Kim Coutts: Public Relations Superhero
Earlier this month, after an extensive search for the perfect candidate, Civilian welcomed Kim Coutts as our new Director of Communications and Outreach—and she’s worth the wait.
Kim brings more than 25 years of experience, including a stint as SVP and partner at leading global PR agency FleishmanHillard, and five years of running her own firm called Positive Change Communications. And one of her clients—FreeConferenceCall.com—loves her so much they followed her to Civilian. That means Kim will keep spreading the story of this purpose-driven company that’s on a mission to “provide a borderless platform that bridges countries and collaborators, creating a space where we can all freely connect.”
So, it’s easy to see why we think Kim and Civilian are a match made in social good heaven (and yes, we’re pretty sure that’s a real place). But Kim isn’t just filling a role and upholding the status quo. We specifically brought her on board to expand and deepen the communications capabilities we provide for our clients. Here’s a look at what Kim brings to the table.
Business As Usual, But Better
Civilian’s communications and PR services are an integral part of our work with multiple clients, such as increasing paint recycling for PaintCare, raising visibility for San Diego MTS’s economic and environmental impact, and promoting Career Education at our region’s community colleges. Kim’s deep experience in community, stakeholder, and influencer engagement means she’s got the chops to educate, engage, and inspire audiences to take actions that change the world for the better.
Depending on our outreach strategy for a client, this can take many forms. Some of our core PR services already include:
- Traditional media relations: creating compelling stories and getting media on board to share our content through earned media;
- Media training and executive coaching: preparing our clients to effectively convey messages and inspire action through media interviews, road shows, presentations to boards, and speeches;
- Thought leadership and content creation: identifying the crossover areas between hot trends and employee subject matter expertise, identifying research, third-party studies and scholarly articles to use as proof points, ghost writing and placing columns, think pieces, trend studies.
What’s New
Now for the good stuff. In addition to these core PR offerings, bringing Kim on board means Civilian can provide two more very important PR services.
- Reputation measurement and management. Research shows that reputation directly impacts consumer spending and increases financial value. We help our clients define their authentic purpose, then measure, manage and consistently improve their reputation for bottom line results.
- Crisis planning, management, and response. A crisis can be anything from a poorly worded tweet to a life-threatening disaster. Kim brings experience counseling and protecting some of the world’s most admired brands including Petco, Visa, Carnival Cruise Lines and Cathay Pacific Airlines during challenging times, helping them connect authentically and ensuring their reputations remained strong. When the proverbial…crisis hits the fan, effective crisis communications means everything from coordinating with city officials and first responders to preparing statements and recommending ways to repair relationships with stakeholders going forward. Better yet, she can help clients plan ahead to ensure prompt action and the most positive outcomes.
Want to learn a bit more about Kim? We ask her some of life’s most important questions in the video below. Spoiler alert: she’s a major dog lover—one more reason she’ll fit in at Civilian!