Public Relations Today

Recently I interviewed a prospective client who is in the restaurant business. He owns an upscale seafood restaurant that a year ago featured white tablecoths, 12 different sauces for his fish and all the other trappings, such as fancy micro vegetables and ‘towers’ of food presented on plates, that go with an upper-tier operation.  “I saw the writing on the wall a while back,” he says. “I knew that people want to eat more casually and simply. They still want quality, but they want it to be simple and laid back.” 

The restaurateur seized his opportunity for change when he found a larger property in a more-densely populated neighborhood, and he decided to re-locate.  Along with the move, he changed the menu and decor.  The tablecloths gave way to gleaming wood tops, and instead of all the sauces, the top quality fish are prepared in their own juice, and the plate presentation is straight forward.  So you might consider it a “geographic cure,” as they say.  Bottom line:  his business increased 50 percent in the year after the move.

I sometimes think, am I sometimes missing opportunities for change that could benefit my clients?  I ask myself this question every morning before I start making my calls.

Bill

If you’re like me, you may want to do EVERYTHING at the beginning of the year that you didn’t accomplish prior to the holidays.

 

There may be the urgent crush to roll out all the cannons to market both yourself and your product or service in this economic downturn. Leading a dual professional life, half spent in real estate and the other half in marketing, I have been experiencing some interesting challenges in discussing price with prospective clients, whether it be for property or a public relations program.

 

Everything seems to require twice as much effort as pre-crisis days, and there is price resistance all around. (Those of you in real estate need no further comment on that).  My challenge this year will be to focus on my CORE business in each discipline, to keep my sales pitch short and efficient and to have it perceived as highly valued, but reasonably priced. 

 

I have a plan in place to do this, and I’ll share more about it in coming blogs.  Join me as I re-focus and hone in on adapting to new market conditions that keep changing with lightning speed.

 

Bill