365: Communicating in the Digital World Today - with Sherry Goldman Social Capital

Meet SherrySherry is the founder of Goldman Communications Group an award-winning public relations agency. Sherry works with companies and nonprofit associations and their leadership, helping them tell their stories and effectively reach key stakeholders. The agency offers strategic counsel messaging, media relations, corporate communications, thought leadership programming, community and industry relations, and crisis communication. Sherry is also an adjunct professor at the City College of New York. 
What's the biggest challenge for companies today that want to be seen, be successful, and be known in today's business and media environment?I think the biggest challenge is being seen and being believed, there is so much stuff out there. Okay. And it's so hard to reach audiences because it's such a fragmented communications environment these days, I mean, you can get your news from whichever channel aligns better with your political views or not. So everyone's not watching the same T. Everyone's not watching the same newspaper on social media, which is fabulous. You choose to follow people who support your already known beliefs, interests, or commonalities, and it amplifies in your bubble. So you're not being exposed to everything that's out there. For companies or organizations, it's hard to crack into that bubble. It's hard to reach people who might be interested in what you're doing, or what you're offering, if they're not in your system, so to speak, if they're not following, and then I think the other big challenge and kind of running all over the place is being authentic. People put stuff out there because they want people to have it. But are they authentic? Do they know who their brand is? Is? Do they know who their target audience is? And how are you making that connection and maintaining that connection? I just think it's so challenging in this fragmented environment to build those relationships and keep those that you need as a company and an organization to succeed. And you know, this, Lori because you deal a lot in digital marketing. Companies put stuff out there. And that's important. But are they taking a step back and understanding who they're trying to reach? And I don't mean targeting them with your math. Because your people are very good at targeting but are they understanding the audience? And the audience cares? What's in it for me? And why should I care? So they understand the value proposition for who they're trying to reach. And then really looking to solve that pain point for that problem. And I think that's a challenge. It's a challenge in the environment we're in where everybody wants something immediately what everybody is, there is so much content out there. So you can say that a company necessarily won't be heard of. But if you and three of your other competitors are out there, how is your target? Customer, your target consumer, your target employee, differentiating you from the competition? And that's where public relations or other things have to factor in, you know, you know, what your brand is, but what's your reputation? How are you demonstrating? What you're telling people about your brand is? How are you showcasing it and being a resource? And that's where I think organizations are relying too much upon, at least that's what I've seen as well as just post it out there. And thinking it's out there, and people may know that they're gonna come and believe, and trust. And I think it takes a lot more to get people to believe and trust, we're a cynical society. There's a lot of competition out there. You know, a little plug from public relations which is what I do. And certainly digital and online is a very big piece of the puzzle and thought leadership. But how are you demonstrating that I mean, there's something to be said if someone's heard of three organizations, but one of them was written up about in the newspaper because the reporter thought had prevented...