International Association of Business Communicators

Branding Workshop

Some of the best branding workshops are the ones that make us partake in analogies. The building blocks of branding are emotions - identifying who we are as individuals, companies, our missions, our values - and then turning those intrinsic beliefs into something visual that conjures up the emotion.

But what are those beliefs and emotions?

If we take a moment to compare ourselves to our competitors, and even something fun that Chip Conley has done for his hotel chain - picking a magazine on which his hotel brand is built - forces us to answer questions like, "How do I perceive myself?" and "How do I want others to perceive me?"

I've also seen this done by gathering a group of logos - from cars to restaurants to clothing lines to cities. The point is to compare how you identify one vs. the other and why you feel you identify with one more than the other.

If Piccadilly Arts were a magazine, what would it be? Something that spoke to authentic traditional art forms...combined with modern eco-friendliness. I must visit my local Borders to hunt down this allusive magazine.

Iconic Branding

Iconic Branding

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Nonprofit Survival in Tough Times

The LaSalle Nonprofit Center had these tips - the 3 C's - for nonprofit survival in our current economy.

Core mission and competencies – Make sure your focus is tight on the core services and programs that are critical to your mission and don’t sacrifice their quality. Now is not the time to be all things to all people, but to prioritize and stay within bounds.

Collaboration – Most of our organizations have competitors and we spent time, energy and money fighting over the same donors, the same resources, the same audiences, when we could be more effective collaborating strategically rather than competing.

Communicate with your key stakeholders; don’t stop fundraising and don’t apologize for it. Let them know what’s going on clearly and honestly, without hysteria or desperation and be concrete about what their support will do.

Partnerships

I always include partnerships in any tactical marketing plan I create for a company. Who or what else is out there that shares a similar mission and can help tell your story? Can help you reach new donors, audiences, and clients? Can help sustain your business?

There are a few upcoming workshops in the Philadelphia area that I wanted to share with you. I'll be attending the May one.

1)Strategic Restructuring for Arts and Culture Organizations
The Nonprofit Finance Fund will offer the third installment of its Managing in Turbulent Times series with a workshop on Strategic Restructuring for Arts and Culture Organizations on Tuesday, April 14th from 9am to 4pm. The event will take place at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at 1300 Locust Street in Philadelphia.

The workshop features presentations by Jo De Bolt of La Piana Associates and the Chief Cultural Officer for Philadelphia, Gary Steuer, who will speak on the merger of Americans For the Arts and the Arts & Business Council. The event is cosponsored by the Arts & Business Council, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative.

DeBolt will explain the different partnership options for nonprofits - such as mergers, joint ventures, and administrative consolidations, the reasons for considering these options, how to assess an organization’s readiness for restructuring, and what makes for successful partnerships.

The cost of the workshop is $75 for the first registrant from an organization. Additional registrants from the same organization are $50 per person

2)Strategic Partnerships: Forging Alliances, Advancing Your Mission
A regional summit for funders and nonprofit agencies, featuring Jo DeBolt of La Piana Associates and local agency leaders who have created successful partnerships in the nonprofit community.

More info.

So Long

It has been shamefully long since I wrote...but with good reason. I am a new mom. Actually, at nearly 10 months, "new" maybe isn't the write adjective although every day is a new adventure. My son, Mitchell, was born last May and hands down is my pride and joy. I took some time off last summer and took a break from freelancing to get acclimated to my new role as a mom.

Probably the most useful skills I've acquired (or brushed up) in recent months have been prioritizing, multi-tasking, and chunking projects. It takes me back to a time management class I took when I first started high school. Things do get accomplished...in their own time.

There is a new fresh website for Piccadilly. My focus is on helping clients with branding and marketing. Let me help you tell your story. What makes your company so great and how do we share the emotional stories, build excitement and increase your company's visibility?

I'm still working within the arts and culture but there is a clear link between the arts and sustainability. Nonprofits, specifically artists and arts orgs, know how to do a lot on a dime...how to pull resources, and by their very missions, be about something greater than themselves. I'd like to reach out to other companies - both for profit and nonprofit - that are driven by sustainability and social responsibility. We share this commitment so please contact me for branding and marketing services!

