Great public relations is based on performance and personality. Is this a brilliant, new or mind-blowing deduction? No. But it’s worth repeating because some people or organisations still think that they can gain positive media coverage or change public opinion by just throwing about nice statements, and try to do just that.
For example, a company that offers deplorable customer service, but has the gall to talk about its great customer service will certainly draw a steups (akin to an “oh please, get out of here”) from people. Compare this, however, to a company who talks about its serious effort to improve customer service, customers actually seeing and experiencing these positive changes, the resulting word-of-mouth verification and grapevine, and the media seeing that hey, they really are making a change. Now that demonstrates performance – things may not yet be perfect but they sure are changing, and personality – a commitment to making change and putting it into action.
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Cloreth Greene (Third from left, in heavy discussion with her IABC colleagues)
Here’s the second instalment of the Profiling Caribbean PR interview series, featuring Cloreth Greene (Accredited Business Communicator), Managing Director of the communications consultancy Wild and Wonderful, and past President of the IABC Caribbean chapter (based in Jamaica).
Where do you work, and what does your job entail?
I operate Wild & Wonderful, a communications consultancy based in St Catherine, Jamaica. My core functions are managing projects/events, designing and delivering training programmes, and effecting general communications strategies on behalf of clients.
Tell me about your background, and how you came to be in the public relations field.
Before becoming a primary school teacher, for several years my professional experience was in administration/management at various levels within both the private and public sectors of Jamaica. I became a communications practitioner in 1994, and have professional experience in the industries of health and education.
Locally, are public relations, marketing, advertising and related fields respected as professions?
Yes they are, as more and more corporate entities are recognizing the unparallel value of communications in accomplishing their missions/visions.
Describe the public relations industry in your country, its history, reach etc?
Business leaders have come to acknowledge that the communicator’s role is not merely planning photo opportunities or disseminating press releases. The industry has, over time, evolved into the understanding that a business communicator is one whose input is integral to the development, growth and profitability of his/her organization. Accordingly, he/she is now called upon to be a part of the strategic planning and implementation process of the company. The competitive nature of today’s business environment has also led to (in some instances) an expansion of communications departments in an effort to maintain a good corporate image, and to establish prominence and a competitive edge.
Are there any local, professional associations?
For communications professionals, there is the Caribbean Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), which is headquartered in Jamaica. Its membership represents 14 Caribbean territories (English, Dutch, French and Spanish speaking). The Public Relations Society of Jamaica (now inactive) was another option up to three years ago.
What’s the media landscape like?
There have been several technological advances that have helped to enhance the quality of broadcasts and extended the number of services available. Over the past decade, new players have entered the media marketplace. Some media houses have sought to reposition themselves, and a few acquisitions have resulted in a shift in market share. Generally, the industry is energetic and competitive.
Social media has influenced how people view various, traditional, communication channels, and has given target publics free and easy ways to express themselves. How does this affect integrated communications?
Its influence has driven a high level of awareness of and responsiveness within the global corporate realm. Social media has in some instances forced business practitioners across industrial and demographic boundaries to attend to issues raised by its communities, internal and external. In my view it has resulted in a more strategic, relevant and honest approach to communicating by the corporate society. This effort seems intended to strike the balance between protecting image, satisfying communities and remaining viable.
Do you think that blogging and other social media tools will become mainstream media for your countrymen/ Caribbean publics?
Currently, these tools are not a major part of the local business culture, but there are indicators that a change is likely to emerge within the next five years. On account of its global impact, social media is a key factor for consideration by every astute professional no matter if he/she is from the Caribbean. It is difficult to predict whether they will become ‘mainstream’ in Jamaica, but the application of some of these tools is now prevalent in some sister territories. Global market trends will determine the scope and use of social media in business within the Caribbean region.
What are the critical elements needed to build a successful PR campaign within your country’s/ the Caribbean context?
Successful communications campaigns are characterized by: full client support (financial and otherwise), strong media relations and promotion, and the support of business partners/clients.
What are the challenges that practitioners face?
The most glaring is that of the perception that the communications profession is not a science, but something that ‘anyone can do’. This leads to unqualified, untrained and unskilled persons who are neither equipped nor suitable being confirmed to function in positions that they are unable to manage. Ultimately, this undermines the integrity of the industry.
What advice would you give to practitioners abroad who have to communicate with the Caribbean Diaspora, abroad and within the region? Anything special about your nationality)/ the Caribbean psyche they should know?
One of the fascinating things about the Caribbean region is the fact that despite similarities in each territory, the cultures are diverse. Practitioners who intend to engage with persons from the Diaspora need to understand of what import (if any) is the influence of the country in which the individual presently resides. Meeting and befriending local professionals, interacting with them socially, learning their language and culture are just a few of the foundation stones that must be firmly laid. For the most part, Caribbean people are expressive, energetic and creative, and are usually very formal in their manner of doing business. Knowing and understanding the target group is the first step to any business transaction, and when it is cross-cultural, this is more than an imperative. It becomes the key to survival.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to enter this profession?
It could be said that a career in communications puts the professional at the ‘epicentre’ of every activity of a business enterprise, barring no industry. This level of responsibility demands a high standard of ethics, professionalism, resolve, teamwork and strategic thinking. My recommendation is that one should keenly and objectively assess whether he/she is willing and able to uphold these standards. The profession is judged by the integrity and value of each individual member, who should aim to be guided by these standards at all costs.
What educational or training opportunities are there locally for communications professionals?
Communicators may access tertiary academic training (baccalaureate and post graduate programmes) via our universities. Professional development courses are possible by way of professional organizations such as the IABC and Toastmasters International. Which local/ Caribbean practitioner(s) do you admire? Why?Retired President/Editor-in-chief of the Barbados Nation Harold Hoyte, who has contributed much to journalism in the Caribbean journalism. I admire his passion for the profession and his call for Caribbean journalists (and by extension all Caribbean communications practitioners) to “…convert to meet and exceed new expectations or expire”.
Any last thoughts about PR in general?
Communications is one of the most noble of professions. The fact that communicating is the most fundamental aspect of life and of business validates its worth. Communicators should ensure that they earn the respect deserving of the profession by way of their occupational practices.
You can read the previous interview with Barbados’ Christal McIntosh. To participate in this series, email me at caribbeanprblog@yahoo.com.
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Photo courtesy mollycakes
Which do you prefer? A large number of hits to your blog or less visits, but longer stays? Generally, my blog has a range of 25 to 40 visits per day, with an average daily measurement of 33 visitors, an average weekly log of 250 visitors, and an average visit length of two minutes, 38 seconds – with fluctuations from week to week. This isn’t a large number, especially compared to largely popular sites like ProBlogger, which enjoys a daily readership of 14,579 with an average visit length of one minute, 14 seconds. But it sure does feel good when you know that someone has taken some time out to read your blog.Getting someone’s attention spot on and engaging them for more than five seconds can sometimes be a challenge, because people want to be engaged on rational and emotional levels, and sometimes readers are fickle. Their subconscious questions and immediate responses follow the line of thought – is this information relevant? Do I even want to read this? I don’t like the colour; it’s hard on my eyes so I think I’ll close this window.
Your blog is a database, especially if you’ve been blogging for a good while. For example, this blog is two years’ old, so there are numerous articles to go through. I attempt to put some links to my best articles so that people will go through more of the blog. There are various ways to encourage people to stay a little longer.
Here are some tips:
1. Have a fluid writing style. Use active verbs. Let the text flow easily so that you encourage readers to want to keep on reading, and that the chronological order of your points/ argument flow to create a picture for them.
2. Make your blog visually appealing. This doesn’t mean to go into décor overdrive. Use colours that are easy on the eyes, and that attract people to explore the site. Ensure the design, meaning the way items are laid out, enables people to easily navigate your site.
3. Create categories so it simplifies the search process.
4. Create sections such as archives, random posts, recent posts, and popular articles so that people can easily click through some of your articles. That way they’re motivated to click for more, especially if you have great content.
Analysing statistics
When I log into my stats, I see an average visit length of 2 minutes, 38 seconds (today’s stats), and people’s clickthroughs. However, within this readership there’s a wide range. Thus far for the day, apart from those who read for a few mini-seconds, there’s a minimal stay of 32 seconds, then there’s the maximum stay of 36 minutes, 37 seconds. When I see this, I feel good, especially since I’ve bothered to pay for my stats service so that I can track all the pages a particular visitor read, and how long they stayed on each page.
After all, I don’t want to be feeling good without merit. For example someone may spend 30 minutes on your site, but they may have gone to take a bath, and left the Internet on. If you’ve got bare stats measurement, you’ll just see 30 minutes, but can’t gauge whether they really read your blog for 30 minutes or if they went to walk the dog. But when you can see how many seconds a person stayed on one page, then where they clicked through and the pattern of their reading, it’s easier to assess whether this person was truly interested in your content.
If you’re partial to knowing these sorts of details, then I’d recommend paying for a statistics counter. It isn’t more than $10 a month. I pay $6.95 with Sitemeter, and I also have a Google Analytics account so that I can cross reference information. I must admit that since I’ve moved to a self-hosted, Wordpress platform, visits have been longer. But this really has to do with the random, recent and popular posts sections. Even if you’re on another blogging platform such as Blogger, you can create link lists with some of your best articles for people to explore. You can also make use of codes shared among Bloggers about there, about various widgets for recent posts etc. Blogger Buster is a great place to start, as well as a simple Google search.
These methods will help with increasing visitor stays. But you’ve got to make sure that you have great content to keep your readers entertained. So, what do you prefer? Large numbers or longer stays?
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Guest post by Laura Dowrich-Phillips
The relationship between public relations and marketing practitioners and those of us on the media fringe is something that has been bothering me for some time. 
