We talk a lot about workplace culture here at Hodges, and creating and contributing to an environment where coming to work every day is truly fun. On any given day, the Hodges culture might shine through in various ways – birthday celebrations, a Thanksgiving potluck, our annual baseball outing – but one piece we’re all particularly proud of is the numerous ways we’re able to volunteer our time in the community, whether it’s through sitting on boards where we can lend our public relations and…
Remember when we told you about the work we do with Virginia Distillery Company and with other food and beverage clients? Add another one to the list, because we’ve recently started working with the HOUSEpitality Family, a local Richmond restaurant group that operates The Boathouse, Casa del Barco and Dinner in the Field. Our work includes media relations, community relations, social media, ongoing strategic counsel and more. As we work with all of our clients here at Hodges, one thing always comes to the surface:…
We love working with food and beverage clients here at The Hodges Partnership. In my time at Hodges, we’ve had the opportunity to work with clients like Reginald’s Homemade, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurants and Chuy’s Tex-Mex on a variety of different projects, from national media relations to grand openings. We hadn’t worked with a whisky client, though…until now. For the past year, we’ve assisted Lovingston, Virginia based Virginia Distillery Company with local, regional and national media relations efforts to promote the distillery along with…
A media tour is a great way to deliver a message to a key group of targeted media outlets in a consistent and time-efficient fashion. Media tours often make the most sense when there is something new to talk about – whether it’s a new product, event or even a new employee within a company whom the media might be interested in learning more about. We recently assisted our client Virginia Distillery Company with the coordination of a media tour that was held on site…
We recently had the opportunity to assist Cabela’s with public relations efforts surrounding the opening of its Short Pump location – its second location in Virginia. One area where we were tasked to lend a hand was the media preview: which was an opportunity for local media to come out and get a sneak peek of the space, do interviews and get photos and videos prior to the official store opening. Here at Hodges, we assist a number of clients with media previews, especially as…
Do you think your small brand is ready for the spotlight? If the answer is yes, there a few things you might want to consider before kicking off media relations efforts and emailing a TODAY producer to pitch your brand. By lining up a few key elements, you’ll make sure your small brand is ready for the attention it deserves: What it takes Consistent Branding. A strong brand identity sets your product or service apart from all others and helps build brand loyalty. Establish consistent branding across all…
A press release can be an effective way to spread awareness of your brand. You can use it for any number of reasons, including to promote scheduled events, announce a new products or service, or generate a feature story. Sounds great, right? Before you get started, there are a few key things you need to remember when writing a press release: Headline—The headline should be larger than the rest of your content so that it pops. Make sure that it describes what your content is…
Today, media relations is as challenging as ever, which makes the successes even more fun to celebrate. There are few things better than seeing a client on TODAY or being able to flip through a magazine in the grocery store and see your handiwork right before your eyes. We’ve shared a few “Behind The Hit” examples on our blog recently, which prove there is more than meets the eye with every placement you see—the coordination, the interview requests, the follow up, sending images and samples….
Just a few weeks ago on July 1, The Hodges Partnership celebrated its 12th birthday. Celebrations ensued—the annual baseball outing—a Nats game this year—as well as lunch in D.C. and a visit to The Newseum. Celebrations aside, what better time than an anniversary to reflect on the past, the present and what’s next for Hodges? I sat down with founders Jon and Josh last week to chat with them about all of that: What are your proudest accomplishments for Hodges? Jon Newman: Lots of things….
You read that right, I’m defending selfies—and not because I’m a Millennial who takes them often. (In fact, if you go to my Instagram account, you’ll find just one.) Chances are, if you’ve scrolled through your newsfeed recently, you’ve happened upon a selfie. The Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 2013, a selfie is defined as a photograph taken of yourself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. Kids these days, right? On that same newsfeed, you’ll likely…
It’s time to talk apples — and not the iPhone variety. Cider is one of my favorite beverages — but it’s also a good opportunity to take a look at an industry that is finding popularity from a whole new group of followers and rebranding itself along the way. A recent Time article reports that hard cider sales increased 85 percent in 2012 from the year before. From an outside perspective, the industry is doing everything right. So, what can communications practitioners learn from the ascendant…
Most of my time at Hodges focuses on media relations, whether it’s pitching something new, following up, providing information for a request or just checking in with journalists. That means a lot of my time is spent connecting with the media, a group of people that we in public relations are often told how NOT to talk to. No long pitches, no bold font and stay away from exclamation points and smiley faces. And if you don’t use a relevant subject line, you might as…
