Public relations strategy for infrastructure: a case study
By Craig on Jan 25, 2012 in Public relations, Strategic communication | View Comments
Infrastructure (roads, rail, parks, amenities etc) provides extensive benefits for communities. But infrastructure development is not without its sensitivities. Local communities and businesses, politicians and government departments are chief amongst entities with a stake in them. So a great upside in working in a public relations role on infrastructure initiatives is that not only do they leave a valuable legacy with longevity, they also provide an opportunity to apply best practice communication, integrating stakeholder needs and wants and engaging, through communication, large numbers of people.
A further upside of being involved in them is that a job well done engenders increased respect for the public relations discipline. Clearly, this is an intensely rewarding sector to work within.
In this and following posts, I outline a range of public relations strategic, tactical and process delivery elements relevant to a hypothetical infrastructure project, one that is publicly/taxpayer funded and, therefore, overseen by government. In essence, it is a case study, which this blog doesn’t feature anywhere near enough of. Whilst it is an infrastructure-based case study, however, most of the discussion is relevant to any wide-ranging communication strategy.
Approaches to public relations in infrastructure development
There are three approaches that communication regarding the delivery of a public infrastructure project will need to take to achieve the best possible outcome. These are each based on discussions by Grunig and collaborators:
- Information sharing – ‘public information’
- Seeking feedback to help communicate on hot topics – ‘one-way symmetrical’
- Seeking opinions and information that actually contributes to evolving/shaping the project – ‘two-way symmetrical’.
Two-way symmetrical is the best approach to take if securing engagement to gain the best possible outcome for the project is an objective. True engagement will not come purely from ‘telling’ stakeholders what is going to occur, no matter how proactive and transparent this ‘telling’ is. True engagement comes from a conversation that leads to change – no public relations or marketing can camouflage organisational activity that does not include these dimensions, nor position the organisation in the best possible light without it occurring.
There are shades of grey, of course – delivering infrastructure has its engineering, political and funding challenges, after all.
Because of this, and because of other factors, there will also frequently be a need to simply broadcast (public information) content (e.g. safety-related news) and seek feedback and discussion on issues, but the information generated will not lead to change on the organisation’s part (one-way symmetrical). Community forums can be one manifestation of this, whereby no change of infrastructure aspects will be possible, but dialogue can lead to enhanced mutual understanding, empathy and trust.
Certainly, if outcomes like organisational and project advocacy, and the minimisation of barriers to project development, are sought, then two-way symmetrical is the approach most likely to be successful.
Yes, it amounts to short-term pain for long-term gain, but when that long-term gain is based on contributing to a ‘social environment’ in which the project will meet timeline objectives, thus minimising cost blow-outs and also help ensure patronage of the project’s infrastructure outcome – then we are talking a very big gain here.
Steps for communication strategy
The fundamental elements of a communication strategy are determining the following:
- Executive summary
- Situation analysis (including SWOT)
- Research
- Target audiences
- Goal (overarching) and objectives (specific and measurable)
- Key messages
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Budget
- Evaluation
Research as a public relations bedrock
The research will include formal, original market research commissioned by the project. The primary purpose of this research is two-fold:
- Determine the most effective mediums through which to communicate to stakeholders and to deepen understanding of any issues they may have (and/or identify unanticipated issues) in regard to the project
- Test concepts and approaches it is anticipated the strategy might include.
Prior to the formal market research program occurring, however, three further research steps should be undertaken that will inform not just formal research design, but also communication strategy:
- Desktop research (i.e. what is on the internet of use; what can be learnt from any communication literature etc?)
- As it is a government organisation that is managing the project’s implementation, there are sure to be other government entities that have market research relevant to this project’s needs that should be looked out – including post-project analysis that will contribute to the SWOT
- Talking to organisational leadership – especially the leader him or herself – and key stakeholders (e.g. political, media, community) to get their take on the project and its potential opportunities and pitfalls. As one of the key stakeholder groups, the imperatives of relevant political stakeholders will be primary among perspectives considered.
Target audiences for communication ROI
This is a critically important step to take and not as obvious as it may seem. Identifying and prioritising target audiences (which I generally refer to as stakeholders in this discussion), facilitates business objectives being achieved and minimising, if not entirely avoiding, resource waste.
For this sort of initiative, primary target audiences might look like this
- Local community members where the infrastructure is being built
- Relevant politicians from the portfolios/departments from which funding is coming
- Local councils and state/federal politicians based in the local area
- Influencers such as local NGOs, bloggers, union leaders.
Secondary target audiences might look like this:
- Employees
- Local and state/national urban affairs and transport journalists (print and broadcast)
- Relevant union rank and file members.
Market research would assist in refining and prioritising target audiences. I generally view media as a facilitating target audience, rather than a primary one. They are important, but they don’t make decisions and I tend to think there is a fatigue from all sides of the community-political dialectic towards media, which often take a deliberately provocative perspective, inspired by a love of conflict, rather than wishing to provide a balanced view.
The identification of influencers has taken on an added dimension and hence importance in recent times with the emergence of social media. Employees are secondary because whilst they should be an organisation’s most active brand advocates, this is an essentially external facing strategy.
How do you think two-way symmetrical communication can be applied to help organisations achieve best possible communication and stakeholder engagement outcomes? What is your experience in gaining value from market research for communication – have you gained value from it or is it over-rated?
The next post in this six-part series talks about putting the ‘strategy’ into stakeholder interaction.
