Project Description

Challenge

Interise, a Boston-based nonprofit and lead contractor to the U.S. Small Business Administration, was achieving incredible success in its effort to support entrepreneurial growth for established businesses in 36 cities around the nation, but wasn’t getting proper recognition for its work. Leaders feared loss of funding if the successes weren’t recognized and knew there was a missed opportunity to showcase the strength of their trademarked StreetWise MBA curriculum.

Action

Melwood Global helped professionalize Interise’s communications efforts to showcase the successes of business owners throughout Massachusetts and around the nation. Through a concerted planning process and detailed case study analysis, Melwood drew out the most compelling stories of success and, using its extensive media contacts, ensured these stories were told in the best possible publications for maximum impact and reach.

Results

Melwood earned media coverage in outlets including BBC, National Public Radio, The Orange County Register, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Times-Picayune,  and magazines such as Hawaii Business and Emerging Women. Melwood also placed opinion articles for Interise and its partners in The Huffington Post and The Dallas Morning News, among many other publications. Today, Interise works in 73 cities nationwide with 4,200 small businesses that have created 30,000 new jobs.