Still, as this is a blog focused on how Israel tends to do things a little differently, I figured it might be fun to give the Israel perspective on each of the “Things.”  So here goes:

1. “Your company may be better off spending a limited budget on another form of communication, such as direct marketing or online advertising, instead of hiring a PR firm. PR is not always the best solution.”

We start off with a bang, because this one is absolutely irrelevant for Israel.  Israelis are gamblers by nature.  We like taking risks and are willing to try something against the percentages, if there is a potential jackpot pay-off at the end.  So putting those few dollars into PR makes all the sense to Israeli CEOs.  In fact, I have many times suggested to CEOs that they save their money, rather than trying to maintain a PR campaign with a too-small budget.  They tell me that they appreciate the suggestion, but then they just ask me if I can perhaps introduce them to a lower-priced PR firm or person who might be able to deal with their slim budget.

2. “The firm doesn’t have media contacts in your area. Chances are high that half the journalists a PR person worked with in the recent past are no longer with the same media outlet, and/or may not be covering the same area.”

This is really true, and I liked the message – that it’s the quality of the pitch/story that counts, and not the contacts.  At the same time, in Israel, everyone knows everyone else, so contacts are not only important, they are expected!  Of course, I don’t necessarily agree with this blogger that contacts don’t remain contacts from client campaign to client campaign.  Also, the business/top-tier media contacts don’t change as often, and those are the outlets that really move the needle for clients who want to introduce themselves to the world.  And in the land of innovation that is Israel, there is a great deal of benefit to such an introduction-focus.

3. “What you want the PR firm to do is not what you really need. Clients should look for PR companies that will consult with them and develop strategies, not just do as they’re told. After all, aren’t you paying for expertise?”

This is super-duper true here in Israel.  Clients know they want PR, and they know that articles about the company will help them, but they don’t have the sophisticated PR infrastructures in place to actually have someone thinking about strategy day-to-day.  Truth be told, they outsource the strategic thinking to us – the PR firm.  So in addition to getting results, we are also in charge of asking the question: “How is this PR activity or campaign helping your business?”

4. “Your expectations and goals for PR are too high. Of course you think your company and products are media- and buzz-worthy, but it’s hard for you to be objective. It’s not unusual to hear a prospective client say, “We want to be in The Wall Street Journal or on ‘The Today Show,’ or create record-breaking buzz about our product on Facebook.”

Well, the high expectations of Israelis are legendary at this point, right?  But hey, in a country where they have somehow been able to invent the cell phone, instant messaging, the swallow-able camera and the standard for firewall software, while fighting wars for survival every few years, why shouldn’t a company think that the impossible IS possible?  So I’m okay with this one, and we actually find it galvanizing to have such high expectations.  We don’t always meet them, but when we do, it’s an amazing feeling.

5. “You don’t have a big enough budget to “move the needle.” In every situation there’s a minimum amount of money that’s necessary to get good PR results. Rather than say your budget is inadequate, some PR companies will take what they can as long as you can pay until you realize they’re not giving you the results you need.”

I don’t think I will address this one.  The others above are fair critiques of the industry.  This one just points to a dishonesty that seems to be in place, and that’s bad enough.  Let’s move on …

6. “Your company has to spend time and effort working with the PR firm to make the plan a success. For starters, you need to thoroughly brief the PR team regularly. It isn’t possible for an agency to do great PR for your company if your executives won’t make themselves available for interviews, or don’t get back to the agency in a timely way to answer media questions.”

True, and a real problem here in Israel where marketing teams are often comprised of just one or two people.  Still, when the client DOES brief us regularly, it works so well.  And we actually speak with those clients who don’t, and give them examples of the great results we achieve for those clients who do keep us up to speed.

So that’s the Israeli take on the “6 things,” but as you can see, sometimes it may be necessary to not say certain things, if they will only fall on deaf ears …

Recently, Ruder Finn had the privilege of providing all international communications services for the annual Facing Tomorrow conference hosted by the president of Israel, Shimon Peres.  It was both an honor to work such a prestigious event and an opportunity to strut our stuff, given that the conference organizers had been disappointed with the international PR efforts of the past conferences.

