Trevor Young | PR Warrior blog | Where PR meets social media meets content marketing

PR Strategy Steps for Thought Leadership

This is a guest post by corporate communication practitioner, Craig Pearce. It is an edited version of an article in a free white paper, The Holy Trinity of public relations. Download it here.

The first major step in the process of generating thought leadership content – a building block of best practice public relations – is understanding organisational business objectives and imperatives.

The second is ensuring thought leadership content operates as an integrated pillar in a cohesive communication strategy ‘whole’.

And the third is ensuring that organisational leadership supports and buys in to the thought leadership approach that professional communicators are espousing.

Without their support two things will occur:

• Budget will wither on the vine for the initiative, if indeed the vine even gets to grow
• Sufficient time from senior leadership will not be dedicated towards the thought leadership pillar.

The latter point is more of an issue than in most other forms of communication, due to senior leadership being imperative in providing at least some insights that communicators can weave their magic from. Senior leadership will also need to, at least a little, provide a personal presence for marketing purposes to help give the initiative stature and credence.

When describing thought leadership, it is hard to go past corporate communication expert Craig Badings:

“Thought Leadership is establishing a relationship with and delivering something of value to your stakeholders and customers that aligns with your brand/company value. In the process you go well beyond merely selling a product or service and establish your brand/company as the expert in that field and differentiate yourself from your competitors.”

Other salient characteristics of thought leadership include:

• Authenticity
• Uniqueness
• Value.

Thought leadership: a comms paradigm with chutzpah

Thought leadership involves providing content that is original, thought provoking but, above all in the context of business, useful for organisational target audiences and, ideally, prompts them to tell others about the value that it has provided them. Even more pedantically, these ‘others’ will either be more target audiences or influencers on target audiences.

A challenge for senior leadership will be that a large part of thought leadership involves challenging orthodoxies. There is no point in replicating information that already exists and/or has no vitality, personality or chutzpah about it.

Life is too short for vanilla; go for flavour!

This is what will engage people, not dreary corporate join-by-numbers verbiage that is clearly space filler and has no utility or fascination for organisational target audiences. Thought leadership that offers nothing new, no insights or is an excitement vacuum…is an oxymoron.

And whilst controversy is an ideal characteristic of thought leadership, the reality is that it isn’t often achievable, due to the wariness of senior leadership to gravitate too far from their comfort zone. And that’s fine. There is plenty to work with that can avoid the ‘sensationalist’ (no-go?) zone.

Steps to thought leadership content

The generation of thought leadership content and leveraging it to enhance reputation, create more positive target audience relationships and facilitate the achieving of organisational objectives – including increasing profits – entails:

1. Identifying who the employees fronting the thought leadership program are
2. Identifying topics that organisational leaders have considerable expertise in, are passionate about and/or would like to be known for discussing – primarily for business reasons but there could be personal drivers to this as well, then exploring these topics with the leaders
3. Decide which of these topics are best for the organisation to focus on and will help accentuate its differentiation, reputation and branding
4. Undertaking further research on the topics and applying creative licence to them
5. Creating a thought leadership content placement plan, with media outlets, for instance, listed and prioritised
6. Developing thought leadership content
7. Potentially involving 3^rd party alliances in content development
8. Customising thought leadership content in a manner suitable for the communication mechanisms it will be distributed through (e.g. opinion pieces for media placement; white papers for mail/email; business presentations; website/social media)
9. Distributing (e.g. directly to stakeholders) and/or placing (e.g. in media or on digital platforms) this content
10. Ensuring that as much leveraging of the content as possible occurs through a communication ‘echo chamber’, optimising its use across mediums and target audience segments
11. Analyse the program’s impact against communication and business objectives.

