Now, I am not sure I would put Della up against Jeopardy genius Ken Jennings—that’s just a different kind of smart (and one that I believe has more to do with memory than anything else). But I have seen Della in a wide range of scenarios—from dealing with an organization facing a huge crisis to sipping a cold beverage at an outdoor patio on a hot summer day—and along with her strategic, steel trap of a mind… There is something else, something special and rare and well, simple, that is the foundation of her style of genius (and her success). She is a relationship builder.

Della recently launched a blog – Della’s Deck. It’s about effective, powerful and authentic communication. And it provides straightforward advice that can be put into action immediately. It is valuable to me from a professional communications perspective, and I get value from it in my personal life. This week, Della wrote about the power of authentic relationships. She also shared a list of questions that you should/could know about the people in your life… I was amazed at how many of them I couldn’t answer about people—clients and friends—who I would say I have particularly close or positive relationships with. I am going to change that.

Authentic relationships are at the heart of communication. And that doesn’t mean that, as a communicator, you need to meet every single person on your media distribution list—although you should know who they are, what they cover for their media outlet or blog, and understand why what you are sending them is of interest to them. That is a relationship. It might be a few steps removed from the kind of relationship where you can call a journalist and ask them to meet you for a coffee, but it is still a respectful relationship.

At AHA, we often have people call us out of the blue and tell us why we should hire them. No relationship building by commenting on this blog or chatting with us on Facebook or Twitter. Their calls are based on what we should know about them. I often wonder how much they know about us—if anything.

We recently had someone become quite persistent about calling to tell us why we should hire the company she works for to produce video for our clients. We asked her if she realized that we have a video crew here at AHA. She hesitated and then said: “But we’re better.”

Really?

Firstly, I don’t think she even checked our site. Secondly, our crew produces brand journalism videos. Had she looked at our site and paid attention to who we really are, she might have said: “Yes, I see you do brand journalism videos. I really liked the one that you did for Vancouver Community College’s Year of Science event. We actually produce a more corporate (or documentary or VH1-like) style. Perhaps we could chat and see if we can be of value to you, for those times when you need a different video style.” That might have gotten my attention. Opportunity lost because she didn’t even try to start an authentic, mutually beneficial relationship with us.

Relationships matter.

It was refreshing to read this article on pitching on Ragan.com. New York Times Tech Journalist David Pogue talks about the pitches that grabbed his attention. (Just for the record, we are big fans of Pogue!) It’s worth a read. And if you think the information provided by a tech journalist isn’t relevant to your organization and what you want to pitch – you’re dead wrong. This approach translates to almost any proactive media pitch for any industry. It’s about being relevant, being timely, understanding what the journalist or blogger is interested in, and catching their attention in a way that works for that particular blogger or journalist.

Great media and blogger relations takes time. Don’t slap together a news release and shotgun it out to everyone. It doesn’t work that way anymore!

At AHA, we are consistently focused on finding the best ways to work with our clients. What makes a client stand out is that they focus on finding the best way to work with us. Working in partnership means that we build a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship. We have a commitment to client service and to delivering excellence and results for our clients. We also expect our clients to have a commitment to us as an agency as well.

Here are some points on how to get the best from your agency:

• Approach this relationship as a partnership. They don’t work for you; they work with you.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Make sure your agency is kept up-to-date, up-to-speed and understands what you expect. If you don’t have time for them, they can’t do their job to the best of their ability.

• Listen to their input. You hired them for their expertise and skill set. If you just want someone to take orders from you, you are wasting money paying agency fees. This doesn’t mean you will do everything they recommend, but take the time and make the effort to hear their ideas, thoughts and feedback. It is what you pay them for.

• Discussion and disagreement are positive activities, being disagreeable is not. If you are having a tough day and take it out on the people in your agency, they won’t be your agency for long.

• If you feel the agency has made a mistake or is off strategy, put it on the table in a respectful, professional manner and work towards a solution together.

• Make yourself available to provide information, input and feedback when they need you. They aren’t out to waste your time. If they request a meeting or need more information it is because they are focused on doing a good job and getting results.

• Respect the fact that you are not their only client. If something urgent comes up, a good agency will be there and will work late and work on weekends to get the job done. If you continue to give them last minute assignments on tight deadlines for no real reason, they will be looking for other clients.

• If you can’t meet a deadline on your side that impacts their work, let them know as soon as possible so they can adjust their workflow.

• Pay them on time.

• Tell them when they have done a good job. We know that working in communications can be a thankless job. Make sure you show your appreciation when appropriate. It goes a long, long way.

It was clear to me that this organization either didn’t think about the audience for this request or didn’t care. Trying to better understand the “what’s in it for me,” I went through their request. (There always has to be something in it for the person you are asking to take action.) They wanted to know about social media and how it has impacted what I do, but nowhere did it say that it would share the results. An oversight perhaps… But then I realized I have received emails from this organization before – emails trying to sell me reports. I didn’t take the survey and I asked to be removed from their mailing list.

