You will be allocated a scenario which outlines the organisation you work. You must construct a public relations plan from the information given in the scenario.
Financial Woes
FinanceFirst has grown from strength to strength since its establishment by Jack Heenan in a tiny office in rural Victoria 15 years ago. Today it is a leading national provider of financial services with more than 400 staff in Head Office, and 800 employees in offices across Australia. Jack built the business on a culture of what he called ‘the 3 Cs' - Collaboration, Communication and Cooperation, and these core values were applauded by financial analysts at the time of its hugely successful public float on the stock exchange five years ago. FinanceFirst is truly an Australian success story.
But Jack is concerned. He feels the fast growth of the organisation has impacted negatively on the culture he strived so hard to build. Acting on Jack's concerns, the Board of Directors commissioned a staff survey, the results of which confirmed Jack's fears. Alarmingly 60% of FinanceFirst employees in Head Office reported frustrations with communication across the organization - 80% in regional offices were frustrated. A significant number of comments pointed to a culture of isolation and a lack of camaraderie in the workplace - exactly the opposite of Jack's founding principles. It seems FinanceFirst's defining strength is at risk of being lost. To make matters worse, there are rumors the Financial Employees Union is planning some industrial action because of concerns that FinanceFirst will cut jobs. The Board has told you that no employees will lose their jobs.
The Board of Directors knows the organisation's strength is its people, and is committed to turning the situation around by genuinely reestablishing a culture of collaboration, communication and cooperation. They have asked you to develop a strategic communication plan to make this a reality.
Planning for public relations. How to write a PR plan.
Introduction
Purpose
As Seitel (2007), states:
Like other management processes, 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.
(Seitel 2007,p. 84)
In this topic we aim to provide some background information to each of these planning processes.
The 8-step plan covered in this topic forms the basis of every public relations unit taught in the Deakin program. In this respect it is the most important topic in this unit. The 8-step plan forms much of the basis of your assessment in this unit and in other units in the program.
The 8-step plan is based on the Ketchum public relations plan and was developed by former Deakin University public relations academic Tony Keesing. The Keesing plan has been slightly amended to take into account recent developments in public relations.
The importance of planning in public relations
The effectiveness of the entire public relations program could be said to rest on sound planning and yet many public relations practitioners continue to ‘fly by the seat of their pants'. Instead of being pro-active and carefully considering how their actions might affect the organisation in the long term, these practitioners consistently react to problems and merely respond to crises when they arise.
The four-step public relations process
Figure 5.1 provides a clear visual description of a public relations plan, commencing with a situation analysis and concluding with an evaluation of the results. RACE and the other acronyms from Topic 1 present different approaches to PR planning Figure 5.1 gives you a diagrammatic approach to the public relations process.
Figure 5.1 Four-step public relations process
(Cutlip, Center & Broom 2000, p. 341)
Cutlip, Center and Broom go on to state that:
Prudent long-range planning, anticipating conceivable developments, is more likely to result in the following:
1. An integrated program in which the total effort results in definite accomplishments toward specific goals.
2. Increased management participation and support.
3. A program emphasis that is positive rather than defensive.
4. Careful deliberation on choice of themes, timing, and tactics.
(Cutlip, Center & Broom 2000, p. 372)
Once the organisation has defined its mission and goals, public relations can be used to help achieve them:
An organization's goals must define what its public relations goals will be, and the only good goals are ones that can be measured. Public relations objectives and the strategies that flow from them, like those in other business areas, must be results-oriented.
(Seitel 2007, p. 90)
Management by objectives
E-Reading
Please read the Wilcox, Ault & Agee 1998, ‘Approaches to planning'.
Many organisations now operate on the basis of management by objectives (MBO) or management by objectives and results (MOR) and, therefore, so too do public relations professionals working for these organisations: tying ‘public relations results to management's predetermined objectives' (Seitel 2001, p. 90). The explanation in Seitel (2001) offers a discussion of the MBO technique and the advantages to be derived from applying it:
Increasingly, public relations professionals are managing by objectives, adopting MBO and MOR techniques to help quantify the value of public relations in an organization. The two questions most frequently asked by general managers of public relations practitioners are, ‘How can we measure public relations results?' and ‘How do we know whether the public relations program is making progress?' MBO can provide public relations professionals with a powerful source of feedback.
(Seitel 2001, p. 180)
Distinction between organisational aims, goals, objectives, mission and vision
Prior to further discussion on the procedures for planning, we need to digress briefly to distinguish the terms ‘organisational aims', ‘goals' and ‘objectives', as these terms tend to be used interchangeably (or loosely) by some public relations practitioners. To begin, the organisational aims are all-encompassing statements about a company or, in other words, mission statements of intention which are aimed at describing the purpose or reasons for strategies being implemented.
