The autumn season is in full swing and people are pulling out their favorite cozy sweaters, watching the leaves change colors and sipping on spiced, warm beverages. The team over at Kimball Hughes Public Relations is enjoying the season change and getting outside as much as possible before the winter cold rolls in. Here’s a little insight into a few of our favorite things about fall:
Rod: Playtime in the yard with Theodore Rex (Teddy). He loves to search for his ball in the leaves, and I think he likes to blend in with the scenery trying to hide from the humans.
Eileen: Pumpkin-flavored coffee. I’m not hooked on the fancy pumpkin-spiced lattes, but a little pumpkin flavor is nice, particularly with a view of the changing leaves.
James: Hoodie season. There is nothing better than going outside, feeling the cool air, and watching my dog Zeus run through the leaves.
Cassidy: The foliage. New England, where I am based, is one of the most beautiful places to be in the fall. The vibrant reds, oranges and yellows make for the perfect backdrop for apple picking, football games and hiking.
Hari: Taking long walks. I love walking around seeing how beautiful Philadelphia looks in the fall while it’s still warm enough outside to walk comfortably.
Kate: Halloween decorations. My neighborhood goes all out for Halloween. My partner and I like to walk around to see everything lit up and check out the spooky displays. Most of them have themes they switch up each year, and taking the time to appreciate those setups has become an annual tradition that we look forward to.
Liz: The cooler weather and enjoying the outdoors! All the beautiful colors of the leaves changing on the trees and the mums that are everywhere.
Corporate speak is an unfortunate consequence of attempts to develop relatable messaging that can remain relevant and least likely to offend mass audiences. In a professional setting, people don’t say “I’ll get back to you later.” Instead, they say “Let’s circle back on that ahead of our next call,” as if the idea of walking in an ideological circle is somehow easier to understand. But we all use it, and many business owners have fully embraced corporate speak in their company culture without considering the impact its wanton use could have on their business.
In the end, this language transcends the office environment and can contribute to stakeholders’ and the public’s general perception of your company’s image. And corporate speak that may have once resonated with employees, prospective employees and customers, may no longer be connecting with millennials and Gen Z.
PR Newswire recently listed some of corporate America’s go-to terms of today, as reported by Adweek. They found the use of the word “thrilled” in press releases has increased 61% since 2017, “passion” increased by 54%, “industry-leading” by 98% and “pioneering” by 151% – that’s a lot of new pioneers in a 7-year span. From the outside, it may look like there are more pioneers than new lands to explore.
Those entering the workforce recognize repetitive and often redundant corporate speak as overused and ridiculous. Many are already fluent in the intent behind the general messaging. For example, they know that “Per the above message” in an email thread means “Please actually read my last email.” They are digital natives and speak the language. As Business Insider reports, they are tired of unnecessary and indirect words.
Recruiting is easier when everyone speaks the same language
There are likely hundreds of articles published in the past year discussing the complicated current state of recruiting and attracting talent, both for job seekers and creators. As businesses seek to attract top talent by positioning their companies as great places to work, words like “family atmosphere” and “work hard, play hard” begin to creep into job descriptions. The overused terms convey a vagueness that can create an atmosphere of distrust. This can actively discourage candidates from applying for or accepting your job offer.
Instead, when recruiting, business leaders should consider a more direct approach – outside their comfort zone perhaps. Often, the first step is to take a long look in the mirror. Do you really think your company with thousands of employees is a family? Likely not. So instead of positioning your company like a family, share details on how teams are structured, provide insights into how a new hire would function as a part of that team and share how that team supports the company’s goals. By avoiding indirect and flowery language, it is more likely a candidate will approach your job offer with genuine interest and enthusiasm.
Corporate speak may be damaging reputations
The damage of overutilized corporate speak goes beyond recruiting. It can make its way into external communications and shape customer perceptions of your brand. Think about the last time you were told the price of a good or service was increasing and how that felt. Probably not a great feeling? The first instinct for anyone delivering bad news to their customers is to find a way to soften the blow. They’ll often put together softer language for communications highlighting premium features and promises of a better customer experience.
