By Julie Wright, President
Albert Einstein quipped that genius is one percent
inspiration and 99% perspiration. My formula for PR genius is very similar;
however, it includes equal parts sweat and influence. Or, as I like to put it:
one part legwork, one part arm-twisting and a dash of brilliance.
With advertising or direct mail, you can control who sees
your message, where they see it and when. You can apply metrics to gauge how
many times an ad needs to run before the target really notices it, or how many
thousands of recipients need to receive an offer before the desired number take
action.
But PR pros are in the business of ‘earning’ media coverage
and generating positive word of mouth. Let’s just say that a lot of things have
to align in the time and space continuum to achieve PR success. Therefore, we
sweat the details, probably more so than most other marketing specialties!
Whether the campaign bombs or soars in the end will come
down to how well all of our messaging, storytelling, pitching and spokespeople
worked to influence the opinions and actions of others.
And here’s another old saw: “you can control everything but
the weather and other people.”
Our creativity (that dash of brilliance) can set our
client’s message apart and ensure a compelling story that captures attention
and generates interest.
But we can’t be truly successful unless we sufficiently
influence the client to endorse our approach, the campaign spokesperson to
adopt the right messages and get the story across, the targeted reporters to
cover it and, ultimately, the readers or viewers who must connect with the
content in a way that changes their perceptions or prompts an action.
When we get the formula right and our ideas, effort and
influence come together, the return on investment is tremendous with people
often amplifying our client’s message through shares, likes, Tweets and yet
more media coverage, invitations to speak and positive word of mouth.
With so much riding on our ability to influence other
people’s behaviors and actions, what are some of the ways we work to influence
our clients, campaign spokespeople, media and our target audiences?
Communicate with Clients
Clients may be the toughest to influence. Start by
clarifying their objectives for the campaign or project. What would they
consider ‘success’? Next, manage their expectations. They need to know what it
will take to achieve their idea of success with a timeline, budget and
strategies. Keep clients informed of project status – they should never have to
come to you for an update. If you’ve managed expectations, are moving ahead
with the project in a manner consistent with the expectations you set for the
client and are proactively communicating with them, you are building a platform
of trust. And, ultimately, you can only influence your client if you have their
trust.
Understand the Role of a Spokesperson
Campaign spokespeople need to be provided with messaging
that is short, easy to recall and relevant. When everyone agrees to the key
messages in advance, all press materials, interviews and presentations can flow
efficiently and consistently from that point forward. For inexperienced
spokespeople, media training and ongoing coaching and feedback helps them
improve. For members of the agency team that do not have experience in a spokesperson
role or as media having interviewed numerous spokespeople to know what’s
effective and what’s not, it’s recommended they seek out volunteer
opportunities either by joining a nonprofit’s committee or freelancing for news
outlets. Expert spokespeople like scientists or technologists, who are unable
to speak in layman’s terms, pose a unique challenge. Pre-interview them and ask
“what does that mean?” every time they use jargon, and when they make a point
ask “why is that important to people?” Eventually, they’ll start telling their
story in a manner that’s accessible to people outside of the lab. There are
many resources where you can study and read about media interview and
presentation best practices.
Get to Know the Media
Knowing how reporters work, what kinds of stories they’ve
covered in the past (hint: read their stuff) and plan to cover in the future
(hint: ask them), and how to be responsive and accurate in fulfilling any of
their requests for information, will go a long way to building your influence
with this group. Knowing your client’s business sufficiently well so that you
can answer background questions reporters might need answered before they’ll
commit to a story is also essential. In today’s electronic era, also know how
to write a short email subject line that contains the pitch’s news hook. Be
able to set up your client’s story in one sentence and back it up with a few
key details. And use hyperlinks rather than long scrolling messages.
The subject of influencing these three groups – clients,
spokespeople and reporters – are blog posts in their own right, but the tips
offered here should help. Ultimately, influencing target audiences is as close
to a three-word definition of the entire public relations profession as you’re ever
going to get, so I would need to write a book to expand on that topic. And I’m
too busy sweating, arm-twisting and thinking about client projects for that!
