PR: Nuance, translation or sales?
December 12th, 2005 by Todd Van Hoosear
I’ve been enjoying reading John Wagner’s blog entries recently, and today’s is no different. He writes, after reading a post by Lee Hopkins:
I’ve written in the past that one of our primary skills is that of translator, helping business people communicate ideas, facts and opinions more effectively.
Communications consultant Lee Hopkins takes a slightly different tact, but it’s one that has great meaning to me.
Hopkins says good public relations professionals create work that is “slightly better nuanced” — professional, polished and effective.
In other words, it’s the little things that make a difference. Like skill. Talent. Wisdom gained through previous efforts. Knowledge of the audience. And an awareness of the communications process.
When I look at some of the nuances that Lee points out, I can’t help but think that there’s (quite) a bit of nit picking going on (for instance, Lee criticizes a couple retail shops’ use of bullets and fonts).
But, to turn the focus on PR, it got me thinking–isn’t it often exactly nuance that sets a reporter to read or delete an emailed pitch? Nuance, that can make the difference between a phone pitch that gets a “thanks but no” and one that gets ink? Well, that and news value I suppose. Yes, what about news value? Come to think of it, what about knowledge of the reporter’s likes and dislikes? Is that nuance?
From a PR perspective, I think there are factors more important than nuance when it comes to getting an editor’s or analyst’s attention–I think they actually appreciate nuance much less than the average business customer. Successful PR is not about nuance. It’s about spot-on targeting. I would argue (and I’m as guilty of this as anyone) that PR people spend way too much time on nuance, and not enough time on focus. Trying to get a piece of business communications right enough to satisfy their customer base may make it ineffective for many of the most important readers.
Sure, business communicators will always pore over every press release that goes out (especially if it’s material), but as PR folks, our job is to help the right message reach the right people. That’s much more than just nuance.
John sees nuance, in the PR world, as having to do with skill, talent, wisdom, knowledge. Is it nuance to know that an editorial calendar opportunity is perfect for an upcoming announcement, or that a particular reporter is writing a story on a competitive technology, or that an editor is a fan of a particular sports team? Nuance may make or break customer communications, but I think it sells the PR function short.
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