Whether it was the Five Seasons Family Sports Clubs in Northbrook and Burr Ridge, McAdam Landscaping in Forest Park, the Kenosha Area Business Alliance, my own Inside Edge PR page, or any of the others, “boost” became an everyday presence in my professional online travels.

At first sight of this semantic shift, I had to chuckle. It’s apparent that Facebook is tinkering with different words or phrases to see if they can boost their success in this realm of revenue creation. Or maybe “promote” is a better word?

As this Inside Facebook post indicates, another term that has popped up for people is “get more reach.” And if there are not any other variations aleady, it is undoubtedly only a matter of time before Facebook tweaks their approach even more.

Having employed words extensively to make a living for more than 25 years, I respect and appreciate what Facebook is striving to do. That’s why in this piece, we will offer a little (tongue-in-cheek) assistance to the not-quite-10-year-old social-media phenomenon.

Let’s have some fun and start by imagining Facebook could tailor its words and phrases based on certain traits of any given individual. Oh, yeah, they already do that in myriad ways, don’t they? But in terms of the whole “boost”/”promote” thing, try these on for size:

For publicists/marketers (gotta poke fun at me and my colleagues first): Spin This Up Good.

For take-charge, big-ego types: Disseminate at Will As You Dominate All Discussion.

For shy, reserved types: Psst…Perhaps Let a Few Others Know?

For the paranoid: They Are All Watching, Waiting & Wondering Why You Haven’t Shared This Yet!

For narcissists: Everyone Deserves to Know What You Have to Say–And To See Your Gorgeous Face Too.

For politicians: It’s Never Too Early to Start Campaigning for Your Next Election.

For Nike fans: Just Share It.

For NSA top-secret information leakers: Go To Hong Kong, Then Spill the Beans.

What are some other categories and accompanying phrases that you would add? Drop me a line at Matt@InsideEdgePR.com and we will add the best suggestions to this post in the future. Of course, we will ‘boost’ your name by including it as credit.

Related Posts:
Growing A Facebook Family With Tom & Eddie’s
The Five Stages of Facebook Grief
For Media Relations, Twitter is For the Birds–especially the Early Ones Seeking the Worm

But the practice’s founder, Dr. Jerry Udelson, isn’t one to rest on any laurels.

As a result, the popular pediatric practice (and Inside Edge PR client since January) has added a 6-foot, 200-pound display of giant chattering teeth that figure to inspire even bigger smiles.

A few weekends ago, the fiberglass structure was installed above the office’s entrance and wrapped around three sides of a decorative brick wall. Each tooth is 13 inches tall and overall the 32 teeth are seven feet across.

Attached to the giant teeth is a pair of green high-top sneakers, laced to the top and roughly 2 feet in length.

Looming more than 20 feet off the ground, it now greets not only patients but passers-by along the busy stretch of Harlem just north of Roosevelt Avenue on Forest Park’s eastern border.

Udelson came up with the idea through conversations he had with a friend, artist Lance Friedman, owner of Shattered Glass Group in Chicago. The teeth were manufactured by Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studios in Natural Bridge, Va.

“Fun is at the heart of our approach to pediatric dentistry,” said Udelson, who founded the practice in 2004. “In addition to providing top service, we pull out all the stops to make a trip to the dentist an enjoyable experience.”

The tongue-in-cheek humor serves a greater purpose, establishing an environment for young patients to become diligent and proactive in their dental care as they enter their adult years.

“The more we can reinforce that dental care isn’t some kind of ordeal, the better it will be not only for us, but all dental practitioners in the area,” said Udelson.

To learn more about Children’s Dentistry of Forest Park, call 708-FUN-KIDS (386-5437) or visit www.little-teeth-big-smiles.com.

Related Post:
Chicago Pediatric Dentist Spotlights National Children’s Dental Health Month

That’s the week when I planted my entrepreneurial roots–as well as my passion for helping start-ups gain marketing and public relations exposure. What got it all started was a little rubber ball that Walter Fender hurled onto the roof of Furnace Brook Middle School in Marshfield, Ma.

I was in the 8th grade, on a lunch-hour break in the parking lot by the cafeteria, when Walter, unaware that the ball was mine, gave it the heave-ho. His apology came in the form of a quarter that he pulled out of his pocket and thrust into my hand.

My mom’s birthday was only days away and I resolved to try selling bubble gum to raise money for the most thoughtful purchase I could imagine at the time: a book of 20 stamps, for a whopping expenditure of four dollars.

I bought a pack of Bubble Yum that afternoon, containing five pieces. The next day, I sold them for 10 cents each and then returned to the same drugstore to invest 50 cents in two packs of gum. The following day–my third in business–I boosted my gross receipts to one dollar, at which point I bought four packs, made $2 in sales, and then–you guessed it–bought eight packs with my entire fortune.

After that first week, I found eight packs of gum to be the extent of my fellow students’ chewing-gum demand. A few months later, I branched out, quite by accident, into Starburst fruit chews for a nickel apiece. That diversification boosted my daily net profit from $2 to $5.

By the end of the school year, I had parlayed that 25-cent “angel investment” into $500 of profits that paid for two summer basketball camps and helped my mom purchase a car. For this 13-year-old kid, the journey that began with a desire to buy a simple birthday gift had left an indelible stamp.

Having that entrepreneurial experience was the seed that has blossomed into self-employment for the past 14 years. And since launching my own public relations practice in 2005, helping entrepreneurs start their own businesses has been one of the great privileges of my work.

One of the main reasons why I treasure the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs is that it enables me to make a significant difference during a formative, even vulnerable, stage of their efforts.

In its early days, a business is like a baby—unable to survive without hands-on support on a regular basis. It’s only fitting that, within the business realm, investing and re-investing in your own fledgling enterprise is referred to as “feeding the baby.”

When I get started with an entrepreneur, he or she often has only a very rough written summary of who they are, what service they provide and other basic elements of their story. Sometimes, they don’t even have that much.

Even if they have a few hundred words, and upwards of a few thousand, that strive to explain what makes them distinctive in the marketplace (and thereby newsworthy), rarely is it very close to what they need in order to capture media interest.

Duane Hughes, R U PHIL? founder

One current client with a different brand of entrepreneurialism is Duane Hughes, a fellow Oak Parker. Through a program that he has dubbed R U PHIL? (an acronym for “Are You Playing Hurt in Life?”), his passion is to raise awareness about child sexual abuse, and to help others, like him, who are survivors of that scourge.

In the past week, the Oak Leaves has featured Hughes, and other media outlets are also expressing interest. The news release tied in his background as a football player at Oregon State, and you can see that piece on Hughes and R U PHIL? here at TribLocal.

That brings us to another key reason why I so enjoy working with entrepreneurs: it affords me the opportunity to play a significant role in shaping their story.

Over the years, I have helped individuals who are getting going in an array of fields: mortgage banking, exotic women’s accessories, public speaking, integrative health membership, a statewide political campaign, and more.

In each instance, they were starting, more or less, with a blank slate. It’s exciting to play a key role in articulating their story and how it has a distinct place in the broader landscape of whatever corner of the world they are in.

So far, nobody has been in the bubble gum or candy distribution business—but in the Chicago PR and marketing field, where there’s something new emerging all the time, don’t rule it out in the future.

Now, before you misconstrue that term with some scandalous undertones, let’s elaborate on private relations, at least in this context: it’s the ability to connect more effectively on the frontlines of making your next sale, but without a broader public communications component.

For example, let’s imagine an exotic car dealer who wants to close on more prospective customers but doesn’t want to expose himself to a heightened threat of vandalism, theft or other modes of mischief. He wants his unassuming warehouse to remain anonymous, which could be tough to do if a media outlet airs or publishes a feature about his thriving operation.

In this instance, private relations calls for the creation of high-quality, compelling and persuasive content, but only for the eyes of the next prospect. The approach can help the dealer expand his profit margin without an accompanying spike in his security vulnerability.

A critical element in developing that content is to understand the common objections that a prospect might have, and then overcome those concerns through story-telling. That story-telling can come in any variety of forms, but if high-end auto sales have anything in common with other corners of the marketplace, there’s a good bet the leading candidates would include:

*case studies of previous, elated customers
*development of a FAQ sheet
*testimonials from credible sources about the integrity and character of the proprietor
*a well-written, professional biography of the proprietor

When your “public” is a tiny, but strategic, fraction of the world, then private relations may be the right course of discreet action for you.

Having written scads of bios over the past 20-plus years, and seen others’ work both stellar and abysmal, this Fast Company piece on biography writing is spot-on.

One of the best lines from Jonathan Rick’s “The Art of Writing Your Own Bio: How to Toot Your Horn Without Sounding Like a Blowhard”:

“To be sure, the problem isn’t with boasting. It’s with who’s doing the boasting. Boasting is best when validated by a third party. Otherwise, you’re just another self-proclaimed guru in a field that’s long on salesmanship and short on specifics.”

Rick’s article has other very good insights about how to take distinctive approaches to bio writing, such as having colleagues help tell someone’s story.

In writing my own bio, I have sought a balance between professional, personal and off-beat (such as noting my once driving an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile as a reporter and my ambidextrous free-throw shooting zeal).

The random inclusions are not for their own sake, either: they help paint an accurate reflection of who I am, in all my off-the-wall reality.

That, too, is why my bio photo shows me dressed up as Super Shopper Spotter, with the caption, “It takes a courageous man (or at least a brazen PR guy) to wear red boots, mask and cape in front of a flower shop–or anywhere else for that matter.”

George Hood during his Guinness World Record performance on April 20th. (Photo by Bob Kauffman)

When is the last time you broke down a daunting marketing or public relations goal into smaller pieces?

Marathon runners do it all the time until their ultimate goal, finishing the race, is simply another smaller objective on the heels of a stream of other, manageable goals.

On April 20, those who witnessed George Hood obliterate the Guinness World Record in the abdominal plank, more than doubling it, were privy to this kind of goal-upon-goal process.

Having provided public and media relations for Hood’s efforts over the past six years, I have often observed him use this same approach to push himself well beyond typical boundaries of mind, body and soul.

But this time, viewing his tenacity via Ustream video, a phrase that I had first heard years ago stuck in my mind: “peak-to-peak.”

That’s short for peak-to-peak goal-setting. Picture yourself in front of a huge mountain. Rather than try to summit the whole thing at once, all you can do is focus on getting to the first peak. Once there, you can then rivet your attention on the next peak up, and so forth, until you are at the top.

It’s a principle that applies in any endeavor, in any aspect of your life.

“The soreness I sustained after the event was the most painful I’ve ever had to endure,” said Hood. And he’s no stranger to pushing the limits, whether it’s jumping rope for more than 13 hours or riding on a spin cycle for more than nine days with the benefit of only five-minute hourly breaks.

During the latter stages of his effort, Hood went from one peak (in terms of plank duration) onto another one. Only when he got to that next peak (or time) did he focus all his energies on the next peak.

This approach can lead you to some amazing places you never imagined possible. A few days after his jaw-dropping performance, Hood told me that as the days counted down toward his Guinness attempt, he thought that he might be able to get to 2 hours and 45 minutes.

But when he reached the 2 ½-hour mark, the three-hour milestone entered his mind as a prospect. When he reached that, he set his sights on lasting for another minute, then aiming for another four minutes. From that point, he lasted another two minutes and 15 seconds for his final time of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 15 seconds.

In marketing and public relations campaigns, going peak-to-peak is much less dramatic—and certainly less painful.

I have found that it often takes the form of that extra phone call placed to a previously untapped outlet, that follow-up e-mail when I have all but given up on a reporter’s potential for taking an interest, or that chasing down of a detail from a client that opens the door to an angle that captures the media’s imagination.

Each represents a small piece of the bigger picture, but they have a way of adding up to a powerfully more significant whole.

Meanwhile, as is usually the case with Hood’s record-setting journeys, the media interest has ramped up after his latest accomplishment, including this piece in The Post Game.

George Hood on Dec. 3, 2011, shortly after he set the Guinness World Record in the abdominal plank.

George Hood, the ultra-endurance athlete extraordinaire from Aurora, Ill., isn’t slowing down at 55 (years of age).

