What should you do when a major crisis erupts? How can you counter the wave of negative public opinions that emerge, especially online?
Well, it really depends on the circumstances. As the saying goes, having the best hammer doesn’t mean that every problem is a nail. Similarly, managing communication crises requires you to first diagnose the cause and effect of the issue before prescribing the right public relations strategy.
Is Public Relations (PR) always about “sugar and spice and everything nice”? Are there situations where you have to close ranks and fight to defend your corporate reputation?
In the social age, seemingly innocuous events could be blown way out of proportion. At the same time, getting your news out there has become increasingly challenging in an ever-streaming, over-cluttered digital world.
Are you a public relations or PR professional? If so, what do you see yourself as?
A) Purveyor of the corporate spiel, coated with sugar, spice and everything nice;
B) Hustler for significant editorial coverage on newspapers, television news and magazines;
C) Guardian of your organisation’s corporate brand;
D) Gatekeeper to your head honchos; or
E) Spokesperson, communicator and messenger?
Communicating clearly is a constant pain for publicists like us. If we do it well, nobody is going to say a thing. If we botch it up, however…
Just yesterday, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong posted on Facebook about the ongoing need for public officers to communicate more clearly to the public. He shared a link from The Irish Times which described how Apple’s “lost its way with words” in a recent employment ad using “gibberish”.
Lately, I’ve been perplexed by a paradox in the world of social networks and online influence:
Why are so few Singaporean brands gaining traction on social media platforms despite the huge number of Singaporeans online?
Source: Edelman Insights
Thanks to a blog post from Jackie Huba of Church of the Customer, I came to learn about Edelman Insights Presentation titled “Key Employee Engagement Findings from Edelman’s 2012 Trust Barometer”. From the survey results (graphic above), several facts seemed to pop out:
1) People are increasingly losing their trust in the heads of organisations like CEOs. This has dropped by a whopping 12% in 2012 compared to 2011.
Courtesy of Keith Maguire
As a public relations professional who deal with the media on a regular basis, I am often faced with situations which require a judgement call. These may take the form of a series of deeply probing questions by journalists who are determined to weed out the grains of dirt, or to develop a more sensational story from an otherwise run-of-the-mill piece.
While I believe in telling the truth, I am also aware that certain facts presented in the wrong context may end up leaving a false impression. The worst thing that can happen is to end up losing control of an unfolding story, and to be perceived as being uncooperative and unwilling to provide information to a hungry media circus.
The Salvation Army is one of the world’s most recognised non-profit brand.
In this day and age, non-profit organisations like charities, trade associations, special interest groups, and clubs can ill afford to ignore branding. To reach a critical sized audience and membership, you need systems and processes to be in place. You need to also market your organisation for it to gain greater clout and reach so that it can better achieve its purpose. Just passion alone would not cut it.
Branding Insider, one of my favourite references for branding thoughts, highlighted 7 points of branding non-profit organisations.
