be
expected to communicate to different sets of audiences. Each time the se
filters should be equipping you to make your decisions about who your
priority publics is in that particular scenario.
However, even if your campaign is extremely successful, you need to keep
an open mind towards feedback. In the world of digital boom, in a space
where there are no boundaries between broadcasting and interpersonal
communication, and often where the worlds collide, it‘s absolutely
important that one has an ear on the ground. For instance, if you have
identified your priority publics and if you have started your
communication with them, a couple of decades ago, there was practically
no way to measure the impact you created with the said project. While it
would have been exciting to see the press release or press note you sent
out being pub lished in the mainline newspaper, there wouldn‘t be many
other metrics for you to track the impact you were able to create. In
today‘s time, that is fully changed. You are constantly receiving feedback.
Let‘s imagine that the communication has started. You may see that you
have received an email response from a journalist expressing more
interest. You might be able to connect with them and expand further on
the story and get it published. Once the story is live the cycle of your
communication is not really ending. Wherever the news stories published,
you will be able to see how audiences are responding to them. For
instance, all the big traditional media houses in the country including
times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, the Indian Express, and the
Deccan Herald all have their own versions of the web. In most of the
scenarios, anything that is picked up for print is also published in digital.
On these digital platforms, you will be able to see and track each
audience's sentiment and responses. If you see there is consistent
engagement and positive response to it that is happening on that platform,
you know your story is resonating with many many people. There is also a
chance of your story not being received well by your audience. You will
also be able to see and check it. The beauty of this is also that, you will be
able to intricately understand what about said piece of communication is
not resonating with people. For instance, if this is not tasteful or munotes.in
18 Introduction to Communication consciously done or mindfully crafted, the audi ence will be quick to point
it out. If there are any misrepresentations or if the communication is not
inclusive enough, the audience will be pointing it out. These can all be
huge learning as well as reflection points for you, as a professional. So
while you may have a couple of assumptions about your priority public,
their attitudes and likes might change. We are living in a society where
even social norms change over a couple of years. It‘s absolutely essential
that you constantly follow and analyse your priority publics so that you
can be agile enough to adopt any changes that happen to their mindset
factors.
Q. Once you have identified your priority publics, what‘s your next step in
designing a communication strategy?
LET’S SUM IT UP Stakeholders tha t can become active publics and influence the success of
the campaign or can appeal to a larger group of people and influentials
like media or opinion leaders should take priority when you categorise
stakeholders. It‘s also critical for us to keep in mind that influentials like
media or groups may not be direct stakeholders of the organisation, but we
need to inform inspire and invest in them to actively contribute towards it.
Around your scope of work, anybody who can shape and form public
perception shoul d be considered a key stakeholder as well. Your priority
public can be more than one. Your priority public can also be a mix of
one. Depending on the communication strategy that you are weaving, at
various points of the communication cycle, you may have a completely
different priority public. Often at the beginning of a communication cycle,
you may work closely with journalists and influencers depending on your
target audience. Once it gathers momentum, your priority public might
actually change to a certai n group of the general audience. These
processes are supposed to give you direction as to how to identify your
priority groups and how to approach them. They are not definite, however,
to make sense in the very complex world of broadcasting, this filter sh ould
empower you.
QUESTIONS: 1. What are priority public and how do you identify them?
2. How can you define stakeholders?
3. How can your priority public determine your communication
strategy?
REFERENCES: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/public -relations/s08 -identifying -
and-prioritizing -s.html munotes.in
19 Communication Theory https://sites.psu.edu/colinlester473/theory -
research/#:~:text=The%20situational%20theory%20of%20publics%20was
%20developed%20by%20J.%20E.,involvement%20(Grunig%2C%2 0198
9)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322802009_Managing_Public_R
elations
munotes.in
20 Introduction to Communication 8
CONSTRUCTING THE CONTENT,
CRAFTING THE MESSAGE
Unit structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 What is messaging and how to determine the messaging?
1.2.1 Constructing the content
1.3 Let‘s sum up
1.4 Questions
1.4 References
OBJECTIVES: This chapter would help you understand what‘s messaging and the
power i t holds
This chapter will provide insight into designing content
It will also provide you with practical insights into actually managing
a content campaign
INTRODUCTION The most crucial part of establishing a strong communication narrative is
crafting the message. While it‘s not easy to create one sure shot formula to
craft the most effective message and as an extension content, there are
guidelines you could follow to make that happen.
When you read an article or go through a campaign, the reason why you
remember it is because of the effectiveness of the messaging. It in some
way speaks to you and strikes a chord with you. It‘s a very sought after
skill these days to tell stories impactfully.
There are several factors that play into one deciding the c reative process
behind crafting the message or the content. But also, one needs to keep in
mind the changing space of media and the overwhelming information
overload before they start creating their messaging. In this chapter, we will
understand, how to ef fectively craft messaging and then translate that into
content that is relatable.
What is messaging:
In communication studies, a message is described as an information
conveyed by words (in speech or writing), and/or other signs and symbols. munotes.in
21 Communication Theory A message (ve rbal or nonverbal , or both) is the content of this exchange
process. The originator of the message in the communication process is
the sender. The sender conveys the me ssage to a receiver.
Communication demonstrates the process of sending and receiving
messages, which can also be perceived as encoding and decoding
messages. "However," in the word s of Courtland L. Bovée, John V. Thill,
and Barbara E. Schatzman, in "Business Communication Essentials,"
"communication is effective only when the message is understood and
when it stimulates action or encourages the receiver to think in new ways."
Succes sful opinion leaders and influencers have been able to put forward
messages to persuade a vast audience, by informing, inspiring and
mobilising. Peter Obstler, in his essay "Working With the Media"
published in "Fighting Toxics: A Manual for Protecting You r Family,
Community, and Workplace," says: "A well -defined message has two key
components. First, it is simple, direct, and concise. Second, it defines the
issues on your own terms and in your own words."
One can take the example of the well -defined messag e in the slogan
introduced and popularized by Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in
the United States in the 80s: "Are you better off today than you were four
years ago?" While it may seem glaringly obvious and simple, it helped
Regan take the reigns o f the rhetoric and conversation in the 1980
presidential election debate at every turn, although the very social system
at that point was extremely convoluted. Fuelled by this simple but
powerful message, Reagan went on to win the presidency by defeating
President Jimmy Carter, by a significant percentage. This shows the power
of the messaging.
Q. What‘s messaging and how does it influence a communication plan?
Factors to determine yo ur messaging :
There are several elements that you could keep a note of before you start
crafting the message. The first and foremost thing must be your brief.
While it may seem simple enough, the cornerstone of your messaging
should be your brief. As a co mmunication professional, when you start
breaking down a brief, it‘s crucial that you look for elements that you can
adopt in your messaging.
Some key questions can be:
1. Is the brief defining the output goals clearly?
2. Are we clear on the editorial tone a nd language?
3. Is it communicating the organisational values clearly?
4. Are we being sensitive and appropriate?
5. Will this hit the nail for our target audience? munotes.in
22 Introduction to Communication These are all questions one should answer before they start crafting the
narrative and messaging . Once you have these answers ready, you can
start looking at other elements.
The first and foremost element that should determine your messaging is
the purpose. What is the purpose that you are trying to serve with this
particular piece of communication? Is it to convey an emotion? Is it to
arouse a certain kind of reaction? Are you trying to get people to mobilise
and do a certain action? Are we trying to break a stereotype? The purpose
is what is going to define your messaging holistically. To give you an
example, imagine that you are presented with a brief for which you are
expected to create a campaign that talks about women empowerment.
There are several routes you could take to establish this. But women
empowerment is a broad theme. What is the purpo se this particular
campaign should serve for women empowerment? If you are able to
define that well, you are already off to a good starting point. Let‘s say that
the purpose is to ensure that more women return to the workplace after
career breaks. What exa ctly do we want to change after this? This purpose
is what is going to define you‘re messaging.
The second element that you must be aware of as you start creating your
messaging should be your audience. Like we have established before,
there is no general public that you are communicating with. Even if you
are speaking to a really broad group of people, there are still pockets of
individuals that you hope would resonate with this particular piece of
communication so that you are able to optimise your impac t. Let‘s take the
same example as before, you are now building the women empowerment
campaign that is supposed to raise awareness around women returning to
workplaces after career breaks. Who are you trying to communicate this
with? Are you trying to make employers aware that there is a group of
really talented individuals hoping for a second chance to return to their
careers? Or are we trying to convey to women across the country that even
if they have taken a career break they can still go back to their w orkplaces
as they want? Defining your priority audience clearly sure will help you
craft the message. If you are communicating with employers your
messaging will have to be different and appealing to them. You might not
be going with an emotional first app roach, but while communicating with
the actual beneficiaries will need a completely different approach.
The third and key element is the newsworthiness of said communication.
