I don’t imagine there’s a company on the planet that had a contingency plan for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nobody was fully prepared. No government. No business.
We were all caught by surprise.
This is uncharted territory.
I’ve been trying to figure this out for my own business.
And one of the tasks I set myself was to watch what’s going on in the world of marketing and promotion.
In particular, I’ve been watching the kind of messaging companies have been putting out.
As far as I can tell, the first person to talk about “mercenaries and missionaries” in the context of business was legendary Silicon Valley investor, John Doerr.
He draws the distinction between these two approaches to business and marketing in several ways.
But the passage that resonates most powerfully with me is this one…
“Mercenaries are motivated by the lust for making money; missionaries, while recognizing the importance of money, are fundamentally driven by the desire to make meaning.”
I love that distinction, simply because it rings so true.
I don’t “do” guest posts on this blog.
Except, in this case, I do.
Cindy Reed was one of the first people to enroll in the Conversational Copywriting course.
And this is the story of her own evolution from traditional copywriting to the conversational alternative.
In Cindy’s own words…
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The real power of conversational copywriting lies in identifying the conversations your prospects really want to have.
All too often it’s the marketer who decides on the topic of the conversation.
“We want to talk about our new product launch.”
“We want our prospects to engage with us in conversation about the amazing services we offer.”
Well… that’s not being truly conversational, is it?
Conversation is as much about listening as it is about talking.
It’s about taking turns.
I’ve added a chatbot to my Facebook page.
We had a conversation…
Chatbot: I’m confused. Where am I? Come to think of it, who or what am I?
Nick: You’re a chatbot. I created you to help me connect with people who might be interested in conversational copywriting.
Chatbot: Ok. Still confused. But… quick question… does this mean I’m like an AI? Am I super-intelligent?
Nick: Afraid not. No AI. No machine learning. Dumb as a post.
In this post I get to talk with JoAnna Brandi – a consultant, speaker and trainer who believes in the power of happiness in the workplace.
I met JoAnna at an event held by our mutual friends at American Writers & Artists Inc.
After talking for a few minutes, it became clear to me that she was a fellow traveller in the pursuit of positivity and transparency in the world of marketing and sales.
While there are plenty of authors and speakers on the “happiness bandwagon” these days, JoAnna stands out because she’s been speaking about Customer and Employee Happiness for over 25 years.
It’s that depth of experience I want to tap into with this interview.
So… let’s get started…