Communication Planning

For smooth-running communication planning, PRUSA will assist you in setting goals, in addition to specific plans for reaching those goals.  

PRUSA will also assist you in setting priorities and communications objectives. The objectives include ways of providing timely information to all internal and external audiences. Next, PRUSA will help you to convey major messages to audiences by helping you to:

• tailor key messages for each audience such as the media and the public

• spread these messages through the right media and channels to reach the audiences  

• determine when issues should be discussed in person, and when events can be advertised via e-mail

Finally, PRUSA will help you to evaluate the communications plan to test if it works.

Media Relations

The goal for both you and the media is to tell a story to an audience.  In order to help you “speak the language” of the media, PRUSA will help you present your story with different angles. (For example, business magazines tend to print business perspectives of the news.)

PRUSA will also help you respond quickly to media deadlines, and to be proactive when providing information to the media by helping them to develop their story.  For the media, even getting the story within a few seconds of their competitors is of great value to them.  

Press Conferences

How can you determine when to hold press conferences or when to give press statements?  PRUSA can help you decide.  Press conferences take much more time, money, and effort, but are sometimes necessary, so wise decisions must be made and they must be planned well.

Press statements are given when points can be easily made. Press conferences are particularly relevant in a crisis situation when you should be honest and consistent in your communications.

In a press conference, PRUSA will help you to:

• convey your key messages and provide solid answers to the media’s questions

• become knowledgeable and prepared to answer questions that may be uncomfortable.  

• schedule press conferences at the most effective time (usually early in the day, and on a day when there are not other major competing events)  

• invite media representatives

• check to see if your messages were published after the press conference

Press Releases

PRUSA will give you tips on writing an effective press release, and increase the chances of getting published.  

For example, a good rule of thumb when writing press releases is to start with the four W’s:

Who?
What?
Where?
When?

This is followed by an H and another W.  How did this news come about?  Why?  In other words, the first paragraph is straightforward and to the point; essentially, one should be able to get the gist of the story just by reading the first paragraph. The following paragraphs serve to provide more information.

In essence, the juicy details are in the beginning, and leave the company information at the end.  

Crisis Communications

PRUSA will assist you in crisis communications, or the ability to handle any type of crisis (one example is the SARS crisis).  Crisis communications is the art of working with the media when an event that is likely to have devastating impact to an organization, suddenly gathers hurricane strength.

PRUSA will help you to:

• be prepared to react quickly and honestly in an emergency

• present yourself with what the anxious public wants to hear

• have available contingency planning to ensure business continuity

• target your various audiences:

1)  External communications with stakeholders such as customers, investors, foreigners, etc

2)  Internal communications with employees

Member Communication

In the midst of communicating with your customers, media, suppliers, and investors, PRUSA will help you keep in touch with your organization’s members.

Member communications is an important area of internal communications.

There are many different forms of member communication, such as e-mail, group meetings, intranet, video conferencing, and the good old-fashioned individual face-to-face conversation. Based on research performed in businesses, employees’ first choice is face-to-face communications.

In your communication with members, PRUSA will help you to provide information about individual job responsibilities and performance, and to explain how the employee can better contribute to the organization’s goals.

This creates employee motivation, better performance and greater commitment – all of these help maintain
an organization’s competitiveness.

Community Relations

PRUSA will assist you in reaching out to other organizations nearby, such as schools, local businesses, or charitable homes.

The advantage to community relations is that both you and the organization(s) can benefit from working together.  

PRUSA will help you to expand community relations by hosting gatherings such as open houses, joint celebrations with the community and even advertising in local community media.

Corporate Sponsorship

PRUSA will help you establish corporate sponsorship, a relationship between you and a business or organization, where you would advertises the sponsor’s name, products, services or event, in exchange for a fee. This type of relationship is beneficial for both sides, as not only does it raise funds for your cause, but the business also gains popularity.  In addition, the you would gain an outlet.

PRUSA will help you to involve everyone—employees, customers and partners—in these sponsored events. Awareness for both the business and your cause can be effectively spread by integrating the business’s product and your message together.

Internet PR

Internet is a great way to relay information regarding a new product.  PRUSA can help you to create a website, as well as create links to your website from other sites.  

Next, using a search engine, try to find your website. It should be easy to locate, or easily accessible, to your customers.

PRUSA will help you to use the internet to monitor trends and track issues relevant to your cause, such as critics’ comments, chat rooms, and media websites.

Events Management

While events are fun to attend, organizing them can be stressful. Even so, the time and energy spent into organizing an event is well worth it.

