Free Advice

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Why AEC Firms Must Use Content Marketing

I recently received a call from a client that we hadn’t worked with in 10 years. The client said, “I received one of your advice emails and it was really good. I get a lot of these from vendors and I rarely read them. But I consistently read yours because they are thoughtful, helpful, and I like your voice. Our firm is going through some strategic changes and I’d like to discuss having you help us communicate our new voice.”

I loved getting this call because:

It validated that the content I share is useful
By being myself, my voice connected with a prospect
By sharing advice on a consistent basis, it arrived when the prospect had a need for our services

The call led to a brand strategy assignment that led to two new brand identity projects, websites, and more. This reinforced my belief that Content Marketing is essential for AEC firms (and consultants like me who serve them).

What is Content Marketing?
The sharing of expertise in exchange for your audience’s attention. Also called Inbound Marketing because it pulls prospects toward you in an inbound direction. As opposed to outbound marketing channels like advertising or direct mail where your message is being pushed out towards prospects.

“Unlike traditional advertising which interrupts customers to get noticed, content marketing provides content that customers want in exchange for permission to market a product or service.” –Kiss Metrics

Content Marketing Takes Many Forms
Content Marketing isn’t new. People have been speaking at conferences and writing newsletters for the last century. What’s new is the distribution ease via the internet. I’ve listed the major forms of content marketing here (from moderate to very difficult):

Shared Images (Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, etc.)
Social Media Posts
Case Studies
Blog Posts – shorter form ~500 words
Newsletter – long form articles. 1k words +
White Papers
Writing For External Publications
Webinars
Speaking
Podcasts
Videocasts
Info graphics

Why Content Marketing Works
As you know, AEC firms have the challenge of selling expensive services on the promise of future delivery. This requires trust on the part of the buyer. Traditionally, that trust was only gained after delivering the promise of a project. Content marketing works as a shortcut to gaining a buyers trust before hiring you. The prospect has the opportunity to experience your expertise in a low risk, non-sales environment. Nobody likes to be sold; content marketing gives the buyer the opportunity to learn how you think before taking any risk of hiring you.

Content marketing works on the principle of reciprocity as highlighted in the marketing classic, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. Human are driven to resolve the inherent tension of being indebted to another. When we give away something of value (our expertise), prospects feel a psychological urge to “even the score.” Try before you buy lets prospects experience your thinking, but it also puts them slightly in debt to you.

More Benefits of Content Marketing

Pre-positions your firm – sharing content demonstrates your expertise before the RFP comes out
Having time to develop content communicates that you have a well run business
Communicates helpful confidence, not desperation
You have to do less “selling”
Boosts SEO – Google likes original content being added to your website
Educate prospects to the point where they are ready to hire you
Great content gets shared (residual exposure within your niche)
Content can, and should, be highly targeted
It makes you smarter – you gain clarity when you share your expertise with others

“The antidote to fear is knowledge. Knowledge is not complete until it is articulated and publicized.” –David Baker

Conclusion
In the race towards gaining the trust of a potential client, content marketing can provide a shortcut. It can allow a prospect to get to know you, like you, and eventually trust you enough to hire you.

Tags: Content Marketing
Posted in Content Marketing, Free Advice | 1 Thought →

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

4 Functions AEC Websites Must Serve

If you have this nagging sense that your AEC firm website could be more than an online brochure, you’re right. The modern website doesn’t sit idle waiting for the arrival of a visitor to simply confirm what they’ve already heard about your firm. When combined with narrow positioning and content/inbound marketing, a good website becomes a business development tool.

Here’s an example:

A city planner wants to know best way to gather public input for a new park being considered years from now. She searches for “public input methods for city parks” via Google. A blog post titled What Works: Public Input for Public Parks is one of many search results. Google likes to return local results so this blog post written by a local landscape architecture and planning firm (Firm X) ranks highly. The planner knows that her city will eventually need to hire a firm to design the park, so she’s curious about the perspective of Firm X. The Planner clicks the link and is directed to the blog section within the Firm X’s website. The blog post offers several insightful suggestions that make the planner look good when she recommends these ideas to her Planning Commission. At the end of the post, there are links to similar articles. She is too busy to read them now so she bookmarks the links. Knowing that she will forget about these bookmarks, she subscribes to the firm’s newsletter. Now she won’t have to remember to go back to the firm’s blog because useful articles will show up in her email in-box. Her contact info automatically gets entered into Firm X’s CRM. The park project is put on hold and a year goes by. The city now plans to create a walking trail and puts out an RFP for design. Since she regularly receives free valuable advice from Firm X, the city planner sends them a link to the RFP. Firm X wins the job in the presentation interview because the selection committee felt like they knew and trusted Firm X after hearing a Principal speak on Trends in Trail Design at a recent conference.

