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How I execute my work has hardly changed as I have not embraced AI; I don’t really use it outside of the “remove object” or “remove background” option in Canva. Today, especially at the start of 2026, that is an absurd thing to say; companies are moving full steam ahead with their reliance on AI for documentation, creation, output, and more in the day-to-day atmosphere. Instead of Copywriters, companies are hiring for Marketing Coordinators with AI experience, Managers with Project Management AI knowledge rather than a full team – should I not be worried that I will not be able to find a job without partnering with AI? Shouldn’t I just “jump on the bandwagon” already? What’s keeping me from keeping up with the Joneses? Honestly, it’s not an exciting reason but, I just don’t want to.

     Saying “I just don’t want to” is a controversial answer, I know, but I’ll break down that answer a bit more.

I would say if you’re around my age, you remember being told in math class that you “won’t have a calculator everywhere” back before smartphones became the norm. So, what did we do in math class? We learned how to take equations and my worst enemy, the word problem, and break them down on paper step-by-step. Is there a need to do that anymore? I would like to think so. If somehow all current technology becomes unusable, I would hope we could rebuild society without a calculator. You may also remember that in English class, we learned about plagiarism and how to correctly cite works to not take ideas as our own: do your own research, and use your own words; if you didn’t know the definition of something, use a Dictionary, and if you needed more options of words, use a Thesaurus (online Thesauruses are my favorite and most used tool). Even though I use my phone’s calculator more than I would like to admit, I still hold on to the skills I learned in school. I find myself jotting down simple equations before plugging them into a calculator to go through each step and I still take the time to research, cite, and think through what I write. Could AI assist with my processes? I’m sure it could, and I’m not denying it could, but there is something so satisfying with getting frustrated and either asking for help or searching for it on my own to succeed.

Am I showing my age yet? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just showing my gender: according to the paper Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI, “women are about 20% less likely than men to directly engage with this new technology”. 1 And, according to How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence, “55% of women are more concerned than excited” 2 when it comes to how “increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life makes them feel”. 2 To compare, this number is only 11% for men2. There are many reasons why women may be avoiding the use of AI, but I’ll focus on my reasonings. Personally, I just like to do things on my own and get hands on experience, however, in the way that business works, I recognize that isn’t the most optimal way of getting work done. It’s faster to put a prompt into generative AI, fact check, and go from there, but I still like to research, save my resources, and reference as I may need that data again in the future. Also, my lack of trust: I don’t mean with just data breaches, but with how my information is used.

It's no secret that AI companies need data to train their AI system and there are currently “no transparency mandates requiring companies to detail where and how they acquire their training data outside of the EU AI Act.”3 But, we can probably guess that most of what is used is what is found online and what is input with prompts, whether it’s personal information or style. Style? Yes, style. The way we type, speak, and interact with AI can be used as a means of training. As we continue to interact with AI, it picks up on mannerisms, slang, verbiage, etc. to better understand us and maintain a fluid conversation. I may be one of the few people that actually does not want to provide my personal speech and quirks to AI development. I acknowledge that anything on the internet I’ve put out there is used, yet I can ensure that I do not directly provide it to AI. I recognize I can sound a bit like a child in saying this, but I have taken years to hone my writing style and voice, which continues to develop as I continue to write, research, and gather experience – why should someone else be able to mimic in weeks what I’ve done in years? I am always looking to improve myself, consistently keeping up to date on trends, and keeping track of new ideas and ways to innovate, however, there are pushes in our work culture, and even everyday life, to use AI to take part of the mental load. I have not heard an argument towards using AI outside of “it makes things easier” or “it speeds up the process;” is there any other arguments for its use? I’ve yet to witness them.

The use of AI is widespread, and becoming much more prominent in today’s society, like the 2025 Coca-Cola holiday ad created using “OpenAI's Sora, Google's Veo 3, and Luma AI”4, and it’s usually easy to spot when it’s used. In the Coca-Cola ad, while driving through the oddly bright and snow filled scenes, the red trucks “appear to change shape [and] gain or lose wheels in each scene.”4. When created traditionally, designers would go through each scene to ensure consistency, whether in lighting, costume, background, and in this case, the main feature, the red trucks. Outside of this example, I’ve noticed things look a bit off when created; whether it’s extra fingers, blurry backgrounds, character model changes in scenes - it typically isn’t too difficult to tell what’s been made by generative AI. I understand not all advertising/marketing teams have a graphic designer which leads to the use of AI to create graphics and save money, but when I see these generated items, it tends to deter me from interacting with and/or purchasing from that business. I also recognize that generative AI provides small businesses with promotional items at no or low cost which aids in the beginning stages of business though I believe that that these businesses should take the opportunity to use photos of their items and customers to build on their growth as well.

And when it comes to use of generative AI in writing, well, it’s a bit tougher to catch unless you are familiar the writer’s personal writing style, have personally seen the use of AI, or happen to be very familiar with the topic that is written to catch inconsistencies and errors. Generative AI is also known for “making things up,”5 or better known as “hallucination[s]”5. Making things up may not seem like a big deal if it’s creative writing or trying to coin the new slang term, but when research papers include non-existent citations, that can mean consequential problems for health and safety. Those using generative AI for research purposes should go through the process of fact checking each claim and revising the created content; even with that, we cannot guarantee that the user will do so nor those who consume the content. Fact checking and editing the content can take just as much time as pulling the required research and creating from scratch, if not more time. Arguments may need to be completely changed or completely removed if there is not any basis for them. Plus, AI holds biases as it only takes the data that is available to it. According to the paper Towards a Standard for Identifying and Managing Bias in Artificial Intelligence, there are 3 types of bias in AI: systemic, statistical & computational, and human6. These biases can affect how data is processed and used in any format, just like humans do. However, if we do not consistently check what AI is providing, we may be passing the information as factual. I personally do not want to have someone else’s biases in my own work, nor have to start over due to fact-checking citations or re-writing sections.

The last point I will be making here is how AI is disrupting our natural resources and the environments we live in. It is estimated that for 2026, “electricity consumption of data centers is expected to approach 1,050 terawatt-hours”7 with “AI data centers’ global annual water consumption is set to reach 1,068 billion liters by 2028”8. These are extreme numbers! All living organisms on this planet need water in some way, shape, or form yet there are machines using more water than some countries have in a year. Let’s also think about the land that these data centers are built on: they need to be built on large open land with accessible means to resources such as water and fossil fuel derived energy9. On the flip side, these centers do contribute financially to the local economy, such as in Loudon County where “tax revenues collected from local data centers in fiscal year 2025 to approach $900 million, nearly as much as the county’s entire operating budget”9. However, money cannot purchase natural resources that are depleted from the environment – it does not seem like our planet understands that it needs to produce more if we give it money (too snarky?). We should be focusing on how using AI directly contributes to the amount of resources being taken from us, which will affect our future, not decades from now, but a few years from now.

