Tap a Value System...Release Change

Perhaps the number one barrier public relations practitioners run into when working internationally is “that social responsibility is based on ethical codes of behavior that have their roots in values, which come from learning and experience,” (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2010, p.350), leading to the debate on “truth”. In order to persuade another person, the sender must touch the audience’s core values, the values that determine their self-concept. While Christian believers attest some truths hold universally, other truths are more akin to perceptions bred from personal values, each person viewing the same world from individual prisms (p.350). Taking that principle into an international context requires the persuader to realize the public will have different identification values than themselves and therefore must present accordingly in order to stimulate the desired change.
Earl Newsom shares four principles of persuasion based on this idea of self-identity. For a person to be persuaded, they must relate to the point of view given “as having some direct effect on their own hopes, fears, desires or aspirations” (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2010, p. 127). As a public relations officer, one must research what that would look like in the given culture he or she finds himself or herself. The persuader must not leave them in despair of their apparent problem, but provide a convenient solution to their predicament (p.127). There is no such thing as knowing the audience “too well”. PR must consider what resolution would be feasible for their time commitments (based on what takes priority in accordance with their value system), demographics, psychographics, geodemographics, and socioeconomic level. This suggestion should be provided in a clear and succinct format, yet even then, will only be taken to heart if the sender is someone the receiver trusts and regards as familiar (p.127). This last point is crucial for PR; get involved in the atmosphere of the target public on a personal level, walk in their shoes, and in this way adhere to one’s own values of integrity in the implementation process.
Reference
Newsom, D., Turk, J., Kruckeberg, D. (2010). This is pr: The realities of public relations. 10th Ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage