FAM Tour: The PR Magic of Collaboration

In the Public Relations world, we often work to promote single brands, or single businesses, but when several come together to collaborate and promote their town for the sake of tourism, everyone wins. It’s why we pulled together a group of powerful community stakeholders to host a FAM tour to promote Townsend, Tennessee.

Topics:
event, media pitching, tennessee, business retreat, MarketingPR, whiskey, Fletcher PR

#MsInterPReted - 19th Amendment at 100: Where are Women Now?

It's Women's Equality Day (Aug. 26, 2020)! One-hundred years ago, women earned the right to vote in the U.S., by taking charge, stating their case, taking to the streets over decades, and pushing for the accountability of the vote.

As ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- giving women the right to vote -- celebrates 100 years and included a significant role for East Tennessee (with one determined mother of a young Tennessee legislator), Kelly and Mary Beth mark the significance of Fletcher Marketing PR's East Tennessee roots, its focus on lending voice to the power of women, and just how much women still confront in seeking equality, 100 years later ... including in the Public Relations industry, which is female-dominated.

Topics:
tennessee, marketing, PR, public relations, kelly fletcher, mary beth west, #MsInterPReted, equality, women, 19th Amendment, womens equality day, vote

#MsInterPReted - Coronavirus & the Community Hospital Impact

The coronavirus impact continues to infiltrate the globe … and the “new” front lines of the battle are beginning to emerge in smaller, more rural communities.

But are those communities prepared with health systems that can respond? In the U.S., the fact is that in huge swaths of non-metropolitan, smaller communities, the answer 10 years ago would have been “yes,” but today, the answer may be a definitive “no.”

For one smaller community immediately south of the Knoxville, Tennessee DMA, in Blount County (Maryville / Alcoa), citizens are fortunate to have a well-sustained, forward-thinking hospital that's addressing the crisis head-on and in a well-planned manner (full disclosure: #MsInterPReted co-host Mary Beth West serves as a volunteer on the hospital’s foundation board).

On this episode of "Ms. InterPReted," two top administrators from Blount Memorial deep-dive into challenges and concerns smaller communities and their health infrastructures face, across Tennessee and the nation – particularly in the face of COVID-19.

Topics:
business, Fletcher, tennessee, PR, public relations, #MsInterPReted, planning, coronavirus, continuity, crisis communications, COVID-19, Blount, community, Blount Memorial, Connie Huffman, healthcare, hospital, Blount Chamber, Don Heinemann