Crafting versus Discovering

Yesterday I mentioned that I prefer to talk about "discovering" messages versus "crafting" them.

Here's why.

The word "crafting" implies that you're making something up. To me, at least, it means spinning something from nothing. ("Spinning" - there's another one!) The language I use is that of "discovery" - not in the legal sense, but in the literal sense.

My experience over the past 18 years has taught me that every single company, individual, organization, etc., has a story to tell. The challenge is to figure out what that story is, who needs to hear it and how you can get them to listen. True, sometimes it's difficult to earn publicity, but more often than not, that's not the challenge. The challenge is in figuring what to say and to whom.

At BCI, we talk about discovering key messages. For us, that's the first step in the PR process. Without dedicating the appropriate amount of time to ascertaining what it is clients have to say, everything else is for naught.

If you'd like to start that conversation, please let me know.