The Communicator

iPhones, iPads, PDAs, laptops, cell phones, PCs… the internet is now truly ubiquitous. No matter where you go, the web always seems to be right at your fingertips. 

But for professional communicators, the rapid proliferation of web-accessible devices can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the public’s increased access to the internet can lead to more visitors for your website and thus a better return on your investment. On the other, the complexity of maintaining a consistent customer experience and brand identity across a growing number of platforms can quickly sap your resources and become a burden. 

For many organizations, there is no easy answer. Communicators will need to find a comfortable balance between maintaining an easily-accessible website and managing the host of other web priorities that drive their traffic and achieve their objectives. 

Regardless of your current strategy, we have noticed a few trends that we’ve picked up from leading websites: 

• Keep it simple: Don’t let your website get bogged down with long passages or huge pdf files. Remember that people may be accessing your site with different download speeds, screen colour capabilities, and data plans, so try to stick to simple text and a lot of white space to enhance ease-of-use. 
• Know your audience: While this may be a ‘no-brainer’ for most, it’s easy to get caught up in hype (or simply the desire to demonstrate your innovation to the world), and lose sight of the basic characteristics of your audience. Use your website metrics to understand how your most frequent visitors – or most valuable customers – access your site, and concentrate on improving their experience first. 
• Seek value opportunities: Regardless of their popularity, many new technologies and devices perform unique functions that can greatly enhance your message. Try gauging the added effect of incorporating tools such as interactive charts, streaming video and real-time updates to illustrate your point and add value. 
• Leverage free apps: Rather than spending too much time and money deploying video functionality or other cool applications, consider harnessing existing free sites such as YouTube or Twitter to perform some of those functions. Not only are they extremely cost-effective, but they can also gain much wider viewership than your corporate site alone. 

At the end of the day, it all comes back to the basic fundamentals of communications: know your audience, how to reach them, and what really matters to them. If you always keep that in mind, you can’t really go wrong.  

Need help adapting your communications material? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Let’s be clear: there is absolutely no excuse for bad spelling. Yet every day, I see websites, brochures and even newspaper articles where, in the author’s haste to produce content, they have decided to forego the rigour of a simple spell check. 

Indeed there seems to be a pervasive feeling these days that good grammar and good spelling are somehow passé. Has Twitter and texting killed the need for communicators to worry about spelling? 

Hardly. In fact, a recent story on the BBC’s website (well worth reading) claims that – as a result of poor spelling – UK companies are losing millions of pounds per year in revenue.  It seems that consumers don’t particularly trust websites that contain spelling errors. 

In fact, given the increase in fake websites, online scams and phishing emails, consumers have become increasingly wary of anything that does not seem on the up and up. No wonder: one of the surest ways to identify scam email (besides the obvious fact that very few people with $3 billion tend to legitimately need a Wisconsin retiree as a transfer agent) is their poor – often laughable – grasp of spelling and grammar. 

As self-styled Guardians of The Written Word, the responsibility of monitoring spelling and grammar often falls to professional communicators. So what can we do to eliminate spelling mistakes and destroy bad grammar in our organisations? Here are a few ideas: 

• Slow down: Given the pace of work for most professional communicators, we tend to see ‘editing’ as a nice-to-do rather than an absolute must. But taking the time to reread our work is absolutely critical and cannot be rushed or ignored. In fact, communicators may consider rethinking their content development process to create a formal review round that is focused solely on grammar and spelling.
• Get some help: A second set of eyes on a project can be invaluable. And while there are many great external editors (like us) with the right skills to make quick work of editing, communicators may also want to develop a ‘buddy system’ with a colleague that can act as an editor on higher-risk pieces.
• Know your kryptonite: When it comes to spelling we all have an Achilles heel that is impervious to spell check. For some these may be innocuous (‘fro’ instead of ‘for’), others can be more embarrassing (‘pubic’ rather than ‘public’). Self-aware communicators may want to keep a short list of these usual suspects by their computer and do a ‘find and replace’ to hunt them down and eliminate them. 

Finally, communicators should remember that an over-reliance on the spelling gurus at Microsoft and Apple is no solution and – as we pointed out in an earlier posting – can even be detrimental to your career (and your relationships). 

Need a great writer or editor? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

There have been a record number of home foreclosures over the past few years. In simple terms, the credit crunch combined with a reduced income has forced home owners to choose between paying the mortgage and putting food on the table. Not surprisingly, many families have opted to service their short-term needs, often to the detriment of their long-term stability.   