I’m going to reiterate that this is my personal take on why I don’t use AI. I care deeply for our planet and our resources, with sustainability intertwined in my day-to-day life (recycling, buying used, etc.) and I hold my personal brand with high regard. I feel as if using AI to write or create for me is cheating myself and all of the progress I’ve made in my life. I will admit, I am not a graphic designer, but I know people that I can rely on to create when needed. I’m continuing to work to better my skills because I have the feeling that generative AI may not end up being the end-all-be-all that we make it out to be. AI uses so many natural resources, as well as processed pieces, like RAM chips10, which are needed for daily life and operations of local economies. Why do we need to keep feeding data and resources to grow a system that is not technically ready to take on the burden of running our lives? AI has biases and flaws which can create errors in content and research; I would not trust it to handle major interactions or projects unmanaged and unregulated. I apologize that I’m not keeping with the times, but I don’t think the current time is when we should be embracing an infant technology. At any moment, the camel’s back is going to break where our current society cannot handle the loss of jobs, exploitation of resources, and the off-designs of AI. And when that time comes, I’ll still be researching and developing my skills as I usually do and performing my job as I’ve always been. But who knows what the future holds? Maybe someday I’ll change my “I don’t want to” to “sure, I’ll try it” – but I’m not holding my breath.

1 Otis, Nicholas G., Solene Delecourt, Katelyn Cranney, and Rembrand Koning. Global evidence on gender gaps and Generative AI, October 14, 2024. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/h6a7c. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=66548

2 McClain, Colleen, Brian Kennedy, Jeffrey Gottfried, Monica Anderson, and Giancarlo Pasquini. 2025. “How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center. April 3, 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/03/how-the-us-public-and-ai-experts-view-artificial-intelligence/.

‌How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence Appendix B:

3 King, Jennifer, and Caroline Meinhardt. 2024. “Rethinking Privacy in the AI Era Policy Provocations for a Data-Centric World.” https://hai.stanford.edu/assets/files/2024-02/White-Paper-Rethinking-Privacy-AI-Era.pdf.

4 O’Reilly, Lara. 2025. “Coca-Cola AI Holiday Ad Glitches Highlight Generative AI Shortcomings.” Business Insider. November 5, 2025. https://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-ai-holiday-ad-glitches-highlight-ai-shortcomings-2025-11.
5 Matt O'Brien. 2023. “Chatbots Sometimes Make Things Up. Is AI’s Hallucination Problem Fixable?” AP News. August 1, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-hallucination-chatbots-chatgpt-falsehoods-ac4672c5b06e6f91050aa46ee731bcf4.
6 Schwartz, Reva, Apostol Vassilev, Kristen Greene, Lori Perine, Andrew Burt, and Patrick Hall. 2022. “Towards a Standard for Identifying and Managing Bias in Artificial Intelligence.” Towards a Standard for Identifying and Managing Bias in Artificial Intelligence 1270 (1270). https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.1270.
7 Zewe, Adam. 2025. “Explained: Generative AI’s Environmental Impact.” MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. January 17, 2025. https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117.
8 Gutierrez, José. 2025. “How Much Water Does AI Actually Use? Depends on Whom You Ask.” Inc. December 11, 2025. https://www.inc.com/maria-jose-gutierrez-chavez/how-much-water-does-ai-actually-use-depends-who-you-ask/91276930.
9 Gory, Jon. 2025. “Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.” Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. October 17, 2025. https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/land-water-impacts-data-centers/.
10 Ruwitch, John. 2025. “Memory Loss: As AI Gobbles up Chips, Prices for Devices May Rise.” 2025. NPR. December 28, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/28/nx-s1-5656190/ai-chips-memory-prices-ram.

I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to hold the position of Publicity Chair for the Houston Alumnae Panhellenic Association (HAPA) for the 2nd year for 2024-2025. In this role, I’ve been able to hone my skills with social media and post creation, whether it’s an elaborate graphic post or a video post, I’ve been able to learn so many skills that will aid me in my career. I also really love being a part of a great panhellenic sisterhood and want sorority life to continue to be successful and give women opportunities to grow and want to try and expand my knowledge to others. So, in this post, I am going to cover some of the marketing plans I have for this upcoming year and things I’ve learned over the 2023-2024 year.

When starting in this role, I have already had experience within marketing, within B2C when it comes to higher education and within B2B, with B2B being the most recent and current experience. It had been a few years since I’ve last used Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for outreach so it was exciting to be able to have creative freedom to post what I saw as appropriate and put together a social media calendar for the full year. Was every post successful? Unfortunately, no, but I was able to examine the post to see why it wasn’t successful and consider if changes need to be made to the calendar for the next year. Experimentation is the only way to know what works and trying new things may broaden your audience and have organization in front of more eyes.

When looking back at the past several months and making plans for the upcoming year, I’ve noticed a few things:

• Posts about people within the organization with pictures of people do very well

• Videos can be hit or miss, but will do well if used for announcement purposes

• Instagram stories are great to use as reminders or quick shout outs

  • Facebook stories not so much (but why not use it since it’s pretty simple to post to both Instagram and Facebook)

• Twitter/X is trending downward with usage, and isn’t the best way to reach target demographics (mainly for purposes of scholarship, recruitment, higher education, etc.)

• LinkTree is an amazing tool

• Use everything you can to keep social media consistent and be open to fluctuations in the calendar
  
  

I’ll cover how I'm using this information in my plan and how we’ve leveraged social media to aid in outreach.

It’s not a secret - posts that involve members, friends, neighbors, etc. tend to do well. People want to see people, not ads or non-pertinent information to their lives. In marketing, you strive to push information in a way that is relevant to others and get them interested in what you are providing. Although HAPA and the Foundation is not offering a product, they do offer scholarships to current panhellenic sorority members, philanthropic events, and HAPA especially, is an organization for panhellenic alumnae without their own alumnae associations to be a part of. What HAPA wants to push is awareness, especially about scholarships and the events around fundraising for scholarships, while also aiding with preparing  women for sorority recruitment. Well, what a better way of showing what HAPA does, or any organization, than by showing the people behind it? Show what they do, what they’re involved in, and why they do what they do. Let people feel the FOMO (do people still say that? well…“fear of missing out” is what I mean) and want to take an active part in it. Maybe it’s an alumna that is looking for connection, or an active sorority woman who didn’t know there were additional ways to be connection after college and looking for ways to pay for school, or it could even be the high school woman considering universities and whether or not sorority life is for her: seeing people like yourself or what you aspire to be can be a great tool to bridge connection.

Okay, now that we know we want to do more people focused posts, we want to get more pictures during events or from others that attend events. And once there’s a collection of pictures, then what? Just post them? Well, yes, but I, personally, like to go a step further. I  invest in a paid Canva account, and the organization will be as well soon, and I like to edit the photos a bit. Why not put them in the correct aspect ratio? Make a collage? Add in names, or the title of the event, or the date, or the etc. etc. etc. It doesn’t have to be done, but it’s always nice to see something different every once in a while. Maybe instead of photos, a video can be done?

Videos, I’ve learned, tend to not do as well, possibly because of the main demographic of the current audience. Looking at analytics, the largest demographic on Instagram for the HAPA account is women ages 45-54, and Instagram typically trends in the lower age brackets.This demographic may not view reels, or see reels, as often on their following page if they don’t regularly interact with those. Typically, these accounts are used to view pictures of family, friends, neighbors, etc. and aren’t necessarily used to keep up with the current fads and trends of the Millennial and Gen Z generations. Keeping that in mind, videos need to be very relevant with pictures and information that would be intriguing. Videos about new membership, attendance numbers, new rules, news, and other topics can increase viewership, but the video needs to be attention grabbing in the first couple of seconds. One of the best videos I have published started with a spinning version of the HAPA logo - which has not been seen before. Plus, it was a video showing pictures of orientation for the upcoming year which is intriguing as members have not seen each other since the previous meeting in April or the luncheon in May. Picture posts, whether video or standard images, are a great way of capturing attention as people want to “drop in” on people they know or stay up to date with what’s going on.

But wait, I’m sure I’ve seen more than just people focused posts on HAPA’s social media, right? Yes, you’d be correct. Most of the posts are not people focused. HAPA only has so many events in a year, and someone isn’t always snapping pictures or taking those opportunities to capture the moments. Plus, out of the eight or nine months HAPA is meeting, only about two weeks worth of meetings and events are happening therefore, there needs to be additional posts. My personal goal for Facebook, Instagram, and typically Twitter/X, is to post 2-3 times a week to keep the accounts active enough to keep their places in the algorithms, and if there’s more posts some weeks, that’s completely fine! Two is the minimum, although this may change throughout the summer based on how slow news and content may be. Creating a content calendar can help with the process of keeping the flow of content consistent. Here’s a few tips on a few items to start on your calendar as a panhellenic alumnae group:

1. Place all of the sorority founders days - they’re consistent and will get you almost to a post a month, if not two

2. Major holidays such as Thanksgiving or Fourth of July to take those places in between founders days

• When I say major holidays, I mean any bigger holidays like Valentine’s Day or Halloween as well - anything that would show up on a standard calendar

3. Event announcements such as recruitment information sessions, fundraising events, etc.

   1. • Personally, I will post about an event at least twice before the event occurs if not more to to spread the word starting at least a month out

4. Leverage your connections! Sorority fundraising events, other surrounding panhellenic group events, and more can be posted!

   1. • These events usually are between holidays and your panhellenic group events so it can add more content

      • Other sorority group event posts tend to do well also since people will share them around on their accounts too!

5. Fun days such as “National Donut Day” or general reminders
   
   

These are just some ideas and do not necessarily have to be followed, but the biggest tip I can give is to start on the content calendar early as it’s going to be a living document throughout the year. The calendar I started with in June is not the calendar I’m using today in March - things change or can get moved around, while new events or ideas pop up.

When putting together the calendar, I typically only place actual posts on the calendar while Instagram/Facebook stories are more spontaneous, usually put together at most a week in advance. Why? Stories are best for giving information that is relevant to that timeframe; there’s a reason stories are only up for 24 hours before archival. How can you leverage stories? If you have an event coming up in the next couple of days, post a story so it’s at the top of the feed. Breaking news or announcement? Story post. Reminder for something the next day? Story post. Want to share an impromptu story by just recording a quick video? Story post. Stories can always (knock on wood) be saved and posted again later if needed. For HAPA, I choose to not always have a story going. Some accounts may post a story as soon as a new post is made or they post everything in a story before it hits the account. If the stories are just the account, why would anyone visit the account and interact with the account unless it’s something really interesting? We want people to look at our stories and pages because they’re interested in learning more and not just tap through the stories because it’s the “same stuff different day.” And if your account is anything like the HAPA account, no one really looks at Facebook stories, but I still post it there because it’s just a checkbox to have it hit both accounts. Maybe someone will happen to actually view Facebook for the stories at that moment in time and it’ll be fate? If not, it’s less than a second of my time to post it there.

Twitter/X on the other hand, does not feature stories and has become a different platform than it has been in years past. Now with the name of “X” it can be much harder to get eyes on your account and tweets, especially when we still call it Twitter and not by its new single-letter name. As I am writing this, I am considering putting a pause on Twitter for HAPA as we rarely receive any interactions and fairly low views on our tweets. Threads seemed promising, but with Instagram still being the source to be able to sign up for an account, potential new Thread account holders would still need to pass through Instagram. I also do not see our target audience being reached in the best capacity using Threads, and I still do not see the draw to add an additional platform without seeing a buy-in from the target audience. However, HAPA does now have a LinkedIn account and I do see the potential of having it grow over the next year with buy-in from current HAPA members more likely to share as it will be available before orientation in September. With LinkedIn, we’ll be able to start the process of connecting currently working women, or those connected with businesses, to women entering the workforce from college. And you’re probably wondering about the ever popular Tik Tok. I consider the possibility of using the app, but it would take several publicity committee members to pull off successfully, which currently is a team of one, myself.

Something I believe that has made my position easier is LinkTree. Being able to have all links aggregated into one link with multiple buttons makes it easier to share, whether by QR code or the linktr.ee URL. During the 2023-2024 year, we have had to move away from linking to the houston-panhellenic.org website due to an upcoming website overhaul coming in Summer 2024, and LinkTree has honestly aided in the process of moving to social media for up-to-date links. Links can be added and removed almost immediately and is truly the best way to navigate to websites and social media on mobile devices. Sure, there’s other ways to link using short URLs, but to have somewhere that all are accessible from one place makes the process of navigating someone to the right link at the right time is a game changer.

The only other item I can mention is Canva can be your best friend if you use it to the full potential. Making videos, creating posts, putting together a calendar, etc. it is a great idea to have an association premium account available to work with. Not only will designs be there from year to year, but others can always come into the designs and make edits as needed. Sure, the Adobe Creative Cloud services are amazing, but if you have a limited budget and/or do not have the time to learn or devote to those programs, Canva will be just fine.

This post has become more long-winded than I had originally hoped, but I am passionate about the work I do, both paid and volunteer. I think it’s important to really step back and look at the whole picture when it comes to panhellenic social media and ways to increase the potential of social media accounts. And it doesn’t have to stop with social media! Personally, I’ve worked in other ways with designing print items for marketing purposes to help provide HAPA and HAPF opportunities in physical spaces such as schools and offices. I’m looking forward to the next year as Publicity Chair in 2024-2025 and work with those who are looking to expand their experiences in social media and marketing by joining my committee.

I wrote the following to go through some items that may be misunderstood within the field of Marketing. I was able to research and put together this document to answer questions that many may have about marketing and why professions in the field may do, or respond, to things they way that they do. I'm happy to speak more about this information and learn more about what others do within their companies or work.

The formatting may be a bit off due to the website, such as the superscript numbers, due to formatting limitations.

The United States is unique in many ways: the culture, climate, economy, and especially marketing. The way that consumers and businesses interact with one another is different at all levels within the US, whether it’s at the government level or within individual consumers. In this document, defining points within the US B2B market will be outlined to aid in best determining marketing plans.

Marketing has come a long way in the past 20 years with the acceleration of mobile technology and the complexities of website buildouts. With these advancements, companies have the opportunity to build websites with educational and relevant content to engage website visitors. Digital content is a large factor in marketing when it comes to US. From the article “Strategic Marketing in a Digital World,” Mark L. Frigo, Ph.D., CMA, CPA stated “A Forrester research survey found that 62% of B2B buyers say they develop selection criteria for finalizing a vendor list based solely on digital content.”1 This means that items such as blog posts and infographics can be the determining factor for whether a not a company is considered for bidding or not. In Forbes’ “B2B Marketing Success Hinges On Understanding Buyer Behavior,” the information “70% to 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer digital self-serve and remote human engagement to in-person sales.”2 When it comes to “digital self-service” this can be a number of things: pre-audit assessments, whitepapers, informative guides, and more. Potential customers want to get as much information as possible before taking the step of committing, even if committing means speaking with a sales representative as “67% no longer prefer to interact with a sales representative as their primary source of information.”1 So what can be done in the US to best provide what the US consumer is looking for?

“To be successful, modern marketers must focus on creating thorough content that quickly connects with buyers and gets them to act,”1 according to Dr. Frigo. And when is meant by “thorough content” is zeroing in on “…value propositions focus on what the buyer needs, not on what you, the seller, care about”1 which focus on the specifics of solutions of the buyer’s questions such as “Who benefits from your products? How you help customers overcome challenges and meet their goals? Why [is] your product or approach is different and better than anyone else’s?”1 In other words, “what ways does the company and its products really carry forward the goals and the momentum of the buyer?” should be the focus of creating content to bring people to the website and keep them there. For the entry point of the buyer’s journey, the discover phase, Dr. Frigo states the following:

“The discover phase is really all about education. The consider phase is when the customer is starting to think about solutions. The evaluate phase is when the customer is evaluating specific solutions and working their way to purchase. If you’ve got a gap in content at any one of these stages, you’re going to be zapping the velocity out of any high-velocity sales and marketing model because the content needs to be where the buyers are (not where you hope them to be).”1

Having relevant and current information readily available can give businesses bigger leverage over competitors within the same market in the US and being branded as a thought leader. According to the New York Times, “brands always want to be seen as thought leaders in their industry, and content is a great way to do that. However, to achieve such status, you have to ensure your content is informative and nonpromotional,”3 and “thought leadership means addressing your clients’ pain points and helping companies navigate changes in their industries.”3 By being promotional, there is no value added to the buyer’s research which may lead to the loss of interest while interacting with the brand’s content. Whether that’s posts on social media or emails with generic information, the buyer will lose interest as it gives little to no pertinent information about their situation.

Does this mean that being a “Thought Leader” is all that is needed to gain attention in the market? Unfortunately, no. The NYT states, “According to most decision-makers (66%), the pandemic led to an influx in thought leadership. About 40% of business leaders surveyed acknowledge that there is more thought leadership in the market today than they can handle. Despite this influx, 71% of these decision-makers agree that less than 50% of what they read delivers value. In order to stand out from the crowd, companies need to develop high-quality material.”3 So being a Thought Leader isn’t enough, but you also need to provide high-quality content that delivers value. What does this mean in terms of B2B brands that are trying to be more present in an ever-growing market? What does it mean to have “quality”? “Quality content shows your audiences that you are listening to them and that you care,”3 and “consumers want to know that there are real humans behind the screens. Engaging audiences with your content can make all the difference between a conversion and a consumer choosing a competitor.”3 The United States still holds being personable and emotional as a high standard even in today’s digital world. HubSpot writes in their “2023 State of Marketing” paper, that brands should “prioritize featuring humanity, humor, warmth, and generosity in messages and promotion. Demonstrating humanity and generosity through behavior is advised, too: Brands should ask themselves the question, ‘How can we help?’. Lead with empathy, humor, and emotion.”4 Although in the B2B space, it is important to remember that businesses are made of people who have connections, emotions, and lives that intersect with the work that they do. Within the NYT article, high quality content is said to:

“[tell] a story and is memorable to who are you, and why should consumers choose your brand for their needs? Content tells your story, which makes it easier to resonate with target audiences. Brands should audit their content to gain an understanding of what they are communicating and how their customers perceive them.”3

Whether that story is built on the customer interaction with the brand, or stories of current employees that can relate to what the brand does, it brings in new eyes to the content whether it’s on a website or through social media. And when it comes to having new eyes on the brand, it can lead to new business as “nearly 85% of CEOs and vice presidents say they use social media to help make purchasing decisions.”2

Making high-quality content while being emotional and personal as a thought leader is all that it takes to stand out in the US market, correct? Sadly, no. There is even more that needs to be addressed when it comes to the US and gaining buyer’s attention. Forbes says it best by stating “…no one is visiting your site for research unless you have already earned their trust. The challenge for most companies is establishing trust early enough, before that researcher has made a decision leading them down a certain path.”2 So, before the research begins with your content, you must have the trust of the buyer. How does that work? “As a company, engage with as many people as you can to increase the chances of your brand coming up in more conversations—whether these conversations are held online or off, “in the dark” or in public forums,”2 with “a little over 77% of shares [happening] ‘in the dark.’”2 according to the Forbes article. Okay, so this is something that marketing can do, correct? Well, “The marketing team alone cannot do that. Neither can executives. You need to turn the entire workforce into an informed, personable engagement machine to create a stacking effect.”2 Forbes continues to explain how this can be done:

“Educating teams about when, where and how they should be chiming in on relevant social discussions. Arming people with the content and tone-of-voice guidelines they need to provide real value. Establishing clear guardrails so people know what is and isn’t okay (you don’t want to encourage the workforce to flock to social, only for you to be unhappy with what those channels are saying). Creating a strategy for measuring results and collecting and sharing success stories.”2

Building that brand trust needs to not just come from the office or board room, but from every aspect of the brand. When it comes to companies, it comes from the employees and the already established customers; it can come from the content shared through social media from a mutual friend or just talking about experiences with people that work at the company. Trust is not only built on formality but built between casual day-to-day experiences. The day-to-day is the most important as it defines who we are and what or who we care about: “It is and always will be people. The modality of communication may have changed (move over, BRCs), but the core reasons a buyer proceeds with a partnership are the same: They like and trust the person they are doing business with. They feel an emotional connection to the person beyond your company and brand—and your market reputation and strong branding validate their instincts.”2

Now that “high-quality content,” “thought leader,” “personable,” and “building trust” have been defined, how does the brand push the content and information to people? HubSpot mentions “Similarweb reports that 64.97% of web traffic is via a mobile device, vs. 32.86% on desktop, and only 2.16% on tablet.”4 Looking at these numbers, priority should be on items that are easy accessed by mobile devices: social media. Websites that are optimized for mobile will also do well in this space, especially if the content can be opened and set aside for reading or interacting with at a later time. What also needs to be kept in mind is how buyers interact. Looking at the past year or so “Web traffic was overall down over 6% in 2022 compared to 2021,”4 and “email open rates went down across the board by over 12%.”4 Web traffic can be explained by the possibility of not having a mobile optimized website, but what about email open rates? What could possibly explain that? Well, when we look back to what was previously mentioned in findings, US markets are looking for high-quality content that is relevant and are looking to do as much self-research as possible before interacting with sales. By pushing emails, it goes against what US buyers are wanting in the market and brands may lose trust, which is hard to gain and easy to lose. When thinking of email pushes in this market, let’s use the example of the stereotypical cars salesman.

When we think of stereotypical cars salesmen, what do we think? Men in cheap suits, waiting by the dealership building for any vehicles or people that are approaching the car lot. As soon as someone appears to be interested, the salesman swoops in asking “what are you looking for?” or “are there any questions I can answer for you?” or states “that’s a popular model!” before you have the chance to even look at the sales information displayed on the vehicle. By this point, the potential buyer is already feeling cautious as any type of behavior can be seen as a way to “upsell” or badger into making a decision at that moment. Fortunately, the way that car buying has changed, not only with digital car lots, but with in-person opportunities as well. Suits have become more business casual, and the consistent hovering to get your business has become the simple introduction with business card for further contact if needed. This is how email marketing should be developed in the US. Let the buyer browse, get the information they need and provide the opportunity to register for newsletters or other optional lists. And if they receive these emails, they should be on the buyer’s terms with the relevant and high-quality content that they are looking for. The information should also be quick to consume as “41.1% of subscribers ‘skim’ emails, which means they spend between two and eight seconds on your message.”4 The buyer knows they want a car, or in this case, the product, but they may not be sure of which model or type and is gathering as much information as they can to ask the right questions when they do commit to connecting with someone.

What if a buyer dropped off in the research, whether it was priority restructuring or going with a competitor, and is looking to come back? Will the content that these potential customers are consuming going to be the same as it was 6, 12, or even 36 months ago? The short answer is no. Content should be always updated with what is going on in today’s world and keeping up with trends. Cella Inc. states “Staying aware of the rapid evolution of information needed by the consumer, and therefore the content team, significantly lowers the expectations normally communicated in standard project tools such as creative briefs, etc. In this case, the end goal is simple: Stay on brand and ahead of the customer’s needs.”5 Does this mean that older content may not still be relevant? No. There will always been a need for basic content that can be used to inform new buyers, but it may not pertain to buyers that have previously consumed the content or coming from a background with a better foundation of knowledge. And with new content over time there is the opportunity to create something that has not been done before. “Creativity provides 47% of the total sales impact, then reach, brand, targeting, recency and context,”5 which can be harnessed to reach new sectors or demographics than your brand has before. Within creativity is the ability to share how the brand interacts with the community around it, especially when it comes to the US and the diversity that comes with it. Cella Inc. also states that

“… 69% of marketers agree that taking a stand on social issues like environmentalism and racial justice is an effective marketing strategy. 43% is the likelihood of effective marketers to have addressed social issues in a marketing campaign versus ineffective marketers.”5 

Not only is taking environmental issues or creating awareness around issues keep the content relevant to the reader but can open the door to conversations with different stakeholders and companies that may not have been reached before. And as there is more content that is relevant to today’s issues in the community, more people are likely to share or extend opportunities to speak with the brand and gain influence in other markets: “… 30% of marketers are currently creating content that reflects their brand’s values, like creating and sharing blog posts, getting executive interviews in the press, creating podcasts about the company and its values, or sharing regularly on social media.”5 

With creativity and speaking out about what is going on in our society, how does the brand know when and how to move forward? With the US being complex in the cultural makeup as a country what should be considered before creating any content? Behavioral science. Cella Inc. states in their paper:

“Think sentiment tracking, social listening, geo-economic and behavioral science data. This has taken the simple concept of data-driven design up to the higher realms of intelligence-driven creative. The goal of intelligence-driven creative is to get closer to an individual target consumer with compelling, relevant content that has a greater chance of changing their behavior (how browsing becomes buying). The practice is by no means a perfect science; it’s actually performed through a process of trial and error, trying one thing and then another until success is achieved.”5

Just like how the US was founded and still sustained today, it takes a large amount of trial and error. Some things will click with buyers while others are lost in the sea of other content. And even when things are not as successful as hoped, there is still an opportunity to make relationships or connect with a buyer in some capacity as “the best way for a company or brand to form long-term relationships today is through a planned, always-on marketing approach of integrated communications across multiple digital channels.”5 The content may not have worked now, but there may be an opportunity for it to connect at some point in the future. The availability of that content may lead to a relationship later on as it can be used as an open door to the other high-quality content readily available to consume.

Having pitfalls or content that does not always hit is the expectation of content from humans for humans. As stated previously, being personable is an important part of marketing in the US: 

“The importance of human connection is prioritized more than ever within the context of modern marketing. Consider customer experiences that are hyper personalized and laser focused. These encounters allow YOU, the unique individual for which there is no other, to be studied, mapped, watched and nudged so that marketers can figure out the perfect approach, timing and message that will convert you to brand loyalty. And based on the behavior patterns of online customers, possible connections are almost constant.”5

Humans can change, adapt, and can miss things when there are many other things going on. There also needs to be a realization that with human behavior that the customer journey evolves just as society does from picking up a newspaper to see ads targeted to daily newspaper readers to

“…a particular channel and aggregated audience data, to a more sophisticated mix of human behavior characteristics. It helps to understand the process a consumer’s brain moves through when making a decision. They may begin by identifying a need in their life, which leads to thinking about a product or product category, to their learning more about the products available, to being convinced about the right product for them, to finally making a purchase or selection. When you start developing content by matching user personas to this style of customer journey map, you’ll have content much more closely matched to the target consumer—and significantly more likely to change their behavior.”5

Creating user personas is something that is individualized based on product within the B2B brand itself. The brand has to set up its own awareness and buyer base while also setting itself up as a thought leader in every market for each product. And once that persona is identified, it stays within the branding of the company but also adapting to the individual product-based personas identified. Whether it’s changing the copy of social media posts to be more “personable” in some markets but more informative in others, or using more infographics than human-focused images, small changes can have a large amount of difference in catching, and keeping, attention.

Looking at the channels, where can marketing look to start making these decisions? Cella Inc. suggests: 

“External data types such as social listening help marketers understand how the sentiment of their messages is perceived, if their brand is seen as trustworthy, whether their brand values are understood and agreeable. As for Internal data types, some may be obtained from a brand’s/ company’s intellectual property (IP), such as customer service logs. Purchase histories and customer shopping preferences are other sources of potential internal data.”5

Social listening can be as simple as going to social media and seeing how content is being interacted with. Are people commenting? What are they saying? Social listening also does not need to be digital. Do you have an office where vendors visit or interact with buyers regularly, such as auditors visiting customer offices? What is being said during these interactions? Does anything stand out that should be addressed or delved into further? When it comes to branding “your brand isn’t what you say it is; it’s what your customers say it is.”5 Setting up a brand as “trustworthy” or “future forward” does little when facing customers as they are the ultimate decision makers of what a brand really is. That is why it is so important to take every piece of feedback and analyze it. Some feedback may be better than others when it comes to making change, as some may be situational or individual based, but they should all be seen as valuable in some way. The advice that Cella Inc. gives is “Dig into a deeper understanding of their goals and needs, what’s keeping them up at night, and what is the overall sentiment of the experience you’re delivering.”5 How successful the brand can help them solve their issues and complete their goals is what is ultimately going to be used to spread awareness. 

