Brett Banter

The New York Times painted a gloom and doom picture of the housing market this morning. Their not-so-new news is that the era of Americans turning mortgages into personal money machines is over. It's a sad tale that was fueled by greed and a lack of common sense. People bought houses they couldn't afford thinking they would double in value within a few years. What were they thinking? They were thinking they had seen it happen elsewhere? They read national stories about it. They watched television "reality" shows that promoted this idea.

It was a fallacy. A bad public relations move that has only gotten worse. One of the little talked about tales in the housing debacle is that the real estate market is not national. What plays in Peoria doesn't always play in Kalamazoo.

The Times again trumpeted this fallacy by talking about expected national housing numbers would not be up to par. Of course they won't people. There was too much housing construction in places that didn't need it. The glut is there. Not everywhere.

A good friend asked me during lunch last week what I thought about the local newspaper decision to charge for online content. They like many in the community have not been thrilled with the idea even though they already get the newspaper. They think the newspaper is being hurt by losing all of those free readers.

I look at it a different way. If a real estate company owned a prime piece of property that was vacant, would they let someone work there for free? What if that person brought their friends in and started spray painting stuff on the walls? What if when someone came by to actually look at the building to rent, the freeloader hollered out the window to head down the street for a better purchase? The same goes for restaurants, retail stores, barbershops and the like. No smart businessperson would agree to such nonsense.

But that is what free newspaper websites have become. People would go on there using an assumed name (and not really a clever one), write horribly spelled and vile comments and often complain about a newspaper's coverage. The comments section have almost dried up in the local newspaper because the freeloaders have gone, but what good were they doing?

The paper still faces a public relations battle, but this was a good step.

Example: A tree

Said tree has broken branches, a squirrel living in it and all of its leaves drop off once a year. Bad tree. Don't like that tree. Don't want anything to do with that tree. Worst tree ever.

But what if that tree is on the edge of a beautiful forest? Is the forest bad?

Welcome to paralysis through analysis. This is when people, companies, governments and the like get so caught up looking at a few mistakes that they overlook a lot of the positives. They see broken branches when they should be looking at the forest as a hole. They mire themselves in indecision. It usually comes when they study something to hard. That is not saying companies shouldn't be diligent in their work, but sometimes it pays to step back and look at the big picture.

The question becomes is your company suffering from paralysis through analysis. Is it time to make decisions? Let Brett show you how.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of the times. Thus starts the classic book, a Tale of Two Cities. It is easily one of the most well recognized openings of any book in world history. It has been copied, parodied, repasted and corrupted more times than anyone can ever imagine.

But does it count as plagiarism? The New York Times wrote this week about the rise in plagiarism amongst college students. As usual, the Internet is to blame. If only Al Gore could have stopped that part of the Internet when he created it. Seriously, though, it's not just that plagiarism is wide spread. It's that students have taken such a blah (thanks Lady Ga Ga) attitude towards it. The article details that many students think if something does not have an author's name that it is fair game. Tebow weeps on that one. They also think they won't get caught. They must be lazy and stupid because there are hundreds of resources out there for people to use to see if something has been copied.

What does this all mean? Is originality dead? Do blogs count as orginality? Shake a Magic Eight Ball on each answer and get back to me.

Two days, I noticed a lot of my friends were posting that July 5, 2010 was the day that Marty McFly and Doc Brown blasted into the future in the movie, Back to the Future. Ivanka Trump isn't one of my friends, but she posted it as well. This was getting around. People were celebrating it as "Future Day." These were smart, web savvy people.

It was a hoax. A company altered a screen shot from the movie and put an e-mail out there. It spread quickly and people fell for it. Makes you think. Or at least it should make you think. People are now spreading news faster than ever before, yet what are they really spreading?

Back in the early days of the Web being public ( aka the mid-1990s), I remember there was a mantra out there not to trust web information. Check it three times before believing it because there were no controls over content. A decade and a half later, that has reversed. People believe every thing they read on blogs, web forums and twitter feeds. Mainstream news (aka edited work) is met with extreme caution now.

What do you believe?

