It’s October, and do you know what that means? Christmas! Yes, that’s right – head into any department store or big box retailer and you can clearly see it’s Christmas time. My kids even know this and so have begun the annual ritual of compiling their Christmas wish lists. For my eldest, it simply means writing down every Wii game or pop CD ever produced. For the youngest, it’s easy; his big sisters point out a variety of trucks and little guy sports equipment to which he nods yes or no. Then they write it down for him. But for my middle child, this is a process that involves careful study, research and even strategy to achieve the desired outcome (aka: get the present.) She will spend weeks scouring every catalog that comes to the door. Poll her friends to find out what they are asking for. Analyze every commercial on the Disney Channel. And then carefully compile a list of the most desirable dolls and stuffed animals. The next part is what’s interesting though. Somewhere in her little head, she came up with the idea that she could determine the fate of her list with shear mental fortitude and in fact will her wish to come true by acting as if it already has.
Here’s how it goes: this year, one of the things she wants is a “Bugli.” It’s a hideous little fleece stuffed animal whose catalog caption boasts “It’s so ugly, it’s cute!” I disagree. It’s just ugly. But, whatever. So she’s selected this toy and now comes the strategy – the “Bugli Campaign” if you will. Instead of showing potential Bugli buyers the catalog and saying “I’d like to get this for Christmas” she confidently whips out the picture and says “Have you seen the Bugli that I am getting?” or “Have you seen my new Bugli?”
Now, I guess you could say she’s just employing the power of positive thinking, but I think there’s more to it. She has altered her language and action to set her own course and actualize her goal.
Flipping over to the PR side of things, this same skill must be applied when branding your organization or yourself. Since a brand is a long-term proposition, not short-term, like an ad campaign, it must consider the future as well as the present and past. This brings us to our:
PR Tip of the Day: Identify and Voice what you will represent in the future to engage customers today.
I’ve worked with a variety of organizations from non-profits to governmental bodies and corporations to identify and advance their brands. They all knew, going into it that their brand would need to represent who they were at that point in time, but few considered it a way to voice who they would be tomorrow.
In many ways, your brand is your contract with your constituents. Through your brand, you make a commitment – you clearly state what others can expect from you. You let them know that when they work with you they can expect reliability, quality, innovation, or whatever it is that you embody. Don’t you want to let them know that you will be around past the close of business today and that they can expect those things in the future as well? Or maybe, you’re scraping the old play book and in the future you will be providing a whole new experience for you constituents. Claim it! Once you have identified what your tomorrow looks like, actualize it via your words and actions.
In doing so, you engage with your customers in two ways:
1) By providing them insight into who you are and who you aspire to be – this allows them to feel more personally connected to you.
2) By letting them know you view your relationship to be long-term and as such are focusing on how you can better/continue to meet their needs in the future.
This works. Just ask my daughter. (Yes, she’s going to get the Bugli.) It is about more than just positive thinking. It’s about being deliberate and aggressive in achieving your identified goals and it requires that you communicate your brand’s promise for tomorrow as part of your efforts today.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Being your Brand
I am the mom of a pre-teen (soon to be 12) girl. As such, I wear many different hats. I am a counselor, a teacher and a chauffeur. When her hormones flare, I am a referee, an arch nemesis and sometimes a probation officer. But, I am constantly surprised at how often I don my own trade hat in my relationship with her. Whether I'm in crisis communications mode, helping her deal with the middle school rumor mill or creating compelling message points that will influence her decisions (hopefully) I often find it helpful to draw from my PR experience. It happened again last week.
Like I said, my daughter is a pre-teen, so she is right in the midst of trying to discover who she is and how she wants other to see her. She is exceptionally bright (straight A student in advanced classes) and athletically gifted (a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do and one of the stars of her soccer team.) She is creative, analytic and above all: independent. She is trying very hard to convey to others that she is unique. Unlike many of her friends, she doesn't want to blend in - her style is distinctive and she likes it that way. But sometimes she tries to be a little too different, to the point that many adults would just read her appearance as odd. So, we started talking about how she communicates who she is: behavior, appearance, academics, athletics, etc. We talked about each area and then I asked her if the way she portrayed herself in each of those categories was consistent with who she was and who she wanted her friends, teachers and coaches to think she was. In short, we talked about branding. As we talked, she came to the conclusion that she was staying true to her personal brand in most areas, but that she might want to tone down the "uniqueness" of some of her outfits so that first impressions wouldn't detract from who she really is.
And so we arrive at our...
PR Tip of the Day: Be consistent if you want to build a strong brand.
Carefully consider and identify everyplace that your audience comes into contact with your brand. These are your touchpoints. Now most people automatically think of their advertising, but what about your place of business, your online presence, your frontline staff, and your phone systems? Any place your customers come into contact with your business is an opportunity to Be Your Brand. By the way, do you know what your brand is? Who are you and who do you want others to see you as? If you claim to be customer friendly, is your lobby inviting and warm? Are your customer service people helpful and knowledgeable? Is your phone system easy to navigate or is it nearly impossible to get in touch with a real person? Each touchpoint must deliver to the user an experience that is consistent with who you claim to be. An unidentified touchpoint equates to a missed opportunity to connect with your customer. And a touchpoint that fails to live up to your stated identity equals a weakened brand.
It is up to you to establish and maintain your brand, and luckily, it is fairly easy to do so.
1)Identify it.
2)Be it.
If you follow step 2 consistently, you'll be able to convert your consumers to brand zealots: individuals who are both loyal clients and great word-of-mouth marketers who can help you to further grow your brand.
Like I said, my daughter is a pre-teen, so she is right in the midst of trying to discover who she is and how she wants other to see her. She is exceptionally bright (straight A student in advanced classes) and athletically gifted (a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do and one of the stars of her soccer team.) She is creative, analytic and above all: independent. She is trying very hard to convey to others that she is unique. Unlike many of her friends, she doesn't want to blend in - her style is distinctive and she likes it that way. But sometimes she tries to be a little too different, to the point that many adults would just read her appearance as odd. So, we started talking about how she communicates who she is: behavior, appearance, academics, athletics, etc. We talked about each area and then I asked her if the way she portrayed herself in each of those categories was consistent with who she was and who she wanted her friends, teachers and coaches to think she was. In short, we talked about branding. As we talked, she came to the conclusion that she was staying true to her personal brand in most areas, but that she might want to tone down the "uniqueness" of some of her outfits so that first impressions wouldn't detract from who she really is.
And so we arrive at our...
PR Tip of the Day: Be consistent if you want to build a strong brand.
Carefully consider and identify everyplace that your audience comes into contact with your brand. These are your touchpoints. Now most people automatically think of their advertising, but what about your place of business, your online presence, your frontline staff, and your phone systems? Any place your customers come into contact with your business is an opportunity to Be Your Brand. By the way, do you know what your brand is? Who are you and who do you want others to see you as? If you claim to be customer friendly, is your lobby inviting and warm? Are your customer service people helpful and knowledgeable? Is your phone system easy to navigate or is it nearly impossible to get in touch with a real person? Each touchpoint must deliver to the user an experience that is consistent with who you claim to be. An unidentified touchpoint equates to a missed opportunity to connect with your customer. And a touchpoint that fails to live up to your stated identity equals a weakened brand.
It is up to you to establish and maintain your brand, and luckily, it is fairly easy to do so.
1)Identify it.
2)Be it.
If you follow step 2 consistently, you'll be able to convert your consumers to brand zealots: individuals who are both loyal clients and great word-of-mouth marketers who can help you to further grow your brand.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Getting Heard Over the Noise
With 3 active kids, a dog the size of a small pony, and enough hard surfaces to create a veritable echo chamber, you can imagine that our house can get a little chaotic and noisy on occasion. Ok, who am I kidding - this is a regular occurrence. When in the midst of this chaos, my two youngest kids have a couple of "go-to" techniques that they employ to get my attention: volume and frequency (aka nagging.) The first technique is simple: yell louder than your siblings. The motivating belief behind this technique is similar to "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" - I think. Usually it doesn't elicit the parental response the technique practitioner was hoping for. The second technique my little ones use in this situation is nagging. It comes in the form of "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!!!!" Again, the technique does not usually produce the desired result.
My eldest, having the benefits of age and experience, employs different tactics. Her approach might come across the hub bub something like this:
My eldest, having the benefits of age and experience, employs different tactics. Her approach might come across the hub bub something like this:
- She crosses the room and stands directly in front of me.
- She addresses me directly to get my attention, "Mom"
- She tells me what she wants, "Can I go to XYZ with Ashley?"
