Trend Chasing, Taylor Swift and Why Everyone Needs to Calm Down

In this episode, Karen and Michelle discuss the pitfalls of blindly following trends in the PR and marketing world. It’s important to keep strategies aligned with a brand's core values and mission. “Going viral” is not a meaningful goal if it doesn’t translate into meaningful engagement or revenue.  

 

Special Offer:

Lettuce is teaming up with Solo PR Pro to offer you a free, game-changing Business Assessment Program. Be one of the first 1,000 savvy PR pros to join.

 

Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:17):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and as ever, my wonderful co-host, the Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen, how are you today?

Karen Swim,, APR (00:35):

Hi, Michelle. I'm nice and dry, which I understand is not the case with many across the country.

Michelle Kane (00:41):

So true. This is true.

Karen Swim,, APR (00:43):

How are you?

Michelle Kane (00:44):

I'm well. I'm well. By the time this airs though, this will have been at least a week or so ago, but we're in the midst of February, which shouldn't be a surprise that you get a big dump of snow, but it was definitely one of those storms that was supposed to be a nothing that turned into a something which always shakes up the day. I am spinning this for myself in that the cover of snow is making this rare sunshine that much brighter. So I'm soaking all that in.

Karen Swim,, APR (01:09):

Yeah, and the sunshine has definitely been rarer. This year I went ahead and invested in a happy light for myself because I was being affected by January where we had endless days of gray, dreary dark zero sunshine.

Michelle Kane (01:26):

Yes, yes. That is a wise investment. I had one of those and it broke, and I've yet to replace it, but given that I have a dark sense of humor, I'd make myself chuckle that even my sad lamp broke. I love that you call it a Happy Lamp. What do you do when sad lamp breaks.

Karen Swim,, APR (01:46):

Well, you replace it.

Michelle Kane (01:51):

Oh my goodness. So yes, being that, oh goodness, we're at that wonderful time in winter where we're smack between the Super Bowl and the Oscars.

Karen Swim,, APR (02:03):

Yes.

Michelle Kane (02:03):

Which for some is our own Super Bowl, but that's a topic for another day. But it brings to mind trends. Clients will see something that has hit the pop culture psyche in a way that everyone's talking about it, and next thing you know, we want to do something like that too. How can we take advantage of this? And I said that in that particular tone because it's not always appropriate, is it?

Karen Swim,, APR (02:31):

That's so true. And of course we have all had those clients that maybe saw something go viral and they want you to do something for them that will make them go viral. Of course, we all know as communication professionals, just as we can never guarantee media placement unless it's a paid opportunity, paid ethical opportunity that we can't guarantee whether something will go viral or not. No one knows what will go viral. That's sort of the surprise and the fun of it all is that you never know what's going to grab hold. And by the way, going viral doesn't always necessarily translate into revenue. It can translate into a fun moment. So I do think that for professional communications people as well as marketers, it's important to sort of have a framework that you can share with clients like a decision tree. And we talked about this before as it relates to social justice issues and things that are happening in the external world, you have a series of questions that you can work through, so that helps the client to become a little bit logical about whether or not this is something that they should tap into.

Michelle Kane (03:49):

I love that. I love that it brings to mind, I had the pleasure and good fortune a few years ago to sit through a nonprofit board training as far as creating your vision, your mission, and the most important of all was just bringing home the point of viewing everything through that lens. Because whether it's a nonprofit or a corporation and you're trying to think of marketing ideas, if it doesn't pass the muster of passing through that lens of let's say in this situation, what are your goals for your public relations? Then even if it's the best idea in the world, that might be fun. If it's not going to solve for one of your distinct goals, you may want to say, yeah, it would be great if we put time and energy into this, but is it really going to be the best use of our resources? Is it going to really provide what we're looking for?

Karen Swim,, APR (04:44):

I love that. That is such smart advice, and it's interesting because we as PR pros, we love tapping into trends and we love spinning analogies and we'll take a metaphor and we will metaphor it to death and it's fun. I mean, that kind of stuff is really fun. We've even done it at Solo PR Pro, but for your brands, again, when it's business, and really you have to really first of all look at your audience. So if you're tapping into, we just were off the Super Bowl and it's all about Taylor Swift, unfortunately because Swift was not one of the players. I'm just saying, so you saw millions, she's not so many articles on Taylor Swift and the Taylor showed Craft and Taylor Swift, this and Taylor Swift that and Taylor, Taylor, Taylor Taylor. But if your brand is a investment firm, is that going to really matter to their audience? And so I think that it's always important to take a step back and to think about who you are as a brand and help your clients to own who they are because that's step one of all of your communications. It's really having mission, vision and values and being true to that, even if that means ignoring trends because trends are trends and people are entertained, but we're seeking to do more than entertain. We're seeking to actually engage people and we're actually seeking to move the needle where people do business with us.

