Originally posted – Feb 27, 2013
“If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”
– Bill Gates
If you asked 10 people to define public relations, you’d likely get 10 different answers.
Within the broad scope of marketing, public relations is one of the most misunderstood concepts – yet also one of the most fascinating and useful. It’s often difficult to specifically define because it encompasses such a diversity of approaches and techniques.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that most small-business owners simply don’t know what public relations means. They’ve certainly heard the term, but the majority of them can’t easily get their arms around it or actually explain what it is.
In fact, because it’s so misunderstood, public relations has been the subject of a number of jokes within the marketing world. Here’s one of the best:
What does the wife of a public relations expert do when she has insomnia?
She wakes up her husband and asks, “Tell me again, dear, just what is it that you do for a living?”
With that said, I’m going to offer my simple definition of public relations – along with how it can be effectively and practically used within the self-service laundry industry as a valuable, strategic part of a successful marketing program.
In general, public relations should be viewed as creating and maintaining a favorable public image for your business.
Technically, it’s different from advertising in that it’s more general and often doesn’t refer to a specific aspect of your enterprise. Its purpose is to create a positive overall public perception and feeling about the nature of your business and its services, thereby making your specific advertising more effective and receptive.
Here’s the best and most creative anonymously written definition of public relations I’ve ever read:
“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying, ‘Circus Coming to the Fairgrounds on Saturday,’ that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity. And, if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.”
The majority of laundry owners don’t spend much time on public relations activities, instead devoting their time and money to typical, more conventional advertising methods. However, there’s much more a store operator can do.
For example, I do a lot of television advertising for my coin laundry. In my TV spots, I talk about specific features and benefits of using my laundry, but I also show the laundry and how nice and modern it is. The indirect public relations benefit of my TV spots is to create a positive impression of the industry.
I have found that many “older” people now patronize my laundry because, as they often say, “I had no idea a modern coin laundry looked like this, since I haven’t used one for many years.”
Of course, there have been some great – and some not-so-great – national public relations events over the years. Below are three of the best examples that produced positive results, followed by three of the worst examples, which really backfired. Hopefully, they will give you an idea of what truly good public relations means:
The Coca-Cola Company
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States now embroiled in World War II, the public relations executives at Coke wanted to position the beverage as a reminder of home to the soldiers fighting overseas. The U.S. government agreed and Coca-Cola bottling plants were built in countries all over the world – thereby providing American soldiers access to a patriotic drink and enabling Coca-Cola to have a global presence after the war ended.
The FBI
It may seem strange to think of the FBI as involved in public relations, but who hasn’t heard of their “10 Most Wanted” list? It all started with a reporter writing an article on the most difficult known criminals to capture. J. Edger Hoover, the head of the FBI at the time, thought it was a terrific idea – and the FBI’s famous list was born. This brought public attention to the bureau’s work of chasing criminals and even enlisted the public’s participation. This was extremely successful and has been immortalized in many movies, as well as the long-running Dick Tracy comic strip.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Goodyear built its first helium-filled blimp in 1925. The company painted its name on the side and began flying it all over the U.S. It has become one of the most instantly recognized symbols of any company.
In addition, Goodyear doesn’t charge for any of the now-popular overhead views of the many sporting events its fleet of blimps covers. In fact, the company even supplies its own cameras and camera crew. If Goodyear covers an event, the only expectation is that the broadcasters mention the company and show the blimp on TV during the telecast.
What’s more, the company gives blimp rides to Goodyear dealers, corporate customers, various investors, contest winners, celebrities and politicians throughout the year.
In fact, Goodyear estimates that more than 60 million people see at least one of the three U.S.-based blimps each year. Great public relations? You betcha!
Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004
Here’s an example of an attempt to promote an all-American, family-friendly event that turned into a public relations nightmare. No doubt you recall Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the halftime show, which was broadcast into millions of homes during prime time.
CBS – the network that broadcast the game – was hit with a $550,000 fine after the FCC received a whopping 540,000 complaints from upset viewers. This ushered in the era of using taped delays, even during live broadcasts.
The Automakers Bailout in 2008
If you were going to Washington, D.C. to beg for a $25 billion bailout, you’d probably be smart enough not to arrive in an expensive private jet. However, the CEOs of the Big Three U.S. automakers had developed such a huge sense of entitlement that they actually made this major public relations mistake. What were they thinking? Of course, the public was totally outraged.
The British Petroleum Oil Cleanup Response in 2010
BP spilled oil into the already-troubled and somewhat delicate region of the American Gulf Coast. Human and animal lives were lost, while countless jobs and businesses were destroyed. So, what does the CEO of BP do? He shows no remorse or empathy, takes a vacation to get away from the “stress of it all,” and then publically complains that he’s tired of dealing with the whole issue. This might have set a new standard for bad public relations.
By now, I hope you get the idea and grasp the general concept of public relations. Let’s discuss some economically sane and practical public relations ideas you can use to promote a positive image for your self-service laundry business – and the entire laundry industry in general.
Extremely high on my list of favorites is the use of an “advertorial.” This is a cross between an advertisement and an editorial. There are several local newspapers that publish daily, weekly and monthly in all areas. Each of them has to fill the space in their pages with fresh content on a constant basis; therefore, they are perpetually on the lookout for new and interesting stories to print.
Why not be proactive? Contact them. Ask them to visit your store, interview you about the many benefits of using a self-service laundry and then write an article about your business – complete with photos.
Typically, this will cost you nothing, and you will get to explain how using coin laundries can free up people’s valuable time so that they can accomplish all of the other important things they need to do in today’s busy world. You also can focus on the fact that your large-capacity machines can process a lot of clothes at once, thus enabling your customers to always remain on top of that dreaded laundry chore. Such an advertorial also can reach out to older generations that might not be acutely aware of what modern self-service laundries are like today.
Another great idea is to issue press releases to the media – heralding your recent store renovation, your election to an office of a local organization, a speech you’ve given to a local club or an award you will be receiving for community service. This can land you on a local radio or television program as a public interest feature.
How about starting a promotion benefiting a local charity – such as clothes for the homeless – so that your community can know about you, your business and what you’re doing?
Here’s another idea: Volunteer your laundry services free to some cash-strapped organization. This may receive media attention and, of course, will certainly benefit the organization in question.
Sponsor a youth sports team. Provide the uniforms with your company name on it. You also can offer to conduct educational tours for school field trips so that students can learn about how a modern self-service laundry operates.
Offer to speak at schools about cleanliness, and how washers and dryers actually work. You also can establish annual awards for academic achievement – being sure to place advertising about the program in your local newspapers, as well as the schools’ newspapers and yearbooks.
Additionally, perhaps offer to write an article or a regularly appearing column on laundering and cleanliness-related topics for your local newspaper.
Plus, be sure to stay informed about community service projects so that you can participate when the opportunity arises – and do so regularly.
All of these ideas can be done at a minimal cost and, in fact, often at no cost whatsoever – but the benefits can be huge. As you can see, public relations approaches are virtually endless. The key is to make your business very public in terms of all of its positive aspects, which will work in harmony with your traditional advertising programs.
It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever sell stock in your laundry business that will be publically traded – but, as you can see, that’s not the only way to “go public.”
#Article #Public #TheBusinessMind #PlanetLaundry #CustomerService #BusinessManagement
