FIR Podcast Network

Clients often want to know who at the agency does what. It might be because they want to understand the work that they’re getting, but it also might be because they want to go directly to individuals for certain things.

Chip and Gini tackle this important topic in this episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast.

You need to be clear with your team about what their individual roles are so that there isn’t confusion. There needs to be a single person responsible for the completion of each task (even if they need to work with others to accomplish it).

But how do you handle clients who want this level of detail? It’s fine to communicate the expertise that you have, but be careful about locking yourself in to specific team members doing work for that client. Sometimes the agency’s needs change and as long as you continue to deliver a quality product, it shouldn’t matter to your clients.

Chip and Gini also argue that it is important to have a primary point of contact for each client with your agency so that they aren’t asking for lots of individual items from team members that could get lost in the cracks and not done — or completed but not properly recorded as work done for that client.

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One of the things that continue to allude communicators is measurement. Part of the challenge is the industry doesn’t have a uniform way to measure what we do. Then we also have to take into account brand awareness, which is pretty near impossible to measure, and then we’re left with the things we can measure—leads and participation in nurturing them to conversion.

It’s not a fun topic and I can hear you all groaning. BUT!! It’s extraordinarily important. Pretty much every meeting my team and I have with clients today begins  with, “How many leads did you generate? How many are marketing qualified? How many are sales qualified?” 

And how do you create your goals, and what do you report on weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually?

It’s rough and, while we’ve figured out the answer for most, there is still the elusive brand awareness, which is required, but challenging to measure—at least without a six-figure budget to do studies every year.

What we talk about is what you can measure and how to set up your comms plans at the start to define the metrics the correct way. And then we’ll use a framework to help you report on the results. 

That’s what we discuss on this week’s episode of the Spin Sucks podcast.

Resources Included

* Christopher S. Penn’s SAINT Framework

* Spin Sucks Community

In this episode, I’m joined by author,  communications expert and dear friend David Murray, who recently released his book, An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. David has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly and The Chicago Tribune and published several other books. He also leads the global Professional Speechwriters Association and the Executive Communication Council (ECC) and pens the daily blog “Writing Boots.”

In our conversation, we discuss how effective internal communications can foster empathy in oftentimes divided workplaces, as well as:

Why the book is dedicated to communicators: “This is the distillation of all the wisdom I’ve gotten from hanging around with [communicators] in bar rooms and out of bar rooms and at work in a hundred different ways,” he said. “So, this feels like it’s not my book, but really our book.” 

The criticality of internal communications: “There’s endless stuff for an internal communication group to be doing to help employees understand more profoundly what they’re doing in the world and what their organization is doing in the world,” David said. “And what an important thing to do to make people feel like full citizens of their country and of their corporation.” 

How an increased understanding of each other —  and willingness to listen — can help us best navigate differing opinions and find commonality despite individual social and political leanings: “To the extent that we can understand our fellow human beings, we can communicate with them better,” he said. “Or, we could at least understand their behavior better and deal with it.” 

What makes communications “scary”: “You don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what makes it exciting.” 

The best path forward for internal and executive communications: “That’s how organizations communicate: Take things in, spit it back out and react to the humanity inside the organizations.”

For more from David, head to: 

David’s interview with “The Father of Internal Communications,” Roger D’Aprix, from EE Voice Episode #55. 

His work at ProRhetoric, an organization that includes the global Professional Speechwriters Association, the ECC and Virtal Speeches of the Day.  

 

With all of the talk about the Great Resignation and the challenges many agencies are having hiring and retaining workers, is now the time to adopt a 4-day work week?

What are the pros and cons of this policy — and is it even feasible for most agencies?

Chip and Gini tackle the idea that has become part of the conversation in many workplaces.

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Every communicator on earth knows the value of the phrase, “No comment.” When we do media training, we coach everyone that the value of “no comment” is pretty much nill—and so is trying to have a conversation off the record. You can always assume that what you say will end up being reported, no matter what was agreed to during the conversation.

When we were kids, my dad always told us we should never, ever put into writing anything we didn’t want to see on the front page of the newspaper. That’s the same philosophy I take to media relations—everything you say or write can, and will, end up in print. 

That’s why I’m always surprised when a communicator is upset that something they gave on background is attributed to them. Or, as we discussed a few weeks ago when a reporter won’t run a story if the communicator won’t approve of being named as a spokesperson. 

It’s a tricky balance we all try to keep—in some cases, there is information we should be able to give on background if only to provide extra context, but it doesn’t add value to the story so shouldn’t need to be printed, let alone attributed. I also understand that journalists have to be able to name their sources, both in the name of ethics and in reporting on the news without bias.

And that, my friends, is what we’re going to discuss on this week’s episode of the Spin Sucks podcast.

Resources Included:

* Spin Sucks Blog Post: The Contentious Relationship Between PR Pros and Journalists

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Updating The Verge’s Background Policy

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Spin Sucks Blog Post: Maintaining Strong Leadership Through “The Big Quit”

Agency owners so often hear about the importance of not just being order-takers and finding ways to be more strategic by understanding a client’s real challenges and opportunities.

And that’s absolutely true.

But that doesn’t mean that you should veer outside of your lane into areas where the client doesn’t want you to go — or worse where you don’t have the expertise to do well.

Understanding where those boundaries are will give you the room you need to expand your engagements and the value that you provide, while not becoming something that you’re not.

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During the past couple of years, we have all learned a lot more about all of our professional connections because of the challenging work conditions many have had to endure.

But should you be a completely open book with clients and employees? Or is there still such a thing as TMI?