Musical Journey

I can get caught up in a moment like anyone, particularly a musical one. Examples include when I saw Richard Ashcroft perform at the TLA in 2001...when I saw him again with Coldplay in 2006...when I saw Amos Lee at the Tin Angel...when I saw Crowded House at the Mann Center this past August.

But a few weeks ago I sat in the Mercury Ballroom and watched several performances that were truly emotional and adventurous experiences. The Hot Club took us to 1930s France and back with their gypsy jazz music and sensational French singer. The Hot 8 Brass Band had the house clapping and rocking until 11:30 p.m. with their Second Line sound and musical journey to Marti Gras in NOLA. Danu - hands down the most intense performance of the evening - hails from Ireland and put us in a trance with their celtic fiddling. All I could think was - Imagine seeing them in Ireland...at a pub...with a Guinness. I felt like I was there. I wanted to bottle the energy.

One the one hand, little waves of nostalgia washed over me several times because I used to work for this agency and I desperately wanted to get up and talk to presenters and convey the level of excitement I felt. I also happened to look around and take in the incredible number of people in the room and the overall energy and couldn't place my finger on how I felt until much later in the evening. Then I remembered. I was part of something bigger. I experienced that there before, in 2004, when I played a big part in producing the showcase and for the first time in my young career felt extremely proud of where I worked, the people I worked for/with, the incredible talented artists I represented and the work I had done. Wrap all that up and it's an intense moment.

The intensity and energy swirled around inside me that other night. I was proud too - that I had come full circle to be there again. Amidst the little waves of nostalgia there was also confidence that someday I might pull off something this magnificent. You don't have to be an aspiring agent...or even to have worked at one to experience an emotional performance. The key to a successful showcase - and perhaps one's successful business - is the ability to build excitement and create connections and emotional experiences for people.

Here is video of Danu. Just know this does not capture the intensity I described above. Imagine this times 100. I hope you are as entranced as me.

Creative Time & Space

Little scraps of paper with messages scribbled on them...notebooks with paper that crinkle when you flip pages because the ink is applied with such pressure...coffee mugs...framed photos of family and friends...maps, twinkle lights, coloring book rip outs...Every desk and office space is unique. How each of us work is unique. Some can exist in pure chaos, others like myself need everything in its proper place. Our own idiosyncrasies are what makes the work space - and ultimately what makes the place ours and a place to work productively and perhaps even relax.

Despite having a category and neat file folder for every paper under the sun, it's not to say I can't make a mess. The more room you give me, the more I take up. Once I had a 1000 piece mailer to get out the door. Label each envelope, stuff with letter, give to boss to sort and affix with post-its, give back to me so they may take up 10 square feet of floor while I fold and stuff rosters, posters, and invitations in the appropriate envelopes. How I kept them straight I'll never know. How I managed to not get stepped on, kicked or screamed at, I'll also never know.

That's how I operate with huge projects. I take up an entire space. At the end of the day it all gets put away, piled and a neat To Do list awaits me the following day. My boss stopped and stared at me on a few occasions, maybe once asking if I knew what I was doing and I assured him I did. He (thankfully) stressed and fumed quietly to himself for the duration of the mail stuffing to be relieved in the end that despite the seemingly chaotic state of it, everything was in tact.

Probably also making him raise an eyebrow were the decorations that garnished my working space. Prior to this job, I worked either in tiny cubicles or at a desk assembled in squares or rows, elementary school style. There was no room to decorate, hang pictures or otherwise express one's creativity. In this place, I had a little alcove - a nontraditional space, but that was OK - with a window and two walls! A dream come true. The boss was a creative fellow, OK with the idea of adding personal style to the space (he had some interesting things adoring his space and we later put glow in the dark stars all over his office to celebrate Halloween) so I added some curtains to the drafty window, my Hello Kitty calendar, my framed charcoal drawing, a few Wassily Kandinsky prints and the cork board with all my important office papers. I mentioned the more room, the more I take. Well, later there came a side table for my printer, a lamp, twinkle lights on the window, a remnant glow in the dark star, etc.

