Today North Coast Strategies joined the SME Climate Hub. The SME Climate Hub is an initiative founded by the International Chamber of Commerce, the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the We Mean Business coalition, and the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, intending to support small and medium-sized businesses to build business resilience.
Our purpose is to bring people together to start the conversation and solve problems. This includes supporting and respecting the protection of all human rights and ensuring that everyone has a voice. North Coast Strategies.
We just created the agency of the future. We are an agency of independents. Call us what you want – freelancers, contractors, temps, 1099’s or solo-preneurs, we are flexible and nimble enough to build an agency around our clients and not afraid to give you our advice in moving your business forward. We don’t employ people, we work with a select team of experienced professionals and specific disciplines who sit as equal partners. With each client, we start from scratch and find the right team to fit that specific job.
That is why North Coast Strategies is proud to announce that we are a pre-approved service provider for Motor City Match (MCM), through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC). a grant program that connects Detroit-based entrepreneurs and commercial property owners with financial and technical resources, all with the goal of growing businesses in the city's neighborhood commercial corridors.
As an independent practitioner operating in the PR profession, I have the freedom and flexibility of working with a number of companies and organizations in diverse industries. I also have the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere, anytime, to limit overhead and unnecessary expenses, while still going on field trips with my children.
Call me indie, a solo-preneur, entrepreneur or small business owner, I think of myself as an individual contractor who builds services around my expertise (crisis management, stakeholder engagement, public affairs, strategic communications) and wraps an experienced-team around specific projects to benefit clients and help them achieve their objectives. Think of me as an interim Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications or VP for External Relations.
So while it may seem I work alone, I often work as a member of a team that includes other professionals, such as lawyers (of which I am also an attorney), auditors, risk officers, designers, programmers, video-ographers and others.
By design, I am a generalist and find people to round out my strengths. I work hard at developing relationships with other professionals to engage on the right project at the right time.
Without overhead and as an independent practioner, I am able to charge less for my time and devote more time to working individually with each client. I am less informal (and may be casually dressed) than a traditional firm -- You get me instead of a junior public affairs associate, and together, we get one-on-one time without the drama. My time is flexible but my time is yours.
Business Goals - Know what impact you want to have on the business and how you will measure it. Develop a strategy around your business objectives…but not a tactical plan that could become irrelevant. Embrace technology and project Management tools to keep everyone aligned during implementation.
Create a 'channel strategy' and determine how and what media, web, blog, social networks and email can all work together and reinforce each other.
Develop a 'content strategy' and figure out what type of content do you want your brand to be associated with? Who are your experts? What topics do you and your customers care about? And then create content that is new and easily digestible, perhaps even fun to read with some infotainment factor.
Build a system or editorial calendar that provides timely relevant content that is interesting and sharable.
Recognize your assets - a spokesperson, a product a customer a community and ensure they have the resources. Create brand ambassadors.
Create a process - So everyone knows what they are resonsibe for and when, what requires approval, collaboration and insight
Focus on quality not a high idea that will go viral - that way you will build a reputation as a thought leader rather than a one hit wonder.
Evaluate your work, re-adjust and continue to align your business goals with your marketing plan.
Over the past three years, I have spent a lot of time going back and forth to the service department at my local dealership, trying to get various problems fixed with my car.
Today, we finally purchased a new vehicle and here are 5 reasons why I was ready to sell my car:
Hopefully, with this new vehicle, someone else will become Mayor and others will like them on Facebook. However, I did learn some valuable lessons from the Service Department for my public relations firm:
Just a few lessons on agency-client relations from the service department at the car dealership.
