Mmmm, cake. You spent hours researching the recipe, shopping for ingredients, buttering the pan, sifting the flour, separating the dry from the wet ingredients, mixing until your arm nearly falls off, and painstakingly decorating that delicious confection. So, are you just going to gobble up one piece and throw the rest away? No way. After you take a few snaps for the ’gram, you will relish a slice or five, share it with your family, take some to your bestie, eat some for breakfast with coffee, and bring anything left for your colleagues to enjoy on Monday. There’s a lot you can do with that cake.
Looking at it that way, cake is a lot like content. At KMB, we hear all too often about companies or brands that have spent gobs of time and/or money painstakingly crafting a perfect piece of content, only to blast it on social media once, park it on their website, and passively hope that people will discover it. We hate to see cake in the trash — and that’s basically what’s happening out there. So sad!
We believe there is so much more to be done with that hard-earned content. You can slice it and dice it to eek every ounce of satisfaction out of it, and all in a way that doesn’t tire your audience. For argument’s sake, let’s follow a piece of content through the gauntlet of maximization to illustrate just how clever you can get with your content repurposing. In fact, there is so much you can do with content that we will only have space to cover half — we’ll get to the second half next issue.
To start, let’s use the ever-popular case study. You write a beautiful case study about your business (or hire someone to do the same) and it’s everything you possibly could desire. It presents a solution to a common problem in a market that you are trying to tap into, complete with glowing quotes, amazing images, and erudite brand storytelling — all tied up in a bow by a talented graphic artist. So, what do you do with it? Get your knives out, it’s time to slice and dice.
Drive Traffic to Your Website
First, there’s the obvious. You need to put the case study — which should be optimized for search — on your website. If you put it as a PDF download, you won’t get all that good SEO richness that draws people to your website in the first place. PDFs can be crawled as though they are web pages by search engines. In most cases, however, they lack tags found on standard web pages — like Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Image Alt Attributes — that cue search engines use to index the page. What PDFs are great for is using a form to capture leads before anyone can download the content.
Contrarily, if you put it as text on your website, not only do you lose all that neat and tidy graphic design work we mentioned before, but you lost the dangling carrot of the content download.
The solution? Do both! Put the full case study as free or “ungated” content on your website, but also create a PDF download page that describes the case study and requires people who wants to read it to enter some minimal information, such as their name and email address.
Boom! You have got SEO-rich web copy and a content download that generates leads. You also have destination URLs that allow you to point to this content in your marketing.
Social Media
For the most part, social media is ephemeral. Think of the way a Tweet is pushed down your feed super-fast as the day goes by. Schedule your organic social media posts for the case study over time instead of one and done! For example, you can use social media software to repeatedly schedule the same post once a day for a week (good for event marketing) or once a month for a year (good for thought leadership content). Set it and forget it to get more miles out of the content. Just remember to revisit your scheduler and feed often to see how the cadence you’ve selected feels. Some platforms (Twitter) can take frequent reposting more palatable than others (Instagram). Adjust as needed.
One thing that helps with promulgating your content via social is to mix up the images and text you use. For example, think of creative ways to link to the same case study. You can create a series of graphics using different images from the case study or even supplementary images that didn’t quite make the cut. Try creating testimonial graphics for social media using quotes from the case study. You can also do a series of posts that show the PDF front cover as a download. Link to the case study on third-party sites such as publications to show credibility.
All are fair game and keep your social feeds from looking stale while still drawing attention to your content asset. And that’s just organic! Paid social is a whole different ballgame and will get your content eyes that may not have seen it otherwise. You can use the case study as a content download offer as we mentioned before, sending new users to your site via paid social for the first time and capturing fresh leads with a form.
Do you have partners who might want to include the case study in their own marketing? Make it easy for them by including a launch kit with prewritten social posts that they can easily put up on their feeds. The more pre-baked work you can do, the better.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is yet another way to push your case study out. Consider all the various ways you can do this. You can create a special email that links only to the case study, giving users a clean, simple, and singular call to action. If you send this to your existing database, no need to send them the PDF download link as they are already in your database, and you don’t want them to get turned off by having to fill out yet another form. Instead, send them the link to the text on your website. Include the case study in your monthly newsletter for added exposure.
If your email software is savvy enough, you should be able to resend the email to people who didn’t open it. In that case, it’s always a good idea to change up the subject line. Don’t pester your audience but hit them twice, at an appropriate interval, in case they didn’t see it. Your audience will tire quicker via email than social, so proceed with caution to avoid unsubscribes.
