Monthly Archives: March 2012
PR Tip: Slogans versus substance in the battle over Obamacare’s future
Former CIGNA PR guy turned health care whistleblower Wendell Potter makes an important PR point here:
“One of the rules of effective communications is to keep it simple. In attacking something you don’t like, use as few words as possible, and make sure those words pack an emotional wallop.”
Here’s his full post: ANALYSIS: Slogans versus substance in the battle over Obamacare’s future
Six “Sticky” Tips for PR/Marketing Success
Just started reading Made to Stick and have to say its 6 Principles make for a great PR/Marketing/Social Media strategy:
SIMPLICITY: Proverbs are ideal – a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.
UNEXPECTEDNESS: Violate people’s expectations/be counterintuitive. Generate interest and curiosity.
CONCRETENESS: Explain in terms of human actions and/or sensory information. (NOT abstract concepts!) Example: Ice-filled bathtubs, apples with razors. Use concrete language.
CREDIBILITY: Idea has to carry its own credentials. “Ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago.”
EMOTIONS: Make them feel something. We are wired to feel things for people, not abstractions.
STORIES: To get people to act on your idea, tell a story.
