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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.

How to Offer Writing Feedback That’s Constructive and Valuable

Providing constructive feedback on written materials is a daunting yet valuable opportunity to help advance an individual’s writing career. Without receiving feedback, a writer cannot truly work on improving their skills and ultimately becoming successful in their profession. It plays a vital role in both personal and professional development, with as much as 96% of employees saying feedback is one of the most important parts of their growth.

In public relations, writing remains the most basic skill a successful individual can hold. Writing that is clear and compelling helps PR professionals secure positive media exposure for clients or can effectively communicate key messages to the public. Obtaining constructive feedback on written materials is important for each public relations professional because it challenges their skills in a helpful way. It also encourages them to learn how to better express compelling and thought-provoking story ideas within their writing, no matter where they stand on the career ladder.

While the majority of individuals who provide feedback do so with good intentions, it can all too often come across as not helpful and confusing for the writer. Below are three tips to help editors provide helpful suggestions that can contribute to a winning final document.

 

Be Empathetic and Understanding

Writing can make people feel vulnerable. It takes years of practice and deep expertise to grow into the type of writer who can consistently deliver exceptional pieces in the first draft. To help the writer combat this insecurity, an editor should first acknowledge what the writer has done well, in conjunction with what needs to be improved. The majority of writing has strengths, so it’s important to point out what those are when you see them. This sort of positive feedback helps build the confidence and capability of the writer, and increased confidence can equate to stronger writing.

 

Ask Open-Ended Questions

As an editor, it’s important to remember that the goal of a review isn’t to impede the writer’s ability to deliver quality work. Instead, ask questions that may lead the writer down the right path and help them reach their fullest writing potential. It may take more work initially, but it will help inspire the writer and guide them to understand where revisions need to happen.

Some of these questions might include:

  • What do you want the reader to take away from this article or paragraph?
  • How could you condense the information?
  • Does each of your topic sentences include one or two concrete details to support them?
  • What are some of the concrete details that could be added to back up your topic sentence?
  • How could the structure of the piece be improved?

 

Turn on Track Changes

The Track Changes feature in Word is one of the most useful tools that allows editors to record all changes and easily distinguish them between corrections and comments. For writers, it allows them to visually see the suggested changes and accept them one at a time. Additionally, this feedback can be referenced over and over again for writers looking to fully engrain the feedback and apply it to future work.

When critiquing someone’s writing, it’s the editor’s job to determine whether or not the writer accomplished the specified goal. Concentrate on what the writer can do to improve the subsequent version and you’ll support their creation of a winning final piece. Remember, practice makes perfect so as long as the writer keeps working at their skills, they will improve!

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PR Lessons from Meghan and Harry’s Interview

The world has been buzzing since the announcement of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah. Since airing on March 7 in the U.S., the internet, talk shows and celebrities have not stopped talking about the content of the interview and its potential impact.

The highly anticipated interview, as well as the aftermath, have highlighted a handful of important PR lessons that spokespeople and PR professionals should all keep in mind.

 

Know your messages

If you’ve watched the interview, it was clear that Meghan prepared. Her responses were measured, thoughtful and direct. This is critical for spokespeople when conducting interviews. Interviews are an excellent way to raise awareness for your organization, communicate benefits and demonstrate thought leadership. Unprepared or underprepared spokespeople often don’t communicate their messages clearly or effectively, minimizing the potential impact of the interview.

 

Proof points are critical

Several times throughout the interview, Oprah pushed Meghan on her claims and/or sought clarity. In some of her responses Meghan had examples or facts to back up her claims, and other times she did not have all the information to back statements. For example, she noted that 60-70% of the commonwealth is made up of people of color, which is why she believes representation is so important. However, when pushed on the topic of Archie’s title, she fumbled as she referenced a clause, which she felt supported her claim of a discrepancy in tradition. If the reference to this had been clearer with more detail, her statement would have been more impactful.

 

Don’t rush it

Often, spokespeople feel pressured to respond to journalists quickly—it’s human nature to avoid the awkward silence. Especially when spokespeople are feeling nervous or pressured during an interview, they often jump into a response that is filled with rambling or “ums.”

