This year, start the year off right by igniting your business. Whether you have a new or an existing company, light a fire and communicate key messages about what makes your company unique to prospective clients and customers.

Here are a few timely tips to start the New Year off on the right foot:

SCHEDULE A PR AUDIT: Does your company have great stories to tell, but a difficult time getting the word out to a larger audience? Conduct a PR audit with your executive team to determine local, regional and national opportunities for media exposure and to plan for greater success for 2012. In a two-hour session, you can learn how to share good news, earn recognition via traditional and interactive media and determine the top newsworthy items about your company for 2012. Also, you’ll receive help identify speaking opportunities and determining which awards will help raise your company’s profile.

REFRESH YOUR CONTENT: Over time, web copy, brochure text and corporate messaging can grow stale. Consider changing up your company’s message and adding a fresh twist to all your copy in the New Year.  Make your content lively, engaging and professional, encouraging potential customers to learn more about your company and the products and services you have to offer.

REVIEW YOUR VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS: Every member of your organization needs a mission statement and vision statement to refer to so that everyone is working towards a common goal. Review your mission statement, which explains who you are as a company, as well as your vision statement, which maps out what your business aspires to become in the future. If you don’t have a mission statement or a vision statement, write drafts for your team to edit and review.

EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA: While many local companies joined the social media revolution in 2011, a surprising number of businesses are still reluctant to join the world of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Google+. Does your company have timely news, announcements or special offers that can be shared through a social media? Do you have a social media plan in place for 2012?

As Savannah starts to emerge from the recession, 2012 is going to be a year of incredible opportunity. Don’t miss the chance to ignite your business now and to reap the benefits all year long.

With his usual flair for a great party, Ashley Bowersox, ThincSavannah’s co-founder, played the perfect host and each member contributed to the delicious feast. Take a look  at Bunny’s latest column here to get an insider’s scoop to the holiday party of the year.

Criminals expect consumers to make a mad rush to the store during the final weeks leading up to Christmas. They understand that with the increase of shoppers, the chances of consumers carrying extra cash and too many shopping bags are in their favor and, therefore, the attempts of attack begin to rise. Taking a few extra precautions can help ensure the prevention of crime and a joyous holiday season.

Here are some helpful shopping safety tips below to keep in mind this year while you are out and about.

• Try not to shop alone – there really is safety in numbers.
• Know your surroundings and be aware of the people in it.
• Dress casual – expensive jewelry may attract unwanted attention.
• Do not carry more than a few shopping bags at a time – too many may cause you not to notice when one goes missing.
• Lock your valuables out of sight in the trunk of the car before you get to the store.
• If you have to go back into the store after you’ve already left, move your car to another parking space to give the appearance that you have left the parking lot with your bags in tow.
• Report any suspicious activity to security, management or police.
• Be wary of strangers who approach you to strike up a conversation – this method is used to try and disarm or distract and is a typical purse snatcher tactic.
• Do not be afraid to ask for a security escort to the parking lot or between stores – especially after dark.
• Only carry small amounts of cash to limit potential loss.
• Be sure to notify banks or credit card companies immediately if credit cards are lost or stolen.

Don’t let your holiday season be ruined by becoming a victim of crime. It’s important to have a plan and know where you are going. Trust your instincts and, if you get an uncomfortable feeling about a place, you are most likely right.

The idea behind crime prevention is to eliminate potential opportunities for criminals as much as possible. Practice these safety and crime prevention tips year round and make them a life-long habit.

Stay safe and happy holidays!

_______________________________________

Erica Lumpert is the president of Saber Security & Investigations and specializes in customized security solutions. She can be reached at erica@sabersi.com or 770-424-3525.

With this, we have also noticed a positive and dramatic change from our clients’ perspective towards social media compared to just one year ago. This time last year, many of our clients were hesitant — if not outright opposed — to social media. However, we are proud to say they have rounded the corner and today they understand social media channels to be viable marketing and relationship building tools yielding undeniable results. This positive change in attitude has prompted us to further our efforts to help clients harness the power of social media in conjunction with traditional PR and the data generated from these social media outlets as well.

In “Social Media – 4 Trends to Watch in 2012”, Gravity Summit LLC CEO Beverly Macy, the co-author of The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing, mentions this important change we are already beginning to see and will most certainly make use of as we wrap up plans for next year:

“Companies will switch from “What’s social media?” to “How do we effectively use these new tools to define our social voice to garner better business intelligence, create more robust customer engagements, create a truly collaborative workforce, and grow the bottom line?”

As you prepare for 2012, are you taking cues from your clients?

By any measure, 2011 has been a challenging year for many local businesses. If your company is still standing tall, remember to be grateful for riding out this rocky recession, even if you have experienced a few bumps and bruises along the way.

Here are a few timely tips to help share the spirit of thankfulness with clients, staff and colleagues:

Express your thankfulness in words and deeds. Don’t expect others to read your mind. Take a moment to send a quick email to thank a manager for a job well done and to write a hand-written thank you note congratulating a colleague on a great presentation.

There’s no better use of your time. Taking a moment to recognize the hard work of others is always a worthy investment of one’s time, even in today’s fast-paced multi-media business world. It doesn’t cost a penny to say “thank you,” but every act of gratefulness makes our business community a richer place.

Make gratitude a part of your company’s core values. Be grateful for loyal customers and faithful clients. Remember that they have a choice when it comes to which companies to support, patronize and frequent.  Be thankful that they have chosen you, and live up to that promise in everything you do.

Don’t take existing business for granted. In the never-ending quest for new business, it can be easy to overlook the current clients who helped make your business successful in the first place. Longtime customers and clients deserve special attention and recognition for their loyalty over the years.

Express your gratitude throughout the year. Even though Thanksgiving and Christmas serve as annual reminders of the importance of giving thanks, it’s important to express gratitude every day of the year.

In prosperous times and lean times, there is always so much for each of us to be grateful for. When you gather with family and friends next week to celebrate Thanksgiving, remember to give thanks for all of the many blessings Savannah’s business community has been given this year.

“We are delighted to have a record number of attorneys from our firm featured on this year’s Best Lawyers in America list,” said Frank S. Macgill, HunterMaclean’s managing partner. “This honor reflects hard work on the part of the firm’s partners and associates.”

HunterMaclean lawyers earning this top honor for 2012 include the following:

• LeeAnn W. Aldridge - Real Estate Law
• Saunders Aldridge  - Commercial Litigation
• Dorothea Coy -  Commercial Finance Law
• H. Mitchell Dunn, Jr. - Tax Law, Trusts & Estates
• Andrew H. Ernst  - Environmental Law, Economic Development Law
• T. Mills Fleming - Health Care Law, Immigration Law
• Wade W. Herring II  - Employment Law – Management, Litigation – Labor & Employment
• John M. Hewson - Corporate Law
• Dennis B. Keene - Product Liability Litigation
• Sarah H. Lamar - Employment Law – Management, Labor Law
• Frank S. Macgill - Trusts & Estates
• Kirby G. Mason – Medical Malpractice Law
• Diana J. P. McKenzie - Information Technology Law
• M. Lane Morrison - Trusts & Estates
• Sally C. Nielsen  - Employee Benefits (ERISA)  Law
• Chris Phillips – Construction Law, Litigation-Construction, Medical Malpractice Law
• Janet A. Shirley - Trusts & Estates
• David F. Sipple - Maritime Law
• W. Brooks Stillwell - Real Estate Law, Litigation-Real Estate
• Ron D. Talley - Environmental Law, Real Estate Law
• John M. Tatum – Bet-the Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation-ERISA, Intellectual Property, Litigation – Trusts & Estates
• Harold B. Yellin - Land Use & Zoning Law, Real Estate Law
• Arnold C. Young - Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation, Product Liability Litigation

H. Mitchell Dunn, Jr. has been included on this prestigious list of top attorneys for the past 28 years. In addition, Andrew H. Ernst, David F. Sipple, W. Brooks Stillwell III and John M. Tatum have been listed in Best Lawyers for 15 or more years.

The Best Lawyers in America is a referral guide, published biannually since 1983, listing the preeminent members of the legal profession across the United States. The Best Lawyers lists, published by the firm Woodward/White, Inc., are compiled from more than 350,000 evaluations of attorneys in theUnited States. The completed lists represent more than 30 specialties in all 50 states andWashington,D.C.

