3 Stories AEC Marketers Must Master

3 Stories AEC Marketers Must Master

Resources for SMPS Amplify 2024 Attendees

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)


TED Talks on Story
How Great Leaders Inspire Action (start with why) by Simon Sinek
Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown
The Clues to a Great Story by Andrew Stanton (Pixar)
The Power of Storytelling to Change the World by Dave Lieber
The Power of Story by David Lecours


Storytelling Inspiration
TED.com
Pecha-Kucha.org
StoryCorps.org
Toastmasters.org
ThisAmericanLife.org
TheMoth.org
RadioLab.org
One-Story.com
Serial Podcast
99percentinvisible.org
Get Mortified


Slide Deck from David’s SMPS Amplify 2024 Salt Lake City Presentation

 


PDF Handout with story outline template
Click here to download
Story outline template


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

Culture Design for HRC

Culture Design for HRC

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

Slide Deck
View or download from Slideshare

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

Books on Culture
The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Culture Built My Brand by Mark Miller & Ted Vaughn
Art’s Principles by Arthur Gensler
Remote by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Books on Story
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

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

Your Email Signature Matters to Millions

Your Email Signature Matters to Millions

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)

Here is my email signature:

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
David W. Lecours
Principal | LecoursDesign
phone 760.500.8818
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Recently Designed Website:
psomas.com
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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.

More more detail on How To Create an Email Signature, check out our coding partner Noble Intent’s post here.

Your Reputation is at Stake

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.)

Food Guide to Encinitas

This is a highly biased guide to eating in Encinitas written by a local (me, David Lecours).

Breakfast
101 Diner
552 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the cilantro hollandaise benedict, german apple pancake, or corned beef hash

El Nopalito
582 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the breakfast burrito, then hit the fresh salsa bar for roasted salsa
pick up a bag of chips and fresh guac from the reach-in “˜fridge

Good On Ya Deli
1051 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Super healthy, organic, and delicious

Swami’s Cafe
1163 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Originator of the Acai bowl, great egg dishes, smoothies

Honey’s Bistro & Bakery
632 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Omelettes, scrambles, croissant sandwiches all good

Le Papagayo
1002 N. Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
A unicorn- equally good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Order the chili verde benedict on sopes

Coffee
A Better Buzz
578 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
all those fancy, hipster coffees

Lofty Coffee
90 North Coast Highway 101 #214, Encinitas, CA 92024
Baristas have PhDs in coffee. If crowded, go across Hwy 101 to:
Lofty Coffee Roasting Works
97 North Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024

Bakery
Darshan Bakery & Cafe
949 2nd St., Encinitas, CA 92024
best Chai outside of India, spiritual sweets

Pannikin Coffee & Tea
510 North Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
the greek eggs and bagels are good too. Great outdoor vibe at a converted train station.

French Corner
1200 N. Coast Highway, Encinitas, CA 92024
get the quiche, olive drop coffee, breakfast crepe or banana bread


Mexican
El Nopalito
582 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the california burrito, tacos, or plate lunch. Pick up a bag of chips and fresh guac from the reach-in “˜fridge. Note: there is a restaurant and market named El Nopalito in the same strip center

Jorge’s Mexicatessen
417 Santa Fe Drive # B, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the chicken soup, rolled tacos, or any burrito

The Taco Stand
642 S Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Authentic street tacos. I love the al pastor. Get the corn on the cob too.

La Especial Norte
664 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
I love the Tlapeño soup. Chicken Tortilla soup is amazing too.

Death by Tequila, sign reads ‘DxT’
569 S Coast Hwy 101 Encinitas CA, 92024
Modern Baja cuisine and tequila bar. Get the Hawaiian ahi crudo, guacamole flight, cuatro tacos

Asia
Birdseye Kitchen
540 North Coast Highway, Encinitas, CA 92024
Thai + Vietnamese, get the drunken noodles, pho, mussamun or yellow curry, spring rolls, and coconut gelato

Thai Society
1070 North El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the pad thai, red or yelow curry, or thai steak salad

Chiko
101 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the orange chicken, cold peanut noodles, brussel sprouts and the custard dessert.

Indian
Himalayan Kitchen
1337 ENCINITAS BLVD. ENCINITAS, CA
Delicious Nepalese and all the Indian classics. Get the veg samosa, chana masala and chicken tikka masala

Pizza
Blue Ribbon Artisan Pizzeria
897 South Coast Highway 101 #101, Encinitas, CA 92024
They make their own cheese, dough, sauce, charcuterie
Try the deep friend brussels sprouts, staff’s favorite or my father’s pizza. You must get the salted caramel, butterscotch pudding for dessert

URBN Coal Fired Pizza
764 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Chopped italian salad, peppered salami or mashed potato pizza
Nice selection of local craft beers on tap

Buona Fochetta
250 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Pizza oven made in Naples. No reservations and hard to get a table ‘cuz it’s delicious

Corner Pizza
1246 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the Killer Bee

Peruvian
Qero
564 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Good place to take a date, or spend your prize money

Fish
Encinitas Fish Shop
1010 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the fish tacos or mahi mahi salad

Fish 101
1468 N. Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Surfy vibe. Fish ‘n’ Chips is tasty

Italian
Buona Fochetta
Pizza oven made in Naples. No reservations and hard to get a table ‘cuz it’s delicious
250 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024

Alice’s Italian Gourmet
252 N El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the lasagna and the sliders.

Bistro
Valentina
810 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the wiener schnitzel, spicy caesar, corn soup,

Herb & Sea
131 W D St, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the roasted baby carrots, crispy boardwalk potatoes, pizzas and bucatini puttanesca

Third Corner Wine Shop & Bistro
897 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Good place to take a date, or spend your prize money
Get the cuban sandwich, fries, goat cheese salad, grilled chicken penne, short rib, or NY steak

Craftsman Tavern
267 N. El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
high-end burgers, brussels sprouts w/ bacon, and fried chicken

Union Kitchen & Tap
1108 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Great breakfast, lunch and dinner menu too. Cool, good-looking youngsters frequent

Healthy (Vegetarian & Vegan Options)
Good On Ya Cafe
1051 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Super healthy, organic, and delicious.

Lotus Cafe & Juice Bar
765 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the Tofu tacos, smoothies, juices, salads, huevos rancheros, pancakes. A rare gem that is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner

Plant Power
411 Santa Fe Dr, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the holy guacamole, buffalo ’66, and iconic fries

Burger, Chicken & Beer
Crack Shack
407 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas, CA 92024
Richard Blais (top chef) fast casual. Fancy fried-chicken.

Regal Seagull
996 N. Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Pub food. Tasty Philly cheese steak

Fast Food Burger
In-n-Out
130 Calle Magdalena, Encinitas, CA 92024
If you are from out of town, and have never had one, it may change your opinion of fast food. Get the double double animal style, fries, and a chocolate shake

Ice Cream
JoJos Creamery
937 S Coast Highway 101, Suite 106, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get the cayenne sea salt caramel, nibby chocolate, or honey lavender

Gelato 101
480 South Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Get a cup and sneak it into a surf movie at La Paloma across the street

Cali Creamery
9o North Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
I like the coconut cream pie flavor, nearly always a line

Bars & Cocktails
Bier Garden
641 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
next to Whole Foods
Normal people frequent, good people watching

Union Kitchen & Tap
1108 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Great breakfast, lunch and dinner menu too. Cool, good-looking youngsters frequent

Culture Brewing Co.
629 S Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA
Get pizza from next door and eat it with your beer.


Surf Shops
Encinitas Surfboards
107 North Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
small shop, local shortboard vibe, great service, iconic Encinitas Surfboards t-shirt, hat or hoodie

Hansen’s
1105 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
huge shop, local longboard vibe, they have it all for all ages

Markets
Lazy Acres (delicious poke bowls)
El Nopalito Mexican (warm homemade tortillas)
Sprouts
Jimbo’s
7-11

Beaches
Moonlight State Beach (official SoCal Classic beach)
take Encinitas Blvd until it ends

Swami’s State Beach
1298 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024

Sights
Self Realization Fellowship Gardens
215 West K Street, Encinitas, CA 92024
koi pond, gardens, and cliffside view from Oceanside to La Jolla

San Diego Botanical Garden
230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024

AEC Firm Differentiation

AEC Firm Differentiation

Slide Deck, video and links from David Lecours’ SMPS Pacific Regional Conference closing keyote speech:

Stealing From Surf Brands for A/E/C Firm Differentiation
Surf brands and A/E/C firms compete in crowded markets. Surf brands do a great job carving out distinct brand identities to differentiate their surfboards, board shorts, and wetsuits. David Lecours, surfer and A/E/C branding consultant, will share examples of cutting edge graphic design, iconic people, founding stories, messaging, and archetypes that help surf brands and A/E/C firms stand out from the pack. You’ll return from the conference ready to shred with new techniques. Expect a wave of improvement in your SOQs, proposals, websites, presentation decks, videos and advertising.


Slide Deck

To download the slides, click the LinkedIn logo (“˜in’ square above). Within Slideshare, click “Download” button under the title.


 

Surf Brands Featured
Town & Country – https://www.tcsurf.com
Volcom – http://volcom.com/
Surf Ranch Pro – https://wslsurfranchpro.com

 


 

A/E/C Firms Featured
Rapt Studio – https://raptstudio.com
Foster & Partners – http://fosterandpartners.com/
Clark Construction – http://clarkconstruction.com/
Arcadis – http://arcadis.com/
Stantec – http://stantec.com/
LMN Architects – http://lmnarchitects.com/
Array Architects – https://array-architects.com
Populous – http://populous.com/
Murraysmith – http://www.murraysmith.us
Fanning Howey – https://fhai.com
Sellen Construction – https://www.sellen.com
Schmidt Design Group – http://kaadesigngroup.com/
TEECOM – http://teecom.com/
Lake | Flato – http://lakeflato.com/

 


 

Homework: Books & Podcast
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
The Power of Moments by Dan & Chip Heath
PSM Show with David Lecours and Josh Miles – https://psm.show
PSM Show with Ryan Suydam on Client Experience – https://psm.show/127-client-experience/
PSM Show with Nicole La on Recruitment Marketing – https://psm.show/109-recruitment-marketing/

 


 

Videos Shown in Keynote
Patagonia wetsuits from plants – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6WVtLdXqDk
Lake | Flato Hotel San Jose experience – https://www.lakeflato.com/video/hotel-san-jose-transformation
Surf Ranch Pro Contest Felipe Toledo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-Qe2rOwT8

 


Watch the Keynote Video

* A / E / C = Architecture, Engineering, & Construction (but you already knew that)
© LecoursDesign 2023