In this episode of frankly…
This week, frankly… cohost’s, Dan and Rachel, celebrate a major milestone: 100 episodes and four years of conversations, stories and insights!
To mark the occasion, we invited guests at our recent open house event – arranged to experience and celebrate Franco’s new office – to share their communications hot takes, career advice, favorite parts of their roles and what they love most about Detroit.
From the importance of active listening and building genuine connections to the growing role of AI and the value of authenticity in influencer partnerships, our guests brought plenty of perspectives to the conversation. Dan and Rachel weigh in on their takes, reflect on how frankly… got its start and share what they’ve learned from four years of connecting with communications professionals and community leaders.
Whether you’ve been listening since day one, joined us as a guest or are tuning in for the first time, thank you for being part of the frankly… community. Here’s to 100 episodes and many more conversations to come!
Let us know what you took away from this week’s conversation, and, as always, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe!
Tune in every other Wednesday and subscribe to where you listen to podcasts (Spotify | Apple Podcasts).
The transcript below is AI-generated and may contain minor inaccuracies. Tune in to the episode audio to hear the full conversation!
Transcript
Dan
Hello, welcome to Frankly’s 100th episode.
Rachel
100.
Dan
We made it. We’re 4 years in. We’re 100 episodes in.
Rachel
Do you remember back in elementary school when it was 100th day of school and you would have to do something like they’d either make you dress 100 years old or you would have to do something. Do you remember what you did?
Dan
Man. No, I don’t. I remember the concept, but I don’t remember.
Rachel
Okay, I remember.
Dan
Yeah, you got to tell.
Rachel
So I knitted a pot holder. Knitting is a strong. It was like these kind of like rubber bands that you would like knit together in this little thing. And I used 100 of them to make a pot holder.
Dan
Oh, that’s a good idea.
Rachel
So lame. And then I dressed up as a Dalmatian because it was 101 Dalmatians but like 100 spots.
Dan
I wish I could remember something.
Rachel
Not do 100.
Dan
I don’t.
Rachel
Random things I remember from being a kid.
Speaker 3
Yeah, that’s fun.
Dan
We did a little bit of a different exercise for our 100th also here. So it’s not just us. You’re going to hear from a lot of people actually in this episode. So we recently had an open house here at Franco to kind of get people into the new office and just kind of celebrate that a little bit. And part of that, we asked people to leave some comments for the 100th episode. So we’ve got several here, six or seven different comments from people that we’ll play and you can hear from a different group for this episode. And then we also got one question just to to us, actually. Somebody chose to ask us a question to kick things off.
Rachel
Yeah, there’s some hot takes. There’s some kind of like, what do they like about comms most? And then at the end, we’ll round out with a couple people that say what they like about Detroit. So it’ll give you an idea if you are looking to maybe do something in the city or kind of think about the city a little differently. We’ll play those out at the end too. So a few voices and we’ll also give our takes on some of their takes.
Jennifer
Hello, this is Jennifer Kane. I’m with Utica Community Schools. I am the coordinator of public relations, proud to work with Franco. And my question is, why was the Frankly podcast created and what is its role within Franco?
Rachel
Why we started and why we’re sitting here, I think how we’re sitting here four years later is more impressive than what it started. But this podcast was really born out of, I think, my own love for this medium. And it was something that I was kind of at a place, like in a role where we were pitching a lot of our clients to go on podcasts. We understood the power of a podcast. And I kind of put some pen to paper and took it to Tina Sullivan and said, like, I want to start a podcast for Franco.
Dan
Can we do it?
Rachel
Can we do it? And made the case and kind of said at the time, I don’t know what it will be or what it might look like, but I think it would be really cool to do. And I think what it’s really allowed this agency to do is give the city of Detroit, the community, our networks, a voice to tell really cool stories. We are storytellers, communicators are storytellers. And so when you meet somebody or somebody in your network and they have an awesome story and they’re just kind of talking to you about, it gives us an avenue to say, hey, that’s a really awesome story. We have a medium for you. Come talk to more people about it. Let’s spread that and get in front of more people. And that’s what I love about what this podcast has become. And of course, it’s a great marketing tool and what have you, but it really is just a platform for us and others to talk about the city and the community and communications.
Dan
Yeah, And that’s what I was going to add is kind of like the profession side of it or the industry side of it, because beyond just sharing their stories and like highlighting what they’re doing in the community, which I think is a hugely important part of it, is also, there is some learning that can come from it. I mean, I feel like we learn something every time, but even hopefully for listeners, whether you’re early in your career or not, kind of hearing from some of these communications and marketing leaders, some of the other voices from around the community, just kind of understand how they got to where they are, understand where you are in your career path and what that means for you or how you can maybe take some lessons from all these people who have so often non-linear career paths. It’s always interesting to me to hear like how people got from A to B to where they are now and how much of a zigzag that is across the way.
Rachel
Well, and I think too, if you’re listening and you’re learning something, it also gives you something to talk about when you’re out in your community or in your network or at events. I hope you learn something that you can take and be like, hey, I heard this. The amount of times I say, hey, I heard this from a podcast early. You know, hey, I learned this from something I’ve listened to or consumed is just growing exponentially. So I hope that we and this podcast can be a source of that for you too.
Dan
Yeah, and selfishly, I always love seeing like guests out in the community at events or something like that. It’s always nice just to, we make, it’s rare that you get to sit down with somebody for 30 minutes and just like talk about themselves about their world, about what they do, about their expertise. So it’s always fun to like see people after that and have that like connection.
Rachel
It’s the most in-depth networking that you can do. We’ve just made it a part of our jobs.
Dan
So yeah, and we’re lucky to have a good size network between everyone here at Franco who’s like able to kind of like introduce us and sustain this over 4 years. So like bringing that all together, I guess that’s kind of why we’re here and how we’re still here.
Rachel
100 episodes later.
Dan
Thanks for the question.
Giuliana
Hi, my name is Giuliana Vico. I am with Wayne State University PRSSA and I currently serve as Vice President Internal. My communications hot take is being personable is more valuable in the communications industry than professionalism. And I know, like that is a risky thing to say because professionalism, I’m not negating that professionalism is in fact important. And there’s a time and place, you know, like we have to keep professionalism in our back pocket, but the ability to like go up to someone and connect with them and relate to them about something that they may not talk about on the forefront, like they just have this on their mind and you’re able to connect with them and get them out of their shell to talk about that. I think that that’s really valuable in today’s communications field.
Rachel
I love this hot take because I was told to be more professional early in my career. But there’s something to be said about how much more memorable a person is when they have a more dynamic personality in a situation. And if you’re in a meeting and you’re presenting, right, like there’s absolutely, like she said, time and place for professionalism. But I think when you’re out talking to people, there’s something that really good salespeople do. And I have some friends that are salespeople, so they’re not selling me anything, but it crosses over into my interactions with them. I leave a conversation and I go, huh. I didn’t learn anything else about them in that situation because what they do as really good salespeople, every time they remember certain things, they ask you about yourself, and when you go to ask them something back, they give you a short answer and they flip it right back to you. They make you feel really special in that conversation. And in the moment, you don’t even, if you’re not looking for it, you don’t really, now I know these people do it and I’m like, oh, I’m not letting them get out of this without talking about themselves. But I think it is a skill and I remember that and I’m like, my God, they were so nice. They kept flipping this around. So it’s having a personality, right? Being personable, listening to what they’re saying so that you can then continue to ask them questions about those things. So they walk away feeling like good. People love to talk about themselves.
Dan
If people are interested in what you have to say, that’s naturally a good feeling. That’s a nice thing to feel like somebody’s actually engaging with you, having a conversation, interested in what’s happening.
Rachel
So yes, it is a fine line. It is a delicate balance.
Dan
Both are needed.
