We’re sharing them with you as we prepare for 2012, in hope that you’ll leave them behind when you welcome the new year- and avoid being on the receiving end of our Evil Eye Lasers of Death, lest we hear you utter any of these while in our presence.

So from us- Lanette, Lorrie, Karen and Melissa- to you, we present our three most hated public relations approaches:

1. The Best Kept Secret
If your business is the best kept secret, we predict you likely won’t be in business for long. The former president of a local university once called his school a best-kept secret. We once saw a restaurant that had that slogan on their marquis. A. RESTAURANT.

Guess what? Today that restaurant is out of business.

If you feel like this slogan is a good one, please call us. We want to help you. And we promise not to beat you senseless.

2. We Have a Combined __ Years Experience
We find this heinous public relations approach used frequently by law firms. And we positively shuddered when we saw it used on Ragan’s PR Daily recently in reference to layoffs at the Denver post: “The Denver Post, for instance, accepted buyouts from 19 staffers, whose combined experience at the paper was 470 years.”

Why do companies think this approach demonstrates experience? It’s not like a “combined 117 years’ experience” means anything to cynics like us in this public relations agency.

I hear a statement like this and I think of the handful of weathered lawyers in the firm who likely have 25-30 years’ experience each, but then I think of the young punk fresh out of law school who’s been an attorney for five whole minutes. I don’t want that guy or girl. If I’m ready to kick butt in the courtroom, I’m just fine with the attorney who’s been at it only 30 years.

3. Building Buzz
OK, so we’re including this one begrudgingly. Although we here at Lorrie Walker Communications don’t recommend that our clients take part in stupid gimmicks that generate publicity but not sales, the truth is that we use this term. However, out of love and reverence for the great Peter Shankman- who hates this term- we feel it’s only fair for us to give up a lame saying of our own if we’re asking you to do the same.

Peter once said this in a webinar:

I think it would be really good if we could kill the word ‘buzz.’ Unless it’s generating revenue for your company, you’re wasting your time.

Fine, Peter. You win. And you have a point.

Public relations isn’t about stupid stunts, even though there are some crazy things people do that generate publicity and revenue.

At the end of the day, our clients want to make money. A large part of making that happen has to do with getting the word out about their business; making it known that they are the subject matter experts; demonstrating that they have a quality product by garnering earned media for the client.

If you want to accomplish any of these things for your business in 2012, call us. We’re here to help. Here’s wishing you a successful, fulfilling year ahead.

I like customer reviews. When I’m searching for a product or service and can find where someone has reviewed the company, I take notice. But recently, I noticed that my hair salon was the victim of a disgruntled client who recruited three additional people to write unfavorable reviews on the salon. You get a pretty good idea of the organized effort simply by looking at the dates of all the reviews on the salon’s Google Places page. There’s one from 2009 and two from 2010. Then four on the same day in 2011- all negative.

Because my Lakeland public relations firm also provides occasional PR services for this salon, I was a bit concerned for their reputation. Honestly, if a person feels as though they don’t have a good experience at a business, it is their right to write a review that explains it. But I find it unfortunate that the person recruited additional people to write unfavorable reviews. It goes to show that someone with time on their hands and an ax to grind can do a number on your business. Thankfully for this hair salon, the reviews never seemed to have caused any harm. But they could have.

I see reviews as a way of giving a vote of confidence to a business, or pointing out an area that needs improvement. Businesses ought to know when they’ve done something right- or wrong. But to recruit a handful of people to write negative reviews seems mean-spirited, particularly when a small business is the target. A large chain can absorb a few mean comments. Small businesses seem to take the blow a bit harder.

Conversely, I find it disingenuous to ask people to write favorable reviews for your business when they’re just a family member or friend and they’ve not used your services or purchased your products. I get asked to do this every so often.

If you own a business, should you ask people to write reviews for you? Of course. But ask your clients and customers, not your mother and your Junior League friends. Ask people who have experienced your stellar customer service or benefited from your useful product. Those are the people who will sing your praises the best.

Because reviews are playing such a prominent search engine optimization role these days, more businesses are scrambling to get people to write them. But the more you tap family and friends to write them instead of your faithful customers, the less relevant they will become.

Earlier this month, my husband and I visited his family near Tuckasegee and I learned the story behind the apple butter. I couldn’t help but marvel over what an excellent lesson in marketing and public relations is demonstrated by their apple butter sales process.

Every year, people clamor to place orders for the church’s apple butter. They don’t simply purchase it by the jar; many people buy it by the case. The pastor stops taking orders at 250 jars so he can ensure that people who show up the day the apple butter is made have a shot at purchasing some.

So what does any of this have to do with marketing and public relations? A lot. Congregants of this church make their apple butter just once per year during North Carolina’s apple season. That means those who want some have a tiny window in which to buy it. Between pre-orders and sales on the day the apple butter is canned, every single jar they make is sold.

I don’t love the analogy, but this marketing approach reminds me of McDonald’s and its McRib sandwich. The fast food chain rolls out the McRib sandwich for a limited time every so often. People come in droves to buy the sandwiches. And when it’s removed from the menu, McRib lovers wait in anticipation for its return.

Once an item is introduced and people grow to love it, pulling it out of arm’s reach seems to have an incredible effect on our human desire to want that which we can’t have. Lots of analysts have argued that were the McRib on the McDonald’s menu full-time, it wouldn’t be as popular. In fact, MSN Money wrote a great article on this topic recently.

The members of Tuckasegee Wesleyan Church don’t can apple butter only once a year because they want to follow in the marketing footsteps of McDonald’s. The fact is that making apple butter in such a large quantity is a time-consuming, two-day process that involves just about every member of the church. It’s a lot of work. But I love how they benefit from the “limited time only” nature of their operation.

Melissa Rodriguez is a senior at FSC working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in advertising, public relations and journalism. This is her first internship.

“I’m very glad I found an internship so close to school,” Rodriguez said. “I get real world PR experience in the mornings, then I go to class and learn about it some more.”

At Lorrie Walker Communications, a Lakeland and Tampa public relations firm, Rodriguez took off with a running start, writing press releases, blogs and promoting the recent Hair for Hope event at Michael Rose Hair Designs. Promoting the event was an enjoyable learning experience, Rodriguez said. She has experience in event planning and promoting through her participation in various campus organizations throughout her college and high school careers.

“I love that I am not fetching coffee and making copies,” Rodriguez said. “I’m actually learning. I’m really grateful Lorrie has given me this opportunity.”

Rodriguez said she can tell her writing has improved during her short time at the PR firm. As a senior, she is focusing on the advertising aspect of her three majors, and doesn’t get to do much writing in the classroom. Rodriguez thinks it’s good for her to work on her writing skills.

“Classrooms don’t offer the same opportunities to gain experience that an internship can,” said Lorrie Delk Walker, owner. “Students can really develop their skills in public relations much better through an internship because they get to apply what they’re learning.”

Walker also believes the staff in her office benefit as much from the interns as the interns benefit from the on-the-job training.

“I love to find out about what they’re learning, and I’m always interested in their take on social media,” Walker said.

When she isn’t busy balancing an internship, a job and a full-time course load, Rodriguez enjoys going to concerts and movies and relaxing with her friends. Ultimately, her life goal is to be an adventurer of the world. After spending seven years living outside of the United States, Rodriguez is addicted to keeping up with current American pop culture.

“Usually I check my Twitter feed before I even get out of bed in the morning,” Rodriguez said.

Checking various social media sites also keeps her in touch with the worlds of advertising and public relations. She enjoys reading posts from PR Daily and AdAge.

After graduation Rodriguez hopes to find a job in Florida working in the communications fields in which she has been trained.

Lorrie Walker Communications, Inc. has joined the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.

Since we are a downtown Lakeland business, becoming a member of the partnership means we receive the many membership benefits DLP offers.

Lakeland is our home; we are always looking for new ways to connect with our community.

