When I was a PR student, I always valued conversations with PR professionals. Their insights and advice helped me navigate the beginnings of my communications career. During my first internship at CarMax, I remember Trina Lee, APR telling me about her career switch from TV news to public relations as we drove back from a store grand opening in Fredericksburg. When I attended VCU PRSSA meetings, Taya Jarman, APR visited often as PRSA Richmond’s student relations chair and offered important...
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Podcasting is on our minds lately, with a few clients starting or asking about podcasts to meet their remote marketing goals. If you’ve decided it’s time for your company to publish a podcast, here are a few things you can do to set yourself up for success. Know your goals Have a clear and realistic idea going in of what success looks like for your podcast. Chances are your company podcast is not going to make it into the top...
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Media relations can an extremely effective way to boost an organization or individual’s visibility among key stakeholders. This is particularly true in the area of thought leadership – when the goal is to be seen as the definitive expert on a topic or issue. Like any media relations assignment though, getting the attention of a reporter is not an easy task. The average journalist gets hundreds of pitches a day from PR pros. Yours could be one of dozens that...
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Launching a social media advertising campaign is no small feat, even for those of us who do this for a living. Despite our experience, there is a good bit that is unpredictable in this space. For instance, we’ve had Hodges’ ads denied because we wrote about Black Lives Matter. Ads have been denied because the copy about career training was flagged for inappropriately promoting job opportunities. Then there were the occasions when identical ad copy was flagged one time but...
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When coronavirus hit Virginia, our office went fully virtual, and we continue to work virtually to this day. Luckily, we are in an industry where we are able to do so – staying connected via Zoom, Slack and through our shared client responsibilities. Casey Prentice and I head up Hodges’ internship program, where every semester we host two students for a three-month, paid internship. We pride ourselves on the caliber of The Hodges Partnership internship – students work as an...
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Soliciting user-generated content has been an arrow in the content quivers of many marketing and PR teams. Previously, user-generated content had been used mainly as an activation tool to get audiences to engage with a brand on social and/or as a way for brands to fill their own content pipelines when creative resources were low. The rise of user-generated content in 2020 With the rise of COVID-19, we’ve seen a resurgence of user-generated content, but the impetus for the ask...
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When you’re a military brat, moving around a lot comes with the territory. And lucky for us, that territory today for Paulyn Ocampo is right here in Richmond. Born in Hawaii, Paulyn moved bounced around from the Pacific to San Diego and back, ultimately landing in Hampton Roads where she finished high school. Staying closer to family, she decided to pursue her degree in mass communications at VCU. After a brief post-grad stint at a now-defunct agency, Paulyn landed at...
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As summer starts turning to fall, it is clear we’re heading into the long haul of the COVID-19 crisis for marketers. The summer allowed most to get used to working remotely, pivot their business models and gauge who their (new?) customers are. As we roll towards Labor Day and realize the regular touch-points (meetings, conventions, sales calls, etc.) still won’t exist for at least several months, the challenge now is how to find, gauge interest, connect and sell. Most marketers...
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It is often said that baseball is a game of failure. After all, even the best hitters fail 70 percent of the time. Or as the legend Ted Williams said, “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” Media relations is like baseball. It, too, is a game of failure. Singles and doubles – a quote in the local newspaper or a quick interview on...
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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. 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 account of Anna and...
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