My work does not get presented without my involvement. This is an advantage. One of the benefits we offer to our clients is the advantage of an outside perspective, with no hidden agenda, nor bias…. besides the strategy agreed upon. Your company’s politics have no bearing on my ability to present my work. Be thankful for that.
Click here to read our article on presenting work.
My work is presented from the context of the strategic. I solve the problems businesses face in four steps:
This is the essence of our brand strategic process and all my work that I would show to a client is framed by that context.
Books, podcasts, courses, new software, new ideas... the world is changing and trends are are changing. Through a claim of expertise we articulate our focus, It is part of our career choice to work as quickly as possible to add proof to that claim. As the world of technology fastens its pace, so must we.
Writing gets us found. I recommend a blog as instrumental to any SEO effort. Not only does it make our Google overlords happy, but it makes our target audience happy and keeps them engaged. Writing helps cement our position as experts. Writing about what we do is the fastest way to deepen our knowledge. Writing at length on our expertise drives us into the deep crevices of our territory.
Click here to read our article on content strategy.
The main idea here is that the client must be reassured that we have the tools to learn more about the problem than the client does. A formalized method of engagement is how we achieve this:
Design is not the solution, it is the process. We cannot be effective designers if we allow the client to impose his process or truncate or otherwise marginalize ours. Avoiding this can be as simple as understanding, formalizing, and explaining our own process. When the prospective client is dictating to us, we must make the case that the consistency of our outcomes is rooted in the strength of our process, therefore we must be allowed to employ it. We will never agree to begin working on a creative solution to a problem that has not been fully explored. We must begin at the beginning and walk away from those who will have us proceed based on guesses or un-validated self-diagnoses. Those clients are treated as asking us of malpractice.
Click here to read our article on why we don't send proposals.