It’s a different lens that we're viewing it from. Have fun and yes, it's fun. You can go on TikTok and your CEO can dance, but are people going to trust them with their investments just because you dance? Will they love it? Will they share it? Maybe.

Michelle Kane (06:36):

Because let's face it, if it's not received well or if you kind of bomb, then that's a whole new problem. I will say one thing I'm seeing in the past week or so, and again, those that are jumping on it are doing it well and it's timely and it makes sense. I don't know if you're seeing these, but the series of Valentine cards that are arranged themed according to the brand. So the Philadelphia Orchestra did a series and it's like based around the kiddie Valentines, simple things. And it's like “You are on my Listz” using composers, or the best one today I sell is from the National Park Service. Something like, you give me a kick and it's a figure of a buffalo hoisting someone into the air. I mean, they're funny, they're timely, they align with the brand, they give you a chuckle. Something like that I think as far as I've seen, has been pretty successful. Now do you need to do those? No. Am I going to run out and make my client do these? No, because first of all, it's too late. And second of all, we have other things to do that will, like you say, move the needle.

Karen Swim,, APR (07:45):

So I love some of the customizable trends that I think that those, like what you just described, it's clearly it's a holiday here in the United States. And if your brand is somebody that recognizes holidays, tapping into some of those thematic trends that can be customized to your brand are perfectly okay. So that should go on your decision framework. Is this a seasonal or some observance that is recognized by our entire audience? And if so, are we just doing it to have a little fun with that particular observance or to bring awareness to that observance? Then those things are yes. And again, it's all about setting expectations. And your client is using this as a moment to either inform, educate, or entertain your intended audience in a way that's on brand. Then maybe it is something that you tap into. I will say we have all of these things that happened in the start of the year. We also, it's still February and I believe this will still air in February. It's a black history month.

Michelle Kane (08:53):

Yes.

Karen Swim,, APR (08:53):

This is one of those trends that you don't want to just ride the coattails up and start all of a sudden sharing Martin Luther King quotes, particularly if your organization is not diverse, knows nothing about diversity, is not doing anything to move the needle on diversity, please just opt out. And I can say that this is one of those months that you can isolate rather than be inclusive. Maybe this month it's better for you to learn and to be silent. I would honestly rather you be silent than to screw it up. Same with any of Women's history month. If your entire company is all men and you're not doing anything to advance, women probably want to stay out of the public facing promotions, actually fix the problem. I would love it if you all would do that. The problem

Michelle Kane (09:50):

That's so perfect though, because it really brings to the forefront of mind. If you don't have something to contribute in a positive way, black history month fun trend, then just don't. That's okay. But please just don't do it because you feel like you have to be in the room of conversation about things. If you truly have nothing to contribute and you're just doing it to be a face value contribution, it's again, your time and energy is better spent elsewhere, including yes, learning and becoming more diverse.

 

Karen Swim,, APR (10:31):

And I know that some people, some leaders and some organizations are critical of what they refer to as the easily offended era. So they feel like there's so many landmines. We can't say that anymore. We can't do this anymore. But I want to put that in context as well. And here's how you can help your clients navigate these potential landmines. You are right. Many more landmines exist today, seemingly, although there's always been an etiquette that we all followed in communications and in behavior throughout our entire history. There's always been rules, there's always been cultural things. But today the awareness is particularly heightened because we have so many ways of sharing information and you're exposed to so many more people. When we didn't have the internet, our day-to-Day interactions were really limited to in-person interactions. So you office and whatever makeup of your office, that's what you were exposed to.

(11:34):

You didn't have a lot of outside opinions. All of your customers could not get on a social media platform and do a video about your product. And so you don't hate those things. You love it. I'm sure the pink stuff loved it when they had been making products forever and suddenly this little clean influencer, not for money just said, I love this. And she was talking about it and it went completely viral. Did they say that? Gosh darn internet, it put us on the map and we've been doing this forever. No. So you can't rage against the machine that give it because that same machine will take it. And these landmines are opportunities for us to become better educated about how to be better at speaking with our audiences, but also not isolating groups of people as we have done in the past. So I don't think that this is a bad thing.

(12:28):

I think that this is all a great thing and it's just awareness, right? And I think at the core of what we're talking about today, we know this as communicators, it's all about encouraging your clients to be true to their brand, to be true to who they really are. Authenticity, that big word that we throw around a lot really brains here. If you're authentic, you don't have to observe a single holiday, but if the content that you produce on any communication channel is truly you, it's representative and it's seeking to add value to your audience, you really can't go wrong. Will you possibly make someone mad? You will. No. Getting around that in 2024, someone will be mad, even if it's the greatest thing in the world. People are mad at Elma,

Michelle Kane (13:20):

Right? Yeah, exactly. There are people who just love to be contrary as a hobby. So we always used to say, if that happened with anything we did, well, we've done our job. We've made them happy by allowing them to express their misery.

