By Oguwike Nwachuku
After reading through the book – Strategic Media Relations and Reputation Management: 21st Century Media Relations &Information Management Techniques – by Innocent C. Chukwu, I thought the title of my review should read: Tips on how to be a successful media relations and reputation manager in a 21st century”.
However, before we return to Mr. Chukwu’s work shortly, a few references whose authors have given credence to, or legitimised the extensive work of the author will suffice.
Writing on “4 Key Elements of Any Media Relations Strategy” in PR News for Smart Communicators (Nov 2014), editor and media expert, Richard Brownell stated that: “Whatever your brand may be – a multinational conglomerate or a small business you run out of your garage – you need to connect with the media to tell your story. Media relations are integral to reaching new customers and developing advocates for your brand.”
Also, United States PR motivational speaker and senior director of media relations for the National Retail Federation, Kathy Grannis, shared her thoughts on the four principle elements of any media relations strategy in the same publication thus:
- Relationships are essential to media relations success. A personal note to select reporters about your organisation’s news – even prior to announcement – will go much further than throwing the pot of spaghetti noodles on the wall and hoping a few stick.
- Understanding leadership’s objectives. It’s easy to put the wheels in motion when executing your media relations strategy. However, if leadership is more focused on specific results, it would be wise to develop a strategy around that instead of spinning your wheels and wasting precious time and resources.
- Leveraging digital content. The press release is not dead, but it has had a facelift. In order to keep that facelift visible to the public and looking fresh, oftentimes it makes sense to consider additional channels to get the most out of your hard work. A blog or news article on a company website, a bylined article submitted to a trade publication, or a letter to the editor/op-ed are all excellent channels that continue the conversation around your message and very likely get more eyes than a press release ever will.
- Confirm measurement objectives. If broad circulation is the desired outcome of a media strategy, then Business Wire and national publications would be the best way to go. However, if a more targeted result is expected, such as a local hit in a select outlet or specific trade magazine, it will be easier to measure “success” in the end.
The view of another media guru, Max Bergen, a business development professional, with a blend of marketing, customer development, and leadership skills also aligns with that of Brownell and Grannis as regards media relations strategy.
According to Bergen, “Effective media relations can make the difference between a brand that is able to out preform their PR budget and competition and one that struggles to get a positive return on their PR investment. It is really at the heart of what PR professionals do, and a fundamental part of a brand’s communications strategy.”
Like Grannis, Bergen has also identified four simple, yet highly significant things that ought to be taken into consideration when executing media relations plan by practitioners to ease their jobs. They are –
Maintain a Media List: Each organisation should have a list of media contacts who write about topics related to your brand or industry. Think broadly about who counts as a “media contact,” and include journalists, bloggers, commentators and other influencers in your space. It is necessary to research each contact and document the types of stories that they write or contribute to. In order to do effective PR pitching, you’ll want to understand each contact in as much depth as possible. You’ll also notice that I called this section, “Maintain a Media List,” rather than, “Build a Media List.” That’s because your list isn’t a set-and-forget database. It needs to be up to date to be useful.
Connect: Once you’ve identified a media contact, connect with them however possible through social media so that you can closely follow their work. It makes sense, when practical, to introduce yourself to media contacts before you have a story to pitch. Don’t forget that media contacts are human, and like the rest of us, they enjoy it when people share and engage with their content. Doing so certainly won’t hurt your chances when they review your story ideas.
Craft Specific and Relevant PR Pitches: Successful media relations requires matching each pitch with the media contact you are targeting. Generic pitches are rarely effective. You want to make sure that the topic of your pitch is in line with what the author has written before and relevant to their audience. It is also helpful to reference past articles or posts to show how your story idea is related.
Be Helpful: You want to make life as easy as possible for your media contacts. This means providing sufficient detail and resources to complete a story. Include quotes from executives, partners or customers and, when possible, make them available for an interview. Add relevant statistics and links to related research or commentary. It also pays to include relevant images in both pitches and press releases.
Writing on, “Your Media Relations should have a Strategic Purpose” Kim Harrison, PR consultant, author and principal of www.cuttingedgepr.com said: “Media relations is the term for activities that involve liaising directly with the people responsible for producing the news and features in the mass media. The goal of media relations is to maximize positive coverage in the mass media without paying for it directly through advertising.
“The challenges of liaising with the media are in knowing what the media want, and in helping them to present images, ideas and information accurately and fairly. The news media can’t be controlled – they have the ultimate control over whether the news angle you put to them is of interest to them, and in turn, to their audience.”
Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director, The Quadrant Company, sees media relations strategy as putting square pegs in square holes.
“Media Relations involves the strategic deployment of the media in telling the organisational story. It seeks the dissemination of the organisation’s objective to an audience outside the organisation’s immediate reach, and involves the transmitting of messages via the mass media. Media relation therefore stands on a tripod: the Organisation (Sender), the Media (Transmitter) and the Target Audience (Receiver),” Okusaga noted.
