Creating Objectives, Strategies and Tactics by understanding the Message

Writing Public Relations Objectives

Figure out the objectives for______________________________________public.

Category   To have an effect on                      Awareness

                                                                         Acceptance        

                                                                         Action

Direction   Specially, to                                    Create, Generate

                                                                          Increase, Maximize

                                                                          Maintain, Reinforce

                                                                          Decrease, Minimize

Effect         (w/awareness)                               Attention or Comprehension

                   (w/acceptance)                              Interest or +/- Attitude

                   (w/action)                                      Opinion or Behavior

Focus                  About        ______________________________________________________

Time Period______________________________________________________________

Message Planner

1.      What’s the situation?

List who what where when why

2.      What’s the objective?

Refer back to the effect area of objectives

3.      Who are the key publics? (KP)

Refer back to the effect area of objectives

4.      What is the tone of the message?

Will your KP respond to funny, serious, sarcasm, drama?

5.      Write benefit statement

Stay on message – KP think “Why should I care?”

6.      What do you want them to remember?

         What is the effect to KP? 

7.      How can we satisfy our key publics with our features / benefits?

How do we get KP to do number 7?

8.      What’s the “So What?

9.      What is the visual?

10.    How will we evaluate?

Status Report Template

What are the questions we need to ask of our clients?

External Issues/Values

What other organizations compete on this issue?
What are their reputations?
What are their resources?
What does the competition offer that you don't?
How has the competition changed within the last three years?
Within the next three years, is the competition likely to increase, remain unchanged or deteriorate?

What is the reputation of your organization?

How widely used is your service/product?
How is the product/service generally perceived?
How is your organization generally perceived?
Is the public perception about your organization correct?
What communication already has been done about this situation?
Within the last three years, has your organization's reputation improved, remained unchanged or deteriorated?

Public(s)/Values

Who are the major publics for your organization?

Who are the key publics for this situation?

Who are the major opinion leaders for these publics?

What are the major wants, interests, needs and expectations of each public?

What benefits can you offer this public?

Demographic/Psychographic Characteristics of each Key Public
Age
Geographic characteristics
Socio-economic traits
Product/service usage
Cultural/Ethnic/Religious traits
Education level
Lifestyle traits

Media

What personal communication channels do this public use?
What organizational media does this public pay attention to?
What news media does this public pay attention to?
What advertising or promotional media does this media pay attention to?
Is this public actively seeking information on this issue?
How likely is this public to act on information it receives?
Who are credible sources and opinion leaders for this public?

Objectives

Answer the following questions for each individual objective:
Is this objective linked to the organization's mission or vision statement?
Is this objective responsive to the issue/problem/opportunity/goal?
Is this objective focused on a particular public?
Is this objective clearly measurable?
Does this objective indicate a time frame?
Is this objective challenging to the organization?
Is this objective realistically attainable?

Write at least one awareness objective for each key public: "To have an effect on awareness, specifically...

Write at least one acceptance objective for each key public: "To have an effect on acceptance, specifically...

Write at least one action objective for each key public: "To have an effect on action, specifically...

Tactics

What is the main advantage of this tactic?
What advantages does this tactic offer that other tactics do not?
Are there any disadvantages with this tactic?

Tactic Ideas

Personal Involvement
Organizational-site involvement: Plant tour, open house, test drive, trial membership, free class, sample, shadow program, ride-along, premiere
Audience-site involvement: Door-to-door canvassing, in-home demonstration, petition drive

Information Exchange
Educational Gathering: Convention, council, convocation, synod, conclave, conference, seminar, symposium, colloquium, workshop, training session

Product Exhibition: Trade show

Meeting: Annual stockholder meeting, lobbying exchange, public affairs meeting

Demonstration: Rally, march, demonstration, picket, boycott

Speech: Question-answer session, oration, talk, lecture, guest lecture, address, keynote, sermon, homily, panel, debate, speaker’s bureau, forum, town meeting

Special Event
- Civic event: fair, festival, carnival, circus, parade, theme event
- Sporting event: tournament, marathon, triathlon, outdoor spectator event, meet, field day)
- Contest: science fair, spelling bee, beauty pageant, talent contest.
- Holiday event: civic, cultural, religious
- Progress-oriented event: procession, motorcade, grand opening, groundbreaking, cornerstone, dedication, ribbon-cutting
- Historic event: founders' day, anniversary, centennial, play, pageant, caravan
- Social event: luncheon, dinner, reception, tribute, banquet, roast, awards, recognition, fashion show, tea
- Artistic event: concert, concert tour, recital, play, film festival, art show, photo exhibit
- Fund-raising event

Welcome to PR - start here

Among the many competing definitions of public relations, J. Grunig and Hunt’s is the most widely cited definition of public relations: Public relations is “the management of communication between an organization and its publics.” [One reason this definition is so successful is its parsimony, or using few words to convey much information. It also lays down the foundation of the profession squarely within management, as opposed to the competing approaches of journalism or the promotion-based approach of marketing and advertising that focuses primarily on consumers. The component parts of

Grunig and Hunt’s famous definition of public relations are as follows:   Management. The body of knowledge on how best to coordinate the activities of an enterprise to achieve effectiveness.   Communication. Not only sending a message to a receiver but also understanding the messages of others through listening and dialogue.   Organization. Any group organized with a common purpose; in most cases, it is a business, a corporation, a governmental agency, or a nonprofit group.   Publics. Any group(s) of people held together by a common interest. They differ from audiences in that they often self-organize and do not have to attune to messages; publics differ from stakeholders in that they do not necessarily have a financial stake tying them to specific goals or consequences of the organization. Targeted audiences, on the other hand, are publics who receive a specifically targeted message that is tailored to their interests.

What is a SWOT?

—The SWOT analysis headings provide a good framework for reviewing strategy, position and direction of a company or business proposition, or any other idea.

—A SWOT analysis is a subjective assessment of data which is organized by the SWOT format into a logical order that helps:

—understanding

—presentation

—discussion

—decision-making

—The four dimensions are a useful extension of a basic two heading list of pros and cons

—The SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organizations. SWOT is an acronym for:

—Strengths

—Weaknesses

—Opportunities

—Threats.

¡Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.

¡External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization.