Last evening, we found ourselved among distinguished company receiving the Arthur Watkins Award  from the Chamber of Commerce. Arthur Watkins served at U.S. Senator from Utah, but was most respected for his efforts to grow and develop Utah and its people. I felt very humbled to be recognized along side such great community and business leaders as Jeremy Hanks of Doba, Tye Noorda, and Bill Sederburg, among others. 

When launching PilmerPR five years ago, I envisioned delivering best practices learned while doing public relations work for companies like Novell, Altiris, and Certiport. To be sustainable, we worked to keep overhead costs low so we could deliver world class results for emerging companies on tight budgets. With growth and terrific staff we’ve developed a virtual telecommuting model that leverages the best of technology for remote collaboration, while helping the environment. This results in tens of thousands of dollars in fuel savings, a reduced pollution contribution to the air we breathe, and provides our staff more time with their families.

As PilmerPR enters its 6^th year in business this month, we are still growing as we provide outstanding PR services to clients, service to the community, and service to the environment our grandchildren will inherit.

And I say for those weighed down by current economic and political challenges, it’s a great time to grow a business.   Let’s tune out more of the bad news and tune in to the great opportunities in front of us.

Thanks to our great staff for making this award possible.

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As a PR professional I consume a bunch of news. And, I must say much of today’s headlines are consumed with the negative. I hate that because self fulfilling prophecies are real. People become fearful and hesitant to act based on the tsunami of bad news gracing the headlines. Today, I would like to counsel organizations doing public relations to go against this negative trend. Make positive headlines. Here, I’ll go first:

 Oct 21, 2008 the AP reported that “The economy’s health improved for the first time in five months in September as supplier deliveries and new orders strengthened, a private research group said Monday. The New York-based Conference Board said its monthly forecast of future economic activity rose 0.3 percent, a better reading than the 0.2 percent drop expected by Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. ”

 Now, your turn. What’s your good news?

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One of the best funded and successful Green PR campaigns ever hit a milestone as the Pickens Plan reached one million signups at www.pickensplan.com . More than just good public relations, I believe Pickens’ vision of transitioning one million semi-trucks to CNG (compressed natural gas) will make a huge dent in our foreign oil dependence since those one million truck burn 45% of the diesel fuel used in the United States. And, I live in Utah which still has CNG under $1 per gallon.

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This week I turned off the bad news on TV and participated in a UVEF discussion on Early Stage Recruiting for successful emerging companies. Led by Dennis Wood at vSpring Capital, the subject focused on the vital role of getting the right executives “on the bus” to maximize success. Dennis knows his stuff.   It was interesting that his list of why executive recruits like moving to Utah is similar to the multitude of news and Public Relations campaigns orbiting Utah’s “awesomeness.”  

Why Utah?

1. It’s close to everything
2. It has lots of entrepreneurs with great ideas
3. Its workforce has a wide breadth of talent
4. It has great rankings by “bunches” of press publications
5. It has great airport connectionsIt has critical mass for future growth 

Go Utah business!!!

(Let me know if you would like Dennis’ slide show. He has graciously granted us it’s use.) info@pilmerpr.com

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At PilmerPR, we’re pleased with the awards we’ve won and those with which we’ve helped clients receive broad recognition. One component of PilmerPR’s strategic public relations efforts on behalf of our clients is to seek out and apply for meaningful corporate awards. In a recent article, Darrell Zahorsky outlines some of the benefits of corporate awards as a public relations expansion tool that PilmerPR has focused on for years. In our view, awards can enable or enhance your company’s ability to:   

• Reinforce corporate direction and branding
• Attract and retain talent
• Gain competitive advantage
• Obtain low-cost publicity among editors and larger target audiences 

Conducting a campaign or enacting a strategy that you may deem to be award-worthy is only the first step. Investing time and effort to craft award entries with impact will greatly increase your chances with judges.   Although the contribution of awards to a company’s bottom line may be difficult to measure, engaging in the process may prove invaluable for your business. 

How else have you used corporate awards? What other benefits have you seen?

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Blogs, Wikis, social networking, online forums, podcasts – social media all. How do you make sense of these PR tools? A little confusing perhaps?  

Wikipedia describes Social Media as:“Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google Groups (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Youmeo (social network aggregation), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Avatars United (social networking), Second Life (virtual reality), Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (social networking and microblogging) and other microblogs such as Jaiku and Pownce. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms like Mybloglog and Plaxo.” 

The secret to making good use of these is…drum roll please…getting started. We have to get past the “paralysis of the analysis” and get in the game. Large companies with big budgets are hiring full time staff to manage nothing but social media. Small companies, where executives wear many hats, are starting small and growing. Time and resources are the main barriers that scale down grand plans in these new Web 2.0 public relations media.  

Tip: Let’s take one element common across most social media – it is 2 way communications. We can join the conversation; we don’t have to start it. We can comment on other’s blogs, respond to online articles in daily newspapers, post listings on others online directories, post articles on other’s wikis. Put a link back to your website in the comment and you have just created another way for someone to find you on the Internet.  

When you know an article mentioning your company is about to go live online, make sure your fans (suppliers, channel partners, top customers) know about it and suggest they comment online to the writer. Most major publications now allow for such comments. In this way you can further assure that the article is caste in the most positive light possible. Encourage good comment content and suggest areas they may comment on without putting the words in their mouth. That’s good public relations and can have positive SEO benefits. 

Here’s a good article about social media recently published in Utah Business.  

Let us know what you think.

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Many of the PilmerPR blog entries on GreenPR have made reference to the irresponsible practice of Greenwashing by some corporations. Regretfully, it isn’t only large companies and politicians who try to spin their dirty laundry to appear smashing white, while never using detergent.

A recent CNN article announced NASA’s transparency problems when it comes to Global Warming research. While the space agency’s policies have been “hailed for openness by the U.S. Government Accountability Office,” the news of NASA’s press office allegedly “mischaracterizing” the organization’s own global warming studies for political purposes is disturbing.

Transparency is about trust. If NASA, the U.S. government, or any company or individual wishes to earn our trust, there is no room for covering up information that could alter the important decisions facing us as a nation.

It’s time to do the right thing. It’s time for true Corporate Social Responsibility. It’s time for a return to true TRANSPARENCY.

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This week, PilmerPR’s public relations work for ElectraTherm was submitted for a possible award from a major PR association. We think our chances are good, but are humble enough to know that there is a lot of great PR work going on out there by our peers and competitors.  

We like our chances because PilmerPR has done a two year deep dive into the world of Green PR, Corporate Social Responsibility, Cleantech, and Environmental Sustainability. We know how to avoid greenwashing and have turned down offers to represent companies who appear to be more “show than go”, more marketing hype than Green. ElectraTherm is the real deal. Their award winning product converts waste heat from industrial sources into electricity without any other fuel and without any emissions. Cool! This is not some “Back to the Future” Flux Capacitor thing coming in fifty years. The ElectraTherm Green Machine is in commercial power production at SMU, home of one of countries leading Geothermal Labs in the U.S., and that’s not a coincidence. 

So far, and we’re just getting started, PilmerPR has garnered 26 feature articles and a feature on Free to Be Green on Dallas Channel 33 , reaching more than 36.8 million individuals, and accumulating approximately $1,127,700 in alternative advertising value. The SEO portion of our public relations plan yielded 10,000 website hits in a two week period. Here’s what the client says about our work: 

“ElectraTherm’s requirements for driving awareness about our new products to key publics have been exceeded by PilmerPR. The press relations campaign driven by PilmerPR around the launch of our new ElectraTherm Green Machine has brought new top tier investors and customers to our door. It has created a foundation for building major press momentum going forward. PilmerPR has assisted greatly in driving publicity that has moved the needle for our strategic objectives.” Bill Olson – Vice President, Business Development at ElectraTherm 

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PilmerPR is pleased to report today that two of our Utah clients, AdvancedMD and Seastone, have been named to the 2008 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies. Web-based Software Leader AdvancedMD Ranked No. 44 in the Top 100 Software Companies, while the Gift Card Packaging pioneers at Seastone Rank No. 11 Among Inc. Top 100 Consumer Products Companies in America. Working for years on customized publicity packages for these exceptional companies has been very fulfilling.  

Each of these companies exhibits qualities that ensure good public relations outcomes. They… 

…Listen to new ideas

…Recognize PR as a strategic tool

…Make consistent investment in public relations

…Display resiliency amid uncertainty

Of course another key is that they are the real deal, leaders in their fields of expertise. Whether in cleantech or gift card packaging, companies that succeed in PR are usually companies that lead the field. Congrats AdvancedMD and Seastone.

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Given my increasingly green position and public relations work for green companies, I was recently asked about my stance on offshore drilling for oil. Being a politically conservative voter, some of those sharing my views on economic growth and limited government are confused when I start talking about my passion for more sustainable living. So, here’s what I think. We should drill NOW! 

First, I believe the needs of people, planet, and profits are not mutually exclusive. Billions of dollars of investor money in cleantech and alternative energy support my position. We must be better stewards of earth’s resources. Our clients ElectraTherm and EComfort are good examples of this. Second, we can not lead the world in new solutions for a sustainable future if our economy grinds to a crawl, which it is currently threatening to do. Third, other countries are drilling very near the coastline of the U.S. They are happy to take it all if we don’t want it. Then, they will sell it back to us. Fourth, drilling technology and safety has advanced greatly over the past quarter century. I am satisfied the risk to the environment is offset by these safety advances and the country’s security needs. 

Fact, for now oil fuels the engine of capitalism. If you don’t believe in capitalism you should probably move to a more socialistic country where you will be happier. Fact, foreign oil dependency is a security and economic threat to the U.S. on a massive scale. A huge amount of our oil supply comes from countries unfriendly to the U.S.  

On August 12^th, Doug Wright, KSL radio talk show host spoke about the urgent need for solutions to our current energy problems. Specifically, he addressed the negative ripple effect of out-of-control fuel prices.  Referring to our economic dependence on oil, he shared the thought, “If we’re going broke, nothing else matters.” In other words, no matter what our good intentions are for the environment or sustainability, we can only lead in clean energy or other sustainable improvements if our economy survives and thrives. I agree.  

Now, with that said, let me say that the current oil crisis is a good wake up call for all of us. Government should provide an environment where entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s environmental solutions can thrive. Government does not invent great stuff to make life better and government won’t “fix” the energy problem. Creative, risk tolerant inventors and investors will provide the solutions. Government should clear the road ahead for these individuals to make it happen.

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