While we may not have complete control of what makes news and what is
not, overal l awareness of news values and current realities should always
be addressed when you craft a message. The same campaign about women
empowerment might have a better chance of being picked up by other
individuals if you do it around women‘s Day or in the mon th of March.
There is also a chance of it being amplified by other publics, if there is
already a parallel and relevant conversation going around about Women
empowerment. Making messaging newsworthy helps you create more
effective outputs. munotes.in
23 Communication Theory Another element that one needs to keep in mind as they defined a
messaging is available to capture what‘s unique about this. Since it is
easier to explain this via an example, imagine that now you are in the last
stage of designing your communication strategy for the wome n
empowerment campaign. Are you able to, through your messaging, bring
out the unique selling point of the story? Are you able to tell the most
powerful and unique stories around this cause, will the audience or media
be able to see its distinctive nature? Answering these questions will
definitely help you develop something that will make you stand out.
Last but not least, an essential element that should help you determine the
messaging is the emotion that you are trying to communicate. If you are
able to zero down on any emotion that you want to evoke amongst your
audience early on, your process of deciding the messaging should be much
easier. Maybe you want to evoke empathy and love, or maybe you want to
evoke disappointment and angst which then can inspi re people to act on it.
Your messaging will be heavily built around the emotions you want to
generate in the people you are communicating with and the output will
also be heavily reliant on it.
Best practices to identify your key messaging:
Don‘t forget t hat everything you create has 2 tier process to go through.
Your first priority is to get the Journalist to publish your content, while
the larger goal stays the same as the general public engaging with it.
Keep your messaging relevant
Keep your messaging timely and appropriate
Keep your message and focused on what‘s happening currently
Keep your messaging simple and not overly complex
Ensure that you are messaging can culminate into a clear action
Ensure that your message is crafted in a way that resonates with your
target audience
Ensure that your messaging a sensitive appropriate and inclusive
Q. What are some best practices to keep in mind while finalising key
messaging?
Constructing Content :
Now that we have established a process to identify your key m essaging,
let‘s talk about how to generate content. Content generation today is an
economy in itself. With the penetration of the internet and smartphones,
there is a tremendous growth that has happened in the number of people
generating content and also t he number of people consuming it. If you
look around, everyone including you has a smartphone in which there are
several apps, all built on content consumption and generation. While this munotes.in
24 Introduction to Communication is democratising the world of content generation to no end, this is a lso
turning the digital space into a highly competitive And overloaded space.
Every day people are bombarded with various forms of content around
everything that is under the sun, and to be perfectly candid, they are spoilt
for choice. This leads us to the biggest issue the communication world is
facing right now -how will you stand out From the clutter?
While there is no formula to create effective content, there are some things
you could keep in mind to ensure your content is relevant relatable and
shareab le. Here we discuss some of these filters you could keep in mind as
you create content.
Your target: You will or only be able to create quality and meaningful
content if you are able to identify your target group. A couple of decades
ago, you could create one press note or feature story and reach out to
practically everybody from every age group across all social classes.
Today that is far from reality. The specialisation and customisation that
happens between these groups are incredibly detailed. For insta nce, as a
brand that directly communicates to young people like Spotify, your
primary target group would be between 16 to 45. These are people who
come from all walks of life. These could be college going students, this
could be working professionals, this could be top executives, this could
also be homemakers listening to music. Not all of them get their
information from the same platform anymore, and nor do they have the
same interests or attitudes. So defining your target audience very clearly is
key in crafting your content. If you have more than one target group,
define each of them individually and serve them separately.
Your medium: Now that you know what your target audiences are, you
should be able to also identify what their key mediums are. Let m e
establish beforehand that each group of audiences now receive and
consumes content across various platforms and they all have different
preferences. Instagram is predominantly used by Millennials andGen Z
while Facebook has been taken over by slightly ol der generations. News
platforms like Inshot are preferred amongst the younger age group while
magazines like Caravan are still read by top executives. There are also
platforms like Snapchat, Reddit and Discord which all have a unique set of
audiences. As a communication professional, you should be able to
identify which are the key mediums that you are intending to
communicate through. This is an easy process this day is given everybody
wants an off -line and online process presence. However, determining you r
primary platforms of communication will definitely make the content
generation processor easier. Each platform also has its own unique format
that is popular. On Instagram, it is reels, on platforms like BuzzFeed it is
Listicles. So choosing the platform also helps you choose the format.
Your format: Now that you have identified the medium and target
audience, your next decision is around the format that you want to choose.
You simply have to think about your messaging and strategically imagine
what forma t of content would bring you maximum impact. You can either munotes.in
25 Communication Theory choose a popular format that has tremendous reach amongst your target
audience or you can choose a format that is more niche but impactful.
Optimisation: The next factor that you need to keep in mind as you start
generating content is optimisation. As we discussed earlier, the media
space is heavily cluttered and unless you are able to come up with
something that will help you stand out, there is very little chance that your
content pieces will be noted. To optimise the impact of your content, there
are several things you could do - you could potentially do a collaboration
with an influencer, you could do a partnership with a like -minded
organisation, you could hop on a viral trend that connects you with your
key messaging. While you are generating content you also think about
what will help you generate the maximum impact.
It‘s important to note that the news values are changing. From traditional
news values such as proximity, timeliness and human i nterest, we have
moved on to a new age world order where things like shareability are the
key metric. As you create your content you need to keep constantly asking
yourself is this a piece that is shareworthy? Does this have any element in
it that makes it appealing to a group of people that‘s not directly invested
in the work your organisation does?
How to measure your content’s impact :
There are several metrics that you could use to basically measure the
impact your content and messaging generate. Each di gital platform comes
with its own set of built -in digital – forces and key metrics. While
measures like reach, engagement and impressions could be good factors
that help you understand the impact of your content, another important
factor unit takes note of is public feedback. At the current time, we are
able to gather feedback from your audience especially your priority
audience, directly in real -time on the piece of content you have generated.
It‘s important for you to take note of feedback from there.
Q. How can you measure your content‘s impact?
Sustaining an effective content pipeline :
Now that you are familiar with the new model of crafting the messaging
and constructing the content, let‘s look at some common real -life
examples of maintaining an infl ow of effective content in our everyday
professional life.
1. Researching and planning your content in advance :
The only effective way of ensuring your content is working is to
constantly research and update yourself. Before you start laying out your
content strategy, you should research all aspects of your product/service,
audience and brand to prepare yourself. Looking up to your peers and
competition is encouraged. This should give you a basic understanding of
where you are headed. Based on this you can start building your content.
It‘s also a helpful practice to plan your content and messaging in advance. munotes.in
26 Introduction to Communication Most communications professionals maintain a calendar that helps them
keep a track of important days etc.
2. Clearly defining a target audience :
It would make sense for you to not only identify your audience but also
define them as segments. In other words, based on the information that‘s
available to you, it‘d be helpful for you to start imagining audience
personas that would help you imagine the pred icted actions from them:
Most audience profiles would entail
Basic demographics (age range, gender, income, education level, etc.)
Media consumption
Hobbies & interests
Goals
Barriers to reach
Once you have this persona in place, this will help you strate gise your
content as well as its placement better. A communication professional is
well aware of the fact that the communication collaterals we create are not
for the brand but for the audience. If we are unable to convince them that
they need to be invest ed in some capacity, engagement would be low. So
be it the messaging or the content itself, it needs to revolve around the
audience.
3. Your brand :
Every brand would have a story, rather need a story. Irrespective of which
organisation you are working wi th, your brand has a persona. And this
persona is something you will have to develop and maintain. There‘s merit
in imagining the brand as an individual. For instance, when you think of
Apple, you probably imagine keywords like luxury, high -end, cutting -
edge, and innovative. Just like a person, you might also think of some
negative elements, such as expensive, repetitive and flashy. Another
example would be the brand Amul - it‘s iconic, humorous and for
everyone. It‘s personas like these that help you defin e and maintain your
messaging and content. The persona should be reflected in everything we
create and through only positive reinforcement you will be able to create
positive recollection. munotes.in
27 Communication Theory
Figure by Deloitte HX TrustID™ :
Deloitte, through their HX Trust ID™ offering, explains that:
Humanity is rated of higher importance for service industries like
hotels and casinos
Transparency is rated most important for transportation and logistics
companies
Capability is critical for travel brands like rental cars, c ruises, and
rideshare
Reliability is top of the list for the automotive industry
The brand persona helps you represent yourself authentically, and
uniquely and helps you build connections.
4. Creating a playbook :
Once you know your brand persona well eno ugh along with your audience
profiles, you can start imagining a content strategy playbook. This is
basically a set of guidelines, templates and to -dos that would direct your
messaging and content crafting process. This can be considered a long -
time invest ment, given this can be used by generations coming in.
The most basic components are:
Your mission statement
Tagline and/or USP munotes.in
28 Introduction to Communication Value proposition
Speak to your customers and tell a story :
Speaking directly to your customer is a skill you need to master o ver time.
