Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns: A Strategic Approach (PR in Practice)

201 Pages·2010·1.13 MB·English

by  Anne Gregory

Planning and
Managing
Public Relations
Campaigns
PR in Practice Series
Published in association with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
Series Editor: Professor Anne Gregory
Kogan Page has joined forces with the Chartered Institute of Public Rela-
tions to publish this unique series which is designed specifically to meet the needs of
the increasing numbers of people seeking to enter the public relations profession and
the large band of existing PR professionals. Taking a practical, action-oriented approach,
the books in the series concentrate on the day-to-day issues of public relations practice
and management rather than academic history. They provide ideal primers for all those
on CIPR, CAM and CIM courses or those taking NVQs in PR. For PR practitioners, they
provide useful refreshers and ensure that their knowledge and skills are kept up to date.
Professor Anne Gregory PhD is Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies at
Leeds Business School, a Faculty of Leeds Metropolitan University. Before entering aca-
demic life in 1991 she spent 10 years in public relations at a senior level both in-house
and in consultancy, ending her practitioner career as a Board member of a large UK
consultancy. At Leeds Metropolitan University Anne oversaw the growth of the public
relations area into the largest department in Europe and now is the only full-time pro-
fessor of Public Relations in the United Kingdom. As Director of the Centre for Public
Relations Studies she is responsible for major research and consultancy projects. The
Centre’s client list includes the UK Cabinet Office, Department of Health, NHS, Local
Government Communications, Nokia and Tesco Corporate. She is also a non-executive
director of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust. Anne is Consultant Editor of the
PR in Practice series, edited the book of the same name and wrote Planning and Manag-
ing a Public Relations Campaign, also in this series. She was President of the CIPR in 2004.
Other titles in the series:
Creativity in Public Relations by Andy Green
Effective Internal Communication by Lyn Smith with Pamela Mounter
Effective Media Relations by Michael Bland, Alison Theaker and David Wragg
Effective Personal Communications Skills for Public Relations by Andy Green
Effective Writing Skills for Public Relations by John Foster
Ethics in Public Relations by Patricia J Parsons
Evaluating Public Relations by Tom Watson and Paul Noble
Managing Activism by Denise Deegan
Online Public Relations by David Phillips and Philip Young
Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns by Anne Gregory
Public Affairs in Practice by Stuart Thomson and Steve John
Public Relations in Practice edited by Anne Gregory
Public Relations Strategy by Sandra Oliver
Public Relations: A practical guide to the basics by Philip Henslowe
Risk Issues and Crisis Management in Public Relations by Michael Regester and Judy
Larkin
Running a Public Relations Department by Mike Beard
The above titles are available from all good bookshops and from the CIPR website
www.cipr.co.uk/books. To obtain further information, please contact the publishers at
the address below:
Kogan Page Ltd
120 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JN
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
www.koganpage.com
p r i n p r a c t i c e s e r i e s

Planning and
Managing
public relations
campaigns
a strategic approach
Third Edition
Anne Gregory
To those I love and those who love me.
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in
this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author
cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No
responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining
from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the
editor, the publisher or the author.
First published as Planning and Managing a Public Relations Campaign in Great Britain
and the United States in 1996 by Kogan Page Limited
Second edition published as Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns by
Kogan Page, 2000
Third edition 2010
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the
case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued
by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent
to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241 4737/23 Ansari Road
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147 Daryaganj
United Kingdom USA New Delhi 110002
www.koganpage.com India
© Anne Gregory, 1996, 2000, 2010
The right of Anne Gregory to be identified as the author of this work has been as-
serted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 978 0 7494 5108 0
E-ISBN 978 0 7494 5928 4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gregory, Anne, 1953–
Planning and managing public relations campaigns : a strategic
approach / Anne gregory. -- 3rd ed.
p. c.m.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7494-5108-0 -- ISBN 978-0-7494-5928-4 1. Public
relations--Management. 2. Public relations--Great Britain. I. Title.
HD59.G686 2010
659.2--dc22
2010002521
Typeset by Jean Cussons Typesetting, Diss, Norfolk
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
About the author xi
1. Planning and managing: the context 1
What is the point of planning? 2
The role of public relations in organizations 5
The role of the public relations professional within organizations 6
The position of public relations within organizations 11
Organizing for action 16
Who does what in public relations? 18
2. Public relations in context 22
Context is vitally important 22
Stakeholders and publics 23
Sectoral considerations 26
Organizational development – business stage 27
Organizational characteristics 30
Issues 31
Public opinion 32
Timescales 33
Resources 34
v
Contents
3. Starting the planning process 35
Responsibilities of practitioners 35
Public relations policy 36
Why planning is important 38
Basic questions in planning 39
The 12 stages of planning 41
Linking programme planning to the bigger picture 44
4. Research and analysis 47
Embedding research in the planning process 47
The first planning step 50
Analysing the environment 51
Analysing the organization 57
Analysing the stakeholder 59
Who should undertake the research? 61
Research techniques 62
Investment in research pays – two cases in point 69
5. Communication theory and setting aims and objectives 76
Knowing where you’re going 76
Attitude is all important 77
The communication chain 78
How ‘receivers’ use information 86
Setting realistic aims and objectives 89
Golden rules of objective setting 92
Constraints on aims and objectives 94
Different levels of aims and objectives 95
6. Knowing the publics and messages 97
Who shall we talk to and what shall we say? 97
What is public opinion? 99
Types of publics 100
Using other segmentation techniques 104
So what about the media? 106
The implications for targeting publics 107
How to prioritize publics 107
What shall we say? 109
Constructing the content 110
Crafting messages 114
How the message should be presented 115
vi
Contents
7. Strategy and tactics 117
Getting the strategy right 117
What is strategy? 118
From strategy to tactics 118
What tactics should be employed? 120
Different campaigns need different tactics 125
Sustaining long-term programmes 131
Contingency and risk planning 134
8. Timescales and resources 138
Timescales 138
Task planning techniques 139
Critical path analysis 141
Longer-term plans 143
Resources 149
9. Knowing what has been achieved: evaluation and review 156
Measuring success 156
The benefits of evaluation 157
Why practitioners don’t evaluate 158
Principles of evaluation 160
Evaluation terminology 161
Levels of evaluation 163
A programme evaluation model and some other measures 164
Media analysis 172
Reviewing the situation 174
And finally 178
Index 179
Free online support material can be downloaded from the
Kogan Page website. Please go to:
www.koganpage.com/PlanningAndManagingPublicRelations
Campaigns
vii

Acknowledgements
In drawing up a list of those organizations and individuals who must be
thanked for helping with the writing of this book, it is very difficult to know
where to start.
First of all there are all the organizations I have worked for and with
whom over the years I have built up my knowledge and experience of pub-
lic relations to an extent where this book was possible.
Then there are those who have generously supplied me with materi-
als, including the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (I have borrowed
shamelessly from their Excellence Awards), Pilkington PLC, Lansons Com-
munications, Echo Research, Edelman, Trimedia, The Cabinet Office, Stock-
port and Norfolk County Council and The Worshipful Company of World
Traders.
I would like to thank the public relations students at Leeds Metropolitan
University and those working professionals for whom I prepare materials
on planning and managing public relations, and who constantly stimulate
my thinking.
I am very grateful to Ben Cotton who helped me with the case studies
and Rosie Boston, my fantastic PA, who did the final word-processing for
me and supported me throughout the process.
To the CIPR/Kogan Page Editorial Board, many thanks for your encour-
agement and support.
ix