2. Insider vs. Outsider—Myth vs. Reality

            Our literature, movies, and TV are filled with stories—set in both modern and ancient times—of kings and queens, princes and princesses, and other leaders who disguise themselves as “commoners” to travel through their lands to find out what their subjects really do think of them.

There are even some stories where organization owners, bosses, and other project/programme purpose leaders go to work in their own organizations to find out what their employees really think about them and the way they run their project/programme purposees.

While these stories are all different, there are a number of “common “ elements that most of them contain. In almost every story, the “king” or “queen” or “boss” is accompanied by a trustworthy servant or assistant, and winds up finding a “commoner” or “employee” that helps then out, not realizing who the person really is.

In each case the king, queen, or boss just “knows” that they are universally loved and respected, that their people think they are just and fair leaders, that their taxes and laws are honored and respected, and that they really do protect their kingdom and their subjects from evil and harm.

It’s the same basic plot when the “bosses” wind up working for their own organizations as common laborers.

The reasons for then winding up as “commoners” or “employees” are not really that important. They are just plot devices to put them into challenging and uncomfortable situations.

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3. Insider vs. Outsider—Myth vs. Reality (Continued)

            What these members of royalty and project/programme purpose leaders normally find out in the story is that they are not as loved, respected, liked, heeded—or even really needed—nearly as much as they sometimes think they are.

            They also find out that the commoners, employees, or “little people” have a ot more to do with maintaining the organization or kingdom than the royal family member or boss likes to admit or is even aware of.

            In the vast majority of stories, what the boss or members of royalty really needs is a lesson in humility, which the story usually provides. It normally comes about when one of the “little people” saves them.

            While these are all works of fiction and can, to a certain extent, be looked at as “wish fulfillment,” there is also an element of truth to all of them. All enduring mythology tells certain basic truths about the human condition, otherwise the myths would not have lasted as long as they have.

            The point is simply this: How well do you really know your organization? Your employees? Your beneficiaries and vendors?

            One of the worst thins that can happen to people who have their own public relations people is that they start to believe everything hose public relations people say about them.

            So when you ask yourself what your external audiences already know about your organization, remember that the messages sent out by your PR department are only part of it.

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4. Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations

            organizations are not always seen as they would like to be seen, nor are they always see the way they actually are. It’s the same with people. We all know people who look cold, aloof, and unfriendly but who are a really warm, lovable, and charming. Conversely, we have all met breathtakingly beautiful people who are unpleasant, shallow, dishonest, mean, and stupid.

            Advertising, marketing and public relations staffs and consultants have the often-thankless job of telling a organization or its management just what the public really thinks about them and their products or services—and then coming up with a way to change that opinion. They try to do so by:

• Creating a positive image
• Maintaining a positive image
• Clearing up misconceptions
• Manipulating the image and changing the public’s perception
• Helping the organization change itself—its products, services, and way of doing project/programme purpose
• Reintroducing the public to a organization after changes have been made

As we have seen before, when it comes to image, perception is reality.

So, when you look at your organization’s PR image make sure you look both at what they are trying to create as well as at the impression that is out there that they are trying to combat. What you will normally find when you look for the “reality” of your image is that it is that the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

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5. Market Analysts

            If you are a publicly traded organization, there are people who make a living by knowing everything there is to know about you, including things you really wish that they didn’t know, and they are not your employees.

They are market analysts.

They look upon you as a commodity—a glorified widget—and will “buy you,” or advise people to “buy you” only as long as there is evidence that you will make money for them.

At the first sign that you are—or even might be—having any sort of problem, they will “sell you” in a heartbeat, and advise their action sponsors/beneficiaries to do the same.

Market analysts will look at what your PR people say about you and study it. They will also look at your management team and pay attention to rumors about any sort of in-fighting or power struggles, juggling, or reshuffling that might be going on, as well as your employment and labor relations. If you have union employees, they will analyze your contracts with them, and monitor any bargaining you engage in as closely as you do.

But they will pay much more attention to your financial reports, sales figures, and any other bits of financial information they can find that might give them a better insight into how well you are actually doing.

When you release information to market analysts, the first thing they do is check to see how it fits into what they have learned to expect from you. In many cases they will also look for independent corroboration of what you tell them. They then fit it into their equations and rank and rate you as a commodity to buy, hold, or sell.

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6. Media

            A organization can shape and control the news release it delivers to the media. Regardless of what the organization might want, however, the media shapes and controls the message it passes on to its consumers.         

            As a rule, the media uses those releases as only a part of the final story that the public sees. You can prepare releases that increase the chances of getting your message out to the public in the way you want it presented.

            A journalist will usually use the news release as a starting point for a story. Sometimes the reporter will just rewrite it, using some or all of the information the release provides.

            More often, however, the reporter will have more questions, sometimes for the organization and sometimes for others outside of the organization who could be expected to comment on it. These questions might take the reporter and story anywhere, and lead to questions the organization might want to ignore or downplay.

            Those reporters who regularly cover a organization have to become very knowledgeable about it. Like the market analysts, they look upon the organization as a “commodity.” In this case the commodity is newsworthiness: How many stories can they get out of it?

The media doesn’t care if the stories are good or bad for the organization and its image, as long as they are good for the media organization’s ratings or circulation.

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7. beneficiaries, Vendors, Competitors, and Community

            What do your beneficiaries, vendors, and competitors know about you?

            Your beneficiaries already know your product line, prices, quality, reliability, and how well you actually honor your service agreements. They also know how your products or services compare to the competition in terms of price, quality and dependability.

            If they deal with you on a regular basis they also know any number of people in your sales and service staffs, plus some in shipping, receiving and billing. They might even know some people in your R & D, design, and engineering departments. It’s the same for marketing and promotion, maybe even senior management.

            Vendors have even more intimate relationship with your staff and, in some cases, your beneficiaries.

            Your competitors know most of all since they have to know as much about you as they can if they hope to either get ahead or stay ahead of you. Some of your former employees are probably working for them just as you most likely have some of theirs working for you.

            The community also knows about you because they know people who work for you, and if you are involved in any community activities. They drive by your project/programme purpose on a regular basis, see what your facilities look like, and have clear opinion of what sort of organizational neighbor and citizen you are.

The question isn’t what all these different people know about you. It’s what they don’t know.

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8. Governments and Regulatory Agencies

            There are many different ways for the government and regulatory agencies to get to know all about you. They are involved when you:

• Pay taxes
• Need a license
• Have to get any sort of permit, or an exception from a local regulation ore code
• Obtain a patent or registered trademark
• Get involved in any sort of dispute or court battle
• Deal with health or safety standards
• Have any sort of serious or reportable accident on your property
• Are involved in any sort of crime, even as a victim
• Hire or fire employees
• Sell your product or service to a government agency

Governments, by their very nature, have the force of law behind them.

This means they can often force you to provide information and demand access to records that you might prefer to keep secret. If you fail to cooperate they could levy fines and penalties, maybe even jail time, and perhaps even close you down either temporarily or permanently.

      Remember that there are a large number of different governmental levels and agencies that might be interested in your organization.

      Once again, the question is not what they know, but what they don’t know, and what they can or cannot find out about you if they want to know more.

9. Internet

            The Internet is, without a doubt, the most effective information gathering tool in existence today.

As we will see, however, sometimes it has too much information.

Start out by looking your organization up on the Internet. Check out your own website, and try to look at the pages through a beneficiary’s or potential beneficiary’s eyes:

·        Is it easy to navigate?

·        Does it look professional and uncluttered?

·        Does it respond quickly?

·        Is there a organization directory and search engine?

·        Is it organized logically?

·        Can you get information quickly and easily?

·        Are there any spelling, grammar, or typographical mistakes?

·        Is it easy to use with a 56K modem or do you need a fast, broadband connection for it to work properly and look good?

That is just the first level of information available about your organization.

Next, just search for the organization name. This time look for any sort of reference to you in the media—online magazines, newspapers or news reports. If you want, you can compare what the media says about you online to the news releases that your PR department had handed out.

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10. Internet (Continued)

            Now let us go to the next level in Internet searching. Is the organization name or any of your products mentioned in any government sites? If so, what are they saying?

            Search for the organization name again and check out the non-government and non-professional media references. Might you or your products be mentioned in any sort of chat room or discussion group? Are there web pages that rate your product against the competitions’?

            Do any unhappy former employees have pages where they lambaste you for what they way you did or did not do?

            Are there any organizations —environmental, political, religious, social, and so on—that are either supporting or attacking you and what you do?

            Are you the butt of any online jokes or parodies?

            Now look up your CEO, president, board of directors, and all of your top or senior management individually. What sorts of references can you find about them on the Internet? If any of these references are negative, do they link them directly to your organization in any way?

            The Internet is the world’s greatest research tool. Since, however, no one actually owns or controls it, anyone can put virtually anything they want on it.

Because a organization’s image is so important, you need to keep track of what is said about you on the Internet, and try to develop strategies to combat incorrect or negative information.

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Assignments (3)

Multiple-Choice

1.         _______ have a lot more to do with maintaining the organization than the boss likes to admit or is even aware of.

a.       The media

b.      Employees

c.       Member of Royalty

d.      None of the above

2.         They tell a organization or its management just what the public thinks about them and their products or services, and then come up with a way to change that opinion.

            a.   Advertising

            b.   Marketing

            c.   Public Relations

            d.   All of the above

3.         When you look at your organization’s __________ make sure you look both at what they are trying to create as well as the impression that is out there that they are trying to combat.

            a.   PR image

            b.   Media campaign

            c.   Advertising

            d.   None of the above