Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
People who think they know me well are still stunned when they find out I am an auto-racing freak. I love NASCAR. I watch it most Sundays during the racing season and have since I lived in Virginia and followed Ricky Rudd’s no. 10 Tide car. (My family used Tide to wash our clothes. Ricky was from my home state. A racing fan was born. Go figure.)
So as we come upon the opening of the 2013 NASCAR season with the running of the Daytona 500 this weekend, I thought it time to reflect on lesson’s learned from last year’s race that involved a spectacular crash, a driver tweeting from his car, and the “ah ha!” moment that moved Twitter and TV out of the dating phase and into true love.
Last year at the Daytona 500, as one of the drivers was rounding a turn, his car’s steering column broke and the racecar slammed into a large Jet Dryer truck on the track. The crash set off a huge fire ball explosion which was carried on live television in prime time. Remarkably, neither driver was hurt. But the accident caused a two-hour delay while the track maintenance crew had to figure out how to clean up all the spilled fuel on the track before they could resume racing. (As an aside, the solution they came up with was covering the fuel spill with Tide and then washing the detergent off with a fire hose. Once again, go figure.)
During this lengthy delay, the cars were stopped on the track, the drivers were wandering around the asphalt and clearly getting bored. Turns out, one of the drivers started Tweeting photos live from the track while the race was stopped. Thanks in large part to live TV coverage of his tweets, Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) nearly tripled his Twitter followers that night, increasing from 65,000 followers when the race started, to nearly 200,000 following the two-hour race delay.
What started as a spectacular crash resulted in some of the most notable lessons in social media in the past year. Among them:
Twitter needs TV and vice versa. Whenever a new communication technology enters the market some are quick to say, “This will be the death of radio, print, TV, or (fill in the blank).” In reality, most media compliment each other, because each has its own unique properties. In this case, Keselowski gained Twitter followers because FOX TV broadcast his tweets from the track, showed live images of the other drivers gathered around his phone, and broadcast a graphic of his rapidly increasing number of followers.
Under most other circumstances in most other sports, a two-hour delay would kill television ratings as viewers tune out. In this instance, viewers stayed to watch what the drivers were doing. It’s logical to assume some heard about the crash on social media and then turned on their television to see what happened. Today, we see hashtags embedded on the screen during many of our favorite TV shows. Social media references are now incorporated into other live shows, like the Oscars or the recent Grammy Awards. But what has become commonplace today was unusual just a year ago.
“Bubbas” have smart phones too. According to the 2012 Pew Internet and American Life Project, 46-percent of American adults owned smart phones at the time of Daytona 500 last year, noting that “nearly every major demographic group—men and women, younger and middle-aged adults, urban and rural residents, the wealthy and the less well-off—experienced a notable uptick in smartphone penetration over the last year.” This is a reminder that communication plans and strategies should be multi-faceted and involve as many channels for distributing information as makes sense for your audience. It also shows that market research is important to avoid stereotyping your audience. The Pew Internet study did not include racing fans as one of their research groups, but if you consider the amount of technology and advanced engineering involved in racing today, it makes sense that race fans would be considered early adopters of smart phones and own Twitter handles.
Tweeting, while in a car, is a bad idea. It’s worth repeating that Keselowski’s car was parked and not running when he began tweeting from the track. He did not get fined by NASCAR that night for his actions either, since there were no rules against tweeting from the racecars at the time. There are now. Keselowski was fined for tweeting from his car in November of last year after NASCAR disallowed it.
Keep creating content. Sometimes a person or a company can have their 15 minutes of fame but is never able to capitalize on the initial attention. No matter how brightly your star shines, you need to keep creating content and engaging with your audience in order to keep growing. Just three months following the 2012 Daytona 500, NASCAR and Twitter created its first ever sports and social media sponsorship when they joined forces and encouraged fans to tweet while watching NASCAR races on live television, thereby moving Twitter closer toward an editorial media than a pure social media.
So, whatever happened to @Keselowski? He went on to win five races in the season and claimed the Sprint Cup title in 2012. He now has more than 360,000 followers on Twitter.
As I mentioned in a past blog post, TEDtalks remain one of my favorite resources to learn about new things and find inspiration from others.
If you’re unfamiliar with the organization, TEDtalks is a daily video podcast of talks and performances from TED conferences, TEDx events and TED partners. TEDtalk’s motto is “ideas worth spreading,” and they are comprised of the “world’s leading thinkers and doers” giving “the talk of their lives in 18 minutes” (source: TED.com).
TED.com provides highly curated content, and in that spirit, I’ve further narrowed down its lecture offerings. Here are my three personal favorite TEDtalks that inspire and motivate me both professionally and personally.
1.) Simon Sinek: “How great leaders inspire action”
How do you explain why some do well and others do not? In this TEDtalk, author Simon Sinek explores inspirational leadership by looking at the examples of Apple, Martin Luther King and the Wright Brothers.
