In public relations and communications, we're often swayed by the belief that only big, disruptive changes can create substantial results. In reality, small shifts in the way we communicate can spark big changes and foster innovation within an organization.
In this episode, Mads dives into real-life examples of small steps in thinking and action that lead to bigger, meaningful results for your brand and business.
In public relations and communications, we're often swayed by the belief that only big, disruptive changes can create substantial results. In reality, small shifts in the way we communicate can spark big changes and foster innovation within an organization.
In this episode, Mads dives into real-life examples of small steps in thinking and action that lead to bigger, meaningful results for your brand and business.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Not your Parents PR. This is Mads Caldwell, managing partner at 212 Communications, and I am here thinking about this time of year which is close to the new year and it's Q4, the quarter where you can't complete reporting until January and you push for annual planning and then wait for it to become a priority until it becomes a priority the week before Christmas and then somehow some way you get it done. I'm just kidding sort of, but not really Today. I'm excited to be with you. I wanna talk today about the courage to make small shifts in communications. So I think often we think about like we want our marketing and communications to be the best of the best and if you work at an agency, I think that culture is like very predominant, but the reality is really all you need is communications or marketing that works. It doesn't need to be the best of the best. You don't need the vanity metrics of an award for your communications campaign or PR campaign or marketing campaign. You really just need it to work for your business and part of that is having the courage to make some change in internal cultures and processes and they can be really small.
Speaker 1:
One thing that gets me with old school public relations is the idea of unbending rules. It's this way because it always has been and at some point I think it gets the people. It becomes too much effort to even try to change a process or a rule or a protocol, particularly in corporate environments. And personally I think that anytime someone is feeling like unsafe to think differently for one reason or another and I'm talking about in any aspect of life it can really take away from a person's sense of empowerment and agency and the result is that we ignore our intuition, our big ideas, the possibility of change or growth, and it's such a disservice to employees and companies who can benefit from this new innovative thinking. I don't know if any of you out there have read the big leap I think it's called. It talks about like your zone of greatness and your zone of genius, and your zone of greatness is like you're really good at this. Everyone knows you're really good at it. No one really wants you to grow or change because they think of you as really good at that. But you know in your heart of heart not even though it's scary that you should be operating in a different way or on another cylinder or going in a slightly different direction and I think the stuckness that I'm talking about it's really easy to fall into within teams and companies.
Speaker 1:
People tend to make rules. When something is working, do it this way because it works and I'm scared of it not working, so we have to keep it that way. But of course, the challenge with that is people trends marketing. Our world is ever changing. Effective marketing used to be keep things consistent so your audience knows what to expect from you. It's valid, right. But in today's creator economy and let's be clear, we are all creators these days because people follow people over brands Inconsistency is key.
Speaker 1:
The noise is so incredibly massive that attention spans are brief and even the most successful creators are changing up the way they communicate, sometimes with each and every piece of content. It's about pattern interrupts and I don't expect large corporations to run a marketing or communications program on pattern interrupts alone, necessarily. It's probably hard to create a team and process around that. But it's worth noting that we cannot be afraid to make small shifts in order to lead to better outcomes. And let me give you an example of a small shift I witnessed this week. The other day I asked a client if they'd be open to including a photo with their press release that was posted to their site so I could direct a reporter there and it was. It would be like a more dynamic experience for that reporter photo. What is that photo Photo is worth a thousand words. I can't figure it, but it was just such a text heavy page. I thought it was going to be a better experience for that reporter. And it can take a lot for a client to make this type of change internally, especially at an enterprise level company. And to this person's credit, they took the necessary steps to get curious about why no photos were included previously, found a way to include them and learned how to make it happen, and now we know that it can be part of the process moving forward. This person made a really small shift that's going to make a big difference in how someone consumes this brand's news. So props to this client.
Speaker 1:
And at the same time I don't blame employees who are simply tired of trying to make change. I've been that employee. I lasted like just over a year at a company once because I saw the forest through the trees once. It was cyclical, and sure all businesses and marketing is cyclical, but it was. I could see that they were so. They were so stuck in their ways. It was going to be like boiling the ocean to try to make change in the organization and I had worked my butt off to make change in that year and implemented so many processes and then, by the time we got around to do the next year again, I was like exhausted from doing that. I remember calling a former PR director who was in my role like a decade prior and I was like hey, we went to coffee and I was like hey, is this the way it is? And he was like yes, this is the way it is. So I ended up leaving, but I did love my time there.
Speaker 1:
I was saying I don't blame employees who are simply tired of trying to make change. Sometimes you just need to exist in your company for a day or two to recover, and the more we can reduce the catastrophizing of decision making, of what people think of us, of making a mistake, the last resistance we're going to feel in the process of change. So think of it as going from being a good girl getting a pat on the head, a thumbs up emoji, maybe even just a lack of negative feedback to how can we create a meaningful outcome here. I'm going to suggest this new path Because, if we don't, public relations can quickly become make your boss happy relations, or I don't know what to do. So let's do this tactic relations, yes, man relations, good boy and good girl relations. So start with the end goal in mind. What do you want to achieve? I'm going to say that over and over until it sticks. Maybe it's awareness, buzz, thought leadership, dotting a legal eye, and maybe at times, it is keeping so and so happy, which is okay, as long as we don't lose sight of why we're doing what we're doing, which is to support the organizational goals and then find the best way to get there and create opportunities to make it happen.
Speaker 1:
Don't be afraid of failure. Small shifts, small shifts, like even making one small shift a week, creates a culture of consistent, continuous improvement, trying new things like it's, it's innovative. To make those little pushes Again, it doesn't need to be big, adding a photo to a press release on the website. Don't be afraid of failure. Today You've got this and that is all I have for today. This episode is brought to you by head trash dump truck. You know head trash when you have an intrusive thought about why you're unworthy or why something won't work. Just press a button on your handy dandy pen men in black style and your head trash will be eliminated in that moment. The result only lasts five minutes, so you have to act fast on your bravery. That's all for today and I will see you on our next episode. Bye, bye.