Extraordinary Strategy for Service Companies and Brands

Digging Through the Past: Uncovering Designosaur Bones

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:21:09 GMT

We sold our office condo last year, which meant my business partner and I had to dig through and dispose of forty years’ worth of stuff. We felt like archeologists and paleontologists.

Forty years ago, designers measured type with a type gauge. We drew circles with a circle guide and wielded T-squares to create straight lines. We ordered headline type from Phil’s Photo and had to send photographic film out to be developed before we could see a contact sheet.

We visualized on tracing and layout paper instead of pushing pixels. The printing company scanned photos. We ordered galleys from the typesetting bureau and used wax or rubber cement to adhere them to art boards we created using non-photo blue and Rapidograph pens. ( Rapidograph pens were guaranteed to be clogged whenever you needed to use them or become clogged during their use. )

If it sounds positively primitive, it was. Were some of us affected by the chemicals in the rubber cement? Perhaps. Was it exciting? Of course. Was it exciting because of the effects of the chemicals? I can’t remember.

For those of you under forty, consider this perspective: Thirty years is long enough to pay off a mortgage. I've been married for forty years, as long as I've been a practicing designer. I've learned a few things along the way.

I was a member of AIGA Cleveland for forty years, but I ended my membership this year because I no longer found it relevant. When I first joined, members received a membership certificate emblazoned with a gold hot-stamped AIGA Medal, signed by the current president.

Now, members might receive a shiny membership card and a variable-data imprinted letter printed on laser-compatible generic card stock, along with access to an online portal. There’s value in mementos and markers that mark our professional journey.

I noticed that my AIGA membership card is nearly the same color as a Subway gift card, similar to Pantone Yellow. I may have tried to buy a sandwich with my AIGA card; next, I'll try to gain entrance to an AIGA event with my Subway card.

Big Brother

Do you remember what happened in 1984? OK, do you know what happened in 1984? (Sorry, I forgot—some of you weren't born yet.)

I graduated from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) School of Art in 1984. At that time, the design program included a total of five design classes. I had enough fine art credits that I should have declared a minor in painting. Since then, the program has matured to include a Master of Design (MDes) in Integrative Design . Only a select few are aware that I consulted with the Design Division leadership team to shape and define the program’s onlyness.

Apple also introduced the Macintosh in 1984. According to my parents, the Macintosh release event was almost as significant as my graduation (Coincidence?). Shortly after graduation, as a designer in my first post-graduate job, the founder rolled a Macintosh 512K into my wood-paneled office at the book publishing firm and said, “Learn this.”

I'll translate. 512K stands for 512K of RAM. You had more memory in your classic Second-Generation iPod.

Fast forward. I was invited to work with AIGA National on their first website in 1988. The lead firm on the project was cleverly named innov8 or something similar; their idea was to give the site visitor a choice of interface designs that would be overlaid on the content. It seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, it was a terrible idea.

Fast forward again. In 1995, I was asked to create a promotional piece for Matthew Carter's AIGA Cleveland talk, pairing photos from photographer Barney Taxel with Carter’s iconic typefaces. Of course, you’re all familiar with Matthew Carter, type designer ? Look him up on Wikipedia… He designed Bell Centennial, the typeface used in phone books. Phone books? OK, never mind.

My type design work and involvement with AIGA introduced me to David C. Baker, a business consultant and principal of Punctuation and my first publisher ; the late Doyald Young, a type designer, lettering artist, and author; Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap and The Brand Flip ; and type designers such as Erik Spiekermann and Jim Parkinson. All have influenced my work.

30 Years of Design Leadership

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Design Paleontology

All this design paleontology makes me think of younger design and marketing professionals. There’s more change occurring faster than ever before ( Perhaps you’ve heard of AI. )

Forty years from now, your interests, your opportunities, and your skills will have changed. You'll go through phases in your career (you may even change careers, but once a designer, always a designer).

My path was consistent with many in the design profession: from junior designer to designer to art director; from lettering artist to creative director; from part-time professional at a national greeting card company to design firm principal, from type designer to strategist to author, and still a designer. Each path you walk is part of the long journey of a life of design.

The secret to longevity in your career isn’t about what you do; it's how you think.

Technology changes, styles evolve. Have the courage to reinvent yourself. What you created yesterday is now a historical artifact or part of the solid waste stream. The world will always need design thinking and problem-solving to create value and profit for your company and others.

None of us gets from where we were to where we are without building upon those whose work and thinking we admire; nor can we escape the influence of those who laid the foundation of process, aesthetic, and technology upon which we build.

Even if you're reading this article forty years from now, design will play a role in your journey. Two or three people might remember me, but I hope I’ve created a legacy that you’re carrying forward.

Once a designer, always a designer.

The ROI of Compound Brand Interest

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:21:31 GMT

Investing in digital marketing for your home services company is expensive and time-consuming.

I talked with a farmer from rural Kentucky who was confident he had heard of our marketing firm.

Perhaps he has. We've applied the "Compound Brand Interest" concept for over thirty years. It can transform brand value for independent businesses.

Think of all that money you invest in lead generation platforms and other marketing. While you're focused on the quick wins, cash flow, and short-term gains, it's adding long-term value to your company's brand.

After 30 years of working with independent and family-owned businesses, I noticed that traditional ROI metrics (which we affectionately refer to as vanity metrics) didn't capture the cumulative value of strategic brand investments.

The Compound Brand Interest Principle

Like financial compound interest, brand value grows exponentially through:

Principal [Brand Alignment] x Rate [Consistency] / Time [Market Integration]

The concept emerged from working with home service companies that compete against private equity-backed competitors. These companies need a different approach to measuring and communicating brand value.

The Compound Brand Interest Pattern

Companies that clarify, simplify, and amplify their brand message see accelerating returns. Each aligned brand investment builds upon previous efforts. The key? Integrating branding, marketing, and customer experience creates multiplier effects.

Think of it as tending a garden or farming. You don't just plant and walk away. You nurture, prune, and cultivate; the results compound over time.

Compound Brand Interest Performance

One HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company unified multiple acquired companies under one brand, aligned messaging and customer experience, and created consistent delivery across touchpoints. The compound effect? Accelerating returns (that we measure through revenue analytics, not vanity metrics).

This framework shows how consistent, strategic brand investments can create sustainable advantages over time for independent businesses competing against larger, well-funded competitors.

While growth requires cash flow and a steady stream of new customers, the magic isn't in quick wins. It's the compound effect of an aligned, consistent brand strategy over time. Each investment builds on the last, creating exponential value growth.

After decades of observation and implementation, this truth remains: Brand value isn't linear; it's cumulative and tangential when correctly managed and maintained.

That's how you create the conditions for growth.

Independent home service companies need operations, sales, and marketing to work together. Aespire can help you grow with the StoryBrand framework and digital marketing for home service companies.

Don’t Just Sell a Product, Sell a Process

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 19:00:04 GMT

“Don’t just sell a product—sell a process. Help clients build a strategy that converts leads, nurtures relationships, and retains customers for life.”

In this episode of the Everybody Brands Podcast , Brian Sooy and guest Zach Hoskins discuss Zach's perspective on sales.

What is your professional background?

Military: 10 years in Missouri Air National Guard, worked on the B2 stealth bomber
Leadership: 10 years on leadership teams of entrepreneurial organizations (C-suite roles)
Consulting: Implemented coaching strategies and business systems for 5+ years
Current: Owns The Efficiency Conductor , runs online communities for tech professionals and leaders

What communities do you run?

Harmony Growth Lab : Helps cybersecurity professionals build personal brands and strategic visions

What is your approach to client relationships?

Focus on selling a process, not just a product
Help clients build strategies to convert leads, nurture relationships, and retain customers
Prioritize investing in team members, who then take better care of clients
View relationships as the foundation of business success

How do you balance team and client priorities?

Shifted focus from "clients-first" to "team members first, then clients"
Pouring into team members empowers them to serve clients better
This approach helps remove the owner from day-to-day operations

How do you approach strategic planning for businesses?

Map out the entire client journey from awareness to advocacy
Use whiteboards to visualize processes and identify priorities
Focus on one area (e.g., sales process) for a sustained period (90 days to a year)
Emphasize working on the business vs. in the business

What's your view on long-term planning?

While specifics may change, focus on desired feelings and outcomes
Use reverse engineering to determine steps needed today

How do you manage time and productivity?

Focus on four key elements: Time, Energy, Attention, and Effort (T.E.A.E.)
Create an "ideal week" to manage time effectively
Analyze energy levels throughout the week
Direct attention intentionally and adjust effort accordingly

How do you approach relationship building in business?

Create communication cadences (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)
Use methods like podcasting to generate leads and build relationships
View relationships as the foundation of all business success
Balance emotional and logical communication based on audience (e.g., more logic-focused for accountants)

Get your copy of Trade Secrets: Four Core Strategies to Maximize Value for Service Companies in print, ebook, and audio formats . Tailored for a wide range of professionals, from home services to wealth management, this book breaks down complex branding concepts into accessible, actionable strategies that any small business owner can implement.

Five Alternative Strategies for New Customer Growth

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 18:34:05 GMT

Building on the growth our clients experienced in 2024, we implemented five strategies at Aespire Branding & Marketing to enhance new customer growth and retention in Q1 2025 for HVAC and home services companies.

These key moves transform our clients’ marketing performance. These trends — and proven strategies — shape how our clients connect with customers.

1. Intent-Based Marketing

Google Ad’s broad-based targeting often produces low-quality conversions. Market domination comes from AI and machine learning guided by a data scientist.

We precisely design a custom audience , delivering ads to users who are actively browsing for our client’s services in the right place and at the right time. Everyone is not your customer, and traditional targeting (income, age, psychographics, and other demographics) isn’t always relevant to consumer intent and behavior.

The shift from “reach everyone” to “reach the right ones” fundamentally changes how we approach campaign strategy and execution. (We’re improving channel investment results through #3 below)

2. Zero-Click Search Optimization

As previously noted, Google rigs the search game in its favor . People don’t like to click; they want the answer now. As search behavior evolves, we’re adapting. Featured snippets, knowledge panels, and voice search optimization are now crucial for capturing attention in a zero-click world. The reality? Position zero is becoming more valuable than traditional search rankings. When users ask Google a question, they increasingly get answers without clicking through to a website. That’s what zero-click search means.

Think about it: Featured snippets, knowledge panels, and voice search results serve instant answers. Users get what they need right there in the search results. A renewed focus on consumer problem-solution content is reshaping our content strategy. That doesn’t mean you should skimp on investing in content and a website to host it. Make your website the source of truth for the solutions your customers search for.

3. Revenue Analytics Integration

Home services management platforms promise full attribution only if you buy their expensive ad integrations. We’re closing the loop on attribution. By connecting every touchpoint to revenue, we finally answer the eternal question: “What’s driving sales?” This clarity transforms how we optimize campaigns, allocate marketing investments, and shift spending to where we want to fuel conversions based on in-depth insights.

We’re done measuring vanity metrics (like clicks, impressions, and conversions) and focusing on revenue metrics. That’s how we optimize ad spending.

Now I can see:

Which Google PPC ads drive new and recurring revenue
The effectiveness of our programmatic display and CTV campaigns
Performance by campaign

This will be the most transformative change in strategizing, allocating investment, and maximizing outcomes.

4. CTV & Audio Integration

Imagine showing your ads to people interested in your home services on their mobile devices, home computers, and streaming services. We’re using AI and machine learning to reach households and custom audience segments through digital display ads (native ad effectiveness dropped in 2024) and connected TV and audio channels to improve household penetration. Building awareness is the first step to positioning your brand to be locally famous and familiar.

5. Journey-Wide Message Consistency

Is your marketing team or agency using the phrase “sales funnel” in conversations? Ask them, “At what point does a prospect enter the sales funnel?”

A sales funnel is one touchpoint toward the end of a conversion journey, not the journey itself. Consistency is key. We ensure every touchpoint tells the same story—from awareness to purchase—and beyond. Trust isn’t built in a day but at every interaction.

The framework we use to develop clear, consistent messaging is StoryBrand.

One last point:

Our current data reveals that it takes 40-50 touchpoints and exposures to your brand, message, and marketing to lead to a conversion. The key takeaway? Success in 2025 isn’t about doing everything — it’s about doing the right things exceptionally well. Focus on what moves the needle for your business. That’s how you win and increase profits.

Faith, Family, and Freedom with Brett Baker

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 12:04:47 GMT

Co-founder Brett Baker joined Brian Sooy to talk about the virtual staffing business and the great things VAUSA® does for its employees, the military community, and clients.

VAUSA is a virtual staffing agency on a mission to create meaningful jobs and communities for military families by strategically building remote teams for faith and purpose-driven businesses.

Read the following highlights, and listen to the full conversation with Brett Baker.

I’m confident you’ll find wisdom you can apply today from Brett’s perspectives on caring for people, running a business, and the role of faith in business and life.

What Inspired You to Found VAUSA?

Mary Lane and I had gone through our seventh combat deployment, and she was in a typical situation for a military spouse.

I was gone for about seven to eight months out of every year, four months deployed, and three or four months training. She was a single mom in many ways, holding the family together. At the same time, an elementary school teacher.

We hit this point where we had two young children in daycare, and her entire salary would pay for that daycare. We weren’t making any financial gains.

During her last year of teaching, her room mom was a virtual assistant, which we had never heard of before. By the end of the year, they talked a lot about it. She understood what the role was. And she felt like this could be a good fit for our family.

We knew she could always go back to teaching, but she left teaching that summer. Very quickly, she worked full-time as a virtual assistant, supporting three business owners.

Not only was she learning the nuts and bolts of these businesses, she was bringing a ton of value to these business leaders.

And there was a palpable difference in my home when I would walk through the door. I mean, it was an answered prayer.

It was exactly what our family was looking for. And it didn’t take long for God to lay it on our hearts that, hey, this has been an excellent opportunity for you.

Now you must go out there and share it with other people in your life situation.

Business Exists to Build People

”We believe that this business exists to build our people, our people don’t exist to build our business.”

We are very faith-forward; we don’t just hire Christians, we don’t just do business with Christians, but we believe that we should be building opportunities for people to improve their marriages, themselves, faith, and if we can build those things and present them opportunities to join, then hopefully God does the rest

That’s how we are stewarding this business — that’s the mission — that’s the inspiration for why we do what we do.

I have been very fortunate because this has given me a new purpose in my life upon exiting the military. There’s a lot of pitfalls that veterans fall into when they leave and a lot of it is trying to find purpose. Building this has given me a sense of purpose; it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning and it’s been an amazing experience.

Shared Values Create a Win-Win Culture

VAUSA has three shared values: authentic connection, selfless service, and intentional growth .

Obviously, we are a service-based business, so authentic connection isn’t just being friendly; it’s the ability to have tough conversations. It’s the ability to call out the elephant in the room because when you’re working in a virtual environment — especially a virtual environment — it’s easy to tiptoe around issues and sweep them under the rug. That just festers problems and relationships.

This is a relational business. Selfless service is putting the client’s needs above our own. Selfless service is something all the military families on our team are living out through their everyday lives.

Intentional growth is how we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. We want to be pushing our people to grow as well.

We want to see people growing in every aspect of their lives, not just their relationship with their clients but in business too.

These are the driving values for our business and how we handle every situation. If we mess a situation up or something goes awry, we look at it and ask, “Where did we go wrong in our values? Did we hire someone who didn’t display those values? Or did we not display these values?”

So it is not just something we throw on our website. It’s something that’s ingrained in everything that we do. It’s incredibly important because it sets the expectations for everyone around us of what we expect.

Are there silos in your business ?

In my experience, it hasn’t been like one department is siloed from another. We do go through periods where departments aren’t talking the way that they should.

Unfortunately, a lot of times, you catch these things a little late. We run off of EOS . Mary Elaine is the integrator, which means she is focused on people and processes. She’s the actual operator of this business.

My focus is on business development and cultural initiatives in the future. I’m (thinking) three to five years down the road. I’m focused on where we are taking this company and aligning key relationships to bring that to fruition.

What she’s noticed is that if departments aren’t reaching out to her with questions, that’s always been a red flag for us.

We want leaders who we’re having to pull back the reins on. We don’t want leaders that we’re having to push all the time.

It’s continual realignment, knowing that Mary Elaine is guiding the organization from the ops perspective.

Cast a Vision for the Future

It’s important to cast a clear vision for a long-term future and this quarter.

It’s very easy for everyone to just start knocking out to-do’s, and it’s natural to look at the things I have to get done today.

The reality is, are we doing the most important things driving us towards the businesses’ true objectives? In EOS, we call them rocks. Those are the most important things that must be done. And it’s very easy to just be busy getting things.

But if you didn’t move the ball, you didn’t get the important things closer to the finish line.

It’s not just what we’re busy with, because you can say these are good things.

It’s being intentional with our lives. Are we moving ourselves in the right direction to become the best version of ourselves, both today and in the future, or not?

Busy is just like the devil’s playground. He just loves getting us distracted.

Is it Possible to Successfully Run a Faith-Guided, Profitable Business?

Yes. It has been great for us so far, and I certainly hope it continues. I have no intention of being less profitable as we move forward.

If you’re doing business for a greater cause than just your product or service, I would encourage every organization to try to get to that point.

Will the faith aspect scare some folks away? It will. We’re not here jamming faith down anyone’s throat.

Jesus played out a life, an example for us to follow. And that’s what we’re going to do. And it’s interesting to see it scare people off because it’s like, well, you know, these are the same foundations that this country was built upon.

So it’s infused into your everyday life, whether you know it or not.

What if I lose some clients? But at the end of the day, I will get the right clients and get the right talent from it.

This is our mission. And if our mission means that this company is worth, you know, $50 million one day, then that’s what it’ll be.

But if this company never reaches, you know, these high valuation numbers, that’s okay too. Because for us, we measure it with the impact that we’re making.

Align Purpose and Profit for the Good of People

In my experience, both in my own life and observation, helping other human beings brings true joy and contentment to everyone.

I believe it’s an innate drive that God put in us. There’s an incredible feeling of knowing I helped that human being.

We joined a peer advisory group called C12, a coaching group for Christian business leaders . Christian CEOs come together and share business best practices , and it was incredible for us, having no business experience coming into this. They put an emphasis on asking how we are using our business as a ministry and how we are having an impact.

That’s when it clicked for me. Every business that has people in it is in a great position to have a positive impact on other human beings.

When that clicked for me, all I saw was an opportunity for the rest of my life. Every business has the chance to have a positive impact. It doesn’t matter what your product is. It doesn’t matter what your service is.

I was in special operations and a gunfighter. Now I’m in a virtual assistant business.

I’m not a good virtual assistant. I have no skill sets in this. I need one, but yet I am super passionate every single day about waking up and trying to move our cause forward because it has nothing to do with the service, it has everything to do with the people.

You don’t have to have some dynamic, crazy cause to be a business and have a purpose with an impact on other human beings.

You just have to invest. You have to invest time, energy, and a little bit of money into trying to build a real relationship with the people and understanding their struggles, and then removing the roadblocks for them that will prevent them from being successful.

We see ourselves as opportunity builders who will help people become a better version of themselves.

Successful people have said to me, whether verbally or in books, “The owner’s job is to take care of their people. If you take care of your people they’re going to take care of your clients.

What we can do is take care of our people and promote a culture in which our people take care of each other. I believe if we do that, then they’re going to take care of our clients.
Now, I want to provide the best service possible. We put a ton of emphasis on this. And I haven’t talked much about the client side, because the mission is with my people. But if I take care of them and I love them, then my hope is that they’re going to work that much harder for our clients. So far, it has proved to be true.

(Be sure to listen to this section in the podcast!)

Leaders are Responsible for People

You’re not a leader unless you’re responsible for people on some level.

We can do more with great people. The leader’s job is to focus on those people.

In the military, if I’m a team leader and have three people underneath me, what is more effective in a gunfight than me sitting there shooting my gun or me effectively communicating and maneuvering those other three people to put their fires on a target and attack the enemy?

It’s me by myself; I can do very little. If I am controlling three people, six people, — or a platoon of people — effectively leading and controlling their efforts, that makes me force in a virtual world.

Pouring into them, trying to cast vision for them, trying to love on them to take care of their families, creating a culture that they want to come into work every day, and finding clients that will treat them well is the most effective use of my time.

If you’re leading people, you already have them underneath you. You have to talk to them. Start having conversations of true depth and meaning. Get to know them and figure out how to come alongside them and support them.

If you do that, I think you’re going to see people who want to stay with you longer, and I think you’re going to see people who work much harder for you.

I Need People to Fight For And a Cause To Stand For

If you just gave me a business and said, go make a hundred million dollars, that doesn’t get me out of bed in the morning.

I need people to fight for and a cause to stand for.

That is what gets me through the tougher times. If you don’t have that solid purpose baked into everything you do, then when times get tough, people will leave. You’re not going to want to do the things that you’re supposed to do.

I love trying to drive purpose into every level of the business. I love thinking about it. Do we have a purpose? Are we infusing that in every aspect of our business? Can we get people bought into it?

Edited for clarity and brevity. Listen to the full podcast and give it a five-star review!

Is your service business gaining enough customers to achieve your revenue goals? Contact Aespire to enroll in a growth program to attract, acquire, and retain new customers!

The 120-Day Service Company Sprint

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 12:16:33 GMT

There are typically three strategies that Olympic racers follow:

Take an early lead and try to maintain it
Hang back, marshal your strength, and finish strong
Run your pace and try to keep up (In my opinion, as a runner, that’s more of a coping mechanism than a strategy).

In the 2024 Olympics, we saw dramatic finishes and runaway winners. What lessons can service companies learn from these competitions?

Think About Creating — and Sustaining — Long-Term Value

One of Aespire’s core principles is that “ Extraordinary Strategists confidently lead by learning from hindsight, guiding with insight, and acting with foresight to direct companies along a clear path to their desired future.”

Distance Your Company: Strategy is about creating a competitive advantage. To win, organizations must find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Differentiation creates distance.
Fundamental business strategy asks, “Where are we going to compete?,” “How are we going to win?” and “What will it take to win in the marketplace?” When you think about those three fundamental business strategy questions, you realize a company needs a clear understanding of its audience, offering, and the resources necessary to create revenue and value.
Many companies need more support between strategy and operations, sales and marketing, products and customers, and leadership and teams. Instead of functioning as a system, companies devolve into silos. That’s what watching the US Men’s relay team bungle the handoff was like.

Here are a few service company consumer and marketing trends we’re watching:

September launches the 120-Day Sprint to the year’s end. We’ve been studying what’s happening in the service company market so you can adjust, adapt, and act with foresight.

Consumer behavior is changing, and tracking tactics are less effective. Google continues to rig the search game and optimize in its favor. Don’t be surprised if you see less traffic to your website and little to no traffic to your content.
Essential home services companies experience the most robust growth with a minimum of 25% new customer growth, which can lead to a higher revenue percentage.
Touchpoints matter more than funnels. Funnels are excellent for herding sheep, but consumers get annoyed if you treat them like sheep.
Commoditization is reducing revenue. People crave community. Starbucks’ Q2 operating income was down 17% year over year. Starbucks’s CEO says, “In this environment, many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money.” Howard Schulz notes that the drive-through supplanted the “third place.” Don’t let that happen to your business.
If customers withdraw from buying coffee and fast food , consider what that means for bigger ticket purchases like home improvements and upgrades.

The Secret Ingredient for Maximizing Brand Value

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 20:41:56 GMT

In late 2022, I presented “What is Branding?” at the annual Made Simple Summit for StoryBrand Guides and Business Made Simple Coaches in response to many misconceptions and misunderstandings about branding and brand strategy.

As much as I'm certain you would love to hear the backstory, I don't want to bore you. Instead, I thought I'd share Chapter 16 from Trade Secrets: Four Core Strategies to Maximize Value for Service Companies . I included it in the book to demonstrate how brand alignment is essential to business strategy and the missing piece from most business operating systems.

After reading How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off , I felt something was missing.

In How to Grow Your Small Business , Donald Miller details his playbook for growing StoryBrand and Business Made Simple from $250,000 to over $15M in revenue in ten years. His business operating system equates a company’s operational aspects to the parts of an airplane.

Miller puts it into an actionable framework — in a practical online resource with detailed worksheets called Small Business Flight School that any service business owner can use to operationalize and accelerate their business growth.

In Miller’s model, he writes

Leadership is the Cockpit
Marketing is the Right Engine
Sales are the Left Engine
Products and Services is the Wings
Overhead and Operations is the Body
Cash Flow is the Fuel

(Other business professionals have used a similar analogy, most notably, Forbes from a contributed 2013 article .)

An airplane needs two wings to create lift. By design and physics, wings are on opposite sides of the aircraft and work together to lift the plane. In the same way, sales and marketing are supposed to work together to raise awareness, create demand, and generate revenue.

But therein lies the problem.

Like the wings on opposite sides of the aircraft, there’s often a disconnect between sales and marketing and no clear way to unify them. The airplane’s body (operations) separates sales and marketing. Plus, leadership and sales teams often have different ideas and expectations.

These internal silos and the marketplace create turbulence and crosswinds that compound issues and threaten to push your service business off course.

Following Donald Miller’s model, almost every part of the aircraft is integrated with a critical business operation. Like the last crucial part of the airplane, one essential strategy unifies and stabilizes a small business.

Brand alignment is like the tail that keeps your business flying in the direction you want to go.

If your small business is like an airplane, you may be trying to navigate — and fly — without that key component. There’s no clear way to unify sales and marketing without brand alignment because they aren’t connected.

Is Your Business Flight-Ready?

Pilots rely on ground crews and engineers to make the airplane flight-ready. Pilots physically and mentally run through a pre-flight checklist to ensure every aspect of their aircraft is functional.

I remember flying in a single-engine airplane with my uncle, a former US Navy fighter pilot and retired airline captain.(1)

First, he performed an external inspection of the airplane, checked the fuel, and verified that the gauges were operational to ensure it was fit to fly.

Then he startled me by yelling, “CLEAR!” before he turned the motor over to start the propeller.

Let’s do a pre-flight check on your “business as an airplane” model (don’t yell “CLEAR,” or your team will wonder what’s going on!)

✔️ Cockpit / Leadership and Business Strategy
✔️ Right Engine / Marketing
✔️ Left Engine / Sales
✔️ Wings / Products and Services
✔️ Body / Overhead and Operations is the Body
✔️ Fuel / Cash Flow
❌ Tail / Brand Alignment

No Tail? You Can’t Fly.

Would you fly — or be a passenger in — an airplane without a tail or rudder? (Yes, there are exceptions. But we’re not talking about flying wings like a B2).

Brand alignment is missing or misaligned in many service businesses, even those that follow Business Made Simple or the Entrepreneur Operating System to grow their company.

Your brand provides two critical functions:

1. Vertical stability: Similar to how an aircraft adjusts to environmental conditions in flight, brand alignment helps your company adjust to business and market conditions. The rudder and vertical stabilizer are the flight surfaces that provide control and stability.

2. Horizontal stability: The horizontal stabilizer keeps the airplane flying straight. Brand alignment determines the angle of attack in the marketplace regarding products, services, categories, and customers.

An aircraft’s tail is often attached last — after the airline paints it — to account for weight and balance. Most commercial airlines add visual branding elements to the tail, the body, and wingtips. That’s the simplest way to demonstrate that brand alignment must integrate with every area of your business.

If the airplane tries to fly without the tail, it will veer off course and may fail to reach its destination by the most direct route.

You can’t neglect the tail when you build your business like an airplane. You need business operations and brand integration to manage the tension that keeps the company aligned and creates dynamic stability.

What does alignment mean? Your brand — who you are, what you do, and how you matter — is integrated with every operational aspect of your company (not just sales and marketing).

Nobody wants to read a book where the last chapter feels missing. Likewise, nobody wants to fly in a plane without a tail because they can’t be confident it will take them where they want to go.

Service business owners are often so busy running their business (like building an airplane while it’s taking off or in the air) that they ignore customer experience. In extreme cases, they may lose sight of their vision and reason for heading in that direction and drift off course.

Aligning your team with a shared mission, goals, and strategic direction can be challenging without a tail to direct your flight path.

What does brand alignment do?

The tail — brand alignment — adds visual and experiential elements that make your company familiar and memorable.
The tail reminds people about your identity even when the plane is parked. Branding reminds customers that you exist without having to market to them.
The tail provides dynamic stability as the plane adjusts to environmental conditions.

Think of brand alignment in your business like the tail of an airplane:

Brand alignment helps you create the conditions for a successful business.
Brand alignment is a strategy that provides dynamic stability for your long-term and daily business operations.
Brand alignment enables you to keep your company on course.

Does Your Service Company Need Brand Alignment?

Don’t accept the advice of some business coaches and marketers who proclaim that you don’t need to invest in branding without questioning why.

The choice is yours. You can generate revenue with marketing but can’t maximize value without brand alignment.

The most powerful form of marketing is word of mouth. Give people the elements they need to frame a story so they can share their experiences with your company and do the selling for you!

A brand is a story customers share about their experience with your company, product, or service.

Thanks for reading Chapter 16. Order Trade Secrets: Four Core Strategies to Maximize Value for Service Companies to help you create a sustainable competitive advantage.

(1) My uncle flew an A4 Skyhawk from an aircraft carrier. That takes guts and nerves of steel. It’s where the phrase, “Keep your eye on the ball” originated.

Three Types of Website Policies Every Business Needs

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:53:01 GMT

They disrupt your website visitor experience and are the first thing a new visitor sees when they visit your website.

In a recent survey of 167 websites, we discovered

Only 62% of surveyed websites included a current privacy policy statement
Only 2% of surveyed websites included an accessibility statement and widget
Only 4% of surveyed websites included an cookie consent popup.

It feels like websites are becoming a series of overlapping consent and sales popups!

Why do you need a cookie consent popup, a privacy policy, and an accessibility widget on your website? It’s simple. Protecting your visitors’ privacy and making your website more accessible protects your business.*

Not every website necessarily needs all three features, but there are good reasons why these practices have become common.

Every Website Needs a Privacy Policy

A privacy policy is the cornerstone of website visitor privacy. It’s a document or page on your website that tells your customers what information you collect and what you do with it. It informs people with whom you share their information and other information about your privacy practices.

A privacy policy is a legal requirement in many state and international jurisdictions. For example, many websites are visited by people from the European Union. EU visitors are protected under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the United States, your website is most likely accessible in California under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), even if you don’t do business in California.

A privacy policy informs users how the website collects, uses, and shares their personal information. By being transparent about data practices, a privacy policy builds trust with users, and failure to comply with privacy laws can result in legal consequences.

Here’s the problem: Many website owners overlook posting a privacy policy , thinking they’re not at risk of a lawsuit or privacy violation. Think about the damage to your reputation or the financial impact on your company. Please don’t panic; we’ll share a cost-effective solution to help protect your company.

There’s no escaping it. A privacy policy is a good business practice and a legal requirement for websites collecting personal data, such as names and email addresses.

Many websites collect personal information through contact forms, email newsletter sign-ups, or lead-generation campaigns. Moreover, if you're leveraging marketing automation or analytics services like Google Analytics, you're engaging in activities that require a clear and accessible privacy policy.

Privacy policies are a cornerstone of online transparency and user trust. They help you comply with global data protection laws and reassure visitors that their personal information is handled carefully and respectfully.

How Can You Get a Privacy Policy on Your Website?

We recommend subscribing to a service like Termageddon , which lets you customize website policies for your company that automatically update as the laws change. Click here for 10% off your first-year subscription .
If you’re looking for a free solution and are willing to risk that your policies will stay current, visit privacypolicies.com and roll the dice.

Do you own a digital or web agency? Web agencies that apply receive a free set of auto-updating policies and 10% off their first purchase if they want to resell Termageddon’s licenses.

Your Website May Need a Cookie Consent Feature

Many websites (including this one) use cookies to track user activity, personalize content, and other purposes. Regulations such as the EU's ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR require websites to obtain consent from users before placing cookies on their devices. Cookie consent features notify users about using cookies and allow them to accept or reject them. This ensures that users control their data and helps websites comply with legal requirements.

According to Termageddon, “The truth is that not all websites need a Cookie Policy. First, while it is very unlikely, if your website does not use any cookies, you will not need a Cookie Policy because you do not need to present information regarding cookies as none are used on your website.

On the other hand, if your website does use cookies, you will need a Cookie Policy to comply with several privacy laws .

Termageddon’s auto-updating privacy policy subscriptions include a free cookie consent solution powered by Usercentrics and its Consent Management Platform (CMP).
Usercentrics is EU-based (important for GDPR), WCAG 2.1 AA certified , and powers nearly a million websites.
Usercentrics is easily installed on any website with Google Tag Manager.

Your Website Needs an Accessibility Widget

A small business owner called us to share how troubled he was over being served with a lawsuit that claimed his website was not accessible. Resolving and mitigating the lawsuit ended up costing him thousands of dollars. He may have avoided the legal and financial costs if his website had been enhanced with an accessibility widget.

An accessibility widget or tool helps make websites more accessible to people with disabilities by providing text-to-speech functionality, adjustable font sizes, color contrast adjustments, and keyboard navigation options. The widgets are generally visible in the bottom right or left of a website where they are installed and open a window that gives visitors ways to enhance their experience.

Why You Need an Accessibility Widget for Your Website

Making websites accessible is not only a legal requirement in many jurisdictions, including the United States, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but it also aligns with ethical considerations of inclusivity and ensures that everyone, regardless of disability, can access and interact with online content.
It can boost performance and enhance everyone's user experience. It’s a way for your business to demonstrate and practice inclusivity with dignity.

What Are My Options for Getting an Accessibility Widget?

The major drawback to accessibility widgets is their cost, but there are several options and considerations:

If you’re an Aespire client with a website developed on Aespire Websites Made Simple , we’ve installed the free UserWay widget.
Get a free accessibility widget from UserWay . If your website is on any other platform, the good news is that UserWay offers an entry-level version. The free version provides accessibility improvements that the user can activate.
UserWay’s paid accessibility widget version goes further, remediating the underlying code for enhanced compliance with WCAG standards.
Are you unsure which option is right for you? Compare the paid and free accessibility widgets to enhance your website’s usability.
To keep your investment in website accessibility and usability manageable, consider Equally.ai’s Small Plan for websites with fewer than 1000 pages .

For the record, we would never recommend a solution that we don’t use to help our clients protect their websites and companies from legal and financial risks.

*We’re not lawyers, and this is not legal advice.

Consider these recommendations as best practices from one small service business to another to help you avoid surprises!

Photo by Kevin Paster from Pexels

My First Book Was a Failure. And a Success.

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:18:34 GMT

“Raise Your Voice” is 10 years old.

It’s OK to skip to the end if you are the tl;dr type.

June 23, 2012. I was enjoying a seafood platter in the tourist district of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when I received a Messenger notification.

This is hardly the way I imagined the process of writing a book to begin. It was the weirdest reverse pitch from a publisher working exclusively with creative firm principals.

My journey into a new level of thought leadership and content marketing began with a Facebook Messenger post from my future publisher, reading, “When are you going to write a book, you fool?”

I was already writing regularly on aespire.com/insights with content for mission-driven organizations.

The publisher challenged me to take content marketing to a new level, with timeless content for intelligent readers published in book form. Resisting the allure of publishing about trending themes is a long-tail approach, but he assured me, “[When you publish] the whole world looks at you differently.”

With that, the gauntlet was thrown, the challenge made, and the publisher finished his pitch to me with this comment: “You'll be a fool until it’s published.” It was an unusual way to begin a relationship with a publisher and begin the journey of writing my first book.

Personal opinions of my character aside — 10 years later — there are several things I will do differently when I publish my next book.

I Would Begin Building an Audience Two Years Before Publishing

While “Begin at the beginning” is excellent advice, it’s the worst advice when it comes to content creation and publishing a book.

Had I been more familiar with Stephen Covey then, I would have understood his principle, “Begin with the end in mind.” My take on Covey’s advice is, “The heart may inspire you to start a journey, but you must begin with the end in mind.”

The end I would have started with was the category, market need, and audience: If I wrote a book, who would read it?

I should have focused on building the largest email list possible, relentlessly curating an audience, and understanding what they want to learn. Instead, I focused on writing new content for my blog and the book and running my agency. Writing a successful book can’t be about you.
I would not count on “If you write it, they will read it.” The day you publish your book isn’t the day you should begin building your audience—you should be engaged with them for a minimum of 12 months or longer ‑ before your book launches.
Social media, marketing, and book launches can be money-wasting if you don’t have an audience the day your content launches.
I would invest my promotional budget differently. That leads me to where I would invest in marketing…

I Would Engage Future Readers and Reviewers Differently

Professional book marketing firms can help you launch a book, but it only works if their expertise aligns with your audience and content (a lesson I learned at great personal expense). You need to understand your content and audience as well.

Here are the relational things I would do differently when I do it again:

I would immediately seek endorsers before the book was designed. Quality endorsements come from busy people (although Seth Godin shared with me that endorsements are not as valuable as authors and publishers believe them to be). Nonetheless, people read them and occasionally buy a book based on an endorsement.
I would not wait to ask for reviews after the book is printed and sold. I would have had a launch team in place to read and share reviews within the first couple of weeks.
I would cultivate relationships with influencers who publish “must-read” lists and politely ask them to consider my book.
Instead of investing in a book marketing agency, I would work with a podcast guest marketing agency like Interview Valet to produce a virtual book tour.

I Would Understand It’s Up to Me to Promote My Book

Seth Godin rightly claims, “If you don't promote it, no one will.”

My first book was co-published with RockBench Publishing Corp., an established, well-respected niche publisher. I paid for design, editing, printing, and promotion…, and the publisher distributed the book through Amazon.com.

I would not rely solely on anyone else to promote the writing and guest blogging.
I would not wait to build a network of influencers who could share the book with a broader audience.
I would not count on advice or promotion that may have worked for others.
I would be aware of book award programs and their potential for return on minimum investment (and bragging rights if your book is selected!

While Raise Your Voice has not been a commercial success in the same way the publishing industry measures success, it is an influential work that sells consistently and opens doors for client engagements, speaking opportunities, and book design projects.

While I haven't asked If the publisher still considers me a fool, it is gratifying to know he references me and my book in his book The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth .

I Learned Several Valuable Lessons and Monetized What I Learned

I would not allow myself to let the perceived expectations of others be the measure of my success or the arbitrary rules of outdated publishing models to determine the marketing path I follow.
I would define my goals and success metrics realistically, manage my expectations, and plan accordingly to achieve them.
I would print a small quantity as a signed, limited edition and sell them directly. Then, I would release a mass-market version as print-on-demand.
I would use an app like Grammarly early and often.
I applied what I learned. The experience of writing and publishing a book led to working with over a dozen independent authors, corporations, and publishers to design and produce autobiographies, centennial books , novels, and business books .

What About Those Other Books You Haven’t Published?

I have two more books written and partially edited. I can test the topics with free and paid subscribers on The Society of Extraordinary Strategists and Aespire’s LinkedIn Newsletter .

For now, I’ll keep dropping hints to build anticipation and interest. Subscribe, and maybe you’ll be one of the first to read what I’m writing…

Authors Resources

Seth Godin's advice that I recommend every author read:

Advice for Authors, 2005
Advice for Authors , 2006

Book Design and Publishing for Experts and Advisors

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 19:33:01 GMT

You wrote a manuscript, and wonder, “What’s next?”

Get guidance on book design, book printing, and book publishing to establish your expertise, enhance your position as a thought leader, and monetize your IP.

Who will edit, design, and produce your print and ebook versions?

Many authors need a guide to help them turn their publishing ideas into a profitable business asset. Aespire collaborates with authors and publishers to design, produce, and promote books that position them as experts, expand their influence, and help them grow their brands.

For over 25 years, our experienced strategy, type design, creative, and marketing team have made books engaging, more readable, and sought after in the marketplace. We’ve been managing the publishing process for authors and institutions, designing hardcover and softcover books for best-selling authors in North America.

Aespire guides authors through the book design and publishing process . We work with experts, advisors, creative agency principals, CEOs, and business executives to bring their business and leadership ideas to reality.

We call the consulting part of our process “shepherding.” There are many considerations with book publishing — from format to size to paper to printing —that even for a seasoned design professional can be overwhelming.

We work with peers and colleagues who have vertical expertise in branding, marketing, and business consulting who need guidance in producing their first or subsequent book.

We’re like digital sherpas, carrying the heavy loads and leading the way so you can scale the mountain of success to reach your goal.

Our book shepherding and guide process includes cover and interior design for both print and e-book formats. We see a resurgence in interest in printed books , with 50%+ of sales occuring through Amazon, the place potential buyers turn for reviews (and the illusion of free shipping).

Aespire works with authors whose expertise helps business leaders generate revenue, increase sales, and change the way people do business. Their books are written to transform processes and challenge thinking for their readers.

Author Services for Thought Leaders

Aespire guides authors, institutions, CEOs, corporate leaders, and publishers through custom publishing and custom design book publishing projects.

Our design and consulting team includes editors, designers, web developers, public relations, and marketing experts who help people create and promote traditional print books, training publications, digital editions (ebooks), and book branding experiences.

We know that corporate professionals and agency principles who are focused on their area of expertise appreciate the resources of a team who can shepherd their work from manuscript to finished product.

Authors select Aespire:

As trusted guides with practical experience as writers, authors, editors, and designers.
As a team to support editing, design, production, and marketing.
To position the author as an authority in their field or sector.
As independent and unbiased managers of their project with exquisite attention to detail.
To create the best possible experience for the reader.
For our typography expertise: Our skill with typography to make books readable is based in our legacy of type design. (Aespire’s founder Brian Sooy designed the text typeface used in the New Living Translation Bible and creates typefaces used in Bibles, publications, and creative projects worldwide).
For our network of domestic and foreign book printers who have produced publications that include trade books, short-run books, and Bibles.
For access to a network of ghostwriters, expert editors, illustrators, videographers, and publicists who specialize in promoting authors and books.

Authors who work with Aespire

David C. Baker
The Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors , 2023
Financial Management of a Marketing Firm (2023)
Wendy Beckett, God Keeps Covenant , Beckett Press
Lynda Decker ( Responsive Branding )
Sean Doyle ( Shift )
Blair Enns
The Win Without Pitching Manifesto
Pricing Creativity
Rebecca Geier ( SMART Marketing for Engineers )
David Guttman
The SuperStruct Manifesto: A Survival Guide for Founders Who Depend on Devs to Get Things Done
Gary Harpst, CEO, LeadFirst ( Built to Beat Chaos: Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others )
Brian Sooy
Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto
The Gift of Small Potatoes: How a Culture of Generosity Empowers Mission-Driven Brands to Win Trust, Earn Loyalty, and Unlock Abundance
Essential: A 30-day Devotional for Faith-Driven Professionals
Essential and Unshakable: Offering Your Work as Worship 30-day Bible Study on Bible.com
Vitamix
Vitamix 100th Anniversary Cookbook: 100 Whole Food Recipes from our Fans & Family , Dr. Jodi Berg, former CEO
Read our case study about how The Vitamix 100th Anniversary Cookbook was produced and reached the #1 New Release in multiple categories three months before release, best seller status, and how we facilitated expanded North American distribution.
The Vitamix Edge: The Magic of Mount Tooska-Ooska-Wooska-Choo , Beth McBride

Author Websites (StoryBrand Web Design)

Norma Joyce Dougherty (StoryBrand Author Website )
Neal Tew (Author Advising)

Publishers that work with Aespire

God’s Word Mission Society ( Design and marketing of the GOD’S WORD Translation Bibles )
Hymnody & Bible House (Consulting for Chinese-American Bible typography)
Liddell Press ( The Readable Bible ; Veritas Font license )
RockBench Publishing Corp .
Tyndale House Publishing (Custom font design for the New Living Translation ; NIV, NKJV Life Application Bibles)

What Do Business Owners Worry About the Most?

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 22:49:07 GMT

Why can’t we have an operating system for branding?

The easy answer is that small business owners don’t think about branding and marketing as much as other things.

I’ve been developing a model to make branding easy for small businesses. There are a bazillion frameworks and models in the marketplace; perhaps it’s better to refer to what I’m working on as an essential operating system.

It shouldn’t seem far-fetched. Independent business owners invest thousands of dollars in platforms like EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System), EMyth, Business Made Simple , and LeadFirst (a leadership and business platform for faith-friendly organizations).

Why a Branding System Helps Independent Small Businesses

After four decades of working with independent business owners, they want things to be simple. Small to mid-size business owners want a predictable process and path to a consistent outcome.

Many branding frameworks are portrayed as a sequential process. Designing a brand that frames a positive perception and resonates with customers isn’t always sequential; it’s a tangential process woven into every business aspect.
To a small business owner, the branding processes can seem mysterious. The agency shows up, gathers info, and comes back with a solution that may — or may not — fit. Small business owners appreciate certainty, assurance, and being part of the process.
Some branding models could be more straightforward. They want you to think the only path to disruption is through chaos. Small business owners deal with turmoil daily. They prefer a path and a plan.

You’ll still gain some benefit from this article if you read it. Just skip to the end if you’re bored or disagree with my assessment. If you stick with it, you gain insight into why it’s critical to think about customers first. Strategy, branding, and marketing must be integrated with who the company relies on for revenue.

Now, let’s try to answer the question, what do business owners worry about the most?

The answer — which is the answer to many business questions — is, “It depends.”

For most small businesses, their concerns have remained consistent throughout 2023. According to the US Chamber’s 2023 Small Business Survey , the top five small business worries are inflation, supply chain, revenue, rising interest rates, and affording employee benefits and healthcare.

We’re all feeling the pain of inflation.

The NFIB Research Foundation survey reports small and independent business owners are pessimistic about future business conditions, with 22% of owners saying that inflation was their single most crucial problem in operating their business.

What’s your most pressing business challenge?

When I ask owners, “What’s your most pressing business challenge?” the conversation often turns to concerns that worry most independent businesses: creating demand, sustaining revenue, and staffing.

It’s a never-ending cycle. For example, demand for most home service companies ebbs and flows with the seasons. HVAC and cooling are cyclical. Plumbing and electrical are dependent on consumer needs at the moment. Most homeowners call or seek help based on the desire to prevent failure, maintain the status quo, or upgrade their systems.

With the right strategy and an adequate budget for the right channel marketing mix, a competent marketing team can generate leads for the sales team. This is marketing’s role.

But there’s often a broader context at the heart of every small business that relies on its branding. Small business branding should create the frame to attract and retain the right customers and appeal to and retain the best talent.

Attracting and appealing to people often depends on how familiar your company, product, or service is to customers and job seekers.

As a business owner, you can’t help but think about your company, its customers, brand, and marketing from the inside out. Yet, simultaneously, you must think about all three from the customer’s perspective.

I appreciate the use of a survey to understand business sentiment. Still, at the same time, surveys are often designed to capture data relevant to the firms who commission the survey.

Don’t fall short in your journey to build a profitable business and design a valuable business brand

Business Made Simple’s Small Business Flight School includes six steps to help you implement a plan to double your revenue.

Yet it won’t help you design the brand that represents your business and increases future value.

Get access to the frameworks designed by Brand Strategist Brian Sooy. Be guided by elite marketing frameworks and curated expertise to navigate and clarify the complexities of modern marketing with Ella Ai.

I appreciate listening to small business owners who share what they want:

“To capture the glory of the past, we must have a full cultural shift within the company and then spread that message.”
“We work hard to build a great internal team. When someone applies to work for us, I want to say, “We've got all the great people we need, but we'll put you on the waiting list.”
“We want to have a brand that employees are proud of when they wear the uniform and show up for work.”
“We want people to know that our top priority is how we care for our customers and employees.”
“I want to get buy-in from our internal team.”
“Our customers don’t have clarity for who our company is.”
“I want to figure out our brand at the core to create something memorable and simple.”

When your company is in the $0-$100,000 or $10-12 million revenue range, you must be intentional about answering these questions to create the framework for how people perceive your company in the marketplace:

What are your shared values?
How do you put your shared values into action?
What do you sell?
Who do you sell to?
Why should they care?
What are you saying?
How are you saying it?
Where do you show up?
How are you showing up?

In navigating the headwinds and tumultuous events of the current economy, independent business owners must constantly adjust to the changing winds of the market. Inflation, supply chain, talent acquisition, and fluctuating consumer demands are hurdles to overcome and opportunities to evolve and grow.

A robust and resonant brand acts as the core of your business and a compass to keep your company oriented. It guides decision-making, attracts the right customers, and inspires employees.

Think of your brand as the story you want other people to share about how they think of your company and what it’s like to work with it. From your perspective, it embodies your businesses’ shared values, the story you tell, the experience you deliver, and how you treat people.

From your customers’ perspective, the stories they share — in reviews, through word of mouth, and other recommendations — convey how you listen, respond, and provide a solution to their problem. What they share becomes your brand.

When it comes to branding, words matter most.

In answering the critical questions — what you sell, to whom, and why they should care — small business owners curate a narrative that ideally resonates deeply with their target audience. This narrative evolves as the business grows and as customer needs change. Brands are formed through dialogue and design, a continuous exchange of values and expectations between a company, its products, and its customers.

The effectiveness of a brand is not just in its creation but in its consistency across all aspects of the business and every experience. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to reinforce a brand's commitment to a company’s team and customers, from service to experience, product design, and work culture.

