Snap, Crackle and Crunch

It seems that everyone is fixated on the economy and it doesn't matter if you're pitching to a trade title or a lifestyle mag, everyone is selling in the same story: "We can save you money", "How to cope with your impending redundancy", "Why this service is what you need to fight the downturn". It's not an easy time for PR. But just because everyone is writing the same story doesn't mean you have to.

It's time to add more snap and crackle to the Crunch. Interviews with journalists can be time badly spent if you're giving them nothing new. Go deeper with your analysis of the market, think further into the future and predict how behaviours of consumers and businesses will change. Go beyond telling it like it is.

PR agents can do their best to set up the interview, pitch the hell out of your customer win, inundate key titles with product launches but a spokesperson shouldn't agree to go into a meeting with a journalist unless they understand how what they're going to say will appeal to the readers and appear in print.

If you're a household name then your comment on what we already know can make a headline (John Major says there'll be job losses – yeah, that's no surprise) but otherwise you and your PR need to try much harder.

Tough times bring out the very best and worst. And that's what journalists want to write about. How is your sales team coping with the slump? What are you experiencing which you never have before? Michael Gonzalez, a PR guru and killer media relations expert, says it’s time to take risks. “If you are too nervous to say what hasn’t been said then you are not in a good position to handle press interviews. If your latest press missive doesn’t pass the ‘so what?’ test then don’t waste your time. Stretch your research to the point that it uncovers what’s really valuable. Stare far into the future to predict the aftermath. That’ll give a journo something worth writing about.”

If you have a PR team on a monthly target for the number of press releases distributed or coverage achieved, it's time to look again at your goals. Opportunities abound to make a name for your business during this stressful business climate. But it'll take you and your PR specialists more than the normal approach to create a tasty morsel that the press will crave. Book in a brainstorming session and cook up some genuinely original angles.

A New Brand of Uproar

Two overconfident radio personalities, a slow moving institution, politicians eager to show their morals, and a growing crowd of offended individuals to spread the story like a virus. Anyone who has ever faced a serious issue in their business and been put under media scrutiny at a time of high stress looks back with dread at their experience. But knowing what you’re about to face and then facing it is a walk in the park in comparison to the escalating outrage of mob rule.

There are lessons to be learned from the Brand/Ross chaos over the last few weeks. And the first is to act fast and make your statement strong, definitive and sincere. You may not be able to quash the furore with one statement but you can certainly add to the anger by appearing vague, unrepentant or reactive.

You never want to make a mountain out of a molehill but if, two days after the story breaks in a national paper, the prime minister and opposition leader have made their feelings known and Ofcom are on the case, you need to get the big guns out. It’s easy to criticize the handling of a media crisis from the outside but it would have been nice to see more from the BBC management earlier. Three days after the news broke (and 11 days after the show aired) is too long to wait to take decisive action against the tide of opinion.

People love to pass on news – especially bad news – even more so if it has salacious content and appears to bring down someone in a prominent position. According to noted anthropologist Robin Dunbar, language evolved because it enabled gossip. Individuals who could share stories had an advantage. It made them popular and connected them to their gossip partners. When people pass on timely gossip they feel more powerful, they have a better shared sense of what is right and what’s wrong. It’s impossible not to talk about these things. Gossip and stories like this burst out.

It’s difficult to stop gossip and those that are genuinely distressed by what’s happened will keep talking. But show your position, set out clearly what you’re going to do according to established policies, rather than be lead to react by the ongoing situation. The story will go away. But PR people worldwide should watch and learn. It’s a cautionary tale and one that could teach us all a lot.

Lying for a Living

Having worked in PR and media relations for many years, it’s not the first time I’ve heard it. But it’s always an unwelcome surprise to find out how few people trust PR. A survey by Ciao Surveys found that 60.3% of people in Britain believe that PR officers often lie. Is that fair? And which PR person distributed that survey that pours scorn on the profession?

There’s a reason I object to lying on behalf of a client. Not just on moral grounds but on practical ones. If you are using a PR that exaggerates the truth beyond all reality then they’re doing you no favours. Companies are under more scrutiny than ever and bloggers and journalists are quick to expose untruths or fabrications. And with the internet a permanent reminder of all that is said on (and off) the record, an untruth can resurface years later to haunt a spokesperson or an organisation.

PR should help an organisation polish their image – find the good things to talk about – gather the impressive evidence – and evangelise about the business. Everyone deserves to look their best. But if your PR is straying too far away from the truth then it’s up to you to think hard about whether they’re doing the kind of work you need. Any PR should evaluate the organisation or individual they offer to help before the work begins. And if they don’t think they can get you press coverage and exposure based on what you really are, they shouldn’t take the job.

There are liars in every profession. But whereas advertising gets a slap from the Advertising Standards Authority if they promise something they can’t deliver, PR folks are left to follow their own moral compass.

The most famous PRs in the country are some of the worst liars and manipulators – but that doesn’t mean you should have them working for you. It’s a pity for the reputation of PR in general that political spinning and the trading of celebrity gossip has blinded people to the genuine art of media relations.

Success on a Soapbox

An interview with a journalist takes time. It takes time for the PR team to secure the meeting, arrange the logistics, prepare the spokesperson, brief the journalist. And the spokesperson will have to take time to prep and have the meeting. It’s frustrating when all that investment in time results in an article without the spokesperson in it.