Now I will say this in my defense - everyone needs at least one job where they can freely exercise their creativity, even if it's slightly eccentric. We didn't have clients parading through our space so perhaps if we did, I would have stopped at the framed prints on the walls. Years of hiding bouncy balls and trade show toys in drawers, of having push pins fall out of cube walls and frames fall off the side of my "school" desk came to a screeching halt here.

But the burning question here is: With my ability to take up the entire office on a project, paint the town (or alcove) red with my energy and creativity, did I work smarter? Did all this craziness make me an efficient and productive employee? Do such splashes of personality make anyone a better worker?

In my seven years of working, I'll say - it takes a combination of the tangible and intangible, intrinsic and extrinsic to motivate and excite an employee. It's a lot of Psychology combined with Organizational Behavior/Management (and probably why so many employers mess it up). The fact is - I'm already a responsible, accountable go getter of a person. I know what I needed to be doing daily. All my additions to my space only made it more personal and fun to physically drive 40 miles a job I already liked. And for the jobs I didn't like so much, infusing my space with a little personality sparked creativity and brought a smile to my face and pushed me onward. Any marketing coordinator will also agree when it comes to assembling mailers, collateral, packing for trade shows - you really do need space to lay out components and visualize your inventory. It's not all about decor or how one organizes her head, but it helps being able to exist in a comfortable place for you. Moreover, I found it refreshing to be around people that embraced creativity. I felt the energy even when I interviewed - and hauling the long drive home thought, I could work here.

The day in December 2003 when it snowed and I was 3 hours late getting there, I stayed until 7 that night, all alone with my my mailer (and twinkle lights), quietly finishing one element of the project. I didn't need to stay, but I wanted to: He didn't give me hell for the inclement weather, for living 40 miles away and surviving a treacherous drive, I wanted to put the time in, I knew with everyone gone for the night, I'd have the place to myself and I could concentrate and I wanted him to come in the next day and see I made a significant dent with the mailer!

Come to think of it, that guy still has my light up, bouncy, noise making bouncy ball. He didn't confiscate it. No, he loved it so much when I showed it to him, he asked to keep it.

On The Spot: The Allusive Elevator Pitch

How many times have you heard someone tell you that you need to perfect your elevator pitch? I'll never forget my first job out of school - I was working at an IT consultancy in October 2000 and they dropped me off at the Valley Forge Convention Center to work a trade show two months into working there. One the one hand, I was happy for the experience (to learn about the industry), to see the fruits of my labor (I set up that 10x10 booth and wrapped those candy bars with homemade labels) and to collect tons of fun trade show toys (like little bouncy light up balls). On the other hand, what did I know about IT consulting? About portals? About our clients? Nothing. I stood in the booth, panicked, and asked my HR recruiter for the elevator pitch. It's my worst nightmare to go anywhere unprepared and conferences and shows can be the most intimidating - booth visitors putting the cute little cheerleader on the spot - just because they can. I'll be your cheerleader. But I'll be smart as a whip.

Perfecting your pitch is tough. Sometimes it takes years. I believe this is a combination of knowing our products and services, how they work, how they benefit our clients, self confidence, and an ever changing landscape of our businesses. It isn't just about saying what we do as a business or independent professional. It's about engaging our listener - showing instead of telling, keeping things simple, but still telling a story. Because after all, elevators are small cramped awkward spaces - like so many initial encounters.

Up until this point, no one could even offer me a starting point on how to craft the allusive pitch. Tons of articles in INC, Harvard Business Review and other publications tout its importance, but never have I come across a writer who says This Is How You Do It. These are respected journals - why can't I find what I need? What's useful to me as a small business owner? Stop talking about what it is and why it's important and show me how! My prayer was answered. I came across this Elevator Pitch How To article posted on the American Management Association's Leaders Edge and for once someone drills the elevator pitch down to its basics and shares some useful tips and real examples of how to develop and fine tune it. Mark Wiscup, I thank you for making something that's so daunting and unattainable a realistic, challenging but reachable goal.

I'll be working on mine this week and I'll post it here with little annotations so we can see how closely I followed his tutorial.