Welcome to the information age! It’s humbling to imagine the sheer volume of data that flies through the air and cables each second of every day. In this time of billboards and network television as well as livestreaming and TikTok, the information that shapes one’s public image is more accessible than ever before. For this reason, your public image is paramount. Whether you’re writing a blog post, creating a press release or authoring an article, good PR goes a long way.
The best PR tends to be a means of showcasing a company’s personality. Without resorting to wild publicity stunts, framing developments in positive and creative ways is key. For example, new equipment could represent preparedness; direct action benefiting the local community could easily build social capital; or an investment in new programs can be defined as an investment in employees.
Good PR is essential for cultivating business partnerships and other commercial relationships, and is essential for recruitment as well. The current workforce has quite stringent expectations regarding the practices of potential employers.
That said, it’s also important to remember that no amount of good PR can make up for seriously bad PR. Many may remember the 1984 chemical disaster in Bhopal, India that claimed several thousand lives due to substandard safety precautions and understaffing. This was a disaster that Union Carbide Corporation never quite recovered from. If you Google the company today, one of the top stories remains this disaster.
A more recent ethical challenge is highlighted in “Senator Wyden Wants Answers After Report Links Auto Companies to Forced Labor in China,” written by Elizabeth Brotherton-Bunch and published on the Alliance for American Manufacturing blog. In the article, Brotherton-Bunch writes: “…Western auto companies continue to maintain a big presence in China, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to source anything from China that is not connected to the use of forced labor.”
That these practices have gained the attention of the federal government is significant. It’s this kind of press that can drive customers away in droves. And as the article states, it isn’t just the auto industry that’s facing this issue of forced labor.
The bottom line is, no amount of good PR can counter unethical practices, and in today’s digital world business secrets don’t stay that way for long.
If you’d like to discuss how to take charge of your company’s PR, contact us today.