Twenty years ago, I crammed into the Philadelphia Civic Center with more than 6,000 of my fellow Temple University classmates to receive my journalism degree. After a few years spent working for a newspaper, I came over to the “dark side” and joined the agency world. I’ve never looked back.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how different my job is today from when I was a junior account executive all those years ago. For starters, we now have Internet that doesn’t require one of those AOL CDs. But aside from that, I’ve also been thinking about all the great advice I’ve gotten over the course of my career. Here are a few of my favorite tips:Read full post...

“TheSkimm,” a free email newsletter skimming three to five top stories in the world geared toward female millennials, recently announced it would start pairing up with other companies to bring in advertising revenue. It will do this through strategic “partnerships” rather than typical ads. Approaching its third anniversary, theSkimm has grown exponentially in popularity and recently completed a fundraising push bringing in .25 million in capital from backers like RRE Ventures (Buzzfeed) and Chelsea Handler. While its main focus has been growing its readership, now at 1.5 million readers daily, founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg decided it was time to make theSkimm profitable.Read full post...

Celebrating AB&C’s 40th anniversary at a Mad Men themed party.

Many have heard me talk about how lucky I was to “fall into” the advertising business. Not sure it was pure luck—my dad owned an advertising/PR shop for many years that was located, coincidentally, about two blocks from my office today.

My entry into this business was pretty much accidental. I had given notice at my other job and told the agency I had been working with as a client that I was “talking to some folks.” To this day, I swear I had no appointments lined up, but the agency said, “Well, would you talk to us?” Three meetings later, I was in the advertising/PR world!Read full post...

David Brond, VP/Director of Account Services of AB&C

Wilmington, DE – Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications firm, has named David Brond as its new Vice President/Director of Account Services, effective June 15. He succeeds Michael Gallagher, who retires this month after 27 years at the agency. In this post, Brond will be responsible for overseeing and strategically guiding all of AB&C’s client relationships.

Brond has more than 25 years of experience as a strategic communications and marketing leader in a variety of industries, most notably health care and higher education. His most recent appointment was as Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.Read full post...

The software development training school in downtown Wilmington offers an apprenticeship program that launches new careers immediately upon graduation.

Wilmington, DE—Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, has partnered with Zip Code Wilmington to help launch its new computer coding school in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. With media relations and digital advertising among the key components, the campaign will utilize the agency’s public relations, media, and creative teams. The school will train students to become world-class computer software developers to fill a steadily growing need in the business community.Read full post...

Shawn Kessler talks recruitment strategy with ASPR 2015 attendees.

This year I attended my fifth ASPR (Association of Staff Physician Recruiters) conference. My biggest takeaway: The physician shortage has truly become a real, living, breathing thing that, understandably, has a lot of recruiters terrified.

Rewind to 2011. Chicago. The conference was smaller with fewer attendees and vendors.  You would hear “The physician shortage is coming” and “Take these steps so your health system is prepared” or “These are the recruiters you should be using.” The term “recruitment marketing” was hardly known at that point.Read full post...

Aloysius Butler & Clark is happy to welcome five new Aster Awards into our office. What do these wins mean to us? They mean we develop strong creative for our healthcare and public health clients’ advertising campaigns and websites. The Aster Awards program is an elite competition dedicated to recognizing the nation’s most talented healthcare marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in advertising, according to the award’s website.

Winning creative included two websites that won silver — the American Nurses Association site, promoting its quality improvement indicator tracking system, and the Delaware Department of Public Health (DDPH) site, promoting protecting your skin from the sun. The skin-saving campaign — “Save Yourself” — also took home a gold award for the print and digital creative pieces.Read full post...

As a staff recruiter, you have to target physicians precisely, and then differentiate yourself from your competition — and do it all on time and on budget. That budget may be tight. You may be a team of one. And the physician shortage sure doesn’t help. But you press on.

Because your bottom line relies on the income physicians bring into your organization.

In AB&C’s 10 + years of helping physician recruiters, we’ve seen the challenges you face. And we’ve helped healthcare organizations find and bring in the physicians they need to keep the bottom line in the black.

But even if you can’t hire an agency just yet, we can still help with your recruitment strategy. Here are four areas you should focus on:Read full post...

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Aloysius Butler & Clark is making the job application process a whole lot easier for busy physicians as VCU Medical Center becomes the first institution to include “Apply Using Doximity” functionality. AB&C recognized that most physicians were viewing recruitment-related emails and open positions on mobile devices. Thus, the agency designed VCU’s physician recruitment site – JoinVCUHealth.org – so candidates can click once and apply with Doximity, the largest professional networking tool for physicians and healthcare professionals.Read full post...

Wilmington, DE—Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, earned ten awards in the 32^nd Healthcare Advertising Awards, a competition conducted by Healthcare Marketing Report. Among more than 3,700 entrants, AB&C was proud to walk away with silver, bronze and merit awards in eight different categories.

According to the Healthcare Advertising Awards, entries were judged on creativity, quality, message effectiveness, consumer appeal, graphic design and overall impact. “We’re proud the work we do with our clients meets the high standards of the Healthcare Ad Awards, and that we’re able to compete and win on a national level,” says Paul Pomeroy, Director of Marketing at AB&C.Read full post...

Who is your person? Your most trusted source of information and support? Who is the person you look to for guidance? For me it’s my husband. He’s smart, he’s usually right, and I trust him. (Not so much when it comes to grumpy teenagers or what shoes go with what outfit, but that’s another story.)

For many organizations, being the go-to source of expertise is the premier communications objective. “Make us the thought leader in our industry/region/community. Put us on the map!” It’s said in almost every PR strategy meeting.Read full post...

The Heroin Trap is a New Castle County drug prevention public awareness campaign.

Heroin addiction is not a game. But can a game alert people to the dangers of the drug? AB&C teamed up with the New Castle County Police Department and New Castle County Heroin Alert Program to create a countywide campaign that alerts youth and their parents to the dangers of falling into “The Heroin Trap.”Read full post...

If you’re a B2B company and aren’t blogging on the reg yet, what in the world are you waiting for? While your competitors are blogging to generate new leads, you’re going to become a victim of falling behind. But I get it – you’re busy – and in charge of everything from strategic planning, running the day to day, your social media, answering to the sales department and having to prove marketing’s ROI to the boss-man. But if a blog is done correctly, it can be a powerful lead-generating tool, SEO booster and all-over knockout way to prove your organization’s expertise and knowledge.Read full post...

As a communication major at the University of Delaware, I have endured endless lectures and read countless chapters about the importance of crisis communication. Any public figure, organization, or institution is vulnerable to a “crisis,” whether a serious threat to people or property or a blow to their reputation. Public relations professionals know that the best way to handle crises is to have a plan. Read full post...

The Oakland A’s announced they are hosting their very first LGBT Pride Night.

Indiana could learn something from California, or at least from a member of the Oakland Athletics.

Diversity has been on the minds of everyone in the country this week. Obviously, we have all heard about the religious-freedom law that Indiana just “secretly” not-so-secretly passed. I am positive that if you did not have an opinion one way or the other about LGBTQ rights, you do now. It saddens me that this is where this country is at, and these are the stories in the headlines. I also recognize that even bad publicity is good publicity or at least is creating awareness. Read full post...