JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – As a communicator, public relations (PR) should not only predict but also be able to create their own future for the sustainability of their business and organization. Those are the messages from the webinar that was held by Isentia, titled “IN THE KNOW: Understanding Media Trends for Business Success” on Thursday (26/8/2021).  The COVID-19 pandemic has made PR trained to adapt and respond to any changes. This multidimensional crisis also teaches PR to always equip themselves with data, information, and insights that are considered the most valuable, timely, and relevant. “The only constant in life changes,” said Ledy Ochel Espinosa, Isentia’s Regional Insights Director for Emerging Market, quoting the statement of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.   Change is the word best associated with trends. When talking about trends, then there will be risks and opportunities. In the context of media intelligence, risk can emerge because our industry experience changes, there is no more customer’s needs for the product and service that we offer. In fact, it is possible for them to switch to something else.  On the other hand, trends also give a chance for the brand/organization to keep making innovations. Because we are forced to meet new demands. “In other words, a trend is an assumption of future developments that have a long-term effect, long-lasting, and innovative,” Ledy said.  She then summarized four tips to manage trends. First, PR must be able to identify trends, both within the organization and in the industry. PR can start by answering the question of which trends will be in the future? Will this trend really survive to be a part of our future? Which of the trends is relevant to our company/brand?  Second, PR needs to analyze the effects and possibilities of projection and scenario. In which direction can the trend develop? What major changes will occur in the short and long term? What is the general impact of the trend? The answers to these questions will become a part of the PR plan and strategy.  Third, analyze the impact of trends on our industry and organization. What is the meaning of trend for the company and business? What are the benefits for our industry as a whole? What are the impacts on our company, business, and industries? What are the impacts or trends on our environment? What government policies are allowed, prohibited, or even restricted?  Fourth, avoid the shoulda, woulda, coulda scenario. Insight to find the right trend is very crucial. Therefore, PR must have strong knowledge and basic orientation to determine the trend that is relevant to our company, brand, and even industry. If not, PR only focuses on the wrong customer needs. This can be disastrous for decision-making. Therefore, PR can use the Trendspotting Study made by Isentia. (ais) 

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – This condition encourages companies/organizations to develop a lean and curious working culture. As done by Telkomsel. Although, Denny Abidin, VP Corporate Communication of Telkomsel which is Telkom’s subsidiary and a market leader in the country, said that it does not mean that they did not perform cultural change and development.    According to him, the effort to make a lean organization in this digital transformation era is a manifestation of the organization's desire to continue learning. "Sometimes, big organizations like Telkomsel are always said to be leading the industry. However, there is one thing that we still cannot leave behind. Namely, the desire to continue learning," said Denny while speaking at the webinar The NextDev Hub Virtual Talks #3 Special Edition titled "Leading Innovation: Developing a Lean and Curious Culture" on Thursday (27/8/2020).  To create a lean organization, Telkomsel is implementing nine habits that they learned from stakeholders in responding to digital transformation. First, they must be a good listener. Second, they must look at others with respect and equality. Third, they must be willing to fail. Fourth, they must be reliable.   Fifth, always seek improvement all the time. Employees are required to be more efficient, increase productivity, cut bureaucracy, and run processes faster. Sixth, being supportive or supporting each other. Seventh, measure the results. Eighth, want to acknowledge other people's work and give awards. Nine, the leader must understand the process and have experience before deciding anything.   According to Denny, the biggest mistake organizations make is putting the wrong people in the wrong place. "Therefore, we have to collaborate, find the right and best people in that place. It can be from outside experts or anywhere," he said. This new habit must also be embedded and become part of every activity of public relations (PR) practitioners in building relationships and communication with both internal and external stakeholders.    Four Pillars  There are four pillars that companies must do to form a lean organization that always has a strong curiosity. First, mutual respect. This includes respecting equality and an open mindset.    Second, think scientifically. "Sometimes we often forget things that are scientific when it comes to efficiency and effectiveness. We tend to think only about costs," Denny added.   Third, enterprise alignment. This is related to being consistent in achieving company goals. When the company is committed to transforming, it means that the seriousness must be done consistently. Starting from the lowest level employees to the highest management. "Leaders must set targets based on experience, adopt a top-down culture and understand the process below," he said.  Fourth, it must be based on results-oriented. There is no excuse for a transforming company to abandon its targets. "Whatever the process is running, the company must remain oriented towards the results," he said, firmly. (ais) 

