PPB February 2018

MARKET SHARE AtThe Ready This year’s marketing trends are highly focused on building relationships with consumers on their terms. Be prepared to generate new business by incorporating some of these marketing strategies from Forbes into your 2018 business plan. 1 Make authentic connections. Strive for emotional engagement with storytelling that emphasizes the positive outcomes of your products and services for your prospects. 2 Camouflage the message. Ads that detract from an experience, whether online or in person, won’t help advertisers make headway with target audiences. Effective marketing depends on being able to blend the message with the content or event that prospects are already engaged with. The more you can personalize your marketing, the more likely you are to convert leads. 3 Lead with your CSR. Any time you can incorporate your company’s corporate social responsibility efforts—fair labor, safe products, eco-friendly business practices—you’ll score a win with prospects and loyalists. 4 Build interaction online. Invite two-way conversations on your social media channels by posing questions and asking for feedback on your products and services, and reward participants for their time and attention. PPB Can you provide a few basic do’s and don’ts for professionals who attend offsite work events? St. John Offsite work events such as trade shows and conferences can be particularly challenging because the relaxed, fun, partying environment that usually comes with those events can be a hotbed for inappropriate behavior. My recommendation is: • Do communicate with employees that you want to make sure they engage in appropriate behavior while they are offsite and acting as representatives of the company. While we can’t necessarily affect others’ behaviors, we can certainly affect our own. So, stay safe, stay sober and recognize the risks that occur with these offsite events. • Do check in with your employees while they are offsite to ensure they are doing well and acting according to your expectations. • Do encourage employees attending events to stick together in a buddy system. • Do model appropriate behavior at all times if you are attending the event as well. • Don’t dismiss an employee’s claim of inappropriate behavior, even if conducted by a third party. All claims of harassment should be taken seriously, no matter where they occur or by whom. • Don’t require employees to participate in events if they feel unsafe. Do not put employees into an uncomfortable situation. • Don’t assume your employees are able to handle the situation themselves. If you or one of your peers witnesses inappropriate behavior, take steps to support and protect your employees. • Don’t presume nothing bad is happening because you’re not hearing anything. Chances are, it is happening. Instead, be proactive and monitor your employees, even if you are offsite at a work event. Claudia St. John is president of Affinity HR Group, LLC, PPAI’s human resources affiliate. Affinity HR Group specializes in providing human resources assistance to associations and their member companies. www.affinityhrgroup.com Jen Alexander is associate editor of PPB. 56 | FEBRUARY 2018 | THINK