We don’t normally discuss client work here on the blog, but this week has been so incredible, we thought we would share a little about what has been happening at AHA.
Working with our client, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ), we had two high profile projects that certainly had our office hopping this week. Our phones were ringing, emails arriving, and requests were coming in nonstop.
We recently had a U.S. client visit us in Vancouver for planning meetings and media updates. At AHA, we’re very fortunate that we have clients in the U.S. and Canada – on both the east and west coasts. That AHA is based in Vancouver – with our head office in Gibsons (a short 40-minute ferry ride from Vancouver) isn’t an issue with our clients or with media. We communicate on a regular basis by telephone, email, and online chat. The world has evolved enough that where we are based isn’t relevant, the work we do is.
We hear it from clients, colleagues and friends all the time. Keeping up with what is going on in social media is overwhelming. Just recently, Facebook rolled out community pages and began to group people based on likes. They have also stopped supporting Facebook Lite, which appeared to be a Twitter-like approach to Facebook. Ning has announced that it will eliminate the free component of its service…and the list goes on and on. How can anyone keep up not only with the changes, but what they mean to your organization?
There is a great piece on hubspot.com entitled 4 Ways To Make Your Corporate Website More Social. This is a recurring topic here on the AHA blog and with our clients. An organization has a real opportunity to use their website to provide relevant information and to connect with stakeholders. Unfortunately, more often than not, websites don’t receive the attention they should because the focus is on some other online tools or technology that have more buzz, hype or profile at the moment.
Take a good look at your website or have a professional provide an audit on your site. There may be opportunities that you are missing because your site is stagnant, stale or just plain outdated.
We’ve had a busy few weeks here at AHA. We have had lots of new business calls and meetings. It’s an exciting time in our world. It is always interesting to me when I meet potential new clients. What they want to know about AHA always tells me a little bit about what they expect from their PR agency. It also tells me about the general perception of AHA as well.
AHA isn’t a big agency, but we’re not solo contractors either. Sometimes it can feel as if we fall through the cracks a little because we don’t fit into a particular “box.” We are often told that our client service is exceptional and that it feels like we only have one client (them) because we are so responsive and so committed to their organization. We always like to hear that. We work hard at making sure that we respond to the needs of our clients. My iPhone is with me just about 24/7. Before anyone starts screaming work/life balance…knowing that clients can reach me if they need to is important to me. Thinking that they couldn’t, would leave me in a state of anxiety that would take pleasure out of my time off. Unless there is an urgent situation, our clients are respectful about when they call.
Even though we’re a small agency, we also provide a lot of the things that a big agency does. We subscribe to a great media database that is very expensive and that can be cost prohibitive to freelancers. We attend PR and social media conferences on a regular basis so that we can continue to improve and evolve our skill set. We add to our AHA library on a regular basis; there is always a new shipment of books and resource materials coming in. We hold professional development sessions in the office and we have a solid team of long-term contractors and partners that we know are ready to come together when there is a project that requires their expertise.
AHA turned seven last week and we’re proud of the agency that we have become. We have strong relationships with our clients (who are exceptional). We become a member of their team, and that is important to us. And, we hear, to them. I think AHA is a great example of the new way of doing business. Blending in the great components of being small with the resources and expertise of being large.
We take the work we do for clients very seriously and we have a lot of fun doing it. And we’re good at it, which adds to the credibility of being a different kind of PR agency.
We know that we’re not for everyone, but we might be right for you. When we meet with new clients, and it’s going to work, both sides feel that connection. That’s when it really gets exciting.