https://vimeo.com/445676884

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A solid relationship takes time, and some of your colleagues have known your clients for years. How can you jump right in to be seen as a valuable and trustworthy member of your team?  Now is a great time to practice the interpersonal skills that got you the job — you’ve already won over your colleagues, and below are a few tips to help win over your clients.

Get Enthusiastic!

The sayings about a good first impression can’t be overstated. In a remote environment, it’s especially important to connect with the client on an interpersonal level from the very beginning. People want to work with those who want to work with them — so make sure your clients know you’re excited to be part of the team. Asking about a client’s weekend plans or joining in small talk before diving into an agenda makes the client feel that you’re not just someone they are required to talk to, but someone they genuinely want to talk to. This connection can serve as the foundation for building the culture of honest and open communication that agencies and clients strive for.

Align Values

Part of the reason organizations hire an agency is because their values resonated with their team and their broader business goals. Familiarizing yourself with the values of your agency and actively integrating them into your communication with your clients will build trust organically. This means that as one develops their own personal style of communication, one should also incorporate the tone of their agency and its values. To do so, new employees should look through past documents and email exchanges with their clients and colleagues to get a sense of how they like to be spoken to and what communication they appreciate. For example, if a client really likes to get a coverage roundup in a specific format, jump right in and become the person they can count on to deliver it.

When In Doubt, Talk it Out

Jumping on a one-on-one call with a client can be a great way to get a mutual understanding of communication styles and clarify items discussed over email. In addition to saving time by eliminating back and forth messages, it also gives you the opportunity to build a more personal connection with the client and gives a voice to future email exchanges. Clients are more likely to remember you the next time they need something when they can put a voice to a name – which makes you a valuable and trusted member of the team.

Remembering that you’re there to support the client’s needs when entering into any interaction, especially at the beginning of your relationship will build a pathway for success as your relationship progresses. Be the person that your client wants to hop on a call with by bringing the energy from the start and getting a pulse on the style of communication that resonates with them. Building trust with clients is the first step in building a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with your agency.

Brazil, Luis Claudio Allan, Founder, FirstCom: The Venture Capital scene is hot in Brazil despite the pandemic. Fintech is the hottest market in the startup ecosystem right now, but there are others growing, such as apps for delivery of anything, healthtech, edtech, foodtech and agtech (technology for farming and agriculture). Artificial Intelligence, SaaS, streaming services and ecommerce solutions are also areas of interest.

China, Sarah Li, Managing Director, WEdge: In the post-pandemic era, to gear up new growth engines, China has called for new infrastructure construction including 5G, AI and the industrial Internet. Such efforts are in line with the nation driving to ensure stability in domestic and foreign investment. With more and more industries and companies going back to business as usual, the media focus has spread to wider industries such as biological pharma, fintech, e-commerce, software and hardware, where growth is expected after being on hold during the past half year.

Germany, Andrea Buzzi, Founder & CEO, Frau Wenk: The media focus a lot on the digitalization of traditional industries and companies and new technologies, such as artificial intelligence or blockchain. Corona is seen as a catalyst for digitalization of traditional industries. Currently, there is much discussion in the media about the role and power of big platforms such as Amazon, Google, Facebook or Apple and how to deal with them.

India, Minal Drozario, Co-Founder, Ideosphere: Beyond COVID – 19 the media has been focusing on two primary talking points:

• ‘Work from home’ and its impact on overall company culture and disruption of the entire working culture.
• Technology adoption and opportunity for innovation. As a people, we have been divided into two groups: the first, having no exposure to the new technologies and the pandemic has forced us to adopt them for our essential needs, the second, people who have widened their exposure to technological platforms for various services and needs. These disparities are dominating the conversations in India.

India being a hotspot for COVID – 19 is gradually opening businesses, but there still lies a lot of ambiguity in the overall sentiment of the people.

Netherlands, Sabine Steen-Lakerveld, Founder, DOK30: Following the ‘coronacrisis’ there are a number of topics that the media are focused on ranging from the use of offices versus remote working (and the tools to make that work), new management styles, office interior, smart work spaces, but also the change to a more sustainable economy and sustainable world where the economy and environment are better balanced out. The pandemic saw a rise in ecommerce, which has not subsided since the lockdown ended. Smart ecommerce solutions, tech-driven services, apps to stay in touch with people / find new people in the area are also of interest when talking about ‘the new normal’. Before COVID-19, there was a lot of interest in sustainability solutions, sustainable companies and smart healthcare solutions. The current situation has only strengthened this interest, as now is the time to change for the better! And tech can deliver on a lot of the much needed change and promises in this respect.

Russia, Alexander Izryadnov, Co-founder, Vinci Agency: Clearly Covid-19 is a big focus for the media. Interestingly a significant amount of coverage looks at the personal impact which reflects a popular and growing approach in other areas the media covers. It’s important to not only write about actions but also show some emotional involvement and share real thoughts and feelings about a company, its technology and its impact and influence. It’s fair to say there is no more B2C and B2B communications rather everything has become person-to-person (P2P).  Audiences want to take a look inside your company, to learn how the product they are using is being built and developed. They also want to see the people behind it, how they feel about what they do and what makes the company tick. 

Singapore, Oliver Budgen, Managing Director, Bud Communications: Singapore is going through a general election in July which is attracting even greater attention and scrutiny as COVID-19 brings about deep economic uncertainty for the island nation. Within the technology-space the age old topic of digital transformation has become even more nuanced. Whereas twelve months ago, ‘digital transformation is kind of important’ stories may have been interesting, it’s now being prioritized as a survival instinct, rather than purely as a growth driver. From a communications standpoint this has been an area of focus for Bud Communications, helping clients build real thought leadership through education and insights that help make sense of the opportunities and potential threats ahead.

South Africa, Samantha Hogg, Owner & MD, GinjaNinja PR: In South Africa digital transformation continues to feature not only as a result of coronavirus, but also because of the general pressure from the market to offer a customer experience that cannot be achieved without being in the cloud and digitally-able. Tied to this is a focus on AI and IoT, all part of the digital transformation journey.  South Africa’s cloud adoption rate is behind international counterparts, but progress is being made and businesses are realizing the vital importance of being mobile and agile in these unprecedented times.

United Kingdom, Debbie Zaman, CEO & Founder, With PR: International trade relations are garnering a lot of column inches, especially as it impacts technology infrastructure like 5G. There is always a huge focus on politics and the machinations of the current government. And of course, as Brits, we obsessively report on the weather. Opportunities are definitely increasing for IoT, cyber, edtech and gaming companies right now as they emerge as post-COVID success stories. Anything with an environmental angle is also highly topical.

United States, Sandra Fathi, Founder & President, Affect: The U.S. is one nation, but our experience of the pandemic varies greatly by geography, industry and economic status. This is also reflected in the media landscape. Although stories about the pandemic, its impact on the economy, employment and the political arena are center stage, journalists still have assigned beats and are focusing on all of the diverse subjects that interest them, albeit, with less real estate in their publications than usual. Many of the tech outlets are seeking stories on businesses, services and tools that are going to help restart and reenergize the business and private sectors. These include stories on supply chain and logistics, healthtech, medtech, infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity and other topics critical to getting the country ‘back to work’. We are also experiencing a significant political and culture awakening around the Black Lives Matter movement and issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Brazil, Luis Claudio Allan, Founder, FirstCom: Brazil is a large country with diverse media outlets and the PR market is formed by hundreds of agencies, from one-person agencies to multinationals. Journalists receive a tremendous amount of content (press releases, bylines, multimedia etc.) daily from companies with brand awareness deeply established in the country, so it’s hard to conquer editorial spaces in top tier media if the company doesn’t have hard news to announce, specially without hiring a PR agency with a close relationship with key journalists. In general journalists in Brazil prefer to publish exclusive stories and depending on the news it can take some weeks to publish an exclusive, so it’s important to plan an announcement considering that the PR agency will need time to achieve results.

China, Sarah Li, Managing Director, WEdge: When a company first approaches PR in China, there are many initial challenges. It’s critical to understand the Chinese government’s development agenda, the business environment and cultural differences. Organizations need guidance to introduce their expertise and highlight their value in relation to the local market. This part of strategic positioning and storytelling is key to engaging with the local media – having a local angle and content to attract stakeholders. In addition, it’s important to understand the Chinese media focus and how best to communicate with local media.

Germany, Andrea Buzzi, Founder & CEO, Frau Wenk: We see many companies, especially from the U.S., entering Germany with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Most realize after months of hard work and painful rejections, that the largest economy in Europe differs significantly other countries and requires a very specific approach. One of the core strengths of Germany is its reputation for excellence in manufacturing and innovation. We need solid proof that a new technology works, before we implement it, and it has to fit our needs perfectly. Companies entering the German market need to keep this front-of-mind and spend a lot of time and effort gaining trust and proving that their system can deliver. Even though most German journalists and decision makers speak and understand English, it is advantageous to present and explain especially complex technologies in the local language.  Germans also appreciate it when they feel a clear commitment to the market. Ideally, this includes a local contact representative with a reliable network.

India, Minal Drozario, Co-Founder, Ideosphere: In our experience one area which does become a possible challenge is understanding and localizing the story based on the Indian context and sentiments. As India has multiple cultures within one country, it would be an advantage for international brands to have a customizable approach and talking points specific to the India market. Otherwise, there are no huge challenges for international companies to be spoken about in the Indian media. The basics would be timeliness and relevance but I believe that is important across the globe.

Netherlands, Sabine Steen-Lakerveld, Founder, DOK30: The Netherlands is a small country with big ambitions. Our economy is highly globalized and so is our media. For companies entering this market, it is important to combine their level of innovation on a global level with their local presence and contribution to Dutch society and economy – as they will be judged on both. Companies should be prepared to back their stories up with objective facts and figures. The Dutch media in particular is very skeptical about ‘marketing-laced’. This is why we start every partnership with creating a storybook, where we will look for the best stories on all levels and the proof to back them up. If you have done your homework, the Dutch will definitely appreciate the effort. It is important not to use a ‘hit and run’ strategy put in the effort in building lasting relationships. Dutch can distinguish fact finding from relationship building, and both are equally important and often combined.

Russia, Alexander Izryadnov, Co-founder, Vinci Agency: It might seem obvious that a company entering a new market would adapt its approach to reflect the characteristics of the market. But large companies still try to apply unified guidelines, topics and channels they use in other territories irrespective of the market differences. For example, American companies often insist on having a Twitter presence but in Russia no one is using Twitter, rather people use local, large, well-established social networks. In terms of start-ups they are normally so focused on their product development they don’t even think of modifying their PR approach to dovetail with the characteristics of the new market. As such it is always advisable to look in detail at the market and equally important to identify the cultural mores and drivers. This in turn helps identify popular topics, discussion angles, the channels most commonly used, the media landscape and who the major opinion leaders are.

Singapore, Oliver Budgen, Managing Director, Bud Communications: International companies setting up in Southeast Asia all too often fall into the trap of approaching the region as a single market. The reality is that Southeast Asia is far more fragmented than many realize. Sustainable growth requires local insight and finding partners who understand the landscape and how to penetrate the highly competitive tech space. In comparison to North America and Europe, many tech sectors are in a comparatively nascent stage and sustainable growth depends on a comms strategy that emphasizes education over product pushing and helping audiences to make sense of complex challenges. That being said, the increasing uncertainty of Hong Kong is placing greater significance on Singapore as Asia’s most stable regional hub for international businesses. We’re seeing more businesses redistribute their teams and focus to Singapore as a result.

South Africa, Samantha Hogg, Owner, MD GinjaNinja PR: South Africa is a small market, but an important one as it is a springboard into Africa.  Our budgets are not large enough to often warrant much attention, but yet we are needed if a network wants a global footprint. While we share a continent, other African countries work very differently to South Africa, charging in U.S. dollars and making the costs almost prohibitive. Often, the solution is to invest in South Africa, where the strategies and content can be generated, and a network is set up into African countries for dissemination and media relations. It is a challenging continent with many issues, but PR remains one of the tools that can make a difference.

United Kingdom, Debbie Zaman, CEO & Founder, With PR: As an agency, With works right across Europe. Often companies see the continent as one entity but with many languages, and differing levels of economic success as well as tech infrastructure, it couldn’t be more diverse. Conversely, companies coming into Europe may just decide to focus on the U.K. as their hub. The tech market in the U.K. in particular is highly competitive, highly sophisticated and uniquely British. Storytelling here is different than in Asia or the U.S. and navigating these complexities can be more challenging than anticipated. The press will want your business to have a British angle, and opening an office here won’t really cut it.

United States, Sandra Fathi, Founder & President, Affect: In many ways, the U.S. is the land of opportunity but it is also the land of competition. Many companies entering the American market see it as a critical step in growing their customer base. Some may have significant success in their home markets and believe that it will automatically translate to success in the U.S. However, in order to stand out from a PR perspective, companies often need a unique and compelling story, proven success with U.S. customers and a keen understanding of local interests and culture. Even when approaching tech press or top tier business media, there are certain expectations that international firms may not be prepared for – sharing financial information, providing U.S. customer references, having a senior spokesperson in market and garnering third-party endorsements through certifications, awards and investing in analyst relations.

Within the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of ways social media can be used to better the world around us and help others. These instances have served as learning points for future campaigns, teaching us that the ability to reach thousands of people through the palms of our hands is often a double-edged sword, but this approach can churn out significant benefits for spreading essential messages at minimal cost. In fact, with the right approach, every day social media users drive this effort on an entity’s behalf.

When utilizing social media to drive social good as a communications strategy, this agent of change can be used to further an initiative or an organizations purpose. However, in order to drive success on social media, they need to encourage participation from the everyday user. Below are two examples of how social good campaigns excelled through utilizing social media and a creative call to action.

Driving Participation:

• Many individuals participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, an activity that required participants to record themselves pouring a bucket of ice water over their heads, nominating friends to do the same, and then encouraging donations to further the research on ALS. This trend spread through social media and successfully raised over $220 million in 2014. The campaign was so successful that it was reused every following year through 2019.
  
• The Always #LikeAGirl campaign made a significant impact on society because it encouraged women to challenge the negative connotations of the term by sharing what it means to them on social media. The hashtag #LikeAGirl has 1.6 million tags on Instagram with photos of women displaying their strength and confidence showcasing that “like a girl” is a compliment. This particular campaign succeeded because it welcomed others into the conversation and encouraged women to share their stories on their own platforms.

With these examples in mind, communicators should pivot their campaigns and apply creative participation – along with the additional methods below – to their future social good campaigns:

• Timeliness: When it comes to social media, the timeliness of content can determine where it lands on someone’s feed. The combination of a timely story along with the proper hashtags will garner proper placement on the feeds of those the topic is best suited for. Due to the many algorithms in place across various platforms, if something relates to an individual (in that they interact with posts on the topic often), it is much more likely to show up on their feed. Communicators should think about what people are already talking about, what people should be talking about, and how this all plays into current events. Chances are, if individuals have engaged in social media-based activities about the topic before, they will be compelled to do so again – or to at least interact with the post.
  
• The Search for Positivity: In a world where the news cycle can be quite daunting, people are looking for feel good stories that elicit positive emotions. Much like John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” YouTube series, people look forward to hearing good news, and better yet – participating in it. Although a topic like ALS is not associated with positivity by any means, the creators of the campaign thought long and hard about how they could get people talking about it and make it stick. By turning a campaign to raise money for research and increase awareness into a fun social media-based activity with participants encouraging their friends to join – it turned a difficult subject to talk about into a widespread, well-discussed issue.
  
• Big Ideas Inspire Action: Rick Smith of Forbes said it right: “Big ideas get noticed; Selfless ideas inspire action; Simple ideas write us into the story.” Selfless actions taken by an organization and presented in major ways spark engagement. The unique, out-of-the-box idea of pouring ice water on our heads and encouraging others to participate provoked engagement which made the creative ALS campaign so successful. A rather hard topic to discuss, and also one that was rarely discussed by people not impacted by the disease, turned into a topic that thousands educated themselves on by the end of the campaign. Similarly, the #LikeAGirl campaign took a phrase that is spoken very often and spun it into something positive and encouraged others to participate in changing the connotation of the phrase, as well. By thinking outside of the box and giving the term new meaning, this big idea turned what use to be considered an insult to women into a compliment.

While social media can be used for humor and lighthearted content, along with other content that is viewed negatively in terms of productivity, the power of social media can also be used to help others and to change the world. Communicators have been tasked with breaking through all the noise, to create successful social campaigns that generate a positive outcome. As well-seasoned communicators, the strategic use of social media that encourages participation is a good way to start. So, how are you using it to bring about change?

My colleague recently wrote a blog post: Building a Strong Crisis Communications Strategy: 7 Steps to Consider that takes a step-by-step look at what to consider before, during and post-crisis. This got me thinking – while there is certainly a multitude of steps that go into developing a crisis plan, what are some of the general rules of thumb that apply across the board that a good crisis comms professional can rely on?

I recently participated in a webinar in which Matt McKenna, Former Senior Advisor to President Clinton and Former of Head of Communications at Uber, identified the 9 most important rules for crisis communications. In the session, he also covered how to always be prepared for a crisis, communicate through it and uphold an organization’s trust, credibility and reputation in the process. When you take a step back, many of these points may seem intuitive but it was good reinforcement to hear from someone who has been through challenging scenarios and come out on the other side.

A few of the rules of thumb he included were:

1. What You Think Happened, Probably Happened: While this may seem simple, it is an important rule. Remember to trust your instinct and don’t defend the unknown because the most likely scenario is often the correct version.
2. Facts Don’t Need Spin: Spin in PR went out with The West Wing. Everyone with the Internet/Twitter is now a potential reporter or source and there are just too many to be able to spin or hide the facts. There is a renewed premium being placed on transparency so addressing the issue directly and honestly is the only way forward.
3. Bad Things Happen on Weekends, Holidays and When the Weather is Nice: I thought this was particularly interesting as Matt noted there is data to back this up. While you can staff up for big events when a crisis is more likely to occur, (i.e. Walmart staffs up their team around Black Friday), there are many times when the crisis will break and you don’t hear about it until the next morning or when you get back to the office on Monday morning. The time between the initial action and response increases the number of variables that could go wrong. It is critical to gather information quickly (but completely) and be prepared to respond as soon as possible.
4. We All Do Windows, We All Do Floors: Essentially, no one is too experienced or senior to be above certain tasks. When things go wrong, everyone must chip in – whether it is writing the first draft of a statement, calling a news director on the weekend etc. – the only way out is through and that requires all hands on deck until the issue is resolved. If you think back to the BP oil spill and the CEO being quoted as saying “I would like my life back” in the middle of a horrendous environmental crisis, it became a defining moment for the company – and not in a good way.
5. Don’t Answer Questions Based on Speculation: Target learned this one the hard way during its data breach. The company was quick to comment on the severity of the hack before it had gathered all of the information. While Target attempted to set the tone early, in the end the scope of the breach was more than twice what was initially expected, and the misinformation made the situation quite a bit worse. It probably goes without saying, but while it is important to act quickly and at least address a situation, you can always say, “I will get back to you on that” once proper details are confirmed.  
6. The Media May Be a Terrible Lens Through Which to Tell Your Story: This one runs counter-intuitive for many PR teams. It is important to remember that the media want something from you and you want something from them, and it is almost never the same thing. If you want to tell a story, there are 100+ different ways to do it. Companies still believe they can write/control the story and if that is the end goal, going directly through the press may not be the best avenue, especially in times of crisis.

Matt’s presentation covered a lot more ground, including how not to get quoted on things you want to keep out of the press and knowing your CEOs ability before sending them into the line of fire. While a crisis breaking out is always a time of chaos, remembering some of these basics, in tandem with having a strategic plan in place ahead of time, can help you navigate the issue and mitigate the possible damage.