Meredith Corning is the founder of Meredith Corning PR and Meredith Events based in the Ozark Mountain region of Arkansas. She has nearly twenty years of experience in the marketing, events, and entertainment sector with a niche in the fashion, wedding, and hospitality industries. Her clients have been placed in Vogue, Southern Bride, Inside Weddings, Influential People, Formidable Woman, and others.
Meredith offers media placement, influencer relations, casting, publicity services, copywriting, blogging, messaging strategy, concept curation, and event planning. With a goal of upleveling her clients no matter what phase in their business they come to her, Meredith will push the boundaries and initiate a dynamic mind shift in how her clients see themselves and their work. With a passion for small business, her clients are often creative entrepreneurs. Her down-to-earth personality is what attracts people to her, but her shoot-for-the-stars attitude is what keeps them around. Meredith is a multi-award-winning event planner and focused much of her career in the event arena. Meredith currently offers event planning services exclusively to her PR clients.
Share your background in creating visionary events for your PR clients.
Over the years, I have seen so many masterful ways to create events by some of the best in the industry. I love to use all aspects of an artful production from the design to the food to the entertainment factor. When focusing on an event for my public relations clients, strategy plays a key role in the creative process. There needs to be a clear plan for after the curtain has closed with a mindful path to the public interest. Trends change as the wind blows, so staying up-to-date on what matters right now and in the near or even distant future is considered. All of this to say, assembling the right creative team to pull it together will matter the most for an overall successful campaign.
You are a partner for companies who want to stay ahead of the curve by initiating cutting-edge campaigns that provide a long-term digital footprint. Tell us more.
My professional ethos revolves around the fact that by sprinkling that magic fairy dust across the internet is what makes a well-rounded business. With a focus on content creation, any company big or small can remain relevant by not placing all of one’s eggs in one basket. A broad reach will serve longer than a hyper-focus on, for example, one social media app for all content distribution. One campaign executed appropriately can generate interest for years to come when its wings are spread into the digital space. This includes a company’s own digital real estate, their website, and blog.
How important are nano-influencers and micro-influencers? How have they helped your clients?
Micro-influencers typically have between 10,000 to 100,000 followers, while nano-influencers may have 10,000 or as few as 1,000. This genre of social media stars is on the rise due to the specific communities they have built that can be leveraged with the right brand partnerships. It takes a bit more time for research and outreach, but the results can be highly rewarding. We have gone this route with fashion shows, product launches, and branding campaigns to name a few. Projects with nano-influencers and micro-influencers have reached full potential when combined with both offline and online experiences. Making that in-person connection with influencers builds better relationships and lends credence and credibility to partnerships.
Share your success stories.
I have just wrapped up a project called Influencers Who Brunch with two of my clients. The brunch served as a campaign for Vibrant Occasions Catering’s new mobile kitchen. It was planned as a styled shoot to be used as a visual explainer. We enlisted the help of some of our favorite hometown influencers and it has been making the buzz we needed. Althea Wiles, a master florist for Rose of Sharon Floral Design Studio, came in and flowered the tables and gifted each influencer their own living floral accessory in the form of necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. It was the perfect offline and online campaign with various strategies implemented.
Currently, we are planning a fashion show for Couture by Tess in Nashville, Tennessee, where we will be partnering with several local fashion influencers. This will serve as the launch for the fashion designer’s latest collections. Who better to get the word out than a group of hometown content creators?
Oddly enough, my client, Sydney Rasch, is dual-talent as a photographer and an attorney that co-owns her own law firm. I often include Sydney as the photographer in the vast majority of my creative projects and influencer campaigns are no exception. Even though “lawyer-ing” is her full-time job, her photography talents aid in getting her name out. Everyone knows Sydney in our area!
Thank you so much Jakia and Jules! I love how you ladies continue to support women in business. #girlpower