Communications professionals spend a lot of time behind the computer. Between writing articles and blogs, pitching stories and curating social ed calendars, screen time can consume a large part of the day. However, despite the predominantly digital nature of their work, there comes a time when PR practitioners must step outside the virtual world. Thanks to smartphones, capturing top-notch visuals is easier than ever. Yet, with so many content opportunities, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But fear not! After a recent content-gathering day for a…
Read MoreI’m 100% sold on the concept of working smarter, not harder. And in an industry that constantly pulls you in different directions, optimizing your workflow is crucial to staying afloat (and creating meaningful, lasting content while you’re at it). When it comes to developing your content marketing strategy, you’re likely producing a lot of content to fill your various channels. Scheduling interviews and dedicating full days to content gathering to fill those social media editorial calendars can be a lot, but if you’re not getting…
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 MoreBlogging is a two-way street. As much as you can busy yourself with plans for new, yet-to-be-written blogs and fill editorial calendars with content ideas, it’s just as useful to take a look in the rear-view mirror at some of your past blogs to see which ones are engaging your audiences most. In that spirit, here are some excerpts from our top five most-read Gong Blogs from 2022: 1. Five Examples of Media Interviews Gone Wrong. Our most popular blog of the year actually was…
Read MoreFor nonprofits, those precious, tax-deductible, unrestricted, end-of-year gifts represent one of your largest appeal campaigns of the year. Development appeals can take many shapes and forms, but if you have a donor that sends donations to several places, you’re competing with other nonprofit organizations for those funds. That’s why leveraging owned data is the key to success in your outreach – and we’re giving you three ways to use that data to your advantage. Targeted, tailored social media campaigns You can upload a single email…
Read MoreIs your social media content falling flat? The solution might be easier than you think. Reference this blog post next time you’re looking to add some spice to your organic content. It’ll take your social media skills to the next level – I promise. GIF or JIF? Graphic Interchange Formats (GIFs) have been a large part of internet culture for years, and in many ways, they manage to say all the things we can’t. Feeling sad? There’s a GIF for that. Doing a happy dance?…
Read MoreLet’s start with a promise that this isn’t some braggadocious blog post showing off our top performing blog posts of the year. We wouldn’t do that to you. We do, however, want to share a few content marketing lessons learned from looking at our top blog posts in 2021. You may (or may not, if you’re familiar with SEO) be surprised that some of our greatest hits were written years ago but remain among the top traffic drivers to our blog. Playing the SEO Long…
Read MoreHave you ever worried about running out of visual content to use for promoting your business? Have no fear. Creating content images can be as easy as ever with the new smartphone technology at our fingertips. You don’t have to be a professional to follow these easy steps to make your content exciting. First, find a solid backdrop/surface or find a nice corner in your office or outside. You’ll want a clean background with no visible distractions. Make sure the lighting is just right. You’ll…
Read MoreWhen I was a new dad, a popular book among neophyte parents was Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect Your First Year, a monthly guidepost that alternatively provided bouts of pride and anxiety, depending on how our babies fared against what was generally anticipated to be the norm. The truth was, there was really no preparing us for that scary, exhausting and magical year. As we celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Phil, the same can be said of those of us who have been along…
Read MoreDrones. They’re everywhere. They can be found filming footage over city skylines, monitoring farmland and delivering packages to doorsteps. You can also find drones in PR strategies. You might remember Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl LI halftime show when she was flanked by LED drones for the performance. Or perhaps you remember the incident at Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres) in 2017 when a drone crashed into the stands during the seventh inning, just missing some nearby fans. While drones may have reached…
Read MoreIt was the week before Christmas 2008, and to give you a sense of just how long ago that was… The Dow opened that day at 8,606. (If you haven’t checked lately, it’s above 34,000.) Facebook had a measly 100 million active users (vs. 2.9 billion today). Instagram, Uber, Groupon, Pinterest, Slack and Venmo (to name a few) had yet to be created. The Hodges Partnership launched its agency blog. While that last event may not measure up in historic significance to the others, for…
Read MoreLet’s start with a conversation I have more often than not with folks calling us about helping them raise their profile and enhance their expertise position in their industry. Caller: I want to raise my profile and enhance my expertise position in the industry [or something like that]. Josh: Well, that’s what we do, so let’s see if we can help. Let me ask you some questions. What kind of content marketing are you doing? Caller: Content marketing? You mean like using Facebook and LinkedIn?…
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