" We will always see more comprehensively and profoundly than ordinary people. We have to see all the situations clearly before we decide how we should start, how we can change the pollen on the flower we see For the nectar we want, this is the publicist, this is the public relations.”
This is the definition of public relations and the public relations industry by the hero Wei Zhe in the TV series "Perfect Relationship".
This TV series tells how the public relations team led by Wei Zhe and Jiang Dalin dealt with various crises and revealed the truth through step-by-step investigations, and balanced the interests of customers with conscience, and finally resolved them. The story of the problem.
The real public relations is actually far more than what we have seen, its responsibilities also include: brand management, event management, employer branding, public affairs and so on. It can be seen that public relations is a miscellaneous family. As we saw in the play, Wei Zhe seems to know everything and can always think of a quick way when he encounters a problem.
Indeed, to be good at public relations, you must learn everything, and you must learn everything fast.
So, what is the concept of public relations?
The term "public relations" first appeared in a speech to Congress in 1807 by US President Thomas Jefferson. According to Edward Bernays (Edward Bernays) definition, public relations is a management function that formulates policies and procedures to gain public understanding and acceptance.
Baidu defines it as a series of public activities carried out by an organization in order to improve the relationship with the public, promote the public's awareness, understanding and support of the organization, and achieve the purpose of establishing a good organizational image and promoting the sale of goods.
Li Guowei, a well-known public relations person, said that public relations is to do everything possible to let others say hello.
"Perfect Relationship" shows more crisis public relations, which is a very important item in brand public relations. In the process of enterprise development, challenges will always coexist with opportunities. Especially in the modern business era, more crises and opportunities arise at the same time. If the crisis is not handled properly, the enterprise will inevitably break the bones.
Crisis public relations embodies the core values and competitiveness of enterprises when they encounter crises. Doing a good job in crisis public relations should be the way of survival that all enterprises must learn.
So what exactly should crisis public relations do? Is it really what we see in the TV series? Below, I will take you to understand crisis public relations from the following three aspects and learn how to deal with crises.
Before the crisis broke out: the crisis prevention system is the back wall of the sustainable development of the enterprise
Wei Zhe said: “Remember, stop all possible sparks, and always take precautions. This is the sensitivity and social responsibility of the publicist. "
Many companies often don’t care about the prevention of crises because of their weak awareness, but instead focus more on the post-event measures of crisis public relations and let the public relations deal with them once they encounter problems. Lingdang layoffs on a large scale. Tang Zheng asked Wei Zhe to put out the fire because he was afraid of staff making trouble. Tang Zheng sealed the shop owner’s shop. The shopkeepers joined forces to protest, and Wei Zhe went to put out the fire.
But in fact, establishing a corporate crisis prevention system is much more important than extinguishing fires.
1. The establishment of correct values is the guarantee to continuously win the trust of customers. When
Bell Network closed its stores on a large scale, the shopkeepers united to protest against the company and against Tang Zheng. Some people were excited to throw eggs at Tang Zheng. Because of how bad Tang Zheng is, how ruthless the company is.It is because the entire enterprise does not have a good value, no centripetal force and cohesion.
An excellent enterprise must have excellent values, put the public interest first, and insist on honesty and legal operation. The leadership of an excellent company will inevitably grasp the standards of ethics and law and lead by example.
In 2017, SAIC GM filed a recall plan with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in accordance with the requirements of the “Regulations on the Recall of Defective Automobile Products” and decided to recall from August 4, 2017, to December 6, 2016. The 2017 Buick next-generation GL8 cars produced in Japan total 6,451 units. The reason for
is the electronic steering assist calibration software problem, which may cause the electronic steering assist system to report a fault code when some vehicles are driving. Under special circumstances, it may also cause the vehicle electronic steering assist to fail. Therefore, SAIC-GM recalled the malfunctioning car and upgraded its electronic steering assist calibration software to eliminate potential safety hazards.
SAIC GM strictly abides by industry standards and ethics, and actively remedies any deficiencies. This is the fundamental reason why consumers choose to continue to trust it.
Crisis public relations is the values and core competitiveness of an enterprise at an important moment. We often laugh at many companies' poor crisis public relations. In fact, this is not because of their poor crisis public relations capabilities, but the fact that companies do not have correct and strong values.
2. The establishment of a crisis management process is a mechanism for enterprises to quickly deal with crises.
(1) The formulation of a crisis management manual is the key to preventing problems before they occur. Tencent’s crisis public relations manual is very comprehensive, including the characteristics and differences of crisis public relations in the old and new media era, real-time interaction chapter, turning crisis into safety, eight-sided and exquisite chapter, six-way perspective, and wonderful writing. Through combing the thinking of crisis management, let the enterprise have a basic understanding of the crisis.
