Click here for Part I

The only communications agency in Philadelphia providing integrated PR and social media

Cassandra Bailey is the president and CEO of Slice Communications, a communications agency based in Philadelphia. Slice’s business philosophy is grounded in three principles: 1. PR and social media should work together, 2. Different is better than better, and 3. People like to work with the people they like. These beliefs are at the core of Slice’s service strategy, which integrates PR and social media to help brands cultivate two-way conversations with their audiences. The company has worked with clients such as Axalta Coating Systems, Bookbinder Specialties, Juno Search Partners, and BLT Architects. In addition to her role at Slice, Cassandra is also Chair of Tree House Books, a North Central Philadelphia nonprofit dedicated to building a community of readers and writers.

Cassandra Bailey spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield and Jeff Mack of NGKF for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: What makes companies choose Slice over other agencies?

CASSANDRA BAILEY: Companies usually choose Slice Communications because they’re looking for a group of people that really understand the importance of two-way communications: that you can’t just talk at people today—you need to be able to talk with them. They also choose us because we are very focused on metrics, setting goals, and measuring whether or not we are successful with those goals. That’s something that has been left out of a lot of communications in the past. Public relations and other marketing communications was more of an art than a science—and while it still has a great component of art in it, we have added some science to it, and quite a few of our clients appreciate that and respond well to that.

Q. How do compete against some of the bigger firms, like the ones in New York?

A. Potential clients quite often ask me how we compete against the big New York firms, and to be honest, I love that question. There are things that you just will never get from a big New York firm. Chances are you won’t get to talk with the owner. You won’t get to meet the people that are actually working on your account before you start working with them. You won’t have an opportunity to sit down with them, and to iterate, and to learn, and to have honest conversations about what needs to be changed or what needs to be developed. You kind of get into their machine, and that machine is what they deliver over and over again—and it’s what makes them a big New York firm—but what makes our firm and other firms like ours a lot different is the responsiveness, and the custom approach to whatever it is that the client wants to achieve.

Q. Can you share some of your client success stories with us?

A. I love to talk about the successes that we have for our clients. One of our clients is a nonprofit in Camden called Hopeworks ‘N Camden. We helped them develop an op-ed: basically an editorial that expressed a point of view. We went through a lot of drafts of that op-ed, working together with the client. They pushed us and we pushed them. Ultimately, we did have that piece of content—that idea, that editorial piece—that came out in the media. And this is where it’s so beautiful that PR and social media work together. So, that hit the paper. Our friends at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce were kind enough to tweet that article out. Somebody from AT&T got it, they saw it, they read it, they came and they visited Hopeworks, and they ended up making a donation to Hopeworks. And isn’t that a beautiful thing—how public relations and social media work together to help grow a nonprofit that’s dedicated to giving young people in Camden new opportunities through technology?

Q. Why did you decide to provide integrated PR and social media when so few firms do?

A. We have a fundamental belief that good public relations and good social media come from the same place, which is relevant, insightful, and—most importantly—actionable content. Now, “content marketing” is a term that’s thrown around a lot today, and most people don’t know what that means. For us, content is basically ideas, concepts, information, insights that you want to share. Whether you share them as written content or video or graphical content, that’s up to you, but it all starts with an idea—a point of view.

Good PR and good social media have that at the core. They don’t exist without that. Because companies today—if you do want to have two-way conversations, you have to have ideas. You have to have insights. You have to have something of value that you want to share with your audiences. And that’s the fundamental belief that we hold, which is why we think that PR and social media have to work together to share and spread those ideas.

Connect with Cassandra on LinkedIn

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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