The document presents a slide presentation accompanying a workbook on PR projects, focusing on the research phase of public relations planning. It covers the importance of research in identifying PR problems and opportunities, outlines different research methods, and emphasizes the role of social media metrics and environmental scanning. Ultimately, the objective is to enhance communication strategies and optimize relationships to achieve organizational goals.

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The following slide
presentation is designed to
accompany the workbook
“A Manager’s Guide to PR
Projects: A Practical
Approach”
2nd edition
© PJ Parsons 2018

2. PR PLANNING: THE RESEARCH PHASE
PART 2
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3. WHAT THIS SECTION COVERS…
 The importance of what research can accomplish
 The difference between a PR problem & a PR opportunity
 How research is done
 The concept of environmental scanning
 The importance of social media metrics
 The importance of researching relationships
 The importance of academic research to practitioners
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4. A WORKING DEFINITION OF “RESEARCH” FOR PR PLANNING
RESEARCH is a deliberate, planned, and
organized process for collection and analysis of
data for the purpose of determining an
organization’s public relations problems,
opportunities, and possible solutions.
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5. THREE QUESTIONS THAT UNDERPIN RESEARCH
 Where are we now?
 Where do we want to go?
 What is likely to be the best route to get there?
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WHY IS RESEARCH SO IMPORTANT?
 Increasing fragmentation & diversification of publics
 Decreasing personal contact between dominant coalition
& employees, as well as clients/ consumers
 Increasing multiplicity of communication channels
 Increasing involvement of social media means public
opinion is harder to predict
 Continuing need for PR to be able to articulate ROI to
organizational management
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WHAT CAN RESEARCH ACCOMPLISH IN GENERAL?
 Prevent wasting money, resources, effort & time
 Accumulate facts for PR program planning
 Increase positive publicity for an organization.
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WHEN TO DO RESEARCH
 Strategic research
 Before beginning a campaign/project
 Summative research
 Upon completion of the campaign/project as part
of the evaluation
 On-going research
 Throughout the campaign/project
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9. PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY?
 A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM is a relationship or communication issue
that has been identified as a result of past events, current activities, and
future projections, and which is likely to impede the organization from
reaching its goals.
 A PUBLIC RELATIONS OPPORTUNITY is the identification of a juncture of
events and objectives that provides an optimal window for using
communication strategies to enhance an organization’s internal and/or
external relationships and thus further the organization’s goals.
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10. TWO GENERAL CATEGORIES OF RESEARCH FOR PR PROFESSIONALS
TO BE FAMILIAR WITH…
 Academic Research
 Applied Research
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SECONDARY RESEARCH METHODS
 Culling information from a variety of sources:
 Government records & stats
 Archival materials
 Current organizational materials
 Literature reviews
 Web searches
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PRIMARY RESEARCH IN PR
 Informal methods
 Using personal contacts, polling opinion leaders,
community forums, advisory groups, feed-back lines, field
reports, interviewing
 Formal methods
 Surveys, focus groups, media-content analysis
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Relationship between source type & research type

15. MEDIA MONITORING
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16. THE PR/COMMUNICATION AUDIT
THE COMMUNICATION/PUBLIC RELATIONS AUDIT is a research
tool that examines and assesses all aspects of an organization’s
activities, including the internal & external communication climate,
to diagnose the extent to which each public is receiving and
responding to the messages targeted toward them and the quality of
the relationships engendered by the organization through its
communication and activities.
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17. ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING
 Political data
 Relevant legislation, regulations, political transitions, international political alliances
 Economic data
 Interest rates, unemployment rates, disposable income levels, local and international business
conditions
 Social data
 Demographics, educational levels, purchasing habits, social attitudes
 Technological data
 Impact of new technologies, current and future technological advances, obsolescence
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18. CHARACTERIZING RELATIONSHIPS
The public’s beliefs and actions
 Organizational credibility
 Understanding of the organization
 Mutual benefit
 Conflict with the organization - past, present, future
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19. COMPLETING THE ANALYSIS
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20. HOW TO READ AN ACADEMIC ARTICLE
Read the
abstract
Research the
authors
Review the
discussion
Carefully
read the
conclusions
Skim the
references
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