PR Challenges: Post-Pandemic - Events, Energy Levels, and Customer Service

That Solo Life Episode 256: PR Challenges Post-Pandemic: Events, Energy Levels, and Customer Service

Michelle Kane [00:03.497]-[00:18.843]: Thank you for joining us for another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me,
Michelle Kane with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen, how are you today?

Karen Swim, APR [00:18.843]-[00:28.887]: I'm hanging in there. My little allergy sufferer has not been sleeping through the night, so that's a little rough, but I'm good, Michelle. How are you?

Michelle Kane [00:28.887]-[00:53.851]: Oh, that is so rough. At first, I thought you were talking about me. Yes, my little allergies are still. We're slowly kicking them out the door. I think, I think summer has a, I wouldn't say summer has a PR problem. I would say summer, the season is killing it in PR because everyone loves summer. Summer is wonderful. And then we have the reality of sweat and allergies and discomfort, but it's fun. Summer is great.

Karen Swim, APR [00:55.246]-[01:56.896]: Summer's becoming challenging because, you know, scientists are documenting that we're heating up. And so we've had these extreme weather situations. Although we should really be thankful for those of us who live in the United States, because in other parts of the world, it truly has become life-threatening. And so we're not quite there yet, which is good, but it doesn't make me feel good about the rest of the world either. This summer, I know for us here in the U.S., has definitely been kind of rough with all of the extreme heat and the thunderstorms and flooding. And yeah, not not not the best season. And I love the warmer weather and the sunshine, although we've had all this stuff and we don't necessarily, at least here in Michigan, have sunshine. We have heat, humidity, storms and no sun. So It has me looking forward to fall.

Michelle Kane [01:56.896]-[02:10.762]: Yeah. I tell you here, here in Southeast Pennsylvania, it looks great from the inside. And I say a little prayer of thanks to Mr. Carrier every day for air conditioning.

Karen Swim, APR [02:10.762]-[02:13.784]: Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Michelle Kane [02:13.784]-[03:20.365]: Yes. Oh my goodness. But well, one of the things we want to touch on today is in the world of PR, speaking of things that are uncomfortable, Yeah, the pandemic have ruined Yeah, you are I would say one of them is it makes holding events more challenging not because people are afraid to attend but our You know slowly over time our patterns and interests have changed we've decided yeah, I can miss that or you know, it could also be that we're busier than ever, because things have perked back up. But certainly as a PR pro, when you're planning something on, on behalf of a client, or even on behalf of an association, and you want to make sure that it's, you know, robustly attended, it can certainly be challenging. And it has you questioning, well, what do we need to change what we're offering, how we're offering it? How can we meet the needs of really what was the point of whatever the event was to begin with?

Karen Swim, APR [03:20.365]-[04:39.601]: Yeah, it's really interesting because I've heard some groups say that their in-person attendance things have rebounded completely and are thriving. But I don't know. Sometimes those are like annual events. But I think the challenge for us in PR with the in-person events is As you said, the reasons are all over the map. People are busier in some ways. I think people feel they're working harder in some ways, and they are prioritizing their time differently. Just anecdotally, we're hearing that people are tired. They're just worn down. And, and sometimes you feel like going to things and sometimes you want to go to things when you first hear about it. And then when it actually comes, you really don't. So I find myself waiting until the last minute these days to buy tickets and not taking advantage of early discounts, because I have no idea how I'm going to fulfill, you know, two or three or four months later, and please don't ask me how I'm going to feel in a year. I don't know. And so I'm not willing to put down money that I might lose because I find myself, you know, it sounded good in the moment. It's like, yeah, I don't want to do that now.

Michelle Kane [04:39.601]-[05:19.559]: Oh, story of my life. And you know, not just working in PR, but life happens. You know, you might have been free and clear even three weeks ago, and then something can come up, whether it's a family emergency or a client need, and then suddenly, ooh, you know, I really can't attend this now. I'm really sorry. And I agree with you that we are working harder. We're spending a lot more time working in and on our businesses, that it just doesn't come into play to, you know, just be a natural occurrence of, oh, of course I'll go to those things, because that's what I do.

