President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address: Did he “Hit the Mark” or “Hit it out of the Park?”

While the market’s tanked today following the new President’s Inaugural address, his speech buoyed expectations and confidence across the board by democrats, republicans and independents.

Here’s my take on Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address. Hopefully the awkward stumble out of the gate during the first part of the swearing-in ceremony with Chief Justice Roberts stepping on his own words and tripping up the President-to-be is not a prescient moment that foreshadows what might happen in the forthcoming administration.

Nevertheless, with the aplomb and good-natured equanimity for which the President has become known, he pressed head with his oath and took the podium to make his address. His speech consisted of 2,395 words that took 18 minutes and ten seconds to deliver. The President needs no coaching on the importance of having good posture, a broad smile and making contact with his audience, even if it is a sea of 2 million people on the Lincoln Mall.  Barack Obama is certainly likeable, friendly and telegenic as heck, all of which assuredly contributed to his winning this election.

A Well-Written, Well-Delivered Speech

It was a well written speech. It was lyrical and metaphorical, by the fifth sentence drawing upon the images of “storm and clouds,” setting a tempered mood that “there are tough times ahead, “ which is exactly what he needed to do. The words were well structured, the sentences well phrased and the speech overall well paced, delivering his words at a comfortable 135 words per minute. This is not a speech that could be delivered by, for example, George Bush (either of them, son or father), possibly by a Bill Clinton, who had much more flair for the spoken word and respect for oratory, but President Barack Obama is in a class of his own with regard to style and ability.

President Barack Obama: A Cross Between Dr. King and John F. Kennedy

The new President Obama did justice to these words and a fine job delivering this well crafted speech. But it was not a grand slam, nor do I think it met the great expectations riding on it. He has excellent oratorical skills that are unique to his personality and upbringing. His delivery falls just short of Baptist-fire-and-brimstone, a testament to as well as evidence of his strong religious and church upbringing. Moreover, it is equally as representative of is his respect, reverence and idolization of Dr. Martin Luther King, as a leader and no doubt as a speaker. The speaking style of this, our 44^th president could best be considered a cross between Dr. King and John F. Kennedy. Each certainly a great speaker and each with their own distinct style. President Obama’s hybrid-delivery of the two provides him with extraordinary potential as he begins his evolution as a statesman.

A Good Speech, Not a Great Speech

The speech touched all the points that it had to, acknowledging the crises we face, recognizing the tough days ahead and giving us some sense as what we might expect from him on policies both home, and abroad. It contained a classic oratorical device employed two times, the “repeating of words at the beginning of a sentence in order to accentuate a point” (best compared to Dr. King’s “I have a Dream Speech”), but no such comparison could be made to this speech, nor do I think that the President or his writers were striving for such lofty rhetoric. I think that for all practical purposes this speech hit the mark. I don’t think that this one speech was a panacea for all the ills we are suffering here at home. The speech only received four applause breaks and did not ripple through the throngs crammed throughout the mall, but rather only recognized by a smattering of desultory clusters, even though many lines of this speech were carefully crafted and delivered as applause lines (testimony to the quality of writing and delivery). I think that these presumptive applause lines failed to generate the intended “applause response” more because this is telling sign of the nation’s somber and sober attitude than anything else.

Two Ways to Judge the Speech: The “Markets Reaction” and the “Peoples’” Reaction

As I mentioned in my immediately prior blog posting concerning the importance of this speech and what was riding on it, there are two ways to judge immediately the success of this speech. The first is how the markets reacted and the second is how “American’s” reacted. Even though the President, according to a CBS/New York Times poll showed 79% of American’s are optimistic about the next four years, that did not help the Dow (.DJI), which was down more than 2 percent in early afternoon trade, extending the 2009 slump to nearly 8 percent. Further, according to an end-of-day report by Marketwatch, U.S. financial stocks plunged today, falling almost 17% to match their biggest percentage decline ever as investors panicked at the likelihood that there is no end in sight for the sector’s need for capital, and no easy way to raise it. According to Chuck Mikolajczak, a Reuters reporter, “Wall Street ushered in the Barack Obama presidency with a record Inauguration Day drop on Tuesday amid fresh signs the global bank crisis was far from over. High expectations for details on how the new administration would address the growing banking crisis and faltering economy were dampened after the inauguration speech concluded with little new information to digest. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 332.13 points, or 4.01 percent, to 7,949.09. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 44.90 points, or 5.28 percent, to 805.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 88.47 points, or 5.78 percent, to 1,440.86.

