Annual Audits Can Help Keep a Client
One of the primary issues at IPREX's annual meeting in Puerto Rico focused on client retention and several solutions were uncovered. (IPREX is a network of PR firms.) They include:
- Regularly ask clients: "How am I doing?"
- Audit the client/PR relationship at least once a year through a formal process.
- Make sure you have prompt turnaround.
- Communicate frequently through telephone calls and correspondence.
- Shape reasonable expectations.
- Talk about their problems, not yours.
- Present a summary of activities with each bill, not just a summary of fees and expenses.
- Stay in touch even if they move on. You never know what their future needs will be. (Borshoff Johnson & Co., Andrea Hill, 317/923-2300)
Niehaus Name Change to Include CEO Wong
The business world has been swamped in recent years with statistics that are linked to the numbers of women who make it up to the top rung of the corporate ladder (a Catalyst study of Fortune 500s in 1997 showed that there were only two female CEOs among this elite business group).
But high-tech PR firm Niehaus Ryan Group, San Francisco, made significant strides for the industry as a whole when it changed its name to Niehaus Ryan Wong to reflect the contributions of its 37-year-old CEO Carrie Wong.
Wong is the first Asian woman in a top 50 firm to be recognized as a name partner. The agency's clients include Apple Computer and Cosmo Software. (Niehaus Ryan Wong, 650/615-7900)
PAG Picks Best Online Global Presence
The Public Affairs Group, Washington, D.C., continues its legacy of examining the scope of online PR by surveying what companies are doing on the Net and gives global kudos to these companies.
The judging is based on a melange of criteria: global icon, multiple languages, accessibility, quality information and currency of info:
- 1. AT&T
2. Chrysler
3. DuPont
4. Gateway
5. IBM
6. Lucent Technologies
7. Panasonic
8. Reuters
9. Roche; and
10. Texas Instruments.
(PAG, 202/466-8209)
Lewinsky's on the Move: Time to Buff Up Pam's PR?
Every once in a while we come across a press release or news item that's so absurd, we dream of ways of finding a PR connection so we can share the tidbit with our readers. So here goes one of those we couldn't resist: A March 24 PR Newswire release indicated that a poll by http://www.bikini.com shows that more Americans would rather see Monica Lewinsky in a bathing suit than Pamela Anderson Lee.
But the pouty "Baywatch" star is apparently already on the publicity trail, with Virgin planning to use her to promote their plans for a rival cola. What's next - Lewinsky Brewski?