Many professional communicators are facing a similar problem at work. For years, they have been building equity with the public through steady investments in their corporate reputation. But as the economy tightened and budgets were decimated, many communicators diverted their funding away from their long-term commitments to shore up projects that would provide ‘quick-hits’ and generate instant revenue. 

Faced with certain foreclosure, many home owners choose to renegotiate the terms of their mortgage, allowing them to manage their short-term needs while maintaining the equity they have built up over years of steady payments. 

That’s a good idea. Here are a few areas where professional communicators can look to renegotiate, while still securing their corporate reputation investment: 

• Maintain sponsorships, especially your support of community or charitable organizations. It’s easy to be magnanimous in the good times, but your continued support during a tough economy will do more to build and protect your equity. Try working with your partners to renegotiate the terms of your sponsorships rather than abandoning them all together.
• Focus on low-cost, high interaction vehicles such as websites or social media. Take a hard look at your current cost-per-contact (how many people you reach vs. the cost of using a specific communications tool), and put a premium on vehicles that engage and interact with your customers. Besides, not everyone needs a high-gloss brochure or expensive chatchkes.  
• Look to Public Relations. Not to fuel the PR vs. Advertising debate, but spending lavishly on full-page ads can send the wrong message in a slow-recovering economy. Instead, try employing smart and targeted public and media relations to reach your audiences.
• Use freelancers and consultants to support your corporate reputation initiatives and to reduce the cost of maintaining an ongoing program. While corporate reputation may not require full-time oversight, it is important to maintain consistent objectives, principles and tone of voice. Try using freelancers and consultants to augment your in-house team without increasing your headcount or retaining expensive agencies.  

At the end of the day, just remember: much like your mortgage, stopping your investments in your corporate reputation could leave your company out in the cold.   

Looking for cost-effective ways to manage and enhance your corporate reputation? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Let’s face it: most thought leadership is bland, heavy and unappealing. Boiled up in corporate boardrooms and agency sweatshops, thought leadership is generally considered the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the Communicator’s Cook Book.

But while the recipe for your garden-variety thought leadership may be relatively easy to duplicate, most end up with a product that is either too cumbersome to consume or too dry to digest.

There are, however, a few trade secrets that can help professional communicators turn their Hamburger Barn into Le Cordon Bleu:  

Use fresh ingredients: Any cook will tell you that making a great meal is all about the quality of the ingredients. Make sure your main idea or thesis is fresh, new or provocative. This is no time for leftovers.

Watch the calories: When serving up your thought leadership, take every opportunity to trim the fat. Try to get one main idea across and stay single-minded about communicating that message. Remember: there’s nothing wrong with a lean, yet high-impact meal.

Offer a balanced diet: Man cannot live on data alone. Thought leadership demands context and illustration. Always try to include a healthy dose of case studies, diagrams and charts to support your ideas in more creative ways. Much like with meals, side dishes should always be selected based on colour and nutritional value. 

Cater to demand: If nobody’s ordering what you’re serving up, you should rethink your menu. Thought leadership has to be relevant to your audience and provide them with some level of value. Know what your audience wants, and focus on delivering it to them on a silver platter. 

Feed the brain… and the stomach: Thought leadership is no place for cerebral musings or scholastic theories. To be of any value to your audience, your ideas need to be both achievable and actionable. Always try to offer readers a level of prescriptive advice – without sharing your secret ingredients.

Hire an experienced Sous-Chef: In the end, the quality of thought leadership still largely depends on the experience of the chefs and the recipe they use. To provide a consistently appealing product, make sure that everyone on your team – from the original subject matter expert to the contract writer – are the best people for the job and are fully briefed on the tone, scope and objectives of the project.

Bon appétit!

Need help spicing up your thought leadership material? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

The Economist magazine doesn’t usually make me laugh out loud. But I do remember one story about a $2.5 billion deal between Russia and Nigeria for natural gas exploration rights. The correspondent quipped that the new company, ‘Nigaz’, showed a “refreshing ignorance of politically incorrect language”. 

Examples like this are not difficult to find. What seems like a brilliant marketing idea in one culture may be horrifying to another. Europeans are not likely to want to drink ‘Pee Cola’, a popular soda brand in West Africa; Canadians would have never voted for CRAP (the Conservative Reform Alliance Party); British tourists to France were not about to buy “Smack” cereal for their children; and Americans didn’t trade in their vacuum cleaners after hearing that “nothing sucks like an Electrolux”.  

