Business-Development Principles

Organizations do not and cannot just open for business and assume people will be inspired to transact with them. "If you build it, they will come" is an idea that only works in the movies. Building business with present, past, and potential customers is an important matter, because it concerns how the organization can obtain more market share from competitors, especially by leaning on its value proposition. Public relations is naturally concerned with matters of business development because much of the work PR people do is used by people who are making buying, investing, donating, and other decisions. This chapter focuses on three interrelated arenas for business development. First is the arena of promoting the public relations function. PR people are so busy inspiring cooperation between organizations and their publics that they rarely focus on doing the same for their own operations and the profession. And this PR about PR is sorely needed. Second is the arena of market positioning. PR is instrumental in communication that affects people's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward an organization and what it offers. Having an idea about how market positions are determined and how they are central to communication efforts is essential to managing public relations resources. The third and final arena for this chapter is cold, warm, and hot calls. Again, organizations must make a concerted effort to specifically obtain sales that build their businesses.