Focus on Asian Public Relations Management & Writing a Media Release

Part 1: Focus on Asian Public Relations Management

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For particular topic, we must first get into the perspective of Asia. It is not possible to copy wholesale or apply Western PR theories to Asian regions. There must be a tweak and modification of these theories for application. For this post, I would like to center on China as a case study in Asia and how they managed PR successfully and their apparent difficulties to establish PR in their countries.

China being one of the largest economic trade players in the world, is able to pull attention to its country. It is especially disadvantageous to China because of its human rights problems in 1989. This is highlighted by the Tiananmen Square incident and the student demonstrations. China was able to turn its weakness into strength by showing how quickly they can be aware of the importance of public relations and the media. This is done so by education, to learn and import skills and expertise from Western countries to learn PR and media techniques. An interesting argument by Ni Chen and Hugh Culbertson (2003) states that China's long history of more than 5000 tears, a state that requires continuous support from citizen is a great public relations achievement. This is very much so for the Chinese, their long history and rich traditions of being a "People state" allows it reach its economic status today.

However, we cannot exactly prove that relationship development is not as important as Western-style PR, I do not really agree that one can compare the two aspects to see which outweigh each other. Relationship development also allows Chinese businesses to flourish but at the same time, the Chinese are able to keep up with the Western world of PR by rapid education of PR relations and media techniques. The phenomenon of PR growth in China merely states that the Chinese is being updated and incorporating PR into their country.

One can also identify China's quick progression to learn English language to cope with the millions of tourists looking forward to attend the Olympics in 2008. On a personal note, one particular documentary, "Mad about English", showcases this particular phenomenon of the Chinese trying to learn English and due to the growing necessity to communicate to tourists. This is a very good lesson for PR practitioners that in order to have a successful PR, language plays an important role. It will be good to identify the target audience's primary language to communicate and to learn their culture if possible. If not, it is of utmost importance to have a local as a guide to conduct PR in foreign countries or non-English speaking countries.

China was also capable in establishing PR due to the openness received by the Chinese government. The government intent was made very clear: to receive the Olympics with open arms and to be ready by 2008. They readily knew who their target was - the world. Another lesson to learn is that target audience must be identified first before any PR can be conducted. Research on the audience is also important to tackle any cultural/potential problems that one may face. As the chapter mentions, stakeholder identification is crucial.

Another very interesting point about PR in Asia is that PR practitioners there highly regard personalisation and professionalism. One example is Toyota's PR plans for exporting its motor technologies to the U.S. In order to cater to the U.S. market, Toyota sent its teams to U.S. to live for 2 years and with much observation and study, they developed LEXUS which stands for Luxury Export United States. Now, LEXUS is well-known not only in U.S. but the rest of the world for Toyota Luxury motors. A personal touch mixed with professionalism creates a great impact and awareness to the brand.

Part 2: Writing a Media Release

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A media release is a bridge between PR and the Journalism world. Hence, a good media release (a strong bridge) is important to make sure they would use your story and help generate publicity (best part of it, its free of charge!).

Here are some of the advantages:

- saves times for you and the reporter

- helps the reporter get the facts right

- may be used word for word in local or trade media if it is written in the right style

- it forces you to think through what you want to say, condense it and check your facts

- easily clear it with your organisation

- have a copy of what was issued

- it enables multiple dissemination to a number of reporters and publications at the same time.

To create an eye-catching story, it must have one of the following:

- celebrities/politicians

- timeliness (current or future)

- local angle (relevancy)

- public interest (well-talked about or something that people want to know)

- novelty (new and unusual at first)

- achievement (by an individual or an organisation, although must be well-played)

- emotion (humour, conflict, tragedy or romance)

In conjecture with the short loans online readings, I would like to focus back on Chapter 11 of our PR book which gave very good advice on how to write a good and successful media release. It provides the same information from the short loan's book but in a concise version. This is taken from McLean & Phillipps (2009, pp. 315) for easy reference:

1) Headline, do not overplay it, but do not underplay it either; include a verb

2) Use the active voice with strong, interesting quotes

3) Have one or two main points of the story in the first sentence.

