Public relations and managing reputation

Setting meaningful public relations objectives: authority interviewed

Setting public relations objectives that are directly related to an organisation’s mission and operating or business plan is, so it seems, one of PR’s great challenges. It simply does not occur with any consistently applied methodology. But there are ways to create objectives – or KPIs – that are inherently and profoundly relevant to what an organisation is actually trying to achieve - let's learn some 'secrets'...with internationally renowned public relations exponent and a passionate advocate for the setting of objectives, Angela Sinickas.

Social media communication generating trust

It should come as no surprise to hear that Google, one of the most potent organisations in the world, has trust as one of its positioning lynchpins…yet in a (business) world still coming to terms with the fact that those defining a brand are more often its stakeholders than the brand itself, this is still close to being revolutionary, especially if it is being effectively put into action, rather than simply being pontificated on. Lucinda Barlow, Google Australia and New Zealand’s Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, put forward this premise at Frocomm’s 2010 New Media Summit. “We all work for and represent brands and brands are all about trust,” Lucinda said. “People have certain expectations of a brand and that’s what we have to portray.” But are all brands about trust? I don’t think so. Australian Wheat Board? Rio Tinto? Westpac? Not exactly high-performing brands in the trust stakes. Google are a fascinating entity in many ways, but their confluence of the dimensions of communication, products and societal centrality is one aspect of this. As a result of this it possesses an enormous amount of power: - The power over people’s ability to access information (including information being organised in a manner customised to people’s varying ‘niche needs’) - The power over people’s means of accessing information - The power of influencing government and regulatory regimes. In summary, this means the company is playing a significant role in shaping society itself. The power of giving away control Lucinda (@lucindabarlow) describes Google as having collaboration at its heart and giving up power to its stakeholders. What a breath of fresh air for a public relations professional! “Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Lucinda. “This means giving our users around the world access to the information they want, from the widest variety of sources, wherever they are.” And it is interesting to note that, despite its competition being, “one click away,” Lucinda said Google’s policy is not to lock people into utilising the products it develops, but to, “allow customers to move their data out of Google's services easily. “We have a dedicated engineering team, working across all products, called the ‘Data Liberation Front’ to make this happen. To keep you coming back, we have to keep innovating to create great services that are important to people and change their lives.” Making it easy to not use Google has a number of implications for a professional communicator: - It gives more power to consumers to set the terms of the relationship. In fact, with products like Google Maps, consumers have the power to actually change the parameters of the product itself - It is empowering the consumer to be a participant in the brand, not an observer - The numerous listening and interactive posts it has in the online environment reflect the way its business model is profoundly influenced by its stakeholders’ knowledge, views and behaviour. Analogous to this is the approach that Lucinda said Google takes to its stakeholder communication: “We need to be fast, responsive, open and transparent in our communication.” Eavesdropping for insights “There is a large and growing audience of people who actively listen to, distribute and publish their opinions online,” said Lucinda. “This gives real power to the vocal minority. According to Nielsen, in Australia 45% of people online publish their opinions specifically about products, services, and brands online and a massive 86% read them. It's such an influential space. “When you probe what the most trusted sources of information are, word of mouth comes out tops followed by online...because online is seen as a way to scale 'word of mouth' and tap into it en masse. “And you're not just about managing what gets said about your brand in order to effect sales directly. It's also about consumer insight. It's like being permanently tapped in to the world's largest focus group. Our users decide what’s popular and what they want to watch. They talk about it. They debate with each other. Those comments are gold. Just ask United Airlines…” Social responsibility The power of Google means it has a more profound, socially pervasive social responsibility than most organisations. Its enormous global reach (i.e. all stratas of virtually all societies) make this more challenging for Google than most, as different societies and their various elements all have differing expectations of organisations. As long as trust remains central to its business model, however, it has a reliable compass with which to steer itself. Communication, and public relations in particular, is the ideal mechanism to facilitate this journey occurring.

Free report: PR at war – opinion explosion at social media summit

Free report on PR and social media...Trust, crowds (utilisation of, communicating to, segmenting of…), integration (or not) of social media and corporate websites, the death of ‘networked’ communication, content generation issues and the challenges of change within social media were some of the primary themes that were either explicitly stated at the 2010 Frocomm New Media Summit, bubbled under its surface or were notable not for their articulation, but by their surprising absence…

Issues management is inherent to all intelligent PR

Contrary to its positioning amongst the professional communication and broader business environments, issues management is not always inextricably integrated into crisis communication. In fact, its strongest characteristic is strengthening an organisation’s reputation so it is less likely to be negatively impacted on by a crisis. Issues management is, therefore, both an inherent component of all effective [...]

Is ‘An abundance of caution’ undermining business communication?

As organisations take a new approach to deciding when to launch a product recall, public relations professionals need to reassess how they are communicated. And how to avoid meaningless phrases like ‘abundance of caution which hinder organisations from communicating clearly, and effectively positioning themselves, with their stakeholders. Two recent American recalls suggest companies are raising the bar (or perhaps that should be lowering the bar) when brand protection seems to outweigh the possibility of harm to the public.

Does Your Corporate Reputation Have New Owners?

Reputation Renegades is a free e-Book. It addresses many issues, but chief amongst them is the fallacy that corporations have control of their reputation. This reality has been emphasised in recent times by the influence of web-based communities. The e-Book espouses internal lobbying to change the recalcitrants' perspectives, humanise this communication and tackle the issue of trust.

PR saved my life: a personal story

I once was lost, but now am saved. So it seems, anyway. At a major juncture in my life and one year after starting this blog, I thought it an opportune time to explain how my discovery of the public relations profession pretty much saved my life. Maybe not in a fully literal sense, but close enough to it. Key out takes: do not rest until you fulfil your belief, or intuition, in yourself; you can begin a career later than in your 20s; hard work and talent create a career.

Working in PR: 17 reasons why agencies fly, in-house sighs

Working in a PR agency is one of the most exciting, valuable and positive experiences any PR professional can have. In the early years of your career, in particular, you are less hamstrung by process and get your hands on a range of projects. Agency employees are often perceived as experts; it presents a range of professional and life opportunities; and you are surrounded by peers who understand the discipline and provide excellent support.

Working in PR: 14 reasons why in-house kicks agency butt

After having worked in PR for 16 years, both in-house and ‘in-agency’, I believe working in-house is clearly where one can make a more significant difference to an organisation and its stakeholders, as well as being more rewarding environment in which to work: you write the strategy, pull the strings and don’t have the hideous ogre of new business to deal with.

The future of PR in the 21st century

This is the second part of a two-part series on social media’s impact on the practice of PR and the profession itself. This post talks about how, in the 21st century, PR should be leveraging its logical leadership of social media for all its worth and use it as an opportunity to position itself more favourably as a management discipline that delivers business-relevant results.