Consider third-party email. Some media outlets, for example, offer the ability to use their database to send out your content. They won’t just hand over their lists, of course, but instead, send out the content for you. It’s a great way to get more exposure for your content if you have extra marketing dollars.
Transform Content Into Different Formats
The case study is written, and you have a slew of images. Is there enough content here to form the basis of, say, a short case study video? Use the case study as an outline for a storyboard and supplement the video with additional interviews from the folks using your product or service. A video case study goes a long way, especially on social. Once you have a few case studies under your belt you can string them together in a broader video about a product or application. We’ve even seen some clients do entire webinars around one case study, inviting the audience to ask questions. This is another great lead-generation activity as information from folks who sign up for the webinar is inherently captured. As an added bonus, leads from webinars are highly qualified. If someone has the time and interest to take time out of their schedule to learn about your product, application, or brand in a webinar, you have someone who is already well down the road to becoming a customer. For that reason, it’s important you have a follow-up plan at the ready, as you will want to strike while the iron is hot!
Public Relations
Don’t forget PR! At KMB, this is our specialty. We help our clients get their message to the right places and in front of the target audience. A case study can be written in the form of a press release if you want coverage that is a bit more widespread. Of course, you can also take the more focused approach and deliver your content to specific media outlets that will delve deeper into the story — beyond what a press release can offer. Be sure you understand the outlet’s exclusivity requirements so you don’t inadvertently step on any toes.
Broadcast to Your Internal Team
Many companies are so focused on external marketing, they forget how important internal comms are. Your team members are your troops on the ground and can serve as one of your loudest megaphones if they have the right tools. For example, send a company-wide alert that said piece of content is available and instruct colleagues on how to use and share it. Don’t forget how valuable this type of content is for your sales channel, too. Share with your sales team and include specific instructions on how they might use it as a sales tool.
Like sharing with business partners, the more work you can do to make sharing easier by your employees, the better. For example, create an email signature with a graphic for the case study and tell employees how to update their signature.
So, out of just that one case study example, there’s an entire content campaign that includes the story itself optimized to attract people via SEO, lead-generating activities, social media posts galore, email blasts, newsletters, internal comms, video, webinars, and public relations.
I could go on, but suffice it to say that getting the most ROI out of your content marketing strategy requires a bit of planning and a focused work effort but is well worth the returns of increased engagement with your brand, actionable leads, loyalty, authority, internal company storytelling, sales, and beyond!
Feeling overwhelmed by this or need help getting your content strategy off-center? Give me a call at 406-446-1283 or email me [email protected]. I’m here to help!
A 25+ veteran of the residential tech & AV integration industries, Katye McGregor Bennett is the CEO of KMB Communications, a boutique communications firm that anchors the intersection of technology + design by connecting brands, buyers, and prospective audiences through creating compelling content and conversation that elevates and amplifies. In addition to co-hosting Design Uncut with Veronika Miller, Katye hosts two popular podcasts, Connecting Tech+ Design and AV Trade Talk. She is part of the DesignHounds influencer group and also serves on the NAHB Custom Technology Work Group, is a strategic advisor in the CEDIA, HTA, and AVIXA communities, a frequent contributor to Residential Systems, Connected Design and founder of the AV Yoga group.
From strategy to upload, here are our top tips for video production.
In my last column, I talked about the general need to embrace marketing through video and the various types of videos that can help you realize your marketing goals. Now that you have a general sense of the types of videos out there and how they can move the needle in different ways, it’s time to start thinking about the execution part of the video equation. In other words, how do you get it done?
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Start With Strategy
It might sound simple, but it starts with having a strategy. Making content without a strategy is pointless and a waste of everyone’s time and energy. A strategy can help you get your video production organized so you can execute with fewer unknowns and headaches.
Choose an Audience: You need to choose your audience first. Who are they and where do they spend time? If you haven’t already done the marketing exercise of creating personas around your brand, now is a good time to do that!
Connect with Your Video Team: After you determine your audience, it’s time to connect with your team to align on a plan, objectives, and goals. Do you want to create buzz? Sell something? Educate? Take a look at last month’s column for guidance.
Determine Timeline/Budget: Next, figure out your timeline and budget. Video projects scream out for project management; otherwise, they can get super-expensive and time-consuming. Think about everything you’ll need, such as thumbnails, intro and outro graphics, lower thirds, scripts, talent, and props. There’s more, but this is a good start.
Don’t Forget About SEO: YouTube SEO is becoming just as important as Google SEO, so make sure your video is getting seen by planning for copy and keywords that play to YouTube search results. This could be an entire column in itself, and someday I’ll get to that, but there are best practices out there you can easily find with a Google search.
Rough In Messaging: Next, it’s time to come up with a loose storyboard for your video. Develop the messages you want to convey and refine them. This will come in handy later when it’s time to write the script.
Set Metrics Goals: Finally, figure out the key performance indicators you will use to determine if the video is successful. What are your metrics? Views? Social Sharing? Clickthrough rate? Answering questions like these will put your strategy firmly into view.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Now that you have a plan, it’s time to get moving. The process usually goes something like this:
Create a Script: The first step is to create a script from those messaging points we mentioned earlier. Without a script, you’ll find yourself re-shooting, spending way too much time on editing, and the shoot will take longer and be more expensive. Even if it’s a loose script that seems unscripted, it’s important to have an outline of what you want to talk about and how.
Set Up Your Video Studio: Once you have the script, it’s time to consider the equipment you’ll need for your ongoing video production needs. You’ll probably need a quality tripod, camera, lights, mics, and other audio capture gear. At KMB, we travel all over the place shooting videos for clients, so our kit is, shall we say, extensive. Be careful when you take your equipment on the road, too, because theft happens, especially at events during setup and tear-down.
Prep Your Talent: Once you have your studio setup complete, you’ll need to start preparing those who will be featured in the video. While the pandemic certainly helped people get more comfortable being onscreen and recorded, a lens, bright fill lights, and that little red light often invokes fear in many, still to this day. Practice together and ask that they practice on their own. A lot of your time during video production will be spent ensuring those onscreen are comfortable, relaxed, and, most importantly, speaking to the key messaging points or following the script.
Shoot the Video: There might be a bit of a learning curve for the inexperienced videographer. You’ll want to start experimenting with establishing shots, close-ups, medium shots, and other techniques as time goes on so that your videos are more dynamic than a standard talking head where the camera is static the entire time. Of course, that will require some post-production work to make all these shots work together.
Edit Your Video: Editing is a large portion of the video-production pie and can take longer than the shoot itself! At this time, you’ll layer in music, voice-over, and any other audio you want to include, as well as sew together the best shots from the raw footage. Once the video is final, of course, you’ll want to upload it to the appropriate platform and start marketing it!
Scared yet? Don’t let any of this overwhelm you. It’s a learning process that can be a lot of fun. Of course, there are resources out there (like my firm KMB Communications) who specialize in this line of work and can take the lead or help guide you. You’ll need a budget for this — which I’ve covered in past articles.
Stay tuned for next month’s column where I’ll cover various ways you can slice and dice your content to get more mileage from it. In the meantime, give me a shout if you’d like to learn more about video production options available at [email protected].
A 25+ veteran of the residential tech & AV integration industries, Katye McGregor Bennett is the CEO of KMB Communications, a boutique communications firm that anchors the intersection of technology + design by connecting brands, buyers, and prospective audiences through creating compelling content and conversation that elevates and amplifies. In addition to co-hosting Design Uncut with Veronika Miller, Katye hosts two popular podcasts, Connecting Tech+ Design and AV Trade Talk. She is part of the DesignHounds influencer group and also serves on the NAHB Custom Technology Work Group, is a strategic advisor in the CEDIA, HTA, and AVIXA communities, a frequent contributor to Residential Systems, Connected Design and founder of the AV Yoga group.
Here’s a short guide to help you implement video marketing this year.
In the custom install biz, we typically all share a love of video. Only it’s usually 4K video projected onto a huge UHD screen in a built environment with immersive surround sound, killer acoustics, and super-cushy seating. YouTube and Vimeo? Not so much. However, the time has come for brands and businesses to embrace video from a marketing perspective.
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Creating video as part of your marketing strategy takes a lot of time, energy, scripting, shooting, editing, optimizing, uploading, and so forth. Sometimes, the life cycle of a video is short — the ephemeral nature of a tradeshow booth video, for example — making it hard for the small business owner to see the benefit of investing in video.