Using previous customer experiences and how the brand had led them to achieving their goals or relieving them of their burdens can be used to further the brand. Buyers want to see people like them, or companies like them, resolve the same or similar issues that they have. While these buyers are looking for potential solutions the brand should “highlight the potential pain points and opportunities to improve their experience”5 overall. How does this product aid in making their situation or problem better? Why should they focus on this brand while researching information about this product? Basically, we are answering the question: “Out of all of the companies that provide this product, why is your company the best provider?” It is a simple question, but by providing high-quality, relevant, and thought leading content, the question is answered quickly by consuming the first few items the buyer interacts with. Making the experience, specifically the research experience, easier for the buyer will aid the brand in standing out amongst competitors: “89% of companies that lead with customer experience financially outperform their competitors”5

With the information of what content works in the US, how do we track if something is successful? Do we track how many people attend events or click on items? According to Dr. Frigo explains that brands “focus on too few metrics or the wrong ones. They might keep track of the events they’ve been running, how many people attend their webinars, how many press releases they send out, and how many articles they placed. All of this fails to provide a clear picture of marketing’s performance.”1 So if these are not the best ways to track performance, what is? He continues with he following:

“1. Number of net new inquiries: This is the net number of people who respond to digital marketing content for the first time. I like to divide these by source. Remember, the sales team needs qualified leads, not inquiries.

2. Digital ad click-through rates: Digital ad click-through rate is the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times it’s shown. This measures how well ads (and their placement) perform.

3. Website traffic: Website traffic is the number of new and total visitors. To make HVDM [the buyer’s journey] successful, try to make sure traffic increases every quarter.

4. Website bounce rate: Bounce rate tracks the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page. Visitors who bounce rarely become leads, so this number should be as low as possible.”1

He also states where to start tracking these numbers:

“1. Visitor-to-lead conversion rate (CVR): Visitor-to-lead CVR indicates the proportion of website visitors who convert to leads. This metric is one of the strongest indicators of how well a website generates demand.

2. Total leads by source: The following are examples of lead sources.

• Search

• Organic

• AdWords

• Social

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Advertising (paid media)

• Specific display ad campaigns

Once you have all this data, you can identify exactly which channels produce the most and the highest-quality leads and invest more in the highest-producing channels.”1

Why are leads tracked separately instead of overall? Is there a reason why performance would be tracked by clicks and separately as leads. If we go back to the beginning of this paper, “70% to 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer digital self-serve and remote human engagement to in-person sales.”2 This means that leads would not come through until after all, or most, relevant content has been consumed. A buyer would most likely not provide contact information until they are ready to move forward with interacting with the brand or a sales representative meaning there would not be a lead to track but instead the breadcrumbs of what was interacted with.

So how do we know when something is successful if we don’t have leads? Here’s a few ways to take what Dr. Frigo has laid out and apply it to a brand:

• Keeping website bounce rates low by providing a responsive and easy-to-navigate website with relevant content readily available.

•  Provide free content where customers can download and interact to receive the amount of information they need to move forward with providing their data and connect with a sales representative.

•  Social media should be a way for customers to interact with the brand outside of the website in almost a conversational way. Do you have something that may be relevant to them? Let them know by showing them in a way that is responsive to their demographic.

•  Say something meaningful on social media that resonates with your brand. Is air quality bad in a particular area? Have a compelling conversation about it and give information on how your brand is going to be active in making changes. 

•  Email tracking is not a great indicator of someone becoming a lead. If buyers are completing researching before providing data, there would be lower numbers when it comes to open rates and CTRs (click through rates) as the information being provided through email has most likely been consumed or no longer relevant to the research process.

•  Leads are used more so as a way of tracking performance based on platform/source. Clicks can be used to see where content is dropping off of where a website is not intuitive in design to make the research process easy. This can aid, or damage, branding.

•  Customer experience is the driving force behind branding and marketing. What customers say makes the brand, but also moves into how to best market to show that the brand can aid in solving problems and achieving goals of buyers. These should be tracked as much as possible to ensure that the information is up to date and relevant.

•  High-quality content is just the beginning of getting buyers to interact with a brand. Other factors are being a thought leader, keeping content personalized, making content relevant and up to date are also important in ensuring that your brand can provide what buyers are looking for.

These, and more, are important ways to start building a foundation in the US when it comes to marketing. There are more ways than those expressed here that can assist in building the foundation and there is much more research out there that speaks about the ever-evolving US market.

When looking at the United States and how it is comprised of different businesses, people, demographics, cultures, and more, it can be seen as an overwhelming place to begin marketing. With the different types of marketing and approaches to it, what works best when it comes to reaching the target buyer? With high-quality content that is relevant and shows that your brand is a thought leader, part of the path has already been completed. Using that information on the brand’s website and on social media will aid in getting the content out there for those researching for solutions to their problems or pathways to completing their goals. Using social media to speak out on relevant issues in the US as well as providing solutions from the brand is helpful in showing thought leadership as well and leads buyers to your website. And keeping in mind, the lack of buyer information provided does not mean there is not activity happening, but that it is later in the process (after the research phase) where US buyers tend to finally be ready to move forward with a brand in decision making. With all of this information, it should be easier to understand how marketing works in the US and to further develop plans and continue research of what can work or be tested in the market to expand brand awareness.

Works Cited:

1 Frigo Ph.D., CMA, CPA, Mark L. Kahan, Steven Mark. July 2023. Strategic Marketing in a Digital World. Strategic Finance. https://www.sfmagazine.com/articles/2023/july/strategic-marketing-in-a-digital-world?psso=true

2 Glenn Gaudet. 2022. Council Post: B2B Marketing Success Hinges On Understanding Buyer Behavior. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/11/07/b2b-marketing-success-hinges-on-understanding-buyer-behavior/

3 New York Times Licensing Group. 2022. Creating High-Quality Content in Marketing. https://nytlicensing.com/latest/methods/achieve-quality-content-marketing/

4 HubSpot. 2022. The State of Marketing: Marketing Trends in 2023, from AI to Z. https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing

5 Cella Inc. 2021. Riding The Growth Marketing Wave: Implementing, Data Diving and Experimenting Success. https://www.cellainc.com/insights/whitepapers/2021/12/08/riding-the-growth-marketing-wave-implementing-data-diving-and-experimenting-success/

This was originally written for DQS Inc., hence the linked portions, and an abridged version is available on their blog website, found at dqsglobal.com. 

Since the Texas power grid failure of February 2021, Texans have been weary when the news and weather forecasts show record highs or lows as it could mean more power failures. ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, supplies power to about “90% of Texas power load”1 which covers over “26 million customers”1 in the 2nd largest state in the US. Unfortunately, for most of those Texans, they spent days3 without electricity, which unfortunately led to “loss of life”3 due to temperatures and the associated risks of using non-recommended methods of heating.

ERCOT, founded in 19702, has supplied most of Texas with electricity since inception, and previously serviced as Independent Service Operator since 1966 as “broker between competitive wholesale power buyers and sellers.”2 With over 50 years of work of providing steady electricity and electrical services to the state of Texas, most Texans, before February 2021, had not heard of ERCOT, let alone even realized that most of Texas was on a separate grid than most of the United States. Regionally, residents may know their local suppliers, such as CenterPoint Energy around Harris County and most of the Greater Houston area, or Austin Energy for Travis County which encompasses Austin, TX. But, outside of these household names, ERCOT was just letters put together as an acronym until temperatures began to drop on February 10th.

