Here's the Wind, Where's Your Seeds?

The sun warms and nurtures seedlings, providing the optimum environment for growth. The rain nourishes and the wind spreads seeds for growth. PR or Public Relations is the weather and your business is a garden in bloom.

Like every garden there are a variety of blossoms. You can have daisies, roses, and, yes, dandelions. In the eyes of a Gardener it is the rose that is the most desirable; with dandelions ranking the least.

The roses in your business can be likened to your advertising efforts. Like an well-designed ad, a rose is mostly a visual thing and requires a lot of investment. The rose requires feeding, pruning, etc. Advertising requires ad creation and media buying which can be quite costly. Sadly, advertising is like a rose in that it is here today in all its glory and quickly withers or is outdated at the end of the campaign. And all the world waits for a new bloom to develop and tantalize them once again.

Daisies, while available in a variety of colors usually are a 'filler' in the garden, supporting the beds with color and greenery. They bloom throughout the season and can be liken to a business's marketing efforts in general. Brochures, fliers, business cards, web sites etc. Once planted, they need little tending and make your garden or business look nice.

Unfortunately, dandelions are usually considered none essential and actually a pest to the Gardener. But in the business world it is the dandelion that should be allowed to sprout and take over the lawns that surround your gardens. Dandelions are the PR flower of the garden. With very little effort they demand attention with their bright yellow blooms. These blooms quickly convert to PR tidbits that fly through the air and plant business opportunities and exposure for future growth.

Roses tend to stay where they are. Linked to hardy stems that are laden with thorns. Beautiful to see but require a lot of work to get. Daisies are pretty much on their own once they are established but their blooms wither and die to only drop little seeds next to there root beds or require someone to purposely collect and plant the seeds elsewhere. Marketing collateral or daisies need to be distributed; websites need to be visited; and business cards need to be left behind. Like general marketing, effort is required to see results for both.

Dandelions, on the other hand, are less demanding and use the weather or PR to create more growth than any other flower. (That's why we see them everywhere!). After blooming a soft, fluffy golden flower, the dandelion doesn't just wither and die. Each little fluffy 'petal' turns into a soft white parachute with a seed on the end. These little parachutes may fall not too far from the bloom, be carried away by rain water or get carried off for miles on end to new horizons with the wind...creating fields of dandelions or excellent opportunities for growth in your business.

The authors of The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, Al and Laura Ries explained that advertising "lives for brief moments and then it dies. Not so with publicity. A good story will live forever." Yes, one dandelion can create or re-create publicity that will fuel your business fields for years to come.

As with all gardens, there is a purpose for each type of flower, even if it is just for beauty. But all gardens should have an abundant dandelion presence, since these, combined with a well-planned PR campaign, are what will make your business become the best it can be. So here's the wind, where are your seeds?

Written by Judy L. Hoffman of Judymae Communications, a company that provides the Sun, Rain and Wind so your dandelions can seed your future.