This morning I attended a small breakfast networking meeting hosted by a friend and client for 12 real estate and financing CEO’s. As always, I enjoy spending time with smart, successful people, and the most interesting quote I heard was from a hedge fund CEO who said “There’s no such thing as inventory or product.  Every single situation, vis a vis inventory and product, like never before, is an individual consumer.”  That’s a very scary statement for a marketer and means a lot more “hand-to-hand” combat when it comes time to market any product, whether property or loan.  It’s harder than ever when there’s no “box” in which to put the “buyer.”

Separately, in a late night religious course last nite, I learned that the average person’s brain has 60,000 thoughts every single day.  I found this fascinating and will continue to learn how to better process (and act upon) those thoughts.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

We have a number of high-profile clients who pay us, and pay us well, to keep them out of the media – they simply don’t wish to appear in the media, and we are paid monthly retainers to ensure that happens. They are concerned about negative, harmful media coverage and a major part of crisis communications work is keeping stories out of the media. It’s often very far from easy, as a reporter’s job is to pursue stories and angles of interest.

This weekend, I, along with the rest of the world learned that I that David Rohde, a NY Times Reporter, had, thankfully, escaped from his kidnappers. I was amazed this story hadn’t run anywhere despite the fact that many in the media world knew about it.  Thank goodness he’s home safe, but I wonder why the media didn’t report this story. Would they have reported it had it been someone else’s child, say, a Republican politician, or a celebrity ?

I found this quote from today’s Huffington Post  quite interesting: I wonder now if a great debate will break out over media ethics in not reporting a story involving one of their own when they so eagerly rush out piece about nearly everything else. I imagine some may claim that the blackout would not have held if a smaller paper, not the mighty New York Times, had been involved.

As a student of the media, I look forward to reading more in the days and weeks to come.  Food for thought.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Owning a PR firm, I am blessed with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with successful people. We get hired and paid primarily by CEO’s and CMO’s, which enables me to spend a lot of time learning from the folks we do business with.  Most folks we work with are very smart, but being smart isn’t the only (or even primary) professional attribute needed to be successful– It takes a lot more than brains alone…and many smart successful people I know have said “I can always hire a MBA.”

I hosted a presentation this morning at 5WPR and heard a great quote by Amir Korangy, CEO of The Real Deal, known by many as the “Bible of NYC Real Estate”: “An investor shouldn’t follow economists or he may end up at a college making 90K.”

And on that note, I will end this post with a great quote I received in my email box earlier today from Ralph Marston: “It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when your heart is in it. Drop the doubts, self-criticisms, and anxieties. Instead, think positive and put your heart into what you’re trying to accomplish. Taking effective, meaningful action will put you in a positive frame of mind and that will open the door to many great new opportunities. Choose your destiny and delight in the fulfilling effort that makes it happen. You can do it, and now is when. Go ahead and get it done. Don’t waste your effort worrying about what you have not done. Spend your time working on what you now can do.”

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I read a great article in the Sunday NY Post,  entitled “Life in the Media Bubble,” and found it to be a must read for all in PR, and anyone interested in the media.  Owning a PR agency, I have known for a long time that despite claims otherwise, all media, just as all people, are biased.  I have battled many reporters who claim to be un-biased, but I find that to be an absurd claim. Do some folks like hamburgers while others don’t? Do some people like the color blue and others don’t? That’s bias, as is one’s religion, race, income, sexuality, and many other factors, and reporters are, after all, only human. 

Good PR firms understand the media they are pitching and tailor their pitch to the “bias” of that publication.  Whose reality carries the day is a question for media and PR pros… and of course self-publishing user generated content via Twitter, text messaging and blogs allow that reality to be created by many people other than “major media conglomerates.”

Interesting read… and the bar continues to move as traditional media consumption continues to decrease.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I believe that the best clients for Public Relations firms are those who seek counselors, people to whom they can turn to for guidance and advice. 

It’s important to constantly remember this in client relations. There’s a lot of noise out there and you cannot be paralyzed by fear (of the economy or the situation of the moment). The smartest folks are the ones who make confident decisions, decisions they can defend and, in many senses, are the “boss” of the client. This is essential in order to do great work.

As one of my favorite former client CEO’s says: Play to win, don’t play not to lose.  The smartest and most creative people these days are challenging clients, leading them, and refusing to be drones.  Challenge your clients when you believe in a concept or idea. Take ownership – they hire us for counsel and leadership, not to be bean pushers. 

You will win, and it will certainly be more fun. The eyes and ears of a PR agency.

 Ronn Torossian

5WPR

For better or for worse, I have always been brutally honest.  I am hard working, I don’t know any other way. I only take on clients we can do great work for, treat people well and expect the same in return.  It’s sometimes painful being brutally honest in the service industry. 