- Sometimes she even includes information about the greater impact of her request, "I wouldn't be home for dinner."
Now, only one of these techniques gets my attention consistently and I'm sure you can guess which one it is. So, let's translate this over to the world of PR. Only, you're the kid and you are trying to get the attention of a very specific "adult," the media. You are competing for attention against a variety of other organizations who are also trying to get their stories heard. This brings us to our...
PR tip of the day: To get heard,you first have to get noticed.
Journalists are bombarded by constant "noise" from news releases - ones that fail to consider the interests of their recipient, grab the recipient's attention, or tell a compelling story. This is what you are up against and what you have to distinguish yourself from. Like my kids, organizations try different techniques to get their news release picked-up by the media. Some folks send out blanket releases to every media contact they have ever made in the hopes that a few will pay attention. Not only is this highly inefficient, it lessens the potential impact and reach of your story. With a little extra thought and effort on your part, you could create multiple angles for your story, target your pitch to select reporters and end up having your story told from different perspectives in numerous media outlets - end result: bigger impact for you!
Another unfortunately common practice is the "regularly scheduled release" approach in which some executive dictates that the organization will send out a release every month, every week, or every day that _____ (you fill in blank.) This equates to the aforementioned "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY" approach to getting heard - highly obnoxious and a sure-fire way to increase the odds that all future releases from your organization will be forwarded directly to the circular file. If the timing of your releases can be easily predicted, you are not writing about news, you are doing a creative writing exercise and trying to fabricate something that will be mistaken for news.
In sending out a news release and trying to garner media attention, look to the example of my oldest daughter. Here are a few suggestions:
- Make it specific. Avoid relying on blanket releases and chance. Identify the different angles of your story and then identify the best media outlet for each of those angles. Is your story industry specific? Warm & fuzzy human interest? Geographically exclusive? Pitch accordingly - get in front of the right media outlets and specific reporters.
- Get to know your reporters. Find out what interests them and cater to that. I once worked with a reporter that was only interested in numbers: budgets, populations, statistics. I never sent her a story that didn't include cold, hard numbers front and center. As a result, she covered almost everything I sent her.
- Get their attention. Once you know what interests that reporter, make it stand out in the headline of your release. Remember your release has a lot of competition, so if you don't grab their attention up front, the reporter may never read past headline.
- Identify the impact. So you've just developed the latest, greatest widget. Wonderful. But why does your reporter care? How will it impact them or their audience? If your headline opened the door, this is where you need to close the deal in order to get your story heard.
Develop your reputation as a "media friendly" source of information by following these steps every time you have a story to pitch and over time, you will see your coverage rates increase.
In short: if your story is newsworthy, it deserves to be heard. Make sure to tell it in a way that will make your media contacts want to pass it on.
Monday, September 21, 2009
You Don't Say
Anyone who is a parent has suffered embarrassment at the hands of their kids. I think it's part of the territory. I thought I would share one of those moments with you today.
Many evenings, as my oldest child is finishing her homework, I will walk my two youngest to get the mail from our mailbox which is two blocks away. I make a game of it: playing Simon says, follow the leader, or I spy along the way. Sometimes I have them run races. This was one of those nights - Bubba and his sister were running mini races as we made our way down the sidewalk. We'd hit a driveway and all chant "ready, set, GO!" as they took off for the next drive. Well, apparently Bubba wasn't in the mood to be beat by his sister that night, because he started to get upset just as we approached a group of people standing on their front lawn talking with some neighbors. After prepping Bubba with a dose of encouragement, I sent the kids off for another mini race. My daughter quickly took the lead and Bubba started shouting after her. Now, I know my son and his linguistic quarks - among them, 'f' often sounds like 'b'. I know what he was trying to shout was "No you faster!" meaning that he wanted his sister to go slower so he could catch up. That's not what our new neighbors heard. After all, Bubba is two and still working on his mastery of the English language. What our new neighbors heard (much to their dismay and ultimate amusement) was my son repeatedly yelling at the top of his lungs "No, you bastard!" My first reaction was embarrassment but that quickly turned into worry that they would think I had taught my son the phrase he was shouting with such gusto. After all, aren't kids a reflection on their parents?
Fortunately these folks had young kids too, and after a quick appraisal of the situation, they figured out what he meant and got a good chuckle out of the whole thing much to my chagrin. (I'm assuming at the same time I was released from any culpability.) But as I thought about the whole thing later, I kept coming back to the importance of being understood and the inherent risks associated with allowing somebody else to represent you. And, that brings us to our...
Tip of the day: Choose & train your representatives carefully.
This seems like a no-brainer, but too many times I have seen things go incredibly wrong because this wasn't done. Here's a few points for consideration:
Determine who is/can represent you.
First, let's talk about the traditional spokesperson. If you are going to be the spokesperson for your organization, are you equipped with the information that you need to perform your job intelligently? Aside from the basic information, do you know all the appropriate industry jargon so that you can "talk the talk" or do you sound like Bubba, close but not quite on point? If you, as the public relations lead have identified someone else to be the spokesperson you also need to consider a few additional points. Does this person connect with an audience? Are they relatable? Are they believable/genuine? Can they stay on message during interviews? Will they be viewed as having the authority to speak for the organization? Sometimes this person is the president or CEO, but often times, the best person for this role is found at a second tier level.
Clearly identify your representatives.
Regardless of who is selected, it should be clearly identified and made known to the entire organization. i.e. Only Mr/s X has the authority to speak to the media on behalf of the organization. For the purposes of creating a strong crisis communications policy - you may wish to identify several authorized speakers. This will not only provide you back-ups should your 1st option be unavailable, it also can help identify a pool of internal subject matter experts who are able to address different topics.
Train your representatives.
Whether you are the chosen spokesperson or you have identified someone else, make sure that they have the experience and training to feel comfortable speaking in front of a crowd or on camera. For general public speaking training and practice, check out your local Toastmasters club. For on camera training there alot of great resources available at the national level, but you can also frequently find them in your own back yard. For one organization that I was with, I organized one-on-one on camera training via the news director at the local TV station. He was happy to come out and build relationship with our leadership and get some new story ideas. It was invaluable for our executive team though because they got to practice being on camera, see their interview played back, and get critiques from a media veteran as well as their PR gal (me.)
What about your online reputation?
In today's Social Media environment, you are more often represented by the "unofficial spokesperson" than a selected designee. Does your organization have a social media policy? Again, there are a lot of great resources and a few best practices are beginning to rise to the surface. For years, Southwest Airlines has allowed multiple people throughout the ranks of their organization to represent them in blogs. It's part of how they establish a personal connection with their customers. You are just as likely to see a blog post from a Southwest baggage handler as you are the CEO. The key to this type of open policy is vigilance. Make sure that those who are representing you in the social media world are functioning as brand zealots. Do they share your value and views? Do they accurately (or appropriately) represent your organization to your customers?
The bottom line is, it doesn't matter who represents your organization as long as they can do it well. Make sure they can connect with their audience (media, general public or online community) and arm them with the information they need to represent you in the best possible light. After you've sent them out to do their job, monitor the results closely so that you can make any needed tweaks.
Choose carefully and train carefully - because representing an organization isn't child's play.
Many evenings, as my oldest child is finishing her homework, I will walk my two youngest to get the mail from our mailbox which is two blocks away. I make a game of it: playing Simon says, follow the leader, or I spy along the way. Sometimes I have them run races. This was one of those nights - Bubba and his sister were running mini races as we made our way down the sidewalk. We'd hit a driveway and all chant "ready, set, GO!" as they took off for the next drive. Well, apparently Bubba wasn't in the mood to be beat by his sister that night, because he started to get upset just as we approached a group of people standing on their front lawn talking with some neighbors. After prepping Bubba with a dose of encouragement, I sent the kids off for another mini race. My daughter quickly took the lead and Bubba started shouting after her. Now, I know my son and his linguistic quarks - among them, 'f' often sounds like 'b'. I know what he was trying to shout was "No you faster!" meaning that he wanted his sister to go slower so he could catch up. That's not what our new neighbors heard. After all, Bubba is two and still working on his mastery of the English language. What our new neighbors heard (much to their dismay and ultimate amusement) was my son repeatedly yelling at the top of his lungs "No, you bastard!" My first reaction was embarrassment but that quickly turned into worry that they would think I had taught my son the phrase he was shouting with such gusto. After all, aren't kids a reflection on their parents?
Fortunately these folks had young kids too, and after a quick appraisal of the situation, they figured out what he meant and got a good chuckle out of the whole thing much to my chagrin. (I'm assuming at the same time I was released from any culpability.) But as I thought about the whole thing later, I kept coming back to the importance of being understood and the inherent risks associated with allowing somebody else to represent you. And, that brings us to our...
Tip of the day: Choose & train your representatives carefully.
This seems like a no-brainer, but too many times I have seen things go incredibly wrong because this wasn't done. Here's a few points for consideration:
Determine who is/can represent you.
First, let's talk about the traditional spokesperson. If you are going to be the spokesperson for your organization, are you equipped with the information that you need to perform your job intelligently? Aside from the basic information, do you know all the appropriate industry jargon so that you can "talk the talk" or do you sound like Bubba, close but not quite on point? If you, as the public relations lead have identified someone else to be the spokesperson you also need to consider a few additional points. Does this person connect with an audience? Are they relatable? Are they believable/genuine? Can they stay on message during interviews? Will they be viewed as having the authority to speak for the organization? Sometimes this person is the president or CEO, but often times, the best person for this role is found at a second tier level.
Clearly identify your representatives.
Regardless of who is selected, it should be clearly identified and made known to the entire organization. i.e. Only Mr/s X has the authority to speak to the media on behalf of the organization. For the purposes of creating a strong crisis communications policy - you may wish to identify several authorized speakers. This will not only provide you back-ups should your 1st option be unavailable, it also can help identify a pool of internal subject matter experts who are able to address different topics.
Train your representatives.
Whether you are the chosen spokesperson or you have identified someone else, make sure that they have the experience and training to feel comfortable speaking in front of a crowd or on camera. For general public speaking training and practice, check out your local Toastmasters club. For on camera training there alot of great resources available at the national level, but you can also frequently find them in your own back yard. For one organization that I was with, I organized one-on-one on camera training via the news director at the local TV station. He was happy to come out and build relationship with our leadership and get some new story ideas. It was invaluable for our executive team though because they got to practice being on camera, see their interview played back, and get critiques from a media veteran as well as their PR gal (me.)
What about your online reputation?
In today's Social Media environment, you are more often represented by the "unofficial spokesperson" than a selected designee. Does your organization have a social media policy? Again, there are a lot of great resources and a few best practices are beginning to rise to the surface. For years, Southwest Airlines has allowed multiple people throughout the ranks of their organization to represent them in blogs. It's part of how they establish a personal connection with their customers. You are just as likely to see a blog post from a Southwest baggage handler as you are the CEO. The key to this type of open policy is vigilance. Make sure that those who are representing you in the social media world are functioning as brand zealots. Do they share your value and views? Do they accurately (or appropriately) represent your organization to your customers?
The bottom line is, it doesn't matter who represents your organization as long as they can do it well. Make sure they can connect with their audience (media, general public or online community) and arm them with the information they need to represent you in the best possible light. After you've sent them out to do their job, monitor the results closely so that you can make any needed tweaks.
Choose carefully and train carefully - because representing an organization isn't child's play.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Guns are Bad Communication Tools
No, this post was not intended to upset the NRA. This PR tidbit comes from my youngest child: a 2 year-old boy we nicknamed Bubba due to his good-natured 'just one of the guys' personality.
Bubba has pretty good manners for a 2 year-old, but he is 2 and so we are still working on perfecting them. When he asks for something, but forgets to say the magic word, we ignore the request. This usually is enough to remind him to ask again but include the "please." Then the request is granted. Simple process. And usually it works. But sometimes he is too excited and the lesson doesn't sink in immediately. This was one of those times.
Bubba was thirsty and wanted juice. His request came across like this (I'll try to capture the linguistic stylings of Bubba) "I'z thoosty. I'z want joose." I ignored the request since he had forgotten to include the magic word. Instead of rephrasing it though, Bubba decided to just move on to the next likely candidate capable of giving him what he wanted: Dad. He went to my husband and repeated the request, verbatim. "I'z thoosty. I'z want joose." No go. He tried his sister in the same way. (I think she would have helped him, but she was busy emailing friends - a pre-teen activity that can't be interrupted for "joose.")
So, this brought Bubba back to me. This time I prompted him with a "how do you ask?" He quickly remembered what he needed to say and this time asked, "Can I have joose, peeeez?" Bubba got his "joose" and our little story got its happy ending.
