Olmstead Williams Communications, Inc.

Olmstead Williams Communications has been named to the Los Angeles Business Journal‘s list of the 100 largest women-owned businesses in LA.

“Public relations is even more important to businesses during economic turmoil,” Tracy Williams, president and CEO of OWC, says in the announcement. “The advent of social media has helped agencies like ours thrive. There are so many more communications levers to pull that opportunities and challenges are growing, making our role critical.”

OWC is a business-to-business public relations and social media firm that focuses on technology and professional services. The company was founded in August 2008, making it the youngest business on the list. OWC generated $1.4 million in revenue in 2010, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Tracy Williams, CEO and president of Olmstead Williams Communications

Successfully marketing your startup to customers and investors can be challenging. The Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) has put together a panel of experts from the PR world to give entrepreneurs a map on how to navigate the world of public relations.

Panelists for “PR for Startups” include IBD’s Brian Deagon, LABJ’s Charlie Crumpley, Truecar.com’s Kasey Soll Pitillo, and Demand Media’s Quinn Daily. They will offer tips on mastering social media and earning coverage in the traditional press and online. Moderating the event are Tracy Williams, president and CEO of Olmstead Williams Communications; and Matt Crowley, attorney, Crowley Corporate Legal Strategy. The breakfast event will take place at Los Angeles’ Skirball Center on Tuesday, September 13.

LAVA is the go-to organization for capital raising. The organization provides forums where entrepreneurs and executives of middle-market companies actively meet and learn from fellow executives, investors, bankers, financial advisers and other providers of professional services.

Tracy Williams speaking at the event last week. Topics included the do’s and don’ts of effective marketing in the current economy.

Broads Circle hosted “Marketing Me,” a panel luncheon about the most effective methods to promote professional services and other businesses this past Wednesday. Panelists included Tracy Williams, CEO and president, Olmstead Williams Communications; Ali Brown, founder and CEO, Ali International LLC; and Merri Jill Finstrom, CCO, HUTdogs.

Joy Chudacoff, founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions and an advisory board member of Broads Circle, moderated the event. Topics included the do’s and don’ts of effective marketing in the current economy and how to create a strategic plan that produces results.

Broads Circle is a prestigious networking organization dedicated to building a network of elite professionals and focused on taking women to the next and highest level in business. The organization brings together women in a variety of industries who share the same career and personal drivers to generate revenue and assume leadership positions.

Throughout college, Nicholson held a total of six internships, from Los Angeles to Philadelphia and from agency to non-profit. Highlights include her roles as a personal assistant and assistant account executive at Skai Blue Media, and as an account executive for Relay For Life of South Philadelphia at PRowl Public Relations, both while completing her senior year of college.

Broads Circle will sponsor “Marketing Me,” a panel luncheon on July 13 at the UCLA Faculty Center addressing the most effective methods of promoting your services and businesses. Panelists will include Tracy Williams, president and CEO, Olmstead Williams Communications; Ali Brown, founder and CEO, Ali International LLC; and Merri Jill Finstrom, CCO, Hutdogs. Moderating the panel will be Joy Chudacoff, founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions, and an advisory board member of Broads Circle.

Broads Circle is a women’s networking organization dedicated to taking women to the next and highest level in business. The circle brings together women in a variety of industries who share the same career and personal drivers to generate revenue and assume leadership positions.

Kaitlen Murphy, managing associate at Olmstead Williams Communications

The Spring issue of Boston College Magazine showcases the appointment of BC alumnus Kaitlen Murphy (Class of 2000) to managing associate at Olmstead Williams Communications.

Murphy was previously with Rogers & Cowan in Los Angeles, a division of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, for more than four years working on top-tier accounts such as LeapFrog, IBM, Ray-Ban, Dos Equis and others. More recently, she switched to the media side and spent three years at two notable Silicon Valley technology publications, InfoWorld and Fawcette Technical Publications.

Tracy Williams, CEO and president of Olmstead Williams Communications, explains some of the biggest pitfalls in public relations and how to avoid them in the latest edition of the syndicated column “Solve Anything with Dr. Mark” for Tribune Media Services.

“We’re not about making people famous for its own sake. We’re about making our clients so much money, that our fees are insignificant compared to the results they achieve through using us,” Williams tells Dr. Mark Goulston, M.D. “We get hired because a company is paying big monthly PR bills to a big agency with no results.”

Williams shares tips such as focus on brief, personalized pitches for specific reporters rather than news releases.

“No top-tier media outlet is going to run your news release anyway,” Williams says. “They have to write their own story, which is why they call them reporters. Let them do their job.”

Other tips: Keep your crisis communications plan simple. You’ll save money, and be more likely to achieve a plan that really works when time is most critical if you simply outline the spokesperson and key contact info. And, don’t forget social media.

“Social media is part of an overall public relations campaign, and any PR firm you talk to should have this expertise in 2011,” Williams says.

Tracy Williams, president and CEO of Olmstead Williams Communications

Tracy Williams, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based Olmstead Williams Communications, shares details about the PR campaign for the USC Stevens Institute and its results in this blog excerpt. The piece is from a larger story in the May 2011 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor.

“We were working with the donor, [USC alumnus] Mark Stevens, who runs a very well known VC in Silicon Valley (Stevens’ firm, in fact, helped give Google its start) and Max Nikias [now President of USC, then head of the engineering department],” Williams says in the blog post. “What they wanted — their vision — was to create something to cross all disciplines. USC always had tech transfer efforts for the sciences, the film school, digital arts, media, and other schools, but they wanted inventors, students, and the community to recognize a single place — the USC Stevens Institute — where they could go for help.”

Olmstead Williams Communications ranks 17th on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual Top 20 Public Relations Companies in Los Angeles list. The firm also is the youngest agency to make this year’s list.

The LABJ also ranked OWC ninth on its “Big Earners” list with an average of $200,000 in fee income per account executive. The firm generated $1.4 million in fee income in 2010.
Since December, OWC has secured three new clients as it continues to grow. The agency also expanded its professional team by hiring managing associate Kaitlen Murphy in January 2011 to help oversee the new accounts. Murphy has more than 10 years experience in public relations, marketing and event planning at agencies in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Kaitlen Murphy has joined OWC to help manage the firm’s new accounts as managing associate. She was previously with Rogers & Cowan in Los Angeles, a division of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, for more than four years working on top-tier accounts such as LeapFrog, IBM, Ray-Ban, Dos Equis and others. More recently, she switched to the media side and spent three years at two notable Silicon Valley technology publications, InfoWorld and Fawcette Technical Publications.

Murphy just moved back to L.A. after serving as director of marketing and public relations for Acoustic Technology, an engineering firm in Boston, and along with her husband is happy to be returning to the West Coast. She has a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in English and Communications from Boston College.