By LeRay Warrior, Principal at MEDiAHEAD.

With new cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing to rise each each day, it makes total sense to abide by the city-wide Stay at Home orders currently in place in St. Louis, Kansas City, and many other parts of the country. Social distancing is one of the most important defenses we have against this new “invisible enemy” and these new laws should not be flouted for selfish purposes.

This is also a time to take a look at your own personal hygiene routines. Frequently washing hands and spraying down surfaces with disinfectant are helpful measures to prevent the spread of this highly contagious virus. But less has been said about your cell phone.

For many, a cell phone can feel like an extension of our body. And yet, while many of us have been fanatically washing our hands, have many of you have also been cleaning your phone on a regular basis?

Phone Harbor More Germs Than Most Surfaces

The average American checks their phone 96 times a day. To give that some context, that’s once every ten minutes! Whether we are watching videos or listening to podcasts on our morning commute, or when we’re occupying time in between meetings, we spend a great deal of our existence tapping and touching our smartphones.

But when was the last time you cleaned your phone? The research shows that very few of us take the time to clean our cell phones, despite the fact that they are roughly ten times dirtier than the average toilet seat. You wouldn’t dream of touching a toilet seat 96 times a day, every day, without cleaning. So why do we have a different attitude toward our phones?

How to Keep Your Phone Clean?

Luckily, keeping your phone clean is quite simple. The first step you must take, which many of us are guilty of, is leaving our phones OUTSIDE of the bathroom. When you take your phone into a bathroom, you expose it to all types of bacteria including the very dangerous E. coli. So it’s a good idea to leave it stowed somewhere safe during bathroom activities.

Secondly, when it actually comes to the cleaning of your phone, you can use a soft microfiber cloth to remove germs. Or if you’re looking for a deeper clean, you can create your own cleaning solution (60% water, 40% rubbing alcohol) before dipping a cloth into the liquid and subsequently using it to disinfect the surfaces of your phone. This isn’t something you need to do every day; once a week should suffice.

Use Your Clean Phone to Call Me for Your Next Printing Run

With so many US citizens currently cooped up at home under orders from the State, there’s never been a better time to run a targeting direct mail campaign. Not only will it result in a bump in brand awareness, but it can also provide a slew of new leads, business inquiries, and ultimately sales. With direct mail campaign responses on the up, it makes sense to pivot your marketing strategy to better reflect the current conditions we find ourselves in as a nation.

So once you’ve undertaken a deep clean of your phone, make sure to use it to contact myself or a member of the team and we’ll be more than happy to help you grow your business in spite of this challenging environment.

I hope that everyone you know remains healthy and safe during these unprecedented times!

By Michele Stilwell, Director of Marketing and Accounting at MEDiAHEAD.

When we were growing up, I never really thought about that day when I would need to start taking care of my parents. We were too busy being kids and teenagers. Then we got to our twenties and it was all fun and exciting. Many of us got to our thirties and started thinking about settling down and having kids. Forties and Fifties we were raising those kids and sending them off to college (or at least getting them out of the house.)

Did you ever think during all those years that the day would come when you’d be taking care of your parents?

Maybe just one of them… or both of them. It’s an eye opener for sure. Things start to happen. They might get sick and can’t do things for themselves. Or their vision goes and they can’t renew their driver’s license. That’s huge. Think of all the places you drive to on any given day.

When parents lose the ability to drive, the responsibility has to fall on someone… most often it will fall to you. The good news is there are lots of delivery services. (Hallelujah!)

Then there are the doctor’s appointments.

You might have a parent that’s sick and having trouble remembering things. You really need to go to these appointments with them each and every time. This can be several appointments in any given month.

It’s stressful when you get to the point where you have to start making decisions on what assisted living, nursing home or memory care facility they need to move to.  Getting them settled in and then checking on them daily to make sure everything is going well. Taking them activities to do, or food they might like, or simply sitting with them just to talk so they are not lonely or feeling forgotten in a strange place.

This is all part of taking care of a parent, even though we might not be mentally prepared.

I think it’s important for all Generation X’ers to know that several of us are going through this right now. There’s a great support group out there. Our friends, neighbors and co-workers might be going through similar situations or have gone through it already. Lean on them, get the support you need, and talk about it. Help like this can guide you through anything that you may be dealing with.

It’s extremely difficult to go through the process. But knowing others have gone through the exact same thing can be a huge help.

I’m going through this right now with my mother.

You would not believe the support system I have all around me. It’s unbelievable, and much needed.

Another great organization that I can’t put enough words in this blog about is Hospice. The team that they have and the people they employee are “Angels from above”.  If you have had to interact with a Hospice organization, you will undoubtedly agree with me.

This hasn’t been my typical blog post about digital printing or portals. But I wanted to talk about it because I’m sure that people around me are going through the same thing. I wanted to make sure you knew you’re not alone. And as the roles change, it’s important to show our parents we love them as much as they showed us when we were growing up.

By Kat McDaniel, Principal at MEDiAHEAD.

Here comes my yearly reminder before Black Friday hits next week. Where you decide to shop this holiday season has a major impact on both our local economy and the environment.

Many studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned business, most of the money is then used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms.

By buying local, you are strengthening the economic base of our whole community. Enriching your neighbors, by supporting their endeavors fosters the great community we have here in Kansas City.

Buying from a small local manufacturer or maker is also good for the planet. Less transportation, shipping boxes and plastic, habitat loss and pollution.

Our maker community in Kansas City is so unique.

There are SO many cool one-of-a-kind businesses that are an integral part of our community compared to a chain store that looks the same anywhere else. And local businesses hire people that know the products they are selling and take more time to get to know their customers. For example, this series of holiday maker’s markets being hosted at the Roasterie on December 7th, 14th and 21st.

So many of our local businesses also donate more per sales dollar to local non-profits, events and teams compared to any of the national chains.

Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and provide the most jobs to our community.

And most important, local businesses mean a stronger tax base and better use of public services compared to the national chains. This means better public services like schools, transportation and emergency services for you and your family.

As a small business owner that works with many small business owners, I feel passionately that small businesses are vital to the success of a community. So when making your purchasing decisions for the holidays, please consider giving your business to local businesses in Kansas City when possible!

Hello again… it’s Iz. I have some great news! I’m now officially a member of the MEDiAHEAD blogging team. Woof-oo!!!

As you can see in the photo, I’m intently listening to Jason. He is meeting with us to talk about what we should, and shouldn’t be, blogging about for the next few weeks.

We get together once a month… and sometimes we have coffee and donuts. This particular meeting, there were donuts. I am pretty sure that’s why I was so incredibly interested in this meeting. Who doesn’t love a good donut?

During the meeting the humans realized it might be a good idea to tell everyone I am on the blog team. Especially because I have an organization that I am super passionate about, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to submit my first blog post. Jason agreed.

KC Pet Project and their Volunteers

I would like to give a shout out to all the wonderful people at KC Pet Project and their Volunteers. What a wonderful nonprofit charitable organization! Did you know they care for over 10,000 animals a year and work collaboratively with animal control right here in the Kansas City area?

Their purpose is to facilitate the placement of homeless pets into suitable homes. They work to establish and maintain animal shelters for Kansas City, MO and to maintain procedures which promote health and welfare of the pets in their care. They also spay and neuter to keep the population down, and work really hard to reunite pets with their owners.

How incredibly great is that?!?! This is my favorite part; Kansas City is a No Kill Community!

I love the KC Pet Project. To learn more about them go to www.kcpetproject.org

I sure would love to see more of you, so stop by MEDiAHEAD to say hello; I always have time for a good old fashion belly scratch.

Til next time… Iz.

By LeRay Warrior, Principal at MEDiAHEAD.

Time is not a commodity that many of us have these days. Perhaps this is even more so the case when it comes to business. Clients demand faster turnaround times to please their own customers. And sometimes opportunities spring up out of nowhere that require materials you don’t already have. At MEDiAHEAD, we understand the need for speed. And how it can help us edge out both our own and client’s competitors.

Why Speed Matters So Much to Businesses

In this digital world, companies need adaptability and flexibility in order to function at their best. For instance, fast-moving teams that can decide on a marketing campaign based on recent events and put it into action can leave competitors scrambling to catch up.

Back in 2016, the first Chicago-based company able to capitalize on the Chicago Cub’s first World Series Win for over a century by deciding on a baseball themed customer offer will have profited the most. By getting out flyers, radio ads, and online materials quickly, they could beat the competition to the punch. This is regardless of what industry they operate in. Which is why we fully understand how important turnaround times are when a client comes to us in a pinch.

We Go Above and Beyond When It’s Crunch Time for A Client

We don’t tend to do things slowly here at MEDiAHEAD. We have an average project turn around within 24-48 hours.

However, sometimes we have clients who come to us desperate for the fastest possible turnaround times. Whether they need books, marketing materials, or kitting, we are always prepared to go the extra mile. We make sure everything gets delivered accordingly to their rapid time frames. (If you didn’t know, kitting is a process where separate but related items are grouped, packaged, and supplied together as one unit.)

For instance, we were recently able to turn around over 40 training manuals for a local bank in less than 24 hours. Another example is completing 140 kits for Helzberg Diamonds in just 2 hours so that they wouldn’t have to pay for expedited shipping!

Why Do We Place So Much Emphasis On Speed?

Not only do our clients love us for moving things around to accommodate their urgent needs, but who do you think they are going to come back to when they know they are under time pressure? Yes, that’s right. Us. Our speed kills the competition.

How can MEDiAHEAD Help You?