So several months prior to the event, we began our work, knowing full-well that the most intense period of work would be immediately preceding and during the conference.

Then, a month before, we got word from another client that someone from our team would be needed in Singapore for a key event there on precisely the same days as Facing Tomorrow.

I had a choice.  Send Matt to Singapore, given that the account needing us there was one of his, but sacrifice my quarterback at the President’s conference; or keep Matt in Israel for Facing Tomorrow and go to Singapore myself.

I chose the latter for two reasons:

1. I had done these types of telecom events many times over the years, so I knew we were sincerely offering our best to that client; and
2. Matt had worked so hard on the President’s conference and I wanted him to see the whole thing through to the end.

So that is what we did.  I flew to Singapore and handled the telecom event and Matt stayed in Israel to run the show at Facing Tomorrow.

Singapore was fine, but the performance by Matt and the rest of the team at the President’s Conference was nothing short of spectacular.  Our client was elated.  The media results were outstanding.  The team operated as a supportive unit.  And everyone felt so positive about the experience ….

You know, I’ve been in PR for almost 20 years now.

I love writing for our clients and I love developing strategies.  I love brainstorming creative ideas and I love bringing in new, exciting accounts.

But nothing compares to the pride and happiness I feel when my team succeeds … even if I’m thousands of miles away when it happens.

It’s a word everyone uses, because everyone wants to be known as a team player.  At the same time, we in the PR industry need to make sure that we are each thought of as indispensible to our clients, so sometimes, perhaps there’s a bit of jockeying for position among those who are supposed to be working together.

And I suppose competition is always good.  I mean, show me a town with only one pizza place and I’ll show you a town with expensive, bad-tasting pizza.  Show me a town with two pizza places, and I’ll show you two successful business owners and thousands of satisfied customers.

But in this business, where our sole focus must be on client delight, there is no room for competition that impacts on our ability to collaborate.

I’ll give an example:

Ruder Finn Israel’s focus is international media relations.  That means that whenever we have an opportunity to work on a project that has both domestic and international elements to it, we work with partners.  That’s fine with us, especially considering the rather small universe of domestic Israeli media.

For the most part, we work quite nicely with domestic-focused firms, but we did have one ocassion recently where we began to work with a client and were surprised to see a competitor (domestic-focused) in the room during our kick-off meeting with this client.  I’ll call him ”Joe,” for the purpose of the story, although that is not his real name.

Anyway, he walked into the room and I said, “Hey, Joe, what are you doing here?”

He said, “I’m your new boss.  I work with this organization and they wanted me to be here to make sure you guys are doing things right.”

Now, to make a long story short, we have not seen any sign of Joe since that meeting, and from the sounds of things, this particular client only works with him because he’s cheap and because they don’t really depend on him for the high-level strategic stuff, but his referring to himself as our ”boss” did not make for a collaborative working atmosphere.

And that is an important point as well.  One’s expectations, in terms of collaboration, shouldn’t be too lofty.  Collaboration doesn’t mean that the all agencies want to go out of their way to make the other guy look good.  It means that all realize success will only come if the client is happy.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane …

Early on in my career, I made it my business to seek advice from anyone above me in my organization who was willing to give me any insight.  My approach was to ask for a short meeting with any executive who was on his/her way out the door.  My thinking was that on the way out, there would be no need for them to censor their advice, so I’d get the best they had to offer.  And it worked.

One Executive Vice President at Hill and Knowlton told me I’d be better off going to the client side eventually, and that I should stay in the agency world for about another 3-5 years to get the proper skills before moving over.  Another told me to specialize, that the days of generalist PR were coming to an end, so I’d have to choose a specialty if I wanted to be valued.

Both of those, and many others, turned out to be fantastic advice.

But the above news item triggered a memory of another piece of advice I received during one of those “exit interviews.”

I was speaking to the person who – even until today – was the best media relations professional I ever encountered.  I won’t give you her name, but I will share her advice:

She said, “You have to devour as much media content as possible.  It will help you understand trends, to which you can connect your client stories.  It will help you become more creative.  It will help you understand what makes it into the magazines versus not.  And, don’t forget, you will see opportunities for your clients, if you understand what the reporters are looking for.  You can frame stories much better if you have a context of what the reporter has covered in the past.

