This a fun video to promote a giving back and caring centered campaign, perfect for the holiday season. I haven't talked too much about social media on this blog, but it is an absolute must in order to gain attention nowadays. Twitter is great because of how easy it is to share (with 140 characters or less), and every non-profit organization should have one. If your organization can develop its own hashtag like the above video does, then it makes it that much easier for people to include you in tweets and for your non-profit to eventually become a trending topic. I suggest creating a hashtag before major events so that people can tweet in preparation for the day and while actually at the event. It will only help to make it a success, and people will definitely notice!
All Campaigns are Image Campaigns
This post as well as the previous one are more focused on hot topics in the news today rather than local non-profits. However, both aim to highlight weak public relations efforts and how to address negative attention properly, and this can be applied to any and all sectors.
No matter if you're organizing a fundraising campaign for a non-profit or a presidential campaign, image is of the utmost importance. For the non-profit campaign, if the organization is not transparent in terms of how it spends its donations or if there has been a recent crisis of some sort it can pretty much be assumed that the fundraising goal will not be reached. With a presidential campaign, the ultimate goal is to make people believe in and support a certain candidate. If the candidate's reputation is in decline or if he has a significantly embarrassing interview, or set of interviews, his poll ratings will undoubtedly suffer. It's not rocket science, it's just common sense.
Now, a current campaign that may soon be known as short-lived has grabbed a lot of America's attention is that of Herman Cain, potential republican presidential candidate. The below video recaps some of the major turning points in his campaign thus far:
Since this is not a political blog, I will attempt to only analyze the Cain campaign in terms of how it has dealt with the media. As the CNN video explains, Cain seemed to be gaining support for a little until faced with his first set of major crises. Probably most detrimental to the campaign, Cain was hit with several allegations of sexual harassment during his time at the National Restaurant Association. Sexual allegations are arguably the most difficult to deal with, and to recover from. In the public relations field, reactionary measures are typically taken as opposed to proactive measures. In my opinion, Cain handled the situation poorly because he did not seem to take the allegations seriously. Matters were only made worse when Ginger White recently came forward saying that she and Cain had a 13-year affair.
No matter if you're organizing a fundraising campaign for a non-profit or a presidential campaign, image is of the utmost importance. For the non-profit campaign, if the organization is not transparent in terms of how it spends its donations or if there has been a recent crisis of some sort it can pretty much be assumed that the fundraising goal will not be reached. With a presidential campaign, the ultimate goal is to make people believe in and support a certain candidate. If the candidate's reputation is in decline or if he has a significantly embarrassing interview, or set of interviews, his poll ratings will undoubtedly suffer. It's not rocket science, it's just common sense.
Now, a current campaign that may soon be known as short-lived has grabbed a lot of America's attention is that of Herman Cain, potential republican presidential candidate. The below video recaps some of the major turning points in his campaign thus far:
Since this is not a political blog, I will attempt to only analyze the Cain campaign in terms of how it has dealt with the media. As the CNN video explains, Cain seemed to be gaining support for a little until faced with his first set of major crises. Probably most detrimental to the campaign, Cain was hit with several allegations of sexual harassment during his time at the National Restaurant Association. Sexual allegations are arguably the most difficult to deal with, and to recover from. In the public relations field, reactionary measures are typically taken as opposed to proactive measures. In my opinion, Cain handled the situation poorly because he did not seem to take the allegations seriously. Matters were only made worse when Ginger White recently came forward saying that she and Cain had a 13-year affair.
Since the public does not know for sure if the allegations are true or not, the Cain campaign needed to be careful with how it responded. As of now, Cain has simply denied everything and continues to state that the accusations are part of a character assassination against him. Pointing the fingers is never the best method, especially if the allegations turn out to be true. Cain's image has been significantly damaged throughout all of this and now his potential presidential candidacy is at risk as a result. As a matter of fact, it was reported today that Cain is "reassessing" his presidential campaign, which does makes it seem like he is trying to hide from all of the negative attention.
All in all, it is almost impossible to avoid image attacks during a campaign but what is important is how they are dealt with. My advice is to first be proactive when possible. When a crises comes up and reactionary measures must be taken, I suggest that a campaign does not make it seem like it's trying to hide anything. People are not dumb. The public can tell when the fully story isn't be told or when things are getting pushed under the rug. Obviously it isn't always possible to divulge all information, but it is better to admit one's wrongs than to lie. In today's world with 24/7 media outlets, the truth almost always comes out.
Occupy with Purpose
By now, most are all familiar with the Occupy movement that has spread throughout the world. If you're like me, you're probably a little unsure as to what exactly the "occupiers" want. I've personally seen signs that say "Abolish Money" or "Compost Capitalism" or "Boycott Bank of America," while others say things like "Throw Me a Bone, Pay My Tuition!" So is it an anti-capitalist movement or just a movement about people complaining about any and everything? It's hard to wrap my head around why the overall mission of the Occupy movement is so ambiguous since it has been extremely successful in terms of gathering support in major cities worldwide. How have so many joined this movement when the cause does not seem to be clear? After doing some research, it seems as if the protestors are a little confused themselves. Check out this video below because it shows the lack of understanding that the demonstrators seem to have, even as members of such a large movement (just as a note, I don't approve of the harsh title of the video).
The public relations efforts of the Occupy movement have not been well organized. This is due, in part, to the lack of a single, unified message. Members of a movement this size should be able to answer questions like Why are you here? or What is it that you want? without such disjointedness. The uninformed demonstrators who want to have a voice have become the Occupy movement's biggest deterrent in becoming anything more than a baseless set of protests.
In order to fix this issue, I first suggest that a spokesperson be appointed. Now, I understand that one person cannot possibly represent the entire global movement, but there can at least be a spokesperson for each city. These reprsentatives should collectively develop a clear, carefully crafted message explaining the mission of the movement, with input from their own cities of course. Most importantly, these spokespersons must be in constant communication with one another so that they are always on the same page. They should also be the ones who take on interviews and deal with media entering their city's sites. I strongly feel that these steps will help create a more legitimate image for the Occupy movement.
In order to fix this issue, I first suggest that a spokesperson be appointed. Now, I understand that one person cannot possibly represent the entire global movement, but there can at least be a spokesperson for each city. These reprsentatives should collectively develop a clear, carefully crafted message explaining the mission of the movement, with input from their own cities of course. Most importantly, these spokespersons must be in constant communication with one another so that they are always on the same page. They should also be the ones who take on interviews and deal with media entering their city's sites. I strongly feel that these steps will help create a more legitimate image for the Occupy movement.
Just for fun, below are a few pictures I've taken from the Occupy movements in both Boston and London:
Occupy Boston
Occupy London
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