Foot in Mouth Disease

Interesting post by The Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Zaslow on slips of the tongue.

One of the most important media and communications tips I give to clients is to "know your story."  I picked this up from a former employer who understood the power of having key messages and sticking to them.  One of the most painful things to watch is an interview with someone who isn't clear on what he or she is saying.  "The worst thing you can do in an interview," my employer would say, "is to try out a new message in an interview setting."

So, what is one to do?  Practice!

Here's how I put it to clients:  Remember when you were dating someone you wanted to impress (perhaps your spouse) and you'd stand in front of the mirror and review what you were going to say?  This is the same thing, except I'm your mirror and I'll give you feedback.

So, today's take-aways?

1.  Think about your key messages.
2.  Practice saying your key messages.
3.  No matter what, don't ever "try out" new messaging in an interview situation.

As Zaslow points out: "If only more of us would follow the advice of 1950s-era humorist Sam Levenson. 'It's so simple to be wise,' he once said. 'Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it.'"

The Importance of Doing SOMETHING

I was a Xerox salesman for six miserable months.  I sold five low-volume copiers in that time and, while there is much I'd like to forget about that period of my professional development, I learned one useful lesson: when in doubt of what to do next, do SOMETHING.  At Xerox, that meant "make calls."

We were given a list of "prospects" (in quotes because the list was more of a phone book that a collection of qualified leads) and told to reach out to a certain number every week.  Anyone who has ever done this sort of thing knows what I'm talking about.  For whatever reason, I was a loser at that particular numbers game, but the lesson shared by my manager has since served me well.

Put another way, a supervisor of mine at Edelman (the same one who taught me that "PR is about what you do and NOT what you say") confided in me that "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission."  Clients, media, supervisors - whomever - will likely be much quicker to forgive what you've done than to grant permission in the first place. 

What does this mean in a communications mindset?  Very often, it's tempting to wait until all storytelling elements are lined up and in tip-top shape.  Media kits, backgrounders, bios, press releases, photos, b-roll, research - you name it - can all stand in the way of getting the job done.

Hogwash, I say.  At some point, you just have to dive in.

The ONLY exception is that of message development.  Everything else can fall into line later.  But right now, the single most important piece of preparation is figuring out what you're going to say and how.  Once you do that, everything else will flow into place.

I guarantee it.

Susan Boyle, Communications Expert

Today, like millions who watch all sorts of videos forwarded from friends and family, I was introduced to Susan Boyle.

Three seconds after she started to sing, the crowd went wild. Ten seconds later, they were on their feet.

What does this teach us about communications and public relations? I think we can draw a few conclusions, but I'll point to two I often repeat:

1. Public relations is about what you do and not about what you say. Susan said she was going to do well and no one in the theater believed her. But, her actions spoke louder than her words.

2. Conviction and belief in your messages is of paramount importance. Susan believed in what she came to do and, therefore, was admirably confident in her pre-performance delivery.

Do the right thing first and then make sure your messaging is correct. People can't ignore that.

Discovering your key messages

What's the best way to figure out your key messages?

Many executives think long and hard about this. And, more often than not, they think about it in the wrong way. It's very tempting to say, "We offer Service X, therefore, our primary key message is that our company is a leading provider of Service X."

Maybe it is. But what about what the customer wants or needs from you? Your customer likely wants to hear about how you can HELP them achieve a certain goal. Sure, it may be implied within the message of being a leading provider of X. But why imply? Say it outright!

Put another way, your audience doesn't want to hear what YOU think is important; they want to hear about what THEY think is important.

Here's an example. I worked with a furniture remanufacturer on their corporate messaging. When I asked the president and the VP of sales why their customers buy from them, they both said, "price."

So we went to work talking about who their audiences are, what their concerns are and how the company addressed those concerns.

Know what? Price wasn't the primary reason customers were buying. It was environmental -- a "green" thing.

The first step in marketing communications always has to be about discovering the right messages. If time isn't taken to appropriately explore what your target audiences want to hear, they won't listen when you start talking.

Dire economy? Innovation!

This piece from yesterday's New York Times is certainly heartening. Here is (not are) a handful of souls who, thanks to pink slips, all find themselves accidental entrepreneurs.

It is exactly for these folks - who will be driving the economy in the near future - that we've launched a new web site that helps young companies create their first PR materials. We also take it a step further with the Marketing Communications Starter Kit.

Sure, there's plenty of doom and gloom out there. (The Chinese prime minister just reported that he's worried about the money his country has lent the United States.) But if you look hard enough, you'll see people doing what people do when their backs are up against the wall: getting creative. If nothing else, it will be fun to see the next great thing that comes out of this depression.

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.