Valley PR Blog

Meet Steve Crescenzo

By Dan Wool on March 13th, 2009 In Best Practices, Professional Development

IABC Phoenix is bringing renowned corporate communication consultant Steve Crescenzo to Phoenix next week. If you’ve never seen Steve in action (or read his hilarious Corporate Hallucinations blog), we strongly urge you to check him out. Yes, it costs a little dough — but trust us, it’s worth it. Not only does Steve present practical, actionable ideas, but he is highly engaging and entertaining. Moreover, he’ll make you a better writer and remind you that your audience doesn’t want to hear corporate drivel. On Friday, he will host a brand new one-day seminar: Creative Communications: Taking the Next Step ($100 off for IABC members). He will also speak at IABC’s luncheon next Thursday and be around for a meet and greet after his Friday session. Valley PR Blog caught up with Steve this week.

What’s your background? What led you to decide to speak and consult on corporate communications?

My background is in journalism. After flunking out of college a couple of different times, almost joining the Air Force, and working at about 67 odd jobs—including a hot-dog cart guy and a bouncer—I finally got it together and graduated at the tender age of 24. I immediately went to work as an editor at Ragan Communications, a publishing company specializing in corporate communications. My salary was a whopping $16,500 . . . And I thought I was rich! I didn’t know anything about corporate communications when I started, but you learn in a hurry at Ragan, because you write so many articles, interview so many communicators, and attend so many conferences and seminars. After a couple of years of writing for Ragan, I took a shot at speaking, and found out I was pretty good at it. So I started putting together my own seminars, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 10 years—first for Ragan and now on my own.

How did we get to a world of corporate-speak and jargon? Why are many companies failing to connect with employees?

I think the single biggest culprit is the mentality that “This is the way we’ve always done it.” Some of the communications I see haven’t changed since the 1960s. Same bad photos, same jargon (we need to leverage our core competencies and strive for World Class synergy), same platitudes (“Employees are our greatest asset,” “the only constant is change,” “We have challenges and opportunities”), same spin. I think it happens because communicators fight the wrong battles. Instead of creating great content, they have been trained to create content that will get safely through the approval process. So it’s whitewashed, and generic, and written by committee half the time. And guess what? Nobody reads it! My Creative Communications seminar is all about changing that mentality. There are some communicators out there doing GREAT communication—in print, online, in the social media space, you name it. It’s creative, it’s entertaining, it’s engaging, it’s funny, it’s emotional . . . And, most important, it helps their organization meets its goals. That’s where we need to get to: Creative Communication that helps our organization meet its goals by engaging employees in the business of the business.

What are some simple things companies can do to improve their corporate communications?

Stop doing things the way you’ve always done it. Just because someone wins an award does NOT mean you have to take a “grip and grin” picture of that person getting the stupid plaque. Think differently. Remember that your competition is the REAL world—the world with great magazines and terrific web sites and interesting podcasts and funny youtube videos. THAT is who you are competing with for your audiences’ attention. And if you’re doing stories with headlines like, “Synergy!” or “Safety Matters,” or “Challenges and Opportunties” then you don’t have a chance. Face it: Nobody is that excited about your communications to begin with. Your typical employee is not waking up on a Monday and saying to his wife: “No breakfast for me, honey bunny . . . I think the employee newsletter is coming out today, and I want to get to work early to get extra copies!!” We’re often communicating with a cynical, distracted audience . . . So our stuff has to be really, REALLY good in order to get and hold their attention.

What are some of the best communication programs you’ve seen out there?

There are some companies doing AMAZING things with employee communications. UPS is one of them. Southwest Airlines. I have a case study from the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta that I swear to God will make you cry. Believe it or not, even some government agencies, like the IRS, are breaking new ground in creative communications. I’ve got terrific CEO blogs, wonderful podcasts, cool videos, print publications that could sell on an actual newsstand . . . All sort of cool stuff. And in every single case study I have, the communicator responsible for it had to take some chances, shake things, and do things DIFFERENTLY . . . Because the old way of doing “corporate” communications simply doesn’t work. We need to replace “corporate” with creative.

Are companies doing social media right now just to do it? How can companies get beyond the hype and deliver useful programs?

A lot of the seminar focuses on social media, because that is all the rage these days. But to answer your question, yes, unfortunately, a lot of organizations are doing it just to do it. They have no plan, no purpose, no measurable goals. But there are plenty of companies that are doing it right, too. Those are the companies that realize that social media is just another set of tools—albeit some really cool ones. But tools are just tools. They can only take you far. When you get right down to it, it’s about CONTENT. Put a lousy CEO column online, allow people to comment, call it a blog . . . And it’s still lousy. Too many communicators are simply taking the same corporate crap they’ve been creating for years and shoveling it into all the new channels. At the seminar, we talk a lot about the right way to do social media—how to have great content, select the right channel for it, and integrate it into the rest of your communications.

Steve Crescenzo is presenting the seminar Creative Communications: Taking the Next Step Friday March 20 at the Cottonwoods Resort in Paradise Valley. Price is $595 with $100 discount for IABC members. To register go to http://crescenso.eventbrite.com or http://www.iabcphoenix.com

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