(2) The internal coordination mechanism is an important part of determining the success or failure of enterprise crisis management. Why does Wei Zhe communicate directly with the boss every time he deals with a corporate crisis, such as Qiao Yunlong of Huasheng and Tang Zheng of Lingdang.com, because if there is no high-level leader in crisis public relations, it is extremely difficult to unify the opinions of various functional departments. This may send wrong information to the outside world and delay the fighter.
For example, the large-scale layoffs of Lingdang.com, the human resources department said that compensation should be based on N+1, the legal department said that the compensation must be clearly defined, and the government relations department said that it should listen to the opinions of the local government, and the sales department is afraid of affecting performance.····· Talking about each other, a mess. At this time, there must be a leader above these functional departments, based on the overall decision of the enterprise. Therefore, Wei Zhe communicates directly with the boss to ensure high decision-making efficiency.
3. Adequate mobilization of external resources is an important means for companies to effectively deal with crises
(1) External resources include government, media, industry associations, opinion leaders, etc., of which government resources are the most important. The large-scale layoffs of Lingdang.com, and the shopkeepers gathered to protest. These crises were handled by Wei Zhe in the TV series. It seems that Wei Zhe relied on his personal ability. But in actual work, this kind of incident is no longer simply a company layoff. It is a political event related to the security and stability of a region.
There was an explosion in a famous chemical company. The government could have requested the entire factory to be closed for rectification, but because this factory is a local advanced safety production enterprise and management has been very good, the government asked the factory to stop the production line that caused the accident, and other departments. Production will proceed as usual.
bell network Australia pointsWith the company’s large-scale layoffs, the Wei Zhe project team neglected important government resources. Two lone heroes single-handedly entered an environment that was about to be bloodied without any protective measures.
If he consults the local government immediately and obtains the protection and support of the government, he may not be pointed at his head with a gun, and some retrenched personnel will not have the opportunity to make excessive behaviors, and those who have witnessed the shooting incident People in self-harm incidents are even more miserable. They will experience the dominance of fear for a long time and have to undergo psychological treatment.
Therefore, this is really not a simple company layoffs. It is actually related to the overall interests of a region, and government forces should exert greater influence in it.
online shopkeepers protested, Wei Zhe should also contact the local public security organs, on the one hand to prevent illegal disturbances at any time, on the other hand to protect the lives and property safety of local people, and at the same time, the relevant government departments intervene to coordinate disputes between the business and the shopkeeper’s labor , Give a result that both parties are satisfied with. Relying on Wei Zhe single-handedly undercover investigation, the remaining three people's internal and external cooperation can only be heroism in the TV series.
Therefore, it is so important to build a bridge of communication between enterprises and the government, let the government understand and trust the enterprise, and even let them help at critical moments.
(2) Judging the potential energy of public opinion can prevent the vicious development of crisis events. The public opinion turmoil caused by the previous large-scale layoffs of Lingdang did not attract Tang Zheng’s attention. Of course, it may be that the company does not have a dedicated public relations department to manage it. If someone tells him, let him judge by public opinion. The subsequent decision to close the store may reduce the risk of shopkeepers gathering to protest.
In 2016, Baidu’s “Wei Zexi Incident” went from the sale of the hemophilia bar at the beginning of the year to the public’s long-term opinions on the medical bidding rankings, and to the state leaders’ criticisms at high-level meetings that “searchers cannot be paid "How much as a ranking standard", public opinion has escalated to a high-risk state for Baidu's unfavorable situation. At this time, Baidu's public relations department should give sufficient warning to the company's management, rather than allowing its development to spread, and the last issue is out of control.
From Lingdang.com and Baidu, we can think of our own company, what public opinion "calling words" are there, and what kind of public opinion analysis can provide clues for the company's crisis warning. For example: fairness, carcinogenicity, corruption, double standards, scams, discrimination, killing donkeys, cold-blooded, etc., one by one seemingly ordinary words, if there is an abnormal connection with the company and the product within a certain period of time, you must Form a crisis warning.
2. When a crisis breaks out: assess the situation and respond effectively to
If the company has a sound crisis prevention system, but the crisis still occurs, then an efficient response plan becomes the key to the first time to resolve the crisis.
