Context Public Relations

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” ….. Winston Churchill.

Next time you get a new prospect ask them if they searched for you on Google. Googling is now one of the most common ways people will check out your business. It provides instant access to both your own PR as well as comments from current and past clients and if the feedback is poor the prospect is unlikely to contact you.

Many tech PR clients are now asking our advice on managing their online reputations so here are a few tips to get you started:

• Get your house in order - if there is a problem get it sorted before you try and say there is no problem
• If a comment is totally untrue approach the webmaster or publisher nicely - if someone is calling your service a scam and it is not the webmaster should happily take the comment down
• Accept the criticism and don’t rant a response online - responses in CAPITALS are often seen as very negative. Think about what you are writing as it will be there permanently
• Actively engage with your critics - answer their concerns and once it is sorted ask them to post about the resolution. Turning a negative into a positive shows that you will resolve problems as they occur and gives a great deal of confidence to your customers

Finally make sure you continually feed good news to media sources. The more your own story appears the more likely any negative posts will never be seen.
If you’re looking for more advice on managing your online reputation give us a call.

Tags: Public Relations, Technology by Rob
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A survey carried out by PR Week has found that 52% of people believe John Terry’s affair with a team-mate’s ex-girlfriend is dragging down the reputation of football. Add to this the media storm chasing Ashley and Cheryl Cole and regular reports of bad-boy behaviour amongst players, and it would seem public perception of premiership football is getting lower and lower…… and lower still.

It just shows you how individual actions or comments can potentially damage the reputation of an entire organisation. And when is comes to business, your reputation is key to your success.

Reputation management means a lot of hard work. It can take years to build up, and as John Terry has shown, one “mishap” can bring it all tumbling down around you. In business, you need to invest time and money into maintaining your reputation through consistent and targeted PR campaigns, and if it all goes wrong and you find yourself faced with a crisis, you need experience to turn your negative PR around.

This is where the professionals will help. Your PR agency can help you manage a comprehensive crisis management plan to ensure that your company is seen to do all the right things. In a crisis you need to act fast, stay visible to the media and be well prepared. Follow these rules and you might just salvage the reputation you spent all those years working to build…. Fail, and you could see public opinion of you and your business start to dwindle  - and fast.

For more information on PR programmes and crisis management plans, why not give us a call?

Tags: Public Relations by Anna
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The media love a good acronym nickname and unfortunately for those countries facing economic turmoil – Portugal, Italy or Ireland, Greece and Spain, the less than complimentary farmyard animal has become theirs.

The Guardian discusses how these countries are considering support from PR professionals to help manage their financial reputations in an uncertain climate, but also raises the very important point that a country, just like any business, does not have to be in crisis to take advice.

If faced with a crisis then it is more than unwise to try and manage the media without any PR experience – say the wrong thing and what was a fairly sizeable problem will end up being a total nightmare. Any crisis needs a thorough and comprehensive management plan and unless you truly know what you’re doing, then it is always best to seek assistance from those who do. However, as the old adage has it; ‘prevention is better than cure’.

Any country or business has a reputation to manage and it takes a lot of hard work to build a good profile and even more hard work to keep a good profile, but profile maintenance is still far preferable to profile repair.

Reputation is one of the most important factors in achieving prosperity and so surely it is worth investing a bit of time and money in? If you’d like to know more about reputation management then why not give Context a call.

Tags: Public Relations by Debbie
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For the first time in 23 years Pepsi has chosen not to feature in the US Super Bowl ad break – which usually costs the company millions of dollars for a 30 second slot.

Instead they are launching an online social-networking campaign, which will involve social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing customers to interact with the soft-drink giant.

For those who don’t buy into social media, this may seem a bizarre business decision. But with Facebook campaigns such as the Wispa comeback and Rage Against the Machine campaigns demonstrating the full power of social media - then spending millions on a 30-second ad slot doesn’t seem as valuable as it once was.

Social media encourages consumer participation and can open new doors, and having thousands of followers on Twitter is a great way to target consumers with your latest products and deals, creating a favourable opinion of your brand and ultimately leading to a sale.

So why not speak to your PR and marketing agency to find out more about how to integrate social media into your marketing mix?

Tags: Marketing Mix by Priya
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There was a lot of confusion in the media last week, which brought with it a fair amount of worry for Toyota owners…… is it the brakes causing the problems or are the accelerators faulty? And is it affecting all hybrids or just the Prius?

Toyota’s handling of the crisis left both consumers and journalists surrounded in uncertainty.

So what can we learn from this? How can you contain a disaster before it spirals out of control, shreading your reputation into tatters on the way?

Act Fast – a slow response can make you look apathetic and have a severe and disastrous effect on your reputation. It also makes you look guilty as charged, so get in there quick before it’s too late.

Stay Visible – staying in the public eye is even more crucial in times of crisis. The public will expect a response and will want to see that you are taking control of the situation personally. Hiding away will only act to confirm negative rumours and take away any confidence the public may have in you.

Be Prepared – it’s well worth investing in media training to prepare yourself for such an event. If you appear nervous and unconfident, you may as well not bother appearing at all. Body language says it all and people will ignore your positive messages if you sit nervously scratching your neck wishing the ground could swallow you up!

Good crisis management relies on consistent, well-prepared open communication. Cover all the facts and tell the public exactly what you are going to do to rectify the situation.

Often there is little that can be done to avoid a crisis, but when the worst happens, don’t add fuel to the fire – have a crisis management plan in place and be proactive about speaking to the relevant media. If you have no experience in crisis management, then seek advice from those who do.

Tags: Public Relations by Anna
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Effective PR doesn’t just mean putting your own news and opinions out there in press releases, articles and interviews.  There are newsworthy incidents happening all the time that are related to your business, that you can use to your advantage — if you’re willing to offer a pithy, relevant comment.  All it takes is a little planning, an eye on breaking news that’s relevant to your organisation, and the ability to deliver a rapid response.

One of the staples of journalism is including comments from expert industry observers into a breaking news story.  The comments help to explain the story, and to balance it by giving the point of view of a third party.  It’s natural to think that these comments come from the journalist’s established contacts, built up over years of lunches.

That may have been the case a few years ago - but not any more.  Journalists are under real pressure to deliver a quota of news stories per day, so time is a key factor.  They’ve got maybe 90 minutes to get the story finished before moving onto the next one, and if you can offer a quick comment that fits the story and the journalist’s needs without too much editing, you’re in.

What are those newsworthy events?  Well, it depends on what industry you’re in.  For example, if you’re in the IT security sector, either as a vendor or a service provider, incidents such as data leaks or virus outbreaks (such as the recent infection on Greater Manchester Police’s networks) are ones to watch out for. 

What’s more, these breaking stories tend to be syndicated to other news outlets, spreading the story quickly across the web, giving you a big footprint on Google, and positioning you as an industry expert to boot.  Why not contact us to find out how you can get your points of view across?

Tags: Uncategorized by Priya
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