A few weeks ago, my boss came to me with a challenge. He wanted me to find a way to communicate who Fish is and why we’re the best at what we do for someone who has never heard of Fish.
Easy, right? I mean, I’ve been with Fish since September 2012. I’ve explained what we do to countless people. The problem was we’ve grown so much over the last few years. Our franchisee recruitment PR work is still a huge part of our business, but we’re doing significantly more national consumer PR and influencer relations, as well as brand activations / PR stunts and grand openings, among other activities. And our crisis communications practice has grown, too. Despite my long tenure with Fish, I needed to expand upon the elevator pitch, so to say, as the breadth of our capabilities is nowhere near what it was when I started.
But more than that, I had never taken the time to really think about why we’re the best at what we do. If anyone asked, “So why Fish? Why not any other PR agency on the face of the Earth?”… what would I say? I know we’re awesome, but “We’re awesome!” isn’t the response that’s going to convince a CEO or CMO to hire us.
I sat in my office for hours thinking about this. Reviewing our website, old decks and emails, etc. I then contemplated whether I needed to get in touch with somewhere like Plenty of Pixels – Seattle Website Design to update our website, as the longer I looked at it – the more outdated it appeared. But I brushed off my uneasiness and left it how it was until I had a more definitive answer. It was definitely one to think about for the future though. Then I recalled a conversation I had with a fellow conference attendee at the International Franchise Association (IFA) Annual Convention in February. It was after 11 p.m., I was exhausted from a long day and an equally long evening of networking, cocktail parties, and dinners, and I remembered someone had asked me that question before. I was completely caught off guard given that I was sitting in the middle of a casino listening to a cover band – undoubtedly singing my heart out despite being completely spent – so I had nothing prepared. (A PR rep not having talking points?! For shame!) So I had to dig deep. I had no script to pull from, so I told him why I honestly thought we were the best.
I’ll now share that heartfelt truth with you, dear readers. Of course, this is a more well-thought-out version of what I said in the middle of a Vegas casino after a few glasses of wine, but it’s a genuine look at why Fish is awesome.
First of all, we are franchising specialists. From brand building, national consumer and B2B PR, and franchisee recruitment, to local grand openings, crisis management, and cause marketing, Fish understands the nuances of operating under the franchise business model. That’s why we made it our niche – and never looked back. We also give back to the industry we serve. We’ve been a member of the International Franchise Association (IFA) since 2006 and served on the Board of Directors, IFA Foundation Board of Trustees, Supplier Forum, and Social Sector Task Force, among other committees.
We are media relations specialists. Our strategic media relations campaigns consistently land our partners coverage in the most widely read and watched consumer and business outlets nationwide. We love developing creative ways to get media talking about the brands we work with – and, in turn, getting customers and potential franchisees talking about them, too.
Put simply, we’re different than other PR agencies.
- We’re a partner in your business. We view ourselves as an extension of your internal team. So we align our goals with yours and base our success on your success.
- We’re creative storytellers. And that doesn’t mean our work ends when the press release is distributed. We’re persistent in our pursuit to generate media coverage with your target outlets, whether that’s The Wall Street Journal or Franchise Times.
- You get our best team. While some agencies assign employees to your business based on who has time to give, we don’t. We’ve found the best way to structure our agency in order to drive the greatest results is to play to employees’ strengths, meaning you get the best of what we have to offer.
- Collaboration and respect are at our core. We believe these are the key ingredients to a successful partnership. We value working together toward a common goal and recognize that mutual respect for each other and the discipline of PR has the power to build brands and businesses.
- We’re transparent. We take the time to understand your business from the beginning, so we can develop the strongest PR strategies to meet your goals. And if we need to adjust our approach, we’re open and honest in our feedback. After all, we’re in this together.
- We have a network of trusted partners. If there’s something you need that we don’t provide in-house, we have longstanding relationships with agency partners that assist with everything from advertising and digital marketing to website design and legal counsel.
