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Sunday, June 26, 2005
Messages and channels
Mary Matalin and James Carville were the opening keynoters at the first general session of the IABC conference and, God love ‘em, they kept their remarks focused squarely on communications. Carville’s comments in particular struck a chord, particularly in light of my earlier posts on the idea that PR could be replaced by blogs.
I wasn’t taking notes, so this isn’t a precise quote, but it captures the spirit of what he said. “There are two parts to communication. There’s the tool you use to deliver it, and there’s the message. I’m not going to talk about the tools, because those can change in a year or five years. What’s really important is the message.”
Carville talked about the value of sound bites. Sound bites are held in low regard in many quarters, but Carville insisted that a well-crafted sound bite is all about clarity. “Don’t let anybody tell you that a message is too nuanced or layered for a sound bite,” he said. He used the example of telling children how to lead their lives. A pretty textured concept, right? How about “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If only everybody lived their lives by that simple, clear notion, the world would be a far better place.
And who will produce this clarity? Who will understand the message and the outcomes it is desired to produce? The power of the message to resonate with an audience? The blogosphere? Come on, folks. What will the hot communication tool be in five years? Blogs didn’t exist five years ago. Are we so damned sure that they’ll be the dominant tool in another five? We’re focused way, way too much on the tool and we’re forgetting the importance of the message.
I know, I know, I know that the audience controls the message today. That doesn’t mean organizations cannot put messages out there, kick off the meme, then participate in the conversation—again, with the outcomes firmly in mind.
PR people also know how to tell stories. Stories resonate with audiences. Carville noted that John Kerry told people what he stood for. George Bush, on the other hand, told the story of finding religion and setting out on a path and so on. He’s right. I remember another speaker at another conference uttered this phrase: “Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. Tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
Professional communicators—good ones, anyway—know all of this. They know the models. They know the strategies and the ways to know if their work is paying off. They also know how to make communication really work, through reptition (often via multiple channels), relevance, and other tricks of the trade.
I’m not diminishing the importance of blogs by any stretch of the imagination. Blogs represent and enable a fundamental shift in the balance between institutions and audiences. The nature of the most basic communications exchanges is undergoing irreversible change. Organizations must recognize blogs and other social media as vital grass-roots communication channels, and they must be embraced if organizations are going to engage with those audiences. But in the end, blogs are still a tool and not the message. The message—clear, concise, understandable, actionable, sustainable—is still the most important thing.
Tag: IABC International Conference 2005