Public Relations 101

Public relations is an essential part of any successful business. A well thought out plan for public relations, when properly and consistently used, can be one of the most important parts of your company's marketing. Of course this assumes you already have a good product and hard working employees. Public Relations will determine how your company is thought of by the public.

All customers like to feel that they are, or will be, buying from a company that cares. A good public relations plan should let the consumer know that your company cares about people, the environment, and other important social issues. A good PR plan can also make the public aware that your company has or will have a new product, or that your company is expanding to offer new services that will make you more able to handle their needs as consumers.

Another important part of a public relations plan is damage control. If something, anything goes wrong and the customer feels that the problem was caused by one of your employee's actions or due to company policy, good PR can quickly correct it. Writing an apology or correction of the error along with stating the fact that new procedures are in place to prevent future problems can often save a companies reputation in their customers eyes.

What are the solutions?

Large companies can have their own public relations departments, made up of employees who are responsible for a wide variety of duties that enact their companies PR plan.
This works (sometimes) for large companies with big budgets for advertising and payroll. A good full time PR department is great if ever there are cases of an emergency that need to be dealt with right away.

If your company doesn’t have its own public relations department, you could enlist the help of a third party public relations firm to take care of that end of the business for you. This can also be more expensive than your small business can afford, even if it does bring good results.

A third and very simple option to take care of a large part of personalized public relations is to send frequent, timely, and personalized cards to your customers. This frequent, personal communication keeps your company in your customer’s mind; lets them know you care; and gives them good overall feelings about who you are as a company.

Good public relations is the recipe for success
while poor public relations can almost
guarantee failure.

Customer Appreciation - A Lost Art?

"65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, and it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied." - Gartner

If we begin with that premise, which has been stated by any number of researchers, it makes sense (dollars and cents) to retain customers.

What does it take to retain customers?
I would propose 2 simple steps to retain the majority of customers.
1) Provide excellent service. I'm switching web hosts because the service in my current provider has deteriorated and I've found a new company that gives excellent service and they are convenient.
2) Show them you care; that you appreciate them, not just as customers, but as individual people.

Now the first step is up to you and how you run your business.
1) Do you have a simple telephone tree that gets a customer to a real person easily?
2) Are your people trained to be courteous and helpful?
3) Do you have set customer service hours that are posted and/or stated on your voice mail?


The second step can be as easy as making a phone call to let your customer know you appreciate them.

The problems with a phone call are:
1) The time you call may not be convenient for your customer.
2) The customer my not like talking on the phone. My wife hates the telephone!
3) It can be extremely time consuming as your business grows.

So what is another option for showing your customers how much you appreciate them?

How about sending a friendly card?

Advantages of sending cards:
1) The card can be opened and read at the customers convenience.
2) A card is a physical object the customer can touch and keep as a constant reminder of your care.
3) Cards can be sent for a variety of occasions depending on your business. ie: customers' birthdays, family birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, or just to say "Thank You".
4) Handled properly by your company, sending cards can be a very efficient way of showing appreciation.

Go to http://www.homerscards.com now so we can demonstrate how easy, convenient, and economical it is to send cards to your customers or potential customers, no matter how large that customer base is, or how large you want it to be.

The customer you don't show appreciation to today, could be your competitor's customer tomorrow.