Seattle: The Area With Most Women-Owned Firms
If you're a female PR exec scouting the country for places where you can flourish, consider these leading regions: Portland, Ore., Seattle, Phoenix, Houston and Nashville (see chart, right), according to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. All five markets had substantial growth when you factor in the NFWBO's key criteria: no. of women-owned firms, employment and sales - some with triple-digit percent surges from 1987 to 1996, the benchmark years used for the study.
It's common knowledge that PR has been one of the fields where women have enjoyed the same success (and often comparable salaries) that their male counterparts have. We see the hearty growth of women-owned firms as another business trend that's sure to generate some interest from female PR execs. (NFWBO, 301/495-4975))
More Good News for Women PR Professionals/Corp. Comms.
The Benjamin Group Inc., Campbell, Calif., received on Sept. 15 the Working Mother "100 Award" that singled out the PR boutique as one of the "100 Best Companies in America for Working Mothers." Other winners included Eddie Bauer Inc., Leo Burnett Co. Inc., Chase Manhattan Bank and Chrysler Corp.
Want to know their secret? The firm's benefits include on-site child care, job sharing, part-time employment, employee reward programs for exercising and continuing education as well as a bonus structure. (Benjamin Group, 408/559-6090)
Web: The Media, Once They're Hooked, They're Hooked
Part of your challenge as a media relations exec is not only learning which reporters and editors prefer e-mail but those who have made it a habit and count on it to get their jobs done.
According to a Waggener Edstrom survey of high-tech journalists conducted by Riley Research Associates, 75 percent of respondents (740 questionnaires were completed and returned) have been going online for more than two years - when the Internet wave was just beginning to crest - and the average user logs on 59 times per week and spends 24 hours per week online. (Riley & Ass., 503/222-4179)