The Bailey Blog

This Potential Client Could Have Been “Sheet” Outta Luck

We can Tweet.

We can Twitter.

We can Text.

But to Joan Rivers’ point, “Can we TALK?” Seems that last one is a lost art…at least it almost was to a cold-call prospect I got this week.

The guy owns a fine European linen shop in Birmingham, Mich. If you ain’t from here, couple bucks in that town…very high end on the demographic meter.

In other words, I know “fine Euro linen” about as well as Keith Richards does about doing decathlons.

But, this shop owner wanted to learn more about PR. Now that I know…most days.

He went to the phone book, and called four local firms to ask them what they do. We were one of them.

I went out to meet with the owner recently. We hung out for an hour or so to discuss what he did, what he wanted to do, what we did and how we do it.

Bottom line is the guy probably can’t afford some of our services on a regular basis.

But, I gave him some ideas that he really liked, promised I send over a menu of some ideas/tactics with fee ranges if he wanted to go to the next step or get some counsel in the future.

He was very appreciative.

We were the only firm to come out to meet him.

Others assessed his lack of full PR knowledge …and budget to some extent…and treated him like one of those guys that call you during dinner to find out if you need your gutters cleaned.

Here’s what those other PR firms forgot:

1) We are in “communications” - not a lot of people really know what that is outside the field. By making the assumption that “everyone gets it” we miss the opportunity of allowing potential clients to know how we can help or that certain services/products are even available.

2) I learned what “fine Euro linen” means. It means this gent works with people who are cool with spending $100,000 plus on interior decorating projects alone. Heck, maybe even just one room. They are movers and shakers in this town that during business hours, do other stuff. That stuff could be a business in need of PR services and products.

When our shop owner works with these well-heeled individuals and hears about some potential PR need a customer is dealing with at work (see? now the shop owner has a way to determine what a PR issue is because someone told him), who will he suggest to his customer? The firm that blew them off for lack of budget…or the guys who took an hour out of their day to “talk” and do a bit of brainstorming?

3) Marketing one’s firm isn’t only checking the boxes when about buying an ad in the PRSA directory or golf outing program. It’s not even just about a cool blog or website. It’s about getting out in the community where you not only work, but live. It’s about seeing PR as a true service…one where “counseling” and “consultation” is involved. It’s about “relations” with the “public.”

Are we doctors curing cancer or even lawyers upholding constitutional principles?

Well, no….are britches aren’t quite that big.

However, when a firm forgets that the word “service” doesn’t start with a “$,” they are already communicating.

But the message isn’t as pretty as fine Euro linens.

And, that smell isn’t potpourri.

Apparently, it has become “news” - based on that most-quoted source in history, “Mr. Rumor Von Unnamedsource” - that Cerberus Capital Management is ready to sell and/or dismember Chrysler LLC.

The latter recently held it’s annual “What’s New Event” where journalists have the opportunity to drive and reacquaint themselves with that current year’s product as well as interview executives as to the status of various company biz.

This year it apparently gave journalists the opportunity to ask the age ol’ question “Where’s the beef?” after seeing holes in the product line including the lack of alternative fuel vehicles (or even a strategy). Coupled with Mr. Von Unnamedsource, we’ve got page-one news here, people!

As a former Chrysler employee, I’m saddened and sick that the cloud is forming again over the Pentastar shrine off I-75. Some of the best PR people in town are there or have come through there. (OK, well, not me but others…)

The “Never Say Die” Hall of Fame in Auburn Hills has become a Hall of “Never Said Die.” The place was always known as the home of the Comeback Kids dating back to Lido and his ship-righting of the 80s. How ironic that Mr. Iacocca was in da house in Auburn Hills for a “celebration” of Chrysler’s heritage on the very day the media was an hour away driving product that signaled more of an Irish wake without the benefit of booze.

I’m clearly not a fan of the three-headed dog of Cerberus, but c’mon - how many billions (that’s the one with the “b”) in losses are the Slum Lords of Cerberus going to take? They had Chrysler on the “partnership/merger” block while Mitch Ryder was belting out the tunes at the Employee Day One event last year! If you were thinking about it then with gas ’round 3 bucks a gallon and optimism of yet another “fresh start,” how can you say you don’t want to cut some losses - biggies - when all hell is breaking loose? And when your big weapon of competitiveness is a truck, two Jeep models and a muscle car, well there ain’t enough lipstick at Revlon to make that pig look pretty.

That’s especially true when you neuter the public relations by handing them over to Human Resources. The next time Mr. Nardelli takes over a company, he should remember that PR and HR both have R’s in them, that doesn’t mean they go together.

How much time does the Pentastar have left? Perhaps half a year if it nails down a sugar daddy that understands automotive. If not, something will give, the star gets reconfigured and it’s not going to be good for folks locally.

Remember when the biggest negative news story about Chrysler was that its dealers were charging too much over invoice for PT Cruisers because of supply and demand? Those were the days! Today’s company image has more baggage than a Northwest lost luggage pile at Detroit Metro Airport.

Buy a PT Cruiser today and you’ll know what Charlie Brown felt like when he got that Christmas tree.