Brett recently moved its offices back to downtown Greenville. Okay, it was three months ago, but that seems like recently when you are looking for something that you know should be around here somewhere. That is the problem with moving. Things get stuffed into a closet and storage in a hurry and then forgotten about.

This happens in every business, and not just in moving. We tend to stuff things into the closets and back corners of our minds. What good does it do there? Nothing. That is why we need to get things in order. It is wise to get organized and start thinking about ways to make your business start growing.

Or maybe that is too much for you, and you need help. Give Brett a call. We will get your company organized.

Had a big day with the announcement that Charter is now the naming rights partner of the Amphitheater at Heritage Park. We had a great turnout for the announcement from the media and local leaders. The weather was perfect in Simpsonville.

Of course, we did a lot of behind the scenes work to make this naming rights a reality, but that is a story for another day. Give us a call or shoot us an e-mail and we can do the same thing for your business.

You can't buy fire insurance for your house once the flames go away, and in the spirit of the season, you can't put on sunscreen once your skin is a new shade of red. It won't help the burn later on.

What does this mean in the world of public relations? It means you have to build up good will in the community before the burn comes. One of the best ways to protect yourself from bad publicity is by building up your community relations status. It's easier to put on the sunscreen than trying to run on aloe and putting a shirt on over a burnt back. How can you do this in public relations? Call us at Brett and we can help.

What makes a business succeed? It is a quality product? A new idea? A good solid team of workers? Most business owners will immediately say that some combination of those three are the keys to growth. However, when asked about creating brand awareness, they draw somewhat of a blank look.

And that is where Brett comes in. We create full-fledged media campaigns to help businesses become part of the fabric of their communities. It is more than just a press release. We handle media contacts, interviews, events, working with the community, finding the right projects to partner with and so much more.

So is your business struggling despite have a quality product, a new idea and a solid team? It may be time to give us a call.

The Woodlands at Furman is proud to announce its one-year anniversary celebration is coming up in two weeks. The celebration is geared toward Upstate seniors and will be highlighted by a keynote speech by the founder and president of Masterpiece Living, Dr. Robert Landry.

Other events include golf, bike rides, a concert with Jack Roper and a cooking demonstration. So, if you are of retirement age, come check out this event.

The big announcement that we have been working on for weeks is finally here. Woodlands is now a Life Care retirement community. This puts the Woodlands essentially in an entirely new world when it comes to providing services for its residents.

Get more here. You will be amazed.

Many people dread Monday mornings, but we tend to enjoy them at Brett. We see this as the day to create and explore new ideas for the week. It is part of our strategy when working with clients to try and seize as many new opportunities as possible. Nothing is gained without trying it first.

The goal is to use this day to start fresh and tackle any problems that come along.

What is the biggest problem most companies face? It is not thinking big. That sounds somewhat oversimplified, but think about your own business. Are you challenging yourself and your employees to shoot for the best or the status quo? When is the last time you updated your Web site, changed your menu around, cleaned up the desks, considered moving to a new space. Inertia is a business killer. Many people fall into "if it's not broke, don't fix it" mentality when they need to be looking forward. At Brett, our goal is to keep people going forward. Our job is to help you find that next innovation, the next productand the next contact. Thinking big is not a part-time thing. It needs to be the driving force for a business. Are you ready to think big?

The Connector 2000 Association made its case to the Greenville County Legislative Delegation Monday night about restructuring the Southern Connector's bonds.

While the legislators didn't take any action, a case to allow the board, the Department of Transportation and bond holders, appeared to have made some headway. The state Senate needs to pass an amendment that will allow for this to happen, if not the status quo will be maintained.

Richard Few, the Association's chairman, made some great points about why the bonds needs to be restructured including it essentially will allow the state to get paid for maintenance work, it will pay back the bonds that the business community rallied behind more than a decade ago and this is a public road that has help facilitate more than $400 million worth of new roads in the Upstate.

"This will be a credit to the state," Few said.

As part of the push, the entire Connector 2000 board attended the meeting to show the legislators the severity of the situation. Basically, the 16-mile toll road has never met the traffic projections submitted when the highway was passed by the state in the 1990s. The Association had nothing to do with that traffic study, but has been the group tasked with finding a solution.

It has been a busy week as the Greenville News also opined on the situation.

