Positioning:

Deciding and Conveying Your Unique Selling Position

Assembled by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits unless noted
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Positioning includes identifying the unique market position, or "niche", for your organization. Positioning is
accomplished through market analysis. Market analysis includes finding out what groups of potential customers (or
markets) exist, what groups of customers you prefer to serve (target markets), what their needs are, what products or
services you might develop to meet their needs, how the customers might prefer to use the products and services,
what your competitors are doing, what pricing you should use and how you should distribute products and services
to your target markets. Various methods of market research are used to find out information about markets, target
markets and their needs, competitors, etc.

Public and Media Relations

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits unless noted
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Before you learn more about public and media relations, you should get a basic impression of what they are. See
What's "Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales?".
Public relations includes ongoing activities to ensure the organization has a strong public image. Public relations
activities include helping the public to understand the organization and its products. Similar to effective advertising
and promotions, effective public relations often depends on designing and implementing a well-designed public
relations plan. The plan often includes description of what you want to convey to whom, how you plan to convey it,
who is responsible for various activities and by when, and how much money is budgeted to fund these activities.
Similar to advertising and promotions, a media plan and calendar can be very useful, which
specifies what media methods that are used and when.
Often, public relations are conducted through the media, that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. Publicity is
mention in the media. Organizations usually have little control over the message in the media, at least, not as much
as they do in advertising. Regarding publicity, reporters and writers decide what will be said.
Regarding public relations, consider: What groups of stakeholders do we want to appeal to
and how? What impressions do you want each of your stakeholder to have? What
communications media do they see or prefer the most? Consider advertising, collaborations,
annual reports, networking, TV, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word
of mouth, direct mail, special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. What media is
most practical for you to use in terms of access and affordability? What messages are most appealing to
each stakeholder group?
Categories of information include
Managing Your Public Image (Public Relations)
Managing Media Relations
Additional Information for Nonprofits
General Resources
Closely Related Library Links
Generally Related Library Links
On-Line Discussion Groups
Free, On-line, Complete Training Programs That Include This Topic!
For For-profit Organizations:
This topic is also included in the Free Micro-eMBA learning module Marketing Your Products/Services and Your
Organization. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders, managers and consultants
who work with for-profit organizations.
For Nonprofit Organizations:
This topic is also included in the Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA learning module Marketing Your Programs. This
complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who
serve nonprofit organizations.
Tell Your Friends! Local Professional Organizations! Spread the Word!
Tell friends and professional organizations about these free programs! Advertise them in your newsletters and web
sites so that others can save training dollars, too!

Managing Your Image (Public Relations)

You should care deeply about the image that you portray to major stakeholders of your business, for example, to
current and potential customers, employees, investors/funders, suppliers, local and state agencies, etc. The following
links are to information that will help you design and carry out an approach to ensuring a strong public image for
your company.
What's "Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales?"
Some Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion (of products, services and company)
Advertising and Public Relations
Impression Managment (Spin Doctoring)
list of PR links
Managing Media Relations
Marketing on a Shoestring: Press Releases
Public Relations on the Web - Web Marketing Today Info Center
NetAction Notes 20
Publicity Articles - how to write press releases and where to send press releases.
Managing the Media
lists of samples of press releases, product accouncements, etc.
Additional "Managing Media" Information for Nonprofits
Basic Press Outreach for Not-for-Profit and Public Sector Organizations
How to Reach Out to the Media
Action Without Borders
20/20 Vision
Coyote Communications

For activists:
Managing the Media: A Guide for Activitists
Raising Our Voices
Netaction notes
Links to media organizations
"New Ideas" is a free quarterly newsletter from the Center for Strategic Communications, devoted to ideas for
nonprofits on developing communications strategies. To subscribe, call (212)-965-0180.
General Resources
Business Resource Center
Data From Gopher
Closely Related Library Links
Advertising and Promotion
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Service
Crisis Management
Marketing
Organizational Communications
Risk Management
Sales
Generally Related Library Links
Communications Skills (Face-to-Face)
Communications Skills (Writing)
General Recommendations to Improve Communications Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Interviewing (various kinds)
On-Line Discussion Groups, Newsletters, etc.
There are a large number of on-line discussion groups, newsletters (e-zines), etc. in the overall areas of management,
business and organization development. Participants, subscribers, etc., can get answers to their questions and learn a
lot just by posing the questions to the groups, sharing insights about their experiences, etc. Join some groups and
sign up for some newsletters!
References to major egroups, newsletters, etc.