Let me tell you … she was right.

It is mind-boggling how many times I have picked up a magazine and seen opportunities for my clients.  And it builds upon itself.  The more you look, the more you are sensitized to seeing those opportunities.

And so, in light of this CNN report, which showed that many people are relying on others for their news, I strongly suggest that we all work hard to be among those who devour media content, rather than expecting others to spoon-feed it to us.

But …

When a company is considering some kind of outsourced PR representation, and comes down to a decision between:

1. Hiring a PR firm; and
2. Hiring a freelancer to write releases and distribute them on Businesswire/PR Newswire,

I try to explain that there is a world of difference between the two approaches, and that we see the wire services as partners, not competitors.  Those who understand the difference select us.  Those who don’t understand the difference do not select us.  It’s really that simple.

So what is the difference?

Simply put, it’s the difference between telemarketing and an in-house seasoned sales team.  A telemarketing firm can plow through a tremendous number of contacts, offering the product to each and hoping for the best.  But a sales team brings all sorts of tools to the table, including research, relationships, industry knowledge and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to think and react.

A wire service is able to distribute an announcement to literally thousands and thousands of contacts, but that is where the value ends.  There is no active “selling” of the story as deserving of coverage.  There is no feedback from the reporter. There is no qualitative result.  It’s all quantitative.  But it’s worse than that.  Take a look at this.  Okay, now first, I have to explain that I have absolutely nothing against this ProPay company, based in Utah.  So it seems impressive that this company was covered by Forbes.com, right?  After all, Forbes.com is a pretty popular site.

Now, go to www.forbes.com and, without using the search window, see if you can find this “article” about ProPay.

You can’t.

Because it’s not real coverage.  It’s a newsfeed, based on a partnership between Forbes.com and Businesswire.  And it will look impressive to those within ProPay who are fairly ignorant about PR, but it will have literally no value to their business.

When you hire a PR firm, real conversations are taking place between the firm and the media, and those conversations will lead to real interviews which, as you can probably guess, will lead to real coverage of your company.

Here’s an example of something we did recently for a client, SysAid.  Now, if you tried to find it starting at www.baselinemag.com, you would find it.  It’s in the Business Intelligence section, on the second page.

It’s real coverage.  And not only will people be able to find it, but when they do, they will believe what it says, because it’s not simply a reprint of a company news release.

And at the end of the day, that’s really what PR is all about.  You want people to hear about you, and you want what they hear to be believable.

Don’t you?

Upon the start of my internship at Ruder Finn Israel I did not have a lot of experience in public relations. In some capacity I knew that I would be working towards improving the image of clients, which in this office ranges from high tech startups, to publicly traded companies, to non-profit organizations that operate both in and out of Israel. However, I was unsure of what exactly an intern in the PR industry would be responsible for on a daily basis.

I am now almost nine weeks into my internship and can honestly say that I have learned a great deal about the industry itself and I now have a more concrete understanding of what the job description is for one who works in public relations.

Among the many things that I have learned over the last two months, the most important for me are the general knowledge that I now have about the field, as well as the tools that I have gained that will enable me to perform better when working in the industry.

On a basic level, I understand that Ruder Finn is responsible for the writing of news releases and bylined articles, the composition of media lists and constant awareness to find opportunities that will help clients to flourish and gain worthwhile mention. But more specifically, the staff at Ruder Finn Israel has showed me that teamwork, creativity and determination are just as important as knowing how to find an editorial calendar on a publication’s website.

In a recent brainstorming session at Ruder Finn Israel, the team discussed creative and fun ways to physically deliver a press release that would be a far step from the ordinary route. Experiences like these make me really appreciate my internship and think about the understanding that I’ve gained as I begin to contemplate the next steps in my life after my upcoming college graduation.

When I ask myself whether it’s time to seriously consider a career in public relations, I think about the brainstorming sessions that I’ve attended, the writing I’ve done, and the amazing and innovative companies that I’ve had the opportunity to represent.  I love that I go to work each and every day knowing that I’ll be doing something different from the day before and I love that the needs of each client vary greatly. This allows me to use the different strengths that I have and to cater to the various client expectations to the best of my ability.

