Gini Dietrich walks communicators through the value of the PESO Model for campaigns that focuses on paid, earned, shared and owned media, which she describes as the "cornerstone" of all efforts. The key to gain "real power" is an integrated approach, Dietrich suggests.

Brands that want to become known as good environmental stewards would be wise to focus less on public proclamations that could fall short or face criticism and instead focus on "creating meaningful change by linking arms with competitors to solve challenges, share best practices and elevate their respective industries," writes Havas Formula's Mia West. Other best practices include bringing in outside experts to boost credibility and avoid "greenwashing accusations," and aligning with a nonprofit that's sustainably focused.

Positive customer reviews go a long ways in enhancing "brand authority, social proof and trust with your customers and prospects" and can be maximized with integration into email campaigns, websites, blog posts, podcasts and other marketing efforts, writes digital marketing expert Joanne Camarce. "Automate the process as much as possible, focus on authenticity, gather a variety of reviews, and get creative when repurposing testimonials for marketing channels."

The fast-growing popularity of Clubhouse has spurred rival offerings from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and the social audio trend looks like it has longevity, Amy Houston writes. Houston offers tips on how brands can authentically engage with social audio audiences through storytelling and urges marketers to consider diversity and accessibility in their efforts.

Top email marketing trends to watch include the popularity of explainer or how-to videos, mobile-optimized design and protecting brand reputation by only messaging engaged prospects who have opted in, writes Attrock founder Gaurav Sharma. In addition, interactivity, personalization and integrating email campaigns with social media are important, Sharma advises.

Linqia's survey of 163 marketers revealed that 71% of respondents plan to increase their influencer budgets for 2021 with 90% intending to put more emphasis on microinfluencers compared with 80% last year. Most brands favored using 5 to 10 influencers for each campaign and favor Instagram, but TikTok will see the biggest growth this year, per the report.

Leaders can facilitate better video and remote meetings by making them shorter with fewer agenda items, limiting participants and incorporating chat messages into the discussion, says Karin Reed, CEO of Speaker Dynamics. "The challenge is for the leader to take a look at that chat and incorporate that into the verbal conversation," she says.

Empathy is only growing in importance at work, with managers increasingly working apart from their reports and employees expecting more support from their bosses with work and life matters, write Gartner HR experts Brian Kropp, Alexia Cambon and Sara Clark. They focus on the challenge facing midsize companies, whose managers retain individual workloads and don't have access to large learning budgets that big corporations possess.

Coming out of the pandemic, a few things have happened that have affected the way we as communicator do our job. Join us for this session to help you benchmark your own program, set metrics and build a plan to garner real results. Register today!