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.
Customer Service: Just Ask Me But Ask Right
Recently, I got a call from a survey company asking me “a few” questions about local hospitals (it was more like 30). As someone who often conducts such customer service surveys on behalf of clients, I decided to participate. It was clear after a short time that the survey was about a specific local hospital trying to understand its reputation in the minds of potential consumers and how they make decisions about which hospital to select when they need one.
Storytelling: The Power of Video
Last week I spent two days on a video shoot for a piece on the importance of affordable housing. Intellectually, I understood the arguments for affordable housing and for public policies that support it. However it was this digital storytelling about people–a bank teller, a medical assistant, a grandmother–all of whom were able to reshape their lives for the better once they had a safe and decent place to live–that helped me to fully grasp the issue. Seeing is believing.
Storytelling: What If You Only Had A Sentence?
The Twittersphere was abuzz today with several posts about a website called One Sentence. It’s a place where brevity and a quick trip to the essence of the story is celebrated and honored.
Public Relations: Does a Day (or Week or Month) Make a Difference?
Last Thursday was Earth Day and there were the usual wonderful and less wonderful actions on the part of marketers, nonprofits and corporations to get in on the celebration by aligning and promoting their brand. Nancy Schwartz highlighted a number of great nonprofit efforts. On the commercial side, Leslie Kaufman wrote a piece for the New York Times about Earth Day now being big business.
Media Relations: The Moment of Truth
The bill for my Washington Post subscription came in the mail the other day and I had a decision to make. To renew or not. Until now, not renewing had never crossed my mind. Keeping up with the news is a lifelong dedication, not just a part of my media relations work.
Crisis Communications: A Calm and Steady Face
In times of crisis, people look to someone to lead them through it. Joe Manchin, Governor of West Virginia has done that well throughout the horrible tragedy at Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 miners.
Marketing: Communicator of the Week
Last week I found a marketing star in Cleveland on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. Mark, a proud member of the campus police force, made the most persuasive case for a prospective student to attend the university. We first met Mark crossing the street where he stood in his bright green vest directing traffic.
Branding Yourself: Being Memorable
This question was very much on my mind at a BNI business networking event I attended this morning as a guest. The whole reason for the gathering is to connect with others to do business. Each of the 50 or so folks in the room got 30 seconds to talk about their company so that the rest of the people in the room could think about possible referrals or other opportunities. Thirty seconds is at once an eternity and a nanomoment.
6 Strategic Communications Rules You Won’t Want to Break
Rules were meant to be broken. Not these. If you follow these, you will be well on your way to more strategic communications: better engaging of customers, clients, partners, funders or anyone else who can help you achieve your goals.
Message Development: Build a Culture of Purpose
At a workshop I facilitated for nonprofit leaders on message development and communications, I was reminded once again of the critical relationship between organizational strategy, culture and communications. The workshop hosted by Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development (CNHED) in conjunction with Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) came out of a discussion a few months ago about the potential to create a campaign to heighten the awareness of policy makers, funders and other audiences about the huge and growing gaps in the financial security of Washington, DC families.
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says: