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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.

Communication Objectives: What 200 CEOs Have to Say About Growing Their Business

The USC Center for Public Relations secured input from these business leaders as well as more than 1,500 public relations professionals around the world to gather answers to numerous questions about where the industry is headed. The results were released earlier this year in its Annual Global Communications Report.

This was the first time the Global Communications Report solicited input from CEOs and sought to “determine where they think their company’s communication efforts should be focused.”

While the report provides more data and insights into the perspectives of PR professionals (agency and in-house) and students, it is interesting to see how CEOs responded to questions regarding their communication goals and the strategies they feel are most valuable. Below we have recapped some of the findings.

When CEOs responded to the question regarding their most important communication goal for their company:

  • 44% of CEO respondents shared that their most important communication goal for the year is to sell products and services. Interestingly only 25% of in-house communicators indicated this was the most important goal for their company.
  • 39% of CEOs indicated their primary goal is to differentiate their company’s brand from the competition. In-house communicators were in sync with the CEOs on this goal with an identical 39% indicating this was the most important goal.
  • Marshalling data and analytics to gain insight into opinions, issues and trends was the top priority for 12% of CEO respondents and 14% of in-house communicators.
  • Only 1% of CEOs stated that shaping position on social issues was the most important communication goal for the coming year. Eight percent % of in-house communicators felt this was the most important goal for their organization.

When asked what communication strategies CEOs feel will be most valuable to their company in the future, the results were divided:

  • 38% stated shared media (i.e., social media and online influencers) were most valuable
  • 36% percent responded that owned media (i.e., original content distributed through company channels) is most valuable
  • 14% indicated earned media is the most valuable media strategy for their company in the future
  • And only 12% felt that paid media was the most valuable media strategy

The full report can be accessed here: https://uscannenberg.formstack.com/forms/2019_gcr.

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Timeless Tactics: Three Networking Tips to Help Build and Maintain Relationships

In a quickly changing business landscape, there is one timeless, but important, activity you shouldn’t lose sight of – networking.

Whether you are stepping into a new career, or have made it to the top of your industry, networking can play a critical role in your professional life. Consider it a long-term investment than can lead to new opportunities, insights and growth.

Below are three tactics to help you build and maintain meaningful connections:

  1. Create a Relationship Action Plan. Networking may seem like an arduous task, especially if you are content with your career. However, just because you finally landed your dream job or a new client, doesn’t mean you should stop networking. A strong network can often provide you with the knowledge and resources needed to continue moving forward in your profession. Best-selling author of “Never Eat Alone,” Keith Ferrazzi suggests one way to maintain relationships and practice intentional networking is through Relationship Action Planning. In case you’re not familiar with the term, Relationship Action Planning, according to LinkedIn, is “the act of proactively working to advance relationships with the people most important in achieving your business plan.” Ferrazzi has even created a downloadable Relationship Action Planning PDF you can fill out to keep yourself on track. You can’t get more intentional than that.
  2. Diversify your networking strategies. Although the concept of networking may be timeless, the strategies for building one’s network are constantly evolving. Resources such as LinkedIn and email can serve as useful avenues to spark and follow up with new connections, however, they are only a small piece of the networking puzzle. Attending events is still a wonderful way to meet new people. Expert Forbes panelist Frances McIntosh suggests looking “for local events such as Chamber of  Commerce networking events, book launches, or art walks – something you wouldn’t ordinarily do.” This gives you an opportunity to exchange knowledge with individuals outside of your immediate field and gain new insights.
  3. Follow up with new and existing connections. Effective networking is not a one-and-done activity. While handing out a business card can be an effective networking tactic, this is only the first step. Once you have made a new connection, it’s important that you follow up and maintain the relationship. Like Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI (Business Networking International) said, “It is not what you know or who you know – it’s how well you know each other that counts.”

With this in mind, building on old relationships with friends and colleagues can serve you just as well. Don’t be afraid to bring out your college yearbook and call up a few old friends to meet for coffee. You never know what information or connections you may glean!

What are some helpful networking tactics you’ve used? I’d love to hear about your experience.

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Guidelines for Spokespeople When Handling a Crisis

In 2007, when a major ice storm hit the East Coast, Jet Blue was forced to cancel 1,000 flights over five days. Customers were upset, and in the weeks that followed, thousands of articles scrutinizing how Jet Blue handled the crisis were published around the globe.

So, how did the airline respond?

To combat this public relations disaster, David Neeleman, Jet Blue’s CEO stepped up to address the crisis as well as announce the steps the company would take to ensure it never happened again. In addition to responding to journalists, Neeleman made appearances on Letterman, the Today Show, and on CNN with Anderson Cooper to respond to critics and relay Jet Blue’s messages to the public.

