Lucy Swanston, of Nutshell Creative, explains why, when the country is facing its biggest ever peacetime challenges, we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to others, ask for or provide support, collaborate and show some love.
Those of you who tuned in to the IPIA’s EPIC conference were treated to some really good marketing updates from industry experts, but one that really cut through emotionally was Peter Docker’s talk of fear, courage and love. He spoke about very real fears that companies are facing such as loss of livelihood, status, reputation, even businesses built up over many years.
Unlock new possibilities
As business leaders, we can use fear as a catalyst for courage driven by love for our people; what we bring to the world through our work and what we stand for. By doing that, we open-up more possibilities, solutions, creativity and innovation from ourselves, our team, our suppliers, and our customers. Peter suggested we recognise fear as a warning and activator to find the courage to find a place of love.
Docker’s talk was very profound, it resonated with many of the feelings we have all experienced in this pandemic. He compared what we’re fighting now with flying a plane through a storm, pushed down by currents. There’s temptation to retreat to a place of safety, but we need to push forward, fight through the storm and through to blue skies ahead.
Throughout this year, our industry has shown such courage, innovation and resilience and it makes us proud to be part of it. Through Nutshell’s own trade services division launched back in the summer, we forged many new collaborations that maybe wouldn’t have happened, had we not been thrown into the eye of the storm.
Reach out, it’s as easy as ABC!
We referred in the last issue of Innovations to the phrase ‘bothism’ coined by marketing professor Mark Ritson. He suggested we need both short and long-term approaches in marketing, as echoed at EPIC by Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland.
Just recently, we put together an A-Z of tips for a podcast on winning new business; In it we suggest 40 things you could be doing to help find new leads that won’t break the bank!
Most of the tips require you to reach out in some way, shape or form to others; a lesson we would all do well to learn. Brexit might have made an island nation of us again, but we can choose not to be an island either business-wise or nationally.
