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Crisis Communication
L1
Ing. Jiří Šnajdar
2016
Communication planning is the art and science of
reaching target audiences using marketing
communication channels such as advertising, public
relations, experiences or direct mail for example. It is
concerned with deciding who to target, when, with what
message and how.
A communication plan includes:
• “Who” - the target audiences
• “What” – the key messages that are trying to be
articulated
• “When” – timing, it will specify the appropriate time
of delivery for each message
• “Why” – the desired outcomes
• “How” - the communication vehicle (how the
message will be delivered)
• “By whom” - the sender (determining who will
deliver the information and how he or she is
chosen)
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and
some hire public relations officers.”
Daniel J. Boorstin
In a world flooded with companies fighting for market
share, attention and respect it is essential for any
business to be capable of building and maintaining
good and strong relationships with public.
Public relations is a great tool to do so.
What is public relations?
What is the history behind it?
Why is PR so important for a business strategy?
How to use it in the most effective way?
Public relations is the practice of managing the
spread of information between an individual or an
organization (such as a business company, a
government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and
the public.
Why is it important to include public relations in a
business strategy?
PR helps to achieve a wide variety of objectives. It
provides an ability to achieve mutual understanding,
generate positive image, influence opinion and
behavior of other people, build trust and confidence.
Also, it helps to solve crisis situations, get over
misunderstandings and improve relationships with
customers, employees and stakeholders.
PR does not only influence things we cannot
measure like image, reputation and relationships. It
also supports the increase in brand awareness
which in turn brings the increase in revenue.
How to plan PR?
SOSTAC analysis is a great tool to develop an
effective campaign.
SOSTAC is an abbreviation for:
Situation analysis, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics,
Action and Control.
Another possible area to use public relations in is
during a some type of crisis.
Any time an individual, a company or an organization
might face a public challenge to its reputation.
This may happen because of technical or human
breakdown, boycotts, strikes, lawsuits, accidents,
misdeeds, errors, mistakes and rumors.
In this case crisis communications is designed to
protect and defend the reputation.
To get over a crisis with minimum losses requires
good planning before a crisis even begins.
Pre-crisis planning involves looking out for potential
sources of crises, evaluating issues in their possible
likelihood and impact, evaluating risks and threats.
Another step is to design tools and systems to deal
with an issue.
It includes selecting crisis management team,
selecting spokespersons, developing crisis
management plan and preparing crisis
communication system.
“A crisis is unpredictable but not unexpected.”
(Coombs, 2015)
It is impossible to predict with a hundred percent
certainty what might happen but spending time on
preparing will definitely pay off.
This type of pre-crisis training will help to handle a
crisis situation properly and prevent or lessen the
negative outcomes.
When a crises outbursts, a company has to respond
as quickly as possible. Depending on the situation it
can choose a defensive or accommodative
response.
It may choose to attack accuser by confronting him,
threating or failing a lawsuit, deny any accusations,
make up excuses, justify what happened, remind
others of the past good deeds, take corrective action
or make a full apology.
In order to recover from the crisis a firm has to keep
an open communication with its audiences including
its stakeholders and continuing tracking issues and
risks.
When a crises passes, a company should evaluate
how everything was handled and what they learned.
Managing post-crises gives a chance to restore a
possibly damaged reputation and shape memories
of internal and external audiences.
It is important to remember that good reputation is a
key asset of the company.
Good reputation makes it easier to find new valuable
employees.
To sum up, good public relations is essential for a
successful business.
It takes a lot of research, effort and preparation to
communicate the right message in the right way at
the right time to the right audience but it pays off.
PR plays a vital role in promoting products and
services to potential and existing customers.
Moreover, it is the most cost-effective method for
raising brand awareness.
Crisis communication
Organizations that are exceptionally profitable and
well managed can encounter sudden problems that
may rock their entreprise.
When crisis occur, organization are compelled to
communicate to various audiences. The quality of
these communications is crucial for the success of the
organization.
Effective communication during this times can
transform potential disasteres into positive situation for
the company.
What is crisis communication?
Crisis communication involves identifying internal and
external recievers who must recieve information
during times of crisis.
What is a crisis?
L.Barton defines a crisis as a major, unpredictable
event. That has potentially negative results. The event
and its aftermath may significantly damage an
organization and its employees, products, services,
financial condition, and reputation.
Communicators concieve, create and disseminate
messages to these internal and external recievers,
and are ready to recieve and respond to feedback
from these audiences.
Crisis management involves communication, but is not
only about communicating.
Crisis communication is a very real problem for
contempory organization. Not reacting to a crisis can
result in the generation of employee rumors,
plummeting stock values, a lack of employee
confidence, and reduction in consumer trust.
Crisis communication planning.
Proactive planning referes to preparetion before the
fact. Proactive planning is sometimes done in
anticipation or in preparation for the phenomenon.
Steps to crisis planning
• Secure commitment fro top management to be
open and honest during crises
• Establish crisis communication team
• Braistorm regarding crises
• Identify stakeholders and prepare appropriate
messages
• Choose methods for communicating messages
• Sequence messages
Steps to crisis planning
• Identify spokespersons and establish a
communicating center
• Record the plan
• Simulate and coach
• Update periodically
Recommendations for crisis communicators
• Respond quickly
• Use your plan
• Be accessible
• Remember your internal stakeholders
• Avoid silence and „no comments
• Be truthful
Crisis communication is an important element of
effective organizational communication.
There is a cliche that suggests that the only thing one
can be sure of are „ death and taxes“.
An organization might be wise to add crisis to the list
of inevitable eventualities.
In case of bad press, a solid PR strategy reduces
damage.
Public relations builds relationships, boosts an
organization's credibility, benefits the reputation, helps
to gain allies, advocates and supporters.
It positively affects sales and revenue.
That is why public relations should not be neglected.
For a business which is not engaged in PR activity,
perhaps it is time to make public relations its priority.