Portfolio
Click through these categories to see our extensive line of work.
Public Relations
National Media
We secured prominent placement of a bylined article in Inc Magazine, published MLK weekend, for Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa to amplify his vision and CTA for a more inclusive community.
We amplified Think|Stack’s positioning in the credit union industry as the go-to expert on cyber security with a series of media hits over several months in response to multiple cyber breaches including podcast interviews on CUBroadcast.
In an effort to increase awareness for Baltimore’s innovation ecosystem, our founder secured Baltimore a spot in Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of top start-up cities.
9 Hot Startup U.S. Cities That Aren’t San Francisco or New York
Two federal government veterans of the Obama administration joined forces as a team with the Day One Project to create policy recommendations to guide digital transformation within government. We raised awareness of their innovative ideas with regional and industry media coverage including FedScoop, Washington Technology Magazine, and Washington Matters.
We secured a homepage featured brief announcing Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa’s recognition as a EY Entrepreneur of the Year winner in the Mid-Atlantic.
As the nation faced an increasing number of cyber attacks, we secured our client, Chris Sachse, as an expert source for ACBJ for an article that published in papers across the country.
To help attract new business to the greater Baltimore region, this article in Site Selection magazine highlighted the region’s proximity to federal installations and agencies including the NSA, Social Security and the US Cyber Command at Fort Meade, which in 2013 announced its planned expansion from 900 to 4,900 troops and civilians, as well as the highly-educated talent base and higher concentration of IT professionals than Silicon Valley or Boston.
Following several pieces of coverage including a segment on WJZ and a feature in Washington Life Magazine, Southern Living wrote an article about Kitty Paws, a self-care subscription business founded by MD 8 yr old.
A profile of Nevins & Associates President, David Nevins, in Southwest Airlines’ Spirit Magazine increased national awareness of the Baltimore-based PR and public affairs firm.
We pitched Fearless CEO, Delali Dzirasa, for a series of interviews with an editorial team that distributes content among several national digital platforms including Thrive Global, Authority Magazine, BuzzFeed and Entrepreneur. Delali was featured in an article about leading in turbulent times, sharing how his company pivoted during COVID-19.
Local Media
When Chesapeake Therapeutic Riding (CTR) bought a farm to establish a permanent location, we provided media relations support to bring attention to the evolution of the organization, including the Aegis, Harford Magazine and the Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore’s largest software development firm Fearless commissioned a series of murals for its main hall and new large conference room as part of its expansion at Spark, a co-working space located at Power Plant Live, to ensure that those often left unrepresented in technology fields can see themselves on the walls and imagine themselves in this world. We helped secure coverage of the artists installing the murals and the finished product resulting in coverage from the Afro, Baltimore Sun, Technical.ly and WMAR.
To leverage the 30th anniversary of GEDCO, we arranged for multiple features including a profile in the Baltimore Sun.
When The Cordish Companies donated space to HACK Baltimore, we secured an exclusive with the Baltimore Sun’s Lorraine Mirabella. We worked with the Cordish PR team to coordinate a joint press release, interviews and talking points. The announcement was picked up by Technical.ly and The Daily Record.
A feature article in the annual Enterprising Women publication produced by the Baltimore Business Journal profiled Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s CEO Violet Apple. The article was part of a larger campaign to help the Girl Scouts reposition themselves as a leader in programs designed specifically for girls when the Boy Scouts announced their new effort to recruit girls.
VTC founder Gary Antonino was a featured guest on MPT’s State Circle to highlight the programs the VTC offers veterans.
When the VTC opened its 4th center in Philadelphia, we coordinated media attendance and coverage of its grand opening which resulted in coverage in multiple tv, radio and print outlets.
To promote a new series of angel investments in The Black Brain Trust, we secured coverage in local publications including Technical.ly.
We worked with TEDCO and our client, Truvelop, to promote TEDCO’s investment in the performance management app, securing a feature story in Technical.ly.
We worked with St. Mary’s Outreach Center to build awareness for how the digital divide impacts seniors struggling to live independently and navigate services that are mostly only available now virtually. We secured coverage on Baltimore’s three major television stations WMAR, WBAL and WJZ.
When Baltimore City experienced a crippling cybersecurity attack, we positioned local cybersecurity firm Think|Stack as an expert source, securing media opportunities for the firm’s CEO Chris Sachse.
When Hutch held the grand opening of its new space, we secured attendance by all major news outlets.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, NCIA had to quickly pivot to provide its vocational training program virtually to ensure its participants- returning citizens, homeless veterans, and low-income individuals- could qualify for employment quickly. The VTC provides training in industries considered essential such as HVAC and automotive- and has employer partners ready to hire. We secured media coverage to amplify their story to drive funding and awareness to expand their capacity to serve.
In response to the expiration of the COVID-related federal eviction moratorium, we secured multiple interviews with GEDCO leaders and clients.
Placed Media
In response to the BBJ’s investigation into the effectiveness of MWBOO, we secured placement of an op-ed written by Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa and Phil Croskey, CEO of Maryland Energy Advisors.
