Jennifer Fortney
Cascade Communications
The Oprah & Today Show Effect: Harsh Lessons in Scaling Too Fast | Jennifer Fortney
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"I got tired of clients calling me and saying, hey, thanks for all the great PR, but we didn't sell enough on the website to pay you.
Key Takeaways
- ◆When pitching a product, lead with the problem and its scale, not the features: Jennifer rewrote a press release for a car safety invention by opening with '85% of car accidents are caused by eating in the car' instead of 'makes eating in the car easier.'
- ◆Ask clients upfront 'tell me your whys' (why you started, why you created this, why people will care) because these are the questions journalists ask before considering coverage.
- ◆Jennifer Fortney lost a client mid-growth because the founder ignored her recommendation to redesign the website before a Today Show segment, resulting in a million visitors and two purchases instead of converting the 250,000 who came during the live broadcast.
- ◆When a fashion and home brand landed on Shape Magazine and Oprah's Favorite Things back-to-back, they had six months to prepare vendors for emergency orders but refused to believe they needed to, ultimately shutting down what became a multi-million dollar company within months because fulfillment failed.
- ◆Jennifer shifted Cascade's model 10 to 11 years ago to cover PR, social strategy, website design, and SEO together because discovery changed when people stopped getting newspapers and magazines at their door.
- ◆For the massage franchise launching multiple units in the Chicago area, Jennifer had to create one strategy just for location openings and use regional media across all of them rather than let impatience push each owner into separate campaigns.
- ◆When pitching media coverage to corporations and startups, Jennifer sets expectations upfront that earned media alone no longer works and that paid, earned, and owned media must work together, with 85 percent of Gen Z getting news on social platforms.
Full transcript
Show
Chad Paris
Welcome to Process Over Pressure, the show for founders and operators who are building something real and need permission to believe it matters. I'm Chad Paris. My guest today thought she was going to be a musician. Then she literally ran into a journalism professor in the college hallway, papers flying everywhere, and her whole path changed forever. She became a journalist, then built one of the most respected boutique PR and storytelling agencies in the entire country. She has Put startups on the cover of Wall Street Journal and USA Today. She's wrote the book on PR for small business twice, and she's been doing her own way for almost twenty six years. Jennifer Fortney, welcome to Process Over Pressure.
Jennifer Fortney
Hi Chad. Thanks for having me on. Great intro.
Chad Paris
Thank you. Glad to have you on. so let's go back to that that hallway. there you are. I'm sure full of coffee and maybe energy drink or I don't even know if we had energy drinks then, but there you there you are going in hallway. Mountain dew, yeah, there you go. Mountain dew. Yeah, that's that was a good one. and then they try to make it better by doing diet mountain dew, which we all know is just as bad.
Jennifer Fortney
Hey.
Jennifer Fortney
yeah, it was called Mountain it was called Mountain Dew.
Chad Paris
so so there you were and you run into your professor and then life as you know it changed. Take us back there.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, you know, it's funny. you were saying that and I I I it was actually on campus. We were outside, literally outside of the school of journalism. and I was walking with a friend and you know, you're talking like this and not looking. I mean, today people are well, you know, walk like this, but I was looking at my friend, chatting with her, and just, you know, boom. And I was helping I said, my gosh. And we were helping him pick up the papers. And he said, You know, you have he looked at me, he said, You have a really great voice. And I said, Well, thanks. I'm I'm a singer in the school of music. And and he said, Well, maybe you should look at news. I think you you could you've got a voice for news. Maybe, maybe come check out a class. So I was unfortunately I was a a little bit bored in the school of music when you're I've been studying it my whole life, but you're in classes with people who've never studied it. And so it it was hard to keep me interested. So I'm taking classes like philosophy and calculus and psychology. I thought, well, you know what? Maybe next semester I'll explore it. So I took an intro class and and I I I really liked it. I thought this this feels like a a an interesting pathway for me.
Chad Paris
That's really cool and and I mean if I'm you grew up in you know singing and being in in music you know, doing music most of your your early life, right?
Jennifer Fortney
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, honestly, today with the competitions and opportunities for people to be discovered, so to so to speak, you know, I I I I wonder, it's sort of my sliding doors moment, if you know that movie, where I could have taken this path or I could have taken this path. And I think s you know, the the ending is you always kind of end up where you're supposed to be. and so you don't question what which path, but I I do miss it. I miss performing. I I try to sing wherever I can. I've sung in professional choirs and churches. People hire me for weddings still, and events. So
Chad Paris
Yeah, I was gonna ask if you yeah, I was gonna ask if you still do that, if you still sing now.
Jennifer Fortney
yeah. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just in the shower in the car. yeah, I I do I I haven't been doing as much solo work as as I would like, but I also run a business. So I I I know I can do it when I have the time and it I feel like my soul is crying out for it. I can definitely do that. but even trying to get involved with theater locally,
Chad Paris
Is that Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
You know, it just doesn't dive so much when you run an agency.
Chad Paris
Yeah, does it do do you feel like like do you look at the music like is that a hobby now for you or is it would you say it's it's kinda like I think you mentioned like it when it cries out it needs it, is or do you consider do you consider it a hobby or or really not?
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, I mean now it is. I I don't I I I I'm not getting paid to do it anymore. So before I I mean even through college and even in the city in Chicago, I had some paying gigs. It was, you know, it was nice. But I I tried to join a band. I was traveling for work and they said, I'm sorry, you can't be in this band because you're just not committed. And I was like, Yes, you're right. I'm committed to getting paid by my full-time job.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
Right. That's that yeah. So yeah, a hobby. you know, I I think if if I ever retire, which who knows, but I think I would I would spend a little bit more time or at least cut back on what I'm doing, I'd probably try to figure a better outlet for it.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
S so, you know, I I asked this question because I I I I think it's I think it's fascinating because, you know, to be a to be a musician, I'm not a musician. I would absolutely make people cry if I sing. Love to sing, but I I'm I make my I'm kinda one of these people make up my own words. Like I I kinda like to do my own own take on it. but it's a creative mind.
Jennifer Fortney
Mm-hmm.
Chad Paris
To to do that. I mean, you you have to be very creative. And and you know, you you run a very, you know, established, very does very well PR firm. Do you think some of that nature or that I guess that gift that you have as far as the creative side is part of what helps you do really well or or help your clients really well on the PR side?
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, that's such a great question. Nobody's asked me before. I I do. when you're singing and performing, there i and even when you're just thinking about a piece you're singing or a show you're in, the character and you're imagining it and you're building it. So it really trains your mind to look at something and then automatically start building on it, which is good and bad. So if I'm in a conversation with a client, I sometimes I have to say, I'm so sorry, my brain is going. I need to let my mouth catch up. because that that's just in my nature to just start visualizing what that picture looks like.
Chad Paris
I would I would think that that would be a great advantage and and probably part of why you've been very successful is because, you know, when in PR, I mean it's a story, right? I mean your brand, whatever, you're you're trying to tell the story of what of of who this person if you're doing it for a person or a company or whatever, I mean that that's what you're doing. So I would see that that that would be something that your clients probably actually kind of a reward to have someone like yourself doing that because you you can't tell a story. I mean music is a story. We're telling a story.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah. I I you're bringing up such great points I've never even thought about for myself is, you know, when when you're singing a song or an aria or you're in an opera, you really have to convey that emotion of that song, whatever language it might be in. So yeah, I would say there are bigger pieces of work that I have sung in that maybe don't have that component as much, but For me, it it it works your mind. I mean, singing is a full body sport, right? And and I think that that work ethic that goes into being a a musician or a singer full time like I was for a long time is has benefited me a lot. A lot, yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. I mean, I I I think I I see s I mean, I just talking to you and and kind of seeing the similarities, like I can see where that really helps to to fine tune, especially when when you talk to people and and that are maybe they're a business owner or or people that don't have that creativity, right? They're they're they're very passionate about their business, like they know it, like they know exactly what they do very well. But if they were to get on a a mic and talk about their business, they would come across a little maybe boring. Not not because the company's boring or what they're doing is boring, but that's not the way their their mind works. And so having someone like you to be able to take the the fiber of who they are or what they're trying to be or what they're trying to convey and be able to articulate that in a way of a story is more appealing to people. Because people don't just people don't buy boring. They buy excitement. That's why, you know, when you look at musicians, like why do we go to these musicians? Because we love the stories that they tell. We love the songs. They they resonate with us. They make us exciting. And so I could see that as as being, you know, very useful. And and maybe maybe people don't look at it that way. I don't know. But I I I'm I'm like this kind of totally makes sense to me.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, I mean, listen, most of marketing is about creating an emotional connection, just like music does, right? And you know, when I would perform, I I hate I I just I don't want to say I hated it, but I was uncomfortable walking out and having people say, you did such a good job. Because I really wanted to just be an instrument, right? I wanted to just be an instrument for them to enjoy. And in marketing, I kind of get to still be behind the scenes, right? And let other people take the glory. But my job is really to help direct them to understand what their brand story is. A lot of founders, CEOs, business owners will say, Well, this is what we do, or this is our product with the features and benefits. This in and they equate that to being their story. Or, or moreover, they might say, this is what we want to be. instead of who are we today and then building on that, right? Like understanding what that vision is, but helping them understand what is your story today and let's see how it will evolve. I agree with you. we get we get people who will say, this is our news story, blah blah blah. We want you to put it out. And I'm going, Eek. No. No, this is There's this is just one of those boring CE or corporate press releases that's put out that nobody pays attention to. And so the way that we write is from the journalistic standpoint where we're actually writing the story. We make it compelling and interesting. We lead in with compelling, interesting points that give a reason for this company's existence or a reason for that announcement. and without setting the scene and that foundation to say, all right, I'll give you an example. So in one of my score classes, I had a gal, she had an invention, it was for the car. And it was her idea was, you know, it'll just make eating in the car easier. And so she sent me her press release and I ripped it apart and I rewrote it and I sent it back to her. And it led with 85% of car cur car accidents are caused by eating in the car.
Jennifer Fortney
Right, so now we've set up the foundation as to why she created the product. She just couldn't package it that way.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
I exactly. I I see and I I I think this is a like brilliant spot that you're talking about right here. And I and I reason I say that is is I think, you know, from where I stand when consulting business owners, this is prevalent not just in their PR side or their marketing side. This is very, very, very prevalent in in their overall company. and and not to say that you know
Jennifer Fortney
Absolutely.
Chad Paris
I always very cautious because I meet a lot of great business owners and you do too that have man, they're they're smart, they've they've created like amazing products or or or they're leading a great company. And so when I say that, it's it's not because they're not very good at their job. It's the fact that they their mind may not work in a way to they can see. Kind of they you you kinda as a business owner, you you kind of get blinder sometimes. And you're focused on what's happening. And then, you know, this this press release is a great example. You this is what I do, I built this, and she's speaking out of a lens of mechanical, like I built it for this and this, this. Well, that's not a story that really resonates for the people that's the consumer that's out there going, Well, why would I want this? But when you lead so eloquently like you did with problem solution. It resonates, right? It's a different hit it's a different impact on Pizza. And I think there's a lot of companies that get stagnant that I see and you they they wonder like why why are we why are we not growing, why we're not moving? And most often it's because who they are, what they want to be, and the message they're getting out is two different things.
Jennifer Fortney
Absolutely. In fact, you know, one of the things I I ask clients right off the bat when we're flushing out story through onboarding is tell me your whys. You know, why did you start the company? Why did you create the product? Why do you think people will care? Because as a journalist, right, these are the questions I'm going to ask you. These are the questions that media are going to ask or want to know before they even consider.
Chad Paris
Yeah. It's a good one.
