Tag: norfolk

By Rachael Keshishian

Clients often ask how we do it all. No day is “normal.” It takes planning and a lot of teamwork to get the job done and do it well. Luckily, our team features experienced PR professionals who care deeply about our work. Without each member, there’s no way we’d be able to provide the quality service we do.

Curious about an average day for an RCG account manger? Here’s a quick look at a “normal” day for me, specifically June 23, 2015.

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This week we spotlight Ashley Martin, RCG senior account manager and indispensable member of our team.

1. How did you get started at RCG?

I was working at a marketing firm in Orlando but looking for a change and excited about the possibility of moving back to Hampton Roads. What drew me to RCG was the fact that we’re locally focused. I previously dealt with national and international clients, but I prefer to be involved and build relationships in my community. The fact that community involvement is strongly encouraged here is also a huge plus.

My first two clients were the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad Foundation and Cintas Corporation, which I continue to represent today. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly eight years.

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By Amanda Gladstone, RCG Intern

Content marketing is a huge part of the work we do at RCG. That’s why we had to showcase this article from Public Relations Tactics, one of our favorite online destinations.

In the article called The Standout Search: Creating Smarter Content to Generate Bigger Results by Stephen Dupont, APR, the author argues your content must make a great first impression on the customer or client.

Major points from the article:

  • Highlight Keywords and Search Terms: Ensure that your content uses terms consumers type when they search online for the product or service. Don’t hold back from checking out the competition. You should know how your industry is being marketed so you can offer higher quality content.
  • Solve Problems: Be the resource your consumers need. The goal of your content should be angled towards providing the most accurate and easy-to-access solutions.
  • Tap into an Emerging Trend: The social sphere is your friend. Rely on upcoming trends to draw more relevance between your consumers and your product.
  • Offer a Range of Content: Content is lovable in all shapes and sizes. So create material of different lengths to allow consumers to use what works best for them.

First impressions are everything, and it is vital to ensure that your content makes the most memorable impression. Instead of focusing on quantity, focus on the content’s originality, relevance, credibility and ability to provide the solution the consumer needs.

By Joel Rubin

Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk is always on the lookout for new talent to work in its shops, in its dry-docks and on the Navy and commercial vessels that are its bread and butter.

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To put its best foot forward and show the diversity among its more than 200 employees, we suggested a 3-minute video for the web and played at corporate events.

Watch the video here.

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At RCG, we pride ourselves on working well with others. It doesn’t matter if you’re a large corporation, nonprofit or small start-up in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake or throughout Hampton Roads. Once you’re a client, you have our attention.

Sometimes clients come to us and have never worked with a professional public relations agency. Or done any organized marketing. At all. These clients find us to be excellent teachers.

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Being Meyera Oberndorf’s “confidante,” as Kerry Dougherty over-described me in The Virginian-Pilot, did have its perks. It gave me access not just to what was happening in her unique life, and how she somehow managed to keep it altogether, but also what it took to be a political survivor in a city that was used to not having a mayor for four consecutive years, much less five consecutive terms.

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by Danny Rubin

You might be thinking: how do I land my company in the news?

Sometimes the answer sits on the calendar. An editorial calendar, that is.

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Not every story has a deadline of today.

It’s often hard to tell clients that the media will (hopefully) get something on the air or in print eventually, particularly when bosses or board members breath down their necks. (more…)

By: Jessica Bensten

Here’s a humorous look at graphic design, and why your business should be using a professional for marketing and public relations materials.

  1. Just because Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Publisher allow you to design, doesn’t mean you should. Put the textbox down.
  2. Professional designers can help you avoid pitfalls with a printer. Ever had the most beautiful royal blue artwork come back as a purple brochure? We know what to do.
  3. Give your ideas to a designer, and they can morph into something even better than you imagined.
  4. The shelf life of a good piece makes the investment worth it.
  5. People can tell the difference. Get a nice brochure in the mail? You’ll stop and look at it. Drive by a catchy billboard? You’ll chuckle and remember. And when your professional, polished ad sits beside an amateur one in the newspaper, people take notice.
  6. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the resolution of a photo until it’s too late. That’s not the case when you work with professionals – they know what 300 dpi looks like.
  7. You’ll be proud of the artwork. Instead of making excuses when you lay down the business card printed at home and apologizing that you don’t have “real cards” done yet…you’ll get compliments.
  8. When a charity asks you to forward a vector version of your logo to put on a banner or a high res PDF of the most recent ad…you’ll actually have all those things!
  9. When it comes to business, most people judge the book by its cover. Make sure people judge your marketing (i.e. website, brochure, logo, ads, etc.) in favorable light.
  10. We’ve been doing graphic design a long time. Just trust us.

For more information on how to get started with our professional creative team, call us at 456-5212 or RCG Creative Services Director Jessica Bensten at jessica@rubincommunications.com.