Out-of-the-box thinking from MNPR

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Communication

Making up for lost time (and money)

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I looked at 2021 and had one thing on my mind – how can I make up for what happened to my business in 2020? I’ve owned my own PR firm for almost 19 years now and NO surprise, 2020 was the worst year yet.

I didn’t really mind a little less stress at work as clients dropped like flies during the start of the COVID-19 outbreak because I was finishing my master’s degree and set to graduate in May 2020. But as the year dragged on, I set out to do whatever I needed to do to make up for the lost client work in the following year.

I was ready to be “on the clock.” And boy did I take that to heart.

When 2021 came along, I wasn’t the only one wanting to make up for lost time. It seems my clients were ready to do the same. Everyone wanted to throw a party, host a fundraiser, step up their PR planning and efforts and plan the grandest of grand openings. I couldn’t bring myself to say no to a single potential client and thus I found myself buried, overwhelmed and busier than I’ve ever been in the nearly two decades I’ve been in this business.

Oh COVID, how you’ve helped us learn many life lessons! (yes, I’m blaming COVID for this. How could someone my age continue to make mistakes?)

So, what do you do when this happens? Luckily, I was able to lean on experience and draw from good ole’ fashion common sense, but here’s a few suggestions I’ll share now that I can look back (and now that I have some breathing room) might be helpful as we go into 2022.

Set a plan.
Monthly, weekly and daily. Heck, hourly if you need to. Prioritize what needs to get done and create an action plan with a focus. It’s the only way to get through this period in your life. And look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Mine didn’t come until after Christmas, but it made my vegging on the couch that much sweeter.

Delegate.
Find reliable team members who you can meet with periodically and who do not need a tremendous amount of hand holding. This is not the time for new employees or interns. You need tried and true staffers who know you and you know them so you can get the job done. I’m forever grateful for my team during this time.

Busier = more organized.
I hate to even utter these words, but sometimes I get more done when I’m busier. Now, I never want to be as crazy as I was last year because I know I had to eliminate things that were important to me, but I also recognize that I am able to buckle down and be efficient when deadlines are looming. Remember, it turns out that the more you put something off, the less likely you’re going to do it at all.

Happy hour anyone?
I can’t say that I had a healthy work-life balance during the past 12 months, but I made time to have some fun, see friends on occasion and hang out with my husband and kids. This downtime is one of the only things that helps me to recharge and stop thinking about my to-do list. And when you’ve been working from home for as long as I have, you know you have to switch it off because there’s no physical distance between the office and home.

Never say never.
Oh boy this is a hard one! Repeat: I will not take on too much work ever again. This is a promise I have made to myself, and I must keep it. It is so important to my business, my current clients, my family and my health. That’s very dramatic, but let’s just say I need to do a better job of managing my workload.

And especially as we start the new year, I want 2022 to be a positive year for MNPR with a goal of actually achieving a work-life balance – ok, I realize I must set realistic expectations, but at least get a little closer to balance. Because I tend to be a bit of a workaholic (a hazard of being a business owner who truly loves her work), I have to constantly remind myself to find other passions.

My goals for this year are:

  1. Learn how to say no
  2. Get closer to nature. We have a new puppy who LOVES her walks!
  3. Make time for myself!
  4. Focus! Make sure I’m productive when I’m in my workspace

So cheers! Here’s to a fabulous 2022! I’m working to reclaim control this year! Wish me luck.

Communication during COVID-19

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Extraordinary times. Unprecedented times. We must pivot our marketing, PR and social media strategies. These are all things we’ve heard repeatedly during the past few weeks throughout this COVID-19 health crisis.

What can we do right now? What I would recommend to my clients right now is to communicate sensitively, remain optimistic and be present. It’s important to be authentic to our internal and external audiences because our company’s brand voice has a character, and it must continue during this time. We don’t want to be absent or go completely dark during a crisis. In fact, I’d argue it’s even more important to be there for our audiences as many of us are on the Internet a lot more right now with the isolation order.

What this means for businesses:

  • Revamping all of the scheduled social media posts and starting from scratch
  • Rescheduling or canceling planned events and announcing new dates to audiences
  • Developing relevant webinars
  • Writing helpful blog posts
  • Continuing with pertinent updates to websites, e-newsletters and social marketing
  • Looking for possible news angles to share useful information with the local media

How we recover? I’ve owned my business for nearly 17 years assisting clients with media relations, marketing, social media and crisis communication. What is happening today is unique, but it is also what we plan for every time we talk about crisis and business planning.

Recovering from this means we need to think beyond the crisis. Which is one of the hardest things to do! The uncertainty surrounding the timing of the end of our isolation order as well as the uncertainty surrounding the end of the spread of the virus is causing fear for a lot of us. I would suggest that we thoughtfully look at our communication strategies for 2020, and re-adjust based on this new normal.

My recommendations for how we come back: build credibility, engage on a deeper level, communicate empathy and demonstrate competence.

Why messaging is important? I love thinking about the importance of communication specifically during THIS crisis. When it comes to beating this pandemic, it is all about spreading the message to #flattenthecurve. Without concerted messaging from politicians, businesses, civic leaders and eventually trickling down to all of the rest of us, this virus would have serious and possibly grave effects on humanity.

During a crisis, good communicators understand the importance of:

  • building trust
  • explaining the risks without creating panic
  • demonstrating that leadership has a plan and is taking action
  • conveying instructions appropriately
  • welcoming feedback and working to engage with audiences
  • maintaining focus and sharing positivity when appropriate

There’s been a lot of jokes on TV and social media, including on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, about the abundance of businesses communicating about COVID-19, mostly emails flooding our in-boxes from every business we’ve patronized… ever. I don’t mind these jokes. This is good communication business policy. This means that businesses are mindful and responding to their customers appropriately.

When the dust settles (and I know it will), I hope and pray we’ll all be safe and back to our new marketing strategies of best practices of communication, messaging, PR and social media.

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