Jet Blue’s messaging was immediate and apologetic. Neeleman repeatedly went to the media to explain what went wrong and express how sorry he was for the effects this crisis had on his customers. The company’s messaging also highlighted its new Customer Bill of Rights, which ensures customer safety and satisfaction in the event of a crisis by way of new company protocol, including a detailed compensation package for passengers.   

If your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, take a piece of advice from Jet Blue. To survive the crisis, choose a spokesperson who can communicate with the public, often through the media. Here are some guidelines for the designated spokesperson to follow when handling a crisis:

  • Establish the spokesperson. The spokesperson is determined by the severity of the crisis and the amount of attention it is receiving. If the crisis is severe and there is growing interest from local, regional, or national media, the spokesperson should be the CEO or head of the company. This conveys that handling the crisis is of the upmost importance to the company. If the crisis is less severe, choosing a different executive may be acceptable.
  • Notify employees about their role in the crisis. If the media approaches employees for a comment, under no circumstances should they respond. Instead, employees should refer the media to the spokesperson or the spokesperson’s published comments and notify the communications team about the inquiry. Ideally, the communications team will develop a strategy to combat the crisis, and the spokesperson will deploy that strategy through communication with the media.  Once you have chosen a spokesperson and notified employees of their role in the crisis communications strategy, the communications team should brief the spokesperson in order to communicate most effectively with the media.
  • Stick to the facts of the crisis. When dealing with a crisis, it is critical that the spokesperson has the facts of the situation before making any public statements. Know the who, what, when, where and why of the situation. Once the facts have been considered and addressed, the spokesperson and communication team can develop a strategic response that provides the public with the facts of the situation. This helps prevent the story from spinning out of control.
  • Stay on message. Key messages should be determined before speaking to the media. These are a list of messages that you want to relay to the public regarding the crisis and your company. Key messages should:
    • Share the facts of the situation
    • Explain how the crisis is being handled
    • Target stakeholders of the company
    • Work to regain trust
    • Highlight your company’s reputable actions during the crisis

You can incorporate key messages in your responses to the media in order to control the dialogue and to have a handle on the story.

  • Respond to the media appropriately. When talking directly to the media, there are a few things to keep in mind. If members of the media ask you a question you don’t know the answer to, don’t speculate or say, “No comment.” Stick to the facts. However, if you don’t know the answer to something, it is acceptable to say, “I don’t know that right now.” Express a willingness to keep the public informed as details are available. Make sure to include, “But we will keep you updated as we gather more information.” This helps maintain transparency with the media.

Additionally, never make comments “off the record.” “Off the record” can mean different things to different reporters – so it’s better to completely avoid it. Even if the reporters don’t include your quote in an article or name you as a source, they may pursue a story based on the information you provided. A good rule of thumb is: If you don’t want something to appear in print, do not share it with the media – even if it’s “off the record.”

In a crisis, it’s important to operate conservatively. It’s better to stick to the facts of the situation and the official statements of the company rather than spark multiple, possibly inconsistent narratives by responding to the media in the wrong way.

  • Create perspective by emphasizing the steps your company has taken to mitigate the crisis. This will help to deescalate the crisis, as well as to shed a positive light on the company during this time of scrutiny. Express that you are working hard toward solutions and improvement by showcasing specific innovations your company is producing as a result of this crisis. 

By following these guidelines, you will not only be able to survive a crisis but you will also be able to highlight the work your company has done to resolve problems and innovate solutions, prompting the public to look toward the company’s future of improvement and success.

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Email Etiquette in the Workplace

Entrepreneur published, “How to communicate effectively over emails at workplace.” The article states that, “Email is the most widely used tool in the workplace,” therefore making it imperative to use our emails to communicate well-written, clear and effective messages.

A key focus of mine when starting at Communiquè was watching how my colleagues communicated by email to our team internally, as well as how they communicated with our clients. Through my observation and research, here are several tips for developing an email:

  • Have a compelling subject line. This is the first and possibly the most important step for developing an email, especially in the world of public relations. Subject lines either engage people further or cause disinterest, leading to either the email not being read or being deleted. It’s also a best practice to include the most important words at the beginning, as different platforms (i.e. desktop computer, mobile phone) read differently, says Dmitri Leonov, vice president at SaneBox, an email management service.
  • Keep tone in mind.  A study conducted by Psychologist Justin Kruger, PhD, and his colleague, Nicholas Epley, PhD, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that people misinterpret tone over email more than 50 percent of the time in comparison to 75 percent of time when speaking in-person. The study also found that interpreting tone improves significantly when senders read their emails out loud.
  • Include all elements. If your email indicates there are attachments, double check that the correct attachments/images are included and clearly label them, so the attachments are easily identifiable to the receiver.
  • Direct your message to the appropriate audience. It’s important to assess who the intended audience is before sending an email. For example, an email to a whole company about an idea for a product will be received and interpreted differently than the email announcing that fresh cookies are in the kitchen. Keep in mind, every company is different in how it operates, and one form of communication is not the same for all.
  • Proofread before sending. Typos can be easily missed when responding hastily, even sometimes after re-reading the email multiple times. There are multiple resources for online spelling and grammar checks, including Grammarly and Grammar Check that you can utilize in advance of sending messages. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook, you can also leverage its “Read Aloud” tool to have your email message read back to you.
  • Remember that email is not meant for everything. Simply put, some things are better said in person. Forbes’ contributing writer Liz Ryan provided a list of things to never convey over email including the expression of unhappy feelings towards a person or that someone’s opinion is the wrong one, among other topics. Email is also a target for hackers, so it’s a best practice to keep private conversations for secure spaces, in-person.

