New approaches, same commitment to serving your PR needs
Now I’m going to show my age. I began my work in public relations and communications in Washington, D.C. where fax machines (remember those?) were a novelty and typewriters sat on every desk. Today, of course, we do much of our work on smart phones that fit in our pockets, yet have the power to produce and distribute content anywhere in the world in seconds. But while technology has happily transformed our industry, the fundamental nature of what we do remains the same. In other words, it’s all about the story. A great client story, whether on social media, your own website, a blog or more traditional news and broadcast outlets still can increase awareness, drive product interest and change habits.
We recently launched our updated Devine + Partners website, which highlights how we approach storytelling using all these technologies and digital platforms.
Our new site not only features our content PR approach to communications, but it also shows how our services have evolved. While we continue to focus on three broad categories – public relations, social media and issues management – tucked within each of these service lines are new specialties. In public relations, we now regularly focus on brand journalism, owned content and info/content hubs. For social media, we are increasingly using influencer identification and engagement programs, as well as paid content amplification. And, in issues management, we now have new methods that leverage social media channels.
And, because we believe in showing rather than just telling, our client case studies demonstrate how we are employing these new specialties for a variety of clients. For example, for the CEO Council for Growth, we have piloted and then expanded our foray into video production with a “Discovery Starts with Me” series of talent videos. Each video introduces some of the people who are redefining our region as a new and growing hub for cell and gene therapy companies. In another example, we demonstrate our ability to rebrand an organization, taking the Associated Services for the Blind and reintroducing it as VisionLink to more closely reflect their current services. Finally, in an issues management example involving Gaudenzia, the largest provider of drug and alcohol treatment programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C., we reveal how we used earned media to help restore $3 million in lost state funding during the pandemic.
Like our services, the D+P team has also been transformed. We now have former journalists, chief communications officers and videographers in addition to our traditional complement of great writers and media relations professionals.
I hope that you enjoy perusing the new website, and I hope that you will share your feedback. For me it shows that age is a relative concept and that while a good story still is the best way to change hearts and minds, how you tell that story continues to evolve – even for this old guy!