How do you share enough to be human and to provide context for your work without crossing that line?

And is transparency really a good thing anyway? Could it cost you more than you think?

It’s a challenging topic and one that Chip and Gini tackle with their usual blend of insight, anecdotes, and humor.

[read the transcript]

The metaverse is front-and-center in this episode of The Hobson & Holtz Report as the future of the metaverse begins to take shape and businesses start to pay attention. Also in this episode: You.com is a new search engine that delivers clear advantages over Google for anyone conducting research (as opposed to simply looking for the answer to a question), a look at a methodology for businesses to ramp up their TikTok efforts, and Neville shares his observations about the Center Cam webcam. Updates to social audio services are at the heart of Dan York’s Tech Report.

Our FIR recording sessions are now being streamed live, because why not? We already stream it in order to capture a backup recording on YouTube; we’ve just been making these restricted streams. We have decided to make them public so you can watch and comment. Our next recording is scheduled for Saturday, December 18, at noon ET. You’ll see our pre-recording conversation as well as seeing how the sausage gets made. Watch live here.

(You can watch the video of the making of this episode, though it’s clearly too late to share comments we can read right into the show.)

We are hosting an FIR Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday during the stay-at-home period at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to [email protected]. Note, there will be no FIR Zoom Chat on Thursday, November 25, which is Thanksgiving in the U.S.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s link blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode

* You.com wants to remake the search engine

* So what is “the metaverse,” exactly?

* Building the Metaverse Megadeck

* What is Web3 and Why Are All the Crypto People Suddenly Talking About It?

* Execs seemed confused about the metaverse on Q3 earnings calls

* Workplace from Meta will merge with Microsoft Teams

* Microsoft now envisions Teams as the ‘gateway to the metaverse’

* Is the Metaverse friend or foe to travel?

* The Tao of DAOs

* DAOs, Blockchain, and the Potential of Ownerless Business

* Barbados to Become First Sovereign Nation With an Embassy in the Metaverse

* Sweden to open embassy in Second Life (from 2007)

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Anyone working in communications has learned that storytelling is a vital element of influence. (An old Indian proverb proclaims, “Tell me a fact and I will learn, tell me the truth and I will believe, but tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”) There is a wealth of literature and research that supports the value of a narrative approach to reinforcing or changing behaviors and for building support for an initiative or point of view.

Does it always work? In one case, in one study, it did not. In fact, using a narrative strategy in the argument presented in this study actually led some in the audience to move even further away from the desired position than they already were.

In this FIR Interview, Shel Holtz speaks with Dr. Liana Winett and Dr. Jeff Niederdeppe, co-authors of “When ‘Tried and True’ Advocacy Strategies Backfire.” There are clear lessons from this study for public relations and public advocacy professionals.

About our Conversation Partners

Jeff Niederdeppe is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. He is Director of Cornell’s Health Communication Research Initiative (HCRI) and Co-Directs the Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq). His research examines the mechanisms and effects of mass media campaigns, strategic messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior and social policy. He is committed to producing, supporting, and disseminating innovative and rigorous research to support efforts to achieve health equity. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medicine journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

He received the CALS Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy in 2019, the Early Career Award in 2016 from the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section of the American Public Health Association, and the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Scholar in Health Communication Award in 2014 from the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication. He serves on the editorial boards for eight journals in communication and public health. More information

Liana Winett is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Community Engagement in the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health. Dr. Winett is interested in how we, as communities and as a society, discuss the many complex and controversial social issues that affect the public’s health. In particular, she explores how we can support broad participation in these important debates while also in a shifting communication landscape that often seems to resist deep consideration of complexity or controversy.

Dr. Winett teaches graduate-level courses in media advocacy and mass communication. She earned a doctorate in Public Health from UC Berkeley where she focused on the roles of message framing and media advocacy in advancing public health and policy. She also earned a Master of Public Health with an emphasis in Behavioral Science and Health Education from UCLA. Prior to joining PSU, Dr. Winett was Research Coordinator for the Berkeley Media Studies Group, where she developed and honed skills in distilling the ways that arguments can best be framed for broad public dialogue. More information

As the world struggles with what’s next for the workplace in the wake of the global pandemic, take time to consider your career path as a communication professional. Neil Griffiths, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, and Brad Whitworth contributed their thoughts and experience to a Circle of Fellows focused on career assessment and planning, IABC’s Global Standard, strengths, professional development, certification, and more.

About the panel

Neil Griffiths, ABC, Chart.PR, IABC Fellow is Global Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion at ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, where he is responsible for the global DE&I strategy and engagement plan. Neil’s background is varied, having spent the better part of 20 years in a series of external, brand, strategy, and internal communication roles, before moving into DE&I. Neil has held leadership roles in a number of public, private, and non-profit organisations. In the volunteer space, Neil has held multiple leadership positions within the IABC and the Company of Communicators (CoC), which is one of the City of London’s modern Livery Companies. Volunteer highlights include being a member of the inaugural Global Communications Certification Council, Career Roadmap Committee member, Chair of the 2018 IABC World Conference (Montreal), Past Chair of IABC’s EMENA region, and, as of November 2020, Junior Warden of the CoC. Neil is a recipient of the IABC Regional Leader of the Year, Rae Hamlin and IABC Chair’s Awards. In 2019, Neil was named IABC Fellow, the highest honour bestowed on an IABC member. Together with co-author Deborah Hinton, Neil has published two studies on the current and future state of the communication profession and advocates for channeling your best communication self regardless of where and how you work.

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He currently serves as past chair of the Global Communication Certification Counsel.