I was a former television reporter, news producer, and executive producer. I really like storytelling and proud to say I’ve earned four regional Emmy awards and the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award. When I’m not at work, you can usually find me outdoors playing tennis, hiking or camping, riding my bike, working in the garden, or even just reading on my patio.
If you didn’t work in PR, what would you do? I would love to be on a writing team for a television series about a diverse group that meets new challenges with each show. I am watching the Star Trek Voyager series now and think it would be a blast to collaborate on a similar format that provides room for character development, creativity, and moral issues.
What’s your favorite book? Right now, my favorite book is called The Food Lab, by J. Kenji Lóbez-Alt. It is a cookbook that takes a scientific approach to why some cooking methods work better than others.
Best advice you’ve ever been given? “Never be afraid of hard work.” It was one of the many great pieces of advice my Dad gave me.
Who’s your celeb doppelganger? When I was younger, I was told I looked like Laura Dern.
What’s your favorite quote My mantra is “Keep moving forward” which comes from a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” I love this quote and remind myself that no matter how bad things get, I can always do something as long as I have more time.
My first job after college I worked as the Radio Coordinator for members of the Illinois House of Representatives where I effectively created radio press releases for House members. When deciding to move to Arizona in 2000, I had a choice- choose a career in radio, politics or public relations. I’ve been working in public relations ever since. After leading PR efforts at a couple nationally focused public safety/first responder companies, I formed 10 to 1 Public Relations in 2012, and haven’t looked back since.
If you didn’t work in PR, what would you do? Radio talk show host or an Ambassador to a foreign country representing the U.S.
What is your most memorable PR experience? I’ve had the unfortunate responsibility of leading media relations during Line of Duty Death events for first responders who died as part of their job. Each experience is very intense and emotional, but also makes me very proud of the role I played in coordinating the company response and media coordination needs while ensuring the family and first responder were properly respected and honored through very tragic, and public ordeals.
When you’re not at work … Swimming laps, watching my kids play softball and baseball, or streaming movies/shows.
Best advice you’ve ever been given? Worry about what you can control (or influence), not what you can’t.
Your favorite magazine, publication, or outlet? Washington Post
Why More PR Efforts Should be Coordinated Around Veterans Day
My PR team is always looking for opportunities to draw some media attention to our clients for doing something positive. As part of this effort, we often coordinate media efforts around various holidays and shared cultural events. Out of all the dates on the calendar, I never expected Veterans Day to become my favorite. Both because of what it represents, and the media opportunities it has provided our clients.
Veterans Day has long been one of those specialty holidays recognized mostly by those who have a personal connection to the military. It’s not part of a three-day weekend, and people often mix it up with Memorial Day which honors the fallen vs Veterans Day which recognizes the living who have served.
My team took Veterans Day efforts to an entirely new gear this year, and I want to share what we did. Not to brag, but in hopes of sparking your imagination or participation for Veterans Day next year.
The Veterans Day Giveaway Idea
We have several HVAC and plumbing clients. One of those companies was founded by a Veteran after WWII, and the company is now lead by his granddaughter (3rd generation). Five years ago, we launched a now annual Veterans AC Giveaway Contest where the public could nominate a Veteran or their family member in need of a new AC unit or furnace. After verifying nominations and choosing finalists, the public was given the opportunity to vote for the recipient, with the prize awarded on (or around) Veterans Day.
That single contest has expanded. In 2020 we held the contest in five different cities spanning the U.S. from Miami, Florida to Spokane, Washington. Yes, the contest is a nice thing to do and it’s generated publicity and stories in each City we’ve done it. But it’s much more than a contest.
Our goal is to share personal stories of local Veterans and active duty members that most people never hear about. These are the men and women who left their homes, their families, and their friends to dutifully serve our country across the nation and around the world. Their stories are incredible. Like an Arizona man who joined the Army after the attack on 9/11 to protect our nation and came back with a life-changing injury from a rocket propelled grenade. Or the Florida man who joined the Navy at age 17 and got to take a newly commissioned ship through the Panama Canal. Or the woman who was the first female in her family to join, and now copes with the debilitating effects of PTSD.
In our eyes, they are all heroes. They all deserve notoriety. So we share their stories using videos, blogs, social media, and often the news media will help us reach a wider audience. These stories have helped old friends reconnect providing them with a sense of hope and some comfort during an increasingly stressful time.
It amazes me how grateful these Veterans are to be recognized. I am also impressed by their shared bond. They understand what it’s like to be too far from home, and why it’s so hard to talk about what they experienced. We are saddened by how many suffer from mental trauma and inspired by how many of them volunteer to help other Veterans heal.
The other major effort we launched was the #VetDayPledge.
The idea started in 2018, when one of our large construction related clients was looking for ways to recognize their employees that were Veterans. We suggested that the company gather employees on Veterans Day a job site or in their warehouse and simply invite all the Veterans to the front of the group to lead their co-workers in the Pledge of Allegiance. We used smartphone video to then share it with media and post it on social media. The response from employees who participated was so positive that the construction company expanded it to multiple cities and job sites the following year.
This year, with permission from the client we decided to expand the idea to include any company willing to participate. Our only request was that anyone who participated include the hashtag #VetDayPledge to unify the message and make it easier for others to see and hopefully participate on their own. In addition to sharing the idea with other companies (clients and non-clients), we invited other PR firms to share the idea and created a website www.VetDayPledge.com with free resources and tips for companies to do it on their own.
I’m so proud that during this campaign’s first year going national and mainstream that we had participants from 10 states! While some videos came from our clients, the majority of the participants were not! In addition to several businesses, an elementary school participated, as did a senior living community!
We’re excited to grow the #VetDayPledge further next year and believe that without the election (and COVID) related distractions, even more businesses and organizations will participate. This idea has become a passion project. We love that it’s a simple, no cost idea that anyone can do to thank our Veterans and their families.
Ultimately, the most important thing for companies to remember when doing a PR campaign around Veterans Day or Memorial Day is to do it for the right reason. We believe that the VetDayPledge and the Veteran AC Giveaway Contest fit that purpose. Sure, it might generate some positive publicity for our clients, but most importantly, it generates recognition for those who’ve served and sacrificed- the individual veteran, and their families alongside them.
There are lots of great ideas that companies are doing to recognize Veterans. Share them below and help us inspire others!
A lot of people are feeling helpless right now. We have been cooped up for months trying to do whatever we can to feel productive and hold on to some semblance of normalcy. With quarantine and social distancing protocols in place, non-profit organizations are also having a hard time keeping up with the need for their services. Many fundraising and volunteer events have been cancelled due to the global pandemic, but you can still get involved with virtual volunteering efforts.
We at 10 to 1 Public Relations took time to show how much we support the work that Teachers across the Valley are doing by writing virtual notes to a teacher through the Valley of the Sun United Way’s website. These cards will be sent to teachers and resource staff in the communities that Valley of the Sun United Ways closely works with and will remind our teachers how valued and appreciated they are. It’s an easy and fun team building exercise, which will make a huge impact to those receiving them.
In addition, our client Plexus Worldwide, a leading direct-selling health and wellness company, has been utilizing their paid volunteer time off policy to gather teams of employees together for virtual volunteer projects. At the start of the pandemic, Plexus joined HandsOn Greater Phoenix, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that puts volunteers to work where they are needed most. To show appreciation to medical staff on the frontlines, Plexus employees expressed their gratitude by sending heartfelt letters, cards, and emails to HandsOn Greater Phoenix, which handed them out to medical personnel who are working tirelessly to fight COVID-19. HandsOn Greater Phoenix is still collecting letters, you can contact them directly to see how you can get involved from home – a great idea for a family activity!
In addition, Plexus team members also recorded themselves reading their favorite children’s books for the children at Ryan House. Ryan House’s mission is to embrace all children and their families as they navigate life-limiting or end-of-life journeys. During this challenging time, Ryan House is limited on the number of children and guests they are able to have at their home, but they still want to continue to provide activities that they would normally have for the children. Click on the link or contact them directly to see ways you, your family, or your friends can get involved.
So how else can you help? After months of staying indoors, most people have gone through a DIY or home improvement phase. You can put that decluttering to good use by donating any clothing items, athletic equipment, furniture, office supplies, games, bedding, and other items to charities throughout your community. Collection bins are usually located at schools or near grocery stores, so you can either look up a location online or put the items in your trunk and keep an eye out for a donation bin.