In an effort to elevate Truvelop CEO Lisa First-Willis’ brand recognition, we secured a bylined column in the BBJ.
In an effort to drive attendance at Baltimore Mediation’s virtual training workshops, we pitched and secured a series of columns in local business publications including the Baltimore Business Journal and The Daily Record. These columns looked at how mediation training can help businesses with facilitating difficult conversations and fostering inclusive, safe spaces for employees.
Help Desk: Mediation can help you to create a more open, diverse workplace.
When credit unions and businesses across all industries were impacted by the Microsoft Exchange Server attack, we secured a featured bylined article written by Think|Stack CEO Chris Sachse that broke down the threat, potential scenarios to consider, as well as short-term and long-term solutions. This positioned Think|Stack as a leading expert in cybersecurity for credit unions and community banks, a key target client base.
In response to the unified uprising across the nation and around the world following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, we secured a bylined article in Entrepreneur Magazine for Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa to share his perspective on how the tech industry can use technology for good. The goal of the article was to establish Delali as a thought leader, and to build brand recognition and recruit tech talent for Fearless.
The Tech Industry Can Be an Accelerator for Change. Here’s How.
We nominated and secured Fearless’ Chief Growth Officer as a featured contributor for GovLoop to further establish the company’s brand visibility among government agencies, resulting in the opportunity to regularly publish thought leadership pieces on the well-read site.
To support CSIOS’s goal of establishing national recognition as a cyber thought leader, we secured a bylined article in SCMagazine.
In alignment with Nemphos Braue’s business development goals targeting entrepreneurs and the innovation community, we negotiated and managed a robust paid content campaign with Technical.ly, a digital media outlet focusing on the innovation and tech industries. The campaign included 5 articles about founders, their challenges such as intellectual property or acquisition deals, and how Nemphos Braue helped them navigate and grow.
Entrepreneurs, think it’s too early to engage a legal partner? It’s not..
In an effort to establish Ey3’s COO as a thought leader in the DC area, we secured a bylined column in the WBJ.
Events & Awards
In an effort to elevate Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa’s profile among a national audience, we supported his nomination and application process to earn recognition as one of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalists.
Working towards the goal to expand Fearless’ visibility in the tech industry beyond Maryland, we secured a panel about increasing equity in government contracting at the Black is Tech Conference.
To position Truvelop in front of potential customers and elevate the CEO’s profile, we secured a spot for CEO Lisa First-Willis on a panel about company culture hosted by Technical.ly Media.
To build awareness of Hutch, a Baltimore-based incubator for entrepreneurs of color, we nominated them for GBC’s Bridging the Gap Mentor of the Year Award.
We nominated Ey3’s Terry Bazemore for the BBJ’s 40 under 40 to help establish his brand identity in the local market.
Fundraising
Business Development and Public Affairs
The Herbert J. Hoelter Vocational Training Center was founded in Baltimore in 2017. The VTC opened a center in Charlotte, NC in January 2020 and will open centers in Raleigh, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in 2021. To date it has served more than 1200 homeless veterans, returning citizens and opportunity youth, providing 15 weeks of vocational training, and 12 months of 1:1 case management assisting with barrier removal to ensure job placement. Despite incredible accomplishments and sustainable impact, the VTC did not have strong brand awareness or positioning to support additional public and private funding.
We created a business development and public affairs strategy to help the VTC’s Director build relationships with business leaders, government agencies and referral partners. The strategy has resulted in dozens of meetings, appointments to committees focused on returning citizens, invitations to join several influential boards, funding opportunities equaling more than $500,000 and collaborative programs with new referral partners.
Leveraging the Board
Like many non-profits, especially small organizations, The Tender Bridge struggled to develop diversified funding strategies that could help build capacity to grow. With a fairly new – and young – board, and no paid staff, the organization did not have any expertise to develop a fundraising strategy.
We facilitated several training sessions for the board to learn how to leverage their personal network to build awareness for the organization and identify opportunities for support through grants, sponsorships and individual donations.
We provided the board with a growth strategy that included a step-by-step guide and a timeline along with materials to be shared such as an informational one-pager and a sponsorship sell sheet. [both attached to be included as samples] Initial meetings resulted in introductions to several potential donors, foundations and invitations to apply for funding.
Online Giving
Using #GivingTuesday as a model, our founder created the Give S’more Challenge to leverage the annual National S’mores Day – Girl Scouts created the s’more in the early 1900s.
The initial challenge included an online giving campaign, social media promotion, and a s’mores-making competition among top cookie sellers and camp counselors. It evolved over three years to include a larger peer-to-peer fundraising campaign and corporate team building day at one of GSCM’s camp sites. The campaign raised $3,500 in its first year, $8,500 in its second year, and $15,000 in its third year.
Fundraising During COVID-19
When Maryland joined other states and countries in a stay-at-home order and social distancing requirements due to the global pandemic COVID-19, the Zaching Against Cancer Foundation, like non-profit organizations throughout the state and around the world, had to quickly pivot and develop new approaches to fundraising.
