"The secret sauce is to lose control."
That was the advice of Mike Lawrence, executive vice president of Cone, during the June 19 Thought Leaders Roundtable in Boston held by PR News and VMS.
The topic was "The Future of Integrated Communications," and as is customary these days, discussion gravitated to the digital side of our work - to blogs and social media and all
the new stuff that, the minute we think we have our arms around it, we lose our grip - our control.
But, according to the dozen Roundtable attendees, losing that control is not a bad thing, provided you're well prepared to do so.
"Ten years from now, we're going to have great jobs, just very different jobs," notes Mike Farber, senior vice president at Schwartz Communications. New media platforms
offer "a great opportunity for communicators...Right now, we're figuring out who's going to do what."
While the Roundtable attendees agreed that strategic coordination of messaging is key to a successful integrated communications plan, sometimes that message is mutated online
by citizen journalists, disgruntled customers or employees, and mainstream media. However, with marketing, PR, advertising and other internal departments championing the same
goals, an organization is less likely to get blindsided.
"It starts at the top," says Pam Hamlin, president of Arnold Wordwide's Boston office. "The chances of true integration are hard" when the C-suite doesn't buy
into the concept. Hamlin cited client Ocean Spray as a prime example of a company that agreed on a core brand idea, took the shared strategy to the streets, resulting in
base volume increase of 6%, following a nearly 13% decline before this integrated strategy.
For corporations that have multiple agencies working on a brand, Hamlin recommends a summit or forum at which all the agency partners gather to discuss responsibilities and
agree on the core strategy.
Michelle Davis, vice president of public affairs and marketing at Boston Children's Hospital, echoed Hamlin's approach, noting that at her hospital public relations and
marketing have a laser focus on particular audiences (rather than traditional responsibilities that separate PR from marketing), and this avoids the "individual fiefdoms" that can
hinder integration.
Steve Singer, senior vice president of communications at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, noted that if he wants public relations, marketing and other internal departments
working effectively toward the same goal - and he wants to have control over a lot of what happens - he'll fight for more in his communications budget so he can fund more of the
project.
A Place To Meet Online
An integrated communications campaign that involves multiple departments across multiple states, even countries, can often be hard to manage - and difficult to inspire the
forces to come together on a regular basis.
Andrew Eberle, executive vice president at Weber Shandwick Worldwide, recommends a tactic he's used with clients: a campaign extranet - creatively designed -- that
allows all team members to collaborate, attain information and contribute updates to the campaign.
"It gives life to the campaign, inspiring them with a place to get clear, concise information. And it can look very creative which gets people excited," says Eberle. Adds
Christine Simeone of Lois & Partners, who has also been involved in campaign extranets: "They also remove the time zones, which is important."
Now About Those Blogs ...
The consensus among the Roundtable attendees is that blogs do matter, even more than many traditional media outlets online, and oftentimes more than podcasts, videocasts and
online communities like MySpace and Facebook.
Kathy O'Reilly, director of public relations at Lycos, shared her company's aggressive 360-degree blog strategy that includes her employees regularly blogging, her
department pitching to blogs on a daily basis, courting the top blogger/influencers - and making sure the Legal department is involved in blog communications surrounding response
to negative postings. When responding to any type of negative blog entry, O'Reilly says her department gets the approval of Legal, which (quite refreshingly) takes only a few
hours to turn around a response.
"Blogs are integral to our communications strategy," O'Reilly says.
More than half of the Roundtable attendees write their own blogs, but others noted that to make it easier on yourselves, consider a blog in which you take turns with your
colleagues contributing pieces.
Blogs play a critical role in increasing a brand's position in the Search rankings, especially blogs that are updated many times a week (some would argue several times a day),
that are linked and well-marketed. Also adding to your Search success is optimizing your site and tracking keywords that are working, or not working. Notes Todd Defren, principal
at Shift Communications:
"The Google algorithm is more important than the Wall Street Journal these days," underscoring the import of Search Engine Marketing in communications
strategy.
Measuring Up
The Roundtable attendees agreed that measuring communications is a struggle, both in terms of having the time to measure and the budget.
While Arnold has an integrated measurement dashboard that was created in-house, other attendees described a more bare-bones approach to measurement. And some of the agency
executives on hand noted that it's difficult to get clients who actually want to pay for research and measurement.
Stephanie Anderson, manager of corporate communications at Osram Sylvania, noted that for her brand, it's important to measure impressions on photography and graphics as
much as impressions from text. Farber, circling back to the topic of communicating to the influencers in your market, recommends deep-dive qualitative analyses of these
influencers. One attendee said he saves measurement for times when key issues arise that need investigating, rather than employing regular measurement of all activities.
Gary Getto, executive vice president at VMS, shared his company's research that suggests measuring both advertising and editorial and their impact on stakeholders is the
"ultimate determinant of business outcomes." He added that integrated communications success occurs "when messages [in creative and in editorial] are consistent and
supportive."
Back To The Future Of Integrated Communications
This Roundtable, the sixth of a national tour by PR News and VMS, underscored the changing dynamics of communications - from the way we talk to stakeholders to the way we
measure to the way we break down the internal silos. It's a work in progress on all fronts, but at least progress has been made.
(Stay tuned for coverage of upcoming Thought Leaders Roundtables. If you would like to be included in future Roundtables, please contact PR News publisher Diane
Schwartz at [email protected])
Roundtable Attendees
Pam Hamlin, Arnold Worldwide, [email protected]
Stephanie Anderson, Osram Sylvania, [email protected]
Michelle Davis, Boston Children's Hospital, [email protected]
Todd Defren, Shift Communications, [email protected]
Andrew Eberle, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, [email protected]
Mike Farber, Schwartz Communications, [email protected]
Mike Lawrence, Cone, [email protected]
D. Craig Martin, Feinstein Kean Healthcare, [email protected]
Kathy O'Reilly, Lycos, [email protected]
Patrick Richardson, Schneider & Associates, [email protected]
Christine Simeone, Lois Paul & Partners, [email protected]
Steven Singer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, [email protected]
David Thomson, Thomson Communications, [email protected]
Did You Know?
7 Things You Will Learn In This Week's Issue Of PR News
1. The easiest way to build your network of contacts is to never eat alone.
2. A town hall meeting is a key platform for fostering employee engagement.
3. "You" - that is, Web-enabled mass participators - fell to the #45 spot, according to Business 2.0's list of the "50 Who Matter Now."
4. Finding an angle to target military personnel in your next initiative is good business.
5. There are seven sure-fire ways to sink a solid corporate communications program.
6. The secret to strategic integration: Lose control.
7. Survey results show that mothers have an easier time managing a work-life balance than their male counterparts.