The best professional service websites attract the unaware, demonstrate your expertise, connect personally, and convert visitors into prospects.

Attract
If your firm is clearly and narrowly positioned to attract a specific audience, then your website can reach and engage the unaware. These visitors may be potential clients or employees. Both are important to the success of your firm.

A benefit of knowing your target audience is knowing what keeps them up at night. Searchable and optimized content on your website that soothes client pain points will increase your odds that unaware prospects find you. Once they find you, they will devour your content because it seems like it was written just for them.

“A main opportunity is to attract the unaware: those who need your expertise but are unaware you exist or not considering you.” –Mark O’Brien, Author of A Website That Works.

By regularly adding unique, expertise-based content to your site, you will boost SEO. You begin to convey to Google who you are, which helps Google send the right visitors. The visitors like your content because it feels customized for them. Then visitors start linking to your content. Google notices this and increases your search rankings.

Demonstrate Expertise
A good website can allow someone to get to know (as described above) to like to trust your firm. This happens by demonstrating your expertise in writing. This can be blog posts, white papers or monthly newsletters. Make sure the content is indexable (not a PDF), so Google, and visitors, can find it.

A commitment to regularly adding valuable and searchable content to your website demonstrates your expertise and works to pre-position your firm as a leader before the RFP comes out. Content marketing is so critical for professional services because we are “selling the invisible.” Buyers can’t see, touch, or test our services before they buy. Content marketing is a no pressure, non-sales manner for prospects to understand how you think, what you believe, and how you’ve solved previous problems.

Creating engaging content is hard to do. Most will give up after a few months. This is an opportunity to stand out.

I recommend starting with writing a blog. then graduate to:
• quarterly webinars
• white papers
• speaking where your clients gather
• videos & podcasts

Connect
The mantra I hear repeated is: A/E/C marketing is a relationship business. People do business with people they know. Yet, I’m shocked how many firms are unwilling to highlight firm leaders on their website out of fear that this talent will be poached. Guess what? Your competition already knows who your leaders are. If your leaders’ loyalty is so fragile that an email from a competitor will cause them to jump ship, then you’ve got bigger issues.

While there is no substitute for meeting someone in person, you can begin a relationship by making an emotional connection online. No, not online dating. Do this in the People section of your site by showing some personality. We recently designed a site where we asked magazine style questions to the leaders. You could also use a video of someone telling a client story. Avoid the cold bio with only facts. Avoid the stiff headshot where everyone looks the same. Give website visitors a reason to like the people that they may eventually work with.

ARUP lets visitors get to know leaders in their own words using video.

Convert
The sales cycle for professional services is long and involves multiple steps. Nobody is going to visit your site and wonder where your shopping cart is so they can purchase your services with PayPal. However, in exchange for your valuable content, visitors are willing to give you their trust and attention in the form of their name and email address.

You may be reluctant to place sign-up forms on most of your pages, because you feel it is too “sales-ey” for a professional service firm. Get over this concern. Visitors won’t go to all the pages on your site so you don’t want to miss a conversion opportunity by only putting a sign-up form on your Contact page. If you are offering valuable content, you are helping visitors by allowing them sign up for your e-newsletter. Then they don’t have to remember to go consistently return to your site.

Conversion should be accomplished through a clear, concise and compelling call-to-action form (see below). The form should include Name and Email (no more) and a link to examples of the type of content they will receive. Keep the form concise to minimize resistance in the sign-up process.

Sign-up form for Randall Lamb

Since the sales cycle is long, it’s critical to get someone into your CRM and put them on a consistent drip of valuable content. When they become ready to buy your services, your firm will remain front of mind.

“No single piece of content, no matter how excellent, will be as successful as a steady, long term flow of quality content.” – Chris Butler, Author of The Strategic Web Designer

Conclusion
Websites have evolved from passive brochure-ware to active lead generating tools. Here are some A/E/C industry examples of sites doing this well:
Randall Lamb Engineers
Array Architects
DPR Construction
ARUP

Posted in Free Advice, Web Site Design | Post your Thoughts →

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

SEO for AEC Firms

When we develop websites for AEC firms, the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) usually comes up in the project kickoff meeting. Our client, the Director of Marketing or CMO, needs to respond to the CEO, who has asked, “Can we get to the top of page one of Google search results with this new website?” Probably Not. For most generalist AEC firms, spending a lot of time and dollars on SEO doesn’t make sense.

Your clients don’t search for: “architecture firm,” view the search results, go to a website, select your services in a shopping cart, and then click “buy” at check out. But if your firm has specialized expertise and a content marketing program (it should), then SEO makes sense. This post shares how adding valuable, unique content, and then optimizing your pages, can help you attract searchers that arrive at your site already hungry your firm’s expertise.

