[View Point] Targeting PR Opportunities

Advertising in Yellow Pages and newspapers, as well as on radio and TV, are great ways to spread your company’s name and message to the masses. But so is an effective public relations campaign.

PCT contributing author Bud Brewer defines public relations as "a package of elements designed to develop, shape or change opinion about something." One of these critical elements is community involvement.

PCT Online recently reported on three community volunteer efforts by pest management professionals that helped generate positive press.

In November, Capital Pest Services donated free termite pretreatments on 24 homes being built in the Raleigh, N.C., area, as part of the Habitat for Humanity Builders Blitz. All 24 homes were constructed during the course of a week by the Homebuilders Association of Raleigh and Wake County.

Capital Pest Services Owner Steve Taylor, along with three of his technicians, donated time and labor, while BASF Professional Products donated Termidor for 12 houses, and Bayer Environmental Science donated Premise for the other 12 homes.

"Habitat for Humanity is an excellent organization that provides homes for families that might otherwise not have homes," Taylor said.

Similarly, Gary Gillen, owner of Gillen Pest Control, Richmond, Texas, donated time and labor for the installation of Dow AgroSciences’ Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System to the 1883 Moore Home complex, a Richmond historic landmark. This complex is part of the Fort Bend Museum; Gillen is a member of the Historic Richmond Business Association.

In late October, the Pest Control Association of Columbus (PCAC) co-hosted the Insect Fair at the Columbus Zoo for the twelfth consecutive year. PCAC members fielded numerous questions from visitors about termites, ants, multicolored Asian lady beetles, brown recluse, black widows and common invasive spiders and various autumn invaders.

PCAC was able to represent the industry positively to several thousand children, parents and teachers who attended the event.

These types of volunteer efforts are great, but their effectiveness is limited if you are not proactive and make the general public aware. So, prior to your community involvement efforts, have someone at your company send a short press release to your local media outlets, such as newspapers and radio and television stations. (Hint: if you provide a photo you will boost the likelihood that your release will be published.)

And PR has certain advantages over advertising, including one huge advantage: it’s free! If you run an advertisement in your local newspaper, they’ll charge for the space you use as well as for the time frame that the ad is run. But if that same newspaper decides that a story about your company’s community involvement is article-worthy, you are getting great publicity at no out-of-pocket costs.

The author is Internet editor of PCT Online.