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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.
I recently participated in Ragan PRDaily’s Webinar, “10 Lessons Learned from the Campaign,“ hosted by Brad Phillips. Phillips is the president of Phillips Media Relations and writes “the world’s most-visited media training blog”, Mr. Media Training. In the webinar, Phillips offered a list of 10 media lessons learned during the 2012 presidential campaign. Here are four favorites:
1.) Use straightforward language.
Since CNN went on air in 1980, voters have subsequently spent more time listening to candidates speak. It appears that consequently, the candidate with greater intellectual appeal tends to not win the election.
Communicating in everyday language is essential, Phillips notes. The example from the campaign that Phillips used to this end is Bill Clinton’s acclaimed speech at the Democratic National Convention. Obama referred to Clinton as “our nation’s explainer-in-chief,” because he was able to convey complicated policy issues in an easy-to-understand format.
With a sound bite averaging 10-30 words, clarity and simplicity are key.
2.) Nothing said in public is ever private.
In today’s media landscape, you never know who is filming or recording your statements — and this information can be instantly broadcast. For this lesson, Phillips referred to the now infamous “47% video” of candidate Mitt Romney. This gaffe was widely broadcast, and referred to by Romney’s opponent in the official presidential debate. The lesson here? Stay on message, no matter what, when you’re in any type of public setting.
3.) Don’t leave anything to chance.
Phillips used the example of Clint Eastwood’s speech on the Republican National Convention, which Eastwood admitted was not planned out well in advance. In moments where the media is going to be carefully analyzing each aspect of a speech or presentation, don’t leave anything to chance. Gaffes happen even in the most planned and rehearsed media actions—don’t leave additional room for error. The media and the public have a high standard for pre-planned presentations; it’s not worth the risk of not incorporating detailed event planning into your strategy.
4.) Have a plan for brain freezes.
However, even if you carefully plan media engagements, you stick with clear language, and you are consistently on message, moments of confusion still happen—it’s human nature. Whether someone is a candidate or an executive, even intelligent, well-spoken individuals are still susceptible to “brain freezes.”
Phillips gave several examples of brain freezes along the 2012 campaign trail, including the Republican primary debate in which Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, proposed to cut three agencies from government support—but could not name all three. While the gaffe was almost laughable, instances like this can be seriously detrimental to images, brands and campaigns alike.
Unfortunately, when under pressure and while running on intense schedules, brain freezes like this can be a side effect. The solution? Think through a few general talking points that will minimize the impact of drawing a blank, and that remain on message/ brand.
The 2012 U.S. presidential campaign was unprecedented in media coverage and engagement. The high- stress, high-stakes nature of the campaign provided a few vivid examples of why media training and preparation is essential for anyone in a highly visible position.
A big thank you to Brad Phillips and Ragan’s PR Daily for the excellent webinar. Make sure to check out Phillips’ blog, Mr. Media Training, for more tips.
For more on the 2012 presidential campaign from Communique, look to:
The Great Debate: Know Your Spokesperson’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Social media and democracy: What can business learn from election campaigns?
Media resources continue to remain tight and more and more outlets are relying on contributed content. This presents a great opportunity for organizations to position themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries.
But what types of stories tend to resonate with editors and readers? When I’m writing blog posts, I typically write about tips, and there is a reason: People tend to scan rather than deeply read and absorb articles. Articles that are in the form of lists or quick tips provide the key takeaways quickly and clearly. I came across an article in Ragan’s called, “3 reasons list stories work,” written by Lydia Howard, that suggests why list stories are the way to go.
Consider the following:
- People Have Short Attention Spans. People have a limited amount of time and often receive news and information on the go. This means you only have a limited time to make your point. SocialTimes posted an infographic that suggests social media has shortened our attention span from 12 minutes to five minutes. People are more impatient and they want information quickly. Short and sweet also makes an article easier to share. For example, a tweet that reads “Learn five tips for better buying” is more enticing than a tweet that points to an essay about the evolution of the buying experience.
- You Can Be Bold. With a list or tip story, your point can usually be one compelling sentence per tip. You can include explanations following your statement, but the bold statements help to keep it memorable.
