UNS – Public Relations must be agile and resilient in facing the new normal, stated by Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta Public Relations Expert, Dr. Andre Rahmanto as a speaker in a webinar hold by the Public Relations Laboratory, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNS, Thursday (18/6/2020).
“Public Relations both at the institution or private sectors have to be ready to face the new normal. A person who works in Public Relation needs to be agile and resilient in facing this era (new normal-red),” Dr. Andre who is also the Faculty Member of Communication Science Program FISIP UNS and the Chief Branch Management (BPC) of Public Relations Association (Perhumas) Surakarta stated.
As many sectors are affected by the Covid-19, especially health care and economic sectors, several other sectors experienced surged in income, for example, those who still have their job and those work with online products. Negative impacts hit airlines, tourism, restaurants, hotels, and other service-based industry. From this reality, business people are expected to learn and see future opportunities. Firms can provide a solution by providing digital services or by applying the existing health protocol.
Dr. Andre added that there are Public Relation’s roles during the pandemic. First, perform monitoring and planning based on the data. Second, making sure that health protocol is well implemented. Third, maintain communication with the firm’s priority stakeholders. Fourth, paying attention to brand presentation to the community with the current condition. Lastly, paying attention to the use of content and platform. It is suggested to reduce physical contacts and maximize digital media.
“Brochure and all kinds of printed promotion are less effective this time, thus, re-planning is needed. Public Relations has an important role in this time because making advertisements will incur a cost, while Public Relations can be applied in very limited circumstances,” Dr. Andre explained.
The webinar on Public Relations’ Role in the New Normal also invited Public Relations and Marketing Manager of PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital Surakarta, Betty Andriani, M.I.Kom as the second speaker.
The representative of health care Public Relations, Betty Andriani, M.I.Kom, explained that the pandemic is one of the crises for the health sector and affected the reputation of the institution.
According to Betty, there three impacts of pandemic namely the change in social status, new lifestyle, and the implementation of Physical Distancing. There are many changes in a short period in the Indonesian people. Some of the crises experienced by the health care institution are, among others, the scarcity of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), health workers tested positive for Covid-19, and suggestions from the doctor’s association to postpone non-emergency cases. This has led to a decrease in patients treated at the hospital because people are afraid to visit the hospital. Many staff and employees were laid off and some doctors do not open their practices. Responding to this phenomenon, Betty stated that the trust from the community is the key to fix this condition.
PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital Surakarta has three innovations in running its strategies: Adopt, Adapt, and Adept. These three innovations will lead to one objective, providing maximum services for the community.
“The role of Public Relations in the New Normal is to build community’s trust that currently we can implement the new normal lifestyle through the innovation, socialization, education,” Betty explained. Humas UNS/Ratri/Dwi
