REFLECTIONS, MILESTONES AND MARKERS
Dear Friends of The Creative Company,
We’re already in the fourth quarter of the last year of this decade. I’m also celebrating my 52nd year around the sun today, October 16th.
Important days like birthdays and holidays provide milestones and markers for all of us. Do we like the story we’re living? Would we change anything? Are our values and our stories aligned? And, the most important question of all, what will happen next? We can’t rewrite the past but we can write a better future.
Earlier this year, I wrote one goal on my wall which included 8 bullet points. One of my sub-points was to do more than is expected. If I had five calls to make that day, I made 10, for example. It’s amazing how quickly things turnaround when you set your intention with an action plan.
In that same spirit, you can take advantage of a few amazing opportunities this month for our loyal subscribers. One is to hear Peter Shankman speak at the American Marketing Association breakfast on November 6th here in Madison. I was first introduced to Peter more than a decade ago and have been a fan ever since. When you register, use code “CreativeCompany10” and you’ll save $10. We’re sponsoring the event and because I believe so strongly in Peter’s message, I’m actually paying the extra $10 just so you have a little extra incentive to attend. There is valet parking and it will be worth the effort ten times over.
You’ll also find a discount code to attend the WOMEN’s Reception which leads into the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Early Stage Symposium this year at the Monona Terrace in Madison. Friends of The Creative Company and Women’s Entrepreneurship Day can attend the reception for half off. I’ll be on a panel discussion that evening and on one on how to grow your customer base at the Early Stage Symposium too. By attending either one of these events, your story will likely change for the better through the people you meet and the ideas that are curated.
You’ll find other great ideas in this newsletter too including the value of creating a tremendous trade show booth that draws people in, why media training is so valuable and how to increase the quality of your leads.
Here’s to making this last quarter of this decade your best ever and to living an even better story with your life in 2020!
With gratitude,
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner:
How a CPBP Increases the Quality of Your Leads
Part 1
In last month’s newsletter, we looked at methods to integrate core brand messages with the core keywords that drive your website’s organic traffic. Now that your brand messaging is spot on across all your channels, how could you benefit by combining that work with the data from an ideal customer profile or buyer persona?
Technically, an ideal customer profile and a buyer persona are different beasts.
An Ideal Customer Profile is your best description of the type of company that would gain the most benefit from your product or solution. It covers things like company names and types, industries or verticals, company revenues or scale, the number of employees, location, and the titles of the decision-makers at the company.
Buyer Personas (often called prospect personas by salespeople) are descriptions of your decision-makers, the people at those companies listed above, who need to be involved in the decision to purchase your product or service. A buyer persona may include demographic information, psychographic data (personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles), job key performance metrics (KPIs), and the pain points your product or service will help them to remedy.
In this article, for simplicity's sake, we are going to lump customer profiles and buyer personas together and call it CPBP (which is not as funny or interesting as C3PO, but you get the idea).
Combining ideal customer profiles––traditionally used by marketing, with prospect personas––traditionally used by salespeople, is also a good idea.
Craig Hadley, Senior Web Developer
Home Sweet "Home"
Trade Show Booth Design
How can you turn a standard 8'x10' booth into an inviting and engaging space?
Create a virtual "home", of course! Art Director, Tracy Brooks, designed a fun, interactive, "talk of the show" booth for Great Kids, Inc. with this virtual living room to interact with conference attendees at the Prevent Child Abuse America Conference/Healthy Families America in Milwaukee, September 16th-18th and the ZERO TO THREE Annual Conference in Florida, October 2nd-4th.
Great Kids, Inc. aims to have every child feel safe and secure, loved and valued, curious and capable. Six custom made pillows capturing these words were part of their new "home" trade show booth and were a crowd favorite.
A cheerful "Welcome" from Esthela Navarro with Great Kids, Inc.
Great Kids, Inc. is a nonprofit organization specializing in the development of parenting intervention curricula, professional development for practitioners, and program consultation. Conference attendees were welcomed into the Great Kids "home", invited to participate in activity demonstrations, and connect with Great Kids staff on evidence-based curricula development and training tailored to meet their program needs.
With numerous attendees inquiring where the custom made pillows can be ordered and requests for photo opportunities, it's clear the booth is a conference success!
Tracy Brooks, Art Director
Does your business trade show booth need an update?
Media Training
Make it Count with The Creative Company
Scenario:
Congratulations! You have just landed an interview with a local TV station or newspaper. Now what?
With media outlets’ 24-hour news cycles, getting your message broadcast—and received—the way you want can be tricky. Organization and business leaders often mistakenly assume that because they know their companies, industries, and products so well, they can handle a media interview. However, even the most sure-footed spokesperson can bomb an interview when they don’t plan properly. A little media training goes a long way. Consider it an investment in your company. You might only get one chance to tell your story - make it count.
Whether you’re dealing with a crisis, planning a press conference or even a cooking segment on a weekend morning show, The Creative Company offers media training for individuals or groups. When you have a media training session with TCC, we give you the tools you need to nail your interview.
Madison Lee, Publicist & Producer
In Their Words: A Testimonial
Midwest Environmental Advocates: Kimberlee Wright
Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA), a non-profit environmental law center in Madison, Wisconsin is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. MEA hired the Creative Company to produce a video celebrating this milestone.
Here's what MEA's Executive Director had to say about working with The Creative Company:
Events
Creative Company Sponsors AMA Signature Event Featuring Peter Shankman
5x best-selling author, entrepreneur and corporate keynote speaker, Peter Shankman will be the speaker at the American Marketing Association breakfast on Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30 a.m.
Peter’s talk will focus on customer service and the new and emerging customer.
With three startup launches and exits under his belt, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about the customer experience, social media, PR, marketing, advertising, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the new Neurodiverse Economy.
At this luncheon, you will learn:
- The five rules of the customer economy
- Why speed matters
- How to stay "top-of-mind" in every customers' mind
- How millennials, as well as Generations Z and Alpha, are consuming content, and how you can get in front of them
When:
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
7:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Where:
HotelRED
1501 Monroe Street, Madison
When you register, use code “CreativeCompany10” and you’ll save $10
Wisconsin Technology Council WOMEN event invitation and ESS19 Invitation
You’re invited to be part of the Wisconsin WOMEN Reception 2019 event happening at the Monona Terrace on November 6th. The WOMEN event leads into the Early Stage Symposium with the Wisconsin Technology Council. Its purpose is to highlight the contributions of women in technology. This year’s panel includes Creative Company President Laura Gallagher, Cindy Poiesz and Darcy Luoma.
Darcy will give a short keynote entitled “Pause-Think-Act: Build Your Thoughtfully Fit Core” followed by a panel discussion. 200 people are expected to attend.
For the first time, the Tech Council is partnering with WARF to include attendees from the WARF Innovation Day as well as attendees from Women’s Entrepreneurship Day’s ‘17 and ‘18 conferences.
ESS19 WOMEN’s Reception Registration: WEDWisconsin and The Creative Company attendees use Code WEDWI2019 to get in for half off!