Schaeffer PR Buzz

It's not only what you say that can make you look like a turkey

A video clip circulating today shows Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visiting a turkey farm to pardon a turkey. The Governor's publicity appearance is her rendition of a time-honored photo opportunity used by governors and presidents to generate positive, even playful, media coverage before Thanksgiving.

For a public relations professional, staging such a photo opportunity is almost a "no brainer." Governor. Turkeys. Proclamation. Pleasant talking points. Media. Thank you very much. Post the great coverage on the Governor's Web site.

However, someone goofed this time. As Gov. Palin talks with reporters -- carryout coffee cup in hand -- about a range of topics, a man in blood-stained pants slaughters turkeys behind her. You can't hear the turkeys squawk, but you can see the man shoving the turkeys one by one, beaks down, into a stainless steel cone suspended above a trough to catch the blood. Next, the man removes the now-dead turkey, takes it away, and returns with another.

At one point, Gov. Palin actually comments to media about how the photo opportunity is a light-hearted, fun event. The only problem is that as she speaks those words, directly behind her the turkey slaughter man is wrestling a with a contentious turkey fighting to escape the death cone. He strong-arms the bird, wing akimbo, to its bloody fate. Light-hearted? Fun?

More like unbelievably FUNNY, I'd say. The best "Saturday Night Live" writer couldn't have come up with a better sketch. A pro-life, pro-death-penalty governor trying to make a positive impression by "pardoning" a turkey while behind her the massacre ensues despite her alleged pardon.

Gov. Palin, your PR folks messed up, big time. And you run the risk of looking like a turkey.

How Do You Communicate "Advocacy?"

In separate meetings today, both the CEO of a Chicago-based national advocacy organization and the president of the board of directors of a foundation shared the same lament: members of their organizations find it nearly impossible to explain to prospective donors what "advocacy" means and why donors should support it financially. These two executives understand how important public affairs communications is to their missions.

Advocacy is one of those seemingly intangible pursuits that is often misunderstood until it bears fruit. It's easy to understand hands-on direct service: soup kitchens feed hungry people; community health centers heal sick people; preschools teach children. But advocates work to right injustices, study societal problems and beseech government to change laws and public policies. Often they are ahead of the societal curve or fighting for the rights of a tiny minority of people. To a person on the street, the description of advocacy can sound like "blah, blah, blah," or like futile tilting at windmills.

What's wonderful for the work of advocacy, but detrimental to clear, simple communications is that advocacy organizations attract extremely dedicated, highly motivated individuals who live, breathe, eat and sleep the issues that matter most to them. They become policy wonks and evangelists for the causes they champion, and can become so immersed in the details of an issue that they have difficulty defining what they do simply in a sentence or two. To use an old adage, you ask them what time it is and they tell you how to build a clock.

So, in an increasingly competitive world, how do advocates succinctly and effectively convey the power and benefits of their work? How do you boil down a multi-faceted legislative campaign into a sound bite without "dumbing down" the cause or causing disrespect to the movement? It's not easy, but it is possible. Think about President-elect Barack Obama's "Change" and "Yes we can."

My experience has taught me that the best place to start is with a careful messaging session. Get the right people in the room to discuss and agree about the top three to five messages. In some cases, there are multiple important audiences, so the messages need to be tweaked for each audience. Start by defining results: "Because of our work, over the past 10 years, 10,000 women have found new jobs."

Then, figure out which people in the organization are most gifted at expressing the goals and passion of the organization. Train them to use the key messages to describe the advocacy work the group is doing and turn them loose. Better yet, make a plan to send them out to speak to groups of people who matter most. How to make that plan is another blog entry for another day.