F.A.D.S.

Toyota Apologizes

Throughout my career, I’ve had opportunity to work on some pretty big crisis. My stance has always been, if a crisis develops from a PR perspective, someone should get fired (think Tiger Woods). Either the PR firm for not counseling correctly or the client for not listening. And you’d be surprised how often the client doesn’t listen.

Take Bridgestone/Firestone, for instance. I remember sitting in the board room, as a really young account executive, listening to my boss and our general manager, discuss the situation with the client. They refused to listen. They wanted to bury their heads in the sand. We ended up firing them. And we all know what happened to that company. Not to say our firing them was the result of that business entity ceasing to exist, but PR can effectively manage a situation to avoid bankruptcy.

There are a lot of opinions about what happens to Toyota after this recall, but I think they’re doing exactly what they should be doing to keep from going out of business.

The things they’ve done really right:

* Recalling nearly eight million cars (a cost of $54 million a day, in order to be sure their customers are safe).

* Hiring a PR firm, Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, who they seemingly are listening to and the PR firm seems to be offering very sound advice.

* Pulling their ads, according to the Wall Street Journal.

* Acting quickly and responsibly.

* Taking aggressive action with its customers, including multiple voices from their top executives.

* Using social media by allowing consumers access to the U.S. CEO, Jim Lentz, through Digg. You can ask questions and vote on those needed to be answered. As of this writing, there are nearly 1,100 questions on the site.

The naysayers say they haven’t acted quickly or responsibly, but if you read the account of events on Motor Trend, you’ll see they’ve done exactly as they should, starting with a recall of their floor mats (which they thought were the problem) last fall after the first fatal accident.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me?

* Photo courtesy of BBC News

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from my friend Arik Hanson. He had an idea that he thought would help out-of-work PR professionals network with the jobs that are becoming more readily available at both agencies and companies.

The big idea:

On Friday, February 19, from 10 am – 2 pm CT, PR bloggers, agency leaders, and PR professionals from across the country will donate their time and talents to help fellow PR pros connect with employers as part of the first-ever “Help a PR Pro Out” day.

• Are you a job seeker? Prepare a creative blog post, pitching yourself to prospective employers and share it via Twitter during the event on Feb. 19 using the hashtag #HAPPO. The HAPPO “market champions” (see below) will help by retweeting and connecting you with potential employers in your specific market (or markets you’re willing to relocated to).
• Are you an employer looking for talent? Follow the hashtag #HAPPO on Friday, Feb. 19 and share your openings. Market champions will do their best to connect you with talent they think matches your specific needs.
• Are you a PR blogger/Twitter addict? Yes? Then share the #HAPPO tweets with your personal networks and lend your support to those in need. Help your market champion identify job seekers and pair them with potential employers. This is your chance to make a difference!

During the next two weeks, I will be working with agencies and companies in and around Chicago and in the Midwest to create a list of jobs available. I’ll also be working PR pros to create a list of those available for work.

If you know anyone who fits either side of this coin, please help me help them by posting a comment here.

For more information, check out Arik’s blog post.

Are you ready?

@PatrickReyes Patrick works at GM and is the furthest thing you would think when you think marketing and automaker. If he gets his way, he’ll change the way the auto industry communicates…for the better. On top of his demanding job, he blogs at Salt and Light, and quite consistently. AND, his New Year’s resolution was to commit to exercise. He’s on day 31 of P90X and loving it. He talks about his progress and it’s fun to watch. His only negative? He’s a Lions fan.

@dietcokeluvah You know how you meet people who are not scared ONE BIT to jump into a conversation, engage, and endear themselves to you? That’s my Diet Coke friend, who (for some reason), has an avatar of My Little Pony today. She has just started her blog, but I’m already intrigued. Note the Web sites/blogs she has listed…see a common theme?

@kyleplacy You know how there are people in this world you want to hate because they’ve hit huge success at a young age (like Mark Zuckerberg), but it’s impossible to hate them because they are kind AND successful? That’s Kyle. He wrote “Twitter Marketing for Dummies” and is a c0-founder of Brandswag. Get to know him. You won’t be sorry…or envious.

