Building Public Opinion

Public opinion doesn't really exist until something affects a number of people who have similar or identical attitudes. The people must be aware of the issue or they will not have any opinion about it. Usually the awareness results from some event. When something happens or is likely to happen, the people become concerned — if they know about it. People have to express their opinions to others with similar attitudes. Someone must call for action, and the action must be possible. People are much more certain about what they want than they are about how to get it. Public opinion isn't evident unless it can expect to get results.

To communicate is to make known — to project ideas into the minds of others. This process depends on four elements: a sender, a message, a medium, and a receiver. If all these elements are operating, there will be communication. If any one fails, there will be no communication. Since your purpose is to persuade, you want to communi­cate your ideas to a particular group of people — those who can help or hinder your organization in attaining its objectives. In describing the process of communication, it is normal to list the elements as sender, message, medium, and receiver, but it may be better to think of the process in reverse order: whom to reach, how to reach them, what to say, and on whose behalf.

Imagine you have got an idea you want to share with someone. So depending on the situation you code it either into sounds or graphics, sounds meaning words and sentences and finally a language of course, and graphics meaning letters, words coming again to written language or it might be pictures. You can use both. Like your teacher uses words and schemes to make it more understandable for you. So what you finally formed is your message, it is not your idea, it is only a reflection of your idea. Your message can be different depending on your skills to transfer it. Then you choose your channel (either just speech or letter, or email, or whatever you choose) and send your message. The receiver gets something which he first has to decode. To decode someone’s words you’ve got to know the language, the sign system you understand (can be language, gestures, etc.). You decode it if you can, and you get something in your head that is different from both the idea and its reflection in the message, though it is of course close to both. To give you an example of how different your image could be from mine: imagine a road. Now I’m sure someone imagined a highway, someone – a village path, someone imagined it straight, someone – curvy, someone imagined a forest around, someone – houses and someone – a meadow. So what the receiver gets is quite different from what the sender sent. It’s now clear that much depends on the way you code your message and much on the perception of the receiver. One must always remember this trying to transfer some idea, because finally it can be totally different from the intended message.

Now, let’s consider this model closer to PR.

Message

Planning the message starts with a determination of just what ideas you want your receivers to have: what you want them to think, to believe, to do. Then you must acquire a solid knowledge of what your audience knows and believes. If you want to affect attitudes and opinions, you must find out about those that already exist. This calls for research — possibly surveys.

Your message must be applicable, believable, realistic, and convincing. It must be expressed clearly and understandably in familiar words and phrases. Above all, you must convince the receivers that the idea you are presenting can be beneficial to them.

Media

The media are the physical channels that carry the message to the receiver. They may include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, letters, speeches, audiovisuals, pictures, newsletters, leaflets, brochures, and the telephone. Every medium has advan­tages and disadvantages.

Your job is to determine which medium or combination of media will be most effective in reaching the target audience. Your budget may prohibit some because of cost. Others may be desirable but impossible (for example, a personal talk by the chief executive to a specific group that refuses to be the audience).

Your message must reach the audience with enough power and frequency to make an impact. It often takes considerable repetition to plant an idea, and the greater the impact of any single communication, the more likely it is to be absorbed and remem­bered.

Sender

The sender is the organization from which the message comes. Every organization has different publics, divergent interests, dissimilar objectives, unique problems, distinc­tive beliefs, and its own peculiarities. You must know and understand the organization so that the messages you prepare will be not only effective but also truly representative of the organization. In addition, you must be very sure that what you send out is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.