How Important Is It?

 

Module Introduction

            How important is the message you want to send, or the problem you are working on? Is there a crisis that has to be dealt with? How much effort, time, and money are you willing to invest in it? In order to do this, you have to be able to determine what the actual cost is. In terms of communication projects, first you have to determine how many people will be involved in the process. Then you have to determine how many hours have been—or will have to be—spent on creating, preparing, and distributing the actual message, and then multiply them by the appropriate hourly rates.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


1. How Important Is It?

            How important is the message you want to send, or the problem you are working on? How much effort, time, and money are you willing to invest in it? In order to do this, you have to be able to determine what the actual cost is.

            First, how many people will be involved in the process?

            Then you have to determine how many hours have been—or will have to be—spent on creating, preparing, and distributing the actual message, and then multiply them by the appropriate hourly rates.

            In terms of communication, there are development and writing costs, production costs, plus money spent on design, art work, photography, film, video, duplication, printing, mailing or shipping. Will transportation be an issue?

            Will the work be done in-house or by outside consultants?

            How will the message be disseminated? As a simple news release? If it is, will it go out by e-mail, fax, regular mail, courier, or a combination of all four?

            What sort of ancillary material will be involved? Brochures, booklets, photos, CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, videocassettes, or some sort of special gift such as T-shirts, caps, key chains, pens, and so on?

            Will there be any sort of formal public announcement, news conference, speech, statement, speech, or reception? Where will it be? Will an off-site location have to be rented? Will there be entertainment, food, or beverages?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


2. Deciding Importance

            Every organization has to decide what is important and vital to its own operation, growth, development, and continued existence. It usually does so and spells it out in its mission statement.

            While everyone within the organization has to agree on the importance of the mission statement, there is often a great deal of internal debate about which elements of the statement are more important than others.

            The more removed you get from the statement itself, the more open plans, projects, and proposals become to debate and negotiation. As we all know, importance is quite often as much a function of how well it was pushed—and of who did the pushing—than on any inherent value of its own that it might have.

            As new plans or projects are developed, they have to be rated, categorized, or prioritized. When people are given two different projects to work on, they have to know which is more important, which to devote the most time to, and which has to be done first.

            This becomes especially important when dealing with projects (and releasing information is a project) that will go to outside stakeholders. Since they cannot always be expected to know how important something is, they will determine importance by the way it is presented and treated. If the people releasing the information cannot agree on its importance, the people outside the organization will be confused.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


3. Is It Important Enough for E-mail?

            Since spam e-mail is a major problem for everyone with an e-mail account, sending e-mail news releases to reporters and editors who are probably already deluged by electronic mail can sometimes backfire.

            Instead of getting their interest and attention, it might irritate them.

            Reporters, however, are in the news project/programme purpose. News happens fast and they have to react just as fast. Sometimes a well-timed e-mail can get messages to reporters just when they need to talk to someone about the subject.

            According to the Middleberg/Ross Print Media in Cyberspace Study, found at

http://www.middleberg.com/toolsforsuccess/cyberstudy.cfm, roughly one half of all reporters surveyed said they use the Internet for story ideas and are willing to look at story ideas—pitches—from public relations agencies. This was up from 30 percent in previous years.

            The survey also showed that nearly 98 percent of journalists go online daily, often searching for story-related sites or information. In fact, journalists spend approximately 15 hours a week online just reading and answering e-mail.

            The growing acceptance of getting in touch with reporters electronically is indicated by the simple fact that more and more newspapers now run a reporter’s e-mail address either at the end of the story, or directly under the reporter’s byline.

            The survey also showed the more and more reporters are beginning to prefer e-mail releases to traditional “paper” releases.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


4. An E-mail Check List

            Brian Ruberry, president of All Health Public Relations, North Potomac, Maryland, http://allhealthpr.com/, has e-mail addresses for more than 1,000 reporters who cover health issues.

            He routinely sends out e-mail news releases, but he developed the following checklist to make sure that they are appropriate. Reporters have been known to automatically delete all mail from certain senders. Some reporters have even added senders—including PR departments—to their kill file, “junk e-mail list” so that they don’t even have to look at them.

            Here are Ruberry’s suggestions:

  1. Send releases only to those reporters who cover the topic;
  2. Place addressees in the “BCC” (Blind Carbon Copy) field;
  3. Place your address in the “To” field;
  4. Make the “Subject” field eye catching and applicable to reporters’ beats;
  5. Capture the essence of the story without using more than one screen;
  6. Attach news releases for reporters if requested;
  7. If manageable, personalize each message;
  8. Proofread the message;
  9. Preview the message by sending it to yourself first,
  10. Include your name, title, organization and telephone number.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 


5. Is It Important Enough to Become Proactive?

            One way to decide if an issue, initiative, policy, or concern is “really important” is to determine if the organization really needs to be proactive or not in order to get your message out to the public.

            Are you going to wait for people to come and talk to you? Are you going to react to what others are saying? Are you going to let others “own” the issue? Or are you going to go out and initiate action?

            Being proactive can be dangerous. In an article for the Public Relations Society of America (Public Relations Tactics Magazine, http://www.prsa.org/_Publications/magazines/0302hands1.asp).  Richard K. Long, of Brigham Young University, explained: “Traditionally conservative or shy organizational cultures may find that taking an aggressive and risky position doesn’t ‘feel right.’ Ultimately, some organizations will opt for comfort instead of the possible gains from a bold move. Getting the culture to move even a few millimeters in a new direction is often a harrowing adproject/program.”

            Long then went on to offer the following advice:

6. Is It Important Enough to Become Proactive? (Continued)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


7. Is It Important Enough to Become Proactive? (Continued)

            Long admits that being proactive is risky. An initiative could backfire, or it could further complicate or even irritate an already troublesome or complex situation. When looking at the risks, measure them against the potential advantage.

            There should be at least four solid reasons for being proactive, for taking charge of an issue:

  1. Key stakeholders (especially employees) are encouraged by signs of offense instead of backpedaling.
  2. An organization that is forthright and substantive will gain respect from allies as well as fence-sitters—and maybe even from adversaries.
  3. Proactive actions may provide an important change of pace for the organization. Just as major league baseball pitchers succeed by ‘changing speeds’ on their pitches, so can practitioners and their action sponsors/beneficiaries by changing their routine.
  4. Taking the lead will gain an organization a reputation for leadership within an sector of activity or geographic area.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

 


8. When It Becomes Suddenly Important

            A organization’s priorities can change in a heartbeat, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently.

            Few things change priorities as fast as a crisis, especially an unexpected crisis. That is why it is prudent to have a well-thought-out strategy in place to handle crises.

            In the same way that organizations have building evacuation plans to get everyone outside and to safety in case of a fire, and computer backup systems in cases of computer crashes, they should also have crisis communication plans in case that fire shuts down operations, and an off-site computer back-up location.

            In the same way that you always should have a first-aid kit, flashlight, and a spare tire in your car, there are some organizational emergencies that you should always be prepared to handle; anything that can interfere with production, for example.

            At other times we do take some special steps when the possibility of a crisis looms. You might keep an umbrella and raincoat in the trunk of your car, but when the weather forecast predicts a hard driving rain later in the day, you probably take them out of the trunk and put them on the seat next to you.

            In the same way, if you are going to be negotiating with a union, you might want to know what you will do—and say—should negotiations break off. If you are waiting to hear a court or government decision on a matter affecting the organization, you might consider having approved drafts of several different statements so you can comment as soon as the media starts asking you for your reaction.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

9. When It Becomes Suddenly Important (Continued)

            In times of crisis, the media, investors, partners, vendors, beneficiaries, the public, and often the government, will want immediate answers to their questions, and will want to see that you are able to manage the situation.

            You will want to be able to show that you and the organization can function even during times of crisis.

