Meet Lana Marshall

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lana Marshall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lana, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I found my professional purpose through a combination of my own experiences working on account teams in PR firms in California and New York along with having the very fortunate privilege of working alongside many fantastic mentors. These experiences taught me what I loved (and didn’t) about the traditional agency structure and company culture. Thus, my purpose of wanting to help create an “anti-agency” that fosters an environment where honesty, transparency, and integrity are at the forefront of every project and where all team members are treated with kindness, compassion, and consideration, was born. When I met our founder and CEO, April White, I knew I had finally found the opportunity to live out that exact purpose at Trust Relations.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

At Trust Relations, I’m most focused on our internal operations and ensuring they match with the strategic direction of the company – helping make sure everything runs smoothly and aligns with our core mission of authentic storytelling. Among my r&r’s are overseeing and improving daily operations and internal processes across all departments, optimizing workflows, managing our account, finance, client, HR, recruiting, legal, and operations teams; and maintaining high standards for our client relationships and PR-focused project execution.

What I find to be most exciting about what I get to do every day is creating a space where authenticity and meaningful communication are at the center – both externally with our clients and the coverage our teams secure to how our internal team members communicate and work alongside each other. I find myself very fortunate to be able to have the freedom to execute our team-focused initiatives and in turn, create a considerate culture and minimize team member turnover.

As Trust Relations has continued to expand our services to meet the needs of our varied clients, I am thrilled to see us do more thought leadership and deep technical content creation, 360-digital marketing, and influencer relations alongside our traditional public relations services – making us the one-stop- shop for strategic communication across all platforms. In addition, we’ve been able to shift into more markets, offering services to nonprofits and high-impact social causes. These projects have really allowed us to showcase our ability to help our clients authentically position themselves as prominent leaders in their industries with causes that are close to our hearts.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I’ve been very lucky to have worked alongside colleagues who have shown and taught me the skills that I bring to my role at Trust Relations every day. Among the most useful are problem-solving, understanding individuals and what drives them, and helping to authentically brand and communicate.

Problem-solving is a key part of my role (and my favorite one). Every issue is a puzzle I need to piece together by taking into consideration the finer details but never losing sight of the big picture. This skill set has served me well as I strive to continuously optimize our workflows across the agency’s several departments, help team members address client challenges, or overcome day-to-day roadblocks. For anyone wanting to develop this skill, definitely watch and learn from those who possess this ability but also ask them how they got to the conclusion they came to. I think you’ll find that people who do this look at challenges from multiple angles and think critically through each step, approaching all their tasks methodically, learning from past mistakes, and are constantly seeking to improve.

One of the most rewarding parts of my role at TR is the people side. A huge part of the “anti-agency” April set out to create was ensuring that the atypical toxic PR agency culture was non-existent. Said culture usually included a lack of listening to team members, leading by example, and fostering an environment of competition and distrust. The way I choose to oversee our team is to listen first, understand what the issue might be, and come up with a solution that makes that specific team member feel like they’ve been heard and that I’m on their side when I take action. When developing this skillset, I consumed (and continue to) all content I could find on effective leaders, tapped into my own network of amazing leaders for sage advice, but also, never lost sight of the fact that work is only a part of a team member’s life. When you see a colleague as a whole human who has their own motivations, likes, dislikes, etc., you’re better able to understand how to empower them to do their best work.

While working on PR accounts myself, I found the most successful communication campaigns to be ones that were authentic and true to that individual or brand. The consumer is smart and will eventually see if your storytelling does not actually reflect your “story-doing”. The skill of talking to a client and being able to pull out the most compelling parts of their story with a goal of crafting messages that resonate with audiences in a genuine way is one that I was very lucky to learn and hone. When developing this skillset for someone just starting out on their PR journey, I would think of the brands that resonate with you most authentically and try to figure out how they’re able to connect with you on a deeper level. And more broadly, read up on the ever-evolving psychology behind consumer behavior and brand perception.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

The ideal Trust Relations client is one that is a hybrid of several different industries. For example, an app that utilizes AI and facial recognition technology to appeal to a lifestyle/consumer-facing need. Our team is especially equipped to handle this as we build our “dream teams” based on each team member’s individual expertise within those particular sectors. The ability to put together a collective of experts, versus assigning that client to just the AI team or just the lifestyle team as most agencies would, ensures that the team this client works with is best suited to position that product or service to their specific industry media contacts.

Otherwise, I’d say our ideal client has a commitment to authenticity and truly values genuine communication over flashy or superficial marketing tactics. They are committed to presenting themselves in an honest, transparent way and understand the importance of building trust with their audience. They’d be focused on long-term relationships with their consumer rather than quick, manipulative sales tactics. We’ve found those kinds of clients foster relationships that are long-term and rewarding on both sides.

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