Equestrian Services LLC | Equipment Leasing and Finance Association | Business Software Alliance

Equestrian Services LLC

Scope: Media relations campaign

Objectives

• Raise visibility of Equestrian Services programs and services.
• Establish Equestrian Services as the leading turn-key provider of equestrian amenity development for builders and developers and resorts owners, nationally.
• Instill the message that the equestrian market is growing and underserved among builders and developers.
• Create awareness among horse community that the Equestrian Services is a clearinghouse for knowledge on equestrian amenities, from the “right way” to develop an equestrian center to environmental impacts.

Strategies

• Conduct media relations that brands Equestrian Services, including
  • Establishing the “expert status” of key Equestrian Services staff among media outlets, and in turn their audiences – members of the equestrian community, builders and developers and resort owners.
• Leveraging Equestrian “events” such as horse events, new development launches, and staff additions to bring attention to Equestrian Services’ messages.
• Leveraging the equestrian amenity’s “sustainable” qualities to show builders and developers a unique and different approach to development amenities.
• Conduct media relations around special events, such as groundbreakings of new equestrian communities.

Implementations

• Pitched stories to key general, business and trade press related to equestrian amenities from the unique aspects of equestrian centers to its marketing advantages.
• Wrote and offered bylined article topics to trades, builder/developer and resort trades and select business publications.
• Invited and managed press at groundbreaking events, such as The Oaks in Lake City, Florida.
• Drafted and maintained a fact sheet on equestrian community development.
• Developed and offered tip sheets, such as 5 Unique Aspects of Equestrian Communities, to media outlets. 

Results

• Media impressions grew from a few to just over 2 million, and ad equivalencies paid for the media relations program 5 times over, in just 6 months.
• All key local media covered The Oaks groundbreaking, from the ABC and PBS television channels, to the Gainesville Sun and the Lake City Reporter.
• Strategic media hits included The Washington Post, Fox Channel 5, Equus magazine, Horse Illustrated, Stratos magazine, and other tier one outlets.
• Several bylined articles were placed in horse trade publications, including Bit & Bridle and Horse Country.

Equipment Leasing and Finance Association

Four Leaf took a three-pronged approach to furthering the group’s communications objectives, improving awareness among key influencers, and affecting the behavior of key constituencies.
The plan included programs for media relations, customer relations, and original content development, including research and reporting.

Creating a Positive Reputation and Image for an Industry

Scope: Full-scale national image campaign
For the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (www.elaonline.com), Four Leaf took a three-pronged approach to furthering the group’s communications objectives, improving awareness among key influencers, and affecting the behavior of key constituencies. The plan included media relations, customer relations, and original content development, including research.

Objectives

• Establish ELFA as the source for information on leasing and finance.
• Broaden awareness of ELFA and the equipment leasing and finance industry.
• Infiltrate top-tier publications to increase media impressions and awareness.
• Involve ELFA members in media outreach activities to showcase examples of leasing and financing at work.
• Increase quantity and quality of media coverage, including ELFA messaging in media placements and mentions of www.ChooseLeasing.org, ELFA’s information portal for financial decision makers.
• Beef up ELFA’s e-news and www.elaonline.com news section with original content and also establishing a new member benefit — access to original content.
• Create an ongoing dialogue between customer organizations and ELFA, strengthening leasing’s presence among customer organization’s members.
• Leverage customer organizations’ credibility with their members to further validate leasing and finance and ELFA member companies.

Strategies

• Plan, manage and conduct high-level, national media relations.
• Research and book national speaking engagements for ELFA’s President and members of ELFA.
• Engage members by interviewing them for case studies and commentary on industry issues, developing original articles for placement in leasing trade press as well as other media outlets.
• Conduct and use ELFA primary research to earn attention from media outlets, sister organizations and other industry stakeholders. Research projects included a survey of the Small Business Administration’s State Contest Winners’ leasing activity; a survey in conjunction with Entrepreneur magazine; a survey of the Fortune 100 Small Businesses; and a survey of community banks on their leasing activity.

Implementations

• Developed media relationships with finance and business reporters for regular ELFA commentary to be included in appropriate stories, including AP, Fortune magazine and others.
• Researched messages currently being picked up by media and lessors’ use of language.
• Issued dozens of press releases and conducted pitching upon every new research project created, commentary on issues related to leasing, including legislative and regulatory issues, ELFA programs and other.
• Issued results of an economic contribution study showing the positive impact of the industry on the U.S. economy to the press through various media activities such as press teleseminars, issuing releases and an Audio News Release, and placing bylined articles telling leasing’s positive story.
• Offered several bylined article topics several times a year to trades and business publications.
• Offered joint survey projects that would lead to exclusive editorial coverage.
• Pitched ELFA President to customer organizations for speaking engagements.
• Interviewed members weekly for an original article on a developing industry issue.
• Invited members to submit article ideas to ensure coverage is addressing key issues.
• Booked a special supplement on leasing in Fortune magazine, March 2004.

For just under a decade, Four Leaf has helped companies and organizations increase visibility and expand their spheres of influence using proven strategies that generate results. Four Leaf clients quantify these successes.

Public relations agencies themselves have often turned to Four Leaf to augment their capabilities in a variety of arenas.

Partial Client List

• The Adrenaline Group
• Albemarle Family
• Allison Partners
• The American Forest and Paper Association
• The Association for International Practical Training
• Blue Ridge InternetWorks
• The Business Software Alliance
• Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS®
• The Charlottesville Venture Group
• Diffusion Pharmaceuticals
• Dominion Digital
• ESI International
• Equestrian Services LLC
• The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association
• The Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation
• Illumitek Inc.
• Ipsos - North America
• Lisa Vandenburgh, Ltd.
• Maryland Work-Life Alliance
• Netforecast
• NTELOS
• Outdoor Power Equipment Institute
• PAYNET, Inc.
• Real Estate III
• ScholarOne
• Shergold Studio
• The Southern Environmental Law Center
• Virginia Piedmont Technology Council
• WHTJ-PBS

Public Relations Agencies. Other public relations agencies enlist Four Leaf as a way of targeting their efforts for specific campaigns. Agencies, such as The ProMarc Agency,  Equals Three Communications, Susan Carol & Associates, and Axiom Communications have hired Four Leaf to conduct PR programs for such clients as:

• Women’s Consumer Network
• TimeBridge Technologies, Inc.
• Ted Turner Documentaries
• Lina Group
• Digital Now
• MShow.com
• EqualFooting.com
• Public Safety Wireless Network
• Politec
• American Cancer Foundation
• First Regional Teleco

Results

• Quality and quantity of trade media coverage increased with articles clearly more focused on leasing’s benefits and with references made to www.ChooseLeasing.org. Media results were measured in several ways including impressions, ad equivalences, number of articles and interviews.
• Media impressions increased from 357 million impressions to more than 2 billion in two years, with the number of articles tripling in that same time frame.
• Bylined article placements increased from a handful in 2002 to more than 60 in 2004.
• Almost all the positive-to-neutral articles contained some ELFA-generated statistic from its various studies and reports. The “10 Questions to Ask Before Signing a Lease” also appeared as a sidebar in dozens of articles.
• The leasing trades reprinted 95 percent of every ELFA press release.
• ELFA messaging in media placements increased year over year by 30 percent.
• Whenever ELFA released a new study, it earned an average of 10 responses from reporters requesting the full study or survey.
• More than 25 original articles on industry topics were produced for e-news, annually, which quoted ELFA members. Approximately 95 percent of these articles were repurposed and published in other leasing trades.
• A speaking engagement was booked with the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) annual conference and AFP also printed a bylined article by the ELFA President.
• American Bankers Association published a white paper from ELFA and a link to www.ChooseLeasing.org
• The Small Business Administration granted ELFA partnership status and listed www.ChooseLeasing.org on the SBA SCORE Web site.
• More than 10 www.ChooseLeasing.org links to various SBA Business Information Centers were earned.
• Entrepreneur magazine conducted a joint survey with ELFA, culminating in that publication’s coverage of leasing.

Business Software Alliance

Four Leaf developed a program designed to publicize the seriousness of the illegal downloading and sharing of software among young people, and promoting BSA as an industry leader in educating youth about software theft.

Educating American Youth About Software Piracy

Scope: Media and community relations
For the Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org), Four Leaf developed a media and community relations program to convey the seriousness of illegally downloading and sharing software to young people and promoting BSA as an industry leader in educating youth about software theft.

Objectives

• Convey the seriousness of illegal downloading and sharing software.
• Instill the message that teachers and IT staff can and must take a role in fighting software theft.
• Create awareness among target audiences that the BSA is a clearinghouse of resources to fight software theft.
• Positively impact students’ ethical stance on software stealing.

Strategies

• Conduct media relations, leveraging the credibility and reach of parent and teacher media (including Web sites).
• Create partnerships with key early educational organizations, nonprofits and other influencing groups to earn third party credibility and extend reach to BSA’s target audiences.
• Create an “expert status” for BSA representatives on the issue of children and copyright issues.
• Leverage Internet vehicles to reach youth and parents and teachers.
• Develop and offer tools for teachers to move the anti-piracy cause forward.

Implementations

• Pitched stories to the press related to piracy, software development and children’s ethical training, as well as offered bylined article topics to trades, education, parenting and business publications.
• Designed and drafted Certificate of Recognition for kids (naming them a Cyber Ethics Champion) and a Code of Ethics for posting on the site and available for downloading by parents, teachers and children.
• Drafted and maintained a statistical fact sheet, titled “Children and the Cyber-Frontier” for posting on www.PlayItCyberSafe.com, pitching to media outlets and using in speaking engagement bookings.
• Released “Five Tips for Teaching Children Respect for Copyright” to the media.
• Developed a mascot for the Play It Safe In Cyberspace campaign, a ferret, and held a contest to name the ferret among 4 th and 5 th graders.
• Identified and worked with Dr. Diane DeMott Painter, a technology resource teacher with Fairfax County Public Schools, to act as a spokesperson for BSA’s curriculum. In early 2004, BSA gave its first-ever Cyber Education Champion Award to Dr. Painter.
• Conducted original research with Harris Interactive and IPSOS omnibus surveys, asking kids and households (adults) about cyber ethics issue to bring heightened awareness to the issue and provide fodder for media pitches.

Results

• Traffic to www.PlayItCyberSafe.com increased 1,625% from August 2003 to August 2004. The ferret-naming poll press release alone had more than 1,800 downloads in August 2004, the month the poll was announced.
• Media impressions grew from just over 35 million in 2003 to more than 466 million as of September 2004. Hits included the Time For Kids, Washington Post, Technology & Learning, eSchool News and School Library Journal.
• Several dozen bylined articles were placed in publications, including Our Children magazine, published by the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), and Middle Ground.
• Web links were earned including www.PlayItCyberSafe.com links to Safe Wired Schools, TechLearning.com, T.H.E. Journal, the National Education Association and Virginia’s Community of Learning. A total of 775,000 monthly visits to these sites significantly boosted the curriculum’s visibility.
• Bob Kruger earned several speaking engagements, including giving presentations before two elementary schools, Deer Park Elementary School and Waples Mills Elementary in Fairfax, Virginia, and presentations to the Virginia Society for Technology in Education annual conference and about 40 of the San Jose Unified School District's technology resource teachers in California.