Joining DLP is something I’ve wanted to do since I moved my business downtown. I have always appreciated the manner in which downtown businesses work together and promote each other, and I am eager to be a part of that.

Our Lakeland PR agency will use the membership to interact with and help downtown businesses, as well as businesses throughout the city, promote themselves and their products to increase their customer bases.

By hosting events like First Friday, the DLP grants downtown businesses the opportunity to interact directly with each other and attract customers in a fresh way.

DLP is a non-profit organization. Its primary goal is to advance and promote downtown businesses to residents and other businesses in the surrounding area.

Benefits we receive as a DLP member include: the ability to be a part of First Friday events each month, email marketing opportunities, the ability to post information on the DLP website, and access to DLP social media. DLP benefits provide downtown businesses much like ours a venue to advertise their information to a large audience. DLP’s site receives more than 250,000 views a year.

There are three levels of DLP membership: partners, diplomats and ambassadors. Partners are businesses that are located downtown. Diplomat businesses fall outside the DLP boundary. Ambassadors consist of businesses, such as hotels and universities, directly interacting with tourists.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the DLP, visit their website: www.downtownlakelandfl.com.

We want to make that happen, too. This post covers some basics of photo shoots:

1. Remember the purpose of the photo

A photo in a publication isn’t always about providing recognition to you, your group, business, product, etc. Frequently, it accompanies an article and depicts action of some sort. Sometimes it is designed help promote your event. So keep that in mind when the photo opportunity knocks.

What does that mean? It means that you likely won’t get to have all 17 of your employees in a photo that accompanies a story on your new project launch, so don’t be disappointed when the photographer just wants a photo of a couple of people.

2. Understand the publication’s expectations

If you’re working directly with the publication/photographer, these are questions you need to ask of them; if you’re working with a Lakeland or Tampa public relations expert, this is information they need to gather for you:

- How many subjects does the photographer want in the photo?
- When/where will the photo be taken?
- If this is for a production or performance, do the subjects need to be in costume?

3. Set yourself up for success
- Make sure the publication has the name, phone number (including a mobile number) and email address of your point of contact. The more methods of contact you provide, the better.

- Find out whom to call to confirm that you’re still on for the photo shoot. If your PR advisor has scheduled the shoot, ask her to confirm the date/time one last time.

- Make sure the photographer has the address of the location where the photo will be taken.

- Contact those who will be photographed and remind them the day before and the day of the photo shoot, and make sure everyone arrives on time.

Remember that the photographer may have something come up- breaking news trumps a photo shoot for a feature story. So understand that the shoot may be postponed or cancelled. Just make sure you are not the reason for the cancellation because your point of contact couldn’t be reached, or the people who were supposed to be in the photo were no-shows.

Photo courtesy of ►CubaGallery

We’re actually but a small part of the open house- the event kicks off with a ribbon cutting ceremony for Tennessee Carriage Lofts, followed by the open house to showcase the building’s renovation, as well as the offices, retail space and residential live/work lofts located in the building. Many of the businesses located in the building are participating in the event, including Lorrie Walker Communications.

We also will have artwork on display from local artist Meredith Spresser. There are big plans for this building in terms of supporting the local arts community, so stay tuned for more information on that later.

I’ve been with the same insurer for about 8 years. My most recent agent “inherited” me after my previous agent retired. I’ve never seen her in person. Never spoken to her on the phone. The last contact I had with her office was the certified letter she sent to tell me my homeowner’s insurance was being canceled.

I decided that it might also be time to change my auto insurance coverage, since the same company had insured our home and vehicles.

I had met another insurance agent at a women’s professional organization several months earlier- Christine Crowell of Crowell Insurance Group. We had been out for coffee a handful of times over the past year and developed a friendship. I liked her so much, I WANTED to give her my business. So I did. I wound up with better coverage at a lower price.

I called the previous agent to say I had gone with another insurer, and they asked which insurer I had gone with. I told them, and they said, “Oh, we write policies with them, too. But I guess you didn’t know that.”

