• The Role of Theory in the Pratice of Professional Communication
• The Four Step Communiation Campaign Model
  • Defining Comunication Issues
  • Planning and Programming
  • Taking Action and Communicating
  • Evaluating
• Persuasion Theory
• Organizational Communication: A Theoretical Approach

The Role of Theory

In this learning module, you will learn the most important theoretical approach to strategic communication: Scott Cutlip’s 4 steps model.

Cutlip is a key figure in the academic consolidation of the discipline. He integrated Public Relations in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW-Madison. Later in his career, he became the dean of the college of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

In 1952, Cutlip published, together with Allen H. Center, a pioneering book: Effective Public Relations. In this classic, Cutlip designed his 4 steps communication campaign model, which has become a necessary reference in both the teaching and the practice of all types of strategic communication.

Still, before we start discussing the model, it is necessary to reflect about the nature and function of theories in the our academic field.

Theory is not a popular term among students (regardless of their subject).

Often, it is not even clear what a theory is (let alone what its function may be).

What is a theory?

Broadly defined, a theory is simply a systematic attempt to explain something, any aspect of the reality.

What does systematic mean?

Systematic – this word refers to a comprehensive plan to cover all possible aspects of one phenomenon – in our case the special communication dynamic that tries to influence attitudes or behaviors in the target audience.

Functions of theories

First of all, a theory has a descriptive function.

It helps us describe and define the subject of study – What is what we are talking about.

It provides us also with vocabulary to talk about it, and to work on it and with it.

The second function is to promote understanding.

After you define what strategic communi8cation is, you will have to explain how it works, and WHY such a thing as strategic communication exists or should exist.

The third function is prediction and control.

Theory helps us control the conditions and circumstances in the professional practice – and further predict the outcomes of our activity or our strategies.

Finally, theories have a heuristic function.

The word heuristic refers to a bridge – or shortcut – that we establish between two things. Something has a heuristic function when it helps as a bridge to arrive to somewhere else.

In the case of theories, we talk about a heuristic function, because they need to be challenged.

Theories attract critics that start a dialectical process. Other Theorists will try to create new theories to better describe, understand, predict and control.

The traditional myth against theories is based on the belief that they do no have any practical application. They are too abstract and difficult to apply to the real world.

This prejudice is especially strong in social sciences.

In traditional applied sciences, like architecture, or engineering, nobody disputes the role and importance of theory. If you want to construct a bridge, you need a solid knowledge in physics and mathematics. And if you ignore this theoretical basis, it is possible – even probable – that the bridge – or the building if you are an architect – collapses.

What could happen in the professional communication practice if your theoretical knowledge is not solid enough? What can go wrong ?

– You can create and deliver messages that are not effective because they are not adapted to the characteristics of the target audience or because they are deliver too early or too late.

– You can address the wrong target audience.

– You can choose the wrong channel to reach your target audience.

In all those cases, you will waste serious amounts of money with no positive outcome.

Of course, you might damage the reputation of your company, destroy the trust of the public, or jeopardize the future of the actors involved in the campaign (for instance, political candidates).

In this course, We will focus strategic communication theory on two fields:

We will discuss, first of all, the fours steps process of communication campaigns.

 Since strategic communication is one of the persuasion industries, you will have to get familiar with some basic concepts on persuasive communication.

Scott Cutlip’s 4 Step Model

When Scott Cutlip designed his famous model, his main concern was to establish a process that could be applied to the strategic communication activity in any possible field (profit or non-profit sector, business, promotions, politics, etc…)

Cutlip identified 4 clearly differentiated steps to articulate any systematic communication campaign. Cutlip’s concept was very successful and many different authors have adopted the model – perhaps using different terms to designate the four steps, but without adding anything essential.

According to Cutlip’s model, the most effective way to design a campaign should contemplate these four phases:

1. Defining Communication Problems
2. Planning and Programming
3. Taking Action and Communication
4. Evaluating the Program

Defining Communication Issues

Any communication campaign starts by defining which the issues are, and that essentially means that we need to identify the gap between the desired situation and the present situation. We establish what the public already knows and then decide we want them to know. We find out the attitude of our target audience about specific product, services, organizations, issues, or even people, and then define which is the attitude we want/need them to have.

Therefore, research has to be the first step. Information is gold in communication. Practitioners need to be familiar with a series of research methodologies. You should be already familiar with them, since we discussed research methods in learning unit 3.

Research Methods:

Quantitative Research Methods

When we talk about quantitative research methodologies we are referring to opinion polls or survey research. Characteristic of these methodologies is that they work with large (and supposedly representative) samples. The interviewees (people who are interviewed) have to answer a variety of closed questions, i.e. they have to choose one of the possible pre-established answers (as you do in a multiple choice or in a course evaluation). Very seldom are open questions, questions in which the interviewees can give an extensive answer, is survey research.

The most important advantage of quantitative methodologies, if the sampling method has been done properly, is that the outcomes have statistical significance. You can apply the outcomes of your survey to the entire target population. Thus, you can assume that your target audience will know what the interviewed people know about the issue at stake, and that they will have the attitude shown by your survey.

Qualitative Research methods

The popular focus groups or in-depth interviews are the most common forms of qualitative research. The researcher works, in both cases with a limited group of individuals belonging to the defined target audience.

Since both research methods work with open questions, the interviewees can give much more insight about their ideas, opinions or feelings. Thus, we can reach a much deeper psychological analysis than with quantitative methodologies.

Another advantage of qualitative methodologies is that they allow us identify opinion leaders. Those more active members of our target population play a key role in public opinions dynamics, as we will learn later in this course. It is important for to identify attitudes and opinions of opinion leaders because they are reliable indicators of the opinion of the majority, and also because it helps us identify current and future trends.

The disadvantage of qualitative research is that it does not possess statistical significance. Thus, we cannot apply the outcomes to our whole target population.

Audience Analysis

Audience analysis becomes crucial when it comes to choose the right channel to reach our target audience.

Through audience research, we find out who reads the different newspapers and magazines, who listens to which radio stations, and who watches specific TV channels and shows.

Planning and Programming

Once you have found out information about the level of knowledge and the attitudes of the public or publics you want to address, you can start planning your actual communication campaign.

In this second step, you will have to

Define the goals of the campaign

There are basically two main categories of strategic objectives that can be reach through the use of communication.

Information:

In some cases, the whole campaign aims to create awareness in the public, or increase its level of knowledge about the issue at hand.

Persuasion:

Most frequently, communication campaigns aim to influence the public and change their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

In many cases, campaign need to achieve both strategic communication goals. Before we can persuade our target audience, we need frequently to make them aware of or increase their level of information about the subject of our campaign. For instance, if your goal is to persuade your town’s citizenship to recycle garbage, you may start the campaign informing them about the deterioration of the environment.

Define Target Population

We need also to accurately define which is the segment of the population we are addressing.

Define Messages

When we know exactly the characteristics of the group of people we want to address, then we can start focusing on the strategic messages. Always keep in mind that effective messages – above all persuasive messages – need to be tailored to the nature and features of our public. It is very important that we create a common ground to put them in the right frame of mind and to avoid discrepancy. You can learn more about persuasive communication in the last section of this learning module.

Define Communication Channels

Based on our audience research, we also need to determine which is the most effective channel to reach our target audience.

Define the Message Source

Here we decide WHO is going to deliver the messages, the face, or the name, our target audience will associate to those messages. The credibility of the messages depends to an important extent on who delivers them.g

Taking Action and Communicating

In this third step, we carry out our strategic plan.

For this purpose, we need

1. to identify key actors,
2. to develop outreach tools,
3. and to deliver them.

First of all, we need to identify people inside and outside the organization who may help realize the strategic plan.

Above all inside the organization, we need to find out who can do what.

Not everybody wants to get involved, and not everybody has the skills that are necessary to get involved.

In the previous phases we have determined the contents of the messages. In this stage,. we have to produce them

The sophistication of our communications techniques will necessarily depend on the available financial means.

Each outreach tool can be developed in small or big fashion.

Examples: A promotional video may be produced by a group of students of communication at a local college – or by a professional media production studio.

Brochures and Newsletters can also be produced with very simple software at home – Microsoft Publisher for example – but you can also hire an expensive graphic design firm.

Important is also in this stage that the content and design of the messages are tested with individuals of the target audiences to identify potential misinterpretation before the production (or duplication) phase starts.

