Message Management
Connolly & Company specializes in message management by delivering
creative public relations, marketing and advertising solutions
to communications problems or opportunities.
We define message management as the total conceptualization, articulation
and distribution of your position, image or company sales philosophy.
Most of our clients hire us to craft a message that becomes their
image – the “face” they show their customers,
vendors, investors, and other target groups. We believe in a planned
approach that ensures that all parts of your image have a “family
resemblance” in terms of appearance, language and distribution.
And we’ve found that especially in
times of crisis or transition, companies (or individuals) may
have a difficult time discerning a core message from the rhetoric
of change. We are experienced facilitators who can coach you and
your staff into clarifying and refining a definitive mission statement
or position on an issue, and then guide you in finding the most
cost-effective way to articulate and disseminate your message
to complement existing aspects of your business (e.g., signage,
brochures, employee uniforms, advertising, existing website, the
complete body of existing letterhead and business cards).
Finally, we develop a process for systematic
maintenance of that message, whether it’s a public relations
program, a marketing plan or an ad campaign. We will evaluate
all of your communications efforts for consistency in all of the
various stages of the process. We will work with you to develop
methods of measurement, routes of feedback and indicators of success
so that at the end of the day, you know where you are . . . and
how far you’ve come.
In-house Creative Design
One of the major distinctions between Connolly & Company and
other local public relations firms is the fact that we offer in-house
creative design services. Many other PR firms outsource design
services and mark them up in bills to the client. We made the
decision early in our development to bring design into our office
for the following reasons:
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To eliminate the
communication problems that can occur between a PR firm and
a designer during telephone or e-mail exchanges on a number
of clients;
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To give our clients
the opportunity to speak with our creative director face-to-face
so that complicated concepts and layouts are clearly understood
by all parties; and
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To offer reasonably
priced, high quality design services that are the result of
a creative team working together within the same four walls.
The Medium and Your Message
We understand the importance of having a newsworthy angle or story
and how media gatekeepers evaluate their myriad pitches. We have
established unparalleled media relationships in San Antonio including
all the television network affiliates and the daily and weekly
print publications. And across the state and throughout the country
we have had our story pitches picked up by statewide and national
media.
Print outlets have included the Austin
American-Statesman, the Houston Chronicle, the Corpus Christi
Caller-Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune, the
Miami Herald, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and The
Wall Street Journal, among many others. We will use your industry’s
trade publications or Website news outlets to the greatest extent
possible, ensuring that your successes are noted by your peers
in addition to the publics you aim to reach.
Television shows including the “Today
Show,” “Good Morning America,” “CBS This
Morning,” “CNN Morning,” “Dateline NBC,”
“Inside Edition,” “Nightline,”and “60
Minutes” have run stories of ours. And we’ve worked
with CBS News, NBC News, ABC News CNN, MSNBC and FOX News and
broadcasters in San Antonio, Dallas, Corpus Christi, Austin and
Laredo to air informative, impartial stories and interviews on
issues pertaining to our clients.
We maintain excellent relationships with
area radio broadcasters and talk-show hosts and have built outdoor
advertising, Internet advertising, and direct mail components
into multi-media campaigns. Connolly & Company has particular
experience constructing partnerships between businesses or between
a business and a non-profit organization for mutual publicity
benefit and resource pooling. This concept has proven particularly
effective for businesses that are new to the market or launching
an image “re-fresh.”
