Last week, my N6A colleagues and I had the chance to attend DigiMarCon East, a summit of industry leaders to discuss the latest in digital marketing, media and advertising. As communications partners for some of the fastest-growing martech, adtech and ecommerce companies, it’s important for us to keep a finger on the pulse of the biggest trends impacting our clients’ businesses, especially during a time of massive upheaval and transformation across all sectors. 

Based on everything we learned, these are the top trends impacting this space. 

AI will usher in a new era of marketing innovation—if implemented properly.

Over the last few months, generative AI—especially ChatGPT—has unleashed a flood of discussion and experimentation. Its rapid advancement has marketers pacing to catch up and unlock its potential. 

If executed properly, AI helps marketers analyze massive amounts of data in real-time and make faster decisions to optimize campaigns. With the ever-dwindling sources of third-party data, it’s important for marketers to harness the power of first-party data in order to increase targeting efficiency and campaign ROI. AI has the potential to execute these robust functions in order to deliver exponential success. 

By freeing up the manpower required to analyze data effectively, AI gives time back to marketers to focus on the creative aspects of their craft. These include developing stronger visuals, drafting compelling copy and building strategies that flex their creative thinking. Most importantly, they’ll be able to do this with a data-backed process, as they will have access to more in-depth and accurate recommendations that will help them fully refine their work. 

Despite the rapid advancements, AI still has a long way to go before it can fully automate core marketing and advertising processes. That means communications professionals will continue to provide core creative and strategic value. 

Brands can’t afford to ignore the creator economy.

Over the past few years, TikTok has brought creators and influencers to the forefront of the industry conversation. While social media platforms and the dominant voices on them have been a mainstay in marketing strategies for quite some time, success looks quite different in the TikTok era. Instead of glossy, idealized Instagram posts featuring carefully curated aesthetics, more consumers are responding to the chaotic authenticity of short-form content on TikTok—which has had social media incumbents like Meta and YouTube snapping at its heels. Short-form video content is expected to generate billions in revenue for all these platforms in the coming years.

In addition to TikTok, brands should be looking toward other companies that are attracting more influencers and heavily investing in infrastructure to utilize them. Amazon, Spotify and Roblox are among the few that are leaning toward this strategy and are expected to compete heavily with the mainstay platforms in the coming years. 

Most importantly, brands need to invest thoughtfully in creative strategies that fit the format of these platforms instead of applying the same formats and calling it a day. Consumers expect brands to cater to their content consumption preferences and will write off those that miss the mark. 

Data mastery is more critical than ever.

The marketing and advertising industry has been roiled with setbacks and budget cuts due to the unavoidable influences of the economy and have shifted focus to smaller, targeted initiatives. This has increased the reliance on martech solutions that offer robust analytics capabilities to optimize campaign performance. Companies in this space are seeing a sharp rise in demand despite the economic headwinds and have the opportunity to capitalize on this unique situation. 

In addition to analytics, technologies like Web3, metaverse and blockchain should also be looked at closely by marketers as immersion, attribution security and privacy are becoming key to engaging consumers. While financials may not allow for much experimentation right now, marketers should still be paying close attention to what’s working with these technologies in preparation for when budgets return to normal. 

The road ahead won’t be any less bumpy for companies in the marketing and advertising space. In fact, it’s likely that new trends will have pros playing defense and chasing the next great opportunity. However, with the right strategic thinking and hypersensitivity to ongoing shifts, growth and innovation will always be achievable.

The post These 3 Trends Will Define Marketing Success in 2023 appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

Then a new thought creeps into your mind: what next? 

Funding announcements are an essential part of growth communications for any early-stage business… but their impact is limited if treated as a one-off campaign. Here are three reasons your announcement needs to be supported by a year-round PR and marketing strategy.

1. You need to take advantage of the momentum

You’ve earned features in trade publications, mentions in national outlets, and buzz across LinkedIn and Twitter. This may be the first time your company has generated significant media interest. So why the heck would you stop now? 

Think of the announcement as a powerful but brief gust of wind. Without a sail—or, in this analogy, an integrated comms strategy—you have no way to harness the momentum. Having a strategy in place and ready to implement allows you to make the most of the moment. 

