Or how to run a successful campaign

Tench & Yeomans Chapter 10 & Chapter 12 PR as Planned Communication,p Audiences, Stakeholders, Publics, p

Why it’s important to plan Successful PR programmes don’t just happen They are the result of good research, careful planning and implementation Sometimes, PR practitioners need to react, but that’s usually as a result of a crisis only. If you take time to plan, you make sure that the campaign is aimed at the right people, uses the right channels of communication and stays within timescales and budget!

The Four-Step Process Is a Basic Foundation For The Practice Of Public Relations Research Planning Action Evaluation

Planning PR process What’s happening now? Situation Analysis Strategy What should we do and say, and why? How did we do? Assessment Implementation How and when do we do and say it? 1. Defining public relations problems Planning & Programming 3. Taking action & communicating 4. Evaluating the programme Cutlip et al. (2000) Planning model

Planning process What is the problem? (Researching the issue, using tools such as a SWOT analysis, situation analysis What does the plan seek to achieve? (What are the aim / the objectives? Who should be talked to? (Which publics do you want to develop a relationship with) What should be said? (Content of the 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?)

Analysis / Research Aim and Objectives Publics Content for messages Strategy Tactics Timescales Budget Evaluation PR Planning model

Analysis / Research SWOT analysis (Strength/Weaknesses -internal factors and Opportunities / Threats - external) Strength Well established entertainment venue Good traffic links/central Established reputation as a company Weaknesses Lack of employees Expensive Opportunities Student population is growing Tourism to Scotland is growing Opportunity for cooperation with retail e.g. a big outskirts shopping centre Potential to become Scotland’s leading entertainment venue chain Threats Opposition from anti- clubbing pressure groups Opposition from local community Economic downturn Example: Tiger Tiger wants to open another venue in Glasgow

Research continued Analysing the environment (open /closed organisations ) Any issues arising from that? For that you might need to carry out your own dedicated research This could be desk research (Internet/ media/library) Or it could be surveys / focus groups / interviews

Analysing publics Identify publics (thinking about active / latent / inactive publics etc) Research their opinions (formal / informal) Personal contacts Key informants (e.g politicians, journalists, experts) Focus groups / surveys Monitoring of mail/complaints/online sources Monitoring of media

Publics Active (those involved in an issue) Latent (those with potential to have an interest) Inactive (those uninvolved and uninterested) Depends on how well known an issue is and also how it affects the individual / group Example: Campaign to reduce dangerous driving among young drivers aged 17-25

Setting objectives To set realistic objectives it is necessary to know the size & nature of the communications task All objectives should be SMART Specific, measureable, achievable, resourced and timebound

Examples for objectives Employees: ensure every employee is aware of our new corporate plan by 10 November Community: Use sponsorship of 20 local junior football teams to promote more positive opinion about company (change of 5% this year)

Messages What should be said? Traditionally PR practitioners have focused on messages. (Can be explained through journalistic background of PR, where ‘getting the story out’ is seen as important) Particularly important in public information campaigns E.g. road safety campaigns have memorable slogans such as ‘Don’t drink & drive’ or the ‘Think’ campaign

Strategy This is the 5 th basic question: How should the message be communicated? Falls into two categories – strategy and tactics Temptation to jump straight into tactics, to come up with a raft ideas without thinking about a rationale However, strategy is important as it gives the overall direction two your work!

Strategy …is the ‘overall concept, approach or general plan’(Cutlip et al. 2000) …it can be the co-ordinating theme or factor, the guiding principle, purpose or ‘the big idea’ It should have one of those guiding principles!

Example: New environmentally friendly cosmetics product range Objective: Publicise new product range amongst year old females, increase awareness by 20% Strategy: Education campaign about animal testing using celebrity endorsement Sandy Thom Tactics: Mount media relations strategy, Press conference, news releases, exclusives, features, competition Target media: Women’s magazines, fashion supplements in daily press

Example: Excercise Encourage people to exercise Strategy: Drive home health policy through memorable message Tactics: Media Campaign, posters, competitions, bus adverts, schools programme, launch event etc.

Tactics Wide range of tactics Media Relations Exhibitions Community relations Special events Customer relations Lobbying Sponsorship Research Financial relations Corporate identity Crisis management Use of opinion leaders for endorsement Corporate Social Responsibility

Timescales and Budgeting Draw up a schedule with an activity plan for every tactic Check that resources are available (is there enough staff etc) Resources required are: 1. Money / Finance 2. Human resources 3. Equipment

Evaluation Important to see whether your campaign is working Two types of evaluation – ongoing monitoring (to see whether you need to adapt) and evaluation at the end (output evaluation) Methods: media content analysis, clippings, statistics, surveys, interviews, informal methods and more