The Gong Blog

Topic: Agency Management

What to Expect When Starting to Work with a PR Firm

So you’re thinking of working with a PR firm. Whether you’ve worked with a PR firm before, or it’s the first time, it can be a big decision. How much is it going to cost? How much time is it going to take to manage? How to choose between firms? Why are we doing this? Here are a handful of things to consider if you’re looking to work with a PR firm. Set a Budget It’s not quite like Jerry Maguire’s escalating “Show me the…

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The Case for Prioritizing Internal Communications

Now more than ever, effective internal communications have become crucial for organizations seeking to foster a cohesive and engaged workforce. Companies that nurture an open and transparent communication culture within their workforce can not only mitigate internal challenges but also drive productivity and long-term success. Over the years, The Hodges Partnership has supported companies and organizations as they sought to strengthen employee engagement efforts. Through that work, and some intentional work of our own at the agency, we’ve learned a few things about why internal…

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How an actual PR agency works: Comparing Keeley Jones Public Relations Firm in ‘Ted Lasso’ to the real world  

As Richmonders, Ted Lasso’s AFC Richmond strikes a familiar chord. Rooting for the home team is easy, and the show’s main character, Ted Lasso, constantly reminds viewers to find the good in everyone –a mindset most Richmonders would be proud to support. Aside from being a heartwarming story of an underdog soccer team vying for success in England’s Premier League, I’ve been intrigued by how the show portrays PR agency life through the lens of Keeley Jones Public Relations (KJPR). Here are a few things…

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Five things to keep in mind before launching a DEIB campaign 

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging mean different things to different people. However, when it comes to taking those values and translating them into an inclusive campaign that highlights the experiences of BIPOC individuals, it’s important to take a moment and think to yourself: How might the people and voices you are representing feel about the message your brand is attempting to convey?  Well, you might just want to ask them first.  Your BIPOC consumers are more than just metrics that need to be met. We…

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Why adding “belonging” to the DEI equation is crucial to your company’s success

As a young, Black female professional, I’m no stranger to exclusion in the workplace. And after years of working twice as hard to be heard and becoming a codeswitching extraordinaire, I was thrilled to hear that one of the country’s most popular acronyms was getting one letter longer.  Now, before your executive team gets too excited, it’s not enough to give quarterly trainings or plaster your DEIB statement all over social. Cultivating belonging in your workplace takes time and a lot of hard work. Belonging…

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The future of our workplace

Warning: this is not a blog post that will tell you about five ways to return to the workplace successfully. And that’s because no one has the answer to that just yet. We’re all a WIP (work in progress) when it comes to figuring that out. Even if you’ve already returned, you should still be working on it. What you will find in this blog post is a genuine attempt to idea share and bare our souls about the process we’re undergoing to figure out…

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A day in the life of a remote intern

For years, our agency has prided itself on a valuable, hands-on, dynamic internship experience. But like every other business trying to continue its operations, things have looked a little bit different for the last two intern cohorts. Welcome to the world of being a remote intern. We asked our spring interns to document their time at The Hodges Partnership, which started with glee, was met with a bombshell and ended happily (and safely) from home. For our future interns out there, here is the first-person…

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Working from home permanently? Not so fast.

There’s been a lot of chatter over the past few months speculating about what the “new normal” will look like in our post-pandemic work life. One idea that has been percolating with extra big bubbles is the prospect of making working from home more permanent. Twitter was one of the first big companies to float the possibility. The tech giant’s CEO sent an email to staff letting them know that, if they wanted to keep working from home after all was said and done, that…

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Our website traffic is up almost 50%. Here’s why.

One of the sometimes painful manifestations of the digital age is that it has forced we public relations types to do math. For decades we bemoaned the fact that there was no real empirical way to measure the impact of our work (except for circulation numbers which always seemed contrived and now quaintly anachronistic). Mostly, we operated under the assumption that the more people who were reading or seeing your story, the better it was…at least generally speaking. In short, we made do. But now,…

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This is changing how we work ‘for good’

It is the end of May and I’ve changed my Zoom virtual background at least ten times. Every day is one meeting right after another because frankly it’s easy to stack meetings when you don’t have to drive to them. I’ve also achieved “video bingo” having done meetings on Zoom, Teams, Google, Skype, WebEx and RingCentral. I’m not sure if any of those “new normal” accomplishments are good or bad, but they are what life is for most of us in public relations and marketing…

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How will COVID-19 impact PR and marketing? Help us figure that out.

Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned virtually every aspect of our professional and personal lives upside down. Many PR and marketing professionals have been tirelessly working for weeks now helping guide their organizations and clients through challenges usually reserved for the most severe section of a crisis communications manual.  Like many of you, we at The Hodges Partnership have been wondering more and more, “How will COVID-19 impact PR and marketing in the months and years ahead?” To help get some broad sense of…

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Lessons I’m learning as we adapt to our new reality

One of the best things I’ve done in the last few years is join the Virginia Council of CEOs. VACEOS is a group that connects leaders of companies throughout the state and places them in small peer groups, called Roundtables, which meet regularly. One of the backbone rules of the Roundtable is that we agree not to give people advice but to “share experiences.” I’ve found that experience sharing approach invaluable in helping me grow both professionally and personally. So, I’m writing this post in that spirit,…

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