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A planned effort to influence public opinion is one of the strongest definitions of Public Relations we know.
Planning is a management necessity in successful corporations, with most businesses routinely assembling five-year plans, including support planning down to its lowest operating levels.
The Public Relations function, internal or via agency, should not be exempt from this critical process. Too frequently, this annual process is viewed as simply an update of the prior year’s campaign, without regard to the current business and economic environments.
At Stern And Company, planning is one of five steps that we follow in developing an overall communications program:
Fact finding about the client, its charter, products, markets, audiences, competition, corporate and marketing objectives, and strategies behind those objectives.
Research in order to determine the foundation for the plan. As we’re seeking to influence public opinion, we must first determine what those opinions are.
Planning, which is based on the fact finding and research.
Communication, the implementation of the plan.
Measurement, to evaluate the results achieved against desired objectives.
An annual public relations plan does not mean that the prior year’s program must be discarded entirely. However, it does mean that the world is dynamic; full of change and to obtain the best opportunity for the desired public relations results, plans must be re-examined and recast based on the changing world.
Drawing on our rather extensive backgrounds as journalists, at Stern And Company we rearrange the old saw “who, what, when, where, why and how,” to best serve our clients in the annual planning process.
Why is the client communicating? The Why means setting acute objectives. By starting with meaningful objectives, and ensuring that everything in the plan relates to those objectives, it is ensured that the plan is on the right track.
Who does the client want to reach? We always effect a careful analysis of our client’s publics. Not doing so yields one of the most devastating errors in Public Relations: Communicating for communications sake.
Where will the client communicate? The various channels of communication that will be used.
How will the client say it? This becomes the overall strategy and is supported by a series of action-oriented communications programs.
When will communications take place? This is the timetable which disciplines the entire plan, as timing can mean success or failure of a program.
The Stern And Company view is that the discernment of a client’s communications objectives is the most critical, and frequently the most challenging element of the annual Public Relations plan.
The objectives of a comprehensive and strategic communications plan must relate to those corporate objectives to the interests and concerns of the client’s audiences. The communications strategies are then used to influence public opinion to achieve those objectives.
Public relations agencies all too frequently treat the setting of objectives rather cavalierly, merely dashing out general statements of goals.
As mentioned earlier, Stern And Company relates its strategic communications objectives to the overall objectives of the client. The communications objectives must be clearly defined, comprising no ambiguities. They must be specific and quantifiable. Finally, objectives must be attainable and measurable.
Shy away from communications objectives that are framed in such broad terms that they are impossible to achieve. Clear measurement must be built into every communications objective, and measurement must be quantified and ascribed to a specific time period.
Peter Drucker said, “The definition of business management is that it is an economic organ…every, act, every decision, every deliberation of management has economic performance as its first dimension. The business manager can justify his existence only by the economic results he produces. Public Relations agencies and client side personnel are no different from other corporate managers: If they’re not measurably contributing to the bottom line, they’re just part of the landscape.
1. Locate the "who, what, where, when, why, how" questions and apply them to the case study.
2. Why does the diner need to use marketing communications?
3. Whom does the diner need to reach?
4. At this point, where is the best communication (what are the best channels)?
5. How will the diner say it?
6. When will the communication happen?
7. Create a SMART marketing objective for the diner.
Case Study
One of your neighbors has just inherited a restaurant in a small town about 75 miles away. They’ve never owned or operated a business before, and know very little about marketing or the restaurant business. They now have a Marketing Plan, but need help with the Marketing Communications Plan.
General Restaurant Information Provided by Your Neighbors:
They want to keep the “family’s” restaurant as a legacy to their family members who left it to them. However, they will need to make money immediately in order to replace the income they lost when they quit their jobs to run the restaurant.
The restaurant has been losing sales/profits over the past few years. Family members have had some health issues (and have since passed away) and have not had the time to manage the restaurant effectively. For the past few months, the Chef and some of the servers have been keeping the restaurant open.
The restaurant has a good reputation in the small community. The town has a population of 6,000 people. It is in a good location (right off an interstate) and does additional sales catering to local businesses in the area. Over-the-road semi-drivers say it is the best cup of coffee in town and town’s people know that you can always find the local sheriff and highway patrol officers eating there. People are allowed to smoke at their tables and some people have stopped eating there because of the smoke in the dining room. Also, you can see serving staff smoking between orders.
The restaurant has a good menu. It has a lunch menu and a dinner menu. They open at 11:00 am and they close at 7:00 pm CST seven days a week except major holidays. They have daily “specials”. For instance, on Monday it is meatloaf, Tuesday; roast beef, Wednesday; turkey breast, Thursday; pot pies, and Friday; fish. The restaurant is famous for its homemade pie menu. The Chef makes 15 varieties of homemade pies daily. Customers can also order pies for holidays. People have asked to order pies online and pick them up at the store…but so far no online sales exist.
The restaurant is in the low to mid-price range. But due to changes in the local community demographic may need to update/expand the menu. Baby boomers are leaving the area and are being replaced by Generation X individuals and their young families. When eating there, you will see a wide range of customers from older truck drivers to young families, and even teenagers on a date.
The chef has been with the restaurant for over 25 years and has done a good job but is thinking about retiring in the next 3 years. He believes in the local food movement and buys produce from local farmers. The serving staff is composed of women (most in their late 60s) who call each customer by the name “honey” and have been with the restaurant for years. It is a well known secret that their grandchildren come by each day for a soda pop and pie (most times they leave without paying).
The restaurant is located next to an interstate exit and is the only “family” style restaurant in a 20 mile radius. However, there are a McDonalds, Subway and Sonic Drive-in restaurants located nearby. McDonalds, Subway, and Sonic offer special deals throughout the week…for instance, McDonalds runs Shamrock Shakes in March, Subway offers $5.00 foot long sandwiches, and Sonic has happy hour soft drinks each day. The family restaurant has relied exclusively on word of mouth advertising, but do support a local little league baseball team each summer which costs them $500.
The name of the restaurant is The Family Diner. While they are not open to changing the name, they are willing to review any changes to the brand and logo that might help the business. Right now, the logo is simply the name of the diner underlined in Veranda font using a light blue color.
The new owners are younger and while they want to maintain the legacy of the family, they are computer-savvy. There has been talk of starting a web site and using social media, but those steps have not been taken.
There are no loyalty programs or special promotions except for the daily specials.
Sales (revenue) for last year were $900,000, which is a 15% share of the market. The other eating and drinking establishments in the area spend approximately $500,000 a year (total for all) in advertising.