(With my apologies to George Thorogood.)
No matter what we do — marketing, advertising, media relations, fixing cars, molding parts, healing the sick — we rely on our credibility and honesty to be effective, and to succeed.
In public relations and other forms of marketing and communications, we are only as good as our word.
We don’t make widgets. Rather, we communicate — via type, voice, images and graphics, video and even experiences.
We try to:
Sell messages.
Evoke feelings or perceptions.
Convince you take action.
Inform about companies, products and people.
It seems that more than a couple industries and people have taken a hit when it comes to their credibility of late, and in recent years.
I won’t go into the Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley incidents — among many others.
Nor will I delve into Armstrong Williams nor about ghost writing for docs about drugs — or any of the others.
We have also heard about James Frey and Oprah Winfrey.
Then, there’s the brief playing around with credibilty by Bluepulse at Mobhappy.
One of the latest issues of credibility involve blogger junkets. Micro Persuasion’s Steve Rubel doesn’t seem to have any concerns with them. However, POP! PR’s Jeremy Pepper and Canuck Flack’s Colin McKay do.
As I noted at Canuck Flack:
Blogging — because it is so grass-roots, so mom-and-pop and so individualistic — requires even more integrity and credibility (than professional journalism).
Bloggers have almost nothing but their perceived credibility to go on, until some type of legit following (i.e., “circulation”) is obtained. Since blog traffic can be fleeting, it is much more important for bloggers to maintain their perceived air of independence.
Because anyone can blog, I think it is perceived as being more genuine. More believeable. After all, isn’t blogging nothing more than the Internet version of getting together with your friends over a beer or coffee? Just talking, debating, telling what’s new, etc. Word-of-mouth.
And, there is nothing more trusted than word-of-mouth communication.
That’s where bloggers can run into much more difficulty with their credibility if they participate in “junkets” or are involved in other instances where their posts are not sincere, honest, genuine — credible.
Sure, people may move from one company to the next, or blogs may dry up and fade away. But, ultimately, we are judged on our own merits. You are only as good as your word.
– Mike
Technorati tags: Credibility