“SEO only works for Professional Service firms when combined with a narrow focus and regularly adding expert content that is helpful to your target audience. A modern website requires a commitment to specialization and a commitment to writing.” – Mark O’Brien, CEO of Newfangled and author of A Website That Works.

Note: I use Google in this post as the defacto search engine because they currently have an 84% market share. While Bing is gaining momentum, if you adhere with Google SEO practices, you will be well positioned with Bing and others.

What To Do
• Add unique, valuable content informed by your expertise to your website blog
• Optimize each page of your website
• Google indexes this content, and brings interested searchers to your site
• Searchers arrive impressed with your helpful expertise
• They sign-up for your newsletter or RSS feed, and tell their colleagues about your site
• Colleagues start linking to specific pages in your site
• Google indexes more frequently, and increases your rankings

What to Avoid
• Hiring an expensive “SEO Expert” promising to put your firm at the top of page 1.
• Trying to outsmart Google. You will not.
• Trying short term tricks that could get you “blacklisted” from Google.
• Developing a “magic keyword list” assuming it will automatically drive your listing to page 1.

How To Optimize Your Pages
Here are the six items you should pay attention to when optimizing your web pages.

1. URL – Uniform Resource Locoator or Page Link
Appears: Title Bar (see red arrow below)
Length & Format: As short as possible to describe page
Concept: friendly, english (not code), concise, keyword-rich
Example: http://www.lecoursdesign.com/about/clients/
Best Practices: Have developer give you complete control over all URLs through your CMS
Avoid: http://yourname.com/main.cfm?&projDetail=1&thesection=projects&projView=
service&thesubsection=Federal&thepage=02Fort%20Huachuca%20Military%20.html

2. Page Title
Appears: Browser Bar & link text in Google results (see red arrow below)
Length & Format: Up to 70 characters
Concept: Keyword or Phrase, Keyword or Phrase, Keyword or Phrase
Example: Grateful for Great Clients
Best Practices: Accurately describe page content, unique for each page, More important keywords towards front, think like a searcher
Avoid: A single tag across all your pages, long confusing titles

3. Meta Description
Appears: black text in Google results (see red arrow below)
Length & Format: Up to 155 characters
Concept: Compelling ad copy that inspires user to click
Example: Home: LecoursDesign is a brand strategy firm serving the AEC Industry. We help clients tell their story to win new business.
Best Practices: Accurately summarize page content
Avoid: only keywords, generic descriptions, quotes

4. H1 Tags
Appears: Headline title on each page (see red arrow below)
Length & Format: No more than 1 line, could be 1 word
Concept: Compelling headline that ideally contains primary keyword for that page
Example: Contact
Best Practices: Every page needs a unique H1 tag
Avoid: making H1 tags exact copies of page titles

5. Meta Keywords
Appears: n/a
Length & Format: 10-12 words or phrases comma separated
Concept: primary keyword, secondary keyword, etc.
LecoursDesign Example: Brand Strategy, Branding, Logo, Web Design, Website Development, AEC Marketing, A/E/C Business Development
Best Practices: Think like a searcher. What words would they use to find you. Unsure about which words to use? Use http://www.google.com/trends/. For example, I was unsure about which keyword is searched for more frequently: brand or branding. Below are the results:

6. Body Copy
Write compelling content that is helpful to your audience. Speak directly to your reader by identifying their pain points and offering solutions. This post is an example. I heard from several clients that they were confused about SEO so I wrote this post to help them. Use keywords in your body copy but only when they make sense. In other words, don’t keyword stuff at the expense of good writing. You want incoming links and nobody will link to your copy if it isn’t readable. In short, if your content isn’t good enough to attract natural links, it doesn’t matter how “optimized” that content is. Finally, make sure content is indexable, not PDFs, movies, image files, etc. A quick way to test is to place your cursor over the text and try to select it. If successful, then it’s indexable.

The Opportunity
The main opportunity with search is attracting potential clients that value your expertise, are unaware of you or your current services, or are considering hiring someone else. It’s unlikely that you’ll convert them on the spot to become a client. But, a relationship with this potential client must start somewhere. Content Marketing + SEO can be the first step in moving this searcher from prospect to client by getting to know you, to like you, to trust you, and eventually hire you.

Want More

SEOmoz – Beginners Guide to SEO

Copyblogger - SEO Copywriting Made Simple

A Website That Works by Mark O’Brien

The Strategic Web Designer by Chris Butler

Posted in Free Advice, Web Site Design | 1 Thought →

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

How To Craft AEC Stories That Win New Business

Marketers are buzzing about “story.” Ten years ago, we were frothing about “branding.” Like “branding,” I’m concerned that the term “story” is being applied too liberally, and will lose its credibility. To avoid this, we need to be precise when referring to “story.” Story has a definite structure. By learning this timeless structure, all AEC marketers can better tell stories to win new business.

Robert McKee, a Fulbright Scholar praised in Hollywood for his consulting on narrative structure defines story as “the expression of how and why life changes. A story begins with balance, then something throws life out of balance, then a story goes in to describe how balance is restored.”

In previous posts, I shared why AEC Marketers should use story (the why), and the three stories we must master (the what). Now, I’ll recommend how to craft your stories (the how). Story structure will make your stories, and firm, more memorable. Stories move a prospect along the continuum of getting to know, like, and trust you, and your firm. Well constructed stories filled with emotion and vulnerability build relationships. As you know well, relationships win new business.

Story Structure 101
After reading a gripping novel or seeing a moving film, have you ever wondered if there is a secret formula for story success? There is, and it’s no secret. You may have heard of the famous 3 act play: Introduction, Rising Action, Resolution. I prefer the structure below from What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Mike Bosworth and Ben Zoldan. These 5 stages are the “secret sauce” for all great stories. I’ll use an example of an AEC “Who We’ve Helped Story” to illustrate these 5 stages.

Setup – This is where you drop your listener into your story. Quickly ntroduce your characters, location, and any relevant background information. To make your protagonists likable, share what makes them human (dreams, fears, desires, etc.). The audience needs to connect with your project team and want them to succeed.
Conflict – If there is no struggle, there is no plot. It just isn’t interesting. There needs to be something formidable that stands in the way of your project team’s success. In the AEC world, this could be timing, personalities, budget, politics, or physical constraints.
Turning Point – Stories are explanations of how and why life changes. This is the aha moment that changes your team. This could be some new insight that alters how your team solves problems on the job site, or the reason why you entered a new market. The turning point could even be an epiphany that changed the strategic direction of your firm.
Outcome – This is an untangling of events in your story. Think of movie credits rolling where we learn what your favorite characters are doing with their lives today. The resolution explains how your story ends and what effect the experience has had on your team.
Your Point – In this stage, you reinforce your theme or point of your story. This is often a core belief or value that your firm holds. If your firm has a new way of delivering projects, this is where you would share that process. It might sound something like this, “as a result of what we learned by continuously overcoming X, our firm believes that Y not only is the best way to deliver projects, but it also separates us from our competition.

Recommended Story Development Process
The way in which you develop a good marketing story is not the order in which you ultimately write or tell that story. Because clarity and brevity are so important in marketing stories, write or tell the story in chronological order (stages 1 thru 5 above). Develop the story in this order:

Your Point – Ask yourself, “why am I/we telling this story?” Possible answers may be to share your impressive safety record, demonstrate your creativity, or persuade that your project delivery method saves money. Always start with why.
Outcome – To make sure your story ends in a way that supports your point.
Setup
Conflict
Turning Point

Now you have the key elements, practice writing or telling the story in chronological order.

Share Emotion
Great story structure without emotion is like a jumpy house before it’s been inflated. Emotion gives it life, makes it interesting, and ultimately memorable. There are 6000 words in English to communicate emotion. Use them to describe how your main characters feel, not just what happened. If you just recount the facts, expect to put your audience to sleep. Consistently ask yourself, how did your protagonist feel at each stage of the story. Feelings are the glue that constructs real and likable characters. Emotional connection is also what makes your story, and your firm memorable.

Reveal Vulnerability
This is the hardest thing to do for AEC firms. Our work is so highly technical, and we are consistently asserting our expertise, that to reveal vulnerability seems weak. But we actually gain power when revealing vulnerability. Try this with a friend. Reveal something you may be struggling with, or a mistake you’ve made and watch what happens. Because of what neuroscientists call mirror neurons, your friend will most likely share something vulnerable in return. In simple terms, this “monkey see, monkey do” behavior is a mutual exchange of emotion. This is the definition of a relationship. By telling your story, your prospect may tell you their story. This is where you learn what your prospect’s pain points are, and what you can do to solve them. It takes courage, but going first in revealing vulnerability, is critical. You establish that it’s safe to be real, that your prospect can trust you with their authentic story. It’s counterintuitive, but vulnerability makes you more likable, not less. Perfection is boring, stiff, and lifeless. It’s our imperfections, that make us likable. Stories about when your firm made a mistake, what you did to correct that error, and what you learned, are incredibly powerful relationship builders.

Nothing is more intimidating to a writer than a blank sheet of paper. My intention is that this post serves as a template for you to jump-start your stories. By utilizing a proven story structure, and integrating emotion and vulnerability, you will create stories that elevate your firm’s proposals, presentation interviews, and websites to win new business.

What Do You Think?
Does having a structure constrain or enhance your creative storytelling?
Any examples of where you’ve revealed vulnerability, and it’s helped or hurt you?

