Public relations and managing reputation

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.

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.

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…

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 [...]

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.