But my favorite aspect about working in public relations is knowing that I can make a difference. As an intern, I conduct lots of research and do other tasks that serve as the basis for much larger projects. Although I am not speaking with company representatives one-on-one, I know that the results I achieve make a strong impact and help to meet the needs of the clients.

The internship program at Ruder Finn Israel has provided me with a strong foundation for what might likely be the start of a career in public relations. I now have confidence in myself that I can work successfully in a PR firm and be a strong asset to a hardworking team. However, just as a house is not complete after the foundation is laid, there is still much more for me to learn and experience.

I look forward to continuing this path of learning and exploration and will not forget what I learned during my nine-week internship at Ruder Finn Israel.

So given that professional experience, it should be relatively simple to diagnose the PR problems Israel is having and prescribe a certain program to improve the situation.

And it is simple, but not in the way you might think.

Much has been written over the past few weeks – ever since “The Flotilla Affair” – about the overall weakness of Israel’s PR, both when crises hit and in general.  In fact, journalist Yair Lapid wrote a column about it on June 4.  And the Jerusalem Post wrote an extensive article this past weekend about the branding of Jerusalem, in the context of “The Affair” and the regional conflict as a whole.  And they all brought wonderful examples of how and why Israel’s PR has missed the mark.

But I’m afraid they’ve missed the mark as well.

Lapid laments Information Minister Yuli Edelstein’s frustrating cell phone contact system.  And he’s right.  Edelstein’s system of screening and passwords stinks.  But he’s also wrong, because a better contacting system for Edelstein wouldn’t help Israel’s image one bit, due to a much larger problem, which I will mention soon enough.  Fixing his voicemail wouldn’t help fight the incredible PR machine our enemies have built.

And the J. Post article misses the point as well.  Here’s a short excerpt:

As the dust begins to settle around the flotilla events, Jerusalem is in the midst of starting its new public relations campaign, “Something Good Is Happening in Jerusalem.” The municipality is pushing aggressively to recast the city as a cultural destination, whose international importance in the world of art and music is just as celebrated as the city’s historical and religious significance.

This being Jerusalem, a few problems have cropped up.

“Jerusalem’s brand is undermined by troubles and how the media portrays it,” says Foster George, a tourist from London in Jerusalem for a week as he strolls through Jaffa Gate for the first time.

“The image of Jerusalem is so tied to Israel abroad which, unfortunately, especially now, is not so positive,” adds another tourist, Kate Engberg from Gothenburg, Sweden.

The problem, this article suggests, is that as long as Israel is not able to separate the politics from the tourism, Jerusalem’s tourism industry is going to suffer.  But again, the J. Post is incorrect.  Jerusalem is the center of the religious universe, and as such is going to be the hottest point on Earth for conflict.  That is the deal and we must all understand and even embrace that.  But this is irrelevant as well, in terms of the larger question about Israel’s PR, although we are getting closer to the point.

Another PR complaint over the years has been the lack of Israel spokespeople who are able to speak strong English.  Well, we now have Mark Regev at the wheel, one of the best I’ve ever seen, as well as Michael Oren in the U.S., who is also fantastic.

And yet, Israel has had one of its worst PR runs over the last 12 months that it has had in decades.  Doesn’t this seem strange to you?

How can it be that we did better PR during the post-9/11 phase, when Ariel Sharon was prime minister, than we are doing now, when U.S.-educated Binyamin Netanyahu is at the helm?

When you consider the overall futility of the three above arguments of 1. Logistical ineptitude (the Edelstein example), 2. Brushing aside the negative, in favor of the positive (the Jerusalem tourism example) and 3. Native-English-speaking spokespeople (The Regev-Oren-Bibi example), there is only one conclusion that should be drawn.

It’s not about any of these things.

To understand why we are failing, we must first look at why the other side is succeeding.  And the answer to that question is simple: A Unified Message.

It wouldn’t matter if Edelstein drank Red Bull 24 hours a day and was 100% available for all requested interviews.  Because an hour later, someone from the government opposition will submit to an interview and completely contradict what Edelstein has said.

It doesn’t matter that Jerusalem has wonderful views, great restaurants and almost-perfect weather, especially this time of year.  Because the world is being told – by Jewish-Israelis – on a regular basis that Jerusalem is a place of conflict, and that it is all the fault of the Jews.

And it doesn’t matter that we have our strongest international spokespeople since the days of Golda Meir and Abba Eban.

Because we do not have that item that can often be the difference between success and failure for any PR campaign.  In fact, it should be the cornerstone of any campaign.

It is the unified message.

After 9/11, Israel was unified, not only in its condemnation of the attack, but in its message to the world of “You see!  This is what we’ve been going through!  Now, do you understand us?”

But time has “healed,” and we have once again descended to our previous disagreements and ideologies.  We are not united.

And sadly, if Israel itself is not unified – as our enemies are, for the purpose of destroying Israel – then there will be no unified message, and we will continue to lose the PR battle, even if we are right.

So, please do not waste your time analyzing the PR strategy – or even lack thereof – or tactical approach of the Israeli government.  It’s not about that.  It’s the same problem that has plagued the Jewish people for centuries. We can’t unify.  Even about a message.  Even when our future is at stake.

]]> http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2010/06/why-israel-cannot-solve-its-pr-challenge-or-its-the-message-stupid.html/feed 3 http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2010/02/when-stupid-rules.html http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2010/02/when-stupid-rules.html#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:08:39 +0000 Glenn Jasper http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/?p=87 I often ask myself, how is it that many Israeli companies that receive tens of millions of dollars in funding … not to mention the tens of millions in profits, are unable to spend a reasonable amount per month on a PR campaign?

Today, I finally realized the answer.  It is simple.  They are stupid.

Stupid means that a company can spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single advertorial, because the CEO likes to see his/her face in a magazine, but won’t spend that kind of money on a PR campaign because there is no guaranteed ROI.  Of course, it doesn’t matter that the advertorial they bought gave no ROI either.  At least the CEO can show the picture to his army buddies, right?

Stupid means that a company embarks on a branding campaign that does not have market research as one of its preliminary elements.  And when the branding firm – which the company paid $50,000 to develop the new branding, unveils a name that sounds ridiculously similar to another Israeli company’s name, and the color scheme does as well, the company is forced to accept it because, well, they paid $50,000, and it would be a shame to let that money go to waste.

Stupid means that a company believes it only has $1,000 per month for international PR, so it hires a second-rate freelancer to do the job, when that money would be better spent on Google Ads or, frankly, snacks for the staff.  Any PR firm willing to accept $1,000 per month for international services can’t get the job done.  I assure you of that.

Stupid means that a company spends $150,000 on a small booth at a gigantic trade show, but won’t spend a few thousand on a PR firm to secure them interviews while they are there.

Stupid means that a company produces items that are marketed for tens of thousands of dollars apiece – and bought by thousands of customers, but doesn’t have the money to commit to a momentum-building PR campaign that, over the course of a year, will cost the company the same amount as a single one of their products will cost a single customer.

Of course, there are also smart Israeli companies, and they are a pleasure to work with.

Smart means that a company gives its agency access to as much information as possible so the agency can decide which items may be newsworthy.

Smart means that a company provides its agency an efficient, but reasonable budget, so the agency will feel motivated to provide outstanding service.

Smart means that a company is just as interested in the constructive feedback a journalist gives when the answer is “no,” as they are in securing the “hit.”

Smart means that a company considers PR to be not only a marketing function, but a corporate function as well, since positive PR will impact all audiences positively and negative PR will impact all audiences negatively.

So here’s the kicker, which is also simple …

Over my five years here, I’ve found a direct correlation between a company’s ability to be smart versus stupid, and a company’s likelihood to be successful versus unsuccessful.

So what do we do about this problem?

What do we do when our clients go crazy about a negative Blog post, but dismiss a positive one we’ve worked hard to secure because, after all, it is just a Blog?

What do we do when a Blog gets the facts wrong but doesn’t feel a professional obligation to correct them because, after all, it is just a Blog?

And finally, what do we do when a Blog posts something that then is one of the top ten results in a Google search, thereby potentially hurting the subject of the post?

The answer: We do nothing … and everything.