For most small- to mid-size independent businesses, there’s a limit to how much money they can invest in paid marketing channels. The independent companies that thrive are those that understand how branding works. Thriving businesses adapt to changes in the market, anticipate what’s next, and shape how they meet customers where they are in light of these changes.

Ultimately, small business success hinges on the strength and clarity of how it delivers on its understanding of the customer and the problems or challenges they face. As a small business owner, constantly focus on the issue you help solve and how you can use marketplace challenges to build a stronger, more resilient, and more meaningful business.

Branding is Not the Villain

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 11:59:17 GMT

Marketing is not the hero.

There’s a common misconception among some business coaches, small business owners, and even design professionals: They think a brand is a logo, and that’s all there is.

They think branding means putting a logo on a bottle and giving it to their customers.

Some business authors argue that marketing must come before branding to create revenue that fuels the business. When they make that argument, leadership and teams get confused. It contributes to the sales and marketing silos that isolate and divide groups.

That’s an odd argument because the company name, visual identity, design choices, messaging, tone of voice, and market presence — how it shows up in the marketplace and serves consumers — are all branding elements.

Branding is not the villain.

To oversimplify, marketing is a push, and branding is the pull. Branding is visual, verbal, and experiential.

Marketing is downstream from branding. Everything is connected.

You shouldn’t implement marketing without a solid strategy foundation. If you do, you’re wasting money on both branding and marketing.

Consumers drive the category. Your customer owns the brand. The small business owns the branding. Customers care more about what they believe to be accurate and true about your small business brand than what you try to convince them to believe.

Branding must be embedded and integrated into every aspect of your business from the start.

To operationalize your business, you must optimize your brand and design your category, branding, marketing, and website for your customers.

Not for you.

How Websites Made Simple Makes It Easy For Small Business Owners To Build A Website

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 20:24:56 GMT

Are you a small business owner struggling to establish your online presence?

Do you feel overwhelmed by the technical aspects of building and maintaining a website? You’re not alone. Many small business owners find it challenging to build a website that looks good, is SEO-friendly, and attracts customers. That’s where Websites Made Simple comes in. Let’s explore how Websites Made Simple helps small business owners build a website that makes it easy for customers to find and turns browsers into buyers.

1. Introduction: Building a Strong Online Presence

2. Section 1: How Websites Made Simple Can Benefit Your Business

Why You Need a Website for Your Small Business
The Benefits of Using Websites Made Simple
How a Website Can Help Your Business Grow

3. Section 2: Features and Benefits of Websites Made Simple

Easy-to-Use Website Templates
SEO-Friendly Web Pages
Cost-Effective Monthly Subscriptions
Free 30-Day Trial

4. Section 3: Building a Website with Websites Made Simple

Getting Started: Choosing Your Template
Customizing Your Website
Launching Your Website

5. Section 4: Tips for Building a Successful Website

Creating a Clear, Concise Message
Designing for User Experience
Monitoring and Analyzing Your Website

6. Conclusion: Websites Made Simple - The Easy Way to Build Your Online Presence

Key Takeaways

Introduction: Building a Strong Online Presence with Websites Made Simple

To increase your sales, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to establish a robust online presence. Having a mobile-friendly website can be the difference between failure and success. But building a website can be daunting, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. That’s where Websites Made Simple comes in.

At Websites Made Simple, we offer an easy-to-use website builder that helps small business owners build a website that looks great and attracts customers. With business-building features and benefits, Websites Made Simple makes it easy for anyone to build a website, even if you have no design or coding experience.

Section 1: How Websites Made Simple Can Benefit Your Business

Why You Need a Website for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you might wonder if you need a website. Can’t you get by with just a social media page or a listing on a business directory? Even with Google, Facebook, and other platforms, the answer is no. A website establishes your digital presence, and it’s the first place customers will go to learn more about your business. Without a website, you’ll miss out on potential customers and revenue.

The Benefits of Using Websites Made Simple

Websites Made Simple offer business-optimized benefits, making it an attractive option for small business owners. Our easy-to-use website templates are designed with small businesses in mind, with pre-designed pages that make showcasing your products or services a breeze. Our websites are also SEO-friendly, so your site will be more likely to appear in search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. We also offer cost-effective monthly subscriptions that won’t break the bank.

How a Website Can Help Your Business Grow

With a website built using our no-code SaaS platform, you can help your business grow in several ways.

A website can help you attract new customers by allowing them to find and learn about your business.
It can help you establish credibility and trust with potential customers by giving them the information they need to make an informed decision.
Finally, a website can help you compete with larger businesses by providing a platform to showcase your products or services.

Section 2: Features and Benefits of a No-Code Website Builder

Easy-to-Use Website Templates

Duda's no-code website builder offers a range of pre-built website templates that make it easy to build a website that looks great. Our custom-designed templates are created with small business owners in mind and include customization for your home page, about page, contact page, and more.

SEO-Friendly Web Pages

No-Code websites are designed to be SEO-friendly, meaning they are optimized for search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. This means your site will be more likely to appear in search results when people search for keywords related to your business. Our websites are also designed to load quickly and be mobile-friendly, so your site will look great on any device.

Cost-Effective Monthly Subscriptions

Aespire offers cost-effective monthly subscriptions that won’t break the bank. Whether you’re just starting or looking to upgrade your existing website, we have a plan that will work for you. Our subscription plans hosting, analytics, and online support to help you get the most out of your online presence.

Section 3: Building a Website with Websites Made Simple

Getting Started: Choosing Your Template

To start with a no-code website, you’ll first need to choose a template or commission a custom design that best fits your business needs. We offer a range of templates for small businesses, including options for e-commerce sites, service-based sites, and more. Once you’ve chosen your template, you can customize your website using our easy-to-use editing tools.

Customizing Your Website

Customizing your website is easy. You can add your text, photos, and videos using our drag-and-drop editor or from our pre-built content library. You can also customize your site’s colors, fonts, and layout to create a website that fits your brand and business.

Check out these StoryBrand-driven HVAC and service company website examples :

Launching Your Website

Once you’ve customized your website, it’s time to launch it! With Aespire and Duda, launching your website is easy. We’ll help you connect your domain name and get your site live online. We’ll automatically provide analytics and access to our online knowledge base to help you get the most out of your website.

Section 4: Tips for Building a Successful Website

Creating a Clear, Concise Message

When building a website, it’s essential to have a clear and concise message. Your website should communicate who you are, what you do, and how you can help your customers. Use simple language and avoid jargon or technical terms your customers might not understand.

StoryBrand is an effective framework for clear languaging and messaging. Here are just a few of the resources you can get access to through our partnership with Business Made Simple:

A free Marketing Report, powered by StoryBrand
A 7-day free trial to Business Made Simple
A two-day online workshop and livestream to help you clarify your message
Small Business Flight School, a six-month coaching program to help you grow your business

Designing for User Experience

Designing your website for user experience is vital to keeping customers engaged and on your site. Use straightforward navigation, easy-to-read fonts, and engaging images or videos to create a website that is easy to use and visually appealing. Websites Made Simple automatically creates mobile-friendly pages so customers can access your website on their phones or tablets.

Monitoring and Analyzing Your Website

Once your website is live, monitoring and analyzing your traffic is essential to see how your site is performing. You can use analytics tools to track your site’s visitors, page views, and other metrics. Use this data to change your site and improve your user experience.

Conclusion: No-Code website Builder - The Easy Way to Build Your Online Presence

Building a website doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. With Websites Made Simple, you can create a website that looks great, is SEO-friendly, and attracts customers without any design or coding experience.

Key Takeaways

A website is essential for small businesses looking to establish an online presence
Websites Made Simple offers easy-to-use templates, SEO-friendly web pages, and cost-effective subscriptions
Creating a clear, concise message and designing for user experience is crucial for building a successful website
Monitoring and analyzing your website is vital to improve your user experience and attract more customers

How will building a website help your business grow?

What are you waiting for? Schedule a consultation with Aespire to begin building your online presence today.

Silos Are Killing Your Company: Here’s How to Stop Them

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:03:42 GMT

You can’t deliver change or create impact in silos.

Many companies have difficulty integrating the seven internal silos that form the operations core of every business:

Leadership and teams,
Analytics and finance,
Operations,
Products and customer research,
Revenue generation,
Sales and marketing
Branding and strategy.

Instead of functioning as a system, companies devolve into silos.

You can’t deliver change or create impact in silos.

What is beautiful about approaching any business from a design perspective is that design is cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary. You don’t just build a business or a brand, you design them, and that design is led by strategy.

Well-designed companies don’t have silos. Companies that start with strategy break down the silos and make choices that influence the long-term plans that help the company grow. They have cross-functional teams that know how their role impacts other company areas.

Strategy Drives Focus

When I ask, “What’s your biggest challenge?,” it’s not uncommon for a VP of business development or a C-Suite executive to confide, “Our CEO/Founder isn’t focused. We’re constantly changing directions, and it isn’t clear where we’re headed from week to week.”

According to Roger Martin , former Dean of the Rotman School of Management, strategy is “a set of interrelated and powerful choices that positions the organization to win.” He suggests that strategy is a living and breathing thing that must be constantly updated and adapted to changing circumstances.

Sound familiar? It’s similar to a variation of the Clarity Principles , “We will be fearless and resilient, adapting and changing to achieve our vision.”

Martin’s definition of strategy is based on the following three fundamental principles:

Strategy is about making choices. Organizations cannot do everything, so they must choose what they will focus on and what they will not. These choices should be based on the organization’s distinctive strengths and capabilities and the opportunities and threats in the external environment.
Strategy is about creating a competitive advantage. To win, organizations must find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Differentiation is at the core of relevant brands and what distinguishes the brand from competitors in a niche.
Strategy is about continuous adaptation. The external environment is constantly changing, so organizations must be able to adapt their strategy accordingly to remain relevant. This requires a willingness to experiment and take risks and a commitment to learning and improvement.

“Our CEO/Founder isn’t focused. We’re constantly changing directions, and it isn’t clear where we’re headed from week to week.”

“Why Should I Care About Strategy? I Own a Small Business”

Even Big Companies Don’t Often Understand Strategy

In the design brief from a globally-recognized baby products company, the design director stated, “We don’t have a brand, just well-known products.”

The company lost focus (thinking they should educate the consumer on social issues instead of baby care), failed to differentiate, and neglected to adapt to the needs of a new generation of mothers and fathers who cared about natural products.

Instead of standing out, they blended in to the constant barrage of corporations telling consumers what to think.

Martin summarizes his strategy principles further:

Strategy is not about planning for the future but about creating it.
Strategy is not about making predictions; it is about making choices.
Strategy is not about being perfect; it is about being good enough.
Strategy is not about being static; it is about being dynamic.

“Our CEO/Founder isn’t focused. We’re constantly changing directions, and it isn’t clear where we’re headed from week to week.”

How Strategy Connects Current, Active, and Future Business States

Business strategy (that includes your brand) helps business owners close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.

Let’s break down one of the six guiding principles of Extraordinary Strategy :

Extraordinary Strategists lead confidently by learning from hindsight, guiding with insight, and acting with foresight to direct the company along a clear path to its desired future.

All strategy is a process of creating the conditions for how you will win. You make those conditions by thinking about and leading with three business states:

Your Current State.
Your ideal Active State.
Your desired Future State

Extraordinary Strategists Learn from Hindsight

Hindsight is a thoughtful way of thinking about a business or brand’s current state. Hindsight is how you gain knowledge to turn into insight.

Collecting data about product relevance, brand perception, and consumer sentiment doesn’t take long. Business owners are awash in information. Reviews, campaign performance, business analytics, research (budget permitting), interviews, social listening, financial performance, and more can help you evaluate your business or brand’s current state.

If you ask consumers and your team two powerful questions , you can quickly gain actionable information that leads to the next step, guiding with insight.

Extraordinary Strategists Guide with Insight

All the data and information you gather won’t do you any good unless you do something with it.

Make correlations.
Observe behavior.
Connect the dots.
Draw conclusions.
Close gaps.
Understand your customer.
Discover opportunities.
Solve problems.

Develop an active state that will move you from where you are to where you want to be. This lays the foundation for your plan — the tactics and goals you need to win in the marketplace.

How to Use Insights to Guide Product and Service Choices

Any data —even a conversation— you collect can lead to an insight that can create revenue.

At Aespire Branding , we noticed many searches for “duct cleaning” in the analytics reports from a home services client. Studying analytics revealed a market need and business opportunity. In our weekly strategy meeting, we mentioned the insight to the owner, who took the idea to his management team and launched a duct cleaning service to complement their HVAC services. Shortly after we announced the service, appointments were booked out for weeks.

When the same client mentioned that a significant portion of revenue is attributable to their clients signing up for service plan memberships, I asked why we weren’t promoting them.

Fast forward two years, and the service plan memberships guarantee recurring client revenue and twice-yearly opportunities to meet with clients and develop new sales opportunities.

Extraordinary Strategists Act with Foresight

Are you familiar with Covey’s famous idea? “Begin with the end in mind.”

What you plan and act on now can lead you to the future you want to create. When you envision the future you want to create, you must make choices now to make that vision a reality.

Where do you want your business to be in three, five, or ten years?
Imagine: your business has to close in 50 years; what impact will it have made?
Dream big: Your business has outlasted you and your children. As it celebrates 200 years, what is its legacy?

When you act with foresight, you make strategic decisions now that will create a different future for your company, family, customers, and society. As Roger Martin suggests, acting with foresight isn’t about planning for the end; it’s about creating — or designing — the future.

Does this exercise work? Absolutely. When we asked the Executive VP of a global electronics component manufacturer to “Write out your company’s legacy for your future brand. Don’t skimp on the glory of its world-changing achievements and their impact on the world.”

Her response included a vision for:

Measurable impact: Delivering over 50% of the world’s passive components.
Unleashing growth: Recognizing that centralized control will hinder future growth, the company divests itself of all subsidiaries.
Flourishing People and families: The spin-off companies continue to fund a significant endowment that provides educational scholarships and supports work-life balance.

Two Steps You Can Take to Break Out of Silos

Direct your team to take the Aespire Marketing Assessment (powered by StoryBrand) to
Reveal if your message is clear and inviting to customers.
Uncover the gaps in your marketing and sales funnel.
Generate a customized plan that will grow your business.
Understand how your team is aligned or misaligned.
Work with Aespire to align your team and marketing so you can focus on your customers, solve their problems, and sell more stuff!
Lead your team through Small Business Flight School
Small Business Flight School is a program where you’ll learn a six-step growth plan for your small business. Using the Small Business Flight Plan, you can finally grow your business and enjoy your life as a successful entrepreneur.

Top Business and Branding Podcasts to Listen to in 2025

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 22 May 2023 12:57:57 GMT

Listen to these podcasts to build your brand and grow your business

Master Brand Strategy & Messaging for Service Companies

In this episode of Marketing Deconstructed, Ali Schwanke dives into brand strategy with Brian Sooy, author of Trade Secrets and founder of Aespire. Learn why service companies struggle to market effectively—and how to fix it.

The Ministry Growth Show

On The Ministry Growth Show , Zach Leighton and Brian Sooy talk about the importance of consistent and clear communication, brand marketing vs. direct marketing, and how storytelling carries our brand beliefs to an audience.

Marketing Made Simple

You might offer an amazing product or service with incredible value but if you aren't clearly talking about it in your marketing as well as on your website, you are leaving all those potential customers in the dark!

In this episode, J.J. and April answer a question from a Kevin Groff, a business owner who's struggling to get his potential customers to realize they even have a problem before showing them how his business can help fix it.

They also talk with marketing expert and StoryBrand Certified Guide Brian Sooy who gives you five effective ways you can highlight the problem you solve for customers to overcome their objections and eliminate the road blocks standing between you and growing your business.

Business Made Simple

In part six of this seven-part series, How Your Business is an Airplane , Donald Miller, Dr. J.J. Peterson, and Koula Callahan focus on business overhead. Sure, you’re going to have some expenses that don’t drive crazy revenue, and sometimes that’s okay. The answer isn’t to cut those expenses altogether – it’s to learn this simple formula so you know what’s worth your time, and what’s holding you back.

Be sure to listen at minute seven, where Brian Sooy and J.J. Peterson share three practical ways to grow any business, just like it did for Gorjanc Home Services .

ROI Online

Steve and Brian discuss various aspects of the transition from working as a solopreneur to having a team. Brian talks about empowering both workers and business change, developing processes, determining who the company should serve (with either a niche or generalist character), and the reinvention process. Brian started out wanting to solve problems through design, but then specialized further and looked for a vertical sector to which he could specifically cater his work.

Aespire helps businesses to unlock their full potential, works with a diverse assortment of brands, and tries to be of service even beyond profit to non-customers. Brian also sees the focus on providing value come into play in conversations with his clients; he works to help them determine their purpose, brand, and story, and so works to help them see their value. He tries to see and understand them in their virtues and values, and in turn to help them build a trusting relationship with their own customers.

The Hot Air podcast

On the Hot Air podcast, we talk with people involved with digital agencies. We discuss business models, strategies, and tools for making your agency successful.

Brian bases all his marketing on a framework called Story Brand. I found this approach fascinating – I read up on Story Brand and started to see ways to apply the framework to Watchful. In this episode, we talk a lot about story telling and how to make your customer into the hero of your company’s narrative.

The Responsive Fundraising Podcast

Brian Sooy, the president of AESPIRE (a Virtuous CRM partner agency), joins Noah from Virtuous CRM to talk about uncovering and clarifying your nonprofit's story, the art of focus, and why supporter-centered storytelling is a must.

Exclusively on the Responsive Fundraising Podcast

The Extraordinary Podcast

Branding with Purpose - with Brian Sooy

How do you build a brand that really stands out and stands for something? Brian Sooy from Aespire knows the answer, and in this episode he shares his insights from a career of well over 20 years as a branding consultant. What I love about Brian and his thinking is that to him, branding start with a purpose and a mission, and everything else emanates from that. Make sure you also check out Brian's "Clarity Manifesto" on LinkedIn (Google it), a great tool for aligning your brand around your purpose and mission. Hope you enjoy the episode!

Data-Driven Marketing for Niche Nonprofit Brands

Tue, 02 May 2023 11:31:45 GMT

Nonprofits with niche brand identities can learn a lot from businesses about how to make data-driven marketing decisions.

Branding is essential for marketing professionals at both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations. Those familiar with branding basics know that a brand is far more than just a logo and consistent color scheme. Rather, branding consists of an organization’s value proposition(1) that explains why its target audience should engage with its products and services, while also differentiating it from competitors.

While businesses have a product to sell that provides value, nonprofits instead ask supporters to donate in exchange for only intangible personal rewards. This means that for nonprofits, the first step of establishing a brand identity—determining a target audience—can often be the most challenging.

Fortunately, with advances in nonprofit technology, charitable organizations can establish a strong brand identity by taking a data-driven approach to marketing. In this guide, we’ll explore how nonprofits, especially organizations with highly-specific missions, can craft a brand identity and leverage it to engage supporters.

Implement data collection practices

For-profit organizations conduct an extensive amount of market research to help inform their brand identities. This process involves analyzing competitors’ strategies, noting trends in consumer behavior, and conducting interviews with customers.

Nonprofits can determine their target audience by implementing similar strategies. Specifically, nonprofits should start by first looking at the data they’ve already collected on their audience. Use your nonprofit’s CRM to analyze your current donors’ basic information. This includes demographic data, giving and engagement history, and any other information they may have shared with your nonprofit.

If you lack specific information or wish to gain more insight into why donors support you, try sending out surveys. These should be brief to encourage participation. Only ask questions about your most pressing brand concerns, such as how supporters discovered your nonprofit.

Going forward, you can standardize your data collection practices to learn more about new donors. While your donation form should be short to improve completion rates, you can send follow-up messages to new supporters that ask about their giving experience.

Nonprofits can also leverage data append services to gather information they may be missing about current supporters. For example, you might purchase a social media append that will let you know which platforms your supporters are most active on.

Analyze your audience

Your nonprofit’s brand should be informed both by your organization’s mission and your audience’s values. For nonprofits with a niche brand, specific aspects of your branding , such as your value proposition, may be set in stone. How you present that value proposition can vary based on your audience.

For example, a nonprofit with a mission to increase accessibility in its community by adding ramps to public buildings could frame its brand in several ways. They could present themselves as a champion of equality, a modernizing force, or a promoter of community unity.

Determine what brand identity is most likely to resonate with your audience by:

Establishing multiple unique audiences. With your nonprofit’s supporter base, there are likely several sub-groups to consider. For example, the nonprofit that builds ramps would have audiences that include the elderly, business owners, activists who support accessibility, and disabled members of their community and their friends and family. You can determine your audiences by analyzing your current supporter base and identifying external stakeholders who are impacted by your mission.
Identifying audience interests and needs. Conduct market research on your core audiences. You can accomplish this by sending surveys, hosting focus groups, and examining your pre-existing data. If your nonprofit has never formally conducted market research before, consider working with a marketing consultant who is familiar with nonprofits. These consultants can help you create benchmarks, compose effective survey questions, and analyze your data.
Determining which platforms your audience uses. Branding is about communication, which means nonprofits should determine which platforms will be most effective for connecting with supporters. When analyzing your audience, consider what communication channels they use and how you can create branded messages that will excel on those platforms. Additionally, consider which platforms provide thorough analytics and tagging tools. These can help you analyze your messages’ effectiveness and improve your discoverability, respectively.

Following these steps should allow you to create audience personas. Personas are hypothetical individuals that stand in for each of your specific audiences. Assess each of your audiences to identify trends in demographic information, needs, goals, fears, and other details that may be useful for forming a persona. You can then begin to focus your branding efforts to appeal to each of your personas, which can be far easier than attempting to market to a large, undefined crowd.

Remember that for a niche brand, your audience may be small. While expanding your audience is important, be sure not to cast too wide of a net. Focusing on a smaller group that is more likely to be interested in your niche brand will create more success and interactions than organizations that pitch themselves to a wide audience whose interests aren’t aligned with their core offerings.

Establish your brand identity

Establishing your brand identity consists of a few steps: deciding what your brand should be, creating marketing materials that convey that brand , and sharing those materials with your audience. Consistent use of these brand marketing materials will help your organization build brand awareness and loyalty.

Start by synthesizing the information you collected about your audience. Then, assess your nonprofit organization as a whole and your overarching goals for your brand. Use this information about your audience and organization together to complete these steps:

Convey your mission and values. An organization’s mission and values explain to supporters what its goals are and why those goals matter. For example, the nonprofit that implements ramps has a mission of making their town more accessible for the purpose of promoting equal access to public life. Essentially, clarify what your nonprofit does, why it’s important, and how it can affect the community surrounding it.
Consider your audience’s perception of your brand. Your nonprofit likely has multiple important values, and you can determine which to put at the forefront of your brand identity by considering your audience. While all of your values matter, keep in mind that the values that resonate with an audience of city-based young professionals may not be as releveant as rural retirees and vice versa.
Determine your value proposition. Your value proposition is your nonprofit’s pitch for support. It should clearly explain what your organization does and how supporters will benefit from donating. For nonprofits, your value proposition may rely on a non-tangible return. For instance, you may need to demonstrate your value through a compelling impact story or by using empowering language that makes a donor feel good about giving.

With these steps completed, consider how you can incorporate your brand message into your digital strategy . For a niche brand, this may involve targeting hyper-specific communication channels, such as joining online-based interest groups on topics relevant to your nonprofit or partnering with other organizations in similar fields.

Be conscious that establishing a brand identity is an ongoing process. Once you find your core audience, continue collecting data to better adjust your marketing. Both for- and nonprofit organizations go through rebrands as part of their natural growth as they and their audience change.

Whether your nonprofit is launching a new brand identity or pivoting your current one , use your data to make informed decisions about your supporters’ values and interests. Leverage your software to collect key information about your supporters and consider working with a consultant to gain deeper insights into your data. When you do launch your brand, continue tracking supporters’ engagement to determine its success and be ready to fine-tune your approach as your audience grows and changes.

This guest post is by Carl Diesing, Managing Director, DNL OmniMedia . Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with ongoing web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues.

*For Further Consideration

Aespire welcomes guests posts from time to time by invitation. We always offer deeper insight from Brian Sooy into the article’s topic.

How can a nonprofit identify its unique value proposition and communicate it effectively to their audience? A value proposition is how any business proposes to create value. (Nonprofits are businesses with tax-exempt status. “Nonprofit” is a tax status, not a business model!).

First, a nonprofit has to identify who it creates value for
Second, a nonprofit has to identify what it creates value for — what's the outcome it's driving toward?
Third, a nonprofit has to articulate why it matters.

Why Most Small Business Marketing Doesn't Work

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:45:50 GMT

If you feel uncertain if what you’re spending money on is getting you the highest return on investment, this new tool can change the game for you.

The Aespire Marketing Report powered by StoryBrand is an online assessment that lets any small business owner understand where their marketing plan is falling short and what it should look like.

The report is in-depth and incredibly practical.

Imagine someone handing you a marketing playbook 100% customized to your business.

That’s what this is!

How to get your Free Marketing Report:

Take the My StoryBrand Marketing Report assessment �� go.aespire.com/assessment
Contact Aespire to review the results, create a plan, and approve a budget.
Invite customers into an irresistible story and grow your business.

Your time is short, and your funding isn’t unlimited.

Stop wasting thousands of dollars on marketing that doesn't work. Start winning in your market by taking the assessment now!

Small Business and Nonprofit StoryBrand Website Examples

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 13:01:19 GMT

The best business website examples with StoryBrand messaging and beautiful design.

When you’re looking for inspiration to design your website or an agency led by a certified StoryBrand Guide to design your website for you, these StoryBrand® websites will inspire you.

Is a StoryBrand website good for your business?

Get a lead-converting StoryBrand website and watch your business grow!

Campana Insurance simplifies employee benefits , with group benefits success for every business.
Kinetic Wealth helps people gain financial independence by connecting actions with outcomes through a proven Wealth Management Formula.
Conexus Laboratories supports physician success is a Baltimore-area medical diagnostic and testing laboratory.
Total Touch POS is easy to use point of sale solution for bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

StoryBrand® is a registered trademark of Donald Miller Words, LLC, and is used under the fair trade doctrine.

The Secret to a Successful Brand Pivot

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 13:51:26 GMT

People buy from brands that are easy to do business with

Even if you do 100% of your shopping online, you probably had a disappointing customer service experience recently.

It’s remarkable when a company like Strikingly can maintain a 98.5% customer satisfaction score over the last 6 years (During the pandemic, no less!). That contrasts with poor customer service that often indicates a company struggles with culture and delivering extraordinary customer experience.

When a company struggles to attract new customers, the economy is uncertain, the business climate changes, or concerns about how customers perceive a company in the marketplace, you’ll inevitably hear talk of “pivoting.”

Some companies, like StoryBrand, pivoted their business model — how they deliver services — to adapt to cultural and economic conditions. When the world went into lockdown, StoryBrand adapted its live in-person events to live stream events which helped them attract and serve more customers and increase revenue.

When a company changes its business strategy, products, or target audience, it’s a brand pivot. This can be risky, but it may also be necessary to pivot, so your company remains relevant and profitable in a constantly changing market or uncertain economic conditions.

Only one kind of brand pivot is relevant to your ideal consumer. When done correctly, people will not notice that you pivoted, but they will tell their friends and family about it.

Create Open Channels Between Buyers and Customer Care

Have you noticed a difference in the quality and type of customer service many companies now provide? It’s as if the global pandemic gave companies an excuse to avoid customer interaction and treat consumers as inconvenient.

When we moved into a new home (after 28 years in our last house), my wife and I bought a new refrigerator. Our choices were a local dealer (smaller selection, personal service) or a national retailer (larger selection, semi-personal service).
We chose a national retailer. When we discovered that the refrigerator was too small for our needs, we tried to call our local Best Buy retail store to exchange the smaller refrigerator for a larger one.

Here’s where it got frustrating: national retailers like Best Buy direct calls to a call center, which hinder the consumer’s ability to reach their local store. That’s frustrating when you need to talk to a knowledgeable person about a technical question, arrange an exchange, or confirm when your refrigerator will be delivered.

We had to drive to the store to reach our Best Buy representative and hope they were working that day. There’s always ambiguity and uncertainty in dealing with companies for which the transaction and sale are of greater value than the long-term buyer relationship.

Make it Easier to Do Business With You

The only way to be confident that it’s easy to do business with your company is to ask your customers. Listen closely to discover, hear, and understand what consumers value and what they expect of their experience with your brand.

People are busy, uncertain, and fearful of ambiguous and rapidly changing policies. Send people signals that assure them that your company and those who work for you are their advocates, not adversaries.
Give people a clear plan for working with you and communicate expectations. Lighten up on procedures. Today’s consumer interactions are your last best chance to win trust.

When you think of your product or service as the ideal solution for people’s problems or needs, that way of thinking has implications for growth.

When you are focused on generating sales, your brand touchpoints (including your marketing) focus on persuading people to buy .
When you are focused on growing and empowering your customer, you can invite people into a story and relationship with a company they learn to trust through an enjoyable experience.

Design a Brand People Love to Buy From

Your brand is just one part of a customer’s world (if your company is even familiar to them and they are comfortable with it). There may be dozens of competing companies in the category where your brand meets a need with which customers can identify, align, and associate their values and needs.

When people make a buying decision, two things stand in the way of a consumer’s final choice: Your brand’s value to the consumer (not your value proposition, their value proposition) and the consumer’s decision-making approach.

The consumer’s value proposition looks like this:

I want to meet a need (I’m thinking in a category or niche when I want to solve a problem, achieve a goal, make a difference) 
Problem (x) or challenge (y) gets in the way of helping me get what I want
Company/Brand is the solution for my problem (x) or challenge (y)

Think of your brand positioning this way: People love to buy from companies that are easy to do business with. Show up where people are looking for answers. Be the ideal brand that solves a consumer’s problem.

In this model, the consumer identifies the brand as one that helps them achieve a goal, status, or solution. forces you to change the entire dynamic of how you sell.

Why invest thousands, if not millions, of dollars in marketing campaigns that make people feel your company wants their money but not their loyalty?

Companies that position their brand so that they are the only choice to meet the need of their unique buying tribe build deeper relationships with that tribe because the tribe defines the brand as the right fit for the community’s identity, goals, beliefs, and behaviors.

Your brand is a bridge for your customers to your company. It speaks for you before they buy. Your brand represents the core values you practice now and wants to pass on after you.

In one sense, it’s not hard to understand what it means to be a relational brand. Relationship wins trust. People love to buy stuff; if a brand is familiar and the company is trustworthy, people will buy your stuff.

For that to happen, a company must focus on the core principle of relationship branding, creating followers (who become customers) who build brands that sustain companies.

Stop Trying to Persuade People to Buy

When you focus on your ideal consumer (your community or unique buying tribe), it means your attention shifts from building your brand to empowering your customer. Your marketing doesn’t need to resort to gimmicks, persuading, cajoling, pushing people away, and begging them to pay attention. Instead, invest in brand touchpoints and experiences that invite people to join your brand .

Extraordinary brands empower customers to choose how the brand fits into their lives and define what the brand means if it is to mean anything at all. Instead of positioning your brand as the only choice for consumers, position it as the ideal brand to meet a consumer’s functional and emotional needs.

Once you come as close as possible to meet their need, you’ve won their trust, and they affirm the onlyness status your brand craves.

Positioning your brand for functional or emotional needs opens the door to the intangible attributes consumers associate with relational brands.

Instead of convincing consumers that your brand should matter to them, it frees you to explore ideas, imagine opportunities, and create experiences that invite people to participate and build the brand for you.

Practically speaking, positioning your brand for your customer means your company’s focus shifts from brand-building to customer creation. It’s remarkable how many companies focus inward (what we want our brand to represent) instead of listening outward to their ideal consumer’s goals, aims, and beliefs.

Don’t you think it’s easier to align the brand to the customer (to attract them) than to align the customer to the brand with a never-ending pitch cycle?

Stop trying to persuade people to buy. Instead, invite them to join your brand.

“The easier you make it for people to choose your brand the more likely you are to be successful. From the standpoint of advertising, the best way to make the choice easier is to be famous and let probability do its work.”

Bob Hoffman, The Three-Word Brief

People Want to Believe and Belong

The people in your tribe want to believe in something and belong in a community. Community preferences influence purchases because other people like them purchase from or support the brands they trust and prefer. The unique buying community isn’t just buying; they participate in an experience.

When your brand invites people to participate, it elevates higher-level goals and desires:

Fear of missing out
Longing for community
Desire to achieve a status

The Follower Brand Model

Many companies will pursue a brand pivot by redefining the brand, so it stands for something new or changes to align with a cultural moment to get people to buy more stuff. Inviting your customer to engage with and own your brand is a more effective way to pivot your brand.

It’s no mystery that people who actively participate in a brand’s shared purpose are more engaged than people for whom the brand doesn’t fulfill a functional purpose (solving a problem or achieving a goal) or meet an emotional need (fulfillment, satisfaction, status).

Community members (the tribe) feel like they own and define your brand (Think of Vitamix, Apple, Nike, or Lululemon). When people participate with a brand and share their experience, a transformation occurs: The tribe begins to own the brand. The brand state shifts and a brand pivot occurs.

The secret to a successful brand pivot is making it easy to do business with you. People love to buy from companies that are easy to do business with.

In the follower brand model, focus on creating followers. Make it easy for followers to become customers, enjoy your brand, and sustain your company. Customers come first.

To build your brand, grow your community. That’s the secret to what a customer-focused brand pivot is all about.

Brian Sooy is the first Level C Certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Certified Guide . Brian leads the Aespire branding agency and authors books and thought leadership to help leaders find clarity, focus teams, align culture, build brands, multiply impact, and build thriving businesses.

The Difference between Mission, Vision, and Values

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 13:32:52 GMT

As strategists, we create clarity for service companies so they can focus on creating value and profitable solutions for people.

In the 2013 article, The Difference Between Purpose, Mission, and Vision , I defined how purpose, mission, and vision align organizations and teams to achieve impact.

It's rare to find two organizations that align on common usage, definitions, and application of the principles of purpose, mission, vision, and values. Leadership teams must understand why each principle is relevant to achieve clarity for the business and activate brand strategy for business success.

What is the Difference between Purpose, Mission, Vision, and Values Statements?

A practical exercise is substituting the words Why, What, Where, and How for Purpose, Mission, Vision, and Values.

The company purpose is why an organization exists beyond generating a profit. Purpose helps companies stay aligned around why it matters.
The company vision is where you or your organization are headed and what the future looks like. Vision keeps a company focused and paints a picture of success.
The company mission is what an organization does to achieve its vision and the master plan for creating value. The mission is how a company puts its purpose and vision into action.
Company values define how your company does business. Shared company values are guiding principles for how people show up, treat each other, and how a company succeeds.

Individuals have values; companies should have guiding principles that align people with different values around principles that form a shared culture. Corporate values are shared values . Shared values are guiding principles and beliefs that define brand character, shape company culture, and guide organizational decision-making.

What are the Roles of Mission, Vision, Values, and Purpose Statements?

The purpose statement guides you and your team. Your purpose statement defines whom you serve, why it matters, and, most critically, why your company exists beyond generating profit. Purpose gives people a reason for showing up to work and doing great things.
The vision statement inspires you and your team. Company vision focuses your company and its people on impact and "casts a vision" for the desired future. Without clear direction from leadership, people are not focused on the future.
The mission statement motivates you and your team. Your mission statement activates how a company fulfills its purpose, achieves its vision, and creates value. At a minimum, a company mission declares, "We will (take action) for (category and customer) by (date). A mission statement clarifies strategy, eliminates distractions, and holds everyone accountable for measurable results.
S hared values align you and your team. Values are guiding principles for business, shaping organizational culture, and interacting with people. Turning them into shared values aligns with brand strategy, company culture, and organizational operations. People have values; companies must promote shared values that align with the company's focus.

How Southwest Airlines Puts Purpose, Mission, and Vision into Action — and Where They Failed

Southwest Airlines seeks to align leadership and business operations with brand strategy. Since its founding in 1967, Southwest has sought to maintain an unwavering focus on its customers and commitment to how they serve them.

At least, that’s the idea. When weather causes delays or government systems fail, putting principles into practice across the enterprise is challenging when your operations, culture, and brand architecture don’t stand up to the stress of global events.

Southwest Airlines’ purpose statement is, “We connect People to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”
Southwest Airlines’ vision is “To become the World's Most Loved, Most Efficient, and Most Profitable Airline.”
Southwest Airlines’ mission statement is “Dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.”

Southwest Airlines' shared values are best summarized by How I Show Up, How We Treat Each Other, We, and How Southwest Succeeds .

What Happens When a Company Fails to Fulfill its Purpose, Mission, and Vision?

Due to weather and government system failures, Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights, leaving tens of thousands of travelers frustrated and stranded.

“We know even our deepest apologies – to our Customers, to our Employees, and to all affected through this disruption – only go so far.”

There’s one timeless lesson here for every company: Values guide your culture and business strategy. Your brand purpose, mission, vision, and values are only relevant and meaningful if your culture makes them tangible and actionable and can activate them during the most challenging economic and business conditions.

Without a vision, you’ll never stay focused.

Without purpose, your brand will not align with your mission.

Purpose Leads to Impact

The distinction between purpose, mission, vision, and values is critical. Together, these statements become a body of guiding principles that guide, inspire, motivate, and align leaders and employees.

Ultimately, these four elements of brand strategy drive your organization to one outcome: impact.

Leadership can measure their organization's success and impact in different ways, such as revenue, increased profits, or improved lives. Regardless of how impact gets measured, organizational impact validates brand strategy.

Here’s my advice: don’t get hung up or bogged down trying to create a perfect mission or vision statement. Instead, focus your brand strategy on how your company shows up and treats people. People will remember how your company made them feel more than what you say or do.

The Secret to Getting People Interested in Your Niche

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:06:35 GMT

Welcome, Extraordinary Strategists.

Before we dive in, let’s reflect on this quote from Tom Schwab :

“What is ordinary to you is amazing to others.”

It’s simple. It’s profound. It calls us to think about everything through somebody else’s eyes. It reminds me of Derek Sivers’ insight from the book “ Hell Yeah or No ,” and this article, Obvious to you. Amazing to others.

So I reframe the question and think, “Maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else?” That’s where we’re jumping off from.

In today’s brand-driven world, differentiation rules. Let’s keep in mind that Extraordinary Strategists learn from hindsight, act with insight, and guide with the foresight to design a different future.

(BTW, if you want to dive deeper into this idea, please jump over to The Society of Extraordinary Strategists on Substack.)

How does a company cut through the noise and hyperbole to design the relationship between your company, its niche (the solution that solves a problem in a category), and your ideal consumer? Don’t design a better product. Design a different future.

But first, a story:

“Let’s move the ‘About Us’ navigation to be the first in order, along with our mission and vision.”

I groan silently and ask the same question I’ve asked of business leaders dozens of times:

“Why do you want to make it about you?”

I understand the client’s intent. As a startup in the financial sector, they are eager to validate their relevance to the consumers they want to attract. Positioning your brand as more important than the customer’s goals and motivations is a strategic mistake.

When it comes to niche marketing, many people make the mistake of telling consumers what they do instead of talking about the problem the customer wants to solve. This self-centered approach to branding and marketing doesn’t consider the customer’s needs, wants, or desires.

When you understand an ideal consumer’s goals, what motivates them, and the triggers that compel them to buy, you’ll be able to better connect with them, and they will be more interested in the product or service you offer.

The way to demonstrate relevance isn’t to talk about why you think your brand is different; it’s to be in a dialog with your community — the buying tribe or consumers, if you prefer — and how you can help them achieve a goal, meet a need, or solve a problem.

Ordinary people look for brands that help them transform from ordinary to extraordinary. We should focus less on designing brands that stand out and more on guiding people to become better versions of themselves because they choose our brand.

What is ordinary about your brand should unleash the extraordinary in others.

This article summarizes The Secret to Getting People Interested in Your Niche Brand . Join hundreds of your peers who subscribe to The Society of Extraordinary Strategists .

If you have a small business and have questions about working with a certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide , contact me and schedule an appointment to discuss your challenges.

If you’re not ready for a conversation, you can get a customized 50-page marketing report when you invest 15 minutes in this free assessment .

A Different Kind of Customer Journey

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 01:05:15 GMT

I have a confession.

My password manager is littered with logins for lifetime deals for software platforms and marketing tools that promised they would revolutionize how I solved the problem they promised to solve.

How did I get here?

I followed the alluring and manipulative sales funnels and their evil offspring, click funnels, into dark alleys where they took my money and left me filled with regret, despite the 30-day money-back guarantee.

You have similar experiences, don’t you? You joined an email list to get 5% off those shoes, and now you get a weekly email no matter how many times you unsubscribe. Nurture turns into nagging, and soon you’re tired of the company and annoyed with the brand.

There is a better way.

Begin with focus, follow with strategy

I’ve spent the last few years writing about the interplay between strategy, branding, and marketing .

People try to create arbitrary distinctions between design, branding, and marketing. Branding is strategic — marketing is tactical — yet they are interrelated and interdisciplinary.

Why does this matter?

Shouldn’t your design and marketing choices support your company’s strategic goals, buying tribe, and vision for success?

You would be surprised how often our audits reveal

Frustrated sales teams complaining that marketing isn’t creating anything that helps them produce sales.
Brand strategy is not aligned with business goals and the buying tribe.
Teams in operational silos pursuing similar goals – often along parallel paths — are unaware that collaborating and integrating their efforts would result in something transformational for the company and its customers.

There is a reason why our 12 Clarity Principles begin with Be Strategic .

All Companies are Mission-Driven

Put aside your romantic notions of what you think mission-driven means. Instead, think about how you align

A goal with a timeline,
Your tribe (the customers and consumers who will buy from you), and
Your company’s purpose (the reason you’re in business beyond making money).

It’s easy to create a focused mission that will guide your actions when you follow this model:

We will (accomplish/achieve) [ measurable goal ]
By [ future date ]
Because [ who it’s for, and what it’s for. ]

A mission-driven design philosophy calls buyers to action (your tribe) and engages them as ambassadors. Mission-driven companies also attract and motivate people who want to accomplish the same thing! The mission is your company’s path to achieving a goal and creating value by profitably solving problems for people, society, and the planet.

“The purpose of business is not to create profit. The purpose of business is to create profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet. Not to profit by creating problems for people and planet.”

Colin Mayer CBE, Co-EditorEmeritus Professor
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Mission-driven design is intentional. It’s about making conscious decisions about how and what to communicate with your audience because you understand what motivates them based on research and insight.

Practically speaking, branding and marketing professionals must avoid the appeal of social media’s shiny object syndrome and know your tribe’s preferences, behaviors, and beliefs. You will waste your marketing budget if you don’t know who they are and where they hang out.

Extraordinary strategy aligns design choices, channels, and touchpoints to deliver your message to the right people at the right time.

It’s an opportunity to raise your voice in a noisy culture and competitive marketplace.

Extraordinary strategists understand there’s more to creating a long-term plan to outlast your competition than a few transactions makes funnels that create short-term revenue.

The Customer Journey

The idea that the customer journey and experience are relevant gained traction in the mid-’80s. The Customer journey’s distant cousin, the sales funnel, is a shallow and transactional substitute.

Typical marketing forces consumers through a sales funnel (sounds painful, doesn’t it?

A mission-driven design perspective is a journey with your tribe through four stages of an engagement continuum: Attract, Inform, Inspire, and Engage.

A value funnel will help you create customers who build a brand that sustains your company.

Extraordinary strategy aligns mission-aligned design and marketing communications with the company’s purpose and vision— why it exists and the desired future it wants to achieve. It encompasses every touchpoint: category design, positioning, differentiation, strategy, design, marketing, communications, media, customer service, and customer experience.

People are your brand’s most crucial touchpoint and the object of every touchpoint. Marketing nurtures relationships, and it doesn’t replace relationships.

Your company will grow as it understands its customers’ goals and motivations and activates its purpose, character, and culture to focus solely on the category in which you compete, its customers, and the problems they want to solve.

Sales funnels are acceptable if your goal is short-term revenue. They’re purely transactional and often leave the consumer with regret for making purchases or agreeing to something they don’t want to commit to for a long time.

Brand building is collaborative and complementary , where the brand ambassador (your company) and the brand owner (the consumer) walk together.

You shouldn’t be playing the short game. To think strategically, consider what you must do to create the conditions for long-term growth. Are you going to lure people into funnels or show up in the marketplace where people are looking for solutions to problems and ways to achieve goals?

Are you willing to walk the path that creates long-term, sustainable growth?

This article continues on The Society of Extraordinary Strategists at Substack.

Four Fundamentals of Business Strategy and Brand Strategy

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 20:35:53 GMT

Align business, brand, culture, and communications so your company wins in the marketplace.

I had a prospective client once say to me, “I’m not sure what it is you do, but it’s not marketing.”

I thought that statement was curious because what I was doing at that meeting was presenting how my agency, Aespire, could help this organization with what they considered “marketing.”

Over the five years we have worked with this organization, we have done some marketing and re-branded the organization. We’ve designed some things and helped them create experiences for their members.

The foundation of what we’ve done is to advise them on strategies to communicate more effectively and grow an organization whose maximum possible audience is less than 1,500 people in North America.

That’s not the kind of audience you can market effectively without claiming an indispensable position in their category, having deep insight into their audience, and knowing how to communicate in a way the audience pays attention to.

When ideas are passed along as strategy, the marketing team often wants to jump to implementation without a clear view of the fundamental business strategy.

Fundamental business strategy asks, “Where are we going to compete?”, “How are we going to win?” and “What will it take to win in the marketplace?”

When you think about fundamental business strategy questions, you realize a company needs a clear understanding of its audience, offering, and the resources necessary to create revenue and value.

In many companies, there’s a disconnect between strategy and operations, sales and marketing, products and customers, leadership and teams. Instead of functioning as a system, companies devolve into silos.

Well-designed companies don’t have silos. They have cross-functional teams that know how their role impacts other company areas. Companies that start with strategy break down the silos and think strategically about the long-term plans that help companies grow.

Being an extraordinary strategist isn’t complicated. It requires focus and discipline. Let me be clear; extraordinary strategy is a goal we can all aspire to. The Society of Extraordinary Strategists is about what we learn and practice together.

Six Principles of Business and Brand Strategy

To helps us know how to recognize and implement extraordinary strategy, consider these six guiding principles of this framework:

Extraordinary Strategists look deep into a business and its brand to find and create connections between the company, products, and customers.
Extraordinary Strategists are future-focused, seeing opportunities others can’t see.
Extraordinary Strategists experience the world differently and solve problems that appear unsolvable.
Extraordinary strategists confidently guide, learning from hindsight, acting with foresight, and speaking with insight to direct the company along a clear path to its desired future.
Extraordinary Strategists position a company in a category of its choosing in a way that outmaneuvers competitors and creates superior value for the company, consumers, and society.
Extraordinary Strategists align every aspect of business, brand, culture, and communications around a shared vision of value and prosperity.

Are you a US-based business owner?

Would you like to be a guest on The Extraordinary Strategist Podcast to discuss the growth and marketing challenges facing your business ?

To apply, here’s all you have to do:

Take the Aespire Marketing Assessment (powered by StoryBrand) .
After you get your results, send me a summary of your business and the challenges that keep you from growing your business (my contact info is in the report).
We’ll schedule a recording session if you qualify to discuss your Marketing Report results.

With these principles in mind, we’ll continue to share insight on aligning leadership, business, brand, and marketing to show you how they are all part of a connected system that helps people like you grow your business.

I’m excited to announce that I’m changing the name of the podcast from “Everybody Brands,” to “ The Extraordinary Strategist Podcast .” As a listener, you’re a member of the Society of Extraordinary Strategists.

I will still share interviews with marketplace leaders, you’ll hear my insights more when we publish, and maybe we will find some new music to celebrate our name change.

Thanks for listening and following. You can subscribe to receive our content directly in your inbox when we publish. Look for the link in the show notes or visit extraordinarystrategist.com . And, if you listen to the podcast , please leave a five-star review!

The Connection Between Brand & Customer Experience

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:32:14 GMT

Is your brand and customer experience related?

Explore these points of view to make your company, products, and services more customer-centric.

Section One of this article is by Sean McDade, Founder & CEO of PeopleMetrics .

Customer perception is everything today. Especially in today’s turbulent economy, being known as a distinct, reliable, high-quality business can give you the edge you need to drive results. Who wouldn’t want to be known as a business like that? This is why so many companies focus heavily on concepts like branding and customer experience (CX) .

Brand and customer experience are sometimes thought about interchangeably. They are not interchangeable concepts, but they are closely interrelated.

Brand and customer experience impact each other in sometimes complex ways, and their connection has evolved a lot over the years. We believe it’s more important than ever for all businesses to understand these concepts so that they can navigate the shifting landscape with confidence.

In this guide, we’ll review brand, customer experience, and how they relate to and impact one another. Let’s dive in.

What is brand?

Traditionally, a company's brand was all about ownership of its product and literal insignias and logos. A brand was the set of symbols used to represent ownership and authority relating to a specific product.

Today, brand extends beyond physical signifiers alone and is somewhat abstract. It denotes the impression a company makes on its customers and the unique tint of satisfaction, aspiration, or other feelings that its products or services invoke (or seek to invoke). In other words, a brand is the promise a company makes to its customers and potential customers.