Event fundraisers like their annual Living the Dream Gala represent 80% of their annual revenue. In addition to a significant decrease in revenue, ZACF experienced an increase in request for support from cancer patients and caregivers.
Unlike most healthy Americans, their immune-compromised clients struggle to do even CDC-approved tasks like go to the grocery store, but the economic impact is even greater because without work or benefits, many of our clients will struggle even more to pay bills, or access critical care or much-needed wrap-around support.
We created a virtual campaign that included emailed appeals to previous donors and promotions on social media as well as matching dollars from long-time supporter Petit Cellars – the campaign raised more than $7,000 in critical funds.
Content Marketing
Consistent Blog and Social Content
Many start-ups founders find themselves juggling all areas of the business, learning a little about everything but becoming a master of none. Not to mention the lack in expertise and time to commit to effectively doing it all.
As founders struggle to develop the product, beta test, build a team, secure funding and attract customers, developing brand messaging and generating content critical to building awareness, establishing credibility and driving SEO, can be low on the priority list and become a chore overlooked or lacking in inspiration.
Career HR executive Lisa First-Willis, CEO of Truvelop, an HR tech company, recognized the value of content marketing. Without a large team, she found herself re-writing or writing the content herself and managing interns, using time that could be better spent focusing on product development, sales and attracting investors. Lisa turned to C3 for support, writing 2-3 blog articles per week and working with Truvelop interns to draft and plan social media content. With additional expertise in PR, C3 can leverage the content to establish expertise through media placement.
Outsourced content support
Notre Dame of Maryland University relies on our ongoing support to provide content as needed including blog articles, press releases, and feature stories for its alumnae magazine.
We provide outsourced support for the university’s small communications team to continue to publish robust, engaging content for its students, alumnae, donors, family and friends.
See the following articles:
Establishing credibility and brand positioning
A strong content marketing strategy can be critical to business development, establishing a business’ areas of expertise and thought leadership that influences credibility and brand positioning.
For Maryland government affairs firm, Old Line Government Affairs, this included frequent blog articles, paid content opportunities, a podcast, and placed content with industries, associations and clients, to break through the noise of a very competitive industry.
Sample Blog Article:
Insight 2020: Leadership Changes
Paid Content Campaign:
Old Line Government Affairs: Client Focused. Bi-Partisan Access.
Generating Social Engagement with Key Target Audiences
HACK Baltimore is creating a new model for social innovation. This city-wide technology movement aims to break down silos and bridge the gap between Baltimore City residents, community leaders, city agencies, businesses, and non-profits to facilitate difficult conversations around deeply-rooted, systemic challenges that have resulted in health disparities, digital inequity, barriers in access to financial capital, and disadvantages in hiring and advancement.
We conceptualized a talk show-style video series featuring interviews with some of Baltimore’s brightest, grittiest, passionate and committed residents and leaders to have frank conversations around what it will take to make a real difference in Baltimore. Conversations with Dionne and Delali can be viewed on Facebook and Instagram, and have helped HACK Baltimore build connections between Baltimore’s business and community leaders.
Ghost Writing
For many businesses, creating consistent content is a challenge. Establishing the company and its talent as thought leaders is an important component of a PR strategy but writing a blog article, op-ed or column can take time. And not every thought leader is a strong writer – to be successful in having an article published, it has to not only be written well but also tailored for the publication’s readers.
We support many clients as ghost writers, learning about the subject matter, creating a story angle, drafting the article in the author’s voice, and pitching the piece for publication.
See the following examples:
Click here to read a sample bylined article
Click here to read a second sample bylined article
Click here to read a bylined, paid content article
Click here to read a sample column
Click here to read a second sample column
Click here to read a published op-ed
Freelance writing
Our founder Kristi S. Halford serves as a freelance writer for I95 Magazine.
See the following articles:
Brand Identity & Marketing Strategy
Branded materials for business development
As a young, three-year-old start-up, Nemphos Braue was positioning itself to become the premier boutique corporate law firm in the mid-Atlantic.
With a new business development director, the firm was poised for growth and needed branded materials to use with prospect clients and marketing events.
We worked with our vendor partners and created a suite of materials including one page firm overview, attorney bios, e-newsletter template, branded giveaways, pull-up banners and branded tablecloth.
Developing a marketing presence
The Herbert J. Hoelter Vocational Training Center is a program of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, a 43-year-old non-profit based in Baltimore County. The VTC had little brand awareness in Baltimore despite its incredible successes in just three short years – it has served more than 500 homeless veterans, returning citizens and opportunity youth.
As it prepared to open centers in other cities along the East Coast, the director recognized a need for a marketing strategy to help improve brand awareness and positioning and establish credibility among its various stakeholders and partners to help drive funding and expansion.
Working within the NCIA branding requirements, we worked with our vendor partners to create a series of videos, suite of materials including a brochure, fliers, pull-up banner and branded tablecloth, as well as create dedicated social media channels for the VTC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Click here to view the pull-up banner
Click here to view a one-page informational sheet.
Click here to view Rack Card