CIPR Communications is a communications and digital marketing agency that offers expert services in public relations, web design, content marketing, SEO and more. Personality and personalization are at the heart of our philosophy and approach. With this in mind, we wanted to find a way to reach out to our clients and potential clients on a one-to-one basis and give you the opportunity to meet the team behind CIPR and learn more about who we are and what we do. The result is our podcast, Two Babies and a Business, which we launched in December 2020, at the end of what has been a challenging, transformative year for our industry. 

An introduction to our podcast and marketing communications agency

Two Babies and Business is a podcast about “business, marketing, growth, strategy, staff, clients, babies, and marriage.” CIPR’s founders and leaders, Christina and Peter Pilarski, use the platform to discuss everything from what it’s like to run a business as a husband-and-wife team, to their experiences in developing marketing strategies that really work.

Most importantly, the podcast focuses on the importance of connection - between the two of them as a couple and as the leaders of a business, between them and the rest of the CIPR team, and between the company and our clients. The ability to connect authentically seems more important than ever in 2020, a year that has brought the COVID-19 pandemic and the separation and isolation that has resulted from it. It was this observation that provided the reason to create this podcast.

Our Story

In the second episode of their podcast, Christina and Peter go back and discuss the story of CIPR Communications and how it all began. The two of them discovered the importance of digital marketing while writing blogs for various political figures. They saw first-hand how the coordination of SEO and content marketing could increase the reach and awareness of an organization, person or product. They founded and built CIPR through mutual trust, the establishment of separate but complementary roles within the business, and a successful synergy between their sometimes divergent approaches. Read more about our story.

Why Personalities Matter

Personality is at the core of everything in business and relationships. Even the most well-meaning couple are unlikely to stay together if they are fundamentally incompatible. The same applies to the members of any team. Christina and Peter understand this both intuitively and experientially. In this podcast, they discuss the importance of personality tests in determining how each person fits into their team, how to relate to them, and how to maximize their contributions. Read about why personalities matter.

The WSI Advantage

CIPR Communications started out as an independent digital marketing agency but it ascended to the next level when it became a part of the global WSI network. In this episode of the podcast, Christina and Peter talk about how joining WSI gave CIPR the edge it needed and continues to give it an advantage over its competitors, while providing the tools for constant growth and improvement.  Read about the WSI advantage.

Asana, Asana, Asana

The bigger your agency gets, and the more clients you take on, the more important it will be for you to use a powerful project management tool to organize and standardize your workflows. CIPR uses Asana and, in this episode, they explain why this tool has become indispensable. They touch on the many benefits of the system, particularly its high level of interactivity, which allows them to bring clients in and involve them in discussions and have them participate in projects directly. Read about Asana.

Staff

The most difficult step any business owner will take is hiring staff for the first time. CIPR was originally a two-person business, with Christina and Peter handling everything between them. However, they soon realized that their growth depended on building a team. When they decided to start looking for staff, they were a little tentative, as they were not really sure what they wanted. They learned as they went and developed a recruitment framework, mostly through trial and error. In this episode of their podcast, they share what they learned from the process, and what they would have done differently. Read about our staff.

Put Me in Coach

Christina and Peter have found that coaching has been integral to their success in running CIPR, particularly when it comes to balancing their intertwined personal and business lives. They explain why they recommend coaching to any business owner, particularly to married couples working together. Coaching offers a knowledgeable but objective viewpoint that helps entrepreneurs to adjust their approach, attitude and strategies for their own benefit and that of their business.

Normally, business owners are so deeply involved in their work that they don’t have the time to step back to assess their approaches and methodologies and make changes where necessary. Engaging with the right coach gives them the perspective they need to look at themselves honestly and make the necessary improvements. Read about the Put Me in Coach episode.

Finding Balance

How does an entrepreneur running a busy, successful business find a good life-work balance? More to the point, how do two entrepreneurs who are also married with two children balance their time between the business and the family they share, and also carve out some occasional respective ‘me’ time? Peter and Christina explain how they divide up their schedules to create an equitable balance between personal and work time and how, during really busy periods, when downtime is hard to come by, they find balance in the sheer variety of their clients and projects. Read more about finding balance.

Peter the Expert

The spotlight falls on Peter Pilarski, the co-founder and vice president of CIPR Communications. Despite struggling with high school English, Peter went on to become a full-time writer and has developed into a marketing and PR professional. He worked in public relations and government relations for several years before moving into the digital marketing sphere. He is a natural ‘big picture’ thinker, ideas-connector, and a true visionary - qualities which stand him in excellent stead in the world of marketing. Read about Peter’s episode.

Christina the Expert

The CEO of CIPR Communications is a seasoned marketing and public relations professional and the driving, organizing force in the leadership team. This episode of Two Babies and a Business details her journey from aspiring journalist to marketing expert, via a Master’s degree in Communications and a period spent working in politics. She explains why focusing on your particular set of strengths and areas of expertise can make all the difference in finding success in your business. Read more about Christina.

The Dream Team

What makes Christina and Peter such a great team? Working together is an ongoing process of learning about themselves and about each other. The key to their successful partnership has been the mutual ability to deepen their understanding of one another’s personalities, and adjusting their approach and strategies to communicate better with each other and draw the best out of one another. They have both found the Enneagram personality model to be very effective in helping them to understand their personalities and those of others. They discuss in some detail their personality types and what it means that Peter is a 7 while Christina is an 8 - and how this makes work so well together. Read about the dream team.

Full Circle

When Christina and Peter first started CIPR Communications, they laid out a very specific written strategy. They deviated from that somewhat as the company grew and a more agile and flexible approach was required. Now that the company has grown to incredible heights they find that they have come full circle, reverting to a proactive, strategic tack as they plan the course for CIPR’s future. Having built strong foundations they are now plotting the way forward. In this episode of their podcast, they describe how they reached this full-circle moment and explain the importance of strategy and planning.

CIPR Blog

Aside from Two Babies and a Business, Peter and Christina and their team have another outlet for their digital marketing insights in the form of the CIPR Blog. Here they write about a wide variety of topics from how to choose the right marketing agency, to how to recognize that you need a digital marketing agency in the first place. They focus on specific aspects of digital marketing, such as social media, content marketing and SEO, and help clients and potential customers to keep up with the ever-shifting trends in this fast-moving and ever-growing industry. Keep up to date by reading more on our blog.

To find out more about CIPR Communications, our podcast, and our digital marketing services, contact us or visit our website.