• Radio Silence: When Ghosting Enters a PR Agency

    Radio Silence: When Ghosting Enters a PR Agency

    Sudden silence. Unreturned emails, calls, texts.

    Anyone who has swam in the dating pool since the advent of the iPhone knows something about ghosting. Maybe you’ve swiftly severed communications instead of letting someone down gently and directly. Maybe you’ve been the one left wondering what happened. You connected online, you had a few great interactions in-person and on text, optimism abounded and then…*poof* ghosted.

    If you think ghosting exists only in the confines of courtship, you might want to talk to someone in sales or business development. They’ll tell you: avoidance has gone mainstream, even at work. As I not-so-proudly can attest to, prospects can turn to phantoms without so much as a goodbye.

    I’ll reserve commentary on my feelings toward ghosting in the “real world” for another time, but today I’m scaling atop a digital soapbox to take a stand against professional ghosting. Before I launch into a manifesto, allow me to define what I do and do not mean by ghosting.

    Not responding to a cold call or email is not ghosting. True ghosting can only occur when you’re further down the “feeling each other out” path, and communications have become two-way. Perhaps you’ve had a few calls, an in-person meeting, created or reviewed a proposal – we’re talking about the territory beyond swiping left.

    Now that we have our footing, here’s why professional ghosting should stop.

    We can accept a “no”

    PR people have incredibly thick skin. We’ve been shouted down by prickly reporters. We’ve had campaign ideas eviscerated. We’ve built careers out of trial and error, adapting to changing tastes and mediums, and, along the way, we’ve heard no as much as we’ve heard yes. What I’m saying is, we can handle rejection.

    If you don’t think we’re the right agency to suit your needs, let us know and, while not required, bonus points if you can articulate why. If your business no longer has an interest in PR and social or has no budget for creative, we understand that might just be where you’re at right now. Timing and fit are huge factors when forging a PR partnership, and, while we always hope we’re a match, we know it doesn’t always pan out that way.

    You’ll get fewer calls and emails

    Who doesn’t want less inbox clutter? If you’re tired of us “checking in” on your decision or sending along relevant case studies, articles, references, etc., I can promise you that we are, too!

    The problem is: unlike dating, where I can get ghosted and hide it, at work we have bosses following up after that in-person meeting, completed RFP or submitted proposal. Ghosting makes my previous updates to the powers that be seem like figments of overly active workplace imagination.

    The Golden Rule is real

    Growing up, my parents told me on a weekly, if not daily, basis to always treat others the way I’d like to be treated. While I’m pretty sure they have no idea what ghosting even means, I’m even more certain that, if they did, they’d tell me it falls outside of Golden Rule behavior.

    Mutual respect is something we take seriously at Matter – within our walls, with our clients and with prospective partners. During the past year, we did a thorough sweep of our in-house measurement tools and what the market had to offer. As a part of a tech search, we considered ten partners and scheduled meetings or webinars with them all. After an exhaustive search and evaluation, we picked a preferred solution and began integration across the agency. We also let the other nine technology companies in consideration know they were not selected, and why.

    If you enjoy being ghosted, you’ll have to get back to me on why. For the other rest of us, let’s commit to extending the same professional courtesy to each other we’d hope for in return. While that might mean letting down the person on the other side of your email, trust me, it beats wondering.

    Matter

  • Shame on the Spray-And-Pray Sales Rep

    I’m dealing with a salesperson that has crossed the line from persistent to annoying, and doesn’t understand what we do and need. He’s spamming me with crazy regularity and the content of his pitch is meaningless to me and my business. The truth is, there are far too many PR agencies that take this similar tact while pitching. As PR professionals, we’re always trying to sell – our clients, their messages, our ideas and ourselves – and having a smart strategy is the best approach.

    Here are four reasons to think through your pitch – when selling a product, service or even a creative story idea:

    First, know your target audience. No sales effort is worth the energy and effort if the recipient of the pitch isn’t in the ballpark of being appropriate. You won’t close a deal if the target doesn’t need/want whatever it is that you are pushing. It’s sales (and PR) 101, really, but more often than not you make email and phone pitches that are, well, not worth your prospects’ time. (Anonymous salesperson – have you looked us up? We’re not a good target.) For PR professionals, the consequences of this approach can be even more far-reaching and impactful. While a sales prospect might just hang up, a reporter could blacklist you from all future communications – on-target or off.

