Come check out the Farmer’s Market being held at The District at Tustin Legacy every Sunday starting this Sunday and running through October 24, 2010.

Event: The District at Tustin Legacy launches Farmer’s Market, giving shoppers access to local produce and specialty foods, as well as live acoustic music.

What: The District at Tustin Legacy will be hosting a Farmers Market offering local produce and specialty foods from the surrounding community and participating District stores and restaurants.  This is a Certified Farmer’s Market being held in conjunction with the Orange County Farm Bureau.

The District at Tustin Legacy is a one million square-foot lifestyle and entertainment center featuring top retail, dining and entertainment tenants.

Who: The District at Tustin Legacy

Date: Every Sunday starting August 8, 2010 through October 24, 2010

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: The District at Tustin Legacy

(Located at the northwest corner of Barranca Parkway and Jamboree Road)

2437 Park Avenue

Tustin, CA 92782

The Farmer’s Market will take place in the parking field adjacent to JT Schmids Restaurant & Brewery and District Valet/Guest Services.

More Info: www.thedistricttl.com or at (714) 259-9090

*All outdoor events will take place weather permitting.

Oftentimes I find myself in new business meetings with executives who will take a magazine, open it up, and point to a feature story on their chief competitor and say, “We want this.”  Usually this is followed by the aforementioned executive giving an elaborate explanation of how they are doing the same thing but better, or a list of all the things they are doing that this competitor is not doing yet.

These articles, as you would imagine, can do wonders for a professional’s reputation since potential customers and industry colleagues are the ones who read them. But as an insider I will let you in on a great little secret.   Most of these articles are the handiwork of highly skilled PR people across America doing incredible work in their industry.  These professionals are providing solid, newsworthy information on their clients to news writers hungry for relevant stories to feed their readers.  However, where some confusion lies is when that same executive sitting across the conference table from me asks the question: “Did they pay for this article?” In the case of most reputable, relevant publications these days, the answer is no.  But in some cases, and many people don’t know this, the answer is yes.

So how do you know the difference?

Have you ever picked up a magazine and noticed that each article you read about a company that is shining or doing something really innovative is followed by a large ad for the same company?  Paid for.  Or have you noticed those publications that only seem to cover the companies that advertise within their golden pages?  Paid for. How about you read a cover story that features XYZ company, then a week later when you are at a conference sponsored by the media company that owns that publication and the entire auditorium is splattered with XYZ company sponsorship logos? Paid for.

“Pay for play” is commonplace among all media formats these days, and can indeed be beneficial if you are seeking a “fluff” article or story in just one outlet.  However, the true value of a solid Public Relations campaign is that the newsworthy information you are sending to the media is sent to multiple outlets in a way that blankets your audience with news from viable, credible sources.

So how can you work with your PR person to secure an honest-to-goodness article, written by an unbiased reporter who actually thinks you are doing something worth talking about?  DO SOMETHING WORTH TALKING ABOUT.  Or at least make sure the release makes it sound like you are doing something worth talking about.

True, legitimate news can be hard to come by in an age where anyone thinks they can write an announcement and send it to the media.  Releases are an art form, using words that don’t sell, writing facts that contain all necessary details, and thinking one step ahead to help the media write their story by adding information to the questions they will follow up to ask you.

Simple for a PR pro? Yes.  Stumped? That’s why you are here on our website.  Take the plunge and discover the art of PR and how it can help your company grow.  You never know when you will actually be surprised at the outcome.

JustRED it here.

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” – Leo Burnett

How to develop a focused strategy that will win new customers

Making yourself, your services or your company relevant to your target market can certainly be challenging in today’s economy.   With all of the messages flying at people every day, it is important now more than ever for organizations to focus on offering something that meets someone’s specific needs or wants.  When something that you do equals something that someone wants, you have now become relevant.

“Relevance is used to describe how pertinent, connected or applicable something is to a given matter.  A thing is relevant if it serves as a means to a given purpose.”

The following are three tips to making your company relevant:

1.  Find out to whom your business is relevant. This can be achieved through online surveys, market research, focus groups, social media and internal meetings to determine if your audience has shifted over the past several years.

2. Tailor your message to your target audience, and make sure they understand what you do and what you are trying to get them to buy or use.

Many companies often tailor their messages to their competitors or use industry language that is hard to understand.  They are missing the mark on how to make their business relevant to those who are interested.  A public relations professional can help you tailor your message to make relevance a reality and to help you achieve your goals.

3.  Make sure your firm hones in on its core strengths, and uses them to their full advantage.  Don’t try to be all things to everyone.  Also realize some audiences are more relevant and useful to you than others.  Focus your efforts on the most beneficial audience and speak directly to them, finding out what they want and making yourself relevant to them.

And here’s one more tip, it’s one that I have written about before but believe is so crucial today – be visible so your audience can find you.  Have an effective website that displays your key messages and exactly what you do, have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile so people searching your firm can find you and make sure all your marketing materials and PR outreach speak to who you are trying to reach, not those that work within your company.

JustRED it here.

“Existence is no more than the precarious attainment of relevance in an intensely mobile flux of past, present and future.” – Susan Sontag

I have received several questions recently on business relationships – building them, maintaining them and the best way to maximize them.

Take a moment to think of all the key business relationships in your life.    They might include your accountant, your lawyer, current clients, etc.  Do you have deep connections with these people?  Do they refer you business?  Do you take any time to nurture these relationships?

The one key to making business relationships worthwhile and fulfilling is to give, but don’t expect anything in return.  The more you give, the more you will get in the end.

When you meet someone for the first time, do you immediately try to sell him or her your services?  This is the wrong tactic.  Give them something useful and relevant.  This can be information, a key lead or something helpful.  Then you can build on that.

When you haven’t heard from a client or potential client in a while, figure out ways to bring yourself to the top of mind with that particular person.  You can also try to bring useful leave-behind materials when attending a networking event that might help that person in some way.  Months or years down the road, these small giving items have had much greater rewards then expected.

Next time you are thinking about that business relationship and wondering how you can nurture it, give them something useful.  The key is not to expect anything in return.  You will soon receive responses and returns that you never knew were possible.

JustRED it here.

“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us everyday.” – Sally Koch

California has been experiencing a lot of shakes lately…of the seismic variety.  The second major earthquake hit near the border of San Diego this week, causing a ripple that was felt up as far as the Los Angeles area.  All of these sudden and quite unexpected tremors got me thinking about a lot of things near and dear to my heart:  Family…friends…my beloved pet Golden Retriever…marketing.

Marketing?  Yes, marketing.

I am often asked when is the right time to “shake up” your branding or put some spice into your PR campaign.  Or better yet, when do I take the social media leap?  Changing something that has been consistent and comfortable for your firm takes courage, as well as a great partner.

My advice on determining when the best time to shake up your marketing is if you are experiencing one or more of the following:

1)   You and your employees are bored with your branding, or you can’t even remember when your last brochure was designed.

2)   You have not updated anything or tried anything new for the past 10 years, and simply run the same marketing program year after year.

3)   Your brand no longer matches what your company’s strengths are currently.

You can also try this trick:  Take your company’s last two ads, your business card, a marketing brochure and the main page of your website.  If none of these materials match each other and you can’t tell each piece belongs to the same company, it is your year to embark on a re-branding adventure.  One of the major aspects of marketing I discussed previously is the importance of consistency.

Will 2010 be the year you stand out from the clutter and change your image?  Before the phone starts ringing off the hook, products start flying off the shelf, and work life gets too busy for you to even think about the basics, take time to develop a plan that creates a rumble in your industry both far and wide.  Your image is one seismic event that can be predicted

JustRED it here.

“What great changes have not been ambitious?” – Melinda Gates

Jen Olewinski, President of Olewinski Group

When I read the news today I am probably not alone in sensing a pattern among top headlines:

“The Economy”

“Jobs”

“Healthcare”

There are a lot of uncertainties in society today, which in many ways causes individuals, and businesses, to be more cautious in their spending.  For individuals, it may mean passing on that new purse or a third night out to dinner this week.  For businesses, it can mean forgoing the extravagant sales incentive trip or “getting by” without hiring additional staff.  A lot of us feel this is probably a logical, prudent way of moving forward in today’s environment.  However, this causes a problem for many who also wish to thrive in this slowly rebounding economy.  So what are your goals?

“Grow”

“Win market share”

“Become more profitable”

I imagine most principals in business would agree with the above objectives.  But how do you achieve them while at the same time respecting the uncertainties discussed earlier?  Many organizations have ambitions to re-establish their brand, seek out new customers, and increase awareness of the value they bring to their industry, but cannot justify hiring a full-time marketing expert.  Some other companies may try to have existing staff handle these duties, but oftentimes these people struggle because they are being pulled from other roles in their job.

This is where hiring a consultant fits in.

Marketing and PR consultants can make the process of attacking your communications strategy seamless and pain-free.  It is, in every way, the best of both worlds.  Get the experience and know-how of an expert in the field without the expense of adding, or taking work away from, someone on the payroll.  Hiring a firm to do this work for you provides peace of mind in knowing that you can invest in a marketing plan only when you need it, which maximizes the value of the program.  Whether it is for three days, three months, or three years, your consultant is there to create a plan on any budget.

JustRed it here.

“The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn’t like to do.” - Thomas Edison

When communicating to your organization’s audience, whether it be customers, prospects, members or colleagues, you should always consider who they are and what language they speak.  No, I am not talking about learning French to talk to your customers from Quebec (although that probably wouldn’t hurt).

Remembering your target audience when developing a blog, press release, brochure, email blast or any other marketing materials may seem obvious but is often forgotten.  Keep the language consistent (like your marketing) and relevant to your targets to ensure the message is as effective as possible.

For example, if you are a commercial tenant rep broker and your target audience is small business owners looking for industrial space, you should not speak in real estate terms while trying to reach them.  You must remember these professionals are outside your industry and need to understand what you are trying to offer and what makes you different.  Otherwise, what you are saying is just noise.

The voice of your blog should be consistent with those you hope to reach, and keep the language understandable, but not too elementary.  Explore many outlets to reach people, always keeping in the back of your mind who you are talking to.  Do not write for yourself or your company, but remember to always write for your clients.  They are the ones reading the information with the hopes of gaining something useful and innovative.  Provide this information and they will begin to seek you out as a trusted advisor or a preferred brand in your industry.

JustRed it here.

“You don’t need to buy Rosetta Stone to speak your customers’ language.” – Jen Olewinski

Social Media…talk about one of the most popular buzz words in the world right now!  Between the news, water cooler conversation at work, and celebrity gossip, everyone seems to be discussing social media these days.  And with this onslaught of attention, businesses are increasingly being pressured to join social networks to stay on the cutting edge.  Is social media right for you?  And if so, where do you start?

Start first by taking stepping away from the computer.   Before you jump into social media, understand what it is first and how it works.  When used, it can be a very powerful tool.

Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources. Social media can include text, audio, video, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communications.

Today, the most popular social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn, Flickr, Foursquare and the new Google Buzz.  Each medium has advantages and disadvantages, but one constant remains throughout:  the ability to engage with people (friends, colleagues, customers) in a highly personal manner that never before has existed.

These tools of the public relations trade provide yet another avenue to reach your audience and get the word out about your company.  If you want to discuss how to make social media work for you, give us a call and see how we can help.

JustRED it here.
“Social Media puts the “public” into PR and the “market” into marketing.” – Chris Brogan

So now that you know from the first post that public relations is simply managing the communication between an organization and its targeted audience, where do you go from here?  I will explain more in-depth several options for reaching those audiences through public relations outreach.

The following are some of the avenues Olewinski Group employs to get your story out:

Press release – a press release is an integral part of PR and the primary, most widely-used vehicle to get your message to the media.  After being sent to the editorial staff, the release is then reviewed for newsworthiness and, if chosen for publication, is converted to a news story for publication.

A press release is “a public relations announcement issued to the news media and other targeted publications for the purpose of letting the public know of company developments.”

The beauty of press releases now-a-days is the wider reach they have due to the extensive use of the internet.  You can directly speak to your customers or target audience via the internet, email blasts or brochure inserts.  I always suggest clients put each release on their website in a newsroom so both the media and customers have access to the updates on your company.

Feature Story – feature stories are articles pitched and secured for your company on what makes you different, a recent business success, or how you are making your way despite challenges.  These features are written by the media, with consultation by your PR consultant, and often result in more in-depth coverage than a press release would provide.

Expert Source Opportunity – Have you ever read an article on the real estate market, restaurant trends, or the local economy and wondered how certain “experts” were chosen to be quoted?  These opportunities are most often handled by public relations professionals, who set up the interviews with the reporters handling the story.

Bylined Article – These article opportunities are pitched, secured and written by PR professionals to position their clients as an expert in a particular field/topic.   Bylines are focused on a specific topic and feature a headshot with the executive’s name in the “by” section of the article.  These are excellent for trend features, case studies or to discuss a particular topic more in-depth.

Once you investigate, it quickly becomes clear that there are many ways for a public relations partner to provide value-added service to your company.  The good news is what is featured in this post is just the beginning, and can be part of a fully-integrated plan to give your organization a competitive edge, no matter what field you compete in.

“The tools are all out there.  It is up to you to put them to use for your company and make them work for you.” – Jen Olewinski

As a marketer, you never want to blindly point and shoot your PR outreach in just any direction.  Only with a strategic, targeted campaign will you yield the positive results you truly seek.  The most important aspect of a PR or social media plan is your target audience.

While this may sound like a daunting task, the good news is your PR professional can help facilitate a brainstorming session that will help find the “targets” best suited for your mission.  Once this is completed, you can have confidence that you are only “aiming” at “trophies” that will have a direct impact on your business.  This process is simple, and begins with compiling a wish list of targets, then discovering how to reach these people, where they are located, and what they are reading, watching, etc.  This list should then be in front of you or your publicity partner whenever you are conducting any outreach, whether it be via press releases, email blasts, or social media.

By keeping this list in plain sight, you will stay focused on making sure you are only targeting those who matter most to your business.  Remember, even with the best plan of attack, it all comes down to how well you aim.

Targeted campaigns will help you achieve your goals, and remember – you can update or change your direction if something is not working at any time.  This kind of targeted outreach gives you the competitive edge versus your competition, which is just what PR is all about.

JustRed it here.

“The odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you aim at it.” - Mal Pancoast