You need to leave aside jargon and complex statements that would get lost
in the process of communication. Sticking to simple language and
universal terminologies can help.
A fine example of simple enough communication would be FMCG
brands. Bran ds like Colgate, and Sunlight have all been using very simple,
direct, non -cryptic messaging to convey to the customers what‘s best for
them. They don‘t go around and talk about all the aspects of the product,
they will stick to the basic aspect - like aff ordable prices, fast results or its
iconic status.
Irrespective of your approach, your goal should be to tell a powerful story
that can be woven into your strategy seamlessly. A good story will speak
directly to the audience's hearts than a very well rese arched case study or
graphics.
Consistently test and refine :
Crafting the content or messaging isn‘t a linear process. It‘s a full circle.
Once you know what content to put out with what messaging and where
you should be able to do some kind of trial and error and testing to ensure
it‘s effective. Once your content is out in the public, your work doesn‘t
end there - you will then be on the receiving end of feedback from both
platforms as well as the audience.
By doing sentiment analysis, and gathering inp uts from all around you will
be able to understand what‘s working and what‘s not. It‘s recommended
that you document this part heavily so that it provides you with insights
for the future. These can even go on to become case studies for others.
You can the n use these analytics and insights to report back to the relevant
authorities.
It‘s only through constant testing, refining and fine -tuning that you will be
able to get to a point where you understand the right mix of strategic
inputs and effective emotio ns.
Q. What are some practices that will help us sustain powerful content
inflow?
To Sum it up:
We are a part of a world where consumers and audiences are flooded with
hundreds of mess ages each day and, as a result, have become extremely
selective about what they‘ll listen to. This presents us with both a
challenge and an opportunity.
One must not underestimate the power of effective messaging. You could
be communicating and advocating for something that isn‘t inherently munotes.in
29 Communication Theory phenomenal, but if you manage to get creative with your messaging,
there‘s a better chance that you will do well in your career. Evolution has
turned our brains into an organ that relates better with stories and emotion s
over just plain hard -hitting facts. Climate campaigners have been talking
about the looming threat of complete destruction for decades with little to
no avail. Incorporating the right story and delivering it via the right
medium can make all the differe nce.
Messaging and content crafting are interconnected. One depends on the
other. Crafting powerful messaging can only happen when you have a
deep understanding of all the aspects of your target audience, your brand
persona, your medium and your strategy. Similarly, constructing content is
dependent on understanding the news values, formats and optimisation
plans along with a deep understanding of your platforms. Having a solid
messaging strategy helps to strengthen your brand and allows you to stand
out in your target market.
QUESTIONS: 1. What‘s messaging?
2. What‘s the connection between messaging and content?
3. What are some lenses that will help you identify your messaging?
4. What are some best practices to follow to maintain a successful
content inflow?
REFE RENCES: https://cxl.com/blog/messaging -strategy/#h -conclusion
https://www.deloittedigital.com/content/dam/deloittedigital/us/documents/
offerings/offering -20200706 -hub-trust-hx.pdf
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/01/15/four -steps -
to-crafting -a-strong -brand -message/
https://thestoryoftelling.com/how -to-craft-powerful -message/
https://www.sesync.org/for -you/communications/toolkit/crafting -a-clear -
message
https://blog.influenceandco.com/how -to-create -an-engaging -content -
experience
munotes.in
30 Introduction to Communication 9
STRATEGY AND TACTIC – DIFFERENT STROKES
FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
Unit Structure:
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 What is the difference between strategy and tactics
1.2.1 Different strokes for different people
1.2.2 PR tools to use tactically
1.3 Let‘s sum up
1.4 Questions
1.5 References
OBJECTIVES After going through this chapter you will have an understanding of
the difference between tactics and s trategy
Awareness about a few PR strategies and tactics you can adapt to your
career
You will be able to identify PR tactics and strategies implemented by
other professionals by observing
What are tactics and what are strategies?
About 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu, a military strategist from China wrote
―The Art of War‖ and said, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest
route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat.”
Although we tend to often interchangeably use what‘s strategy and tactics,
they are in fact two different things. They actually accentuate each other
and act as a catalyst. You may observe many many real -life examples, but
holistically you can define tactical vs. strategic like this.
● Strategy defines your long -term goal s and how you‘re planning to
achieve them. In other words, your strategy gives you the path you
need toward achieving your organization‘s mission. If you want to
reach a certain audience in 3 years, your strategy is your overarching
‗how to‘ guidelines.
● Tactics are short -term actions with immediate gratification executed
perfectly. They involve best practices, specific plans, resources, etc.
They‘re also called ―initiatives.‖
What makes a good strategy? : munotes.in
31 Communication Theory Everyone at an organisation needs to be aligned with its strategy. It in
some capacity should be reflective of the organisational values and
principles. As a communication professional, you can often be responsible
for building strategies for brands, organisations or just for self -
advancement. You will be e xpected to take inputs from all key
stakeholders, identify priorities and their orders and create actionable
items to support that growth.
If you are responsible for the communication strategy of a tech giant, for
instance, a good strategy would address t he end result aka outcome. Does
the organisation want to communicate with businesses or the general
public? Are they hoping to generate leads or build awareness? What are
timelines and key milestones to keep a note of? These will all be the
fundamental que stions, you will have to answer. You then create the
strategy for the desired outcome, with the right modes of communication
within the time frame required. You will also be expected to do all this
within the organisation‘s framework. It can‘t be contradic tory to what you
claim to be your brand‘s voice tonality or values.
What makes a good tactic? :
A tactic will serve a definite purpose that will act as a catalyst for a
strategy and outcomes. It‘s often an activity or a few of them within a
short span of t ime to achieve the desired outcome. A good tactic is one
that can create a measurable impact.
Let‘s imagine that you are responsible for the PR tactics for the same tech
giant. The proposed purpose is to inform the audience that a new product
is launched. An innovative tactic would be a social experiment that
captures the spirit of the product in a very public place that‘s then
broadcasted to a wider audience. While you are not directly plugging the
product, you are building on the purpose of the product a nd are doing a
quick actionable thing that will bring results. This tactic can be a part of
your long -term strategy.
Overall words to live by are - “Think strategically, act tactically.”
While you may not be expected to go differentiate between tactics an d
strategies, it‘s good for you to know how to so that when it‘s your
responsibility to design one of these, you will be able to come up with a
structure that includes all.
1. Strategy is based on extensive research, planning, and internal
reflection. It‘s the organisation‘s long -term goal, whereas tactics are
short -term actions with short term outputs. For example, if your
marketing strategy is to improve your influence and performance on
social media, then your tactics might be to determine the best
channel s for your business and the most effective messages for your
audiences.
2. Strategies CAN change since organisations can also pivot to a
different world to suit more emerging nee ds etc. however, this will munotes.in
32 Introduction to Communication have to be decided collectively as a group and adjusted accordingly.
Tactics on the other hand can be changed pretty effortlessly. It doesn‘t
have the same deep impact strategy shift has.
3. Strategy and tactics work together as me ans to an end. They aren‘t
mutually exclusive, they have to collide at a common interest point
for you to be able to achieve a certain goal.
4. The best strategy and tactics won’t answer all the questions.
Different strokes for different people :
Now that w e have a decent understanding of what‘s a good tactic and a
good strategy, let‘s talk about customisation. The same strategy or tactic
doesn‘t work or even produces similar results with two different sets of
audiences. A campaign that might have been a soa ring success for a
certain group of people might be considered a weak or even inappropriate
one at some other place. It should also be pointed out that different times
could also mean different strokes.
While we have a wide array of tools available at our disposal to
disseminate our narrative, we need to identify what to communicate with
whom before we go ahead with executing our strategy.
How to choose a stroke:
What do I want from this stakeholder : in a communication project,
paths are always mutual. W hile the communicator wants something
from the audience, the audience also wants something in turn. The
newspaper serves you news, but you also want to know the world‘s
happenings. A key lever that will help you determine what stroke to
use is what you wan t from them. Is it that you want them to listen? Do
research? Get mobilised and launch into action? Knowing this will
help you determine what strategy you need to use.
What are the mediums and their impact: a factor that would
determine your strategy woul d be the choice of mediums and their
accessibility. If your target audience is farmers of India, a website that
takes a long to load or an English news mention might not be the way
to go. Knowing the mediums your audience utilises helps you create a
strate gy that‘s powerful.
What’s the role of influence they play: each stakeholder plays a
different role. Except for the rare occurrence like a B2B(Business to
Business) magazine, most of the pieces of communication you put out
will be seen by many people and not necessarily, will all of them
come from the same walk of life. For instance, an article about a case
study that‘s a proof point for your organisation‘s work will first have
to be pitched to a journalist. What would be the most effective
communication m ethod there? Is it cold calling and emailing? Or is it
focused on sending them a sort of note and building an interest?
Beyond that, once the article is published, what output do you want? munotes.in
33 Communication Theory Do you people to sign a petition or do you want them to tweet to a
government official? What level of influence do they hold in your
strategy power mapping is s determining factor.
