Making a List

by Steve Badertscher

Are you in the habit of making a list? I have recently started to do this since the advent of creating our agency blog. Actually I make several every day, which I guess technically qualifies as lists, plural. I’ve found my lists are always a good starting point for inspiration when sitting down with pen in hand to write my blog (I know it’s more efficient to sit at the keyboard and type away, but we all have our vices).

Having said that, there are also lists that you make, not by what you physically write on paper, but by the virtue of who you are and what you do.

For example, in the “who you are” category, there are the “A” lists for extravagant celebrity parties (or at least so I’ve been told as I’ve personally never actually been on one of those lists). There are also traditional Christmas card lists, both business and personal, and who doesn’t feel good to be included on those lists of the people you like and admire (oh, and family too). And of course there is the proverbial “excrement” list, which we all try to avoid by trying not to offend people.

Now in the “what you do” category, there is the business listing list, categorized alphabetically under your industry heading in the local chamber of commerce directory. And there is the short list, which in the case of seeking new business, you hope your unique skills and qualifications land your company name among the final few.

Finally, there is a particular list that we were especially happy to have been included on this week. It's kind of a "who you are" and "what you do" combo list. It is BtoB magazine’s Top Agencies List. It’s an honor the magazine bestows upon the “best of the best” in business-to-business advertising. We feel fortunate to have once again been named one of the top agencies in America. Although we’re one of the smallest, we’re listed right there amongst all the big boys in our industry. It is the sixth time we’ve been able to celebrate this honor in recent years, and we never tire of being included. In fact, it’s one of our favorite lists to make.

Flickr Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spcummings/

The Power of the Handwritten Note

by Steve Badertscher

We’ve been immersing ourselves in all the social media that’s fit to print (and even some that isn’t) here at our firm recently. It is truly quite fascinating...especially the speed at which it is churned out. (Read: Twitter.)

It was while researching my three-hundred and thirty-sixth blog, sandwiched between reading several dozen fractured-sentence e-mails, that something quite remarkable occurred – the mail was delivered. No, it wasn’t just the fact that the postal service delivered my daily dose of snail mail...it was what they delivered – a note acknowledging my birthday.

And not just any note, a handwritten note...from my grandma.

It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the birthday “pings” I received via e-mail, the sentiments posted on the wall of my Facebook page, or the store-bought cards from well-wishers who “cared enough to send the very best.” I did. It’s just that there, juxtaposed amidst the cyber high-fives and envelopes with crisply printed mailing labels, was an actual honest-to-goodness handwritten note.

As soon as I saw the mailing address, I recognized the familiar penmanship. Even though it was shaky, it was still an unmistakably classic, nearly century-old cursive writing style that is an art unto itself. As I opened the envelope to read the card, I thought about how much care I knew she put into sealing it just so. And as I read the message, I imagined how painful it must have been, due to her arthritis, for her to write even a few words, much less several paragraphs expressing how much she wanted to wish me a happy birthday in person, but was unable to travel across the miles, and how much I was loved.

As I finished reading her heartfelt sentiments, I couldn’t help but think that they wouldn’t have had quite the emotional impact if she’d have sent me an e-mail. Or for that matter, a card from the 5 and Dime (as she still calls it).

It was seeing her personality in her pen strokes, and knowing that she made the special effort to put her thoughts in her own words, that set that correspondence apart from any other I received that day...or any day since.

It was the power of the handwritten note. A power that is underutilized in today’s business correspondence.

Flickr Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinator/