He who knows how to manage the media often wins the game. The BP crisis is on everyone’s mind. And before that, Toyota got into a mess. What should you know about public relations?
When clients come to me I often suggest that good PR may be even more important than anything I can do. And I strongly believe that relying on one marketing weapon alone is very short sighted.
Modern public relations – PR – began about a hundred years ago with the world’s richest man, John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller had a problem.
He had built up Standard Oil very ruthlessly, treating his workers appallingly – though probably no worse than most businessmen at the time. He was so hideously unpopular he could barely go outside without embarrassment. He asked a newsman called Ivy Lee for advice.
I do not know what Lee charged Mr. Rockefeller, but his solution brilliantly demonstrated how to create and manage news. He told Rockefeller to stop hiding away, go out regularly, and always carry with him a supply of 5 cent coins to give to small children.
Lee, no doubt, ensured these generous acts were reported. In no time the ogre Rockefeller was replaced in the public’s mind by the kindly old fellow who loved children.
Was this clever idea an influence for good or bad? It has certainly been much copied. All politicians know it’s a good idea to be photographed with babies, but among the century’s leading experts have been Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler and Mao Tse Tung.
Advice from a top expert
When young, I worked in public relations for long enough to know I am no good at it. However a friend, Quentin Bell, was long one of Britain’s leading PR men. He gave me a list of points for good PR, which I have put at the end.
The difference between advertising and public relations is that you pay for advertising space or time; in public relations you only pay for the advice you get. The media print or broadcast what they want about you.
Advertising was once called “the truth well told”. The same applies to good PR. The trouble is, as we all know, the truth can be seen in many ways. If your version of the truth prevails, it is a powerful ally; if not, it can be a disaster. Which it is depends on you.
Public relations are vital when there are problems. The launch of the Toyota Lexus in America was nearly a disaster, because thousands of the first cars delivered had faults. A few years later the Mercedes A-Class was reported to be unreliable on sharp corners. On another occasion a madman poisoned some of the packs of the leading US analgesic, Tylenol.
All three firms acted promptly and managed the news. Toyota recalled every car they had sold and gave owners free replacements while the problem was fixed. Mercedes immediately installed in their A class the same braking system fitted in their most expensive cars and wrote to all prospective and existing buyers explaining the facts. Tylenol replaced every bottle of Tylenol in every store in America.
So none of these firms denied the problem: they admitted there was one and solved it. They told the truth. Moral: don’t lie, don’t hide. Act and be open. I do not think that Toyota and BP, more recently, have managed their PR very well. So what should you do?
Start by asking questions
Good PR – like all good marketing – starts with the truth. First, ask three questions. Who are we? Where are we? Where do we want be or go? If you haven’t asked them, you now know your first – maybe your most important – task.
You must know what you are – not what you hope you are. This calls for research, both inside and outside your organisation. Only then you can work to become what you want to be.
Unlike advertising, PR doesn’t directly promote a product, service or brand. It deals with issues raised by, and surrounding them. They benefit indirectly.
PR is about “our way of doing things” – corporate culture. It takes your special (though not necessarily unique) attitudes and viewpoints and turns them to commercial advantage.
Internal PR comes before external PR. It conveys these messages so well that everyone you work with understands and eventually “owns” them. They become company ambassadors. You know you’ve succeeded when they talk of colleagues as “we” instead of “them”.
Your message must embrace all those groups your success depends on. Not just your people, but suppliers and distributors, communities, investors, regulators, and the media.
One of my partners once told me the best advice his father ever gave him. It was, “If you’re talking, you can’t be listening. And if you’re not listening, you can’t be learning”. PR only succeeds if it is a dialogue – not a one way “top down” monologue. Listening is vital if you wish to respond.
PR is not about slogans and slick phrases. It’s about style plus substance: 90% is about improving the reality, only 10% about promoting it. Image and reality must match. You cannot pretend to be what you’re not – for long.
Don’t rely entirely on the PR agency or marketing department. Your message must course through the veins of the company – inspired by those at the top. Your top PR person is the CEO – the public ambassador. PR should be an important part of his or her job.
Good PR is consistent and continual: inspiration, consistency and dogged determination differentiate the winners from the losers.
Top ten tips for dealing with the media
What if you have to face the media? It can be frightening – unless you’re prepared. Here is Quentin’s advice:
- Know your message: identify your three key points; stick to them; don’t be afraid of repeating them; don’t get sidetracked.
- Be the victor not the victim. You know more about your subject than they do; an interview is an opportunity, not a threat; you can turn their negative into your positive, or at least paint a balanced picture; be businesslike – it’s better to be respected than liked.
- Prepare and rehearse: think of all likely difficult questions for a requested interview – and know your answers.
- Send out all your bad news at once, not bit by bit. Release it with bigger news of the day as a smokescreen. If it’s good news, check the next day’s media agenda for a slow news day.
- Know what the media want: ask them for their angle – they’ll willingly tell you; don’t “answer” but “respond”; use the question as a chance to say what you want to say.
- Admit your mistakes: others will forgive you. Don’t cover up; but always “regret” rather than being “sorry” – that implies guilt. Never speak “off the record”. Assume all you say will be broadcast or published.
- Be humble: be confident but not arrogant; stay calm and “smile” (if only inwardly, because it shows on TV). Remember, an aggressive interviewer gains you public sympathy; don’t lie (you’ll be found out and make matters worse). If you don’t know the answer, say so.
- Speak in headlines: talk about benefits, not features. Think in pictures, not words; keep it simple; listen to questions carefully; don’t fill silences – it puts the onus upon the interviewer.
- Don’t refuse to take difficult phone calls. But give yourself thinking time (“I’ll phone you back in ten minutes”); never say “no comment” – it implies guilt; it provides a vacuum to allow the media to invent their own “truth”.
- Never pretend to be what you’re not, personally or corporately. If the public perception is false, make the truth clear; get the endorsement of your top PR person – the CEO.
Best,
Drayton
www.eadim.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com
Filed under Drayton Bird, advertising by on Jun 23rd, 2010. Comment. 
Last week I sat beside Drayton and watched him go through copy written by one of his clients. Keep in mind this piece of copy wasn’t bad.
Drayton just sat there, in front of his screen, and edited it with such ease it was amazing.
By the time he finished, it was a masterpiece.
Best,
Rezbi
www.eadim.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com
Filed under Clayton Makepeace, copywriting by on Jun 22nd, 2010. Comment.
In copy one of the worst things you can do is to drag on about irrelevant things.
This is a mistake I always made before Drayton kept drumming it into my head. I guess I still do make this mistake, but not as much as before.
As David Ogilvy used to say, “You can’t bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it.”
Best,
Rezbi
www.eadim.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com
Filed under Drayton Bird, copywriting by on Jun 20th, 2010. Comment.
Do you suffer from a crippling condition called deadline panic?
I do – and it attacked me with some ferocity recently when after a few glasses of cheering sangria I looked at my schedule for the week.
I was immediately reminded of a maxim by one of my old bosses: “Whatever you’re doing, you should have started sooner” – Bill Phillips.
Bill Phillips ran Ogilvy & Mather when I sold my old agency to them, and we both like quotations.
(One of his I particularly appreciate is “A neat stall is the sign of a dead horse” – and if you saw my desk, you’d know why)
Anyhow, I realised with some alarm that I was going to Bucharest and Kiev that week to do 4 seminars, one of which I hadn’t written yet.
Since it takes a couple of days’ work to put together a good talk, this was quite a worry, so I started going through possible material.
And by chance I found one or two good quotations. Here is the man who wrote the first:
Did you recognise him? It is Evelyn Waugh, one of the great comic writers of the 20th century, and a wonderful stylist.
During the Second World War he and his wife used to write to each other and on one occasion he wrote complaining about how dull her letters were.
“A good letter is like a conversation,” he wrote.
This reminded me of a meeting I had with the managing director of Mercedes Passenger Cars about 17 years ago when we started doing their direct marketing.
He was concerned about the tone of their copy – and in fact that is why we got the business.
We talked about this for a while, then I said,
“Have you ever actually sold cars?”
“Yes” he said.
Then I asked: “Did you talk to your customers the way you’ve been talking to me?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” I replied. “That is the kind of tone your direct mail should have.”
The difference between good copy and so-so copy is largely about tone. Of course, few writers even understand the basics, but even if they do most write with a sort of half-witted enthusiasm, where everything is “fabulous” and “exciting”. So the copy lacks credibility. Readers say, “Oh, come on.”
The really good copy is conversational in tone, and is adapted to suit the context
Read your copy out loud. Does it sound like someone talking? It should.
And does it sound like typical “sales” copy any one of your competitors could run. It shouldn’t.
The other thing to watch out for is that the language must be appropriate to the writer – and the recipient.
If you’re supposed to be the chairman, write like a wise and friendly adviser. If you’re writing to another chairman, write as an equal. If you’re supposed to be someone who handles complaints, adapt accordingly. And so on.
It’s deceptively simple – but not that easy to do. You just have to work at it.
Best,
Drayton
P.S. This is number 25 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas. You can sign up on the link below for the rest.
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www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com
Filed under Drayton Bird, copywriting by on Jun 13th, 2010. Comment.
If you follow all these disjointed ramblings you know I vented a little spleen last week about an e-mail I got, and said I would run a series of webinars on better writing.
- Many people realise that bad writing holds back careers, plays havoc and bedevils business.
- The people who want to improve are often the people who are good already. The useless carry on regardless. So, the good get better and the bad fall further behind.
- Quality matters more than technique. If what you offer is appealing even bad writing, within reason, won’t kill it as long as the benefits are clearly described, which they were in this case.
Ross was a gloomy nit-picker, hardly ever satisfied, and with little apparent sense of humour. On the rare occasion when he saw a contribution he liked he would murmur, “I am encouraged to go on.”
Well, I am encouraged to go on – I have a few other subjects that may interest you like positioning, fund-raising, briefing, research and testing, brand building, how to present, how to be a good creative director, creative analysis and so on.
Let me know if any of those sound interesting, please – or if you have any other suggestions.
I will now prepare the better writing webinars. They will chiefly be concerned with writing to persuade – but cover everything from what to do before you write and how to manage your time to how to get ideas, with advice on better writing from George Orwell and much more.
So if more of you are interested, let me know that too.
Best,
Drayton
Websites: www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com / www.eadim.com
Filed under Drayton Bird, copywriting by on Jun 10th, 2010. 1 Comment.
