Habits of Strategic Thinkers

Liz Hutton

Recently, I had a conversation with a coworker about my personal business goals and what comes next after “intern life.” As I am extremely new to the PR world, this discussion got me thinking about not only what I want for myself in the industry, but also about the skills I need to get to the next level in my career. 

Following this conversation, I took time alone to consider these personal goals. One specific topic that came into mind was how to become a strategic thinker and the importance of strategic planning for a PR professional. This is one skill I definitely need to work on. 

From a fishbowl perspective, I am the person looking in, absorbing every email, brainstorm, meeting and new opportunity to learn about the PR world and the skills my coworkers have mastered. From time to time, we receive requests from our team members looking for insight on specific client needs, such as ideas for a new campaign. Everyone participates as emails begin shooting back and forth between coworkers sharing thoughts, stirring up ideas and backing up their reasons why certain ideas would work best for the client. This is what we call a team brainstorm. In the midst of the chaos of every brainstorm, I find myself wondering how to respond. Where do I even start? How did my coworkers master this skill to be able to spout out incredible, innovative and thoughtful ideas that work so perfectly for our clients? After a few more brainstorms, I realized that my strategic thinking needed a bit of a tune-up.  

I have come up with a guide of questions to hang on my desk and ask myself from now on before every brainstorm: 

• What is the client’s current situation?
• What is the client’s overall business goal?
• How can you generate new ideas? (Insight)
• How can you separate the client from the marketplace “noise”? (Competitive advantage)
• What are the benefits/costs of the offerings? (Value)
• Where should you focus capital, talent and time? (Target audience)
• Are you able to visually capture the essence of the business issues?
• How can you create new value for customers? (Innovation)
• Does the client have a well-developed mission, vision and values? (Main purpose/key message)
• What is the strategy?

Once those questions are answered, it will be much easier to put down into writing how and why the client should move forward. It’s not always easy to transition back and forth from right-brain thinking (creative, intuitive and subjective) to left-brain thinking (logical, analytical and objective), but for a PR professional it is a necessary skill.

Social Media: What’s your Game Plan?

Ali Glemser

Recently, an employee for the Lacoste clothing company posted a picture of his paycheck on his private Instagram account and wrote, “Paycheck. Still silly to me. Ever since I was a kid I've thought it was completely insane that we have to work all our lives. I still feel that way. Especially when it's only enough to live in a third world apartment….which for some reason in NYC is ok…I'm done with it.”

The employee was terminated after a “friend” of his showed a copy of the post to Lacoste. The company stated he violated confidentiality terms of his employment.  

Sure, the employee’s comments were negative and, by the transitive property, were associated with the Lacoste brand. But let’s consider the bigger picture, and perhaps, choose our battles more wisely. 

One, the employee had a private account, meaning he must choose who can view his pictures. Lacoste never would have never seen this comment without his "friend" bringing it to their attention. Two, the National Labor Relations Act protects wage discussions by employees. It doesn’t appear that Lacoste consulted the NLRA’s provisions before taking action. Three, the public might not know exact figures for job salaries, but most of us can guess the tax brackets certain jobs are in. I think I can speak for most people when I say that I wasn’t surprised to see the employee wished he’d earn a larger paycheck. 

Courtesy of Flickr

Considering these notes, who really caused the negative press for Lacoste? The employee letting off some steam to a small group of hand-selected friends? Or, the company that fired its employee after seeing information from an employee’s private social media account that they didn’t have access to?

Companies must be aware of their perceived image from other businesses, their consumers and their employees. Although companies should monitor these perceptions, they should be proactive in educating employees about social media usage as well. You can’t expect employees to be effective ambassadors of your brand image if you don’t give them the tools to do so. 

A social media plan for employees is important for informing them about your brand and what is unacceptable information to share with people outside of your office. The NLRA protects speech about wages, working conditions and other types of employee information. The NLRA's policies should be the foundation for a social media plan for employees that companies tailor to fit their business. 

Companies may form their own guidelines however they’d like, as long as their policies don’t infringe upon employee rights protected by state and federal governments.  The most important part of the plan is to make sure your employees know about it and that it is enforced fairly. 

Although, the Lacoste employee was unhappy with the amount of money in his paycheck, I’m sure he is worse off with no job at all. Chances are, he would not have risked his employment if he had known about his protected speech rights under the NLRA, and I’m sure Lacoste would have chosen to take action differently if there was already a social media plan in place.

Moral of the story: It is always best to be on the offense, rather than the defense, when handling social media.

Don’t Sell Yourself Short, Literally

Kim Morrison

I recently posed the question to the Obsidian team about what exactly I can and can’t do when it comes to offering help and advice to friends, small business owners and organizations I’m involved in personally, in regards to my noncompete agreement with our firm. Like most people in the PR industry, I’m usually full of ideas and helpful advice, and when it comes to those I know personally, of course I want to do what I can to help them succeed in their dreams and aspirations. At the same time, though, I don’t want to create any conflicts of interest that might hurt my career.

