New Ways of "Doing" Public Relations

I recently gave a talk to the Granite State Referral Network in Manchester, NH (of which I am the current secretary) titled "New Ways to Think About “Doing” P.R." Here are a few of those "new" ways - which are more common sense than "new," but so many businesspeople have forgotten them, they just seem new:

• Be Preemptive: Don’t wait for you or your business to be “in trouble” to build a reputation, or improve it, act NOW to make good things happen.

• Be Unexpected: Doing something new, clever, interesting or (best of all) better than anyone else is the way to get noticed.

• Be Explanatory: Let people know what you’re doing - the good things, the new things, the different ways of doing things - in a clear, concise and easy-to-understand manner.

• Be Adaptable to Change: Be prepared in your business to think in a fresh way. Be ready for rapid, disorienting change. Be ready to scrap your business plan. And be ready to talk about all this, openly, with your publics - those whom you serve and with which you do business (or hope to do business in the future.)