Addressing the current reality: Your tactics and strategies should
both reflect the reality. An extremely aggressive posting campaign
wouldn‘t have been effective at all, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Instead, tailoring your collaterals to suit the reality actuality would
make a difference.
Changing social values: the social fabric of society is always
changing. Your strategy and tactic sh ould acknowledge that. The
younger generation is a lot more invested in causes like mental health,
work -life balance, identity, freedom to express etc. How do you
customise a strategy or tactic to suit them? Would they rather listen to
a bold advertisement that just talks about the product or a meaningful
discussion that also mentions your product?
Who are they: Last but not the least, who these people are. Are they
journalists? Your outreach can start with a respectful email. Is it a
potential partnership ? You may start by researching their brand and
finding synergy. Is it for the mass public? You may lead with a
popular meme and segway into your messaging. Basically who your
target audience is and what their consumption patterns are should
define your str ategy. A video might be more effective with a middle -
aged homemaker while a meme is more interesting for a college -goer.
Q. How can one choose a stroke for a certain audience?
Here are some PR tools:
● Press release
● Press note
● Op-eds and a guest editorial
● Feature pieces
● Interviews
● Media bytes and panels
● Quotes
● Listicles
Press release :it‘s a detailed note that fleshes out all the 5 Ws and 1 H of
the situation. It is often shared with the wide network of media or
selectively shared with few. There is no one final format or structure for a
press release. It differs from person to person and organisation to
organisation. However, there are some fundamental elements that should
be a part of a press release. The first one is a catchy headline. Here is munotes.in
34 Introduction to Communication where y ou can exhibit your different strokes. If you are trying to pitch this
to a human interest journalist, you will have to customise your title to suit
their beat. The first one or two paragraphs of the press release should be
able to convey maximum informati on to the journalist. Please keep note of
the fact that this press release may be published as it is or people might
use it as a source of information to then further build a story. It‘s your
responsibility to comprise and arrange the information in a way where
both these functions are done easily with the press release. If your public
relations purpose is to inform and spread awareness, a press release might
actually be the right stroke. Another important part of a press release will
be a potboiler. This b asically represents a small and concise write up about
the organisation or multiple organisations that are coming together with
the press release. This helps the journalist make an informed decision
about whether they want to publicise the story based on t heir investment.
The press release may also contain contact details of the respective
individuals so that in case they need more clarification they are able to get
in touch with you.
While a press release is quite the norm In the PR world, it would be
interesting for you to adopt a different approach and maybe cater directly
to the journalist's needs. They might be more interested to read a story or a
case study or a press release. You can always substitute and accentuate
these tools with tactics that will yield maximum output.
Press note :a press note is a much shorter write up that you can send to
various journalists. This is different from a press release simply because
this only provides limited information around an instance. While a press
release might contain multiple quotes from the key stakeholders of the
event, a press note provides adequate information and opens up an
opportunity for conversation from the journalist's end.
Op-Ed : An Op -Ed or a guest article is one of the highest forms of
engagemen t in PR. This is set up in a way wherein a publication, who
have a keen interest to engage with the key stakeholders of the
organisation or brand that you work with, invites you to come and actively
contribute to an editorial piece on the publication. This is a very effective
form of PR especially because this is being written in the authentic voice
of your spokesperson. The story can be created based on your narrative
and messaging. And you don‘t have any of the same constraints as the
journalist has. This usually comes into being when there is a very relevant
conversation happening around a certain theme and the publication
identifies your spokespeople to be the best people to share our expert
thoughts on it. For example, if you work with an Ed -Tech startu p, when
the school closures started, it would have been an excellent opportunity for
you as a PR person to reach out to education journalists across the country
and asked them if they would like an expert opinion on how Ed -Tech can
bridge the gap between s chool closures and learning. While this is a much
bigger investment from both your as well as the end of the publication,
you will have to approach the team strategically. It starts with identifying
the right time to reach out to the publication with the r ight peg. But if it
materialises, it‘s one of the highest forms of PR output. munotes.in
35 Communication Theory Feature covers : One of the main tools PR professionals have at their
disposal is the senior leadership team at their organisation. It‘s mostly an
untapped space, especially if yo u have a noteworthy leadership team. As a
tactic that can build your brand image further, you also need to build the
brand of your key spokespeople. This is usually the CEO or someone in a
similar capacity in your organisation who represents the brand valu e
explicitly. It could be interesting for their journey to be covered in a
feature for the world to read. This not only humanises the leader but also
indirectly speaks about the brand or organisation they have built thus
bringing the attention back to us. When you choose the spokesperson for
your organisation, it‘s extremely essential that you choose someone who is
compassionate, consistent, comfortable and confident.
Interviews : There are two ways you can get interviews. One is very
similar to what we esta blished in our previous point, by bringing up your
leader as a spokesperson for your organisation. If you are able to garner
enough interest in their life and journey, you might be able to place them
in an interview. Sometimes interviews are not exclusive. There might be
other panels that are ongoing around a certain theme. And your leader
might be actually a good fit for expert set panellists. That‘s also an
excellent opportunity for PR for you and your organisation. If there is a
very powerful impact stor y that you would like to capture in an interview,
it might be interesting for you to actually create interesting collateral
around said case study. You can use this as an anchor and start
conversations with various journalists. As you start these conversat ions,
you also have to keep in mind whether this is a beat that is relevant to
them. And also that if this is a theme that is timely and relevant. If all of
those things are aligned, there is merit in exploring the possibility of
getting an interview out t here.
It‘s important for you to note that the lines between Pr and digital media
communications are blurring. Sometimes outputs from PR translate
themselves into social media and vice versa. While it can get a little bit
more challenging and complex in ter ms of processes, it would actually be
very interesting for PR professionals to start using their digital media
platforms as tools to gather interest around a certain story.
Media bytes : Sometimes when the media does a story that is very relevant
and preval ent in the nature of work you do and if you have the image of an
expert in the industry, they might reach out to you for features. These will
be in the form of short interview bytes. While you will be expected to
provide your insights on a certain theme th at is already predetermined, it is
still an excellent opportunity for you to showcase your brand.
Quotes : Similar to media bytes and interviews, journalists often seek
quotes from experts. This could be for a story that they are already doing.
While you m ay have very little decision -making ability around the
narrative and the messaging of the whole story, you will still have an
opportunity to present yourself as a representative of the date. munotes.in
36 Introduction to Communication Listicles - These are simply another format of storytelling that h as become
really popular in the last decade. Instead of presenting information in a
long feature, long -form piece, listicles simply capture to the point concise
information as pointers. The whole listicle might not talk about your
product/service. But it w ill be tactfully placed there. This is often done by
lifestyle or gen Z platforms.
Press meet : In really key milestones for the organisations, like a new
product launch, it might be important for you to hold space for media to
interact with your organisati onal spokespeople. When you do a press
meeting, because there are so many of them happening, you must find a
way to incentivise your press meet over every other. PR people often
onboard a celebrity or influencer partner to ensure the media has a vested
interest to show up to their press meet. These are also extremely effective
if you are addressing a crisis.
Media junkets : If you have a really powerful case study that you want to
capture what should you do to get the journalist to learn more about it?
The a nswer is to take them there. Press junkets are an opportunity for an
organisation or a brand to take the journalist to a certain location that is
actually reflective of the story that you are trying to propose. For instance,
if you work with an organisatio n that advocates for rural development, a
press junket to a really small village outside the city that‘s actually facing
a lot of infrastructural challenges could be an interesting tactic. This helps
you show them the breadth of the issue. While it‘s a hum an interest story
for them, it‘s a story that brings out your purpose for you and your
organisation. While it must be hard for certain products and brands to get
an opportunity to make that happen, for a public relations professional
who works in the socia l as well as the development sector, this is an
excellent platform to actually show the impact stories. It‘s not just a
problem that you will be able to capture in the press junket. If you have
been working with a certain location for a long while, a press visit in the
location could actually help you exhibit the impact you have been able to
create in that region. This is a very direct way of capturing your brand‘s
mission and vision.
While these are all very effective PR tools, none of them actually
substi tute a strong strategy or tactic. These are all apparatuses you need to
utilise along your journey to ensure that you are able to deliver on your PR
strategy. The beauty of these PR tools is that they can all be customised
and tweaked as per our requiremen ts. For instance, the same press release
can be tweaked and rewritten to be sent to a B2B journalist, assume an
interested reporter, millennial Web publication, or a traditional journalist.
Once you have identified what your PR strategy is, you can then go on and
determine what PR tools you are gonna implement tactfully to make your
strategy a reality. While these are all very helpful tools, there is also merit
in being innovative when it comes to using these. As we have mentioned
earlier the lines between public relations and digital content are blurring.
