10 Steps to a Remarkable Company Culture

Sure, you want your company to be a great place to work. Here’s how to do it, starting today.
Paul Spiegelman 2012 Inc 500 conference

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Paul Spiegelman, the founder and CEO of BerylHealth, a hospital call-center business, talks and writes often about the importance of building a strong company culture–not just because it’s a nice thing to do, but because culture can also improve your company’s financial performance.

Since Spiegelman wanted BerylHealth to be a premium provider, and to charge 30 percent to 40 percent more than his next closest competitor, he had to also offer a premium service. A premium service requires top-notch talent, and, he says, a workplace that values its employees.

In 2012, Beryl was acquired by Stericyle, a $9 billion (market capitalization) publicly-traded company with 13,000 employees, in no small part due to the culture Spiegelman has created. Spiegelman was named Stericycle’s chief culture officer, with the objective to roll out Beryl’s culture to all Stericycle.

At Inc.’s GrowCo conference in New Orleans Thursday, Spiegelman outlined how you can make your company culture just as strong:

1. Define and communicate your core values.

“I was a cynic about all that, until I realized how important it was,” said Spiegelman. So years ago he asked his employees to define what Beryl’s core values are, and gave them credit for it. Now, one Beryl core value is to “never sacrifice quality,” another is to “always do the right thing.” These became guideposts for decision-making. If a potential new client would require Beryl to sacrifice it’s quality, Spiegelman and his lieutenants would be empowered to turn it down.

2. Get in the dunk tank.

Culture is all about fun. “I don’t care what business you’re in,” says Spiegelman, “you can have fun.” Beryl, for instance, hosts events for families, and publishes a full-color magazine that is sent to employees’ homes. Spiegelman hosts a Halloween contest, and has done the Harlem Shake. It’s not about just being goofy; it’s about actually trying to blur the line between personal and work life.

3. Show your employees you care (really).

If you want to build loyalty among your employees, make sure to show you care about them in the totality of their lives, Spiegelman says. When they start working for you, find out their kids’ birthdays and their wedding-anniversary date, to commemorate those events with a card or a call. Ask about their hobbies and interests, so you can talk about those things, or reward them in ways they’ll actually enjoy.

4. Hire for culture fit.

Alhough finding people who are the right fit for your company is very hard, it’s an irreversible priority. At Beryl, Spiegelman screens candidates through tons of interviews. For every 125 people, his team hires only three–and that’s for call-center jobs.

5. Get rid of whiners, losers, and jerks–today.

Among an audience of 75 people at Spiegelman’s session, only two raised their hands to say they have no “whiners, losers, or jerks” on staff. Spiegelman recommends you give employees the tools they need to succeed. But if they don’t then succeed, and they have a negative affect on morale overall, you have an obligation to act and get rid of those people–now.

6. Contribute to the community outside your office walls.

Ask your employees what they’re passionate about in your community, and organize a way for your company to get involved in it. Get your hands dirty. Get your people doing good for those nearby.

7. Do the math.

Measure your employees’ satisfaction periodically, and then respond to their feedback. If your scores go up, convey your improvements and get “credit” for it.

8. Realize job satisfaction ain’t about money.

Sure, everybody wants to be paid, but what’s more important is how people are made to feel at the office. They want acknowledgement, respect, recognition, and a simple “thank you.”

9. You’re a teacher.

Ninety-nine percent of employees want to feel there’s a path to professional growth and a way to move up in your organization, says Spiegelman. You need to offer training and development programs, and show that you’re committed to their education, improvement, and advancement.

10. Commit to a higher purpose.

Make sure you convey your company’s higher purpose–to improve patient care, say, or advance the world technologically–so they have something they believe in beyond just a “job.”

Even if you’re eager to get going building your company culture, Spiegelman recommends you start slow. As does any solid foundation, it will take time to build, so don’t rush it.

Leadership Rule No. 1: Epitomize Your Company Culture

THE CULTURE GAP | Paul Spiegelman
Mar 28, 2013

Only one thing is universal about company culture: You can’t delegate it.

The definition of company culture varies dramatically from leader to leader. Some see it as the extent to which employees are engaged in their work. Others view it as how well the company has defined–and employees live according to–core values. Yet others describe it as the feeling you get when you walk through the front door and into the lobby. Maybe it’s a combination of all of those things. Either way, all three definitions (and any others) are a direct reflection of the personality of the leader.

If you recognize this and take advantage of it yourself, you’ll see tremendous results in your business. As the leader, your company culture is only as valuable as your personal role in it.

Company Culture Is About Authenticity

I originally thought that shifting culture-building responsibility to existing employees at BerylHealth, which I founded, would get those programs done. But I soon realized that those employees needed ongoing cultural direction from me and I had to participate in the culture we were creating, not simply behave as a bystander. If you don’t commit to institutionalizing your culture initiatives as essential to your business, and implement traditions yourself, your employees will think you are disingenuous.

To that end, I’ve dressed up in crazy outfits, made funny videos, attended community service events, espoused the importance of core values, and written thousands of personal notecards to recognize milestones in the lives of my employees.

