Timm Locke
President
Locke Marketing Public Relations

1. How did you get into PR?
I kind of fell into it… In college (State University of New York at Buffalo), I tried several different majors, including accounting and computer science and couldn't find one I liked. I then went to my academic advisor, who helped me match the courses I'd taken and enjoyed with majors that fit. Communication was one and I didn't even know what it was. Then I took a PR course and a writing course and decided to give it a try. After college, I took a job producing publications for the National Asphalt Pavement Association and I've learned on the job ever since.

2. Briefly describe your typical workday.
As a small business owner with no staff, I don't have a typical day…. It really depends on who my clients are at the time, and more importantly, which ones are most busy. Most of my work entails marketing strategy, along with straight marketing public relations, as well as advertising and collateral development. I also spend a fair amount of time networking and looking for new business. And, of course, somebody has to make the coffee and do the bookkeeping. I also teach a course two quarters a year at the Portland State University Professional Development Center. It's called Integrated Marketing Communications, a concept I apply to all my work.

3. What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is when a client genuinely wants my advice and is willing to accept my expertise. Most of my clients do not have a marketing or PR background, so they depend on me to be their marketing head, but they don't always trust my judgment as fully as I think they would if I was an in-house staff person. Earning that trust is always the most difficult part of the job.

4. What is the worst part of your job?
Dealing with a client that just refuses to place trust in me. The ones who don't believe I have their best interest in mind are always second guessing my advice and wondering what's in it for me. Working with outside marketing counsel takes the same sort of leap of faith that working with outside legal counsel takes. And, while most clients don't believe it, the stakes can be equally high. Yet for some reason, attorneys garner trust from the get-go, while marketing people need to earn that trust first. I think it's because so many business people have been burned by ad agencies and they just don't understand PR. Plus it's hard to make a direct tie between PR success and what the client expects, which is increased sales. Another thing I don't like is responding to what I call "cattle call" RFPs.

5. What is the biggest lesson you've learned during your PR career?
Always have the objective in mind. Understand why it is you're doing whatever tactic you happen to be working on. And understand how that fits with what the organization you represent is trying to accomplish. I have yet to meet a client that wants a pile of press clips for the sake of press clips.

6. What is the most unique thing about your company?
I provide the strategic counsel a client should expect from a full serviced ad/pr agency at rates that are affordable for small companies and non-profit organizations. And I constantly am building new relationships with freelancers who have skills that complement mine, so I can match the best-suited team with each individual client's needs.

7. What is your ideal dream job?
I like my current job, but there are others I'd like if I could dream… I love sports, so maybe managing a baseball team. I also love meeting everyday people and have often threatened to pack it in and open a tavern with great food, where I'd tend bar and chat with the customers. And, I've always thought I'd like to be the director of marketing for a company with truly useful, innovative products and a willingness among upper management to invest wisely in marketing those products.