In one of the Ad Council's most recent ads, a steely-eyed woman in a trench coat emblazoned with a Red Cross badge holds up a small torch alight with a yellow and red flame. Her white wings stand out in the background, which is red on one angled side, with blue and white rays on the other. The rays stem from a light-blue globe above her head, which is encircled by the headline "Stay Safe, Stay Strong, Stay Home."

As a part of my series about how busy women leaders are addressing these new needs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Wendy O’Donovan Phillips, CEO of Big Buzz, an agency delivering strategy and consultation to drive focused marketing efforts for executives and teams nationwide. Wendy is the author of two books available on Amazon, and she has been published in many healthcare journals. She is a member of the Women’s President Organization, has been honored by the American Marketing Association for excellence in her field, has been hired by the American Dental Association as an expert consultant in marketing, regularly lectures for healthcare organizations and associations in front of audiences ranging from 25 to 3,000 attendees and sits on the Forbes Agency Council.

Congratulations! You have completed what may very well have been one of the most challenging first halves of a year in your career. Here, I hope to provide some reflection, insights and inspiration for the way forward. These are the big lessons I have learned so far in 2020...

It’s no secret that in-person networking is a huge factor in helping some businesses grow. People tend to connect better when being near

With the fast pace of the ad industry, it can be challenging to schedule time for agency bonding experiences. However, research has shown that companies that invest in team-building activities tend to have more cohesive personnel that work better on group projects.

Did Your Dental Marketers Lie? (And What To Do About It.) We received an unprecedented response from a blog I wrote a few

“Brand” isn’t just about a company’s logo, slogan, and appearance. It also refers to a company’s overall identity, and how it sets itself apart from the competition.

These days having a website that captures a user’s attention and converts them into a loyal customer isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. A poorly designed site can cause your business to lose customers and ultimately money, and unfortunately, bad web design is more common than you might expect.

Marketing strategies require input from both the company doing the campaign and the ad agency itself. Clients need to be kept "in the loop" for them to have a chance of doing their part in a campaign. Sadly, many agencies lack a defined strategy for informing clients, while many customers tend to leave the reins of the campaign fully in the hands of the agency and don’t offer their input even when required.

Wendy O’Donovan Phillips, founder and CEO of healthcare marketing agency Big Buzz, has been accepted into Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only community for owners of and executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative, and advertising agencies.