Presentation Colophon Hardware: Apple Macbook Pro, Keyspan PR-EZ1 wireless presenter Software: Apple Keynote using dissolve, cube, and magic move transitions Typography: Adobe Garamond Pro and Trade Gothic from Adobe Fonts
PDF Handout with story outline template Click here to download
Presentation Colophon Hardware: Apple Macbook Pro, Keyspan PR-EZ1 wireless presenter Software: Apple Keynote using dissolve, cube, and magic move transitions Typography: Adobe Garamond Pro and Trade Gothic from Adobe Fonts
Books on Story Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell What Great Salespeople Do by Bosworth and Zoldan Tell To Win by Peter Guber A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath Resonate by Nancy Duarte The Story Factor by Annette Simmons Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull (Pixar Founder)
Slide Deck from David’s SMPS Amplify 2024 Salt Lake City Presentation
PDF Handout with story outline template Click here to download
Presentation Colophon Hardware: Apple Macbook Pro, Keyspan PR-EZ1 wireless presenter Software: Apple Keynote using dissolve, cube, and magic move transitions Typography: Adobe Garamond Pro and Trade Gothic from Adobe Fonts
This presentation was delivered at SMPS Heartland Regional Conference in April 2024 in Indianapolis, IN.
Presentation Description
Culture isn’t something you have, it’s something you do. Join David Lecours, brand, and culture expert, to learn why Marketing needs to design your firm’s culture. Hint: attracting great clients and talent is just the beginning. Then, David will share how to proactively design a flourishing culture. This will include best practices of A/E/C firms using culture as a compelling differentiator. As Peter Drucker said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” YUM!
Culture
What is it?
Why does it matter?
Who (in your firm) owns it?
How to Design a Magnetic Culture
Values
Benefits
Language
Stories
Rituals
Artifacts
Digital Culture Tools Donut – Slack integration for team building and Bonusly – peer-to-peer recognition and spot bonuses in a public feed Movespring – a fitness tracker program for firm wellness
Slide Deck Colophon
Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch M1
Presented using Apple Keynote software
Typography: Adobe Garamond Pro and Trade Gothic Next LT Pro
Royalty-Free Photography: Pexels.com
Wireless Slide Advancer: Keyspan Easy Presenter PR-EZ1
Thank You All the volunteers for SMPS-HRC 2024 Emily Castillo at LecoursDesign
Gerry Jue at BAMO
Carrol Conway at Hoerr Schaudt
Tim Stone and Keith Kelly at Kelly & Stone Architects
Evan Ross at WSP
Nicole La at Teecom
Andrea Story at R&M
Beth Shimogawa at Coffman
Christy Ryan and Curtis Alling at Ascent
Grant Kirkpatrick, Duan Tran, and Joyce Lopez at KAA
You probably don’t think of your email signature as a valuable brand asset. But you should, and here’s why.
According to the Email Stats Report by the Radicati Group, the average employee sends:
36 emails per day = 10,000 emails sent per year
If your firm has 100 employees, that’s 1 million annual brand impressions. Not just random impressions, your emails arrive targeted to clients, vendors, teaming partners, and potential employees.
Consider improving email signatures across your firm beyond an obligatory formality. Email signatures are the most prolific brand touchpoint you own.
To help you, I’ll identify common email signature mistakes. Then, I’ll share how to create a powerful email signature that enhances your firm’s reputation.
Common Email Signature Mistakes
1) Inconsistency
Email signatures aren’t the place for personal expression. You don’t allow each employee to craft their own version of your logo, so don’t allow it with email signatures. All your brand touchpoints should speak in a consistent, professional voice.
Avoid a variety of fonts (unless you are writing a ransom letter)
Avoid too many colors (we love rainbows too, but not in emails)
Avoid too much variety in size, bold, and italic (if you emphasize everything, then nothing stands out)
2) Images
Avoid including company logos, social media icons, project photos, and charity logos. Images in email signatures can flag your email as “spam,” sending it directly to the Junk folder. Plus, it is annoyingly difficult for email recipients to decipher your intended attachment files from your email signature image attachments.
3) Including Your Email Address
If someone receives an email from you, by default, they now have your email address. Including it in your email signature is redundant. If they want to reply to your email, guess what, they will hit “reply” within their email software.
4) Inspiration Quotes or Sacred Spiritual Passages
Don’t impose your personal beliefs in a professional setting.
5) Legal Disclaimers
You know the ones, similar to seen on faxes circa 1989, stating “this email is only intended for the recipient…blah, blah, blah” Since these have become so banal, nobody reads them. As a result, they become ineffective within a legal setting.
How To Create Your Firm’s Email Signature
Be respectful of your reader’s time and visual landscape by making your email signature as concise as possible.
What you might include:
Your Name
Your Pronouns
Title (only if informative and consistent with your firm’s culture)
Firm Name
Phone Number
Website URL (only if different from your name@URL.com)
One Variable Link That Changes Monthly (recent blog post, project case study, speech, or primary social media channel)
I recommend using grey, or a quiet color, to distinguish between the email signature and the body of the email. I also use the dotted lines to separate the signature from the body.
Use only keyboard elements, not images, to create typographic rules within your email signature. Typography rules, aka borders, can be created by repeating glyphs like these:
+ + + + + + + + +
>>>>>>>>>
///////////////
^^^^^^^^^
* * * * * * * * *
= = = = = = =
o o o o o o
. . . . . . . . .
For consistency across your firm, create a master template of your new email signature. Then copy and paste it into an email sent to your IT department, or each employee, for implementation. Obviously, each employee should replace your individual contact information with their own.
Your firm’s reputation is the sum of all experiences a person has with your brand. Since email signatures make millions of impressions, show that you care about your reader with a simple, consistent and well crafted email signature.
True, email signatures aren’t your most glamorous brand touchpoint. But, as Orrin Woodward says, “Success is the exponential effect of little things done consistently over time.” (Just don’t use this inspirational quote in your email signature.)