PRSA Counselors Academy: Steve Cody

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Steve CodySteve Cody, Managing Partner of Peppercom shared his thoughts about the vital role that having a future-driven vision played in the turnaround and success of his firm.

Cody had to reinvent his firm after the dot com bubble burst. Not surprisingly with a name like Peppercom, his client base tilted heavily to technology. And when the bust hit, many of his clients evaporated.

According to Steve, “Complacency is a killer. It’s critical to figure out how to differentiate yourself because the marketplace is rapidly changing.

“Agencies that just keep on doing what they’ve been doing for years are heading for trouble. The field of dreams approach does not work. We all have the same kind of relationships with journalists. … The more you are seen as just an order taker and a tactical media relations operation, the more your business will be marginalized.”

Cody has based Peppercom’s differentiation on “understanding what is keeping the client up at night and understanding the changes in the marketplace and the business.”

Cody believes in the value of street level market research. He regularly calls “eight to nine people to find out what they see as their challenges.”

He has developed services and solutions that respond directly to the client concerns he has discovered.

For example, after 9-11, he was told by many clients and business executives that they were reining in their communications budgets. When he probed to determine what areas were moving forward, he discovered that companies were looking for ways to heighten their security and ability to respond to a security-related event. Seeing this, Cody sought out and partnered with a security company to develop a CrisisRx program. Through Crisis RX, the two partner firms provide clients with a realistic simulation of their crisis plans in order for them to preview how they will perform should they have to implement them in real life.

Other product offerings developed in a similar way include

Pain-based Selling: Peppercom partnered with a sales training organization to provide clients with hybrid sales training that draws on the basic principals of effective communications that Peppercom offers in its traditional media training.

Business Outcomes: a measurement program development in partnership with a marketing company.

Cody and Peppercom use the intelligence they have gathered through their research as the driver for an aggressive promotion program for Peppercom.

“We are very aggressive in treating Peppercom as a brand. From the very beginning, we treated Peppercom as a brand. Today, we treat it like a $25K to $30K / month client.”

He constantly mines the data for use in articles and speeches. And he says there is a constant appetite on the part of business people to hear “what is keeping their peer group up at night.”

“All of our senior people are tasked with asking what’s keeping you up at night? What’s keeping your firm up at night? Then we publish the results. Every two months or so, we have thought leadership articles coming out.”

Cody has taken much the same approach to establishing a blog: first research what others have done, test his own approach internally and finally launch it publicly.

Recently, he partnered with PR News for a survey of the C-Suite’s opinion of PR, further differentiating his firm in a hot area.

And now Cody is drawing on this research to create PepperDigital to help executives close the gap between traditional reputation management and marketing and what they are doing online. Another need identified through research.

Counselors Academy: Tom Hoog

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Tom HoogTom Hoog, Senior Counselor to the Chairman of Hill and Knowlton got day one of Counselors Academy off to a good start with a refreshingly candid discussion of the key drivers of reputation management.

Hoog framed his issue at the outset: “Lack of trust is a growing problem in all the pillars of society. If we don’t strengthen trust, it will hamper our ability to move the economy and society forward.”

He cited a recent survey of students at 34 U.S. universities that discovered that only 39% would trust government to tell the truth, 22% would trust corporations and a mere 18% would trust the media to tell the truth.

He observed that, over the past eighteen months, we’ve seen several top PR agencies get themselves in trouble. Questioned about whether he believed that Fleishman Hillard’s reputation will be tarnished over several years as a result of the overbilling scandal in Los Angeles, Hoog responded that he expected it would “because all their competitors will use this against them.” He noted that, “It took Hill and Knowlton a full ten years to overcome the Kuwait incident.”

He noted a particular problem for public relations agencies, “In many cases, you are judged by who you represent. If you are representing someone who may be perceived as less than honourable, it will affect your own reputation.”

He added, “In the downturn, we did several things that hurt our reputations. We took business we shouldn’t have. We put junior people on it who didn’t do as good a job as they should have. And this hurt our industry’s reputation.”

