We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carrie Freitas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carrie, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Starting my own PR consulting business in my mid-twenties seemed crazy to a lot of people. It seemed like the natural choice for me, though, even though I’d only been at big agencies for four years after college. I knew that staying at an agency wouldn’t satisfy me — I couldn’t get the personal and professional growth and evolution I wanted in that environment and I had no time for the politics. I was looking for creative freedom and the ability to be in alignment with my values of authenticity and transparency. I also wanted to cultivate deeper, more collaborative relationships with clients. Even though I knew it was the right move for me, I was nervous as working from home wasn’t really a “thing” yet – this was the mid 1990s – and I didn’t have a specific business plan. That said, in my usual can-do, forge-ahead way, I let my previous agency colleagues know I was available for freelance work and just got rolling without thinking about it too hard…which was a good thing as, if I’d thought about it too much, I may have given myself the opportunity to talk myself out of it, give in to imposter syndrome, or simply cave under the pressure. Because I’d established a proven track record of netting great publicity for my clients in the past, and a solid reputation as being easy and fun to work with, I quickly found myself with enough work to fill my client roster. And it’s continued to be a great, 30+ year ride since then! My advice to anyone thinking of striking out on their own is to do it. You can always change your mind later. Forge boldly ahead with confidence and the proverbial road will rise up to meet you!

Carrie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My business, Kitchen Table Marketing + PR, is a mid-sized, full-service marketing firm with superpowers in publicity, content development, marketing and events. We are generalists, meaning we love working with all kinds of clients, from nonprofits to shopping centers, from med tech to restaurants, small businesses and more. We handle both B2C and B2B clients with equal passion and skill. Our team is known for being wonderful to work with. We get amazing results, develop close, collaborative relationships with our clients, and are 100% invested in our clients’ success. We are well respected by journalists because we truly understand their needs and what makes a good story and we deliver on that, every time.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele has been to provide world-class results and service to our existing clients. When your clients are happy and successful, others notice and ask them for their secrets to success. Our clients have been so generous in sharing that our firm is one of their secret weapons. As a result, all of our clientele growth has been from referrals.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We’ve built our reputation in our market by being authentic and operating in integrity at all times, no matter the situation. We are completely honest with potential or current clients when things aren’t a fit — and we find them the right-fit partner, even if it isn’t us. We don’t propose any strategies or tactics that we don’t fully believe will deliver ROI. When things aren’t working, we surface issues and work to solve them versus trying to rationalize or explain away results that don’t hit the high mark we set for ourselves. We put our money where our mouth is, supporting our clients with our business, as well — whether that is donating to our nonprofit clients or patronizing our clients’ businesses ourselves. On the PR side of things, we hold journalists in the highest esteem and treat them as valued clients. We only pitch stories that we know are legitimate and have value and don’t waste any journalist’s time with half-baked, too-commercial story ideas. We love what we do and that shows in everything we do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kitchentablepr.com
• Instagram: kitchentablepr
• Facebook: kitchentablepr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kitchen-table-marketing-pr/about/; https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriewilliams2/