I have done my time as a ravving sports fan. Playing little league baseball, football in high school, you soccer moms know the drill. Demands of career and family, along with a general disenchantment with arrogant athletes and greedy owners are the reasons I use to spend less time now following sports. That said, my alma mater BYU continues to get air time around my house, in part due to my wife’s passion for BYU football. Her favorite Christmas gift seemed not to be the great work area light I bought for her sewing room, but rather the BYU Football Vault memorabilia book.  With a degree from BYU and the University of Utah, my view may tends to be more global. The U, the Y, the Jazz, and a couple of specific athletes hold my interest.

In 2010 I must admit to being “Jimmered” by the amazing team on which Jimmer Fredette was a key player. The BYU run to the Sweet 16 was, well, SWEET! So much so that I had a FREE web app created to follow Jimmer news (www.FollowMyPlayer.com ).

Now, Jimmer is making his mark as a Sacramento King and the media likes what they see (story). Jimmer’s public relations charm is not just his explosive play and long shots from the parking lot, but also who he is and how he comes across to fans and media. In direct contrast to many pro athletes, here are some character traits others could learn from:

Humility - Jimmer’s self- effacing “it was a team effort” is key to his past and future success.

Dedication - Jimmer’s commitment to family, faith, community go far beyond just dedication to sport.

Friendliness - Have you ever seen Jimmer complain in a press interview? Nope. Always a friend to all.

Happiness - Alot of folks smile, yet, I see a deep inner happy streak a mile long, and it’s infectious.

Honesty - You have not, nor will you likely every hear of Jimmer breaking the law, beating or stepping out on his wife

Substance Abuse Free – Jimmer doesn’t drink, smoke, abuse or sell drugs.

Role Model – My niece recently named her new baby boy. The name she chose was Jimmer. Corny, yes? Unlike a bad tattoo, that little boy will always be proud of his name.

What other traits do you see in Jimmer that you admire?

I teach an Entrepreneur class at Utah Valley University. The work I’ve done with the Entrepreneurial program there and at BYU has been a highlight growth opportunity as a business owner – see PilmerPR, LLC.  So, I’m constantly on the watch for great class content. My class read the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. It’s a great self analysis tool for aspiring business people. Here’s a video of his that I really enjoyed.

A PilmerPR client’s inaugural product, Family Village, is the first Facebook game that enables players to explore their own family tree while building an online game community connecting real families. It was featured on KSL Radio’s The Browser, Wednesday.

Family Village makes ‘hanging out with Family’ cool again. In a Farmville™-like environment, children and adults alike build their village adding houses, businesses, plants, animals and assigning jobs. In the background, the game researches for family information relevant to the player. Players grow family fortune by assigning their ancestors increasingly higher paying jobs.  Facebook friends and family can share this fortune by visiting other villages, helping with jobs, viewing family trees, and exploring family documents together.

PilmerPR arranged for Funium CEO Jeff Wells and avid gamer Jeri Lin Bearnston to appear in studio at 2:05 p.m. for the 10-minute segment. The Browser is a show that “brings the internet to radio since browsing the web while driving is illegal.”

Family Village was also featured, recently, on KSL 5’s prime time news, in the Deseret News, and on multiple blogs, all while still in Alpha testing mode. The game will enter its limited beta phase shortly, though interested players can still learn more and help test the game at FamilyVillageGame.com.

Listen to Family Village on The Browser.

Get help with your media relations!

As the economy recovers, entrepreneurs are launching their next great venture. But finances are still tight. By the time entrepreneurs like you pay for a web developer, SEO service, ad agency, media monitoring service, a handful of social media services,  and a PR firm, there is little left for the business itself. PilmerPR is helping solve the problem by introducing our comprehensive “Lean Startup PR and Marketing” service.

Lean Startup PR and Marketing combines the following services with a single point-of-contact:

• Fortune 100 Senior Level PR/Marketing Coaching
• Messaging Foundation
• Press Coverage [online, print, broadcast]
• Social Media & Blog Strategy that works
• Video Strategy that drive web traffic—on a budget!
• SEO Press Releases that get noticed
• Conversion Rate Optimized (CRO) web strategy
• Website Design
• Online Ad Strategies

We cut out the “fat” of multiple overhead costs, and put them all on one bill that meets your long-term budget.

Why choose PilmerPR?

PilmerPR is in the entrepreneurship business. We have helped launch multiple companies, from Mozy to ElectraTherm, and taken four companies to the Inc 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America. We also work closely with local entrepreneurial organizations and economic development centers to find profitable solutions. We look forward to helping your business do the same.

Contact us today for a free Lean Startup PR and Marketing consultation and start your “90-days to success.”

Get help launching your business!

Utah wiz-kid Matt Dorey has made a lot of headlines recently. Since PilmerPR began working with his start-up company, Curve Dental, earlier this year, he and the company have been featured in Utah Valley Business Q’s Top 40 Under 40, DiscoveringStartups.com’s Best-Of awards, The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah CEO, Forbes.com, CBS MarketWatch’s BNET.com, as well as numerous dental trade publications. And to wrap up the year, Dorey was featured in The New York Times.

What’s the secret to this 26-year-old’s business success? According to Dorey in the New York Times, it was knowing when to hand the keys to someone  better qualified than himself.

“The company was getting complicated,” Mr. Dorey said. “I was starting to become conscious of what I didn’t know. It was almost a feeling of loneliness.”

Dorey hired Jim Pack, a man with extensive experience in the industry, as CEO, and assumed the title of Managing Director in the company. Curve Dental is now expanding rapidly and revolutionizing the entire dental management software industry for the better.

Read his full story in The New York Times.

All emerging businesses discover points where more expertise is needed. Successful companies discover them early. How do you know when the time is right to delegate an aspect of your company? Share your thoughts in the comments.

It is not too often a self-published book is featured for an entire hour on 33 radio stations, covering a state. Yet that is what PilmerPR was able to achieve  for Green Spin, a new tech-thriller novel by John Pilmer.

Tom Williams, host of Utah Public Radio’s “Access Utah,” received a copy of the book, and decided to devote the entire hour-long program to its content.

The program covered many fascinating aspects of public relations that run throughout the book, including Greenwashing, real-world PR blunders, the ever-condensing news-cycle, and potential communication technology in 2016, among others. The PilmerPR CEO touched on his years of experience in Green PR and corporate social responsibility. He also outlined the background and inspiration of his new novel, and some parallels to his own life.

Click here to listen to the full “Access Utah” interview.

Get help promoting your book!

Allan Grafman of All Media Ventures was the featured speaker at today’s joint event sponsored by Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF); Wayne Brown Institute; Utah Technology Council (UTC), and Mountain West Capital Network (MWCN). Held in the Garden Room at Thanksgiving Point, 200+ entrepreneurs and business leaders paid close attention as our skilled presenter spoke on the elusive subject of “Exits, Monetizations & New Media.”

In preface to Allan’s remarks I was able to put in a plug for UVEF to the group. I mentioned that despite our economy, it’s a great time for entrepreneurs. I referenced Hewlett Packard, Howard Johnson, and Boeing as entrepreneurial startups during the Great Depression. I expressed my enthusiasm for today’s speaker as our Public Relations business and all services carrying the “message” to target markets must master social media as yet another terrrific tool for getting the word out and engaging with target audiences.

Allan spoke candidly about the negative ROI being experienced by most investors in 2010. He also pointed to Online Gaming, Virtual Goods, Advertising, and Content providers as near term winners in monetization of social media. He cautioned startups against slowing their time to market to “get it perfect,” saying that an early beta launch can build viral support while gleaning invaluable feedback from which to improve the offering.

One key point that resonated with PilmerPR’s client counsel in the new “PR 2010″ is that EVERY company is now a media company. Those companies which offer the best and fastest content stack the deck in their favor.

Image from E-Commerce News

You heard it as a child: “Actions speak louder than words.” The same is true in public relations. Crafted statements and press releases can be effective communication tools only as far as they match reality.

Facebook is a recent example. Despite their continual claims that user privacy was important, they gradually loosened the privacy restrictions, making status updates publicly visible and sharing likes/dislikes with third-party sites by default. Only when users revolted would they temporarily step back, as they are doing now. The unspoken message: user privacy is secondary to company growth.

BP officially says it will pay “all legitimate claims” resulting from the gulf coast oil spill. Those were good words for the coastal states to hear. Since then, BP has fought Congress against raising its $75 million legal liability cap, and will not clarify what is or is not “legitimate.” The unspoken message: BP will not be pressured to do more than it feels necessary.

BP has been forced to battle an aggressive US government as the administration sends the unspoken message that it is seeking to avoid blame being placed on the President. To sound presidential, President Obama has placed a moratorium on offshore drilling for six months so we can properly study the situation and avoid a repeat. However, because the President gave a positive message for new offshore drilling just weeks before the gulf oil disaster, the unstated message is “I am a waffler, willing to follow the polls. And, I don’t really know what I was doing endorsing oil exploration just a few weeks ago.”

John Pilmer, president of PilmerPR, commented on this issue when asked by E-Commerce News about a recent change in Microsoft’s leadership. Robbie Bach, president of the company’s entertainment and devices division (responsible for the Xbox, Zune and other gadgets) is stepping down along with J Allard, a senior vice president in the division. Microsft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, is stepping in and taking charge.

According to Ballmer (officially quoted in PC Magazine) Bach’s resignation is only possible due to his success:

“Robbie’s an amazing business person and close personal friend, which makes his departure a point of sadness for me,” Ballmer said. “However, given the strong leadership team he has built, the business performance of E&D this year and the launches of Windows Phone 7 and ‘Project Natal’ this fall, we are set up well for success as we continue to drive our mobile and entertainment businesses forward.”

John points out what the shake-up really says about Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division:

The shakeup is as much about sending a message as it is about internal operations, according to John Pilmer, president of Pilmer PR, who has worked with Microsoft and its partners for more than a decade.

Redmond wants to assure the market that it is on top of its problems and will compete in — and dominate — the space, Pilmer told the E-Commerce Times.

The market is also hearing an unspoken message, he said — that Microsoft is not getting the job done, and the competition is “kicking our trash.”

Read the full article at E-Commerce News.

PilmerPR works closely with clients to develop positive messaging that highlights successes and opportunities, and matches the good work the company is doing. You can also learn more about how PilmerPR can help with crisis management.

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Hard to believe by now, but it was only at the end of 2008 that the internet overtook newspapers to become the #2 source of news in America. We predict it will soon overtake television news to become the #1 source, as both ABC and CBS have dramatically cut their news staff, and more broadcast segments are posted online.

Bloggers are replacing traditional journalists, Google News is replacing USA Today, and “gatekeepers” that stand between you and your audience is becoming just a matter of SEO.

Welcome to the Online Media Revolution.

In Part 3 of 10 of PilmerPR’s “PR 101″ webinar, John Pilmer discusses this revolution, and concisely breaks down what businesses need to know.

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There’s a war in the communications world, right now, between the terms “press release” and “news release.”

Though the former phrase is still common, and may accurately describe the release’s purpose, others argue it is a relic of the pre-internet era. The Web has made releases instantly available to the world, and not just press. Many times, PilmerPR team members have browsed news online, and found that the top results for their searches are “press” releases.

So how can your small business capitalize on this? How can the releases you are already producing reach your target audience, directly?

In this second parts of PilmerPR’s 10-part “PR 101″ series, John Pilmer will discuss what it means to “think web first,” and how to get your news to your targets with or without media gatekeepers.

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