The PR Planning Process- Chapter FivePresentation By:Courtney Earll & Travis Lehman

The Plano A PR Campaign or program is a series of

coordinated, unified activities and messages, driven by a single strategy, delivered to relevant publics by a variety of means

o The plan should fit into an overall strategic plan.

o A plan’s design is dictated by the organization’s strategic objective

12 Step Process• Review, Revise and Affirm the Mission Statement• Examine the present situation• Analyze the data• Prepare Forecasts• Write Statements of Objectives• Prepare Statement of Goals• Develop Strategies• Define, Prioritize and Analyze Publics • Prepare Message strategies and statements • Develop media strategy/mix• Develop schedule, assign responsibilities and establish budget• Devise monitoring and measurement systems and procedures

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One: Review, Revise and Affirm Mission Statement

o An organization’s mission statement establishes the scope, domain, and fundamental principles of the organization and provides a guiding philosophy

o To Review your mission statement ask the following questions:

1. Is it current? Does it reflect the organizations as it exists today?

2. Is it explicit? Is there any room for misinterpreting what the organization is all about?

3. Is it understandable?4. Is it brief? 5. Is it memorable? 6. Does it contain the key words that reflect

the organization's focus?o If the questions can all be answered ‘yes’ then

the mission statement can be affirmed and the process can continue.

Two: Examine the Present Situation

o This step is about gathering information

o Ask what your strengths and weaknesses are (Page 84)

o The overall effectiveness of the PR program depends heavily upon the quality of the information on which it is based.

Three: Analyze the Datao Analyze the information gathered from the

secondary/primary sourceso Duplicate information is discarded.o It is common at this stage to look at an

organization’s strengths and weaknesses as well as those of the opposition or competition.

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Four: Prepare Forecasts

o If the information is well-defined it will lead management to draw better conclusions about the future.

o Objectives, goals, and strategies adopted for a program should be based on solid information, that supports the clearest possible view of the future.

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Five: Write Statements of Objectives

o Goals are to denote long-range outcomeso Objectives are to denote short-term outcomeso An objective should be:

A long-term outcome desiredAn open-ended statementBased upon the organization’s mission

statemento Each objective should add value to the

organization and should:Be feasibleBe acceptable to those involved.

o Most PR plans have only a few long-term objectives-often only one- and numerous short-term goals.

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Six: Prepare Statement of Goals

o Goals Are: Short Range

Specific as to time and degreeFully measurableFinite extensions of objectives

o A goal should answer the question, “What one result do you want to accomplish?”

o Each well-written goal contains the following four components:

1. What is being measured? (Awareness? Attendance? Contribution?)

2. A starting point or base against which to measure3. Quantities or percentages to be achieved 4. A deadline or amount of time for accomplishment

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Examples of Goal StatementsWeak: “Enhance our public image”Stronger: “Improve recall of important facts about our organization- from three to five- among key media representatives by June 1of next year.”

Weak: “ Improve media relations”Stronger: “Increase by 10 percent- from 60 percent to 70 percent- positive media coverage on 10 key issues by the end of next year.”

“Public image” and “Media Relations” are the terms that are measurable.

Seven: Develop Strategieso A strategy is an approach to solving a problem or

capturing an opportunity and should answer the following:

How shall we proceed?What approach will guide us?

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Eight: Define, Prioritize and Analyze Publics

o Define your publics or constituencieso Basic question that needs to be answered here is: “Who can

make the decision (or take the action) that I want made? And what are those people like?

o This is where demographics, psychographics and lifestyles of your publics come into play.

o Prioritizing Publics: Identify your main public

It’s helpful to list the groups in order of priorityThe most important at the top of your list

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Nine: Prepare message Strategies and Statements

o Organizational, business and functional strategies collectively influence and shape message strategy.

o A good message strategy is simple and can be adaptable to any medium.

o Simplicity:o Example: The Texas Education Agency called upon

LaMancha Group to assist with a statewide program called, “Child Find” the group developed this message strategy: Child Find is a federally financed program designed to locate handicapped children who are not in school, assess their individual needs and provide them with the educational services they need.

o The statement captures the essence of the program’s strategy.

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Nine Continued Adaptabilityo The Child Find message was adaptable and was used as an

“umbrella” statement with a “tag” for each major public. An example of this would be:

For a religious organization presentation the statement would be: Child Find is a federally funded program designed to locate handicapped children who are not in school, assess their individual needs and provide them with the educational services they need. We want to all each child to develop to his or her fullest potential.

Applicability o Functional message strategies must apply to every

message.

o May be the toughest part of evaluating the usefulness of a potential message strategy.

o To be durable each message must have the following guidelines:

Be consistent with and supportive of all other messages

Be tailored especially to a particular publicBe written to fit the format of the medium used to

deliver it

Durability

Ten: Develop Media Strategy/Mix

o Media strategy/ Mix is one of the most important areas of a PR plan.

o It sometimes doesn’t get the attention it deserves.o There are seven things to pay attention to for media strategies:

o Attending- which public to “attend” to the mosto Persuasiveness- some media are inherently more

persuasiveo Credibility- want to be credible; a message on the

Internet can be believable but face-to-face is better.o Timing- have the right timing o Effective Reach-relies on the economic efficiency of

reaching the target public o Strategic use of Media- Stand a better chance of

getting the message across to your target publics if using a multimedia approach.

o Repetition- use to build memory of the message.

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Three Tiers of MediaTier One: Most important tier is to develop well-scripted presentations for small groups and one-on-one presentations.

Tier Two: Might include the development of a series of information pieces that be used as direct-mail items and for other uses like fact sheets.

Tier Three: We can rely on a range of news releases in this tier- print & broadcast- to local media. As well, you can coordinate PSAs to the local media.

Eleven: Develop schedule, Assign Responsibilities and Establish Budget

Develop Scheduleo Self-explanatory, however, you should develop a schedule or

timeline.o Use a spreadsheet and on the columns on the top divide the year

into weeks.o Then going down the spread sheet list the activities and various

medias that will be used.Responsibilities o For each activity, one person with overall responsibility should be

identified.

Budgeto A budget for each activity also should be included.

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Twelve: Devise Monitoring and Measurement Systems and Procedures

Control: o An organization’s first line of control is to assign responsibilitieso A budget is another form of control

Coordination:o Relates to control but is much broader, richer concepto Each organization has functional areas which are

interdependent o May be the most difficult aspect of any campaign

Tactical Implementationo When functional strategic plans are finished and approved it’s

time to put them into action.o This is where PR writers play a major role in writing brochures,

fact sheets, etc. but a key element is make sure what you write is consistent with the campaign.

o Write to the format of medium the message is being delivered to.

Twelve ContinuedMonitoring and Evaluatingo Monitoring a program is essentialo How can we tell whether the program is

working? o The monitoring process results in an

assortment of writing tasks like e-mails, letters and memos

o When the program is completed it is necessary to evaluate its productivity

o Many e-mails, memos and letters will be written as part of the campaign’s final evaluation but the most daunting task will be a lengthy report that summarizes the results of the campaign.

o Reports must be highly persuasive but try not to mislead management.

Exam QuestionsCourtney’s Questions

1. What is the difference between goals and objectives?Goals are short-term and objectives are long term.2. What kind of writing will you be doing in the evaluation stage?E-mails, memos, letters and reports3. How many things do you need to remember/ look out for when

developing a media strategy?a. 12b. 6c. 8d. 7Travis’ Questions1. What does an organization's mission statement establish? 2. A strategy should answer two questions. What are the two questions? 3.What is the next step after you have prepared the message strategies and statements?