everal weeks ago, The Green Sheet published an article by the President of Cynergy Data describing the top 10 lies in the payment processing industry ("How to Spot the Truth: The Top 10 Lies in the Processing Industry," by John Martillo, The Green Sheet, March 22, 2004, issue 04:03:02), and we at Cynergy Data are very proud of that article.

The article called for agents to arm themselves with information and do business only with honest professionals. In a less obvious way, the article points to the differences in the way our company runs its business and the ways some of our competitors run theirs.

However, the first lie described in the article was the "residuals lie," including various versions of it such as "we pay residuals forever," and "we pay residuals on time."

The day the copy of The Green Sheet that included this story landed on my desk was, in fact, the same day I was assigned the task of telling our ISOs/MLSs that we would be late paying their residuals.

Timing, Murphy's Law and Public Relations

In this month's column, I planned to discuss the various channels for reaching your market. Instead, I will discuss the topic of public relations, or PR. Call it the right opportunity; call it a catharsis. Call it public relations.

What Is Public Relations?

The definition of public relations often includes publicity, promotion, events, public affairs and various other forms of communication. But for now, I will focus on the press/publicity part of it; in other words, getting your organization's news in the public arena.

In my years as a marketing consultant, clients often instructed me to "get our name in the paper." My response was always the same: Why?

As any bank-robber can tell you, getting your name in the news is not the tough part. The tough part is controlling the message and the context in which it appears.

The process of doing public relations starts by selecting the appropriate vehicles for your news or communications. Trade publications, newspapers, radio-even television and cable news shows are all possibilities.

Once you've chosen a few likely outlets, study them. Understand what types of articles or programming they run and what their audiences are interested in. Then, submit a piece that meets those requirements.

Editors of print publications and news vehicles are interested in news or features that provide information of interest to their readers. If your press release or article doesn't reflect an understanding of the audience, most editors will reject it. If it doesn't offer newsworthy information or interesting insight in a professional manner, it certainly won't make the headlines.

But let's assume you've done everything correctly. In fact, let's use me as an example.

What Does Public Relations Do?

My job as Marketing Director for Cynergy Data is to communicate to ISOs that our company is the best acquirer. In this industry, selecting The Green Sheet as a vehicle for communication is clearly a must. So I approached this publication with a proposal: submit monthly "How To" columns, each prepared by a different "expert" on our staff.

As Marketing Director, how does this type of public relations benefit me? First, I'm delivering a service to The Green Sheet by providing educational information to its readers. That gives me immediate entry to a circle of "influencers." This might not do me any good, but it certainly won't do any harm.

Second, it gives my company visibility, every month, in one of the industry's primary information resources. Even if no one reads much of what we publish, the articles get our name out, and they put our company in "good company." That affects the perception of Cynergy Data among its target audience. This form of public relations doesn't sell a product or close a deal, but it might pave the way for future communications.

Third, people might actually read what we have to say. Some might be so impressed that they actually pick up the phone and say, "You're the type of guys we want to do business with."

For others, our columns may influence a future decision, provide food for thought or help establish a mindset. In that sense, public relations is used as an opinion shaper or as a vehicle to research the market and find out what your customers really think or feel.

Finally, this type of public relations doesn't really cost anything other than the time it takes to write the column or press release. So while PR is not used to incite immediate action, it is a cost- and time-effective way to develop a relationship with an audience, lend an air of prestige and establish a platform from which to launch other marketing efforts.

What Doesn't Public Relations Do?

The down side of public relations is that you truly do lose control. Stuff happens. Your article or press coverage might appear with typos, with someone else's picture, in the back of the book or right next to an ad or article that refutes or minimizes your message.

Yes, you wrote the press release. Yes, you may even have approved the final copy of an article. But you don't control when, where or with whom your news will be shared.

You won't ever really know who is, or is not, reading your piece, or whether they are reading all of it-not just the sub-heads. You have absolutely no control over your readers' responses and how they share their responses.

And mistakes happen. You might misinform. Or, you write a piece about the importance of paying residuals and, for the first time, your company is late paying residuals. You get egg on your face.

Or worse, you call attention to your own (albeit new) flaw. Then you create negative attention-not positive.

Is Public Relations Worth the Risk?

I think so. The trick is to know what you're getting into, understand the risks, control what can be controlled and be prepared. Here are some pointers:

• Know your audience and select the right vehicles of communication to reach them.
• Talk to editors. Make sure you have some copy control. Make sure you understand who "owns" the piece you are writing, and communicate clearly how it can be used.
• Set your goals and expectations and make sure they are realistic
• Be prepared for any response before you release the information. Educate everyone who works for your company. Let them know what they can expect to see in print, what the responses might be and how those responses should be handled. And make sure you're staffed up to handle the calls that might come in.
• Capitalize on your efforts by getting reprints of anything that appears, and use the successful ones by getting permission to post them on your Web site or use them in a direct mail piece.
• Ask your partners and customers to speak for you, and send them framed copies of the article. Everyone likes to see his or her name in print (except maybe those bank robbers). Use the press to promote clients and see how much they appreciate it.

And what happens when you take a stand with a strong message and then find yourself guilty of the very thing you're persecuting?

Fess up, apologize, make amends and do everything in your power to see that it doesn't happen again.

That's public relations.

Nancy Drexler is the Marketing Director of Cynergy Data, a merchant acquirer that provides a wide array of electronic payment processing services while continually striving to develop new solutions that meet the needs of its agents and merchants. In addition to offering credit, debit, EBT and gift card processing, along with check conversion and guarantee programs, the company offers its ISOs the ability to borrow money against its residuals, have Web sites designed and developed, provide merchants with free terminals and benefit from state-of-the-art marketing, technology and business support.

Founded in 1995 by Marcelo Paladini and John Martillo, Cynergy Data strives to be a new kind of acquirer with a unique mission: to constantly explore, understand and develop the products that ISOs and merchants need to be successful and to back it up with honest, reliable and supportive service. And we promise to do everything possible to be sure we pay residuals on time.