STRATEGY &

PLANNING

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Strategy & Planning in Public Relations

Dr Danny Moss

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“To be strategic , public relations must pass one basic test: at a minimum everything that is done must be aligned with the corporate vision or mission-the company’s reason for being-and must substantially contribute to achieving the organisation’s objectives. Ideally public relations should be part of the team helping to create the corporate mission and set objectives”

P.J.Webster ,1990 3

Business / Organisational strategy

Business planning

Comms/P RStrategy &

Plans

MarketingStrategy &

plans

HRM Strategy &

Plans

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How does Business Strategy & Planning Differ?Strategy

Strategy determines the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term:

Strategy achieves advantage for the organisation through configuring its resources within a changing environment to meet the needs of markets & fulfil stakeholder expectations (Johnson & Scholes,1999)

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Organisation’sPurpose-Impetus for Strategic activities

Strategy ProcessFlow of strategic activity

Strategy ContentOutcome of Strategic activity

Strategy Context- Conditions surrounding strategic activity

Adapted from De Witt & Meter (2004)

Three Dimensional Perspective of Strategy

Planning

While Strategy addresses questions about overall direction, scope and focus of organisation’s operations, - the vision, policy direction, broad corporate ‘architecture’

Planning provides (1) the analysis, insights and forecasts needed to facilitate strategy formation and (2) the detailed implementation plans to help realize top managements’ strategic vision

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SOSTAC Model of Planning ( A Pulford & P Smith , 1990)

S -Situation Analysis - where are we now?O -Objectives -where do we want to go?S - Strategy -summarises how we are going to get

there.T -Tactics -the details of strategyA -Action or implementation - putting the plan to

work- who is going to do what and when.C –How can we control, measure and develop the

process

Henry Mintzberg, leading management scholar (1994) argued:Strategic “planning” is not the same of “strategic thinking” -the former is about analysis , the latter synthesis

Planners do not create strategies, but they can supply the data, help managers to think strategically, and programme their vision

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VISION

MISSION

GOALS

STRATEGIES

TACTICS/

ACTION PLANS

Strategy Pyramid: Top Down Approach

Traditional view of the structure of Strategy and tactics

Recognition of the possibility of bottom-up approaches to planning and strategy making

Public Relations Strategy & PlanningPractitioners and academics often fail to distinguish clearly between the terms strategy and planning using the terms interchangeably

Indeed where strategy is discussed in the public relations context it is often conceived largely in terms of formulating a PR plan.

Moreover , to understand the underlying role of public relations strategy it needs to be located within the overall hierarchy of corporate and business strategy –making and planning.

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Corporate Strategy & PlansDetermining the Org’s positionand future direction- what business Should we be in

Business /Competitive strategyDetermining how best to compete in existing/ chosen markets –how to sustain a competitive position

Corporate Objectives and plans

Business Objectives and plans

Communications strategy and plansDetermining what needs to be communicated to whom in order to support corporate and competitive strategies and goals

Communication objectives Target stakeholders and publics, Key messages and tactical programmes

Corporate, Business and Communications strategy & Plans

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What is P R strategy?

Grunig and Repper (1992) defines the strategic role of public relations as:“to manage conflict and build relationships with those strategic constituencies that can limit the autonomy of the organisation”

From this perspective , the P R strategy focuses on defining the key stakeholder relationships and determining how best to either develop and enhance, assuage or combat their affects

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Consequences

Stakeholders

Publics

P2 P3

P4

P1

IssuesBehaviour of Publics Creates

Crisis Management

Relationshipoutcome

Consequences

Strategic Management Model for Public Relations

Failure to to anticipate and resolve conflict leads to

Organisational decisions atcorporate, business functionallevels

Symmetrical Communication ++Relationship maintenance+ Conflict management

Organisationalreputation

Achievementof BusinessGoals

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According to Gregory (2000), Strategy represents the overall approach taken – the coordinating theme or factor, the guiding principles or ‘big idea’ behind the tactical campaign

Moss and Warnaby (1997) acknowledge that public relations strategy will take on differing emphases at different levels of strategy:

At the corporate level , public relations strategy may be about (i) building key relationships (ii) positioning the organisation or (iii) shaping perceptions with respect to key issues

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At the business/ competitive level, public relations strategy is about supporting brand positions, underpinning and elaborating marketing messages and building customer relationships

At the functional level the strategy is about determining and directing the specific set of communications activities towards the realization of specific functional goals and objectives

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Public Relations Planning

While strategy can be and often is expressed in the form of a plan, planning is more generally treated as the means through which the strategic vision and goals are made real and implemented

And generally plans set out the operational/ tactical measures/ actions to be carried out to realize specific objectives

The key elements in the planning cycle are shown the the next figure

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Corporate and Business Strategy

Communications StrategyWhat role is Communicationsto play- Desired outcomes & effects

Communications Tactical Programme(s)What messagesWhat audiences/publicsWhat channels / media

Programme(s)ExecutionImplementing theprogrammes

Research & EvaluationMeasuring results Against targets/Objectives

Communications strategy and Planning Cycle

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There are a number of planning models /frameworks that have been applied to public relations .

