I am increasingly convinced we should write this year off as one big experiment in circling and circling an abyss of nothingness until someone gets brave enough to say: enough, this is bullshit, I’m outta here.
That person is usually me. Which is why I am often invited into the room – to reality check everyone. But I am also seriously into protecting my peace this year. That may have to change. So here are some tips on the bullshit that baffles brains that I am seeing out there:
1. But is it actually thought leadership (TL)?
Or is it thought followership? Opinion leadership? Or are you actually just doing content marketing? This phrase has become so diluted in the PR toolkit arsenal that it has lost its power and its way, and we are all at fault. Bullshit baffles brains.
2. If you are the client briefing an agency on TL, please:
- Have a point of view
- Provide data or policy insights to draw from
- Give context on what your business has done, will be doing and why this is important
- Give your agency at least a week to research, think , build an argument
OR be prepared to pay triple rates for your same-day turnaround requests.
3. If you are an agency delivering on TL
- Make sure you are delivering on actual TL
- By forcing your client to provide the above
- OR make sure you do all of the above and charge double / triple / quadruple.
4. Paid media is not earned media
Blows my mind that I am still explaining this to big groups.
And again, bullshit baffles brains.
I have watched from the sidelines as a very expensive global agency massacres perfectly good content so that it fits into the framework of paid-for spaces – and the client thinks it’s PR.
I don’t dismiss paid media at all – our media need as much support as possible to stay afloat and I love partnering in smart ways. I also am not against taking advertorial space if a client insists on getting something into a certain publication, on a certain date – then let’s book and pay for that space babe.
But the wool being pulled over people’s eyes in the name of PR by sales reps – what a wow.
5. Earned media is not paid media
Again, I must now assume that clients just don’t want to hear this if I am repeating it ad nauseum, but here we go again:
If I am to earn media space for you, it must be newsworthy, it must be interesting, it must be relevant and where possible, it must be exclusive.
That’s the dance I dance: I need to take your press release and turn it into that pitch. And if it is not newsworthy, interesting, relevant or exclusive … take a paid media space.
That said, if clients are being difficult at the moment, media are being AS difficult. And I’m not dealing with junior reporters. These are big names. And I have got some of the silliest pushback I have every heard in my life these past few weeks. Truly. I am getting more luck with global media than local. Let that sink in for a bit.
6. Afrikaans is not a dying language FFS
A most bizarre conversation this week after securing massive coverage for a client. Well here’s some facts:
There are seven-million Afrikaans speakers in South Africa, the third-most spoken language in the country. Two-thirds of those speakers are black. isiZulu and isiXhosa are one and two. English is fourth with five-million speakers.
Check your bias. Look at the data. Bullshit baffles brains.
7. Clients, if you don’t have a strategy:
- Then you are going to end this financial year with a weird PPT presentation of a motley of media clippings with no key narrative, no strong message, no clear viewpoint. But please: carry on.
8. Agencies if you don’t work off the strategy:
- Then you are constantly going to be working off last-minute requests, ad hoc requests, with no key narrative, no strong message, no clear viewpoint. But please: carry on.
9. Marie Kondo your filing system - urgently
I was exposed to a new client resource folder this week.
It was a thing of beauty.
Crafted content.
Visuals.
Graphics.
Videos.
Sorted into folders, themes.
This kind of thing pleases me immensely.
I have not seen anything like it in years.
And, yes, I am a frustrated (past life? Next life?) librarian but you know it did make me think how lazy clients and agencies have become in organising content properly.
10. Agencies, beware of too much smiling and waving
I am watching all kinds of abuse disguised as disorganisation, misalignment and bad, bad communication.
And the temptation is to smile and wave, simply agree and do it. Because it is exhausting to also always pushback, point out, flag etc.
And this is very much a note to myself: too much smiling and waving WILL come back and bite you on the ass. Because even though the client is instigating and perpetuating it, the time will come when they will go … “I’m not seeing the same kind of results out of xyz like I used to .. perhaps it’s time for fresh eye / thinking / perspective.”
11. Clients: don’t ask for PR if you are not ready for PR
A tale as old as time.
And yet.
You want it. We get it. And then you back pedal / get insecure / don’t have all the info together. Why?
12. Clients: when is it time to move on?
- If your agency is just agreeing to everything you want. Because you have exhausted them.
- If your agency needs consistent reminding of your strategy, objectives, key messages – then they simply don’t care.
- If your agency is delivering mediocre and not adding a delicious layer of thinking or magic (which you may / may not use) – they are too busy.
13. Agencies: when is it time to move on?
- You don’t have to. You may want to stretch the smile and wave for another year or two. It’s about your capacity for chaos and purposeless-ness.
14. Don’t take advantage of anybody, it is not cool
You would be amazed at the Sunday calls I get, that disappear into the ether for 3-4 weeks. The urgent requests that disappear into the ether for 3-4 weeks. The amount of evenings, weekends, downtime that get given up for a “crisis” quote / costing / counsel / assist that only makes the agenda six months later..
15. Implementation is the proof in the pudding
I got asked recently if I only do strategy work. Nope. And I never will, even though that would be lovely. Because the true test of a strategy is the implementation: the seeing it through, the curveballs and side paths that happen and which you need to deal with. When I created KAMuses it was because I wanted to get my hands dirty again and get out of endless mind-numbing meetings. So yes, I may craft a strategy, but I also do the writing, the briefing, the pitching, the securing, the reporting. The gold is in the implementation. And the diamond is in the doers, the producers who bring it to life. Obviously, if projects are big I scale up the teams with extra resources, and, also, when projects get delayed and then stack up, I have to bring in extra resources to assist. But I do the work. So I also know when someone is trying to baffle my brain with bullshit. You feel me?
Coincidentally the amount of people who approach me for overflow strategy work is 10x the number of implementers, the producers and the publicists. So kids, if you want to be forever employed or employable it’s the doers vs the thinkers we need more of.
16. We all get the same brief
I think often of this beautiful re-imagined garage at one of my favourite places in the world, the Richmond Café and Rooms.
We all get the same brief. We all get the same garage. What do we choose to do with that space? It’s a good analogy for clients: do they want this curated experience? Or do they want the garage to be filled with every tool in the PR kit?
17. It truly is about the storytelling
Again and again.
See my IG stories today for more.
18. Build that sisterhood board and exco around you
I am surrounded by wonderful people. Truly. My vibe, my tribe. But the last week really gave me cause to pause and acknowledge the sisterhood around me: all powerhouse peers who stood up for me, put me my name forward, agreed to assist me on a difficult, ever-changing project, and someone who confirmed I wasn’t losing my mind. Not friends. Not bosom buddies. Peers. Powerhouses. It reminded me of a LinkedIn post where someone referred to the informal board she has created around her. I love that.
19. Tell people why you want to talk to them
Hello. Then nothing. What must I do with this message. You’ve all received one. You get one shot at getting someone’s hard earned attention: be clear, be specific and do not waste people’s time. It’s tiresome, especially on the third round.
20. Integrity
Bullshit baffles brains.
And I am not having it.
Integrity for me is a simple thing: do what you say you are going to do.
I have been watching an extremely influential group of people, with disbelief, completely ignore their committee mandates – delivering a big fat zero and clearly being completely okay with it because they are busy.
And I had to call a formal intervention on another group where three people (all men funnily enough) consistently failed to do what they said they would do with not an inkling of embarrassment or apology. And yet they had the most to say in the intervention – bullshit baffles brains, bebe.
And then last but not least, I was asked to give a reference for one of my Think Tankers – a very long telecon which ended with, “Does she have integrity?” How wonderful to hear that being part of a reference. How lovely that this global company considers that one of their big questions. And yes, reader, she does have integrity. Which is why she will go far in this world.
Have a beautiful Sunday.