Rachel
Both are needed. But if you have a good personality. I guess let your individualism shine through a little bit in a way that is memorable for sure.
Cydney
Hi, my name is Cydney Foster. I’m an external communication specialist for Aumovio North America. What’s one skill every great communicator should have? In my opinion, I believe active listening is super important. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. That’s always something I’ve said. And I think it’s important to really listen before we apply any of our strategies or any of our abilities as communicators.
Rachel
I do think this is very important and I can think of two scenarios immediately where I think it’s extra important. Number one, early in your career, yes, I want to hear from you, but use it as an opportunity when you have so many people in a room that have been doing this for so long to truly like listen, and then offer. And the second time is for us, I think about it when we’re doing discovery with a new client or even a client we’ve had for a long time. You have to pose the question and let them talk and then listen like your life depends on it. Because our job is to find the thing that they’re saying that they might not even think is important, but it sparks something for you and it allows you to ask smarter questions to pull a thread and really figure out what it is that makes them unique or that their challenges or anything along those lines in discovery, truly, it is so, important to listen.
Dan
Yeah, finding out what’s interesting, what’s important, what you can take then and translate into communications, whether it’s media or owned content, whatever that might look like. And that, I think a really important thing about that too is that we’re sitting here as agency talking about as we’re onboarding with new clients, that’s an important piece of discovery. But also as a communicator within any organization, if you work in corporate, if you work in non-profit, like hearing out the people that are, leading product, leading sales, leading whatever operations it might be, those are the people that you’re trying to tell ultimately their stories as part of this company. So it’s, you know, it’s not just an interesting
Rachel
And one narrative for all those people, so thank you, Cydney. Very good take.
Kim
I’m Kim Crites. I’m AVP of Marketing and Communications for the North Star Care Community. We deal in death and dying every day and what that teaches us is how to live. And so when we talk to people, we get to tell their beautiful stories and we get to share with the world a reminder of how to live fully. And that is my favorite part of my job.
Dan
This is such an interesting perspective from such a unique field of communications. And, in the last clip when we heard, communications touches everything, this is like really proof positive of that. You don’t think about the communications of death and dying every day, but it is a.
Rachel
Unless you work in it every day.
Dan
Yeah, I guess that’s true. So So, it’s just, it’s so interesting to hear that take. I love the part about, being able to take, to more fully enjoy your life when you think about it in this context. And it gives a voice to, it gives a voice to people who you don’t hear every day and who might not, cross your radar. I feel like it’s such a, I don’t know, that’s such a positive.
Rachel
It’s a way to take really a sad situation, of course, but make it inspiring to those who are still living, right? And can do that. I saw a video the other day that said this guy was talking about his dad who was 71. He was finally retiring. They had retired his mom. They had all these plans and he died. And he said like, the when is not a thing. It’s all a lie, right? So it’s, when you hear these stories about death, it’s inspiring. to say, you don’t have that necessarily, you don’t know. So, like she said, live fully, figure it out, what did those people do that inspired you to make you want to live your life?
Dan
Yeah, just a really good message and a good reminder for anyone really who’s…
Sharon
I’m Sharon Garcia, Vice President of Marketing and Communications with the Downtown Detroit Partnership. One thing I wish more people knew about communications is that it touches every part of the professional world, every industry, every department, everything. There’s internal communications, external communications, philanthropy, partnerships. All of it is tied to communicating. So get your brush up on your skills.
Dan
This is a really good thing, I think, for us to all to think about as we’re building communication strategies, because it ties back really nicely to what Sydney was talking about with being a good listener. You have to understand what you’re communicating and how it ties into each of those audiences. Sharon talked about internal, external philanthropy, et cetera. But it’s not just a matter of, once you listen, now you have to take it and understand what does a potential donor take away from this versus a potential customer versus an employee?
Rachel
A volunteer, a who, all of those, you have to go in knowing those end audiences when you are listening because you’re going to touch all of them.
Dan
Yeah, practicing your skills of applying those messages then to the greater.
