A practical approach to better dialogue
“Facts don’t care about your feelings” is a popular meme attributed to Ben Shapiro, the American writer, political commentator, and self-described member of the Intellectual Dark Web: an emerging cadre of new media public intellectuals. For some, he is a fearless speaker of truth. For others, he’s a regressive provocateur. It depends on one’s sensibilities.
And that’s the starting point for this blog. When Ben lays out an argument he often says that he genuinely doesn’t care how others may feel about it. I think it’s fair to say that (in the public sphere at least) he elevates rational thought above all else: an idea that seems alien to many people.
In the workplace too, there are people like Ben. There are people who are the polar opposite of Ben. And there are people who sit somewhere in between. But an indisputable truth is that, in any enterprise, it’s people who drive outcomes. And people are motivated in different ways: some more by facts and some more by feelings. So it’s self-evident that adopting a more agile approach to people-motivating skills can deliver better outcomes.
Most people want to be heard and understood. As a leader at the sharp-end of delivering results in a complex organisation, it can be tough to find the time to dialogue effectively. Or often enough. Especially with people who are not like you. I get that. But however busy you are, it’s worth creating some extra time for some other people (and you know already which people I’m talking about in your sphere).
Here are a few dots that I’ve connected over the course of my life, and my career as an executive coach and adult educator; some of them may be helpful to you.
1. Seek first to understand, then to be understood1
This is a concept that has echoed throughout the ages of mankind. The central idea being that most people talk too much, and don’t listen enough.
2. Take some time to let the tale unfold
If you give a person 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to speak, you will learn a lot about them. Listen actively, don’t judge, ask clarifying questions, but let them speak. Eventually you will hear something along the lines of: “…which doesn’t seem right to me”. That’s a breakthrough moment which will reveal something intimate, and very important.
3. Tell me more about that
Stick with curiosity in that moment. Your own thoughts and feelings about the things that don’t seem right are irrelevant. Did anybody ask you to agree yet?! You’ll recognise this moment when you notice the words “Yes, but” about to come out of your mouth. Swallow those words! Simply say: “Tell me more about that.” And continue to listen actively.
4. Simplify, Clarify
When it’s an appropriate time to speak, here’s a good way to begin: “If I understand you correctly, what is important to you is X, Y, Z. Am I right?”. And if you are not right, do like it says on the shampoo bottle: rinse and repeat.
5. Read your vital signs
At this point you will have broadly heard one of three things: a) “that’s not fair”, b) “that’s not accurate”, c) “that’s not actionable”. This is a potential danger zone; a moment when your own interpretation of the ‘stuff’ could cause you to feel triggered. Pay attention to your ‘gut’. That Fight or Flight or Freeze feeling is invaluable data. High performance people know how to bring that data into dialogue.
6. May I share?
People with strong dialogue skills will take this moment to ask permission to share. Describe the ways in which your own thoughts and feelings diverge from those that you have heard and understood from the other person. But this isn’t an opportunity to dismiss what you have heard, or to use your ‘senior power’ (if you have any). You are merely asking for the same listening courtesy to be extended to you.
7. Where are we now?
By this time you should each have a better understanding of what makes the other one ‘tick’, and where your differences lie. Spend some time to clearly articulate the ‘gaps’ that exist between your respective thoughts/feelings, without judging or criticising them. Treat them as a phenomenon; your individual realities are not the same. It can be helpful to imagine this bundle of differences as a fish on the table between you. It’s not you, it’s not him/her. It’s a fish that you have co-created.
8. What are WE going to do about this?
We don’t often get to choose our clients or colleagues, and differences are bound to arise. But if you have gotten this far it’s fair to assume that you care about your relationship with this person, and vice versa. But you need to clean and gut that fish2, or it will begin to stink and decompose!
Occasionally I have heard people say: “This isn’t personal, it’s purely business.” And that’s actually a very well-intentioned thought. But it ignores a reality that, for some people, business is entirely about the personal. A subtle, but powerful alternative could begin something like this: “I really value my relationship with you. How can we move forward in a way that preserves that, and still achieves a good business outcome?”
