Posts Tagged ‘Arizona communication consulting’
Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
Healthcare is an important issue to us. We follow the issue carefully and regularly read the latest opinions. I purposely engage people with differing points of view to try to better understand their positions.
So I took strong interest in listening to participants in media training with a healthcare company. I sat in a room for about nine hours with several people who I consider experts in various aspects of healthcare.
What struck me was just how complex healthcare in general is for even people we think of as experts. They face difficult questions from both the media and the public. In fact, a doctor sitting at the table said people have asked her for advice on whom to vote for.
Imagine the challenges healthcare companies face when trying to share in short, interesting sound bites their complex stories. Employees can easily and inadvertently misstate the facts or not properly represent a company’s brand. On this subject, journalists can easily back someone in a corner.
Any industry with its share of controversy can probably learn at least something from the issues healthcare professionals face when facing the media. In the next few weeks, we’ll write about and tackle some of the advice and ideas I shared during media training. In the meantime, don’t feel dumb when healthcare debates confuse you. Even the experts must practice fully grasping all the different issues and relaying them succinctly and accurately to the public.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations, Arizona public relations agency, healthcare, interview, media coaching, media interview, media training, Phoenix communications consulting, Phoenix public relations agencies, pr issue, Scottsdale public relations agency, The Flip Side Communications, TV interview
Posted in Media Training | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
When companies have a new product, they often spend a lot of time testing those products before they roll them out, especially when it comes to software and websites providing a service. They want to make sure everything functions properly and the end-user experience is the best possible one. So why not take the same approach with your communications – before you send them out?
You likely have some kind of review process for the materials you create. Your boss, your boss’ boss, your internal client, legal. What about your “end-user”? Whether you’re communicating a new company program or marketing a new product, someone from your target audience can provide invaluable feedback before they see the final email or the shiny new brochure along with everyone else. If you work in retail, for example, that target audience person can be a store manager, district manager or front-line associate. If you work in health care, that target audience reviewer can be a doctor, nurse, HR administrator or patient. If you are working on a marketing brochure, reach out to your network and find someone you know that fits the customer profile.
Giving your target audience a sneak peak of the product and how you plan to market and communicate it can save you a lot of time, energy and money. Because he or she is not as close to the project as you are, your target audience tester will think of questions you might not have thought about. He or she will hopefully be up front and let you know if something is unclear or sounds too salesy and not authentic enough.
Does your review process allow for testing your communications with target audience members? What works for you?
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations, Arizona public relations agency, Arizona small business marketing, communication, content, employee communication, Internal Communications, marketing a new product, marketing strategy, personalized communications, Phoenix communications agency, Phoenix marketing firms, PR, public relations agencies, Scottsdale communication consulting, Scottsdale marketing agency, small business communication, small business marketing strategy, target audience, writing
Posted in Internal Communications, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Everybody seems to be trying to get Facebook fans. But do these followers actually represent true fans? Or are they just your everyday friends? People give away prizes and free stuff just to boost their numbers. Hey, I want to get to 300 fans and give away something to my new groupies!
I’m guilty, too, about fooling myself between fans and friends. That number of Likes should represent true supporters of your brand. Enthusiasts. Some companies are doing the right thing. They engage devoted fans in dialogue. And if they do offer contests, those contests are directly related to their product or service. Just seeing numbers increase without making connections isn’t the key. That’s just playing games with your product.
You probably know this. But this needs to be reinforced. A lot of people continue to play the game allowing fans to fake it.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations agency, brand enthusiasts, branding, Facebook, Facebook fans, marketing strategy, Phoenix communication consulting, Phoenix public relations agency, PR, Public Relations, small business marketing, small business marketing strategy, small business strategy, Social Media, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Greetings and salutations from The Flip Side Communications!!!!!! When you email pitches to journalists, try to immediately grab their attention. One way is to make the email personal. Some PR pros already know my husband, Keith. Others take the time to find out his name ahead of time. Emails often start “Dear Keith, Hi Keith” or simply “Keith.” But some communicators forget the basics of communicating and take the dreaded path of mass email. My Top Ten List of impersonal ways public relations people tried to introduce themselves to my reporter husband. I did not add the exclamation points!!!
10. Hi All
9. Good morning!
8. Dear Friend
7. Hi there
6. Hi Everyone
5. Hi Folks
4. Hi again!
3. Dear Media members
2. Hi ya!
1. Greetings!
Well, that’s all folks. Have any more to add to the list? We’d love to see them.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations agency, Arizona small business marketing, media pitch, Media Relations, Phoenix communication consulting, Phoenix communications agency, Phoenix public relations agency, PR, Public Relations, reporter, small business advertising, small business communications, small business marketing, small business publicity, small business solutions, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Media Relations, Public Relations | No Comments »
Friday, November 5th, 2010
A reporter was working a story the other day about a small internet business. And he put a face on the story by interviewing one of the company’s customers. Before the on-camera interview began, he asked the customer how she came to use the company’s service. Based on her answer, the reporter gathered she knows or is friends with someone associated with the company.
Too many small businesses pitch the media stories by offering an interview with only the CEO. So it is with great appreciation when the CEO SOT (sound on tape) comes packaged with a customer interview that readers and viewers can relate to, someone who explains why we should all care about this story in the first place.
But too often, as reporters often find out later, the customer is a friend of the CEO or someone key to the company. This might be a lack of communication. But sometimes it seems that relationship is deliberately not disclosed. And more than once, a reporter finds out the company didn’t actually charge those customers as a way of saying “thank you” for acting as a good marketing tool. (This is especially relevant when journalists ask customers what a service costs and was it worth it? A reporter once asked these questions to someone who had to awkwardly explain she wasn’t charged for a service that normally costs thousands of dollars.)
Most likely, most businesses don’t mean any real harm by presenting a friend/customer. That helps secure the media’s interest and that the customer stays on the proper talking points of the overall business plan. Seems like a logical solution.
But consider this: If a business service is so valuable, that company should be able to find a customer not so tied in to the operation. And if it’s a new business without customers yet, certainly someone out there other than your uncle or former college roommate should be able to attest to the importance of this new service. It makes business marketing a bit more genuine.
Journalists are not completely innocent. They sometimes air apparently important stories and don’t explain the report includes an interview with their own “friend” or “relative.” And when journalists discover a business customer has a connection to a company, they often don’t drop the story. They’re on deadline and killing the story with only hours to go complicates an already chaotic day.
My mother-in-law is known to repeat the old saying: You can pick your friends. You can pick your nose. But don’t pick your friend’s nose. In this case, don’t pick your friends for news.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations consulting, customer interviews, media interviews, Phoenix communication consulting, Phoenix public relations agency, PR, Public Relations, reporter, small business advertising, small business communication, small business community, small business marketing strategy, small business public relations, small business solution, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Public Relations | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 11th, 2010
The media is coming! The media is coming!
Now that it seems you’ve persuaded a reporter to come cover your product, who is facing the camera? In most cases, at least one interview is already set. Otherwise the reporter might be heading elsewhere. But if you don’t game plan further, the game can get away from you.
Take this example. A reporter and photographer show up to shoot a story about a new tech product. The reporter interviews an employee who uses the product on a regular basis. He interviews a customer who benefits from the invention. Then he interviews an expert with insight on how the device improves society as a whole.
But wait! There’s more. The inventor is local. Local guy does good! Got to interview him next week at the warehouse where the gadget is assembled. After all, he’s the man with the idea. When the reporter arrives this time, the PR pro asks if he wants to also interview the head of the warehouse. It would be nice if the news story could mention the name of the manufacturer. Can you blame a business for wanting a name dropped on TV?
At this point, it seems like the PR pro is winging it, trying to get as many people on TV as possible, trying to keep everyone happy. That’s her job. That’s understandable. But a better approach might be planning this all out ahead of time.
Ask a reporter:
- How long will the story be?
- How many interviews can the reporter fit into the story? How many does the reporter want to fit into the story?
- Give the reporter all the possible interviews ahead of time. Let the reporter make some decisions maybe with some nudging on your part.
There’s no point to throwing five interviews at a reporter if he only needs two or three. You force the journalist to start saying no and you disappoint people who expected their 15 minutes of fame. I’ve watched Keith’s stories for years and it’s rare when his stories include more than three people. But there’s no rule of thumb. Talk it out ahead of time. The media might be coming. But some of your important decisions are just beginning.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations, media interviews, Phoenix communication consulting, Phoenix public relations consulting, PR, Public Relations, reporter, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Media Relations, Public Relations | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
Now that benefits open enrollment is coming up, benefits communications are top-of-mind for lots of companies. But communicating about benefits shouldn’t be a once a year deal.
Too often, companies treat benefits like a dirty little secret. It’s an icky topic that no one dares talk about because let’s face it. Benefits can be complicated and scary – like death and taxes, right? Besides, the benefits website will take care of ALL of the company’s benefits communications needs. Yeah, right. So, it’s all too easy to engorge employees with a giant platter of benefits messages at once when open enrollment rolls around.
Maybe your company doesn’t have the resources to dedicate to benefits communications, but there are a few things you can do with a little planning to keep benefits in the company foreground and weave key messages into companywide communications channels.
Think big. Create overall key messages for each major benefit. Use these as one-page summary or fact sheets to post on your intranet or benefits site. Distribute them to managers to use as talking points for staff meetings or just to have on hand when employees ask them questions. Managers really should be able to answer the basics since their team members often look to them to answer benefits questions. Q&A sheets for each benefit are great tools as well.
Think quickly. Draft brief articles for the company newsletter or intranet. Just some quick facts or tips to keep benefits top-of-mind for employees and to help them make the most of their benefits.
Think little. What about all the little benefits that are oft-forgotten like insurance discounts, credit union memberships, pet insurance?
Think circular. Think about the life cycle of an employee at your company. What are all of the “touch points” you can tap into and weave in benefits messages? On an individual level, there’s recruiting, orientation, merit reviews, promotions, retirement. On a company level, there’s quarterly companywide updates like town halls or conference calls.
All of these things can help make benefits more digestible for employees. Breaking off the information and serving them up in bite-size chunks for employees make benefits easier to understand. Sure, employees will still want their benefits info when they want it (like when a question pops up at home), so you definitely need to make sure it’s easily accessible and available to spouses who often share in the decision-making.
For more tips on benefits communications see this earlier blog post.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, benefits communications, employee benefits, employee communications, HR communications, Internal Communications, open enrollment, Phoenix communication consulting, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Internal Communications | No Comments »
Friday, October 1st, 2010
A timely topic these days involving children is bullying. Stories of bullying leading to tragic circumstances seem to be appearing on a regular basis across the country. This is an important issue and many experts, from many different points of view, could address it.
A recent email pitching bullying experts to the media missed the mark. After introducing the experts in the first few lines, paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 were quotes from those experts. Then came some background information, which explained the experts worked in four areas in the Northeast. (I read the pitch after it was made to someone in Arizona.) The pitch went on for a total of 18 paragraphs.
Where’s the compelling story about the parents whose child was bullied? If you offer the media that, you wouldn’t need three paragraphs of quotes to persuade a journalist to put the experts on air. If you explained how these experts assisted these parents through a difficult time they never expected when deciding to have children, someone wouldn’t need to type out 18 paragraphs most media won’t finish if they get past paragraph two. And if these experts are well-established leaders in their industry in states in the Northeast, why spend time pitching them to journalists in the Southwest? If there’s a good reason to do so, then spell it out.
There’s actually lots to talk about on bullying, especially with how social media, texting and the internet make it easier and more complicated. PR pros have a solid opportunity to pitch a client plus address a key issue important to families. So why slap together something that likely won’t get the job done? If these experts really have something important to share, why should we miss out on that because of a pitch that should be ditched?
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations, effective media pitches, media, media pitches, media pitching, Phoenix communication consulting, Phoenix Public Relations, PR, Public Relations, Social Media, texting, The Flip Side Communications
Posted in Media Relations, Public Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
These Tweets are common from the media:
“Tonight on [station name].” That line is followed by a tease to get you to watch or listen to an upcoming newscast. The Tweet ends with “Plus video you have to see!”
If a Tweet successfully persuades you to watch a newscast or visit a website, that might add to a media outlet’s ratings or clicks. That, in turn, is good for the bottom line. And that opens up an interesting debate.
Is social media simply another sales tool to drive you to a more traditional-type website, newscast, or in the case of business, brick and mortar store? Or should something such as Twitter offer people real, tangible information that benefits without needing to click a link or pick up the remote?
Keith is experimenting with this concept. Recently, he has more often used Twitter and Facebook to provide information on breaking news and possible investigations. His followers don’t need to click on anything to understand what’s going on (unless they wish to see a picture or video from the scene.). His followers don’t need to wait until the 5pm news to get the gist of what he’s talking about or the answer to a tease. He’s almost functioning as a small (a very small) version of the Associated Press. He’s his own newsroom. This is in contrast to acting like a promotions or sales department.
Whether it’s a reporter like Keith or a small business, the goal of providing real information without the selling aspect is to establish a relationship or connection that ultimately helps the bottom line. You’re thinking long term. You’re not thinking short-term satisfaction.
As always, the answer to this debate is probably somewhere in the middle. Maybe a mix of both techniques is the way to go. But I feel safe to say Twitter is more than just a tease.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Arizona public relations consulting, Associated Press, breaking news, Facebook, newsroom, Phoenix public relations consulting, PR, Public Relations, Scottsdale communication consulting, Social Media, social media strategy, Twitter
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »
Monday, September 27th, 2010
On Friday, Keith was on a Business Wire panel talking with PR pros about social media. Time was spent talking about building relationships with members of the media through Facebook and Twitter. Then someone asked if reporters are still open to getting to know communicators face to face. Coffee at Starbucks, anyone?
Most media probably will say they don’t have time for such things. But businesses looking for publicity should still try to get on a reporter’s schedule despite the odds. And if you get turned down, find a seat at one of these panels including journalists.
For example, after the Business Wire event, a woman trying to make a contact at Keith’s station walked up to him. She introduced herself, pitched an idea and now they’re exchanging emails trying to sketch out a story.
No. It’s not your father’s media anyone. But don’t forget: Email and social media haven’t totally erased making friends face to face.
Subscribe via email to our blog, join us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter.
Tags: Arizona communication consulting, Facebook, Phoenix communication consulting, PR, Public Relations, Social Media, The Flip Side Communications, Twitter
Posted in Media Relations, Public Relations | 2 Comments »
