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Re-Think Your Writing: Three Ways to Make Your Words Resonate With Your Audiences

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By Gerard Braud

Gerard Braud Media Training ManualFew people read to the end of an article. I have little confidence that you will read to the end of this article, even though the final thought may change your life and career. Every reader makes several judgments throughout each article as to whether they should move on or read on.

What if you began with that thought every time you write?

Would you change the way you write to make it more compelling?

Here are three things that you can do to produce words that resonate with your audiences and increase the chances that your audiences want to either read more or hear more about your topic.

Write Conversationally

Approach everything you write as though it is a script for the greatest speech in the world. Listen to great speeches and study the language and motivational techniques. Notice that the language is conversational. The words in great speeches are usually words that we hear in everyday language, yet they are organized in a way that invokes a call to action or a deep emotion.

Whether you are writing for print or the spoken word, re-think your style to be conversational. No, this isn’t the way you were taught to do it in college. Face it — most colleges taught you to write for a newspaper and that style was created long before we lived in a world with as many information outlets as we have today. This is your permission to rethink your style to match the needs of your audiences.

As you write, hear the voice. Channel the voice of Kennedy, Reagan, King or another great speaker. Consider that sometimes you may write something that looks great in print, but it doesn’t sound good when read aloud and it isn’t comfortable to the ear. Something that sounds good to the ear, and can be spoken with ease, will also look great in print and is easier for your reader to read.

Write Inclusively

After nearly two decades of political correctness and diversity training, we should all realize that these movements are centered on inclusiveness. Corporations and government agencies have spent millions on training programs centered on inclusiveness. Yet these same organizations, and the people who write for them, exclude vast audiences when the writing is filled with institutional jargon and acronyms. A person shouldn’t have to “belong to the club” in order to be able to understand what is written or said.

Junk the jargon and realize there are no prizes for being multi-syllabic. In media training classes I always try to get spokespeople to speak at a sixth, seventh or eighth grade level, because that is the level at which most people comprehend the written and spoken word. To achieve this, you must shun the idea that you are “dumbing things down” and adopt the approach that you are simplifying the information to be inclusive of everyone in your audience.

Vigorously Fight Edits from Non-writers

Many corporations, government agencies and non-profit agencies are lead by left-brain, analytical individuals and seldom by right-brain, creative individuals. Analytical people, such as accountants, engineers, scientists or doctors are each great at their skills, but their proper writing skills are as poor as the creative person’s math skills.

When I’m invited into organizations to help them achieve more effective communications, I always promise the accountants that I won’t try to balance their books if they don’t try to re-write what the public relations team has written. You should instruct the left-brain analytical types that they have permission to correct errors, but that they should respect the professional training of the writer and respect the content and style of what is written. If you really want to get their attention, tell them that every time they change a letter you’ve written, you get to change a number that they have on a spreadsheet. This should cure the problem.

We each have natural skills and gifts. I know my gifts are definitely not in math but are rooted in written and spoken word. Try the above lines where you work. Stand up for yourself. Push back. If someone wants you to re-write something that you’ve written — and you know it is good and they want to clutter it with jargon, acronyms, and excessive facts and figures — you have an obligation to your craft and your career to push back.

Will there be a big payoff if you implement these three ideas and re-think your writing? Try it and see for yourself. You’ll never know until you give yourself permission to try.

 

 

Crisis Management & Crisis Communication: The Justin Bieber Case

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By Gerard Braud

JustinBieberIn crisis management and crisis communication you must manage the rule of thirds, as it relates to your brand and the management of your reputation.

Define the rule of thirds this way:

One third of the audience loves you – and nothing can change that.

One third of the audience hates you – and nothing can change you.

One third of the audience swings like a pendulum and they love or hate you based on what is trending at that moment.

Please see exhibit A: Justin Bieber.

His self-made series of recent crises have eroded his credibility with the middle third.

Do you know parents who have supported their daughters, who love Bieber? Did those parents in some way also think Bieber was a nice guy?

If you had asked them a year ago, they would have said, “He’s a nice kid, he has great God given talent, and his mom seems to be trying to keep him grounded.”

Ask them today, they might say, “Justin Bieber is a spoiled little a**hole.”

Want more proof of how this works?

1) Bieber is officially the butt of an increasing number of jokes. During the Olympics, the trending joke was that the loser of the U.S. versus Canada hockey game had to keep Bieber. Hashtag – that’s funny for us. Hashtag – that’s sad for Bieber.

2) Radio station Rock 100.5 staged an impressive enough anti-Bieber hoax that CNN and other media reported it without doubting it could be true. Hashtag – lack of journalism. Hashtag – that’s funny for us. Hashtag – that’s sad for Bieber.

In a world where media quotes media rather than investigating the story themselves, it is estimated the fake story appeared 4,500 times around the world.

Define a crisis as anything that affects your reputation AND revenue. Bieber falls in both departments.

