It's a Wonderful PR Opportunity: Oak Park Bank Wins Our Hearts, Then Business, With Screening

The triumphant scene from
 It's A Wonderful Life

Last Saturday, It's A Wonderful Life played at the Lake Theater in downtown Oak Park.

Sponsored by Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest, which is situated directly across the street from the elegant theater, it was a free screening.

It also made for brilliant PR.

Call us sentimental saps, but my wife, Bridgett, and I were deeply moved by the classic film. (We were also shocked to discover that it was the first time either one of us had seen it from start to finish.)

In recent months, we've been mulling the idea of moving our money from JP Morgan Chase (or "Chase" for short) to Community Bank. Our resolve would only increase when, every time we went in with a question, Chase personnel would use the opportunity to try to sell us products we don't need, rather than simply provide fast, attentive customer service.

Located just down the street from Community Bank, Chase is the latest in a series of titanic institutions occupying the northeast corner of Lake and Marion streets in the heart of Oak Park.

For the past 15 years, we had gone along for the ride, whether the sign on the door read First Chicago or Bank One or Chase. We tolerated little "mistakes" such as the time, just in the last year, when Bridgett noticed the bank had more than halved the interest rate on our savings account.

Oops!

Makes you wonder how many other accounts got shorted--and if miscues involving a too-high interest rate ever befall Chase.

Our decision to flee Chase has been made easier by Chase itself. Beyond the prior clumsy efforts to sell, rather than serve, us, an employee two weeks ago linked our debit card to a just-closed account. Three phone calls later, including one on a Sunday to a customer service rep, Bridgett cleaned up that mess.

All of which brings us to this past Saturday afternoon. Moments after we emerged from the Lake Theater, red-eyed from our tears that flowed throughout the movie, Bridgett deposited a check at Community Bank. It was on behalf of an association of which she is treasurer, and we chuckled about wanting to move, that very day, our personal funds there, too.

On Monday, on the heels of It's a Wonderful Life, we began the transition. The movie, including Community Bank's civic-minded role in its screening, has doubtlessly hastened our pace.

To be fair, I am sure that Chase has many wonderful, caring professionals. I wish the bank great success. But, at least in Oak Park, it has a ways to go in seizing opportunities to genuinely nurture relationships and engender trust.

Community Bank, on the other hand, seems to really get it. At a time when monolithic banks, and their greedy, tight-fisted ways, are high atop the list of citizens' Reasons to Get Angry, it's especially powerful to associate your company with a story whose central message teems with community, integrity and love.

Of course, you've got to be able to back it all up with action. The ball--and our money--is now in Community Bank's court.

Cross-Marketing Makes Good Business Sense; But Have You Alerted Prospects To the Details?

Have you created cross-marketing opportunities for your enterprise?

And if so, have you told your customers, and prospects, about this great way to drive traffic in both directions? If not, or if are limiting your exposure (such as telling only those who walk into your business), then you are severely, and needlessly, diminishing your marketing message.

Below you can see a brief video recounting what one Inside Edge PR client, Allstate of Oak Park, has done with a next-door business, the historic and regionally renowned Petersen's Ice Cream shop on Chicago Avenue.

Social Media Backlash is Natural: Steps You Can Take Without Having it Take Over Your Life

Anyone else notice an increased level of backlash against social media in general and Facebook specifically?

Yesterday, it was Garry Meier of WGN Radio, who wasn't so much as trashing it as he was questioning how and why it fits into our media-saturated lives.

This is all a natural (and recurring) response to anything that takes an increasingly prominent place (some might say "invades") in our lives. And it's especially prone to happen when we didn't really see it coming--it just sort of happened incrementally.

We've all heard (or are) the stories of people who scoffed at Facebook, checked it out once to see what the fuss was all about...and got hooked within minutes.

Whether you are born again in social media or a social media sourpuss, the below slideshow, which I first created in March 2009, may be a helpful reminder of the simple step-by-step process that you can take in this realm--without having it take over your life.

(Note: this presentation was geared toward an Oak Park, Ill. audience, so the "Pope" you see with the red ticket is David Pope, our village president. A little inside joke there.)

One last thing: it's still lawful to become a fan of Inside Edge PR.

Humor + Humanity in Communication Paves The Way to a Great First Impression

I really am trying to write shorter blog posts--I preach it all the time and you are more likely to read this entire ditty if I stopped right after this sentence.

