I want to tell you a story…about storytelling. Over the past 16 years, I can’t recall a client who has walked through our door that did not have an interesting story. How they were founded. How they have conceived unique solutions to confounding problems. How they turned imminent failure into great success. How they have devised a better mousetrap. And the ever popular, how they were the best kept secret around. What’s curious is that, more often than not, those stories were not always readily…
Read MoreForbes recently announced the companies with the best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reputations, and Lego earned the No. 1 spot on the roster. How did they get there? According to the study compiled by the Reputation Institute, Lego behaves ethically, conducts business fairly, operates transparently, protects the environment and supports worthy causes. What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? There are seemingly infinite definitions for CSR. Here are a couple: CSR promotes a vision of business accountability to a wide range of stakeholders, besides shareholders and…
Read MoreIf you work in media relations, you’re familiar with the unabashed glee that comes when a reporter positively responds to your pitch, and before you know it, you’re scheduling an interview for your CEO. While your first instinct might be to prop your feet up on your desk and call it day, the reality is that your work is just getting started. Tight deadline or not, planning and preparation is key. With decades of experience preparing CEOs and other C-suite leaders for media interviews, we’re…
Read MoreEvery so often these days, our industry asks if the press release, a staple in the communications toolbox for businesses and communicators for 700 years, er, decades, is dead or alive. I’d argue that aging might be a better descriptor, as in the press release as we know it is aging. I’ll admit there are plenty of reasons not to announce your news or opinions in a press release (hey, maybe that would make for a good blog!), but to say that the press release…
Read MoreYou don’t get it. You pick up the paper, and there’s an article on a business that you might have a passing interest in, and you think, “Why them? Why not me? My company is so much more interesting than this firm specializing in inventory management software.” You could be right, but even so, your outreach to the paper over the years has consistently had the same result as those amorous emails to Elle Macpherson so many years ago. Zippo response. Chances are, you could…
Read MoreSo Josh beat me to the punch on his crystal ball for 2018 and while I share most of his sentiments please allow me to take a more global view of the public relations industry as we begin 2018. The last two years has seen us drink water from a fire hose as we learned how to marry media relations, social media, content marketing, brand journalism and all their associated measurements. We have come through the other end well positioned to bring a strategic eye…
Read MoreYears ago, we were responsible for helping write and edit a magazine for a Fortune 500 company that it mailed to its employees all over the country. Back then, we called it internal communications (or external communications for more outward-facing work). These days, we’re writing an online magazine to celebrate Swedish-American lifestyle. Today, we call it content or brand journalism. What’s changed – or stayed the same – over the past decade or so? One thing that hasn’t changed is developing relevant content. Whether it…
Read MoreYes, that’s a picture of two of my prized possessions — a Rutgers helmet and football signed by Greg Schiano for my 50th birthday. They are proudly displayed in my office. I have a great deal of respect for the man and what he did for my alma mater’s football program. I could write about how he got a raw deal the last few days, and how I hope he gets a shot to prove that he’s a great college head coach. But this is not…
Read MoreAs I write this, I have to question if you’ll even read anything after this sentence. At best, you may skim the subheads, seeing if there is anything that jumps out at you. But if not, I’ve lost you – maybe for good, most likely because you’ve got to read this and not just watch. Cisco projects that video traffic will account for 82 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2021. Content consumers just aren’t reading anymore and marketers like us will have to…
Read MoreYou’ve likely heard us talk about communications audits on the blog, on our website and in videos and maybe even in person, too. While audits are not a new concept, at Hodges, we view audits as a crucial starting point for working with new clients. It’s a way to create an informed foundation for developing the best possible communications strategy to achieve a client’s goals. But let’s back up a bit. What exactly is a communications audit? An audit is a comprehensive evaluation of an…
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 MoreClients come to us for a variety of reasons – from wanting press coverage for a new product to helping generate new business leads. Sometimes they know which tactics would move the needle, but more often, it’s not so clear. That’s where a marketing audit comes in. A marketing audit is a comprehensive review of an organization’s materials, messaging, audiences and competitors using internal, external and third-party research. The result: a deep understanding of key buyer personas and recommendations for a strategic path toward achieving…
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