Finally, after years of being looked down upon because we
couldn’t always quantify 100% the return on investment for public relations and
community outreach activities, we professionals who know this stuff works can
now, gleefully, say, “I told you so!” And it feels great.
Here’s what
we know.
“Direct
sales” through advertising and traditional marketing just doesn’t work any
more. People are too smart, too skeptical, and too connected to the Internet.
In fact, the
same American Marketing Association study that found 40% of Americans polled in
2001 relying on advertising to make consumer decisions saw that number drop in
2004 to 14%. What is that number today? Less than 5%?
As a result,
businesses have jumped on the social media wagon and everyone is doing what
they can online to “make friends” with consumers. Yes, there are all kinds of
ways to personalize emails, Tweet from a “real person,” Facebook “directly”
from a company president – I get that, I do it too, and in many cases these ARE
real people reaching out and they do it very well. They do achieve some level
of emotional connection, and they do it on a very large scale. I get that.
But for
businesses whose customers are drawn from their local community, it’s just not
the same thing as making an in-person, eyeball-to-eyeball connection.
Enter PR and community outreach.
As smart as
people are about being “sold to,” many can also figure out when media outlets
are publishing self-serving company news releases. Instead, a whole lot of us
would like, for once, to deal with business people who are honest and real.
One very
effective way for businesses to reach people “off-line” is by becoming involved
in their local history and preservation community. People who live in
historical communities care deeply about their history. “Lifers” are rabidly
protective of it. “Newcomers” sometimes even more so. Frankly, by helping to
preserve town history you honor the choice people have made about where to
live.
When you or
members of your staff serve on a preservation project committee, join the
historical society board, fund a school curriculum on local history, or staff a
historical event, you interact with customers NOT as company staff out to make
a sale, but as people who share a common interest or concern. I like to say
that you are getting to people “where they live” emotionally by helping to
preserve where they live physically.
In my years
working in the preservation community, in the history community, and as a
fundraiser and public relations professional, I have seen this dynamic play out
over and over again.
People
equate “history” with stature and credibility. Your PR staff will have endless
stories to tell about your work in the historical community, endless
opportunities to make connections with individuals and organizations, and
endless ways to collaborate, link, co-sponsor, host, and celebrate.
Yes, this
“in the trenches” work takes staff time and it’s labor intensive. But this
stuff pays off.
An example.
I can’t help
but think about the construction of Armory Memorial Park at the Peabody Essex
Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. They had a business problem: How to get people
on board with the project, raise funds for the opening ceremony, and have the
opening be a real “win.”
At the time,
there were very hard feelings in Salem because the last remaining wall of the
burned-down Salem Armory had to be removed to make way for the park. The Armory
had been a regional gathering place for generations, and while the park was
designed to honor the county’s 400+year military heritage it was hard for many
people to see that last wall go down.
No amount of
advertising in the world would have swayed public opinion in favor of the park
for some. And so, I spent many months meeting with people, forming an advisory
committee (including naysayers), involving regional veterans groups and
historical societies, disseminating stories about what we were doing – you name
it. Representing the museum, I put my face and my reputation – including as a
historian – on the project as I connected with people throughout the county.
By the time
the park opened – and our partnership with the Massachusetts National Guard
certainly helped! – not only was everyone on board but the head of the
opposition made a point of shaking my hand and saying, “Well done. This is a
beautiful park.”
This is not
to toot my own horn, but to provide a compelling example of how PR and
community outreach achieved what no amount of advertising EVER could have done.
What is your business problem?
• Attracting
customers?
• Securing
their loyalty?
• Letting
people know you exist?
• Overcoming
an incorrect perception?
I suggest
that becoming part of your historical community, really “getting in there” and
really connecting with people, will pay off.
Sincere community outreach, coupled
with smart PR activities, works.
________________
2010 © Bonnie Hurd Smith
History Smiths works with service-oriented businesses to use history — their own and their community's — to achieve customer loyalty, referrals, and high status. Subscribe (above, right) to our free Ezine, Connections, where we share ideas and examples of businesses embracing history to achieve business goals.