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content strategy

Creative Communications in Times of Crisis

April 7, 2020 by delta Leave a Comment

Picture it. The year is 1990, and I am a 10-year old kid–scrawny, scraped knees, bowl cut with bangs, rocking a typical outfit of neon floral jams and a Minnie Mouse souvenir t-shirt that my parents picked up at an orange stand in Florida on the way to my grandparents’ pastel colored Orlando bungalow. I have an 8-year old sister, a 6-year old sister, and a brand new baby brother.

This particular summer, a man has attempted to abduct a child in our town. It was the typical “get into my van; I’ve got candy” scenario, and the kid ran home to tell her parents but the town is still abuzz with the incident. My mom, worried because the man hadn’t yet been caught, lays down ground rules for me and my sisters while playing outside. She sequesters us to the area of the yard where she can see us from the windows while she takes care of our baby brother.

This was a massive restriction for us, because like most kids growing up in the 1980’s and 90’s, my parents sent us outside for most of the summer to play unrestricted as long as we came in by dinner time. We lived on the edge of town–in the country really–with a giant lot that included woods and a creek. Those areas were not visible from the house. They were also obviously the best places to play.  

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The Hodson Girls and their crew from 1990. Yes, we are piled up in the back of a pickup truck.

For a few days, we contented ourselves with putting on a talent show on the front steps, and playing “tennis” with books and a tennis ball against the side of the house. We rode our bikes in small circles and roller skated. It got boring really fast.

We decided this called for action. We didn’t want to spend our entire summer cooped up in the side yard in view of our mom!

What was the plan that we figured would expedite our quest for freedom? Why, catch the bad guy, of course!  

I know, I know…but we were inspired by our childhood heroes: scrappy and resourceful Kevin from Home Alone, the crime solving Nancy Drew, and the mystery cracking crew from Ghost Writer. We knew that what this crime needed was a group of smart, resourceful kids with a fool-proof plan!

Here was the plan: We gathered our red Radio Flyer wagon, some rocks, and a few jump ropes. We identified the very edge of our “safe zone” and marked it off with some sidewalk chalk. Next to this chalk line were two very climbable trees. Anne and I, as the two oldest and therefore strongest, climbed the tree with our arsenal of rocks. Julia (at age 6) was obviously the bad guy bait. We had her walk up and down the chalk line with the wagon, saying very loudly, “I’m all alone, I’m all by myself.” (Under a blanket in the wagon was the collection of jump ropes.)

We figured that the bad guy would drive by and see our irresistible 6-year old sister, broadly declaring her unmonitored status, and would have to take his kidnapping opportunity. When he attempted to grab her, we would knock him out with the rocks, and then tie him up with the jump ropes, throw him in the wagon, and cart him to our mom who would call the cops! Freedom achieved!

We worked at trying to trap the bad guy for 3 days before we got bored and moved on to other things. At some point, our restrictions were lifted and we were allowed to play where we wanted, but I can’t remember if the man was caught, or if the town just decided he’d moved on.

As an adult, I now see that our plan was ridiculous. But I am still proud of the problem solving skills that we developed and the creativity we displayed in our efforts to return to our normal childhood routine.

I see that same creative spirit rising up in people throughout the world now, in these unprecedented times of quarantine and coronavirus. Creativity and ingenuity rule the day once again! We’re throwing out the playbooks that don’t hold up in times of crisis and figuring out new ways of doing business.

One of the things that has changed most abruptly for businesses is the ways in which we attempt to connect with our clients and customers–communication styles change in the midst of crisis because they have to. Our normal marketing methods and sales strategies ring hollow when basic survival is the main goal of your day (especially if survival means trying to work from home with a 6-year old jumping off the couch arm onto your laptop. SHOUTOUT to my niece, Fiona Quinn!)

So, what are the new rules of communication? How can you continue to develop relationships between your brand and your audience when nothing is “normal”?

