Resource Hub for Strategic Communication Professionals
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The Next Step Coin: Stories That Save Lives
At The EO Report, we believe talented communicators use their craft to tell stories that matter – stories that create change, stories that endure, and stories that serve the greater good.
Brandon Sanderson understands that responsibility deeply.
Meet the Messenger: Emily Poeschl
In honor of our 100th edition, we’re launching a new segment at The EO Report: Meet the Messenger. It’s a chance to tap into the minds of some of the most thoughtful and experienced communications professionals in the field. Each installment will share hard-earned advice, lessons from the moments that didn’t go as planned, and insights on how our craft is evolving.
We’re kicking things off with our good friend Emily Poeschl, brand communications manager at Mutual of Omaha.
In Five Minutes, It’s Possible
We are good at imagining every potential obstacle. We inflate complexity. We wait for an ideal block of time that rarely arrives. Then we quietly postpone the whole thing. Not because the task is impossible. But because our projection of it has become unrealistic.
The result is familiar to most of us. Important emails sit unsent. Hard conversations linger. Drafts stay trapped in folders. Interesting ideas go unshared. Connections wait for a “better time.” We tell ourselves we need an hour. Or an afternoon. Or a clean calendar. What we often need is five minutes.
Short Takes: The Turkey Talk-Line
Butterball, brilliantly, doesn’t just sell you a turkey: they give you all the tools to succeed from “how big of a bird should I get?” to “Why is it doing that!?”
Every year from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, 50 trained Turkey Talk-Line experts help more than 100,000 anxious cooks get dinner across the finish line. Phone, text, email, live chat – whatever has you panicking, they’ve got a channel for helping.
The Season of Gratefulness
It’s the season of gratefulness, and the research is clear: the more time we spend noticing what’s good, the healthier we are. Not in a vague, inspirational-poster way, but the real stuff that steadies us and reminds us we’re part of something larger, something made of presence, connection, small beauties, and the kind of perspective that outlasts any to-do list or crisis moment.
So I try to pay attention. And here’s what comes to mind as I write about gratefulness.
“Can We Talk?” Reducing Anxiety for Your Team
Internal communications aren’t just about sharing information. They’re about how you make people feel while doing it.
And one of the fastest ways to spike anxiety across your team? Dropping messages with no context.
You may think it’s efficient. But your colleagues’ hearts may start beating a little faster. Here’s what to do instead.
Lessons from Cub Scouts Pack #365
The Cub Scouts behind this story had more than candy on their minds this Halloween.
As some of the pack members headed out in their costumes through the Dundee neighborhood in Omaha, NE, one of the boys happened to mention his troop’s upcoming food drive while trick-or-treating at one of the homes.
That single moment could have ended there, but it didn’t.
The Anatomy of an Apology: GoFundMe
Last week, GoFundMe made headlines when news broke that it had been automatically creating donation pages for nonprofit organizations without their knowledge or consent.
Eventually, the organization realized an apology was necessary and rolled one out. Here’s a breakdown.
Make ‘Em Cry: CBC’s Impactful Storytelling
CBC: The National gave us a perfect example of how reporting can turn into beautiful storytelling. We break it down.
The Bookend: A Post-Event Email
Last week, we talked all about the ever-important “know before you go” email. But we’re all about closing the loop, so now it’s time to explore its equally important counterpart: the post-event email.
The Humble “Know-Before-You-Go” Email
One element that doesn’t get enough credit in event planning is the humble know-before-you-go email. It’s that final touchpoint that clears away all the “what-ifs,” helping attendees show up confident, informed, and ready to park and enjoy the experience. Here’s how to write a stellar one.
Find Your Niche: Spooky Lakes Month
When it comes to content, the temptation is to cast a wide net. Go broad, appeal to the masses, rack up followers. But those waters are crowded. The creators who stand out are the ones who pick a lane and stay there by offering something so specific that their audience can’t find it anywhere else. That’s where loyalty lives.
Take TikTok creator Geo Rutherford. She’s built an audience of 1.8 million followers around a single, unlikely niche: haunted hydrology.
Short Takes: Rock On, Anthropologie
If you are an Anthropologie shopper, you’re probably in on the joke that sometimes the brand sells seemingly simple products for laughably high prices. Here’s a short take on a prank that started circulating on social media — and how Anthropologie responded.
Lessons in Apologizing From a Beauty Guru
At just 25 years old, James Charles is one of the titans of the beauty influencer sphere. With his personal Instagram account amassing 20 million followers and his YouTube channel boasting 24 million followers, he’s one of biggest names in the beauty industry.
He’s also, we acknowledge, a controversial character. But despite the scandals, admissions, and allegations, he knows how to deliver one heck of a corporate apology.
The Art of Brevity
In a 2023 episode of Speaking of Psychology, Gloria Mark, PhD, chancellor’s professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, shared decades of research on how technology impacts our attention, mood, and stress. Her findings confirm what many of us have suspected: our attention spans have been steadily declining over the past two decades.
Oura’s Crisis Response: From Conspiracy to Clarity
When you offer a complicated product or service, you get the joy of doing double the work to ensure your message is understood. Often, this means taking off our marketing and PR hats for a moment and putting on our translator hats. We need to cut out the industry jargon that no one outside our ecosystem understands (what PR consultant Scott Merritt recently called “jargon monoxide”) and simplify processes until they’re clear at the most basic level.
What happens when you don’t? Oura, a company that makes wearable fitness tracking rings, learned the hard way.
A Tennis Match, a Hat, and a Crisis Response Gone Awry
The US Open is underway, and this year’s tournament is also serving up some great lessons in communications and marketing strategy. One match provided an important case study in crisis response.
Rebrand Regrets: What Cracker Barrel and Jaguar Teach Us About Change
You know the phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” That old adage could have saved restaurant chain Cracker Barrel a world of trouble when it revealed plans to modernize its brand with a new logo and remodeled locations.
Cracker Barrel is known for its folksy feel and nostalgic décor. A little cheesy, yes, but intentionally so. But the new CEO, Julie Felss Masino, told investors that Cracker Barrel’s customer traffic had fallen 16% from pre-pandemic levels and admitted the brand was losing relevance, saying, “we are not leading in any area. We will change that.”
And change they did.
Avoid a Hot Mess from Hot Mics
Last week, President Trump was caught on a hot mic sharing details about his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Regardless of your political stance, one truth remains: gaffes like these should never happen, and as much as we don’t love to point fingers, the responsibility primarily lies with the communications staff’s protection practices, but the principal will ultimately need to be hyper-aware and on message.
Does Your Hiring Process Leave the Right Impression?
As the saying goes, you get one chance to make a first impression. It’s true in life and in business.
Companies make first impressions every day. From potential customers and clients to strategic partners and key stakeholders, these impressions — favorable or not — are formed quickly and have lasting implications. A company that strategizes how to intentionally create a positive first impression is better able to lay the groundwork for a long-term relationship — paramount to any brand’s success.