Jenny Fuerst
Director, Corporate Communications
With more than 10 years experience, Jenny supports business development, marketing and internal communications efforts for Fahlgren, Inc. She has served a variety of business-to-business, business-to-consumer and non-profit clients in building brand awareness and creating industry thought leadership programs, including a recent “Best of Show” award from Central Ohio PRSA. Outside work, Jenny is involved in the community, having served as the immediate past vice president of fund development for the Ronald McDonald House Young Professionals Board in Columbus. She is also a member of the Central Ohio Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), a Business First Forty Under 40 award recipient, and a member of the current class of Leadership Worthington.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Addition of veteran communicators broadens expertise

As part of its expanded commitment to meeting the needs of clients interacting with all levels of government, Fahlgren Mortine is increasing its public affairs staff as well as continuing to broaden the scope of its full-service offering.

“The interaction between the public and private sectors is growing more and more complex, and the ability to communicate clearly and effectively has never been greater, ” said Neil Mortine, CEO of Fahlgren, Inc. and president of Fahlgren Mortine. “The additions and changes we are making position us as the leading agency in Ohio in helping public and private organizations work together.”

For more details, please view the complete news release.

photo credit: Manicosity

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Acquisition Doubles the Firm’s Digital Capacity

Today, Fahlgren announces that we’re acquiring GRIP Technology, a leading Web design and technology development firm located in Columbus. Its services include Web application development, Web site design and development, e-commerce, e-mail marketing, intranets, extranets, search engine optimization and marketing, and strategic Web consulting. GRIP is co-owned by Scott Sanders, Dustin Leggans and Bill Kiefaber.

“It’s no secret that the online world is growing, and our clients are asking for more and more digital work from us every day. It’s an integrated part of virtually every campaign we create,” said Neil Mortine, Fahlgren, Inc. president and CEO. “We are thrilled to be able to double our capacity in this area. GRIP is a natural fit as they complement our team, and we already have a great working relationship. We’ve been sharing clients and projects with them for more than two years. We’re impressed with their offering and client service and delighted to welcome them to the Fahlgren family.”

“Our business model is very client-centric,” said Scott Sanders, founder and president of GRIP and the new leader of Fahlgren Digital. “When I founded GRIP in 2002, I set out to develop a digital agency that was committed to helping its clients reach their business objectives, not just build great Web sites. Technology is only a tool, one part of the equation. It’s our goal to offer more than just great online creative and coding; we provide solutions to meet business objectives. Joining forces with Fahlgren, which shares the same client-centric business model, we can now offer our clients the full support of a leading, independent full-service agency.”

 For more details, check out the news release.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

I think we have to admit that we were a little surprised by all the responses to our recent blog post on grammar pet peeves, which even got coverage in Ragan’s PR Daily. The page views, comments and shared links have inspired us to develop a series dedicated to good grammar. You ask; we deliver.

With 140-character limits, text messaging, and all the other instant forms of communication these days, it’s still as important as ever to be grammatically correct, no matter which style you follow. As PR pros, we’re trained as journalists and mostly write for journalists, so we generally follow the AP Stylebook. But, Fahlgren Mortine is part of a full-service communications agency, and as such we often work with advertising copywriters. We understand creative writing and know there are times to take creative liberties. In addition to news releases and story proposals, we’ve also written marketing collateral, speeches, white papers, Web copy, community reports, and even ad copy.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

“This Best of Show award reminds us that TV continues to be a powerful medium for connecting with target audiences. Traditional advertising is not dead; it’s not an either/or. It’s about the art and science of selecting the right mix of channels to run great, engaging creative that connects and engages your target audience,” said Pete McGinty, President, Fahlgren Advertising.

 ”As a leader in the central Ohio advertising community, we’re reinventing ourselves everyday while staying dedicated to developing unique and insightful campaigns that not only gain recognition from our peers, but most importantly, move the needle for our clients.”

Get more details on the campaign and the other ADDYs we won in the full news release.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Neil Mortine and Kathy Cupper Obert

Fahlgren, Edward Howard to Join Public Relations Businesses

Alignment Forms Independent Powerhouse:

Largest Firm in Ohio and Top 30 Nationally 

The acquisition, which joins the capabilities of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations and Edward Howard, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2010 although integration and coordinated new business and marketing efforts will begin immediately.

Check out more details of today’s exciting announcement in the news release.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Thank you, Columbus C.E.O. readers, for voting Fahlgren Mortine as Central Ohio’s Best PR Firm!

According to the magazine, we won by a two-fold margin after tying for first last year.

For the second year,  Columbus C.E.O. asked its readers about the things that make Central Ohio’s business scene great. Ballots ran in the June and July issues and on the Web site asking for opinions in 70 business categories, including best place to hold a conference, best place for an after-work drink, and best place to buy office furniture.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

News From The Top

Neil Mortine, president of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations, has been named chairman of Fahlgren, Inc. The move is in conjunction with the announcement that current chairman and CEO Steve Drongowski will step down at the end of the year and remain a consultant to the business. Mortine will be named CEO at that time.

For more details, click through to the news release.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

For those who like lists.

In case you missed it, you might want to check out the April 13 issue of ADWEEK and April 27 issue of PRWeek, both include their annual agency rankings. Fahlgren Advertising moved up the ranks from 99 to 91, while Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations jumped 10 spots from 80 to 70. Both lists are based on revenue.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Fahlgren Mortine clients would refer a friend.

We just completed our first annual satisfaction survey of our more than 50 clients. The results are in, and we want to share them because — even though there’s always room for improvement — we’re pretty proud of what we found.

Of the 55 survey recipients, 36 answered our 27 questions hosted by Zoomerang. We asked for rankings on our professionalism, quality of work and accountability — the three pillars upon which we are evaluated individually twice a year.

Overall, based on a Net Promoter Score average of 15 for professional services firms nationwide, Fahlgren Mortine scored a 79! That means on the question “How likely would you be to recommend Fahlgren Mortine to a professional colleague?” eight out of 10 clients gave us a “definitely would recommend” rating of 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. And, the rest gave us a score of at least 7, which according to the NPS model means we have no demoters of the firm.

We scored really well on demonstrating professionalism in our work with 81 percent of respondents scoring us a 9 or 10, in addition to good scores on promptly attending meetings and returning calls. Our writing and media relations work products earned high marks, which we’re thrilled about because those two offerings are why most of our clients seek a public relations firm.

But, if quality writing and media relations are why clients hire us, our strategic thinking and understanding of their business are why they become fans. For strategic thinking, we’re pleased to report that 60 percent gave us a 9 or 10 while 72 percent gave us a 9 or 10 on understanding their business. 

It seems we need to do a better job of introducing our clients to our other offerings most notably investor relations, crisis communications, corporate responsibility and community relations. Click here to learn a little more about our capabilities in these areas. 

We are happy with these initial numbers. They far exceed industry averages, but as self-proclaimed bar raisers we’ll be striving for better next year.

Thank you to our clients who took the time to thoughtfully complete this survey for us. Your input is valuable and serves as our guide as we look to continually enhance our service offering by providing our associates with the professional development opportunities we need to continue to grow.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

A special holiday greeting from your friends at Fahlgren and Fahlgren Mortine