PR On A Five Seasons' Fitness Turn-Around

Sometimes, timing is on your side.

That was certainly the case about a month ago when I was at Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge to meet with leaders there and develop story ideas to share with the media.

Desarez Carlson, the club's senior sales adviser, handed me photos and notes written by Sharon Anderson, who had lost more than 100 pounds since joining Five Seasons in early 2008. It was the foundation of a terrific story about the club's impact on fostering Anderson's newfound fitness.

But I would need to talk with Anderson. Ideally, it would be in person, to be able to do the story justice and enhance our chances of attracting media coverage. A few minutes later, as I gathered more story ideas, Carlson looked over my shoulder and out the window by the club's stately front door.

"There she is," said Carlson. "There's Sharon walking in."

I excused myself from the meeting. A short while later, a videotaped Q & A ensued. You can see it below, and you can see the news release on Anderson's amazing transformation here at Triblocal.com.

Keeping Busy With Five Seasons Sports Club

Been busy of late working on publicity pieces for the Five Seasons Sports Clubs in Burr Ridge and Northbrook, including a recent series of media outreaches on the Tri-umph Youth Triathlon Clinic.

Pictured here is Kate Schnatterbeck, founder of Tri-umph, Inc., who organized the two-day session in Northbrook.

An essential element, as always, is to take photographs and, when possible, videotape. Along those lines, I set up a YouTube channel for the Burr Ridge Five Seasons on Tuesday evening.

Monica Seles: Class Act Comes to Five Seasons

After reading her wonderful and courageous new book, Getting A Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, I sensed that tennis great Monica Seles was a kind, warm person who possesses tremendous inner strength and wisdom borne of adversity.

So I was intrigued over this past weekend, when she visited Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook, to discover whether she would project the same qualities in person. Much to my pleasure, she exceeded even my high expectations with a genuine, others-centered demeanor.

Among other things, she posed for "just one more" photo scores of times--including one that I quickly snapped (see above), my left arm extended, a few moments before she departed.

You can read about her visit, which supported a charity tennis tournament, the 10th Annual Handzel Open, at Triblocal.com.

I also shot video of some of her opening remarks, which you can find at my YouTube channel.

Below is her response to a question I posed:

Want To Drive Online Traffic? Then Tweet!

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

That's the question that has surfaced with increasing regularity the past few months. In addition to the compelling data about Twitter's growth, anecdotal indicators abound: in the last week, I've seen that my pastor and the National Basketball Association are on Twitter.

(I'm following Pastor James, but don't feel the need to be an NBA disciple just yet.)

Having attracted about 90 followers since opening my Twitter account almost exactly one year ago (May 15, 2008 was my debut), my presence on the social-media service is modest, at best.

But I have seen upticks in traffic when I post links to this blog and other writings on my Twitter account (you can follow me by going to my page on Twitter, "InsideEdge".

Then, late last night, I got a compelling glimpse of Twitter's power.

Around 11 p.m, I took a few minutes to provide links to two recent news releases that I had posted previously on Triblocal, with specific introductory verbiage so people would know the gist of what they would see. I had shared the releases with a variety of media outlets, including posting them on Triblocal.com, the Chicago Tribune's citizen-journalism site.

Here are some preliminary findings:

Link I: After nine days, a piece on an upcoming skin cancer fundraiser at Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook had generated a mere four hits. Within 10 minutes of Tweeting about it, the hit count jumped to 14.

As of 8 a.m. today, the tally was up to 23--more than five times the pre-Tweet tally. What will the hit count say when you click on the above link?

Link II: Intrigued to measure the Tweet-pact (Twitter impact) on another Triblocal story, I offered a link to a two-month-old Scheck & Siress news release on a family's efforts to address their infant son's plagiocephaly, or flattened head.

Within nine hours, the number of people who had viewed the story climbed from 28 to 41. After a protracted period of stagnation--less than one visit every two days--that's more than one hit per hour.

Granted, these figures don't measure what, if anything, anyone will do about having read these pieces.

As a result of my late-night Tweets, will Five Seasons see more visitors at its skin-care fundraiser on Tuesday night, or gain new members down the line?

Will a parent who hadn't thought about contacting Scheck & Siress do so now that they learned about the company's various services?

We will probably never know--though any organization ought to be continually asking clients how they found out about them, so they can measure what marketing efforts are working.

Although the extent to which those Tweets make a difference may never be clear, much more obvious is the answer to the alternative question: What if, after having already invested hours upon hours in developing those news releases, I had not taken a few moments make that extra awareness-raising nudge?

Versatile Pitches Provide Multiple PR Options

Whenever you can offer the media a story suggestion that has versatility--it can be a human interest feature, a health and wellness story, and a business piece, for example--then it provides you with bigger placement potential.

In other words, if a given outlet isn't interested in the story under Category A, then you still have a chance that it will be deemed a fit for Category B or C.

A recent news release that I developed for Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge fits this description. I wrote about a corporate wellness program that Five Seasons has launched, with the release detailing the experience that corporate neighbor Turtle Wax, based in Willowbrook, has enjoyed with the club.

You can read the release at Triblocal.com as well as see the Triblocal photo gallery I created.

Included in the story is a video of one of Turtle Wax's employees talking about how the program has helped improve his health. Check out the interview on YouTube here.

WSL Profiles Five Seasons Sports Club Duo

One of my clients, Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge, received prominent mention in the current issue of West Suburban Living Magazine, a classy publication that focuses on, well, the western suburbs of Chicago.

It came about in November, when managing editor Brittany Ashcroft asked if I had any candidates for a profile on individuals who "use more unique exercises and routines to stay fit." Through nominations provided by Dawn Hanson, the club's fitness director at the time, I hooked up the magazine with John Monacella and Lisa Scafido.

They are featured early on in the piece by Laura Otto, which you can read by clicking on the images below.





Reprinted with permission. West Suburban Living Magazine Jan./Feb. 2009.

Keeping Your PR Eye On The Calendar

Of all the similarities between being a journalist and being a publicist, one of the most prominent ones is the need to keep your eye on the calendar.

Mine says that today is Jan. 16th, which means, among other things, that it's well past time to start thinking about Valentine's Day-related story ideas, whether you represent a client or toil in a newsroom.

I touched on this timing truth in an Inside Edge PR post two weeks ago.

On another front, if you don't have a Super Bowl-related pitch ready to roll, it's time to go into the two-minute drill. Yesterday, as I was speaking with Don Riley, the new fitness director at Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge, a thought popped into my head--how can we tie in his expertise with the big football game on February 1st?

The answer came quickly, and simply: offer simple fitness and nutrition tips that TV spectators (aka "couch potatoes") can implement as they "watch 22 players desperately in need of rest," as the late, great football coach Bud Wilkinson has been quoted.

More to come in a future Inside Edge PR post.

PR Resolution: Give Media Plenty of Lead Time

If it's January 2, then that must mean it's time to start seriously brainstorming some Valentine's Day story suggestions.

Though the romantic holiday may seem way off on the horizon--a full 43 days away--a recent story in Pioneer Press newspapers reaffirms that it's never too soon to start planting story seeds with the media. In late October, I sent a news release to print and television media about the fitness transformation of Wayne Arner (pictured, with son Tommy).

Arner is a member of Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook, a client of Inside Edge PR for the past two years.

At the time, I was trying to be as timely as possible, in the wake of Arner's competing in a national triathlon championship. You can read about him, and my initial PR approach, in this Inside Edge blog post on Oct. 27, 2008.

Of course, Arner's dramatic weight-loss is a timeless story--and is especially timely as an inspirational and educational New Year's Resolution piece. And that's just what Pioneer Press staff writer Mary Graham did in a recent story bearing the headline "Man of Resolution."

Graham also wrote a sidebar to the Arner profile that included input from Drew Surinsky, who has trained members at Five Seasons Sports Club, as well as Marie Pearson, the club's group fitness director.

A remarkably versatile trainer in her own right, Pearson is the one who first tipped me off to Arner's story and offers important tips for anyone seeking better fitness.

Wayne Arner: From Huff & Puff To Buff

By my calculations, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas consume precisely three days of the calendar.

But somehow it all translates into a two-month comfort-and-junk food fest, when people tend to pack on some additional pounds. (OK, I'm projecting from my own experience--it's my seasonal pattern, anyway!)

So it was with great admiration that in developing a news release on his triathlon journey, I recently interviewed Wayne Arner, a member of Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook. It began in September 2006, when he tipped the scales at 206 pounds and resolved to dip his toe in the water, literally, at the Five Seasons' indoor pool.

Since then, via these two photographs, you can see the distance his fitness has traveled: above, with his daughter, Annie, in 2005; and below, in a national triathlon championship in Oregon last month.

For anyone who has ever huffed and puffed after, say, swimming only a brief distance, as was the case with Wayne two years ago, let this news release serve as inspiration.

