Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal | May 27, 2024 | wbjournal.com By Brittany Wong Wong is CEO of Worcester marketing firm Jade. Reach her at brittany@ hellostudiojade. com. In 2023, retail sales increased 5.6%. Retail and e-commerce have changed a lot in the last five years, but companies have plenty of opporunities to gain market share. 4) Planning and consistency - Tactics should include pre-planned key mes- sages for each month, correlated to your business goals. Valentine's Day in your February marketing and March Madness in your March plan should be pre-planned. Having said that, it is important to be ready to jump on trends in real time. 3) Social media marketing - First, pro- duce a monthly social media content cal- endar aligning with your overarching mar- keting strategy. Second, run social media ads toward your targeted audience. Third, partner with micro-influencers to produce content, which will create unique content and spread your brand's reach. Fourth, focus on organic growth and community engagement to build an authenticity. Lastly, monitor the reporting and determine what can be improved. 2) Website marketing - Your website is a place to deepen your connection with customers and encourage them to opt-in to marketing emails. Offering a discount incentive as a pop-up will persuade customers to opt in. The website should be refreshed monthly for key campaigns. For Valentine's Day, for example, are there any couples-based gifts you can feature? Consider creating website assets, including banners and curated collections. 1) Email marketing & text messages - Developing an email list of prospective and current customers will allow you to market sales, product releases, and more. We find abandoned cart campaigns and lost cus- tomer campaigns to be effective in driving sales. The better the segmentation you can get, the more targeted you can make your campaigns. Although there are many options in regard to what you can do for your marketing as a consumer goods brand, the most es- sential in 2024 is the brand's social media, website, and email/text marketing. We've rolled these tactics and have seen marked, measurable results. Remember, consis- tency is key. You want people to recognize your brand at every touchpoint. Battery storage issues ignite conflict BY SLOANE M. PERRON Special to WBJ W ork-life balance has become a normal part of business con- versation. Employees strive for it, and employers are navigating what it means for office policies. rough pri- oritizing, setting realistic expectations, and implementing changes, you can take the first steps to achieving balance. Prioritize what is important to you. e first step to creating a work-life balance is determining what it means to you. Everyone has different priorities, so step back, take stock of your life, and really think about what is important to you. Consider focusing on your mental and physical health as a starting point. "Prioritizing your health first and fore- most will make you a better employee and person. You will miss less work, and when you are there, you will be happier and more productive," Marisa Sanfilippo wrote for Business News Daily. Set realistic expectations. e nor- mal expectation is an 8-hour workday, but some jobs require longer hours. If you are salaried, you will not be com- pensated for overtime. In Forbes, Erik Pham suggests outlining reasons why you are experiencing burnout and sug- gesting some realistic solutions to your supervisor whether they are additional breaks, more guidance, or a change in your workload/schedule. Make sure your suggestions are reasonable and align with your work responsibilities. Implementing changes to im- prove your situation. e final step in achieving work-life balance is following through in both your professional and personal life. Professionally, you can advocate for yourself by being proac- tive in using your vacation time, not overburdening your work schedule, and expressing your needs to your boss. Privately, you can be committed to work-life balance by setting boundaries for yourself such as unplugging from work emails and devices aer hours or not volunteering to work on holidays or weekends so you can spend time with your family. e combination of implementing changes in the workplace and your private life is proven to be the more effective and sustainable way of achieving work-life balance, Ioana Lupu and Mayra Ruiz-Castro write in Harvard Business Review. ACHIEVING WORK-LIFE BALANCE BY AMANDA ZURETTI Special to WBJ M assachusetts' ambi- tious green energy initiatives are making some local officials see red. While most people favor slashing greenhouse gas emissions in theory, local officials must face the complicated realities of implementing these goals. One newfangled challenge: battery storage. Energy generated from wind, water, and solar power is typically stored in battery energy storage systems. As developers look for new places to install these systems in Massachusetts, a growing number of towns are resisting these facilities, citing safety and noise problems. e state needs these towns' coop- eration, as they have power to decide where these systems can be placed. Without towns' blessings, it could be almost impossible for Massachusetts to achieve its loy goal of cutting emis- sions in half by the end of the decade. Some towns are trying to block installations. In Wendell, for example, a group called No Assault and Batteries, launched a petition drive last December to demand the governor halt all indus- trial-scale battery system installations. Residents worry the project would ravage this bucolic area. Nearly a dozen acres of trees would be demolished, they say, and the facilities' noisy air con- ditioners would disrupt wildlife. In Hadley, planning board members expressed concern in March about the environmental hazards of approving a five-megawatt project submitted by Zero-Point Development of Worcester. ese storage systems contain lithi- um-ion batteries, which occasionally catch fire and release toxic gasses. Members worried battery fires can't be easily extinguished and chemicals used for firefighting could result in contami- nating the local water supply. In Staten Island, New York, mean- while, two state lawmakers proposed legislation to ban these storage units in residential areas and school zones. "At the end of the day, the terms 'classroom' and 'blast-radius' should never be in the same sentence," one lawmaker told StatenIslander.org. Battery fires from these systems have occurred in places like New York, Cali- fornia, and Arizona. ese events helped local officials improve emergency response plans and detail how to respond to battery explo- sions and fires. Battery storage systems are safer than ever because of technological advanc- es, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Such fires are rare, it added. While Wendell tried to bar battery installations in 2021 and 2022, the state attorney general said the town's proposed bylaws violated state law. e ban could not be justified because the town's objections were not grounded in articulated evidence of public health concerns. Massachusetts is challenging towns' efforts to regulate these systems. State law bars towns from unreasonable regulation of structures helping collect solar energy. Now, developers and attorneys are working with government officials to reconcile the law with public safety concerns. Fire risks be examined, along with acceptable ways to decommission expired batteries, which usually last for only 20 years. With model policies, officials hope alternative energy will be welcomed into communities rather than ignite political fights. 4 Things I know about … ... Driving consumer goods sales Amanda Zuretti, an attorney at Bowditch & Dewey, focuses her practice on affordable and market rate housing development and sustainable energy projects. W W W

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