The general consensus from our veteran team members was that talking, providing ideas, giving feedback, etc. was all kosher, up to the point of actually creating, drafting or doing something, which is where the line is drawn. Talk is fine, but doing something is a whole other ball game.

Then, Thomas came back with some even better advice. True, these are people and causes that I’m invested in and want to help, but we’re also talking about giving away my skills, my work, my knowledge and what I get paid to do -- for free. I went to school, worked hard, pushed for experience and built my network to get the job, degree and pile of student loans I can now call my own. Do I really want to give it all away for free?

Courtesy of Flickr

The takeaways I got from this discussion, which can apply to most any field of business, is (1) don’t sell yourself short, and (2) know your limits. 

Yes, I might be new to the PR industry, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything. Between my time in school and my growth here at Obsidian, my skills have grown substantially, and while I’m certainly not at the level of a five-year vet in the industry, I’m slowly getting there. My skills may be new and developing, but they’re still valuable; otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing the work I’m doing. If I’m managing social media for established companies at work, why should I handle social media for the next door neighbor’s landscaping business just because they’ve known me since I was in diapers? 

As for the second point, yes, I want to help my friends, but everyone has to have their limits. A friend who does home repairs may happily paint a small room or fix your sink for free, but are they going to reroof your whole house free of charge? A friend who practices law may give you some advice, but are they going to represent you in court without reimbursement? Most likely not. It’s all a matter of knowing what your limits are and sticking to them. So, give your support, give your advice, give your help to a point, but ultimately, be scrupulous with your skills.

Apps for PR pros on the go

Lauren Hannaford

I’m sure we all have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all of our local media’s smartphone apps downloaded and saved to our home screens, but what apps are other PR pros using? I’ve been using a few different productivity and news apps for a while, but recently I’ve been scrolling through the app store for new ideas. Many of my favorites actually apply to more than just PR pros. Here are a few:

• Pulse News- Pulse is the only Android-only app I use, and I use it on my Kindle. So far, it’s my favorite newsreader, and I roll sources like BBC News, FOX News, USATODAY.com, NBC News headlines, CNN.com, Washington Post, Associated Press top news, etc. into my feed so I can read through headlines quickly. 
• Dropbox- I use Dropbox on my laptop for several projects. The app is great when I’m away from my computer and I need to reference a document quickly. 
• Evernote- This is seriously the best app for note-taking, organizing web clips and photos, adding reminders to note and sharing notes. You can also sync from phone to tablet to desktop. 
• GoToMeeting- If you are a PR pro on the go, this is a given. 
• AP Stylebook- OK, so the app is $24.99, but it makes finding AP style answers a breeze. You can just as easily log into your account via your phone or tablet’s browser and save it to your bookmarks. 
• Compete Site Analytics- Have you ever been talking with someone about what local news outlet site has more visitors? This app ranks sites and gives you  a look at basic analytics. 

I’m still waiting for Vocus PR to come out with an app. For now, the mobile version is pretty good.  What’s the best app you’ve downloaded that you use for your job? Let us know! 

White Noises

Thomas Whitehead

When we do media and ambassador training for clients and organizations, there is one area that I discuss with them as more important than all others when trying to communicate a message to a listener – noise. 

And, there are two types of noise to be mindful of when speaking (or listening) to someone. The first is physical noise. We are all familiar with this. If you are speaking in a public space, you can have street noises, other conversations, store buzzers, store cashiers and tons of other noises that could impact how well someone can really hear your message. 

However, there is also a second type of noise that no one else can hear, but can be twice as loud and distracting as physical noise. And that is mental noise. 

Think about the last time you were at a speaking engagement listening to a presenter. It could be a sermon, a speech, whatever. Now, raise your hand if, for the full length of the speech, you did nothing but think ONLY about what the presenter was discussing. You didn’t think about what you would have for dinner that night, what time your kid’s soccer game is, if your mom is going to need to move into a nursing facility, what you did that day, what you have to do the rest of the day or any other thoughts. 

Courtesy of Flickr

Well, come on, we all do it. It is human nature. We tend to tune in and out when we are listening. And there is nothing wrong with this. However, when you are communicating to someone, you need to be mindful of this possibility, especially in very tense environments. Hospitals and their staff serve as an immediate example, as staff speaks with people who might have a lot of fears, worries, anxieties, sleeplessness and other barriers to hearing your message. 

So what can you do about this? The first step is to be mindful of it. Be aware when someone may not be fully attentive, either by physical or mental noise. 

Secondly, repeat yourself several times, if need be, for important key messages to ensure that they were delivered. 

