A ruler can be persuaded through patience,
and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
– Proverbs 22:4
I’ve never been the loud, brash, in-your-face type. As a child, I was naturally shy — to the point where I was afraid to answer the front door of our house. I was introspective … always drawing, writing, thinking.
Seems like a recipe for becoming a librarian, an actuary or a taxidermist (Norman Bates, anyone?). But instead, I ended up a newspaper reporter and, ultimately, a PR executive and spokesman for billion-dollar companies. I present to Fortune 1000 executives, speak to large audiences, and talk with classes of college students all the time.
So, did I change? Not really.
I say this to offer hope to those of you who are afraid you don’t have the “outgoing personality” you need to succeed in public relations. Frankly, the PR field has too many surface smiles and surface thinkers, and not enough going on underneath. That’s something we introverts can use to our advantage.
Introverts vs. Extroverts
Let me explain what I mean by an introvert. An introvert is not someone who can’t do well with an audience. Many of the world’s best actors, musicians and other performers are introverts. They do it because they love their work — not because they love the crowds.
An extravert starts with the love of the crowd and works backward. What do I need to do to capture their attention?
An introvert starts with the love of the work and moves outward. What do I need to do to share this work with others?
In PR, extraverts are a dime a dozen. They’re the ones who get off to fast starts in their careers, who seek out every opportunity to gladhand and namedrop, who learn a little about a lot of things and a lot of people. They spread themselves around and gauge their success by how many people they know (or appear to know.)
Introverts are the ones who actually find their employer’s or client’s business model fascinating. They take the time to study the company in depth; to understand the competition; to know what marketing strategies are working and not working in the space, and why. They’re the ones who aren’t satisfied with glib answers.
They’re also the ones who have better long-term potential to form relationships of mutual respect with journalists and other influencers — not to mention the CEOs of the companies they serve.
Share What’s Inside
Talk to your clients and the media honestly, knowledgeably and with a genuine interest in your subject matter, and you don’t have to be loud to have influence. A gentle tongue can break a bone.
The key for introverts is to recognize this and to fight through their shyness to let others know what they have to say. To borrow another proverb from the Bible, don’t hide your light under a bushel. You’ve got a lot of talent to give; you just have to know where to put it.
How to Be a Lying &*$%#@ in Seven Simple Steps
A couple of months ago, someone doing media relations for me got screwed over by a TV reporter. Here’s how it went:
1. We wanted the reporter to do a preview story on a consumer event that one of our clients was sponsoring. The event was targeted to a particular kind of consumer within this reporter’s beat.
2. The reporter expressed interest and said she wanted to interview one of the consumers who would be coming to the show. She laid out a set of criteria for the kind of person she wanted to talk with.
3. Our media relations person said, “No problem, I’m on it!” and set about giving the reporter what she wanted. Since the event hadn’t yet occurred, you can imagine how difficult it might be to find a consumer who was planning to come to an event before the event. Particularly given the reporter’s criteria, it wasn’t easy.
4. Lo and behold, our person scored! She found the perfect candidate for the reporter’s story, which obviously would be a great hook for the reporter’s preview of our client’s event.
5. The reporter was excited to learn that our person had found the perfect interview subject for her. She apparently had been looking for this kind of consumer for some time with no luck. The reporter went to the consumer’s home and interviewed her for more than an hour.
6. When our media relations person followed up to find out when the story would run, the reporter said she “wasn’t sure” if she would be able to do a preview of the event. “What do you mean?” our person asked. “Didn’t the interview go well?”
7. It did go well, the reporter replied. Only she really had wanted the interview for a future story she was planning, and just didn’t have time to do something before the show. In fact, when the story did run, it wouldn’t be mentioning our client at all.
I know how journalists can be with PR people – and I know that PR people sometimes deserve it. But this is ridiculous.
I want to out this $&%#@ so badly I can’t tell you. But I guess I’ll settle for sharing this little story in hopes that it will comfort you the next time it happens to you.