The Answer to Good or Bad in Three Questions

Good or bad is easy to determine in many situations. Movie? "Gone with the Wind" – Good. "Mars Needs Moms" – Bad. However, other decisions aren’t so easy. As a public relations professional I have spent numerous hours in conference rooms and corner offices questioning the font choice of a brochure, pondering the best picture for an annual report cover and belaboring the abundant choices that come with developing a public relations piece that is the face of a company.

However, when I find myself stuck in the creative process – bleary eyed and weary of the minutia – I take a deep breath, put on a cup of tea and review the following:

1.  What are the goals for this piece? Are we asking people to sign up for something, visit a location, learn more about a particular issue, go online, pick up the phone? Ensuring your goals are clearly defined will help you know if you are achieving them.
2. Who is the intended audience? Make sure you’re piece isn’t overworked. People will often want to use one piece for a variety of targeted groups. Limit yourself to just one or two and your piece will be far more effective.
3. Does the piece look professionally done? These kind of projects are often done by committee – as they should be. It is always beneficial to get buy in from all the key decision makers from the beginning. However, don’t get hung up on color choices or artwork. In the end it isn’t likely to matter if your folder is chartreuse or magenta – what matter is if it looks as if it was given life by a professional graphic designer, printer, writer, etc.

Keeping these questions in mind will help you meet your intended goal and save you time when critical decisions need to be made.

Generating Awareness with Public Relations in 5-7 Impressions

I am continually baffled by the fact that I have to see a television commercial an average of six times before I know what advertisers are trying to sell me. However, I have struggled more times than I can count with remembering the dish soap ad or car commercial that interrupted my program du jour.

Five to seven impressions can seem daunting, and a bit like stalking. However, it can be done successfully with the appropriate use of public relations tools - meaning greater awareness of you and/or your business and no restraining order.

Consider the following chain of events for a prospective client/customer:

1. Prospective client sees editorial in trade publication that was written by you or someone in your organization
2. They then visit your website (since it was referred to in the About the Author section of article)
3. While on your website - signs up for e-newsletter
4. Reads e-newsletter and views video you produced that was linked in the newsletter
5. Decides to follow you/your company on Twitter
6. You reply with thank you tweet and send link to frequently asked questions about your company/industry.
7. You/your company receive media coverage which prospective client sees.

Five to seven impressions wrapped up in a week. Trust that it doesn’t always happen so conveniently in the real world, but you get the idea.

E-Newsletters – Reach Customers for Only Pennies Per Person

Electronic newsletters are a cost efficient way to target your customers, clients, and potential buyers. They establish you, or your business, as an authority on an issue. Additionally, they can be shared via Facebook or Twitter, or simply forwarded to other email accounts by the recipients.

There are several email distribution services that will allow you to create a custom design for little money, and in some cases no money at all. Depending on your number of contacts, you can spend nothing at all with services such as Mail Chimp or slightly more than free ($8) with Mad Mimi. Others will charge you around $30 for approximately 1,000 contacts. Additional fees may apply – be sure to read the fine print. Other popular services include Constant Contact and My Emma.

Before you move forward create a plan and consider these following tips:

-Send it out once a month.

-Include a few sentences of each story and link to the entire story on your website or blog so you can track what your target audience wants to read.

-Delegate it to someone or hire out for the job – otherwise, it will never get done. Depending if you want to use a professional graphic designer and hire a writer, such as yours truly, you’ll spend approximately $300-$500.

If you’re still not sold on the idea – run the numbers. Say you spend $500/month and

you send it to a thousand people. You’ve spent 50 cents per person. Depending on your business – you may only need a couple of sales to cover the cost – now that’s a good return on your investment!

Why Twitter Can be Better for Research Than Google

Jamie Brown Public Relations gained several television placements for a Dallas health care client. Naturally, the company was interested in the return on investment. However, many of the media monitoring services are expensive and require contracts - making them unattainable for small to medium-sized businesses. Google searches only turned up the top tier companies with budgets for large websites and search engine optimization (SEO). Desperate to help a client, I went to Twitter hoping some of my public relations tweeps could provide a solution. Sure enough my tweet for help was spotted by a boutique company on the East coast. After a phone call and a few emails, we began working together. Without Twitter we never would have made our cyber connection.

