PR

The Powerful Act of Simplicity

Take a look at the video at the end of this post. It?s a fan-made homage to the band?Dashboard Confessional?and their song?So Long, So Long.

There?s nothing special about it. It?s a simple piece of video, made with Windows Movie Maker then put up on Youtube for the?creator?s?friends to see. And yet?

Its simplicity is also its strength. The mood and pace of the video complement the song perfectly, and doesn?t take away from the song itself. There are no garish images, no fast edits, no multiple screen tricks ? just a simple video for a simple song.

Creative agencies often try to come up with elaborate advertising, PR or marketing messages. The feeling is the more elaborate the message is, the more mystique (and therefore interest) around the brand. And it can work, if done properly.

But you know what? Sometimes it?s the simplest things that are the most elaborate of all.

The comments below this video on Youtube show that many people thought it was the official Dashboard Confessional video for the song.

That has to tell us something about simplicity, no?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZY6cutYA8[/youtube]

Help Yourself to Help Your Clients

There’s a great scene in the movie Jerry Maguire. In it, Tom Cruise’s sports agent character has finally lost it with his one client (a football player brilliantly played by Cuba Gooding Jr.).

Frustrated by Gooding Jr.’s frosty relationship with the media, Cruise implores, “Help me to help you.” It’s a pivotal moment in the movie for both characters – and it’s one that should be used more in the PR industry.

Although it’s true of many industries, public relations is at a pivotal stage in its history.

New media sources and resources have changed the way PR is handled – and if it hasn’t made your agency change with it, then perhaps questions should be asked why.

So how can you help yourself to help your clients?

Use the Tools Effectively

We continuously hear how great social media is for PR. Yet are clients seeing why social media is so effective?

Try this experiment. The next time you have a promotional campaign, organize a pre-determined Twitter Q+A session between your client and users of that brand. Use a hashtag to keep the conversation separate and set up a Twitter username for that particular discussion.

Let your client see how he or she can immediately engage with their consumer base. They get both positive and constructive criticism in the open, and the customer feels appreciated because their brand is listening. Relationship building like that is priceless and if your client doesn’t get social media’s benefits then, they probably never will.

Encourage Greatness

I’ve met a lot of PR agency bosses (corporate and boutique) that seem to have their head up their asses when it comes to growing their agency. They seem to feel that they’re the only ones that have something of value to say, or offer. Get over yourself.

Some of the brightest voices are being unheard because of the way you think. The industry is changing and new blood is heading the rush. Instead of trying to hold that back, embrace it.

Do you have team meetings? Hand over the floor to a junior executive or intern and see what they have to say. While their ideas might not all be gold, what happens if you discover that one nugget that blows you away so much you wonder why you weren’t doing it in the first place? Greatness is in everyone – allow it to shine and it can only benefit you and your client in the long run.

Share the Accolades

There’s nothing better than seeing a carefully crafted PR campaign come to fruition and be a major success. You’re cock-a-hoop because it shows your agency knows its stuff and your client is over the moon with the resultant interest in his or her company. So why not share the success?

Suggest a fun agency/client get-together where everyone from both companies can get to know each other better away from a corporate environment. Your team feels more involved, and they should – after all, they were an integral part of the success as well, weren’t they? And your client sees you’re appreciative of their involvement in helping your campaign, therefore strengthening the relationship. It’s a win-win.

Change is all around us. Are you keeping up?

photo credit: Jose T?llez

Great Customer Service or Great PR?

So, Morton’s Steakhouse is making waves online at the minute, due to them delivering a steak to HARO founder and social media guy Peter Shankman.

If you’ve not heard it, the story in a nutshell is this – Peter faces a long flight home and is hungry, so tweets to Morton’s that he’d love a steak delivered and waiting for him at Newark Airport. Lo and behold, when he arrives and goes to his car, the steak and a tuxedo-wearing waiter are there waiting for him.

Cue Peter’s post “The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told”, and his belief in the awesome way Morton’s looks after their customers.

This would all be great, if it was a simple customer service story. But I’m not sold on that – it feels a great PR opportunity for Morton’s (and nothing wrong with that), but a customer service example? Sorry, not for me.

Average Joe vs. Peter Shankman

In his post, Peter says he believes it’s because he’s a good customer, and that he wasn’t treated any differently because he has over 100,000 Twitter followers. And looking at Morton’s social media stream, it’s clear they do a great job of engaging people, both on Twitter and Facebook. And that’s great to see.

But would they deliver a steak to anyone that tweeted them to, to show great customer service? I’m not so sure. Especially if it’s not paid for (which Peter doesn’t mention in his post, so not sure if it was free or not).

Had Joe Invisible with 10 followers tweeted the same, would he have received the same service? Acknowledgement? Options to have delivery to an airport? Perhaps, though the cynic in me is doubtful (always happy to be proven wrong!).