Charles Handy (1989) writes that a vision statement has to ‘reframe the known scene, to reconceptualise the obvious, connect the previously unconnected dream'. On mission statements Harrison (2001) gives four characteristics:
- Consistent with and supporting the organisation's view
- The ‘road map' describing how the organisation will reach its vision
- Telling people what the organisation's purpose is
- The source of strategies that collectively create a business plan
Deakin University's mission statement is:
The Deakin vision and mission for its students, staff, alumni, partners and friends is:
- Deakin University offers you a borderless and personalised relationship, creating the power and opportunities to live the future in a new world.
- Deakin will be Australia's premier university in enabling globally connected education for the jobs of the future, and research that makes a difference to the communities.
The Deakin Promise
Learning
Offer a brilliant education where you are and where you want to go
We do this by:
- providing premium cloud and located learning
- delivering global and connected education
- welcoming, supporting and retaining committed and capable learners
- empowering learners for the jobs and skills of the future.
Ideas
Make a difference through world-class innovation and research
We do this by:
- growing research capacity, depth and breadth
- developing targeted commercial research partnerships
- developing a strategic international research footprint.
Value
Strengthen our communities, enable our partners and enhance our enterprise
We do this by:
- creating innovative environments - both located and in the cloud
- building employee capacity, capability and productivity
- progressing a sustainable and competitive enterprise.
Experience
Delight our students, alumni, staff and friends
We do this by:
- delivering support services to enable success and enrich the learning, living and social experience for students
- delivering services, resources and facilities to enable an engaged, inclusive, productive and satisfied learning community
- strengthening connections with and adding value to governments, industry, alumni and the communities that Deakin serves.
The goals of an organisation are the continuing, long-term activities which will provide a statement of direction. For example, a goal of any university may be to increase public awareness about the courses available. Objectives are the short-term specific results which must be achieved for the goals to be successful. Following on with the university example, a goal may be to increase public knowledge about courses on offer, while an objective arising from this goal might be to increase local media discussion by 25 per cent by the end of a given year. Objectives are measurable (usually in both time and quantity) and can therefore be evaluated on these criteria. Public relations strategies and tactics may then be considered to achieve specific business objectives.
For effective strategic planning to be devised, public relations practitioners need to anticipate future trends where possible. While it is not possible to predict the future, educated guesses based on observations of past and present occurrences assist in planning for possible trends.
Preparing the 8-step plan
Please note that while Think PR's "Eight Elements of a Program Plan" (page 103-110) is very similar to the planning process we teach in this unit, it does not mirror the plan exactly. It is useful in illustrating structure and wording.
In this unit we deal with only a small PR program or issue that requires response. Its structure differs to plans for larger "PR programs" such as a large organisation's annual plan for communication.
Step 1: Situation analysis
Divide your ‘Situation analysis' into three sections:
- background, in which you describe how the current public relations problem/s arose. This section should also focus on the primary target publics.
- research, in which you suggest what research might be necessary to define specifically the public relations problem/s you face. You will need to review Topic 4 and the strategic research (Part A) and determine what research are appropriate to your situation and target publics. Refer to chapter 3 of the text for how research is used.
- problems/opportunities in which you itemise, as specifically as you can, exactly what the public relations (communication) problems or opportunities are. They must be based on the target public.
You should write problem and opportunity statements using this format:
- begin with the word ‘that'
- nominate a target public
- describe the problem/opportunity
- explain the reason for the problem/opportunity.
Your statement should be written like this:
That (name the target public) (state the problem) thinks/feels/will or won't do something because (state the reason).
For example:
That local residents are concerned about the construction of the factory because they believe it will create noise and be a safety hazard.
That local residents will benefit from the construction of the factory because it will create 100 new jobs in the town.
These Problems are critical for the rest of your plan. They determine your priorities. They define exactly the situation you are addressing. If, for example, you later find yourself suggesting key messages or tactical devices which do not relate to the solving of your public relations problems, then you must do one of two things: either redefine your problems or scrap the key messages or tactical devices.
Step 2: Objectives
Having identifies the PR problems and/or opportunities, you then need to detail the specifics of what you can achieve.
Your task, in this section, is to define the specific public relations objectives, the reaching of which would solve the specific problems you defined in your ‘situation analysis'.
Note: For every problem or opportunity you list, you must have an objective.
We have examined the elements of a good objective in topic 4. You will recall that there is a simple acronym that is applied to writing objectives. Each objective should be:
S: Specific: you must be very clear and accurate in what it is your objective is going to achieve.
M: Measurable: you must quantify your objectives.
A: Achievable: you must be able to meet the objectives within time and resources available.
R: Realistic: you must not set objectives that are beyond your resources.
T: Timely: you must have deadlines, days, months, years if necessary.
Objectives should flow out of problems or opportunities on a one-for-one basis and should be preceded by the word ‘to' as follows:
To inform (or convince) x percentage of the target public of ‘something' (that will solve the problem or exploit the opportunity) by y date, measurable by ... (quantitative survey, qualitative data, actual count of TP action etc).
