On the Mark Branding

Presented April 24, 2009, Brad Stauffer, President, WPA

Welcome to the 58th Annual Maggie Awards!

Tonight we are here to celebrate the best that our industry has to offer. And we will present 78 Maggie Awards to honor excellence in print and digital media. No matter what’s going on in the world, there is always time to celebrate excellence and good work, and that’s what we’re going to do tonight!

As our industry morphs and changes, so will the WPA. Keep an eye on us in the coming year, as we do what it takes to be here for our members, and for the media industry. In the last year, we re-branded and debuted our new logo and tagline, with more focus on digital media and events, as well as print. We also redesigned and re-launched our website with a private social network for members and ad banner availability for sponsors and vendors. And change will continue as we all learn brand new business strategies and stay current with constant-changing technology.

As we all know, these are the hardest times that publishing has ever seen. Let’s be honest: it’s a devastating time for publishing. For those of us that see this industry as more than a job and as our life’s work and passion; we are lost as to what to do next. The solutions we’ve used for years, just don’t work anymore. We’re not sure where to turn, what to cut or who to ask.

But, it is in times like these that we need to remember why we started in this business. We need to remember our career goals, our business goals and our dreams. It’s time we get clear again on why we do what we do. We must believe in our dreams more than ever and not let the circumstances of the times take away our passion.

I’ve been fortunate the last few months to work with a very passionate group of individuals, and especially one woman who works very hard for what she believes in; she really battles for her dream to succeed, whether others agree with her or not. She has been a shining example to me of commitment and passion; not being willing to give up a dream and being willing to do whatever it takes.

It can really be easy to let our circumstances kill-off our passion. The headlines, the daily industry emails and bloggers all tout shut-downs and slow-downs; and news of lay-offs are getting closer to home and even hitting home. But who is touting the extra hard work that’s taking place: the new creative thinking, the new goals, the plans, the determination, the dreams, the investments, the wins, the new ideas, the commitments to excellence, the successes, the new revenue streams, the award-winning editorial and design and most of all the passion that keeps this industry alive? Whether we’re producing and awarding a collection of pixels on a monitor or a mosaic of ink dots on paper, we’re creating out of passion, and that will not slow-down or shut-down.

As we honor those tonight that have done their best work, let’s take this opportunity to also check-in with our own commitment, and consider; what if…we operated as if we had no other option than to survive and be successful?; what if…we had no choice but to achieve our business goals and realize our dreams? What would that take?

In closing, I want to thank a few people for their personal commitment to this organization.
First, the WPA Board of Directors: that’s this loud group sitting right here in front. Aside from being a really funny group (i.e., humorous), they do do serious work and make a huge contribution to the WPA. Thank you for what you do. I’m honored to work side-by-side with each one of you.

This evening I’ve talked a lot about commitment and dedication. And the WPA is very fortunate to have two more individuals that couldn’t be more dedicated: Peter Craig and Jane Silbering.

Peter has given his time, experience, leadership and heart to this organization for many, many years. As you probably already know, he takes a stand for what he believes in; whether it’s to convince us it’s time to change the tagline or to lead us in figuring out what’s next. As you heard tonight, Peter says what he thinks; he doesn’t hold back, and it’s that kind of bold leadership that makes a difference. Peter, thank you for your dynamic leadership and for being so committed to this organization.

Jane Silbering, our Executive Director, lives and breathes the WPA. I know so, because I see emails from her 24/7. The WPA has had a few difficult months weighing the pros and cons about canceling our annual conference, discussing details of this event and then considering the future of the media business and that impact on the WPA. Jane continues to lead those discussions and keeps doing whatever it takes. Every detail of this evening was handled by Jane, and that is just one small piece of her contribution and dedication to this organization. Jane you are truly amazing, year after year after year. Thank you for every thing that you do. You make us great!

So it’s time to start the celebration. Tonight it’s okay to be loud, be proud and to make your passion and excitement heard. Again, welcome to the 58th Annual Maggie Awards, and let’s get this party started!

I lost last night, but I feel like I really won.

And I don’t mean in a martyr, sort of way. I really do feel like I won because I’m able to see what I learned. I can see how the experience helped my confidence and opened my eyes to more possibilities. And I realize there was something about the process itself that was fulfilling. Did I really lose after all?

