Owning up to success
The Des Moines
Register
January 31, 2005
By Vance Hawthorne, REGISTER NEWS SERVICES
...Ronald and Bonnie Hanser, co-owners of Hanser & Associates public relations firm in West Des Moines, started their entrepreneurial journey about nine years ago. Ronald Hanser was the corporate PR executive for Principal Financial Group, Iowa Health System and others for 25 years. Bonnie Hanser owned an art business for two decades.
Ronald Hanser had a nearly seamless transition when he stepped off into ownership in 1996, after managing staffs of up to 50 people and budgets of several million dollars. The firm ranks as central Iowa's largest public relations firm, based on revenue.
"We had clients from the get-go, and we were a profitable corporation in the first month, first quarter, first year and have been every year," Hanser said...
Hansers build PR business
Ronald Hanser vividly recalls starting his business in the basement of his home.
"After about a year, we had four employees, five phone lines and a fax machine that never stopped running." Those were enough signs to know it was time to move into a real office.
Prior to starting his business with wife, chief operating officer Bonnie Hanser, a quarter century in the public relations industry afforded them a reservoir of wisdom and expertise.
"I was blessed to have the opportunity to experience every PR opportunity or challenge that could befall a major corporation, whether it be local, national or international," said Ronald Hanser.
He was head of Iowa Health System 's PR department when it went through a "right-sizing" in 1996 and by mutual agreement, his position was eliminated. Then IHS became one of the Hansers' first clients, and remains this day.
Hanser has words of caution for those who might want to follow their example: "You don't do that with a Mac in a spare bedroom," he said of starting a full-fledged PR business.
"The point of entry of running a PR firm is not what it used to be. . . . You can't start without a substantial investment because of all the electronic infrastructure and support network, wire service access, data bases, etc.
"It's probably something not to be tried by someone in their 20s."
Hanser & Associates is a broad-based agency, offering every aspect and discipline of public relations. Its niche is a staff of specialists in PR; it doesn't do advertising.
Hanser's PR strategies include communications counseling, media relations, media spokesperson training and crisis communications.
The latter discipline anticipates a problem before it happens and heads it off before it occurs. So, sexual harassment or race discrimination is averted by making sure client companies have the right kind of policies, education and customer relations to help prevent lawsuits, Hanser said.
The firm also offers global expertise and resources through its equity partnership in Pinnacle Worldwide, an international corporation of independent public relations firms with more than 62 offices and 2,000 employees worldwide...
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