Category: Uncategorised

By Hannah Buckley, Head of Content

The importance of taking care of our mental health and wellbeing has been a regular topic of conversation over the last year and this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week helps to bring that to the fore once more.

The theme of this year’s event, which began on Monday, is nature, highlighting just how big an impact the world around us can have on our mental health. In fact, according to The Mental Health Foundation, more than half of UK adults say that being close to nature has improved their mental health, while four in ten say it has made them feel less worried or anxious.

Over 3.5 million people have taken up gardening for the first time during the pandemic, and for many of us, activities like this or getting out to our local park for some exercise has been a real lifeline over the last year.

Now, as restrictions begin to lift, making time to connect with nature in some capacity should be something we still try to make time for to reap both the physical and mental benefits it can offer.

If like me, you can’t leave home without your mobile phone, then why not put it to good use? No matter how much time you have available to you, whether it’s a quick walk on your lunch break or a cup of tea in the garden of a morning, there are a wealth of apps on offer to help you get in touch with nature and protect and support your mental health.

 

Test your tree knowledge

Apps like TreeID by the Woodland Trust, which can identify trees using bark, twigs, buds, leaves, flowers and fruits, and iNaturalist, which uses artificial intelligence to ID plants and wildlife, can help you reconnect with nature and learn more about your surroundings. Paying attention to the local scenery and wildlife on your next trip to the park could make you feel calmer and more present in the moment.

Don’t forget to look up!

No telescope? No worries. A range of apps are now available to help you make more sense of the night sky and identify stars and constellations in your corner of the world. The use of augmented reality within many apps means that even if you live somewhere with a lot of light population, the app can still locate where you are and pull up what the star map should look like above you.

Try mindful walking

Like me, you might have found yourself continuously running and walking the same routes for the last year and may now function on autopilot. Mindful walking gets you to tune into your environment and the sensations of your body. By being more aware on your walk, you’ll open yourself up to the sights and sounds of nature, which may help you feel more present and less stressed. If you’re new to mindful walking, apps like Calm or podcasts can help to guide you in this practice.

Bring the outside in

Even if you can’t get outside, there are still plenty of ways to connect with nature. Bring the outside in and add plants to your workspace. If you’re not particularly green-fingered, then download an app to track when you should water them and how to make sure they thrive. Alternatively, take five and look outside your window. If you’re lucky enough to hear birdsong, you could use an app to help you identify the species of bird it’s coming from and even learn bird calls yourself.

With mental health charities advocating for spending time in nature or bringing it into your everyday life, giving one of these apps a go will not only help you reconnect with nature and change up your usual walk, but could also help support your mental wellbeing.

What does sustainable growth look like for technology companies? We interviewed leaders from fast-growth technology businesses to find the answer, including Adatis, Auga Technologies, Divido, Ecrebo, Funding Options, Imagen, paiyroll, Predatar, SysGroup and Vista Retail Support.

We combined their expert opinion with our 25+ plus years in the B2B tech PR industry to create the Secrets of Tech Growth eBook that looks at:

• Real-life success scenarios
• The common characteristics of fast-growth tech companies
• The role of Technology PR and marketing in their success
• What business models they use
• The advice they have for tech start-ups

This eBook captures the thought-provoking insights and experiences of CEOs and CMOs of a range of technology businesses, highlighting both similarities and differences in their approach.

Download The Secrets of Tech Growth

We set out to understand whether senior Sales and Marketing decision-makers working for B2B tech brands are truly operating within an Account-Based Sales (ABS) or Account-Based Marketing (ABM) framework. And if so, how it works best for them, what goals they have and the challenges they face. In our view, either structure can be summarised as a business-to-business (B2B) strategy that aligns both marketing, and/or sales resources and strategies, to categorise, build relationships and target companies or accounts into prioritised groups rather than on an individual leads basis.

The driver behind this research

So, why did we want to understand this area? ABM and ABS have become established buzzwords in the industry and within in the B2B technology space. We increasingly see the benefits of integrated, inter-dependent marketing and sales partnerships, co-ordinated with the same objectives from the top down. When that is in place, marketing communications professionals and their agencies can deliver true value for their brands. And, on a tactical level, we also wanted to know how companies’ marketing output influenced lead generation and which forms of marketing communications made the biggest difference. The result is what we believe to be the first study in the UK, examining both ABM and ABS, rather than just one or the other.

Critical to our intention was to understand the views from both Marketing and Sales leaders. To us, they are not functions to be viewed in isolation.

Highlights

This view is backed up by our research, with 87% of Sales and Marketing professionals stating that their department is very closely or closely aligned with their colleagues. This alignment directly challenges the myth that often rears its head: that Sales and Marketing teams are at odds, with different priorities, objectives and methods.

Our data shows that use of a CRM system is currently at 59% uptake for both prospects and clients and 88% for one or the other audience. This ability to capture, record and action information about both prospective and current client data, ideally in the cloud and complemented by a Marketing Automation Platform, goes much of the way to explaining why these two departments and their leaders are working in an ever more integrated way.

Yet, the CRM platform is only part of the story. The success of high-performing B2B tech brands operating in an account-based model to execute their sales strategy has, over the last few years, prompted some of those high-performing businesses to convert their marketing operations to run in the same way. In fact, 81% of the 202 professionals we surveyed said that they work to either an ABM or ABS operating model.

Our study shows that at a communications delivery level, social media and email marketing are viewed as the top two most effective ways to facilitate interactions with clients and prospects by both groups of professionals. Media relations, case studies and testimonials held stronger value for Marketers, demonstrating that more work is required by PR and communications experts in persuading Sales colleagues to understand their benefits in the overall marketing mix.

What really stands out from our research is that 89% of the 202 business professionals agreed that their company’s marketing efforts contribute to sales and lead generation. The value added was measured most widely by inbound sales enquiries to the website, the number of enquiries from social media channels and, interestingly, leads captured at events, either the company’s own or at industry conferences.

Our research continues

In a new blog focusing on the second part of our research project, ‘A Perfect Match: ABM and ABS’, I look in-depth at the goals and challenges of those 202 Marketing and Sales leaders to implementing an account-based way of working.

Related: A Perfect Match: ABM and ABS – goals, benefits and challenges

Suzanne Griffiths, Managing Director, Whiteoaks International

Download our free report, ‘A Perfect Match: ABM and ABS’ today. In it you’ll find out:

• How senior Sales and Marketing decision-makers are currently embedding ABM and ABS into their business;
• Which marketing communications both leaders say supports the business most effectively; and
• The best ways for marketing tactics to demonstrate their direct impact on sales.

Download

How it started vs how it’s going
In 1970, activist John McConnell, proposed that there was to be a day to honour the Earth. Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson quickly took it upon himself to endorse this and the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. 20 million Americans joined in a grassroots demonstration around issues such as toxic drinking water, air pollution, and the effects of pesticides.

Now, more than 1 billion people in 192 countries participate in Earth Day activities each year in support of the environment, highlighting the urgent action we need to take to save our planet, making it the largest civic observance in the world.

Earth Day 2021- The time is now
The theme of this year’s Earth Day is “Restore Our Earth” which is a fitting and much-needed sentiment as we look back over the last year of our world which has been devastated by the pandemic and numerous catastrophes ranging from hurricanes to bushfires. Its focus couldn’t be more timely. It has been a dark year but with vaccines being developed faster than ever imagined, and vaccination programs being successfully rolled out, cautiously speaking, this Earth Day, the future looks brighter.

However, there is an incredible amount to do and, considering that we need to significantly cut emissions by an estimated 45 per cent by 2030 to keep global warming to 1.5°C, the extent of the challenge we’re facing is clear. As Kathleen Rogers, president of EarthDay.org, poignantly explains “This Earth Day, we have an important opportunity to challenge our leaders to commit to climate action on a global scale. We are at the edge of a cliff — if we don’t act now to reduce carbon emissions, there will be no way back.”

How you can take part this Earth Day
There is an abundance of events, both online and in-person (in line with Covid restrictions), taking place this year. You can use this handy map to find out what’s happening in your area along with this toolkit to help you decide which path to take: perhaps you would like to partake in a teach-in on how to promote a cleaner future, or maybe you would like to organise a clean-up and tackle global waste. You can also tune in to Earth Day Live and listen to the event live-streamed that includes workshops, panel discussions and various guest appearances. You could also sign up to become a member and officially support Earth Day.

