Project Description
This 2½ day intensive workshop covers the positioning of any venture for multiple audiences. Whether an entrepreneur or an executive, a creative or numbers person, creating simple content or designing killer gadgets, this workshop brings disparate professionals together for 20 hours of direct interactive training and numerous hours of collaborative team assignment execution to learn the keys to building a business’ presence to meet the many different functions, audiences and platforms.
Overview
The lifecycle of any business requires the profound need for a presence and positioning targeted toward multiple audiences – consumers, investors, strategic partners, workforce and more. This presence is conveyed through initial napkin descriptions of what a business is trying to achieve, funding decks, internal missives, mission statements, and numerous forms of marketing to reach the intended customer.
Further, whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or a captain of industry, being able to properly convey what your venture is all about remains, possibly, the most important skill to have. While we are always mastering this skill, there are plenty of ways to amplify your abilities and that starts with the foundation of any pitch: the story.
Filled with just enough information to provide the entrepreneur or corporate manager with a solid understanding of marketing and its implications, this course is all about the ways to consider and leverage existing audiences, marketing methods and messaging early in the quest to initiate positive movement within organizations and, ultimately, unleash the perfect product unto the world.
Methodology
Our facilitation consists of:
- 10 Sessions over the course of 2.5 days consisting of Lectures, Discussions, Case Studies and more.
- Expert instructors bringing real-world global insights and experience in media, manufacturing, packaged goods, community engagement, non-profit, programming, and business development.
- Exhaustive educational program mixing training and networking.
- Diverse multimedia forms of teaching.
- Interactive sessions that demand creative thinking and alternative perspectives.
- Encouragement of participants at all career levels and life-stages.
Takeaways
What you can expect to gain from Venture Storytelling:
- Ability to formulate an overarching story to convey your venture in different ways for different audiences.
- Greater capacity to gain the appropriate buy-in from varied constituents and customers.
- Deeper understanding of the components and considerations for positioning across multiple platforms in many mediums.
- Lifelong connections with a diverse group of people through a shared intense learning experience.
- Evaluation tools for determining the best forms to deliver the strongest brand experience to the right audience.
- Data interpretation skills for building better strategies and more meaningful analysis.
Sessions
While formulated to work best within a complete structure, corporate clients may engage individual sessions based on needs.
Session 1: Brand Experience
Before you can dive into the different outlets and platforms in marketing, you have to establish what your brand is all about. Discussion will focus on the many components that feed into a successful brand. And, because the audience is as important as the brand, we’ll also explore audience development and the ways to determine who best will respond to your brand/products and where to find them. Whether you’ve got a new company or an existing one, there are audiences out there – often being active on numerous platforms in many ways. Current brand strategy examples will be shown, dissected and discussed. And, a general framework will be laid out for determining the Brand Experience, the hoped-for audience, and overall strategies for reaching them via multi-channel marketing. Intro/Lecture and Case studies (Target, Snapchat and more).
Session 2: Knowing the Audience
Before you can dive into the different outlets and platforms in marketing, you have to establish what your brand is all about. Discussion will focus on the many components that feed into a successful brand. And, because the audience is as important as the brand, we’ll also explore audience development and the ways to determine who best will respond to your brand/products and where to find them. Whether you’ve got a new company or an existing one, there are audiences out there – often being active on numerous platforms in many ways. Current brand strategy examples will be shown, dissected and discussed. And, a general framework will be laid out for determining the Brand Experience, the hoped-for audience, and overall strategies for reaching them via multi-channel marketing. Intro/Lecture and Case studies (Target, Snapchat and more).
Session 3: Strategic Storytelling
Before you can dive into the different outlets and platforms in marketing, you have to establish what your brand is all about. Discussion will focus on the many components that feed into a successful brand. And, because the audience is as important as the brand, we’ll also explore audience development and the ways to determine who best will respond to your brand/products and where to find them. Whether you’ve got a new company or an existing one, there are audiences out there – often being active on numerous platforms in many ways. Current brand strategy examples will be shown, dissected and discussed. And, a general framework will be laid out for determining the Brand Experience, the hoped-for audience, and overall strategies for reaching them via multi-channel marketing. Intro/Lecture and Case studies (Target, Snapchat and more).
Session 4: Visual Representation
Even if you’ve nailed what the brand is all about and what the audience is expecting to see, you’ve still got to deliver upon what they’re actually going to see. Often, it’s not a matter of words before visuals – formulation of vision and visual representation is a give and take between the two with no real order. Begin to recognize the opportunities in wielding the power of imagery as springboards to expressing the bigger picture of a brand. Additionally, begin to understand how the environment your brand works in can mean the difference between success and failure. Case Studies (ALTAR Furniture, Kaleidoko, WeSee), Whole-class experimentation.
Project 1: First Evening Teamwork
Participants will be broken up in to teams in order to Explore, Develop and Define the Brand based on the discussions and teachings within Friday’s sessions. Each team will be assigned a “Brand” to work on at the end of Session 4 and it is expected that the teams will work through dinner and into the evening so that they may present their results during breakfast the following morning.
Project 2: First Team Presentations
During Breakfast, each team will have 10 minutes to present their projects to the rest of the group. Questions, Evaluation and Discourse will take place by instructors and participants directly following each presentation.
Session 5: Platforms & Content
Each marketing platform presents different opportunities and obstacles for an effective campaign. We’ll cover the basics of the leading platforms – both social and paid – to gain a better understanding of how they are best used and how you can read into the data to further understand your audience. As marketing evolves from a practice of pushing “stuff” out there and hoping that it sticks, to creating an environment for audiences to learn and then share their passions about your brand (hopefully), the types of content and communication are as important as the way in which you choose to reach your audience. Responses on each platform and to different content can be read in multiple ways in order to constantly refine and bolster both brand presence and audience interest. Case Studies (Disney, Virgin Atlantic and more), Discussion.
Session 6: Media Planning
The biggest financial and general resource drain is usually found in media and acquisition. While there is a tremendous opportunity to successfully convert through paid media, CRM and promotions, without a clear strategy and purpose, brands might be better off just making a bonfire with their available cash. We’ll explore the considerations that should be made in any related decision process before pulling the trigger on spends or commitment of resources. Learn the deep meaning of KPIs in order to establish realistic media plans and expectations. We’ll also unpack real examples of how the immediate returns on a campaign could have been negative (or vice-versa) based entirely on what tasks and KPIs were set forth at the beginning of the campaign. Participants will be armed with the tools to best determine what strategy, marketing mix, and expectations are needed for any specific campaign. Lecture, Case Studies (PepsiCo/Gatorade, Google and more).
Session 7: Strategic Partnerships
Strategic partnerships are bandied about in businesses both big and small. Often, they are incorrectly considered to be “free” promotions and growth opportunities. Unfortunately, most partnerships are not created equal. Some entrepreneurs are looking for technical partners, some looking for user acquisition, while many others are looking for press opportunities and multitude of other deliverables. Consider how the venture should regard partnerships – what they should be looking for in a partnership – and what those partners are actually looking for in return. Put a simpler way: everything is a partnership. What are investors, partners, employees, other divisions, vendors and conferences looking for from you? With this understanding, better targeting, communication and agreements can be had. Lecture, Case Studies.
Session 8: Experiential Evolution
The role of TV and live events in multiplatform content marketing. How are these platforms evolving with, or competing with major new digital distribution platforms? Live, physical interaction is constantly changing with new technologies like VR. If a core component in building community is experience, how does the inclusion of such a component add to your marketing mix? Is it needed? Can you not do without it? What do you hope to get out of it? Presentations, Short Lecture and/or Speaker TBD, Discussion.
Project 3: Second Evening Teamwork
Heading into the evening, teams will be reshuffled and the Brands from the previous evening’s projects will be reassigned. Formulate the Strategy and Methodology for a Marketing Plan that will meet the needs of the brands. Each team will present their plans, strategies and methodologies during the first session on Sunday.
Project 4: Second Team Presentations
Each team will have 15 minutes to present their marketing plans to the rest of the group. Questions, Evaluation and Discourse will take place by instructors and participants directly following each presentation.
Session 9: Evaluation & Response
Even the best laid plans have a stress point — the rate of response or engagement. Sometimes, the results are exactly what you wanted. Sometimes, you can’t run to the hills quickly enough. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle. Through the exploration of case studies and typical examples, tools for creating response strategies, as well as tactics, will emerge. And, there will be careful consideration of the ways in which to harness or goose engagement. Team Presentation Interplay/Projections, Case Studies (Oreo, Whole Foods)
Session 10: Beyond Presentations
Is there such thing as too much information? Without proper consideration, can you or your project go off the rails in minutes? How can presentations be more effective in supporting the storytelling? Are presentations even needed? Your key is in providing a method to the madness within the plans and proposals. Additionally, the thinking behind the prep work you do enables you to gain a stronger grasp on what kind of buy-in you need, the resources required, or the types of partnerships that could actually prove to be counterproductive. These points – and more – have a profound effect on how you position key aspects, what you might be asking of any audience, and at what phase. This session will just crest the surface of what it is all about and why it’s all about common sense when it comes to $$$ and ¢¢¢. Lecture, Discussion, Micro-Case Studies.
Upcoming Courses
Please reach out about scheduling a Venture Storytelling program for your organization.
Or view our other Leadership 4.0 course offerings.
What others are saying
“The most real-life business class I ever had. It opens your mind to various perspectives while giving you the repartee needed to face business life’s toughness. 200% recommended!”
“Best thing about this course is that they expect lots of participation and ensure that you get a chance to do that. The sessions were never dull and made more exciting through their sharing of insights and experience. I’d never thought about changing my career track, but after taking this, I’m seriously started considering making a shift!”
“I believe ‘you buy with your eyes’ and your sessions provided many cases for me to see things from a new perspective and be able to turn that into more rigid plans. Not so many courses balance creative and planning well – but this course is one of them.”