Outreach tools may include:

• A web-site,
• Different print materials like brochures, instructional manuals, …,
• Awareness raising or instructional videos,
• Press releases,
• Public Service Announcements for television and radio,

The project website should be displayed prominently in most materials.

It is important to have ready the outreach tools before the campaign starts to avoid interruptions in the development of the campaign.

Distributions delays can also lower the effectiveness of our messages. Therefore, the scheduled sequence of messages should be respected, so that we can maximize the effects of the campaign.

Evaluating the Program

The last step is the evaluation of your campaign.

And there are, in essence, only two emphases in the evaluation of campaigns:

Process Evaluation

In the process evaluation, you assess the quality, quantity, and timing of messages and channels employed during the campaign.

An important research method in this phase is the contents analysis – and that means to find out if the press coverage of your events, or of the whole campaign, was favorable or unfavorable.

This is the time to reflect on the effectiveness and efficiency of the campaign and the actors involved in its implementation. You will have to find out if everybody did his/her job well and on time.

Outcome Evaluation

In the outcome evaluation, you determine whether the campaign reached its stated objectives or not.

For this purpose, we measure the changes in initial levels of awareness, knowledge, beliefs attitudes and/or behavior.

Also in this step you will need scientific Social Research.

Basically, there are two forms of outcome evaluation research.

First: Opinion Polls to check the effects of your campaign on the level of knowledge or the attitudes of your target audience.

Second: Content Analysis to find out the whether the media coverage of your campaign – or the concrete events – was favorable or unfavorable.

Cutlip’s model is a circular one, because the feedback you get from your evaluation research – you will use as research to identify new problems and to decide new strategies and actions.

Persuasive Communication

We have defined the professional field of strategic communication as a persuasion industry.

Thus, strategic communicators need a deep knowledge of psychological and behavioral sciences that try to explain how persuasion works.

The goal of this lecture is to introduce the most relevant concepts and principles in persuasive communication, since one of the core courses in the program entirely focuses on it.

Persuasion defined

Ervin P. Bettinghaus, one of the most important scholars in this particular communication field, defines persuasion as

“the conscious attempt by one individual to change the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of another individual or group of individuals through the transmission of some message.”

Let’s analyze the most important elements in this definition.

First of all, there is always an intention in persuasive communication, a well-defined goal.

With persuasive messages, we try to influence beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of individuals or large groups of people.

It is not equally easy – or difficult – to influence beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.  Beliefs and values endure, are difficult to change because we acquire them in the process of socialization. In this process, they become part of our identity. Thus, persuasive messages seldom will focus on the beliefs of the target audience.  Attitudes, which could be defined as the readiness to respond to certain ideas, persons, situations or actions, are easier to influence. We can change our attitudes without questioning our value system.

Attitudes are also easier to influence than behaviors. Our behavior depends on many factors that the persuasive communicator cannot control. You may develop a positive attitude toward the luxurious car that you saw in a commercial. Still, even if the message was effective and you developed a positive attitude toward the car, you will not yield to the message because you may not be able to afford it. The attitudinal change always precedes the behavioral change.

Communication is the only tool we use in persuasion.

In persuasive communication there must always be some measure of freedom. Persuasion implies free will, free choice, on the side of the persuadee (the individual who is being persuaded).

If someone knocks you out and takes your money, you cannot say: “he persuaded me to give him the money”.

Neither can we talk about persuasion when there is pressure or extortion.

Persuasion can only be achieved on the basis of argument.

Change

Persuasion always involves a mental change (even if our final intention is to influence the behavior of our audience).

We can distinguish three kinds of mental change:

Response shaping

is similar to the learning process.

In this case, the audience is a tabula rasa – They don’t have any knowledge or any opinion about the subject at hand.

Thus, the persuader tries to SHAPE THEIR RESPONSE teaching them what to think about the new situation or how to act.

Response reinforcing

If the people in the audience already have a positive or negative attitude toward a topic, the persuader may be interested in reinforcing this previous attitude.

Most of the persuasion nowadays belongs to this category. For example fund-raising, blood drives, or public service announcements. The general public is familiar with the organizations and the cause they support, and has a previous positive or negative attitude toward the subject. Communication campaigns try in those cases to reinforce the existing attitude.

The last category, response changing,

is, of course, the most difficult task in persuasion.

