Bob Batchelor, PhD

The October monthly episode of our For Immediate Release podcast explores critical communication trends. Shel Holtz, SCMP, and I discuss six compelling topics, including Reddit's potential for crisis comms, the state of blogging in 2024, ethical concerns in celebrity news coverage, workplace connection challenges, and AI's impact across industries. In a blog post, I've set out some key takeaways that present opportunities for communicators, including leveraging Reddit for stakeholder engagement and preparing to guide organisations through AI adoption. Read more and listen now for valuable perspectives and insights on navigating today's complex communication landscape. https://lnkd.in/e5_CcMR2

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How do you feel about press releases? I'm still a fan, even if they simply serve as an official catalog of an organization's news. What you do with that information in your PR program is what's really meaningful though. Use the data for social posts and infographics, and pitches to media. Extract the quotes for your website. Find contributed content opportunities to share the news from the release in a more robust way. Develop creative graphics to support and enhance your news. Create video to share the news in a more personal way. Finally, don't expect your press release to reach the press. Those days are long gone. The release is just another content tool.

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Communications leaders need to be in the decision-making room versus the peanut gallery. But we have to help ourselves get there. One way is to understand the language of the CEO/C-suite. Most of the time, that language is data, analytics, objective, direct, and decisive. On the flip side, most of the time communications folks are social, engaging, accommodating, enthusiastic, and flexible. Ever wonder why a CEO may not have time for set-ups, long plans or winding answers on why or why not to do a media interview, react to an issue or do an employee engagement event? Their brains want the numbers and their job demands speed. I’ve done the Insights Discovery methodology a number of times. It’s a psychometric tool that uses a simple four-color model to help determine how and why people behave the way they do. Blue is often more about analytics, data and detail (give me the details). Red is direct, decisive and determined (be brief, be bright, be gone). Yellow is enthusiastic, social, encouraging (involve me) Green is focused more on supportive, patience, empathy (show me you care). Every time I've seen the results the C-suite is generally blue-red or blue-yellow. As a communications leader trying to influence and persuade, your job is to get as “blue” as possible to align on expectations and assure you’re on the same page. Wherever possible build scoring systems tied to your communications efforts. Or build in quick-hit analytics and data, and show decisiveness. Set the expectation that you have objective considerations based on a thoughtful approach. Go blue to talk their language and be at the table. #strategiccommunications #leadershipcommunications

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An employee voice initiative only makes sense if: 1. It listens to ALL your colleagues - not just the ones with a company mobile 2. It leads to action - stuff happens as a result. There are many ways to hear from hard-to-reach audiences that can make a big difference to the employee experience of all your colleagues. Nick Robbins shares some interesting perspectives here:

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I don't often share news analysis, but a recent New Yorker piece by Nathan Heller on the 2024 election grabbed my attention. The big insight? We don't seek news anymore - it "rubs against us" through fragments across platforms. Think about your last major story: did anyone read the full announcement, or just catch pieces across social? Five crucial shifts: 📢 Ambient Presence: "It's about seeding the ambience of information... like minnows released individually into a pond, they will eventually school and spawn." 📰 National Media 2.0: Legacy media matters - not for readers, but as a launching pad for credibility that travels. 🎯 Events Evolved: Modern events exist "simply to set a vibe and keep certain broad suggestions" circulating. 🔍 Details Don't Always Travel: The article puts it bluntly: "Detail, even when it's available, doesn't travel widely after all. Big, sloppy notions do." 🌊 Platform Power: Success means maximizing presence where your audience naturally encounters information - where they're "rubbed by the news." 🔑 The Bottom Line: The new benchmark isn't about perfect messages. It's about creating an environment where your story lives naturally "in the wild." https://lnkd.in/eFBsUmSX

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As a former ERG leader (who would still be an ERG leader if she hadn't been laid off), this article is really interesting to me. 1. Yes, ERGs are definitely tapped by company leadership for communications guidance, at least in my experience. Considering I was leading Cisco's disability/neurodivergent ERG and I'm in comms, I was often a go-to person regarding inclusive language, especially around disability and neurodivergence. 2. In 2022 46% of organizations were paying their ERG leaders, up from 6% in 2020. 👀 I knew there were companies that paid their ERG leaders, but I didn't realize almost half of organizations were now compensating them either through additional pay or RSUs, ESPP, etc. Considering the fact that ERG leaders disproportionately tend to be women or those from marginalized communities—not to mention how much time is actually spent on ERG leadership activities—it's nice to see that more companies are beginning to at least compensate for time. Leading an ERG could also easily be a full-time job in some cases. 3. ERGs are incredibly valuable resources for employees AND for company leadership. The value of ERGs for employees cannot be understated, in that they not only provide a sense of community and belonging, but are also a way for company leadership to gain insight into things that are going well and pain points for different employee groups. In an ideal world, it's a two-way relationship with the ERG leaders being the conduits of communication, with the ultimate goal being a better environment for the community while still meeting overall company goals.

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"Your team members are your first and most important audience." This is what my colleague Linda Beltran rightly said during a podcast interview I listened to yesterday. The topic, as you probably guessed, was internal communications. Internal communications is, in my view, one of the most critical and yet often overlooked aspects of any organization. Despite its importance, so many companies fall short, leaving employees as the last ones to know about significant changes, upcoming initiatives or company news. How can a team be expected to champion a message externally if they aren’t informed or inspired internally? In my experience, employees crave transparency and authenticity. They want to feel included, valued and part of the bigger picture. When companies prioritize internal communication, they create a culture of trust and engagement—one where people understand not only what is happening, but also why it matters. It's encouraging to see public relations and marketing leaders working more closely together now, breaking down the silos that once kept them apart. But I believe we need to go a step further: PR professionals should have a seat at the table with Human Resources - not to say that some companies aren’t already doing this! When PR is integrated into HR, communication with internal teams becomes strategic and purposeful, ensuring that employees receive the right message at the right time—and in the right way. Because, after all, if we truly believe that "your team members are your first and most important audience," we need to treat them as such. How is your organization approaching internal communications? Do you think PR should be more involved in internal messaging and HR? I'd love to hear your thoughts. #InternalCommunications #PublicRelations #EmployeeEngagement #CompanyCulture #CommunicationStrategy 

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How to get the word out via media relations: Write about the reporter's readers, not about "us and our stuff."

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As evidenced by the dynamics of the presidential election, women continue to be held to a different, much stricter standard than men. In my book "WOKE: A Cultural Competence Guide for Communicators, I delve into why and how women continue to struggle for equality and representation. "Women’s quest for equality is the longest-running struggle in the history of the world. Men have ruled over humanity for millennia, and nowhere has their dominance been more pronounced than over the lives and bodies of women. Although women have made great strides toward equality in the last few decades, they continue to be held to a different standard than men, and society holds many unconscious and deeply rooted biases against them. Nevertheless, women continue challenging traditional gender norms, advocating for equal rights, and reshaping female empowerment narratives." https://lnkd.in/gsTAMAbc

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💭 How do you define your "audience"? I am guilty of referring to the "audience" writ large, without nuance or description. But that is because I work with diverse scholars who have diverse audiences - students, academics, community, etc. We start broad and then narrow in on their "audience" through a series of questions and reflexive practices. Yet, in #ScienceCommunicationTraining and #ScienceCommunicationEducation "audience" is conceptualized as many different things, as this latest study uncovered. The authors suggest developing more explicit and nuanced ways of thinking about and discussing audiences to improve science communication effectiveness. In #ScienceCommunication and #ResearchCommunication, we have to do better to define our "audience" (who they are, what they are doing, and how we think about them) and include more diverse populations to improve science communication effectiveness. 💭 How do you define your "audience"? Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/edkDKEtU #PublicEngagement #Research #PublicUnderstandingofScience #Researchers #Scholars #SciComm

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Question for the communications pros out there: Do you think the job market is finally improving? The past 24 months have been 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭 for comms professionals, and now I’m hearing mixed signals about where things stand. Here’s the general vibe I’m getting: 🙂 More roles are popping up for specific comms roles, especially internal comms and analyst relations. 🫠 PR, social media, and content are still facing cuts across the board (and the open roles are few and far between). 🫠  Senior-level comms positions are seriously scarce or non-existent. Is this matching what you’re seeing out there?

