Obsidian Expands Space, Adds Staff

Instead of shrinking with the recession, Obsidian Public Relations is expanding.

The firm has added staff and doubled its office space. Obsidian vacated a cramped upstairs office at EmergeMemphis for a corner suite within the business incubator.

“I was being prudent,” said owner Courtney Liebenrood. “I could have bought my own space instead of upgrading at Emerge. Obviously in commercial real estate you can get some great deals right now. It’s a great time to buy, but I thought I’m able to cap my costs and manage those really well being in an incubator.”

With the addition of three employees in the past year, Obsidian now has a staff of eight. That number might be too many people to try to squeeze into a 600-square-foot office.

Growing, adjusting

The corner suite has double that space as well as big windows with nice views. Liebenrood and the firm’s staff can watch the trolleys make turns at the corner of G.E. Patterson Avenue and Tennessee Street.

Liebenrood started out with backyard views. She founded the business in her home in 2006 then set up shop inside the incubator.

“Our compounded annual growth has been 193 percent since founding,” she said. “That’s big growth for us, but to temper that, in the recession of the last year we didn’t have growth. We probably had a little bit of a down year in terms of sales, but honestly we actually added a number of clients.”

One lesson Liebenrood said she has learned is the importance of keeping a positive attitude whether the economic environment is good or bad.

“I remember when I started out – within the first six months how devastated I felt when I didn’t win some of those contracts or I didn’t get some of those retainers,” she said. “I was a one-person shop at that time. I was so disappointed. That sensitivity soon wore off. I bounce back much more quickly now. As an owner, I think you have to grow a thick skin.”

Obsidian has prospered during a period when more established public relations firms, such as Chandler Ehrlich and Conaway Brown Inc., have gone out of business.

Today, Obsidian has almost 90 clients, including businesses, professional associations and nonprofit organizations.

Getting the word out

“One of the biggest challenges with some clients is making them understand the intrinsic value of public relations,” Liebenrood said. “To many prospects, when we are out there trying to talk to them about becoming a client, many have heard of advertising and they have heard of marketing. They think of a billboard. They think of an advertisement.

“Or they think of direct mail. But many see public relations as an intangible discipline. They really don’t understand it.”

Public relations services can range from helping a client compose a business letter to handling crisis communications during an emergency. Obsidian also offers several services in between those two extremes.

“We are public relations strategists,” Liebenrood said. “We come in and work with companies and organizations to identify the best strategies and tactics to execute throughout the year to reach communication goals. That manifests itself in different ways. ...

“For example, telling their stories through news stories, whether it’s print, online, radio or television. We do a great deal of writing. That can be for their Web site, for letters or for their collateral material.”

Obsidian’s clients include many nonprofit organizations, and almost all are paying clients. The agency adopts one nonprofit agency each year, however, that needs help getting its message out.

“We do choose a not-for-profit each year, one that has no budget at all in terms of they can’t carve it out for public relations,” Liebenrood said. “That particular not-for-profit this past year was Hope Works. We will be looking for another not-for-profit in the next two to three weeks to replace them. Usually, it’s a fledgling not-for-profit just getting started or they don’t have any kind of in-house marketing or public relations function.”

Looking ahead, Liebenrood said she does plan for Obsidian to graduate from the EmergeMemphis incubator.

“I would say two years from now we will be in our own space,” she said.