             As a native Texan, especially in the Gulf Coast area, when you’re given a weather forecast, it’s typically taken with a grain of salt; it may rain one minute, completely sunny the next, with a humidity of 70% and temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit at 2:00 PM with the temperature at 60 degrees Fahrenheit at 4:00 PM. So, when the forecast is for snow and ice with temperature in the teens, one may not think it will last for long and be as harsh as it came that week of February 2021. February 14th was the day where I went to bed under warm blankets and the heater turned to 70 degrees, just for 3:00 AM to come and be awakened with the clicking of the power shutting off as well as the heat. CenterPoint Energy sent the usual email stating that the power would be back in a few hours and was just a “disruption,” and little did I know that it meant that the warm home would become an expensive box hovering at a temperature around 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

             What caused the blackout? Why was it so sudden of a blackout for many Texans? Why did some have power return earlier than others? For a deep breakdown, The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute put together a full report about the February 2021 blackouts which can be read here. But, for a quick breakdown, it is stated that the “As generation could not sufficiently increase to meet demand, the frequency of the grid began to decline.”3 The report also states that each day would compound reasons of continued failure where it would be “weather-related” with frozen lines, “equipment issues” with damaged equipment or wear and tear issues, or even “fuel limitations” due to lack of supply.3 Many Texans, and loved ones of Texas residents that could not get in contact with those residents, were upset and felt deceived as there was very little mention of potential grid failure. Emails from local suppliers about “conservation” were sent prior to temperatures dropping, as is done for every record temperature moment, but as usual, Texans took to social media to joke about the <70 degree Fahrenheit suggestions and how the triple digit electricity bills warrant the use of electricity however bill-payers want. However, these jokes ended up being something that we look back on as a “moment in time,” as now many heed these emails as the possibility of extreme heat or cold in homes around the state with grid failures.

             Although we cannot go back in time and use the knowledge of the future on the past, we can use this event to avert events in the future. Not only is the “Texas Blackout” a learning experience for ERCOT, the State of Texas, local governments, and Texas residents, but a learning experience for those watching and reading about the situations unfolding. Let’s look at some factors and how they effected or changed how we interact with or think of affiliated details.

             When looking at this event as a native Texan, ERCOT, instead of a neutral acronym that rarely, if ever, crossed minds, has become something that causes some anxiety and possibly anger or sadness. Why? ERCOT is now associated with blackouts, being unprepared, greed, loss of life, and additional negative terms from one incident. For most organizations, one incident is not typically at this scale, but there are lessons that scale down to everyday work. Such as this negative connotation with the 5 letters in the specified order of “E-R-C-O-T.” A little-known name or brand can be posted to headlines and social media accounts within minutes, if not seconds, after an incident. Can these be avoided? In many contexts, yes, there are precautions that typically can help aid in avoidance such as inspections and inventory management. But there are some instances where instances are inevitable as there are many factors that are outside of the control and scope of the organization. However, although inevitable, there are two ways to approach these instances: unprepared and unaware or have your “I’s dotted and T’s crossed.” Even with preparedness, there’s varying levels of how prepared you will be and how grand the event but it’s always better to have a plan than no plan. For some organizations preparedness and planning is a part of the culture since inception of the brand while others, it’s supplemented by management systems such as ISO 9001 or ISO 45001, to ensure that processes are put in the day-to-day management rather than an immediate push once the signs of upcoming issues appear.

             It does seem that ERCOT did start to consider “contingency plans such as calling on reserves and shedding load, and at low enough frequencies, automated load shed can occur”3 on “February 14th”3. But by this point, demand was higher than expected while supply was seen to be “overestimated.”3 Blackouts occurred to “shed load to avoid a catastrophic failure,”3 of which “catastrophic failure” are not two words you would not like to see when speaking about a necessary government provided infrastructure. As we look back, we can analyze and think of some ways how we would approach the situation. For example, having a contingency plan that notified Texans of potential blackouts and having a proposed scheduling of blackouts if the situation calls for it. Although residents would still need to undergo blackouts, they can be planned for, and residents can set up their homes to prepare for their scheduled times. And ERCOT may have these plans, or have set items in motion for new protocols or additions to their infrastructure whether it’s building more wind turbines or solar power panels to better supplement the natural gas and coal powered systems which could be outlined using an ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System. Or maybe it’s more closely monitoring systems and outputs to see where inefficiencies are and better innovate, which can be aided by the use of ISO 50001 standards.

             Let’s pivot from ERCOT and look at an outside organization as “ERCOT did not return to normal operations until 10:36 CST Friday, February 19”3 and quick adaptations were needed; the organization we’ll look at is H-E-B, a native Texan grocery store a brand that is well known around the state, not only for their in-house named products, but also for their charitable nature. The New York Times Article, “Texans Needed Food and Comfort After a Brutal Storm. As Usual, They Found It as H-E-B” states it best:

“As frustration swelled among residents trapped in their homes without power or water, some started to remark, half-jokingly, that H-E-B should just take over. The chain has become known for its logistical prowess — in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and to hurricanes, with stockpiles of water and emergency supplies ready to be deployed.”4

H-E-B, a “family-owned chain”4 that has no obligation to serve the community prides itself on being a supporter and responder to crises and natural disasters. Seeing the brand show up again and again after times of hardship in the state and local communities demonstrates their preparedness and structure of processes. When H-E-B provides services, rarely, if ever, are they seen to struggle or faulter in their execution on the public facing side. If a Texas founded private business can aid Texas residents with supplies, surely there must have been a large support from the statewide public agencies.

             Following the 2021 Winter Storm, the report “Never Again: How to Prevent Another Major Texas Electricity Failure” was published by the PUC (Public Utility Commissioners) of Texas Commissioners outlining recommendations to help support electrical infrastructure and prevent some future issues. The report also “notes the state’s failure to make many of these changes, as recommended at the time by others, after widespread winter electric outages in 2011”5 If process and infrastructure are not being changed or updated based on investigation and research, how does that effect trust and reliability? Ross Ramsey continues in his analysis “The Texas electric grid and the improvements that didn’t come”:

“It’s not like voters had high expectations. In an April University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, only 17% of Texas voters said they were either “extremely” or “very” confident that lawmakers would “enact effective laws to prevent future disruptions in utility services” like those in February.”5

Again, let’s use this for education and how it can be applied to other organizations. Trust can be either regained or continue to drop due to how an incident is responded to or resolved. With the pointing of fingers by officials6 and calls for resignations,6  it can make Texas residents feel weary of the agencies that are meant to oversee organizations, such as the State of Texas with ERCOT. We may never really know the reason why recommendations were not followed through on, or why updates to the grid have not yet been implemented, but it can give us the opportunity to reflect on what our organizations may have been holding off on implementing or reviewing that may decrease risks in the future.

             For a quick update to what is seen as a Texas resident and experienced, it seems as more emails regarding “conservation” of electricity are pushed whenever temperatures fall outside of the average expectation for the season, whether hot or cold. For 2024, residents were wary of what to come and how ERCOT, the State of Texas, and even H-E-B will respond. Peter Warren, in the article “Texans rush to the stores to get prepared ahead of freezing temperatures” reported:

 “Panic buying ahead of winter storms is nothing new for Texans. It is almost to be expected at this point, which in turn adds to the mayhem around the situation.”7

I did not visit stores prior to the drop in temperatures, but I did monitor the ERCOT website to ensure that I would be able to prepare for a blackout if the grid’s load largely increased. However, since 2021, “Texas utilities have been on a renewable-energy building spree, adding giant batteries, windmills and solar panels”8 which has aided in keeping actual load under the expected daily since the beginning of drop in temperatures. Nicolás Rivero mentions in his Washington Post article “Winter storm tests Texas green grid upgrades” how much Texas has added to their arsenal of preparedness:

“Over the past three years, Texas built more than 5 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity, which is enough to power roughly 3.75 million homes for one hour — about a third of the households on the Texas grid. Texas is now the state with the most battery storage after California.”8

With this additional focus of green energy with windmills and solar panels, as well as additional methods of storing energy, Texas may be able to better handle the increasing occurrence of record temperatures. These renewable sources of energy will one day be standard in our lives and preparing now for that future would be wise to ease into worldwide dependability on those resources. If your business or organization is looking to become more sustainable in these regards, and more, looking into standards such as ISO 14001 and taking a stance with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and undergoing ESG Audits or External Verification can aid in this process. Will these updates to the grid be enough to regain trust in ERCOT and the electrical grid it oversees? Only time can ultimately tell and if the continued investment in the infrastructure shows it’s worth.