His solution? According to Hoog, senior corporate executives must play a role in restoring and sustaining trust. “Executives must live the culture 24/7. … To do this, you must lead and develop your culture from your own value set. Then it is easy to live the brand and culture day in and day out. … [If you do otherwise], people will see you trying to be something that you are not.”

He underlined the importance of a strong, postive corporate culture, noting that senior executives do not have “the ability to keep an eye on everything that is going on. … The lowest person on the totem pole can destroy a reputation just as easily as the top person.”

Hoog also highlighted the problem faced by principals of small and medium-sized consulting firms. “When I was running my own small firm, I became the chief sales person and the top account executive and I did very little to run the firm. This was a terrible mistake. People did not know what I stood for. … It is important that principals in small firms focus on running the firm.”
He contrasted this with the approach that he took when he headed up Hill and Knowlton. At that time, the company had been losing revenue. A turnaround was required.

He started from a couple essential premises.

First, “Client turnover is directly related to staff turnover. A client hates having new people brought into accounts. He who minimizes staff turnover wins.”

Second, “How do you minimize staff turnover? Reputation.” He illustrated this with recent data from the Centre for Creative Leadership that indicates that the top four things on peoples’ list of they they want to work at a company are: number 1, “my thoughts, my opinons are valued;” number 2 “The company I work for is well thought of;” number 3: Career opportunities; and only at number 4, salary. He noted that the first three factors were tightly clustered with a separation of about five points from one to three. Salary trailed another five points behind these.

The solution Hill and Knowlton put in place reflected this understanding:

  • “Our mission statement: We would grow through loyalty-based management.”Loyalty to clients “meant we would give clients ‘best teams’ regardless of geography.”

    H&K changed its bonus program for leaders of offices. “You had to demonstrate that you had given away 20% of the revenue from your office.”

  • “Loyalty to employees meant we would provide them with a career path. We instituted a “two year up or out policy.”
  • To support this, H&K introduced a new training program. Initially the training budget was 6% of total revenues. Once H&K stabilized, it dropped to 4%.
  • “Each employee had to take 30 credit hours per year. If they didn’t take it, they would not be eligible for a raise or a promotion.”
  • “We also put a serious mentoring program sytem into place.”
  • “And a 360 degree review process. It was cumbersome, but it worked.”

All in all, an excellent session. Hoog’s principals and methods can be used by firms both large and small. And while small firms lack the total resources of a giant like Hill and Knowlton, astute managers can choose particular initiatives to introduce to work to improve their situation.

The essential underpinning to any of these measures is that they are firmly grounded in a culture that reflects the values of the leadership of the firm. With this in place, any subsequent measures will ring true with employees and clients alike.

Counselors Academy: Monday afternoon sessions I'm hoping to cover

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The afternoon sessions promise a good look at the present and near future:

Julia Hood: Town Hall luncheon interactive conversation with the editor-in-chief of PR Week

Not sure what to expect of this session.

Josh Hallett: Bloggety, Blog, Blog

The conference program says: “From Newsweek’s cover to CNN broadcasts, blogs are the most hyped tool for today’s communicatiors. Find out if the hype’s justified. And discover how our new communications world can evolve into a practitioner’s dream – or nightmare.”

I’m looking forward to this session. Given the profile of its membership, Counselors Academy is a good indicator of the extent to which social media tools have been adopted by small and mid-size firms across North America. At last year’s session in Phoenix, the people who attended Giovanni Rodriguez’s blogging workshop showed only very early awareness of RSS feeds and newsreaders. It will be interesting to see how much farther these media have proliferated in the past yer.