Events, such as a dinner or a dance, offer several advantages, such as:

• bringing together large numbers of people, which could draw media attention and showcase products and services

• serving as useful platforms to convey key messages

PRUSA will assist you to:

• determine the purpose of the event

• form a committee to plan the event  

• evaluate the plans

• consider every aspect of the event, even what may seem to be small details (parking arrangements, inviting the appropriate VIP, and back-up plans in case of bad weather for outdoor events)

• develop creativity, check-lists, back-up plans, and a hard-working team

Newsletter

For writing an effective newsletter, PRUSA will help you to make clear the objective of the newsletter.  

PRUSA will also assist with the following:

• Stating the purpose of newsletters, which may include updating the public on new services and on what is happening within your organization

• determining the method of distributing newsletters:  regular US mail, e-newsletter (saves postage), desktop publishing (internal)

• Desired effects of newsletter:  to instill pride among the employees, and motivate them to do more

Corporate Social Responsibility

What began as a predominantly environmental focus has evolved into a strategic social importance, as companies today operate in a society where their actions are subject to greater scrutiny from the public and other groups. CSR is more than just philanthropy or community relations.

Today, it is seen as something that creates value for the organization and society – both financial as well as social.

CSR is expressed by commitment to various areas, such as the arts, education, environmental, and community programs. However, it is the involvement of the top management in those commitments that sets the organization apart from all others.

PRUSA will assist you in using CSR as an organizational policy.  Shell, for example, is one such company that uses CSR.  In other words, it has demonstrated good corporate social responsibility by investing in economic, social and environmental causes.

PRUSA will help you to get top management commitment, select the right cause, and develop consumer interest.

Public Opinion

For effective public relations, one must understand the public opinion, and to understand public opinion, one must understand the factors behind those opinions.  PRUSA will assist you in achieving this.

Attitudes, which influence opinions, are, in turn, influenced by factors such as:

• the emotional and physical state of the public

• cultural and religious beliefs

• the education and social level of the public

• education and social standing; these tend to make individuals open to change and progress as they tend to be better traveled and more exposed to different views

• The family also plays a part in forming the individual’s opinion. In societies where extended families are a norm, the individual’s opinion and attitude tends to be influenced by the elders or the head of the family.

• the public’s preferred modes of communication

Measuring Success

How would you determine if your PR activities were successful, considering all the money you have invested in it?  First, the primary goal would be for the PR efforts to have influenced attitudes, opinions or behavior.

PRUSA will help you get value for money for your PR programs by the following four steps:

• establish target audiences are (consumers, clients, employees, investors, journalists etc)

• define success and be specific: Make note of your PR objectives and set your success criteria. Also make the objectives as realistic as possible.

• evaluate: The two main areas to evaluate are:

1) media analysis (are you releasing your message through the correct media?)
2) audience analysis (this involves checking how many people are to be exposed to your coverage.)

• last but not least, give it time!  Big changes take time to manifest.

Reputation Management

PRUSA will help your organization build its reputation.  It takes years to build your reputation but it takes just minutes for it to be destroyed.  It has to do with your values, your brand, the quality of service and the management.  It depends on respect, trust, attitudes, and the way you release information.

This is where the importance of honesty comes in.

PRUSA will help your organization become a reputable one, one that has the courage to retain its integrity during the good times and rough times. This helps to bring loyalty from the public.

Corporate Identity

Corporate identity (or logo) is represented by colors and symbols that characterize your organization and serve as an image of your organization.  PRUSA will assist you in establishing and spreading your corporate identity, one that will support your organization’s purpose and earn team spirit from the public.

Some examples of corporate identity are:  the yellow double arch of McDonald’s, and the red color of Coca-Cola.

PRUSA will also assist you in establishing a corporate image, which is more abstract.  It is the impression, perception, belief, and appearance that characterizes the organization.

PRUSA will help you to communicate your identity by sending messages.

When we make decisions regarding what movie to see or what restaurant to go to, we use integrated marketing campaign (we just may not know it).  PRUSA can assist you in creating your own integrated marketing campaign, by using multiple techniques to reach various audiences and make your organization stand out.

These techniques include:

• advertising

• PR: rely on outside parties such as journalists to tell the story. You have much less control of the message, but if the PR is positive, it has a powerful impact.

• sponsor a concert or sporting event that reaches your target audience

• promoting your organization on the internet: They key is to send the same message over and over again, and PRUSA can help you do this.  In return, you will get mindshare.