“Everyone assumes that men are more knowledgeable about their cars than women are. But that’s not necessarily the reality even if men appear more confident,” explains Julie Yusim, director of marketing, Duxler Complete Auto Care.

“At least 60 percent of auto repair decisions are made by women”, Julie explains. “However, most women are not initially comfortable when having an auto repair conversation with a mechanic. That’s why we encourage their questions. We want to address their concerns and help them make informed decisions.”

Women like talking to Julie, and male customers also appreciate auto service shops that make them and the women in their lives feel comfortable.

While auto consultations and repairs are addressed by the company’s qualified experts, Julie values her community outreach activities and the opportunity to relate to others like herself. “I didn’t know anything about cars when I joined the company, which is a good thing because I understand where so many customers are coming from.”

Whatever your knowledge about cars, auto repair could reflect more universal 1^st person PR issues.

You know that ongoing auto maintenance is critical. However, we should also tune into other life areas that require ongoing tune-ups, re-alignments, switching gears, charging our batteries, rotating tires, and replacing parts that keep our personal and professional lives moving in the right direction.  

Following Julie’s example, we should listen more, encourage questions, and consider the other person’s perspective. It’s not simply what we’re selling or what we want from the conversation, but what others are buying or need. They want a “driving” experience that will confidently and comfortably take them to their destination.

When meeting other people, think beyond preconceived notions and don’t jump to conclusions. Greater understanding – finding common ground – can result in unexpected opportunities.

Whether yours is a classic auto with mileage or a new car hot off the production line, you’re in the driver’s seat. Stay focused on the road, consider your possibilities, and remember maintenance.

So many of our experiences and conversations are about trust – in our personal or professional lives or when they overlap. How do we develop rewarding relationships?

“The first goal in any communication is to establish trust. People buy trust first, products second.”

As Andy Green says in his book, Effective Personal Communication Skills for Public Relations, trust depends on five core principles:

• Competence – you need to be able to deliver what you say;
• Reliability – you need to deliver your promises and do what you say;
• Openness – there should be transparency in your dealings;
• Equity – a sense of fairness between the parties;
• Giving – if you give something you are demonstrating a commitment to the relationship.

Whether you are buying or selling a product or service, trying to establish a relationship or hoping to improve communication with people you know, the need for trust (I can count on you for something positive) is always there.

I remember a former boss saying, “Yes, making the first sale with a new customer can be challenging. However, because many customers will try you once, the real challenge is getting them to return. That takes time and trust.”

To cultivate and maintain trust with prospective and current clients, customers or other employees, we have to continually communicate so we understand each other’s capabilities, resources and expectations. Ask questions about the business or project, and take a genuine interest in their business and its problems.

After you have clarified as much as you can, identify what you can realistically do to help achieve objectives. Your approach might be something the client asked about or did not even consider. Present your proposal’s limitations as well as its potential. Clarification is key to constructive communication.

As we contemplate the need for trusting relationships, each of us should remember to:

• Engage in effective and active listening (not just “what can you do for me?” listening)
• Keep our promises or explain why we cannot…as soon as possible.
• Take the two-way street of reciprocity.
• Communicate regularly and truthfully, and keep the dialog open by respecting different perspectives.
• Remember the necessity for honesty, ethics, character and accountability.
• Think generously and be appreciative.

Rewarding relationships develop over time as we build trust through our actions and attitudes. Sometimes they are with people we really like, and sometimes they are with people who regularly aggravate us…but they have proven themselves trustworthy.

Do you have an experience or story about trust that you want to share on 1st Person Public Relations? We look forward to seeing it.

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Who are your readers, and what is your goal when writing to them?

If you are sending an email to colleagues, writing a letter to potential customers or creating a presentation, Ann Kepler, publisher at Adams Press, offers direction.

“Start by identifying your target market. Why does it need or why would it be interested in your information,” Ann says. “Assume the role of the reader. Make sure your point is clear and engages the recipient with personal relevance and newsworthiness. Don’t make your reader work to learn why your writing is worth reading. You do the work, and the reader does the reading.”

Whether you copy an email to others or your recipient forwards it, your words and style may assume a life of their own…forever.

Thus, when writing, particularly in a business context, Ann reminds you to “speak in a consistent voice, check grammar and spelling, use transitions to guide readers through, and remember parallel construction. That is, parts of a sentence should be similar in form and style. My list of the instructions in the first sentence of this paragraph, for example, is parallel in construction.”

Another challenge may arise when you identify your reader. “When I work with physicians writing patient education materials, I often find two readers, a doctor and a patient,” says Ann. “The writing must be medically accurate to satisfy the doctor and also be accessible for the lay reader. This requires both a professional style and an informative voice.”

On the other hand, if you are writing to friends or family, or you are a columnist with a unique voice or perspective, you can communicate in your first person voice and style. Just keep writer/reader goals and interests in mind.

I have to remember this when writing a blog post. What do I want to share with readers, how do I want to say it, and do readers want to know it?

We’re always telling our story in one way or another. When we do, it’s in our voice, speaking or writing our own words.

Besides contributing to blogs and other social media, thousands of people also create videos to express themselves professionally or personally.

Sometimes they speak for themselves, and sometimes a “voice over” introduces them.

For example, once a book has been written, an author must market it, which often includes a book trailer such as those produced by Reno Lovison, AuthorsBroadcast.com. “Our book trailer videos, one minute or less, are narrated by someone other than the author,” Reno explains.

“Using a ‘third person voice’ offers another perspective,” he says. “Like movie trailers, book video trailers are intended to quickly acquaint readers with an author and the content of a book you might like to read.” The narrator in a movie trailer is not the script writer, actor or director. We see scenes or clips as the voice over artist engages us in the movie. “Voice over book trailers are similar,” Reno adds, “and more energetic because someone else discusses the book and lets the author be the author.”

It is understandable that writers or others who are accustomed to speaking for themselves might wonder about a third person voice over. “Wouldn’t it be more authentic with my voice,” one might ask. “After all, I wrote it and now they can hear me discuss it.”

On the other hand, many authors find the voice over approach liberating. The narrator is heard but not seen, and the focus remains on the book’s content and the author’s words, which can lead to potential sales.

Voice over can be an opportunity to introduce another perspective while remaining true to your voice.

Good times or changing times, it is important to regularly SWOT your professional and personal potential.

If you have ever developed a marketing plan, then you know it begins with the Current Situation or a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Your current situation, which is based on research, experience and objectivity, answers these questions:
• What does your company do and for how long? Or, what are your Five Ws: who, what, when, where and why…and how?
• What is your competition? How do your consumers and publics distinguish you from your competition? How do you know this?
• What are your marketplace problems and challenges?
• What are your opportunities and strengths?
• Who are your current consumer groups and publics? Public is a group of people (three or more individuals) with something in common.
• As a result of your research and a better understanding of your situation, who are your target consumers and publics: new markets, more of your current consumers or both?

You can restate your Current Situation as a SWOT analysis by using the templates and guidelines in these links.

► www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm
► http://articles.mplans.com/how-to-perform-a-swot-analysis. Article by Tim Berry
► www.jmorganmarketing.com/using-swot-for-social-media-strategy. Article by Jacob Morgan

When using a SWOT analysis to clarify your personal and professional situation and goals, it’s critical that you think as objectively as possible. Interview knowledgeable people, explore resources you had never considered, and ask others for feedback about your personal and professional qualities, skills and perceived brand (personal or professional). Surveys and focus groups of family, friends, colleagues and customers can offer invaluable insights. Are you running “on automatic” or an approach that is no longer working for you?

Once you have evaluated your situation, it’s time to establish your measurable goals (you will do what by when?), your strategies/tactics for achieving these goals, and your timeline for turning challenges into opportunities and uncovering your potential.

SWOT is self-discovery.

Relationships and connections. Followers and following. Friends and fans. Fleeting or forever? Online or in person?

We’ve always understood the importance – emotionally and practically – of relationships. Whether in business or personal life, we seek sincerity, trustworthiness, shared vision and values, two-way listening and conversations, similar goals and expectations. We hope to establish constructive, mutually rewarding common ground.

Some relationships and connections become long term. We – family, friends, clients, colleagues or neighbors – have known each other for years or decades, seeing each other regularly or chatting occasionally. We may disagree on some issues and have differing interests, but we’re there for each other.

Today, millions of us are networking in person and online. We’re experimenting with the enormous potential of social media, group and blog conversations and meeting people in new venues and creative ways. How many will become significant relationships or positive connections? We will see.

In his book, Effective Personal Communication Skills for Public Relations, author Andy Green discusses relationships and connections. His guidelines and insights and guidelines are enlightening, including his description of our networks.

• Personal Sanctum – personal community around us of possibly 15 people.
• Professional Sanctum – focuses on our career and working life and includes “professional apostles…people who act as the frontline of our personal advocates.”
• Inner Circle – number of people with whom we have a genuinely social relationship.
• Outer Circle – people who might be our “advocates”, “endorser contacts”, “awares” or “unawares”.

On another note, author Brian Solis discusses social networking relationships in “The Ties that Bind Us – Visualizing Relationships on Twitter and Social Networks” at: http://www.briansolis.com/2009/02/ties-that-binds-us-visualizing/

Whether through social media or in person networking, we should all tune into the nature of our connections. Do we understand and appreciate our role and the potential of relationships?

I have offered some quick observations on a subject that deserves much more depth, and I look forward to your feedback.

In the meantime, let’s be grateful for the true relationships we have had and continue to have in our lives.

In his book, All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin discusses the power of telling authentic stories in a low-trust world.

Godin explains that before telling someone a story, he tells it to himself. “The goal of every marketer is to create a purple cow, a product or experience so remarkable that people feel compelled to talk about it.

“The challenge lies in figuring out what’s remarkable and actually making the remarkable happen.” But, before we can share the story “with friends, colleagues or the Internet, we need to tell it to ourselves….Politicians call these talking points. Retailers call it an experience.”

