“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

- George Bernard Shaw

As you can imagine, in my profession as a PR consultant, I see many communication blunders. Typically, companies reach out to me because there is an absence of good, credible, consistent proactive communication that supports the overarching objectives of the business. And more often than not, what I will discover in this scenario is marketers have fallen into the trap of surveying what their competition is doing, and taken a short cut to doing something similar, or worse, copying it. They are frustrated that nothing is working, or they simply aren’t getting the results they wanted. Sound familiar?

It’s like cheating on your chemistry exam in high school. Sure, you can get a great grade, but what have you learned? Who have you ultimately hurt in the long run? In marketing, if the competition has launched a new PR campaign, by the time your playing copycat, they are already analyzing the data, and coming up with the next big idea. And chances are, you and your team are finding yourselves asking the question, “Why didn’t we think of that?” We all thrive on staying current, and that includes keeping tabs on the competition. That’s cool. But you have to find your Inner Voice. It guides everything you do as a brand.

COMMUNITY NOT COMMODITY

The biggest challenge for any brand is finding its authentic voice that creates an emotional connection with your Community of Interest and Influencers. Notice I didn’t say “consumer” or “target customer.” When brands start thinking of their customers and prospective customers as a community — of those interested in your brand and those who can influence others to be interested in your brand — a powerful and purposeful spark develops. Then you can view your communications strategy as a conversation, not a list of tactics. You can develop a path to spreading your messages based on how your community behaves and wants to interact with you and each other. You create an interactive world based on authenticity, not the new tagline or announcement that your competition sent out a press release on. You take notice of where your community goes for information. How they consume that information, and most importantly, how they share it.

Thinking about PR as community not commodity is a much stronger premise from which to activate your Brand Voice. You limit your brand’s true potential when you fail to focus on your core strengths, what differentiates you and why anyone should care.

So, how do you avoid making the biggest PR mistake ever for your brand? This may sound crazy-obvious, but don’t execute your competitor’s PR strategy, define yours. Paper your office walls with it. Then take action to make it happen.

What PR challenges are you facing in your business? How can 2013 be your best year yet? I want to hear from you…