July 2015

My cousin Damon is the go-to guy when it comes to finding good trails. Most of the time we plan two to three-day backpacking trips, but when doesn’t allow I can always call on him for a day hike that is worth my while. Fragrance Lake is no exception. Located in Larrabee State Park near Bellingham, Washington, this 5.5 mile loop provides excellent views of Samish Bay in a fresh, woodsy setting.

If you are not familiar with the Bellingham area the best way to find the trail is by going straight to the main entrance of Larabee park. The trailhead is directly across the street on Chuckanut Drive. A Discover Pass is required to park at any of the spaces in the park, so plan accordingly.

We began our journey around noon. Knowing this was not going to take all day, we figured there was no reason to hurry out. That’s the great thing about day hikes, you may not be able to truly escape civilization as you would on a backpacking trip, but at least you don’t have to do as much planning.

The trail to Fragrance Lake has an elevation gain of 950 feet, so be prepared for a bit of a climb. The good news is the climb is somewhat gradual, so you’ll be winded, but experienced hikers won’t find it terribly grueling.

It didn’t take long to discover that this trail was dog friendly. This is not uncommon in Bellingham as the city pays particular attention to its parks. From bike trails to campsites, Bellingham is full of options.

When we reached the main viewpoint, we were pleasantly surprised to see the San Juan Islands. Depending on one’s preferences this may in fact be the highlight of the hike. The viewpoint has enough space that hikers often pack a lunch just to eat and enjoy the view.

For those who seek solitude, the lake itself isn’t too far from the viewpoint. When you arrive you will note the lake is very quiet considering its relative distance from the city. In fact, one would never even guess that a city is nearby. The water is very calm, with plenty of space to explore around it. We saw several people throwing sticks in the lake for their dogs to retrieve them. If you want to get away from other hikers, the lake is large enough that there is bound to be a private spot somewhere along the shoreline.

Much to our surprise, it just happened that the one day we chose to hike up to Fragrance Lake was the exact day of Bellingham’s Ski to Sea Race. This relay race requires teams of skiers, mountain bikers, runners, and kayakers to race from Mt. Baker all the way into the Bay. From our vantage point we could actually see some of the Kayakers rowing into the finish line. It was quite a day!

Author: Nic Poe

The nature of marketing is changing. Not only is it getting more complex, but the growth is happening at an alarming rate. Identifying the nature of each marketing job is nearly impossible, and journalists and Internet experts are as involved as marketing as public relations. I have worked in PR for my entire life, and people approach Perry Rogers and PR Partners because we have managed to stay on top of the newest trends.

About Perry Rogers:
Serves as the President of PR Partners (Started in 2008). Graduate of Georgetown University with a degree in Accounting as well as attended the University of Arizona where he successfully completed his law degree. Mr. Perry Rogers is a board member of one of the most popular theme parks in the country, Six Flags. He knows business very well and he has several ventures which continue to be a success. One of those includes being a co-founder of Meadows Bank. He also has held an interest in PURE Nightclub which is located in Caesars Palace Las Vegas. [Full Resume for Perry Rogers]

His company, PR Partners, focuses on managing the careers, PR, and legacies, of the highest valued sports professionals. They offer a variety of services including endorsement management, NBA contract negotiations, media packets, TV, Radio, Print & Web exposure . A few of their clients include Kyrie Irving, Harrison Barnes, Todd Wilbur, George Whitfield Jr., and Shaquille O’Neal. His company has proven to be successful in their client’s careers and even beyond. One of the biggest benefits of his firm is not only his personal experience but to their contacts which can provide tremendous opportunities not only for sports professionals but actors as well.

