Finding Opportunities with Proactive Strategies
Wall in the New York Public Library reading, “What are you reading now?” Photo by Marissa Daeger on Unsplash
Within the world of public relations, practitioners face two strategies to drive their efforts forward – proactive and reactive strategies. Proactive strategies typically come to mind when formulating traditional public relations strategies. This includes finding opportunities within an organization that elevates its brand and goals and engaging in outreach opportunities. This may sound dramatic, but proactive strategies are why I love public relations so much. It encapsulates everything we do in our profession – identifying the right message for the right audience.
Proactive strategies give us, public relations practitioners, the freedom to be organizations’ greatest advocates. We get the opportunity to communicate what makes our clients unique and identify the right media and publics to talk to. These strategies also prove to be a successful reputation management tool.
“Reputation is increasingly important for organizations and brands, not only as the key ingredient for building prestige, but also as the intangible asset that allows them to connect with the general public and create solid links, credibility and goodwill.”
Proactive strategies help generate and maintain conversations that help support an organization’s reputation. Let us look at a great example of a proactive strategy.
Last Christmas Ever?
A New York-based social shopping website, JoeShopping.com, released a press release in late 2011 to launch its clever holiday campaign titled “Last Christmas Ever.” The small company found an opportunity with the cultural craze surrounding the “ending of the world” and the Mayan calendar.
“Depending on the JoeShopping.com user, they can prepare for an eternity in either Heaven or Hell through the interactive website. The site offers products that can make a user’s remaining time on Earth and their time in the afterlife as comfortable as possible.”
The press release communicates what makes the company unique at an opportune time. Audiences are inundated with the same messages and advertising throughout the holiday season, so JoeShopping.com decided to stand out by utilizing pop culture and humor. Its cleverness proved to be newsworthy and gained national attention.
“Our products work the best when they’re sold as part of this overall customer experience within the store. We’re not ready to give that up. For us, the brand is too important, and the store is our brand.”
Proactive Strategy with Pine Lake Resort
For Pine Lake Resort, our group wants to ensure and cultivate Pine Lake Resort’s top-of-mind awareness with its multiple audiences. However, it must foster and build relationships with the media. We want to generate publicity through primary strategies by pitching various stories to relevant media outlets. This media coverage will help give Pine Lake Resort a third-party endorsement which refers to the “added credibility that comes with the endorsement of an organization's message by an outside and unbiased agent, such as a journalist” (Smith, p. 182). These endorsements will help solidify the organization as a leader in the vacation rental market in Broken Bow.
