| David Gallagher, Partner and CEO, Ketchum London |
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| Ruth Yearley, Planning Director, Ketchum London |
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Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) “Perfecting PR Strategy” conference, London
March 19, 2007
David Gallagher: Of course when we were asked by the CIPR to speak here today we took this very seriously -- and what might you expect from a planner and a CEO?
Ruth wanted to do some research. And I wanted to listen to people.
Ruth Yearley: So what we decided to do was give ourselves a couple of weeks and research and listen for all the different definitions and approaches we could find on strategy and planning a strategy.
We listened to the Prime Minister’s question time and News 24 for briefings from the Oval Office. We listened hard to see what Ken had to say about his strategy for London. And David went off to the Davos World Economic Forum and I had a surf through the various planning Web sites.
DG: And we were surprised at how little talk there was of strategy or planning strategy. But not to despair, because in our research and listening period we did learn a lot about different approaches to strategy.
First of all was that Ruth's mum and dad were moving house. They told the family that because they were downsizing, their strategy was to move as little as possible and to get rid of as much as they could before they moved. So they had to eat everything in the freezer and cupboards, and all of the children had to reclaim their schoolbooks, teenage diaries and photos -- as these were unlikely to make the cut!
RY: So, so far so good.
Then came David's neighbors. Over a chat in the park playground, they told David that after having looked at the local schools, they realized they couldn't afford private education and decided to try to get their 4-year-old into the local church school. Their strategy, they decided, was going to be to develop as much of a presence at the local church as possible in order to secure the vicar’s approval. They had already started going to church regularly but were also going to help out at Sunday school and her husband was going to help the vicar with his accounts.
DG: Well, we seemed to be doing OK -- strategy seemed to be alive and well.
The next time their ears pricked up was at a work party we both attended. Ruth's female friend shared with Ruth the big news that she had a huge crush on one of the guys in the office. Well, as you know, in PR a man is something of a rarity, so this was not a big news day as far as Ruth was concerned, but she was used to feigning interest on occasions like this. However, her attention really was grabbed when the friend started describing her strategy for attracting the man -- she had decided that her strategy or approach was going to be to just make herself incredibly desirable. She knew that the guy was incredibly competitive, so she was going to make herself the prize!
RY: Meanwhile, at the same party, across the other side of the room, David was having the same conversation but with a different woman. Same guy in question, different woman! (See -- told you there weren't many eligible guys in PR!) What was interesting was that she explained to David that she had really thought about the best way to get her man and she had a clear approach. Having been in this situation many a time before, she knew what it was like to have a work crush and all the attendant interest that came with it from all the other people in the company. So on this occasion she was going to play it differently. Her strategy was going to be to play hard to get -- to do nothing! To make no effort, to show no interest and use her aloofness to reel him in.
DG: So what did we learn from this? Strategic thinking and planning is alive and well; and we all do it every day – instinctively.
RY: So what else did we learn about how to do it? Well, before they decided on their strategy, all the people we heard from had objectives. They knew what they wanted to attain and in what time frame. The also wanted information, they knew the size of the new house or the entry criteria for the school or the guy's predispositions.
And of course you would expect us to say that. We all have these when we plan PR strategy -- we spend a lot of time setting smart communications goals and researching the business situation, competitive context, target audience, etc.
But they also had two other things that perhaps we underestimate or disregard in the workplace where we would not in real life. They also had experience, they had moved house before or had a hopeless crush before; and intuition (or as we like to call it in business, insight), they had a feel for what was going to work for them in the situation.
DG: So we really have to share with you here our favorite definition of strategy that we did not get from Ruth's mum and dad or from the girls at work, but believe it or not, from the Strategic Planning Society: “Strategic Planning: Devising intellectual justifications for other people's gut feelings.”
And while that is perhaps rather a facetious perspective, we do think it makes a point. Very often, strategy and planning a strategy are seen as impenetrable and challenging, even a bit scary. However, as we have seen, left to our own devices, we can all come up with a workable approach to most problems without too much grief. Sometimes, though, we find it hard to justify it and unpick how we came up with it and why it is the right one.
RY: So rather than thinking about strategy as intellectual justification as the quote mentions, we like to think of strategy as an intellectual explanation that helps the whole team and everyone involved in any PR project understand what they are all setting out to achieve and how they will achieve it. It is the touchstone for the whole project and where you should always keep coming back to check that you are still on track and understand why you are doing what you are doing.
And that is why a PR program without an overarching and driving strategy is an ineffective PR program. Because without this focus, this strategic vision, the PR plan is open to being buffeted by events and short-term distractions. (How many of us have not been called up and had a helpful suggestion of a collaboration or a sponsorship that just happens to be the client’s favorite pastime?)
Having a strategy that is shared and understood by the whole team means that the knee jerk is eliminated and these ideas can be considered and judged properly (and then rejected!).
However, that is not to say that strategy is inflexible and cast in stone. Strategy is an organic entity. Strategy changes as events and context change, new information appears, events and circumstances change, and consultation and feedback are taken on board.
DG: So hopefully having established that strategic planning is not as difficult as it might seem and how important it is for an effective PR campaign to be firmly grounded in strategy, we would like to take you through some thoughts on how to actually plan a great strategy.
So first of all, the who. Who should be involved in planning the strategy? The simple answer is everyone, or at least as many people as possible. We hope by now that we have made the point that strategic planning is not an exclusive domain and everyone on the PR team, at whatever level, needs to understand the strategy in order to be able to do their job effectively and work hard for the brand product or service they are servicing.
Therefore, those people who are responsible for delivering those tactics and bringing the strategy to life, need to understand the wider context, the why. The most effective way to get them to understand and buy in to that is to get them involved in the generation of it in the first place. The more you can involve them in the planning and development of it, the better.
At Ketchum we are lucky enough to have a dedicated strategic planner, but obviously even with that dedicated role, resources are limited. With this need in mind, for strategic planning to be owned by all, we developed the Ketchum Planning Process. This is a system available to everyone in the agency and helps them get involved in planning strategy. The Ketchum Planning Process gives everyone the capability to think like a planner and provides tools and breaks strategic planning down into critical thinking exercises.
RY: If you think of the two key components of strategy being the combination of knowledge and insight, it becomes easy to see that these are something that everyone is capable of contributing to. While there may be specialists, research teams, analysts, etc., who source and gather the knowledge or the intelligence, everyone needs to be cognizant of it. Then of course everyone is able to bring to it their own point of view, their own perspective, their own unique insight, and so contribute to the strategy development.
It can be easy to confuse knowledge with insight. Don’t. Knowledge is data, facts, points of reference and information. Insight is a glimpse into the heart, soul or mind. You need them both, but you can’t replace one with the other.
DG: Strategy is always a choice. Of course there is a temptation when a brief comes in for the most senior player or the planner or the person who has worked in that area for longest to just go away, immerse themselves in the brief, have a little think, frame the strategy, and deliver it fait accompli to the wider team for them to brainstorm tactics and develop media approaches, etc.
Yet you would rarely take this unilateral approach when it comes to brainstorming on tactics. In fact, on those occasions there is a general acknowledgment that the more different people involved, even people who have no expertise in the subject area, the better. We know that great different ideas come by mixing it up, involving people sharing the task.
RY: The reason we have a different approach to developing strategy, to developing tactics, is that we want a lot of tactics, but there is an abiding idea that there is only one approach to strategy.
And that’s the important thing to remember – there is not one “correct” strategic approach – the skill and the joy is not in thinking of an approach but choosing the right approach.
The best strategy is the one that will most effectively meet the business and communications goals; the one that is the most salient in terms of possible messages, relevant to the defined target audience, and most timely in terms of tapping into a wider social context; and the one that will work hardest for the subject you are servicing.
That’s why you need to understand the business goals, have the competitive context, and have insights into the target audiences. Not just to inform the development of the strategy – but to make sure you pick the most effective strategy from among all those available to you.
DG: We are going to hear later from other speakers about methodologies for gathering information about target audiences, optimum media channels, etc. But you all need to remember that this information is not just a tool for creating a strategy, but also for selecting among strategies.
Then once you have selected your strategy, you need to keep it at the heart of the business of the everyday work. We all know that once the day-to-day work kicks in, strategy is often invisible and silent. It is present and stated at the outset as it sets the direction for the whole campaign, but after that it is manifested through the tactics and the outcomes.
So to make sure it is always there informing the team of what we are doing, we pin up the Ketchum strategy statement:
- Ketchum will target (whom)
- To help them understand and believe (what)
- By informing them of (key messages)
- Through (engaging what influencers, channels or media)
- This will result in (desired outcome).
RY: So, that’s it from us. Just to finish off, our top 10 strategic planning takeaways:
- Strategic Planning is alive and well – we all do it every day.
- Experience and instinct are important strategic planning tools.
- Involve as many interested parties as possible -- strategic planning is not an ivory tower.
- Strategy is always a choice – knowledge helps you make the best choice.
- Strategy is not rigid and constraining, it is empowering – it protects us from being distracted.
- Strategy is often invisible and silent – but don’t forget it is there.
- Strategy is an organic and dynamic construct – don’t let it fester.
- Sometimes doing nothing is actually a strategy!
- You’ll need a strategy to pick a strategy.
- If you cannot articulate your strategy clearly and quickly, you probably don’t have one.
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