Trafcom News

James Franco: not the best brand ambassador

I confess that I watched less than one hour of the Oscar festivities last night, but one thing struck me: Choosing someone to represent your brand or company is not an easy thing. Yes, this thought occurred as I watched the wooden, squinting James Franco in his role as co-host with the vivacious Anne Hathaway.

Franco may be a talented actor and creative artist, but when he plays the role of himself, he falls flat. At least he did in the awards telecast.

I’ve seen this happen within organizations. “Let’s put John in front of the audience. He really knows the new product inside and out.” Sure, but can John speak? Is he persuasive? Does he have an ounce of charisma? That’s what matters in this situation, not his technical expertise.

In corporate settings, media training is often the answer. Most people can learn to be better presenters.

As for Hollywood’s problems – I have no idea!

Failure to communicate

During the past week, we’ve seen quite a few examples of “failure to communicate” played out in the news.

In Canada, embattled Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda has been skewered in the press after apparently altering a funding document and not being honest about it. Members of the public are clamoring for her resignation, and a particularly unflattering photo of her only added to the kerfuffle.*

*The sunglasses are necessary because of recent eye surgery.

In reading about Ms. Oda, I’ve learned that she had enjoyed a career as a teacher, then as a broadcast executive. After retiring, she joined several community boards, and was encouraged to run for political office. So it appears that she managed to do well before being thrust into the public eye. Now, however, her failure to communicate may trigger her downfall. In an article in today’s Globe and Mail, a “Tory insider” is quoted as saying: “When it comes to selling the virtues of something…she doesn’t have the strongest set of skills.” The story also states that “even her colleagues and government staffers privately poke fun at her capacity to sell a political message.”

Another example ripped from the headlines: the proposed merger of the Toronto and London stock exchanges. Apparently, the Ontario government is cool to the idea. In the Globe and Mail, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is quoted as saying of the stock exchange senior executives: “Not only are they not a very good story teller, but if they have not thought through the communications of this, have they not thought through the substance of it?”

Good question! Don’t you feel this way too, when you hear someone stumble through a proposal or fail to make a salient point in an argument?

This is not just about media training; it’s about the basics of understanding your audience and being able to craft an authentic message to get your point across clearly and persuasively.

This week, Ms. Oda and the stock exchange guys failed to communicate. Big time. Yes, this reminds me of the scene from Cool Hand Luke.

 

If you are reading this anywhere except the original blog post, you may not be able to see the embedded video. In this case, please click through to the original post.

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Death by 1,000 cuts: Corporate approvals on communications projects

Recently I posted a question on my Trafalgar Communications Facebook page about the challenges faced by communicators today. One reader quickly answered with this: “Getting approvals. And editing by committee. We wordsmith out the heart of what we are saying.”

Oh, I feel her pain.

Many years ago, when I was working on contract at an organization, I learned a valuable lesson about the approvals cycle. After toiling away on a rather long newsletter article on a technical subject, I walked it over to the desk of a manager at the firm. (This was in the era before email.) Because he knew the subject matter so much better than I did, I was counting on him to verify what I’d written and to point out any spots where I might have led readers astray. He wasn’t at his desk, so I attached a little note to my draft. Something pithy and not very informative, like “For your approval.”

You can imagine my dismay when he sauntered over to my cubicle a few hours later and handed the copy back to me. “Do you think you need a comma here?” he asked, pointing to a paragraph in the middle of the page.

Arrgh. I had to bite my tongue and ask, “Um, was there anything else you had a comment on, related to the content of the article?”

Since then, I have tried very hard to let approvers know what I actually need from them. When I produce corporate newsletters, for example, I often send out an email something like this along with copy for approval:

Attached is an article on _________ for the June edition of the __________ newsletter. We are asking you as a subject-matter expert whether the information in this article is accurate, and if there is anything that should be added or deleted. Kindly email your comments directly to me. If you have questions about this article, please phone me or email me.

After all approvals are completed, we will be proofreading this article.

Thank you for your help!

In this way, I’m letting the person know that I don’t care about their opinions on serial commas or semicolons, but I do want to be sure that the article is accurate. In fact, some people are grateful to know exactly what we’re asking of them.

Wordsmithing
Of course, there’s always the person who wants to rewrite your prose just for the sake of tinkering with your style or grammar. Or they start nitpicking about capitalization of their precious title. (Sometimes in my emails, I let them know that we are following a particular house style, and what that means for their role as Vice President or vice-president.)

