Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Hilton.
Hi Beth, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I credit my parents with instilling in me a mix of independence, kindness and a hard work ethic. My teen & college years were spent in Pennsylvania and England before I began studying Communications and Journalism at Temple University, and was amongst the first group of graduates to take digital publishing out into the real world. I began my career in New York City as an Associate Editor at Advanstar Communications, writing about fashion and enjoying the perks of the fashion world…the ’90s were a great time to be NYC! After a few years, I was recruited over to The Rowland Company, a big public relations firm, and learned a very valuable approach to PR and Communications Marketing. But…it’s such a cold city!
I’d always dreamt of living in California, so once I had saved enough money to do so, I hit the road and made my way west to Los Angeles, renting a studio apartment in the Hollywood Hills…it had a hot tub on the roof that was heavenly! I didn’t know anyone, so I left the management track and began my LA career by volunteering on film sets and registering with an employment agency…those were great ways to meet people and to learn my way around the city and the studios. If you showed any level of responsibility, you were likely to get a permanent job offer, and I accepted a job offer at Rhino Records because the company had great music products and a social consciousness that I admired.
I worked there until the merger with Warner Music Group when my boss and I moved over to WMG to run the Business and Legal Affairs Department. At this point, I saw an opportunity to get back on the management track because traditional music marketing was missing a lot of the tools that I’d learned in my earlier career. It took some convincing, but eventually, I launched a Strategic Marketing department for Warner Music Group, focusing on partnerships with the other AOL/TimeWarner companies and Fortune 500 Brands. It was a fantastic challenge and I loved finding innovative and exciting campaigns for our artists and brands such as Nestle, Cadillac, General Mills, Nascar, Revlon and many more.
After weathering a few more big mergers and a few very inspiring trips to Burning Man, I decided it was time to strike out on my own. I officially launched The B Company in 2001 and have been in service to musicians, filmmakers and authors ever since! We’ve grown and added lots of services since then, but I strive to retain the mix of high-quality service with an intimate boutique feeling and a California vibe.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
My career has been as smooth as I’ve allowed it to be…I’ve always had a bit of anxiety that gets in the way of simply enjoying the ride. I was a perfectionist until having a baby, which quickly cured me of the idea that there is any such thing as perfection beyond this very moment! I opted to keep a home office so that I could be present in my son’s life, which eventually meant that I was working and parenting around the clock. It was very hard at times, as the client mentality was still very hard-driving and negative toward children interrupting the workflow…until the smartphone arrived! I don’t think anyone realizes how freeing this tool was for working mothers…suddenly, I could take my son to a park and not worry that I’d be missing an important client email or media offer, and I could approve visuals like an ad layout or proofread a press release. I could be home to the desktop in 10 minutes if necessary….it was revolutionary to not be tied to the desk or forced to choose between career and family.
Flash forward to 2020, and the Covid Pandemic presented the next biggest challenge. I had just begun to expand the business by adding a few new team members, and suddenly the world was shutting down. I felt a strong responsibility to keep the team working, so we embraced the “pivoting” mindset of the moment and dove into promoting online concerts and streaming. We also added more marketing services, becoming a “one stop shop” including social media, graphic design, content creation and advertising in addition to traditional public relations and publicity. I’m very proud of the fact that we not only weathered the storm but we created new programs, a teaching bootcamp, and some of our best campaigns in the process. My goal is always to underpromise and over-deliver to our clients; if you do that, positive word of mouth will be your best sales tool.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The B Company is globally renowned as a Public Relations and Promotions firm based in Los Angeles; it is the PR division of Hilton Entertainment LLC. We serve a roster of artists, record labels, film entities, authors, and non-profits. We limit our client base, so it is recommended to reach out to reserve a campaign about four months in advance.
We are a team of dedicated media professionals, writers and artists focused on providing the best PR & marketing services available. We are known for expanding artists’ stories and following and for making our clients’ dreams come to life. We love to promote conscious creatives and products aiming to make a positive difference in the world without limitations of genre, culture, religion or other boundaries. We thrive in collaboration with diverse entities who share our positive vision and values. I like to think that The B Company is more than an agency, it’s a community, and we usually create friendships with our clientele that last long beyond our campaigns.
Our music tastes tend toward the alternative genres such as Ambient, Acoustic, World, Electronic, Mantra, Singer-Songwriter, Solo Piano, Meditation, New Age, Contemporary Instrumental, Chill, Groove, Synthwave, Lo-Fi, Guided Meditations, and Jazz fusion. Currently, we’re moving into the Americana space, and we have a few spaces on our roster for artists who would like representation at AmericanaFest this September.
We are especially proud of the beautiful special events that we’ve thrown for artists, and for the impressive media placements and promotions, we’ve secured for our clients over the years. Some of the clients we’ve served over the years who may be familiar to your readers include Donna De Lory, David Arkenstone, Steven Halpern, Will Ackerman, Ricky Kej, Shunia, Suzanne Doucet, S. J. Jananiy and J2, Spotted Peccary Music, David Helpling, Soundings of the Planet, Ed Bazel, Fiona Joy Hawkins and many more of whom we’re so proud, including the Haitian non-profit HavServe.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Publicists tend to talk a lot, so I’m not sure I have many secrets left! Let’s see…my father was very strict about watching TV, so my siblings and I spent a lot of time playing in the Pennsylvania countryside, which instilled in me a love of animals and nature. It also led to my becoming a bookworm to fill the evenings and weekends, and to this day I am still an avid reader. Historical and Fantasy fiction are my favorite genres, and publishing a book of my own is high on my bucket list.
Pricing:
- $150 hourly consultations
- $4500 full-service campaigns
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebcompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theBCompany
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBCompanyPRandMarketing
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/bethhilton
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/The_B_Company
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thebcompany
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/beth-ann-hilton
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thebco
