This is a tale about why you want a former journalist in your organization if communication is any part of what you do. And if you aren’t communicating, I’d really like to know how you’re making any money, but that’s another topic entirely.
Color Geek Meets Dyed In The Wool Journalist
Two years ago this month, Shelby Sapusek and I reached an agreement to work together for three months on a contract basis. At the time, Shelby was a practicing journalist and our agreement was the beginning of her freelance life. A year later, we formed a consultancy to work together on a few business opportunities. (You know, because we weren’t already busy enough with our work at ColorMetrix.)
In that first year working together, one of Shelby’s tasks was reviving our ColorMetrix email newsletter. She came up with a plan and delivered about two a month. I know she did a great job because folks started replying to the newsletter and those emails came to me. At trade shows and conferences we also got comments about how much better and more informative the newsletter had become.
There are a lot of reasons the newsletters became more effective; but the primary component of the improved success was telling our story instead of selling our products. Think of the products as data and the story as information. In addition to telling our story, Shelby found blog posts and articles on the internet that would be of interest to our subscribers and shared those links as well. So instead of just talking about ourselves, we shared the stories of others.
The Data vs. Information Conundrum
Last week, we were sitting across the conference table from one of our clients. We were talking about the very exciting topic of SEO and the client reached into his leather portfolio and pulled out the multi-page SEO report we had prepared for them for the previous month. (It’s important to note that we email this document as a PDF; and not only had the client printed the PDF, but had also highlighted and made notes on almost every page of the document.)
My first thought, was: “Rut-roh, what doesn’t he like?” I thought this because when we won their business, the client started forwarding us the SEO reports from the previous vendor. We never saw one as a printed copy. And honestly the previous vendor had simply prepared standard reports from the SEO tool they chose to use.
As it turned out, he wasn’t upset at all and in fact went on to praise the work we’d done in a relatively short period of time.
Shelby and I prepare these reports as a two-step process. I generate a half dozen or so charts and graphs that I feel represent the progress we’ve made in the past month. We also include graphs that highlight areas on which we need to see improvement. I email this package to Shelby with a few brief notes.
The reporter still locked somewhere deep inside Shelby then turns those boring charts and graphs and my three word phases into a compelling story. A story is about information; not data. Clicks and keyword rankings are only part of that story. And honestly if you own a business, “new visitors,” contact forms completes and ecommerce sales matter a great deal more than total clicks or click growth month over month.
Results and the future
Data is just that: Data – or research results. Without some context, it’s only of use to those who have great interest in the topic or did the research. I love all the numbers behind our clients SEO reports but the truth of the matter is they may not. They are in the business of selling products and services. They want to know how the money they spend on us helps them achieve their goals. That’s the story Shelby is so good at telling. She uses words to paint a picture of how the current results are helping them and how our future plans will help them even more. It reminds me a great deal of some writing I did awhile back about selling dreams.