Meghan usually paused before her responses to Oprah’s questions, giving her a moment to gather her thoughts and deliver an eloquent and concise response. This approach makes it easier for the interviewer and the audience to follow along with the spokesperson.

 

Be ready to adapt

This goes for both spokespeople during interviews and for organizations responding to public claims. For spokespeople, they will never know exactly how an interview will go. Regardless of the amount of preparation, its important to always be ready to adapt. And the pause mentioned above can be very helpful in doing so.

More importantly, if an organization is responding to public claims, it needs to be prepared to adapt. There are claims (that we cannot substantiate), that the palace had a statement drafted and ready to publish following the broadcast of the interview. However, after hearing the content of the interview, it held the statement and drafted a new one.

Whether this is true or not, it does raise an important point: It is critical to be prepared for crises, but regardless of what you have on hand, you may be forced to adapt. In this case, the information shared during the interview was shocking and sensitive and required a more thoughtful and personal response.

It’s uncommon for one interview to be as high-profile as the one with Meghan, Harry and Oprah was, but it does remind us that effective interviews can have a significant impact.

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Back to the Basics – FAQs

A frequently asked questions (FAQ) document is one of the most valuable and must-have materials because it supports both clients and PR professionals in the development of consistent key messages. Typically, an FAQ appears on a company website and acquaints potential customers with information that builds awareness for the brand and promotes its product or service.

For public relations professionals, we regularly draft internal FAQs that serve as a foundational material when kicking off a partnership with a new client. It allows PR professionals to take a step back and ponder the intricate questions members of the media might ask. Gathering these questions ahead of time makes it easier to urgently address media requests in a timely and consistent manner.

Below are a handful of tips to create straightforward yet comprehensive FAQs that can be utilized throughout media relations to deliver consistent and strong messaging.

 

Best Practices for Creating an Effective FAQ

Include Common Questions – Incorporate the simple, common questions that may seem unnecessary in FAQs. Although it may seem tedious, it’s important to take this time to be thorough and include every piece of information you believe reporters will want to know about the organization. With this document, every member of the team has ready-to-use, approved messaging that has been thoughtfully written out.

Categorize the Document – Organize the FAQ in a systematic way that focuses on the company and its offerings first, then goes into the broader questions. Keeping them structured and grouped will save you time in the future to clearly identify what you’re looking for and ensure that anyone reviewing the document can easily find the content they need.

Keep it Short and on Message – When possible, keep the language clear, conversational and succinct. It’s important to use simple language that fully aligns with the company’s mission statement and its value propositions. Additionally, FAQs should include proof points that back up any claims to ensure information is accurate, convincing and believable. Remember, your goal is to clearly answer the media’s questions, not confuse them!

Write for Your Audience – It’s critical to ponder the types of questions reporters will ask once they receive a story idea. Review your client’s top priority journalists and read recent articles. This will help you get a sense of their style and spark a slew of questions that help make the relationship much for effective for all parties involved.

 

Beneath I’ve compiled a few example questions for inspiration.

Example Questions to Consider:
  • What is the product/service?
  • What pain point does the product/service address?
  • What are the key benefits?
  • What are the drawbacks or shortcomings of the product/service?
  • Who’s the target audience?
  • Who are the company’s top competitors?
  • When was the company founded?
  • Where is the company located?
  • Who is on the executive team?
  • How many people are employed at the company?

FAQs can be a great public relations’ tool that serves as a foundational material, offering access to client-approved language to answer media requests swiftly. Hopefully, these tips and example questions will guide you to create an FAQ that instigates connections with reporters to drive meaningful results for clients.

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How 2020 is Influencing Workplace Behaviors and Practices in 2021

This month, we approach the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic hitting the U.S. While it is a grim milestone, we are not without hope, as we’ve seen the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and the recently authorized vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. President Joe Biden expects the U.S. to deliver enough coronavirus vaccines for all adults by the end of May.

