Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned virtually every aspect of our professional and personal lives upside down. Many PR and marketing professionals have been tirelessly working for weeks now helping guide their organizations and clients through challenges usually reserved for the most severe section of a crisis communications manual. Like many of you, we at The Hodges Partnership have been wondering more and more, “How will COVID-19 impact PR and marketing in the months and years ahead?” To help get some broad sense of…
Read MoreDo you remember the good ole days when you’d sit in your car during your morning commute, listening to the podcast or two that downloaded to your queue overnight? Maybe you were more of a terrestrial radio listener, clamoring to hear Second Date on 103.7 PLAY as you navigated through downtown Richmond. Times have changed and so have our media consumption habits. Media research groups are all over how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our listening and viewing habits. We’ve tried to synthesize the ever-changing…
Read MoreOver the past few weeks, I’ve gotten the distinct impression that my health and wellbeing is the most important thing to the companies I do business with. (And by that I mean, Josh, the consumer, not Josh, part of The Hodges Partnership.) Like you, I’ve received dozens of emails from retailers and travel companies marketing during a pandemic, from my bank and dry cleaner, and even my barber shop, all of whom want me to know what a high priority they place on my safety. …
Read MoreThose who know me best know I love to cook. If you were a fly on the wall in my kitchen, you’d likely hear me narrating my dinner preparation like I was a Food Network Star. In fact, when I was little, I drafted up a pitch for Food Network because I was disappointed in its lack of children’s programming. Never followed through though. You’re welcome, Hodges. My YouTube homepage is filled with cooking videos. My Pinterest with recipes. At 26, I own a KitchenAid…
Read MoreWe’re halfway through the year, making July a fitting time to revisit your goals for 2019. Here are a few tips to ensure you don’t get lost in the weeds executing your strategy, and instead, are able to home in on your big picture marketing goals. What could you eliminate? Answering this question will force you to prioritize your to do list. Are there reports you’re drafting weekly that would serve the same purpose if you delivered them monthly? Be honest with yourself, and your…
Read MoreImagine this scenario. You’re looking at shirts and a salesperson says, “You should definitely buy this shirt. It’s a really great shirt. It’ll keep you cool, and you’ll look so good in it.” Okay, thanks, you know you look good in cotton. But what if that salesperson said, “The other day I was at the Nationals game, and it was 95 degrees outside with zero shade. I wore this shirt and it was so breathable and light. It saved the day.” The latter approach is…
Read MoreSocial media influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular tactic, with influencer campaigns on Instagram increasing nearly 200 percent last year. If your organization is new to the world of influencer marketing, you might be wondering what kind of results you can expect, especially if you work for a B2C company. Influencer marketing is a vague term that can mean different things to different people, but for the purpose of this blog post, influencer marketing is the practice of sharing your product with influential individuals…
Read MoreContent marketing, even if you’re not the one executing the work, is a major investment of your time, energy and resources. A company can’t just hire an agency and say, “Hey, go ahead and launch this thing and report back on it in a month.” It doesn’t work that way. There are so many things to consider when it comes down to planning and executing a content marketing strategy, but here are three considerations to whet your whistle. Money Let’s go ahead and start with…
Read MoreCall it the great blogging debate. Should you post short, topical posts at a high frequency like multiple times a day? Or is it better to post in-depth posts with only the most highly-targeted information less frequently? The answer lies somewhere in between. What you want are quality blog posts in a quantity that drives traffic to your website, converts that traffic into leads, establishes your brand as an authority and drives long-term results. Blog frequently. Frequent blogging really does drive traffic. It also improves…
Read MorePerformance data for specific channels will help you gauge how engaged your audience is, based on the type of action they’re taking. However, tracking, analyzing and reporting marketing campaign success can be tricky. There’s a wealth of data you can pull from your website, blog and social channels. So instead of leaving your team to guess which metrics are important, use these KPIs as a guide for earned, owned and paid content. Paid social media metrics Social advertising platforms have become increasingly informative. Marketers can…
Read MoreYou know your organization or brand should be pushing out content to your audience and followers, but getting over the hurdle of what to post can be a challenge. We’ve talked about generating content for Twitter, but let’s take a step back and see how you can generate ideas that can be used across all of your platforms. Role Play First, think of the adage about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. That is typically a healthy exercise as you contemplate what the audience you…
Read MoreContent marketing has been around for ages and its accelerated growth and use especially in the last few years shows that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. 89 percent of Americans use the internet to find new products and services and research potential purchases. The way consumers shop today differs vastly than they did even just 10 years ago. They are no longer swayed by overt, aggressive sales and advertising tactics—instead today’s buyers (both b2b and b2c) prefer to do the research and decide for…
Read More