However, video is how most people on the internet prefer to consume content. In fact, YouTube is now the second-most-popular social media platform behind Facebook, with 2.52 billion active users. Instagram, with 1.39 billion active users, is making more and more video-forward adjustments to its platform, and then, of course, you have TikTok, which personally, I’m not a fan of for brands in our channel unless budgets are such that this can be added and not taken from another platform’s allocated budget. YouTube Shorts are coming in H-O-T, and their connection to Google from an SEO perspective cannot be ignored. You’ve heard me say this before: “Feed the beast,” which is to suggest that using all the tools a platform like Google offers will increase your results.
So, “to video or not to video” is not the question. Because there is no question that video should be part of your marketing plan. The question now is how to produce these videos. This month, we’ll talk about getting started with the types of videos and the various phases of the customer’s so-called “journey” with your brand. Next month, we’ll dig into how to get it done.
Videos That Attract Customers
You’ve heard the analogy before, to get new customers, you have to put some hooks in the water and the more hooks you put in the water, the more nibbles you are going to get. The more nibbles you get, the more likely you are to land more (and more) fish. A good way to start getting nibbles is with SEO, SEM or Google Ads, and Retargeting Ads. These ads are the hooks that will get folks to land on your website. Once they are there, let them know — succinctly — who you are, what you do, and how you can help them instantaneously.
Some brands do this with a video that plays automatically as soon as you land on the home page (be careful with sound here, as you don’t want to annoy your visitors, either). Your website is the spot for videos like an intro to your company or service, a how-to, or a testimonial. These intro-type videos should only be visually appealing, entertaining, and limited to one to no more than two minutes long. Videos should be produced in a square format for use on Instagram and Facebook.
Heads up: Social media platforms, which include YouTube and Vimeo, frequently change sizing parameters so it’s always best to check each platform’s sizing guidelines before uploading your videos. Once you publish a video to YouTube you cannot replace it without losing all the analytics that go along with that content. OUCH! Ask me about some painful and expensive lessons clients have learned by not heeding this warning.
Videos That Engage Customers
Once you’ve attracted the customers to your website and they’ve learned a little bit about your brand, now is your opportunity to engage them more deeply and get them into a sales funnel. This is where social media comes into play in a more robust way. With your intro videos on your website, social media presents the opportunity to do a bit more selling, without being to sales-y. At KMB, we always recommend approaching each video, no matter how hard the sell, with a healthy dose of authenticity. Engaging videos include things like webinars that give your customers further info while allowing you to be the authority on a particular topic. Q&A videos allow the audience to engage with you directly or watch later (make sure live Q&A sessions are archived!). Tutorials/how-tos/behind-the-scenes, and unboxing videos are also extremely popular and helpful, offering the customer a learning opportunity, something far beyond a pitch. You can even experiment with user-generated content, such as a new homeowner showing off his motorized shades or new high-end soundbar.
User-generated content is usually easy to find if you have an active social media following. Make a request that people tag you on social when they post a video (or photo), and you’ll be able to reshare this content or ask the user privately via DM for the raw file, which you can then add your own branding to, edit for length, and so on, depending on permission from the user.
Finally, consider video content that is simply part of great customer relations, such as a thank you video, a funny holiday greeting, a new customer welcome email, a walk-through of a project, a new brand introduction video, providing a quick “hack,” or fun way to use a product — things like that.
Of course, once you have converted someone into a customer, you must continue to please them or you run the risk of either losing them to another provider or them forgetting you exist. Stay in it to win it!
Stay tuned for next month’s column, where we will cover what it takes to properly plan and produce video. KMB has a lot of experience in this regard, having shot videos for clients for years. Give us a shout if you’d like to learn more at [email protected].
A 25+ veteran of the residential tech & AV integration industries, Katye McGregor Bennett is the CEO of KMB Communications, a boutique communications firm that anchors the intersection of technology + design by connecting brands, buyers, and prospective audiences through creating compelling content and conversation that elevates and amplifies. In addition to co-hosting Design Uncut with Veronika Miller, Katye hosts two popular podcasts, Connecting Tech+ Design and AV Trade Talk. She is part of the DesignHounds influencer group and also serves on the NAHB Custom Technology Work Group, is a strategic advisor in the CEDIA, HTA, and AVIXA communities, a frequent contributor to Residential Systems, Connected Design and founder of the AV Yoga group.
Advertising online can be intimidating and overwhelming. This short guide will tamp down the fear so you can grow your business.
Online advertising: You know you need to do it, but you don’t know how, where, what, or how much money to spend. It can get confusing, and fast, but it’s not that difficult in the grand scheme of things. Here’s a quick run-through of the fundamentals so you can get a bit more comfortable with the concept and start thinking about giving it a try.
