Media relations should not be overlooked
Media relations should not be overlooked
By Wisaksono Noeradi
JAKARTA (JP): Institutions are continuously expanding their operations, developing new products and services, or opening up promising markets, both at home and overseas.
Some institutions, in fact, seem to be doing just fine without any sort of organized, ongoing public relations strategy. Many of their executives insist that they don't even really need media relations strategy because things are going well.
"After all," so they explain, "if my employees are not on strike, or the safety of my products is not being questioned in the media, or I have not signed any new agreement with an important partner, why should I be implementing media relations?"
These executives, with a careful eye on the bottom line, may be a bit short-sighted. When a crisis does arise, or when they do want to use the media to trumpet their new triumphs, they find that it is not easy to get the word out because they have neglected to lay the necessary groundwork through an effective media relations.
Media relations is being heard a lot about in corporate circles these days. What exactly does it mean? Is it merely an idea coined by public relations practitioners in order to market their services? Or is it a strategy that really serves an institution's long term interests?
In my opinion, media relations should have five objectives:
* To assist in securing maximum publicity for the institution.
* To help in ensuring that news, features and editorial coverage relating to the institution are objective, honest and fair -- particularly when the subject matter touches upon negative aspects of its operations.
* To provide feedback about the institution's performance.
* To obtain background information to allow better assessment of a specific problem or situation affecting the institution.
* To build an enduring relationship with the media -- a relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
Public opinion
"Can't we just carry things out without having to deal with the media at all?"
Certainly not! Media relations is a public relations function that recognizes the media's enormous impact in shaping public opinion. For the institution that is well-prepared -- that hasn't waited for a crisis situation to emerge before concerning itself with public opinion -- media relations does not need to be a burden. Instead, it is clearly a continuing operational asset.
For any media relations strategy to be successful, it must avoid overkill. Media people don't want to be deluged with dozens of pages of material at a time. By contrast, a well-planned media relations strategy provides them with a judiciously timed and carefully modulated flow of relevant information that they can use. In a sense, such a program helps journalists to do their jobs more easily and efficiently. Media relations, then, suggests a mutually beneficial partnership.
Three elements
"OK, aren't regular news releases enough?"
The answer is an emphatic "No!" Much more is required. By general agreement, an effective ongoing media relations strategy comprised three elements: personal contact, news service and crisis communication plan.
Personal contact is the basic element in a media relations strategy. Most institutions -- and in fact many public relations practitioners -- seem unaware that effective relations with the media hinges on the quality of informal personal contact with media people. Institutions often wait until a moment of crisis, or the announcement of some important bit of news, before establishing contact. Then they wonder why media response is not as positive or enthusiastic as they had hoped.
"Can't we achieve the results we want to simply by manipulating journalists?"
If the institution delays in opening lines of communication with the media, it often is obliged to spend huge efforts and funds to achieve the media support it desires. This can result in a feeling of obligation on the part of media people -- the kind of obligation that is definitely not conducive to the kind of continuing coverage the institution wants.
In such a situation, journalists are likely to publish a news release in its entirely without further development. In so doing, they are just attempting to repay the institution for support received. This may seem, on the surface, to be an entirely positive situation, as far as the institution is concerned. Yet it is likely to rule out fuller positive coverage in the future, since the journalists concerned feel they have lived up to their end of the bargain simply by printing the institution's news releases as received.
Media relations have to be based on partnership. Neither the institution nor the media should be subservient to the other. Regular personal contact serves this end, if it is unfailingly cordial, straightforward and characterized by honesty on both sides. Such a program of contacts might include visits to media offices, the sending of invitations to lunch or dinner, and the provision of information on an exclusive basis. However, all must be effected in a judicious and consistent way, which consequently requires a great deal of careful pre-planning. The overall idea is definitely not to engender a sense of obligation in media people. Rather, it is to create sustainable relationships built on mutual trust.
Receptions, seminars, lectures and meetings provide excellent opportunities to meet journalists. In addition, it is imperative for the institution to initiate personal contacts with media people. It is also imperative that those individuals in the institution know something about these journalists and the publications or stations they represent. The journalists are professionals, too. They should be regarded and treated as such.
News service
"Once a personal contact is established, what should we supply the media with?"
The institution can assist journalists to do their jobs more easily and with greater professionalism if it provides them with certain materials relating to the institution. One convenient term for all these materials is "news service".
The news release is valuable not only because it provides factual information. It also helps to ensure that the information in stories is accurate. It's important to emphasize at this juncture that news releases should be used tactfully. They should contain information that is useful and timely. Each should also be appropriate for the medium to which they are being sent. One probably wouldn't send facts about one hotel's new work safety policies to a magazine whose primary readership is teenagers interested in pop music. Nor would one send an announcement of one company's annual employee picnic to a magazine for property investors.
Carefully written articles may also be submitted to various media as part of the media relations strategy. Journalists may choose to use them intact, or may draw upon them for stories of their own, or may use them to write editorials.
News kit contains both general and specific information about an institution in easily digestible form. Such kits require faithful updating, as appropriate. Any figures cited should be as current and accurate as possible. Photos included should be accompanied by captions.
Executive profiles are also useful tools in media relations. They include data on key executives in a standard format and accompanied by appropriate and usable photographs. Naturally, all such profiles should be approved by those executives before being disseminated.
Any media request for an interview is a good thing, right?
An interview given without preparation or forethought could have positive results. But mostly is just an invitation to disaster! It is vital that the institution have a clear idea of the media's strength and audience, as well as some insight into the motives and credibility of the interviewer.
If an executive decides to grant such an interview, the ground rules for the interview should be clearly set beforehand. To avoid misquotation, it may also be useful that the executive be accompanied by the institution's public relations officer who can serve both as a resource person and a recorder of the interview.
"Why should we bother with a crisis contingency plan before something goes wrong?"
Dealing effectively with any emergency or non-routine situation requires a carefully thought out and worked out crisis contingency plan -- one prepared well in advance! Any incident which leads to injury or death -- or serious damage to property or the environment -- demands extra handling. In hopes of getting a "scoop", many journalists will try to uncover as many facts as possible, with or without the institution's help.
Any institution at the center of such a crisis will hopefully have an appropriate response to journalists' inquiries. All institutions naturally want to be perceived by the public as capable, caring, benevolent and responsive. Without a crisis contingency plan, however, the institution is unlikely to be able to present itself in a positive light. And the larger and more decentralized the institution is, the less able it will be in formulating such a policy on the spur of the moment.
"OK, what are the elements that make a good crisis contingency plan?"
An effective plan allows the institution to communicate its side of the story quickly and coherently. This may even involve setting up a press center that allows journalists to do their jobs more efficiently. It also means that it has already been determined who will serve as the institution's spokesperson. This crisis plan should be written down clearly, but will be a useless document unless it has been carefully circulated within the institution and everyone knows the part that he or she should play in an emergency situation.
In the event that a media article is inaccurate or damages the institution's reputation, proper steps have to be formulated. The response should, of course, not be perceived as offensive. Nor can the institution afford to ignore journalists in the hope that they will go away. It should also avoid launching an attack which is personal in nature towards the writer. Although the institution could contact the media by phone, the most effective response in fact, is always done in written form.
It is encouraging indeed to note that more and more institutions now believe a media relations section is worth having. By involving the media in a non-confrontational and non- defensive, but highly positive way, they can best share the institution's successes and challenges with the public.