When you are a company that generates over one billion media impressions annually, creating brand awareness might seem like a stroll to the corner ice cream shop. But even the public relations (or e-lations in Ben & Jerry's world) professionals at this well-known company face the challenge of keeping their image fresh and motivating their franchisees to participate in local PR. To understand the ingredients of their recipe for success, we spoke with Ben & Jerry's Chrystie Heimert, the director of public e-lations and Graham Rigby, retail brand manager.

Q: What are some of the local marketing challenges you face?
A: Heimert: "The greatest challenge is simply making the franchisees aware of the value in local marketing. The franchisees have a lot on their plate, and their business is a priority. I think they inherently understand that Grassroots PR is important but, first and foremost, they are running a business."

Q: With so many shops to cover how do you keep your PR localized?
A: Rigby: "We have a heterogeneous system of scoop shops. For example, we have them in both major airports and in smaller neighborhoods. eNR Grassroots PR has allowed us, at corporate, to focus on creating a great collection of press releases that will work for the majority of them, rather than one-offs which are time consuming.

We are in a growth mode and with that comes the opportunity to create buzz in the media. Grand openings give us an opportunity to get the media's attention. We produce templates that will catch the eye of developers and stand out from the crowd and from other franchises."

Q: Are your franchisees getting involved?
A: Heimert: "We are just learning how to get them involved and it is a continual process. Before eNR, their participation in the publicity that surrounded Free Cone Day, for example, was sporadic and only a handful, maybe 2%, had effectively launched independent, local initiatives through the media. We have been exploring new ways to engage them and their participation has been growing exponentially."

Q: What kind of tools do you give your franchisees?
A: Heimert: "We have been collaborating with eNR to build an Online PR Toolkit. It's a personalized, unique approach and those efforts have put us on the right track. We provide monthly PR, templates, hold training sessions, and we call our franchisees to remind them to take advantage of what we made available to them."

Q: How does Ben & Jerry's nurture company growth?
A: Rigby: "The biggest challenge is not if we can make more stores, but rather if we can expand the current ones. You have to make sure the consumers know 'Hey, we're still here, there are fun things going on, check us out and be a part of it.' That is critical for older shops. The newer shops are enthusiastic and fresh, but for those that have been there for 5-10 years it is difficult."

Q: How do you keep your marketing message fresh?
A: Heimert: "Our goal is for our customers to walk into a scoop shop and be completely immersed in a 3D Ben & Jerry's experience. To accomplish that it is important for us to remain authentic. If you try to be something you are not then it will smack of publicity and the savvy consumer will see through it. Your message will ring hollow with them and with the media. If you are passionate about your brand, as Ben & Jerry's is about ice cream - and political and environmental issues - then you will remain authentic.

With a brand like Ben & Jerry's, it is more about storytelling. You will be at the top of your game if your authenticity is from the heart and reinforced by a social mission. Getting involved with a cause must be approached as a long-term relationship and is most successful on the local level. When the franchisees take the initiative to get involved, they own it; they meet with the media, individualize their plan of action and implement it."

Q: Where do you think Grassroots PR is heading?
A: Rigby: "A big step would be to further localize each release with even more localized content. As franchise organizations become more deeply involved with the community, they become more and more specialized to that community. If we can create templates and get franchisees in touch with their media, it becomes more meaningful with localized information. Once the franchisees are confident, they can take it and run with it. Once they have some success with the local media, they will expand their approach. The solution for a franchise organization is to differentiate their position within their market and with their local consumers and we have had success doing so."

Before plotting your promotional tactics on a calendar, consider the time needed to implement each activity.

First, choose the date you want the promotional activity to begin. Every promotional event should have a critical path, a chronological checklist of assignments allowing enough lead-time for its completion. This enables you to determine the action steps needed to accomplish each program.

Once you've completed your calendar for the year, check to see if the timing fits naturally into your overall plan. Be on the lookout for unnecessary promotional overlap, underestimated timetables, and potential obstacles that you know from experience may hinder smooth implementation of a given program. Visit www.powermarketingacademy.com to learn more.

Are you missing the easy foul shots? Do you get overwhelmed when it comes to local media relations, press releases and grassroots marketing?

Turn to the Grassroots Guide to boost your game, strengthen your tactics and get a higher score. Send your questions and comments to the experts at guide@enr-corp.com. We'd like to include you in the game plan for our next edition.