Still, many continue to adjust to our next normal and consider what the future of work will hold. Already, we’re beginning to see trends come into play, both in the workplace and in everyday life. Here are a few notable ways we’ve seen how the past year has influenced the workplace in 2021 – digital and otherwise.

 

Greater Emphasis on Health and Safety

Beginning an email with “I hope you are doing well” has greater meaning these days, as health and safety remain top of mind. Amid all the chaos and catastrophe of Covid, we genuinely want to make sure folks are hanging in there, staying healthy, and maintaining some semblance of normalcy as best they can. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us, too.

In the workplace, there is increased focus on taking the necessary precautions to maintain physical health and optimum mental health. You may have noticed colleagues checking in more to make sure things are going all right. Masking up remains a norm, as is having sanitizing stations in offices and buildings. Both will likely continue well into the future – even after we achieve mass vaccinations.

For companies, it is important to continue communicating how your business is prioritizing the health and safety of staff, and where applicable, consumers. A best practice is to provide specific, actionable steps that are being taken to ensure health and safety standards are being met, be it during the pandemic or beyond.

 

The Response to Remote Work

In general, many workers have responded favorably to working remotely, but the pivot has not come without challenges. A survey from Talent LMS of 1000 respondents from across the U.S. found that 88% of survey respondents had transitioned to remote work as a result of the pandemic.

The survey found that many folks are most productive in the morning to mid-day hours. Forty percent of respondents said they hit their productivity peak between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., while 31% said they are most productive between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. Twenty-two percent responded being most productive between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and 8% were most productive from 7 p.m. or later.

Finding motivation can be a challenge for both new and seasoned remote workers. Respondents cited their top motivation boosters as listening to music (66%), chatting with a colleague (49%) and exercising (46%). In addition, the survey found that many good and bad habits have increased since the start of the pandemic. Respondents said they do more of the following:

  • Watch TV (51%)
  • Eat (50%)
  • Exercise (42%)
  • Talk on the phone (30%)
  • Meditate (20%)
  • Drink alcohol (18%)
  • Smoke (16%)

The survey also found that offering training opportunities to a remote workforce can make a difference in their performance, happiness and company loyalty. This could include hard and soft skills training, COVID-19 training, and compliance training.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said they need additional training to help them perform better in their role. Remote workers who had received training consistently showed higher rates for productivity, time management, work-life balance, and communication with their colleagues than their counterparts who had received no training. They also showed higher rates of happiness while working from home and feeling valued by their company.

 

A Virtual World of Social Connections

The pandemic has forced countless people to turn to online solutions for human connections and socializing. Virtually everything that many folks do now is online, including their work, shopping, exercising, entertainment and more.

As people have become more isolated, the appetite for human connections has grown stronger. Successful companies are finding ways to create personalized experiences and increase person-to-person interaction via virtual means. This can be through virtual meetings, lunches, one-on-ones and special digital events.

At Communique PR, we celebrated our 17th anniversary with a virtual cooking class with Culinary Artistas, a small women-owned business based in San Francisco. Our CPR team made homemade fresh pasta with roasted vegetables. It provided a fun opportunity to virtually gather, make a delicious meal, and wine and dine together.

 

As we contemplate what comes next, one thing is certain: how we go about our professional and daily lives will forever change. Hopefully, our collective response to the pandemic will enable us to demonstrate greater agility and resilience moving forward. By learning how to adapt, we find a way to incorporate old norms into our current lives, and usher in normalcy sooner without having to wait for clearance.

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Choosing Your Best Idea

One of my favorite project stages is brainstorming; I love the creativity and excitement that comes with idea generation. I like to exercise my brain and think outside of the box and use the constraints of a project challenge to determine how to move forward. Brainstorming is also an important step when you want to determine the right option to move forward with as your first idea is unlikely to be your best.

Unfortunately, the next step after brainstorming can be a stressful, emotional and angst-ridden process. The next step is deciding which idea is the best solution and, in a group setting, critiques to an idea can feel like personal attacks. And if the decision-making process is prolonged, our attention is spread between the choices, wasting resources like time, money and emotional investment.

