We leveraged media moments and topics of national interest to highlight HEC’s expertise in human resources. HEC spokespeople appeared on Hawaii’s largest news station to discuss the #MeToo movement, age discrimination and equal pay for women.
We also targeted Hawaii business outlets to effectively reach HEC’s primary audience of business leaders. Securing a number of interviews didn’t just raise HEC’s visibility to its primary audience, it also built stronger relationships with reporters, who began to proactively reach out when they needed an expert on HR.
Finally, we focused on developing media opportunities around areas of business HEC wanted to promote. For example, when HEC brought on an expert in organizational effectiveness, we secured a contributed column as well as a speaking opportunity on this topic at a well-attended business event.
Our media relations work resulted in 12 earned media opportunities and one speaking opportunity in 2018. Most importantly, HEC was able to raise its profile in the business community, add 55 new members in 2018 (a 6 percent increase), increase event attendance from 5900 to 6100 in 2018 (a 3 percent increase) and generate a number of organizational effectiveness fee-for-service engagements.