Rachel
Yeah, it’s your job to find that narrative and create it.
Dan
Tie all those strings together.
Rachel
So yes. touches everything, everyone. And it’s so important to make sure that you understand that going into your listening.
Dan
Yeah. Thanks, Sharon.
Rachel
All right.
Ayla
Hello. Hi, I’m Ayla Cisic I am the internal communications officer for Wayne State’s PRSSA. And my communications hot take is while I do believe that influencer relations are important, especially when it comes to corporate comms, I think that corporations need to take into account the credibility of the influencers that they’re employing before they actually get into partnerships with them. So one example I can think of off the top of my head is Mikayla Nogueira and her current partnership with ELF. So ELF is Eyes, Lips, Face. They’re a big makeup corporation. Very well known, especially when it comes to their affordable pricing. But one issue they’ve ran into is their current spokesperson, Mikayla Nogueira, has been involved in multiple situations where she’s been accused of lying about product reviews, fabricating information, and cutting the video to make it look like the products are better than they actually are. Also, there’s been an issue with her not disclosing paid partnerships, etc. While she does have a large following and there is a large consumer base to be met with how big her follower base is, I think that more brands, when they are looking at influencers to partner with, need to take their credibility into consideration. Because then if the influencer that you’re partnering with is not credible, people are going to start questioning your credibility as a brand. So all that to say be careful who you partner with.
Rachel
Absolutely. I think it is so important when you are doing any kind of influencer research to obviously pay attention to what’s already on their page. Go back a little bit, of course. That’s just bare minimum of what you should do when you’re vetting these. But something to think about too is, you know, she mentions a very, very large creator. I think it’s important for brands to actually explore some more like mid to small tier influencers. Research shows they just have a much larger trust and engagement with their audiences, right? It’s more of a two way St. It’s a conversation. They see them more as like a friend.
Dan
And it’s more like authentic sometimes in that, especially when you can find a niche influencer that’s within your specific like market with it who’s like really passionate about the thing that you do, whatever that might be. Like they come across as an enthusiast. They come across like so much more authentically rather than a celebrity.
Rachel
Yeah, they should be your consumer, right? If they’re the consumer that you are trying to ultimately reach, then their audience is probably also your consumer.
Dan
Yeah, ideally they’re already using your product.
Rachel
I mean, this sounds bad, but people will hate follow large influencers just to rage bait them. So and I think one thing to think about too, I’ve had this conversation with clients is when it’s your content, you control the narrative, the comments, right? You have a lot more control. You don’t have any control once this goes out with this person, right? So you don’t control the people in their comment sections. You don’t control how they’re responding to them, right? Like that is the risk that you take. So you need to understand that, be aware of it, and be willing to take that risk when you go in. And also understand that if you’re entering a long-term partnership, well, it might seem like a great idea to sign on for a longer time. Anything can happen during that. So also have a little bit of a crisis comms plan in place where if something happens and things do get bad while this partnership is active, you have a plan in place and understand where you draw your line.
Dan
As with any spokesperson, internal or external, they are a representative representation of your brand. You have to be ready.
Lily
Hi, I’m Lily Devine, Vice President, external of the Wayne State PRSSA. And a trend that I’m paying attention to in communications right now is AI integration. At the recent PRSA East Central District Conference, there was a lot of talk about AI across the board, whether it was good, bad, scared, hopeful. It just seems to be on everybody’s mind. And as a young person graduating college, entering the industry, The way that I feel about it might be a little different from people that have been in the industry for a long time. I’m noticing that the younger people in the field are kind of wary of AI because it’s doing a lot of work that has traditionally been given to entry level employees, interns, just beginners. And a lot of us are kind of feeling maybe a little bit left behind, maybe a little bit scared of what could happen to the future of the industry if AI is allowed to take over some of the traditional roles that people like me have been doing out of college. Because everybody has to start somewhere. And I’m just noticing that a lot of AI has kind of been integrated very quickly, and everyone’s very excited about it. There’s a bunch of new features coming out and it just makes me wonder if it’s not worth it to slow down a little bit and try to get more of a grip on stuff before we just go full steam ahead.
Dan
This is one that is on everyone’s mind all the time I feel like right now and a really good point to raise because it is a conversation and especially those for those who are starting their careers, I can imagine it’s a scary time. I think how we look at it is that it is something that’s here to stay in one way or another. How you use it is really what’s going to set people apart. So finding the ways in which you can use AI to kind of offset some of the time that you would have spent on things that are less meaningful work, that are automatable without losing quality on those things, whether it’s using it as a copilot for some different research or to use it in brainstorming to automate some administrative tasks, whatever that might look like. But really make sure that you’re not just using it to automate and send things off of your plate. Use that time that it gives you to find the things that you can uniquely do, whether that’s critical thinking, whether that is strategy development and identifying like how communications apply to different audiences and mapping that out. whatever that, whatever that might be, find the piece that is uniquely human and uniquely something that you can bring to the table and use that as your differentiator because that will make you stand out if you can use it as more of a time saver to give you more time for that.
Rachel
Yeah, and I think it’s also opening up a door for you to have more time to learn from others, right? So if you’re able to do those tasks, automate where you can, then use that time to sit down with somebody, do some professional development, watch what they’re doing and how they’re doing their job, think strategically, build upon what you can automate to, like Dan said, add that human angle that AI can’t do. And look at it more as a, you know, opportunity to fill in, you know, what AI can’t do. Because there is a lot. You just have to make sure that you understand how a company is looking to fill a role and what their expectation is too. Yeah.
Dan
All right. So we’re going to close things out here with a little bit of just a love letter to Detroit and, you know, hearing from a couple of people who were down here and shared their thoughts about their favorite things about the city. You know, like we talked about at the beginning on why we do this, it’s such a great opportunity for us to share some of these stories to highlight what’s happening here. both within and outside of our specific niche of communications and marketing. So just a huge thank you to everyone who has stuck along with us for the 100 episodes for four years.
Rachel
Maybe this is your first episode and we love that too.
Dan
It’s your first episode. Welcome, come back again. Hopefully stick around for the next maybe 100. But thanks for listening. We love doing this. It’s always so much fun to hear from and learn from everyone. So yeah, we’ll close with that and hear what people have to say. Thanks.
Kat
Hi, I’m Kat Dooley with ContinuServe. And the one thing that I really love about Detroit is the music scene. It is bar none, I think, one of the best in the country and one of the best in the world. I don’t think people fully realize just how many different musical genres got their start here. I mean, everybody knows Motown, but did they know that we also started techno? Because we did. And the punk and indie scene here is also phenomenal. I’m proud to be a member of that. And so I think that if anything else that anybody could want to know about Detroit is that if you come here, you need to go to a show. You need to see a concert. And we’ve got so many venues to choose from. It’s probably the best.
Ashley
My name is Ashley Ortiz. I am a strategic growth coordinator here at Franco. One thing I love about Detroit is I think it’s just been built out of resilience and strength. I think the community really defines Detroit. And I feel like our cultural scene, our art scene, like everything is just so vibrant and there. Like whenever I go to Detroit, it feels like home. I might not have fully grown up in the city, but I think it’s always something that I’ll come back to, I’ll always love and always value.
Giuliana
Something I love about Detroit is that there’s always something new popping up with whatever scene you’re a part of, whether you’re in the arts, you like sports, you’re passionate about food and drink and socializing, whatever it is, there’s something for everyone here. And I truly feel like Detroit has been on the up and up, but there’s no stopping from here. Like Detroit is just always gonna keep thriving and flourishing. And there’s so many beautiful things. And what’s really cool about that is as much as we are a community of people, we have a lot of hidden gems. So if someone and they’re a Detroit native and they’re like part of downtown, you have the opportunity to experience and see a bunch of really cool new things, which I love about Detroit.