Your strategy should tie together a number of key PR and marketing efforts, including…

• Thought leadership and executive visibility: Bylines, blog posts, podcast appearances, and speaking engagements demonstrate that your company and its leaders are driving industry innovation.
• Customer and partner success storytelling: Nothing demonstrates the value offered by your brand better than stories about the success of the people and organizations you help. 
• Media relations: The better you know the journalists and publishers in your industry—and the better they know you—the more successful you’ll be in getting your story out there. This requires careful and consistent outreach to the right people.
• Amplification: The work doesn’t stop when you’ve secured that coveted feature story. Now you want to get that credibility asset in front of your target audience using owned channels like social media, email, a company blog, etc. 

Remember, the wind is at your back. So hoist the sail and get moving!

2. You need to align effort with outcomes

All of that media coverage is great, but ask yourself this: how is it helping you achieve your core business outcomes? 

Having a communications strategy in place at the time of your announcement ensures that your PR and marketing efforts are aligned with core business goals. It makes sure all of your team’s hard work is moving you towards the place you want to be. There’s no point harnessing the wind if you’re not sailing in the right direction. 

By business outcomes, I mean those core goals that define success for your company over the long term. Remember, you’re not doing PR for the sake of PR. Coverage is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. Building investor support ahead of your next round is an outcome; earning coverage from a top industry publisher is a means to accomplish that outcome.

At N6A, our Outcomes Relations model begins with our clients selecting one or more outcomes from a list of six common categories.

Your business is almost certainly focused on several—if not most—of these outcomes. The thing is, you can’t expect to accomplish them with a single campaign. These are big, important goals that require a consistent, year-round PR and marketing effort. 

3. You need to maintain visibility from your target audience

Brands who have great reputations seem to have a never-ending presence in the media. From feature stories to executive interviews to viral social posts and videos, they’re everywhere all the time. But that kind of media saturation doesn’t happen overnight. 

These businesses maintain consistent media visibility through a steady drumbeat of outreach, content creation, and amplification. 

Look at this from the perspective of your target audience. Let’s say that’s an exec at a potential investment firm who’s had their interest piqued by the coverage of your funding announcement. Over the next six to 12 months, that exec keeps coming across your business in social media posts, media features, executive interviews, award nominations, and blog posts. How much more likely are they to back your funding round when you come calling?

On the other hand, a burst of coverage followed by silence can make your funding round look like a flash in the pan. 

Business growth boils down to consistent execution on the tactical level. Success is defined not only by big leaps, but by careful, methodical steps. By preparing a communications strategy to support your funding announcement, you’ll be sure to maximize the impact of your big news over the long term.

Is your comms plan optimized for long-term success? Let’s talk.

The post Why Your Funding Announcement Needs to Be Supported by Year-Round PR appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

The LGBTQ+ community, while vibrant and thriving, is faced with the resurgence of discriminatory practices, legislation, lack of representation and fear of violence. This is especially true for transgendered people and persons of color within each subcommunity. 

This is why it’s essential for companies to go beyond generalized messages of support and take more care in developing their Pride Month communications strategies. Below are important guidelines for crafting a strategy that connects with the community authentically and, more importantly, validates their existence and experiences.

1. LGBTQ+ audiences are not a monolith 

Many companies make the mistake of using generalized language about equality and pride to speak to the entire LGBTQ+ audience, which falls short of validating the wide spectrum of experiences of each subgroup within the community. Men, women, transgender people, persons of color and other identities experience discrimination in specific ways and desire to have their journeys represented as part of the larger Pride narrative. 

When developing communications towards LGBTQ+ audiences, companies should go beyond the standard “Love is Love” narrative and create multiple pieces of content that speak directly to each audience with authenticity, empathy and deep understanding of their community’s struggles and vibrancy.

2. Inclusive language goes beyond pronouns 

Companies have made significant strides over the last few years in addressing employees and customers by their chosen pronouns, empowering them to embrace their identity. However, there are still vestiges of gendered language in standard communications that uphold the heteronormative framework as the standard. 

Titles such as “Mr.”, “Ms.” or “Mrs.” are generally used in formal settings without input from the designated persons. Familial roles, such as husband and wife, are also assumed unless otherwise stated. Job titles, such as “chairman”, “salesman”, and “businessman” serve to uphold patriarchal views of certain professions. 

In order to adopt a true culture of inclusivity in internal and external communications, companies should avoid using gendered language to ensure no one feels excluded from the conversation or the audience.