- Your Content Lasts Longer. Howard points out that in-depth articles typically analyze current events or trends. This means that the article can become irrelevant more quickly. With list or tip stories, you are typically providing guidance that can be useful months down the road.
We partnered with our client Attachmate to pitch a list story that highlighted the “Top File Transfer Headaches and How to Find Relief.” The article set up a problem and provided five potential headaches an organization may face when transferring files and what solutions are available. The article appeared in Data Center Journal and positioned Attachmate’s Sam Morris as a thought leader in the industry. The five headaches are bold, memorable and still relevant today.
When developing a pitch for media, consider pitching a list-format story. It helps condense the points you want to get across and can have a big impact on readers.
Clearly defined mission and vision statements can be powerful for people and businesses. They can help provide focus and inspiration as well as provide another point of reference when making decisions.
A mission statement is centered on what you set out to do, and a vision statement is focused on the end result. It is a picture of how the landscape will look after you’ve been through it – your ideal.
At Communiqué PR, we recently took the time to develop a formal mission and vision statement. Our process involved the following:
- Taking a close look and doing significant thinking about who we are, what we are trying to accomplish, and what we can become.
- Examining the branding work we did in partnership with GKD several years ago in-conjunction with the development of Communiqué PR’s website.
- Reflecting on the input from various staff members.
- Reviewing other company’s and leaders’ mission and vision statements.
Finally, as we drafted and refined these statements, we paid close attention to semantics, and weighed the pros and cons of various word choices in expressing our mission and vision, and considered the interests of the target audience (staff, freelancers, customers and partners). Our goal was to ensure our statements were not only accurate and credible, but also affirming and motivating.
The results of our work were the following mission and vision statements:
- Our mission is to help clients move product, sell services and grow brands through high-quality strategic communications programs.
- Our vision is to be the best Seattle-based strategic communications company, expert at delivering value and results that make the world a better place for people and businesses alike.
We want to draw attention to the words “best” and “better place.” We want to be recognized as the best for our people, processes, results, reputation and clients. We also want to work with companies who are striving to bring good things to life for the betterment of people or other businesses.
We recognize that our mission and vision statements will grow and change as Communiqué PR evolves. Nonetheless, we believe having a defined mission and vision statement will have major impact on our operations and ability to achieve our short- and long-term business objectives.
If your organization does not have a defined mission and vision, I would encourage you to establish them. They are powerful tools that can help a company make consistent decisions, build unity and enhance communication. Furthermore, we each play a role in creating the future so it’s critical that we, as a company and as individuals, get as clear as possible about what we are trying to achieve.
Jennifer Gehrt & Team
According to Wikipedia, a word cloud is defined as: “… [A] visual representation for text data, typically used to depict keyword metadata (tags) on websites, or to visualize free form text. Tags are usually single words, and the importance of each tag is shown with font size or color.” You may have seen a word cloud in recent coverage about the presidential debates or on a blog, but businesses can use them as well to attract and inform customers.
I recently read an article, “6 Fun and Interesting Ways Businesses Can Use Word Clouds,” that had some great tips, including:
- Use your most popular corporate blog posts to develop a word cloud – This could show you what is most important for your readers and customers, but could also inform your priorities for next year’s planning or help you identify topics to address on the blog.
- Pull copy from your company’s website and/or marketing materials to create a word cloud – Use it as your company’s Facebook cover photo or Twitter header image.
- Conduct a survey of your customers and develop a word cloud from the responses – Share results by posting the image on your website or via social media. You could even identify word clouds based on positive feedback and constructive criticism to highlight the company’s strengths and areas for growth.
In addition to the tips above, consider other options for using a word cloud:
- Poll your employees about their perceptions on company culture, performance, etc. – Share the results internally on an Intranet or company-wide email and communicate about plans to improve, evolve or continue employee programs.
- Create a word cloud from your company’s vision and mission statements – Display it in the office to communicate them to guests in a fun and visual way.
- Generate a word cloud from your customer list – For customers who have agreed to be named publicly, include the word cloud on your website and other marketing materials to show your customer roster in an interesting way.
Free word cloud tools are available from Wordle and Tagxedo. What creative ways have you used word clouds?