If you put the above steps into practice, I guarantee that you will take much of the heat or awkwardness out of your difficult conversations. You may easily, naturally, create a better dialogue towards a better outcome. And if you need some practice with the techniques, or are interested in a workshop for your team, get in touch with Dramatic Difference. Our dynamic theatre-led learning style has helped many clients to build high performance teams through effective dialogue.
Reposted with permission from Dramatic Difference (www.dramdiff.com) (more…)
Hello 2018
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We’ve just entered a brand new year! Helloooooooo 2018!
For some, the new year will be about honing and refining, building on current successes to perform even better. For others, it’s about developing new ways of working together, and stepping into new opportunities. This is all just so exciting!
In 2018, we dare you to:
- Dream Big. Step out of your comfort zone. Consider the breadth of your market and your potential, so you can see all the opportunities.
- Be Open to Change. Even the best laid plans have sell-by dates. Begin your planning early. Anticipate change. Conduct periodic reviews and decide how you’re going to handle it with your team.
- Stay Relevant. As technology and search engines change, so do strategies marketers use to engage with customers. If you aren’t staying on top of the newest trends in content marketing, your brand will be left behind, and your business will become irrelevant.
GONE are the days of the detailed, step-by-step, multi-year action plans. The pace of demographic, technological, and business model is changing too fast for any planner to predict that far into the future. It’s time to rethink and reframe your strategic planning. Literally, this means ‘out with the old, and in with the new.’
Effective strategy needs consistent discipline, not an annual intervention; it must be embedded in the day-to-day rhythm of organizational life.
Change is in the air. Breathe deep and take it all in. Let’s make 2018 a year to remember!
From all of us here at CorpMedia, here’s wishing you and yours a very happy and successful year ahead.
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, CorpMedia
Ready or Not, Here Comes 2018!
The end of the year marks a threshold and invites a pause for reflection. It’s a great time to take stock of the year behind and look ahead. For CorpMedia, it’s been quite a ride! New challenges, new opportunities, new clients, new friends – we feel very blessed to be able to help our clients with creative ways to communicate their brand(s) and grow their business – by simply doing what we love!
But enough about us! Now, it’s all about getting ready for a brand new year. For most of us in the business, it’s communications planning season! Before you hit the road, en route to the month-long festivities and merriment, here are some end-of-the-year tips to make sure your 2018 plan hits the mark – and we will keep this short!
Future-proof your strategies: The one thing to remember is that while your plan may not be broken, change is necessary to keep up with evolving trends. Revisit old competitors. Explore emerging channels. Consider new technologies. Evaluate your processes and performance. Even small shifts in your communications strategy can benefit your business in a big way.
Listen to social conversations: Social media offers easy access to people’s opinions and behaviour. By intently following what your ideal customers are talking about and who they are interacting with on social media, you can gather a plethora of knowledge, such as how they perceive your brand, what qualities they look for in products and services. Social listening allows you to go to the heart of the discussion to hear what people are saying and what they are thinking.
Target your audience: Knowing the audience that you intend to communicate with is important. You can communicate until you’re blue in the face, but if your message falls on deaf ears, you’re just wasting your time, energy and effort. Research your market regularly. Start with the question “Who is my company’s ideal customer?” Be realistic – your customer can’t be everyone.
The right messaging: Today’s customers are just not into “buying things.” They are buying into solutions, e.g. expert advice, knowledge, experience, guidance. Your messaging should reflect this mindset. Are you solving problems with what you’re selling? Are you satisfying your client’s needs? Focus on what differentiates your brand from the competition and you will increase engagement with prospects, strengthen relationships with existing customers, and improve market value.
Set realistic goals: Prioritise and hone in on the two to three goals that must be achieved in a year that will contribute to your business growth and success. Resist the pressure to list anything that is immaterial, cannot be realistically achieved or accomplished. Remember, reality trumps aspiration!
Once you’ve developed your “buyer personas” you can then build your communications plan with purpose and direction, knowing who your target audiences are and how to reach them. Not only will this make your plan an easy sell to your team, it will make the entirety of your year much simpler and successful. With your ideal buyer in mind, crafting content, monitoring social media, conducting media outreach and implementing other communications tactics is streamlined and results-oriented.
After all, that is the kind of value you need to deliver, right?
To sign off, the team at CorpMedia would like to thank you for your business and support. Go out and have fun and close the year with a big bang – you deserve to! And here’s wishing one and all a fantastic new year ahead!