Great Service Is Consistent

One of the overall takeaways from Peter’s post is that Morton’s is always known for being on the ball. Which is quite a thing to live up to, for any company. While Morton’s no doubt offers a great experience, they’re also guilty of poor ones.?For every positive review, there are a fair few negative experiences.

Of course, this is to be expected for any business, and restaurants in particular will usually have an above average list of complaints compared to many other industries – we people like our food, after all.

But the litmus test for any business is how they respond to their critics as much as how they respond to their fans. Does Morton’s respond – publicly or privately – to each online complaint? Does their customer service team pro-actively engage their critics on forums and review sites as much as they do on Twitter and Facebook, which are far more public platforms to the majority of social media users?

Perhaps, and if so, great, because that would be the sign of “the greatest customer service”, as opposed to a steak to an influencer.

There’s Nothing Wrong With PR for Customers

As mentioned, Peter counters claims in his post that it had anything to do with his Twitter followers, and more to do with Morton’s offering awesome customer service.

But so what if it is down to his follower numbers? Or the fact that his HARO newsletter offers more than 130,000 people to get a story in front of? Or that his site, where Peter posts about his experience, is in the Top 50,000 online according to Alexa?

It’s smart business to see an opportunity like a tweet from Peter, and know that you’re probably going to get a shitload of traffic and positive press for the price of a steak meal.

But, again, that’s great PR, not great customer service.

So, by all means, let’s congratulate Morton’s for a job well done – more companies should take a look at how a relatively small act can result in a fairly big reaction. But let’s also keep in mind who the recipient of the action was, and the reach and eyeballs that recipient has, before we say it’s the norm and not a well-seized opportunity.

Unless, of course, Morton’s wants to spend over $4.5 million and send their lowest-priced steak to all of Peter’s 100,000+ followers, to show everyone gets treated the same…

image: suttonhoo

The Art of Being an Asshat

Sometimes you read something, or you hear something, and it just makes you stop and say, “Seriously?!?”.

Often this is from a pitch selling a company’s products or services. It can be from the company directly, or it can be from their marketing or PR agency.

Note – there are many great PR and marketing agencies out there doing great work. This just makes the crappy ones stand out even more.

So it was when I heard about this pitch. Sent to Lani Rosales, Editor-in-Chief of AGBeat, it’s a great example of either crass stupidity or outright superiority. Here’s the full exchange:

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 5:31 AM,?Joseph Smith?<josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Lani,
I would like to send you our press release but I will need you to personally sign a?non disclosure agreement?first.
Signed,
JS
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Joseph, I didn’t catch the company name?
LR
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:01 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:
You are required to sign an NDA prior to any communication with me or my client.
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:
Joseph,
I am happy to sign any NDA that we deem to have merit but cannot do so without knowing basic details like a company name. I’m sure you don’t mean to waste my time and I certainly don’t intend on wasting yours, so company name or it didn’t happen.
LR
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:20 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:
[blank email with NDA attached, naming company as “Company Name Withheld”]
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:
Joseph,
I am not authorized to sign that as I have made clear and I feel that you are aware. When you are prepared to share your company name or any basic hints of information, you have my email, otherwise please do not waste any more of my time.
LR
On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:
Lani, you will be missing out on an incredible opportonity [sic] as we have not approached any other news outlet. Perhaps your competitor would be more interested. We will not forget your lack of kindness.
Most sincerely,
Joseph

I have to admit, when I read it, I thought Lani was extremely professional in her patience – I would have really been tempted to have some fun. Something about Joseph signing my NDA about his mom and girlfriend, and the polaroids from Stripper Joe’s…

Seriously, though, is this what we’ve now come to? Asking people to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they even know what they’re signing up for? And then ignoring the person you want to write about you, and sending the NDA anyway? Then, just to top it off, basically using a threat as a closing statement?

No wonder the PR industry gets such a tough time (though, to be honest, I’m wary of this even coming from a PR agency, but it’s not impossible).

Unfortunately, “Joseph Smith” is the John Doe of the communications industry, as a reverse email search doesn’t bring up any information about him. Probably just as well – it’d be pretty embarrassing to find he’s a member of your PR team or business.

So, some simple tips when looking to get people and publications to write about you.

Respect their time and intelligence.
Don’t be bolshy.
Don’t come across as asshat-ish as Joseph Smith.
NDA’s are all well and good, but you need to let us know who we’re being approached about first.
Did I mention don’t be an asshat?

Honestly, it’s not all that hard. And you’re more than likely to get the kind of promotion you’re after…

image: Lh3

When to Defend Yourself and When to Walk Away

One of the biggest questions most businesses have about social media is what you should do when someone posts something negative about you.

This could be a tweet, a Facebook status update, a mention in a LinkedIn group, a blog post, a video response to one of your YouTube videos – basically, anywhere where there’s a chance to post something, there’s the possibility of a negative mention.

So the question is – when do you respond, and when do you walk away? And can responding – even to something you feel you need to – cause more (potential) damage than not responding?

Sticks and Stones

It’s a simple fact of life – no-one is going to like everything you do. Even your most fanatical evangelists will get pissed off at something you do or say. There’s an old saying that if you don’t upset at least one person, you’re not doing it right (whatever “it” might be).

So when a negative comment is made about you, you then have a decision to make – do you respond, or ignore (based on relevance and approach of the negativity)? And if you do respond, what tone do you take?

It’s not an easy call – just ask Nestle’s PR team that was running their Facebook wall a little while back. By ignoring, you could be perceived as not caring, or taking criticism seriously enough.

Then again, by responding defensively, you could be seen in an even worse light by those that see your response. And if even the “experts” get it “wrong”, then it just goes to show how difficult it can be.

Criticizing Criticism – Adding to the Fire?

Take Jay Baer. Jay’s a guy I respect immensely, and is one of the smarter folks on the social media circuit. Jay’s just released his first book The Now Revolution (co-authored with Amber Naslund).

As part of the promotional outreach, Jay and Amber gave away a number of books to bloggers to review. Many have been positive, but one that popped up on my radar was the review posted by Jay Dolan over at The Anti-Social Media. Jay’s blog was named as one of the Top 10 Social Media Blogs of 2011, and has a very irreverent look at social media.

Jay’s review, entitled 8 Reasons You Don’t Need to Read The Now Revolution, was a mix of what he liked about the book and – as the title suggests – eight reasons he wasn’t a fan.

These included comparing the book to an overlong blog post collection; bad grammar; and questionable images for reference points. It’s partly satire and partly a serious overview of what Jay sees wrong with the book, in typical Jay Dolan fashion.

Both Jay Baer and Amber responded to Jay Dolan’s criticism via the post’s comments, but in different ways, and this is where it gets a little interesting for anyone wondering how those that consult on social media respond when criticized.

While Amber offers to discuss in more detail by email, Jay chooses to respond in the comments. Here are a couple of quotes below:

“On the grammar and writing side, I?ll only say that the praise for that component of the book has been universal, except here. You may be a particularly exacting judge of written communication, and evidently we?ve fallen short of your benchmark.
Given that there were parts of the book that you liked, and given that indeed the book is not intended for ?social media people? but rather for business people, it seems a bit unfair to slap a ?8 reasons you don?t need to read the now revolution? headline on this post. But, if you want to accentuate the negative to generate clicks, that?s a choice YOU made.”

As I say at the beginning of the post, I like and respect Jay Baer – but I wonder if the responses above were the best way to respond to the review?

Defense or Defensive?

As a few people in the comments of the post have picked up, Jay’s comment comes across as defensive overall (although he does temper that with points on where he agrees with the post). From the comments section:

Morgan: “…defending your work is like saying I made a mistake, now I must explain myself. His work will either speak for itself or it won?t.“
Grayson: “If you have so many great reviews, why are you so concerned about one negative one? It is an opinion and there are many people who will read your book just to see if they agree. They will then decide for themselves.”
Bob LeDrew: “You guys had 224 pages to make your arguments. I don?t know that you need to make two separate replies to Jay D?s 1200 words of review. Let the book stand or fall on its merits and on the readers? responses, sez me.”
Dean: “Is there a Chapter in the book on ?when? to respond to a negative review from a blogger so as not to make a mountain out of a molehill? Seems you?ve just unnecessarily started a more visible spitting match and elevated his stature by lowering yours.”

Perhaps the reason a few of the comments have questioned Jay’s response is that if social media has taught us nothing else, the “wrong” response can soon get out of control.

I can understand Jay’s protection of his baby (I did the same thing a couple of years back with 12for12k), but the perceived defensiveness of his comment has perhaps put him in a less than flattering light. Which is the opposite of what Jay is, from what I’ve seen from my interactions with him.

Maybe Jay was having a bad day. I’ve had Jay respond to some questions on this blog and he’s always been personable (even when I’ve been a bit playful). The problem is, bad days can have an impact on a person or brand if it’s shared in public.

Feedback is a natural part of having something for public consumption. We all get it; we all deal with it differently on any given day. It’s not always easy to hold your tongue when something you care so deeply about is questioned.

Like I say, Jay’s a good guy, and maybe this was just a bad day reaction. But sometimes you need to just walk away when the question of defending yourself arises.

For businesses, it’s a hard line to manage. For consultants offering advice on how to walk that line, it’s probably even more important to make sure your line is how you’d advise clients.

What line would you have taken?

image: Mubina H
image: Jay Dolan