A company can also inspire different feelings in different audiences, which could be considered part of its overarching brand identity. For example, Disney (and its logo and properties) might mean magic to kids, reliability to parents looking to entertain their children, and nostalgia for many adults who grew up with the Disney brand. Taken together, the brand seeks to invoke happiness and warmth.

Notably, brands can exist and be encountered without a tangible interaction. People are already aware of the Disney brand even if they haven’t gone on vacation to Disneyland or seen the company’s most recent film.

What is customer experience (CX)?

If brand is the promise your company makes to customers, customer experience is how you keep that promise. If the experience you offer fails to deliver on the brand’s promise, customer experience also provides you with the structure and process for following up to resolve the issue and restore the promise.

Customer experience is all about interactions. It’s built on the idea that every interaction between you and your customers helps to shape their overall impressions and emotional connections to your business. This connection is what drives customer retention and business growth over time.

Since customer experience is impacted by every customer touchpoint, businesses seek to control and improve the impressions they’re making through proactive customer experience management and experience design. Boiled down to its essentials, this process involves a few keys steps:

Creating an intentional experience , which usually starts by identifying a point in the customer journey that you want to study or improve.
Collecting feedback from customers about the experience in real-time or right after they move through that point in their journey.
Making strategic improvements to how your business facilitates or offers that experience based on the new customer feedback.
Keeping it all running by continuing to collect customer insights and making changes in an iterative feedback loop.

An intentional customer experience strategy gives businesses the infrastructure needed to make data-driven process changes that will benefit customer outcomes. In other words, customer experience helps businesses be truly customer-centric .

How do brand and customer experience relate today?

We often think about branding as something that comes first in the customer journey: a recognizable image that precedes directly engaging with the company itself. The brand is the first impression fostered by your marketing, and it falls on the actual experience to continually live up to that impression—back to the promise/promise-keeper analogy. This is still true in many cases, particularly when you’re seeking to retain existing customers.

But today, the relationship between these concepts can be more complex. Unless you’re already a very recognizable brand, it works differently when you’re engaging with new customers for the first time. New customers will often experience your business before they have a direct or carefully curated impression of your brand.

So why does the initial experience of your company so often come before a full brand perception? Diverse forms of online marketing and advertising have become the first steps in many B2C and B2B relationships today. This means there are tons of ways customers can end up experiencing your business for the first time. In many cases, customers might even be looking up your reviews long before getting in touch with you directly.

These entry points are harder to study and manage than in the past when brand impression and the first steps of customer journeys could be tightly controlled and managed from the get-go. Today, these initial impressions are often quite brief or not in the form of traditional brand-based advertising. The lasting impression you make once customers are face-to-face with your business, like visiting your website or giving you a call after seeing you mentioned on social media, will be largely shaped by interactions.

Does your website look good once potential customers click through to it? Is it easy to find the information they’re looking for? What’s the experience like if a potential customer calls or emails to ask for more information?

The quality of these sorts of interactions plays a decisive role in the formation of initial brand perception . customer experience management gives you the framework to keep your promises and shape these interactions in an organic but controllable way.

How do brand and customer experience impact each other?

To further illustrate the modern relationship between brand and customer experience, let’s look at a few different example scenarios:

Example 1: A new customer experiences an unknown brand that offers stellar customer experience. The quality, ease, and/or effectiveness of these initial interactions will begin shaping the customer’s impression of the brand in a positive direction, and the customer will be more likely to enjoy the experience and return over time.
Example 2: A new customer experiences a recognized brand that offers poor customer experience, perhaps through a bad customer service interaction. The brand perception will suffer because the experience didn’t live up to the expectation, and the customer, if retained at all, will remember the poor interaction in the future.
Example 3: A customer returns to a business that offers strong customer experience and attentive service. Compounded over the business’s entire customer base, its brand perception will improve. And if the business intentionally measures net promoter scores and asks for referrals, it’ll see improved business outcomes across the board.
Example 4: A customer returns to a business and has a poor experience at some point in their journey. Hassles, less-than-satisfying service, and technical confusion can all compound across the customer base to negatively impact the brand’s perception over time. Even with the best marketing tactics, a bad reputation among existing customers can cause irreparable harm and will seep out to impact its perception among non-customers, too.

These are very simplified examples, but they get to the core of the relationships between brand and customer experience. Great customer experience fuels a strong brand that customers enjoy engaging with. Reinforcing and growing positive brand perception then becomes a continuous process as you keep acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers .

A robust customer experience management process should give you the tools, infrastructure, and language you need to start optimizing every interaction with your customers over time and deliver on the promises you make to your customers.

Use customer experience to learn more about your customers’ perceptions of your business and how their experiences are shaping their impression of your brand. Discover what they most value about your experiences, products, and/or services. Then, extrapolate these findings to your marketing so that you can start proactively shaping your own brand based on what you already know pleases customers about your business. Use your customer experience infrastructure to test branding changes , or form customer advisory panels if you want finer control.

Customer experience tools and know-how plus a little creativity can open up a ton of ways to start driving improvements for your business and its brand.

Key Takeaways

Customer experience creates and shapes brand perception in fundamental ways for many businesses today, especially smaller businesses and those that rely heavily on the internet to reach customers.

Customer experience can also give you the framework you need to take control of your brand perception so that it can become a more intentional strategic asset, rather than just the ad hoc result of the interactions and experiences you offer customers. By actively working to study and improve customer experiences, you’ll build a stellar reputation and a brand that attracts attention, repeat business, and new customers like a magnet.

Section Two of this article is by B rian Sooy, Brand Architect and founder of Aespire.

Is a brand a promise?

There is an inherent promise in what a company says to a customer (We promise X for Y), but a brand is more than a promise.

Marty Neumeier, the author of The Brand Gap , states that a brand is a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, experience, or company.

Researchers and academics hold a traditional view that brands are the constellation of shared associations surrounding a company and its offerings .

“Brand as promise” means we can approach customer experience as a promissory experience. When consumers choose to do business with your company, they anticipate what to expect because your branding creates a perception of what they should expect.

The brand is the customer’s experience and the story they share about it with their friends and family.

Business leaders have been led to believe that companies have values, but they don’t. People have values; companies should have guiding principles that align people with different values around principles that form a shared culture.

Likewise, Companies and brands don’t make promises, people do.

A brand is not what you (as the brand owner) say; a brand is what your customers say. A brand is a frame that should make a consumer’s story and experience more meaningful.

A brand is a story people tell themselves about what your product or service means for them. The story (about your brand) gets formed every time people experience and interact with your brand.

— Brian Sooy

How to Create Awareness When the Problem Isn’t Obvious

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 12:50:38 GMT

How do you make customers aware they have a problem your business solves, especially when they aren’t aware they have a problem?

You might offer a fantastic product or service with incredible value. If you aren’t talking about it in your marketing and website with complete clarity you leave potential customers wondering if your company can help.

In this episode, J.J. Peterson, April Sunshine Hawkins, and Brian Sooy answer a question from Kevin Groff, a business owner struggling to get his potential customers to realize they even have a problem before showing them how his business can help fix it.

Kevin Groff from A Reliant Home asks, “I’m trying to talk to potential customers who aren’t aware they have a particular problem. If you have a headache, it’s easy to sell aspirin. If I can get over this clear communication hump, I can take a business puttering along and potentially turn it into a rocket ship.”

Five ways small business owners can create awareness for non-obvious problems:

1. Focus on a specific category and approach the problem from the universal

The obvious solution is to do a broad brand awareness campaign. That’s a shotgun approach to a very narrow target.
Home services is a broad category with many sub-categories, such as repair, maintenance, plumbing, and installation.
Talk about the category (not your company) and how difficult it is to find a reliable, trustworthy home maintenance company in your category.
If one person has the problem, many people most likely have the same problem.
To create this kind of awareness, look historically at what kind of problems you solve the most for your customers and what are the most profitable for you.
Make it clear you have an obvious solution.

2. Draw attention to the big picture or philosophical problem

Many homeowners take pride in caring for their homes, but there may be a time when that’s impossible.
“Your house is too much for you to care for yourself; we can help.”

Companies that won’t invest in marketing don’t make money from marketing.

3. Identify the right audience and grow from there

Answer this question: Who is your solution for, and what’s it for?
Focus on the smallest possible audience that aligns with the answer to that question.
Simplify the story you tell: Agitate the problem (with empathy), present your service as the solution, and paint a picture of what life is like when the problem gets solved.

4. Choose the appropriate channels where your audience listens

Your website is where people will go first to see if you’re honest and read what others have said about your company.
If you own a local business, claim your Google Business Profile. Create helpful posts that show people that your company has the expertise to solve their problems.

5. Be consistent with how and where you show up in the marketplace

People buy from companies with which they are familiar.
How people remember your company and their perception of it is about how, when, and where you show up in the marketplace.

Talk about the Customer’s Problem to Grow Awareness

I remember talking with the owner of a local station about the value of radio advertising. He pointed out that a medium like radio (or streaming) gives companies a cost-effective way to build familiarity and awareness so that when a customer has a problem in a specific category, that individual is familiar with the advertiser because they’ve heard their brand name associated with the problem (the category).

As a business owner, you need to identify your customer’s problems, so your messaging and marketing (the words you put in people’s mouths and the channels in which you share those words) connect their problems with your solution in their minds. The customer’s problem is the category you market.

Think about the products and services you buy. When it comes to a home services company, plumber, or electrician, many people have no idea whom to call because that category of services is not top of mind, which means that your company will not be top of mind unless it’s familiar and memorable to the prospective customer when they experience a problem in their home.

Many companies focus on their brand (“ABC services company”) and do not market the category into which their business fits. That means they won’t be top of mind when the customer experiences a problem. When you know who your ideal customer is, invest in marketing your category to them (home services) so when they think they need a home services company, they think of yours:

“When I think of (category), I think of (company name).”

Market to people before they’re aware they have a need

This episode of the Business Made Simple podcast (about pivoting your product or business ) is an excellent example of using a lead generator or email nurturing campaign to market to a category (pre-grieving families) to build authority and create familiarity for a brand.

Donald Miller’s recommendation to the owner of a funeral home is excellent. Brand strategy is not an “either/or” but an “and/both” endeavor when you market to the category.

Marketing the category (via GriefCompass.com) to the opportunity/problem/category (grief) – which is about the customer’s needs, and
Building brand awareness (branding) which frames the story of how to manage grief, shared with empathy and authority from the business.

This type of empathy-heavy approach is relational marketing (not relationship marketing).

When you show up where the customer is hurting and needs a guide, your messaging touches the heart and speaks to the mind. When branding and marketing work together, they create a win/win for the consumer and the company.

Three marketing takeaways for small businesses

Build familiarity by owning a point of view that gives people the language to talk about the problems they experience now or in the future.
Build familiarity over time through a service or email nurturing campaign that educates people so they get smarter and become aware of problems they might know they have.
Build familiarity by being the expert people know they can turn to and whose resources they share when the topic comes up in conversation.

S ubscribe to get first access to more content when you follow Everybody Brands on Substack or Everybody Brands on LinkedIn .

The Secret Society of Success

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 16 May 2022 11:30:03 GMT

When your first employee helps you grow your business from $250,000 to $16.5 million, you would think he would want to stay in what appeared to be a dream job and ride the wave of success.

Tim Schurrer had a different dream and another path he wants to follow.

Tim was the COO at StoryBrand where he worked alongside Donald Miller, and in a previous role, worked alongside one of my heroes, Steve Jobs. Tim just released his new book, “ The Secret Society of Success : Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) Again.”

Brian: Take us back to the beginning. You're living your book before you wrote it. Tell us a story about how you got from where you were to now?

Tim: I am so grateful for that time working under Steve Jobs and spending almost a decade with Don, two visionary leaders.

And I do pinch myself that I had the opportunity to do that.

We all know the story of Apollo Eleven, right? You have Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

What's interesting to me is a lot of people don't know there was a third astronaut on that mission, and his name was Michael Collins.

Here you have Michael Collins. The guy, Ubers Neil, and Buzz to the Moon and drops them off so those guys can do various paths on the Moon's surface while he in the command module, orbits the Moon something like 26 times until the guys are ready to be picked up and brought back to Earth.

This would make this a pretty miserable story because when Mike Collins gets back to Earth, he sits down with the press and says, "It sure would have been nice to walk on the moon;" if he acted like a victim.

It would have been such a human response. I feel like we all would have empathized with him at that moment and likely shared the same thoughts if we had we had been in his shoes.

What's beautiful to me and why I love the story so much is how he responded. How he responded was to talk about how content he was to have had one of those three seats.

He was happy to be part of the team. What I think is so interesting is we live in this world, in this environment that says to be successful, we must step into the spotlight or climb the ladder.

There are many of us who think, "To be happy, do we have to walk on the moon?"

Now I feel like I am operating out of my sweet spot and have had some amazing experiences.

I've learned that success for me is no longer this idea of fame, money, power, or stepping into the spotlight, and I am defining success more in line with other people who have shown me a new way to live.

People like Michael Collins would say, "Hey, I'm part of the team doing our job with excellence. That is what success can look like."

I wrote this book because of this narrative that I feel like we're all up against in this discussion, this conversation that I want to start for people, which is, "If we're hearing all this, how do we go about living any differently? What is Another way to define success?"

There's a big conversation happening, but I don't feel like there are many people giving answers.

Brian: You're right. I think people are too focused on significant outcomes. Think about the growth that StoryBrand experienced, from $250,000 in the first year to $16.5 million in revenue. That's a dream that many business owners have.

At the same time, that comes along with a lot of challenges and a lot of headaches, and a lot of obstacles— not only just running the business — but also the fact that other people have this expectation of living up to their definition of success.

Tim: Yeah, that's it. What we're up against is this idea of the spotlight mindset.

I define the spotlight mindset as this unhealthy desire for attention and recognition. It's the thing that's tripping us up.

There are many ways that the spotlight mindset can disrupt our lives and a handful of what I call symptoms of a spotlight mindset.

Comparison. There's always the next level. When you achieve a certain peak, there's always another to chase after. There's this idea of comparison. Are we constantly measuring ourselves against someone else to define our success or contentment? Comparison is one of the symptoms of the spotlight mindset.
Striving. Do you struggle to find contentment in your life? Does striving leave you on a restless pursuit for more?
Damaged relationships. Does money, fame, or status trump other things in your life? Are your relationship suffering because of it?

It's just interesting that often when we achieve these metrics of business success, revenue growth at the top of the charts, that other parts of our lives are suffering.

What is success?

If I were to ask you, "What is success?" I think it's important for each of us to have an answer.

If we're unaware of our motivations, the spotlight mindset takes over. This unhealthy desire for attention and recognition can lead us on a destructive path if we're not careful.

Do you believe you need a bigger stage to have a life of significance?

Tim: I used to believe that to be successful, you need to be standing on stage in front of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people.

But what I'm learning today is that you don't need a stage to make an impact.

I've learned that if we focus on the work itself, fall in love with the craft, and be so concerned about helping someone else win — and not as concerned about what we will get in response — we can create some beautiful things.

We don't need a stage to make an impact. What if one life at a time was enough? Creating impact in one life can be the starting point for all of us.

There's so much more to this conversation with Tim Schurrer in this episode of Everybody Brands. Listen in your favorite podcast channel or in the player above.

If you want to know how to live a life of significance and success and join the Secret Society of Success, go to Secretsocietybook.com , which has everything you need to buy the book and connect with Tim.

You can connect with Tim on Linkedin and his website .

How to Live an Intentional Life

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 13:39:27 GMT

Like any other marketing channel, Twitter is what you make of it.

There are plenty of thoughtful and inspiring people on Twitter with whom you can interact.

One of those individuals is Chris Do, founder of The Futur . A self-described “Loud introvert with a big mission: Teach 1B people how to make a living doing what they love,” Chris shared , “ Die with intentions or leave a legacy of action. You decide .”

I’m always intrigued by declarations that contain the word “or.”

Yoda would have said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Chris infers that having good — or great — intentions without action is pointless. You must have a bias toward action if you want to do work that matters.

Does it mean you have to choose one or the other? Can we reframe the declaration as and/both instead of declaring that you must either “die with intentions” or “leave a legacy of action”? No mission-driven professional wants to leave anything on the table and regret not fulfilling their biggest dreams.

How Can You Live an Intentional Life?

Know your purpose . The first step toward leaving a legacy is to design your future. Envision your future. If you’re stuck, write out your eulogy or your legacy. Writing a legacy story for yourself or your company can help you create focus and find clarity for who you are, what you do, and why it matters. Write out your legacy for your future self or brand. Don’t minimize the glory of its life-changing achievements and the impact it makes in the world.
Create a manifesto. “Manifestos are active,” says author Todd Henry. Rather than a mission or vision statement, a manifesto is active . It forces you to say yes or no. It’s impossible to read a manifesto without thinking, “I’m in or I’m out.”
Envision your impact. Impact gets created when you’re on a mission to achieve something that endures. The best way to create a lasting impact is to live every day with a clear vision of the kind of impact you want to make. Make choices that commit you to success. That’s what legacy is all about.
Create Goals. When your goals align with what you’re on a mission to accomplish, it makes it easy to say yes to what matters and no to things that are potential distractions.
Be focused. Blair Enns shared this quote from Jony Ive, former SVP of Design for Apple, “What focus means is saying no to something that with every bone in your body you think is a phenomenal idea, you wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it because you are focusing on something else.”

Intentional living means knowing your goals, understanding your values, and living out those values through guiding principles and actions toward your purpose.

Thanks for prompting this conversation, Chris.

“Live intentionally and you will create a legacy.”

Make Your Website Marketing Work for You

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:26:50 GMT

Let’s face it: Most small businesses get ignored.

Even ones with great products! They're ignored because they are not clearly inviting customers into a story in which the customers’ problems get solved.

Most marketing for small businesses doesn't work.

It doesn’t matter how good your product is – or even how pretty the marketing is – if the message isn’t dialed in, it won’t connect.

If you feel at all uncertain if what you’re spending money on is getting you the highest return on investment, I’d like to invite you to use a new tool that can change the game for you.

The StoryBrand Marketing Report is an online assessment that lets any small business owner understand where their marketing plan is falling short and what it should look like.

The report is in-depth and incredibly practical. Imagine someone handing you a marketing playbook that’s 100% customized to your business. That’s what this is.

How to get started:

Take the My StoryBrand Marketing Report assessment
Invite customers into an irresistible story on your website

Stop wasting thousands on marketing that doesn't work. Start winning in your marketing and on your website by taking the assessment now!

Brand Strategy Basics for Small Business

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 12:29:56 GMT

Successful companies understand that the business is focused on company goals and that their brand is focused on customer goals.

The problem is that many company leaders don’t understand that their brand strategy (a long-term plan to outmaneuver their competition) must align with and support their business strategy (leadership, operations, sales, performance, HR, marketing, etc.) to sell more products and services to consumers for a more significant profit.

Brand strategy is the companion to business strategy that aligns how a company (leadership and employees) shows up in the marketplace (with who they are, what they do, and why it matters) to create value for who they show up for (customers).

Brand Strategy is part of the long-term business plan that draws customers to the company through radical differentiation to get more people to buy at higher prices. Sales and marketing create revenue, brand strategy creates and retains value for the company and customers.

Marketing is a tactical business function that supports the goal of brand strategy: to create demand from customers who buy goods and services that add value and meaning to their lives over the long term at higher prices.

You can begin moving toward brand and alignment by asking yourself and your team these five fundamental strategy questions:

Why are we in business beyond generating profit?
Who are the people we serve?
Where will we compete? We call this category strategy, an alignment between what we offer, who we service, and the problem it solves.
How will we win? Are we radically different enough so people choose our brand?
How will we grow?

The brand strategy defines a brand’s character, culture, and consumers:

The category in the marketplace,
Why it exists, its unique point of view (POV),
Its audience (the mission-minded people who share and talk about it),
Its desired position in the consumer’s mind,
The brand's distinctiveness, core beliefs, mission, vision, guiding principles (often referred to as brand values*), and
The brand narrative (or messaging ).

The four core elements of any brand

Vision: A different future guided by a company’s reason for being beyond profit and its guiding principles.*
Character: Shared values and personality that give people a reason to trust a company.
Culture: How a company puts values into action and treats customers and employees.
Voice: How a company expresses its vision, character, and culture through design, branding, communications, and experience when it connects with people in the category and marketplace.

What’s the Point of Purpose?

“People buy your brand because of its purpose.”

That’s what some well-known authors and agencies want you to think.

Did you buy your last tube of toothpaste or automobile because of the manufacturer’s purpose statement? Probably not. My motivation for toothpaste is clean teeth, and my top priorities for my car are heated steering and heated seats.

Consumers may not care about your brand’s purpose or the company’s “why,” even if your product or service makes a difference in their lives.

“The idea that the brands we use are intensely important to us and that we spend time and energy sussing out their meaning and trustworthiness is a deeply ingrained marketing fantasy. For most people, their relationship with most of the brands they buy is shallow, transactional, and contingent. Brands are not nearly as important or meaningful as we marketers would like them to be.” — Bob Hoffman

People might buy in to a company’s vision because that vision is of an identity or future where they want to be.

The point of a company’s brand purpose isn’t to get people to buy more. It’s to get people to buy in more. Purpose keeps a company focused on what matters and why they are in business.

A company’s purpose is the reason it exists beyond generating profit.

The idea of putting purpose into practice has never been more relevant than now, especially for corporations with any ties to countries or causes misaligned with most people’s values. If protecting and enriching people’s lives isn’t at the core of your purpose, your mission and vision are too small.

“It’s possible your brand’s sense of self-worth is higher than it should be.”
– Scott Tennant

When you cast a larger vision and expect people to join you in the mission to achieve it, don’t be surprised if they aren’t ready. Give them time to grow into the new vision by helping them align their purpose with your company’s larger purpose.

Meet Your Unique Buying Tribe, formerly Known as Customers

Many companies struggle to sustain their business because they prioritize brand-building. That approach is no longer relevant. Instead, companies need to make creating customers a priority.

Customers build the brand, and the brand sustains the company.

People love to buy but hate it when companies sell to them. It’s best to be relational before you ask for the sale. Avoid hype, be relatable. Don’t squander your opportunities without investing in winning trust.

When making a buying decision, people pursue options that fit their needs and values. People buy because a product solves a problem or helps them achieve a goal (or need), bonus points when the value it creates for the buyer aligns with personal values.

What if a buying tribe is more about survival than about aligning with other people who think, believe, and act similarly?

What happens when your branding inspires people to move from surviving to thriving?

When people are in survival mode, buying choices are primarily driven by familiarity and availability. You’re not competing with other brands. You’re competing with people’s motivations, behavior patterns, and preferences. For people whose mental state is about thriving and who are intentional about what they believe and why they buy, buying preferences are driven by perceived value (and shared values).

People with similar goals, beliefs, and behaviors make up your buying tribe. People power your company. People are your brand’s most important and primary touchpoint and the ultimate beneficiary of everything your brand stands for.

Meet Your Customers Where They Live

Where you compete and how you show up are inseparable.

Brand strategy is essential for business strategy. The brand strategy helps you position your company so you’re not competing with category leaders. You’re outmaneuvering them by using their strengths against them to your advantage.

Your market exists within your category, and your customers (your buying tribe) live within the market. The most effective way to identify your potential customers and define your market is to narrow your focus.

If your brand can own its category, it has a competitive advantage. If you can’t own your category, then do two things:

Stake a claim to the category territory you want to own.
Act like you own the category in which you compete.

Your brand (representing your company, its people, and its reputation) exists within a community context. How you show up matters as much as where you show up. How your company behaves and treats people is essential for building the brand.

Brand character matters. How you show up will demonstrate how well your brand views the world (worldviews), behaves within society, and connects with people. If employees are not good stewards of the brand, people will call your brand out when it speaks and acts in a way that is contrary to the stated and perceived values that people believe about your brand.

Brands exist in the community. Companies are peer-to-peer entities within communities and between competitors. Brands within the company’s brand architecture may have interconnected tribes and loyalties. In short, people watch and hold companies accountable for how they treat people, the planet, and the profit they earn. One wrong move or poor choice can bring financial ruin.

Consumer money follows their values. Consumers reward or punish brands based on perceived or actual injustices, practices, and behaviors. That’s why it’s critical for your brand’s values to align with your buying tribes (aka your customers), goals, aims, mores, and beliefs. This accountability, what some call “cancel culture,” is similar to an “honor-shame” culture.

What is the Difference Between Brand and Branding?

I briefly talked with a small business owner who asked: “What do you think of our brand?”

He referred to the 30 ft. backdrop behind his trade show display, filled with dozens of tiny photos that created more visual noise than coherency. I took a long look and commented, “I don’t know enough about your company to comment on your brand. If I may be blunt, your trade show booth branding lacks focus with all these images.”

The owner replied, “What? We just redid our branding. We have a very artsy person.”

A logo is not your brand. A trade show booth is not your brand. A brand is an idea about your product, service, or organization, an idea that lives in someone’s mind, built on intangible ideas they form when they hear about and interact with your company. A brand is a gut feeling, and the last experience a person has with your company is your last best chance to maintain their perception (i.e., the gut feeling) of your brand.

Just remember this: A brand isn’t what the company says it is; it’s the story people believe and share about their experience with your company, products, and people.

A Logo is not a Brand

A logo is part of a company’s visual storytelling that reminds people that the company exists. But the logo is not your brand; it’s a visual expression that helps people identify and remember the brand.

People don’t always make products and benefit from their primary criteria when purchasing. Sure, they’re essential, but research shows that consumers base 80-95% of decision-making purchases on subconscious triggers. We buy subconsciously, respond to the decision emotionally, and justify it with logic. What people want is at a deeper level: What’s the value of your brand for me? Don’t solely focus on features and benefits. Help people discover how your brand adds value to their life.

Michael Harris writes:

“Our subconscious/intuitive decision to buy is then communicated to the conscious mind via an emotion. The conscious mind then searches for rational reasons, and that’s how we complete the circle: We justify our emotional signals to buy with logical reasons. Phew, the illusion is now complete that the conscious mind that we identify with is in control so we can feel safe and secure.” — Michael Harris

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman says that 95% of our purchase decisions unconsciously occur. Understanding how consumers respond to products and services can help companies design more usable products and more satisfying experiences. That’s how brands add value.

As I outlined in “Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto,” your brand messaging must both touch the heart and speak to the mind to successfully lead people through this cycle.

Branding is the practice of nurturing people’s impression of your product, service, or company so it’s relevant, meaningful, and memorable. The discipline of branding continually answers these four questions:

Who is it for?
What is it for?
What difference does it make?
What value does it create?

“Who is it for?” and “what is it for?” speak to relevance. The difference it makes (or why it matters) speaks to value and meaning.

The value a brand creates creates a legacy. What’s the one thing for which you want your brand or company to be remembered in the near term and the long run? That one thing drives your impact and requires unwavering focus. Don’t compromise.

Great brands don’t start with purpose. They begin with focus: Who you are, what you do, and why it matters. But without purpose, you’ll never stay focused.

“… most successful organizations are those that… can transform business performance for the benefit of people, planet, and profit (in that order)—in other words, mutuality.” — Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality

A Simple Brand Strategy

How your company grows depends on one thing. If you don’t have the time or discipline to invest in brand strategy, there is only one strategy you will ever need.

For your company to win the trust and appeal to people’s hearts and minds, there’s one thing you must do above all else:

Stop focusing on your branding . Create followers, not brands.

Wait, what?

Instead, focus all your attention on your customer and work your way back to your brand. Your brand must focus on your customer’s goals.

It’s simple, and it works.

The more your company grows, the more challenging it is to sustain this strategy. That’s why you need to keep it simple:

Identify and connect with your ideal customer.
Do everything you can to win and earn trust.
Don’t do anything to break that trust.

Please don’t make your brand strategy more complex than it needs to be. With complexity comes confusion. Strive for simplicity and memorability.

Focus on who your customer is (their identity), what they want (their goals), and how they behave and belong in the community.

Figure that out first, and then align your brand with your customer. Reduce complexity, increase simplicity, and strive for clarity.

That’s what brand strategy is all about.

Photo by Mike Chai from Pexels

*Brands don’t have values; brands have agendas. People who create and manage brands have values that form their worldview and guide their behavior. Guiding principles are the truths that guide how a company (and its brand) conducts business and treats people.

The Conscious Habit of Letting Go

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 16:59:34 GMT

What’s the secret to creating value, scaling, and growing your business? In this conversation with entrepreneur and author Blair Enns, we learn it’s not about doing more or better. It may be about doing less.

In this episode, I’m talking with Blair Enns from Win Without Pitching. Win Without Pitching is an organization that runs sales and new business development training programs for owners and employees of design firms, ad agencies, PR practices, and other creative businesses. A lot of what he talks about is also relevant for your business.

Blair is the author of the Win Without Pitching Manifesto , (a book I designed through Aespire ) and Pricing Creativity : A Guide to Profit Beyond the Billable Hour (the second of Blair's books that Aespire designed. I suppose you can say the agency is habit-forming).

Listen to hear the life-changing lesson Blair learned when he says, “Some lessons take me so long to learn, like the idea that other people could do what I do.”

Branding Needs to be Approachable and Understandable

According to Seth Godin, everybody's a marketer . In a similar fashion, everybody is branding no matter what they're doing. There are a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners who are just trying to do their best to manage their business and do some marketing on top of it. The whole idea of branding is that a brand is the customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization. The branding is what the organization does.

Blair: A brand is the inferred promise, as opposed to the stated or implied promise or anything around it. Inferred is on the part of the receiver. I can imply something to you, that's me communicating something to you (branding); you can infer something based on what I said (a brand).

I hadn't had this thought before… A brand is an inferred promise, it's not an implied promise. Value does not exist extrinsically. In the world, value is like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. Value exists in you. The brand and the promise of the brand exist in you, and it's very personal to you. And there might be some commonality from person to person, but it's this. It's an inference. Right?

Brian: I can try to create meaning for my brand. At the same time, nobody will derive value from that meaning unless it connects with them in some way. You are correct, it (brand) is inferred (by the receiver).

Blair: And even the meaning that you're trying to connect might not be the meaning that that people feel. At the end of the day value is nothing more than a feeling, a sense of regard, as is the brand. We can try to create value, but we never actually know the value that other people experience.

Brian: I experience inferred value when somebody tells me, “I've been listening to your podcast, it's really it's interesting.” They found a value in what they heard, and it may have been different than the value I was hoping it would write convey to them.

Brian: I read this on your website: “Blair provokes, challenges and inspires creative professionals to radically rethink how they build their businesses.” Hmm. Did you know that was there?

Blair: Well, if it's on my website, it must be true. That's all I'll say.

Brian: As a fellow entrepreneur, because we both we both run businesses, you've scaled yours up. I've scaled mine down. (At this point we have a side conversation about book printing and paper availability). Let’s talk about this this journey of entrepreneurship that you have, how books have been part of that, and part of the trajectory of Win Without Pitching.

What's the what's the purpose that really guides what you do beyond making money?

Blair: Our stated mission is to change the way creative services are bought and sold the world over . But when I think of my purpose and what I really want to do, I always think of creative people. I'm a writer and consider myself a creative person. I imagine this person can be a woman a man who's put on this earth with certain gifts. They make the decision to use these gifts of creation that give the ability to create things. And they decide to make creativity their passion and their enterprise. So that's person decides that she's going to be a designer for a business. She starts her own design firm hangs out a shingle; she begins as a freelancer. Then she's quickly faced with the realization that design is only part of the job, there's all of the business aspects of being a self-employed designer. She didn't sign up for that part of it, but she's willing to do it.

Of all the business parts, the part that she finds the most difficult is selling, because she's standing in a room with a client or prospective client about to share something she created that's deeply personal to her. If it's rejected, the rejection is personal.

I think of that young designer in that moment, is probably that's probably the most vulnerable they are in that moment when they have to sell. My whole business is built around helping that person in that moment. That's all I want to do to help that person. Give them a shot of granite to the spine is a line that a client of mine used, talking about reading the book, The Manifesto.

Stiffen their resolve, empower them, let them know that they can do this. Just stand up, be your class himself. Selling isn't that difficult. Let go of all of the horrible cliches around what it means to sell. And I just want to empower that person in in that moment. That's enough to build a business around.

A Shot of Granite to the Spine

Brian: Many entrepreneurs feel like if I share my creation with the world, and nobody buys it, I'm a failure. It's not the product that's a failure, I'm the failure.

What you do is you help people move beyond the fact that we're not the failure. The process that we've learned is broken.

Blair: There's just a lot of courage that's required to begin (creating), and then you step outside of that domain and think “Okay, now I have to (in some people's minds), now I have to be this sleazy salesperson.” That's just a misunderstanding of what it means to sell properly. That's a very vulnerable moment. Creative people are brave to begin with. But they're still vulnerable in that moment.

What Type of Business Do You Own?

Brian: These are questions every business owner must ask:

What type of business do you own?
Who is it for?
What is it for?
How do you deliver value?

When you shifted from being a consultant to the CEO of a training organization, what did that require? Did that require moving past your vulnerabilities?

Blair: I realized I had created a business that was kind of caught in the mushy middle between training and consulting between productized services and customized services. And when I started learning about value-based pricing, I realized this is a mistake. Rather than templating everything (and needing to charge on that basis), I need to charge based on the value that I create. That would free me from the financial ceiling that I had felt that I'd hit, I felt like I can't go any further, I can't work any harder, can't earn any money. That would have been the way to do it. Fewer clients; go deeper; charge more. That's proper consulting.

The Secret to Creating Value and Growing your Business

Blair: Or I could go the other way. I could productize and scale and pursue scale and start hiring people to do the work. And I chose to productize probably because I hadn't done it before.

When you start building a company and employing people, that's more entrepreneurial. I'm struck by how different it is. But what did it entail, what did I have to let go of? I am fond of saying, “I think I'm a smart guy.” But some lessons take me so long to learn, like the idea that other people could do what I do.

After almost a decade I’ve gotten to this place of embracing delegation and empowering the people around me. I've been slow to let go of things over the years. I had to get over the idea that other people could do this, not only as well as I could, but better than I could, even intellectually, I learned that years ago; the habit of letting go. Part of it is a feeling of guilt, feeling like I should be busy, where now I've completely at the other end of the spectrum. I keep saying to my team, I do not create value by being busy. If we want to keep growing and grow faster, I need to write every day. And that's all I should do.

And then when a book comes out, I spent six months speaking about that book, while I continue to write the next book, that's what I should be doing. If I could write 90 minutes a day, that would be great. I would take 60. And if that's all I did, the business would grow faster. But still, I continue to hold on to some things that I probably shouldn't.

Brian: I am resolved in the next year to let go of some of these things that I know somebody else could do. They're just things that consume my time and take away from that other value creation.

“Letting go has to be more than a habit, it takes resolve that becomes a habit.”

Brian: I know you're a follower of EOS, the entrepreneur operating system. How is Win Without Pitching structured since you have all this freedom now?

Blair: Can I back up and tell you the story of how we came to be here? Referring to the book, Rocket Fuel which describes two types of people, visionaries, and integrators. A visionary is somebody who's in charge of the future. They're big thinkers tend to be charismatic people follow them. They're creative, they can kind of see around corners.

An integrator is a systems person, they implement things, they get things done, they make the trains run on time. And that book, rocket fuel is about those two relationships.

When I read that book, I took the visionary assessment, and I scored really high on that. And then I had (Colette) take the integrator assessment, and she scored really high on that. It was clear, this is how we work together. These are the different roles.

The way Win Without Pitching is structured right now, I'm the visionary, Colette is the integrator. We've got a director of coaching, and then we have coaches, team support and a customer support person

One person is supporting our clients and coaches. And when one person is supporting the rest of the team in administrative roles.

What’s the secret to growing your business?

There’s a quote pinned to my wall from Jony Ive, the former SVP of design at Apple . It's the only quote I have pinned to the walls of my office. There has to be sacrifice.

“What focus means is saying no to something that with every bone in your body think is a phenomenal idea, and you wake up thinking about it, but you end up saying no to it because you're focusing on something else.”

Does the World Need another Book about Branding?

Brian: Here's the question I want to close with: You once said, “The world does not need another book about branding.” Do you still believe that to be true?

Blair: I've been advising creative firms for almost 20 years. In the beginning, the message that I always lead with was that you need to position yourself; everybody had to specialize, there were just too many firms doing the same thing. It creates commodifying forces on graphic design and the other creative professions.

And I also knew that it's hard for creative person to specialize, because creativity is the ability to bring a novel perspective to a problem. Therefore, if that's your strength, if that's your superpower, solving the problem that hasn't previously been solved before, for solving in a different way, you're going to always look for a new problem to solve. And you'll build a business that lets you pursue whatever you want.

When I worked with the first few dozen or 100 firms on trying to find a specialization, so many of them would specialize in branding. That word became the new “full-service marketing” catch all word into which these creative professionals would dump everything they could possibly do for a client. It was just a word for graphic design, and other stuff. I just got fed up with that word being used in that way. And I still to this day. It's a trigger word for me.

So just because Blair ends is never going to read another book on branding, because he's just fed up with the topic and the inappropriate use of the word. Doesn't mean others won't.

Brian: I knew I could trigger you somehow.

Blair: And I think if you're going to write a book on branding, you had better have a point of view. You had better have a point of view on it that people had not considered before. It better add something to the Pantheon to the to the body of work that's out there that gets people to think, oh, that's different. That's I hadn't thought about that before. And that's yeah, I'll stop there.

Brian: That's a great takeaway: if you're going to write anything, you have to have a point of view, you must have a perspective.

Photo courtesy of Win Without Pitching

Brand Naming with Rob Meyerson

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 12:43:48 GMT

Why must you manage expectations in brand naming projects?

Perceptions influence and determine how we experience the world.

In this conversation with Rob Meyerson, the creator and podcast host of How Brands Are Built , we talk about how your brand name influences people, and how you manage expectations for all the decision-makers on your next naming project.

Rob is the principal of the branding agency Heirloom, and the author of the new book, Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for your Company, Product, or Service .

Listen and discover insights into the best practices and techniques you can find in Brand Naming , and the five key aspects of brand naming that every business owner, entrepreneur, or startup should know.

Discover everything you need to know about Rob at brandnamingbook.com
Buy Brand Naming on Amazon

Inspiring and Effective StoryBrand Website Examples

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 18:24:37 GMT

A select list of StoryBrand website examples designed by Aespire or by business owners on Websites Made Simple.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration to design your website or an agency led by a certified StoryBrand Guide for your marketing, these StoryBrand websites are certain to inspire you.

How to Tell a Compelling Brand Story

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 01:25:50 GMT

Will you take a moment and celebrate with me? This week is the anniversary of my fifth year as a StoryBrand Certified Guide.

I decided to become a StoryBrand Certified Guide in late 2017, and it’s made huge difference not only for our clients’ success.

At Aespire, every year we work with a small number of clients at a very high-level to design and implement brand strategy that helps companies outmaneuver their competition. StoryBrand helps us position the companies who choose to work with us as the guide in their customer’s story, create meaning that aligns with their buying tribe’s aspirational identity, and become the catalyst for their growth and success.

At a time when so many people struggle to create marketing that works, I’ve learned that CEOs and brand owner’s deepest challenge is to create meaning that invites people to join their brand. At Aespire, we know that when your brand strategy, brand messaging, and brand voice all work together — internally and externally — your team is more engaged, your customers buy more, and growth follows.

This episode features a very special guest, Dr. J.J. Peterson, Chief of Teaching and Facilitation at StoryBrand. I’m grateful for Dr. Peterson – J.J. — who joins me for a conversation about brand, story, and how to make the focus of your marketing about your customer and their journey.

In this episode of the Everybody Brands Podcast, Brian Sooy and Dr. J.J. Peterson, Chief of Teaching and Facilitation at StoryBrand, have a conversation about storytelling, your customer journey, and how to tell a compelling brand story.

J.J. is the Host of the Marketing Made Simple podcast and co-author of the book, Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business .

Here are some key highlights from our conversation; be sure to listen to catch everything we discussed!

What’s The Difference Between Narrative and Storytelling?

There isn’t a difference between narrative and storytelling at its core, but people misunderstand when they hear the word storytelling. They think they have to be a good storyteller and tell big, outlandish stories of people’s success or that one in a million story that pulls at people’s heartstrings.

People think storytelling is about finding this exciting, crazy story that will move people to action. But the reason why those stories work so well is that they follow a narrative structure. They follow the rules of a story in a powerful way that invites people to engage in that story.

When you understand the rules of a story and apply those rules of story to everything — your marketing, your testimonies, your videos, your commercials, your billboards — a story can increase engagement. But most people don’t understand that when you understand narrative structure, you become a good storyteller in everything that you do.

7 Key Elements to Writing a Compelling Brand Story

There are seven elements of a good story in its most basic structure, but the question is, “What are the rules that make a good story?” The reason why these rules exist in all stories is that stories help us make sense of information. Stories take all of the facts and ideas and information floating out there and put it in a structure that makes sense in our brain because a story is a sense-making device. A story forces you to find a path of understanding through all the information you experience.

If you think about your favorite movie without structure, there’s a lot of random information that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Filmmakers put the story in a film into a structure that our brains can naturally follow.

In its most basic form, there are seven good elements of every story:

There is a hero or protagonist that wants something. That’s the first thing in every movie or story, and you have to understand what that hero wants. It needs to be one thing so our brain can connect with it.
There’s one thing the hero wants, but the hero encounters a problem. That’s when the story gets good. If there is no problem, there is no story, right? The hero has to face a problem that gets in the way of what they want.
Third, the hero has to meet a guide. We know the hero can’t overcome the problem on their own. You’ll see a guide in movies; Frodo in Lord of the Rings has Gandalf. Luke Skywalker has Yoda. They all have a guide that helps them win.
The guide gives them a plan, a specific plan. It shows that no matter how crazy the problem is, there’s a way forward if you have a plan.
If there’s a plan, the must be a call to action. The hero must be in or out; the hero must either destroy the bomb or run away from the bomb. In every story, there’s a moment that the hero is called to action.
The audience must know that there are stakes in the story and understand that the hero will have unpleasant consequences if he fails.
Finally, we know what a happy ending can look like and a happily ever after vision of what life can be like.

Those are the seven elements of a story: A character who wants something encounters a problem and meets a guide who gives them a plan that calls them to action, leading to either success or failure.

How Can You Use Story to Influence People and Their Buying Decisions?

In modern branding, companies create customers; customers build the brand, and the brand sustains the business. You’re in business to make money, and you want more customers. (If not, you just have a hobby).

You need to get more customers and invite more people to do business with you to grow your business. To do that, you want to influence and impact people’s decision-making abilities and let them know what products or services you offer that fit their needs.

The research shows that a story is the best way to influence people’s minds and actions. The challenge is to do it clearly and compellingly to engage more effectively. That happens through narrative transportation when the audience puts themselves in the story. When you cry, laugh, or imagine yourself experiencing the same emotions as the character in a story, you experience narrative transportation.

The research also shows that when you experience a good story, you experience narrative transportation. The better the story, the more you experience narrative transportation, and the more you experience narrative transportation, the more impact or influence that story has on your mind and actions.

Set Boundaries So Customers Can Tell Compelling Stories About Your Brand

The rules of storytelling give us boundaries and encompass all the things about our brand that we get to say. That helps us stay focused on our message. The big mistake many companies make is trying to tell their own story. The reality is that your brand story is not story. Your brand story needs to be about your customer’s story, and here’s why: each of us wakes up every day as the hero of our own story.

If a brand comes along and positions itself as the hero of their story, and I (the customer) am the hero of my story, we’re in competing narratives. Ultimately one of us has to win, and one has to lose.

To position yourself as the guide in your customer story, make your entire brand narrative about your customer journey. Then you’re positioning yourself in your customer story by saying:

I know what you want.
I know the problems you’re experiencing.
I’m the guide that can help you win the day, and here’s why.
Here’s my plan for you to win
Here’s the call to action that will get you the win.
Here is my vision for what your life can look like if you engage with my brand or buy my product and the happy ending.
Here’s what happens if you don’t, you’re going to continue experiencing your problems and paint.

That’s story framing. When all your marketing and messaging speak to those seven things, it’s apparent what your customer wants; they are the hero. That’s what your brand story needs to be about. Keep it simple, keep it clear, keep it coherent.

How to Shift the Story from Your Brand to the Customer

The quickest way to shift the story from being about your brand to being about your customer is this: Anytime somebody asks you what you do, don’t respond by telling them what you do.

Here’s what we mean by that. If somebody asked me, JJ, “What does StoryBrand do?” the way to make the story about me is to reply, “We help companies create clear messaging using story,” or “I’m a marketing consultant.” That’s my story.

But the way to make the story about the customer is to answer that question differently. When somebody asks me, J.J., “What does StoryBrand do?” I reply, “Most companies struggle to tell a clear story in their marketing and messaging. Because they’re so close to it that they have a hard time explaining what they do in a way that invites customers to do business with them.”

All I did there was start with my customer story.

Will StoryBrand, Storytelling, and Storyframing Work for Nonprofits and Companies?

The StoryBrand framework works for any type of business organization. StoryBrand works with small nonprofits and huge nonprofits. It helps nonprofits improve their fundraising, StoryBrand works for speakers and writers, and StoryBrand works for small companies and multinational corporations.

Visit Amor, a mission organization that serves people in Mexico, or the In His Steps Foundation for examples of nonprofits that use the StoryBrand framework in its messaging.

StoryBrand is fantastic for short-term marketing and for helping companies create coherence and continuity for their long-term brand strategy.

You can find Dr. J. J. Peterson and learn more about the StoryBrand framework when you:

Follow StoryBrand on Instagram , Facebook , or Twitter
Subscribe to the Marketing Made Simple Podcast
Buy Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business
Register today to create a clear message and 5-part marketing plan for your business at the StoryBrand Marketing Livestream
Subscribe to Business Made Simple University to get a step-by-step plan to grow a business that works, or
Sign up for the Business Made Simple daily.

Bonus Points

Subscribe to the Everybody Brands Podcast and leave a review

How Much Does It Cost to Create and Keep a Customer?

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 18:45:25 GMT

“It’s because we’re short-staffed.”

When you claim staffing causes your customer service issues, you position your company as the victim. This is the one time when your brand should show up as the hero to save the day for the customer.

Vanquish the villain, then return to your role as the guide.

When I first wrote about making it easy for your customers to do business with you and the unconscious marketing signals that brands and companies send customers, I knew I would discover more stories to share. It was a matter of time, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Is it Worth Losing a New Customer Over a Coupon?

My friend shared this story about visiting a local greenhouse and garden center to shop for Christmas decorations for her new home. She mentioned her desire to see this garden store multiple times over the past two to three weeks.

Here’s the conversation she had on her first (and last) visit.

Associate: “Hello! Welcome to our garden center. Can I help you find something?”

Shopper: “Yes, this is my first time here. I’m interested in some of your holiday decorations, and my friends told me about your coupons. Can I get a coupon?”

I should note that the shopper’s friends told her about the brand’s value that means the most to them. The shopper’s takeaway from her friend’s gut feeling about the brand was, “I hear they have great coupons.”

Associate: “Yes, we have coupons, but you’ll have to talk to our floor manager. She’s over there.”

Shopper: (After asking around for the floor manager): “Hi, are you the floor manager? My friends told me about this place, and this is my first time here. I hear you have coupons. Can I get a coupon for my purchase today?”

Associate: “Yes, we have coupons! You’ll have to talk with our digital sales manager. He’s the one who sends out the coupons. I’ll get him for you.”

At least this associate connected the shopper with the right person.

Digital Sales Manager: “Hi, how can I help you.”

Shopper: “Yes, this is my first time here. I’m interested in buying some of your holiday decorations, and my friends told me about your coupons. Can I get a coupon?”

The shopper gave this associate a vital clue: Despite how difficult it’s been to get a coupon, she’s moved from interest to intent to buy.

Digital Sales Manager: “Yes, we have coupons. We send out weekly emails with specials, exclusive offers, and coupons. They’re awesome. You can get coupons when you sign up for our email list on our website.”

Shopper: “Great, I can do that when I get home, but I’m here now and want to make a purchase. Can I get a coupon?”

Digital Sales Manager: “The coupons come through email.”

Shopper: “But I’m here now and want to make a purchase. I can’t get a coupon?”

Digital Sales Manager: “Correct. The coupons come through email. No, you can’t have one for today.”

Shopper, to herself: “Fine. I’ll take a photo, look at the product name, and look online. Somebody made the decorations I want to buy, and I’m sure this isn’t the only place that sells them.”

What’s the Cost of Losing a Customer?

Todd Duncan , author of The $6,000 Egg: The 10 New Golden Rules of Customer Service , tells this story that inspired his book after asking for a $2 egg for his wife’s cheeseburger. (If you’ve never had an egg on your cheeseburger, you’re missing out on a culinary delight).

“So, let me make sure we are tracking here. I spend at least $6,000 a year at your restaurant, and I have one simple request for a two-dollar egg for my burger. You are telling me you can’t make that happen because you only order enough eggs for your waffle dish?” She said, “Yes.”

I said, “So a one-time visitor who orders a waffle for fifteen dollars is more important to you than a $6,000 customer who comes in at least four to six times a month, but for whom you can’t figure out how to get an egg?” Her response was: “We have to be able to serve the dishes we advertise, and we usually run out of the special ones. If we run out of eggs, we can’t serve the waffle.”

I asked, “As a manager, wouldn’t you rather be one egg short and throw away a waffle that probably costs you fifty cents to make than throw away a loyal customer who brings you $6,000 a year?” She said, “It’s our policy.”

Bad Policy Empowers Good Managers

My friend planned to spend $120.00- $200.00 at the Ohio-based garden center. In a thriving economy, $200 is small potatoes to some businesses. To companies who continue to struggle in a weak Biden economy — especially in retail — a portion of that revenue pays overhead and profits.

A $10 off coupon costs the retailer $10 plus credit card fees on a $70 sale. Their choice to not give a coupon to the shopper costs this retail store a minimum of $120 in revenue and a customer.

She’s going to tell her friends about the experience (who are current customers of the Garden Center) who typically spend several hundred dollars more on visits.

Her feeling about the brand went from “I hear you have great coupons” to “ You are making it difficult to do business with you .”

Some of my neighbors call this the, "I have money and want to spend it. Why won’t you help me ?” quandary.

The brand value chain ( what this brand means for consumers and what their commitment to purchase means to your bottom line ) is rapidly declining. At a minimum 10x decline, the $120 in revenue turns into $1,200 in income and lost value for their brand’s reputation and trust in business .

We all know coupons are an incentive to get customers in the door. Larger discounts should be for your best and loyal customers (who participate in your loyalty program). Coupons can be an effective incentive to win new customers — but only if you let a potential new customer have one when they ask for one!

The market is competitive. I heard my friend went to a competing garden center and spent over $2,000 on a new Christmas tree, wreaths, and accessories for her home.

Don’t let people walk away because you don’t empower your associates to meet customers’ needs. Keep up and be aware of how consumers spend their money and how their experience affects your brand.

Peter Drucker famously said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”

When you align your brand strategy ( to create customers ) with your business strategy (to keep customers who want to buy) in a comprehensive and integrated way, you can meet customers where they are so your brand and business grow.

How to Speak Directly to Your Dream Customers

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 17:03:44 GMT

Tom Schwab believes, “Marketing at its heart is starting a conversation with someone who could be an ideal customer.”

So how do you start that conversation? If you can’t make it through the noise, how will you drive traffic and leads?

The answer is not to add to the noise heard but to speak directly to your dream customers. There is no easier or effective way than being featured on targeted podcast interviews they already listen to.

Tom Schwab is the Chief Evangelist Officer of Interview Valet , the most trusted partner in the podcast industry, and the leader in podcast interview marketing. Tom helps leading brands, coaches, consultants, and nonfiction authors build their brand and business with targeted podcast interviews.

Tom’s clients include culture, marketing, entrepreneurship, leadership, design, consulting, and management experts.

Tom says, “We’re all adding to the noise. Nobody’s getting heard. If you think you’re going to out-yell your biggest competitor, it’s not going to happen. I believe that the best way to get heard is to get in on the conversation.”

“I’d say in most companies, the biggest problem today is obscurity. There are thousands, maybe 10s of thousands, perhaps even millions of people that would gladly buy your current product, version 1.0. Right. They’re praying for it right now. The only problem is they don’t know you exist.”
— Tom Schwab

Is Podcast Guest Marketing Right for Your Brand?

Here are some tips and insights to keep in mind if you think working with a podcast guest marketing service is suitable for your personal or business brand.

To talk directly with your dream customers, it’s critical to find a podcast guest marketing service that speaks directly to your niche. Interview Valet specializes in placing guests in three verticals, not necessarily where their clients are, but where the client’s target markets are in business, faith and Christianity, and health, nutrition, and wellness.
Find out who works with the podcast guest marketing service you’re interviewing. If you own an agency and are recommending your client with a podcast guest service, you want your client to feel comfortable that their name or logo will appear alongside other clients that the company represents. Both your agency’s and client’s reputation are affected by your choice of podcast guest marketing partners.
Define your brand awareness goals. If you want to nurture your current leads and your current customers, then create a podcast. If you’re going to go out and get new exposure, if you’re going to get new leads, if you want to get new backlinks, if you want to get new opportunities, you must tap into somebody else’s audience. Seth Godin is an excellent example of somebody who is doing that.
Exposure brings opportunity — an opportunity for the person speaking — and people to hear something new about the company the guest or brand represents.
Podcast guest appearances can fill gaps for authors. Three to four months before a book even launches, authors can do podcast interviews and then work with the host to schedule the podcast release to coincide with the launch date (plus or minus a week), so they get a boost of exposure and potential sales.
Being a podcast guest is a brand-building strategy for individuals and companies. People are looking for help and expertise, and a podcast conversation is a great way to establish empathy, authority, and credibility.
Being a podcast guest might be the best lead generator into which you can invest. Develop a sales funnel that you can direct people to after they listen, with an audio feature (since you know the visiting people are in the mood to listen). Check out some practical case studies on Interview Valet .

How to be Purposeful, Present, & Wildly Productive

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:26:05 GMT

We all have a problem: We’re addicted to busyness.

Busyness is a distraction that erodes our attention, drains our energy, and minimizes our effectiveness. Best-selling author and serial entrepreneur Jordan Raynor shares how we can overcome busyness and redeem our time.

Jordan Raynor is a serial entrepreneur and national bestselling author who helps Christians do their most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others. Through his books, podcast, and weekly devotionals, Jordan has helped millions of Christians in every single country connect the gospel to their work.

In addition to producing this content, Jordan serves as the executive chairman of Threshold 360, a venture-backed tech startup that has built the world’s most extensive library of 360° experiences of hotels, restaurants, and attractions.

Time is a Finite Resource

Time is the one resource we never seem to have enough of. Once it’s gone — it’s gone! We can earn more money, but we can never gain any more time.

So who can show us how to make the most of our time?

The gospels don’t show Jesus walking around with a to-do list or a calendar. But they do show him dealing with distractions at work, fighting for solitude, and seeking to be busy without being hurried.

The gospel biographies show Jesus facing many of the same challenges we face today as we seek to steward our limited time. And because he was infallible God, we can assume that Jesus managed his time perfectly, providing us with the ideal model to follow.

In Jordan’s new book, Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive , Jordan shows you 7 timeless time management principles from the life of Christ and 31 hyper-practical practices to help you live out those principles today.

Listen for answers to the questions:

If God’s grace is sufficient, why does it seem the amount of time we have to be insufficient?
What’s the difference between being busy and being hurried?
I don’t mind being purposefully busy, but I don’t want to be hurried. What principles and practice can you share with me to speak to that genuine tension I feel every day?
What are seven practical ways I can manage my time well?

Connect with Jordan Raynor:

Order the best-selling book, Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive on Amazon.
Connect with Jordan at jordanraynor.com

The Everybody Brands podcast is hosted by Brian Sooy, certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide.

Everybody Brands gives you insight into branding and brand strategy that helps you focus on your customers and empowers you to outmaneuver your competition so you can achieve your company goals and grow your business.

Find Brian Sooy’s books on Amazon .
Book Brian to speak or help you grow your business at Aespire Brand Agency .

5 Ways to Make Your Brand More Human

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 12:05:35 GMT

Brian Sooy and Jake Zufelt share insights on making your brand trustworthy, credible, and authentic.

According to Seth Godin, “ Everybody is a markete r.”

Your business and Realtors share a lot in common. Our businesses are relational, our brands are personal, the currency in which we trade is trust. You’re all marketers.

1. Think about your marketing as a way to serve people, not sell them stuff

Jake Zufelt says, “People ask me all the time, how did you go from ministry to marketing? I tell them, it’s literally the same job. No, seriously, it's the same job. There's a ton of space for pastors and ministry leaders that are interested in either having a side job or transitioning from ministry into doing something that has many similarities, because in marketing there's an immense amount of communication, people skills, writing, and an immense need for caring for people, not just caring for businesses and companies.”

People love to buy stuff, but they hate being sold to.

2. Be trustworthy before people want to refer you

You can't say your brand is trusted or ask people to trust you. Your brand has to be trustworthy. If you know how to build trust with business clients and consumers, you know have to put in the work to nurture —and win— trust in and for your business.

From an outside perspective, it looks like all marketers do the same thing. The same can be said of realtors. People look for someone they know, can trust, or are familiar — when everybody does the same thing in the consumer’s mind — what’s the difference?

Every potential customer or client brings their previous agency (or realtor) experience into new relationships. A person’s expectations and bias was formed by the previous marketer with which they worked.

3. Be an advisor, not a salesperson

Honesty, transparency, authenticity; all those things are really valuable. Marketing is much like fishing. You go out to a specific location, you have to use the right bait, the right length of pole, and go at the right time of day. You have to know what a fish you're fishing for, you then have to make sure you’re in the right location, right. Your customers rely on you as a guide, but there’s guarantees with marketing.

4. Remember, you’re a guide. Help your customer win the day

One of the biggest mistakes realtors and agencies make is that they advertise themselves constantly. They post their numbers and they post their successes instrad of focusing on their client’s success. Here’s some advice for realtors and agency owners: “You are a very, very important person in someone's life for a very short time.”

However, at the end of the day, when people are talking to their grandkids, they talk about the house that they used to own on First Street. They don't talk about the realtor that helped them buy it.

People are looking for a guide to help them navigate a process, overcome a challenge, solve a problem, or achieve a goal. They’re not looking for someone that has all the answers.

5. Help people make meaningful connections

As a marketer, you can't guarantee success, because there may be unforeseen circumstances in the market that you can’t account for. You can’t guarantee success, but you can make the experience worth remembering.

Brand builders and marketers help people make a connection with something that's really meaningful to them. Be an advocate to make sure that the transaction or process goes smoothly. Today is your best (and perhaps last) opportunity to make it easy for people to do business with you .

Do People Care About Your Brand?

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:45:48 GMT

Buying a product from a company does not mean I want a lifelong relationship with your customer service department or brand.

Do people care about your brand? Can you really claim your brand cares about people? Do people want a relationship with your brand? Not likely. Then what does that mean for “relationship brands”?

Some transactions are meaningful because of how I feel when I use the product or service. Some transactions are just an exchange of money for goods. Don’t try to make a transaction more than the consumer wants it to be.

Don’t strive to be a relationship brand. Instead, be relational. Invite people to share experiences, join a community, and be part of a bigger story.

The heart of brand building is in being relational, which goes beyond inviting people into a story, participating in a program, or making a transaction. Brand building is collaborative and complementary, where the brand builder (your company) and brand owner (the consumer) walk together.

Marketing acts as a messenger to proclaim good news to people looking for help solving a problem or achieving a goal. Your brand is a beacon, a ray of light, representing what people imagine their life could be like if they make the right choice. That light represents hope — not in your brand — but in the consumer’s mind.

“The tribe will create the brand for you.” — Marty Neumeier

Branding is what you do to make the beacon — the light — shine brightly and attract people. Branding puts your light on a hilltop for all to see.

If you start with people’s needs and find a unique way to bring value to them, the rest takes care of itself. Your branding is a bridge from customers to your company. It speaks for you before they buy. Your branding expresses the core values you practice now, want to pass on after you, and want others to share with you. Your branding helps you create an identity attached to a set of core values, not a person, product, or organization.

“Branding is a way to get more people to buy more stuff for more years at higher price.” – Marty Neumeier

Do Consumers Love Your Brand as Much as You Think They Do?

In one sense, it’s not hard to understand what it means to be a relational brand. People love to buy stuff but hate being sold to. For that to happen, a company must focus on the core principle of relational brands — creating customers who build brands that sustain companies (most companies are still using an old brand model).

Companies invest billions of dollars in endearing their brands to people. Do people care about brands as much as companies think they do?

The Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands 2019 report , based on 1,800 brands and 350,000 respondents in 31 countries, uncovered a startling statistic: consumers said they wouldn’t care if 77% of everyday brands disappeared.

58% of respondents thought brands were providing poor and irrelevant content.
61% of respondents want brands to provide engaging, entertaining content and offer valuable experiences apart from the brand’s usual services.

“Brands’ failure to create relevant and meaningful content, combined with their inability to improve consumers’ well-being, means they are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the minds of shoppers.” writes Charlotte Rogers .

People care about what matters to them and what makes their life better. People care about their family, their health, the food they eat, and the house in which they live. Things like coffee, exercise, faith, and their pets make their life better.

How do companies associate what people care about with their brand?

People don’t care about brands; they care about how your brand makes them feel. It isn’t (and never was) about your brand.

Relational brands need to address basic human psychological needs, help people grow, and engage people in community. To grow your audience, messaging needs to focus on inspiring the heart and informing the mind. To empower people and help them grow, give them tools to apply what they learned. Build community and belonging so that people take action and engage.

“ A brand’s biggest competition is flat indifference .” — Joe Parrish

People care about solving problems, achieving goals, being independent, loved, accepted, and involved. People desire safety, security, and being in control. People care about convenience, saving money, and status. People want to be part of a community . That’s why we refer to groups of people with similar beliefs and behaviors as tribes .

When those core motivations intersect with something your brand offers, then people might care. Understanding what consumers want makes the discipline of brand so maddeningly complex when it should be wonderfully simple.

Love Letter to a Brand

Dear Brand,

I want to feel like I noticed you.

I want to smile when I see you because we always have so much fun together, and you make me feel good about myself.

We can build something together.

I don’t want you following me around, “trying” to have a relationship with me, constantly showing up, or getting in my face.

If you’re in my inbox a lot, chances are, I’m getting annoyed by you.

So, help me out. Solve my issues, don’t become one of them.

—Sarah Phelps

Three Practices for Relational Brands

Remember your purpose — the reason you’re in business beyond making money — to empower your team to create more customers.
Don’t tell people that you are a relationship brand, be relational. Improve your customer service, keep your promises, stay true to your word.
Implement narrative branding . What people believe about your brand (the gut feeling they have about your produce, service, or organization) Is driven by the words your brand uses and how it communicates in every brand touchpoint, design, marketing, and experience.

According to Bob Hoffman, this is how advertising really works :

“ We don’t get them to try our product by convincing them to love our brand. We get them to love our brand by convincing them to try our product.”
– Bob Hoffman

For your business to flourish, your brand has to sustain your company . That only happens when you invite customers to create your brand with you.

For the record, I do love Piaggio's Vespa brand.

How to Bungle a Sports Team Name Change

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 12:09:29 GMT

Here’s your branding lesson for today, in light of the curious events in Cleveland sports. As a story, it’s filled with drama, controversy, and intrigue.

I’m not a sports fan, but I live with one. As a Cleveland, Ohio area Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide, it doesn’t take long to find a sports fan who has an opinion about the recent attempt by a Cleveland Major League Baseball team, the Cleveland Indians, to announce a name change and a “rebrand.”

The story begins with a character, a sports fan who wants to root for a winning team. Cleveland fans take it on the chin every year — sticking with their teams through thick and thin — whether they win or lose, and paying the price no matter the outcome.

The problem is the team they love so profoundly carries a name that, depending on your point of view, honors Native Americans or is disrespectful to Native Americans.

Who Owns the Brand?

As any Level C certified brand strategist can tell you, one of the most critical brand principles is, “The tribe owns the brand.”

In the case of the team formerly known as the Indians, the Tribe is the brand, but the team owners either were unaware forgot that their fans (the tribe) own the brand and that the owners are only stewards of the branding.

The brand the tribe (the fans) owns is over 100 years old — a multi-generational brand — and despite several name changes over the years, the latest name change is not enhancing the brand, team, or city’s reputation.

Ironically, the team formerly known as the tribe’s home stadium is aptly named Progressive Field. The new name, “Cleveland Guardians,” refers to a set of statues on a local bridge and is so bland as to offend nobody, except for fans who love the name, “Indians.”

Do Your Opposition Research

In a news release , the organization claims to have “surveyed 40,000 fans and conducted 140 hours of interviews to pick a name across 1,198 different options.” Yet earlier polls revealed that fans preferred two other names, Spiders and Rockers, over Guardians.

Fans ridiculed the name change on Twitter and other social marketing platforms.

It reminds me of the time Aespire designed a college athletic mascot. “It looks mean,” was the reaction by the decision-makers. “We can’t have it looking mean.”

“The new mascot is fierce and determined,” was our response. “Fans want their teams to be competitive, not nice.” For some college teams, winning doesn’t matter as much as appeasing everybody. After all, you don’t want to risk offending anyone because they might become a donor someday.

In an appeasement culture, corporate team owners aren’t trying to be relevant and nice. Fans want their team to be competitive and win.

Who owns the Cleveland Guardians trademark?

Meanwhile, the current Cleveland Guardians, a men’s roller derby team, filed for trademark protection to preserve the value in their team name.

Did the current team neglect the most fundamental opposition research, which is a critical part of any brand strategy? A 30-second online search for the domain name clevelandguardians.com would have revealed that Cleveland Guardians is in use. As you can see by the scores that appear when you search for Cleveland Guardians , Google already recognizes the name change.

”The baseball club, contrary to some online speculation after the announcement, was aware of the Cleveland men's roller derby team that goes by Guardians and has a website tied to the nickname. But the Indians, after consulting with their legal team, were "very confident" that there wouldn't be any serious roadblocks in moving ahead with the name unveiling, multiple sources told Crain’s.”

When your team is losing, and fans aren’t showing up at the stadium, only time and a bundle of legal fees will show the brand stewards (the MLB team) if the fans will want to change tribes.

Marsha Gentner , a senior counsel in Dykema's Intellectual Property Group, said the Indians “are just gonna go full steam ahead and litigate if they have to against these guys.” Crain’s Cleveland declares this to be a David vs. Goliath scenario ; it’s actually a bully vs the smallest kid on the block scenario. Who wants to associate with a brand that starts life as a bully?

Stay tuned. This story promises to get better with time. I'll consider making a comment on the bad Cleveland Guardians typography in a future post.

Photo by Chris Chow on Unsplash

How to Create a Sales Funnel for Your Business

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:33:01 GMT

Many people ask, “How much does a marketing funnel cost?”

Or they ask, “how can I overhaul my website to tell my brand story and convert sales?”

The real question is, how much value can you deliver to your ideal preferred customers through a sales funnel? How much does not having a sales funnel cost you?

Do you need a sales funnel?

There are 5 important elements that help a business like yours create a sales funnel.

A clear message that invites people into the story of how your product solves their problem or helps them achieve their goals. A simple, three-sentence story pitch or elevator pitch (sometimes called a one-liner) introduces people to your product in this way:
A story pitch begins with the problem, pain point, goal, or challenge your tribe faces every day
A story pitch continues with your solution to your tribe’s specific problem
A story pitch concludes with the success your customer will feel and experience after you solve their problem or help them achieve their goal.
An optimized website or landing page to convert browsers into buyers.
A lead-generating PDF that helps you capture email addresses (so you can market to more people).
An email nurture campaign that amplifies what’s at stake, counters objections, and highlights potential success and relief. Don’t forget to include calls-to-action.
An email sales campaign that asks for the sale with clear calls to action.

After all, the goal of brand strategy is to sell more products and services to more of your tribe at every opportunity for higher prices. Brand strategy lays the foundation to outmaneuver your competitors by radically differentiating your brand. A marketing sales funnel is the tools and tactics that puts brand strategy into action.

The Courage to Reinvent Ourselves

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:06:30 GMT

Every 10 years or so, I start on a journey to reinvent my firm.

Reinventing your business is not without risk, but without risk we would not be free.

Now that Aespire is nearly 30 years old, we continue to reinvent — our processes, our position, our platform.

One thing that hasn’t changed is our purpose: To empower companies and causes to enrich and transform people’s lives for the glory of God and the good of others.

Where many designers are solely passionate about design, I am equally passionate about running my business well. Learning to conduct business, manage people, and develop opportunity is an ongoing process and one that I hope to master someday.

The way we solve problems for our clients is important; I want them to know I also understand their business challenges.

Entrepreneurship Begins at Home

I learned how to conduct business from my parents, Gordon and Irene Sooy.

Where others would say, “the customer is always right,” or “the customer is sometimes wrong,” Gordon would always say, “The customer is always the customer.”

For over 50 years, he impressed upon me that although words and planning are important, action is what matters.

He would say “It’s not what you say, it’s what you deliver.”

Gordon’s business was selling auto parts. His career began as a parts delivery employee (on a bicycle!), and concluded as the owner of several stores. During that time, he dealt with more people than I ever will in my entire consulting career, and had a reputation for honesty and integrity that showed in his respect for his customers.

Treating each customer with respect as an individual is a lesson that guides my relationships with clients, staff and vendors.

I am deeply grateful for the impact of two other individuals, David C. Baker , and Blair Enns of Win Without Pitching .

David and Blair are consultants to creative business firms and Aespire clients.

I first met David C. Baker in 2002 at an AIGA Grow seminar in Cleveland, OH. It’s been many years since I first attended a new business summit with David, and decades since I attended a ReCourses roundtable, where I first learned many principles of business management from David’s years of experience working with creative firms.

I’ve known Blair and learned from his expertise for several years at seminars and from his publications. In 2010, Blair invited me to design his Win Without Pitching Manifesto — 12 proclamations on developing business without giving away thinking for free.

The process of designing the book forced me to read it closely on multiple levels — from a content perspective, as a typographer and type designer, and as a marketing business owner. It’s now a permanent part of my thinking and DNA.

A ReCourses New Business Summit is disruptive, terrifying and inspiring — alternatively and concurrently. Expertise and insights begin to flow from the opening session, don’t stop until the end of the third day, and continue to resonate in the mind long after.

I came away with two memorable thoughts, the first from David:

To follow this piece of advice takes confidence — in myself, in our positioning, in our process. There are many directions I could guide the business; I’m choosing one that matters. I am more confident than ever that what we do for our clients makes a difference — not only for their companies, but to the lives of people who work for them and whom they serve.

The path I’m following is not an either/or path, but a synthesis of what I’ve learned and of Aespire’s strengths and expertise.

My “aha!” moment came from Blair:

Clarity and Brand Storytelling

Aespire’s latest reinvention and transformation flows from our commitment to helping people flourish, businesses thrive, and communities prosper . We guide them to create long-term plans that connect their brand with their business objectives so they can outmaneuver their competition through radical differentiation.

At our core, we are designers and visual storytellers. Our clients tell us repeatedly that we guide them to clarity for their business direction and to solutions.

After I published my first book I began to think deeply about how the words we use build brands and engage people in the impact companies make.

The problem was — writing doesn’t come easy to me. Research into effective and reliable storytelling frameworks led me to become a Certified StoryBrand Guide , and to earn Certified Brand Architect status from Level C and Marty Neumeier.

Donald Miller and his team gave us another storytelling framework to enhance our process for brand clarity so the companies we serve get the ROI they deserve from investing in branding, design, and marketing.

Level C and Marty Neumeier gave Aespire a set of tools that give Aespire the distinction as the only agency led by a dual-Certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand marketing guide.

The Next Decade of Design Leadership

As we begin our next decade of excellence in business and design leadership, I have the courage and confidence to proclaim that we understand and can help businesses identify their problems and solve them.

We have the courage to completely move from personality to position and process in our business development.

We have the courage to allow the business to become something new, and in doing so, perhaps leave a legacy when it’s time to follow another path.

It’s no less than what I expect from our clients when they work with us. I should not expect less from my own agency.

How B2B Brands Win Trust and Earn Loyalty

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 12:55:16 GMT

In this episode of the Everybody Brands podcast, we’re talking with Merrell Sheehan, the Vice President of Marketing, and Cole Godsey, Marketing Manager at Electronic Merchant Systems about how a B2B brand wins trust and earns customer loyalty through exemplary customer service and transparency (with a technique many businesses can do).

Brian: EMS is committed to empowering merchants to increase their financial well-being. What does that mean?

Merrell: It’s by offering fair processing rates, exemplary customer service, and providing products and solutions that address the rapidly changing marketplace that are a fit for small to midsize businesses. Everyone claims to have the best customer service. EMS makes an effort to quantify our customer service success by pointing out close to 1000 Customer Reviews on Google .

EMS sales teams takes a consultative approach and introduces prospects to new ways to take payments that create efficiencies and savings. You know, sure we have credit card machines, everybody knows about them, we can provide them to merchants that are comfortable with a terminal solution. But we go well above and beyond that, you know, let me give you an example of how we can consult on a specific product. We have a product called EMS mobile that works with existing mobile devices. But it also adds a lot of back-office efficiencies like email invoicing, recurring payments, whole array of reporting that's a great fit for the merchants that we service versus just saying, “Hey, here's our terminal.”

Cole: For EMS, customer support is a key differentiator and one of the pain points I feel for our merchants in the industry is that sometimes it's more a, “you guys figure it out. go on our website, read these faqs; we have these tutorials.” EMS support is 24/7/365, you will always pick up a phone and reach someone. More importantly, everyone is based out of our Cleveland office. You're not calling internationally you are literally talking to someone who is locally based in Cleveland, Ohio.

A few weeks ago, someone was trying to sign up with our Total Touch POS system . We were reviewing their merchant statement and discovered the merchant had an $825 servicing fee —where it really didn't explain why on earth it was — it was just the processor charging the merchant an extra $825 because they could. One of the big things for EMS is that we don't like to nickel and dime our merchants. There are no hidden processing fees. We are very transparent with our rates and pricing and our goal is to help small businesses increase their financial well-being. We're not here to make their lives more difficult; we're here to make operating their business significantly smoother.

A B2B brand should not make their customer’s lives more difficult; a B2B brand should make operating a business significantly smoother.

Brian: One of the things my wife and I have frequently discussed over the past few weeks is that we’ve noticed a decrease in customer care and customer service , whether it's COVID fatigue, or people tired from working from home. It feels like they’re taking it out on the customers. The way you phrase EMS’ commitment to customer success and financial well-being places the emphasis on the merchant and their success. That's how you invite people into that relationship with you as a company and as a brand.

Merrell, you mentioned Google reviews. What are the qualities that you find signify a loyal EMS customer or client?

Merrell: We believe a loyal customer is one that has longevity with us and has left us a review. These two concepts go hand in hand. After every transaction or interaction our customer service team has with a customer that results in closing the issue, we ask that they leave us a review on Google or the BBB. We put our money where our mouth is instead of sending out a survey that only we see. We put the customer response out for anyone to see and we thank all customers for their reviews and re-engage with customers that leave us a less than stellar review to correct any issues that might be outstanding. A loyal customer is demonstrated by longevity of being with EMS and leaving us a review. Both help Electronic Merchant Systems.

Brian: Transparency in pricing, transparency in processes — all lead to elements of trust — winning that trust for new customers but also supporting the trust from your existing customers. Transparency is a secret brand attribute that people don't understand and don't use to their advantage because you when you have nothing to hide, you really don't have anything to prove.

Merrell: There's value in that conversation out there that's visible to anybody. We used to do surveys — 'm talking 7-10 years ago — everybody wanted to survey our customers, but we're the only ones that see that information. How we reacted to it or not wasn't really clear at times, but now we'll just put it out and let everybody see the response and it gives us the same results but better value.

How do you use Google reviews in the marketing work you do?

Cole: Because we have great customer service, why don't we actually show some of the reviews that articulate that? One of the big things we do is we put the reviews on our corporate site, because it's one of the first impressions we want to leave with a merchant. We want them to see the actual proof from real merchants. These reviews aren't fabricated, they're not. Reviews help to reiterate our messaging of how we care about our merchants.

Brian: From reading the reviews, it sounds like the merchants are specific about the solution that they're working with. Thinking about these solutions, how do you get prospective customers to think of a solution as a business growth solution or a management solution, not simply a transactional software package?

Merrell: It’s twofold. We do a lot of training with our sales team so that they can come in with that consultative approach. We also stress some of those transformational items (going back to EMS mobile). Sure, it's great to be able to take a transaction on your phone when you're on site. But the real transformational items are things like the email invoice you can send your client. You could wait and send them out an invoice that they pay at their leisure and avoid printing out an invoice, putting a stamp on an envelope, and depending on the US Postal Service. There's an inherent time delay there. You mentioned recurring payments. If somebody has a selling model with a monthly fee that's being charged, that's very easy to set and forget that system, and not have to run that transaction, once a month, over and over again. We do market the features beyond the transaction as well as training our sales team to do so.

Brian: Merrell, you mentioned going beyond features and benefits to selling what is transformational for the merchant. With EMS’ goal of empowering merchants and helping them grow their business, what kind of language do you use around the idea of transformation? How does EMS message transformation?

Cole: One of the biggest things that we do is use messaging that our solutions will help their business in a growing and changing economy. Because obviously with COVID, and everything that has gone on over the last year, things are extremely different for business owners. We use this wording and language in our marketing materials. To go back to what Merrill said, our messaging is more consultative; we're here to help you grow. We're not here to just sell you the solution with a one size fits all kind of mentality.

EMS takes the time to learn the merchant’s business, we use messaging to emphasize and say we understand that “your business isn't like the other business next door to you.” We’re here to help businesses grow along the way.

Brian: That makes me think about the difference between selling and telling . Selling vs. telling is the difference between trying to create a transaction, versus telling people about how this can help their business grow and make their life better.

Cole: it gives them peace of mind, honestly. A small business owner has a lot going on, especially if it's just one person running the show. It's one less thing on their plate they need to worry about. And that's what we're here for. It's to make a small business owner’s life easier, not more difficult.

Brian: I want to get to the question that I ask of every guest.

From your perspective, what are the distinctions between brand or branding (the process of brand and discipline of brand) and marketing?

Merrell: A s far as product and services rollouts, EMS likes to spend as much time on branding as we can, but sometimes internal pressures say, “we need customers.” There does have to be some branding in place before marketing fully kicks off. But branding, I believe, continually evolves as company warts get exposed.

EMS has been around for 32 years. I believe there's many things that that are part of our culture that conflict with our branding. For example, our company name is Electronic Merchant Systems. For years employees have embraced calling ourselves EMS. Try to search “EMS,” on Google and you're going to find every emergency medical service in the book, and we even get requests to include EMS on marketing materials.

People get very upset when you tell them no, that's not our brand, we have to use Electronic Merchant Systems. When it comes to marketing, we do like to get as much (branding) in place as we can, but there's always those pressures to bring in leads and referrals.

It's an interesting process, marketing and branding and branding never ends.

Cole: I’ve always thought not only just for EMS, but marketing in general and branding and marketing going hand in hand. I look at branding is the bones that marketing can be built upon. If you don't have a clear brand identity of who you are, or messaging around who you are, you could have the best marketing possible but it's just going fall on deaf ears.

It's more of that core: who you are, why do you do what you do. And that's part of our branding. Our brand is about being here to help small business owners, but we give back to our community as well.

I could honestly probably spend the whole podcast going into our community involvement that we do, whether it be working with Coach Sam's, the Cleveland Food Bank, and as a proud partner of the Cleveland Browns. Our community give back or giving back to the community is a huge part of our brand and who we are. It ties back to how we treat our small business owners. EMS is here, not only for just health and longevity for business owners, but our community as well. We just want to help both. We want to empower both and help everyone grow.

Brian: There's a lot of studies that indicate purpose-driven or mission-driven brands like EMS have causes they support. And there's specific reasons for that. You know I'm a big fan of food banks. I was on the board of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio for 10 straight years, so I always like to go to the food bank conversation. Share why EMS supports the Cleveland food bank? And what does that look like?

Cole: In terms of what volunteer engagement looks like, we're a sponsor every single year. EMS allows employees to volunteer during work hours for four to six hours to help just stock and distribute at the food bank. I think the biggest reason we support Cleveland is, you know, we were founded here in 1988. And it's just at our core, we love the city, and we just want to help the city as much as we possibly can. And it's just it's a way to give back and the way I look at it, and I can't speak on behalf of our C level execs. But the way I look at it is the city of Cleveland has been very kind to us. And for us to be able to give back to it. It's the absolute least we can do.

Merrell: The health and well-being and prosperity of our community helps EMS. Whatever we can do to help our community is what we try to do, and it makes our employees feel good too. EMS always look for organizations that have some participation option for our employees.

Cole: When I tell friends about EMS and why I enjoy working here; I love volunteering and EMS gives me the opportunities to do that I just, it makes me feel so good … knowing we're making a huge difference for children's literacy and getting organizations the funding they need to continue the programs going.

Merrell: Our culture kind of developed around these processes. One that everybody looks forward to every year is the Cleveland Browns toy drive. We're a sponsor and we also coexist all around the outside of the stadium with the US Marines. 2021 will be our fifth year and the first year it was hard to get enough people. The people that participated loved it and told their friends. The next year, quickly got the number of people we needed, and now we have so many people that want to participate in the event we have to turn people down.

Brian: What I love hearing in these stories is that you're igniting and opening up personal purpose in the employees so that they are more fulfilled at work and they're more fulfilled personally. We know from research and from other purpose-driven companies (like Vitamix) that when you ignite personal purpose through a company, you get more engaged employees. When employees are purpose-driven, they are going to be more interested in supporting the company culture and the success of the company.

How can people get in touch with Electronic Merchant Systems, the products and services you offer, the company culture, and about all the great things that you do in the community?

Merrell: You can find us online and on social media:

Connect with Merrell Sheehan or Cole Godsey on LinkedIn

Crank Your Brand to 11, Change People’s Lives

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:57:54 GMT

In this two-part EveryBody Brands podcast episode, we talk about how any business can crank their brand to 11 and change people’s lives.

Stephanie Owens is a Certified Brand Strategist and the founder of Gold Sheep Design, a collaborative branding and design studio based in Southern California that helps musicians and instrument makers grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

Stephanie is a self-described Introverted rocker helping musicians grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

Get to know Stephanie at

The Everybody Brands podcast is hosted by Certified Brand Specialist and StoryBrand Certified Guide Brian Sooy from Aespire , the brand agency that helps family-lead business and employee-owned companies implement the StoryBrand framework.

Think Like the Customer, Sell More Stuff

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 14:00:26 GMT

When your brand starts thinking like your customer, your marketing and sales will create the ROI your business deserves.

Does it bother you when you’re throwing money at what you think is a marketing problem because you do not see any return on your investment?

Is your sales team complaining that your marketing isn’t attracting or informing customers in a way that makes the sales team’s job easier?

There’s a disconnect between sales and marketing in many businesses. Your website isn’t bringing in any leads, your sales emails aren’t converting, and everyone on your team is telling a different story.

No wonder prospective customers are confused and disinterested.

Three Reasons Why Your Marketing isn’t Working (and How to Fix Them)

Does it feel like marketing is a bottomless pit in your business?

The marketing team scratches their head and wonders why the sales team can’t make better use of the beautiful brochures or website they designed.

Owners and executives are frustrated because profits aren’t growing.

When sales aren’t growing, the sales team thinks marketing is the problem.

There’s probably a bigger problem, and it has to do with your brand strategy.
As an entrepreneur, you understand the importance of driving sales. But if your marketing isn’t getting you any new customers, that’s a problem.

Marketing and sales are partners who need to work together to succeed. They can’t be competitive because when they are both working towards the same goal, success is inevitable!

The need for cooperation between sales and marketing is obvious but overlooked. Sales managers talk about getting better support from the marketing team, but often don’t do anything about it. Marketing keeps creating content that is all about features and benefits instead of focusing on the customer’s problems, solutions to the problems, and how the customer will feel when their problem gets solved.

Your company’s priorities must be supported by aligning the marketing and sales teams with the business strategy and revenue goals. When the entire team pursues shared objectives, it ensures plenty of opportunity for marketing and sales success.

A company’s marketing and sales teams must play a role in supporting the business strategy. The team needs to work together with the executive leadership team to meet revenue goals.

It would be best to create precise alignment on priorities to move forward and be confident that marketing and sales are on the same page.

“With marketing costs increasing and our call counts flat, we took a hard look at our print ads, digital media, television ads, website , and even our apparel. We were confusing our clients with too many brands, taglines, and messages.”
― Phil Gorjanc, President

Discover how Gorjanc Home Services solved their revenue problem

Everybody is a Marketer

Everybody in your company is a marketer, but everybody isn’t a salesperson. That’s easy to understand — many people get nervous when asking for a sale or asking for money — but when your brand empowers people to invite people into a story and build a relationship, everybody can a marketer.

After we discussed how brands need to make the customer the hero of the brand story, this VP of sales had a clear directive for their marketing and sales teams:

“I recommend we make our approach less about the product and more about the customer, their goals and problems, and how our brand can help them achieve their goals and overcome their problems.

We know that when we stop talking about the customer and their problems, they stop listening. Brands must stay true to the StoryBrand marketing framework especially when the competition is talking about how great they think their product is (and not how it solves their customer’s problems).”

“Persistent, consistent, and frequent stories, delivered to an aligned audience, will earn attention, trust, and action.”
― Seth Godin, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Are you still wondering why your marketing isn't working?

It’s not the tactics.

It's the words you use.

You can throw money at digital ads all day — and if your message doesn’t resonate with people and your sales funnel (aka your marketing) doesn’t invite your unique buying tribe into a relationship with your brand and call them to action — you’re wasting your money.

If the message isn't right, it doesn't speak to the mind and touch your tribe’s heart, so nothing happens.

We bond with brands we love when they help us identify as the hero in the story we are part of every day.

Marketing falls short when it only invites people into a story. Marketing must invite people into a relationship with a brand with personality they can know, trust, and love.

People don’t expect brands to be personal , but they they are attracted to brands with personality that demonstrate qualities like trust in how they do business .

The singular goal of marketing should be to create opportunities for consumers to find a solution to their problems and show them the path to purchasing (and making their life better). It bears repeating: the singular goal of marketing is to create customers.

Branding creates the foundation of empathy and credibility your business needs to earn trust and establish credibility.

Marketing is when you activate the brand in the market by focusing on the buyer and their needs with the words you use.

Building a brand is personal when you position the ideal customer who can fall in love with your brand. this is the point in the relationship where customers (your tribe) create your brand so your brand can sustain your company.

We expect brands to move us from meaning to experience, to transform us into who we want to be.

Product Features and Benefits are Commodities.

Marketing is an expense.

Brand development is an investment.

Your short-term revenue comes from marketing. Your long-term value is in your brand.

It would be best if you had both.

“If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions, you’ve done something worthwhile. The thing you sell is simply a road to achieve those emotions, and we let everyone down when we focus on the tactics, not the outcomes. Who’s it for and what’s it for are the two questions that guide all of our decisions.”
― Seth Godin, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Is Your Mission the Same as Marketing?

I’ve had two or three conversations this week with prospective clients who wanted to work on their mission statement, which is really for their internal branding perspective.

When professionals struggle to understand the difference and interaction between branding and marketing and how it affects sales, it’s no wonder many leaders don’t understand the difference between their mission, vision, and purpose .

If you ask a member of your buying tribe what they need, they will tell you exactly what they want and how to invite them into a sales conversation.

I felt what they needed instead was to drive leads to their business; to create the customers from their unique buying tribe to generate sales and build their brand. Would you agree? Do people need to focus on marketing before they focus on branding? Or is there a way to pursue those concurrently?

Using Sales to Improve Customer Service

Instead of focusing on constant growth, what if you were laser-focused on managing what you have and improving your current clients’ experience with your brand?

You can talk about clear messaging and beloved brands all you want, but if your product and customer service don’t back up your messaging, you will ruin your reputation and lose business.

What if, instead of pushing out more marketing, you focused your sales team on winning trust?

We’re in the experience and attention economy, and people are overwhelmed. Your unsolicited marketing is an interruption in a time when people crave connection.

“If you come from a sales point of view, it’s all about targets and quotas. It should be fun to sell because it’s so easy.” ( Marty Neumeier )

Connect with your customer's needs and desires by giving them a voice. Your marketing is more than just an interruption, it can be the bridge that brings people closer to you and closer together.

Culture is changing and people are overwhelmed. Your marketing might not be the option for which people who are fearful, frustrated, and frantic are looking.

In today’s society, our attention spans are shorter than ever before as we try to filter through all of the noise in order to find what we’re looking fo,r or follow that one piece of content that catches our eye on social media.

What if your marketing offered people release and relief? What if your messaging confidently states, “We have the solution to your problem, and we’re here to help.”

In an experience economy, your brand must stand out from other things vying for attention. Your brand needs to be different. Really different.

The Most Important Brand Touchpoint

The brands and businesses that thrive in the future will focus on people as their primary brand touchpoints.

Marketing doesn’t build relationships.

People do.

The closer your employees are to customers, the more relevant those representing your company are as your brand’s most essential touchpoint.

Are you confident your employees represent your brand, core values, and purpose ?

These front-line brand ambassadors will influence how your brand is revered by your tribe and influence how people evangelize for your brand.

Your customers are also key touchpoints . Customers are your external sales team, brand ambassadors, social media influencers, and raving fans!

Building a brand requires that you know your buying tribe’s identity, goals, beliefs, and behaviors because everybody brands, and everybody’s a marketer.

“ We’re in a moment where we have so much advertising and everyone’s trying to win in the attention economy, you need to try to win trust. A way of winning trust is making this deep human connection , which is all about understanding somebody's aspirational goals. ”
― Will Leach, Marketing to Mindstates

How Your Brand Can Build Trust and Make an Emotional Connection

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 12:45:29 GMT

In this episode of the Everybody Brands podcast , Aespire’s founder Brian Sooy has a conversation with Mind State Group founder Will Leach on how making fast emotional connections with people will help your brand win trust and resonate with people’s hearts and minds.

Will knows how it feels to hold your breath every time you launch advertising, and how crushing it is when the campaign you worked on so hard just crashes and burns.

With over 25 years of experience in corporate America, Will has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and conducted hundreds of research studies. His best-selling book, Marketing to Mindstates generated six figures in just six months of launching, (which makes me jealous). Marketing to Mindstates is one of the leading resources on behavioral and science-based marketing today.

What triggered our conversation was Will’s weekly Mindstate Messenger. If you want to make your marketing more focused, effective, and written with relevant words to the people you’re trying to reach, I recommend it. Every week, he sends a short, five-minute video that gives a fantastic insight into how you can better connect with your audience.

In this particular email, he digs into why the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial and the Budweiser Clydesdale commercials made such a successful impression on people. It wasn’t because they had top-of-the-line production. There was something else.

Brian: Will, in your mind, what did those commercials do that resonated so strongly with people ?

Will: Ultimately, they made a very fast emotional connection. Making a quick emotional connection is essential in any kind of marketing and advertising. Even if you’re talking about a shelf display selling a product in a grocery store, it has to make an emotional connection first. There’s a lot of deep behavioral psychology and neuroscience behind the importance of making that initial emotional connection.

Brian: The actual phrase you used to describe it caught my eye because it’s one to which I refer often: The words and design should resonate with your heart and min d.

Will: Yes, and I used that order deliberately. Every day, we see thousands of advertising messages, and it’s only getting worse. I recently read a study that said we see 6,000 - 10,000 advertisements on average every day. That’s an actual advertisement of some kind, not impressions. Because of that, our unconscious psychological filters are getting stronger, eliminating the majority of marketing. Messages that only appeal to the brain, like convincing people to buy products or engage with a website, can’t get through that filter.

In neuroscience, we find that your brain makes a judgment on whether it wants to interact or avoid something in the first one-20th of a second. Your rational brain doesn’t work that fast, but your heart does. So messages have to connect with the heart immediately. Then, over time the message can tap into the brain and confirm what the heart is feeling.

Brian: Yes, that’s it. In my first book, I also wrote about creating a quick emotional connection. It’s so hard, though, because, what you’re suggesting, is we get numb to it. It’s almost like our brains are developing calluses that keep us from sensing and feeling. The message gets lost unless it’s meaningful and touches on what we believe in or value.

So then, is leading with facts or selling features and benefits relevant?

Will: I believe it’s relevant, just not as important as it was back in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and maybe even the ’80s, where you only had a couple of different channels, like billboards, radio ads, and very little direct to consumer advertising. But today, that world has changed. We’re so inundated with communication. You need to start your message with something other than features and benefits, especially in this economy right now.

We have the highest growth in business start-ups ever because of the high unemployment rate and entrepreneurs needing to feed their families. Many businesses are starting small or as a side hustle, which means they don’t have enough time to establish a brand. They just need to sell a product that people want. In my book, I call those functional goals. For example, let’s say a small restaurant opens up in my neighborhood wanting to sell pie and advertises that they use “Mom’s Recipe.” That’s great.

They need to sell pie, and everyone wants to eat yummy pie (functional goals), but the problem is, there are three other restaurants around the corner also selling pie made from their mom or grandma’s favorite recipe. Now four restaurants in my neighborhood are all selling pie with similar features and benefits. What happens? We tune out. They need something else to break through the clutter. And that is where we get into the emotional side of marketing.

Brian: Yes! You mentioned earlier that we see about 10,000 ads a day, but I think it’s higher. Studies I’ve seen suggest we see as many as 35,000 a day. If you read anything like news on your phone, you go to the site, get one short paragraph, and then a huge ad. It’s not worth reading the news anymore. And those ads aren’t getting through. People are looking for something else that’s going to meet the emotional need or a question they have at that moment.

Will: Very much so, and I don’t mean to say, and I want to make this clear, you can’t talk about features and benefits. You still have to tell everyone your pie is yummy, and it’s a great value. That’s important. But what you’re doing, so we have a term in behavioral psychology, is a cognitive heuristic. It’s called confirmation bias. And confirmation bias happens after you make an emotional decision, often within the first one-tenth or one-twentieth of a second (even within a second), whether you’re going to buy the pie or engage with a website. You make it that fast.

Many times the rational brain wants to confirm that this is a good emotional choice. So that’s why you have to say, this is my grandma’s recipe, and it’s only $1.99. Those rational things matter. Because if you’re only talking about emotion, and people will purchase on just emotion because they get excited, they will also feel they should justify the purchase to their wife or husband or themselves.

People need those little proof points, but they’re just looking for you to validate what they already feel. So it’s not very hard, but you have to have those in there. If you lead with features or benefits first and then try to bring in emotion, you’re doing it backward. But if you bring emotion first and don’t confirm, you’ll get fewer sales.

Many business leaders struggle to create a brand that aligns purpose, character, culture, and voice. Stop struggling and find clarity with 12 principles to strengthen your brand and grow your business.

Brian: Interesting. One thing I always think of is finding the right balance for your audience. We haven’t done the in-depth research on this, but we know from working with one of our clients for over three years they do not respond to emotional triggers. They are very fact-driven and make 90% of their decisions based on facts and easy follow-through plans. It took us about two and a half years to figure that out. We know when and where we can speak to them emotionally, but it’s on something different. It’s on a values-based system that aligns with the work they do.

There we inspire them, they love it, and we get a lot of engagement. But it’s harder to lead with that kind of content and then drive them to decision making. So, asking them to join a webinar because it’s going to help solve problems they experience every day in their business versus, get inspired by this speaker who’s going to help teach you how to solve these problems. We don’t even mention the speaker. We just give them the 1-2-3 on how to participate.

Will: Well, I also suggest that it depends on where they are on the journey with you and building trust, which isn’t easy. I just did a webinar about winning trust - not earning trust, winning trust. But either way, you look at trust; as people become more familiar with you and trust you, they’ll allow you to lead with more emotion. I’ve worked with surgeons on my research projects and even government officials, who have large bureaucracies to navigate to get my client’s products through the system.

Whether it’s consulting services or medical services, these are rational people who have systems behind them to eliminate the emotion out of their decisions. But frankly, we’re all people. So as you establish greater trust, and I’m not saying that’s easy, and I’m not saying that you can do that in a short period, but as you build trust, I believe you’ll have more leeway to lead in heavier with emotion because they trust you. They know you’re going to give them what they need.

Brian: Right. So I think we’ve figured that out with our clients, and we are there in terms of building trust and moving them forward. We also talk about knowing the right balance between the rational and the emotional. For instance, we can all think back to the commercials that are for pet causes. The ones with the songs and the sad puppies and how those commercials drew people in, or they completely turned people away. I remember watching one come on T.V., and whoever had the remote said, "I’m not watching this" and changed the channel immediately. It was too emotional.

I want to segue and talk about your tool, the Mindstate Blueprint. I’m thinking about how we use this to understand the customer, position the brand as a trusted voice, and how empathy and authority lead to credibility and trust. I think that flows out of what the brand’s motivation is. What’s the best they want for their customers they’re serving? And how are they approaching that? Ideally, then, a brand is always going to be positive.

In working through your blueprint, I had an "ah-ha" moment when I realized I could apply this to brand voice and the motivation to the mission. This process helps to position the brand, so when they know who they want to be, they can drive there more quickly.

That leads me to position that brand effectively as the guide, and something we’re both familiar with, the StoryBrand framework. I flipped your model to turn it inward. I see it serving the external messaging and the internal brand building process, which I’m excited about.

Will: I’m digging it. That’s the first time I’ve heard that.

For those of you who don’t know, Brian and I met after I went to a StoryBrand workshop in Nashville last February. I was sitting in a large conference room going through the framework for my brand-new business, Mindstate Group, when I realized Don Miller was saying many of the same things I was, but in a slightly different way.

That realization inspired me to think about how my model focuses on understanding people’s aspirational goals, what motivates them to reach their goals, and then what approach to use - overlapped with StoryBrand because there’s a lot of behavioral science behind it all. I just wasn’t exactly sure how it all fits together until you and I met and had a conversation. I started writing an article for Forbes on the way home from Nashville.

And this is why I like what you’re doing, Brian, is it’s the way to win trust – by being a trusted guide.

Right now, we have so much advertising vying for our attention that brands need to win trust. A way of winning trust is to make a deep human connection, which is all about understanding someone’s aspirational goal.