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, CorpMedia
Dare to Bare (Your Body) in Public
(It’s not what you think!)
We’ve all been there. Presenting to an audience can be nerve-wrecking as it is, so the last thing you want to worry about is positioning your arms properly and gesticulating, right? We get nervous and focus too much on our delivery that we miss the point of getting our message across.
Body language can be very important to interpersonal communication. There are often critical ideas and emotions that remain unspoken but which are intimated through body language. Body language can also be instrumental to gauge the power dynamic between individuals engaged in dialogue.
But in performance, for example, when presenting to a group at a meeting or conference, we have less subconscious and sub-textual concerns. Because the presentation is just not about the speaker – it’s about the information that an audience needs to receive, to learn and make decisions. Our voice and body are the primary tools we use to communicate that information.
And as presenters, we’re not only judged by what we say but by our appearance too. It’s our natural instinct to judge what we see. As much as you want the audience to like you for your mind and not your appearance, their first impression is going to be based on how you look. They will mentally categorize you in just a few seconds, and then decide whether or not you’re a person they can connect with.
What you need to realize is that you have the power to shape and control the first impression that people use as a basis for judging you. By learning some of the principal ways that your own appearance, posture, gestures, facial expression and even tone of voice affect your mind, you will become more aware of the factors influencing your mood, and give yourself an edge in presentations and negotiations.
Here are some body language tips to keep your audience engaged throughout your stage time:
- Appearance: What you say is of course more important than what people see. However, your appearance is an important aspect of your presentation skills. You want your audience to listen to what you have to say. Dress the part. Your presentation begins the moment someone recognizes you as the speaker.
- Posture: Keep a good posture, stand straight with shoulders back, relaxed and feet shoulder width apart. Don’t cross your arms, put your hands in your pocket or slouch. Face the audience as much as possible and keep your body open.
- Eye contact: Eye contact is crucial when speaking. It genuinely connects you with your audience. And because you’re talking to people as if you’re in a one-on-one conversation, you’ll come across as conversational. That makes you easy to listen to and engaging.
- Gestures: Hand and arm movements are an important part of our visual picture when speaking in public. Not only are they a non-verbal representation of how we feel, they reinforce our message, and help us appear confident and relaxed. When using visual aids, point and look at the relevant data. The audience will automatically follow your hands and eyes.
- Breathe right: Relaxed and deep breaths ensure that your voice holds power and can project. Use slow and measured breathing to pace your speech, and pause to emphasize key points.
- Connect: Don’t hide behind a podium, your laptop, the mike or the screen. Orientate yourself towards the audience. They need to see your face, to know that you are attentive to their interests and available to meet their needs.
- Move with purpose: When you move (and you should!) have a specific destination in mind. For example, you can re-position yourself to address a specific audience to the left. Step forward to respond to a question. Walk around and towards people. Ever notice people tend to participate more if they have close proximity to a presenter?
- Smile: To make your audience feel comfortable, all you have to do is just smile! Smiling helps you feel more comfortable and reduces your tension – and because it’s contagious, it attracts a positive atmosphere that allows for an engaging discussion.
The importance of good body language cannot be underestimated. It’s incredibly important not only to audience engagement, but to how your overall message is received. No matter how good your speech, if you are motionless, expressionless and dull, your audience will lose interest within minutes.
Bonus tip: Ask a friend to record a short video of you presenting using a smartphone, and then give you feedback on your gestures. Use the list of common gesturing mistakes in this post as a checklist to improve your use of effective gestures.
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, CorpMedia
It’s 2017 – Make it Happen!
Another year rolls in, yet another opportunity to come up with new resolutions. But, let’s get serious – how many of us actually stick to our resolutions, right?
The start of a new year seems to be the perfect time to take stock of where we are in our lives and the things we’d like to improve upon. Often, though, our best intentions are no match for daily life and we slide back into old patterns. Resolutions are not confined to our personal lives. You can also create impactful resolutions for your business. A resolution, after all, is a decision to do something differently to bring about positive change.
So, if you are ready to make some powerful changes, here are some tips to help you reset your small business in 2017:
Time to Take Stock
Spend some time to look back and take stock of the previous year. As a CEO, you may want to look at the roles you took on within the company, and determine if you can delegate anything to your employees. This will help you keep your eye on the big picture – opportunities for further growth. At the same time, it will empower your employees, give them a sense of personal responsibility and therefore more commitment to achieving team goals.