Karen Swim, APR [05:19.559]-[05:48.987]: You know, it's interesting. I think another thing that the pandemic ruined in PR is not just limited to events and in-person, but interaction between human beings, like real interaction. Prior to the pandemic, you'd hop on the phone or you'd, you know, do something with clients or with colleagues and friends where you really have that opportunity to connect in real ways. And that just seems gone. It really does.

Michelle Kane [05:50.312]-[06:57.944]: Yeah, yeah, it's true. The Zoomification, even though I have to say my Zoom attendance is way down. We're just not scheduling them as often because we're thinking, haven't we done enough of that? But yeah, you're right. Those opportunities to meet in person or even have a touch base, It's, it's just changed. And I think it's, you know, it's a subtle thing because it was such a long event over the course of a couple of years that, yeah, like you say, our patterns have changed and it's not necessarily for the better, especially for those of us who work on our own. I think it's important to get out, even if it's to take yourself out for a cup of coffee in the morning. you know, don't listen to the save $1.50 a day for pets or the planet. Well, you can do that, but go buy yourself a cup of coffee on occasion. You never know who you're going to bump into, and it just feels good to start your day even with the simplest of one-on-one interactions with someone.

Karen Swim, APR [06:57.944]-[07:49.850]: Yeah. I feel like the pandemic also ruined our energy levels, it seems the recurring theme from so many people, not just in PR, is that they're just tired. We seem to be able to do less than we did before the pandemic, which is really interesting because we came out of a really rough time. And I think that there was a burst of energy initially that's really waned. We have more automation and technological tools at our, at the ready for us. And yet we, we all feel really tired and we feel like before the pandemic, we could do, you know, five things in a day. And now after the pandemic, even with all of these things that help us, we're lucky if we get two or three done. Yeah.

Michelle Kane [07:51.470]-[08:35.349]: Yeah, and I think it doesn't help that it's not like the world events that do trickle down and affect us have stopped or lessened or eased in any way. There's nothing going on out there. Everything's fine. In fact, I have a friend who has a community art center, and they have quarterly art displays. And their upcoming theme is based on that meme of the little dog sitting in the inferno saying, this is fine. That's the theme of their upcoming gallery exposition. So I'll be really curious to see what their submissions are. But I mean, I guess at least we all understand we're all in a similar space. Is that a good thing?

Karen Swim, APR [08:37.452]-[09:17.707]: I don't know, is it? I'd like us all not to be in this space. Maybe we just are still, maybe it's the acceptance and realization that while the pandemic seems way back in our rearview mirror, we're really still in recovery mode. Maybe this is phase two of recovering. So maybe initially it was recovering from the, you know, just being isolated and kind of rebuilding our infrastructures and getting back into the swim things and maybe this is phase two, where we really understand how much it really impacted us. I don't know, but I'm ready for this period to be over. Yeah.

Michelle Kane [09:18.722]-[09:49.986]: Yeah, I mean, maybe if it's possible to look at it from another direction, it could also be that we're just deciding, you know, when I do feel a bit run down, I'm not going to push myself as much because we have learned we can still meet our work goals, accomplish what we need to do without flaming ourselves out. I don't know. I think that's a small part of it. It's not all of it, certainly.

Karen Swim, APR [09:49.986]-[10:24.492]: I think the pandemic definitely killed hustle culture. And that's something that we can all applaud because that was never a good thing. So I'm really glad to see that hustle and grind. I mean, just that word grind just bothers me now in a way that it didn't before because it feels like you are grinding down your mind, your body, and your soul. And it doesn't mean that you can't be motivated and enthusiastic and bring that to your work. But I think that we do have a greater appreciation for balance these days.

Michelle Kane [10:24.492]-[10:37.682]: Yes. Oh, absolutely. And actually walking the walk and not just talking about it. Oh, I've got work-life balance. Do you, though? Yeah. Do you? No, no, you don't.

