ld have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk

The public relations bar, should such a proficiency measure ever come about, may well include a test of PR’s fundamental premise: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is usually accomplished.

And the premise should be tested because it’s of such utility to many business, non-profit and association managers in achieving their managerial objectives. They use the right public relations to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among their key outside audiences.

In other words, they do something positive about the behaviors of those important external audiences, then persuade those key outsiders to their way of thinking, then move them to take actions that allow their department, group, division or subsidiary succeed.

What that approach does is let those managers avoid over concentration on tactics such as fun-to-manage special events, press releases and brochures. Instead, they focus resources on the very external folks who may hold their professional success as a manager in their hands.

A variety of results can occur -- membership applications on the rise; customers starting to make repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Can you say your PR team really gets it? Will they understand the blueprint outlined above and will they show commitment to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring? As luck would have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk

it’s of such utility to many business, non-profit and association managers in achieving their managerial objectives. They use the right public relations to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among their key outside audiences.

In other words, they do something positive about the behaviors of those important external audiences, then persuade those key outsiders to their way of thinking, then move them to take actions that allow their department, group, division or subsidiary succeed.

What that approach does is let those managers avoid over concentration on tactics such as fun-to-manage special events, press releases and brochures. Instead, they focus resources on the very external folks who may hold their professional success as a manager in their hands.

A variety of results can occur -- membership applications on the rise; customers starting to make repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Can you say your PR team really gets it? Will they understand the blueprint outlined above and will they show commitment to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring? As luck would have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk

What that approach does is let those managers avoid over concentration on tactics such as fun-to-manage special events, press releases and brochures. Instead, they focus resources on the very external folks who may hold their professional success as a manager in their hands.

A variety of results can occur -- membership applications on the rise; customers starting to make repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Can you say your PR team really gets it? Will they understand the blueprint outlined above and will they show commitment to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring? As luck would have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk

e bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Can you say your PR team really gets it? Will they understand the blueprint outlined above and will they show commitment to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring? As luck would have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk

ld have it, your PR people are already in the perception and behavior business, so they should be of real use for this initial opinion monitoring project. Be certain that your public relations people really accept why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Sit down with them and review your public relations plan. Talk it over with them, especially your game plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions along these lines: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

You may feel its best to use professional survey firms to do the opinion monitoring work, but that can run into real money. So you may wish to use those PR folks of yours in that capacity since they’re already in the perception and persuasion business. But, whether it’s your people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Since you need a PR goal that does something about the most serious distortions you discover during your key audience perception monitoring, you must now answer these questions. Is the purpose of this drill to straighten out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Stop that potentially painful rumor cold? Or something else?

With your PR goal in hand, you now must pursue the right strategy to tell you how to proceed, or you won’t reach that goal at all. But keep in mind that there are just three strategic options available when it comes to doing something about perception and opinion. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like beef bouillion on your Canoli, so be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You wouldn’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a strategy of reinforcement.

Next product on the assembly line is a well-crafted message to be sent to members of your target audience. It’s difficult to create an actionable message th