Don't put a scarf on that cat just yet!! Consider your objectives and intention before tactics.

(Image credit: The Oatmeal)

In a comic entitled “How to get more likes on Facebook”, The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman pokes fun at the increasing  inundation of requests for “likes”, “follows”, and provides a simple solution:

“Put your energy into making things that are LIKEABLE…create things that are hilarious, sad, beautiful, interesting, inspiring, or simply awesome.”

Ok, Oatmeal.  That sounds simple enough, but how do you know what’s likeable?  Some people love posting pictures of their babies and cats and every meal they ever eat, while others find these so redundant that they’re comical.  Some people even develop apps to filter out the things that other people love because they find these same "likeable" things to be tiresome and irritating.  While I agree with The Oatmeal, what he’s suggesting is a tactic, and it won’t be very successful without the back-work: Doing research, defining objectives, determining your audience, and developing key messages.

Perhaps I think that the best way to win the love of the whole internet is to post a picture of my cat in a jaunty Christmas scarf, and he will be widely adored and spread goodwill among all. Okay, Anastasia, slow down there, you’re jumping to tactics already, and you have no plan.  Let’s do some research – who is the whole internet?  No, who will I actually reach?  Is it just my friend pool on Facebook, and what do I know about their personal preferences around Christmas, cats, and scarves?  Or should I use another social media platform?  Wait a minute – what is my objective?  What do I want to accomplish here?  Do I want to spread laughter and goodwill? Send a heartfelt message to friends and build community?  Raise awareness of cats that aren’t as lucky as mine, and perhaps promote a local shelter? 

 

And let’s be serious here – I’m not going to reach the whole internet, so who are my audiences?  At what time of year are they most likely to be thinking about Christmas, cats, and scarves?  Is my cat even the best spokescat for this message, and is the scarf really necessary?  What values are held by my audience, what will resonate best with them?  Alright, I’ve read about the whole internet and the subsection that I want to reach, and I know what I want to tell them, I have a few key messages here, and an objective for raising awareness for the local shelter.  Maybe I should run this by a focus group of trusted friends.  In the end, what I say (with my cat picture and accompanying text) will need to be informed by this preliminary work if it’s going to be successful.  Determining your objective is like setting intent, and communication without intention is unlikely to result in any desired effect.

When I’m not busy contemplating cats and knitting them scarves, I work in a teen clinic at a local high school.  Recently, an education campaign aimed at youth called “Heads up?!” rolled through our clinic and many others.  It included videos, posters, and free condoms at teen clinics.  Last year, along with the condoms, they were also giving away free t-shirts, and I recall that the t-shirts were a big hit with the students. The slogan also seemed to resonate with the students, so from what I've seen, that aspect of the campaign was a result of successful background work and planning.  However, this year, they planned a draw offering a pair of tickets to the Twilight premiere.  I can't speak to its effectiveness as a whole, but this was widely met at my teen clinic with dismissal and derision.  After the first day of watching students snickering at this paltry offering, I asked some of my other colleagues who work with teens what they thought.  They generally agreed that the campaign missed the mark, demographically, and that the Twilight movie would appeal to a much younger group of students than those who were coming to the teen clinics.  I also wondered if there might be a difference in the interests of the 13-19 year olddemographic as a whole, and the subset of that demographic who are accessing teen clinics and becoming sexually active. Regardless, from where I'm standing, it does look like the tactic of offering Twilight tickets as a prize that would appeal to the youth missed the mark of their intended demographic, and as a result, the campaign lost some credibility as being fun, relevant, and relatable. 

While overall, Twilight may be likeable, it’s not likeable for all, and the same goes for Christmas cats in scarves.  Although content may be king (or queen), it still needs to be relevant, and that can’t be known without prior research, knowledge of the audience, and clear objectives and intention. Without the back-work, how will you know if your message is really, truly, likeable?

Research: The Act of Listening before Speaking

           I’ve always held an admiration for people who have mastered the art of speaking knowingly, convincingly, and eloquently on any subject at the drop of a hat.   I used to wonder, what is this magic skill that allows some people to have super-secret direct line to words and ideas, neatly lined up in a row?  And so I watched and listened, and I observed that those who speak well also listen well.  They also read a lot, and they converse – they don’t talk “at” others, they talk “with” others.  And when it seems that they’re talking “at” a group, they are also keenly aware of the group they are talking to.  They are aware of the group’s values, level of comprehension, prior knowledge, and the ways that what they are saying will resonate with - or enrage - those being spoken to.  In a nutshell, perhaps it’s part magic, but it’s also part PR.

            With these thoughts of words and magic floating around, it may seem like PR is all fun and games – but then I hear that the first step to a good PR plan is research.  My initial reaction to this was, unsurprisingly, a big yawn.  But then research was reframed in our textbook as listening, and it started to make sense.   All of the attributes I observed among my pool of revered, eloquent, public speakers, involved research - or in other words, listening before speaking.  And though one element of research is the act of being aware, being acutely curious, and taking in reams of information from multiple sources, it seems that there is also quite a bit of more focused research that goes into building a successful PR plan.

            Seeing as research, in itself, is a methodical approach, it doesn’t surprise me that it can be grouped into categories.  Primary research defines types of inquiries that generate new information, while secondary research reviews information that already exists.  Secondary research can include Internet and database searches, poring over your organization’s archives, and reviewing previous PR and marketing plans.  You may also look at customers or clients of your organization, to determine which demographics are most likely to be your target audience.  Secondary research is kind of like an environmental scan – it involves looking at what is already out there, and what the context that we’re working in while developing this PR plan.  Primary research is less directed at pulling context from information that already exists, rather, it seeks to reveal the unknowns, and gather specific information about the environment.  For example, primary research would include asking questions of the public, or other stakeholders, in a formalized conversation, such as an interview, a focus group or a phone survey.

            The information collected through research can also be categorized either as qualitative (“hard” data) or quantitative (“soft” data).  I found the best way to remember the difference between the two is to think that hard data leaves a clear mark, while soft data leaves an impression.  For example, perhaps you are considering using Instagram as part of your campaign, but you’re not sure if it will really take off.  You could collect some soft data through a focus group, and invite some of your customers in to talk about how they use social media.  This would give you a general idea of the behaviors of your target audience, and you could learn some interesting things.  However, these facts might not hold true across a larger audience.  So then you might look at some hard data, and conduct a survey where you learn that – in hard numbers – Instagram has far fewer users than Facebook, however, those users interact with it more often.  If you’re looking to reach a broad audience, research might lead you to decide to forego using Instagram.  But perhaps those few who are on Instagram are the key influencers that you’re trying to reach, and besides, your secondary research found many tech blogs that championed it as an up-and-coming platform that’s enjoyable, and easy to adopt.  If you didn’t do the research, then you’re making decisions on a hunch and a gamble.  And if you were still unsure, then you would do more research!

            In short, good research is about knowing your environment, defining your audience, and determining the best way to communicate with them. Without this foundational knowledge, your PR plan would be all talk and no listening.