The Communications Dept. » Michelle Hudson

Authentic always – a leadership lesson from an unlikely source.

Michelle Hudson — Sun, 14 May 2017 05:02:58 +0000

Today is Mothers Day and sadly, the 5th Mothers Day my Dad and my four siblings have spent without the physical presence of our beloved mum, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in September 2012.

So why am I motivated to write a LinkedIn blog on Mother’s Day? Because it was in the final days spent with my Mum that she (I’m sure unknowingly) passed on a significant life lesson – words I carry with me every day and that serve me well in all my professional and personal relationships and endeavours.

Our mum Marina had no formal education beyond year 9 and no professional career. She finished school at 15 and worked on her parents’ farm until she married my dad and became a farmer’s wife, and then mother to five children.

As we anticipated and prepared for Mum’s passing, and the occasion of her funeral, we had the opportunity to reflect on Mum’s many talents and strengths – she was an amazing baker (pavlovas and cream puffs her specialty), a talented gardener of both vegetable and floral varieties, she could turn her hand to floristry, she could sew (often matching outfits for my sister and I) and she was a loving and supportive mother and Nan to all of her 5 children and 12 grandchildren. Mum was secretary of the local chapter of the Red Cross, president of the ladies guild at her church and ran the canteen at the local Football Club for many years. She single-handedly catered for all of our 21st birthday parties and ALWAYS wrote the perfect words of congratulations or comfort on a card for someone who needed it. We soon realised, there wasn’t much our Mum couldn’t do.

During her last few days with us, I had the opportunity to tell Mum how proud I was of the way she had faced her final battle. Her response was simply, matter of factly: ‘I was just being me’.

No doubt, in true Marina style, she had no intention of being profound nor would she have realised the impact this conversation would have on the rest of my life.

These are now words I live by. At all times, in every situation, just be yourself.

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BRAND STRATEGY: What do you want to be famous for?

Michelle Hudson — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 06:22:44 +0000

If I was to call a random sample of your customer or constituent base and ask them what words come to mind when they see your logo or hear your organisation name … what words do you think they would use?

Brand attributes are the personality characteristics of a brand and are often the same words you use to describe a person – which is important because at the end of the day, your goal is to build a (positive) relationship with your brand, just like you might with a person.

In order to explain the power of brand attributes in brand strategy workshops, I typically share a few iconic brand names/logos and ask what words pop into participants’ minds.

Volvo = almost 100% of my sample size say the same thing. Can you guess? Safe.

Apple = yep, innovative

Body Shop = ethical, natural.

This doesn’t happen by accident.

Recently I have worked with a number of organisations to help them define their brand attributes. For one organisation, it was ‘Reliable, Efficient and Local’, for another ‘Progressive, Trustworthy and Approachable’ and for another ‘Professional, Engaged and Regionally-Relevant’ (ok, that last one is technically two words, but you get the drift).

The thing about defining your brand attributes though, is that they need to be in sync with what your customers or constituents value. Whilst ‘experienced’ might be important to a law firms’ clients, it’s probably not that important to customers of a surf wear retailer.

A proactive approach to determining what’s of value to your customers/constituents, determining what your brand attributes need to be (these could be aspirational) and then ensuring every touch point with your brand is reinforcing these attributes, are each critically important to developing and reinforcing your brand reputation.

So, what do you want to be famous for?

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The Communications Dept. is open for business!

Michelle Hudson — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 06:15:53 +0000

I am super excited to announce that The Communications Dept. is open for business!

After more than 20 years working in the industry working as a ‘marketing manager’ or ‘communications manager’ for individual organisations, I have now established my own marketing, communications and brand management consultancy. I look forward to assisting many organisations achieve their marketing, communications and fundraising goals.

Why not make The Communications Dept … your department?

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