People and Company Brand| The ultimate buyer-seller relationship

As an outside business and marketing advisor, I have the privilege of observing trends through hands on work in different industries and across disciplines.  Essentially, I am a marketer, but marketing in the very broad sense.  To keep it simple, whether it’s consumer or BTB oriented, it’s still about connecting buyers and sellers.

It’s the product or service that is always changing.   I’ve recently had the opportunity to experience the “people” as the product – finding new ways for a company to attract the type of person who would best fit their culture or employee brand.   My path to this assignment didn’t begin in marketing or people management, but in the art world!

The Art World| Storytelling at its finest (and most challenging)

During the Pandemic, here in my seaside community of Gloucester, MA., based on years of community volunteer work in the arts, a local cable station approached me to design and produce a TV program to highlight the artists in our community.  This was no small task as there are thousands of artists living and working on Cape Ann.  After coercing a close friend and fellow art lover to join me, we embarked on an adventure which became known as Cape Ann ARTWaves. 

The key to the project, however, was in the recruiting of the artists and in actually getting them to tell their stories.  If you have artists in your circle of friends, you will understand that this is not an easy feat for several reasons.   For one, they are not naturally salespeople and certainly not comfortable talking about themselves.   Additionally, it’s not easy to identify that one kernel that really speaks to what makes their work stand out among the crowd – essentially the artist “statement” or in business terms, the value proposition.  Sometimes, the process of getting to this was painful for both parties.

Mining for Gems| Hitting the Aha moment.

It’s the getting to the heart of the story that’s truly the key to a good interview.  From this process, the story crystallizes into snapshot of who the artist really is and what they are about.   It’s truly an aha moment and being ready to listen, receive, and capture these gems is the key to the discipline of this type of work.  The curatorial process and preparatory research were intense, but it paid off and today we are able to showcase 75 artist stories which are being moved to the archives of our local Museum.  Equally important are the highlights videos that capture the 1-2 minutes that captures the essence of the artists’ creative footprint.

My passion for this type of work and these rich conversations led me to integrate this into my consulting practice.  It’s always been there in some form.  For many years I have conducted interviews to test value propositions for companies seeking to open up new paths to growth and new markets.   But recently, I have melded this into the growing field of #TalentMarketing and #TalentAttraction.   Whether in video format (artist interviews) or written format in the #voiceoftheemployee,  the recent work for a client, the fundamental approach is the same. 

The foundation is content| Let’s go and get it

When applied to talent marketing, interviews also serve as an important part of the research to craft the employee brand and understanding the 1:1 relationship between the employees and the company values.   Interviews also provide significant content for many channels of recruiting – whether the employee tells the story, or the company shares it in a third-party manner.  Interviews can be sorted and repurposed for other programs revolving around current trends or common areas of interest.  If properly shared by the employee and colleagues, the end result is a sweet combination of talent attraction and employee engagement.  A little coaching and social media support can also sweeten the pot.

I am enthusiastic about building on this as part of my practice.  It speaks to me on many levels and allows me to integrate many years of global work experience, community involvement, and coaching into the conversations – raising the comfort level of the person being interviewed and creating a comfortable storytelling environment.   I welcome the opportunity to help build your talent marketing and employee engagement arsenal!  Please contact me to learn more!