I didn’t. But even if I had, I likely would have changed agents anyway, because for me, doing business is about more than the transaction; it’s about the relationship.

I enjoy doing business with people I have a relationship with. And although I feel a connection to Black and Brew, the coffee shop whose owner knows me by name, it’s not just face-to-face relationships that count in my book, nor in the minds of many other consumers.

I feel as though I have relationships with many business people in this county, thanks to social media. I am Facebook friends with Realtors, welders, A/C companies and boutiques. I follow carpet cleaners, developers and restaurants on Twitter.

Had there been any type of relationship with my previous insurance agent, I might have continued doing business with her. But we’ve certainly never gone out for coffee, and if she has a Facebook page or Twitter account, I don’t know about it. The only interaction I ever had with her was when she wanted to sell me more insurance, or tell me my carrier was dropping my homeowners coverage. Neither of those were pleasant experiences for me.

Business owners, I share this in hope that you will understand this: you need to be engaged with your customers. They need to feel as though you care about and value their business. No, you’re not going to take each and every customer out to lunch. Maybe you’ll never know all of them by name.

But with social media, there’s just no excuse for not making an effort. Get a Twitter account. Create a Facebook fan page for your business. Claim your business on foursquare and/or SCVNGR and create rewards and incentives for customers to come to your establishment.

Why? Because doing business is about relationships. The Internet has created countless additional ways in which to build a rapport with your clients. You might as well take advantage of it… your competition is.

If you would like more information about how to use social media in your company, call our Lakeland public relations firm. We can help.

The element of publicity that I find myself going over most implicitly with clients is that of managing expectations. It’s quite flattering how clients assume that PR professionals have some secret “in” with media outlets and can simply make things happen when it comes to generating publicity for a particular business, event or product launch.

The truth is, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. PR professionals can write press releases, draft story pitches, make follow-up calls. But at the end of the day, this is a subjective business where stories are decided upon by producers, editors and reporters who may or may not be remotely interested in the item PR professionals are pushing that particular day.

Public relations is a constant push to generate publicity for a client, while making sure the client remembers that unless they purchase an advertisement, there is no guarantee the media will cover the story being pitched.

A fellow PR pro and I were discussing this topic a few days ago and the whole horse-and-water phrase was mentioned. Pot-stirrer that she is, she piped up with “You know, you CAN make a horse drink.”

“Oh really… do tell,” I replied.

“Give him a salt block,” she said.

She’s right! So how do we relate that back to publicity and PR, you ask?

A good public relations professional must find a way to make each client salt. Our clients and the items we promote on their behalf must be the salt that gets those subjective reporters, editors and producers to drink the water.

So when you have an event, product- whatever you’re promoting- try to think of what about it is different. Interesting. Notable. Worthy of coverage.

Sometimes you have a seemingly boring event or product that still needs to be promoted. In those cases, try to find something interesting in current events and popular culture that you can tie in to generate publicity.

If you need help brainstorming ideas, or you have those ideas but have no idea how to pitch them to media outlets, we can help.

A street view of Tennessee Carriage Lofts. Three studio apartments are located on the second floor.

The foyer, which provides access to all three sections of office space.

The lobby/waiting area inside 231 N. Tennessee Ave. We need to get some artwork on these walls!

Hallway.

My office. I’m working on getting things hung on the walls.

You can read the whole story, including the story of how the iPhone came to be misplaced, at gizmodo.com. The story is fascinating. The features on this new device seem simply amazing.

I’ll admit that after reading the account of how the phone was lost, it all seemed quite plausible. An honest- albeit ginormous- mistake.

But what if it wasn’t a mistake? Any Apple fan has heard of the company’s top-secret nature. So to let something like this happen seems like such an implausible security breach. Could it even be possible for Apple to slip up like this?

If this was intentional, this is one of those cases where any publicity is good publicity, in my opinion. It’s brilliant! Word of a new iPhone is in the national news, it’s blowing up the Twitterverse and it’s got Apple dorks (I’ll put myself in that category) salivating around the world.

