Search results matching tags 'PR' and 'planning'

The other shoe drops for PRs on Yahoo!-Microsoft search deal

881157 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:17:00 GMT

For those PRs that run SEO programmes or even know how to use internet tools for campaign planning and insights Yahoo! Site Explorer was a valuable weapon to have in their arsenal. It output sites that linked into a target site as a CSV file that could be opened in Microsoft Excel. This allowed you to, for instance, see which sites were mentioning competitors but not your site and sites that linked to both. Yahoo!'s deal last year to hand over its search functionality to Microsoft cast a shadow over Yahoo!'s custom search product BOSS and other tools like Site Explorer. BOSS has had the licensing rates change to become less attractive and now Site Explorer is due to close down next year according to Yahoo!'s Search blog. Yahoo! recommends Bing's Webmaster Tools, though to be honest with you I think that these are inferior to both Yahoo! and Google's tools, instead I'd recommend getting a subscription to SEOmoz.

COI may have a new channel: The BBC

881157 — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:28:00 GMT

Brand Republic has an article that claims the government is considering asking to run some COI advertising campaigns on the BBC in order to reduce costs. Such a move is likely to have the independent television sector in uproar as government spending on advertising has been propping up the media industry and is likely to have continued complaints about the dominant power of the BBC in the UK media sector and a fear that this may be the precursor to an ad-funded BBC. On the flipside of the equation, the placement of COI adverts could be seen as the start of a journey down a slippery slope moving the BBC away from its largely independent stance. Having the ads running needs to be something that broadcast PRs need to factor into consideration when working with with the BBC on clients at the centre of COI campaign issues such as food companies, drinks companies and restaurant chains.

It shouldn't happen at a Vets'

2712701 — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:29:00 GMT

Last week, BBC’s Panorama ran an investigative show into vets and their treatment of animals.

I was quite shocked watching it.

Not because of what I saw on the show.

But because the vet chain featured, Medivet, is the one I have used for three years to look after my dogs, Frank & Betty.

During that time they have saved Frank’s sight (he otherwise would have gone blind) and saved Betty’s life through surgery (when she choked and stopped breathing).

I have always found them one of the most professional and caring companies I have ever dealt with - across any commercial spectrum.

Yet my personal experiences just didn’t match what I was seeing on TV.

So how can a business go from hero to zero so quickly?

The first is the power of television.

The BBC, and particularly Panorama, is such a powerful communication platform that you are in trouble if you find your company on the wrong side of it.

Watching the show a second time – the content itself wasn’t actually so shocking.

Sure - there were a few isolated issues.

But bearing in mind there had been undercover filming for eight months they hadn’t uncovered much dirt at all and the majority of what was shown seemed quite sensationalist.

It made me feel like the programme had invested money in the research so had to get a show out of it.

The bigger question for me was could the vet have managed the crisis better or even avoided altogether?

Medivet was offered the chance to respond to each incident on the programme,

And here’s where they made their first mistake.

They failed to acknowledge a problem.

Medivet gave a blanket denial to each incident – in a tone of voice that seemed to be written more by a law firm than a PR firm. It probably was.

The tone did not show any compassion or caring that would befit a vet - or concern about the accusations.

And anything they said had to work hard against a backdrop of animals in pain – and theirs just didn’t.

More importantly though - they didn’t appear to have had a crisis plan in place.

As loyal customers of Medivet the first we heard of the Panorama TV show was a pre-promotion for it on BBC.

We heard nothing to reassure us from the vets themselves.

There was no proactive management as the events unraveled.

And it hasn’t been a good for their reputation.

Which is a true shame.

Because they are brilliant at what they are all about; caring for animals.

They just weren’t brilliant at communication – or more importantly; crisis communication.

So what can other businesses can learn from this?

No matter how big or small – a crisis plan that maps out potential eventualities and appropriate responses is an important process to work through.

Businesses provide protection for themselves through insurance policies - that include business interruption cover – but they don’t invest the same time or resource into a crisis communication programme.

Yet the effect to their businesses could be disastrous.

Although some reputational damage has been done to Medivet it is now that is the key time for them and their brand.

They have already put a strong message of apology on their website, have set up an independent enquiry with the leading vetinary body and suspended anyone in the show who acted inappropriately.

All of these are good crisis measures and are a step in the right direction.

And it is already having a good effect with them being inundated with messages of support from customers.

It is the ones they don’t hear from that they will need to focus on though.

Regardless of the show or the communication - I am sticking with Medivet.

They have always looked after my dogs with care, professionalism and dedication.

And in truth, that stored goodwill is just as important in a crisis as any amount of planning and communication can ever be.