Stop and Smell the Roses
Running a business takes all of your time and then some, but if you don’t build time in your day for yourself, to take a breather from the hectic pace, it’s easy to burn out and lose your passion. Even if it’s only for 5-10 minutes, be sure to carve out some time this year.
Rest Not on Your Laurels
Keeping your skills current is essential. Whether you’re a restaurant owner, retailer, or marketing manager, it’s important to try new things to enhance your own professional growth. Try a new menu selection, reposition the items on the shop floor, or offer a new service to keep your business up to date. Talk to your customers about what they want from your business and think seriously about how you can implement some of their suggestions to great success.
Face to Face
It’s time to stop relying on emails, social media and mobile apps as an exclusive way to communicate with customers. Deep and long-lasting business relationships are built in real time. Schedule time to pay a courtesy visit to your customers, even if it’s just to have coffee or lunch – let them know how much you value and care about them.
Clean Up Your Workspace
It’s hard to stay organized and on top of your most important tasks and priorities when your desk or office is a mess. Take an hour or two every week to organize the paperwork that is no doubt taking over every inch of surface area. File away the things you don’t need and take action on the things that require it. While a cluttered desk may not be the sign of a cluttered mind, it certainly won’t help you get and stay organized for success.
Tie Up Loose Ends
Set aside at least 20 minutes at the end of your business day to tie up loose ends. Go through your remaining work and make assignments to employees, forward information to co-workers as necessary, respond to email and voicemail messages, file away the things that you need to keep, and toss the rest. Finally, quickly review your appointments for the following day.
Have a Positive Outlook
Running a business can be stressful. It’s not easy, and cash flow is usually an issue. In 2017, try not to get bogged down with the negative – focus on the positives: Where you’ve come, where you’re going this year, and where you’ll be next year. It will help you focus on the big picture – your business goals. Once you’ve focused on what you want to accomplish, your business objectives for 2017 will become clear.
Here’s wishing you a happy, healthy and profitable New Year!
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, Corporate Media
What Great Listeners Actually Do
Chances are you think you’re a good listener. People’s appraisal of their listening ability is much like their assessment of their driving skills, in that the great bulk of adults think they’re above average.
In our experience, most people think good listening comes down to doing three things:
- Not talking when others are speaking
- Letting others know you’re listening through facial expressions and verbal sounds (“Mmm-hmm”)
- Being able to repeat what others have said, practically word-for-word
In fact, much management advice on listening suggests doing these very things – encouraging listeners to remain quiet, nod and “mm-hmm” encouragingly, and then repeat back to the talker something like, “So, let me make sure I understand. What you’re saying is…” However, recent research that we conducted suggests that these behaviors fall far short of describing good listening skills.
We analyzed data describing the behavior of 3,492 participants in a development program designed to help managers become better coaches. As part of this program, their coaching skills were assessed by others in 360-degree assessments. We identified those who were perceived as being the most effective listeners (the top 5%). We then compared the best listeners to the average of all other people in the data set and identified the 20 items showing the largest significant difference. With those results in hand we identified the differences between great and average listeners and analyzed the data to determine what characteristics their colleagues identified as the behaviors that made them outstanding listeners.
We found some surprising conclusions, along with some qualities we expected to hear. We grouped them into four main findings:
- Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. To the contrary, people perceive the best listeners to be those who periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight. These questions gently challenge old assumptions, but do so in a constructive way. Sitting there silently nodding does not provide sure evidence that a person is listening, but asking a good question tells the speaker the listener has not only heard what was said, but that they comprehended it well enough to want additional information. Good listening was consistently seen as a two-way dialog, rather than a one-way “speaker versus hearer” interaction. The best conversations were active.
- Good listening included interactions that build a person’s self-esteem. The best listeners made the conversation a positive experience for the other party, which doesn’t happen when the listener is passive (or, for that matter, critical!). Good listeners made the other person feel supported and conveyed confidence in them. Good listening was characterized by the creation of a safe environment in which issues and differences could be discussed openly.
- Good listening was seen as a cooperative conversation. In these interactions, feedback flowed smoothly in both directions with neither party becoming defensive about comments the other made. By contrast, poor listeners were seen as competitive — as listening only to identify errors in reasoning or logic, using their silence as a chance to prepare their next response. That might make you an excellent debater, but it doesn’t make you a good listener. Good listeners may challenge assumptions and disagree, but the person being listened to feels the listener is trying to help, not wanting to win an argument.
- Good listeners tended to make suggestions. Good listening invariably included some feedback provided in a way others would accept and that opened up alternative paths to consider. This finding somewhat surprised us, since it’s not uncommon to hear complaints that “So-and-so didn’t listen, he just jumped in and tried to solve the problem.” Perhaps what the data is telling us is that making suggestions is not itself the problem; it may be the skill with which those suggestions are made. Another possibility is that we’re more likely to accept suggestions from people we already think are good listeners. (Someone who is silent for the whole conversation and then jumps in with a suggestion may not be seen as credible. Someone who seems combative or critical and then tries to give advice may not be seen as trustworthy.)
While many of us have thought of being a good listener being like a sponge that accurately absorbs what the other person is saying, instead, what these findings show is that good listeners are like trampolines. They are someone you can bounce ideas off of — and rather than absorbing your ideas and energy, they amplify, energize, and clarify your thinking. They make you feel better not merely passively absorbing, but by actively supporting. This lets you gain energy and height, just like someone jumping on a trampoline.
Of course, there are different levels of listening. Not every conversation requires the highest levels of listening, but many conversations would benefit from greater focus and listening skill. Consider which level of listening you’d like to aim for:
Level 1: The listener creates a safe environment in which difficult, complex, or emotional issues can be discussed.
Level 2: The listener clears away distractions like phones and laptops, focusing attention on the other person and making appropriate eye-contact. (This behavior not only affects how you are perceived as the listener; it immediately influences the listener’s own attitudes and inner feelings. Acting the part changes how you feel inside. This in turn makes you a better listener.)
Level 3: The listener seeks to understand the substance of what the other person is saying. They capture ideas, ask questions, and restate issues to confirm that their understanding is correct.
Level 4: The listener observes non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions, perspiration, respiration rates, gestures, posture, and numerous other subtle body language signals. It is estimated that 80% of what we communicate comes from these signals. It sounds strange to some, but you listen with your eyes as well as your ears.
Level 5: The listener increasingly understands the other person’s emotions and feelings about the topic at hand, and identifies and acknowledges them. The listener empathizes with and validates those feelings in a supportive, nonjudgmental way.
Level 6: The listener asks questions that clarify assumptions the other person holds and helps the other person to see the issue in a new light. This could include the listener injecting some thoughts and ideas about the topic that could be useful to the other person. However, good listeners never highjack the conversation so that they or their issues become the subject of the discussion.
Each of the levels builds on the others; thus, if you’ve been criticized (for example) for offering solutions rather than listening, it may mean you need to attend to some of the other levels (such as clearing away distractions or empathizing) before your proffered suggestions can be appreciated.
We suspect that in being a good listener, most of us are more likely to stop short rather than go too far. Our hope is that this research will help by providing a new perspective on listening. We hope those who labor under an illusion of superiority about their listening skills will see where they really stand. We also hope the common perception that good listening is mainly about acting like an absorbent sponge will wane. Finally, we hope all will see that the highest and best form of listening comes in playing the same role for the other person that a trampoline plays for a child. It gives energy, acceleration, height and amplification. These are the hallmarks of great listening.
This post by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman first appeared online in Harvard Business Review.
Start the Conversation and Get Going!
People are talking about your brand. Are you listening?
Social media has taken over our lives!!! That’s right, everyday millions of conversations take place over social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Skype, forums, etc. These conversations are not just happening with friends and families but are also influencing companies. Social media interaction continues to rise as more people use it in both their personal and professional lives, and brands are responding by continually looking for new and innovative ways to engage with them.
All these conversations comprise pools of data, but “listening to the talk” can be challenging. How can companies make sense of this endless data to determine how and where to listen, identify what consumers are talking about, classify the types of content they are posting, and understand the behaviours they are engaging in?
