Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
A pretty significant chunk of our work in the PR industry is about solving problems. Perhaps the problem is huge: Your Fortune 500 client is facing a major PR headache and it’s your job to fix it. Or perhaps the problem is comparatively small: One of your team members is struggling to nail a pitch.
Either way, staying focused on solutions is a key part of being a successful PR practitioner. It’s a skill that employers look for in candidates, and being known as a solutions-oriented worker makes you a desired teammate and a strong contributor to your firm and to your clients.
But sometimes, when even the smallest problems start to stack up, it can be easy to slip into bad habits, give into the negativity that inevitably arises from time to time at any job, and to stop focusing on solutions. To avoid that, and to stay focused on the solutions, remember these tips:
- Ask the right questions. When you set out to find a solution to a problem, it’s important to be armed with the information you need. Your teammates, your boss and your clients probably have a lot of that information. Before you leave a meeting or hang up a phone, get the answers that you think you’ll need. To do that, and to be seen as a problem-solver, you need to ask the right questions. Don’t ask: “Is there anything else that I need to know before I start this project?” Be more specific. Identify what you see as problem areas or missing gaps in information that you can clear up immediately:
– “Who are our key audiences for this article?”
– “What are the business objectives we want to achieve with this proposal?”
- Don’t be afraid of “I don’t know.” Scientists quip that the phrase “I don’t know” is the driver behind discovery and experimentation. It’s inevitable that you will be faced with problems that you don’t know how to solve, or aren’t prepared to address, at various points in your career. This is especially true for young employees without years of experience under their belts. That’s when “I don’t know” comes in handy. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but remember: There’s a difference between “I don’t know” and “I have no idea what I’m doing.” Make sure that your coworkers know that even if you aren’t sure how to solve a problem, you are bringing ideas to the table and are interested in finding the best solution. To do that, remember…
- … never present a problem without proposing a solution. This is particularly true when you are working with your manager or with a client. Even if you aren’t completely confident, you should always be prepared to propose a solution to a problem. Next time a client emails you with a problem, take five minutes to devise a solution before you take it to your boss’s desk. This shows that you’re focused on the big picture, that you are proactive, and that you are always looking around the corner to see what’s next.
- Stay confident in your skills. I’ll delve into a football metaphor here: When coaches start planning for a big game, facing a superior opponent, too many start to overthink their game plan. A coach with a talented stable of running backs might turn instead to the passing game to trick their opponent, trying to “pull out all the stops” to win the most unlikely of games, rather than focusing on their strengths and trusting their practice. The professional world isn’t that different. When searching for a solution, don’t lose sight of your strengths and the hard work that’s gotten you to where you are now. Trust in your ability and your team’s ability to find a solution to even the biggest problems.
To take a step further, I thought it would be interesting to ask a few of my connections in the PR world for their tips on staying solutions-oriented. Here’s what they had to say:
- “Take a step back. Oftentimes, teams get so caught up in the minutia of projects that they forget to look at the bigger picture, the root of the problem.”
– Communications manager at a national nonprofit
- “Take time to think about the long-term; it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day without planning your long-term strategy. Read what others are doing, not so you can copy their ideas but so that you can learn from them, build from there, and combine those ideas into your own approach.”
– Account manager at a Brooklyn-based digital agency
- “Build solutions around contingencies. Rarely in PR do things go the way we would expect. So it’s important to not be rigid in mapping out solutions, but to create flexible solutions that don’t crumble should one factor of your strategy or challenge change.”
– Director of digital strategy at a global communications agency
- “I put myself in other people’s shoes and consider what kind of questions and needs they are going to have that I should be able to answer or provide.”
– Public affairs specialist at a national fashion specialty retailer
- “It all comes down to communication. How well are you able to communicate with the client their needs and your capacity to fulfill them? If you can communicate well—and here I mean the ability to have a frank and open discourse—the details will help guide you.”
– Digital marketing manager, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C.
What are your tips for staying focused on solutions at work, even when problems are mounting up? Share them with us in the comments!
I recently attended the GeekWire Gala at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) in South Lake Union. With more than 1,000 of Seattle’s tech industry professionals in attendance, GeekWire delivered an event to remember. From the amazing food to the lively DJ to the great conversation, there was no room for disappointment. As expected, the event kept up with the latest trends in technology, yet GeekWire still was able to add a personal touch.
With the recent success of car-sharing service Car2Go, GeekWire saw the perfect opportunity to partner with the innovative company for the event. To alleviate the anxiety of finding parking at this high- attendance event, Car2Go provided cars and easy drop-off locations. To create convenience for attendees, anyone who drove a Car2Go to the gala was offered VIP parking in the drop-off zone, which was very considerate given that winter has officially arrived.