            As we will see in the next module, crisis communication is a specialized form of interaction with outside stakeholders. Many of the standard rules that organizations play by are tossed aside, at least until the crisis is over. One of the first requirements of any crisis communication plan is to know exactly what the priorities are, and what will have to be done in order to achieve them.

            There are different types of crises, but all of them have some things in common. A organizational crisis is anything that threatens your organization’s integrity, stability, reputation, or its ability to operate. Sometimes your organization is the innocent victim of a crisis: a flood, earthquake, theft, accident, fire, terrorist attack, market crash, or anything else that might happen. Sometimes, however, your organization causes the crisis: toxic spill, gas leak, embezzlement, fraudulent accounting practices, defective products, or such. In some cases, it is a bit of both when something the organization does contributes to a crisis.

            One other element common to all crises is that the media, the public and, at times, the government want both answers and action. Now!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


10. Who Decides If It’s Important?

            If you see that a building is on fire you don’t ask permission to call the fire department. Nor do you go looking for someone else with more authority to make the call. You just do it.

            But what do you do if you see a fire safety violation? What if you see something that poses no immediate threat, but could turn into a problem down the line?

            What do you do then?

            What do you do if you see a project/programme purpose problem that could damage the organization, or someone acting irresponsibly or even illegally?

            What do you do then?

            Do you take action if it is in your department, if it is something you are authorized to handle? What if it isn’t in your department? What if, technically speaking, it is none of your project/programme purpose? Do you take action and risk being rebuked or reprimanded? Do you look for someone who does have the authority to take action? Or do you just ignore it? Do you pretend not to have seen it?

            Every organization has a chain of command and a organizational culture that dictates how it actually works. What is your chain of command? What is your organizational culture? Is it a organization and a culture that supports people who actually stop small problems before they turn into big ones? Or is it one where people refuse to take any sort of responsibility, or action, especially on important issues involving important people, and are therefore willing to watch the organization get into serious trouble rather than take a personal risk?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Assignments

 

Matching the Columns

 

1. How a organization actually works

 

A. About half of news reporters use this for story ideas

2. Cost of a communication project

 

B. A good reason to have a well thought out communication strategy

3. Internet

 

C. Dictated by a organization’s chain of command and culture

4. Being proactive

 

D. What is vital to the organization’s growth, development, and continued existence

5. Mission statement

 

E.  How to tell if an issue or concern is important enough

6. A crisis

 

F.  Number of people, the number and complexity of the tasks, and hourly rates

 

 

Answers:

1.)    C

2.)    F

3.)    A

4.)    E

5.)    D

6.)    B

 

 


Multiple-Choice

 

1.         The written statement spelling out what’s vital to a organization’s growth, development, and continued existence is called the _______ .

a.      Mission statement

b.      Income statement

c.       Crisis message

d.      The goal statement

 

2.          In times of crisis,________ will want immediate answers.

a.       Investors

b.      beneficiaries

c.       Vendors

d.      All of the Above

 

3.          The time a communication project takes include which of the following?

a.       Distribution of the message

b.      Creation of the message

c.       Preparation of the message

d.      All of the Above

 

4.          One way to get ahold of reporters that is growing in acceptability is _______ .

a.       Call them at home 

b.      Fax them

c.       Email them

d.      Both A and C

 

 

 


True / False

 

1. _____           Being proactive can be dangerous for some organizations.

2. _____           Ancillary material may involve gifts.

3. _____           Eventually, everyone agrees on the elements of the organization’s mission statement.

4. _____           If you email a reporter a story, use no more than one screen.

5. _____           When you issue press releases, send reporters emails – many reporters prefer them.

6. _____           If you’re proactive on an issue, you may gain a reputation for being a troublemaker in your sector of activity.

 

 

 

Answers:

1.                   T

2.                   T

3.                   F – There can be much debate on individual elements.

4.                   T

5.                   T

6.                   F – It’s more likely you’ll be seen as a leader.

 


Summary

 

            As we have seen, you have to know how important the message you want to send or the problem you are working on really is. Is there a crisis that has to be dealt with? How much effort, time, and money are you willing to invest in it? In order to do this, you have to be able to determine what the actual cost is. In terms of communication projects, first you have to determine how many people will be involved in the process. Then you have to determine how many hours have been—or will have to be—spent on creating, preparing, and distributing the actual message, and then multiply them by the appropriate hourly rates.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 


 

Test

 

1. _____           Conservative cultures will are surprisingly flexible and will take risky positions regularly.

2. _____           Organizations gain support when they take their time and are sure of their facts.

3. _____           The organization’s chain of command and culture dictate its actions.

4. _____           Communication projects have to be done, no matter what the cost.

5. _____           A strategic project/program concentrates on the core project/programme purpose or interests of the organization.

6. _____           Sometimes transportation costs are an issue for a communication project.

7. _____           The mission statement helps people prioritize releasing information to outside agencies.

8. _____           Emailing reporters is a bad idea.

9. _____           Public relations is all about symbolism.

10. _____         Ancillary materials to a communication project could include CDs or videos.

 

Answers:

1.          F – They tend to opt for comfort and move slowly.

2.          F – They tend to take action only after pressure has built up to do so.

3.          T

4.          F – Calculating the cost is a necessary first step to deciding which projects are done.

5.          T -

6.          T

7.          T

8.          F – More and more reporters are using email and the internet as a source of information.

9.          F – Although symbolism is an often overlooked aspect of PR.

10.     T

 

 


Bibliography

 

Lukaszewski, James (2000).  Crisis Communication Planning Strategies, Lukaszewski Group.

 

Yale, David & Knudsen, Anne (1995).  Publicity and Media Relations Checklists, McGraw-Hill NTC.

 

Loeffler, Robert (1992).  A Guide to Preparing Cost-Effective Press Releases, Haworth Press.

 


Glossary

 

Mission statement – A statement that details what is most important to the organization’s operations, growth, development, and continued existence.

 

Spam – Unwanted email

 

Stakeholders – Individuals, groups, and / or other organizations that have an interest in the organization

 

organizational crisis – Something that could negatively affect an organization’s integrity, stability, reputation, or ability to operate.
Learning Objectives

 

·         The organization’s culture and chain of command dictate how it operates.

·         The importance of a communication project will determine how much time and effort is spent on creating, preparing, and distributing it and its ancillary materials.

 

 


Q&A

 

1. How proactive should a organization be when it has an important message to publicize?

If an issue is so important that the organization feels it ought to be addressed by the organization before the media get involved, then the organization should become proactive, especially if dealing with an issue that affects the core project/programme purpose or major organization interest.  If the organization is fairly conservative, being proactive may not be possible unless the issue may damage the organization’s reputation or profitability.  If the organization does address the issue, though, any solution offered must go straight to the heart of the matter, otherwise the organization could be perceived as dragging its feet, and its actions are just tokens of appeasement.

 

2.   How can I know if an issue is important to my organization?

Any issue that impacts the organization’s core project/programme purpose is bound to be important.  This is where knowing the organization’s mission statement is helpful.  The mission statement spells out what is vital to its own operations, growth, and continued existence.  When communication plans are being prioritized, they have to be categorized and rated.  This is especially important when any information is going to outside groups.  These groups will assume something is as important as the way it’s being treated and presented.  In case of a crisis, if the message is muddled or the presenter seems confused, the message will be that the organization doesn’t really know what it’s doing or doesn’t really care.

 

3. What do I have to consider when sending an important message?

 

The more important the message, the more time it will take to craft and the more people will have to be involved.  This means that the cost of the message will be more as well.  Depending on the number and types of personnel involved, different hourly rates will need to be applied.  Will there be artwork or photography involved?  Are there enough in-house experts or will outsiders need to be involved?   Will other kinds of materials be developed, such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, videos, press kits, T-shirts, pens, or other giveaways?  How will it be delivered – email, press release, conference, public announcement?  All these must be considered when thinking about the creation, preparation, and dissemination of an important message.

 

 

End of Module