The media field is very wide, yet magazine publishers, and new media such as blogs and online publishers are still not regarded within the ambit of media in the Caribbean. This is very clear when one studies the approach of PR/marketing practitioners towards us. As a newspaper journalist I received a number of press releases and invitations to media events, not to mention goodies at Christmas time. I expected nothing to change when I started my current job, but to my surprise it did. Nary a press release, invitation to an event, or gift do we receive. Very few people remember to invite us to press conferences, and I can count how many we’ve received over the last year on one hand.
Thanks to my friends in the newspaper, I am kept abreast of media events and we’ve taken to making angry calls to Corporate Communications departments demanding invitations. Now it’s not that we just want to be part of the lime, to eat the food and get goodies. That’s nice, but we want to be considered important enough to be included in media events, to network, keep our pulse on trends, gain information that could inform our editorial plans, get ideas, meet potential advertisers, help companies get their message out, and so on.
Yes, newspapers, radio and television are instantaneous, and in a region where most people still get their news from this type of media, it makes sense to put them first. I am not arguing against that. But the publishing industry in the Caribbean is growing and while some start-ups don’t last the requisite three years it takes a business to succeed, far less seven when you really start to see any kind of profit (in the magazine world anyway), some do survive and thrive.
The company I work for has had a good track record. Our flagship publication, Caribbean Beat, celebrates its 16th year of publication this year, a true milestone. Like traditional media, many Caribbean magazines are aimed at informing, educating and entertaining, and moreover they are aimed at presenting the Caribbean in a good light. Even serious issues are addressed in a friendly, exciting way in keeping with magazine layout and presentation rules. Many of us tend to cater to niche markets too, instead of a broad readership.
Magazines have a longer shelf life than newspapers, readers are more apt to hold on to our publications and re-read them. Magazine publishers are much quicker to use technology to promote publications. We embrace new media such as blogs and social networking sites to promote our products, boost readership, boost distribution and invite new editorial ideas, and even experiment with digital delivery to reach a wider readership.
So why ignore us? Is it because businesspeople in the Caribbean are too stuck in tradition to see beyond the ordinary? Is it that they are not innovative enough to find creative ways to expand beyond the norm to get their messages out?
Our culture may be different but the slow death of old media in the US, where advertisers are scampering to spend their money online on new media, should be a wake up call to those entrusted with getting their company’s messages out.
The irony is that many of us interact with PR/marketing people regularly. Working in a small outfit requires you to wear many hats, so we do talk to them as editorial support for our sales reps, to get information etc. Yet, they never remember us when planning media events. So what’s the problem?
My (Karel) take on this
When Laura posted a shorter version of this post on Facebook, I couldn’t help but be interested, and asked her if she’d like to contribute it to Caribbean Public Relations as a guest post, especially as it relates to Caribbean marketers, corporate communications and public relations practitioners, as well as media. Laura’s situation piqued my interest because in the past, when I handled a media launch for a Carnival band, I took the opportunity to invite magazine journalists because I knew that although we wouldn’t get coverage immediately, the way you can with daily newspapers, magazine journalists’ awareness and interest in the band could some day be beneficial, leading to new relationships and some form of future publicity.
The fact that some magazines are progressively entering the new media environment also has the potential to create further channels for publicity. So, Laura does have a point, Caribbean magazine personnel should not be ignored. If they have a target audience that you’re trying to reach, then it’s worth creating relationships with them. While you’re concerned about getting your message out on your preferred schedule – now – always remember the long-term value that different media channels can give. Journalists also shouldn’t wait for invitations. Sometimes you have to call to get your hands on the news and trends that are out there – something that Caribbean Beat is making an effort to do.
—— Laura, who worked with the Trinidad Guardian newspapers for ten years, is an Editor with the publisher Media and Editorial Projects (MEP) where she is responsible for the business publications Trinidad and Tobago Business Guide, Energy Caribbean and Energy Caribbean Yearbook. She’s also an Assistant Editor with Caribbean Beat.
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Traditionally, we think of shepherds as the leaders of sheep. But at some point in time, the shepherds themselves have been sheep, and continue to be. It’s the same with bloggers. While some are fortunate to be leaders in their niches, fact is, they continue to read other blogs to find new ideas and ways to enhance their style, look, and content. They’re looking for the next best thing to follow.
You don’t have to have a large herd of sheep to be a shepherd. Once a lamb bleats for you, you’ve found a calling. Take for example a new blogger, Hafiz Dhanani, who is just 14 years old, and just started a brand new blog – Make Money Blogging. Plus, already he’s had a guest post the John Cow blog about how to increase your blog profile and make more money!
Not every newbie can score such a hit, and the fact is that by writing that post, he is increasing awareness about his new blog, and piquing people’s interest.
By getting John Cow’s endorsement via the guest post opportunity, Hafiz has now secured a level of shepherd status, and surely he’ll be planting more posts on his blog so that he can increase his number of readers. Simultaneously, Hafiz will also be reading other people’s blogs to get his own nuggets of information. At the time of me writing this post, he only has one post on his blog, but I will surely be returning to see what else he has to say.
The sheep and shepherd analogy implies what we already know. Bloggers influence in a circle of influence, and within that circle, we all have a chance to be leaders, while following advice from others.
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