4) Include the five Ws and an H early in the news release: the 5Ws and 1H of the issue and event

5) Keep it simple--a dozen or so short paragraphs at most, with more information as backgrounders available on request or in the media kit.

6) Standardise dates to the style the outlet uses, most often as in Friday, April 4 2008 or, Friday , 4 April 2008. If you refer to 'tomorrow', put in the date.

7) Introduce a new spokesperson before direct quotes; make sure quotes are relevant.

8) Standardise on titles and minimise punctuation

9) Localise the release: target the editor's specific audience: address their information needs

10) Cut out all clichés, jargon, claims of uniqueness or spectacular success.

Writing a news story can be extremely tricky, but through practice and first success, one can be assured that there will be a second time.

New Media and Public Relations

In the 21st Century, we have witnessed the wave of IT hitting developed worlds. With endless of connectivity and information on the Internet, it is true to some extent that we have created and developed a cyberspace; an electronic dimension where data is free to roam and any user is free to obtain and contribute to this deep source of information. Without a doubt, new media is the reflection of mainstream media and any PR practitioner looking to keep up to date with means to gain publicity is to utilise this new forms of media.

Establishing a foothold on the Internet is to create a personalised website for the organisation or client. We no longer need to rely on mainstream media to post ads or have big billboards to show and generate recognition. In today's age, it is to be one of the top few results of the search engine to be posted. It is simply by the amount of hits generated by the website or by paying Google to have your website on the top of the list in search results.

Another way to keep users on your website and the news is to make use of instant messaging components like Twitter or Facebook which automatically publicise your message to users who have 'followed' you. It is the online way of keeping a network of contacts as well as the connection to the public online. In the past, we keep in contact by asking for cellphone numbers and emails, which could take some time and hassle to inform news to someone else. With a click of button, a single message can be disseminated instantly 'on the fly' to everyone online who is connected (most people are and most likely your target audience will be online).

Besides from disseminating news and publicity, new media offers free of charge publication of audio and visual content. This is similar to the likes of having a news report or advertisement on the television or radio. Websites like Myspace and YouTube offers free online hosting of your video content. Similarly, generating high a hit count will earn you a featured spot and on the top of the list for viewers' picking. Blogs which are a side variant of websites can include podcasts which are like a radio station that broadcast your audio content (be it news spoken online or interviews of such). This can be useful as well when people are on the go and connected via WiFi and may download your podcast daily to listen to your news on the go.

From the general trend we can see, online it is all about generating publicity with the amount of hits (which means clicks on your content). By successfully doing so, even more people will visit your content and more publicity is generated. However, PR practitioners must be extremely cautious and careful not to produce two-way asymmetrical content which benefits the organisation through manipulative message and propaganda. Such messages are short-lived and public/stakeholders will not support such content for long. A successful usage of new media for PR is to include channels of feedback and response for organisations and PR practitioners to reflect upon and better improve the plan.

PR on the online world can be extremely competitive, while one can be looking to generate more publicity, others will be sure to use similar methods to do so. Hence, at times, it would be advisable to use both means of new and mainstream to have a broad approach to the masses.

An Issues-Crisis Perspective & Reputation Management: A Driving Force For Action

Part 1: An Issues-Crisis Perspective

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As Howell (2009, pp. 275) has defined issues management, "it is a specific type of management function that allows identification of potential, emerging or actual trends, concerns, or issues likely to affect an organisation and its key publics. Once this issue is identified, the organisation will develop a coordinate response to best manage and influence its progression".

Crises on the other hand as mentioned by Howell (2009, pp. 276), are said "to be highly uncertain events in which the cause and effects are unknown. A crisis is a major occurrence with a potentially negative outcomes that affect the organisation, company, or industry, as well as its publics, products and services, and its reputation. Crises interrupt normal business operations and can threaten the existence of the organisation".

Upon inference, the two factors both uses a similar word meaning. In English, an issue or crisis could associate to a form of incident. However, in PR, it has a completely different meaning to it. An issue is deemed to be a setback or a void that requires the attention of the company to solve it. As compared to crisis, it is an incident whereby it could potentially destroy a company's reputation and it may require a complete makeover or liquidation.

