Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Branding: These CEO Comments Indicate Brand Confusion & Neglect

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

 To determine if your brand lives, or is on life support, keep an ear out for some of these comments:
  • “We are focused on other things and can’t get to it consistently.”
  • “We need a strong, consistent story to use everywhere.”
  • “We talk to four people and nobody knows what we stand for.”
  • “We have some history to overcome and need to change the narrative.”
These comments are part of real-life conversations Karl James experienced with CEOs. All illustrate the need for a brand narrative and positioning that becomes the driving force of consistency. Brand is more than an external marketing narrative. Brand is the epicenter for all actions inside an organization. Whether formally declared or informally evolved, a brand becomes what individuals experience.
At its base value—from a tactical, pragmatic perspective—the brand narrative and positioning guides all marketing efforts. Without it, materials produced and messaging outreach will be inconsistent at best and at worst portray a company in a confusing, undifferentiating manner. At its highest-order benefit, a brand serves as an umbrella for multiple and disparate offers, which is often a challenge in aligning all actions across an organization.
A relevant brand is compelling and differentiating to multiple decision-makers and influencers with distinct concerns. In other words, every contact, whether online, in-person, signage, literature, human resources, customer service and more, all should be based on and guided by the brand narrative. A clearly-defined brand provides a guide to the entire organization to take action. This is the promise or commitment to produce a specific, distinguished experience in every interaction. Your brand is the sum total of all of an audience’s experiences. In fact, your audiences determine your actual brand. Translation: if everyone within your organization is not living your declared brand, the brand becomes the experiences of the audiences you desire to influence.
The power of a well-communicated brand with operational impact is illustrated by Southwest Airlines. Its market position centers on being the low-cost airline provider. If all employees are engaged in delivering on this statement, decision-making streamlines and operations become more efficient. If a purchaser for the airline, for example, must decide between placing a higher-cost chicken salad sandwich on the in-flight menu or not, this person easily can make a decision. The purchasing agent simply asks whether adding the cost of a sandwich delivers on being the low-cost airline provider. One quickly determines not to add cost.
Simply put, brands live within an organization first. Otherwise, brands develop from random, uncoordinated, non-strategic actions.


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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Public Relations: Disarming Social Media Attacks

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

 A national retailer client of Karl James faced relentless online criticism from a consumer with a record of shaking down businesses on social media. The consumer turned to Facebook with baseless claims to secure compensation. All attempts to resolve the issue were ineffective. Anything short of meeting outrageous monetary demands was rejected by the disgruntled consumer.  
Below is some of the public relations counsel Karl James offered this particular client followed by some sample messages used to counteract the online attacks.
  • If your brand or organization is attacked online, remember: power comes from communicating positively, constructively, and directly with those that matter.
  • Compare the benefits of refusing the monetary demands of these individuals with the cost of countering their online attacks and the reputational damage. Determine if it is worth paying the demands, stopping the online complaints, and stemming the money and time spent on this individual.
  • If the opposition proposes some sensible ideas, quickly incorporate these into your plans. This will suck energy out of their position and leave them with the more outlandish and less acceptable positions. Communicate on social media about your adoption of their ideas and your appreciation of their input.
  • Convert the negative energy opponents and critics need to be powerful into simple, sensible, positive, and constructive actions. Opposition is created and empowered by being ignored, vilified, or attacked. While counter intuitive to winning this situation, constant communication in response to opposing factions wins the day, albeit over time. It is slower, often irritating, and apparently contradictory but, if applied relentlessly, it is powerful and ultimately gives the best opportunity for success.
When communicating with online attackers, we recommend:
  • Publicly answering every question/statement raised by the attacker. Without a response, these remain the only frame of reference for other readers to form their perceptions.
  • Document and publish your requests and their refusals to work with you.
  • Realize this is a dynamic situation that requires ongoing monitoring and immediate attention, strategies and messaging made on a case by case basis. More comments already are showing up from other customers linked to the original complainants and likely will grow.
  • Realize the attacker is not going away and likely will continue to bombard Facebook.
  • Overtime, through actively counteracting each attack, you form a public record of engagement and paint a picture of trust and responsiveness with current and potential customers.
  • At this point, we would not recommend you pursue a strategy of removing the attacker’s comments and banning the attacker from engaging on Facebook.
  • We would recommend ongoing, online engagement designed to turn complaints into opportunities to illustrate your brand and all it promises.
  • Prior to moving forward with any public relations campaign to counteract online attacks always involve legal counsel too.
Sample MessagingAs you will see in the following series of public relations messages, each was designed to counter an unfounded claim made online while demonstrating brand commitment. By addressing each false claim, the retailer builds a public record of its willingness to serve its customers well. It also dissuades other false claims from being made by future opportunists by seeing the responsiveness of this retailer to online attacks. Finally, responding to each claim turns an attack on its brand into an opportunity to move its brand from mere words to words that demonstrate action that illustrate a retailer committed to living its brand. All of this builds credibility and trust. Both translate to prospects more easily transitioning into customers, as well as reassuring existing customers in their belief and loyalty to the retailer’s brand.
Message 1
Ms. Smith, thank you for the opportunity to work with you in assuring we continue to provide exceptional customer service to the tens of thousands who trust us. We recognize and value all input received about our performance. In fact, we appreciate your tenacity in ensuring we deliver on our promises. Your correspondence with the Better Business Bureau and our responses to their inquiries provided a public forum with an independent, unbiased consumer protection agency. We are proud to report the Better Business Bureau—after reviewing our responses to all of your correspondence—closed the case without further action. We sincerely appreciate your interest in helping us remain the trusted source for all your needs.
Message 2
Ms. Smith, we are pleased to have responded to your dozens of phone calls placed to our corporate offices as well as to our local franchise owner. Even though the Better Business Bureau, for a second time, has reviewed the case and closed it without further action, we welcome the opportunity to discuss further your position on this matter. To ensure you reach the appropriate person within our organization, we respectfully ask you to contact John James, director of operations, at (555) 555-5555. By contacting him directly, you will be certain to get the appropriate person to discuss this matter. Thank you again for your interest in helping us remain the trusted source for your needs.
Message 3Ms. Smith, we were glad to return your call within 5 minutes on January 5. As we discussed, the significant wear and lack of annual maintenance over the course of many years of equipment ownership understandably created numerous issues within your equipment. We were pleased to work within your budget and even provide additional service as part of our commitment to building relationships with our customers. We certainly respect your feelings resulting from your investing in fixing those initial items that were within your budget, but then having a different issue—not part of our work on your equipment—develop afterward. We empathize with and respect your feelings in this matter, and we hope to see you more often to ensure your equipment is maintained on a regular basis.


