Page 67 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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a means of raising their standards. GE is a guru. More GE alumni run
major corporations than those from any other Fortune 100 firm.

Planning to reach all potential audiences

GE and many like it have strategic plans to communicate with their
many constituencies over time. They understand the various channels
of communication in the PR world. As noted by Al Ries in his many
books, PR comes first, followed by advertising and other activities. We
come to judge companies by what we hear from trusted sources – the
media, peers, informal and formal networks, and influential leaders
through the community, an industry or a region.
Michael Porter of Harvard, in his landmark book, Competitive
Advantage, talked about differentiating along the entire chain of value
a company or organization provides to its many constituents. He
shows how to examine every link in a chain. Which attributes of each
can demonstrate value and help you stand out from the competition?
If quality is your differentiator, how does that play in each link? Do you
have the best outside suppliers? Do you have the best manufacturing
processes, the best customer service, and the best logistics? This
creates great PR opportunities. You can promote the quality of each
link and its accomplishments. Then, wherever people turn, they are
seeing evidence of your reputation as it grows.
Fombrun says PR efforts should be invested in building long-term
behavioural relationships with strategic publics – those that affect the
ability of the organization to accomplish its mission. His studies, 10
years after the Porter book, provide validation for launching a system-
atic effort to reach customers, investors, employees, regulators, the
local and wider community, suppliers and providers with compelling
evidence to support your core values.

Turning vision into reality

Once you’ve determined how you want to be known, you need to be
consistent, continuous and creative. Image becomes a part of your cor-
porate strategy. You examine every channel of communication and
opportunity, then plot your plan over time on a project management
spreadsheet to build image and reputation as you would a great sky-
scraper: the big vision and then all the activities and components nec-
essary to bring the vision to reality. Promote your core values. You