Mika Stambaugh

I met Mika for a coffee date in the winter of 2018. I remember meeting her and thinking: “she just knows.”

Mika has the kind of energy where:

1) You know she’s in the room and ika, give us the background, the history, the tales!

2) you gravitate towards her. And once you get close enough, she’s even more kind and fun loving than you imagined.

Mika is the Founder & President of her firm, TMI.

Mika is magnetic.

I started my career one month out of college at CBS 2 News in Chicago in 2004. I have been in news, communications and PR ever since.

WOW, 20 years flew by!

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I love telling stories that haven’t been told before.

The 100-yearold infrastructure construction company that has kept our roads and rails safe. Or the non-profit that takes care of 2500 foster kids in our area that don’t have parents or homes.

In your own words, how would you describe the ROI of PR?

People and companies hire us to get out messages, promote an event or product or to inform their industry of their existence for a possible merger (we have successfully helped sell 2 companies in 5 years).

Everyone needs PR. But PR doesn’t have to be unattainable due to high monthly retainers.

We used to use software and send out reports and do it all properly, but post pandemic we don’t do any of that anymore. We aim for a minimum of 2 stories per month on average. If we aren’t landing you news coverage, then we aren’t doing our job.

Luckily that hasn’t happened.

Do you have any case studies or stories that can showcase the ROI of PR/ Communications?

One of my favorite success stories came full circle for me after 30 years. One of my first best friends, Brook, hired TMI in 2021 after starting a small business in Raleigh, NC. She didn’t have huge expectations, but wanted to land some small, hyper local and industry coverage.

A few months after working together, we landed a media opp on WGN-TV Chicago’s Midday magazine show.

Not only was she so pumped to share her work in the 3rd market and nationally, but she was able to fly in, stay with me, and I handled the press for her. It was a win-win for us as friends as well as our client/consultant relationship.

(BTW - check her out, Brook Belden, is in every women’s corner.)

What is the best PR/ Communications advice you give your clients?

You must love your PR person. Sometimes personal sticky secrets are released or not-so-public situations arise and you want to be in the “uncomfortable zone” with a PR person you trust and feel safe with. If there isn’t a sticky situation, then you want to put “your baby” in someone’s hands that you also know is going to treat it like their own. Also, stay out of the process. Trust us. When I hire a plumber or electrician I don’t tell them how to do their job.

Is there anything we haven’t asked that you’d like to add?

I believe everyone is an expert at something now, post Covid. I launched a subscription-based PR software that is affordable and truly for everyone. It is almost 2023 ... don’t let a large monthly retainer keep you out of the conversations you should be a part of.

TMI was started in 2018 to offer PR with purpose. When a client hires us, we have an understanding of the FREE media we can leverage to share their message in all media platforms.

Mika Stambaugh is the Founder & President of TMI. Be sure to follow Mika’s firm, TMI on instagram (with probably the best ig name of all time) @tmi2gsd

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