Harvesting Expert Insights: Burr Forest Group’s Takeaways from Unveiling the Narrative
Two of our team members attended an event focused on storytelling. CAMA’s Unveiling the Narrative inspired us…
Part of our jobs at Burr Forest Group is to learn. Learn about the work our clients are doing and learn about how we can help them share that work with farmers. While we already know a lot about how to share information, there are always ways we can improve.
Part of this learning is talking about projects together as a team, building off of our skills and areas of expertise. Our industry colleagues also have a lot to teach us. For example, I learned a lot at the Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance (CAMA)’s Unveiling the Narrative event held on May 1, 2024 at the Leaf in Winnipeg.
Toban Dyck and I attended the daylong event. We learned a lot just by chatting with the other attendees at our table, but we also learned from the speakers. The most impactful session of the day, for me, was listening to Cleo Curtis with Brandish.
Curtis spoke about what a brand is and how it influences your business. Your brand is the result of all customer experiences and interactions over time. So, while you may have control over your logo, you don’t have control over your brand.
This means it’s important to be intentional about how you promote yourself and your company. Curtis shared how you should limit the number of channels you use and focus on where the audience you want to reach is.
Curtis’ message about intentional communications and going where your audience is tied into the Hello Canola presentation. Manitoba Canola Growers’ Jen Dyck and FleishmanHillard HighRoad’s Brooklyn Lutz and Amanda Patterson gave the background story on where their new consumer-focused canola campaign came from.
The group looked to find the communication channels their audience was using/engaging with, including social media platforms, traditional media, ads on websites, and streaming services. They used a broad approach, not limiting their communication channels to only those used by the agriculture community.
When interacting with other groups, it’s important to meet them where they’re at. Ellen Pruden with Cereals Canada explained how their award-winning What About Wheat? campaign focused on being fun and supportive of food, staying away from being combative and myth-busting. The priority was to remove their own biases and focus on research/engagement.
When telling a story using facts, you have to remember that facts alone don’t make a story. Doug Darling with Tripwire shared how people are emotionally driven. They make decisions based on emotion and want to hear the facts and logic later. Data should be used to enhance a story; not tell it.
Learning is an important part of our business. While we didn’t spend the day working on a project, per se, we did spend the day learning ways to better serve our existing and future clients. For our team to continue to do the work that we do and deliver quality content, we need to continue learning. So, for us, we’ll continue to take the time to talk with our colleagues and attend events, because we believe great ideas and insights come from such activities.