What do you do if your philanthropic organization's communication is hindering its public image?

Public relations professionals add a communications audit to their scope because it helps them get a baseline of how they can measure success. Yet most audits get shelved just like a PR plan and crisis management strategy. As an organizational leader, you know what's working and what's not. As a strategic communications counselor, from talking to you and doing my due diligence, we can see where there are gaps, what resources you need to leverage, and what tools you can use to make your organization more impactful.

The public image must be thoroughly examined and scrutinized so that the message to the public aligns alongside with the public image of the philanthropic organization. The public message that is released has to echo the organization's goals and ideals. Any effects to the public image of the organization must be addressed and quickly restored for the sake of the philanthropic organization.

I would start by asking why! A communication expert working for the company should have seen this coming, there are always signs, no matter how small. Listen to what team members are saying, and that includes informally in the smoking shelter. What are people saying outside of the organisation? Is there a lot of negative commentary on social media? Also how do the media react to the organisation, if it’s not enthusiastic you know there is a problem.

Diversificar en Multicanal y adaptar a cada audiencia el mensaje permite mitigar un error de interpretación o del emisor. Si cambias la presentación del contenido y dulcificas o potencias el mensaje, puedes conseguir una difusión que minimiza los errores de interpretación.

It's vital to understand what aspects of its communications are not resonating with your target audiences. And this is not an internal, auditable, exercise--but an act of humble acceptance on the perspectives from others. In my experience, active listening the first step towards honest persuasion and sustained engagement.

The bottom line: Talk less, listen more. If your philanthropic organization's communication hinders its public image, focus on your mission, show people how it impacts you, and lead by example. Also, it is okay to be vulnerable and acknowledge your faults. We would rather you be transparent, open, and honest and hide behind something, exposing you to additional problems.

One valuable listening tool is stakeholder survey. We use these often with clients who are seeking to more effectively communicate with their audiences. Understanding opinions, experiences, perceptions (and misperceptions), preferences, etc. is extremely helpful in cultivating relationships and demonstrating that you value their insights.

La escucha activa siempre es la clave para construir contenidos que contengan las emociones de las audiencias que quieres impactar.

La escucha debe aportar datos emocionales: el entorno digital es un constante contagio emocional donde se hace lectura casi algorítimica de cada individuo. El ejercicio de comunicación está en traducir estas emociones, expresadas en palabras, símbolos y acciones, para construir una narrativa que apunte a comunicar el valor diferenciador de la marca que pueda llevar a conectar desde las pasiones y aquello que mueve realmente a la audiencia: esas son las se?ales que permitirán la vigencia de la marca a lo largo del tiempo, con audiencias más coherentes.

Foundational messaging is a critical piece of effectively communicating with stakeholders. Follow the four Cs - Clear, Compelling, Concise, Consistent when you're developing and activating your core messaging. My marketing philosophy is "call it what it is." Don't get hung up on trying to find the perfect or cutest way to say something. If you're working to end homelessness, just say it. It's OK that it's not original.

En este punto claramente se alude a la tendencia llamada Caja de Cristal: es aquella que permite a las marcas ser transparentes en sus procesos, mostrar su vulnerabilidad y lograr una comunicación permenente. Esto se logra desde una sinergia entre el factor humano de la marca y sus acciones cómo impactan el entorno, siempre aludiendo a un sentido de responsabilidad.

Clear vision is all fine until you realise the CEO is only interested is pushing a personal image. Philanthropic organisations can unfortunately meet with a lot of cynicism, let’s face it what everyone really wants to know is; ‘what’s in it for them?’ or as my Gran said ‘you don’t get owt for nowt’. I would personally focus on the results rather than the organisations raisin d’etre.

Consistency is critical in building trust, including the message and the communications cadence. But recognize how your stakeholders want to connect with your organization and in what medium. So many organizations are going through multi-generational shifts, each demanding a sure way to be communicated with. A communications audit can recognize the generational divides and the best mediums to use.

I am always banging on about consistency. Repeat, repeat, repeat. This isn’t lazy, it’s no less creative, it’s actually quite clever. Over time it has the beauty of delivering that perfect realisation that people know all about you without being able to put their finger on how. That’s PR results!

La identificación de la marca y la alineación de valores y contenidos que aportan valor a cualquier conversación ayudará a permear la resistencia a la penetración delos mensajes.

La parte arquetípica de las macas y su constante evaluación del llamado Mapa de empatía, permite que, al igual que las personas, estas puedan acudir al cambio sin dejar nunca de lado sus valores diferenciadores: al estar esto claro, la forma que toma la narrativa de contacto y comuniación con las audiencias logrará ser coherente, de ahí que frente a las posibilidades que ofrece el sistema de algoritmos, sea obsoleto mirar a la competencia. La autenticidad es premiada por las audiencias y eso solo se logra al hacerse una constante autoevaluación de procesos, metas, acciones y atracción de talento humano coherente.

Es importante tener en cuenta que los tiempos de ejecución de las estrategias es cada vez más corto, lo que exige una observación constante de respuesta de los diferentes públicos: sus intereses cambian de forma exponencial debido a la alta oferta de información que se da en estos timpos.