PR Tips in a crises – ANC is highly contradictory which is undermining its credibility

 I know I spoke about this before but really ANC – you can’t have it both ways.

Don’t just provide knee jerk responses. Again you look stupid when you say the press have no right to criticise the President for his private life. Yet the ANC DOES THE SAME. You can’t claim that Zille should be held to a higher standard than a private individual if you are not prepared to do the same!

LETS LOOK closer. It was reported in the press that: “The African National Congress is astounded by the extraordinary attack by Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on the person of President Jacob Zuma reported in today’s Sowetan.” Yet earlier in the year the ANC Youth League slammed Zille, describing her as “a fake, racist girl who was dropped on her head as a child” and her MECs as “useless people”. Further to this, radio reports have ANC commenting that the private life of the President is none of the Press’s or the people’s business. YET…Another ANC spokesperson has said of Helen Zille: “As the leader of an opposition political party, she should be held to a higher standard than a private individual.” This means she should also be held to account when her actions go below this higher standard. The same applies to our President.

As a PR professional there are some things you can do better in a crises situation:

Tip 1: DON’T CONTRADICT YOURSELF. It only makes you and your organisation look like fools. This undermines your credibility.

 Tip 2: DON’T CRITICISE OTHERS AND THEN TURN AROUND AND DO THE SAME THING YOURSELF.

Tip 3: SURELY THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD ALSO BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD THAN A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL?

 Tip 4: YOU CAN’T ACT SO SHOCKED WHEN YOUR OWN ANC REPRESENTATIVES ARE ALSO MAKING THE SAME/SIMILAR HIGHLY PERSONAL ATTACKS.

Tip 5: BY GIVING EMOTIONAL KNEE YERK RESPONSES, YOU ARE FURTHER UNDERMINING YOUR OWN CREDIBILITY. HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THIS TYPE OF CRISES – IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN – WHERE ARE YOU CONSISTENT MESSAGES? WHERE IS YOUR INTELLIGENT COMMENT ? WHY ARE YOU SO DEFENSIVE? REMEMBER DEFENSIVENESS CREATES MORE OF A PR NIGHTMARE…THAT COMBINED WITH ARROGANCE WON’T WIN YOU ANY CREDIBILITY.

Tip 6: DON’T ALIENATE THE VERY PEOPLE THAT CAN GET YOUR MESSAGES OUT THERE – THE PRESS. THEIR JOB IS TO BE THE EYES AND EARS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY AND THEY MUST REPORT ABOUT ACTIONS WHICH THEY BELIEVE THE PUBLIC SHOULD KNOW. FIND A WAY TO WORK WITH THEM NOT AGAINST THEM.

Don’t ever recall a press release

In these next series of blogs, I am going to take a look at some PR bloopers and what to do about them…

The first is: oops you sent out a wrong, unapproved version of a press release to your entire media database. Now you are on the receiving end of angry spokespeople who demand that you retract the story immediately. As if you have control over retracting something you sent out to the media!

You may think that recalling the story will actually help your situation. First time maybe, but after that not a chance. If you have good media relationships you may be able to get away with it, but remember by attempting to recall the damn thing you will actually draw attention to it.

Secondly, you look like a complete idiot to those very people who are your bread and butter – the media.

So what can you do? Take a deep breath before rushing to your mailbox to hit the recall button. What are the facts that were incorrect in the version you sent out? Are they damaging to your company or client? Trying to recall a story that has simple grammatical errors would be very unwise.

Assess the impact of the story appearing with material you erroneously sent out. Hopefully the change was not a correction to hide the truth. If it was you are in deep trouble. Consider packing your desk and do so quickly. If you recall the story you will draw media attention to it and they may very well check it out to see what the fuss was about therefore highlighting the issue entirely.

Consider telling your company or client the truth. Your error was not an intention to ruin them or bruise their reputation. Surprisingly sometimes people will forgive you if you say you are sorry.

Make sure you never ever do that again. Put in place checking procedures for yourself before hitting that send button. Recheck the story against the final approved (printed) version before sending it out.

Now if you are a savvy PR person you would know that spray and pray, bulk emailing of press releases seldom works unless it is highly newsworthy, so hopefully you only sent it out to one media as an exclusive, in which case you are lucky…just one phone call to make…

Think before you speak….