But I promise this one is worth the extra effort you'll require to dig in here. In fact, extra effort--just a modest amount, mind you--is at the heart of this missive.

Think about your day-to-day journey. You know, the one that can often be filled with so much drudgery and sameness? Honestly, don't you crave a little humanity--and more than a little humor--to come across your path as often as possible?

What if you were to offer those precious commodities, especially at unexpected moments and in unexpected places, to those whose path you cross?

Folks would rave about you. You'd generate the right kind of buzz. And, according to a recent survey, you would be 87 percent more likely to become a millionaire.

OK, so I made up that last one. Just trying to practice what I'm preaching and inject some humor into your life.

These ruminations flow after a decidedly pleasant encounter I had today with the Terms of Service for a new outfit called Patch.com. Yes, you read that right: terms of service--that dry legalese that hardly anyone ever even looks at, let alone reads (at least, that's how I operate).


For months, I've been hearing rumblings of Patch and noticing veteran journalists, including at least one former editor of mine, have jumped aboard with the company.

But it was only today that I dug a little deeper. (Here's the link for the Oak Park, Illinois patch, if this is all news to you.)

Because I plan to post stories and other content on behalf of various Inside Edge PR clients in the future, I decided that I really ought to click on the link for Patch's terms of service.

I was treated to a living, breathing narrative that communicated all the required points (read: legalese), but it did so in a way that was a downright delight.

Some excerpts:

"We ask that you read these Terms of Use carefully before registering or using the Service. If you do not accept these Terms of Use, we promise not to get mad. But in that case, you may not use the Service."

"You are responsible for the security of your password and will be solely liable for any use or unauthorized use under such password. Therefore, if you share a computer with others, don’t allow your Internet browser to automatically save your password. Also, don’t write your password on a Post-It note and leave it on your desk for all to see."

Later, after spelling out some of the no-nos that will get your butt kicked off of Patch, there was this simple summation:

Instead of trying to memorize all that, you might boil it down to three main policies: “Keep it clean,” “Don’t try to trick people,” and “Treat others as you’d like to be treated.” Easy, right?"

By the end of it all (and by now you shouldn't be shocked to learn that I read to the end), my regard for the company had skyrocketed. Bear in mind, I know little more than what I've already described, and this halo effect has already taken root.

How would you like your customers, clients, audience base, fans, whomever, to begin with that kind of overwhelmingly positive impression?

That's the power of effective--human, humorous, real--communication.

So what are you doing--in your e-mails, in your voicemails, in any interaction that you're having with others--to do that little something to bring a smile to someone's face?

Do people dread or look forward to hearing, or reading, from you again? The answer lies at least partly in whether you take the extra effort that, in Patch.com's case, inspired me to give them this rousing shout-out.

Teeming With BHG/Gloor Realty Promos, Activity

For the second straight year, Inside Edge PR client Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Gloor Realty is holding a clothing drive.

(The photo here is from last year's initiative, which led to more than 2,000 items being donated.)

This year, the effort launches on Oct. 17 and has been expanded to include toys. If you're looking to do some fall cleaning--and clearing-out--of articles that remain in good condition, we would appreciate your consideration.

Also, I've recently upped activity on the BHG/Gloor Realty Facebook fan page, including a weekly feature dubbed "Tuneful Tuesdays."

The lifeblood of any Facebook Fan page is interaction and engagement with those fans, and so we've offered a modest incentive (a $10 gift certificate to Erik's Deli, a longtime Oak Park restaurant) to spur on suggestions for future songs with real estate-related names in their titles.

Katy's Passion Apparent in `Heroic Kitchens'

What are you passionate about?

Kathleen Frantz of Oak Park is dedicated to serving those in need. And she's building an entire business model around it.

You can also check out this TribLocal photo gallery of "Heroic Kitchens."


Earlier today, Inside Edge PR posted this news release at TribLocal about "Heroic Kitchens with Katy Frantz" in which she is auditioning for a talk show on the Oprah Winfrey Network

Her proactive style is a reflection of the increasing avenues for entrepreneurially minded individuals to take PR into their own hands.

I call it the "Guttenberg Effect," in which anyone with a little training and a good dose of ambition can develop their own media outlets.

To view and consider voting for “Heroic Kitchens”—remember, you can vote early and vote often every day—click here.

My Day As `Census Count Crusader' in Oak Park

It had been 75 days since I last wore a red cape, but who was counting?

On Tuesday, I returned to super-hero action by playing the role of "Census Count Crusader." It was part of the Village of Oak Park's awareness-raising efforts for the 2010 Census.

With visits to Oak Park and River Forest High School (including a foray into the cafeteria, above photo) and Oak Park Village Hall (nearly two hours) for a Census Rally, I had more super-hero red boot time than my day's journey in standard, mere-mortal footwear.

That must count for something, though I've yet to quite figure out what.

The rally at village hall was part of the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour.

Cruising around village hall during the rally to interview a variety of folks, I teamed up for some fun, informative interviews at the direction of Joe Kreml, the village's talented cable station producer and the brains behind the now-legendary Super Shopper Spotter commercial.


Thanks to Village Clerk Teresa "Terry" Powell for pulling me back into Superhero-land. Three months ago, I wore much the same costume as Super Shopper Spotter. The only change Tuesday was a shirt bearing the "Census Count Crusader" logo (left).

When asked about the SSS on my cape, I had a ready answer: Super Statistical Summarizer.

PR Tips: How to Build Rapport With Reporters

Among many other topics during last week's workshop, "PR Secrets From a Media Insider," one was on how to develop rapport with members of the media.

In a nutshell, here are some basic steps:

1. Pay attention to the reporter's prior work.
2. Pay a (sincere) compliment.
3. Respectfully challenge a reporter's work.
4. Offer a story suggestion that does not benefit you in the least.

The brief video below, from the PR Secrets workshop at the Carleton Hotel in Oak Park, Ill., touches on these points:

Shop the Village's Mega-Gift Moment

It's been quite a three-month journey with Oak Park's "Shop the Village" and it's coming close to an end.

Last night was the Mega-Gift Drawing, with one ticket out of the estimated 83,000 tickets (about $2.1 million worth of shopping) generated by the program worth $4,000 in prizes from each of the more than 100 participating businesses.

Time will tell who holds the valuable ticket, as I noted on the Shop the Village website and as was reported by the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, a huge ally in our program.

A lesson re-learned last night: it's never too late to ask for help.

About 10 minutes before the festivities were to begin, I asked an employee of Park National Bank, the event host, if they had a drawing drum so we could use something appropriately classy instead of the motley gray bucket into which I'd crammed the 83,000 tickets.

A few minutes later, after a search of the basement, she hauled up the drawing drum that we used. Of course, as the photo shows, we had a heck of a time squeezing all the tickets through the small, square gate.

Triblocal Gets Much More Local For Clientele

The other day, I posted a news release for the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine on Triblocal.com.

You can see the release ("Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine: Not All Providers Are Created Equal") here. It joins dozens of other Inside Edge PR news releases (written, as all my work is written, in journalistic style) on the site.

Soon, many more Inside Edge PR releases will be on the site, as the Tribune expands its reach to include Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park--right in the heart of so much of my client roster.

Though its focus on western and southern suburbs has typically been beyond most of my clientele's reach until now, Triblocal has been a solid go-to resource for nearly a year. The site is easy to use, has a broad reach and, of course, is connected to the top newspaper in the region.

Make no mistake--the site does not draw anywhere near the traffic that flocks to the flagship paper's site at Chicago Tribune.com.

But clients report receiving visits to their site from the Triblocal pages, and the pieces also frequently pop up on Page 1 of Google searches for various organizations, businesses and individuals that I've publicized. That all has a real, if difficult-to-measure, impact on a company or organization's bottom line.

One quick case in point: during the recent dog wedding in Oak Park that I promoted (I Do, Doggone It!), I asked a gentleman who trekked from Glen Ellyn to Oak Park how he learned of the event.

He first replied, "The Tribune." When I mentioned that I'd not seen it publicized there, he clarified that he meant Triblocal.com.

Rarely will I develop a news release with Triblocal in mind--it's simply one of many spots where I send or, in the user-generated website's case, post it. However, at bare minimum, tapping into the site provides an online home for stories that might otherwise not get published anywhere else.

In that regard, it becomes a kind of online adjunct to an organization's website and overall marketing effort.

