Last night I attended the annual PRSA Silver Anvil awards, which honor the best PR campaigns. The auditorium was full of talented professionals who obviously deserved recognition.
I loved the band, which played a song for every award winner based on the name of their entry. For example, an Alzheimer’s campaign elicited “Who are You” (though that does seem a little wrong).
But my big takeaway was that some of these PR campaigns really are about improving our lives, not just making a profit or strengthening a brand. The top award went to AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign to end texting while driving.
The elements were so powerful that AT&T’s competitors–Verizon, Spring and T-Mobile–joined in. And data showed that several states were projected to have fewer accidents and deaths as a result of texting while driving.
Proposed power plants, wind farms and transmission lines are monumental public relations projects. That’s because they require working with many stakeholders (residents, businesses, elected officials, regulators), conducting public outreach (open houses, town hall meetings), changing public opinion (editorials, testimonials) and fighting misinformation (media relations, social media).
Here are five best practices to help you get your energy or utility project approved:
1. Say the right things from the start. Conduct a survey to understand what’s important to the public, and base some of your messages from the results. The general theme of your messaging strategy should explain need and reinforce benefits to residents and businesses. Media train all personnel–even engineers–so that a consistent set of talking points is propagated.
2. Brand your campaign. Have a theme that unifies all your collateral and ads, from your website to newsletter to radio spots to brochures to social media accounts. And of course, use your aforementioned messaging strategy in your collateral.
3. Demonstrate how public outreach matters. Make it clear that everything is up for discussion and that no firm decisions have been made. Have an abundance of ways for residents to leave their input, and show them how that input is shaping the proposal. In addition, it’s important to educate the public and inoculate them from the inevitable misinformation from your opposition. Think tradeshow displays, maps, videos and models as required items at your events.
4. Be a part of the community. Sometimes a little goes a long way. Get to know the people whose lives you’re affecting. Be a sponsor of their 4th of July festival. Help them build a new playground in their park. Attend their city council meetings.
5. Measure how you’re doing throughout the campaign. Check that you’re reaching your key performance indicators (KPIs)–for example, number of positive editorials, letters-to-editor and op-eds; number and type of supporters; and position of elected officials. However, it’s more important to keep polling the public to see if your efforts are moving the needle, so to speak. If not, change your strategy and/or tactics.
I’ve previously stated why media training is important. Today at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, I sat on a panel that talked about messaging and saw firsthand what can go wrong.
A woman from the audience stood up to talk about her product, and it was clear that she was struggling. When asked twice about her qualifications in producing the product, she failed to truly answer the question, saying how the guy who came up with the idea didn’t want to deal with the liabilities and just wanted to sit in his basement and collect royalties.
I’m both surprised and not surprised by that response. How a person can’t even say something simple like “because I believe in this product’s value to society” is baffling, yet it happens ALL THE TIME.
I felt bad for this woman, because her inability to speak clearly and concisely was getting in the way of an otherwise wonderful product. That could hurt her in terms of marketing and attracting investors. I hope she hires a consultant to help her with her messaging strategy!
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Last night I attended the annual PRSA Silver Anvil awards, which honor the best PR campaigns. The auditorium was full of talented professionals who obviously deserved recognition.
I’ve previously stated