One of the biggest disappointments is when the spokesperson just doesn’t seem to have anything interesting to say. They’ve nothing to add to the argument, no vision of the future, and no evidence to support what they do say.

If you think you’ve wasted your time then the journalist will feel the same. And you’re not likely to be on their list of people to call for a comment in future.

If you don’t know why you’re doing the interview – you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Consider the publication’s audience and what they might be interested in. Work out early what key points you want to get across and think of the proof you have to support what you say.

In the simplest terms, spokespeople need to See it … Say it … Show it.

See it
Journalists are looking to write what hasn’t been written before. Feature articles review the landscape, look to the future, and reveal unknown trends. An expert spokesperson should be able to future-gaze. Before you meet with a journo, take time to think about what you see in the industry. What’s going to change? And how will that affect the customers and the market?

Say it
Your key messages should be worked out in advance. You’ve got something to say to the publication’s audience so work out what that is. Try to come down on one side or another of an argument. If you have to get permission to be outspoken then get it. Avoid marketing scripts but instead prepare what you want to say with the audience in mind. And speak. Don’t just answer the question as quickly as possible and sigh with relief when it’s all over. Really say something.

Show it
Your business is innovative? How so? You are changing the nature of the industry? Who else agrees? Attend an interview with something to back up your statements. Follow up by providing the results of research, the name of an industry expert who can support your view, a graph that lays out the landscape.

Make every interview count. Plan to perfection. Get on your soapbox and I’ll get off mine.

Tooth and Nail

There are 47,800 PR people in Britain. That’s twice the number of NHS Dentists. That’s double as many people as those licensed to give you a manicure. That’s 13 PR professionals for every company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

It’s a wide sphere of skills and ability – ranging from those that can really help transform your business to those who you wish you’d never met. If you’re looking to hire a PR agency or a PR consultant how do you know that you’re picking from the top of the industry? The process is rarely straight-forward but it must start with a clear picture from you of what you want to get out of PR. Marketing in general is a discipline that is full of vague guidelines for measuring success. But if you know your business well enough you should have an idea of what you want to change. Perhaps it’s better name awareness so the sales teams find it easier to connect with prospects? Perhaps it’s industry recognition for the innovative work your organisation is doing? Perhaps it’s traffic to your website or an increase in sales of a particular product?

It’s interesting that PR agencies talk about success in so many different ways. Measuring the advertising spend equivalent (sorry, you’ll never get me to buy into that), counting cuttings, before and after media audits. There are numerous feel good factors about appearing in print too – better staff morale, assisting recruitment, customer satisfaction. They’re all valid. But for most organisations, the PR spend is justified by the impact it’s going to have on the bottom line.

It sometimes seems that organisations want PR because their competitors have it. Some organisations are unprepared for the contribution they will have to make, uncomfortable with the revelations and demand for opinion, and unsure what the real point is. But there are 47,800 people fighting tooth and nail to convince them that PR is the answer.

It’s only ever the answer if you’ve actually worked out the question.

Know your business objective before embarking on a PR campaign. The best PR professionals can help you devise a strategy, can create compelling campaigns, can get you noticed. But without a true goal in mind you might just as well get your teeth cleaned or your nails done.

Very Superstitious

The more volatile the world becomes the more we rely on forecasts, predictions, and calculations. Whether it’s a turbulent economy, a new market, or the launch of a breakthrough product – marketing strategists cling to their research reports like crystal balls. Gartner, Ovum, the CBI, the EIU – who you get your predictions from and which ones you build your strategy upon depends on your industry. And for marketing people, as times get tougher, the assumed behaviour of the ABC1 crowd becomes a life-raft. But it’s getting harder to predict. How will the bling-bling society behave when they’re strapped for cash? Sensible (switching power suppliers and maximising current assets) or speculative (investing in the high risk returns, refusing to give up the luxuries)?

How can you predict the unpredictable? Complex economic models provide a comfort factor to prop up a multi-million pound strategy but the reading of tea leaves might be as helpful.

It’s times like these that people start relying on magic. It’s a recognised human behaviour that can be traced back to the caves. “Should we hunt on this side of the mountain?” “Only if the clouds are shaped in a certain way.” “Shall we move the flock to safer ground?” “Red sky at night – shepherd’s delight.” “Do we fight in the morning?” “The entrails from this slaughtered goat will have the answer.”

In The 1984 California Management Review, Martin L. Gimpl said, “superstitions are the vehicle whereby charismatic leaders provide feelings of certainty in otherwise uncertain times.” And superstitions can deliver great results. Choosing random locations to hunt based on the results of cloud formation or cracks in burnt bones (like the Native Americans did) reduces the likelihood of overhunting one area or teaching the animals to avoid predictable hunters.

How many PR and marketing folk rely on ‘rules of engagement’ that no longer apply? Press releases only go out on a certain day of the week – headings must be X words long – it’s more difficult to get hold of a journalist on a sunny day? Real or random – the confidence of someone with inside knowledge can’t fail to impress the client. But it’s only the results themselves that provide the answer. So measure them. This week, next month, year by year. If someone’s superstition is bringing you a great communication campaign then keep going. If the report and research-fuelled strategy is getting customers to beat a path to your door then don’t stop now. Action is always better than inertia – especially during the tricky times.

But don’t really be fooled by the magic. It’s not real, you know.