Wikipedia’s definition of reputation will assist us have measured understanding of Mr. Chukwu’s logic in his book under review.
Wikipedia said: “Reputation management refers to influencing and controlling an individual’s or business’s reputation…. Reputation management is the process of identifying what other people are saying or feeling about you or your business; and taking steps to ensure that the general consensus is in line with your goals.”
The book, Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life by two professors of economics – Avinash K.Dixit and Barry J.Nalebuff (October 1990), is also not unmindful that reputation has a lot to do with credibility.
The dons wrote: “If you try a strategic move in a game and then back off, you may lose your reputation for credibility. In a once-in-a-lifetime situation, reputation may be unimportant and therefore of little commitment value. But, you typically play several games with different rivals at the same time or the same rivals at different times. Then you have an incentive to establish a reputation, and this serves as a commitment that makes your strategic moves credible.
“Establishing credibility in the strategic sense means that you are expected to carry out your unconditional moves, keep your promises, and make good on your threats. Credibility requires finding a way to prevent going back. If there is no tomorrow, today’s commitment cannot be reversed.”
A careful perusal of Mr.Chukwus’ work gives us a clearer picture on the merits and demerits in effective and defective application of communication skills as fundamental tool for the success of media relations in any private or government organisation.
The take away is that in trying to build dependable media relationship, goodwill, image and reputation for an organisation, one must be discountenancing effective communication skills at one’s own peril. Let me illustrate.
In the book, The Six Fundamentals of Success: The Rules for Getting it right for yourself and your Organisation (Jan 2004) by Stuart R. Levine, “Communication helps to bring the best thinking into the right conversations at the right time. It reduces fear and uncertainty and breaks down barriers. It strengthens relationships, improves products, and motivates employees.
“In today’s world, organisations are faced with new communication challenges. As it has gotten easier to send information around, many people mistake sending and receiving information for communication. They use technology to replace, instead of enhance, communication. They hide behind e-mail and voice mail to avoid difficult conversations that should take place face to face.
“As the pace of change creates the need for stronger coordination of efforts, organisations are at the risk of experiencing a communication breakdown.”
What Jeffrey J. Fox wrote in his book: How to get to the top: Business lessons learned at the dinner table (2007) will also help us appreciate better what effective communication can do to individual, organisations and government business image and reputation, and more importantly, what argument Mr. Chukwu has canvassed in his work.
Fox said: “There are two times when you must perfect table manners; when you dine with others and when you dine alone. Be it a family meal, a business meeting, a campfire roast, dining with others is a lynchpin of civilisation. The table is where partnerships begin, plans are laid, decisions made, information exchanged, deals struck.
“A person’s natural conduct at the table is often a window into the personae. Is he or she well-taught, polite, attentive, funny, observant, disciplined? Or indulgent, sloppy, avaricious, uncouth, rude, inappropriate?
“Work on the products customers buy, no matter how old and boring. Work on the people who are proven cash register ringers, no matter how difficult to manage. Work on strengths. Work on what is working or you won’t be.”
If you read through Mr. Chukwu’s book under examination you would think Fox probably pirated his thought going by the gamut of pieces of advice the Nigerian journalist proffered in his book with regard to tips for strategic media and reputation being catalyst for successful business in our contemporary world.
In taking us through the nitty-gritty of strategic media relations and reputation management, Mr. Chukwu has challenged our intuition on what we, our organisations, the government and the society at large stand to gain if we apply ourselves well to the tenets of effective speaking or communication as Levine and Fox rightly espoused.
“Media relations is based on communication, relationship, trust and truth. Once a cordial relationship exists between the organisation and the media, the latter can be guided sincerely on how to report even negative news so that the organisation’s image will not be affected negatively,” Mr. Chukwu wrote as he dealt with the features of media relations.
I think Mr. Chukwu has also challenged our strategic behaviour as individuals, organisations and as a government; reminding us that we are all strategists, whether we like it or not, and that it is better to be a good strategist than to be a bad one.
For example, if we deploy good strategies on our marriages, families, travels, and even on things that are not so important, we can do the same to ensure the projection of our image and good reputation, that of private and government businesses in a positive ways.
Strategic Media Relations and Reputation Management… should refresh our memory to the fact that the media are critical to business success and development, as well as national development. Those in tune with the worth of the media (whether individuals or institutions) enjoy the services they get and may not be in a hurry to stop dealing with the media as partners in progress.
Unfortunately, those who do not understand the workings of the media or should I say, who want to dictate how the media do their work, are often the ones who complain about how bad the media and their practitioners are, or how much challenge the media pose to their individual or group business interests.
Mr. Chukwu understands this fact as a journalist of more than two decades in active practice, with interest in public relations and politics. He has provided what I call balancing act for the inevitability of media practice anchored on fairness, balance and objectivity as sina qua non for healthy business growth and national development.
That is why I share in the view of Bernard Obia in the Foreword of Mr. Chukwu’s book that the author’s experience garnered over a period of time working as a journalist and public relations practitioner has been brought to bear in the research.
His book takes into consideration the dynamism of our society where the public have become increasingly hyperactive and conscious in holding the media accountable for reports that affect them either positively or negatively. Where the reputation of government must measure up to global standard or international best practice in relationship to accountable service delivery and responsible leadership. And where the 21st century organisations take seriously their image and reputation in a competitive business environment.
Mr. Chukwu has identified and proposed what organisations, the media, and the public stand to gain in a healthy marriage of efforts between them that will also guarantee their individual self-worth and respectability.
The 360-page book written thematically in 10 Chapters is easy to read, both in terms of editing, prose and layout.
Chapter One deals with Introduction to Public Relations, and the author used the chapter to give account of his mastery of the field of public relations as the window through which strategic media relations and reputation management could be assessed by willing practitioners.
Greater insight into the workings of the media is discussed in Chapter Two in what the author calls The Media Industry. Intending media practitioners and new entrants into the industry as well as those who are in the habit of blaming the media for whatever goes wrong with the image of their organisation will find that chapter handy.
Justice was done to all that the reader needs to know about Media Relations as a Specialised Field; including the definition, features, functions, benefits of specialised media departments, stakeholders in the media, and what differentiates media relations from advertising.
The author continued his narrative in Chapter Four on Media Relations Structure and Strategy. Here, research in media relations, methods, tools, selection, planning and use were handled professionally, with a case study involving an agency of government to serve as a big lesson to practitioners both in private and government.
Physical attributes of the media relations manager, qualities and functions formed the narrative in Chapter Five of the book on The Media Relations Manager and His Work, while Chapter Six on Managing Different Reporting Styles looked at developmental reportage, investigative reportage, columnists, dealing with the various groups, relating with investigative reporters and columnists and risk management.
In Chapter Seven, the book deals with Events, Protocol Management and Media Relations. Conscious effort is made in this chapter to explain what protocol is, and is not, composition of protocol unit, location, kit and skill, etiquettes at events, protocol officer in the workplace, media relations and protocol, protocol list and checklist, train and what pre-event, event and post-events and evaluation entail.
Chapter Eight is on Media Relations as a Tool for Brand Building. This chapter will be of great value to organisations desirous of having competitive edge in their preferred products. Reason: The book paid considerable attention to brand process, differentiation, internalisation, name, building, personality, promise, image, loyalty and equity. The clincher: media relations roles in brand building and management, the organisation, the product/service and the CEO make interesting reading on the chapter.
Chapter Nine on Media Relations in Government is one chapter anyone interested in the image and reputation of government, including politicians will find irresistible if they come in contact with this book. The reader will appreciate how propaganda or falsehood takes the place of facts in government business among others like suppression of opposition, critics; insensitivity, and rash approach to governance. A case study of editorials, opinion pieces and features that were deliberately churned out by some media houses to kick against some government policies during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan that runs from page 218- 259 will arrest the attention of any interested reader, particularly as the image and reputation managers of the ousted government left critical things bordering on media relations undone.
What is crisis? Real costs of crisis? Crisis life cycle? Crisis management and management of crisis? How do the media react to crisis, and what to expect from the media? All that can be read in Chapter Ten on Crisis Management: The Media Approach. You will also find the popular five Cs (Crisis) model, crisis media relations techniques, tools for crisis media management in this chapter.
The point must be made that media relations is not as tricky as it is being perceived. Deployment of a few best practices is what makes all the differences.
Mr. Chukwu is conscious of this fact and amply observes that with careful attention and the right tools, organisations can boost their results and develop long lasting relationships with everyone who is in the position to help spread their brand message.
That is why Mr. Chukwu takes seriously physical attributes of the media relations managers such as dressing smartly, being alert and friendly, listening carefully, being proactive, disciplined, enthusiastic, nice, courageous, and harmless.
The media relations manager should be able to marry his physical attributes with other qualities such as having managerial ability and acumen, background in journalism, integrity, personality and excellent conversation skill, drive for excellence, flair for writing, excellent communication ability and command of English language, work under pressure, especially in time of pressure, and to continue to learn endlessly.
At the risk of turning this review into another book, let me say that the author has refreshed media practitioners and researchers memory to the tools they need to perform optimally, and in a much more simplified language.
The book is an excellent resource material for mass communication students aspiring to be journalists, public relations and advertising experts. Lecturers, government and research institutions will also benefit from the book whose references and index sections are quite captivating.
I am convinced the author has read what he is marketing to the public, and would not have problems taking responsibility for his work in areas where their expectation as regards minor typographical errors, quality of printing, and failure to do a formal conclusion of the work are involved.
All said, I am glad I have, and read a copy, and I know you will too.
Thank you.