Back in 1998, I was the director of communications for a Circuit City-backed startup that was poised to introduce a new product to the marketplace that we hoped would reinvent the video rental business. Company management had made the strategic decision to pilot the product rollout in two cities where retail distribution would be strong – Richmond and San Francisco. And so I went about putting together a media relations strategy designed to engender consumer excitement about the imminent availability of a product that had…
Read MoreSo, “off-the-record” and “embargo” are phrases that have been used historically in dealing with the media. Both of them are sort of losing their place in the 24-hour news cycle. Steve Bannon recently got into big trouble because he thought that he was off the record but never mentioned that to a reporter he was talking to, and what he thought was a personal conversation ended up being the headline of a news cycle. So, off the record is when you’re talking to a reporter…
Read MoreEvery semester, bright-eyed, eager, ready to take on the world students join the ranks of the Hodges Partnership’s internship program. Over the last decade, we’ve seen dozens of interns come and go, and while we only spend a few short months with them, we still feel like proud parents whenever we get a new notification on Linkedin of one getting a new job. We may be biased, but we think our interns get a lot out of our agency internship and we’re always looking for…
Read MoreSo this is gonna be a bit self-serving, but I think it will be helpful to people who are considering working with a PR firm. We are just like any other professional services firm. We bill by the hour and we have hourly rates. So, the first way is, we bill you by the hour, with no limit. And, you hope that you’re getting a good value for that. And we know that we can bill as much as we need to over a period…
Read MoreSo the first question is, “how do you pitch?” Are you emailing them, are you leaving phone messages, are you using social media? That usually sets you down a particular path. The first mistake people do when they do any of those is, they are too long-winded — they leave too-long messages, their emails are way too long and they wait too long to get to the point. Make sure in your first interaction with the media, whether it’s a subject line or the first…
Read MoreCollege campuses are rife with experts, whether it be the president, dean of admissions or faculty member who knows everything there is to know about the day’s big story. Newsjacking – what we call the practice of connecting experts to reporters covering trending news – often can enable their thoughts to be heard, but all too often their expertise goes unnoticed. The next time that happens, try getting opinionated. Opinions, or op/eds, can be a valuable part of your communications arsenal. While it takes some…
Read MoreOne of the things that’s very important is to look at your marketing or PR firm as a partner. And you get really down in the weeds on the day-in and day-out stuff with them. You have those daily calls, or monthly calls or meetings, and those are really designed to move the ball forward on an incremental basis. But, my suggestion is, meet with those firms twice a year, three times a year — block out three hours and really talk about the big…
Read MoreThe most important thing to know about working with a PR firm is that the world of PR and marketing, for the most part, is changing every day. And what you used to come to PR firms for, which is primarily media relations, internal communications and crisis communications, well you can still come to us for that, but you can come to us for a whole lot more. So content marketing, SEO/SEM, even the web — you can come to us for that. The most…
Read MoreHas the Capital of the South become the Capital of the Suds? With more than 30 breweries (and counting!) now open in Richmond, it would sure seem so. And just like rebels of old, breweries are marching to their own drum throughout the Old Dominion. The latest outpost is in Bedford where Beale’s has staked a local claim to the craft beer market. We were proud to be on hand to help Beale’s kickoff its new venture, devising a sort of concentric circle marketing strategy…
Read MoreEarlier this year we revamped our monthly newsletter, The Press Box, to include some of the industry-related news and trends we’re talking about around the Hodges office. Think of this aptly named section, The Rundown, as your monthly recap of all things PR, social and content. Like what you read below? Subscribe to receive the next issue of the Press Box. VR Giving Employees R&R at Work The New Yorker highlighted Mure VR, an Icelandic startup that’s hoping to cure ho-hum office environments into “Oh wow!” ones…
Read MoreWhether you’re new to your role or have managed university communications for a number of years, it’s always a smart move to take a step back and take stock of all external communications from your institution. It’s an opportunity to reflect, improve and uncover new opportunities to tell the university’s brand story. We call this kind of project Research and Insights or a communications audit at Hodges, and here are some of the areas we look at: Are all communicators … communicating? Depending on the…
Read MoreA majority, if not all, of the communications we produce on behalf of clients is dictated by the Associated Press Stylebook. Especially any media relations outreach. Here’s some background from the AP that helps explains why: “The AP Stylebook is the definitive resource for journalists and a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals. It provides fundamental guidelines for spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic style.” In other words, journalists use it, and it’s important for PR pros to as well. The AP announced…
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