3. Involve your LGBTQ+ employees in the process

There are no people better suited to help develop your Pride Month communications strategies than your LGBTQ+ employees. Messaging drawn from lived experiences will resonate far better than catch-all messages of support. 

Most importantly, you must be open to being corrected when the proposed strategy doesn’t pass the smell-test. Target audiences will appreciate being spoken to by one of their own and this will help foster good will and increase confidence among them.

4. Focus on the issues

The corporatization of pride has become a point of criticism within the LGBTQ+ community, with some arguing that Pride’s history as a protest and advocacy movement is diluted by general sentiments focused on equality. This is especially poignant during a time when homophobia and associated legislation are being brought back to the forefront across the sociopolitical landscape. 

For your Pride Month messaging to really showcase support, it must discuss the issues and challenges that the community is facing specifically, such as the eradication of LGBTQ+ education in schools, trans athlete exclusion from sports teams or the lack of quality representation in media. To earn the community’s support, you must demonstrate thorough understanding of and advocacy for the issues that matter to them. 

5. Avoid “pinkwashing” and take meaningful action 

Companies that take a surface-level approach to their Pride Month communications strategy by offering generalized messages of support without enacting any major initiatives or policy changes run the risk of being called out for “pinkwashing” and losing credibility among LGBTQ+ audiences. In order to show true support from the community, companies should take meaningful action, such as donating to charity, implementing new DEI policies and protections or amplifying LGBTQ+ voices to demonstrate authenticity and solidarity. 

6. Make it a regular part of your ongoing strategy 

Queer people don’t stop wanting recognition and validation after Pride Month. Their identities impact every moment personally and professionally, and there is an increasing expectation for companies to make consistent efforts in acknowledging and supporting their community to earn their goodwill or business. 

Companies should incorporate outreach and advocacy towards the LGBTQ+ community into their standard communications efforts in order to truly foster a connection with them and proliferate the message of equality and acceptance year round.

The post The 6 Tenets of an Effective Pride Month Communications Strategy appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

What can the PR and marketing industries do to increase gender parity at the executive level? 

Daniela Mancinelli, CEO of N6A: I think that over the past decade, we have made some serious strides in starting to break the glass ceiling, but lasting change can only come if senior leaders in the industry make this their highest priority and show the way. 

We must commit to transparent and objective recruitment and performance evaluations, recognize the value of diverse leadership styles, and actively mentor, coach, and prepare women for leadership roles. We need to create an honest and open culture that can have mature conversations about gender and diversity bias, and we must be willing to lead by example in making parity and diversity in career advancement a key organizational goal. 

I sincerely believe that if all industry CEOs pledge to make this a priority, we can make a difference, one person at a time. In the words of one of my favorite authors, James Clear, “Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.”

Nina Velasquez, EVP of Talent Development at N6A: It’s important to continue celebrating more women today in leadership roles. But the fact remains that people who identify as female and gender-neutral continue to face an uphill battle in the workplace. 

The businesses that make the effort to take a good look at their employee diversity will realize there’s still a lot of work to do to embrace gender and BIPOC inclusion. 

We know increasing gender parity is the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint. Why is it also good for business?

Trisha Larocchia, Chief Client Officer at N6A: The most successful businesses take into consideration people’s different lived experiences. I think it’s important to take your whole self to work and that the best business decisions are made when you have different voices and opinions coming to the table with ideas. You don’t get that when you look around a room and everyone looks and sounds exactly like you.

Jacky Agudelo, SVP at N6A: According to USAID, “Achieving gender parity in the workplace could add as much as $12 trillion to the global economy.” When one of us wins, we all win.

Daniela: Gender parity is not only necessary, but also a must in the evolution of any industry and organization. Talent and leadership skills have nothing to do with gender and having the right people in the right roles will always lift productivity, drive innovation, and lead to social and economic advancement.  

Angelea Elenis, Intern at Studios: Female leaders serve as people that those younger than them emulate and become. The phrase “anything is possible” holds a lot more meaning when there are people just like you living your dream.

What about N6A/Studios’ culture has empowered so many women to reach leadership positions?

Trisha: Flexibility, empathy, and never ending trust and support. As a mother of two, any day can go off the rails pretty quickly. Knowing that I never have to feel guilty for not being able to be two places if I’m truly needed at home is a huge relief. Everyone is willing and able to jump in if needed and feeling that level of support on a daily basis makes it a great place to work and lead.

Angelea: Seeing so many women in leadership roles at N6A is inspiring. Representation is important. Watching all the female leaders flawlessly execute their responsibilities and win clients is more than impressive, it raises my confidence that I too can be successful as a young woman in the business world after graduation.

Nina: We’re proud of our DEI commitments but know that we’re just scraping the surface. We have a lot of work ahead and continue to push for true equality in everything that we do as a company.

What message do you have for the next generation of female leaders working to break into PR and marketing?

Jacky: Be your biggest cheerleader. Only you know the time and efforts you’ve given to strengthen your work product—which is essentially what makes you unique! Celebrate your wins and use challenging moments to rise above.  

Trisha: I’m big on finding your “people.” I’m lucky to have some amazingly strong people in my corner—some women I’ve known since childhood and others that I’ve connected with throughout my career. We wear many hats in each other’s lives: cheerleader, counselor, support system, comic relief, and so much more. It runs the gamut, but knowing you always have someone in your corner to support you makes your biggest wins sweeter and your inevitable lows that much more bearable. I would literally be nowhere without them!

The post Breaking the Bias: PR Needs More Female Leaders appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

In addition to the personal challenges and fears that the onset of the pandemic made us reckon with, we as PR professionals had to quickly update our clients’ communication strategies to not only address the issues the coronavirus was forcing all industries to face, but to also find their place in the conversation. 

So how did we do it? I can tell you it wasn’t easy. In fact, I have never felt more challenged and afraid professionally. With marketing budgets on the chopping block, it was more critical than ever to drive business outcomes for our clients. 

To put it succinctly, we adapted. We had to move away from the traditional methods of promoting our clients’ successes and instead laser-focus our efforts on providing much needed strategy and insight to our media partners, who were under incredible stress. Because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, we had to be hypersensitive to the ever-changing news cycle and help our clients quickly serve up knowledge that peers within their industry could use. We had to build a new way of doing PR, founded on the concept of strategic elasticity. 

Here’s how strategic elasticity can redefine your communications strategy.

Be hypersensitive to the news cycle.

The world is undergoing one of the most transformative periods in recent history, and it isn’t slowing down. The way people live and companies do business is changing daily. Things that were thought to be true yesterday might be proven wrong today, and everyone is constantly playing catch up. If you want to ensure your business stays relevant, follow the news constantly for relevant micro moments and secure your place in the narrative. 

Become an educator, not a promoter.

Uncertainty is the “new normal” as the pandemic continues to complicate business forecasting across all industries. The media and their audiences are in dire need of experts who can shed light on what’s happening on the ground and who can provide advice on how to tackle the challenges presented. Smaller news items or overt self-promotion is valued less and less, and the best way to generate media coverage is to provide actionable insight that educates and provides value to readers.

Know when to step in or step back.

In the world of strategic communications, every word is supposed to matter. But in the current landscape, there are entirely too many words being thrown around, and many of them don’t actually matter to the issues at hand. This prevents the voices that need to be heard from getting the platform they deserve, especially when it comes to disenfranchised communities of POC and minorities. It’s important to understand which conversations you need to step into, and when you should take a step back and let the most critical perspectives rise to the top. 

Anticipate outcomes but be prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice.

While accepting uncertainty is part of the new normal, it’s still important to forecast potential outcomes from every major event within your industry. Your communications strategy should always include some predictions about what to expect in order to help your peers, leadership, and customers plan accordingly. However, new information is always unfolding, and it’s important to make sure your messaging is updated in real time to reflect the changing landscape, especially when the changes don’t line up with your previous expectations. This will ensure that your target audiences know that you’re constantly monitoring the situation and making proactive decisions to improve.

Acknowledge mistakes and commit to learning and improving.

With many of us making quick decisions to address new problems, it’s inevitable that some of those decisions will be wrong. While it may be easier to stick to your guns and go on the defense, audiences will hold you in much higher regard if you acknowledge your mistakes and show humility. A good communications strategy involves learning from your mistakes and outlining steps to continue building trust and driving improvement. 

We’re not out of the woods yet, and the last two years have taught us that anything can and will happen. If you keep the concept of strategic elasticity at the core of your communications strategy, you’ll ensure that your brand stays ahead of the curve and is seen as a valued thought leader within your industry and beyond.

The post Strategic Elasticity is the Most Important Aspect of PR appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

As the structure of traditional PR comes down, so too do the walls that have historically separated PR and marketing teams. No longer are the two groups siloed, one working to promote specific products and services while the other focuses on improving the reputation of the business as a whole. Together, they’re working toward a unified communications strategy.

Almost half of PR professionals and more than 60 percent of marketing executives believe that their two disciplines will become more closely aligned in the next five years, according to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

If your business isn’t aligning PR and marketing, it’s more than just an efficiency issue. You’re missing out on a critical step in connecting your communications strategy to your core business outcomes. 

Here are four reasons why PR and marketing should be aligned:

1. Marketing amplifies earned coverage

The new model of PR—what N6A calls Outcome Relations—is built to deliver tangible business outcomes, like completing a capital raise or hitting a sales benchmark. The PR team works to secure earned media results that support that outcome. 

But the work isn’t over once that big company feature is published in Forbes. This is where the marketing team can provide the critical step in connecting earned coverage to measurable outcomes: amplification. 

Maybe they pull a quote from the feature and create a branded graphic to publish on Instagram; maybe they create a paid LinkedIn campaign targeting new leads; or maybe they share the article in an email campaign to your existing clients. 

Once the PR team has earned that big media piece, the marketing team ensures the right people see it. 

2. PR can increase your search visibility

Marketing teams spend a lot of time working to increase the search visibility of their brand’s website, be it bidding on search terms as part of an SEM plan or optimizing organic content to increase rankings.

Effective PR teams can play a key role in that strategy by generating organic search traffic and backlinks.

Being featured in a major publisher will naturally create more search traffic as readers seek out additional information about the featured company. If your business is mentioned in an article from The Wall Street Journal, you can bet you’ll see a significant spike in organic search traffic.

Some publishers may also include backlinks, or links from other websites to your own website, in their coverage. These backlinks are considered by Google and other search engines to be votes of confidence for your site. If a credible publisher is linking to your site, Google figures, it must be pretty credible as well. Up goes your search ranking.

If the PR team is aligned on the key search terms your business is trying to rank for, they can pitch to relevant and credible publishers to drive increased visibility.

3. Joint news monitoring can benefit PR and marketing teams

PR pros spend a considerable amount of time monitoring media coverage for opportunities for newsjacking, or leveraging a major news story to draw attention to their own brand. Content marketing teams, meanwhile, are constantly monitoring social media feeds looking for relevant news and conversations the brand can engage with. 

When PR and marketing teams coordinate, this news monitoring system becomes more efficient.

Let’s say a PR team working on behalf of a cyber security client comes across a story about the data breach of a high-profile company. In addition to pitching publishers on a byline from the cyber security brand’s CEO, the PR team flags the news to the marketing team, who publishes the original article on LinkedIn along with a few insightful tips for avoiding security breaches. 

The well-timed social post could drive significant visibility and help establish the brand as an authority in their industry… all because the PR team was quick to flag the news.

4. PR can boost marketing campaigns

Designing a marketing campaign to increase lead gen or hit a sales goal? Think about how PR can support the effort. A byline or feature in a relevant publication can drive people to your site, then funnel them into the campaign.

Let’s say you’re an automated CX brand who’s just published a lead gen campaign built around a PDF download. In addition to budgeting for Google Ads and designing a social media blitz, you pulled your PR team in to support. They’ve been busy pitching and landed a CEO byline with a major publisher, which publishes the day you launch your lead gen campaign. That byline drives a ton of qualified readers to your website, where they’re met with a pop-up offering the PDF resource in exchange for their email. 

By bringing the PR team into the campaign design early and aligning timelines to create a cohesive campaign, you can significantly expand your reach.

None of these things are possible if your PR and marketing teams are sitting in separate departments—or separate agencies—with little to no communication. Aligning the two disciplines from initial outcome development all the way through messaging and campaign deployment is key to optimizing ROI. 

If your PR and marketing teams aren’t working together to drive business outcomes, you’re not getting the most out of either.

The post 4 Reasons Your PR and Marketing Should be Aligned appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

Thank you! I’m extremely happy to be here!

My attraction to the agency came in waves. I was initially attracted to N6A by the Outcome Relations focus towards overall strategy and execution; as you can imagine, this alone is unique within our industry. I then met several members of the senior team and was inspired by their commitment to the agency and staff. I then learned more about the larger North Sixth Group investments and the involvement with Italian football. As a football fanatic, let’s just say I was sold!

Each one of these things are unique on their own and compelled me to join.

2. We want to get to know you a little better. What would your perfect day in NYC look like?

A perfect day in NYC for me would start with a long walk from the Financial District to the West Village. The vibrant, subtle differences you experience as you walk through each of these neighborhoods reminds me of how truly dynamic NYC is. But I wouldn’t walk for too long, as I’d need to catch the latest Liverpool FC game at one of my favorite supporters bars dotted across the city.

Then I would head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to help balance my day with a little highbrow culture. One of my favorite things to do is listen to a single album from start to finish during a walk through the museum. The blending of beautiful art and beautiful music creates a truly ethereal experience.

By this point, I would be extremely hungry and would head to one of my favorite Japanese sushi houses to enjoy the chef’s omakase menu. From there, I would head out to see some live music and hopefully experience a new sound.

3. You’ve been working in agency sales for more than 15 years. How has that experience prepared you for this role at N6A?

Fifteen years has taught me a lot about the ever-changing world of PR and digital marketing and, most importantly, the value these disciplines bring to companies at every developmental stage. This understanding allows me to bring perspective, vision, and a value-driven mindset to the agency.

4. The last 20 months have been one of the most disruptive periods in modern communications. We’re all familiar with the challenges this created; tell us about a key opportunity.

One of the trends I’ve noticed over the past year is the ever-evolving role of the CMO. At one point, CMOs were focused solely on corporate marketing practices, but are now working across organizational departments like finance and HR. I always ask myself how to bring the most value to CMOs given the expansion of their responsibilities and how to drive the outcomes needed to benefit their organizations. The opportunity lies in having deeper conversations that go beyond the formative asks of PR and marketing and are more aligned with the larger goals of the organization. Outcome-focused curiosity is the opportunity.

5. What’s one industry trend that will be critical in determining PR success in 2022?

This is more of a macro business trend than an industry trend, but there is a higher demand for brand storytelling, brand core value communications, and social responsibility and purpose communications. Given all that has happened during the past two years, brands are being held to task on core value alignment and showing impact vs. promises.

6. As CRO, what is your top personal goal for 2022? What is your top goal for N6A as a whole?

For both, I am razor-focused on building and continuously nourishing a culture of growth that allows N6A to deliver more value to our current and future clients.

The post 6 Insights from N6A CRO Patrick Brady appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

1. Looking back on your path with N6A and before — did you see yourself on this career trajectory?

I always knew I wanted to make a difference; wanted to help others realize their strengths, their potential. I contemplated many career paths as I began my journey (psychologist, documentarian, TV producer – broadway singer). Working with the media was always a passion, something I had my eyes on from a young age. I loved storytelling, being creative, working with teams of people to achieve a common goal. As I started working in PR, I realized that I was able to help entrepreneurs accomplish their dreams, tell their story to the masses.

When I joined N6A, I honestly didn’t write CEO on my vision board. I wrote the words that were important to me, for my career, for my life: Join a team of great people, learn from an inspirational leader, make passion a priority, achieve growth and make a difference.

I joined N6A as a VP six years ago. I was responsible for not only managing clients, but also managing multiple teams. I realized how much I enjoyed working with our team, learning each person’s “why”, and how I could help with their career goals. I enjoyed celebrating the successes of others, recruiting and assembling strong teams, and creating a vision that would lead us to growth. I particularly loved problem solving, working through growing pains, offering up ideas and solutions. Afterall, if we weren’t overcoming a challenge, were we even working? Becoming COO, and eventually CEO, was all icing on the cake and I am grateful every day for the opportunity. 

2. What are some significant lessons that Matt Rizzetta, former CEO and now chairman of the North Sixth Group, empowered you with before taking this new position?

Matt Rizzetta and I have worked closely together for six years, before I became CEO. Matt has always empowered me and all of his direct reports to make decisions autonomously, allowing them to take full responsibility for their departments. I always felt like I had a voice in the decisions we made as a company, whether it was launching new services, making acquisitions, recruiting new talent or opening up new offices. Stepping into this role has been a smooth transition, however I know that I have a lot of growth ahead of me. 

3. What does long-term success look like at N6A, and how does that relate to your idea of personal success?

Long-term success means that we continue to build a powerful global brand, known for unbeatable company culture, premium customer service, and successful client outcomes.  Growing N6A, and positively impacting fellow colleagues and partners along the way, is more than enough reward from a business and personal perspective. 