While that might make it harder for processes to be efficient or for
division of labour to be clearer, it still presents you with enormous
potential to experiment. For instance, now PR professionals don‘t have to munotes.in
37 Communication Theory wait for a journalist or a newspaper to pick up their story for weeks. They
can use their own digital media platforms as an avenue to self publish. It
often happens that you have self -published something and that sparks
interest in a journalist or a media house, and then they want to publish
more about the story. Taking things to the general public is not as
challenging as it was a couple of years before.
This also means that your PR tactics can be multifaceted. Earlier if you
wanted to communicate a really heartwarming story, you had to write a
very powerful piece and mail it to your network of journalists and wait for
someone to respond back to you. You may also have to do a couple of
follow -ups since they are bombarded with these kinds of emails e very
single day. Today you have the liberty of creating a 30 second or one -
minute clipping of the story and publishing it on a suitable digital channel.
This can then result in it receiving public attention and the story can then
come to the limelight.
Q. What are some tools you can use to advance your PR strategy?
TO SUM IT UP To sum it up, in the world of PR, a powerful strategy and tactics that can
actually facilitate storytelling can be quite powerful. There are several
metrics and filters that you can use to identify what/to use for who. There
are also several tools available to PR professionals that they can
implement to effectively achieve their PR goals. The success really lies
within identifying what approach to adapt for who and choosing a tactic or
tool that will effectively help you realise that. While there is no rigid
formula for you to make this happen or understand this, this is an evolving
skill that might come to you with experience. One also needs to stay on
top of trends and technology th at can shift what‘s happening in the world
of communication for you to effectively be able to do this. Now with
interpersonal communication and mass broadcast transcending their
boundaries, it‘s crucial for PR professionals to stay aware of the trends so
that they are able to identify what to connect with their strategy. In a
nutshell different strokes for different people simply means knowing what
the audience or the journalist might want and delivering it in your capacity
exactly.
QUESTIONS: 1. Why should yo u have different strokes for different people?
2. What are some tools you can use to tactically advance your strategy?
3. What‘s the difference between a tactic and a strategy
4. What makes a good strategy?
REFERENCES: https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/strategy -vs-tactics/ munotes.in
38 Introduction to Communication https://www.business -standard.com/artic le/management/different -strokes -
for-different -folks -114021600626_1.html
https://www.communication -director.com/issues /overcome -
stereotypes/different -strokes -different -folks/#.YmU7OPNBxQI
https://www.agilitypr.com/resources/pr -glossary/publicity -tools -and-
techniques/
munotes.in
39 Communication Theory 10
WHAT IS RISK IN PR?
Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 What are some business risks?
1.2.1 PR risks and crises and the factors contributing to it
2.1 How to effectively address a PR crisis
2.2 What not to do during a PR risk
2.3 Let‘s s um up
2.4 Questions
2.5 References
OBJECTIVES This chapter would help you understand some potential risks faced by
public relations professionals
It will help you prepare and mitigate in case of crisis arises
I will make you aware of the process you need to follow if a situation
like that images
This also helps to prevent any mishap from the communication
professionals' end
INTRODUCTION Everything we do in the sector of communication is extremely public -
facing. While this is a very rewarding career cho ice, it‘s also equally
important to know that there is very little room for error. You need to be
all the more careful with a domain like public relations because, it is
assumed that if you have communicated it via a tool of public relations
like a press r elease, press note, media announcement or interview it is
possibly the organisation‘s official communication. While attention to
detail and double -checking can save you a lot of trouble, there are still
many many risks that the PR industry has that we can‘ t control. This
chapter discusses in detail what are some potential risks like this and
addresses how you can tackle the challenges.
Risks of business :
Before we learn more about the risks that the PR industry presents you
with, let‘s briefly go over what general business risks look like. These are
potential threats faced by pretty much any business setup. munotes.in
40 Introduction to Communication ● Strategic risks in the business and political environment
● Compliance risks – complying with rules and regulations
● Operating risks – events that severely disrupt operations, such as
natural disasters, power supply, management complaisance or
incompetence, cyber security attack, etc
● Financial risks – relating to the money flowing in and out of the
business
● Reputational risks – a ‗flexible‘ term, but with ma jor business
implications
While not all of them may seem relevant to our scope of work right now,
if you think about it, you will realise that any of these risks can translate
into a PR risk. Since your responsibility would be to communicate to a
larger au dience about the happenings at your organisation, any of these
risks could extend themselves to that. For instance, a strategic decision
that is taken by an organisation could go wrong and can turn into a PR
crisis. Even if it doesn‘t turn into an instant PR crisis, if your organisation
is responsible and transparent enough, it will be expected out of you to
communicate that failure to the audience. It is also possible that the
strategic decision was a big success, however, in the process, you have
said/com municated some insensitive things that do not adhere to your
brand values otherwise. So addressing that will also be a part of managing
the PR risk. A new age example would be the ‗Don‘t Say Gay‘ policy by
Disney. Despite the whole United States having pre tty liberal policies and
conversations around queer rights, Disney took a drastic step and that has
caused them quite a bit of reputational damage.
Potential threats to good PR
Now that you have understood how easily a PR crisis can arise, let‘s
quickly t alk about what are some general potential U -turns PR could take.
One very common PR risk that most people don‘t talk about is creating
strategies that are not effective and communicating ineffectively. This
might not necessarily mean that your message is n ot being received by
anybody or is not disseminated far enough. It simply means that the
messaging with which you are going to your audience is not resonating
with them, you are not receiving any positive responses from them, or
even worse, you are coming across as a brand that does direct brand plug -
in and a little bit bragging. When you are creating communication
strategies and PR campaigns for just your products. It is completely
possible that some of the material will turn into pieces that are exclusive ly
just about the work the organisation does. One needs to remind themselves
that unless there is an incentive that comes out of that piece of
communication or engagement for the audience - it could be the journalist
you are pitching it to or the public who will be reading it, it won‘t be as
effective. munotes.in
41 Communication Theory Another simple PR risk that doesn‘t get spoken about enough is choosing
the wrong target audience. While it may simple enough, it‘s possible that
the organisation has wrongly formulated the target audience. I t‘s also
possible that the audience was defined at a very early point of the
organisation‘s set up and now the dynamics have changed drastically. An
excellent example would be makeup and skincare. There was a time when
the communication of these brands was exclusively only targeted to
women and only women of certain age groups. Today, makeup is enjoyed
by people of all genders and ages. The target market and audience have
shifted tremendously. Relooking at your target audience every once in a
while is key. It may change every few years.
Another big PR mistake could be choosing the wrong narrative. This
might not be a conscious choice. You might have chosen a very popular
format of messaging for your brand that you have seen competitors use,
however, there‘ s a risk in running any narrative since there‘s no guarantee
that this will be a success. If you have the wrong target group, that would
naturally land you in the wrong narrative. But something that would be
even more damaging would be sending out a narrat ive that doesn‘t reflect
the brand values. If the narrative isn‘t inclusive, that could trigger a
backlash. If you have chosen stereotypes or tokenism, it could do the
brand more harm than good.
Another straightforward task in PR, if done well can be real ly effective, or
if not done well can be really damaging for the brand, is choosing the right
spokesperson for your brand. You can‘t overstate the importance of
choosing the right spokesperson for your brand. Your spokesperson
simply represents your brand and its values to the general public. For
example, Elon Musk, the Founder and CEO of Tesla is their spokesperson
as well. He represents everything the brand stands for. He expresses
himself as somebody who is innovative cutting -edge, quirky, future -
oriente d and someone who is self -made. If you observe closely that‘s also
to who Tesla wants to sell their products to. They want customers who are
self-made upper -middle -class, People who believe in alternative energy
sources and electric cars, people who don‘t look at cars as just a mode of
transport but those who want innovation and creativity from their
products. It‘s also interesting to note that these are all values Tesla
proposes internally and externally. He‘s done an excellent job advocating
for Tesla and its potential target groups. Based on this example, when you
pick the spokesperson for your brand you need to keep in mind a couple of
things. They need to be a key stakeholder of the organisation who actually
has decision -making as well as influential ca pacity. It wouldn‘t be wise to
put somebody from middle -level management to be your spokesperson
because simply if they are thrown into a situation where they are asked
about something that and decided within the organisation, it might throw
them off. Your spokesperson also needs to be somebody who is articulate
and confident in communication. While it may seem biased, for four
public relations purposes, you cannot have a spokesperson who has just
good ideas. You need somebody who can also articulate these good ideas.
Since it‘s completely possible to misquote somebody out of context, you
need somebody who understands the craft of framing answers. We also munotes.in
42 Introduction to Communication need someone who is relatable and has a story. This simply means that,
when this particular leader is pu t in the limelight, the story should be
catchy enough for it to evoke some emotions within the audience. A solid
human interest story can do magic for your brand reputation.
