WAINGER
WISDOM
In this blog, we explore what it takes to engage, inspire and connect whether you are building a personal or organizational brand.
Join us in this ongoing conversation about creating effective leadership communications with strategies and tactics that foster understanding and motivate people to act.
Join us in this ongoing conversation about creating effective leadership communications with strategies and tactics that foster understanding and motivate people to act.
Leadership Language: Word Pictures that Impress
We enjoy telling our clients, “Show, don’t tell,” when we suggest more effective ways of communicating their value. Now, how about, “Show while you’re telling?”
Message Development: More BITE in Your Communications
Sound bites are not just for media interviews. As we recently wrote in the Huffington Post, knowing how to create a powerful sound bite can help you more effectively connect and engage with your clients, donors and prospects. And they’ll be more likely to remember what you said.
Why Communications Plans Fail
Communications planning is one of the key elements of a successful marketing and public relations program. But all too often these beautifully crafted, wonderfully researched, and well-written plans simply fail to deliver. Here are six reasons why.
Leadership Language: The Power of the Oxymoron
While visiting a client whose industry has hit hard by technology and the Great Recession, he noted that things might be looking up, saying he is “cynically optimistic.” We all chuckled at hearing this turn of phrase, but the more I thought about it, [...]
Leadership Communications, Mr. President?
President Obama’s decision to appear on Funny or Die’s “Between Two Ferns” with Zach Galifianakis was a gutsy and weird decision. Gutsy, because he pushed the envelope, going few presidents have dared go before: an edgy comedy show—in this case, a place where the millennials that are so essential to the success of the Affordable Care Act are spending their time.
Communications Transparency: Big Brother is Watching
The Internet of Things is changing our lives in ways that most of us don't fully understand. With the pervasive use of location monitoring, social media and now sensors on our bodies, in our cars and our appliances, we are under surveillance constantly, for which we have volunteered.
Leadership Communications: Grace in Defeat
A great Olympic moment occurred not on the medal podium but on the sidelines as dejected snowboarder Shaun White failed to achieve his dream of capturing a third gold and earning a unique place in the history books.
Customer Service & Social Security
A trip to try to correct a mistake in my Social Security files revealed customer service at its worst and all that is wrong with the government these days—a government that seems to be inefficient, mean, and certainly not “for the people.” In fact, everything about my experience screamed in defiance of at least four of Wainger Group’s Cardinal Rules of Customer Service.
Puppies, Clydesdales Lead to Great Storytelling
The stars of this year’s Super Bowl weren’t the Broncos and Seahawks but the adorable Labrador puppy and muscular Clydesdale featured in a 60-second Budweiser beer commercial. At last count, the ad had more than 40 million views on YouTube. Pollster Frank Luntz noted on CBS This Morning that women and men in a focus group he arranged to watch the big game ads were deeply moved by it, some to tears. So why is this commercial so powerful?
Leadership Communications: The Art of the Follow-Up
Filmmaker Woody Allen once noted that, in Hollywood at least, “80 percent of success is showing up.” In public relations and leadership communications, 80 percent of success comes from following up and following through. It’s not enough to stake the claim; you also have to deliver on it.
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says: