I AM THE PRO.... NOW WHAT?

So my friend was recently appointed the public relations manager of company X, lets call it Jack, Jilll & sons Ltd when it hit him that he didn't really know what he was going to do.

Which seemed strange since he had aced their interview, in an extensive and highly competitive process.

We sat down with my hyperventilating friend to chart a plan of attack for his new job and it looked something like this.

1. What's the company strategy?

The company he is set to work for has a set of strategic objectives my friend, called him Jalango, needs to acquaint himself with and commit to help achieve through his office as the brand custodian of the company.

The PR/Communications department is where the soul of the company's brand is nurtured and built before it is sent off to the marketing department to spruce up and defend with advertising.

Once he knows the strategic objectives of the company he would then be able to draw up his own communications strategy in which he would prescribe actions to achieve the the aforementioned strategies.

     2. Know your people

He was going in to head a team of three with the option to hire another person within his first year. He needed to get the measure of his people very quickly and decide how they fit in his strategy and what gap the new person would be coming in to fill.

We worked out that he needed at least one person to understand his strategy and even help in its development and if the other two were good implementors he would be off to the races. He also needed someone who would help him liaise with the media, hopefully a former media person, he was already respected in the media. It would be an added bonus if he had someone "who knows guys, who know guys" to get quickly around the organisation and the media.

    3. Touch base with your allies, enemies and everything in between

They had a PR agency under contract. He would have o go in there, share his  strategy and have a clear demarcation of responsibility. It was his responsibility to make sure they got value for money from the agency.

And then he would have to do a round of the media houses and understand house understand their workings, what they would require from him, what was feasible to expect from them and who will be his go to people -- find out their birthdays, their favourite restaurants, beers and if they were an Avenger who would they be --- that last one more important than you can imagine.

The media can make you or break the best PR man. If you think they are your enemies you would best be advised to keep them closer than your friends.

    4. Quickly who has the power?

Once we have the above sorted we would need to cover his back. Look within the company. Find out the power dynamics -- who has the power? who may have the power? who may not have the power but think they have the power? who may have the power but don't know they have the power? etc etc

This important because many companies think that the communication function is the dumping ground of those who have failed elsewhere, those who cant be sacked but have to be put somewhere eg the chairman's son or those who are in purgatory. 

Companies don't take communications seriously. It doesn't show until they are in a crisis and they have no clue how to get their message out.

To get anything done the PR man has to know the levers of power and how to work them, because communication is to important to be left to chance.