And thirdly, if you really want to ensure message delivery, don’t feel bad asking the listener to relay back what you said to them. The accuracy of the message delivered is more important than the possible embarrassment of suggesting the person wasn’t listening. 

The silent noises are not quite visible, but know that they are there, ready to hinder your ability to deliver your message. 

Help Us Help You

Liz Hutton

As PR people, we want to help our clients. Our job depends on it. If we do not make our clients happy, then it is simple -- we lose those clients. This is great motivation in itself for a PR rep. We think about what we can do to make our clients happy all the time. But what makes a good client? How can clients effectively work with PR agencies to make the most out of their time with us? Here are a few tips on how you can help us help you to make the best out of your PR investment:

1) Provide information overload. As a client, it is important to make sure to give more than enough information. Don’t be afraid to tell a PR agency everything and anything they need to know, even some things you think may be irrelevant. More often than not, we can make useful connections with information that a client might not see at first. Being open and upfront with the information you CAN share (news, events, challenges, etc.) helps us to do our best job for you and your company. 

2) Be responsive. Many clients ask their PR reps for lots of coverage, but when the curtains rise, they are not available to give them any information. If you hire a PR agency, it is necessary to recognize that many times, PR reps have to turn things around within the hour at the mercy of the news reporters. Journalists are frequently under immense pressure to report a breaking story (or four). If a journalist has a question, responding quickly not only makes your company look good, but it also gives us credibility as a PR agency. Your responsiveness and accessibility help us build better relationships with the reporters, which ultimately leads to more stories and media coverage for your company. 

3) Realize we are on your side.  We want the best and most media coverage for our clients just as much as they do, but there is only so much we can do as far as timing and placement. For example, we can have the most amazing event with all of the information sent in to the media, but where, when, how and if the story gets placed is ultimately up to the news outlet. This amazing event could be set to appear on the front page one day, and the next day before it goes to print, a breaking news story on the other side of town occurs. Your event is no longer relevant. It is not anything we did or didn’t do; simply, what the news outlet wants to cover that day has changed. It is important to be understanding about the type of coverage we are able to garner. Trust us that when all is said and done, our goal is to achieve your overall marketing and communication goals.  

Successful PR goes hand-in-hand with the relationships we build, but relationships are certainly not a one-way street. This list is obviously a small start, but it gives you a good idea on ways to make the most out of your PR investment. Instead of making this a business transaction, make it a real relationship; you will be sure to find your perfect PR match. 

Stop. Give Thanks. And, What PR Folks Are Most Thankful For.

Lauren Hannaford

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it has a simple history, meaning and purpose. Give thanks. Refraining from drowning everyone with a massive tirade on why I hate Black Friday, which has now morphed into Black Thursday/Friday, let me explain. Even if life has been handing you lemons consistently for the past year, there is always something to be thankful for. Even though sometimes it’s hard to see through the darkest of days, there is always a light, a silver lining or a better day ahead. We just have to stop and take the time to look for it. I can’t begin to list everything I’m thankful for; this blog would go on forever. One thing is certain; I don’t stop to think about those things enough. 

I was reading a friend’s personal blog recently and a quote by Christian author Jon Acuff really resonated with me. 

One insult + 1,000 compliments = One insult. 

Truth. 

Sometimes we dwell on things like failures, tough situations, difficult decisions, trying to be perfect, hectic schedules, never-ending to-do lists and other ridiculous worries so much that we fail to see the things we should be giving thanks for. Guilty.  

I think everyone, no matter your profession, can relate to these tips:

• Slow down. When you don’t slow down to think about the task ahead of you, plan effectively and strategize, you make mistakes and miss opportunities. 
• Focus on the good. Even in a crisis or negative situation, focus on what is good. It may be difficult to shake the negative image from your audience’s memory, but focusing on the good gives them something to look forward to, and hopefully, they’ll keep tabs on you or your client and follow up to see if things have changed.
• Don’t focus on the “what ifs.” If you focus on the “what ifs,” you will never be able to make a confident decision. You can come up with a “what if” for literally everything. 
• Move on. When you fail, move on. Dwelling on failures slows you down, keeps your attention from focusing on the good and floods your mind with all of the “what ifs.”

      So what are PR folks thankful for? 

1. Really awesome client relationships
2. Really awesome reporter relationships
3. When a client gets a front page story in one of our local publications
4. Overcoming a huge challenge
5. Helping a client meet a huge business or fundraising goal
6. When we can actually finish everything on our to-do list (Just kidding, this doesn’t happen, because in PR, there’s no such thing as “the end of a to-do list.”)
7. When you meet every deadline for an entire week!
8. When we win awards!
9. Monthly potlucks (at Obsidian)
10. Getting time off to recharge our batteries