Although perhaps differing in the terminology used the planning process depicted by most of these models comprises broadly similar elements

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CORPORATE MISSION,OBJECTIVES &STRATEGY

MARKET ANALYSISMARKET POSITION

IDENTIFY COMMUNICATION ISSUES

DEFINE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

DEFINE THE COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

IDENTIFY AND PRIORITISE KEY TARGET AUDIENCES

DEVELOP MEDIA STRATEGY & TACTICS

DEVELOP THE MESSAGE STRATEGY & TACTICS

PREPARE THE BUDGET

IMPLEMENT PLAN AND & EVALUATION

If c

ost

una

ccep

tabl

e re

vise

pla

n

SITUATION ANALYSIS

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Situation AnalysisPESTLESWOTComms. Audit

Define the Role of P RWhat can public relations can do to help resolve the situation

Define Measurable ObjectivesSMART

Rationale & Justification of the proposed Strategy

The who , what , where, when and how to achieve the objectives

Identify the Target publics

(CIPR Guides Di Burton)

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Identify the Core MessagesAn over-aching core message that resonates withKey audiences with sub messages tailored to each target audience

The tactical ProgrammeIdentify the tactical activities to deliver the core messages to each audience

Develop the detailed timetable Specify what is to happen when and who is responsible

Budget Considerations All plans must be within budget Costing must account for people, resources and any other costs

Evaluation Analysis of ‘impact’ not just process- have the objectives been met

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Elements of Planning

Situation AnalysisThe first step in assembling any P R strategy and Plan is analysis of the context/ specific situation faced. This requires an examination of both internal and external factors:

The key stakeholder relationships that the PR programme will need influence

The factors affecting current stakeholder perceptions of the organisation- its reputation

The key elements of the organisation’s reputationThe nature/ effectiveness of past communications activityThe likely scenarios that may result and how they may affect

the realisation of intended goalsOther external/internal variables that may affect the

organisation’s plans- e.g.impending new legislation

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Analysis tools include

For Broad internal and external Context Analysis PESTLE analysis [ political, economic, social, technological, legal

and environmental factors] for broad context analysisSWOT [ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats]

Stakeholder Analysis- who is affected by and can affect the organisation/ situation

For Specific Communication Problem AnalysisCommunication Audit – review of previous/ exiting communication

activity Issues Analysis – analysis of key challenges/ issues affecting the

organisation- stakeholder relationships

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Analysis should avoid simply generating ‘lists ‘ of general context factors – in all cases the unit of analysis should be on how each factor might affect the key organisation- stakeholder relationships

This context analysis should lead to identification of the key issues that the P R strategy should address arise-issues can be defined as the result of the consequences that an organisations’ actions have for particular people/ groups or vice versa.

For the purposes of PR planning, it is important to identify the communication implications of the key corporate/ business issues and hence define the communications issues - e.g Concerns over product safety, Poor quality reputation of a company, Perceived dishonesty of MPs, etc

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Communication / P R Objectives

Objectives should be as precise as possible – SMARTSpecificMeasureableAchievable/AgreedRealistic Timely

These objectives should identify the intended outcomes with respect to the key stakeholder relationships -i.e the values the organisation wishes to communicate & the attitudes, opinions and behaviours it wishes to promote towards the organisation.

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In addition to defining overall objectives for the campaign as a whole, where there are multiple target publics, specific objectives should be identified for each of the key target public/audience strands

Thus while the overall objective might be: To achieve at least 60% awareness and understanding of an organisations new identity and name change amongst Key stakeholder groups by year end

The specific objectives for internal/ employee audiences might be: To communicate the rationale for the new identity and name change and to build support for the new identity amongst employees

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Articulating the Strategy

Devising alternative communications strategies involves identifying what different roles communication might play on behalf of the organisation- expressed in term of how communication might help the organisation achieve its goals/ resolve its problems

Often communications /P R strategy may be expressed in terms of some form of intended positioning for the organisation in relation to its reputation with its key stakeholders as well in relation to the identified issues

