Great news, another new client. You can view their website at Homes in DC. This one is in an area that has the highest median cost of a home in the country for a large city – median home cost is at $750,000. While many people here don’t own and don’t rent, it’s going to be a competitive real estate market (and you can see why… homes are expensive).
But that’s all besides the point. My question is:
? When you break the words down it is an acronym for District of Columbia (which raises another question, why isn’t it Washington D of C?).
It’s just something that we’ve all heard growing up, but nobody has ever questioned it. Let’s break those words down
Columbia is actually another name for America. It was a way that of referred to America, giving it a feminine personification. This makes sense, because think back to the explorer which brought people to America – Christopher Columbus. Then once you throw the letters “ia” in there, it sounds feminine.
This use began the early 1730′s in Europe. Though calling America “Columbia” now is widely unpopular, because that is the name of another country. So there you go, that’s why it’s called the District of Columbia… it’s just another way of saying “Distinct region or area of America”
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While I was at USU I had a number of local public relations group projects. Each was entertaining and challenging in their own way. Some were more in depth while others, sadly, didn’t offer good quality experience (which would have been more my fault than anybody elses). I’d be happy to talk about my contributions in any one of these entertaining projects:
Some of the key points which I contributed in these projects included: create and conduct surveys, help at actual events, pre and post evaluation of audience awareness, create a robust plan of action for crisis situation, such as when competition arrives, and many more PR related tasks.
If you’d like to see my resume which outlines some of the things I’ve done, spend a few minutes looking at this old Resume.
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I recently came across this statement:
“A survey of PC Pro readers suggests PC makers are out of touch when it comes to glossy vs matte screens. Almost three quarters of those surveyed said they preferred matte screens despite laptop makers moving almost exclusively to glossy screens. … Why is the industry hell-bent on not giving customers what they want?”
Good question! Especially intriguing to me right now, as I just bought a laptop, and my workplace just spent $7,500 each on two new computers that have screens that are glossy (the graphic designers love them, but hate the reflection…).
So I got thinking about this, what is the advantage that it gives? Just two quick thoughts – when a person sees the two side by side in the showroom or on a photograph, the winner is obvious. We as people like shiny things, and think less rationally at the time of purchase. Believe me, I’ve sold diamonds for nearly three years of my life.
Second, it costs less for the manufacturers. If you increase profit margins, then stockholders are happy, and you are a successful business executive. Also, it has the chance for an add-on sale. Matte screens are $20, and that wouldn’t be money in your pocket if you would have solved the problem to begin with.
So here’s the marketing side of things. Consumers are becoming steadily more aware of the advantage of a matte screen. If you start selling them, and key in on that, you have a huge competitive advantage to what customers want. Cash in on it! Somebody start selling matte, and give customers what they want! I’ll do the marketing for you!
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April’s luncheon was actually from a representative of United States Army Communications.
In January of this year there was an incident where a lethal chemical agent was misplaced in Tooele at the Dugway Proving Grounds, causing a lockdown of nearly 1,500 employees. The media was not alerted by the base, but because of modern technology (texting, facebook). The next 15 hours for Paula, the point of contact for the media and the Army dugway, were sleepless hours. She spoke of the need of balancing sensitive information (lost chemical agent), and keeping the politicians and media informed.
I was impressed by the need of confidence that the position demands, while using reservation, and keeping a level head at all times. These luncheons are keeping me impressed by the caliber of professionals that I have the pleasure of meeting. My aspirations and vision are set high for my PR future!
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One of my projects this semester has been to work with the American West Heritage Center. The center hosts a really fun family event called “Baby Animal Days.” In the past, the center hasn’t had much success outside of the Cache Valley demographic, and they asked me to help out.
So I found media outlets, let them know about it, and followed up with them. Radio stations and news stations replied and ran some air time for them, as they saw it sounded like a fun family festival. The most exciting reply was from Channel 2, and their show “Fresh Living Utah.” They filmed this piece.
Today was the first day of Baby Animal Days, and the weather was horrible. Not the attendance that we wanted, so I got to spend some time indoors with regular, life-long volunteers. They asked me, a fellow (new-comer) volunteer what I did, and I asked them if they saw any Channel 2 coverage, and several replied “Oh, I watched it! It was great! We’ve never had a major channel come and cover this before.” Another volunteer said “I ran into somebody from Bountiful, and when I asked what they were doing up here the person replied they saw it on TV, it looked fun, so they came.”
All of that makes me feel great. Even though the weather wasn’t outstanding, my PR work with the media really paid off. Hopefully it will continue to pay off for the next two days of the event!
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I just attended the PRSSA conference which USU hosted. It was fun, and I enjoyed the insight that I received from the professionals there.
There was a lot of talk on social media, it seems that people want to pitch it as the future. I want to kick against that a little bit. Yes, it is important to add to the arsenal of ways to reach people, and especially to raise your brand… but people will (should?) always favor the things we see and experiences we have while we are away from a screen. But yes, social media really has been proven as a fantastic tool and I’m all for being great at it.
The Langdon Group was one that caught me off guard. I hadn’t heard anything about them before, but while listening to their presentation I was extremely impressed by their executive director, seeing his knowledge, and the way he was able to teach. I found myself very engaged in what he had to share, because it is exactly what I would like in public relations, and it combines my interests at USU, engineering and public relations. I hope that it proves to be a fit!
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My name is Kirk Salisbury, and welcome to my website kirksalisbury.com. I live in beautiful Logan, UT
and work as a web designer
SEO specialist and
internet marketer
at Boomerang Leads.