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Hi Everyone,

This blog has moved to a new location. To keep reading my posts on communications and public relations essentials, please visit: http://mtrainor48.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your continued interest!

Mike

PR Essentials #2: When Under Attack, Stay Out of The Foxhole!

In PR Essentials #1, I shared my thoughts about "framing" the issue that is under public scrutiny. Framing is most effective when it is used as part of a proactive, rather than reactive, media strategy.

Sooner or later, there will come the day when you or your client is under attack in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately, too many executives react in a press environment much as infantrymen do during an artillery shelling... that is, they dive into the foxhole, curl up in the fetal position and hope for the best.

Time and again, experience has demonstrated the folly of retreating into a no comment, or "foxhole" posture during a hostile media exchange. This is usually the result of executive timidity, often aided and abetted by the advice of lawyers who reflexively cringe at the prospect of client comments living on in print.

It is an unfortunate and axiomatic reality that today's media reaction to the "no comment" stance is much like a teenage boy who gets snubbed by the girl of his dreams at the high school dance... a mixture of "how dare they" followed by "I'll show them”! That's why you often see newspaper accounts that include nuggets like this: "Mr. Smith's office was asked for comment, but declined to return a reporter’s repeated phone calls”.

Let’s face it…”no comment” is a non starter in today’s media environment. Invariably, it brands the individual or organization as, at best, having something to hide or, at worst, guilty as hell.

So, I always advise my clients to stay out of the foxhole. There is safe ground available…so long as you have crafted a message that safely delivers your side of the story without sending your attorney scrambling for his/her bottle of Xanax. Trust me…there is ALWAYS something that can and should be said publicly, no matter how dire the matter nor how terrified the management team may be.

Remember, that 40 column inch front page news story that the nreporter is preparing is a spatial reality…you can choose to fight to “own” as much of that space as possible by commenting, or you can surrender it ingloriously to the other side.

And, you need to come out to “play” when the game starts…not two days or two weeks later. If you wait, you annoy the news media, give every conspiracy theorist in your market new fodder for speculation and, in general, you forfeit the match.

Finally, the willingness to stand and speak to the media cannot be a spot decision made under the pressure of a breaking crisis or development. The organization needs to have a standing policy that it will always respond to the media…always!

For more on this topic, see my series of posts on crisis communications here: SpeakEasy: Crisis Management Keys

Till next time...

PR Essentials (Periodic Musings on What’s Worked For Me): #1: Framing the Public Discussion

fWhether you are a client organization or a PR counselor, it's easy to overlook the opportunity to frame the public's perception of, and ensuing discussion of, whatever major communications issue you or your client may have at hand.

Example: A strike by nurses at a local hospital can be perceived as either the last-ditch efforts by professionals to get better wages OR as an irresponsible work stoppage that threatens the health of the local community. Union leadership will do all it can to frame the issue as economic justice while hospital managers/trustees have the option of framing the issue as an "irresponsible work stoppage".

Public perception of the above example will depend on which side does a better job in "framing". Here's what I mean:

The union wins the framing contest if it delivers killer points such as how their members are significantly underpaid in comparison to their peers at other hospitals and explains that the hospital management refused to go to mediation/arbitration.

Management wins if it delivers winning points that speak to wage parity with nurses at other hospitals as well as the need to curtail specific elective services during the work stoppage.

It's helpful to view the public as a blank chalkboard and the news media as the piece of chalk you will influence as the message is written on the board. It's best to assume that the public at large will have little if any prior awareness of or interest in the vast majority of issues you or your client will have to bring before the public. And, while it is the job of the news media to present all sides of the story, the reality is that not all sides of an issue are created equal... meaning if your facts and figures, reasons and rationale etc. are stronger and better, or delivered sooner and more consistently, chances are the public's going to accept your framing of the issue.

Remember, you cannot frame the issue by merely uttering the way you want the public to see it. You have to prove it, early and often.

This is where facts and figures and clearly understandable rationales are essential. Certain rules apply here:

• Facts and figures must be easily understood.
• They must be attributable to a credible source.
• They must be deployed in a way that supports whatever the rationale of your side may be. It's all about developing a "logic tree".
• They must be available at the very beginning of the process….it's hard to introduce new facts midway through a very public debate or discussion.
• They must be repeated at every opportunity to ensure that they are getting "heard”.

Here's the payoff: in the example above, if the union has won the framing game, the headline in the paper may read "Striking Nurses Document Lower Wage Base". Or, if management has won the framing contest, the headline may read "Hospital Managers Document Wage Parity; Warn of Service Curtailment".

If you lose the framing contest, you are figuratively swimming against the tide, as a certain percentage of your effort and results in print/broadcast will have to be expended in refuting the framing from the other side. More often than not, you will lose the public debate.

So, be prepared to frame... at the outset, authoritatively, and consistently... over the duration of any public communications event.

When Advertising Perception Absolutely Disconnects From Reality

Alas and alack... it is the ad curmudgeon, back at you with more pent-up ranting about some of the more regrettable curiosities in my chosen profession.

I am speaking of a certain category of dreadful TV commercials—the ones for those medic alert necklaces or the ones for those glitzy home security companies-- which present wretched little morality plays concerning the necessity of their product.

You are, I am sure, aware of this genre of TV-viewer abuse. Depending on which company we are speaking of, these TV commercials will open with a shot of a frail old lady or a fetching 30-something female. In either instance, their lives are about to be turned upside down.

