Lean Learning Center Selects P2R Associates as Public Relations Agency of Record

LIVONIA, Mich., May 13, 2009 – P2R Associates, an industry leader in strategic public relations and brand communications, announced today that it has been selected as agency of record for the Lean Learning Center, of Novi, Mich., one of the most recognized and premier providers of lean transformation services in the world.

Founded in 2001 to address the gaps and barriers that are holding back companies from successful and sustainable lean transformation, the Center combines on-site consulting and coaching at client locations with an adult-learning-designed Instructional Design Studio and custom-developed curriculum to achieve maximum sustained performance for companies from the executive suite through the front lines.

P2R will provide the Lean Learning Center a range of integrated communications, positioning and strategic media relations services in support of the company’s business development and marketing initiatives, using the agency’s trademarked
e³ Process™ – Evaluate, Engage, Empower.

P2R activities will highlight the Lean Learning Center’s unique capabilities, approach and lean transformation expertise, while positioning the company’s principals as leading authorities on maximum sustained lean performance.

“We are delighted to add such an advanced, comprehensive and effective lean consulting company like the Lean Learning Center to our growing roster of premium clients,” said Gordon Cole, president of P2R Associates. “We look forward to broadening the understanding and national awareness of the Center and its unique form of adult learning.”

About the Lean Learning Center
The Lean Learning Center is one of the most recognized and premier lean consultants in the world. With on-site assessment and consulting at client locations, an adult-learning-designed Center in Michigan and custom curriculum developed through an Instructional Design Studio, the Center brings unique lean understanding in creative ways to executives, managers, supervisors, change agents and front-line employees at clients including Fortune 500 companies in a range of industries. The company combines a unique learning environment with teaching techniques that facilitate discovery to drive cultural and organizational transformation resulting in maximum sustained performance.

For more information visit: www.leanlearningcenter.com.


About P2R Associates
P2R Associates is an award-winning, strategic public relations and brand communications firm serving a diverse mix of international, national and local companies in a range of industries. With special expertise in business-to-business communications, P2R has represented clients in the automotive OE, Tier 1 and aftermarket, high-tech manufacturing, construction, consulting, defense, retail, design, engineering and exhibit and event management. Headquartered in Livonia, Mich., P2R provides clients with strategy-driven tactics, superior service and measurable results.

For more information about P2R and its e³ Evaluate, Engage, Empower™ process,
visit www.P2Rassociates.com.

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Ten Reasons to Hire a Public Relations Firm Now More than Ever

1. Ready and On-Deck – an extension of a your communication staff, ever ready to provide services that achieve agreed-upon goals, public relations firms provide a critical perspective for clients, keeping them abreast of issues and advising them on the best ways to respond.


2. Objective Expertise – integral and trusted partners, public relations firms provide critical outside perspective and strategic counsel across a full spectrum of communications programs.


3. Stakeholder Engagement and Influence – managing the diplomacy of interaction, public relations firms improve a client’s ability to engage stakeholders such as employees, customers, media, online influencers, community leaders, shareholders and public officials.


4. Voice of the Customer – the ability to persuade through clear explanation, public relations firms help client’s research data and garner third party credibility from targeted media.


5. Messages and Conduits – figuring out the most appropriate message to present to media. The public relations mindset is your natural integrator for developing a comprehensive communications strategy and identifying the best conduits to use. Public relations firms continually fine-tune outreach activities to enhance the relevance of every marketing effort, public relations campaign, and public affairs initiative and/or crisis response.


6. Digital Know-How – because they adapt readily and integrate different communications activities, public relations firms maximize social media platforms and corresponding networks. Public relations firms serve as a combination of communications counselor, navigator and interpreter.


7. Speed to Market – Public relations firms are poised for action, built for speed and conditioned to work in the 24/7 information age. They are results-oriented and focused. By comparison, internal staffs are often bogged down by executive “pet projects” and other internal issues.


8. Fiscally Responsible – hiring a public relations firm can be extremely cost effective relative to the cost of direct employees. Public relations firms can provide peak-load capacity, which can scale up or down as programs ebb and flow. In addition, there are value-added services the firm might subscribe to that greatly enhance any communications programs but would be both costly and problematic for many staffs.


9. Paralysis by Analysis – doing nothing during tough times is not an option for any serious business operation. Public relations firms work with the highest level of corporate executive down to the critical tactical work in the trenches, always making sure clients are prepared and visible and with a higher focus on ROI than many, a firm is better positioned to keep things moving.


10. Cross-Pollination – typically, public relations firms work across multiple industries, geographies and cultures, enabling them to cross-pollinate ideas, providing clients with more robust strategic thinking and more effective marketing communications offerings.

P2R Associates Continues Award-Winning Ways With Platinum and Gold Hermes Creative Awards for Web Site Design

P2R Associates Continues Award-Winning Ways With Platinum and Gold Hermes Creative Awards for Web Site Design

For Business, Public Relations is Becoming an Increasingly Vital Tool

How can we, as public relations practitioners, get a message across to our clients, and potential clients, that speed-to-market, reach, market intelligence stakeholder engagement and objective expertise are the essence of our DNA and more importantly, essential for business success?

Interestingly, in January Advertising Age magazine predicted that public relations/crisis communications would be among the bright spots in 2009. B2B magazine also claimed that business-to-business marketers were increasingly turning to public relations for support even as overall budgets are being reduced. Without seeing the data – we think this makes sense.

In 2005, Proctor & Gamble conducted a landmark study involving a marketing mix model for six of their brands over a one to three year period. P&G found the following:

- PR drives sales, often on a par with advertising
- PR delivers stellar ROI (275%), much greater than advertising
- PR provides a halo effect over other marketing tactics

These findings coincide with P2R’s experience, especially with respect to public relations delivering a better return on investment and providing a halo effect. Our guess is that public relations’ greater credibility is the reason. For consumers and an ever-more news hungry population, credibility seems increasingly to be the tool-of-choice for breaking through what has become a cacophony of marketing messages. Research bears this out in yet another example.

A 2006 survey of marketers conducted by The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), ranked public relations number one in terms of its overall value to the enterprise. Additionally, The Economist magazine stated, “For business, public relations is an increasingly vital marketing tool – especially as traditional forms of advertising struggle to catch consumers’ attention.”

At P2R Associates – we’re delighted to see that what many have known for a long time is becoming a growing awareness. Three major industry publications and a marketing giant all believe that public relations holds the key to helping businesses compete and succeed in these trying economic times.

It is important that agencies trust their judgment, get back to the basics, focus on their strengths, then identify what works and move forward. We need to communicate results and show both existing and prospective clients how public relations impacts business and contributes to bottom line success – however difficult it might appear to be to do so.

Is PUBLIC RELATIONS a Bad Word?

With so much newspeak in use for the term marketing communications, I am beginning to wonder is the term public relations is actually a “bad word.” Does it scare people off? Do people really know what public relations practitioners do? Do they care? Should they care?

Does strategic communications straddle the line between public relations and marketing? How about– integrated brand communications – closer still?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately and it occurs to me that a most people don’t know the difference between public relations and many other marketing terms we hear regularly. The interchangeability of terms used in today’s market is blurring the distinction, especially in the growing social media and blogging arenas.

Here is how I look at it, marketing equals sales strategy and support. Public relations equals positioning plus public relations plus professional writing plus media relations plus corporate communications plus events… virtually everything that comes between a company and its myriad audiences. Public relations then, is the integrator of the company, its brand and how that brand is communicated.

Public relations is the most credible communication vehicle to positively influence buyers and inform target constituents. It consistently provides the best return-on-investment of all communication methods. Public relations – or specifically, media relations in this example - is believable and highly credible because information is published in third party media and is written by journalists who research solid news to report. Now that is different from marketing in my book.

Back to my original question. Does the term public relations scare people off? Most people are frightened by things they don’t understand. Public relations is an unknown item, a scary term -- and scary is bad. So how do today’s public relations practitioners rectify this situation?

Well, as the phrase implies, practice. Put into practice the natural integration that effective public relations drives. Don’t be content with simply a seat at the table – bring a voice that integrates and coordinates all elements of a company’s strategic and tactical communication. Remember: public relations at its best, educates, informs and persuades. So practice, practice, practice.

Be informed - practice the art of researching pertinent information. Be articulate - practice the art of professional writing. Be knowledgeable -- know your many audiences, practice the art of good old-fashioned media relations and build effective relationships with all audiences. Be strategic – practice a strategic outlook and maintain a wholistic eye on your organization’s or client’s activities. Finally – recognize your strength. Effective public relations is integrated. It weighs all viewpoints, considers options and outcomes against long-term objectives and ensures the organization “speaks with one voice.”

Public relations alone is the natural integrator in any organization because it alone must weigh and carefully balance a company’s reputation, brand and perception across all audiences in order to move the “perception needle.”

Public relations then, is the conductor to the orchestra of a company’s total communications effort.

Choosing the Right Marketing Firm

In these difficult times in the automotive industry, it is more important than ever to make the right decisions throughout your business. One of the biggest investments for a business can be marketing communications.

So, what is a harried marketing exec to do to sort out these tumultuous market changes and maximize marketing investment? The simple answer is to hire a marketing communications firm! It is not enough, however, just to hire any marketing firm. You need to find the right one for your business – one that understands your business goals and objectives, one that helps you to understand how your customers, suppliers and employees view and interact with you. The following should be the basics any company follows to select a firm that is right for them.

Find a company that understands your business. Ideally, find a firm that will take the time to learn your business from the inside out. Give that firm complete transparency of your marketing communications activities, both historical and future. A good firm will want to interview your executive team, sales team, administrative team, customers and even industry media to uncover your corporate and brand(s) image and awareness and evaluate whether they align with your business goals.

Ask who will be handling your account. Find out if that person, or team, can sit down with you and determine if you have chemistry. In addition, ask if this will be your permanent team. Some firms bring in the big guns for the introductory meeting and then substitute inexperienced lower level workers – even interns – to work your account. You want and deserve industry-experienced experts on your team. They will become your most trusted advisors.

Find out the strengths of your proposed firm. If they specialize in advertising and your need is media relations, then they are not a good fit. Similarly, if the proposed firm specializes in graphics and your need is strategic communications, keep searching. You will know when you have found the right firm when their experience, attitude and business success align with your needs.

Be prepared to get involved. You cannot just bring in a firm and hand over the reigns. A good firm will fully engage with you to identify goals and objectives, develop strategic messaging, define program metrics, identify target audiences and create a master plan. All with your involvement.

Be prepared to stay involved. Again, it is your marketing communications program; your new firm is supporting you, not the other way around. By now, they should have worked with you to produce a roadmap for implementing an aggressive and highly targeted marketing communications program. Working closely, and with the support of your new firm, you should be empowered to implement that plan and drive anticipated results.

Finally, continually asses your marketing communication program status and momentum. A good firm will assess program successes and failures; hits and misses, and identify new opportunities. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses allows you and your firm to make any necessary corrections and work to maintain program momentum.

Many companies think the job is done when the communications program has been launched. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Developing and maintaining a consistent cadence of information to the marketplace is crucial to communication, marketing and branding success. The idea is to keep your message constant and your voice clear.

Finding the right marketing communications firm for your company need not be an arduous task. Like anything else in life – a little homework goes a long way.

Claim the Premium Position

Increased competition and consolidations among component manufacturers in the North American automotive replacement parts market have created an urgent need to maintain a market leadership position among customers.

Now is the perfect time for aftermarket parts manufacturers to lay claim to their respective premium replacement product(s) categories and launch an aftermarket name brand assault. Establishing a brand as top-of-class quality can be as simple as saying it – assuming that the brand does, indeed have premium quality and can back up that claim.

Once a company decides this is the proper direction for a brand, claiming the premium position should be backed up with all company communications to the market including advertising, marketing, public relations, sales force, web site, even business cards. Once a brand has been established as the lead, it becomes difficult for other companies to dispute.

Claim your position today.