 User experience or commonly known as UX is one of the most important parts of building a website, a core one to be exact. Designing a good UX for a website means that you will consider better accessibility, readability, and usability on the client-side. Improving a website’s UX is also crucial when talking about conversion rate as it turns out that it is directly proportional. Because of how important it is, we decided to make an article that would be able to help people with their digital marketing. Our a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency has teamed up with Webster Solutions, a partner agency, to provide a few secrets to improve your UX in no time. High Quality and Original Images Images and texts are the backbones of website content so it’s only right that you focus more on improving these two. The images for instance should always be of high quality. As much as possible you should have the maximum resolution and upload to the website appearance isn’t stale. Has it balanced across the board as well by making sure that the resolution is the same with everything? Stock photos are viable sometimes, but if you can provide your image for your website, it is much better. The reason is they are very limited and the quality isn’t that great since they are made for something specific and niche. Custom captured ones are a lot better since they are a lot expressive and can set a specific tone for a page or the whole website as well. Using stock photos may also provide a different vibe for the visitors as they might think that you’re not putting enough effort into the website. Make sure that you can express your dedication perfectly so that they won’t have doubts about your products and services. Page Loading Times Who loves slow load times on their websites? No one, right? That’s why you have to make an effort to make sure that every page of your website loads fast and is not returning an error. Commitment to this feature is very important as it would sometimes require investing in a better hosting provider. However, there are some cases where some pages are just overloaded so they have to be tweaked and optimized. A very slow page load time will surely frustrate any visitors of your website, and eventually, they might even leave to find a better alternative for your products or services. That’s a straight loss and a miss for conversion. The goal is at least to have the page load as fast as a second, or even faster. Any more than 2 seconds is just bad and would draw negative results. Web pages are also being displayed on mobile, and in this case, you have to consider them and have proper optimizations from time to time to make sure that changes on both platforms are executed properly. Creating Quality Content Firstly, the goal of your content more than anything else should be to provide value to your readers. If you can’t achieve this goal, then it’s unlikely that people will share or link to your page and that is going to make it more difficult for you to rank for competitive search terms.
Remove Distractions from Landing Page The design principle of distraction is concerned with eliminating interactive page elements (primarily links) that can distract your visitor’s focus, and lead to them clicking away from your landing page and ultimately your intended conversion goal. Add Testimonials, Reviews, and Logos Adding reviews to your site is one way we suggest increasing your site’s engagement. For homepages, you can also add a series of logos that instantly build trust with new visitors. Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn are ideal opportunities to post customer testimonials. Video testimonials are especially helpful because video is easier to relate to than text. Potential customers who identify with previous customers anticipate they will have similar experiences. Add Live Chat to Your Site Live chat allows the customer to get the information they want from the company immediately. Consumers expect more from eCommerce retailers today. They need access to information that will help them make a decision in real time. Live chat offers companies a way to engage with visitors and turn them into loyal, buying customers. Takeaway Saying UX is important is an understatement. You have to do your best to make sure that visitors click more on your website or stay and read more. Improving each aspect is also suggested, and it is not best to focus on just one. Remember, UX is a combination of many things and it’s up to you to discover where you’re lacking the most. Wants to improve your website conversion rate? Our team is here to help. Give us a call By Vishal Dudhal, partner, Webster Solutions and consultant for Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.
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How to create an effective email marketing campaign? AI, hyper-personalization, and automation11/23/2021  Learn what marketing techniques and tools are used to improve email marketing engagement and conversion rates. The digital age of customer communications has evolved rapidly and grew at an exponential rate during the pandemic. With in-person experience limited, restaurants had to improve their digital communications to encourage at-home dining experiences and fashion retailers sought to engage their customers through a consistent, personalized buying journey. But with more emails as a means of digital communications, did consumers feel inundated with sales messages from brands? According to Mailchimp statistics, almost all industries gained increased email engagement in 2020. In August 2021, Hubspot reported that 78 percent of marketers saw an increase in email engagement in the last 12 months. However, when analyzing businesses on an individual basis, many are not achieving the same level of success as their competitors. So what are the contributing factors for businesses who are seeing quality engagement from email marketing and generating leads to meet KPIs? Our boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency spotlights our partner agency, The Stylista Group, and insights about how effective is an email marketing campaign. Delivering an effective email marketing campaign in 2021 is no easy job in a highly competitive space. However, the continual development of predictive analytics through artificial intelligence and email marketing software capabilities has resulted in emails keeping the momentum as the most effective form of marketing. Litmus revealed that ‘’4 out of 5 marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing’’ and 78 percent of marketers stated that email is important to their business’s continued success. Apart from creating a compelling brand story coupled with highly engaging quality content, what should your business consider to ramp up the effectiveness of email engagement? AI’s revolutionary customer experience in email marketing Sell with Insight The fundamentals of AI are machine learning, the art of collecting and processing information (input) to improve a current activity to achieve a better outcome (output). Email marketing software such as Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Salesforce Pardot combined with relationship management tools are at the forefront of data analysis. AI-powered analytics allows your business to generate data-driven insights. This insight enables your company to create an enhanced customer journey by anticipating consumer interests and habits in order to deliver hyper-personalized content at the right time. And 71 percent of marketing professionals surveyed have agreed that AI can be useful for optimizing email engagement through personalization. If you could understand what your customer wants, how they want it and when – selling products and services relevant to them has never been so easy. Retain through Automation Why do businesses forget to take a birds-eye approach to their customer journey? A new customer joins your subscriber list and is automatically enrolled in your content calendar – so far they have received a few emails about your brand story and friendly sales messages directly addressed to their salutation. But how coherent and personable has your approach been in order to drive better conversion opportunities for your new subscriber? With the use of predictive analytics, building automation programs using email marketing automation software allows your business to deliver content that is highly relevant to the subscriber, at the right time. ‘‘Hyper personalized automated email messages produce over 70 percent higher open rates and 152 percent higher click-through rates’’ – Campaign Monitor Let’s create a scenario for actionable purposes, hypothetically, if you emailed Sarah on 24th June about the new edition of handbags and she only decided to view the email on the 14th July, are you prepared to follow up with Sarah at the right time, offering an incentive or a reminder of what’s makes this handbag edition compelling to a potential buyer? This is where automation and triggered emails come into play. If you are manually tracking each customer on the buying journey, congrats on a better customer experience but individual tracking can be time-consuming for companies looking to accelerate business growth through customer base and profitability. Why not automate Sarah’s buying journey based on their interactions? Creating a simple set of steps based on the customer’s behaviors and being prepared for actions the customer may take can ramp up your business’s engagement and conversion quickly and effectively. Campaign Monitor found, ‘’marketers who use triggered emails report conversion rates of up to 50 percent’’. To wrap up, when considering effective email marketing campaigns in 2021 for your business, AI-powered analytics, automation programs, and hyper-personalized content should be at the forefront of your priorities. Luckily for you, most software providers like Hubspot can deliver a fully combined service to enhance your digital communications – it’s also a cost-effective option to consider when your marketing budget is limited. If you are unsure about where to start, speak to The Stylista Group for further advice or to achieve better measurable email campaign results. By Petia Abdur-Razzaaq, chief executive officer, The Stylista Group and partner agency to Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.  Choosing the correct color scheme for your website is as important as choosing the name for your business or brand. The impact that it can bring is uncontested. Our a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency has teamed up with Webster Solutions, a partner agency, to provide insights on how the best color coordination for your website can improve the number of visitors to your website and ultimately, help with conversion. The Importance of Colors in Websites Just like when it comes to businesses, colors play an important factor for websites. For instance, fast food chains and food-related businesses take advantage of the psychological effect of colors, which in some cases would trigger hunger or even activate particular cravings. Colors would also play an important role when it comes to clients and audiences, as it could affect what they will buy. The color association should never be underestimated, and if you want to be able to unlock the full potential of colors, you must do your research depending on what business you’ll be implementing on the website. Choosing the Color Scheme for Your Website The color scheme of your website should always depend on the industry or type of business that you’re running. Certain colors are also associated with specific attributes; for instance, purple is highly related to royalty or prestige, and so does gold. Having that specific feel can be easy to understand, but if you’re having a hard time, it’s worth doing your research through the internet. Pastel colors are also worth mentioning as they are starting to take over, and are even being used by websites that are trying to break the status quo. Pastel colors are mostly used to deliver a gentler vibe, but they can be also used as a good display if you just want to make your website clean and smoother to look at, regardless of what industry you are in. Still, appropriation of colors to your industry is important and should never be taken for granted. Use References from Existing Businesses and Products There are already a ton of branding that are using colors as one of their main identities, and if you don’t want to do hardcore research, referencing them may be more than enough. For instance, Coca-Cola is widely associated with the color red, and so does Nintendo. Both of which are trying to solicit a fun and exciting vibe with their branding. The same can be said with Walmart and American Express, but in this case, they are saying that their brand can be trusted, it’s a way of reassurance. Knowing this, you’ll have an easy and foolproof guide on what color combination you’ll use for your website. Referencing is not necessarily copying, it’s more like an inspiration. Website Background After choosing your primary colors, you should be thinking next about the background of your website since it will be the one that will take most of the space on the website and you don’t want it to be out of place. One of the safest bets is choosing a muted variation of your main color. You can also opt into using white or black backgrounds depending on what would suit best with your primary colors. A lot of websites use this and it has been proven to retain audiences and also enable more conversions. Typeface Setup Finally, you have to decide about your typeface setup. However, you shouldn’t be stressing much about this one as going by the default black color is more than enough. There are some cases where fonts are colored differently, but most of them are only used for gimmicks. In this case, you’ll be the judge and adjust accordingly depending on your chosen background color. Takeaway In conclusion, colors are the heart of a website. They don’t just improve them, but they make them. To further make this strategy effective, we advise that you do your research and use online tools to make your decisions a lot faster and more effectively. Some websites provide pre-made color combinations and ready-made color schemes that you can pick up and have ready for your website. By Vishal Dudhal, partner, Webster Solutions and consultant for Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. Four Reasons Micro-Influencer Campaigns Are The Most Effective Form of Influencer Marketing11/10/2021  Influencer Marketing today is an upgraded approach to the most effective form of marketing since the Industrial Revolution – Word of Mouth. It allows your business to increase reach, stay relevant, and influence buyer behavior authentically. With 82 percent of consumers saying that they would be very likely to follow a recommendation from a micro-influencer and 65 percent of consumers discovering a new brand or product through an influencer at least once a week – your potential customers are motivated by consumers. Our boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency spotlights our partner agency, The Stylista Group, and shares insights about micro-influencer campaigns as the most effective form of Influencer Marketing. What is Micro-Influencer Marketing Unlike macro-influencers and mega influencers (celebrities) who boast millions of followers, micro-influencers can range between 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Micro-Influencer Marketing is a social media influencer marketing strategy that enables a more focused approach to find your target audience in a niche market whilst maintaining a considerable reach. This approach often results in higher ROI. Finding Your Niche Micro-influencers have a competitive advantage due to their hyper-engaged and loyal following. Consider mega influencers such as celebrities, who have so many followers that interests can vary. On the other hand, micro-influencers tend to be highly engaged with their audience because they work harder to maintain their following and often focus on specific content within a niche. Being niche enables them to sustain their influence over common interests with their followers. #fashionblogger to #foodblogger ‘’Micro-influencers have 22.2 times more conversations weekly about buying recommendations compared to the average consumer.’’ Influencer Marketing Hub 2021 Authentic Marketing With the internet accelerating the growth of information accessibility combined with conscious consumerism, it is more important than ever for brands to ensure that their advertising efforts are genuine and brand values align with the customer. Although mega-influencers may appear more impactful, they are not relatable. For example, if a celebrity promoted a Target handbag with a good recommendation, followers may think that the promotion is only for monetary gain. Customers are also inundated with information from brands every day. How do you as a business cut through the noise whilst positioning your brand as credible? Saying you are trustworthy is not enough today – this is why peer-to-peer marketing builds authenticity amongst your potential buyers. In a 2019 global survey, 87 percent of consumers were inspired by an influencer to purchase from a brand. Micro-influencer campaigns have become a credible and genuine marketing channel to influence buyer behavior. Affordability The micros are more affordable than macro and mega influencers. Let us use Instagram as an example as 67 percent of brands use Instagram for Influencer Marketing. Micro-influencers tend to charge between $100 – $2500 per post depending on follower count. Whereas influencer profiles reaching millions can start from $10,000 per post, that is only affordable for businesses with bigger marketing budgets. Additionally, your marketing investment in influencers goes further than solely generating leads for your business, it can generate content. According to a 2020 Influencer report, ‘’80 percent of brands say they have increased the amount of content they produce’’ – meaning that their investments in influencer marketing are also enabling them to promote more content on the business’s digital platforms. And as a bonus, your business has more positive customer testimonials guaranteed. Better ROI, More Value The ability to relate to your customers evokes emotional buyer behaviors – so it’s no surprise that ‘’89 percent of marketers say influencer marketing ROI is as good or better than other marketing channels’’. Nano-influencers (generally under 10,000 followers) are similar to micro-influencers in terms of accessibility to a niche market. And, nano-influencers may achieve higher engagement rates depending on the product or service on offer due to their close community of followers. However, micro-influencers offer
At the same time, they continuously maintain a high level of trust amongst their followers. Micro-influencer campaigns can generate more focused leads as they tend to be more experienced too. To conclude, Influencer Marketing is expected to reach a market size of $10 billion – it is clear that peer-to-peer marketing and word-of-mouth is still the most valuable method to generate customers and revenue for your business. Our team is here to help. Give us a call By Petia Abdur-Razzaaq, chief executive officer, The Stylista Group and partner agency to Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.  Search engine optimization or commonly coined as SEO is an internet terminology that has already been around for almost three decades now. As the name suggests, it uses search engines as a tool and turns it into something that business owners can see as an advantage. Proper use of SEO would rank your website higher than competitors on Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. Even though it sounds amazing at first, the journey for this ordeal is quite tough, and you need more than just luck to see the effects of SEO. It is easier to look at SEO as similar to a programming language. You’re coding something into a search engine, teaching it how things will work, and how it will treat your website and pages. The thing is, there are a lot of people that are trying to do this as well, so you should also keep in mind about competition, and what to do to stand out. If you have decided that SEO is something that your business needs, then congratulations, you’re one step closer to advancing your business. Our a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency has teamed up with Webster Solutions, a partner agency, to share tips on how to reap the benefits of SEO to achieve your business goals. High-Quality Traffic SEO is apart from the traditional style of marketing; forced, invasive, and even worrying at times. SEO is a strategy that puts the clients first. There won’t be any forceful advertisements involved, whereas, meaningful and thought-provoking content will be fully utilized. It, therefore, leads to high-quality traffic, something that you would specifically want, rather than having people suddenly visiting your site because they accidentally clicked a popup ad. Shifting your focus towards valuable and educational content is so much worth it as questions and insightful tips will rank higher on search engines. This is especially helpful since people might enter specific queries that can be answered just by creating a lot of content involved in your industry or business type. Audience Retention Rate Having people visit your website in the World Wide Web is good enough, but having them stay on it for a prolonged time is almost a jackpot. SEO thrives in this territory as clients who are targeted by good SEO would usually be looking for something they have in mind for some time. Having a good impression also boosts the chance of clients visiting the website back, allowing for more conversion and profits in the long run. Good PR Strategy While it’s true that SEO and PR are two different strategies, they still go in sync with one another, especially if SEO is executed correctly. One solid feature that SEO provides is the ability to build reliable links on your websites. Public relations is an excellent marketing tool to generate credible third-party stories about clients. Stories on websites should always be meaningful, and they shouldn’t just be randomly picked without proper thinking. Stories resulting from a carefully crafted public relations campaign and build and enhance a company’s reputation, as well as help with back links on high traffic website. More so, link building allows your website to be recognized by many people, therefore building a good reputation that improves PR as well. Of course, if people know that your site can be trusted, it is much easier to gain more clients as days pass by. Better looking Website Lastly, by adding SEO, you will be committing into making your website its best version over time. Certainly, it isn’t something that happens overnight, as it requires a lot of planning and also switch-ups since contents may need some adjustments. Not only that it will look cleaner, but it will also appear to be a lot more organized than most average ones. Therefore, in order to achieve the best results, it is recommended that you consult a web designer and have them partner with an SEO specialist. Our team of SEO specialists are here to help. Give us a call. By Vishal Dudhal, partner, Webster Solutions and consultant for Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.  The growing success for businesses on social media is no secret, especially when 83 percent of marketers ranked advertising on social platforms the second most successful marketing channel. Our boutique travel and lifestyle agency spotlights our partner agency, The Stylista Group, and the invaluable social media tips for success. But how are businesses gaining and measuring success on social platforms? Well for one, businesses can gain market intelligence such as consumers’ interests, customer feedback, and competitor research. They can expand their reach for more market opportunities whilst promoting valuable and relevant content, consistently. This allows the business to increase the brand’s visibility on search engines. Additionally, a positive brand experience on social media can generate inbound traffic to increase business revenue and improve brand perception. Market data revealed that 81 percent of shoppers research online before purchasing and over half (54 percent) of social media users research products specifically on social platforms. Social media platforms are becoming a search engine for consumers when looking for products and of course, if a brand has a higher-performing social page, the intent of the customer to buy is greater. Yet, with all the opportunities available to businesses on social media, 61 percent of marketers still find it challenging to generate traffic and leads. Re-evaluating your social media marketing strategy for greater success and maintaining a resilient mindset are your first steps towards overcoming these challenges. Complete a Social Media Audit A social media audit provides the basis for a data-driven social media marketing strategy. It helps you to understand best practices going forward. The social media audit starts with reviewing your metrics (engagement rates) so that you can develop analytics. See some examples below. What Type of Content on Social Media Performs the Highest? This metric is normally based on the number of shares, likes, comments, mentions, and profile visits one piece of content generates. If your business has already posted a diverse range of content formats, your audit can be more specific in terms of highest-performing content such as videos on Facebook stories or maybe Instagram reels. “A data-driven social media marketing strategy is a recipe for success.” The Stylista Group Who is Your Audience, When to Engage, and What are Their Interests? Instagram ‘Audience’ Insights provides location when users are most active online, and demographical data such as age range and gender. If you are running ads, Facebook Insights allows your business to understand conversion rates for different content formats so that you will be able to tailor your ads for higher ROI future campaigns. If your business utilizes several social platforms, why not make your reporting easier by consolidating all metrics into one? Some of the best social media monitoring and social listening platforms include Hootsuite, Buffer Analytics, or Sprout Social. Set Your Social Media Goals Once you have reviewed your data and conducted a social media audit, you can start setting your social media goals. A good and effective method used by industry experts is known as SMART goals. The SMART goal acronym can be broken down into the following:
Get Creative With Relevant Content and Engage Creating content that is relevant and valuable to an audience is key to capturing their attention. But it’s no longer just an aesthetic image of your latest beauty device and where to buy. Businesses must get creative and leverage engagement opportunities. This can include:
