PR Buzz
Fall, 2003

In this Fall 2003 Issue:

PRBuzz is an eZine tailored for our customers, prospects and colleagues who have opted to receive this brief publication each quarter. It contains tips, ideas and reviews concerning public relations, marketing and promotion on a global basis. This edition contains images from the recent equipment leasing and finance industry convention and tips for global business. For previous issues of PR Buzz, please visit www.scapr.com.

• Customer Quotes
• Speak Out With POWERVOICE
• Consider Pitching Harvard Business Review
• Embedded PR Agents
• New Talent
• What's New in Web Marketing?
• Okay, Here's One Gesture to Avoid Overseas
• Recent Events

Getting Customer Quotes

Customer quotes or testimony about your service or product are extremely valuable in a public relations and marketing campaign, but too often our clients find them hard to obtain. We have found that our clients are more successful if they include a clause in their sales contract, act on this need early in the relationship and reward clients for allowing use of their testimony. Some organizations create a customer advisory board to develop active participation and ongoing commitment.

Finding Your Power Voice

A North American speaking coach claims most people can learn to become confident public speakers because the skills are teachable. Diane Wolf (www.dianewolf.com) says it is like learning a second language, one she has labeled POWERVOICE. The "language" components are pitch, pace, pause, projection, body language and word choice. She urges speakers to videotape themselves because awareness is the first step in developing a more confident presentation style.

See Yourself in Harvard Business Review

Did you know that more than 90 percent of the articles in the Harvard Business Review are from outside contributors? If you can provide insight into how your company operates, describe best practices, or have a case study that describes a breakthrough idea other business leaders could use, we would like to pitch it on your behalf to this respected publication

Embedded PR

You have probably heard the phrase "embedded journalists" in recent war coverage to describe the reporters who went with the troops into Iraq's hot spots. Have you heard of embedded PR agents? If you are using your PR agents wisely, you have invited them to management meetings, included them frequently in email correspondence, and drawn them into your operations. Embedded PR professionals will uncover stories and opportunities you may be too close to see. The deeper they penetrate your organization, the better able they are to integrate all the elements supporting brand development--Web site, collateral, customer correspondence and marketing strategy--into a complete campaign based on your business model and goals.

New Talent

Susan Carol Associates has added advertising and media buying expertise to its capabilities through alliances with several expert freelancers who specialize in creative concepting and media buying. For more information call Susan Carol at +1 540-361-1274

Selecting Color for your Site

Your Web site is an important marketing tool so choose your colors carefully, considering the psychology and cultural implications of color. Green and white work well together, but in Japan a white carnation signifies death and a green hat in China means a man's wife is cheating on him.

Red has been shown to increase blood pressure and heart rate. People working in a red environment work faster, but they also make more mistakes. It increases appetite, restlessness and nervous tension. Perhaps keep the red for accents only.

Web sites that contain different shades of blue, or a blue-and-white combination, tend to be more popular. Why? Blue represents calm, stability, hope, wisdom and generosity. People inherently trust blue Web sites faster. Add blue text and people will retain more information from your site. Combine blue, purple and white and you have nobility.

OK, Not OK

The widely accepted "okay" sign is okay in most countries but not in Brazil and Germany, where it is considered vulgar or obscene. It is also considered impolite in Greece and Russia, while in Japan, it signifies "money," and in southern France, "zero" or "worthless." Source: "Do's and Taboos Around the World," by Roger E. Axtell.

Recent Events

Members of the Service Providers Council met at the Equipment Leasing Association convention on the subject of marketing. Several representatives discussed ways to approach prospects deeper within large customer organizations and ways to re-purpose marketing materials.

Susan Carol Associates, in cooperation with Ivory Consulting, recently sponsored the opening tennis event at the Equipment Leasing Association convention in San Diego. If you would like to sponsor an event or be an exhibitor at next year's convention, here's a tip: Call us or the ELA within the next few months to reserve such an opportunity for next year. The best ones don't last long.

PR BUZZ is an e-zine published quarterly by Susan Carol Associates Public Relations, a Stafford, Virginia-based private corporation. (www.scapr.com).  If you do not wish to receive future issues, please send an email to sca@scapr.comand put UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line of the message.  Please pass this e-zine to colleagues. They may subscribe by responding to this email with the subject headline: SUBSCRIBE.