You know the phrase singing from the same song sheet? If I could sum up in one sentence why the leadership team at most organizations could benefit from media training, that’s the essence of it. It gets everyone on the same page and using the same language in a way that few other exercises can. Let me take a step back. A few members of our team conducted a media training earlier this week for a company that was preparing for a big upcoming trade show. We spent a full day with the team, focused on finessing key messages, sharing …
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There are some base logical assumptions in the field of marketing, and perhaps chief among them is the axiom that creating greater awareness about your product and services will ultimately lead to greater demand for it. After all, people don’t very often purchase what they have not heard of. Have you had those moments perusing the drug store or supermarket shelves when you come across a product you think might be worth buying, only to choose something else because you had never heard of it? Google search may have disrupted that age-old paradigm. If you’re like me, you purchase things …
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Y’all. A lot is happening this year. And because it’s going to be a busy year, that means it will likely be an expensive one, especially in the digital marketing space. Why is that? It’s because digital marketers are basically competing with one another when it comes to digital advertising, and with a ton of big events on the horizon – from Virginia and beyond – there’s a lot that can impact your comms strategies, and that impact will likely mean having to dedicate more dollars to online spends. When there are large events with lots of paid and earned …
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With a blended love for the arts and business, Tony Scida is the perfect fit as our director of creative services. He’s a Virginia native from Stafford, and he began his career working for the Arts Council of Fairfax County. After relocating to Richmond, Tony found himself “accidentally” falling into a career at The Hodges Partnership. He noticeably enjoys it, because he’s been with us for more than 10 years. Before his career began, Tony attended Shenandoah University, obtaining an Arts Management degree. It was during this time that Tony studied the trumpet, leading to his current involvement with local …
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As newspaper readership continues to decline, so too will the size of newsrooms. Considering these numbers already have decreased by 25% since 2008, the future of media relations is a scary prospect for many operating in the public relations field. With smaller and leaner newsrooms, it’s more important than ever to forge relationships with reporters and editors. If you ask a group of public relations practitioners how they’ve found success in the realm of media relations, it’s not likely you’ll get two of the same responses. This is because at its core, there is no exact science to media relations …
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Over the last few years, the consumption of video has skyrocketed, and audiences continue to want more. In 2019, about a third of internet activity around the world was spent watching video, and YouTube is currently the second largest search engine behind Google. That’s because every day videos are used to solve problems, answer questions and provide information on just about every topic imaginable. They also have become a prime form of communication for marketers. From how to’s, best practices and thought leadership to case studies and so much more, all messages and communications in your content plan can …
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One of my favorite questions to ask in intern interviews is, “Where do you get your news?” First, it’s always nice to hear the variety of responses, from local outlets to major national organizations, but one answer we hear a lot is just broadly, “Twitter.” Currently, Twitter is still relatively chronological. Like our intern candidates, I also get a lot of my news from Twitter because I follow many outlets and brands, and I’m seeing a feed of news in real time (verses seeing something breaking on Facebook, only to realize the time stamp was from days ago). And while …
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When it comes to tradeshows, the focus for marketers tends to be on developing the creative for the booth and collateral, while the sales team is focused on customer appointments. Taking some time to look at your tradeshow strategy through an EOP (earned, owned, paid) lens can help you get more mileage out of these big budget events. Below are some suggestions for prepping for tradeshows from an EOP perspective. Earned Industry tradeshows are often attended by trade media. Whether you’re in the tech industry (think CES), fashion or even the packaging and dispensing business, tradeshows are a time for …
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Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I love reports. I love falling into a big pile of information and pulling it together into something digestible to help my clients, and our team, evaluate our work and make strategic decisions for the next cycle. I’ve worked up reports of all shapes and sizes – for both media relations and content marketing clients, that range from multi-page narratives with lots of charts and graphs, to boiled-down infographic reports – with everything in between. We’re about to flip the calendar to December, and end-of-year planning and reporting is looming around …
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ELI5, TIL, /s— don’t worry, these aren’t new slang terms teens are using to communicate with friends about how unfair their parents are being about a 10 p.m. curfew. IIRC they’re common abbreviations used on the social media platform Reddit. More to come on them in a minute… For the unfamiliar, Reddit is a social platform that refers to itself as the “front page of the internet,” a “community of millions of users engaging in the creation of content and the sharing of conversation across tens of thousands of topics.” The platform is broken down into subreddits (subs), or Reddit …
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