For the first several years of our agency’s life, we eschewed pursuing awards. Come award season, we’d casually brush aside suggestions that we put our best work up for industry honors. Given the time and effort it takes to nominate yourself, we reasoned our energy would be better spent promoting our clients rather than ourselves. But over time, this sense of modesty gave way to a real-world practicality: awards are a valuable tool for validating the quality of your work....
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As one of the co-managers of The Phil—Hodges’ online publication that focuses on local philanthropy — I often encounter a set of challenges not unlike others who are tasked with managing a team’s creative output. Chief among those hurdles is organizing an engaging and comprehensive editorial calendar. When you have a rotating group of writers, all with their own areas of expertise and ideas, the process can begin to feel a bit overwhelming. Herding cats comes to mind. Yet blogs...
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What is equal parts vigorously exciting and incredibly annoying is the pace at which social media evolves. All it takes is one algorithm change or one business acquisition to throw off your entire strategy. Lucky for us (insert sarcastic face here), we’ve been hit with both in recent weeks. Because of the rapidly changing social media landscape, by the time we hit “publish” on this post, there is a good chance new information will be released, and this will be...
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Content is all around us, you just have to know where to mine it. And when it comes to industry associations, they’re gold mines for PR and marketing folks looking to generate content and pitch the media. At Hodges, we love working with associations because it makes our jobs infinitely easier. Why? Because we’re not just working with one client; we’re considering every member of that association a client contact in some way – and when we and the association...
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It’s graduation season, which means a number of students are stepping out into the world with PR degrees either hunting for a job or looking to make the most of a first opportunity. I remember how much I benefited from the advice of others when I was just getting started, so I asked my colleagues what advice they would share with this year’s graduating class of PR students. On finding a PR job: Don’t be afraid to fail. The hiring...
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The Hodges Partnership marks the 20th year since our founding this year. I need a moment to let that sink in. The time has gone by almost as fast as a Tom Seaver fastball, and the world has changed so much over that time. We share a launch year with LinkedIn, and I recall back then thinking it would be a handy birthday reminder service. Google was just four years old in 2002, before long making Ask Jeeves a distant...
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With a mask in tow and hand sanitizer and business cards in my pocket, I attended my first in-person conference since the start of the pandemic last summer. Seeing a registration table and a breakfast buffet sparked a latent delight I forgot I missed in between Zooms and working from home. The opportunity to meet new people, in-person again – a joy to my PR world. But as I haphazardly said, “great!” before someone asked how I was doing and...
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One of the most ubiquitous examples of market research is the focus group – a handful of people in a sterile room with a two-way mirror allowing observers to dissect the conversation. Online focus groups certainly existed before the pandemic, but since then, they have become the go-to format for this type of qualitative feedback. Now that public gatherings are becoming more common, the question of whether to do an in-person or a virtual focus group is on the minds...
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Media relations is one of the most essential functions of public relations, but there are many misconceptions about how it all works and what strategies will be the most effective in getting media coverage for your client. In this episode, Josh, co-founder of The Hodges Partnership, and Sean, vice president of media relations, take a look into some of the most commonly believed myths about national media relations and teach us some best practices to start using in our own...
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Most clients that come to us for social media marketing strategy already have established brands and social media presences, in which case our role is to help them improve their overall strategy and/or to help take the burden of content creation and day-to-day management of the platforms off their over-stretched hands. In some cases, we get to be on the ground floor as they launch new social media profiles. You’d think it’d be just as easy as setting up a...
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Happy Women’s History Month! This month, and every month,is an excellent time to celebrate the women in our lives and reflect on those who fought for our equality (and continue to!) As a public relations agency comprised of over 60% women, we view Women's History Month as an opportunity to celebrate the women around us. We work alongside powerful and influential women every day, not among our clients but on our team as well. According to the Public Relations Review,...
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One of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of public relations lies in the realm of community relations. When brands and causes align, great things can happen. Whether it’s building playgrounds in underserved communities or committing to ending hunger, the benefits of a well-coordinated community relations strategy are far reaching. On the agency side of the equation, we often serve as the conduit between the brand and the cause. Depending upon where our clients are in their community relations journey,...
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