I receive many emails asking for input on surveys. And I respond to most of them. Especially the ones that offer to share the results. Few of them offer a prize. They do provide an opportunity to actively participate in the community and to learn about what others in the field are thinking and doing. As a communicator, there is value in this for me.

In my opinion, these people didn’t target their audience. They didn’t take the time to research or think about what would drive communicators to take their survey. I am pretty sure an iPod Shuffle didn’t make many people sit up and take notice. And by not offering to share the results, I think they really missed their mark. We share by nature, we’re communicators. It’s in our DNA. They didn’t speak to who we are.

It is crucial to know your audience – to realize what motivates them, inspires them, and engages them. And to do that, sometimes you have to remove yourself from the equation and identify what matters to them.

I realize that this sounds very basic. However, it is a step that gets missed far too often. And by missing this step, you head down the wrong path.

I don’t hold the same political views as some of them. I have to admit, I have found some of the discussions and ideas put forward by a some of my “pals” a little worrisome. Especially when it comes to politics – specifically in the U.S. There are some very personal attacks on politicians happening these days – on both the Democratic and Republican sides. We’re seeing a little of it here in Canada but not to the degree that it happens in the U.S.

Disagreeing with a candidate’s platform and what they choose to support and not support is one thing, but there are some nasty, nasty rumours and lies that are put forward sometimes. I am not always comfortable seeing the opinions that appear on the status updates of people on my Facebook page. But I do realize that it is important to stay connected and to listen to viewpoints that are unlike your own, especially ones that you have a visceral reaction to. You don’t have to agree, understand or even respect the opinion, but I believe you should respect their right to have their own opinion. For me, it’s a good practice to be open to listening to a range of viewpoints and to try to understand why they might think or feel so differently than I do.

This morning, I saw an update that contained the content of an update about President Obama that was incredibly nasty. Among other things, it said that the President won’t let his dog Bo travel with him in Air Force One because of Muslim beliefs and that it was costing tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I could feel my blood pressure and anger rising as I read the update and was a little shocked that someone would put that up. The information is just plain ridiculous and—to me—so shockingly unbelievable that I don’t understand how anyone would think it is true. However, it is making the rounds out there online and people seem to believe it.

That made me think about the extreme factions – in this case, political ones. There is a very fine line between getting people all riled up and engaged and going too far and losing your credibility and support. I think that we have all “gone too far” at some point in either our professional or personal lives. Pushed our agenda too hard and with too much vigor so that we lose sight of the overall goal or objective. And I think it is a surprising fine line that we all need to be very aware of between being passionate and committed, and becoming a zealot where the truth no longer matters and the end justifies the means.

As communicators, it is our role to make sure that our outreach stays on this side of the line and is transparent, authentic and truthful. Without those, there can be no trust. And without trust, there can be no long-term success.

The CEO is a smart person. He is connected within his industry, he is well-liked and well respected, and there are interesting things going on at this organization. The CEO has his own Twitter account, which has been silent for several months now. There are a few hundred followers – not a huge amount by any standards, but the followers are relevant to this organization. They are representatives from government, journalists, others in the same field, and board members; there aren’t many clients or customers. The organization itself (the brand) has a Twitter account as well. It has more followers than the CEO, but has been pretty silent over the past few months. It is this account that focuses on their target market.

The challenge here was to get our client to embrace the fact that the number of followers is less important than the “value” of each follower. This is something we face quite often, especially with clients who aren’t fully immersed in social media (and even with some who are immersed, but who are driven by numbers rather than context). And, in the communications field, we have often have to deal with the challenge of defending a targeted pitch to one journalist, as opposed to an email news release blast that goes to 5,000 (mostly irrelevant) journalists. There is a misconception that more means more valuable, and in the context of relationships and communication, that isn’t necessarily accurate. Realizing that more isn’t necessarily better in this context is vital to successful communication. In this space, a small number of the right people is more valuable than a big number of random people.

The CEO’s Twitter account should grow organically. As we ramp up to create an editorial and engagement schedule, defining what would be of interest to his professional relationships, our approach is to help him create relevant content that is of interest, that will help build engaged followers. This includes identifying the people on Twitter that he should follow – people who will provide valuable information and news that is of interest to him and his role as CEO. This doesn’t mean that the target market (potential customers) wouldn’t follow him on Twitter or find him interesting and relevant; but, for the most part, they aren’t the target audience for this specific stream of conversation. The direct consumer connection comes through the brand Twitter account. The brand Twitter account should retweet interesting tweets from the CEO, and the CEO should guest tweet here, as well as retweet from the brand – but only when it is relevant to their specific Twitter followers.

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement is a great example of how a small Twitter community can, and will, share a message when they feel that it is relevant. And how quickly it can spread if it resonates with people. It is incredibly powerful. There is a good example of this in an article on thinkprogress.org. It’s worth a read.

What do you think – is there criteria for a “good” follower? Do big numbers equal big connections?