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Monday, October 13, 2014

Public Relations: Vagina Tax Spells Opportunity for Microsoft

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

 How could the gender-gaffe on pay equity made by Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella present an opportunity? Within all public relations crises, opportunities exist. It’s a matter of taking the actions that allow for those opportunities to become reality. If handled correctly, corporations can emerge stronger than ever.
For readers unfamiliar with the Microsoft CEO’s comments about women allowing karma to determine their pay increases, this video will give you background on the Microsoft public relations crisis.
Some items Microsoft might consider in managing its pay-equity public relations crisis:
  • Microsoft is vulnerable now and should consider other agendas by those who will not let a good crisis go to waste.
  • Microsoft should consider both internal and external scenarios, because other storylines likely exist; prepare for these eventualities and determine legitimate actions that get to the heart of heading off these issues.
  • Microsoft CEO Nadella issued what appears to be a sincere apology and clarification of his belief in closing the gender pay gap. Apologizing unequivocally creates credibility on the issue. Now he has an opportunity to build on the credibility to regain trust in his leadership and the Microsoft brand.
So where’s the opportunity, you might ask. The opportunity resides in Nadella’s own apology: “Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias.”
Microsoft can differentiate and distinguish itself from tech giants Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and others attempting to attract and retain technology talent.
According to CNN Money’s Charles Riley, Microsoft's workforce is 71% male, a figure that rises to 83% for both technical and leadership roles. Those figures are roughly in line with the gender breakdown at Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple.
Imagine a scenario where Microsoft takes the lead on gender pay. It positions them well for talent recruitment and retention. Which, according to this Forbes.com article 11 Reasons 2014 Will Be A Breakout Year for Women Entrepreneurs, there’s plenty of evidence about the benefits of women in corporate leadership.
Gender pay leadership could be a game-changer with technology consumers too.  Women make up a commanding and growing force in purchasing power.  According to Nielsen research U.S. Women Control The Purse Strings, the next decade of wealth will decidedly reside with women. And, Nielsen findings are reinforced by this Deloitte study on purchasing, “making women the largest single economic force in the U.S. [and] the world.”
Nielsen notes: “Women have tremendous spending power in America today—and it’s growing. Market estimates about their total purchasing prowess varies, ranging anywhere from $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually. And the scope of that spending is notably vast. Fleishman-Hillard Inc. estimates that women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S. over the next decade and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history.”
Read more at www.karljames.com 
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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

