Kimberly Allen, Client Success Manager:
What drew you to Red Fan? The people and the culture, first and foremost. The deep expertise in tech related PR. The fact that RF wasn’t “your average PR firm” and instead is a strategic consultancy offering branding, marketing strategy, etc.
Why do you love what you do? I love getting into the storytelling side of positioning and brand development. I also enjoy going deep in interviews with our clients on what drives them and seeing themes we can use to craft the story we tell. I feel inspired when I see their “fire in the belly,” and it makes me want to commit to helping them achieve their goals.
What got you through the lockdown phase of the pandemic? Our sweet dog LolaMay was how we all coped and lots of treks to Estes Park. We went 5x from March 2020 – March 2021! As well as Hop Doddy Family Burger 5 packs, Pad Thai takeout, Cow Girls queso blanco, guacamole and chips, and we joined a masters swim group at our community pool.
What do you do in your free time? We love to spend time outdoors in water, with our dog or hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. My favorite summer de-stress is to take my dog to my neighborhood park in Lake Austin Estates while I stare at the view, wade in the cool water and throw the ball while my dog swims to fetch it.
Favorite Austin activity/past time? ACL and Trail of Lights (I loved SXSW when you could get into clubs for the Sat headliner show and arm bands averaged $40-80).
What are you reading/listening to/watching these days? Book: Untamed by Glennon Doyle. And just finished watching Stranger Things, wrapping Peaking Blinders shortly.
What is one piece of advice that you’d offer to a company considering hiring a PR partner? Look for examples of what they mean about thought leadership strategy. It’s easy to include that in messaging, it is much harder to actually meet client thought leadership goals through strategic positioning and market strategy. Ask for their metrics. How do they track their results for clients and do they actually blend PR and marketing strategy, or do they just talk about it?
