Your Online Voice Drives your Offline Reputation

Dana Wollman, an editor at LAPTOP Magazine—a super sharp gal and all-around good person—and I had lunch a few months back when I shared my dismay at searching for an account coordinator to help the agency with research and social networking support. I was lamenting that the Internet is a double-edged sword for our candidates, because they’re in the field of online communications, yet seem to fall down a bit in, well, online communications. Our conversation worked its way into a story on how job hunters in particular need to manage their online reputations, which ran last month and is a great read if you haven’t yet seen it.

My expectation for sound writing and interesting points of view was (as many expectations are) perhaps higher than it should have been. I was basing the candidates’ qualifications for the position on the writing style in their personal blogs and the content of their social Web posts. Was that fair?

I began to beat myself up a bit, but couldn’t move away from the fact that the personal anecdotes I learned about these candidates left me a bit curious about their fit with Concept. I didn’t fret for long because I asked the question that serves me well when faced with ethical quandaries: “What would I do?” Sure, not the largest sample size, but I’m a decent judge of character, have managed my reputation well over the years, and am in the business of reputation management after all.

What I would do (and, in fact, do), is write for everyone. I assume that my clients are reading my Facebook updates (sorry, you must be bored out of your minds), that their customers are reading my Twitter posts (since I’m identified as the manager of their Twitter profiles), and that potential clients type “Samantha Steinwinder” into Google before calling to discuss a partnership. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.

As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time online, reading, writing and generally participating—for personal, business and even my clients’ business—my reputation is my lifeblood. And my reputation is also tied to that of my clients’. We’re interchangeable, with my voice representing their business, and vice versa. I love the book Trust Agentsby Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for the thoughtful tips on this client/customer reputation entanglement and how it should and can best be managed.

But that doesn’t mean I’m all business. I reveal openly that I am ridiculously in love with baseball and football, that my musical tastes can’t break out of the 70s, and that my children are my stars and moon but I still love my day job. I share what my friends, family, clients and even their customers might like to know or, at a minimum, won’t find objectionable or grammatically flawed.

I hope my “audiences” learn simply that I’m a decent writer, share my passions openly, love a good debate—and even more so, competition—and that I don’t offend my keyboard. All things that serve me well, yet tell you a bit more about my personal style. And, thankfully, what you won’t learn about me is what I had for lunch. Unless it’s dim sum. Sometimes I can’t help but talk about dim sum.

Truth in Public Relations

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cocktail party in downtown San Francisco, hosted by one of our newer clients, real estate search engine Roost.  The party featured fabulous wine from Peay Vinyards, poured by vineyard co-founder Andy Peay himself.  Before the party started Andy and I were chatting about the fact that they’ve focused on Pinots from the very beginning, even when they weren’t trendy.  When I remarked how interesting it is that all industries go through their trends and people scamper to take advantage of them – be it wine, fashion, publishing, technology – Andy simply said, “That’s why it’s so important to be true to yourself.  Then, you build an audience based on your core beliefs.”

And then, you never need to waver from them.

My partner Samantha and I have been reflecting on our core beliefs as we celebrate a milestone anniversary for Concept. It was this week five years ago that she and I had a summit at her house in Seattle, out of which came the agency as we know it today. And in the past five years, many PR tactics and agency philosophies have come in and out of fashion. Yet despite working in an industry renowned for taking liberties with the truth, we’ve always remained true to our clients, to the media, to each other, to our employees, and to ourselves – as people and as a company. Our reporter friends appreciate it, and so do our clients.

We believe our principles have guided us to do our best work – isn’t that what your principles should do? —  and why we appeal most to clients who subscribe to our core principles of Integration, Integrity, and Imagination.  It’s also why we’ve had a continuously strong business that has thrived during boom years and is weathering the current economic downturn, and why great clients like Gracenote and ARCHOS have been working with us for years. 

To everyone who has supported us over the past five years, we thank you for believing in us.

Veronica Skelton
Co-Founder and Managing Director – San Francisco Office
Concept Communications