It was an eerie sight watching Davie drive that truck, because you couldn’t see him. It appeared the truck was driving itself. Then you’d locate the top six inches of his little blond head above the dashboard, eyes peering intently ahead. In those days he didn’t drive in a seated position: he drove with his tiny bottom just brushing the edge of the seat, while his feet grasped for the pedals and his neck strained to keep his eyes above the dashboard. He drove well, putting his whole body and mind into it. In fact, he drove so well that in the fall he was allowed to drive the truck, full of wheat, over the farm fields to our granary in the barn.

That day he glowed with happiness.

When he was eight, he was permitted to drive the family car IN THE DRIVEWAY. He would spend entire Sunday afternoons doing so. He’d back the car to the end of the driveway, stop, change gears, drive the car forward forty feet to the garage, stop, change gears, back the car to the end of the driveway, stop, change gears…

One Sunday afternoon when he was nine he began showing the results of these training exercises. It was a raw March day, when the snow had melted and the soil just thawed, turning the field beside the house into icy clay gumbo. Which gumbo was several feet deep. Davie — who by then had let us know that David, not Dave and never again Davie, was his name of choice — David took the truck out into the middle of the gumbo and deliberately mired it up to its hubcaps. All afternoon we’d hear the truck roar and spin, roar and spin… a five-minute silence, then roar and spin, roar and spin. A miserable, cold, windy afternoon, and even David would be driven in to warm his freezing hands and get a drink of water.

David’s reports were always cheerful. Early announcements explained how truly hopelessly mired he’d gotten the truck. Later reports described efforts with chains, boards, and gunny sacks, all performed with his bare hands in freezing mud.

“It’s halfway out!”

Much roaring from the field.

“It’s almost there, just a few more tries.”

Sounds from the field as of a truck in its last agonies.

“It’s out! It’s out! I got it out!”

A look at the kitchen clock. “I guess I have time to get it stuck again before dark.”

About the Author: Go STEAMIN’ DOWN THE TRACKS WITH VIOLA HOCKENBERRY, a storytelling cookbook — and find Montana country cooking, nostalgic stories, and gift ideas — at Janette Blackwell’s Food and Fiction, http://foodandfiction.com/Entrance.html — or visit her Delightful Food Directory, http://delightfulfood.com/main.html

Source: www.isnare.com

Some of the elements of a PR program include research, media
relations, publicity, special events, employee relations,
client relationship management, crisis communication, trade
shows/conferences, community and government relations, and
corporate identity. PR helps you shape internal and external
opinion about your organization with an eye toward building
support among your key “publics.”

What can you expect from PR if it is done correctly?

- Boost Credibility. Media coverage or word-of-mouth from the
right people heightens your credibility much more than an ad
ever could.

- Build Trust. People trust what they are familiar with. A
proactive PR program that gets and keeps your name in front
of people can be the first step in building that trust.

- Generate Leads. Positive publicity for your products and
services can generate sales leads for you to follow up.

- Word-of-Mouth. By increasing awareness of your company,
people and products, media coverage provides fodder for the
word-of-mouth machine.

- Shape Attitudes. From employee communication to publicity,
PR tactics can be used to tell your story convincingly to key
publics.

-Refine Customer Service. Those who believe PR is about
one-way, top-down spin doctoring – I hope – are relics of the
past. Two-way PR, in which the company actually solicits and
listens to customer feedback, can provide the kind of edge
companies need today in this age of commoditization.

So, don’t be incredible. Make PR an integral part of your
business strategy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.