A PR professional's ability to identify and scan the public allows for the ability to develop an impactful campaign. Strategic Planning for Public Relations by Ronald D. Smith identifies the term "publics" as "a group of people that shares a common interest vis-à-vis an organization, recognizes its significance, and sets out to do something about it." This analyzing step is crucial for the success of maintaining an effective campaign. It is vital to identify and categorize an organization's public in order to properly analyze the group at hand. This concept is known as linkage and is defined by Ronald D. Smith in Strategic Planning for Public Relations as "patterns of relationships that exist between an organization and its various publics." Once the public and organizations have been evaluated by the PR professional, they can develop proper messaging and communications for the proposed public at hand.
Pick Your People
Strategic groupings make up the public, markets, audiences, and stakeholders which all work differently for their own purpose. To begin, a "publics" purpose is to exist and interact with an organization. They might have an interest in an organization. An example of a public would be "customers, investors, employees, media outlets, and the general public." This group is important within public relations because an organization's reputation and public image can be sacrificed due to the actions of the public. In order to efficiently manage a relationship between the two is to research and identify all the problems, interests, and opinions of each public.
Market segmentation is a precise group of people that have characteristics such as age, income, and lifestyle. A market can help an organization reach desired goals. A market relationship is mutual due to similar values and characteristics. Efforts made to build a relationship with a market can be seen with current and future customers by supporting and conducting bussiness with them.
Know Your Auidence. An audience can be described as people who are making a decision to receive information from a desired channel due to their interests. These relationships can be formed quickly by reading an article about an organization. Once that person finds an interest in it, they become an audience. Companies spend time planning and strategizing ways to connect with an audience and bring them in. This relationship can develop as an audience member might take the extra step to invest in the company or organization.
Last but not least, a stakeholder "is a party that has an interest in a company and can either affect or be affected by the business. The primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are its investors, employees, customers, and suppliers." When developing a campaign, it is vital to consider stakeholders. They play a huge factor within the organization and the organization considers them when making decisions. It is a mutual relationship and can be considered one of the most important strategic groupings.
The Grand Scheme of Things
Public relations is about thinking past, present, and future. Every detail, second, and moment matters within a campaign. PR professionals need to consider these things in order to achieve their long-term goals. When a PR professional understands all the details even the mundane ones, they can develop a campaign that will stand out and wow all your desired strategic groups.
Sources:
Fernando, J. (2022, June 29). What Are Stakeholders: Definition, Types, and Examples. Investopedia; Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp
Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations | Doctor Spin. The Publics in Public Relations. https://doctorspin.net/publics/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20public%20relations%2C%20the%20term
Smith, R. D. (2020). Strategic Planning for Public Relations (6th ed.). Taylor & Francis. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781000201468
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