Impressions, as we all know, are blurry ideas in which confidences are given. Marketing materials such as business cards, posters, postcards, flyers, brochures and catalogs must satisfy the customer’s confidences even at the very first sight of the material.

Catalogs, for instance, must leave a lasting and positive first impression. Before they can encourage potential readers to read on, they must entice them first to come closer and take a look at them. They must have fascinating design and facade to lure the would-be receivers.

To complete the marketing formula, the company or its marketer must entrust the potential masterpieces to a master in catalogs printing. If you have hesitations and worries regarding the printing process, the colors and materials like paper and ink to be used, ask the pool of experts that surround the printing company. They will help you seek solutions to your catalogs printing dilemmas.

Catalogs are made to have easy access on your products and service. You do not have to bring them with you. With catalogs around, there is no need to present the literal product or demonstrate the services that your company is offering. All it takes is an effective modern catalog.

In the production of catalogs, areas of concentration must be established and considered. One area is the product or service. Some product need not be included in the catalog while some are indispensable. Choosing which are to be incorporated from which are not must be carefully done.
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Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Word count is 1245 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

What Are We Teaching PR Students?

How to do brochures, throw parties, talk to reporters and write press releases? Or, are we teaching them what PR’s fundamental premise says we should be teaching them?

In so many words, whether they go to work for a business, non-profit, government agency or association, students will soon discover that people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable
behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is usually accomplished.

Which is why, after public relations students digest THAT basic touchstone, they should be made aware that, as future managers, their core public relations mission will be to pull together the resources and action planning they need to alter individual perception leading to changed behaviors among their most important outside audiences.

But that’s not all! Then PR students should learn that they will have to persuade those key folks to his or her way of thinking, then move them to take actions that allow their subsidiary, division, department, group or office to succeed.

What we want for our new crop of PR students is the knowledge that the right public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among the very outside audiences who will help them succeed as managers.

Should you find yourself explaining the role of public relations, you must ask your audience to remember that their PR efforts will demand more than the use of special events, news releases and talk show tactics if they are to receive the
quality public relations results they deserve.

As to the results they can expect, tell them how glad they’ll be that they took your advice when capital givers or specifying sources begin to look their way;
customers start to make repeat purchases; membership applications begin to rise; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures start showing
up; politicians and legislators begin looking at them as key members of the business, non-profit or association communities; new bounces in show room
visits occur; prospects actually start to do business with them; and community leaders begin to seek them out.

Discuss with your audience why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Above all, be sure they really believe that perceptions almost always result in behaviors that can help or hurt their operation.

Go over with them the need for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of their most important outside audiences. Have them ask questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? Are you familiar with our services or products and employees? Have you experienced
problems with our people or procedures?

They should learn that the cost of using professional survey firms to do the opinion gathering work will be considerably more than using their PR colleagues who are already in the perception business. But whether it’s their people or a survey firm asking the questions, the objective remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.
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Sometimes, a great product is not enough to get the attention your company deserves from the public. Sometimes, you need to make waves the right waves in order to get noticed and employing a public relation firm can help you gain your place in the limelight.

The relationship between a company and its public relation firm should be long-lasting. IF you change public relation firms periodically, the public may end up being confused with the ever-changing messages of your ads. Start advertising right with the right public relation firm.

Heres how to find the perfect public relation firm for your companys needs:

Work Experience in a Particular Industry and Location

Hiring a public relation firm with extensive experience in advertising and marketing hotels is not a good decision, no matter how many awards it had garnered, if your business belongs to the medical industry. Hotels and hospitals are two completely different things and thats why you need a public relation firm with experience in handling public relations of hospitals, not hotels.

Likewise, hiring a fancy New York public relation firm may not be a good choice to make if your business is located in the smallest and most traditional town of Texas. Again, New York and Texas are two completely different tastes and inhabited by completely different people, so what may work in New York could absolutely fail in Texas!

Party, Party, Party!

Public relation firms are best known for their ability to create glitzy events. Availing the services of the right public relation firm will enable you to create parties that are nothing but exciting and fun without having to spend half as much as you imagine you would for such events.

Offering Something beside Trendy

Most individuals believe that hiring a public relation firm is necessary only when you have to organize a party or get the right people to notice your product. The right public relation firm, however, can give you more than that if you know the right things to ask for.

A public relation firm understands that each company is unique from the other, even if theyre competing in the same sector. This means different strategies as well. Given the opportunity, a public relation firm can also help you determine the right positioning in the industry, make brand recognition possible and identify the target market for your company and products.
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Excitement at the thought of starting your own business venture, fear at the thought of failure, are the two major emotions that people face when thinking of starting their own business. For many the fear of failure is enough to hold them back from taking the chance at starting their own small business; however, with careful planning and some luck a small business will be set for success.

When starting a small business it is important to step back and decide what exactly the company will be focusing on. What type of products or services will it be providing and to what group or niche will the company be aiming towards as its target audience. This seems like a simple enough step however many people many people either try to cater to too broad of an audience or to too small of a group. Although trying to appeal to a large audience may sound great at first, it can be harmful for a small business. Trying to cater to a broad spectrum of people makes the company lose focus and ultimately lose its identity. Targeting too small of an audience is a problem simply because a small target group makes for a small population of potential customers.

Another thing to consider is the supply and demand of the market that the company will be focused on. A company will need to either be excellent at what it does, very unique in what it does, and most importantly lucky to succeed let alone survive. Choosing a market that is largely in demand and short in supply will increase a company’s chance of survival immensely. The opposite can be said for a market that is low in supply and large in demand. Try to study where current business trends are headed towards and what is needed or wanted by today’s consumers. Also, it is important when looking at trends to try and think about its long term viability. The last thing that you want to do is start a business based on a fad that is over within a year or two.
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