B.C. by Johnny Hart was one of my favorite comic strips growing up and one “Show Me Rock” entry stuck with me through the years: “Show me a man that sets his sights high … and I’ll show you a man that knocks the antlers off a deer.”
I’m thinking about that strip because I fear speed-to-market pressures and poor internal communications may be causing well-meaning companies to rush to market with aspirational claims when accuracy is what customers and investors demand.
Just visit the comment section under a new product release posted to greentechmedia.com and you’ll see marketing claims challenged by engineers who are happy to show their math. Reading the responses to a recent release claiming extraordinary energy conversion efficiency made me flashback to the college chemistry class when I realized I was meant to be a communicator. These readers are doing what the communications team should have done: checked the math.
Too often, R&D or operations are seen only as a partner at the beginning of the march to market; expected to conduct a “data dump” to get the communications team up to speed and then get out of the way so the right brainers can do their creative work.
The problem is that companies can operate as one big telephone game. “We’re evaluating the potential to reduce customers’ carbon footprint by as much as 50 percent” can eventually become “Cut your carbon footprint in half!” The release goes out, the blog commenters do the math and your credibility is called into question.
I’ve been fortunate to have served on some truly remarkable marketing management teams for clients and in each case these included a representative from R&D, usually a Technical Service & Development manager. Yes, they could be creative kill-joys by clouding brilliant messaging with niggling facts, but together we all learned how to find common ground that was both compelling and credible.
That’s a recipe for success I believe more companies need to pursue. By breaking down silos and creating cross-functional teams communications gets stronger and less time is spent walking back messaging and repairing credibility.
So here’s a shout out to the left brain analytical types; you may not be good at creative communications, but we can’t do it well without you.
(Contributor Ron Loch is a senior vice president at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations. He leads the firm’s Greentech & Sustainability Practice, collaborating with G&S colleagues specializing in advanced manufacturing and energy, agribusiness and food, consumer lifestyle and building solutions, professional services, and technology and general science.)