    Second, after you identify the appropriate prospect, the messages you deliver need to hit the center of the target – otherwise, the pitch falls flat. All business leaders (and editors…) are inundated with sales pitches of all shapes and sizes, and the messages – the words you use – need to resonate with the target. Key care-abouts are of interest, but not overly wordy descriptions that promise to magically fix something you don’t need fixed. Useless marketing jargon and buzzwords are ineffective in both sales and PR, and they’ll lose your target’s attention before you’re finished your first sentence.

    Third, it’s a highly collaborative and interactive world, and you can do your organization a major disservice by taking a mindless, volume-based approach toward selling. How many Twitter handles have been created as a result of poor customer service experiences? Well, the same can be said for businesses that have gone to market with false or embellished claims. You should be smart and savvy in gaining the attention of your target, but never in a way that results in independent criticism or widely publicized critique.

    Fourth, selling costs money and you need to be smart in the way you apply budget to your cause! You shouldn’t invest in email campaigns delivered to the wrong audience, or participate in poorly executed pitches with messaging irrelevant to those in the room. To experience the very best ROI, you need to think through the opportunity and be certain that the strategy and message are on target. It’s been proven time and time again that the spray-and-pray method of communications does not lead to long-term success.

    What are other reasons to think through your selling strategy before moving forward?

    Scott Signore

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  • The Ever-Changing PR Salesperson

    My LinkedIn profile lists the (modest in length) stops I made as a PR professional. For the past 20 years I held corporate-side gigs and carried the business card of a number of public relations agencies. I worked in shops large and small – some internationally focused and some local – and in shops that had a focus in almost every category of business, including high-technology, consumer and business-to-business. At each stop I had the same basic responsibilities, being a smart and savvy PR practitioner while working tactically in the trenches and managing accounts. And, at every stop I was somewhat responsible for new business generation.

     Much has been shared about the way the PR gig has changed over the past few years. While all of what’s being said is accurate and important, noteworthy is the fact that seeking new business has also changed. Listed here are a few of the ways new business generation has changed since I first jumped into the business:

     In 2013, prospects find you. This is the first and by far the most significant item on this list. Prospects find agencies or individual PR professionals in a home office somewhere by way of their online presence. That’s an online presence far beyond just a website – although that remains hugely valuable. Prospects are looking for professionals who practice what they preach, and who are active and engaged. They value things like blogs, Twitter feeds and LinkedIn profiles, and Klout scores. They are paying attention to the activity of the organization and of the individuals within the organization. Social media has given transparency to the process, and agencies and professionals need to credibly show-up to be seriously considered by prospects.

    Second, no longer are PR people selling one piece of the pie and living in a communications silo. In today’s world we work hard at showing how our time, energy, effort and budget will benefit the other initiatives upcoming or underway. We are true partners of the marketing team but executing programs that smartly compliment the work of their creative teams. (And, in many cases, we now develop strategies while working hand-in-hand with advertising teams – a concept that was unheard of years ago.) Collaboration is a term we use often and we see that it resonates with our audiences.

     Related to the above, the third dramatic shift in selling PR is the opportunity to sell so much more than traditional media relations and social media services. I commonly use the analogy of a sales guy going to market with a suitcase full of “stuff” to sell, as it applies when you offer prospects thought leadership, analyst relations, media auditing and measurement programs. And, when you have the luxury of having a credible in-house creative team, the list of touch points is seemingly endless. You can have a wide-array of points of entry and, subsequently, a number of budgets from where you can secure a fee.

    Fourth, referrals are huge – and while that’s not new, its importance is greater than ever. It’s a crowded market and prospects have plenty of agency options, so the best way to get a jump start on a selection process is to ask a friend or industry colleague. So many times we’ve asked about the agencies invited to participate in an agency round-up and learned that a number of those involved were suggested by someone else. (That is, independent of researching possible vendors online.) By working hard to keep clients happy, they directly contribute to new business’ success.

