I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that tactics must be chosen carefully to ensure that they are aligned with the corporate goals and PR strategy. Also, a single tactic would not work as well as a few tactics, working in tandem with each other to achieve synergy for PR Strategic goals.
Also, using tactics also involves budgeting as the tactics chosen must be within the budget and it would have an impact on the brand name of the company. The tactics chosen must be congruent with the image of the company.
The readings made me think more about public relations theory and practice in that how tactics is forms a huge part of a PR Campaign, which is part of a bigger PR Plan, which includes Goals, Strategy, Planning, Crisis management, Budgeting, and Media relations.
No one aspect of PR is ever solitary as they all have to work in conjunction with one another to achieve an intended target, be it to push a message, build up reputation and branding, or to create awareness for a new product.
A key concept was the usage of people to create and evoke emotion in the audience. It banks on the "human factor" to generate interests, and is generally more accepted as it is easier to convince the audience when there are public figures who approve. As in Energex example, they used "heroes" and "rescuees" to gather media attention, and also to promote what they are doing as a righteous cause.
In a sense, all tactics are to portray a positive image to the public, to convey a trust and reliability. It is rare to see any company use a negative example as they wish to avoid being associated with negativity.
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Dear Lester,
You mentioned that
"No one aspect of PR is ever solitary as they all have to work in conjunction with one another to achieve an intended target, be it to push a message, build up reputation and branding, or to create awareness for a new product".
I think your above mentioned statement concisely and intelligently express the crux of the issue.
The challenge with achieving synergies lies in the complex- multiple considerations which requires profound understanding of different aspects of public relations.
Dear Lester a.k.a. Lance,
You said:
"In a sense, all tactics are to portray a positive image to the public, to convey a trust and reliability. It is rare to see any company use a negative example as they wish to avoid being associated with negativity."
It is true that companies largely want to portray themselves in positive light. However, I feel that society is largely becoming more sceptical about the messages they are bombarded with daily. It seems that the public is becoming more discerning and can often see through campaigns with false claims.
Hence I feel that a good tactic that was not emphasized on in this chapter is honesty. Owning up to mistakes would gain sympathy and perhaps even support from the public.
Just food for thought...
Yes, owning up to mistakes and coming up with a fast and effective damage control plan is definitely part of PR. In fact, if handled well, an image boost can be achieved even when there are negative events happening depending on how good is the crisis handling and contingency plans.
This can be seen as an example by the Mars company regarding their withdrawal of all Mars bar. They were hailed as a hero due to their immediate and effective response to a food poisoning threat (instead of worrying about loss of profit).
Attribution is required when referring to and quoting from the Energex example from the reading.
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