Word cloud analysis of President Obama's State of the Union address

Word clouds are a creative way to gauge whether your message stands out in a speech. Pictured here is a word cloud of President Obama's State of the Union address Wednesday night.

Ask yourself whether the right themes break through, then give your own company's message a test drive for free at http://www.wordle.net/. You could insert your CEO's upcoming speech, the executive summary of your last annual report, or even a press release or a blog post. You may be surprised at what themes pop out most.

To be sure, a word cloud is not the final arbiter of whether your message passes the clarity test. It cannot account for tone, body language, compelling stories, or the speaker's ability to personally connect with his or her audience, but it's a fun tool that may add some fresh perspective to your company's messaging goals.

Monday's quick reads: Wal Mart, Obama, and bad PR pitches

1.) "People of Walmart" blog can't, and shouldn't, be stopped by Walmart (Ad Age) -- People of Walmart is a new blog that lets people upload, rate and comment on photos of oddly dressed people seen shopping at Walmart. And it would seem there's not a thing Walmart can -- or should -- do about it.

2.) Media pitching cardinal sins to avoid (The Bulldog) -- "Great PR people turn themselves into sources, rather than gatekeepers," says Josef Adalian, television editor for TheWrap.com, a news site focused on the business of entertainment and media. "If a PR person is a possible source for a scoop, rather than someone who is there to confirm or deny information, then that PR person is suddenly a lot more important in our world."

3.) What Obama is learning from Facebook, Google, and Ideo (Wired) -- When Barack Obama hired John Berry to head his Office of Personnel Management earlier this year, the president did not mince words. “John, we’ve got to make it cool again,” Obama said to his new hire. Many of the nation’s brightest graduates are snapped up by tech startups claiming to offer not only high compensation but the feeling of being part of something exciting — not to mention such perks as meals by gourmet chefs, exercise and laundry facilities, haircuts, massages and other amenities designed to smooth the transition from college to adulthood while instilling a sense of loyalty.

4.) PR firm hired to amplify anger over rate hikes (The Columbus Dispatch) -- Officials from seven Franklin County townships are so burned by a private water company's plan to hike rates by 55 percent that they've hired a public-relations firm to shame the company. It worked in Tennessee. "If this increase goes through, it will devastate these communities," Prairie Township Trustee Steve Kennedy said. "Our best bet is to bring in professional help."

Monday's quick reads: Obama, energy, reputation management

1.) Web 2.0: Managing corporate reputations (Business Week) -- For many employers, social networking sites are a love-hate relationship. So leading companies are drafting guidelines to govern employee use of social networking sites at work and to protect the company's brand online.

2.) Why local news is no longer proprietary (PRSA) -- To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of journalism have been greatly exaggerated.

3.) Master the art of the story teller (PRSA) -- If you want to win the hearts and minds of your audience members, you must be a master storyteller.

4.) How Obama made energy platform "pop" (The Washington Post) -- How President Obama is packaging the energy debate to influence public opinion.

The Obama loan modification program

We all know that the federal government is taking steps to assist homeowners at imminent risk of default -- what is less clear is how the program actually works and how it affects banks and mortgage lenders. Womble Carlyle's Capital Markets group has penned a very helpful primer on the government's plan and what it means to banks and lenders. Take a look by clicking here.

History's advice for public speakers

With President Obama's first State of the Union speech days away, it's a good time to dust off quotes from some of history's best speech givers and speech writers. The advice below applies to corporate executives and communications managers as much as it does to public officials.

"Be sincere; be brief; be seated." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em. Then tell 'em. Then tell 'em what you told 'em." -- New York Times columnist and Nixon speechwriter William Safire.

"Let thy speech be brief, comprehending much in few words." -- King James Bible.

“A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery, sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart.” -- Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan.

"It's not that tough to write a good speech, but rather just a matter of a few lines." -- Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorenson.

"Grasp the subject; the words will follow." -- Cato the Elder.