Karen Swim,, APR (13:35):

Yes, I love that.

Michelle Kane (13:39):

But it's so true. So I think self-awareness goes a long way for your brand. And like you say, knowing who you are, how you want to present yourselves, you do not have to be everything to everyone because not everyone is into your brand. And that goes, if you're a popular soda brand or even the bigs, not everybody's for you. And that's all right, but

Karen Swim,, APR (14:06):

Just I think we all have to get back to the idea that why is everybody wanting to be famous? There's a downside to fame. And so that's really not our business proposition. I'm going to make you famous. No, you only need to be known by the people that matter to your purpose, your mission, your organization, period. No one else has to know your name. You don't have to be famous. You don't have to be a viral sensation to matter in this world. And if we could sort of dial it down from that and back up and say, what are we really trying to do here? What are we trying to accomplish? It really would make the work of communication professionals a lot easier. So that little message is for anyone who may not be in the comms business, please don't put these expectations on your communication professionals that are just trying to do their job and do the right thing and have plans that make sense and be strategic on your behalf. We know what to do if you'll let us do it.

Michelle Kane (15:11):

Right. And it all comes down to vanity metrics. I mean, how many times I like to think these days are over, but probably not. But the clients that are saying, oh, look at all the Facebook likes this account has, I was like, yeah, okay. How many of them are bought? How many of them actually do business with them? I don't care if they have 12,000 likes, if only 1000 of those are actually potential customers. It's just numbers. Yeah. And let's face it, most of the time going viral, like that example you gave is total serendipity. And how did that happen? Because that company was leading with who they are and how they help people, and that is what caught fire.

Karen Swim,, APR (16:02):

So

Michelle Kane (16:03):

I mean, there it is.

Karen Swim,, APR (16:04):

An influencer from the UK did not get on the internet and say, my mission in life is to become famous and to put pink stuff on the map. She just liked to clean. And people found that deeply satisfying to watch someone cleaning, and she was sharing what she was using and it took off. I mean, I think the folding lady, I love the folding lady. The folding lady is my stress reliever. I don't think that she started folding. Let me learn how to become an expert in folding so that I can be completely famous. She just shared something that she genuinely loved to do with people on the internet because we can do that these days. And so yeah, I do a lot of stuff that I love and that I'm happy to do and pass on information. And I've never been a viral sensation, and that's okay. I'm okay with that.

Michelle Kane (16:58):

Exactly. No, no one wants to be a virus these days anyway,

Karen Swim,, APR (17:01):

Yes,

Michelle Kane (17:02):

I might have to check out the folding lady because if I ever conquer a fitted sheet, it will be a miracle.

Karen Swim,, APR (17:11):

She folds fitted sheet as beautifully as my mother did, and that is something amazing compliment that I can possibly give her.

Michelle Kane (17:18):

That’s a gift.

Karen Swim,, APR (17:19):

So beautiful. Everything she folds is so beautiful, and I love her. And whenever I pull out my own folding board, I think Thank you folding lady.

Michelle Kane (17:29):

I love it. Well, Karen, do you have anything to tell our listeners about what's happening at Solo PR Pro?

Karen Swim,, APR (17:35):

I do. I'm so happy to be able to share some news because it feels like forever, since we've had news and we're doing something very special with the lettuce and it's lettuce.co, we will have the address in the show notes where they have made a special offer where the first 1000 solopreneurs to sign up for this will get a free business audit. So Lettuce is a company that will help you to manage your business finances in a way that makes sense to all of us and it's app base. No privacy concerns here, but hop over to the link in the show notes and register for your freebie because it's free, but they're only taking a thousand people. But we also, they've also agreed to do a little workshop for us on escorts and how to go from a solo proprietorship to an S corp, which is great, whether you've been in business for a long time and you started as an LLC or you're thinking of starting your business, or you just started your business because they're going to walk us through some of the benefits and what it means to be become an S corp. And there are tons of benefits to it that many people may not be aware of. So please follow us, subscribe to our channel, sign up for our newsletter, and we'll have this information in the show notes for you. And we hope to just continue to bring you things that are meaningful to you in your business.

Michelle Kane (19:02):

I love that. And Karen and I, we love chatting like this all the time, but ultimately we want this to be helpful for you. So let us know at solopro.com. If you do find these episodes valuable, please share us around your socials. We're not asking you to make us viral, although we won't complain, but we would love that if you would share us around. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.