Good comms

A friend recently ventured the opinion that the trouble with comms is that everyone thinks they can do it. Yes, I agreed, you're totally right! I told her she’d inspired my next blog, and tried to put pen to paper for the best part of a week, but I couldn’t seem to work up the requisite anger to fire off 1,200 words on the topic.

There had definitely been occasions in the past where non-comms people not understanding the value of good comms had driven me to distraction. I had spent evenings at the pub lamenting the senior spokesperson who chastised me for his lack of TV appearances yet refused to do his job and engage with valuable trade titles in relevant sectors.

I’d felt frustrated - insulted, even - that in a previous job, doing a stint in the communications team was seen as an obligation, a stepping stone to promotion in a more ‘academic’ discipline because, y'know, how hard can it be? Nevermind that it was what I and people like me had spent years training for and honing our skills on the job.

When there was a new product to launch, or a new policy to promote, it irked me beyond belief that the involvement of the communications team was an afterthought rather than an intrinsic part of the planning process. That our advice was not considered when products and policies were in development and, too often, drafted in when the only acceptable response was "sorry, we got this wrong."

The reason I went fully freelance in 2020 was because I could no longer stand doing comms for comms’ sake: the stable door/horse approach to PR whereby there is no real announcement, no idea of who you want to inspire, educate, or influence, and no objective other than to get some effing coverage.

And while those were all legitimate gripes, I just couldn't get that mad (anymore) about all that stuff.

Of course comms matters. It is essential to organisational protection and promotion. It's why companies hire experts to help them manage their reputation, reach stakeholders, and talk to new audiences.

There was, however, a niggling feeling that had been brewing for weeks in my personal and professional life that I had at first dismissed as being irrelevant, but which reared its head again.

The thing I hate possibly most in the world - inauthenticity.

Because the truth is, good comms has at its core, truth.

The actor and comedian, Steve Coogan, known best for his inimitable creation Alan Partridge, articulates so precisely how communication - in this case, through the medium of comedy - can deliver hard-hitting truths:

"I like comedy as a tool, as a device… to bring levity to difficult subjects. If you make your audience laugh, you’re more likely to engage them, and you can, as it were, slip in under the door your serious point."

Engaging your audience, making them feel something, making them believe what you have to say - that's where you find real connection.

It has become apparent in the wake of his untimely death how much people (me included) adored the late Paul O'Grady and his alter ego, Lillian May Veronica Savage. Paul embodied a warm yet acerbic northern wit and you felt as though he could've been your dad's mate, or someone from your local.

But Paul never ever shied away from stark truths, remaining fiercely loyal to the communities he had served as a social worker. He used his voice to amplify people and the issues they faced, once describing the participants of the programme Benefits Street on national television as "sacrificial lambs on the altar of light entertainment" to get middle England up in arms about an inaccurate representation of unemployment.

When you're authentic, your most true self, people trust you. They want more of what you have to say, or sell. Crediting audiences with intelligence and integrity is vital because if you're not real or authentic, your message won't land.

It's why, rightly, people are jaded and even angered by politicians' mealy-mouthed, highly rehearsed lines that neither answer the question nor move the debate forward.

But what if you're not a politician, or even a comedian? What if you run a business? Perhaps you want to scale up, or attract new stakeholders, or launch a new product, or just get some media attention.

The same rules of good communication apply.

I worked with a fintech in the mortgage industry that had big ambitions to expand its client base ahead of its next investment round. In order to do so, it was absolutely imperative to work with lenders big and small.

Getting a foot in the door of the likes of Nationwide was thanks, for the most part, to the hard work of the team and the product they had to offer. But it was the credibility of opinion pieces on topical, relevant issues for mortgage lenders and borrowers that made them sit up and listen.

My client was speaking truth to power, calling out the 'broken' mortgage industry as they saw it, and remaining true to their core belief system and raison d'être. They never compromised on who they were, and that's what people loved. That's what got results.

At the heart of any good communications plan is the business objective and the audience you want to engage. It's about using the spokespeople who will resonate the most, considering where and how you want to deploy your message, and how you will measure success.

But remember, business people are still people. They desire a connection, to feel something, just as much as anyone else.

In another great example of using humour to move an audience, when KFC ran out of chicken in the UK, it was its irreverent "FCK", followed by an honest apology and promise the situation would never happen again that won people over, and saved the brand its loyal customers.

Contrast this with Facebook which, after the Cambridge Analytica data breach, only offered an "I'm really sorry" from CEO Mark Zuckerberg after its stock dropped, having first drafted a 900 word apologathon which wasn't really an apology at all, and which didn't get to the truth of what users cared about.

Perhaps the greatest example of someone who is so unashamedly themselves is Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

“They think that I’m going to be as brutally honest as the guy in the show, and that I’m not nice. But I am nice, which makes me sick! I wish I wasn’t.”

I would argue that far from thinking Larry is not nice, he is almost universally loved because he says exactly what he thinks and feels, without fear or favour, and with huge personal integrity and authenticity.

The psychiatrist Carl Jung said that "the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." And when thinking about communications in business or in life, this really is all you need to consider.

You just need someone who can help you achieve it.