Advanced thought leadership methodologies

The clever public relations professional who facilitates this process will be assiduous in applying three methodologies, in particular, to gain the best possible result. The qualitative level at which these methodologies are applied constitutes the difference between an acceptable PR pro and a truly excellent one:

• Undertake research on the organisational leader before interviewing them. The intent is to gain quite an intimate understanding of their personal take on organisational objectives and passions. Talk to their PA and other people in the organisation; undertake research into presentations and media interviews they have done; conceptualise how this information fits into organisational business and marketing objectives
• Be creative in the weaving in of themes, issues, perspectives and insights that the organisational leader did not flag in his or her initial sharing of thoughts (some of which will be based on pre-interview research). The application of this creativity can add significant value to the process and elevate the thought leadership content. The excellent PR pro will be adept at extending the leader’s thoughts, or at least their direction, so the recommended value-adding seems as if it was indeed part of the initial leader’s thinking
• Challenging what the leader had to say in his or her proposed thought leadership content. This is not to refute it, but to test it, to inject it with added rigour and to round out the thinking with additional perspectives.

Applying these methodologies to the thought leadership generation process will help propel it to the highest and most impressive level possible. 

This post is an edited version of an article in a free white paper, The Holy Trinity of public relations, produced by experienced corporate communication practitioner, Craig Pearce. The white paper is available as a free download for all email subscribers to his blog, Public relations and managing reputation. The white paper provides an overview of the strategic dimensions of, and practical implementation tips on,  thought leadership, 3^rd party credibility and strategic alliances. Download the whitepaper here.

 

The 55-minute Guide to Leadership Communication

GUEST POST by Geoff Barbaro, co-founder of Corporate Growing Pains

There is so much uncertainty in public relations. Constant discussion on who owns which part of the communications landscape.

Calls for more and more evaluation to prove PR’s worth to the CEO (and sometimes to achieving corporate goals!). Debates about convergence, integration and which department communications should be in.

And, of course, the big one – what should practitioners call themselves and their profession.

These are all symptoms of a profession struggling with its very foundations. PR has replaced the foundations with formulaic concepts of marketing communications, media relations, crisis management, internal communications and stakeholder relations.

Artificiality and Dehumanisation

Public relations has fallen into the same trap of artificiality and dehumanisation as management, businesses and organisations have generally over the last few decades.

There needs to be a return to the foundations.

Communication is a human activity. More than that, communication is integral to every human endeavour. PR has no mortgage on it and can’t control it, but can help organisations utilise it to achieve a vision.

Organisations are groups of people.Those people have values that they share and are shared by their customers (or did until HR lost its way and started recruiting on ready-made skills instead). They identify a problem and have a solution to that problem (or did until accountants lost their way and insisted on diversification for risk management based on rigid cost accounting). They can make the solution available to everyone who experiences the same problem (or did until managers created marketing that focused on product instead of people).

As I watched a group of late primary school students march down our street chanting “we want a high school” I saw how far business organisations have moved from being human organisations.

These students didn’t want to be separated from their friends just because there’s no high school in this area (which has four primary schools). They had values they shared, a problem and a solution.

Modern organisations looking for long-term success are moving back to this approach, and we see movements like Steve Denning’s Radical Management, Umair Haque’s New Capitalism and Gary Hamel’s Management Innovation Exchange becoming increasingly popular as a result.

Leadership Communication

Public relations has to move this way as well, and recognise its own foundations.

Clearly, if the underlying basis of an organisation is to achieve a vision, then the fundamental basis for all organisational communication should be 'leadership communication'.

Leadership is based in shared values, identifies shared desires (aka problems) and drives action towards achieving a vision (aka solutions) to benefit others. Recognise that as being the foundation for an organisation? This is how organisational alignment is created.

So I developed a framework for leadership communication and Verb Publishing put it in a book called The Leader’s Beacon: The 55-minute guide to Leadership Communication.

The Leader’s Beacon:

• Moves communication away from management by objectives, plans and campaigns and into more creative and adaptable frameworks that are better suited to the complexity of human communication.

• Creates a framework that could be used in any culture, however open or closed (other than authoritarian), and that could be adapted by individuals to be very personal and simple to implement.

•  Provides a system that caters for the uncontrolled, multi-faceted and chaotic nature of communication and people in organisational relationships.

The Leader’s Beacon isn’t solely influenced by the Western English speaking world, in particular North American business and communication writings.