In practice, this frustrates audiences. At best, it is viewed as a halfhearted attempt to spin bad news into something positive. At worst, it is viewed as dishonest. This can create additional communications challenges a company could have avoided if it had delivered the bad news plainly and clearly.
How do we overcome corporate speak?
While most industries are inundated with corporate speak that will likely never be fully extracted, there is something business leaders can do to overcome some of the problems this jargon creates.
When developing messaging, ask yourself the following questions:
Is what I am saying making sense?
Do my words convey real and relevant information?
Will this message resonate with my audience?
Am I avoiding corporate buzz words, like those mentioned above, that audiences have learned to gloss over?
Am I talking down to my audience??
Leaders across the company from the c-suite to HR and marcomm may find they do not like the answers to the above questions. This may warrant a change in communications – internal, external, casual and formal. However, by being aware of corporate speak and the damage its overuse can cause, leaders can better position their teams to deliver more effective messages that are not only heard, but more positively received.
As many businesses and non-profits begin to turn their attention to 2025 planning, one component that should not be overlooked as part of a success strategy for the new year is communication or comms planning. An effective public relations campaign can prove to be both an affordable investment in growing your organization as well as in deepening important reputational relationships that can help sustain for- and non-profit organizations in troubled times.
Here are five critical tactics for B2B organizations to consider when developing 2025 comms strategies.
Highlight Industry Expertise. In the world of B2B marketing and communications, clients and partners look for actionable, tested expertise. By positioning your subject matter experts as thought leaders through authoritative content, you position your brand as a potential resource for your target audiences while demonstrating your deep understanding of, and vision for, the industry you’re in. That content can include contributed articles to respected trade outlets, white papers, industry reports, owned video content and feature-length broadcast interviews on hot topics or industry trends.
Develop Authentic Messaging. Whether your audience is business or consumer, the public at large is tired of being sold to or fed boilerplate marketing messaging. Don’t sell. Instead, tell stories to highlight the purpose and values of your brand that address the concerns of your audience. No one looks for a sales pitch; they look for anecdotes, reviews and stories in which they recognize themselves or their priorities. Your audiences are more likely to turn to the sources of those stories or analogies when seeking solutions and opportunities.
Focus on Data-driven Solutions. B2B audiences look for track records of success supported by hard data. Highlighting successful partnerships or projects supported by numbers and real-world outcomes creates a point of distinction and gives trade journalists something to work with when telling stories that can shine a light on your brand. This can also include information on lessons-learned and client testimonials.
Be Prepared for Crisis Scenarios. From online review sites to social media platforms, the public-at-large can rapidly shape public perception of your brand in minutes or hours. By preparing for likely crisis scenarios and developing actionable protocols to deploy your response messaging, your organization stands a better chance in weathering whatever storms may come. Paramount to protecting your brand in a crisis scenario is developing messaging that is honest, authentic, empathetic and deployed with thoughtful speed.
Pursue a Broadening Media Landscape. While rumors regarding the demise of journalism have been abundant in the past decade or more, the reality is the media landscape has broadened considerably. Where there once existed only print, broadcast and online, there are now podcasts, streaming platforms, vlogs, subscription-based email newsletters, audio-based social channels and even industry-specific Slack communities. The options are seemingly endless. Start by understanding the audiences you hope to reach and how they consume media. Then, plan accordingly.
If your 2025 marketing or business development plan lacks a clearly defined comms strategy, you are missing countless opportunities to convert the work you’re already doing into compelling storytelling that can move the needle for your brand. What’s worse, you may also be completely unprepared to defend your reputation if you find yourself facing a communications crisis. Make sure you have a 2025 comms strategy ready to go before January 1, 2025. And if you need help, Kimball Hughes Public Relations has nearly 30 years of expertise to help you make the most of the year ahead.
Last month, Tractor Supply Co. announced a plan to retire all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals and eliminate all DEI roles at the company. The swift turn away from DEI came in response to a public social media campaign organized to boycott Tractor Supply for their DEI and ESG initiatives and goals.
