 Not to get too far off-topic, but I have a little bit of a bone to pick with the people who created that game Shoots and ladders that we played when we were kids They don't really gave kind of the impression that you could just kind of skip a lot of steps on the way to winning a game If you hit the right spot, you could just jump over the whole middle of the board, right? And go go advance to this next space, but that's not really how life works, right? So in public relations in particular There is a very clear first step to the public relations process to the campaign process to being effective as a practitioner of Public relations and that very important first step is just some basic research So that's what we're going to talk about in this video is just some basic research information that is important for people Engaging in public relations as practitioners here public relations So to start with we're actually going to start almost it's going to sound a little backwards We're going to start with secondary research There are two kinds of research primary and secondary research We're going to start with secondary research, which is gathering essential information that already exists from the research findings of others So this is you know be other people have already done really the legwork of gathering this information and piecing it all together for us And then we're going to use that information to inform What what it is that we're doing in a public relations context, okay? So this is information that we can gather from from a variety of different sources We're going to talk about a couple of different secondary research elements then Places and things we need to get information on including organizational background Communication analysis issue analysis target public some public opinion and SWAT analysis So let's take a look at each of these individually then as part of The important part of secondary research that happens at the very start This is the very first step of any public relations effort So first of all we need to know about the organization that we're going to be working with whether that's a Corporate entity, you know somebody exist a business that exists for profit whether it's a nonprofit organization whether it's a government or agency or or you know An individual whatever it is whoever it is we need to understand Who they are and what they stand for so that starts with understanding first of all What is their product or service? What is it that they do? What is it? You know, what is their basic function? In the in the marketplace that they serve What's their purpose as an organization? What's their goal? What what do they strive to do? Uh, it's sort of related to that. It's what is their mission and vision? So a mission being who are we right now? What are they trying to accomplish right now? What are their immediate goals? And then vision being where do they see themselves in the future? Where are they heading? Where are they taking all of this? So we need to understand again who it is they are now What's their purpose and what's their vision for down the road here? We need to take a look at the state of the industry right with the what's this industry doing right now? What's happening in whatever whatever industry they're in? Where's it at right now? What's what's the what are the prominent issues in that in that industry? Um, what's their place in the market all that kind of stuff? Who's their competition? So we need to understand who are their their primary competitors or who they up against in this in this industry and in this market and then we also need to understand Then their basic market share and their market position meaning You know, how much of this market do they take up and what kind of what kind of share do they have in that? Or they the Number one name and number one, you know service provider or product provider in that market Or are they one of the little guys and trying to make a name for themselves? And then what's their position? Are they you know a high-end type thing? You know, we see this division for example in major retailers, you know, there's there's jokes about how target is now targe, right? It's kind of bougie. It's got his bougie reputation. It's kind of serving that upper middle-class Customer now as opposed to Walmart which tends to skew You know in the market tends to skew toward a little bit lower income and things like that and so We need to understand what is this organization? Where are they in that market? What's their desired position? What's their current position? Which did you know what we can about who it is we're going to be working with? First of all, it's important in determining Should we be working with this person or this organization? Is this a good fit for me? For my you know, we talked about ethics in the previous video ethics and and legal Stances, this is is this a good fit for me in that regard? But then also just gathering some basic information some foundational information about, you know Who is this that that we're going to be serving? I'm working with and and so we have a basic understanding of who they are and and what their function is and what their purpose is So we have to do some basic research into their organizational background Once we have that then we can move on to a communication analysis Communication analysis takes a couple different forms and can go I mean you can do it in a variety of ways, but um, first of all We we want to take a look at some externally generated messaging by that we mean things like media mentions We mean things like what is their image and reputation? It just in general So what are they what kind of buzz they're generating from the external market? What are other people saying about them? How do they Generate these things? How are they communicating with their external markets and and you know those types of things and and what kind of result? Are they having then? in Establishing that image and reputation. We also don't need to be concerned with their internally generated messaging right so Things that they are putting out there themselves So their their website their social media presence or press releases those types of things that are generated From the internal market. So externally generated messaging is talking about organizations that are and and people are talking about this this This this agency or this company or this person outside of that entity, right? So these are external factors, but now we're talking about internally. What is this organization doing to? promote itself and to communicate with its publics We need to take a look at their