This is a special, longer piece than is usually written here, but I hope you’ll indulge me:
I recently visited the city in which I was born, Lvov, Ukraine. I came back there with my parents, who left 35 years ago, when it was still a part of the Soviet Union. My parents were 26 years old when they came to Chicago, and the world was a lot bigger back then. There was no Internet to research, or message boards for shared experiences. They brought with us $20 cash, a whole lot of fear and uncertainty, and nothing else, including zero knowledge of the English language.
Today, they are both nearing a comfortable retirement, winding down successful careers and getting ready for adventures in their golden years (this trip was one such adventure). They fought for the American Dream, and they are living it. As a direct result of their courage and strength to escape the former Soviet Union, I am running a large and thriving marketing consultancy, married to my amazing American (well, Italian-Polish-Irish-American) wife, and raising my wonderful, happy children.
On this trip, I saw the tiny, run-down apartment where I lived in for the first two years of my life. I’ve heard the stories, but seeing it (the people who live there now kindly let us in) makes me want to do even better. I will market even harder, better, and tell even more people about the dramatic ways I can help them grow. I owe it to my parents, and even to this place and all the people who want wanted to make it out but couldn’t. I will leverage this feeling and this experience in my work, and my business — and clients — will benefit even further as a result.
I recently started working with one of the larger and most successful family businesses in all of Canada. Two brothers run the company their father started, with the third generation recently starting employment in the firm. Additionally, in Germany, I work with the top mobile case maker in all of Europe. Thanks to some of our work together, this company is quickly attaining the same position in America. It’s run by two old friends, who attended university together and who worked together at one of the top Internet brands anywhere. Long before they started their business, they grew and learned together.
These are their stories, just like the American immigration is my story. This is from whence we come.
What’s your story? What makes you and/or your company unique? We all have something. Everybody has formative experiences that impact us a great deal. Corporate experiences are fair game here. We must leverage this in our work, and especially in our marketing. We should not be hiding, or concealing, or overcoming our stories. Rather, we must lean on our unique experiences for or energy and motivation. And where appropriate, we should tell our compelling story. We don’t have to lead with it, but we must certainly lean on it for differentiation.
The Internet levels the playing field. It allows everyone to communicate to wide audiences at equally high volumes. We must stand out from this crowd. We must differentiate. All of us can. We simply have to tell our story.
So, what’s your story?
Below is a photo of the inside courtyard of the Lvov apartment building in which I spent my first two years of life. The door on the second floor was ours. Inside was a 400 square-foot apartment where six people lived. This is from whence I come.