Q. What are some risks PR professionals should prepare for?
PR Risks and how to ta ckle them
Miscommunication : one of the many PR risks that exist in today's world
is miscommunication. There might be a couple of reasons how this can
happen -it could be that somebody misquoted or pulled something out of
context from a piece of communicatio n that you generated, it could be
because an individual who is associated with your organisation has gone
out and said something in his own personal capacity which is against the
brand's personal philosophy, it could also be because somebody missed
spoke o r used words that actually don‘t reflect the brand‗s voice. As much
as you prepare, some of these are human errors and you can‘t control
them. Once one of them arises, you can however address it. It has
happened several times in the last couple of years, t hat a participant has
said something in the context of a particular question and media or other
people have picked it up completely out of context and used that as the
hook for the story. Now since the internet is so quick to judge, it‘s
absolutely possibl e that if you are misquoted, before you are able to
acknowledge the fact that this was a miscommunication, you would have
lost some of your brand reputations. News around things like the spread
like wildfire. Especially if it involves a leader figure, you can see real
damage to the brand image.
Inaccuracy :while miscommunication might be a mishap, inaccuracy in
communication collaterals is less forgiving. Especially if you are an
organisation or brand that builds your communication base or your proof
points or impact stories, and if they are based on quantitative numbers and
inaccuracy could cost you a lot. It could make your organisation look like
you are manipulating numbers to create a different narrative which might
not be the reality. Attention to detail can go a long way on this. However,r
complete transparency is a crucial part of excellent communication
strategies. So if inaccuracy has occurred, it is a communication
professional's duty to acknowledge it and clear it. Most organisations
publish annual reports and audit reports so that their financials and other
activities are completely transparent. It‘s actually an industry best practice
to not only keep these records transparent and accessible for all but also to
inform people that we are a transparen t organisation.
Personal conflicts : in today's age and time, there is nobody who is free of
a digital footprint. While it may seem harmless on the surface when one
needs to be aware of the fact that there are ways to connect you with your
hometown, your wo rkplace, your educational institutions and more on the
internet. For instance, if an individual in your organisation who is in a key
position says a certain insensitive something, that is very much within
their personal capacity outside of work, there is a n opportunity for munotes.in
43 Communication Theory outsiders to simply research with said person‗s name and find out what
they work or what they do. This can blow into a big PR risk in no time.
While depending on your organisation's philosophy, the said person could
have consequences, how ever, this could instantly or even in midterm
damage your company‗s reputation. An excellent example would be, the
happenings around the ‗Black Lives Matters‘ movement in America.
There were several instances where the two sides clashed and cost each
other ‘s careers. One particularly noteworthy one was a couple who stood
outside their house with arms in their hand while a peaceful protest went
around. The image went viral, they were identified in no time. People
tracked their workplaces down and flagged it with them.
Controversies: Another risk that deserves a mention is risks related to
controversies within your organisation. There is a possibility that a team
and individual or even campaign that you did is the centre of a
controversy. It‘s also important to note that a major risk in PR is simply
coming across as braggy or completely self -centred. Unless you are
incentivising your audience to engage with you there is a fair chance that
your strategy won‘t be effective at all.
HOW TO ADDRESS A PR CRISIS Now that we have understood some ways PR risks can emerge, let‘s talk
about how should one acknowledge and address them.
The first step in managing a PR crisis is to orient yourself and your team
towards the purpose of why you are doing what you are doing. It‘s
important that you take a step back, observe the situation intently come up
with your observations before you actually start acting.
It‘s also crucial that you document the process of said crisis because of
two reasons -this will help your team membe rs or other teams to
understand the process that needs to be followed and this can become a
part of a checklist as you build your communication future strategies.
Once you have your observations, it‘s time to involve all the key
stakeholders. You can choos e which stakeholders you want to involve
based on the magnitude of the risk. If it is minor and doesn‘t affect the
brand holistically, you can keep the communication Limited within the
communications team. But if it‘s going to have longer repercussions, it ‘s
important that you involve everyone it affects.
It‘s important that you communicate the happening to the relevant
stakeholders. This may vary from vertical heads to CEO Or even board
members depending on the magnitude of the issue.
The third step is t o come up with a crisis management strategy. Depending
on the issue, it could be different. You may want to issue a statement that
talks about your organisation's stance on the said crisis. Your strategy
could also be that you do a media briefing with key personnel who can
answer any questions the media have about the crisis. You may also need
to prepare a press release which addresses the issue. But to do all of this, it munotes.in
44 Introduction to Communication is absolutely important for you and your organisation to align on what the
narrative w ould be. There needs to be 100% synchronisation between
every piece of communication collateral that goes out.
The next step would be identifying your key target media/platforms.
Depending on the nature of the issue, you may want to selectively
publicise a nd disseminate the information. It might actually be more
effective to do it in a selective manner than simply sending it out to the
vast breadth of your network. This collateral needs to address the issue,
make the organisation's stance on it clear, and a lso explain how and what
actions will be taken on this front.
Depending on the nature of the issue, you may also be expected to
communicate internally within the organisation about the issue. This might
also be helpful to ensure all stakeholders are aligne d on what we are
communicating. It‘s also important for one to send out a follow up on this
coming to an end so that the organisation is aware that you are monitoring
and tracking the issue. There might be some curiosity amongst immediate
stakeholders, so holding spaces and avenues for them to come forth and
ask any questions and seek clarification is very important. This is an
important part of creating a healthy work culture as well - giving your
direct stakeholders a space to ask questions and seek expla nations. This
will avoid any ambiguity and unclear chats.
In a nutshell, whoever is responsible for risk management is meant to
answer three questions:
1. What can go wrong? Or what has gone wrong?
2. What is the likelihood and impact of something going wrong?
Depending on, atwhat stage of the crisis you are in, you can answer
either.
3. What can we do about it? What‘s the right way to go about it.
To simplify the process, each PR risk can be addressed with the following
steps:
1. Establish the context
2. Identify th e risks
3. Analyze the risks
4. Evaluate the risks
5. Establish a risk register
6. Treat the risks
7. Monitor and review
8. Communicate and consult. munotes.in
45 Communication Theory Q. How can one evaluate the PR risk and what should be the immediate
next steps?
How Does PR help in Crisis Management?
While it may seem simple enough on the surface that a PR crisis has
emerged and it is being addressed at a slow pace, it‘s important to note
that a PR crisis has an impact on the business side of things beyond
communication. The main responsibility of public re lations is to ensure
there is trust and positive brand perception, a PR crisis not only negatively
affects it, but it may also make it harder for our future campaigns to be
effective.
Addressing a PR crisis, beyond mitigating the issue at hand, also
repres ents the brand and the organisation in a positive light. Especially if
the issue touches upon any aspects of discrimination or insensitivity,
taking ownership and providing consequences make the brand appear as a
responsible one. In today‘s agile world, it is almost expected that the brand
will address the issues. With almost every organisation being present on
digital media, it‘s also incredibly easy for the public to demand
explanations. Not acknowledging or addressing the issue at hand makes
the organisa tion look like they don‘t really care about the image which
may lead to rejection from the audience.
The three Cs of credibility:
An important aspect of an effective PR crisis management strategy is an
effective spokesperson. This individual will have to b e a key influencer
within the organisation beyond them being just articulate. This person, for
that very short period of time, becomes the brand‘s face. A key
responsibility of PR professionals would be to prepare the said person to
engage with an audience . You can use a 3C method to ensure they are able
to do it successfully
1. Compassionate : As you will be in the limelight, appearing
compassionate and sharing only explanations that are empathetic is
crucial. You need to choose somebody compassionate and awar e of
the surroundings
2. Competent: This person needs to have the personality of a competent
employee and of a competent citizen. Their image gets associated
with the brand image. It‘s crucial that you choose someone with a
positive track record
3. Confident: You might be met with some challenging conversations
and questions. You need someone who won‘t be phased by
challenges. This individual needs to be confident and comfortable
within this space.
Q. What‘s the role of a spokesperson in addressing a PR crisis a nd
avoiding further risks?
How to handle a PR crisis : munotes.in
46 Introduction to Communication We briefly touched upon the steps of PR crisis management. Here, we will
in detail, discuss the most efficient way to mitigate a PR crisis.
1. Appoint a team :
Select a group of people who would be equ ipped to take on the challenge
that is the PR crisis. There should be a mix of strategic people with a deep
understanding of the business and also a few people who have the
potential to be the spokesperson. Depending on the magnitude of the issue,
this tea m should be capable of making decisions around narrative and
messaging.
2. Design a strategy and brief your team :
Often the crisis management strategy will be determined by the senior
leadership team depending on the magnitude of the issue. It‘s important
for the team to be briefed on the strategy and why we have chosen that
path. This helps people create narratives that are more effective and offers
them more context.
3. Craft your message :
Once you have adequate context observations and approval from the
leadership team, you can start drafting a message in alignment with the
strategy that you have decided on. It needs to be concise, short and to the
point. It needs to answer any questions that may come. It also needs to
mention the contact details of pers onnel in case they need more clarity.
