PR at Work 2 of 4: Local Press

Working for an international company, there are different publics with whom we relate. Our trade industry. Consumers around the world. National and Regional media. But the one that raises the most questions in the building is the local press. There are things we tell the local community that we tell no one else. Personnel promotions, new employees, formation of a Ski to Sea team, and we still share bigger company news, like new customers, products or advertising campaigns.

What is the value of local public relations? Obviously it's not product awareness, because the relative sales that result are small. But when communicating with the local community, there are more important things than sales.

Think about this: Company Morale.

About a year ago, the president of my company was on the cover of the Northwest Business Monthly. A couple of days after it dropped, he stopped in for lunch at his favorite Thai restaurant. The owner was excited to see him, because he had seen the magazine cover and he got special attention the whole lunch. I heard about this experience for two days straight.

I later learned that our President’s mother Betty, the Allsop Matriarch, was passing the Northwest Business Monthly around at a dinner party. She had a great time talking about her sons with her friends. And funnily enough, I learned that Betty was showing the article off from the editor of the magazine. Someone he was interviewing had been at the party and mentioned Betty’s gloating. So it fluffed the editor’s ego a bit, knowing we were so happy with the piece.

People love to see their name or their organization in the paper. Friends, family, casual acquaintances and others will see little clips about the organization and comment. "Oh, I saw that you hired some new people, or you launched a new product or you're moving to another building. You must be growing. How exciting!"

But even beyond company morale there are other benefits. Being visible in publications that members of the local government read improves your status as a community member. You are thought of as a local employer, taxpayer and benefit to the community. This eases the way in any face-to-face interactions or disputes.

And even family businesses have investors. They're called bank executives. People like to claim a little bit of responsibility for successes and seeing customers in print gives them a chance to point and tell their friends and associates: "Hey, we work with them."

We recently had some budget meetings with our accountant and bankers and very early in the conversation, we heard: "I saw you guys in the Bellingham Business Journal. I didn't know you had a company store."

It's true. Sometimes there's more to business than sales. Local public relations for an international company can help the organization through company morale, creating a positive community image and building ties with other local businesses.

So I have a plan. I’ve made a mental list of the people at my company who doubt the value of local public relations. And I am going to get each of their names published for something. An anniversary, a promotion, being on our Ski to Sea team. My guess, the first time they see their name in print, I’ll have a new ally.