Over the past 45 days, we invested perhaps 75 hours of work pitching a major company’s PR work.  The CEO personally approached me; we held countless meetings, and were continually promised that an agreement would be forthcoming. Then came two weeks of no replies and a meek email apologizing for budget constraints (which was of course the first question I asked when we got the initial call).  Nevertheless, the CEO promised we would build a relationship and that he had plans to work with us in the future. I built a relationship with these folks (or so I thought), carried out some impressive presentations and devised a strategy for them. The work was enjoyable and I felt I learned a lot from it.

That said, today was approached by a client who wanted to collaborate on a project with these folks. I said sure, I’d be happy to call and help establish a connection. I immediately got the CEO on the phone, who quoted me a price…which was more than what we had been quoted by a sales person who was unaware of a preexisting “relationship.”  Needless to say, we won’t be collaborating with these people…and I feel they took complete advantage of us.

In the service industry, time is money, and too often we don’t receive value for our time.  It’s not fair, and it’s not good business.  All we have is time and we value it. It’s how we make our living.  Value your own time in the PR business.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Yesterday I received a call from an old acquaintance of about 10 years, completely out of the blue, requesting a meeting. We spent considerable time together in 2003 when I first started 5WPR, which I remember vividly. We have spoken many times over the years, both personally and professionally, and he’s risen very rapidly in his industry. For someone my age, he has become very high profile, tremendously successful and, other than a few yearly emails, I have admired him from afar.

We met yesterday, simply for him to say “Congratulations” to me.  Someone had mentioned me to him earlier this week, we hadn’t connected in quite a while, and he said “You should be proud of what you have built. I am proud of you.”

We ended up spending quite a few hours together, we discussed the prospects of a future business venture. It was really nice to hear from him, and for me as an entrepreneur, it reminded me to thank people who do good things and who succeed. 

It’s rare for people to appreciate the success of others, and I vow to do it more. Be appreciative of people who succeed – Its much harder than it looks.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Every media training which we have recently given begins with telling our clients to assume everything they say is being recorded, in every forum.  Every public discussion they have, every speech to an obscure group can constitute media, and we direct them to ask if anyone in the room is recording their speech (and should always assume it is). Anything and everything is searchable, not deniable, and on the record.  It can be posted on Youtube and elsewhere, leaked to the media (including trade outlets), given to competitors (or family members), twitted about, and it becomes instant “media” – Leaving no room for misstep.
 
Last week I had dinner at the home of a friend for 20 years who has recently been elected to the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), and despite the fact that he’s one of the straightest people I know, he relayed that he assumes every phone discussion he has is taped. He refuses to make any decisions on the phone at all for fear of one’s ulterior motive.  This is symbolic of something many here, I assume, will now adopt (albeit for different reasons).
 
With media layoffs occurring daily, the Twittergate Affair should be examined closely by all media analysts – A major major story was leaked by an insider.  More self-reporting (which happened to be accurate this time) - It costs a lot of money for media to be instantly available to be available and respond quickly, and not many media outlets are able to adapt.
 
Moving forth, will people confess to crimes via these non traditional media outlets? What about marriage proposals? This is real and actual media, continuing to take eyeballs from traditional media – Television, newspapers and the like. Everyday we learn more. This Al Roker Item is also worth nothing; it happens every day, but received attention simply because it was Roker.
 
The world is changing by the minute (and please feel free to record that).
 
Ronn Torossian
5W PR

As many have noted over the years, despite the industry axiom, the customer isn’t always right. In fact, as I learned from a previous mentor, “My PR agency isn’t right for you if you always want to be told yes, and always want to be right.” We challenge clients, and appreciate debate and challenge.

That said, I was appreciative to read this piece in AdAge by Marc Brownstein, which really spoke some painful and real truths of working in the service industry during these challenging times. The following sentiments relayed in the article reflect some of my own recent experiences and accurately convey the current state of affairs in the industry…

-Individuals (client contacts) you’ve been accustomed to doing business with for years now behave in erratic ways

-Clients pushing your agency  so low on fees that making a profit is out of the question

-Just keeping the client becomes the rationale; not paying invoices until your accounting department escalates the situation, and then challenging the invoices.

Clients need to be appreciative in times such as these we also have to pay our employees, have vendors, and a business to run as well. Our best and favorite clients have always been fair people, people who are honest, keep their word, and for whom we very much want to do great work.

Clients referred to above are thankfully very much in the minority, but required reading for all staffers here (and I wish could push more clients to read) is The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Hardcover) by Robert I. Sutton.

Difficult times absolutely require harder work, and more intensity… but it can be done in a fair way (and I say this having fielded a call from 1 of my favorite clients @ 7 AM as I was leaving the gym this AM).

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Having just returned from a business trip throughout Europe, it dawned on me how dependent we in the U.S. are upon blackberries and email as primary communications tools. From my very unscientific observation, while these tools are used overseas a ton as well, they are often used more for personal use than for business. 

My promise to myself having returned is to pick up the phone much more, and see many more people face to face. Random ravings from a PR agency owner.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR