Attention Bill & Ted fans! The news that Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted “Theodore” Logan will once again be gracing movie screens with a new film, Bill & Ted Face the Music, has certainly been met with tremendous excitement. Not the least of which is that much of the original cast is coming back.
Now, you can see why Alex Winter (Bill) would, since if I didn’t put it in here you’d probably have to look up who played him. But John Wick, I mean Keanu Reeves, coming back as Ted? Who woulda thunk it?
Yet as fun as it was to watch the dopey duo from San Dimas, California gallivant through time, space and the afterlife, underneath it all there was actually an important lesson that everyone in the business world should take time to remember:
No wait, that’s not it. This is it:
Except for that last part again.
All kidding aside, though, “Be excellent to each other” is tremendous advice. And it applies in so many ways – to the client/agency relationship, to the boss/employee relationship, and even your relationships with your peers.
What does it look like to follow the advice Bill & Ted so eloquently offered? It can be something as simple as saying “please” when you assign a task/give a deadline, or phrasing it in the form of a question (can you get that to me by the end of the day?) as well as “thank you” when it’s done. Even if whatever just got completed is in someone’s job description or your scope of work. A little appreciation, like a little hot sauce, can really go a long way.
Going along with saying “thank you” is remembering to tell someone they did a good job when that is the case. I’ve worked in places (not here at Amendola Communications, thankfully!) where the “good job” was more or less implied because if you didn’t do a good job (or someone perceived it wasn’t a good job) you absolutely would hear “This is (insert expletive here)!!!!” But that’s not the best approach to take.
Instead, say “I really like this” or “That’s great” or something else along those lines providing it’s true. If you like the work of your agency, co-workers, subordinates, bosses, etc. tell them so. Nothing gets people excited – and more willing to go the extra mile the next time – than to feel their hard work is appreciated. If you’re willing to tell someone what they did wrong, you should be willing to tell them when they did something right.
And no, this isn’t that Millennial thing where they require constant praise because they got participation trophies when they were children and it ruined them – a theory I don’t buy into at all based on the Millennials I know and work with. Don’t offer up false praise or else all praise is meaningless. But if you like what someone is doing, or what someone has done, be sure to share that information with them.
Another example of being excellent to each other is being respectful and realistic about deadlines. Some people like to assign short deadlines whether they need to or not because they want to check things off the list. Don’t be one of those.
If you don’t need something until Friday, give your agency or co-workers until Friday to get it done. If you do that consistently they may just surprise you and get it done early anyway. They’ll also be more willing to drop everything when you actually do have an unavoidable short deadline. But if they discover you’re asking for things on Tuesday and not even looking at them until Friday the anger and resentment is sure to build.
And, of course, there’s the whole talking behind people’s back thing. You don’t have to love everyone you come across to be decent to them. Remember that in a lot of cases you don’t really know their story, and what made them the way they are. You just see the stuff they let out in business, or in public.
If you have a real issue with someone (versus a minor, petty annoyance which we can all have from time to time and just have to learn to get over), try to talk to that person about it rather than mumbling about it to others. Maybe that person is unaware of particular habits or quirks and will benefit from the conversation. Or maybe they’ll be unreceptive, but at least you will have tried.
Always, though, keep in mind it’s not just that person. It’s also you and how you react to the person. Then think through which of those you can control and then do something about it. You may find things a bit less irritating, and find yourself able to be a little more excellent to that person.
These may all seem like little things. And they are to an extent. Yet it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference.
The world has always been a harsh place, and in the last few years it’s grown even harsher. The anonymity of the Internet has made it easier for people to be nasty to one another, and the speed and breadth of social media has enabled that meanness to be spread farther and faster than ever before.
Still, you have a choice. You can join the clatter of nasty, or you can follow the advice of Bill & Ted and be excellent to each other.
If we all just try to be a little better, and a little nicer, we can make the world – both the business world and the general world – a much better place.
So what did I miss? What other suggestions do you have that will help us all be excellent to each other? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
It all sounds good in theory. The CEO, VP of sales, chief marketing officer, or some other higher-up decides that the key to boosting sales, raising funding, or driving some other positive business event is to launch an interview-driven PR program.
“We need our executives to be viewed as experts by our target audience,” they declare. “Having them interviewed by trade publications, or even the national media, will help us build visibility and credibility, which will bring prospects flocking to our website.”
There is definitely some truth in that. Having your executives regularly commenting on industry news and trends, especially in the trade media, can have quite the halo effect on the company as a whole.
Here’s the thing, though. There’s more to it than hiring a PR agency and expecting them to set up interviews. Even the best PR agency in the world (notice where that description links to) can’t do it by themselves no matter how much you pay them.
Creating a successful interview-driven PR program requires a lot of coordination and collaboration between the client (your company) and the agency. It also requires a few elements that your company is solely responsible for.
If you can’t deliver on them, the interview-driven PR program is destined to fail.
So how do you know whether you’re prepared to embark on that particular journey? Just like in playing poker, there are a few “tells” involuntary actions or gestures that indicate how strong your hand is. Here’s a look at a few of them.
Your executives like doing media interviews
It seems rather obvious, but it actually isn’t. Some people don’t really like being interviewed, or talking about themselves. This is often true of technology experts who launch companies, or clinicians in healthcare and health IT.
Ideally the person selected to do media interviews enjoys the process to some extent. His/her enthusiasm for the company and the topic will be contagious, leading to great coverage.
If you don’t have such a spokesperson, and can’t hire one in, the other solution is to media train the executives you do have. Often the lack of comfort comes from being unfamiliar with or unaccustomed to speaking with strangers in that type of setting. Media training can help alleviate those concerns and turn a wallflower into a media star. Or at least a likable, credible spokesperson.
Your executives will make time for media interviews
This is often a tougher attribute to find, especially in a smaller organization where C-suite execs are not just running the business but meeting with customers, talking to investors, rallying the troops and perhaps even getting involved with product design and execution.
Yet it’s essential. Most reporters (and editors) operate on tight deadlines, and have multiple stories brewing at once. If your executive can make him/herself available when the reporter has time to talk, the reporter will likely move on to someone who can.
Most of the time the window will be a day or two. Sometimes, however, the window will be within an hour or two. And the larger and more desirable the media outlet, the more likely it will be the latter.
If your executives want a week’s notice (or more) to schedule an interview, you’re probably not going to get much coverage. Unless the executive is already incredibly rich and famous, it’s important to understand that securing the interview means being ready to speak whenever the reporter is ready. Of course, if the executive is already rich and famous, he or she can usually dictate the terms of the interview. For everyone else, it’s ask and react.
Your executives have interesting, non-self-promotional stories to tell
Unless the media outlet wants to do a profile of one of your executives or the company, most interviews are not going to be inwardly focused. Instead, the executives will most likely be asked to comment about the news of the day or longer-term industry trends.
For example, in healthcare if an executive is asked to comment about interoperability, the reporter isn’t especially interested in hearing about how interoperable the company’s product is. At least not at first.
Instead, the reporter is looking for insights about interoperability in general that readers or viewers can’t read or see anywhere else. It doesn’t have to all be original; it could be taking two disparate factors and showing a previously hidden relationship between them.
Whatever is said, though, it has to offer evidence of more universal, big-picture thinking that helps the reporter move the story forward. Even better if the reporter says, “I never realized that.”
This, incidentally, is why reporters are often reluctant to interview the VP of sales. They’re afraid they’re going to have a 30-minute conversation about the features of the company’s products.
Offer up great information and insights, however, and the executive won’t just get quoted. He or she will become a go-to resource for that reporter.
Your executives can customize the story to the audience
Most high-ticket products and services require several levels of approval before they can be purchased. There are also usually certain job titles that, while they can’t say yes, can definitely say no.
The executive being interviewed must be able to speak to each of them regarding things they care about in terms they can understand. A CIO at a hospital will likely have different concerns about an issue than the chief medical officer, or the chief nursing officer, or an emergency department physician, or someone in the business office.
In an interview the company executive must not only understand who the media outlet’s audience is but how to frame the discussion in terms they care about. The same generic talking points won’t work for all.
This is a skill all unto itself. It can be learned, but it most definitely must be practiced. The more the executive can customize the story, the better chance it has of finding its mark.
Your executives know they may not make the cut
Even if your executives do a great job in their interviews, there may be times they don’t appear in the story anyway. The focus of the story may have changed, or the editor didn’t like something about what was said, or the story may have been running too long, or a dozen other things may have happened.
They need to understand it happens from time to time and just move on to the next interview. Now, if it happens several times in a row it may be time to review the message and how it’s being delivered.
Most of the time, however, it’s just a glitch or an unfortunate circumstance. Even great poker players get hands they can’t bluff their way out of. Simply fold that hand and focus on the next one.
Your executives understand they can’t control the final output
At the end of an interview, company executives will often ask if they will be able to review a story before it comes out. With rare exceptions, the answer is no.
It’s nothing personal, it’s just not done. Which means the executives, and the organization as a whole, will have to understand there is some risk that the reporter will get something wrong, or write something they don’t like.
That said, most reporters, especially those in trade publications, are not looking to do a hatchet job on the executive or the company. But they’re not there to be cheerleaders either.
They want to present a fair and balanced story that conveys verifiable information to their audience.
If they get a fact wrong, spell the company’s or executive’s name wrong, or make some other object error most reporters (or their editors) will correct it. But if the company’s corporate messaging says X and the article doesn’t read that way, it’s likely to stay that way.
Knowing that, and being able to live with it, will drive a lot more interview coverage than insisting on controlling every aspect of the final piece.
Going all-in
Clearly, focusing on an interview-driven PR program isn’t for everyone. In some cases, a content-driven program might be a better approach.
But if you have one or more executives who are knowledgeable about the industry, love to talk about it (even on short notice) and understand there may be an occasional miss among the many hits, it’s time to start interviewing PR agencies so your media star can be born.
Whether you personally believe trade shows are the land of opportunity or merely a relic of a bygone era where primitive being skulked through the aisles without the benefit of a smartphone, there is no question that they are still a fact of life for many of us. In fact, some (such as, oh, I dunno, HIMSS?) are not merely a minor blip on our radars but a huge disruptor to the otherwise semi-orderly flow of our lives.
Trade shows can be a time-sink as well as a budget-sink, so if you’re going to make that type of investment, it’s critically important that you be sure the organization gets something out of it. Something more than “exposure” and free leftover pens, tote bags and the kind of hard candy your grandmother gives you when you come to visit, and that you only eat when there is absolutely no other choice. Love you, grandma!
Toward that end (getting something out of your trade show investment, not getting hard candy), Amendola Communications CEO Jodi Amendola has written a blog post in her role as a member of the Forbes Agency Council. “Trade Show ROI: Four Ways to Make the Most Out of Industry Events” offers some great suggestions for ensuring marketers get a pat on the back rather than a kick in the backside for the results of their organization’s trade show efforts. The four tips include:
Ensuring you have a well-honed elevator pitch that carefully walks the line between proper and over-the-top self-promotion
Making Twitter your go-to social media platform for engaging other attendees
Hosting a reception for clients and prospects
Being sure you do something with all those leads you capture
Obviously there’s more to it than just those four bullet points, so it’s well worth giving the post a full read. You can do that here.
Whatever your personal feelings about trade shows, however, they still loom large in many industries – especially healthcare. So if you’re going to do it, do it right.
Take the time to prepare properly, and then maximize your time on the floor – whether you’re in front of the counter or behind it. It will pay off in the end.
The big day has finally arrived. After rearranging schedules, sweating out interviews or writing deadlines, and walking the line between “persistent” and “pest” your PR placement has seen the light of day.
Huzzah! (I am bound and determined to bring back “huzzah” as something people say when something great occurs.)
It feels like a weight has been lifted off of everyone’s shoulders especially in the case of an interview, where you had little to no control over the content. Fortunately your SME sounded like the expert he/she is rather than a babbling idiot who struggles to string two coherent sentences together.
It’s easy to think that you’ve now reached an end point, closed the loop as it were, so you can move on to the next crisis opportunity du jour. If you do that, however, the benefits of all that work end up having about the same lifespan as a mayfly here today, gone tomorrow and all that. (If you click the link it will count as your “I learned something today” moment.)
The reality is the article appearing online or in print isn’t the end point. Instead, it’s really just the starting point.
Here are a few ways you can take better advantage of all that nerve-wracking work and maximize the value of those hard-earned PR placements.
Share via social media channels
This tactic should be a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how often organizations don’t take advantage of this opportunity.
When a PR placement appears an interview, a byline article, a case study, even a good quality rewrite of your press release you should let the world know. Send a Tweet with a link. Put together a one- or two-sentence summary and post it on LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or whatever other channels you use and send it out.
Don’t trust that the people you want to influence will come across this great example of your expertise by happenstance. Be proactive in telling them it’s there.
By the way, taking this approach has an added benefit. The media (even trade media) is very focused on getting traffic to their sites. If you help them with it by sharing they will notice. And they just may be a little more inclined to read your email or take your call the next time you have a story for them.
Email your customers and prospects
Don’t assume that your target audiences will see the original article, or are following you on your social channels. Having your sales team email the article directly to them is a great way to make them aware of your great PR placement.
It also gives you an opportunity to focus it more specifically on your company since most PR placements will tend to be vendor-neutral. If your salespeople aren’t good at writing emails, have your marketing team or PR agency craft the message with some blanks that can be filled in to personalize it.
That doesn’t mean you can send them the entire article unless you’ve paid for a reprint of course. But fair use laws usually allow you to share a paragraph or so. Pick one that you can use as a launching pad, and again direct the email recipient to the publication’s website.
One word of caution with emails, however. Make sure the PR placement you’re promoting has some level of value to the reader. You don’t need to send out every personnel announcement or minor upgrade release that appears. That’s a quick way to ensure ALL your emails get deleted.
But if you share good information that demonstrates your organization’s knowledge and expertise you can condition your audience that it’s worth their time to see what you’re sending.
Post them in your online newsroom
Again, nothing revolutionary here but you’d be surprised how many organizations miss this opportunity because they feel they don’t have time, or have more important things to do. My advice to you is make the time.
Think about it from a prospect’s standpoint. The decision-maker has never done business with you before, but thinks he/she might want to. So what does he/she do? For many, the first step is to check out your website.
That checking out process includes looking at news about your company. If there isn’t much news there it’s easy for the prospect to assume there’s not much happening at the company on a regular basis. Even without that assumption, however, he won’t learn very much from an empty newsroom.
But if you have press releases, published articles, case studies, etc. readily available the impression that prospect will get is that your company is a very active, happenin’ place. He/she will also see that your experts are well-respected because their thought leadership is appearing in a variety of industry publications. Never underestimate the power of the implied third-party endorsement.
Again, unless you’ve paid for online reprint rights you can’t post the article in its entirety. But you can offer an excerpt, or a summary, with a link to the original article.
That’s actually better for you, because then the publication’s masthead is tied to the article, ensuring its legitimacy. Just remember to set the publication’s website to pop up in a new window so when the visitor is done reading the article he/she still has your website open.
The online newsroom is also good for customers. Everyone wants to associate themselves with winners. An active online newsroom is confirmation that they’ve made a good choice.
Include them in sales presentations
Just about every sales presentation, at least in the initial stages, has a section that talks about who the company is and what it stands for. That’s an ideal place to insert a slide with an array of PR placements to show that your organization understands the industry and its challenges and has recognized solutions.
Try to include multiple topics from different people to demonstrate a breadth of expertise. If they are all from one expert, however, that’s ok too. You can promote that person as a recognized authority; if the prospect wants the benefit of that person’s knowledge there is only one place to get it.
Display them in your trade show booth
To ensure your PR placements are the gifts that keep on giving, try creating a graphic panel showing some of your best articles, case studies, etc. in larger-than-life format. Think of a movie poster.
If you can’t do that do to space or cost considerations, think about creating easel cards that can sit on counters or shelves.
Even if no one stops to read them and the odds are they won’t it’s a quick way to capture some attention and tell show attendees that your organization is a player in the industry.
Post them around the office
Another great way to gain lasting value is to frame significant PR placements and post them in various locations around the office, including the lobby, hallway, and conference rooms. You can even double down on a few if you don’t place them too close together as it’s unlikely anyone will stop to read them all.
If the article is in a print magazine (yes, there still are some left), have someone with an artistic flair cut it out with an Exacto knife. If it’s online, buy some high-quality glossy paper and print it out. Then take it to a professional framing shop and have them do the final work.
These framed reprints aren’t just for the benefit of customers and prospects either. They can also help get potential employees excited about coming to work for such a well-known, well-respected organization, and keep current employees feeling good about it.
If you have a video display in the front lobby, cafeteria, or other areas, be sure your best PR placements show up there as well. Anything you can do to make them visible within the office is a plus.
Get your money’s worth
These are just a few of the many ways you can ensure that you wring every nickel of value out of your PR placements. Sure, it takes a little more effort. But approached properly, what at first seems like a one-day opportunity can continue delivering rewards for weeks, months, or even years to come.
What are some others you’ve done? Leave your ideas in the comments below.
Most PR professionals have had this happen to them at one point or another. You’re in a meeting with top client/company executives, and to gain some insights into their thinking you ask them, “What would be a home run for the PR program?” The answer comes back, “A feature article in the Wall Street Journal” (WSJ) or some other national media outlet.
That’s great in a way. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big. For most companies that aren’t already established industry giants, however, there’s more to getting into the national media that simply wishing upon a star or listing it in a set of PR program objectives and telling your agency or internal staff you’ll be holding them accountable for it.
Remember the reason you’d like to be in one of those outlets is the prestige they will offer the company. Yet how much prestige would there be if they ran puff pieces on every company that wanted to get in there?
It’s the selectivity that makes them valuable. Appear in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, TV network news, highly rated cable outlets or other top-tier media outlets and you’re immediately deemed one of the select few who have proven worthy.
Of course, there is debate about how much value a placement there actually has to the business, as my colleague Marcia Rhodes points out. For many organizations, especially those that need sales now or have specific messages they want to get out, visibility in trade journals that reach a high percentage of your target audience will normally deliver much better (and more consistent) results. Fish where the fish are.
If the C-suite is insistent, however, here are a few things you’ll need to know.
An individual end user with a story is essential
Look at any WSJ story about a company and where does it start? With an individual’s story preferably one of challenges.
The typical structure starts out saying that Joe Blow had problem; in healthcare, it could be uncontrolled diabetes, or a need to get blood thinner medication results checked out once a week even though he couldn’t drive, or something else that tells a human story we can all relate to.
Then it usually moves to some of the things the company’s user (a hospital, physician, health payer, etc.) tried without success before bringing on the company’s product or service.
So right away you need two things: a customer/client who will speak to the media about your products (which as we all know can already be tough to come by) PLUS one of their customers/clients who will share an interesting story. You will need to supply both when you pitch the story.
Can you get by without supplying that final end user? Maybe. But you don’t want to, because you’ll lose control of the story that person will tell.
I saw that happen once with a retail technology that helped companies ensure they could reward their highest performers by scheduling them to be on the sales floor at peak times. Sounds like a pretty upbeat story, doesn’t it?
The technology company didn’t want to push their retailer customer to supply an employee who was affected by technology, so the dogged reporter decided to find her own. The woman she discovered cared for her invalid mother at night, and the new whiz-bang technology that had been implemented had made that difficult by scheduling her for hours that she would normally provide care.
What should have been a positive story about innovation instead became a toxic story about the human cost of using technology blindly. The technology company got into the targeted media outlet, but they now wished they hadn’t.
The lesson here is that yes, the story needs that final person in the chain. Be prepared to supply him/her.
Tie to an industry or national – trend
No matter how awesome your individual story may be, it’s going to need to tie in to a broader trend. Preferably something with an immediate news hook.
In the diabetes example the general rise in diabetes in the U.S., and the toll it is taking on healthcare costs or business productivity, is good. Especially if the figures come from a new report. A pharmaceutical company that just announced it is doubling the price of its diabetes medication is better.
It’s a question of newsworthiness. There are only so many reporters available, and so many hours in the day, to cover everything that happens on a national basis. If the hot news topics for national media involve politics, a plane crash, a major retailer shuttering its doors, etc. it’s going to be difficult to get them interested in your healthcare story right now.
But if there is a debate in the House or Senate about what should happen with the Affordable Care Act, or a report is issued that shows opioid use continued to be a leading cause of death in America, your pitch about something healthcare-related that offers a solution to the news item may look far more intriguing.
Be persistent and patient
Walking the line between persistent and pest is always difficult. But it’s even more important when working with the national media.
It’s ok to check in briefly every month or two with a question about what the reporter is working on and if there is anything you can do to help. But no matter how much pressure your executives are putting on you, you never want to ask, “When are you going to do that story on our organization?” Any of my reporter colleagues here will tell you that’s a quick way to get on the “ignore” list.
The good news is when national reporters says they will file something away for later they often mean it. I’ve seen reporters come back a year or more after the original pitch to ask if that company executive is available for an interview in the next 12 hours (more on that in the next section).
Why did they wait so long? Because they knew there was value there, but needed something newsworthy to tie it to. That’s just the way it works.
What that also means is that the C-suite in the client/company will also need to be patient. Explain to them how things work, and assure them you’re doing all you can to make it happen. But if it does happen, it will happen on the media outlet’s timetable, not the company’s. That’s part of the price of admission.
Executives need to make themselves available immediately
Congratulations! You did all of the above and it finally paid off. You have your shot an article in the WSJ or other major media news outlet. Now there’s just one more step getting your designated executive to drop everything he/she is doing to speak with the reporter or go on-camera.
The timing almost always isn’t optional, and most of the time it’s short notice. Most reporters working in national news have constant tight deadlines and short windows of opportunity to speak with company executives. If the executive can’t meet the timetable either the story is killed (if it was about your client/organization) or it proceeds without your client’s/organization’s input (if it’s a more general story).
Again, this is the price of admission. If the CEO is out to dinner with clients when the call from the WSJ comes, he/she can’t just pass on it until after dinner.
Instead, he/she should explain what it is and excuse him/herself (then read the room). Most executives will understand and wish the CEO luck with the call and may even be impressed that the national media outlet is calling him/her.
I know of one CEO who didn’t follow that advice when a cable news network wanted to speak with him. He was busy and said he couldn’t take the call at that time. The second call never came.
The bottom line is these highly desired media outlets hold all the cards. If you want to be in them, being available when they call is essential.
Competitors may appear
National media outlets like to go from the individual level to the big picture, and demonstrate that the story is part of a larger trend. That includes what is happening with competitors, which means they may also appear in the article that’s supposed to be about your client/organization.
Be sure the client’s/company’s executives are prepared for that possibility should the opportunity for the story arise. They should view it as a victory, because of all the companies named in the story, theirs is the one that was featured.
More to the story
Obviously there is more to it than what’s listed here. Otherwise everyone would be doing it and would be successful.
Look at what’s listed here as the essentials. Make sure you have them lined up first, and that everyone understands how the game is played. Then it’s time to dig in for the hard work ahead.
