It’s not just companies that have PR, but so do people — including your neighbors. You may even feel some challenging neighbors should hire a PR consultant. Photo by Kent Rebman on Unsplash.
Do you love your neighbor?
We’re supposed to. After all, it’s one of the two great commandments.
But what if your neighbor has bad PR (whether it’s intentional or not)?
Does that grant you an exception to not love them?
For example, are they noisy and wake you up while you’re trying to sleep?
Are they nosy and pry into your private doings?
Do they have an obnoxious pet?
The Birth of Blog Topics
Before I start sharing thoughts about my neighbors’ PR I’ve observed over the years, I’d like to share the origin of my blog topics.
It’s really as simple as an idea popping into my head.
As I was thinking the other evening about what to write about this week while constructing an elaborate salad in my kitchen, out of the blue the idea of writing about a neighbor’s PR came to mind.
I was going to write about why you should mine your competitors’ media coverage for media contacts, but I’ll save that for another week.
My hope is someone finds whatever I end up writing about interesting.
A fellow PR pro from the Little Rock, Arkansas area did. She noticed my Authentically Yours newsletter posts on LinkedIn and started following me. She messaged me and said, “I find your content interesting. I’m over programming for PRSA Arkansas, would love to see if your availability aligns.”
How thoughtful. In fact, since posting the agency’s newsletter on LinkedIn, I’ve noticed some fairly high impression numbers.
It seems like my commentary posts (which sometimes sound like rants) are more popular than straight PR/marcom tips.
Regardless, simply saying something weekly online or in a weekly emailed newsletter can be a great way to raise awareness of what you offer — and even land speaking opportunities.
Neighborly “Observations”
We currently live in a one-road neighborhood that curves up a hill. We’ve lived here in Eastern Tennessee for seven years and have been blessed with awesome neighbors.
It’s a quiet neighborhood surrounded by farms and fields. As a bonus, when we purchased our home, we also bought the empty lot next to us at the end of the street.
We have an elderly woman who moved in across the street a couple years ago. She’s super sweet. When Hurricane Helene knocked out our Wi-Fi, she let me sit on her back porch and use hers for a couple business meetings.
When she sees me walking around barefoot, she tells me to put shoes on so I don’t get pollution on my feet. (First time I’ve ever heard that.)
Neighbors genuinely concerned for your well-being = great PR. On top of it all, when her son and his family visit, the two-year-old will run over to me and give me a hug. We’ve since become great friends with this family.
Sharing Shredded Plastic is Bad PR
The neighbor who lived in that house previously was also very kind. And wow, did she ever have a beautiful Southern accent. Before she sold her house, she commissioned me to build a closet in her basement. (Yes, I’ve learned how to do a little remodeling over the years.) All great PR.
However, she inadvertently earned a bit of bad PR after she moved.
As she was cleaning out her home, she gave us numerous bags of shredded paper to add to our compost. One day we discovered it also included shredded plastic. Plastic doesn’t compost. I’m sure someone unbeknown to her had shredded plastic along with paper. That was quite the project to meticulously sort through our compost and pick out the tiny pieces of shredded plastic.
Some of the compost had already been added to our garden, and we’re still picking out shredded plastic there when we notice it.
The Watchful Eye, But Noisy Truck, Neighbor
We have the best next-door neighbors! They keep an eye on our home while we’re away, and even when we’re in town. If anything looks suspicious, I immediately receive a text.
Once he reported a woman sitting at our back porch table. (It was my sister-in-law.)
Or strangers were mowing our lawn. (Friends from church because I was out of town.)
Another time it was late, and he saw a car he didn’t recognize pull into our driveway. (It was only me in a newly acquired car.)
Even a bunny eating from our garden doesn’t go unnoticed.
Unfortunately, our bedroom is right next to his driveway, and we often get awoken when he fires up his truck to leave for work at 5 a.m. every workday. Well, nobody’s perfect.
More Examples of Neighbors’ Bad PR
Here’s a rapid fire list of my memories of neighbors we’ve had over the years and where we lived:
- Provo, Utah – Our nextdoor neighbor used to sit on his balcony just outside our bedroom window to smoke. Then he’d start hacking like crazy and wake us up. And there was another neighbor with a couple mean geese that chased our kindergartener on the way to the bus stop.
- West Jordan, Utah – We had a small house on a small lot with one of the stupidest designs ever. One side of the home was a zero property line, meaning the side of our house was the exact edge of our lot. Well, as if that wasn’t stupid enough, our utilities were also on that side, meaning we had to go through our neighbor’s gate to access them. One day, our neighbor bought a puppy (do you see where this is going?). It promptly chewed through our Internet cables and knocked out our Wi-Fi — while I was at home working.
- Vista, Calif. – Our neighbor’s backyard was literally a junkyard. A horrible eyesore. Rats and other creatures lived among the junk. He also didn’t trim his trees, and one of his trees was hanging over into our yard by at least 6 feet. One day I decided enough was enough, and I started cutting it back. When he noticed what I was doing, he came outside and asked, “Hey, what are you doing??” I explained I wanted his tree off my property. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and he started helping.
This discussion begs the question: How much of how we treat our neighbors spills over to how we treat our co-workers?
The 3 Big Takeaways
- Good neighbors are conscientious.
- Bad neighbors are not.
- Be mindful of what you do or say at your home, and how it might affect your neighbors — and influence how you treat co-workers.
Do you have examples of your neighbors’ PR, whether it be good or bad? Do share!
Stay authentic — and a good, PR-conscientious neighbor!
Jeffery E. Pizzino, APR (seen here in a vintage photo circa 1983 serendipitously doing a Clash impersonation in a since-forgotten location) is a spin-free public relations pro who is passionate about telling the why of your story with clarity, impact and authenticity. He began his PR career in 1987 at Ketchum Public Relations in New York City but has spent the majority of his career as a solopreneur. He’s the Chief Authentic Officer of the Johnson City, TN-based public relations firm, AuthenticityPR. He also functions as the fractional CCO for his clients.
Jeff has an MBA in Management from Western International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications — with an emphasis in PR — from Brigham Young University (rise and shout!). He’s also accredited in public relations (APR). This Milwaukee, Wisconsin native holds an Italian citizenship and plans to live and work there someday. Jeff and his storyteller wife Leticia have four children and four grandchildren. In his extremely limited nonwork hours, he studies Italiano, practices guitar, write songs, gardens, works out, disc golfs, reads, listens to New Wave music, serves as an assistant communication director in his church, watches BYU football, enjoys watching the original Mission Impossible TV series, and plays board games (mostly Dominion and Seven Wonders). No, this guy’s never bored and looking for something to do. Email Jeff.
