What obligation do strategic communicators have in terms of goodwill toward the audience and are they fulfilling this obligation?

Strategic communicators are supposed to follow a goodwill objective in order to promote a positive manner with the said market. To properly define goodwill, it is important to consider the communities and where the strategic communicator does business with. Goodwill is defined as, “the amount of value that a company’s good reputation adds to its overall value”, according to Merriam-Webster. With that said, not all audiences will agree with what strategic communicators display. In order to achieve goodwill as a whole, the strategic communicators must build a form of trust with its audience. Without trust, the strategic communicators messages will not be effective and will fail. In some instances, strategic communicators lose trust from being a once transparent trustworthy organization, to having a crumbled destroyed reputation based off fabrication. In order to not fail, goodwill towards its audience should be obligated to display what is preached by the organization through its strategic communicators and within the organization itself.

The Page Principles define what goodwill is expected for strategic communicators. These are: tell the truth, prove with action, listen to the customer, manage for tomorrow, conduct PR as if the whole company depends on it, realize a company’s true character is expressed by its people and remain calm, patient and good-humored (The Page Principles). In a perfect world, strategic communicators would follow these principles to a “T”, but in reality they fall from it. If a firm or organization gets caught in a situation where information is leaked that may destroy its reputation, goodwill and transparency is sought because it is not fulfilling the goodwill obligation and is just making up for its reputation. For an example, take the recent Volkswagen scandal to heart. Volkswagen cheated emissions test, stating its cars were environmentally friendly when they were emitting nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times of what the United States allows (Hotten, 2015). In order to prevent the destruction of the company’s reputation since it was not promoting goodwill to its customers and the environment, Volkswagen has stepped up and has admitted fault and is back on track of promoting trust and goodwill.

As a whole, I would say no, goodwill is not actively fulfilled through strategic communicators because it is used in a sense of marketing or making up for a scandal. To have strategic communicators not come off this way, it is important to have employees actively involved in the community and building long-term relationships with its audience (Kokemuller). The decisions that strategic communicators make will influence how the public sees them. Even if mistakes are made, giving back to the community with goodwill and being transparent will make all of the difference.

Works Cited

Hotten, R. (2015, December 10). Volkswagen: The scandal explained - BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). Goals & Objectives in PR Campaigns. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/goals-objectives-pr-campaigns-21010.html

The Page Principles |Arthur W Page Society. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.awpagesociety.com/about/the-page-principles/