All CEOs Are Judged Against Their High Profile Peers

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

 Executive communication is learned. This clearly was on display at a recent health care forum with multiple speakers addressing a conference room full of executives. Of all the speakers, only one stood out. As these speakers were judged against one another, so too are CEOs—regardless of industry and company size. When employees and investors consider companies to invest their time and treasure, CEOs’ executive communication skills shape perception and action.  
It’s likely most CEOs and leaders understand whether they are strong, weak, or somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to executive communication. What’s less clear is whether CEOs take advantage of technology to improve their executive communication skills by watching the equivalent of game film of their competition.
Do CEOs search YouTube for examples of executive communication? Do CEOs realize their executive communication directly impacts their perceived leadership strength? Do CEOs correlate executive communication with the ability to recruit and retain talent? CEOs at larger corporations likely realize this and invest time in honing their skills. Many middle-market CEOs, however, might not realize the best talent in their area, for example, compares them to their higher profile peers at larger corporations.
If CEOs don’t know how they stack up, they would benefit from knowing. If corporate boards and even non-profit boards seek to achieve their goals, they would do well to direct their executives to hone their executive communications skills. Every organization competes with others—regardless of segment—for talent, time and treasure.
Below we’ve assembled some executive communication tips based on our experience observing presentations. And, we’ve included some video and article links to resources for leaders to improve their executive communication. These include presentations from Manpower Executive Chairman Jeff Joerres atMarquette University’s The Difference Network to Hubspot’s many resources on communication related topics.
Executive Communication Tips
  • Know the material, which allows you to pivot and adapt to the situation
  • Supplement the material on your slides with information rather than read what’s on the screen
  • Guide your audience through the information presented to give them context and meaning
  • Incorporate local news of the day into your presentation to personalize it for the audience
  • Get out from behind the podium, walk among the crowd, making eye contact with individuals
  • Engage the audience by asking questions during the presentation as prompts to what’s next
  • Display confidence, energy and animation
  • Tell stories to illustrate your points, people retain stories
  • Get exercise a few hours in advance of a presentation to relieve stress and nerves
  • Use video or audio recordings to improve your executive communication effectiveness
Executive Communication Resources
Granted, not everyone can be a Steve Jobs. But you are competing against other CEOs for talent and treasure, whether you like it or not. Check out these links to some CEO presentations we found.

http://www.karljames.com/2014/10/07/executive-communication-ceos-judged-high-profile-peers/

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Friday, October 3, 2014

Karl James Robe Discusses Social Media, Public Relations and More

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

 Much is being made of international terrorist organization ISIS’ superior use of social media and video. The same can be said for the Arab Spring in Egypt and the brand backlash against domestic violence among NFL players. What most pundits mischaracterize, however, is what’s driving the momentum. It’s the message that leads to desired action.
ISIS uses video and social media to recruit the disaffected. But those people are motivated by action and adventure portrayed in ISIS video. ISIS attempts to strike fear within U.S. citizens and allied countries. But only through the use of shocking, emotional beheadings is ISIS able to accomplish some level of citizens feeling vulnerable.
Most CEOs—especially in B2B companies—hesitate to engage in social media and video. And they’re right! Without clearly defined objectives and audiences, social media, video, public relations, executive communications and so forth ultimately fail. Use of any communication tool without a compelling message followed by appropriate action is a losing proposition.
As ISIS demonstrates through compelling—albeit horrific—messaging, video and social media can be a powerful tool to advance an organization’s agenda. And certainly these communications tools are worth a look by companies interested in engaging their audiences. But only with clearly defined objectives, audiences and a compelling message to match.
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Karl James Public Relations Adds Insights on Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

This is the second in a series of observations about the public relations efforts by the Ferguson Police Department, specifically Police Chief Tom Jackson, following the officer-involved shooting of Michael Brown.Read the first installment here.
Few executives are prepared to communicate when the unthinkable happens. And, admittedly, few know all the inner-workings of this crisis of confidence with the Ferguson Police Department. But there are some observations we can make and learn from in preparing our crisis public relations plans.
Our experience counseling corporate executives to elected officials caught up in a public relations crisis informs our observations. Many variables are in play when crisis hits. Larger-than-life egos discount public relations advice. Outside organizations with separate agendas exploit a crisis for gain. Internal politics impact acting on the right decisions. Legal exposure restricts creative solutions to communicate with key stakeholders who will decide how a crisis unfolds outside the court room. With all that in mind, we explore the public relations strategy by Chief Jackson to engage in an exclusive interview with CNN.
The strategy seems sound to sit down with CNN’s Ana Cabrera for an exclusive interview with Chief Tom Jackson. CNN is seen as more liberal in its reporting and audience. Many of whom are critics of Chief Jackson. Conversely, FOX News is viewed as right-leaning in its reporting and audience. Many of whom may be more inclined to give law and order the benefit of the doubt. Taking the message to potential foes versus friends lends great credibility to the strategy.
The interview itself, however, seemed to lack the force and forthrightness required to get critics to take notice. Not in an authoritarian way, but rather in a way that says “Dammit, we’re going to fix this community. It starts with the police department. And here’s what we are going to do to regain your trust.”
One comment in particular stood out. When asked if he was fearful of what might happen once the grand jury findings are made public about the Michael Brown shooting, Chief Jackson answered no.  Expected, but his reason why came across less-than-credible and did not exude confidence in his ability to manage the next situation through executive communication or action. Chief Jackson said, “I think we can manage this, I think we can come out of this much better than we started.”
No doubt, Chief Jackson received massive amounts of media coaching from public relations counsel. What appears missing in the public relations campaign to repair his brand, however, are strong actions to back up some meager words uttered during Ana Cabrera’s CNN interview. For example, rather than Chief Jackson, during the interview, saying, “I admit there is a problem,” he says, “It’s never been the intention of the Ferguson Police Department to target individuals because of race. If there is that happening, it’s a crime and it needs to be addressed.”
Yes, Ana Cabrera’s CNN segment included plans for police officers to wear body cameras, diversity training, and a citizen review board. All solid steps, but if Chief Jackson wants to save his job, he might look at elevating well beyond what people expect.
Whether Chief Jackson remains at the helm of the Ferguson Police Department remains undecided. If Chief Jackson is the problem, he would do well to resign. If he is not the problem, he appears to need to bare his soul and the soul of the department with the understanding that change is required to win back the trust of the people and remain the chief of police in Ferguson, Missouri. Perhaps a full, independent look into the police department is what’s required.
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Karl James Public Relations Post Ferguson Police PR Insights

