Writers in the Mountains (WIM) presents Speechwriting and Storytelling with Felicity H. Barber, a weekend intensive held online Saturday and Sunday, April 22 and 23, 2023 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 noon. Once you register and pay, you will be given instructions on how to join the class.
Since the advent of TED, storytelling has become a buzzword. But it’s a trick speechwriters have been using for centuries to help speakers connect with audiences and persuade them of their message. In this intensive two-day course you will: learn the basics of speechwriting and how to use it to tell your story; learn how to take your story, structure it into something that works for an audience, and use language to make it more compelling; connect your story to a broader message that moves hearts and minds; practice telling your story to an audience. Join Felicity for this interactive session where you’ll learn the tricks of the speechwriting trade, tell some epic stories that share something important about who you are, and have some fun along the way.
Felicity Barber is Founder of Thoughtful Communications, a consultancy doing thought leadership, speechwriting, and training. She has spent more than a decade writing speeches and managing the executive communications of CEOs in financial services. Prior to starting her own business she wrote for the CEO of BlackRock, two Federal Reserve Presidents, and the CEO of Lloyd’s of London. She has won Cicero Awards for her speeches on financial regulation and culture in financial services and she is an advisory board member of the Professional Speechwriters Association. Fun fact: Felicity once wrote a book that was given as a gift to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
To register for this class, e-mail writersinthemountains@gmail.com. To register online, visit writersinthemountains.org. Class fee is $100.
Writers in the Mountains is a 501 ( c ) (3) not-for-profit organization with a mission to provide a nurturing environment for the practice, appreciation and sharing of creative writing. For more information, visit writersinthemountains.org.
As 2021 comes to an end, marketers take stock and plan for 2022 in anticipation of higher marketing budgets.
HubSpot conducted a survey with over 1,000 global marketers and identified five main trends to watch in 2022:
Short-form video
Influencer marketing
Audio content
Social responsibility
Inbound marketing
The pandemic has propelled short-form video at the forefront of digital marketing as a fun and convenient way to disseminate information. Short-form video will continue to rise in popularity in 2022.
As revealed by HubSpot, in 2021 influencer marketing has provided the highest return on investment (ROI) for marketers, and 2022 is shaping up to be an influencer marketing year as well. One trend we might notice is brands migrating towards micro-influencers as opposed to the most popular names because micro-influencers are likely to provide access to a smaller but more engaged audience.
Audio content is on the rise. Marketers have gotten comfortable with using podcasts and other forms of audio content to engage with their audiences on the go. One can listen to audio content while cooking, hiking, or engaging in other activities and avoid the screen fatigue that comes with video content consumption. 2022 will bring an even higher consumption of audio content.
Complementary brands with a similar audience or marketing goals often engage in collaborative marketing, in other words combining resources and efforts, to amplify outreach and boost sales. Benefits of collaborative marketing include reaching out to new audiences, cutting costs, combining expertise, and benefiting from brand association. Successful collaborations enhance customer experience and sometimes even offer products and services that are exclusive to the said collaboration.
As the holidays approach, companies think creatively about marketing their products and services.
Collaboration with complementary brands may include:
Pop-up stores
Joint events
Joint advertising
Exclusive deals and discounts
E-books
Newsletters
Partnership emails
Blog guest posting
Social media shout-outs
Instagram takeovers
Podcasts
Affiliate programs
Frequently bought together items on Amazon for instance may give small businesses some workable ideas.
Here are some examples of collaborations that we love:
deals and discounts partnerships between hotels and ski resorts;
joint advertising between apparel and outdoor activities;
partnerships between gyms and personal trainers;
joint events between bookstores and coffee shops;
cooking classes hosted by farms and restaurants.
Finding the right partnership is key to a successful marketing campaign. Collaborative alliances ought to be designed as a win-win situation for both parties. The terms of participation must be clarified since the get-go. Often times these efforts lead to ongoing cooperation.
Due to rapid testing and vaccination, the economy is re-opening.
So, what should your content marketing strategy look like?
Here are some ideas on what to include:
Information about rapid testing and vaccination data;
Timely updates about safety measures and protocols;
Outdoor focused activities;
Activities for small groups;
Road trip experiences (travelling without spending the night);
Inspirational stories capitalizing on pent-up demand;
Mini-series informing about what is new, and what comes next;
Virtual tours embedded on your website;
Social media targeted content (YouTube and Facebook are used by most American adults whereas Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are popular among people under 30);
Content marketing is a critical component of digital marketing given its effectiveness in increasing brand awareness, engaging online communities, generating new leads, and increasing sales.
Content Marketing Class for the Greater Roxbury Business Association
What makes content marketing effective is that people trust editorials more than they trust advertorials. In essence, content marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on creating, publishing and distributing creative content for a targeted audience to generate leads and sales while informing and entertaining. Traditional marketing focuses on pitching products and services, while content marketing focuses on publishing engaging content.
Although content marketing gained traction during the digital age, the practice is nothing new. In 1895 John Deere founded The Furrow, a magazine designed to educate farmers about the latest advancement in the field, and help them find solutions to their problems. The magazine continues to exist today, not just in print but in digital format as well; it has a large social media platform, and is published in several languages around the world. The magazine helped crystallize the John Deere brand, and grow its market.
Forms of content marketing include: how to guides, white papers, newsletters, presentations, blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, product descriptions, reviews, testimonials, and others.
#GEInstaWalk is a clever example of content marketing which allows the company’s Instagram followers to take a peek into GE’s facilities where cutting-edge technology is being manufactured. Amazon’s Building Your Book for Kindle free e-book is another clever example designed as a free guide to creating and publishing e-books. This is a great tutorial during the consideration phase when aspiring authors are weighing in their options. An example you might be familiar with is the Phyllo Shells recipes on the back of the package – the recipe itself might be enticing enough to make one buy the product, or vice versa. This isn’t something unique to Phyllo Shells however; there are plenty of food brands that offer recipes on the back of their package. It’s an ingenious form of content marketing.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s Room at The Roxbury Motel (Source: Facebook)
Two local examples that stand out are the Catskill Dream Team’s real estate blog, and The Roxbury Motel’s whimsical themed rooms as featured on social media. How to Buy a Home in One Year: A Step-by-Step Guide, for instance, educates prospective buyers, but it also builds expectations of a lifestyle, and that’s exactly what a real estate blog is about. The Roxbury Motel’s internationally renowned themed rooms also have stories to tell. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, for instance, designed as a tribute to Audrey Hepburn, has the walls stained to match Tiffany’s flagship store on 5th Avenue. The chandelier that hangs above the bed matches the mini chandelier in the Tiffany window at the opening of the movie when Audrey is eating a croissant and staring in the window. The owners of the motel confess that in their twenties they would go around Manhattan re-enacting scenes from the movie. The following Audrey/Truman Capote quote guided the design of the room: “Tiffany’s! Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that’d make me feel like Tiffany’s, then – then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.” These fun facts shared on social media are bold examples of clever content marketing.
Moz identified four phases of content marketing, which one of them carrying out distinctive goals and types of content to pursue:
Type of Content (educational): blog posts, webinars, guides, videos, newsletters, presentations, tours
II. CONSIDERATION PHASE
Goals: direct customer acquisition
Type of Content (solutions): case studies, how to guides, demo videos, product descriptions, data sheets, recipes
III. CONVERSION PHASE
Goals: customer transactions
Type of Content (unique value proposition): product descriptions, reviews, testimonials, comparison charts, direct sales pitch, streamlined sales process
IV. RETENTION PHASE
Goals: retention of existing customers
Type of Content (help, support, advocacy): customer support, help documentation, insider tutorials, special offers, follow-ups
Here are a few steps to help you design your content strategy:
Clarify your vision (three – five year plan)
Define your audience (i.e., demographics, media consumption preferences, channels, what are they looking for, who do they follow, what are their wants and needs, etc.)
Align your content style, tone and voice with your brand’s personality (set up guidelines)
Documentation (governance rules and workflow)
Content ideation, creation, promotion and distribution (team, tools and infrastructure)
Analytics (metrics to evaluate success)
Depending on the size of your project, building an adequate infrastructure will help carry out the tactics and the execution of your content strategy, both creation and distribution. Often enough the work is outsourced to content strategists, writers, editors, and coordinators equipped with tools to designing and implementing an effective strategy.
In sum, content marketing works because:
It provides valuable information;
It provides entertainment;
It sparks conversations that bring people together;
It forms communities;
It converts potential customers into actual customers;
Simona David Consulting 