Melanie James

A Provisional Conceptual Framework for Intentional Positioning in Public Relations

Positioning within public relations is a concept not often addressed in public relations literature. This article reports on the progress of a project that aims to develop a way in which positioning could be usefully conceptualized within public relations. It suggests a conceptual framework that takes positioning beyond the marketing definitions that have limited use in the broader public relations field. The article reports on the development of a provisional conceptual framework for intentional positioning within a public relations context. Drawing from recent developments in positioning theory in the field of psychology, a framework was developed and applied to 57 award winning public relations campaign entries. Findings reveal that the positioning framework has the potential to be applied both as an heuristic to aid analysis of practice and also as a framework to aid practitioners in designing positioning strategies. Possibilities for further research are discussed.

Situating a New Voice in Public Relations: The Application of Positioning Theory to Research and Practice

The role of speech acts in public relations practice, and how they are used by entities to intentionally position themselves and others, are examined through the application of positioning theory. Studies have found that successful positioning is achieved when there is congruence between the position taken or assigned, the speech acts used to enact it, and the storylines used as support. This triad is central to positioning theory, which is a social constructionist approach that defines a position as a cluster of rights and duties that limits the repertoire of possible social acts available to a person or person-like entity (such as an organisation). Examining public relations using positioning theory articulates practices relating to the power to position self and others, and can inform decision-making in communication program design. It moves away from organisation/management-centric theory that has dominated the field, and situates public relations firmly in the communication discipline.

Positioning a price on carbon: Applying a proposed hybrid method of positioning discourse analysis for public relations:

The primary aim of this research was to explore whether the conceptual framework for intentional positioning in public relations proposed by James in 2010–11, which is underpinned by positioning theory, could be used to guide a discourse analysis of strategic positioning tactics. Positioning discourse analysis is designed to examine how discourse is being used to strategically position something in order to gain an advantage, or to achieve a goal in a public relations context. In this study, a sample of speeches by the two leading politicians in Australia on the topic of carbon pricing was analysed. Both politicians worked to position a carbon price/tax as good and bad for Australia respectively. Guided by James’s framework, the positioning goal, positioning type and positioning purpose were identified along with the discursive strategies used. However, one of the positions was not as strongly held in the public debate as the other. Applying positioning theory, it could be seen that although other factors in the strategy and tactics were basically sound, it could also be argued that the right to position in a certain way had not been sufficiently established in the opinion of Australian voters. Undertaking a positioning discourse analysis offers another way of examining practice and sheds more light on the role of discourse in strategic public relations. This was a small study with generally encouraging findings that indicate further testing of the method is warranted.