The Gong Blog

Episode 8: Newsworthiness with Amanda & Evans

Episode Notes In this Teaming Up episode, Amanda Colocho and Evans Mandes will talk about earned media, from adapting you pitch approach, to newsworthiness to how long standing relationships lead to earned media success. Subscribe or Follow in your favorite podcast app to get new episodes as they’re released, or visit our YouTube page to see video versions.

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How to represent your brand with a creative toolkit

It’s all in a name – and the branding. When building your brand, developing a creative toolkit is essential in setting yourself apart. A creative toolkit isn’t all about picking pretty colors for your brand. A toolkit builds cohesiveness and consistency within your brand that will engender trust with your clientele.  Begin with a simple exercise. Think of two to three words to associate with your business identity, For example, pretend you’re a fitness brand: confidence, drive, exercise. Bring these words with you as you…

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Teaming Up, Episode 8: Amanda & Evans on Newsworthiness

“Newsrooms are continuing to get smaller, so our opportunities are fewer and farther between.” In order to compete in today’s media landscape and land placements at your client’s preferred outlets, their stories must be newsworthy. Amanda Colocho and Evans Mandes offer their perspectives in Episode 8 of Teaming Up as to what makes something newsworthy, and their best practices for getting earned media placements. Here’s what you can expect from their conversation: There are no bad stories, only bad storytellers. You just need to consider…

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Hodges is hiring a digital strategist; are you looking for a new career?

If you looked for “digital strategist” jobs on LinkedIn this morning, you probably saw listings more than 16,000 positions across the country. Well, we’ve added one new job listing to that total as we look to expand our social media marketing and content marketing within our agency. Here is the link to the job description with details on how to apply. That tells you everything you really need to know, but as the account director who is helping shape the digital direction at Hodges, here’s…

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2022 social media marketing trends on our radar

The pandemic caused a shift in consumer behaviors that has led to an increase in screen time. Online streaming services, e-commerce and social media consumption are all booming. As our online digital habits changed over the last two years, social media platforms have evolved and adapted at an even greater rate to meet consumer demands and increase user engagement. Today, there are more than 4.25 million social media users worldwide with the average person spending about 145 minutes per day on social media. From launching…

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How to host an unforgettable influencer event

Influencers can help move the needle for brands, and a main way to reach them is by hosting influencer events to share brand products and experiences. When the pandemic started, networking events were forced to pause. Now that life is slowly getting back to normal, holding an influencer event is a great way to make a comeback.  This important influencer marketing strategy takes a lot of thought and planning. Below are a few tips to keep in mind as you host your influencer event.  Leading…

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Our content marketing lessons learned from The Gong Blog in 2021

Let’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…

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Three easy ways to capture your own content

Have 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…

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Our nonprofit storytelling platform, The Phil, turns one

When 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…

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The often overlooked beauty of trade media

In the early days of our firm, we used to joke about how often clients wanted the “big three” – i.e. that trio of high-profile media placements that they thought would be their sure-fire path to fame and all that came with it. The actual three changed from year to year but typically involved a combination of the TODAY Show, The New York Times, the Associated Press, Parade, Time, Oprah, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.  Yeah, they set a high bar. Sometimes you make your…

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Meet A Hodger: Anna Friesen

Creative whiz. Francophone. Bibliophile. Foodie. These are just a few words that describe one of our newest Hodgers, and as you’ve probably already guessed, she fits right in. When she isn’t switching careers and moving cities, you can find this Hokie alumna exploring her new neighborhood (looks like Cam isn’t the only Hodger representing Carytown these days), reading a good book or chowing down on all things buffalo chicken. Yep, you heard that right. Whether it’s in the form of wings, pizza or the ever-iconic…

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Meet a Hodger: Michaela Mishoe

Today we welcome one of THP’s newest account coordinators, Michaela Mishoe. Michaela hails from NoVa – Springfield, to be specific – and is adding to our contingent of VCU Rams. After earning her degree in public relations, she went to the Big Apple to start her career. Lucky for us, she decided to come back to take her next career step. We sat down with Michaela Mishoe to learn a little bit more about one of our newest teammates. Why did you choose a career…

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