Brand loyalty, customer engagement, qualified traffic and backlinks are not easy to come by. To get more, you need to give more. When it comes to social media, success comes from listening to your consumers, and providing them with the content they need, at the right time, and at the right place.
Embrace Technology
Those who don’t or have yet to embrace digital technology risk falling behind the needs of their customers. They also risk falling behind in the international marketplace where brands are rapidly ramping up their digital spend. Today’s consumers are digital, mobile, and tech-savvy. They are empowering themselves instead of allowing brands to dictate to them. Leading digital brands like Facebook and Google are redefining the market by creating new benchmarks for customer experience and personalization – so much so that customers today expect personalized services that address their immediate needs.
In short, unless brands can integrate digitally across channels and services, i.e. website, marketing, IT, sales, etc., they will not meet the rising expectations around the customers’ experience. To drive the integration of channels and deliver a seamless, coherent experience at every touch point demands that senior executives (CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CMOs) get involved – to rally all the departments (marketing, IT, call centres, sales) to execute a digital strategy that reorients the whole business around the needs of the customer.
Mapping Strategy with Good Data
The next wave of marketing is all about providing a one-to-one customer journey for each customer – with highly contextual and personalized marketing messages. It is important to understand the interconnectivity between various platforms and the roles that the different parts of the business play in the customers’ journey. By tapping into data from a range of different touch points and systems, we can understand and shape the customers’ journey to achieve maximum engagement, conversions, and ultimately brand loyalty. By capturing customer data at every touch point – from mobile phones and websites, to call centres and membership programs, we will be able to get a 360° view of our relationship with each customer.
Key Points to Remember:
- Provoking real conversations between your brand and target consumer begins with an understanding of your audience’s desires, online behaviours and their perception of your brand.
- Listening to what your audience and industry has to say allows us to craft and apply a unique, authoritative voice to content that establishes trust and invites consumer engagement with your brand.
- Identifying trends, shared issues, and gaps in online coverage drives the creative process while ensuring you deliver content that adds and not distract from the conversation.
- Social media moves at the speed of light. For brands that can keep up with sharing content, exchanging ideas, and actively engaging in real-time conversations, the rewards are tremendous.
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, CorpMedia
Making 2015 The Best Year Yet!
There’s something about a new year! Doesn’t it get you excited? New dreams, new goals, resolutions, plans, and new directions.
The start of a new year is always filled with optimism and excitement. Many will see it as yet another opportunity to make significant improvements to their lives – losing weight and giving up smoking usually topping the list.
As we say goodbye to 2014 and welcome a new year, it’s time to reflect, assess and chart a new successful path. We’ve come up with a shortlist of important PR resolutions to start you off.
- New brooms sweep clean. If your PR strategy runs in line with the calendar year, it’s time to revisit this essential plan and freshen it up. Rethink your business objectives for the year ahead, and ensure your PR strategy aligns with these goals. Review the success of last year’s strategy, and look for ways to build on successes, strengthen any weak areas, and don’t be afraid to learn from your mistakes. If you don’t have a strategy in place, now’s the perfect time to create one. Don’t put if off any longer!
- Ring in the old, ring in the new. Yes we are talking about new media and technology. You know you can’t run away from it, so just EMBRACE! Social media has and will continue to rise. It is plastered on our foreheads with a V as in Vital. It is an effective communications tool for most businesses and organizations today. Find ways to use this medium to the max. Explore the opportunities social media creates for businesses, and expand your online presence by embracing new platforms that support your business objectives. Once you’ve determined which platforms are best suited for your business, dedicate time to making them work. But don’t turn your back on traditional media.
- Value your clients. Your clients and customers are the lifeblood of your business. Make sure you look after them well – communicate, engage, reward! Continue to engage them on issues that impact their business through the various communications channels. For the new year, perhaps it may be wise to review the relationship – is there something you could provide to add value to the business? Don’t wait to be asked. And you may want to reward customers for their support and loyalty – gift baskets, concert tickets? Acknowledge with gratitude!
- Amp up your image. Take a proactive approach to strengthening or raising your company’s profile. Keep an eye out for ways to improve your company’s image and reputation. Editorial opportunities can position you as a thought leader, and make you stand out in a crowd. Make the necessary improvements to enhance your public image and keep striving to be the best while remaining competitive. People will stand up and notice!
Last but not least, use the fresh optimism and energy that come with a brand new year to create a strong foundation for the year ahead. This will not only improve your chances of a successful 2015, it will put you in good stead for subsequent years of success.
Wishing you great success and happiness in 2015!
Posted by Irene Gomez, CIO, CorpMedia.
Images in PR: 7 excuses and solutions
We’ve found there are six main reasons why PR practitioners and businesses avoid using images as part of their communications.
We thought we’d suggest solutions to these problems so you can start creating more vibrantly eye-catching and interesting content.
“Our product is boring. I don’t think it would be a good subject for an interesting picture.”
All the more reason you should use creative images to enliven your communications. Think of Innocent Drinks. Their product is not unique, but their social media content is awash with images that are unrelated to their product but fit with the quirky image they’re trying to give their brand’s personality.
However, if you don’t think this would work for your brand then you should consider thinking about how you can create an emotive or humorous image in some way connected to your product. Look at this humorous example for Webroot Internet Security.
Another tip is to write down your headline. What first comes to your mind when you read it? Have you used a metaphor? It’s often easier to match a picture to a headline than the whole story.
“Professional photographers are too expensive; I can’t afford to pay for photographs to accompany every press release I send out.”
Professional photographers might not be as expensive as you think. If you plan wisely, you can get a lot for your money.
Rather than hiring a photographer on an individual campaign basis, consider making a list of all the campaign activities you will have in upcoming months so you can think about the images you might like to accompany your documents.
It is much cheaper to hire a photographer for a whole day and take a wide range of shots to build your photo library. This collection of photographs can then be shared with your whole team so they can have easy access to photographs when they’re creating documents and presentations.
“We’re a small company we can’t afford fancy digital cameras, never mind a photographer.”
Don’t underestimate the power of your smartphone or tablet. The number of megapixels on these devices is equivalent to the digital cameras people were investing in only a few years ago. Also the quality of apps, such as Instagram, is continually improving.
Though the images these devices produce might not be of high enough quality for printed materials, they can certainly be used across social media and in blog posts.
“I take terrible photographs; they really wouldn’t be publishable.”
There are two websites worth checking out if you would like to improve your photography.
Writer and designer Adam Dachis has put together a comprehensive guide on Lifehacker that includes a number of lessons for use with digital cameras.
Expert Photography provides a thorough Beginner’s Guide to Photography and more than 250 other articles to help you improve your skills whether you are shooting with a camera or a phone. It’s definitely worth a read.
“I can never get my photographs the way I like them. I would have to buy expensive and complicated editing software or pay someone to edit them for me.”
Photoshop is the undisputed king of photo editing. However, it’s notoriously complicated and expensive. If you don’t want to fork out a whole heap of cash there are great free alternatives.
The best options we’ve come across are getpaint.net and gimp.org.
According to PCMag.com: “Paint.net lives in an interesting space between very basic image manipulation applications like Microsoft Paint and robust big guys like Photoshop.”
Gimp.org is a credible competitor to Photoshop, and it’s free. You can combine it with Photoshop plug-ins should you feel the package is not extensive enough. Read Brighthub.com’s review for details.
If you’d still rather use Photoshop but don’t want to pay for the full package, try Photoshop Elements. It’s a basic version of the full package at a fraction of the price.
“I am unsure of copyright laws so I would rather avoid using other people’s images.”
The Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act of 1988 is notoriously complicated and extends to more than 300 sections. Therefore, you should avoid using other people’s photographs unless you are absolutely certain you are not infringing any copyrights.
When you need an image in a hurry, it’s tempting to jump onto Google Images, do a few searches, and see what catches your eye. Of course, many images will be copyrighted. To find images you can freely use, use the advanced search and tick the use rights option that says, “free to use or share, even commercially.” Even then, please credit the original photographer.
The same applies with Flickr, the world’s largest photo-sharing site. Go to the advanced search and select “Creative Commons: find content to use commercially.”
“I find the photographs on these online stock sites are often very cheesy.”
Generally, it’s worth paying for stock photography, although it’s true you have to look hard to find shots that aren’t bland, generic, or cheesy.
There’s a knack to searching on these sites. Try to think of conceptual search terms that go beyond the obvious. You might, for instance, look for metaphors from nature or perhaps the arts.