Last night I competed in our local Toastmasters Division B International Speech Contest. I was up for my third “win” after winning at my club level, and then the “area” level. But the competition was stiff, and in the end, my name wasn’t announced.

I’ve been a member of Century City Toastmasters for over seven years, and never competed in a speech contest. In fact, I never competed that much in general and I don’t consider myself that competitive. Never played sports to a large degree; board games were fun, but I didn’t mind losing, as long as we had fun. (Perhaps, I’ve felt a little competitive at swing dancing, but that’s another story.) So that’s about as far as the memory goes on the subject. I do know, though, that I’m happy when others win. In fact, my whole business is built around helping people win, succeed and achieve their dreams. But why wasn’t winning myself as important?

This speech contest brought up something new in me. Over the last couple of months, since this process started, I noticed a new level of confidence building in me; a bigger boldness; a wider “wanting”. And, I have to admit, I even started feeling a little competitive. I wanted to win. Not only did I want to win the contest, but it opened my eyes to more opportunities where I could win in my life.

It’s not that I’m not “a winner” already; I’ve done well in my life. But I’ve always wanted more, and this speech contest, in its own way, reminded me that I could still have more. It opened my eyes again to the excitement and possibility of having more of what I want in my life. It inspired me.

So now what? What’s one to do with this excitement and inspiration, combined with mixed feelings of losing this contest? As I look back, there was a lot of learning in the process. What’s that saying? “It’s not about winning, but it’s how you play the game?” Yes, for me it was about the process; the experience. It was how I played the game indeed. Was I out to win, or merely show up? I know I was really out to win this time.

• Throughout the process I was intentional. I wrote my speech early, practiced more than usual and really raised the bar on my preparation and planning.
• I got excited. I spent time visualizing about winning and moving through the contest levels, and getting better and better and learning more and more.
• Determination showed up more than ever. I felt a fresh sense of determination that I hadn’t felt in a long time. (Dare I say I’m feeling competitive now?)
• And the feelings of appreciation for other’s talents and skills, as well as gratitude for the support of friends and family kept me grounded in what’s really important in life.

These pretty basic practices and disciplines led me down the path of winning. I am grateful for these simple reminders of what it takes to get more from life.

So I know now that I really didn’t lose. In fact, I think I was the biggest winner of all.

Okay, so I’ve been planning my second blog post for just over two years. There I admit it. I could have positioned that span of time as a long-term blog strategy plan, but no one would buy that. Then, before I could stop myself, I realized I was updating my Facebook status about my blogging delay. “Why did I just do that?” I thought, as I watched my iPhone display “Updating.”And just as I was settling into a beautiful Sunday in LA, my former boss FB’d me to say “just write, don’t think.” Okay Jeff, here goes.

I can’t believe I’m not blogging more. I’m constantly pushing my entrepreneurial clients to blog, but I’m not doing it myself. Oh, believe me, I’ve got quite a few written in my head, and lots of ideas captured in OneNote, but they just don’t make it to the big screen (uh, my big monitor). So as I’m trying to start now, I see Facebook updates coming in, Catie is texting me about getting together this afternoon, and I see Lee has left me a voicemail about helping him with his next speech. What’s a guy to do? Continue to look for more excuses? (I’m really good at that!) Besides, if I actually get this done, it would also accomplish my 500-words-a-week writing goal, making my personal coach very happy.

What I’m really loving about social media is the authenticity that is emerging from it. With less time to say it right, spell it right or be witty on a dime, it creates an easy opportunity for people to be real. Long gone is formal communication and inauthenticity, and here to stay is real people talking real stuff. It’s so much easier to be ourselves. Besides, people want to experience, work with and hire people that are honest, upfront, authentic (I’ll be using that word a lot, so don’t complain) and real. They want to hire individuals that show up 100%. I happen to believe that most people are attracted to others that don’t hold anything back; that are full-out authentic…like, what you see/hear/experience, is what you get. Authenticity has become the top priority in branding, marketing, advertising messages and individual personal brands for many. Major corporations are rebranding and changing their advertising strategy to build trust more than ever. Direct mail and e-mail marketing campaigns now speak in plain, simple language, with a very personal approach. CEOs around the world have blogs, so that customers can get to know the real people, and just not the Big Blue logo.