And this sidebar release, drawn from insights shared by Five Seasons Sports Club Group Fitness Director Marie Pearson, is your caution.

Tennis Player Outreach Nets Coverage

I had a post on Friday regarding my media outreach about a 12-year-old tennis player named Jordan Belga who trains at Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook, Ill.

On Saturday came this Daily Herald feature, which included an interview with Jordan's coach, Five Seasons tennis pro Jacek Dabrowski.

It doesn't always work out so nicely. In this case, fortunately, the Daily Herald opted to devote some attention to the club where Jordan has developed his game to the point of being rated No. 1 in the nation. Of course, it helped that when the reporter spoke with Jordan, he talked about Jacek--among other things, sharing that he texted his coach upon learning he'd gained the top spot.

One last note, and something that publicist Peter Shankman taught me through his book, Can We Do That?: Sharing Jacek's number with the media is important, but sources must be coached to be responsive.

When Jacek tipped me off to Jordan's No. 1 ranking on Thursday, I reminded him to be ready for phone calls from unfamiliar phone numbers (the media)--and to pick 'em up, if at all possible.

Courting Media With Tennis Phenom News

For nearly two years, starting with George Hood's two 2007 Guinness World Record attempts at marathon spin cycling, I've enjoyed getting the word out about Five Seasons Sports Clubs in Burr Ridge and Northbrook.

Yesterday morning came the latest chapter: a phone call from Jacek Dabrowski, a top tennis pro at the Northbrook site. He had some exciting news: a 12-year-old he is coaching, Jordan Belga, moved up to the No. 1 spot in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) rankings for his age group.

Seeking to capture the freshness of the news (Jordan's ranking had been published on the USTA website late Wednesday night), I pushed my other work aside and gathered information and photos from Jacek and from Jordan's mom, Kelly. I quickly wrote a news release and began contacting Chicago-area media in the early afternoon.

You can see the release as it appears on the Chicago Tribune's user-generated website, Triblocal. And soon, I hope, you will find it in other media.

(Photo credit: Lloyd Clayton, YourGameFace.com)

PR Update: Five Seasons/Athletes For Life

This afternoon, as was my hope yesterday, I finished the news release on the Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge hosting the Athletes For Life mobile Cardiac Screening Facility, starting Sept. 16-17, taking a day off, and wrapping up on Sept. 19-20.

In all, I contacted about 15 media outlets, encompassing newspapers, regional magazines, television and radio, and offered slight modifications depending on whether the outlet was closer to Burr Ridge or Northbrook. Especially with weekly newspapers, it's vital to provide at least 10 days' advance notice. Depending on the timing of an event, even 10 days' notice sometimes provides only one pre-event placement opportunity.

As I often do, I also placed the release on the user-generated websites for the Chicago Tribune (Triblocal) and the Sun-Times News Group (Neighborhood Circle).

Marlene Karman, a part-time employee at Five Seasons, has been tremendous in providing me with information and photographs, including the one posted in this missive as well as the post from yesterday.

The one above shows the 48-foot trailer, aka the mobile Cardiac Screening Facility, and the other, on yesterday's blog post, is of Marlene with retired NFL player Willie Gault, co-founder of the AFL Foundation, from an event held at the Karman residence a month ago.

PR That Goes To The Heart of the Matter

The past few days I have been working on a news release about Athletes For Life, and that organization's efforts, among other initiatives, to provide, at no charge, early detection of heart problems.

There are some major names associated with the group, starting with co-founder and former pro football star Willie Gault (pictured, with Marlene Karman--more on her in a moment). I sense that they just need a little PR support to reap exponential results, at least in terms of awareness.

I'm tying in the group's upcoming stops with one of my clients, the Five Seasons Sports Clubs in Burr Ridge and Northbrook. It's always fun when a win-win scenario emerges--by promoting Athletes For Life, in this instance, I am simultaneously promoting Five Seasons.

As so often happens with Five Seasons, it was the initiative of employees that tipped me off to the story. In fact, one of them is Marlene (pictured, with Willie Gault). She is a key volunteer for Athletes For Life. I've identified her as a focal point of the story, and some media may be interested in profiling her as much, and maybe even more so, than any of the more prominent names affiliated with the AFL.

First, though, I've got to finalize the release and gather photos from Marlene, who has been a joy to work with because she is so passionate about the cause. I'm hoping to wrap up the release by Friday, which would give 11 days' lead time before the first stop, Sept. 16-17, in Burr Ridge.

Stay tuned!