Artemia Blog

International Earth Day is coming up soon, on Wednesday, March 20, so what better time to talk about sustainability and green business practices?

A just-released, long-term study of climate change has shown that global temperatures have jumped in the past 100 years, and at a pace that is unprecedented in the geologic record. The joint report from Oregon State University and Harvard University states that the ten-year period from 2000 to 2009 was hotter than 75% of the last 11,000 years. And it is not a cyclical warming. The decade from 1900 to 1909 was one of the coldest ever, suggesting that the world would be cooling now if not for man-made fossil fuel emissions.

All of this means sustainable practices are more important than ever. While we may not be able to stop climate change, we can definitely work to mitigate as many negative effects as possible. Oftentimes, making greener choices makes financial sense as well, and potential customers and clients will love choosing an eco-friendly business to work with.

Here are some tips to make your business greener and to help do your part to make the world a better place for future generations.

1)     Install energy and natural resource-saving devices

Replacing incandescent lighting with fluorescent and LED bulbs is a well-known and well-travelled path to savings on a business’s utility bill, but there are other things you can install to make an even bigger difference. Putting motion-activated lights in less commonly used office spaces (like meeting rooms, break rooms, bathrooms and the kitchen) are great at reducing energy costs, as water faucets controlled by motion sensors are as well. Programmable and ‘smart’ learning thermostats can be installed to automatically adjust heating and cooling levels during business hours and to turn them off at night.

2)    Make reducing transportation needs a priority

This may cover a lot of sustainability points, but anything that involves moving people, products or supplies is a great target for reducing your carbon footprint. Encourage carpooling, use of public transit, bicycling or even walking to work. When it makes sense, allow workers to telecommute. Invoke the power of the internet and utilize video and teleconferencing solutions for business meetings instead of driving across town or flying across the country. Buy office supplies from local businesses to decrease the amount of fuel burned to deliver your pens and paper.

3)    Communicate openly about green policies

The best way to ensure adherence to company sustainability policies is to talk about them often and openly, both internally and externally. Employees are more likely to comply if they are aware of why the standards are in place and are usually the best people to ask about ways to make the business even greener. External people also love to hear about sustainability efforts. Investors, prospects, trade associations and even media outlets like to see ambitious environmental goals achieved and projects completed. The coverage they generate will make your marketing department happy too.

4)    Consider greening your actual facility

If you are in the enviable position of owning your business’s office building or manufacturing facilities, think about putting in photovoltaic cells on the roof or surrounding property. Generating electricity on site can drastically reduce or even eliminate utility bills and announces to anyone passing by that sustainability is important to your enterprise. If you are thinking of constructing a new building, get in early on the trend and have an architect design you a green building from the ground up. According to a recent survey of 62 companies around the world by the real estate research unit of McGraw Hill, 51% of respondents are planning to move 60% of business operations to “green buildings” by 2015.

In the news:

• 10 Steps You Can Take to Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly
• 7 Trends in 'Green' Business, Not Just for Tree-Huggers
• Green Building Trends Gaining Popularity among Business Firms, Report

Whether or not you agree with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s recent decision to cut off telecommuting for most Yahoo employees or not, it definitely brings up some interesting discussions about the real value of telecommuting and work-life balance.

The Positives

Being able to work from home provides many benefits to employees, employers and the environment.

Employees often find it liberating to be able to work in their pajamas, finish small tasks around the house and spend more time with their children and spouses. Many of them are much more productive as they can avoid being dragged into unnecessary meetings, aren’t distracted by chatting coworkers or other office noises and can tailor their workspace to whatever suits them – whether that’s a bustling corner coffee shop, sitting in the car waiting for soccer practice to get out, or at a home office with music playing at full blast.

Employers like telecommuting for different reasons. They save money on everything from coffee to utility bills to commuter benefits. If enough employees work remotely, it even allows smaller office spaces and thus cheaper rent. Additionally, workplaces with flexible work schedules are seen as forward-thinking and employee-centric regardless of industry or market position.

Lastly, telecommuting reduces the time people spend in cars and other forms of transportation, ultimately benefitting the planet as a whole. Reducing exhaust emissions, especially those from long-distance commuters, is a major selling point for any company that considers itself environmentally friendly. With fewer cars on the road, those who must be there can travel faster and with less congestion-related frustration.

The Negatives

Telecommuting is not all positive however, there are downsides as well. For every dollar saved or minute of working time preserved, there are missed chances for spontaneous collaboration, team building and morale boosting activities.

Perhaps Ms. Mayer feels the company culture at Yahoo has devolved into a mass of conference calls and video chats, with every telecommuting employee working toward a different vision of the corporate mission. Consensus on a business’s direction can be lost on people who have to dial in to all-hands meetings and internal announcements.

Collaboration also suffers. Randomly lunching with someone from another department can’t happen when workers are miles apart. Neither can company happy hours occur online. Culture, teamwork and creativity can suffer as a result of employees being miles away from each other, only meeting in person a few times a month, if at all. Interpersonal relationships are extremely important to any successful business and telecommuting can hamper their formation and growth.

The Solution

Regardless of its pros and cons, telecommuting is here to stay. As people become more specialized in their work, comfortable with virtual interaction and desiring of personal comfort, it has become a must for companies to retain key contributors and top talent throughout their many career stages and life events. Flexibility is always appreciated and workers will only want more in their future employment.

As an integrated marketing communications agency, we here at ARTÉMIA believe that the key to making telecommuting work is, of course, communication.

For a business to make telecommuting work, there are two things needed: excellent written and oral communication skills, and dependable, easy-to-use technology to enable this communication. Without these two pieces of the puzzle, hours of time can be wasted and neither employees nor management will realize it until it’s too late. No one wants to sweat over an important project only to see that effort go to waste when it turns out the client wanted to market sustainability and not sustain market share.

Interested in making telecommuting solutions work for your business or would like to learn more about our own telecommuting practices? Click the button below and let’s set up a time to chat.

In the news:

• Can agencies balance telecommuting, collaboration?
• 4 Reasons Telecommuting Can Be Bad for Business
• Special Focus: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Telecommuting

As an ISO 14001 registered company and certified San Francisco Green Business, we here at ARTÉMIA always put an emphasis on sustainable practices and green initiatives, whether in our daily operations or when offering solutions to customers. We know that a more sustainable future can be achieved through innovation and that is why we are strongly committed to help spread the best ideas and practices.

Here are a couple stories about sustainable transportation from around the world that we think can make us all a bit more environmentally minded.

A team of physics students and teachers from Kalindi College at Delhi University in India have come up with an ingenious idea to generate green and sustainable electricity. After thorough research, they have proposed to strategically install a number of small wind turbines on the Delhi metro network in order to produce power. According to the team, the best locations to harness wind energy on the metro network are the tunnel entrances and the places where the train moves from an underground line to an elevated line.

With a network of approximately 196 kilometers of track and 142 stations, Delhi Metro carries about 2 million people every day and thanks to these small turbines, could soon generate up to 500 watts per hour (or 12 kW in a day). Although this innovation is far from making the Delhi’s metro self-sufficient in terms of energy, it is still a great step toward a greener and more sustainable urban development, especially for such an enormous megalopolis as Delhi.

An Australian pilot will soon be flying from Sydney to London in a plane powered by converted plastic waste. Wanting to raise awareness of the “consume and throw away” public mentality, Jeremy Roswell will be piloting the “Wing of Waste” Cessna halfway across the globe. The flight connecting Sydney to London will make stops in Asia and the Middle East before reaching Europe and will be fueled solely by plastic waste.

Thanks to a chemical process called pyrolysis where the fuel is created by carefully heating plastic waste in the absence of oxygen, this plane may open the gate to a litter-free society. Though the fuel still produces some emissions when consumed (though slightly cleaner than more traditional fuels), it allows products such as bottles and bags to be recycled while paving the way for cleaner oceans and protected ecosystems.

In the news:

• DU college harnesses wind energy churned out by Metro trains
• Airplane Powered Entirely By Plastic Waste Will Travel From Sydney To London

In an earlier blog, we discussed the reasons why you should attend trade shows this year and no matter whether you go to build your brand, for the networking opportunities or to generate leads, you need to go prepared.  Trade shows are a constantly evolving activity and it can be easy to miss your targets if you just show up without knowing what to expect. To help you shape a winning battle plan and meet all your business goals, we've put together a short list of four critical trends to watch for at industry events in 2013.

