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By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS – Much has changed in the world of public relations and communications in the past quarter of a century and Ginny Seyferth has had a front-row seat.

Seyferth first came to the Grand Rapids area to practice corporate public relations for Amway, after having worked at Standard Oil in Chicago for a couple of years. She would stay with Amway for about five years of "incredible opportunity" before deciding to hang out her own shingle at the age of 26.

The region needed a public relations practitioner like her. At the time, no one else practiced corporate public relations and those jobs were going to firms in Chicago or New York City.

"I knew a lot of business leaders in the city, having worked for the Amway Corporation, and they would start asking for help…," Seyferth told MiBiz. "I saw this as an opportunity to really diversify my practice. I didn’t grow up wanting to open my own firm. It was an opportunity."

Seyferth had a lifelong love of writing and an interest in using her writing and communication skill to help businesses achieve their goals. Writers can play a great role in business, she said.

"I love business, but my end to business is how do we get them to talk together more and use communication as a change agent," Seyferth said.

Maturing

As Seyferth & Associates nears 25 years in business, the reflective Seyferth doesn’t really think the company has changed much from its original mission, but it has had to adapt to a new world. The firm, in her words, has "grown up" and become more refined as the nature of the business becomes progressively more sophisticated, as the controversies are more challenging and as the client base diversifies.

"We’ve matured," she said.

Seyferth attributes the firm’s success to "a series of really, really, good relationships with clients" that the company has been able to build upon. What starts as small project work often leads to a contract.

"The best form of flattery is when (clients) refer you," Seyferth said. "About 90 to 92 percent of our business is from referrals. It’s a huge amount of work that comes from other clients."

Considering the size of the firm and the market it operates in, Seyferth thinks the firm ranks in the upper echelon in the country in having a diverse clientele. "We’re not a niche player," she said.

In 2007, the firm, then known as Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson, was ranked 129 in the country by PR Week with $2.4 million in revenues, placing second among local firms on the list, about $523,000 in revenue below Lambert Edwards. Seyferth did not report for the 2008 ranking.

Even within one of its strongest national segments, healthcare, Seyferth & Associates has clients ranging from physicians practices and hospitals to pharmaceuticals and medical product manufacturers. Other strong industries include the retail market – the firm has worked with McDonald’s restaurants for more than 20 years, manufacturing, education, environmental and not for profits. The company offers the services one might expect from a major market public relations firm, she added.

Despite having clients across the country, Seyferth said her company keeps its foundation in Michigan, and not just in West Michigan.

"We’ve always had a very strong role in Michigan, whether it’s Flint or Saginaw or Lansing or Detroit," she said.

In the past, the firm had physical offices in Lansing and Detroit. Now, Seyferth said she likes to lean on technology to bridge the miles. That’s meant a "huge investment" for the company, she said.

"I think the biggest investment we have is in learning what’s new, what’s now, and how are we a leader," she said. "We, from day one, have had a lot of clients that were dealing with intensely complicated, confidential materials so we’ve had to have our own server and redundancy in place to be able to – much like a law firm – handle some really complex documents."

The investments have come in ways that ensure the security of those documents and in speeding up the processes. Her goal is to have communication be "real time for the clients at all times." In other cases, technology was a way for a mother — who happened to be a business owner — to multitask.

Team effort

In a high-turnover industry, Seyferth manages to keep her team of professional communicators fairly constant. She attributes that to not asking her employees to do anything she wouldn’t do. If she expects you to set up at an event at 4 a.m., she’ll be there right along side of you, her employees said.

"We really are one team," she said. "We work hard, but we play hard."

But more importantly, Seyferth said that means realizing that her team needs to balance work and life and professional development. Having a team that shares those values and working with people one wants to work with are part of the requirements of the new reality of the knowledge economy.

Seyferth notes many people who’ve worked with her have gone on to start their own communications firms in the area or have gone on to corporate communications.

"We’re West Michigan’s farm system," she said. "That’s a compliment to the culture we’ve created."

When looking for new team members, Seyferth said fitting in with the company’s culture is foremost. Each person is expected to bring something different to the table. She expects them to be experts at public relations, so what she wants to know is what other competencies they bring to the table.

"We have a very diverse group of thinkers," she said. "We get in a war room on a pretty regular basis."

Controversy

Nary a single person in business for nearly a quarter of a century can escape controversy, and Seyferth is no exception.

Her firm made headlines in West Michigan and across the nation for its involvement with retailer Meijer in the recall effort of several township officials who had blocked the store from developing land it owned near Traverse City.

While Meijer went on to settle a civil case with the state Secretary of State office for $190,000 for elections laws violations, Seyferth hasn’t commented much on the situation. "For 24 years, our firm has been a leader in issues management," she told MiBiz. "Whenever litigation is involved, it creates a unique communications challenge. It’s part of doing business."

A Traverse City Record-Eagle report found documents showing the firm had ties to a pro-Meijer group and developed campaign literature and letters to the editor in support of their client that were attributed to local citizens.

Seyferth’s lack of comment on the issue has sparked reaction — both on the record and off the record — from many of the area’s public relations firms.

"Her silence is bothersome," said Tim Penning, associate professor of communications at Grand Valley State University, a veteran public relations consultant, and past president of the West Michigan chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). "If a PR firm — and a major one in West Michigan — had an alleged front group campaign for Meijer without disclosing (their involvement), and if they did it knowingly, that’s unethical."

A complaint about the firm’s actions was filed with the national office of PRSA, but the group has not yet acted on it, according to Penning. The worst that could befall the firm is a letter of rebuke.

"A grassroots organization is very persuasive," Penning told MiBiz. "If you don’t know a PR firm or a corporation propped up that group – you don’t have all the information."

For Penning, the issue boils down to a matter of always airing the truth in a situation. The firm’s silence doesn’t allow that truth to be told, bringing down the entire profession.

"I do not want the public to conclude we’re out to deceive you," he said of the PR profession. "That’s not the way we teach it."

No fear

Seyferth is no stranger to risk, but she also doesn’t fear it, whether that’s meant taking on tough issues no one else would tackle, just starting a business in a tough industry to crack into, or being a full-time mom and business owner.

She was "very thankful" when WOOD-TV anchor Suzanne Geha stayed on the air during her pregnancies in the 1980s.

"It allowed you to be in business and have babies," she said. "I’ve never been afraid to bring up my personal life with a client."

A major lesson for her was that while she could "have it all," she couldn’t "do it all." She had to keep her priorities in line — family first, work second.

Her assistant recalls Seyferth bringing her children to the office and allowing them to play under her desk as she worked.

When Seyferth got her start, she said the public relations industry had only a handful of women who had started their own firms.

"It was hard to get in the circle," Seyferth said of West Michigan. "I think I have helped show that the circle was better enriched with me there not because I’m a woman, but because I’m bringing an intellectual piece to the circle. It’s changed a lot and I think it’s really exciting to see the diversity of the circle.

"Ironically, the sooner we, as women, move away from looking at our businesses as women-owned businesses, that keeps you in the boardroom and keeps you in the circle. We have a tremendous list today of women business owners who are just damn good businesses — they just happen to be women."

Seyferth dreams that examples of strong women who are successful in business will lead other women to do the same.

"I hope that I’ve inspired many to not fear opening a business," she said.

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