The challenge

ReSource Pro had only been in business for two years when it approached Kimball Hughes Public Relations in 2005. The company began as a novel start-up offering a much-needed solution to back office operations for insurance program administrators, brokers, agencies and carriers. They had solid metrics in place to demonstrate a healthy return on investment for clients. But two years in, what they didn’t have was name recognition or industry awareness.

The solution

Kimball Hughes Public Relations began by sharing the ReSource Pro story with leading insurance industry media that served their market, focusing on the company’s expertise and service offerings. The company and its media profile grew. The CEO became a regular contributor to industry media and featured in broad management and business trend stories for media outlets that include HumanResourceIQ.com, Chief Learning Officer magazine and Forbes.

In 2013, Inc. magazine included ReSource Pro in its 500|5000 list citing the company’s 122 percent revenue growth over three years, and annual revenue of $24.3 million. From its Manhattan headquarters, ReSource Pro now manages more than 1,200 employees on two continents and serves hundreds of insurance industry clients throughout the U.S. and abroad. And Kimball Hughes Public Relations is still their trusted PR partner.

The challenge

The Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust engaged Kimball Hughes Public Relations to develop a communications strategy for a five-hospital collaborative in the Lehigh Valley. They sought innovative ways to share vital health information with their diverse communities and improve health outcomes.

The solution

Kimball Hughes undertook a careful process of learning about the collaborative’s vision, goals, resources, opportunities and obstacles, and then created a strategic plan to reach and effectively communicate with the communities in question. The result was a comprehensive report that included an analysis of how the HCCLV audience communicates and consumes health information, as well as recommendations and practical next steps to guide the collaborative in the future.

The challenge

With 33 offices and more than 1,400 agents completing more than $12.2 billion in sales in 2018, Alain Pinel Realtors (APR) was already a Bay Area success story before joining national brokerage Compass in early 2019.

In 2016, their new vice president of marketing wanted to reinvigorate the company’s social media practice, which was uneven following the departure of their long-term, in-house social media manager. They were unsure who comprised their social media audiences and if they were sharing content that reached those audiences. They asked Kimball Hughes Public Relations to create a social media protocol that the company could sustain, establishing best practices that support other public relations and marketing goals.

The solution

The Kimball Hughes PR team began with a thorough assessment of APR’s social media profiles as well as the brokerage’s competitors. We knew it was also critical to understand how other brokerages approached social media in the highly competitive and tech-savvy Northern California market.

We used these assessments to systematize a campaign-based approach to social media. Our refined approach to content curation drew from sources we knew APR’s agents and customers read. We maximized exposure for company news, announcements and events, highlighting volunteerism, fundraising efforts and open houses in a way that was most appropriate for each social network. All of this was done in conjunction with APR’s marketing team, working collaboratively to share the brokerage’s mission and amplify the brand.

As a result, we saw sustained, steady engagement with APR’s posts on all networks—particularly Facebook, during a time when all brands were seeing declining reach and engagement for posts. We grew their Facebook and Twitter audiences by about 500 followers each between April 2016 and April 2019.

But how effective were these efforts to drive real engagement? Here’s one indication: using APR’s social media to raise awareness of its charitable campaign to support the victims of the 2017 Wine Country fires, the brokerage raised $50,000 in donations in just 11 days, which APR matched dollar for dollar.