Question #7: If you have a warm and inviting charm about you, then much of your battle is won. If you’re less than warm and charming, but have a sharp sense of humor, that’s a viable strong point. Perhaps you aren’t the most articulate individual but you have a doggedly determined personality. List that. Highlight your strengths, because your Guerrilla P.R. campaign will be molded around them.
Question #8: Similarly, it’s critical to take an objective look at your weaknesses so that they can be either turned into strengths or shoved so deep in the closet that they won’t have any impact. Of course, it’s preferable to transform weaknesses into solid personality assets. Not only does it make you a healthier, happier person, but it adds more ammo to your Guerrilla P.R. arsenal.
Question #9: Close your eyes before you answer this question. Picture yourself operating on all eight cylinders, where nothing and nobody can stop you. You know that feeling of peak performance? That’s the state of mind you want while implementing your Guerrilla P.R. campaign. Describe the conditions when you’re functioning with optimum effectiveness. Once you spell it out, you can take steps to create that climate every day.
Question #l0: This is a question of simple self-examination. It’s like Mr. Universe eyeing his reflection in a floor-length mirror and saying to himself, “My biceps need a little more mass here, my deltoids a little more there.” It’s essential to maximize the basic skills of writing and speaking, so you can do the job right. Without a certain ability on both fronts, pulling off a successful P.R. effort will be difficult. Answer this question honestly, and then we’ll work on ways to improve on both.
Now, take a look at your answers and see if a picture emerges. Do you see patterns of enthusiasm and inventiveness? Are the obstacles before you as formidable as you feared earlier? Have you gotten the sense that a P.R. campaign is more feasible than you once thought? I suspect that after completing this survey you’re feeling surprisingly good about your chances.
Only You
Let’s focus a little longer on the uniqueness factor. It’s impossible to overstress its importance. Human beings are not worker ants. Our individuality is what makes each of us irreplaceable. The Talmud says, “If a person saves one life, it is as if he has saved the whole world.” We would do well to develop a similar point of view in our business lives. It’s certainly part of Guerrilla P.R. doctrine.
I encourage you to look long and hard at yourself and your project. Elevate those elements distinguishing you from all others. Don’t hesitate to create some after the fact. When Shari Seligman started an L.A. mobile pet-grooming service, she became just one of many similar entrepreneurs. But how many of her competitors thought to place a gigantic wagging dog’s tail on the rear of their vans? Because of her inventive spirit, Ms. Seligman and her van became the stars of a national soft drink commercial. Uniqueness, uniqueness, uniqueness!
What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate
There’s an old story about the farmer who returns home after listening to a politician on the stump in town. His wife asks him, “Who spoke?” The farmer replies, “The mayor.” Wife: “What did he talk about?” Farmer: “He didn’t say.”
Of the many failings of our national education system, one in particular strikes me as especially puzzling. A young person can ramble along from kindergarten through high school without learning a thing on the subject of communications. Yet, communications is the No. 1 key to success in business.
Most of us learn this lesson too late, struggling for years playing endless catch-up. Some are blessed with an innate gift of communicating, while others study it in college or some other formal setting. Whether or not you have been trained, as a Guerrilla P.R. trooper you’re going to have to get in shape as a communicator; otherwise you’ll be forced to pay a heavy price.
I’ve personally known many people who—while they had a measure of talent and a willingness to work hard—have never been able to rise as high in their professions as they would like. I feel certain the one overriding reason was their inability to communicate effectively with coworkers and superiors.
Studies show that TV news anchors rank at or near the top of America’s most admired professionals. Most are little more than teleprompter readers, yet they earn sky-high salaries because they are master communicators. I’m not suggesting your ideal role model should be the TV journalist, but you could benefit from adopting many of their tried-and-true techniques, even if you never go before a camera in your life.
The warm steady gaze, the apparent intelligence, the modulated voice, the sturdy posture and self-confidence—these are the components that make anchors so valued in society. Few of these traits come naturally to anyone, especially when they are staring into the lifeless eye of a TV camera. They must be learned, which means anyone can learn them, including you. Incorporating qualities such as these will make you more attractive when you initiate your Guerrilla P.R. campaign. The mysterious qualities that make one person charismatic and likeable, and another less so, have been contemplated by philosophers and businesspeople through the years. Dr. Lillian Glass, in her best-selling book Say It Right, identifies Seven Secrets of Great Business Communicators. Here are those secrets:
1. They were confident and unafraid to ask for what they wanted.
2. They appreciated those who helped them.
3. They consistently nurtured relationships.
4. They were tenacious in going around obstacles.
5. They were excellent listeners.
6. They rebounded quickly and completely from rejection.
7. They were friendly and approachable.
These qualities, like all the positive traits I describe, are beneficial not only to the fledgling Guerrilla P.R. master but also to anyone in any walk of life. On the other side of the coin, Dr. Glass describes Five Toxic Communication Personality Styles, all of which you should avoid like the plague:
1. The Instigator. One who communicates by trying to make trouble for others, verbally stirring up waters. In P.R., this manifests itself in making subtly destabilizing remarks, and berating those who don’t see things your way.
2. The Accuser. Hostile and intolerant, this style of practitioner reflects insecurity and self-hatred. One who ravages the competition or makes threatening remarks will get nowhere in P.R.
3. The Meddler. An advice giver, often someone in no position to do so. You must approach media people with a measure of deference. Keep your confidence, but remember, they’ve been around the block a million times. Don’t tell them what’s best for them.
4. The Cut-You-Downer. One who, as Dr. Glass puts it, “will find a cloud in every silver lining.” I doubt that anyone who wants to sell his own project via Guerrilla P.R. would stoop this low, but it’s worth noting that chronic gainsaying is about the biggest downer I know of.
5. The Back-Stabber. This is communication by sabotage. Obviously, if you stick it to someone, they’re going to try to stick you right back. Common sense dictates common courtesy.
Another highly regarded theorist, speech expert Bert Decker, in his book You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard, describes “first-brained communicators” and “new-brained” communicators. The former are those who appeal to the more primal emotion-centered part of our psyches. This is good. Examples of first-brain communicators are Jane Pauley, Oprah Winfrey, and Ronald Reagan. New-brained communicators, such as Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale, appeal largely to the logic-making and decision-making centers. These two men were among history’s biggest losers. We can all learn from their mistakes.
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Guerrilla P.R. Exercise
To practice your written and oral communications skills, take a moment to do the following exercises:
1. Recite a passage from a book, newspaper, or magazine into a tape recorder. Then speak extemporaneously on any subject for two minutes. Listen to the cadence of your voice. Is it singsongy, flat, monotone? Be objective in your assessment. Try it again, this time with
your own modifications.
2. Tape a few of your telephone conversations. How do you interact with others? Do you interrupt, step on people’s words, finish sentences for them? Do you utter nervous phrases like “ummm” or “you know”? Does your mind wander? Take careful note of your observations. Your telephone persona is of maximum importance.
3. Tape or film a conversation between you and a friend. Are you stiff or fidgety? Do your eyes dart around the room? Do you smile too much? Not enough? Ask your friend for honest feedback on your ability to communicate effectively. Don’t rely solely on your own impressions. (We’re too hard on ourselves anyway.)
4. Write an essay on your project, thinking of it as your one shot to persuade others of your project’s virtues. That’s how important the written word is. Much of your campaign will be on paper; and if you free-fall there, your backup chute may not open either. Think in terms of simple construction: a short opening paragraph with a punchy first line, subsequent paragraphs detailing your project’s attributes, and a closing summary paragraph that leaves readers curious and excited. Show your essay to as many people as you like, and listen to their criticisms. Rewrite it a few times until you’ve captured the essence of your endeavor.
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Target Practice
Earlier I mentioned the importance of determining precisely who your target audience is. Basically, there are two kinds of “audiences” you may pursue: active and passive. Appealing to each requires slightly different strategies.
An active audience wants to hear what you have to say. Subscribers to political or single-focus publications (e.g., the Sierra magazine and the American Rifleman), sports magazines (such as Ski and Muscle & Fitness), and trade publications like Variety and Adweek constitute an active audience.
They’re predisposed to your message because they have a working knowledge of the subject and have already incorporated aspects of your project into their lives. If you’ve designed the world’s most comfortable briefs, the readers of Underwear World certainly want to know about it.
Conversely, a passive audience isn’t looking for anything. John Q. Grump, sipping his morning coffee while flipping through the sports section, isn’t necessarily ripe for your message. When he flops in front of the TV, clicker in hand, he isn’t necessarily predisposed to hear what you have to say. Yet, he and millions like him are your target. The passive audience is tougher to reach, though hundreds of times larger than the active audience.
In Guerrilla P.R. thinking, there is no such thing as a mass audience. Ultimately, you must reach individuals one at a time, which is why this method is effective on both the large and small scales. Keep that in mind: any appeal to your target audience, passive or active, must embody the characteristics used to persuade individuals. What works for one most likely works for many.
Use yourself as a barometer. When was the last time someone convinced you of something? What kind of rationale was used? Did it play to your heart or your head? Your emotions or your intellect? Think how often we hear about typhoons in distant lands that kill thousands, yet we usually feel nothing more than a momentary pang of horror. Compare that with well-orchestrated sympathy ploys, played out in the media, such as the frequent stories about the leukemia victim who needs a bone marrow transplant. Our hearts go out to such persons dramatically more than to the nameless victims of the natural disaster. Human nature dictates that we feel for other people one at a time.
Once you dissect your own responses, you’ll see quite clearly the tactics used to persuade.
