I spent an absorbing hour this week with an international corporate communications guy from the US.
It's always good to chat to someone who sits at the cutting edge of the profession and is in a position of seeing PR from different angles given their work takes them across territorial borders on a regular basis.
Something the PR guy said really resonated:
"Sell the light, not the lightbulb."
Wow! Love it! (I'm quite partial to the odd good analogy).
It certainly relates well to public relations generally, but is particularly relevant in today's hyper-connected and information-overloaded environment.No-one is interested in your product (lightbulb), but shed some light on other more interesting matters relevant to your brand and the industry/category in which you operate and you might just get our attention.
Does your brand stand for more than just the products or services you sell?
Is it genuinely hooked into the community? Does it add value to my life in some way?
If nothing else, what's the benefit to me?
As the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto so eloquently put it:
If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change.
The 'lightbulb' isn't interesting, but the 'light' is.
What about you? Are you still trying to sell the lightbulb, or have you seen the light?