In today’s social climate, we frequently see businesses pivoting quickly to avoid negative reactions and feedback from customers – whether we’re talking about shifting DEI focus, distancing a brand from a “cancelled” athlete or celebrity or something else. While in some cases, it may make sense to rush to adjust your company’s initiatives based on negative comments or a sudden social movement, some abrupt moves can lead to even more backlash and reputational damage.
Thoughtful planning, strategic thinking and consulting with legal and communications experts can assist your leadership in navigating a situation like this. But one of the best places to start, is to examine your brand values.
What are your brand values?
Brand values are the principles and beliefs of a company that leadership want to project upon consumers. Essentially, these are the key beliefs that guide the operation of the company and consumer perception of a brand. For example, if your business does work in the diversity, equity and inclusion space, then your core values may focus on respect, belonging and creating a culture focused on openness, innovation and handing the ladder down to create a more equitable workplace.
Before coming up with any new programs, creating content, running any media outreach, or organizing a strategic pivot, management should have clearly defined brand values that represent both the company’s goals and growth plans. These values should also align with your target audience and their interests and how you want your company to be viewed by them.
Citing another unfortunate incident in the DEI space, consider the recent controversial decision by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to remove equity from their DEI strategy. On July 10, SHRM announced it would be moving forward with a focus solely on inclusion and diversity, which came as a surprise to many organization members.
SHRM’s decision was immediately met with intense backlash. Many human resource professionals canceled their SHRM memberships, a petition was started to oppose the decision, and many speakers pulled out of their upcoming conference. Generally, HR executives have found the decision to be disconnected from the core concepts of DEI and feel strongly that SHRM needs an equity-based approach to address workplace issues.
This was a misstep that could have been avoided. SHRM’s data had shown that people were not confident in the direction for progressing certain DEI initiatives. As a result, they ended up pulling back the equity portion. In this decision, they failed to recognize that a large portion of SHRM’s audience is very DEI focused and had been supportive as SHRM played a significant role in expanding DEI efforts across the human resources industry. SHRM’s brand values historically had been aligned with promoting DEI. An abrupt decision to seemingly rewrite their brand values and goals around uncertainty in the direction of the broader DEI movement has led to continued frustration.
Keeping Brand Values in Practice
The loudest voice in the room can be distracting, but leaders need to be careful not to let it be the guiding force behind any decision-making. A company’s brand values should be at the center of any decision. The loudest voice is not always representative of your target audience’s key interests and changing direction rashly without careful thought and professional consultation can lead to reputational damage or ruin.
While society continues to be largely divided on a number of issues, we can likely agree that a decision made in haste without considering your core audience or values, is likely not a smart move.
Before reacting, stop, think and consult with communications professionals. Think: What key messages are we relaying with this move and how will our audience respond?
Public opinion will always shift. That doesn’t mean your brand values should.
Donald Trump has done more for black people than Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. combined.
Joe Biden finally beat Medicare, so we don’t have to worry about senior citizens anymore.
If grocery stores want me to bring my own bags, they should pay me.
Pat’s is the only place to get a real cheese steak in Philadelphia.
Let’s consider the visceral reactions many would have to the above statements if posted to LinkedIn by their professional connections. The key word here is visceral.
In my view, LinkedIn is not the place for sensitive social commentary. LinkedIn was created to help people present themselves for career opportunities and for professional networking. It has evolved, becoming a venue for creative expression, sharing of expertise and insights, for calling society to action on issues of industry and enterprise, and for holding a mirror up to our workplace lives – all through the lens of the professional. It is not Facebook, where personal perspective, political ideology and countless memes are central. It is not X (formerly Twitter), where reactionaries, visionaries, citizen journalists, political and social elites and the opinionated co-mingle. Nor is it Instagram, where humor and snark co-exist with vacation photos and musical dance routines or humorous pet antics.
LinkedIn, for good or ill, remains a platform for professional discourse with a splash of the personal that should not veer into jarring zealotry. Authenticity is important, but not at the expense of alienating important audiences that might disagree with your personal, beliefs. Courtesy, respect and being a compassionate human must be central to interactions in any professional environment — virtual or in person.
You would not walk into a job interview and begin the conversation with your unsolicited views on abortion. A company-wide Zoom meeting where the boss, or anyone else, shares why her preferred political candidate is the only rational choice could constitute a hostile work environment. No sane person would begin a new business presentation by explaining why their religion is superior to others. And certainly no one enjoys that one uncle who comes to Thanksgiving dinner eager to share his criticisms of your parenting, lifestyle, romantic partner, personal finances or who also publicly shames Aunt Mable’s latest obsession with sequin holiday sweaters.
Many of us were taught that some topics are not appropriate in the workplace or even certain family functions. Most importantly, in professional circles would you want your hard-earned qualifications and accomplishments overshadowed entirely because of the personal beliefs or opinions you share that have little or no bearing on your performance in the workplace?
We counsel clients to always strive for an authentic voice on social media that best reflects the organization or individual’s values and professional strengths. No one should feel the need to contort themselves into something they are not, either in the office or on LinkedIn. However, we live in a polarized world. Adding to the cacophony of militant opinions or strident arguments in a professional setting serves almost no one. This isn’t to say social media can’t be a tool for advocacy; rather, it’s simply that LinkedIn is often not the appropriate platform.
Consider your strongly held views or opinions posted to LinkedIn may negatively impact your employer’s ability to:
Recruit talent
Retain emerging professionals
Win new business
Fundraise
Attract new vendor partners
Hold on to existing customer relationships
Maintain the respect and support of the communities and audiences important to them
Moreover, sharing your personal beliefs on sensitive social topics on LinkedIn might also serve to harm your career. What if employers and others believe those views, however well intentioned, might bleed into the workplace and create potential management challenges with you, your direct reports or with clients?
When you reach for that “Start a post” option on LinkedIn, remember to be thoughtful, kind and intentional. What and how you post on LinkedIn is a reflection of your character, comportment and professional judgement. If you assume future employers, employees, customers and others aren’t going to look at LinkedIn — and maybe do a lot more scrolling than you think before entrusting you with their reputation, careers, money or more — you would be mistaken. A LinkedIn post, especially one written in haste, can do considerable harm. Equally so, a thoughtful and professional piece of content shared on LinkedIn can benefit you, and your employer, greatly. Proceed with caution, respect and offer the grace and kindness you would seek for yourself when engaging on this most powerful of professional platforms. And remember, always, that nothing on the internet ever truly goes away.
If you are a business or nonprofit leader, get in touch with Kimball Hughes Public Relations to ensure you have a social media policy and protocols to protect the reputation of your organization and those to whom you entrust. And if you are facing a reputational crisis, prompted by social media or other factors, we also provide Crisis Communications services to help you as well. Contact us at info@kimballpr.com or call (610) 559-7585.
The dog days of August are here, accompanied by late summer vacations, back to school and, if you’re lucky, quieter workdays. This precious, less-demanding time of year when customers, clients and colleagues enjoy some much-deserved time off could be the ideal opportunity to explore ways to freshen up your public relations strategy for the final stretch of the year.
So, what do we see as the secret sauce to spice up your PR efforts before we close out the year?
Video.
HubSpot laid out the reasons why video is the future for marketing in a recent report. We’ll include PR under that umbrella for these purposes. The HubSpot research found 63% of customers surveyed in 2024 watched video content to learn about a product. They ascertained that 89% of consumers want to see more videos from the companies trying to reach them.
And video is not just valuable because people see it and digest it; brands love it because consumers pass it on. HubSpot found that people surveyed were 52% more likely to share video content than other types of content.
It’s not just brands that are noticing this growing consumer interest in video. Social media platforms recognize this too. Just this summer, LinkedIn beta tested a new video tab to piggyback on the popularity of TikTok and Instagram scrollable reels of video content. After testing out the new feature earlier this summer, digital transformation consultant and social media selling expert Ema Roloff wrote, “I can confidently say it will become the most used part of the LinkedIn mobile app. Just like Reels on Instagram, or Shorts on YouTube, the video tab is the spot to get your dopamine hit.”
