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If business (i.e. stock prices, profits) is good, the numbers speak for themselves. Not much a CEO has to say; just point to the numbers and accept the accolades.

But if business is poor, the questions, concerns and fears need to be addressed. This is where CEOs take (and show) leadership…or they update their resume’.

Being 2009, we’ve got plenty of questions for the corner office.

Proper and effective communication skills are vital to maintain employee morale and productivity, assure stockholders, and create a positive public perception.

This was the basis of a July 22 discussion led by executive and government speechwriter Jeff Porro.
Porro made it clear, many CEO’s, especially those hired from within, may lack experience communicating to large groups – and therefore the company at large.

Here are Porro’s Top 9 Communication Efforts CEOs should do in bad times.

1. Make Communication A Priority
As many CEOs – especially in poor times – spend their days managing the company, communications gets talked about, but it’s not always addressed.
When the audience (employees, shareholders, media, clients, partners) don’t hear from the CEO, fear and question sets in; this can create the appearance the company is not dealing with their issues.

2. Communicate to Motivate
Communication is not about volume. It should be used to clearly pass along information to an audience, with the intention of sparking action.
This is important for internal communications. Employees need to be informed and motivated to see their company is worth saving.

3. Take The Initiative
Communicate First. Be Proactive – especially when the numbers are poor.
Even at the hint of bad news, address it. Bad news will not go away; it should be addressed and corrected.
When a CEO takes action (communication), it displays control and leadership – what companies need when attempting a comeback.

4. Be Frank About Problems and Mistakes
This year, how many auto manufacturing CEOs talked about new programs or getting out bankruptcy? Many.
How many of those auto manufacturing CEOs actually discussed the problems in the auto industry? I haven’t heard it from the Big Three.
Porro pointed to John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai USA.
Krafcik’s keynote address at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show called the past 28 years an “era of greed”. He addressed how auto manufacturers shunned and pushed back against environmental concerns.
Krafcik referred to the industry’s ‘horrible reputation’, saying more Americans would rather visit the dentist than a car dealership.

This is an example of a CEO who ‘got it’.

If a CEO discusses problems and mistakes, stakeholders see a CEO as accountable and willing to change shortcomings and (hopefully) gain credibility.

5. Provide a Clear Step-By-Step Recovery Plan
Candor is one thing, but people need assurance in bad times.

A plan – clearly laid out to the audience – shows vision (supporting the leadership and smart decisions companies demand from their chief executives).
You also must keep communicating the plan; show your audience the progress and steps as the company endures through a difficult economy.

6. Don’t Overpromise
This can be difficult. You can have candor and a vision, but it must be mixed with blunt realism. Optimism can get the better of all of us. If you overpromise – and the results don’t appear – your credibility can be permanently damaged.

7. Communicate in Different Ways to Different Audience
Know your audience, and know their specific needs.
Employees want to be assured the company will survive, along with any plans for layoffs or growth.
Shareholders desire clear profit and loss expectations, timelines and plans for mergers or cutbacks.
The media and other partners question if the company has clear direction from the executive suite and future product plans.
Each group needs to hear different things.
This also means communicating through different methods (employee ‘town hall meetings’, blogs and news releases, interviews.)

8. Let All The Shoes Fall At Once
It may hurt, but it’s best to rip the band-aid off quickly and completely.
Announcing restructuring, layoffs and cutbacks is tough; the news is always devastating.
If you draw out the announcements, you’re showing the company on a downward slide – enduring a series of bad news.
One day. One announcement. You hit Rock Bottom and move forward; unveiling your new plans and direction for the company.

9. Overcommunicate, Especially Internally
Your audience (employees) will always want to be updated; their jobs are their livelyhood.
By providing company-wide information, you stop people from guessing, worrying and speculating.
Employees drive your company. Keep in touch with them and hopefully create a level of trust – both in the CEO and the company as a whole.

Many of these tips create a positive perception of the CEO.  In difficult times, a CEO’s strong leadership is necessary.  Just as important is having employees, customers and shareholders believe the CEO is a qualified leader with a vision for recovery.

Effective communication creates that belief.

Communications 101 Corporate Communications, Jeff Porro, speech

We’re not robots.

“Simon Says” is merely a game.

So why are many marketers – and others who work in communications – surprised when their audience doesn’t react to their message?

Because their audience never had a reason to react.

The best lesson in journalism I ever received is a four-word sentence:

“Why do I care?”

This is what every audience member/viewer/reader is constantly asking themselves when receiving a message.  Understand this, and you’ll start to incorporate your audience’s perspective into what you say, write, and present.

Oh, sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes the topic naturally demands attention…especially when it pertains to a major concern of the general public

If it’s the weather…everyone cares if it’s going to rain; knowing this affects how we’ll dress.

The economy’s crumbling; most folks care if their job is in jeopardy or gas prices rise.

However, in the corporate world, attracting an audience to a niche product or service may prove difficult. Corporate communications departments, insulated with their own message and personal investment, tend to easily lose perspective to the rest of the world and a general audiences.

“Why aren’t people watching my YouTube video on hand-held automatic kilowatt meter-readers???”

Because no one’s given them a reason to care.

Now, if folks knew understanding their kilowatt output could lead to lower monthly electric bills…they may care.

Advice: Relate your message to your audience’s needs, desires, or interests…and perhaps you’ll have an audience willing to pay attention.

And I didn’t even have to say “Simon Says.”

Communications 101 audience, Corporate Communications, message

“I just don’t get how this whole ‘Social Networking’ thing works.”

“Is this worth my company’s time?”

“When’s this fad going to end?”

We’ve all asked these questions. But what separate us are those who’ve found the answers and those still searching (by the way, this isn’t a fad and it’s not going to end.)

Attending a recent webinar on Using Social Networking and Business, I picked up a few tips on developing a business’ social network footprint.

Note: The webinar was hosted by the marketing folks at FastPitch, a business-oriented Social Networking site (although they didn’t tell the attendees this).

So besides the ulterior motive of promoting their site, here are some of the bits and bytes I gathered on how to manage and promote a business using social network platforms:

First, a couple of definitions:

Social Networking is the community you create; the audience you reach. This is the number of friends, contacts and/or followers you communicate with via MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Social Media are the promotion tools you use to communicate. This is the user-generated content you push/post/direct people to. On-line video content, blogs, microblogs hold the message/image you attempt to present.

Realize the most popular sites are designed to promote the individual, either for social interaction and sharing, or career/resume profiles.

Sharing with contacts and friends (the people in your Social Network community, or audience) is constant among most sites.

So which one to choose?

• Does your company need a Facebook page?
• What about a company blog on your web site?
• Should your communications staff be Twittering?
• Or are you better off by having your CEO host discussions on LinkedIn?

The best advice I’ve heard: YES.

The new media user has many choices, and they’re choosing to be everywhere; receiving information in many ways.

Cross-promoting is the best way to spread your message across your various Social Media tools.

Announce through Twitter the latest blog post (i.e. news release) you’ve posted to your web site.

Release a new YouTube (or other on line video platform) video, directing people to contact you on your company’s Facebook page.

You will find your audience will use various methods to keep in touch with you, so communicate across all your venues.

Note: make sure your message is clear and consistent with every format you use. You may have many ways to speak to your audience, but please speak with the same voice!

This means maintaining brand awareness along with consistent messaging!

So how can you best apply the Social Media tools to reach your Social Network?

Blog: treat the blog post as a news release, but also as a chance to provide direct communication ‘from the top’. Short messages from company leaders (either internally or externally directed) take the ‘filter’ away from the messages. Basically: NO MORE CORPORATE/LEGAL SPIN (readers pick up on this fairly quickly).

It is very important you use your other social media tools to promote your blog!

“The average blog has just one reader…the blogger themselves!”

-Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

Twitter: First, decide how you will use the 140-character limit microblogging site.

1. Will you use it for Business news only?
2. OR will you have a ‘human/personal side’ to it.

This may cause you to create more than one account:

1. One for your CEO or communications staff to use to provide interesting (but slightly off-topic) notes to entertain or educate your audience.
2. Another account for your blog promotion, news releases, corporate announcements.

It is very important you use your other social media tools to promote your Twitter feed!

Links to your feed should live in your corporate e-mails, on your blog, on other sites/profiles you have. Invite people to follow – and follow them back.

Social Networking is not an Internet megaphone merely used to yell out your message.

Social Networking is a very large party; where many gather to interact and learn about each other, sharing ideas, media, and discussions.

E-mail marketing: Keep things simple.

One message per e-mail; we don’t enjoy reading pages full of text detailing your 8-stage operations model. Your sales staff has a “15-second elevator pitch” because they know their audience has neither the time nor patience to listen to a long story. The same audience doesn’t want to read the epic either.

Frequent messages (with a consistent theme) keep your image fresh in your audience’s mind, just don’t go too far beyond a daily e-mail. You want to be memorable, not annoying.

Limit the colors and graphics. Many ISP’s will block e-mails full of various coded elements, so keep the colors and pictures to a small number.

Search engines are your associate sales/marketing staff.

Seventy-five percent of social networking traffic is directed from search engines.

Grow your footprint across all networks; incorporate consistent keywords in your profile pages, tags in your blog posts, headlines in your news releases.

Those keywords should be what define your business, and if applicable your location. There are people who are looking for your services but don’t know you exist. Search engines make it easier for those folks to find you.

Creating and managing the footprint may take some effort, anywhere from 10-20 hours a month.

If you still have those three questions, and are wondering if you should dip your toes into the Social Media pool, think about this:

Mashable.com reported the one-year growth from Feb. 08 – Feb. 09 for 20 different Social Networking sites.

Eighteen of them increased audiences!

The Social Network community is growing.

Your potential audience of clients and customers are growing.

Fad or no fad, it’s time to jump on.

Communications 101 Corporate Communications, facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter

From LinkedIn’s Corporate Communication Discussion Board

Created by: Richard Berman

Making a Press Announcement: Sooner is Not Always Better.

There is a tendency to fall in love with a new product or service and to want to get word out to the press immediately. That tendency can often work against your best interests. Generally the press only gives you one chance to make an impression and if your offering is “not ready for prime time” there is little chance they will come back again. A better alternative is to wait until you have some happy customers who have tested your offering and will offer glowing testimonials. That is the time to make a big push for publicity.

My Response:

Often, marketing based on PR falls victim of being too insulated. Perspective has to be taken into account, especially the wider an audience you target.

Those who fail below expectations may also fail at preparing properly. Does anyone ask if their pitch will “play in Peoria” anymore?

As a political candidate prepares for debates (their PR/Marketing for a wide audience), they anticipate and practice answers to potential questions and pitfalls. Shouldn’t a corporate communications staff anticipate/prepare for a skeptical public/media?

I agree with the above. The more you test your product and gather testimonials, the better ‘armed’ you are to respond to the initial swarm of misconceptions or perceptions.

Communications 101 Corporate Communications, LinkedIn