This document discusses key concepts for identifying and segmenting publics: 1. Key publics are groups that are affected by or can influence an organization, share common concerns or goals, and can be defined demographically or by roles. 2. Publics can be directly reached or influenced through intervening publics like media and opinion leaders using two-step flow theory. 3. To identify key publics, organizations should understand their demographics, psychographics, relationships, opinions of the issue and organization, and how publics can help achieve objectives. 4. Segmenting publics involves understanding their knowledge, involvement, and constraints to determine if they are active, aroused, inactive, or non

1. Identifying
Key Publics

2. Group of people who:
• are affected by or have an effect on
the organization
• are important to the org.
• share common concerns
• share common goals
What’s a
Public

3. • can be defined geographically
• can be defined by roles & positions:
editor, home owner, student, community
leader, manager, parent, alumni, arts patron
• can be defined by their use of media:
subscribers, viewers or exposed to messages
• can be identified by their reactions to
certain issues of concern to the organization
What’s a
Public

4. Publics
Intervening
A public/individual that carries
our message to the publics we
ultimately need to reach and
influence.
• Media
• Opinion leaders

5. Opinion Leader Opinion Leader
Indiv.
Indiv.
Indiv. Indiv. Indiv.
Indiv.
Step 2
Step 1
Studies dynamics of media-audience relationship - how does media reach target?
Interpretation
Two-Step Flow Theory

6. General
Public
We don’t pay attention to messages that aren’t targeted to our self-
interests & sent through a channel we use

7. Everything
Read
Do you
• Read only what
appeals to us
• Need to segment
public & carefully
target message

8. Identify key publics
(may need more than one public for each obj.)
• Demographic & psychographic profile
• Motivating self-interests
• Current relationship with issue & org.
• Influentials & opinion leaders
• Objectives each public will help accomplish
What we need to
find out
From
Step
1

9. 1. How much can the public influence our
organization’s ability to achieve its goals?
2. What’s the public’s stake in its relationship with
our org?
3. Who are the opinion leaders/influentials?
4. What’s their demographic profile?
5. What’s their psychographic profile?
6. What’s their opinion of our organization?
7. What’s their opinion of the issue in question?
Getting to know
your publics

10. Who should your publics be?
Goal:
• To attain recognition as one of the best small
universities in the country

11. Objectives:
•Get ranked among the top 25 master's-granting
institutions in the Western region by the U.S. News &
World Report
• Increase number of applications from high school
seniors who graduated in the top 25% of their class
• Increase number of job applications from faculty who
graduated from top 10 schools in their respective fields
Goal:
• To attain recognition as one of the best small
universities in the country
Publics?

12. The Right
combination of publics
• Best overall solution
• Best for long-term relationship
• Most cost-effective
➡ Cost shouldn’t be the first criterion

13. 2.
1. 3.
4. 5.
6.
matters
Order:
Identify objectives to be accomplished (step 4)
1.
Select publics you need to reach to do so (step 5)
2.

14. Reversing Order
is a prescription for failure
In that case, objectives would be determined by:
• who you want to reach rather than
• what you need to accomplish

15. Objective:
• Increase number of applications from high school
seniors who graduated in the top 25% of their class
Publics:
• High school counselors
• High school Superintendents
• Parents of high school students
• Honors class teachers
• High school students (juniors)

16. WWYD
Core Problem: rising rate (44 percent) of
“binge” drinking among the 708,820 junior
enlisted military personnel (males, 18-24)

17. The Influentials
Who does the military personnel respect?
Who could best persuade them to quit?

18. Self-interest: to avoid social
embarrassment
Find out more:
• Alcohol facts & traditional health messages are inconsequential
• Short-term social consequences (i.e. loss of control,
embarrassment among peers) are more likely to resonate
• Participants had negative feelings toward people who drink to
excess and lose control
• Participants don’t respond well to messages delivered from their
chain of command
Focus group research: What types of messages, activities, &
creative concepts would resonate with the target?
Research

19. The Influentials
Who does the military personnel respect?
The Answer (from research): Peers
Who could best persuade them to quit?

20. Don’t be that guy campaign
Appeal based on peer social disapproval

21. Segmenting Publics
Different ways to segment key publics
Situational Theory • VALS

22. Grunig’s
Situational Theory
• Publics emerge from situations
• Publics share similarities in
comm. behavior
• These behaviors are not
related to demographics
Why are some publics active & some passive?

23. Knowledge
Involvement
Aware Active
Aroused
Inactive
Non-public

24. Problem Recognition: do you think it’s a problem?
Constraint Recognition: can you do something about it?
Involvement: How personally/emotionally involved are you in the problem?

25. Publics
• All-issue publics: active on all issues
• Apathetic publics: inattentive to all issues
• Single-issue publics: active on a small subset of
the issue that only concerns them
• Hot-issue publics: active on a single issue that
involves nearly everyone and that has
received a lot of media attention
Types of
4

26. VALS Segmentation
Segments people according to personality traits
Traits = cause • Buying behavior = effect

27. VALShttp://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml