Marketing comes in more than one flavor! There’s a new revolution going on in a small Russian town. Pskov, a city of 200,000 in northwest Russia, has declared itself the home of the Czar Pancake. The townspeople are on a quest to show the world that theirs is the place to be for Lenten festivities known as Maslenitsa or Butter Week.
Clarity of language counts. Take, for instance, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who found himself at the heart of a firestorm over imprecise language. While discussing the sequestration effect on the Sunday morning talk show circuit, he said ”there are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can’t come back this fall.”
In this day of impersonal “press 1 for more options” customer service, PNC Bank really does stand out. They’ve made it a competitive advantage to provide the best in service – and they really do. I switched banks about six months ago because I got tired of the unfriendly treatment I got at the big, global bank I had been with for nearly 20 years.
A communications or public relations practitioner may be your best ally and resource when seeking or refining strategic communications to reach key audiences, build support, and deliver more dollars to your bottom line.
Some of the best teachers of communications strategy and examples of leadership communications are not found in PR and journalism programs in colleges or universities, but in the ordinary places we go every day.
In the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde, when protagonist Clyde Barrow says, “We rob banks,” it’s more than just Warren Beatty’s braggadocio that stands out. It’s the simply clarity and outrageous truth of that brief declarative sentence. When it comes to message development, most people think they know what their message is. They’ve undoubtedly said or written it many times.
In this age of tell-all and bare-all, there are many times in business and in life when it is just best not to share information. Within the context of media relations, while most people think about what they want to say ahead of any public statement or interview or discussion, they too often fail to anticipate how to answer the follow-up questions.
In a recent article in the Washington Post, pollster and messaging guru Frank Luntz offered the following counsel to Republicans: Re-frame the questions being asked about America’s future because, as he put it, “whoever controls the questions determines the answer.” Smart advice.
While watching the gang on MSNBC’s Morning Joe last week, I thought Bob Woodward had one of the best descriptions ever for the dysfunction in Congress. He likened it to “permanent divorce court.” Such is the essence of great message development.
It’s that time again – when we make resolutions for how we might behave, act, and become better at what we do and how we do it. As we consider changes for the New Year, I’d like to offer the following leadership communications wish list.
