Public relations and managing reputation

The most common thought that is contained within crisis management literature is that somehow a crisis is just an external event that can be managed with the right level of resources and preparation. Paul Ritchie, author of Stay On Message, says this is incomplete and it misses the most dangerous variable in any crisis and that is the way a spin doctor actually responds to the issue.

Whilst ex-journalists are not qualified and do not have the relevant experience to suddenly become the head of the organisational public relations function, they also have the potential to be great PR function heads, for a number of very valid reasons.

When answering the question, ‘why ex-journalists should not be ‘parachuted’ into the head of the organisational public relations function’, most responses were mainly defensive and could not tear themselves away from an obsession with media relations.

Ex-journalists are not qualified and do not have the relevant experience to be ‘parachuted’ into the head of the organisational public relations function. When this occurs, “it is a disaster waiting to happen”.

When formulating round tables, public relations professionals need to decide whether to invite media to attend and whether to offer media exclusives. It is generally the major objective of a white paper process to gain positive media coverage for the ‘sponsoring organisation’, though there are a plethora of mechanisms through which the white paper content can be leveraged.

Aspects to be considered when considering the strategic power of round tables and white papers for public relations professionals include: getting potential participants to attend and extracting the best out of participants. Let’s also look laterally at a ‘different way’ of approaching round tables.

Round tables help public relations professionals achieve positive media coverage, enhance relationships with important organisational stakeholders and strengthen organisational positioning. The white paper, produced from a round table, resources issues-driven media campaigns (of which opinion pieces are likely to play a leading role), direct mail and online communication campaigns.

In the B2B environment, op-eds (opinion pieces) can be much more effectively leveraged than in the B2C environment because they can be placed multiple times across different industry sectors. Op-eds are a valuable part of public relations and media relations strategies because of the media coverage they can generate.

Op-eds are a valuable part of public relations and media relations strategies. This is because of the media coverage they can stimulate and the positive positioning, through thought leadership, they produce. An additional, and extremely valuable, characteristic of op-eds is that the content generated as part the op-ed scoping process, can also be used to create more than a single media placement.

Media releases, whilst not entirely dead as a means of generating media coverage as part of a public relations strategy, are these days nowhere near as effective as establishing a thought leadership platform. One key result of thought leadership is that media will often call the PR professional looking for talent and content, rather than the other way around!