As a Lakeland and Tampa, Florida public relations professional, I’m always up for a new way to pitch a new product or service. It can be challenging to come up with something fresh, different, eye-catching- something that makes a reporter or blogger say something besides, “Who cares?” This little “I lost my iPhone prototype” scenario meets all of that criteria.

I hope Gray Powell (the poor guy who supposedly lost the phone), doesn’t lose his job over this. I hope he was a willing participant in this brilliant marketing effort. But even if this was all just an accident, I truly believe the media coverage generated from this will FAR outweigh any potential damage caused by leaking this product before Apple had intended.

What are your thoughts?

That holdup frequently is caused by clients’ failure to provide the content. Because of that, I thought I’d offer three reasons why hiring a Web copy writer is a good idea.

Focus Your Energy
I’ve always been a big believer in focusing your energy where your talents exist, and hiring someone else to do the work that falls outside your gifted area.

Let’s say you own a hair salon. You know how to cut and color hair and run your business, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are good at writing about cutting and coloring hair or the latest hair trends.

Hiring an experienced web copy writer ensures that the content on your page is well-written in a format that is reader-friendly.

Content is King
Having a Web site that looks sharp is important, but providing relevant information and consistently adding new content to that site is what keeps people coming back.

Many business owners and managers spend the bulk of their time handling the day-to-day business operations and don’t consider routinely updating their Web site a priority.

Hear this: it SHOULD be a priority. Everyone turns to the Internet these days for research and information. We have a generation coming up that doesn’t even use a phone book anymore; they Google it.

Having a regularly updated site increases the chances that when people search for terms related to your business, your Web site appears in the search results.

Get on a Schedule
Your Web site needs to give people relevant information to aid in their buying decisions or to educate, and you need to give people a reason to keep coming back.

By using a professional Web copy writer, the two of you can create a schedule for adding content to your site on a regular basis.

Josh Hallett, a local social media expert, once said businesses with Web sites that include blogs basically train their visitors how often to return to their sites. Update content weekly, and visitors are likely to visit the site weekly. Update it monthly, and you’ll see them once a month.

Getting on a schedule for updating content gets visitors on a schedule for checking out your site.

If you’re interested in creating a new site, updating the content on an existing site, or creating a plan to routinely add Web content, consider the Lakeland and Tampa, FL public relations firm of Lorrie Walker Communications, Inc. Our professional web copy writers are happy to help you create site content that keeps people coming back for more.

Call for more information: (863) 614-0555.

2009 Internship Opportunities

SPCA of Polk County, Inc.

Type of internship: public relations and/or marketing

Description of Internship Opportunity : non-profit agency seeking interns interested in gaining experience in press release writing, media relations, web site design/maintenance, marketing, design, grassroots outreach and customer service

Education/experience requirements: experience in writing, content management systems, adobe design software preferred; outgoing personalities, team players, multi-taskers and self-motivated individuals a must

Hours: part time

Salary: unpaid

Contact: Rachel Bulman, Public Relations Director, rachel@lovemyspca.com, 863/646-7722 ext. 105

Florida Dance Theatre

Type of internship: public relations and/or marketing

Description of Internship Opportunity: Under the guidance of FDT staff, write press releases and disseminate information regarding the company’s performances and activities. Promote FDT to the Polk County community. Help coordinate events, write grants, and perform general record keeping, as needed.

Education/Experience requirements: Public Relations or Marketing student. Strong writing and interpersonal skills required. Must be an independent worker and self-starter. Must be able to take specific direction and be open to instruction.

Hours: Flexible hours, preferably a minimum of 12 – 15 per week.

Salary: Unpaid

Contact: Carol Krajacic-Erkes Artistic & Founding Director, 802-0399, Carol@floridadancetheatre.org

Polk County Government-PGTV

Type of internship: journalism, public relations and marketing opportunities

Description of Internship Opportunity : Develop/implement PR/marketing exposure and/or write articles/press releases for government television channel, using free resources

Education/experience requirements: College, entry level is fine

Hours: Flexible, will work with student schedule/availability

Salary: Unpaid. No budget available, but great for students needing school credit

Contact: Joan Davies, PGTV Programming Director, 863-534-5997, joandavies@polk-county.net

Pain Solutions Magazine (A new national magazine being published out of Lakeland)

Description of Internship Opportunity: Journalism, public relations and marketing opportunities.