             Let’s look back and see what we can really learn overall from the 2021 Winter Storm:

-        Trust can be easily lost whether from incidents or due to responses/remediation to the incidents.

-        Incidents will occur, but being prepared as much as possible can help prepare those who may be affected or quicken the rebuilding process.

-        Having reliable processes can aid in creating public trust and a resilience to continue to provide services.

-        With systems and processes in place, there can be a process to take criticisms, recommendations, investigations, etc. and evaluate what is a value-add, critical, or can put aside as a future endeavor.

-        Consistent tracking and overviews of current systems help with being able to innovate where possible, whether it’s simplifying overcomplicated systems or bringing in new technology to better support a growing organization.

-        Sustainability measures, whether with renewable energy or recycling measures, can aid with innovation and preparing for future risks that may exist now, or can come with the change of our climate and natural resources.

If you’re looking to better support your business and prepare for unintended risks, management system certification can help lay the groundwork for finding what works best for your business. Whether it’s digital and information security risks, which can be addressed with ISO 27001:2022, or just general safety of employees, addressed with ISO 45001, starting with the ISO brand of standards can lead you towards meeting your goals. You can also add on a Business Continuity Management System built with ISO 22301, which can help prepare your business for the unexpected such as natural disasters or network failures, to your already implemented management system. And if sustainability and “green” resources are more what you are looking for, ESG can help with going in the right direction (learn more about the ESG FastFoward Self-Assessment tool here) and going through Verifications can dissect what you are currently doing and where there are areas of improvement. If you want to learn more about these standards and more offerings from DQS, you can speak with our Sales Team at sales.us@dqs.de or use the button below. If you’re looking to go a bit deeper into what standards are, whether it’s a basic overview with an ISO 14001 Executive Overview course or wanting more in depth understanding for internal auditing with an ISO 45001 Internal Auditor, DQS Academy provides training courses to help you with your certification goals. Learn more and register for upcoming courses by visiting our Training & Courses page.

1 Ercot. ercot.com. https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2022/02/08/ERCOT_Fact_Sheet.pdf

2 Ercot. ercot.com. https://www.ercot.com/news/mediakit/backgrounder

3 The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute. “The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts.” 2021 July. utexas.edu. https://energy.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/UTAustin%20%282021%29%20EventsFebruary2021TexasBlackout%2020210714.pdf

4 Montgomery, David. Rojas, Rick. McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Giulia. “Texans Needed Food and Comfort After a Brutal Storm. As Usual, They Found It at H-E-B.” New York Times. 22 February 2021. nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/us/texas-heb-winter-storm.html

5 Ramsey, Ross. “Analysis: The Texas electric grid and the improvements that didn’t come.” The Texas Tribune. 07 June 2021. Texastribune.com. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/07/texas-ercot-power-grid-legislature/

6 Ramsey, Ross. “Analysis: Working political angles instead of solving problems.” The Texas Tribune. 17 February 2021. Texastribune.com.https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-power-outage-analysis/

7 Warren, Peter. “Texans rush to the stores to get prepared ahead of freezing temperatures.” Houston Chronicle.  2024 Jan 13. Houstonchronicle.com. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/tiktok-video-cold-front-winter-storm-texas-heb-18606566.php

8 Rivero, Nicolás. “Winter storm tests Texas green grid upgrades.” Washington Post. 14 Jan 2024. Washingtonpost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/01/14/texas-grid-winter-storm-power-outage/

December is one of my favorite months: it has the start of winter, the Christmas season and New Year’s Eve, and my birthday. Most people love their birthday months, so I will skip past that point, but I do want to talk about the Christmas season and how much I love the decor, events, and especially the commercials.

Growing up in the 90s, I’ve seen many of the iconic commercials that are still used today (Hershey Kisses Bells? How about the M&Ms meeting Santa?). I love seeing these ads used today, and although it hits me right in the nostalgia when companies change up the commercial (Hershey Kisses 2020 Bells) or decide to run newer commercials more prominently, I still enjoy watching the commercials and announce my critiques to my napping dogs. These commercials, and the plenty of other commercials I grew up with and seen in my lifetime, have always been the highlight of my Christmas season and especially the winter break. Getting to see what toys were going to be out in time for Christmas and the sales that the stores were having excited me for the upcoming holiday. I really remember the JCPenney, KMart, and Sears commercials the most so those must have really played often. Did I enjoy going to those stores? Not really. But did I love to see those toys come up on the screen with music and an enthusiastic announcer saying “now only nine NINETY NINE!”? - oh you betcha. 

Looking back at how I enjoyed ads and how I currently will comment on commercials I see today, it makes sense why I am now pursuing Marketing as a career. I hope that one day I can make content that will draw others to interact with or enjoy. Each day, I watch videos, Tik Toks, and keep up with news to ensure I keep up with what’s trending and what is impacting today’s world. I love being creative and I’m using this season to use my Cameo 4 and paint (and spend too much of my savings on gifts…).

And with that, I think it would be fun to end with some videos that include Christmas commercials from my childhood. I will say that Dave’s Archives Youtube channel and Retro Commercials 1990s Youtube channel are the best places to find older ads and I love when new videos are added.

Karl Grau - 1 hour of 90’s Christmas Commercials

Microsoft Sam - 90s/2000s Christmas Commercials | Vol. 1 | Nostalgic Christmas, Thanksgiving & Holiday Commercials

Retro Commercials 1990s - Vintage Christmas Commercials Playlist

Dave’s Archives - It’s Christmas in ‘96 - Retro Commercials Vol 370

Since May is Mental Health Awareness month, I wanted to share some of the things I have enjoyed when it comes to mental health. Mental Health is a big passion of mine, as I love to learn more about it and how it impacts our society and cultures within it. Below is not a full exhaustive list of everything I've read or listened to, but it's things you can start with if you're not sure where to begin in learning more.

(Any links to websites to purchase anything are just left for convenience - I do not make any money off of the links provided)

Books

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D.
ThriftBooks | Amazon | Target 

Gifts from a Challenging Childhood by Jan Bergstrom, LMHC
Amazon | Walmart 

Traumatized by Kati Morton, LMFT
Amazon | Target 

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD
Amazon | Walmart 

Podcasts

The Anxious Achiever Podcast 

Ask Kati Anything

The SelfWork Podcast

Ten Percent Happier

Okay-Ish

YouTube

Psych2Go

How to ADHD