As with most things, you tend to get what you pay for. Take a look at sites such as Alamy, Shutterstock, iStockphoto, and 123RF, and find the cost/quality ratio you are comfortable with. If you want to buy photos and use them without restrictions, make sure you search for “royalty free.”
So, these are just some solutions. What do you think? Perhaps you have some of your own tricks to add. Please let us know in the comments below.
By Adam Cranfield, CMO, Mynewsdesk. A version of this story first appeared on the company’s blog.
‘Tis the Season for Giving Back
The year is winding down, Christmas is around the corner, and everyone’s slowing down to catch their breath as the year comes to a close. With festivities buzzing, we tend to get lost in the excitement of the season. But as always, we ought to take time out to reflect on the year, acknowledge and appreciate the good things, little or big that have touched our lives.
Think of how great the entire year could have been if had we practised the appreciation spirit throughout while applying it to the working atmosphere instead of just accumulating everything in just one space in time. I am talking about a concept that is not new, though it definitely should be more widely practised – corporate social responsibility or CSR as it is commonly known as.
So exactly what it CSR and why is it an important component of our work life?
Defining CSR
“The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.”
The definition of CSR is ironically never definite. This time though, the lack of definition could actually mean a good thing. The fact that it even falls under the guise of different names – ranging from corporate volunteerism to corporate philanthropy to corporate citizenship – goes to show just how broad a scope it encompasses. But ultimately, they all stand for the same thing and the common linking factor that ties them together is the intention.
The aim of most CSR programs is quite simply to collectively do good as a business unit. It is an initiative undertaken by a company to encourage a positive impact on external factors outside of the business, like the environment or community. Different companies have their own initiatives set in place which could have been formulated inhouse by a committee or by employing external consultants to draw up appropriate plans for them. Others may just nominate a cause or charity during the year without any long term plan.
If the noble cause hasn’t won you over yet, here are more reasons why CSR should be a mandatory part of any company. Not only would the benefactors of your CSR program gain, it would do wonders internally for your company too!
The honeymoon may be over..
A recent survey conducted by Gallup showed over 70% of employees do not feel engaged in their current positions. According to the Economist, 84% of senior leaders reported that disengaged employees were one of the biggest threats to their business.
By doing meaningful work outside of the context of work, company pride would be developed and nurtured. Having employees who feel actively engaged would also, in turn, assure employee retention – which is invaluable in the long run. With an increased number of people realizing the importance and value of being socially responsible, implementing a CSR program makes more business sense that dollar signs.
.. but we have a new generation to tap
The millenial generation, otherwise regarded as the overly tolerate 20-35 year olds, tech-savvy, pop culture obsessed generation. They play by different rules – usually wanting to create their own. To many, they may be a frustrating bunch, especially in the workforce, but they are an untapped market with big potential. They are by far an extremely socially conscious generation and wil play an even bigger role in how companies handle CSR by being good corporate citizens.
So how can we engage them in our corporate giving efforts? Here are three simple tips:
Connecting: Millennials get most of their information about a charity or cause through a nonprofit’s website or social media channels. Whether you have an advanced software system that tracks employee giving and volunteerism or you have a smaller company that may email a volunteer or giving opportunity, make sure that appropriate links about the nonprofits are provided. This allows millenials to do their own research and feel connected with the cause the company is supporting.
Involving: Often, companies focus too much on putting their senior executives on boards and don’t engage other employees to represent the company in the community. Millennials usually want to get involved and feel utilized. To maximize their time, work with your charity partners to determine what type of individuals they are looking for to serve on their boards or committees. Are they looking for individuals with leadership traits or volunteers who can help with events?
Giving: When millennials give, it’s important for them to know that their contribution is making a difference and they can see tangible results. When deciding to get your employees involved in a giving campaign, be selective in the project you are funding. Make sure you are able to tie back the giving to tangible results that resonate with the millennials and share those results with them.
Millennials can be great ambassadors if your company’s giving includes and caters to them. Focus on these three areas and you’ll have a millennial workforce who is engaged in your company’s philanthropic efforts.
To all you folks out there, let this be the season for a little more giving back. Here’s wishing one and all every success in the brand new year!
By Yasmin Md Basir, PR Associate @ Corporate Media Services