PR For A Cause: Asian Domestic Authority

Last week, I thought I may have fractured one of my ribs. Well, more precisely, I thought that a lumbering 230-pound basketball teammate had done the damage when he barreled into me as I tried to set a pick for him.

As it turns out, I think it's only a bruise. But along the way, a few medical friends have given me counsel without my having to spend hundreds of bucks on a doctor's visit or, worse yet, a trip to the emergency room.

I appreciate this kind of informal, on-the-spot support that friends and acquaintances provide. In my PR practice, I try to do my part as well, whether it's what I call PR Pro Bono Drive-Bys or more extensive no-fee support for people like Roy Rivera (pictured below), an exceedingly knowledgeable, hard-working and honest car mechanic in my community of Oak Park, Illinois.

In September 2007, a fire destroyed Asian Domestic Authority, the shop that Roy owns with Walter Corzo. Today, they are finally back into the new-and-vastly improved space. Recently, I took some time to shoot videos and contact the media about the shop's revival as well as the content at AsianDomestic.com.

One of the local papers, the Oak Leaves, has already assigned a reporter to follow up on stories they wrote shortly after the fire. And if you are anywhere near Oak Park, now you know where to go if you're in need of a car repair business teeming with integrity and competence.

In Oak Park: Helping To "Shop The Village"

In November 1981, as an eighth-grader at Furnace Brook Middle School in Marshfield, Ma., I started my first business: bubble-gum salesman.

My only goal, at first, was to make enough money to buy my mom some stamps for her birthday. Very practical, I know.

I started with a five-piece pack of gum one day (at 10 cents per piece), cleared a 25-cent profit, expanded to two packs, then four, and then held steady at eight packs of Bubble Yum, Hubba Bubba, Bubblicious and other varieties that I sold to fellow students.

Soon I set my sights on simply seeing how much money I could make between classes (and, yes, sometimes even during class) without running afoul of the school administration, which didn't exactly endorse my grassroots enterprise.


Eventually, and quite by accident, I branched out and began selling more than 100 pieces of Starburst candy pieces a day. Along the way, I offered rewards, especially to my best customers, in the form of freebies here and there that expressed my appreciation for their loyalty.

By the end of the school year, I had earned $500--enough to help my mom buy a used car and to enroll in a summer basketball camp. You could say I exceeded the stamps-for-birthday goal.

The entrepreneurial zeal never waned, even if most of that passion over the years was expended on competing for stories as a news reporter.

Now business has come full circle with a current marketing effort that I am coordinating called "Shop The Village." Comprised of more than 100 businesses in my longtime residence of Oak Park, Ill., the program began taking shape behind the scenes in late October and was unveiled publicly the day after Thanksgiving.

"Shop The Village" continues through Jan. 31, 2009, designed as it is to spur on shopping amid our economically trying times.

So far, and thanks to many business and local government leaders who have thrown in their support, it appears to have ignited real enthusiasm. And where I used to offer a piece of gum or a Cherry Starburst to another student, "Shop The Village" is providing more than 100 $25 gift certificates (at minimum) and a $4,000 Grand Prize at the end of the campaign.

Along with other key allies from throughout this community that I treasure so much, I will be striving to exceed initial expectations in much the same way that they were eclipsed more than a quarter-century ago back in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

And this program enjoys the major benefit of actually being backed by the powers-that-be, so there's no need for anyone to look over their shoulder!

Today, at Lido's Caffe in downtown Oak Park, we held the first of nine weekly drawings for "Shop The Village. You can check it out here:

Media Manna: My Q & A With Joe Theismann

My kids' bedtime stories are of the Biblical variety. Just last night, I enjoyed reading to them again about the manna--the sweet-tasting food from the heavens--that God provided to Moses and his beleaguered crew of nomads.

It's the perfect metaphor for some of the assignments that I've been fortunate to receive over the years. In May, it happened when Wendy Cole, a senior editor at REALTOR magazine called.

A fellow Oak Parker whom I know from our time together at Time magazine (she on staff, me as a stringer), Wendy asked if I'd be interested in interviewing Joe Theismann for a Q & A to appear in an edition previewing the REALTORS Conference & Expo in Orlando.

Media Manna!

I started rattling off Joe's football stats, how he changed his last name's pronunication so it rhymed with "Heisman," and other background details. Somewhere in there I gushed my reply to Wendy's offer: "Yes!"

"Sounds like this is a good fit for you," she understated with amusement.

I did some research, prepared about a dozen questions and, on May 20, enjoyed a 23-minute interview with Joe. I anticipated a bright, thoughtful, colorful encounter, and Joe was even more classy and insightful than I'd imagined he would be.

I typed up a long version of the Q & A for the REALTOR website, and below you can see the shorter version that appeared in print:

No Guinness World Record, Doggone It!

The mass dog wedding that I publicized, I Do, Doggone It!, may have set a record for the most same-sex dog "marriages" on Saturday in downtown Oak Park.

However, that is not yet a sanctioned Guinness World Record category.

So the 87 total marriages, while certainly one of the biggest in pooch history, fell shy of the Guinness mark (178), set in May 2007 in Littleton, Col.

To check out some video that I shot during the whimsical festivities, you can check out the blog DogWedding.info.

You can also visit a Chicago Tribune photo gallery of the event.

An Open Invitation To The Obama Girls

It's not every day that you invite the President-elect's daughters to come to a mass dog wedding.

But when it comes to a great cause, has a logical link to a pledge that Barack Obama made before the world on Tuesday night, and Sasha and Malia just happen to be in the neighborhood anyway...well, it just seems like the right thing to do.

Check out excerpts from the Guinness World Record attempt news release, touting the canine conjugals tomorrow in downtown Oak Park. It all starts at 11 a.m. for those dogs that need a speed-dating service, with bow vows at 1 p.m.

Even if the Obama girls aren't able to join in the fun, plenty of people will and you're invited along too. Here, you can check out the history of I Do, Doggone It!

Obama's PR Problem: Endorsing A Hack

Here in Cook County, the second-largest county in the nation, there is a population of more than 5 million, which exceeds that of 30 states.

It's a hugely significant place, with Chicago at its epicenter and a County Board President by the name of Todd Stroger. In case you're not familiar with him, Stroger isn't equipped to lead a county of five people, let alone 5-plus million. To put it as clearly as I can, Stroger is a political hack.

Yet two years ago, Barack Obama, along with fellow Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, endorsed Stroger in his race against Republican Tony Peraica. Of course, it would be naive to suggest they should have endorsed Peraica. But they had the option of simply steering clear of making any endorsement.

Instead, they must have had to hold their noses as they read the glowing letter that some staffer undoubtedly penned. You can see the letter right here, as part of Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn's archives.

The endorsement letter, which may well have been instrumental in tipping the narrow race in Stroger's favor, concluded:

"On Tuesday Todd Stroger is the only choice. You can make the difference. You can raise your voice. You can choose Todd Stroger, and let him lead us into a new era of Cook County government."

It's a new era, all right. A new, increasingly tax-happy, incompetent era that has made the county--and Stroger, in particular--a laughingstock. Except, in my household, nobody's laughing at being squeezed out of even more of our hard-earned money. And that's just the tip of a bumbling, unprofessional iceberg.

Type "Todd Stroger patronage" into Google and feast your eyes on the ways in which he's confirmed our worst fears--and raised new ones.

In the person of Todd Stroger, Barack Obama has one serious PR problem on his hands.

I covered local government in Illinois for some 15 years, about half of that time for the Chicago Tribune. One 2 1/2-year beat was the town of Cicero, shortly after its president, Betty Loren-Maltese, and six others went to prison for stealing millions in taxpayer money. So I have seen plenty of good, bad and ugly elected officials.

Time will tell how much the Stroger debacle will cost Obama. He's part of the Chicago Democratic Machine that Tribune columnist John Kass writes about so persistently.

I have followed Obama's career closely the past five years, ever since I first encountered an uncommon zeal in the voices of those who supported his burgeoning U.S. Senate campaign in my town of Oak Park, Illinois.

I am reading his first book, Dreams From My Father, and last year I read an excellent, and balanced, book (Obama: From Promise to Power) that Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendell wrote--a book that moved me to write a feature story about Mendell's journey.

And lately, even with the Stroger support nagging at me, I have wanted to believe that Obama is sincere when he lays claim to the mantle of reformer and bringing "change" to the political process. He's bright, he's charming, he talks a very, very good game.

But in this one crucial moment two years ago--when he held significant sway over an election of such import--Obama's actions sharply contradicted his lofty words.