Before we know it, the old lady has fallen (and yes, inevitably, cannot get up) or the fetching 30-something matron of the house is startled as the front door of the house bursts open to reveal a deranged intruder who has a visage that could frighten Hannibal Lecter. The requisite wailing for help and/or screams of terror ensue.

In both cases, however, the scene then shifts to "command central"... otherwise known as a call center, except that is made to look like is the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. In the case of our fallen, frail lady, a fresh-faced, properly concerned female speaks in soothing and reassuring tones to our fallen lady, announcing that the paramedics are en route. The fact that this response comes within nanoseconds of the fall seems to be not an impediment to the logic of these spots.

In the case of the home break-in, roughly 2/10 of one second from the appearance of the ogre at the door, the home phone begins to ring and (cut to shot of Starship Enterprise bridge) a rugged looking male figure (a younger version of the Marlboro Man) inquires as to whether anything is wrong. Silly goose!! Why the hell do you think the subscriber’s alarm has sounded on your fancy control panel!?!

Nonetheless, our winsome heroine (still breathless from screaming at the top of her lungs) reports that the intruder tried to get in. Rugged looking male states he will send help immediately.

In a further disconnect, no matter how powerfully evil the intruder is, he immediately flees when the outside alarm begins to blare. A disappointing lack of follow-through, to say the least.

Now, I've had the opportunity to see "real" call centers and, believe me, they bear no resemblance to what we see on TV. They are staffed by individuals whose pursuit of the American dream has ended well short of the goal line... and their demeanor reflects this. A mix of lethargy and repressed hostility at the essential unfairness of life permeates the room. I cannot imagine this lot responding immediately to any stimuli, with the possible exception of lower intestinal distress.

In a profession where perception and reality are seldom well acquainted, this genre of TV spots is particularly objectionable. But that's not to say it couldn't be worse... at some point in the future I want to inflict upon you my absolute hostility towards personal injury lawyer commercials.

Enough of this blather! Till next time...

A chorus or two from one of my favorite R&B tunes: "I got the local ad blues"

Throughout my 30-year career, I've often marveled at the inanity of many local market ads, especially those done without the help of a professional agency.

Maybe it is because I am approaching my dotage, but I am finding it harder and harder to resist the temptation to respond to one of these local efforts by calling the advertiser’s number (or better yet, striding into their retail location) and bellowing at the top of my voice "what the hell are you doing!?!"

I am sure you all know of the type of advertiser I'm speaking about... the local plumbing service, the realtor, the low-tech, limited service credit union trying oh so desperately to hang on. I don't know what it is about these people….but they seem to have a death wish when it comes to running effective advertising.

Let's start with the most egregious mistake...the accidentally hilarious attempt at differentiation.

We've all seen it over the years... some hapless artisan or tradesperson... or the local insurance agency... decides he/she/it should run an ad. Maybe business is off, maybe they've decided Western civilization can progress no further without hearing their views on business, or maybe its just to impress family and friends. First thing they have to do is decide how to go about distinguishing their businesses from the competition. In a very curious form of reverse-think, their search for differentiation often produces positioning descriptions that are stupefying, standardized, homogenized and otherwise “safe”. And amazingly ineffective.

Example: in my local market there is an arborist known as "Mike's Professional Tree Service". Clever name... no doubt intended to separate Mike from all those unprofessional tree services. But wait, Mike's search for distinction does not stop there. His local radio ads proudly declaim him as a company that offers "prompt, courteous and professional service" . Hmm… I wonder just how many chronically late, discourteous and unprofessional arborist services are out there, and if so, why the hell they haven't gone out of business or been closed down by the local authorities. It's a marketing offense that makes me want to scream... loudly!

At the end of the day, I feel sorry for Mike and the tens of thousands of other small businesses that have fallen into the trap of "undifferentiated differentiation". I must wag an accusing finger at local radio sales reps... many of whom ought to be convicted of media malpractice for even suggesting that a company go on air with no marketing framework or thinking behind them. And I would characterize as unindicted co-conspirators the "creative copywriters" at many stations who grind out local spot after local spot, an amazingly large majority of which seem to follow the same theme and form... one that I call "the especially dreaded overheard conversation between two nitwits"

The "overheard conversation" is the oldest chestnut in the radio copywriter’s bag of tricks. I believe this is because these spots are so ridiculously easy to write... in fact they are mindless rhetorical exercises.

Example:

Wife: "Oh honey, I just opened our bank statement and I get so confused trying to read it"(memo to file... notify the National Organization for Women (NOW) that their gender is continually beaten down in this genre of radio spots)

Husband: Don't worry, dear, I've just switched our bank account to Inoffensive Bank and Trust. Their account statements are so clear that little Jimmy could understand them" (another memo to file: why hasn't NOW ever protested how, in these overheard conversation spots, the husband is arbitrarily making the big decision? Huh? Inquiring minds want to know. Especially since, were we all to be honest, in 99 9/10% of the cases these roles are reversed.)

I can't imagine why anyone would find the "overheard conversation" spots appealing. It would be one thing if our nitwit characters were murmuring vague obscenities to one another or plotting the overthrow of our government... then, maybe, people would listen. But I firmly believe the vast majority of listeners tune these thoughts out about one second into the script.

The tragedy is that it does not take a lot of intellectual candlepower to figure out a basic differentiation strategy for any company no matter how large or how small. It just requires some time and effort... something that seems curiously absent in so much of our local market advertising.

If I have offended any radio employees or local market advertisers, I'm not sorry.

Till next time…