1)     Attendance Bouncing Back

As recently as 2011, trade shows attendance was decreasing, primarily as a result of new technologies such as social media that increased virtual interaction between businesses and their clients, customers, competitors and partners, reducing the need for in person meetings in the eyes of many marketing directors. Nonetheless, recent years have seen a rebound of interest in these events, often as a way to reinforce the online interactions with peers and customers: to “put a face to the name.” 2013 could be a great moment for you to reach out to your fellow marketers and prospects.

2)    Interactive Technology

Technology has, is and will always be a pillar of any company’s strategy when attending trade shows. Large display monitors, iPads, QR codes and other visual presentations are the most popular tools in use today when putting booths together. They encourage interaction between firms and attendees, improving awareness and memorability, eventually leading to increased sales. The time of strictly paper-based collateral and documentation is over.  Trade shows are getting more modern, adapting to new audiences and utilizing more environmentally friendly forms of communication. “Exhibitors need to think more creatively than simply handing out a few leaflets," says Richard Braddick, Managing Director of RB Design and Display.

3)    Social Media

It’s been burned into every marketer’s mind for years now, but social media platforms play a major role in all of today’s industry events. Every large trade show has a Facebook page for you to “like” and a dedicated Twitter hashtag associated with it, both of which are fantastic tools to reach out to peers and customers who will be attending and to cultivate and strengthen relationships with them before, during and after an event. Make sure whoever represents your brand at an event is savvy enough to make the most of these opportunities to connect.

4)    Sustainability

Sustainability will also be a keyword this year. Products, exhibition booths and giveaways are all getting greener while brands are now moving to share information digitally via email and social media platforms. Companies are getting rid of hard copies in favor of digital ways to present their commercial offers, brochures and promotional pieces significantly lowering the amount of paper and other materials used as a result. These changes are paving the way for more sustainable and eco-friendly trade shows and marketing interactions.

Planning to attend or even exhibit at an industry event in 2013? Make sure to check out our full three-page tip sheet on ten things to do before the show to ensure success.

 In the news:

• Top Trade Show Trends 2013 According to RB Design & Display
• TSNN’s 50 Fastest-growing Trade Show Winners Announced for 3rd Annual 2012 TSNN Awards - Celebrating Trade Show Excellence
• Trade Show Trends 2013

Every day we hear about how technology is changing numerous aspects of our lives: improved mobility, increased social interaction, and the faster spread of news are just a few. One area where technology is making tremendous strides and continually blurring the line between fiction and reality is healthcare technology. We are able to address more health issues now than ever before, allowing people suffering from various health problems to drastically improve their quality of life.

A 5-year-old South African boy who was born without fingers on his right hand has recently seen his life changed by a brand new 3-Dprinted prosthetic hand. Thanks to the collaboration of Ivan Owen and Rich Van As, a part-time mechanical special effects artist in Washington and a woodworker from South Africa respectively, the young boy is now able to play sports, pick up things and perform tasks that he would have never been able to do before. They used the rapidly growing technology of 3-D printing to provide the boy with his new prosthetic hand. The duo’s next plan is to form a nonprofit to share their knowledge and experience with others in order to educate people on how to create and assemble “robo-hands” for themselves.

Another great example of technology improving people’s health is a new device that gives limited vision to people suffering from a certain type of blindness. The “bionic eye,” recently approved by the FDA, is a breakthrough in vision research. The system involves an artificial retina – composed of a sheet of electrodes which is implanted in the eye – and a pair of glasses with an attached camera and a portable video processor. This combination of devices, called the Argus II, allows visual signals to bypass the damaged portion of the retina and be transmitted to the brain. Using the system, patients are now able to detect crosswalks on the street, the presence of people or cars, and sometimes even large numbers and letters. Though not widely available and still quite costly, the Argus II remains a life changer for many patients suffering from sight loss.

In the news:

• Device Offers Partial Vision for the Blind
• 5-Year-Old Boy Gets 'Robohand'

From simple gadgets like digital watches to more complex smartphones and tablets in our purses and pockets to the vehicles that move us around, we are quite dependent on a variety of batteries to power our everyday lives. Unfortunately, major technical obstacles – such as recharging time and the rigidity of typical batteries –still prevent some of these electrically powered devices from being commercially appealing, widely adopted, or even feasible at all.