She went on to explain the new feature will enhance user engagement and community building as users spend more time watching video, connecting with it and are presented with more opportunities to interact. Further, the easy-to-scroll set up encourages users to stay on the platform scrolling through videos and hopefully, sharing those videos.
Working It In
In the world of PR, video can be used to complement and enliven nearly any PR tactics. Consider the following:
Press releasesand product announcements embody traditional PR. While a press release may still be needed for convenient text containing the who, what, when, why and where for reporters, why not make the news a bit more exciting for the consumer? Video can do just that and help to make a more memorable connection with your customer related to your announcement.
Thought leadership prepared as text can also be recycled into video to further the writer’s point either through animation or a casual short video on the topic. It can help to highlight the main points and draw viewers in to want to take a deeper diver and learn more. As much of what we do in PR is based on telling a compelling story for our clients, video can help achieve this goal as it can help to evoke emotion and more deeply engage the viewer.
Issue statements, a tool used by PR pros to get a leader’s expertise out to the media on a certain topic making headlines or breaking news, can also be supported with a video message. A recorded video message by the thought leader could not only be valuable to catch a reporter’s eye, but also for reporters to insert into segments, or to demonstrate the individual is TV-ready.
Social media posts can get a bit stale if a company is always posting the same types of content, whether its graphics, photos or even original articles. Short, original video can help to break up this content and keep the viewer engaged.
Interactive events like LinkedIn or Facebook Lives seem to be the modern press conference. These platforms allow users to host live webinar-like events that can be more easily found among your connections, shareable, cost-effective and a fantastic way to encourage user interaction and promote engagement.
Dos and Don’ts
So, you’re ready to tackle video for your company. What should you keep in mind?
Don’t worry about producing highly polished content. Do produce “relatable and authentic” content. HubSpot found 63% of viewers prefer this.
Don’t publish a full-on made-for-TV mini-series. Do create a brief, thoughtful video. HubSpot found 83% of marketers believe video should be no longer than 60 seconds in length.
Don’t commit yourself to one channel. Do explore and take advantage of the channels your key audience frequents, whether they include LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram or Facebook.
Don’t assume you can do it all. Do consult a PR professional or agency. While video for these purposes should appear “authentic”, it should not appear sloppy or amateur. Work with PR pros who can help you, at minimum, with talking points, speech prep, with recording and conducting light edits on the video.
Video will play a key role in the future of PR and marketing. Freshen up your approach to PR with the latest channels to share your key messages and connect with your audience to help ensure your brand is meeting your customers where they are.
Imagine: Your company name is in the headline of an article on a reputable, national news outlet’s home page. Your colleagues and industry peers send a few emails in congratulations and maybe you even receive some inbound requests inquiring about your business, but the value seemingly ends there. How can you keep the momentum going?
Company leadership who are not taking full advantage of their media hits, or simply do not know how to amplify them are missing out on the exposure a reputable news outlet could offer.
Can I have your attention?
Whether the result of proactive media relations or an unexpected story, a media placement can help bring your business to the forefront of prospective customers’ and partners’ minds. If managed wisely and consistently over time, business leaders can enjoy a continuous flow of media hits that can lead to new business, help with recruitment and pique the interest of investors or other business partners. Consider the following tips to expand on your company’s next media win:
Share the good news internally: Your greatest cheerleaders should be your team members. Leadership should share media placements with team members and suggest convenient ways they can use it if they choose. Your communications team can be a great resource in crafting language to share with employees, including guidance on adding links to their email signatures.
Get social: As soon as a media hit goes live, business leaders should have a plan to share it broadly, tagging the outlet and – in some cases – the author as well. At minimum, social media posts should be scheduled for the same day the article is posted and a company’s website news page should be updated to include the article. Priority should be placed on interacting with comments on the posts and employees should be made aware of and encouraged to interact with them, if they are comfortable doing so.
Market it: Connect with your marketing team to see where else it may make sense to share the article, including newsletters or external email communications. Keep in mind the content is likely owned by the publication, not your company, so be careful not to cut and paste directly from the article or post without attribution. It could be seen as a violation of copyright laws.