Education/experience requirements: If they want to do writing for the Website I would like some writing samples. Otherwise, I would simply prefer a junior or senior or graduated student.

Hours: part-time

Salary: unpaid

Contact: Contact Diana Young-Stewart at 863/688-8181 or dystewart@painsolutionsmagazine.com .

Downtown Lakeland Partnership, Inc.

Type of internship: public relations and marketing opportunities available

Description of Internship Opportunity: The DLP will provide an opportunity to explore a wide range of PR and marketing experiences. We are a membership-based marketing cooperative whose purpose is to market Downtown Lakeland to residents and visitors. Our members include banks, owner operated retail stores, nonprofit organizations and more. We write press releases, create marketing materials and develop marketing plans, manage social media, organize and execute events, develop cross marketing opportunities, work with businesses and organizations on their marketing needs, and market ourselves to new and existing businesses on the benefits of membership in the DLP. As an intern you will create marketing materials, meet with business owners to determine their marketing needs, conduct surveys, write press releases, execute cross marketing opportunities with Downtown businesses and events, practice event management, have hands on public relations through events and DLP meetings and work with our board of directors, currently chaired by Kevin Jones, President of MidFlorida Federal Credit Union. This unique experience will expose you to dozens of businesses and nonprofit organizations and their decision makers.

Education/experience requirements: Knowledge of basic computer programs, such as word and excel a must. A work knowledge of graphics program s such as Photoshop and Indesign ( or Quark) preferable. Must have transportation, have an outgoing personality, and good communication skills.

Hours: part-time and very flexible.

Salary: There may be an end-of-the-internship stipend, not yet determined by the board.

Contact: Julie Townsend, Executive Director. PO Box 3499, Lakeland FL 33802; (863) 513-3669

Polk Arts Alliance, Inc.

Type of internship: public relations

Description of Internship Opportunity : to prepare pr materials for our annual race for the arts (3/21) and to do our press releases. With limited staff, even though I am well experienced, it’s a time issue. Our Race Chairman is Commissioner Bob English, so it’s good marketing as well. Could also use someone who is an experienced blogger and hooked into social networks to create a web presence.

Education/experience requirements: need to see writing samples and no first year students. Must be computer literate.

Hours: Flexible

Salary: Unpaid

Contact: Mischelle Anderson, Executive Director. PO Box 727, Bartow, FL 33815-0727; (863) 804-0494; director@polkartsalliance.org

Genie Publishing

Type of internship: marketing

Description of Internship Opportunity : An opportunity with flexible hours and full independence to someone who is skilled at computer marketing and/or Web site design.

Education/experience requirements: Must be computer skilled for Web site and computer marketing.

Hours: part-time

Salary: $8/hr or by project

Contact: gay@geniepub.com

In addition to providing information on the services offered by the PR agency, the new Web site features a blog that will provide information on various public relations and journalism topics.

“As we approach our second anniversary, I felt it was time to do a slight redesign to make our blog dominant on the site,” said President Lorrie Delk Walker. “Our blog is where we will share industry information and keep existing and potential clients apprised of what we’re doing.”

Chuck Welch, a Lakeland-based blogging and Web design expert, spearheaded the redesign, which includes a Twitter feed and the ability to subscribe to the blog through an RSS feed or via email.

For more information, please visit www.lorriewalker.com or call (863) 614-0555.

The Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Polk County will offer a new spin to this old business activity.  with its “Rapido Networking” event held 8:30- 10:30 a.m. at Black & Brew Coffee House & Bistro. 

The event is similar to speed dating, but with a business twist, said Ana Rivera, Chamber president and the event’s organizer.

Here’s how the event works:

Attendees pay a $5 entrance fee, which includes coffee and a coupon good for food discounts at Black & Brew.