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First, there are many different types of ads to consider. For example, re-targeting through Adroll (those ads that follow you around the internet, no matter where you go, they’re there), boosting a Facebook post (to reach a wider audience), Like campaigns, YouTube ads, and so forth. We will get into the weeds on that in a future column, but for now, these guidelines should apply to anything you do in the digital advertising realm.
Approach Advertising With an Objective. Campaigns often fail when ads aren’t set up correctly from the get-go, and that means knowing what your objective is for the ad. Do you want to sell more product? Create awareness for your brand? Increase your social media following? Get leads? Drive traffic to an event page? All of these objectives translate differently on each platform, and there are a variety of parameters to understand, as well as a budget to establish, so nail this down first.
Get Your House Clean. You wouldn’t have a big party at your house and leave dirty laundry strewn about and dishes all over the place, right? Likewise, you don’t want people to visit your website if it isn’t going to be an environment where they feel welcomed or catered to. At KMB we call this getting your house clean. It’s important to do the digital housework of sprucing up your website and making it appealing before you launch an ad campaign that drives traffic to it. Otherwise, you’re simply wasting your money.
This not only means making it visually appealing with the right images and layout but that you are telling the story of your brand in a way that makes the visitor feel like they are a part of it. Being a brand people can believe in is important (read up on that here). Your website also needs to make it obvious what your brand is about and what you do within seconds. Otherwise, you will cause that visitor to bounce because they don’t have the time or attention span to figure it out.
Start Small While You Are Learning. Online advertising is not an exact science. Each platform has different algorithms and results, and people behave differently on each platform, so it can be challenging to know what is going to make one campaign more successful than another. That’s why starting off small, experimenting, and doing A/B testing are all good ideas. Choose a smaller budget while you are learning so you don’t blow all your funds while making learning-curve mistakes.
Consider Content. Content is king, and having a great content offer is an efficient way to garner leads. For example, say you are a manufacturer that wants to attract more designers to your products. You might create a downloadable PDF entitled “Top 5 Home Technology Interior Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them,” which, set up correctly, would target potential trade partners online who can download the PDF for free in exchange for filling out a form and entering their email addresses. Boom! You’ve got well-qualified leads that you can target to build relationships. Make sure all your content is extremely SEO-friendly and consider Google Ads so that your content can be found in search results.
Get Familiar With Analytics and Insights. Finally, put in the work to understand the results you get. Yes, these stats can be confusing, but you will get more familiar with the significance of things like reach, impressions, reactions, and engagement over time. A word of caution, though. Take time to dig into the stats and really learn about the audience you’re attracting. When you do, you’ll see more value from the spend both in conversions and knowledge gained.
The world of online advertising is vast, so we’ll dive deeper into specific platforms, best practices, and tactics in future columns. In the meantime, if you need help planning your digital programs, getting your SEO right, or attracting audiences to your brand, drop me a line at [email protected]. I’m here to help!
A 25+ veteran of the residential tech & AV integration industries, Katye McGregor Bennett is the CEO of KMB Communications, a boutique communications firm that anchors the intersection of technology + design by connecting brands, buyers, and prospective audiences through creating compelling content and conversation that elevates and amplifies. In addition to co-hosting Design Uncut with Veronika Miller, Katye hosts two popular podcasts, Connecting Tech+ Design and AV Trade Talk. She is part of the DesignHounds influencer group and also serves on the NAHB Custom Technology Work Group, is a strategic advisor in the CEDIA, HTA, and AVIXA communities, a frequent contributor to Residential Systems, Connected Design and founder of the AV Yoga group.
Relationships are a crucial part of any business, so, Season’s Greetings should be an integral part of your marketing plan!
Happy holidays my friends! This month’s column is about ways to show your appreciation this holiday season without breaking the bank. It’s also about marketing, communications, and PR, though not in the traditional sense. You see, reaching out to your clients during the holiday months is marketing to them because you are reminding them of your relationship. It’s communicating your warmest wishes for the season, and it makes your company stand out, which is the essence of public relations!
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I’m being a bit cheeky, but the value of saying you’re thinking about someone should never be underestimated. This year, commit to doing something different. Forego the standard-issue or off-the-shelf company holiday card signed en masse by employees and opt for more thoughtful expressions that show your clients, colleagues, and trade partners that you truly care about them and their families and that you value the relationship you have with them.
Here are some suggestions for showing you care during the holiday season:
A Handwritten, Personalized Card. Whenever I go anywhere that sells paper goods, you’ll inevitably find me in the greeting card aisle. I pull ones that remind me of certain people in my life — friends, colleagues, clients, or employees. Something that will make them laugh or contains an inside joke. Connect the dots by writing something thoughtful and relatable inside and write each one byhand. There’s nothing more off-putting than a typewritten, generic greeting with a sloppy signature scribbled below! Gah! SO LAME! A personalized card is a small but very memorable gesture. Can’t quite commit to that? Okay, I get it, but there are options. Postable offers “really nice cards, mailed for you.” All you have to do is select a card from their site, type a message, and they will print, stamp, and mail it for you for a nominal fee. The day I went to look for options they ployed me with a 20 percent discount right off the bat. Nice! On the other hand, Paperless Post is an upscale digital card service that allows you to get a bit more personal and refined. Not as good as a handwritten card received in the mail but works in a pinch.
Company Videos. If you were thinking about sending an email blast to your customers this season, think about what would make it different and worth opening. We love, for example, to see a well-thought-out or humorous company video in our inbox, allowing us to see the faces of the people we work with but maybe never see in person, have a laugh, and get the warm and fuzzies. We’ve seen some cute carols, riffs on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and more. Just try to keep it original and, if you can, try to keep it neutral or non-denominational so there’s no risk of offending any of your recipients.
Gifts of Adventure. From small tokens of appreciation to something a bit more substantial, anyone can order and ship last-minute gifts that are way more meaningful than a Harry & David Summer Sausage Sampler Pack (could there possibly be anything more meaningful than that, though, really?). We love giving an REI gift card, for example. From hip outdoor-inspired clothing to gear for any outdoor or urban adventure, REI is one of KMB’s go-to’s for gifting. And we love their commitment to the #optoutside movement. We’re an outdoorsy group over here at KMB so we might be biased, but it’s a great cause and one to support, in our opinion.
Drink and Be Merry. If you know me or team KMB, you know we love a good glass of wine, spiced cider, seasonal cocktail, or a hot toddy to keep things festive. Cocktail Courier has been one of our go-to resources for this as they are easy to order from and the deliveries are fun to receive. Last year, for instance, I received an Evergreen Moscow Mule Kit that literally came with everything required — Tito’s, ginger beer, pine extract, a copper mug, a sprig of rosemary for garnish, and the recipe. And, because this was during the holidays, it all arrived chilled! Helps that I live in Montana and it snowed that day, but still. Cocktails. By. Courier. Need I say more?
Season’s Eating. Even the most culinarily uninclined will eagerly bust out their mixer during the holiday season, so going with cooking-related gifts or food items is always a safe bet. We like Earlywood for handmade, exotic hardwood cooking utensils and gift sets. As far as food goes, Zingerman’s is another source for delivering bread, cheese, and the like to your favorite clients and friends. Charcuterie anyone? If you know me, you know I’m all about the charcuterie (so much so that my nickname is “Char-Kate-erie”). Of course, sending something a bit more thoughtful, like local food choices or wine from your region, curated and put into your own gift basket, is always preferred but we know that’s complicated, so don’t set the bar that high unless you’ve got the resources to do so. At KMB, we spend an entire weekend baking cookies and shipping them off fresh to employees, clients, and others close to our hearts. Shortbread is our specialty!
One more tip and then I’ll let you go. Pet parents love to see that you thought of their fur-baby and included them in the gift. Grab some high-quality dog and cat treats and include a few with a note when you send things to those you know who have pets. That little gesture goes a long, long way.
Wishing you and yours a magical, memorable holiday season and a prosperous new year! THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for reading my column and sharing your thoughts — the feedback you’ve given has been fantastic and inspiring! See you in 2023!
A 25+ veteran of the residential tech & AV integration industries, Katye McGregor Bennett is the CEO of KMB Communications, a boutique communications firm that anchors the intersection of technology + design by connecting brands, buyers, and prospective audiences through creating compelling content and conversation that elevates and amplifies. In addition to co-hosting Design Uncut with Veronika Miller, Katye hosts two popular podcasts, Connecting Tech+ Design and AV Trade Talk. She is part of the DesignHounds influencer group and also serves on the NAHB Custom Technology Work Group, is a strategic advisor in the CEDIA, HTA, and AVIXA communities, a frequent contributor to Residential Systems, Connected Design and founder of the AV Yoga group.
