Editor's Letter -- Almost Any Publicity. . .

Among actors, musicians and others whose livelihoods depend in part on being recognizable, the maxims "Any publicity is good publicity" or "There is no such thing as bad publicity" are accepted as having a kernel of truth.

In the business world, including within the secure destruction and storage industries, this does not ring as true. Unfortunately, there are ways to generate bad publicity and cause harm to one’s reputation as a provider of a security service.

As Scott Fasken, co-owner of Colorado Document Security, points out in this issue’s cover story, his shredding firm operates as if "60 Minutes" or a local news team is watching every service call. By being vigilant, the company can help ensure that it does not end up on the embarrassing side of an exposé on unmet security standards for confidential information.

The all-watching eyes of the media can be a double-edged sword, as those in the shredding business can attest. One of our readers recently called to complain about a politically oriented blogger who posted a photo of one of his trucks at work serving a rather high-profile client in the federal government.

While one could put this into the "any publicity is good publicity" category, there is also some legitimate discomfort at having one’s truck photographed while it is performing what is supposed to be a confidential service.

Avoiding negative publicity is only fighting half of the publicity battle, however. Local media outlets and other publicity channels can also help raise the profile of the secure shredding industry in general and of one’s own company in particular.

Many secure shredding companies have found that holding special one-day events can be one way of garnering positive attention.

Some advance publicity followed by a community shredding event can cause the kind of attention that results in increased business for a confidential shredding company. Company owners and managers largely report that these efforts, although they involve some upfront costs, generally yield purge jobs and quite possibly some new route customers.

The publicity opportunities are out there. The challenge is making sure it is the positive opportunities that come your way.