PR is only as effective as the sum total of your organisation
These are tough times and there is a lot of competition out there. You are networking, advertising, connecting with a host of organisations and people, winning business and working hard to give great value for money.
Whether you have a dedicated budget for marketing and PR or not, the fact is, that unless you are getting your name out there through social media, referrals, or advertising, then you are unlikely to win business.
Many leaders of businesses are brilliant at PR. They are media savvy, know how to pitch their business and are clear about the market they are targeting. It is essential that you’re organisation has those skills. But is this enough?
You and I both know that when we do business with a company, it’s not usually the leader or the marketing manager we are transacting with. It is the people who work in that organisation. We all have tales of great customer service and poor customer service. And people in the organisation are the experience we remember.
So great customer service is a must. However, it’s not the secret weapon. Many of your people will understand how to be good at what they do. But they may not actually like what they do, or like the organisation they work in.
Look at it like this. I recently signed up with Linkedin. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Linkedin. Linkedin is the biggest business social network around. At the moment I am connected to 119 people. The way that Linkedin celebrate their success is their demonstration of how those connections grow as you multiply your connections. By connecting with those contacts of contacts, your sphere of getting your name about grows considerably. As of today, Linkedin reckons that my contact list potentially gives me connections to a further 2,711,406 people. Awesome stuff.
Now you might say that the stretch of connections is a bit of a red herring. Well yes, in the normal course of events it is. But the potential is there. If I made an enormous PR gaffe that was newsworthy, I’m sure that those 2 million people would know about it in seconds. This would be true of connections on twitter, and Face book to name but a few social networks.
So what’s this got to do with your secret PR weapon? Well if you’ve got 10 or more staff, look at the potential for either sharing good news or bad news. All of your staff has friends, family, social networks, whether they are online or not. What your staff are saying about you, your business, your product, your service, is vital.
If you are a leader, or a business owner, you probably mix in networks which are positive, upbeat forward thinking, you get the picture. But do you know what your teams think? Do you know what their message is to potential customers?
I talk to people a lot about their work. I ask them whether they like it or not. Whether they believe in what they do. I can honestly say that I have met people who love what they do, they are enthusiastic, and they believe that the organisation’s mission is their mission. These are the people we would all love to have working with us.
I have also met people who detest what they do. They don’t buy into the company values; they don’t respect what the company does. But they come to work because it’s a job; they need to feed their kids. You can usually spot these people in your team. They can’t help their attitude. While this is a problem, it’s an easily identifiable problem, and you can do something about it.
But what about the people who are in the middle? They quite like their job; they are rubbing along quite well. They aren’t really bothered about what you do but it pays well, and as far as their own responsibilities go, they do what they have to do. Are you content with the messages they are giving? If your employees are pretty neutral about the work they do, then it will come as no surprise that those who should be the biggest advertisement you have got are not advertising your wares in the way that you would like.
Your employees are your secret PR weapon. What they think say and do is totally representative of your organisation. Your business is the sum total of all of your employees, like it or not. If you don’t know what your employees think about your organisation, ask them. Don’t make assumptions. Just because you think your idea’s are the best thing since Edison invented the light bulb, doesn’t mean your employees share that thought.
You need your employees to be your best advocate. As your secret weapon. Make sure you make them your best tool in the arsenal.
What do you think? Do you think employee buy in is essential? Do you have any views or tips for employers? I’d love to hear from you.
If you would like to know more about harnessing the power of your employees, then please do contact People Discovery. We offer a free “no obligation” consultation.
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