Have you ever been caught up in a drama with family, friends or co-workers? Those incidents usually boil down to what someone told so-and-so about someone else who told the next person, and so on.  In the midst of it, you feel like you’re back in high school, where everyone is acting pouty and impulsive.  One of the reasons we celebrated our high school graduations was to be done with those shenanigans!

When you think back to the times in your life when you had conflicts with others, the root issue almost always came down to one thing: bad communication. Inevitably the wrong thing was said at the wrong time in the wrong way. Or the wrong thing was heard at the wrong time in the wrong way.

Alternatively, if you think back to the most wonderful times in your life, those usually involved positive communication. The first time you said or heard “I love you,” when you said, “I do,” when you read the offer letter for the job or school you wanted, or the first time your baby smiled at you.

Since we have no recall on words or expressions though, and since communication is so impactful in human interactions, the way we communicate is critical, whether we’re talking, displaying body language, listening, or writing.

When people hear the term “public relations” they usually think of a consulting service that’s provided to a company or celebrity to shape up their image, promote them, and help them talk to their respective audiences.  Well, public relations is just as important for the everyday person. It will only serve you to have a great image, to present yourself well in public, and to be able to communicate positively with the most important people in your life (your spouse, parents, children, boss, in-laws, etc.). If you boil PR down to its essence, that’s all it is: relating well to your publics. That’s what we teach our clients to do every day through our work at our PR firm. And that’s what we teach you to do in “The PR Fix for the Everyday Person” © 2012.

PR has gotten a bad rap for being “spin,” presenting a fake image, or lying to people. This is not the case.  Good PR is about putting forth who you really are in a positive way.  It’s about knowing yourself — the good, the bad and the ugly — but maximizing the good and minimizing the bad and the ugly.

PR is also about mindful discretion, both in our words, tone, and body language. We all get in trouble in life when we gossip, make assumptions, exaggerate, react impulsively, scowl, roll our eyes, stay silent when we should speak up, or speak up when we should be silent.

Often, we are so embroiled in our emotions, defending ourselves, or justifying our words and actions that we don’t even know how we’ve gotten ourselves into a mess, and we certainly don’t know how to get out of it. As your personal PR consultants, we’re here to give you concrete tips, scripts, and actions to help you live a happier, healthier, conflict-free life.  Communication is that powerful. So we’re going to tell you how to get your PR fix and use it well. More to come!

LinkedIn started out in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002 and the site officially launched in 2003. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network.  As of February 2012, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 150 million members in over 200 countries and territories.  To us, this makes having a LinkedIn profile as basic as being a member of your local Chamber of Commerce.

LinkedIn provides an excellent opportunity for anyone in the work world to post professional information about themselves and link with multitudes of individuals and groups in their areas of interest – without the personal, potentially sticky nuances of other social media outlets.

If you haven’t done so already, set up a LinkedIn account.  Post a high resolution, professional photo of yourself as well as the most impressive points of your resume.  Using the available choices, let the LinkedIn world know what it is you’re after (consulting offers, expertise requests, business deals, etc.).  The focus is purely professional; there’s no need to post any personal information.

Then, it’s time to start connecting. Shoot for at least 200 connections initially, and accept requests to link as you receive them.  To find people and groups to link, begin by searching for your alma mater, past workplaces, and professional organizations of which you’re a member.  Join groups as appropriate and invite people within those groups to link to you. Whereas it might be inappropriate to “like” a colleague on Facebook, it’s entirely appropriate to link to them on LinkedIn. In no time at all, you will have a list of hundreds of connections, and an outlet to communicate with them directly or en masse.

Use LinkedIn as a basic business tool and you’ll gain innumerable benefits from reconnecting to job hunting to marketing your current business.

It wasn’t a tough sell: free pie for a bit of feedback. We took them up on the offer right away and in the process, they involved us in their business and showed us that they care about what we (and all of their customers) think. Now, we are practically indebted to them, in a good way. In other words, we’ll definitely buy pies from The Right Slice because of our positive experience with them.

