This first month of 2012, our blog has focused on new beginnings for the year, so I would like to turn some attention to a local company that has made an excellent start in our community.

For those of you not familiar with Maryville-based Vienna Coffee Company (VCC) (not an MBWC client), I suggest you head on over to their inviting coffee house at 321 High Street and cozy up to a delicious “cup of Joe.”

The coffee house offers free internet access, fresh baked goods, assorted retail goodies, open mic nights and hosts several local musicians and artists throughout the year.

On Jan. 4, VCC announced a new kiosk in the lobby of the Blount County branch of Pellissippi State Community College. The new kiosk will be open 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. each day. This is welcome news, I’m sure, to students and faculty who need an extra jolt of java in the morning to get their day going.

Their baristas are highly knowledgeable and can accommodate just about any request you can imagine. In fact, one chilly morning last fall, I found myself debating whether or not to order a chai tea latte or espresso. I explained my dilemma to the barista who suggested I order a “Dirty Chai” – a chai tea latte with a shot of espresso. I’d never heard of this bizarre concoction and thought her recommendation was quite unusual, but trusted her judgment anyway. Needless to say, my “Dirty Chai” was delicious and satisfied both of my cravings for tea and espresso.

Of course, this encounter offered me the opportunity to utilize one of the best PR-related strategies out there – word-of-mouth – to spread my joy over this tasty new discovery at a neighborhood coffeehouse, just down the road from my office. I look forward to hearing even more good news spread about this locally-owned company in our community.

So here’s to a New Year of new beginnings for Vienna Coffee Company. To learn more about VCC or to sign up for their monthly newsletter, visit http://www.viennacoffeeco.com/.

I admit it – I love to get gifts.

I’m sure Emily Post would be disappointed to learn that I’m not one to delicately open birthday or Christmas presents. In fact, each Christmas Eve I try my best to convince my husband that I need to open just one gift – yet year after year my childlike request is outright denied.

Around the holidays, our team enjoys celebrating our clients, colleagues and friends by delivering homemade cookies. It’s always nice to be remembered and we certainly appreciate the goodies that show up at our doorstep too.

Yet with all the gifting that occurs this time of year, acts of service are the lasting gifts that seem to truly matter.

If you’ve ever read Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages you know that “acts of service” is one of the five love languages everyone speaks. The others include quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation and gifts.

Now, keep in mind this book is geared toward marital relationships, but as with all relationships – personal and professional – it’s important to take the time to figure out the type of “language” those around us prefer to speak.

By taking the time to figure out the communication style our colleagues and clients prefer, the better equipped we are as an agency to communicate with them.

Regardless of your own communication style or “language,” I hope you take the time this holiday season to express an act of service for a meaningful organization in your community.

Personally, my first act of service this season will be participating in a blood drive on Saturday, Dec. 17 at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church. Medic Regional Blood Center is hosting a blood drive for a premature baby boy recently born in Knoxville at just under two pounds. Feel free to stop by, but be sure to eat a little something before you go!

After all, that’s what the true spirit (or language) of the season means, right?

“Tis better to give than receive.”

Before our clients ask us to create a media relations campaign for them, our team takes the same first step each time before developing and executing a plan – research, research, research.

This process often involves managing a discovery process to uncover local, regional and national media opportunities, depending on the client’s scope of work. We make several phone calls, email editors, request media kits and scour editorial calendars to uncover what opportunities are out there.

Only after extensive communication with these media outlets are we ready to create a well-developed media relations plan. Once we determine the most appropriate areas for media exposure for our clients, we plug them into the best fit possible to get the best exposure possible.

With media relations, it’s really a matter of quality versus quantity. If we generate a coverage opportunity for our client in “XYZ Magazine,” but the outlet’s audience isn’t a good fit for our client, the exposure can easily fall on deaf ears.

The saying “Look before you leap” certainly holds true in the media relations world. I have no desire to waste our clients’ time by blindly pitching story ideas to publications or news organizations that have no use whatsoever for that certain topic.

By taking the time upfront in a media campaign and doing the best and most thorough research possible, clients have a better chance of getting media exposure that will be fruitful in the long-run.

Since joining the world of public relations, I’ve come across some interesting misperceptions about the profession and its practitioners. Oftentimes, I find that those who complain about the field are more than likely the ones who understand it the least.

As the media relations coordinator for our team, I’ve met a few individuals who have thought that public relations is simply an effort to put client-related articles in newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets.

But simply put, public relations is not the same as media relations.

Is media relations an integral component of a PR campaign or project? Absolutely, but they are not one in the same.

Public relations achieves so much more than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to communications strategies, but my top reason is this: PR builds credibility, ethics and a sense of storytelling. 

When other communications strategies can sometimes seem formulaic and routine, those of us in the PR field are constantly searching for opportunities for our clients to grow – that includes, but is not limited to, the ever-evolving media landscape.

Sure, PR has seen its share of skepticism, but overall the profession is a well-oiled machined primed to thrive and continue to evolve with the times. A reasonable amount spent on PR can not only deliver high ROI, but it can significantly boost the impact of all other marketing and communications strategies.

As a whole, PR is truly the total package.

With education reform being the hot-button topic in many political, educational, professional and parental circles lately, I can only imagine what the fruits of those discussions might actually bear. My hope is that it’s not the topic-du-jour, but rather a permanent dialogue that remains top-of-mind for years to come.

If you happen to follow Bill Frist, former Tenn. Senator and founder of SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education), on Twitter (@bfrist), you might have read his startling tweet from Aug. 1:

“#Education & #globalhealth vitally linked: 7 million #AIDS cases could be prevented in decade if every child received an education.”

That statistic floored me – seven million AIDS cases could be prevented in a decade if every child received an education?

I then thought to myself: when possible, we as public relations professionals should throw philanthropic support behind worthwhile local and national movements, and do so in a respectful, meaningful and bipartisan manner.

In 2008, our agency (MBWC) began working with the Blount Education Initiative to promote education as the number one priority in Blount County. Recently, MBWC partnered with the Rural Communities STEM Initiative (RCSI) to promote the July 28 pilot training for RCSI’s “Lab-in-a-Box” program designed to provide innovative teaching tools to math and science teachers from nine rural communities in East Tennessee.

For me, one of the most professionally gratifying experiences occurred during my time as the media relations and project director of the Metropolitan Drug Commission (MDC), a non-profit substance abuse prevention agency in Knoxville, Tenn.

One of the goals I outlined during the RFP process for a grant from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth was to institute an anti-drug after-school club at Fulton High School (FHS) – an inner-city school in the heart of Knoxville that has seen its fair share of crime, drugs and truancy. I met with the principal, secured a club sponsor and campaigned in the lunch room for students to join the club (formerly known as PRIDE, but now called Youth Above the Influence).

That was 2006, when their graduation rate wasn’t even at 50 percent – fast-forward to 2011 and the club is still going strong.

So, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw a recent news clip on FHS regarding their improved No Child Left Behind (NCLB) status. For several years, FHS had been receiving poor marks on their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Reports, but in May managed to graduate 82 percent of its students.  The inner-city school also met federal progress standards in math and English, too. 

I’d like to think that maybe in some small way I, along with the MDC, are at least a small part of the reason students are striving for betterment in their lives, thus doing well in their studies which then reflects well upon their school.

I’m also proud of the work Mary Beth West Consulting has a hand in locally – Maryville City Schools Foundation, Emory Valley Center and the East Tennessee Economic Council to name a few.

What kind of philanthropic hats do you like to wear? Does your company support area non-profits or national movements?

Awards programs provide a great way for a company like ours to develop its own market reputation while also putting forth our work for peer review in a competitive setting. The whole process is an excellent learning experience and a way to stay toe-to-toe with best practices.

Last month, our team walked away from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Volunteer Chapter awards with 12 Award of Excellence honors, including “Best in Show” – a first for the agency – for the 2010 Dandy Lions Holiday Media Relations Campaign.

Since that evening, I’m often asked, “So, how do you win ‘Best in Show’ anyway?” Several factors were involved, but the following summary offers a glimpse into the “who, what, where, when and why” of the campaign.

In 2006, Blount County native and “mom-trepreneur” Joy Forster Carver opened Dandy Lions, a unique gift and stationery boutique in the heart of downtown Maryville, Tenn.  Dandy Lions carries baby, wedding, graduation and holiday gifts, along with home décor and a variety of distinctive items for special occasions, including an extensive selection of local and regional stationery.

In late summer 2010, Carver enlisted the services of Mary Beth West Consulting (MBWC) to build her base of customers locally and promote her boutique on a more prominent level, specifically during the 2010 holiday season.  The goal: to increase holiday-related sales from the previous year. Carver desired to become the area’s go-to “guru” for gifts and stationery needs. 

Because this initial campaign needed to focus on awareness-building for the Dandy Lions brand in the local media market, MBWC created a list of media contacts and publications that would benefit from Carver’s expertise.

In addition to researching media contacts and holiday gift guide criteria, MBWC researched the publications’ editorial calendars to see which special sections would be a good fit to highlight various aspects of what the store and Carver herself had to offer in gift-giving trends, product ideas and party-planning tips.

The research allowed MBWC to suggest and actively pursue special sections, including regional and statewide holiday gift guides for Dandy Lions to be featured.

The local campaign was planned to emphasize Carver’s event-planning, party hosting and gift etiquette expertise while the statewide campaign emphasized some of the actual holiday product purchases available at Dandy Lions.

Due to the successful targeted media outreach strategies, MBWC was able to secure four columns placed in the Sunday section of local paper The Daily Times; four holiday gift guide features in local and statewide glossy magazines (At Home Tennessee November and December issues, Knoxville Magazine and Cityview), one feature in The Knoxville News Sentinel, two mentions in Blount Today; and one television feature on the local NBC affiliate, WBIR-TV – the area’s number-one ranked news station.

According to published circulation rates, more than 2.7 million impressions were generated by the local and statewide exposure. The goal of the media relations campaign and targeted outreach was to promote Dandy Lions on a more prominent local and statewide level during the holidays. By the end of 2010, Carver had more than doubled her sales from the previous year.  

MBWC thoroughly enjoyed working with Carver to promote her extraordinary boutique. What an honor it was for our contemporaries to recognize us for those efforts with the J. Carroll Bateman “Best in Show” award.

A host of our colleagues also received Awards of Excellence, Quality and Merit for their outstanding work in 2010. For more details about the 2011 PRSA V Awards, please visit:  http://volunteerprsa.org/content.php?page=Awards_of_Excellence.

Already, we are poised to enter strong work again for the 2012 awards program, given the results we’re generating for clients in the utility, education, travel / tourism and retail sectors, to name a few, so stay tuned!

On a final note, Dandy Lions recently unveiled a fantastic new website . Be sure to stop by the next time you’re in Maryville.

Simply put, your brand is your identity. It’s your essence. It’s how customers, pundits or even the general public view and know you. Whether you’re representing a small business, large company or yourself, your brand defines and shapes everything about you and your company.

Personal and/or company-focused advocacy programs can help mold a brand, offering consumers and the general public a glimpse at what really matters to you and your organization.

Let’s look at a few examples, beginning with Hardee’s.

What does Hardee’s value, and in turn want their customers to value? In a recent interview, the company’s chief executive Andrew Puzder describes how he rescued the company from a “freefall” in the early 2000s.

According to Puzder, Hardee’s had become a “jack of all trades, master of none,” so over the next several years, he implemented “Operation Quality Service Cleanliness,” which is now referred to as “the revolution.”

Employees were scripted to be friendly and cheerful; he narrowed the menu selection dramatically and began focusing the Hardee’s brand to target “young, hungry men.” A new focus on what the customer wanted from Hardee’s and bringing the company back to “its burger roots” saved and re-established the Hardee’s brand.

Advocating within one’s brand doesn’t apply solely for large corporations. On April 14, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about a small business looking to expand its brand by aligning itself with a potentially polarizing public figure – NFL quarterback Michael Vick – who was involved in a highly publicized dog-fighting scandal in 2007 that nearly ruined his professional and personal life. In this unique case, the small sporting equipment company, Unequal Technologies, was looking to spread its brand to the masses, while the individual, Michael Vick, was looking to begin restoring his brand and reputation after years of negative publicity. As the article states:

Even with Mr. Vick’s brand tarnished from the highly publicized dog-fighting scandal — which landed him in jail for a year and a half and prompted companies, including Nike and Coca-Cola to drop him — Unequal Chief Executive Rob Vito sensed an opportunity. If the sporting world could be made aware that Unequal’s football pads had helped Mr. Vick’s spectacular comeback from a rib injury, it could help Unequal attract orders from NFL teams and football moms alike.

Unequal was advocating that its brand made superior sporting equipment, with an emphasis on high-performance and safety. Vick said the endorsement allows him to address the issue of concussions in the sport of football as he also tries to rebuild his blemished public image. The article continues:

News that Mr. Vick had signed his first endorsement deal since leaving prison caused a media explosion. “Within 24 hours, we had about 10 million hits on the website, and I was on CNN, Bloomberg, Fox, ABC and CBS,” Mr. Vito recalled. “We had so many hits, it crashed our site.”

The exposure gave Mr. Vito a chance to talk about Unequal’s insoles, golf grips, sneakers and body padding, which are currently available only on the company’s website. “The sales went up 1,000% when Mike came on board,” Mr. Vito said.

To bring this topic home, I invite you to take a moment to watch Starbucks  CEO Howard Schultz’ online video explaining the rationale behind the company’s latest logo redesign in honor of the company’s 40^th anniversary. Schultz uses words like, “embrace,” “essence,” “heritage” and “respect” – words carefully chosen in order to communicate to consumers how the new design is in step with the Starbucks mantra of being “True to Our Heritage.”

Without such clear communication as to why a company is or isn’t doing something, it’s not possible to create and maintain true brand advocacy and loyalty.

After all, isn’t building a brand with public and media advocacy really just trying to increase meaningful consumer interaction and experience in the long run? For better or for worse, your brand is you. What better brand advocate than yourself?

I encourage our blog readers to think about companies, like Starbucks, Unequal Technologies and Hardee’s, whose brands and images clearly display advocacy for what the companies truly believe in and how they share these messages with us, as consumers.

Maryville, Tenn. — Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, a public relations and reputation management firm in Maryville, Tenn., won “Best in Show” and multiple top honors at the annual awards dinner of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Volunteer Chapter on May 12 at Hunter Valley Farm.

The event also honored Kevin Painter of LeConte Wealth Management with the Community Service Award, which recognizes an individual or organization who has used public relations practices to improve the quality of life within East Tennessee communities.

The agency won “Best in Show” for the 2010 holiday media relations campaign for Dandy Lions as well as 10 “Award of Excellence” honors in the following categories:

• Public Service: Blount Education Initiative
• Media Relations: Dandy Lions 2010 Holiday Campaign
• Public Affairs/Government: Expanding Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Scientific User Community
• Marketing Consumer Products: Rainscapes
• Marketing Consumer Services (Financial): LeConte Wealth Management
• Marketing Business-to-Business: Interactive Springboard 2010 Launch Campaign
• Writing (Column): LeConte Wealth Management “Purpose-Built Portfolio”
• Collaterals (Direct Mail): Rainscapes 2010 Direct Mail Campaign
• Website (Professional Service): Rainscapes website
• Blogs: Mary Beth West Consulting “In the Profession” Blog

Joe Bogardus, Mary Beth West, Amy Schwinge, Mallorie Mendence and Tyra Haag following the V Awards ceremony.

Interactive Springboard – a collaboration between Mary Beth West Consulting and Knoxville-based Blue Media Boutique – shared top honors for the newly redesigned Avistelé website; Avistelé Lifestyle Communities is managed by Knoxville-based RenaissancePG.

 “I’m so appreciative of the clients we’ve been privileged to serve,” said agency principal Mary Beth West. “Throughout my career, I’ve held tremendous respect for the public relations profession; my team is honored with the overwhelming response by our colleagues to recognize the work we so highly value.”

Painter – a graduate of Maryville High School and co-founder of LeConte Wealth Management– was  honored with the Community Service Award.

“Kevin has been a client for three years and a dear friend for many years longer,” said West. “Of all the colleagues I have in my age cohort in the local community, I can think of no one who takes on more community service efforts to support the non-profit, social service and arts sectors than Kevin.” 

Established in 2003 and located in the Law Building in downtown Maryville, Mary Beth West Consulting works with clients to advance their communications, relationships and reputations to meet business objectives. 

The firm’s services include integrated brand marketing communications strategies and campaigns; media, community and employee relations programs; social and interactive media strategies and program management; crisis preparedness; and special events.

As Mahatma Gandhi  once said, “Speed is irrelevant if you’re going in the wrong direction.”

Public relations creates a lasting impact for local businesses and savvy business owners to understand the credibility PR creates when implemented properly.

In an October 2010 article posted on Hispanic PRBlog, Gary McCormick, APR, Fellow PRSA, immediate past chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), was quoted as saying, “From other studies and anecdotal information, we have found that the strategic value of public relations continues to outpace that of other professional service industries, and that within the Los Angeles area, the public relations profession is offering an economic boost, clearly benefiting the local economy.”

Similar sentiments can be found within a December 2010 blog post on CommPro.Biz by Scott Harris, president of Mustang Marketing. According to Harris, “PR has the power to reach people in a way ads both cannot and do not, and today, when the name of the game more than ever before is ROI, PR has the solid track record.”

With this month’s blog topic surrounding PR’s impact on local economies for better business, I asked Tammi Ford, executive vice president for the Blount Partnership, the following question:

How has the Blount Chamber of Commerce used public relations strategies and tactics over the years to attract business, industry and tourism to Blount County?

Here is Tammi’s response:

The Blount Partnership, which consists of the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, Chamber Foundation, Economic Development Board and Smoky Mountain Convention & Visitors Bureau, develops an action plan for the year.  Our PR strategy is based on our yearly action plan. 

While each organization’s mission and audience are different, the end result is the same – economic prosperity.  Whether it’s helping area businesses to be successful, recruiting new business or increasing tourism dollars, the bottom line is building the Blount County economy. 

The Chamber offers a variety of benefits, services, and programs to help area businesses grow.  We develop a yearly communications/PR plan to promote these activities, which includes a monthly newsletter printed in The Daily Times, two monthly e-news campaigns (with tracking capabilities), face-to-face contact, media events and press releases to area media.  We also push information out, including member news, through our website and social nets such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Chamber blog. 

How do we measure the success of our communications plan?  Business growth, business assistance, new members, retention, attendance, participation, website visits, and social media interactions.

To promote tourism and business travel, the Smoky Mountains Convention & Visitors Bureau (SMCVB) has a yearly marketing plan coupled with a PR plan.  The SMCVB has been very aggressive in hosting events throughout the year where thousands of people flock to the area.  For these events, our PR schedule includes:  email campaigns to past festival “go-ers,” media releases, targeted tourism/travel publications, website and of course, social media. 

How do we measure success?   By the number of heads in beds and the increase in revenue for area retailers.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) uses strategies to recruit new business to the area.  One of the target audiences are site selectors.  Our organization has face-to-face time with these selectors every year, but their preferred method of communications – e-mail and website.  To stay in front of them on a regular basis, we have an e-news campaign with tracking capabilities that keeps them updated on Blount industry news.  We’ve also given these site selectors flash drives packed-full of Blount County information (i.e. demographics, maps, available sites and buildings.) 

Additionally, our website – www.blountindustry.com – won the International Economic Development Council best website award for our demographic.  The EDB also uses social nets to spread the word. 

How do we measure success?  By increased prospect activity and site visits.

The Public Relations Society of America also offers the following message point about the impact of PR within an article titled “Communicating Public Relations’ Value: Business Value and Public Good are Essence of PR Today.” Below is a portion of the article:

• A survey of chief marketing officers at major national and global advertisers conducted by the Association of National Advertisers found that the value public relations delivers as part of the overall marketing mix is increasing. Why? A few reasons. Public relations is closer to the perspectives, objectives and concerns of corporate CEOs than any other communication or marketing discipline. Public relations also sees “the whole corporate picture,” as it relates to issues that CEOs worry about. Finally, public relations is a key driver of business outcomes critical to organizational success, including crisis mitigation, reputation and brand building, consumer engagement, sales generation, wealth creation, issues management and beneficial shifts in constituent attitudes and behaviors.

When implemented properly, it seems pretty clear how impactful the public relations profession  can be while boosting the all-mighty bottom line – for local businesses and the economy.

by Tyra E. Haag
@tyratuckerhaag

Building solid relationships with the media can seem like you’re walking a tightrope – one shaky move and you’re done.

It’s easy to say, “I want to have a good relationship with the media,” but it’s another thing to actually have one.

There are a few ways to describe the daily encounters I face as a media relations coordinator — give and get, push and pull or yin and yang.

Building strong media skills takes practice, but it’s important to remember not to go at it alone because working with the media is not for everyone. That’s why professionals like us exist.  We’re here to help take the burden off our clients of what to say and do with the media so that they can focus on what they do best – run their company.

Here’s my personal media relationship-building philosophy:

• Be sincere: No one likes a fake. I can’t do my job without solid media skills, so it’s always best to practice the golden rule when it comes to pitching story ideas, following-up via the phone or exchanging information through e-mail. A simple thank-you can go a long way, not to mention a nice hand-written note of appreciation.
• Stay informed: Keep up-to-date with topics going on in mainstream media – locally and nationally. Utilize editorial calendars to see what is top-of-mind for these news organizations and fit them to your clients’ needs where appropriate.
• Do your homework: Don’t waste their time or yours. Be sure to research who you need to contact before picking up the phone or hitting the “send” button. Make sure what you’re pitching on behalf of your client is actually interesting and newsworthy.
• Get creative: Meet for lunch, go out for coffee or ask for a 15-minute chat with whomever you want to get to know better. A face-to-face encounter can take you from an unknown individual to a trusted and respected news source.

Bottom line: I can’t do my job without having a strong relationship with the media.

For more information and tips about building strong media relationships, please visit the following media-related topics previously posted on the MBWC blog:

• Media Relations: It’s a part of – but not the whole – PR toolbox by Mary Beth West, APR
• Putting the “Relations” Back into Media Relations and True PR: The Power of the Relationship by Amy Schwinge, MAOM

Media Relations: What Works (Part 1) and Media Relations: What Works (Part 2) by Tyra E. Haag