    And finally, cold calling is a memory for a different generation. While knocking on someone’s door with a smart and strategic pitch is valuable (for both you and potentially the prospect), rapid-fire outreach isn’t worth the time or energy. That wasn’t the case years ago and I have memories of smiling and dialing a long list of companies –with minimal success. Once in a while you would land some interest – sort of – but it was typically a long sales cycle that rarely came to fruition.

    The only outreach we’re doing these days follows some significant research and creative thinking, and we only proactively approach prospects that would be thrilled to hear about our direct experience. This highly-targeted occasional outreach is a heck of a lot more fun.

     Is new business part of your PR gig? If so, what are you doing differently than what you did years ago?

    Scott Signore

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  • 6 Ways PR People are Like Salespeople

    I once told a young family member of mine to learn to sell, because “you’re always selling something to someone.” Like I’m doing now, trying to get you interested in whatever I’m going to type below. For years I’ve thought that sales should be a higher-profile topic at colleges and universities as the bulk of graduates will try to secure the interest of – and the associated commitment related to – something, sometime in their career. Some professionals will sell on a daily basis, while others only occasionally have the need to close a deal. Most professionals, sometime or another, will need to sell. And, that’s true in spades for PR people.

    Here are six ways that PR people are like sales people:

    First, in most cases a PR initiative begins with basic information and a general intent to bring a product, service or even an idea to market, and PR people work to craft a pitch that will resonate with the reporters, editors, bloggers and others who will communicate directly with the identified key audience. As part of the process of identifying business objectives, PR and communications professionals need to take the content available at the onset of the project and craft what is, in essence, a sales pitch that will yield results – and that process is hugely important.

    Second, no matter the specific pitch (or particular project) PR people work with a prospect list. It may be the list of media who could, perhaps, bite on the editorial pitch, or a list of publications or bloggers deemed a priority by the client. In any case, it’s the list of media targeted by the PR professional.

    Third, PR people need to sell their creative ideas to their client in advance of execution. With any luck, the creative idea makes so much sense that minimal persuasion is necessary. In most cases, however, a good PR person has to develop his or her case for why a particular idea is strategic and aligned with business goal – and get the OK from the client before execution. Yep, sales again.

    Fourth, PR people need to sell the value of PR to partners and other third-party organizations whose involvement in a case study, press release or interview may be extremely helpful to a client’s initiative. They may not entirely “get” it, but their respective buy-in is hugely important. The partner’s involvement may be the difference between carrying a credible story to market or not, so you need get their agreement to make your story stronger. How do you do that? You sell.

    Fifth, agency-side PR people need to pitch their agency as part of the employee recruitment process. Particularly in today’s competitive recruiting world, PR people are asked to contribute to recruiting success by meeting with prospective employees and persuading the prospect to consider joining their team rather than taking an alternate professional path. If you’re a solid PR pro, we’d love to hear from you, since our firm (a “Best Place to Work,”) is hiring. See what I did there?

    Finally, agency-side PR people need to pitch. They need to be part of a pitch team that shows the agency’s success and expertise in a smart and strategic way. They need to be inspirational and persuasive while being polite. They need to be smart and savvy, while not appearing smug. They need to be the very best PR people in their day job, and they need to sell their skills when called upon to help their agency thrive.

    What am I missing? What are other ways that PR people are like sales people?

    Scott Signore

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  • Marketing – and PR – on'ROIDS

    Last week’s Harvard Business Review blog post by Dick Patton got me thinking about some of the challenges Matter has recently been tasked with. On more than one account, we’ve been asked to blur traditional PR boundaries to help our clients develop installed base marketing programs. It’s no secret that it takes less resources to market to existing customers, and yet, start-up firms and established companies alike can be so focused on customer acquisition that they lose sight of this fact. Tight economic conditions, a rapid shift in the competitive landscape and limited resources are all reasons companies take their eye off their installed base. But doing so comes at a cost. So our clients are increasingly turning to us for help. (more…)

    Matter

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