Related Posts
Why AEC Marketers Must Master The Power of Story (The Why)
3 Stories AEC Marketers Must Master (The What)

Recommended Books on The Power of Story To Win New Business
What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Mike Bosworth, Ben Zoldan
The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph w/ Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber
resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan and Chip Heath
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Dan Pink

Tags: A/E/C, Branding, David Lecours, LecoursDesign, marketing, professional services, SMPS, Story, Story Structure
Posted in Free Advice, Story | Post your Thoughts →

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

3 Stories AEC Marketers Must Master

As mentioned in the previous post, Why AEC Marketers Must Master The Power of Story, stories that connect on an emotional level are persuasive. But does this mean stories about your cat will help you win new business? No, there are three specific stories all AEC Marketers should master. These are the About Me, About Our Firm, and Who We’ve Helped narratives. Telling these stories well will make you and your firm more memorable, build authentic relationships, and demonstrate your ability to solve problems that prospective client may be facing.

Where To Tell These Stories:

The About Me Story
This is the story that introduces you to someone new. You want to make your first impression memorable and meaningful because people hire people they know (and trust). The only way to build trust is to share who you are in an authentic manner. The key to this story is to move beyond a list of your accomplishments, or a chronology of your work experience. Cold facts lack the emotional impact needed to connect with your audience.

The point of the About Me story is to explain why you do what you do. For example, tell why you are a marketer for an architecture firm that specializes in higher education. Once you answer why you do what you do, go back and build your story to arrive at this conclusion. For more information on story structure, read this post: How To Structure Stories To Win New Business.

The following story archetypes can give your About Me story a head start in connecting with your audience because there is built-in familiarity. The challenge plot has you overcoming a formidable challenge. Examples include David vs. Goliath, any underdog, or Star Wars. A rags to riches plot describes you as a normal person achieving something extraordinary. Examples include Cinderella, Annie, or Oprah. The what I’ve learned plot shows you, as the main character in struggle (often with yourself). An example of this is Abraham Lincoln and what he learned from the many failures he overcame.

David Lecours’ About Me Story Example

The About Our Firm Story
This is the story of your firm’s journey. Try to resist a historical timeline. A better approach is to focus on a few key milestones that add emotion, not just facts.

The About Our Firm story doesn’t tell what your firm does, or how, it tells why. The point of this story supports the purpose of your firm. For example, KAA Design’s purpose is to “design beautiful warm contemporary homes that enrich people’s lives.” Their next step to develop their story is to mine the company history for events that led them to arrive at this conclusion.

A good story involves conflict. This could be an internal strategic struggle such as trying to be experts in too many market sectors. Or, this could be an external struggle such as responding to a changing marketplace. Companies typically resist including struggle in their stories because they fear it will make them appear weak. But the opposite is true. Showing vulnerability adds power by showing that your firm is real and can overcome challenges.

There are a couple of timeless story archetypes that fit really well for About Our Firm stories. A vision plot that describes the future of your firm or the future your firm can create if hired. The recommendation here is to take a bold position, be polarizing. People don’t follow tepid leaders. A great vision plot is the I Have a Dream speech from Martin Luther King Jr. This vision plot is great for attracting likeminded clients and employees.

A revenge plot can be effective. Apple employed this strategy in their famous Mac vs. PC ad campaign. It can be more effective for AEC firms to seek revenge on a societal or building problem, not a competitor. For example, if sustainability is a core value of your firm, then taking revenge on inefficient buildings and climate change is a compelling story.

The Who We’ve Helped Story
This is not one story, but a series of short stories. These stories are so essential for Professional Service firms to tell because they demonstrate your ability to solve problems that prospective client often face. It allows prospective clients to see how your firm thinks, and deals with problems.

All you can sell is a future promise. The best way to demonstrate a future promise is by telling stories of your firm fulfilling past promises.

Challenge plots work well because they demonstrate overcoming adversity. Another option is the classic love story plot where boy meets girl, boy messes it up, boy works hard to get her back. This is a great opportunity to show vulnerability. Aquatic Design Group tells a story of specifying a pump that their vendor recommended without doing their own due diligence. The pump turned out to be insufficient for the massive university swim stadium they had designed. Aquatic Design Group took responsibility for the error, had the pump replaced at their own expense (costing half of their design fees), and won lifelong loyalty from the client.

Mine your past projects for bright spots. Share stories where clients adopted your firm’s unique value proposition, and how they benefitted. Develop your story by first establishing your point: why the client chose to hire your firm. The resolution is how your firm delivered, and what benefits the client received as a result.

I recommend that you have a Who We’ve Helped story for each of the main objections you consistently hear in your business development efforts. For example, if you consistently hear that your fees are higher than your competitors, share the story about how a previous client had the same concern, and how your firm added so much value to their project that any incremental fee difference more than paid for itself.

Randy Mendioroz, Aquatic Design Group, Who We’ve Helped Story Example

Conclusion

As Professional Service Marketers, our enemy is commoditization. Stories are the antidote. Nobody can legitimately tell your About Me, About Our Firm, and Who We’ve Helped Stories. Your stories are unique and they will set you apart from your competition.

What Do You Think?
Have you used one of these stories? Was it effective?
Did telling your story inspire your prospective client to tell you their story?

Next Posts To Read
Why AEC Marketers Must Master The Power of Story
How to Structure Stories To Win New Business (coming soon)

Recommended Book That Inspired This Post
What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Mike Bosworth, Ben Zoldan

Tags: A/E/C, AEC Marketers, Business Development, David Lecours, LecoursDesign, marketing, Story
Posted in Free Advice, Story | 2 Thoughts →

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Why AEC Marketers Must Master The Power of Story

As AEC Marketers, we are in the business of persuasion. Aristotle, the father of persuasion, defined it is a combination of logic (logos), emotion (pathos) and credibility (ethos). Our industry is really good at two out of three of these tactics: logic and credibility. But 67% would earn us a “D” if enrolled in Persuasion class. We must connect emotionally to be fully effective. Story is the perfect vehicle custom-built to deliver emotion.

Is emotional connection too squishy, warm & fuzzy, Kumbaya for the AEC industry? No, we are already using it. Our industry is built on relationships. How are relationships built? By creating positive emotional connections one person at a time.

Stories Help Us Lead
Quick, who are the greatest leaders in American history? I’ll wait for you to list three. Your list might include Kennedy, Lincoln, or Martin Luther King because a common skill among great leaders is the ability to tell stories. This extends beyond politics. When musicians, actors and athletes use story: as defined as authentic expression that moves audiences on an emotional level, they become idols. While our goal may not be hero worship, storytelling helps us lead in business too. Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer of GE says, “you must first tell a story, before you can sell a story.” Leadership and storytelling are inseparable. Plato said, “people that tell stories rule the world.” Which market would you like to rule?

Story Allows Us In
Nobody likes to be sold. We feel manipulated. Our audience keeps their defenses up against our persuasive charm. But story can let you in. When people listen to, or read a story, they become physically more receptive. They relax their shoulders, release their jaw, and even lower their heartbeat. Story also induces mental relaxation. Listeners become less analytical and can reach a trance-like state. This is why parents read stories to their children before bedtime. Story connects to the subconscious and imagination centers of the brain. Story, like a Trojan Horse, gets us inside the gate to then move our audience to act.

Story Moves Our Audience to Buy
Human beings liked to be moved on an emotional level. It makes us feel alive. We seek out emotional experiences on the page, stage, screen and stadium to escape from our overly logical lives. While logic makes people think, emotion makes people act. We purchase using emotion and later justify with fact. Think about the last big purchase you made. Maybe it was a house or a car. Sure, you did logical research. If you are really nerdy, you created a spreadsheet comparing positive and negative attributes among your choices. But, when you had to decide, you probably went with your gut. You walked into your new house and it just felt right. Selection committees don’t choose a firm solely based on lowest fee (a logical decision). Emotional connection, a feeling that the team will be great to work with, influences the final decision.

As Professional Service Marketers, all we sell is a promise to deliver. This promise must be credible (your firm’s reputation) and logical (proven project delivery method). These two attributes will get you on a short list. Harnessing the power of story to connect emotionally can win you the work.

Next Post To Read
How to Craft Stories To Win New Business (coming soon)
The 3 Stories AEC Marketers Must Master

Books That Have Informed My Thinking on Storytelling To Win New Business
What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Mike Bosworth, Ben Zoldan
Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell the Best Stories Will Rule the Future by Jonah Sachs
The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber
resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan and Chip Heath
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Dan Pink

Your Thoughts?
Has your firm used story to win new business?
When have you used story? In bios, project sheets, firm overviews, presentation interviews?
Do you find written or oral stories to be more effective?

Tags: AEC Marketers, B2B Sales, Branding, Business Development, David Lecours, emotional connection, LecoursDesign, professional services, Story
Posted in Free Advice, Story | Post your Thoughts →

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

5 Symptoms of an Expired Website

Websites should have an expiration date. You can’t afford to let a prospective client’s first impression of your firm be spoiled. Since web technology is constantly evolving, it’s critical to keep your site fresh. How do you know when it’s time to redesign your site? Here are the top 5 symptoms LecoursDesign sees when AEC firms come to us to update their site. A properly designed site will eliminate these maladies to help your firm attract great clients and talent.

