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Vision Graphics Inc. ENGAGING MARKETING MINDS

INSIDE

BLENDING DATA WITH EXPERIENCE

TM

SEPT/OCT 2016

THE VALUE OF PERSONALIZED CONTENT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

ANDREW NEITLICH ON LEADERSHIP

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The digital world can be overwhelming with banner ads, pop ups, spam and other distractions competing for attention. The tactile “real-world” feel of print can give you the power to cut through the clutter and make a connection with consumers.

CONNECT Brand recall is

70% higher for

print advertising compared to digital advertising, and the motivation to make a purchase is

20% higher.

ENGAGE

83% of people find direct mail easier to absorb than email.

- DMA 2015

INFLUENCE Direct mail boosted ROI by

20% when it was part of an integrated campaign.

- Royal Mail Group Ltd. 2011

- Toronto Star 2015

CONTACT US TODAY AND PUT THE POWER OF PRINT TO WORK FOR YOU

303.320.5411

webinfo@visiongraphics-inc.com www.visioneaglexm.com • 800.833.4263

discover the possibilities™

PRINT | DIRECT MAIL | DATA | FULFILLMENT

Up Front Publisher’s Letter

The

WRONG QUESTION hange has been the topic of conversation within the business community for decades. In May 2005, the Harvard Business Review cited the need for a radical departure from traditional thinking.

According to the article, "Your Company's Secret Change Agent," while isolated success strategies can be brought into the mainstream, doing so requires a departure from the notions of benchmarking and best practices that we are all too familiar with. The key is to engage the members of the community you want to change in the process of discovery and make them the evangelists of their own conversion experience.

NO MATTER WHAT The ideas for creating change THE SOLUTION IS are pretty sound. Involving the FOR CHANGE, THE people you want to change in the THING THAT process of leading change is brilliant. However, we collectively still ULTIMATELY HOLDS lament the willingness to change US BACK IS BELIEF OR what exists within our worlds.

LACK THEREOF. So, what gives?

Maybe we're just asking the wrong questions. For example, instead of asking "How do I get this done?" or "How can I validate my work?" we should ask, "What is holding us back from opportunity?"

No matter what the solution is for change, the thing that ultimately holds us back is belief or lack thereof. In other words, maybe there is a feeling that once change is implemented we will be destroyed in some way. Belief can go a long way – as long as it's true.

We must all have faith that sticking our collective necks out is a good thing. We must believe that when we choose to do the unconventional and the nontraditional, we will end up stronger and more educated. And we must feel confident that we can become the kind of people who not only make change, but change things for the better.

We have faith that this issue will change some thinking. In our cover story, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," we talk about the importance of staying in front of your clients and the difficulty in executing that plan. In our second feature, "Mixology," we highlight the fact that sincerity and authenticity are the key ideas to market-based thinking.

All the best,

MARK STEPUTIS Publisher

In This Issue

PUBLISHER Mark Steputis

mark.steputis@visiongraphics-inc.com MANAGING EDITOR Tyson Polzkill

Tyson.Polzkill@eaglexm.com

ART DIRECTION Brandon Clark EDITORIAL & CREATIVE DIRECTION

Conduit Inc. www.Conduit-Inc.com Connect is published bimonthly. Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

For more information, contact Scott Nordstrom at Scott.Nordstrom@visiongraphics-inc.com

01 Publisher’s letter The wrong question 02 The Inbox 04 Out of sight, Out of mind Why you need to get to know your customers personally

08 Mixology Marketing blends data with experience 12 Spotlight Life So Wild founder Jeffrey J. Soulliere 15 Recognizing Talent From Within Q&A with Vision Graphics/Eagle:xm Professionals 16 Trending with...

Executive coach Andrew Neitlich 17 One size does not fit all Survey shows

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News | Updates | Statistics

The Inbox

INSIGHTS

ROOM TO GROW

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When it comes to content marketing strategies, you would think that by now everybody would be on board.

Think again. According to Curata’s “2016 Content Marketing Staffing and Tactics Barometer,” the results show that companies admit to having room for improvement. For example, 48 percent say they are not curating their content, only 29 percent systematically reuse and repurpose content, and 37 percent never complete a content audit. To note, 42 percent intend on increasing their content marketing staff levels, the survey found.

Making buyer personas and customer journey maps a way of life You did all the research. Delved deep into your customer base to uncover the critical strategic assets you need to push forward. Now why are they just relegated to a PowerPoint presentation?

According to the "Content Customer Journey Maps and Buyer Personas: The Modern Tool Kit for Marketing"

by IBM Marketing Cloud and CMO Council, you should use what you have – constantly. Your messaging.

Updating content. Building out your campaign strategy. The key is to constantly refer to your buyer persona documents and customer journey maps to help you remain on point.

Periodically conduct more interviews to refine what you’ve developed and keep customer focus at the forefront, the study suggested. At every planning meeting, ask yourself and

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your coworkers, “What would our buyer want?” or “What does our research indicate that we should do?"

Consider performing annual content audits to help ensure you have current materials to engage contacts at the different points in the customer journey – and via the channels through which your contacts prefer to interact with you at these moments.

Monitor your analytics tools for changes in the customer journey that may arise over time.

Taken seriously and institutionalized throughout your company, the process of developing buyer personas and mapping the customer journey will go a long way toward designing an improved customer experience – and propelling your team to new levels of success.

It is not about storytelling, as in a different way of labeling or describing advertising.

It's more of a fundamental strategic approach to how to view your communication efforts across all touch points." – Douwe Bergsma, CMO of Georgia-Pacific, on reimagining marketing communications via storytelling

Book Rec The percentage of B2B marketers who say making more accurate decisions is the most valuable benefit of marketing data, according to Openprise's "The State of B2B Marketing Data Management." The report shows that marketers are employing marketing data strategies to improve ROI measurability (72 percent), improve data quality (65 percent), and increase data use/accessibility (63 percent). Openprise surveyed 183 B2B marketing professionals from 101 organizations across different verticals and company sizes.

The Inevitable:

Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

By Kevin Kelly

Have you ever thought how cool it would be to have a road map to the future? In "The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future," Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic game plan for the future by shining a spotlight on the coming changes in our lives.

This much we know: Much of what will happen in the next 30 years is inevitable, driven by technological trends like virtual reality and artificial intelligence that are already in motion. In "The Inevitable," Kelly shows how these trends continue to completely revolutionize the way we buy, work, learn and communicate with each other.

By understanding and embracing them, Kelly says it will be easier for us to remain on top of the coming wave of changes and to arrange our day-to-day relationships with technology in ways that bring forth maximum benefits.

"The Inevitable" is an indispensable blueprint to the technological, cultural and societal changes on the horizon.

It's the resource you may need in order to answer all the questions you have for the long ride ahead.

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BY JAMAR LASTER

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y her own admission, Liz Miller flies a “ridiculous” number of miles with American Airlines. As senior VP of marketing for the CMO Council, which entails hosting executive functions or presenting marketing-focused research findings at global conferences and thought-leadership events, her travel schedule is as closely aligned as possible with that of the quintessential jetsetter.

“It’s about making that intense relevance, because relevance drives relationships.”

– Liz Miller, Senior VP of Marketing, CMO Council

Not surprisingly, Miller enjoys “elite” status as an American Airlines Advantage Executive Platinum member. As the name implies, she’s set apart from the airline’s other customers, not only in travel perks and rewards, but also the types of marketing materials – and accompanying content – she receives. Those perks include quarterly updates with references to business perks and features of the American Airlines executive lounge; relaxing imagery of vacation spots in far-away places; and targeted ads on a specific country to which she frequently travels on international business.

Translation: The airline knows she’s not the typical traveler, so it personalizes the message she receives.

By contrast, Miller’s husband, also an Advantage program member – not of the Executive Platinum status, mind you – receives marketing materials, too. But they feature a distinct difference in content, a subtle nuance that has caught Miller’s eye. “When he gets his [American Airlines marketing materials], the content, images and promotions for destinations usually mirror what you can find on their website,” Miller says. “If they’re opening up a new route to Auckland, the cover of his brochure will be centered on Auckland.

His materials will generally feature content about what they have to offer the mass populace of their customers.”

The amount of personalization contained in the airline’s communication with her leads to a point of differentiation that Miller says makes the content more appealing. “They’re talking to me about things I may need in my travel life that are very different from my husband,” she says. “Every single piece of communication, while it’s content that can be found someplace else, is highly relevant to me.

And it’s probably also highly relevant to executive platinum flyers because we all tend to have the same behavior.”

