A few months ago I had the pleasure of presenting to the faculty and administrators of the California Community Colleges a lesson on “Power Listening“. It was geared to students to better understand how to “listen”, not just hear, what is being said. This was a critical lesson when entering the business industry.
Today I saw a great article in Marketing Pros, that addressed this same issue about listening. It was from Todd Defren who has a blog called PR Squared. Todd puts the listening concept more in tune with the business world of marketing. Publicity professionals may hear, or listen to what is happening in a PR Clients market. But do they have the power, or knowledge to implement a program that responds to what they hear.
For example:
Defren says there are two ways you can “listen” to your customers:
- Many savvy brands use active listening to monitor social media and respond when appropriate. Defren on active listening: “Quick! Somebody said something about us! Say something back!”
- The next step is actionable listening. “The difference here,” he notes, “is that the folks doing the listening/responding are empowered to effect change within their organization, on customers’ behalf.
Much of what Todd is speaking about is social media. Knowing when and how to respond is critical. Having the power to do the response to what is said is necessary. By not acting quickly to social media comments about your pr clients product/service is a missed opportunity to gain a stronger brand and image. This is another example of showing a need to include social media and social networking in a pr marketing strategy for pr clients. If you are a PR Client, it is time to get your publicity campaign in gear with today’s pr marketing tools. Listen to what is being said about your industry, and products. Make sure you have a publicity professional or pr agency that can meet your needs.