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Casual Articles - Importance of an Effective Community Relations Program
Corporations need to keep growing in order to satisfy shareholders equity and quarterly profits. They need to increase sales and therefore they need to increase the rate of distribution of their products and services. Often corporate executive management teams will look at franchising as a method of propelling the company's growth.Although franchising isn't over regulated field with a lot of trips and traps it is a good method of growing distribution outlets for your products. Most business executives would agree that there are way too many ridiculous laws on the books and franchising being as it is highly regulated does not make things easy.With companies like Boston Market and Krispy Kreme's pushing the envelope on acceptable franchising business practices some believe this is causing Big Brother an excuse to add more laws to the franchising community. For those business executives who are willing to admit this publicly I say to you; Oh I hear you, but also what if there were no laws for franchising then the franchise buyers would be much more leary and ask a hell of a lot more questions and less people would get burned. Thus there would be a need for fewer laws not more.Also the laws now allow many of the largest franchisors a free-pass from registration and many of those you are just buying yourself a job. Franchising formats and business models really seem to be more like leasing a business and yet they have developed parallel laws to SEC investments, it simply is a different animal entirely. Perhaps we should consider all these points in 2006 when discu
How many of your new leads progress to an initial prospect meeting?Offering a free report or white paper to stock your pool of prospects is a common practice. But let's face the facts. Only some of these prospects will eventually give you time for an initial prospect meeting. To sort out the qualified leads, your salesperson has to take time to further qualify, follow up and nurture all the leads.In fact, most of the new leads will turn out to be unqualified prospects. And working these unqualified prospects waste your salesperson's time and drags down the percentage of your leads that progress to an initial customer meeting. Your salesperson might not appreciate all this work. They will eventually stop using the leads your working so hard at generating.If you're ready to be more aggressive and send your salesperson more leads that will progress to an initial prospect meeting, here is how you can tweak your program. All you need to do is look at what's behind free offers.It seems obvious. You offer to your list of suspects a valuable report. Those who see value in the report will send for it, knowing there is a catch. They know they have to provide you with their contact information. But there is actually something else going on here that will win you more qualified leads. There is a fair and well-known bartering system you need to exploit.How to get more for your free reportLet's see how this works. Trying to get better-qualified prospects from the get-go usually reduces your return rate. You're forced to use a ha
In today's environment of public suspicion, gaining and maintaining public consent to operate has become an on-going, top management concern for most businesses and large organizations. Community relationships are effectively maintained primarily through engagement with various publics and audiences within the community and your organization.
It is often stated that community relations are “public relations at the local level” or that it is “living right and telling about it.” It has also been explained as “having and keeping friends in the community.” These statements get to the heart of community relations, but they are oversimplified definitions when the vital mission of community relations is analyzed clearly.
Community relations is the function that evaluates public attitudes, identities the mission of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. Like public relations, community relations is something an organization has whether this fact is recognized or not. Unlike public relations, community relations is usually limited to the local area. Business organizations give attention to their community relations for good reason. Organizations can exist and make a profit only as long as the public allows them to exist. The concept that American free enterprise exists only to make a profit and is responsible only to its official family has diminished to a great degree. It has fast given way to the realization that there is also a responsibility to the community in which the organization is located and that it is advisable for the organization to meet this responsibility of its own free will. While there is not universal agreement on the specific benefits gained, organizations conducting planned programs cite many tangible and intangible benefits from their community relations efforts. Benefits from good community relations do not come automatically. In fact, many organizations that are fine employers and outstanding corporate citizens fail to realize the rewards to which
The values landscape of our nation is changing, and with it your personal values landscape is changing as well. What does this mean and what does it have to do with midlife? Researcher Dr. Paul Ray says that the predominant values set held by Americans has been one he terms Modernist, with roots in the Renaissance. Modernists presently represent 88 million U.S. adults, or 47% of the population, but the numbers of Modernists are shrinking as those who hold these values are increasingly leaving this subculture and choosing instead the values of one of the other two subcultures ray has found, the Heartlanders (representing traditionalist values) and the Culture Creatives (representing newly emerging integral values, never before seen in human history). Heartlanders represent 29% of the population, or 56 million adults, while Culture Creatives represent 24% of the population, or 44 million adults. Those with a Modernist perspective tend to value religious and lifestyle pluralism, career achievement stepping stones, consumerism, a “winning” lifestyle, capitalism; tolerate societal fragmentism; and welcome the technologization of life. Many Heartlander values are the polar opposites of Modernist values: simplified and unified lifestyle options; an emphasis on putting families, not careers, first; buying in accordance with budget and values; a family-oriented lifestyle; a deemphasis on individualization and capitalism; a great desire to heal the fragmentations of American society; and a dr
In today's environment of public suspicion, gaining and maintaining public consent to operate has become an on-going, top management concern for most businesses and large organizations. Community relationships are effectively maintained primarily through engagement with various publics and audiences within the community and your organization.
It is often stated that community relations are “public relations at the local level” or that it is “living right and telling about it.” It has also been explained as “having and keeping friends in the community.” These statements get to the heart of community relations, but they are oversimplified definitions when the vital mission of community relations is analyzed clearly.
Community relations is the function that evaluates public attitudes, identities the mission of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. Like public relations, community relations is something an organization has whether this fact is recognized or not. Unlike public relations, community relations is usually limited to the local area. Business organizations give attention to their community relations for good reason. Organizations can exist and make a profit only as long as the public allows them to exist. The concept that American free enterprise exists only to make a profit and is responsible only to its official family has diminished to a great degree. It has fast given way to the realization that there is also a responsibility to the community in which the organization is located and that it is advisable for the organization to meet this responsibility of its own free will. While there is not universal agreement on the specific benefits gained, organizations conducting planned programs cite many tangible and intangible benefits from their community relations efforts. Benefits from good community relations do not come automatically. In fact, many organizations that are fine employers and outstanding corporate citizens fail to realize the rewards to which
Want to get more from your people, but you don't know how? Are you up for a small challenge and prepared to do things a little differently? If so, we have five changes to your style that you will find easy to incorporate into the way you work and your people will love you for it; you will have more time and your business will flourish.Think about it - is that not worth just the little effort required? Stop Fixing ThingsNext time someone comes to you with a problem in your business, STOP, before you give the solution and try the next step. Ask themFor more information - ask it as an open question, start with words like:-What?How?When?Who?Where?You can even ask Why?, if you don't make it too intimidating.Three particular favourites of mine are:- "Tell me more about that...", "What have you tried already?" and "What do you think?" ListenTheir answers will tell you a lot - you've gone to the trouble of asking, so listen to the answers. Here's a big tip - once they stop talking, leave a space for them to say more - they usually will and in that second burst, often comes the revealing solution for them! Ask MoreWhen they finally run out of steam, ask them another open question. This time about something they have just told you. Listen hard and the right question will come to you (note - there are no 'wrong' questions to ask!). A
Community relations is the function that evaluates public attitudes, identities the mission of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. Like public relations, community relations is something an organization has whether this fact is recognized or not. Unlike public relations, community relations is usually limited to the local area. Business organizations give attention to their community relations for good reason. Organizations can exist and make a profit only as long as the public allows them to exist. The concept that American free enterprise exists only to make a profit and is responsible only to its official family has diminished to a great degree. It has fast given way to the realization that there is also a responsibility to the community in which the organization is located and that it is advisable for the organization to meet this responsibility of its own free will. While there is not universal agreement on the specific benefits gained, organizations conducting planned programs cite many tangible and intangible benefits from their community relations efforts. Benefits from good community relations do not come automatically. In fact, many organizations that are fine employers and outstanding corporate citizens fail to realize the rewards to which
Although today’s job market can be very competitive, many job seekers overlook simple techniques that will catch potential employers’ attention. Apply these eight ideas to stay ahead of your competitors and get hired now!1. BRAND YOURSELF. Target, Macy’s, and Neiman Marcus are all retailers. But you can easily tell them apart because of their effective branding. Apply the concept of branding to your job search. How are you unique or different? What makes you a star?2. CREATE SOLID MARKETING MATERIALS AND PACKAGE THEM WELL. Does your r?sum? present specific accomplishments, complete with results that demonstrate what you can do for a potential employer? If not, why not? Is it clean, neat, and easy to read? Do you have a personal business card? Does it convey quality?3. WRITE POWERFUL COVER LETTERS that communicate your achievements, demonstrate you professionalism, and excite perspective employers. Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Keep them to one page!4. HAVE YOUR 10-SECOND COMMERCIAL READY TO GO. Make it snappy and compelling! Use it to describe your skills or a recent accomplishment.5. THINK ABOUT THE EMPLOYER’S NEEDS, NOT YOUR AGENDA. Never mind your agenda (getting a job), think about the employer’s agenda (solving a problem). What problem are they trying to solve? Describe how you can help. Then follow up, follow up, follow up.6. PREPARE YOUR TELEPHONE SCRIPTS. Write one to use when you get a live person on the line, a second when leaving your first voice mail message, and a third one for your follow-up voice mail message. Pra
The number of fun team building activities you can utilize to improve productivity at work are limited only by the imagination. From more simple and traditional games and sport-related activities, to more elaborate adventures drawing inspiration from popular reality tv shows, there are many ways to have fun while learning to work together as a team.Creative and critical thinking, trust-building, problem solving, conflict resolution, and more are involved in many of these activities that give you and your team a chance to get to know and appreciate one another better as people outside of your typical environment, and help strengthen and revitalize work relationships. Some popular ideas include scavenger hunts, music and rhythm exercises, and other physical activities or games that require people to interact, work together, and have fun. Even a team cooking activity can provide a valuable team building experience. Many approaches to team building incorporate humor as an essential component to helping people lighten up, relax, and explore their potential as a group working together.Some of the essentials to building an effective team include: - helping each individual feel like a valuable member of the team with a unique purpose to fulfill that contributes to a common goal. - encouraging open, non-threatening communication - overcoming any barriers to group cohesiveness - providing safe ways to manage conflict - facilitating group interactionWhether you have a new group of people who need to quickly get to know one another in order to form
Like so many specific disciplines within the practice of public relations, the work done by community relations practitioners is extremely complex. And yet, if you leaf through the general public relations texts, you won’t find much discussion about "community relations."
It’s probably because community relations activities emulate the work done by public relations practitioners on a regular basis (that is, carefully researched, targeted communications to achieve an organizational goal -- community acceptance and support). Consequently, the authors probably didn’t think it necessary to break out community relations activities from the work that’s done every day.
None-the-less, community relations deserve some serious discussion. Basically, what good, effective community relations does is involve the people, businesses and organizations who live, work and operate in the surrounding community in company activities.
A company does not live in a vacuum. The citizens and groups that populate its geographic operating area are essential to its operation. The employees live in the community; they very likely grew up there. The company banks in the community. Municipal, county and state governments set the parameters by which the company can operate.
As a result, a successful organization must continuously establish understanding and support for its products, services and positions among those publics important to its welfare. And you only get this by applying good public relations principles over time.
In the spring of 2002, Aquarion acquired four American New England water utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire. The sale added some 177,000 peopl
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