As a PR professional I am continually aghast at the words that come from Julius Malema’s (ANC youth league President) mouth. When I first heard his comments at OR Tambo airport on Monday I was shocked. By saying “Where are the white people” and getting a huge cheering response, this man (or should I say child) was clearly inciting racial tension. Was he just saying what first came to his head without thinking about the implications, or is there a more sinister reason for creating further racial divide in South Africa?

My advice to leaders of this country is the following:

1. Always think of the implications of your words before you speak, especially if you are in public and with media present. These implications could have far reaching damage to SA’s reputation especially with the World Cup around the corner.

2. In a country that has a legacy such as ours where we are all working towards a society that is not divided along racial lines – these words from Malema (which he continaully flaunts) set us back twenty years. He should not be allowed to continue. True leaders have the interests of others (their country, company, people) at heart not their own selfish interests. Lets look at it from a business perspective, if he was my employee he would be severly reprimanded and eventually fired for damaging the reputation and business of my company.

I can’t help but wonder if Malema has visions of himself creating a revolution in SA by rallying the youth behind him and creating chaos.

3. Leaders of this country need to stop Malema somehow from shooting from the hip and creating racial division (unless that is what the ANC aims to do to South Africa). I cannot believe that this is the vision of the ANC.

In a nutshell: what I am saying is not rocket science but PR 101. What more damage does he have to do, before the leaders of this country stop him…do it soon or it may be too late.

Companies must be PR-able

A while ago I spoke to an audience of PR and marketing professionals outlining the view that in order to create great PR your company, product or service had to be PR-able. What I mean is that it is difficult to market or create great PR for something that is just not interesting. You may think what you do is interesting to the media, but to be honest often the media just don’t care and they don’t have to do you any favours. What you need to do is find interesting angles or create relevance for the media and the audience they are reaching.

If you don’t have anything of interest or relevance, you may want to reconsider whether publicity will work for you, or you need to work together with the PR team to come up with innovative, newsworthy ideas that will have publicity legs and appeal to the media.

From a strategic perspective, companies really need to consult with their PR and marketing departments when designing new products or services. Your teams are not there just to execute on what you tell them, but to help guide you about or provide advice as to how you could adjust your approach to create a bigger or better story. A story worth repeating and talking about.

Protect your image in the workplace

Public Relations is about ensuring a company or individual has a strong public image. It is about establishing credibility and creating goodwill with the various publics of an organisation. What are you doing to enhance or protect your image in the workplace?

One of public relations’ activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Do the people that count in your office understand your strengths, capabilities and goals? What do they think of you?  What can you do to establish a strong image for yourself? Here are some tips…

Tip 1 – Find out how you are viewed in the workplace. Get clear on what others think of you. Remember that perception is everything, so work on identifying the gaps in how you are viewed currently and how you want to be viewed.

Tip 2 – Be your own spokesperson. Get ready to do your own PR. If you dislike speaking in public or making your views heard, look for books, courses or a mentor who can help you overcome your fears in this area. When you start doing your PR you will need to stand up and be noticed.

Tip 3 – Be clear about where you are going with your career. What are you doing to make sure you get there? What are you doing to update your skills and what are you doing to keep abreast of your industry?

Tip 4 – Regularly meet with your manager. Make sure that if you do not have regular meetings scheduled that you ask for them. Ask them for advice and tell them about the successes you are achieving. Ensure that you develop the relationship, not just promote yourself. Get to know your manager – what they like, what sport they play, their spouse’s name or whether they have children. Remember try not to be seen as sucking up to the boss, this will come across as artificial.

Tip 5 – Consistently communicate with key people in your workplace. If you have never met them before, set up a meeting to  ask for their advice and guidance. Get to know people at company braais or socials.

Tip 6 – Be open and honest in all your communications. Do not lie or exaggerate. Remember that what you say or do affects how others perceive you.

Tip 7 – In team or departmental meetings make sure you are prepared. Offer your insights and thoughts on particular topics and ideas. Make a contribution and you will definitely be noticed.

Tip 8 – Attend conferences, exhibitions and trade shows. Be seen at industry events and get to know your competitors and colleagues. Share what you have learnt back at the work place.

