We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Kafka. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Michelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

As a public relations (PR) and marketing professional, I find sometimes there is confusion about what PR is, what value it brings to an organization’s marketing mix and what the clear return on investment is. ​​Despite being often associated with crisis management, PR offers more to a company than just that.

PR is great to help with brand building. Efforts like thought leadership, media relations, speaking opportunities and awards all help position an individual or organization as an authority within an industry and a trusted source of expertise and resources.

There are many indirect paths with PR so when you are not fully aware of what the options are and why you are doing it, it becomes confusing. The return on investment isn’t always as clear and measurable as pay-for-play advertising, but the results from PR efforts can often be more trustworthy and impactful to your audience than a paid advertisement.

Michelle, 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 grandfather worked in communications for NASA giving updates to the media about launches and other progress reports. When I went to college I wanted to do a similar kind of work, but I wasn’t exactly sure in what capacity. I applied for some internships and received an offer from a magazine and a public relations firm. I decided to take the public relations firm position. I ended up really enjoying what I did there and decided to pursue PR professionally.

After my initial internship, I was interested in learning more, and that led to my first job where I was media training pro athletes, pitching and getting coverage for really cool products, and being mentored by some amazing professionals. It showed me that I was in the right industry for my skill set.

Now I am the COO and Account Director at Kafka Media Group (KMG), a national, full-service, boutique integrated marketing firm specializing in companies and brands ranging from technology, health and entertainment. KMG’s focuses include building brand awareness, creating and refining messaging, and relationships with the media for companies of all sizes and verticals through traditional media relations and multimedia strategy.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

One of my favorite marketing/PR case studies that is a good example of how PR can positively impact brand building and awareness is our work with Turquoise Health.

KMG began working with Turquoise Health, a startup working to simplify healthcare reimbursement, in 2020 prior to the company’s official launch. The goal was to build brand awareness and help convey its message to the public: there’s a market for price transparency.

We worked closely with Turquoise on a comprehensive PR strategy that included media relations, thought leadership, conference speaking opportunities and award nominations

As a result of KMG’s cohesive PR efforts, Turquoise Health currently leads the price transparency conversation and is looked to as a source by all top-tier consumer publications and industry media outlets.

As of March 2023, Turquoise has been featured in over 566 articles in 409 outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Modern Healthcare, NPR, and Kaiser Health News. Turquoise has since secured millions in funding and is seeing impressive company growth

Turquoise is all around an excellent example of how a strategic communications plan can help launch a company from a startup to a key industry player.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

An important aspect of PR is building meaningful and lasting relationships, not only with an audience or media but with the client. Part of the service we are providing is an open line of communication and support to clients. We sometimes work with organizations that have never done PR before, so they need a trusted expert to help navigate communication and messaging.

We check in regularly with clients with bi-weekly calls to make sure we keep them updated on progress and answer any questions. It’s important for the client to be involved in the process. We also check in with weekly and monthly progress reports, so communications with all clients are frequent— which helps foster loyalty. Our clients feel comfortable and trust us to handle their communications and branding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kafkamediagroup.com/
• Instagram: @kafkamediagroup
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KafkaMediaGroup/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kafkamediagroup/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: @KafkaMediaGroup