What I Can Fix
If you’re not synching with your PR team, I can fix that.
If the “ink” isn’t coming by the barrel, I can probably either fix it or give you a rational explanation for what the problem is, and how it can be fixed.
If you need more strategic counsel, I can give you that.
If you need some fresh ideas, or some Social Media educational sessions, or a regional attack plan — I can make all that happen.
If you need us to measure in a different way, or provide more comprehensive reports, that’s not a problem.
If your CEO is convinced that that One Big Meeting with ______ (Arrington, Owyang, Mossberg, etc.) will make all the difference, we can very likely a.) help make that meeting happen, and/or b.) help you convince the CEO that that One Big Meeting will probably not change the world.
I can do all this, and more.
If you tell me what you want. If you tell me when you’re frustrated, as soon as you’re frustrated (rather than let that frustration simmer).
Despite my best efforts — despite the back-of-a-matchbook correspondence course in Telepathy 101; despite the x-ray specs I bought out of a comic book when I was 12 — I am not a mind reader.
If you don’t tell me, I can’t fix.
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All of this is true, but I think that there’s a missing element with a lot of PR firms (though I’m not suggesting this of SHIFT) becoming order-takers rather than strategists identifying issues that organizations hadn’t previously considered.
That said, there’s a fine balance – and if the client doesn’t communicate, it’s hard (if not impossible) to get them the results they want.
So true. I think often times the client doesn’t know what they want. They ask the wrong questions: Why aren’t we we putting out more tweets? Instead of: how are our customers using Twitter and how can I connect with them? They know the end result they want, but find themselves quite angry when they take the means of getting there in to their own hands without consulting you–or consulting you after the fact.
I agree–I also think it is our job to ask open-ended questions of our clients when they aren’t sharing. Sometimes it is hard for them to know what they are feeling/thinking let alone why. Thanks for the post.
Ah, if only CEOs didn’t believe that that One Big Meeting will probably change the world…and that social media marketing should be handled by the IT department.