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – That was what Prita Kemal Gani, the founder and CEO of LSPR Communication and Business Institute believed when speaking at the Media Communication Management" event held by the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Vocational Education in Jakarta on Wednesday (9/9/2020). According to Prita, in a company context, media coverage can influence public opinion regarding the brand image and the company's reputation. Meanwhile, in the context of government, media coverage also influences public opinion regarding policies.   To build engagement with the media, the first step PR must take is to understand the media. One of them is understanding the media needs in today's digital era. In addition, there are four other characteristics that the media need, such as informative, creative, communicative, and strong media bonding.   First, informative means that PR must be able to provide the latest information or data in multimedia format, whether print, digital, video, or infographic. In addition, PR also must routinely deliver the latest information through the official website and social media accounts of their company or agency.     Second, be creative. Media need content as well as information that is packaged creatively. This means that the information presented to the media can be packaged in various angles of writing. This is because every journalist comes from various desks, such as desks for education, business, lifestyle, and many more.   Another creative form is to offer exclusive interviews with company officials. The information presented also features various sources, not only from within the company. For example, presenting third party sources such as experts.   Third, communicative. According to Prita, spokespersons in companies or agencies, including PR, must be easily accessed or contacted. They must also be proactive and able to build two-way relationships, such as being willing to listen and receive input.   Fourth, strong media bonding. This means that PR must be able to build an emotional relationship with the media. Starting from updating the latest issues or information, media visits, holding regular meetings with the media in various forms, such as providing training to the media, holding gatherings, and building cooperation through media collaboration programs.   Additionally, providing the opportunity for the media to become a speaker at a number of internal company activities, to respond to each of their news by sharing it on the company's official social media accounts as a form of appreciation.   In fact, PR can also create a WhatsApp Group to build an intense relationship with the media. "In addition to a forum for exchanging information and responding quickly to media needs, it is also a forum for holding various interactive and two-way activities, such as games or quizzes," concluded Prita. (rtn)         

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – One of the easy to build more creative interactions virtually is by actively holding press conferences to virtual product launches. As experienced by  Harry Deje, the Managing Director of H + K Strategies Indonesia. As a speaker at the event Telum Media Webinar titled "New Normalcy: What are the Strategies for Media and PR?" on Wednesday (8/5/2020), he shared the story about the new challenges in holding various activities that are usually done off-line.   According to Deje, when everyone and attention turn to virtual, the challenge is to hold similar, outstanding, and interesting activities. "In fact, if possible, provide new experiences to journalists. Especially, television media that need images/visuals" he said.  The key, Deje said, lies in how PR builds interaction virtually. Starting from creating visually appealing content, presenting camera angles/points of view from different sides, to adding entertainment elements such as music. In order not to seem monotonous, there's nothing wrong with being interspersed with quizzes, while the question and answer session is made separately, or adds an infographic element.  Another equally important thing is to ensure that all the needs of media partners are met. For example, PR must be able to accommodate the needs of journalists to get the opportunity to conduct interviews exclusively with the speakers. PR must also prepare press releases according to media needs, starting from press releases in written, video, to audio/voice form.   