PPB October 2019

within the first segment of their presentation, a smaller error or hiccup will endear them to the audience. The result is the opposite for a speaker who doesn’t immediately achieve audience approval. Any errors put them in an even worse light. I believe the same is true for blogs. Once you establish credibility with worthy content, good communication skills and an empathetic, relevant voice, you will gain a stronger, more engaged following by sharing some bloopers or out-takes. In the end, we deal with people we like and trust. Being human can be quite likeable. JAE M. RANG, MAS President and CEO JAE Associates Ltd. Oakville, Ontario I see two separate issues within this question. The first is regarding transparency, which dives into your company culture and how you share aspects of hiring, diversity and inclusion efforts, growth and performance metrics, pricing strategy and even revenue, to name a few. Traditionally, this kind of information has been kept private, but there’s more and more evidence that transparency increases trust, helps with innovation, leads to greater justice and results in more feedback. Being transparent isn’t without risk, however, so making decisions on what can be shared publicly needs to be done with care, contemplation and consensus. The social media tech company Buffer is known for its transparency about everything. They’ve written a great resource about why transparency in business matters and how to get it started: www.open.buffer.com/ transparency-in-business. The second issue in your question inquires about sharing the human side of business. Part of this may fall under the purview of corporate transparency, but I suspect you’re really wondering about the mix of professionally-toned articles versus casual glimpses into daily life at your company—everything from boxing up orders for clients to company picnics to trade-show attendance. When developing content, you must put your audience’s needs first. Instead of crafting messages like you want to say, flip it around and create messages that your customers need to hear. Instead of thinking like a marketer, think like a journalist. It’s a subtle difference, but absolutely essential if you want your content to connect with the audience. Not sure what your audience wants? Look at the metrics of your current content. Do certain pieces get more likes, shares, opens or comments? If so, that’s one place to start. But the best way to determine an audience’s needs is to simply ask them. When you’re on sales calls, chat with customers about what kinds of information they need to make better marketing/purchasing decisions, what tools could help them perform better at their jobs and what kind of content they’re consuming now. Ask them how important it is to see what’s happening behind the scenes. Typically, the more you know about something, the more you care. Sharing candid details of what it’s like to work for your company and letting people get to know your team can go a long way in building loyalty. Also, ask what they love and hate about your current content and what they wish you’d publish but haven’t yet. This will help you tailor efforts to doing more of what they like, eliminating what they don’t and adding in new material that they need. Can too much honesty backfire? Sure. So, you still must be smart about what you post. A late-night drunken pic from a trade-show after-party probably doesn’t shine the best light on your brand—unless your clientele is in the party scene, which, in that case, drink up. Whatever direction you take, make sure the direction goes beyond all selling all the time. A common content planning formula is that 3-2-1 model. For every three pieces of industry-related content, have two pieces of “proud” content (feel-good community content) and one piece of product/service-related content. This will help you maintain a varied and balanced mix of content that’s not overly sales-focused. So, how transparent should one be? Rand Fishkin, formerly of Mox and founder of SparkToro, sums it up nicely: “Will sharing this bring value to my company? That’s marketing. Will sharing this bring value to others, even if it doesn’t benefit me/my company? That’s transparency. I don’t particularly care for the former. I’m all in on the latter.” LISA HORN, CAS President The Publicity Gal Denver, Colorado | OCTOBER 2019 | 13 INNOVATE