The lesson in this example for marketers is simple: In a day and age where clients will only buy from those they trust and from those with whom they have relationships, one of the best ways to establish both of these key components is to appeal to one of their basic needs: personalized communication.

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CRACKING THE INNER CIRCLE In many situations, gaining your customers’ trust requires being part of an inner circle that sometimes can be difficult to access. In a business-to-business context, one of the best ways to begin breaking down any barriers to entry is to provide valuable, quality content that gives the customer an advantage in their market, says Bill Corbett Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations Inc., a Long Island, N.Y.-based public relations and marketing firm.

“If you know what their challenges are, share with them articles, videos and other materials that will help them overcome challenges, and you will build trust,” Corbett says. “This allows for opportunities to develop and for relationships to grow.”

Corbett, a former adjunct professor at Iona College and occasional guest lecturer at other institutions, also touts personal communication as a way to crack the proverbial walls some actual or prospective customers can erect. Ironically, he says technology – likely the very culprit in the establishment of these barriers – can be helpful in facilitating the communication that can help marketers break through.

“LinkedIn, for example, offers many ways to engage in personal conversations,” Corbett says. “The key here is listening to the specific client or type of client. If you know what they are looking for or what they need, you will have a better opportunity to reach them and provide what they are looking for. Don’t hard sell; however, this does not mean don’t communicate.”

Technology, in some ways, may have gotten a bad rap in this entire scenario. “It’s not the technology that’s the problem,” Miller says, “it’s the overwhelming flood of irrelevant messages that we keep sending people and an absolute lack of connected content.”

Such content not only has to be connected to a unified message, but it also must contain a thread connecting it across channels, Miller says.

“That level of connection, where we’re actually connecting all the dots between message and channel, has to also connect to something that is highly relevant to our customers.”

In many situations, gaining your customers’ trust requires being part of an inner circle that sometimes can be difficult to access.

TALK IN THEIR TERMS “Female between ages 22 and 34.” “College graduate.” “Mother with at least one child.” “Household income between $100,000 and $125,000.”

It’s easy for marketers to think in demographic terms; after all, the analytics portion of the job almost mandates doing so. But referring to customers in such terms also accentuates the problem of relating on a personal level with customers.

It’s best to start by gaining a deeper understanding of your customer, then communicating with them in familiar terms so that they aren’t reintroducing themselves at each engagement.

“No one introduces themselves as, ‘Hi, I’m a woman between the age of 22 and 34. I come from the Midwest and my socioeconomic background is…,’” Miller says. “But that’s how we talk about our customers,

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ways to focus on your client Get “in the dirt” with them. Go to their offices or operations and observe what they do. Talk with executives, staff, clients and partners.

Attend events that they host. “Get to know them on a personal level, and see what they do and how they do it,” says Bill Corbett Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations Inc. Mold products and services to meet customer needs. Using customer insight and intelligence, deliver value based on customer experiences that really address their needs and desires, says Liz Miller, senior VP of marketing for the CMO Council.

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Talk to them across channels. The social media channel is important for getting acquainted with your client, Miller says, but remember that you’re dealing with today’s Omni-channel customer. “Social media is important, but so is the live feedback that comes from websites or the voice that comes from customer-service channels, and so is sales,” she says.

Get to know their industries and markets. Look at competitors and share your relevant findings, Corbett says. “This is proactive and often helpful in developing marketing strategies or finding opportunities.”

Have a plan for tracking and working with clients. This is particularly important if you are a service provider. Create a calendar with themes, action items, events and activities, all the while communicating regularly and setting goals, Corbett says. “All parties must agree to the plan and system for assessing successes and achievements.”

then we break it down into product categories, why they are buying and their demographics. If you were to ask what that woman is buying, she would say, ‘I’m buying back-to-school products because my kids need them for school, but they need paper in packs of four, so why do you sell packs of three?’ If we can start shifting how we think about customers and why they do business with us, and talk to them the way they want to talk to us, it shifts the relationship.”

Corbett says another way to learn how to talk to clients is not to talk about business. “Find out what an individual is interested in and talk with them about this and get to know them,” he says. “Eventually, the conversation will turn to business and this is when you have an opportunity to discuss what you do, why you do it and what makes you different.”

Communicating with clients in these terms not only softens barriers, but it shifts the company’s or brand’s relationship with the customer and drives loyalty. “We stop talking to them like they’re a catalog,” Miller says. “It encourages them to be part of the buying experience, whether it’s a long buying cycle like in B2B markets, or a short one like in B2C markets.”

