Educating the Public

[Allison Hester]

Hey guys,

I want to bounce an idea off of you that I had for our new magazine (Pressure Cleaning Contractor).

I recently read a post about a guy in Canada who ended up in the hospital because he ran a hot water stream across his foot, sliced his boot -- and then his foot -- open, and burned his foot. In trying to research the article, I found some tailgating bulletin board where the guys were talking about pressure washers. One of the do-it-yourselfers ended up slicing his hand open on his pressure washer and had to go get a skin graft.

The concept that these things (pressure washers) can actually be pretty dangerous and that non-professionals are possibly not aware of the dangers got me to thinking... . Well, that and comments here about needing to further educate the public about the benefits of using professional contractors.

What if we dedicate one page of the magazine each month to creating a piece that contractors can use as a marketing/education tool for the public? In other words, a well-written, well-designed piece I put together generically that will include a spot for you to put your logo/contact information on it, then you can give it to potential clients, post it on your website, whatever you want. Would that be useful? And if so, what are some potential topics you'd like to see? The safety issue was the one that struck me. Environmental liability is another common one. What else?

Again, I just want to know if this is something people would use, otherwise I'll dump the idea. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

[Thad.]

I like it!