OFF-MUTE 🔈
💥 The hard PR truth is that fear gets more clicks than puppies and babies. And this past year, we didn’t even need to manufacture tension.
🚨 A global pandemic. An economic crisis. Capitol violence. Police murders. Racial injustice.
📣 We’re not anywhere close to the end of the change we need to see or the healing that needs to happen across our country, but here’s what we know is true:
💬 People are craving real human connections and experiences.
🚫 😱 It’s time to stop scaring them and start connecting. Our role as communicators is to shift the tide toward hope.
👍 👀 The good news is that fear is not the only way to get people’s attention. Here’s what else works:
☑️ Listen first. Talk second. Make eye contact (yes, that means turn on your video if you’re still remote), turn device notifications off, and stay open-minded. Come to the conversation — or interaction — with a desire to understand.
☑️ Seek common ground through common goals. Start conversations instead of asserting positions. Does your content need to ask more open-ended questions?
☑️ Make it about them, not you. People connect with other people and ideas that serve as flattering mirrors. Show them how you understand through empathy. To make real connections, audiences have to see themselves within your stories.
☑️ Don’t wield fear. Stand for what’s good, the solution, instead of what’s wrong.
☑️ Come together in crises. Moments of crisis can bring people together and provide common ground for understanding if we stay away from blame and vilification.
☑️ Convene differing points of view. Invite the opposing point of view into the discussion (unless it’s an Internet troll).
☑️ Join your community. Don’t take it over. Participate in the online groups or threads that discuss matters close to your heart and mind. You can even become a member of the towns and cities in which you have offices or the market you operate in, now that we’re getting closer to the new normal.
☑️ Teach, don’t preach. Help people come to their own conclusions, not the ones you think they should.
☑️ Bring back person-to-person interactions. Hallelujah! Person-to-person experiences are the stuff of relationships. Create safe in-person interactions that offer opportunities for real human connection that video calls or virtual events simply can’t.
☑️ Try art, music, and experiences to convey unconventional ideas. These universal languages bring people together in a creative, non-threatening way. Don’t be afraid to change it up!