I was glad to see my favorite quote from Socrates in Professor Jasso’s class, “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” From the perspective of a PR professional, this quote means that the most significant factor of doing a good job is following your goal, and having a measurable outcome. No matter how fascinating you say, the PR campaign is, only a real and good measurable result matters.

Measurable outcomes are one of the key components of our job and make PR a visible function in a company. From my experience, the review reports are an essential part of this job; they give you an excellent opportunity to show the highlights of your work. However, today we cannot justify our work by simply showing a cover story on Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the company’s name in a news article, or media clippings generated from insignificant and irrelevant news sources. We need measurable standards for story angles, media types and target audiences we can reach, etc.

(Picture credit: http://curchew.com/category/services/)

How to gain a good measurable result? According to Professor Jasso, this involves several core axioms of public relations, including:

Roles

• “Takes a broad view of an organization’s environment by attending to a wide range of issues and relationships.”
• “Strategic management, seeking to avoid or solve problems through a goal-oriented process.”
• In my opinion, a PR professional should be a “detective” and a “doctor.”

Strategic planning

• “Begin by identifying the conditions, contributing forces, actors, objectives, and overall program goal. “
• “Outline how the organization will get from where it is, to where it wants to be. “
• “Seek senior management’s support and cooperation.”
• In my opinion, if we do not have a clear goal to direct us, we cannot measure the result; if we do not align with company goals or marketing plan instead of doing it only by ourselves, we will be lost.

Standards

• “What the organization DOES than on what it SAYS.”
• “All actions, communication and outcomes are ethical, legal, and socially responsible.“
• “Success is based on the organization’s impact on society and culture.”

To do a good job as a PR professional, particularly in a firm or an agency, we cannot forget that PR is a function that requires strategic management with a clear goal. The goal should be followed by careful analysis. Leading with a clear goal and an evaluative criterion, we will know if our PR campaign is feasible, and whether the results are good or bad. PR is a goal-oriented job even though the fascinating part is the process.