According to Hootsuite, think “conversation” – not “broadcast.” Too often many businesses are using social media as a press release platform to announce a new product or service to a large audience. However, this strategy is not sustainable. Engagement is a two-way communication and in a competitive landscape, your customer has the choice to engage with brands who are relatable, relevant, and considerate of their audience. Our team is here to help. Give us a call By Petia Abdur-Razzaaq, chief executive officer, The Stylista Group and partner agency to Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. Among Top Consumer Marketing Service Providers on UpCity!11/1/2021 
Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. is thrilled to officially announce that we are a part of the UpCity community of top consumer marketing B2B service providers! At Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., we pride ourselves on producing unparalleled public relations campaigns that enable our customers to put their best foot forward in every instance. From cause marketing to media relations, our team has the dedication, skill, and experience to handle whatever our clients need. UpCity is a resource that helps connect businesses to service providers they can trust. With more than 70,000 listed providers—from marketing agencies to accounting firms to HR consultants to IT specialists, and many more—two million businesses (and counting) have visited UpCity to research and identify the best partner for their needs. UpCity’s proprietary algorithm utilizes a variety of digital signals to measure the credibility, trustworthiness, and recommendability of B2B service providers across the U.S. and Canada. These digital data points like reviews (both on UpCity and other third-party review sites), presence in relevant search results, domain authority, website speed, and experience help UpCity connect businesses with outstanding service providers like Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. We are proud to be listed in this vibrant and growing community and want to thank our clients for all of the love and support you have shown our business.  Cause-related marketing is a mutually beneficial collaboration between a company and a nonprofit to build goodwill in the community and raise funds for a 501 © charity. It positions companies as good corporate citizens dedicated to philanthropy. Cause-related marketing is very beneficial for businesses as it also builds relationships, awareness, and competitiveness. Consumers want their purchases to matter and they are demanding that brands stand for some sort of cause. Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. , a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency, shares insights about key trends as it pertains to cause-related marketing. Being Socially Conscious Sustainability has been the biggest growing trend. Businesses are being held accountable for how they treat the planet. Knowing their products are made environmentally safe or how their brand positively impacts society is important to consumers. A study showed that 78 percent of “Americans believe companies should not just focus on making money but also focus on ways to make a positive effect on society,” according to The Balance Small Business. Consumers would be willing to change their buying habits by switching to products from a more socially conscious company. Companies Asking Consumers to Make Changes As Well “Companies have sometimes turned the tables on consumers. They ask for behavior changes, not just the purchase of products,” according to The Balance Small Business. The focus is on leading healthier lives and staying safe. Companies support a cause by also asking consumers to support the same cause through a behavioral approach. Along with this trend, “companies have shown interest in engaging with Generation Z as they tend to be more digitally active which allows more ways to communicate with them. Teaching them through fun online interactive programs has proven to be a successful way to connect,” according to The Balance Small Business. Companies have also awarded scholarships through these efforts. The use of hashtags has also been an effective way to create engagement through social media. Coming Up With Effective Practices As the environment for cause marketing has grown, so has the public opinion on what collaboration between a business and nonprofit has not been successful. Through the use of social media, the public voice is heard within seconds when a marketing campaign is not effective. Good practices in cause-marketing are important as it builds credibility. It is important to provide the general public with information about the 501 © charity and to clearly state how much money will actually be donated to the non-profit. Transparency will help customers understand how their dollars will support a worthwhile charity. Here are key channels for cause-related marketing. Omni Channel Communication It is important for the cause-related marketing campaign to have a unified, seamless message across all forms of communication – media relations, advertising (traditional and digital), social media, email marketing, direct mail and YouTube videos, Event Sponsorships Event sponsorhips are another way for companies to elevate their profile as a good corporate citizen. Liquor companies often invest heavily in event sponsorships to secure tremendous consumer