My work requires me to closely follow every move of the search engines, whether it's technical news or rumors. Baidu is the one that disappoints me the most. This is off-topic, but from the Sanlu incident to the bidding scandal, these events have made me pay attention to "Chinese corporate public relations"...
I forgot which magazine I read an article about PR in, and it used a fable to explain the three types of brand PR strategies, which was quite classic. It said that King Wen of Wei asked Bian Que: "Which of your three brothers is the best doctor?" Bian Que replied: "My eldest brother is the best, followed by my second brother, and I am the worst." The king was surprised and asked: "Then why are you the most famous?" Bian Que replied: "My eldest brother treats diseases before they occur, so most people don't know that he has already eradicated the cause of the disease, and they think his treatment has no obvious effect, so his fame hasn't spread. My second brother treats diseases at the initial stage, so most people think he can only treat minor illnesses, so his fame is only known in the neighborhood. I treat diseases when they are already severe, so most people see my major surgeries and naturally think I am highly skilled, so my fame has spread far and wide." Among the three brothers, the eldest brother represents "strategic PR," the second brother represents "daily PR," and Bian Que represents "crisis PR."
In the eyes of ordinary people, including myself, so-called "PR" means that when a company encounters trouble, it can smooth things over with the "media" and eliminate negative information. Doing some publicity on the media during normal times is just doing their duty. Treating PR as a strategic part of the company is something many CEOs haven't even thought about (this is an evaluation from a wise person about domestic companies).
Crisis PR is like Bian Que's incredible major surgery; its effects are obvious and seem to "turn the tide," in the eyes of ordinary people. However, insiders say that crisis PR actually has only three tricks, and after observing, I found it to be true. Method one: Before the report comes out, smooth things over with the media through various relationships to prevent them from reporting it; Method two: Once it appears in newspapers or magazines, notify all online media not to reprint it or have the search engine block the information (does this sound familiar?); Method three: When methods one and two fail, hire a large number of writers to publish a large amount of positive information on various media to dilute the negative reports. Tencent has been using this method quite heavily recently, and there is no intention to disrespect... These are the three most Chinese-characteristic tricks, which foreign companies use less frequently. Foreign companies usually convey "correct" information to the media as quickly as possible and make rapid corrections to restore their reputation. Domestic companies prefer to pay for crisis PR, which is like a quick-fix remedy.
Although crisis PR can be effective in the short term, the problem still exists and may very likely lead to more serious consequences in the future, losing an opportunity to correct mistakes. Four years ago, Sanlu milk powder was once listed on the blacklist of 45 substandard milk powder enterprises, and through crisis PR, it led to today's irreparable situation...
For the development of a brand enterprise, the most important thing is still strategic PR, preventing problems before they arise. Jack Ma of Alibaba is a good example, skilled at eliminating potential crises at the source. However, currently, neither Chinese companies nor PR agencies have elevated strategic PR to its proper level. Actually, the principle is simple: the technical content of strategic PR is much higher than that of crisis PR, but the business of the former is not as good as the latter.