Mar92010
Jessica Redman
Howard, Merrell & Partners will provide public relations support to increase visibility and build awareness for National Humanities Center, a national non-profit organization. As an institute for advanced study dedicated to the humanities, the National Humanities Center provides fellowship support for scholars, training and resources for high school teachers, and public outreach programs that address a wide range of topics.
The PR team is excited to work the Center – read the full announcement here.
Mar32010
Stephanie Styons
We are looking for a Public Relations Account Supervisor. Must have experience developing, managing and executing multifaceted B2B public relations programs. Knowledge of AP style and national media relations experience a must. Strong writing, communications and presentation skills necessary. Agency experience and social media marketing knowledge a plus. Experience with personnel management and growth required.
Job responsibilities include: Serve as day-to-day client contact. Oversee all client PR activity. Ensure the agency’s clients receive strategic and professional counsel and quality service. Management of junior staff.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree, at least seven years relevant PR experience (post graduation)
Send resumes to: sstyons@merrellgroup.com
Feb22010
Stephanie Styons
A warm welcome to Melea Mauldin! She joins the agency as an Account Executive in the Public Relations department.
Melea comes to us from Jackson Marketing Group, a full-service agency in Greenville, SC. In the past, she has provided PR support to BMW, BF Goodrich, Food Lion, and Bloom. With Melea’s solid media relations and event planning experience, we look forward to her helping the Howard, Merrell & Partners team raise visibility for our clients.
We are glad to have Melea, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, back in the Tarheel state.
Jan152010
Stephanie Styons
Congratulations to Laura McAliley for her promotion to Account Supervisor. Since the day she started, Laura has been committed to providing clients with the best public relations support and client service. That effort has helped win awards for the agency and praise from clients. She has earned this promotion. Cheers to Laura!
See her full release.
Jan42010
Stephanie Styons
The year has only just begun and we have great news to share – Claire Howell has been promoted to Account Executive in the PR Department! For three-and-a-half years, Claire has contributed greatly through dedication to her clients, and her ability to think and act strategically.
She has supported a number of account teams including: Georgia-Pacific Professional, Butterball, Resound, INTERTON, Chill, O2 Fitness and Doctor’s Vision Center. What’s more, she keeps her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the industry by serving as an active member of the Raleigh Public Relations Society.
Congratulations Claire
!
Jan42010
Stephanie Styons
Need a New Year’s Resolution? How about being a better communicator? Here are Four Essentials that can help:
1. Be Prepared
Your audience needs to know that you:
- Have confidence in your subject
- Know more about the subject than they do
- Have analyzed the audience and are talking in their terms
- Have a purpose for your message – to inform, to entertain or to inspire
2. Make others comfortable
- Maintain your sense of humor
- Focus on empathizing
3. Be Committed
- Know what you are saying, and why you are saying it
- Care about what you are saying and you will say it well
- Control the space – how and where you move and gesture
- Control the time – your rate of speech, length of remarks, pauses and silence
4. Be Interesting
- Use analogies and help your audience remember key points
- Project optimism and enthusiasm; Others will respond to you
Dec72009
Stephanie Styons
CONGRATS to Rett Haigler on his promotion to Account Supervisor. With client service as his top priority, Rett is truly commitment to helping each one of his clients meet their branding and marketing goals.
See here for the announcement.
Nov242009
Elizabeth Romero
Everyone loves to have the opportunity to hob knob! Well yesterday, several members from Howard, Merrell & Partners’ Public Relations team got to mingle with this week’s Super Star – his name is “Courage” and he will be pardoned by President Obama on the White House lawn this week. This year’s National Thanksgiving Turkey was raised by one of our very own client’s Butterball, LLC in partnership with Goldsboro Milling Company, Inc.
The event, held on the Worley Family Farm, was much fun! Guests included NC Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and other elected officials and VIPs from Butterball, LLC, Maxwell Farms, LLC/Goldsboro Milling Company and Smithfield Foods, Inc. The Worley family, which raised the bird, were also present and were recognized for their vital role in raising the bird.
All local TV affiliates attended as well as several print and radio, and the team is now busy at work collecting information on the media coverage resulting from the event.
Team members photographed with Courage, include: Claire Howell, Emily Packard and Elizabeth Romero
Jul22009
Stephanie Styons
You grab your sweater if the weatherman says it may get cold later in the day. You have gum or a mint with you at the luncheon in case the meal has garlic or onions in it. You bring along an umbrella if they are predicting rain. You hide a spare key under a rock outside your home.
Why do you do these things? Because you want to be prepared…just in case.
In business, this is also important. Is your company ready if/when a crisis hits? A product recall. An incident at a plant. A natural disaster. An industry-wide safety concern. Whatever the crisis, it would better to have a plan in place of how to handle a crisis situation. How do you inform employees, customers and the general public? Do you have the contact information for all the key folks you need to reach? Who is your media spokesperson? Who is the backup for your key spokesperson? What is the protocol for crisis A, B and C?
Some crisis communications plans detail the protocol for different types of crises. Some are just a few pages long and contain the top line info needed to take action quickly and intelligently. No matter how long or short, it is better to have a crisis communications plan in place.
Does your company have one?
Jun222009
Laura Gross
Howard, Merrell & Partners received six Sir Walter Raleigh Awards (two gold, two silver and two honorable mentions) as well as two Best in Division honors. The awards were presented to the winners at the Raleigh Public Relations Society’s Annual Awards dinner, which took place on June 16th at Marbles Museum in downtown Raleigh. The awards recognize outstanding achievements of organizations in the Triangle area public relations and communications industry.
“We are proud to provide our clients with outstanding work on a regular basis. We work diligently to develop and implement strategic PR and communications programs to achieve our clients’ goals and objectives,” said Stephanie Styons, senior vice president, public relations at Howard, Merrell & Partners. “We’re honored. Winning awards like these is a plus since they are judged by a group of our peers.”
Howard, Merrell & Partners received the following recognitions:
Total Communications/Community Relations Campaign
Organizational Identity/Promotion:
Project Gecko Presented by Zilla – GOLD
Miscellaneous Special Events:
CORDURA® Brand Scavenger Hunt – SILVER
Special Event:
Butterball Grand Opening – HONORABLE MENTION
Public Relations Writing
Opinion/Feature Writing:
Butterball Op-Ed – HONORABLE MENTION
News Release:
Humanities Center ASC Conference – SILVER and BEST IN DIVISION
Publications
Open Category:
Project Gecko Presented by Zilla – GOLD and BEST IN DIVISION
The Sir Walter Raleigh Awards honor outstanding public relations work in the Triangle area. The competition recognizes firms of all sizes for excellence in the field.