If you’re working in a multinational firm, you might want to let the approver know that you’re using U.S. or U.K. or Canadian (or whatever) spelling, lest they start changing all of your organizations to organisations.

To me, and probably to my Facebook correspondent, one of the worst things an approver can do is to suck the life out of your writing. Has this ever happened to you? After an in-depth interview, you’ve been able to include some warm and wonderful (and decidedly human) quotes from the CEO in an article about next year’s strategic plan. When the director of corporate affairs reviews the piece, however, he wants to change all of the CEO’s warm and wonderful language to corporate-speak. Suddenly, the article is loaded with “low-hanging fruit,” “paradigm shifts,” “leveraging core competencies” and “going forward.” (All phrases I abhor.)

What’s the answer?
In my experience, I’ve usually succeeded in holding my position when someone wants to stab a dull knife into the heart of an article. I remind them, kindly and gently, that we really want to encourage people to read this piece, and we’ve worked hard to use language – and actual quotes from the CEO – that will pull readers in.

If you’re the editor of the publication, or are responsible for news releases before they’re distributed, don’t you have the last word? I hope so. As an outside consultant, I will speak with the person to whom I report within the organization, and say, “Do I have your support on this?” Nine and a half times out of 10, she’ll say “yes.”

To recap, I think it’s important to be clear on what type of feedback you’re looking for, and to fiercely guard your integrity so that your writing doesn’t get churned into lifeless twaddle.

What do you think? What has been your experience with approvals? Can you share some tips?

P.S. In the next few weeks, I will be publishing more content around digital storytelling, and I think that this subject of approvals fits nicely into it, because if you can spin a good yarn but it gets cut to pieces in the approvals cycle, that’s a pity. Stay tuned!

 

 

How authors and other experts can use audio products

If you’re in Canada, you’ve probably heard that The Best Laid Plans, the debut novel by Terry Fallis, has won the Canada Reads 2011 competition sponsored by the CBC. This is a Big Deal, and those of us who know Terry are absolutely delighted for him, and gratified that even more people will read his hilarious and touching political satire, thanks to all the attendant publicity. (By the way, the book has also won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour).

What you might not know was that Terry, like most first-time novelists, had a hard time finding a publisher initially. One of the tactics he used during this period was a podcast in which he read a chapter of his book each week.

I was one of the readers drawn in by this. In fact, I started to listen because Terry is a friend, but the podcast itself – and the way Terry told the story – compelled me to buy the book. (I’m one of those who listens to many podcasts as well as non-fiction books on my iPod and iPhone, but prefer the old-fashioned dead-tree format for novels.)

When I speak with authors, I always share the example of Terry’s success and his use of podcasting. Of course the fact that he freely shared his book with the world is not the sole secret to his success, but it was one of the ways in which he generated buzz about The Best Laid Plans in the early days, before he was snagged by a mainstream publisher and started winning awards.

In this interview with me, Jennifer Tribe of Highspot Inc. asks about ways in which authors and other experts can use podcasts and various audio products as marketing tools. Over 60 minutes, we discuss whether audio products might be a good fit; the tools needed to record, edit and host audio files; how to use show notes to generate search engine juice, and much more.

You can download the file here or listen in the player below.

A PDF transcript of this interview is available here.

To learn more about Jennifer Tribe and Highspot, a company that helps business owners package, brand, and sell the intellectual capital related to their expertise, visit their website.

I would love to hear your comments about this interview!

Answering students' podcasting questions - in a podcast

I’ve been enjoying answering questions about podcasting posed by students in my friend Joan Vinall-Cox’s Documentary Scripting class at the University of Toronto (Mississauga). In the Trafcom News Podcast 102, I tackle some of the most interesting ones. Around the 14-minute mark, you will also hear comments about Trafcom News Podcast 101: How to be a terrific podcast guest. I'm grateful for these comments, which add a lot of value to the original content.

If you're a podcaster, or if you're thinking about podcasting, perhaps some of these very same questions have been on your mind.

Click here to go directly to the podcast page, where you can listen and read the show notes.

Please let me know what you think!

Podcasting dedication (and scheduling)

Part of a series of answers to follow-up questions about podcasting, from students at the University of Toronto. Here’s a link to all the student Q&As, including those from 2010.

Question: Perhaps Donna could discuss how it’s a good idea to have resolve and dedication while creating a podcast. Mentioning how one should schedule podcast recordings could also be an idea for future presentations.