You can read much more about him and his company on his LinkedIn below:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/perry-rogers/98/b73/a79

The Changing Climate

How has my job changed? Well, today I do not just wriggle brands into the public eye using journalists. I need to influence people online using social medial. I market content to improve public image. My company deals with sports professionals as much as newspapers/media. Regardless of how much the field changes, there are two overriding principles I believe will always hold true:

1) Trust matters. If a person does not believe in my client’s brand, the client’s business suffers. Whether he or she fears the ability to perform a service or deliver a quality product on schedule, trust guides purchasing decisions.

2) The message must reach as many people as possible. It does not matter how great your message is or how trustworthy the brand appears. If nobody knows about a company, they cannot use their services.

Improving Reach

Speaking very broadly, the internet has divided reach into a two-pronged campaign for every client we take on:

1) Journalists. PR experts have historically relied on journalists to convey their message. Press releases and articles are written by or on behalf of clients, and they need to be published somewhere. Journalists are a trusted source of material. Reading the newspaper used to be a daily or weekly occurrence. The hard-working father reading the newspaper with his morning coffee was a stereotype for a reason.

However, a journalist’s reach is limited by what medium he or she uses to reach the public. There is a stark difference between publishing in a local paper versus The Washington Post.

2) Online. Influencing customers online and establishing trust is perhaps more dynamic than using traditional print and TV media, but the basic principles are the same. Customers have to be aware of the brand, the company’s message, and its content. Content quality and customer interaction are much more important. Social media determines how effective a company is at interacting with and responding to customer’s criticisms and concerns.

Both of these outlets for improving reach are important, and each company needs to use them differently. A company selling software specifically to younger audiences will rely more heavily on internet marketing, while an established, respected corporation will likely use both more evenly.

Other companies strive to let their customers do their work for them. Not directly, of course, but there are a lot of industry bloggers carving out their online niches and customer bases by simply reporting on certain fields. The best PR firms know how to influence those bloggers, either directly or indirectly, by personalizing their reach and pitching marketing campaigns directly to those bloggers.

This is a great approach because the public more implicitly trusts bloggers than they do direct advertisements. Ads are created by a company, and thus they are biased. Bloggers and internet personalities are seen as a kind of defense: a public phalanx set to weed out potentially misleading material and promote what is best for the consumer.

Changes Due to Social Media

Social media is turning PR into the dynamic, challenging field it has become today. The question we often get is, “How do you use social media to control public image of my company?” This is a valid question because simple mistakes now go viral and can cost thousands, if not millions, of dollars in damage in a matter of hours.

Let us think back to the Encarta Encyclopedia. This was seen as one of the best, most powerful informational tools of its time. Developed by Microsoft, it appeared on the surface to have every possible advantage. After all, Microsoft is a Forbes 100 company with a near-infinite budget, and it had cornered the encyclopedia publishing market. This was not just due to marketing; Encarta was a great product that offered better information for a lower price.

Then Wikipedia came along, and in less than a decade, the Encarta giant was dead. In another ten years, few people will remember the name. Wikipedia was created for far less money and written by the public. Experts from all over the World have donated millions of hours writing billions of words.

Social media operates much in the same way. PR firms no longer write the entirety of their own content – the public does it for them. What companies need in a quality PR firm these days is the ability to guide that content and ensure the information spreading around supplements your brand and improves your overall image.

Disney movies seem to have the whole “romance equals marriage” thing figured out. What Disney movies fail to include in their happy-go-lucky outlook is that marriage, at times, can be work. Watching Prince Charming kiss Snow White to wakefulness may make you question the romance in your own marriage, but it helps to remind yourself that the romances Disney portrays are often dated, idealistic notions of love. And, as it turns out, they are only really documenting early stages. Psychologists have studied the marriage track and concluded that most married couples go through many stages, stages that most couples will hit in their marriage. Sometimes, these require more dedication and care.

Married couples can attest even happy marriages require work. Vows merge one life to another and suddenly personal gain must give way toward a common goal. Your partner has equal share of your burdens, and you of theirs. As spouses spend more time together, they tend to go through several, predictable stages. These stages occur as your personal identity gives up control, even in small amounts, and embraces the nature of a true union.

