Dana Van Nest: Using Words As Tactical Instruments

About Dana Van Nest: Before opening her consulting practice, Dana Van Nest was Associate Director of Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations at Henry Art Gallery where she was responsible for planning and executing the museum's marketing, communications, and public relations plans. She also worked as Marketing Director at the Collins Group, a fundraising consulting firm, where she provided strategic direction for the firm’s business development and marketing communications initiatives. 

Since 2010, Dana has been a member of the Association for Women in Communications, Seattle Professional Chapter. In 2016, she received the Georgina MacDougall Davis Founder’s Award. This award is given annually to a Seattle Chapter member who consistently exhibits the highest ethics, professional excellence, and personal commitment in everything she does.

In 2003, her original co-written screenplay “Turn Right by the Yellow Dog” was produced by the Danish Film Institute and debuted at the San Jose Film Festival. Dana holds a BA in English from the University of Washington and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College.



In this episode, Erica and Dana discuss:

Getting your ego out of the way when writing for marketing or fundraising communications so you can focus on the mission and the audience.Using words as tactical instruments for content that supports your marketing objectives, which then supports the organizational goals.Making sure any communications you send out right now have a tone that lets your audience know you understand the crisis situation that we're in, without overdoing it.The strategy of always giving somebody three options, so the best option will shine. 

 

Key Takeaways:

Content strategy is about finding the right words to communicate the right message efficiently on the right platforms.If you don't have anything relevant to say during this crisis, don’t say anything right now.The more transparent you can be about where you are internally, the more engaged your staff is going to be and feel like they actually have a stake in what's happening.

"An organization should have marketing goals and strategies that map back to whatever their strategic plan is... and how their marketing communications plan is going to augment their greater business goals. But the content itself, you're drilling down a little bit further, and actually looking at what is going to go in each of these platforms in each of these places this week. So it's much more about the actual words, than the outcome." —  Dana Van Nest

 

Try out the Wordifier FREE to see if you should stop using a word, use it with caution, or use it all you want? http://www.claxonmarketing.com/wordifier/

Connect with Dana Van Nest:

Website: www.danavannest.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danavannest/
  

CONNECT WITH ERICA:

Website: http://www.claxonmarketing.com/about-erica/
http://www.claxonmarketing.com/
http://www.wordifier.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricaMillsBarn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericamillsbarnhart/
Email: [email protected]