Executives would be well served to heed this advice next time they deliver prepared remarks or interview with a local reporter. Communicating effectively requires more than having something to say; it requires thought, preparation, and knack for memorable quotes.

Let's hear from you. What are the most memorable speeches or quotes in your mind?

Marketing the recovery plan

After a detour for jury duty and other obligations, Wag the Dog is back. Let's take a look at how advocates for President Obama's stimulus plan are seeking to influence public opinion -- starting with the president himself.

1. The White House live blogged the president's townhall meeting today in Florida, just hours before the Senate adopted the $838 billion package. It was the president's second townhall meeting in as many days.

2. President Obama held a prime time news conference Monday evening, which the White House immediately posted on Youtube.com. The video had nearly 12,000 views in its first 18 hours online.

3. At the microblogging site Twitter.com, the author dubbed @obamanews kept the public up to date on the Senate debate over the stimulus. @obamanews enjoys nearly 12,000 followers.

4. Just a stone's throw from the White House, the Treasury Department launched a new website dedicated to the new financial market stability plan - a separate animal from the stimulus package - complete with fact sheets, videos, press releases, and more.

5. Treasury Secretary Geithner gave what appears to be an exclusive interview to New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks in an effort to market the stability plan. The results were mixed, but the effort to lower the temperature among critics is admirable.

6. "Organizing for America" - a new grassroots operation housed under the Democratic National Committee - has kept supporters engaged by encouraging house meeting to discuss the president's agenda. Check out this video of the president thanking his supporters and addressing the economic recovery debate on Capitol Hill. The video has 753,000 views in three days.

The strategy accounts for townhall meetings, beat reporters, thought leaders, web video, micro-blogging, grassroots engagement, vocal surrogates, and more.

What do you think? What is missing?

In the coming days and weeks, we'll also take a look at how the president's critics are getting their message out.

Clouding your message

(ReadWriteWeb)

Companies looking to sharpen their message should consider a relatively new technology: word clouds. This tool - which creates a cloud out of the words that appear most frequently in your text - can be especially useful when writing speeches, press releases, or blogs. The more often a word appears in your speech, the more prominent it is in your cloud. You can analyze any document for free at http://www.wordle.net/. This is great way to analyze whether your key themes are breaking through.

Check out a great word cloud analysis of recent presidential inaugural addresses by ReadWriteWeb by clicking here. Notice any themes?

Know your audience(s)

It's no secret that executives in the spotlight should know their audience. What's even more important is that they know their audiences - because they usually have more than one.

Case in point: Vice President-elect Joseph Biden yesterday acknowledged that the Obama transition team made "a mistake" in failing to notify key members of Congress that the president-elect had chosen Leon Panetta to be the next Director of Central Intelligence.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) said she knew nothing about the nomination and was cool in her assessment of it. She chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, giving her broad authority over the CIA's budget. Her predecessor, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), who was also left in the dark, was no more enthusiastic in his comments.

Knowing one's audiences is not simply effective politics - it is a sign of effective communications in any industry. Companies must ask themselves who is responsible for communicating with all key stakeholders when important developments emerge. Crisis planning exercises are a smart way to identify and eliminate such gaps in a company's communications plan. One oversight - whether it be board members, employees, members of the press, regulators, or even the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee - could be the difference between maintaining control of an announcement or surrendering it.

Obama, Youtube, and You

It is no secret that Barack Obama utilized youtube and other new media tools unlike any other candidate in the 2008 election cycle. Whether behind the scenes or campaigning door to door, the Obama campaign wrote the rulebook for bypassing television to communicate directly through online video.

With the campaign over, the Obama transition team shows no signs of abandoning that strategy. If the following video is any indication, the Obama White House will be the first to establish a "channel" - or page - on youtube:



With this strategy, the president-elect is preserving an inexpensive mechanism for communicating with voters, minus the filtering effects of mainstream journalism.