PERCEPTION IS REALITY On a smaller scale, personalization is very much a grassroots effort. Corbett says plans of action include eschewing multiple e-blasts and newsletters, instead focusing on personal interactions with customers.

“Thank people personally for meetings or shares of their social content,” he says. “Call them when appropriate. When you find an article they are mentioned in, send it to them and congratulate them. If somebody does something for me, I do a social shout out. Business is a two-way street. Do whatever you can to help the client get exposure and show off what they do to your audiences.”

But on a macro scale, such personalization may not be realistic.

One-to-one communication, at scale, is a scary proposition. After all, a company with millions of customers can’t possibly hire a marketing staff of millions.

But that’s OK, Miller says, because individualization isn’t the goal. It’s really about the perception of personalization. “How are we speaking to that individual so that they believe we are truly speaking to them as an individual?” she asks. “I think that sometimes people miscommunicate personalization because they think that it’s total individualization. It’s really not. It’s that mass personalization that delivers intense layers of relevance to that individual customer.”

And don’t misunderstand the message to mean that simply mail-merging a letter with customers’ first names and the city in which they live (à la the technology of the 1990s) will do the trick. That’s bush-league in today’s marketing game.

“We’re talking about creating highly relevant moments, regardless of channel,” Miller says. “So that means that if a company is sending an email to me, Liz Miller, not only is it reflective of my history with that brand, but it also is tailor-made for me. That may be different visuals, different offers or offers that are more relevant for me than they are for someone else. It’s about making that intense relevance, because relevance drives relationships.”

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MIXOLOGY Marketing blends data with experience

BY MICHAEL J. PALLERINO

dentify. Target. Listen. Serve. When you break down the basic tenets of strategic marketing, the plan doesn’t get any clearer than that. Or so you would think. Driven by the continued infatuation with the prowess of Big Data, marketers seem to be doing yeoman’s work on the identifying and targeting sides of the equation. But thought leaders like Tanya Korpi Macleod don’t believe you should always be so dependent on what the data says.

Is she intimating that data can sometimes steer you off course?

Depends on your interpretation. Macleod, president & CEO of The Holistic Marketing Agency, believes that data tends to be totally context-dependent. Take, for example, website metrics. Your intel may tell you that very few visitors ever make it past the first page.

The initial reaction is that your home page is just plain terrible. But what if that page contains all the information your customers need, and there is no need for them to press on?

That may be what the data implies. But what do your customers say? What information did you (should you) uncover from having real world engagements with them? Is hiding behind data analysis alone the answer?

“None of us is as creative as all of us. When we work with the client, we can leverage the synergy of two or more minds thinking as one.”

– Mack Story, Co-founder, TopStoryLeadership.com

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Take that website example. By combining your high-bounce rate (bad) with customer service feedback about how easy it is to get info off of your website (good), you see a different picture.

“Your customers and clients are real people to you,” Macleod says.

“There are so many more sensory inputs when you engage in oneon-one conversations. You can read body language. You can sense emotion. You can connect and laugh. You can build compassion.

It’s incredibly important to have an intimate understanding of what your customers want and need.”

Truthfully, that means relying on your team to get out into the field to have real conversations with people. If you don’t, you’re precluding learning. “It’s a little Zen, actually,” Macleod says. You have to have a beginner’s mind, especially with things like social media and the way algorithms and consumer buying habits are changing all the time. People aren’t fundamentally changing, but the tools they use are. You have to keep up with that. If you think you already know everything about everybody, there’s no room for new info. It shuts down your imagination.

And that’s not good for anyone.”

Meet me out on the street…

In today’s technologically astute world, with so many different modes of communication available, it can be easy for marketers to hide behind data. But that’s a feeling you must shake – and fast.

And here’s the thing – it’s as hard (or as easy) as you make it. If you put the wall up, you can take the wall down. The blueprint is pretty simple. Make sure you and your team get out into the field to meet with your customers. Set aggressive, quarterly goals for meaningful customer discussions. Targeting customer engagements is a good habit to take on. Hearing firsthand your customers’ real successes and frustrations – being a part of the customers’ world – is paramount to improving the way you connect with them.

And that means leaving your ego at the door. Ask any marketer and he’ll tell you that egos create roadblocks.

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“It’s hard to get to know your client, or who you are marketing to if you think you are the best. Data doesn’t hurt, but numbers don’t feel emotion.”

– Kathy Michel, Director of Marketing & Media Relations, Goucher College While it’s good to be confident in what you do and what your research says, an ego can paralyze you. Face it – you’re human. You don’t know everything. You can follow the trends, stay current by poring through the research, but in the end, there always is more to learn and do when it comes to marketing.

“It’s hard to get to know your client, or who you are marketing to if you think you are the best,” says Kathy Michel, director of marketing and media relations at Goucher College in Baltimore.

“Data doesn’t hurt, but numbers don’t feel emotion. When you combine the facts and the emotion, it’s easier to prove why you stand out among the rest of your competitors.”

Facts are facts, but oftentimes it’s the emotional piece that sells.

Marketing comes down to emotional intelligence. It means being self-aware and having an understanding that your clients may be making life-changing decisions, so it’s important to be empathetic.

“Marketing is about channeling and harnessing the mind of your audience,” Michel says. “That’s why that real-world engagement part is so huge. You have to know whom you are engaging with.

You don’t get that sitting behind a computer screen. It’s always best to know who you’re targeting through face-to-face interactions.”

Mack Story wants you to look at it like this: Your clients will not buy from you until they feel understood by you. The key to influencing them is to first allow them to influence you. Your most valuable clients value those who first value them.

Story, co-founder of TopStoryLeadership.com, believes that you lead with influence. “Until our clients feel like they matter to us, we don't matter to them. That’s why your most valuable clients are also your most important word-of-mouth advertisers. They already know, like and trust you. Reinforce their belief in you by seeking to understand their needs.”

What Story and thought leaders believe is that while the process is not about you, it starts with you. Who you are on the inside is what others experience on the outside, which means it’s critical that you see the world through the eyes of your clients.

“None of us is as creative as all of us,” says Story, whose clients include Chick-fil-A and Koch Industries. “When we work with the client, we can leverage the synergy of two or more minds thinking as one. We can't offer a prescription until we have the proper diagnosis. The quickest way to build rapport with a client is to demonstrate through your actions that their thoughts and opinions matter. When you seek out their input, you move beyond communication and begin to connect.”

“If you think you already know everything about everybody, there’s no room for new info. It shuts down your imagination.”

– Tanya Korpi Macleod, President & CEO, The Holistic Marketing Agency

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD FOSTER ONE-ON-ONE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTS 1 2

Enables your clients to know who you really are and gain a sense of trust

3 4

Enables you to see, sense and feel emotions on a more intimate level

Will not only learn what they like and don't like, but you will build a deeper relationship

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Creates ongoing, consistent dialogue, not a one-time sales pitch

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The best evangelists for a company are delighted customers

The closer you are to your customers, the less likely they are to look for an alternative provider

Communicates that they are not just a piece of business, but that they matter, too

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S P O T L I G H T

FROM SPACE SHUTTLES TO GRIZZLY BEARS Interviewed by Crystal Lague

W

ho goes from working at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to becoming a backcountry survivalist and wildlife photographer? The answer to that question is Jeffrey J. Soulliere, founder of Life So Wild. Soulliere’s life revolved around space. He worked on the space shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center and even outside of work his companions where primarily astronauts and space workers. For 35 years he collected space artifacts as a hobby.

“I was often handed things that had flown to the moon. These days there is a whole society of people out their collecting these things,” Soulliere said with a chuckle. When the space shuttle program was retired, Soulliere retired as well. He did not know yet at that time he was going to embark on a whole new life adventure.

“I was taking pocket camera shots over the years of space shuttles, astronauts, and artifacts…Every hobby starts off as a hobby and turns into a disease,” said Soulliere with a grin. He bought a semi-pro camera and ended up taking a photograph of a giraffe at a theme park in Florida. “Looking at that picture, the colors in the background seemed to just blow up and the look on the giraffe’s face was very dramatic, noble almost and something just caught me,” Soulliere said. With his new flair for photography and memories of how he used to enjoy backpacking Soulliere decided to take a trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

While visiting the park Soulliere said, “A black bear crossed the road on me and that was all it took. I went into the woods with the bear and the bear taught me a couple things.” What Soulliere learned is that his existing knowledge of backcountry survival techniques and equipment was not sufficient for the level of photography he wanted to produce.

