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March 9, 2001 |
As Chicken Little so articulately put it, “the sky is falling.” Everywhere you look, the digital revolution seems to have hit the skids. IT companies are marching head-down to the financial confessional and begging forgiveness for missed earnings. New calculations from the market research firms show downward slopes on their beautiful multicolour charts. Going public is no longer a God-given right for every start-up fortified by venture capital funding. We’ve already begun to see the procession of IT companies announcing layoffs. The last time we saw such a climate (from 1989 to 1991), most IT companies embraced the sophisticated strategy known as “hide-and-seek public relations.” Just as the name implies, companies adopted a bunker mentality to minimize communications with external audiences, periodically searching out that friendly reporter who wouldn’t poke and probe. If it all sounds a bit silly, you’re right. I remember one CEO (who shall remain nameless) cancelling a trip to Comdex to avoid “the outside world.” Now that makes a lot of sense: the company going downhill, inventory languishes in warehouses, and he wants to barricade himself from talking to the very people who buy his product or observers of the industry who offer an outside perspective. Contrary to traditional thinking, today’s tough market conditions offer terrific opportunities for companies to tell their story and even bolster their reputations. It’s all in how you capitalize on the situation. For example, how the market perceives a CEO handling a tough situation goes a long way towards eroding or building your reputation. Needless to say, the image of the CEO cowering under a desk does not elicit market confidence. Consider the typical reaction to a report in the US media that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos dodged a CNBC interview after hearing a reporter from The Wall Street Journal was joining Mr. E-commerce on the set. Not good. In contrast, few actions enhance a reputation faster than seeing the head honcho stride front an centre, confidently acknowledge the challenge, take a few bullets for past problems — no whining or making excuses — and then move on to articulate a plan of action to put the company back on course. While the media provides an obvious vehicle for the CEO to tell his or her story, it’s not the only vehicle. With rising prominence, corporate websites makes an ideal medium for taking the message directly to the target audience. In contrast to the traditional CEO Q&A accompanied by a forced-smile head photo, advances in video and broadband now allow TV-like interviews with a CEO easily accessed on your website. The beauty of this approach is that outbound communication carries context (body language, voice intonation, etc.) as well as content. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that even under the best conditions most companies don’t conduct relationship-building meetings with key publications. No agenda. No news. Just be a resource. It doesn’t happen enough. Yet, today’s rocky climate provides the perfect backdrop to demonstrate confidence by proactively securing and conducting background press meetings. Sure, the conversation will inevitably find its way to your company’s pain; but again, the opportunity lies in being able to address the negatives head on. By gaining the reporter’s confidence with this tack, the executive is in the perfect position to pontificate on industry trends, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and projections. Stepping back for a moment, it’s amazing how the market obsesses over the numbers during bad times. Hard data seems to dominate our lives, enlightening us on areas ranging from the state of corporate capital investment to broadband Internet penetration. I appreciate that the numbers provide a barometer for how the digital economy and companies are doing. But we can become so obsessed with the numbers that we forget what’s ultimately important: the customer experience. And if the customer’s voice is part of a company’s communications during the tough times, it’s “amazing” how the good times seem to arrive quicker. The writer is president of an international technological and Internet PR firm with offices in the US, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Britain.
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