Our services

 
You wouldn’t buy inventory, borrow money or hire employees without a well-researched plan. The creation and care of your communications strategy should be no different. We at Hoggan believe in research, measurable objectives, sound strategies and proven tactics.  Whether we’re learning about your stakeholders, improving your own communications capacity or engaging third party endorsers, we’re always working to ensure your story is clear, your messages compelling and your reputation is good and getting better.

Our range of services might extend to all or only parts of this process. We review existing communications plans, design primary stakeholder research and analyze results. We facilitate workshops to create a customized communications strategy and to refine key messages. We set out clear and measurable objectives, suggest effective strategies and tactics and identify target audiences. And we help create audience specific communications programs. Then we set timelines and follow up with a process to evaluate how well the plan has worked. We believe you should be able to measure our performance, even as we’re measuring your success.
 

 
If the word “government” makes you twitch. If “neighbourhood consultation” sounds like a certain kind of torture, the Hoggan team is here to turn your world around. Creating good relations – within your communities of interests and at every level of government – can be critical to the success of your business and essential to the strength of your reputation. The Hoggan team is adept at facilitating public consultation programs that ensure that our clients’ projects earn the community and government support they need – whether the issue is a minor rezoning or a major infrastructure project. Our services in this area include: public opinion and focus group research, strategic positioning on public issues, media relations, message and presentation development, open houses as well as other forms of community involvement with government and stakeholder groups, and online consultation and reporting.
 

 
The best crises are the ones that never happen: the calamities you head off through thoughtful planning; the catastrophes that no one notices because you handled them with skill and composure.

But crises still occur. Even after participating in the Hoggan Crisis Planning Program, even after auditing your risk factors and preparing a full crisis plan, you might find that accidents happen. On such an occasion, you’ll appreciate the speed, the bench strength and the experience of the Hoggan team. You’ll see quickly why ours is one of the few Canadian agencies ever to receive a Silver Anvil award for crisis communications, the highest honour available from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). 

At Hoggan, we regard every crisis as a test of character – an opportunity to learn and improve. Whether that involves managing media, reassuring a panicky public or just containing an internal issue, we’ll ensure that you are always ready and that, if disaster strikes, you come through with your business, and your public reputation, in good order.
 

 
Consider the word: “publicity.” Read one way – on one day – it can sound like the most wonderful thing, an invaluable gift to your reputation and your bottom line. Read another way – on another day – it can constitute the greatest risk your business has ever faced.

On any day, it pays to understand media, to have good relations with the reporters who write in your interest area and to know exactly how and when to present information to the best effect.

The Hoggan team has the contacts, the know-how and a track record of successfully arranging news coverage in papers and on radio and television networks across the continent. We also offer the training you need to face the media with confidence. We’re here to ensure that you get the coverage you need when you’re looking for attention, and that you know what to say, and how to say it, when you’re not.
 

 
There was a time – and not long ago – when “environmental communications” mattered only to resource companies and the people who wanted to get in their way. Today, Canadians say the environment is their number one concern – more important than health care or the state of the economy – and every company, agency and individual must keep that in mind.

Environmental issues management has long been a Hoggan specialty, but we have spent the last few years expanding our expertise, participating in almost $2 million worth or research on public understanding and attitudes toward sustainability, and on the most effective way to communicate on issues like climate change.

We are updating our sustainability research in 2008, making sure that we are always up to date when it comes to helping sustain our clients, whatever their environment.
 

 
“Easy reading is damned hard writing.”
                    -Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)

Hawthorne had a point. Good writing needs to be clear and considered, compelling and concise. At Hoggan, we take the challenge seriously. Whether we are drafting press releases or crafting speeches, whether the content is sublimely simple or infuriatingly complex, we are committed to accuracy, clarity, readability and, sometimes best of all, brevity.

Ask us about the breadth or our writing services; we’re sure you’ll be impressed.