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One of the most fascinating books I have read this year, particularly in its examination of how data can define us, and what that definition looks like. It's also very entertaining. As the write up says, "Who are you? You are data about data. You are a map of connections—a culmination of everything you have ever posted, searched, emailed, liked, and followed. In this groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction, Kerry Howley investigates the curious implications of living in the age of the indelible." https://lnkd.in/giTprbRT

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Talking effectively about systems and system change is tricky. This short article sums up a key dilemma (overemphasizing individual choices vs. creating fatalism about systems), and outlines a path forward: "By being careful about *how* we present systems, we can guard against fatalistic interpretations and advance a constructive understanding of systems as under the control of people and therefore able and open to change." 

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NEW WEBINAR! Want to become a better speaker, communicator, and leader? Join me for my next webinar on Tuesday, July 30 at 8pm ET! During my 60-minute multimedia presentation, I’ll… —Take you behind the scenes of the White House to show you what it was like to write speeches for President Obama —Give you a sneak peek of my upcoming book Say It Well, which shares the public speaking and communication lessons I learned from President Obama and how you can use them too! —Answer any questions you may have. Bring a notepad -- I promise that this will be an empowering and inspiring evening. And it will be fun. Join us over a cocktail or dessert! This is a special offer for those of you in the U.S. and Canada. (Webinars for our friends around the world--at times more convenient for you--are coming in the months ahead!) It's easy to register… 1—Order your copy of Say It Well at this link or wherever books are sold (please consider supporting your local independent bookstore!): https://lnkd.in/ewPrrH6W 2—Forward confirmation of your order to me at: [email protected] (Please do not send your confirmation to me via the comments below or DM on LinkedIn. The only way to register is through the email above.) 3—If I receive your confirmation, I’ll send you a zoom link the day before our July 30 webinar. Please feel free to share this post. The lessons of Say It Well are for everyone! This webinar is open to the first 100 people who register. If you order the book, but are not one of the first 100, I promise to include you in the next webinar in the coming weeks. I hope you can join us! --Terry

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You might see some promotional publicity in the media for a new book purportedly about public relations from what its publisher claims is a 'top operative.' Consistent with the historic tension between hacks vs. flacks, some journos will jump at the chance to platform someone especially if it provides an opportunity to position lying and manipulation as the essence of PR. Bad boys and 'high stakes' take-the-money firms might steal a few sensational headlines, but they are actually at the fringes and on the bottom of an industry where most practitioners around the world counsel candor and transparency in the public domain for clients with worthy points of view. #publicrelations #PR #ethics #propaganda https://a.co/d/0dP8eAG8 https://lnkd.in/eucAfEDU https://lnkd.in/ek2wk3Pg

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Chapter 2 of my new book, "WOKE: A Cultural Competence Guide for Communicators," includes A Basic Guide to Public Relations, which offers an overview of the practice of PR. Available now on Amazon! 2. A BASIC GUIDE TO PUBLIC RELATIONS In our modern world, effective communications are key. As organizations and individuals navigate the dynamic landscapes of our interconnected lives, public relations have become a critical element that helps shape perceptions, nurture relationships, and drive visibility, leading to success. Public Relations is the art and craft of managing internal and external communications between an organization, its stakeholders, and the media. A well-crafted and executed public relations plan can establish credibility, build trust, and maintain a positive reputation. https://lnkd.in/gCAHTsP8

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