Today I sat in on a pretty amazing session at the PRSA International Conference which started today in Washington. Heathere-Evans Keenan, Founder and CEO of the Arlington, Virginia-based Keenan PR talked about how she’s used the virtual model to grow her PR firm. By virtual model, Keenan means she’s used senior talent across the country to go after large contracts and compete with larger firms.

“I’m amazed at how apologetic most small firms are,” Keenan said. “When going into meetings small firms or solo practitioners might sheepishly say, ‘I’m kind of a virtual firm.’ or “It’s just me and a few colleagues…’ But there’s no way that people will feel confident about you if you don’t believe in yourself first.”

It’s not news to me that smaller firms are apologetic. They don’t have the large overhead that the bigger boys do, but they also don’t often have the budgets that the big shots have to invest in software, training, conferences, etc. Most if not all PR service companies target their products (pricewise) to the larger agencies and not solo practitioners, so it’s easy to feel overlooked. But I digress.

Keenan offered five steps to growing your solo PR business:

1. Identify your services range. You may be a generalist but you may be a specialist. In any event, know what you are. Identify exactly what services you are going to offer your clients. Around the 3-4 year mark, Keenan says her business was growing and clients began wanting more services. She started out offering general media and investor relations but eventually had to grow her service offerings which meant bringing on strategic partners who could fill in where she was lacking. Instead of hiring employees directly, she employed the virtual model-finding strong practitioners who could could offer a diverse range of services.

2. Cultivate preferred partners and subcontractors. If you’re looking to expand your business in a specific market, industry or city you have to develop strong partnerships with other pros who can do the things you can’t or can do them when and where you can not. It’s always good to have great subcontractors that you have working relationships with-people you really like, whose work you can count and whose business ethics you can trust. Whether or not that means partnering directly or subcontracting, you need to develop alliances and when you can spread your network across the country or even the globe, your business opportunities will only multiply.

3. Market and Position Your Business. You have to figure out how to market your business. This means figuring out exactly what you do, who you do it for, your unique value proposition. You must package your services and what you charge.

4. Expand into Another Industry. Keenan started out in tech and telecom and moved into healthcare, financial services and associations. This has only meant growth growth and more growth for her firm.

5. Find ways to productize what you already do. Are you a writer? Host a writing workshop. Expert media trainer? Host media trainings. Keenan hosts trainings and fetches $4500/day.

“Small firms are winning viable business,” Keenan says. “Against the Ketchums, and against the Edelmans.”

So chew on that.

Want more valuable tips like these? Order your copy of the Mopwater Manual.

You know the feeling. You’re working on a new project and you’re in the zone. Your brain is rapid firing idea after idea; you’re drowning in a deluge of creativity. You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow...this client is doing some amazing work in the community,” or “This campaign is briliant; it’s so cutting-edge, the PR element needs to be over the top…” Especially when you have a new client whom you are trying desperately to impress, it seems that the ideas just keep coming and coming; you’re ready to produce the YouTube video and tie the Twitter campaign to a creative giveaway. PR superhero to the rescue!

Not so fast. Hang your cape back up on its hook.

If you find yourself working on a project and the scope seems to grow in medias res, take the time to solidify the details of your compensation before you continue doing your work. It can be nearly impossible to do for those of us who tend to get inspired and want to just do the good work. But a big part of our jobs as communications professionals, frankly, is communicating these evolving scopes with our clients.  Educating the client on how long things take, what steps are involved and how much things cost is all a part of that communications challenge.

Should you find yourself ready to rush to save the day, keep these things in mind first:

Don’t Squeeze: The same way you wouldn’t try to squeeze size 8 thighs into size 2 jeans, don’t try to fit a 2-Year campaign Into a 6-Month Contract. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If your client has limited time and goals that would normally exceed the time frame, let them know that in the future they should plan ahead so that everyone has the time to do a great job. And then let them know what in your professional opinion can be successfully achieved in the time they have left. Read the full story

Rebekah Lovell of Renown Promotions in Atlanta

Rebekah Lovell, 24 Woodstock, GA (Atlanta)

PR Strategist to Small Business

Owner of Renown Promotions,  going on 2 years

Renown Blog

Twitter: @Renown

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. What made you want to get into the field?
RL: Back in high school I was elected to the Public Relations seat on our Student Council and something clicked. Since then, I’ve always gravitated towards managing people, business, and events and loved the idea of creating value for businesses and organizations by doing so. I started in college as a Dance Pedagogy major, then Journalism, and then quickly changed to PR upon learning what it was really all about. I was the nerd who sat on the front row and actually read the textbooks and started a blog upon my professor’s suggestion. After a stellar experience at my internship, I took a job in Marketing with a top Atlanta Real Estate Firm. I couldn’t wait to strike out on my own once I saw the depth of small businesses in our area needing counsel and direction. I like to be behind the scenes, and position people and causes for success. It seems PR is a natural extension of my personality and gifts and I’m very passionate about what I do. I enjoy the fast-paced climate of PR and always learning what’s next.

Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you most excited about?

RL: Strategy and Campaigns, Writing, Social Media, Causes and Events. I like to help businesses get from A to B, and help them look back at how far they’ve come.

Mopwater: Describe your office and workplace. How many co-workers do you have? Where, how, and how often do you collaborate with them?
RL: I work from my home office and communicate with the world outside non-stop via phone, email, and social media. I work hand-in-hand with a couple of other PR companies and freelancers to accomplish everything on my plate.

Mopwater: Describe a typical workday including your work hours. What do you do all day?
RL: My days are always different-but that’s half the fun! I start early and end late, and even work weekends most of the time to catch up. I may have a few office days a week, but I travel a lot to meet clients, attend events, and network.

Mopwater: What are your favorite and least favorite PR tasks? Do you love to pitch? Do you dread writing releases?
RL: Reverse of your example answers-I love to write and don’t enjoy pitching! I have a knack for the written word and really enjoy getting a client’s message across so that a certain media’s listeners, viewers, or readers can relate to and identify with the idea or story behind the feature. Read the full story

Robin Caldwell

Cleveland OH

The J Standard Media Group, LLC

Principal, 5+ years

Web: The J Standard

Blog: The Black PaPR Report

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. What made you want to get into the field?

RC: My motto is ‘I was born to do this…’ and that’s because if I go back to my childhood I can see the evidence. For example, I was always ‘reporting’ something and my grandmother, Irene, would always say, “If you don’t want it repeated, do not say it around that one.” I can see the evolution of the little loud girl who became the little loud woman who has this ability to connect people and influence decisions. Plus, I was bossy and if that’s not a trait of most PR practitioners and publicists, I don’t know what is. On a practical note, I began college as a broadcast major with the goal of becoming an anchor, but a major melt down (stage fright) while taping audition reels led me to change my major.

Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you most excited about?

RC: There are two aspects that I find not only exciting but delightful. The first would be the Barack Obama presidency, which I believe from a practitioner’s perspective will ultimately become the Obama Era. As a former college instructor who taught mass-mediated images of African Americans, nothing delights me more than to see a shift in our image on the world media stage. The leader of the free world looks like me and has a background that is not only similar but relatable. It gives me hope that my niche will become commonplace and more of us with great African American or underrepresented minority clients will be able to translate their value to a broader market in mainstream media. The second thing that excites me most is the inclusion of social media and Internet strategies as a part of our campaigns as practitioners. News can be relayed more quickly and efficiently than ever before. Moreover, I love the social media news release because it gets to the heart of your story and offers another way to tell it. Read the full story

I have a love/hate relationship with Thursday. On the one hand, I hate Thursday because it means the week is almost over and since I’m a workaholic, I only have two more days to squeeze in everything I wanted to get done before the official business week ends.

On the other hand, Thursday is Test Drive My Job Day on Mopwater PR + Media Notes. I get to take your jobs out for a spin to see how they fit.  I love this!

Today, I’m featuring two TDMJs  because, well, I just want to. First up: Matthew Fenton, Founder and President of Three Deuce Branding.

Matthew Fenton
38 years old
Founder and President: Three Deuce Branding

Cincinnati, Ohio

Web: Three Deuce Branding
Blog: That Branding Thing
1 employee (me)
12 years in this role

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR and marketing. What aspects of the industry are you currently most excited about?

MF: I entered the University of Cincinnati as a quantitative analysis major.  While the problem-solving aspect was fascinating, I didn’t want to grow up to be an actuary.  I was very interested in psychology, motivation and human behavior, so marketing was a natural choice.

Through UC’s strong co-op program, I was able to spend a full year in market research, in both supplier and client jobs, prior to graduation.  That background allowed me to get into brand management, my ultimate goal, immediately upon graduation.

I joined Van Melle USA (now Perfetti Van Melle) in 1992, when the company had just two brands – Mentos and AirHeads.  The Mentos “Freshmaker” campaign had just launched and the buzz was beginning.  I managed marketing for AirHeads for 5 years, during which time we took the brand from partial to full US distribution, tripled total sales, and earned the top sales spot in the non-chocolate category.  In addition, it was a great environment in which to learn truly consumer-centric branding, which was not widely practiced at the time.

In 1997, I made the decision to found my branding consultancy.  The mission of Three Deuce Branding is the same now as it was then: “To help good people build great brands.”  Every day is a new opportunity to make branding clear and actionable for those who practice it.

What I like best about branding is that, when properly practiced, it makes the world a better place.  You simply can’t build a long-term consumer relationship without serving.  Lately, I’m most excited about the ability of consumers to connect and to have their voices heard; brands have always belonged to consumers, but now that fact is becoming impossible to ignore.  I’m also excited about the opportunities for brands to live their stories and values in a manner that involves consumers and employees alike.

Mopwater: Describe a typical work day including your typical work hours.

MF: No such thing as a typical work day!  A given day might find me doing public speaking, leading an inventing session, building a positioning statement or strategic plan, interviewing clients and their customers, writing my column and blog, reading relevant books and newsletters, and staying in touch with the talented people with whom I’m fortunate to work.

I tend to work unusual hours – I may work as early as 6 a.m. or as late as 3 a.m.  I usually break up the work day with non-work activities, as I find I’m more productive and creative that way. Read the full story