Demonstrating the Value of Public Relations

Value of Public Relations You can’t choose whether or not you want public relations. It happens whenever you communicate with others. Left alone, you may achieve good or bad relations.

However, by using PR effectively, you can build strong relationships and maintain a sound reputation at all times and in all circumstances.

Perhaps ironically, it is during difficult economic times when you are looking to steel yourself for the challenges ahead, and are contemplating cut backs in certain areas, that you should be looking to invest in public relations.

Whether your customers, suppliers, employees and regulators chose to buy your product or service, or to be associated with you depends on your reputation – and, perhaps more importantly, how they rate it compared with your competitors. Public relations will help you to build the reputation you want and to differentiate it from others to give your organisation a competitive edge.

With this in mind, the argument for doing more rather than less communications work in a downturn appears to be a ‘no-brainer’. When times are good there is money to go around but when things become tight people become far more selective about what they spend money on and who they want to give it to. In the battle for market share, and amongst the buzz of competing voices, you are going to have to communicate more ‘loudly’, not less.

Money spent on PR is money well spent, so long as you get what you need from PR and the best advice available…

When planning Public Relations • • • • • •

Define your audiences, understand their views and why they think and do what they do Be clear about what you would like them to think about you Involve your employees in your objectives and make them feel valued Convey your messages in a way that suits your audiences, i.e. email, direct mail, telephone, online, face-to-face, etc See the media as a way of achieving your objectives, not as something that works against you Be clear about your objectives, and make sure you can measure progress throughout the project

Choosing a PR Consultant 1

• Choose an agency with a track record that shows evidence of having solved problems or met needs similar to your own • Check an agency’s client list and find out how long individual clients have been with them • Ask if any of their staff are members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), which has rigorous entry requirements for membership and all members must abide by a professional code of practice • Ask to talk to some of an agency’s clients • Ask two or three shortlisted consultants to respond to your brief, which should include your objectives, resources, constraints and budget • Agree how objectives will be measured • When signing up with an agency, make sure you know exactly who you will be working with • Use the CIPR PR Matchmaker service, which matches your needs against a database of CIPR members working in your industry sector or region. For more information about this service, visit www.cipr.co.uk/direct/looking.asp?v1=matchmaker Working with a Consultancy • • • • •

Be open with the agency about your business Keep the agency informed about changes to your business Give the agency a point of contact within your organisation to work with Ask for regular updates and reports Make sure you allocate time to managing the agency

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Reputation Management In the modern world, with increased access to information, everyone is an ‘expert’ and a cynic: no-one takes what you say at face value. Saying you provide the best service or product, or that you are a good employer or business partner, isn’t enough.

People are going to ask questions and they are going to want answers before making up their own minds. In order to survive you need to enter into a dialogue with your stakeholders. Through open and honest communications you will build sound relationships and a good reputation – the type of relationships and reputation that will ensure your success.

This is where public relations comes in, as it is about managing communications and the relationships upon which reputations are based. Public relations best practice is also concerned with the concept of ‘dialogue’ – representing your organisation to your stakeholders and your stakeholders to your organisation.

As our society has become more open, better informed and more argumentative, and new highly interactive communication tools such as social-networking sites, blogs and wikis have emerged, so there is a greater need to engage in dialogue and to employ PR professionals with the right skills and training to manage that conversation. Public relations practitioners will know how to use the interactive skills that can ensure genuine communications – two-way communication that will help you to forge relationships, enhance your reputation and create trust.

PR professionals can help everyone working in your organisation understand their part in the creation of your reputation, so that your suppliers, your customers, your political masters – whoever you interact with – trust you and what you represent. Trust is key to building the good relationships you will need in order to realise your organisational objectives.

We are often told that trust in modern society has diminished but perhaps it is more the case that blind trust has declined. At one time you would just accept what your doctor told you. Now doctors know that they are going to have to enter into dialogue with people who need answers to questions raised by something they have read on the internet or in a newspaper. This should be seen as a good thing.

While it is the job of public relations to manage reputations and to develop trust, the public relations profession itself suffers from a trust deficit, often criticised as being about ‘spin’ and misinformation. This is because people do not yet fully 3

understand what good, well-trained public relations people do.

As the professional body of the PR industry it is the job of the CIPR to lead the profession; a profession that has high ethical standards and adheres to a rigorous Code of Conduct. A Code that acknowledges that at the heart of effective relationship management and the creation of trust are the overriding concepts of truth, transparency, and of an acceptance of a responsibility to society. Working for the public benefit being the hallmark of true professionalism.

We are continually raising the bar and long-term standards of our membership in a number of ways, including through our qualifications programme, by accrediting degree courses, through our Continuous Professional Development scheme and our Chartered Practitioner programme.

Although we have a long way to go – we will slowly but surely win the battle to establish a better reputation for an industry that is concerned with managing and enabling the dialogues upon which reputations are based.

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Crisis Never before has reputation been so important. In today’s competitive market, reputation is a key differentiating factor.

Reputation evolves over time – it’s based on your vision and values, the quality of your products and services, and your corporate personality and behaviour.

It’s driven by the opinions and experiences of the complex web of individuals that make up your stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, partners, investors, journalists, pressure groups, regulators and competitors.

Essentially it’s all about communication, trust and long-term relationships. A good reputation can inspire stakeholder loyalty, attract new consumers, strengthen your supply chain, keep the regulators from your door, protect you during a crisis, and ultimately drive shareholder value by defending your bottom line.

Reputation is one of your most valuable assets but it’s difficult to acquire and manage, yet all too easy to damage or destroy. And once it’s dented, it can take years to recover. If indeed it can recover.

Your crisis could be caused by internal failings or by an external person, organisation or event. It could be driven by a product recall, poor financial results, employee relations problems, or because you failed to properly understand your stakeholders and what your brand means to them.

Protecting your reputation – your most valuable business asset - during a crisis is a major concern. But how do you go about it?

The golden rule is to communicate. Effective communications are based on honesty and transparency – and this applies just as much, if not more so, during a crisis when relationships and trust are pushed to their limits.

People understand that mistakes happen and things go wrong: provided you demonstrate you can be trusted to tell the truth, to show leadership, and to act in the public interest.

This is where your long-term investment in your reputation pays off. The stronger your reputation, the more leverage you have to protect the brand in a crisis.

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So tell your stakeholders the facts as soon as you can. It may be tempting to cover up or delay, but the truth will always out and when it does the consequences for your reputation will be significant.

Talk about what happened, what you’re doing about it and how you will prevent it happening again. Be seen to take stakeholder concerns seriously. Act decisively and quickly to reassure stakeholders that you are in control. Be proactive and keep communicating – if you’re not talking about the crisis, someone else is.

Make sure your messages are consistent, internally and externally. Ensure your actions match your words and your behaviour doesn’t conflict with your values.

You don’t want to enhance that gap between perception, expectation and reality.

A crisis needn’t damage your reputation. When properly managed, it can provide an effective opportunity for communicating and demonstrating your values and integrity on a very public stage.

But in order to properly manage a crisis situation you need to prepare for it long in advance. Looking after your reputation and investing in professional public relations now will pay dividends during a crisis.

PR professionals are experts in relationship management and two-way communications. They help organisations understand stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations, and they can identify, inform and manage emerging issues and crises.

Putting PR firmly at the heart of your strategic decision making processes is much more effective (and less painful) than waiting till a crisis has developed before bringing in your communicators to fire fight. Too many companies only really value public relations after a crisis.

So if you have been through a crisis, you’ll know the true value of PR. If you haven’t – don’t learn the hard way.

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PR is good for business: Quotes from business leaders on the value of PR “Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.”

“A large part of the Virgin Story has been my willingness to be a central character in our publicity. I don’t know how many different outfits I have dressed up in during my business life –probably more than Lawrence Olivier.” Richard Branson ****************************************************************************** “I suspect in most companies, the public relations person is down at No. 20 in the pecking order. But here, he is fighting incredibly important battles. If a negative story starts running away with itself in the press and is not dealt with fast, it can badly damage the brand, and so we put enormous weight on our PR people.”

“Using yourself to get out and talk about it is a lot cheaper and more effective than a lot of advertising. In fact, if you do it correctly, it can beat advertising hands down and save tens of millions of dollars.” Richard Branson (Strategy + Business Magazine) ****************************************************************************** "If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I'd spend it on PR!"- Bill Gates ****************************************************************************** “Look for someone who is a confident communicator, able to write fluently and concisely, and liaise with people from all parts of the organisation. They need to be a person who is passionate about your products, service and organisation – someone who you feel represents you and conveys the messages you want to get across.

Above all, I believe that a good person is always slightly nosey, able to hunt down a good news story.” Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, Director Jan 2009. ****************************************************************************** “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffett ****************************************************************************** 7

“Historically, PR, Marketing and Advertising budgets are the first to be cut; however, that could be one of the first mistakes a business makes in an economic crisis.”

CBSMarketwatch “In a downturn, aggressive PR and communications strategy is key.” Doug Leone, VC, Sequoia Capital - Silicon Alley Insider “It’s incredibly important to be risk-takers in the economic climate we’re in, when people have a tendency to pull back. In economic times like these, you don’t hunker down and go in the bunker,” Michael Mendenhall, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Hewlett- Packard New York Times “Ramp up PR and marketing communications aggressively.” Marketing Sherpa, (summary of Sequoia Capital presentation takeaways).

“Don’t go to the ledge. Don’t let the urgent overwhelm the important. It’s very easy now to panic, and we cannot panic. Invest in your brands now, especially in these dry times. The easiest thing is to shut down, and that’s the worst thing.” Joseph V. Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer, Coca-Cola New York Times

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