What else can you do?
While having an entire day dedicated to saving the planet is fantastic and does wonders in our quest, we can (and must) change aspects in our daily lives. A study revealed that most people want to make sustainable changes but aren’t sure where to start. The easy answer? Just start small. As we all know, every little helps: So, cycle to work, buy reusable bags for shopping, use a refillable water bottle, turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, pick up rubbish when out for a walk, buy local produce, switch to renewable energy and eat less meat (No meat Mondays).

Earth Day comes once a year, but these lifestyle changes are beneficial (and necessary) for the other 364 days, and the years to follow. In the words of Jane Goodall, “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”

We only have one (Mother) Earth. Let’s treat her right. The time is now.

What can we say about the last year? Changing our whole way of working and having to adapt to a different environment, one that many of us weren’t used to. I can safely say that it has been a challenging year and one in which I’ve learnt a lot along the way.

Especially in how we’ve had to change the way we work and communicate with each other. Even though we’re all still working in a team it can feel very isolated sometimes when your only communication is through virtual platforms. That is why staff wellbeing has become an even bigger focus for us – as I am sure it has for other businesses, too. We have the challenge of trying to replace the value of face-to-face interactions when everyone at Whiteoaks is scattered over a large area and can only meet virtually – up until recently!

In addition to constant communication, virtual socials and encouraging a work/life balance, one of the ways in which we’ve tried to do this is by engaging staff in different activities – like encouraging everyone to complete nine million steps (between us all!) in the month of February with the aim of raising £1,000 for our charity partner Ark Cancer Centre Charity.

This initiative was aimed at firstly, raising money for a good cause but also getting us all to work towards a common goal, with some added friendly competition. All of our steps were logged and counted on Stridekick where we had a leader board to see who was completing the most steps and encouraging others to get involved. I certainly felt the urge to get out some more, either taking the dog for an extra walk or even walking to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, they all counted! By the end of the month, we managed to complete the target of nine million steps and as a result, were able to donate the £1,000 to Ark and help towards their fundraising goals.

We partnered with Ark back in 2018 and their goal is to raise £5million to help fund supportive care and services, complementary therapies, and an enhanced environment in an NHS cancer treatment centre that will serve residents in the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) area. The work on the radiotherapy centre is now nearing completion and they hope to be open and supporting cancer patients in the coming months.

The step challenge was just one of the initiatives that we’ve introduced in the past year to try to encourage and motivate our staff during the lockdown period. I can’t say that all of them have been as successful as the step challenge but that has been part of the journey and one that we learned from.

The main point I have taken from the lockdown and working from home is the importance of staff wellbeing and how it needs to be a much bigger focus going forward – not just as HR manager but as a staff member, too. Staff wellbeing shouldn’t be put on the back burner when it all goes back to “normal”. Instead, we should constantly evolve and improve our approach because wellbeing isn’t just a pandemic issue.

As a designer, a lot of work, research and planning goes into a website re-design; everything from sitemaps, ‘what shall we call this page?’ ‘what animation happens here?’ …usability, functionality and of course, adding those special design elements in to make sure our clients are looking their best against the competition.

With that said, let’s talk through three of the latest web design trends of the moment.

Dark design. It’s dramatic, modern, eye-catching and one of the biggest trends for 2021. Even the most popular social platforms have jumped on-board (I’m looking at you Facebook and Instagram!) Dark mode is also an option on iOS, (don’t ask me about Android, I’m a typical designer and only ‘do’ Apple!) making it easier on your eyes and switching up the look and feel of the normal user interface. Paired with striking colours, dark design can be a really nice way of updating the look of your site.

Micro-interactions. These are the little things, the finer details that users will notice when they interact with your site. They have been known to improve the user experience, making it memorable and enjoyable, almost as if the site is reacting to the user’s touch on all levels.