He knew that his next step was to determine what he needed to study.

He began doing extensive research on large mammals, tracking, survival skills, backpacking equipment, specific ecosystems, and technical gear - all while learning how to shoot professional grade photography. At the same time Soulliere turned down an offer to work on the new Constellation Program, confirming his decision to move forward with a professional photography career and leave the theater of American human space flight in the past. It was at that point he made the decision to relocate to just outside of Jackson, Wyoming to be in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

“I realized a couple of things. I wanted to do this and I wanted to learn how to do it without getting killed,” Soulliere recalled from the experience.

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After intense research over the winter months Soulliere was amazed at the results. He began to understand how to “read mountain formations, valleys, water sources, and concentrated food sources” to locate bears and was immediately successful.

Living in the Yellowstone ecosystem Soulliere became familiar with a local culture of wildlife photographers who took photos of “roadside bears” and he determined to develop a different type of wildlife focus for Life So Wild.

Knowing that hundreds of tourists and lots of professional photographers where getting “the same picture - at the same time, of the same animal, and the same background” he knew that was not what he wanted.

“You have all these wildlife photographers and hundreds of tourists getting the same shot of the same roadside bear … and the bear is showing signs of stress … and I thought ethically I do not want to be a part of that. I really want to focus on the trail heads in the morning, hiking in and reading that behavior… I tactfully, technically, and scientifically introduce myself and read that communication.

All the biologist say that bears do not communicate with humans … Bottom line is they don’t hide their feelings and there are ways they communicate what they are feeling. You just have to know how to read those signs and that is the kind of communication I am talking about.” Soulliere goes on these backcountry expeditions alone and rarely allows a friend to accompany him. He recognizes that the generally accepted rule is not to hike alone and explains that it’s recommended you have five people in this type of expedition for safety purposes.

“Why do I want five people getting the same images? Why do I want four

other people that could freak out and run and get me killed?,” Soulliere goes on to say that to him it is “all about” tracking a bear until he can get “that one shot” where the light, the bear’s body language, the background, and “even the right amount of moister in the air” come together to create “the one shot you can really turn into art.” To Soulliere, “That is the challenge of this whole thing … It’s the shots that nobody else has.” Besides an extensive array of bear photography Soulliere’s portfolio also includes fox, coyotes, beaver, eagles, moose, bison, mountain goats, and more.

After gaining this massive amount of knowledge and experience and developing a huge portfolio of wildlife photography, Soulliere began to ponder what he should do next.

“There comes a day where nobody knows about this portfolio. What do you do with it? Every photographer has a website that nobody knows about.” Soulliere began to ask himself ‘How can I build Life So Wild to support itself financially on a complete backcountry expedition level? How can I display this photography uniquely?

How can I give Life So Wild products an educational value?’

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L I F E

“How do I focus on not getting killed in the backcountry and run the level of a business that I think Life So Wild can be?”

Soulliere needed a partnering company with printing and manufacturing capabilities as well as the ability to market and manage the Life So Wild product line. After determining that there was no such company in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Soulliere relocated to Colorado and the hunt to turn his passion into a business was on.

“I came to Denver to find a company willing to brand it, market it, manufacture it, and run it within my ethical boundaries.” Soulliere began with a list of companies that he thought might have the capabilities and through his search was recommended to two companies that might be interested in his business plan. He first contacted a small print company outside of Denver.

“They wanted to do the project, signed the nondisclosure agreement, went crazy over the thing, but when it actually

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came down to it … I made the call.” They did not have the financial backing and manufacturing capabilities necessary.

“I needed a large enough, successful enough print manufacturer that would consider the business model, see the prototypes and listen to the overall plan and uniqueness of what I was bringing to the table. Mark got it right away,” Soulliere said referring to Mark Steputis, owner of Vision Graphics/Eagle:xm.

Soulliere was able to get an impromptu meeting with Steputis. “He had ten minutes and we ended up spending two hours together. That’s how that meeting went. He is a brilliant man that has accomplished a lot. Vision Graphics, just walking through this building and seeing the capabilities is very impressive stuff.” A partnership with Vision Graphic/Eagle:xm was born.

Soulliere still spends his winters doing extensive research and is still answering questions about the future of Life So Wild such as, “How can I make these resources help fund grizzly reintroduction to the lower 48 contiguous states?”

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Jeff Soulliere’s collection of fine wildlife photography is now available as high-quality displays and other art formats for retail sales and private use.

• Souvenir Display Frame 24” x 12” horz 12” x 24” vert 12” x 12” square

• Wire-O Bound Calendar 12.5” x 9.5”

• 4 Note Cards & Envelopes Set • Posters, Prints, & Gallery Displays For more information or to place an order please visit

www.lifesowild.com or call

720.398.6918

Recognizing Talent From Within

with Vision Graphics/ Eagle:xm Professionals Interviewed by Crystal Lague

Julie Ellis

ACCOUNT MANAGER How long have you worked for Vision Graphics/Eagle:xm?

I have been here for 16 years next April. I was hired on as an account manager. For a while, I moved into a Broadband Marketing Group lead by Joel Susel, who is still with the company as our leading performance solutions developer. That group’s role was to provide marketing solutions and customer service to companies like Comcast, Charter, and Time Warner. We would brainstorm and create new programs for cable companies customized to their needs. Joel has an incredible talent for inventing new forms of marketing solutions and developing programs that have never been done before. The extensive amount of knowledge I gained in that group is invaluable. I am now back in an account management role now, but still get to work with Joel on marketing solutions in several industries. We have worked together for over ten years now and I feel we make a good team.

What is a typical day like for you as an account manager?

There really is no such thing as a typical day for an account manager. I could be putting in an estimate and suddenly have five order requests, a change to an existing order, a need to check on something in our fulfillment system or any number of other tasks. It is highly important to stay organized and prioritize. I don’t think I have had two days that were the same in all the time I have worked here, which is a good thing.

What I am doing also depends on what client I’m working with. What I do for Regal is completely unique to them; we do not provide a program like theirs to anyone else.

Joanne Caldwell, another member of our account services team, works with Eagle Ticketing which has some similarities. We are able to utilize some of the same expertise and technology for both programs, but the products are very unique to the client and the programs are completely different. It is all about inventing things here, creating solutions that have never been done before.

I have never heard someone here say ‘We can’t do that; that’s not what we do.’ Maybe we don’t do something right now, but we can do it and when we do, we will do it in a way that is customized to the needs of that particular company. That is what is so nice about the environment here.

What do you feel makes the customer service at Vision Graphics/Eagle:xm stand out?

As an account manager I really get to know my clients and I have come to feel like I am a part of the companies that I work with. I will work with someone day in and day out on a project and our team here really becomes an extension of their company. If someone calls me in a panic, because they need something rapidly I feel their urgency. I believe that is why so many of our customers have been with us for so long. They know that we engulf ourselves in making sure their companies are successful.

The other aspect that really sets us apart, as I mentioned previously, is this ability to create new programs and methods of doing things and having that freedom to be expanding and changing. It’s always been the kind of company that if you want to do something not in your typical role you can.

You are given the resources to grow and the company grows as a result.

If you had to pick one project you have been a part of here that stands out in your mind what would it be?

Launching Regal’s gift card program was really one of the most fun and unique projects I have been a part of here. We invented a whole new process and I imagine SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

it is quite unique compared to how other gift card programs are managed. Regal had been our customer for many years, but we were not doing their gift cards, which they themselves had just recently started doing. They had a vendor that was doing just their gift cards that frankly was not serving their needs very well. They told us that they wanted to have everything we did for them, primarily paper tickets, and the gift cards from one provider. Initially we partnered with another company that had gift card capabilities we did not. It did not take long to realize they were not going to provide a quality up to our standards. We decided during the production process that we were going to bring everything in house midstream. We had to figure out on the fly how to transition from this other vendor to doing it internally with systems up and running incredibly fast.

Our IT team got together with the IT team at Regal and rose to the occasion in just an amazing way. We started from scratch and we were able to make it exactly how it needed to be for Regal. That is what we do and that is one of the reasons I love working with Joel, who was a big part of that process as well. He has this ability to create solutions that are ongoing programs customized for a specific goal. Of course, over time we have found ways to make the whole program more efficient, but seeing the way everyone in both companies came together to make this program happen from the start was truly a memorable experience.

