A planned effort to influence public opinion is one of the strongest definitions of Public Relations we know.

Planning is a management necessity in successful corporations, with most businesses routinely assembling five-year plans, including support planning down to its lowest operating levels.

The Public Relations function, internal or via agency, should not be exempt from this critical process. Too frequently, this annual process is viewed as simply an update of the prior year’s campaign, without regard to the current business and economic environments.

At Stern And Company, planning is one of five steps that we follow in developing an overall communications program:

• Fact finding about the client, its charter, products, markets, audiences, competition, corporate and marketing objectives, and strategies behind those objectives.
• Research in order to determine the foundation for the plan. As we’re seeking to influence public opinion, we must first determine what those opinions are.
• Planning, which is based on the fact finding and research.
• Communication, the implementation of the plan.
• Measurement, to evaluate the results achieved against desired objectives. Read the rest of this entry »

Orders for big-ticket factory goods fell unexpectedly in October as the economy struggles to get back to full health.

The Commerce Department reported today that orders for costly manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent last month, following a 2 percent gain in September. It marked the first decline since August.

But much of October’s weakness came from an 18.4 percent drop in orders for goods related to defense. Excluding those, orders for other types of manufactured goods rose 0.4 percent in October, following a 1.8 percent rise in September.

Still, the performance was weaker than economists expected. They were forecasting orders for durable goods to grow 0.5 percent.

Orders for electrical equipment, commercial airplanes and parts, primary metals — including steel — and fabricated metals all rose last month. Orders for cars, machinery, computers and communications equipment fell.

The economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace last quarter, as the recovery got off to a slower start than first thought.

The government’s new reading ongross domestic product wasn’t as strong as the 3.5 percent growth rate for the July-September period estimated just a month ago.

The main factors behind the downgrade: consumers didn’t spend as much, commercial construction was weaker and the nation’s trade deficit was more of a drag on growth. Businesses also trimmed more of their stockpiles, another restraining factor.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that existing-home sales, including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, surged 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.10 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September, and were 23.5 percent above the 4.94 million-unit level in October 2008. Sales activity is at the highest pace since February 2007 when it hit 6.55 million.

Total housing inventory at the end of October fell 3.7 percent to 3.57 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from an 8.0-month supply in September. Unsold inventory totals are 14.9 percent below a year ago.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $173,100 in October, down 7.1 percent from October 2008. Distressed properties, which accounted for 30 percent of sales in October, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they usually sell at a discount relative to traditional homes in the same area. Read the rest of this entry »

Real average hourly earnings fell 0.1 percent from September to October, seasonally adjusted, the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. A 0.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers slightly offset a 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Real average weekly earnings fell 0.1 percent over the month, as a result of a decline in real average hourly earnings and an unchanged average work week. Since reaching a recent high point in December 2008, real average weekly earnings have fallen by 1.9 percent.