PR as planned

communication

Strategy: a plan of action designed to achieve a

particular goal.

Essence of strategic thinking within PR: A series of

steps
-research
-plan
-evaluate the plan
-refine the plan
-implement the plan
-etc.
 PR as planned
communication
Questions to be addressed: (Tench/Yeomans, 177)
• What is our problem? (research)
• What do we seek to achieve? (objectives)
• Who should we talk to? (publics)
• What should we say? (content/message)
• How should we communicate the message?
(communication channels)
• How should we measure our efforts? (evaluation)
 PR as planned
communication
Setting the objectives:
(Preceding activities: problem analysis and
research on the organisation’s publics )

Types of objectives (broad categories):

Knowledge
Attitudes
Behavior
 PR as planned
communication
McGuire (1989): Theoretical foundations of campaigns. In Rice/Atkin: Public
communication campaigns

12 steps of opinion formation and behavior

(= the stages of thought and action persons go through as they are influenced by
information and opinion)
• Being exposed to a message
• Attending to a message
• Liking or becoming interested in a message
• Comprehending the message
• Acquiring the skills to use the information and evaluation contained in the message
• Capitulating/yielding to the message
• Storing the message content in memory
• Recalling the message content from memory
• Deciding on the basis of the information retrieved
• Behaving in a manner that is based on the information
• Reinforcing behavior that leads to positive outcomes
• Consolidating behaviors that are positive so that they become routine and repeated
 PR as planned
communication
Planning:
Rationality
Orderliness
Control

Challenge: reality is chaotic

Dynamic environment (competitors, technology, political and legal
environment etc.)
Bad habits (”we never do like that around here...”)
Lack of resources (money, competent staff ….)
Time pressure
The human factor