| Fall 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dear Friends:
In straight business terms, it’s now Q4 of '07. Now, ask yourself this: which version of that story did you enjoy reading more. Did the first version conjure up images of autumn and what you like about this season? Did it have flavor that resonated like poetry? While the second description of the season was brief and conveyed the essential details, the first description hints at the start of a story. And, since we got you reading this far… evidently it worked! I bring up these points to illustrate how important storytelling is when delivering your company’s key messages to the media and your customers. In our feature article for this issue, we delve into tips on how to stand out by more colorfully delivering messages in every media opportunity you get. Hope you enjoy the issue and this beautiful fall season!
The Next “Stop” After Media Training: How Effective Message Delivery Can Make a Company Spokesperson Stand Out in Every Media Interview Would you rather listen to this story? Click here.
On point #3 especially, while many company spokespersons, primarily CEOs, invest thousands of dollars in media training, the misconception is that once that power-exercise is complete, your training is over and you’re now ready for any media interview. Quite the contrary, just as an exercise routine needs consistency and repetition to produce results, to stand out in an information-overloaded digital world, CEOs need to continuously brush up on their message delivery and story-telling skills. While media training lays a foundation for how to be confident during an interview, respond to difficult questions, etc. the key challenge many CEOs have is delivering key messages in every interview so they have a direct hand in shaping how the story’s written. With the right interview technique and narrative about your company in a media interview, the story should write itself… and include important quotes that deliver the strategic messages. Below are Carabiner’s “Top 3 Tips” to help company spokespersons attack the challenge of consistently delivering messages that resonate and tell a story:
Track how your competition is being quoted in the press. Are they discussing industry trends? Are their quotes blatantly promotional? How can you one-up what they say? Provide examples to reporters that illustrate how your company is more experienced or knowledgeable on a particular subject. Have your PR people follow up with reporters who covered your competition and offer to provide a more compelling, informative side to an issue.
To effectively break through, there are a few techniques you can employ to be memorable and provide a reporter with quotable material. To emphasize a point, build a story into your answer. For example, share an anecdote about a customer or how the company took on a recent challenge. Sprinkle in quotable material by sharing industry-sourced statistics you have prepared, or illustrate a point by using a metaphor or analogy to better explain your answer. And, wherever possible, share your human side by using humor and personality to help with transitions and keep the interview light and personable. Below are two favorite quotes that really illustrate this tip: "If airlines were to cut back to a level where we could assure that we wouldn't have many of the problems we have today, there would be so few seats relative to demand that you'd never be able to get a seat to go see Grandma. There would be a huge uproar." "Ten years from now, when people think about telephony, they'll see a movie and look at a desktop phone and think, oh yeah, we used to have one of these." – Bill Gates
In the age of YouTube, video blogs and podcasts, there are hundreds of different voices out there for both business and consumer audiences to grab hold of. When planning a media interview, company videocast or blog, utilize the person in your company who can best relate and tell a story to the targeted audience. If your goal is to recruit product engineers, for example, have a product engineer blog about working at the company. That approach may even get picked up by the media. Set egos aside and designate the best company representative as the spokesperson on different topics. For some company websites featuring video interviews, the webcast speakers are not always CEOs. The highest energy person in your company, especially for a start up or mid-sized organization, may be the lead product designer whose “baby” literally is the company’s technology. Who can speak with more passion about it than the person who envisioned it?
Check out Carabiner’s latest podcasts, online videos and radio interviews!
By Peter Baron Published in September 2007 in The Navigator Unless you have been living under a bus or have just returned from an extended vacation on a remote tropical island, you’ve already taken notice that we are quickly transitioning away from a media distribution model where print publications and wire services act as gatekeepers for information distribution. In the new model, consumers are increasingly going to the Web and using search engines and aggregators to identify and determine for themselves what is newsworthy. The result is an increasingly fragmented audience where news popularity is defined by the individual and their peers much more so than the nightly news anchor. Don’t let this change in direction frighten you. As PR professionals we should be excited about the multitude of new opportunities it provides for clients who are willing to adapt. Read more here.
Did you know that Savannah built the first steamship that crossed an ocean? And it was in Savannah in 1793 that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which contributed to the economic development of the South. Today, an abundance of technological innovation is thriving in this beautiful city on the coast of Georgia. To tap into that low-country innovation, Carabiner Communications has established a regional office in Savannah, operating under of the direction of Atlanta transplant Bob Pritchard, and Carabiner’s VP, Suzanne Moccia, a Savannah native. Stay tuned for more formal news about our expansion into America’s most beautiful historic city.
Tentler’s unpublished manuscript has been recognized in numerous other 2007 Romance Writers of America chapter contests, including the Yellow Rose RWA’s (Fort Worth) “Winter Rose” (1st place – romantic suspense), Heart of Denver’s “Molly” (1st place – romantic suspense), and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers’ Golden Claddagh (1st place – mainstream novel with romantic elements). Say Nothing is her first fiction manuscript.
“Vocalizing a Turnaround” – Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Tech Writer Justin Rubner Highlights Vocalocity’s Growth
Hannon Hill Makes the Ranks of the 2007 Inc. 500 List
“If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500,” said Inc. Editor Jane Berentson. “These are the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, the ones coming up with solutions to some of our most intractable ills, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier, and manufacturing products we soon discover we can’t live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine’s tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition.”
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As temperatures drop and the crispness of fall ushers in autumn leaf displays and jack-o-lanterns, the sun-filled days of summer heat are now a distant memory. 
» What’s a Carabiner?
In a recent podcast, Vocalocity's president and co-founder, Phil Hill, discusses how his company is addressing the communications needs of the small business market with a hosted Voice over Internet Protocol PBX solution that offers feature-rich flexible options at a considerably lower cost than previously available choices. A hosted VoIP PBX system offers the micro enterprise a means to operate more efficiently and gain the same features and functionality that large companies consider critical to their success. 
In a recent posting, Publishers Weekly blogger Barbara Vey recognized Carabiner senior writer Leslie Tentler, who recently received the “Maggie Award for Excellence” from Georgia Romance Writers for her unpublished work, Say Nothing. Vey wrote:
Hannon Hill Corporation, a Carabiner client since May 2006, recently ranked #247 on the 26th annual Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. 
| About Carabiner Communications Your high-tech business needs help scaling today’s competitive markets. Carabiner Communications is a technology PR firm that helps you connect. With 80-plus years of high-tech PR and marketing experience and over 500 product launches under our belt, we can hook directly into the core of your business, without the learning curve of other agencies. |