Knowing that this form of communication is widely used in the workplace, crafting effective email messaging is a critical ingredient to bring to the broader messaging table.

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Content Creation: The Importance of Reliable Sources

Oftentimes, public relations professionals assist with the creation of content. This may be in the form of writing or editing op-eds, articles, blog post or speeches. This content may have varying purposes, but it is important that claims we make are trustworthy and credible. It is equally important to realize that everyday we are vigorously assailed by sources, claims or information of varying reliability.

So how does one go about finding reliable sources?

I thought it might be helpful to look at some of Wikipedia’s guidelines. While Wikipedia itself states it’s not a reliable source, because it can be edited by anyone at any time – meaning entries can be wrong, a work in progress or a subject of vandalism – the free encyclopedia offers insight into how to identify reliable sources that may be valuable.

A couple of the points that jumped out at me:

  • A source refers to the work itself: a book, an article, a video, etc.; the creator (the author, journalist, scholar, business leader, etc.); and the publisher of the work (Random House, the New York Times, or someone else). When evaluating a source, it is important to consider all three of these because they all impact reliability.
  • There is a spectrum of reliability. Sources may be highly reliable, highly unreliable or somewhere in between. When creating content, it is vital that people think critically as they draw conclusions about whether a source is reliable or not.
  • In addition, proper sourcing depends on context. There is a lot to unpack here. For instance, is the source you want to cite appropriate for content that is being created? What is the age of the source? In scientific writing, an older source may be a liability as there may be newer research or theories that would be better suited. But conversely, when you’re writing about historical events, older sources may provide better context, background or information.

 

Finally, I’d like to touch on some types of sources that content creators can consider.

  • Scholarly material. This might include academic and peer-reviewed publications, journals, textbooks or dissertations. Keep in mind, however, these can become outdated or reflect the biases and values of their authors. (For more on objectivity, I recommend reading, “Thinking like a psychological scientist” by Erin I. Smith.)
  • News organizations. Consider the reputability of the organization and as you evaluate articles or coverage examine them closely. Is the reporting an opinion, human interest or news? Does the news contain factually verifiable information?
  • Commercial content, sponsored content or user-generated content. Wikipedia considers these to be questionable sources because they often have a poor reputation for fact checking or lack editorial oversight. If you use information from these sites, do so carefully and cite appropriately.

 

I hope you’ll keep these tips in mind the next time you’re creating your next article, speech or blog.

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Spaceflight and BlackSky ‘Make it Rain’ With Successful Rocket Lab Launch

On June 28, 2019, our clients, Spaceflight and BlackSky, participated in the successful launch of a Rocket Lab Electron that launched from Launch Complex 1 at the southern tip of the Mahia Peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

As a nod to the rainy weather at both the location of Spaceflight’s headquarters (Seattle) and the launch site (Mahia Peninsula) the mission was named ‘Make it Rain.’ Spaceflight purchased the capacity of the Electron and managed the integration and launch of seven spacecraft from five organizations. One of the payloads from the launch was BlackSky’s earth-imaging satellite, Global-3. This is BlackSky’s third commercial satellite to reach orbit.

Additionally, this launch was Spaceflight’s inaugural launch with Rocket Lab. The company has five additional launches scheduled with Rocket Lab for the remainder of 2019.

Given the notable payloads, including Global-3, the excitement around Spaceflight’s first launch with a new launch vehicle, and Rocket Lab’s consistent and continued success, this launch caught the attention of the media. To highlight its importance, Communiqué PR worked with the Spaceflight team to announce the launch a couple of weeks in advance. Formally announcing launches through a press release helps raise awareness about the upcoming launch and provides details about the payloads, launch location, etc., giving journalists an opportunity to understand the nuances of the launch and each of the missions aboard.

Below is some of the coverage the successful launch generated. We are excited for Spaceflight and BlackSky and look forward to future launches.

Congratulations, Spaceflight and BlackSky!

‘Make it Rain’ Coverage Highlights

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