If this struggle feels familiar, you’re not alone. Making a decision within a brainstorming setting can be hard, especially when you’re choosing from a slew of workable, good ideas. Luckily, this is a skill that can be improved with thoughtful preparation, best practices, and usable techniques that will allow you to more efficiently narrow down and rank your ideas. To streamline the brainstorming process, below are some best practices for each step of the process.

 

  1. Preparation

The first thing you need to do is to identify and define the problem you want to solve. At this stage, it’s important to clarify the need for the solution, who will use it and how they’ll use it, and any other factors that put constraints on the situation. Reach out to stakeholders and make sure you have a grasp on their understanding of the problem.

The next step is to gather your brainstorming team, making sure you have a diverse group with a range of perspectives and a dedicated time to discuss. It may be helpful to include key stakeholders in brainstorming activities to ensure their perspectives are captured.  

Then, work together to determine three to five key guidelines to judge the ideas. For example, clarity, stability and integration may be key factors on which to judge a successful slogan. Other possible criteria include profitability, practicality, “stickiness”, originality, and clarity. Finally, give each criterion a score between 1 and 5 (1 being unimportant and 5 being very important).

 

  1. Brainstorming

Begin your brainstorming individually to prevent groupthink and “idea anchors” that can limit creative thought. This is the time to turn off that critical voice in your head and let your mind play with the problem. Not all your ideas will be winners, and that’s ok! Give yourself a set amount of time and aim for quantity. If idea creation is difficult, try some of these creativity techniques.

Following this, share these ideas with the group and let them spark additional solutions building from others’ thoughts. Together, develop an affinity diagram that will group similar ideas, allow for the elimination of duplicates, and show areas for growth.

 

  1. Evaluation

When your group reaches a lull in idea generation, it’s time to shift gears into idea evaluation. Have everyone pick their favorite ideas from the affinity diagram, limiting people to 5-10 choices depending on the number of ideas and group size. Go through the full list and have everyone rate the ideas based on each criterion, giving a numerical score from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good).

Collect all the scores and multiply each score by the predetermined ‘weight’ of each criterion. Immediately eliminate the low-scoring ideas. If there’s a clear winner, you’ve made your decision.

In addition, it’s important at this stage to methodically eliminate the worst ideas because too many choices only makes it harder to choose. There are several techniques that can help you explore the possible outcomes of your choices. Not every technique will work for every project, but some helpful methods include:

  • A desirability-viability-feasibility Venn Diagram. Create a Venn diagram with these (or other important) factors to help you evaluate an idea. The best ideas will fit in the middle of this chart, any ideas that only fit in one circle should be eliminated, and, in general, if the idea fits in the ‘desirable’ circle, you’re working in the right direction.
  • Develop feasibility roadmaps. Collaborate to determine the steps it would take to make each idea a reality. Are the steps clear-cut and achievable, or are they complex and expensive? This should help eliminate ideas with hidden roadblocks.
  • SWOT Analysis. This is helpful in larger projects and involves identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to your solutions to help you compare ideas and how they relate to the situation and environment around it.
  • Request outsider opinions. Select a person or people who will be thoughtful but decisive. Describe the solutions as objectively as possible, without any statements that might influence them (e.g. “This was the boss’s idea,” or “My favorite is…”). Ask them questions about their first impressions and any concerns they have. It may be helpful to have them also ask questions, as they may bring up points you hadn’t considered already, but make sure not to become defensive or argue with them.

 

  1. Selection

From this point on, you’ll be deciding between a small selection of appropriate, interesting and workable ideas. There should be no wrong answer, but there’s likely a best answer. Take the time to make sure each idea addresses the problem and matches the needs of the relevant stakeholders. Think about which choice you and your group wants more; a project with the interest of the team will drive better focus and dedication. If you still can’t decide, introduce the element of chance. Flip a coin. If the option that the coin suggests makes your stomach drop, you know to pick the other.

The best thing you can do to streamline the decision-making process is to make eliminating choices systematically. By preparing ahead of time and gaining a deep understanding of the problem, you’ll come up with better ideas and have the tools to efficiently analyze, eliminate, and choose the best option.

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