The restructuring will not add any taxes to the state nor will taxpayers have to pay anything. This is simply to give more time for the bonds to be repaid, which in the end helps the state.

One of our favorite sayings at Brett is "you can't buy fire insurance after your house has burned down." It's an effective way of explaining to our clients why they need to think about their public image and build good will. One of the key things we try to explain to clients is that the best way to handle a crisis is to create good relations in the communities in which they work. That means being open to the public, being an ambassador for their business fields and being a good member of the community.

The question, dear reader, is how strong is your fire insurance and do you need Brett to help you?

We wrote a post not too long ago about how the issue that just won't go away in our state -- the Confederate flag -- continues to command attention from both sides ten years after the flag was removed from the dome of the South Carolina Statehouse. Though the flag was taken down from the Capitol and placed on a 30-foot pole on the Statehouse lawn, the NAACP and others continue to protest the flag's presence on state property. The issue that just won't die in South Carolina has positioned our state on a perilous ledge until it is fully resolved. The ongoing ferocity potentially jeopardizes not only our own internal political and social relations, but has the opportunity to also directly impact the state's economy by causing businesses to shy away from bringing industry to such a cutthroat political climate.

Hundreds of thousands (or more) of people pass by this billboard in Times Square in New York City every day, but we're betting far more than that will see this advertisement for the Weatherproof Garment Company simply via media, internet and viral rounds.

If you've made the decision to hire a PR firm, or you have been working with a PR firm for some time, you recognize that you are investing in your organization's reputation. Public relations and publicity rarely come cheap, especially if you seek quality and cogent results.

So, are you maximizing your potential with your PR firm? Like any two-way relationship, both parties must be willing to work together to make the operation run smoothly. To ensure you are reaping the full benefits of your public relations team, you should strive to be the best ...that's right... client that you can be. Take the time to assess how your company interacts with those who hold your account. Are you available to them? Do you communicate clearly? Offer them feedback on the jobs they've completed? This article from Sys-Con Media entitled Top 10 Things That Make You a Good PR Client is well-worth a read.

We found a great blog post on Twitter from The Publicity Hound. Free publicity is a goldmine in today's business and political world. With our communities on a nonstop spinning axis of dialogue, communications and interaction, any and every possible opportunity for visibility for your business or organization should be immediately seized upon.

Public speaking opportunities not only put your business in the spotlight, but position you as an expert in your field. By bringing your ideas and your perspective to audiences, you in turn become a key influencer and your audience is more likely to be persuaded to your opinion. Positive experiences can lead to more speaking events, and thus your network of free publicity will continue to grow.

Speaking engagements don't need to be limited to solo gigs with you alone in front of a podium, staring out into a sea of faces. Volunteer for panels through local colleges or local political or non-profit organizations, participate in a speakers bureau; even offer to emcee the local talent show. Each and every opportunity will offer visibility and networking that help you ascend that ladder one more rung.

Read the post for great tips on using public speaking as a way to earn more money and free publicity.

Major, unpredictable events can and will happen to good companies, strong political campaigns and solid organizations. These looming threats usually catch you off guard and offer very limited reaction time.

Cross your fingers that your company or campaign will never have to manage a crisis, but part of the responsibility of staying away from that risk is keeping constant tabs on what your organization and the people within it are doing.

Want some practice in crisis management? The following advice virtually guarantees your organization will run into a crisis. (Note: these are practices you want to AVOID)

1. Practice indifference to public concerns.
2. Keep a low profile. Communicate with the public only when you absolutely must.
3. Don't trust any of your constituent groups - employees, community leaders, etc.
4. Ignore the feelings and opinions of the key groups you deal with.
5. Treat the media as the enemy and don't talk to them at all.
6. Blame any problems on people and practices outside the organization.
7. Don't acknowledge any potential public dangers caused by your organization that will "only alarm people unnecessarily".
8. Keep potentially embarrassing information top secret.
9. Don't look for areas where you may be vulnerable to a crisis.
10. Don't waste time planning for a crisis before it happens.

Brett offers training in Crisis Management as well as Spokesperson Training to prepare your organization to talk to the media and others. For more information, contact us.