Week 8: The one where Terence managed PR effectively

While PR practioners might not be just a mouthpiece for organizations when it comes to addressing their publics ad stakeholders anymore,they still play an important role in helping to manage the organization/client's, well, Public Relations...for the lack of an alternative word.

As such, gone are the days when companies can just make decisions and expect their publics to go along with it. Today, it is more likely the publics calling the stakes on the organizations rather than the other way around.

Public opinion is essentially the lifeblood of a company. Failure to maintain and improve on current impression can lead to a fatal end for the organization. This week's readings introduced a very good way of facilitating relaions between the organization and their publics - the Systems Theory

Originally developed from the study of biological systems, the Systems Theory has a few variations to it but point back to the same logic all the time - that the need to rely on constant interaction and exchanges between environments and organizations is vital, in order to facilitate the achieving of objectives and targets that will benefit the organization and ultimately, benefit the environments surrounding the organization too.

There are many forms of opinion exchanges organizations must take note of, particularly:

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Community Engagement

Corporate Social Responsibility, more commonly known as CSR, is the set of obligations an organisation has to abide by and upkeep the society in which it functions. The public usually carry the "you made this mess, you clean it up" mentality as they feel that organizations are the advocates of problems in society. As such, since they're the perpetrators, the organizations will have to "clean up their own mess" by helping to solve this problem. It is good for the companies to engage in CSR as good PR like this helps to drive profits up. Making apparent contributions to society helps to either create or enlarge, in some cases even both, market share for their products and services. That aside, it helps to drum up an impression better than the one the public has on the organization right now.

Community Engagement will probably be best applied with an example from football. The main fanbase of football clubs are usually the citizens who're staying in the city that the clubs "represent" - bearing the name of the cities in their names and having their deep history steeped within the city. An example will be my favourite football club, Newcastle United, who has seen its fair share of PR disasters in the past year.

Newcastle United were an established Premier League club back in 2007 when Mike Ashley bought over the club from its previous owners. The Magpies, as the football club are affectionately known, is the pride and joy of the city. On matchday Saturdays, the whole city will literally slow down as thousands of fans make its way down to St. James Park to watch Newcastle's home games.

Such was the support for the Magpies that Ashley, when he just bought the club, made an effort to go down to the ground level and interact with the fans at pubs and watering holes on matchdays to curry favours and establish good relations.

All was looking rosy until 2009 when the manager of Newcastle United, Kevin Keegan, left the club, citing broken promises from the board of directors. As Keegan was a fan favourite, the fans and city took unkindly towards Ashley's silence. For reasons unknown, Ashley remained tight-lipped about this entire saga even though fans were clamouring for an answer. Unable to face the pressure, he went on to put the club for sale claiming that "I didn't mean for all this to happen".

Fast forward to 2010 and Newcastle has been mismanaged by Ashley and his regime while also suffering relegation from the Premier League. Even though Ashley has taken off the club for sale due to the lack of serious interest from outside, he's still disliked, to say the least, by the citizens and fans of Newcastle simply due to his mismanagement, lack of PR skills and for throwing the club into the mess it's in right now.

If he had come out immediately after the Keegan saga to explain their position (for additional info, Keegan went on to sue the club for breach of contract and through the court hearings, explicit details about the scandal was revealed, showing Ashley and co to be in the wrong), Mike Ashley would probably not have had to put the club for sale and withdraw funds from the club totally, potentially allowing the caretake manage to strengthen the football team and maybe even avoiding relegation.

Because of a simple factor - lack of communication and engagement with the community - Ashley has incurred the wrath of fans who even sent death threats and forced him to not attend games at St. James Park anymore.

Hah, ok that might have been a long story (even longer for non-football fans) but that, I feel, is the best case study to emphasize Community Engagement

On to the next reading then..

Terence....OUT!

Week 7 - The One where Terence learnt that Strategies and Tactics weren't just confined to soccer.

Strategy is defined in the dictionary as a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result. In the world of PR, it is no different with strategies needed to ensure the best possible outcome for the organization in its message conveyance to its stakeholders.

Usually done right at the start, during the planning process of a campaign, a strategy helps to map out the best possible methods and variables in achieving the main objective of the client/organization.

Two aspects of obtaining a great strategy are:

• SWOT, meanwhile, is known as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is usually used in analysis of a PR campaign.

• SMART, or rather, Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Results-orientated and Timeframe, is a set of measures implemented into the objectives-planning.

While I haven't been involved with anything PR-esque before, I did learn about these two terms in my life previously, as a student leader in my polytechnic as well as a Platoon Sergeant in the millitary.

Whether it be planning events for the student body in the polytechnic or utilizing the soldiers under me to execute the best tactics to help my battalion win the war, SMART and SWOT plays a huge part.

SWOT assess the possibilities and limitations of a campaign while SMART helps to ensure that a plan does not veer too far off the designated path while.

A SWOT analysis is particularly important as subsequent steps further on in the execution process might have to be based on this analysis, done at the start of a campaign.

In the readings, it is said that a strategy is developed through analysing the results of thorough research.

A wise man once said "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."...as such, strategy is particular important in ensure proper planning and due diligence is done in the execution of a successful PR campaign.

Onward and Forward to the next class...

Terence..OUT

Week 6 - The one where Terence debated against Media Relations....

That's right, I sold my soul to the devil this week. I debated against Media Relations being the focus of PR campaigns........no wait, *feels around his body*, my soul is still here..IT'S NOT GONE!!

Media relations is defined as the focus on interaction between organizations and the mass media in hope of promoting their policies, practices and products to the general public in a positive and credible light. In today's day and age, media relations has grown to a stage where there is a common platform that has a very broad outreach - the Internet.

Coupled with elements of traditional media such as print media and the broadcast industry, organizations now have more options to choose from with regards to self-promotion. Such avenues includes a well-written media release, news conferences and maybe an exclusive story to a single media outlet.

With that said, the most important factor in all of this is a proper media strategy. Running around without a plan is akin to a headless chicken - slowly but surely, meeting a fatal end. News coming from the organization needs to be tailored to suit the region they're based in, otherwise it's as good as a dud.

My personal belief, however, is that there's more to improving relationships between organizations and their key stakeholders than just going through the media and broadcasting a message/advertisement or writing a media release.

As I learnt in an earlier lecture, there are other ways that are effective in strengthening bonds between an organization and its publics. For instance, experiental marketing is a fantastic way to showcase an organization's products and practices. While this method demands the best and only that from the organization, it at least pushes the company to strive for the limits in ensuring customer satisfaction and in turn, a better PR image amongst the public. At the same time, customers will be attained through the free trial of products/practices while old customers will feel the desire of the organization to connect and hence reach out themselves.

People believe in the personal touch - if they feel someone reaching out to them, they're more likely to recipocrate and reach back out. Instead, if they feel someone's telling/forcing something down their throats and years, they're not going to be very receptive about that.

However, having said that, I feel that media relations and the personal touch should work together hand in hand with regards to promoting and improve the PR of an organization. Media Relations ensures that the organization is able to reach out to a larger group of audience, regardless of the end result. Personal methods like experiential marketing can then come in to help 'seal the deal' ;)

Terence...OUT!