The Right Slice has served up the right PR slice by using social media to engage their publics and bring awareness to a new product, and by engendering a deeper engagement with their patrons.

Think of ways that you can involve your customers, pull them into your world, and show them that you truly care about their opinions.  Give away something free and valuable, and ask for something in return.  Normally, when we give things to others, we try not to have strings attached. Not so in business. Quid pro quo is what you’re after because then and only then are you truly attached to your customers and they to you.

Shelcie Takenouchi completed her master’s degree in public relations from USC and is working at Hill & Knowlton in Irvine. Benjie Baclig is in his third year at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. This summer, he interned at Barclays Capital in New York. Shyanne Matsumoto is in her second year of pursuing a double major in secondary education and chemistry at Oregon State University.  All three are thriving and connected as a network of FMPR Scholars who intend to come back to Kaua`i one day to share their knowledge and leadership.

This year, since we are now a bicoastal company operating out of Hawai`i and Pennsylvania, we will award one $1,000 scholarship each to a Kaua`i student and a Pennsylvania student pursuing their bachelor’s or graduate degree.

The scholarship application is available online at www.fmpr.net. Applicants must be able to demonstrate how they fulfill specific criteria through their completed Application Form, a personal statement, and school transcripts.  Applications must be submitted by March 30 and FMPR Scholars will be announced on May 1.

We look forward to seeing what talent comes forth this year through our FMPR Scholarship application process.  It gives us great hope for our future leaders and for the larger network of FMPR Scholars we’ll continue to create over the years.

The selection of FMPR Scholars is based upon Kaua’i and Pennsylvania residents and students who:

• Are pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees, preferably in communications or public relations.
• Are interested in owning or working for a small business and/or home-based business.
• Are engaged in entrepreneurial activities.
• Have the intention to come home to and pursue their livelihoods in their hometowns after undergraduate or graduate school.
• Are engaged in community service and wish to advance their local community after college.
• Have proven intellectual and academic achievements.
• Show integrity of character and an interest in helpinWg others.
• Have the ability to lead and the motivation to use their talents to the fullest.

Click here for an application as well as detailed instructions.  Completed applications are due by March 30, 2012, and the FMPR Scholars for 2012 will be announced on May 1, 2012.

We are looking forward to learning about applicants’ aspirations and plans for the future; about how they plan to make an effective contribution to the world around them; and how they will blend their intellectual talents and concern for others to play an influential role in the betterment of society, wherever their careers might take them.

When we award our Fujita & Miura Public Relations Scholarships it will be our honor and privilege to wish those students well as they head off to college, and to demonstrate our great optimism for the future of our youth.

This is important particularly when it comes to PR. Public relations is often one of those things that comes second to business operations.  And yet, relating to your publics well must go hand-in-hand with your everyday operations.  If you’re not forging good relationships and improving the ones you have every day through every interaction, then your business may eventually fizzle out and your operations will be for naught.

If you have a list of PR or promotional ideas for your business, either written or in your head, pick the top three and implement them. Be clear about your goals, do the best job you can, and enjoy the process of building strong relationships with the people that matter most to your business success.

So what are you waiting for? Your public is waiting. Reach out to them today.

Shortly after the market declined, we received an email from our financial advisor explaining the reasons for the decline, noting that it was predicted, and offering reassurance about next steps in terms of our investments. This told us that we may not be able to predict what the market will do, but we know our financial advisor is paying attention and watching carefully over our money, and will provide thoughtful advice and how we could respond.

Times are uncertain, for sure, in many sectors of our economy and for many businesses.  In response, consumers are unsure. Apply what our financial advisor did for us and demonstrate to your customers that you’re “on it.” Tell them that you know what’s going on and that you know what to do about it in terms of your business.  Communicate in a timely manner, right on the cusp of economic events that affect your business, keep your customers in the loop, and give them reason to patron you over your competitors.