Why the Stages of Marriage Complicate Unions

Couples go through five major stages of personal development. These stages are ones of exciting, confusing growth. They are challenging for two reasons:

1. Each partner progresses through these stages at differing speeds. You may be stuck at stage three while your spouse has already ascended to stage five. This difference leads to misunderstandings, as one spouse may wonder why their partner is still stuck on petty control issues he or she has long surpassed.

2. Most people are unaware these stages exist. People tend to have a basic understanding of the stages of grief. Depression and anger are expected. The stages of marriage are every bit as natural as grief, though more tied to ego. When ego comes into play, tricky variables, like admitting fault and making compromises, seemingly evolve into impossible feats.

The good news for all married couples is when you finally find light at the other end of the tunnel, the major storms of your life are out of the way. These couples experience the full benefits of love and affection promised by matrimony.

The Five Stages of Marriage

1.) The first stage is the best-loved. This is when your body chemistry launches itself into overdrive, akin to an adolescent holding hands for the first time. This stage represents the kind of mortar love songs are about. Even the mention of a name spurs the heart into a quickened pitter-patter.

Your life seems inexplicably tied to theirs, the deep burning desire of passion increasing your positive attitude toward the other person, personal energy, sensitivity, and sexuality. This stage is common in fresh love, but often heightened during the first year or two of marriage, starting with the honeymoon.

2.) At some point a fight breaks out that spurs one partner’s doubt about the union. This stage breaks the mirror, so to speak. You realize flaws in your partner for the first time, but it is accompanied by a nagging, negative voice that says “can I live with this for the rest of my life?” Will you divorce because your partner never washes the dishes after you make dinner? The mantra here is: old habits die hard.

Stage two is the hardest to stomach, because the differential between the incredible passion of stage one and feelings of personal betrayal in stage two are so large. The newness is gone and is replaced by familiarity.

Another challenge is by the third or fourth year of marriage, the situations with impossible answers surface. Should we have kids? Do we pack up and move across the country for that incredible career opportunity? It is unfortunate that as partners begin to distrust the capabilities of their partner these questions must be addressed.

3.) In stage three usually both partners have entrenched themselves. The trenches do not have to be a stark, dividing line between tired arguments. They can manifest through habits, lifestyles, even chore procedures. At this stage both couples think his or her opinion is the best one. Relationships that lack communication struggle with this stage. During this stage, a couple may frequently tell couples’ therapists that they have tried everything but the gap will never be bridged. To pass stage three, couples must invest their time and energy to meet in the middle. The fifth year is cited as the statistically most challenging for married couples. Most are in stage three during that year.

4.) Stage four is the point where couples stop trying to change one another. They recognize the habits that will die hard, or never disappear, and resign themselves to making the best of the situation. Some may struggle, seeking advice from friends, family members, and therapists on how to live with the aspects of the marriage that are displeasing. Fights still happen, but they lack the same oomph from the early days. After years of traveling uphill, couples are finally about to stroll down the other side of the mountain, to the sunny meadows.

5.) Statistically speaking, nearly half of marriages fail. Many more couples stay together out of habit, living their lives without speaking much with one another. Maybe divorce is too expensive, or perhaps they have been together too long to make the change. Whatever the numbers are, a good number of couples never reach the last stage.

Here couples honestly appreciate the life they’ve lived together. Shared memories burn brighter, and both partners feel secure in their roles. The things that seemed so important before have been reduced to petty grievances, barely worth noticing.

As a final note by Dr. Robi Ludwig, I would like to state that communication is what drives all successful marriages. Stages 2-4 are impossible to surpass without talking through problems. Nobody ever said marriage was easy, but for some reason most first-timers assume it is.

If you found this article interesting or want to learn more about Dr. Robi Ludwig check out her article about Killer Spouses and biography history.  We cover everything about her in that article and it’s a good read.