"Getting PR in your town: Realities to remember"

In business, getting effective media coverage is often crucial to success. Doesn’t matter how good you are if they don’t know you’re out there. But, there are realities to remember about media, wherever you do business. Some of them are: • There is a risk to all PR. Getting media coverage is a gamble. Unlike advertising, you don’t pay for public relations. Of course, that’s what makes great media coverage so sweet. It amounts to a positive third-party endorsement of you with credibility that paid advertising can never have. When a business owner works hard to get a reporter’s attention and that effort translates into a positive, enthusiastic story – almost nothing feels better. But reality is: Just as much effort can be put into securing media coverage for a story that, unfortunately, may never materialize. There are a thousand reasons why media doesn’t pick up on a perfectly good story, but timing and luck is a factor, even when all best efforts are made.

• The media market you live in can determine how much and what kind of media coverage you can get. For example, I live and work in Houston – fourth largest city in United States. This can be fortunate or unfortunate. What makes Houston energetic, vibrant place it is, is also reason there is fierce competition for media coverage here. Business people who live in small to mid-sized markets like Baton Rouge, Syracuse, Santa Fe, and Mobile, can enjoy a whole different kind of relationship with local media. Here, reporters and writers are likely to have children in same schools as your kids. Their wives and husbands may work in same place where you or your spouse works. Smaller market media-types are likely to live in your neighborhood or go to your church. Lots of good stories develop out of personal relationships that just are not possible to develop in a huge city like Houston or Boston or Philadelphia. Of course, it works both ways. Business owners who live in small markets are also limited to a fraction of potential customers available to you in a big city. What can you do about these public relations/media truths? • Work smarter to get media coverage. Look at your business objectively through eyes of a reporter and decide what could be most newsworthy story about your company. This takes practice and you can hone this skill by reading some of hundreds of books available on media. Just go to Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com and key in words “public relations.” You’ll be amazed at what comes up.

Ten Business Reasons Why Asking for Help Works

When you are in charge of a team, or a business, it is easy to fall into trap of being invincible. Asking for help is something that's easy to do - yet, to uninitiated, it feels like a weakening position. But there are a number of reasons that is not so.

In fact, bringing your people - any of them - into your confidence and asking for help, is a very powerful tool indeed. The form of words' "I need your help", works best. Here are Ten Reasons why this is:-

1. You Appeal to Emotions

   By asking an 'emotional' question you become very open and honest, which makes your people want to help you - this is a positive and not a 'feeling sorry' thing. It's a very natural reaction from them.

2. You Value Others

   Then they feel that you find at least something worthwhile in them - it makes them feels hugely valuable - inside. This helps bond your relationship and that of team you are working with as a whole.

3. You Share Load - and Experience

   By having someone help you it makes for much lighter work - 'a problem shared...' etc. And by helping them work through a tricky experience with you, they will develop and grow for future.

4. Other People are Much Better than You!

   It's true! You are not best at everything - nor do you need to be. In fact very best managers and leaders surround themselves with people who are much better, in their own field, than they themselves are. That's sign of a great manager or leader.

5. You are a Model

   By asking for help yourself, you will show others that this is an OK thing to do. Thus they will start to do same. Needing help is a challenge, yet it is all better if it opens up ways of working better, more supportively; more creatively together. Lead way!

6. It Shows You are Human

   Yes, it's OK too to have shortcomings. In fact that old model of boss who knows everything and is just perfect was never true. By showing that you too have your ups and downs; have weaknesses, fears and doubts, makes you much closer to your people. (Hint - it's how they are feeling)