What Does the Public Relations Client REALLY Want, and Why?Written by Robert A. Kelly
It’s not unusual for clients of service providers to insist that their budget dollars be quickly applied to a variety of flashy tactics. Yet, when pressed, many acknowledge that what they REALLY want for their money is visible, end-game change.This is especially true in public relations where clients often second-guess careful plans for achieving that end-game change by insisting on premature use of tactics like news releases, talk-show appearances and sports sponsorships. But obviously, flashy tactics alone will not satisfy those clients once they start looking for a return on their public relations investment. Because it is then that it becomes clear, sometimes painfully, that their goal MUST be kind of change in behaviors of key stakeholders that leads directly to achieving their business objectives. Thus, it is quality planning, and degree of behavioral change it produces, that eventually captures client attention, not tactics. These days, with public relations budgets in mortal danger from a softening economy, old tactical chats between a client CEO and public relations counsel probably sound more like this: “Do something about those activists chaining themselves to our plant gate and yelling that our emissions go into river. It’s costing us big money each day that plant is shut down.” Or, “How are we going to calm down those Garden Club members down in lobby waving around those cockamamie newspaper reports and talking to TV cameras about additives we use? Where’d that reporter get those numbers, anyway? It’s costing us sales!” Or, “Please people, what are you doing to encourage a favorable Town Council vote on our petition for that new highway off-ramp?” What’s common to each of those rants? The CEO is asking his public relations people to modify somebody’s behavior. He doesn’t want to talk tactics, or even strategies. He wants those activists off his property, he wants those print and broadcast reporters to do a fairer job of reporting on his production methods (hopefully getting Garden Clubbers off his back), and he wants a real effort made to move public opinion in a way that encourages local officials to approve that badly needed vehicle ramp.
| | WHAT TO DO IF YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS IS IN TROUBLEWritten by James A. Nannen
January 2002SMARTRETAILERS.com RETAIL E-TIP OF THE MONTH: WHAT TO DO IF YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS IS IN TROUBLE A prelude: For those of you who are into Internet and know something about search engines and search results and for those of you who are not, and before I get into this month’s tip, I wanted to show you something that makes me feel and look pretty good. Log on to one of following search engines: Yahoo, AOL, Altavista, Hotbot, Directhit and at least 10 others that account for 75% of all searches on Internet and do a search for any of following terms: retail advice, retail consultants, books on retail, retailing and dozens of other pertinent and similar search terms. Guess who comes up at top, in some cases out-placing millions of other listings on Internet? I’m not going to tell you. You either must look or settle for a guess. Hey, if you haven’t bought my book $MART RETAILER$ RETIRE RICH! yet, what are you waiting for? It could help make you hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seriously. Turn over a new leaf this New Year. Get serious about your business. Get THE book on RETAILING for serious RETAILERS at http://www.smartretailers.com. I’m telling you there’s a reason IT’S EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET. Now for my January 2002 Tip. Not to scare you, but this information should be interesting even if you are perfect retailer, have been in business for 40 years and have everything running as smoothly as you could imagine or hope for. My topic this month is one that not enough people plan for, must be considered yet is seldom discussed. What should you do if you are ever confronted with a time when your business is not doing well enough? When you are so close to breakeven expenses that you are facing a cash crunch and having difficulty paying your bills on time? I said what should you do “if,” but it is more likely that I should say what should you do “when” you find yourself in a difficult financial position. It happens to best. Few are those that have never been in that position before. Don’t despair. From my experience there are a myriad of things you can do when confronted with this situation. Let’s look at some ideas one at a time. 1.First, when someone quits don’t rehire. I know what you’re thinking. You can’t do without that person. If you didn’t need him or her you wouldn’t have hired him in first place. Right? Well guess what? You don’t have cash to pay that person, or if that is one of expenses you choose to pay then something else will go unpaid. So get over it. One $15,000 per year sales person represents $40,000 in sales for most of you to cover salary. That’s $800 a week in sales that you can place directly into your company checking account…$320 or so in profits not spent at 40% GP. Big bucks when things are not going well. 2.Work longer hours yourself. Well, if you have someone quit you may quite possibly be forced to work longer hours, but even if your staff remains same I’ll bet you $100 that if you spend more time in your store on sales floor that you will see positive results. Customers love to see owners of retail stores when they shop. It’s good for your business for you to be on sales floor.
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