PR firms unite to help small businesses bounce back from natural disasters
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Communication professionals are leveraging their expertise to help raise awareness for businesses in need or those impacted by natural disasters.
Driving the news: Following the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, several communication and PR firms united to form the LA Strong Comms Coalition to support small businesses that had been affected.
- The 40-member coalition is made up of freelancers, boutique agencies like JSA+Partners, Karsha Chang Public Relations and Hustle & Co, and big firms like Zeno Group and Weber Shandwick.
Zoom in: LASCC has secured over 30 media stories for its pro bono clients in the past six months, helping businesses recover.
- For example, This Girl Walks Into A Bar secured a feature on the "Today" show in May, and within 20 minutes of airing, sales driven by the story paid for two months of warehouse fees, says owner Jordan Catapano.
- A local TV segment led to a significant uptick in online sales and in-store foot traffic for PlayLab Beauty, which lost its office and inventory of Korean and Japanese beauty supplies in the Eaton Fire.
Zoom out: Many community PR chapters provide pro bono support to charities or nonprofits in their regions.
- For example, every two years, Washington Women in Public Relations picks a nonprofit organization to provide with free communications and PR support.
- This year, it has partnered with Running Start, a nonpartisan organization for young women running for political office.
What they're saying: "As a society, the news cycle moves quickly but many small businesses are left with nothing and need to pick up the pieces after the cameras leave," Jennifer Stephens Acree, founder and CEO JSA+Partners, told Axios.
- "We saw this with the LA fires and it will likely be the same for the victims in the terrible Texas floods. But with sustained media relations, PR professionals can continue to highlight how resilient business owners are rebuilding," she added.
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