Just to sidetrack from the textbook, in Singapore we've encountered many of such cases. For example, the Prima Deli food poisoning case which affected businesses. Their crisis management was to provide widespread publicity of an enquiry line to answer to the public. They also stopped similar and affected products to determine the problem. In addition, they provided full cooperation to health authorities to determine the cause of the problem. This transparency as we have seen is a credible part of Prima Deli to admit to their mistakes and to take into account the public's impression.

In another example, is the case of the Geylang Serai Rojak food poisoning case. Not only was the stall affected, businesses of the other stalls were compromised. Firstly, people who visited the particular rojak stall (it was famous) stopped visiting the food court entirely. Secondly, it was suspected that other food stalls could possibly be dirty as well. It was not an easy task to restore the reputation of Geylang Serai market. It took a 40-month makeover as a restart to the businesses. The particular affected stall "Geylang Serai Rojak" was restored under the original owner's wife's name. The incident was labelled as a cause of mishandling seafood. However, the stall's reputation somewhat saved the situation as patrons were able to put the incident behind them. Fans also setup a countdown for the reopening of the stall.

Although the crises may seem impossible to overturn, sometimes, like an individual, one must live up to the mistake and admit to it. By showing full transparency and cooperation to an investigation as well as taking account the public's views, it could very well show the responsiveness to take responsibilities for the organisation's actions. Upholding a good reputation can also help the situation. However, in a crisis, it takes tremendous amount of time and resource to overturn the situation, like the Geylang case, it took time and money to revamp the entire image of the market. Hence, prevention is always better than a cure.

Part 2: Reputation Management: A Driving Force For Action

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Establishing a name/reputation as well as maintaining it, is perhaps one of the most difficult and messy task for a PR practitioner. In today's society, we see that organisations are at a new age of sponsorship compared to the past where it was fairly distant and profit-making. As mentioned before, more companies facing with scandals and the possibility of it because of their opaque view on their operations. In order to change this 'tainted' image, organisations are looking to sponsor and affiliate with cause-related organisations as well as incorporating a heavy list of code of ethics and quality management.

To put my own experience into account, while I was serving my National Service in an Ammunition depot, my unit is no different from an organisation. Our daily task and work was to be justified and revamped to suit with quality, resource and time management. It was in line with one of our objectives, to obtain the highest standard of quality; the International Organisation for Standardisation certification. Why bother obtaining such a qualification you might ask? It is simply put, to have a better impression on the public and something to show to Singaporeans that our ammunition to our soldiers are up to standard and probably, up to the world's standard.

At times, it is not as easy as achieving a standard or certification to restore or build up reputation and image. Ms. Tanya has shared a very inspiring case study of the Phillips Live Earth concerts. Phillips sponsored an event called Live Earth which featured famous bands to raise awareness for the importance of living green and saving our planet. However, the event was scrutinised about leaving the amount of refuse and rubbish at the scene of the concerts as well as the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from flying the singers to various locations to conduct the concerts.

In every PR campaign, there will always be such instances of backfire and it requires amount of awareness to be alert on such instances of 'counter' and setbacks.

Public Relations Management In Organisations

Being in the seat of PR in an organisation is no easy task. Mehta & Xaavier (2009) states that PR will need to support the forward-looking organisations to establish complicated databases of information on issues and stakeholders to help them identify issue-specific and sector-wide trends. Hence, effectively becoming the eyes and ears of the organisation. This step becomes even more complicated as PR involves both internal and external operations of the organisation. For example, internally, if nurses are about to go on strike in hospitals, the PR of the governing body will help both hospitals and the government to prevent or prepare for the consequences of a strike. Externally, for example the mine wants to upgrade its facilities and operation, it has to involve and inform the locals around the area about the potential problems and activities.

The chapter gave a rather comprehensive potential action on how to do so:

- both the organisation and PR will form up a discussion and agree on how to present the information

- the PR practitioner will prepare the communication material which include background information, a Power Point presentation and Q&A.

