Journalists and public relations professionals write under the guiding light of the Associated Press. Every year, the AP publishes its style guide, and practitioners and future PR pros and journalism students are drilled with rules and editing exercises. There are many rules in the guide that don’t sit well with writers and editors alike, but if I had to guess what the most polarizing rule is in the entire book (all 656 pages in this year’s edition) is the use – or lack thereof –…
Read MoreFacebook and Google remain powerhouses in online advertising, but Twitter is gaining ground in the social media space. Twitter reported $702 million in advertising revenue for Q3 2019 and reported 17% growth year-over-year for its Monetizable Daily Active Usage. Aside from being a place where more marketers are spending their ad dollars, Twitter offers advertisers the opportunity to target audiences in different ways than Facebook. Options like follower lookalike and keyword targeting can often provide a better way to reach potential customers than interest targeting…
Read MoreY’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…
Read MoreOne 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…
Read MoreNot 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…
Read MoreThe team here at Hodges knows media relations in Virginia. From the Eastern Shore to Bedford and beyond, there is a level of nuance and finesse needed to navigate the ins and outs of Virginia’s various media outlets, which differ in shape and size. On the surface, media relations may seem like a lot of copy and pasting the same email without much rhyme or reason. But the reality is, there’s a significant amount of planning and strategizing before we click “Send.” We surveyed the…
Read MoreBuilding the perfect sandwich takes precision, finesse, gusto. The same goes for building the perfect report. With the flair of a sous-chef, I’m serving up a recipe for one top-notch report. Start with the bread The bread is what makes the sandwich. It’s the first and last thing you sink your teeth into. Your goals and objectives are the bread. Start your report by reiterating your goals and objectives as a reminder of what the metrics you’re about to present are supporting. Slab on the…
Read MoreYou may know that you have a certain number of dollars in your content marketing budget, but do you know the best way to split that spend? When you clicked on this blog post, you were probably thinking, “Woah, thanks Hodges, this is going to be the answer to all my internal struggles!” Well, not exactly. This is more of a, “WHAT’S IN THE BOX?” or a Pulp Fiction gold-illuminated briefcase kind of deal. We’ve laid out three content marketing budget break downs based on…
Read MoreRemember when people loved throwing around “big data” in every business meeting and presentation? Well, marketers and communicators are now dealing with the repercussions of all this big data integration, thanks to an influx of data privacy rules and regulations that have started trickling down from lawmakers. If you’ve noticed a deluge of “Accept,” “Opt-In,” “Opt-Out” and “Learn more about cookies” pop-up windows, these are just a few of the disclosures companies are now required to share with their readers and users. When did all…
Read MoreThanks to the Kardashians and a seemingly unlimited “influencer” workforce, we bet that within a finger swipe of your social feeds, you’ll find an influencer marketing a product to their followers. The influencer space has quickly snowballed over the last couple of years, and the Federal Trade Commission has been working hard to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak. In a space that is so saturated with influencers, it’s been difficult to regulate and monitor this space. That said, when the FTC comes…
Read MoreContent creation isn’t just about formulating the right words and cadence to capture your audience’s attention. It’s about formatting your content and setting expectations for what your audience is about to read. We at Hodges consume media for a living, and we’ve seen some stellar examples (and not-so stellar examples) of how organizations can create an enjoyable experience for its readers. Now that we’re living in the days of 140 characters (and sometimes 280), it’s up to content creators to not only write content based…
Read MoreInterviews are hard, no matter what level you find yourself in your career. And I swear, phone interviews are the worst. You have a million and two things swirling around in your brain, you’re trying not to sweat through your jacket and you’re grasping at straws to remember every single fact you can about the person and company you’re interviewing with. When Kelsey and I hang up the phone, or regroup after an intern interview, the candidates that make a good impression always leave a…
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