Pink Houses, Small Towns and Scarecrows
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Driving around Southern and Central Indiana yesterday listening to John Cougar Mellencamp (on every Indiana station) made me think not only about pink houses, small towns and scarecrows, but about how similar our issues and concerns are across the Corn Belt.
Small towns bleed into the most fertile land in the world, putting pressure on farms and increasing what’s expected of our farmers. Neighbors expect little noise, little dust and little odor. Farmers know it’s part of the job – noise, dust and odor are the signs of work getting done on a farm.
Farmers across the country will tell you that they just want to be left alone to do their jobs, carry on their family traditions and raise food for the world.
4 Steps to Discover Your Story
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One of our team members this morning said, “At Wilt PR, I feel like I’m on a constant field trip.” She expanded with a list of crazy things she’s done in her job here since March: attended meetings in a hard hat, sat in an airport radio control tower, designed a fire truck, and visited a museum to look for inspiration and artwork.
I love that our team is discovering the environment around them and learning new things every day. I hope the same is true for our clients.
It is by observing, conducting research and listening to feedback from our clients that we learn and adapt to the ever-changing marketplace.
A common frustration I hear among even very sophisticated organizations is that “Nobody understands what we do.” Let me paraphrase: “We don’t know how to explain what we do or why it’s of value to someone.” This organization has not fully discovered its story.
Here are four things you can do today to begin to Discover Your Story:
1. Take a Field Trip. Get away from the office. Your desk and your conference room are not made for unleashing your creativity. Hold a meeting at the zoo, sit in on a news broadcast from “behind the scenes,” or visit a Native American reservation to listen to their stories being told. There are storytelling events regularly across the U.S., and you can find one through the National Storytellers Network at http://www.storynet.org/events/calendar.php.
2. Conduct a survey. Give your customers or your key customers a chance to vent, provide suggestions and feedback. More likely than not, they are invested in your success and want to continue doing work with you. Giving your customers a chance to speak up will give you a fresh perspective and make them feel valued by your business. When you open this door, your customers may tell you things you never would have guessed.
3. Edit Yourself. What are the three most important things your target audience needs to know about your business, product or issue? If there are five, make some tough choices and cut two. If the leaders of your organization cannot agree on this or narrow it down, it is high time for a strategic planning session. You will only be successful in telling a consistent story that resonates with your audience if you can all agree on what that story is.
4. Illustrate Your Story. How would you show your story if it were a comic strip or billboard? Take 30 minutes with your leadership team and using no words at all, illustrate your story. You might be surprised how these images will force you away from your traditional approach and more eloquently and quickly tell your story. Another take on this game is to use only props or the contents of a (very messy) “junk drawer.”
Farm Science Review Selects Wilt PR as Agency of Record
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The Ohio State University’s Farm Science Review, which attracts tens of thousands of progressive farmers and agricultural leaders to London, Ohio each September, has selected Wilt Public Relations as its strategic communication partner.
Farm Science Review was launched in 1963 and has been showcasing the future of agriculture through demonstrations and educational displays. This year’s 49th annual Farm Science Review will be held September 20–21 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center, two miles north of London, Ohio.
“With Wilt PR’s extensive background in agriculture and their passion for our business, the partnership will be beneficial for both parties,” said Chuck Gamble, manager of the Farm Science Review. “We selected Wilt PR based on their results-oriented and creative approach and emphasis on building relationships on behalf of the agriculture community.”
Wilt PR will create communication materials for the 2011 Farm Science Review and consult on communication activities including online engagement, publicity and media relations.
“My memories of the Farm Science Review started from the back of a wagon and include climbing on the shiny, new equipment as a farm kid,” said Melanie Wilt, strategist for Wilt PR. “It will be fun to share that perspective and use our team’s creativity to promote one of the country’s top agricultural events.”
This year, the Farm Science Review will feature hundreds of demonstration plots and several million dollars worth of machinery, inductions into the Farm Science Review Hall of Fame, global positioning systems hands-on demonstration, an arts and crafts exhibit and much more. For more information on the event, visit fsr.osu.edu.
You Know You're a Child of the 70s if...
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by Melanie
Who hasn't received a Facebook page or a forwarded email that starts "You know you're a child of the 70s if..." and it goes on with a list of phrases that end the sentence with "you wanted to be on StarSearch" and "... you know what 'psyche' means."?
Fill in your decade.
We all get a good laugh about the things we thought were "cool" (or "hot" or "neat") at one time. Those generational influences are important in who we are and how we relate to society and culture. Each generation is shaped and influenced by different events, technologies and societal values. All of these things impact how we communicate and how we react to what we see, hear and feel. While we have our individual characteristics and genetic predispositions, we are largely shaped by our environments.
I bring this up because we can effectively communicate across generations; we just may have to work a little harder. I'm no longer the youngest one around the office anymore, and when I hear things like "I read the first Harry Potter book when it came out - I was in the 4th grade," from one of my full-time, college graduate employees, it is hard not to retreat to my office and cry about how old I've gotten. And, when my 80+-year-old (amazing) grandparents wonder what the heck I do in a field as broad as PR, I should try to help them understand instead of flipping my wrist and thinking "They'll never get it."
Admittedly, I still struggle with my parent's generation. Maybe we all do. But, as a professional communicator, I do know what shaped their views and that Baby Boomers are our most influential generation in the marketplace. They vote. They buy. They even use Facebook.
I'll work hard to stay relevant to my 6- and 3-year-olds who can't understand how any child lived without Disney on demand via DVD. (We had to wait until Sunday night's Wonderful World of Disney.) I have to listen and learn about their perspectives, because theirs are as valid as mine, albeit from another dimension in time.
HSG/CodeBlue Selects Wilt PR as Agency of Record
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Growing Companies Partner to Raise Awareness of Third Party Insurance Administrator
HSG/CodeBlue has selected Springfield-based Wilt Public Relations to manage its combined marketing-communication function – a partnership that will continue to bring heightened awareness of third party claims administration to the insurance industry.
HSG/CodeBlue continues to add jobs at its Springfield claims center, which opened in May, and is rapidly growing its national presence with a patented, science-based business model designed to help the insurance industry reduce costs and increase customer service. They plan to add another 220 jobs in 2011.
“We think it’s a perfect fit to pair with another growing business with creative vision,” said Paul Gross, CEO ofInsurance Claims Management (ICM), the parent company of HSG/CodeBlue. “We selected Wilt PR based on theirresults-oriented approach and emphasis on building relationships with stakeholders inside and outside of this region.”
