CPRS Strategic Planning 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An organization's PR strategic plan should be reviewed and updated most frequently when:
- Annual budget cycles reset
- Significant environmental changes occur (e.g., crisis, merger, market shift) (Correct answer)
- New PR staff members join the team
- A competitor launches a new product
Correct answer: Significant environmental changes occur (e.g., crisis, merger, market shift)
Strategic plans must be responsive to significant environmental changes that alter stakeholder perceptions, competitive dynamics, or organizational priorities.
Question 2: Which concept describes identifying and managing issues before they escalate into crises as part of strategic planning?
- Crisis communication
- Issues management (Correct answer)
- Risk auditing
- Scenario planning
Correct answer: Issues management
Issues management is the ongoing process of identifying emerging issues, assessing their potential impact, and taking strategic action to shape their development.
Question 3: A nonprofit wants to change legislation affecting its community. Which PR strategic approach is most appropriate?
- Consumer public relations campaign
- Employee communication program
- Public affairs and advocacy strategy (Correct answer)
- Investor relations initiative
Correct answer: Public affairs and advocacy strategy
Public affairs and advocacy PR is specifically designed to influence policy, legislation, and regulatory outcomes by engaging legislators, regulators, and aligned stakeholders.
Question 4: The concept of 'two-way symmetrical communication' in PR strategy emphasizes:
- Sending the same message through two channels simultaneously
- Equally dividing the budget between earned and paid media
- Mutual dialogue where the organization adapts based on stakeholder feedback (Correct answer)
- Having two spokespersons deliver the same key messages
Correct answer: Mutual dialogue where the organization adapts based on stakeholder feedback
Grunig's two-way symmetrical model treats communication as genuine dialogue where both the organization and publics may change as a result of the exchange.
Question 5: When a PR strategic plan includes a 'theory of change,' it describes:
- How the organization will respond to unexpected events
- The logical chain linking PR activities to desired long-term outcomes (Correct answer)
- The schedule for rotating key messages over time
- A protocol for updating the plan annually
Correct answer: The logical chain linking PR activities to desired long-term outcomes
A theory of change maps the causal pathway from PR tactics to immediate outputs, to intermediate outcomes, to the ultimate organizational or social impact.
Question 6: Which factor most often causes a PR strategic plan to fail during implementation?
- Insufficient press release distribution
- Lack of senior management buy-in and resources (Correct answer)
- Over-reliance on social media
- Too many measurable objectives
Correct answer: Lack of senior management buy-in and resources
Without leadership support and adequate resource allocation, even well-designed PR strategies stall because teams lack authority, budget, and organizational backing.
Question 7: A PR practitioner presenting a strategic plan to the C-suite should frame PR investments primarily in terms of:
- Media impressions and clip counts
- Business impact and contribution to organizational goals (Correct answer)
- Competitive benchmarking of PR activities
- Creative quality of campaign materials
Correct answer: Business impact and contribution to organizational goals
Senior leaders respond to business outcomes; framing PR in terms of revenue, reputation risk, or strategic goal advancement earns credibility and budget support.
CPRS Strategic Planning 5
An organization's PR strategic plan should be reviewed and updated most frequently when: