Numerous industries and trade organizations have competitions for members. Regardless of whether it is the Advertising Excellence Awards, the Hairdressing Championships, or the sausage-making competition, the publicity spinoffs are incalculable for the winners. Winning an award isn't just an ego trip: clients worth them, especially in service industries where they're (in effect) buying a pig in a poke.
Find out what awards are available in your industry, and make sure you win one. This is, of course, easier said than done: looking at past winners is a guide, and knowing the judges also helps since you will have a clearer idea of what they may be looking for. Entering the competitors has spinoffs for your staff as well: winning an award is a fantastic morale booster, and even preparing for it will help to hone their skills and produce spinoffs.
If there is not a competition within your industry, you might like to establish one. An award is a cheap sufficient thing to give, even if there is a prize attached: you might be able to partner up with the trade association to help with that part of it. If the award is in your company's name, it will establish you immediately as an industry leader, even if you aren't the largest firm in the business, and also the winners (and subsequent publicity) will usually function your name: in other words, if it is your award, you win every time.
Being philanthropic is one thing-doing things that also help the business is something else. Using your employees to clean up a local beauty spot is really a wonderful PR physical exercise, simply because it leads to news coverage and it also motivates your staff-they really feel they're working for a caring organization. However, it does virtually nothing for the longer-term benefit of the business.
Moving from a purely publicity-oriented method to a business-oriented method requires a certain amount of creative believed and long-term commitment-but then PR is really a long-term process, as is running a business.
Microsoft give away computers to schools. This is an example of philanthropy-the schools benefit from the free computers, and Microsoft creates a feel-good factor with the parents, teachers, and children.
However, the real pay-off is that the computers (needless to say) are loaded with Microsoft software. The children therefore grow up with Microsoft, the teachers have to learn to use it, as well as the parents are most likely to use it if they have a computer at home, simply because they need their children to have the ability to transfer easily in between home and school.
Equally, Procter & Gamble have the issue of trying to complete business with people in the developing world who live on less than a dollar a day. The company as a result invests in projects that use P&G products to create a higher level of earnings. This is very much a long-term strategy-it may be 40 years before the programs show results-but for P&G this is not a issue. In the meantime, they are still getting all of the benefits of being philanthropic. Becoming sustainable in this way adds value to your philanthropy and creates a long-term benefit for your company.
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