By
Jenny Fujita and Joy K. Miura, Fujita & Miura Public Relations
You may be one of the millions of fans of "Monster Garage" and "Monster
House," Discovery Channel's new hit TV shows. The concept of the shows is
extreme makeovers - taking a police car and making it into a donut machine or
taking a ho-hum house and transforming it into a sultan's palace.
Over-the-top
renovations have become a trend, but they're not something you want to do if you
don't have to, and if you don't have the time and resources to take the project
full circle. However, the results can be fantastic and even produce long-term
process improvements. For example, the donut making police car can pursue a "perp"
without having to stop for a morning snack. What could be better? (No offense
to our men and women in blue).
Here's
the public relations application to this idea: take a look at your goals and determine
if your current modes of communication are helping you achieve them. Then, think
about how you can improve your communications, and how you can push the envelope.
If you're sending holiday cards to your customers year after year without much
of a "wow" effect or any positive response for your business, consider
what you can do to get their jaws to drop and their wallets to open. In other
words, what will awe your customers and stimulate their patronage? Send something
different, say something inspiring, do something tremendous. Think big. Really
big. And way out of the box.
Before
you implement your monster PR move, get back in the box and make a detailed plan
including a timeline, budget, labor requirements, materials, etc. Make sure you're
up to the task, and then go for it. Sometimes a major change, a business facelift
of sorts, is just what we need to get out of a rut and on a new, fun, lucrative
path.