“I think the expectations were over the top to begin with,” said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco. “When you have that kind of expectation, you’re going to get disappointed.”

Reaction by “The Public”

I think Mr. Pado’s quote hits the nail on the head. However, how the speech went over “in general with the public” is an entirely different matter. Planting seeds, building confidence and sending out signals for an agenda were part of the mission of the speech. Here’s how it was received by the public.

The content, findings and reporting below comes from an extraordinary website I found that you may want to bookmark; its www.mediacurves.com and it provides technical analysis on “people’s perceptions” backed up rigorous research. The Media Curves web-site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements. This kind of information is normally proprietary and costly. You might enjoy not only being aware of this site, but also reviewing the reactions and perceptions generated by our new President subsequent to his speech.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071204/NYTU133LOGO )

The study was conducted by HCD Research today, the day of his speech (January 20^th) to obtain Americans’ perceptions of President Barack Obama and what effect his presidency will have on the nation’s critical issues, including the economy, health care, education, the war in Iraq and energy supply and creation. Participants were asked to respond to questions before and after viewing the inauguration speech to determine if their perceptions changed after viewing the speech. Participants were also asked to rate Barack Obama based on 8 leadership attributes. To view detailed results, visit: www.mediacurves.com.

The study, conducted among 1,819 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that the majority of Americans are more confident that the key issues facing the nation will improve during the next four years after viewing President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech.

Among the Findings:

· After the speech, 51% of Republicans were confident that the economy would improve over the next four years compared to 38% before watching the speech. Democrats were more confident with regard to the issue of Iraq. There was an increase of 17% of Democrats who believed that the issue of the war in Iraq would improve in the next presidency after watching the inauguration speech.

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· Republicans’ perception of President Obama’s leadership also improved after the inauguration speech. Participants were asked to rate President Obama on an agreement scale based on 8 leadership attributes before and after watching the inauguration speech. Republicans increased their level of agreement for every leadership attribute after viewing the speech. The highest increases were seen in the following attributes: “Obama is firm and consistent in his views” (increase of 15%), “Obama is representing my values (increase of 14%) and “Obama is honest” (increase of 13%).

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· Participants’ emotions were also measured while viewing the speech. The emotion that was felt the most by viewers during the inauguration speech was hopefulness. Hopefulness was the top emotion felt by Democrats (68%), Republicans (36%), as well as Independents (57%). Democrats and Independents also reported that they felt confident and attentive, while Republicans reported that they felt some skepticism.

The Bottom Line: Did the Speech Work?

On the whole, yes. Did the President hit it out of the park? No. Are there any memorable take-away lines or phrases? No. Were we inspired and invigorated. No. But did it hit the mark? Yes and then some. According to hard core research as noted above, people came away with a “better feeling for the President and belief that this country will be better off.” And given the state of our economy and the conditions inherited by this president, this was a decent first day at work.

Jeff Mustard authored his first speech for Congressman Benjamin Gilman while serving as an Intern on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has authored speeches to esteemed audiences delivered at the highest levels of government and business. In addition to providing speech-writing services, he is an accomplished speech coach, perfecting delivery for national television appearances.

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Speech: The Weight (and Fate) of the United States, Hang on his Words

When President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office on Tuesday, he will be standing not just in front of the Capitol, but in front of the world. His right hand will rest upon the bible used to swear in this nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. If ever there were a speech that carried with it the future and fate of the United States, and by extension the world given the role this country plays in the globlal arena at every level, it would be President-Elect Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address.

The Nations’ News is Bad, Very Bad

Virtually never, or unarguably since the Great Depression, have the circumstances and conditions facing Americans been as dire. I don’t think it’s necessary to recount the details that precede this forecast, just pick up your newspaper, watch the news, or peruse the home page of your internet browser — the headlines are frightening indeed. Whether it’s a discussion about the multi-billion dollar bail-out (that doesn’t’ seem to be working, or certainly not working fast enough), the implosion of Wall-Street and essentially the collapse of our financial markets, our Trillion-dollar deficit (that calls in to question the hard times ahead), the highest unemployment in more than 40 years, the shrinking value of the U.S. dollar, our wars abroad and our credibility in the world, much rests on the words the President-Elect will speak on Tuesday.

The Importance of this Inaugural Address: Every Word, Every Sentence, Every Phrase Counts

Every word, every phrase, every sentence and every paragraph, as well as the tone of this speech will set the attitude we Americans face going forward in this country, at least for the next four years. This speech will shape the way the world views us – as a people, and a nation. It will impact the financial community here, and abroad.  If you think this is placing too much emphasis on what will likely be a thirty to no more than forty-five minute speech,  just watch what happens to the stock market on the day-of and following his speech.  The ramifications to his words simply cannot be overstated; the challenges we face as a nation, the path that he suggests for the people of this country as well as the gauntlet he throws down for our members of congress, and all of our government leaders, are simply put, at the apogee of seriousness.

The Speech:  The Quintessential Axis of Marketing, Communications, Public Relations

Make no mistake about it, this speech is as much about shaping, (or attempting to shape) public policy, as it is about (attempting to shape) public perception (about how he will “lead” and how this country “may do” from this day forward). This speech is in fact the quintessential axis of marketing, public relations and communications colliding into one fantastic medium, or opportunity – a public speech delivered by our President-to-be on the day he is sworn in. He will outline the challenges, he will seek to inspire.  His message is as much intended for our government leaders as it is for this nation’s citizens. 

Will President-Elect Barack Obama Deliver?

The question is, can President-Elect Barack Obama meet this goal? Can he, and/or his speech-writers force us to look in the mirror at these daunting problems and compel us to do what it takes to bring this country back from the brink of financial ruin and personal despair? Not only what he says, but how he says it will dictate whether he injects in us (America and American’s) the kind of invigorating message that will rally our support not just as a national constituency, but equally how this country will be perceived as the major actor it is on the world stage. He sets the bar for how he will be able to interact not just within our government, but with other governments.

My Predictions: What this Speech Should Be

This speech will be serious, it will be somber. But, at the same time it must uplifting. It must resonate with the values and tradition of the great American spirit. It must resonate with the grit, determination and the hard work of our forefathers that made this country great. It will more than likely echo in our memory one of the greatest speeches ever delivered (either as an Inaugural address or of all great speeches presented by statesmen), the memorable JFK speech, and inevitably it will draw comparisons. It will, or should, touch upon the difficulties we face now and how we as one of the greatest nations on earth, the cornerstone of democracy and bedrock of free enterprise will rise above the crises of today. It will be, or should be captivating, compelling and cogent. President-Elect Barack Obama has surely been blessed with the gift of oratory, his tone is pleasing, his demeanor thus far on par with circumstance and conditions consistent with place, time and need. Let’s see how he delivers, and if he delivers.

To be continued Wednesday. Check back here for further views about the soon-to-be President’s speech performance.

Note: Jeff Mustard authored his first speech for Congressman Benjamin Gilman while serving as an Intern on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has authored speeches to esteemed audiences delivered at the highest levels of government and business. In addition to providing speech-writing services, he is an accomplished speech coach, perfecting delivery for national television appearances.

Grabbing Your Share of the Media Spotlight

The Media is “Looking for News” – Give them what they Want!

The media are (constantly) on the lookout for new, interesting and exciting (news) stories. What this means to you is that the media is entirely approachable. All you need to do is learn how to present “your news” to them.

The Four Key Steps to Obtaining Free Publicity

So how do you go about getting media coverage? It all starts with an angle, followed by a smartly and properly written press release, targeting the right media as a potential outlet for your story and then pitching them your story idea.  That’s it.  Your PR game plan consists of four key steps; Angle/Story idea, Press Release, Target Appropriate Media, and Pitching Skills.

Creating Your Media Story

How do you start getting free publicity? There are a few ways. The media coverage can be about you, your company, your product, your service, or your industry. It can be consumer-oriented or business-to-business related for trade magazines. Regardless however, the questions below will serve as triggers for the things you need to think about, and answer, that can serve as the basis of a press release you can use to pitch a potential story to the media.

Disclaimer: Here’s what this Article Will do, and what it will not Do

This article will not teach you “how to” write a press release. There is not enough space to do that. There are literally hundreds of books both off line and online that can assist you in this area, some for free, others not. What this column will do for you immediately is provide you with the critical thinking that expands your world from a marketing point of view that will allow you to begin the process of understanding what’s involved in creating a proper PR storyline that can help you potentially obtain free media coverage. So let’s begin.

• Have you earned any special achievements, awards, certificates, designations, etc?
• Have you emerged as a “sales leader” in your organization?
• Have you overcome any “obstacles” personal and/or professional to achieve the accomplishments or status that you have earned?
• Do you have any “inside or secret techniques” you can share with consumers or colleagues about your product or service that provides useful or valuable tips?
• How would you document your rise to success – overcoming obstacles, if any, to become a premier player (in whatever niche you might specialize in). This applies to “your success” either within your sales organization or your industry at large.
• Case studies and Teaching Opportunities – what secrets and/or tips can you share that that would be helpful and/or informative to others? This can be consumers or industry-specific.

The PR bottom Line

Maybe you’re special, maybe you’re not. If you can answer these questions, either any single one of them, or any combination of them, in a press release format, with a word count not to exceed 500, you have a shot at obtaining the media holy grail –  FREE PRESS coverage.

Working from this list you can craft a press release that could potentially be of interest to your local and/or industry trade journals, possibly even your daily newspaper or even magazines. Remember, the media are always looking for news. If you package, present and pitch your information the right way, you may very well find yourself in the media spotlight. That’s good for you, and your business. And best of all, it’s free.

Jeff Mustard, The PR Cowboy, is a veteran, award-winning publicist who has wrangled millions of dollars in free publicity for clients. He can be reached through his company: www.TheBambooAgency.com, email, jeff@thebambooagency.com or at: 954-801-8263

Leverage Marketing: Converting “Holiday Good Cheer” into Effective “Marketing Messages”

Why not take the opportunity to convert seasonal benchmarks, such as the “holiday season” into marketing opportunities? And that’s precisely the tact taken on behalf of one of Tennessee’s leading chiropractors who, at the last minute, decided to send a “holiday newsletter” to his clients. Converting “holiday good cheer” into marketing messages is a prime example of squeezing every bit of opportunity out of your communications strategy through the use of “leverage marketing.”

On December 8^th, Dr. Louis Obersteadt, the former multi-year president of the Tennessee Chiropractic Association and a distinguished two-time recipient as “Chiropractor of the Year,” decided he wanted a holiday newsletter. The case study below reflects the strategies deployed to maximize this singular marketing effort as a platform to create multiple marketing opportunities.

The Original/Primary Assignment: Create a Holiday Newsletter.

A big yawn and ho-hum is pretty much the way we can mostly characterize seasonal communications with customers, clients or prospects. The majority of snail-mailed post cards are generic “seasonal greetings” dripping with mundane off-the-shelf sentiment designed at best to be “warm and fuzzy.” Rarely, do you find a “call-to-action” and even less frequently does a “holiday card” strike such a resonant chord with the recipient that they can’t wait to not only share that unsolicited missive with family or friends, but even better, leave them anxious to make their next appointment.

The above was the self-imposed challenge the agency faced in creating this distinguished doctor’s newsletter. Click here to see the “snail mail” version of the Holiday Newsletter.

The Result: The most challenging task as marketers is to create a communications message that truly connects with customers, a message that makes them smile, one that is light and fun yet relevant, resonant and even humorous. If you can make people smile, or laugh, and gently, or subtly imbed your “sales message” it is arguably the most effective and powerful marketing approach. This goal was exceedingly accomplished. View the snail-mail version of the Holiday Newsletter.

Here’s what Dr. Obersteadt had to say about the “Holiday Newsletter”:

Jeff, I am very pleased with your incredible imagination! Thanks, Dr. Louis Obersteadt

Leverage Step 2: From Snail-Mail to Email

Finding ways to squeeze multiple uses out of your “marketing materials” is simply smart marketing. So the very next tactic we employed, as well as being extremely cost efficient for the client, was to reproduce the snail-mail newsletter into an email version. By simply reformatting the snail-mail version of the mailed print version of the newsletter, we were able to double up and reinforce our message to the doctor’s patients, increasing our “impressions” while reducing our cpm. Click here to see the email version of the email holiday card.

Leverage Step 3: The Press Release

Here’s where it gets pretty juicy, creative and fun. We decided to augment the holiday newsletter with some “practical holiday tips” and converted it into a potentially newsworthy press release. After all, the news media are always looking for “unique and interesting” holiday/seasonal-tie’in’s and stories. So, the approach we would take to the media would provide a consumer tie-in with the holiday season, best reflected in the following pitch line:  “A Dozen Helpful and Healthy Ways to Shop During the Holidays without Putting A Crimp in Your Christmas or Your Back.” The goal was to get the attention of news editors in Nashville, TN with a  Subject Line  in Outbound Emails to the Nashville media that read: “Correct Shopping Posture: Don’t Let Christmas Shopping Put a Crimp in your Shopping or your Back this Holiday Season.”

Click Here to See the Press Release

The Result: Media Success

The agency was engaged less than two weeks prior to Christmas Day. Clearly a short fuse and for all practical purposes an impossibly truncated time-line to get anything meaningful done, especially as the media is concerned, during this pressure-packed time period.  The fact is, news media stories require ramp and nurturing, especially if it isn’t a “hard news story.” And yet, despite these challenges, the “story” caught the attention of the editor of the Nashville Business Journal and was reproduced in whole in the Belle Meade Community Newspaper website (the newspaper being a weekly, the deadline had passed and no other issue was being “printed” until after the new year).

Critical PostScript & Important Public Relations Advice: News releases are intended to accomplish the following goals:

1. Create interest in an editor (print or electronic media) about doing a “stand alone” news piece about your client (the subject of the release/story).
2. A “story” may be picked up in whole, or in part.
3. Other times a news release will trigger interest on behalf of the news media who will use “your news release” as a starting point to do another version or slant of a story they think is more fitting for their reader/viewer/audience. In this case, a client might be the sole subject of a story, but more often they are one part or one source, of whatever this “larger story” might be.
4. Other times a “story” might fit in to some other notion or idea that is already “in the hopper” or in the “mindset” of an editor/writer/reporter.

Our media success was an example of the fourth scenario noted above.

The Nashville Business Journal

The editor of the Nashville Business Journal was, at the time of the story/release submission, working on a story about “marketing efforts on behalf of businesses’ in the face of a changing and declining business climate.” Dr. Obersteadt was quoted and featured in this story.

The Marketing Machine in Full Swing

So, what happens next with this media success? The principle of Leverage Marketing is further amplified below:

• A reprint of the article(s) will be posted to the Doctor’s website.
• At the Doctor’s discretion, a snail-mail version of a letter, along with a photo copy of the article will be mailed to his patients.
• Additionally and alternatively, an outbound (email) letter will be sent to his patients, which contain a link to the Doctor’s website where a copy of the “article” will live that proudly announces this recent “news” accomplishment.

Conclusion: The Big Payoff

Having established “contacts and connections” with the media in his market, going forward this first small but successful round of media exposure significantly enhances future opportunities to promote the doctor to media editors in his market.

The process of creating “branding” and implementing “name recognition” among the media is invaluable in advancing story ideas in the future. Just as with consumers, it takes time (frequency and reach) to establish “credibility and value” with customers; the media are no different. This (initial) marketing strategy and public relations approach has opened the doors for further dialogue with media.