My New PR Theory-For Personal and Business

It’s a well-known fact that a common advertising tactic is to make you feel like you need a product in to be good enough or to be a better person. MY theory is this: What if you made someone fell like they already are on top of the world?

I can’t take all the credit for this idea. I recently read How to Win Friends and Influence People  by Andrew Carnegie. It’s a pretty famous book that I’m sure you have heard of at least once. In there, Carnegie repeats a quote (gained from an interview with Charles Schwab) throughout the book, and when something is repeated often then it means you should listen up. The quote goes, “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” I can personally guarantee that this will improve all aspects of your life if applied. All sorts of fun surprises will start coming up.

So does it work? As you know my last post was about the business Liveacre. I received an email (from the founder herself! SQUWEEEEEEEE!) sharing very sincere appreciation. Did I appreciate this act of kindness? Darn tootin’ I did! I’ve been floating on top of clouds ever  since! Does Liveacre have a new loyal follower? You betcha!  Is this new loyal customer going t spread the good word? Pshchya! (That means yes.)

Making the world a better place requires the world. The world starts with your neighbor.

So does this work on a personal level? Do I have an example? Better believe it. I am involved with my schools student government. In the past I have devoted a lot if time and effort into it. This semester, not so much. I am a Fine Arts committee member. One of many. So I am not as needed as I was last year. We have a very talented and able group. There have been many times when I have thought about bowing out. Something keeps me there though. Every now and then, I get a personalized message from the committee chair. This not only makes me super happy, but I always want to help out and do more then I was before.

I have been on both sides of being “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” It makes life a whole lot better. For more about it read the book or try it on your own. Experiment!

Public Relations: This would normally be a good thing

Welcome to what use to be my life during October. I say “use to” because now I’m a stingy old college student. Blech.

This has been going on for about 4 or 5 years now. It’s fairly popular (1. It’s free. 2. We have a lot of friends, and those friends have friends, and those  is friends have friends. 3. It really is for the whole family. From the terrified toddler to the bored teenager to the old married couple.) and each year it becomes more and more popular. You would think getting publicity and making the news would be a good think, eh? Especially with all the other competition going on this time of year. However, as any good business oriented person will tell you, supply needs to meet demand. With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise you that after hearing that we made it onto Fox13, the common reaction was “Oh no.”

If you check out the website you will find that there are A LOT of people involved with this and a lot of time is spent on it too. And I mean A LOT. For the most part, work starts at 4 or 5 and a lot of the time we are the until 10ish (the line closes at 9 but the ride continues). This means some people get off work early and a lot of homework time is sacrificed. This isn’t counting the time put in to set up the tunnels and such. There’s one person that starts planning and building in JUNE! We all have lives and things to do. The news is very effective in spreading information and drawing a crowd. This means longer hours and fewer breaks.

So why not just give it a rest? Because we love it! Because without the people and the crowds, there would be no Nightmare Express. October would be boring and dull. Because service is a lifestyle and this project creates many opportunities to help hundreds of others get a craving for such a lifestyle. We don’t mind the hard work, the long hours, the sore muscles, and all the post-express symptoms as long as people come and partake of the fun we love to give to them. How boring would it be if no one every went to “haunted” places, just because one of the workers had a paper due the next day. Sometimes, there’s logic in not publicizing too much, but in this instance, it doesn’t matter. We’re here for you anyways.

Which brings me to a question. Do you believe there “Any publicity is good publicity?”