P R = Perception Reputation

P R = Perception Reputation

Friends, generally the term PR relates to Public Relations but does PR stands for Public Relations only or this term can be used in other references also?

‘YES’…. We can use ‘PR’ for ‘PRESS RELATIONS’, ‘PRESS RELEASE’, ‘PERSONAL RELATIONS’, ‘PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS’, and  now for PERCEPTION-REPUTATION also which is one of the core activities of public relations nowadays - “Managing Perception & Reputation” of the clients. Hence, there is a need to understand ‘Perception’ and ‘Reputation’ also.  

P for Public = Perception:

Perception is how we think about a particular person, situation, event, or anything for that matter based on the stimuli we receive and the feelings and thoughts that we have about that entity. Edward de Bono Physician, author, and originator of the term lateral thinking said that “Perception is real even when it is not reality”.

Perception means perceiving, i.e., giving meaning to the environment around us. It can be defined as a process which involves seeing, receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting and giving meaning to the environment. Perception is an intellectual, cognitive or psychological process and also becomes a subjective process as different people may perceive the same event differently. People can be at the same place, at the same time and still come away with different opinions about what actually happened and, because everyone perceives the world in different ways, each person thinks that their version of events is correct.

Communicating and managing perceptions remain significant challenges. Our words and actions may be misinterpreted, misquoted and /or taken out of context. But if we want to shape others’ perceptions, we must take control of the messages we send and the actions we perform. We cannot succeed without consistently and accurately telegraphing our thoughts and intentions.

Perception Management

Perception management is a type of strategy that is aimed at guiding the motives, emotions, and conclusions of another party by means of using different approaches to alter that party’s perception of past events and the projections of future events. This particular type of strategy has been used in military operations in attempts to gain advantages over enemies, and has also found use in the business world among competitors. The goal is to alter the perception of the opposing party in a way that provides the manager with an advantage that can be used successfully to score a victory or otherwise defeat that opposing party. The process of perception management includes the selective use of available data. In this scenario, certain facts are presented completely and concisely, while others are either presented only in part of are left out altogether. Doing so makes it easier to create a particular perception that can be sold to consumers, the citizens of a given country, or to a rival of some sort, assuming the opposing party is not privy to and does not discover the omissions.

Therefore, the art and science of perception management is all about how entities create a favorable impression of themselves to their stakeholders be it prospective or existing employees, shareholders, consumers, and society at large. Thus, organizations have to ensure that they are perceived well by their stakeholders.

Perception Management operations have become a mainstream part of information management procedures in a variety of modern organisations. Perception Management can be carried out as part of a wider international Public Diplomacy initiative between governments, or it can function as a tool of domestic Public Affairs communications between a government and its citizens.

R for Relation = Reputation:

Although, reputation is often difficult to define since the perception of what is and what is not reputable is in “the eye of the beholder”, a variety of definitions of reputation have been offered from a number of different academic and professional backgrounds……

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”

-          - Benjamin Franklin

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

-          - Abraham Lincoln

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

-          - Warren Buffet

“Reputation is the general estimation in which one is held by the public.”

-          - American Heritage Dictionary  

“A brand is owned by the company, while reputation is owned by stakeholders.”

-          -   Unknown

“Great reputations are built through consistently meeting stakeholder expectations, dedication to your mission, and the element of surprise.”

-          

           - Unknown

Reputation is the subjective qualitative belief a person has regarding a brand, person, company, product, or service. Reputation is the key to success and is best defined as a third-party perception of you, or your brands, and character. Reputation is an expectation of future behavior based on past experiences, which means first impressions and your stakeholder's experiences with your brand are critical to developing a positive reputation. Reputation can mean different things to different people. If you ask 100 people what reputation means to them, you are likely hear some of its synonyms.

Reputation is a matter of perception. An organisation’s overall reputation is a function of its reputation among its various stakeholders i.e. investors, customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, politicians, non-governmental organizations, the communities in which the organisation operates,  in specific categories  e.g. product quality, corporate governance, employee relations, customer service, intellectual capital, financial performance, handling of environmental and social issues. A strong positive reputation among stakeholders across multiple categories will result in a strong positive reputation for the organisation overall.

As per “RepTrak Model” of The Reputation Institute, there are Seven Dimensions or Drivers of Reputation: Products & Services, Innovation, Leadership, Workplace Environment, Citizenship,  Governance, and Financial Performance. As per Schreiber there are “Six Pillars of Reputation”: Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem, Expectations, Knowledge and Experience to know how the company or organisation is perceived by its stakeholders on each of these pillars. Charles Fombrun (USA) and Cees Van Riel (Netherlands) model “Reputation Quotient”  measures Six Drivers contributing to Corporate Reputation i.e. Emotional Appeal; Products & Services; Vision & Leadership; Workplace Environment; Financial Performance; and Social Responsibility.

Reputation Management

Reputation management refers to influencing and controlling an individual’s or business’s reputation. Reputation management is making the effort to influence what and how people think of a person or brand. Sharing positive information about a brand or person to increase positive sentiment is an effective strategy for Reputation Management. Reputation management in its simplest form involves the following three steps:

·   Build: You must first BUILD up the reputation of your organisation to establish yourself in your particular industry.

·    Maintain: This is daily maintenance of reputation and is what is meant to keep a organisation’s good standing in place. Organisations with an established brand presence will use this the most.

·    Recover: This is for an organisation who has earned or received a negative reputation, whether in the general public or within their own target audience. Experts in reputation management are trained to insert positive pieces of information to “push down” the negative press or make it seem less significant.

PR = Public (Perception) Relations (Reputation)  

Varied definitions of public relations have been given by academicians, public relations professionals and international bodies of public relations practitioners. Out of those many, I have just taken the following five definitions that also conveys PR as Perception and Reputation Management.

PR is an attempt by information, persuasion, and adjustment to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.

-     - Edward L. Bernays

Public Relations is the art of getting believed.

-         

      - Ivy Ledbetter Lee

Public relations is the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends.

-      

      - Cutlip, Center, & Broom

Public relations is the business of creating and changing attitudes.

-    - Harold Burson

Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.

-          Chartered Institute of Public Relations – UK

To conclude:

Basic function of public relations is to help build trust and credibility with groups of public that are important for the organization.  What people think about the organisation much depends on views of others (perception). Public Relations is a discipline that looks after perception and reputation of an organisation, with the aim of earning understanding and support (perception)  and influencing opinion and behaviour (reputation). It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.’ The end result of public relations as perception and reputation management is creating goodwill of the organisation and mutual understanding between the target public and the organisation.

Perception and Reputation Management is an appealing concept for public relations professionals as it links public relations to the organisation it represents, and suggests a dialogue with the top management around a topic of pressing importance. Perception and reputation is not to be viewed or managed in isolation, but as part of the incessant public relations strategy of the organisation.

Thank You :)