Starting a Movement

One of the things as PR pros we can do is for the audience is let them know when it's safe to whoop, holler or applaud.

This is what our clients always want us to do.  It’s kind of like how to start a movement.

Often, we hesitate to spread the word and recommend something because it doesn't feel safe to do so. It's better to say nothing than it is to feel stupid.

Joining in on the standing ovation at the end of a Broadway play isn't some sort of callow sellout. It's actually a tradition that offers solace for the timid or uninitiated.

The trick in PR is to get to the tipping point.

The tipping point is when a lone weirdo has attracted so much of a following that it would just feel stupid NOT to join him.  Am I thinking Steve Jobs?

We like to learn from the shirtless dancer… if you have not seen his video then here’s a 3-minute version that can spice your day up…

4 golden rules to make your PR writing sparkle

Writing for PR can be simple if you follow 4 golden PR rules:

1. Brief—make every word matter. Learn to give bloggers and reporters the one quality they find irresistible.

2. No intro needed—get to the point, FAST. learn how to cut words but keep your message intact and unforgettable. Remember - who, what, where, when and how.

3. Lead—you have to market your writing! Learn to write a headline that anchors readers to your teaser and first paragraph every time. That means being creative and having some fun.

4.  Tell the story—if your story isn’t interesting, dramatic, with a real human for a hero, it doesn’t matter how well written it is. Readers crave a story, so you have to give them what they want - a powerful narrative.

Every piece of PR writing is a tool that needs to be carefully crafted.  Follow the 4 golden PR rules, and you're set.

The Science of Persuasion in Public Relations

If you’re in the business of public relations, then you’re in the business of persuading people.

This happens at two levels:

1 - the wider PR practice – the reason for media interaction and coverage is so we can reach an organization’s PR goals. In essence we’re persuading the target audience to act in a way that is congruent with our objectives.  Most often for the clients we represent this is persuading a group of people in a set geography to purchase a given product or service.  Of course, when we move into crisis communications, then this objective is often to change the perceived opinions a group of people have about an organization.

2 - at the day-to-day level, if we’re a PR pro that interacts with the media to gain coverage, then we are simply trying to persuade reputable journalist to listen to our message and include it in their reporting.

Either way, we’re in the business of persuading.

So, wouldn’t it be great if we could increase our persuasiveness?

As it turns out, there is quite a considerable amount of scientific research that can make us more effective atpersuading others.  It is scientifically validated and often doesn’t cost us any money to implement. 

Want to know what the 6 main drivers to increased persuasiveness are?

To sum up – they are:

• Reciprocity

• Scarcity

• Authority

• Consistency

• Liking

• Consensus

I could write about them for a long time, but better still, watch this fantastic video and in under 12 minutes you’ll have mastered how to ethically increase your persuasiveness.  A much needed skill in the world of PR.

How good are you at persuading?

How to sell in today's marketplace

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, author Daniel Pink notes in his new book To Sell Is Human, 1 out of every 10 Americans works in sales. Is that less than before? Certainly. But have the Internet and online shopping brought the sales function to the precipice of extinction, as so many have predicted? Not quite, Pink writes. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data (replicated by corresponding statistics in other developed countries) vastly understates the amount of "selling" going on when we consider what selling, according to Pink, really entails: "persuading, influencing and convincing others."

This is what he calls "non-sales selling." Most people, Pink explains, are involved in non-sales selling, no matter what their profession. Examples cited by Pink include physicians who sell patients on a remedy, lawyers who sell juries on a verdict, teachers who sell students on the value of paying attention in class, entrepreneurs selling to funders, writers selling to producers and coaches cajoling players to play their best. In fact, it’s no longer completely accurate to see producing and consuming as the two most important economic activities, Pink writes. "Today, much of what we do also seems to involve moving," he explains. "That is, we’re moving other people to part with resources — whether something tangible like cash or intangible like effort or attention — so that we both get what we want."

Why Sales Is So Important

Why are so many people devoting their valuable time to selling when the practice is allegedly in decline? Pink offers three reasons:

1. Entrepreneurship. The past few years (thanks in great part and a bit ironically to the Internet) have seen the rise of small entrepreneurship — small shops or one- or two-person enterprises selling, as Pink writes, "services, creativity and expertise." For these small-business owners and micro-entrepreneurs, there is no dedicated sales force to bring in the customers; they are their own sales forces.
2. Elasticity. Once upon a time, Pink writes, "if you were an accountant, you did accounting." However, intense competition and economic conditions have forced organizations to go "flat" — or at least flatter. As a result, functions are no longer rigidly separated as in the past. Job descriptions are broader and usually involve some kind of selling.
3. Ed-Med. Education and health are among the fastest-growing industries, and as the examples of the teachers and physicians above demonstrate, much of education- and health-related work involves non-sales selling. "Of course," Pink notes with characteristic humor, "teaching and healing aren’t the same as selling electrostatic carpet sweepers. The outcomes are different. A healthy and educated population is a public good, something that is valuable in its own right and from which we all benefit. A new carpet sweeper or gleaming Winnebago, not so much."

The New ABCs

When selling is mostly "moving" people, the old rules of selling no longer apply. After making his case for the predominance of non-sales selling in our lives, Pink outlines the different strategies for 21st-century selling. He begins, in the second section of his book, by showing how the traditional mantra of selling, "Always Be Closing," has been replaced by a new set of ABCs: Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity. Attunement is to be in harmony with those around you — which is why, Pink writes, extraverts are not the best salespeople. They don’t take the time to become attuned. (Introverts aren’t necessarily the best, either, Pink notes.) Buoyancy is knowing how to always be "afloat" in a difficult world of constant rejection, thanks to one’s resilience and optimism. Clarity, in Pink’s approach, refers to the art of problem finding — different from the traditional emphasis on problem solving. Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity are the attributes of the new successful salesperson. In the final section of the book, Pink outlines the three core abilities — knowing how to pitch, how to improvise and how to serve — required to succeed.

Pink, a best-selling author whose books include Drive and A Whole New Mind, has once again expanded his readers’ perspectives on how the world really works, with insight and humor bolstered by solid research.

So what does this mean to marketing and PR?

From what we can tell, marketing and PR becomes even more important when we're not involved in the heavy sales cycle.  Need to persuade? Need to motivate? Need to build credibility? You need PR.

Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity are the attributes of the new successful salesperson.

And if you need Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity you need PR.

PR messages and what your brand stands for

We often work for clients and develop their PR messages based on their brand. Our first question is, what does your brand stand for?

If you tell me about service and quality and customer focus, you haven't answered my question, because a hundred other brands stand for that. If you are what others are, then there's nothing here to own or protect or build upon.

Compared to what? Compared to all those that you compete with for attention, for commerce, for donations and for employees, what do you stand for? Are you one of a kind or even one in a million?

Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton... they don't actually stand for anything, do they? They can't, because they stand for precisely the same thing. Puma vs. Adidas vs. Nike... They all want to stand for winning. How substantial are the differences?

Make a list of the differences and the extremes and start with that. A brand that stands for what all brands stand for stands for nothing much.

One you understand what your brand stands for, you can actually develop your PR messages.