#not when she PUBLISHED the book and reaped the benefits both financial and personal. she was being spiteful and vengeful and | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

klair-gy · 3 years

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David Walker’s “Appeal” and Its Contributions to Abolitionist Writing

Clare Gray

ENGW104

Sean Pears

September 29th, 2020

David Walker’s Appeal and Its Contributions to Abolitionist Writing

David Walker was born to a free black mother and a father who was enslaved. Because of the laws at the time of his birth in the late 1700s, Walker was a free man, but only in the sense that he was not enslaved. He moved around throughout the country, witnessing countless terrors that were inflicted upon people of African descent. In one instance, he witnessed "one disturbing episode of a son who was forced to whip his mother until she died" (“David Walker”). Walker finally settled down in Boston, Massachusetts, and opened a used clothing store. David Walker involved himself in multiple anti-slavery movements and newspapers and became the one of the most prominent black abolitionists in Boston. Walker’s pamphlet, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, was written to inspire the enslaved population of the United States as well as invoke fear in white Americans’ minds. The debate between whether or not his writing was effective in promoting rebellion continues to this day. Leonard Harris argues that Walker’s ignorance of the danger of escape diminishes his argument, while Keven Pelletier argues that Walker’s rhetoric was essential in creating change in the minds of both white and black Americans. But by analyzing Harris’s and Pelletier’s writing and comparing Walker’s purpose of writing with the very story of Moses that he quotes so often, Walker’s aim for publishing the Appeal is revealed.

Walker's Appeal is a ground-breaking piece of abolitionist work. His raw anger and passion for the freeing of enslaved people were aimed directly at the hearts of comfortable white Americans and both free and enslaved black people. His variation in typography emphasizes the urgency which is required to free the enslaved people and demand both equality and equity for all black Americans. His passion is evident through his use of exclamation points, "...Jefferson calls unfortunate ! ! ! ! ! !" (Walker 14), and his use of italics and capitalization, "Are we MEN!! ... How we could be so submissive to a gang of men..." (Walker 19-20). His use of typography helps the reader empathize with the emotions that Walker is feeling in that instance. Upon the release of this piece in 1829, some thirty years before the start of the American Civil War, white Americans, in denial of the truth that Walker had spoken, banned the Appeal from most states and blocked black sailors from sailing to the South to spread Walker's message of revolution. White Americans were in such a state of fear because Walker had exposed their hypocrisy in calling themselves Christians when Moses himself fought against slavery in Egypt.

The Appeal caused Walker to have a bounty on his head due to the danger that his words put on the entire system of the United States and what it was built on. Even though Walker's Appeal was barred from multiple states, he used his used clothing store, which was conveniently located near the water, to sew his work into the clothes that he would sell to the sailors going to the South. Not only did Walker call for the destruction of the slave trade and for slaves to revolt, but he also called for free black Americans in the North to not settle for the inequality that they also faced in real estate and in financial issues. Walker's work quickly became the foundation for more abolitionist work that called for the immediate dismantlement of the slave trade in the United States. He was able to combine the struggles of black Americans, both free and enslaved, and unite them under the common cause of revolution and the demand for equality between the races.

In 2013, Leonard Harris writes an article entitled, "Walker: Naturalism and Liberation". Harris, in a single paragraph, points out Walker's largest flaw in his Appeal: "Escape was extremely dangerous" (Harris 96). This was true during the antebellum period, those who escaped rarely succeeded to make it to the North and "associates left behind---parents, siblings, children, or neighbors---would certainly be punished and receive increased workloads" (Harris 96). In the Appeal, Walker encourages all slaves to free themselves and not wait around for white people to conclude that their centuries of enslavement were unnecessary all along. While Harris is correct in revealing Walker's flaw, there is a key point that I feel Harris ignored. Walker's idea of ending enslavement was not the only way in which enslaved people should free themselves. His writing in the simplest sense was the beginning of decades of abolitionist work. Walker's work got white Americans scared and had slaves inspired. The Appeal was the foundation for future works. Harris is right in his analysis of Walker ignoring the danger of emancipating oneself. But Walker did not know, nor did I think he believed, that one piece of literature would immediately get all slaves to escape at once. Harris has the ability to look back on history and say that for Walker to ignore the danger of escaping may make the Appeal and its calls to action not entirely attainable. For Walker and other black Americans at the time, they were nearing almost 250 years of enslavement, and even though the Transatlantic Slave Trade had been halted, the selling and purchasing of people in the continental United States was still going strong. After multiple isolated unsuccessful slave revolts, enslaved people were desperate for substantial change and unity under the common cause of revolution.

Also in 2013, Kevin Pelletier wrote an article entitled, "David Walker, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the Logic of Sentimental Terror" in the African American Review. In his article, Pelletier combines analyses of Walker's Appeal as well as the works of Harriet Beecher Stowe. While the majority of his article consists of other authors' comments on Walker’s work, Pelletier's analysis of Walker speaks most true to Walker's work and mission. He describes Walker's rhetoric as "rhetoric of terror" and that style "made it such a dangerous document in the antebellum period" (Pelletier 258). In one sentence, Pelletier's analysis of Walker's work easily summarizes what can be considered the key technique which made the Appeal so successful in pushing along so-called radical abolition writing. Walker uses direct quotations from the Bible and biblical reasoning to critique the white Christian Americans that supported and upheld the system of slavery and inequality. He reminds them of the wrath that God had inflicted upon the Pharaoh for refusing to free the enslaved people. This technique should scare any believer and make them question the actions that have been taken against the enslaved people of the United States.

Further along, Pelletier reminds the reader, "Walker faces a problem, one that antislavery reformers and sentimental writers throughout the 1840s and '50s would continue to face: namely, that white Americans are simply not feeling for or sympathizing with slaves, regardless of how pitiable or deplorable the slaves' circumstances might be" (Pelletier 259). This issue of desensitization that Walker and many other abolitionists faced is one of the main issues that cause injustice to communities of color not only in the antebellum period but in the current day. "Walker cannot simply appeal to the hearts of white readers when these hearts no longer perform their primary function as repositories of emotion and agents of sympathetic identification" (Pelletier 259), Pelletier writes. Therefore Walker's "rhetoric of terror" is essential to creating the foundation for a revolution. Because white Americans created this system of oppression and enslavement, they grew comfortable in it and reaped its benefits and do not want to disrupt their lives for a group of people they do not care for and consider subhuman. But by bringing in the idea that God will inflict his wrath upon them as he did the Egyptians, Walker became a sort of Moses for the enslaved. Pelletier accurately analyzes David Walker's Appeal and his contrasting ideas of sentimentality and terror.

There needed to be someone who would light the fire, no matter the cost. Walker risked his life and his freedom to get his message spread throughout the country knowing that one man's life in sacrifice for the safety and freedom of millions was a price he was willing to pay. Even though Walker knew that his single pamphlet would not be the sole reason for mass uprisings in the United States, the purpose of his work can be clearly paralleled in the very Book of Exodus Walker quotes in his Appeal. When Moses first asked Rameses II to free the Jewish people, Rameses refused because why would he do the work another man’s God asked him to do if he himself is a god? In America’s sense, why would the white Americans free the enslaved people if they do not even consider then to be human? Moses and his people asked time and time again for Rameses to free them and let them go to their homeland. After refusing multiple times, God set upon Rameses a series of plagues, which then resulted in Rameses freeing the Jewish people. Walker is Moses in that first instance when he asks the Pharaoh to let his people go. Walker was the first to ask the white Americans to let his people go in a way that no person had done before.

Even though his life was in danger, David Walker refused to leave Boston and flee to Canada. David never saw the beginning of the Civil War or the freedom of the enslaved. He published his third and final edition of the Appeal in 1830 and was found dead 2 months later. Whether he was poisoned or died of tuberculosis, that has yet to be determined. David Walker’s spirit is found in every abolitionist and every person who asked for their people to be let free from oppression. The continual pressure Walker and other abolitionists put on white Americans finally caused a rupture in the system; God’s wrath was set upon them. On June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, the Emancipation Proclamation was read for a final time, freeing the last of the enslaved people of the United States. David Walker’s work and the work of so many individuals were completed, their people were finally free. But for the next coming centuries, the struggle for equality and equity between the races continues.

Works Cited

Harris, Leonard. “Walker: Naturalism and Liberation.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, vol. 49, no. 1, Winter 2013, pp. 93-111 EBSCOhost, doi: 10.2979/trancharpeirsoc.49.1.93.

Pelletier, Kevin. “David Walker, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the Logic of Sentimental Terror.” African American Review, vol. 46, no. 2/3, Summer/Fall2013 2013, pp. 255-269. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/afa.2013.0079.

“David Walker.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 1998, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2930.html. Accessed 20 Sep. 2020

Walker, David. “Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829: Electronic Edition.” David Walker, 1785-1830. Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829., 2002, docsouth.unc.edu/nc/walker/walker.html.

#david walker #abolition #appeal #1800s #writing

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suzanneshannon · 5 years

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The Untapped Power of Vulnerability & Transparency in Content Strategy

In marketing, transparency and vulnerability are unjustly stigmatized. The words conjure illusions of being frightened, imperfect, and powerless. And for companies that shove carefully curated personas in front of users, little is more terrifying than losing control of how people perceive the brand.

Let’s shatter this illusioned stigma. Authentic vulnerability and transparency are strengths masquerading as weaknesses. And companies too scared to embrace both traits in their content forfeit bona fide user-brand connections for often shallow, misleading engagement tactics that create fleeting relationships.

Transparency and vulnerability are closely entwined concepts, but each one engages users in a unique way. Transparency is how much information you share, while vulnerability is the truth and meaning behind your actions and words. Combining these ideas is the trick to creating empowering and meaningful content. You can’t tell true stories of vulnerability without transparency, and to be authentically transparent you must be vulnerable.

To be vulnerable, your brand and its content must be brave, genuine, humble, and open, all of which are traits that promote long-term customer loyalty. And if you’re transparent with users about who you are and about your business practices, you’re courting 94 percent of consumers who say they’re more loyal to brands that offer complete openness and 89 percent of people who say they give transparent companies a second chance after a bad experience.

For many companies, being completely honest and open with their customers—or employees, in some cases—only happens in a crisis. Unfortunately for those businesses, using vulnerability and transparency only as a crisis management strategy diminishes how sincere they appear and can reduce customer satisfaction.

Unlocking the potential of being transparent and vulnerable with users isn’t a one-off tactic or quick-fix emergency response tool—it’s a commitment to intimate storytelling that embraces a user’s emotional and psychological needs, which builds a meaningful connection between the storyteller and the audience.

The three storytelling pillars of vulnerable and transparent content

In her book, Braving the Wilderness, sociologist Brené Brown explains that vulnerability connects us at an emotional level. She says that when we recognize someone is being vulnerable, we invest in their story and begin to develop an emotional bond. This interwoven connection encourages us to experience the storyteller’s joy and pain, and then creates a sense of community and common purpose among the person being vulnerable and the people who acknowledge that vulnerability.

Three pillars in a company’s lifecycle embrace this bond and provide an outline for telling stories worthy of a user’s emotional investment. The pillars are:

the origins of a company, product, idea, or situation;

intimate narratives about customers’ life experiences;

and insights about product success and failure.

Origin stories

An origin story spins a transparent tale about how a company, product, service, or idea is created. It is often told by a founder, CEO, or industry innovator. This pillar is usually used as an authentic way to provide crisis management or as a method to change how users feel about a topic, product, or your brand.

Customers’ life experiences

While vulnerable origin stories do an excellent job of making users trust your brand, telling a customer’s personal life story is arguably the most effective way to use vulnerability to entwine a brand with someone’s personal identity.

Unlike an origin story, the customer experiences pillar is focused on being transparent about who your customers are, what they’ve experienced, and how those journeys align with values that matter to your brand. Through this lens, you’ll empower your customers to tell emotional, meaningful stories that make users feel vulnerable in a positive way. In this situation, your brand is often a storytelling platform where users share their story with the brand and fellow customers.

Product and service insights

Origin stories make your brand trustworthy in a crisis, and customers’ personal stories help users feel an intimate connection with your brand’s persona and mission. The last pillar, product and service insights, combines the psychological principles that make origin and customer stories successful. The outcome is a vulnerable narrative that rallies users’ excitement about, and emotional investment in, what a company sells or the goals it hopes to achieve.

Vulnerability, transparency, and the customer journey

The three storytelling pillars are crucial to embracing transparency and vulnerability in your content strategy because they let you target users at specific points in their journey. By embedding the pillars in each stage of the customer’s journey, you teach users about who you are, what matters to you, and why they should care.

For our purposes, let’s define the user journey as:

awareness;

interest;

consideration;

conversion;

and retention.

Awareness

People give each other seven seconds to make a good first impression. We’re not so generous with brands and websites. After discovering your content, users determine if it’s trustworthy within one-tenth of a second.

Page design and aesthetics are often the determining factors in these split-second choices, but the information users discover after that decision shapes their long-term opinions about your brand. This snap judgement is why transparency and vulnerability are crucial within awareness content.

When you only get one chance to make a positive first impression with your audience, what content is going to be more memorable?

Typical marketing “fluff” about how your brand was built on a shared vision and commitment to unyielding customer satisfaction and quality products? Or an upfront, authentic, and honest story about the trials and tribulations you went through to get where you are now?

Buffer, a social media management company that helped pioneer the radical transparency movement, chose the latter option. The outcome created awareness content that leaves a positive lasting impression of the brand.

In 2016, Joel Gascoigne, cofounder and CEO of Buffer, used an origin story to discuss the mistakes he and his company made that resulted in laying off 10 employees.

In the blog post “Tough News: We’ve Made 10 Layoffs. How We Got Here, the Financial Details and How We’re Moving Forward,” Gascoigne wrote about Buffer’s over-aggressive growth choices, lack of accountability, misplaced trust in its financial model, explicit risk appetite, and overenthusiastic hiring. He also discussed what he learned from the experience, the changes Buffer made based on these lessons, the consequences of those changes, and next steps for the brand.

Gascoigne writes about each subject with radical honesty and authenticity. Throughout the article, he’s personable and relatable; his tone and voice make it obvious he’s more concerned about the lives he’s irrevocably affected than the public image of his company floundering. Because Gascoigne is so transparent and vulnerable in the blog post, it’s easy to become invested in the narrative he’s telling. The result is an article that feels more like a deep, meaningful conversation over coffee instead of a carefully curated, PR-approved response.

Yes, Buffer used this origin story to confront a PR crisis, but they did so in a way that encouraged users to trust the brand. Buffer chose to show up and be seen when they had no control over the outcome. And because Gascoigne used vulnerability and transparency to share the company’s collective pain, the company reaped positive press coverage and support on social media—further improving brand awareness, user engagement, and customer loyalty.

However, awareness content isn’t always brand focused. Sometimes, smart awareness content uses storytelling to teach users and shape their worldviews. The 2019 State of Science Index is an excellent example.

The annual State of Science Index evaluates how the global public perceives science. The 2019 report shows that 87 percent of people acknowledge that science is necessary to solve the world’s problems, but 33 percent are skeptical of science and believe that scientists cause as many problems as they solve. Furthermore, 57 percent of respondents are skeptical of science because of scientists’ conflicting opinions about topics they don’t understand.

3M, the multinational science conglomerate that publishes the report, says the solution for this anti-science mindset is to promote intimate storytelling among scientists and layfolk.

3M creates an origin story with its awareness content by focusing on the ins and outs of scientific research. The company is open and straightforward with its data and intentions, eliminating any second guesses users might have about the content they’re digesting.

The company kicked off this strategy on three fronts, and each storytelling medium interweaves the benefits of vulnerability and transparency by encouraging researchers to tell stories that lead with how their findings benefit humanity. Every story 3M tells focuses on breaking through barriers the average person faces when they encounter science and encouraging scientists to be vulnerable and authentic with how they share their research.

First, 3M began a podcast series known as Science Champions. In the podcast, 3M Chief Science Advocate Jayshree Seth interviews scientists and educators about the global perception of science and how science and scientists affect our lives. The show is currently in its second season and discusses a range of topics in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Second, the company worked with science educators, journalist Katie Couric, actor Alan Alda, and former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly to develop the free Scientists as Storytellers Guide. The ebook helps STEM researchers improve how and why they communicate their work with other people—with a special emphasis on being empathetic with non-scientists. The guide breaks down how to develop communications skills, overcome common storytelling challenges, and learn to make science more accessible, understandable, and engaging for others.

Last, 3M created a film series called Beyond the Beaker that explores the day-to-day lives of 3M scientists. In the short videos, scientists give the viewer a glimpse into their hobbies and home life. The series showcases how scientists have diverse backgrounds, hobbies, goals, and dreams.

Unlike Buffer, which benefits directly from its awareness content, 3M’s three content mediums are designed to create a long-term strategy that changes how people understand and perceive science, by spreading awareness through third parties. It’s too early to conclude that the strategy will be successful, but it’s off to a good start. Science Champions often tops “best of” podcast lists for science lovers, and the Scientists as Storytellers Guide is a popular resource among public universities.

Interest

How do you court new users when word-of-mouth and organic search dominate how people discover new brands? Target their interests.

Now, you can be like the hundreds of other brands that create a “10 best things” list and hope people stumble onto your content organically and like what they see. Or, you can use content to engage with people who are passionate about your industry and have genuine, open discussions about the topics that matter to you both.

The latter option is a perfect fit for the product and service insights pillar, and the customers’ life experiences pillar.

To succeed in these pillars you must balance discussing the users’ passions and how your brand plays into that topic against appearing disingenuous or becoming too self-promotional.

Nonprofits have an easier time walking this taut line because people are less judgemental when engaging with NGOs, but it’s rare for a for-profit company to achieve this balance. SpaceX and Thinx are among the few brands that are able to walk this tightrope.

Thinx, a women’s clothing brand that sells period-proof underwear, uses its blog to generate awareness, interest, and consideration content via the customers’ life experiences pillar. The blog, aptly named Periodical, relies on transparency and vulnerability as a cornerstone to engage users about reproductive and mental health.

Toni Brannagan, Thinx’s content editor, says the brand embraces transparency and vulnerability by sharing diverse ideas and personal experiences from customers and experts alike, not shying away from sensitive subjects and never misleading users about Thinx or the subjects Periodical discusses.

As a company focused on women’s healthcare, the product Thinx sells is political by nature and entangles the brand with themes of shame, cultural differences, and personal empowerment. Thinx’s strategy is to tackle these subjects head-on by having vulnerable conversations in its branding, social media ads, and Periodical content.

“Vulnerability and transparency play a role because you can’t share authentic diverse ideas and experiences about those things—shame, cultural differences, and empowerment—without it,” Brannagan says.

A significant portion of Thinx’s website traffic is organic, which means Periodical’s interest-driven content may be a user’s first touchpoint with the brand.

“We’ve seen that our most successful organic content is educational, well-researched articles, and also product-focused blogs that answer the questions about our underwear, in a way that’s a little more casual than what’s on our product pages,” Brannagan says. “In contrast, our personal essays and ‘more opinionated’ content performs better on social media and email.”

Thanks in part to the blog’s authenticity and open discussions about hard-hitting topics, readers who find the brand through organic search drive the most direct conversions.

Conversations with users interested in the industry or topic your company is involved in don’t always have to come from the company itself. Sometimes a single person can drive authentic, open conversations and create endearing user loyalty and engagement.

For a company that relies on venture capital investments, NASA funding, and public opinion for its financial future, crossing the line between being too self-promotional and isolating users could spell doom. But SpaceX has never shied away from difficult or vulnerable conversations. Instead, the company’s founder, Elon Musk, embraces engaging with users interests in public forums like Twitter and press conferences.

Musk’s tweets about SpaceX are unwaveringly authentic and transparent. He often tweets about his thoughts, concerns, and the challenges his companies face. Plus, Musk frequently engages with his Twitter followers and provides candid answers to questions many CEOs avoid discussing. This authenticity has earned him a cult-like following.

Musk and SpaceX create conversations that target people’s interests and use vulnerability to equally embrace failure and success. Both the company and its founder give the public and investors an unflinching story of space exploration.

And despite laying off 10 percent of its workforce in January of 2019, SpaceX is flourishing. In May 2019, its valuation had risen to $33.3 billion and reported annual revenue exceeded $2 billion. It also earned global media coverage from launching Musk’s Tesla Roadster into space, recently completed a test flight of its Crew Dragon space vehicle, and cemented multiple new payload contracts.

By engaging with users on social media and through standard storytelling mediums, Thinx and SpaceX bolster customer loyalty and brand engagement.

Consideration

Modern consumers argue that ignorance is not bliss. When users are considering converting with a brand, 86 percent of consumers say transparency is a deciding factor. Transparency remains crucial even after they convert, with 85 percent of users saying they’ll support a transparent brand during a PR crisis.

Your brand must be open, clear, and honest with users; there is no longer another viable option.

So how do you remain transparent while trying to sell someone a product? One solution employed by REI and Everlane is to be openly accountable to your brand and your users via the origin stories and product insights pillars.

REI, a national outdoor equipment retailer, created a stewardship program that behaves as a multifaceted origin story. The program’s content highlights the company’s history and manufacturing policies, and it lets users dive into the nitty-gritty details about its factories, partnerships, product production methods, manufacturing ethics, and carbon footprint.

REI also employs a classic content hub strategy to let customers find the program and explore its relevant information. From a single landing page, users can easily find the program through the website’s global navigation and then navigate to every tangential topic the program encompasses.

REI also publishes an annual stewardship report, where users can learn intimate details about how the company makes and spends its money.

Everlane, a clothing company, is equally transparent about its supply chain. The company promotes an insider’s look into its global factories via product insights stories. These glimpses tell the personal narratives of factory employees and owners, and provide insights into the products manufactured and the materials used. Everlane also published details of how they comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act to guarantee ethical working conditions throughout its supply chain, including refusing to partner with human traffickers.

The crucial quality that Everlane and REI share is they publicize their transparency and encourage users to explore the shared information. On each website, users can easily find information about the company’s transparency endeavors via the global navigation, social media campaigns, and product pages.

The consumer response to transparent brands like REI and Everlane is overwhelmingly positive. Customers are willing to pay price premiums for the additional transparency, which gives them comfort by knowing they’re purchasing ethical products.

REI’s ownership model has further propelled the success of its transparency by using it to create unwavering customer engagement and loyalty. As a co-op where customers can “own” part of the company for a one-time $20 membership fee, REI is beholden to its members, many of which pay close attention to its supply chain and the brands REI partners with.

After a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, REI members urged the company to refuse to carry CamelBak products because the brand’s parent company manufactures assault-style weapons. Members argued the partnership violated REI’s supply chain ethics. REI listened and halted orders with CamelBak. Members rejoiced and REI earned a significant amount of positive press coverage.

Conversion

Imagine you’ve started incorporating transparency throughout your company, and promote the results to users. Your brand also begins engaging users by telling vulnerable, meaningful stories via the three pillars. You’re seeing great engagement metrics and customer feedback from these efforts, but not much else. So, how do you get your newly invested users to convert?

Provide users with a full-circle experience.

If you combine the three storytelling pillars with blatant transparency and actively promote your efforts, users often transition from the consideration stage into the conversion state. Best of all, when users convert with a company that already earned their trust on an emotional level, they’re more likely to remain loyal to the brand and emotionally invested in its future.

The crucial step in combining the three pillars is consistency. Your brand’s stories must always be authentic and your content must always be transparent. The outdoor clothing brand Patagonia is among the most popular and successful companies to maintain this consistency and excel with this strategy.

Patagonia is arguably the most vocal and aggressive clothing retailer when it comes to environmental stewardship and ethical manufacturing.

In some cases, the company tells users not to buy its clothing because rampant consumerism harms the environment too much, which they care about more than profits. This level of radical transparency and vulnerability skyrocketed the company’s popularity among environmentally-conscious consumers.

In 2011, Patagonia took out a full-page Black Friday ad in the New York Times with the headline “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” In the ad, Patagonia talks about the environmental toll manufacturing clothes requires.

“Consider the R2 Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60 percent recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds [of] its weight in waste.”

The ad encourages users to not buy any new Patagonia clothing if their old, ratty clothes can be repaired. To help, Patagonia launched a supplementary subdomain to its e-commerce website to support its Common Thread Initiative, which eventually got rebranded as the Worn Wear program.

Patatgonia’s Worn Wear subdomain gets users to engage with the company about causes each party cares about. Through Worn Wear, Patagonia will repair your old gear for free. If you’d rather have new gear, you can instead sell the worn out clothing to Patagonia, and they’ll repair it and then resell the product at a discount. This interaction encourages loyalty and repeat brand-user engagement.

In addition, the navigation on Patagonia’s main website practically begs users to learn about the brand’s non-profit initiatives and its commitment to ethical manufacturing.

Today, Patagonia is among the most respected, profitable, and trusted consumer brands in the United States.

Retention

Content strategy expands through nearly every aspect of the marketing stack, including ad campaigns, which take a more controlled approach to vulnerability and transparency. To target users in the retention stage and keep them invested in your brand, your goal is to create content using the customers’ life experiences pillar to amplify the emotional bond and brand loyalty that vulnerability creates.

Always took this approach and ended up with one of its most successful social media campaigns.

In June 2014, Always launched its #LikeAGirl campaign to empower adolescent and teenage girls by transforming the phrase “like a girl” from a slur into a meaningful and positive statement.

The campaign is centered on a video in which Always tasked children, teenagers, and adults to behave “like a girl” by running, punching, and throwing while mimicking their perception of how a girl performs the activity. Young girls performed the tasks wholeheartedly and with gusto, while boys and adults performed overly feminine and vain characterizations. The director then challenged the person on their portrayal, breaking down what doing things “like a girl” truly means. The video ends with a powerful, heart-swelling statement:

“If somebody else says that running like a girl, or kicking like a girl, or shooting like a girl is something you shouldn’t be doing, that’s their problem. Because if you’re still scoring, and you’re still getting to the ball in time, and you’re still being first...you’re doing it right. It doesn’t matter what they say.”

This customer story campaign put the vulnerability girls feel during puberty front and center so the topic would resonate with users and give the brand a powerful, relevant, and purposeful role in this connection, according to an Institute for Public Relations campaign analysis.

Consequently, the #LikeAGirl campaign was a rousing success and blew past the KPIs Always established. Initially, Always determined an “impactful launch” for the video meant 2 million video views and 250 million media impressions, the analysis states.

Five years later, the campaign video has more than 66.9 million views and 42,700 comments on YouTube, with more than 85 percent of users reacting positively. Here are a few additional highlights the analysis document points out:

Eighty-one percent of women ages 16–24 support Always in creating a movement to reclaim “like a girl” as a positive and inspiring statement.

More than 1 million people shared the video.

Thirteen percent of users created user-generated content about the campaign.

The #LikeAGirl program achieved 4.5 billion global impressions.

The campaign received 290 million social impressions, with 133,000 social mentions, and it caused a 195.3 percent increase in the brand’s Twitter followers.

Among the reasons the #LikeAGirl content was so successful is that it aligned with Brené Brown’s concept that experiencing vulnerability creates a connection centered on powerful, shared emotions. Always then amplified the campaign’s effectiveness by using those emotions to encourage specific user behavior on social media.

How do you know if you’re making vulnerable content?

Designing a vulnerability-focused content strategy campaign begins by determining what kind of story you want to tell, why you want to tell it, why that story matters, and how that story helps you or your users achieve a goal.

When you’re brainstorming topics, the most important factor is that you need to care about the stories you’re telling. These tales need to be meaningful because if you’re weaving a narrative that isn’t important to you, it shows. And ultimately, why do you expect your users to care about a subject if you don’t?

Let’s say you’re developing a content campaign for a nonprofit, and you want to use your brand’s emotional identity to connect with users. You have a handful of possible narratives but you’re not sure which one will best unlock the benefits of vulnerability. In a Medium post about telling vulnerable stories, Cayla Vidmar presents a list of seven self-reflective questions that can reveal what narrative to choose and why.

If you can answer each of Vidmar’s questions, you’re on your way to creating a great story that can connect with users on a level unrivaled by other methods. Here’s what you should ask yourself:

What meaning is there in my story?

Can my story help others?

How can it help others?

Am I willing to struggle and be vulnerable in that struggle (even with strangers)?

How has my story shaped my worldview (what has it made me believe)?

What good have I learned from my story?

If other people discovered this good from their story, would it change their lives?

While you’re creating narratives within the three pillars, refer back to Vidmar’s list to maintain the proper balance between vulnerability and transparency.

What’s next?

You now know that vulnerability and transparency are an endless fountain of strength, not a weakness. Vulnerable content won’t make you or your brand look weak. Your customers won’t flee at the sight of imperfection. Being human and treating your users like humans isn’t a liability.

It’s time for your brand to embrace its untapped potential. Choose to be vulnerable, have the courage to tell meaningful stories about what matters most to your company and your customers, and overcome the fear of controlling how users will react to your content.

Origin story

Every origin story has six chapters:

the discovery of a problem or opportunity;

what caused this problem or opportunity;

the consequences of this discovery;

the solution to these consequences;

lessons learned during the process;

and next steps.

Customers’ life experiences

Every customer journey narrative has six chapters:

plot background to frame the customer’s experiences;

the customer’s journey;

how the brand plays into that journey (if applicable);

how the customer’s experiences changed them;

what the customer learned from this journey;

and how other people can use this information to improve their lives.

Product and service insights

Narratives about product and service insights have seven chapters:

an overview of the product/service;

how that product/service affects users;

why the product/service is important to the brand’s mission or to users;

what about this product/service failed or succeeded;

why did that success or failure happen;

what lessons did this scenario create;

and how are the brand and its users moving forward.

You have the tools and knowledge necessary to be transparent, create vulnerable content, and succeed. And we need to tell vulnerable stories because sharing our experiences and embracing our common connections matters. So go ahead, put yourself out into the open, and see how your customers respond.

The Untapped Power of Vulnerability & Transparency in Content Strategy published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

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alexsmitposts · 5 years

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Doing Away with Lame Ducks Springtime is finally here and that means that nature’s rejuvenation is bringing change to all aspects of life, including the political one. And this means that all sorts of lame ducks that have been dominating the political stage in a great many of countries will have to go, giving way to change. Among those figures leaving the political stage one can mention Hillary Clinton, who had been the main contender versus Donald Trump in the latest presidential election, as she announced that she wouldn’t consider running for president in 2020. Yet another lame duck, namely the sitting British prime minister Theresa May is clearly singing her swan song, as she reaches the point that no matter what step she takes she is unable to redeem herself. In early May, Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite is going to kiss goodbye her political ambitions, as she has clearly overstayed her welcome and can hardly come up with any better present to her compatriots than handing over all of her powers to a more worthy candidate. Grybauskaite came to power in 2009 as a non-partisan figure with a strong communist and social democratic background. The life of Grybauskaite prior to the fall of the USSR is riddled with mysteries, as there is no understanding regarding what functions she performed in the Communist Party of Lithuania, but she’s also been accused of having close ties with the KGB, as both her father and herself were employed by this agency. Moreover, Grybauskaite has been trying to abuse her position in a desperate bid to destroy all documentary evidence of her prior activities all across the Lithuania national archives for over a decade. This, in particular, was revealed by the Lithuanian journalist Ruta Yanutene who discovered missing records when she was was working on her book about Dalia Grybauskaite’s past that was published under the title Red Dalia. To a large extent, this fact was indirectly confirmed by Grybauskaite herself, who refused to provide written permission to allow the release of her records stored in the Russian national archives back in 2016. This permission was requested the signatory of the Act of Independence of Lithuania Zigmas Vaišvila who spent a number of years trying to clarify certain aspects of the dubious background of the sitting Lithuanian head of state. On more than one occasion Vaišvila would accuse Grybauskaite of working for the KGB. He has even tried to invoke a vote of no confidence, explaining his rationale by announcing that an ethically unsound person cannot represent the people of their country. There’s little doubt that in a desperate bid to escape her past, Dalia Grybauskaite has been pursuing Russophobic steps that in no way benefit the national interests of her country. But maybe she managed to redeem herself in by achieving some important milestones during her presidential stay? Let’s recall the selling points of her election campaign: real income growth, reduction of social inequality trends, fighting against corruption – all the things that must have ensured that Lithuanian patriots would become proud citizens of their country. As for actual results, Lithuania’s economic growth rates have been negligible which means that the state is facing the prospect of collapse after 2022, when Brussels will cut down on the financial assistance it provides to weak members of the union by 22%. Is it any wonder then that local residents have been leaving the country in droves all through Gribauskaite’s reign, which resulted in Lithuania losing a chunk of its population, some 300,000 representatives of its economically active population who fled to England, Ireland, Norway and other European countries. The fighting of corruption hasn’t reaped any positive results for the sitting Lithuanian government either. Last February, some two dozen judges and lawyers found themselves arrested for bribes. However, those arrests come on the back of the so-called Masiulisgate, which revealed that Lithuania’s liberal party used to sell political influence for money. This shows, that no matter what corruption-related scandals break out in Lithuania, local political elites remained deeply engaged in selling the interests of the people they were supposed to represent. Even Grybauskaite failed to escape corruption charges. As she had inside information about the timing of the loans that Vilnius receives and about the plans of the government to release its securities to the market, the president of Lithuania would make her own investments accordingly. Thus, the sitting Lithuanian president set an example of bald-faced disregard of public interests, that others were all too happy to follow. So it’s only logical that a former MEP from Lithuania, Margarita Starkeviciute accused Grybauskaite of illegal enrichment at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, adding that in the European Union such offenses are typically punished by the confiscation of property. According to a parliamentary investigation, Lithuania would turn down a loan with 1.5% interest rates that was designed to bail out her country in favor of a loan with 9.5% in interest rates. However, illicit enrichment is just an episode in a long list of accusations against Grybauskaite, that are being voiced by local residents as the date of her resignation draws closer. The only thing that the sitting Lithuanian president succeeded in was the advancement of Russophobia, as she would make one allegation about so-called “imminent” Russian aggression after another. It’s curious that she, as it’s becomes clear now, was charged by the Lithuanian communist party to fight fascist ideology in Lithuania, but upon becoming the head of the state, did her best in restoring sympathies to WWII Nazi war criminals. It was under her supervision that the glorification of the black guards of Adolf Hitler, the so-called Forest Brothers, was launched across Lithuania. Once a war criminal who maimed many of his compatriots during WWII, Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas was reinstalled as a national hero. Grybauskaite proceeded with the whitewashing of other mass-murderers. It’s noteworthy that a total of seven former Lithuanian “Forest Brothers” were awarded the Freedom Award by the Lithuanian parliament last January. However, Lithuanian anti-fascists did not forget Grybauskaite’s dissertation, “The Relationship of Public and Personal Property in the Functioning of Personal Subsidiary Farms,” in which she would reveal that more than 13,000 Lithuanian civilians, including more than a thousand minors, died a horrible death at the hands of the so-called “Forest Brothers”. This was the thesis Gribauskaite defended back in 1993 at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, with Vilnius receiving independence a long time prior to that. Here is the picture of the two-faced head of state of Lithuania. But what can one expect from a daughter of a traitor of the Motherland and a staff member of the KGB, Polikarpas Grybauskas, if we are to describe her in her own terms? At least the terms she’s been using these days.

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txks04a-blog-blog · 5 years

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It will take much bigger thinking if Canada is to compete with giants in the ideas economy

New Post has been published on http://dougsays.net/2018/11/15/it-will-take-much-bigger-thinking-if-canada-is-to-compete-with-giants-in-the-ideas-economy/

It will take much bigger thinking if Canada is to compete with giants in the ideas economy

Canada has a rich history of innovation, but in the next few decades, powerful technological forces will transform the global economy. Large multinational companies have jumped out to a headstart in the race to succeed, and Canada runs the risk of falling behind. At stake is nothing less than our prosperity and economic well-being. The FP set out explore what is needed for businesses to flourish and grow. Over the next three months, we’ll talk to some of the innovators, visionaries and scientists on the cutting edge of the new cutthroat economy about a blueprint for Canadian success. You can find all of our coverage here.

We no longer understand how to generate wealth. We think we do, but we don’t. We marvel at the ability of companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to bend economies to their will, yet we spend little time thinking about how those companies became so big.

Our lack of curiosity is impeding Canada’s ability to generate the economic growth that will be necessary to fund the healthcare system, schools and universities, and public pensions. By sticking with an outdated view of how the economy works, we are leaving money on the table. There are reasons why the biggest publicly traded company in the United States is one that fundamentally changed the way the world consumes and shares information, and the most valuable company in Canada is a bank that generates 60 per cent of its revenue at home and an additional 25 per cent in the U.S.

“We have to move beyond energy as the driver of our economy,” Wayne Wachell, chief executive of Vancouver-based Genus Capital Management, which manages assets worth about $1.5 billion, told me in an interview. “Toronto has a bunch of banks. What do the rest of us do? Sell insurance and wealth management? Nobody seems to be having that conversation. How do we make the country more entrepreneurial?”

An unexpected consequence of the media’s obsession with the NAFTA talks was that a business story became one of the most talked about issues in the country. The narrative implied either a weak grasp of how modern business works, or an unwillingness to challenge the stories of lobbyists for legacy industries.

The most valuable company in Canada is a bank that generates 60 per cent of its revenue at home and an additional 25 per cent in the U.S.

Peter J. Thompson/National Post files

In August 2017, Chrystia Freeland, the Foreign Affairs Minister, presented six broad objectives for the NAFTA negotiations, a list that she said was based on 21,000 public submissions.

First among them was a commitment to “modernize” the North American Free Trade Agreement, a commercial arrangement completed three years before Sergey Brin and Larry Page registered Google as a domain name. “NAFTA needs to address this, in a way that ensures we continue to have a vibrant and internationally competitive technology sector and that all sectors of our economy can reap the full benefits of the digital revolution,” Freeland said.

She was right. A shallow dive below the surface of Canadian hiring data would have revealed that the action in the economy was around services, including in the area that Statistics Canada describes as “professional, scientific, and technical services.”

That category is a proxy for the “intangible economy,” where wealth is generated by things such as intellectual property and work processes, rather than tangible goods such as canola and brake pads. Ocean Tomo, a merchant bank, estimates that about 85 per cent of the value reflected in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index is derived from intangible assets, compared with about 30 per cent in 1985.

The intangible economy isn’t about the future; it’s the present. Yet Freeland left the impression that her nod to modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement was to satisfy readers of the Economist, or perhaps a few vocal technology entrepreneurs.

Politicians and journalists like to root big concepts like international trade with real-world examples. Freeland is both, so it was unsurprising that she dropped the names of a few companies. Her choices were telling. She didn’t mention Ottawa-based Shopify Inc., the brightest of the new economy stars. Nor did she talk about CGI Group Inc., the Montreal-based information-technology firm that employs more than 72,000 people around the world, or Open Text Corp., the Waterloo, Ont.-based provider of data-management software.

Instead, the heroes of Freeland’s tale about why trade matters were three champions of the pre-Google era: Magna International Inc., the Aurora, Ont.-based maker of automobile parts; Pratt & Whitney, the American builder of jet engines that has a large operation outside of Montreal; and Precision Drilling Corp., the Calgary-based supplier of oil rigs.

All fine companies; but none are good examples of the kind of economy we should be striving to create.

The combined contribution of the automobile and aerospace industries to gross domestic product is less than that of the firms that StatCan bundles under the heading “computer system design and related services,” according to Stephen Poloz, the Bank of Canada governor. The oil-and-gas industry has some track left, but its ability to generate wealth likely has peaked given the global shift away from carbon. The mining and oil-and-gas industries added about 18,000 jobs from the start of 2017 through August of this year, compared with about 92,000 in the healthcare industry, according to StatCan’s monthly survey of company payrolls.

Yet we still tend to talk about ourselves as a country that derives its wealth from resources, automotive plants, and (maybe) financial services.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Carolyn Kaster/The Canadian Press/AP

At a recent event hosted by the CBC, Freeland was asked by a member of the audience what she thought Canada had gained from the NAFTA talks. She said that her “personal favourite” was the removal of Chapter 11, which allows companies to sue governments. Freeland also said that she was pleased to have gotten rid of the clause that gives the U.S. guaranteed access to Canadian energy, and that she was happy to have won enhanced market access for exports of margarine and sugar.

That was her top-of-mind list. Nothing about intangibles.

“Because of decades of failed innovation policies that completely ignored IP ownership, Canada is a large net importer of IP, so this is a bad deal for Canada’s plans to build a 21st century economy,” Jim Balsillie, the former co-chief executive of Research In Motion, the company that created the BlackBerry, said in a statement after Canada, Mexico and the U.S. agreed on a revised trade agreement at the end of September.

The way we talk about the economy matters because generating economic growth from ideas instead of goods will require different policies than the ones with which we have become comfortable.

Gina Cody, the former executive chair of CCI Group Inc., a Toronto-based engineering firm, thinks Canada’s position to capitalize on the shift to intangibles “couldn’t be better.” That’s mostly because we remain open to immigration at a time when the U.S. is issuing fewer visas, giving us a competitive advantage in the global war for talent.

But liberal immigration rules won’t be enough. Cody, who serves as chair of Concordia University’s industrial advisory council, told me in an interview that the country’s post-secondary institutions are underfunded, which is one of the reasons they end up doing deals with Big Tech that grants the rights to any IP to the non-Canadian funders of the research programs universities must offer to lure the best students.

In their book, Capitalism Without Capital, Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake argue that an economy that wants to excel in the intangible economy must be prepared to spend heavily on education. That will be a challenge. As a society, we’ve come to associate good governance with balanced budgets; the federal government and most of the provinces are running deficits, so there will be resistance to significant new spending. This problem is exacerbated by Canada’s lack of an endowment culture; Cody said she donated $15 million to Concordia’s department of computer science and engineering earlier this year partly to spur more wealthy graduates to do the same. “We need an educated population,” she said.

An employee in the “grow room,” at Scientus Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on medicines based on cannabis, at their their facility in Whitby, Ont.

Chris Young/The Canadian Press

The kind of company that a serious commitment to ideas creates looks like Toronto-based Scientus Pharma, which is close to securing a patent on a new process for extracting the active ingredients from cannabis. The company’s founders benefited from spending time at the MaRS Discovery District, an incubator for technology upstarts. The early research benefited from government grants. The company now employs about 30 people and has a new production facility in Whitby, Ont.

Har Grover, the chief executive, said in an interview that the company’s success will be depend on the extent to which its patented extraction process becomes the industry standard. (Scientus says its method ensures a consistent level of active ingredient in capsules and oils, a problem the cannabis industry hasn’t yet solved.) That will require taking advantage of the lead Canada achieved by legalizing recreational pot, and lobbying governments to apply the same standards to the marijuana industry that they demand of medicine and food.

“Canadian companies need to be aggressive about maintaining leadership,” Grover said.

Aggressiveness isn’t a trait for which this country is known, at least away from the hockey rink. We will need to be, because companies such as Scientus Pharma will be going up against international behemoths that long ago figured out that their most valuable assets were their ideas, and that the best way to protect that wealth was to set the rules by which everyone would play. Canada might have gained more access to the North American market for Canadian margarine, but the U.S. successfully extended patent protection for its pharmaceutical industry.

“It is hard to compete with giants,” said Cody. “That’s an obstacle.”

Financial Post

• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: carmichaelkevin

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topinforma · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2lWiYez

The Best Investment You Can Make Isn't in Your 401(k)

I recently spoke with a woman whose company is being acquired, and this has introduced complicated financial decisions and opportunities into her life. Her one concern about working with me is the idea of paying my monthly retainer fee (for her, $150 per month).

SEE ALSO: Knight Kiplinger’s 8 Keys to Financial Security

I get it: $150 every month isn’t nothing. But if you look at what you are currently spending your money on, how much of it is actually an investment in your most precious asset (you), and how much of it ends up in the “miscellaneous” category?

Women, particularly, don’t invest enough in themselves. And they suffer for it, financially, professionally and personally. I’m not here to be your pop psychologist, or to pitch my services. I want to talk about how to invest in yourself and why.

Invest in your health

We all have challenges in our lives. Some are short-term, but the important ones usually aren’t. I realized recently if I’m going to continue working for what I want, what I believe in, then I need to replenish myself every day.

For me, that means a morning home yoga practice, regular visits to the chiropractor, getting at least eight hours of sleep every night, and home-cooked dinners.

I fall down on these resolutions on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis. But they are the standard to which I try to return. (Anyone with a yoga or meditation practice will recognize this constant struggle as “return to the breath” or “return to the mantra.”)

Invest in your happiness

My husband is good at finding ways to invest in his happiness. He’s an avid amateur photographer, regularly writes for his photography blog and regularly works on his photography projects … all while being a stay-at-home dad to our two young kids.

This is something I struggle with, and I think I’m fairly typical for a woman. I feel I should use any “spare” time or money I have on someone else’s behalf. His dedication to self keeps him from being the surly, emotionally depleted wreck that I too often am.

So spend some money. Carve out some time. Do what makes you happy (or don’t do what makes you unhappy). It’s not an indulgence; it’s a necessity.

Invest in your relationships

This is something that my therapist is helping me learn. (I love modern life, where having a therapist is a thing of envy, not derision!) If you are not intentional about each of your relationships, they’ll be neglected.

For me, this has included marriage counseling (I cannot recommend this too highly), hiring a babysitter regularly so I can have an uninterrupted conversation with my husband, and taking every Thursday afternoon off to spend time with my elder daughter.

Invest in your career

This is something I hammer on with my clients: Your financial future is not just a matter of good financial planning. It depends on your professional success, too.

I work primarily with women in the tech industry. They are underrepresented in the higher-paying technical and leadership roles, in company ownership and in founding companies. All of this translates to less money. This community of women needs to take explicit steps to achieve professional success.

