I help organizations to communicate more effectively to build better relationships. There are specific examples below. Here are a few facts that you may want to have:

I am David Kirk, APR, Fellow PRSA, president, and I have been in the corporate communication business for 28 years, working from my technology-enabled office-at-home in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

I'm a one-man show with many virtual partners.

I've managed to thrive in this competitive business because I do things that the "full-service" agencies can't do at all or can't do nearly as inexpensively or quickly as someone with my qualifications can do them.

As a result, you won't find "publicity," "special events," "brochures," and "media tours" on the list of services below because that's what most PR firms do in spades.  (Although I've done them all and, from time-to-time, do get involved in such activities with ongoing clients.)

If you are a senior corporate communication officer, 
you have questions like these and you want the service I provide please contact me. 

Research
Conducted "overnight" survey of 800 18+adults and 150 community leaders in a targeted state to guide the communication planning process for an acquisition bid made by a company after another takeover offer was already in play.

Conducted a study among major employers in the region of Temple University's Fox School of Business to determine employers' needs, expectations and reactions regarding a proposed change of the school's MBA program from "generic" to industry-specific.

Conducted, analyzed, reported and presented full-scale primary employee survey studies for Glaxo, Du Pont Merck and Eaton Corporation.

Conducted benchmark study on how member hospitals build relationships with community opinion leaders; combined results with a thorough scientific literature view commissioned from a leading academician and produced a landmark white paper for the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

Conducted, analyzed, reported and presented best practices benchmark studies for CoreStates Financial Corp (the use of technology in corporate communications functions) and Henkel Chemical (the structure and organization of chemical company public affairs operations.)

Conducted six Community Relationship Check-Ups for four teaching hospitals. The process involved in-depth interviews with community leaders, senior staff, physicians and board members; a series of employee focus groups; and audits of the institution's publications, advertising, collateral materials and publicity activities.

Conducted Relationship Check-Ups with specialized audiences such as physicians and equity analysts.

Conducted a web-based survey of physicians employed by a large regional hospital and physicians who are not employed but have admitting privileges.

Conducted news media analyses, for several clients, to answer specific management questions about relationships with certain media and reporters. For example, to convince one CEO who believed the leading industry publication to be biased against the company, content analysis demonstrated that while the medium was rigidly unbiased in its reporting, "negative" material about the company was contained almost exclusively in the quoted commentary of equity analysts. This led to a program to improve analyst -- not media -- relationships.

Conducted and reported employee focus groups for a Fortune 500 company to help determine how effective the company's programs to shift its company culture during the previous several years had been;

Conducted a variety of specialized secondary studies in conjunction with consulting assignments. For example, for a client planning a corporate re-engineering project, answered key questions, through reviews of primary studies, such as: "What role does trust of management play in employee support of the company? How is support demonstrated by employees? What are the factors that contribute to job satisfaction? How is it measured? What are the behavioral components of "trust" and what specific management actions can be taken to improve trust and credibility?"

Corporate Financial Communication
Developed and continue to participate in a corporate financial communication program for a specialty, small cap insurance company.  Program includes ghost-writing for CEO and other executives, writing a quarterly newsletter, media relations, Relationship Check-Up research, developing executive presentations for "road shows" and industry events, scripting analyst conference calls, executive coaching, consulting on company web site issues, writing and managing design of the annual report, and supporting the quarterly disclosure cycle.

Have intimate knowledge of the analytic/brokerage community, having represented, for a combined total of more than 10 years, the media relations activities for the equity research divisions of two major regional brokerage firms (Butcher & Singer and Janney, Montgomery Scott.)

Planning/Consulting
Collaborated with senior management of a large hospital to develop a special-purpose employee and community communication program to mitigate any negative impact of the hospital's program to recruit nurses from a non-U.S. country

Directed the joint communication planning process for the proposed consolidation of two major urban hospitals in a Northeastern city; process included several Community Relationship Check-Ups, facilitating team meetings, writing two year communication plan and presenting research and plan to joint board of directors steering committee.

Developed audience- and issue-specific communication programs for a variety of companies, including opinion leader communication programs for hospitals.

Developed, managed and directly serviced the internal and external communication plans for a major subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company prior to, during and following the company's top-to-bottom re-engineering project;.

For FMC Corporation's Chemical Products Group, undertook a variety of project planning initiatives in support of the Director of Public Affairs including how to structure and support the employee and community relations functions at the plant level.

For scores of clients, during a twenty-eight year career, have developed full-scale, research-based communication programs for specific purposes in support of marketing communication and corporate communication activities including product introductions, management of major crises, corporate identity and others.

Speeches, Presentations
Wrote, for Rosemarie Greco, CEO of CoreStates Bank, N.A., a one-hour equity analyst presentation for the annual analyst meeting. (This assignment, by the way, was given and completed in 5 days, including a weekend...)

Ghosted a "career reminiscence" piece for the chief executive of FMC's Chemical Products Group for the 50th anniversary issue of Chemical Week magazine.

Based on interviews with executives of a Bristol-Myers Squibb subsidiary, Apothecon, wrote a profile piece for a leading trade magazine.

Substantially re-wrote speeches, for publication, originally delivered by senior executives of Du Pont Merck and Glaxo.

Wrote, for FMC, and am now licensing to other companies a full-color, illustrated 30-page manager's workbook, Managing Change: How to Plan and Implement an Effective Employee Communication Program.

Training  
Trained the underwriters of an insurance carrier to facilitate study circles at a major gathering of the company's general agents.

Trained the CEO of a development company to handle media inquiries surrounding a development project involving the adaptive re-use of an Historic Landmark building that is a cornerstone property in the community.

Trained the principal and studio directors of an architectural firm to handle media, client and prospect inquiries regarding the firm's role in designing a building that had a structural failure due to improper construction methods.

Trained an insurance company's underwriting staff to facilitate Study Circle sessions with the company's agents.

Trained the CEO and chief of medical staff of a major urban medical center to handle news media during the course of a ground-breaking hostile takeover bid by the medical center.

Trained the top four executives of a major software company to develop and communicate appropriate corporate and product messages in support of an IPO. 

Trained 50 executives and middle managers of a financial services company on effective employee communication techniques during a corporate re-engineering program.

Trained 160 senior managers and executives of a large regional hospital in the Communication Skills for Leaders Workshop.

Have trained more than 125 corporate executives and physicians to handle media interviews, in one-on-one and structured classroom programs.

Provided personal coaching and presentation training to a senior corporate executive who was responsible for internal and external presentations during a corporate re-engineering program.

Developed and delivered, to 50 Public Relations staff members of Earle Palmer Brown in New York, Philadelphia, Bethesda and Richmond, a two-day training program, How to Prepare and Deliver Effective Presentations. This program is customizable as an off-the-shelf program for virtually any type of client.

Provide one-to-one coaching on personal computer skills to client executives.

Agency Support
Structured and managed a large advertising/public relations agency's team, developed the program and participated in the competitive new business presentation that won a $4 - $6 million advertising/public relations account for the agency.

Delivered staff professional development programs to the staffs of other agencies including, a three-hour program on issues management and a one-half day team building and communication session.
 

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