Spreading The Word

During this winter’s snow days a number of large round snowballs appeared alongside the roads near the place I live and that rare practical example of the “snowball effect” could be seen for real!

The theory is that getting publicity is very like building one of those giant snowballs. Someone has to start the thing off but once it starts rolling it starts to gather pace and snow and gets bigger and bigger.

Having a rare chance to try out the snowball effect for real it seems it doesn’t happen exactly like that. The snowball might turn over a few times but you have to keep giving it a shove to keep it growing and progressing – and do you know that is exactly the same as publicity.

Publicity for our clients works best when we start it off in a particular direction then keep giving it a little shove to make sure it works and keeps rolling along.

The most recent example for us has been the Cadbury House Alien campaign. Aimed at creating a bit of local publicity for the gym in the early weeks of the year the story gathered momentum and with some judicious shoves by us ended up literally rolling round the world with enquiries coming in from Australia and coverage in the USA.

Our PR works best when we keep pushing it and pushing it so that it gathers its own momentum – rather than firing one shot and hoping it hits home.

If all this talk of snow makes you feel a bit chilly then you can also think of it as spreading like a fire. We light the matches and we keep fanning the flames so that it continues to get bigger.

The Wobbly Table Of Good PR

Italian and Greek restaurants are renowned not only for their excellent food but for the attentiveness of staff and the warmth of welcome.

One of the ways they have built up the great customer service reputation is through the “wobbly table” stunt, which gives customers a feeling that they are being cared for and looked after from the moment they walk through the door.

Too many people think that good PR is about doing everything perfectly and promising people the best in the world. In fact good PR is about under promising but over-delivering and that is where the “wobbly table” comes in. Has it happened to you?

You walk into a restaurant (almost always Italian or Greek) and a smiling person greets you and escorts you towards a table. Just as your party are about to sit down the greeter moves the table and finds it wobbles.

With a great deal of fuss and palaver the greeter makes a huge point of finding a beer mat or piece of cardboard and folding it. The greeter crawls on the floor and shoves the card under one of the table legs and won’t let you sit down until – with profuse apologies – the table is as solid as a rock.

Your party sit down and are handed menus and already you are impressed. This is a restaurant that really cares about your comfort during your stay – you study the menu while already convinced it will be a meal to remember.

After your meal you leave a generous tip and the greeter kicks the piece of cardboard out in preparation for the next party to arrive – so that the over-servicing pantomime can take place again.

Businesses should all look for ways that they can create the “wobbly table” effect for customers. Always be willing to do that little extra that people didn’t expect when they bought the product or service.

A small “free” added extra can go a long way towards customers coming back again and – more importantly – it gives them something to say about you when they talk about you to others – creating the most vital of all public relations phenomena: word of mouth recommendation

The Media Spotlight Can Hit At Any Time

There may seem little connection between Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle booking into a rehab centre and relatives of those missing on Flight AF 447 waiting for news.

Both stories shared the front pages this week and were reported with equal gusto. Look at the photographs of relatives as they arrived in Rio and in Paris to find out about their loved ones. They were instantly surrounded by television cameras, microphones and photographers. Journalists asking them how they feel and what they have got so say.

None of us know when we might suddenly be the subject of a story and how you cope with such intense media pressure when your emotions are so raw is a trick few of us rehearse.

Of course the relatives of Flight AF 447 neither sought media attention or wanted media attention. But they are at the centre of a major event and each story they have to tell will be a harrowing human interest tale that the media will lap up.

Susan Boyle on the other hand sought out fame by entering the Britain’s Got Talent competition. However, I doubt in her wildest dreams she expected to gain the worldwide media attention that she sparked. The result, for someone who has lived a quiet life in Scotland, is a shock to the system that requires specialist help in a clinic.

Businesses and those in the public eye should prepare for the days when suddenly the media focus is on them. Preparation will at least mean they have thought through the likely moves by the media and that preparation needs to include some mental strength to realise what the media requires and why they are suddenly interested in you.

In some ways the media behave like an out of control class of children when there is a big story to chase. Knowing how to calm them down and get them into an orderly position to impart information to them is the key to good media relations at such times.

Of course that is not a role for the relatives of Flight AF 447 but those around them need to provide them with that support in handling the media as well as the counselling and medical help they need to cope with their loss.

For Susan Boyle it is essential that those who are getting rich as a result of her fame put some of that money into paying media advisers to help her through the transformation from an unknown to an international famous face.

Face To Face Is Better

We often hear that the public relations business is all about communication. In fact at its best it is all about changing people’s opinions and perceptions through that communication.

We spend a lot of time shaping messages. Then we find an appropriate media through which to send that message. Traditionally we think of newspapers, radio and television doing that job – these days it is websites, blogs, Twitter and the limitless resources of the internet.

But the most powerful way to change opinion is through the most basic form of communication – face to face meetings and chats.

We saw a great example of that this month when Prince William popped round to personally apologise to 109-year-old Catherine Masters after The Queen sent her the same birthday card for the fifth year in a row.

The pensioner had written to the Queen to complain that the monarch was wearing an identical yellow dress on the front of each card. William turned up personally to have a chat and, hey presto…one dissatisfied customer is now very happy indeed.

Now I am not suggesting that businesses send the MD (or the MD’s grand-child!) round to see every dis-satisfied customer – but there is a big lesson for all of us here.

Too often businesses hide behind e-mail and letters when a telephone chat or a face-to-face meeting will pay dividends. At Empica we have been involved in helping one major corporate prepare for public consultation meetings over a major planning application this month.

The people who will have to face the public at the exhibition are understandably nervous but a run through of the major issues that are likely to be raised and a rehearsal of the company line has boosted their confidence.

Simply being there to answer face to face and showing that you are a human being too is a powerful way to get your message across to potential critics.

The people who attend the consultation will feel much more valued and will also feel they have contributed to the plans – and not just been communicated with! By bringing about as many opportunities to meet your customers face to face you will increase your business reputation – and ultimately your income!