Here are my tips for creative communication strategies over the next few months:

  1. Get creative! Show some love, and identify with the struggle.
    Repeat after me: IT IS OKAY TO BE HUMAN! Let people know about your own struggles as a company. Let people know how you’re pivoting, where you’re coming up against frustrations, and what you’re learning. You might come up with something that would seem dumb in any other circumstances (like videos of your employees’ kitchen dance moves) but everyone is making stuff up as they go right now. Show everyone you’re just rolling with it like they are!  
  2. Connect with core values.
    What’s important to your brand and the people you serve? Check in on your values and make sure the decisions you’re making in the face of crisis are still aligned with who you are. Don’t panic–and you’ll be proud of whatever happens when all of this madness blows over.  
  3. Check your tone, and PIVOT like Ross on Friends!
    Make sure that any messaging you had in the works for the next quarter is still appropriate considering the tough times people are going through. Evaluate language, images, and timing. Do you need to adjust thing in order to ring true right now?  
  4. Turn off the bots.
    If you can, this is the time to talk to your customers and clients one on one. We are all craving human connection. We’re all dealing with frayed nerves. Choose to be a little less efficient and get on the phone or answer the emails personally. Let people know that they’re important. Listen to what they need. You never know–your next big business growth idea might come from meeting the needs of your existing clients.
  5. How can YOU help?
    What special skill does your business bring to your clients that could help others during these difficult times?
    This one is so important. We’re all facing loss of income, plans for growth crumbling around us, failure to meet our projections, and even the possibility of shuttering our businesses. The good thing is the fact that it’s happening to all of us–it’s not just your business. Do what you can to ease the burden of this for your employees and your clients or customers. I know that people are watching. We’re making choices on who we’re going to support with our own limited funds based on what we’re seeing from you. We see the companies who are taking a hit on their own profits in order to support the community in some way, and those are the companies we’re going to work with and buy from.

Keeping this last tip in mind, I want each of you to know that I’m available to help you craft the right messaging for your audience over the next quarter. If you’d like to set up a free strategy session to talk about your plans, shoot me an email at jane.p.lockhart@gmail.com and we’ll set up a time to talk. You can use this time to make your business relationships thrive, and I’m glad to help!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: challenges, content, content strategy, marketing, News, writing

The 2020 Content Action Challenge

January 9, 2020 by delta Leave a Comment

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Welcome to the new year!

Each year at JLUX Designs, we choose a word as our mantra. This year, it’s CURIOUS. And everything we’re doing this year is about testing new communication strategies, trying alternatives, improving our processes, and questioning how and why we do what we do.

We create a communications strategy for social media each year, and develop it alongside our clients in our annual Content Action Challenge. It’s all new for 2020! We redesigned every element of the Challenge–what we’re writing, how we organize our content, better and more efficient ways to post. It’s all digital (no more workbooks to fill out for your daily challenge action!) and easier to implement.

Here’s an example of what one of last year’s Challenge participants said:

“I just wanted to let you know personally how much value I’m getting from this. I really feel like it’s changing my perspective on how I look at social media, and how businesses can use it. And even for my own business–especially for my own business–you know, for awhile it was just something that was like just another thing to do. Now I see that with proper planning that it can be a really useful and viable tool to add to what I’m currently doing.”    -Amy S.

You have a few more days to join us! Fill out the form below and I’ll get you set up.

Start date: Jan. 13
End date: Feb. 7

Cost: $50.00.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: challenges, content, content strategy, writing

How to Keep Going when Consistent Content Seems Overwhelming

February 20, 2019 by delta Leave a Comment

I’m sure that you are well aware that the path you are on to finally create consistent, engaging content that connects your brand to loyal customers is going to be a tough one. That’s why you’re reading this, am I right?

You want to know exactly how to create a relationship between your brand & your audience and you want to be as authentic and “non-salesy” as possible, but you still need results.

