While the market’s tanked today following the new President’s Inaugural address, his speech buoyed expectations and confidence across the board by democrats, republicans and independents.

Here’s my take on Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address. Hopefully the awkward stumble out of the gate during the first part of the swearing-in ceremony with Chief Justice Roberts stepping on his own words and tripping up the President-to-be is not a prescient moment that foreshadows what might happen in the forthcoming administration.

Nevertheless, with the aplomb and good-natured equanimity for which the President has become known, he pressed head with his oath and took the podium to make his address. His speech consisted of 2,395 words that took 18 minutes and ten seconds to deliver. The President needs no coaching on the importance of having good posture, a broad smile and making contact with his audience, even if it is a sea of 2 million people on the Lincoln Mall.  Barack Obama is certainly likeable, friendly and telegenic as heck, all of which assuredly contributed to his winning this election.

A Well-Written, Well-Delivered Speech

It was a well written speech. It was lyrical and metaphorical, by the fifth sentence drawing upon the images of “storm and clouds,” setting a tempered mood that “there are tough times ahead, “ which is exactly what he needed to do. The words were well structured, the sentences well phrased and the speech overall well paced, delivering his words at a comfortable 135 words per minute. This is not a speech that could be delivered by, for example, George Bush (either of them, son or father), possibly by a Bill Clinton, who had much more flair for the spoken word and respect for oratory, but President Barack Obama is in a class of his own with regard to style and ability.

President Barack Obama: A Cross Between Dr. King and John F. Kennedy

The new President Obama did justice to these words and a fine job delivering this well crafted speech. But it was not a grand slam, nor do I think it met the great expectations riding on it. He has excellent oratorical skills that are unique to his personality and upbringing. His delivery falls just short of Baptist-fire-and-brimstone, a testament to as well as evidence of his strong religious and church upbringing. Moreover, it is equally as representative of is his respect, reverence and idolization of Dr. Martin Luther King, as a leader and no doubt as a speaker. The speaking style of this, our 44^th president could best be considered a cross between Dr. King and John F. Kennedy. Each certainly a great speaker and each with their own distinct style. President Obama’s hybrid-delivery of the two provides him with extraordinary potential as he begins his evolution as a statesman.

A Good Speech, Not a Great Speech

The speech touched all the points that it had to, acknowledging the crises we face, recognizing the tough days ahead and giving us some sense as what we might expect from him on policies both home, and abroad. It contained a classic oratorical device employed two times, the “repeating of words at the beginning of a sentence in order to accentuate a point” (best compared to Dr. King’s “I have a Dream Speech”), but no such comparison could be made to this speech, nor do I think that the President or his writers were striving for such lofty rhetoric. I think that for all practical purposes this speech hit the mark. I don’t think that this one speech was a panacea for all the ills we are suffering here at home. The speech only received four applause breaks and did not ripple through the throngs crammed throughout the mall, but rather only recognized by a smattering of desultory clusters, even though many lines of this speech were carefully crafted and delivered as applause lines (testimony to the quality of writing and delivery). I think that these presumptive applause lines failed to generate the intended “applause response” more because this is telling sign of the nation’s somber and sober attitude than anything else.

Two Ways to Judge the Speech: The “Markets Reaction” and the “Peoples’” Reaction

As I mentioned in my immediately prior blog posting concerning the importance of this speech and what was riding on it, there are two ways to judge immediately the success of this speech. The first is how the markets reacted and the second is how “American’s” reacted. Even though the President, according to a CBS/New York Times poll showed 79% of American’s are optimistic about the next four years, that did not help the Dow (.DJI), which was down more than 2 percent in early afternoon trade, extending the 2009 slump to nearly 8 percent. Further, according to an end-of-day report by Marketwatch, U.S. financial stocks plunged today, falling almost 17% to match their biggest percentage decline ever as investors panicked at the likelihood that there is no end in sight for the sector’s need for capital, and no easy way to raise it. According to Chuck Mikolajczak, a Reuters reporter, “Wall Street ushered in the Barack Obama presidency with a record Inauguration Day drop on Tuesday amid fresh signs the global bank crisis was far from over. High expectations for details on how the new administration would address the growing banking crisis and faltering economy were dampened after the inauguration speech concluded with little new information to digest. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 332.13 points, or 4.01 percent, to 7,949.09. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 44.90 points, or 5.28 percent, to 805.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 88.47 points, or 5.78 percent, to 1,440.86.

“I think the expectations were over the top to begin with,” said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco. “When you have that kind of expectation, you’re going to get disappointed.”

