Exactly what are you craving? If you are looking to position your business as the “hottest ticket in town” when it comes to dining and a respite from the workweek, you’ve probably heard of the gals from Crave Communications, the leading restaurant and hospitality PR firm in Austin, and one of the best at promoting clients in the digital-media age.

Promotion and publicity are not what they used to be. Gone are the days when public-relations houses and press agents gained attention for their clients by simply releasing a press announcement in hopes of newspapers and media outlets providing coverage.

In this modern age, with the advancement of an eternally buzzing Internet, marketing trends leaning more and more toward social-networking services like Facebook and Twitter, blogs aplenty and smart phones boasting thousands of apps capable of keeping every man, woman and child up-to-date on every nugget of information possible, publicity has become an entirely new creature. PR firms have had to re-define themselves and essentially re-learn their own business, or else fall by the wayside as archetypes of a bygone era.

In Austin, none have mastered the art of 21st-century wired public relations, marketing and brand building better than Crave Communications. Led by savvy, ambitious businesswoman Paula Biehler, who became Austin’s first food publicist when she opened her business in 1999, the modern incantation of Crave Communications evolved from a business that had already built a solid foundation on strong relationships with clients and media, innovative marketing ideas and lasting community partnerships.

Crave’s ability to amp up its clients’ brands and drive demand like never before; the reputation the firm has gained throughout the years; and an impressive client list that includes the hottest restaurants in town have helped solidify Crave Communications as Austin’s foremost food and hospitality public-relations business.

Current Crave Communications clients include some of Texas’ most prominent restaurants (Fonda San Miguel, Parkside, The Carillon, Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue and Chef John Besh’s Lüke Restaurant in San Antonio), as well as some of the area’s promising up-and-comers (Soleil, Frank, Cuvée Coffee Roasting Company and Haddingtons).

Biehler’s past clientele number in the dozens and are among the who’s-who of food and wine (the American Cheese Society, the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, Whole Foods Market, La Condesa, Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille, Rudy’s Bar-B-Q and Mama Fu’s), as well as the hospitality community (the Gage Hotel, Lajitas Resort and Austin Golf Trail).

The launch of Crave Communications, timely with the emergence of new media, led the firm to expand its outreach from the traditional media outlets to all online audiences, including media, bloggers, social-networking websites like Yelp and Twitter and even the average consumer via “Crave This,” the company’s online newsletter.

An integral contributor to the success of Crave’s next-generation media campaigns is social-media strategist Cat Caroom, who has developed a respectful rapport and reputation with Austin’s online media community, garnering maximum exposure for Crave clients.

The combined prowess of Caroom and Biehler has maximized Crave’s effectiveness in the world of new media, both locally and nationally, with company clients gaining visibility on such websites as The Daily Meal, Eater, CNN’s Eatocracy and MSN, just to name a few.

“Crave Communications embodies the best of the industry: savvy and sassy, smart as hell and damned hardworking,” says Kelly Stocker, the Yelp Austin community manager. “They’re just as great at building relationships and brand growth and management as they are at pulling off highly successful events and navigating the somewhat tricky waters of the Austin media scene with style and panache.”

Of course, traditional media is still part of the mix for Crave Communications, and based on the company’s strong relationships and reputation among media, the company has amassed much attention and many accolades for its clients.

South Congress Avenue’s cool, seaside-inspired Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar was recently featured on Chef Anthony Bourdain’s Emmy Award-winning “No Reservations” TV show, and Esquire, naming Perla’s one of its “best new restaurants,” said it “defines simple, wholesome goodness in American cooking.”

More recently, Crave client Soleil, a newly opened casual Mediterranean-Italian seafood restaurant perched 400 feet above the cliffs of Lake Travis, was featured in the New York Times and chosen as food critic Patricia Sharpe’s “Pat’s Pick” in Texas Monthly.

For Crave clients like Cuvée Coffee Roasting Company, which hired the PR firm a little more than a year ago, gaining exposure and brand awareness through traditional and new media outlets has led to a huge boost in business.

“Within the past year, our brand recognition has gone off the charts,” says Mike McKim, founder and CEO of Cuvée Coffee. “We’ve gone from a small, underground company with a cult following to being probably the most recognized specialty coffee roaster in Texas. We’re going through such an amazing growth spurt right now. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced, and I know a lot of that has to do with Crave Communications.”

Whether it’s providing media-relations services, creating social-media campaigns, offering fine-tuned strategic planning or developing valuable marketing alliances, these women entrepreneurs build the buzz in the digital-media era, resulting in increased revenue, or in industry terms, “butts in seats” for their clients.

“Crave Communications excels at building a highly engaged community of individuals, organizations, clients and influencers,” Stocker says. “Working with Cat and Paula is like working with a really great friend who also happens to kick some major ass on all media, PR and event-marketing playing fields.”

For more information on Crave Communications, visit www.craveusa.com.