Horror of horrors, can it be true? Companies that receive bad press on the Internet are finding ways to suppress that news through sneaky tactics . I’m shocked. I’m amazed, I’m…oh enough already.

Seriously, why is this such a surprise? People have been trying to promote good news, bury bad news and subvert the attention of journalists away from digging too deep on any one subject for years.

The best comment in the story linked above is from the person who said that anyone trying to manipulate search engine optimization to bury bad news will eventually be found out and then they will be vilified even more.

Bingo!

There’s an old rule in public relations: Always tell the truth. That’s because the story about how you tried to lie about something or cover something up will often become a bigger, more damaging story in the long run than the original sin.

Remember, folks, the adage goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Manipulating SEO bastardizes that phrase into, “If at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie again.”

And as they used to say on the X-Files : “The truth is out there.” SEO or no SEO.

Less gas pedal means less gas.

It is not rocket science, and yet people look at you like you have two heads if you drive below the speed limit.

People are worried about making ends meet in a tough economy. Congress is wringing its collective hands trying to do something to help. So is state government. The media makes a big story out of the prices all the time. But based on the driving of folks on the highways of Michigan, you’d never know there was a problem.

I was never a fan of the 55 mph speed limit nor am I advocating it now. After all, there are times when I need to drive the speed limit and maybe even a little over it. But gas prices have now reached a point where I am voluntarily slowing down to conserve fuel and protect my wallet.

For years we’ve heard that folks would change driving habits when prices hit $2 per gallon. Then it was $3. Then it was $4. OK, all of those have come and gone and it still feels like a NASCAR race on Michigan’s freeways.

What’s the message we are sending to the oil and gas companies with our behavior? Charge all you want, we will pay it because we are in a hurry to get somewhere. Of course at this rate, we may all be hurrying to the poor house.

Unless of course we choose to slow down a little. Maybe when gas hits $5 per gallon. Yeah, that must be it. Right?

And, Now In the “We Needed A Study for THAT?” Department

The school of business at Duke wants to help you with that little problem of finding a fuel-efficient vehicle in these energy strapped times. Well, let me let them tell you what they’ve done, those creative little dears:

Gallons Per Mile Would Help Car Shoppers Make Better Decisions
DURHAM, N.C., June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Posting a vehicle’s fuel efficiency in “gallons per mile” rather than “miles per gallon” would help consumers make better decisions about car purchases and environmental impact, researchers from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business report in the June 20 issue of Science magazine.

Inspired by debates they had while carpooling in a hybrid car, management professors Richard Larrick and Jack Soll ran a series of experiments showing that the current standard, miles per gallon or mpg, leads consumers to believe that fuel consumption is reduced at an even rate as efficiency improves. People presented with a series of car choices in which fuel efficiency was defined in miles per gallon were not able to easily identify the choice that would result in the greatest gains in fuel efficiency.

For example, most people ranked an improvement from 34 to 50 mpg as saving more gas over 10,000 miles than an improvement from 18 to 28 mpg, even though the latter saves twice as much gas. (Going from 34 to 50 mpg saves 94 gallons; but from 18 to 28 mpg saves 198 gallons).

These mistaken impressions were corrected, however, when participants were presented with fuel efficiency expressed in gallons used per 100 miles rather than mpg. Viewed this way, 18 mpg becomes 5.5 gallons per 100 miles, and 28 mpg is 3.6 gallons per 100 miles — an $8 difference today.

“The reality that few people appreciate is that improving fuel efficiency from 10 to 20 mpg is actually a more significant savings than improving from 25 to 50 mpg for the same distance of driving,” Larrick said.

hmmm…or should I say, in honor of the Duke’s School of Business, “What the Fuqua?”

I’m sorry but did I miss that executive summary that says “Big car, truck, uses more fuel and takes you less places between fill ups; little car, scooter, bike, unicycle, skate board, feet, probably uses less for potentially more trips.”

Well, I’m inspired.

Because obesity among youth is such an issue, I’m doing my own study on weight loss and health. It should be done in …oh, wait it’s done. Here’s the key finding:

Eat less; do more; finish your veggies, get your butt outside and if you want to be a real guitar hero, learn how to play a real guitar, Chubby.

Could work for adults, too, but I need to research it a bit more…OOP! ….yup, works for them, too.

Done.

With the PR goggles on, I can see why Duke would send this now; of course that rationale and my insight on it ranks right up there with their “drive-less-in-smaller-things-to save-more” cure.

It’s all about taking advantage of newsworthiness, aka “news pegs,” to apply one’s expertise to a gaining media attention.

But, watch the line between opportunist and insightful here, you little Blue Devils - we’ll call you when it’s basketball season, k?

Bloomberg News recently reported that Ford and Chrysler chopped their ad buys and expenses by more than 30 percent in the first quarter while GM and Toyota spent MORE as the industry continued to dirt nap.

As Austin Powers may say "But…what does it all MEAN, Basil?"

Which approach is "right?"

The root of what is right is an integrated approach that doesn’t necessarily overdue one element of communications over another. Think of the approach as to what tools you may carry in a tool chest. Certain jobs need a hammer, others no more than a glue gun.

