Ahmad Kareh

The start of a new year is a great time to assess the challenges faced and the milestones reached in the last year. Doing so can help agency professionals set up for further success in the new year — it is important to learn from things that didn’t go so well and to build confidence through celebrating well-earned achievements.

Businesses of all sorts depend on consumer data to deliver more personalized, engaging brand experiences. However, new policies, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), are holding businesses to a higher standard of how they store and use that personal data.

Instagram Stories are now used by more than 400 million people each day. As such, it might come as no surprise that other platforms, like Facebook, have begun adopting this content format. But even Google has announced that it's started to leverage stories in its search results. For example, if you do a mobile search on Google for "Giada De Laurentiis," a story with her life and career highlights appears for searchers to click on.

As humans, we are naturally drawn toward a good story. This is especially true of consumers: They want to understand how a product or service has helped someone else, to see how it might help them.

When your brand partners with multiple agencies, it can be difficult to see where each party fits in. This can lead to conflicting decisions and even arguments over who does what and when.

Storytelling is a critical skill for marketers. A good story, well told, can draw an audience in and give them a sense of personal connection with the teller. The ability to spin a good yarn often sets high-achieving marketers apart from their peers. Many people are natural storytellers, but even those who aren’t can learn this important skill.

Not long ago, Nike unleashed a controversial campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Many questioned Nike’s choice due to Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem a couple years ago, which had caused an uproar throughout the NFL and U.S.

From Kendall Jenner's highly controversial 2017 Pepsi "protest" ad to Jack in the Box's recent spot featuring genital jokes in the workplace, ad agencies have, over the years, made a lot of tone-deaf blunders. Today's socially conscious consumers expect authentically diverse experiences portrayed in the media, and they're becoming less and less forgiving when brands rely on stereotypes or offensive humor to sell their products.

Marketing was once viewed as a "one size fits all" activity, where businesses broadcast the same message to every single customer. In recent years, marketers have gained access to a wealth of individual consumer data and insights, making it easier to personalize their efforts for maximum effectiveness.

If your business is looking to switch up its marketing efforts, you may have considered building a team in-house. This seems to be the new trend in marketing, as companies such as Unilever and P&G are leaving agency life behind to start their own in-house teams.

Getting legitimate followers on social media -- especially Instagram -- is a tough thing to do. It often requires tools, patience and a lot of monitoring and resources. This helps preserve the account while making sure it doesn't fall victim to an army of follower bots.

There's been a lot of industry talk recently around diversity and inclusion. And rightfully so: Having a diverse team is important for many reasons, including the ability to envision, discuss and brainstorm ideas or campaigns from many different perspectives. But there's more work that needs to be done to balance out the playing field.

Apps were created to make our lives easier and more organized, and in many ways they do. Apps help to make work more efficient, and this is especially true for public relations, where there's a constant juggling of clients, clips and collaboration.

More than one-third of Americans will take a vacation this year, according to a report by AAA. Summer is, literally, the hottest time for employees to request time off and take advantage of a vacation.

Aside from colleagues, clients are some of the people you spend a significant amount of time with. After all, you're in business to serve your customer base. However, depending on the relationship between you and the client, sometimes the time and money aren't worth it. Since these relationships are not one-size-fits-all, you have to be careful about which clients you choose to work with in order to maximize results.

Modern marketers really have their work cut out for them. Consumers are savvier and have higher expectations than ever, and the traditional "hard sell" approach to advertising lost its effectiveness years ago.

America is in the midst of a great cultural shift. At the center of this change is a new brand of social activism -- a technology-enabled wave of consumer consciousness and support for deeply-held values and beliefs, on all points of the political spectrum.

No brand wants to get bad press, but sooner or later, some negative feedback is bound to pop up. It might be a disgruntled customer complaining on social media or a review website, or a litigious employee suing the company for a perceived injustice. Either way, it's easy for an isolated incident like this to gather steam and explode into a full-blown public relations crisis.

There has been a lot of buzz about blockchain and what it can and cannot do. While it has revolutionized some transactions, its future still feels a bit uncertain for some entrepreneurs. What will it be capable of doing and how will that affect consumers in the long run?

As digital marketing has grown in importance for today's businesses, so has the role of search engine optimization. SEO plays a huge role in getting people to your website, blog post, guest articles and other content assets. And if you don't play by Google's rules, you'll see your web traffic plummet.