Known to Self Not Known to Self

Known to Others

openopen blindblind

Not Known to Others

hiddenhidden unknownunknown

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THE JOHARI WINDOW: A GRAPHIC MODEL OF

AWARENESS IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
When Ingham and Luft first presented "The Johari Window" to illustrate relationship in terms of
awareness, they were surprised to find so many people, academicians and nonprofessionals alike, using,
and tinkering with, the model. It seems to lend itself as a heuristic device in speculating about human
relations. It is simple to visualize the four quadrants which represent the Johari Window:
QUADRANT I. The area of free activity or public area, refers to behavior and motivation known to self
and known to others.
QUADRANT II, The blind area, where others can see things in ourselves of which we are unaware.
QUADRANT III. The avoided or hidden areas, represents things we know but do not reveal to others,
(e.g., a hidden agenda, or matters about which we have sensitive feelings).
QUADRANT IV. Areas of unknown activity, in which neither the individual nor others are aware of
certain behaviors or motives. Yet, we can assume their existence because eventually some of these
behaviors and motives were influencing our relationship all along.
In a new group, Quadrant I is very small; there is not much free and spontaneous interaction. As the
group grows and matures, Quadrant I expands in size, and this usually means we are freer to be more
like ourselves and to perceive others as they really are.
Quadrant III shrinks in area as Quadrant I grows larger. We find it less necessary to hind or deny things
we know or feel. In an atmosphere of growing mutual trust, there is less need for hiding pertinent thoughts
or feelings.
It takes longer for Quadrant II to reduce in size, because usually there are "good" reasons of a
psychological nature to blind ourselves to the things we feel or do.
Quadrant IV changes somewhat during a learning laboratory, but we can assume that such changes
occur even more slowly than shifts in Quadrant II. At any rate, Quadrant IV is undoubtedly far larger and
more influential in an individual's relationships than the hypothetical sketch illustrates.

THE JOHARI WINDOW APPLIED TO INTERGROUP RELATIONS

Quadrant I refers to behavior and motivation known to the group, and also known to other groups.

Quadrant II signifies an area of behavior to which a group is blind, but other groups are aware of
this behavior, e.g., cultism or prejudice.

Quadrant III, the hidden areas, refers to things a group knows about itself, but which is kept from
other groups.

Quadrant IV. the unknown areas, means a group is unaware of some aspects of its own behavior,
and other groups are also unaware of this behavior. Later, as the group learns new things about
itself, there is a shift from Quadrant IV to one of the other quadrants.

PRINCIPLES OF CHANGE WITHIN THE JOHARI WINDOW

1. A change in any one quadrant will affect all other quadrants.
2. It takes energy to hide, deny, or to be blind to behavior which is involved in interaction.
3. Threat tends to decrease awareness; mutual trust tends to increase awareness.
4. Forced awareness (exposure) is undesirable and usually ineffective.
5. Interpersonal learning means a change has taken place so that Quadrant I is larger, and one or
more of the other quadrants has grown smaller.
 6. Working with others is facilitated by a large enough areas of free activity. This means more of the
resources and skills in the membership can be applied to the task at hand.
7. The smaller the first quadrant, the poorer the communication.
8. There is universal curiosity about the unknown area; but this is held in check by custom, social
training, and by diverse fears.
9. Sensitivity means appreciating the covert aspects of behavior, in Quadrants II. III. IV. and
respecting the desire of others to keep them so.
10. Learning about group processes, as they are experienced, helps to increase awareness (larger
Quadrant I) for the group as a whole as well as for individual members.
11. The value system of a group and its membership may be noted in the way unknowns in the life of
the group are confronted.
12. A centipede may be perfectly happy without awareness, but after all, he restricts himself to
crawling under rocks.

THE OBJECTIVES OF A GROUP DYNAMICS LABORATORY

Using this model, we may illustrate one of the general objectives of the laboratory, namely, to increase the
area of free activity in Quadrant I so that more of the relationships in the group are free and open. It
follows, therefore, that the work of the laboratory is to increase the area of Quadrant I while reducing the
area of Quadrants II, III and IV. The largest reduction in area would be in Quadrant III, then Quadrant II
and the smallest reduction in Quadrant IV.

An enlarged area of free activity among the group members would immediately imply less threat or fear
and greater probability that the skills and resources of group members could be brought to bear on the
work of the group. It suggests greater openness to information, opinions and new ideas about oneself as
well as about specific group processes, since the hidden or avoided area, Quadrant III, is reduced. It
implies that less energy is tied up in defending this area. Since more of one's needs are unbound, there is
greater likelihood of satisfaction with the work, and more involvement with what the group is doing.
The Initial Phase of Group Interaction
Applying the model to a typical meeting of most groups, we can recognize that interaction is relatively
superficial, that anxiety or threat is fairly large, that interchange is silted and unspontaneous. We also may
note that ideas or suggestions are not followed through and are usually left undeveloped -- that
individuals seem to hear and see relatively little of what is really going on.
 THE JOHARI WINDOW: OVERALL MODEL

Reference

Luft, J. (1970, 2nd Ed.) Group processes; an introduction to group dynamics. Palo Alto, CA: National
Press Books.

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