While other businesses have adjusted to tough times by cutting spending or letting people go, a Waco public relations firm is trying another way to cope.

Liz and Bage Anderson, owners of E.H. Anderson Public Relations, have found that being aggressive and building a video production business is their answer. The firm is marketing Cut Pro Video as a division of E.H. Anderson, Liz Anderson said.

Cut Pro Video highlights a special talent possessed by Bage Anderson. He is a former news photographer with vast experience producing, shooting and editing video as a freelancer and a CNN photographer. His work includes shooting news footage of the Branch Davidian standoff, the 1991 Luby’s massacre in Killeen, natural disasters and presidential campaigns.

Bage Anderson runs Cut Pro Video, a part of E.H. Anderson Public Relations.
Duane A. Laverty/Tribune-Herald

Liz Anderson, a former television news reporter and anchor, worked in stations in Savannah, Ga.; Tyler; and as a part-timer at KXAN in Austin.

More short content

E.H. Anderson specializes in gaining media exposure for its clients. The couple are frank that despite claims by economic experts that the recession is over, small businesses, including their eight-year-old company, still face uncertain times.

Their strategy is to boost revenue by doing more short videos for television and online presentation.

The company’s balance sheets show the realities of business in the past two years. In 2007, E.H. Anderson took in $300,000 in gross revenues. Last year’s gross take was $187,000, Liz Anderson said.

In some cases, clients have run out of money, won’t pay, need payment plans or try renegotiating the price, she said. Often, the only solution is to suspend a client’s campaign until it can pay again, she said.

The Andersons know how to deal with adversity. Liz Anderson started the company amid the wreckage of a previous upheaval.

The couple and their two children came to Waco in 2002 from Dallas after both lost their jobs when the dot-com industry collapsed. Both were in tech-related jobs that were wiped out.

Liz Anderson grew up in Waco and still had family here, and the place wasn’t jammed with the unemployed. She was getting freelance public relations job offers even as the family was moving, and the company sprang from that.

The family found a home here and worked out of their basement for five years before moving to an office on North Valley Mills Drive three years ago.

Bage Anderson has about two decades of experience shooting and editing video for television news, including his five years with CNN.

Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco, saw some of his footage and put him to work on a short video for Mission Waco’s annual banquet. His work showed that the photographer’s skill, not the equipment, is everything when it comes to turning out a good video, Dorrell said.

“A lot of people can shoot video, but catching the essence of something is a special gift,” Dorrell said.

Rekindled creativity

The experience rekindled Bage Anderson’s creativity for video, and in 2005 he began using his skills for PR work for E.H. Anderson. Video clients since have included Mad Croc Energy Gum, Genesis Network Solutions of Abilene, First National Bank of McGregor, Dallas celebrity hairstylist Thee Viron Roe, The Best Little Cathouse in Pasadena (a California cat hotel) and an Australian company called Hire a Box. Hire a Box is expanding to the U.S. under the name Rent Your Box.

Traditionally, public relations firms contract video production from a separate company.

“There are very few PR companies that have a video department and very few video production companies that have a PR department,” Liz Anderson said.

Range of services

Cut Pro offers a range of video services. In some cases, clients may want edit-only services, in which companies supply video and still photos and Bage Anderson puts them into a short slide show or video that is compelling and effective business communication, Liz Anderson said.

Other companies may want full production: shooting video, locating and applying music, voice-overs and a professional editing job.

Prices depend on what service clients need. For an edit-only job, clients can count on $125 an hour, with editing taking about two hours for each 30 seconds of video.

For more complete production jobs, it costs $750 for a half-day and $1,200 for a full day, measured at 10 hours if Bage Anderson is working alone. The cost goes up if he needs to work with an assistant.

Cut Pro is an attempt to tap a growing demand for video presentations for online as well as television.

For example, Cut Pro finished a set of eight videos averaging 90 seconds for Hire a Box. The company offers packing box rentals as an alternative to begging stores for cardboard boxes or purchasing them.

By the way, Bage Anderson doesn’t do weddings.

E.H. Anderson is located at 510 N. Valley Mills Drive, Suite 403. The company’s phone number is 254-772-5909. Liz Anderson’s e-mail address is liz@ehandersonpr.com. Bage Anderson’s e-mail address is bage@ehandersonpr.com.

Find the two businesses on the web at www.ehandersonpr.com and www.cutpro-video.com

bteeter@wacotrib.com

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