Announcement: Embracing the Entrepreneurial Life

I'm very excited to share some news. After some time in stealth mode, I'm officially launching a consultancy - Scott Monty Strategies - to advise and counsel brands and agencies looking to up their game in digital communications and marketing.

After about a year at SHIFT Communications, I realized that it was time to spread my wings a bit.
For the last five years or so, I've been giving advice and strategic input on the side, and I had always thought about an starting an entrepreneurial effort of my own. While I was at Ford, I was something of an intrapreneur, so the spirit remained with me.

Staying fully in touch with the old-fashioned corporate requirements and remaining on the forefront of digital developments may seem like nearly an impossible task. But I've always had taste for analog and digital together: I use fountain pens to send hand-written notes; I believe in the importance of the offline customer experience - that it should mirror that of the online experience. The fusion of two seemingly disparate elements fascinates me.

Consider the bow tie in our logo, for example. It is a divisive fashion choice - one that's said to never go out of style because it's never in style - but it always drives attention and conversation. It conveys a sense of quirky independence and of traditional experience at the same time. That is the exact blend of attributes that I possess - and, frankly, that is extremely rare.


The business will be split into two major areas - which you can see in the new navigation of the site - consulting and speaking.

Consulting

Having spent six years at a major auto company on the corporate communications staff, I learned a few things. While I became widely known for social media during that time, the integration with the rest of the communications team, as well as other departments, resulted in a wide-ranging education on many aspects of the business. Add to that another decade or so of agency experience for a comprehensive perspective on communications and marketing.

The consulting activities will focus on topics that I've had the most experience with over the course of two decades in communications and marketing: strategy, influencer relations, crisis communications, digital transformation, executive coaching and brand storytelling. In addition, for agencies, I'll be available to help with the strategy and final preparations for pitches that involve Fortune 500 brands, the auto industry or are heavy in digital components.

Speaking

I've been fortunate enough to be invited to speak at major industry conferences over the last few years: Dreamforce, the Direct Marketing Association, Social Media Week, in cities as far-reaching as London, Hong Kong, Oslo, Amsterdam, New York, Los Angeles and more. I've spoken for companies and trade organizations, at events where there were just a hundred to thousands in the audience.

The plan is to continue on this journey, sharing my unique and confident outlook on digital marketing and communications, crisis communications, storytelling and more. It's not often that audiences get to hear from someone who's been in the trenches inside of a Fortune 10 company during the age that social media gained prominence. The there are some great stories to tell!

Most of my speaking engagements are keynotes, but on occasion, I do seminars and roundtable discussions as circumstances allow. I'm open to hearing about any opportunity in which you think I could bring value.


I'll be continuing This Week in Digital, a weekly entry on this site. The format and content may change over time, as I continue to determine how much time I can dedicate to that curated effort. Expect to see more about that in the months ahead.

But for now, I'm delighted to be able to share the above news with you. If you have an assignment that could use an experienced executive, know of a colleague who could benefit from a conversation with me, or are planning an event with a keynote slot, please drop me a line. And if you wouldn't mind sharing this update, I'd be in your debt.

from Social Media Marketing http://ift.tt/1B0HTQd
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