Be strategic: As you spread the word through social media and marketing materials, be cautious not to spam your audiences with the same content. Find fresh angles where you can change up references to the articles in posts and marketing materials.
Don’t rest on your laurels: While a one-off media hit can lead to a nice boost for business and search engine optimization (SEO), without continued effort, it will likely be just that – a one-time thing. Engage your communications team to build a comprehensive plan for continuous, thoughtful proactive media outreach. Additionally, your communications team should be building and maintaining relationships with reporters who cover your business, leaving opportunities for you to contribute to stories in the future. Consider partnering with a public relations agency for an extra set of hands when it comes to media strategy and outreach.
Whether a feature article or a few quotes in a reputable news outlet, make your media win more than a nice-to-have article to frame on a wall. Media wins give a company credibility and a tangible way to demonstrate your leadership’s expertise. Essentially, unlike advertising, a media placement can offer third-party validation that consumers seek before placing their trust in a company. To make sure your company is more than a one-hit-wonder with the media, consider amplifying your coverage and building a long-term plan for consistent proactive outreach.
Leaving the office to go on vacation can be difficult if you don’t prepare ahead of time. Last month, I took a two-week trip to Greece and opted not to bring my work along with me. Here are some tips I like to follow to ensure that my vacations don’t disrupt client workflow:
Keep your teammates in the loop: Before heading out, I prepared a document highlighting all active projects for my clients and how those projects could progress while I would be traveling. I also scheduled time to review that document with our team so we could figure out how to best to divide that work while I was out. This ensured that projects would keep moving while I was away and that our clients would continue to receive the service they expect from our agency.
Leave an email trail: Keep coworkers copied on all client emails and make sure they have call invites to any status calls or upcoming meetings that may occur while you are traveling. Forward over any threads they may not be on and be sure to provide context and details so they can pick up where you left off.
Let your clients know ahead of time: A few weeks before my trip, I began informing clients that I would be out for two weeks in June and that they could reach out to other members of our team with any inquiries during that time. This way, my clients were not blindsided when I left and felt comfortable and confident that the work would continue in my absence. They also knew who they would be working with while I was out. Of course, I also set an out of office message directing any inbound inquiries to the right people, in case any pressing emails came my way.
Embrace your vacation: It can be hard to actually disconnect on a vacation. Consider archiving your work-related apps or turning off notifications so you do not feel the need to check in as often as you may like. A vacation is a chance to refresh yourself mentally and for the long term, it is better for you and your business to take that time to disconnect and recharge.
And now for the fun part. Please enjoy a few of my favorite photos from my time in Greece where I enjoyed fantastic regional meals, visits to ancient ruins, time at the pool and more.
Summer is here and the Kimball Hughes PR team is all about enjoying the warmer weather and some fun in the sun. Here’s a glimpse into some of the summer shenanigans our team members have gotten up to or are planning while OOO.
What do you have planned? Summer concerts? A beach or lake vacation? Backyard barbeque? Quality time with a good book in the AC?
Eileen: For our family, summer means an annual trip to the Jersey Shore to enjoy time with friends on the beach or on the deck and a good soft-serve cone – or several. I’m also looking forward to hitting my first summer concert in years to see Zach Bryan at Lincoln Financial Field in early August.
Kate: Summer 2024 is going to be hard to beat for me. So far, I’ve gone to my first INDY 500, saw Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks, Jacob Collier, officiated my best friend’s wedding, helped another get engaged and found out I’m going to be an aunt for the first time.
James: The lake calls! After closing on a house earlier this year, my wife and I are heading to the mountains for some much-needed time away. A week of fishing and kayaking will provide a much-needed break from the never-ending list of house projects.
Rod: It will be a busy summer with several weekends with house guests and a weekend trip to North Carolina in July to christen our friend’s new home. We’ll wrap up in August with a week in the Virginia Mountains for Teddy’s first road trip with our nieces and extended family. In between, there will be lots of games of fetch with Teddy, of course.
Liz: Our family will be heading to LBI in a few weeks for fun at the beach and the annual family cook-off – always a great time. My husband and I are looking forward to seeing Jeff Dunham in September for some good laughs.
Cassidy: This summer has already been fast paced and adventure packed with a one-year wedding anniversary trip to Maine, Red Sox games with friends, time by the pool and golf dates galore. The rest of the summer is projected to be just as exciting with a family beach trip, a Noah Kahan concert at Fenway Park and a slew of friends’ weddings on tap.
Hari: This summer kicked off fast with a trip to Greece, traveling through seven different towns and cities exploring the history and food of the country. Up next will be a few weekends down the shore with friends and family, a trip to West Palm Beach and a wedding to wrap up the summer.
Not lovin’ it. That’s the takeaway from McDonald’s recent abandonment of AI for its drive-thru ordering. The fast-food chain’s decision to end its AI experiment speaks to the larger trend of AI not yet being quite ready to solve a host of problems for business.
Artificial intelligence offers the promise of a new and more efficient business environment … just not quite yet.
McDonald’s hoped its AI-driven drive-thru ordering would create more accurate and efficient ordering. However, the tech proved no match for humans in the wild. Background noise, the nuances of human communication and, I imagine, some of the hallucinations AI technology is famous for combined to generate customer-frustrating errors, including one infamous order for more than $250 worth of Chicken McNuggets. While the fast-food chain says it learned from and has plans for future AI implementations, the reality is the Golden Arches sees AI as a future state tool rather than a current operational solution.
Other industries are finding the same.
In an interview with Insurance Journal last November, Insurtech CEO Tim Hardcastle of INSTANDA discussed the challenges of AI transparency, saying the full transformational impact of AI in insurance remained a few years away.
What frustrates consumers — and many business leaders — about AI is really a perception problem. While companies boast about the promise of AI, the truth is we are in a state of ongoing beta testing. Even Google, the defacto leader in online search, is feeling its way through as end-users find significant inaccuracies and false answers to certain queries of its AI search tool.
Where does this leave businesses and the race to AI implementation?
We have been here before. In the late 2000s, businesses raced to adopt social media. “We have to be there” was the mantra, while the reasons for being on these platforms were somewhat opaque. We saw a similar approach during the rise of voice search and voice recognition. And I believe we are in a similar place today with AI.
Absent a new AI tool to promote, some business leaders perceive they are running behind. However, aside from some common and long-standing applications, AI is currently a solution in search of problems.
Don’t misunderstand me. I think AI will eventually change how business is done, radically in fact. Just not yet. We haven’t worked out the bugs. The guardrails aren’t in place. And we haven’t fully mapped the real, day-to-day challenges AI might address, although that has begun.
The perception problem extends to consumers. AI is seen as our flying car, and by God, it’s here and we want it to work.
Neither the technology industry nor others with have messaged appropriately on AI. They haven’t told us this is one big beta test. They haven’t cautioned us to expect errors. Sure, the media calls out egregious examples, but the businesses incorporating AI could also be more transparent. We haven’t set expectations appropriately; we talk about the transformative power of AI and consumers assume we mean now, not in the future.
When the problem is perception, you have to change people’s perceptions.
Business leaders — from fast-food chains and insurance providers to the financial services sector and big box retailers — would benefit tremendously from better AI messaging. Consider talking about what AI can mean for their companies as well as customers, but caution that this is a learning process. Survey your consumers. Offer research. Invite consumers to help you test your new AI tools.
I’m confident a majority of consumers would get it and many would be willing to be part of this great, new digital industrial revolution experiment. But we must call it what it is: an experiment. We must move consumer perceptions of AI as a current silver bullet to a potential, future game-changer.
There’s precedent for this: The Human Genome Project. The public conversation around this 10+ year effort was about possibility, potential and promise. Not a current-state solution to contemporary problems. The messaging, from the researchers, the media and governments, was clear, which set the expectations — and the perceptions — of the public.
We don’t have an AI problem. We have a perception problem, and we have the tools to address it. What we need is for better messaging to meet the moment.
PR Matters 