Building a distinctive company brand that resonates with the market is important for any business. Middle market companies often aren’t able to afford the services of a brand consultant to help them think through an intricate brand strategy—or a marketing team to “police” internal brand practices. How do entrepreneurs you admire go about defining their brand(s), communicating it to their organization and using it in a meaningful, positive way in the market?
Keith BoudreauKeith's experience in business and professional services spans 30 years across functions and industries. He has been president of operating divisions in 4 different Fortune 500 companies, with equal time spent in sales/marketing roles as well as COO and other strategic leadership responsibilities. He is a Certified Sales Trainer, Executive Coach and Six Sigma Black Belt.
"The best brands are the simplest and easiest for people in the target market to immediately relate to. Good branding means reducing what is often the complex web of products and services you sell to their single most basic element--from the customer’s point-of-view. This is very difficult to get right—but few activities have a higher payoff. This is one area where "pretty good" isn't nearly good enough!"
Michael BurneyMichael has a track record as an effective CEO, CFO and senior executive of small and large companies, private and public, domestic and international. He utilizes a detail oriented, interactive systems approach to board, management, financial, geographical, and environmental issues.
"Don’t assume that you and/or your team knows what the brand represents to your customers. Get to know them well enough to understand their context/situation from their point of view--as well as the problem(s) they are attempting to solve. Solving a customer pain point makes it easier for the customer to buy from you and to remember and repeat that choice when the problem (or a similar one) arises again. A brand associated with an organization that is intensely focused on solving customer problems--and specifically rewards its employees for doing so--is the brand that its customers actively support by spreading positive word of mouth. Your customers’ stories about what your brand did for them are invaluable."
Bill CarrollBill is an accomplished CEO with a history of leading large and mid-sized companies through complex challenges, maintaining profitability and liquidity while expanding into new growth markets.
"Brand is all about emotional connection between the customer and you. Convene experts and confer with them on this point, enhancing the conversation with a skilled facilitator."
Kim Denney is an experienced Houston area leader with a record of solving top-level problems as an executive with broad responsibilities in the Chemical, Petrochemical, Energy, and Manufacturing industries.
"Step one in defining and communicating your brand is always to consider the buyer or decision-maker. It's often difficult to put yourself in those shoes, but it’s critical to consider what the buyer sees as valuable and how they can be convinced to make a purchase from you.The best entrepreneurs avoid the temptation to “drink their own Kool-Aid and believe” just because they are passionate and energized about their product or service. Once they have clarity about what differentiates them in the marketplace, they boil that reasoning and messaging down to a few words and then they are RELENTLESS in using those words to describe their offer, both internally and externally. Sometimes those words vary slightly depending on the vertical they are marketing to, or perhaps based on their audience. But those words become an underlying drumbeat that is behind every discussion, presentation and slick brochure that comes out of the organization. They also become fanatical about protecting their brand and the look and feel of their material, their offices, their packaging, their social media image, etc. Their brand and their culture will build on each other to inform every decision and action the company takes."
Bill has deep expertise in building and running industrial manufacturing and construction companies.Most recently he was President of Precision Industrial Contractors, which serves the industrial construction market.
"In organizations without a brand manager, the organization effervesces the company culture. The CEO/President is most often the leader and image setter of the company, attempting to infuse into the inner staff and employees the values, quality and customer service ethics they desire. Hiring in accordance with the brand reinforces the culture to create the company's brand."
Sam JohnsonSam is a seasoned executive with a proven record of developing and implementing strategies to enhance revenues and profits across a variety of industries. For the last 23 years he was part of the Graytrout Group, a Georgia-based consultancy, where he specialized in assisting clients in redesigning their sales organization and sales management processes.
"Clients first need to establish a clear vision and mission in order to define direction. Then the real work starts by searching for and retaining a marketing/ad agency to help go through a structured process to establish a brand that is aligned with their strategic direction. For most of the middle market clients that Newport Board Group works with, the entire branding process can be accomplished in a month or so, and for an investment in the range of $2,500 to $7,500. This will depend on the scope of the deliverables (logos, messaging, signage, colors, font styles, etc.) as well as the experience of the agency doing the work. An agency can often also help develop and implement a branding strategy designed to reach the client’s brand goals."
Susan is a multidimensional senior operating executive who has generated impressive results across the technology, education, B2B, B2C and social sectors in organizations ranging from start-ups to well established entities. Her approach focuses on engaging stakeholders and building consensus to develop and deploy aggressive sales and marketing strategies, customer retention initiatives and digital solutions.
"Most middle market companies don't need an intricate brand strategy. They need a concise brand message that is communicated consistently by everyone. Successful entrepreneurs are still very close to their customers. So they often sense how their brand resonates and then rely on their executive team and other advisors to help them polish the message and push it out. Companywide meetings, training sessions, and employee on boarding are all great opportunities to articulate to the team the brand message and the importance of consistency in how it is expressed. Even small marketing departments can create simple tools-- elevator pitch, collateral templates, signature block messages-- that encourage consistency."
Lynn has had a diverse career as an executive and advisor. As President and Founder of Lednicky Enterprises, he has provided expert advice to the energy, utility, and infrastructure sectors. His engagements have included M&A support, operational and financial restructuring, renewable energy, project development and financing and advising on production and use of natural gas as a domestic transportation fuel.
"The key is careful and comprehensive thought about your purpose and customer promise. This must be an almost existential exercise that permeates all company activities. If you lead with company activities and then try to impose a brand on top of that, you are likely to find a lot of expense and frustration. Start with your purpose and customer promise, then fit your brand to those ideals. It's hard work no matter what, but it can be done."
Mark is a co-founder of Newport Board Group and its Chief Knowledge Officer. Serving as the Chief Knowledge Officer at Tatum, he successfully drove strategies to develop, capture, share and deploy the knowledge and experience of the firm's professionals.
"As the question suggests, smaller companies don't have a marketing staff that polices brand practices. It's up to leadership to get employees to understand that the brands of a company and of its products and services are an essential shorthand to express value to customers. The company's brand represents its promise to customers and must be taken very seriously. How consistently the company presents itself and its products can be the difference between success and failure. Employees must be just as conscientious about using the correct name, spelling, logo etc. of the products the company sells as they are about remembering the names of their prospects and customers when speaking to them. Leaders must evangelize about this constantly."
Eran TagorEran has diverse experience in executive management, venture capital, private equity and M&A, including turnaround, restructuring and special situation transactions.
"I think that the market place is changing fast as more and more talented freelancers are available at an attractive price. I also see entrepreneurs using more and more crowd based platforms to support execution of any brand related work (from logo, to marketing collateral, blogging, online campaigns and media)."
Do you use your brand to drive customer communication? Share your thoughts with us below, and don't forget to download our free guide "Business Growth Challenges Defined: You May Be In No Man's Land."