After the hassle-free travel to the event, there was plenty by which to be entertained inside. My personal favorite was Mind Flex, a game that tested your brain waves against an opponent. After being assisted in placing a monitor on my temples and a clip on my earlobe, a battle ensued against my colleague, Sarah, to move a ball across a path toward the opposite side. Though I lost in this futuristic game, it provided entertainment and good laughs.
Also scattered throughout the venue were screens projecting a live Twitter feed. This allowed you to stay slightly connected with the masses of people by seeing pictures and reactions to the night’s events.
However, instead of allowing the Twitter feed to be dominated by people attending the event, GeekWire made it personal by responding to, what appears to be, every tweet. Looking at the outlet’s Twitter feed, it’s dominated by “thank yous” and “great photo.” Not only did they use technology to reach out to individual guests, but they also had GeekWire Chairman Jonathan Sposato at the front door introducing himself and welcoming guests as they arrived. As my first event of this magnitude, this aspect was comforting and a personal touch that I was not expecting.
The night overall was enjoyable and something I will look forward to next year. Technology can be perceived as cold and impersonal, but GeekWire was able to use it as tool to get personal as well as adding in some old school techniques. It seems they have found the perfect balance, and in a world often dominated by technology, a personal touch can go a long way.
Every two weeks our team sits down over lunch to discuss client campaigns that are underway or upcoming and to reflect on recent successes and challenges. Aside from being a great team bonding experience, these lunches offer an opportunity to exchange ideas and to learn about new trends and effective media outreach practices from our trusted colleagues.
During our most recent lunch, two of my colleagues were detailing a laundry list of successes on behalf of their clients, and as someone who has been struggling to secure coverage for a small, startup client, I was eager to learn their secret. Why were these other clients generating so much media coverage when on the surface, their stories weren’t particularly “sexy”?
The answer is also not that sexy: They have data and data opens doors – or it at least gets writers to respond to your emails.
As PR practitioners, we’re more likely to lean toward the power of words to communicate the defining qualities of our clients, but advances in technology have brought us a whole new language and it’s based on numbers. Access to client or industry analytics, statistics and numbers helps us better understand consumer usage and how it impacts our clients’ (or their competitors’) success. More importantly, this data helps us to frame a story or trend that will be relevant to writers who are hungry for meaningful content and reliable sources.
If your client doesn’t already have data to share, encourage them to invest in the research. Consumer behavior is generating massive amounts of data across digital channels and according to McKinsey & Company (see graphic below), companies using big data in their marketing efforts are generating an average of 6 percent higher profits than their competitors. They’re probably also generating more media coverage.
Data can also help us to justify a larger campaign budget or increased resources, so it behooves us to opt out of the age-old theory that PR practitioners can’t do math (we actually can; we have calculators) and to opt in to the numbers game by participating in the conversation with our clients and with media.
For more information about the big impact that data can have on business, check out the following infographic:
Early in November, I was lucky enough to acquire a few passes to attend Dreamforce, Salesforce.com’s annual conference. The four-day conference, which takes place in San Francisco, drew more than 100,000 attendees from the technology industry and is considered the third biggest tech industry event, following TED and CES. Big-name speakers from this year’s event included Deepak Chopra (Founder of the Chopra Foundation) and Laurent Lamothe (Prime Minister of Haiti).
I was fortunate to attend the keynotes of two leaders in the technology industry whom we often read about, but that I’ve never heard speak in person: Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, and Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. We’ve read and discussed Sheryl’s book, “Lean In,” at Communiqué PR, and continue to see a constant stream of news about Marissa Mayer’s direction for Yahoo. As such, I was excited to hear what they would offer up in their keynotes.
Marissa Mayer
Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo (formerly a long-time executive and key spokesperson for Google), has received quite a bit of media attention over the past few years, especially with her ascendancy as CEO of Yahoo. She was listed as No. eight in Fortune’s 2013 list of most powerful businesswomen, No. 32 on Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and was the first woman listed as number one on Fortune’s annual list of the top 40 business stars under 40.
Employee number 20 at Google, Marissa is a powerful and impressive figure in the technology world. Under her supervision, the stock price of Yahoo has doubled and the trajectory of Yahoo continues to be an interesting one, especially with the semi-recent acquisition of Tumblr.
In her keynote, Marissa focused on the importance of design and mobile in technology, and gave some insight into how Yahoo operates internally as well as the future of the brand. Marissa’s full keynote at Salesforce is here; my own takeaways follow:
- Design needs to be user- and mobile-centric. Marissa’s keynote focused especially on design, something that used to be an afterthought, but is now a core component for how companies think about products. We’ve heard again and again that mobile is the future and this point was emphasized by Marissa—Yahoo is completely on board with mobile.
Marissa stated specifically that when defining the Yahoo brand, it became clear that Yahoo aims to entertain, inform and inspire—three things that translate into its mobile products. In addition to designing for mobile, Marissa emphasized the idea that, for a product to gain traction, the design needs to be user-centric, meaning that it is “useful” to the user, not just “usable.”
