IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN COMMUNICATION

Research is very crucial to the field International Public Relations since it has the following functions;

Knowing the publics

Research is very important in the aspect of knowing the target publics. For the practitioner to work in a different cultural background research is a very crucial aspect as it provides a practitioner with a prior knowledge on the believes, values, interest as well as preferences of the publics from people of a particular country where the International Public practitioner wishes to practice public relations activities of creating mutual understanding.

Research enables two-way communication

Research makes communication two-way by collecting information from international publics rather than one-way communication, which is a simple way of spreading information from the publics. Research allow International Public Relations practitioners to engage in dialogue with publics, understanding their beliefs and values, which is useful in creations of programs and policies align with the beliefs and values and working in building understanding on their part of the internal workings and policies of the organization. Researches shows that two-way communication is generally more effective than one-way communication, especially in instances in which the organization is heavily regulated by government or confronts environment in the form of changing industry trends or of activist groups.

It enables to specifically communicate to the target publics who need the information.

Research ensures that communication is specifically targeted to publics who want, need, or care about the information. Without conducting research, international public relations bases on experience or instinct, neither of which play large roles in strategic management. This type of research prevents us from wasting money on communications that are not reaching intended publics or not doing the job that we had designed them to do as for example international advertising is very expensive

Finding the market

One of the first things to know when promoting a product or service is who are your market. Are you selling the product to teens or adults, males or females, students or professionals? Research involves more than demographics that helps to analyze the behavior, lifestyle, and preferences of your audience. Therefore, knowing the target market in a global context will help you to determine how your message will be and how to design it in a way that your audience can understand and appreciate the communication.

Research helps in selecting media.

When the message is well developed, the next step is to choose a medium for sending it. Research is useful to find out which media your publics can afford, trust, access and which ones will bring in the most returns in the shortest time. On the other hand, research helps a practitioner to be aware on the cost and coverage of the media, example the cost of advertising on international media such as television and radio, since the cost is always different from one country to another with respect to the media policy.

Reach the Public

From time to time, a company creates a public relations plan in order to reach out to the public. This plan involves a message they want to portray to the public. In order to deliver what the publics want to hear, a company needs to do research. It is also a valuable tool to discover the media outlets both current and potential publics use so that a company can reach out to the largest audience possible throughout the world.

By Foya John H.

BAPRM 42553