7.8 billion. Those of us in PR and marketing immediately knew there was a problem because we’ve all experienced it before. How do you reasonably measure the success of media exposure? It’s the age old question. It’s a question that once again reared its ugly head when reports circulated that the Redskins claimed more than 7.8 billion people (that’s more than the total population of the earth) were exposed to stories of the 2014 Redskins training camp in Richmond. It was the Redskins’ version of…
Read MoreDespite his best efforts, Lt. John Herb was unable to save his plane from crashing into German territory at the height of World War II. Sadly, his remains were never recovered…until now, thanks to his Riverside academy class ring and the childhood memories of an elderly villager that saw his plan go down. As a new intern at Hodges, I never imagined I would get the opportunity to pitch a story to the national news media, much less have them actually respond to me. And…
Read MoreAfter sitting through hundreds if not thousands of public relations new business meetings, I’ve come to (at least) one universal conclusion: Potential clients wait until the absolute last minute to decide that they need to work with a PR firm. I really don’t know why this is the case. It doesn’t happen (as much) to our advertising brothers and sisters who are usually given months to do research, generate creative treatments, present final ideas, place media and then track results. Perhaps it’s because folks still…
Read MoreToday, 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….
Read MoreTen percent of social media users complain daily via a status update, tweet or other public communication, according to a study from VentureBeat.com. My guess is that number would be a lot higher if we posted a status update every time we considered complaining; sometimes discretion wins, and mumbling to ourselves must suffice. As media relations professionals, we can learn a lot about better ways to pitch our targets if we take note of journalists’ gripes that do make it to public status. I’ve been…
Read MoreTHP recently wrapped up a year-long project with Commonwealth Community Trust (CCT), a local non-profit organization that specializes in pooled special needs trusts for individuals with disabilities. Special needs trusts allow these individuals to have more than $2,000 in personal assets without jeopardizing their eligibility for benefits like Medicaid. Despite this obvious benefit, special needs trusts, particularly pooled special needs trusts that CCT offers, are largely misunderstood by the legal community. We wanted to fix that. Of all the different types of law, elder law…
Read MoreOn November 28, 1972, I scored two baskets in a hard-fought varsity basketball game against the Key School. I know this because the next morning, my picture was in the paper making one of them, my Pete Maravich-like hair flopping in black and white. (Admittedly, my haircut was pretty much the only part of my game that resembled Pistol Pete’s.) My mom cut that sophomore-year photo and the accompanying article out of the paper. And so did some of my neighbors. And some parents of classmates. And…
Read MoreThis past week we got online hits on The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe and Deseret News (and also this fun “Today I Learned” subreddit) for research we created two years ago. Guess how many hours of work it took to land these placements? Zero. In fact, the client is no longer actively engaging in media relations (which might explain why they aren’t mentioned in the articles). So what? At Hodges we spend an inordinate amount of time researching what journalists are looking for…
Read MoreRecently I was inspired by the chance to hear directly from producers at TODAY, Good Morning America, Morning Joe, The Meredith Vieira Show and more at a PR luncheon in New York City. The session was a great confirmation that there really are people on the other side of our pitch emails, and even national morning shows do want our pitches. (Trust me: This second part was said aloud—to a room full of PR people.) Whether you’re in media relations yourself or a business with a…
Read MoreEarlier this year, Edelman, Newswhip and MuckRack released a fascinating survey of 250 journalists highlighting how social media and shareability are influencing how digital news is covered. The big takeaway—more than 75 percent of journalists say they feel more pressure now to think about their story’s potential to be shared on social platforms. The survey went on to explain the five key elements that make stories more shareable, which include videos/images, brevity, localization, more use of human voice and a proximity to trending topics. While…
Read MoreFairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA), a long-time THP client, promotes Fairfax County, Virginia, as a business location. The FCEDA has been so successful in its efforts that TIME magazine declared Fairfax “one of the greatest economic success stories of our time.” THP is tasked with trying to top that kind of national media coverage each year through media outreach to outlets like Fortune, WSJ, USAToday, HBR, CNBC, FoxBusiness, CNN and others. We pitched the results of the FCEDA’s “Creativity Gap” survey to Bourree Lam at…
Read MoreIn my first video post (hopefully of many), I explore the dual paths of traditional and “new” public relations and why we are traveling both. Marketing folks are using the phrases content marketing, social marketing, brand journalism, etc., interchangeably these days. This is causing a great deal of confusion not only in the client marketplace but within agencies themselves. As PR people look to grow they wonder things like, “What will happen to media relations as it becomes tougher given the shrinking media marketplace?” and “Where do I…
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