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Six Principles of Public Relations
By Michael Alan Hamlin
October 18,2004
Companies that leverage non-traditional
communication channels to build strong brands will be the most successful,
according to brand guru David A. Aaker. Among the most powerful
non-traditional communication channels is public relations. A successful
public relations program is generally characterized by at least
six basic, principles that contribute to best practice. Here they
are:
Publicity, publicity,
publicity. Joseph Pulitzer said it best: "Publicity
is the greatest factor and force in our public life." For corporations
in a competitive environment, the choice is to control the dialogue,
or to be controlled. This is the choice between managing perceptions
and reacting to perceptions.
Control the Dialogue. It is
essential to manage and control public dialogue, to set the agenda.
Everything Communicates. Every
action, every spoken or written word communicates a message. So
does every unspoken word.
Target Constituencies. Publics
that must be persuaded to your view must be quickly and accurately
identified in order to maximize returns on the communications budget
and to achieve timely results.
Comprehensive and Long-Term.
There are no quick fixes when it comes to corporate reputation.
The Publics Instantly Receive
Information. New technologies make it possible to get the message
out fast and consistently.
PUBLICITY
Where advertising informs and announces,
publicity demonstrates the message. But it's important to distinguish
between publicity stunts, and events that produce powerful publicity.
While both can capture attention, a stunt doesn't create a store
of credibility; in fact, it frequently produces the opposite effect.
CONTROL THE DIAGLOGUE
Controlling the dialogue frequently has a bad name. It's called
spin. Spin is messaging. It's important because when an organization
- or a political candidate - looses control of the agenda, it becomes
reactive, rather than proactive. A reactive posture inevitably comes
across as defensive. And defensiveness looks - and sounds - guilty.
EVERYTHING COMMUNICATES
The traditional view of corporate communications has been very focused
on public relations. With media professionalizing, it is becoming
increasingly important to find other effective ways of communicating
with key publics, because professional media isn't interested in
publishing corporate announcements as news. Citibank brings the
New York Philharmonic to Asia. The International Herald Tribune,
The Economist Conferences, and BusinessWeek run a variety of conferences
and meetings that address contemporary business and public policy
issues.
TARGET CONSTITUENCIES
One of the principal benefits of a coordinated corporate communications
program is in fact its resource efficiency. While other forms of
advertising and communication - print and broadcast media specifically
- can be targeted to specific demographic profiles, the efficiency
is no where near that of event management, for example. The principal
point of targeting key constituencies is to conserve resources and
efforts for allocation where they matter most.
COMPREHENSIVE & LONG-TERM
In the same way that companies which invested in technology and
people before the Asian financial crisis were better positioned
to deal with its effects, companies must invest in building corporate
identity and the communications infrastructure necessary to respond
effectively to a crisis long before the crisis hits. This infrastructure
cannot be built after or during the initial impact of bad news or
fortune.
PUBLICS INSTANTLY RECEIVE INFORMATION
Like every other management function, the impact of information
technology and globalization on corporate communications has been
enormous. Powerful search engines like Google and business and news
sites have made it extremely easy to obtain - and disseminate -
information on countries, companies, and individuals all over the
world in seconds.
A successful public relations program isn't rocket science, although
messages should be thought through so that they are clear and concise.
Rather, successful public relations is, like most other management
tasks, a product of best management practice. Incorporating these
six basic principles into your public relations program will help
assure that you communicate effectively, credibly, meaningfully,
efficiently, and regularly.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001), and he is currently
at work on High Visibility: The Making and Marketing of Asian Professionals
into Celebrities. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2004 Michael Alan Hamlin. All Rights
Reserved.
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