I think that’s why I took so long to post again. I made-up that if I’m a business coach and mentor to solo-entrepreneurs, that work with them on their branding and marketing, that I’ve got to have all my stuff put together. It took me too long to launch my new website, because (aside from managing my perfectionism that said it had to be the ultimate site for entrepreneurs) I was trying to figure out how I would “be” on my site. Does my writing and bio come out formal, structured, perfectly written, corporate-feeling and polished (with the appropriate number of carefully-placed keywords no less)? Or can I just be Brad and write from the place of my true authentic self, in a casual, funny and witty way (no comments please) while hopefully engaging prospective clients or at least inspiring visitors to take some action toward their dreams. I did get done, but I must admit, that it took me three rounds of major rewriting to satisfy the “perfectionist”, the search engines and my brand that kept calling the real me forth. In the end, I launched feeling very authentic and satisfied. I don’t always have it together, but I’m learning that as long as I am authentic, my status is good.

So it looks like the excuses, the perfectionism and the fear of not doing it right didn’t get in the way to finish this post. Gotta go update my FB status, see Catie and call back Lee. Thanks Jeff.

Here I sit. The last day of 2006, 7:30-something in the morning with my Diet Pepsi and laptop. Having told all my colleagues and many clients, that I was launching a blog this year, it seems to me that today would be a good day to start. After all, tomorrow will be another year.

So what has taken so long? I’m in the business of being evangelical about using technology to build brands and personal platforms. I push traditional publishers and entrepreneurs to their “techno-edges” to create brand extensions to build their businesses. I work with publishers to build their e-media business, launch Digital Editions, create digital brand extensions and reach bigger and better audiences with technology. I work with entrepreneurs to get clear on their personal brand, build a platform and use traditional methods and especially technology to get them seen and heard as experts in their field (and a blog is a great tool for that). So why did it take me so blippin’ long to start my own blog?

Not that everyone needs to go through this process, but mine was: It’s not going to be easy. Who will I be? What will I talk about? What will they say? How will I sound? Like many entrepreneurs, I have a few businesses. They are all very strategically related in my mind, but how could I cover them in one blog? Or do I need to? (Such new dilemmas we have in these technology-driven, community-building, need-it-now, text me, google-it days, eh?)

Well, I got past all that very suddenly the other day when I took a short walk (no technology required) toward the end of my work day (a great habit that always frees my brain and creativity to think bigger and clearer). I came back and announced to my colleague Laura, “I’m an e-media-vangelist!”

“I like that!” she said. Since Laura knows how I work and even more how I think, this was just another routine brain announcement from me that she knows well. “It really captures who you are!” “Yes,” I said, “It feels just right. So I think I’m ready to launch my blog.” “Finally,” she said, with that big, supportive and believing smile she always gives. Laura has had her own blog http://lauralallone.typepad.com/ for years and has been a constant, yet patient inspirer to me on the topic.

So being an e-media-vangelist brings it all together for me. (Now I just need to decide how to spell it, once and for all.) But why an e-media-vangelist?

In my late teens, I was heavily influenced by evangelical speakers. I loved to watch them speak their passion, take and make their stand and lead people to make important decisions. I watched how they were able to move people to action. They helped people get inspired, then brave enough to make a choice and even a commitment. And, yes, there was a brief moment at 22, when I considered becoming a traditional evangelist, and thankfully that was short-lived. But the intrigue around what an evangelist can evoke, in people, didn’t. Evangelists are passionate about possibilities. I am passionate about using e-media and other technological advances to build brand extensions, publish and promote. There are many possibilities.

If I can’t be passionate in my work and life, then I might as well pick up dog poop (hey, I do that anyway!). Passion is what drives the people I mostly work with: entrepreneurial-minded people. They are passionate about what they publish, do, provide, sell, say or promote. My clients are publishers, coaches, speakers, authors, executives, marketers, psychologists, therapists, real estate professionals, financial planners and a variety of others that like to kick-butt in everything they do.

I work with companies, businesses and entrepreneurs that like to get excited about their next opportunity and are ready to make the choices that need to be made. Right now, I have an editor-client that can’t wait to launch her new e-newsletter and blog. I’ve got an executive consultant client that is getting clear on her brand, excited about her first e-book and upcoming website launch. I’ve got another traditional publishing client that is making huge strides with their Digital Edition launches while building readership and saving money and trees.

That’s where the fun is…that’s when I get to be an e-media-vangelist.

So there you have it, a blog post. “That was easy!” as our big, red Staples office button often says. It was. Happy New Year! Make it an easy one.