Monday Morning Media Minute

I like a good food fight.  So, I’ve been enjoying the potshots the Republicans have been taking at one another since the election.  Actually, it started before the election.

Entertainment aside, the pre- and post-election fighting within the sometimes-competing McCain and Palin campaigns stands in stark contrast to the message discipline shown by the Obama campaign.

Part of the difference can be explained by the difference between a winning team and a losing one.  It’s a lot easier to stay disciplined when you’re winning.  But staying disciplined also helps you win.

I’ll leave it to folks smarter than me to figure out why Obama won and McCain lost.  But a few thoughts about the importance of having a clear message and sticking to it.

Know what you want to say and why you want to say it. You can’t develop effective messages until you know what you want to achieve (your objective) and who your audience is (who you’re trying to influence).  It’s important to take time before you go public to figure these out.  I’m constantly surprised at how often people start talking to reporters and the rest of us before they have a clear message — or even a clear objective.

Once you have your message, stick to it. That sounds easy enough, but it isn’t always as easy as it sounds:

• Some spokespeople have an aversion to repeating themselves.  That’s a mistake.  Most of your audience won’t get your message until they’ve heard it several times.  So repeat yourself.

• Everyone has their favorite way of telling your story.  Even when an organization takes time to develop messages there almost always are at least a few people who think they have a better version.  Maybe they do.  If so, adopt their version.  Otherwise, insist they follow the same script as everyone else.

• People have personal agendas.  Just because someone claims to be speaking on your behalf doesn’t mean they don’t have their own personal agenda.  If they’re putting their personal agenda ahead of yours, they aren’t really loyal followers.  If they’re on your payroll and you have the power to do so either fire them or put them in jobs where they are no longer acting as spokespeople.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

Joe the Plumber and Colin the General both made political splashes during the past week.

When all’s said and done, the general’s a better spokesperson for his candidate than the plumber because his message is more consistent with the messages of his candidate.

Just because of who he is, Powell’s endorsement supports Obama on key themes of the campaign — that he’s ready to be commander-in-chief and that he isn’t a terrorist or a pal of terrorists.  Joe the Plumber’s credentials supporting the idea that McCain’s tax plan helps small businesses and Obama’s doesn’t is a little more suspect because Joe the Plumber’s identity is more suspect.

And every reason Powell gave for endorsing Obama reinforced one of Obama’s campaign messages.  Joe the Plumber wasn’t as clearly on message for McCain.

Politics aside, the general and the plumber are good examples of the strengths and weaknesses of third-party advocates.

The benefits of using third-party advocates is well known to PR professionals.  But they can be hard to keep on message — your message, at least — because they have own messages, their own identity and their own strengths and weaknesses.

So, use third-party advocates when you can.  But make sure they’ll support your message, not interfere with it.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.