Hello. Jumbo shrimp. Army intelligence. Business ethics. Which one is not an oxymoron?

Business ethics, of course. Public relations and business ethics go hand-in-hand. How, you ask? We'll examine that this time in Think. And, we'll take a quick excursion into the realm of media relations, too.

Let's get started.

Cordially,

Harry Hoover
harry@hoover-ink.com
Ink Briefs
You'll find a number of new white papers on my website. Visit the Thinking section to see what's there.


Our link of the month seems to be a popular feature. So, at no additional cost, here are two links this month from the career corner.

You might want to subscribe to Ned Lundquist's Job Of The Week newsletter for communicators. See it online here.

For those of you with an interest in media jobs, as well as media planning try Mediapost: www.mediapost.com.



Writers, here are a couple of resources for you. The Writer Gazette is a writer's resource site that provides tips, techniques, resources, articles, job postings, and more to help induce, improve, and promote your writing career. See it online here.



A similar site is Writer's Weekly. It also provides a number of good writing resources, but its primary focus is on markets for your work.


Are you positioned for bottom line success? Hoover ink can develop your position, define your audiences and deliver messages that have a bottom line impact. Contact harry@hoover-ink.com.




About Hoover ink

Hoover ink helps position businesses that are serious about their success. Then, we craft and deliver bottom line messages that ensure it.

Who are we? We're a marketing communications firm with more than 25 years experience in providing services to financial, high tech, real estate, tourism and consumer products companies.

From employee relations and media relations to collateral material and e-newsletters, we develop the programs and communication tools that will differentiate you from your competitors. And that's the bottom line.
 
  PR = Business Ethics

Why do I believe good PR and business ethics are inextricably linked? It comes down to definitions. Ethics is learning what is right and what is wrong and then doing the "right thing." PR involves providing counsel on the "right thing" to do and then helping the organization get credit for it.

The business and political excess of the last 10 years have taken some PR practitioners to the dark side because they felt it was the only way for their company to profit. Although I personally believe doing right for right's sake is enough, there are some who may not share this view. OK, here's a reason that any good capitalist can embrace: research now shows that socially responsible behavior is good for the bottom line.

A recent analysis of overall financial performance of the 2001 list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens shows that this group of firms did significantly better than the remaining companies of the S&P 500. Professors at DePaul University found that the mean ranking of the 100 Best was more than 10 percentile higher than the other firms of the S&P 500.

Additionally, they had a significantly better reputation among corporate directors and security analysts based upon results of the Fortune Magazine survey of most admired companies.

If you have interest in reading more on the subject of business ethics, here are some resources:

www.mapnp.org/library/ethics/ethxgde.htm

www.business-ethics.com

www.iabc.com/info/help/ethicsresourcelist.htm

Tell me what you think.
  I'll Alert The Media!
There is something newsworthy happening right now at your organization, but you must first think like a reporter before you issue that press release.

Too many news releases go out from the company's perspective and land with two dull thuds. The first thud is on the reporter's desk, and the second is in the trashcan. Let me illustrate how this often happens with a client.

Phone rings. On the other end the client says, "hey let's do a press conference on our new window blinds. So, here's some information: they are easy to hang by the homeowner and are painted with a new paint in fashion-forward colors."

"Yeah," I say, "but the last ones were easy to hang and were in cool colors. Besides, we only hold a press conference for the second coming. We could do a news release, but we need more. What about the hanging mechanism? How many colors? Can the customer get special colors?"

"Nothing new on the mechanism. Ten colors. No customization."

"Hmmm. New paint, you said. What about that?"

"Oh, yeah. It resists dust."

"Blinds you have to dust less often! Now, we're talking, and maybe a press conference is called for."

Not every story has the potential of a product I actually helped launch, Levolor's DustGuard blinds. But, with a little thinking, any story idea can be made more newsworthy.