May 9, 2019
By: Elizabeth, CMH
How does one go about launching a public relations and marketing agency? Like any good entrepreneurial story, I saw a need and went for it.
But let’s start at the beginning. During my college years, I hustled and got a lot of different marketing, communications, and PR experiences under my belt. My first internship, which turned into my first full-time position out of school, was with a non-profit organization in Eau Claire. I worked in the development and PR office of a rehabilitative homeless shelter serving western Wisconsin. I received a lot of experience managing the fundraising and donor development side of communications and public relations work. From there, I made the move to Wausau to manage the corporate communications for a senior care resident and employee engagement solutions company. In both of these roles, my experiences taught me that I loved tackling messaging, marketing, and public relations challenges. The work was exciting and interesting to me.
As I worked in this role and grew my network, I kept seeing small businesses and nonprofits struggle to tell their story. It bothered me as these companies had great products or services to offer, they just weren’t hitting the mark with their communications. Small opportunities began presenting themselves. Opportunities that let me assist companies in developing solid strategies and tactics. Soon, my phone was ringing with more requests from businesses wanting assistance. From there, the snowball continued to roll. I put a plan together and launched Aplomb PR.
Throughout the past ten years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with companies and organizations with amazing stories to tell. These are stories that people need to hear. From assisting a national author and well-known choreographer in her organization’s fight to end the sexualization of children through dance, to the City of Wausau’s economic development initiatives that position the community as a great place to live, raise a family, retire, or own a business. We’ve helped a woman take her hobby for baking and make it a career, and have project managed Google’s Wisconsin Safety Roadshow public relations efforts to protect kids from online predators. The list goes on and these stories are compelling and important.
That’s the thing. Every person, business, and nonprofit organization has a story to tell. And we live to figure out the best way to tell it.
What else is special about Aplomb PR? First and foremost, we have the best office mate. He goes by Brewster and his official title is CNO, short for Chief Napping Officer. He’s a rescue coonhound from our local humane society who has become our team’s right hand guy. When he is not napping or pawing at me for food or a walk, he generally lends his support and poses for cute pictures.
In addition to Brewster and myself, we have a great support team in place. My husband Trevor is a high school Business and Marketing teacher and tennis coach. When he’s not doing that, he offers assistance primarily with our video editing and social media. We love to travel, spend time with friends and family, and support all things Wisconsin, including the Packers, Badgers, Brewers, and Bucks, and cheese. Lately, we’ve been spending most of our free time preparing to welcome our first child into the Aplomb PR family.
We also leverage the talents of a few other local and regional marketing and design rock stars. From superb graphic artists to web designers and editors, we bring these people to the table when it makes sense for projects and client needs. We love our extended team and take great pride in the quality of work our small agency is able to pump out.
That’s a little bit about us, our story, and how Aplomb PR came to be. We’d love to connect with you. We invite you to follow our blog for marketing, social media, and public relations tips, advice, and experience. You can also connect with us by checking out our website aplombpr.com, following us on Facebook @aplombpr, or by emailing us.
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