City of Peoria Press Release
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Peoria’s Economic Development Services Selects PR Firm
To help raise awareness about Peoria’s business climate and opportunities to a local, regional and national audience, the city’s Economic Development Services department has hired a public relations firm to get the word out.
7/26/2011
PEORIA, Ariz. (July 25, 2011) – To help raise awareness about Peoria’s business
climate and opportunities to a local, regional and national audience, the city’s
Economic Development Services department has hired a public relations firm to
get the word out. PRfect Media, Inc. of Phoenix was selected out of a group of
five finalists.
The city of Peoria’s Materials Management Department posted a request for
proposal (RFP) in June on behalf of the Economic Development Services (EDS)
desire to find a public relations firm to highlight Peoria’s business growth
opportunities. There were a total of 13 responses, which were then reviewed by a
committee to narrow the list to the five finalists. The finalists were then
asked to present to the committee. The other presenting firms were HMA Public
Relations of Phoenix, Avant Strategies of Phoenix, Creative Partners West, LLC
of Los Angeles and ESMpr (Enviro Systems Management, Inc.) of Flagstaff.
“The purpose of using an independent public relations firm instead of using the
city’s communications office comes down to a matter of resources and expertise,”
said Bo Larsen, Peoria’s public information manager. “Our department will
compliment the work of the firm, but we don’t have the people power to target
regional and national media publications, which helps put Peoria on the map as
far as business developers are concerned.”
Peoria is regarded as a bedroom community, with nearly 93% of residents
commuting out of the city limits to their jobs. One of EDS goals, which were
outlined in the Economic Development Implementation Strategy approved by the
City Council on October 19, 2010, is to find businesses which would relocate to
Peoria. Some of the duties for the public relations firm will include developing
local, regional and national media contacts, including trade journals. Stories
would then be developed to highlight the benefits for an organization moving to
Peoria. In addition, the firm will use social media, such as Facebook and
Twitter, to target specific audiences raising awareness of Peoria, Arizona as a
business destination.
The Office of Communications for the city consists of two public information
staff, two web developers and three full-time staff for the city’s access
television station. During this year’s budget process, the department eliminated
one FTE and contract positions.
The contract for PRfect Media, Inc. is for one year at a total of $36,000.
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