Macro public relations

Macro public relations here refers to communications with the public on a collective basis. The target of macro public relations is to create among the public a favourable corporate or brand image that could not possibly be achieved on an interpersonal basis or by mere commercial advertising efforts.

Consumers

Consumers are the largest group with which a company deals. Increased consumerism has substantially improved consumers' awareness of their rights and made consumer relations more challenging to handle. The consumer no longer takes what is available and tolerates defective products, inadequate service or failures in quality and safety. The government has also invested significant effort in formulating laws and regulations to protect the rights of consumers and consumer activists have emerged in recent years . Newspapers and TV stations are more interested in protecting the rights of consumers. They evaluate products under the supervision of a public notary and publicise the results in newspapers and on TV. There are also individual consumer activists, who fight against counterfeits by making volume purchases to claim multiple compensation. Consumers are becoming increasingly sceptical of advertising information, which in turn has made public relations practitioners more consumer-oriented than before. The task of public relations with consumers is to establish effective channels of communications with consumers on a non- advertising basis.

The community

The community in which a company operates can mean the survival and development or otherwise of the company. A construction site may encounter resistance from the residents of neighbouring areas because of noise problems. An office building with a glazed exterior may be blamed for light pollution. A factory may be sabotaged by neighbouring farmers for suspected pollution. It is the task of public relations people to work towards gaining an understanding from the community, if not its support.

To convince the community that your company is a good citizen and part of the community, you should deliver the message that the company benefits and cares about the community in terms of providing employment opportunities, generating other community businesses and contributing to the communal well-being. At the same time, the company should build an image of visible safety and clean production in order to eliminate possible concerns. To gain community acceptance and approval, you should also provide support for community development, such as opening the service facilities to the community, offering assistance in maintaining public security, participating in social welfare activities, sponsoring community campaigns to clean up the environment and so on.

Media

A good working relationship with the media in China is imperative for successful public relations. The Chinese media are not only the mouthpiece of the government, but also opinion leaders . They now play an increasingly important role in shaping opinions , benchmarking values and disseminating information and knowledge. Public media in China are owned by the government and therefore have a special position in the minds of the Chinese people. Getting favourable publicity in the media signifies official acceptance and recognition.

Because of the special status of public media, maintaining good relationships with it is a common practice of public relations people in China. The 'competition' for good relationships resulted in the practice of paying for news reports. At one time, paid news reports were rampant, which jeopardized the impartiality of public media and subjected the public audience to questionable or misleading advocacy . As a result, the government reinforced its rules against paid news and journalists/ reporters are likely to be expelled from the profession if they are found to have engaged in such deals. Therefore, public relations practitioners are advised not to attempt to influence the independence of public media. However, this does not preclude efforts to maintain a good working relationship with them. Of course, it always pays to build good personal relationships with journalists and reporters.

Maintaining a good working relationship requires much understanding of the media business, its unique feature of decision making and its information needs. The needs for news by public media often corresponds to the political, economic and social themes of the time. It will make good news if your story coincides with these current themes. Good public relations practitioners should be able to identify opportunities for corporate publicity and translate a corporate event into a story with news value. Being responsive and cooperative is the key to a good media relationship.

Government organisations

As discussed above, maintaining good personal relationship with government officials will help a company gain support and facilitation from government organizations on the basis of personal understanding. In practice, however, it would be impossible for any company to know all the government officials on an interpersonal basis, so good government relations should receive additional strategic consideration in macro public relations.

The Chinese government consists of a large number of national government agencies as well as provincial and local government units. Each has a distinctive set of responsibilities and is charged with a mission that gives it a level of policy making. The government regulates the macro economy and also disciplines corporate behaviour.

When dealing with government relations, the first step is to understand policies, laws and regulations to ensure that corporate operations are in line with government requirements. At the same time, companies should minimize where possible the likely conflicts with government organizations at different levels, if such conflicts cannot be avoided. Possible sources of conflicts are unauthorized inspections and fines , illegitimate collection of fees, unjustified allocation of public spending funds and solicitation of sponsorships. Cooperation with government organizations is essential for harmonious government relations. Responding positively to government advocacy will not only result in appreciation from the government but also create positive public relations.

Issues management

Managing relations with the public is in effect an effort to minimize issues that may arise from possible conflicts. However, issues do arise. China has a unique political, economic and social system and issues management should be tailored to its unique features.

To avoid political issues, it is important for foreign companies to observe the rules of the political game in China: essentially to keep away from any political involvement. Corporate spokesmen should avoid commenting publicly on political issues. In business operations, foreign companies are advised to ensure there are no political associations in their products, brands and tradenames. A Japanese computer software company, for example, ran into a political issue by marketing in China a war game package featuring Japanese war criminals.

Economic and social issues are more manageable than political issues. Common issues, among others, are environmental pollution, product quality, health concerns, safety problems, employment disputes, advertising claims, intellectual property and consumer complaints. The extent to which these issues affect an organization varies depending on how they evolve in the process of corporate development in the context of China's economic and social environment. A company which does not have an issue now may well have one in the future. To manage issues that may arise in the future, a company should be able to anticipate emerging issues and plan their issues management. A tracking mechanism should be established to define and analyse existing and emerging issues. Possible sources of issues should be given priority tracking efforts.

Public media are one of the sources from which issues originate. For example, the media recently disclosed a research finding that air fresheners contain one kind of carcinogenic chemical. Soon after that, the media reported another research finding that dietary recipes marketed in China will not help to reduce weight and may be hazardous to health. All these reports will have negative impact on companies producing these products. Identifying issues that may exist is important to prevent an issue from developing into a crisis.

Publicity techniques

Media publicity
Unlike advertising, media publicity is not in the hands of a company's management. Because of this, it has the kind of objectivity that advertising can not possibly achieve. The Chinese media have developed very rapidly in recent years, particularly in technological terms. Transmission of news is as fast as in any other countries . Avenues of publicity include televisions (terrestrial and cable), radio, newspapers, magazines and increasingly the internet.

Television
Television is now the most influential medium and the most important source of information in China. Getting publicity on television is considered to be the best result of a public relations effort. To achieve national publicity, China Central Television (CCTV) is the 'one and only' choice. The most influential news programme is the evening news between 7:00 and 7:30pm each day. Other key news programmes include morning, noon and late night news.

Apart from CCTV, there are also local television stations. For publicity other than national coverage, provincial and provincial capitals and large cities' stations are the best media. Some provincial stations are also aired via satellite, which can be received by cable television subscribers in most parts of China.

It is the most challenging task for public relations people to get publicity on television. Practitioners are advised to make sure that the story you recommend will interest television people and that it has news value. An invitation should be sent to TV stations well in advance and be accompanied by an introduction of the story. Public relations people should prepare a copy of a new release for television editors. It should be clear and brief to suit the nature of television broadcasting. Supplementary materials should also be prepared in case the television editors need to understand more about the background to the story. You should also provide additional visual materials, if any, for the convenience of the editor to make a better visual presentation. Public relations people should always offer to provide transport for the camera crew, which will guarantee their punctual arrival on the scene.

Radio
Although the emergence of television as a key information disseminator has overwhelmed the role of radio, which was the key news medium 15 to 20 years ago, radio publicity still has characteristics that television cannot replace. For example, radio reception has less constraints in terms of time and place. People can listen to the radio even on the way to work on bikes and in buses and taxies from their walkmans or radio receivers. Almost all cars are equipped with a radio receiver. Radio can reach an audience that television cannot.

The system of radio broadcasting resembles that of television. There is a Central People's Broadcast Station (CPBS), which broadcasts throughout the country. There are also local broadcast stations. Most stations use middle wave and FM to reach their audience.

