Rather than promoting the message the company wants to promote, it is reacting to an external situation. A public relations audit is an internal process whereby company leaders, often in collaboration with a PR firm, review opportunities to communicate and potential threats to the organization's reputation. “When most people are reactive they’re huddling internally trying to sort out what to do. Proactive Public Relations Pitching & Active Outreach. However, it’s equally important to build a strong, positive brand image through proactive PR and building relationships with media organisations. I do not agree with your reactive approach by holding off on publishing it unless you receive specific media queries on the crisis or incident. Each year, Wal-Mart waits until the crisis hits to fight back through social media and other forums. Without further ado, here are the differences between the two and why you should be proactive when it comes to PR. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Buy Tickets. Carol Cummings, author of the book “Managing to Teach,” writes that there are four types … A proactive approach is any self-initiated action that prepares to handle the future. If your brand receives negative publicity, or if you have a disaster that affects the wider public, a swift, effective response can go a long way towards managing the situation and reducing any lasting negative impact on your brand. From a public relations and communications approach, it’s important to know what you’re dealing with as crisis management and issues management are different animals and, consequently, they are dealt with in different ways. Every teacher uses one of the two approaches to deal with discipline issues and must find a way to effectively discipline his classroom in order for it to run smoothly. The revenge seeker will verbally abuse others. In their defense—reactive behavior is second nature to us as human beings. Carol Cummings, author of the book “Managing to Teach,” writes that there are four types of behavior that lead students to misbehave. The difference between the two theories is that in the proactive approach the teacher tries to avoid future conflict before it happens, whereas the reactive approach only temporarily addresses the issue. In this instance, you should have a statement prepared just in case they go ahead with their plan, but the desired outcome would be settling out of court, and no news story. As many of us have learned reactive media relations involves the media approaching you, whereas proactive media relations involves the public relations practitioner approaching the media. The teacher imposes punishment that is fair and consistent when dealing with a student’s inappropriate actions. Have you managed crises for your organisation? A teacher who uses a proactive approach will be less stressed when dealing with issues and every student will know what is expected of them. August 13, 2016 November 7, 2020. One mistake organisations often make is leaving it until the day a crisis breaks to make this decision, when the wiser choice is to have a protocol in place well in advance. Reactive PR, conversely, includes responding to … It is in these reactive situations that organizations will be most tempted to spin – to make things look better than they are. One mistake organisations often make is leaving it until the day a crisis breaks to make this decision, when the wiser choice is to have a protocol in place well in advance. The presence of controversy or active opposition usually dictates the type of strategy and tactics used, and the reactive nature of advocacy public relations (as defined here) means that a public relations counsel or function may not exist until triggered by a crisis or other catalyst. Often, it’s not the crisis itself that defines how an organisation is perceived in the aftermath, but how well the response was managed. T/F A reactive approach to public relations focuses on bringing about mutual changes in the environment and organization as a result of environmental inputs. Most of the ads attack Wal-Mart for poor treatment of workers; involving low wages and long hours without proper breaks. Well said. Demographic research answers questions like how old these people are and where they live. For a firm to be truly marketing oriented all the staff working for it have to be so. These are the students who don’t do their work and sleep in class in order to avoid further failure. There are numerous approaches to managing a classroom and engaging students. A proactive public relations plan promotes a particular message about the company’s products, services, brand or image. Achieving a marketing orientation through public relations: In marketing literature there is a lot about how it is important for an organisation to become marketing orientated, customer focused and adopt the marketing concept. In the proactive approach to classroom management, the teacher uses different behaviors to lessen the likelihood that a student will act out. Effective PR takes a two-pronged approach. Reactive policing can be defined as the police responding to specific requests from individuals or groups in the community which encompasses "immediate response to calls" and "follow-up investigations". Anticipates problems and provides solutions. In performing a PR audit, the business must consider both internal factors and possible circumstances outside the company's control. Public Information This category refers to the style of PR in which the organization initially serves as an information provider and educator. Public Relations; Crisis Communication; Digital Marketing; Get in touch; Crisis Communications: Proactive or Reactive response. Good article – couldn’t agree more that a crisis can happen at any moment and how a crisis is being managed shouldn’t become the crisis. 1. It is too late … Why wait for any call or tweet? Simply put, issues management is proactive; crisis management is reactive. reactive. A proactive approach is when the teacher tries to eliminate a problem behavior before it becomes a problem. Public relations plans and strategies can be either proactive or reactive. This can be done through tools like In order to understand how public relations should be best managed, we propose a model of contingency, mixed-motive, situational strategies based on the dimensions of (1) reactive versus proactive, and (2) self interest versus public interest. With the speed by which information travels waiting will only take your advantage away and you’ll be spending unnecessary energy just trying to correct the facts. It is easy to address an issue as it comes up, but it is more fruitful to address the issue before it becomes a problem. An example of this would be a student being excessively late to class. The roles and responsibilities of… (Click here to read our post on preparing a holding statement). The Advantages of Proactive PR. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Successful project implementation and partner relationship-management is as effective a … The existing typology of reactive public relations strategies from the literature allow us to discuss the challenge of using them in counteracting online fake news. Subsequently, advocacy aims at persuading relevant publics to think or act in a certain pattern (ibid). Brands are using a proactive approach to public relations in order to support wider marketing efforts, writes Sophie Chadwick of Peppermint Soda. It may also mean proactively contacting journalists your organisation has a good relationship with and giving them the statement to get ahead of the story. I’m convinced that public relations practitioners need to flip their thinking. Is your company already fully prepared for the crises 2021 may bring? In addition to reactive crisis management, our public relations/communications strategy team can assess vulnerabilities and help you be prepared. The emphasis on business strategy ushered more public relations professionals into senior management where PR input could be made prior to policy formation or product creation. And I agree with you–it’s important that the proactive and reactive approaches are clearly articulated and documented. Use the quiz/worksheet combo to assess your knowledge of the differences between proactive and reactive public relations. But only if they can become truly proactive in their approach to the practice. Reactive customer service is when your customer service agents react when a customer reaches out to them. This is reactive marketing – the practice of tailoring your content to the watercooler conversation topics of the day, hour or even minute. It is doing something that can or would prevent a future problem. With proactive public relations, organizations can plan and execute strategies and tactics on their own timeline – rather than having to react to a PR problem. (Click here to read our post on preparing a holding statement) The statement should briefly give details that are confirmed and next steps; you can see some examples and templates here. Proactive approach involves taking active strides in planning a strategy to ascertain a goal. While all try to grasp them, there are very few who try to verify and learn by experimenting. As a public relations professional, I normally prefer to err on the side of proactive communications and setting up realistic expectations versus taking a reactive approach, especially if it means addressing disappointments. Make sure to start monitoring online news services and social media for mention of your crisis, and when the incident starts to wind down, spend some time on learnings that can be applied next time. From a public relations planner’s perspective, research on demographics and psychographics is useful in identifying involved publics. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. The response to a crisis can be managed in one of two ways, on a proactive or reactive basis. Scenario planning before the time is vital. From a public relations and communications approach, it’s important to know what you’re dealing with as crisis management and issues management are different animals and, consequently, they are dealt with in different ways. Discovery is a process an organization goes through to articulate what its business is, … The reactive nature of advocacy public relations suggests that a PR function may exist only if triggered by a crisis or any other catalyst. Both approaches are used by teachers in addressing misbehavior in their classroom. In terms of media relations an important aspect to discuss is proactive versus reactive as this can help build strong relationships with media contacts. You don’t need a new conference, an interview with a selected number of reporters will go a long way while you bring the situation back to normalcy. MEDIA RELATIONS Strategic Communications Strategic Communications. Simply put, issues management is proactive; crisis management is reactive. A reactive response can be used if it is likely that the story won’t reach the media. It will also help address each of the four issues that cause students to misbehave. For example, if an employee decides to sue your company for sexual harassment, there is always the chance that they will settle out of court – right up to the moment the case begins. But first, what is a crisis? By the way, whether you agree or disagree – I’d love to hear from you – leave a comment once you’ve read the post and let me know if you found it useful. It is all about how an organization is perceived in the community. It is their prefixes that make all the difference. External Threats. The teacher imposes punishment that is fair and consistent when dealing with a student's inappropriate actions. In order to understand how public relations should be best managed, we propose a model of contingency, mixed-motive, situational strategies based on the dimensions of (1) reactive versus proactive, and (2) self interest versus public interest. Press releases can be another form of proactive PR, focused around breaking news and timely stories… Responsive Approach. There is a saying adapted from Buddhist philosophy that states. <a href=”https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/crisis-communications-101-workshop-tickets-128300146191″ rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”></a>Buy Tickets on Eventbrite. Organization theories view public relations as part of this subsystem. Required fields are marked *. Transform your PR from reactive to proactive in 2016. It often consists of analyzing real-time, data-driven changes and aims to understand the ever-changing aims of potential customers. As a result, public relations became more effective because PR activities became more proactive and less reactive. Mark Hunter LaVigne, MA, APR FCPRS, knows both sides of the “media fence,” having worked as a journalist and, since 1990, in a variety of roles in public relations. You would agree that fire prevention is better than fire fighting. Teachers must deal with problem behavior so as to not interrupt the education process. T/F A reactive approach to public relations focuses on bringing about mutual changes in the environment and organization as a result of environmental inputs. Reactive and proactive are approaches that people take in different situations in life. Both approaches are used by teachers in addressing misbehavior in their classroom. Simply: from reactive to proactive. A reactive statement means you get your statement ready but hold off on publishing it anywhere unless you receive specific enquiries on the crisis or incident. About the Author. The attention seeker strives for attention so his behaviors will allow him to be the focus of the classroom. A reactive approach is when the teacher deals with a behavior when it becomes a problem in the classroom. Adaptive. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Crisis Communications: Proactive or Reactive response. Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. It is a known fact that, a spark neglected burns the house. The reactive approach to classroom management is a teacher’s response following a student’s misbehavior in the classroom. Don’t forget to leave a comment! Reactive and Proactive are two terms between which a number of differences can be identified. 7.3 A Contingency Approach to Public Relations Strategy. Absolutely – planning in ‘peace time’ is essential! Issues management. I totally agree with you on holding statements, we’ve actually written about that before here: http://wildewords.ie/crisis-communications-holding-statements/. Reactive public relations planning is about passively responding to a happening or inquiry after the event occurs, says Pan American Health Organization. Communication with internal and external publics - Handles all aspects of the school district's publications such as its external newspaper and internal newsletter, among others. Our next online training workshop on crisis communications takes place on December 8. A reactive thinker may battle crisis after crisis, but a proactive one seems to have everything figured out beforehand and can better deal with the curve balls life throws. The Four Strategic Approaches Defined Defensive Approach.