The best PR is on offense, not defense

About a year ago, I was asked to come up with a tagline for myself for a bio on the company intranet. It took me a few days because I wanted to make sure that what I chose really embodied what I believe about PR and communications.

Eventually, I chose “I’d rather be on offense than defense.” Nothing could be more true in public relations and communications in general. Being on defense means you’ve already lost in some respect – some damage has already been inflicted on your reputation.

It’s common sense. You’d rather be on offense talking about the new product launch, rather than on defense talking about the people who were injured by your product. Being on offense in today’s social media world is easier said than done. The moment something goes wrong with your product or service, the news hits Twitter or Facebook within an hour.

While you can’t always be on offense, there are ways to ensure you’re playing offense more often than defense. Here are a few tips:

1. Live your values every day. If you read my blog a lot, you knew this was coming. As long as your values are meaningful to society, living them will be interesting and newsworthy because they’re expressed in charitable activities.
   
2. Talk to the media about everything. I know. Your time is valuable, especially if you’re in the c-suite at a public company. You rarely have time to sleep at night, let alone spend time with a reporter. Unfortunately, this is one of the best things you can do for your company. You’re the face of the organization. That means your words and reputation are powerful allies. Use them on offense, and defense becomes a whole lot easier. Think of it this way: it’s easier to protect a 40-point lead than a three-point lead. The next time the media calls for comment on the state of the industry or your market, you might want to take advantage of the opportunity to build upon your solid reputation and attach it to your company. Even when the story is about how difficult the market is, as long as you choose your words wisely, you can put yourself and your company in a positive light.
   
3. Develop a strategic cadence. Like a quarterback calling out signals at the line of scrimmage, the cadence matters. Go overboard and the offensive line jumps offside. Underutilize it and the defense is in the backfield before your center can lift his head. Do it just right and the defense jumps offside. By creating a strategy that delivers the right cadence to the media, you can build a solid reputation that the media respect enough to not hit the quarterback after the offside whistle is blown. Make sure you are participating in newsworthy acitivities regularly so your communications team can build an effective strategy. Remember, anything you send to the media has to be real, it has to be authentic. It has to come from a place of your values. If it doesn’t, it will fall flat and the spin detectors will go off like the final gun in a football game.

This blog is getting a little long, so I’ll share more about being on offense tomorrow. If you need some help getting your communications back on offense, Jakel Communications, a Denver publicrelations agency, can help. Contact us today!