Grayling International Blog

The need to communicate, influence and generate trust

publiziert am 17.01.2012 Von Natividad de Mateo

We have suffered four years of crisis; an unannounced crisis that persists, year after year, without a clear sign of subsiding. Once more, perspectives for the New Year are not very flattering: recession alerts, volatility in the markets, fragility in the financial sector, fiscal deficit, rising risk premiums, falling ratings, new company adjustments, more unemployment and less investments.

Cutbacks follow one another in every organisational area and, inevitably, also affect marketing, advertising, communication and public relations budgets. Knowing that they are investments which create and maintain brand image, and help to differentiate from the competition and generate business, they merely pull in later. But being intangible assets, are sometimes difficult to measure, many executives at times like these, come to consider them as expendable costs, or at least, susceptible to be reduced to the bare minimum.

However, today more than ever, it is vital to invest and to know how to invest well, choosing the best professionals at each moment, as well as the most adequate tools and technologies. The challenges are significant: the current economic situation requires more planning and a more precise and coherent management of the information; the diversity of the interest groups (stakeholders) requires careful adaptation of messages; communication is no longer one-sided or the 'property' of a few, it now generates 'anyplace' and 'anytime', and flows in multiple directions (virally); anyone is capable of generating content, sharing it with a global audience and most significantly, influencing others.

New technologies – particularly social networks and mobile devices - have brought about great changes that not only affect companies but also society as a whole, and even governments. We all remember how, only three years ago, the innovative use of the Internet enabled Obama to persuade, organise and mobilise his electors, as well as collecting funds to finance his campaign; or how at the beginning of 2011, social networks and mobile devices triggered an unprecedented popular participation in the revolts that broke out in the Arab countries, which ended up overthrowing several of their leaders.

On the other side of the coin are the cases of large food, cosmetics or electronics firms, to quote some examples, affected by the much-talked-about crisis due to their lack of transparency and a rather dubious management of their communication 2.0 strategies, which generated distrust amongst consumers and brand image damages sometimes difficult to repair.

At present, it is impossible to stop what is broadcasted about a company, a brand or a person on 'the net', be it good or bad. Content generation democratisation, its global scope – we are no longer talking about a group of media and 'good contacts' informing, giving their opinion and influence, but of thousands or millions of people - and the immediacy of transmissions have radically changed the rules of the game.

Strategies based on 'concealing, silencing and waiting' for the storm to abate are now 'water under the bridge'. Censures and "no comment” are put aside. It is now essential to know how to “listen, analyse and answer” in a proactive way, always with the maximum possible transparency and celerity. Events are developing at such speed that the unawareness of a problem, the inability to react, an inadequate or late response may have grave consequences for a brand’s image, corporate reputation and, ultimately, for the business. It is time to weather the storm.

We have enormous challenges before us. It is a time to invest and act. Let us not allow this crisis to paralyse us for another year. Let us put our creativity and imagination in motion. Let us use technology as a bridge and not as a barrier. Let us take all necessary steps, always hand in hand with the experts. And let us not forget that trust and an organisation’s reputation, or a person´s for that matter, may take years to build but minutes to tumble.