Ghosting in the public relations industry
Winston Churchill famously stated “When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber". Proof that ‘ghosting’ (basically; ignoring someone) has been around for a while.
Back in May Lord Sugar referenced this fabulous quote on Twitter because Piers Morgan was moaning that our Prime Minister BoJo wouldn’t speak with him. I’m hardly surprised as Piers has a growing reputation for not letting his interviewees speak. This got me thinking about ghosting in business and how it is becoming more commonplace…
As PR professionals we are used to being ignored by journalists. Resilience is an essential personality trait for succeeding in the industry. PRs send out ‘unsolicited’ messages and make ‘cold calls’ - with their ideas and pitches for the media. These are never always going to hit the spot as we are not telepathic mind readers. By default we will never ever get a 100% response rate - no matter how well-targeted and personalised each approach is. There will always be some degree of non-response. Fair play, journalists and editors are busy, massively pressed for time, understaffed due to the crisis. I get it. It’s part of the PR gig, something we need to accept and appreciate that it will never go away. We just need to work to reduce it by being more on-point with our proactive approaches, come up with brilliant show stopping ideas and continue bespoke targeted outreach.
Some past clients during my career spring to mind on this topic, having firmly fallen into the ghosting category. Citing “sorry, I’m not ignoring you, I’m just busy” after long periods of silence. Looking back at those particular individuals... I think it was more likely a case of unorganised working practices and operating within ‘firefighting’ large corporate cultures. Likewise, with the media above I get it. I don’t like it, but I empathise and accept.
Now this is where the concept of ghosting in the workplace really boggles my brain… and specifically within the PR industry, and I guess other creative sectors too.
Firstly, new business. The amount of pitches for new clients that PR firms plough agency time, resource and effort into only to be ghosted is staggering. We pre-qualify every pitch: Is there budget? Is the client asking for realistic outcomes? Is the idea/proposition viable? Will the team enjoy working with this individual/brand/organisation? Does the opportunity meet our cultural fit and ethics criteria? We are thorough.
I estimate that we get responses from most prospective clients we have a pitch process with (circa 95%). But there is still that small margin of ghosters. These are the worst in my opinion as they are either; blatantly stealing creative ideas or scavenging for free consultancy and counsel - dressing up as a ‘pitch’. Either way it is utterly unprofessional and shows a sheer disregard for the energy, effort and input that agency teams, and also PR freelancers, plough into their new business efforts.
I know we are not alone in this. I have spoken with numerous agency heads about starting a closed list between us of such organisations and individuals. More on that front in the not-too-distant future.
Secondly ‘recruitment ghosting’. Yes, it is a thing. I mean, you couldn’t even make this kind of stuff up. In the past three years I have experienced two shockingly rude instances of workplace ghosting in the area of job hunters.
We made a job offer to a broadcast PR specialist - following two fantastic interviews and a week’s fully-paid freelance gig with us as a tester. The lady is a young mum, excellent at her trade, very personable, professional and pretty much a perfect fit. Then total radio silence. Broadcast blackout. Despite a colleague’s chasing and nudging for a response to our employment offer. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. One month later the job offer was withdrawn. The lady is still alive, well and very active on her Instagram. Pure rudeness in my book. Why not respond and say ‘thanks but no thanks, not one for me’? Head held up high and move on with integrity and reputation intact.
On another occasion a PR executive from a well-known local competitor approached us asking for an interview. Had a great interview and came back for a second including making a presentation. Passed all of our screening tests with flying colours. Offer made and accepted in writing. Then silence and a no-show on the confirmed start date! Finally, we got a response stating when they resigned their current employer had offered them more money to stay - and asked if we could beat that counteroffer?! One week after they were due to commence on a mutually agreed start date. I mean WTAF… We politely declined. We don’t engage in price wars for people. We did wonder if it was a case of competitor snooping - which I very much doubt - but will never know for sure. More likely a naive approach to employment negotiations involving a large amount of ghosting and immaturity. Needless to say, that individual will never work for me and has severely damaged her reputation with quite a few people in the PR industry. Not the wisest move.
For the record, I don’t get ghosting when it comes to job seekers at all. It is rude, unprofessional and most importantly it wastes time and resource. Honesty is always the best strategy and it is unfathomable as to why someone might invest their time in interviews and presentations unless they wanted the role, and were set in their conviction to move on from their current employer.
So, there you have it. Ghosting is not just a thing for daters or the supernatural. It is a scourge in business and commerce too.
We now have a policy at MANDATE that every email (from a human, not spam) gets a human response. Even if just to convey a polite decline; ‘thanks, but no thanks’. Manners cost nowt.
Have you been ghosted in your profession? What do you think about it? How do you address ghosting? I would love to hear your stories (but no public naming and shaming please as that is cruel and we must all be kind).
#Ghosting #NewBusiness #Recruitment #Workplace #WorkplaceCulture #PublicRelations #PR #WeAreMandate