Reaction by “The Public”

I think Mr. Pado’s quote hits the nail on the head. However, how the speech went over “in general with the public” is an entirely different matter. Planting seeds, building confidence and sending out signals for an agenda were part of the mission of the speech. Here’s how it was received by the public.

The content, findings and reporting below comes from an extraordinary website I found that you may want to bookmark; its www.mediacurves.com and it provides technical analysis on “people’s perceptions” backed up rigorous research. The Media Curves web-site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements. This kind of information is normally proprietary and costly. You might enjoy not only being aware of this site, but also reviewing the reactions and perceptions generated by our new President subsequent to his speech.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071204/NYTU133LOGO )

The study was conducted by HCD Research today, the day of his speech (January 20^th) to obtain Americans’ perceptions of President Barack Obama and what effect his presidency will have on the nation’s critical issues, including the economy, health care, education, the war in Iraq and energy supply and creation. Participants were asked to respond to questions before and after viewing the inauguration speech to determine if their perceptions changed after viewing the speech. Participants were also asked to rate Barack Obama based on 8 leadership attributes. To view detailed results, visit: www.mediacurves.com.

The study, conducted among 1,819 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that the majority of Americans are more confident that the key issues facing the nation will improve during the next four years after viewing President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech.

Among the Findings:

· After the speech, 51% of Republicans were confident that the economy would improve over the next four years compared to 38% before watching the speech. Democrats were more confident with regard to the issue of Iraq. There was an increase of 17% of Democrats who believed that the issue of the war in Iraq would improve in the next presidency after watching the inauguration speech.

·

· Republicans’ perception of President Obama’s leadership also improved after the inauguration speech. Participants were asked to rate President Obama on an agreement scale based on 8 leadership attributes before and after watching the inauguration speech. Republicans increased their level of agreement for every leadership attribute after viewing the speech. The highest increases were seen in the following attributes: “Obama is firm and consistent in his views” (increase of 15%), “Obama is representing my values (increase of 14%) and “Obama is honest” (increase of 13%).

·

· Participants’ emotions were also measured while viewing the speech. The emotion that was felt the most by viewers during the inauguration speech was hopefulness. Hopefulness was the top emotion felt by Democrats (68%), Republicans (36%), as well as Independents (57%). Democrats and Independents also reported that they felt confident and attentive, while Republicans reported that they felt some skepticism.

The Bottom Line: Did the Speech Work?

On the whole, yes. Did the President hit it out of the park? No. Are there any memorable take-away lines or phrases? No. Were we inspired and invigorated. No. But did it hit the mark? Yes and then some. According to hard core research as noted above, people came away with a “better feeling for the President and belief that this country will be better off.” And given the state of our economy and the conditions inherited by this president, this was a decent first day at work.

Jeff Mustard authored his first speech for Congressman Benjamin Gilman while serving as an Intern on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has authored speeches to esteemed audiences delivered at the highest levels of government and business. In addition to providing speech-writing services, he is an accomplished speech coach, perfecting delivery for national television appearances.

When President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office on Tuesday, he will be standing not just in front of the Capitol, but in front of the world. His right hand will rest upon the bible used to swear in this nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. If ever there were a speech that carried with it the future and fate of the United States, and by extension the world given the role this country plays in the globlal arena at every level, it would be President-Elect Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address.

The Nations’ News is Bad, Very Bad

Virtually never, or unarguably since the Great Depression, have the circumstances and conditions facing Americans been as dire. I don’t think it’s necessary to recount the details that precede this forecast, just pick up your newspaper, watch the news, or peruse the home page of your internet browser — the headlines are frightening indeed. Whether it’s a discussion about the multi-billion dollar bail-out (that doesn’t’ seem to be working, or certainly not working fast enough), the implosion of Wall-Street and essentially the collapse of our financial markets, our Trillion-dollar deficit (that calls in to question the hard times ahead), the highest unemployment in more than 40 years, the shrinking value of the U.S. dollar, our wars abroad and our credibility in the world, much rests on the words the President-Elect will speak on Tuesday.

The Importance of this Inaugural Address: Every Word, Every Sentence, Every Phrase Counts

Every word, every phrase, every sentence and every paragraph, as well as the tone of this speech will set the attitude we Americans face going forward in this country, at least for the next four years. This speech will shape the way the world views us – as a people, and a nation. It will impact the financial community here, and abroad.  If you think this is placing too much emphasis on what will likely be a thirty to no more than forty-five minute speech,  just watch what happens to the stock market on the day-of and following his speech.  The ramifications to his words simply cannot be overstated; the challenges we face as a nation, the path that he suggests for the people of this country as well as the gauntlet he throws down for our members of congress, and all of our government leaders, are simply put, at the apogee of seriousness.

The Speech:  The Quintessential Axis of Marketing, Communications, Public Relations

Make no mistake about it, this speech is as much about shaping, (or attempting to shape) public policy, as it is about (attempting to shape) public perception (about how he will “lead” and how this country “may do” from this day forward). This speech is in fact the quintessential axis of marketing, public relations and communications colliding into one fantastic medium, or opportunity – a public speech delivered by our President-to-be on the day he is sworn in. He will outline the challenges, he will seek to inspire.  His message is as much intended for our government leaders as it is for this nation’s citizens. 

Will President-Elect Barack Obama Deliver?

The question is, can President-Elect Barack Obama meet this goal? Can he, and/or his speech-writers force us to look in the mirror at these daunting problems and compel us to do what it takes to bring this country back from the brink of financial ruin and personal despair? Not only what he says, but how he says it will dictate whether he injects in us (America and American’s) the kind of invigorating message that will rally our support not just as a national constituency, but equally how this country will be perceived as the major actor it is on the world stage. He sets the bar for how he will be able to interact not just within our government, but with other governments.

My Predictions: What this Speech Should Be

This speech will be serious, it will be somber. But, at the same time it must uplifting. It must resonate with the values and tradition of the great American spirit. It must resonate with the grit, determination and the hard work of our forefathers that made this country great. It will more than likely echo in our memory one of the greatest speeches ever delivered (either as an Inaugural address or of all great speeches presented by statesmen), the memorable JFK speech, and inevitably it will draw comparisons. It will, or should, touch upon the difficulties we face now and how we as one of the greatest nations on earth, the cornerstone of democracy and bedrock of free enterprise will rise above the crises of today. It will be, or should be captivating, compelling and cogent. President-Elect Barack Obama has surely been blessed with the gift of oratory, his tone is pleasing, his demeanor thus far on par with circumstance and conditions consistent with place, time and need. Let’s see how he delivers, and if he delivers.

To be continued Wednesday. Check back here for further views about the soon-to-be President’s speech performance.

Note: Jeff Mustard authored his first speech for Congressman Benjamin Gilman while serving as an Intern on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has authored speeches to esteemed audiences delivered at the highest levels of government and business. In addition to providing speech-writing services, he is an accomplished speech coach, perfecting delivery for national television appearances.

The Media is “Looking for News” – Give them what they Want!

The media are (constantly) on the lookout for new, interesting and exciting (news) stories. What this means to you is that the media is entirely approachable. All you need to do is learn how to present “your news” to them.

The Four Key Steps to Obtaining Free Publicity

So how do you go about getting media coverage? It all starts with an angle, followed by a smartly and properly written press release, targeting the right media as a potential outlet for your story and then pitching them your story idea.  That’s it.  Your PR game plan consists of four key steps; Angle/Story idea, Press Release, Target Appropriate Media, and Pitching Skills.

Creating Your Media Story

How do you start getting free publicity? There are a few ways. The media coverage can be about you, your company, your product, your service, or your industry. It can be consumer-oriented or business-to-business related for trade magazines. Regardless however, the questions below will serve as triggers for the things you need to think about, and answer, that can serve as the basis of a press release you can use to pitch a potential story to the media.

Disclaimer: Here’s what this Article Will do, and what it will not Do

This article will not teach you “how to” write a press release. There is not enough space to do that. There are literally hundreds of books both off line and online that can assist you in this area, some for free, others not. What this column will do for you immediately is provide you with the critical thinking that expands your world from a marketing point of view that will allow you to begin the process of understanding what’s involved in creating a proper PR storyline that can help you potentially obtain free media coverage. So let’s begin.

• Have you earned any special achievements, awards, certificates, designations, etc?
• Have you emerged as a “sales leader” in your organization?
• Have you overcome any “obstacles” personal and/or professional to achieve the accomplishments or status that you have earned?
• Do you have any “inside or secret techniques” you can share with consumers or colleagues about your product or service that provides useful or valuable tips?
• How would you document your rise to success – overcoming obstacles, if any, to become a premier player (in whatever niche you might specialize in). This applies to “your success” either within your sales organization or your industry at large.
• Case studies and Teaching Opportunities – what secrets and/or tips can you share that that would be helpful and/or informative to others? This can be consumers or industry-specific.

The PR bottom Line

Maybe you’re special, maybe you’re not. If you can answer these questions, either any single one of them, or any combination of them, in a press release format, with a word count not to exceed 500, you have a shot at obtaining the media holy grail –  FREE PRESS coverage.

