Public relations and managing reputation

Along with eye-rolling, can-you-believe-it dumb marketing and/or PR moments in 2009 (think loser marketers, the GFC and social media) there have, thankfully, been plenty of inspirational examples of best practice professional communication too. Most importantly, what have we learnt during the year and how will it make us better communicators?

An organisation should customise stakeholder communication in respect of, and in response to, stakeholders’ core values. This means aligning an organisation with societal and stakeholder expectations. This is often driven by CSR and thought leadership which, when strategically applied, will lessen the impact of a crisis and lead to a faster ‘reputational’ recovery post-crisis. All of which will be enhanced by the involvement of a best practice public relations professional.

Public relations is both a positive social force and a facilitator for helping positive social forces take place. Climate change is a perfect example of how public relations can make, and help make, a positive difference to the world. This post discusses how this can occur at both a strategic and tactical level.

Looking at social media as both an awareness and fund raising tool among not-for-profits (NFPs). Key reasons for this are social media’s: Interactivity, mass communication/reach, ‘instantaneousnous’, anonymity and its transactional dimension.

Marketing has not always had the best interests of society at heart. Social media is helping to change this. Marketers face a great many moral challenges in formulating and promoting products and services. They frequently fail in meeting these moral challenges.

The strategic dimensions of public relations.

Public relations helps generate trust from an organisation’s stakeholders towards an organisation itself. And there is no more important characteristic of an organisation to help deliver this trust than transparency.