In his talk, Simon asserts that there is a pattern to great leadership, which he has codified into why, how and what. “What” is what an organization does; “how” is how the what comes to be; and “why” is the purpose and cause behind an organization’s existence.
Typically, people move from what to how to why. However, Sinek argues that inspired leaders work the opposite of the status quo; they think, act, and communicate from why to how to what. Sinek argues that in life, people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Sinek provides a well-articulated and well-researched argument that resonates with anyone who has worked on branding and messaging. Furthermore, his talk provides educational and informative content about the purchasing choices people make that anyone will find interesting.
2.) Elizabeth Gilbert: “On Genius”
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the famed “Eat Pray Love,” speaks in this TEDtalk about the history of both the concept of “genius” and the perception of creative brilliance throughout time. Incorporating anecdotes from her own career, Gilbert discusses the pressures placed on people to be genius—especially those in creative fields. Gilbert suggests a radical and freeing change in popular opinion on genius – perhaps all of us have genius, at different moments throughout our existence.
The talk is refreshing, personal, and provides a strategy on moving forward in the pursuit of genius without becoming overwhelmed.
3.) Brené Brown: “The power of vulnerability”
Brené Brown is a research professor in social work. In this talk, Brown speaks specific ally about how she came across one of her most poignant discoveries in her work as she attempted to understand human connection: Why do some people feel that they have a strong sense of love and belonging, and some do not? What Brown’s research concludes is that vulnerability appears to be at the core of self-value. However, vulnerability is simultaneously something that people can be apprehensive of and actively work against.
Brown’s discussion will have you rethinking your approach toward and mentality about vulnerability in both your personal and professional life, and is truly stirring.
TEDtalks are a great resource to learn about new material and to hear what experts in particular fields are saying. I look to it when I’m having trouble finding inspiration or looking for something interesting to wrap my mind around. Whatever your purposes, if you have the time to check out a few TEDtalks, I highly recommend the three above.
For more excellent TEDtalks, see:
- Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity
- The 20 Most Watched TEDtalks to Date
- Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice
- Dan Gilbert: Why Are We Happy?
- A Guide to the Best 10 TEDtalks Ever
At the end of January, I attended the PRSA Puget Sound’s event focused on security and privacy, “The Corporate Reputation Drivers of the Digital Age.” Panelists included Aaron Weller, managing director, Data Protection & Privacy Practice at PwC; Christopher Budd, principal and founder of Christopher Budd Communications; and Leigh Nakanishi, Edelman, Data Security and Privacy Group.
Weller, Budd and Nakanishi set the stage by discussing the importance of security and privacy to organizations, which is due to a number of factors, including:
- A changing landscape and increased awareness: Rarely a day goes by that you don’t see news about a data breach, successful hacking or another related issue. Reporters are paying attention to the news and ensuring consumers are informed.
- Increasing use of technology: Nearly every organization or business is at risk. At some point, it’s likely that a data breach or data loss incident will occur.
- Heightened media scrutiny and attention: Not only are media outlets paying attention to incidents, but they’re also analyzing communication, responses and other details. How is a company informing affected customers about an issue? How much detail are they providing? And how long does it take them to react? These are only a few of the questions that reporters look to answer.
- Rise of social media: With social media, the potential audience witnessing your organization’s incident and response is global. Affected customers can easily and quickly publicize details. Unfortunately with social media, rumors can also become fact. Even if your organization didn’t experience a data breach, for example, the mere claim being shared on social networking sites like Twitter can escalate quickly and cause damage to your brand’s reputation because of the perceptions being formed.
The best thing you can do for your organization is to have a plan in place before an incident ever happens. That plan should include the name and contact information of the person in charge of managing the issue. You should also determine ownership on different activities, communication channels and a holding statement to provide to media should an issue occur and an investigation not yet be completed. It’s also helpful to understand who your technical contacts will be during an incident – that is, the person or people you can get information from during an incident investigation. Securing executive approval of your plan before an issue happens will also allow you to work more efficiently.
What other tips would you offer to prepare for the worst case scenario?
Whether you are scanning an email subject line, the newspaper, a website, blog, or press release, a headline is the first thing you see. You only stop to read once a headline has caught your attention.
Many times headlines are too long or send the wrong message. According to a Ragan.com article, “How to write great headlines in 55 characters or fewer,” a headline should be approximately 55 characters. That is not a lot of time to tell part of a story and capture someone’s attention, so make each character count.
When crafting a headline consider the four “u” rule recommended by the American Writers and Artists Association:
- Unique. A headline should be unique. Readers will not be persuaded to read further if the headline is the same old headline. Craft a headline that offers something new or provokes additional thought. Ask yourself, what is different about your news?
- Urgent. A headline needs to have urgency. If not, a reporter has no reason to write today versus next month. You need to answer the question, why does your news matter to me right now?