Building a relationship with the media is different. "PR must sacrifice more time, one of which is building closeness through WhatsApp and video calls," he said. This is because the opportunity to meet face-to-face is not as comfortable as before the pandemic.    Sensitive  Evi Mariani, Managing Editor of The Jakarta Post, gave several notes to PR. PR must be good at building communication with journalists, sensitive to issues that are currently circulating or related media agendas that are dynamic in nature, and able to read issues that are developing in the public. For example, mental health issues, educational equality, health, and the environment.  Speaking of media, Evi admitted that the pandemic has also changed the way journalists work and affect the media business. Apart from having to collect information from the house, the number of pages has also decreased.  Even so, the public's enthusiasm for reading news from conventional media has skyrocketed during the pandemic. In fact, specifically for The Jakarta Post, the increase has reached 600 percent. “The public realizes that credibility is very important, especially during a pandemic like now. Field verification is irreplaceable," she concluded. (ais) 

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – In July most employees will most likely be back in the office. This follows a number of government policies related to relaxation, PSBB (large-scale social restrictions) transition, and the operation of public transportation. In contrast to the state civil service (ASN) and SOEs which had returned to the office since the end of May, private corporations adopted a more flexible policy. Anthony Kosasih’s reason, Chief Operating Officer of Mekari, might represent most private corporate actors. "Because it’s just the PSBB that has ended, while the number of Covid cases is still increasing. It’s natural if there are still concerns from management and employees,” he said while speaking at a virtual discussion event titled "Insight Talents: HR Guide for Effective Office Reopening " on Tuesday (9/6/2020). For startups in the technology industry, going back to the office is not an issue. Because they are used to working in a digital way and system. "In fact, the issue lies in office space because not all startup companies have large offices. Meanwhile, when returning to work, companies must follow the rules of physical distancing," said Ken Ratri, founder and CEO of Geek Hunter at the event titled "Best Practice in the New Normal Era to Manage Your Business Productivity" on Thursday (11/6/2020). One thing for sure, currently all divisions, especially the HR, Risk Management, and PR teams, are collaborating intensively in developing protocols and communication strategies to prepare a new work culture when the office returns to operations. For DANA, a digital funding application company, PR became an important part of the critical team during the pandemic. They are the ones who make work plans, including managing information, education, and company policies, both to internal and external parties. "Including, socializing New Norms Socialization in a new normal era," said Agustina Samara, Chief People Officer of DANA on Tuesday (9/6/2020). Protocol Mekari, who re-opened the office on June 8, 2020, decided to choose employees to work from the office based on the priorities and survey results. Activities are still limited such as not working at the office every day, there are team rotations, working according to office hours, and following safety and healthy workplace guidelines. Before the office reopened, they had made a number of preparations. "We decided to empathize and respect every employee's decision by not forcing them to return to work from the office," he said. Working at the office must also have a clear purpose. For example, the work is more effective if done in the office or in order to be more effective in coordinating and communicating with teams. Even so, this policy must be supported by technology tools so that each employee can work from anywhere (working remotely). Agustina agrees. "Technology and automation support employees to be able to help their divisions achieve targets, agile in making decisions and short-term plans," she said. Companies must also meet the needs of the employees to support their work from anywhere. For example, laptops, internet networks, and making sure employees are up to date with technology and disciplined.  Other important things are ensuring that every leader has a virtual leadership mindset. "The mindset of leaders must be changed. Don't be paranoid when you don't meet physically because right now the focus is on result driven and productivity tracking," she said. "Leaders must also have good listening skills, be proactive in building a new normal, and sensitive work culture. Especially, if there are members who experience demotivation," she concluded. (rtn)

