OFF-MUTE 🔈
In honor of #WomenHistoryMonth, here are professional and personal insights from some of the female clients in our Inkhouse community:
⭐ Treat your employees as the number one audience. “Internal communications are just as important as external communications. Be thoughtful about the headlines employees are reading about the company, particularly during a massive funding raise, and consider them in the process to empower them as brand advocates.” — Keyana Corliss, senior director, global communications at Databricks
🔍 Find the silver linings. “If you're stuck working from home, take some extra time for yourself to work out or call a friend a few times a week. If you're having to work + educate your kids, find ways to be present and helpful to your kids and create boundaries of when you need to focus on work. You have to work harder to protect time, no one will do that for you. But if you take the time to create your boundaries and protect your time - you'll be a better workplace contributor, parent, partner, and healthier person.” — Jess Iandiorio, chief marketing officer at Starburst
💻 Even after the pandemic, events will have more virtual components. “Last spring, we moved our entire conference, Oktane20, online in a few weeks. Going virtual allowed us to reach far more attendees than the 6,000 we expected at our physical event. This year, to address growing virtual event fatigue, we're living by our value 'never stop innovating' and switching up the format again — premiering a full-length documentary film on how our team came together to support our customers at Oktane21 in April.” — Lindsay Life, director, communications at Okta
🏃It's important to be transparent and lead by example. “You can’t have open and honest communications with your teams about work-life balance and allowing yourself breaks to maintain it and then not do so yourself. If your team sees that you allot time in your calendar, or take a day when the burnout creeps in, they'll feel far more comfortable and supported in doing so themselves. Additionally, constant check-ins have become a necessity. Sometimes a 1:1 session becomes about just getting your feelings and frustrations out, which might have nothing to do with work and that’s entirely ok. Supporting one another through these challenging times trumps all else.” — Tarah Cammett, vice president of marketing at Immersive Labs
📣 Hand your customers a megaphone. “In high tech industries, technical results can be hard to translate into tangible, relatable business outcomes. Empower your customers to tell your story by collaborating on proof points that speak to broader business value so that press and influencers immediately understand the market impact of your solutions.” — Ashley Lozito, global marketing communications manager at Matillion
👩💻 Find a specific corner of tech that really fascinates you. “Whether it’s security, cryptocurrency, edtech, fintech, etc. – and stick with it. Go beyond mastering the basic skills of PR. Dig as deeply as you can into the technology so that you can understand it at more than a superficial level. This will provide the more complete perspective needed to spot opportunities and formulate meaningful pitches that will have a more profound impact on your organization over time.”
— Cynthia Siemens, director of public relations at Syntellis Performance Solutions
🤔 Think twice before you assign ‘work chores.’ “When new tasks arise, ask yourself, ‘How important is the initiative to the overall business or company culture?’ When it comes to the workplace, the imbalance of ‘work chores’ also known as ‘non-promotable tasks’ done by female employees is historically high. Keep track of who does what work chores and consciously diversify those assignments across the team, men included.” — Lisa Walker, vice president brand & corporate marketing at Fuze