Audience Message

Retailers "The Made in U.S.A. label is a valuable selling tool."

Manufacturers "Producing at home is good business."

Consumers "Made in U.S.A. means quality."

Formulating different messages for different publics is worth the extra expense. A sophisticated management team knows it is important to tune in to the needs of each public and make certain that those needs are met.

We have learned to identify key publics and make sure that their information needs are served before we concern ourselves with the so-called general public. It follows, then, that the campaign or program aimed at the most important public is fully funded.

One of the tried-and-true public relations devices for creating aware­ness is the essay contest. When the competition for prize money, trips, or scholarships is offered to teachers as a way of getting students in­terested in writing, the campaign gains credibility by becoming a school-sanctioned activity.

At one point in the mid-1980s, both sides in the controversy over cigarette smoking were holding national essay contests. Philip Morris asked students to write essays discussing the effects of advertising bans on "free expression in a free market economy." The company of­fered a $15,000 grand prize, plus smaller awards for the best entry in each state. A coalition called Doctors Ought to Care (DOC) countered with a $1,000 essay contest that asked law students to write on the subject of "Are tobacco company executives criminally liable for the deaths, diseases and fires that their products cause?"

If key publics have not been identified in the planning stage, there is a likelihood that "a little money will be spent on this, and a little on that"—an advertisement here, T-shirts there, and probably an all-purpose brochure just because somebody says "we ought to have a brochure." Budgeting must follow the setting of goals and objectives, and it also must follow the identification of key publics. It precedes me­dia selection and message design.

If budgeting is done at the wrong point in the process, it is difficult for public relations people to explain their financial needs to management. If, on the other hand, the "homework" has been done, management can bet­ter understand the request for the dollars needed to accomplish the objec­tives set for the key publics.

An example is the dean of a college who willingly appropriated $5,000 for a dinner to be held for 100 selected alumni. The school's de­velopment staff could demonstrate that the $50 per head tab would be well spent. Research and personal contacts had identified each alum­nus as a person likely to support the school with a continuing annual contribution of $100 or more.

During the planning of a campaign or program, part of the analysis of each key public should include such questions as:

• Where do members of our key publics get their information?

• Which media do they rely upon to make decisions about what is important and how to behave?

• Which channels provide the two-way communication that en­ables key publics to provide information to our organization about their needs and concerns?

Another level of analysis focuses on the characteristics of each medium and their relationship to the campaign or program:

• Which media allow us to get our point of view across most effectively?

• Which media are best suited to the information requirements of our campaign, such as the presenting of visual images, the need for two-way communication, or the ability to tell a story in depth?

• Which media are most cost-effective for this type of information?

Some of the data about media effectiveness can be obtained by checking the various guides, such as Bacon's Publicity Checker, for each type of medium. They list circulation for print media, audience break­downs for broadcast media, and geographic regions where penetration is greatest. Most every state has media guides produced specifically for the local or regional areas. Specialized references such as the annual Media Guide published by Polyconomics, Inc., analyze the audience for each publication in terms of liberal or conservative bias and involve­ment in various social issues.

Focus group interviews are another important tool for discovering here members of key publics get their information and which people are most influential in shaping the opinions of constituent groups Analysis of letters written to an organization sometimes provides an indication of where involved and information-seeking audience members are getting their data, and which members of the community are influencing them through which channels of communication

If the objective is to inform the greatest number of people so that they (I) I know about a program your organization is conducting, and (2) have a positive view of that program, then the news media—television , radio and newspapers—may be the best channel. But if you must convince the leaders of influential but small professional organizations to support an issue, then articles in specialized business or public affairs magazines may better explain the complex issue and convince the leaders to "deliver" the support of the members of their organizations.

Careful analysis often shows that mass media are not sufficient. Direct, face-to-face communication with key individuals may be the necessary channel.

The majority of public relations programs involve the application of tried-and-true devices: plant tours, informational brochures, press brief­ings, speeches, news releases, and audio-visual presentations. Mastering the preparation of standard message formats is, in the long run, more im­portant than coming up with clever gimmicks for capturing the atten­tion of publics and the media.

All that aside, creativity has its place in public relations, and we would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge that many a campaign takes off because somebody comes up with a clever concept on which to pin a solid program. An appropriate example is a Silver Anvil award-winning campaign by a small agency working on behalf of a small firm with a specialized service: laundering baby diapers. In this campaign, "crea­tivity" was not a panacea in itself. It was the frosting on the cake for a public relations idea whose time had come.

Some other examples of creative boosts for public relations cam­paigns:

Ralston Purina used a doggie beauty pageant hosted by Bert Parks to introduce its new Dog Chow for small dogs;

Procter and Gam­ble held a Sing-Off in shower stalls to promote Coast soap, with the fi­nals at Radio City Music Hall hosted by, again, Bert Parks;

to increase sales, the Rockport Shoe Company founded the Rockport Walking In­stitute to study walking and the Rockport Fitness Walking Test to pro­mote the Institute's findings that walking is America's most popular form of cardiovascular exercise;

because transatlantic bookings were down, British Airways arranged a lottery for Americans who booked passage to London, with the winners joining Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at home for tea.