THINK Public Relations Wilcox/Cameron/Reber/Shin

Ch 5: Research and Campaign Planning

Overview The four essential steps of effective public relations Research: The first step Research methods Planning: The second step

Four Essential Steps of Effective Public Relations Research Planning Communication Measurement Chapter 5 describes the first two of these four steps—research and planning

Research: The First Step What is research? A form of listening Essential to any public relations activity or campaign Questions to ask before research design What’s the problem? Kind of information needed? How will results be used? Public (or publics)? Who should do it? How will data be analyzed/reported/applied? Timetable? Budget?

What Do You Think? Identify at least five ways that research is used in public relations.

Using Research Ways to use research Achieve credibility with management Define/segment publics Formulate strategy Test messages Prevent crises Monitor competition Generate publicity Measure success

Research Methods Types of Research Secondary research Primary research Existing information Primary research New/original information Qualitative Exploratory, rich data, often not generalizable Focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation Quantitative Descriptive/explanatory, often generalizable Mail surveys, telephone polls

What Do You Think? What are the advantages of using a telephone survey? Why can a phone survey be problematic?

Qualitative vs. Quantitative

Research Techniques Organizational materials Library and online databases Internet Content analysis Interviews Focus groups Copy testing Scientific sampling methods

Random Sampling Everyone in the target audience has an equal chance of being selected. Nonprobability sample is not random. Most precise random sample is selected from list naming everyone in the target audience.

Sample Size Usually a sample of 250 to 500 people will provide data with a 5 to 6 percent margin of error. A sample of 100 people will provide about a 10 percent margin.

Sample Size Matters

Reaching Respondents Mail questionnaires Telephone surveys Personal interviews Piggyback surveys Web and e-mail surveys (human subjects note)

Planning: The Second Step Planning must be strategic and systematic. Planning involves the coordination of multiple methods.

Approaches to Planning MBO Ketchum’s Strategic Planning Model: Facts, goals, audience, key message

Eight Elements of a Program Plan Situation Objectives Audience Strategy Tactics Calendar/timetable Budget Measurement

Achieving credibility with management, defining audiences and segmenting publics, formulating strategy, testing messages are some reason why PR professionals use: research

The use of existing information in books, articles, and electronic databases is known as _____ research secondary

What would be some typical types of qualitative research? focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation, role-playing studies…

As a research technique, ______ are widely used to help identify attitudes and motivations of important publics and To formulate or pretest message themes. focus groups

When everyone in the target audience has an equal chance of being selected for the survey, this is random sample

The most precise random sampling is usually done from: lists that essentially includes everyone in the targeted audience.

The first element in a public relations plan is a: situation analysis

What are some of the questions should one ask when establishing a program objective? Does it really address the situation? Is it realistic and achievable? Can its success be measured in meaningful terms?

What are the elements of Ketchum’s Strategic Planning Model? See Page 104

A budget is usually divided into what two categories? staff time and out-of-pocket expenses

Analysis of key messages, number of brochures distributed, or market share increase are all examples of what stage in the public relations planning process? Measurement

Public relations programs should be directed to what kinds of audiences or publics? specific and defined

The systematic and objective categorizing of content is known as: content analysis

Quantitative / qualitative ______research usually produces “hard” data while ____ research is said to produce “soft” data Quantitative / qualitative