Why Diversity Is One of Our Greatest Strengths

by Beth McDonough | Jun 25, 2018 | Insights, Storytelling & Branding

Why Diversity Is One of Our Greatest Strengths

Written By

Rainbow flags and parades are common spectacles during the month of June, a prominent indication that Pride Month has arrived. Throughout this first month of summer, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies celebrate the rainbow of identity that makes us all unique. The last Sunday of the month of originally recognized as Gay Pride Day in remembrance of the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in Manhattan, which was a benchmark of the Gay Liberation Movement. Now, the commemoration of this event has evolved into a month-long celebration of diversity, where people come together to recognize individuality and the path toward equality.

Here at &Marketing, we pride ourselves in supporting and honoring diversity in all its forms. Our biggest strength is that we embrace what makes each of our team members and clients different, using our backgrounds, culture, and work styles to bring out the best in ourselves and each other. We bring together a collection of individuals from various races, religions, sexual orientations, professional experiences, and personalities to channel their strengths and build them up, because we invest in who people are above all else.

Our business culture revolves around a remote work environment, with employees bringing their passion and expertise from both big cities and tiny towns to their daily tasks. We’re a blend of immigrants, globetrotters, nomads, and homebodies. Some of us are the most productive with the buzz and bustle in the background of a coffee shop, whereas others prefer the privacy of a home office. From small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, our experience varies as much as our education. We have introverts, extroverts, motivators, harmonizers, writers, and speakers strategizing together. These work styles and backgrounds shape our strengths and skill sets to sharpen each of our tools in a special way, so that no two of our tool belts are exactly the same.

These differences, along with our open and accepting environment, combine to create a diversity of expertise and experience that puts &Marketing in a unique position. We’re able to offer a breadth of ideation and perspective that clients would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. The good intentions and the positive, welcoming demeanor of our people is the glue that keeps our team working together toward the same goal. Diversity and acceptance was built into the core of our culture from the ground up, creating a pillar of pride in who each of us are. After all, we know everyone works better when we work &.

&Marketing is an equal opportunity employer that celebrates each color of the rainbow every day of the year, and our team is growing! Please review our open job postings, and follow us on LinkedIn.

About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to augment our client’s existing teams or outsource the entire marketing function in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.

Tell Me a Story: The Art and Craft of Meaningful Messaging

by &Marketing | Jun 11, 2018 | Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution

Tell Me a Story: The Art and Craft of Meaningful Messaging

Written By

Content marketing is everywhere. A quick google search leads to thousands of items hawked by hundreds of companies, each trying to outdo the other and gain that all-important conversion. In this world of abundant information, how can you rise above the fray? How can you convince a prospect that your product or service beats the others?

Stop selling. Start telling.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Most people instinctively want to prove their widget is better with fancy graphs and statistics. They’ll use the latest and greatest jargon and pepper their prose with awkward acronyms. They might even explain a before and after or use astonishingly amazing alliteration. But they often miss the point—what really sets you apart isn’t the quality of your product or the expertise of your service—it’s your story.

What is a story?

Apologies to English teachers everywhere, but content marketing stories don’t necessarily have to follow a traditional five-step character arc. Brands should focus on telling stories that are:

Simple. Many companies want to include every bit of information in every piece of content, or convey too much technical information. This is especially difficult for those in highly technical industries. Your customer may not be on the tech side; even if they are, they don’t want to be bombarded with detailed specifications at first glance.
Emotional. Don’t worry, we don’t mean your software solution has to make grown men cry. An emotional impact can be as simple as your prospect imagining the feeling of relief she’ll get when her product is FDA compliant. A better world is possible—you can make it happen.
Actionable. Don’t be coy. Make life easy on your prospect by painting a picture of what happens next. What can they expect? Don’t explain that it works—explain how it works. Then, most importantly, follow through.
Authentic. Tread carefully. You know you’re not being real when you’re trying too hard to be real. Consumers are cynical and savvy, they can spot disingenuousness a mile away. Don’t tell them the story you think they want to hear—tell the one that matters.

Here’s the catch: brand stories are best told by storytellers. Subject matter experts are rarely capable of crafting a compelling story. Your engineers are likely actual geniuses, your CEO a dynamic and visionary leader. But even if they are excellent weavers of words and tellers of tales, they’re too close. A talented marketing team can build a brand with insights even the founder couldn’t imagine. And of course, even if your engineers are secretly experts in product launches, their time is likely better spent perfecting their product or ideating a new one.

About &Marketing

In today’s fast paced world, many growing businesses are struggling to modernize their marketing approaches because either they don’t have the expertise or the bandwidth to do it themselves.