I love America! That concept seems a bit less precious to many than in days gone by. But, I love it-no doubt. Why?
Well, my occupation in Public Relations depends on the “freedom of speech” promised by our Constitution. The concept of a “free press” is required for an effective PR campaign. Americans have fought boldly for more than two centuries to preserve these rights - my ancestors included.
The challenge is freedom requires personal responsibility. Not everyone understands that, nor wants to pay the price for that privilege. Great statesmen, entrepreneurs, corporate and civic leaders understand this concept. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” That saying applies to freedom in America.
So, let’s remember the Red, White, and Blue this Independence Day. Red - for the blood of brave men and women who gave up their tomorrow’s for us. White - for the purity of character required to lead and preserve freedom in any country. Blue - for patriots who continue to take responsibility and pay the price of service and leadership.
That is union “of the people…for the people…by the people” may not perish from the earth.
Only ten years ago, press releases used to be one of the only ways to get your company’s name mentioned by the media. A painfully slow fax to newsrooms was the preferred way to get your press release to the media. Thanks to technology, today things are a little different and the value of press releases has significantly increased.
New services like PR Newswire and Business Wire allow companies to put their news release “on the wire” and broadcast their release to thousands of news outlets and influential blogs. Companies now enjoy more than just news clippings from papers and magazines.
A press release is a small investment that not only brings results while in print, but long after. Similar to a press release, advertising can provide a great response while an advertisement is active; however, when the ad is no longer active, the results drop. Press releases have a different life cycle. Similar to advertising, positive coverage provides valuable results, yet, long after the print or broadcast coverage; press releases continue to provide results with great SEO benefits
The secret to effective Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is planning. Integrate CSR into your organization’s business model for best results. The benefits from your CSR campaign may come in the form of increased profits, an increased positive company perception, or approval from the community through increased goodwill or an improved hiring pool.
Positive outcomes for your CSR campaign require leadership, not luck. A strategic look at organizational objectives and how you plan to accomplish them will greatly facilitate the tactics planning of your CSR plan.
When determining your socially responsible objectives, consider your organization’s roots. Don’t immediately look around the world. Look in your backyard, start local. Make smaller goals and think about the community around your organization. How can you be a responsible corporate citizen? Look at the community’s needs and sincerely think about how your organization could help. Continue reading at Utah Business Magazine
“PilmerPR is pleased to announce the garnering of yet another honor for exceptional public relations results. Thank you to a great client, ElectraTherm, for accepting sound PR advice and thanks to skilled staff that holds up the standard of communications excellence at PilmerPR.” John Pilmer - President and Founder
For centuries, dictators and tyrants have depended on controlling the information consumed by their citizens. Control the propaganda, control the minds of the people. The printing press revolutionized access to information and history shows that empowered people were the result.
Now, Iran’s unrest demonstrates again that communication and information have the power to change the world. Although the regime with big guns may win this round, the Facebook and Twitter empowered youth of Iran have tasted freedom of the press in the Internet age. Things will change.
Whether you are a world leader seeking to win the hearts of the people or a company seeking to dominate an industry, effective use of social media in a well-orchestrated public relations campaignis just as important today as was the printing press of the past.
If you had any doubt about the power of social media, the election in Iran might have been the testimony you needed to seal your belief. Never before has social media played such an integral role in such an intense political controversy.
Many citizens in Iran are irate because of the re-election of Ahmadinejad. The possibly fraudulent results have caused protests, fights, and deaths. It seems as though nothing can cool the heated situation. The Iranian government has tried to minimize the protests by shutting down journalistic activities.
As Iran enforced tight restrictions on journalists reporting about the election, citizens took the reporting to the social networks. Blogs, Facebook, and especially Twitter have all been ignited with the Iran election fire. The hash tag #IranElection has been a trending topic on Twitter ever since the elections ended in Iran.
Since many journalists have not been allowed in Iran, Twitter has become a real-time reporting tool. Through the use of cell phones and laptops, demonstrators, observers, opponents and proponents have used Twitter as a way to organize and communicate. The State Department recognized the value of Twitter and asked the micro-blogging giant to hold off on their scheduled maintenance to allow people in Iran to communicate. At the rate of more than three tweets per second about the Iran election Twitter is proving to be more than just a trend.
Social media is more than just a trend, more than just a fad. It is incredible to think that through these new tools we can communicate with people across the world and about any thing we want. The question is - how are you using social media?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no longer the hot potato that is fun to toss around.Taken from big ideas and a senseof responsibility, CSR is now one of the standard side-dishes of the corporate offering. The Fortune 500 are doing it, and the small business down the road is talking about it. You may be surprised how many organizations have incorporated CSR into their strategic plans.
Coffee giant Starbucks is among the social responsibility leaders. A look at Starbucks’ global responsibility page reveals little content, but key CSR tools. First, Starbucks uses two elements of the triple bottom line, planet and people to immediately let their customers know they care about being socially responsible. Next, Starbucks ingeniously created their CSR reports that although extraordinarily long, can convince almost anyone that Starbucks truly does care for the environment. Read more at Utah Business Magazine
At midnight EDT Facebook opens the floodgates to the planet.
Starting on Friday, June 12th you’ll be able to choose a username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile.
Serving the public relationsneeds of America’s startup companies is fulfilling work. So, I was especially interesting in attending today’s UVEF event for entrepreneurs.
A large crowd filled the Novell facility for today’s UVEFluncheon. They heard from Brock Blake, CEO at Funding Universewho addressed his company’s recent survey of 60 Utah angel investors. Utah Angelswas the largest group in the sample, but several groups were represented. Here are some key findings.
While recent months have seen about a 50% drop in angel funding activity, Brock is convinced things are “picking back up” in Q2 of this year. The average Utah angel takes a 14% ownership position with total ownership for all angels per funding round is 34%. Brock counsels entrepreneurs to accept less than 45% angel ownership when seeking funding. He says angel investors do not usually seek to take controlling interest in a company. They want influence, but want others to manage the business day to day.
Angel investment most commonly takes the form of preferred stock (65%), but can be common stock (16%) or other intruments such as stock warrants. Angels take a board member postion 47% of the time or take an advisory board postion 11% of the time.
In Utah, the most active industry sectors using angel investment are Internet/Web (including SaaS) - 55%; Live Sciences - 18%; and Consumer Products - 11%.
85% of angel funding rounds are less than $1 million or less.
In previous entrieswe have discussed that Green PRis a subset of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In tough economic times some companies find themselves trying to justify budget for going Green or socially responsible programs. Just yesterday I was sharing PilmerPRphilisophy that CSR should be woven into the very fabric of who we are as a company. This articleI read today in the Financial Times does a great job of exploring the issues around commitment to CSR in today’s economic environment.
I love America! That concept seems a bit less precious to many than in days gone by. But, I love it-no doubt. Why?
Only ten years ago, press releases used to be one of the only ways to get your company’s name mentioned by the media. A painfully slow fax to newsrooms was the preferred way to get your press release to the media. Thanks to technology, today things are a little different and the value of press releases has significantly increased.
ation’s business model for best results. The benefits from your CSR campaign may come in the form of increased profits, an increased positive company perception, or approval from the community through increased goodwill or an improved hiring pool.
“PilmerPR is pleased to announce the garnering of yet another honor for exceptional public relations results. Thank you to a great client, ElectraTherm, for accepting sound PR advice and thanks to skilled staff that holds up the standard of communications excellence at PilmerPR.” John Pilmer - President and Founder
For centuries, dictators and tyrants have depended on controlling the information consumed by their citizens. Control the propaganda, control the minds of the people. The printing press revolutionized access to information and history shows that empowered people were the result.
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