@ShellyKramer Even though Shelly has a gazillion Twitter followers, she is the most engaging person I know out there. But what I really like her is she doesn’t spend all of her time talking only to the the so-called social media experts. She engages with everyone and she participates in conversations that you’d think someone of her clout wouldn’t bother. Plus, she comes up with the funniest hashtags I’ve ever seen. She owns an integrated marketing and social media company (V3), she likes Milk Duds and wine…wait, she might be my twin!

@SarahRobinson Follow me on Twitter for, oh, about two days and it will come as no surprise that I ADORE Sarah. She was one of the first people I met, when I joined Twitter, and she quickly went about introducing me to people she thought would become friends, referrals, or clients. In the past 15 or so months, I’ve watched her figure out her niche and kill it. She’s spent 2010 on a program called “30 days to changing your game” and she’s launching a Game Changers Roundtable on Feb. 11 (full disclosure: I’m the first guest) to give participants tips and tools for innovation, creativity, and changing their games.

Want additional Twitter follow recommendations? See my past blog posts on the topic.

January 29

December 11

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October 2

September 25

September 4

August 28

August 21

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July 24

July 17

July 10

July 3 (which is a culmination of the previous five weeks)

We had hundreds of entries in our tagline contest and couldn’t choose just one. So we narrowed them down to 20 and need your help.

Following is the list of the finalists (starting Feb. 4, you can find the poll in the sidebar). Please vote! We’ll take the top five and ask our clients to vote. The finalist will be revealed next week.

Voting closes on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at midnight.

Good luck to all…and thanks for your ideas!

Last week, I was talking to my friend, and client, Lorri Wyndham about negative comments online. It was a timely conversation because, when I speak, at least one person asks me what happens when someone says something negative about them or the company online.

I like to use the story from when I first began speaking. Someone in the audience really pushed back on me and said, “So you are telling me that if I give someone a bad review, he’s going to go put it on Facebook?” Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Except it’s not going to start happening, just because I’ve opened your eyes to it…it’s been happening. And it’s really not any different than before social media. Before, that person would badmouth his boss to his friends and family via the phone. Now, though, his circle of influence is thousands, instead of a handful, of people. But, unlike before social media, you now know that employee is badmouthing you on Facebook because you are monitoring online conversations and can see what he’s saying.

So, Lorri said to me, what do we do when the negative happens?

I like to approach negative comments just like I would a crisis, in the traditional sense. The three R’s of crisis are: Reflect, respond, and recover.

Reflect. Read what the person is saying. Keep an open mind. Think about his/her side of things. Consider what, if any, changes you can promise once you respond.

Respond. Engage the person online, at first. Let your community see that you are responding and that you are open to not only listening, but to changing practice, based on this person’s negative comments. Then take the conversation offline, either via phone or email.

Recover. Once resolved (either with an action plan or you might come to an impasse), bring the conversation  back online.

My friend Blair Minton owns affordable assisted living homes in Illinois and Indiana. A couple of months ago, we were at a board meeting in Washington, DC and looking at his company’s Facebook fan page. A few hours earlier, a woman had posted that her mother had had a bad experience in one of their home’s hair salons. Blair immediately responded how sorry he was on the Facebook wall and welcomed her to contact him, offline.  She did and they resolved the issue. Then she went back to the fan page and posted how great the Heritage Woods CEO is and what a pleasure it is to have her mom in one of their homes because of his responsiveness.

The point is to be completely transparent and honest. In this instance, they did not come to an impasse, but that does happen. Communicate the impasse, should it happen. Let your community know what you’ve done. Make a record of it. And be consistent. The only way to be “rid” of a negative comment is to either create a brand ambassador out of the person or apologize, recover, and consistently communicate online with transparency and honesty.

How do you deal with negative comments?

I have been really bad at my #FollowFriday lists since the holidays. But I’m back!