This referral guide is subscribed to by more than 4,000 of the leading law firms in the United States and abroad and by more than 1,000 of the world’s largest corporations, who utilize the lists to locate counsel in unfamiliar jurisdictions for major legal matters

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

ABOUT HUNTERMACLEAN

With offices in Brunswick and Savannah, HunterMaclean has extensive experience representing businesses and individuals in all areas of litigation as well as in corporate, tax, real estate, health care, information technology, business, transportation and maritime law. The firm’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, banks, hospitals, maritime companies, professional service organizations, industrial development authorities and nonprofit corporations. For more information about HunterMaclean, please call 912.236.0261 or visit www.huntermaclean.com online.

SAVANNAH, Ga. 

The former home of the late Savannah Civil Rights leader W.W. Law made the 2012 list in recognition of its important place in Georgia history. Law’s Cuyler-Brownville Historic District bungalow is the first Savannah structure to be included on the Places in Peril list since 2009 and the only Savannah-area property to make the 2012 list.

“Mr. W.W. Law was a key figure in the Civil Rights and preservation movements, and The Georgia Trust is absolutely dedicated to the partnership to preserve his historic home in Savannah,” said Mark C. McDonald, president and CEO of The Georgia Trust.

The house was built in the 1940s and was purchased by W. W. Law for his mother. Law continued to reside in the Victory Drive bungalow until his death in 2002. Over time, Law housed his personal collection of archives in the structure, which now requires stabilization of the center beam and floor joists due to the massive weight of the collection. The collection has since been relocated to the W.W. Law Foundation headquarters at 226 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Savannah, which provides a stable and environmentally-controlled location.

Historic Savannah Foundation, a leading preservation organization committed to protecting Savannah’s heritage, recently led a successful $15,000 campaign to secure funds for emergency stabilization for the W.W. Law House. HSF received a matching pledge of $5,000 from the Savannah Community Foundation to help effect repairs in August of 2011. The pledge from the Savannah Community Foundation’s Immediate Needs Fund matched $5,000 from HSF’s Revolving Fund and another $5,000 raised by the W.W. Law Foundation.

“The W.W. Law House is a true cultural treasure in the Cuyler-Brownville Historic District, but it is in urgent need of stabilization and repairs,” said Daniel Carey, president and CEO of Historic Savannah Foundation. “We have joined forces with other local organizations to ensure this building’s future. HSF is thrilled that this house will receive statewide attention via the Places in Peril listing, and we pledge to secure it so it does not make the list next year.”

Structural repairs on the W.W. Law House will begin in late October, with work expected to be completed by the end of the year. Carroll Construction of Savannah serves as the general contractor for the renovations. Thomas & Hutton is the civil engineer for the project.

W.W. Law fought for equality side-by-side with Martin Luther King, Jr. and worked tirelessly in Savannah, where he served as the local president of the NAACP for 26 years and led meetings, sit-ins and boycotts in the name of equality. He also believed in preserving and celebrating African-American history and culture in Savannah, saving a historical African-American cemetery, launching the Savannah Negro Heritage Trail, restoring the King-Tisdell Cottage and creating a Civil Rights Museum. Law’s life-long efforts were recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation with an Honor Award in 1998.

The Places in Peril list raises awareness about Georgia’s significant historic, archaeological and cultural resources, including buildings, structures, districts, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes. Through this program, The Georgia Trust encourages owners and individuals, organizations and communities to employ preservation tools, partnerships and resources necessary to preserve and utilize selected historic properties in peril.

Historic properties are selected for listing based on several criteria. Sites must be listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or the Georgia Register of Historic Places. Sites must be subject to a serious threat to their existence or historical, architectural and/or archeological integrity. There must be a demonstrable level of community commitment and support for the preservation of listed sites.

ABOUT HISTORIC SAVANNAH FOUNDATION:

Historic Savannah Foundation is a non-profit historic preservation organization supported by a strong and dedicated membership.  HSF was established in 1955 in order to save the 1820 Isaiah Davenport House from demolition. From this initial project, Historic Savannah Foundation launched a Revolving Fund which has since saved 350 buildings and counting. The mission of Historic Savannah Foundation is to preserve and protect Savannah’s heritage through advocacy, education and community involvement. For more information, please visit www.myHSF.org or www.DavenportHouseMuseum.orgonline.

ABOUT THE GEORGIA TRUST:

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is one of the country’s largest statewide, nonprofit preservation organizations. Committed to preserving and enhancing Georgia’s communities and their diverse historic resources for the education and enjoyment of all, The Georgia Trust generates community revitalization by finding buyers for endangered properties acquired by its Revolving Fund; provides design assistance to 102 Georgia Main Street cities and encourages neighborhood revitalization; trains teachers in 63 Georgia school systems to engage students to discover state and national history through their local historic resources; and, advocates for funding, tax incentives and other laws aiding preservation efforts. For more information, please visit http://www.georgiatrust.orgonline.

“It is our hope to put at least one phone card in the hands of every soldier in our area that is deployed during the holidays,” said Tom Wiley, chairman, president and CEO of The Coastal Bank. “We are so grateful for their selfless sacrifice and service to our nation and this campaign is a way for us to express our thanks to our brave troops.”

Members of the public are invited to join The Coastal Bank and the USO in connecting deployed soldiers from the Coastal Empire and the Lowcountry to their loved ones during the holidays. A $5 donation with a personalized message will provide a soldier with a phone card to call home. Cards will be given to deployed members of the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Naval Reserve in December.

Anyone donating $5 or more to The Coastal Bank’s USO Operation Phone Home initiative will be entered into a drawing to win a free year of free Chick-fil-A (one free sandwich a week for one year). Two winners will be announced at the conclusion of the campaign in November.

Chick-fil-A, the Savannah Morning News, WSAV-TV and Savannah Toyota serve as community sponsors for The Coastal Bank’s 2011 USO Operation Phone Home campaign.

Members of the public can purchase a card online at www.phonehomesav.com or visit any of following Coastal Bank locations to make a donation to USO Operation Phone Home:

• Johnson Square - 18 West Bryan Street
• Stephenson Avenue - 412 Stephenson Avenue
• Pooler - 501 West Highway 80
• Godley Station - 140 Towne Center Boulevard
• Rincon - 5799 Highway 21 South
• Hinesville - 101 West Hendry Street

In 2010, The Coastal Bank raised enough money to provide 140,000 minutes of talk time to local troops during the holiday season or 1,400 phone cards total.

“Through our combined efforts and our extended reach with even more community sponsors this year, our goal is to exceed last year’s campaign,” said Mitchell Bush, president of USO of Georgia – Savannah. “With the help of Savannah’s generous spirit, we know we can reach that goal.”

Established in 2003, USO Operation Phone Home delivers prepaid international phone cards to deployed service members free of charge. As one of the most requested items from deployed service members, the prepaid international phone cards continue to be popular with service men and women. The phone cards are distributed through USO centers both overseas and in the U.S., where they are handed out to service members or are delivered directly to military units. Since the program began, more than 2.2 million phone cards have been distributed.

ABOUT THE COASTAL BANK:

The Coastal Bank is a $450 million community bank with six locations along the Georgia coast. Locally owned and operated, The Coastal Bank provides a full range of financial services, specializing in small business, consumer banking and real estate lending. Headquartered on Johnson Square in Savannah, this successful community bank has been serving the greater Savannah area since 1954. The Coastal Bank has an operations center in Pooler and branches throughout coastal Georgia. For more information about The Coastal Bank, please call (912) 201-4934 or visit www.thecoastalbank.com online.

ABOUT THE USO:

The United Service Organizations (USO) is a Congressionally-chartered non-profit organization which relies heavily on the generosity of individuals and corporations to support USO activities. Their mission is to provide programs and services to members of the U.S. military including free internet and email access, libraries, reading rooms, housing assistance, family crisis assistance, counseling and support groups. For the last 70 years, the USO has served as a bridge between the American public and the U.S military. Today, the organization delivers programs and services at more than 130 locations around the world, wherever American soldiers can be found serving our country. For more information about the USO, please visit www.uso.org online.

– Cora Bett Thomas, CEO and Founder of Cora Bett Thomas Realty and Associates

–David Paddison, Seacrest Partners, Inc.