With a passive audience: Lean toward a personal, more human approach. When Dr. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine, his solicitation to the medical community was geared toward the vaccine’s epidemiological applications. When it was sold to the public, all we saw were doe-eyed children and iron lung machines. You too must remember that most people appreciate being addressed on their own level. Be broad and simple. Assume that readers or viewers of any particular mass media outlet are far less informed than those of an active audience outlet. Stress rudimentary points and wider connections, rather than micro-technical specifics.
Restrict your use of technical terminology not easily understood by passive consumers. It’s not only confusing to throw in a lot of five-dollar words, it also alienates you from your audience, which is obviously dangerous for your project.
With an active audience: Emphasize the technical. Active audiences derive pleasure from their possession of particular knowledge. Exploit that by underscoring the more exacting details of your project.
Try a harder sell. Because an active audience is, by definition, more inclined to hear your message, you may present a stronger, more emphatic case. Because you and your target audience are on the same level of understanding, you probably won’t be perceived as a flimflammer.
Narrow your focus. Unlike a passive audience, the active audience doesn’t require ancillary themes to develop an interest in your project. Astronomers may enjoy reading about newly discovered binary star systems, but down here we just want to know if anyone saw the ghost of Elvis up there cavorting with aliens.
Once you choose between the passive and active audience, you’ll be able to tailor your Guerrilla P.R. campaign accordingly. But remember, you don’t communicate with the audience directly. Your message is filtered through the media. The newspaper editor and the radio talk-show producer are your conduits to the audience. Next, we shift our focus toward them, toward the media for whom you will soon be setting traps.
Guerrilla P.R. Marketing Plan Outline
Objective(s):
What do you want to achieve?
Audience(s):
Who can best help you reach that goal?
Definition of product or service:
Message:
Why your audience should want or could benefit from your product or service?
Why are you better than the competition?
What else do you want your audience to know?
Media:
What vehicles should you use to get the message to your audience?
Summary/Results:
How does the delivery of the above message to the targeted audiences via these media achieve your objectives?
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Guerrilla P.R. Exercise
1. Consider whether you are targeting a passive or an active audience. Which media outlets serve that audience?
2. Just for fun, ponder switching from active to passive (or vice versa). How would you retool your media outlets? Which would work for you in this new setting? Why would or why wouldn’t this plan work?
3. The accompanying Marketing Plan Outline is the standard one we use at my company. Although it takes a slightly different tack, examine it and fill it out.
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Target Practice Too
You need not only to target your consumer, but likewise to target your media. But just who are these media folks, anyway? A study I read recently reported that 95 percent of key media personnel are white, 79 percent are male, 46 percent earn over $50,000 a year, 54 percent call themselves liberal, and 50 percent claim no religious affiliation. It certainly sounds like an ivory tower to me.
Actually, I’ve found reporters, editors, and producers to be an engaging lot overall, naturally curious, and ever on the prowl for good stories. They consider their career a profession, but it most assuredly is not. Professions—that is, medicine, law, and accounting—are challenging fields of discipline and difficult to learn, all requiring state licensing. Ongoing education and recertification are also required just to keep the shingle up.
None of that is true for journalism. Any glib wordsmith with a little luck and persistence can make it on staff or as a freelancer somewhere. Some college experience helps, but even that isn’t vital.
Carl Bernstein, of the famous team that broke the Watergate story, joined the Washington Post as a cub reporter while still in high school. I’m not denigrating his skills as a reporter. However, I never met a s
urgeon who got his first job hanging out in front of the operating room looking for an opening in the scrub room.
Although, to be sure, there are some unsavory exceptions, I’ve found media people to be very much like the rest of us. They have likes and dislikes, as we do, and you can interact with them without worrying about offending their inflated sense of social standing.
Believe me, they don’t bite.
However, journalists do possess one useful human quality in abundance: intense skepticism. That old movie stereotype of the cynical, hard-bitten reporter has a basis in fact that lives on today.
Journalists are born doubters. They presume guilt until innocence is proven, and even then…
Distrust is vital to their role. Journalists (at least the good ones) are trained to suspect official pronouncements from government officials and other spokespersons. Nobody scoffs like a journalist. They go to great lengths to look beyond the facade of the news and dig up a truer, albeit messier, reality.
That’s why they’re exceptionally suspicious of publicists. Even though I believe they need us as much as we need them, because we publicists are hired guns, reporters don’t often put much stock in our pleas and arguments—at least, not at first. I was told by one entertainment reporter from a large metropolitan paper, “Publicists don’t believe in what they’re selling. They’re just paid pitchmen.”
With Guerrilla P.R., that concern doesn’t exist. You represent yourself. You believe in your project far more than any “paid pitchman” ever could. What you lack in seasoning, you more than make up for in sincerity.
And that pays off with journalists. They root for underdogs. They listen to “real” people, as opposed to us “unreal” professional publicists. Your very handicap of being unconnected may end up as your biggest asset, because the press will believe in your sincerity more than in mine. And I’m the most sincere person I know.
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