You can discover the wide range of volunteer opportunities at Family Promise, a local Valley organization determined to help homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response. Some of their events include organizing a supply drive in your neighborhood, recording yourself reading a story, or helping someone write a resume. Other local organizations that could use your help are Cancer Support Community Arizona, St. Vincent de Paul, and The Salvation Army – Metro Phoenix, to name a few.
Afterall, just because we’re stuck inside, doesn’t mean we can’t give back.
It had been a few years since my company last did head shots or team photos. Then, COVID hit and the team started working remotely. In addition, we gained two new employees in the last seven months.
I knew I didn’t want to wait to get new photos until after the pandemic was over, so I accepted that different employees have different comfort levels about gathering in a group until the risk is fully gone. The challenge became how to schedule a team photo shoot during COVID, thus creating a new library of company images that can be used both in the short, and long-term.
Knowing a lot of other companies are going through a similar thought process, I thought it would be helpful to share our process and considerations of how to coordinate a company photo shoot during COVID.
Tips on coordinating timing and staff attendance:
Give everyone plenty of notice of your plans to do the photo shoot. This was important for several reasons. First, it allowed everyone to get comfortable with the idea of coming into the office, even for an hour or two. Second, it gave people time to schedule hair appointments, coordinate care for their kids at home, etc.,
Respect their comfort level in returning. Getting everyone together at once we knew was going to be out of the question from a distancing standpoint, so we scheduled out blocks for each employee.
Take advantage of overlap times. We purposely scheduled overlap time as one person was leaving and another arriving. This allowed coworkers to say hello in a smaller environment, but also provided an opportunity to take some (socially distant) group photos. For example, during the overlap times we were able to spread out in an office or in a conference room to take some team interaction photos.
Be smart about assigning times. Accepting it likely a shoot may run late, we made sure the first person of the day was the individual who had the shortest available window (due to childcare considerations) to help them get out on time. Also, the newest member of our team was hired during COVID and had never met his co-workers in person (only via Zoom). To maximize the in-person interaction opportunity, we scheduled him accordingly between other coworkers.
The other part is figuring out what photos you need- not only now, but for the next year or more. We knew we needed individual headshots, but we still wanted team shots, candid photos, options for social media images, our websites, etc. We also didn’t want our photo shoot to become obviously dated by COVID to the point a new photo shoot would be needed post vaccine.
Tips for the Actual Photo Shoot:
Set Up Reusable Backdrops: Setting up and testing lighting takes a lot of time, so pre-designate key backgrounds that can be used flexibly, and repeatedly. We had two key backdrops. One was in our main Lobby where our company logo is on the wall. The second we set up all-white backdrop with paper to take general photos. The white backdrop was ceiling to several feet on the floor for team members to literally stand on during their photos. This was designed to allow for easy cropping, adding of backgrounds, colors, etc.
Head Shots: This was relatively straightforward, but we wanted options. We had each employee take headshots in two locations, with both a formal and business casual outfit. This was designed to give us options and alternatives based on the need.
Extra Headshot tip: Make sure at least one of your headshot backdrops are easy to replicate in office without the professional photographer. The thinking is if you add new employees, you will want the option to take a photo on your own and still have it generally match your other team members without having to hire a photographer to come out and try to copy the earlier set of headshots.
Mask photos: In addition to normal photos, we also had each employee take a headshot wearing a mark, and some with it half-off (including one making a face). The idea being we could do a quick slide/Instagram slide of 3 from mask on to mask off.
Group Photos: This was particularly hard since we weren’t going to all be together at the same time. Working with the photographer (we used Rick D’Elia who did an awesome job), we came up with a few ideas that worked. One was a layer approach- where a background with chairs was set up and wouldn’t be moved. Each team member was then photographed in a different spot and everyone was layered together afterward to make up the complete photo. The second idea was what we called the Album Covers. On the all-white backdrop, we tried to copy some iconic group images. One easy example would be the cover of the Abbey Road album cover. We all pretended to walk down the street, and we’ll be cropped and layered onto a street scape. The hope is when people see it, they’ll immediately think of the Beatles cover.
Prop Shots: We had about a dozen different props. Each member took photos with them on the white background. The idea of these photos was that they’d be great for social media. A prop example is we had several American flags. We’ll now have several photos of co-workers holding flags which we will have the option to use for holidays and events like July 4th, Veterans Day, Election Day, etc. Another example was everyone brought their favorite piece of sports equipment (a tennis racquet, swim goggles, etc.)
Multiple Outfits: Each employee was encouraged to have 4 outfits (one formal, 3 casual). The idea was to switch out outfits for the “prop shots” and office candids so that it didn’t look like every photo was taken at the same time on the same day.
Fool Around and Have Fun: The best photos aren’t always planned. Make sure you tell your photographer to have fun and take candids. A great example is while taking photos of an employee at her desk, the photographer saw some animal slippers below her desk (yes, she wears them sometimes at work). The photog loved that, so he took a photo of her at her desk in her animal slippers creating a really fun image.
While a ton of work getting it set up, the entire team agreed it was a great experience and great to come back into the office, even temporarily, after six months working at home.
As to the pictures themselves- they came out great! You’ll start seeming us slip them into our social media posts and website soon. We’ve now got great library of individual and team photos that can be utilized both during COVID, and afterward.
-Josh Weiss, President of 10 to 1 Public Relations
At 10 to 1 Public Relations, we know it’s your reputation on the line, so we help clients build and protect their credibility before, during, and after a crisis. It doesn’t happen overnight. You need 10 good things to be said about your company for one bad thing said. That’s why we focus on creating a bank of genuine, positive awareness to build trustworthiness – so you can grow your business today and be more resilient in the future, because your reputation is your credibility. We believe that the best results are those intentionally delivered, working overtime to control the story.
The best product launch PR plan starts with experience. Strategy, execution, media relations – we’ve done it.
Making sure we provide our clients with the best services possible is our number one priority. That’s why we decided to create a profile on Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews site. This makes it easy to browse real reviews from our clients on their experience with us! In fact, we just received another 5-star review on our profile! An excerpt of the review, along with a project summary can be found below:
“10 to 1 Public Relations’ professionalism and punctuality were impressive.” –Production Manager, Afterthought
Our team helped Afterthought manage a crisis by drafting PR statements that would help to improve the negative situation. We also assisted with customer and community interactions.
Here are some other recent reviews on our profile:
“I have complete confidence in their ability to write content that matches our tone.” –VP Sales & Marketing, Worzalla
“They truly are a team of good people – they’re in it for the long run to get the best results.” –CEO, Envoy America
The value of creating a positive brand image and perception is impossible to calculate, but possible to make the difference when clients are deciding whether to hire you or a competitor. Clutch’s sister site, The Manifest lists top companies and agencies to help you with your search for the perfect partner. Browse through PR firms and read through company descriptions, former clients, and notable projects to find the best fit for your business. See why The Manifest listed us as #2 among 100 of the top PR firms around the world.
Ready to get started or simply looking for more information? Fill out the contact form on our website and someone from our team will get back to you shortly!
Chances are you’ll be seeing a lot more pink this month, as October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, and this year alone, an estimated 325,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S.
1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime
Our client, Plexus Worldwide, has been supporting women’s health since its inception, with its flagship product the Plexus Breast Chek Kit, designed for women to easily perform monthly self-examinations to help detect changes in their breasts. The company is supporting and recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month with pop-up giveaways in the month of October and as part of the Plexus Worldwide Breast Cancer Awareness Month Campaign. The “Pink Wednesday Pop-Up Giveaways” are a social media campaign designed to engage their community and create awareness about self-check breast exams.
Starting Wednesday, October 7, their “Pink Wednesday Pop-Up Giveaways” will occur every Wednesday in October. Followers can participate in their first pop-up giveaway on their Plexus Worldwide Brand Page on Facebook and every other week on their Plexus Worldwide Instagram account. All winners will receive a Breast Chek Kit, in addition to other prizes such as Kate Spade brilliant statements tri-prong stud earrings, Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 Instant Film Camera, Nike Brasilia Just Do It Mini Backpack, and Beats by Dr. Dre Powerbeats Pro Totally Wireless Earphones.
In addition, Ambulnz, an industry leading on-demand ambulance services provider, is drawing attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month by providing pink ribbon magnets for some of their 350 vehicles in their fleet across the country. In addition, they’re providing pink ribbon lapel pins for their employees to wear and encouraging them to educate themselves and their loved ones on the importance of breast health.
Like these companies, and so many others, October is the perfect time to think about breast health, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation is dedicated to providing educational information from understanding the importance of early detection, to knowing how to prepare for a mammogram. The Foundation has online resources and guides aimed to empower women and men with useful information. In addition to information, there are several different ways you can help, including becoming a community ambassador, sharing your story, or supporting local groups helping to educate the public. Either way, take a moment to read up on breast cancer and encourage the people in your life to do so as well, because when breast cancer is detected early, it can be treated more successfully.
With fewer than 50 days to go until the 2020 General Election, PR pros and casual news consumers alike will have noticed the continued focus on the election during each news cycle. Election-related stories will continue to be a major part of our daily news diet, even amidst a continuing global pandemic, raging wildfires in the west, discussions about social justice, and other pressing issues.
Local and national media alike have been doing a great job to help voters get the information they need to participate in the electoral process. This is despite documented outside efforts to spread misinformation about the election.
At 10 to 1 Public Relations, we’ve been doing our part to build confidence in the electoral process by helping our client Runbeck Election Services, an elections services company focused on delivering election printing, equipment and software solutions, explain the technicalities of how the vote-by-mail process works. This year, Runbeck is planning to print 15 million vote-by-mail packets, four times more than they produced in 2016, as demand for vote-by-mail soars as a safe method of voting during the pandemic.
In the past few months, we’ve helped connect Runbeck to local and national media to explain how vote-by-mail is a safe and secure process which can be trusted by the voters to deliver legitimate results. Here are just a few recent stories featuring Runbeck:
California Sunday Magazine: “The Democracy Factory” – An in depth feature on the business and processes behind vote-by-mail with a focus on the western United States.
As we have been working on these stories, we believe there is really one way to survive the oncoming onslaught of election news coverage as we get closer to November 3. Make sure you are paying attention to trusted and verified sources on the election.
Here in Arizona, according to the Arizona Secretary of State, you must register to vote or update your voter registration on or before Monday,October 5 to participate in the 2020 General Election. If you plan to vote by mail, you must request a ballot or join the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) on or before Friday, October 23. It is recommended that you mail back your ballot as soon as possible and not after Tuesday, October 27. If you still have your vote-by-mail ballot after October 27, you can drop it off at a voting location or drop box before 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3.
All Arizona voting information can be found at Arizona.Vote, or visit Vote.org for other state-specific voting information, deadlines, and instructions.
Because one thing is for sure: You can’t complain if you don’t vote.
By Erica Fetherston, Sr. Account Exec. at 10 to 1 Public Relations
Similar to receiving media coverage, awards provide third-party credibility to your business or organization. It’s someone else saying that you’re good, worthy of recognition and praise.
Which makes it surprising that a lot of companies fail to apply for awards. Some may be intimidated by the process or fear the time it will take to gather the requested information. Others simply don’t view themselves worthy of recognition. No matter the excuse, it’s a missed opportunity.
The good news is that it “thins the herd,” often reducing the competition for the companies willing to put in a little extra work to submit their nominations.
My team has submitted hundreds of award nominations for our clients (and ourselves) over the years. In this process, we’ve developed our own internal cheat sheet to maximize the chance of our entries.
Allow me to share a few of those tips here.
Fill out the entire form. Ask any awards judge, there are always entries where the nominee leaves out requested information. Even when it says an item is optional, complete it if possible. Don’t give the judges any excuse to think you don’t want the award or weren’t willing to put in the time. Don’t create an opening for another nominee to look better than you simply because they filled out the entire nomination form.
Go for the points. Nearly every award application clearly says what answers judges will be grading you on, and within each question it will specifically list what you are to answer. Most judges are instructed to give each answer a point value (such as one to five). If you fail to answer even a single requested fact or detail, you are likely to lose a point. You won’t gain the point back by answering another detail that was requested twice. This ensures that everyone is judged equally, against the same criteria. With winners chosen by who gets the most judges points, you need to fight for every point, taking every point available to you.
Highlight your answers. As you write your nomination, highlight every detail/response which directly answers a specific element of the question. For example, a question may ask you to share the problem that you had to fix, followed by examples of tactics used to achieve the desired result, followed by your budget for the project. In your answer, highlight the phrase: the problem was; the tactics we used were; our budget was, etc. Force the judges to see you answered every required detail within the question to ensure you get the full points available for each answer.
Have a “judge” review your entry before submitting. It’s always good to have someone review your writing to look for typos or to offer feedback. When it comes to award submissions, we recommend asking a co-worker or peer not directly involved in the project to review your nomination as a judge would. Ask them to tick off each detail you answered from the application’s questions. If anything isn’t ticked off, then you need to go back and add it into your application to make sure you get all the points available to improve your submission.
It doesn’t matter if you think you actually deserve to win. We often hear from a client that they want to wait until next year when they think they’ll be more worthy or have a better chance to win. We strongly discourage that approach. Apply now, and let the judges decide if you’re worthy. If they don’t choose you, how is that worse than never having applied in the first place? If they do choose you, all the better. Winning now doesn’t mean the company stops continuing to improve. Plus, applying now might improve your chances of winning next year. I cannot tell you how many companies we’ve nominated are named a finalist the first time they apply, only to win the year after when they demonstrate the improvement front one year to the next.
Once judging is complete, most awards announce their list of finalists to then start promoting the awards event. When recognized as a finalist, I strongly encourage you to quickly and loudly celebrate this achievement. Immediately put out a press release to celebrate and promote this validation of your company and staff right away. Add a logo of the award to your website stating that you’re a finalist.
A few weeks later if you learn during the awards ceremony that you won the top prize, you get to start the celebration all over again with a second announcement. If someone else is chosen for the top prize, you already got your moment in the sun and everyone already views you as a winner. And the finalist logo you already added to your website can stay there, continuing to promote your recognition for years to come.
Here’s another nugget we tell our clients. Sometimes it’s better for companies to only be a finalist and NOT win the actual top prize. Why? Because if you’re only a finalist, you’re likely allowed to apply again the next year whereas the winner cannot apply again for several years. I rather put out several press releases over a couple of years for a client saying they were repeatedly recognized as an excellent company, than a one-time announcement.
Finally, I simply encourage you to apply. Worst that happens is you’re not chosen- which is the same result than not having applied at all. Plus, even if not selected, by completing the nomination it reminds you and your team all that your company is achieving, regardless of if the judge sees it or not. It might just be the morale boost you or your team needs at that moment to internally recognize your successes.
To Hibernate or Accelerate. That is the COVID Business Question.
A lot of business leaders are worried, and unsure what to do. I get it. Initially I was too but luckily, I’m past that stage.
Early in the crisis, I read a blog on LinkedIn written by an acquaintance, small business owner Derrick Mains, Founder of Playbook Systems and President of Phat Scooters. The blog had a big effect on me and gave me confidence in choosing my own path forward through the COVID crisis.
The Lookback
Here’s the gist… at least what I took from it.
The blog talked about the fear that many companies have about going backwards in a bad economy, and how to prepare, protect, react, and recover from business setbacks. Too many business owners are stunned into paralysis if they have a big drop in revenue or business and are unsure what to do—putting the survival of the company itself at risk.
Instead, he suggests that business owners actually DO know what to do- because they’ve already been there. He refers to it as “the Lookback.”
If a million-dollar business loses 20%, it already knows what the company should look like at $800,000 because the company has already been there. He suggested simply going back to the same staffing levels, expenses, and footprint you had at that income level, then rebuilding yourself back up to that million-dollar company the same way you did the first time.
That thought process really resonated with me, removing my own fears of what I would do if my company, which had been steadily growing, started trending backwards in the new economy. With a potential path forward removing my impending paralysis, I didn’t feel the need to hibernate. Instead I choose to try and accelerate my business.
Hibernate vs Accelerate
When I say hibernate, I’m referring to companies taking a more defensive, protection-orient approach. Many of these companies are using the strategy of hording their cash and reducing expenses with plans to ride out this crazy time by retaining enough resources to quickly rebuild.
In contrast, companies that chose to accelerate took more risks and essentially “doubled down” during uncertain times. Working harder and faster in an attempt to pivot or grow their business while their competitors were sitting it out or waiting to see how things turned out before charting a path forward.
Both strategies are sound, and both can backfire. It’s really a decision of risk and comfort as you can’t choose either half-way and succeed.
Our Decision to Accelerate
Early March I made the decision to accelerate. With so many PR and marketing agencies struggling, a big piece of our strategy was to make sure everyone knew that we were strong, and that we were going to thrive in the new economy.
I started by talking to my staff and making sure they felt personally safe, knowing that we’re full steam ahead. Even if we lost a few clients in the short term, we could weather the hits so not to become afraid or distracted. With the team confident that their jobs were safe, consciously and subconsciously they can pass that confidence along to our clients and others in the community.
Next, I reached out to clients and asked if they needed help or flexibility in the short term. While our client base is pretty diverse, we still have some travel and real estate related clients who were getting hammered or faced a lot of uncertainty. Our early offer of flexibility not only demonstrated our good will, but potentially stopped clients from leaving, even if some had to initially pause or alter their budgets. To our great delight, several of the effected clients were able to return to their pre-COVID scopes of work within a few months- something that surprised us both. Had we not been flexible up front, we might have lost them altogether.
The next major thing we did was invest back into the company. I renewed organizational memberships and subscriptions early, while I knew we had the money available in case I needed to stretch dollars later in the year.
I also invested in advertising while others were pulling back. This gave us better placements at lower rates while other companies were hibernating. Sure, fewer companies were looking for PR help, but there were also much fewer “window shoppers”. The few who were looking were much hotter leads and were much more likely to sign a contract with us, or someone else.
The strategy paid off quickly. While most agencies were losing clients, we added several new long-term clients. Some were COVID related, others were not. We celebrated these wins, announcing them to demonstrate that we were “open for business” at a time when a lot of companies were avoiding the news. This led to even more prospect interest and new conversations with additional companies.
Finally, we started offering free advice and PR tips to businesses that weren’t in a position to pay us. We created a series of 2-minute videos of COVID-19 Crisis PR Tips and shared them widely via social media. We offered free workshops through the Better Business Bureau and local Chambers giving away ideas and advice. Short term we knew this wouldn’t “pay off.” We just viewed it as the right thing to do, with the hope that it might show long-term benefits while growing our brand recognition in the short-term.
What’s Next?
Now that we’re moving past the initial months and the initial shock of COVID, I’m predicting two big changes for the second half of 2020 that will again alter the health of economy and reposition companies long-term.
First, with the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) coming to an end, we’re likely to see a lot more layoffs in the coming weeks as the employee protections expire. We’re also likely to see a lot of companies announcing that they’re closing for good or entering bankruptcy. While the first wave of job losses particularly hurt hourly workers in the restaurant and hospitality industry, this next wave is likely to hit salaried workers even harder.
Second, I am predicting that more business leaders are going to start taking more risks as they realize that this new abnormal is going to last through 2020 and into 2021 until a vaccine is fully distributed. Hibernating companies are starting to peek their heads out again, trying to figure out how to pivot themselves in the new economy. This will create partnership opportunities for companies, and threats to others as they see competitors get more active and offer new variations to compete.
And that’s just the business-related changes in the second half of 2020. I’m not even talking about the news coverage related distractions (and likely chaos) with rolling COVID hot zones, the upcoming restart of professional sports (assuming they actually restart), social justice movements happening across the country, the start of the new school year (k-12, and college), and the November election.
Predicting the future is impossible right now. All companies can do is choose a path. Accelerate or Hibernate. As for my current strategy, we’re keeping our foot on the accelerator. By helping our clients to grow and succeed, we help our own company as well. We believe that pushing for and securing a strong finish in 2020, it will carry us into 2021 and the new abnormal.
And if we do take a few steps backwards– like a lot of companies will—there’s comfort in knowing that we’ve been there before and already know the path forward.
— written by Josh Weiss, President of 10 to 1 Public Relations