While certainly humorous, these examples are indicative of a larger issue prevalent in most global organizations: one-size-fits-all communications. 

In an effort to reduce cost, align messaging and manage risk, many organizations follow a centralized communications model, where all content is generated from Head Office and disseminated into the colonies. 

There are a number of risks inherent with this model, not least of which is pandering to the lowest common denominator. 

The greatest risk, of course, is of committing a cultural insensitivity (the likes of ‘Nigaz’) that negatively impacts or even devastates your corporate reputation. 

That being said, if you’ve been reading my posts, you would know that I am a huge proponent of centralized messaging. It is vital to your brand and your corporate reputation that everyone is on the same page and using the same key messages. 

But on the country level – or even regional (think Quebec or Hawaii) – the most successful strategy lies in local customization. While globally-approved key messages should form the backbone, local resources must be engaged to provide strategic guidance, and to ensure that the content and intention are not misunderstood. 

Global communications should be a well tailored suit, not a one-size-fits-all Mumu. 

Need to have your content updated or altered for different audiences? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

These days it is virtually impossible to do a Google or Yahoo search without turning up Wikipedia. In just 10 short years, the not-for-profit encyclopaedia has grown to encompass more than 3.5 million English language articles and pulls in almost 4 million unique visitors a month. In the US, Wikipedia now outranks sites like Apple and the New York Times in terms of page views. 

Obviously, Wikipedia has an enormous reach. But it has also quickly become one of the most trusted sources for information on the internet. People frequently cite its articles in conversations; my own mother treats its pages as a form of medical triage.  

For professional communicators, Wikipedia also distinguishes itself as a pure-play PR opportunity. The site does not accept advertising and will quickly remove any entries that are seen as being overly promotional in nature. But in this arena, PR pros are the masters: we know how to walk the fine line between informing and promoting. 

But given the devout neutrality of the site, communicators will need to tread carefully or risk having their content pulled down by Wikipedia’s ‘cabal’ of editors. Even so, there are a number of ways that Wikipedia can contribute to achieving your communications goals. Here are three: 

• Post news items: Did you know that Wikipedia has built a collaborative news portal? Anyone can contribute an original story and – if it passes the editorial review – post it onto the site. And while the site hasn’t yet rivalled Reuters or Bloomberg, it will provide a growing opportunity for communications professionals who want to put some legs on their story.
• Add or edit your company: Unbiased articles and descriptions about companies and organizations are fair game on Wikipedia, so it is important that communicators closely manage their corporate entry on the site. But be warned, negative criticism and bad press from the past will invariably find its way onto your company’s entry and there is very little you can do about that (unless the entry is factually incorrect, in which case there may be some recourse).
• Update articles: Many companies today see themselves as not only product and service providers, but also ‘thought leaders’.  For these organizations, Wikipedia offers an unsurpassed opportunity for experts to share their insight and reference their research in a trusted – yet open – forum. For example, just last week, Cancer Research UK announced that their experts would update Wikipedia entries related to cancer… and got some great PR in the process.  

So while Wikipedia may not gain as much attention as its social networking cousins, professional communicators may find that it carries a lot more weight and garners a lot more attention than one-off tweet-fests or short-lived Facebook campaigns.  

Looking for a writer that knows how to write for Wikipedia? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Any five year old will tell you: Rudolph is the leading brand in Christmas reindeer. 

It wasn’t always that way. Not that long ago, Rudolph was openly mocked for what the market saw as an ‘imperfection’. In fact, things were so bad for the Rudolph brand that he didn’t even merit a mention in “T’was the night before Christmas”, and was never invited to participate in the all-important ‘Reindeer Games’. 

And while many of Rudy’s detractors claim that his meteoric rise to fame was simply a result of being in the right place at the right time, professional communicators know better; Rudolph played the PR game, and won. 

So as the world’s leading brand in the Reindeer category, we thought a short case study on Rudy’s PR strategy would be in order. 

Key Differentiator: Rudy’s PR advisors clearly needed to turn around the reindeer’s unfortunate reputation, and – so as not to cut off his nose to spite his face – wisely chose to focus on Rudy’s red nose as a key differentiator. Early on in the campaign, his agency was also able to secure a safety rating (highest in class for leading tiny sleighs through inclement weather) that clearly provided a ‘value add’ when compared to other reindeer noses. While Rudy’s lawyers are still tied up in court (defending litigation by the Clown’s Association for patent infringement on the Red Nose), the annual Red Nose campaign has proven to be one of Rudy’s primary publicity programs each year. 