Working from this list you can craft a press release that could potentially be of interest to your local and/or industry trade journals, possibly even your daily newspaper or even magazines. Remember, the media are always looking for news. If you package, present and pitch your information the right way, you may very well find yourself in the media spotlight. That’s good for you, and your business. And best of all, it’s free.

Jeff Mustard, The PR Cowboy, is a veteran, award-winning publicist who has wrangled millions of dollars in free publicity for clients. He can be reached through his company: www.TheBambooAgency.com, email, jeff@thebambooagency.com or at: 954-801-8263

Why not take the opportunity to convert seasonal benchmarks, such as the “holiday season” into marketing opportunities? And that’s precisely the tact taken on behalf of one of Tennessee’s leading chiropractors who, at the last minute, decided to send a “holiday newsletter” to his clients. Converting “holiday good cheer” into marketing messages is a prime example of squeezing every bit of opportunity out of your communications strategy through the use of “leverage marketing.”

On December 8^th, Dr. Louis Obersteadt, the former multi-year president of the Tennessee Chiropractic Association and a distinguished two-time recipient as “Chiropractor of the Year,” decided he wanted a holiday newsletter. The case study below reflects the strategies deployed to maximize this singular marketing effort as a platform to create multiple marketing opportunities.

The Original/Primary Assignment: Create a Holiday Newsletter.

A big yawn and ho-hum is pretty much the way we can mostly characterize seasonal communications with customers, clients or prospects. The majority of snail-mailed post cards are generic “seasonal greetings” dripping with mundane off-the-shelf sentiment designed at best to be “warm and fuzzy.” Rarely, do you find a “call-to-action” and even less frequently does a “holiday card” strike such a resonant chord with the recipient that they can’t wait to not only share that unsolicited missive with family or friends, but even better, leave them anxious to make their next appointment.

The above was the self-imposed challenge the agency faced in creating this distinguished doctor’s newsletter. Click here to see the “snail mail” version of the Holiday Newsletter.

The Result: The most challenging task as marketers is to create a communications message that truly connects with customers, a message that makes them smile, one that is light and fun yet relevant, resonant and even humorous. If you can make people smile, or laugh, and gently, or subtly imbed your “sales message” it is arguably the most effective and powerful marketing approach. This goal was exceedingly accomplished. View the snail-mail version of the Holiday Newsletter.

Here’s what Dr. Obersteadt had to say about the “Holiday Newsletter”:

Leverage Step 2: From Snail-Mail to Email

Finding ways to squeeze multiple uses out of your “marketing materials” is simply smart marketing. So the very next tactic we employed, as well as being extremely cost efficient for the client, was to reproduce the snail-mail newsletter into an email version. By simply reformatting the snail-mail version of the mailed print version of the newsletter, we were able to double up and reinforce our message to the doctor’s patients, increasing our “impressions” while reducing our cpm. Click here to see the email version of the email holiday card.

Leverage Step 3: The Press Release

Here’s where it gets pretty juicy, creative and fun. We decided to augment the holiday newsletter with some “practical holiday tips” and converted it into a potentially newsworthy press release. After all, the news media are always looking for “unique and interesting” holiday/seasonal-tie’in’s and stories. So, the approach we would take to the media would provide a consumer tie-in with the holiday season, best reflected in the following pitch line:  “A Dozen Helpful and Healthy Ways to Shop During the Holidays without Putting A Crimp in Your Christmas or Your Back.” The goal was to get the attention of news editors in Nashville, TN with a  Subject Line  in Outbound Emails to the Nashville media that read: “Correct Shopping Posture: Don’t Let Christmas Shopping Put a Crimp in your Shopping or your Back this Holiday Season.”

Click Here to See the Press Release

The Result: Media Success

The agency was engaged less than two weeks prior to Christmas Day. Clearly a short fuse and for all practical purposes an impossibly truncated time-line to get anything meaningful done, especially as the media is concerned, during this pressure-packed time period.  The fact is, news media stories require ramp and nurturing, especially if it isn’t a “hard news story.” And yet, despite these challenges, the “story” caught the attention of the editor of the Nashville Business Journal and was reproduced in whole in the Belle Meade Community Newspaper website (the newspaper being a weekly, the deadline had passed and no other issue was being “printed” until after the new year).

