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?

At Thanksgiving Point today, the crowd was wall to wall (220+) to seek connection and instruction on entrepreneurial ventures. With the promise of prizes the tweet-fest began, smart phones flashing in the sunlight streaming in The Garden Room’s panoramic panes. After welcome messages by event sponsors UTC, UVEF, and Wayne Brown Institute, Tom Dickson of BlendTec “Will It Blend” fame took the stage. He did not disappoint.

Tom first shocked some in the audience, revealing his ADHD and dyslexic and claiming theme as a entrepreneur’s “blessing.” He then regaled the entrepreneurs with stories of his career, starting with his early jobs working for others in product development. He shared his key role in the development of patches for motion sickness, as well as a highly prescribed IUD. One of his early entrepreneurial ventures was in the food storage industry. He accidently got the idea for a home electric wheat grinder when his vacuum cleaner ground wheat as he vacuumed it from a mess he made on the floor. From that he produced his first electric wheat grinder which sold 43,000 units under the Magic Mill label.

Tom admits marketing has always been his weakness and he has sought partnerships over the years to make up the gap. Tough, and not always wise decisions including the sale of  his wheat grinder company and subsequent lawsuits brought Tom’s adventure to its knees. He discussed candidly the legal challenges to his patents. He says he has learned to “smile” through these problems.

Post wheat grinder, Tom took the 28,000 RPM motor used therein and decided to make a blender. Jamba Juice came calling when they caught wind of Tom’s powerful blender. He made a deal to take five cents for every smoothie blended using his blender. A roller coaster relationship with various large customers ensued. Tom continued making improvements to his innovative design. Continued patent defense regularly strained company coffers until this summers $24 million judgment against Vitamix found in favor of Blendtec…and the people rejoiced!

Tom continues to innovate. His new Twister Jar blends nut butter in under a minute. He predicts this new innovation will soon be seen in smoothie shops near you.

Tom wrapped up his fascinating entrepreneurial adventure by blending a rake, perfected on the Jay Leno Show, in his BlendTec blender. “Will It Blend?” Yes

Tom Dickson blends rake for UVEF luncheon

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!

As Chairman of Fusion-io David stays very busy. Somehow, he’s managed to find time for another new venture in his string of serial entrepreneur startups. Take a listen to his thoughts on LDS.biz “social networking with values.”

Sixty-five percent* of corporate information in mainstream media (U.S.) conveys key messages once “in print.” Executives understand this risk, and use every ethical means to make sure their spokespersons and information maximizes the percent of publications that get it right.

Contrast this with the social media of blogging. Fully 76%* of outbound company blog entries fail to include key messaging. Three quarters of blogged content misses the messaging mark! SSSSSsssss! Sounds like an company energy leak to me.

With October as National Strategic Planning Month, perhaps corporate leaders are  wise to consider having a more senior level person or firm direct their social media efforts so they stop or prevent corporate energy leaks.

Let me know if you need a patch kit for that social media energy leak.

Read my full article on the Utah Business Blog.
Source: eMarketer.com

Ask a Question

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.

Organizations of all types and sizes are finding they have to monitor their online reputation closer than ever before. If you don’t manage your brand and listen to your customers, you could be inadvertently losing leads, revenue and destroying your brand.

United Airlines learned the hard way about monitoring their brand and the difference that one person can make. You might remember Dave Carroll, a talented musician, on a flight to Chicago who, from his window seat, watched his guitars get thrown and broken. Carroll wrote a song about United breaking his guitars and within a few days, the video was featured on CNN, the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone Magazine & the BBC to name a few. Although United apologized, they cannot replace the now 8.5+ million views of the YouTube video that humorously demeans United’s reputation.

Read more at Utah Business Magazine

Does this sound familiar?

In Part 4 of 10 of PilmerPR’s “PR 101″ webinar, John Pilmer lists the simple (often free) ways budget-conscious small businesses can evaluate their PR results. To learn how PilmerPR can help achieve cost-effective campaigns with measurable results, visit our contact page.

Click here to view the embedded video.