Branding: Rather than following the market status quo by entering into an exclusive co-branding deal (as was the case with Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, and so on), Rudy redefined the way reindeer went to market by entering into branding agreements with a wide variety of aligned companies. Bing Crosby joined Rudy in 1950 to top the Billboard Charts, NBC produced a TV special for him in 1964, and merchandising revenues simply flow in from related licensing agreements during the holiday season. There are rumours, however, that the European Union is investigating Rudy for Anti-competitive practices in a complaint initiated by Donner and Blitzen. 

Celebrity Endorsements: As most readers will already have read in the public media, all of Rudy’s hard lobbying and keen PR work finally paid off that fateful Christmas Eve, when – in what is now commonly considered a fluke of global warming – the North Pole was forced to close due to unseasonable fog. Rudy’s willingness to step in at the last minute, provide critical navigation services, and take a leadership role within a clearly disorganized division, earned him the endorsement – and life-long friendship – of St. Nick. The Santa Clause Endorsement (1937) remains one of the industry’s biggest to date, and the subject of a wealth of academic literature. 

What does the future hold for Rudolph? Clearly, globalization has been a boon for the brand, as the joys of a purely materialistic Christmas spread around the world and – with them – Rudy’s fame. And while Rudy will continue to meet insurmountable challenges when trying to extend his brand dominance outside of the critical holiday season, his ownership of an environmentally-friendly lighting technology will almost certainly bring more attention to the brand in the near future. 

This holiday season, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is the one to watch. 

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday season, from your friends at Communications Unlimited.

No matter where you stand on transparency and good governance, the release of reams of sensitive information through WikiLeaks over the past few months should serve as a stark reminder for professional communicators: nothing is ever fully confidential. 

Information leaks are certainly not a new phenomenon for either public or private organizations. Most companies put a high priority on maintaining the confidentiality of their proprietary information and trade secrets (just ask any Pharmaceutical company, or the folks who mix KFC’s 11 herbs and spices). 

But while the recent rounds of revelations into the US State Department are certainly causing headaches for government leaders and their spokespeople, they also act as a catalyst for elevating the role of communications as a key component in the fight to safeguard organizational secrets. 

Being part of the solution
Traditionally, the role of protecting confidential information falls largely to the Legal Department (who create the controls and pursue the perpetrators) and IT (who build the security systems and develop the encryption software). 

The problem with this status quo is that leaks are not usually generated by computer systems or faulty processes, but by malcontent employees with misguided intentions. Bradley Manning (the 23-year-old US serviceman accused of being behind the US government leaks), still managed to find ways to circumvent the rigorous national cyber-security protocols (rumour has it he downloaded millions of files to a single Lady Gaga CD) because he believed that the means justified the ends. 

And while no amount of company Kool-Aid will stop the most malcontent or fanatical perpetrators, a stronger focus on communications may actually offer the best solution to mitigating many of the more innocent (yet no less damaging) leaks and acts of ‘casual’ corporate espionage. 

Protecting, not hiding
First and foremost, employees must understand that they are being asked to protect the company jewels, not hide malicious secrets. To achieve this, communicators will need to do a better job promoting the reasons behind confidentiality clauses in an open and transparent manner, rather than the ‘command and obey’ directives of the past. 

Part of this education campaign requires a clear separation to be made between leaks and whistle blowing, and proper outlets and processes must be provided and promoted for the latter in cases where wrong-doing is systemic.

The Plumber Communicator
Inevitably, however, it often comes down to professional communicators to assume the role of corporate plumber: plugging the leaks and maintaining the integrity of the information pipelines. For those in more benign industries, this may be as simple as including ‘information leaks’ as one of the many issues against which they are constantly vigilant. But for those who represent more questionable organizations (whether in truth or public opinion), protecting against leaks will require a proactive and rigorous plan, substantial crisis management skills, and the trust and respect of the C-suite. 

And – once all of the dust has settled – most communicators will find that the recent WikiLeaks fiasco provides the strongest catalyst yet for persuading executives to place a renewed emphasis on the strategic communication of confidentiality policies, rather than just the legal repercussions.

Looking for more ways to use communications to combat information leaks? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca

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Communicators tend to think of our profession as an ‘art’ rather than a science. Not only does it add a certain mystique at dinner parties, but it also provides an excellent excuse when our work doesn’t meet expectations.

