Hello January! New Year, New Goals
/Happy New Year!
Isn’t it amazing how those three little words can hold so much excitement, expectation and promise? After a tremendous ’22 and a joyful holiday season with my family, I feel inspired and invigorated to set new goals, rise to new challenges and collaborate in new ways in order to make 2023 the best year yet — I wish the same for you!
Celebrating Past Successes and Looking Forward to Big Things Ahead
It says so much about our clients and the visionary talent and professionals we work with all over the country that — even after 20 years in the industry — I can still say that every year gives me new reasons to love what I do. This year, we generated more than 4 million impressions for our clients across print, television and digital media, including lifestyle magazines like Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living, Garden & Gun, and Domino; industry publications like Texas CEO and JCK; and national news outlets like ABC News, as well as local market affiliates.
It says so much about our clients and the visionary talent and professionals we work with all over the country that — even after 20 years in the industry — I can still say that every year gives me new reasons to love what I do. This year, we generated more than 4 million impressions for our clients across print, television and digital media, including lifestyle magazines like Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living, Garden & Gun, and Domino; industry publications like Texas CEO and JCK; and national news outlets like ABC News, as well as local market affiliates.
We traveled to Dallas and Round Top, Texas for The Southern C conference to connect and engage with other women entrepreneurs, and hosted 10 events, including five Masterclasses, informative Instagram Lives, and an exclusive live revenue accelerator workshop with Sallie Holder, founder of The Brimm, an invaluable business coaching resource for women entrepreneurs. Just as the year was winding down, we were honored to be recognized by PRSA Nebraska with an Award of Excellence for marketing consumer products for our work with Red Land Cotton and an Award of Merit for influencer marketing for our campaign promoting the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) partnership of Borsheims and University of Nebraska volleyball player, Lexi Sun.
Within the CSPR family, the biggest achievement of the year was the launch of our sister company, Brand Your Brand (BYB), a full-service content creation firm that produces video and photo shoots that engage audiences across all media. Statistics show that 84 percent of people are convinced to buy a product or service after watching the brand’s video. At BYB, we take care of every detail: from hiring talent and securing locations, to developing shot lists, to executing legal contracts, to shooting, editing and delivering beautifully curated, on-brand visual assets that you can use again and again.
BYB has already had the great pleasure of producing videos for clients including Red Land Cotton and brand partnerships between Simply Southern Cottage and Orian Rugs and Borsheims and The Cottonwood Hotel, and we’re so excited about the projects the future has in store. Follow along on Instagram or contact me about how we can help you Brand Your Brand.
Carolyn Sutton PR team
My 5 Tools for Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick
I actually don’t really love the idea of New Year’s Resolutions — but I do love New Year’s Goals. This time last year, I had a pretty ambitious goal: the successful launch of Brand Your Brand. I also had some proven strategies in place that made me confident that I could achieve it, including never losing sight of why I set this goal in the first place: because I recognized my clients’ need for more video and photography content and I knew I had the best relationships and resources to fill that need. Here are some of the other ways I was able to stay on the right track throughout the year:
Set SMART Goals: SMART Goals have been around forever for a very good reason: they work. A big goal, like launching Brand Your Brand, is made up of thousands of little goals: from drafting a business plan, to developing brand guidelines, to creating a website and social media platforms, to marketing to potential clients. Throughout the year, I broke all these tasks down into Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound goals that I needed to accomplish daily, weekly and monthly.
Write Down and Share Goals: Studies show that we are 42 percent more likely to achieve a goal if we write it down. I write my big goal down, as well as all my monthly, weekly and daily goals and I check in on my progress all the time. I also share them with someone who can help me stay accountable, whether that’s someone on my team who’s helping me achieve them, my husband, who’s my biggest cheerleader, or a trusted mentor or business coach.
Eliminate Friction: Once I’ve scheduled a time to achieve a certain goal, I work backwards to ensure I have everything I need to get the job done in the allotted time. For example, instead of just putting “Location Call” on my calendar, I include everyone’s contact details, a formal or informal agenda with relevant links and deliverables, and anything else I think I may need to ensure a smooth and efficient call that requires as little circling back as possible.
Set Up Systems to Avoid Distractions: I’m a big fan of time blocking – I try to schedule all my calls on one day, outside appointments on another, and deep dives into work that requires my undivided attention on another. I also always try to set my phone to Do Not Disturb during working hours so I only check it once an hour. (I do allow notifications from clients that have something going on that day that may require an immediate response, my children’s school, and any other urgents.)
Assemble Favorite Resources: I always try to keep track of the books and podcasts that give me that extra burst of inspiration when I need it most. Over the holidays, I listened to this audiobook in its entirety…twice! I know I will return to it many times throughout the year. I also always find Atomic Habits and anything by Adam Grant really helpful and I love bookmarking podcasts, like Make Me Known, the Preppy Podcast and How I Built This, that highlight entrepreneurs I admire.
Public Relations Masterclass | 2023
