Hutt Strategic Communications

10/26/2026

Proud to be part of this wonderful event!

09/29/2026

If you’re spending thousands of dollars on marketing, your vendor should be able to tell you what that money is doing.

Before I recommend a strategy to a client, I do an audit of all their digital marketing: website, search, social, email, online listings and anything else that may be driving people to the business.

That includes areas I may never touch myself. I work alongside web developers, SEO specialists, and other marketing partners all the time. I’m not looking to replace them. I need to understand how the pieces are working together before I can give a client good advice about where to go next.

And sometimes I discover things that are interesting and, honestly, maddening. Two different clients recently ran into essentially the same problem with two completely different digital vendors. One was paying for Google Ads. The other was paying for ongoing website management and optimization. Neither was receiving regular reporting. When we started emailing those vendors questions, neither could give a clear picture of what was working, what wasn’t or what had changed along the way.

It was the email equivalent of a shrug. The clients had been spending money, but their vendors couldn’t tell them what they were getting for it. I completely understand how that happens. We all, myself included, hire experts because we don’t have the time or expertise to do everything ourselves. I’m not a pest control expert, so I’m probably not going to ask my pest control company what data proves my pests are under control. As long as I don’t see a rat, I assume things are going pretty well. Sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask because that’s exactly why you outsourced it in the first place.

So I put together six questions worth asking anyone you pay to do marketing:
1. What goals are we setting for this work?
2. How will we know if it’s working?
3. What data will you share with me, and how often?
4. What happens when something isn’t working?
5. Who owns my accounts and data? If the partnership ends, do I keep access?
6. Can I see what you see, including reporting, planning and account activity?

Google Ads, SEO, websites, social media, email, PR. It applies to all of it. If a vendor can’t answer these questions or won’t share the information with you, pay attention. You don’t need to become an expert in every marketing channel. But you should know what you’re paying for, what it’s supposed to accomplish and whether it’s working. That information is part of what you’re paying for.

09/22/2026

Getting to choose who I work with is one of my favorite things about this chapter, and I never take it for granted. Leigh and her team hold a high standard for every production, they're incredibly creative, and they love this area. As someone who grew up here, it means so much to know people who believe the best of our area is yet to come and are out there building it. I'm so excited about Grease and all that's ahead for PCTC!

Thank you Hutt Strategic Communications , one of our incredible Marquee Partners for GREASE! ❤️🎶

We open in TWO DAYS! ⚡️ Grab your tickets, bring your chairs and blankets, and meet us on the St. Augustine Green in Rosemary Beach!

🎭 GREASE
📍 Rosemary Beach | St. Augustine Green
📅 September 24–27 & October 1–4
🎟️ Tickets via link in our bio!

09/21/2026

Every professional services firm hits the same wall on social media eventually. Post only the safe stuff (announcements, awards, office closures) and people stop paying attention. Get too loose with it, and you risk sounding like you forgot you have a license and a reputation to protect.

The opportunity sits somewhere in the middle, especially because most of the people who will eventually hire an attorney, CPA or physician aren't looking for one today. They may not need you for another two years. Your social content has to give them a reason to pay attention in the meantime.

That means creating things people find useful or interesting enough to follow, remember or share. An attorney explaining a misconception clients bring up constantly. A CPA weighing in on a headline everyone's confused about. A physician answering the question people always ask as soon as they find out what they do for a living.

You can do all of that without chasing trends or sacrificing the credibility you've spent years building. I wrote about how professional services firms can find that balance, and what tends to go wrong on either side of it. Link in comments.

09/14/2026

AIO is just SEO in a new outfit. Don't let the slightly updated acronym fool you.

Marketing does this all the time. Renames something that already works and scares everyone into thinking they need to change what they're doing.

This time it's AIO, AI optimization, a.k.a. getting your business mentioned when somebody asks AI a question. Strong AIO strategy is strong SEO strategy. They are brothers from another mother. Sisters from another mister. Whatever you prefer, the same principles apply.

It's the same stuff that's always worked. Use your content and platforms to answer the question your customers are actually asking. Be specific about what makes you different. Get people talking about you online, reviews, local write ups, other business owners mentioning your name, because that still means more than anything you say about yourself.

New name. Same rules. You already know how to be clear and honest. Turns out that's still what gets you found, whether a person's reading it or a robot's doing the summarizing for them.

09/08/2026

Are you optimizing your emails for AI? Yep, it's yet another thing to optimize for AI.

Most email platforms, Gmail included, already run AI summaries on what you send. A few rules worth following now, courtesy of Jay Schwedelson on this week's Marketing Millennials podcast.

- Put the important stuff in live text, not stuck inside a graphic.
- Your first 150 characters carry the whole point. Make them specific, not "you have to see this."
- Pick one thing per email. Not three.
- Say the thing. Skip the fluff.

None of this is new. Good email always worked this way. AI is just making it harder to fake the rest.
https://app.themarketingmillennials.com/library/799163e5-9d9a-4f55-beb5-8f1553632fa3

08/17/2026

The Hutt Strategic Communications Brand Ambassadors have something to say. Live in the now, people. It's not so bad here, especially when you live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Grateful every day to live and work in this amazing place.

07/28/2026

Sharing some new LinkedIn research on what builds an effective presence there. A few things worth stealing:

📌 Track metrics tied to actual outcomes. Profile visits, follower growth, leads. Skip likes and impressions.

📌 Recurring formats beat one-off posts. A newsletter, a regular video series, anything that gives people a reason to come back.

📌 Credibility spreads through people, not algorithms. Employees, clients, and partners talking about your work does more than any post you write yourself.

Bottom line: The platform, like all social platforms, rewards trust and quality over volume.

07/23/2026

These two are naturals and true experts on all things downtown, and beyond. Have loved helping them tell their story.

07/15/2026

New research shows when a post is labeled AI-made, people engage with it less. Even without an AI label, common AI verbal tics can be a dead giveaway.

This doesn't mean never use AI. It means keep yourself in the work. Use it as a first pass then tweak.

Here are a few AI watchouts and how to fix them:

🤖Negative parallelism - AI's most famous tic is telling you what something isn't before what it is. "It's not just a trend; it's a fundamental shift." "The goal is never just to survive; it is to thrive." Keep the second half and cut the setup.

🤖Faux-conversational transitions - these are crutches AI uses to sound human, including, "At its core," "It's important to note that," "In conclusion." Delete on sight.

🤖Rhetorical questions and triplets - the self-posed question ("The result? Devastating.") and the rule-of-three cadence ("Fast. Reliable. Affordable."). Both are rhythm tricks AI overuses.

🤖Corporate buzzwords - like delve, leverage, utilize, robust, seamless, tapestry, realm, landscape. Use words you'd actually use in conversation.

🤖Vagueness - the clearest tell is wordy copy with no concrete details. Real names, real numbers, real examples are what show a person wrote it.

💡 Big tip: Read it out loud, and if it doesn't sound like you, edit hard. The effort is worth the engagement.

The result? Awesome. 😉