Community
Speechwriters set up shop in Zionsville
Starks Communications LLC is open for business in Zionsville, offering big-company skills in writing executive speeches, presentations and blogs.
Owners Cynthia and Michael Starks are both former IBM communications professionals, where Cynthia wrote speeches for the senior vice president of education, and Michael worked in nearly every aspect of marketing and communications during a 25-year career there, including press relations, Web site management and interactive and government marketing.
Now in Zionsville, they are helping Central Indiana businesses, universities, libraries, not-for-profit organizations’ and government agencies to grow and solve their communications, marketing and business problems with writing tailored to their organizations’ strategies, audiences and budgets.
As a freelance speechwriter, Cynthia has written for the chairmen of Deloitte & Touche, Pratt & Whitney and Country Home Bakers, as well as senior executives at IBM and Southern New England Telephone.
A Connecticut native and graduate of Albertus Magnus College, she also was speechwriter to the mayor of the City of New Haven, the chairman and CEO of SNET, and the presidents of Otis North America and Otis Worldwide, a division of United Technologies Corporation.
Cynthia’s speeches have been delivered in the U.S. and around the globe, including Rome, Dublin and Hong Kong. She once wrote remarks for legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, who was speaking, along with her executive, at an IBM event on digital media.
“I love writing speeches,” Cynthia says. “I believe they are stories — stories an executive tells to an audience he or she hopes to influence and change.”
Michael, a native of Brownsburg and graduate of Indiana University, specializes in writing for blogs and Web sites, and coaching individuals and small groups on the use of the Internet, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
“In all the ways that the Web and social media have changed marketing, the fundamentals of successful marketing are still with us,” Michael says. “You still have to understand your customer. You still have to connect what you offer with what your clients truly value. And you still have to express that clearly and concisely.
“Getting those right is the first step,” he adds. “The second is knowing how to use and strategically integrate the exciting new communications opportunities on the Web for truly two-way communication with your audiences. That’s what I love helping clients do.”
Call 769-3670, e-mail grow@starkscommunications.com or visit their Web site, www.starkscommunications.com for more information.
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