We work with quite a few companies that focus on the mobile space—to name a few: Medio, a predictive analytics provider centered on mobile; Mobidia, a mobile data usage provider; and Smartsheet, a collaboration tool that emphasizes the functionality of its mobile app. Given the developments we’ve seen in our own clients’ businesses over the past year toward mobile, it was interesting to hear Marissa’s perspective on designing for mobile for a large business like Yahoo.
- Expert level attainable within 1–2 weeks. According to Marissa, you’ll know you have a well-designed product if people feel comfortable using it within 1–2 weeks. As an example, she discussed Xerox. While Xerox has plenty of features, we all know what the big green button does. Design should prioritize the “big green button” piece of a product. This anecdote reminded me of Smartsheet, which we’ve discussed on the blog before—the intuitive design is what makes it such a great tool for us at Communiqué PR.
- Operational transparency and efficiency are top priorities at Yahoo. The keynote gave insight into how business has changed at Yahoo since Marissa took charge. In order to maximize efficiency, Marissa has involved all employees in operational tasks like reporting issues that are making their jobs more difficult, and providing input on the decks that are presented to the Board of Directors.
One particularly interesting method Marissa has employed is “PB&J,” (process, bureaucracy and jams), a system through which employees are able to report roadblocks they experience during tasks. Once something is reported 100 times, management addresses the issue.
- On a personal note: prioritizing and “balance.” While the keynote focused primarily on Yahoo’s direction and current work, Marissa did offer an anecdote that was interesting and inspiring, especially for people that may feel overwhelmed by the idea of maintaining a work-life balance. Marissa noted that she’s constantly asked how she maintains balance in her own life, and for her, it’s all about setting priorities—literally, by listing them out everyday.
However, Marissa made an interesting point—rather than being upset that you never get to the items at the bottom of your list, think of this as a good thing. You wouldn’t want to be wasting time on things that you consider relatively unimportant. As someone who makes a to-do list at the beginning of everyday, I found this to be a refreshing perspective.
Sheryl Sandberg
Unlike Marissa Mayer’s keynote, the “Lean In” author spoke mostly about her book and message of female empowerment in the workplace. The only insight onlookers received into Facebook was through occasional anecdotes. This was to be expected, as the keynote was titled “Lean In With Sheryl Sandberg.”
I was particularly excited to see this interview, as I’ve read Sheryl’s book twice now (once when it was released, courtesy of my father, and again this year in book club). I’ve discussed the subject matter and perspective at length with family, co-workers and peers, and was excited to see Sheryl discuss her ideas in an open, conversational forum.
Sheryl’s full “Lean In” keynote can be viewed here. I had the following takeaways:
- Open the dialogue. Sheryl’s message of “leaning in” is not just to inspire people to take action, but to get people talking about issues of gender bias and insecurities. Solving these problems requires active discussion and Sheryl is encouraging the development of “Lean In Circles” everywhere—and the equal participation of men and women in these.
- Leaning in—it’s about men, too. Sheryl mentioned explicitly that men should take an active interest in workplace equality, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it can benefit their careers. Being viewed as able to work well with women can only help men in their careers.
- Let’s try it. One of the quotes that really stuck with me following the keynote was Sheryl’s response to a question she constantly gets asked: Do you really think the world/business/fill in the blank would be better with more women in power? Sheryl’s answer: Let’s try it and see what happens.
- Addressing insecurity. Another inspirational point Sheryl made was addressing insecurities by identifying fears. Sheryl has a Tumblr dedicated to the idea of “what would you do if you weren’t afraid?” She shared an anecdote of a teenage girl she met who is keeping a list of everything she’s avoided because she was afraid—with the goal of crossing each of those things off.
It was inspiring to hear both of these technology leaders speak, and I hope I’ll attend Dreamforce again in the future.
We recently encountered an interesting scenario with one of our clients, who came across a relevant industry discussion on Reddit and wondered why their brand name was not mentioned. At first the answer seems apparent, since Reddit relies on user-generated content that, for the most part, cannot be controlled. But that got us thinking—is Reddit, the online community powered by users, a viable place for PR pros to promote brand awareness for clients?
If you haven’t dealt much with Reddit, it’s huge in terms of Internet platforms. The site describes itself as “a source for what’s new and popular on the web.” Users are responsible for providing all of the content and identifying what’s interesting or not. They share tidbits from all over the Internet on the social platform—images, stories and more. Users then comment or vote to promote content they find most appealing, which then has a chance of landing on the site’s front page for maximum viewership.