I recommend my clients intentionally cultivate a network of people who might support and guide them at every juncture. This doesn’t mean you have to glad-hand strangers at official networking events. You can thoughtfully pick out one person at a time you want to get to know better and take them to lunch.

I also encourage them to spend money on developing career skills instead of saving for retirement. No, this isn’t permission to be frivolous. If you make enough money to do both, then do it. But at age 25 or 35, spending $5,000 on conferences, a degree or classes should bring you far more money in salary over the course of your career than investing that money in your 401(k).

What skills should you develop? Whatever skills your job requires, certainly get better at those. But then there are broader career skills, like public speaking, negotiation or leadership. Take classes; buy books; hire a coach. This is not your momma’s employment landscape. (I mean, except for that pesky, persistent pay gap…)

Invest in your finances

Rule No. 1 in personal finance: Educate yourself. You need to do this regardless of whether you work with a financial professional.

I often recommend to people the following books about financial planning and investing. They’re easy to read, and inexpensive or free:

If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Personal Finance for Dummies

How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

If you’re not able, willing or interested in staying on top of financial issues that affect you, hire a planner. Maybe it’s a real cost to you. I get that. But this is very much a case of “you can’t afford not to.”

The earlier you get your finances in hand, the longer you reap the benefits. Usually people seek out a financial planner when they’re 55, wondering if they can retire. At that point, it’s a matter of “doing the best we can with what we have” and trying to undo mistakes.

If you start getting control of your finances when you’re in your 20s or 30s, then it’s all about avoiding mistakes and making the most of your opportunities. I love that about working with the early- and mid-career set: There’s so much potential.

Especially for women, this is both a protective act (far too many women cede responsibility for their finances to other people, and then are left in the lurch by a divorce, unscrupulous people or other unfortunate events) and an empowering one: If you understand and control your finances, you will be better able and more confident in taking risks and pursuing your goals.

How are you investing in yourself now? How could you invest more in yourself in the ways I’ve discussed above? Even if you’re still unconvinced that investing in yourself is worth the time and money, what can it cost to try it out for six months? A few hundred dollars? A small price to pay to find out if we can be happier, stronger versions of ourselves.

See Also: How to Build the Right Team to Manage Your Wealth

Meg Bartelt, CFP®, MSFP, is the President of Flow Financial Planning, LLC, a fee-only virtual firm that provides financial guidance to women in tech. She is a member of the XY Planning Network.

Comments are suppressed in compliance with industry guidelines. Our authors value your feedback. To share your thoughts on this column directly with the author, click here.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff.

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suzanneshannon · 5 years

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The Untapped Power of Vulnerability & Transparency in Content Strategy

The three storytelling pillars of vulnerable and transparent content

Three pillars in a company’s lifecycle embrace this bond and provide an outline for telling stories worthy of a user’s emotional investment. The pillars are:

the origins of a company, product, idea, or situation;

intimate narratives about customers’ life experiences;

and insights about product success and failure.

Origin stories

Customers’ life experiences

Product and service insights

Vulnerability, transparency, and the customer journey

For our purposes, let’s define the user journey as:

awareness;

interest;

consideration;

conversion;

and retention.

Awareness

When you only get one chance to make a positive first impression with your audience, what content is going to be more memorable?

In 2016, Joel Gascoigne, cofounder and CEO of Buffer, used an origin story to discuss the mistakes he and his company made that resulted in laying off 10 employees.

3M, the multinational science conglomerate that publishes the report, says the solution for this anti-science mindset is to promote intimate storytelling among scientists and layfolk.

Interest

How do you court new users when word-of-mouth and organic search dominate how people discover new brands? Target their interests.

The latter option is a perfect fit for the product and service insights pillar, and the customers’ life experiences pillar.

To succeed in these pillars you must balance discussing the users’ passions and how your brand plays into that topic against appearing disingenuous or becoming too self-promotional.

A significant portion of Thinx’s website traffic is organic, which means Periodical’s interest-driven content may be a user’s first touchpoint with the brand.

Thanks in part to the blog’s authenticity and open discussions about hard-hitting topics, readers who find the brand through organic search drive the most direct conversions.

By engaging with users on social media and through standard storytelling mediums, Thinx and SpaceX bolster customer loyalty and brand engagement.

Consideration

Your brand must be open, clear, and honest with users; there is no longer another viable option.

REI also publishes an annual stewardship report, where users can learn intimate details about how the company makes and spends its money.

Conversion

Provide users with a full-circle experience.

Patagonia is arguably the most vocal and aggressive clothing retailer when it comes to environmental stewardship and ethical manufacturing.

In addition, the navigation on Patagonia’s main website practically begs users to learn about the brand’s non-profit initiatives and its commitment to ethical manufacturing.

Today, Patagonia is among the most respected, profitable, and trusted consumer brands in the United States.

Retention

Always took this approach and ended up with one of its most successful social media campaigns.

In June 2014, Always launched its #LikeAGirl campaign to empower adolescent and teenage girls by transforming the phrase “like a girl” from a slur into a meaningful and positive statement.

Eighty-one percent of women ages 16–24 support Always in creating a movement to reclaim “like a girl” as a positive and inspiring statement.

More than 1 million people shared the video.

Thirteen percent of users created user-generated content about the campaign.

The #LikeAGirl program achieved 4.5 billion global impressions.

The campaign received 290 million social impressions, with 133,000 social mentions, and it caused a 195.3 percent increase in the brand’s Twitter followers.

How do you know if you’re making vulnerable content?

What meaning is there in my story?

Can my story help others?

How can it help others?

Am I willing to struggle and be vulnerable in that struggle (even with strangers)?

How has my story shaped my worldview (what has it made me believe)?

What good have I learned from my story?

If other people discovered this good from their story, would it change their lives?

While you’re creating narratives within the three pillars, refer back to Vidmar’s list to maintain the proper balance between vulnerability and transparency.

What’s next?

Origin story

Every origin story has six chapters:

the discovery of a problem or opportunity;

what caused this problem or opportunity;

the consequences of this discovery;

the solution to these consequences;

lessons learned during the process;

and next steps.

Customers’ life experiences

Every customer journey narrative has six chapters:

plot background to frame the customer’s experiences;

the customer’s journey;

how the brand plays into that journey (if applicable);

how the customer’s experiences changed them;

what the customer learned from this journey;

and how other people can use this information to improve their lives.

Product and service insights

Narratives about product and service insights have seven chapters:

an overview of the product/service;

how that product/service affects users;

why the product/service is important to the brand’s mission or to users;

what about this product/service failed or succeeded;

why did that success or failure happen;

what lessons did this scenario create;

and how are the brand and its users moving forward.

The Untapped Power of Vulnerability & Transparency in Content Strategy published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

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