Jennifer Fortney
looking at it. So if you're not giving them your whys, then you're not going to go anywhere. And you're just spending money on marketing or PR, a press release that is not going to do anything for you. And I think one of the most important things I've been speaking on this quite a bit, I just spoke at a a convention a couple weeks ago or no, my gosh, it's almost been a month now. and what I speak about is the impact of storytelling on your business and your culture. People forget and business owners forget your story, the story that is so compelling about your business, it sets up your culture. It it inspires and can get buy-in from employees, partners, potential clients. That story is everything. your sales team it's what your sales team goes out and brags about talks about it is the cornerstone today of everything and the reason is because we're in a website world and you have to tell also that compelling story on your website and people have expectations so if you're a B2B or B2C doesn't matter people still have an expectation of what they want a website to look like be like How does it resonate with you? And so that story, how do you tell it? Is it is it the same you were telling on social media and in the media, right? That connection is really important. And so for us, it's in it's key, it was key for me to change our model to address those things. So that we understood if we're telling this story in media. We need to tell this story on the website because honestly, I got tired of clients calling me and saying, hey, thanks for all the great PR, but we didn't sell enough on the website to pay you. So I really thought, okay, look, I have to look at the whole consumer or customer journey, right? Of discovery. So you've got discovery and then the websites in the center. If I don't address these things and make sure that the message is consistent and integrated consistent.
Jennifer Fortney
then the whole program fails.
Chad Paris
you you're I I mean we could sit here and talk about this for the next two got two hours because you're you're you're you're absolutely one hundred percent correct. And I I will tell you, like sitting having these conversations, you know, you you and I, we we work in these multiple different companies, and so we get to see a lot of kind of under the hood, what I call sit certain situations. What
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah.
Chad Paris
It it helps us, right? Because we we get to look at what, you know, what's not working, what that and then it the you know, the more the more eyes you have on these different things, the better you can describe the problem and help people. I I think I think the value is in being able to see all these different, you know, things that are happening. And and I speak on this too, and I love what you said because it's not just in the marketing, it's in it's in all of it. Like very often I hear you know, Most common you have a marketing department. Mm most all companies have a marketing department, right? They they do. They have a marketing department. and if you don't have a marketing department, you've got it outsourced or you're using someone. And then you have like your sales or your, you know, your revenue stream, which, you know, well, however you're selling it, however it's coming in, whether it be on online or whatever. And I see this all the time is business owners have if you go and look at all these different places where they're talking about their company or they're feeding this to the, to the, to the to the audience.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah.
Chad Paris
It's convoluted. It's not a unified message. that is the n one of the number one, and I bet you see it, number one problems that I see across companies is the message is just it's spotty. It's it's, you know, maybe this website's where they started and now they use Instagram six years later, and that's teaching a different message than Instagram. And so all these are all over the place. And so when people look, they really don't know what you do. I have no idea. It's mixed signals and it's very common.
Jennifer Fortney
yeah, it's very common and that that it's psychological for your customer, right? Because what there's or and or they may they may notice some sort of disappointment. So if they see a great story and then they go to the website and they're they go, well, that doesn't look credible. There's it, you know, so we've earned the trust and credibility through the media story. But when they go to the website, it doesn't resonate. Now they're just gonna bounce and they're gonna go somewhere else. And they're there they may say, this is a great product. I bet there's another one on Amazon, or I bet there's another vendor, right? Or another company that does this. And so that they're immediately gonna beeline it for somebody else that gives them a better brand story experience.
Chad Paris
Yeah. The the consumer today, w or or whether that's a B to B or a B2C, they're they're still a consumer, they're still buying something, right? Whether you sell them to business, whatever. The attention span and the ability to research products today is like none other. We're living in a time right now where if I see something that I like on Instagram, I you're right, I can go search that and maybe twenty five others out there. Like That's the power that we have in our hands today than we did twenty years ago. And if it but but we have a lot of we have a lot of businesses that are still operating in the mindset it was twenty years ago. And and then they wonder why they're struggling and they wonder why they're they're not moving or or you know, because it's so fast paced. And if you don't have a dedicated team, whether that be inside or outside, someone like yourself that's constantly looking at the new trends and what's happening and and and developing those, you You in a matter of two or three weeks you can be behind.