The rule of thirds always rings true.

How would the rule of thirds go down for your company in a crisis? Would you keep the middle third or lose the middle third?

 

 

 

 

The Death of PR Perseverance (F-bombs included)

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By Gerard Braud

bar-congress-drinksFive public relations veterans, pontificating and dropping F-bombs over cocktails recently at the PRSA conference, concluded the biggest problem in PR today is the lack of perseverance by those in the media relations, public relations and the communication professions.

Is this true or not true for you? Read on…

I’ll describe the group as “old salty dogs” who speak their mind and say hello to the truth and to hell with political correctness. Sitting there are a combined 150 plus years of PR experiences, including myself, three gals and another guy. The waiter has just brought the first round of drinks, so these comments have not been impaired by alcohol.

One gal said she was successful because every November, she went back to her boss and asked for budget money she had been denied earlier in the year, knowing there is always extra money in the pot. She says often she got what she asked for and sometimes more because she was “Smart enough to ask, when the rest of the dumb a**es sat with their fingers up their a**es and never asked. It was like robbing a fu*#ing bank and I walked out with all the money.”

“And if they didn’t have the money, I didn’t walk out of the office until I got a definitive answer that I’d get the money after the first of the fu*#ing year. I always finished the year strong and I hit the ground running hard on January 2nd,” she said.

“Most people today are afraid they’ll get fired if they push too hard,” I responded.

“They should be fu*#ing fired for not asking,” the other guy said. “That’s the fu*#ing problem with PR people; they’re afraid to get fu*#ing fired or quit their fu*#ing jobs. Your fu*#ing career never starts until you’re willing to quit or get fired.”

Do you ask for extra money in November? Read on…

Another veteran complained that PR people go into hibernation mode and near paralysis from Halloween to the first of March. “It’s like they surrender to the holidays until after New Years and then have difficulty regaining momentum after the first of the year. This isn’t a job that you start and stop,” she barked. “I call bull sh*t on this ‘seat at the table’ crap. You don’t deserve a fu*#ing seat if you don’t do your job 12 months out of the year.”

That lit up the discussion like throwing a match on gasoline. One gal blamed it on moms in PR not being able to comprehend that work is work and home is home. The guy said he thinks it is “the damn Gen X-Gen Ys” who aren’t as committed to their jobs and “go into lala land from Halloween to New Years.” One gal ranted about how hard she worked to establish herself in a male dominated workplace 34 years ago and how “PR people today are pissing on the trails that were blazed to make PR a credible part of corporate culture. You can’t just fu*#ing mentally shut down every winter.”

In his book Good to Great, author Jim Collins made a great point that we each have to “keep the fly-wheel turning” if we want to succeed in our careers. In other words, we have to persevere to succeed.

What do you think? Is perseverance dead in PR? Do you persevere or hibernate in the winter?

Media Trainer Gives Advice to Chip Wilson, Lululemon Founder

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By Gerard Braud

Chip Wilson Bloomberg

Watch the full interview

Media training, media trainers and the executives and spokespeople who go through media training need to understand the importance of practicing before every media interview.

Chip Wilson, Lululemon Founder is being criticized today for comments about how Lululemon pants only fit some women and the ongoing crisis or controversy over allegations that Lululemon pants are “see through.”

Media training requires the spokesperson, executive or CEO to recognize that every word you say can have a positive or negative impact on your corporate sales and revenue. Sales, revenue and the words you say are part of the reputation package you develop over time. As a spokesperson, you either enhance or degrade your reputation and revenues during a media interview.

Media training and the expert who serves as the media trainer, requires us to recognize that while the spokesperson, executive or CEO is invited into a media interview for one topic, other topics may be brought up. This is especially true if the interview is within a reasonable time period of a recent crisis or controversy. This is true for Lululemon and founder Chip Wilson.

Wilson is making headlines because of an interview he did on the Street Smart program on Bloomberg TV with anchor Trish Regan. Wilson appeared on Bloomberg with wife Shannon, who was being interviewed about Whil, a 60 second meditation she was promoting.

Instead of Whil and meditation being the headline in news reports today, the trending headline is “If your thighs rub together, Lululemon’s pants may not be for you.”

Regan asked Chip Wilson, “What’s going on with the pants?”

Wilson replies, “I think everything’s blown up. There is no doubt about it we made a mistake. The thing is we’re a technology company, and when you push technology, something is going to happen every now and then.”

He goes on in his confession to say, “There are a thousand things that could go wrong on a technical fabric and when three of those things go wrong at the same time something is going to happen and it is almost impossible to build a quality control case for each one of those combinations.”

Regan responds, “It’s tough and it continues to be a problem, because now there are complaints of pilling in the fabric.”

Wilson responds with an attempt at an analogy by saying, “There has always been pilling. The thing is that women will wear seatbelts that don’t work, or they will wear a purse that doesn’t work, or quite frankly some women’s bodies just actually don’t work for it.”

