Article published in Forbes
By: Catalina Jiménez - Director & Founder, Sentidos Comunicaciones
Something happened recently that can serve us as an example to understand how simply looking at situations from another perspective can become a great opportunity.
Sometimes when we face demanding or changing moments in life, it is when our capacity for innovation, greater creativity and the will to do things in a different way arises and suddenly we find other paths. Something happened recently that can serve as an example to understand how simply looking at situations from another perspective can become a great opportunity. A few days ago, after finishing our planning meeting and defining some actions that we would carry out with my work team during the week, social networks abruptly fell without any kind of warning or alert. The first seconds were disturbing, but instantly a window of opportunity also opened for other channels to be used as a form of communication. Welcome to WhatsApp messages and video calls, they have finally made life easier for us and the way we connect with people, but when they fail, and this will happen again for sure, let's make that phone call that we have pending, let's talk while looking at each other's eyes, let's meet again, let's resume face-to-face meetings. Recognizing the human being who is on the other side is the safest step to remain relevant as a form of communication. We have had great challenges as humanity and as companies in the last year and each of these moments has been ideal to rethink what we can do better. In recent months and in the face of the changing scenario, strengthening my work team, its structure and scope, were the strategy in moments of greatest “isolation” we could tell our clients “here we are” and that they maintain contact with their own audiences. Communication has never been more relevant and our follow-up meetings with clients confirm this, since now they are not only led by the communications director or the marketing director, but now CEOs, vice presidents and people who previously absent were actively involved. Our management is focused on showing our clients that we now need to speak differently, that we must be empathetic and tell the public that we are present and active. From the role of public relations strategy in companies, there have been inspiring examples of organizations that assertively and empathetically take advantage of changes to reconnect with their audiences; active and human communication has become essential, always with a purpose. The companies gave a space for their messages to have a different impact, by being able to speak in other formats, in understanding and taking advantage of the impact of digitization, in opening the conversation to other audiences, who until that moment are just joining the social networks and those who are now open to being spoken to in an entertaining, agile and direct way. The ongoing conversation of organizations with customers, users, suppliers and their own employees is being approached from a different angle.
Every crisis is an opportunity
Interpreting the importance of the moment and what the context we live implied, allows us to adapt and occupy a relevant space from communication and the relationship that companies have with their different audiences. Their impact builds society, generates opinion and opens the conversation. In a hyper-connected world, if one brand is not present, it is simple, another will take its place in the mind and preference of the consumer. It is important to promote new meetings and conversations from innovation as the great trigger for these moments. Today we want someone to speak to us and transmit confidence in the issues that are now relevant now for our lives: cybersecurity in our work teams, financial inclusion, mobile banking, the growth of electronic commerce or how to promote change in companies, just to name a couple of examples. Public Relations are valuable because they have the ability to tell stories that speak of the needs and realities of people, but they are also capable of redeeming the human condition by seeking encounter and promoting conversation.
* The author is the director of Sentidos Comunicaciones.
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Central America.
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