Zheng Qi was sexually harassed. Under the leadership of Wei Zhe, a large number of netizens launched a fierce crusade against CEA’s corporate culture, the law and the moral bottom line touched by the incident itself, but the public relations of Mingshi has been silent and right, which makes CEA Mr. Deng was furious and thought they had done nothing. In fact, the handling of public relations by famous officials is quite appropriate. Do not discuss issues that cannot be explained clearly with the public and the media.
Moreover, Mingshi PR may have done a lot of things silently, but they just didn't tell the public. For example:
(1) understand the strategic issues currently facing CEA.
(2) Intensive monitoring and reporting of public opinion.
(3) Communicate with employees in a way that is not easy to take screenshots, telling everyone that the company will respond in a unified manner, and employees should not comment in the circle of friends.
(4) Learn about Zheng Qi and Peter's daily life.
(5) prepare optional topics and information for possible CEO external communication.
(6) prepares a list of selectable media for the company to express its position in depth.
······
Although the problems faced by enterprises are not the same, the ways to deal with them are the same: determine the facts-form an internal crisis management team-select external resources-determine the basic position of the response, quickly evaluate the pros and cons, and obtain External support-external and internal response statements-continue to monitor public opinion and developments, and prepare for further response-improve on the corresponding issues of the crisis and continue to communicate.
In August 2017, the reporter visited Haidilao unannounced and found that the kitchens of two Haidilao stores in Beijing had bad phenomena, including rats crawling into the cabinets containing food, cleaning tools and tableware were washed together, and the dishwasher smelled rotten. Odor, hot pot colander is used to clean up sewer blockages. The text and pictures of this news spread quickly on the Internet, pushing Haidilao to the forefront.
However, more than three hours after the incident, Haidilao officials issued a response statement. Netizens summarized the main points of this statement: I am wrong, I will correct it, and employees do not need to blame themselves. After the
statement was issued, the boiling public grievances miraculously subsided, and many netizens even started to speak for Haidilao. The complete reversal of public opinion is surprising. And this series of occurrences did not even exceed 24 hours.
There is no doubt that Haidilao has performed well in these aspects. They completed the crisis response process in just 3 hours. Let's take a look at how Haidilao responded to this crisis.
1. Determining the authenticity of the crisis
From the randomly selected Haidilao food safety inspection and handling announcement in July, we can see that Haidilao’s own inspections are not inferior to the reporters of the Legal Daily. They are different. It is the reporter who has been latent for 4 months, which is impossible for routine inspections. There are pictures and videos as evidence, and the clerk did not completely deny it, indicating that the reporter did not falsely accuse the fraud.
2. Forming an internal crisis management team
In the TV series, we can always see the brainstorming and discussion meetings of Wei Zhe, Jiang Dalin, Louis, and Anton. This is not only a division of labor, but also a consensus on crisis management. first step.
A crisis management team allows everyone to provide facts and insights from different perspectives, which is very important for improving crisis public relations.
3. Determine how many external resources can be used for the crisis public relations of
Haidilao. It can be said with certainty that apart from collecting and adopting internal opinions, public relations companies or crisis management experts must also be consulted. Public relations companies have a lot of resources, which can provide us with effective public relations channels and methods, while crisis management experts can provide more objective and professional handling suggestions. In
TV series, we can often see Wei Zhe ask Louis to check the background of a certain company, to check the list of personnel of a certain company, as well as many media and thousands of network navies prepared for the trend. Louis can always complete it quickly. , This is because they usually attach great importance to the accumulation and sorting of large amounts of resources.
4. Determine the basic position of the response, quickly evaluate the pros and cons, and obtain external support. Rectification, how the public will react, and whether to notify the government if necessary.
Although we are not clear about the crisis handling process of Haidilao, from the results, its basic position is very correct, that is, sincerely admit mistakes and actively rectify. It seems simple, but in fact not every company has such a mind and determination. When the
Lingdang.com was layoffs, Wei Zhe could not convince the veterans through negotiationsWorkers, if they do not give emotional comfort, it will inevitably cause social verbal criticism, leading to a decline in the public image of Lingdang.com, and then a decline in stock prices. In the end, Wei Zhe asked Tang Zheng to invite the old employees to eat a meal, and then he had a heartfelt retelling of the wine, and finally solved the problem.
The core of crisis public relations is values and leadership.
