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Communication Tower

MICHAEL DORTCH

@DORTCHONIT

An Independent Voice for Technology-Dependent People and Companies

I am a growth-focused content marketing leader with 10+ years' accomplishment enabling organizations to maximize revenues, increase ROI, and improve customer perception and satisfaction. My specialities include marketing and content strategies and content development and execution.


"There's nothing more powerful in the world than a good story."
— Tyrion Lannister, "Game of Thrones

Tell Better Stories. Do Business Better.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STORY. YOUR STORY.

I've translated things technologists say and do into information non-technologists can understand and use for more than 40 years. I help technology builders, buyers, and users tell more engaging, persuasive, and inviting stories, in print, online, and on the air.

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WHAT MAKES A STORY GREAT?

Whatever the message or medium, a great story must do more than simply parrot your favorite talking points. To be truly effective, every story you tell must do four things.

  • It must engage your audience quickly and compellingly.

  • It must inform your audience of something that makes them sit up, lean in, and pay attention.

  • It must persuade them that there's more good stuff where that came from.

  • It must invite them to continue the conversation via a call to at least one specific action.

A great story must also support and reinforce your larger messages. Everything and everyone must sing the same hymn from the same page of the same hymnal at the same time in the same key. 

Any story that fails to do any of these things risks failing to maximize its value to your mission and goals.

(By the way, EffecTV, now part of Comcast Advertising, thought so much of my approach that they used it to create an advertising guide, "Align with the Modern Buyer's Journey,"  in partnership with ADWEEK, considered the premier journal of the advertising industry. Check it out. Then, let's discuss how I can help you

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

More (if you can stand it) at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldortch/

Michael is knowledgeable, helpful and delivers on time. He's easy to work with, communicates clearly and better yet, he does it all with a cheerful, friendly attitude.

Jenae Garrett

Director, Event Experience & Content

ServiceNow

Michael is one of the best and most instinctive content producers I've ever seen. He has a knack for creating content people want to engage with. If the new currency of marketing is content creation, Michael Dortch is printing money. He can flat out create great content.

McKay Allen

VP and Head of Marketing

Kenect

Michael is a tremendously astute and charismatic individual who can synthesize and translate the power of technology into the value it brings to a business. In the 15+ years I've known him, he's almost invariably been the smartest and kindest person in the room.

Philippe Winthrop

Sr. Product Manager - Azure AVS, Azure Stack and Hyper-V

Rackspace

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SOME THINGS I'VE DONE

Contact me for more -- I've got lots...

ARE KEYBOARDS OBSOLETE?

April 2024

A technological, philosophical, and generational question...

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REVOLUTIONIZING IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT WITH ATOMICWORK CEO AND CO-FOUNDER VIJAY RAYAPATI

March 2024

Highlights from a great conversation I had with the CEO of a company doing some interesting things with AI for ITSM.

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ALIGN WITH THE MODERN BUYER'S JOURNEY

December 2021

A guide for advertisers and marketers created and sponsored by my client, Effectv (a Comcast Advertising company) based on a model and concepts I originated (free; registration required).

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BELONGING: WHY DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION MATTER

August 2021

A blog post published by Comcast Advertising's FreeWheel Council for Premium Video.

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STORYTELLING: BREAKING NEWS — AND HOW TO FIX IT

March 2021

I offer four guidelines for anyone creating content intended to persuade people, written in the form I wish every news release followed.

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, USER EXPERIENCE, AND STORYTELLING

January 2021

A Medium.com post about the role and value of storytelling in customer and user experiences.

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CAN WE PLEASE STOP MANAGING PEOPLE?

December 2020

A Medium.com post about why "managing" people is wrong, and what to manage instead.

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THE PANDEMIC AND CYBERSECURITY: LESSONS SHARED

July 2020

An article for Inside Sources.

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RACE AND THE INTERNET: SOME PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

June 2020

A personal blog post.

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RACE, THE POLICE, AND VIOLENCE: SOME ALTERNATIVE THOUGHTS

June 2020

A personal blog post.

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HELPING FIGHT THE PANDEMIC LOCALLY, AROUND THE WORLD

April 2020

A blog post written while I worked at Huawei USA.

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INCLUSIVE TRAINING: WHERE ARTIFICIAL AND ORGANIC INTELLIGENCE MEET

April 2020

A blog post written while I worked at Huawei USA.

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DIGITAL INCLUSION: ACCESS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

November 2019

A video I scripted and hosted while working at Huawei USA.

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5G SECURITY IS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

April 2020

A webinar hosted by Huawei and RCR Wireless.

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CONNECTIVITY MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR SMART ENTERPRISES

May 2019

An e-book I created for Arm, Inc.

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CLOSING THE SMB SECURITY GAP

October 2018

An e-book I created for BAE Systems.

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