Marion, Montgomery, Inc.

Tonight our own Cindy Marion will be joining some of the brightest business leaders from Houston and surrounding areas for the announcement of the 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award.

Sometimes when we think of entrepreneurs, we think of those first starting out, fearlessly venturing into the unknown. But over twenty-three years into that journey, we find that Cindy and the rest of the MMI staff are all still full of the adventurous, entrepreneurial spirit.  Her “whatever it takes” attitude and innate ability to find the right people for the job have helped MMI thrive.

A few Cindy-isms to inspire:

Is it providing unquestionable value?

Don’t ever assume.

Ask not “Is it reasonable?” but “Is it possible?”

Congratulations to all the finalists and nominees!

It is event season. I’m not just talking about the kind with pumpkins, but events that fill us with knowledge, food, culture and community pride. We definitely have the festive spirit here at MMI as it seems everyone is busily promoting, planning, organizing some community-inspired shindig.

In the summer we brace ourselves for this time of year when our clients’ programs kick into high gear – culminating into events that serve and inspire their customers and sometimes get them together to enjoy the beautiful weather.

From the Vintage Park Harvest Festival, flu shots for US Family Health Plan members, MD Anderson’s Sugar Land Open House, TIAA-CREF’s Distinguished Medical Educator Award Dinner to the Sugar Land Town Square tree lighting ceremony —no matter what the occasion they’ve all got heart. Often at MMI, it is our job to fuel its beating.

At MMI we’ve completely, totally, and fully embraced the reinvention of our industry (a.k.a Brian Solis’ PR 2.0). And thank you Lauren for sharing your thoughts on our book club! Let me tell you it takes a lot of reading and research of the latest tools to do this, but we do it because it is fun and we understand that this knowledge and know-how will yield the best results for our clients.

We want to show them that the tools of the trade have changed how they can communicate with their public. While this revolution of our industry has our heads buzzing, we will never lose sight of the basics. And since lists make for good blog reading, here is mine on how we deliver good PR at MMI.

1. We will get to know you and your business so that we may be knowledgeable communicators of your products/services/people.
2. We will get to know our media and bloggers, read their articles and blog posts, so that we fully understand what they would want to know about you and why it matters.
3. We will work to create the most effective programs to elicit response and action from your public.
4. We will show you how to use social media and implement best practices so that your efforts build community.
5. We will build positive relationships with your customers, influencers and the public on your behalf.
6. We will bring new ideas in support of the tried and true approach so that you always stand out.
7. We will always measure the results of our programs.
8. We will never make guarantees regarding media coverage.
9. We will always think beyond the launch or introduction, because good PR builds support and interest over time.
10. We will demonstrate why PR is still one of the most credible forms of marketing.

For years I have worked with our clients at MMI to transform their websites into something sleek, shiny and functional. We peel back what’s standard and expected and recreate so that the real quality and content behind the coding can be seen. Each time I step through this process, I give examples of previous work and show what we can do, but I have begun to refer to our own agency website as the bad example: we were the cobbler’s children with no shoes. We’ve been so busy making great sites for our customers that we put our own needs on the back-burner. We’ve outgrown the old website and it’s time to make something new to celebrate how we’ve grown.

So we made it a priority. We’ve knocked it down to the beams and rebuilt. We want the MMI website to be a true depiction of our talent and our business. We want it to be beautiful in design, but beautifully functional by design. It’s been optimized through and through so that it is more searchable. We’ve integrated our social media efforts to case studies, linked up to our Twitter and added this blog. Go ahead and take a look around. We’ve been walking around in our new shoes for few days now and I’m really excited about the new look.

Home Sweet Home

Everyone who works with me at MMI will tell you that I’ve said, “Blogging is not my thing.” Yet, here I am with a post to help initiate the new MMI Blog! I’m excited about our new website and blog and all things MMI. I’m back after a three-year hiatus working on the client side of communications only to realize an important truth. It is good to be back, in the mix, on the creative side of things, where the people with whom I work  are truly amazing at what they do. What is going to make this blog interesting are the stories behind the craziness and fun of meeting the exciting challenges of our clients. We plan to take you behind the scenes, in the trenches, to the inner workings of a full-service agency whose promise is to deliver unquestionable value. That’s no joke to the insiders who have done everything from filling holes at groundbreaking sites to producing (on a shoestring budget) an Emmy Award-winning public service announcement (PSA) campaign seen by more than 7.5 million people. We’ve danced to Elvis music at 5 a.m. with Lanny Griffith, debated the perfect shade of Minute Maid orange for magician assistants’ dresses, and provided interns with head-to-toe toy soldier uniforms for Christmas tree lightings.

We do what it takes to make our clients/events/programs a success. The reality is that this kind of activity happens around here on a daily basis. It is our culture. To be an MMIer, you have to be an overachiever at heart.

For me, it is home sweet home.