We Are Not The Customer

A common trap we can fall into with our work is projecting our own feelings, habits and beliefs about a brand/client onto the target audience.

This is dangerous for a variety of reasons but most importantly it takes the customer out of the center of the work and leads work astray.

Never Assume
When it comes to the target audience, never assume. McDonald’s dealt with an unfortunate hoax recently that shows how susceptible people can be online. "If it's on the Internet, it must be true."

The above hoax image would seem to be pretty obviously false. I’ve been to many McDonald’s and I’ve seen a few of its executives speak. And even if I hadn’t? Based on my experience with the brand would lead me to assume it's a hoax.

Not everyone did. McDonald’s used Twitter to help address the situation. That's where the misinformed conversation took place. A measured response makes sense.

Hot Dogs & Soft Drinks? They're a Good Thing.
A few times after posting on Strategic Public Relations about a brand, it’s risen to the top of search results for that brand. As a result, consumers have found my blog and complained about these brands in the comments. You would assume that anyone coming to my basic, unbranded blog would not confuse it for a corporate blog or branded web site.

Never assume.

Perhaps the most extreme example is a Tumblr dedicated to Facebook posts from people that seemingly assume the spoof news site The Onion is reporting on real news stories.

Paid & Organic Search
How many consumers click past the first page of results? How many question the results they find or the content waiting at the end of these links? Perhaps not enough. But if the average consumer is the target audience, it's something to keep in mind.

As communicators we need to compensate for this and not capitalize on it.

While PR people by nature can impact organic search, the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search becomes apparent based on the above examples. Based on some searches around the McDonald's hoax, I think McDonald's has done a good job of ensuring news results tell its side of the story, but it's a missed opportunity to not enlist paid search as a tool in their efforts.