Answer: Well, resolve and dedication are good qualities for anyone in business or a creative field. If you’re being paid to produce podcasts for clients, chances are that you will allow sufficient time to create high-quality episodes. If you’re producing your own podcast, it’s very easy to let it fall to the bottom of your priority list. (Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.)

However, it’s my belief that no matter how busy we are, we do find time for the things that are important to us, whether that’s writing a blog post, recording a podcast, or sending out invoices. (Have you noticed that some people who “don’t have time” actually spend three or four hours watching TV each day?)

If a podcast is one of your marketing or PR tactics, then you’d better be sure that the shows are planned, produced and published on time.  I often suggest that clients use an editorial calendar for their blog and podcast, to sketch out the types of topics to be covered in the next three, six or 12 months. This doesn’t have to be an onerous task: Just jot down the subject, the interviewee (if applicable), and the date you want to publish. Move the order around until you get it right; the sequence needs to make sense.

Right now I’m working on a plan for a series of podcasts on digital storytelling. I may deviate slightly from my plan once I get into it, but I’ll stand a better chance of producing an interesting series if I do my planning up front.

By the way, if you use WordPress as your content management system, you can try the Editorial Calendar plug-in to assist you with this task.

Sound advice on podcast intros

Here's a nice podcast and blog post about how to create an effective introduction for your podcast, from The Audacity to Podcast podcast. Click here to read and listen.

Producing podcasts for clients

Part of a series of answers to follow-up questions about podcasting, from students at the University of Toronto. Here’s a link to all the student Q&As, including those from 2010.

Question: Donna mentioned that she makes podcasts for clients, and I wondered what she would say on such a podcast. I assume that these would be part of a marketing strategy but I’m not sure how.

Answer: This is an interesting question, because you often won’t hear much of my voice on a client’s podcast, unlike my own Trafcom News Podcast, where there’s a lot of Donna.

The types of podcasts I produce for others include but are not limited to:

• Interviews with their experts, to be used for internal comms or external marketing
• Conference podcasts, which may be interviews with speakers*
• Insights from their events, including opinions from attendees
• CEO or other leadership broadcasts; more on this topic here

Often the clients are front and centre in these podcasts. I may record a voiceover introduction at the beginning and a call to action at the end. Sometimes this task is delegated to a voiceover artist. My role generally focuses on communications strategy and podcast production. For an example of what I’m talking about, please refer to the Tweep in Profile series I produce for the Donovan Group Inc. For this project, I interview social media experts, and then create a podcast for Andy Donovan’s company. 

Sometimes the podcasts I produce for clients are more educational. When they’re connected to a conference or event, they may be both educational and promotional. It’s important to keep in mind that these podcasts must be well integrated into the client’s marketing or public relations strategy.

*Here I'm pictured with Ingrid Norrish at the Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners (CanSPEP) conference.

The art of voiceover in podcasting

Part of a series of answers to follow-up questions about podcasting, from students at the University of Toronto. Here’s a link to all the student Q&As, including those from 2010.

Question: Donna talked about how she took voiceover courses. It would have been really cool if she’d showed us some of the techniques she was taught there.

Answer: The voiceover (VO) course I took was in 2004, but I remember much of it. Our instructor maintained that some people had a natural talent for “voice acting,” but that this skill could be learned as well. Part of VO comes from technical ability – learning how to exploit the capabilities of your microphone, for example – and part of it is the expressiveness that you employ to interpret the material you’ve been given. (Believe me, when I do a VO session, I can read the same paragraph eight different ways! Guidance from a good director really helps.)

I highly recommend the book The Art of Voice Acting, which contains a treasure trove of tips about VO techniques and the business aspects too. Of course there are numerous websites and blogs devoted to this topic. Check out Voices.com, especially their blog posts and podcasts, and Bob Souer’s web site and blog, as well as Peter O'Connell's site.

You might also enjoy this interview I did with voiceover great Joe Cipriano a few years ago for my Trafcom News Podcast.

One more piece of advice: Try to listen to everything with a critical ear. Whether it’s the CBC or some other radio show, an audio book or a podcast – even a TV commercial – tune into how the person uses his or her voice. When you become conscious of it, you’ll be amazed at what you notice.

UPDATE –- To be clear: Voiceover training is NOT a prerequisite for podcasting. However, the strategies and techniques you learn in vocal training can help you any time you use a microphone.