When you’re planning a public relations campaign, a crucial step is developing the message strategy for the specific key publics you have chosen. There are three approaches to consider when thinking about the communication process:
Information
Persuasion
Dialogue
These approaches focus on different strategies for communicating with key publics in a PR campaign. Every audience is different and you must decide which of these three approaches or combination of approaches will be the most effective in communicating with them.
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People communicating. Photo by Interaction-Design.org
Information Approach
The information approach focuses on “the content and channels of communication” (Smith, 2021, p.250). This means that a campaign may generate publicity and focus on putting out public information. This approach is based on “writing and technical skills with images, words, websites, and media relations” (Saylor Academy, 2012). The campaign may focus on generating information and communicating strategically with their target audiences.
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Influencer on social media. Photo by PRdaily.com
Persuasion Approach
This approach focuses on “ethical attempts to influence people” (Smith, 2021, p.250). The campaign may include influencers or spokespeople that the target audience trusts their opinion. In this case, an organization will put out their message in an attempt to persuade their audience to do something. This is an asymmetrical approach to communicating. British authors Trever Morris and Simon Goldsworthy have an interesting opinion regarding PR and persuasion:
“Public relations is the planned persuasion of people to behave in ways that further its sponsor’s objectives” (Tucker, 2018).
This is an interesting take because persuasion in PR has been a sensitive topic historically. But isn’t PR essentially persuading people to change their attitude about an organization or a certain behavior? It is when used properly. When using this approach, it’s very important that organizations make sure they’re ethically persuading their audience.
Dialogue Approach
The dialogue approach focused on the “interaction of two parties in communication for the purpose of mutual understanding in a symmetric relationship” (Smith, 2021, p.250). According to the textbook, this approach is often used to achieve four different goals in PR (Smith, 2021, p.253):
Nurturing a sincere information exchange between individuals or groups
Helping communication partners make responsible decisions
Reviving the original vitality of relationships
Deepening a relationship that continues to unite communication partners more closely
Unlike the persuasion approach, this approach means that organizations are “open to changing their policies and practices based on what they learn from their publics” (Saylor Academy, 2012).
When planning which of these approaches to use, think about your target audience and your end goal. Then think which of these approaches will best help you get there. Your planning will look different according to which approach you choose because each involve different practices. For example, if you find the persuasion approach is the best for your campaign, you will have to consider different spokespeople or influencers to use. Whereas, if you think the dialogue approach is best for your campaign you may consider different ways to communicate with your publics.
References
Saylor Academy. (2022). Mastering Public Relations. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-public-relations/index.html
Smith, R.D. (2021). Strategic planning for public relations (6th Ed.). Routledge.
Tucker, C. (2018). Public Relations as Persuasion. https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/public-relations-as-persuasion/
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