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – According to Prof. Ibnu Hamad, Dean of FIKOM UPI YAI, business communication is the production and dissemination of messages aimed at building brand positioning. "To build brand positioning, PR must collaborate with marketing," he said in the webinar "Business Communication Strategies in the New Normal Era" initiated by the Association of Higher Education Communication Studies (ASPIKOM) on Thursday (25/6/2020). Benny S Butarbutar, Media & Communication Advisor to BDO BULOG, agreed. According to him, public relations and marketing must be in line with the business recovery effort. There are several things that must be considered to align marketing and public relations functions, such as marketing strategy, corporate communications, public relations, branding, digital strategy, website, advertising and media, sales and business collateral, events and promotions, marketing recruitment, employer branding, and market research. Benny also outlined five actions that must be taken by the organization in dealing with new normal. The first, he said, we must realize that this condition requires immediate treatment (resolve). Second, resilience in dealing with crises. Third, restore business (return). Fourth, re-imagine the next normal condition (reimagination). Fifth, reform of the industry. Deddy Irwandy, Chairman of the ASPIKOM Jabodetabek Region, saw it from the perspective of the higher education. Several things that universities can do in communication are maintaining and enhancing their image, providing information about educational services, building graduate loyalty, and being active in "picking up" students. "Universities must also prioritize branding in terms of the quality of teaching, research, courses, student selection, social facilities, and curriculum," he said. Strengthen IT All speakers agreed that digital devices became one of the supporting components of communication during the pandemic. "This new normal situation strengthens the internet of thing-based communication," said Ibnu. He continued, especially to achieve engagement between organizations and audiences, public relations must serve the public through the internet, websites, and social media. Until later created AISAS which consists of attention, interest, search, action, and share. For Ade Kadarisman, ISKI Deputy Chairperson, rapid digital growth must be balanced with sustainable communication innovation. This is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support the development of domestic technology, research, and innovation in developing countries. (rvh)

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – The flood of information both accurate and hoax information has the same impact. Namely, making people nervous, confused to find the right guide, and do not trust the government. As a result, they tend to look for information that provides emotional security. "Infodemic makes people hungrier for information, and not for objective information, but information that confirms their previous conviction," said Engelbertus Wendratama, a senior researcher at PR2Media, when speaking at an online talk show titled "Radicalism and Hate Speech During the Covid-19 Pandemic” held in HBM.TV Jakarta on Thursday (23/4/2020). This condition then prompted Wendra to conduct a survey aimed at seeing the experiences of Indonesians in the sea of information on the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, disinformation related to Covid-19 occurred most on WhatsApp (WA). Not on television, official government sites, or printed media. Therefore, he emphasized the importance of government public relations practitioners to aggressively produce accurate and disseminating information content through the WA application. There’s no need to bother creating video content or PDF files with information that is too long and convoluted. "It is enough with a simple text that contains interesting and accurate information," he said. By itself, people are interested in sharing it to their WA group chats. Priority Meanwhile, according to Bima Marzuki, CEO and founder of Media Buffet PR & Social Media Marketing, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government no longer had the same energy and ammunition to face the communication crisis as it was in the past. Because everything has been focused on handling Covid-19. Therefore, Bima emphasized three main priorities that must be carried out by the government. First, avoid communication blunders. Watch for information going in and out and make it one door. If this is not possible, at least one party must arrange it to avoid contradiction. "Many blunders occurred because all parties speak with their respective egos without thinking of the implications in the future," he explained. Second, gain public trust. This is important because if the government is no longer trusted by the people, it will be increasingly difficult for the government to control the people if one day there are more precarious conditions than now. And third, message consistency. Bima then offered tips on developing a communication strategy during the pandemic: listening and analyzing public perceptions more intensively; monitor and analyze the context of speech on social media and mainstream media; exercise control over who can speak, what is said word for word based on analysis, and when is the right time to speak; and maintaining message consistency and data transparency. (ais)

JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – Through the Imogen Communications Institute (ICI), they conducted a survey on public preferences for using Zoom as a seminar platform and online class. The reason for choosing Zoom as the subject of the survey, according to Jojo S. Nugroho, Managing Director of IMOGEN PR, was based on the Statqo Analysis research in March 2020 which was launched by Bisnis Indonesia. The research mentioned Zoom listed as the most popular video conference application in Indonesia. The number of users as of March 27, 2020, reached 257,853. Even according to Sensor Tower research, in April 2020 Zoom was able to outperform the use of the Tiktok and Instagram applications. It was so often that various activities were done via Zoom, hence the new term zoominar. The survey was conducted on 100 respondents. The age range of respondents is 25 - 35 years. The survey was conducted throughout Indonesia during May 2020. As a result, 56 percent of respondents were interested in attending paid web-based seminars. With notes, the price is cheap, affordable, and attractive. While 44 respondents prefer to follow the free webinars. Of the total 56 respondents, there was 60 percent who were willing to take part in paid webinars with prices ranging from Rp. 100 - 200 thousand. Only 13 percent of respondents were willing to spend a budget of Rp 200-500 thousand. Less than 8 percent asked for a price of less than Rp 100,000. Also, 10 percent of respondents choose not to participate in a zoominar if they have to pay. From Content to Hours As many as 60 percents of respondents said that an interesting zoominar is one that has inspirational content (offering new things that keep them motivated), 51 percent thought the content was exclusive (good, different and rarely found elsewhere), 50 percent of respondents found it interesting if the content provides tutorials and technical guidance (teaches a step-by-step method of doing something). Lastly, 31 percent of respondents viewed a zoominar as interesting when the speaker is awesome (able to bring good speakers, difficult to access, and famous in their field). So, when is the best time to hold a zoominar? As many as 38 percents of millennial respondents voted at 7 p.m. and 32 percent of other age respondents chose 10 a.m. While the ideal duration if holding a zoominar ranges from 1-2 hours. (ais)

 JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – As stated by Wahyuningrat, Director of Imogen Public Affairs, while speaking at the event called "Kupas Setengah Tuntas: PR Crisis Handling 101" organized by Imogen Public Affairs through the Zoom application in Jakarta on Thursday (4/6/2020). The issue itself is defined as everything that will affect the image, credibility, reputation of the company. Therefore, an active effort by public relations (PR) practitioners is needed to manage the issues before they become big and turn into crises. Or, we are familiar with the term issue management. "In issue management, there are tools. Usually, companies identify issues, then analyze their reactions before a crisis occurs," he said. The classic effort that must be done first is to do stakeholder mapping. Map both the internal and external parties that are the top priority, need to get more attention, build closer relations, and parties that have the potential to protest sue when a crisis occurs. Categorize the stakeholders based on priority/interest scale. Next, do an issue mapping. To do this, continue to update regularly the five highest issues that are considered the most influential on the sustainability of the business and the reputation of the organization. Conduct an impact/risk analysis to determine an immediate response such as holding a press conference, making an apology, or withstand. Wahyuningrat advised us to identify potential crises and discuss them together. "Does it cause complaints, rumors, or messy events," he said. "Here is the art. Because each case requires its own approach. While in the midst of time constraints, the PR must look at the problem clearly," he added. Effective Rizki Akbar, the Senior Corporate Communication Practitioner, also agreed. According to him, any type of crisis whether it comes from internal or external, which certainly can have an impact on many things. Starting from reducing the level of trust from customers to business growth that is not good. Rizki then shared effective ways to deal with the communication crisis. First, identifying and knowing the problem is key. This step makes it easier for PR in developing communication strategies. Second, prepare a crisis communication team effectively. Third, collect all data and facts. Fourth, develop communication materials, such as key messages, standby statements, press releases, document briefings, talking points, anticipating questions and answers, prepare messages/information to be distributed to all media channels. Fifth, appoint a credible spokesperson. The spokesperson is adjusted to the size of the issue and not only has to be the president director. Sixth, identify 5W + 1H agencies/corporations, as simple as knowing when the right time to talk, recognize how strong our opponents are, to the position of the agency/corporation during a crisis, whether they are on the wrong side or right. Seventh, preparation is key. "We never know when a crisis will occur. Therefore, preparing it is the right step," Rizki concluded. (ais)