Formulative Research in Strategic PR: Why do we need it?

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Research in a public relations campaign establishes the foundation for developing strategies and tactics for meeting a company’s goals. Each campaign should be unique because no one business is the same. Starting with a situation analysis can help the PR practitioner(s) clearly lay out in front of them what they want to know and what they need to know before beginning the campaign. The lecture from January 26 lays out four steps to follow in order to conduct a thorough situation analysis:

1. Issues management

2. Risk management

3. Crisis management

4. Reputation management.

Each of these cover different aspects of the company that hired you. Some general questions may include: What is their protocol (if any) for different situations that may arise, how do their publics see them, how have they managed crises in the past, how do they respond to different social/fiscal trends? A good situation analysis covers these and more.

Analyzing the Situation: Current Event

We discussed some of these possible questions in the Airbnb scenario during class. In August of 2020, Airbnb announced a campaign that would house 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide during the humanitarian crisis going on in their home country. While this is an amazing idea, there are a lot of questions to consider before rolling out this campaign. For example, what happens to the refugees after the 30-day period is up? Have enough homeowners agreed to this to where 20,000 people can be housed?

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As PR practitioners, we are hired to ask the hard questions and find the best answer for them. There must be consensus between yourself and the client and their needs, what resources should be used and plan for how this information is going to be used. Ronald Smith in his book Strategic Planning for Public Relations describes the importance of having everyone involved at the table, “planner, clients, key colleagues, and the ultimate decision makers.” Consensus is necessary because everyone needs to be on the same page on how the campaign is going to be carried out: What are the knowns, what do we want to know, would there be any potential consequences and how to solve them.

Measuring Success: Impacts and Outcomes

Once the campaign is over, it’s time to look at the outcome(s) and impact(s). Our preliminary research from the situational analysis will serve as a guide for measuring what we wanted to achieve from the campaign. Mark Weiner speaks to these in his article, 5 Ways to Measure PR Performance, Value and ROI published on the PRSA website. Part of his piece that stuck out to me was how to prove value.

“The easiest way to prove value is to assess the values your executives hold toward public relations...” – Mark Weiner

In other words, how do the executives measure success? Quantitively or qualitatively? Something different? Carl J. Cox’s podcast Measuring Success Podcast interviews executives where they talk about on how they measure success in their business and in life. This would be a good listen because it can help you with asking questions that will give you a deeper understanding of what your executives are looking for.

Ultimately, analyzing the situation can make or break a PR campaign. It’s crucial to remember to have everyone involved present so there can be a concrete plan moving forward.