Babies and Bathwater

There is an old saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

My interpretation of this saying is that as you are getting rid of things you don't want, or no longer need (in this case the bathwater), be careful that you don't also get rid of something valuable (i.e. the baby).

In our current media and communication milieu, many companies are throwing out the bathwater of their traditional PR plans.  With tools like Twitter and Facebook, the thinking often goes, who needs newspapers (or radio or TV)?  With websites and e-newsletters and video conferencing, who would ever again pay to place a print ad or struggle to get their message into 30 seconds with music?

But here's the thing:  very similar things were said about newspapers and magazines more than 100 years ago when commercial radio became popular and the same thing about radio (and newspapers and magazines) when television joined the media fracas.  And newspapers and magazines and radio are still around and by most accounts, doing OK.

More importantly, those "traditional media" are still delivering visibility and audiences for those advertisers who use them wisely.

You see, I think new media tends to be additive, not replacing, in nature.  Each new media adds something new to the customer experience, but most don't really replace the old.  And even if it does replace those experiences for some, there are still many many many people who cling to their newspapers or radio programs with strength and conviction.

Traditional media also evolves.  Radio stations we have today are remarkably different than the first radio networks, but no less vibrant or vital of a media.  

So, when you are thinking of throwing "traditional media" out the window with that bathwater, you really need to calculate if you really can do without all of those customers who don't have access to new media, who don't care to have access, or that want access, but can't figure out how to use it, so they don't.

Tell Stories

I have been working this week on a presentation I will be giving at a conference in a couple of weeks.  I found myself getting tired of putting together the PowerPoint presentation.

As I was discussing the presentation with the colleague I am giving the presentation with, I realized that our conversation focused mostly on the stories we were planning to tell, not the slides that would be flashing up on the screen.  The stories are what gave both of us energy.  What interested us most as presenters.

I know the same is true for me when I am in the audience.  Give me a pithy story or real life situation to make your point, and I am with you.  Tell a tale, perform a role play, spin a yarn and I am more likely to remember your point, or at least pay attention!

But if you toss up a bunch of overly wordy, hard to read slides...or even beautifully designed, pithy slides and just read from them...pretty soon I will be wondering what I am going to do for lunch and whether I remembered to turn off the coffee pot.  Use PowerPoint (if you must) to accent or highlight your stories, not to tell them.  People want to hear you tell them the stories and lessons, not read about it on a screen.

After all, there is a reason they call it a speech, and not a show.

After Midnight

The thing is our expectations have changed.

We have gotten used to an Internet that is always there, McDonald's that are always open, and banks (a few) that answer the phone with a live person 24/7.

So when I encounter the dreaded "office hours" message, indicating that the organization I am trying to do business with isn't there because it is after their "normal business hours" I get wanderlust.  I don't know that I want to wait until 8 am Eastern on Monday to do business with company A, when Company B will let me spend my money with them after midnight on Sunday.