Positioning your firm for success.

Does your firm's public relations program approach the marketplace with a solid knowledge of your potential clients' changing needs and preferences? Does it present your services from a consumer-oriented perspective? If not, it is among the great number of firms in the industry that are misusing

Learning to see change as an opportunity is critical to success. As American business becomes increasingly bottom-line oriented, public relations programs must create a perception of your services as aware and responsive. There is simply no substitute for a strategy that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the business concerns of your market and those of your individual clients.

Furthermore, just as with office space, a great deal of flexibility now has to be built into public relations programs in order to remain adaptable to the accelerating rate of change. As the real estate climate shifts and unforeseen opportunities arise, as they inevitably will, the program must be able to respond - and quickly.

Good reputations and resulting contracts do not just happen in business. They result from the process of developing a distinctive identity for a firm, which is a long-term strategic and creative process and also requires impeccable implementation and periodic evaluation.

The traditional approach to public relations - that of selling your services rather than selling solutions to your clients' problems - seriously diminishes the effectiveness of your P.R. effort by ignoring its potential effect on client behavior and its critical link to direct marketing. Sophisticated organizations are selling value satisfactions in place of traditional services.

Unlike traditional P.R. programs, positioning campaigns employ a strategy that results in a focused plan that responds to bottom-line business goals. They are designed to create a distinctive identity that distinguishes your firm from the competition and reaches decision-makers in your markets, reinforcing your firm's expertise to create awareness and buyer preference for your work. They are based on careful analysis of the concerns of the audience reached.

But first and foremost, like any other business investment, positioning requires a clear understanding of your own organization - its strengths and weaknesses - and what your firm wants to achieve. The next step in research should be an analysis of what the competition is offering so that you can consider how to improve upon it or what you can offer instead. Only then is it time to craft your messages, develop your plan, and determine what the specific P.R. opportunities are. It's useful to remember that public relations is the acknowledged front guard in presenting your firm to its potential clients. The effectiveness of a positioning campaign relies heavily on creative and intelligent planning to devise an appropriate strategy to make a favorable first impression.

In designing your program, it is not necessary to throw the baby out with the bath water. It may be useful to retain as part of the program mix some of the tried and true, conventional means of public relations. For example, publication of a singular project could be useful, so long it fits your plan and the strategy and messages are adhered to. It is important to consider, as well, some of the many other avenues to publicity. By-lined articles, especially in client-driven publications; expertise demonstrated through technical or practice articles; commentaries on newsworthy events, or legislation or other topical issues - all are welcomed by editors working under tight deadlines and budgetary constraints with limited staff.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that public relations is just publicity. Publicity should be only one element in a custom-tailored program mix. We have learned from advertising research that reinforcement of a message is necessary to elicit action, so it is therefore important to gain the advantage of repetition. Promotional opportunities such as speaking platforms or involvement in professional and business organizations, special events keyed to a company milestone or industry "happening," and direct mail reinforce one another to create an impact and expand a firm's horizons. A variety of program elements also offers the opportunity to recycle a speech into an article and an article into a mailing piece. Integrating your resources and efforts with others on the team, an effective way to get more for less, also results in valuable reinforcement of the team relationship.

Monitoring and evaluating the program as it proceeds are as essential as research and planning are up front. It is critical to know not only where you are going, but whether the trip has been worthwhile. Have inquiries and sales increased? Is there an indication that the company is perceived differently and as intended? Like direct marketing, strategic public relations is a long-term focused effort that offers far-reaching results.

Once you get the hang of it, the process is much like a chess game, putting all of your firm's pieces on the board and moving and positioning them for maximum advantage. When understood in its full context, public relations can be a crucial and effective part of your marketing effort. To paraphrase an old saying, successful firms have learned that "positioning is everything in life."

(Jane Cohn, a Fellow of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, can be reached for further information on positioning campaigns at (212) 447-7825 or refer to "Who Are You?" an article in the March 1995 issue of Contract Design written by the author and Dianne Ludman Frank, a colleague whose public relations practice is based in Birmingham, MI.)