Critical Analysis of Public Relations in Australian Red Cross

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the public relations management strategies employed by the Australian Red Cross. It begins by highlighting the importance of public relations in maintaining an organization's community base and reputation. The report then examines the Red Cross's communication with the media through press releases, podcasts, and online platforms, focusing on their target audiences which include people facing various challenges like sexual abuse, refugees, and children. Drawing on the Shannon-Weaver model, the report emphasizes the role of public relations managers in effectively conveying the organization's message. It also explores the Red Cross's use of social media, stakeholder engagement, crisis management techniques, and resource provision to maintain a positive public image and achieve its humanitarian goals. Furthermore, the report discusses challenges faced by the organization, such as limited resources and competition, while acknowledging its strengths in media relations and community outreach. The analysis is supported by references to academic sources and the Red Cross's own publications and activities.

Running head: PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
Public Relation management in the Australian Red Cross
Name of the student
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Author Note

1PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
Public Relations is one of the fastest growing professional fields. It is estimated that
public relations managers are increasing in number as well as in percentage due to the growing
demand of the field. Almost all the international and national organizations, whether government
or non-government require public relation managers to deal with the people in the most effective
method and to communicate to the public in a proper way. It is an essential and powerful tool
because it conveys the message of the organization to the public as it is important for the
organization to maintain its community base (Pria.com.au 2018). Organizations maintain its
own public relation strategy and groups for a good relationship with the press and to maintain a
good image in public by promoting its values and objective (Botan and Towbridge 2015). The
organization chosen for this paper is Australian Red Cross. This paper will analyze the public
relations strategies of the above-mentioned organization.
The Australian Red Cross is a charitable non-profit organization based in Australia has a
robust public relation management strategy (Redcross.org.au 2018). It maintains communication
with the media through periodic press releases. It also promotes its messages through the podcast
and online platform. The organization maintains annual and monthly publications. The target
public for this organization is people who are facing problems like sexual abuse, refugees, the
middle and ole aged, children and women. It tries to maintain communication with these target
population on a regular basis. This paper will analyze the ways in which this company manages
its public relations activities (Redcross.org.au 2018)
According to Macnamara (2016), public relation is a two-way connection between the
organization and the public. The Shannon-Weaver model of communication developed in 1940’s
can be perfectly applied to this organization’s activities. The role of the Sender is played by the
organization (Red Cross) and the encoder is the electronic media while the receiver is the public

2PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
to whom it is communicated (Gillespie et al 2018) .The role of a public relation manager becomes
essential here, as it is he who will communicate the message of the organization to the public.
The public relations practitioner is to research about the organization, find the positive messages
about the organization and finally to communicate it to the media. They create an “architecture
of speaking” (Macnamara 2016)
Similarly, the Red Cross in Australia, which is based on humanitarian values shares
stories of people through the podcast and media interactions. The spokespeople of the company
talk to the vulnerable people about the threat of the future emergencies and recovering from the
disaster (Redcross.org.au 2018) . Their annual report is released which gives an overall
development and achievement that has been done throughout the year. The Red Cross
organization arranges the Blood Donation campaign at regular interval to achieve
communication goals and promotes the motto of the organization through these campaigns
(Donateblood.com.au 2018).Red Cross Australia maintains its own social media on Facebook
and Instagram to maintain effective communication with the public. Their extensive chain of
communication covers Facebook, Instagram,Twitter,Google+ and LinkedIn. For managing a
better public communication, they connect with the public at level (Redcross.org.au 2018).These
activities on the social media call for people’s attention into the organization’s motto. It gives a
clear picture to the people that Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that promotes the cause
of the people.
According to Johnston (2014), “engagement” with the stakeholders is the key to survival
for an organization. This develops a relationship of cooperation and communication. Australian
Red Cross is ranked as the most trusted and active partner in disaster management maintains a
good relationship with the stakeholders in governmental and non-governmental

3PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
agencies (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2018). It maintains a strong relationship with
the Australian government, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This communication
with the government helps them to achieve the humanitarian goals (Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade 2018).
Effective PR means effective communication and relation with the public. Red Cross in
Australia proposes surveys to find out about the issues concerning them and anticipate them for
better outcomes. For example, it conducted the “loneliness survey” during the Christmas to find
out reasons for loneliness during the festive season (Redcross.org.au 2018). Based on these
surveys, the organization comes up with a viable programme in order to maintain a good relation
with the people.
Crisis management is a challenging task. The public relations management prepares
strategies to fight these crises. It has taken a different form, especially in the digital era. Red
Cross-in Australia maintains a digital platform to keep people informed about its role during
crises period. The primary purpose of doing it is to empower communities, grow a secure
network of people and promoting goals through social engagement (Baja et al2015).It believes in
"one step can make you suffer" and developed resource center for individuals and groups
through the digital media applications (Redcross.org.au 2018). Moreover, they manage and
maintain three different portals for “resources”, one for the people, one for the agencies
associated with it and one for the targeted group of parents and teachers. Through these
resources, they communicate to the people regarding the crisis. For example, they manage
resources on their website regarding the “climate hazards” to prepare people during natural
emergencies (Redcross.org.au 2018).

4PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
There are issues that every organization face while working. It is the responsibility of the
public relations managers to manage these issues effectively and convey it to the public. The
Australian Red Cross manages to look into the issues affecting the people at large. For Example,
it has taken up issues of child sexual abuse, human trafficking, and refugees and prepares plans
for their strategic management (Redcross.org.au 2018).As an organization, they identify the
issues, set priorities, develop a response to that issue and monitor effective management. At a
regular interval, they publish that report on their website to give people an idea about their
effective management of the issue. During the issue of Bangladeshi refugees in the refugee
camp, the organization published its report on the overall issue and its probable response to it.
For example, The Australian Red Cross has released their report and progression in this field.
(Redcross.org.au 2018).
Being a humanitarian non-profit organization, its primary concern has been serving the
people. However, to do that there is a requirement of a strategic public relations management.
Among other humanitarian organizations, the Red Cross in Australia has strong Public relation
management. Analyzing them, it is found that this organization has a list of stakeholders who
work with people at the ground level to cater to their needs. This is the basic requirement of
strong public relation. It has good communication with 106 members of the Australian
Parliament who directly support their initiative at the global and local level (Redcross.org.au
2018).
Secondly, on the digital front, it has launched a flagship magazine called “Humanitarian”
which is sent to over 45000 recipients and has 9000 supporters in Australia and overseas.
Through this medium, they connect to the public in forecasting their objectives, recent projects,

5PUBLIC RELATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
progress and many more issue. This magazine is available at the digital and non-digital platforms
helping the organization to broaden its community base (Redcross.org.au 2018).
Thirdly, they have dynamic social media operations. It operates through a number of
television channels. On the social media front, they operate through the Facebook page, which
has over 49000 likes, which have also increased on an average of 19000 likes. This medium
helps them to reach people through the most used platform of the people (Redcross.org.au
2018). They also initiated a campaign on the Twitter named “cycloneowen” to support the
people affected by the cyclone (Redcross.org.au 2018).
Fourthly, Red Cross “word of mouth” campaign for the Blood Donation service was
initiated at the online and offline platform. This drew people from all parts of the country who
are aged between 30-54 and have not donated blood since last five years. This was reported to
successfully draw 1827 blood donors for that event (Campaign Brief Australia 2018).These
factors contribute to broadening its community base and spread the motto of the organization.
However, no organization is free from problems. It also has its inherent weaknesses like lack of
innovative projects, limited resource and competition with other organization.
Public relations is the systematic and strategic management of communication and
relationship between the organization and the public. As it is based on certain perimeters like
media relations, press release, website and podcast, spokespeople of the organization, an
organization can only manage to have an active public relations management when it qualifies all
the above-mentioned parameters. For the Australian Red Cross, they are able to promote their
objective successfully and communicate with the media and the public.

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