MRO Today - Business communications in 2005

Business communications in 2005

by Andrea Obston

If you're a follower of Harry Potter's exploits at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, you know that his Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, tries to teach Harry and his classmates how to read the future. Their mixed exploits reading tea leaves and crystal balls makes it clear that even for witches and wizards, predicting the future has a learning curve. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't; but the big stuff can often be seen ahead of time.

As business people, we can't predict all of the economic and environmental shifts that will occur in the coming year. Things can happen suddenly. However, by stepping back from the often myopic view that occupies our day-to-day vision, we can easily spot five trends that will affect many businesses and organizations in 2005.

1. Companies and organizations will have to engage in more active communications to their stakeholders.

Thanks to the corporate scandals of the last few years, lawmakers passed new legislation that makes it mandatory for publicly traded companies to operate in an ethical and open manner.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created a new business environment for everyone whether or not they are publicly traded. In fact, many are predicting it will expand to include nonprofit organizations since they also operate in the public trust.

Be aware that companies of all types are being encouraged and expected to "live out loud" via regular communication to their stakeholders. Those stakeholders go beyond investors and members of the board. They include employees, retirees and vendors, to name a few.

You can expect to hear the term transparency a lot. But while the word will get old very soon, the concept shouldn't. As part of this new emphasis on communication, it's imperative for companies to have a set of principles that guide them. In addition, those principles need to be put into action in a crisis plan that's created well before it's needed and covers how to share information if something occurs that stakeholders should know about immediately.

2. Corporate and social responsibility will come back
into fashion.

Companies of all sizes are returning to pre-911 levels of philanthropy. Doing good for the community, and getting credit for it, is one of the most powerful ways to build a strong public image and improve the bottom line.

Companies like Proctor & Gamble, Starbucks, Aetna and The St. Paul Companies have always found that doing good is good for business. All are consistently sited in Business Ethics Magazine's 100 Best Corporate Citizens. We expect more smaller companies to follow suit in 2005 and to make corporate citizenship part of their measure of success.

Programs like Starbucks' Living Our Values project should be emulated by companies of all sizes because they combine doing good with good business practices. It makes sense on all levels.

3. PR will go beyond the "classic" media to include the Web, e-zines.

Corporations and larger nonprofits are already conscious of the impact that e-zines and the online versions of print media have on their stakeholders.

Smaller entities have ignored this new media universe. E-zines are giving many companies and their stakeholders a public voice. Now that their quality is improving, companies should send articles to these online publications. Many are hungry for material, which can make getting pick-ups easier than in the printed media. The key to using them wisely is to customize material for them. They value unique stories that don't appear in other media and, in many cases; they require exclusive use of a particular story. In the past, meeting those needs was often not worth the effort, but that's changed with their improving quality and impact. Think Drudge Report or online version of The New York Times.

4. Your company's online presence will be critical.

Not only is the general public routinely searching the Internet for information, but 98 percent of reporters research information online before they write a story. That means a company's Web site needs to be searchable, regularly updated and free of out-dated information.

It also means that successful companies will make it a regular practice to monitor the Web for what's being said about them on other Web sites and in chat rooms. They'll view the Web as a new survey tool: If there's a problem anywhere in their business practices, chances are it'll show up somewhere on the Web. The key is to fix the problem and let the world know about it immediately and aggressively.

5. Crisis proofing will become more fashionable.

Smart companies will crisis-proof themselves before something bad happens. That means identifying as many negative situations as possible and deciding how a company will deal with them. Why will this be so important in 2005?

Because of an increasingly short news cycle. A company used to have a full 24 hours to respond in a crisis. Thanks to the sped-up news cycle, it's now 30 minutes.

You can't respond appropriately in 30 minutes unless you have a crisis plan already in hand. What's the down side of delaying a response? Just look at what happened to Martha Stewart. The court of public opinion can have a bottom line effect on juries (they read newspapers too) and on punitive damages.

Crisis proofing a company means answering questions such as:
• who's on the crisis team;
• where the team will meet;
• how they will respond (don't forget the Web site); and,
• where the media will be briefed.

Clearly, the trend in business communications during the next year is: More is better. More honesty, more frequency, more online media, more stakeholders.

Fortunately, it doesn't take a wizard to see this coming, although it may take a wizard to pull it off in some companies. If this way of working is new to your business or organization, just remember this: Good communication is the key to building good relationships. You don't have to be a wizard to know how important that will be in 2005 and beyond.

Andrea Obston is the president and founder of Andrea Obston Marketing Communications. The firm specializes in the creation and execution of marketing strategies through public relations, crisis management and media training. The 22-year-old firm's clients include: Integrated Loan Services, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Filomeno & Company, The YWCA of the Hartford Region and Tallán, Inc.