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UNIT 7
NHÓM 1
Why planning is important?
Within the many definitions of public relations, planned or managed
communication is frequently mentioned as a defining characteristic of the
discipline. Planning for public relations programmes provides a framework that
can stimulate thinking; it acts as a prompt for problem solving and it releases
creativity while ensuring it is focused and purposeful.
There are a number of very practical reasons for planning public relations activity:
■ Planning focuses effort – by eliminating unnecessary and low-priority work.
■ Planning improves effectiveness – by ensuring the planner works to achieve
agreed objectives from the outset.
■ Planning encourages the long-term view – by requiring the planner to look to the
organisation’s future needs, preparing it for change and helping it manage future
risks.
■ Planning assists pro-activity – setting the agenda means planners can be
proactive and ‘on the front foot’.
■ Planning reconciles conflicts – putting together a comprehensive public relations
plan means that potential difficulties and conflicts have to be thought through in
the planning stage.
NHÓM 2
■ Planning minimises mishaps – thinking through potential scenarios means that
most eventualities can be covered and contingency plans put in place.
■ Planning demonstrates value for money – planners can show they have achieved
programme objectives within budget and past achievements also help the planner
argue for future resourcing.
So why doesn’t everyone plan everything? The following suggests why
practitioners are sometimes reluctant to plan, despite the arguments outlined above:
■ Lack of time – planning is time consuming and ongoing work cannot be
suspended while it is done.
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■ Plans are out of date as soon as they are written – business and particularly
communication is conducted in an ever-changing and dynamic environment, so
planning has little point.
■ Planning raises unrealistic managerial expectations – too many factors that are
outside the planner’s control to guarantee results.
■ Plans are too rigid and stifle the impromptu and opportunistic – flexibility of
response is a crucial strength of the communication function.
■ Plans are a block to creativity – the approach is formulaic and encourages
formulaic activities.
■ Plans always reflect the ideal, not the real – it makes it appear that
communication work can be tightly controlled and all ambiguities ‘planned out’.
The reality of doing public relations work, say some practitioners, is not like that.
NHÓM 3
Approaches to the planning process
The planning process is ordered and enables the public relations planner to
structure their approach around certain key aspects. It is helpful to see it as
answering six basic questions:
■ What is the problem? (Researching the issue.)
■ What does the plan seek to achieve? (What are the objectives?)
■ Who should be talked to? (With which publics should a relationship be
developed?)
■ What should be said? (What is the content or message?)
■ How should the message be communicated? (What channels should be used for
dissemination?)
■ How is success to be judged? (How will the work be evaluated against the
objectives?)
Marston (1979) provided one of the best known planning formulae for public
relations which is encapsulated in the mnemonic RACE – Research, Action,
Communication and Evaluation. American academics Cutlip et al.
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NHÓM 4
Analysis
Analysis is the first step of the planning process. The point of analysis, sometimes
called ‘situation analysis’ is to identify the issues or specific problems on which
to base the programme. Without identifying the key issues the programme will not
have a clear rationale. For example, if the core issue identified for action is
that the organisation is seen to be unfriendly towards family carers, there is no
point in aiming a recruitment campaign at potential employees such as women
without addressing the reasons why the organisation is not an employer of choice
for them.
Analysing the environment
This analysis may seem more appropriate to the identification of strategic business
issues than communication issues. However, public relations practitioners need to
be alert to the wider environmental issues because it is these that will force some
sort of action from the organisation. Action always has communication
implications. Indeed, one of the major contributions that public relations can make
is to maintain an environmental scanning brief on behalf of their organisation. This
‘early warning’ of issues allows organisations to manage future risks and is a key
strategic input at senior management level. In the light of these emerging issues,
organisations can make adjustments to their own strategy and actions to align
themselves to new realities.
NHÓM 5
Having identified the broader environmental issues that affect the organisation and
over which it has little control, it is then necessary to look at the organisation itself
and those things over which it has greater control. A classic way to undertake this
internal analysis is to use a technique called SWOT. The first two elements,
strengths and weaknesses are particular to the organisation and can usually be
changed by it, although all organisations are to a certain extent captive to their own
history and culture. However, it is in the organisation’s power to address its
strengths and weaknesses. The third and fourth, opportunities and threats, are
generally external and can be derived from wider environmental analysis , but are
usually related to those factors that have a direct impact on it. The four elements of
SWOT can be seen as mirror segments in a quadrant.
Analysing publics
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Having analysed the environment and the organisation and identified the key
issues, it is then essential to look at the organisation’s publics and discover
what their attitudes are towards the organisation itself, to the wider issues or to the
particular issue that management have asked the public relations department to
address.
NHÓM 6
Setting objectives
To set realistic objectives it is necessary to know the size and nature of the
communication task. Research among publics will have uncovered their
knowledge, attitudes and behaviour on any particular topic, which will provide the
starting point. The planner then needs to decide what movement is required, if
any: a legitimate objective may be to confirm existing attitudes or actions.
1. The level of effect or outcome should be chosen with care. If the communication
planner wants to introduce a new or complex idea, it would be sensible to set
cognitive objectives first, rather than hoping for conative effects from the
start.
2. Choose target publics with advocacy in mind. Research should have identified
those who already support the organisational policies or who could be easily
enlisted. They can then act as advocates on behalf of the organisation.
3. Organisations can change too. Sometimes minor adjustments in the
organisation’s stance can elicit a major, positive response from publics.
All objectives should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable (within the
planner’s ability to deliver) resourced and time bound.
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NHÓM 7
Identifying publics
Ways to segment publics
■ By geographics – where they live, work
■ By demographics – age, gender, income
■ By psychographics – attitudes, opinions
■ By group membership – e.g. clubs, societies, parents
■ By overt and covert power – e.g. religious leader, information gatekeeper
■ By role in decision process – e.g. financial manager, CEO
Messages or content
Messages are important for four main reasons:
1. Messages assist the awareness and attitude-forming process. Publics who
can repeat a message they have seen or heard are demonstrating that it has
been received. They are also likely to have a view on it.
2. Messages demonstrate that the communication channels have been
appropriate and that the message reached the recipient.
3. Messages are essential in the evaluation process. Messages intended for the
media can be evaluated through media content analysis. If the same
messages are picked up and repeated by the target public (e.g. through
survey research), it demonstrates that the communication has been, at least
in part, effective. What publics do with that assimilated message is the other
half of the story.
4. Summarising an argument down to its bare essentials in a key message such
as ‘eat five fruits and vegetables every day’ helps focus management minds
and imposes discipline on woolly thinking.
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NHÓM 8
There are four steps in determining messages:
1. Take existing articulated perceptions that encapsulate the issue or problem.
For example, it may be that the organisation is regarded as an oldfashioned
employer.
2. Define what realistic shifts can be made in those perceptions. If working
practices and policies have been completely overhauled, this needs
explaining.
3. Identify elements of persuasion. Work on the basis of fact. For example, the
organisation may have introduced a crèche and family-friendly work
practices. The number of women managers may have increased by 25%; the
organisation may have achieved Investors in People status and won a major
training award. All these facts demonstrate that the organisation is not an
old-fashioned employer, and should form the platform for programme
content. However, facts are rarely enough. People are not just rational
beings, so it is important to add human emotion to these facts. People
associate more readily with other people and their experiences rather than to
purely factual information. For example, providing case studies that people
can relate to in a human way and which illustrate how the organisation
operates as a social as well as economic unit adds warmth and depth.
4. Ensure that the message or content is deliverable and credible through public
relations activity rather than via advertising or direct mail.