How hard is it? Here are some ways small business owners struggle:

  • Images are responsible for 75 to 90 percent of an ad’s performance on Facebook, but if you’re not great a photography and don’t have an art department, how do you compete?
  • 50 percent of B2B buyers use LinkedIn when making purchasing decisions, but your LinkedIn page still looks like you just graduated from college and are working at that first job you had 8 years ago.
  • 68 percent of Instagram users engage with brands regularly. YOU: Really? Instagram as a business tool? Who knew?!

Yeah, getting attention through all the noise on social media is hard and building real brand loyalty with authentic content is even harder.  

There are going to be times when you just CAN’T deal with the ups and downs of trying to keep up with the pace.

  • You’ll want to buy some followers for a quick gain on Instagram.
  • You’ll want to scrap your social media altogether and just trust that the right people will find you through word of mouth.

It’s gonna suck so how do you make sure you don’t quit?

Approach #1: It’s all about focusing on WHY you want to in the first place.

Everyone has their own reasons:

  • You know your business is different and you can really help people!
  • You are so passionate about your area of expertise, you want others to follow you so
    that you can share more!
  • You need a bigger audience so that your business can grow and there are so many
    people out there to connect with!

Whatever your reasons, they have to be good and you HAVE to keep them in mind. (Hello, Post-It notes all over my studio!)

Photo by  Daria Nepriakhina  on  Unsplash

So here’s the big question: What’s your WHY for wanting to create a website or a social media page; what’s your WHY for communicating with people? What do you really want? What impact do you want to make on the world? (And, remember, you DO have an impact on the world.) We often think that just wanting the thing we want is good enough but if we are doing it for the wrong reasons or if those reasons aren’t motivating enough, it’s hard to keep the faith.

ACTIVITY TIME: Find a Post-It note or a sheet of paper and write down this phrase:  

I want to connect with potential clients/customers online because _____________________________________________________________________ .  

Look back at it whenever you are feeling like you are totally overwhelmed by the process.

BREAKTHROUGH TIME: Here are a few ways to stay focused and inspired when the process gets really hard.

Reason 1: People who need you are LOOKING FOR you to post content on social media.

When Leah posted a video on LinkedIn about her signature service, she got a message the next day that said, “I never knew you did this, and I’ve known about your business for years. I thought you only focused on one area and never helped people like me! I’ve been looking for someone like you to help me. I never thought to ask YOU.” Who is out there right now, just looking for someone like YOU?  

Reason 2: Your voice is DIFFERENT, and it MATTERS.

Have you ever had someone thank you for your input or perspective on your area of expertise? The last time I was afraid to put my voice out there involved calling someone out on how their communications affected the reputation of their organization and inviting them to think about how they could improve the relationship their organization had with the community by changing their approach. It was a tough message. But, with my perspective as someone who specializes in brand experience and content messaging, my voice mattered to them, and they took action to change. My different way of approaching a bad situation ended up being the catalyst for improvement. It mattered, and it made a difference! How can YOU make a difference?

Reason 3: The REWARDS are so POWERFUL. Relationship building is one of the most rewarding aspects of creating a business and connecting with clients and customers.

I know you know this feeling: your newest client sends you an email telling you how awesome your work was and how glad they were to hand over that tough challenge, knowing that you could take it on. They’re excited to work with you on the next project, and have a client they’d love to introduce to you because they know you could help them, too. Oh, those are just the best days I can think of! I can’t get enough of the relationship building that happens when I connect with new clients. I get to help people everyday with my expertise, as long as I keep connecting with new people and letting them know I’m here. How can YOU be more visible to your next favorite client?

You know I ALSO have your back during this really hard and overwhelming process. My March Content Challenge: ADVENTURE will take you from struggling to figure out what to post everyday to a content unicorn with a plan, the knowledge behind WHY and HOW to post, and a support system to help you shine all rainbow-y and sparkling in the eyes of your new FANS!  

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Support is also a HUGE contributing factor to being successful at creating authentic, consistent, strategic content on a regular basis. If you want to stay focused and keep building to your big goal together, sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/0dab0064ded0/marchcontentchallenge.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: content strategy, writing

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