Godin presents the qualities of a “great story,” one that engages an audience’s imagination.

• A great story is true – not just because it’s factual but because it’s consistent and authentic.
• A great story makes a promise – fun, money, safety, or a shortcut – bold and audacious and worth listening to.
• Great stories are trusted – because trust is so scarce, the marketer has earned credibility.
• Great stories are subtle – allowing the consumer to draw his own conclusions.
• Great stories happen fast – quickly engaging the consumer…or not.
• Great stories appeal to our senses – not as much to our logic.
• Great stories rarely aim at everyone – just those who will identify and spread the story.
• Great stories aren’t contradictory. “If your restaurant is in the right location but has the wrong menu, you lose.”
• Great stories agree with our world view. Godin asserts that the best stories don’t teach us anything new. Instead, they agree with what we already believe, making us “feel smart and secure.”

Ready to tell your great story?

I love public libraries for many reasons…including the librarians.

Libraries are home to an incredible variety of resources and services and are very much online. Besides books or DVDs, libraries offer entertainment, guest speakers and artists, computer use and techie programs, help with finding a job, programs for kids, teens, and other unique groups, and dozens of possibilities that open new doors.

As librarians answer your questions and introduce you to previously unknown resources, they are the face of your community’s public library. Or, as explained in This Book is Overdue!, Marilyn Johnson’s book about librarians:

“Those who predicted the death of libraries forgot to consider that in the automated maze of contemporary life, none of us – neither the experts nor the hopelessly baffled – can get along without human help. And not just any help – we need librarians, who won’t charge us by the question or roll their eyes, no matter what we ask.”

Our public libraries are more popular than ever, given our economic challenges and their targeted marketing savvy. Patrons are discovering a library experience that engages and resonates with them.

Sometimes, when I want to get away from my office to focus on a project, I head to my local public library. While I’m working, I occasionally tune into the librarians helping visitors with a broad range of questions, interests and concerns. The one-on-one conversation usually leads to new resources, perspectives and a rewarding experience.

Big or small, public libraries are community centers that attract diverse constituencies. Their librarians connect with you by offering responsive customer service and first person PR. Check them out.

A photo is a powerful way to introduce yourself to current or potential connections, especially when you may never meet them – even if you do business together.

Before getting in front of the camera, however, think about what you want to say in your picture.

“I always start a photography session with a conversation about the person’s expectations,” says Karen Kring, professional photographer and co-founder with Joel Lerner of the Kring Lerner Group. “What do you want to convey about yourself?”

“Once we clarify your photographic purpose, we start taking photos that reflect you and engage others,” Karen says. “The context can express your personality, lifestyle, professionalism, interests, and accomplishments.”

You may need a business headshot or business image that could be used in many venues. Or, if appropriate, you could present a broader perspective that might include playing a musical instrument, serving a customer, speaking before a group, or running in a marathon. Where will this photo be used –online or in print? What messages do you want to send via the photo and content? You might want different photos for different purposes.

“Some people, however, may not want a photo but are required to submit one for work-related or professional reasons,” Karen notes. “They may be comfortable meeting others personally, face to face. But they are not comfortable with the way they think they look in a photo…even if everyone else thinks it is great.”

Others may agree to photography but do not want their faces to be the primary focus of the image. “In one situation,” Karen explained, “a journalist wanted the photo to reflect her work, so we used a creative approach to typify what she does.”

As you look at photos of people you know, do they ring true, accurately reflecting the person? When it is someone you do not know, is it the image or the content or both that encourage you to follow up?

By collaborating with your photographer, you can represent the real you. Remember the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

When visitors click on our web sites, they want to know what services, products, expertise or information we offer them. Our home page is their first impression.

But if you think that just means web design, then consider what Christopher Merrill, web designer, says. “Before you launch your web site, start with content, not design. Then, when it’s time for design, make sure that first impression reflects the real you.”

When we meet someone personally through one-on-one networking, our “on site presence” and interaction can offer rewarding communication and opportunities. Given all the factors that affect 1st person PR, however, we either connect or we do not connect or we don’t know yet. A similar phenomenon occurs on our web site. A big exception is that, in person, we cannot hide behind a site construction.

So when first starting a site, think content. What do you offer your targeted visitors: services, products, experience, credentials, integrity, professionalism, passionate interest, authenticity, unique voice? As Christopher points out, our site’s design can be visually interesting and dynamic, but its first goal is to engage visitors in the substance of who we are and what we can do for them. “Do not send mixed messages because you want to reassure them that they have come to the right place. If your graphic presentation conflicts with who you really are, it can work against you,” Christopher adds.

Once you’ve established your “self” through informative content, it’s time for web design. It can include photos, testimonials, links to social media and other resources, feeds, downloads, newsletter, releases, blog, and other possibilities. Choose what works for you, understanding that it will evolve and change over time.

Whether entrepreneurs, international corporations or nonprofits, we are all works in progress with possibilities.

Great, isn’t it!