leading the way - Commercial Law League Of America

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marketing Is it important that prospective clients see you as an expert in your field? Is it important to be an influential voice with governmental bodies, courts, and the business community? Does having your name mentioned positively in professional journals and news outlets helps to build your professional credibility? Then public relations (PR for short) should be a keystone in your PRmarketing plans. PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALS by Kelly Newcomb, Newcomb Marketing Solutions PR is often misunderstood. It may conjure up the notion of political “spin doctors,” Hollywood image consultants, or the proverbial “publicity hound.” PR has been used to manipulate, stretch, and even bury the truth. However, while PR has had some rather bad PR over the years, for the most part it is a positive and powerful force in business and society. It can build businesses, build careers, and educate the public. Debt 3 March/April 2007 16 At the heart of any professional public-relations effort should be a strong underlying passion to educate public opinion, provide intellectual dialogue, inform colleagues and competitors, and speak the truth as you know it. If the object of your publicity campaign is to garner recognition and respect for your company and your personal “brand,” then the best way to do it is to deliver the goods.
marketing Information, education, and reasonable opinions are always in short supply, but they are the stock and trade of most professional media. If you can deliver it, they will publish it. Especially if you can send pictures! PR is a valuable marketing tool that can be superior to advertising, because it is based on third-party influence, endorsement and acceptance. In other words, if others have heard what you have to say, found it worthwhile, and published it then you are not “blowing your own horn.” PR builds brand value, communicates messages, and develops your identity in the market place. And compared to advertising, the production and placement costs are lower. However, advertising and PR often have a symbiotic relationship. In other words, the publisher who runs your space ads on a frequent basis may consider your press releases more newsworthy than say a press release from someone with whom he or she has never been previously acquainted. PR is so important that it should be strategically managed in the same way that operations, finance, administration, technology, human resources and other facets of your business are managed. In addition to publishing in professional journals and trade magazines, PR can take many other forms including, broadcast media relations, speeches and presentations, newsletters, public service announcements, internal or employee communications, sponsorship of special events and/or trade shows, charitable programs and sponsorships, crisis communications, letters to editors, white papers, case studies, and press releases to community newspapers. THE PRESS RELEASE Perhaps the simplest and most common tool of PR is the press release. It is important to remember that many things you, your employees, or company do are newsworthy. Stories about gaining a new client, speaking at a major trade show or association meeting, helping at a charity event, providing commentary at government functions, being elected to board membership or becoming a board executive, developing a new product or service, hiring and promoting employees, and celebrating anniversaries are newsworthy to trade publications and local business sections or magazines. If your business or organization isn’t finding something newsworthy for a press release at least once a month, you are missing a great marketing resource. You may wonder who reads all those little news snippets you see in the columns of your local magazines and newspapers? Well, everyone at some time or another. Haven’t you? Every time a client, prospective client, prospective employee, or business associate sees your name or your company’s name in print, it helps build your reputation, your brand and your business’ success. Collecting press releases and publishing them on your web site is a good way of developing an online history of your company’s recent activity. This provides a great source of positive information for people who are using your web site to learn more about your company. THE NEW IMPORTANCE OF BLOGGING The term “blog” is derived from “Web log.” Like an ongoing, online diary of you or your company’s opinions and activities, a blog can be used both internally, to enhance the communication and culture within your company, or externally to maintain an ongoing relationship with clients, to draw positive attention to your business, and to communicate with prospects, colleagues, the media and others you wish to influence. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the world of “blogging” yet, you should at least make yourself aware of how quickly this online tool is growing and how influential it is becoming. As of November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs. Blogs are beginning to influence media and government at the highest levels. Several recent scandals in congress were brought to the public’s attention by bloggers. PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES AND SPEECHES An old saying in the academic world—“publish or perish”—also applies to the business and legal world. Both publishing and public speaking are ideal ways to get recognition for your knowledge, skills, and accomplishments— all attributes that new clients are looking for in a business partner or advisor. If you haven’t published before, it is easier than you might think. Start by looking at the topics in the professional magazines and journals you read and start thinking about article ideas that would fit the editorial content of these publications. Once you have a topic, it is not much different than doing a college paper on the subject. You’ll need to do some research, keep track of your references, and express your opinion. If your personal writing skills are weak, put a draft together and let someone with stronger skills edit and improve the article. Often professionals hire freelance ghost writers to do most of the work for them. If you have the content expertise and experience, you need not actually write the article, just sit for an interview with the writer and then edit the writer’s draft to make sure the content is accurate and conforms to your own ideas and opinions. Giving a speech may be even easier than getting published, especially if you have expertise in areas that you can share with less experienced colleagues. Professional organizations like the CLLA and others are frequently looking for volunteers to speak at meetings and conventions. Since many studies have shown that fear of public speaking ranks nearly as high as fear of death, volunteers are not always easy to come by. I personally thought I would never be able to speak in public, however in the last couple of years I have started giving professional speeches and found it much easier than I dreamed it would be. I recently spoke in front of a group of 600 small business owners and didn’t feel any more nervous (continued on page 18) PR is a valuable marketing tool that can be superior to advertising, because it is based on third-party influence, endorsement and acceptance. In other words, if others have heard what you have to say, found it worthwhile, and published it then you are not “blowing your own horn.” Debt 3 March/April 2007 17
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