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.