Public-related Networking and Rapport Building

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What is the ultimate goal of understanding an organization’s publics? An efficient and effective message generating a certain behavior in a specific group to reach an objective is the answer. Separating your publics for further understanding is one part but the most important is creating a rapport that stimulates trust. Labor-intensive describes the latter. Public relations is consistently focused on trust and if they find the formula that their publics receives the best; maintenance will be less required and focus can be shifted to a new project.

Intercessory Publics

Intercessor according to thesaurus.com, simply means mediator. Someone that interrupts to assist, describes the use of this word in public relations. Intercessory Publics are groups of individuals that can network for the organization. Their natural position and outreach are set up as network hubs in an organic fashion. The book Strategic Planning for Public Relations gives a perfect example.

An organization provid[es] job training to high school dropouts in an inner-city area. It might identify coaches in community centers and ministers in urban churches as intercessory publics. These people share the organization's interest in helping the young adults who left school early, and they often hold the confidence of the young people.

These coaches and ministers are a group of people that may not know each other but they share the same interest. This hub is an incredible group to utilize due to its position with the target public. The natural relationship between the coaches and ministers between the kids is something that a company cannot easily build. The organization also becomes a resource for the hub and will need to build a relationship within that circle as well.

Trust

Intercessory publics are unique because of their organic trust with our target market. This element is something public relations practitioners cannot operate without. There are different modes to trust; Chang, Cheung, and Tang wrote a study over, Building trust Online. The three modes are as follows,

1. Characteristic-based

Characteristic-based is trust built on similarities of cultural and behavioral norms for an individual. It is described as “low risk” as it reflects a family-style bond. This level of trust is difficult to spread over many groups as companies cannot usually identify with many without overlapping interests.

2. Process-based

Process-based is actual customer and company interactions. It stems from “reputation, branding, warranties of quality, etc.” or from “positive experiences in prior exchanges.” These are factors that are easily regulated and should be maintained for optimal responses.

3. Institutional-based

Institutional-based is from the company’s safety nets for consumers. If a company is certified or backed by a professional institution more trust is built because more people hold liability. It also follows when insurance or legal rules are backing the interaction. This may be necessary for particular businesses but may only convince certain publics to believe in them. How do you trust someone to follow you?

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Process-based trust is the easiest to work toward, to help to establish a base for who they are as a company. To further this trust as suggested in intercessory publics is to network with your public.

Networking and Rapport Building

In Public Relations and Network Strategies by Dasgupta, two main things are needed for consistent networking, growing a relationship database and setting goals. Building a database of people will not happen until there is a colleague number 1. In the case of networking with publics, intercessory individuals have grown this network as their own. Adding them into the process generates a seamless transition to a wider group of people. Setting goals is needed across the board, in business. For public relations, the goal of networking with publics is to foster a more genuine connection. This connection again comes from the intercessory publics and can be built further over continuous contact.

All of these traits are needed for building a rapport, later on, usually done through a campaign. Targets are properly identified and will receive tailored messaging just for them. Customers see that the company understands their needs or is willing to listen to their concerns. Ending with a better experience for the benefit of the customer.