The chatter in social media outlets in the final days before the national presidential election will likely reach exceptional levels as digital and traditional national pundits try to predict the outcome. Feeding the banter is Twitter’s Twindex which tracks numbers of followers for each candidate, and Facebook’s Election Insights, which tracks how many people are talking about each candidate on the social media platform. To me, attempting to predict the next president by the conversation on Twitter and Facebook is about as effective as my local bar attempting to predict the outcome based upon how many customers order an Obamatini versus a Romneytini. It is not what the tools were designed to do. However, there are plenty of lessons business can learn from the politicians and campaigns strategists who are using social media to gain influence and promote change.
Experts in politics, government and grassroots campaigns recently came together in Seattle to discuss how a culture of clicks, shares and likes are affecting the business of politics. The panel discussion, titled “Social Media and Democracy,” was produced by the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest and showcased what businesses and marketing folks can learn from the political world’s social media triumphs and failures. Here are some key takeaways:
Social media has to be a conversation, not a monologue. Nathan Daschle, founder of Ruck.us and former chair of the Democratic Governor’s Association, lamented that the current presidential candidates are using Twitter and Facebook as a broadcast tool rather than a conversation tool. He observed that the campaigns are not utilizing the power that these tools offer to interact and engage with constituents around issues. As this AdAge infographic shows, each presidential candidate talks about himself in more than half of his social media posts instead of interacting with constituents. Many established consumer and business brands make the same mistake.
Stories need to be meaningful and compelling in order to promote change. According to Joe Mirabella director of campaigns for All Out, the key to gaining mass attention that fosters change is to create stories that are so compelling that they get to the part of our brains where we are motivated to act by liking, sharing and retweeting a meaningful story. When our emotions are stimulated we are inclined to join a cause, advocate for an issue, and be part of a movement that creates mass awareness on social media channels.
Social media offers a trusted intermediary for collaboration outside of traditional silos such as political parties and entrenched stakeholder groups. Washington state representative Deb Eddy says because of their ability to connect people outside of special interest groups, social media tools have enormous potential to change the decision-making process of those in power. As social media tools are better developed, Eddy says the potential grows for more people to engage with the process and decision makers to advocate for new laws or changes in established policies. A business could learn grassroots campaigns that utilize social media to galvanize support if, for example, it is introducing e a disruptive technology, entering a crowded market, or protecting the reputation of a brand.
As these tools evolve, government and business are both learning that the power of social media lies not in numbers alone, but by combining effective communication strategies such as storytelling, and dialogue with the ease of connecting and transparency that social media tools provide.
Throughout its years, Communiqué PR has developed strong relationships with industry analysts. With many of our clients, we recommend cultivating and growing a network of analyst advocates who can actively provide feedback on, or help validate their products and services. Analysts are a critical audience that has the ability to influence potential customers, offer third-party support to add credibility to news stories, and raise awareness around new product categories.
Recently, we’ve partnered with CENTRI, a leader in new wireless service technologies that increases network efficiency, performance and security through data intelligence and universal awareness across all networks for service providers and enterprise companies to engage the analyst audience. Developing and executing against a strategic analyst-relations program can be especially critical for startups such as CENTRI as they look to gain traction in their respective marketplace and increase their perceived value.
To date, we’ve secured six meetings with several top-tier analyst firms who are experts in the mobile industry. These firms include Gartner, Forrester, IDC, the Aberdeen Group, the Yankee Group and Frost and Sullivan. In preparation for these meetings, we also helped CENTRI develop a PowerPoint presentation with background on CENTRI as a company, a deep dive into its BitSmart solution and why its products and services are disruptive to the industry.
Thus far, the feedback has been phenomenal. Each analyst had great insight to share and smart questions around CENTRI’s solutions, how it works and how it can benefit the industry. More importantly, each analyst was interested in staying in close contact with CENTRI to stay apprised of its key milestones and touch base as the company officially brings its product to market. As a startup, it was important for CENTRI to determine whether its messages would resonate and whether it had a sound go-to-market strategy. Through these analyst briefings, the company was able to help validate its business and product solutions.
CENTRI is now poised to continue its momentum through media relations, product launches and by engaging in industry-wide events. Stay tuned as you can expect some exciting announcements from CENTRI in the coming months.