Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Anderson.
Hi Rachel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my career in communications when I was just 14 years old. I was a competitve tennis player at the time and was interviewed for a feature article in my community newspaper. During the interview I let the reporter know that I was interested in journalism as a career one day. He connected me with his editor who gave me a writing test which I aced.
The summer before my freshman year in high school, I was hired on as a columnist at my local paper. My job was to write a column each week about happenings at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Not only did I cover lots of professional and amateur golf tournaments, I wrote features about my neighbors. I also had the opportunity to cover a senior tennis tournament with some of the biggest names in tennis. I interviewed Billie Jean King and Rosie Casals for that article. I still have the clip.
My work as a young journalist got me a lot of attention. It wasn’t long before assignments came my way from the Palm Beach Post, Ft. Lauderdale News Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald. I freelanced for all 3 newspapers during high school. At the time I was also juggling homework and tennis. My interest in tennis led to me being asked to cover Palm Beach County, Florida, news for the monthly Tennis News of Florida newspaper. As a contributor, I had the opportunity to interview both Chris Everet and Steffi Graf.
Once senior year got underway, I started interviewing for scholarships, and one of my many interviews led to an internship at the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida. I was eventually hired to run the weekend assignment desk. It didn’t last long though. Financial troubles led to the station cancelling weekend news and I suffered my first career layoff.
I was quickly hired for a similar job at the CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, and worked there on weekends all through college. I decided to attend the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The campus was just a 90 minute drive from home. I spent the weekdays living in the dorm and drove home every weekend to work. I stayed at my parents’ place.
I graduated in 1993 with a double major in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science. My first full time TV job was working as a news producer at WBBH TV in Ft. Myers. A little less than a year later, I was offered a producing job in Tampa. Between 1994 and 2002, I worked at both WTVT (FOX) and WFLA (NBC).
In 2002, I moved to Minneapolis, working first as a news producer at KSTP (ABC) then KARE (NBC). In 2005, my 15 year career in TV news came to an end when I transitioned to work in marketing and public relations. My motivation for the career change was to have a more normal schedule after the birth of my son.
My transition was a smooth one. I worked first as a publicist for a national media company, then as a senior writer for a content aggregator, and finally as a marketing & public relations consultant for a hospital before starting up my own agency in 2009. That transition happened after I was part of a mass layoff at the hospital.
RMA Publicity is a PR Agency with a specialized focus on working closely with small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, publishing companies, authors and musicians. Since the company’s founding, more than 3,500 media placements have been secured for clients.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting up my own company of course came with challenges. I knew I wanted to provide marketing, PR and writing services to clients, but wasn’t sure how to go about finding customers at first. The answer came less than a month after I secured my LLC.
A book landed in my lap. “50 Years in 13 Days: A Mother Daughter Reunion” was self published by a Minnesota woman and the daughter she had given up for adoption after the two were reunited. I read the book, developed a marketing plan and then created a press kit that was used to secure TV interviews, newspaper articles and radio interviews for my very happy clients. I got a lucky break after their story aired on KARE TV, which at the time was owned by Gannett. The media company also owns USA Today and the paper picked up the story. Just like that, I secured national media for my first client.
With a clear idea in mind about the customers I wanted to pursue, authors and publishers, I began the effort to get my name out there. It didn’t take long before I had potential customers coming to me. In the 17 years I have been in business, I have successfully promoted more than 250 books. I also do campaigns for small businesses and nonprofits.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
RMA Publicity is a boutique PR agency that offers marketing, public relations, writing and media placement services. I have experience executing successful campaigns for small and medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, publishing companies, authors and musicians.
What sets me apart is my experience. Over the past 30 years, I have worked as a journalist, writer, marketer, PR consultant and publicist who specializes in helping clients promote their products, services and events to local, national and international audiences. My focus is on helping clients secure earned media, which is extremely important when it comes to ranking in searches done with artificial intelligence.
Before switching to a career in marketing and PR, I worked as a major market television newscast producer and reporter for 15 years. I also have experience working as a print features editor and reporter, and marketing/direct response copywriter.
What I am most proud of is being able to help clients who didn’t think they’d be able to get attention for what they do tell their stories and get into the headlines.
What’s next?
My plans for the future are to continue building a roster of great clients with important stories to tell.
Pricing:
- Campaigns starting at $500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rmapublicity.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmapublicity1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmapublicity/