channels of communication What are their primary the primary methods through which they're communicating? Their message and communicating with those publics And then what's their internal perception? You know, what what what do people within the organization saying about them? What are they thinking about that organization? so So and we need to be concerned with what does that all mean, you know, how does all this? Collectively then establish that image and reputation and how are they conveying it? How are they controlling that narrative through their communication? And so taking a look at at you know, what impact all of this has How positive negative or both and oftentimes it is both So we need to take a look at what's working well for them and what's not kind of getting into that And we get into the SWOT analysis a little bit But we need to take a look a basic look though as well as issue analysis For this organization this industry we've taken a look at the organization and how they communicate both internally And how how they're being communicated about externally. So we need to look at issue analysis And understand that the past informs our presence. We need to get into What what has been an issue for this organization in the past? What's their reputation been in the past? What are we working against? What are we working for? And and that past will inform what we do now in the present and and shape the present image and reputation of that organization We need to identify and evaluate their public or public's sometimes plural depending on the Depending on the the campaign and the organization and what you're doing there So we need to identify. Okay. What are the public's that this organization serves and interacts with? And then how can we evaluate those in terms of what we know about them and do some basic research about those public's We need to identify then opportunities and challenges within all this So what is going well? What can we build on and what's not gone so well? What may present some roadblocks in the future with this issue? For this this particular organization and then we identify then from that the specific Central issue the client goal and the potential role of public relations in helping Solve that goal or meet that goal, right? So so identifying and narrowing down just Specifically, okay. What are we going to focus on with this? What is the goal of this that you establish with the client and then What kind of impact can public relations have in helping them meet that goal? So we need an issue analysis. We also need to identify again Our target public's and public opinion. This includes both internal and external public's because you're going to have influencers and opinion Shapers that are both inside the organization and are external to that organization So we need to be concerned with both public's and identify public's in both of those areas We need to take a look at primary secondary and tertiary public's by that We mean this is sort of you know putting them in a rank order of importance These various public's right so our primary public's are obviously the ones we are most concerned with or the ones We feel like we can have the most impact in and generate the most Productive outcome from secondary would be that okay. What's the next level? We have some input or you know some influence here, but maybe not as much as as the primary And then tertiary would be those you know that are kind of on the fringes a little bit They're going to be affected by this but maybe not either we can't have as much impact as we think we would like or Or just that that we don't think it'll be as productive to spend our time there So we rank order these things what who are our primary public's or public? Our secondary and tertiary then We also need to be concerned with in terms of the target public's what's the current state Of this whole thing. What is the public's relationship with this organization right now? What is their present relationship with this organization? And also just you know in general what knowledge attitudes and behaviors do these publics have Toward the organization or and or toward that issue in particular Maybe it's not about the organization itself. Maybe it's just about the issue that you're tackling on behalf of this organization So we need to know okay. Where are things at now? Where do they stand right this moment? Then we also need to be aware of You know and classify audiences into these three kind of categories latent aware and active So every public is going to fall into one of these three categories latent public's really don't recognize the problem Or the opportunity or whatever it is you're talking about. They're just unaware. They're uninformed It's not on their radar. So latent audiences are not Familiar with and and don't recognize that as an issue or as an opportunity Aware public's are those that were previously latent at some point They didn't know about this but now are aware of it and recognize that problem or that opportunity So they are now aware of the possibilities there or the the issue there So now it's on their radar now, but they're still not doing anything about it So latent they don't even know it's there aware that It's on their radar, but they're not actively engaged in that But active obviously is then you know that next step from aware once you become aware of an issue Then you're moved to take action on that problem or that opportunity. Now you're in that active audience So there every public is going to fall into one of these three categories either latent aware or active And we need to establish which of these publics the primary secondary and tertiary. Where are they on that on that on that scale? Then we can also conduct what we call SWAT analysis This is a very common term a very common assessment tool in in business and organizations the SWAT analysis Is SWAT is an acronym as you either are aware of or probably guessed SWAT is SWOT Stands for strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats and it lays out on this kind of matrix as you see here Where on two axes positive and negative positive to negative and internal to external, right? So The s and w is strengths and weaknesses. We're looking at those for internal factors SWAT is Divided into internal and external factors So the sw has to do with things that are internal to that organization opportunities and threats then have to do with things that are external So let's take a look at each of these just briefly in as an individual category First of all strengths and we're looking at the strengths specific to this Organization and whatever issue it is