Public relations frameworks must be flexible to cater for local multicultural and global communities, breaking away from traditional command and control models of business and communication that are still dominant in North America.

With a leadership communication framework in place, all of the specific types of PR plan and campaign can be developed in ways that reflect the shared values, the humanity and the aspirations of the people who make up organisations, including customers.

It is time for public relations to re-establish its foundations if it is to be a relevant profession for long-term, sustainable organisations.

The Leader’s Beacon: The 55-minute guide to Leadership Communication is available from Amazon. It is published by Verb Publishing (UK). More information on this book and other 55-minute guides is available here.

Geoff Barbaro established Corporate Growing Pains with Michelle Delebet in 2010. He is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a long-term member of the PRIA. He tweets as @Geoff_Barbaro and @CoGrowingPains (with Michelle).

 

 

Are the Days of the 'Big Reveal' Numbered?

An empty shop around the corner from where I live is in the throes of being turned into a cafe/bar/restaurant of sorts (according to the notification of a liquor licence pasted to the front window).

A couple of weeks ago, a couple of young dudes were busy renovating the inside of the shop. I was intrigued to see what they were doing to the place.

Days later, the window had been painted over, blocking the view of any stickybeaks who happened to be passing by.

How many times have you seen that?

A vacant shop undergoes renovation by its new tenants and window is plastered with sheets of newspapers so no-one can see inside. The reason, I guess, is to perpetuate an air of mystery, to keep potential customers guessing.

Marketing used to be all about that, didn't it?

The expectation...THE BIG REVEAL!

Car companies were the masters. It was all about unveiling the product at some major motoring show in front of the world's motoring press. Apple too have been brilliant in this regard.

Product launch modus operandi

However, with social media the all-pervasive beast that it is, it's pretty difficult to keep things 'under wraps' all the time. Just ask the film industry, which battles constantly against video leaks of forthcoming releases.

And then there is the influence of tech companies and their product launch modus operandi - the beta release. Put it out there and test the product in the marketplace, in real time.

If the social web has taught us anything, it's that people want to peek 'behind the curtain' - to see the machinations of your organisation, to find out what's going on. We're a curious bunch, we like to get involved (and as a brand, you should want people interested enough to want to be involved).

This is a good thing, of course. It builds connection and engagement with the people who matter most to your business. By your keeping constituents in the loop, you're making them part of the story.

Yesterday's thinking

But a lot of companies still persist in adopting the cloak of secrecy. Sometimes, there might be a legitimate reason for it. Other times, however, it's yesterday's thinking.

Just like an organisation's communications - do you put up the corporate firewall and attempt to control the message, or open up a bit, connect a little more and draw people to your brand by involving them in the process?

I'm not advocating one strategy over the other - there are cases for both; I'm merely making an observation.

What's the most effective launch strategy today? 

Hold it...protect it...keep it secret in readiness for the big reveal (and hope people are still interested?).

OR...

Eke out details...give people something to talk about, things to share with their friends and peers; open up the curtains a bit...take the newspaper off the metaphorical window and show your new project taking shape before their eyes?

Public Relations 2011: Issues, Insights and Ideas

Sydney-based strategic communications consultant and blogger, Craig Pearce, has just released a timely e-report called Public Relations 2011: Issues, Insights, Ideas.

Craig compiled and edited the report - essentially, a PR thought leadership 'e-dossier' - with the help of a disparate band of PR folk from around the globe (I'm proud to say the PR Warrior was lucky enough to be included in such esteemed company).

Contributors include academics and practicing professionals from countries such as Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, England and Australia.

Useful and stimulating

Says Craig: "There are few, if any, e-reports of this nature that include a range of useful and stimulating information on public relations. So apart from featuring content that is passionate, intellectually engaging and useful, it’s likely Public relations 2011: issues, insights, ideas is somewhat innovative in form."