visibility -- event signage, sales promotional items, media relations, banner ads and social media outreach. Concerts, sporting events, as well as charity fundraisers are popular event sponsorships. Licensing Licensing is another way for a charity to raise funds simply by allowing a business to use the charity’s logo on promotional materials to promote the company’s products or services “This is great because you receive more funding and notoriety through people wearing your logo on a shirt or sipping coffee out of a mug with your mission written across it,” says Nonprofit Megaphone. Donations through Purchases When a company pledges to donate an amount of the product price to a nonprofit. It is usually a limited time offer to inspire consumers to purchase a product and a percent. Major retail chains use the month of October to donate a percentage of their sales to a breast cancer foundation in October since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. They give the public enough information about the charity being helped through emails or pamphlets so consumers can research it. It also tells consumers how much will be donated. Informing the public exactly what is being done is an important tactic to build transparency and maintain an effective practice. Cause-related marketing is a win-win for companies and nonprofits since it engages consumers to make purchases and have a percentage of sales support a worthwhile 501 © charity. Our lifestyle brands PR professionals are here to help. Give us a call. By Athanasia Gouvatsos at Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.  In today’s modern workplace, technology can be used to streamline business functions, organize and track projects and tasks, manage money, and help connect people for collaboration. While there are some tech functions you can likely do on your own, or with a bit of help and training, there may be areas where it makes better sense to invest in a technology professional. Allen Marketing Communications, a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency, shares the following solutions to help you make the right choices for your business. Website Design According to Pew Research Center, a large majority of consumers use the internet to research products and services, read reviews, and connect with possible service providers. As such, you not only need a website for your business, you need a site that’s functional, easy to navigate, and in some cases, interactive. At minimum, the website should provide an overview of who you are, what you do, and why consumers should choose you. You also need to make it easy for people to reach out to you, ask questions, or shop with you if you provide products or services online. While just about anyone can build a very basic website, it is time-consuming, it can be difficult to keep updated, and it’s not likely to have the polished and professional look of a professionally designed site. Consider working with a professional web designer, and don’t be shy about working with a freelancer. These experts typically make around $15-$30 per hour, in case you’re asking “how much do web designers make?” Cyber Security Cybercriminals are continually changing their game plans, and according to the FBI, it’s essential that you’re keeping your information, and that of your clients, safe and secure. While there are many things you can do on your own - like backing up data, regularly changing passwords, and using firewalls - having an expert review of your security systems can be a business lifesaver. A cyber security professional can test your site for weaknesses, evaluate your needs, and provide you with direction on best practices for protecting you from ransomware, theft, and viruses. You may be able to get along just fine with a consultation or assessment once or twice a year, but the services themselves should be considered essential. Eventually, it’s smart to have a cyber security/IT professional on staff or to work with a cyber security monitoring agency. Note that this typically costs small businesses around $24,000 per year. Collaborative Tools Collaborative tools like team sites, workflow programs, and project management software can help teams stay organized and working in sync, regardless of where they’re located. Social media can be great for amplifying your content and messaging and reaching your clients and customers. Problems can arise, however, when people don’t know how to effectively use their tools. The same goes for new software systems. It can be to your advantage to bring in a corporate trainer to help educate staffers on self-operated tech systems to ensure they’re being used effectively. Not only is this a smart move when you’re onboarding new hires, but it can also be a good professional development tool. Costs here can range significantly depending on the type of software and the number of employees you’ll be training. Financial Management Systems Gone are the days of writing notes in a ledger, but today’s accounting systems can be somewhat complex. There are many “all in one” products that allow you to do everything from invoice and print receipts to track employee hours, log tax deductions, and even generate detailed financial reports. If you’re comfortable with the software and confident in your ability to ensure what you’re plugging in is accurate, that’s great. If you’re using it as your primary technology to manage all of your financial systems, it doesn’t hurt to have a consultant in on occasion - especially around tax time and budgeting - to ensure you’re getting the