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

What’s truly motivating Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson’s recent public relations gambit to apologize to residents of Ferguson, Missouri? We can only speculate. Perhaps re-election by an angry electorate. Perhaps genuine commitment to repair a ripped community fabric. Regardless of his motivation, leaders from Wall Street to Wisconsin can learn from the much-maligned public relations surrounding the Michael Brown shooting.
Video of Police Chief Tom Jackson during a news conferences following the officer-involved shooting appeared unprepared, uncomfortable and without command. Coupled with a simmering distrust of the police department prior to the shooting, Chief Jackson fueled the outrage by appearing incompetent. Whether he is incompetent is for others to determine. What matters to managing a public relations crisis is planning and preparation for action as well as words. Both form perception.  More recent video by CNN confirmed the perceived incompetence when attempting to walk along side protesters after issuing a video-taped apology. Setting political leanings aside, leaders can learn how executive communications impact a crisis from an article outlining how the post-shooting public relations unfolded from MSNBC’s perspective.
Why choose to apologize on video?
Judging from how Police Chief Tom Jackson handled himself in unscripted media environments, he is very uncomfortable as the point person. Chief Jackson’s public relations counsel likely convinced him to produce the public relations video apology to create a more comfortable, controlled environment. The public relations optics played down Chief Tom Jackson’s authoritative appearance, opting for informal attire. His public relations message was better than when unscripted. Predictably, his attempt to apologize was criticized for being cold, untimely, and curious among others. Considering, however, his inability to deliver the high-quality executive communication required from a leader when unscripted, the public relations video likely was wise.
Reader Note: This is the first in a series of observations about the public relations efforts involved in the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department’s handling of the Michael Brown shooting. Police Chief Tom Jackson’s response as the leader of that department remains in the spotlight as he appears to be launching a public relations push to repair his brand. Next Karl James PR Blog Post: Why select CNN for the exclusive interview with Police Chief Tom Jackson?
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About Karl James Public Relations Wisconsin

[Note: Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.]

Karl Robe founded Karl James & Company based on one belief: above all else, credibility moves people.
When attempting to influence attitudes and behaviors, you need a partner with business acumen. Seasoned executive communications professionals who know what it takes to reach audiences with whom your product, service or issue share a mutual environment. Like it or not, your actions touch many influential audiences who can affect your agenda. From consumers to government officials and many in between, each must be actively managed to ensure your product, service or issue advances.
Executive communications affects what influential audiences learn about, how they feel about what they learned, and, ultimately, how they will act on what they know. An objective perspective to business challenges and opportunities, however, often comes from outside an executive’s circle of advisors. External communications counsel brings unvarnished opinions and pointed insights, serving as loyal opposition to tell executives what they need to hear.
Karl James combines decades of proven experience with a relentless commitment to advancing our client interests. We create strategic partnerships with our clients through comprehensive campaigns designed to accelerate specific objectives.
Whether clients seek increased awareness, more sales, transformation or reinforcement of existing perceptions, or internal alignment with business objectives, we provide counsel and campaigns designed to differentiate a particular value proposition in the minds of those who influence outcomes.
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Karl James & Company Wisconsin

Karl James & Company works with clients all over the United States. With offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Karl Robe, APR, founded Karl James & Company in 1999. Visit www.karljames.com for more public relations insights.
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