Tag: marketing

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This is Seth Godin live

Speaker Seth Godin

It’s not every day you get to see one of your heroes live.

Last month, I had the privilege of hearing Seth Godin live. If you are in marketing or communications, you know the name Seth Godin. Marketing guru, brand revolutionary, author of 18 best-selling books and changemaker. This is Seth Godin.

Screw E.F. Hutton. When Seth Godin talks, people listen.

In his opening keynote, Seth talked about the power of communication to connect people and culture. He said most organizations are at a crossroads. We are living in an age of distraction. We need to be telling human-centric, emotional stories to cut through the noise.

My favourite business mantra is “strategy eats culture for lunch” (Peter Drucker). You can strategize all you want, but if what you are trying to achieve goes against the culture of an organization, you will fail. And yet many leaders do not pay close enough attention to culture within their organizations.

Here were Seth’s insights on culture:

You can’t fake culture. Honour your past; define your future. Make symbolic changes, big and small. Have all oars in the water. Be humble, stay the course.

We are experiencing a revolution, and a renaissance for business communicators who will be key strategic advisers in the age of information.

This week’s #HappyAct is to find a hero and learn from them. Or you can adopt mine and sign up for Seth’s blog.

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Be a brand advocate–a love letter to TD bank

TD BankIn the past few years, I’ve become a huge brand advocate for TD Bank. The main reason is I love the people at my branch—they’re friendly, professional, always easy going and helpful, and it’s just a lovely place to do business.

I wasn’t always a fan. Ten years ago I bashed the big banks, but TD slowly won me over with their excellent service, friendly staff and convenient services.

I like they little things they do, like giving out doggie treats to dogs and free cake on customer appreciation days. I love my TD Travel VISA and the convenience of my chequing and VISA accounts and online banking. Whenever I’ve had to call any of their call centres, their people have been terrific.

I’m also impressed by how much TD supports small and big causes. They set up a table in my local branch for a local business to showcase their work each month, and they do great work to support the environment.

I’m such a brand advocate now that even when they do things I don’t like or make a mistake, I don’t mind. A few years ago, they jacked up the rates on safety deposit boxes. I know this isn’t the business they want to be in, and they gave me lots of notice so I was fine with that. I’m even OK with most service fees because I appreciate the services I’m getting and I know they have to make money.

This week’s Happy Act is to be a brand advocate for a product or service you love. Like their Facebook page or write a nice comment online, but make it personal, too. I tell the people who work at my TD branch all the time how great they are and how much I appreciate their service. It doesn’t have to be a big brand, it could be your local pizza joint (George and Mary at Bubba’s Pizza in Kingston—you’re the best!)

And TD, if you’re as good as I think you are, let’s see if you’re one of the first to comment on this post.