Think about it. Everything you’ve ever achieved, you’ve accomplished as a result of your communication. Growth goals, new markets, public support, process improvements, safety performance — you name it — you listened to what was happening in your environment, and then said the right things to the right people to cause the next most important outcome.
In the years since our founding in 1990, many clients just like you have turned to Ward to help them cause a new result. And quite often, it becomes quickly evident that insufficient communication with internal and/or external audiences lies at the root of missed opportunities to achieve important goals.
What can Ward help you cause?
Welcome into The World of Ward
Our Story
In 1990 when Houston native Deborah Ward Buks founded Ward, a privately held, 100% woman-owned, WBE HUB-certified firm, she leveraged her reputation for having promoted and defended some of the world’s leading B2B and B2C brands during leadership tenures at respected global and regional agencies.
Over the next 34 years, she built a thriving business with a reputation for award-winning results in Houston, Texas and across the world. A strong team with an unflinching commitment to client service built a loyal base of clients in diverse industries, ranging from real estate, energy and professional services to hospitality, government agencies and non-profits
Today, Ward calls W. 19th Street in the historic Heights home – a place that celebrates the firm’s deep roots in all things Houston and Texas – and our community’s broad global reach. Ward welcomes visitors with an office tour that immerses guests in all things Houston, and Texas – from the historical and local industry memorabilia and local food and beverages we serve to the 1960s NASA chairs in our kitchen and collection of Life Magazine covers featuring some of our city’s most recognized international events. Simply put, we love and champion our high-energy, eclectic city, including all its cultural cuisine, fun, thought-provoking and inspiring attractions, cultural quirkiness, and propensity for world leadership.
The Ward Four
Every business issue is a communication issue at its core. Regardless of the need that brings a client to choose our Public Relations and Marketing Communications Firm, we begin with an inquiry process we call The Ward Four to:
- understand the client’s goal;
- determine who can help or hinder their ability to achieve the goal;
- decide which actions are needed by those influencers; and
- uncover what’s preventing them from taking the desired action now.
With these findings, we plan and execute successful public relations, marketing and communications campaigns and long-term programs that help clients meet their objectives.
What do our clients think? Well, we ask them why they keep us as their firm and why they have the confidence to recommend us, and…
Clients Say:
- Because you get Results.
- Your people have Experience.
- Your team provides Expertise we don’t have (and don’t want to carry the overhead for) in-house.
- You are Strategic Thinkers supported by a strong tactical team.
- You not only have Relationships in the community and with the media who cover us, you value long-term relationships the way we do in our business.
- You take Responsibility for managing the project. We don’t have to ask because you’re on top of it.
- With your help, our company has earned Recognition in the marketplace and our work as a team has earned the Recognition of our management.
- You Respect our need for a hassle-free experience, our rights as the client, and our people’s time and accountabilities.
- You meant it when you said “there’s a Ward Way to do everything.” Your business Processes prevent surprises, keep our work on schedule and within budget, and make it easy to approve your invoices.
A Ward Way to do Everything
Among the many advantages of having been in business for three decades is clarity about what clients expect and need in service delivery. We know firsthand that clients simply want a seamless experience and sensible practices and procedures that support the team’s ability to produce the work.
People
A Branding, Public Relations and Marketing Communications Firm is only as good as its people because that’s who the client works with daily. Since great firms require great people, Ward strictly adheres to an A-player-only hiring philosophy. The outcome? Great work for great clients, and great passion doing it.
So, whether you need marketing support, writing, graphic design, corporation communications, PR, social media, event management or a website, you will have high-caliber team members to provide quality counsel your investment deserves.
Mission
Ward’s mission is to help an organization cause results through their communication. In doing so, the employees of Ward achieve professional gratification balanced by a financially secure quality of life.
Respect-at-Work Culture
We live and work by a strong cultural mantra, simply stated as “Respect at Work.” We hold ourselves accountable for ensuring respect is actively at work in the workplace. The result? A consistently positive experience by everyone involved.
Client-for-Life Philosophy
We approach our client relationships with the goal of creating a client for the life of the firm. This long-term view guides our short-term decision-making about client service, responsiveness, fair billing practices and the like, which results in tenured clients either in active or inactive client status. The client-for-life philosophy allows us to be flexible in how we work with clients – whether retainer, periodically or continuously, and has been the foundation for a consistently profitable, stable business capable of an enduring client partnership.
Managed for Joy
Realizing the preciousness of life, our firm founder insists we first and foremost manage our business for our joy. This simple practice requires we only accept assignments we believe we can hit out of the park, hire people on our team we admire, trust and enjoy, and work only for clients we’re excited to represent. The result of this choice? True team, operating in an environment where the best of the best have the space and freedom to excel, with sustainable profits that allow us to grow and provide ever-better client resources and service.
Contributors
As an extension of our professional goals, we pursue personal goals. We do business with people we like and respect, and work for causes we believe in. We support excellence, authenticity and integrity in the communications field, and are committed to leaving the world a little better than we found it.
Ward Scholarship
In honor of our 20th anniversary in 2010, Ward endowed a scholarship to The University of Texas Moody College of Communication for deserving students with financial need. In keeping with the value Ward places on authenticity in communication, annual scholarship applicants are required to write an essay on the subject:
Authenticity is a prerequisite to effective communication. Communications professionals often are perceived as spin-doctors – the antithesis of authentic communication. Give examples from recent or significant news when authenticity was clearly missing. How did the event unfold? What could have been different if communication had been more authentic between the parties involved and media? How would authenticity improve the world?
We are deeply moved and honored to be part of the history, and bright futures, of the ever-growing list of talented recipients of the annual Ward Scholarship.