And, as a shameless plug for PR agencies, if you don’t know what to do - the best tool your box is the phone number of a good fix-it-man….an agency to counsel and guide you. Not even to be hired to DO the work, but at least hired to point in the right direction.

Oh, that was quite shameless…but I’m ok with that.

For the longest time, the flawed mentality was "buy some ads, sell something."

Well, ads certainly help with brand awareness. But what do you do when you flip through the magazines? Or the pop up hits that website you need or are reading? You stop for a second and move on to what you really want. Sometimes that second is all you need.

But, if you want to get people talking about you, and more importantly, believing in what you are, you need to hit them with key messages in a variety of mediums that matter to them. That’s a media relations effort; that’s a spokesperson that’s a face to the company and product (a credible face obviously is key - one that knows the product and the audience); and, yes, some targeted ad buys where your specific wish-list audience is and what they are reading, viewing, using to get their info.

And, your employees better believe in what you are doing as well. They are your greatest ambassadors and sales people. The greatest backyard conversation between neighbors is when an employee of a company can say over the fence or at a bbq - "this is what we do..this is what ‘it’s’ all about" in referencing the communications outreach of his/her company…and the messages are the same. Be sure to put some budget aside to educate the workforce on what your are, your goals and the keys to your products.

You’re in this together, people.

Here’s the simple rule - kinda like McCartney sang the sappy ballads and Lennon did the acidic rockers - when it comes to advertising and PR: let each play to their strengths.

Advertising
Shapes an image of a product or company through paid spots which are controlled (hence paid for) by the company; you buy the space, you say what you want with whatever visual/text you feel is appropriate to say "This is the brand." You’ll never see a Dodge ad or vehicle in pink, for example. That brand tries to highlight it’s performance and "bold" nature. Red is its color. Richard Simmons won’t be a spokesperson for the brand. If he is, those guys at Chrysler have bigger issues than Nardelli’s supposed bad back that strategically keeps him from attending major media events.

PR
Third-party credibility is gained by a journalist writing ABOUT your product or company. The credibility is based in the fact that you have no control as to what that media outlet might say about you. But if it’s good because your messages were bullet proof? You get a free ad that would have cost you three or four times that if you tried to purchase an ad of equal space in the publication or outlet. You get a story in the Wall Street Journal or USA Today that’s positive and is x amount of column inches long? BAM! Now go upstairs to the CEO and tell him/her you want $$ to buy the same amount of space in one those? Prepare to get the ol’ parent speech that starts with "What….am I MADE outta money,here?"

The power of ads vs. PR
Major studios pay for previews and ads for movies to make everything look like something you should see. Result: you are smitten and now curious.

Then, you read the review in the daily paper that a reporter wrote giving the same flick one half star out of 18 and you blow that movie off for another. Doesn’t matter if you like the reviewer, but it makes you think twice as to where you are going put hard earned cash for it and your Raisinets.

So, again then, which approach is "right?"

Being "out there" when times are tough is vital. When a consumer is limiting choices as to what services or products they are going to buy/"need," the messages they hear clearly through the clutter are the ones that regularly touch THEM.

But, the key is developing a strategy that takes the budget available and maximizes it with more than just the same-ol-same-ol elements.

PR is the duct tape that can cost-effectively complement any tool in the box.

It seems rather apropos that the passing of journalism giant Tim Russert offered an opportunity for learning about the news industry.

As a certified news junkie and a guy who has to teach MSU students and clients about what makes the media tick, I’m always interested not just in the news but how it’s delivered.

When Russert died last week, I was one of the first people in my circle of friends and colleagues to hear about it. So I spread the word via email and that’s how much of the world’s news is now delivered. What’s more interesting, however, is where I originally heard it from. There was a post on Twitter that caught my attention, followed minutes later by news alerts from Yahoo and USA Today .

Now, the post on Twitter provided a link back to an Associated Press story, so the original news didn’t come via Twitter, but it certainly aided in the rapid distribution. That says something for all forms of online networking. There are times when even a cheerleader like me gets fed up with having to stay connected and keep up with all the various forms of networking out there – but then a moment like being the first to hear about Russert’s death makes up for it.

Another lesson learned from Russert’s passing is that often people end up in the news because they are available.

I often tell clients that you have to build relationships with reporters so they’ll call you. The second part of that lesson is that when they call, you have to answer.

I was quoted in the MSU State News for a story about Russert’s death. As my fiancé put it, “Why did they call you?” Gee, thanks, honey, I’m sure you meant that in the best possible sense!

But, let’s be honest: the plain and simple truth is I was available. I’m an adjunct instructor at MSU’s School of Journalism and I have almost two decades of experience working with the media. Sure, I have some opinions that might matter to folks. But the bottom line is that reporters were looking for someone to speak to for a story on deadline. That meant calling folks on a Sunday afternoon – and on Father’s Day to boot.

So, why was I quoted? Why do people get to hear what I have to say? Because reporters have my number and when they call me, I always pick up the phone.

Rest In Peace Tim Russert, 1950 - 2008