Chapter 5 Management 11 16 2012 The public relations professional must understand management o Master the knowledge of planning budgeting objective setting and how top management thinks and operates Differences between working as a staff public relations practitioner inside a corporation nonprofit or other organization where the job is to support management in achieving its objectives and working as a professional in a public relations agency where the job is to contribute to the revenue generation of the company Provides some feel of what to expect in terms of income in public relations Management Process of Public Relations Professional public relations work emanates from clear strategies and bottom line objectives that flow into specific tactics each with its own budget timetable and allocation of resources Managers insist on results o The best public relations programs can be measured in terms of achieving results in building the key relationships on which the organization depends o The relevance of public relations people in the eyes of top management depends largely on the contribution they make to the management process of the organization Public relations managers perform what organizational theorist call a boundary role o Boundary Role they function at the edge of an organization as a liaison between the organization and its external and internal publics Public relations managers have one foot inside the organization and one outside The unique position is not only lonely but also precarious o As boundary managers public relations people support their colleagues by helping them communicate across organizational lines both within and outside the organization Top managers are forced to think strategically about reaching their goals o They need to think in terms of the strategic process element o They must constantly ask in relation to their departments of their own roles functions and assignments going in that pursuit What are we attempting to achieve and where are we What is the nature of the environment in which we must Who are the key audiences we must convince in the operate process How will we get to where we want to be o It is this procedural mind set directed at communicating key messages to realize objectives to priority publics that makes the public relations professional a key adviser to top management Reporting to Top Management The public relations function must report to top management According to Chapter 1 if public relations is truly the interpreter for management philosophy policy and programs then the public relations director should report to the CEO Public relations promotes the entire organization Public relations must remain independent credible and objective Have communication competence and an intimate knowledge of the organization s business o Without this PR professionals are much less effective PR professionals should be the corporate conscience o PR processionals should enjoy enough autonomy to deal openly and honestly with management If an idea does make sense if a product is flawed if the general institutional wisdom is wrong it is the duty of the PR professional to challenge the consensus Losing reputation is worse than losing money Conceptualizing the Public Relations Plan Warren Buffet Strategic planning for PR is an essential part of management o Planning is critical not only to know where a particular campaign is headed but also to win the support of top management One of the most common PR complaints is that it is too much a seat of the pants activity impossible to plan and difficult to measure for Management s perspective is How do we know the public relations group will deliver and fully leverage the resources they re asking o Management wants to see a plan With proper planning PR professionals can indeed defend and account for their actions First practitioners must consider objectives and strategies planning and budgets and research and evaluation o The broad environment win which the organization operates must dictate the overall business objectives There will dictate specific PR objectives and strategies Once these have been defined the task of organizing for a PR program should flow naturally o Environment business objectives PR objectives and strategies PR programs Setting objectives formulating strategies and planning are essential if the PF function is to be considered equal in stature to other management processes This involves 4 steps o Defining the problem or opportunity This requires researching current attitudes and opinions about the issue product candidate or company in question and determining the essence of the problem This is the formal planning stage which addresses key and constituent publics strategies tactics and goals The is the communication phase when the program is o Programming o Action implemented o Evaluation The final step in the process is the assessment of what worked what didn t work and how to improve in the future o The most essential is starting with a firm base of research and a solid foundation of planning All planning requires thinking Planning a short term PR program to promote a new service may require les thought and time than planning a long term campaign to win support for a public policy issue Regardless if its a short term or long term plan the plan must include clear cut objectives to achieve organizational goals targeted strategies to reach those objectives specific tactics to implement the strategies and measurement methods to determine whether the tactics worked Creating the Public Relations Plan A PR plan must be spelled out in writing Its organization must answer management s concerns and questions about the campaign being recommended o Executive summary An overview of the plan o Communication process o Background need for the plan o Situation analysis o Message statement How it works for understanding and training purposes Mission statement vision values events that led to the Major issues and related facts the plan will deal with The plan s major ideas and emerging themes all of which look to the expected outcome o Audience Strategic constituencies related to the issues listed in order of importance with whom you wish to develop and maintain relationships o Key audience messages One or two sentence messages that you want to be understood by each key audience o Implementation Issues audiences messages media timing cost expected outcomes and method of evaluation all neatly spelled out
View Full Document
Unlocking...