4. Identify and address the affected parties :
Depending on the issue, it might be an expectation that you identify and
address the affected parties. Sometimes it might be your internal
community while in some other sit uations it could be the external
community. Either way, being empathetic towards them or addressing
those issues will be crucial. It‘s also important as we discussed to open up
conversations with all immediate stakeholders to give them an opportunity
to sh are their concerns.
5. Monitor the situation :
Right after you have launched the action plan of your PR strategy, it‘s also
important for you to monitor the situation. That means you observe closely
what the audience sentimentality is towards your brand an d whether it is
fluctuating after the strategy was implemented. Setting up some alerts
would be wise.
6. Review and learn from the situation :
One should also try to look at these crises as a great learning opportunity
and try to use those learnings as a p revention method for the future.
WHAT NOT TO DO DURING A PR CRISIS munotes.in
47 Communication Theory
Just as we have understood what to do during a PR crisis, it‘s also
important for us to understand what not to do during a PR crisis.
Being defensive : There are several normal human reacti ons towards any
accusation and it‘s often being defensive. That wouldn‘t be an ideal case
scenario during a PR crisis - one must not be defensive or lash out.
Staying silent : Some brands also tend to offer no comment on issues.
While for some minor cases this might be an acceptable response, in most
situations not offering a comment or acknowledging the issue is actually
going to make the brand look irresponsible.
Responding way too quickly you are way too slowly - This is an easy
mistake to make. One shoul d always take the time to understand and
observe all aspects of the crisis before they respond. If you respond too
quickly, there is a chance of you are missing out on some elements of the
crisis. It wouldn‘t actually be fully effective if you respond to a crisis
before it is actually in its completion and you can take the wrong direction.
At the same time, if you respond way too slowly, it might actually not be
as relevant anymore.
LET’S SUM IT UP: There are several PR risks in the world of communication. While we can‘t
fully avoid all of it, you can prepare for them. Any business risk can
translate itself into a PR risk and with a good communication strategy and
team in place, many of these risks can be addressed.
QUESTIONS 1. What are some business risks ?
2. What factors contribute to a PR risk and eventually a PR crisis?
3. How can one address a PR crisis?
4. What are some absolute not -dos amidst a PR crisis?
REFERENCES: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8935 -recover -from -pr-crisis.html
https://www.dsc.edu.in/the -role-of-pr-in-crisis -management/
https://www.allbusiness.com/public -relations -risk-management -
11717230 -1.html
https://www.jsa.net/blog/pr -and-risk-management/35611/
munotes.in
48 Introduction to Communication https://www.agilitypr.com/pr -news/public -relations/3 -big-reputational -
risks -facing -pr-companies -around -the-world -and-how-to-diffuse -them/
https://www.swordandthescript.com/2019/07/calculated -risk-public -
relations/
https://www.alignedinsurance.com/the -risks -of-a-public -relations -crisis -
to-your-business/
munotes.in
49 Communication Theory 15
EVALUATION TECHNIQUES
Unit Structure
15.0 Objectives
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Evaluation techniques in public relations
15.3 Let‘s sum it up
15.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
Meaning of evaluation techniques
Use of evaluation techniques
Relevance in Public Relations campaigns and activities
15.1 INTRODUCTION Public Rela tions Society of America PRSA agreed upon a definition after
a few thousand submissions: ―Public relations is a strategic
communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organizations and their publics.‖
Public Relations has be en an evolving practice, its origin and growth has
traversed many years across the world. Sriramesh quotes James Grunig‘s
definition of public relations that it is "the management of communication
between an organization and its publics (Sriramesh & White, 1992) .
Public relations serve the functions of information, communication,
persuasion, image building, continuous building of trust, management of
conflicts, and the generation of consensus‖ (Sriramesh K. , 2003) . PR is in
the business of persuasion. You are always trying to persuade somebody
or the other.
In PR it is said that there is no such thing as the public - there are in fact
different groups of people - not just consumers, but suppliers, employees,
trustees, members, local and national trade and p olitical bodies, residents ,
among many others.
Research, analysis involves a constant monitoring of the environment
under which an organisation operates is very important as can be seen
from the data above. Evaluation done during campaigns revel what more
needs to be done for amicable and mutual beneficial relationships with
stakeholders. PR campaigns are indeed useful when image of a company
is hampered during a crisis like an accident, product failure, pandemic,
depression etc. In all these situations it becomes imperative to organize munotes.in
50 Introduction to Communication communication activities to keep the stakeholders well apprised of the
situation and to resolve their grievances.
―Campaigns are coordinated, purposeful, extended efforts designed to
achieve a specific goal or a set of interr elated goals that will move the
organisation towards a longer -range objective expressed as its mission
statement‖ - Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's ―This
is PR. The realities of Public Relations‖. In context of public relations, it is
basica lly strategizing and creating publicity or media coverage for a brand.
Doing activities which will ensure the above. It is also called a public
relations plan or a PR plan. Whenever a PR plan is put into place it is
always dynamic in nature. There is const ant evaluation and is updated as
per the change in environment, any stakeholder update etc.
Campaigns are designed keeping in mind to address an issue, to resolve a
problem at hand, or to improvise what one is already doing in an
organisation. The research and monitoring always reveal the data of the
position of the company, thanks to ever changing modern technology. An
organisation can then use this data for e.g., ―by changing a behaviour; by
modifying a law or opinion; or by retaining a desirable behaviou r, law or
opinion that is challenged‖.
Anderson (1991) explained that "we need to emulate our friends in
advertising and marketing . . . if we are to become able practitioners of
precision public relations" (p. 31). PR practitioners need to have the
knowl edge of social science research techniques to maintain public
relations professionalism.
Public Relations research may not always be available in the public
domain due to confidentiality issues of clients. Sometimes evaluation and
research are not consider ed so important than creativity at work in public
relations scenarios, this can hamper work if research is only looked up as
some very formal and quantitative process giving less importance to the
work that is put together by the PR practitioner. This will in turn become
an obstacle while creating campaigns and evaluating them. Even more it
becomes important that public relations practitioners be encouraged to
undertake formal research training if not already undertaken. A semblance
needs to be there for th e connection to happen between industry practice
and research language as rightly put "educators may need to stress the
importance of social science research for all students" (Judd, 1990, p. 25).
15.2 EVALUATION TECHNIQUES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS Objectives a re crucial to plan any PR campaign. It even becomes easier
then to evaluate the process under implementation. Objectives help ensure
success to any given activities thus designed. Research of various kinds
are useful to study any campaign or previous works done by an
organisation. Pavlik (1987) defined three major types of Public Relations
research: - munotes.in
51 Communication Theory Applied Research :
This kind of research examines issues at work and helps in solving
problems. It is further sub divided into Strategic research and Evaluatio n
research.
Strategic Research: Broom and Dozier (1990), define strategic
research as ―deciding where you want to be in the future and how to
get there‖
Evaluation Research: This is done to the effectiveness of a PR
plan/campaign/program
o Implementation che cking
o In-progress monitoring
o Outcome Evaluation
Basic Research :
This helps in knowledge production which can be useful in any kind of a
Public Relations situation. It specifically investigates the processes in
place and theorizing the process itself.
Intro spective Research :
As the names suggests it is self -analytical in nature and looks deeper into
the practice and the practitioner of Public Relations. It will be interesting
to note here that evaluation need not be restricted only to the study of the
proces s of campaigns.
(Cultip, Center & Broom ,1994) prescribe a four -step model of Public
Relations Research:
a) Define Public Relations Problems
b) Plan Public Relations Programmes
c) Implement Public Relations programs through actions and
communications
d) Evaluate the program
So from the above we can see that evaluation forms and important part of
public relations activities and campaigns. Evaluation need not be at the
end it can part of any step wherever needed.
Evaluation techniques :
It all begins at the proposal sta ge. The objectives of a program will define
the results expected. The kind of techniques one will used will depend on
the objectives set. So if behaviour change is an objective then the
assessment will be of that parameter. munotes.in
52 Introduction to Communication There are three main types of me asures used:
Quality measures : This consists of basic qualitative reviews of
production/projects, any scope for betterment, and the total quality of the
production. Used most often by communication departments of companies
for their internal communication and this can be also used for any
upcoming plan etc. This could be seen in intranet, website
communications, employee communications, emails etc. There can
communication various languages too with companies now looking into
this issue, so the quality of t he language in writing as well in verbal
communication needs to be carefully addressed in terms of quality.
Output measures: This measure quantifies the communication activities
in terms of distribution, press coverage or publicity (circulation or number
of exposures), impressions (the actual number of people who read/saw the
message). Output measures are obtained from audience data which is part
of public media and research agencies (media monitoring agency, rating
entity etc.). So, a company can observe the kind of press releases/articles
written, the media used for distribution, in current times use of digital
communication can add on the way one reaches to the audiences.
Engaging with the audience further changes the way evaluation can be
done. As one P R practitioner had once observed that PR is 24/7 365 days
job was right as with the Internet, feedback from the audience and
grievances resolution is always what keeps the PR practitioner on his/her
toes.