- the mine manager might have to take responsibility to meet up with the locals as the organisation is directly responsible

- the PR practitioner might help to conduct Q&A, observe reactions and responses; taking note of key issues raised by the community

- both will be involved in the debrief

PR becomes highly complicated with the divide between members and non-members of the organisation being blurred. As Aldrich & Herker (1977), said with more and more organisational partnerships changing the traditional nature of organisation-environment relations it continues to be challenged today. PR also has a changing role due to this complication:

- public-private partnerships see clients and suppliers partner together and are rewarded together

- activists are sitting on organisational advisory boards helping organisations to negotiate difficult issues, whereas earlier they would have tried to use their organisational power to push through their position

- community engagement invites communities who are affected by organisational decisions to discuss how decisions will impact them and to offer ideas or jointly plan how to minimise potential impacts

PR practitioners must be extremely familiar with the environment they are working in and out of. The parties involved becomes even more complicated which requires practitioners to pay close attention to the blurring lines of members and non-members. In addition, practitioners are highly involved in partnering with the main branch of the organisation to achieve certain results. As such, it is of importance to develop teamwork and respect out of these other departments to ensure that the job can be performed successfully. The partnership must not be out of comfort and necessity but of a natural fit and cooperation.

Strategies to Proactively Manage Activity

This chapter reinforces on the second lesson about strategy and tactic. It is a more in-depth approach on the subject.

Strategy is central to the role and function of public relations (James 2009, p. 251). The strategic contribution of public relations practitioners develops 'problem-solving strategies for the entire organisation' (Newsom, Turk & Kruckeberg 2007, p. 215) by working with other departments and coordinating problem-solving activities.

As mentioned before, a well-planned and conducted research can place a PR practitioner into a good situation. When the results are analysed, a SWOT analysis (James, 2009) must be conducted. The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. One important note is that in this analysis, Strengths and Weaknesses are considered internal factors and Opportunities and Threats are external factors.

Drucker (1954) puts forth a method for setting objectives - SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated and include a time frame. This allows a good standard objectives to be met and goals achieved.

An example given by Ms. Tanya is to raise awareness of HP cameras by affiliating them with holiday hotels. The hotel visitors were given cameras to take photos. The strategy was to raise awareness of their quality cameras and the tactic is the actual act of loaning these cameras out to tourists/guests while they are having a holiday.

A good strategic fit must be attached between strategy and tactic. When this 'fit' is achieved, the PR plan will be half successful.

Engaging with the Media

In order to bridge and connect with the world of mainstream media, communication theories are useful to explore and gain better knowledge and understanding of who and what PR practitioners are dealing with. In this chapter of the book, it introduces several useful theories such as:

1) agenda-setting theorists believe that journalists and news editors have a set of purpose for what people think about and not what they think. The media decides which issues to gain popularity and prominence in the public and which to be minimised in publicity. It proposes that media is the primary medium that people decide what issues are important to them and what should be talked about.

2) uses and gratification theory states that people have different usage of the media. They have many different ways and reasons for doing so that they actively make their own choices and decisions to suit their requirements without being influenced to any significant extent. Blumler & Katz (1974) identified four areas of gratification: as form of escapism, personal relations for companionship, establishing a sense of personal identity and surveillance to gain greater awareness and understanding of the world around them.

3) spiral of silence theory (Noelle-Neumann 1984) states that people often do not voice out their true intentions and opinions when in a grouped session. They would try to maintain the natural peace of the group, to avoid embarrassment and conflict. This is also similar to 'groupthink' where people reach a same consensus without differing opinions on an issue.

4) two-step flow theory (Katz & Lazarsfeld 1955) says that to reach the intended audiences, public relations practitioners should first convince the opinion makers, the audience listen to and respect via the media they watch, read and listen to.

5) framing theory (Tversky & Khaneman 1981) explains that the way something is presented influences how the audience perceives the topic. This is a manipulative method by used by the media to purposefully disseminate a message behind a certain topic or issue but may not be entirely true.

6) sociological theory and social reality explores the framing theory and explore what is real and what is constructed.

