CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND PR 101 No. 007 - 12 September 2013 - THE C.C.P. FORMULA FOR CAREER SUCCESS IN COMMUNICATION

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION & PR 101

(BACK TO BASICS)

By Rod C. Estrera

Issue No. 007 – 12 September 2013

The C.C.P. Formula For Career Success In Communication

HOPE ALL CONTINUES TO BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES!

Welcome back again! This is now the seventh issue of my ongoing Blog Series on Basic Public Relations and Corporate Communication lessons, tips and insights for Industry Professionals and interested Non-Practitioners. Feel free to visit and re-visit the first to sixth issues (01, 04, 09, 15 & 22 July and 15 August) here on my Blog Site. Many thanks once more to the readers and followers who continue to send valuable feedback and suggestions, either on this Blog or through comments on social media. I again deeply regret the nearly one-month gap this time since my last issue. Indeed, the interval between issues continues to get longer. I will endeavor to rectify this. However, things continue to be highly-toxic at my regular day job. Like I stated last time, I will do what I can to someday discuss the work challenges we have been facing these last few months, since these fall within the PR/Communication sphere.

In our last issue (Issue No. 6), we discussed the “A.C.E. Principle” (or rather “A.A. – C.C. – E. Principle”) in Communication Planning. To recap, this stands for:

AWARENESS, ACCEPTANCE, CONVICTION, CONVERSION and ENDEARMENT.

This time we take a look at another easy-to-remember acronym I have personally created – “C.C.P.” – which is what I continuously and strongly espouse and advocate among my college students and seminar participants if they want to secure a worthwhile job or get ahead in their careers, more so for those in the various Core Communication fields.  To be quite honest, I teach three sets of “C.C.P.” acronyms, but for now, let us just focus on the Primary or First Set, as follows:

C – COMMUNICATION SKILLS – This is rather obvious, since we are in Communication. However, when we refer to this aspect, we emphasize “Superior and value-added written, verbal and technical skills.” Let’s face it, given today’s highly-competitive job market, the expectations are high when hiring managers look for qualified candidates among the hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of applicants lining up for every single open job position. Companies and bosses today look for Communication Practitioners – even for Entry-Level posts – who are “multi-skilled” and who excel in each skill, including but not limited to: speechwriting, business correspondence writing/editing (memos/letters), media/press relations and materials, audio-visual/multi-media production (including video, photography and presentation and public speaking skills), writing/editorial for publications (i.e., newsletters, annual reports, brochures), corporate social responsibility (CSR) experience, reputation management, employee/internal communication campaigns for HR support, and now online communication (including web site content) and social media.

C – CRITICAL THINKING – Sadly, many students taking Communication courses often neglect to hone and harness this key ability and just focus mainly on the tools of the trade, that is, the communication skills listed above. Certainly, mastery of our core skills is a must, but these should not be the only weapons in our arsenal. Company bosses now look for Communication staff (again, at all job levels) who can quickly “think on their feet” and be able to deeply analyze any given situation or problem in today’s crisis-filled corporate world and provide almost immediate viable recommendations and solutions. Thus, applicants/prospects get shocked during job interviews when they are sometimes presented with difficult and even bizarre or off-the-wall problems for them to analyze and solve on-the-spot, or else! Responding nervously with a lame “But they didn’t teach that in college!” will most likely result in the interviewer looking toward his or her door and yelling “Next!”

P – PASSION – It sometimes pains me, both professionally and personally, when I experience firsthand Communication students and PR and Advertising folks making pitches and presentations in the most lackluster and boring way possible. It’s like they’re saying, “How I wish I weren’t here!” Accept it and face it! We are in the business of reaching out, persuading and convincing. If we don’t look and sound like we love what we are doing, how do we expect others, especially our audience to buy into whatever it is we are advocating? On the other hand, Passion does not mean exaggeration or over-acting. It is equally irritating to see and hear the same industry folks act like they ought to be performing in a farce on a Broadway stage (unless you are pitching a new stage play) with their over-enunciated delivery. Please, let’s keep things balanced by learning how to properly manage our over-all “package” by using the appropriate energy level, voice intonation/inflection, body language, posture and, yes, even our attire and wardrobe. What we want to project is that: WE LOVE AND RESPECT OUR CRAFT and we want our audience and public to appreciate it too.

Do continue to stay tuned for my next issue, hopefully much sooner than the overly long wait this time around. We will look take up the other two sets of “C.C.P.” acronyms. Again, I do hope these easy-to-remember topics prove to be useful for both my fellow PR/Communication Professionals and our Clients/Bosses.

Thank you once more for your interest and patronage.  As always, may we all have a great and productive week and a fun and restful weekend ahead!