Garden of Public Relations

by Michael B. Perini, ABC
perini & associates

The National Gardening Association (NGA) reports that an average of 80 million U.S. households — three out of four — have participated in one or more types of indoor and outdoor do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities annually for the last five years.

More businesses, event planners and advocacy leaders are participating in the “garden of public relations”. As these people navigate through the “weeds” and climate and plant hardiness zones of PR some very interesting results are coming to light.

For example, a beverage brand recently measured the impact of PR versus other forms of marketing.  The  findings are typical: The data showed that $1.00 spent on TV advertising delivered $1.10 in sales. Trade advertising delivered a return of roughly $2.20 for every dollar spent, and PR delivered an outsized $8.00 for every $1.00 invested, the best of any marketing agent tested. Four percent of all incremental sales were attributed to PR.

This may not sound like much return on investment, like all those gardens in backyards across the USA, but it represents tens of millions of dollars. PR is also the only form of marketing to lift all gardens, regardless of type:  ”When news coverage was positive and prominent, every form of marketing was more efficient and more effective,” according to the Institute for Public Relations.

So, how is your PR gardening expertise?  Here are several tips to make your garden produce.

1.  Enrich the soil.  Just like for a garden you must enrich your public relations practices to continue growth.  This can be done by seeking a public relations specialist to ensure that the correct practices and tools are used.

2.  Prune those bushes. As you know, those bushes will often spread if not pruned back at least seasonally.  The similiar result happens when you let PR tactics continue without  monitoring and adjusting on a timely basis.  You need to clean up and prep those public relations practices.

3.  Fall planting. While the garden industry has touted fall as an exceptional time for planting many of you out there remain unconvinced.  But I must say, in my experience,  certain plants do very well (actually better) planted in fall.  So, what’s the point:  finding the proper timing to initiate your public relations strategy and tactics is key to having a successful PR season.

Earlier today, I was trying to plant flowers at 9,000 feet!  No doubt gardening is tough. But, I know there will be a certain satisfaction to serving and eating food from your garden.  You can experience a similar feeling of satisfaction by planting a successful garden of public relations by using these tips from lessons learned after more than 30 years of experience.

Perini & Associates is proud to announce Will Temby as an associate.

“Temby brings strategic planning, business development, public policy, building collaborative relationships and customer service to our team,” Michael Perini said.

“He has held numerous leadership positions in both the private and nonprofit sectors,” Perini said. “With 25 years experience he has been a successful CEO, vice president and general manager.”

“I have seen Will’s work up close. It’s innovative and meets our vision of taking public relations to new levels,” Perini said.

Most recently, Will worked as a business development consultant to the National Institute of Science, Space and Security Centers (NISSSC) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Temby has served as the Associate Vice President, Special Projects for the University of Colorado Foundation. While at the CU Foundation, it was named large university “Foundation of the Year” for all university foundations in the United States.

He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce — serving a metropolitan statistical area in excess of 600,000 people. While in that capacity, he served on the Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 for the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Major Cities Council of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives.

From 2005 until 2007, Will was the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Colorado Competitive Council in Denver, Colorado.

Will is a former Chairman of the National Homeland Defense Foundation and currently serves on its Board of Directors. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Springs Leadership Institute, a co-founder of the Colorado Springs Leadership Summit, a co-founder and co-chair of the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum, and is also serving as a volunteer for Operation 6035—an economic development plan for the Pikes Peak Region.

During a 20-year career in the hotel business, he held leadership positions for the Steamboat Ski and Resort, Hyatt, Sheraton, Renaissance and Hilton corporations. The teams on which he served, and Will personally, received national recognition for financial performance and customer service delivery.

Will is a graduate of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

“You can’t start and stop public relations activities. Programs need to be developed, executed and measured. Will’s talent is vital to our bullpen of experts as we work with clients across the globe, Perini said.

Tips for an effective website

Tips For An Effective Website
by Michael Perini, ABC
Perini & Associates

There were 20,340,000,000 web pages indexed as of November 2009, and 70,392,567 websites were indexed by Yahoo! as of August 2005. These are the most recent figures that I could find.

Every day, more sites get created. Basically, you could check for sites one day and then the next day check again and countless more sites could be up!

With so many sites being developed it begs the question:  ”What makes an effective website?”  Based on my years of experience with website development in business, government, academia, medical, non-profit, associations and communities here are some of the lessons I have learned.  I would really like to hear from you.  Add to the list, please!

1. Simple is best (quicker loading and more pleasing to the eye)

2.  Theme the site according to the target audience; no image backgrounds

2.  Make information easy to find — thought must be put into organization.

3.  Keep navigation to other pages easy — minimize clicking!

4.  If possible, include a web forum (blog, Q and A, etc.) to allow visitors to discuss topics.

5.  Remember, it’s really about useful or interesting information.  If  pages don’t have that it won’t matter how pretty the template looks.

6.  No ads, if at all possible.

7.  Animation and sounds are distracting.

8.  Be careful with scrolling text. Folks must read it at the speed we deliver it at.

9.  Remember, we need to please the visitor and not ourself.

10.  No POPUPS!  Include a menu on each page.  Include a way to get back to home.

Road to Nowhere

Zero to 60 = Road to Nowhere
by Michael B. Perini, ABC
Perini & Associates

There is the temptation to try every new gadget.  Eat at every new restaurant.  Try the latest aerobic exercise.  Or, be the first to punch that accelerator on a new car.

Going at public relations can be very similar for those not schooled in the art and science of PR.  Wanting to add every new practice into the PR “arsenal” without determining what the destination or return on investment might be is foolhardy and will prove expensive.

I am not against the latest or greatest.  I have my eye at the moment on an iPad, for example.  But, I do believe that going from “zero to 60″ without a proper map and directional signs will end up at a dead-end especially when managing internal and external communications in business, event or issues communications.

So, let’s try this.  A recent phenomenon in the digital world is to be on twitter, LinkedIn or facebook.  If you don’t know what any of these social media services are, please follow the links and then circle back to this post and keep reading.

When you click “Like” on a facebook page, for example, you are making a connection to that page. It’s very similar in public relations.  You need to weigh the consequences of jumping on board or liking every new strategic communications tool, like the social media options listed above, at the expense of traditional and often more successful tactics.

Sometimes a face-to-face meeting might prove more beneficial than texting to a client.  A simple 8×10 sign could be more valuable to getting your message across to customers than a glitzy web ad embedded with the latest flash technology.  There we go again…for more on this trend click….

The key is to have a communications consultant guide you through this maze of current and future trends, to gain speed and safely navigate the curves and bends by applying integrated strategy and proper tactics both traditional and new.

Again, don’t “delete” old public relations practices just to be the first on your block to have implemented the latest trends into your company.  In today’s tough economy, let’s not take that road to nowhere especially when going from zero to 60.