Each person gets a name tag with several table numbers listed on it. Attendees go to their first assigned table and have two and a half minutes to introduce themselves and the company they work for and explain what they hope to get out of the event, Rivera said. After five minutes, attendees move on to the next table listed on their name tag and repeat the process.

“No one ends up talking to the same person the whole time, Rivera said.

Rivera anticipates having 25 people attend the first event, which is open to everyone. For more information call Rivera, 863-838-2084 or visit the Chamber’s Web site: www.puertoricanchamberofcommercepolkcounty.org

Although this event is sponsored by a Hispanic organization. Don’t freak out if you don’t speak Spanish. It will be conducted in English.

Black & Brew is located at 205 E. Main St.

I knew going into this business that the first two things I needed were business cards and a Web site. No matter how mighty the Internet becomes, I think business people always will need business cards for those face-to-face opportunities. And these days if you don’t have a Web site, people just don’t take you seriously. And I’m not sure they should.

I was blessed in knowing where to go for assistance in developing my brand: Barrett Creative in Lakeland, Fla. Michael Barrett gave me some great advice that I think anyone who works in public relations ought to practice and recommend to their clients. He said branding is everything. When someone looks at your business card, your Web site, your letterhead and your promotional brochures, it ought to look like everything was created by the same person. There ought to be continuity in the design, color scheme, look and feel. That’s how you create your brand. If a business does this, Barrett is convinced- and I agree- that people will come to know and recognize your brand. And that, my friends, is good for business.
I think Barrett Creative has effectively demonstrated this formula with one Lakeland-based client in particular- Gate Arty, a Lakeland Realtor. The first thing most people will notice about Gate’s promotional materials is the creative little “g” on everything. I notice it every time I visit his Web site or see his ad on a for sale sign or a bus bench. He’s building his brand.

BUILDING A BRAND- WHERE TO START

When I met with Barrett to discuss my branding needs, I had an idea in mind. I wanted a retro look, and I wanted a design that would stand out from the rest and over time, be recognizable as belonging to me. I thinks its a good idea to have some idea of what you want. I had some specific requests when it came to the font used in my name, as well as the color scheme. I don’t know if this helped Barrett or if I became a colossal pain in the butt during the design process. If I’m thinking like a true customer, I don’t care whether it was helpful or not. What I did care about was the finished product, and whether it met my expectations.

In the end, Barrett’s design exceeded my expectations. Who could ask for more?

When it came to creating my Web site, Barrett’s job was easy. He designed a Web site that mirrored the design of my business card. I wanted the Web site to look professional and I wanted it to project me and my business as entities to be taken seriously. Basically, all I needed was an online brochure at this point. I needed people to be able to find me on the Internet and call or email me if they had questions or wanted additional information.

Barrett, in partnership with Jim Mosier and Lakeland, Fla.-based Mosier Information Services, Inc. recently created  Donkasites, a company that designs Web sites to help businesses establish an Internet presence. That’s exactly what I needed, and it’s exactly what Donkasites has done for me.

A big misconception is that building Web sites is expensive, and doing little things that lend a more professional appearance are out of reach for small businesses. That simply is untrue. For example, a lot of people seem to think it’s too expensive to have this as your email: lorrie@lorriewalker.com. IT’S NOT. Read this again. IT’S NOT. You owe it to youself to get with a Web designer and secure a domain name that accurately reflects your business. And there is no reason that if your business name is Lorrie Walker Communications, Inc., that your email address can’t be lorrie@lorriewalker.com.

If your business card shows an email address that ends in “@yahoo.com” or “@hotmail.com” or “@aol.com,” you don’t appear to be invested for the long haul. You don’t appear professional from a business or public relations standpoint.

My advice to public relations professionals and those who are starting small businesses is to do some research and find those companies such as Barrett Creative and Donkasites to help you create an Internet presence. They have made a huge difference for me. They have leveled the playing field and enabled me to compete on the Internet with public relations/professional writing firms that are much larger and more established than I am.