All posts by Sebastian

Taming your untamed CEO

Working with the media

I read a good piece on the BBC website the other day profiling FT journalist Lucy Kellaway’s research into the seven deadly CEO sins.

So, how many of these does your CEO display?

  • control freak
  • vain
  • ditherers
  • bad at listening
  • bullies
  • afraid of conflict
  • no good at small talk.

The bad news of course, for most in house PR professionals, is how you deal with that many headed hydra when shaping your external communications?

Give as good as they get
This is precisely when a good external media trainer (preferably an ex or current working journalist) can come into their own and there aren’t many grizzled old hacks who won’t be afraid to give as good as they get. But make sure you get them in for a decent session – with half a day you can make real progress.

The chief exec will say he/she doesn’t need media training (vain), will keep putting it off (dithers), will be uncomfortable at dancing to someone else’s tune (control freak), and will no doubt try and talk you out of it (bullies).

Keep trying though – remember, your CEO doesn’t like conflict.

The truth will out

Communicating in a crisis, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

The recent storm over the use of super injunctions in the UK, much used, it seems, by celebs desperately trying to mask a marital indiscretion or two, has opened up a whole debate on what should, or should not be published in the public interest. I think the issue at the heart of this though, and a good lesson for anyone involved in the world of communications, is the trouble that awaits when the desire to cover something up overshadows the need to communicate openly.

No secrets
The old saying that the ‘truth will out’ has never held as much currency as it does in today’s social media era. What price a super injunction when @tellitlikeitis on Twitter can broadcast the news; seemingly impervious to the legal blows of the judge’s gavel?

Tell it like it is
Whether you’re dealing with the media or communicating company news to employees, obfuscate at your peril. Tell it like it is; people from all sides will respect and admire your refreshing honesty. And even if they don’t, just think of the legal fees you’ll save on super injunctions.

Social media: don’t be a Dooce

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Working with the media

I recently came across the phrase ‘to be Dooced’ which apparently relates to a blogger (www.dooce.com) who got herself into hot water with her boss for making some disparaging remarks about work on her own blog and subsequently lost her job, hence, ‘to be dooced’. This happened back in 2003, pretty much a lifetime ago in social media time, but it’s rare that someone from office worker to celebrity isn’t getting themselves into hot water thanks to their blog, tweet, facebook posting or simply emailing something they really should not have.

In the work environment, it amazes me the amount of care and thought people will put into their quote in a press release which then has to be approved by Uncle Tom Cobley and all, but when it comes to tweeting something; bang, out it goes.

More straightaway
Of course that’s the real beauty of social media; the ability to be so direct, quick and as Lola (Charlie and Lola for those without children) might say, more straightway.

As ever, the medium of the message changes but the rules don’t. Take a minute just to think about your tweet, blog etc and think, would I be happy to have it broadcast on the News at 10 or splashed on the front page of The Times?

Or maybe just imagine what your boss/client would think? They’re watching you.

Is ‘advertorial’ still a dirty word?

Talking to your customers

Watching Jamie Oliver’s new ‘Dream School’ the other day, I thought it a little odd to see an advert break featuring him promoting Sainsbury’s which asks the question; where does the boundary fall between editorial and advertorial? For the TV world, the boundaries are becoming ever blurred with sponsorship of programmes and now with product placement.

But what about the print world?

Advertorial – paid for editorial – has always seemed a slightly dirty word to those in PR who like a story to stand on its own two feet. Not that a good advertorial doesn’t have its place. If it’s well written and relevant, your target audience will read it.

One thing I dislike though is the presence of a traditional advert by your advertorial piece. It’s a bit like putting up a big neon sign saying ‘we paid for it’. So perhaps the key is to be as subtle with its use as you can. It might/should say advertisement at the top but don’t frighten the reader off by making it too obviously a paid for piece.

Be bold enough to think you don’t have to be too salesy and make it an interesting read. Just because you paid for it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put the effort in.

Corporate citizenship – fact or phoney?

Talking to your customers

Actions speak louder than words they say. Quite so! And while I might not want to overplay that particular saying (I do after all make my living from words), there is no area like corporate citizenship (or corporate social responsibility) that can highlight the seemingly contradictory nature between what a company says it will do and what it actually does.

For instance, I recently received a new piece of audio visual equipment (a dictaphone if you must know). Having broken into the virtually impenetrable plastic sarcophagus shielding the dictaphone from any passing radioactive storm, I was pleased to see that the manufacturer had been thoughtful enough to include printed instructions in English. Unfortunately they had also seen fit to print out and enclose the instructions in at least eighteen other languages in separate brochures.

Turning to their website, I see they’re aiming to have a zero environmental footprint. Great words, but their packaging says something far more revealing about their approach than any expensively produced CSR report.