Karen Swim, APR [10:37.682]-[10:38.443]: Yeah.
Michelle Kane [10:38.443]-[10:54.327]: Yeah. So I don't know. I think the landscape is still shifting or settling in. Maybe aftershocks are a good word. I know that's a little jarring, but hopefully we'll get to a good place soon.

Karen Swim, APR [10:54.327]-[12:46.742]: I hope so. This topic was inspired by an article that we read, and we'll share that. One of the things that the article mentioned that the pandemic ruined was customer service. And I have to agree. And we see this in the PR space as well. Like when it comes to our tools, you know, first of all, it's difficult to have real conversations with anybody about services these days. You're lucky if you can actually talk to a human being. So more often than not, you're relegated to email or to chat and people just are not treating each of us as individuals and customers. They don't seem to value our business. They make policy changes. They raise prices. And they don't really care. It's like, whatever. So I would agree that service has taken a huge dip, and not just in PR tools. Just out there in the world today, it seems like the standard of service has really declined.

Funny story, one of my friends was saying that he had gone into a pet store, and it's a store that he shops at, and he had questions for the staff. And they told him to stop coming in and asking questions, to just Google it, because they didn't have time. And it was so horrific that it just, you know, it's funny that it was, that these people really believe that this is not part of your job to actually serve your customers. Like, okay, so you think that you're just there to stock the shelves and check them out and God forbid, please don't talk to me. So I think PR has ruined our definition of service. I'm sorry, the pandemic has ruined our definition of service.

Michelle Kane [12:47.490]-[13:12.986]: He needs to go back and ask if that person's mommy accompanied them to their interview. Sidebar to our listeners, we were just talking about, of course, this is unverified data. I just heard it come out of someone's mouth as an alleged truth, but that 26% of Gen Z job seekers bring a parrot to their interview.

Karen Swim, APR [13:12.986]-[13:22.366]: I've been reading articles about that and Yeah, I don't have words for that.

Michelle Kane [13:22.366]-[13:32.510]: And as the person who is doing the hiring, do you invite the parent? I mean, do you really acknowledge that as a credible thing to happen?

Karen Swim, APR [13:32.510]-[14:09.130]: I mean, some of the accounts that I've read, and again, we'll have to look for some of these stories that address this. People have dismissed the parent, Yes, they've acknowledged the presence and dismissed that it was inappropriate. I don't know what to say to that. I'm not even sure what goes through an adult's mind to accompany your child who is job seeking to an interview. Yeah. Yeah.

Michelle Kane [14:14.793]-[14:17.395]: I mean, sure, give them a ride if they need a ride.

Karen Swim, APR [14:17.395]-[14:23.801]: Give them a ride and then wait in the car or go to a coffee shop or go have lunch or sit in the lobby.
Michelle Kane [14:25.199]-[15:35.455]: I think that's Oh, that's nice. Your parent brought you. That's great. You got a ride we will be finished in 15 minutes. Oh, oh, you're coming with Yeah. It's wild times, wild times. Well, some other interesting things we've seen in the news. Yes, there is the benefit BOI beneficial owner. Ownership filing requirement is coming around the corner. This is something being put into place with FinCEN. Basically, I think it was an anti-terror, anti-fraud that if you are a business owner, you need to file and just declare who you are and that you are who you are. This is something that is due by January of 2025. I've had some attorneys in my local chamber say that they're telling their clients to hold off till the fall because there is some litigation saying out there, you know, saying that this is so unnecessary and so kind of redundant. So they're advising their clients, you know, don't don't feel like you have to do it today.

Karen Swim, APR [15:37.157]-[16:12.109]: Yeah, and we'll try to dig in a little bit deeper on that. But we just wanted to put it on your radar so that you have an opportunity to check it out and be aware, ask your own accountant about it. And if you work with an attorney, definitely ask your attorney about it. But we'll try to find an expert to come on the show to talk a little bit more in depth about that. And maybe we can get them to address some of the other issues that we as independent business owners should be aware of this year or what's coming up, you know, pending legislation as well.

Michelle Kane [16:12.109]-[16:18.835]: Yes. Yeah, that would be great. That would be great. And then there's other interesting news from the University of Texas.

Karen Swim, APR [16:18.835]-[17:33.698]: Yeah, it's so this is really an interesting PR thing. And sadly, This happens without media attention focused on it so often. The University of Texas at Austin did a big layoff of their communications and marketing team. And the statement read that they laid them off because they wanted to focus on reputation management and crisis management, which, of course, as all PR people know, That was, you just did the exact opposite by laying off the people who actually manage those things. So, you know, UT Austin and many institutions in Texas have been dealing with the statewide DEI ban and the anti-Israel protest. And so this has caused them to, you know, really be in crisis management mode for most of the time. Yeah. but getting rid of your marketing and PR staff is definitely not the answer. It's, you know, to PR people, this will be like, you're all going, what on earth are they thinking?

Michelle Kane [17:33.698]-[17:46.925]: And. Yeah. Yeah. We have a crisis and we're going to lay you guys off. Cause you know, we have to deal with this crisis. That's, that's what we're here for.

Karen Swim, APR [17:46.925]-[19:03.417]: It's literally our job. Reputation management and crisis management is literally our job. And maybe there are some nuances. I will couch this. Maybe there are some nuances that we're not privy to. So maybe they kept, maybe they separated. And so maybe they kept on enough PR staff. focused on reputation and crisis management, and maybe they're just not doing things like, I don't know, this is a stupid decision. You know, on the, on the other hand, in the news, the NYPD has an 86-person, you know, PR team, and they're killing it. And you think about it, I mean, when I read that number, I'm like, Oh, my God, the things that I could do with a team of 86 people, that's just that's juicy. I think all of us PR people would be like, a big team like that! What we could cover, how wonderful that would be. And, and then you have over here in Texas, then doing the opposite. You, you, you need a bigger team. Rather than laying people off, you should have been hiring more people so that you could be more effective in craft strategies and have people to really execute it. So I, you know,

Michelle Kane [19:04.118]-[19:24.153]: I mean, the Darth Vader side of me thinks, well, what better way to not have to communicate anything except to get rid of your communications teams? Oh, well, we're good. Nothing to say here. Yeah. So who knows? But Texas, come on.

Karen Swim, APR [19:24.899]-[20:17.027]: Come on, Texas. Come on. Come on. And corporations make the same move. We see it all the time. They look at the bottom line number and they start to chop. And it's the wrong thing to do. I'm sorry, but while PR cannot save your company, I do want to say that because I've seen the opposite happen where people desperately think that PR is the savior that will fix all of your other issues. You do need to fix your issues. PR is not going to save a bad company. It's not going to save you when you have not been fiscally responsible. But in this instance, they had a PR team in place, and they caught it in the middle of this environment of crisis. I don't understand that. And I'm sure no other PR person out there understands it either.

Michelle Kane [20:17.027]-[20:22.254]: No. Maybe it's the heat. We'll blame the heat. It's very hot there right now.

Karen Swim, APR [20:22.254]-[20:31.743]: It is very hot there. It is. Yeah. Which is another crisis because they've had infrastructure issues. They've had flooding. You know, there's a lot going on in Texas.

Michelle Kane [20:31.743]-[21:13.353]: Everything's happening. It's fine. But no one needs to hear about it with facts or clarity or actions. It's OK. Well, hey, we hope that this time with us has been worthwhile for you. If we, you know, brought you some new news, made you think, made you giggle, that makes our day. So we would love it if you would review our podcast. Hit us up at Solo PR Pro with your comments and anything else you might like us to cover. There may, you know, We both have big brains, but we don't know everything that's going on out there. So we would love to hear some topics that might help you grow your business, help you thrive. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.