Because history matters. Including yours.
Telling stories
Call it public relations, marketing, community outreach, business development, or institutional advancement (fundraising), telling stories in a compelling way is the bottom line.
How are you telling yours?
Do people trust you? Admire you? Want to do business with you?
When we tell your story – in front of the people you want to reach and through methods that make sense for you – we help you:
• Attract customers
• Make your existing clients feel proud to be associated with you
• Attract media attention
• Boost your reputation in the communities you serve
• Present a consistent story in all of the methods we use
What we bring to the table that other agencies cannot is history – your own history as part of telling your story, to be sure, but we also get you engaged in the history of the communities you serve in ways that benefit your business or organization, you personally, and the communities themselves.
I like to call this part matchmaking. What are you interested in personally? How can we find the right match for you in the historical community?
This is legacy building stuff, as well as good business sense.
People don’t normally think of “history” as a strategic business tool, but it can be.
Let’s talk – and let us put our professional team and historical network behind telling your story.
I look forward to working with you!
Bonnie Hurd Smith
President and CEO
These are the kinds of comments
we hear all the time!
“My business’s reputation has skyrocketed because of your work and your reputation.
We are part of the fabric of our community
in a way we just weren’t before.”
“People actually come in and thank us for the local history projects we back. We never would have thought to do it if we hadn’t met you! And those people are now loyal customers.”
“You were a real find! No other agency does what you can do.”
“Your passion for history is inspiring. We picked up new members and friends because of your dynamic lecture. People will be talking about it for days. Keep doing it.”
“I’ve never seen our CEO tear up before. You really got to him. Yes, he was planning to celebrate the company’s anniversary, but you helped him see what an impact the event could have on him personally, on the business, and for the communities we serve.”
“Your network in the history field is amazing. It’s entirely because of your contacts and reputation that we have successfully infiltrated our history community, attracted the right kind of attention and customers. You also took the time to match up our CEO’s personal interests with the right projects to support. Outstanding work.”
“You helped me honor my family.”
“You helped me secure a legacy for my business -- one that helps my town and will last forever. I am so grateful to you.”
“You are one of the most dynamic speakers we’ve had. The girls, especially, were inspired by your stories of courage from women’s history.”
How can we help you get these
kinds of results?
What clients say...
"Bonnie you were a real 'find.' I look forward to reporting back on the results of our work together after our anniversary year is over."
-Arianna Rowe, Wolf & Company, P.C.
"When I knew my company was going to celebrate its 100th anniversary, I wanted to do something lasting and meaningful. I contacted Bonnie at History Smiths because I knew she had the ability and reputation to do the historical research on my family-owned business, and the marketing skills to create a brochure, display, and media materials. My existing customers were delighted, and I attracted new clients because of the attention we received."
—Paul K. Soucy, Soucy Insurance Agency, Inc.
“Bonnie brings knowledge, people skills, a cooperating persona and deep technical competence to her projects … the 375th was a much better celebration for melding Bonnie's ideas into the year long program in 2009.”
–Nat Pulsifer, Chair, Ipswich, MA 375th Anniversary Celebration
“Bonnie Hurd Smith has a gift for making connections between historical events and the present. One Sunday in March 2011, as a guest speaker at our Sunday service, she brought us right into the life of Judith Sargent Murray and enabled us to enter a world in which women knew very few of the freedoms we now take for granted. As she spoke passionately and from deep knowledge about the changes Judith Sargent Murray envisioned and worked for, she helped us feel connections between the people of Judith's daily life and the people who have sat in the pews of our own Meetinghouse (built in 1801) from Judith's time until the present. This is history at its best for it gives us greater insight into our own moment and place on the earth and allows us to look to the future with greater understanding.”
-Merryl Maleska Wilbur, First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist, Newburyport MA
"Bonnie, thanks so much for an inspiring talk. You really gave our members something to think about. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of them contacted you for help putting your ideas into action."
–Bill Sargent, Rotary Club of Ipswich, MA
"It's been a pleasure to have Bonnie speak at the Boston Public Library. Her presentations are excellent, her enthusiasm contagious, and her humor appreciated. Bonnie made it easy for the library to have a popular program with minimum fuss."
–Patricia Feeley, Boston Public Library
“One of our parishioners said he was surprised by his own ‘depth of feeling’ at the end and realized it was generated by your depth of feeling. Another woman was so impressed and moved at ‘how attached’ you were to this historical personage she came up afterward and hugged you. Your passion for Margaret Fuller's life and work really came through, and that was moving to all of us.”
–Diana Digges, Theodore Parker Unitarian Church, West Roxbury, MA
“When my colleague Jim Whidden and I decided to develop an educational seminar to teach people the right way to restore an old house, we knew we would need marketing help from someone who was plugged into the history community. We wanted to reach historical societies, public libraries, and the kinds of audiences they attract. Bonnie had a fine reputation in the local historical community, and knew how to promote, which is an unusual combination. She also helped us with some of the local historical content. Within a year, we held a dozen or so seminars throughout our target region, attracted over 200 people, media attention, and new customers. We were thrilled.”
–Mathew Cummings, Cummings Architects, LLC, Ipswich, MA