Tip 9 – Research relevant information in your industry and communicate your findings to your team. Try to add value with every piece of communication you send their way. Try not to overload them with information: be selective.

Tip 10 – Take care of your physical image. How do you dress? Does your dress reflect your position or status? Whether your workplace is casual or formal remember to dress appropriately. Develop your own style, however always take care in dressing for how you want to be viewed.

Remember that your image needs to be nurtured much the same as that for your company. So, get involved in doing your own PR today!

It takes 20 years to build a reputation & 5 min to ruin it…

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett.

How many companies, Governments and individuals really think about what they say and do? Just look at South African Politics as a prime example – there seems to be a lot of “shooting from the hip” going around. These kind of knee jerk reactions are ruining government’s reputation with its key stakeholders – the public (not to mention the corporate sector/international communities and so on). In my opinion the SA government should get clear on its position and messages, it should then set about training key spokespeople on keeping to the message so they do not allow themselves to be dragged into situations where they damage the reputation of their ‘brand’. This calls for classic strategic PR approach and Government should do well to turn to business to find a minefield of success stories.

Private sector too needs to protect the valuable reputation it builds and should look for ways to anticipate the risks that could ruin its reputation in five mins.

Bafana Bafana

I have been thinking about this topic for the last day or so…following on from Dr Eberl’s comments about the need to create a Bafana Bafana brand that South African’s can rally behind. Reading over Coach Santana’s very optimistic comments about how Bafana Bafana will WIN the Confed cup, I can’t help feeling sceptical. Maybe that is just me… Bafana Bafana of the past has not really inspired me  – perhps it something to do with me braving the heat of Burkina Faso to only see Bafana Bafana slink into apathy against Egypt in the African Cup of Nations… Ok Ok I know it was a while ago but these things stick!

The expecations for Bafana Bafana are mindblowing:  “anything below a semifinal finish will be a catastrophe for SA soccer”. The pressure is on coach Santana who has to make Bafana match what the government has done off the field – stadiums etc.

I more than anyone would love to see Bafana Bafana win the Confed cup. Maybe Santana and the chosen 23 will do just that. But my Public Relations experience has has taught me to think about the What if’s. What will the public think when Santana’s team which he has said WILL win the cup, don’t? Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a defeatist, I am the eternal optimist. Let me ask you this, surely we are still winners even if we lose? Maybe not to Santana because his job depends on it.

But my point is I am a huge Liverpool supporter, did we win the league this year? NO, did we win the UAFA champions league? NO. Actually we got no trophy at all. Will I change my team? NO WAY.Am I still an avid LFC supporter? You bet.

Those that support Bafana Bafana want them more than anything to win, but if we build our support of the national soccer team only on when they win, how do we deal with the dissapointment?

What we need to do is engage the hearts of all South Africans to surge behind our nation’s team – whether they win or not! We need all South African’s to love Bafana Bafana because of their tenacity, their dedication, their prowess, their passion!

The true power of Bafana must be harnessed beyond purely winning to a team to be proud of: that played a high standard head to head with the best in the world!

Confed Cup time to rebrand Bafana?

Confed Cup time to rebrand Bafana?

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Bafana Bafana needs great PR to get the people behind them – we don’t have to win the Confed Cup just win the hearts of ALL South Africans!! More on this soon…

Times are tough – Clients need to support PR

While PR companies reap the benefits of tough economic times (typically we do well because the client can get high returns for little spend) what about media who need their advertising support? What can PR companies do about it if anything? Should we just remain out of the conundrum or do you think we should get involved?

I believe editorial and advertising are completely separate and any PR person or good editorial person will never mix the two. I also believe that advertorial completely negates the credibility of the essence of objective editorial.

However, while companies turn to us to help them get the best bang for their buck, can they afford to ignore the hand that feeds them so to speak. Especially in a market like South Africa where niche or vertical publications in sectors like insurance, ICT, telecomms etc rely on advertising support to keep going.

I have also seen features being cancelled in leading national daily newspapers due to lack of advertising support, so while we may have an interview lined up which will result in a great story, little exposure is gained when the feature gets the chop!

What to do, what to do?

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