Issues management

There is so much information available to us nowadays – worldwide and in real time. How can companies, organisations, political institutions and NGOs design communications that are certain to reach their target amid such a flood of facts? What subjects do people want to hear about, and when? And how can you put yourself in a position to react promptly to critical developments?

Systematic issues management opens up new ways to address these questions. It makes it possible to identify subjects early on, conduct opportunity and risk analyses, evaluate how they will develop and what influence they may have on your organisation, and use them actively in communications.

We provide our clients with opportunity and risk management services that form the basis for strategically planned communications. In managing risk, we seek to take a targeted view of issues, quickly assess their potential to cause a crisis, and react accordingly. Using validated data and the results that they provide, we develop scenarios and formulate recommendations as to how to deal with them – both in day-to-day communications work and as part of a company’s overall communications strategy. By developing concrete wordings for crisis prevention, we put our clients in a position to respond and communicate in the face of potentially critical situations. Opportunity management, on the other hand, involves the spotting of trends in media reporting early on, or flagging up the actions of other players in the industry. This opens up new ways for proactively addressing issues and establishing credibility for oneself in the media. We use opportunity management to give tactical recommendations on how to act, and to identify cost-effective channels for the communication of defined subjects. At the same time, it serves as the basis for targeted, themed campaigns, effective media relations and direct dialogue with selected stakeholders.

Johanssen + Kretschmer has developed special database-driven formats to enable it to assess and evaluate media reporting. This forms part of its opportunity and risk management activities: Status⁺ provides decision makers with up-to-date information about the latest developments and reporting. Report⁺ offers a reliable portrayal of the situation, and Evaluation⁺ subjects the data to in-depth analysis. All information gathered is channelled in a structured manner into the Issues Issues Agenda⁺ database. This makes it possible to gain an overview of complex subjects and their development, and to assess the risks and opportunities connected with them – based on validated data. Issues Agenda⁺ generates Alert Mails⁺, to inform decision makers about the latest developments. These processes bring consistency to the process and guarantee high standards of quality. Basing themselves on confirmed facts and in these formats, our consultants develop tactical and strategic recommendations on what to do, and formulate concrete initiatives. In doing so, they draw on their experience in the evaluation of new information and draw up scenarios that serve both to help prevent crises and ensure consistent reputation management.

Interested in using issues management for your communications? Then give us a call. We will be delighted to give you a presentation of our products and tools.

Your contact persons for issues management:

Vera Grote
Phone +49 (0) 30 520 00 57-40
v.grote(at)jk-kom.de