Happily, there is a lot of work being done in the high tech field of battery technology to help rectify these shortcomings.

Recently, Professor Chongwu Zhou from the University of Southern California has developed a new type of lithium-ion battery that he claims holds three times as much energy as conventional li-ion power sources, and can be recharged in just ten minutes. By utilizing anodes made from porous silicon nanoparticles instead of the usual graphite, Prof. Zhou and his team managed to extend the battery’s life (it can now undergo 2,000 charging cycles) while shortening its charging period.

Due to its low price and high conductivity, scientists have been trying to develop batteries made from silicon for a while, first constructing anodes made of layered silicon plates, and now using silicon nanowires. 

Although very promising, some constraints remain.

First, the nanowires used in Zhou’s process are not yet ready for mass production so the team is instead using tiny silicon spheres that offer similar charging performance. These particles can be manufactured in any size however, which means that eventually they can be used in batteries both large and small. Regrettably, these nanoparticle anodes only have a life expectancy of around 200 charge cycles, though according to the team further experiments will allow that figure to increase.

Now more than ever, electricity enables the majority of what we do. Combined with other developments in the areas of power generation and storage, this new battery may help speed the invention and adoption of more useful, greener battery powered new products.

In the news:

• Silicon nanoparticles used to create a super-performing battery
• Li-ion Battery Charges in 10 Minutes
• A new battery that could revolutionize wearables

Last year was undoubtedly a year of growth and power for mobile marketing. No longer just a prediction, mobile devices have wormed their way into our everyday lives for good.

Brands are well aware of these changes and are working on ways to benefit from this shift to smaller, portable screens through the development of new technologies and methods to interact with these nomadic customers.

So what’s working its way down the pipeline for the coming year? Here are a few mobile marketing trends that you need to know about.

Development of the second screen

Consumers are turning to their mobile devices now more than ever when making buying decisions. Marketers must guide them through the process with seamless cross-channel experiences and mobile-optimized content that is personalized and engaging.

Many brands are using TV and print ads to drive customers to their “second screen” to increase engagement and eventually trigger a purchase. Mobile advertising, QR codes with customized landing pages and even hashtags are excellent tools to increase a buyer’s awareness of a product and are ultimately a path to their wallet.

Location-based marketing

By utilizing the GPS chip present in almost every smartphone on the market today, businesses can pinpoint a potential buyer’s location to target them with specific offers that they would find most helpful.

Thanks to the variety of mobile platforms, brands now have access to a goldmine of information about the time, location and interactivity of their customers. Marketers can then leverage this information to develop accurate, personalized offers sure to resonate with consumers.

Mobile payment moving forward

Mobile payments and near-field communication (NFC) technology will continue to garner more attention.  Projects such as Google Wallet, Apple Passbook and smaller offerings like Square have been doing a great job of bringing mobile payments to the mainstream, allowing smart new ways for you to pay for goods, and removing the traditional credit and debit cards from transactions.

While major mobile technology companies have the jump right now, we may see a change of players as large financial companies with better market penetration and the advantage of existing networks are now beginning serious development of their own mobile payment systems.

In the news:

8 Mobile Marketing Trends for 2013

Seven Mobile Marketing Trends To Watch In 2013

Thinking about launching a new product? That’s great news but be careful.

As exciting as a launch can be, if it’s not managed properly, it will turn out to be a very stressful and unthrilling experience.

Here are four things to consider before “D–day” finally arrives.    

1. Know your audience

Before launching your product, you should be absolutely sure you know who your potential customers are. Market research and surveys help you get to know them: who they are and, most importantly, how they behave. Double and triple check your target before firing your arrow.

2. Plan in advance

In any product launch, timing is key. Be prepared, have a plan, define a specific timeline and set deadlines that will help your organize and manage the wide variety of tasks involved in your product launch. Improvising or going with the flow is pretty much the worst thing you could possibly do when working on a launch.

3. Be ready for the unexpected

To be fair, while you must have strategic deadlines, you also need to stay flexible. Rushing everything and everyone just to meet a deadline is sometimes worse than moving your deadline. Once you launch, you can’t go back, so you must be able to deliver on what you’ve promised. An accidental media leak or early launch can ruin months of intense preparation and badly hurt your brand image too.

4. Have the right team

Don’t be afraid to call in extra help. By reaching out to the right people and gathering the skills and capabilities you’re missing, you will be better prepared, more efficient and much more effective. Unless the project is exceedingly small, you cannot handle everything yourself. Finding the right people and building the right team will help guarantee your next product launch is a resounding success.

In the news:

• 4 Tips for a Well-Timed Product Launch
• Six Marketing Gurus Share Their Must Use Tips for a Product Launch
• 5 Tips for a Successful Product Launch

In the current economic environment, it’s not always easy for small businesses to fill up their order books. Neither is it for corporations to find qualified business partners that understand their needs and can develop action plans to meet their specific requirements.

This is what matchmaking sessions are all about: quick business meetings where larger corporations (buyers) and small business owners (sellers) typically have 15 minutes to get acquainted and compare capabilities to requirements, possibly leading to a business deal.

Still not sure if they’d be worth your time to attend?

Here are the main reasons why, as a representative of your company, you should seriously consider attending the next matchmaking session that shows up in your inbox. 

1.      Meet the right business partners

As a buyer for your company, you will have the opportunity to “speed date” many small business owners. Without wasting time or mincing words, the vendor will pitch and explain to you what they have to offer and how their business can provide value to yours – it is straight to the point, efficient communication. This popular (and sometimes free) one-on-one business interview will help you select the vendors that can fulfill your requirements, follow up with them and later request an RFP that can eventually lead to a contract.

2.     Network and build lasting relationships

Although you won’t match up with every company participating in the session, you will certainly have the chance to meet other peers from your industry and be able to start building trusting, healthy and ideally long-term relationships. As a matchmaking participant, you’ll be listed as either a buer or a seller, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do both. The point of the event, no matter your needs, is to get introduced and begin talking.

3.     Gain exposure

While identifying potential business partners is the primary purpose of matchmaking, they are also important to attend for product and service marketing purposes. Participating in matchmaking sessions will help get your business name out there. Simply attending these events strongly increases your chance to be seen, heard and remembered by the other corporations, small businesses and government organizations present – and may even lead to opportunities you’d never even considered. 

In the news:

• Business Matchmaking Event Helps PG&E Find Diverse Talent — Quickly
• Business to Business Matchmaking Process

For most companies, January is a month of planning, organizing and budgeting for the different action items in the coming year. In order to develop the most relevant and precise strategies, the key is anticipation and to do so, it is crucial to look back at what happened last year.

Here are four marketing trends to give you an overview of what needs to be addressed in the year ahead.

1)     High quality content and design are (still) kings

Though it may seem like it is mentioned every year, high quality content paired with great design will still assure you receive great feedback from customers and improve your credibility with prospects. It will help you develop a relationship with clients and encourage them to come back to check you out on a regular basis. Whether it is on a website, in a video or for an ad, creating valuable, appealing content will definitely give you a leg up.

2)    Mobile and multi-screen marketing

Mobile marketing was definitely on the rise last year, and it is going to keep growing. More and more mobile devices are coming to market and they are bringing more users with them. Brands that provide users with mobile content via apps and websites, smooth interactions between their different platforms and support customers by keeping them up-to-date on the latest developments will win loyalty, extra visibility through social media and, ultimately, more revenue.

3)    Big data + cloud services = informed decision making

Once again, the most important word tying all your marketing efforts together is data. And in order to be efficient when developing your marketing strategy, you need to collect and record this vital information using web-based tools. Quick and easy access to your data will help you manage all your marketing efforts, whether they are email campaigns, SEO actions, improved landing pages or even website analytics.

4)    Visualization

The web and the world are becoming much more visually oriented, so your marketing needs to become so as well. The skyrocketing popularity of both infographics and exhibition through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest is telling marketers that visuals are a key component of any communication strategy. Don’t let large blocks of text come between you and your audience; pretty it up and prepare for success.

In the news:

5 Surprising Marketing Trends for 2013

13 Hot Internet Marketing Trends in 2013