It’d be naïve of us to say we can control success, but in truth, results can’t always be guaranteed. The fact is, after gathering research and insights and on the other side of painstaking planning, as soon as you launch a digital marketing campaign and roll out a media relations strategy to support it, the results are largely out of your hands. You may have an idea where it’s going to go, but you never really know. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen…
Read MoreI’ve never been much of a Barbie girl. In fact, at one of my grade school birthday parties, I shouted with childish brazenness, “I HATE Barbies,” only to be humbled and embarrassed when one of the party attendees handed me a present shaped in that all-too-familiar rectangular box. It was a Barbie. I ended up loving her. While my nostalgia meter is not completely off the charts this “Barbiecore summer,” I do appreciate a well-executed marketing campaign, though I don’t think you have to be…
Read MoreAccording to Statista, there were four billion email users across the world by 2020 and 99% of them check their email at least once per day. That’s why if you aren’t leveraging email marketing as a client offering, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Email marketing may not be one of the first things you think of under the rubric of public relations, but it can be an important tool to increase brand awareness, re-engage audiences and repurpose and share original content. Diversify your client offerings…
Read MoreSocial media platforms have emerged as some of the most effective tools for public relations practitioners. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn provide us with receptive avenues for reaching target audiences, for telling stories that help shape brands and showcase a company’s expertise. But information on these platforms does not flow in just one direction. How audiences respond to social media posts tells us a lot about how interested and engaged they are with the nature of the content. Measuring the number of likes and shares…
Read MoreDiversity, equity, inclusion and belonging mean different things to different people. However, when it comes to taking those values and translating them into an inclusive campaign that highlights the experiences of BIPOC individuals, it’s important to take a moment and think to yourself: How might the people and voices you are representing feel about the message your brand is attempting to convey? Well, you might just want to ask them first. Your BIPOC consumers are more than just metrics that need to be met. We…
Read MoreDid you know that influencer marketing is projected to become a whopping $16.4 billion industry in 2022? That means partnering with the right influencers can be more important than ever to position your brand for success. That said, finding the right influencers for your brand is not always easy. It requires a whole lot of research to identify the perfect combination of product and influencer. To help navigate the world of influencer partnerships, I’ve put together a guide on ways to identify just the right…
Read MoreMost clients that come to us for social media marketing strategy already have established brands and social media presences, in which case our role is to help them improve their overall strategy and/or to help take the burden of content creation and day-to-day management of the platforms off their over-stretched hands. In some cases, we get to be on the ground floor as they launch new social media profiles. You’d think it’d be just as easy as setting up a profile, slapping a cover and…
Read MoreColorful screenshot of the Canva platform with the word’s “Your design has been published” highlighted on the front of a purple image.
Read MoreOne meeting with me and you know I’m a process person who looks for efficiencies to keep myself organized. I have a notebook for my daily to-do checklist. I have a notepad for time tracking, with a hand drawn time sheet that I fill in to make my real time submission easier. I have my Outlook calendar color coded by client so I can quickly see what my week looks like. And don’t for a second think that doesn’t apply to PR processes I help…
Read MoreLaunching 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 not the next. Maddening. At…
Read MoreAs 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 are naturally turning to “digital,”…
Read MoreA few weeks ago, we asked the Virginia PR and marketing community to participate in our survey to assess how COVID-19 has impacted our profession. We were fortunate to have 139 professionals respond – and if that includes you, thank you! At this point, it’s more than a little trite to simply say COVID-19 has impacted our profession. Not to mention the additional unrest. Months into the pandemic, that’s a well-established reality. Some of the most pressing questions we’re now looking to answer include, to…
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