Vox Optima

11/28/2025

Lesson 2: Follow the 85/15 rule

Okay, so there’s a little bit of a caveat to the first lesson.

Emotion + logic should always be your storytelling guardrails, but the ratio may vary from platform to platform. And that’s where Calloway’s 85/15 rule comes into play.

“85% of what you do should be templatized, refined — checking the boxes of your strategic marketing plan,” she says. “And if you're a marketing leader, you should give your team 15% of that work to play with.” (Cue: Everybody forwarding this to their bosses.)

The point of this is “to be a little faster — a little messier in the output, a little stripped back,” says Calloway. “A little less, ‘Did this person sign off?’” A little more fun, more experimental. ~ Laura M. Browning via Hubspot

Bryetta Calloway, the founder and CEO of Stories Seen, has a 4-sentence story formula that will break through your audience's skepticism

11/28/2025

I think something like that is happening with AI visibility right now. We’re in the early stages. PR is just starting to think about what AI means for PR and marketing communications.

Measuring it is hard. There are no frameworks. Standardized metrics do not exist. It’s a complicated undertaking to get data (if that’s even possible at the moment) from the various LLMs to provide a comprehensive view.

So, against that backdrop, how are PR and marketing pros monitoring AI visibility? ~ Frank Strong via The Sword and the Script

Most of the work is a manual effort coupled with a mishmash of ideas, concepts, metrics, and nascent tools; there’s no Radian6 for AI visibility yet

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving Day from our team to you and yours!!

11/27/2025

From digital signage to media relations, from training to crisis response—Vox Optima covers every angle of communication. One firm. Comprehensive solutions. Results that last.

See the full scope of our services: https://www.voxoptima.com/

11/26/2025

The potentially compromised information, Harvard said, includes data related to fundraising and alumni engagement activities, such as addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, donation details, event attendance, and other biographical information.

“The information systems that were accessed do not generally contain Social Security numbers, passwords, payment card information, or financial account numbers,” the institution said.

Potentially impacted individuals, it said, include alumni, alumni spouses and partners, widows and widowers of alumni, current students, parents of current and former students, donors, and faculty and staff. ~ Ionut Arghire via SecurityWeek

A phone phishing attack led to the compromise of a system containing information about alumni, donors, students, staff, and other individuals.

11/26/2025

Review extortion scams

This negative review extortion scams are on the rise and a huge concern for local SEOs and businesses. A scammer will message you, likely over WhatsApp or email, and tell you that they left a one-star negative review and the only way to remove it is to pay them.

Google wrote in its help document, “These scams may involve a sudden increase in 1-star and 2-star reviews on your Google Business Profile, followed by someone demanding money, goods, or services in exchange for removing the negative reviews.” ~ Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land

https://ow.ly/eYaJ50Xxvm0

11/25/2025

No. 3. Analyze your content

Reflect on the content you intend to present. Is it data-heavy, rich in personal stories or focused on practical skills? Different presentation styles serve different content types.

For data-driven content, an informative or instructional presentation might work best. For emotional stories, a motivational presentation could be a compelling choice. ~ Krystle Wong via Venngage

Master the art of impactful presentations these 8 types of presentations, complete with examples and expert tips.

11/25/2025

LinkedIn introduced an algorithmic feed in 2012, Twitter in 2014, and Instagram in 2016. All the algorithms continue to change and evolve, impacting what gets seen.

This drives incentives to try to crack the code and figure out the “one weird trick” that will drive engagement and make things go viral.

A few of these “best practices” are helpful, but many are shallow, some are total superstitions, and most of them put the cart before the horse. And of course, what may have worked yesterday changes tomorrow.

It’s an algorithmic arms race, between posters trying to game the system and algorithms changing the game altogether. ~ Tom Fishburne

https://ow.ly/fqzp50XwYkY

11/24/2025

Why Is Brand Trust Essential in the Modern Buyer’s Journey?

If you look at the research on the role of trust in the buyer’s journey, you’ll find that it’s an essential prerequisite for reaching your business goals.

According to Edelman’s latest special report, trust is “the currency of consumer power.” No, it’s not a nice-to-have. Instead, it’s just as important a purchase factor as product quality and value for money, with 88% of consumers needing to trust a brand to consider buying from it.

However, being able to sell your solutions isn’t the only benefit of building a credible brand reputation. In fact, earning your target audience’s confidence comes with numerous benefits, all of which have some degree of influence over your brand’s profitability. ~ Natasha Lane via Bulldog Reporter

In a business setting, brand trust is one of your most valuable assets—and not only because trust is one of the major prerequisites for getting consumers to buy from your brand. A credible brand reputation

11/24/2025

The reason behind this is Google’s push to power new Gmail features with its Gemini AI, helping you write emails faster and manage your inbox more efficiently. To do that, Google is using real email content, including attachments, to train and refine its AI models. Some users are now reporting that these settings are switched on by default instead of asking for explicit opt-in.

Which means that if you don’t manually turn these setting off, your private messages may be used for AI training behind the scenes. Even though Google promises strong privacy measures like anonymization and data security during AI training, for anyone handling sensitive or confidential information, that may not feel reassuring..

Sure, your Gmail experience would get smarter and more personalized. Features like predictive text and AI-powered writing assistance rely on this kind of data. But is it worth the risks? I see plenty of reasons to make one uncomfortable.

Yes, these features can make Gmail smarter and more personalized. But the lack of explicit consent feels like a step backward for people who want control over how their personal data is used. ~ Pieter Arntz via Malwarebytes

Did you know that Gmail can use your emails and attachments for its smart features? Here's how to check your settings.

11/21/2025

Changes to the World of Advertising

Another major topic of discussion was the attrition of traditional ad media.

First of all, AI is writing content (as we’ll explore more) and that’s transforming what the customer-facing product looks like.

“It is possible for people to have AI tools to help them search for things, that are extremely good at destroying advertising,” Pentland said. “So if you look at tomorrow, showing how all of the sort of common forms of advertising go away in an agentic world, and they often could be replaced through the fiduciary responsibility of the agents, then most of that advertising really disappears.”

So to recap: AI will be writing social media posts, and maybe that will tamp down some of the extreme nature of our feeds, or maybe it will just amplify the chaos. AI will be writing the advertising content, and that might seem personalized, or it might give us a sort of discomfort that we can’t really pin down yet. Will AI also be writing books?

And what will that look like? ~ John Werner via Forbes

AI intensifies media and advertising upheaval while enabling synthetic author personas, challenging human writers' roles.

11/21/2025

Strategies for Strengthening Brand Presence

To build a recognisable and lasting brand, businesses should embrace a holistic approach to design and messaging. Begin with thorough audience research to understand what resonates with your target market. Apply these insights to craft visual identities that feel authentic and relevant.

Collaborate with skilled designers who appreciate both creativity and consistency. Jointly establish brand guidelines, specifying fonts, color schemes, imagery, and usage instructions. These guardrails support ease of scalability and ensure new campaigns remain aligned.

Take time to map every brand touchpoint. Audit your online presence and ensure each element—down to icons, photos, and headlines—contributes to a unified image. Engage your audience through tailored content, interactive elements, and responsive support. Gather feedback through polls, direct communication, or analytics platforms to guide ongoing evolution. ~ Jordan Lee via Nivantura

https://ow.ly/o6tM50XuHW2