5. Carefully write the internal and external response statements
Haidilao's statement has two internal and external versions. The external statement of
is to "dear customers and friends", which is mainly used to show its attitude-the problem disclosed by the media is true. The company apologizes and is willing to bear the corresponding economic and legal responsibilities. It has arranged rectification and welcome customer supervision. The internal statement of
is to "all Haidilao stores", notifying the two stores involved in the rectification, all monitoring equipment hardware upgrades, and telling the employees of the stores involved that there is no need to panic, and the company's board of directors bears the responsibility. Both statements of
were issued through Haidilao's official Weibo, and their positions were very clear. It should be noted that, both internally and externally, due to time constraints, when a statement cannot fully express the company's attitude, a second statement can be issued, but the content of the two statements should be applicable to any group of people. The
crisis response statement is one of the most important links in crisis public relations. It shows the company's attitude, position and values during the crisis. Because the response to the statement is aimed at the emotionally charged masses, every sentence must be leaking.
baihe.com did not realize the seriousness of the problem when responding to the "Ten Thousands Boycott Baihe.com" activities. The official Weibo apology turned out to be easy:
" I'm sorry! Single children’s shoes! Let’s help our parents, seven aunts, and eight aunts to force marriage! During the Spring Festival, China Central Television, various TV stations, and various city railway stations will broadcast high-density Baihe dating advertisements, which brings everyone Sister Lily is very sorry for the pressure!" In the
apology, she only expressed her apology for forced marriage. In response to the sex discrimination in the advertisement (the advertisement denies the heroine’s career and academic studies, but only recognizes her marriage value), Baihe.com did not respond. Did not come up with any practical solutions, which aroused stronger resistance from the public. Li Min, the producer of
"Glory of the King", when faced with criticism from People's Daily Online, his open letter also appeared to lack sincerity. The criticism of People's Daily Online is mainly aimed at two aspects. One is the empty content of the game and fictional history; the other is that the game design leads to excessive addiction.
But a lot of Li Min's open letter expresses emotions, such as grievances that have been criticized, "This is a game, like comics, TV series, movies, martial arts novels. It's all because someone is addicted to it. Blame the game, we feel a bit wronged."
For example, my dream is, "As a game player, my ambition is to one day be able to make a game that conveys love and happiness", and the only thing to solve the problem is a simple sentence, "You must find a way to prevent underage People are addicted to doing something about this." The response of
to avoid the most important ones was very unconvincing. The next day, People's Daily Online published an article entitled "Strengthening "Social Games" Supervision Is Urgent" in the second review of "Glory of the King". On the same day, Tencent's share price plummeted. The market value has evaporated by over 100 billion.
These are the different consequences of good and bad statements.
3. After the crisis broke out: Continue to communicate and repair the image
1. Continue to monitor public opinion and developments, and prepare for further response. When Haidilao issued its statement, it must have been worried about the public’s response, and even more worried about whether there are reporters undercover in other cities. Similar situations were discovered and exposed in more stores.This suffers from the catastrophe and so on.
This requires the public relations department to always pay attention to the development of public opinion, including the attitude of the public, the attitude of the official media, and the attitude of government departments. It must also always be alert to the exposure of new negative facts, and prepare psychologically for exposure and various responses in advance. .
2. Improve the crisis and continue to communicate. The approach of Haidilao is to invite customers and the media to visit the back kitchen and allow them to take pictures. Many of the photos are uploaded to the Internet. This is communication about problem improvement and an important part of crisis public relations. Similar crises, for example, KFC and McDonald’s were exposed to food hygiene problems, and both of them used public supervision to repair their images.
Once the three major steps and seven small processes are completed, a successful crisis public relations will be born with a high probability.
If you just treat the crisis as an event step by step, it is often not really effective. The most successful PR of must be from a human perspective, touching the heart in a warm and powerful way.
Good public relations must not only be the icing on the cake, but more importantly, let the "crisis" become a turning point and turning the "turning opportunity" into an opportunity is the greatest value of public relations.
Who can be wrong? Knowing mistakes can be corrected, and there is nothing good. - "The Second Year of Zuo Chuan Xuan Gong"
We are the same as human beings. In the face of doubts and distrust, we need to face the existence of facts and reflect deeply on our behavior. If there is any, we will change it, if we don't have it, we will give encouragement. Be sincere, don't rack your brains to think about how to excuse and shirk responsibility. Sincerity is often the most moving thing.
Conclusion The importance of crisis public relations in public relations is self-evident. It enables an enterprise to greatly reduce losses and maintain a good corporate image. At the same time, it can also expand the influence of the enterprise and promote the harmonious development of the organization.
Of course, the foundation for a company's sound development is its own strong values and operation management mechanism, coupled with "always on call" crisis public relations, in order to go further.
About the author: sister Anne1, writes the most common emotions in the world, and uses words to bring you warmth and strength.
