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9 Simple Steps for Proactive Public Relations
By David Daniels | February 20, 2008
Posted by David Daniels
Author: Hamish Jones
Whether you are a small business run from home, or a large corporation with hundreds of employees, you need to be doing public relations. In this article, I will show you a 9 step process for planning your public relations to ensure it is most productive. Here are the steps you need to follow:
· Select your target audience- No matter what your business is, you are not going to be able to sell to everybody. Yes, it would be nice to be able to reach all 6 billion people but it’s not just going to happen. Tailor your messages to the right target audience.
· Survey them to check their current knowledge levels- You may not have to survey them directly but the internet search engines help you to gauge your target audiences beliefs. A quick Google search and checking forums related to your business should enable you to understand their current levels of knowledge.
· Look at how they are reacting with their current knowledge- Your target audience doesn’t just know something, they formulate opinions based around this ‘knowledge.’ What does your target public think about the situation?
· Set your goals for the campaign- Just like in business, if you are going to do public relations, you need to plan your campaign. This involves setting goals of what you’d like to achieve- increased web hits, changing government regulations etc.
· Select your public relations strategy- Once you have set your goals, your strategy is your overall plan to reach your goals. This is what you need to achieve to reach your goals.
· Decide on what your persuasive message will be- Once you have developed your goals and strategies, you need to work out what you need to tell those people you are targeting. What will you tell them to reach your goals.
· Decide on what tactics and tools you could use- What will you do to fulfil your strategy. Will you write press releases? Will you write a blog? What about participating in forums or will you combine many of these tactics?
· Monitor for changes in knowledge and beliefs- Public relations goals and messages can generally be defined as either reputation building or belief changing. You need to monitor what is being said to see if your reputation has been enhanced or people are being swayed to your beliefs.
· Monitor for behavior change- It’s not good enough to have changed someone’s beliefs, you want to see a change in behavior, whether that mean acting like you want them or purchasing more of your product. This is the end result we are looking for.
A sound Public Relations plan is something that all businesses should have, however it is often sadly underutilized by business owners as they have no knowledge of public relations planning. This article has given you a basic understanding of public relations planning and hopefully it will be the stepping stone to bigger and better things
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Topics: David Daniels, Reputation Management |
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