4. 2020 was a year of challenges for everybody. What advice would you give to someone managing challenges in 2021?

Empathy and kindness go a long way. After the challenges of 2020, it is important to lead not only with your mind, but also your heart. We are all very passionate about rebuilding and winning for our clients and the team. Being in a position to lock arms with our partners, and offer that stable point of reference for growth, is a great opportunity to display what the N6A spirit is all about: Fight, Care and Passion.  

5. When you think of N6A employees, what core values do you believe they should represent?

Passion and respect for people, growth and communications, should always be at the core of every team member. In addition, a healthy dose of fight and competition pairs nicely with all these core values.  

6. What is one guiding principle you think someone should have if they aspire to be a CEO some day?

For everyone aspiring to become a leader, my advice would be to become reliable, resilient and selfless.  Look at challenges as opportunities for growth. No matter how heavy the weight, make sure to stay positive and refer back to the common goal. Lastly, for those who tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves or often take things personal, develop a thick skin.  There will be times when you can’t make everyone happy. Just make sure you “gut” check every decision and make the best possible choice at that moment in time. 

The post 6 Insights from N6A CEO Daniela Mancinelli appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

Our Outcomes & Omelettes thought leadership series returned in November, and we flipped the script a little bit. In this era of social distancing, we typically love to host our guests on a livestream to discuss each guest’s background and career journey. While we did hit on some of that this time, instead the focus was primarily dedicated to the hard-working N6Aers discussing challenges, best practices and insights related to the virtual workplace during the pandemic. But it wasn’t completely different — obviously our beloved make-your-own-omelette-station was still delivered to N6A-ers via a Seamless credit!

In this open and honest conversation, N6A CEO Matt Rizzetta was joined by Tania Luna, the co-CEO of LifeLabs Learning, a consultancy that specializes in training that provides rapid skill-building in leadership, inclusion, and collaboration. Luna’s work has been featured in dozens of media outlets including Psychology Today, Harvard Business Review, TIME, NPR, Wharton Business Radio, HuffPost, O Magazine, Mashable, and The Wall Street Journal and her TED talk has over 1.8 million views.

As a psychology researcher, leadership trainer, podcast host, and co-author of the book Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable & Engineer the Unexpected, Luna’s unique voice and perspective on both professional and personal development helped the N6A team see through the pandemic work/life balance more clearly.

Here are a few of the key takeaways from our livestreamed O&O session, which is also available to watch above.

Overcoming COVID Productivity Struggles

It’s difficult to think that we’ve been working during this pandemic for nine months, and as we’ve settled into the new normal the galvanized teamwork spirit that typified the early days has somewhat tapered off.  

Luna explained that the March/April period of the pandemic exemplified what she called an “acute stress” period, or a panic response with a flurry of activity. In the subsequent handful of months since then, a more dangerous fatigue of “chronic stress” may have set in. 

Without the variety and stimulation of a pre-COVID workday when our brains are tuned to regular intervals, there’s a sameness to the challenges day in and day out, which could lead you to ask how can one thrive, grow, and connect when so much is uncertain yet predictable at the same time.

Luna explained that it’s important to understand the sources of stress in dealing with a variety of challenges, including enacting some sort of stop and start ritual to your day when the physical workspace doesn’t change; establish dark-time boundaries where teams know not to email, Slack, or call; or even create mental progress markers where you take heed of the small wins you’ve accomplished on a daily basis.  

Being a More Successful Leader to Empower the Workforce

Luna saw the biggest differentiator for business leaders as making the implicit, explicit. It’s important to establish norms and be overt with parameters because, let’s face it, none of this is normal! It’s essential for leaders to embrace the underlying principle to talk about how to set norms so there’s a shared agreement, which is regularly much easier to do in person. 

It’s also equally important in this non-normal time to debrief on what isn’t going right so that there’s a collective cognitive off-loading and opening up of team issues. Luna stressed that this shouldn’t consist of constant complaint sessions, nor should it just be a collective wallowing, but should be an open environment that constructively acknowledges potential negatives.

In balancing realism versus hope, Luna cited the Stockdale Paradox, which said, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose —with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Normalizing Mental Health Resources

A silver lining of the pandemic has been the widespread openness and normalization of addressing mental health in the workplace, especially when companies focus on benefits, wellness days, and create team wellness exercises such as yoga sessions for any participants feeling stranded.

Luna also said the same goes for being a good corporate citizen. In the pandemic and beyond, it’s important for companies to lead the way by thinking about how each can change the system from within, and reimagine corporate entities as an inclusive reflection of what they feel the world should be like. 

Being a Better Professional After the Pandemic

Lastly, Luna spoke about the potential for hitting a wall with the monotony and the grind, but making it out as a better professional once the pandemic is over. She cited three constructive ingredients for professional growth.

1. Reconnect with Meaning: Luna explained that most people think burnout is all about overwork, but it’s mostly about the loss of meaning in your work, or what she called “an existential vacuum.” To move forward, Luna said, “Ask what’s important with me, what you want to leave behind, what experience you want to collect, and who you want to have an impact on.” 
2. Forecast Forward: Control about what you can become, what bad habits to break and skills to dig into. 
3. Look Backward: Luna’s last message was to give yourself a “visual evidence of growth,” and a sense of progress, even by doing something as simple as writing out where you started versus where you’ve gotten to since the pandemic began.

Each Outcomes & Omelettes session is an educational and interactive discussion on each guest’s background and career journey to engage and inspire the N6A team. Check back soon for our next guest! You don’t know who will show up from the worlds of business, media, philanthropy, and beyond.

The post Embracing the Unpredictable in the Virtual Workplace During COVID appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

While COVID-19 has impacted virtually every sector, the retail industry was amongst one of the hardest hit. As retailers reevaluate marketing efforts and scrutinize budgets, it is now more important than ever for communication teams to ensure that decision-makers grasp the value of earned media. 

Earned media, simply put, is the act of an influential third party advocating for a brand to its audience. The author controls the messaging, and is not paid for the endorsement. The source of the “free” publicity might be an editor at a retail trade publication, podcast host, fashion blogger, broadcast reporter, or even a customer sharing a tweet on their personal experience.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Once credibility is achieved via any of these earned media channels, brands are left with an incredibly powerful tangible asset that can be leveraged as a tool by numerous internal departments and divisions. In fact, 57 percent of consumers in the U.S. trust what they hear from friends and family the most when they discover a new product, and around one-third of U.S. shoppers prefer new product information they find from Google searches. Whether retailers are aiming to boost sales revenue, entice investors, or improve existing market share in relation to competitors, earned media results play a key role in supporting end-result achievement.

While strategy development aligned with business outcomes can be a complicated or difficult task to put into action without the necessary expertise of a skilled communications team, or additional resources and tools, here are three tactics that retailers can easily implement into their PR strategies immediately:

• Borrow Customer Trust – The pandemic has forced many retailers to shutter doors and quickly embrace ecommerce; those that placed significant value on face-to-face customer interactions faced the challenge of digitizing relationship-building, as well as creating virtual loyalty. Earned media placement in well-aligned outlets benefit retailers when teams pinpoint key customer demographics. By identifying the specific media and influencer targets that customers trust and have developed long-term loyalty toward, brands benefit from essentially generating borrowed trust through the endorsement of the third party. 
• Rebrand Sales Executives as Thought Leaders – Earned media serves as a tool for brands to position internal representatives in front of influential publics through commentary and interviews. Press conversations with executives, employees and salespeople on targeted podcasts, regional news sites, or trade outlets, position employees as thought leaders and influencers tied to a specific brand-approved subject matter, point of view, or regions, and supports building credibility among target customers.
• Share, Share, Share and Then Share Again – Once press coverage is secured, retailers must ensure that relevant departments across the brand take full advantage of that valuable content. Depending on the business goals and intended outcomes of the individual retailer, the asset might be leveraged by individuals or teams within marketing, sales, finance, customer experience, social media, or HR. Earned media mentions, links, logos, images, and quotes can then be shared with audiences through advertisements, email newsletters, social media posts, blog content, physical brand collateral, or included in messaging, employee biographies, and in email signatures. 

While other forms of media — including paid-through advertising or sponsored content and owned-through blog posts or graphics — certainly play an important role in their own right, earned media shines as the most cost-effective, high-impact and efficient category within the media landscape for retailers. When masterfully leveraged to its full potential through a robust media strategy, earned media can position retailers with massive customer experience opportunities in this unprecedented time.  

The post Why Earned Media is Crucial for Retailers in the COVID-19 Era appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.