So, what does this mean for your company? Politicians aren't the only ones who can benefit from embracing a youtube strategy. Southwest Airlines , Dell, Standard Solar and the One Campaign are just a few of the companies and non-profits that have created channels on youtube to reach a desired audience in an innovative way. Two key factors for determining whether your organization should make the leap to youtube are (1) whether your desired audience gets its information online more so than traditional news outlets, and (2) what message you seek to convey to your audience and whether you can do so through youtube. Have questions? Send us an email.

The "Barack Whisperer"

Today's Washington Post includes a profile of Robert Gibbs, who is expected to be named White House press secretary in the Obama Administration. The profile is an educational read for anyone interested in the tenuous relationship between journalists and communicators who perform under white hot scrutiny. Reading the profile brought back memories for me, albeit on a smaller stage, having served as press secretary to the governor of Maryland.

I recall plenty of heated discussions with reporters over their coverage of the governor, but always felt it was worthwhile when it led to more accurate reporting. I remember one instance in which a generally fair reporter wrote an article slanted heavily against the governor. The morning it appeared in the paper I printed it out, highlighted all the misleading and unfair sentences in blue, and highlighted all the accurate and fair sentences in yellow. Needless to say there was a lot of blue and very little yellow. I gave it to the reporter along with my complaints. It was clear he didn't like my approach (and I don't recommend making it a regular tactic), but it led to more accurate coverage from that reporter in the future.

There are plenty of lessons corporate communicators can take from the Gibbs profile, including the importance of addressing even the slightest inaccuracy or falsehood the moment it emerges. Reporter errors can quickly become "facts" if left unaddressed, particularly as social media and blogs become the preferred mode of communication for more and more consumers. The burden lies on us, the communicators, to nip it in the bud.

Lessons from the Bachmann controversy

Republicans don't often take political advice from democrats (and vice versa) but the controversy surrounding U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) reminds me of some good advice former Clinton advisor Lanny Davis once gave: "Tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself." This is sound advice for Rep. Bachmann or anyone else who commits a verbal gaffe in front of the press.

Here's the story: Rep. Bachmann stated on MSNBC's "Hardball" that she feared presidential candidate Barack Obama had "anti-American views." She also called for an investigation into whether other members of Congress harbor anti-American views. Granted, Hardball host Chris Matthews nudged her toward this conclusion, but the damage was ultimately self-inflicted.

The backlash in the press was immediate. Examples can be found here, here, and here. Since her remarks, Bachmann's opponent in this year's election has raised $1.3 million, and polling shows her reliably republican seat is up for grabs.

Ten days after her appearance on Hardball, The Politico quoted unnamed sources stating that Bachmann would release an advertisement apologizing for her remarks. Her campaign released the ad the next day, but it included no apology. Instead, Bachman stated in the ad that she "may not always get her words right," a vague nod to the Hardball controversy.

We will find out on Election Day how much this controversy mattered in the eyes of voters. Until then, several lessons emerge for communications managers and executives who commit verbal gaffes with the press, starting with Mr. Davis' advice:

1. Tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself: Rep. Bachmann waited ten days to decisively address the controversy, leaving her critics an enormous opportunity to define her on their own terms. Had she clarified or retracted her comments within 24 hours of the controversy, she could have redefined an ugly situation and spared herself days of negative national media coverage. Additionally, the Politico's quoting of unnamed sources created expectations for an apology that never materialized. Again, had the campaign responded forcefully in the first 24 hours, mixed messaging from unknown sources would never have taken place.

2. Never let a journalist put words in your mouth: Rep. Bachmann acknowledged in this video that she essentially surrendered the terms of the interview to the reporter, who was the first to introduce the term "anti-American" in to the discussion. It's quite possible that phrase never would have crossed her lips if Matthews hadn't introduced it first. This is a vital lesson for anyone who speaks regularly with the press. We alone are responsible for our comments. Develop your own message and stick to it. Never recycle the reporter's language. If you do, the consequences can be severe. Just ask Rep. Bachmann.