Brands already know how powerful social media is when it comes to engaging with your audience. But posting and putting their own ideas out there is just a piece of engaging with audiences - if brands pay attention, they can learn more about their audiences and connect more deeply.  In this episode Zorina Akhund, Social Media Associate at March, spoke with Nicole Tabak, Community and Content Manager at Own Up, about how brands can benefit from social listening and achieve success through a proactive strategy that analyzes audience, target market and competitor data. 

Hacks and Flacks

Listen Up! Your Audience is Speaking

Big news! We've been acquired by Walker Sands, a full-service, award-winning integrated marketing agency based in Chicago.   We wanted all of you to hear why we’re so excited about this partnership straight from the source – which is why we’ve invited Mike Santoro, CEO of Walker Sands, to join our co-founders, CEO Martin Jones and President Cheryl Gale, on today’s podcast.

7 - March and Walker Sands Form People-First Agency

Healthcare is evolving in parallel with consumer tech and more patients are relying on digital tools that brings care into their homes. This virtual shift, plus the new tools making it possible, improves healthcare access and speeds delivery. Marchers Kelsey Johnson, Account Supervisor, and Regan Schiappa, Account Coordinator, discussed how innovation has taken at-home health tech from a possibility to the expectation.

6 - Virtual Healthcare at Home on the Rise

Just over one year ago, the first widespread lockdowns due to Covid-19 outbreaks went into effect across the US. Since then a lot has happened for organizations and their PR & marketing plans.  March Senior Account Executive, Tom Korolyshun, spoke with three March account leads about how objectives evolved and strategies shifted under unknown and constantly changing circumstances. The crew discussed what changed for their accounts as a result of the pandemic, learnings from the last year, and the lasting impact on PR and marketing as we move forward.

5 - Three PR Pros Look Back on One Year Amidst COVID-19

Sena Pottackal shares her experience as a legally blind woman navigating opportunities in the PR & comms industry. She talked about what it's like to lobby employers to reimagine workplace roles with more accessibility and inclusivity in mind, what’s missing from today’s industry conversations around inclusion, and what PR leaders and hiring managers need to know about in order to make accessibility more of a priority. 

4 - Reimagining Work with Accessibility & Inclusivity in Mind

Coming up on one year of a mostly virtual world, we're talking about how the virtual events have become the norm and show no signs of slowing down.   March Account Director Hailey Melamut spoke with Samantha Powers, Account Supervisor, and Janabeth Ward, Senior Account Executive, to talk about how they're working with clients to navigate this new landscape - both tapping into industry conferences that have moved online, and reimagining clients' own user conferences and events for virtual formats. 

3 - Reflections on a Year of Virtual Events

In the spirit of Black History Month, today we're talking about our latest Overbooked Book Club choice – Race After Technology, Marchers Zorina Akhund and Franki Darnold take us through a brief background on the book’s author, Ruha Benjamin and her achievements as a writer and professor. They also cover few major themes of the book – including, how racism is deeply engrained in technology, Benjamin’s coined phrase: “The New Jim Code,” and how discriminatory design impacts the way we interact with tech. Finally, Zorina and Franki answer the overarching question of Race After Technology: Are robots racist?

2 - 'Race After Technology': Breaking Down the New Jim Code

Over the past year we’ve been thinking about how to refocus our podcast approach. Now more than ever, we want to hear from those powering our Innovation Inside Out mantra. That’s why we’re more committed than ever to passing the mic to the incredible minds rethinking the future and the communicators who work to shape their stories. Hearing more voices, with unique perspectives, to get a better understanding of the innovators behind the innovation. Welcome to The Innovator’s Mic. We’re kicking off by passing the mic around for four conversations between eight Marchers, riffing off what they’re looking forward to in PR & tech this year. The team covered a lot in little time, from corporate DEI efforts, to game-changing tech, to paid content and social programs.  

1 - What's on Tap for 2021

We’re switching things up on Hacks and Flacks today. This year March Communications celebrated 15 years as a tech PR agency. To mark the occasion, we're taking a moment to not only reflect on these past 15 years, but also think about what the next 15 could look like. Who better to do so than our co-founders Cheryl Gale and Martin Jones? Martin’s up this week, covering COVID-19 and the PR industry, what clients want from agencies right now, and PR’s role in mitigating misinformation.

March Celebrates and Reflects on 15 Years with CEO Martin Jones

Cheryl Gale, President of March, chatted with Samantha Mayowa, Head of Global Communications at VMware Carbon Black. Cheryl and Samantha talked about how much headspace PR leaders have dedicated to DEI up to now, specifically in Boston where the PR scene remains predominantly white despite a diverse talent pool available. Samantha also shared ways that these PR pros can expand their reach to give more people a seat at the table, as well as advice for candidates with unique backgrounds frustrated by inclusivity challenges.

79 - Samantha Mayowa Shares How PR Leaders Can Build Diversity Through Inclusivity

Mental health has taken a more prominent space in the public consciousness, especially in light of the pandemic. Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness through its app and online content offerings, is one of many apps folks are turning to during these times. The company even launched free services and offerings to users in response to COVID. On today's episode Olivia DeJesse, Senior PR Associate at Headspace, covers the ins and outs of wellness tech PR. We discuss how the market is growing, the role of influencer marketing, and answer the question: are certain consumers being under-served or overlooked?

78 - Wellness Tech PR & Influencer Marketing, with Olivia DeJesse of Headspace

Artificial intelligence is a technology that shows a lot of promise but it's also one that brings up a lot of ethical questions around data privacy, transparency, bias, and more. As VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Samasource, Heather Gadonniex has a lot of perspective on these issues. Today, Samasource is an impact-driven for-profit tech company. Heather’s professional background – and Samasource’s founding story – both sit at the intersections of impact and growth. Heather shares lessons and insights on impact marketing, product marketing, and ethics in AI. We cover all of that and more in an interview that will be helpful to any marketer and PR pro who needs to tell the story of complex industries with thorny issues.

77 - Heather Gadonniex on Impact, Product Marketing, and Ethics in AI

How can something as cold and calculating as a computer actually make people feel more connected to each other? The new memoir from Affectiva CEO and founder Rana el Kaliouby talks about her personal mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The book is called Girl Decoded and it was the selection for the latest installment Overbooked, the March book club. Hailey Melamut and Janabeth Ward join the show today to discuss its most important themes, including the mission to more humanity to tech interactions, the state of racial diversity in tech, and the unique challenges of being a woman and a leader in a male-dominated industry. Overbooked rolls on. Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.

76 - 'Girl Decoded' on Humanity, Diversity and Opportunities in Tech

Many of us know that we should probably be eating better. But sometimes good information on nutrition feels hard to come by and even harder to follow - especially for those who don't have easy access to affordable food or knowledge. Sandy Purewal, a former PR professional turned well tech entrepreneur, is the founder of Superfied. His goal is to make everyone self-sufficient in their everyday wellbeing by changing the way they think about food - what they eat, how they eat, when they eat - and why it matters. We talk to Sandy about whole-body health, about the rise in well tech and the trends that define that market, including some of the consumer trends identified in March's Year of Smart Living report. And we ask Sandy what marketers should know about wellness in a future that's increasingly being shaped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

75 - Making Nutrition Tech Accessible, with Sandy Purewal of Superfied

The team here at March has been reading Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology, the memoir by March client, and Affectiva CEO Rana el Kaliouby, along with co-author Carol Colman. On today's podcast, March Account Supervisor Hailey Melamut discusses her unique role as the book launch manager, which placed her in the middle of the book publishing, distribution, and promotional process. It's a behind the scenes look at what goes into book marketing. Our chat also offers valuable lessons in how to pivot - Rana's book was published on April 21, which meant that many of the promotional activities occurred during the COVID-19 outbreak, which naturally meant a lot of big changes to the marketing plan. Find out what they did to make it all work.

74 - Book Marketing 101: Behind the Scenes of the 'Girl Decoded' Launch

On Hacks and Flacks - a podcast from March Communications - we talk with influencers, colleagues and experts about all things marketing, media, public relations, and communications. We'll also share stories and insights from the award-winning March blog. Subscribe to receive new episodes as they are published.

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