FMPR Scholars are chosen based on several key criteria: they are Kauai residents and students who are pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees, preferably in communications or public relations; are interested in owning or working for a small business and/or home-based business; engaged in entrepreneurial activities; intend to come home to and pursue their livelihoods on Kauai after undergraduate or graduate school; are engaged in community service and wish to advance the Kauai community after college; have proven intellectual and academic achievements; show integrity of character and an interest in helping others; and have the ability to lead and the motivation to use their talents to the fullest. For more information about our FMPR Scholar program, visit our FMPR Scholar blog posts.

For your customers: Create special sales or deals to help them with their holiday gift giving. Offer value-added incentives, such as gift wrapping or a free item with their purchase, to stimulate sales.

For your employees: Plan a year-end appreciation party. Offer an additional discount on top of their employee discount to ease their holiday gift spending.

For your vendors and close allies: Send a thoughtful holiday card expressing your appreciation for their support or deliver goodies to their offices.

For the community: Partner with a local nonprofit to receive a portion of your holiday sales or organize your staff to volunteer at a local soup kitchen.

These ideas are starting points. When you decide how to mark the year-end, consider what fits right with your type of business. For example, a wine shop could offer a special tasting and pricing on the day beaujoulais nouveau is released; a grocery store could provide its employees with a free roast to share with their families; and a movie theater may offer a free movie to foster children.

Whatever you choose to do, begin planning now. Remember that creating holiday cards, advertising, and other ideas take time to implement. So once you know what you’re going to do, create a timeline and follow it. Your end-of-the-year activities will make your most important publics take notice of and appreciate you even more, which will pay off well into the next year.

For more ideas, see our blog Public Relations: Holiday Style.

(1) Fact sheets are short. The rule of thumb is to keep a fact sheet to one page. One page is all you need to communicate the key messages about your company or one of your company’s products, services or issues. One page is also all that people will read. No one has the time or wants to read long content. If your fact sheet is bleeding over to two pages, revise it and revise it again until it’s one page.  Take out all unnecessary points and words.  If you’re finding it impossible to get your fact sheet to one page, chances are good that you need another fact sheet to tackle a portion of the information.  Whatever you do, don’t make the font miniscule to pare down the text.

(2) Fact sheets are easy-to-read. Fact sheets are formatted like websites with tabs or books with chapters. They have headers so readers can glance at them to find the information they want and skip what they already know or don’t want. The key is deciding which headers are the most important ones for your business.  If the fact sheet is for an event, you’ll need to include the overview of the event; the time, date and place; purpose; and who to contact to get tickets. If it’s for an issue or project, you’ll need to think about the most frequently asked questions you receive from your publics so you can answer them on one sheet.

(3) Fact sheets are to-the-point.  They make you boil down your key points into the most pertinent facts.  Many of our clients, especially those in technical industries or those facing complex or controversial issues, feel the need to explain their situations and reasoning in great detail to the general public. While there is a place for detailed information, it’s usually best reserved for niched target publics, in other words, those who need to know.  Details are also best conveyed in small, digestible chunks. They provide the essential truths and the direction necessary for people to dig deeper if they wish.

(4) Fact sheets are cheap.  Fact sheets can be printed on your company letterhead; copied in black and white; and distributed as necessary. They’re not fancy pieces. Better yet, they can be revised anytime and then reprinted as needed.  You can also offer a paperless option, which is entirely free. Just pdf the document and then post it on your website for people to download.

(5) Fact sheets save time. As we mentioned above, when you’re deciding what headers to include on your fact sheet, think about the most frequently asked questions people have about your products, services, or issues. If you can answer them concisely and well, you can be proactive by directing target publics to your fact sheet and avoid having to answer the same questions over and over again.

Check our our other fact sheet posts including how to write a fact sheet, fact sheet templates, fact sheets for sale, and much more.