In recent years, brands have realized the importance of the LGBTQ+ consumer to their business as they represent nearly $1 trillion in the U.S. alone. With Pride 2022 anticipated to be bigger and better than ever, it's no surprise to brand powerhouse McDonald’s USA turning to the only LGBTQ-first streaming media company, Revry, as a trusted and authentic partner for a second year of pride campaigns.

If these past few years have driven home any lessons to professional communicators, (pandemic, social justice, war, inflation, etc.) it’s imperative to be prepared, particularly in the digital world.  Professional communicators must cover all bases: news coverage, social media activity – and search results. Join our panel of experts as they share the lessons of crisis management and how the playbook has changed.  You’ll hear from in- house and agency experts.  They’ll discuss what to do beforehand and how to use your peacetime wisely by building a digital fortress. 

Although research has shown that a commitment to DEI and sustainability can make businesses more productive and profitable, there are still those who question the investment it takes to implement these strategies in a meaningful way. 

Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist, international bestselling historian, and regular TV commentator and producer, has spent nearly two decades covering politics, technology, and national security and is recognized today as one of the nation’s most prolific and wide-ranging journalists and historians.

Just a few years after the emergence of the internet, the first analytics solutions appeared.  Since then, the data analytics industry has rapidly evolved.  By 2028, the data analytics market’s expected worth is an estimated $550 billion.  Web Analytics are essential; they are used to understand customer behavior and optimize web experiences.  Metrics for user behavior are used to optimize conversion rates and improve both page performance and user experience.  Marketers also use data analytics to create targeted advertising. 

Most companies tend to begin their SEO efforts with on-page SEO. Yet, one of the most important ranking factors on search engine rule pages isn't the efforts on a website, and instead, it's all of the backlinks that are generated from other websites pointing to the company's website. According to studies, some of the top results on Google tend to have an average of nearly 4 times more backlinks than the results that follow. However, on-page SEO isn't all about building backlinks, and it goes a lot deeper than that. Another essential element of on-page SEO is brand mentions, even if they're without a hyperlink. At the end of the day, off-page SEO is all about what search engines and other people think about a website.

How do we find the strength to keep going? I know from so many recent conversations that I am not the only one to have those days when the fatigue will not dissipate and getting out of bed feels like fighting gravity.

Third-party delivery services have a few benefits, but they have lots of drawbacks as well. You don't need to manage deliveries or buy a vehicle when using one, which drives staffing and equipment costs down. On the other hand, you are at the mercy of whatever driver delivers the food for you and are subject to huge fees that can eat into your margins. This is why more small eateries are deciding to revert to delivering food themselves. If that is your plan, then you have to know what running your delivery service entails and what you need to prepare for. Here are some of the things small eateries need to consider before handling food delivery in-house.

Measurement and optimization remain critical imperatives for marketers. When hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to acquire customers, CFOs take notice and want to know how various aspects of the marketing mix are working—or not working. The questions of ROI, cost per acquisition, marginal cost per acquisition and overall mix optimization are posed daily to CMOs. Unfortunately, while marketing may be the most scrutinized cost center, it is also one of the messiest when it comes to data. 

There is a big change occurring in corporate culture right now. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics says 47 million people have bid farewell to their company and position over a period of 12 months. What’s driving this trend?

A positive company culture is something that not only brings the community of employees together as a group but has a measurable impact on the organization's revenue and profits. A company’s culture is a unique identifier (like a fingerprint) in that it may be like others, but is uniquely distinct to your business, and the people who work there and nurture the working environment.

On May 24, on this site, I wrote a column giving my opinion on why the Republican Party has stymied Democratic legislation on women’s right to choose and gun control.

Critical Mention has today announced that it will become part of Onclusive, a newly formed global partner for PR and communications success. The move combines Critical Mention’s media monitoring and media contact database tools with Onclusive’s suite of market-leading global media monitoring, measurement and management solutions.

Attending college has been ingrained into American society. In order to be successful, college is a must. It is the clear next step after high school. But now this seemingly plain next step is beginning to waver. There has been a trend in colleges and school campuses closing, and in some cases, permanently shutting down. From 2016 to 2019, 86 colleges shut down or merged with other schools, and even more, 53 colleges closed permanently during the 2019-2020 school year.

David Gergen has served as a White House adviser to four U.S. presidents of both parties: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He is a professor of public service and founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior political analyst for CNN. In addition, he is a NY Times best-selling author.

I am a child of “The Great Society,” President Lyndon Johnson’s call to use the country’s post–World War II prosperity to “enrich and elevate our national life.” With an overwhelming majority in Congress, he was able to sign into law 84 pieces of legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the antipoverty Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Food Stamp Act, the establishment of Head Start, and The Higher Education Act of 1965, which, among other things, provided low-interest loans to students.

Ever since the conclusion of the 2020 presidential election, I stayed away from writing columns about politics.  That’s because political pundits of the broadcast and print media are not contributing factual information to their audiences. New information is disseminated in the news sections and the pundits use those details to try to convince followers that  what the pundits write or say is reality, when, actually, it is nothing but the ego-centric opinions of pundits. It was this way yesterday, it is this way today and, thus, it will be this way tomorrow and the many tomorrows that follow until the end of time.

These days branding is so important that it is something that individuals should be doing for themselves and not just companies. Whether you are looking to do personal branding or are looking to make a name for your small business, it can get expensive. It is essential to find a way to budget for branding and outreach, however.

While Ukrainians mourn their war dead and Buffalo residents grieve victims of a hate crime, a guy in New York cries foul because his hamburgers aren’t bigger.  Of course, not every real problem is a matter of life and death, but could some seemingly frivolous lawsuits challenging fast food promotions portray broader communication concerns?

Blockchain consulting services are a suite of modern digital service offerings that assist businesses in navigating the complexities of blockchain technology and leveraging blockchain-enabled solutions to transform their business processes. These services can be provided to businesses individually or as part of a larger package.