How you engage your customers in the coming months will determine how your organization comes out of the current recession. But to engage your customers you need to know what they want now and what they're likely to want a year from now. According to an article in the Globe & Mail (March 23, 2009): "it's no good to simply look at generic consumer or business-to-business purchase data. Customer behaviour needs to put under the microscope in the context of the company and industry in question. But owners have to intimately know their own customers, and what has changed, inside out. There are many ways to get these insights, but they all start with conversations. Savvy marketers are constantly engaging customers in discussions about products and services, and about themselves: their pain points and what would make them happy." Are you talking to your customers? Read the article here.

When times are tough, marketing budgets are often the first to get cut. Yet studies consistently show that companies that continue to invest in gaining market share during a recession come out on top. Here's some advice from the experts about how to get ahead in 2009/2010: enews.pdf

When you are marketing your product, service or cause you may be tempted to talk about what you're selling or why you're such a great organization. But if you really want to engage customers, you need to show what you're about through stories. You need to tell great stories about the people who's lives have changed because of you. Telling stories is not a new or unique marketing approach, but telling compelling stories that are remembered and passed on is what will make you stand out in the markeplace. Read Andy Goodman's "10 Immutable Laws of Storytelling" for not-for-profit organizations (also very applicable to companies) and see if your stories are as powerful as they can be:
free_range_2007_06.pdf

When I am helping clients craft their brand story, I often find myself having to push them to be clear about who they are marketing to. Of course, it's normal to want to appeal to as many customers as possible, but the problem with trying to sell to everyone is that you end up appealing to no one. The message ends up being too broad and too bland. A great brand story is built on knowing who you want to reach and then targeting your message accordingly. It's also built on knowing who you don't want to reach according to Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick. Here's a great article they wrote on this topic in Fast Company magazine: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/114/column-made-to-stick.html

I am very excited to finally have my own website ... a place where I can post my work and connect clients and visitors with storytelling information and resources!

Check in regularly if you're interested in fresh marketing/ communications ideas and, of course, great stories!

Thank you to all the talented people who helped me get to this point: Martyn Schmoll of Martyn Schmoll Design who developed my fantastic new identity, Adam Latuns and Emmanuel Papdakis of dakis & associates who designed this great website and photographer, Andre Van Vugt of Giant Vision, who worked his magic for my new photo!

And thanks to all my clients who have said some very nice things about me on this site and who have given me the opportunity to write their stories!