Tom Foremski and Robert French, moderated by Giovanni Rodriguez: The Future of Newspapers/The Future of PR

Another forward looking session. It’s advance billing: “This panel … will look at the financial stress that many newspapers are under and examine a number of possible causes. What does this mean for the future of newspapers? What does this mean for the future of public relations? The panel will debate and discuss a number of recent trends including the impact of Craigslist; competing sources for news; citizen journalism; and new media (blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, etc.)” Hmmm. Wonder what the “etc.” could be…

Counselors Academy: Monday morning sessions I'm hoping to cover

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So many great sessions at Counselors Academy. I’m forced to make decisions. Here are the sessions I’m hoping to cover on Monday

Tom Hoog: The Key Drivers of Reputation: Management for Agency Executives

The former President and CEO of Hill and Knowlton USA leads a breakout session described as “Agency growth is closely connected to the reputation of your leaders. One of the profession’s most accomplished executives will discuss authentic ways for managing reputation and brand persona for you and your firm.”

Steve Cody: A Future-Driven Vision

The Managing Partner of Peppercom asks the question: “What is your firm doing to develop a shared vision and commitment to the future? [Steve] will discuss the vital role that visioning played in the success of his firm.”

Dick Martin: Keynote presentation

The former Executive Vice-President of Public Relations for AT&T (1997-2003) “will mine his experience for lessons on how organizations should navigate their way through crisis and change.”

Bob Reed: From Mother to Mentor: Professional Development and Training for Today’s Workforce

Oh yeah. I’m up for this one. “Managing and training younger employees can be a challenge. They have perceptions, expectations and habits that can negatively impact how they act and perform on the job. So how do agencies manage younger associates to instill professionalism? And how must agency execs adapt to the needs of today’s workforce? [Bob Reed] will explore the issues and provide answers and information … to help upper management mold less-seasoned employees into productive professionals.”

I’m not sure about the molding. But I sure am keen to help young people succeed.

Getting a job in PR: Do something beyond the routine

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Chris Clarke has posted about getting his first PR job. Straight out of school. With my firm, Thornley Fallis, a big-city PR agency.

In his post, Chris says:

I owe this opportunity to one thing and one person. The thing is blogging and new media. Without it, there is little else that sets me apart from the rest of the students in the field of PR in Toronto (or anywhere else in the world for that matter). The person is David Jones. He took a minute to read a comment I left on his blog many months ago, corresponded with me through email, agreed to speak to my program, volunteered to help our program organize a trip to visit a number of PR firms in Toronto, and was kind enough to invite me to Toronto for a sit-down meeting with him. David did more for me than most teachers I had this year in college, and I can say with total confidence that he’s taught me more than many of them, too. So David, thank you so much.

The thing that intimidates me the most about this little PR adventure is that there really is no blueprint to follow. I can’t point to any other successful bloggers who happen to also be students of public relations programs who have taken the big step into the agency world right out of college and succeeded (although I have a feeling I’m not alone in this thinking). That won’t deter me, though. It hadn’t occurred to me until just now, but I hope to be a model for future students who might someday be in the position I’m in right now. Hopefully, they can point to me and feel confident that they can do a good job too. It’s a big responsibility, though: my success will certainly be a deciding factor in hiring future bloggers at Thornley Fallis. It might be a deciding factor for other firms thinking of hiring PR students with blogs. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see (and make sure I don’t screw it up for the bloggers!)

Chris ClarkeChris is right in his assessment of the important role played in his recruitment by David Jones (who showed the very best qualities of a senior PR practitioner in reaching out to students of PR and in doing so gave us all a standard to live up to) and Chris’ decision to blog.

What Chris may not remember is that he sent us his CV and applied for a position with our firm in February. At that time, his CV revealed him to be a university graduate who was rounding out his education with studies in public relations at Fanshawe College. He had been involved in a range of extracurricular and community service activities. A bright young student looking for a first job in his chosen field. One of the dozen qualified applicants we hear from each month.

But Chris didn’t stop there. He used his time in school to begin to pursue his passion for blogging. And he began to interact with established bloggers. Not just David Jones, but also many others including A listers like Joseph Jaffe.

So, Chris didn’t fade from our consciousness after we had reviewed his CV. Instead, he set himself apart from all of the other people who sent us CVs by distinguishing himself. We followed his blog. And when it came time for us to recruit a new staffer to work with us in our expanding social media practice, it was a no-brainer to call Chris.

But is this something new or exclusive to blogging? Not at all. Savvy young people have known for years that high grades and university degrees are not enough to land the best jobs after graduation. The very best people distinguish themselves by doing something out of the ordinary to make them remarkable to recruiters in their chosen profession.

For Chris, it was his student PR blog. Others I have hired over the years have distinguished themselves while students in a number of other ways: handling communications for a community cause; preparing a branding and marketing program for a student pub; being actively involved in a political leadership campaign (yes, politics can be an admirable thing, if engaged in for principled reasons) or: working as an intern in a newsroom or PR agency.

And in each case that I recall, the person didn’t just go through the motions to assemble CV credentials. They excelled in their extra activity, producing outstanding results and earning the respect of the people they worked with.

And that’s what Chris did. Student PR isn’t just a blog. It is a blog with thoughtful posts that probe the nature of best practices in the emerging social media.

In this Chris has truly established himself as a model for others.

We’re looking forward to his arrival at Thornley Fallis. There are no guarantees of success. But we’re hopeful that we can provide an environment where a promising young PR practitioner can and will excel.

Welcome aboard Chris!

Losing a valued colleague: A Peril of Blogging

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David JonesDavid Jones is leaving Thornley Fallis. He has been recruited away from us by another firm that wants to upgrade their expertise in social media.

That’s a bummer for Thornley Fallis. David is a good friend and a very smart guy. We will miss him.

Dave, Terry Fallis and I have spent the past year exploring the possibilities of social media. We have learned by doing. We have learned a lot from one another. We have learned by meeting and talking to others who are on the leading edge of developing social media. 

And as we have exchanged views and learned from other practitioners of social media, our own profiles have been raised. We have come to “know” and “be known” to people we have never met in person. This really came home to me when I first approached a fellow blogger at a conference. As I was about to introduce myself, he said, “I know you. I’ve seen your picture on your blog and I read you all the time.” (Nice compliment; totally unexpected)

So, I should not be surprised that another firm has swooped in and made David an offer he could not refuse (It’s all positive; no severed horse heads involved.) In exploring and engaging in social media, David has raised his profile and engaged in conversations with respected bloggers and podcasters like Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson, Joseph Jaffe, Colin McKay and Robert French. He has acquired a positive reputation beyond our traditional geographic area of operation and, in our small world, an element of celebrity.

Our experience defines the new normal for PR practitioners who engage in social media. Every time a consulting firm like Thornley Fallis encourages its employees to share their experiences and smarts through a blog, we increase the likelihood that we will lose those people to other opportunities. David’s not the first blogger to be scooped up by a bigger firm. He follows a path that in the past six months has been well trod by other high profile bloggers like Jeremy Pepper and Steve Rubel.

So, will Thornley Fallis stop encouraging our consulting team to blog and explore social media? Heck no!

We’ll accept that this increased risk is just part of the entry fee to engage in social media. And we’ll understand that it’s better to spend a year learning and exploring with a guy like David Jones than it is to spend a decade of the safe same old, same old practise of techniques we long ago mastered.

For PR consultancies, it’s grow or die. And we must learn to grow. We will learn to deal with this aspect of blogging.

And after all, one of the great things of consulting is that we get to hire or join our friends. And Dave’s a good friend. So, you never know what the future may bring…

Dave, I and all the gang at Thornley Fallis wish you every success at your new gig!

 

Linkworthy

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Blog Tools

  • Darren Rowse has compiled a list of blog tools (he added another 12 on May 1 for a total of 67). A useful reference resource.

Moneyball Theory of PR

  • Marcel Goldstein makes the case for recruiting outside of narrowly defined PR credentials. Read his post, not for the analysis of impact on compensation trends, but for the pure joy of a person who recognizes human potential.