Category

Communications

Mar 28
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Amy Eastlack joins the Jaggers Communications Team

By Communications, Jaggers Communications News

I am beyond thrilled to announce an addition to the Jaggers Communications family. You might know her from SuzySaid in Charlottesville or as a television star on C’ville Plugged

Amy Eastlack

Amy Eastlack

In, a segment that aired for more than a year on CBS-19, WCAV.

She’s Amy Eastlack, my good friend, a fantastic writer, a social media engagement specialist and the newest member of our team!

Amy has devoted her time to developing business and personal relationships in our community. Her background spans environmental health, health care, retail marketing and nonprofit work, making her experience a perfect fit for our business growth model. Her involvement locally has given her a broad network of contacts and numerous followers in the social space. Having her join the team just makes good sense! (Plus, it occurs to me just now that she’s the fourth team member with roots in the Midwest. We’re good old common sense, down to earth people at Jaggers Communications from a land where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,” as Garrison Keillor would say).

Amy will be providing support in client web monitoring, content development and plan management.

Please join me in welcoming Amy on board and say hello when you see her around Charlottesville!

Mar 14
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Peeling Back the Layers: The Process of Uncovering a Brand Position

By Communications

It happens pretty much every single time we work with a client on nailing down their brand position. Usually a client wants to start with a mission statement. It’s usually super long and somewhat hifalutin. If we’re able to start from scratch, we take them through a brand positioning exercise, which often still results in something loooooonnnnnnnggg.

We get it: your business is yours. You’ve put a lot of thought, energy and effort into it. THERE’S SO MUCH TO SAY. And sometimes, your business is complex; it’s not easy for other people to understand, so it takes lots of five dollar words and prepositional phrases to get your meaning across.

Or does it?

In every case of working through the finalization of a client’s brand position, we peel back layers. We clarify. We eliminate the jargon. We break down complex sentences. We remove aspirational adjectives. We narrow the focus down to what you do now; how it’s different, and why you do it.  In every case, the content we start with is BIG and what we end up with is tight, concise and exactly the message the client wants delivered.

What does your brand look  and sound like? How did you get there?

Mar 14
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Awkward Team Photos

By Communications

We’re getting ready to get some professional photos done of the Jaggers Communications team. Our friend, photographer Sarah Cramer Shields will be behind the camera, charged with making us look cool.

Poor Sarah.

Clients of ours recently had a team building exercise at a company retreat. They shared with one another, (and eventually, with us) some awkward photos of the executive team as gangly adolescents and nerdy middle-schoolers.

For some of them, those photos were from a year or so ago. (I kid!)

If you’re unfamiliar with the inspiration for this exercise, http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ you really must go.  I think that this was a hilarious way to strip off the veneer and get to know other people on the team. We were all kids, right, and all had those awkward moments along the way of becoming the incredibly well-adjusted people we are today.

Ahem.

In the spirit of disclosure, I’m gifting you with an awkward photo of myself at 13. You’re welcome.

Mar 12
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When Communications are Client Driven

By Communications

I’ve worked in communications for the better part of the last 16 years or so. My experience on the agency side has consistently pointed to the same truth. Communications that are driven wholly by the client are rarely strategic and often misguided. When an agency or other outsourced communication provider becomes the order taker, taking direction from the client without questioning whether what’s being directed is what’s best for the business.

In public relations, marketing and communications, I think it’s our job to always do what’s best for the client. Sometimes that means there’s less work available for the firm. Sometimes that feedback causes friction in a client relationship. But above all, I feel strongly that it is our role to be looking out for the client’s best interests.

We speak up, speak out and will speak on our clients’ behalf because we believe in the message they deliver.

We also won’t hesitate to disagree, redirect or be frank and honest in the face of your communications challenges.

We like to think we’re easy to work with (we get that feedback a lot) but we also have put our stake in the ground to be clear and open, to guard your business as if it were our own, and to be always thinking of you and ways we can help your communications improve.  While it may feel foreign to some organizations engaging with a strong communications partner for the first time, or for those used to directing and managing marketing and PR efforts to an order-taker, the outcome is so much greater for the whole, the adjustment to the collaborative nature of our work ultimately becomes what most think is a refreshing change.

We’re different. We’re a little loud; we’re not shy, and we’re as passionate about our own work as you are about yours.