When I found out that Fred Breithut passed away as a result of a fall, I was so upset.  I wasn’t the only one.  My entire staff was sad too.  Actually, after I thought about it, I realized, it was a sad day for all Long Islanders.

Fred Breithut touched so many people.  He ran School Business Partnership for Long Island (SBPLI) and was instrumental in getting the Robotics Competition on Long Island in Long Island schools.  (This competition is where students from different schools build a robot and compete against other students.)

Fred had passion.  He loved young people and wanted them to succeed.  And many of them did as a result of knowing Fred.  Check out what Fred wrote about the 60 Over 60 Gala and the people it benefitted:

Among the persons most grateful for being at the gala were the young people who provided escort and support service for the honorees. These were a few of the young people who benefitted from the gala’s fund-raising feature – support for SBPLI’s Long Island FIRST program…a program that challenges students at 47 of Long Island’s high schools to build 130 pound robots that compete with each other at the Hofstra University Arena each March.

I met Fred a few years ago.  He came to my firm to talk with us about organizing and coordinating the 60 Over 60 Gala.  We worked with him for two years.  In that time, he motivated me and my staff.  He would say to me:

“Hilary, people want you to succeed because they like you.”

That made me feel good.

So when I went to Fred’s wake yesterday and saw his shell lying there in the coffin, I kept thinking that this great man left a legacy for all of us.  If each of us can touch people the way Fred did then our lives are worth living!

If you don’t have a newsroom on the Internet, you may be missing the big picture.

Many Public Relations Firms, including corporate PR departments, are creating newsrooms for their clients or their businesses.

Newsrooms are an online version of a traditional newsroom.  This is where news is generated and developed. It’s a great vehicle to get added exposure for your brand or your client’s brand.  Once the media starts to use your newsroom and find it worthy, they will keep coming back for more stories.  But until then, you need to build up your online community first before getting any play. If not used right, the traditional and online news media and bloggers may never see your release or information about the company or brand.

Here are some steps to getting more exposure for your newsroom:

• When you have a news story, tweet it out via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.  These social networking sites are a great way to target media both online and offline.

• Remember to keep your tweet, post, update, etc. to only 140 characters.  This way the news media gets a quick view of what the story is about and can determine if it is something they are interested in.

• Send out your tweet more than once.  Make sure that the news media and bloggers see the story.

• Direct the news media to your newsroom on the tweet.  Make sure to add a link with a tiny URL.

• Keep track of who is entering your newsroom by looking at the Google analytics or any other analytic program that can tell you how many viewers clicked on your links. You may want to add a subscription to the newsroom.

• Make sure to have various tabs for industries or topics and a great search feature so that the news media can quickly find what they are looking for.

• When you feel you have a lot of content in your newsroom, send out an email reminder to your contacts to check out the site.  In addition, tweet out that there is new information as well.

Public relations is changing and with it comes the distribution of press materials.  The newsroom is a perfect venue to put all of your press releases, feature stories, and backgrounders from your clients.  And tweeting is perfect for the news media and bloggers because it’s quick, it’s easy and they know what the story is about in 140 characters or less!

As a small business owner, I know how hard it is to take your business to the next level.  If you feel that you’ve done something special, out of the ordinary, then consider applying for The New York Enterprise Report Small Business Awards in The Best Practice Awards Categories or new for 2010, the Best of the Year Categories.

The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, May 21, 2010.  

Five small businesses will be recognized for their best practices and accomplishments in the following areas: Customer Service, Green Business, Human Resources & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, and Technology.

This year there are some new categories, including: Social Responsibility Program of the Year, International Operations Program of the Year, Non Profit of the Year and Diverse Supplier of the Year. Nominations are available at www.thesmallbizawards.com.
The event, New York Enterprise Report Small Business Awards Gala, will take place on Wednesday, October 6th from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.  Winners will be announced in front of the “who’s who” small business community and will be featured in The New York Enterprise Report’s November 2010 issue.

To get an application, go to NYReport.org.

Carole Lakin from Enterprise Holding Company invited me to speak about marketing and branding in front of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.  I was thrilled and honored to do this.

The other day, my colleague, Lori Alexy, and I traveled to Wayne, NJ to give a talk.  After fighting through several hours of traffic (it’s a good thing we left at 7 am), we arrived at Enterprise Holding Company.  We were escorted upstairs to the training room.  We entered the room and the training had already begun.

After the women did their 30 second elevator pitch, two representatives from Enterprise spoke about their sales training and their recruitment and customer service efforts.

I was so impressed with them.  I was also very impressed with the company.  Yes, we represent them. However, Enterprise is a company that really stands behind their customer service and they recruit people with the same values to continue to provide outstanding customer service.

It’s true.  Every time I have used Enterprise (and the people have no idea I do work for the company), I get amazing treatment.  I was in Boston for the day with my daughter.  We rented a car and the sales person was genuinely nice when we picked the car up and when we returned it.  It was such a pleasant experience.

As a consumer, I want that experience any time I buy or rent or lease anything.

My presentation focused on marketing and branding.  I gave an overview of marketing strategies and social media techniques that will enhance a company’s branding efforts.

When it was over, a woman walked up to me and said, “I thought this was going to be boring and I really didn’t think I would get anything from your presentation.  But, once you started speaking, I was totally engaged. Thank you so much for your presentation.”

I left Enterprise smiling…