Differentiate! Know Yourself. Know Your Customer.
Posted on August 11, 2011 | Tags: online public relations, Personal Branding, Reputation Management
Do you know your prospect or customer well enough to capture his attention? Do you know enough about your message to know what to say?
Differentiating is just as much about you as it is about your customer. You actually need to know yourself (your products/services) as well as you know your customer. Why? You need to be able to select just the right messages.
In the early ’90s I started to work with talk radio show producers. Early on, I had the opportunity to be at CBS National Radio headquarters in New York. The producer I was visiting had a desk that was literally stacked several feet high with press packs and releases.
It was in those CBS offices where I discovered why it was our fledgling PR firm was getting such great response from talk stations around the country: my headlines were concise and spoke to the need of the producers. I knew my client’s subjects and I knew the mindset of the busy and overwhelmed producer and host.
Wading through the press materials from other firms and big publishing houses was …. well .. boring! Their headlines, written in 12 point, would often read something like:
John Doe Releases New Book About XXXX
Compare that with 36 point font headlines screaming a question, followed by smaller sub headlines, followed by short paragraphs that promised not to drone on.
I figured if I didn’t have ‘em after those three points .. it probably wasn’t a subject they’d be interested in anyway.
National Enquire-ish? Sure. Effective? You bet.
I KNEW the mindset of the talk show producer and host. I’d been a talk radio junkie in Boston since the early 80s and I listened to how subjects were introduced on the air.
Eventually, I applied the same principles to local tv. I watched how they introduced a story. What was the teaser? How did they talk to the audience? Once I understood that, writing to tv producers became equally as effective. They wanted to book our clients.
The same principles apply to your prospect. How do they want to be communicated to? Are you imposing what YOU believe to be interesting without really consulting their interests?
Know Yourself. Know Your Customer.
Get into their head. Imagine their mindset, their wants and frustrations.
Upcoming articles will delve into: The 3 Steps to Differentiating Yourself; How to Match Your Messages to Your Marketing; When Differentiation Matters Least; 5 Ways to Attract Your Prospect’s Attention, and How to Deploy Your Differentiation Strategy.
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Lady Gaga, Groupon and Organic PR
Posted on February 5, 2011 | Tags: Groupon, Lady Gaga, Organic PR Triangle, Personal Branding, pr, public relations, Reputation Management
Organic PR is a term I coined to describe “parlaying your defining positive elements into a strength position. It’s identifying the elements intrinsic to your business or, in the case of an artist or professional, intrinsic to who you are — that resonates with others.”
Stated another way, Organic PR is: What the people you want to do business with say about you. If your organic PR turns off those whose support you, then it can be said to be “poor PR.” Conversely, if it gets them talking positively to others, you have “good PR.”
Good PR is something you can control.
When intelligent promotion is added to organically great PR, the word grows even faster. But a business with organically bad PR may get a momentary boost from some good promotion, but nothing lasting.
A triangle of organic PR elements is common to Lady Gaga, Groupon and other phenomenal succeses I’ve managed or observed. These are:
An Organic Message. Back in the mid 90s I hired a former editor in his sixties named Paul. Every good story, he explained, had to pass the “Hey Martha” test, which was:
A man and his wife are married for forty years. Each night after work he has the same routine. He eats dinner, puts on his slippers and sits in his easy chair with the evening newspaper. His wife does the same. Once in a while he reads something that piques his interest. That is the only time he and his wife talk. The conversation starts with: “Hey Martha! Listen to this.” He then reads the story aloud.
The “Hey Martha” is your organic message. It takes observing who your market really is and what they respond to about you.
Marketing has a similar concept called the “Unique Selling Proposition” or “USP.” The organic pr message is different because it is who you are and understanding it actually helps you develop your USP. In short, developing a USP is a lot easier when you’ve isolated your Organic PR message.
Lady Gaga’s message “be yourself” sprang from her own self-image of an outcast growing up. She resonated with those who considered themselves “freaks” and other outcasts sensitive to ridicule. That message speaks to a wider segment than just those obviously out of the mainstream, so her organic message continues to spread. Meanwhile, of course her talent is exceptional.
Groupon’s organic message is that of offering local small businesses an opportunity for exposure to a massive number of qualified prospects looking for local deals that these businesses would never otherwise afford to reach.In exchange for the massive amount of exposure and new business, Groupon asks the business to offer a great deal to their subscribers.
In all of these there’s an organic message. Or, as Paul would call it: a “Hey Martha” story.
Connecting to Your Core Market with Authenticity. Don’t expect to get a big bang from generic promotion that doesn’t relate to the prospect and spouts trite messages that everyone else is saying. That’s called zero authenticity — no information go differentiates you.
What if you don’t know who your market is? What if you’re still finding out? By being authentically who you are, you’ll attract those that are attracted to not only your service, but by who you naturally are.
Authenticity is being who you or your company actually are and not faking something you’re not because you think it’s cool.
Speaking to a core market. Organic PR is what the people you do business with say about you. That’s your core market. Build on that and don’t worry about speaking to everyone. Your sphere will widen if you keep speaking to your core.
What if you don’t know who your core market is? Starting a business often entails interacting with lots of different markets before you find the one that is a better “fit.” Keep your eyes open for it, while staying authentic and knowing your organic message. Deliver a great service, product, performance, etc all while observing who you attract.
Or, work it the other way: who do you feel most comfortable interacting with? Who do you know? What are they asking for?
“Message first — then mechanics” as I’ve said in the past. Meaning … know who you’re talking to and what to say before you invest a lot into direct mail, extensive copywriting, etc.
The Organic PR Triangle is a Journey, Not a Destination.
These elements described above work together as a triangle, with each element comprising a corner. As you better one aspect, you get more insight into the others. Pick one first and work on that and be aware of the other two aspects.
View developing the three aspects of Organic PR as a journey with no final destination. Don’t fret about getting all of these all “right” at one time. That’s a myth.
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Is Your PR Responsible For Everything Said About You?
Posted on December 18, 2008 | Tags: online pr, online public relations, pr, public relations, Reputation Management
It’s one thing when your client makes a fool of herself in front of the camera. If you agree with your client’s statement or behavior, then back her up all the way and repair any misunderstanding afterward with the media. If you think your client’s a fool, then you have no business representing her.
But when a PR is just plain careless or lazy, they’re inept.
A blogger in a niche industry asked my opinion of a situation.
He had requested an interview with a high profile person in the niche industry that he blogs about. The “celeb” had referred his request to her publicist. The publicist told him her client was too busy to interview with him and blew him off.
He wrote something about the celeb anyway … a little humorous banter about a tournament she was playing in.
He learned indirectly that the publicist is quite angry with him, although she has not contacted him.
In this internet age in particular, a PR representing any type of celebrity must be pro-active in managing what’s said. After all, that’s what you’re hired for. If you’re not managing the media contacts on behalf of your client and you don’t like what’s said about your client, then you better raise the bar on your performance.
As far as I’m concerned, this publicist displayed poor manners. If someone is influential enough for the publicist to be concerned with what they write, then nurture the relationship on behalf of your client. If you mistakenly mishandle a media person or blogger in your industry, then amend the blunder with good old fashioned honest communication.
The same holds true, in my estimation, of John McCain’s PR person who cancelled his interview in October with David Letterman. That was a flap of major proportion. Anyone who watches Letterman (as a PR in this position should), would have known the liability of canceling a scheduled interview with him in favor of another. Big mistake. It wasn’t McCain’s place to fix that PR kerfluffle with Letterman … it was the PRs job. And they messed it up pretty badly.
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