Nearly 20 years ago, The Hodges Partnership was formed, and since our founding, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to foster media relations opportunities for clients. While the agency has evolved over the years to incorporate a full range of content marketing, social media and audit capabilities, media relations still is at the core of what we do and who we are. When we talk about media relations, a large part of what we mean is how we...
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What is it about doing an on-camera interview that causes folks to have a kind of out-of-body experience? And not in a good way. Once the camera light goes on, suddenly interviewees become either void of personality or take on some other alternate persona that they think is a better version of themselves. I get it: you’re nervous, worried you’ll make a mistake, that embarrassing faux pas that winds up as a viral meme in your Nana’s inbox. I do...
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Let’s be honest. Most people would rather go to the DMV on a Saturday morning than sit in front of a camera and answer questions. Perform a quick Google search and you’ll find countless articles about interview best practices, dodging tricky questions and how to remain cool, calm and collected in the face of crippling social anxiety. We are told what to say and what to not, under any circumstances, say. And despite the number of resources available to interviewees,...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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