We do nothing means that this is a new media format and we have to deal with the fact that it plays by different rules (or no rules).  And when there are no rules, there is really nothing you can do to turn things in your favor consistently.

But we also must do everything.  We must do everything in our power to run our businesses and organizations properly and with super-high standards.

That means we must make sure our products work and our customers are served well.  It means we must run our organizations cleanly, and in a way that will not call into question the money we are spending on operating those organizations.

That means that the Israeli catch-phrase of “Yihiyeh B’seder” (“it will be alright”) must go out the window, because Blogs are making sure that it won’t be alright.

And, by all means, we all must understand that honesty, integrity and truth must now rule.  Because if there is one rule by which the Bloggers play, it is that lying will not be tolerated.

This is the world we live in.  In most ways, it is much more complex than the early days of my career, when there was no Internet, e-mail, email, cell phone nor Windows.

But in one very important way, our world is much simpler:

Take one bad step, and it costs you dearly in the blogosphere.  Do the right thing, and, well, our Blogger friends might still slam you … but at least you will be able to look in the mirror.

And if I can sum up the blogosphere simply, it would be just that.  It’s a mirror. For the world.  For industry.  And for each of us to gaze at and ask: Do we like what we see?

]]> http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2009/10/blogs-and-the-media-%e2%80%93-shall-the-twain-meet-part-ii.html/feed 1 http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2009/07/blogs-and-the-media-%e2%80%93-shall-the-twain-meet.html http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/2009/07/blogs-and-the-media-%e2%80%93-shall-the-twain-meet.html#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:45:53 +0000 Glenn Jasper http://www.ruderfinn.co.il/communicating-promise/?p=64 I’ve been in the PR industry for more than 15 years.  That doesn’t make me a grizzled veteran, but I have plenty of gray hairs that I keep as a badge of PR-career-honor.  And I entered the industry at an interesting time.  I accepted my first position at Hill and Knowlton in the days immediately preceding Windows, cell phones and email.  True, each of those three technological developments was already in existence, but none of them was ubiquitous. 

 When they came upon the scene, since I was still relatively young, I was able to quite easily roll with it.  Heck, my biggest client was Verizon Wireless, so I was right in the middle of the action. 

 Over the years, there have been other developments, like cable news and specialty stations becoming legitimate outlets for my clients’ news.  And then, of course, the Internet took over, and has now become the primary source of news for many of the world’s top decision-makers.

 And there are the more recent developments you all know about.  My firm, Ruder Finn Israel, has gotten involved in the social media phenomenon, creating and maintaining Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for our clients.

 So here we are, many years later, and yes, I’m still rolling with it.

 And then, there are the Blogs.  Now, let me begin by saying that I love Blogs.  My brother has a fantastic one.  The concept of creating a public venue for one to give his/her views on a particular topic or the world at-large is not only exciting, it’s the logical next step for communications.  And there have been some great ones.  For example, Bill Simmons is now a well-paid, well-respected columnist for ESPN.com because his “Boston Sports Guy” Blog was so successful years ago. 

 But I have a problem with the Blogs. And that problem is one I can’t figure out how to solve.  Here’s the conundrum …

 Blogs today are as highly respected as media.  In fact, certain Blogs are considered media themselves, such as Huffington Post and TechCrunch.  Public relations folks spend a lot of time crafting communiqués that will impact these Blogs, they way they would back in the day to elicit the attention of a Today Show producer.

 And that would be fine … if those Blogs played by the rules by which the media play.

 But they don’t.

 They don’t, because they don’t have to.  After all, they are just Blogs.

 I’ll give you an example: 

We had a client that was recently ripped to shreds – including insults and factually incorrect information – by a high-profile blog’s “guest Blogger.”  We then contacted that blog with an op-ed submission that refuted those insults and lies, and took the story further by offering a different view of the situation.  The blog’s response: “We’re going to pass on this.”

Well, isn’t that nice?  The Blog bills itself as a “newspaper,” but doesn’t have to live up to the standards of mainstream media because, after all, it is just a Blog.

Okay, so that’s the situation.  And it’s not going to change.  So the question I’d like to answer is this: What do we do about it?

In my next post, I’ll be answering that question …