The fact that journalists and the media world relies heavily on PR to fill up pages of their news, it is important to maintain a good relationship and to make use of this position to generate publicity. Some key of success to have a good relation with the media is:

1) have a good relationship with journalists and editors

2) get to know the journalists

3) have updated databases (contacts, networks)

4) know how the news room is organised and how it works

5) develop a media strategy (tweak the news to suit each media and region)

6) identify what is a good piece of news and what is not

7) always meet deadlines

A good media release can help catch the attention of the news world to use your story as theirs. A good example would be the OCD media releases which uses catchy phrases like saving time with a good system and Singapore's first and only. However, it must be subtle in a way not to generate too much hype and must be truthful to be used as a credible story.

McLean and Phillips (2009) identified some aspects to attract the media’s attraction - celebrating anniversaries, writing good media releases, illustrating your stories with great photographs, pitching your release, news conferences, online newsrooms and video news releases.

However, capturing attention could also have negative setbacks and repercussions. PR practitioners are advised by McLean and Phillips (2009) that legal implications such as copyright, defamation, ethical and privacy must be considered and cautiously treaded upon.

Having good relations with the news media will definitely benefit a PR practitioner. Hence, it is always good to deal with the media with careful thought and a warm smile (metaphorically speaking).

Public Relations Research & Practice

Part 1 : Public Relations Research

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In order to have a task aimed for success and accuracy, planning and strategising is needed. Across all academic works, nothing is short of a good round of research. Likewise, a successful PR requires extensive research to minimise mistakes and to ensure maximum credibility and accuracy reached out for publicity. Hence, it would be a fatal mistake to overlook or intentionally jump straight into the targeted audience. However, research is not an easy task to carry out. It often exhaust resources such as time and money. That is why even before carrying out a research, one must weigh and plan research itself carefully.

There are primarily two types of research types: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative involves numerical outcomes and related findings. Such examples include surveys and forms. Quantitative refers to focus group questioning and open ended discussions.

Research is related at all stages of the PR planning and implementation. It could be used before, in the preparation stage to set objectives right, identify the issue, context and audiences. If it was used during, it could monitor the process and check what is being said and done and to accurately ascertain whether the plan is successful or require any tweaks to redirect the program for intended results. If it is used after, it is used to as a form of evaluation and as a checklist for objectives that were met and not.

Sufficient research allows credibility and accuracy to pin-point and to minimise mistakes. That is why, in any sort of planning, research is integral and is a-must for success to set in.

One major limitation of research is the tremendous amount of time and resource used to obtain the results. There is also tendency to arrange for research programmes and not have any findings or research results through these arrangements. Research in itself requires additional planning such as the questions to ask and the discussion to direct the respondents. Another notable problem with research is the samples and sampling size. The correct approximate sample must be selected. Only a 5 percent margin for error is considered acceptable.

Part 2: Public Relations Practice

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In this chapter, I find that Synnott's (2001, pp. 430-431) table of PR effectiveness is easy to understand and reference to understand what a good PR is all about:

1. Work practices and approach (Responsibility, Valued-added service & Building relationships)

2. Skills, abilities and knowledge (Understanding of the job, Capability in Strategy & Execution, High level of technical ability)

3. Experience and background (solid experience, track record, sound journalism experience)

4. Personal attributes (Professionalism, people oriented, creative)

5. Judgement and ethnics (honest, ethical, integrity)

6. Relationship with management (contribution to management goals, accepted by management, equals to management)

7. Image and Reputation (highly regarded, good reputation in the industry, high credibility)

8. Works for the profession (builds profession, gives time to develop the profession, passion)

Public Relations is only about the sheer academic knowledge or experience within the industry or related industries. It is also all about the personal touch to the work of PR. There must be a form of personalisation of the work. Hence, it requires a tremendous amount of dedication and passion to become better than the good and among the cream of the crop (quality PR).

A good PR practitioner also pays attention to the society and the people concerned. A good network of people should be established to allow a smooth work flow as well as cooperation between organisation and the public. One also must be humble to earn respect and reputation of both internal and external factors.

On a personal note, my knowledge of PR practitioners are not only in within the eight categories. Also, I see PR practitioners as powerful problem solvers. It is their capability and aptness to access a good amount of ideas and creativity to overcome difficulties to success. As such, I am impressed by what I have learnt and will continue to do so.