Radio journalists are relatively more receptive to the story ideas of public relations people, although getting publicity can be also be challenging. For news releases, public relations practitioners should prepare a write-up in advance for the journalists to refer to when producing the programme. Always send formal letters of invitation before the event takes place. In many cases, a news report may not need to involve direct participation by radio journalists. Public relations should not take it for granted that radio journalists do not have to be invited. Inviting them will offer good opportunities for interpersonal relations.

Newspapers
Newspapers provide more diversity and depth of coverage than either television or radio. There are thousands of newspapers in China, which fall into the following basic categories: national daily, local daily, evening, morning, professional, weekend and feature newspapers.

National daily newspapers are normally institutional papers of the government, which target institutional readers. The same is true of local daily newspapers. All such dailies carry reports on government policies, economic achievements, progress of social development, etc. Newspapers that fall into the category of evening and morning papers cover local interests and tend to be aligned to general interests. Professional newspapers normally cover special areas of interests, such as industry information and developments. Weekend newspapers and feature newspapers are more entertainment-oriented.

Gaining publicity in newspapers is relatively easy compared with television and radio. One way to do so is to write to the newspaper in which you wish to have your stories covered. To make sure that your contribution receives personal attention, it is advisable to write to a specific editor rather than an editor in general. For some story coverage, it is better to invite journalists to come to the scene, in which case a prepared news release with some details should be provided. For stronger impact, public relations people normally invite journal- ists/reporters not only from television and radio, but also several newspapers, to witness the event.

Magazines

Although there are thousands of magazines in China, they play a less important role in terms of creating corporate publicity. Most are published on a monthly or fortnightly basis; few are weekly. Magazines will not offer immediate publicity, but allow for more intense coverage of a corporate event. Publicity through magazines requires a different type of public relations strategy. Articles covering corporate stories should be structured with a featured style. Story-telling by independent writers can be a good strategy for objectivity.

Event publicity
This means publicizing a company or a brand by organizing an event that will catch public attention. Event publicity is also known as event marketing. Common events include:

• Sports events. Sports are gaining popularity in China. Sports events can create corporate publicity that can not be achieved by merely advertising. Successful events include Philips Football Association Cup, Pepsi Cola Football League Competition, Motorola Badminton Tour Competition, Toupai (a Chinese liquor brand) International Wushu (kungfu) Competition, and others;

• Cultural events, such as film festivals, fashion shows, art festivals and music concerts can also be an avenue of publicity. For example, Samsung sponsored a music event featuring original student music composition;

• Social events designed to correspond to social concerns. Such events include nature conservation, protection of endangered species, relief funding of disaster stricken areas, aid to poverty-stricken children to allow them to return to school, sponsorship of tree planting in response to the government effort to reduce defenestration;

• Seminars/conferences that deal with issues of public concern, economic and social progress.

The above does not exhaust the possibilities of event publicity. All such events are intended to target the public at large. The purpose of organizing such events is to reinforce the image of a company as a corporate citizen, and hence the brand image of their products and services. For such events, public relations people are required to demonstrate their ability to capture points of public interest as well as their capabilities in planning and organizing the events. There is an increasing number of public relations companies providing such services in China.

The following tips might be useful for companies that intend to create publicity in China.

• The objective which the sponsoring organization wishes to achieve through the event should be clearly defined and justified;

• Understanding must be achieved between management and the public relations people that such an event will not bring immediate sales benefits;

• Understanding should also be achieved that event sponsoring should be a continuous effort. A one-off approach is not going to produce the expected publicity benefits;

• Careful planning for media coverage should be made well in advance with back-up plans for contingencies;

• The presence of government officials and celebrities can add special publicity impact;

• Excessive emphasis on the role of sponsor(s) should be avoided in order to prevent possible aversion by the public;

• Efforts should be made to create two-way communication with the public;

• Crisis prevention should be given due attention before the event.