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The Comms Strategy will seek to reposition the org as a leader in the move toward ‘Greener’ or environmentally friendly manufacturing, focusing on the organisation’s environmental record through an international PR and paid corporate advertising campaign

The strategy will aim to position the company at the forefront of mobile technology capabilities, through an integrated comms program of advertorial and editorial placement to demonstrate the company’s advanced technological capabilities

The strategy will seek to challenge the necessity of the proposed legislation, highlighting the flaws in the new legislation and suggesting amendments to the new Act through a sustained programme of editorial placement and face to face advocacy

Examples of communication strategy statements:

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The success of any PR programme hinges on identifying the key stakeholder relationships that are crucial to resolving the situation/ problem- here a stakeholder map may be useful starting point in the case of very complex sets of stakeholders.

Here it is important to identify the active publics in the specific context being handled [ those who are directly affected by the organisation or who can frustrate or facilitate the realisation of the organisation’s goals

It may also be important to determine the priorities amongst the publics - those whose support/ opposition is most critical to the success of the programme

Identify The Stakeholders &Target Publics

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A detailed profile of each target public should be drawn up in terms of geo-demographics, attitudes, opinions and behaviour with respect to the organisation and the issues involved in the situation.

Such profiles are essential in identifying the most effectivemedia channels to reach the target publics

For P R planning purposes the media are treated as both a a target public and a channel to communicate with other targets

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Once the objectives and target publics have been identified, the next step is to formulate the main elements of the communication programme itself.

Here, all programmes comprise two main elements:

• The core message strategy to be communicated

• The media strategy/ activities to be used to deliver the messages to the target publics.

Developing the Tactical Program/Plan

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The message strategy should indicate the broad theme(s) of the communication strategy-i.e. what has the campaign to convince people to believe, support, or do. The message strategy should not be confused with a summary of “the copy” to be used in any press release, brochures , etc.

Thus when ICI sought to reposition itself afterits demerger from Zeneca the message strategy focused onpositioning ICI as:

“A Global leader in the industrial chemicals and paint market”

The Message Strategy

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The execution of this message strategy took the form of the use of the strapline:

“ICI World-class”

This strapline appeared on all stationary, brochures, packaging etc

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The Commission for Racial Equality [CRE]’s campaign to challenge individual attitudes towards racism in the UK

The overall aim and focus of message strategy was to challenge personal responsibility towards racism

The core message /strapline used throughout the campaign was

Racism- Condemn it or condone it – there’s no in between

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The media strategy/plan should identify the media channels/PR activities to be used, indicating which publics each will be used to reach, how the activities relate to one another, and the relative importance assigned to each.

Here it is important to distinguish between the specific role and activities that PR will perform and those activities that other functions may need to perform to enable the overall objectives of the campaign to be achieved

Media Channels/ Activity Plan

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COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

DEFINE OVERALL KEY OBJECTIVES & MESSAGE STRATEGY

AUDIENCE 1STRAND

AUDIENCE 2STRAND

AUDIENCE 3STRAND

AUDIENCE 4STRAND

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

MESSAGES

SPECIFIC PR/ COMMS.PROGRAMME

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Plan Press conference

Issue Press releases

Prepare Press packs

Stage Press conference

Plan exhibition

Manage exhibition

Evaluationsurvey

Data analysis

TradePress

Consumerpress

Programme Time Scale

Bookstand

Prepareliterature

Venue

Timing

Writingphotos

Pressreception

J F M M J J A S O N D J

Bookvenue

Man Exhibition

P R Activity Plan Gnatt chart

Collectdata

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Any PR programme must take account of the budget / resourcesavailable and where necessary elements of the plan may need to be trimmed to stick within budget

Here a project based approach should enable the essential elements of any plan to be retained while cost saving can be achieved by trimming ‘non-essential’ elements of the programme

Budgeting

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Monitoring the success of the programme during its implementation and then evaluating the outcome against the objectives is critically important and is often one of the weaknesses in programme management.

Here it is important to adopt measures that focus on the ‘impact’ achieved ( i.e changes in attitudes/ behaviour)rather than simply the success of the process of communication ( i.e measuring media coverage)

Measures such as AVEs are spurious measures of impact often used to placate an essentially uninformed client / superior

Monitoring & Evaluation

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Evaluation of ‘impact’ often requires pre and post- campaign measurement of attitudes , opinions and ultimately behaviours . This itself can be difficult to conduct effectively and expensive .

It is it generally the cost , potential complexity and time considerations that are cited as the reasons for the reliance on media content-type evaluation methods. Such considerations cannot be ignored but should not be used to justify complete reliance on process-based measures for evaluation

Monitoring & Evaluation