Modular Design. When you design a series of layouts and elements that can all fit together in a variety of ways. It’s a nice way of constructing a website, ensuring consistency within modules and looks good too. This is also a great way of designing a site that the client wants more control over, as they can be easily put together using Content Management Systems (CMS)

There are of course many more trends that are up and coming in an ever-changing industry. Depending on your brand and the way you want to interact with your potential customers, there are lots of ways to make sure you’re hitting all the rights notes that users want and need from your website.

Since Netflix announced it was cracking down on password sharing between those who don’t live in the same household this week, many people (bill payers not included) are feeling saddened at the prospect of no longer being able to latch on to their best friend’s cousin’s account. But it might not actually be that bad…

Streaming has no doubt been booming during the pandemic. As the world entered lockdown and the bingeing began, Netflix saw six months of record-breaking growth in the first half of 2020. During which it added 26 million new subscribers, bringing the total paid subscriber count over 200 million by the end of the year. In the UK alone, the number of subscribers to Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ hit 32 million.

With streaming services’ profits soaring and viewing numbers higher than ever (shout out to Bridgerton), why the crackdown?

While ideal for the passenger, the ability to share streaming accounts can have security implications for the account holder. To give them more authorisation over who is using their account, Netflix is trialling a form of two-factor authentication that will prompt users to enter a texted or emailed code sent to the account holder. Given the considerable rise in cybercrime over this year, and the fact that 73% of people reportedly duplicate their personal and work passwords, I think we could all do with a bit of extra protection!

The news of the crackdown also follows a recent study by Opsec which revealed that video piracy was becoming more common in lockdown, suggesting that the extra security measures could be a way of tackling the rise in the amount of illegal content being consumed. The survey also found a quarter of consumers watch pirated content daily; 22% watch it several times a week, and 19% on a weekly basis.

Lastly, let’s not forget about the perks of personalisation that would benefit from the decision to restrict password sharing. The fewer randomers using one account from various locations to watch everything from Emily in Paris to The Ted Bundy Tapes, the more AI magic streaming services can work to deliver specially selected content.

Although, the final decision is still yet to made on whether Netflix will roll out the new trial across its network, the events over the last year could see streaming services take tighter control over password sharing. And it could actually be more beneficial for streamers in the long run.

The best stories are the ones that stay with us and evoke our imaginations. From the moment I opened the first page of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as a child, I immediately formed an image in my head of how the Dursley family looked and went about their daily lives. The written word has a unique ability to allow us to decide how a story visually comes together. While the content I write in my role at Whiteoaks isn’t based on fiction, telling a story or narrative in an article or blog is just as important to allow the message to sink in for the reader.

Thursday 4^th March 2021 marks the annual celebration of World Book Day. At the primary school I went to, this day usually turned into a week of events that celebrated everything about books, culminating in us all dressing up as our favourite fictional character at the end of the week. While World Book Day will take on a slightly different form this year, its continuing popularity highlights the enduring power of storytelling via the words on a page.

It’s almost hard to believe that iconic stories such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were written as long ago as the 1930s and 40s by J.R.R. Tolkien, and continue to sell strongly today, partly thanks to the highly successful film adaptations directed by Peter Jackson. A first edition hardback book of Philosopher’s Stone recently sold for a staggering £60,000 at auction in the UK thanks to the popularity of the Wizarding World franchise. Star Wars, while most famous as a film series devised by George Lucas, also has an expanded universe told via a series of novels.

A look at some of the other most popular film and TV franchises tells its own story in how books have impacted our modern media. The James Bond franchise, The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones all started life as written stories. And it’s not just fiction that can inspire us. Famous figures from the world of music, sport, film, fashion and numerous other industries have put their thoughts and feelings down on paper for readers to delve into.

2020 print book sales in the UK were up 5.2% on 2019 levels, hitting a total of 202 million units. Over the years, physical books have managed to weather the storm of market competition from devices such as Amazon’s Kindle to remain a go-to form of consuming content. But what is it about books that ensures their lasting appeal? With many major novels now adapted into TV or film form, what keeps people coming back to the printed page to consume a story?

From my perspective, its lasting appeal is due to a mix of childhood nostalgia and the chance to experience a different world. The last year has proven to be a difficult one for many, and to engage in a story that’s far removed from the doom and gloom of what can be reported in the news is a great opportunity for us to look after our wellbeing. So next time you’re searching for a great story, look for a book.