pub·lic re·la·tions – noun

The practice of managing the public reputation or public-facing identity of an individual, company or organization.

PR is all about connection. Connecting people to a company, to a mission and to a message they resonate with. At Switchboard, this is what we stand for.

There are over 20 PR agencies in Vancouver, and Switchboard is neither the largest or the longest-standing among them. What we are is nimble, scrappy and willing to try non-traditional communications tactics. If an organization is looking for bulky strategies that are fuzzy, theory-heavy or require someone else to get the real sh*t done, Switchboard is not for you. Come to us when you’re ready to take action, whether that includes overhauling the copywriting on your website, or attracting the eyeballs of your target audience through the media. Sure, we could tell you how to get results, but then we have to watch from the sidelines while someone else has all the fun…

What can our clients expect from us?

Industry expertise – Our team consists of media strategists and communications specialists with expertise across a variety of industries and company sizes, from startups to larger organizations. We’ve worked with nonprofits, tech companies, public and private organizations. They range in the industry but share an unwillingness to settle for the norm. They push boundaries and, like us, are on a mission to change the world for the better.

Measures that are more than vanity metrics – You have business goals and we’re here to help you build communications strategies that hit your measures. Before the start of every campaign, we familiarize ourselves with your business objectives and set KPIs to measure the performance of the project. This is more than the number of unique clicks a social media post gets. Whether our clients want to build brand exposure, get featured in high-profile publications or throw a community event, we bring it back to the why and how the strategy we build will generate real business results.

Adaptability – We don’t come in and disrupt your team workflow. When it comes to project execution, we bring our expertise and integrate into your team’s process that fits with your approach. Our clients’ success is our success and we personalize each interaction to fit with their comfortability.

Connections for business growth – We’re in PR and, naturally, have wide networks. A direct result of our work is more industry connections that we share with our clients because building relationships is a part of what we do. We want our clients and their business to grow and succeed, so we help them build a network that they’ll benefit from even beyond the work we do together. Whether we work on a project for a few months or a couple of years, our goal is to have our clients’ thrive with and without us.

Transparent billing – We’re transparent about what our projects entail, what we’ll deliver and what you can expect. We’ll give you an in-depth proposal so you know exactly what you’ll be spending. And we’ll be honest from the get-go—we won’t be your cheapest option. We have a team of experts and we provide our clients with a collaborative approach to hit your business KPIs with the work we do.

And who are we?

We’re a team of media relations specialists, designers and content strategists. We may be small, but we’re mighty and we get sh*t done – with the results to back it up.

• Kathleen Reid, Founder and Managing Director
• Mike Northfield, Project Coordinator and Graphic Designer
• Patricia Beckerman, Digital Strategist & Communications Coordinator
• Karda Rolland-Berge, Communications Assistant and Office Manager
• Catherine Dunwoody, Senior Media Strategist
• Sim Tatla, Content Strategist

Have questions relating to PR? Let’s chat over coffee. You can also sign-up for our monthly newsletter to get the latest on what we’re up to.