most from your technology. An accountant usually charges anywhere from $30 to $500 an hour. Tech makes a lot of business operations easier to manage, but the key is in ensuring you have the right tech for your business and using it wisely. Having the right business entity is also important, as it pertains to how you pay taxes, and the liability protection you have in place. You can do the legwork yourself, hire a pricey attorney, or utilize an online formation company. Our boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency is here to help. Give us a call. Guest post by Chelsea Lamb of Business Pop Photo credit: Pixabay  Health, wellness and self-care are new buzz words during the past year. The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely shifted focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle not only for individuals but for their children as well. According to the Insights Family report The Next Generation of Families, “research firm has found that US kids ages three to 12 are 51 percent more concerned about their health and wellbeing than they were last year.” Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency spotlights key trends as it pertains to wellness for children. Mental Health Is Front and Center for Younger Children Mental health has become a bigger topic now and has expanded to younger children. “Almost 20 percent of six-year-olds say mental health is one of their top three concerns—surpassing both bullying and violent crime. To cope, 39 percent of US families are engaging in some form of meditation or mindfulness activity at least once a day,” according to Kidscreens. The lockdown has shifted the spotlight on mental health concerns as kids were unable to go about their normal lives interacting with other kids Multi-Generational Wellness — Grandparents and Grandchildren Engage in Wellness Activities together. After a year of lockdown, the Covid-19 vaccine has made it safe for family members to reconnect for in-person gatherings and to minimize the sense of loneliness brought on from isolation. Global Wellness Institute reports “Generational wellness, where we have older family members being able to participate with younger members of the family, and, in fact, without even being a family member. There is a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and that someone was there that they could connect with.” Grandparents must tend to their own health while also engaging grandchildren in activities that involve exercise and healthy eating. Wellness activities such as taking grandkids to the park or just on a walk are simple ways how grandparents and grandkids engage in wellness activities together. Kids are very active, so for grandparents to engage with them, they must also stay active too. It can be done by hiking, fishing, lawn sports, or running. Engaging in these activities has also proven to build a stronger bond between them. Wellbeing Apps Technology has created an innovative way to keep track of your health and wellness from sleep to breathwork. For example, an apple watch can detect when you should stand up or when it is time for you to take a breath. “Families are starting to actively seek out brands that support their health and wellness. In the U.S., the percentage of kids with Apple Watches jumped from 1.6 percent in 2000 to 5.1 percent in 2001,” according to Kidscreens. Apps on your phone can track how many steps you’ve taken in a day, how many calories you’ve burned, and keep track of your sleep schedule to build a healthy lifestyle. The pandemic has created a need to have a healthy immune system where our bodies can naturally combat any virus. Thus, Apps that helped monitor your diet became in huge demand. School Nutrition As A Science Supports Wellness Research has shown “that improved nutrition in schools leads to increased focus and attention, improved test scores, and better classroom behavior. It can also create healthy eating habits, growth, and intellectual development.” A healthy lifestyle helps contribute to schools’ effort to provide a strong education. It is important to help kids build these habits while they’re young so they build a strong foundation to live a long healthy life. Parents Renewed Interest in Children’s Curriculum During Lockdown The pandemic undoubtedly has brought everyone closer. Due to remote working and remote classes, parents and children learned how to work together while their parents worked from home and kids studied from home. As a result, parents became more involved with their kids’ schoolwork and got a first-row view of how teachers were educating their kids. These trends continued past the stay-at-home mandates where parents became more involved to ensure their kids are getting the attention and education they deserve. Some parents have also embraced flexications -- an escape for three or four weeks or longer -- with parents working remotely and children enrolled in virtual classes anywhere in the world. Families embrace new ways of mixing business with pleasure by traveling during the off- and shoulder seasons during the school calendar year. As things slowly get back to normal following the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the wellness industry has focused on children's overall mental and physical wellbeing. Our travel and lifestyle public relations professionals are here to help savvy marketers capture their share of wealth in the wellness industry. Give us a call. By Athanasia Gouvatsos at Allen Marketing Communications, Inc. |
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