Jennifer Fortney
gosh, I mean, just look at where we've evolved with search. even now, right? I mean, a majority of people are doing searches in LLMs, but even those are tainted, right? Because the LLM, you know, people don't think about this. It it it right now, it may not be a pure search because if you're in your Chat GPT or Cloud or Gemini on a regular basis, it's learning about you. So a lot of the results that you're going to get back may be skewed. It's not going to be as pure. and and I just saw something the other day that if you people need to turn on search within their LLM to actually bring more rich results. And most people don't know that they need to do that. So
Chad Paris
Yeah, I love it. And you're so and you and it's and it's so real. I mean it's so true. So there there was when we were talking, I I wrote I wrote this note down. I'm looking at it. PR can't stand alone is kind of what I called it. And I thought I thought that was very I thought that was very interesting when you said that and I loved that. and so I was kind of looking and and one of the we we pa I the note that I had is is the Oprah story. And kinda talking about that and and I think it was it was the Cascade three sixty origin, you know, push for the real story, the fashion line that landed on Oprah shape and they could not fulfill the orders. That that little part. Could could we talk a little bit about that? I think that's really
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, I mean, and actually those are two different things. So for them, we were all they were only investing in PR. what we can we can divide the other one up, but for them it was really about preparation. And so I talk to my clients all the time and I say, if we do this, are you prepared? How are you gonna staff? Or how are you gonna fill orders? Have you talked to your vendors, your partners, all of the things? Because I knew.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
As soon as Shape Magazine was the first one to say yes, boy, boy. And and then Oprah's favorite things that year, they just boom, boom, boom, boom. I couldn't get them on the phone for five months because they didn't actually believe me when I said, You better be ready. And you better tell your vendors, we may be making emergency orders, be prepared. They didn't do that. It was a multi-million dollar company. I mean, it was a million dollar company within four, five, six months. Multi-million dollar company. Ultimately, they shut it down because it was too big or too stressful or whatever it is. And that's such a loss because it it was an inspirational clothing and home lifestyle brand before its time, ahead of its time.
Chad Paris
It is.
Jennifer Fortney
And it probably inspired a lot of other companies that came after it. But because they weren't prepared, I mean they could they could have a hundred million dollar company right now. Right. But because they failed to prepare, you know, they they could manage it.
Chad Paris
Sad, yes, yeah.
Chad Paris
I I think that's I think that's a lot of people. You know, we we you know, I think about when I hear that story, I think about I do, I think about you know, single entrepreneurs, people who are are brilliant, they've built something, they have something, and they step into that that world of, okay, we wanna we want this thing to grow. And most common most common thought process is, well, I've got something really good. I just want to start seeing the revenue come in. Because because nobody wants work for free. I mean, I get that, right? And and we do. So we we go from like we spend our day just speaking freely here, entrepreneur, we spend our day figuring out how can we start getting revenue. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that's wrong, but what we what we often neglect is what I call the middle. and the middle is the processes, is the how we structured if we start going. And and it happens a lot.
Jennifer Fortney
yeah.
Chad Paris
where something will take off and the next thing you know you have fulfillment orders or you have your clients calling and knocking your door down and you can't get to all of it because the process in the middle is broken or never developed or are not in place. And you you have to walk away from jobs or you don't do a really good job fulfilling them, which is going to be a bad review and looked at, and then you you're not going to you're not going to keep that same consistency.
Jennifer Fortney
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you'll always be chasing clients at that point. Yeah, I agree with you. And excuse me, that even for myself, I mean, I experienced unexpected growth in during COVID. And coming out of that and that the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program was very helpful. I knew exactly what I needed to do to support that growth. And so I immediately spent my time doing
Chad Paris
Happens all the time.
Jennifer Fortney
Processes, identifying what my needs are, right? For growth. How do I support this growth? And I need to address it now to build that foundation, then get stuck in it later and be overwhelmed. And so even for me, those processes have been super incredible and important to my growth and Cascades growth.
