PRE-READING

Media, PR and Crisis Management

PRE-READING

Media, PR and Crisis Management

PRE-READING

© Oxford Strategic Marketing

These charts summarise key points covered in the Introductory Media and PR course

A quick read through will familiarise you with the approach we took and some of the key terms we used.

The content of the Intermediate course will be different and you don’t need to know the following in detail, but it should be useful background for you.


A few key principles underlie all the courses we are developing

Communication principles are introduced in the context of current NHS priorities:

- World Class Commissioning

- Quality and productivity challenge.

Learning is built around the competencies required of NHS communicators, and focuses on practical, actionable tools and approaches that can be applied day to day.

Introduction To Effective

Strategic Communication

Marketing & CommunicationFor Behaviour

Change

HighPerformance

Marketing and Communication

Introduction To Media and PR

Media, PR and Crisis

Management

Strategic Management of Reputation and Relationships

Introduction To Internal

Communication

Internal Communicationand Managing

Change

Effective Workforce

Engagement and Why it Matters

The full set of nine training courses


Understanding and working with the

news media

Understandingwhere PR fits in the

communicationsmix

Knowing how to plan and manage

PR activity

Evaluating results and knowing how to judge success

Why PR matters -the importance of

reputation

Ideas for creative and effective proactive PR

Key topics that were covered on the introductory course


How we defined PR, coveringtwo types of activity

Public Relations (PR)Public Relations (PR)All the things you do to establish and maintain your image and

reputation with patients, public and stakeholders

Media relationsMedia relationsDay to day dealings

with news media, including press

releases, handling queries, placement of stories, interviews etc

Proactive PRProactive PRProactive development and implementation of

PR initiatives involving, but not restricted to,

news media

Why it Matters:Reputation


Why reputation matters

Attracts best partners to

work with

Motivates staff and helps

recruitment

Builds public loyalty and confidence

Gives bank of goodwill in

times of crisis

Our reputation ultimately gives us a bank of goodwill, routed intrust that we will do the right thing


Who’s responsible?

Reputation isn’t just about branding and communication – it’s also what’s “below the waterline”It’s as much about frontline staff as it is about government ministers

EVERYONE!


CIPR definition

Reputation and PR

Reputation comes from a complex mix of things. Some are outside our

control, but PR gives us a way of managing at least

some of them

Public relations is about reputation: An organisation’s reputation is the result of what you say, what you do, and what others say about you

Where it fits:The role of

Media and PR


How PR campaigns differ from conventional advertising

COST

CREATIVECONTROL

CREDIBILITY

RELATIONSHIPWITH MEDIA

LONGEVITY

Advertising

RESOURCENEEDED

PRPaid for; can specify particular space/spot

Free publicity; no specific spot guaranteed

Have full control of exactly what’s said

Can’t control how media presents information

People know it’s paid for; guarded in response

Seen as impartial – can have greater credibility

One-way; you direct the relationship

Two-way; media likely to approach you

Can run ads repeatedly as long as appropriate

Press releases only issued once; stories not re-run

Primarily money and creative excellence

Primarily networks and relationships

TARGET Targets the end audience directly

Targets those who influence the end audience


Where PR fits in the communication mix

Can be stand-alone

WHY

WHO

WHAT

WHENWHERE

HOW

Plannedfrom start

as PR initiative

But more often part of wider strategy

WHY

WHO

WHAT

WHENWHERE

HOWLeaflet Frontline

staff PR

Thinking is developed before channels and

levers chosen


Use PR when you…

Want to avoid the impression of a “hard

sell”

Want to generate “noise”and excitement

Have new, high interest messages

Have a local or specifically targeted

story to sell

Need to build credibility through independent

sources

Have limited budgets (as long as PR still meets

your objectives!)


Great benefits if you get it right

COSTNot paid for, can

be very cost-effective

ONGOINGCan form strong

ongoingrelationships

REACHCan get to

traditionally hard to reach audiences

CREDIBILITYTrusted, as seen to

be impartial

How to plan it:Media and PR

strategy


Elements of a PR plan

WHY?

WHO?

WHAT?

WHEN,WHERE, HOW?

HOW WELL?

Why are we communicating using PR?What are our specific objectives?

Who are we targeting with our PR activity?

What exactly is it that our PR activity needs to convey? What do we want people to take out of it?

When, where and how can we best engage with out target audience?

How effective and efficient were the activities we undertook?

We can use the same basic roadmap that we’d use for any communicationsplan


S

M

A

R

T

pecific

easurable

chievable

ealistic

imebound

Through PR, to generate local media coverage (TV, press, radio) of the Winter Warmth

programme sufficient to have reached 55% of over-65’s in

Leeds within two months

WHY? Make sure objectives are SMART


WHO? Be clear about audiences

One size is unlikely to fit all. Be prepared to prioritise and make choices about who you target

Think about target:

• Who they are• What they do• What they want or

need• What they believe now• What motivates them• Who influences them• How to reach them


WHAT? Do we want the take-out to be

You can’t control detailed

messages so focus on the

core idea

If part of a wider initiative, messages anddesired take-out for PR will flow from the

overall campaign

Remember you’re acting through other influencers so make messages clear,

unambiguous and distortion-proof. Avoid the possibility of “Chinese whispers”

Be focused and single-minded. Think about the single most important thing you want

people to take out from what you are doing


WHEN, WHERE, HOW? To deliver

Start from your target audience

WHEN? Will they be most receptive to messages? Time of day, week, year? Target

media that fit with those times

WHERE? Will they be most receptive? Look for media/PR opportunities that get close to

people at those points

HOW? Who will they listen to? What sort of approach/ tone of voice will work best?


