The approval, respect and credibility of its publics are the main goal of any business. If the services your company provides affects society in a positive way the chances your business achieves success are much higher. Respect and credibility in the business environment can be translated into trust. Being a reliable organization is the boundary line that divides companies that are developing and growing and the ones that are only surviving.
As PR professionals our scope of work is defined and constantly pursued through the meaning of this simply but powerful word: trust. How to gain the trust of society? Is there any guide or instructions for it? And most important, how to maintain it after we achieve? Questions that can appear difficult to answer but if we take a closer look at our surroundings we observe the answer pretty quickly. There are organizations that have been applying these principles for decades and as a result have been able to garner the public’s trust: Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
These organizations are also called Third Sector and are mainly driven by a value motive. They embrace different sectors of society: charities, social welfare, religion, and foundations among others. The limited resources surrounding these organizations don’t affect them in becoming powerful agents of change in society. According to Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, NGOs are the most trusted institution in nearly every market.
PR practitioners are constantly seeking to build relationship with their publics. However a long term relationship can only be strong enough to survive through an essential element: trust. Therefore instead of perceiving NGOs as a threat to your business, PR should perceive and engage these organizations as helpful partners. I believe when we start to create alliances and try and understand their “business model” great changes and developments will take place in our field. Thus we have lots to learn from NGOs! In my next post I plant to discuss how NGOs gain trust from society. If you have any thoughts please comment below or write me an email. See you next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment