1 Nine Steps of Strategic Public Relations Sunarto Prayitno

2 Introduction Communication managers are organizational decision makers. Consider the complementary roles of two categories of communications managers: Tactical and strategic. Tactical managers make day-to-day decisions on many practical and specific issues. Strategic managers, on the other hand, are concerned with management, trends, issues, policies, and corporate structure.

3 Introduction In the workplace, public relations practitioners often find themselves functioning in both the technician and the managerial roles, but the balance is shifting. Today’s environment – and more importantly, tomorrow’s – calls for greater skill on the management side of communication.

4 Introduction The job of strategic communication planning calls for four particular skills: 1. Understanding research planning. 2. Knowing how to make strategic choices. 3. Making selections from an expanding inventory of tactical choices. 4. Completing the process by evaluating program effectiveness.

5 Introduction You’ll find nine steps, each presented with the following three basic elements: 1. Explanations that are clear and understandable, drawn from contemporary theory and current practice. 2. Examples that help you see the concept in action, drawn from both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. 3. Hands-on exercises in both short form and expanded versions that help you apply the process in your own situation.

Introduction An effective practitioners understand a problem and manages it to its successful conclusion. How do we manage problems? Sometimes by making them go away. Sometimes just by helping them run their course with the least harm to the organization. Public relations practitioners face all kinds of problems: low visibility, lack of public understanding, opposition from critics, and insufficient support from funding sources. 6

Introduction Marketing communicators face similar problems: unfamiliarity of companies or products, apathy from consumers, product recalls, and other liabilities. Both may deal with indifference among workers and misunderstanding by regulators. Public relations and marketing are distinct yet overlapping fields. Each has its own focus and its own particular tools, and each discipline fulfills different purposes within an organization. 7

Introduction Yet more and more, it is becoming evident that the coordination of public relations and marketing communications can increase an organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. In this classic sense, public relations focuses on long- term patterns of interaction between and organization and all of its various publics, both supportive and non- supportive. 8

Introduction Marketing communications focuses more immediately on products or services that respond to the wants and needs of consumers. It seeks to foster an economic exchange between organizations and its consumers. Both disciplines deserve a seat at the management table. Both identify wants, interests, needs, and expectations key group of people, and both structure ways to communicate with them. 9

Introduction Both disciplines rely on research and are rooted in the organization’s mission and directed toward its “bottom line” Finally, public relations and marketing communications share a concern about both the sort-term and the long- term interest of he organization. 10

11 Introduction Strategic communication is the name for such planned communication campaign. More specifically, it is intentional communication undertaken by a business or nonprofit organization, sometimes by a less-structured group. It has a purpose and a plan, in which alternatives are considered and decisions are justified. In variably, strategic communication is based on research and subject to eventual evaluation. It operates within a particular environment, which involves both the organization and groups of people who affect it in some way.

12 Strategic Public Relations Most textbooks dealing with public relations encourage a four-phase process: Some use the RACE acronym (John Marston, 1963): –Research –Action –Communication –Evaluation

Strategic Public Relations RAISE (Robert Kendall, 1997): –Research –Adaptation –Implementation Strategy –Evaluation 13

Strategic Public Relations SOSTAC (Smith, Berry, and Pulford, 1999): –Situation –Objectives –Strategy –Tactic –Action –Control 14

Strategic Public Relations ROPE (Jerry Hendrix, 2000): –Research –Objectives –Programming –Evaluation 15

Strategic Public Relations BOSTE (Sunarto Prayitno, 2008): –Background –Objectives –Strategies –Tactics or Executions –Evaluation 16

17 Strategic Public Relations Defining public relations problems, planning and programming, taking action and communication, and evaluating the program (Cutlip, Center, and Broom, 2000). Philip Kotler and his colleagues (Kotler, Roberto, and Lee, 2002) identify sight steps in four general stages that focus on analysis of the environment, identification of audiences and objectives, development of a strategic approach, and development of the implementation plan.

18 Strategic Public Relations Strategic Planning for Public Relations (Ronald D. Smith, 2005) offer a model that is meant to be both logical and easy to follow. These steps are grouped into four phases that are both descriptive and accurate, but their names don’t lend themselves to an acronym. So, without a great deal of fanfare, this model is called, simply: the Nine Steps of Strategic Public Relations.

19 Strategic Public Relations Phase One: Formative Research Step 1: Analyzing the Situation Step 2: Analyzing the Organization Step 3: Analyzing the Public Phase Two: Strategy Step 4: Establishing Goals and Objectives Step 5: Formulating Action and Response Strategies Strategies Step 6: Using Effective Communication

20 Strategic Public Relations Phase Three: Tactics Step 7: Choosing Communication Tactics Step 8: Implementing the Strategic Plan Phase Two: Strategy Step 9: Evaluating the Strategic Plan

21 1. Formative Research During the first phase of the nine steps, Formative Research, the focus is on the preliminary work of communication planning, which is the need to gather information and analyzed the situation. Step 1: Analyzing the Situation Your analysis of the situation is the crucial beginning to the process. It is imperative that all involved – planner, clients, supervisors, key colleagues, and the ultimate decision maker – are in solid agreement about the nature of the opportunity or obstacle to be addressed in this program.

22 1. Formative Research Step 2: Analyzing the Organization This step involves a careful and candid look at three aspects of the organization: (1) its internal environment (mission, performance, and resources), (2) its public perception (reputation), and (3) its external environment (competitors and opponents, as well as supporters. Step 3: Analyzing the Publics In this step you identify and analyze your key publics – the various group of people who interact with your organization on the issues at hand.

23 1. Formative Research This step includes an analysis of each public in term of they wants, needs, and expectations about the issue, their relationship to the organization, their involvement in communication and wit various media, and a variety of social, economic, political, cultural, and technological trends that my affect them.

24 2. Strategy The second phase of the planning process, Strategy, deals with the heart of planning: making decisions dealing with the expected impact of the communication, as well as the nature of the communication itself. Step 4: Establishing Goals and Objectives Step four focus on the ultimate position being sought for the organization and for the product or service. This step helps you develop clear, specific, and measurable objectives that identify the organization’s hoped for impact on the awareness, acceptance, and action of each key public.

25 2. Strategy Step 5: Formulating Action and Response Strategies A range of actions is available to the organization, and in this step you consider what you might do in various situation. This section includes typologies of initiatives and responses. Step 6: Using Effective Communication Step six deal with various decisions about the message, such as the sources who will present the message to the key publics, the content of the message, its tone and style, verbal and non-verbal cues, and related issues.

26 3. Tactics During the Tactics phase, various communication tools are considered and visible elements of the communication plan are created. Step 7: Choosing Communication Tactics This inventory deals with various communication options. Specifically, the planner considers four categories: (1) face-to-face communication and opportunities for personal involvement, (2) organizational media (sometimes called controlled media), (3) news media (uncontrolled media), and (4) advertising and promotional media (another form of controlled media). While all of these tools can be used by any organization, not every tool is appropriate for each issue.

27 3. Tactics Step 8: Implementing the Strategic Plan In step eight, you develop budgets and schedules and otherwise prepare to implement the communication program. This step turn the raw ingredients identified in the previous step into a recipe for successful public relations and marketing communication.

28 4. Evaluative Research The final phase, Evaluative Research, deals with evaluation and assessment, enabling you to determine the degree to which the stated objectives have been met and thus to modify or continue the communication activities. Step 9: Evaluating the Strategic Plan This is the final planning element, indicating specific methods for measuring the effectiveness of each recommended tactic in meeting the stated objectives.