Critical PostScript & Important Public Relations Advice: News releases are intended to accomplish the following goals:

1. Create interest in an editor (print or electronic media) about doing a “stand alone” news piece about your client (the subject of the release/story).
2. A “story” may be picked up in whole, or in part.
3. Other times a news release will trigger interest on behalf of the news media who will use “your news release” as a starting point to do another version or slant of a story they think is more fitting for their reader/viewer/audience. In this case, a client might be the sole subject of a story, but more often they are one part or one source, of whatever this “larger story” might be.
4. Other times a “story” might fit in to some other notion or idea that is already “in the hopper” or in the “mindset” of an editor/writer/reporter.

Our media success was an example of the fourth scenario noted above.

The Nashville Business Journal

The editor of the Nashville Business Journal was, at the time of the story/release submission, working on a story about “marketing efforts on behalf of businesses’ in the face of a changing and declining business climate.” Dr. Obersteadt was quoted and featured in this story.

The Marketing Machine in Full Swing

So, what happens next with this media success? The principle of Leverage Marketing is further amplified below:

• A reprint of the article(s) will be posted to the Doctor’s website.
• At the Doctor’s discretion, a snail-mail version of a letter, along with a photo copy of the article will be mailed to his patients.
• Additionally and alternatively, an outbound (email) letter will be sent to his patients, which contain a link to the Doctor’s website where a copy of the “article” will live that proudly announces this recent “news” accomplishment.

Conclusion: The Big Payoff

Having established “contacts and connections” with the media in his market, going forward this first small but successful round of media exposure significantly enhances future opportunities to promote the doctor to media editors in his market.

The process of creating “branding” and implementing “name recognition” among the media is invaluable in advancing story ideas in the future. Just as with consumers, it takes time (frequency and reach) to establish “credibility and value” with customers; the media are no different. This (initial) marketing strategy and public relations approach has opened the doors for further dialogue with media.

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Will a Newspaper Article or TV Appearance Help Your Image, or Business? You Bet! Learn How to Use the Media and let Public Relations Work for You.

Whether times are good or bad, you should always be looking for new ways to market yourself and your listing(s). Public Relations can achieve both and is likely the most powerful and the most cost-effective way to raise your profile within your community. And best of all, it’s free, as long as you know how to work with the media.

A Newspaper Article is the Best Listing Tool you Can Have

For the most part, all real estate agents have the same “tools” available to them – MLS, a brochure, advertising and other promotional material about the home (the extent to which is dictated by the value of the home or project), there’s also direct mail, and email.

Imagine the reaction you’ll get at the conclusion of your listing presentation if you show reprints of newspaper clippings containing articles about homes you had spotlighted in your local newspaper, or in a national publication? What if you can point to a press piece that featured you in a story about a sales success, an industry award or other achievement? Who do you think looks like the consummate professional? Who do you think has the edge? Who do you think will get the listing? You, of course!

Get Started Grabbing Your Share of the Limelight

How do you start getting free publicity? There are a few ways, the media coverage can be about you, your company, about your new listing, or in a perfect world, all three. In this column we’ll discuss how to make it about you. The questions below will serve as triggers for the things you need to think about, answer and then can serve as the basis of a press release you can use to pitch your story to the media.

• Have you earned any special achievements, awards, certificates, designations, etc?
• Have you emerged as a “sales leader” in your organization? Have you overcome any “obstacles” personal and/or professional to achieve the accomplishments or status that you have earned?
• Do you have any “inside or secret techniques” you can share with your industry colleagues regarding securing listings, reading buyers, negotiating, marketing?

With this list you can craft a press release that could potentially be of interest to your local and/or industry real estate trade journals, possibly even your daily newspaper or even magazines. Remember, the media are always looking for news. If you package, present and pitch your information the right way, you may very well find yourself in the media spotlight. That’s good for you and your business. And best of all, it’s free.

Jeff Mustard, The PR Cowboy, is a veteran, award-winning publicist who has captured millions of dollars in free publicity for clients. He can be reached through his company: www.TheBambooAgency.com, email, jeff@thebambooagency.com or at: 954-801-8263

So, you’re thinking about hiring a public relations firm, but you have no idea what they charge or how they work. Just like any other professional who provides a highly specialized service, costs and/or fees relate to the amount of time, energy and effort that goes into servicing the account. In public relations this equates to two key variables; a) the actual “creation” of the press release(s), and b) the “distribution,” in other words, where will the press release be going and what media will be receiving it?

Within the context of the above, below are some questions that you must be aware of and equally must be able to answer (as much for yourself) before any public relations company or professional can provide you a quote for providing services.

• Have you or your company either worked with a public relations firm or received any press?
• Are there any press releases that have ever been written about your company, its product/service?
• Do you have any prior press releases handy, and do any of the facts contained therein still apply to your company, its product or service?
• Does your company have a well defined product and/or service? Is this well known and/or understood by the consumer and/or the B2B environment you work in?
• Is the company new or old? Does it have a big or small client base? Does the company have achievements and/or success for what it does?
• Is the product or service you are introducing new or old?
• Is this a consumer product/service or is it a business-to-business product/service?
• Is there good information already written about whatever you are trying to promote, in the way of collateral materials, or do promotional materials need to be created?
• Do you want and/or should there be images/photos to accompany the release?
• Do you want and/or should there be any “video” that supports your news/story?
• Is there or are there clear “public relations” possibilities for this company/product or service or do story ideas, angles, pitches, etc. need to be invented/created in order for there to be a compelling/legitimate “news” story about it?

The aforementioned are just some of the basic, but essential and preliminarily critical questions that any public relations professional will want to know as these directly relate and equate to the amount of time, energy and creative effort that needs to go into producing a powerful and effective press release and any supporting public relations campaign built around it.

Does “Writing” a Press Release Mean I am Going to “Get Press?”

It is very important you know that the act of just simply writing a press release is one thing, but writing it with the appropriate content and intent, with the “right news angle and spin” is what truly allows a public relations professional to legitimately generate publicity. Just because someone writes a press release for you does not mean that you automatically “get press.” That’s just not how it works.

What is Your Desired or Intended Distribution?

The next issue related to price/cost is distribution. Here are the questions you need to answer and a public relations professional needs to know in order to be able to properly provide you with a quote and cost for providing service.

• What is the geographic reach you are trying to achieve with your publicity?
• Related to the above, is your reach local, regional or national?
• Is your media outreach efforts geared for or intended for print, radio or television media?
• Related to the above, is your outreach to one, two or all three of these media?

Length + Depth = Cost

Be aware that the length of the release affects cost. Professional press release “wire services” charge according to word count and distribution circuits. So, beyond just the cost of creating and writing the release the other factor that affects cost is the actual word count/length of the release combined with the depth and breadth of your intended/desired geographic reach.

For example, a press release of 400 words is a different cost than a press release of 800 words. A press release distributed just in your “local market” is naturally different than if it’s regional, or national.

By now you see how the questions above, and your answers to each of them, directly relate to time, energy, effort and cost/fees, as well as for the potential for achieving public relations success.

At the end of the day, regardless of how much money you spend, you will expect to see “your news” somewhere. Your answers to the above questions and how your public relations professional addresses these first and fundamental questions should give you some sense as to their level of professionalism and their potential ability to generate media attention and coverage for your company and/or its product or service.

The Bamboo Agency is a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm that has obtained tens of millions of dollars in print, radio and television coverage for its clients, locally, regionally and nationally. Jeff Mustard is the President of The Bamboo Agency and can be reached at 954-801-8263, or via email: jeff@thebambooagency.com; www.TheBambooAgency.com

Posted in public relations with tags free public relations for real estate agents on June 6, 2008 by Jeff Mustard

As a real estate agent, you are expected to create a marketing plan for your seller. When seeking the listing, you present the seller with your strategies about what you’ll do to promote the home. When was the last time you included Public Relations as part of your marketing matrix? Probably not lately and that’s likely because you don’t understand the public relations process and how the media works. This column will change all that.

Public Relations Can be the Most Powerful Tool in Your Marketing Arsenal

More than likely you have never written a press release, nor initiated a dialogue with a print journalist or a tv news reporter. But you can do all of these things. Without question public relations can be the most powerful tool in your entire marketing arsenal and best of all it’s free. So how do you go about getting a property you represent featured in the newspaper or spotlighted on television?

The Key Four Steps to Obtaining Free Publicity for your Property

It all starts with an angle, followed by a smartly and properly written press release, targeting the right media as a potential outlet for your story and then pitching them your story idea. That’s it. Your PR game plan consists of four key steps; Angle/Story idea, Press Release, Target Appropriate Media, and Pitching Skills.

The Media is “Looking for News” – Give them what they Want!

Next, understand this, the media are (constantly) on the lookout for new, interesting and exciting (news) stories. What this means to you is that the media is entirely approachable. All you need to do is learn how to present “your news” to them and with that knowledge you will literally have the golden key to unlocking the door to acquiring that prized, precious, valuable and free print or television news coverage for your latest listing, project or development.

Jeff Mustard is a Public Relations expert specializing in real estate. To learn more about how you can use Public Relations to capture free and valuable media exposure you can contact Jeff Mustard, President of www.TheBambooAgency.com a multiple-award winning advertising, marketing and public relations firm responsible for marketing more than $100 million in real estate projects. To contact Jeff: 954-801-8263 / email: jeff@thebambooagency.com

Posted in strategic alliance with tags building a strategic alliance, strategic alliance on June 1, 2008 by Jeff Mustard

What is a strategic alliance?

A strategic alliance is when a company creates a relationship with another company whereby that “new” outside, or outsource company can provide non-competing, but complementary services to the original company’s customer/client base.

A company may want to consider building a strategic alliance relationship because it not only fosters a stronger relationship with the company’s client, by being able to provide “additional services” to satisfy and meet your client’s needs, but also as importantly, the ‘referral arrangement” is an income producing opportunity that contributes directly to your company’s bottom line without incurring any new or additional expenses for being able to develop this new income stream.

With your company now being able to provide new and additional services to your client(s) you are not only enhancing your existing customer/client relationship but you are demonstrating your competitive advantage by being able to provide additional services to your clients which contributes to the “everything under one umbrella” concept, thereby obtaining and retaining greater revenue possibilities with your client. The best part is creating the Strategic Alliance won’t cost you a penny!

How do I build a Strategic Alliance?

The easiest way it to identify the assorted types of services that your existing clients need and/or use and cross check that with the services that you presently provide. If there are services that your clients use/need/require and for which you provide a direct or related service but not exactly the type of service that would fit their “additional needs” then by bringing in an outside company to provide those services, under your company banner is simple.

You already have the relationship with the client, it is easy for you to make a recommendation about how you can “help them with their other needs.” A strategic reliance relationship can be seamless to your client. In other words, you still maintain a lead role in the relationship and even billing goes through your office/company.

An Award-Winning Agency

The Bamboo Agency is a multiple award-winning advertising, marketing and public relations firm. We also provide web design and the full complement of film and video production services – from script writing through to shooting and editing we can deliver a turn-key project from a thirty-second television commercial to a thirty-minute infomercial, and everything in between.

Think of The Bamboo Agency as your strategic alliance subcontractor or vendor. There are various ways we can work with you and/or your clients and have provide for you a quick list of mar-com service sectors where we can help you bring tremendous added-value talent and expertise in the execution of “your services” to your client.

A Win-Win Situation for Everyone

This makes for a win-win for you, and us. Building a strategic alliance could very well be the perfect business arrangement in today’s very challenging economy where you are looking for ways to secure your position with your clients while at the same time providing them all the services they need and creating income-generating opportunities for you and your firm/company.

We have prepared a series of blog posts to cater to your specific needs. We specialize in the following industries:

Advertising Agency

Web Design and/or Web Developer

Public Relations Company

Film and Video Production Company

Basically, the economy is in the crapper, on the whole things are just not good. Business is down, and off, pretty much everywhere, across all categories and sectors.

Something has got to give and usually its jobs. Maybe even your job. But before you stress yourself into a paralytic, paranoia frenzy (which never helps job performance anyway) there are a few things you could, and should, understand about what is going on with the market, how you can (potentially) deal with the big issues here, and how creating and building strategic alliances can be the answer to all that ails you.

Make Sure You Leave the Stapler

Let’s start with the basics, but we’ll rapidly ramp up and get to the point. There are two ways companies remain profitable. They make money selling their goods and/or services, and secondly, they reduce expenses. The quickest and cleanest way to reduce expenses is to lay people off. Doesn’t matter how gently you use that phrase, you get laid off, you are FIRED – goodbye, ta ta, or as they say in the world of Instant messaging – c ya later. And, oh by the way, make sure you leave the stapler too.

By reducing expenses through staff reduction, a company feels the impact directly and immediately on the ‘bottom line.”

What to do to stop the Bleeding?

When a company tries to cut production expenses that takes or can take much longer; meaning the company is still bleeding losses while R & D tries to figure out how to make the “product” more cheaply while still retaining the quality, value and features on which it has built its name, brand and reputation. Do we replace the steel with plastic, do we replace the plastic with tin-foil, do we replace the tin-foil with Saran Wrap? These are all critical production questions that take time to investigate.

Hey, Where’s Blake and Tiffany?

So, let’s concentrate on the former method of reducing expenses – cutting personnel. People go first because it is a clear “line item” expense cut. Let Blake or Tiffany go on Monday, you see that cost/salary savings on Friday when accounting makes payroll. Bean counter 1 to bean counter 2 in payroll: “Hey, where’s Blake, I have his check?” Bean counter 2: “oh, they let him go.” Bean Counter 1: “Oh, okay, I guess the bleeding’s stopped.” Bean Counter 2; Yup, everyone’s safe now, at least for this week. Bean Counter 1: I hope he didn’t take the stapler. Bean Counter 2; Oh, you mean like Tiffany did, last week? Direction: Bean counters now snort the way bean counters snort.

As you can see, this is clean and simple, and it makes sense, so long as you are not Blake or Tiffany, and naturally life is back to normal in the Bean-Counter department.

Hey, Guess who’s Picking up the Slack?

When personnel are let go to save costs and reduce expenses it has a serious and deleterious dramatic psychological impact on people, and of course the company as a whole, as you were able to see by the histrionic exchange between Bean Counter 1 and Bean Counter 2. Despite their crazy bean-counter antics, whether you are management, or you’re down the line staff, the remaining personnel must pick up the slack and responsibilities left void from Blake and Tiffany clearing their desks and hitting the bricks.

This puts more pressure on managers and all other department personnel, if there are actually any other department personnel left, who might be fortunate enough to retain their jobs, which naturally everyone is grateful for. Let’s listen to the hushed buzz-banter around the water cooler among the few tremulous remaining employees.

Disgruntled Employee 1: “Gee, can you believe how much frickin’ work we’re doing? Disgruntled Employee 2: “Yeah, I know, like what the hell man, they’re working us like we’re in India making sneakers for Nike for 8 cents an hour.” Disgruntled Employee 1: “I wonder where Blake and Tiffany ended up?” Disgruntled Employee 2: “Yeah, me too, I’ll text him now.”

Where did Blake and Tiffany End Up?

If this situation has happened to you, where cut-backs, layoffs and rampant firings have run-amuck through the hallways of your company on a Bloody Friday, and you’re fortunate enough to have dodged another bullet, then you gotta know you’re working a whole lot harder than Blake or Tiffany, and they’re probably a whole lot happier than you are too serving lattes.

So, this is the cycle of human behavior. First relief, “man, am I glad I didn’t get canned,” to “wow, I can’t believe I am working my a#$ off for the same lousy pay and am doing Blake and Tiffany’s jobs too!”

Ta Da, Strategic Alliance to the Rescue

If you, or your company find yourself in this kind of situation, like laying off Blake and Tiffany, and a host of other people whose names you might not recall at this minute but that you know made your life easy, better and whose work was of true value to you, your department and the company at large, and if you find yourself totally stressing out about how you’re going to get this next major project done, then there is a solution so easy you will smack yourself in the forehead like Homer Simpson and go, “Doh.”

And that answer is, Building Strategic Alliances.

You, my friend, are a perfect candidate for a Strategic Alliance. Why? Well, a few reasons. First the concept of strategic alliance is simply to have on call, a vendor relationship with someone — a person, a company, to whom you can outsource the kinds of work, the kinds of services you need.

In our worlds of advertising, marketing, communications, media, public relations, copywriting, graphic design, web design, etc., there are a host of companies who can provide you these services. It might be one company, it might be many, but you can get them for sure.

Some can do all of these – the copywriting, the design, the film and video production, web design and development and so on, and others can do just some of these. But the big idea here is that you are very likely to be able to find someone to fill in this need. There’s a good chance you can get someone to actually work there, in your office, or they can work “off-site” to do this work. The good news is, you are covered, and that’s gotta be a big relief.

Fabulous For You, You Get Great Work, Without The Expense and Stress of an Employee

This is fabulous for you, and your company, because now you can bring in not just fresh talent and new creative eye-balls to give you an entirely new and unimpeded perspective, totally devoid of politics also, but think about it, you don’t have to pay any of the high costs of maintaining this employee.

They’re not a permanent employee, for that matter they’re not even a part-time employee, they are a 1099 outside contract vendor. Heck you don’t even have to worry where they’re gonna park if they come to your office, all you know is that they just show up and do good work. And just think, best of all, you can stick them where Blake or Tiffany used to work. Pretty convenient, huh.

And after all, isn’t that what you need right now, a little help. Or, maybe even a lot of help. And of course, you want it to be darn good work to, and chances are you’ll be able to get really really good talent to provide you with really good work and help you get all those projects done that are stressing you out, along with the rest of the few people that remain in your department.

So, forget about Blake and Tiffany, they’re history and have moved on, but if you’re looking for really good talent to do really good work and help you through some tough times, then consider a Strategic Alliance, and the buzz around the water cooler will be much healthier.

Call 954-801-8263 for more information on a Strategic Alliance with TheBambooAgency.com.