graphic courtesy of CommunItelligence

Last night I had a dream of consulting a prominent Utah CEO regarding a current crisis situation. Hence, it’s on my mind this morning. As we launch into a new year, we hear “year-in-review” reports of crisis after crisis endured during the past year.

Mayan Calendar

During the coming year, mark my word, we will be snowed under with doomsday speculation about the 2012 December deadline for the Mayan Calendar. Regardless of apocalyptic hyperventilation, crisis hits companies and the news daily. As a CEO, you are wise to consider the crisis ahead before it happens. The best way to mitigate bad company news is to prepare in advance. It’s the old “pay me now, or pay me later ” message or “an ounce of prevention…”

A few years ago, the Crandall Canyon Mine crisis and the company’s CEO, Robert “Bob” Murray, have riveted media viewers/readers across the country on the plight of six miners trapped underground. FlackLife, Rockford Gray, USCHO and the Moderate Voice are examples of bloggers chiming in. We all are hoping for the best and bracing for potentially tragic news for the families of the six missing miners. Much has been said regarding Mr. Murray’s handling of press relations during this crisis and perhaps when our hearts heal from this tragedy Crandall Canyon will become a case study for PR students to learn how to better plan for and handle crisis communications.

For corporate leaders in the boardroom seeking to better prepare for crisis communications, perhaps some tips would be helpful.

Create a Plan – it’s usually better to be proactive, than reactive. Before the crisis hits have a written communications plan that clearly assigns responsibility, accounts for media deadlines, and has total agreement among key management. Running a simulated crisis scenario can help work out kinks in the plan. This is especially important for companies that offer services impacting large numbers of people or that perform work that is potentially dangerous.

Appoint One Spokesperson – usually a top executive, this should be an individual who engenders trust and who has authority to speak for the company.

Communicate Quickly, Thoroughly and Frequently – from a pre-arranged location provide access to vital crisis information. Who, What, Why, How, and When should be answered as quickly as facts become available. A constant flow of information to the media will mitigate the reporters’ tendency to fill in story gaps with inaccurate information or questionable sources. Provide the chain of events, graphics, data, and independent third party experts as quickly as they become available.

Focus on People – every media interview or press conference should begin with a focus on the human component of any tragedy. Location of those impacted, services for family members, and efforts to find survivors should be covered before other subjects are discussed.

Be Accessible – Be Transparent – Stick to the Facts – members of the media have a job to do. The vast majority of reporters and editors seek to get the story right. Work with them around their deadlines and communicate often regarding the crisis. When tough questions are asked, stay cool. Be as open as possible to avoid looking guilty. Provide the facts and encourage continued dialogue to fill in gaps in the story. Focus on what is being done to help people impacted by the crisis. Avoid speculation or assigning blame, especially in the early days after a crisis. This keeps the focus on the human component and away from rushing to judgment. Credibility during crisis is a fragile thing. Avoid rejection of alternative opinions or experts which can easily backfire.

MORE Crisis Planning Resources & DOWNLOAD 5 Crisis Tips for CEOs.

OK. OK. I’ll share my secret for a super juicy Turkey.

• Rub turkey w oil of choice. (No, not a deep tissue massage)
• Sprinkle 2 envelopes of dry Italian dressing inside and outside bird. (Do this in the sink unless you have big biceps or your dog won’t jump on it when you drop the now slippery bird)
• Put bird on its breast side down on baking pan in plastic baking bag. (yes, this means you won’t be able to see that little red pop-out plastic thermometer thingy. you still know how to read a clock, right?)
• Pour 1/2 c vinegar of choice inside bird. (if you forgot to put turkey in bag before this step, your cat may help you clean up)
• Put chopped vegetables or stuffing in bird if desired.
• Follow bag instructions. (like tbsp Flour. Holes. Bake time) (guys, you did keep the instructions, right?)

It will cook faster than traditional cooking.

Drippings minus fat make great gravy n soup. (if you hate it, remember the dog & cat like Thanksgiving, too. Plus, you only paid $7 for the darn turkey at Smiths w purchase of $35 in groceries and a 6-pack of Coke products) :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I’m thankful for my family & my new daughter-in-law! & my company staff…& my talents…& my warm house…& my church calling…& great movies…

Turn Facebook Fans Into Customers-click graphic

Here are a couple of tips for new college PR students that you may not hear from the professor:

1) Think like an entrepreneur: How to leverage public relations to drive traffic to the sales funnel
2) Think ROI. Measure everything & be accountable
3) Learn quickly how to pitch media & you increase your paycheck. They don’t teach this well in college.
4) Get an internship fast; work for free if you must to build the resume
5) Find new ways to make Social Media drive measurable online brand management & referrals. We have discovered such technology & it opens doors for us because companies are scrambling to monetize social media and make it more than and “energy leak” for their organization.

What do you think?

The Eyring Research Institute (ERI) was founded in 1972 by Carlyle Harmon with Dr. Ronald G. Hansen as President. The Institute did consulting work in various areas of contract research in cooperation with Brigham Young University. ERI spawned many high-tech spin-offs, including WordPerfect, Novell, and Dynix, as well as advancements in the military and communication arenas that have benefited the world. These breakthroughs created a whirlwind of innovation and entrepreneurial activity in Utah Valley affecting Utah for decades.

Dr. Ronald G. Hansen and Cleo Larene Harmon will attend tonight’s ceremony to receive the award on behalf of The Eyring Research Institute, with an introduction by Richard McDermott, the former VP of Finance for Eyring.

“Few organizations have done more than the Eyring Research Institute to bolster entrepreneurism and economic growth in the state,” said UVEF chairman Cary Snowden. “Millions of people have benefited, and billions of dollars in commerce are evidence of the Institute’s impact.”

Past UVEF Hall of Fame honorees include WordPerfect, Novell, Dr. Bill Pope, BYU Center for Entrepreneurship, Stephen R. Covey, and Harold R. Wing.

As a successful entrepreneur himself, PilmerPR founder John Pilmer understands the unique challenges of launching a business. He has been an active board member of the UVEF and the Commission for Economic Development of Orem (CEDO), helping entrepreneurs turn their ideas into scalable enterprises. Contact PilmerPR today to learn about our Lean Launch PR and Marketing package specifically for entrepreneurs.

One speaker that caught my ear and with whom I spoke was 6th grader Jackson Argyle.  Jackson is a participant in the  Junior Achievement, an experiential program that educates and inspires young people to value free enterprise. As part of Jackson’s experience, he and other participants staffed JA City for a day.

In JA City students work as entrepreneurs and employees of various businesses.  They are paid for their labor and manage personal checking accounts. Throughout the day, students learn about time and money management skills as they work, bank, and shop as consumers.  Afterwards, students participate in debriefing lessons to ensure a well-rounded learning experience.  The effort is staffed by volunteer educators & business leaders.

Governor Herbert remarks at the day’s events were largely reminders of his platform for business friendly government. He stated that the government’s roles should largely be to “stay out of your way and out of your wallets.” These comments drew loud applause from attendees.

Utah’s who’s who of entrepreneurial success were highlighted as expected. Mozy was among these mentioned that is also a PilmerPR alum, with our company accelerating the company’s launch by garnering national press coverage.

FYI. Calling all entrepreneurs. UVEF  www.UVEF.net will host Paul Ahlstrom, author of Nail It Then Scale It, speaking in Provo Oct 13^th.

Keynote speaker and serial entrepreneur, John Pestana made a great case today at UVEF’s Top 25 Under 5 awards luncheon for “bootstrap” financing for a new company, letting the first company’s revenues finance growth, rather than more  investors. His formula for making that happen…”sell, sell, sell.” Don’t wait on the product developers for a perfect product. Perfect it as you go and get the revenue flowing to finance growth.

On the BYU directory John Pestana lists his expertise as e-Business, e-Commerce, & model trains. I also know he is an accomplished musician and prolific song writer. John is also the Co-Founder of Omniture, once cited in Forbes magazine as “the juggernaut of Web analytics.”

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) today announced winners of its 2011 “Top 25 Under Five” Award, spotlighting outstanding Utah entrepreneurs and start-up companies. Award ceremonies were held at Utah Valley University with Adobe, Silicon Slopes and InnoVentures sponsoring the event. UVEF recognized OrangeSoda, an online marketing company with a unique blend of intelligent service and simple technology, as the number one performer among nominees. Today’s winners collectively created 800 jobs and $189 million in 2010 revenue.

“The national Chamber of Commerce recently joined the list of those recognizing Utah as a top five spot to grow an entrepreneurial startup,” said UVEF 2011 chairman Cary Snowden. “Today’s UVEF winners demonstrate that Utah’s business climate is geared to launch world leaders in diverse industries from internet marketing to medical technology to cleantech.   This bodes well for our state’s great economy.”

Serial entrepreneur and mentor John Pestana emceed today’s event. Pestana is most noted for co-founding Omniture, which sold to Adobe for $1.8 billion. However, his tireless efforts support budding entrepreneurs through Utah schools as well as organizations such at BoomStartup and Utah Student 25.

“Utah is prime real estate for growing scalable new business ventures,” Pestana said. “I’m so pleased to associate with these entrepreneurs who take great personal risk in their quest for the American dream.”

This year’s other award recipients are Simply Mac, Qivana, CampusBookRentals.com, SEO.com, Experience Dental Studio, Fifty Films, mediaFORGE, KT TAPE, BizVision, CFOwise, The Sweet Tooth Fairy, iApplicants, Orabrush, Professional Cable, LLC, DrivingSales, ClearCenter, Avantar, Omnia Alliance, Bluehouse Ski Co., Launch Leads, Zylun, Izatt International, BambooHR, and EcoScraps.

This is UVEF’s twelfth Top 25 Under Five competition. UVEF has highlighted more than 200 companies through this competition, including Utah success stories like Omniture, Skullcandy and Xango, among many others.

Deseret News coverage of the event

Daily Herald coverage of the event

Salt Lake Tribune coverage of the event

He was invited and accompanied by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch who moderated a Q&A, choosing a handful of questions from more than 400 pre-submitted inquiries by students and professionals. Most questions selected by the senator discussed areas of interest to entrepreneurs.

Photo by Andrew Van Wagenen, Daily Herald

The first question asked how Facebook rose to success and whether technology companies can do similarly outside Silicon Valley (say, for example, in Utah).

Mark explained that he went to Silicon Valley simply to be surrounded by knowledgeable people, and never intended to form a company there. When Facebook expanded beyond his expectations, he realized he was committed to the area.

“What I see now is you can start a business like this anywhere in the world,” Mark said. “If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn’t choose Silicon Valley.”

He later explained that a goal of Facebook is to let entrepreneurs around the world utilize their platform to launch successful products businesses. As an example, Mark gave a special nod to Utah-based FamilyLink who’s “We’re Related” Facebook app has more than 1 million users. An internal motto at Facebook is that “a good independent developer or entrepreneur should always be able to do things better than a division in a large company,” Mark said.

“The biggest industry that has changed so far [because of Facebook] is gaming,” he said. The same was true with computers and mobile devices. Nobody would now consider the two to be primarily gaming platforms, but gaming was among the first industries to adapt. “I think that same dynamic will apply to other industries as well.”

He frequently addressed the importance of a people-centric view in business. A person asked whether management or marketing was more important to a business’s success.

“By management, do you mean people?” Mark responded.

The key to Facebook and Google’s success, he said, was not a single novel idea (social networks and search engines existed before), but having the right people in place to think creatively and make it happen. “We just look for people who are passionate about something. In a way, it doesn’t really matter what you’re passionate about” because the company is so broad. “We don’t want people to join Facebook because of what it is already, but because they think it is so far from it should be that it’s almost broken.”

Similarly, when asked which college classes he considers most important, he mentioned that — for the two years he was in college — he double-majored in computer science and psychology.

Photo by Andrew Van Wagenen, Daily Herald

“All of the problems, at the end of the day, are human problems,” he said. For example, to prevent unauthorized logins into users’ accounts, Facebook can now identify if a person is logging in from a new location and will ask the person to identify who, among a series of pictures, is not a friend. “A lot of what we’re doing is as much psychology and sociology as computer science.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s “best advice to entrepreneurs”: “You really have to believe and love what you’re doing.” Otherwise, he said, it is the most rational thing to give up and succumb to the great challenges that will inevitably come.

He occasionally threw similar questions back to Senator Hatch, or asked questions of his own, to get the input of a congressman. While Hatch was courteous to acknowledge the audience’s intent to hear from Zuckerberg, he took some time to outline a few of his beliefs regarding the free market and the damages of too much internet regulation.

“I think the best thing we [as Congress] can do is get out of the way,” Hatch said to loud applause. “That’s not always the best option, but it usually is.”

PilmerPR frequently works with entrepreneurs and small businesses to help them succeed in the ever-changing Facebook and social media PR arena.

A current client, Funium, is preparing the public release of Family Village, the first ever Facebook game with real social value, helping users learn about their family history in a fun virtual environment.

Contact us today to learn how PilmerPR can help your business utilize social media on a lean budget.

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.

Keith McCord addresses 110 attendees at UVEF Awards Program

“Successful entrepreneurs seek out mentors, looking for guidance to chart the road ahead,” said UVEF chairman John Pilmer. “UVEF Award winners are worthy of emulation as each represents the best of what each aspiring new startup wants to become.”

Award recipients will be named in the following categories:

Most Innovative Product: Nate Alder, Klymit

Ron King Social Entrepreneur of the Year: Fraser Nelson, Community Foundation of Utah

Greatest Contribution to Entrepreneurs, John Richards

Utah Valley’s Best Kept Entrepreneurial Secret: Brad Caldwell, Security Metrics, Inc

Entrepreneur of the Year: Susan W. Preator, Imagine Learning, Inc.