NEW ASSOCIATE: RED ENERGY PUBLIC RELATIONS

Perini & Associates is proud to announce that Red Energy Public Relations is an associate.

“As our business grows we believe it’s important to be able to create and maintain valuable customer connections so having another firm on the team –- at the ready — to assist as needed is key to our company’s growth,” said Michael Perini, ABC.

Red Energy Public Relations is a full-service public relations and advertising agency that works with corporate, non-profit and government organizations nationwide coordinating advertising, event planning, website and graphic design, strategic communication, exhibit design and writing projects.

“Recently, we produced the nation’s first-ever Parade of Retirement Homes, and was featured on MSNBC,” said Amy Sufak, President and founder.

“I have known Amy for years,” Perini said. “She is one that I will be able to count on as we attract a steady stream of new opportunities, “ Perini said.

Sufak, a U.S. Air Force veteran, has led the coordination of more than 300 events in her career including military/state dinners, private, political & promotional events, media conferences, air shows and celebrity, legislative & presidential distinguished visitor tours.

“It is great to have her on our growing list of Associates,” Perini said.

Animals with Style!

A Photo With BARK!
by Michael Perini, ABC
Perini & Associates

This photo has more than bark! This photo generates emotions and questions.

“Aren’t they cute!”

“Where’s the red carpet?”

“How’d they get them to sit still?”

“Are those prescription specs?”

This photo of these trendy dogs begs viewers to want to know more, am I correct?

In the public relations world having photos that communicate like this one are key to the success of your organization, event or issue communication strategy.

Flickr, one of the best online photo management and sharing applications in the world reports that nearly 5,000 photos were uploaded in the last minute! Now that’s lots of competition for those pros that are trying to compete with all those digital cameras.

What makes a great photo; one that helps tell your message about your organization, issue or event? Here are several factors that I always remember when selecting photos for clients:

Wow factor! There is so much competition for your personal attention. Again, Flickr. If we are to be successful and capture your time and attention then we need to show an image that has that “wow” factor. Immediate reaction…positive or negative, depending on your objective…is what you need to look for.

BRIGHT is right. The image needs to be visible. By that I mean a photo that expresses an emotion, view or drives you to action. A lot of vivid colors work for me and drive me to action.

Mystery with a +. The image should leave you wanting more. This photo does that for me. You?

Tell us what you like to see in a photo; an image that will make you “bark”.

High Marks For Our Blog!
by Michael Perini, ABC
Perini & Associates

Blog Catalog, one of the Net’s best locations to find blogs has rated http://www.periniassociates.com/ as “50.3 out of 100.” Up from 35/100 in just a matter of weeks! The higher the score the better the placement, according to Blog Catalog.

The rating appeared in March 2010 on the Blog Catalog site. Blog Catalog is the premiere social blog directory on the internet.

Readers can find blogs in the following categories:
Personal • Blogging • Entertainment • Technology • Business • News & Media • Lifestyle • Arts • Sports • Society • Education & Learning • Science & Nature • Automotive • Mom & Family • Places & Geography.

“This is the first month that we have been carried by Blog Catalog, ” said Michael Perini. “We are honored by the high placement which we expect will continue to climb as our blog site becomes known and we continue to discuss topics of interest and add more features.”

A special formula that analyzes hits, views, comments, neighborhood members and other “special secret ingredients” creates a numeric score based on a 100-point scale, according to Blog Catalog.

Currently, categories on the Perini & Associates site include: Advice and Counsel, Crisis Communication, Public Relations News, Random Thoughts, and Team.

“We will unveil new categories soon,” Perini said. “Plus we are expanding our Blogroll and Tags.”

10 PR web and blog sites that punch!
by Michael Perini, ABC
Perini & Associates

Here is our first annual, “10 PR sites that punch!”

I would like to think that we have the “one stop” site for all things PR but honestly there are lots of Net locations you can turn to beyond us. Go ahead and click on these sites below as we scoured the Net and found them among the best.

Please, however, come back to us when you are ready to achieve your goals. We walk the talk and are comfortable with what lies on the Net; let us guide you to success.

Welcome to publicrelationsblogger.com! This blog is a free, educational resource for public relations with hundreds of articles to browse various PR topics. Review the blog, suggest ideas, or share your point of view on articles. http://publicrelationsblogger.com/

Founded in 1970, The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) provides a professional network of over 15,500 business communication professionals in over 80 countries. A great resource! You will find stacks of good tips and case studies. http://www.iabc.com

There are more than a 1000 blogs about public relations. This is the best resource for finding them, in my view. http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/business/public_relations/

Want to learn more about PR in Denver, Colorado, the DENVER PR BLOG is the site for news, information and rumors affecting Denver’s public relations community. Yes, other communities have similar blogs but this one has “punch” — current, fun and useful. http://www.denverprblog.com/