HOW WELL? Plan benchmarking now

Clarity now Clarity now means youmeans you’’llllbe in a betterbe in a betterposition to position to

evaluate laterevaluate laterBENCHMARK• Aligned to objectives • Respected measure• Replicable later

How to do it:Delivery


Sources of news are changing

Whole new world of social

media

TV55%

Radio11%

Press15%

Internet19%

The

new

s m

edia


Trend: less dedicated resource

Compared to twenty years ago, journalists have only a

third of the resource per story.

Cut & paste journalism increasingly the norm in regional and local media

60% of the UK’s national press articles comes

entirely from wire service or PR material. Only 12% of UK

press articles are independently sourced.

Cardiff University study, 2008

IMPLICATIONMore of an appetite for well-packaged and well-targeted press releases and stories,

particularly locally


Trend: the pace is hotting up

With website news growing, rolling deadlines mean that stories are often broken on

the website as “working drafts” and 24/7 working

means that embargoes are eroded

“Within half an hour of a story breaking we have a version up on the site –

and we’re unembarrassed about having to correct it – those early versions are basically working drafts”

National newspaper website editorIMPLICATIONIt’s getting harder to control

when and where news is released. Need increasingly

fast reaction times


Trend: offline following online

Journalists use Google as a source – can access trusted

expert sources, and more usable than press databases.

Use online commentary to assess interest in a story

“I read company websites, the NY Times and pharma blogs like Pharmagossip, and I Google constantly”

Pharma journalist, FTIMPLICATIONGrowth of online media is

impacting traditional media too. Need strategies that

encompass both


Press release things to think about

Study how a news story is developing and understand how a journalist is approaching it

Things to think about - a useful mnemonic

STYLE:Appropriate to publication

TIMING:Be aware of deadlines

ATTENTION:Headline as a label to attract the reader

TARGET:Send only to appropriate media

INTRODUCTION:First few lines should tell the story

CHECK:At least two people read it aloud

S

T

A

T

I

C

More detail in toolkit


Press release content

WATCH OUTS

• Don’t be too clever – no ‘creative’ headlines

• Don’t give absolute assurances

• Don’t pack in everything – use appendices

• Don’t make it too long –max two sides of A4

• Avoid blaming someone else

• Don’t include worst case scenarios

OVERALLAPPROACH

Think about what the editor wants to hear

TITLE Short and snappy

STRUCTURE

Catchy first paragraph

Supporting detail

QuotesOTHER

THINGS TO INCLUDE

Notes to editors

Contacts and timing

LANGUAGE Simple, everyday, no jargon


Keeping it relevant

• Regional implications• Any regional pilots?• Good regional case

studies• Regional champions• Regional breakdown of

statistics• Local visits from senior

figures?

MAKE IT RELEVANT

If you need to produce a local press release

relating to a national campaign, make sure it really is relevant to your

own area


Propriety issues

Be aware of them!Involving MPs

OK to involve them but should not be put in position of acting on their

behalf

Special advisors (SPADs)If involved, just keep them informed

Local councillorsAgain don’t act on their behalf; no

quotes from them in press releases

Guidance will be issued after an election is called. If in

doubt, consult your SHA’sDirector of Communications in

the first instance

Local government ‘purdah’

Campaigning period –21 days preceding an

election

How to do it:Social media


Small but growing

Individuals can start to create news through campaigning

Virtually no boundaries

betweenspecialist media

online and talented

individuals

Social media budgets still small; accounts for less than 10% of online PR. BUT…


Leading social media channels

Most popular UK social network –most searched for brand in the UK

Over 170 million globally, can connect with readers on personal, emotional level

5 million users worldwide including 12% of UK MPs

User-generated content with over a billion viewers a day


Implications of social media

More noise to cut through

Reducedreliance on journalists

Intermediaryinstead of

spokesperson

A more rapidly changing world


Social media: issues to watch out for

Easy for people to act – sometimes

withoutthinking first

Staff – inappropriate comments online can harm the organisation and cost the writer his or her job

Public – no checks on validity of what is written

Need strategies in place to deal with inaccurate or critical information appearing on social media sites

How to do it:Proactive PR


Effective use of proactive PR

Successful campaigns are usually:

INNOVATIVECreative and imaginative,

not a copycat approach

TOPICALHigh interest message or

agendareflecting

current events

INTEGRATEDTied to other

communicationactivity to

maximise impact

RELEVANTTo you, to your

area, to all those involved


But think through implications from the start

Brainstorm all possible outcomes

How could they impact our objectives?

How likely is it that they will happen?

What about things beyond our control?

Wheremightthis

lead us?What is the likely reaction of key stakeholders?

What could be the impact on their relationship with us? Or with each other?

Do we have plans in place to manage this?

Whatcould

gowrong?

If something looks risky, it probably is! Never press ahead regardless – carry out a proper risk assessment and only move forward if youare really confident that the benefits outweigh the costs

Evaluation –what and how

to measure


Diff

icul

t….

Easi

er…

.Metrics and core measures

• Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE)

• Audience (opportunities to see)• Posts & comments• Volume / clip counting

OUTPUTS

‘the physical media product’

• % change in awareness• % change in preference• Additional people talking about

key messages

OUTTAKES‘what the public take

away’

• ROI/creating tangible results• Behaviour change• Attitudinal change• Information requests

OUTCOMES

‘Quantifiablechanges in attitude,

behaviors etc’

Adapted from Classic ‘out’ measures of media from Jim Macnamara (1992).

PRE-READING

Documents

pr reputation

pr fits

howproactive pr

pr campaigns

pr planwe

pr management reputation

press pr initiatives

strategic quality