Reddit is wildly popular with users but, to many PR pros, largely unchartered territory for performing brand outreach. We came across an interesting article in the November 2013 issue of PR Week, which pitted two thought leaders against each other on the question: “Should brands embrace Reddit as they diversify their digital outreach?” The article highlights the two opposing views regarding whether Reddit is an actionable tool for PR and marketing purposes.
In the first view, the answer is an obvious yes. Reddit has definite value. With an audience of 85,901,746 unique visitors per month from more than 186 countries, the question is, why wouldn’t you want to tap into that market? The numbers showcase how, if executed well, Reddit can be an extremely successful platform for generating brand publicity.
A successful post holds huge potential for generating online interest. The site includes hundreds of topics and subtopics relevant to a wide variety of interests. Commenting with unique insight on posts can gain you votes, upping the chances that your content will be read, shared and even end up on the main page—where it will spread everywhere.
The opposing view, however, notes that there is little tolerance for commercial content among Reddit users. The site thrives on non-promotional, non-editorialized material. In general, the site’s users are sensitive to brand promotion and will immediately reject content that’s blatantly promotional. From this standpoint, Reddit is just not the place for brand messaging.
A brand butting in with self-promoting content on Reddit can ruin conversations. Promoting a client could therefore backfire and bring negative sentiment to a brand. And the only thing worse than posting obviously promotional content is trying to pass it as non-promotional—a move that can ruin your Reddit reputation for good. As the PR Week article notes, Reddit is an “earned channel.” You cannot control your image like you can on other social media outlets, such as Facebook or Twitter, which makes using the site for PR purposes risky.
So, can PR pros effectively leverage Reddit in their outreach for clients? It’s a divided question. Reddit can’t be ignored—it’s an extremely powerful platform with a wide and varied audience. But at the same time, you can’t treat it as any other social network. You can’t just jump out there with a bunch of promotional content—you have to start small and gain respect first. Once you’ve built a reputation, you can consider contributed posts geared more toward brand awareness and generating site traffic. But even then, do so with extreme caution—and always be sure to disclose the full relationship.
Sharing messages should be done sparingly and only when the content adds genuine benefit to the site’s users. Posts need to be exciting, genuinely interesting or clever. Spamming will only get you booted. For the most part, PR pros should likely stick to using Reddit mainly to monitor conversations relevant to a client’s industry or interests. Those with big-name clients might find value in hosting “Ask Me Anything” sessions, in which users participate in Q&A sessions with brand executives. No matter how you use the site, always stick to its guidelines—its Reddiquette.
Think of using Reddit like entering someone’s home. That’s exactly what it is—home to millions of diverse users who are very protective of their community. Keep this in mind every time you log on, and be sure to wipe your feet at the door.
Contributed or bylined articles serve as a great complement to editorial placements. Unlike an article written by a reporter about a company or its products, contributed articles are written by the company and are meant to lend a vendor-neutral perspective on topics relevant to a publication’s readers. We often recommend contributed articles as a way to position our clients as thought leaders in their industry or on a specific subject matter.
As newsrooms shrink and the competition for website visitors increases, we’re seeing a demand for contributed content like never before.
So far this year, Communiqué has placed 16 contributed articles and guest posts on behalf of our clients with 15 more in the pipeline. From an article on pets at work to a piece on the impact of metamaterials on the satellite communications industry, the articles have spanned a wide-range of topics. For our team, writing contributed articles allows us to flex our creative writing muscles and, more importantly, enables us to get even more rooted in the issues impacting our clients’ industries. Here’s a sample of some of the articles that have been published so far:
- AAHOA Lodging Business: What the Hospitality Industry Can Learn From Public Safety Communications
- Business2Community: Avoid Shuffling Chairs by Creating a Culture of Collaboration: Microsoft’s Reorg and the Struggle Between Teams and Tools
- Citizen Tekk: Taking the Concert Home: How it Will Benefit Consumers and Artists Alike
- Franchising World Magazine: Expanding a Franchise: Consider the Cloud
- Retail Digital: Preparing for the Explosion in Mobile Data
- O’Dwyer’s: How Collaboration Technologies are Reshaping PR
- VentureBeat: Meet 7 startups that are innovating for the developing world
- Wired Innovation Insights: Blinders at the C-Level Can Cost You Billions
Is a contributed article right for you? Ask yourself these questions:
1) How will a contributed article support my communications objectives? Developing the article and pitching it to relevant publications takes time. Be sure the investment will support your communications goals.
2) What do I want readers to learn from my article? Identifying the main takeaways can also be helpful in targeting the right publications or websites to target for your article.
3) Do I have examples that can further illustrate the points in my article? Incorporating customer stories, metrics or other types of data can go far in supporting the premise of the article.
4) Can the article be written in a vendor-neutral way? Editors rely on contributed articles to educate and inform their readers on relevant topics and issues. Any hint of blatant product or company promotion will result in an immediate rejection.
For more tips on writing a contributed article, check out this post.