A similar situation came about when another client needed a robust research tool. The popular low-cost electronic survey websites available just couldn't provide all of the requirements to get the job done. Google searches couldn't give me what I needed. Back to Twitter I went, and in less than 140 characters an answer arrived. A company following hashtags pertinent to their industry picked up my query, and not long after a relationship was formed.

I'm not promoting giving up Google, rather suggesting Twitter for the answers that are elusive in a SEO driven environment.

Can a Contract Controlling What Your Customers Say Prevent a Public Relations Crisis?

I spoke with a friend the other day who mentioned she was reviewing a contract for a vacation house rental. She couldn’t help but notice a clause that prohibited renters from writing reviews on websites that didn’t provide the owner an opportunity to comment on the complaints.

Attempting to control what your customers say about you with strong legal language doesn’t promote healthy customer relations – much less prevent a public relations crisis. Regardless of contracts you may have with your customers – people will talk, type and text about the experience they had with you. Taking customers to court is expensive. A public relations crisis communications plan will cost you far less coin.


Start with the following:

• have a public relations crisis communications plan in place

• set your Google alerts to notify you when your company’s name is mentioned

• and most importantly always think before you type

Finally, do what you can to patch up a misunderstanding, and do it publicly so that people can see that you care about your customers and are willing to make changes when you can.

Four Reasons Why Blogging Is Good for Business

I’m not a dedicated blogger. In fact the only reason I started was for business development. I began my blog and my company simultaneously. It was easy then to find a couple of hours a week to devote to sharing recent insights.

Recently, the challenges of running a small business have taken hold, and it has become far too easy to put off blogging for other activities that are directly connected to revenue. However, its time I follow my own advice and commit to blogging. Here’s why I’m re-dedicating myself:

- My blog has gotten me business. I can think of at least two clients that have seen my blog and requested my services. Gee – now if I just did it more regularly!

- Most of my potential clients will examine my blog before my website. It is a demonstration of my skills and services.

- People have actually said something I wrote helped them. No, really – that actually happened, more than once!

- It helps with SEO on my website.

I’m always pleasantly surprised when someone says, “I saw your blog and was wondering if you could tell me more about....” I shouldn’t be. I know better, but self-doubt and flat out laziness have kept me from blogging more regularly.

I advise my clients to blog for all the same reasons listed above. It is time that I take my own medicine and commit to what is good for business and the right thing to do. What better time of year for a fresh start?

Book Review: Why She Buys

One of my favorite past times is devouring case studies. I’ll stay up late gorging on white papers about successful public relations or marketing activities. I consider them a buffet of knowledge and hope. Hence the book review on Why She Buys, cooked up by Bridget Brennan.

According to her website, The Wallstreet Journal touts Brennan’s book as, “essential reading” and Fortune Small Business states it’s “required reading for anyone burdened with a Y chromosome.” Funny, I didn’t know any of that. I picked it up on a trip to the library with my son. The kids’ section is adjacent to where they keep the business books. Every two weeks I scan the shelves quickly and grab one on the way to the checkout. That’s my reality of going to the library with a three year old. I say this because it’s an appropriate story that would fit well into her book.

I felt empowered and validated by the title, and better educated and equipped by her case studies. To understand how and why women make or influence 80 percent of the purchasing decisions in the household is to understand the economy and successful marketing.

My favorite morsels from this book are:

• The Lexus customer service model is one to be emulated. It’s not only the car; it’s the way the company and the employees exceed customers’ expectations in order to develop long term relationships. Isn’t that what women want most of all – longstanding, meaningful relationships?

• The research that Proctor & Gamble puts into their products is phenomenal. They actually live with their customers to see how their products are used - the challenges, shortcomings and benefits. You can’t get that kind of information from a survey, or even a focus group.

• Bluefly.com was smart to have a non-management employee blog about the reality television show Project Runway and then tie the episodes into their product line. The employee was an actual fan of the show and stayed away from corporate jargon. It was more like reading a post on your friend’s Facebook page than a company’s blog.

Potential readers should think of Why She Buys as a guide to the elusive core of what makes women tick – those hungry for this kind of information will find this book worthy of their time and money.