by Christine Payton
South Louisiana Community College
Lafayette, LA
Hard to believe it’s February already. Did you make a New Year’s resolution for 2014? Want to shrink your waistline or maybe advance your career? Have you already broken it? You aren’t alone. I just read an article in Forbes that says only 8 percent of people who make resolutions achieve them. Ouch! Can that be right?
I admit that I did make a resolution. Well actually, I made two for myself at work. I’ve started on both of them and am happy to report that I’m way ahead of what I did (or didn’t do) in 2013.
1. Cultivate new relationships. I hit the ground running on this resolution. The first week back to work after the holidays, I made presentations to faculty and deans about the public relations office. I mapped out a plan on how we can work together to effectively promote the college. I gave them examples of newsworthy items and told them about the avenues we could employ for promotion. I’ve already received several story leads as a result of these presentations. Next up, I will be working on my media relationships. I’ll dig a little deeper into how I can better communicate with reporters and editors.
2. Strengthen my college’s brand. This resolution goes hand-in-hand with my first one. Whether it’s improving employee morale or engaging students in meaningful dialogue via social media, I’m going to strengthen my college’s brand in 2014. This includes establishing ways to measure campaigns and knowing when to switch gears if a tactic isn’t working out as planned. We have something valuable to offer students, and it’s time more people know about it.
The Forbes article also offered some tips for hanging in there with your resolutions: keep it simple, make it obvious, and keep believing you can do it. Sounds good to me, especially the last tip.
And, no worries if you’ve broken yours already. Thankfully, we have countless fresh starts throughout the year. Best wishes on keeping your resolutions and making 2014 the best year yet!
Christine Payton is the director of public relations at South Louisiana Community College in Lafayette.
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