LT Public Relations

Twitter, TWITTER, TWITTER.  That’s all everyone ever hears or talks (or tweets) about anymore.  Most are still wrapping their brains around this relatively new phenomenon (Twitter is just a wee over two years old, right?). Others, like us here at LT Public Relations, have been on the front-lines of watching Twitter evolve into a “must have” communication vehicle.

The latest evolution of Twitter is a designated ”Twitter Campaign.”  For us PR folks, having Twitter as a part of an overall public relations campaign is nothing new.  In fact, it’s mandated now.  However, having a pure Twitter Campaign is a relatively new approach.

Simply put, a Twitter Campaign is an aggressive effort to generate publicity around a product, service, candidate or a launch using the social media site Twitter.

The best way to describe a Twitter Campaign is to provide an example.  Recently, Las Vegas’ MGM Grand concocted their own Twitter campaign to “take the guilt out of sinning.” Specifically, the hotel encouraged folks to tweet a sin on Twitter (along with #mgmsin) for a chance to win a free night’s room at the MGM Grand.  The hotel later chooses one winner (or sinner) at random each day for the next 30 days.

Do you think people will tweet about their sins for a chance to win a hotel room? Um, yea!  Do you think this Twitter campaign is a fun, unique way to draw attention to the hotel while being incredibly relevant, viral and having an important word of mouth element? Triple yea!!!

MGM Grand’s Advertising Manager Gonna Goff (great name!) said,  ”We want to create a viral campaign, so when people go to a party and talk about places to visit they think about the MGM in Las Vegas. It’s the feel good buzz that piques people’s interest.”

Want to create a Twitter Campaign?  Give us a call (503-477-9215).  Better yet, give us a tweet (#LTPR).

Earlier today (10/21/09), the White House announced initiatives to encourage small business lending by providing capital support to community banks.

What does this mean? Under this initiative, community banks with less than $1 billion in assets will be given access to lower-cost capital, provided they submit a plan explaining how the capital will allow them to increase lending to small businesses. Participants would also be required to submit quarterly reports detailing their small business lending activities. 

Banks will be eligible to receive capital totaling up to 2 percent of risk-weighted assets. The capital would be available at an initial dividend rate of 3 percent, compared to the Capital Purchase Program’s five percent, with the dividend increasing to 9 percent after five years to encourage timely repayment.

This news should be great news for small businesses and entrepreneurs desperately seeking money to finance their dreams.  More importantly, this news will help America–which is based on small businesses–recover and grow.

However, today’s blog is about how banks SHOULD seize this as a public relations opportunity.   This news brings an opportunity to 1) help businesses and stimulate the economy 2) help the bank’s business increase its small business lending 3) help the bank to proactively promote itself as one of the first banks to capitalize on this initiative.

LT Public Relations sees this as an incredible PR opportunity for community banks that service small businesses to build “relationships” with their prospective customers.  What better way for a bank to reconnect with a struggling local business than to share today’s news and discuss how this initiative can benefit the small business.

Beyond calling each local business one-by-one over the next several days, it’s important for the community bank to promote this news broadly using various PR mediums (e.g. media, social media, community events, etc.). 

The challenge is, which community bank will spread the news first? 

At LT Public Relations, we’re ready, willing and available to help a community bank quickly develop a strategy and help with the communication efforts.  Interested? 503-477-9215 or pr@ltpublicrelations.com

It is no secret that Portland, Oregon has quickly became one of the most sought after places to live and work in the United States.  The beauty and lifestyle speak for itself. 

Unemployment is well above 12 percent throughout Oregon, yet Portland still attracts talented professionals from around the nation and world.  Although larger cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose continue to get kudos for producing innovative companies, Portland deserves its due respect for having both innovated companies and forward-thinking entrepreneurs.

Living and working in Portland for nearly four years, it’s clear that there is a groundswell of innovation that is almost unmatched anywhere in the world.  Since Portland has very few Fortune 1000 companies, the city (and surrounding area) is made up of smart, progressive and pioneering entrepreneurs that are changing the dynamics of business–and challenging the status quo of how to conduct business.

That said, being a PR firm in Portland, LT Public Relations has a unique advantage.  Being on the front lines of innovation, we’re adopting the latest business and communication tools to impactfully and cost-effectively tell the stories of our clients both here in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the nation.

Granted, PR firms across the country are exposed to many of the same “new tools” to communicate (like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, etc.), but very few are truly intimate with exactly how to leverage them like Portland PR firms.  Since advertising, marketing and PR budgets are EXTREMELY tight here, we’ve learned to maximize traditional (e.g. media) and new  PR tools –and we’re getting more creative by the minute. We’re also sharing best practices from neighboring Portland businesses to expand these tools for the betterment of the clients we represent.

There is no quantifying data to support this notion, but we feel confident a public relations firm in Portland is just as qualified (if not more) than any large metropolitan PR firm…and we’re less expensive.  Advantage: Portland PR firms.

Now we need a better song about Portland.  This Portland tune from Jack White and Loretta Lynn is excellent, but we need something more catchy.