  

A quick scan of the contents will give you a good feel for what the report is all about: 

• PR education – getting the theory-practice balance right - Professor Jim Macnamara

• Critical elements public relations strategy should always consider - Paul Roberts

• Let’s talk sense about trust and CSR - Paul Seaman

• PR is second rate CSR - Craig Pearce

• Are you ready for the social revolution? - Mandi Bateson

• Internal journo and SEO expert; new ‘trust’ calisthenics for the PR pro - Judy Gombita

• How social media has added value to the PR agency business - Trevor Young (ahem, that would be me)

• Messiah or just socially inept - Dwight Whitney

• PR primer for (social) networking - Judy Gombita (Judy has interviewed Craig here)

• Is social media is helping PR become more influential as a business discipline - Craig Pearce

• Issue management: changing risks, changing expectations - Dr Tony Jaques

• To CEO or not to CEO? Crisis communication in action - Jane Jordan-Meier

• What fascinates PR students? - Catherine Sweet

• Fundamental truths of success in public relations - Craig Pearce

• The power of PR and what makes it unique - Craig Pearce

 

Available from Pearcie's blog:

 Public relations 2011: issues, insights, ideas is available free for email subscribers from Craig Pearce’s blog, Public relations and managing reputation.

According to Craig (left), content in the report will enhance PR professionals’ practical ability and strategic knowledge, expand their knowledge of the discipline’s power and jolt them with ideas and assertions.

Great job Craig!

 

The PR Warrior Storms Brisbane for IABC Event

Last week I facilitated a roundtable discussion in Brisbane for the Queensland chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Topic for the evening was 'Communicating in a Hyper-Connected World'.

We had a solid turn-out, close to 20 people (that's all the boardroom venue would hold). Discussion was a bit slow to take off but once everyone realised they faced similar issues and challenges, participants freely exchanged views, ideas and experiences on what it was like to communicate in today's marketplace.

We didn't just discuss the social web either. I think professional communicators have probably had a gut full of debate on 'the tools' themselves (Twitter, Facebook etc).

Rather, the conversation settled around major themes emanating from the new media landscape and what they meant for PR and communications people.

Here were some of the points discussed:

• CONSUMER ACTIVISM – power to the people!
• YOU ARE THE MEDIA – every brand can now be its own TV network, radio station & online magazine

• THE RISE & RISE OF THE MULTIMEDIA MICRO-STAR – influencers are everywhere!

• 'PUSH' GIVES WAY TO 'PULL' – traditional media's relationship with the social web

• WHOOOSH! THE '5-MINUTE' NEWS CYCLE – 24 hours is an eternity in cyberspace

• 'NICHE-IFICATION' & THE RISE OF COMMUNITY - explosion of niche communities of interest

• HUMANISATION OF THE BRAND – people do business with people

• TRUST IS THE 'NEW BLACK' – the 'secret sauce' for today's brand communicators

In coming weeks I intend squaring away individual posts on each of these themes. 

I look forward to continuing the conversation with the Brisbane IABC event participants as well as anyone else in marketing and communications interested in this space.

 Photo courtesy @SusanLambe

Communicating in a Hyper-Connected World: let the discussion begin!

“We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp.” 

These words first burst from the pages of The Cluetrain Manifesto back in 1999. 

Talk about 'slow burn'! The theories espoused by the authors of Cluetrain are scarily relevant in today's networked age where anyone with an iPhone and a few idle minutes has the potential to make life difficult for any company or organisation.

The advent of the social web has sparked a fundamental transformation in the way people communicate, connect and collaborate; in turn is having a profound effect on the way marketing and communications professionals go about their business.

On Wednesday, August 18, I will be leading a discussion with the Queensland Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators around the topic 'Communicating in a Hyper-Connected World'.

The questions we will be posing to communication professionals include:

• How well are you navigating the new media landscape?
• What are the broader implications you face as a communications professional?
• Is your organisation sufficiently equipped to communicate with a networked marketplace?

The changes we're seeing in the media landscape are enormous. I'm of the school of thought that social media (collectively, in all its forms) is the most significant event to occur in communications since the advent of the printing press.

Indeed, author David Meerman Scott believes the era of broadcast mass media is merely an aberration - "...the Web has brought communications back full circle to where we were 60 years ago".

Right now there is a growing disconnect between brands that insist on pushing out their pre-packaged messages ad nauseum and consumers who simply aren't listening, or more over, are being influenced like never before by their peers.

At the IABC QLD event we'll look at some of the (intertwining) major themes and trends that are emerging:

• The rise and rise of the micro multimedia star.
• The explosion of niche communities of interest.
• The breakdown of public trust in the 'big end of town'.
• The growing call for openness and authenticity on the part of big brands particularly. 
• The public rage against, and disinterest in, over-hype and spin.
• The escalating power (and speed) of peer-to-peer recommendation.
• The growing disconnect between companies that 'get' the new communications landscape - and those that clearly have no idea.
• The influence of social media on traditional journalism (indeed, the changing face of the media generally).
• The emergence (and implications) of the 'five-minute news cycle'.
  

This facilitated discussion promises to be lively. If you're a professional communicator based in Brisbane, this is one event that should be in your diary!

Let's start the conversation here, right now! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how the PR and marketing communications profession in Australia is dealing with the ever-changing new media landscape.

Event details are as follows:

WHEN:

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

WHERE:

Forrestfield Room. QR National Conference Centre
Level 1, 305 Edward Street 
(next to Central Station and opposite Mincom)
Brisbane (see map below)

BOOKINGS - click here for IABC QLD's Eventbrite page

View Larger Map

COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION: The Corporation, Social Media & Change

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The public relations consulting model, for instance, steadfastly remains similar to 20 years ago yet the media and marketing landscape has altered dramatically in recent years.

The company in which I'm a partner - parkyoung - while far from being a 'maverick' business is certainly keen to push the boundaries of what a communications consultancy should be all about in today's networked market.

For starters, when we established the business mid last year we were adamant that social media (the 'ethos' as much as the 'tools') should be at the heart of our business. That's not to say we've neglected other traditional elements of our profession - far from it! 

Just recently we established a dedicated media relations arm (The Ledbetter Agency) to focus on newspapers, radio and TV publicity while parkyoung continued to specialise in communications strategy, social media planning and content creation.

We also believe in helping to educate clients (indeed, the broader marketplace) to improve their knowledge about communicating in today's complex and cluttered hyper-connected environment. We do this by holding workshops and events, writing blogs (individually and as a company), producing podcasts as well as being available for speaking engagements etc.

So it's with much pleasure that we announce a special event organised by parkyoung in conjunction with Jennifer Frahm Collaborations - called THE CORPORATION, SOCIAL MEDIA & CHANGE.

Here's the spiel:

Has there ever been anything more confusing, daunting and downright confronting for companies, organisations, individuals and brands - than the hyper-connected marketplace?

The social web is fundamentally transforming the way we communicate, connect and collaborate.

• What does this COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION mean for companies and other organisations?
• How can your brand/reputation effectively build trust in your communities, extend influence and protect its reputation?
• How do you create a culture that champions connection and accommodate the changes involved?
• How do you build trust (internally & externally) in the new networked market?

If you're interested in attending (or know someone who might be), more information can be found here, or book via our Eventbrite page.

(click on image to enlarge).

 

Something's Gotta Give!

One of the side-effects of social media has been the amplification of public suspicion (criticism?) of major companies and brands.

Here's a slide I have been using in my presentations of late. Depending on the audience, the content of this slide generally hits home pretty hard.

 
What we have is a situation whereby companies are obsessed with pushing their message out in to the marketplace.

On the other hand,people aren't that interested - ever-growing numbers of consumers do not want to be on the receiving end of inane, incessant chest-beating ads and corporate collateral materials.

Something's gotta give!

Do NOT Hire These Five Corporate Affairs Managers!

As some of you may be aware, I run a strategy and communications advisory firm called parkyoung. My business partner - David Park (aka @parkpr aka 'Parky') - has just pulled off a ripper of a post on parkyoung's blog, 'In Brands We Trust'.

It took a bit of soul-searching by Parky, given he's a former senior corporate affairs advisor and he's now had to re-think and re-shape the boundaries of that particular profession.

 <--- This is Parky!

In this post ('Do NOT Hire These Five Corporate Affairs Managers!'), Parky has had to figuratively poke his former brethren in the eye.

Parky's epiphany came last Friday at the David Meerman Scott Social Media Masterclass (see previous post) - not that he wasn't heading well down the 'new' PR and the social web, but as Parky writes in his post:

"Two of his (Meerman Scott's) 'Rules of the Wave' drilled me. A double-barrelled blast that gave my few remaining templates a bollocking."

What were these two rules?

A. Nobody cares about your products (except you);

B. Lose control of your messages. 

With Meerman Scott's wisdom ringing clearly in his ears, Parky has reeled off five types of corporate affairs manager whom companies and organisations should avoid. They are:

(1) The Propagandist

(2) The Inside Centre

(3) The 'Why So Serious' (hat-tip to Heath Ledger's The Joker)

(4) The Big End of Towner

(5) The Super Strategist

Parky makes some good points. I recommend you check out the full post here.

Selling Social Media to the CEO

Further to a previous post regarding the Social Media Summit 2009 in Melbourne, I gave a presentation called 'The Role of Social Media in PR...and Selling it to the CEO'. 

The 'role' bit is okay - social media is a natural fit with modern-day public relations (but only if PR practitioners let go of the past and wean themselves off press releases that are polished and spun within an inch of their lives). 

The 'selling' part is the hardest because social media is counter-intuitive to most things a CEO holds dear - control of the message, and control over who disseminates information from the organisation.

Some major companies, like Ford, Dell, Starbucks and Microsoft, have long familiarised themselves with social media and today are considered to be corporate leaders in the space. 

In selling the concept of social media to the powers-that-be, my advice is to start with the positives i.e. Wouldn't it be great...

• ...if we could communicate directly with our consumers and stakeholders?
• ...if people actually listened to and interacted with us? 
• ...if we could build a community of fans or advocates for our organisation?

Well, social media can help you achieve those things, better and faster than ever before, but only if its wholly accepted and encouraged by the head honchos, and the 'open brand' attitude is imbued across the organisation.

Is selling the CEO on social media your job?

If you're the person responsible for trying to get the CEO on board, you need to be 'the full bottle' on the vagaries, nuances, ethics and etiquette of the social web; you need to immerse in the space and get an intuitive feel for what works and what doesn't, as well as fully understand the potential pitfalls and opportunities that exist by 'opening up the brand' on the web.

Put simply, you are kidding yourself if you think you can properly understand social media without fully experiencing it first-hand, and that means jumping in personally and getting your feet wet, preferably before trying to sell it to the boss!

Reading about blogging is all well and good (and recommended), but by starting and maintaining a blog, you will learn very quickly what it's all about.

Reading about Twitter is all well and good (and recommended), but only by setting up a personal account and participating in the Twitterverse will you get a solid grounding in the subtleties of the micro-blogging platform.

You get the drift...

Of course, if taking the positive tack doesn't work with the boss, perhaps try using fear: 

• The new reality is that people are more empowered than ever before (they have a voice and they're prepared to use it).
• Shouting at people (one-way broadcast of messages) doesn't work effectively any more.
• Nor does chest-beating or the use of spin and polished corporate jargon.
• Throwing your message out there and expecting people to listen is fast becoming a waste of time, money and resources.
• Find out if any of your competitors are using social media and then show the boss examples of their activity (this may prick the ego into action!).

It's obvious social media isn't a fad but a fundamental shift in the way people communicate, connect and collaborate - to do nothing will mean your company will be left behind (there's a school of thought that companies have something like 12-18 months' grace to get into social media, experiment and make mistakes...after that period, the public will expect you to be social media ready and engaging with them online...and they will be less accepting of those companies that get it wrong).

And if all else fails...buy the boss a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto!

RELATED READING:

Social Media Summit 2009: Lack of Control Looms Large in PR's Minds

Fear (by David Meerman Scott)