Blog

Join us in conversation on the topics we believe matter...to our industry, our city and our society.

Your Guide to Creating Fresh Content Ideas that Inspire

By Lisa Hildebrandt | Feb 22, 2022

In today’s digital-first world, consumers are inundated with marketing messages on a diverse array of channels (social media platforms, email, voice and touch technologies, virtual assistants, etc.) from the moment they wake up until the moment they lay down their head at night. These incessant notifications and influencer persuasions – prompting users to sign up […]

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Asking for a Friend: Should I Banish These Phrases From My Lexicon?

By Gretchen Hoffman | Jan 10, 2022

Wait, what? Lake Superior State University recently released its annual “Banished Words List”—the  top 10 misused, overused or useless phrases submitted by people across the world, and the No. 1 offender was a phrase consisting of two four-letter words the university’s judges ruled should never go together, under any circumstances: the exceedingly common “Wait, what?” If […]

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November Feature Friday Round-Up

By Kassidy Naone | Dec 3, 2021

Every Friday on our Instagram, we feature different women-owned, BIPOC or LGBTQ+ Portland-based small businesses. Here are the two amazing businesses we featured throughout the month of November.   Roots Marketplace   Chrisetta Mosley has always had a passion for food. During the course of her career, she started a catering company, gave food demonstrations at local produce […]

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2021: What We Are Grateful For

By A.wordsmith | Nov 22, 2021

This year we realize how grateful we are for the big – and small – things in life! Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Team A.wordsmith!   “I will never take for granted the joy of live music, spring break trips and in-real-life school. Grateful to have all of these back in my life.” Ann […]

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October Feature Friday Round-Up

By Kassidy Naone | Nov 19, 2021

Every Friday on our  Instagram, we feature different women-owned, BIPOC or LGBTQ+ Portland-based small businesses. Here are the five amazing businesses we featured throughout the month of October. (Keep them in mind for your upcoming Small Business Saturday shopping!)  A Yen for Chocolate  When Christina Yen was a young professional working in finance, she had a feeling that corporate life was not […]

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You’ve Hit the One Year Mark: What’s Next?

By Alexes Jones | Nov 1, 2021

The first year of your agency career is a whirlwind. You’re tasked with learning your firm’s operations, understanding its clients and most importantly, mastering those basic but foundational PR skills. It takes months of practice to truly grasp and settle into all of the newness around you. But what happens when you’ve hit that one […]

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The Turning Point: Six Steps to Survive a Corporate Crisis

By Lisa Hildebrandt | Oct 21, 2021

Socioeconomic unrest, the great resignation, and the pandemic have given rise to a pivotal, branding defining time. Now more than ever, an organization’s every action (or inaction) is highly scrutinized, and the critical importance of PR has been magnified. Against this backdrop, PR leaders are called to rethink their crisis communications strategies and guide clients […]

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Taking Out a New Lease (Literally) On Business Life

By Ann Smith | Oct 18, 2021

When I sent the email to our team in the early morning of March 13 of 2020 letting them know that we’d be closing our office for the next 2 weeks, given the suddenly growing concern about COVID-19, I couldn’t have imagined that we’d never return.  What transpired over the next 19 months is hard […]

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5 Steps to Enhancing Your Social Media Strategy and Growing Your Audience in 2021

By Kassidy Naone | Sep 1, 2021

According to a study done in July of 2021, 57% of the world’s population (aka 5 billion people) are active social media users. It has become rare to find a business that is not utilizing social media to grow its audience. With that being said, we have completely moved past the point that social media […]

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3 Tips for Aspiring PR Pros

By Sophia Padua | Aug 2, 2021

As the final year of college approaches for aspiring PR pros, so does the stress of preparing for a career after graduation. Students often fear that they are behind, or that they do not have the experience necessary to land a job right out of school. However, as a recent college graduate who dove headfirst […]

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