It comes as a pleasant surprise, then, when an organization not only owns up to its mistakes but takes quick and decisive action to rectify the situation. I recently experienced this firsthand with the Durham Rescue Mission.

For years our family has donated clothing, furniture and other household items to this worthy nonprofit that helps homeless people in our community. Just last year we scheduled a pickup of several large pieces of furniture. The thrift store crew left a receipt under our doormat and the donations coordinator called to thank us and comment on the good condition of the furniture.

Several months ago we scheduled another furniture pickup and discussed the same arrangement. This time, however, no receipt was left. I called the thrift store twice and left two messages asking for a receipt and for someone to return my call. No response.

I called a third time and finally reached someone who pulled up the original pickup order. She noted that there were no written instructions to leave a receipt. I asked if they could mail me a receipt and was told they don’t do that. I asked how then could I get a receipt and was told I could come to the store to speak to the manager.

By this point, I was so frustrated that I wrote a letter to the Durham Rescue Mission and relayed the details of this disappointing experience. My intent was to alert them to the poor service I, and perhaps others, received.

Within two days someone from the organization called me directly to apologize, despite the fact I did not write my phone number on the letter. That individual told me she would forward my letter to all three thrift store managers, and would send me a receipt immediately. She said some of their workers are clients who are learning their policies and procedures, and that my experience indicated to them they needed to do a better job of training.

The next day I got a receipt in the mail.

While I was all but ready to write off the Rescue Mission, this corrective action gave me pause to reconsider. Although this recent experience started negatively for me, how the matter was resolved ultimately left a positive impression.

S&A Cherokee recently won seven InSpire Awards from the North Carolina Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA), including Best in Show Bronze. Among these were three Silver InSpire Awards recognizing entire campaigns: Athleta Grand Opening at Streets at Southpoint; Community Investment Bonds Public Information Campaign (joint entry with the Town of Cary); and Band Together NC Promotion and Branding.

These award-winning efforts required planning, collaboration, communication and coordination among our clients and numerous staff, each of whom contributed his or her skills and expertise.

These are just some of the services/skills required to carry out these campaigns:

• Research
• Strategic planning
• Event management
• Writing/editing/proofreading
• Developing messaging and talking points
• Media relations
• Web design
• Email marketing and HTML email design
• Direct mail campaign management
• Graphic design
• Media buys
• Media monitoring
• Database management
• Print production coordination
• Script writing and video production
• Photography
• Community relations
• Social media planning
• Budget monitoring

While there are many freelancers or boutique agencies that excel at one or more of these services, it takes a full-service firm to optimize results for integrated campaigns. By doing all this in-house, we operate efficiently and cost-effectively. We also work to eliminate or reduce task handoffs and potential miscommunications.

If a client requires a service that we don’t currently offer, we can tap into a wide network of vendors and partners to help deliver it. S&A Cherokee remains the project manager and quality control monitor.

As the Triangle’s longest continuously operating public relations company, we’ve evolved over time to meet our clients’ needs, and no doubt will continue to evolve. However, we’ll do so in a manner that makes strategic and financial sense. In doing so, we’ll continue to offer integrated campaigns to our clients who want them.

To discover how S&A Cherokee can help with your marketing needs, contact us for a free consultation at (919) 674-6020.

Depending on the demographic they want to reach, it may be beneficial for companies to know which social media channels attract more of which gender, how often they visit, and how long they tend to stay.

Following are some findings recently summarized in an article on PRDaily.com.

Men are more drawn to LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+, while women are more drawn to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Men make up about 54% of LinkedIn and YouTube users, and 64% of Google+ users.

Men spend about one hour on YouTube each week while women spend about 35 minutes on the site each week.

Women make up 58% of Facebook users, 70% of Pinterest users, and — this was a surprise to me — 62% of Twitter users.

Women have larger Facebook networks than men (they average 8% more Facebook friends than men) and are almost twice as likely to share content (62% of Facebook shares come from women).

Overall, women participate in social media more than men. While 71% of women use social networking sites, only 62% of men do.

These figures will no doubt fluctuate in the coming years, but in the meantime it all makes good food for thought when contemplating social media campaigns.

On May 6, S&A Cherokee staff members participated in a meal-packaging event for Stop Hunger Now at Lonerider Brewery in Raleigh. We are proud to have co-sponsored the event along with RPG Solutions, Citrix ShareFile, Lonerider Brewery and BioResource International.

In a span of about three hours, the group packaged about 20,000 meal packets destined for a third-world country. The event was quite lively, with music blaring and an energized group of volunteers measuring out vitamin mixes, protein, dehydrated vegetables and rice.

The facts behind the need for events like these are quite sobering.

• Every day, about 25,000 adults and children in our world die from hunger or hunger-related causes.
• One in seven people in the world will go to bed hungry tonight.
• More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women.
• One out of every four children in developing countries – around 146 million – is malnourished.
• Malnutrition remains the world’s most serious health problem and single biggest contributor to child mortality.

We are grateful for organizations like Raleigh-based Stop Hunger Now for addressing the issue and helping to end world hunger. This nonprofit has helped package more than 97 million meals delivered to 76 countries.

If you’d like to contribute to them, or host a meal-packaging event, visit www.stophungernow.org.

Cary, N.C. – S&A Cherokee, a full-service communications company, took home the Best in Show Bronze InSpire Award at the InSpire Awards Banquet held May 1 at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. The firm’s entry “Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion Returns to Raleigh” received the top designation after receiving a perfect score from judges.

Sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA), the InSpire Awards honor the region’s best efforts in public relations and communications. Bronze InSpire Awards recognize tactics or components of campaigns, while Silver InSpire Awards recognize entire campaigns.

The Best in Show Bronze InSpire Award capped off an eventful night for S&A Cherokee, which also received one Honorable Mention, six Awards of Excellence, and five Best in Category designations. This is the fifth straight year S&A Cherokee has won multiple InSpire awards.

For 2013, S&A Cherokee won in the following categories:

Media Relations – Bronze Award of Excellence, Best in Category, and Best in Show for “Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion Returns to Raleigh”

Video News Releases/Satellite Media Tours/Internal/External Video Programs – Bronze Honorable Mention for “Town of Cary Community Investment Bonds Video”

Public Service Announcements (PSAs) Television, Radio, Print – Bronze Award of Excellence and Best in Category for “Town of Cary Community Investment Bonds PSA”

Research and Evaluation – Bronze Award of Excellence and Best in Category for “University Dining – Red, White and U Dining Satisfaction Surveys”

Events and Observances – Silver Award of Excellence and Best in Category for “Athleta Grand Opening at Streets at Southpoint”

Public Affairs/Public Service – Silver Award of Excellence for “Community Investment Bonds Public Information Campaign” (joint submission with the Town of Cary)

Integrated Communications – Silver Award of Excellence and Best in Category for “Band Together NC Promotion and Branding”

“The Triangle is a very competitive market for public relations and communications services, which makes it especially meaningful to S&A Cherokee to have received awards in so many different categories,” said Chuck Norman, APR, owner/principal. “To be recognized for media relations, video projects, research, event planning, public information campaigns and branding speaks to the excellence and diversity of skills of our staff.”

For more information on S&A Cherokee, please call (919) 674-6020. Follow @sacherokee on Twitter.