Impact measures : This kind of evaluation uses surve ys as a method to
observe for change in awareness levels (knowledge), attitudes (opinion),
action of the respondent (behaviour). One can also measure for e.g.,
buying, investing, voting behaviour of the audience at large. One can
relate this to the campaig n plan to know how effective the plan was. PR
efforts always take a while before the result start showing. Health
campaigns are perfect examples. In case of the pandemic, it really took a
while for government to convince their publics to engage in health s afety
measures such as wearing masks, sanitization and of course taking the
vaccine dose. It is still an ongoing process with the pandemic virus
changing after every few months. The other places where impacts can be
measured are image building and selling a product. Public Relations
campaigns are used a lot for both these functions. Like earlier said image
of an organisation always takes a while before it can take shape in the
minds of the people and that is why companies must carefully choose what
to say a nd do in the eyes of the publics. Selling is yet another function
which public relations does by educating their publics to buy or adopt to a
new scenario. Continuous writing, implementation, testimonials from
current users can be very useful in selling a product.
Some other forms of techniques for monitoring a PR campaign are as
follows: Gatekeeping research and Output analysis.
Under gatekeeping research, characteristics of press releases and video
releases are analyzed that let them ―pass through the ga te‖ to get published munotes.in
53 Communication Theory in various media. The content and style are examined in these types of
vehicles.
Under output analysis, Lindemann (1997) defines ―outputs as the short -
term or immediate results of a particular public relations programme or
activity‖. It measures how effectively an organisation portrays itself to the
publics, it also observes the amount of exposure or attention an
organisation gets.
There can be some typical points to be kept in mind that should be handy
while planning a campaign which can help in designing a campaign,
which can help in evaluation.
1. The source of information of the audience.
2. Media chosen by audience to make decisions about important things
and the behaviour of the audience.
3. The channels that allows for two -way communicat ion that gives
feedback to the organisation.
4. The most effective media for communication.
5. The media most suited to put across the communication in all
respects, especially the story telling perspective.
6. Most cost -effective media.
In his article on ―Communic ating Public Relations Research‖, Gael F.
Walker, University of Technology, Sydney makes the following
observation as some of the limitations in public relations evaluation of
campaigns and works that can hinder the overall working of the practice: -
There can be limitations to doing evaluations. In different areas of public
relations, this limitation can be observed. As rightly explained by this
statement "measure of the amount of media placements indicates program
impact on publics" (Broom & Dozier, 1983 , p. 6). If one has not related
this to actual benefit to the client then merely studying media coverage
numerically will not really give any clear result. The good news is that PR
practitioners are becoming aware of this limitation. Though one says that
media coverage is one tangible way to show the client the work done. So
for PR effects to take place it takes a while and is a long drawn process.
Till then the PR practitioner will produce this as deliverables.
Again not all the time publicity using media is used, there can be other
ways to generate visibility and the client may not be aware of the efforts
taken to put out the press release to the media and the actual publishing of
the same. Clients simply look at the monetary equivalent of the activity,
again a limitation but again the column inch of press clippings is largely
used as critiqued by Heath (1991).
munotes.in
54 Introduction to Communication Another major limitation to evaluation being given preference is the
budget allocated to the same as explained by PR practitioners "because
few cli ents have the budget for formal market research or recognize its
importance . . . [we] have to gather information from a variety of sources"
and "they think formal market research is expensive and don't want to pay
for it but they think informal research i s OK and feel better if you tell
them you are doing something to clarify your understanding of their
position.". Some more responses indicate the challenges: "I'd like my
clients to be more willing to participate in research," and it was suggested
that "cl ients generally don't know anything about research. They are not
aware or else are only dimly aware that it exists and, therefore, they do not
request that it be conducted." Clients many a time are unable to provide
previous data for the current project/ca mpaign for a better planning for the
PR plan. This results in the campaigns being more general in nature so this
leads to not really reaching out the actual audiences completely, or the
messaging not being really a winner, sometimes the product usefulness
limitation can also not let the future plans be more effective for current
products as no real past data was provided. PR activities evaluation can
also be challenging when the client takes it for granted that the press
already knows about the client organ isation in the industry. This may not
always be the case and proper information from the client is necessary for
the PR agency to write better press releases, or design better campaigns.
Sometimes PR is just considered a part of the marketing mix and so
doesn‘t gets its deserved value, "clients do not think PR is important and it
is often only tacked onto the portfolio of usual activities." Comments
made included "marketing managers and advertising agencies think PR is
only peripheral" and "these people don 't think PR is serious." To continue
the limitation, the practitioner says that they "have to fight for their client's
attention in amongst the marketing advisers and ad agency representatives
who quite often misunderstand or denigrate PR's contribution to the
achievement of the client's communication objectives."
It is observed that the environment under which an organisation operates
are factors affected by political -legal, economic and socio -cultural
parameters. The stakeholders have an direct impact on the image and
reputation of the organisation. The organisation may create various
campaigns to either create a specific image of themselves with their
stakeholders or sell their products of services to their target audiences. In
any scenario a thorough eva luation is needed at each step of the campaign
planning to know the current position of the organisation.
Check your progress
1. What is your understanding of public relations evaluation?
2. What are the various forms of evaluation techniques?
3. What are limitatio ns of doing evaluation in public relations?
4. What are points to be kept in mind while creating a PR campaign? munotes.in
55 Communication Theory 15.3 LET’S SUM IT UP Public Relations Society of America PRSA agreed upon a definition after
a few thousand submissions: ―Public relations is a st rategic
communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organizations and their publics.‖
In PR it is said that there is no such thing as the public - there are in fact
different groups of people - not just consumers, but suppli ers, employees,
trustees, members, local and national trade and political bodies, residents ,
among many others.
Research, analysis involves a constant monitoring of the environment
under which an organisation operates is very important as can be seen
from the data above. Evaluation done during campaigns revel what more
needs to be done for amicable and mutual beneficial relationships with
stakeholders. PR campaigns are indeed useful when image of a company
is hampered during a crisis like an accident, produ ct failure, pandemic,
depression etc.
―Campaigns are coordinated, purposeful, extended efforts designed to
achieve a specific goal or a set of interrelated goals that will move the
organisation towards a longer -range objective expressed as its mission
statement‖- Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's ―This
is PR. The realities of Public Relations‖.
Objectives are crucial to plan any PR campaign. It even becomes easier
then to evaluate the process under implementation. Objectives help ensure
succes s to any given activities thus designed. Research of various kinds
are useful to study any campaign or previous works done by an
organisation.
Pavlik (1987) defined three major types of Public Relations research:
Applied research, basic research and intros pective research. (Cultip,
Center & Broom ,1994) prescribe a four -step model of Public Relations
Research:
a) Define Public Relations Problems
b) Plan Public Relations Programmes
c) Implement Public Relations programs through actions and
communications
d) Evaluate the program
Evaluation techniques choices can begin at the proposal stage. The
objectives of a program will define the results expected. The kind of
techniques one will used will depend on the objectives set. So if behaviour
change is an objective then the as sessment will be of that parameter. There
are three broadly classified ways: Quality, Output and Impact measures.
munotes.in
56 Introduction to Communication There can be limitations to doing evaluations. In different areas of public
relations, this limitation can be observed as explained above. It is observed
that the environment under which a organisation operates are factors
affected by political -legal, economic and socio -cultural parameters. The
organisation may create various campaigns to either create a specific
image of themselves with their stakeholders or sell their products of
services to their target audiences. In any scenario a thorough evaluation is
needed at each step of the campaign planning to know the current position
of the organisation.
References and further reading: - Anderson, J. W. ( 1991 ). Public relations in the United States: State of the
art and trends. International Public Relations Review , 14(4), 27 -36.
Brody, E., & Stone, G. ( 1989 ). Public relations research . New York:
Praeger.
Broom, G., & Dozier, D. ( 1983 ). An ove rview: Evaluation research in
public relations. Public Relations Quarterly , 28(3), 5 -8.
Broom, G., & Dozier, D. ( 1990 ). Using research in public relations .
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice -Hall.
Book by James E. Grunig, David M. Dozier, William P. Ehling , Larissa A.
Grunig, Fred C. Repper, Jon White; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992.
666 pgs.
Cutlip, S., Center, A., & Broom, G. ( 1985 ). Effective public relations
(6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice -Hall.
Communicating Public Relations Research b y Gael F. Walker University
of Technology, Sydney
David M. Dozier San Diego State University
Evaluation of Public Relations Programs: What the Literature Tells Us
About Their Effects
William P. Ehling Syracuse University in Excellence in Public Relations
and Communication Management
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/evaluation -techniques -used-pr-
21450.html
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munotes.in
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OR_EVALUATING_PUBLIC_RELATIONS_PRACTICE_The_planning
_context_for_evaluation
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relations -research -the-.html
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