So, here we come to our PR Tip of the day: Communication is about quality, not quantity.
Whether you are trying to score some "joose", pitch a product, or drive event participation, the shotgun approach to communication will rarely produce the desired result without a lot of wasted effort/budget. Targeted communication is not only more efficient, it yields higher returns. i.e. it's more likely to get you what you want.
Identify who is most likely to benefit from your product/service or who is most likely to support your initiative - that's your target. This is key and is where many executives take a drastically wrong turn. Unless you have figured out how to run a monopoly in the oxygen market, your client is NOT everyone. Your potential client is part of a smaller demographic. Target them. Get to know them and speak to them in a way that will engage them. (See last week's post about knowing your audience.) It will make better use of your resources and greatly improve your R.O.I.
Bubba eventually learned this through trial and error. He didn't get what he wanted by appealing to the masses (shotgun approach.) He identified a target and tailored his request to produce the desired result.
Lesson learned: Targeted communications aim for success and guns are bad communication tools.
Bubba has pretty good manners for a 2 year-old, but he is 2 and so we are still working on perfecting them. When he asks for something, but forgets to say the magic word, we ignore the request. This usually is enough to remind him to ask again but include the "please." Then the request is granted. Simple process. And usually it works. But sometimes he is too excited and the lesson doesn't sink in immediately. This was one of those times.
Bubba was thirsty and wanted juice. His request came across like this (I'll try to capture the linguistic stylings of Bubba) "I'z thoosty. I'z want joose." I ignored the request since he had forgotten to include the magic word. Instead of rephrasing it though, Bubba decided to just move on to the next likely candidate capable of giving him what he wanted: Dad. He went to my husband and repeated the request, verbatim. "I'z thoosty. I'z want joose." No go. He tried his sister in the same way. (I think she would have helped him, but she was busy emailing friends - a pre-teen activity that can't be interrupted for "joose.")
So, this brought Bubba back to me. This time I prompted him with a "how do you ask?" He quickly remembered what he needed to say and this time asked, "Can I have joose, peeeez?" Bubba got his "joose" and our little story got its happy ending.
So, here we come to our PR Tip of the day: Communication is about quality, not quantity.
Whether you are trying to score some "joose", pitch a product, or drive event participation, the shotgun approach to communication will rarely produce the desired result without a lot of wasted effort/budget. Targeted communication is not only more efficient, it yields higher returns. i.e. it's more likely to get you what you want.
Identify who is most likely to benefit from your product/service or who is most likely to support your initiative - that's your target. This is key and is where many executives take a drastically wrong turn. Unless you have figured out how to run a monopoly in the oxygen market, your client is NOT everyone. Your potential client is part of a smaller demographic. Target them. Get to know them and speak to them in a way that will engage them. (See last week's post about knowing your audience.) It will make better use of your resources and greatly improve your R.O.I.
Bubba eventually learned this through trial and error. He didn't get what he wanted by appealing to the masses (shotgun approach.) He identified a target and tailored his request to produce the desired result.
Lesson learned: Targeted communications aim for success and guns are bad communication tools.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
W.I.I.F.M. - The Secret to Successful Communication
My oldest daughter does not deal well with change. This is no secret. Sure, on the surface she may claim that everything is fine, but it always becomes evident when things are not - usually via that delightful pre-teen attitude. This bit of knowledge is necessary to understand the rest of the story.
So, we've had a bit of change in our lives as of late. In August, we moved from Indiana to Austin, Texas. This meant new home, friends, and school for the kids. To top it off, my eldest made the transition from elementary school to middle school - a very large middle school. So large, in fact, that the sixth grade is broken into several "teams" with each team having their own set of teachers and own section of the building. Prior to school starting, my daughter was placed on Team 1. We went to back-to-school night and met all of her Team 1 teachers; she got her schedule, was assigned a locker in the Team 1 section of the building, and began settling into her new routine.
On the 4th day of school, I got a call from the school counselor saying that my daughter and four other children were going to be pulled from Team 1 and placed on a different team to even out the number of students in the classes. She was going to be moved to Team 4, which met in a completely separate building. I knew this was not going to set well - too much change. She had just started to get to know her new classmates, she loved her teachers, and her locker was near one of the neighbor kids' locker.
Sure enough, when my daughter got home from school that night, she was devastated.
You would think this is a lesson in crisis communications - it's not. Instead, it's about knowing your audience. After allowing her to vent a little about her concerns, I went into "PR mode." Here's the summary of what I told her (names are changed to protect the innocent):
You're right - this really sucks. I know you had just started getting to know your schedule and you had some awesome teachers. Plus, you liked having Annie on your team. The school did this so that there wouldn't be as many kids in each class. You know, there could be an upside to this. Jenny (the next door neighbor girl) is on that team. So, you'll know somebody there. Plus, there are the other 4 kids from your team that will be moving with you. Jenny has said she loves her teachers, so maybe you will too. You'll have smaller classes, so in science you will get to spend more time actually doing stuff in the lab and less time waiting your turn. The counselor told me that Team 4 meets in the new building - yes, you'll have to walk out to it, but it has air conditioning everywhere, even in the halls.
The conversation went on from there, but in the end, she was willing to give it a chance and keep an open mind. A week later she is settled into Team 4 and loving it.
So, here it is...
Tip of the Day: Know Your Audience. (aka - It's not about you. It's about them.)
The key to successful communication is understanding what is important to your audience - the old W.I.I.F.M. (What's in it for me?) Say you're launching a new campaign to build brand loyalty. Do you know what your audience wants from your brand? If you're talking about all the latest technology that has gone into your products, but really your audience just cares about dependability, you've completely missed the boat and squandered an opportunity to engage your audience. In the above example, I spoke to my daughter about things that mattered to her. I acknowledged her concerns and addressed them to the best of my ability. As a parent, I saw value in improved teacher/student ratios - that would have meant nothing to my daughter. She was worried about fitting in, liking the new teachers, getting to do fun things and being comfortable (air conditioning is very important when it's 109 degrees outside and the halls in the old building weren't air conditioned!)
So, before you engage with your audience, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what matters most to them. You'll be a stronger communicator for doing it!
So, we've had a bit of change in our lives as of late. In August, we moved from Indiana to Austin, Texas. This meant new home, friends, and school for the kids. To top it off, my eldest made the transition from elementary school to middle school - a very large middle school. So large, in fact, that the sixth grade is broken into several "teams" with each team having their own set of teachers and own section of the building. Prior to school starting, my daughter was placed on Team 1. We went to back-to-school night and met all of her Team 1 teachers; she got her schedule, was assigned a locker in the Team 1 section of the building, and began settling into her new routine.
On the 4th day of school, I got a call from the school counselor saying that my daughter and four other children were going to be pulled from Team 1 and placed on a different team to even out the number of students in the classes. She was going to be moved to Team 4, which met in a completely separate building. I knew this was not going to set well - too much change. She had just started to get to know her new classmates, she loved her teachers, and her locker was near one of the neighbor kids' locker.
Sure enough, when my daughter got home from school that night, she was devastated.
You would think this is a lesson in crisis communications - it's not. Instead, it's about knowing your audience. After allowing her to vent a little about her concerns, I went into "PR mode." Here's the summary of what I told her (names are changed to protect the innocent):
You're right - this really sucks. I know you had just started getting to know your schedule and you had some awesome teachers. Plus, you liked having Annie on your team. The school did this so that there wouldn't be as many kids in each class. You know, there could be an upside to this. Jenny (the next door neighbor girl) is on that team. So, you'll know somebody there. Plus, there are the other 4 kids from your team that will be moving with you. Jenny has said she loves her teachers, so maybe you will too. You'll have smaller classes, so in science you will get to spend more time actually doing stuff in the lab and less time waiting your turn. The counselor told me that Team 4 meets in the new building - yes, you'll have to walk out to it, but it has air conditioning everywhere, even in the halls.
The conversation went on from there, but in the end, she was willing to give it a chance and keep an open mind. A week later she is settled into Team 4 and loving it.
So, here it is...
Tip of the Day: Know Your Audience. (aka - It's not about you. It's about them.)
The key to successful communication is understanding what is important to your audience - the old W.I.I.F.M. (What's in it for me?) Say you're launching a new campaign to build brand loyalty. Do you know what your audience wants from your brand? If you're talking about all the latest technology that has gone into your products, but really your audience just cares about dependability, you've completely missed the boat and squandered an opportunity to engage your audience. In the above example, I spoke to my daughter about things that mattered to her. I acknowledged her concerns and addressed them to the best of my ability. As a parent, I saw value in improved teacher/student ratios - that would have meant nothing to my daughter. She was worried about fitting in, liking the new teachers, getting to do fun things and being comfortable (air conditioning is very important when it's 109 degrees outside and the halls in the old building weren't air conditioned!)
So, before you engage with your audience, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what matters most to them. You'll be a stronger communicator for doing it!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Back to School
A few weeks ago, our family moved to Austin, Texas. The move wasn't the only big change for us, though. This year also marked the beginning of 6th grade (middle school in Texas) for my eldest daughter and the start of kindergarten for my youngest daughter. With those monumental events came lots of new and exciting things: new friends, new school clothes, new opportunities and new routines. Today's post is going to focus on our adventure into the world of kindergarten.
My daughter was so excited to finally be going to the "big kids' school." When we went in for kindergarten orientation, the school administration tried to cover every question that the new students might have. They went through the entire routine for the first day, from arriving to school, finding the classroom, going to lunch and recess, and then finding the right bus to get home. I was impressed by how organized the whole night was and the attention to details by the teachers and staff.
The first day of school came and my daughter got dressed up in her special "first day of school outfit." We packed her a lunch in her new lunch box which had been carefully selected to match her new flowered backpack and then drove her to school. All day I wondered how things were going for her. When the time came, I went to the bus stop to greet her when she got off the bus. She was amped about her day and didn't stop talking about it all the way home. As she sat at the kitchen table with her snack (still talking at 100mph about her day) I unpacked her backpack and lunchbox. Her lunchbox was still full!
I asked her why she hadn't eaten her lunch. She replied, "I did!"
"But it's all still here," I responded. "How could you have eaten your lunch?"
"Remember the calf-teer-ia?" she asked, "I went through the line and got their lunch."
I was confused. I said, "How did you do that? You didn't have any money because I packed your lunch."
She puffed out her chest and proudly replied, "I charged it!" (And so, at age 5, a shopper was born.) :)
So here is the Corporate Communications lesson out of all of this...
Tip of the day: Expect and plan for the unexpected.
Strategy is great. In fact, I believe you should never operate without one. However, even the best laid plans can go awry. In public relations, you have to be prepared for this. It's not about having a crystal ball, but it is about contingency planning. You may plan for 'a' to happen. But what do you do if 'b' or 'c' happens instead? Explore different scenarios and craft appropriate responses to have in your back pocket, just in case. My daughter's school did that by having a plan in place to deal with kids who showed up in the lunch line without money.
See, there really are PR lessons to be learned from every-day life!
My daughter was so excited to finally be going to the "big kids' school." When we went in for kindergarten orientation, the school administration tried to cover every question that the new students might have. They went through the entire routine for the first day, from arriving to school, finding the classroom, going to lunch and recess, and then finding the right bus to get home. I was impressed by how organized the whole night was and the attention to details by the teachers and staff.
The first day of school came and my daughter got dressed up in her special "first day of school outfit." We packed her a lunch in her new lunch box which had been carefully selected to match her new flowered backpack and then drove her to school. All day I wondered how things were going for her. When the time came, I went to the bus stop to greet her when she got off the bus. She was amped about her day and didn't stop talking about it all the way home. As she sat at the kitchen table with her snack (still talking at 100mph about her day) I unpacked her backpack and lunchbox. Her lunchbox was still full!
I asked her why she hadn't eaten her lunch. She replied, "I did!"
"But it's all still here," I responded. "How could you have eaten your lunch?"
"Remember the calf-teer-ia?" she asked, "I went through the line and got their lunch."
I was confused. I said, "How did you do that? You didn't have any money because I packed your lunch."
She puffed out her chest and proudly replied, "I charged it!" (And so, at age 5, a shopper was born.) :)
So here is the Corporate Communications lesson out of all of this...
Tip of the day: Expect and plan for the unexpected.
Strategy is great. In fact, I believe you should never operate without one. However, even the best laid plans can go awry. In public relations, you have to be prepared for this. It's not about having a crystal ball, but it is about contingency planning. You may plan for 'a' to happen. But what do you do if 'b' or 'c' happens instead? Explore different scenarios and craft appropriate responses to have in your back pocket, just in case. My daughter's school did that by having a plan in place to deal with kids who showed up in the lunch line without money.
See, there really are PR lessons to be learned from every-day life!
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