that we're we're working on with them What are the strengths within this organization? What does that organization do? Well, you need to ask them and have them ask themselves. What do we do well? And what is unique about our organization? What are the things that are going to be positives as we approach this? Campaigns we approach this effort as we approach this issue What are some things that are internally within the organization that are going to be helpful to us as we do that? Then week this is you look at the flip side. What could be improved? What resources could improve our performance then? What are the some of the challenges that we may have in in addressing this issue or Or relating to the public or whatever it is that are internal to that organization? What are some of the negatives that may come up that we may need to be aware of and that may need to handle? Opportunities then and threats remember we're moving to externally outside of the organization and opportunities are on that positive axis So opportunities ask are there gaps in our services and what are our goals? Where are some things externally that we could make some strides that we could do to to to have an impact then? So what are some things on the horizon that present opportunities for us in essence, right? And threats then again is the opposite. It's external, but it's negative So what industry changes are on the the or market trends or on the horizon? So in other words, what are some of the unknowns? Unknowns are always tough for organizations and individuals too. So what industry changes on the on the on the on the horizon could present a challenge for us? And how do we stack up against our competition? What are some of the competitive aspects? Maybe just a couple of the types of questions, but threats looks at things. What are some of the things that could be a knock on us here or be a challenge throw up some obstacles for us? So we need to honestly look at this again, not just for the organization in general that's something the organization can do on its own but but specific to okay this campaign this issue whatever our identified goal is what are some things within and outside of this organization they're going to present strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats when we do the SWAT analysis. So so with that we can then you know that's all secondary those are things that we're drawing on things that people other people have done all the way through the you know the organizational background through the communication analysis issues analysis identifying and evaluating those publics and then into the SWAT analysis are all secondary research behaviors and secondary research activities but we can also engage in primary research as a part of this. So primary research is where you as a person or as an organization are gathering essential information through research that you conduct or that you contract out specifically for this purpose. So it's it's it's primary in the sense that you are doing it yourself though you're not you're not saying okay this person already did this so let me just draw on what they're doing you're saying this is information that we are gathering independently on our own in a primary way and just real briefly there are two different types of categories sort of of primary research and we're just going to briefly look at what some of these are. First we have quantitative research which really has to do with more of an objective study it's oftentimes tied to some sort of quantitative or numeric value as an aspect of that research so things like surveys things like content analysis and digital analytics that are able to identify specific factors and specific data points in a quantitative way fall into that quantitative research and it is as helpful as it is objective is not tied to someone's personal you know viewpoint or opinion it's really identifying objective information it can be challenged it can be hard to to develop proper tools for this and can be time consuming really does require a degree of expertise to develop appropriate tools and effective tools as far as surveys so that you're not skewing results and things like that but it can be really helpful information it is objective and it can be very insightful and helpful as a piece of this puzzle the other sort of piece of the puzzle the other category is what we call qualitative research this is more subjective information and it does require and depend on somebody's viewpoint and and and searching out that information so here we're talking about things like depth interviews one-on-one interviews that go more in depth than just a you know a rank from one to five or you know that kind of answers more open-ended questions talking about focus groups we're talking about participant observation so when you have a group of you know you're working with a toy manufacturer and you just let a group of kids loose in a room full of toys and see which ones they go after and then observe how they play with it and those types that's participant observation those types of things those are qualitative research methods and can be very helpful too they can also be very time consuming and and you really do need somebody who's well trained in the the process for gathering that information but can those two pieces combine quantitative and qualitative research really can combine to provide a lot of really helpful primary information that you can gather yourself specific to um whatever issue or whatever organization it is you're working with so hopefully you now have a better idea of the importance just the critical nature of research in public relations no matter what model of public relations you're using and you'll find that almost all of the models of the public relations process start with an r these acronyms always start with an r because research is that primary function is that critical first step there's no ladder to skip steps through this you can't just you know and you shouldn't just rely on somebody else for this you you've got to dig into this and really put some time into the research part of public relations right up front that is an important first step if you have questions about research about public relations about how they connect and the importance of any of that or anything else related to this topic please feel free to email me i'd love to hear from you there in the meantime i hope that you will develop some of your own research methods for this and begin to understand just how really critical the role of research is in laying that foundation and as a very important first step in the public relations process