Posted by admin on June 24th, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
As a business, non-profit or association manager, do you
see the value in doing something positive about the
behaviors of those important external audiences of yours
that most affect your operation?
Do you see the value in persuading those key outside
folks to your way of thinking?
Do you see the value in moving them to take actions that
allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed?
Then you must see the value in good public relations that
alters individual perception leading to changed behaviors
among those key outside people. And further, that helps
managers like you achieve your managerial objectives.
If you see those values, you also see PR’s REAL value.
And you are a lucky manager!
Truth is, you probably should expand your view of public
relations to emphasize the behaviors of your unit’s key outside
audiences rather than publicity placements, special events,
brochures and press releases.
Why should you go to that trouble? Because the people with
whom you interact every day behave like everyone else -
they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about
you and your operation. Which means you should deal
effectively with those perceptions (and their follow-on
behaviors) by doing what is necessary to reach and move
those key external audiences to action.
Luckily, your own carefully tailored PR plan can make the
job a lot easier. I’m talking about a plan like this. People
act on their own their own perception of the facts before
them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which
something can be done. When we create, change or
reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and
moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors
affect the organization the most, the public relations
mission is accomplished.
Take a few minutes to consider what might result from such
activity. Community leaders beginning to seek you out;
prospects starting to do business with you; customers making
repeat purchases; rising membership applications; fresh
proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; welcome
bounces in show room visits; and new approaches by capital
givers and specifying sources not to mention politicians and
legislators viewing you as a key member of the business,
non-profit or association communities.
Who will do this specialized kind of work? Your own public
relations people? Folks assigned to your operation? An outside
PR agency team? But regardless where they come from, they
need to be committed to you and your PR plan beginning with
key audience perception monitoring.
Be certain that the PR people assigned to you are serious about
knowing how your most important outside audiences perceive
your operations, products or services. They must accept the
reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that
can help or hurt your operation.
Go over your PR plan with them, especially how you will monitor
and gather perceptions by questioning members of your most
important outside audiences. For instance, how much do you
know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact
with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much
do you know about our services or products and employees?
Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?
If the budget is available, don’t hesitate to use professional
survey firms in the perception monitoring phases of your
program. But remember that your PR people are also in the
perception and behavior business and can pursue the same
objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded
rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative
perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.
With the right PR goal, you should be able to deal handily
with the most serious distortions you discovered during your
key audience perception monitoring. Your new goal could
call for straightening out that dangerous misconception, or
correcting that gross inaccuracy, or stopping that potentially
fatal rumor dead in its tracks.
Now you must take pains to select the right strategy, one that
tells you how to move forward. Keep in mind that there are just
three strategic options available to you when it comes to
handling a perception and opinion challenge. Change existing
perception, create perception where there may be none, or
reinforce it. Since the wrong strategy pick will taste like onion
gravy on your key lime pie, be certain the new strategy fits
comfortably with your new public relations goal. You don’t
want to select “change” when the facts dictate a “reinforce”
strategy.
While it’s tough to write tight and strong, you must write
such a strong message and aim it at members of your target
audience. Because crafting action-forcing language to persuade
an audience to your way of thinking is tough work, you need
your first-string varsity writer because s/he must create some
very special, corrective language. Words that are not only
compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if
they are to correct something and shift perception/opinion
towards your point of view leading to the behaviors you are
targeting.
Now it’s time to select the communications tactics most likely
to carry your message to the attention of your target audience.
You can do this after you run the draft by your PR people for
impact and persuasiveness. There are dozens available to you.
From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer
briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and
many others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to
reach folks just like your audience members.
As you may be aware, a message’s believability can depend
on the credibility of the means used to deliver it. So you may
decide to unveil it before smaller meetings and presentations
rather than using higher-profile news releases.
Requests for progress reports signal you and your PR team
to begin a second perception monitoring session with
members of your external audience. Many of the same
questions used in the first benchmark session can be used
again. But this time, you will be watching carefully for
signs that the problem perception is being altered in your
direction.
Occasionally, momentum will slow, but you can always
speed up matters by adding more communications tactics
as well as increasing their frequencies.
Thus, what you really want PR’s value to accomplish is to
persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way
of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to
the success of your unit.
end
Please feel free to publish this article and resource box
in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website.
A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.
Word count is 1175 including guidelines and resource box.
Robert A. Kelly © 2005.
Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and
association managers about using the fundamental premise of public
relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR,
Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR,
Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi-
cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press
secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree
from Columbia University, major in public relations.
mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com
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Posted by admin on June 12th, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
As a mobile detailing company it is important to have some key corporate accounts where you can show up weekly and wash and detail cars for executives. One promotion you can do to help secure such accounts is to join in with the United Way in their promotion. The United Way depends on employees of large companies to donate 1% or 1.5% of their income through payroll withholding.
