PUBLIC RELATIONS AND RESEARCH:Planning Phase Of Research

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Fundamentals of Public Relations MCM 401

Lesson 32

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND RESEARCH

Overview

Public relations strategy can be more effective and successful if it is backed up by research for collecting and

remaining abreast with happenings and events pertaining to either the relevant subject or generalized facts

required and usable in appropriate situations. This is what we will cover in this lecture besides identifying

methods to conduct research and various desired objectives, advantages and procedures to evaluate the

benefits and results of such research.

PR & Research

What is research is an important question required to be answered. Two eminent management and public

relations experts defined and explained research as under:

"Research is the one important source of

Ideas for public relations practice."

--- Edward J. Robinson

Management Training & development Authority.

"We can't manage what we don't measure."

David R. Drobis

Chairman, CEO, Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide.

"No Public Relations strategy can succeed without background and knowledge of a Situation."

--- M. Tariq Bucha

President Pakistan Public Relations Society.

2 Methods.

Following are two main universally accepted methods of conducting research.

Primary

Collecting raw data that has not been compiled before.

Secondary

Reading or consulting available material that someone else has compiled before.

What Questions Need Answers.

While conducting research there are certain important questions which need to addressed and answered.

Who are our publics?

What is our action / message?

What channels of communication reach our publics?

What should we do to keep in touch?

How will this activity be understood by our publics?

What will our publics say or do as a result of our efforts?

What is their feeling about us?

What Does Research Do?

One important question is regarding the objects achieved by research. Following are few important support

factors resulting from research.

It supports audience.

It supports media & trend analysis.

It does message testing

It does issue monitoring, forecasting & evaluating.

Fundamentals of Public Relations MCM 401

It often provides essential data for effectively presenting information.

Research Sources.

Following are two important and significant sources of research.

Scholarly

Academic institutions and faculty do scholarly research, sometimes with funding from the government,

foundations or from professional associations.

Commercial

This is done by research firms, advertising and Public relations firms / agencies & other marketing related

companies.

How To Use Research?

It is imperative and pertinent to determine what the possible ways to use research with advantage are.

Basically 6 ways.

To formulate strategy.

To gauge success.

To test messages.

To size up competition.

To get publicity.

To sway opinion.

Planning Phase Of Research

In order to get positive results from research it is essential to plan it properly as below:

Issue forecasting.

Learning about publics.

Prioritize publics by Issues.

Interpreting behavior of publics.

Planning media use.

Considering Possible Outcomes.

Using Research For Final Evaluation.

For final evaluation research can provide major help and support.

·Complete the goal results,& interpret their significance to the specific objectives set ,to the organization's

overall objectives & mission.

·Evaluate the impact of actions taken on your publics to see what their attitudes are now.

·Determine how the organization's overall objective and mission have been affected.

Measure The Program's Impact In 3 Areas:

·Financial Responsibility -- going beyond market share to public's perception of how an organization

gets & spends its money.

·Ethics --- the perception by publics of an organization's standards of behavior, a moral judgment of the

consequences of what it says and does.

·Social Responsibility - public's perception of whether an organization is a good citizen, e.g. whether it

contributes to social, political & economic health of global society.

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