The importance of sitting in on interviews
While I wouldn’t call it a groundswell by any means, I was startled to encounter not one but two articles in a week that challenged the notion of having a public relations/corporate communications person sit in on interviews.
The first was this interview with Yann Martel by The Guardian‘s Stephen Moss, who admits that his first move is to ‘rather rudely insist that the young woman who is steering him round the UK and Ireland on the publicity tour for his new novel, Beatrice and Virgil, absent herself from the room while we talk.’
Ahem. I’m guessing Stephen Moss is a tad old school, shall we say, in terms of his views on PR folks? I think I might perhaps counter with the notion that anyone smart enough to get a more than one million dollar advance from a publisher in this day and age can probably figure out how to take a taxi by himself and get to an appointed meeting in a hotel, especially in a country where his own mother tongue is spoken. And that, therefore, the young woman’s role might have been just a bit more than merely that of courier/chaperone.
But then I saw this article from the fine folks at Knight Science Journalism Tracker at MIT, in which the suggestion was made that disclosure is necessary when a public information officer (who fills the role of a corporate communications or public relations person) sits in on an interview – and that the situation should be avoided at all costs to avoid having the interview ‘influenced.’ Read more »
Social media lets you listen to your customers
I’m working on a media release (honest!), but came across this blog post from James Dickey, reporting on one of the presentations made at Blogwell on January 22, 2009. Eight organizations (Procter & Gamble, Home Depot, the Mayo Clinic, the US Coast Guard, H&R Block, Sharpie, Walmart, and Allstate) presented case studies on their use of social media in a single afternoon in Chicago.
I would have loved to attend, but Chicago’s a long way to go for an afternoon, and given the uncertainties of winter travel from YVR, I decided to live vicariously and hope the presentations were filmed for future consumption
I really like the goal-oriented approach outlined by Stan Joosten, Director of Holistic Consumer Communications for Proctor & Gamble. It’s a classic example of strategy-in-action, as opposed to a tactics-based approach to communications.
His presentation focused on three key points:
- know your brand
- empower your brand fans
- replace or augment market research.
Organizations that have been around as long as P&G have been on the branding treadmill for decades now. They’ve devoted incredible human and monetary resources to creating and promoting their brands. In fact, P&G became the US’s largest advertiser in 2005. Imagine having revenues of $4.61 billion, let alone that kind of money to spend on advertising – it’s rather mind-boggling.
Regardless of where you land on the PR versus advertising spectrum though, it’s important to recognize that traditional advertising accomplishes none of the goals Joosten has outlined. I will contend that all market research is skewed, in one way or another – and I don’t think you need to be a statistical expert to know that instinctively. I’ve done market research myself on a couple of occasions, on the phone and in person. After less than 10 hours you start to realize there’s a particular type of person who consents to participate – with or without inducements – in focus groups and surveys. (They tend to be the same sort of people who hold doors open and who still say ‘excuse me’ before pushing past people at the grocery store.) But all the folks who refuse to answer surveys and are unwilling to be part of focus groups still use soap, wash their clothes, clean their bathtubs – and make purchasing decisions each and every day.
So in order to know your brand, you have to listen not only to the branding experts who’ve created the brand and listed what they hope its attributes will be, you have to listen – and be willing to hear – what your brand really is.
That can sometimes be a painful experience when you’re in a highly competitive market. The former market leader in radios probably doesn’t want to hear the cellphones it’s poured millions into creating and marketing are considered clunky, ugly, expensive, and totally unhip – but when it ends up a distant third in the cellphone manufacturing market, not listening to the message would be a big mistake – as would failing to do some course correction so it can compete on at least one front.
But of the three goals Joosten outlined, perhaps the most revolutionary – and the most necessary – is the middle one: empower your brand fans. People listen to other people. They listen especially hard to other people they trust. Whether those people are mainstream media (who can at least be trusted to be familiar with the competition), media 2.0 (the bloggers who rarely have anything to gain by waxing enthusiastic about the products they like), or Mrs. McGillicuddy down the block who has three boys all in soccer and has a deeply vested interest in getting grass stains out of clothing, doesn’t matter. And by empowering your brand champions, you can exponentially increase the audience you reach.
How do you empower them? Connect with them. Ask for feedback. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Use social media as well as more traditional forms of communication. Think of Twitter, Facebook, and your corporate blog as other versions of the toll-free phone line, and be every bit as human and as genuine in your interactions via social media as your customer service reps are trained to be. And then reap the corporate rewards (including the savings in market research and advertising spend!).
Making sense of – and with – social media
There’s a great article in Business Week‘s Managing section by Rebecca Reisner, entitled ‘Comcast’s Twitter Man.’
Frank Eliason, tweeting as @comcast cares, has often been cited as a model of how corporations can use social media. Reading the article, I understand why – Eliason ‘gets it’ – he knows Twitter is a tool he’s added to his arsenal. And he’s not saying it’s the only tool in his toolbox.
Despite the acclaim, Eliason stresses that Twitter is not a replacement for phone and e-mail help. “This is just one way people have gotten to know us,” says Eliason. “It’s a little more personal. More back-and-forth discussions, and it’s less formal. And it gives immediacy to interactions.”
It’s another way to listen, learn, problem solve, and retain customers. Comcast will still be answering its phones, responding to email and snail mail, updating its web site, and doing all the things successful businesses have always done.
I’ve created a substantial body of links here on using Twitter for business – check them out if you’re interested. You’ll also find some non-Twitter links. Still fascinating, though. 
Update: another Business Week article on how various CEOs are using Twitter, this one by Douglas MacMillan.
21st Century public relations
I wouldn’t say this was the world’s best video, but it does make a few good points.
1. Writing well is the single most important foundation skill for PR practitioners.
2. Knowing your client’s business (which includes knowing what’s going on in your client’s industry and in the business world in general) is the single greatest value add you get when you hire a PR firm or public relations professional.
3. Love the line about needing a ‘spine or a backbone to tell clients what they need to hear.’ This is about managing expectations: ‘tell them some things that they may not want to hear.’ Read more »
The power of listening: Vancity steps up to the plate
Just got off the phone with Bill Corbett, Vancity’s Business Banking Director, Operations and Cash Management, who had commented on my last post and reached out to me, asking me to contact him to discuss any further suggestions or insights I had about my recent business banking experience and what Vancity could do differently in future.
Although the blogosphere zeitgeist is Opinions ‘R’ Us (I sometimes think my next blog should be called ‘No Thought Left Unexpressed’), I will confess that I felt rather guilty when he told me that several folks at Vancity had seen my post over the weekend and that there had been some internal debate about it. I never meant to make you work on your days off, people, nor was I hoping to see (or hear) of any heads rolling. I’m merely a fan of The Tudors, I don’t actually think I’m Henry VIII. Read more »
The social media disconnect: let’s not change everything
Since moving to British Columbia in 2002, my awareness of local credit union Vancity has been exponentially heightened. This May 2008 Strategy Magazine special report by Carey Toane explains why. Its staff are out there on the community relations front, explaining banking to fledgling entrepreneurs and creating some truly innovative micro-credit products. Vancity’s working hard for my business. Or is it? Read more »
Weekend workshops
Achieving a work/life balance that makes me happy is still an elusive thing, but I’m secretly quite thrilled that I think I have the formula.
This may sound odd, but I’m still a little bitter about the fact that digital camera technology wasn’t as easy when I worked for Bruce Power as it was even a year later when I moved to BC in 2002. Read more »
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