Public Relations Campaign

Solution Preview

Interesting project, indeed. Please see response for best formatting and active links (also below), as well as several supporting articles. I hope this helps and good luck with your continued studies. Take care.

RESPONSE:

1. A financial organization wants to position itself as a leader in embracing diversity in the workplace. I need to come up with a public relations campaign to help this company achieve this.

The first thing that you would have to decide is what will your public relations campaign look like? Who is your target? How many people do you want to reach? Some public relations campaigns are only focused on their own organization. Others are focused on making it a worldwide campaign. Have you thought about what would be a reasonable size and focus for a financial organization? Maybe, for example, it wants to position itself as a leader in embracing diversity in the workplace, targeting only other financial organizations.

I did an on-line search using the Google search engine to see if I could locate an example to follow. Research is important to see what others have done before you to see what has worked (or not worked), so you can fashion your own public relations campaign after a winner. I found some examples, although not of financial organizations, unfortunately. However, two examples presented below have many generalizable components for you to consider for your scenario.

Basically you will follow the following steps:

1. Identify the Problem:
2. Set expectations (e.g., to position itself as a leader in embracing diversity in the workplace)
3. Determine who the audience is (e.g., your own organization, public, other financial institutions, insurance agencies, media, etc.)
4. Define the goals (e.g. what do you want to happen because of the campaign)
5. Determine the media you want to use (e.g., Web sites, pamphlets, videos, public service announcements, posters, brochures, recorded telephone messages when people are on hold, pamphlets when new customers open accounts, etc. see attachment for other considerations).
6. Determine which public relations activities will be pursed and create a public relations framework
7. Determine the tone of the campaign (e.g., humorous, serious, etc.)
8. Evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign
See attached article for more on these points (Financial PR Guidelines.pdf).

2. What could be my target audience for the PR campaign? Please be detailed and give many examples.

Public, Board of Directors, other financial institutions, insurance agencies, media, customers, its own organization and staff, and the world (through the web). Let's look at some application examples below:

Example1: AAUW PR campaign

1. Develop a "Working Group of Diversity." For example, when you have a "Working Group on Diversity" on your board of directors, it's a good sign that diversity is being taken seriously. According to Valerie Ducker, associate director of diversity at the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion comes from the top. "The board decided early on that this would be a priority for the organization," she says (http://www.centeronline.org/knowledge/article.cfm?ID=680&ContentProfileID=122752&Action=searching).

2. Develop and Implement diversity goals - The financial Strategic Plan should also contain diversity goals that have become the organization's diversity plan - the two plans are intertwined, not separate. For example, by drilling diversity down through the organization, the AAUW has succeeded in "institutionalizing our diversity efforts," Ducker says.

3. Appoint a staff director of diversity who should also be a member of the financial institutions board, responsible for ensuring that diversity goals are implemented at the board level. For example, AAUW's top leadership is involved via the team of board members known as the ...