The persuader expects the persuadee to switch from one attitude to another.

This is the toughest kind of mental change to achieve, because people are reluctant to change.

It’s difficult to persuade someone to vote for democrats, who always thought democrats to be evil or incompetent.

Or to like communism if she was anti-communist.

Or to convert to Christianity if he was always a Muslim.

If you want someone to change his or her mind, you have to discover an

ANCHOR

An anchor is a strong belief that both persuader and persuadee have in common. Anchors are absolutely necessary to create a common ground with the audience. Without this common ground, the audience will necessarily rejects our messages.

For example:

If I want to persuade you to quit smoking, I might use as an anchor the idea of health, or the importance of our life for our families. Something, I guess, you would agree upon.

The persuasion formula

A very effective way to approach the topic of persuasion, to try to understand how persuasion works, is the so-called persuasion formula.

According to this formula, persuasion is the product of multiplying message quality by source credibility and dividing it by the message discrepancy.

This formula elegantly highlights the three key elements in persuasive communication

Message Quality, Message Discrepancy, and Source Credibility

and describes how these elements interact with each other.

To be successful in persuasion, you need to increase message quality and source credibility and to reduce the message discrepancy to a minimum.

Message Quality

The quality of the message depends on HOW or TO Which EXTENT the message fits our target audience.

One of the first things that we have to take into consideration when we design persuasive messages is the level of ego-involvement of our audience.

The EGO or self-involvement is not just the interest in the topic. The degree of EGO-INVOLVEMENT tells us how crucial the issue at hand is for the psychological, physical, emotional or economic integrity of the individual.

The level of self-involvement will determine how probable it is that the individual thinks or reflects about our message.

On the basis of this information we can take two different routes to persuasion,

Central Route:

We take the central route when the degree of Ego-involvement is high and thus, we expect a diligent consideration of issue-relevant arguments.

In the case of the central route, we appeal to the reason of our audience. We try to activate their cognitive potential.

Central route emphasizes factors such as:

Comprehension,

 Learning,

 Retention of message arguments, or even

Self-generation of arguments.

If you buy a house, you will have to shop for a convenient mortgage. The degree of ego involvement, in this case, will be very high. You will be paying the mortgage for the next 20 or 30 years. Therefore, it is probable that you spent time and cognitive energy analyzing the mortgage products of different credit institutions.

When creating persuasive messages to sell this particular service, you need to take this fact into account. In this case, the central route will be more effective. You will need to provide your target audience with the factual information they will demand to carefully analyze your product.

Peripheral Route.

We take the peripheral route to persuasion when we can count on a low level of Ego-involvement.

Relevant for persuasion goals is this case the use of

positive or negative emotional cues,

the credibility , attractiveness or power of the message source,

or the so-called heuristics.

Using the peripheral route, we may shape attitudes or allow a person to decide what attitudinal position to adopt without the need of engaging in any extensive issue-relevant thinking.

In this case, it is much more effective to appeal to the emotions of our target audience.

In the peripheral route, the source credibility can also be much more relevant than factual information.

If you are designing a communication campaign to promote a particular brand of toilette paper, you may count on a low level of EGO-involvement. It is rather unlikely that the members of your target audience spend a considerable amount of time analyzing your messages and comparing the factual characteristics of the different toilette paper brands. The factor that triggers consumption in this case is brand recognition.

Therefore, when creating persuasive messages (advertisements or commercials) you will avoid including too much information about the product. You would use positive emotional cues, such as warmth, softness, or smoothness to position your product into the mind of the prospect. Commercials for this particular product use pets, cuddly toys, or even babies to produce those emotional responses.

The so-called heuristics are also a common tool when using the peripheral route to persuasion.

Heuristics are shortcuts, mental bridges that help the individual arrive at an apparently logical conclusion without cognitive elaboration, that is, without too much thinking.

We will mention here only some of the most frequent heuristics.

Authority

If a message is delivered by some one we considered an authority in the particular field, an expert, we may tend to believe it. This is referred to as Authority Heuristic. This is also the reason why doctors and other highly qualified professionals endorse specific products and services in their area of expertise.

Commitment (foot on the door technique)

In the case of the Commitment Heuristic – also known as “foot on the door technique” – the persuader tries to get from the persuadee a small commitment to an idea, so that it will be easier to achieve the actual goal. If you admit that the idea of world peace is, in fact, important, you will be more inclined to give money in a fund-raising campaign for that cause.

Contrast

Offering the persuadees the possibility of comparing things, the Contrast Heuristic, may help the persuader put them in the right frame of mind. This happens, for instance, when you see the price tag in any retail store with 20 or 50 percent off. Your mind automatically compares prices and figures out the amount of money that you may save. Actually, you are not saving any money because the only real value of a product is the money you pay for it.

Real states agents also rely on the contrast heuristic to put their clients in the right frame of mind. They frequently show shabby places to their customers that theoretically are in their budget range. Then, they take them to more reasonable places that are not too more expensive. They assume that the mind of their clients will be impressed by the depressing images of the first visits and open to form a favorable opinion of the latest ones.

Scarcity

The scarcity heuristic is also used to generate a frame of mind in the persuadees. When they think that a particular product or offer is about to vanish, they may feel more incline to purchase the product without engaging in critical thinking. The idea that something is scarce may create the impression that it has a higher value.

Social proof

Finally, the social proof heuristic has to do with the constant scrutiny of our social environment. If we see that everyone around us is doing something or using a particular product we may come to the conclusion that this activity or product is good. The social proof heuristic is especially common in the world of fashion. Still, remember that practically any product might become an object of fashion streams.

Source Credibility

The second element in the persuasion formula is the Source Credibility.

The credibility of the individual who delivers the persuasive message is an essential factor in persuasion.

Credibility of the message’s source can rely on 4 different factors:

Perceived expertise,

(If a doctor recommends a certain medicament you will tend to belief him more than if the same message is delivered by a janitor).

Perceived trustworthiness

(If you find out that the same doctor is working for the company that produces the medicament, the he will not be so trustworthy).

Attractiveness of the source

(this is the reason why so many attractive celebrities are used to deliver persuasive messages).

And  Dynamism of the source

(the energy and dynamism are perceived as indicators of the confidence you have in your message)

The relative importance of these four factors will depend on the nature of the topic being discussed.

Complex issues demand a high level of expertise.

Risky issues demand trust.

Emotional issues are better communicated by a likeable source. Dynamic sources do better when the audience is not strongly opposed.

Careful audience analysis early in the campaign planning process can help identify sources that are perceived to be credible. Importantly, audience analysis will also help identify which sources are not credible, avoiding the all too common mistake of having the wrong spokesperson.

Message Discrepancy

The probability that individuals rejects messages that are in contradiction with their beliefs and values is rather high. Therefore it must be our priority to avoid message discrepancy, the third element in the persuasion formula.

Leon Festinger laid the foundations for the study of persuasion with his famous theory of the cognitive dissonance in 1957.

When we face a new issue, we use existing schemata to evaluate it. Festinger uses this term, schemata, to describe pre-existing mental structures that determine the way we order and store information in our brain. If the new issue represents a contradiction with our values and beliefs, we will experience it as dissonant. Since dissonance always creates a certain degree of discomfort, the individual tends to avoid it.

There are, according to Festinger, three different ways to cope with dissonance:

Selective Exposure

Selective Attention

 And Selective Interpretation

Individuals may simply avoid messages that collide with their value system. Conservative people, for instance, watch conservative news channels and stay away from liberal media. They look for a world vision that reassures the columns of their existence.

In case that they cannot avoid being exposed to the dissonant message, they can just ignore it or select an interpretation that does not create discomfort. Even facts can be subject of biased interpretation.

People judge situations and other people based on their anchors, their pre-exiting standpoints on a particular issue.

For this purpose, persuasion theorists differentiate between the latitude of acceptance, the latitude of neutrality, and the latitude of rejection. We have to make sure that our messages fall within the latitude of acceptance or neutrality. If they fall within the latitude of rejection, they will be ineffective and, most probably, also ignored.

The research step of our campaign should provide us with the necessary information to avoid the latitude of rejection. We need to know the positions that our target audience would never adopt.

An Example:

If during a fund raising campaign, you find out that your target audience is willing to give up to $ 20. This would be their latitude of acceptance. It would be absurd to send messages asking for $ 1,000, which would fall decidedly within the latitude of rejection.

More reasonable would be to ask for $30 – 50 (possible latitude of neutrality).