More than 160 Baltimore-area foundation executives and philanthropists (and one public relations executive) gathered on Tuesday for the annual meeting of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers (ABAG). ABAG maximizes the impact of philanthropic giving on community life through a growing network of diverse, informed and effective grantmakers (and one public relations executive). While the remarks by keynote speaker Mark Sedway, Project Director of the Philanthropy Awareness Initiative, were directed at the funders in the audience, they had particular meaning for the one public relations executive in the audience; the message was consistent with what Himmelrich PR tells its clients and does on their behalf.

Sedway urged foundations and corporate giving officers to “Go Outside,” advocating that they stop thinking that their “work speaks for itself” and begin sharing their stories and successes as a way to encourage philanthropic activity. From the public relations executive’s notes scribbled during the presentation:

Know your product so well that the product sells itself.
Find solutions. Sell solutions.
Ask your audience what they think.
Don’t think that other people can connect the dots. They can’t.
Tell stories about the impact of what you do, not about what you do.
The goal is not to get more people to listen to your story. The goal is to get more people to TELL your story.
Be persistent and consistent.

“I have to admit that my first day at Himmelrich PR was pretty amazing. It started with peanut butter donuts, then there was an all-staff lunch, and we topped off the afternoon with way too much chocolate.

But the real meat of the day happened in between the meals. There were press releases, social media brainstorms, client introductions, and lots and lots of things to read. Phones were ringing and emails were flying. It may sound overwhelming, but everyone here thrives off the energy.

I can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow.”

- Tara Miller

Tara Miller has just joined Himmelrich PR as Account Executive. She has lived and worked in Baltimore, MD; New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC; Charleston, SC; and Richmond, VA. Living and working in these varied cities has allowed Tara to make important press connections around the country that will benefit Himmelrich PR clients. Tara’s past work experiences include positions with museums, art galleries, magazines, and non-profits. Most recently, she was the Marketing and Communications Associate for the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Welcome, Tara!

The intrepid account executives of Himmelrich PR have really racked up the frequent flyer miles the past three months. We’ve boot-scooted in Dallas and Houston; been to the breweries of Milwaukee; indulged in some sweet tea in Atlanta; and sun-bathed in Tampa… quick diversions while drumming up press for The Woodworking & D.I.Y Shows.

We just wrapped up promotion of the Shows’ spring season - 13 shows in 13 weeks that took HPR staff all over the country to work with media. Enough station call letters, contact numbers, and masthead monikers to make heads spin - but not for us voracious voyagers.

And what makes it all the more gratifying – attendance increases at 11 of the 13 shows. (Blasted winter blizzards!)

We’re planning ahead, and we’re planning on being pretty busy this summer. So, we’re planning to have summer interns help out at the world headquarters of Himmelrich PR.

Here’s the plan:

Unpaid internships at Himmelrich are a great way to get some practical experience and build a great resume. Our interns do what we do - research, write, strategize, and produce good work for our clients. The hours are flexible (like us) and the environment is fun (also like us).

If you like us and want to be here this summer, let us know. Send a resume to Rachel Fauber at rachel@himmelrich.com.

We’re hiring!

Himmelrich PR has a position open for an Account Executive – someone to work with local and national media to create visibility for our clients, develop creative promotions, and manage client relationships.

Who are we looking for? Someone who:
- has at least two years of public relations experience
- has proven success identifying, pursuing and placing prominent media coverage
- is fluent with social media applications, tools and techniques
- is a strong writer for all types of media
- has experience developing and coordinating promotional activity
- knows a lot of people and has a strong network of contacts
- is a self-starter and can work independently while being part of a collaborate team.

Sound fun? (It is.) Interested? (Hope so.) Show us your stuff. We are accepting resumes at jobs@himmelrich.com. No phone calls, ok?

We like to think we’re known for our good thinking (after all, that’s our tag line) and the good work we produce for our clients (since that’s why we’re here), but today, we seem to be known for being… here.

Our office is in an historic manufacturing building adjacent to Baltimore’s Jones Falls. It’s common for the water from the Falls to rise on rainy days, and not uncommon for our parking lot to become flooded during long, heavy downpours. So today, with Baltimore expecting 2-4″ of inches and flash flooding, we’ve been flooded - with phone calls, emails and text messages asking if we’re still here.

We are. Let’s face it: we’re PR people. We’re all about anticipation, news and suspense. We’ve been making regular “field trips” downstairs (two by two, in the spirit of the experience) to check on the rising water.

It is, indeed, rising.

Mike Fila has been asked to serve on the Advisory Board for Business Volunteers Unlimited Maryland’s GIVE (Getting Involved in Volunteer Experiences) program. (Mike said yes to the invitation.)

Mike was part of GIVE’s inaugural class last year, and really epitomizes the program’s goal: to raise awareness among the next generation of civic leaders about the growing need for volunteerism and to engage them in the community while providing educational learning seminars to help them develop personally and professionally.

We support BVU… and GIVE… and Mike.

Yesterday, agency president Steve Himmelrich spoke to a Public Relations Strategy class at the University of Baltimore. Judging from the student tweets during and after the class, it seems as though the students most appreciated Steve’s comments about how to integrate social and “traditional” media, the value of good writing in everything from press releases to brief emails, and the importance of planning.

Steve also appreciated what he

learned during the presentation.

- Asking questions and showing interest is always impressive. (Putting your head on the desk is less so.)

- Knowing theory and strategy is important, but people (especially eager and motivated students) want to know how it directly relates to finding and doing a good job.

- You never know when you will have an opportunity to show off what you know, so know a lot (such as Steve being able to recite to the class the names of all the Housewives of Atlanta).

- We like what we do. There is great satisfaction in pointing to client success and knowing that you had something to do with it.

To the media: Please feel free to call our 24/7 media line at 410.925.1014 if you are unable to reach the person you need in our office - especially if you are working on a story for a show or event this weekend. A real person will answer the media line and assist you.

“Crisis management” is a pretty standard item on any public relations firm list of services. We’re no different; we do it too. Luckily, though, we don’t have to do it very often. We like to think that our clients are smart and savvy enough (and possibly benefit from some ongoing smart and savvy PR advice) to avoid any crisis that might become public.

Yesterday, though, was one of those rare days when a client - 500 miles away - needed our help in responding to very vocal detractor.  The experience reminded us of a couple of things: 1) there’s a rush to the quick thinking and fast pace that’s required (as someone in our office responded to the call for an immediate brainstorming meeting, “Ooooh, crisis management. My favorite!”); 2) there’s great satisfaction in quelling a potentially-damaging situation; and 3) the management of managing the crisis is just as important as crisis management.

Yesterday, we had that rush - quick confabs, constant emails, lots of phone calls, writing and editing and parsing of words. It worked – you will probably never hear about our client’s “situation.” And equally important, we realized that we are well-positioned to respond to a crisis. We completed all the work for our other clients as scheduled (including four newsletters, eight press releases and over 200 national hits from a wire-service-distributed press release). We kept all our appointments. We pitched – and placed – other stories for other clients. It was an unexpected, but welcome, reminder that we are flexible and creative public relations practitioners, quick thinkers and smart strategists.

Every once in a while, a crisis is not such a bad thing.