For example:
To persuade 60 percent of local residents that noise at the factory will be kept to a minimum and that world best practice environmental safeguards will be in place by 9 October 2014, measurable by a random sample telephone survey.
To inform 90 percent of local residents that the factory will employ 100 people by 9 October 2014, measurable by a random sample telephone survey.
Note that these objectives relate to the problem and opportunity statements given above.
Include both informational and motivational objectives if appropriate.
Step 3: Target publics (TP)
The TP analysis in the text and some of the readings vary in detail. The method we use is probably the most detailed. This section is designed to help you to better understand your target public(s).
The real question in this step is: ‘With which publics must I communicate in order to reach the objectives I have specified above?'
With regard to your most important target public(s) (as appearing in your problem or opportunity statements), answer the following questions:
- Which target public(s) must I reach to achieve my objectives? (Identify with demographic detail).
- How do they view themselves and the world around them? (The psychographic details-their self view).
- How do they think about the issues I wish to address? (What type of public are they?)
- What is their reading and comprehension level? (This will affect the type of tactics you will implement).
- What style and content of communication or what type of event might appeal to them? (Think here specifically of Grunig& Hunt's the 4 models of public relations)
- What is in their self-interest? (This question is critical when you write your strategy in the next stage. To help identify what's in the TPs self interest, review Maslow's Hierarchy of needs in the Seitel (2007) eReading, page 69). For example, in relation to a plan about a factory being built in a residential area, it would be in the interest of local residents to live in a quiet, restful location (Maslow level 1), live a safe community with a healthy environment (Maslow level 2), to feel part of a thriving community (Maslow level 3), to be seen as a leading progressive and environmental responsible community (Maslow level 4).
You should refer to Hallahan's article (2000) especially pages 503-5 (note there is an error in the headings) and use the box in your plan to describe the target publics.
Please read Hallahan's (2000), 'Inactive publics: the forgotten publics in public relations'.
Step 4: Strategy & key messages
This section is about detailing a strategy statement that describes how, in concept, you will achieve your objectives and develop an argument to persuade your target publics.
Divide this section in to two parts:
- How, in concept, you intend to reach your objective/s
- The specific key messages you intend to deliver to each specific target public. (Note: do not list tactics here. This is not about how you will deliver key messages.)
Write your strategy statement like this:
My persuasive strategy is to change existing attitudes (or build on existing attitudes or crystallise latent beliefs). I will demonstrate that ... (the thing I want my target public to think or feel or do) ... is in the target public's self interest because ... (note: you must state the reason that self-interest is served).Under a sub-heading called ‘key messages', define for each specific target public the key messages you must deliver in order to reach your specific objectives. For example, what is the audio grab or quote you would want the target public hear or read?
Do not make these slogans, but do not make them long winded sentences either.
For our factory example, key messages could be:
The factory will create 100 jobs for local residents.
When completed, the factory will be so quiet, you would not be able to hear it running if you were more than 10 metres from the boundary fence.
Our company has invested $50 million to ensure the highest environmental standards are met and ensure the continued protection of the town's environment.
Step 5: Tactics
The strategy section includes the key messages you are to deliver. Tactics are the means by which those messages will be delivered, the specific devices which will carry your messages to target publics. Such tactical devices include media releases, brochures and speeches or special events. They can also include online tactics such as Facebook posts, Tweets, and online videos.
Your task in ‘tactics' is to select the specific tactical devices necessary to convey your key messages to target publics.
There are a range of case studies in your text book that include a series of tactics that are appropriate to the situation and the TPs involved.
Caution: Forget notions of advertising such as radio advertisements, online advertising and billboards. These are rarely public relations tactics. Think carefully about the most appropriate way to deliver tactics to the target public. Facebook and Twitter are rarely the most appropriate tactics.
Step 6: Budget
It may be difficult for you to come to terms with budgets if you have had no previous experience in this area. However, when writing a plan you should consider the size of an organisation, its income and what is appropriate to spend on a public relations plan.
It is expected that you would cost each tactic. In terms of your assignment here it is sufficient that itemise each tactic to demonstrate you have considered the cost of each tactic.
See below for further details.
Step 7: Calendar
This is where you schedule all the tactical events you must execute in order to reach your objectives.
You should use the Gantt Chart method that we cover in the final section of this topic.
Tip: Programs such as Miscrosoft's Project can make project management, and the development of Gantt Chart's much easier.
Step 8: Evaluation
In Topic 4 you read about evaluative research.
If you have made your objectives measurable, and given them deadlines, then your evaluation should be simple. You need to explain in more detail how you would measure whether or not you have reached each of your specific objectives and whether they were achieved on time. You can also measure your tactics by their delivery dates.
In this step, remember that you will use the initial research suggested in the objectives section as your base line measure to determine if you have been successful in achieving your objectives.
Attachment:- PR Planning Assignment.zip