- Useful. Your concise headline needs to highlight how the news is useful to a reader. If it is not, a reporter has no reason to write. My former news director used to ask, why do I care? Help a reporter understand how the news will help them and you are more likely to secure interest.
- Unambiguous. This is one of the most challenging aspects of creating a headline with only 55 characters. A headline should be very specific. A reader should be able to learn more about the news from the headline. What is the news?
Newspaper headlines offer a good model for inspiration. This headline recently appeared on the New York Times homepage, “Russia Tries to Prosecute a Dead Man.”
The headline captures your attention and draws you in. Let’s measure it against the 4U rule. The headline is definitely unique. It is also urgent. If Russia is prosecuting a dead man this seems like a matter that needs to be looked into immediately and that people should know about. Curiosity pushes the issue. This story based on the headline is useful because as a reader you are wondering if you too could be prosecuted after death. The headline is provocative, but also clear. You know from reading the headline that Russia is trying to prosecute a dead man and it paints a picture in your mind.
Additionally, the headline is under 55 characters.
In my experience the best headlines are provocative, not promotional. You want the headline to help the reader begin to write the story in their head and ask questions. Once you have crafted a headline imagine that you are reading the headline for the first time. Do you have a follow up question? If so, you are well on your way to creating compelling headlines that capture your audience’s attention.
Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada and author of Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, recently posted a piece, “Placing Strategic Bets in the Face of Uncertainty,” on Harvard Business Review’s blog network that offered helpful advice on how to think strategically.
In the business of PR, and in life in general, you are constantly coming upon opportunities to strategize your next move(s), whether for your company’s five year plan or your own career and personal goals. However, as Martin points out, the concept of strategy can be a little deceiving—after all, you can’t effectively chart out the future simply by taking the time to craft a formal strategy. What, then, is the role of strategizing? How can you adjust your perception of strategy to work within our “uncertain world”?
The post addresses these questions by helping to define strategy, outline how it can be effectively used and establish its value. Below are four overarching tips Martin gives:
1.) Understand that there are no guarantees
As Martin states, a common misconception is that strategy is about “turning uncertainty into certainty.” This is not the case, however. The world is an uncertain place, and “no choice made today can make future uncertainty go away.”
2.) Define strategy
With no guarantees, the purpose of strategy is to deal productively “with life’s inevitable uncertainty.” Rather than thinking a strategy can prepare you for anything, think of a strategy as an outline that will help you make good decisions as you move forward, and react to various issues as they arise. Strategy, as Martin puts it, “means making the best possible choices you can make today and then being responsive when the bets do or do not come in as hoped.”
3.) Prepare to be flexible
Be prepared to make revisions to your strategy as things come up. Strategy should be flexible and responsive to changes in outcomes and environment. For example, if you’re starting a company, and you write out a business plan for the next 12 months, something might come up in the first few months that causes a delay—issues in production, for example. Be comfortable with editing your strategy to overcome such obstacles.
4.) Appreciate the value of strategy
After emphasizing the fluidity necessary for comprehensive strategy, you might be pondering what the value of strategy really is. While you shouldn’t expect strategy to eliminate uncertainty, outlining a formalized strategy is an excellent tool to understand what areas of your business/ life are rapidly changing, and help you understand how to improve upon them. In the example above, for instance, if you write a 12-month business strategy and then are having problems with production, you now can improve upon tactics to address production issues and effectively learn from your experience.
Martin does an excellent job of bridging the gap between an idealistic business practice and reality. Next time you’re frustrated by an unanticipated change that is going to throw off a business plan or strategy you are executing, be mindful of Martin’s tips. Setbacks to a strategy help it serve its purpose.
Have you ever experienced a setback that helped you better implement an overall business plan or strategy in the long run?
For more on strategy from Communiqué PR, see:
How to evolve pitching strategies in response to “Page-view Journalism”
When Should a Start-up Business Hire a PR Firm?
The Power of Mission & Vision Statements
For more on Harvard Business Review’s Blog Network from Roger Martin, see:
Strategy and the Uncertainty Excuse
How To Make Companies Think Long-Term
CEOs Must Model the Behavior for Creating Societal Value
You Can’t Analyze Your Way to Growth
The art of storytelling for business has been on the radar screen in recent years as a powerful tool for achieving success in the marketplace. With articles popping up from Fast Company, Forbes and Harvard Business Review, and a number of books published on the topic, there is no shortage of commentary on how storytelling can help businesses meet their objectives, why this is true, and how to be an effective storyteller.
I recently came across a compelling infographic, titled “Storytelling Is Not Just For Campfires,” on the blog for the Content Marketing Institute (original infographic courtesy of Fathom Business Events.) It puts into simple and visual terms the fundamentals of successful storytelling.
While you may have good facts and figures to back up your message, ultimately the art of persuasion – the centerpiece to business activity, according to the Harvard Business Review – requires reaching people at an emotional level. Nothing does this better than a good story. And every business has a story to tell.