It won’t be surprising if one of the biggest tasks many Australian in-house PR and communications professionals face on returning to work after the summer break will be having to convince their senior management that the recent bad media experiences of a few should cause them to take fright and go into their bunker.
This follows the shellacking that a few prominent CEO’s and Chairperson’s from the Australian business sector received over the summer months. In fact I must admit to having thrown a few brickbats myself – to both the banking and retail industries for their recent indifferent public relations and communication performances.
The irony is that most PR professionals desire and need their CEO to be a spokesperson or advocate. However, the reality is that the actual implementation often stumbles, resulting in negative, rather than positive, outcomes.
What I can’t tell from the outside (and obviously it differs by organisation or situation) is how much is attributable to head-strong, undisciplined CEO’s and how much is coming from poor communication or public relations strategy and advice (which can sometimes be driven by media savvy PR folk who may not practice public relations or communication in its fullest sense).
However, what I do know is that too many well reasoned and relevant communications are being wrecked by saying the wrong things to the wrong audiences.
Too many Chairmen and CEO’s seem to think that talking to the media is communication. In fact many give the impression of relishing the opportunity of being able to stand on a (media) soapbox.
They communicate as if with a machine gun – bullets (messages) are sprayed in all directions. Sure they hit some of the targets (audiences) they hoped for – but in the process more go down to friendly fire (i.e. audiences get messages that are not appropriate for them).
So if my CEO were a bit edgy about the fallout on some of his colleagues (or if I wanted to use the experiences of his colleagues to deliver a message about how we need to do better in 2011) this is what I would be saying:
1) ‘Media’ is not PR; and using the media is not an easy ‘catch-all’ way to communicate to those who are important to us. In fact the media is only one way by which we communicate. Most importantly we can’t control what the media may use, and because of its mass nature it’s very difficult to avoid wrong messages getting out to wrong audiences. So use it with caution.
2) Effective PR, designed to create understanding and support, should be built from the ground up involving specific audience or stakeholder communication and dialogue. We should communicate with the precision (and discreetness) of a sniper. That’s where our prime PR and communication focus should be.
3) If and when we communicate via the media no key audience or stakeholder (unless in exceptional circumstances such as ASX related activities) should learn of anything specific to them that they haven’t alreeady learnt direct from us i.e. no surprises.
4) We need to be much more disciplined about our messaging. We need to develop a message matrix that is relevant to all our stakeholders. Anyone who is to speak to the media must be aware of, and trained in, abiding to this messaging platform. Ad hoc ‘thought bubbles’ are no longer acceptable.
5) As CEO you need to think of PR and communications differently. What you say publicly through media or other public forums should be the tip of the communications iceberg, built on a very solid foundation of planned and consistent communication to all of those groups, audiences and stakeholders who are important to us. In future you should not announce new policy or direction publicly and then expect we as communicators to feed it out!
6) If we agree that media is important to us we need to develop a media hierarchy of spokespersons centered around specific topics or areas of expertise. This will ensure that when you talk as CEO your comments are more focused and targeted.
7) Whoever talks to the media (and that includes you) has to undertake regular media training. Be aware of the brand and reputational damage that can result from doing it wrong, or not being the right person. Take Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman and Mike Smith of ANZ . They are both arguably the best operators in their sectors, but they don’t come across well in the non-financial media (for different reasons).
8) Create and encourage this communication and public relations approach and you will have a much more solid and secure platform from which to engage with the media. Most importantly you will have reduced the risk of upsetting those whose opinions and support matter to us.
Finally, if I thought that that this session with my CEO was likely to provide an opportunity to reinforce some messages about the real contribution public relations and communication was capable of making to the organisation I would ensure that I took the opportunity to read two relevant articles beforehand- 1) on how PR, communications and corporate reputation all relate to the CEO and 2) how to get recognition for PR in the C-suite.
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