Full Frontal PR Report
Shawn Le

“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”

Remember the time when a statement like that was all the credibility a spokesperson needed to recommend a product or advocate a service? We used to have greater faith in our celebrities, in familiar faces, in boldface names. We figured they somehow had more information than the general public, and had the authority to impart inside knowledge.

Not anymore. While we still follow a certain cult of personality, we are now more selective about whom we trust. And it’s not only limited to the personal decisions in life such as healthcare and insurance but it is becoming more evident in social decisions like entertainment and dining. We trust that Lindsay Lohan will point us in the right direction for a fabulous night on the town, but we turn elsewhere for a hangover remedy to use the following morning.

“Expert opinion” is that important. Every company needs a Speakers Bureau, a group of expert voices that advocates on the brand’s behalf in front of consumer, industry and peer audiences. They act as your most enthusiastic cheerleaders in the best of times, and will be and your staunchest defenders in the worst. It’s crucial to establish and nurture this group of independent voices to build and maintain your brand in an environment where consumers are educated and knowledgeable about the many and changing options.

Here are the five steps to create and maintain an effective Speakers Bureau:

1. Identify appropriate spokespeople
2. Conduct extensive media training (repeat often)
3. Network your group with each other
4. Keep them updated
5. Solicit—and listen to—feedback

Identify Appropriate Spokespeople
The first step is identifying those on the front lines whom you wish to talk publicly about your brand. In medical and healthcare fields it’s as simple as finding the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who have seen their patients benefit from your product. They have firsthand knowledge and speak with a professional authority and expertise that has enormous impact.

To position a new athletic shoe, find the fitness experts and athletes who can talk about how this amazing shoe improved their performance. For a coffee product identify accepted authorities on food and lifestyle trends. Look for ones that believe in your company and products. It doesn’t matter whether they can already deliver and present well. Media training helps everyone become public speakers.

Conduct Media Training
Believing in a product isn’t enough if you can’t effectively communicate your ideas and opinions to an audience. Media training is not brainwashing, folks, or getting them to recite messages verbatim; automatons and Klingons are bad spokespeople. Effective media training enables spokespeople to organize their own thoughts and share them in a clear and concise manner. It gets people focused on the important points of the brand, what makes it better than other brands. In essence, it keeps them on message (and saves time too!).

Network the Group
Your Speakers Bureau is an association of people. It is not a Little Black Book where each member is individual and isolated from each other. Everyone is working together on behalf of the brand. They should be resources for each other within and outside the Bureau. This is a wonderful opportunity to nurture a cooperative environment in which people form relationships that assist them and advance their own careers while helping to grow their own businesses. Can you say cocktail party?

Keep Them Updated
It’s crucial to maintain open and regular communications with your Bureau. Don’t let them think you’re using them. They will not be effective if they are not knowledgeable about the brand and the company so always update them about of product developments and changes in marketing strategy that changes the brand’s positioning. Send them announcements that are “for internal use.” Share articles and TV placements resulting from their interviews. Here, for a change, what they don’t know will hurt their credibility as experts and advocates.

Solicit and Listen to Feedback
Focus groups and other market research projects provide only half the picture. Solicit feedback from your Speakers Bureau on the experience with your brand or product, as well as how the media responded to them in interviews and presentations. These frontline stories will help you determine if your program is meeting its goals, or if it’s veering off in a different direction. Speakers can let you know if media are simply disinterested or skeptical about the proffered message points. They can inform you how their own customers honestly response to the brand, too. Talk about a focus group that’s honest!

A cohesive and effective Speakers Bureau is a necessity in this oversaturated, quick-moving media age. The public is more educated about marketing messages and publicity ploys—and you know it. Despite their innate skepticism, consumers still seek expert advice to make decisions. A Speakers Bureau serves as an independent knowledgeable voice that assures the public that not only are they doctors, per se, but that what they say on TV (or radio, or in print, or online) can be trusted.

Shawn Le is an Account Manager in RLM’s LA office. His Speakers Bureau expertise is invaluable to his clients and the agency.