For those of you new to the PR industry, go to PR Newswire for a host of web engagement tools customized and search engine optimized for the public relations industry. http://www.prnewswire.com/

Alltop PR – This site indexes PR resources, randomly categorized, submitted by website owners and approved only if they meet a set of quality requirements. Worth a look. http://pr.alltop.com/

PR 2.0 by Brian Solis is among the top 1.5% of all blogs tracked by Technorati and is ranked as one of the leading voices in the Ad Age Power 150 index of worldwide marketing bloggers. I stop in at least weekly.
http://www.briansolis.com/

PR Sarah Evans — Sarah is all about social media. A self-described “social media freak,” Sarah initiated and moderates #journchat, the weekly live chat between PR professionals, journalists and bloggers on the microblogging platform, Twitter. She is a guest writer for Mashable, one of the most popular social media blogs.
http://prsarahevans.com/

Richard Edelman – a veteran in PR, extremely busy and too important, but the man still finds time to write.
http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/

Dosh Dosh – Internet marketing and blogging tips, alongside social media strategies. This site is useful to bloggers, entrepreneurs, web publishers, marketers, freelancers and small business owners. http://www.doshdosh.com/

If you have been counting we are at 10. However, here is one more “bonus” site that is worth a look.

Linkedin – networking tool that helps users discover inside connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners. Over 60 million professionals, according to the site, use Linkedin to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. This is a great way to stay informed about contacts and industry.
http://www.linkedin.com/

Now it’s your turn. Any websites you would like to add to the list? And thanks for including our site among your favorites! Send us comments on how to improve it.

NEW ASSOCIATE: Ben Caperton

Perini & Associates is proud to announce that Ben Caperton is an associate.
Caperton has been fundraising and event planning since 1987. He started with the Law Enforcement Torch run in Texas as the State Fundraising Chair. He also worked on the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center’s Rainbow Golf Classic as Celebrity Chair and as Tournament Director.

“Ben started the Hearts and Hands Golf Tournament for Charitable Treasures
Workshop in 2007,” said Michael Perini. “That is where I saw him work his magic with proceeds going to this wonderful charity,” Perini said.

Caperton also was the fundraising chair for the North American Police Ski Championships for 19 years. “We raised dollars for the Winter Sports Programs of Special Olympics and the Twin Towers Initiative which benefits the new law enforcement museum being built in Washington, D.C., he said. This effort honors the 72 police officers lost on 9-11-01. Caperton is now the National Chairman for the event.

His experience doesn’t stop in the nation’s capitol. Caperton is a retired police officer with 31 years of law enforcement experience and 25 years of personnel supervision, personnel management, traffic management, police motorcycle instruction, dignitary protection/instruction, target hardening in residential/business, traffic law instruction and administration duties. Caperton is a graduate of the Leadership and Command College for Texas Law Enforcement.

“To be able to meet the needs of clients in fundraising, event planning, and general first responder disciplines like police departments, fire and emergency response organizations, I thought it was critical we have Caperton on the team. “

Where is this?

by Michael Perini, ABC
perini & associates

Recently, a report in Time.com listed the top 10 worst corporate names.

Cable-television giant changed their name from Comcast to Xfinity in several media markets. I was satisfied with Comcast though the company says that the new moniker will help customers forget poor customer service. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones as both the signal and service were fine.

What about Syfy? A new name and thus a brand for the popular network SciFi. Now, I like science fiction, the genre, and whenever I watch shows I find myself whispering sci-fi though I am not sure I would have spelled it they way the network execs do now, but hey what the heck. I might just be out of this world!

Did you know that AirTran Airways grew from ValuJet Airlines? I fly AirTran but again, here was a corporate name change to enhance an image and distance passenger thought that “value” meant cutting corners and maybe even flight safety to save a few bucks. It works for me and I like both their snacks and company logo.

Corporations spend lots of resources — sometimes into the millions — researching and identifying a name. While others simply hold a contest with the “best” entry being picked. Which method is best?

So, my question to you is, will changing a name work? I think the jury’s still out on many of the recent changes as the risks of monetary loss or recognition, to name a few, are high; but I’d like to hear your views.

The decision to change a name must be weighed against the positive outcome and any backlashes and companies sometimes rush to a decision without thinking second and third order effects. Take for example, sited in Time.com, the decision by Britain’s post office to change its name, Royal Mail, having been an icon since 1635, to Consignia. Today, it is back to Royal Mail after a huge public outcry and rain, show or shine… the mail is making it through just fine!

What other reasons would there be, than customer satisfaction or being concerned about ownership, for changing a name? Here is my list. I would like to hear from you and your reasons:

• Distance from a scandal or PR nightmare.
• To be modern.
• To be meaningful.
• To be in legal agreement.
• Better appeal.

Finally, do you know what “NT” stands for and where these letters are found? Tell me if you do.