“They don’t work for the pants?” Regan asks.

Wilson replies, “They don’t work for some women’s bodies.”

“So it’s more likely they will be more see through on some women’s bodies than others?” Regan follows.

“No, I don’t think that way, because even our small size would fit a woman who is an extra large,” says Wilson. “It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs and how much pressure is there over a period of time and how much they use it…”

Regan injects, “Not every woman can wear Lululemon yoga pants…”

“No, I think they can. It’s just how you use it,” Wilson concludes.

Media training before the interview should have prepared Chip Wilson for a better answer. Media training in the midst of the initial controversy over the alleged “see through” yoga pants should have established a dialogue of carefully parsed, verbatim sentences. With training, Chip Wilson would have been able to say these sentences in an instant if I were to wake him from a dead sleep.

If Gerard Braud, a media trainer from New Orleans, were brought in to provide expert council and media training advice to help the 10th-richest man in Canada and his Vancouver based company, this is how he would have been taught to handle this exchange.

Regan’s initial question was open ended and neither positive nor negative. She asked, “What’s going on with the pants?”

Chip Wilson, like many CEOs, because there is a negative in his mind, focuses on the negative issue, rather than focusing on the positive solution. Remember, Regan implied no negative. Chip Wilson voluntarily went negative.

(By the way Chip Wilson, many CEOs learn this the hard way. My wealthiest  CEO client is worth $2.4 Billion and knows that spending a few dollars on media training and a few minutes on practice protects his company, his brand, and his wealth. My number is 985-624-9976. Call me and I’ll let you talk with him directly as one CEO to another.)

If I were in a private executive media training with Chip Wilson, he would be coached to respond with honest truth about the Lululemon yoga pants and not the negative truth about the Lululemon yoga pants. His answer would be, “The popularity of our yoga pants continues to grow. It is humbling to see that we were able to follow our passion and create a form of sports apparel that continues to grow in popularity with men and women.”

Trish ReganSince Regan appears to be fit, I might even instruct Wilson to ask the Bloomberg news anchor, “Trish, do you have a regular exercise routine and are you a Lululemon customer?”  This is also something Wilson could have learned prior to the interview. If Wilson had employed this technique of asking Regan a question, chances are the discussion would have turned to Regan and her exercise routine.

There is a chance the interview would have never gone negative. If Regan followed up by saying, “A while back you had issues with women complaining that the pants were see through. Have you fixed that problem?”

Wilson could have replied, “Yes, as we investigated we found that many of these issues were caused by customers loving their pants so much they wore them often and in some cases they sat on rough surfaces, such as concrete. So, while we love the fact that customers want to wear our product a lot, like any fabric… including your favorite pair of jeans…  get thinner and you need to buy a new pair.”

There is a good chance the negative tone of the interview would have ended there.

Additionally, in a politically correct, hyper-sensitive world, a CEO, a spokesperson or executive cannot say anything that could be implied as criticism of a woman’s body and shape. Regan baits Wilson with her question, “So it’s more likely they will be more see through on some women’s bodies than others?” This follow up question might never have been voiced if Wilson had used my positive, pre-planned and practiced answer, rather than his bad ad-lib.

Wilson steps in a big pile of “do-do” when he says, “It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time and how much they use it.”

What my experience as a media trainer also picks up on here is that Wilson is likely an analytical person. Many CEOs are analytical, which causes them to answer with technical facts and confessions, in an effort to be honest. Often a stronger form of honesty can be found in a less technical and more positive answer.

Surely, the entire Lululemon public relations team gave out a loud cry when Wilson mentioned thighs? Or did they? I don’t know.

I do know that I have watched many PR teams simply tell a rich CEO what a great job they did in an interview, rather than providing honest feed back and more media training before then next interview. If you are in public relations, it is your job to provide executive council to the CEO and not be a wimp who is afraid to speak.

(For all of you who have asked, “How do I get a seat at the table?”, the answer is to have the nerve and professionalism to speak up rather than being fearful that you will lose your job.)

Trish Regan 2

Read the article

In the spirit of avoiding negatives, Wilson never needed to use words such as, “There are a thousand things that could go wrong on a technical fabric and when three of those things go wrong at the same time something is going to happen and it is almost impossible to build a quality control case for each one of those combinations.” This, once again, indicates an analytical engineering type mind is answering the question.

Finally, the analogy used by Wilson about seat belts not fitting and purses not being right represents what happens when a media spokesperson does not develop and practice their analogies during their media training class.

The bottom line: Headlines on the internet and headlines in the media focus on words such as, “Chip Wilson, Lululemon Founder: ‘Some Women’s Bodies’ Not Right For Our Pants.”

This didn’t need to be the headline. The CEO is at fault. All CEOs need to recognize the importance of media training and public relations teams must not gloss over media training prior to every interview.