Chapter Five
To make public relations effective,
research is the first step. There are
four steps to this process (Research, Planning, Communication, and
Measurement), however Chapter five covers research, its function, and the importance
of said function.
Research in the public relations
realm is all about gathering information that is reliable and rightfully
accessible. Public Relations affiliates
gather research for a wide spread of different projects. Because the nature of the projects are so
different, research is therein used in a multitude of different ways. For
example, research is used to: gain credibility with management, define what
audience the organization is marketing for, come up with a strategy, test
messages, help the organization stay in touch with their audiences, crisis
management, competition monitoring, influence the public opinion, generate
publicity, or to measure success.
In order to assess what type of
research needs to be done for certain projects, people in PR positions have a
list of questions that they ask, which include: what the problem is, what kind
of information is needed based on that problem, how will the research be used,
what specifically should be researched (is that public of private?), should the
organization hire within the organization or outside the organization to do
research, how will the data be reported, how soon does the organization need
the data, and finally how much it will cost.
There are three different types of
research that the chapter lists: secondary, qualitative, and quantitative. Secondary research is the analysis of data that is otherwise collected by a
party that is not the organization. For example, this can range anywhere from
an archive of files to data from news articles to online searches to books. Qualitative research defines the
analysis of behavior tendencies in an audience. This includes the perceptions
of their audience. Usually, these are conducted in surveys to their audiences,
and are useful for assessing how effective an organizations messages are. Quantitative research relies on hard
evidence to define an organization’s success. This means that they use numbers
to explore the success of sales. For example, analyzing who bought what can
define a demographic.
Chapter Six
Chapter six describes program
planning, and cleverly puts “before you start any serious action in public
relations, you must have a plan.” Which also ironically is the motto for any
college student aspiring to graduate and get a job, however they generally do
not actually create a plan.
The chapter describes a couple approaches
to planning, which include an analysis of research. These analyses include:
client/employer objectives, audience/publics, audience objectives, media
channels, media channel objectives, communication strategies, essence of the
message, and nonverbal support. Essentially, an analysis of the entire satiation
is needed before going into a plan.
The book also provides a model for
strategic planning. This model breaks down the planning process into four
categories: facts, goals, audience, and key message. Facts define what trends are happening, what significant
characteristics of the product stand out, and who the competitors are. Goals describe the managerial objectives,
the role of public relations, and the sources of new business. Audience defines the organization’s
target audience, their current, and desired mindset. The key message is the main point of the plan.
The chapter then describes the
basic elements to a successful plan: situation, objectives, audience, strategy,
tactics, calendar/timetable, budget, and evaluation.
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