Chad Paris
So I I do I do a little little deal where I I like to talk to new entrepreneurs about a about a process. I'd love to know your thoughts on, you know, people that are, you know, maybe they're not, you know, at a hundred million or or more, but they're but they're starting out and they're you know, this they're doing well. what kind of advice would you give? I know you speak a lot, like when when people are in the room, like what kind of advice do you give for for companies when they're Maybe they're they're not they're they're scaling or maybe they're they're not as scaling as fast, but like some of the guidelines are like remember this, what kind of advice would you give
Jennifer Fortney
Well, I think I just gave you a cautionary tale, right? And and and I do use that one quite a bit because instead of just giving the advice, I'm I'm setting up a story that is a true story and there's emotion in it because you can see every entrepreneur go. She's right. It could have been a hundred million dollar company if they had just prepared and got those had those processes put into place. And they had months to think about it. You know, back then, with a magazine, you had six months to prepare for these things to come out. So they had the time, they just didn't do it. And a lot of I think a some people will say, I know how to run my business and I know. Okay, I'm just giving the recommendation. But when I tell that story, you see light bulbs over everybody's head in that room.
Chad Paris
So I'm gonna stop you because you said something that I that is right on point. People say, I know how to run my business. There there is a there is a sense of pride, and I get it. I'm just just just being real here. I see it all day, you do too. And and I and you're absolutely right. You can run it. That's not what you're saying, nor do I say. You can run it. But the problem is, is that if you don't It goes back to the blinders. If you're not willing to stop and say, Hey, I need someone to check my six here. Am I am I doing the right thing? Do I have some gaps? Do I have these things? That's where you have to be willing to have people come in. Not because here's the fear. Let's just be honest. The fear is that someone's going to go in and say, you're failing at this, or you're not doing this, or you're not doing this. And then we start taking it internally and personal and saying, Well, I'm a failure. That's not what we're saying. That's not what these people are saying. If you don't have people that will help you and look at that and go, You you you have a you have a you have a deficiency right here. And and you be able to accept that and go, How do I fix it?
Jennifer Fortney
Right. I mean that that I tell people all the time when you if you think you want to be an entrepreneur, you better be really sure because it is an emotional journey. It it requires vulnerability and you have to check your ego. You are not the smartest person in the room all the time. I had an an another client who great product, brought in a a a great team of people. We were all experts. I mean, she had somebody in logistics and somebody in man in manufacturing and me in marketing. And her downfall was she wanted to build the team, but she didn't want to listen to us. So when I got them on the Today show, we had about six weeks before they were going to be on and I said, you look, we really need to rework this website. this design is dead. It doesn't say anything. It doesn't capture people. There's no brand story. They said no.
Chad Paris
Hm.
Jennifer Fortney
So we're watching in real time as it airs in four time zones, the segment that they were in. They had 250,000 people come to the site and two buy. Over time, they had a million people come to the website and no one bought.
Chad Paris
Wow.
Jennifer Fortney
So, and and and so I felt at that point in time, right after that happened, I said, look, if I'm here as an expert, if you're not going to listen to me, help you, because it's I'm doing it in your best interest, then I can no longer be of service to you.
Chad Paris
And and that's and that's the reason why you bring someone like you in. I mean, the reason that you're there is not to be I mean, I I I I want people out there listening that I don't care if you're a small business, I don't care if you're starting out, you you you're doing $250,000. If you're not willing to have people, you know, when you when you ask me or you you you ask Jennifer, say come in, you trust us that we're not there to make a mess your company up. We're we're bringing some experience and things that we've seen in and best solutions. It's the the place that we come from, you come from is to be helpful. Like I want your business to grow to a hundred like every one of these stories that you're talking about, your intentions was to do exactly what happened, to grow them to the biggest they can. And it did. Like you fulfilled your side and and you gotta be willing to listen. And I I it it it is and it's not just small entrepreneurs. Listen, I I've worked with companies that are one hundred and fifty, two hundred million dollars that do the exact same thing. So it's not it's not a this is a problem not just with small companies, this is a problem with big companies too.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, I mean that concept of bringing outside thinking feels scary for the reason you had mentioned before. But what I wanted I I want to remind people is this is what I do. I am in the weeds every day on it. I am learning more and more. I'm staying top of trends that maybe your team doesn't stay on top of. I've had conversations with corporations. where I have actually wowed them with honesty, right? Because I like to set expectations up front. If you think you're coming into this market or another market and you think you're just going to get all of this media coverage, well guess what? Media's changed. And that is not the case anymore. You need you need to have a paid, you need to have really this idea of paid earned and owned media for sure. And that combination works together. I mean, I was even talking to them about you know, 85% of Gen C get their news on social media platforms. So if that's where they're going, then you better start creating some videos that reflect this news story. And and I said, and we've done this before for a client where you know I get to use put on my journalism hat with like press on the side. And I get to go and interview people for a story and and they can put it on the social channel. And so it feels like an authentic story. It really is a true story, right? It's just that the way that we're telling it feels more a little bit more like not not so much like marketing or an advertising. It's it builds more credibility. It's it's got more human interest to it, you know, it really captures people.
