Posts Tagged ‘planning’

PRSA Silver Anvil Competition – Ideas for Improving Your Next PR Plan, Program

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013
PRSA Silver Anvil

PRSA Silver Anvil

Posted by Tom Gable

The judges in the 2013 Silver Anvil competition were faced with a plethora of programs built on using the latest and hottest tool or distribution channel available. Beyond the fluff, we often found a spectacular lack of substance. This leads to sharing a compelling truth that runs through the heart of every winning Silver Anvil entry and may benefit all PR professionals: good research provides the foundation for smart strategic planning, brilliant creative and precise execution toward achieving measurable objectives that matter.

The PR tool kit has expanded considerably over the past two decades of my judging Silver Anvil entries (done in years when Gable PR didn’t enter). But are we using the tools in an integrated and strategic fashion? Will the results drive anything meaningful? Are we just having fun playing with things that don’t really drive sales, help achieve marketing goals or turn around an image?

The annual competition can feel like the classic movie, Groundhog Day. The same fuzzy-edged little critters keep popping up each year and in every category (usually chirping about media hits). In reviewing results with other veteran judges from the Counselors Academy and College of Fellows after this year’s recent session, I found a universal impression that some of the entrants hadn’t read the rules or bothered to check out past winners on the PRSA website. The latter exercise would have saved several hundred of the 847 entrants from wasting their entry fees.

The judging criteria are straightforward: 10 points maximum in each category of research, planning, implementation and evaluation, or 40 points total. Sadly, we had many entries that didn’t hit double digits.

I delved deeper in last year’s Silver Anvil coverage. This year, I asked some fellow judges for insights they felt were worth sharing.  Here are the highlights:

Top Five Winning Program Essentials

  1. Solid research to establish a baseline for measurement and evaluation (this can be both secondary and primary; polling; online surveys; crunching one year of social media data to find trends that could lead to a new position for a client; use of psychographics, demographics and other findings that would help in the positioning and planning).
  2. Setting measurable objectives (e.g. turning around image from 3-to-1 against the company to 2-to-1 favorable within one year; successfully introduce the new family of mobile applications, build market awareness to X percent within six months, generate reviews in the top ten media, grow subscribers by Y percent within one year, introduce one cause marketing program that adds another Z subscribers in one year and generates $X for the cause).
  3. Implementing strategically through all channels that can help drive a result (print, broadcast, social media, local events, direct mail, contests, guerrilla marketing, promotions, conference programs, and cause marketing).
  4. For evaluation, the best programs set measurable objectives in many categories. As noted last year, the top programs included achievements in: meetings and special events held, increased attendance, better product reviews, increased distribution, doubling social media likes and followers, winning design awards, expanding promotional program results by a certain percentage, improving share of voice, launching a cause marketing program that raised X dollars, doubling the number of analysts following the company, increasing stock volume, improving internal communications globally as measured by continuous progress in online surveys among all employees on impressions of quality, using social media to drive more hits and qualified leads to the company website, reducing calls to the 800 number in favor of website conversations and increasing sales and market share.
  5. Always keep the results-oriented continuum in mind: great research drives new creativity and smart planning; the detailed planning across all channels helps set measurable objectives and guides precise implementation; and evaluation ties back into all your brilliant work in research and planning.

Ten Biggest Shortcomings

  1. Poor or missing research (e.g. one entry noted that they conducted research by interviewing the client contacts; another cited research in the executive summary about consumer motivations but didn’t include anything in the Research section for validation; some didn’t have a Research section)
  2. Not setting measurable objectives
  3. Setting objectives based solely on amount of media coverage
  4. Setting vague objectives, such as building brand image, but with no means of measurement (the winners documented how they conducted research on baseline consumer awareness, and then built their programs to drive awareness, which was measured at the end, along with metrics)
  5. Developing one-dimensional plans, such as just having a social media strategy
  6. Not outlining the rationale behind strategies and plans (e.g. one judge called this “doing a lot of stuff because the tools were exciting”)
  7. Relying on huge budgets and spectacular events to carry the day (fellow judges shared background on several entries where the scope of the program was impressive but the results weren’t)
  8. Not having a precise plan for implementation
  9. Providing numbers on media hits, Twitter followers and other metrics but without tying them back into the research and planning
  10. And the number one shortcoming: not turning in an entry that covered each of the four areas being judged: research, planning, implementation and evaluation

Beyond the transgressions, there was agreement that the PR profession is continuing to raise the overall quality of all programs. We are being given more opportunities to conceive, create and implement complex and strategic programs that are out of the purview of most marketing, advertising and other consulting companies. We are becoming more trusted advisors in the C-suite and included in company-wide long-range strategic planning. But the bar needs to be raised another notch. These ideas may help.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Horizon Management, Hype Free PR, In the Beginning | Comments Off

Ultimate Sequester PR Strategy: the White House as content creator, channel master

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

Posted by Tom Gable

Case histories will be written and studied for years on how the Obama White House has found new tools and tactics for connecting at the local level, while marginalizing major national media.

As covered in Politico in a piece called “Obama the puppet master,” the Obama White House has developed its own content creation machine to feed all channels of communication with tightly crafted messages that build the Obama brand. It chooses the channels with surgical precision. Why interview with The New York Times beat reporter who knows the issues and risk facing tough questions, Politico notes, when one can dominate local media through strategically scheduled interviews with friendly anchormen and women who may not be up on the issues?  The cumulative effect can be bigger than scoring a national media hit, as covered in depth by Politico.

The orchestration of coverage of potential economic Armageddon from the automatic budget cuts scheduled for March 1 (called Sequester) is the latest and most complex example of a local-national strategy. From the Secretary of Transportation setting the stage with future delays at major airports because of fewer air traffic controllers, to interviews in local markets with data on the anticipated loss of jobs (e.g. underway Feb. 26 in military towns in Virginia), the PR efforts are carrying consistent messages carefully chosen to appeal to each audience. How does it work?

Politico and a follow up piece by the Poynter Organization (“The dangerous delusions of the White House press corps and the president”) provided details. To summarize the key elements of the Obama White House approach and one that can work for brands, organizations, political candidates, new product introductions, crisis PR and other PR campaigns:

  • Develop a comprehensive, cohesive message strategy with consistent themes and supporting evidence;
  • Be precise in targeting and masterful in scheduling and orchestrating the individual parts of the program;
  • Go for local issues, with local examples;
  • The White House (or any brand) becomes the ultimate publisher (print, broadcast, photography, video, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube and more);
  • Every appearance or event needs to support the brand, to include great photo opportunities with locals for driving local coverage;
  • Control the content and flow through all channels by picking the media carefully;
  • Stage events to focus on the big messages and memorable lines and don’t allow time at the end for random media questions that might delve into negative territory and take the candidate, CEO or other luminary off-message;
  • Go for easy wins at the local level, then build regionally;
  • Ignore the major media unless they are friendly;
  • Produce your own photography and video rather than allow media coverage (local outlets are always looking for free content);
  • Shun those who have produced or written anything that would be considered negative;
  • Pound away at key messages through major pieces with the friendly media and TV personalities and support with social barrages to hit every target relentlessly;
  • Use the classic “weekend document dump” to avoid negative coverage and “minimize attention to embarrassing or messy facts”;
  • And orchestrate all the elements to ramp up for strategically and with surgical precision for maximum impact at a pre-designated date, such as an election or the day before the so-called fiscal cliff.

The latter – strategic planning of all elements for total control – represents the biggest challenge. Many organizations, brands and individuals can master parts of integrated campaigns.  Few would have the budget, the talent, the discipline and the power even close to that of the Obama White House to succeed on all fronts.

The bottom line, according to Politico:

“With more technology, and fewer resources at many media companies, the balance of power between the White House and press has tipped unmistakably toward the government. This is an arguably dangerous development, and one that the Obama White House — fluent in digital media and no fan of the mainstream press — has exploited cleverly and ruthlessly.”

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Posted in Brilliant Counsel, Horizon Management, Hypemeister Honor Roll, Leverage, News and Media, Social Media | Comments Off

Beyond gibberish and techno-babble: social media as part of the strategic PR tool kit

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

Playing with Tools

Posted by Tom Gable

We first pitched the Internet startup in July 2012 on supporting the launch of its new hobbyist portal/platform, which was envisioned to have distinctive features and functionality that could drive rapid growth and profits (we are under an NDA, so can’t share any more). Our Gable PR team provided a multi-faceted strategic plan based on our experiences launching the world’s first Internet payment system and a pioneering online greeting card company, plus introducing other disruptive innovations.

They liked our plan. It integrated old school strategic thinking with a full array of communications tools – traditional and new – fully orchestrated to roll from soft launch, gain momentum and then rocket to greater heights after the official launch. But we were the veteran grey-haired firm (although staffed with bright young talent!), so they were also shopping the hottest social media gurus in the region. The process went on for several months. We assumed they had gone elsewhere when we got the call in December to set a meeting to launch the Gable PR program.

What changed? Although they were initially charmed by the energy and enthusiasm of the fresh-cheeked social media evangelists, one of their partners said they were worn out by the jargon and promises to build their Twitter footprint and drive other social media metrics. The partners started asking for “what could be done beyond measuring things that might not count.”

“We got a lot of great-sounding gibberish but nothing we could directly connect to helping grow the business, not just buzz,” he confided.

Not surprising. A good piece in Techi.Com cited an AdAge survey that showed some “180,000 people on Twitter who claim to be social media mavens, experts, consultants, ninjas, pros, warriors, or some other noun that’s intended to fill you with confidence about their ability to save you from the evil world of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.”

Many social media firms of note do provide valuable programs to support a client’s business and marketing plans. But all of this reminds us of one of the great parodies of social media from Onion, which packaged it as a TED presentation.

Check it out to appreciate the humor as the social media guru brags about his firm making huge amounts of money even though using social media “eliminates the need to provide value to anyone.”

He talked about helping a client raise its Twitter footprint by creating fake Twitter accounts to raise the number of followers from 300 to 900,000 in less than a week, all done by robots, so the his firm didn’t have to do any work. They added advertising the robots could see, but not buy from. And the companies didn’t care, because they were “liked.”

Saturday Night Live also had a classic bit skewering social media during the election. Seth Myers, host of Weekend Update, asked the social media expert if what voters are saying online is an accurate barometer of public option. She said of course. It captures how people feel. And each voice is valid even if it has no punctuation.

The expert provided sample Tweets from the election pointing out the physical characteristics of the candidates and their sexual attributes, plus use of scatological words to describe President Obama. Seth wasn’t too taken with the examples and asked if this really mattered.

She said in social media, everyone’s opinion is equal, including the New York Times columnist and the person using a series of equal signs and a capital D to indicate…

Long story short: As our new client came to understand, it’s not just getting excited about the latest technology, social media or other tool. It’s how to fit any tool and tactic strategically into an overall program to build image, reputation and leads in support of long-term business goals. And can you explain the benefits in something other than techno-babble and gibberish?

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PR University Panel: Six Easy (?) Steps for Writing Like a Journalist in PR

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

Wordsmith at work

Posted by Tom Gable

The PR University program on August 30 featured Jon Greer, training director of PRU, moderator; Jonathan Kranz, author of “Writing Copy for Dummies”; Don Bates, APR, PRSA Fellow, former journalist, agency CEO and currently professor at New York University; and yours truly, Tom Gable, APR, PRSA Fellow, CEO of Gable PR.

Greer set the stage by outlining the six steps to being a better writer and then led the panel through ideas PR professionals could use in using the tips in their practices:

One – Be an internal reporter

Two – Organize your material

Three – Start writing

Four – Continue adding useful information

Five – Review and revise

Six – Work with an editor

Greer asked the participants about what would be their biggest hurdles to becoming a better writer. Bates said each writer needs to be a strategic thinker – content needs to make something happen and build a bigger story. Gable said each story needs to be viewed as a building block in creating a bigger image and reputation for the long term, so facts and details are important. Kranz said the best writers go beyond just presenting information; they look for compelling core messages and themes that can resonate with the right audiences.

Kranz stressed the power of telling good stories, with a beginning, middle and an end. Is it about how your service works, your products and your people, how you solve problems, how your business began, how you overcame issues, what major customers are happy and anything related to trends that help you rise above the competition?

Desire, Danger and Drama

He framed each story as having three parts: desire, where someone wants something and there is a motivating element; danger, where there are obstacles, problems, risks and challenges; and drama, where the hero comes in with a magic sword to solve things.

For a company story, Gable said to start by looking at what exists (market, technology, service, industry trend, etc.), what are the problems that need to be solved, how do you differentiate the new approaches or discoveries, what will the team do to make it happen and what will ultimately be changed? Journalists are looking for cause-and-effect, plus anticipated results. If you can demonstrate what the company has done to evoke change, and tell it in a compelling way, you’re going to drive positive media relations. Also, look for what doesn’t exist. Is there a new story hook, trend or oversight your client can speak to?

Always be Collecting

Greer said to “always be collecting information.” This includes competitive information and industry trends as well. Sometimes outside stories can stimulate new ideas for promoting your own company in new ways and further differentiating against the competition.

Kranz counseled against having false drama. Journalists will see through it, he said. The panel stressed the importance of authentic counsel. Bates said to create a catalog of stories that  can be rolled out over time. His approach has been to interview key executives at the companies he has worked for. At Gable PR, teams use internal audits to delve into the heart and soul of a company. The team develops questions to be asked individually and confidentially of key client connections to delve into vision, mission, challenges, opportunities, history of the company, culture and anecdotes that can be used to demonstrate the successes of the company and its people. The process often finds stories that haven’t been told before.

The panel discussed how to work with difficult executives. In some cases, an executive will envision a story that really has no news value anywhere. PR firms and internal staffs need to provide authentic counsel. In some cases, they have to keep from falling on their own swords and be diplomatic. The panel suggested trying positive approaches such as saying “maybe there are other ideas we can use to build on this.”

Whenever in doubt, Gable said to drive clarity by asking two questions: “So what? Who cares?”

Bates said PR news copy should contain no jargon or hyperbole. Train your clients to think about action verbs and means of differentiating the company and its products with real facts. Gable said research with major media shows that the fact-based approach to public relations can be a clear differentiator and help build trust with the media.

Organize your material: what rises to the top, what’s important, what’s less important, what’s unimportant, do you have all the information you need? Greer said that most people will only read the lead paragraph so keep it short and simple.

Kranz said to consider the formats being written for – article, web, sidebar, feature, breaking news – and think about word count. What is the most important copy to include? What will get cut?

The panel urged writers to have copy reviewed by people not familiar with the client. Gable said his firm reviews copy internally and often works with freelancers who are former journalist to provide outside opinions.

The panel recommended setting aside complex stories for 24 hours. Kranz said to sleep on it, then read it aloud. Beyond words, he said get a feel for the rhythm. Does the copy flow?

Seven-Point Litmus Test

In closing, Gable shared the Gable PR seven-point litmus test for evaluating potential news stories or other messages:

1. Is it really newsworthy or of interest to anyone other than the company, the CEO’s family and a few of their friends?

2. How big is the impact: company, community, region, market niche or category, industry, technology or science breakthrough, nation, hemisphere, humanity?

3. Has the same or similar story already been told? (Quick research will answer the question.) 

4. Can the premise be supported by valid data, third party sources, case histories and ongoing proof of principle?

5. Does the company have credible “gurus,” who can bring the story to life and become valuable and trusted resources for the media?

6. Can the company be further differentiated by its people, technology, culture and personality? Or if you lined up the tag lines, boilerplates, key words and descriptive clauses for the top competitors in the space would they all look and sound alike?

7. Can the story be summarized in a compelling headline, Tweet or one or two-sentence sound bite or elevator pitch? 

This quick test can help focus your efforts to create a smart, compelling and interesting story or other communication that breaks through the clutter, connects with your targets and supports the long-term image and reputation of your client or organization. Failing the test can also be used as evidence to convince the client or boss to go in a new direction or risk alienating the media and beyond.

In summary, the panel agreed that strategic public relations programs supported by strong PR writing can make a difference in how an organization builds its reputation for the long term, or doesn’t.

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Time Management Tips for Busy PR (and other) People

Saturday, June 9th, 2012

On the Clock

 

Posted by Tom Gable

The following daily planning ritual, adapted from many resources, helps busy people manage multiple activities more effectively. Success requires establishing simple new habits. Some busy people use their personal process at the end of the day, so they are ready for a fresh start in the morning. Others like to go through these steps first thing in the morning, to refresh their memories, put the previous day in perspective and then update the daily and weekly checklists to plan and prioritize future actions.

Busy executives and PR account teams are buffeted by regular interruptions, outside demands (media and otherwise) and the internal churn of agency interactions. Our days are often filled with ambiguities and uncertainties. Establishing a daily ritual to plan and even create just a simple prioritized checklist can set the stage for more productive and effective work. Your road map for the day and week will make it easier to take the inevitable side trip or two, and then hop back on your personal Interstate Highway or more scenic planned route to resume your journey toward results. With a little practice, this daily planning and analysis ritual can take just 15 to 30 minutes. Once mastered, you will find it amazingly effective and liberating.

1. Clean Up – I found a common thread in the habits of our most effective clients and the many people I admire who lead top PR firms and share ideas with their fellow members of the PRSA Counselors Academy: they end each day by cleaning up all email, memos and other correspondence. Time management gurus recommend handling a message just once – decide what needs to be done with it immediately so you don’t waste time going back to it a third or fourth time before making a decision. Empty both IN and OUT email boxes; file the messages accordingly. It took me a little while to get into this ritual. But it is amazing to end or start each day with empty email in-boxes and sent mail boxes. As a former email pack rat, I found a huge feeling of accomplishment just getting rid of the glut and move emails into folders in an orderly filing system. Using the powerful search function in mail is fine for some. I prefer not having 4,238 emails in my In Box! As noted above, this means “single-handling or dealing with any piece of paper or email only once. Take action, respond, and delete, whatever. The time-wasting quagmire: setting something aside and going back to it over and over again. Procrastination and unneeded repetition are proven to be tremendous wastes of time.

1.a. Document – For those of us who keep time, record the time, which helps with analysis and perspective as well. I start the clean up process with the Sent folder in email. Those emails usually involve giving direction, tracking programs and sending materials to clients, the media and colleagues for action. The Sent folder provides a neat little chronology of the actions of the day.

2. Analyze and Put Into Perspective – Analyze what you’ve just reviewed quickly. It puts the day in perspective and starts the brain cogitating on future action items.

3. Record – Make a short list of major action items for the coming day and beyond if needed.

4. Prioritize – Assign your own code to prioritize action items, such as an “A” list or “B” or “C” list. Some people get more specific and number the list in order of how they plan to knock off each action item, i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc. Tinkering with administrative work or doing anything that doesn’t advance your plan are sure signs of procrastination and perhaps not wanting to deal with difficult challenges. Experts recommend attacking the hardest item first, so the rest of the day is a down-hill cruise.

5. Plan – Think about the day and week ahead. This is very much like looking at something with journalistic eyes — the five Ws and H (who, what, where, when, why and how). A quick thought process: what happened before and what needs to happen now, who needs to be involved if it requires additional resources, where, why is it important or on the list, how do we best make this happen and by when?  How do we leverage resources as needed for greater impact?

6. Schedule – Some people make notes on their daily calendar on when they anticipate taking specific actions. This includes scheduling quiet time for research, creative or other activities that require concentration without interruption (turn off the cell phone, don’t look at email and totally focus on the task at hand). Block time for yourself. Schedule meetings with others as needed. Also, schedule to your strengths, such as blocking the time of the day when you are most creative for brainstorming and setting aside the dullest times of the day for administrative work.

7. Implement Your Plan – Manage and adjust as necessary. You’ll find you get into a rhythm and pattern. Knock off one priority item, then another, and build momentum. You gain confidence as you realize how effective you can be in taking control and managing toward results.

8. Celebrate! – Give yourself a high-five, pat-on-the-back, kudos, extra snack, glass of wine or other reward, for taking charge of your day, week, month, nagging issue, complex projects, etc. Take great pleasure is knocking off those items one at a time and in bundles.

As a caveat, developing this new habit is like any other new skill, it requires committing to the time to learn, practice and improve upon. Some people are instant masters of this. For others, it’s adapting the ritual to their own particular rhythms and strengths. Then, with regular use, this ritual becomes almost automatic and even more effective.

(Note: this is adapted from a chapter in the upcoming Fifth Edition of “The PR Client Service Manual — Managing for Results”)

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Txting and Driving: AT&T Simulator Brings Dangers to Life for Students, Parents, Media

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Txt/Drv It Can Wait

Posted by Tom Gable

Texting is the No. 1 mode of communication for teens, who text on average 60 times a day. Studies show that writing one text while driving takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds. At 55 mph, that’s driving the length of a football field completely blind.  How to bring the dangers to life in compelling fashion?

AT&T developed a traveling road show with a simulator for students and media to try during stops in major markets on the West Coast.  The simulator is part of AT&T’s aggressive Txtng & Driving…It Can Wait program to educate drivers about the dangers of texting while driving and to make roads and highways safer.  With students or others behind the wheel, the results (crashing, driving into opposing lanes, veering into parked cars, etc.) are shown on large-screen television sets so the audience can see the potential horrors (“Whoa!”  “Oh no!”  “The worst!”).

The timing is strategic: with the season of proms and graduations at hand, records show that we are entering the “100 deadliest days” for teen drivers on the road – the days between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The Gable PR team worked with the AT&T team to drive coverage of the event in San Diego County at Hilltop High School, Chula Vista. It was covered by more than a dozen print and broadcast media, including the local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates.  The success was based on all the work done to develop the traveling road show, plus thinking about seven key elements involved in creating a media event, which some liken to staging an award-winning Broadway play:

One – A compelling story (the proven risk of texting and driving, with abundant research provided by AT&T)

Two – Great content (facts from different independent research institutions, custom surveys)

Three – The cast (students, teachers, spokesmen and women from law enforcement)

Four – Staging (strategic placement of the car, the computer screens, the board for students to sign a pledge not to text and drive, easy access and good sight lines for news media)

Five – Action (high school students testing the simulator to see what happens when they text and drive; reporters using the simulators)

Six – Payoff (students on camera telling about crashing and burning)

Seven – Final scene (the conclusion: the huge risk of texting while driving; experts urging anyone to think twice because “It can wait!”)

RESULTS: The event was covered by the major print media and all eight local TV stations, which ran 19 separate TV news stories in the San Diego Market.

Expert Testimony

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Nine Steps to Improved Mentoring and PR Team Results

Friday, May 4th, 2012

Get the PR Ball Rolling

Posted by Tom Gable

In the previous post, I introduced the concept of PR as a team sport.  How to organize to deliver consistent, quality results for clients? How can you achieve your goals with the minimum possible resources?  How to leverage time, so one hour of senior management can turn into ten hours or more of productive work by others on multiple fronts?

I covered the two big traps: do it yourself; and throw everything at the issue (full-court press, hair on fire, etc.). Now, what positive, pro-active thought processes and check lists can help in leveraging your talent?  As noted before, Michael Gerber, in the classic e-Myth Revisited, advises building the team from the bottom up. Create checks and balances and systems so average people can achieve extraordinary results.  Here are nine steps that have worked over time to leverage talent for improved mentoring and team results, not just in PR but in almost every type of business:

1. Spread the Wealth – Analyze what needs to be accomplished and plan to achieve it with the fewest resources possible. Start at the lowest level and work upward.

2. Communicate Clearly – Set your lever in motion with the power of clear, precise communication. Provide specific direction, timetables, expectations and creative guidance.  Then ask if the person understands the mission. Reach agreement on the details. This two-way communication is essential in keeping junior people, in particular, from struggling with ambiguous assignments.

3. Leverage – Once you’ve given good direction, think about how far others can advance the work before you need to get involved. The goal: have others accomplish 70 to 80 percent of the most time-consuming work.

4. Orchestrate – This starts with clear directions. Then, the good manager has check points along the way. Five to ten minutes of quality time at critical junctures adds more leverage. The manager keeps the parts moving forward together toward the desired goal, making adjustments as needed and communicating appropriately.

5. Respond – Managers need to respond to requests for more direction or clarity as soon as possible. Your job is to help other people do their job better than they would have otherwise. The reverse lever starts working when you don’t, building up negative pressure throughout the organization. Positive reinforcement and encouragement will improve the ultimate product. Harsh criticism or condescending approaches, like the old professor in journalism school, can be demoralizing and counter-productive.

6. Monitor, Course Correct, Critique, Delegate Again – Don’t get stuck in the do-it-yourself trap. Send poor or mediocre work back for another round. Provide specific feedback and point them to other resources if needed. The basic process: pre-brief and discuss, provide adequate background and resources, monitor progress, QC, critique, and evolve to demand increasingly higher levels of results. The process ensures that each person soon understands what is expected of them and what needs to be done to generate the right result. People want to learn and grow. Send it back until it’s 80 to 90 percent of the desired level, then step in and guide them the rest of the way.

7. Look for Inefficiencies in Your Approach – Analyze if you are following the above steps with precision. What do you need to do better?  What will it take?  Are you helping people do their job better or are you an obstacle?

8. Don’t Get Stuck in Minutiae – To ensure you have time to put your best energies and brainpower into things with the highest payoff, deal with all the nagging, short-term issues with alacrity. Don’t put it off. If it can be moved forward or a need satisfied in less than five minutes, do it!  The trap is to keep setting aside these little things until you have a big pile of garbage projects or tasks. Then, instead of having dealt with something once and been done with it, you touched it again and again, wasting more time and brainpower and perhaps causing frustration among your team.

9. Promote and Praise – With ongoing delegation and smart management, you will help your team members graduate to increasingly higher levels of competence. As people improve, give them new challenges. Take a few chances. Test people at one level, then advance them higher as they improve. Praise good behavior right away. Harvard calls this the “Pygmalion Effect.”  Praise and good guidance can help people achieve levels of competence they never before imagined. Unduly harsh criticism and negativity can have the opposite effect.

Final Words

The best managers play an ongoing game inside their head of figuring out how to do more with less. They look at each goal, then strategies and tactics within, as potential opportunities to magnify their power through others. As Archimedes said, the lever works both ways. So the most successful managers do everything in their power to eliminate inefficiencies, redundancies, duplications, bad processes and systems or other obstacles to performance. Turning one into ten – it’s the alchemy of good management.

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PR is a Team Sport; Organizing to Win

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Leading the Surge

Posted by Tom Gable

The key to a manager’s success in a PR firm or otherwise is how well he or she can organize other people and direct them toward achieving specific goals in the most effective and efficient manner. The process needs to have an outward, multidirectional focus. What needs to be accomplished on multiple fronts? How can you achieve your goals with the minimum possible resources?  How to leverage time, so one hour of senior management can turn into ten hours or more of productive work by others on multiple fronts?  Go for a ten-fold leverage; if you achieve five-fold you will still be WAY ahead of the game.

Speaking of game, management works best as a team sport. In working on the Fifth Edition of my PR Client Service Manual, I came across guidance from an early mentor, a former dean of the College of Business at San Diego State University and a Vistage chair. He had a growth model showing how a company goes from a one-man shop (the long-distance runner, competitive swimmer, archer, gymnast, etc.), to the race car driver (one person supported by a team of mechanics), to basketball, to football and soccer (multiple players, different tasks, focused on results according to a game plan). Some liken it to a philharmonic orchestra. Whatever the model, the direction is clear: the better you can do in assembling, training, organizing, coaching and improving your talent as you move your game plan forward, the more impressive the results.

Michael Gerber, in the classic e-Myth Revisited, advises building the team from the bottom up.  Who does the tactical work?  How do you build checks and balances into your system so average people can achieve extraordinary results? Not unlike a university setting, how do you keep your talent learning and advancing, which both improves overall organizational results and gives management more time for strategic thinking or marketing? Discipline is key, particularly when it involves creative teams.

Two Big Traps

Do It Yourself – The argument: the initial work was so poor that I’ll just do it myself and save a bunch of time. The problem: you just reverse-delegated to yourself and did nothing to improve your talent for the future. Take the time to set expectations, educate, delegate and provide rapid feedback – candid and brutal if needed. The first effort may take more time than you would like, but it will pay off. If the latent talent is there, the next assignment will improve. Momentum will build. Your 15 minutes of future counsel will turn into two or three hours of useful work by someone else – the ten-fold payoff.

Throw Everything at the Issue – In this case, the manager sends a small army to do battle, wasting huge amounts of time and energy, instead of getting strategic with his team and achieving more with less. This is the dark side of leverage. Instead of going for a ten-fold increase in your ability to generate results, you have cut it by whatever your over-kill factor might be. Five people working in a room on one issue have gone from the Power of Five to the Power of One – an 80 percent reduction in efficiency!

Next: Nine Steps to Improved Mentoring and Team Results

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The Best PR Plans and Results: Insights from PRSA Silver Anvil Judging

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

In Search of Brilliance

Posted by Tom Gable

Judges from throughout the U.S. convened in New York City on March 22 to review a record number of entries (923) in the annual Silver Anvil competition of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).  The most popular categories in this most coveted of PR awards contests were integrated marketing in both consumer products and non-profit/associations/government, events and observances (seven or fewer days), business/products and marketing consumer products (food and non-alcoholic beverages).

Having judged in many different categories over the years, I continued to see consistent patterns in the most brilliant PR programs and, of course, the less than brilliant, no matter what the category.  In hopes of providing ideas for future planning and programming, the following offers a few insights found this year in my personal experience plus in talking to veteran judges in other categories.

The scoring system is fairly straightforward and awards 10 points each maximum in the categories of research, planning, execution and evaluation for a total of 40 possible points.  Those that get considered for awards have scores typically ranging from 36 to 40, although some judges are hyper critical and never give a score of 10. Thus, their top scores can fall in the 30 to 36 range.

As with brilliant PR plans, the judging categories follow an integrated and strategic continuum.  The biggest shortcomings tended to arise where entrants failed to develop solid research that led to measurable objectives, which were validated in the evaluation. A program could have scored 10s in planning and execution, but came up short on total scores because of weakness in research and the evaluation. I judged several that had solid 8, 9 and 10 scores in the planning and execution, but came up around 30 or lower in total because of poor research and evaluation. This leads to the following quick overview on the differences between successful and unsuccessful approaches in each category.

RESEARCH

Winners – Those in the top 20 percent conducted primary research (hiring outside research firms, conducting their own telephone surveys, using online polls and surveys, competitive research, social media metrics, etc.) and often enhanced it with secondary research (media coverage, academic surveys, trade association research, census and other public demographic data, trend information from economists and futurists, government projections and industry reports).  A few with big budgets would hire outside research firms to delve into the demographics, motivations and other details that would help in the positioning and planning. The research became the foundation for developing specific goals and objectives in the planning phase and established benchmarks for measuring results at the end.

Losers – Most relied on limited secondary research for setting vague objectives.  One of the funnier research tactics used in an official submission: “reviewing old PR plans.” The same entrant didn’t take it to the next step of even identifying new media targets, raising awareness by specific metrics in different categories or other basic elements. Another used an on-line survey of agency employees and relatives to identify attitudes toward a brand.

PLANNING

Winners – The best had well-defined and measurable objectives, often in multiple categories. A couple of the best in my category had programs aimed at reaching every link in entire distribution chains. The programs connected with the target customer wherever he or she turned (print, broadcast, social media, local events, direct mail, advertising, contests, guerrilla marketing and cause marketing). The winners set specific measurable objectives, such as helping increase sales and market share, which they did. For launching new products or repositioning old products, some of the best programs had a combination of media relations, an educational component, advertising, Facebook, cause marketing, contests and an aggressive Twitter campaign to support all. One company used research to identify which types of celebrities and television shows to tie in with.  This led to an integrated program involving special events, a contest, media relations, blogging, Facebook, YouTube and other integrated social media activities.  You could hear an occasional muted “wow” from the judging chambers when one of these programs surfaced from the piles of three-ring binders containing the entries.

Losers – Those in the bottom quartile had one-dimensional plans, vague objectives or plans that didn’t flow out of the research. Strategies and tactics weren’t aligned.  Shortcomings in the planning category where typically: no clear objectives; no metrics to be measured; one-dimensional categories such as “impressions”; creating increased buzz; increasing the number of “likes” on Facebook but without a baseline to move from; and very few tied into sales growth. One of the funnier planning references talked about how they were going to “set up regular all-agency calls.”  Several of the entries were related to one-off events and had limited objectives.  The programs were like Fourth of July pyrotechnics: there is a huge explosion in a short amount of time but nothing worth watching thereafter but puffs of smoke fading into the night sky.

EXECUTION

Winners – The top programs rolled out with precision and gained momentum toward achieving their objectives. As a metaphor, think about building a spectacular new office building in Manhattan (image and reputation).  What is it going to look like when done (a brilliant vision and objectives)?  What are the elements needed to achieve the finished product and how are they orchestrated and managed for maximum efficiency and effectiveness  (strategies, tactics)? Start with a solid foundation (positioning), then build the program with a solid core structure, the finest materials and distinctive design elements (differentiation that ties into the positioning).

Losers – The lowest-ranking entries executed against vague plans and objectives or had ordinary programs out of the PR 101 playbook, generating occasional audible sighs, rather than wows.

EVALUATIUON

Winners – We loved the aforementioned programs aimed at driving results in every category: meetings and special events held, attendance, better product reviews, distribution, social media likes and followers, winning design awards, expanding promotional program results by a certain percentage, improving share of voice versus the competition, improving overall perception of the brand (based on follow up research that tied back to brand image measured in the baseline research), driving different website metrics, reducing calls to the 800 number in favor of website conversations and increasing sales and market share.

Losers – It’s not clips and impressions!  Those at the bottom of the pack tended to provide abundant clips but never tied the results back into the research and planning.  Most lacked any qualitative analysis. Did the coverage move the needle in the right direction?  Was there a benchmark for different social media metrics and objectives for increasing numbers? What were sales trends and did the program change the trends for the better?  A few in my category had no evaluations, just copies of favorable clips, blogs, Facebook posts and Tweets.

One terrific community relations program combined grants, tying in with celebrities, engage local volunteers, and events with local elected officials, supported by media relations, public affairs, advertising, social media, and other activities.  Unfortunately, the plan didn’t include clear objectives and was missing post-event analysis or other metrics, such as trying to drive sales.

IN SUMMARY

Fellow judges and PRSA staff felt the overall quality of the entries had risen along with the sheer numbers of entries. I took notes on many good ideas for use for Gable PR clients. We saw another important indicator for the PR profession in one major category I judged: the rise of the PR as the driving force within major corporations and organizations undergoing change to plan for and deliver game-changing results. You will be impressed with the results when the winners are announced on June 7 in New York City and PRSA posts the entries for all to see.

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Worst of Breed — PR Plans, Crisis PR, Releases and More

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

 

Image Meltdown

Posted by Tom Gable

In reviewing many recent roundups of PR successes and failures from 2011, including egregious abuses of the language, it appeared a new category of analysis might be tried: Worst of Breed.

The concept is to delve into corporate, institutional or other failures to communicate well and identify if their fatal or near-fatal faults are one-time occurrences or could reside in their DNA, to be passed on to future generations. It could be one bad gene, such as at Penn State, or something that may have metastasized, as with the upper echelons at Tokyo Electric Power. Beyond simply covering the big events, can we also ask for help in shining the light of journalistic verisimilitude on other WOB examples in writing, social media, news releases and other communications driving by PR?

This leads to a two minute survey created to seek broad input on WOB examples for future articles in PRSA Tactics and elsewhere and blog posts. Please click through to take the survey, which offers opportunities to provide your own candidates and links to their transgressions.  This includes nominations for the coveted WOB Lifetime Achievement Award.

Thanks, in advance, for the help, and here’s to a super 2012 for the PR profession!

 

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