Your brand is the visual and written essence of your identity. It tells your story, conveys your values and connects you with your audience. Much like how a chef plates a dish with care because people eat with their eyes first, your brand needs a strategic rollout to capture attention and drive engagement. You’ve invested in a new brand—now, make sure you get the return on that investment with a thoughtful and well-executed launch. Campfire & Co. teamed up with Hodges to help evolve our…
True confession. We bought our original “h” logo for about a hundred bucks. Neither Josh nor I can remember who designed it, but we think it was the boyfriend of someone we knew. We do remember that he handed it to us on a floppy disk though a car window in downtown Richmond. Thanks to Tony Scida, the colors of the logo changed over the years from blue on blue to adopting the greens, yellows and blues that ZZ Top-bearded Chris McCray used to design…
In my first year as a Hodger, I lived and breathed virginiaspirits.org. In fact, my very first project was to conduct a full website audit and make a plan to redesign the site, which we inherited from the Virginia Distillers Association after The Hodges Partnership was awarded the Virginia Spirits Board Marketing Office (VSBMO) contract in March 2023. In just 12 months, the website redesign has already yielded strong results, with a 31.77% surge in web traffic and an 11% increase in engagement rate. Here’s…
It’s all in a name – and the branding. When building your brand, developing a creative toolkit is essential in setting yourself apart. A creative toolkit isn’t all about picking pretty colors for your brand. A toolkit builds cohesiveness and consistency within your brand that will engender trust with your clientele. Begin with a simple exercise. Think of two to three words to associate with your business identity, For example, pretend you’re a fitness brand: confidence, drive, exercise. Bring these words with you as you…
We know the ins and outs of public relations, content marketing and social media. But when our Creative Services team needs additional arms and legs, or if we’re assigned a major branding project, we call on one of our partners. To help us with our creative needs, we call on DCH Design and its founder, Dana Hoeck. Dana is no stranger to branding and design. Before starting her own creative business last summer, she worked for a small design firm in Washington D.C. for three…
Marketers throw around phrases like brand journalism and content marketing almost interchangeably these days, but there is a definite difference between the two of them. Content marketing was born more in the b2b space, and it’s more about folks and companies giving out information, primarily custom information, like white papers or reports or offers. And those are designed to drive you to a landing page ask you to give them custom information about yourself, like email addresses and your job title. And, in exchange, you…
I’ve been in public relations for close to four decades, and based on that experience, I believe that most journalists are fair, conscientious and accurate. Sure, there have been exceptions to the rule, but by and large, my respect for the Fourth Estate runs deep. And so when a reporter calls asking for an interview or quote, I do my best to try to accommodate those requests, even when the issue that has prompted the call is an uncomfortable one. I believe that media relations…
We spend a lot of time working with our clients on their core messaging. What are the two to three essential points that your organization wants to convey to your key audiences? In an ideal world, that positioning is a direct reflection of your brand, the essential distinguishing characteristic that defines who you are. But it’s important to note that brands are not built simply by way of messaging. Rather, they are sum total of the actions that an organization takes. The decisions you make…
If you host a large event, whether with customers, partners, prospects or the public, you know the joys and struggles of producing and distributing meeting materials. Even if, like me, you feel a beautifully designed printed piece is a thing of joy, you may just be ready to move away from a printed program guide to something more interactive. That’s the situation we were in recently as we helped a B2B technology client prepare for its bi-annual developer and user meeting. I’d had the good…
First things first, this is an apolitical blog. If you’ve ever signed up a for political candidate’s email list, your inbox has likely filled up with updates, donation requests and rallying cries. That’s what got us thinking: are there any trends in political campaign email marketing? What can communication professionals learn from the deluge of emails? We created a fake Gmail account and signed up for every political candidates’ email list and analyzed emails from February 19 – March 18. We pulled data using code…
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…
Okay, I know the word “PRublishing” is little hokey, but after some recent client efforts, conversations and new business meetings, one thing is becoming very clear: marketers are ALL OVER the idea of creating content that can be targeted to specific audiences to drive their business. The marriage of PR and online publishing (PRublishing?) will continue to dominate our industry as it matures over the next year or so. THP has just launched its first digital magazine on behalf of a client. Right now if…
