What do empty ice cream bowls and public relations have in common? In my experience, anyway, both revolve around what you might call a "While You're Up" philosophy.
First, a bit of family history will help set the scene. A fond, enduring memory of my dad was his penchant for corralling me or one of my siblings into bringing his empty bowl of ice cream (often coffee-flavored) from the living room into the kitchen.
This would come after he carved a half-gallon of ice cream with a big knife, into evenly distributed slices. Starting in the 1980s, as one of us kids would rise to bring our own bowl to the dishwasher or sink, Dad would say, "While you're up, bring my bowl, too."
It was an eminently efficient directive. Other than the occasional backtracking of a few steps to retrieve his bowl, he really wasn't putting us to any extra work.
The same efficiency ought to come into play as you approach PR. What can you do to parlay what you've already done and create additional exposure?
This is a tack I frequently take in the development of biographies. For example, take the time I wrote about Oak Park-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gloor Realty agent Monica Davidson Klinke. In short order, the bio was up on the BHG/Gloor Realty website.
So, "while it was up," to paraphrase Dad, it was then a simple matter of making some tweaks and turning it into a profile feature that for the past 26 months has been posted on the Oak Park page of TribLocal.com, even though TribLocal has since undergone a major revamping.
In the short term, the TribLocal placement created immediate, heightened awareness of her, and the firm's, work. And over time, in addition to its continued presence on the Chicago Tribune platform, Monica's bio at the BHG/Gloor Realty website has gotten plenty of visits.
Apply the "while you're up" approach and you have a favorable shot at multiplying your results with modest increments of additional time invested. In fact, when it comes to your chances, I'd be willing to wager a pint of ice cream.
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