Culture Became My Competitive Advantage

Over the years, I realized that company culture became something that was deeply aligned with my values. And because the culture was grounded in that, it became the award-winning secret sauce that my customers feel and all stakeholders value.

This isn’t to say that employees can’t lead and execute on your culture programs. However, you have to set the vision and give them permission to use their creativity to do the culture-building things they are passionate about.

Now that I’ve sold BerylHealth to Stericycle, a publicly-traded company with 13,000 employees, I am honored that–because of my culture experience–the role I will segue into is Stericycle’s chief culture officer. I’m excited to help define and shape the culture of a company that is spread over 12 countries, and implement programs that will enhance the lives of all employees.

Culture Remains the Boss’ Job

But I have no illusions that my new role gives me the ability to set the tone or the culture vision for Stericycle. That job is reserved for Charlie Alutto, who after 15 years with the company became CEO in January. He will have the distinct opportunity and challenge to make this journey part of his legacy and a part of what Stericycle is all about. I’m just there to establish programs, recruit passionate volunteers, and scale what I was able
to do at BerylHealth–now for a much larger company. I’m up for the challenge.

As a leader, you can and should delegate most of your company’s day-to-day operational work to those who have the talent to do it. But you can’t abstain from your responsibility to create the culture that drives your company’s potential success.

Inside Facebook’s Internal Innovation Culture

HBR Blog Network
Inside Facebook’s Internal Innovation Culture

by Reena Jana | 8:30 AM March 7, 2013

Business news headlines featuring social-networking giant Facebook change almost as often and as dramatically as a teenager updates her Facebook status online.

But one big part of the Facebook story that rarely gets told is that of the company’s internal innovation culture. Obviously, it’s a story worth investigating, as executives at established corporations and startups alike wonder, how does such a young organization grab so much attention — and a billion customers — regardless of whether people “like” their product or their privacy policies, or its stock is so volatile?

Today, Facebook is expected to announce significant changes to the design of one of its core products, the news feed. Ahead of these changes, I sat down with Kate Aronowitz, Facebook’s Director of Design, a veteran executive of two other Silicon Valley giants that changed the way the world does business online, LinkedIn and eBay (where she directed design as well). I asked her to reveal how Facebook encourages creativity and collaboration, both philosophically and practically.

Our conversation revealed these innovation tips that Facebook is currently following — and shared exclusively with HBR.

1. Encourage everyone — even those in the C-suite — to learn by making. At Facebook, Aronowitz told me, top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Vice President of Product Christopher Cox, are “super involved” in the conception and design of all products. In an age when user experience as king, it’s important that top management weigh in directly on prototypes themselves before approving any project. “There isn’t a review board that designers and engineers go present to with PowerPoint slides. We’re very much a build and prototype culture. Ideas presented on slides just don’t stick,” she said, echoing the credo of Steve Jobs.

At Facebook, all top executives are cast as entrepreneurial thinkers, not as judges. “They’re just other people on the team, in a way, even if they are Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Our innovation process is less about getting approval, and more about getting these thinkers to participate. Why have them sequestered?” Aronowitz told me. If leaders’ hands get dirty in design decision-making, then decisions don’t come as a surprise. Plus, as she added, “It can be hard to judge something if you’re not part of the process of making it.”

2. A winning mobile strategy: ask what’s essential and contextual. More active Facebook users now access Facebook on mobile phones daily than on desktops or laptops, and Facebook is now quickly challenged to be a primarily “mobile” company. What are the strategies being used to propel Facebook into the #1 used mobile app (across Android and iOS, according to the latest stats from ComScore)? Sure, there are the no-brainer approaches, such as simplifying images and text for smaller screen sizes to make them appealing on a handheld device. But the way Facebook approaches mobile innovation is to ask, What’s most essential thing I can present to somebody? “Our attention span is different when we’re using a phone. We need to give users something interesting, relevant, and create an experience where they can take action very quickly,” Aronowitz said. “They’re not focused, like they are at a desk.”

The way Facebook is promoting mobile innovation internally is by creating an internal mobile design think tank, which it established last year. The team created mobile-experience best practices for all of Facebook and has a strategy for 1-2 years in the future. The company also embedded a designer who has been steeped in mobile strategy to each and every product team.

Facebook is working on refining the experience of “contextual sharing,” Aronowitz said, in terms of offering information that can be understood, questioned, or answered while on the go on a phone. For instance, engineers and designers constantly ask how to make the experience better of asking friends for directions or advice on a tourist destination while you’re on vacation, in real time.

Some of the general mobile innovation tips that Aronowitz can offer, though, are that any design learnings from creating mobile interfaces can go back to the design of the Web site, to make it more streamlined and appealing.

Also, companies in general need to really think about the appropriateness of its mobile notifications — say, when a bill is due in the case of a bank, or when offering new discounts or offers via texts, emails, and other ways on phones. “We’ve learned at Facebook, where we offer so many notifications, that we can’t flood phones with those, as it gets annoying. We constantly ask, what do we buzz about? It’s important to think of every part of the mobile experience: what’s the most essential experience to serve at any time?” But the biggest challenge is also how to give enough of a compelling experience that is also satisfying enough if someone is using their phone while commuting or waiting for a flight in an airport.

3. Physically mix up your work environment on a regular basis. “Your physical environment influences how you think and feel. If you want to build openness and collaboration, then the office must reflect that,” Aronowitz said. Although such an observation might seem painfully obvious in an era of open-plan seating, what sets Facebook apart is that engineering, management, and other teams at Facebook often physically move around their desks and furniture to focus on hatching fresh ideas by joining new groups — in person, and on a daily basis rather than moving back and forth from permanent desk locations.

Also related to Facebook’s focus on keeping an office in constant flux, Facebook is currently in the process of expanding its headquarters (with Frank Gehry). Sure, cynics will say this is a purely a show-off move because Gehry is a marquee-name designer — but his design isn’t a swooping, shimmering showpiece. Facebook and Gehry are designing a space that is not only large and open, but with many intimate meeting areas. Colors will be “residential and comforting,” Aronowitz says, reflecting the current palette of Facebook’s offices, so workers feel comfortable and at ease while at work. The new space will have moveable walls and furniture so workers can feel nimble and ready to switch gears, building on the current Facebook practice of reconfiguring desks and chairs.

10 Things Extraordinary People Say Every Day

OWNER’S MANUAL | Jeff Haden

They’re small things, but each has the power to dramatically change someone’s day. Including yours.

Getty

Want to make a huge difference in someone’s life? Here are things you should say every day to your employees, colleagues, family members, friends, and everyone you care about:

“Here’s what I’m thinking.”
You’re in charge, but that doesn’t mean you’re smarter, savvier, or more insightful than everyone else. Back up your statements and decisions. Give reasons. Justify with logic, not with position or authority.

Though taking the time to explain your decisions opens those decisions up to discussion or criticism, it also opens up your decisions to improvement.
Authority can make you “right,” but collaboration makes everyone right–and makes everyone pull together.

“I was wrong.”
I once came up with what I thought was an awesome plan to improve overall productivity by moving a crew to a different shift on an open production line. The inconvenience to the crew was considerable, but the payoff seemed worth it. On paper, it was perfect.
In practice, it wasn’t.

So, a few weeks later, I met with the crew and said, “I know you didn’t think this would work, and you were right. I was wrong. Let’s move you back to your original shift.”
I felt terrible. I felt stupid. I was sure I’d lost any respect they had for me.

It turns out I was wrong about that, too. Later one employee said, “I didn’t really know you, but the fact you were willing to admit you were wrong told me everything I needed to know.”

When you’re wrong, say you’re wrong. You won’t lose respect–you’ll gain it.

“That was awesome.”
No one gets enough praise. No one. Pick someone–pick anyone–who does or did something well and say, “Wow, that was great how you…”

And feel free to go back in time. Saying “Earlier, I was thinking about how you handled that employee issue last month…” can make just as positive an impact today as it would have then. (It could even make a bigger impact, because it shows you still remember what happened last month, and you still think about it.)

Praise is a gift that costs the giver nothing but is priceless to the recipient. Start praising. The people around you will love you for it–and you’ll like yourself a little better, too.

“You’re welcome.”
Think about a time you gave a gift and the recipient seemed uncomfortable or awkward. Their reaction took away a little of the fun for you, right?

The same thing can happen when you are thanked or complimented or praised. Don’t spoil the moment or the fun for the other person. The spotlight may make you feel uneasy or insecure, but all you have to do is make eye contact and say, “Thank you.” Or make eye contact and say, “You’re welcome. I was glad to do it.”

Don’t let thanks, congratulations, or praise be all about you. Make it about the other person, too.

“Can you help me?”
When you need help, regardless of the type of help you need or the person you need it from, just say, sincerely and humbly, “Can you help me?”

I promise you’ll get help. And in the process you’ll show vulnerability, respect, and a willingness to listen–which, by the way, are all qualities of a great leader.
And are all qualities of a great friend.

“I’m sorry.”
We all make mistakes, so we all have things we need to apologize for: words, actions, omissions, failing to step up, step in, show support…
Say you’re sorry.

But never follow an apology with a disclaimer like “But I was really mad, because…” or “But I did think you were…” or any statement that in any way places even the smallest amount of blame back on the other person.

Say you’re sorry, say why you’re sorry, and take all the blame. No less. No more.
Then you both get to make the freshest of fresh starts.

“Can you show me?”
Advice is temporary; knowledge is forever. Knowing what to do helps, but knowing how or why to do it means everything.

When you ask to be taught or shown, several things happen: You implicitly show you respect the person giving the advice; you show you trust his or her experience, skill, and insight; and you get to better assess the value of the advice.

Don’t just ask for input. Ask to be taught or trained or shown.

Then you both win.

“Let me give you a hand.”
Many people see asking for help as a sign of weakness. So, many people hesitate to ask for help.

But everyone needs help.

Don’t just say, “Is there anything I can help you with?” Most people will give you a version of the reflexive “No, I’m just looking” reply to sales clerks and say, “No, I’m all right.”
Be specific. Find something you can help with. Say “I’ve got a few minutes. Can I help you finish that?” Offer in a way that feels collaborative, not patronizing or gratuitous. Model the behavior you want your employees to display.
Then actually roll up your sleeves and help.

“I love you.”
No, not at work, but everywhere you mean it–and every time you feel it.

Nothing.
Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing. If you’re upset, frustrated, or angry, stay quiet. You may think venting will make you feel better, but it never does.
That’s especially true where your employees are concerned. Results come and go, but feelings are forever. Criticize an employee in a group setting and it will seem like he eventually got over it, but inside, he never will.

Before you speak, spend more time considering how employees will think and feel than you do evaluating whether the decision makes objective sense. You can easily recover from a mistake made because of faulty data or inaccurate projections.
You’ll never recover from the damage you inflict on an employee’s self-esteem.
Be quiet until you know exactly what to say–and exactly what affect your words will have.

The Brand Inside Woodreed Survey Report 2012

The Brand Inside Report_2012

Why Designers make the best brand strategists.

by Thomson Dawson
in Brand Experience,Design Trends

If you’re inventing or transforming a brand, somewhere in the process you’ll be working with a Designer or Design Firm who will be tasked with bringing your “brand strategy” to life. Brand design is not decorated brand strategy.

Brand Design is a highly specialized expertise. I prefer to think of brand design as the equivalent of a musical score around a film. One’s no good without the other.

Brand Design still struggles to break free from its down stream “implementer” role in strategic brand development. Brand Designers are not typically seated at the strategy table early in the brand development process. Many marketers view brand design as the fun and gooey, superficial decoration part of the brand development process – something next on the to-do list after the research and positioning work is complete, the tagline has been written and now the logo needs a “treatment”.

Marketers (and those who cling to big data) are prone to view brand design more narrowly than they should. I would like to suggest the lens be opened to a much broader view of the significance of brand design to marketplace success.

For enlightened, savvy marketers of emerging, next generation brands this is not the case. There have been too many success stories in the marketplace to ignore the fact design is the last great differentiator, and brand design has contributed billions of dollars of market capitalization to those brand owners that “get it”.

Of all the various professional disciplines involved in strategic brand development, brand designers usually make the best brand strategists. Here’s why:

Great brands are about ideas and meanings not just products.
No one understands the power of ideas to transform perception and behaviors better than brand designers. Brand designers create the entire emotional relationship customers have with a brand. They are the choreographers of customer experience. If you want your brand to matter, you’ll have to design the customer experience accordingly at every touch point. It’s not marketing and it’s not decoration, design is the difference between market leaders and market followers.

Brand Designers link diverse constituents around the brand.
Understanding user behavior, cultural trends, ethnography, organizational behavior and brand storytelling, brand designers are fluid in their unique ability to work with and through all of these processes. Like a needle and thread, brand designers stitch together the very fabric of highly values brand experiences. They create engagement across all the required touchpoints in the both the physical and digital worlds. Brand designers are skilled at organizing complex systems that provide function and utility and telling simple stories that connect with people on deep emotional levels.

Well designed products + a well design brand = a high margin business.
This is the simple equation for marketplace success. However, you can design a beautiful product and all you will have in the end is a beautiful object. It doesn’t mean you’ll have a successful business. What’s critical is how well people connect with a compelling idea that grows in their minds–one they will become forever emotionally bonded to. A smart phone is a functional idea, but what enables people to choose their brand of smart phone embodies much more. Unless there is a compelling idea that goes beyond the way it looks, feels, operates, and how well its value is communicated to the right tribe who share the same values behind the idea, it’s just another thing. Ask RIMM.

Brand designers think holistically far outside operational silos.
Brand designers create the relationship between companies and customers. Brand design is a discipline that integrates the experience of a brand into a single concept. Beginning with how a product operates, feels, how you became aware of it, how you buy it, what you experience when you open the box, what the interaction must be with company leaders, employees and customer service. All of these diverse experiences can be designed to create brand insistence. In effect creating a brand where there are no perceived substitutes.

The slush pile of irrelevance.
Design matters. In fact it’s design or die. Brand owners must focus on the experience of value they bring to customers. Customer’s care about their experience, not your manufacturing and analytics or go-to-market process. These are important, but none of that will matter unless the design of the entire experience is right. It’s the difference between Apple and Dell, BMW and Cadillac, Herman Miller and HON.

For enlightened and successful marketers in all product and service categories, Brand Design is not an after thought in the process– it is the central thought.

Brand designers are strategists not decorators. Their value to your business and the strategic brand development process is the direct thoughtful development and design of every interaction point between the business and the customer. This is stuff you really can’t uncover in focus groups or with online surveys. Functionally, most people can’t tell you why they love their iPhone more than a Blackberry. They just know they do.

At the end of the day, your business, your brand must matter to people. Design is a powerful and effective tool for creating relevant differentiation, brand innovation and marketing success. Indeed design matters.

Brand = Culture: How Culture can Help Your Brand Win

12 January 2013
Beloved Brands
Graham Robertson

Most people think that that Brand is what the Marketers do. And Culture should be left to the Human Resources department. But in reality, everyone is responsible for both Brand and Culture. Creating a Branded Culture might be a great chance for Marketing and HR to be working together, and find ways to involve everyone from the Brand. The new Brand Leader has to understand that marketing is more than just TV ads and more than just Facebook likes. Brand is about the experience consumers walk away with. If I am going through the drive-through at 4am or on the phone with customer service or getting an email with a Visa “special offer” from the Bank where I have my Visa, I am in constant judgement of your brand.
5 Ways that Brands Connect

Brands are able to generate love for their brand when the consumer does connect with the brand. I wish everyone would stop debating what makes a great brand and realize that all five connectors matter: promise, strategy, story, innovation and experience. The first connector is the Brand Promise, which connects when the brand’s main Benefit matches up to the needs of consumers. Once knowing that promise, everything else feeds off that Promise. For Volvo the promise is Safety, for Apple it is Simplicity and FedEx it might be Reliability. It’s important to align your Strategy and Brand Story pick the best ways to communicate the promise, and then aligning your Innovation and the Experience so that you deliver to the promise. To ensure the Innovation is aligned, everyone in R&D must be working towards delivering the brand promise. You don’t create a new brand promise based on what you invent. If someone at Volvo were to invent the fastest car on the planet, should they market it as the safe-fast car or should they just sell the technology to Ferrari. Arguably, Volvo could make more money by selling it to a brand where it fits, rather than trying to change people’s minds. As for the experience, EVERYONE in the company has to buy into and live up to the Brand Promise. As you can start to see, embedding the Brand Promise right into the culture is essential to the brand’s success.

It starts with the Brand DNA

Everything in the company should feed off the Brand DNA. The Brand DNA (some call it the Brand Essence) is the most succinct definition of the Brand. For Volvo, it’s “Safety”, while BMW might be “Performance” and Mercedes is “Luxury”. The Tool I use to determine a Brand’s DNA revolves around the Brand’s personality, the products and services the brand provides, the internal beacons that people internally rally around when thinking about the brand and consumer views of the Brand. What we normally do is brainstorm 3-4 words in each section and then looking collectively begin to frame the Brand’s DNA with a few words or a phrase to which the brand can stand behind.
The DNA helps Guide the Brand’s Management

The Brand DNA should help frame 1) Brand Plan that drives the business for the upcoming year or the next 5 years 2) Brand Positioning that connects to the consumer through marketing communications 3) Customer Value Proposition that links the consumer needs to the benefits of the brand 4) Go-To-Market strategy that frames the distribution and the selling process 5) Cultural Beacons that help define the brand internally through values, inspiration and challenge and finally 6) Business Results, with each brand offering a unique way that it makes money. Each of these six needs feed off the Brand DNA, look to the definition as a guideline for how to align to the brand.

When you begin to blow this out one step further, you can start to see where the complexity comes into play with each of the six areas have their own needs that should still feed off that Brand DNA.

The DNA sets up the Brand Values

Great Brand Leaders should be looking at the culture as an opportunity to win in the market place. No matter how good your promise is, if you’re company is not set up to deliver that promise, everything comes crashing down. The brand story told within the company is even more important than what you might tell the market through your advertising.

Managing organizational culture is very challenging. The DNA should provide an internal beacon for all the People in the organization to follow and deliver the brand promise. As you move along the Brand Love Curve from Indifferent to Like It to Love It and on to Beloved status, you need to make sure the culture keeps pace with where the brand is.

While the DNA can provide the internal beacon, it might not be enough to capture all the behaviors. Brand Values should come from the DNA, and act as guideposts to ensure that the behavior of everyone in the organization is set to deliver upon the Brand’s promise. How do you want your people to show up? What type of service do you want? How much emphasis on innovation? What type of people do you want to hire? What behavior should be rewarded and what behavior is off-side. Having the right Brand Values will help you answer these questions. The Brand Values become an extension of what the Brand Leader wants the brand to stand for.

A great example of Brand Values is the Virgin Group of Companies defines what each value is, but also what it shouldn’t be. I love that Fun means enjoyment but not incompetent and Value means simple but not cheap.

The Right People Leadership Matters

Having values is one thing, but the other component of Culture is the right people leadership. Use the values to help people deliver upon the right behaviors, skills and experiences. Leaders must embody the Brand’s DNA and live by the values. Employees will be watching the Leaders to ensure they are living up to the words on the wall. Leaders need to believe that by investing in their people, the business results will come. Better people produce better work and that drives better results. Talent management means hiring the right people and providing the right training. Too many companies are skimping on training and development, which is equivalent to cutting back on your R&D.

Every communication to employees, whether in a speech or memo, should touch upon the Brand Values, by highlighting great examples of when employees have delivered upon a Brand Value. Leverage values, with inspirational touch points and processes to inspire and challenge them on achieving greatness. The culture will only change when everyone makes the decision to make the change.
Brand Leaders should look to Culture as an Asset that can make your Brand Experience even more powerful.

To read more on this subject, read the following presentation:

I run Brand Leader Training programs on this very subject as well as a variety of others that are all designed to make better Brand Leaders. Click on any of the topics below:

How to Write an Effective Brand Positioning Statement
How to Write a Creative Brief
How to Write a Brand Plan
How to Think Strategically
How to Drive Profits from Your Brand
How to Run a Brand
How to Write a Monthly Report

To see the training presentations, visit the Beloved Brands Slideshare site at: http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamRobertson/presentations

If you or team has any interest in a training program, please contact me at graham.robertson@beloved-brands.com

About Graham Robertson: I’m a marketer at heart, who loves everything about brands. My background includes 20 years of CPG marketing at companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer Consumer, General Mills and Coke. The reason why I started Beloved Brands Inc. is to help brands realize their full potential value by generating more love for the brand. I only do two things: 1) Make Brands Better or 2) Make Brand Leaders Better. I have a reputation as someone who can find growth where others can’t, whether that’s on a turnaround, re-positioning, new launch or a sustaining high growth. And I love to make Brand Leaders better by sharing my knowledge. My promise to you is that I will get your brand and your team in a better position for future growth. To read more about Beloved Brands Inc., visit http://beloved-brands.com/inc/ or visit my Slideshare site at http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamRobertson/presentations where you can find numerous presentations on How to be a Great Brand Leader. Feel free to add me on Linked In at http://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamrobertson1 or on follow me on Twitter at @GrayRobertson1

Building Your Brand Starts Inside Your Building

(from Inside Indiana Business, 19 JUL 2012)
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/contributors.asp?ID=2314

Building Your Brand Starts Inside Your Building

By: Phil Daniels – President, Tactic Marketing
Category: Marketing and Brand Development
It’s no secret that customers can make or break the launch of your brand. After all, most of the time and money for rebranding are focused on the external buying group. But what about your internal audience? How do you successfully introduce a new brand to employees?

Rebranding is a golden opportunity. A new logo is a tangible output of the creative process, but it alone isn’t enough to drive the desired change (isn’t that why you’re rebranding?). Unleashing a new brand should be exciting. It presents a rare opportunity to reestablish the vision, values, and purpose of your company. This change starts inside your building-how proactively you control it is up to you.

I’m often asked about the process of rebranding; specifically, how to “roll out” a new brand to customers and prospects. While this is hugely important, I encourage you to give equal attention to the internal launch. Here are five recommendations to consider for any branding change:

Create brand champions.
In reality, everyone within the organization is the “brand.” However, it’s useful to designate an energetic group of employees – from different job functions- to voice the progress and outcomes of the branding process. This group of ambassadors can share, in practical terms, the new brand within the culture. This peer involvement also helps combat any skeptics or negativity around a brand’s re-launch.

Share the process.
There’s a certain mystery to the creative process. Employees see the marketing agency come and go, but the pitches and ideas tend to happen behind closed doors. Some diligence is necessary, but the entire process doesn’t need to be esoteric. Sharing general updates and progress will help communicate that things are on track. Once the brand is launched, there’s little harm in sharing the overarching process that helps demonstrate “how we got here.”

Arm the sales team.
Good things happen when there’s harmony between the “sales” and “marketing” departments. A new brand is more meaningful to the sales team when they have the tools to use it. On day one (if not sooner), introduce your sales team to an updated arsenal to support their hard work. More than a business card, this toolkit should at least be comparable to what they’ve used before (sales materials, presentation, proposals, content, etc.); you’ll get extra points for introducing new tools that have been in the purgatory of project requests.

Create welcome kits.
With change comes uncertainty. In absence of internal communication, employees may wonder how the new brand will affect their specific job. One way to address any anxiety is to provide a “welcome kit” that details the brand change, addresses common questions, and includes new brand assets. You can also reinforce the brand through a useful giveaway. Whether it’s a water bottle or nice-fitting golf shirt, an introductory token communicates that there’s a plan, commitment, and purpose in place.

Make it an event.
Before sharing the brand with customers, why not host a company-wide kick-off? Whether it’s a “town hall” meeting or an informal luncheon, the event should be spirited and informative. Message boards, FAQs, and visual elements should be present. It’s also a nice touch to have your creative agency in attendance to openly communicate the brand strategy, vision and implementation. Don’t forget to archive and make any information available to those who are unable to attend.

Despite the underlying need and hard work, “rebranding” isn’t always met with open arms in established companies. However, when launched and positioned properly, it can be culturally rewarding and profitable. Success will likely be measured in how your customers react to the change, but remember, building a great brand begins in your building.

Phil Daniels is President of Tactic, an Indianapolis branding firm. With a background in change management and corporate rebranding, Phil has consulted on a variety of brands that include JP Morgan, ExactTarget and McLaren Automotive. For more information, follow Phil on twitter @phidaniels, visit http://www.TacticMarketing.com, or email info@tacticmarketing.com.

May 30th 12 Po…

May 30th 12 Posted by Bob Sevier in Brand, Featured Articles

http://blog.stamats.com/index.php/2012/05/30/do-brands-still-matter/

Do Brands Still Matter?

This fall, many colleges and universities will have a very difficult time hitting their enrollment goals and/or their net tuition goals.

It is likely that this will be followed by a call for careful analyses of what is working and what is not in your overall marketing and recruiting strategies.

I am sure that one of the questions that will be asked is: Is our brand strategy working?

Let me give you a quick answer: Probably not.

In most cases, brand strategies are little more than a coordinated communication effort and what is being communicated is a litany of tired, well-used messages:

• The college that cares
• Students matter
• Start here and go far
• Preparation for tomorrow
• Leaders for tomorrow
• (insert word here) for tomorrow

While some schools may cite limited budgets and poor integration as the root cause of their brand failure, I believe that the majority of these strategies were destined to fail long before the media plan was written.

In too many instances, conversations about brand tend to revolve around the words “unique” or “distinctive.” And in too many instances, this is subliminally translated to “what’s important to us.”

Sadly, this myopic, institutional-centric approach to brand development leaves out two key elements: 1) your audience and 2) your competitors.

Rather than unique or distinctive, our goal is brands that are compelling. In other words, brands that:

• Are important to your internal and external audiences
• Are believable
• Differentiate you from your competitors
• Are emotionally engaging to both internal and external audiences

These four qualities combine to form the idea of compelling. A compelling brand advances your institution strategically. A compelling brand helps you get the class, raise the money, and meet other key goals. Or as Randy Burge, one of our senior client executives says, “Does your brand give you the foundation and the mojo to take you where you want/need to go? “

In the final analysis, if your brand doesn’t do these things, it is not a brand: It’s just background noise.

Principles of Branding for a Post-Branding World

Saturday, May 26, 2012
Principles of Branding for a Post-Branding World
http://www.dannielleblumenthal.com/

Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodies and sweatjackets exemplify branding in the post-branding world. Photo via Wikipedia.

The following are notes from a teleseminar I gave for the Federal Communicator’s Network, May 21, 2012. (I am currently the chair of FCN.) All opinions are of course my own.

Thanks to Melanie Solomon for providing notes and to Paul McKim and others who contributed questions, comments and feedback. Also thanks to Ellen Crown for “live-tweeting” the event.

I. Notes – Melanie Solomon

1. What is “branding in a post-branding era?” Branding world = under control, no hair out of place. Post-branding world = inauthenticity challenged by social media. How to achieve balance between coordinating what you say while seeming authentic and accessible.

2. Culture first. Put internal communication first and let that be the driver. Get your people on board—not just with a training manual, but rather the whole gamut of your “corporate” culture.

3. Start at the top. In post-branded, the leader is the brand, not just endorsing the brand.

4. Everyone builds it. The frontline employees who deal with the public every day own the brand—not just Public Affairs. Post-branding employee treats you like a human being; no “canned” statements such as “have we me all your needs today?” Live the brand as if it was your neighbor.

5. “Say it plain.” KISS! Avoid bad branded writing! Un-writing the over-communicated message. Keep it in everyday, normal English. It’s fine to say what you want to say, but say it plainly. Strip away the phony baloney, but you still have a sense of coordination and shared view of the world.

6. Nobody likes a robot. Nothing more annoying than reading robot language. The skill is to say it in a way that people respect you, even if you have to say that you don’t know all the answers. It is not easy to do. And not everyone can do it well. Don’t publish BS!

7. A time for outreach, a time for content. NEVER do propaganda. But there is a place for marketing campaigns where you need to do more than just give people a phone number. Play with the brand; you don’t have to just mirror it for a campaign. When are we doing outreach; when are we doing content?

8. About those logos. It’s very hard to do well. A bad logo is distracting to the public. Pay a professional to do this! Needs to be coordinated: monolithic, endorsed, or standalone (DB). Brand architecture: think about on a business level what your objective is, and how your logo reflects that. Need a strategy. Trademark the brand if you need to to prevent fraud.

9. Dealing with dissension. Key in a branding effort, there will normally be a lot of fighting and dissension. People feel like they’re being forced into a mold and dehumanized. So…don’t call it “branding.” Call it “renewal” or something else (“reputation” – DB). In post-branded world, let people express their dissent in an adult way, to vent. Builds buy-in. Doesn’t always work in a closed culture because of reprisals. Get the decision-makers on board and in touch.

10. Social media and the web. Become fluent with social media. You have to recognize that the younger generation especially lives in the social media world. The way they interact with the government is the way they deal with each other. Let them be ambassadors without so much mediation, while holding them to a reasonable standard. Support the conversation. Begin by using internal communications tools. Start people talking in groups—a positive step.

II. Tweets (Short Takes) – Ellen Crown, FCN Board of Directors:

1. Training and employee buy-in are critical to creating authentic voices within an organization.
2. How do you keep your brand from burning out? You need to look at your organization from the outside and constantly evolve.
3. There is nothing that will destroy your communication faster than a crappy logo strategy.
4. Nobody likes a robot.
5. In a post-branded organization, the leader is the brand. They don’t just endorse it.
6. Focus on internal communication. “Culture is the neglected step-child of communication.” (via a colleague – DB)
7. The key distinction between the branding world and the post-branding world is that people are looking for authenticity.
8. History lesson: for government, this (branding) started because we wanted to keep the messages and language consistent. (Also – there was a perceived need for greater familiarity between the public and the agency in the aftermath of organizational change – DB.)

III. Additional Notes and Comments – Dannielle Blumenthal

1. Initially branding was restricted to products, then it was expanded to services, companies, and people.
2. A serious initial problem of branding for agencies was that people were saying different things in different places and not coordinating – leading to confusion among the public about how to perceive the agency. However, now things have swung the other way and the discourse seems overly controlled with “messaging.”
3. Branding and propaganda are not the same thing, but they can be.
4. Everybody talks the language of branding now, but due to the explosion of social media it seems phony and forced. The trick is to sound natural while still coordinating and thinking through in advance the things you say.
5. Mark Zuckerberg’s “hoodie everywhere” strategy is the epitome of post-branding.
6. In a post-branded world, culture and internal communication are more important than external communication because there is the assumption that employees will speak spontaneously about the organization and that it will not be possible to control that.
7. When the culture is strong employees automatically know what to do.
8. What happens inside the organization, will ultimately be seen on the outside.
9. Most branding is done by employees, not public affairs specialists.
10. You have to be passionate about good writing – it is a cause.
11. “Have I provided good service today?” is the kind of annoying brand talk that turns people off.
12. Outreach is necessary sometimes to explain new rules, laws, etc. to the public. Branding can be useful to make it clear which agency communications are authentic.
13. Must divide between branding, marketing, and information strategy. These are not one and the same.
14. Public affairs and IT should work together – not just as partners but in a fused office.
15. Use fewer logos, more strategically. There is a tendency to generate new brands and new logos like trophies.
16. Reduce acronyms as much as possible.
17. Don’t pick a fight with people who are wedded to a logo or what they think of as “brand.” To influence leaders, form an alternative group with a common vision, then work to engage the dominant group with the alternative group – create a new conversation that incorporates both. Read Art Kleiner’s book, Who Really Matters.
18. The longer the timeframe, the more collaborative you can be – but when time is short sometimes you have to go in and be a dictator about content.
19. Keep social media as loose as possible, but enforce existing policy stringently. Treat people like adults, and that includes making them accountable for using good judgment.

IV. Responses To Questions From The Audience – Thanks to Paul Kim and All Those Who Contributed To This Section

1. If there is one aspect of the agency that differs strongly from the rest in terms of stakeholder relationships and services offered, this should be reflected in the brand strategy (logo, colors, etc.)
2. Finding and engaging your audience is a marketing issue – do the research to find out where they are (often it’s offline), and get to the influencers because they will reach out to the others you need.
3. Take the time to engage with the people who represent your brand. It’s a matter of training but also buy-in. Buy-in is achieved through conversation, and through providing a context around what you want them to say. The longer the time horizon, the more collaborating you can do – but if time is short sometimes you have to jump in and dictate.
4. Subject matter experts should not be treated as writers. People cannot necessarily write from templates – these are only guides to set expectations as to what will happen to an end product
5. You achieve branded communication without formulas by emphasizing the culture. Think about Google, Apple, Facebook, Starbucks, Microsoft – you can recognize what kind of communication would come from each of these companies without thinking too much about it.
6. When developing a brand strategy think about your business objective and work backward to communication.
7. To engage the public, find out what they want and give it to them – don’t start with your predetermined message.
8. Brands burn out when they don’t evolve. It is important to have at least one person on the team who refuses to “drink the Kool-Aid” and is allowed to tell it like it is.
9. Branding is not a tool to create publicity – marketing and PR do that. Rather, branding is a long-term communication strategy that sets the foundation for marketing and PR to work, by establishing a desirable image. Read Positioning by Al Ries.
10. Can you destroy a brand by putting it on everything? No. You have to put the brand on everything if you want people to remember and trust it. You can tell you’re doing a good job when you get absolutely sick of looking at the logo.
11. Use “line extensions” sparingly. You have to know your stakeholders well and be sure you’re not diluting the original message. Every time you split the brand into different directions, you’re splitting your energy. Only do this when the stakeholder groups are so different that they can’t be included in the same conversation.
12. Avoid the B-word if possible. People innately dislike being branded.
13. Focus on success in terms of what executive want. Listen carefully to what they say, how they define the problem, the communication style they prefer.
14. In defining brand objectives, talk to employees informally about what the pain points are. Strategies that incorporate pain points stand a much greater likelihood of success than “nice-to-haves.”
15. Often communication experts focus on pie-in-the-sky ideals when basic factors are a problem (like people don’t know where to find the information they need)
16. Fix problems one at a time; start with low-hanging fruit. Don’t wait for the big plan to hatch – there is none.
17. Don’t be excessive about asking for permission. Find out what leadership wants to approve and focus on that; for the rest you will have to do the best you can, exercise good judgment, etc. If you are constantly asking for permission you are asking to be told “no.”
18. It is not self-promotional to highlight success. That is what executives want.
19. Don’t be the lone ranger. Form a network of people internally who are engaged in helping you to fix the problems that have been identified.
20. Everybody thinks they’re a writer and that technical skills are the only “real” ones. You can’t fix that. All you can do is gain people’s trust by showing your expertise.