1) Where You Were, Not Where You’re Headed

If your site communicates where your firm was three years ago, not where it’s going to be in three years, it’s time to update your site. There is a good chance that the strategic direction of your firm has evolved since you created the last version of your site. You may be pursuing new markets, have new leaders or projects, or offer new services. An effective site is a beacon that transmits your strategic plan three years into the future.

Solution: Great clients and talent are attracted to firms that have a clear vision of where they are headed. Update the copywriting and design of your site to look forward, not backward.

2) You Have To Call Your Web Designer to Make Simple Updates

You may have a new project, person or press release that you want to add to your site. You know how easy it is to make these simple updates on your personal blog (or so you’ve heard). So, it’s frustrating that making simple content updates on your firm’s website requires you to hire your web designer to make these changes. Your web designer is busy so it takes a couple weeks and costs you more than it should. There has got to be a better way.

Solution: There is a better way. Redesign your site to incorporate a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is an easy-to-use back end to your site that allows you to make content updates without having to know code.

3) Your Site Doesn’t Have a Blog

Your site may have a News category because it sounded good at the time, but nobody in your firm is responsible for updating this section. As a result, the latest news item is dated 2009, sending the message that your firm hasn’t accomplished anything noteworthy since the previous decade. Or, maybe you have Thought Leaders in your firm who are speaking at conferences or writing articles or white papers but that content dies after being delivered. You never recoup a return on the investment of preparing the article or presentation.

Solution: Your thought leadership content should live indefinitely on your site in a blog. This will boost the likelihood that a prospective client will find your firm when Googling for topics covered in your blog posts. Experts call this Content Marketing, an effective way to move a prospective client from getting to know, to like, to trust your firm.

4) Weak Visual Impact

A sure sign of a dated site is one that is stuck in the upper left corner or a site that features only small, unimpactful photography. Websites used to be no more than 800 pixels wide to ensure fast loading for those on dial-up modems and with small screens. Your clients now use broadband and have bigger monitors and browser windows so it’s time to grow the size of your site.

Solution: Redesign your site to be 960 pixels wide or larger. It should re-center, or scale, as you increase the size of your browser window. Even if the whole site doesn’t fill the entire browser window, it should feel like it occupies the space with the confidence of a strong presence. Show off your projects with the powerful photography that they deserve.

5) Mobile Unfriendly

As you may know, sites built entirely on the Flash platform are not viewable on iOS devices (iPhone and iPads) unless the designer created an alternate iOS friendly site. Another issue with your current site may be that the navigation or design elements depend on rollovers or clicks of a mouse. This is a problem for mobile friendly sites that depend on touch as the primary user interface device.

Solution: Redesign your site to be mobile friendly. “Web Everywhere” is the new mantra and mobile devices will only increase their presence in our lives. If your site will primarily be viewed via mobile devices, consider creating an app, or a custom mobile site that delivers content specifically designed for that device. At minimum, make sure your site is mobile friendly to deliver your content effectively to a prospective client or employee.

Websites should be considered a living entity. As such, they have a lifecycle. If any of the above symptoms are present in your site, then your site is in decline. It’s time to consult your friendly web developer to provide an audit your site.

Posted in Free Advice, Web Site Design | 4 Thoughts →

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Slide Presentations Like a Pro: Roles

Within a monarchy, it’s essential to know your role. The same is true for great PowerPoint style slide presentations. Your effectiveness as a presenter will increase royally by understanding the purpose and relationship of 3 key roles: Audience, Presenter, and the Presentation.

Your Audience is King
The only reason your presentation exists is to serve the King (your audience). Too many presentations fail because they are all about the presenter. When this happens, the King will demand your head. A great way to keep your head is to check your ratio of I/we to you. Use the word “you” at least three times as much as the words “I” or “we.”

As you develop the content of your presentation, keep asking yourself, “how does this serve my King?” This will be your filter for deciding what gets included in your presentation.

Your audience is a dubious King who wants to know why he should listen to you. To establish credibility, have someone else introduce you prior to going on “stage.” You must also be likable. Showing authenticity and vulnerability through personal story or self-deprecating humor is effective. The dubious King must then be persuaded why he should adopt your point of view. A combination of logical and emotional argument is best. Once the King likes you, decides to adopt your point view, then you must define the next action for the King to take.

The Presenter is the Star
As the presenter, you are the Star hired to entertain, inform, or persuade the King. The King has come to see you, not your slides. Presenters often make the mistake of thinking their slides are the star. Don’t hide behind your slides believing they will perform for you. If, in your presentation, you simply read your slides, then do everyone a favor by canceling the presentation and send them a PDF. Think of your slides as scenery that supports your performance.

The Star deserves a spotlight. Presenters often make the mistake of turning off the lights to make their slides look better. Remember, you are the Star, not your slides, so make sure you are well lit. This will keep the audience awake and allow them to connect with you. Today’s projectors are powerful enough to project your slides, even in a well lit room.

You need to put on a show. All business is show business. You can still be authentic, but think of your delivery as a heightened version of you. Ramping up your enthusiasm, vocal variety, storytelling, dramatic effect is expected of you. This takes practice and knowledge. If you need help in this area (I certainly did), then I recommend joining a Toastmasters Club. It’s a fun, safe and engaging way to elevate your charisma in front of an audience.

Your Presentation is a Present
As the Star, you are giving a present-ation to the King. The King doesn’t like to be confused. So it must be incredibly clear why you are giving this present, what this present is, how it will benefit Your Majesty, and what the King is supposed to do next with your present.

First, decide what the purpose of your presentation is. As Simon Sinek suggests in his famous TED Talk, start with why. Why are you giving this presentation? Is it to inform, entertain, or persuade? What is your topic? Then develop your unique point of view on that topic, a thesis that will run throughout your presentation.

Stephen Covey’s “Begin With The End in Mind” is a great way to develop presentation content. Consider at least 3 benefits the audience will receive if they adopt your thesis. Once they’ve adopted your thesis, decide what you want your audience to do next. A call to action is a powerful way to end a presentation.

Conclusion
A Star Performer brings a present to the King. This sounds like an intro to a joke. But, if you’ve been there, standing in front of your audience about to begin, you want to be taken seriously. To help you succeed, remember the roles. You are the Star, gifting your presentation (a present), to the King (your audience). Do this, and the crown will become yours.

Posted in Free Advice, Presentations | Post your Thoughts →

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Slide Presentations Like a Pro: Intro

As marketers, we are required to be persuasive. Externally, our primary job is to persuade prospective clients to hire our firm. Internally, we have to persuade our Principals, or CFO, to endorse and fund our marketing plans. Presenting with slides, using PowerPoint or Keynote, can be an incredibly powerful way to make an emotional connection with your audience. Therefore, this is a skill that all marketing professionals should possess. But very few of us have received any training in how to develop, design and deliver a persuasive slide presentation. For the next several blog posts, I will share my expertise as a professional speaker and graphic designer to provide you with simple, timeless tips to help you deliver slide presentations like a pro.

Why Should You Develop this Skill?
To be perceived as a leader in your firm, you must be able to present your ideas clearly and persuasively. There is a direct link between leadership and presentation skills. In fact, Toastmasters International, the worldwide organization previously known for developing public speaking skills, has just rebranded with the tagline “Where Leaders Are Made.” Having the ability to present well will not only gain you the respect of your firm’s Principals, but will also serve you well in persuading your entire firm to embrace your marketing plan. Outside your firm, this skill will enable you to present at industry conferences and raise your value to firms looking to recruit you.

The Problem
Most PowerPoint presentations are dreadful. You’ve probably heard the term “Death by PowerPoint” or perhaps you’ve read “Really Bad PowerPoint” by Seth Godin. Powerpoint is almost universally hated because most presenters develop, design and deliver slides that do not engage their audience. I’m sure you’ve suffered through a presenter turning his back on the audience to read 15 bullet points. Don’t blame the presenter, blame his education. With plenty of classes in Literature, English, and Writing, you were well educated in verbal communication. Unless you attended art or design school, you didn’t receive an education in visual communication. Yet PowerPoint forces people communicate visually. So, what do presenters do? They revert to what they know (verbal communication) by placing a bunch of bullet points on a slide. This is the quickest way to lose the attention of your audience.

A Great Presentation is a 3 Legged Stool
The 3 legs to your presentation are Development, Design and Delivery. Remove one of these legs and your presentation will end up on its rear! You’ll want to begin with the development of your content. Consider why you are making this presentation, who is the audience, and what do you want them to do. Start to outline your main points and gather evidence, stories and imagery to support those points. Next, you’ll want to design simple, clear slides that support you and your message. I recommend including 1 message per slide. Finally, you’ll need to practice your delivery so that you are confident in front of your audience. Remember that you are the star, not the slides. If the slides can live on their own, then cancel the presentation and send the audience a PDF.

What Do You Think?
Do you have a favorite TED Talk that effectively uses slides?
Do you have a PowerPoint horror story?
What tips can you share for creating slide presentations?

If you want to see the principles mentioned in this post in action, purchase a DVD or Online Download of Change the World Slide by Slide: How To Design & Deliver Professional Slide Presentations.

Tags: David Le, Keynote Design, Keynote Designer, LecoursDesign, PowerPoint Design, PowerPoint Designer, Presentation Design, Presentations, San Diego
Posted in Free Advice, Presentations | Post your Thoughts →

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