At Aria, we’ve worked with plenty of large, multi-national companies, but few can match the enormity of IBM. Since the launch of IBM Watson Health just over a year ago, Aria has played a role in introducing the company and its executives to eager journalists and key influencers in the healthcare industry.

I’m going to let you in on one of our secrets for success. As a smaller PR agency, we know we can’t do it all. So, we’ve partnered with some amazing companies to help expand our capabilities and add value for our clients. One such partner is Altos, a digital marketing agency whom we bring in for client projects such as website design. We think they’re the best in the biz, which is why I reached out to Altos Creative Director, Justin Martin, to see if he could share his top website design tips with our blog readers. Lucky for us, he obliged. So, take it away, Justin:

COVID-19 has made healthcare policy the hot topic of the 2020 election. As healthcare public relations professionals, it’s always top of mind for us and our clients. We’ve got two very different candidates heading into the November election: President Donald Trump (R) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D). Let’s take a look at how they match up on key issues:

For Public Relations professionals, each day brings new tasks and challenges. It can become pretty hectic, which is why Aria’s upper management team likes to sprinkle in fun activities whenever possible. Account Coordinators (ACs) and Account Executives (AEs) like me are tasked with a variety of projects daily, and though no day is the same, we thought it would be fun to share what a “typical” day at Aria Marketing might look like.

Every now and then, our VP, Ross Homer, brings up a quirky fact about himself or an interesting story from his past. So, the team thought it would be fun to base a blog post on this. In that spirit, we bring you the top ten list of curious facts about Ross (in no particular order):

Brittney Darner joined the Aria team as an account executive (this past July. In just a couple of months, we’ve gotten to know her a whole lot better and want to share some of her interests, hobbies and quirky characteristics – some of which may surprise you for a 22-year old PR newbie. Here’s our list of top ten fun facts about Brittney:

The year has taken quite an unusual turn with a pandemic sweeping the globe and forcing everyone to stay inside in an effort to flatten the curve as quickly as possible. As a result, our beloved Boston Marathon has been postponed to September. While we’ll have to hold our celebrations for a few months, we thought we would honor the day by sharing some of our favorite memories.

April was a busy month for Aria. Not only did Boston experience summer-like temperatures, but the Boston Marathon was a great success and some of our professional sports teams made it to the playoffs. Aria’s clients had some pretty big wins as well, here’s a recap of April highlights!

April was another busy, but successful month here at Aria. While Aria’s executive team attended HITMC18, the rest of the company was back at home working hard on securing some great results for our clients. Here are a few highlights from the past month:

Everywhere you look in Boston (including outside Aria’s windows), flowers are peeking through the earth and blooming on branches. Similarly, our clients are popping up all over top-tier publications. Take a look at the freshest picks of our clients’ news, announcements and coverage from last month:

Here at Aria we have a number of #workperks that keep us motivated, on task and well nourished (so many snacks!). One of my personal favorites has to do with Aria’s location. Aria is housed within a converted mill building just steps away from entrances to the Newton Conservators walking trails. These trails wind along the Charles River and provide a beautiful, relaxing space for a mid-day break. Curious as to what else Aria offers? Well, there is too much to fit into one blog post, but check out some Aria team favorites below!

A frostbite-like rash on feet or hands is just one potential symptom of the novel coronavirus. If you search Google Images for the colloquial term, “COVID toe,” you’ll find dozens of photos of toes with reddish or purplish splotches – almost entirely on white skin. You’ll likely have to scroll and scroll before finding a single image of brown or black skin. (That is, if you find one at all.)

Here at Aria, we work hard to achieve great results for our clients, but we also love to blow off steam as a team. Every quarter, our Fun Committee is in charge of putting on a big event for the team to kick back, relax and have a great time. This time around, we wanted to try something a little different. Not only did we want to host an enjoyable event, but we wanted to create something special for the office. And what better place to do that than at Paint Bar!

This spring, Aria had the pleasure of having two interns support the public relations team. Both Gaby and Alex worked directly with Aria account executives on a range of activities, including media monitoring, media research and social media support. Before their internship programs come to an end, we sat down with the colleague students and talked to them about their semester at Aria. Following is Gaby’s summary of her experience at Aria:

As we mentioned in our last post, we asked our interns, Gaby and Alex, to recap their internship experience at Aria Marketing. Below is Alex’s summary of her time with us.

The Aria team took a break (mostly) from the world of health IT PR for a full two weeks this holiday season. After a year of hard work, a crazy pandemic, and a transition to WFH, we took some well-deserved time to relax. Read about the team’s much needed R&R over the holidays:

One of the only upsides of the pandemic is that animal shelters have reportedly been emptied, as many people have decided it is the perfect time to adopt a pet. In fact, a few Aria team members added furry members to their families during quarantine. We thought it would be fun to officially introduce Aria’s new dogs (and one cat): Polly, Maxwell Smart, Darcy and Bernard.

In-person events are slowly but surely returning after a year filled with fully virtual healthcare IT conferences. Several of our clients and Aria team members attended the HLTH Conference last week in Boston, which was a hybrid event with both in-person and virtual sessions. HLTH brought together senior healthcare leaders to discuss solutions to some of the industry’s most pressing problems over four days of networking and educational sessions for payers, providers, employers, investors, startups, life sciences, and policymakers.

Healthcare is a fascinating field for public relations pros like us, but 2020 proved especially riveting as the COVID-19 health crisis wreaked havoc across the globe. Our clients’ important conferences – and live PR opportunities – were canceled to avoid virus spread, and every day brought another news cycle saturated with challenges for the healthcare industry. Though we had to do some outside of the box thinking and ramp up on all things pandemic overnight, the Aria team secured press opportunities for our clients’ to shine through even the most pervasive doom scrolling.

The Aria team is sad to say goodbye to summer, but as the warm days fade away we can look back on some of the great milestones Aria reached in August, such as the celebration of our 20^th Anniversary, the launch of our new wellness initiative, and the continued great coverage we’ve secured for our clients. Check out our clients’ highlights from August below: