Carefully Crafted on December 13
When I was preparing to launch Geben Communication, I read lots of articles that suggested writing a formal business plan —a three- to five-year description of the purpose of our agency, how I would go about finding clients, our market share, financial metrics, and on and on. But I have a confession: I never did […]
Carefully Crafted on December 09
This fall, the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, where I’m so thrilled to serve as a board member, released Gender By Us, an awesome new resource to challenge gender norms and gender bias in the workplace. This toolkit is chalk full of incredible information and resources to help spark conversations about societal gender norms and how […]
Carefully Crafted on December 06
When the athletes crossed the finish line at this year’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon, the Geben team crossed our own metaphorical finish line with a ramped up season of social media engagement for the event. Reflecting back on our social media efforts for the race this year, I think the Columbus Marathon provides a […]
Carefully Crafted on December 01
When I brought on Geben’s first employees—a tiny team gathered around my dining room table—everything was new. Every process had to be created for the first time. We had to figure things out as we went along. Sometimes, it felt a little like that saying … the blind leading the blind. Being involved in a […]
Carefully Crafted on November 17
Who owns corporate social responsibility? Is it the CMO? PR? Does it fall on HR? Or does it live on its own? While this varies from company to company, I think a brand has to be really careful if its community outreach lives within the marketing department. Because when that happens, success depends on standard marketing […]
Carefully Crafted on November 14
At a recent national PR conference, I had the opportunity to chat with an old-school PR practitioner who does a lot of coaching with agency leaders on innovation, team management, and growth. While discussing some of the more progressive policies we pursue at Geben—everything from paid leave to #WorkAways—this colleague pointed out that many of […]
Carefully Crafted on October 24
As a field, Public relations is approximately 70% female. You’d think such a female-dominated industry would be beyond the sexism so rampant in other industries; however, we witnessed first-hand this morning that that’s just not reality. Theresa Payton, former White House CIO, speaking at #PRSAicon (maybe don’t wear a shirt that keeps us distracted wondering […]
Carefully Crafted on October 20
As more and more customers turn to Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and other social channels to ask questions or make complaints, keeping up with customer service is no easy task. Social customer service can be especially complicated for small brands, since customer expectations don’t adjust for the size of your customer service team. Since the Geben […]
Carefully Crafted on September 27
A few months ago, I started a new tradition with #TeamGeben. Once a month, I provide a detailed update about how the company is doing—something I call the “State of the Agency.” My presentation includes updates on the business development pipeline, what staff utilization looks like, what positions we’d be filling in the next few months, […]
Carefully Crafted on September 22
If you’ve spent any time around the Geben team, you know by now that we love our House Rules. These ten guidelines form the very core of who we are as an agency. They direct every decision we make, so it’s only natural that we’d want to see them everywhere we go. The best part? While the House Rules […]
