How can I help?*
It’s an easy question to ask. It’s a good question to ask. But it’s often a very difficult question to answer. Maybe you’re facing a challenge or a problem in your business and you don’t even know how to begin to approach it. Or maybe you know what you need to do, but the thought of doing it is so overwhelming, you find yourself procrastinating on even taking the first step. Or maybe you have a lot of thoughts and ideas about where you want to take your organization, but you need help organizing them and transforming them into actionable steps. How can I help?
In my view, there’s public relations and then there’s consulting. I do both. One part of my work lies firmly in the “public relations” category: writing press releases and op-eds, strategizing about messaging and media placement, communicating with reporters, developing and coordinating social media, etc. The other part of my job is a bit more fluid and falls within the “consulting” category: listening to and fleshing out a client’s goals, identifying and leveraging a client’s existing strengths and resources, determining appropriate and effective action steps, creating a written plan and timeline, etc.
My job centers on getting my clients from where they are now to where they want to be. In order to do that effectively, I need to learn more than just the facts about my clients – their leaders, their history, their purpose – I need to make it a priority to also learn their voices, cultures and values.
For example, if an insurance company prides itself on being an early adopter of new technology, a communications strategy that relies almost exclusively on press releases and op-eds placed in print media likely does not reflect that company’s culture and values. Such a company requires a strategy that includes a strong social media component as well as the possibility of using video, hashtag campaigns, QR codes and more.
Similarly, some clients prefer to communicate publicly in an official-sounding, almost exclusively third-person voice that denotes stability, authority and respectability. Other clients are intentional about using language that emphasizes sounding approachable, conversational and friendly.
Ultimately, listening to my clients and learning as much as I can about them makes it possible for me to not only ask, but effectively answer the question, “How can I help?”
*If you happen to have seen the NBC drama New Amsterdam, you know that I may or may not have stolen that line from lead character Dr. Max Goodwin.
Mandy Minick is the principal and founder of Minick Public Relations, LLC. She is the immediate past chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Education and has 20 years of public relations and entrepreneurial experience. Find Minick Public Relations on LinkedIn.