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Interview with Andrew Neitlich

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Executive coach Andrew Neitlich n his book, “Elegant Leadership: Simple Strategies, Remarkable Results,” Andrew Neitlich shows how strong leaders are the ones who remain committed to learning what they don’t know. If it sounds simple, it’s not. Maybe that’s why Neitlich, founder and director of the Center for Executive Coaching, spends so much time helping today’s leaders perfect their craft. Over the years, he has trained more than 1,000 coaches around the world, with an impressive client list that includes the likes of FedEx, Aflac, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Defense, and Deloitte Consulting, among scores of others. Here, Neitlich dishes on what today’s leaders are made of and how they can get better:

What do today's leaders lack?

It depends on the individual leader.

Everybody has strengths and areas where they can develop. What works is an approach that looks at your thinking and communication styles, behavioral traits, the impact you have on others, your alignment with your manager(s) and the organization’s strategy, and your requirements for success.

By understanding these issues, you can find that one new attitude, behavior or skill that will have maximum impact and improve results. Sometimes, this one thing can be a strength upon which to build, a behavioral blind spot that might be derailing your career, or a new behavior to start or do more.

Where are those blind spots?

Some leaders who have technical skills – physicians, engineers, scientists and attorneys, among others – often lack some of the softer skills to engage their teams and communicate effectively. In non-profit organizations, for example, I often work with leaders who feel uncomfortable asserting themselves or having any kind of conflicts.

In highly political organizations, some leaders would rather look good than do the right thing. One framework that helps shed light on this issue is the triangle between ego, results and relationships. These three

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VISION GRAPHICS, INC./EAGLE:XM-CONNECT

areas must be in balance. If you focus too much on ego, then you care more about getting credit, having status and looking good than getting results. If you focus too much on getting results, you can hurt relationships and come across as coercive.

And, if you focus too much on preserving relationships, you avoid tough conversations, don’t get results and end up hurting business relationships anyway.

ONLY EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE CAN OR WANT TO LEAD TODAY AND STILL BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR HEALTH, WORK-LIFE FLOW, VALUES AND PERSPECTIVE. What is the key to getting better?

Good leaders constantly ask themselves questions about how to keep improving.

Five crucial questions are: How can I earn the right to lead with my people? How can I help others to succeed? How can I model the habits I want to see in the organization?

Which behaviors and attitudes do I need to stop tolerating in myself and in others?

How can I build a stronger organization that isn’t dependent on me?

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What is the real key to successful leadership?

You have to care deeply about whatever it is you are doing and why you are doing it.

That way, when you wake up and don’t feel like leading, you still see possibilities to create; you still do what needs to be done.

True leaders lead even when they don’t feel like it. It’s about getting up after you’ve been knocked down repeatedly, being able to influence and engage others, being authentic without manipulating, and not caving in on values or quality.

How do you see leadership changing in today’s new business landscape?

This truly is a new world defined by a gut-wrenching pace of change and volatility, uncertainty, complexity and interdependence. It’s causing too many to believe that things are really under their direct control. Given that, many leaders have nearly impossible jobs. It is no wonder that some have cynically chosen to look out for their own interests over and above the needs of their constituents and organizations. But for those who want to be the “real thing,” there is an opportunity to engage others to develop a shared vision and purpose. There are opportunities to set a clear direction, and develop and unleash other leaders who can make great things happen. Today’s leaders can be authentic role models of the behaviors and habits they want to see in others. Only extraordinary people can or want to lead today, and still be able to maintain their health, work-life flow, values and perspective.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Before You Go

SURVEY SHOWS THE VALUE OF PERSONALIZED CONTENT

ame a place, any place, within the customer journey that can’t be bolstered by content. Tough, isn't it? The key is in what type of content you use. According to the “Content Marketing’s Evolution: The Age of Hyper-Personalization and Automation” report, 80 percent of marketers say their objectives are met when they use personalized content over any content. The report, conducted by the Demand Metric and Seismic Report, surveyed more than 180 B2B enterprise stakeholders. Here's a look at the types of content personalization marketers are using today:

SEGMENT SPECIFIC

PERSONA SPECIFIC ACCOUNT SPECIFIC

STAGE SPECIFIC LEAD SPECIFIC

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VISION GRAPHICS, INC./EAGLE:XM-CONNECT

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Vision Graphics, Inc. / Eagle:xm 5105 E 41st Ave. Denver, CO 80216

ENGAGING MARKETING MINDS

Are You Making The Right Connections E-mail Scott.Nordstrom@visiongraphics-inc.com or call 800.833.4263