Research
 Good decisions begin with information. But successful outcomes are based on insight. Our research team delivers both.
We are one of a handful of public relations firms that offers a bona fide research capability. That's how strongly we believe in the power of fact-based insight. This Left Brain/Right Brain approach can help redefine your brand, manage your workforce, launch a new product and test a new design. By listening carefully to what customers, employees, suppliers and others have to say about your organization, your products and the way you do business, you get answers you need to make confident communications investments.
Our skills and tools for primary and secondary research, from project design to recommendations, include:
- Database searches
- In-depth interviews (one-on-one)
- Content analysis (media relations/message evaluation)
- Intercepts
- Focus groups (traditional or online)
- Surveys and polls (telephone or online)
- Data analysis (basic statistics and multivariate analysis, such as regression and cluster segmentation)
- Program measurement and evaluation
Before you jump into a communications or marketing strategy, consider what you don't know and how much more effective the outcome would be if you knew it all. Holt Communications research team can take you there.
Business to Business
 Transforming your business from a voice in the crowd to an influential leader requires clear, credible and powerful B2B PR and Marketing communication that speaks to the needs of your audience.
The B2B Public Relations and Marketing communicators at our firm can help your company position its strongest assets as differentiators that will resonate with your customers, employees, investors, and business and sales-channel partners — ultimately leading to greater market share, sales and profits.
Our B2B PR services include:
- Brand and product positioning
- Customer and opinion research
- Marketing communications strategy
- New product launches
- Integrated marketing programs
- Internet and interactive marketing
- Corporate and product publicity
- Media tours and spokesperson visibility
- Trade show programs
- Crisis communication and product recalls
- Influencer campaigns
Influencer Relationship Management
 Reaching consumers and other target audiences with mainstream marketing messages has become increasingly difficult. The average consumer is bombarded daily with thousands of commercial communications and hundreds of personalized messages in the form of phone calls, e-mails, faxes and memos. Add recent questioning of corporate credibility to this mix and it is easy to see why an outbreak of books, articles and blogs now cast doubt on the efficacy and value of traditional advertising and marketing strategies.
To help companies overcome these communications challenges, Holt Communications helps business and organizations identify, connect and manage relationships with the marketing influencers that directly affect buyers' perceptions and behaviors.
Despite the growing importance of influencers, most marketers and business executives realize that they have limited, if any, processes in place to truly develop, manage and measure their influencers. This is why HOlt expands the influencer net far beyond traditional influencers, such as media and industry and financial analysts. While these audiences remain critical, research indicates that consumers and buyers increasingly look toward key individuals or small groups with specific knowledge to determine what, where, why and how they should buy, think and act. For these reasons, the Holt Communications program has been designed to cover a complete range of marketing influencers and allow organizations to identify and engage the following groups:
- Buyer/Key Target Influencers: Individuals who make final purchasing decisions or take final actions leading to a desired change.
- Ultimate Influencers: Individuals or small groups most likely to exercise maximum positive influence over buyer/key targets.
- Determined Detractors: Individuals or small groups most likely to exercise maximum negative influence over buyer/key targets.
- Initial Influencers: Individuals or groups most likely to have the greatest impact on the buyer/key targets, ultimate influencers and determined detractors.
Every organization has its own particular set of marketing influencers to be targeted. Through extensive primary and secondary research, the Holt Communications team identifies, evaluates, prioritizes and benchmarks the perceptions and attitudes of the leading influencers in each of these areas.
Influencing the influencers is not a new concept in the public relations world. Nearly every organization acknowledges the value and appreciates the impact of marketing influencers. Most companies, however, don't have a formal program in place to develop and manage these critical relationships. This is where Holt comes in.
Social Marketing
 Successful social marketing strategies have the power to change the way we think, feel and behave. In today's diverse society, where attitudes and behaviors are shaped through multiple influences, reaching the public requires solid social marketing approaches rooted in sound research and smart communications strategies.
Holt Communications Social Marketing has created a wide range of successful social marketing campaigns by identifying and defining a social issue, selecting and segmenting the appropriate messages and target audiences, and identifying trusted channels and influencers to reach target audiences.
Holt Communications Social Marketing is unique in its ability to shape complex, large-scale public education campaigns critical to the nation's well-being. By understanding what motivates our audiences, by working with partners, and by leveraging the media to reach our audiences where they work and live, we create winning strategies.
Event Marketing
 It's been nearly 50 years since communications guru Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, "The medium is the message." But when it comes to our clients, "The message is the message!" And whatever media or methodology we employ to deliver it – from meetings, to live events, to videos, to multimedia experiences – Holt Communications makes sure that your original intention comes through loud and clear. We are corporate communications specialists with a passion for production – meaning we produce meetings, live events and all kinds of media. Whether reaching out to an internal audience, into the marketplace, out to the press, or creating a multilevel campaign unleashed on many fronts, Holt has the talent, strategic focus and production know-how to help you make a major-league impact through experiences that inform, educate, entertain, inspire and excite.
No matter what the communication, our team is fully engaged in every phase of a project -- from preplanning to postevent communications. We devise the overall strategy, generate and craft the creative concept, develop the theme and graphic look, design and build the stage, write the speeches, and produce the PowerPoint along with any videos you might need. We manage every aspect of the process, from creating production schedules, to running rehearsals, to staging the show, to providing follow-up communications that keep the messaging alive long after your attendees go home.
While we're often called upon to produce a single meeting or experience, many clients integrate their events into a larger communications program -- which we develop, design, and implement from soup to nuts, employing most, if not all, of our core competencies. The broader the scope of the marketing, branding or PR campaign, the more a client can effectively utilize the wide range of services and strategic thinking we provide. Among our services:
- Meetings
- Events
- Marketing and branding communications
- Exhibits and environments
- Mobile event marketing
- Training and development
- Videos
- Music
- Graphic design and print communications
- Digital media
Litigation Communications
 Today’s legal battles are fought and won in the court of public opinion as well as the inside of a courtroom. A communications strategy for key stakeholders, such as consumers, investors, employees and other audiences, can be important to a legal outcome and crucial to the fate of a company's reputation.
Holt Communications Litigation Communications team understands how to help corporate communications and public affairs professionals, business executives, and internal and external legal counsel navigate these complex communications challenges. Ketchum’s counselors help companies communicate the technical, complicated, and often arcane elements of litigation into messages that are heard, understood, and remembered outside the courtroom.
Holt's Litigation Communications counselors have been on the firing line for some of the most closely watched legal disputes. We know the news media and understand the needs and concerns of attorneys, public relations executives, senior management and others who have a stake in successful litigation management. We work with internal and external legal counsel to craft messages that articulate a client’s position clearly and persuasively to non-legal audiences. Finally, we understand that legal matters require the highest level of discretion and sensitivity.
Ketchum has devised strategies to support companies as both defendants and plaintiffs at all stages of the litigation process – from initial filings all the way to trials as well as out-of-court settlements. Our litigation communications experience has included some lawsuits whose implications were less newsworthy but no less important to the parties involved.
With a comprehensive range of specialized public relations services and extensive experience from serving companies in a number of legal situations, Holt's Litigation Communications professionals have the expertise companies need to craft communications that resonate outside the courtroom.
Consumer Marketing
 Holt Communications strategic and creative consumer campaigns - which run the gamut from launching a new service for women at a luxurious spa to announcing the opening of a new restaurant - secure top tier media placements that continually exceed client expectations. But getting our clients "in the news" means more to us than just news clips. We aim to stimulate sales of everything from apparel, food and beverages, and health and beauty aids to recreational products, consumer electronics, financial products, home furnishings, toys/games and home appliances.
We don't "sell" consumers. We connect to them. We place our clients in a lifestyle context that facilitates interaction and customer bonding. "Broadcasting" becomes "narrowcasting" as we build multiple touch-points to allow our clients to integrate into the daily lives of consumers. Delivering messages, shaping opinions, "moving the needle."
Corporate Communications
 Holt Communication's Corporate Communications team involves media and marketing-communications professionals who work across communications channels to develop and execute multi-layered "surround sound" campaigns. These programs feature strategic exposure in new media, thoughtful and effective interaction with traditional media, customer-centric and brand-centric initiatives for both professional and consumer audiences, and sound benchmarking for evaluating ROI.
Integrated programming is at the heart of our Corporate Communications campaigns, providing our clients seamless execution with in-house specialty teams and helping us to accomplish our mission:
To build brand image and reputation for companies, executives, and products, externally and internally.
We are uniquely staffed to deliver on our mission, with experts in:
- Corporate and executive reputation-management and positioning
- Media relationship-building and placement
- Executive networking and speaking opportunities
- Integrated communications, including corporate advertising, interactive media, public policy, regulatory and investor relations
- Product marketing communications
- Internal communications
- Editorial services
Employee Communications
 Who are a company's greatest ambassadors? Its people. Engaged and loyal employees make a good company great. They improve your reputation with the general public and help bring in top talent.
At Holt Communications, our proven strategies help clients communicate directly to their people on the front lines, on the shop floors and around the globe, improving morale, motivation and productivity. Our creative strategies disseminate management's key messages and change management strategies far and wide, making these employee-communications programs key and constant business tools in a time of change.
Key areas of experience include:
- Change Management
- Recruiting and Retention strategies
- Best Places to Work initiatives
- Diversity programs
- Employee issues and crisis communications
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