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10-08-10 [email protected]
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Date
PUTTING YOUR PR PLANBACK ON TRACK
WHOS
DRIVING
INYOUR
R.A.C.E.?
http://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistoryhttp://localhost/Users/Gabriel%20PR/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%252F%252Fwww.webwombat.com.au%252Fmotoring%252Fcar-images%252Fporsche-911-gt3-997-3-big.jpg.webhistorymailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.gabrielpr.ca/http://www.gabrielpr.ca/
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YOUR public map
Source: Gabriel PR, 2010
R.A.C.E.???
R.A.C.E. is an acronym used in PR (similar to the 4Ps of
Marketing) to lay-out the foundation of thePR plan: Research &
Analysis, Communication and Evaluation. Following these four steps
willenable you to create an effective PR plan for your business and
produce extraordinary results.
How is the relationship withYOUR public?
In public relations, the emphasis is on the relationship.
Keeping an ear to the ground (listening) andmonitoring public
attitudes, opinions and behaviour is the guide to creating your
public relationsplan. Dr. Margaret Wheatley, organizational
consultant and management professor says, throughrelationships,
information is created and transformed, the organizations identity
expands to include
more stakeholders, and the enterprise becomes even wiser. Dr.
Gina Hernez-Broome and Dr.Richard L. Hughes at the Center for
Creative Leadership agree that, relationships amongcustomers and
suppliers, individuals and the organization will make or break us
in the networkedeconomy.
If you want to measure the status of your relationships, we
recommend building a RelationshipMeasurement Process (RMP) that
allows you to continuously collect and monitor feedback from
YOUR public on an ongoing basis, so you are prepared to respond
to any issues that may arise.
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The most compelling reason for using research is to make sure
that yourprogram is the best it can bethat what you are doing is as
right on as itcan be. You will be confident that you are addressing
the right audience,that you are using the right messages and that
you are focusing on the
right perceptions or attitudes. Evaluation research will tell
you whether or
not it works.4
The Research & Analysis Process
1. Identify a research problem
What is the problem you are trying to solve? Have sales been too
low in this quarter? Are you notseeing as many visitors to your
website? What group on your public map does this problem
applyto?
2. Research design
Where and how will you find the information? In your research
design, you should be open togetting your information from any
combination of sources: Google searches, literature/bookreviews,
focus groups, surveys, twitter and facebook.
3. Develop research strategy
Your strategy will include the goals, objectives, timeline and
budget available to carry out theresearch. This is where you will
also identify the individuals on the research team including
theresearch project manager.
4. Generate data
Now you are ready to carry out your research strategy and
generate the data necessary todetermine a solution to your
problem.
5. Analyze data
This is where you will take a look at the data and identify any
glaring statistics or correlations. Forexample, you might find that
there was quite a bit of negative feedback on one of your
productswhich resulted in lower sales or that 15% of those who did
not buy your product last quarter, alsolost their jobs. What an
amazing opportunity to build a relationship as you can now create
apromotion to have a sale on your products or create a direct mail
campaign to send coupons or
gift cards to those families who cant afford your product for
the time-being.
6. Produce report
Lastly, put together a report that will outline your finding and
recommendations to solve theproblem which gets the ball rolling on
your communications plan.
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Whats your strategy?
Your strategy is a high-level overview of what your plan will
be. A strategy for a business launchmight be to introduce the
business to the local community by holding a launch event, continue
to
meet prospective clients and promote the business in the 6
months following the launch and keepyour company top-of-mind
through ongoing communications.
Tactics: communicate, communicate, communicate!
Tactics are a more detailed and fleshed-out plan of exactly how
you will carry-out your strategy.Using the business launch example
your tactics would include:
Launch Event
Identify potential customers in the local community
Create a mailing list of potential customers Create
invites/e-vites announcing the launch Book venue for event
Collect gifts and prizes to give away Invite guest speakers
Create form for post-event feedback
Ongoing Communications
Develop editorial plan of email marketing campaign email blast
series
news and media releases blogs
Newsletter
Grow Customer Base
Identify and schedule to attend networking eventsApply for
public speaking opportunities
Team, Budget & Timeline
As with any business related plan, you need to determine the
people on your team, your availablebudget and you need to map out a
detailed timeline.
Team
Make sure you are using people who have strengths in each aspect
of your plan. Your team mightconsist of a project manager to
oversee the entire plan, a skilled copywriter/copyeditor for
yourcommunications, a graphic designer to design your website or
marketing materials and a socialmedia specialist to manage all your
social media tools.
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Budget
What will it cost to roll out this plan? Consider costs for
design, printing, distribution, the hourscontributed by your team,
event venue, catering and audio-visual if necessary. Always add
anadditional 10% to 15% to your budget for miscellaneous expenses.
Your project manager controls
the budget and assures that it does not go over what is
available.
Timeline
Setting deadlines and milestones is crucial to the success of
your communications plan. Yourtimeline will help you keep track of
where you are and what needs to be done on any given day,week or
month. Milestones let you know when you have reached major points
in your timeline.Booking a prominent speaker or acquiring all
sponsorship dollars necessary would qualify as keymilestones in
your plan. Your project manager will be responsible for making sure
the team stayson track and short-term goals are achieved.
Evaluate
Just like your research, evaluation needs to be planned and
analyzed. Its one thing togenerate monitoring reports, but what do
these reports tell you about your company andthe way youre doing
business?
Planning your evaluation means determining what youre going to
measure and how. Yourevaluation tactics should also relate directly
to your plan objectives. For example, if yourobjective was to
increase website visits by 10% in one month, then you would plan
togenerate a web analytics report and focus on unique visitors for
the month.
What does it mean when you dont meet your objective? It means
that whatever you set inyour plan to generate more website visitors
did not work and that its time to return to thedrawing board. This
is exactly what your evaluation is intended to do. The
evaluationphase gives you a clear picture on what works and what
does not work.
Conclusion
There is a great deal of emphasis on the importance of
relationships and thecommunications that take place to create and
build those relationships. It is equallyimportant to assure that
you are speaking to each group inYOUR public map through the
mediums they prefer and using the language and messages that
will have the greatestimpact on them.
Public Relations encompasses more than media relations. Public
Relations considers allaudiences and uses any number of
communications tools and strategies to create andbuild
relationships. Where other functions of your business contribute to
the bottom line,public relations takes a focus on people and goes
beyond the bottom line.
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Team
Budget
Item Cost Tax Total
Timeline
Tactic Month 1 Month 2 Month 3
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Evaluate
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Bibliography
1 Retrieved from http://www.cprs.ca/uploads/PR_Definition.pdfon
July 29, 2009. The Canadian Public
Relations Society Inc., 2010
2 Frey, L.R. et al. (2000) Investigating Communication: An
Introduction to Research Methods NeedhamHeights, MA, Allyn and
Bacon
3 Broom, G. & Dozier, D. (1989) Using Research in Public
Relations, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall
4 Wilcox, D. L. et al. (2003) Public Relations Strategies and
Tactics 7th edition, Boston, MA, Allyn and
Bacon
http://www.cprs.ca/uploads/PR_Definition.pdfhttp://www.cprs.ca/uploads/PR_Definition.pdf