@DashalGroup Nick might very well be one of the funniest (is that a word) people I know. The things that come out of his mouth (or fingers) make you stop and think, “Where the heck did that come from?” He also is not shy, at all, at making fun of me, which I love. He makes fun of me and other people laugh. Trust me on this one, you want to follow him. He’s starting @crapthatsfunny and I guarantee you’ll think whatever he posts is FUNNY. He’ll be mad at me if I don’t at least tell you what he does for a living – advertising and Web design.

@JaimieField I don’t remember how Jaimie came into my life, but she came in with real force! Even though she’s a Yankees fan (we forgive her) and an attorney (but doesn’t practice, so we forgive her) she is always a bright light in my tweet stream at the end of each day (she’s much more disciplined than me – I check Twitter all day; she checks at the end of the day).  If you’re an attorney, Jaimie is a must have connection. As I take over the world, she’ll be there with me.

@Egehead Cindy is my new BFF because she sent me her powdered sugar cookie recipe, which I made last weekend and they are DIVINE! So, so good! Two ways to my heart: Be funny or give me good food. You know how you meet someone, even on Twitter, and you just know they’re going to be a good friend? That’s Cindy. Take a look at her tweet stream…you’ll see what I mean.

@DougDavidoff I met Doug on Twitter because of something I tweeted about Vistage. Then we met IRL when he was in Chicago last fall. Then we started working together. Now I don’t know what life was like without him. He is the only non-salesy sales person I know. His philosophy on sales is brilliant because it’s based on relationships and not on selling. He has a blog called Fast Growth, where he shares his philosophy, tips for success, and case studies. I always learn a thing or two from his posts…which is why I tweet almost all of them.

@MomieTullottes I am a new contributor to Associated Content and Lyn was the first person to not only reach out to me to say “welcome”, but also the first person to comment on my article. She is not only a mom (and homeschools her kids!), she is a writer. The content she provides to other writers is flawless and super complete. If you write, or want to write, for a living, she’s a must check out!

Today’s digital age is about connection, conversation, and candy. Alright, not candy. I couldn’t think of another C word and I love candy.

Connection, conversation, and engagement. Even transparency and honesty. Open your door, pull up your windows, let people in and take a peek around, and decide if they want to work with you or, better, want to refer their communities to you.

It’s changing the way media relations (or publicity) is conducted because no longer do clients have to rely on a PR pro’s Rolodex to get someone to pay attention to them. And no longer are the critics and influencers the traditional journalists. The critics and influencers are all of us – we can rate and review products and services online, we write blogs, we even write editorials that can be featured in places we garner a lot of attention.

I say all of this because I had an odd situation I want to share…while we all fully realize I am not a traditional journalist. I write this blog, I write for two other business blogs, and I write for three trade publications. I don’t have tremendous influence, but I have enough in certain circles to make a difference.

Several weeks ago, I submitted an article I write for a monthly trade publication. Before I sent it to my editor, I sent it to my friend, who I interviewed for the article, for a quick look and approval. My friend is the social media expert at his company and does a phenomenal job showing real business return-on-investment so I wanted to showcase his work in my article, in order to give other companies in the industry some solid ideas they could steal.

A few hours after I sent the article to my friend for his approval, I received the following email from his PR firm:

“In the future, could you contact us first if you plan to feature any of our clients in Publication Name?”

Now, I have a relationship with their client, directly. It’s MUCH easier for me to go directly to him vs. tracking down their PR firm and going through them. This is the case for any influencer – traditional and new. And, until recently, I ran a very traditional PR firm. I would fire one of our account managers if they sent an email like this to a reporter or blogger.

It is the job of communication professionals (no matter if they’re traditional or digital) to facilitate conversations, not get in the middle of them. Likely the PR firm wants to take credit for the story and, if they’re contacted first, they can add it to their clip report. This is not in the best interest of the client.

Heck, it’s the job of any service business to facilitate, not get in the way.

So, I ask you, am I off my rocker or does it make sense that we should facilitate conversation, even if it means we don’t get to take credit?

Image credit: SEO Consultants