The five-time Guinness World Record holder on Saturday is supporting HeartChase, an American Heart Association fundraiser in Newport, Ky., as he bids to break his own record in the abdominal plank.

But just because the disciplined and driven former Drug Enforcement Administration agent has mind-boggling stamina doesn’t mean the media operate the same way. As a result, publicizing the effort on behalf of Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Burr Ridge, where Hood works as group exercise director, has been an exercise in restraint.

Having promoted six of Hood’s prior Guinness World Record efforts over the past six years, one of the major lessons that has emerged is the importance of not wearing out the story’s welcome before the record-breaking moment arrives.

Sure, being persistent is important in marketing and public relations, but it’s critical to balance that trait with the discernment to “pick your spots” and intelligently consider when is best to reach out to any given media outlet.

In this instance, another factor is that Hood is from the Chicago area (representing one media market) and will be going for the Guinness World Record in the Cincinnati area.

So four weeks ago, Inside Edge PR began waging media outreach in the Chicago area as well with some national outlets. Among other coverage, you can see the news release at the Chicago Tribune‘s TribLocal and this feature story in Suburban Life.

Meanwhile, this week marked the start of outreach to media in the area where Hood will be looking to shatter his own mark of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 5.01 seconds. The Cincinnati Enquirer is now pursuing the story.

It remains to be seen where other coverage may flow from, but one thing is for sure: if Hood succeeds in setting a new Guinness record, the moment he stops his plank will mark just the start of a new wave of media coverage.

Go deep into the 15th round against heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, as unheralded Chuck Wepner did 38 years ago yesterday, and become one of the most celebrated underdogs in the sport’s history.

(It also doesn’t hurt your chances if a struggling actor named Sylvester Stallone, inspired by the fight, creates Rocky, the first iconic round in what becomes one of cinema’s all-time franchise blockbusters.)

In a recent advertising campaign, Zurich Insurance astutely recognized the respect and trust that people tend to confer on those who “go the distance.”

Seeking to tout its century in business, Zurich could have simply stated that it had passed the 100-year mark. But that’s the bare minimum and only begins to tell a remarkable success story.

What proportion of companies make it through their first year, or manage to adapt and scrap enough to stick around for a 10th anniversary? How about 20 or even 50 years? It’s not easily done.

So here in the Chicago area, where Zurich has its North American headquarters in Schaumburg, the company surveyed the landscape to see how it could drive home the point. In an advertisement, the company identified its endurance via one of the city’s most notable venues: Soldier Field.

The ad consists of a black-and-white photograph of the stadium as it was being built, back at the dawn of the National Football League. The image is accompanied by the words “1924 Soldier Field Construction” and “We helped make it happen.”

In those two brief, simple phrases, Zurich powerfully and brilliantly communicated so much: longevity, reliability, association with the biggest and the best.

As you consider your organization’s own public relations and marketing campaign, think about how you can practice the same principle.

Can you hitch it to an historical wagon? Who was president when it got started? What was going on in the world that might represent thematic symmetry?

For example, if you were to represent a company that has been making products for the golf industry since the 1970s, see what current players were babies back then—or weren’t even close to being born yet—to underscore the point.

And you need not be a generations-old firm to make this hitching-onto-history approach work. In fact, it could be your relative youth that is the story. Facebook, in case you hadn’t noticed, isn’t even 10 years old yet.

So if you think we just made too big of a deal about Michael Jordan turning 50 years old, wait until that revolutionary social media brand reaches double digits in the coming year.

The brainstorming process can be as simple as typing in the year of your organization or company’s start and going to Google to see what else was happening at that time. What was the average cost of a gallon of gasoline? Average home price? Average family income? Average Major League Baseball player income?

Whatever the case, go beyond the mere recitation of a founding date and enliven it with some context.

If that news contains some elements that my son and daughter should know, then I will tease out those details that I believe are most appropriate for them.

Likewise, when taking a story that has national scope and seeing how it relates to a local audience, that “know your audience” principle is at play. And sometimes it goes beyond merely re-tooling the release with a local angle in the lead.

You can read the rest of the column, which was published on Sunday, here at BulldogReporter.com.

In doing so, I suppose I newsjacked newsjacking, huh?