Chad Paris
Yeah. It's authentic. It's real. It's it it resonates with people. That's that's yeah, it's so so true. So, as we kind of, you know, get in toward the end, w one of the things I I would love to do and I I did it purposely toward the end of it instead of the beginning of it, and probably be like, Well, that's kind of weird. We used to do it at the beginning. W could you could you tell people a little bit about exactly what you do?
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah.
Chad Paris
now that we've kind of gone through that, I I I'd like to do it at the end sometimes.
Jennifer Fortney
Think I think that's a great idea because we skipped over the concept of PR is not enough, right? So Cascade started as a traditional public relations agency. as I started getting more involved in tech startups and then Google's opened in Chicago and I'm going there and learning and all these things. I I I'm putting the whole package together. I started and integrated, I was trained to integrate, started and integrated, went To PR, which has some integration, right? You might do events and you might now do social media. So it feels like it's more integrated than just the common perception of what public relations is. But from my standpoint, it with the changes in media, the shift in consumer consumption of media, and where they learn about things, you know, every Demographics different. You know, you've got a generation that lives on Instagram, you've got another generation that lives on Facebook, and another one, you know, it it kind of TikTok. And and so we have to cover all of those areas from the standpoint of search and visibility, discovery, even, right? How did they discover you? And so again, it right now, if if you're not finding people coming to your website as much. This is I literally changed my model what 10, 11 years ago. I didn't even know we were gonna get to this point. But the model works for this time where we really address not just the PR, but we'll do the social strategy. We look at the website. So from a brand marketing or a brand story perception, we cover all of those bases. And for us. You know, people don't get the newspaper at their door anymore. They're not getting magazines. So the idea of discovery has shifted. And now it's it's shifting again with LLMs. And so we have to stay on top of those trends. And we are we're tasked to guide our clients in either learning it, transitioning into it, or growing through. So yeah, PR isn't PR is not enough, but
Jennifer Fortney
What we offer, I I would say we don't we're not super full service. We know what we do well from PR brand design straty strategies and and website design SEO were very dangerous. We have really trusted partners that we bring in who only do other things, whether it be video or digital advertising. And and and I I I think being a super full service agency. is too much, right? You can't you can't it's like you can do a lot but none of it well. And I just I really wanna keep us, you know, centered on our core.
Chad Paris
Yeah, I I love that. So so the those of you are listening and you're like, Well, you know, sh she makes some great points. Let me let me just let her tell you just a couple of of brands or a couple of things that she's actually promoted that's gone on to be very successful. I'm giving her this is her little bragtime. Just so you think, you just got somebody on here to that talks good. But there she's got a little bit of pr when when she tells you a few of these names, you'll be like, well, I've heard of that.
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
Well, and actually, I mean, I might mention a few, but I'll talk about some of the other ones sort of generally. so I launched the Apple Teeny. and as I tell people, if you love the Apple teeny, you're welcome. If you don't, I'm so sorry. but it went on at the time underground and we really we kind of knew about it, but we didn't really know about it at Gym Beam was this kind of
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
interest in mixology, right? So it they're sort of like drink chefs and they would work with chefs to create a drink that would partner with an appetizer and you would really see these in the very high-end restaurants especially in Chicago. So when the Apple Teeny came out it was almost as if it gave that whole concept and the burgeoning baby industry of mixology the approval to move forward. And then after that, all of these other companies started bringing out flavored vodkas and flavored this and flavored that and flavored, you know, it it really launched an entire, you know, it it launched two industries really.
Chad Paris
Yeah, so if you're out there and you love like the the vodka with the f infused flavors and all that, you can think this lady right here because that's where it started.
Jennifer Fortney
I mean, I'm not gonna say it did it all, but it definitely, I mean, once it showed once that drink showed up on Sex in the City, you know, everything just went crazy after that. Game over. so trying to think of a couple other there is a very successful franchise, wellness franchise, massage franchise, it probably gives it away.
Chad Paris
Game over. Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer Fortney
and they were launching all of their units here in Chicago area. and and it it's tough when you're doing a lot of them and kind of opening. So we had to have one strategy just for the locations, just for their opening. And then we had to say, okay, how are we gonna best use regional media to benefit everyone? And there was a lot of impatience, like people wanted to be in it today, and we're like, you gotta wait until these other 12 units, 15, you know, give it some time. And once they once they actually saw the plan work, like play out and work, then I started getting messages. I understand. I now I understand. Thank you for being patient with us and, you know, kind of dealing with our our frustrations. because again, they are business owners or right, or they or or they're High net worth individuals who decided to buy into a franchise, they don't know marketing. Right. So that education along the way. most of them are still open, which is fantastic. And I think that they several of the owners did so well that they actually opened other locations. So I love that story. and then another one, gosh, I mean there's so many. and I've I've mentioned a few. Another one is a former athlete. he was a professional running back in the NFL. He retired after a knee or an injury and but he was still working out. so he created a set of headphones that would not fall off your head. And he would do parkour in these videos, you would see him. And he he's an NFLer. He doesn't know running a business or marketing, and so he was really looking. To me and another gal, he put us together on his team to help drive him forward. And so to be able to get him a face-to-face meeting at USA Today with a front page story, as well as an online video and so many other things. that was really satisfying for me because it's not just a brand like we've worked with like Essie Johnson or Red Bull. You know, we've worked with really big brands. If this was somebody, an entrepreneur who really
Jennifer Fortney
wanted to see and start his the next chapter in his life and we could help him. Yeah.
Chad Paris
I love it. I love it. And that's what I love about you know, just getting to know you. Like you you have a true passion to see companies grow and help people. And that's I that's why I I I like to have I'm I'm the same way. I love that. That's like that's great.
Jennifer Fortney
That I mean, listen, and you have to have something to fulfill you. And I think a lot of agencies, they just do the work, they show up, they do the work, they go home, they take the paycheck. But I'm I I really feel and I love my team that I've been able to put together. We're very invested in doing it well and making sure that they are successful. That is that is the greatest gratitude, the greatest moment for us that we can have.
Chad Paris
Agree.
Chad Paris
Agreed. I love that. So I've got the we got the rapid fire questions. These are gonna be like three or four questions I'll pull out here that we'll do rapid fire. You just get to kinda answer right off the bat. You don't get to think about it, just go. Okay. You ready?
Jennifer Fortney
Yeah, okay.
Chad Paris
All right. Rock rock chalk chalk I'm sorry. I messed that up. Rock chalk jayhawk. Best thing about being a q K U grad in one sentence.
Jennifer Fortney
yeah, that's a hard one. In one sentence, maybe with commas, I I mean fantastic basketball, beautiful campus, friendships, and a fantastic education. just a great experience, yeah.
Chad Paris
Perfect. Love it. One book every entrepreneur should read.
Jennifer Fortney
think and grow rich. Mm-hmm.
Chad Paris
Chicago deep dish or real Parisian croissants.
Jennifer Fortney
killing me. Well, I'll tell you, Giordana or Pequads in Lincoln Park is better than all of them in Chicago. And there's only one location. and a great croissant. There's nothing better than a great croissant. And I just discovered a perfect croissant in in Chicago and Argyle in Uptown at La Pan 3. I will promote them.
Chad Paris
Okay. Okay. And the last one. Wha what does process over pressure mean to you?
Jennifer Fortney
Mm. Processes reduce pressure.
Chad Paris
Amen. Love it. Jennifer, thank you so much for being on the show today. What a great what a great guest you've been. I've really enjoyed it. and again, as always, Chad Paris with Stonefly Consulting, process over pressure. Until next time.
Jennifer Fortney
Thanks, Chad.
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