But the truth is that communications is a business service, much like IT or finance. As a function, we don’t generate direct revenue and are not (usually) core to the business. To make matters worse, our impact is largely unquantifiable, leaving many business leaders wondering what exactly we do with their budgets each year.

In response, some professional communicators have started to create and formalize Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that clearly define where their function adds value and what services they provide, while at the same time setting expectations around timelines and metrics.

Two levels of SLAs are usually required for communications functions to be successful. First and foremost, an overall departmental SLA should be designed and formalized throughout the organization to outline the intended scope of the communications department. The second level requires template SLAs to be created for each service the department delivers (for example, one could expect SLAs for media relations, web content, speech writing, event planning, etc.).

So what elements are important for an effective communications SLA? Here are five key sections that every SLA should include:

Definition of service: Be specific about exactly what is included in the service and what isn’t. Business leaders often expect every project to get ‘the works’, so it is important to be clear about the scope of services. And while it may seem obvious, always make sure that your team has the capability (or budget) to successfully deliver on the promised level of service.

Timelines and milestones: Possibly one of the most critical components of any SLA, timelines both provide a roadmap that clients can use to measure progress, and also enable communicators to set a reasonable pace for their projects. Keep in mind that it is just as important to set expectations around the length of time required to produce professional results as it is to meet those expectations, so be smart about what you can achieve.

Roles and responsibilities: Many projects meet with bottlenecks because key players in the process were unaware of their responsibilities. Take time to define exactly what role each party will play and, where there may be doubt, what those responsibilities entail. Clients also have a part to play (particularly in review and approval functions), so be clear about what will be expected of them – and in what capacity.

Budget and resource allocation: Left undefined, this is one of those areas that has the potential to derail projects in mid-stream. More than a simple budget approval formality, this section identifies all of the possible costs and resource needs that may come up while specifying how those needs will be met… and from whose budget.

Metrics and measurement: As we’ve discussed in a recent article, metrics don’t always have to be based on ‘return on investment’ to be measurable. Use this area to define what ‘success’ is to a project and on what terms. When creating template SLAs, it may be preferential to outline how metrics will be created, rather than setting out specific goals and targets.

Implemented properly, most professional communicators and department leaders will find that SLAs provide much needed structure around the services that we provide, and take great strides towards clearly demonstrating the value that we deliver.

Need help reducing your workload? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

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Almost every company has a formal set of visual identity guidelines to maintain consistency in their brand look and feel. So why do so few do the same with their content? 

As more and more companies globalize, professional communicators often end up with conflicting editorial styles across their various communications tools (for more on this see Divided by a Common Language). Even national and regional companies require a consistent and clear writing style that is easily identifiable and comprehensible to their audiences. Inconsistencies not only come across as unprofessional, but they also tend to breed confusion. 

Often such ad hoc guidelines go undocumented, stored only in the minds of the people who create the content. In fact, without formal documentation, projects tend to get delayed, requiring additional time and resources for unnecessary review and editing rounds. Indeed, professional communicators will find that they can save considerable time, effort and budget by making a strict set of guidelines available to their internal authors and external suppliers. 

There are four qualities vital to an effective editorial style guide. They should: 

Be robust: every detail counts, and too many editorial aspects of written communications can be left open to interpretation. From caps and spelling to when to use bullets – this is where you will actually want to throw in the kitchen sink. 

Be functional: no need to get creative – this is a document that needs to be comprehensible and user-friendly. Maintain a logical flow, add a detailed index or table of contents, or – better yet – make it a searchable ‘e-guide’. The faster and easier it is to navigate, the more likely it is to be used. 

Be authoritative: it’s often a good idea to have your guide correspond with an already recognized and published style (CP/AP/Reuters/Economist etc.); this can be particularly useful when written materials traverse international borders, and is a great way to cover off any miscellaneous components that can easily be overlooked. 

Be accessible: there is no need for this material to be proprietary. The more employees and suppliers become familiar with the guide, the less time will be required for editing and reviewing (leaving more time for that ever-looming next task). Professional communicators may even consider placing a copy of their guidelines on their website to increase access for external suppliers and regional or foreign offices. 

Bottom line? Editorial style guides not only ensure consistent and clear communications, they save time, reduce effort and cut costs. Think of all the money you’ll be saving in red pens!

Need help creating an effective editorial style guide? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.