Posted by Susan Hardy Brooks, APR, Senior Account Executive 

An organization’s brand has never been more important. That’s why I spent a couple of days leading workshops on Brand-Building Basics for The Center for Nonprofits in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. A brand is a lot more than a pretty logo. It goes to the heart of your reputation and is a true reflection of who your organization is and hopes to become. If your organization is considering rebranding or elevating your brand essence, give us a call. It is critical to get it right.

Here are three highlights on brand-building basics from my presentation:

Susan Hardy Brooks, APR has over 30 years of PR experience. She is an expert in helping clients with branding, message strategy and development. She also has a long track record in education, including higher-ed, technical schools and secondary education. Susan has provided counsel to more than 50 clients from the private, public and non-profit sectors. If you’d like to learn a more about Susan please visit her bio or contact us at our Oklahoma City office. 

Posted by David Wagner, Region President

Reputation is essential for any business to thrive and it is especially important for a faith-based organization. A solid reputation is what gives people the confidence to do business with you. Whether your faith-based organization is a church, university, private school or a ministry, having a good reputation in the eyes of the customers, employees, donors and members is vital.

Here are three key rules to follow for building image and reputation in your faith-based organization: 

1. Integrity

Whether it be through advertising, newsletters or face-to-face communication, truthfulness about your organization is key. This may not always be easy. Having integrity may sometimes mean being painfully truthful in a difficult situation. During these times, people typically tend to want to sweep it under the rug or try and minimize its importance to the public. It is especially important that an organization be honest in the difficult situations, because it is in how you respond to these situations that people will measure the integrity of the rest of your organization. In admitting mistakes you show a human side and demonstrate your diligence in fixing the problem.

2. Transparency

Being open to sharing information with stakeholders, members of the media, donors and city leaders shows you have nothing to hide. It is obvious and understandable that sharing every piece of information is impractical, however, sharing what you can takes down barriers between the organization and those around it.  When it appears someone is trying to hide or cover something (More…)

Posted by Steve Turnbo, Chairman Emeritus

What happens when the phone rings and there’s a crisis? Your initial response is to call your usual crisis response “go to” person. What if they aren’t available? Take a deep breath, gather your thoughts and lead. Following these three steps can help you to manage a crisis as effectively and efficiently as the pros do.

1. Prepare
   The first of the four steps in public relations is research. In a crisis, research is gathering the facts. Sorting the truth from fiction is a necessary step in the research phase and will help to determine and effectively measure the severity of the crisis. Fiction often accompanies truth in a crisis and it is critical that one is separated from the other.
2. Plan
   Find a place that is private and prepare a plan. Usually the first plan involves the next ninety minutes or so. Alert the media as to when they can expect information from you and/or the client. Thoroughly prepare your client for the media; prepare key points and write a statement for the spokesperson. Also, prepare a set of questions the spokesperson should expect so they are prepared (More…)

Posted by Sheryl Lovelady, Region President

I recently had the opportunity to present a lecture to some of the brightest students in the world—Fulbright Scholars at the University of Oklahoma.  These graduate students traveled from all over the world to pursue degrees at universities across the United States and their first was Oklahoma. What a great time to arrive! The nation’s presidential campaign is now fully underway, and they are afforded not only the opportunity to witness America’s unique form of democracy first hand but to also have direct access to the citizens who will be participating in the election.

We discussed history, ideology, taxes, immigration and how the American system of checks and balances was purposely designed to encourage healthy, and often heated, debates among its citizens.

During our discussion one student asked why the American media has become so politically polarized. It was the best question of the day and one that deserved a thoughtful answer.  I explained that it hasn’t always been that way and during early origins of television news three major broadcast networks were tasked with presenting the six o’clock news in a fact-checked, unbiased format.  For more than six decades, Americans formed personal opinions based upon the information presented. Today, the reverse is often true: we can now seek custom news content that fits with our own pre-formed opinions.

I went on to tell the students there are three steps you have to take to form an opinion when being bombarded by outside sources:

1. Listen to everyone
2. Seek out the facts
3. Consider all sides

Today’s media all too often prioritizes conflict over cooperation and extreme views over the mainstream (More…)

Posted by David Wagner, Region President

The national headlines are still focusing on unemployment, but things are actually looking pretty good in Tulsa and businesses should take notice.  My colleague, Aaron Fulkerson, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, recently wrote an article for the Tulsa World where he highlighted the financial forecast and stated that Tulsa is currently in an employee’s job market.  If you live in Tulsa or not, here are three ways to help you retain your best talent while in an employee’s market, which is when the unemployment rate is under 6 percent.

1. Take the time to reward your top performers for their hard work.
   Whether you’re rewarding them by raising their salary, giving them a bonus or increasing benefits, rewarding your employees in the number one way to retain your top talent.  See our article written by management consulting, account executive Rebecca Miller, to see what message you are sending when compensating employees.
2. Develop an employee recognition program to identify the leaders of tomorrow in your organization.
   Good pay and benefits are important, but employees also want to be valued and appreciated for their work.  They want to be treated impartially, have advancement opportunities and be involved in the company.  It is the day-to-day interactions that make employees feel their contributions are appreciated and that they are recognized for their own unique qualities (More…)