I attended a local marketing club (The Triangle Marketing Club Meetup) last night and heard Brad Grantham, an associate VP from French | West | Vaughn deliver a speech on PR. FWV is the largest privately held PR firm in the southeast, and I am a former client. (see my life with Macho Man and Slim Jims).
What struck me about the speech is that in my thirty plus years as a marketer and PR devotee, not much has changed. Of course, the technology is crazy different, but the fundamentals remain the same.
The following are my notes.
- Building relationships with the media isn’t a one-time event. It is like farming; you need to be planting, seeding and fertilizing all the time.
- By being prepared BEFORE a calamity strikes, you can calmly and thoughtfully pull out a plan of action. What to say, who says it, who to reach out to, how to respond, etc.
- Trust is all that matters. It is the coin of the realm. Without a spokesperson who is trusted by the media, your story won’t get communicated.
- You don’t get much of a second chance with the public. Once the CEO of BP said, “I want to get back to my life” when the gulf of Louisiana flooded with oil, the game was over. Once Ryan Lochte told Matt Lauer on the Today Show a lie, the damage is done. When the Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan came on CNBC and shared how much profit they make on the EpiPen, expressing little humility – you can smell the goose being cooked.
- No comment means “I’m guilty”. Don’t say “no comment”. Ever. Have an answer even if it is, “I don’t know, let me find out more for you.”
I have been a guest on numerous TV shows like The Phil Donahue Show and the Charlie Rose Show, interviewed in top newspapers like The New York Times and participated in more radio shows, conferences and speaking gigs than I can remember. My approach to all of these public activities is to follow this simple approach:
- Be humble and share the credit
- Be authentic – don’t be a different person on stage and off-stage
- It is okay to say; I don’t know, or we are on a journey to improve
- Never lie
- Be as helpful as you can be to the interviewer and the audience
- Be affirmative and positive
- Be heart-centered and compassionate
- Be a human being first, and a marketer second
So far, this approach has worked well for me. This is the advice I give my clients. Publicity about your product or business is wonderful to help get your message out. But being prepared well in advance gives you the best chance for long-term success.
Perhaps my single best piece of advice is to always speak to reporters and journalists as if your mother is watching. That should help keep you honest and humble.
Besides the technology, do you think the fundamentals of public relations have changed?
Need help developing an approach to generate publicity? Text me. 919 720 0995 or send me a nice press release like it is 1999.
Photo: By Jeff Slater of article from The New York Times