Many employees obviously might be reluctant to do this. So along with representatives from the United Way, you take your mobile washing rigs to the corporations and let the company managers wash the cars of the employees that agree to withhold money from their paychecks so as to make a contribution to the United Way. The employees get a real kick out of watching their bosses slave away washing their cars. And they will be doing it using your rigs. Therefore you get the Public Relations plug. Any employee agreeing to the deduction gets their car washed by their boss.
Since they are using your equipment you can be sure to block off the storm drains to prevent pollution and this gives another public relations plug to the event as completely EPA compliant. This works well and a great synergy takes over. We also recommend to have the United Way representative call all the newspapers. The employees, managers and executives love it. It’s also great P.R. for you. Who knows maybe your auto detailing company will be on the front page of your newspaper the next day. That is what usually happens to us.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
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Posted by admin on June 2nd, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
What makes one logo better than another?
Simplicity.
A good logo works in the simplest form. It is a memorable representation of your brand and inspires confidence in your customers. It should be fresh and original — without visual cliches or amateur effects. A logo is well-designed when it looks as good on a business card as it does on a web page or a billboard. To be functional, a good logo must reduce well to simple black & white or grayscale for use on faxes or in newspaper ads. The best logos are elegantly simple.
Why do you need a logo?
In a way, a logo is a visual shortcut to who you are. Your logo will establish your corporate identity and credibility. It builds loyalty among your clients and employees. You invest in your brand image every time your logo is displayed on a Web page, on a sign, or in an advertisement.
A professionally designed logo enables you to be immediately recognizable and must be unique, memorable and simple. Such a logo will become one of your most valuable corporate assets over time.
How does your current logo stack up?
Run down this logo quick test:
• Does the logo have immediate impact?
• Is it good to look at?
• Is it distinctive?
• Does it create or evoke a positive image?
• Does it accurately represent the organization or business?
• Is it straightforward?
• Is it comprehensible?
• Is it memorable?
• Is it flexible?
• Does it copy well?
• Will it hold up to both large and small scale use?
• Will it wear well over time?
• Will you be proud to use it?
Vukan Karadzic is the main logo designer at E Logo Design company. View some great logo samples we did.
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Posted by admin on May 28th, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
There are many online advertising websites that will let you advertise anything from cars, boats, houses, and even that timeshare you keep paying maintenance on year after year. Craigslist, for example, offers a completely free service and allows its users to submit ads with any contact information they choose. But how much should the casual user submit?
Other advertising websites specialize in more specific areas, such as the timeshare I mentioned above. There are literally hundreds of timeshare sites on the Internet today, some charge outrageous fees for their services, others are free, and a lot find a happy medium somewhere in between. This brings rise to the very competitive nature of the timeshare advertising industry. Many of these sites have not taken the necessary steps to secure your personal contact information or to inform you about the risks associated with revealing this information to the general public. In fact, many publish such details as your complete name, address, and phone number. There is so much at risk here and little effort made to advise the casual user. After all, the peronalized ad makes you feel good about an ad because it is “personalized” with all that contact information. However, do you really need everyone to know this and still achieve your objective?
Every website should have a clear and readily accessible privacy statement. More so, when you place an ad or enter personal information on a website, give careful consideration as to how much information you make available to the casual viewer. It is adviseable not to reveal any personal contact information until you know the intentions of the other party. Look for websites that have taken your privacy into consideration when asking you to complete forms online and to present contact information to its viewers. See if they deploy any kind of data encryption, also known as SSL or Secure Sockets Layer. This is a technology widely used to secure data as it passes from one computer to another. Many browsers will display a yellow lock or other indicator on the screen when this feature is active on a website. By all means don’t ever enter your credit card information into a form that does not explain how they secure this information.
When you set up your account on a classifieds website, you should have the option to conceal all of your personal contact information and rely on a private messaging system to receive messages from interested parties. Offering a private messaging system should be paramount for any Internet website to adequately secure your personal information, or at least offer you that choice. If all that you offer is a username, there is no way the casual eye can pick up your email address, your phone number, or, worse, your home address.
Interested parties should be required to register with the website; this is one additional step to ward off potential risks. It acts as a deterent to those looking for easily accessible information, and keeps “data mining” programs from easily accessing your personal information. Parties interested enough to contact you will register and oblige your wishes to be contacted via the private messaging system.
“Data mining” programs are readily accessible and can be used to skim web sites for email addresses, phone numbers, and even credit card information (on sites that have done nothing to secure this data). If you place an ad on a website that requires you to enter any personal information, consider using an email address only, and also consider using one that is set up only for Internet forms. This way if the email address is compromised you don’t risk having your primary personal email address being bombarded with SPAM. Imagine the ramifications if your phone number or home address ended up in the wrong hands? It is just too risky to have this information accessible to the casual viewer of a website, regardless of how eager you are to get your ad online.
Take care of your personal information and happy selling!
Sam White has been involved in the Travel industry for over 4 years. He has specialized in vacation rental and timeshare resales advertising and is committed to re-shaping the perception of the secondary timeshare market. Sam is the owner and developer of two websites which have more helpful information to both timehare owners and vacationers alike. You can visit them at http://www.timesharegateway.com and http://www.timeshare-gateway.com. Timeshare Gateway is a vacation rental and timeshare resale classified advertising website designed to be “owner friendly” by not taking a fee to advertise up-front. It is also a discussion forum and user group, and hosts discussions, resort reviews and other helpful information.
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Posted by admin on April 18th, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
Copytight © Bill Vannot - All Rights Reserved
http://www.successful-marketing.com
====================
Ready for some real business?
First things first. Hopefully by now, you have figured out that
you need to invest both time and money to run a profit- pulling,
business.
Right?
You finally took the plunge and you have now decided to work for
yourself. You have made the choice that you are going to be your
own boss.
What Next?
You finally don’t care if you ever get a raise or a promotion.
This time, if the boss is in a bad mood, ….it’s you!
Maybe you just adore the Internet and you have decided to market
E- Products. OR, maybe you decided to sell those great nutrition
products that you have been buying for quite a few years. That
could even save you quite a bit of money, couldn’t it?
You believe your online options are unlimited.
The point is, since you have made your decision and there’s no
turning back now, it’s time to make “the” commitment. You know
that you will have to have all the dedication, determination,
and drive that you can accumulate. This is especially true if
you continue to work your offline job.
This is much easier if you have picked products and/or programs
that you really love. If you believe in your own offers, others
will believe in them too. You will convince prospects because
you are convinced that your offer is the best. You love your
offer and it loves you too.
Can you think of something that you really hate to do? How about
reading? I love to read. I would probably be a great book
salesman. Do you think that someone that hated reading, could
sell books everyday? Maybe a few people could, but most of us
would feel like con artists, rather than business people. These
types of people also hate their jobs. They perform the
work-tasks, but they hate the J-O-B..
Now we will assume that you really love your products and you
have made a firm commitment to succeed. NEVER let anything deter
you from your goal. When someone says, “Do you know that you can
make much more money selling my books?” Ignore them. You don’t
even like books, remember? Love what you sell and sell what you
love!
Chart your advertising. Decide on your target audience, then GO
to work!
If you are here right now, you have made a decision to use the
Internet to market. You made a wise decision because it vastly
increases your ability to find a large market for your products
and services.
Set a goal that will put you to a break-even point and don’t
slow down until you get there!
Set a goal that will put your income where you want it to be in
1 year, 2 years or at retirement. Work your plan each day, with
focus on your long range goals.
Take a little time off daily to do something that you enjoy
doing. Take a few days off every month or so. Enjoy the journey
while you travel to your final destination.
Sell what you Love and Love What You Sell!
It works for me. It can work for you too!
———————
This article may be reprinted freely as long as the reference
box remains intact.
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Posted by admin on April 12th, 2008 — Posted in Plugs
The Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s newest gaming console, which will hit the stores by Christmas, making it the most coveted gift on the market this year. The Xbox 360 is the sleekest console in its category and signals the arrival of the next generation of video game machines.
It is Microsoft’s aim to captivate gamers worldwide with its Xbox 360. The biggest change from previous designs is that it is no longer black. Instead, the look is softer, cleaner, and very white. The Xbox 360 has a CPU with three IBM PowerPC chips, an ATI 500 MHz graphics processor, 512 Mb of memory, a removable hard drive, three USB ports, two memory card slots, an infrared receiver, and more. The controllers are wireless and matching in color.
There are many Xbox 360 games, including Call of Duty 2, Quake 4, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, The Darkness,
Perfect Dark Zero, Gears of War, Saint’s Row, and more. Backwards compatibility, that is, compatibility with older games is not a goal for this Xbox, so look forward to new games.
The console can connect to the online gaming service, Xbox Live, which allows gamers to connect with other users at different levels, such as casual, pro, family, and underground. Moreover, the console also turns into a mini-entertainment system, which can be plugged in to portable devices or computers to play music and movies, display photo slideshows. A keyboard can also be plugged in, though for text input only, not for gaming.
Microsoft’s Xbox has finally evolved into a strong competitive alternative to all-time gaming legends like Sony and Nintendo.
Dylan Miles, journalist, and publisher, is the owner and co-editor of http://www.electronicgifts.info on which you will find more a detailed version of this article.
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