by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
It’s fitting that Access Public Relations is located in The Carling on West Adams Street. It’s where the members of the Artist Center Cooperative had their studios until Access PR leased the space in the historic building. Creative people working in the same space and collaborating on projects when it makes sense is how the Artist Center works.
That’s also how John Finotti, Access principal, described how he built his company from a one-man operation to what it is today.
“I was a writer at the Florida Times-Union for nine years, then spent six years at Florida Trend magazine before I opened my public relations business in 2004,” he said.
Two years later Finotti forged a business partnership with The Fiorentino Group, a government relations and business development firm that not coincidentally has its main office across the hall from Finotti’s. He started in public relations with an office at The Fiorentino Group and since expanding into the space across the hall, Access provides public relations services for The Fiorentino Group when needed. Finotti and his team have also developed about a dozen full-time clients.
The list includes The Vestcor Companies, Domino’s Pizza, Danis Construction, the Florida Maritime Leadership Coalition and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
“The JAA was my very first account and they are still with me. I’m very proud of that,” said Finotti.
In addition to Finotti, the Access team includes Senior Vice President Teresa Eichner, who previously held a similar position at The McCormick Agency, and Account Executive Jennifer Symmes, a former broadcast journalist and magazine writer.
“We all have different specialties that we’ve honed in this market,” said Eichner.
Having been in the Jacksonville market for as long as Finotti and the team have means they have a long list of friends and contacts, two things that are critical to the success of a public relations firm, he said.
Access has been in its new home for just two months and Finotti said the first internal public relations project will be to brand the firm.
“A lot of people know me and a lot of people know Teresa,” he said. “For a long time our own marketing was word-of-mouth, but now we have a new office and even a Web site.”
Finotti also said he plans to continue to grow the company the way he has so far, slowly and only when he finds the right people and can make sure Access can maintain its level of service.
“We’re always chasing new clients but we’re also going to be vary cautious about growth. In times like this, you can’t afford to lose any clients. We’re certainly conscious of the fact that 2009 may be a tough year, but we’re prepared to grow the staff when we have more work in the house,” he said.
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