If a brand understands its customer’s aspirational goals, then it demonstrates they understand their purpose. If a brand can communicate in an essential way to its customer, it will generate greater trust because it is more intuitive and natural. In my book, it’s called either being optimistic or cautious. If you’re more optimistic, your language will be different from being more cautious in nature.

Brands need to become trusted guides versus just a guide who has empathy and authority. If you understand somebody’s goals and aspirations, you understand their purpose, motivation, and intuitive approach.

If you have that, then you have a much stronger human brand that you can rely on to be a differentiator from another company that says, “I understand you because I’ve been where you’ve been,” or “I’m also smart, I have authority.” I think there’s a more profound connection you can make.

Brian: I believe that. Because I always push past empathy and authority and say that what we’re doing is those two components combined to create credibility.

Credibility is what either earns or wins your trust because you’ve proven competence.

Will: I like it, and I think that’s because there’s some natural behavioral science in there. Ultimately, I think it comes down to that one-20th of a second. Maybe it takes somebody eight seconds to look at your website, and if you haven’t established a connection or empathy within eight seconds, you should assume they’re never going to read it. They’ve already created avoidance or at least resistance. When I think about StoryBrand and reflect on my experience, I think about a rocket ship.

If you propel a rocket ship, you need two things. You need propulsion to push, and then you have to have lower resistance. StoryBrand does a great job at lowering resistance because it uses narrative psychology to make you feel like your brand is living within the story. We all live within stories. And if you get your message wrong by being too complicated in your language or not simple, you create resistance. So, I think it does an incredible job on the resistance side of the rocket ship.

What I didn’t feel it did a great job on was the propulsion side. It assumes somebody has the desired need to engage with your brand or company. And that’s a big assumption. I don’t think we can assume or wait for somebody to desire what we’re offering in today’s world. We need to fuel that desire. And so that’s where I think my model starts to play. And why I wrote about this in Forbes and how someone can incorporate my model into the propulsion side, and where motivational psychology fits in.

Brian: And that’s getting to the point of understanding what you call triggers, and where resistance is lowered. To find that point of least resistance and use that trigger to push people to make that decision.

Will: I like how you said to push people through; if we’re going to keep the analogy, it’s being pushed through the atmosphere, bam, and you’re in space. It’s the trigger that will do that. I like that.

Brian: Right. And we have to remember that a propellant creates propulsion. In space, you need propellant to move an object from point A to point B. Even with a solar sail, it’s photons pushing that sail, which become the propellant.

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Brian: In talking about marketing, one thing that always comes up is the difference between branding and marketing. I love to ask my guests, which one should come first? Because branding doesn’t have a widely accepted definition, how do you define branding?

Will: I think of branding as a series of associations, good and bad, that a brand has created over time with people - psychological associations. But the vast majority of those associations are unrelated, which means something three steps removed from your brand could be associated with your brand.

For example, suppose somebody had a bad experience with a company, and you just interacted with my brand, psychologically. In that case, your brain will associate the negative story about a different company with my brand. Brands are just a series of these associations you can’t control. However, marketing allows you a mechanism of control so you can create as many positive associations as possible. When somebody is considering your products, you at least positively come to mind.

Brian: Absolutely. We all have brands we love , dislike, and most of them we are ambivalent about. A brand owner should always strive to create a brand that people love, and that’s a phrase I use a lot. One coined by Marty Neumeier can sum up your explanation of branding. A brand isn’t what you think it is. It’s what your customer says it is.

Will: I was in the brand/marketing world for a long time. I worked at PepsiCo for 20 years and other major global brands. What I figured out over time is when you spend 18 months launching a brand, you become so enamored with all the great things your brand does you live in that world.

A long time ago, we worked on a brand called Flat Earth, and it failed miserably. Flat Earth was a fruit chip that was going to taste so good. It was a whimsical brand with a flying pig mascot. It was beautiful. We were so enamored with this idea of our brand being more than just a chip brand. But when I gave it the mom test, she laughed and asked home much? When I told her $5.49 a bag, she laughed harder.

Now my mom is from East Tennessee, in the Smokies, and as much aspiration I was giving the Flat Earth chips and how great they were, she knew people couldn’t afford a $5.49 bag of chips. I remember thinking my mom didn’t know what she was talking about. And then it died.

Why? Because we were internally talking about a brand, but we didn’t own the brand. Our customer owned the brand. And the associations they had with it were whimsical and cute, but it was also a very high priced snack. That’s one of the first indications when you realize you don’t own your brand. You can pretend you own your brand. But ultimately, your customers own it. And in this case, we didn’t own a very good value association.

Brian: Right. Exactly, value association. We refer to the Bain Value Pyramid to help people, especially in the goals/motivation approach and heuristics. Here are the functional goals people have. It sounds like that brand association missed the value part. People don’t want to pay $5 for a bag of fruit chips, even if the logo is beautiful. The other day I paid $2 for a bag of apple chips, but I wondered how much they would be at a discount store. It was more of an impulse buy, and that’s something you talk about in your book. If I eat Apple chips, I’ll be eating healthy even though they’re probably full of sulfur dioxide and a lot of other junk.

I appreciate this conversation. I think many people are going to enjoy this. I’ve had two or three conversations this week with prospective clients who wanted to work on their mission statement, which is really for their internal branding perspective.

I felt what they needed instead was to drive leads to their business. Would you agree? Do people need to focus on marketing before they focus on branding? Or is there a way to pursue those concurrently?

Will: I think right now, unless you’re already a large established brand, you should focus on marketing first. Now, I also agree as you’re going through this, you don’t want to be marketing to a company for two to three years before you start trying to figure out who you should stand for.

I know there are many books out there, and you’re a big proponent of finding your purpose; whether it’s your brand purpose or a personal purpose for starting a company, I think you should be working on that in the background. I wouldn’t spend $1 on branding in this economy.

There’s too much noise happening right now. I would make sure I’m driving enough sales to justify the cost, time commitment, and thinking commitment to building the brand. That’s my personal opinion. Behavioral science would also suggest that that’s the thing to do. It’s the easier thing to do. Building and controlling brand associations is very risky.

There’s a lot of data showing the number of people with no brand loyalty right now. Companies have spent millions of dollars doing loyalty programs and establishing brands for many decades, and they have seen 40% – 50% of their customers try other brands. They did nothing wrong, but the environment changed to where they weren’t available.

If a grocery store delivery service can’t find your favorite brand, they’ll deliver a substitute. If you happen to like the alternate, there’s the switch. There’s no control. If you can’t control all the associations and brand loyalty, I would suggest another path. Rather than trying to build up a loyalty program, I would be spending as many dollars I could get people to keep trying my brand through marketing until you have enough volume, enough great brand experiences to justify the cost of time and effort to build a brand. That could be one year from now. I don’t think you should wait for three or four years. But I certainly don’t think you should be doing double-spend right now.

Brian: I agree. We have to be sensitive to what’s going on in the market and the economy. 2021 is coming up, and I think we’re both advising our clients to be ready for it. You do some excellent research and short papers on three things that people should be aware of. I’ve certainly shared those with dozens of clients. People are focusing on safety and control, security, but also sensor release.

Will: It’s still happening. We started looking at that data in March, and it’s still happening.

Brian: We were looking at homes going up in new neighborhoods, and there’s one particular company that sells a modular deck system. And I would see two or three signs on every block almost that somebody’s putting up a deck in their backyard all summer. It was incredible.

Will: Yeah. Think about Home Depot or Lowe’s. When you’re spending upwards of four or five days in your home without leaving, you start noticing things that you want, right? I hate this paint. I could see that because right now, your home is your restaurant, your school, your church, your work, and your entertainment space. When you’re living in your home and doing all these different things, you start looking at your home very differently. All of a sudden, a modular deck makes a lot of sense. It seems like an excellent investment.

Brian: Right. Home Depot and Lowe’s sales are up over 20% . And we do know from talking to colleagues or friends who own appliance dealerships; it’s four to five months out on things like refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves, and hot tubs. So you order it now, you’ll get it in February or March.

Will: Wow . Pent up demand, right? We’re spending a lot of time in our house with a lot of time to think.

Brian: It’s true. People are not only living at home; they’re living at work.

Will: Yeah, living at work. I like that.

Brian: Will, I want to thank you for your time today. Our conversation has been amazing to me. I’m all about motivational psychology and behavioral science. I think you’ve given us some great insights into applying this, which is what’s most important. We can talk theory all day. But if we don’t apply it, it’s meaningless. Thanks for your time, and tell us how people can get in touch with you to buy your book. Most importantly, because it is a great book, I would highly recommend it for anybody who’s doing marketing or brand development right now.

Will: Thank you very much. I appreciate that. My book is called Marketing to Mindstates: The Guide to Applying Behavioral Design to Research and Marketing by Will Leach. You can buy it on Amazon , or my website, mindstategroup.com, where you can also sign up for workshops.

Every month, we do a live workshop to train brand managers, marketing directors, small businesses on how to think about their customers and through the lens of behavioral psychology in my book. Over two days, we work through data to show you how you can identify your customer’s mind state, but more importantly, what do you do differently in your communication?

We have one coming up in just a few weeks, and pretty soon, we’ll be offering masterclasses where you can download this stuff. They’ll be video-based courses you can do on your own. So be on the lookout at mindstategroup.com. And at a minimum, Brian, as you said, sign up for my blog. I send out videos every week; I have lots of articles and white papers that I send out because ultimately, I’m just trying to help people become better and more successful marketers. And I think behavioral psychology is a great tool.

Brian: I agree. I’ve taken one of your workshops, and I’m using this Mindstate Blueprint with our clients to walk them through and help them think differently about their customers, and they’re getting it; they see it.

Will: I think you have something with that empathy side. I like where you’re going with that. I want to put some more thought into that as well.

Brian: Let’s keep talking about it. Thanks, Will.

Connect with Will Leach at

Connect with Brian Sooy from Aespire at

Branding vs. Marketing: Why Marketing is Important for your Brand

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:22:46 GMT

It may be odd to discuss what is more important — branding or marketing — during a global pandemic and national emergency. People increasingly look to business and business leaders to provide guidance, reassurance, and information.

What is the difference between marketing and branding?

It's ridiculous to argue about what's more important, branding or marketing. It's important to understand the difference between branding and marketing so you know how they work together to attract, inspire, and engage customers and create raving fans. (I recommend listening to Chris Do discuss the merits of both marketing and branding with Melinda Livsey and Fabian Geyrhalter).

Every day, people tell themselves stories about what they need, how they want to feel, who they are, and who they want to become.

That’s why it’s important to start with a simplified definition of brand and marketing. When brand and marketing are made simple, it’s easier for entrepreneurs, business owners, and business leaders to cut through the jargon and get to the essentials that help them pivot quickly and take action now.

When we say, “everybody brands,” we mean that it’s the interplay between your brand strategy and marketing that creates the environment and experience for your customers.

Branding takes shape in the mind of your customer — in the interplay between what your brand says it stands for and how it behaves — and your customer’s experience and how that experience makes them feel. Marketing makes the brand familiar and helps create a customer’s experience with the goal of trust and loyalty — two brand virtues.

Listen to this article, The Difference Between Branding and Marketing

Simple definitions for branding and marketing

A brand is a person’s gut feeling about your product, service, organization, or cause, and how it fits into their lifestyle (how they live their life) or worldview (what they value). Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what they (your customers) say it is.
In storytelling language, a brand is a story people tell themselves about what you offer and how it fits into their lifestyle or worldview, and how the brand makes them feel. It’s the voice they hear speaking to them when something triggers a memory or recollection of your product or service.
Branding is the strategy and process of defining and articulating the purpose, character, and culture that differentiate your brand and its unique voice so people identify with your product, service, organization, or cause.
Marketing is storytelling. It’s how you invite people into your brand story so they can clearly hear its voice and be confident the brand can help them solve their problem or become who they want to be. The marketer’s voice tells a story about how the brand helps the customer (benefits); how they will feel (experience); and who they will become (identity).

Download a free ebook, 8 Things Every Website Needs to Engage Customers , to find out what simple changes you can make so your brand is trusted and authentic.

Branding and Marketing in Times of Crisis

Your focus should be on marketing and communications that tell people your brand is listening, cares about them, and wants to help.

During a crisis of any kind — pandemic, natural disaster, national emergency — people are feeling a great deal of uncertainty. Your messaging and interactions need to help people feel safe, connected, and in control.

Employees and customers are looking to business leaders for assurance, information, and guidance. Now more than ever, it’s critical that your brand is the guide, striking a balance between empathy and authority.

Keep these considerations in mind:

What messaging with empathy looks like is different for every business and brand.
Don’t stop communicating. While the world hits pause — hit play — because hope moves forward and the world needs hope right now.

A simple way to pivot your messaging

Work through this simple exercise to help you pivot your marketing messaging to best speak to how people feel during a crisis:

My customers used to feel/be this way: (confident, optimistic, successful).
Now my customers feel/are: (uncertain, cautious, failing).

For example:

My customer used to be busy — now they are restless and bored at home.
My customers used to be optimistic about the future — now they are cautious.
My customers used to be risk-takers — now they want to minimize risk.
My customers used to be well-connected — now they are socially distant.
My customers used to be epic adventurers — now they just want to recreate.

Three ways to engage with your customers

Brands that survive and thrive will demonstrate a high level of trust, authenticity, transparency, and on a personal level.

Contact your customers to stay connected and meet their need for being engaged.
Connect with your customers to let them know you care about how they are doing and meet their need for safety and security.
Care about your customers by asking them how you can help to meet their desire for being empowered and having a sense of control.

When you let people know your brand is listening, cares about them, and wants to help, it’s easier to pivot messaging to what people need to hear at this moment.

Marketing should be simple and it should work. Get started by creating a marketing funnel that will help your business survive ... and thrive .

Why are marketing and branding important?

Everything is connected in a system.

The business, product, service, brand, and customer elements are connected. You must think of your company as a system governed by a purpose, and design the relationships between the company and the customer.

People are more likely to do business with brands they know and trust , especially when you understand their goals and motivations.

Right now, people are feeling a great deal of uncertainty. Your messaging needs to pivot to help people feel safe, connected, and in control.

During a crisis, people feel cautious and insecure: Your communications and messaging needs to help them feel safe and secure.
During an emergency, people feel disconnected: Your communications and messaging needs to help them feel connected especially if your product or service can help them strengthen connections with each other.
During a crisis, people feel a loss of control: Your communications and messaging needs to help people feel empowered and in control. Giving people a sense of personal power and purpose are two ways to drive emotional engagement right now.

How to create Brand Messaging during a Crisis

Reframe your messaging and the choices you offer people

If your brand provides protection and security:

If you used to promise success, shift from promotion to protection with offers that help them lower chances of losing control.
Security is defined as the desire to feel safe and protected from the threat.
For instance, financial services can shift from growth to protection.
Speak to minimizing risk.
People are forced to stay at home — think about how your brand can provide a sense of security in their home or business.

If your brand offers control and empowerment:

Empowerment is the desire to feel in control, authorized, and equipped to act.
Give people hope that they have a say in their future.
For example, one thing you can control is how you message to your customers and prospects.

If your brand offers connection and engagement:

Provide relief or hope in your messaging.
Engagement is the desire to feel captivated, excited, and absorbed in activity.
Tell people how you can help them experience more significant relief where they are.
Talk about how your brand can help people connect with people they care about.
Florists, this is a great time to recognize that while you can’t see people you love in person, you can send them flowers to show you care.

Right now, your focus should be on marketing and communications that tell people your brand is listening, cares about them, and wants to help. Your marketing will reveal your brand character, and your brand’s voice must be clear and consistent in your marketing.

When you’ve reframed your messaging and the customer’s choice in a way that speaks to the way they feel and view the world, your brand is more likely to influence their choice when they make a decision what to buy or who to buy from in the moment.

That’s how branding and marketing work together during a crisis.

Marketing Leads to Relationships

Building a brand is a long-term plan. You make it meaingful when you position the ideal customer as one that can fall in love with your brand.

Marketing falls short when it only invites people into a story. Marketing must invite people into a relationship with a brand they can know, trust, and love.

Marketing and branding are co-dependent

Brands create and store value, marketing is an expense. A brand becomes more valuable through marketing. Marketing is more effective when the brand expresses the value the customer gets from it.

Branding reflects character and brand personality flows from the words and messaging that a brand chooses to represent itself.

Branding is the process of forming identity and likability.

Branding is also the process of defining the personality and character of your brand so it awakens a need for connection (engages the curious), nurtures belief and trust (enlightens the interested), and deepens the desire to act by inviting people into relationship (compels the committed). Your goal should be to clarify your message so you become more relevant to fewer people.

Marketing help you attract the curious; branding helps you keep them engaged.

Marketing invites people to experience your brand. Branding is the person that opens the doorway and says to the customer, “You first.”

Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels

The Ultimate Website Checklist

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 15:51:21 GMT

You and your team spent a lot of time building your new website. Make sure your website is ready to launch with your ultimate website launch checklist.

Template

The work on your site starts with selecting a template. A lot of creative design work was already done by our specialists. The templates come with consistent styling from images and layouts to spacing and line-heights. There are still some extra steps you can take to make sure the template functions efficiently.

Layouts

Your template includes the matching header, footer and navigation, but you have a multitude of options to change it. Depending on why you created a site, you can pick a social media focused header, a call-to-action buttons based header and so on. You can have different layouts between desktop, tablet and mobile views.

To change the layout of your site, in the left panel, click Design, and then click Site Layout.

Images and Colors

All of our templates have a vibrant color palette and rich array of images, so all that is left to do is re-color the site in your branding colors and pick the images that reflect your niche. When doing so, do not forget to make sure you have adapted all elements of the template to your style.

Make sure to visit every page and double-check that the color of the text elements and backgrounds are correct. Switch to desktop, tablet, and mobile view as you go.

To change images, in the left panel, click Design, and then click Global Images.

Page Backgrounds

Replace the default page backgrounds that come with the template. You can set up individual background images per page, so make sure to change not only the main background image, but also individual page backgrounds.

To change the site background, in the left panel, click Design, and then click Site Background.

Consistent Branding

If your site accompanies your business or organization and you already have a branding package, make sure the site reflects that.

Fonts

If your company also has printed materials, such as brochures, leaflets, or business cards for promotion, use the same fonts and colors of your site. When it comes to fonts, our rich built-in library will cover you for the majority of widely-used fonts. If the font is not available, you can use Google fonts or even embed your custom font on the site using @font-face technology.

To change the global font, in the left panel, click Design, and then click Global Text.

Logo

Make sure your logo is in the header of your site. For most templates, you will just need to update the default logo of the template with your own one. Check both the header and the footer of your site.

For some templates, you have the option to upload a larger image on desktop and a crispier, smaller version of it on mobile. This means that you need to update the logo separately for each device layout.

Favicon

Favicons are a great way to make your site stand out on your users’ browsers. It is always a great idea to upload a smaller version of your logo as a favicon. If your logo is too big, just upload a small icon that matches the general design of your site in colors.

To upload a favicon, in the left panel, click Settings, and then click Site Icons. Click +Image next to Favicon.

SEO Optimization

For every site that you build, Website Builder makes our best effort to have your pages load quickly. We automatically resize the images for your site and optimize the code. When publishing a site, the sitemap is submitted to Google and Bing to make sure it is indexed. Complete the following to continue optimizing your site. To see all SEO settings, in the left panel, click Settings, and then click SEO.

Image Optimization

We automatically resize and compress images and show device-suited versions of the image. However, not every image can be optimized to the full potential by modern optimization tools. For instance, no compression tool will optimize the image that comes in 4000x7000 pixels. Since the majority of your users will not have such wide displays, simply upload smaller images.

Meta Tags for Search Engines and Social Media

To ensure the preview of your page on social media and search engine snippets look good, remember to set the following:

Site Title and Description
Social Media Image
Page Titles and Descriptions
Blog Post Descriptions

Alt text

Search Engines cannot see the images on your site, but they do crawl the alt text you put on them. This is a great place to use some of the keywords for your site.

To add alt text to an image, click the image in the editor, and on the Content tab, type the Alt text in the field provided.

Alt text is especially relevant for pages with a lot of images, but not a lot of content. Text is the main way to communicate with search engines, so make sure not to miss such an opportunity.

Note Make sure that the alt text matches the image. Otherwise, you will hurt your SEO instead of helping it.

Build Links

Before you publish your site, when your sitemap is not yet generated and Google did not yet crawl your site, is the best time to check that there are no broken links or missing pages.

URL Redirects

If you had a site before and are now are switching to the Website Builder, check make sure your new site has a corresponding page for each of the pages on the old site to preserve the SEO ranking of the pages. If you want to get rid of certain pages, create a URL redirect from a missing page to an actual page on your site.

To configure URL redirects, in the left panel, click Settings, and then click URL Redirect. Click Add new redirect.

404 Errors

To create a custom 404 page, in the left panel, click Settings, and then click 404 Page.

SSL Certificate

Since July 2018, Google started to penalized sites without SSL certificates. SSL certificates are free and can be installed with one click. After you install the certificate, do not forget to force our visitors to open the site through HTTPS connections.

Promote Your Message

If you set out building a site with the goal of bringing more attention to your business or cause, put it in the spotlight with the help of our tools.

Call-to-Action Buttons

If you have a business or promo site, make sure to place call-to-action buttons in the header, footer, or homepage of your site for maximal exposure.

Protect your business website with an auto-updating privacy policy subscription that works on ANY website! Gain peace of mind for just $12 per month!

Legal Aspects

Forgetting to add a legal page could potentially have far-reaching consequences. Ensure you have the following:

Cookie notification
Privacy page
Opt-in fields on contact forms

Check the legal requirements of the country your target audience is from in order to customize the cookie notifications and privacy page.

10 Tips to Relaunch Your Website the Right Way

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 15:30:43 GMT

A Simple Guide to Relaunching Your Website

If you have made the commitment to creating a clear message for your marketing and invested in a StoryBrand Messaging strategy , the next step in creating a sales funnel for your business is to build or re-develop your website.

Your website is more than an online brochure; it is a valuable business asset that helps you attract the curious, informs, and inspires consumers, capture leads, and serve as the hub of a digital ecosystem for marketing content and customer engagement.

This article will help you

Evaluate the choice between open-source content management systems such as WordPress and Joomla or software as a service (Saas) platforms like Duda, Aespire’s recommend platform for high-performing websites
Get a 10-step plan to relaunching any website
Know the steps you must do to ensure your website is error-free after your website launches
Discover the essential add-ons that professional agencies use to empower visitors to share content and the security tool you need to protect your business from hackers and malware.

Your marketing and sales funnel should include at least five elements:

A clear marketing message that positions your brand as the obvious choice for prospective customers
A mobile-first website
Lead generation giveaways
A prospect nurturing email campaign
A sales email campaign

There are many reasons why you should consider redesigning your website after you take the first step to clarify your messaging. The most important is to send the signal to prospects and customers that something is different. Like the story from the Bible, new wine belongs in a new wine skin.

When it comes to relaunching your website or a website redesign, you have two choices:

Keep your website on the platform or content management system it is currently on, regardless of security concerns or its ease of use, or
Migrate your website and content to a new platform that is easier to manage, more secure, and will help your business grow.

As you consider your next step, think about the manageability of the software platform you choose or that your website developer recommends. Open-source platforms such as WordPress or Joomla are vulnerable to hackers and malware that can take your site offline and damage your business reputation.

Your choices for website builders include:

Open source content management systems require constant maintenance and proxy firewalls services such as Sucuri to protect them from hacking and other vulnerabilities.
A SaaS platform is cloud-based. The developer maintains the code, and you maintain your content.

“For 43% of small and midsize business owners, ease of update and maintenance is the top factor when choosing a software to build their website.” – What SMBs Want from Their SaaS Platforms , Duda

Pros and cons to Open Source vs. SaaS Website Builders

If you want to maintain your site on a popular open-source platform such as WordPress or Joomla and are looking for rock-solid hosting and a simple approach to website management, we recommend:

Transfer your domain name to Namecheap.com for greater control over your website and domain name management
Take a look at the “Fanatical Support” and affordable website hosting subscriptions offered by CloudAccess.net.

One of the features we love the most about Cloud Access is the ability to clone a website into a development instance, make updates, and re-deploy the site back into production. It’s been a time-saver and brings peace of mind.

Once we decided to relaunch the Aespire website, we evaluated two paths: Keep the site on the Joomla open-source platform or invest the time and resources to migrate the site to Aespire’s enhanced agency version of Duda.

Aespire.com was initially developed in Joomla in 2008 and served the company well, but we reached the limits of design and rapid content development to grow the agency efficiently.

A few of the advantages to the Aespire & Duda website builder are:

Faster development time
Industry-leading no code website builder and content management hybrid platform
Natively optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
Flexible and customizable design features that make it easy to create beautiful pages
Simple and elegant blogging

Our choice and direction were confirmed when the business software rating website G2 rated Duda the top website builder above Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and many others.

10 Steps to a Successful Website Relaunch

Once you’ve made the choice to migrate your content to a modern, secure content management system and website builder, the path to relaunching your website is similar to the plan you would follow for an open-source migration.

Here’s the path Aespire followed to migrate our website from Joomla to Duda:

Your website relaunch process begins with a visit to Google analytics. If you’ve had a website for a long time, your website will have product and information pages, lead-generation features, and a blog.

1. Begin your website design by reviewing your website traffic and creating a spreadsheet to sort the website content in two ways:

Most-visited site content pages
Most visited blog pages
Transfer your domain name to Namecheap .com for greater flexibility and control over your website

2. Create a new website content map to plan your menus and website blueprint.

Plan your top menu: 4-6 links to direct visitors to services, shop, process, blog, and contact pages at a minimum.
Plan your website footer: If you have more pages than will fit on the top menu, plan for 3-4 columns of site page lists in the footer of your website. These will be the pages that website content map review found to be popular. Think of a content map as the path people follow from your homepage to content you want them to see).

3. Create a plan for the content you want to migrate.

Break down your content into blog articles, marketing content, and lead magnets. Analyze the top-visited pages in a spreadsheet and sort the list by the number of visits over 12 months.
Sorting your content by visits will reveal your most valuable content. Now you have the insights you need to reduce the amount of content on your website.

4. Create a URL migration and URL redirect strategy.

Try to keep redirects to a minimum, and plan for a “404 Page Not Found” page with a search box so visitors can find content that moved.
Aespire is well-known as a leading branding agency for service companies . Our core services are listed under the branding and marketing Capabilities menu, making it easy to direct people to a specific page.

5. Create a core marketing message that shows your customer a vision of success

Your brand messaging — and related marketing — doesn't have to be complex. It needs to be memorable and repeatable.

Make it clear that your business understands the biggest problem or pain your ideal preferred customers are trying to solve,
Present your offer or solution that will relieve their pain and solve their problem, and
Clearly explain how people will feel and what they experience after they choose to work with your service company.

6. Design the look and feel of your visitor experience

Life and business are complicated for many people, so keep your website design simple and easy-to-read. What is most important is your user experience.
Create a simple color palette for your website with a couple of primary colors, secondary colors, and vibrant color to highlight your call-to-action buttons.
Select fonts that are easy-to-read on screens. Keep the contrast high between dark fonts and light backgrounds.

7. Select images that show your clients what they will experience and feel after they use your products or services

There are many websites that offer royalty-free website photography. Duda makes it easy with integration with millions of photos inside the platform.
Show positive outcomes and results that reveal success.

8. Build your pages. Be sure to add:

Meta description, meta title, and a social sharing image so search engines can properly index your website.
Learn the simple steps for search engine optimization .
On your contact page or in your footer, place a Google location map (essential for local search).
A website “fat footer” that contains all the links, contact info, and links that don’t belong in your navigation bar.
A thin footer at the very bottom with copyright, site map, privacy and cookie policy , and home page links.

9. Preview and test your website on desktop, tablet, and mobile views

Duda makes previewing your website easy with a website preview feature. Check out how the Mister Sparky Salt Lake website appears on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

10. Launch your website and update any external links that might reference page URLS that changed

Once the website is live, conduct a website audit to check for broken links and other issues. It’s nearly impossible to catch everything before you launch, so the website is a critical aspect of a website relaunch.

Once you’ve launched your website — don’t forget to celebrate!

Website Redesign Post-launch Checklist

Once you’ve launched your site, it’s time to run through this checklist:

Starting a new website or relaunching an existing site is a complicated endeavor. Once your new website is live, be sure to do these things to maintain your search engine presence and meet the needs of visitors:

Run a site audit to check for
Broken links
404 page not found errors
Missing alt tags (text that describes your images)
Missing page meta titles and descriptions, and more.
Use Neil Patel’s simple audit tool or contact Aespire for a paid detailed analysis.
Add your site map to Google Search console (on Duda, the site map is domainname.com/sitemap.xml.
Get daily, automated indexing with a subscription to URLMonitor . It's the same solution we use for home services, HVAC, plumbing, and electrician company websites.
Install Google Tag Manager to make it easy to install tools like Google Analytics.
Consider adding a search tool. SiteSearch 360 is a free and powerful option.
Correct issues and re-run your audit to ensure your new website contains no errors that make it less appealing to visitors, customers, and search engines.

Finishing Touches for Service Company Marketing Website Relaunch

There are always a few finishing touches to add to your website that help visitors make the most of your site and earn their trust:

Install an auto-updating website privacy policy to minimize risk and maintain compliance. States and countries are proposing laws that will allow consumers to sue businesses anywhere in the US for not having a compliant Privacy Policy. We recommend Termageddon to help you comply with CalOPPA, CCPA, GDPR and more.

3 Marketing Signals You Send to Customers

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 11:55:57 GMT

During times of uncertainty, the message your brand sends customers must show that your business truly cares

What signals does your brand or business consciously and subconsciously send to people who are curious, eager to learn, or ready to buy?

After several weeks of closure, the coffee shop was re-opened. People had already formed new buying habits and began to change them now that it became convenient again to order a cup of coffee to go.

After a few weeks, the coffee shop mysteriously closed again for one week.

The cars usually parked near the entrance to give the impression to customers that the coffee shop is open are missing. From the street, all other signs indicate the coffee shop is open.

The sign is bright, the umbrellas and chairs are on the patio. The Drive-Thru sign points the way to satisfaction at the back of the parking lot.

The signals reinforce the new habits people formed from a presence that says, “We’re open, place your order.”

Drivers still pull into the parking lot and accelerate to the drive-through, ready to order a low-fat soy latte with an extra shot.

The cars and SUVs that zip past my window brake hard when they notice the orange cones blocking the entrance to the drive-through.

I see them checking their phones as they slowly drive to the exit, perhaps wondering why Starbucks is closed again.

I had a similar experience when I waited in line at a Wendy ’ s drive-through. I couldn't go in because the popular fast-food chain can’t get enough staff. There were five cars ahead of me ; we each heard the same message when we got to the microphone: “We’re sorry, we are closed due to lack of staffing.”

All it would take is a sign near the drive-through to let customers know whether the restaurant is open and what to expect.

Learn how to grow your business with a brand that’s authentic and marketing that works

People are listening for three key decision-making signals in your marketing

Several drivers park their car in front of the entrance and pull hard on the unyielding entrance door, then read the only signal that the store is closed: A letter-sized print-out with an apology and an appeal to stop back soon.

After they read this, customers look around in confusion as if they can’t comprehend that their local Starbucks is closed.

I feel sad for others: People with limited mobility park toward the back of the empty parking lot, slowly make their way to the entrance, read the sign, and sadly retreat to their cars.

A small group that meets weekly hasn’t been back after the mystery closing.

The signals promise a reward, satisfaction, and the comfort of familiarity in a place that promises community.

The signals your business sends are the words, actions, and behaviors that reinforce the behavior you want people to take and the promise you want people to believe.

During times of uncertainty, your brand must send three key messages to customers:

When your customer is concerned about their health, safety, and well-being, your brand must clearly communicate that your business is committed to ensuring your customer will be safe and secure.
When your customer feels like everything is uncertain and out of control, reassure them that your product or service will help them regain the control they feel like they’ve lost
When people are frustrated because the things that give them joy seem to be limited, communicate how your product and service will help them experience joy during times of uncertainty.

Speak to your customer’s mind. Touch your customer’s heart.

When you do, they are more likely to listen, care, and engage with your brand because your business spoke to one thing they need right now: We see you, we hear you, we’re here to help you.

Listen to the Everybody Brands podcast so you can send the right signals to your customers and clients.

Rebranding the Holy Bible for Modern Readers

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 11:34:56 GMT

If the first place people experience your brand is your website, then your website is your brand. Learn how an eCommerce website grows sales and Bible Translation brand awareness.

We kept hearing these words from retailers and consumers: “We thought the GOD’S WORD Bible Translation was out of print.”

Out of print? No!

The GOD’S WORD Translation Bible website positions its parent organization, God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society, as one of the best-selling and most relevant Bible translations on the market.

Released in 1995, the GOD’S WORD Translation is widely recognized as one of the easiest to read and accurate translations of the Bible.

As part of its long term brand strategy and direct-to-consumer engagement campaign, Aespire relaunched GodsWord.org on a leading ecommerce platform to empower the God‘s Word Mission Society to raise funds through product sales and online donations.

The eCommerce store and Amazon channel achieved a 500% sales growth increase through integration with email communications, online donation appeals, and a growing library of resources for visitors searching for Bible-related content.

Aespire serves the God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society as its fCMA agency (fractional chief marketing agency) and Chief Brand Agency.

Ongoing products, marketing, and branding initiatives include:

Outselling and outperforming traditional Bible publishers that previously licensed the translation
Clear messaging for the GOD’S WORD brand and website using the StoryBrand framework
Ongoing Amazon review program, resulting in 1,000+ reviews and a cumulative 4.9 star rating for all editions for the God's Word Brand
Introduction of the new GOD’S WORD Translation Kindle Edition
Distribution through Laridian and the Pocket Bible
Manages global licensing
The release of the beautiful GOD’S WORD Wide Margin Deluxe Edition , featuring the typographic and Bible design expertise from Aespire
Launching the first-ever GOD’S WORD Ambassador program to equip pastors, authors, and content creators with this easy-to-read and understand Bible.

7 Tips for Building a Successful Communications Strategy

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 12:14:49 GMT

The first rule of branding and marketing is, “It’s not about you.”

With all the feverish activity that communications and marketing professionals label as branding and marketing, it’s important to remember that they are not two separate activities, but part of a continuum of communications.

For your communications strategy to be successful, the following aspects of brand alignment have to be present:

You’re different: Is your brand indistinguishable from similar brands, or are you significantly different? Different enough that it makes prospective customers aware that your values and theirs are aligned and you can solve their problems?
You’re listening: Are you delivering what they are asking for? Have you asked them what they are looking for? Are you engaged in listening and responding? (in relationships, we call this conversation)
You’re having a conversation: Are your marketing and communications materials, in any media (print, web and social) about how you help solve the customer’s problem? In other words, is your marketing about your organization, or how you make people’s lives better?
You have a collaborative approach: Does your story and messaging align with your mission and strategic plan? If you’re managing your mission to measurable financial outcomes, your communications must speak to those outcomes.
Your leadership team and employees are engaged. Does everybody understand your customers and your brand’s role in their story well enough that they can articulate it?
You’re focused: How many marketing messages do you have? Can you communicate your brand story in 15 seconds? How about in 5 seconds? Simplify your message, keep it consistent. (Aespire can help you create a consise and compelling one-liner or positioning statement that everybody in your company should memorize.
Are your customers engaged? Have you made your customers the center of your brand story? In your organization’s brand narrative,are customers positioned as powerful brand ambassadors to their personal network? Do they realize greater meaning in their lives because of your brand?

Strive to implement these seven tips to align your brand with your company mission and the team that supports customers. When you do, your business will be meaningful to the people who buy from and believe in your brand.

Safe and Secure: Creating a Trusted Web Experience

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 12:12:40 GMT

Perhaps you’ve experienced this yourself: You clicked on a link or visited a website where something seems to be just not right.

If you’ve invested any amount of money in attracting, informing, inspiring, and engaging people to build a movement or inspired for action (especially making an online purchase), the last thing you want is for them feel uncomfortable on your website.

As your business evaluates its web presence for the work-from-home economy, you’ll be thinking about eCommerce. Ensuring that your browsers and buyers feel assured, safe, and secure year-round is both a strategic branding and technology concern.

If selling product is part of your revenue model, you’re thinking about the best possible experience for online transactions.

One of the last things on your mind may be website security. You may think it’s the realm of the IT staff to handle security, but as a marketing or communications officer it’s also your concern. You may think it’s already been taken care of.

Evoking a sense of trust and security is not simply about better communication, it needs to be a core value of your brand. If you are exchanging trust online (a completed transaction is proof that your customer trusts your brand), your organization’s credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness must be established before the first time visitor visits you online, and sustained as that visitor becomes engaged and you sustain the relationship with them.

Assuring your browsers, buyers, and returning customers that your website is secure must be a major consideration for the center of your communication platform.

While it may sound complicated and/or scary, website security is relatively simple to implement and has the benefit of reassuring people that their trust in your brand is well placed.

Just because your domain name ends in .COM does not assure visitors that your organization has a secure and malware free website .

Encryption and SEO Benefits of an SSL Certificate

Let’s begin with the simplest technique for reassuring your donors or customers, the SSL certificate. An encrypted website offers these benefits:

SSL encrypts the connection between your computer and the website you’re visiting.
Visitors recognize a secure URL, typically found on donation pages when the web address begins with HTTPS.
An SSL certificate displays a small lock icon in the URL locator of your web browser.
Donors and site visitors are reassured of a site’s security when your entire website loads with the HTTPS prefix.
The agency that issues the certificate often will provide a reassurance seal to place in the footer of your website. A reassurance seal is also known as a trust badge.
With website security being a top priority for Google, it provides an additional level of reputation and credibility to the search engine giant’s algorithm and ranking system.
Test your website’s security at Qualys .
Google favors encrypted websites with higher ranking. For now, while it’s only considered by Google to be a “lightweight signal,” who doesn’t want better organic search engine rankings?

With a little research, you will find there are multiple options for implementing encryption on your website, and it can be overwhelming. Aspire recommends that you first ask your webmaster about implementing website encryption and if they are unable to assist you, get in touch with your hosting partner.

How do you keep your WordPress site from being infected?

Website security firm Sucuri recently published a report based on its analysis of over 11,000 websites were compromised with malware.

Given the popularity of WordPress as a platform for nonprofit communications, and that one-third of the world’s websites are powered by the four key platforms, (WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, and Magento), security is a major concern.

Take a look at just one of the many charts Sucuri released in its Website Hacked Trend Report report ( Chart courtesy of Sucuri.net )

The vulnerability of WordPress is not only a concern for any business that relies on an open source platform for its online presence.

It's critical that your web development team keep your site up to date. Leading-edge hosting platforms such Websites Made Simple maintain security and auto-update feature in their subscription plans that to ensure security updates are applied and your content management system is up-to-date.

In its Hacked Website Report , Sucuri notes, “we saw that over 60% of websites were vulnerable at the point of infection — a 4% increase from 2018. This trend indicates that website owners continue to fall behind on patching and maintaining core CMS files and extensible components.

Our research team tracked a massive ongoing campaign which leveraged over 54 vulnerable plugins, themes and components during the 2019 calendar year. This campaign was responsible for redirecting site visitors to fake tech support and push notification scams.

Credit card stealers and ecommerce related website infections were also on the rise in 2019, with over 1700 client-side and 600 server-side credit card stealers removed from infected websites in 2019 by the Sucuri remediation team.”

Protecting your site from being hacked is a major concern regardless of whether your organization is in the social sector or private sector. The moment a visitor has a bad experience, whether it’s through a Google phishing notification , or from visiting your website after it has been hacked, immediately casts doubt in the visitor’s mind about the reputation of your organization and its brand.

Providing your visitors with a secure website isn’t complicated, and it can be cost-effective. The cost to protect your website from hacking and malware is most likely less than the cost to clean it up, the impact on your reputation, and the amount of potential loss of donations on an unprotected website.

Five key steps to take to protect your website from hackers:

Choose a platform provider with expertise in open source platform hosting: After many years of working with different managed hosting providers, Aespire’s first and only recommendation is now CloudAcces s. With a robust platform, US-based cloud hosting, and a global support team, we’ve found them to be the most capable hosting platform we’ve ever worked with. Their platform powers enterprise-level corporate and a wide variety of business websites.
Upgrade your website to a secure, reliable software as a solution platform such as Aespire Websites Made Simple .
Keep your code based updated: Sucuri notes: “Out-of-date software has been a serious issue since the first piece of code was put to virtual paper. With enough time, motivation, and resources, attackers will identify and potentially exploit software vulnerabilities.”
Install a web application firewall: A simple and effective way to do so is to add a cloud-based Proxy Firewall, such as Sucuri. While they are not the only website security provider, their proactive approach to protecting, patching vulnerabilities, and expertise in cleaning hacked sites makes them a top choice.
Hire Aespire to protect your site through our Sucuri proxy firewall account with SSL validation and monthly Site Audit monitoring for reputation and search engine optimization (SEO). Contact us for pricing and details .

Protecting your web site is about protecting your brand and reputation

If you’re concerned that your WordPress site is vulnerable and may be at risk, scan your website for free with the Sucuri SiteCheck —but be certain to consider these other steps and insights for providing your donors and customers a trusted experience.

Aespire understands that you realize how important website encryption and security is to supporting your strategic communications and to attracting, informing, inspiring, and engaging your audience — whether they be donors or customers.

If your goal is to motivate website visitors to action, to help them build the movement, and buy your products it is your responsibility to assure them that every step they take with you online is safe and secure.

Your Voice is Your Brand

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 13:32:40 GMT

What does it take to create a movement with one purpose and one voice?

How can you position your company with a brand with a voice and behavior that engages people to create change or buy from you?

“Your positioning is proven when your messaging and your audience connect. Your true positioning is realized in the place you occupy in their hearts and minds. It is created at the intersection of what you want them to think and believe about your organization, and what your audience really thinks about your organization.”⁣

“Lean too heavily on emotion, and you risk losing potential supporters who respond to messages that speak to their intellect.⁣

If you rely too much on information and knowledge-based messaging, your stories may appear boring to an individual who needs an emotional appeal to their heart.⁣

What you want to find is the right balance of emotional and rational messaging that creates a voice of credibility.⁣⁣

Understanding the context of your communications will help you to create a narrative that informs AND inspires.”

Eddie closed with,

These are 12 principles for communications that my good friend @briansooy talks about in his book, Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto .⁣⁣

To be honest, when I first started reading the book, I was a little worried because it seemed mainly geared towards non-profits.⁣⁣

But I figured “Hmm… Maybe there’ll be universals that can be used for even the profit-types. Besides, maybe I’ll end up doing some work for a non-profit, down the road.”⁣⁣

And I wasn’t wrong. In fact, all of the concepts found in his book are applicable to any brand that’s serious about its purpose, mission and vision.⁣⁣⁣

“Upholding our brand truths is everybody’s responsibility. If we’re not aware of what our brand represents and if we don’t communicate it clearly, people will fill in the gaps with what they believe—whether it’s true or not.”⁣⁣

So with that, I figured it’d be worth sharing with all of you today.⁣⁣

...Use these 12 principles to help mission-driven companies strengthen their brand’s culture and communications.⁣

And you can do the same for yours.⁣

Catch you all on the next one.⁣⁣

Uncertain Marketing for Uncertain Times

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 29 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

In this episode of the Everybody Brands Podcast we have a conversation with Wes Gay about how we should define a brand and what a marketer or business owner focus on now, especially in uncertain times: branding or marketing.

Wes Gay is the founder of Wayfinder and a StoryBrand Certified Guide & Copywriter. Wes’s experience as a former pastor gives him empathy and credibility to help leaders create a clearer message for their companies using the StoryBrand Framework.

Wes worked in churches and nonprofits for 10 years, including running a thrift store. Wes began his journey to entrepreneurship the way many of us do: He had been unemployed for about six months and couldn't get anywhere after coming out of a difficult kind of church experience.

Little did he know three and a half years later being a copywriter and marketing consultant would become his real job.

This episode is brought to you by Websites Made Simple. Download a free ebook, 8 Things Every Website Needs to Engage Customers , to find out what simple changes you can make so your website helps you grow your business and make more money.

While Wes and Brian approach their work from different backgrounds, both help companies integrate and implement the StoryBrand framework, a storytelling and marketing model that is proven to help any business or brand to create clear messaging and grow through consistent implementation.

Wes and Brian talk about how we should define a brand and the interplay between the disciplines of branding and marketing.

And we talk about lessons we can learn from a donut shop about branding and marketing business during challenging economic times.

Connect with Wes Gay at

Search Engine Optimization Made Simple

duda@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 16:48:21 GMT

For many business owners, Search Engine Optimization is confusing because local SEO is changing, and the game is rigged in Google's favor. SEO doesn’t have to be complex or confusing. You can improve your organic search results by implementing a few simple SEO tips.

SEO consultants want you to think that search engine optimization is part mysterious science and dark art, only accessible to those willing to pay for their services.

Laying a foundation for good SEO doesn’t have to be mysterious.

The basics never change: Think of the one person who is searching for what you want them to find. Optimize pages for that particular individual by creating content that answers their search queries.
Think about the phrase they are searching for and include it in the page title, the headline (H1 tag on the page), and in the text on the page in moderation and in context.
Include the phrase and variations in your meta description, the page summary that search engines favor for summaries on the search results page.

Think global content. Optimize for local search.

If you work with clients outside your geographic region, create pages that help searchers in specific locales to have a better chance of finding you, as does Total Touch POS with its Austin, Texas-focused restaurant blog content.
Setup your Google Business Profile Page, including a category phrase that helps people find your business in general searches.
Localize when possible and relevant. 80% of US-based businesses are small businesses, and many of those companies serve local clients.
People search for companies near their physical location. For instance, when somebody searches for “Marketing agencies near me” in Northeast Ohio, our Google business profile appears high in the list.

Think like a human who is searching for a particular solution or phrase

If you want to find something online, think about how you search on Google. How do you type your query? Write like a searcher for your website page, the title on your page, and the meta description
Google is beginning to look for natural language on a page. The days of key phrase stuffing and creating content that sounds like a robot wrote it are gone, thank goodness
Think about the phrase for which you are optimizing and study your competition on Google by searching for the phrase you think people will use to find your content

Can Your Content aAppear as a Google Featured Snippet?

Find an evergreen phrase, idea, or research related to your product, service, or business perspective. Design a website page with a plan to be a Google snippet
Here’s a practical example: copy and search for, “ the difference between purpose and mission and vision ,” and check out which website appears near or at the top. It’s often the article from Aespire.com, The Difference Between Purpose, Mission, and Vision (out of 207,000,000 results)

Zero-Click Search

Zero-click search refers to when a searcher finds their answer on the search engine results page (SERP) without having to click a link.

Content Marketing Institute states,

“More than one-third (37%) of people end their search without clicking. Of the remaining people, 21% conduct another search and 41% click on something."
"Of those who click, 70% go to an organic result, and 28.5% end up on another Alphabet (i.e., Google) property, such as YouTube, Maps, Images, or News. And 1% click on a paid ad.”
“You must understand that the search game is rigged. Google optimizes for Google, not your brand.”

Create a content strategy. Then write.

It seems that most businesses want to create SEO-rich pages and ignore the type of content that attracts people: long-form blog content.

Content that you own helps position your company as an expert or can provide helpful info to people searching for solutions. Find a perspective and own it. Write as only you can write.
For example, creating trust is a popular topic. When you combine trust with the risks of violating website visitor’s privacy, the result is powerful insight and perspective on why your website needs a privacy policy .
Create a content strategy (i.e. high-quality blog content — written by a human and not AI — and a publishing schedule) based on key phrase research (the phrases, or combinations of words, people use to search for products and services in your location and for your expertise).
Write a minimum of 3000 words per month and publish on your blog. This is the best strategy you can deploy.
Cross link within the site to build content relationships: blog to blog, content to blog, blog to content.

Building a Beloved & Dominant Brand with David Lemley

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:22:21 GMT

Brand Strategist and agency principal David Lemley thrives at the intersection of culture and the outdoors and proves meaningful impact isn't relegated to Manhattan.

David helped put the Pacific Northwest on the map as a thought leader in design, working with brands that are ambitious, fearless, and out to change the world. He believes a brand should inspire deep and meaningful connections with real people and enthusiastically do good.

A Conversation with David Lemley

David Lemley has had a creative and strategic hand in shaping some of the world’s most iconic brands including Starbucks, REI, Pampers, and Nintendo. As the Founder and Chief Strategist of Seattle-based Retail Voodoo, David is on a mission to help better-for-you brands win customer’s hearts, minds, and souls. He partners with marketers, investors, and founder-owners to unlock the power of their brand’s promise to engage consumers, spark innovation, identify opportunity, and drive exponential growth.

“Your brand is not your logo and the act of getting your logo imprinted upon 10,000 ballpoint pens is not branding. That is logo application. That's called activation. Branding is all the “thinky think” and all the planning and the integrity with which you run your business and decide what you're going to make.

The art of branding is being mindful and intentional about the way you're going to promise. You’re going to make it in a way that you're going to keep aiming at the guiding principles. And once you have that crystal clear, it also helps inform what you're going to make, what your offering will be, what it should cost, who's who you want to talk to. All of that is branding and then after you know that, then you get into marketing, planning, and activation.” — David Lemley

David Lemley published his first book, Beloved and Dominant Brands: The Brand Ecosystem that Drives Better-for-you Brands from One of Many to Category Prominence , a highlight of the very first model David and Retail Voodoo uses in their brand strategy development process.

This episode is brought to you by Aespire Websites Made Simple , the visual website builder that helps you build a professional site that grows with your business.

Some of the questions David and Brian discuss include:

In an age where people care more about, “what’s in it for me,” are you finding that consumers are still really tied in with the “Why?”
Based on industry and a culture perspective, how do you define branding?
What are some of the myths that you encounter around branding?
What do you tell someone who doesn't believe their brand is a valuable business asset?
How can businesses and brands do a better job of using stories to keep promises?
As you listen, you’ll learn about a mutual colleague whom David counts as a major influence on his thinking and interviews in Beloved and Dominant Brands .

Listen online or in your podcast app:

Connect with David Lemley and his work at:

Connect with podcast host Brian Sooy at StoryBrand , LinkedIn , and Amazon .

Ask These Two Powerful Questions to Understand Your Customers

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 17:06:06 GMT

Do you know what your customers say about your company or brand?

Are you confident that your clients and customers understand what your company stands for and how it helps them solve their problems?

When it comes to your company and your brand, are your customers and clients clear about who you are, what you do, and why it matters to them?

Think of your favorite brand and a product or activity you closely associate with it: Apple and the iPhone. Piaggio and motor scooters. Wyndham and vacations.

When you see a pair of white earbuds, you identify that individual as a member of a tribe that prefers Apple products.
When you ride a Piaggio motor scooter, other motorcycle riders signal their kinship with a subtle wave as you pass on the road.
When you go on vacation at a Wyndham resort, it’s easy to start a conversation with another couple by asking where they are from and if they are owners.

We find community and shared purpose through the beliefs, values, and guiding principles that are part of our shared identity. We express our personality through symbols and signals , so it’s easy for us to identify each other based on whom we say we are.

We assume that the signals we send and the symbols we wear represent the best of us, our shared values, and the characteristics of our “brand.”

Two Powerful Questions You Must Ask Your Customers

Reflecting on my experience after a trip to Israel, I can’t help but notice that the questions Jesus asks his followers can give us insight into strategy and business.

Two questions he asked are the same two insightful brand research questions you should be asking your customers, and asking your team to help you understand how to express your brand and understand what the market perceives.

Jesus chose to ask two questions in a conversation near Caesarea Philippi (An area located in the northern part of Israel, by Mount Hermon and the Jordan River), where people used to worship the Greek god, Pan.

He wanted to know, “Is the message about me rising above the noise of competing messages about false gods?”

You can ask the same question of your brand and business: “Is the message about my brand breaking through the competing messages from our competitors in the marketplace?”

First, Jesus asked his followers, “Who do people say I am?”

You should be asking your team similar questions:

“ What do our customers say about our company? ”
“What do prospective customers say about our company?”
“What does the marketplace say about our company?”

These questions will quickly reveal to you if people understand three key points:

What people think your company does,
How you help them solve their problems, and
Why they should do business with you.

To communicate your company’s purpose with clarity, you must to be listening to the story people tell themselves about your company.

When you ask customers these questions and listen intently to what they say (not for what you want to hear), the answers will help you do two things:

Understand if your go-to-market message and services align with the problems your customers need help solving
Evaluate how your brand messaging and customer experience must adapt to change their misperceptions and reinforce your business and growth strategy

When you ask these questions, people know you're interested in what they think and feel respected when their voice matters. What customer doesn’t love a brand that listens to their needs?

Next, Jesus asked Peter (one of his leading followers), “Who do you say I am?”

The disciples were with Jesus every day. If Jesus’ disciples were not on the same page and if they were not clear on who he was and why he mattered, how could they follow him?

Your employees and team are with you every day. Does what they understand and believe about your company align with its mission, the leadership, and the brand identity the company projects to customers?

If your team, message, and marketing aren’t all on the same page, how will your customers know if your company and brand is the right fit for them?

How will they be clear about who you are and why they want to work for or buy from you?

Like your customers, everyone in your business must know the same three key points that you want your customers to believe:

What your company does,
How you help customers solve their problems, and
Why customers should do business with you.
Jesus was checking with his closest circle of followers (his team) to learn what they were hearing from the people. He needed to know if his team understood who he was and why he mattered.

This model of leadership is easy for you to practice: Jesus expected his followers to listen to the people, and he listened to his team. This example is a powerful model of leadership in marketing.

You should listen to your team, and expect your team to listen to your customers.

When you expect the same from your team, you create unity and alignment in your culture and communications . Listen to your customers and the people that serve them. Ask what they think, measure their perceptions of your brand character, and avoid wasting time and money trying to sell products and services for problems people don’t have.

When you ask the same questions Jesus asked, you can be confident your brand and messaging will connect with your customers.

How a Privacy Policy Builds Trust for Your Brand

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:49:00 GMT

Protecting your customer’s and visitor’s privacy builds trust, increases brand recognition, improves your business reputation, helps buyers move faster through your sales funnel, and helps you acquire brand evangelists.

By Donata Kalnenaite, Esq., CIPP

There is a good reason as to why being trustworthy is one of Aespire’s twelve strategies for purpose-driven brands and culture . Accountability and transparency are at the core of building trust with the customers and supporters of your organization. Building trust will increase the recognition of your brand, improve your reputation, move buyers faster through your sales funnel, and help you acquire brand evangelists.

How does having a privacy policy factor into the building of trust? A privacy policy will show your customers that you abide by the law, that you care about their privacy and that you are willing to stand by your commitments. All of these aspects will demonstrate that you are a company worth trusting.

A privacy policy is a document that on your website tells your customers what information you collect and what you do with that information. It informs people who you share their information with, and other information about your privacy practices.

Here’s the problem: Many website owners overlook posting a
privacy policy , believing that they’re not at risk of a lawsuit
or privacy violation. Think about the damage to your reputation
or the financial impact on your company.

It is interesting to note that a privacy policy is required by law for most websites that collect any personal information (e.g., name and email). You are collecting personal data on your site if you have a contact form or email newsletter sign up form. If your website invites people to signup for a lead generation campaign or uses marketing automation, you're collecting personal information.

Furthermore, using analytics services such as Google Analytics also lead to the collection of personal information. Analytics services even require you to have a privacy policy in their Terms of Service.

Consumers distrust companies that do not follow the law - there’s a reason why Facebook’s privacy abuse scandals have led to quite a bit of backlash for the company. Having a privacy policy on your website will show to your customers that you are aware of, and do follow the law. This practice will help establish you as a reputable company and will lead to customers trusting you more than your competition.

When was the last time you read a privacy policy before you clicked
that "Accept" button or uploaded your photos through FaceApp?
Protect your brand with an auto-updating privacy policy .

A few years ago, a privacy policy was a document that no one except for lawyers and professors read, that is no longer the case. After consumer's information was sold, shared with untrustworthy third parties, or just posted on the dark web, consumers are a lot more interested in their privacy rights than ever before.

Consumers care about their privacy, are aware of their rights, and know their power. A privacy policy will show consumers that you care about protecting their privacy and that you are willing to take the time to ensure that their privacy is protected. This practice goes a long way towards demonstrating trust.

As a website owner or brand manager, you must be
concerned about privacy. Just ask Facebook .

Lastly, having a privacy policy will help you build trust by showing that you are willing to stand by your commitments. A privacy policy sets forth what third parties you share the information with and helps you show the consumer that you do not share it with anyone who does not need it. A privacy policy also sets forth your obligations towards that private information and, by showing consumers that you follow those obligations, you will build trust.

A privacy policy is a great way to establish and build trust with consumers. It can even help you avoid sales delays. A study conducted by Cisco in 2019 found that 87% of respondents have sales delays due to customers’ data privacy concerns. The average length of the delay in the U.S. due to privacy concerns was 3.7 weeks. Having a privacy policy will help move your sales along with the trust of your customers.

Guest author Donata Kalnenaite, Esq., CIPP is the President of Termageddon , a privacy policy generator that automatically updates its policies when the laws change. She is a licensed attorney and certified information privacy professional. She often volunteers at the Illinois State Bar Association holding courses on the General Data Protection Regulation where she teaches other attorneys on the importance of privacy and what Privacy Policies should contain.

Building a Better Home Services Website

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 18:51:22 GMT

Finally — the freedom to create your own website

When a new client confided in me, “I haven’t updated my website in two years. I’m afraid to make changes and don’t want to pay my developer for simple changes that I should be able to make,” I could hear the sadness in her voice.

When I shared that she could finally have the freedom to manage her website through Aespire’s no-code website platform, she was elated.

When I revealed a wireframe that took me less than an hour to build filled with her content during our StoryBrand strategy session, she was excited at the prospect of a new website that will connect her with her local community like never before.

Aespire Branding and Marketing agency develops high-performing websites on an enhanced version of the popular website development platform, Duda.

People love our website platform because it’s easy-to-use and makes them confident that they can make changes without fear of breaking anything. Aespire gives home service companies , plumbers , electricians , and HVAC contractors the freedom to create, manage, and update their business or eCommerce website anytime, anywhere.

A revenue generating customer-acquisition website can help service company owners bridge the gap between their business and sales goals.

Manufacturing Website Redesign Captures Hundreds of Customer Orders

Before: Formerly hosted on ThomasNET, you can see the broken interface on the left in this desktop-only website that limited user interaction and kept new leads to fewer than 3 per year for 5 years.
After: Within 3 years, the client has captured 500+ new leads, and the website experience is custom-designed for desktop, tablet, and mobile users.
Basic StoryBrand website design principles were applied to the design and content to ensure the site engages with and converts.

Aespire empowers service company owners with brand strategy and marketing that help them acquire more customers who grow their business.

Why do businesses struggle with marketing?

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 12:37:11 GMT

When the first thing a business owner wants to do is to launch into a campaign without the guidance of a strategic plan, a marketing plan — any plan — the business struggles.

In almost every conversation we have with CEOs and business owners, we hear: “We’re struggling with marketing and telling our story…”

When it comes to marketing, you need to set clear strategy for direction and empower your team to create and implement the communication strategy. At the highest level, how does this work?

Your strategic plan will identify your objectives, goals, and outcomes with supporting objectives, strategy and tactics that a marketing plan will support.
Marketing is about driving engagement – inviting consumers into a story (about how your brand makes their life better ) that supports a narrative (about your brand), and participating with people in conversations about those stories.
Marketing is the dialog that brands hold with consumers where they listen and engage to understand how their brand fits into an individual's lifestyle (for B2C brands) or helps people grow their business (for B2B brands).
This approach is key to the understanding that all marketing and communications should build trust, drive consumer engagement, and call people to action.

Stop Struggling with Marketing

You can stop struggling with marketing and start succeeding with engaging consumers when you answer these five questions:

Are we ready to stop telling our story and invite people into a story that demonstrates how we can help them live a better life, accomplish their goals, and change their future?
What data and consumer insights can I leverage to bring objective insight to this area of my leadership?
Are we in alignment with strategic planning, marketing, and sales strategies to achieve our revenue goals?
Can I get buy-in from the owner, CEO, and executive leadership team to support the marketing communication strategy and funding for the tactics that will help us achieve our objectives?
Am I willing to embrace that branding is an outcome of a strategic communications approach, and not the reason for it?

When you integrate StoryBrand and the Marketing Made Simple approach into your business, you'll stop struggling and start succeeding so your business thrives.

How Strategy Helps Organizations Thrive in the Digital Age

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 23:59:38 GMT

Run your business better, your board more effectively, and guide your organization to create greater impact in the community and marketplace

This episode of Everybody Brands between host Brian Sooy and Sarah Olivieri from Pivot Ground has insights that will help you run your business better, your board more effectively, and guide your organization to create greater impact in the community and marketplace.

Sarah Olivieri is a nonprofit strategist with a passion for helping organizations thrive in the digital age. She's the founder and heart behind Pivot Ground, an agency that helps human service nonprofits increase capacity, deliver better programming, attract more funding, and make the world a better place. This episode is part one of two where we about talk strategy and the Impact Method, a business framework for nonprofits.

When communications consultants say things like, ”Nonprofits don’t want to do the work that we need them to do and they don’t realize how important strategy is;” and nonprofit leaders say, “Strategic planning is not helpful and annoying and takes up too much time,” it's time for an intervention.

Just how important is strategy, and why is it the first principle in Aespire’s Clarity Credo for mission-driven brands and culture?

If you’re a board member or nonprofit leader, this two-part episode of Everybody Brands is one to which you need to listen.

Sarah introduces us to her business framework, the Impact Method, that gives you a strategy in less time. We take a step back and talk about how the Impact Method helps organizations that focus on strategy nurture trust with the people they serve and the people from which they’re asking for support.

Three Common Marketing Mistakes Businesses Make

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 18:26:45 GMT

Do you ever wonder why people think of your business as a “best-kept secret?”

Are you frustrated because you can’t seem to connect with new customers?

Think about your strategy, messaging, and marketing. When small businesses owners get busy, it’s easy to overlook the marketing and messaging practices that will help them grow their business.

Are you making these three common marketing mistakes?

1. Starting with Tactics Instead of Messaging

Two organizations asked us to help them clarify their messaging after issuing RFPs for or beginning new website projects.

In everyday language, we call this, “putting the cart before the horse.”

When we asked why you would begin with the medium instead of the message, one marketing director commented, “We assumed that if we’re commissioning a new website, the agency will develop new messaging and it will work itself out.”

What kind of communications or business planning is that? It sounds like a vague hope that developing a website will result in the foundational brand messaging that will help their organization grow.

2. Talking about Your Successes instead of Your Customer’s Problems

When you make your organization the hero of your messaging instead of focusing on your customer's problems and how you are uniquely positioned to solve them, your customers stop listening.

Several high-profile organizations in our region recently won awards. A significant part of their messaging places all the attention on their success, as if to say. "We’re awesome, and that’s why you should buy from us."

When your messaging and marketing focuses on your accomplishments instead of your customers, their problems, and how you can help them make their life better, your marketing is the equivalent of talking to yourself. At best, your marketing becomes the equivalent of a photographic selfie.

The first thing to remember in marketing is, “It’s not about you.” If your messaging is self-centered, you’re wasting your money because your customers aren’t listening. Don’t be the boor at the party who isn’t interested in the people you’re seeking to attract, inspire, and engage.

3. Your Messaging is Vague and Confusing
While driving through Michigan, I saw a billboard with this messaging:

Headline at the top: Like corned beef loves marble rye.
Subhead at the lower left: We love to help.
Logo: Placed in the bottom right corner.

Do you have any idea about what this financial institution is talking? What do corned beef and marble rye have to do with banking?

The lesson: Do n’t confuse your customers. When your messaging is vague or trying to be clever, it’s confusing. When your customers are confused about how you help them solve their problems, they don’t care — and they don’t buy.

If your marketing suffers from one of these three mistakes, you’re losing sales and wasting money.

You deserve better. Contact Aespire so you can stop wasting money on marketing and be a confident business owner so your business grows.

Contact us and get the help you need to create a sales funnel, build better websites, sharpen your elevator pitch, and market your small business.

Photo by Cristi Tohatan on Unsplash

Who Defines The Best a Brand Can Be?

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 05:00:00 GMT

In a woke culture, brands are learning a valuable lesson: Everybody brands. Who brands want customers to be is not who customers want to be.

After reading the protest and praise for the new Gillette ad that calls men to “be the best that you can be,” are you going to boycott Gillette?

Are you going to support brands that contribute to organizations that advocate for the destruction of the nuclear family and who oppose values that don’t align with yours?

I hope you’re not looking for a happy-talk response here. Despite marketers having undue and over-reaching influence on culture and your worldview, you deserve better.

If you’re a consumer, you’re a brand owner. Don’t let brand marketers define who you are or what to believe.

Who Defines The Best a Brand Can Be?

At face value, the short film, called “ We Believe ,” is a lightweight take on bullying, the #metoo movement, and what Gillette considers “toxic masculinity.” Can a brand address these issues in a meaningful way in 90 seconds?

Is Gillette a brand that thinks it can help usher in a “new era of masculinity?”

Why has it taken 30 years for Proctor & Gamble to realize that brands play a role in influencing culture? Why should they have to ask if they should pull their advertising from networks after receiving criticism. Where's the soul of this company?

Do we need the brands that represent the products we buy defining what it means to be a man or the character values we believe in?

Perhaps this ad isn’t as much of a manifesto as it is a confession for the way in which the company has represented itself and contributed to the culture’s current state of “toxic masculinity” and the #metoo movement:

Writer Bertie Brandes calls out Gillette for objectifying women in a 2013 ad that asks, “ What Do Women Want ?”
Gillette tops the list of sexist ads in this article at The Vintage News .
The Radiance Foundation highlights the disturbing facts (#facktivism) of P&G’s support for “toxic feminism,” its advertising on networks that promote the issues they now stand against, and its own bias in promoting anti-bias.

Companies and Brands Must Stand for Something

Aren’t all branding and marketing efforts designed to drive sales in some way? Of course — Gillette is trying to add meaning and recapture market share from the industry disrupters — Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club.

Gillette is taking a stand for something, with a call to the public to hold Proctor and Gamble, their brands, and messaging accountable. They aspire to be true to “a set of defined standards meant to ensure we fully reflect the ideals of Respect, Accountability and Role Modeling in the ads we run, the images we publish to social media, the words we choose, and more.”

Good for them, but will it work? John Sexton states on HotAir.com ,

Where is the consistency? Is this a new leaf for Proctor & Gamble, or continued efforts to align its brands with culture and social trends?

The Radiance Foundation’s response is precise:

One short film will not make a brand believable or authentic. Virtue signaling is not a sustainable brand building strategy.

Values-driven brands need to demonstrate consistency in character and behavior

Every time you interact with a brand and its touch points, you tell herself a story about what you believe the brand stands for — the brand's purpose, values, beliefs, character, and worldview.

If what you perceive is not authentic and consistent, you're less likely to accept the organization or brand as believable .

We may never know what prompted Gillette’s desire for self-reflection and commitment to choose their words well. It’s never too late to learn that positive words influence and inspire people to trust, follow, take action, and make a difference.

Should you believe Gillette is sincere?

Not until you experience a consistent pattern of character and behavior in action.

Will Gillette inspire me to be a better man? No — I’m not going to base my character on market-driven brand characteristics and social trends. There’s a deeper path to understanding what it means to be the best you can be , and it doesn’t have anything to do with branding.

We can all do better with how we treat people with respect, dignity, and compassion. Our companies and brands should be a reflection of who we are and what we deeply believe.

Regardless, I still need to shave. In light of the facts about P&G, I will reconsider my choices, as all consumers have the right to do.

Branding With Purpose- A Conversation with Tobias Dahlberg

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

It sounds like the setup from a late-night comedy show: “Two brand consultants walked into a podcast booth...” This time, there's no joke, no punchlines... just brand truths you need to know.

...just the latest episode of the Extraordinary Podcast with Tobias Dahlberg, founder of Wonder Inc. of Finland, and Brian Sooy, founder of Aespire, from the United States.

What you'll hear in this podcast is a perspective on branding that puts your customer first.

Your brand isn't about your product or organization — it’s about the story your customer tells themselves and how you fit into their world.

We love Tobias’ intro: “This is one of those episodes I really love personally. We get to talk about branding from a perspective of purpose and mission. The way Brian speaks of brand and branding is just beautiful to me, there’s not even an ounce of fake or trying to project an image of something you’re not .”

“Brian’s view is really about purely setting out on a mission and being driven through your purpose, and that means doing something that is authentically about caring for customers— about making a difference—instead of just manufacturing an image.”

Why Brand Personality Matters and How You Can Measure It

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 04:00:00 GMT

If you haven't picked up on this by now or aren't aware of this truth, brand perception belongs to consumers, not brand owners. Do you measure brand sentiment or brand affinity? Typically, you’ll want to measure two dimensions: Brand characteristics and brand behavior.

As we've noted before, everybody brands when people tell themselves a story about what your brand means to them.

While it's true that great brands are built from the inside out (with values and behaviors that support those values); for a brand owner to understand how people view their brand, they have to measure from the outside.

Do You Measure Brand Sentiment or Brand Affinity?

Typically, you’ll want to measure two dimensions: Brand characteristics and brand behavior.

Measuring the sentiment (the positive or negative views of the brand) and affinity (predicting how consumers will behave, i.e. stay in a relationship with a brand) of a brand is essential, and people are fickle. It takes one bad experience to ruin a relationship. Their last encounter with the brand influences a consumer's brand affinity.

Either way, measuring sentiment or affinity isn’t the same as measuring brand perception. A consumer's affinity, loyalty, and sentiment are nurtured over time. When you objectively measure how people view a brand, you’ll capture aspects of these dimensions.

Over time, brands develop personality just like people do. We form an opinion of the brands with which we interact, creating a perception that fits our worldview. We decide whether or not we think the brand is believable.

Brand characteristics are character-like attributes; words you would use to describe the brand if someone asked, “What do you think about this brand, organization, or product?”
Brand behavior are the patterns of behavior that are consistent with the underlying personality or characteristics of the brand.

What is the most critical factor in measuring brand perception?

When people have a clear and consistent perception of a brand’s personality, it typically indicates that the values and behaviors of the brand are in alignment.

According to a recent report from Forrester, “Studies shows consumers value human-like communication from brands." According to the report, 60% of brand experiences result in human-like connections. That's important considering that 57% of consumers say that human communication would increase their brand loyalty and 58% say human communication would increase their likelihood of spending money with a given brand. ( Sign up for the report here ).

How Can You Measure Brand Perception?

Social Listening

Specialized products such as Brandwatch, social media platforms like Hootsuite, and marketing automation platforms like ActiveCampaign allow you to monitor social media conversations and engage your community in dialog. The brands that do this best listen more than they talk with the goal of being social and engaging their community so they can learn what matters to their tribe.

Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Again, back to measuring the fickle nature of consumer behavior. You’ll find recommendations for measuring customer satisfaction (CSAT) through surveys; analyzing customer loyalty through Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and other suggestions for product surveys (which tend to be subjective). These approaches may be useful but aren’t necessarily predictive of brand perception.

Analytics and Other Data-driven Insights

Your website analytics don’t necessarily measure perception but can be an indicator of the type of content that people find valuable and of interest.

Brand Perception Surveys

To objectively capture consumer brand perception it’s advantageous to measure brand persona and personality with a web-based survey platform that focuses on standardized questions and analysis. Tools like the Aespire Brand Insights platform equip brand owners with quantifiable brand profiles that enable people to understand the differences between how different groups view a brand, organization, or product.

Our recommendation is to rely on a quantitative research tool like Brand Insights for the most accurate and objective measurement of your brand. You can understand how different groups, geographic regions, and other factors impact your carefully crafted brand message and how people perceive it.

If you’re not measuring, you’re guessing. Your brand deserves the precision of an assessment that can guide your decision-making.

12 Principles for Purpose-Driven Brands and Culture

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 04:00:00 GMT

What values guide your organization to inspire, empower, and motivate people?

Does your organization’s brand personality reflect its values and its unique voice and expression?

Do your leadership declarations define how you lead yourself and your team?

These 12 principles are as effective for personal leadership as they are for brand and organizational leadership.

Clarity Helps Your Brand Find its Voice

What principles guide your organization’s behavior and give your brand its voice?

Finding clarity is a cultural imperative for brands that stand for something. When you achieve clarity of purpose and vision—it empowers leadership and your team to simplify, clarify, and transform your culture—and inspires people to listen, care, and act.

If you know there’s a gap between what your organization says it values and stands for and how it practices business, how would you feel if your leadership team shared this thought with you:

What can you do about aligning values, brand, and messaging to create a culture of clarity?

Since 2013, hundreds of mission-driven companies and causes have strengthened their culture and brands with these 12 principles for communications. The resolutions of The Clarity Credo form a strong foundation to help organizations achieve clarity of purpose, communication, relationships, and leadership.

Download the new Clarity Credo poster and receive 12 months of insights for clear and focused brands and culture.

12 Principles for Brand Clarity for Every Business

Be Strategic

Every organization needs clarity of purpose, values, communications, and vision to create alignment between culture and brand, so people care and act.

Which do you think is essential to a strategic approach to aligning your brand and culture?

Be Focused

Lack of clarity for your brand quickly becomes evident if you can't articulate your purpose, cause, and vision. Find your focus to bring clarity to brands and culture.

Be Meaningful

Do you understand what values guide your organization's behavior and action, and what motivates and energizes your customers and supporters?

Download the new Clarity Credo poster and receive 12 months of brand-building insights to help you build a beloved brand.

Be Insightful

I used to think insight was about the data — it's really about clarity — a clear and focused path for the mission, actions, communications, and outcomes that empower you to fulfill your purpose.

Be Inspiring

When you make people the center of their story (not your organization's), you begin to understand how branding works: People tell themselves a story about how your brand fits into their worldview.

Speak to people’s minds and touch their hearts. When you invite people into a story they feel like they're part of your mission and understand and why they should care about your brand.

Be Engaging

Listening is tough, especially if we're eager to tell our story without listening to the community we serve. Start with empathy to understand what is important to the people you serve, and what they expect of your mission.

If you spend time asking questions and inquisitively listening (listening with curiosity), your empathy for solving design and other problems will increase.

Be Social

If your organizational culture prioritizes programs over people, you miss the opportunity to engage people deeply.

Meaningful brands understand that relationships matter more than marketing.

Be Grateful

The last thing you want to do is take credit for what others help you accomplish. Share the love and be grateful for what you accomplish together.

Be Trustworthy

Accountability and transparency are at the core of building trust with customers and supporters of your organization. It's why we spend so much on branding and marketing. Break the trust you work to build, and you may not regain what you lose.

Download the new Clarity Credo poster and receive 12 months of brand-building insights to help you build a beloved brand.

Be Positive

Being positive is about more than design and communications.

Being positive greatly impacts customer engagement, directly impacts the experience people have, and ultimately impacts your audience’s perception of the brand.

Be Powerful

You can never stop believing and acting in the belief that your brand has the power to change the world. If you don’t believe, then who will?

To be powerful is to be a leader who influences followers and peers.

Be Courageous

Do you understand that your brand is not about your organization?

Your brand must be about the success of your tribe and how your brand makes their life better. Pursue their loyalty fearlessly and confidently!

Download the new Clarity Credo poster and receive 12 months of brand-building insights to help you build a beloved brand.

How to Build a Brand that People Love

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 04:00:00 GMT

The problem isn’t your website or brochure or advertising campaign. I’m sure each of your audience touch points is beautiful.

We see it time and time again. Sales are slowing, recruiting is down, donations are low.

Then comes the call, email, or conversation: “We need a new (website, logo, marketing campaign, brand identity etc). We patiently listen until we can explain what the problem really is.

You’re focusing on the wrong things first. You’re jumping to solutions, tactics, and touch points before you address the real issue and define the real problem.

The problem isn’t your website or brochure or advertising campaign. I’m sure each of your audience touch points is beautiful.

But until you get your message clear by understanding who your audience is and what their needs are, you’re going to waste your time and money on the wrong part of your communications. It’s like building a house without a foundation.

If it can Happen to a Bank...

Let’s use Wells Fargo as an example. When employee behavior didn’t align with the values the company claims as their core values , they got caught signing customers up for accounts they didn’t want.

Wells Fargo broke their trust and promise with current and potential customers — not once — but twice. Now they are paying a steep price in reputation and resources as they try to turn a PR and branding mess around. Their culture, story, and behavior didn’t align with what matters to customers: trust, authenticity, and integrity.

New messaging isn’t going to fix Wells Fargo’s trust problem. The new website dedicated to reaffirming their “customer commitment” doesn’t matter unless their actions and words demonstrate their commitment. When they’ve proven themselves, then they should focus on the new advertising and shiny website.

Marketing isn’t about messaging — it’s about relationship building. You can’t talk about it or promise it without demonstrating it every day. If all you’re focused on is the bottom line, people will notice, and trust will erode. From the C-suite to the front line, everybody is responsible for the brand and its reputation . Failure at one point means failure for all.

What Makes an Organization or Brand Memorable?

Your organization isn’t memorable because you have a beautiful logo, website, or marketing. Your organization and brand are meaningful (and memorable) when it stands for something.

Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying. Aespire is founded on mission-driven design principles that connect people with the purpose, values, and vision of the organizations who choose to work with us. Design is relevant. Design is a mission-critical business asset. Design is as important to your business as the product or service you sell because it’s what enables you tell your story and create a memorable customer experience.

People remember how you make them feel, they recognize the personality of your organization, how they were treated, they value your organization because it matters to their story. It’s the experience that matters more than the performance.

For consideration: A company's consistency in values and behavior may be best measured in how the leadership and staff interact with, respect, and treat those whom they consider “vendors.” It’s easy to be nice to customers; to demonstrate brand truth an organization must be consistent and believable with everybody.

People buy from brands they trust.

Get the help you need to create clear messaging so customers listen. Contact Aespire to craft your brand so your business grows.

Don’t Let Your Brand be a “Best-Kept Secret”

When I ask employees, or leadership why an organization struggles to connect with customers, the reply is often, “Because we’re a ‘best-kept secret.’”

It doesn’t have to be that way. When people don’t understand what your organization values, what your brand stands for, why they should care, and how you can help them make a difference, they forget about your organization. The position you want to hold in their mind is filled with an alternative—a competitor or brand equivalent—and you’re forced to start the relationship-building process over.

People care about your brand or organization only if what you stand for and promise matters to them.

For example, I wear Skechers performance running shoes for my long-distance running. Is it because they’re the best running shoes? Most likely they aren’t, but they’re the best running shoes for me. They’re economic to buy, comfortable, and durable. I buy them because they make me feel that I’m going against the grain and defying the status quo of elitist running shoes.

Skechers makes long-distance running accessible to me. Can another brand? Possibly, but only if they promise to make me feel better about myself than Skechers do. I’m buying something that Skechers doesn’t sell: meaning and personal transformation.

By comparison, I purchased a well-known brand of expensive running shoes based on store recommendation, brand reputation and a promise of performance, and guess what? I regret the decision every time I look at them, and even more so when I wear them. They don’t make me feel anything, other than reminding me I will experience pain after wearing them (and that I feel the store didn’t serve me better.)

Don't be a best-kept secret.

Create a clear message that turns everyone into a brand ambassador.

Six Tips to Become a Brand People Love

With all the effort spent on brand management techniques and brand strategies, organizations often overlook the relational aspects of brand marketing.

Why are some brands embraced by legions of raving fans and champions? How does it make you feel when you compare your organization to theirs?

First — don’t compare unless the other brand or organization is a direct competitor.
If you must compare, do it to learn . Figure out how they are making their customers or supporters the hero and how they make them feel.
Build your foundation from the ground up: Clarify your brand truth and mission, create a clear message and story that connects with customers, and then build a marketing plan to share your voice, message, and impact with the world.

If a prospective customer isn’t referred by a trusted source , it’s up to you to inform, inspire, and engage them:

Ask for permission. Give prospects a simple first step to move them from observers to participants. Offer them something that will add value to their lives in exchange for permission to market to them.
Give people the opportunity to engage in a way that is meaningful. Now that they’re paying attention, ask for their feedback or feedback on what’s important to them. Offer them an opportunity to do something that will help them grow.
Prepare to steward the relationship . As prospects become customers, offer them opportunities, experiences, and services that make them feel good and transform them in ways that matter to them. These people become the brand ambassadors who represent your values and ideals wherever they go, because those values and ideals have become part of the individual’s story.

When you focus on what is of value to your customers and prospects (and less on what you think is important for them), you’ll probably see sales and business growth. There are no guarantees, but as prospects move through this journey from observers to brand champions, you’ll adapt and change to meet their needs, creating greater loyalty.

That’s what building a business and a brand people love is all about.

Leadership and Power in a Culture of Communication

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 04:00:00 GMT

Leaders often operate inside a bubble of their own making, forgetting that communication is the language of leadership.

The quality of their communication amplifies the conviction of their leadership.

Many organizations have a communications gap of which leaders are unaware or just plain ignore.

I don’t know about you, but I’m drawn to leaders who operate with “deep conviction.” They lead with certainty, demonstrate unwavering beliefs, and are confident of the absolutes that guide them.

Power does not originate with a leader; power flows from the convictions which are the basis for the leader’s deeply held beliefs. Deeply held beliefs are the absolutes that guide and direct a powerful leader.

In the input I receive from brand assessments and strategic vision focus groups—regardless of the type of organization—one finding is consistently clear: employees express a deep desire for leaders to communicate more effectively—and with conviction.

When I ask why, employees express a desire for clarity. Employees desperately want their leaders to align purpose with shared values and communicate their vision for where they are leading the organization. Only then will employees know that the company’s objectives and strategy are aligned with its values and vision, so they know how to both lead and follow.

When leadership practices direct and open vertical communication they inspire and unite their team.

The Aespire Brand Clarity Credo guides leaders to align the four dimensions of communication and culture so your organization thrives.

Conviction is at the Heart of a Powerful Brand Voice

Power comes from conviction—a clearly articulated purpose; a confident leader who communicates their vision; and a mission embodied by the character, culture, and voice of the organization.

Every organization has stories to tell (not just a story). What brings continuity to the stories is the narrative—one voice and one purpose that weave the stories together to create continuity and cohesiveness.

Your organization is not a brand; it has an identity—with purpose, personality, character, and culture—and it becomes powerful when its culture is filled with employees speaking in one voice with deep conviction.

A Powerful Brand Is Perceived Through Every Interaction

Consumers of culture and brands live in a world of perceptions. Everything they see, hear, and experience creates a perception in their mind about the organization with which they are interacting. That perception is reality; how you make people feel is more real to them than what you’ve told them.

All the branding and communications work you do is meaningless if you’re not concerned with how it makes people feel about themselves, their situation, and their hope for change.

Developing a Powerful Culture Takes Time and Persistence

One leader can be the catalyst to begin the transformation, but it requires the collective efforts of a team to transform the mission into a movement.

You can never stop believing—and acting upon the belief—that your mission has the power to change the future. If you don’t believe, then who will?

Be Powerful

Hold to your beliefs with depth and communicate with conviction and clarity. Live out your brand culture at all times. Expand your influence by inspiring and motivating people to follow where you (and your organization) want to go.

Three Senses that Create Positive Brand Perception

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 04:00:00 GMT

When people ask you to describe the organization for which you work, what words do you use to describe it? I’m not referring to your position statement or pitch (a brief statement that declares why your organization is the only one that serves people for a specific purpose and outcome).

I’m referring to the personality of your organization—the human qualities and attributes that embody the purpose, character, and culture of your organization.

Words like amazing, exciting, caring, bold, creative, decisive, friendly, goal-oriented, inclusive, innovative, principled, radical, or visionary convey meaning.

Each characteristic invokes an interpretation in the mind of the listener; people form a personal brand perception and emotional connection to what your brand stands for, believes in, values, and aspires to, based upon what they believe each word means from their point of view.

Whew. That fact alone makes branding a challenge, even for organizations that understand how their customers perceive them.

If you don’t understand what your customers perceive about your brand, it makes it nearly impossible to ensure that how you describe your organization will align with what people already believe—or what they want to believe—regardless of what you tell them.

Engage the Senses

Is the tone of your communications — your organization’s voice — positive?

When design communications convey hope, they challenge the listener to change the way they think or act or to agree with what they are seeing and hearing.

Intentionally or not, all communication connects the purpose, values, vision, and impact of an organization to employees, stakeholders, and customers.

Words, images, and sound are powerful elements of design. Words and images combined with beautiful typography are more persuasive than text on a page. Audio brings words to life with emotion and expression. Video combines all three elements to engage sight and sound.

There is great value in engaging all of the senses to nurture a positive and trustworthy perception of your brand.

Two examples of touchpoints can help you understand what they are and the role they serve:

Marty Neumeier: Brand Experience Map (From The Brand Flip )

Raise Your Voice Touchpoint Engagement Continuum (From Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto )

We call the methods that connect with people touchpoints for a reason.

When you engage every sense and touchpoint together, you will enhance your audience’s positive brand experience. Most communications engage three of the primary elements of sensory branding:

The Sense of Touch

The sense of touch impacts how people perceive brands and are a crucial part of our sensory experience. Touch influences emotion and decision making and has the potential to deepen engagement.
“In humans, touch represents a powerful form of non-verbal communication. Our sense of touch plays a fundamental role in daily life, from learning about objects to communicating with other people. — Dr. David Eagleman, Sappi Paper

The Sense of Sight

According to IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Business Management , color alone can increase brand recognition. We make our first impressions within 90 seconds of the initial viewing, and between 62%-92% of that impression is based on color alone.

The Sense of Hearing

Have you ever been in a store or restaurant where the music choice or volume annoys you? Ever visited (and immediately left) a website that begins playing audio without your permission? Sound evokes memories and experiences and sets the tone for positive brand experience.

Don’t Overlook the Senses of Smell and Taste

Freshly baked bread, the aroma of flowers, the taste of your favorite coffee or food—invoke memories and perceptions of your favorite restaurant or experience. No brand wants to be known or characterized as bland, tasteless, or offensive because of these senses.

The Intangible Sense: Emotion

All the sensory perceptions contribute to what we feel and perceive, filling us with the intangible: emotions and feelings that may be difficult to articulate and explain. Sight, sound, smell, and touch awaken emotions and feelings that bring back memories (positive and negative). With that in mind, should our goal with creating brand perception focus on how we want people to feel to create empathy and connection with a brand or organization?

Importance of Brand Perception

The people whom you are trying to persuade to buy from you or donate to your cause already know there's a challenge somewhere in their lives or a problem in the world that you are trying to help them overcome.

Get the tools you need to build a positive and optimistic brand that engages and inspires

People care more about what matters to them than they do about what you can do for them. If your product or service makes their life better, helps them fulfill a personal goal, or empowers them to make somebody else's life better they will be more interested in how you can help them.

A culture of positive communications will affirm to your audience that you understand what matters most to them, through brand perception measurement and a practice of actively engaging with customers at every touchpoint.

A positive culture of communication is about more than voice, culture, design, and personality. A positive approach to communications engages people to believe they can make a difference through their purchasing decisions or actions.

A positive approach to inspiration and communication impacts an individual’s perception of your brand and motivates them to act.

Improving brand perception begins with understanding what customers perceive and by listening to your customers. The role of communications is to understand and communicate what your audience is listening for , not what you think they need to hear. When you know what shapes brand perception, it strengthens your business.

Positive messages inspire hope and challenge people to take action.

Be Positive . Optimism is a better motivator than pessimism.

Why Trust is Important for Your Business and Brand

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 04:00:00 GMT

Trust is the most important business and brand asset you manage, especially in relationships with customers, clients, employees, and stakeholders.

Our economy works because people trust each other and the businesses they support.

When you consider the importance of trust in leadership and business ethics , you understand why trust is important to customers.

One can argue that the sole purpose of marketing and communications is to earn and nurture trust.

It is imperative for any values-led or purpose-driven business to hold trust as a core value that is owned by every employee—from the CEO to the front-line team that interacts with customers online, by phone, and in person—and is reinforced by acting and speaking in a manner that is consistent with your values, character, and culture.

The challenge with trust is that you cannot buy it or force customers to believe your organization is trustworthy . Your brand must work to earn trust. Every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships and nurture trust .

When your brand is believable , customers trust that you have their best interest and experience in mind. You show this through your brand narrative (a.k.a. customer-focused story), social and service interactions, and by living out your organization’s values.

Trust is stored and nurtured like money in a bank account. Your brand makes deposits into your customers’ accounts every day; they exchange that trust with you when they buy, browse, and share their private information with you.

Operating with a culture of trustworthiness affirms that your organization seeks accountability and transparency.

Some organizations understand the priceless value of trust for their brand—others don’t.

Marty Neumeier notes the distinction between how invisible attributes, especially trust, differentiates branding by B2B and B2C business types :

The degree to which a customer trusts a product (or company making that product) determines whether he or she buys that product or a competitor’s product.
The same principle is true if a company sells services—but in a service company, it’s the people—not the product—who must earn the customer’s trust.

Can You Trust Facebook?

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook continue to obfuscate and avoid putting people and purpose before profit. Their inconsistency, lack of transparency, and lack of respect for users’ privacy destroys trust and demonstrates that they hold your privacy in contempt.

With every action, Facebook proves that its values to “Be bold, focus on impact, move fast, be open, and build social value.” are hollow, empty promises .

Empty promises suck. Would you trust Mark Zuckerberg to give you advice on your company’s values if he said, “To identify your company values, ask, ‘What are you willing to give up?’” I think he should rephrase his question: “To drive shareholder value, my dreams for social engineering, and my company’s values, what are you willing to give up?”

Is Marriott’s Golden Rule for Real?

On the opposite end of the trust spectrum, Marriott builds and nurtures trust with people who are stressed or underserved through its values-driven Golden Rule campaign . When you stay at a Marriott hotel, they make a promise to treat you like they would want to be treated (which, of course, begs the question, “How does Marriott want to be treated?”).

“Treating others like we’d like to be treated,” as a guiding principle is noble—one to which we would all love to aspire. When Marriott’s employees live out what they promise in their Golden Rule campaign, their brand grows stronger and trust in Marriott grows.

For Marriott, it’s about making a human connection—where their brand is perceived as believable—because they view customers as people, not people as customers.

Of course, Marriott isn’t perfect. It’s an organization run by people and—individually or collectively—people aren’t perfect.

At least Marriott is trying.

Facebook isn’t perfect either, but they aren’t trying. The value of Facebook as a brand is tarnished and it will take years to recover. We can’t believe them no matter how many lobbyists or PR experts they hire to explain why their actions don’t align with their values. Facebook is not a believable, consistent, or human brand.

It’s in imperfection that the Marriott organization as a brand becomes believable and authentic. Not everyone will believe what Marriott promises is true, but when customers experience it for themselves they will know Marriott means what they say.

Listen as Often as You Speak

When you make a human connection; where your brand and all it stands for is perceived as believable because your organization views customers as people—not people as customers—your company will grow.

It’s likely that your marketing team’s first inclination is to tell your story from the organization’s perspective—how what you do is extraordinary—without listening to your customer’s perspective—how your customer’s life is better because of what your organization does.

For your story to fit into the worldview of your customer, you must first listen and understand how taking action fulfills their goals or meets their needs. Then you are able to communicate—with clarity and consistency—about how your organization fits into their worldview, not how theirs fits into yours.

Trust Is Earned Over Time

Don’t be like Facebook. There isn’t one practice or value they hold that is believable, consistent, or compelling.

Be like Marriott. Aim to be believable, consistent, and genuine. Nurture trust in your brand by aligning your day-to-day customer interactions with core values that demonstrate you mean what you say. If you make a mistake, own up to it and move on.

When you simplify, personify, and amplify the power of purpose through relationships and story then people will listen and tell themselves a story about you that is worth believing and sharing.

Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

Three Qualities of Believable Brands

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Everybody brands.

When we say, “everybody brands,” — I’m not referring to the frenetic activity around logos, color palettes, or the visual expression of an organization – I’m referring to what any individual thinks about your organization when they interact with its people, service, product, or customer experience.

First, let’s define the catch-all word, brand. Your logo, colors, type choices are not your brand; they are a symbolic representation of it.

A brand is the story (or according to Seth Godin, the lie ) people tell themselves about your organization, product, or service in the context of their worldview (i.e., what they individually believe about the world and their purpose in it).

In other words, a brand isn’t what you think, it’s what your customers think.

People tell themselves what they do or don’t believe. With every interaction, they decide if your brand is trustworthy , and assess if what they perceive is believable.

If people are saying things that are true about your brand, then people will think and believe those things are true and that your brand is believable.
If people say things that are not true about your brand — if people lie about your brand, and you can’t do anything to change their minds — then eventually, people will think the lies are true.
Even though what you say about your brand is true, it’s only true in the consumer’s mind if — and only if — they believe it to be true.

For the consumer, brand perception is reality.

Understanding how a story works toward making your brand and organization’s personality more believable is essential to unlocking the power of purpose and the potential of your narrative.

Why Do We Think Brands have Personality?

We tend to think of brands as we think of people, with personality and character qualities that make the brand unique, conveying qualities that make it relatable and acceptable.

In an article titled, “ The Best of Us ,” author Bernadette Jiwa noted,

“Our stories are not defined only by what is seen and known. The imagination can’t always capture the best and the beauty of us.”

To capture the best and beautiful, we tell ourselves stories about companies and causes based on what we experience, how our experience makes us feel, what it means to us, or how it improves our lives.

Any mission-driven organization holds a set of core values, expresses those values (ideally) through focused and clear messaging, and practices behavior and interacts with people in a manner consistent with its purpose, character, culture, and voice.

These qualities are intangible; personified through message and action. They are made real in a participant or observer’s mind, which ideally aligns with how the brand wants to be perceived.

Everybody Tells Stories

That’s the point at which branding begins — when an individual hears, sees, and responds — when she forms an opinion about whether she should listen, trust, believe (or believe in), or take action. If what she perceives is not authentic and consistent, she is less likely to accept the organization or brand as believable.

Every time she interacts with your organization, she tells herself a story about what she believes the organization stands for — the brand’s purpose, values, beliefs, character, and culture — and the brand’s worldview.

When that story she tells herself about who you are, what you do, and why you matter (to her) and the difference you make (to her worldview) aligns, something happens.

An individual feels welcomed and invited into your story because your worldview intersects. She gives herself permission to buy, to donate, or make a difference because of how your organization or brand makes her feel, or what personal value and aspirations it helps her fulfill.

Everybody that comes into contact with your organization is telling themselves a story, therefore everybody brands.

Each time you interact, they tell themselves a story about based on what they know about your organization and their current experience. Over time, each story becomes a narrative woven into their worldview.

It’s worth asking: Can you ever be sure what people think about your brand, and how it fits into their worldview? If so, how would that affect your messaging and how you tell your story? How would understanding the way your customer perceives your organization or brand change the method and means with which you communicate with and market to them?

If you ask people how they feel in response to a series of questions, the responses will be a collection of opinions, not necessarily an objective assessment. A word cloud of perceptions doesn’t help you objectively measure how people think or create an accurate profile of brand perceptions .

Understand your customer’s motivations and the triggers that influence them to buy with StoryBrand Message Strategy

Every Brand has a Narrative, but Who Writes the Story?

When we tell ourselves stories about our experience, we are trying to figure out what the brand or organization means to us or how it improves our lives.

Ask yourself these questions:

Are People Participants or Observers?

Does your organization tell its story in a way that invites customers in? Are they participants or observers? Are you talking to them, or engaging them?

When you talk with people, you’re engaged in dialog. In a dialog, you must listen as often as you speak .

Our first inclination is to tell the story from our perspective, about how what we do makes life better, without listening to the other side of the conversation. For your story to fit into the worldview of a buyer or donor, you must first listen and understand how taking action fulfills their goals and aspirations — then how your organization fits into their worldview — not how their worldview fits into yours.

The most powerful way to communicate is to invite people into your story, with clarity and consistency, so they listen and engage.

A buyer tells themselves, “If I buy this, I will look beautiful.”

A donor tells themselves, “When I donate, I make a difference.”

An advocate tells themselves, “When I act, I make change happen.”

It’s your responsibility to help people believe in and act upon the story you tell them, and the story they tell themselves.

3 Ways to Transform Customer Satisfaction

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 05:00:00 GMT

I joined a new association last week.

After a disappointing signup experience ( A sign-up form that did not work, requiring me to fill out the form multiple times), I realized I never received any formal welcome.

No email, no call, no member orientation automated campaign.

All I received was a transaction confirmation for my dues.

I belong to multiple industry and interest groups to which I pay dues. The associations I appreciate the most are those who celebrate when I join (or renew), following up my online experience with a welcome packet that reminds me of benefits and what to expect as a member.

These organizations immediately remind me why I joined and began to build a stronger sense of community. One common denominator is that these organizations are national or international — with a widely distributed membership.

When a local organization accepts my membership dues and neglects to welcome me, I begin to wonder why members continue to renew when the initial experience is so… empty. It doesn’t have to be an association; it could be an alumni group or a local charity.

When the first impression I form is that all an organization wants is my money, I begin to regret my decision.

While I don’t expect a call from the president (although that would be wonderful), I joined this local organization to renew relationships and form new ones. It’s a business organization, with a mission of helping local businesses network and grow.

1. Reduce Friction

It’s up to you to create a frictionless experience for people who want to join your association, purchase your products, or donate to your cause.

Is your team listening and observing what customers experience? Are you paying attention to:

Shopping cart abandonment rates,
Email from potential customers and members who are unable to complete a purchase or sign-up process,
Donors who give one time but never make another donation,
Potential members who attempt to enroll but get fustrated with the process,
Students who attempt to enroll but get discouraged because the enrollment process fits your internal systems and not their needs?

It doesn't take long for customers to see through your carefully constructed brand experience into your company culture. Every experience (positive or negative) with customer service or an online transaction forms a new perception in your customer’s mind.

2. Create a Customer-focused Last First Experience

No matter what words you use in your marketing, if your organization’s actions and behavior don’t align with the experience you deliver or promise you make, over time your organization won’t come across as believable.

Your customer’s best perception of your organization is only as good as the last experience a customer has with any touch point. Think of every last experience as a potential first experience.

3. Remember that Everyone is a Prospective or Current Customer

It doesn’t matter what type of organization you lead, consider everyone you serve as a customer, and treat them with dignity and respect:

If sales are static, personally contact customers who abandon shopping carts to understand why they didn’t complete their purchase.
Follow a purchase up with a thank-you note. If it’s a significant purchase, send a thank-you gift.
If a customer reports an issue with signup or purchase, your first email response should be to ask for their phone number to call and understand how you can help the customer achieve their goal.
After a donor signals their trust in your organization by donating, thank them multiple times. Make it meaningful, acknowledging their gift is meaningful and their generosity makes a difference.
If student enrollment is down, review the online and interpersonal interactions and make changes that are bestter suited to the student experience, and create positive initial perspectives.

There’s a reason why companies like Zappos and Tom’s that operate with a strong culture of communication that supports customer service and experience are so successful.

Customers are first in word and action, and the companies demonstrate it at every touchpoint.

You can do likewise.

Your Brand and the Illusion of Collaboration

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 05:00:00 GMT

When you talk about collaboration as a core value without making it part of your organization’s behavior with those inside or outside your organization — it’s not just an organizational culture issue — it’s a branding issue.

Collaboration is a core value and integral part of the mission and purpose statements of many organizations, but if you observe closely, you’ll find that collaboration (much like the idea of innovation) is a buzzword added to fluff out a mission statement, appease stakeholders, or give the impression that collaboration occurs without the need to actually participate in it.

That’s a bold statement, but think about it: If an organization is truly collaborative, it will be evident in every aspect of its culture, visible internally and externally, and identifiable as a characteristic of its brand personality.

Your organization must choose one of two paths: You can practice collaboration (demonstrating that it’s a core value, part of your brand personality, and essential to your culture) or create the perception of collaboration (which will erode the credibility and authenticity of your brand over time).

Trust and Brand Authenticity

The true authenticity, or consistency, of an organization’s brand identity and culture is revealed when an organization’s core values and observable behavior align.

Too often, core values are treated as ideals to achieve instead of characteristics to guide behavior. When this occurs, the brand perception you intentionally cultivate (or neglect to tend) is perceived as social and cultural desirability. Shared perceptions must align.

The practice of collaboration exists because your organization can’t be all things to all people, nor can your organization hold values that appeal to all people.

When an issue or challenge arises that your organization would like to solve but can’t on its own—what are the risks of stifling collaboration?

Missed opportunities to collaborate, minimizing community and collective impact
The realization that people and the organization will need to share credit (which may threaten power structures and egos)
Addresses symptoms and not the cause of a problem
Becomes evident when you’re working outside your mission, which can lead to mission drift and potential loss of support.
Organizations will tend to build capacity within instead of relying on external expertise and experience.

If your stakeholders support your organization because they believe collaboration is a core value worth practicing, and they observe the lack of collaboration in the day-to-day practice of your organization, the organization's brand perception suffers.

Gender and Brand Personality

Because we (as humans) assign personality characteristics to brands (the process of personification), we tend to think of brands in human terms.

Think about the brands and organizations that mean the most to you, and how you think about them.

Are those brands (and the organizations the brands represent) that are thinking of themselves as collaborative perceived by the public as female or male? Should a brand strive for an undifferentiated gender perception to appeal to a wider audience or foster a distinct gender perception?

When it comes to leading a powerful brand, gender is not relevant. As gender relates to brand personality, it will be a brand’s messaging, tone of voice, and relational focus (i.e., collaboration), that informs the perception of employees, customers, and stakeholders.

These are insightful questions to ask yourself (or the brand owner in your organization:

Is our brand male, female, or gender neutral? “One of the keys to building culture is having empathy, listening first rather than solutions first, and that is generally more female.”
What emotion do we want our brand to evoke? “Do [brands] care about us? If so, do they care in such a way as to make us feel attractive? In some cases, brands’ form of caring makes us feel empowered. In others it makes us feel comforted and protected, like the parent who reaches out a strong hand and helps us get that T-shirt over our heads.”
Can an understanding of gender differences in leadership styles inform our brand personality? — a fascinating report from The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association , with implications for leadership performance and brand perception.

Why collaborate? Because when you do, you can do better. Your organization can make a bigger difference in the lives of the people whom you serve, even if the change you’re trying to make isn’t part of your core mission.

Photo by Michal Lomza on Unsplash

Three Rules for Putting Strategy into Action

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Let’s cut to the chase: if your communication initiatives don’t directly align with the objectives or focus from your strategic plan, you’re merely doing busy work.

You’re in possession of a to-do list disguised as strategic communications.

I know how you might be feeling right now. You aren’t sure what to do next in your communications strategy, and that leaves you feeling paralyzed with uncertainty.

You’re experiencing a form of paralysis I call “cranial interlock,” a state in which your mind is unable to process what to do next because every communications initiative appears to be a priority.

The real reason you’re experiencing anxiety is that your “strategy” is a to-do list of tactics that you can check off: social media posts, email blasts, maybe a quick video. All these tactics have their place as action items, but outside of a plan give the appearance of communications without achieving meaningful results.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If you are a smart individual who wants to make the best use of your time and limited resources to help your organization communicate, raise awareness, and increase revenue, you can apply these three rules for converting strategy into action.

If you’re more of a task-oriented doer than a strategy-focused planner, that’s ok. You can learn how to think strategically and act intentionally, eliminating possibilities to focus on the opportunities that will make a difference and help you achieve your objectives.

First, you'll need to do the hard work of aligning your communications plan with the strategic direction of your organization.

Rule #1: A Strategic Plan Requires Strategic Direction

With any strategy, the direction your organization follows must align with the purpose that guides it and the impact it promises to make.

Show me a plan with a purpose, and it will reveal an organization with direction:

Purpose influences organization direction;
Direction determines brand and communications objectives;
Brand and communications objectives define strategy, goals, and tactics.

Rule #2: Strategy Is the Path to Achieve Your Objective

Your communication strategy isn’t going to get you anywhere unless you have a clear direction on where your organization will head with its strategic plan.

An objective is like a target:

“More frequent social media posting to raise awareness” isn’t a valid objective. It’s vague and lacks purpose and measurable results.
“Fund new programming by increasing net revenue by 5% over 6 months” is a real and tangible objective.

Here’s why:

Based on the strategic direction of the organization, a 5% net revenue increase should fund new programming.
A net 5% increase is easily calculated based on current revenue.
Six months is a fixed time frame. You’ll either meet the objective or fail.
Increasing revenue by a net amount requires you to factor in expenses to achieve the objective.

The strategy is the path to follow to arrive at the target. What strategy would help you achieve that objective? Targeting existing customers or donors? Acquiring new customers or donors? Which strategy will cost less to implement?

Now that you have a target (the objective) and a path (the strategy), you have direction. You know which way to aim and how far to shoot.

Rule #3: Strategic Communications Flow Through Narrative

A powerful brand begins with a narrative, a story arc that connects the soul of your organization and the personality of your brand with the heart and mind of a person who listens, cares, and takes action.

Focus your strategy on a narrative for this objective:

Our objective is to fund new programming.
Our strategy is to target existing customers or donors to minimize the cost of acquisition.
We will accomplish this strategy through a comprehensive campaign that appeals directly to those whose interests are aligned with the programming.
We will accomplish this strategy when we increase net revenue by 5% over 6 months.

Communications plans that don’t align with organizational purpose and direction aren’t plans at all — they’re strategic distractions.

Start somewhere. Begin with one objective or goal to accomplish this month that moves the needle on your brand or marketing communications.

Strategic communications are not an option; they are an essential requirement of accomplishing your mission and realizing your vision. Without a plan, the mission has no focus; without focus, there is no clarity. A communication plan without tactics and actionable items is merely a wish list.

How to Make Strategy a Dimension of your Culture

It’s been four years since the release of “ Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto .” Hundreds of readers have realized the need to align communications strategy with their strategic direction, making this a foundation for organizational culture and communications.

Strategy is the first of 12 principles based on four dimensions of communications and culture .

Strategically, you can pick and choose which principles to implement, but to create an integrated culture of communications — one in which everyone understands how the communications align with the organization’s direction and purpose — connect your strategic direction with your communications plan.

Six Elements of Modern Marketing

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 04:00:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you’re looking for marketing plan examples or one-page marketing campaign templates, one size doesn't fit all — these six elements of marketing will help you create campaigns and marketing communication plans.

Every day, mission-minded leaders are searching for a modern one-page marketing plan that works, downloading marketing plan templates and marketing guides.

A clear marketing plan will identify the motive, message, market, method, medium, and means by which the strategic goals of the marketing plan is accomplished. A marketing plan will identify a specific purpose (why are we creating this plan?) with strategy (what are the objectives of this plan?), and result in clarity: a focused vision for what the marketing plan will look like when it’s fulfilled.

Without a plan, a strategy has no focus; without focus there is no clarity, and without clarity it is difficult to communicate to the outcomes an organization is working to achieve.

Why is a Marketing Plan Important?

A marketing plan is an essential business asset of strategic importance for organizations of any size. A marketing plan guides you and aligns communications with the goals of the organization’s strategy and outcomes. If an organization does not have clarity about how it’s going communicate, its customers, supporters, and stakeholders will not have clarity about what it’s trying to communicate.

“Modern marketing is the practice of making something worth talking about, developing empathy for those you seek to serve, and being in the market in a way that people would miss you if you were gone.” — Seth Godin

First, let’s look at why we found a need to create a guide for creating one-page and comprehensive marketing campaigns and plans. We call it a Marketing Matrix.

During a recent webinar, we asked participants three questions:

What do you spend more time doing in your role as a marketing professional?
How do you develop your marketing plans?
Where do you need help with marketing?

How do you think they answered?

An Excerpt from the Six Elements of A Marketing Plan White Paper

The Framework of Your Campaign

Before you create a marketing plan for a specific campaign, frame your goals and objectives with these questions:

What is the goal?
What is the purpose?
With whom will we connect? (Who are the people like us?)
What message will we share?
What action will the audience take?
What impact will this campaign have?

These simple statements are the basis for the beginning, middle, and successful conclusion of a single campaign. A series of these can be the basis for a comprehensive, integrated marketing or communications plan.

If you begin with the idea that you are creating a marketing strategy, and not simply executing a marketing plan, you will align your goals with an essential foundation, along the engagement continuum through a smart, tactical communication plan.

Above all else, remember the rule of one: focus your communication on one cause, one mission, and one purpose, sharing that purpose with one voice.

Want to learn more? Request the “Six Elements of Modern Marketing“ guide, with our overview of:

Motive (the why of your campaign);
Message (the story and call to action);
Market (your intended audience);
Medium (how you will communicate);
Method (the platforms and touch points of distribution);
Means (the cost in time, personnel, and finances).

Don't wait. Learn how you can create consistent, repeatable marketing campaigns and marketing plans.

Brand Flip: A Conversation with Marty Neumeier

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 04:00:00 GMT

Join Brian Sooy and Marty Neumeier as they discuss “The Brand Flip,” a whiteboard overview of how customers now run companies, how you can profit from it, and create more loyalty with your customers.

The answer is yes if Marty Neumeier writes it.

The Brand Gap . Zag. The Designful Company . With each new book, Marty Neumeier redefines the function of brand and its influence on your customers.

The Brand Flip defines how your customer’s influence (and own) your brand. As often as brand managers and communication professionals like to think a brand is all about an organization (it's not), Marty’s insights and experience prove we have a long way to go in understanding the discipline of brand management.

In Brian and Marty’s conversation about “ The Brand Flip ,” you will hear insights on the new reality of customers and their relationship with your company and brand:

Marty and Brian acknowledge the role that influencers play in our lives and thinking:

Not everyone is your ideal customer:

As you pursue your ideal customer, you must speak to them with one voice:

Do you need to increase revenue? Brian and Marty also discuss why and how design is a competitive resource for your company or cause.

Look for the EveryBody Brands Podcast for insights to help you engage your customers and transform your culture by flipping your perspective on what it means to create and nurture a meaningful brand.

Creating Visual Stories for Brands that People Love

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 04:00:00 GMT

The president of a major philanthropy walked into the meeting room carrying an annual report from an education-focused nonprofit and laid it on the table next to the annual report from his organization.

Resting his hand on the nonprofit’s report, he said, “This is one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve seen in a long time.”

Opening it, he revealed a copy-dense report punctuated by photos, charts, infographics, and typography elements that helped him understand the story visually. He noted, “I don’t need to read the full report. The quotes and infographics tell me the entire story.”

The president’s comments confirmed what we know and practice:

An infographic is a visual representation of data that aids understanding. It is a way to summarize and simplify complex information, but infographics do not meet the need of every narrative and story. Storytelling becomes more compelling when you combine your inspirational words with infographics, photos, typography, color, and charts with design elements that integrate and create cohesiveness.

Reporting Educational Attainment to the Community

The Higher Education Compact Greater Cleveland report focuses on college readiness, college access, and college persistence.

In this example, infographics, photos, and a brief call out interpret and explain the relevant information in multiple ways for the needs of different readers. Quotes from key stakeholders and leaders are a custom feature of the report, printed in white ink on a vibrant blue paper to reinforce the importance of these highlights in the overall narrative. ( Click here to read the full report )

Visual Storytelling for Foundations and Grantmakers

Beginning in 2014, American Endowment Foundation (AEF), America’s largest independent provider of donor-advised funds, reviewed the grant distributions made between September 2010 to September 2014, totaling over $228 million in donations.

The top five causes were education, religion, philanthropy, human service and arts/culture.

When the numbers for 2015 were available (along with those of Giving USA), it became a perfect opportunity to create a visual story from the data, the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities classifications , and The Cause Quadrant from Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto .

If your cause is one of the top five, that’s encouraging news. If you’re one of the other 21 subgroups represented in the complete NTEE list, you’ll have to work a little harder to share your story and build interest for your cause.

Visual Storytelling for Education

Infographics can help you capture the relevance, value, and uniqueness of your educational institution. The most important thing to remember is who the audience is for your intended communications. In this instance, the audience is prospective parents and donors:

Visual Stories Demonstrate Mission, Scope, and Impact

The Benefits of Being Informational and Inspirational

Why do infographics appeal to us? They are examples of the best aspects of design. In an eye-tracking study , Amy Alberts noted:

Perhaps a few of your donors enjoy reading the financials, but I’ll bet there are more who would appreciate the data and understand your impact better if you punctuated your narrative by practicing visual storytelling.

Your board may begin to understand the outcomes of your mission if the entire board report is summarized in a dashboard style visual format. It’s more work for you, but more compelling (and shareable) for your ambassadors and advocates.

In your storytelling narrative and the engagement continuum of your communications, visual design is a critical element to inform, inspire, and persuade donors and stakeholders who care about your cause . Stay true to your mission and the value and relevance you’re trying to communicate by making the informational and inspirational elements of design central to your donor communications.

Trust, Your Brand, and Culture

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 24 May 2017 04:00:00 GMT

At its most meaningful, one can assert that the sole purpose of marketing and communications is to nurture trust.

Transparency is cited as a key factor in building trust. Declaring transparency as an operating practice or value makes for good accountability, because as soon as your organizational character or culture shifts away from trust, your customers and stakeholders will hold you accountable.

Trust is earned when your audience experiences alignment between the culture, character, and voice of your organization. When your organization pursues trustworthiness as a core principle, your mission is validated as the trust relationship between your organization, customers, and stakeholders is strengthened.

But what happens when trust is broken or has eroded over many years?

Let’s use government as an example: Government officials acknowledge that trust is at an all-time low . Government leaders must rebuild the trust and confidence of residents and voters.

The challenge with trust is that it cannot be bought, coerced, or forced: it must be earned. Trust can’t be talked about, it must be demonstrated — and over many years, trust in government has completely eroded — and people have a long memory.

The perception of citizens in city, county, and the federal government is a lack of transparency compounded by ineffective communication from the government. The lack of transparency and ineffective communication manifests itself in the perception that there is a complete lack of leadership.

How do open communications nurture trust?

Let’s explore this question with a question: Have you ever voted on a tax issue? Have you ever had your taxes raised after voting “no?”

When this occurred in Ohio, voters observed that a county commissioner’s decision to change her mind on imposing a sales tax demonstrates a leadership choice, right or wrong.

When other commissioners maintain their decision not to support a tax increase, it also demonstrates a leadership position, right or wrong.

But what went wrong?

In either case, little effort was made to communicate with and persuade voters that a sales tax increase is in their best interest and would create a better future for what they care about.

There is strong evidence that voters will give extra money to the government under the right circumstances. Without a clear idea of how the money is used—where it will go, how it will benefit what they care about, or what impact it will have—people are less likely to vote yes, make donations, or buying decisions.

In fact, the motivation for charitable donations and willingness to raise taxes are very similar . Through Glass Pockets , the philanthropic sector is far ahead of the business and government sectors, with a strong movement toward complete transparency on how money is spent and where it goes. Open The Books (an independent resource) and Ohio’s Open Checkbook are notable exceptions.

Paying taxes isn’t the issue. Trust is the issue. A tax levy is a vote for trust, proof of action, and guarantee of stewardship. Paying taxes is proof of the exchange of trust (although it can be argued that it’s forced or coerced— so how can you change public perception?).

People are desperate for effective and decisive government and business leadership that is transparent and acts in the best interests of the community .

Over time, decisions are made by our government that create the perception that government officials act only in their best interests. It doesn’t matter what the intent is — perception is the reality.

Join the movement of business leaders who make gratitude part of their brand story

Be a Giver, not a Taker

Businesses that place value on profit over purpose, prosperity, and stewardship risk eroding trust with buyers who align their buying decisions with their values. Buyers want to think of the companies they buy from and brands they support as givers, not takers.

Your organization’s “brand” is fully controlled and perceived in the minds of your customers and constituents.

That’s why you must remember when it comes to engaging your customers and raving fans, everybody brands .

It is possible to begin to change perceptions, but it requires an intentional change in the purpose, character, culture, and voice of your organization. If trust is eroded or broken, with clear communication and consistency in organizational practices, it can be nurtured — but it will require cultural change and a leadership commitment.

Clarity — the principle of clear communication and focused vision — can only be achieved when an organization makes its communications choices from a mission-driven perspective. Its purpose, culture, character, and voice must be unified.

One thing will never change: Trust must be earned. It cannot be bought or created. Nurture a culture of trust, and your organization’s character is revealed.

Four Insights for Better Communications

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 04:00:00 GMT

These four insights will help make you a better communicator, nurture trust, and build loyalty with customers and raving fans

Resist the urge to market to your audience when you should be communicating. Earn the right to market to your customers; nurture trust and familiarity first.

“Conversations help build understanding.” — Simone Joyaux , an internationally recognized expert in board and organizational development.
“Think of email as a ‘gratification delivery device’.”— Tom Ahern , a leading communications strategist.
“Read fewer minds. Ask more questions.” — Rachel Muir , nationally recognized thought leader.
“We make a difference by design, not by default.” — Bernadette Jiwa , brand and storytelling strategist.

The one thing you’ll want to remember with every opportunity you take through marketing and communications to engage people:

Marketing isn’t about telling your customers how great you are, it’s about how great you make your customers feel.

How to Build and Be a Grateful Brand

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 04:00:00 GMT

Never pass up an opportunity to say thank you to people and keep them closely engaged with your company or brand.

Gratitude is at the center of a customer-focused culture of brand communication.

Being grateful is an opportunity for you to acknowledge how your product or service makes a difference in the life or business of your customer.

Whenever there is a transfer of trust between your brand and customers, the exchange of money is the validation of that trust.

Gratitude acknowledges that you've received that trust, and will be a responsible steward of it.

Gratitude: A Business Differentiator

As a business owner, when was the last time you thanked your clients for working with you or buying your products and services?

When a customer remembers how you made her feel and that you're grateful for their business, it drives loyalty and affinity for your company. Loyalty leads to referrals; referrals lead to new business

It's not always what you say; it’s often how you say it. All communications are customer communications, and actions speak louder than words.

How did you feel the last time you received a thank-you note from a brand you purchased something from?

As a business leader, when was the last time you sent a thank you note to acknowledge a new contract?

If you own a retail store, the front-line staff aren’t the only people who should be expressing gratitude. Every social media post is your opportunity to be grateful.

If you have loyal customers, what do you do to show your appreciation in a believable and authentic manner?

Being grateful is a principle that acknowledges to your customers that their purchase is meaningful. Gratefulness recognizes that the purchase is important and will make a difference.

Gratefulness is a cultural practice.

Gratefulness is a sacred trust: people choose to support brands whose purpose upholds the values they hold most important, and whose mission in which they believe. Gratefulness is a character quality and part of your brand personality.

An intentionally designed process for expressing gratefulness in a meaningful way will enhance those relationships. Design it, build it into your day-to-day activity, and gratitude will become an irreplaceable part of your culture.

Always seek opportunities to be grateful. Never pass up an opportunity to say thank you and engage a supporter or a customer at a deeper level.

Join the movement of business leaders who make gratitude part of their brand story

Four Reasons Your Brand Should Be Social

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 04:00:00 GMT

All media is social media. Community exists whether you're trying to build one or not, your role is to nurture it. Your social network is already everywhere you visit, speak, and listen.

There is continuing belief in well-intentioned but unfounded faith in social media as the cure-all for the lack of design discipline.

Social media is a popular topic of discussion at every conference that seeks to educate marketers.

Technology and social networks will never completely replace personal interaction, one-to-one relationships, and authentic community. As in personal relationships, you can’t be social without knowing your audience.

Knowing your audience requires empathy and understanding.

There are four key reasons why you should develop the social side of your culture of communications:

For purpose —To intentionally develop strategic relationships and a relationships with customers to support your mission. Reciprocate by helping people realize their goals and aspirations
To inspire —To motivate your team, consumers, and stakeholders
For community —To build and steward authentic relationships. The raving fans, brand ambassadors, and brand believers are people with goals and dreams—more than customers or supporters
To aspire —to become known and familiar as an influential voice of visionary and courageous leadership

Intentional Relationships

Half of being social is listening: listen to your customers; interview your sales team. Get your marketing team involved in customer conversations as often as possible.

Inspire by Example

Be consistent and coherent with marketing and design-driven communication. Think of every aspect of your communications as an integrated platform designed to communicate why, how, and what you do.

Through your consistent example, your customers will hear your story, understand your messages, and become part of your brand story.

Join the movement of business leaders who invite people into their brand story through words that sell.

Create Platforms for Community

Know where your audience is listening: There may be more relevant platforms than Facebook or Twitter through which to share your message and engage consumers.

Seek out opportunities for opinion columns, editorial opportunities, and sharing expert insight that can be published in business journals and blogs.

Have conversations. Publish a blog, participate in podcasting. Be an advocate who listens as much as you talk.

Understand Your Audience’s Goals

Know your audience to make them part of your mission. At any time, you will have multiple audiences who perceive your cause as meaningful, but who have different ideas of what it means to them.

Speak your audience’s language: avoid using acronyms of any kind; always use words that communicate with clarity to the audience you are trying to reach.

Repeat after me: “Your acronyms mean nothing to me.”

Resolve to Be Social

Mission-driven design recognizes the ultimate objective is to cultivate and acquire customers by engaging people and building relationships that drive long-term revenue and growth.

Brand ambassadors recognize that every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships.

The work your company does is meaningful, relevant, and important. To be social is to build a foundation of influence through integrated, intentional communications.

Weave them into every facet of your organization as you adapt and change to make your vision a reality.

Customer Service and Brand Ambassadors

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 05:00:00 GMT

My story begins with the purchase of a fountain pen, and ends with a lesson in how a brand (especially a luxury brand) achieves brand alignment.

What I mean is that customer service is part of your brand, because it’s part of the customer experience. When you make a claim about your brand, you need to back it up, especially when the customer isnt happy.

Brand alignment occurs when your business strategy and positioning is aligned with your customer experience. In essence, it connects your brand with people's lives. It's not about your brand, it’s about how your brand makes people feel about themselves.

When the nib fell out of an $85 dollar fountain pen shortly after I purchased it, and three trips back to the factory didn’t fix it (thanks for the lifetime warranty!), a year later I requested to be unsubscribed from the promotional email list of the company.

Besides the fact that the emails were image files and the text was in French, my request mentioned that I would never buy another pen because of my perception of their quality.

Surprisingly, I received a response. Recife , a French company that positions its leather goods and fountain pens as luxury brands, has an individual dedicated to After Care service. She stated to me in our correspondence:

“Luxury is a commitment.”

Can you say the same about your brand? Yours may not be a luxury brand, but what kind is it? Are you as committed to the customer experience after the transaction is complete?

“Luxury feel is also in the service luxury brands can offer to their customers.”

What is the feel of the service your customers experience? Do they feel better about themselves after they purchase your product or service?

Needless to say, after making things right with me, Recife now has me as a customer for life, and an advocate for the brand.

Not because of the product I purchased, but because they cared about my experience with it after the purchase.

That‘s brand commitment. And in the end, a great customer experience.

PS: the resolution was to replace the nib in my pen that I had purchased, and send me a new pen – which is one of the most beautiful and elegant writing instruments I’ve ever used.

Now I’m a happy customer.

Mission-Driven Brands Thrive on Empathy

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 05:00:00 GMT

Mission-driven companies nurture a culture of communication when they practice empathy as the secret to be engaging—listening more often than they speaks to understand the needs of its customers and the community.

An engaging brand empathizes .

When was the last time you asked your audience:

“What do you expect of us?”
“What is your experience with us like?”
“Why do you believe in our brand?”

Being engaging isn’t always about sharing the great things your business is doing or what your brand stands for.

You need to ask your audience what they think in to find the points of interest where they want to have a conversation with your brand and how they want to be engaged.

Think about every possible touch point between your company and its customers. If everything your company says and does is part of your story and impacts audience perception (i.e., your brand — what others think about your organization), what should you do to improve each point of interaction?

A Different Perspective on Audience Engagement

I spent a couple of minutes on an organization’s website recently, trying to find the times for their weekly gatherings. Their home page featured a large button reading, “I’m New Here,” and as a first-time visitor, I clicked it.

The only problem is that I didn’t find what I was looking for. I found a lot of information about what to expect on my first visit, how long the meeting would be, what a great experience it would be, and more.

The only thing the page didn’t tell me what time I should be there to share this experience.

Eventually, I found what I was looking for, quietly hiding under a subhead on the home page, and again at the very bottom.

It wasn’t a well-designed first visitor experience. When I shared my experience with the organization, they welcomed the feedback and made changes to ensure other visitors had a better experience than I did.

Rather than waiting for a guest to bring up a design oversight, ask your audience for feedback, and with that information advise your staff on how they think your business can do a better job of communicating.

One simple way to gain insight is to conduct a survey and ask your stakeholders or customers what they think you’re doing well, and what you could do better.

Better yet, have a one-to-one conversation with a customer, and learn their perspective on your company: who you are, what you do, why they think your brand matters, and how you’ve helped them solve their problems .

Odds are what motivates them also motivates others, and their perspective will help you create a brand story that reaches more people with design and experiences that foster trust, affinity, and loyalty.

Join the movement of business leaders who inspire people to buy their products through words that sell.

Listen First—Act and Respond Second

Listening carefully to stakeholders enables you to influence the way individuals perceive your cause or company, and how they interact with it.

Empathy in marketing gives your audience reasons to engage with your brand and believe in your company. When you empathize with the experience of those you serve, your products and services can be more meaningful to those for whom it matters most.

What must you do to be engaging?

Listen as often as you speak, to hear what the community is saying.

Words that Empower, Inspire, and Sell

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 05:00:00 GMT

What words inspire you? Why do they inspire you? Do words that inspire you about your company or brand purpose inspire your audience in the same way?

Your business creates a culture of communication and purpose when it shares stories that speak to the mind and appeal to the heart.

Words are powerful elements of alignment: key themes and messaging must be carefully selected and crafted to create a memorable perception of your brand and the value it represents.

The words and phrases that you choose for

Your positioning or public vision statement;
Your tag line and one-liner; and
To represent the values, character, and mission of your brand

are the phrases that you want your employees to use and customers to share in conversation. You can’t create your brand perception, but your words—and the actions that support them—can influence your brand perception in your audience’s hearts and minds.

Words — combined with powerful typography and memorable imagery — evoke meaning, motivate people to action, and become a catalyst that lead to changed thinking in the minds (and hearts) of those you’re seeking to engage.

Simply: Changed thinking leads to changed behavior.

Influence the perception of a brand (how people think about it), and you’ll change the behavior of the consumer.

To inspire is to stir the heart and challenge the mind of people who want to believe in your brand. When an individual understands deeply how their values align with your brand, this gives them more than an opportunity to be a customer or ambassador. It gives them a story to share, a point of connection, and personal meaning.

James Humes, speechwriter for five presidents, reminds us:

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”

Your audience will recognize and respond to inspirational brand positioning when what you say (your message) aligns with how you say it (Character, Culture, and Voice) and connect with the things they value most.

In essence, when your story and messages align with what is most important to your audience, you’re speaking their language. Your purpose becomes their story and an anthem they will raise.

Choose your words well and they will motivate people to follow, buy, advocate , and believe in your brand.

Brand believers will see the value in what you sell and buy it at higher cost.

Believers become ambassadors, who will represent your brand wherever they are, because they believe in what your brand represents cause.

Believers will follow wherever the organization leads, and will support your brand when you’ve inspired them to action.

Your inspiration gives those who believe in your brand meaning because they become part of the change and impact. They identify and become part of your tribe.

What’s the secret?

It’s not about you or your brand. It’s about your audience and how your inspirational leadership makes them feel.

People are watching, and they ask: “Do you want me to follow you? Inspire me!”

Join the movement of business leaders who inspire people to buy their products through words that sell.

The Benefits of Data-Driven Brand Strategy

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 05:00:00 GMT

Your company can improve marketing and communication when you use data to measure the effectiveness of your mission and customer perception of your brand.

I don’t necessarily mean big data (the current trend and buzzword). I mean anything observable and measurable: small data, patterns of behavior, feelings, and triggers; stated and unstated motivation.

Insight is gleaned from what you measure, and from what you hear in your community’s voices and feedback. This feedback is referred to as the voice of the customer. Your customers are buyers, supporters, donors, and more.

Glean insight from everything. Numbers are part of our language of communication.

Numbers have the power to persuade and inform. Data can be your friend and what better way to welcome a friend than with an embrace? She will help you tell your story in ways that cannot be argued against, and show you and others the results of your hard work.

Every person perceives your cause and your organization in a different way, filtering their interpretation and reception of its identity, messaging, and mission to create a unique perception that’s all their own.

You’re not in control of your brand, your audience is. You can manage your brand, but you can’t control your brand, and you can influence the perception of it.

You can manage your identity, but those who interact with your company and brand will form a perception of it, whether it’s true or not. Even if an individual hears one thing about your brand, they will begin to tell themselves a story about your brand and how it fits into their belief system.

Use your available data, observation resources, and information to help you create clear messaging that informs , speaks to impact, and progress toward outcomes.

Think of it this way: You understand your organization’s character, purpose, mission, and culture. Your goal is to help your followers and prospects understand it in the same way you do, and use compelling facts and figures to make a connection between your community and your cause or company.

Information is the knowledge that can help guide and give insight into mission-driven design choices and communication. Data can be the foundation of a very compelling story.

While numbers, and data, and information may seem tedious at first—consider them part of your narrative that will help you compellingly connect your story with the hearts and minds of your audience.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin says of numbers, “I am advising you to grow to love numbers, not in themselves, but as a language of communication that can bring intimacy with the inanimate.” (Follow Rabbi Lapin at @daniellapin ).

The inanimate can also be considered the intangible, one of the key dimensions we measure when we assess an organization’s brand personality.

Join the movement of business leaders using data and insight to create compelling brand narratives that sell more products.

In the storytelling tradition, these are pathos (emotion), logos (rationality), and ethos (credibility). Emotion and rationality, woven into the narrative, build credibility. (Storytelling isn’t effective when it's isolated from the narrative. It’s your voice that connects stories and events).

Powerful storytelling for business has three elements: Empathy, authority, and credibility.

Empathy demonstrates your understanding for who your customer is and what they want. It shows your brand understands their problems and how they feel when they can’t solve them without your products and services. It reveals that you understand, “People like us do things like this.”
Authority proves to your customer that your company has the experience and expertise to help them, because you’ve done it for people like them. Authority creates trust.
When a brand delivers on a promise where the customer feels empathy and accepts your authority, your brand earns credibility.

Inform your audience by educating them.

Inspire your audience by appealing to them from your heart to their heart.

Tell them why yours is a meaningful brand with facts and information that speak to their mind.

To build credibility, project your identity and voice consistently and authentically, to convey a powerful image of the impact your brand can make in the customer’s life and for what they care about.

What is there to love about your brand? Can you powerfully tell that story to inspire people? How do people feel about how when your brand helps them overcome a challenge, grow, or have a better life?

How do you use the insights you glean from these customer experiences to further influence the perception of your brand and company?

How to Create a Meaningful Brand

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 05:00:00 GMT

The mission-driven organization creates a meaningful brand and purpose-driven culture of communication when its character (its values in action) aligns with the reasons that motivate people to buy, support, or subscribe.

Any business that wants to build a meaningful must focus on its audience, not brand attributes, as people begin to form a relationship.

People choose brands and companies whose purpose, character, and culture align with their personal values. Understanding and speaking to these values — with one voice — effectively makes your brand more meaningful in the hearts and minds of your followers.

This is especially true for businesses and brands that practice Conscious Capitalism . For your customers and raving fans, buying a product is a means by which a brand makes a difference in the life of a customer and its employees.

Purpose, character, culture, and voice are the key to building trust.

Acknowledging that purpose, character, culture, and voice are the key to building trust ensures the voice of your brand is aligned, the stories told by your business are consistent and true, and you’ve got the customer’s best interests in mind when you speak their language with words they understand.

Through clear messaging, story, marketing, and relational touch points, mission-driven design helps engage your stakeholders in meaningful conversations and memorable experiences. Visual design elements (color, images, typography, and design style) support consistency and create familiarity.

Familiarity creates context, nurtures continuity, and supports a culture of trust.

Imagine a continuum of audience touch points that attract, inform, inspire, and engage your audience, combined with an insightful narrative, concise messaging, and compelling stories that make the case for why your brand is meaningful.

These touch points include your website, publications, electronic communications, printed materials, visual identity framework, and social media.

Your audience becomes familiar with and trusts your brand through consistent and memorable experiences that create WOW! moments.

Design, in all formats and media, makes your stories visible. Design engages people powerfully, from marketing and outreach to relationship building experiences and interactions.

The next impression you make on an individual is only as good as the last impression you made.

Continuity through experience helps you build meaningful relationships, inspire trust, and motivate people to believe in and love your brand.

At the core of your organization, do you have a meaningful values that define your purpose? Ask your customers and supporters — they will tell you if your brand matters, why it matters , and how your brand makes a difference in their life.

The Aespire Brand Clarity Credo guides leaders to align the four dimensions of communication and culture so your organization thrives.

Why Customer-Focused Communication Strategies are Important

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 05:00:00 GMT

Can you articulate your organization’s purpose (its cause and the reason that it exists), what it does (its mission), and why it matters (what difference it makes)?

If not, you’re not alone.

We live in a world where we find it easy to change our focus and message to adapt to the circumstances and opportunities around us.

Doing so creates confusion in people’s minds; it is imperative that your brand remain focused.

Your marketing should be simple and repeatable (especially if you have a small budget)
Small budget= simple marketing
Small budget = clear brand and messaging

The mission-driven organization creates a culture of purpose-driven communication when it focuses communications on one brand and one purpose—and shares it with one voice.

Many organizations struggle to create communication and design touch points that focus on the customers. Your narrative and stories must be focused on your target audience, through touch points that the audience will connect and interact with.

When your brand focuses on features and benefits, your customers stop listening. People want to know how your brand is going to solve their problem.

Your employees and customer service reps need to understand your brand or company purpose, and be able to share why that purpose is part of your brand story. But it’s important to remember that people buy your products and services because it helps them live a better life or solve a problem, not because of your brand purpose.

The only why a customer is interested in is, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner that you could help me? I would have bought your product sooner and you could have saved me time and frustration!”

When brand storytelling and marketing are be designed to meet the needs of the audience, it achieves two goals: Messaging tells people what they want to hear from your brand, and your brand earns trust and the privilege to share its message with customers.

It’s a fair exchange. You get peoples’s attention by sharing about how your brand can give them what they want, and by providing information that will benefit them. In the process, they learn more about how your brand can help them live a better life or provide a solution to a problem.

The Aespire Brand Clarity Credo guides leaders to align the four dimensions of communication and culture so your organization thrives.

To begin or nurture a relationship, you need to know your audience. Your brand voice should be speaking the language your audience speaks. Your voice needs to be heard where they are listening.

You must have a sustained and deliberate commitment to telling an effective story with a unique voice. Your brand must remain focused on the audience it is trying to reach, speaking the language of that community.

To communicate effectively, you have to eliminate possibilities in order to create opportunity. Think about what you want your audience to experience (i.e., the consumers or stakeholders you want to reach) and then build your marketing around the needs of that audience.

Eliminate what is trendy in favor of what is effective. When you eliminate complexity and focus on marketing made simple, everybody wins.

Focus on what you have capacity for, and implement it with excellence.

If you are true to your goal of lasting impact and growing revenue, then you must take a long-term view to your brand, design, and communication planning.

What will it take for you to stay focused?

Whatever it is, make it easy for your audience to connect with your organization.

Essential Business Strategy for a Culture of Communications

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 04:00:00 GMT

Be Strategic. These two words should be among the first words shared with your team in your communication planning.

Is your strategic plan measurable?

Does it align with your communication plan?

“ Be strategic ” should be the first words considered with any planning.

The mission-driven organization creates a purpose-driven culture when it aligns its design and communications strategy with the goals of its strategic plan.

Strategy is not an option, it is a requirement of your mission. In fact — if you’ve taken a step back and asked yourself “What is our purpose?” — strategy is not only a requirement, strategy is essential.

Without a plan, mission has no focus; without focus, there is no clarity; and, without clarity, it is difficult to communicate to the outcomes that you’re working to achieve.

A strategic plan is the outline of goals, strategies, and tactics that guide a communications plan; that align messages with touch points; and that connect the mission with your audience.

A simple strategic plan looks like this:

Objective or Goal

Strategy
Tactic
Strategy
Tactic

How difficult is it to put a simple strategy plan into place for everything you do?

There’s a clear relationship between a strategic plan (or lack of one) and the goals and impact that your business wants to achieve. Without strategic communications, there is lack of clarity between your goals and your activities.

As a business, your primary goal should be revenue generation. There must be a clear strategy between marketing activity, customer experience, design touch points, and business development.

When was the last time the marketing department asked the sales team what information and knowledge the customers are actually asking for?

Your goal could be customer engagement. There must be strategic intent between design, communications, and measurement. For the sales manager, all communications are customer communications.

The Mission-Driven Business

The mission-driven brand manages its activities to its goals, and communicates how it is going to achieve those goals.

What are you on a mission to do?
What’s your purpose?
What’s your strategy to get you there?

How will you connect that plan with people so they listen , care, and take action that helps your business increase revenue? Through strategic communications, intentionally applied through a design narrative, over time.

You’re building a story and a brand.

Have you aligned your communications with your goals? What will it take for you to be strategic?

Four Qualities of Courageous Brand Leadership

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 04:00:00 GMT

Of all the qualities that create a culture of communications, the call to be courageous is the foundation for brands and leaders.

Do you consider yourself a courageous leader? Most likely you’re operating within your comfort zone, fulfilling a specific role within your organization and community.

Hiding deep inside of you may be a reluctant leader who guides her organization and team with brave words and a veneer of confidence that hides how you really feel.

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can replace the reluctant leader with confidence.

Even when you are not aware of it, your leadership style and personality permeate the organization you lead. Your team follows your leadership style, either seeking permission for every step they take or empowered and equipped to fulfill the vision which you are pursuing.

The first scenario creates a culture of fear, low performance, and ambiguity. The second scenario results in a culture where people are confident, goals are exceeded, and expectations are clear.

Two Problems all Leaders Face

We face two problems: allowing the expectations of others to create ambiguity (or clarity) for how we must lead, and our lack of understanding of what is required to drive people to achieve a goal or vision.

Practically speaking, the expectation of leadership creates an open loop in our minds. An open loop is an unresolved situation in which we know there is something at stake if we don’t act, but we don’t know what we must do to close the loop and resolve the situation.

You and I are best prepared to lead with excellence and confidence when we anticipate the level at which we’re expected to perform. We’ll rise to the level of expectation; a courageous leader will achieve that level and immediately ask, “What’s next?”

Instead of relying on the expectations of others to define our objectives and how we lead, you must own your leadership. The responsibilities of leadership are isolating, but they don’t have to be.

When you cultivate a culture of courageous leadership, you multiply the leaders around you who begin to share and practice the values and behaviors that turn your vision into reality. As long as your ego doesn’t get in the way, this approach has the potential to multiply the best of your leadership qualities and amplify the effectiveness of your leadership.

Communication is the Core of Courageous Leadership

Do you want to make a difference? You must share your vision for the difference you want to make in a way everybody understands. Boldly. Courageously. Confidently. People are drawn to clarity; do what you must to communicate clearly with focus and direction.

You need to have an oversized belief in your purpose, in the why that guides you. You need to believe that what you are on a mission to do is the most essential thing in the world.

Purpose informs your character; character creates the personality of your culture; all of these qualities combine to form your leadership voice that people follow.

Real impact is about the success of the people you serve — their stories and their impact on business and the economy, education, entrepreneurship, economic development, health and wellness, sustainability, philanthropy, the arts — the fabric of our culture.

Join the movement of courageous leaders who make brand character essential to their business

Four Qualities of a Courageous Brands and Leader

Courageous leaders begin with curiosity

Seeing the world for how it could be instead of accepting it for what it is.
Asking “What if?” and listening for the answers.
Moving beyond, “How does this work?”, to “Why does this have to work that way?”
Asking yourself, “What is my calling?” and pursuing that call relentlessly.

Courageous leaders respond to the challenge

The challenge to follow a different path that requires a change in direction.
Realizing that leadership for change can’t happen with inspiring people to follow.
By saying “Let’s fix this problem” when others say, “It can’t be done.”

Courageous leaders seek clarity

For clear understanding and awareness of the direction they must follow to create the greatest impact
To define the problem before seeking a solution.
To focus on the purpose and vision to which they are called.

Courageous leaders proceed with confidence

In the purpose that guides them, the vision to which they aspire, and the impact they make every day.
With unwavering belief for the cause in which they believe, with a passion that guides the pursuit of their vision and drives their efforts to achieve it.

Courageous leaders are fearless and resilient, overcoming every challenge to lead the movement to make their vision a reality.

If you are courageous—not because of your calling—but because you believe your purpose is higher than the challenge to which you are called, you’ll draw upon a deeper well of courage that what you find within yourself.

Leadership is not only a matter of how to communicate courage but a matter of communicating with courage.

Colin Powell stated, “Leaders inspire people to reach beyond themselves.”

Courageous leaders dream big and have the courage to adapt and change to make their dreams a reality.

Courageous leaders are fearless and resilient, overcoming every challenge to lead people to make a shared vision a reality.

People are looking for a leader to follow and a cause in which to believe. What will it take for you to be the courageous leader who inspires people to reach beyond themselves?

Five Takeaways for Marketing that Matters

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 04:00:00 GMT

Five key takeaways that will help you create marketing that engages your audience

Research matters. Understand your audience, find out what they love, and let that be the focus of your message and design touch points. From behavioral economics to the principle of conversations, you need to pay attention to research. This is critical for marketing to millennials; Trish Witkowski from Folding Factory stated “every touchpoint is an opportunity to create a relationship.” If that sounds familiar, it echoes the Be Social principle from The Cause Manifesto. What it means is that there is no secret formula; it’s all about you empathizing with what matters to your audience and delivering what they need.
Print and digital must work together. The most effective campaigns are not only achieved through integrated communications , but also with the component of integrated measurement. Please resist the urge to throw out a misattributed Deming or Drucker quote about managing what you can’t measure; neither stated the quote of which you’re thinking.
Personalization and customization is expected. Personalized communications stand out; customization nurtures a personal connection.
Design the experience. Digital is not an experience; process is part of the experience. Every touch point your audience encounters is an opportunity to deepen your relationship, and nurture affinity and memorability. It’s what we call The Brand Path; look for more on that in the coming weeks.
Print still matters. If you’ve moved strongly away from print to digital, you’re missing the opportunity to engage your audience more deeply than digital can. It’s not an opinion, it’s neuroscience— based on sound research . The more senses you can stimulate, the more valuable, authoritative, and memorable the content.

Please consider this for what it is—five takeaways distilled from four days of presentations from design professionals from across the U.S. and Canada, who are charged with communicating the value and relevance of an organization to diverse audiences from Generation Z and Millennials to Baby Boomers and beyond.

If you've worked with Aespire, you know we have a knack for distilling the essence of a message or concept, so we’re confident that our insights are accurate.

When you hear from professionals who have increased inbound leads by 250%, are presenting findings based on behavioral research and economics, and have received a top rating from Gartner for their work in experience design and innovation , it’s worth paying attention and putting those principles into practice.

One Simple Principle for Focused Communications

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 04:00:00 GMT

What’s the one thing that will challenge your focus today? Will it prevent you from achieving your communication goals?

During the research phase of a mission focus and brand development project, a participant declared:

The same is relevant for leaders of business organizations. Your ability to remain focused and prioritize essential communications is critical.

When we struggle with focus, what impact does it have on communication?

Shouldn’t our communications be focused on one purpose, one mission, and one cause? If so, why is it a challenge to share our purpose with one voice?

In most communications—sales, marketing, donor appeals, and especially storytelling—the emphasis is on the company or cause, and not the customer.

When your organization feels it needs to craft a narrative to convince people to buy or donate, do you find that you’re trying to share too much, and in the end, your customers are tuning you out?

People are already overwhelmed with too many choices to listen to. When they get overwhelmed, they stop listening.

Even the best messaging is ignored if nobody is listening.

Are you concerned that people aren't listening to your message? Learn how a clear and compelling narrative will help your organization grow.

Distraction is the enemy of focus. Lack of clarity is the byproduct.

With many possibilities in business and life to pursue opportunity and use your time, talent, and treasure, no wonder it is a challenge to stay focused.

Focus keeps you aligned with your purpose, goals, and vision.

Focus comes from having a clear purpose; keeping your eyes fixed on a clear vision of where you are going, avoiding the distraction of other good (even great) things that demand your attention.

My father often reminds me “sometimes you must choose between best and best, not just better and best.”

Your focus is where your time and attention centers. You lose focus when you take your eyes off the goal you wish to attain, the prize you are hoping to gain, or the promise you work to keep.

There are myriad possibilities to pursue that promise to grow your business, advance your cause, expand your influence, and increase your opportunity.

You can’t pursue every one of them. Possibility is found at the intersection of many paths; opportunity is the path you choose to take to get to your destination.

You will lose focus if your eyes are on the finish than on the road before you. Strategy has to come before action; training before the race. Know what end you have in mind (write it down) and focus your time and attention on what it will take to get you there.

To achieve the communication goals that support your business and revenue, you must eliminate possibilities that keep you from staying focused on the things you do best.

All things are possible; it’s the opportunity that enables you to move toward the goal.

A Simple Strategy for Communications: Be Focused

Focused leaders practice clarity in their communications. Focus comes from clarity when your marketing flows from your purpose and helps you articulate your mission.

The principle is a guide for people struggling with focus:

A focused leader cannot risk the hazards of distraction. When you take your eyes off the goal, you tend to drift off course when focused on minutiae, and the miss details when too focused on the big picture.

To the people you lead, a distracted leader can appear arrogant or aloof. Responsibilities begin to take priority over relationships. Multiply that to an organizational level, and it begins to shift the brand personality of the organization away from a culture of empowerment to a culture where people don’t have as much value as programs.

The effectiveness of your leadership diminishes when your focus is on programs and performance over people. Results matter, but effective leaders will empower the people with whom they work to achieve anticipated results.

Every time you speak or write, it creates an impression of your leadership. Communications is the language of leadership, and your voice is the one people listen to and follow.

How you communicate creates tremendous impact:

The quality of your leadership is magnified by the clarity of your communications.
The integrity of your leadership is enriched by the truth of your communications.
The legacy of your leadership is measured by the impact of your communications.

A Brand Motivation Assessment will help you understand how your organization makes people feel — and why it matters.

Choose Your Values Wisely

As a leader, you have two values from which to lead: pride or humility.

Pride will lead you down a path of damaged relationships and destroys your reputation.
Humility will lead you to honor and respect (and loyalty from those whom you lead).

Upon what value will you base your leadership and relationships?

Without focus, possibilities become obstacles disguised as opportunity. You must eliminate possibilities that may be good to focus on the opportunities that are best for your organization (and by extension, you) and the vision you want to achieve.

Without focus, your leadership is unsustainable, and your ability to simplify your objectives, clarify your message, and magnify your impact is reduced.

The key to being focused? Think about the people your organization serves and the promise you’ve made to them. Think about what they need, then act on it.

You’ll find this strategy for focus helps you achieve greater and stay true to your mission—and your messaging.

If you struggle with creating a focused culture of communications, “ Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto ” will help you understand why your focus must be on the people who buy or donate to your organization. Buy it today!

Out of the Box: Simple Guidelines for Better Typography

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 05:00:00 GMT

Open a book; pick up a magazine; read a brochure… Readability is not accidental. Read these practical tips and recommendations for better typography!

When you launch your favorite layout software, you’re trusting that it shipped with the proper settings for beautiful typography. Having worked with design software since the days of Adobe PageMaker — through tests and trial and error — I’ve developed a simple set of standards and guidelines for better typography. Your layout software just needs a few tweaks for better spacing, and a careful eye for common typographic oversights.

As designers, we want the spacing between the letters and the words on the page to be perfect — for even color on the printed page, consistent letter spacing and uniform word spacing.

Open a book; pick up a magazine; read a brochure… Readability is not accidental. The typeface was carefully spaced by the type designer. The number of hyphens and placement of other punctuation should be deliberate. The double spaces are removed from the client copy. How does one keep track of all that?

These standards are grouped into five categories. We build them into brand standards manuals, and our design staff follows them as a checklist. When we receive a proof for review, we can focus on aesthetics and clarity of communications, because the small typographic details have been taken care of.

Of course, some typefaces may have letter spacing and word spacing that are more open, so you may need to adjust these settings for even color and spacing to suit your preferences.

Search and replace to eliminate double spaces in body copy prior to proof release.
Search and replace to eliminate double spaces after periods.
Word breaks should be controlled by optimal hyphenation settings (see hyphenation settings dialog box).
Manual line/word breaks should be applied sparingly. If there is a need to rewrap copy, fewer manual line breaks will minimize the risk of gaps in the text.
Readability is best when the character count is 45 to 65 characters per line.
The longer the line length, the deeper the leading should be. Leading creates white space that your eye uses to travel from the end of the line to the beginning of the next.
By default, numeric characters should be set to OpenType Proportional Lining for numbers in text. Of course, exceptions can be made based on the tone of the design and if the typeface contains old style figures.
OpenType fonts should be used when available, with key OpenType features such as ligatures and contextual glyphs enabled.
In order to create even color and word spacing, set spacing in paragraph preferences as follows:
Word spacing: Minimum 90%; Desired 95%; Maximum 100%
Letter Spacing: -2%; Desired 0%; Maximum 10%

InDesign settings for Hyphenation

Maximum: 2 hyphens in a row (ideally, only one – but your text will look fine with two in a row).
Minimum: 3 characters before and after hyphen.
No hyphens on capitalized words, column breaks or last words (would you want your name hyphenated?) These are on by default, and you should turn them off.

InDesign settings for Justification and Body Copy Bullets in InDesign

Turn off hyphenation on bullet lists, subheads, and headlines.
Bullet lists will read well with maximum +2 pts intra-bullet leading of type point size.
Bullets require an additional minimum +20% inter-bullet spacing (one or two points); ie the space between bullets.
The distance between a bullet and the first character in the line of text should not exceed the M square. If the bullet is too far away, it will look like it is floating away.
The InDesign bullet style should be used where appropriate. (This is for ease of creating bullets, and creating the style sheet).
Manual line breaks should be avoided in bullet lists.

Styles in InDesign

All text should use paragraph styles where possible.
Character styles should not be applied to paragraphs, but to words only.
Keep character styles simple: bold or italic or type variant. The more attributes that are applied via a character style, the harder it is to troubleshoot seemingly inexplicable type inconsistencies in paragraphs.

Punctuation Settings in InDesign

Punctuation should hang into the margin where possible (Enable the story feature on text blocks in InDesign).
Punctuation should not hang in bullet lists: it shifts the bullets to the left of the text block but doesn’t always shift the text.

Brian Sooy is the Chief Brand Officer of Aespire, type designer ( Altered Ego Fonts ) and typography expert, consulting with publications, publishers, and organizations on typographic standards, type and letterform design, and readability. Check out this typeface designed for the Bible .

Experience these guidelines in action when you read the nonprofit culture and communication handbook Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto .

Not to be reproduced without permission. Please ask, we're willing to share!

Todd Henry and the Power of Your Authentic Voice

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:00:00 GMT

My guest for this episode of the Everybody Brands podcast is author Todd Henry.

Todd teaches leaders and organizations how to establish practices that lead to everyday brilliance.

He is the author of three books, The Accidental Creative , Die Empty , and his new book, Louder Than Words , which have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he speaks and consults across dozens of industries on creativity, leadership, and passion for work. His book Die Empty was named by Amazon.com as one of the best books of 2013.

His latest book, Louder Than Words, is about how to develop an authentic voice that resonates and creates impact. In this interview, Todd and Brian Sooy talk about impact, why a manifesto is more compelling than a mission or vision statement, and how empathy for your audience helps you connect most effectively with those you’re creating for.

I've captured some of the key insights from my conversation with Todd Henry about Louder Than Words to motivate and inspire you.

Louder Than Words captured my attention simply on the title alone. Todd wrote this book as a guide to teach others how to develop an authentic voice that resonates and creates impact.

If you’re a listener to the Everybody Brands podcast or reader of this blog, you’ll understand why the idea of developing an authentic voice is key to raising your voice in a noisy world.

“Cover bands don’t change the world.” At some point you need to make an intuitive leap from emulating other people to have the courage to develop your own voice. Courageous people weave their influences into something new.
“Courage means doing the right things even when it’s the uncomfortable thing.” You may not be courageous, but if you want to develop your own voice, you need to be willing to choose courage over comfort.
“Cultivate your vision, cultivate your sense of identity.” When the opportunity presents itself, you’ll be prepared to make an intuitive leap.
“I am profoundly less interested in legacy than I am about impact.” The best way to make an impact that lasts is to approach every day consistent with the kind of impact you want to have.
“Your legacy is your body of work.” Your body of work is any place you add value in your life. It’s not just your job – but it’s how you treat your family, lead your family, spend your time. It’s how you sharpen your mind.
“Run your own race.” Sometimes our influences become burdens to us. Don’t artificially escalate your expectations based on what others around you are doing.
“Manifestos are active.” It’s impossible to read a manifesto without thinking “I’m in or I’m out.” Rather than a mission or vision statement, a manifesto is active. It forces you to say yes or no. It says the time is now.
“Your intended audience will change over time.” Create your work for one specific person. It allows you to cultivate empathy as you create.

Brands, Race, and Corporate Responsibilty

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 04:00:00 GMT

Where’s your “do not cross” line in corporate social responsibility? What taboo will you break to begin a conversation?

Two weeks in, and amid a din of criticism, it appears Starbucks is ending its attempt to start a conversation around race. Deep pockets afford the opportunity for Starbucks to use its venues as a national forum.

After the initial splash of activity, look for a sustained phase while the company continues to attempt to engage its customers in a conversation it considers crucial on many levels.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz states. " Conversation has the power to change hearts and minds.” Indeed it does, but is there a line in culture that says “Do not cross — I’m not here to have your conversation — I’m just here to buy a Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato ?”

Perhaps the drink names are so long, they scarcely leave room for meaningful conversation.

Let’s be real: we go to a coffeeshop because it’s familiar, friendly, and part of our community. Perhaps we hope to be welcomed, recognized, and accepted. We all have a voice, and how we choose to raise it will contribute to the conversations around the causes we care most about. Where we choose to have those conversations should be of our own choosing, yet it takes courage to raise uncomfortable issues in places where we are most comfortable.

Are race and diversity the kind of topics that one does not have in polite conversation?

Starbucks is to be commended not only for its courage to start a conversation about diversity in our culture; but also for seeking to inject meaning into its corporate culture—a purpose around which its Partners (Starbucks’ own term for its employees) can rally.

When Gallup reports that only 30% of employees are engaged at work , it’s clear that not every employee will share the same affinity for the causes that leadership support.

Some will not care at all. Some will care more.

One of the key takeaways in the Gallup report was communications focused: “Too few “brand ambassadors” – According to the report, “Only 41% of employees felt that they know what their company stands for and what makes its brand different from its competitors’ brands.” As always, such findings point to the need for more and clearer communication from senior management to all organizational levels.” (Forbes)

Clearer communication, yes; and perhaps a choice of words that may be more conversational for customers. #BLM quickly became a polarizing hashtag that diluted the call for change after peaceful protests turned to riots. Would #diversitymatters have been a more thoughtful choice of words?

Too often, senior management may tell employees what causes should matter most to them. You can’t simply communicate what matters. Your leadership, character values, and culture must demonstrate what matters.

It’s challenging to weave purpose with profit, while not exploiting the people who are a key part of your organization and the people you consider your customers.

Is the coffee shop is a place for conversation or a forum for activism? Starbucks can’t force their customers to talk about it (one of my colleagues, a young man with extensive experience in inner city ministry, commented,

While Starbucks trains their partners to be able to discuss race, their role may simply be as a catalyst. At least they’re starting the conversation, and raising their voice .

What conversation would you like to start? What line would you be willing to cross in order to become a catalyst for change?

What will it take for you be courageous?

Three Myths of Social Media

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 04:00:00 GMT

Social media is a powerful medium to share your mission, tell your customer’s stories, and create a culture of communication.

There is a groundswell of well-intentioned but unfounded faith in social media as the cure-all for a lack of mission-driven design discipline.

If you believe that social media is a medium that you can use to share your mission, tell your supporter’s stories, and create a culture of communication with the organization, then just do it.

There are four key reasons why any business and brand should participate in social media: Strategic (for what purpose are we doing this?), inspirational (motivating our peers and followers), relational (building and stewarding relationships), and aspirational (as a voice of visionary and courageous leadership).

Keep these four reasons in mind as you overcome these three myths of social media:

Myth #1: We don’t have time

The real issue is not that you don’t have time. You haven’t made social media part of your social network ecosystem and a priority of your communicating your mission with clarity.

Is the real issue lack of time, or is it fear? Is it fear of making a mistake? Fear of what to do? Fear of what tools to use?

An effective social network ecosystem includes many elements, and is designed to focus attention on your organization’s mission. Remember to be less concerned about the media you're using, and more aware of the audience you're trying to reach. That’s how you get your content to align with you’re audience’s interests. The core of a social media strategy begins with:

A web site with a blog , and embedded sharing capability (that’s where your content resides and how it can be shared).
Twitter – with an account that belongs to your organization, not a personal account posting on behalf of the organization.
Email communication, using an email management platform such as MailerLite. You’ll want a platform that makes it easy to create mobile and tablet-friendly email, that also display well on desktop devices. Active Campaign does this very effectively, with an elegant drag and drop interface with flexible layouts, and the benefit or automation.
Measuring interactions between social sharing and traffic to your web site, donor pages, and other intended content destinations.

Remember, all media is social media . A social media ecosystem is an inter-related social network, beginning with your contact list, and growing in reach and influence as your content is shared across the networks.

All of these will be integrated. Integration means that your messaging, your marketing and your methods have continuity between all of the elements.

Imagine how customer engagement will improve if you understood how intentionally-designed and integrated communications impact the perception of your brand and the customer experience.

Myth #2: We don’t have a voice

Don’t be fooled. You already have a voice, the question is: Is it focused, coherent, and communicating your mission with clarity ?

Your organization is not a brand. It has a purpose, an identity, values, and a culture. It represents a specific cause and must be a voice of visionary and courageous leadership on behalf of the cause.

Stop thinking like a brand, and think like a human. Humanize your organization. People don’t connect with brands, they connect with shared values, emotion, and meaningful experiences.

Begin strategically, with a managed, focused voice that speaks on behalf of your organization and the causes it represents.

Keep in mind: it’s not just about your organization. It’s about your audience—the customers, ambassadors, donors, advocates, champions, and community you’re seeking to attract, inspire, inform and engage. Putting them first makes them part of your narrative, and not simply an observer of it.

Be Inspirational

Social media can be a place for inspiring your followers if you are intentional.

Think of how you will use social media as a means to raise your voice, and speak on behalf of the values and beliefs that your brand champions. Your organizational voice is based on your organization’s purpose, character, and cultural attributes of who you are, what you value, and why you matter.

Your voice will build trust and credibility. Your roles may include acting as an:

Influencer: Sharing content that advances your cause and how others think about it. To direct followers to content and motivate them to action. This strategy requires that you have a content-rich web site, or reliable and credible content sources to drive traffic to.
Convener: For posting events, sharing news and information, and sharing other organizations’ content.
Champion: Highlight how your brand impacts the lives of customers, supporters, followers, and advocates through stories and successes. Tell their stories with your voice! We really admire how My Lasting Legacy helps community foundations share donor stories to help the foundations raise more money.

Myth #3: We can’t measure the return

If you’re managing to outcomes, you must also communicate to those outcomes. Your board, donors, and grantors need to become enlightened to the reality that communication, including the use of social media, is as much a part of program or service delivery as the rest of the activities they prefer to support or fund.

Engagement is interaction; interaction is conversation

Engagement is an indicator of how well you are interacting with your audience. Measuring engagement helps you understand how well interacting with your audience in order to build relationship, affinity and loyalty – which leads to influence.

Influence is interest; interest leads to action

Is your audience interested? Influence measures the growth of your followers across social media platforms, and the level of interest of your audience in what you’re sharing. Simply put, influence measures the number of followers you have, and how they share your posts.

Use these free or low-cost tools to manage, measure, monitor and engage on social media:

Social Pilot ss an affordable social media management tools help you post, schedule, manage, and measure your social media activity.
Mai lerLite helps you measure, monitor and interact with your social network and create behavior-based interactions with your audience.

Here’s what you need to realize: All media is social media . Community exists whether you're trying to build one or not. Your social network is already everywhere you visit, speak, and listen.

Be Social. Customers, advocates, raving fans, ambassadors, and influencers recognize that every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships.

Be Courageous with Social Media

Don’t be tentative about this area of communications; resolve to make a commitment and stick with it for at least a year. Benchmark where you start, and measure how your influence and engagement grows.

There is nothing to fear, just questions to answer:

Where is your audience? What networks intersect with them?
Is your content primarily words, images, video, or all three?
Is your content informative, inspirational, or engaging?
If your goal is to engage, post content that your followers will share. Do you understand what their values are, what interests them, and what motivates them?
What are the key networks you should consider (if at all), and why should you consider them: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest. How many networks can you realistically manage?
What are your board or grantor’s position and expectations of social media? How can you assure the board that your content will align with their oversight and reflect the best interests of the organization?

Be courageous – your audience is looking for more ways to engage with your organization – you need to provide them the opportunity, and content worth sharing. Give them opportunities to share, and let them tell your story for you.

Learn more about these perspectives on social media in Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto , a book that explores how purpose, character, and culture help organizations communicate to the outcomes they are working to achieve.

Integration for Better Communication

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 04:00:00 GMT

Imagine how customer engagement might improve if you understood how intentionally-designed and integrated communication impact the customer experience.

One of our new clients expressed regret that her website’s content and online eCommerce experience did not convert browsers into buyers, but actually drove potential customers away.

“Our online eCommerce platform is so highly customized at this point that it's almost impossible to integrate any third-party platforms to keep customers engaged” she commented. “I don’t know what to do.”

So we set out to fix that problem.

How many businesses are using Paypal or legacy server-based solutions to accept online purchases, when there are options such as Shopify and Websites Made Simple that empower you to seamlessly integrate easy online shopping with marketing automation and customer engagement features?

Integration means that your messaging, your marketing and your methods have continuity between all of the platforms.

Imagine how customer engagement might improve if you understood how intentionally-designed and integrated communication and the customer experience impact the perception of your sales.

When the customer experience is a top priority, not only will you increase your sales, you’ll nurture more trust with your audience.

The true exchange a customer makes when they buy from your business is trust. Money is simple proof of the exchange.

What Inspires Me: The Power of Words

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 04:00:00 GMT

The power of words inspires me. The right words, shared at the right time, give hope and purpose. Words create an expectation of reality; anticipation for what is promised, hope for what is to come.

Words give meaning and promote unity. The words you use inspire others to participate in the future that is promised, and the change that is aspired to.

To inspire is to connect the purpose of a cause with the values of its supporters. When an individual understands that their values align with your organization's mission and the cause your organization represents, they become part of the story.

Their shared experience gives them a story to tell, a point of connection, and personal meaning. Their story becomes an inspiration to others; their story becomes a part of your narrative. They are no longer observers, but participants.

The impact of leadership is amplified by words that inspire. People want a cause to believe in, and a leader to follow. Choose your words well, and they will motivate people to follow, to donate to, advocate for—and to believe in—your cause. Inspire people, and they will be motivated and engaged. Engage them, and they will become more than advocates and donors—they will become champions and believers.

Words can paint a vision of the future, but words without action are just wishes.

The world is watching, and it is asking: “Do you want me engaged? Do you want me to follow you, to believe in your vision? Inspire me!”

Social media: Lack of time or lack of courage?

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 04:00:00 GMT

If you believe that social media is a medium that you can use to share your mission, then just do it.

Don’t be afraid.

I hear again and again from communication professionals that they are afraid of using social media.

The reasons vary:

Lack of staff
Lack of resources
Lack of planning
Lack of direction
Lack of distinct voice
Lack of time.

Is the real issue lack of time, or is it fear? Is it fear of making a mistake? Fear of what to do? What tools to use?

And if it is fear, is it simply lack of courage?

If you believe that social media is a medium that you can use to share your mission, tell your stories, and create a culture of communication with the organization, then just do it. Culture is more important than vision .

There's nothing to be afraid of, you're not going to break the Internet.

As long as you have found your voice and you can speak with one voice on behalf of your cause, you'll do just fine.
Plan first, figure out where your audience is listening, and then use that social media outlet.
Start with one, don’t overdo it.

Above all, be confident, and be courageous!

Four Dimensions of Communications and Culture

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 05 May 2014 04:00:00 GMT

Four dimensions of communication and culture empower leaders like you to achieve clarity for your organization.

When I have the opportunity to have a conversation with the leader of a mission-driven organization, our conversation touches upon four dimensions of leadership that empower leaders like you to create and foster a culture of communication for your organization through purpose and strategy, communication and inspiration, people and relationships, and visionary leadership to deliver on a promise.

Are you a leader who practices these four dimensions of communication that foster mission-driven culture?

A Strategic Leader Communicates Purpose

Purpose is the foundation of mission and vision. Impact is what matters.
The clarity of your purpose is made evident by the directness of your strategy.
Strategy and focus tell your audience and supporters that you know where you’re headed and how you will get there.
Purpose creates meaning. People want to belong to a cause, join a movement, and work toward a vision that has clearly defined purpose and actionable strategy.

A Passionate Leader Inspires Character

A passionate leader is inspirational, defining character and empowering the people she leads to engage with one another and lead with values.
Character is defined when your team, customers, and stakeholders experience your values in action.
The trust in your organization’s character is enhanced through inspirational and motivational communications.
Inspiration is shared through visual and verbal language – design and stories – working together to create a powerful and compelling narrative.
Words and phrases convey the purpose and values of your organization and engage your team and your stakeholders.

A Trusted Leader Understands the Value of People to Organizational Culture

A trusted leaders values relationships, placing people in higher priority than programs and processes.
Culture is character in action. It’s also called walking the talk.
The strength of your organization’s culture can be measured in how relationships are valued.
Meaningful relationships are nurtured by gratefulness and trust, with authenticity and transparency.

A Courageous Leader Defines Vision and Delivers on the Brand Promise

A courageous leader defines the aspirational vision of the organization she leads, and guides the organization in that direction to deliver on the promise of the vision.
The quality of your leadership is magnified by the clarity of your communications.
The world wants to follow positive, powerful, and courageous leaders.
Confident and authentic leadership will be the inspiration for your team and stakeholders.

Individuals yearn to belong to an organizational culture that embodies these four dimensions. Your team is looking for a leader to follow, and cause to believe in. Will you be the one that leads the movement?

The four dimensions that nurture a culture of communications and the language of leadership are based on The Cause Manifesto from the top-rated branding and culture book, Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto.

How Communications Nurtures a Culture of Innovation

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:00:00 GMT

When an organization or brand uses the word “innovation” enough, it becomes meaningless.

I hesitate to even mention the word innovation. It is so quickly applied—to a mission statement, a description of a program, an approach to program delivery, to entrepreneurship—when used often enough, it becomes meaningless.

Innovation is a way of thinking. Innovation is not about doing an old thing in a new way, it is about creating a new way to do something new, or a new way to do something better.

Innovation does not accept the status quo; it recognizes there may be a better way, and is open to making it a reality.

That sounds like what your purpose and mission are intended for: to create greater impact for the people your brand represents.

Brands foster innovations when they lead with communication

The problem is we’re uncomfortable with new. We’re uncomfortable with new processes, new approaches. We’re uncomfortable with that with which we are not familiar: social media, with communications planning, with taking the time to communicate clearly.

We’re uncomfortable with measuring the results we achieve, for fear they do not measure up to the stakeholder’s and customer’s expectations.

To be meaningful, innovation must be disruptive. Innovation occurs when we change the way we think, in order to transform the way we (and our customers) interact and perceive the organization the brand represents.

For a company or startup to be innovative and achieve greater impact, it may be necessary to consider a different business model. Innovation requires different processes, performance measurement, models, and metrics.

Disruption is one of those uncomfortable processes by which we seek to improve and build upon the positive work that you started, to refine and push past where you currently are.

A high-performing business needs to be innovative and dare be disruptive in the manner in which it chooses to communicate. It must seek ways to disrupt the expectations of customers, surprise its raving fans, and illuminate the outcomes of its innovation to new audiences.

Here’s how that might look for your brand:

Think strategically

Be focused on your outcomes. With clarity of focus comes a clear path to the impact you need to be communicating about.
Put communications first. Create a communication plan achievable within your resources. Stick to it and execute on it.
Ask for input. Nurture a culture where ideas for new ways of engagement and communicating about impact are welcomed, explored and discussed.
Know your audience. Baby boomers, Generation X and Millennials are different in the way they are influenced, and in the way they consumer media and experience the world. Brands need to understand buyer and audience motivation (why they support your brand) and preferences.
Know where your audience is listening. Communicators and marketers have to understand the platforms that their audiences interact with. Think beyond Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Brands have to communicate where the audience is listening. For example, explore opportunities for in-app advertising with an app developer that shares values with your organization, and who may be interested in supporting your cause.

Think beyond branding

Start from your purpose, and communicate to your outcomes.
Recognize your business is not a brand, and your brand is the voice for the business. Think about your purpose, character and culture— the beliefs, values and actions that create your organization’s identity.
Leaders understand their organization’s purpose, but struggle at times to fully connect that purpose with their audience. They understand what they are on a mission to do, but are challenged by how to effectively share how their cause is different and how their business makes a difference.
Begin with the premise that all communications are customer communications. When a business is challenged to find the resources to project a professional image and communicate with a clear voice, prioritize communications with a simple sales funnel.
Your business will achieve greater results in sales, organizational sustainability, and brand awareness when there is a commitment to investing in communications.
Challenge your team to allocate a minimum of 3-5% of the budget to outreach and communications. Remind your team that design and marketing is part of customer experience delivery.

Put communications first

Use design to close the (communication) gap between your work and the stories of your work. The role of design is to be disruptive, to interrupt, and gain the attention of the audience.
Just because everybody else is doing it, doesn’t mean the approach is right for your organization.
Tell fewer stories for the sake of telling stories. Create a narrative, and recognize that stories are the meaningful points of interest that serve to align your work with the values of your audience.
Create visual stories of what your customers achieve when they buy your products and services. Inform and inspire prospective customers through pictures that are worth more than 1,000 words.
Speak to your audience’s mind and appeal to their hearts.

Design with purpose, communicate with clarity

Much can be accomplished through continuity: consistently apply design standards to every touch point. Identify someone who will check all of your touch points for consistency in color, typography and tone of voice.
Take steps to empower your employees to be ambassadors for the organization, and advocates for your brand. Create memorable and succinct talking points, and share them on wallet cards as a resource for your employees to memorize and be ready to share.
What captures your customer’s attention is not always what is different, but what is familiar. Become a familiar voice to them. Build meaningful relationships, help them to know your voice and understand your brand messaging.

Where can you begin to be disruptive? In a world of email, tweets, and digital saturation, perhaps one of the most innovative and disruptive acts you can do is to recognize that you must market less, and build relationships more

You must be grateful, and express our gratitude to those who support your organization and advocate your brand.

How to practice this act of disruption? Not an email, not a phone call. Write a thank you. Type a thank you. Regardless, what you must do is personalize it, and sign it. Not with your computer signature, but with pen and ink. Send it, and know that when it is received, the recipient will recognize that you’ve taken the time to acknowledge that their support for your brand is important to your business — and that their purchase is meaningful.

Creating a culture of communication and innovation where one does not exist, or is just beginning to form, takes time.

Begin with what you can do today, and one day, one person at a time, you’ll be quietly disruptive, and nurture your own culture of innovation.

The Difference Between Purpose, Mission, and Vision

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 05:00:00 GMT

If you want the people you serve and lead to embrace with your brand’s mission and impact, you need to be clear about who you are, what you do, why it matters, and where you’re headed.

What is the difference between purpose, mission, and vision?

I receive a daily email from In The Company of Prayer , with insights from business leaders on how their faith impacts their companies and business relationships.

An email from executive editor, Leslie Bianco , concluded with the following statements:

WHY: We’re here to guide each other that one step further along a personal journey.
WHAT: By revealing a Knowing Presence where you may not expect to find it.
HOW: Through our Morning Briefing workday emails, book series, social media, conversations and personal interaction.

Do you recognize these three statements for what they are? Let's change out a couple of words:

Why Purpose (The reason we exist in this context): We’re here to guide each other that one step further along a personal journey.
What Vision (The goal of purpose): To reveal a Knowing Presence where you may not expect to find it.
How Mission (The path to purpose and behaviors we follow): Through our Morning Briefing workday emails, book series, social media, conversations and personal interaction.

For most people, organizational purpose, mission, and vision statements are confusing. It’s rare to find two organizations that agree on common usage, definitions, and application of the concepts.

It can be even more confusing to understand why each word is relevant and how each component relates to one another. Some organizations tend to substitute their mission and vision for their purpose. If you want your audience to connect with your mission, you need to clearly communicate why, what, and how you are creating value and impact.

If you’re traveling, you begin at one point along a certain path and eventually arrive at your destination. You begin with the end in mind; you are guided by the reason you went on the journey ( why ), driven by the route you followed ( how ), and anticipating what you expected to find when you arrived.

Gary Burnison , CEO of Korn Ferry, says “Purpose precedes the first step. The more people embrace the purpose, the more likely they will follow — not only at the beginning when adrenaline is pumping and excitement is running high like at the start of a marathon, but later on when the going gets tough, and people question whether they can go another step.”

When you begin any journey, you subconsciously have an inner conversation around these four questions:

“Why am I going to a particular destination?”
“How will I get there?”
“What will it be like when I arrive?”
“Who will I see when I arrive?”

Without realizing it, you worked within a purpose-driven system.

Purpose focuses on four elements of impact:

Why do you believe you can make a difference? — Purpose needs a reason.
Who do you want to create impact for? — Purpose needs people.
How do you achieve the impact? — Purpose needs a plan.
What will impact look like when you achieve it? — Purpose needs vision.

Start with Purpose to Understand the Difference between Mission and Vision

Great brands don’t start with purpose.

They begin with focus: Who you are, what you do, and why it matters.

But without purpose, you’ll never stay focused.

A purpose is the reason your organization has begun a journey, guided by the deeply-held values and beliefs that inspire it to make a difference.

You organization’s purpose is the reason it exists beyond making money.

Your mission is the path your organization follows to arrive at its destination: When someone asks you where you are going, they ask you how you are going to get there. Your mission is the how: the unique way you do what you do, the path you choose to follow, the decisions you make to get to your destination.

Will you follow a focused and direct path; or one that wanders? A mission-driven path will be direct, and you’ll be accomplishing the things that matter that align your company goals with your purpose. That’s how you successfully and profitably get from where you are now to where you want to be and turn your vision for your business into reality.

Vision is your destination at a point in the near or distant future. Vision defines your goal and sets the expectation of what you’ll experience when you arrive at the destination. Your mission is your vision in action, connecting your purpose with your impact.

If you’re creating or evaluating your mission statement, consider substituting the words Why , How , and What for Purpose , Mission , and Vision . These substitutions will help you minimize any confusion between the terms and what they mean.

Purpose guides you. Your purpose statement articulates why you do what you do, why your organization exists beyond making money.
Mission drives you. Your mission statement is how you accomplish your purpose. Your mission is what drives you every day to fulfill your purpose. It's a direct path between your purpose and vision. Mission is doing what matters and eliminating the distractions; it activates the strategy that delivers results and impact.
Vision is where you aspire to be. Your vision statement is what you will experience and achieve in the future, the results you are reaching for, the measurable impact you want to make. Your vision reminds you what the difference you make will look like and what change will happen. Vision aligns leaders and inspires followers. Vision keeps you on course, to fulfill your purpose.
Impact is what matters : Goal-setting is the ongoing process of aligning your mission and vision with your purpose. What are the strategic goals that align with your purpose, and what are the measurable results of achieving your vision?

Is There Value in Having a Personal Purpose and Mission?

Now that you understand the difference between purpose and mission for your company, can you apply this understanding to your vision, mission, and purpose, and to your team?

A company’s purpose, character, and culture create shared meaning for the organization, its brand, and for the people who choose to work there.

Leaders, when you lay out a larger vision and expect people to join you in the mission to achieve it, don't be surprised if they aren’t ready.

Given them time to grow into the new vision.

Think of a company’s character as the values and norms that make it likable and meaningful. Those values and norms are the unbreakable threads of company culture that guide how it conducts business and treats people.

The CEO of Vitamix, Jodi Berg , conducted three research studies to understand the differences between people who are purpose-driven and those who are goal-driven. When employees asked, “Do I have the opportunity to live with purpose through the work that I do?”, she studied how an organizational purpose and an employee’s personal purpose affect their performance.

Her research helped her understand why it’s critical to make personal purpose a critical factor in attracting, hiring, and retaining the right talent:

“One of our guiding principles is to find people who passionately believe in making the world a better place. It’s one of the most important values—because if you don't truly believe in making the world a better place, then you may choose to make decisions that aren’t necessarily making the world a better place.”

The Difference Between Mission and Vision

Great brands don’t start with purpose.

Great brands begin with focus and alignment: Who you are, what you do, and why it matters.

Without a vision , you’ll never stay focused . Without purpose , your brand will not stay on mission .

A mission statement and vision statement are best suited for internal organizational guidance. Purpose keeps you focused on why you exist, vision aligns you with your goal, and mission empowers how you will accomplish it. Done well, it will inspire and motivate you every day, and just might inspire your audience.

To inspire your employees, focus on a purpose that articulates why your brand matters and why your brand is meaningful to other people. Open up to who you are, what you do, and why it matters (why your brand or business matters is the hard part).

Communicate and practice your values , revealing the character that guides your culture. Your audience will connect more deeply with the higher purpose, character, and vision of your organization, than with even the most effective mission statement .

Your company’s values and purpose are best shared through a compelling narrative and stories, not your mission statement.

An organizational one-liner or story pitch is an excellent starting point for equipping your team with the words they need to stay motivated and inspire people to act.

When your audience knows why your organization matters, they will know if your cause is meaningful. When a supporter connects with your purpose, they will believe in your mission. When they all align, you will achieve greater impact for the cause you care about. Purpose is the foundation of mission and vision, but impact is what matters.

Listen to what your audience says about themselves and your brand: “Tell me what you believe. Inspire me in a way that speaks to my mind, and touches my heart. Point me to a higher calling that gives me meaning and connects my heart with yours.”

“Through your culture – your character in action — inspire me with the values that guide how you interact and communicate with me . Make me part of your community that is working for the greater good.”

“Then I will be inspired, and I will follow.”

Follow In The Company of Prayer and receive a brief email to start your day.
Understand and activate the difference between purpose, mission, and vision in Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto .

Purpose Publications

Putting Purpose Into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality . “The essence of modern economics and management is a battle for purpose in a world of rapidly increasing complexity and confusion. Not just having a purpose, but making that purpose real at every level of the organization.”

Thanks to these websites and writers for spreading our ideas

This " Finding Your Purpose" mini-workshop deftly incorporates the main ideas from this article, and kindly links an image of Simon Sinek's framework to this website.

Brand Ambassadors Must Speak with One Voice

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Every brand ambassador needs to speak with one voice when they represent the organization, and everyone has the potential to be a brand ambassador.

“I wish I would not have said that .” How many times have you thought that, after the fact?

This might have been what E. Gordon Gee, President of The Ohio State University, thought after remarks he made in 2018.

In attempting to bring levity to a significant issue, his remarks became offensive and misrepresented the university. Levity that is at the expense of others, at the wrong place and wrong time, carries the risk of alienating and discouraging the listener, as well as creating a public relations nightmare.

Not only is the president, executive director, or CEO of any business or nonprofit tasked with being a brand ambassador, but everyone associated with the cause and the organization has the potential to be a brand ambassador.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

While this phrase is often attributed to Stan Lee and his superhero story, Spider-Man, the phrase has its roots in the first century. The concept can be found in Christ’s words in the book of Luke; in the writings of Voltaire; in records kept by British Parliament; and references made by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In your communication planning, one of the objectives should be to develop core messages that support the organization’s goals and objectives. These will be important points that relate to your purpose and mission.

Message, Story, and Authenticity

“Keep your story straight.”
“Stay on message.”
“These are the talking points.”

Each of these phrases is more about presentation than about practice. Words can be rehearsed, conversations can be practiced, and speakers can be prepped for what they will say. What truly resonates with an audience is authenticity – when what is said and how it is delivered is natural, confident, sincere, and uplifting.

The core messages aren’t stories. The core messages are the foundation upon which stories can be created, and they serve as the filter for what stories support the organization’s purpose. The core messages are built upon facts and information, formed from the purpose for which the organization exists, and are the elements of truth that will inform your audience.

Stories are what inspire your audience. Good storytelling can come from various sources – the design and communication team, testimonials from your audience, and everyday experience in delivering programs and services. Good stories have the potential to touch the heart and motivate listeners to action.

Stories can be truthful, or stories can be made up. We’ve all read fiction, heard fairy tales, and certainly have seen a nonprofit represents itself through fictionalized stories. We’ve heard speakers embellish the message’s truth with a story we later find out was untrue.

Simply reciting core messaging and telling stories does not convey authenticity. As an ambassador and advocate, you should reach a point where you act and behave, and how you speak and listen flows from within – because you believe it and are living it. You either believe in what you’re doing, or you don’t. You can’t fake authenticity.

Your audience may not notice the lack of authenticity at first, but there will be clues over time. In announcements made on the web site, in the volunteer experience, you may see hints that something has changed in marketing and promotional materials, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

This is your organization’s voice – the words that are spoken, messages that are shared, and touchpoints that appeal to our ears, eyes, and minds – and must be as carefully guarded as spoken words.

The truth of authenticity is always revealed in the spoken expression of an ambassador for their cause. The written word gives the author the luxury of review. Speaking engagements must be designed and planned and allow minimal opportunities for off-the-cuff remarks.

Those in positions of authority and leadership have a responsibility to their cause and their constituents. Our actions show the way we think; our words express what is in our hearts. Action reveals thoughts and words reflect the heart – what we believe and what motivates us. Authenticity is eventually revealed through words and actions.

The Heart and Mind of a Brand Ambassador

You believe that your cause has the power to change the world. You believe that the core message points are true and speak them from the heart because your mind has acknowledged that they are true.

You’ve become a brand ambassador – living the cause with the conviction of character – when your words flow from believing in the purpose and values that define your organization.

You’ve moved from being a follower to a believer that will live and give sacrificially.

This Is Who We Are

We are all brand ambassadors. As a brand ambassador, you can role-play, or you can live with purpose.

If you are involved with a nonprofit representing a cause that matters, you are a brand ambassador.

If you tell friends about your favorite products and services, you’re a brand ambassador.

When you are a raving fan or brand ambassador, you represent the cause and brand. You’ll build trust and credibility for yourself and the brand when you know your role and authentic in your storytelling.

So Why Is This a Design Issue?

Consumers are conditioned to think of design as the outer form of an object or a communication piece, when actually the design consists of the thinking and planning that went into the physical form or visual expression of the piece or product. Design governs the user’s interaction and experience with an organization or institution, intentionally or unintentionally. There is no accidental design.

What if you considered designing the principles that govern communication and design strategy for your nonprofit? Have you thought about a deeper foundation than your core messages – a foundation that never changes?

While reading the letter to Mr. Gee it became apparent that the Trustees were echoing some of the principles from the Brand Clarity Credo . For example:

In response, the Manifesto states: “Be Positive. We will choose our words well, for they will motivate people to follow, donate, advocate, and believe in our cause .”

One more example:

The Brand Clarity Credo states: “Be Trustworthy. We will seek accountability and transparency, acting and speaking in a manner that is consistent with our values, our character, and our culture.

Likewise, those who are in the role of ambassadors for their organization would benefit from these core principles that help them set the tone in delivering their core message.

It’s imperative that any communication follows core principles that uphold the values of the organization or institution. Those who are in the role of ambassador are obligated to put the cause first, and understand how their words and the communication toolkit are designed to support that cause.

The outcomes from following a set of guiding principles that enable you to speak with one voice – supporting your purpose, character, and culture – create design continuity and culture of authenticity, accountability, transparency, and trust.

How to Create a Company Culture of Communication

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

How do you create a mission-driven culture of open communication for your company?

The Clarity Credo is a framework of 12 ways to transform your design thinking and communication initiatives for your brand or business.

Implementing these will require new resolve and the courage to reinvent your culture, but the results will be worth all the extra effort. Download a free poster to inspire and share these principles with your team.

Be Strategic. We will create and follow a roadmap that aligns our communication plan with the goals of our strategic plan.
Be Focused. We will focus our communication on one cause, one mission, and one purpose; and we will share our one purpose with one voice.
Be Meaningful. We will ensure that our values and corresponding actions align with the motivations that give our followers and stakeholders a reason to believe in our cause.
Be Insightful . We will embrace data as a means to telling our story and gaining greater insight into the outcomes of our mission.
Be Inspiring. We will share truthful stories that appeal to the mind, and speak to the heart; these stories will communicate how our cause inspires us – and our advocates – to action.
Be Engaging. We will listen as often as we speak, in order to learn what the community and our stakeholders expect of us.
Be Social. We will be ambassadors for our cause, and recognize that every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships.
Be Grateful. We will express our gratitude to our stakeholders, remembering that their support – and our recognition of that support – is meaningful to them.
Be Trustworthy. We will seek accountability and transparency, acting and speaking in a manner that is consistent with our values, our character, and our culture.
Be Positive. We will choose our words well, for they will motivate people to follow, donate, advocate, and believe in our cause.
Be Powerful. We will believe that our cause is meaningful, and act in the belief that it has the power to change the world.
Be Courageous. We will dream big dreams, and have the courage to change and adapt in order to make these dreams a reality.

Foster a culture of communications with the principles from Raise Your Voice: A Cause Manifesto . These timeless resolutions will help you align your organization's communications and culture through purpose, character, culture, and voice. Create a mission-driven culture where purpose, inspiration, relationships, and aspirational vision empower you to communicate with clarity, transform your culture, and share your story powerfully and effectively.

The Role of Progressive Disclosure in Identity Architecture

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Progressive disclosure helps companies create logical parent and component identities that function within a visual identity system.

At some point you may find that your organization needs a component identity system, or what we can call an identity architecture .

At times, a subsidiary, division, program, or even a donor name must appear in relationship with a corporate brand’s logo. This practice is often referred to as co-branding or sub-branding. For now we’ll avoid the word brand and focus instead on the elements as a visual identity architecture to explore the connections between the organization, its portfolio, and the customers or stakeholders.

First, let’s be clear on what brand architecture is:

Brand architecture is the design of the relationship between a company’s purpose (why it’s in business beyond making money), products (the products or services that create value for customers), and its customers (the people who build the brand and sustain the company).

Next, let’s be clear on what identity architecture is:

Identity architecture is the design of the relationship between a company’s visual identity (The symbol that represents the company and what it stands for), its portfolio (the products, services, and other systems that create value for the brand and its customers), and its customers (the people who need visual clues to understand the relationships between the company and its portfolio).

In many instances, the key issue is focus: at times, both the logic of a visual identity system and its proper hierarchy and architecture can become lost in the rush to launch and promote a new visual identity without a framework of reference.

To begin, what approach should you embrace – a flexible, modular, or rigid visual identity framework? These approaches could also be labeled dynamic and static.

With most identity systems, we recommend a dynamic, flexible approach – with potential for a modular approach for a house of brands — that references the primary or parent identity.

At this point you may be thinking that a component identity that doesn’t feature the parent as a primary element won’t be allowed by the visual identity standards, and that the end result will be a loss of visual brand equity.

We think most audiences are smarter than that, and when approached from a perspective of progressive disclosure, identity architecture is quite logical. Perhaps it’s time to bend (or even break, or revise) common practices as your company grows and evolves.

Progressive Disclosure

The approach we’ve found to be the most flexible in a dynamic corporate, college, or university environment involves the principle of progressive disclosure .

Typically, progressive disclosure is about interaction design: designing the connections and revealing the information an individual needs during a given interaction/experience as they move from the abstract to the specific. Progressive disclosure guides the user through the interaction by managing the information and options that are available at a given time.

Progressive disclosure is a purposeful, people-friendly approach. It’s typically applied to user interface and user experience design (UI and UX) and the methodology can also be applied to way finding and identity architecture.

Every detail of information about a destination does not need to be on a sign; more information about the specific destination can be revealed as a visitor approaches the destination. For our purpose, it also applies to creating a visual identity framework. We can call it name finding .

When applied to name finding, the primary brand’s role is either abstract or specific, depending on the context and the objectives of the communications.

(OK, I realize that this is getting… out there. But stick with me. We’ll bring it home)

Typically, the primary, or parent visual identity has a strong set of guidelines governing its usage. But what happens when you need to add the name of a school of business, the name of a program, or the division of a company to create a flexible and modular architectural system that can be customized with a framework? How does name finding work outside of the context of the institution?

A simple example

Imagine your company (or an entity within the company, such as an internal or external division) as a destination, and the identity system as the name (way) finding for guiding the audience to that destination.

Within the company, the learning centers, divisions, programs, and other entities exist within the company context – so it’s not always necessary to remind people that they are in that specific context. Remember, your audience is smart. They know where they are. It’s not always necessary for every visual identity interaction to tell the entire story about the company, or to be a complete experience of the company. The destination can be revealed according to a hierarchy.

Proximity and context are essential in establishing hierarchies; consider this scenario: A university has created a center for study or research, named after a donor, located in a specific part of campus – say a tech or business park. For the naming rights, the donor has made a significant investment – $15 million dollars.

How would you prioritize the naming hierarchy? Following your visual identity framework, most likely the name should appear like this:

New Hope University

The Luke A. Skywalker Center for Advanced Study of MidiChlorians

The donor is going to want his name more or equally prominent with the university name, but your visual standards aren’t designed to allow for that. Are you going to argue with a donor who just contributed $15 million, let alone a Jedi with a light saber?*

Perhaps a more appropriate solution, which does not dilute the equity in the institutional name and honors the donor, would be

The Luke A. Skywalker Center for

Advanced Study of MidiChlorians

New Hope University

The former approach doesn’t adequately honor the donor, or set a precedent for a hierarchy of naming either, let’s consider:

The Luke A. Skywalker

Center for Advanced Study of MidiChlorians

at New Hope University

There. Add the university’s visual logo (similar to the Fisher School of Business at The Ohio State University ), and everybody’s happy.

People-friendly identity systems

Consider if your existing visual framework is people-friendly. Think of the naming hierarchy in a similar way you would with a way finding system; in that it is not necessary to give the audience all of the information at every interaction with the system.

Assuming the Center from our example is on the campus of the university, the name-finding approach follows this logic:

A visitor wants to visit the Center, located in a specific place.
First they will have to find their way to the campus, then to the building or part of campus where the center is located, then to the center itself.
A signage system would support that way finding hierarchy; so should the identity architecture system .

Visual references to the Center, outside of campus or in Center-specific communications, will reference the Center as primary and the institution as secondary. The Center is presumed to be the primary focus of those communications, and the secondary affiliation with the institution is sufficient to maintain visual equity.

Once the audience visits the Center, either virtually or in person, the affiliation with the institution becomes primary, and then once again becomes secondary as the visitor moves into the institutional context (abstract) and to the specific of the center.

The audience, in his interaction with the visual identity, moves from specific to abstract to specific. At each point of interaction, the institution is referenced, but it moves from secondary to primary and back to secondary emphasis in component applications.

Why Component Identities are Necessary

Institutions and companies have different reasons for component identities to exist withing their identity architecture. Some may want to market a program or a Center independently of the institution. Internal programs may want their own identity for marketing to specific target audiences.

Visual identities are elements within a brand system that connect a company’s products and services with the people who buy them.

Institutional and corporate marketing tends to be broadly focused. The business case for target marketing is well proven; component identities allow an institution to target specific audiences and maintain awareness of the institution through secondary references. The broader the focus of a marketing initiative, the more it is simply awareness-building or image management. Again, we come back to focus, and its critical role in communications.

In body copy, it will make sense to refer to the center as the SMART Center, or the Desich SMART Center. This is an important aspect of name finding – considering how naming occurs in context – but suffice it to say, it should be very evident how to construct a short reference to a program or other entity.

How progressive disclosure applies to identity architecture

The context, or system, of the brand identity is the organization, corporation, or institution – the parent identity. The primary visual identity framework should feature the parent logo as primary.
Communications that are division, program, institute, or school-specific may feature the component or co-branded identity, with the organization, corporation, or institution affiliation becoming secondary.
Programs that operate independently of the parent, but require a clear endorsement and affiliation with the parent institution, will place the emphasis on the program, initiative, center or school. In this instance, the inclusion of the parent logo adjacent to the center name may be the most appropriate and focused solution.

In summary: Progressive disclosure from the furthest point outside of the main context indicates that the component identity should be primary. As the audience draws closer to the organization, the primary identity will move up in the hierarchy, and once again recede as the audience arrives and moves into the context to the division, program, school or initiative.

Since the organization’s name is always clearly identified with the component identity, the audience has a reference to the parent, no matter how far removed out of the campus context they experience the component identity.

As the audience begins to understand more about the division, school, the program or initiative, they are guided to the organization (the parent identity), and having arrived there, the component identity is progressively revealed to guide them to the entity itself.

Some examples of co-branding

If your visual framework is new, you may have been able to plan for these instances. If it’s not, you will need to adapt to them. Either way, the key to successfully managing the extension of the parent identity is consistency. You can’t expect an identity system and the accompanying visual standards to be inflexible and unscalable.

Regardless, an identity system for a corporation, college, or university can be a complex system because of the multiple hierarchies (school, program, division or donor name) and there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

So where to begin? Perhaps it’s time to add child or component identities; or there is a need for creating a consistent hierarchy for the secondary and tertiary naming conventions.

We’re not saying that our approaches are suitable for your particular institution (but they certainly are for the institutions they were designed for), given the variety of shape, style and size that logos appear in. While these examples may not be completely relevant to your particular situation, perhaps one of these approaches will give you some insight into how to solve your particular challenge.

Case Western Reserve University Institute Brand Architecture

At CWRU , institutes are entities formed to aid with fundraising initiatives for high value research. The challenge was to explore co-branded extension options for the main CWRU identity. This approach offered options treating the logo as the primary or secondary element.

Western Nebraska Community College Brand Architecture

For the most flexibility, horizontal and vertical options are explored in order to provide Western Nebraska Community College with a visual identity framework that is adaptable to any potential application. Component identity applications were developed for programs and named facilities.

Riverside College District Co-branding

Riverside Community College District and its three colleges (former campuses) each required different approaches for their component identities. Shown are the NORCO College and RCCD identity.

Lorain County Community College Co-branding

The objective of Lorain County Community College’s visual framework is to always reference the parent institution, because of the equity, visibility, and reputation of the institution. Over the years, this has required a diligent and forward-thinking approach to maintain continuity, as the institution evolves. The cornerstone of the identity framework is the LCCC Square mark.

Primary Logo

The primary LCCC Logo is an adaptation of the original script that has been associated with the college since it was founded. The primary mark is a combination of the square and the college name.

Secondary Logo Applications: Foundation

Secondary applications, such as the Lorain County Community College Foundation logo, combine the serif type standard with the primary college logo.

Tertiary Logos : Learning Centers

Because of the equity in the LCCC square and script, tertiary marks, such as these for the LCCC Learning Centers, have been simplified to accommodate center naming. The specific naming is anchored with the LCCC square and contrasting weights of Linotype’s Frutiger, designed by Adrian Frutiger. These particular marks will always appear in context of the primary LCCC logo.

Program Logos

Program logos (or sub-brands) are tied to the primary identity on a case-by-case basis. The logo for LCCC@Work references the primary identity through alignment with a banded variation on the college name and the square.

In instances where a program is going to have a regional or national presence, the college identity is included in name only, and may at times coexist with a donor’s name.

Most often, these logos are seen outside of the context of the college’s institutional marketing, and the campus. For these programs, the main emphasis is on the program; maintaining continuity with the equity of the brand means that a text reference is appropriate.

The best logo formats for professional results

Consistency matters

Regardless of how deep a visual identity hierarchy must reach, the key is consistency. Your organization’s identity is living, so it must be dynamic.

*Donors and names of historical figures referenced in this article are for demonstration purposes only, and may be trademarked by George Lucas and Disney. No evidence exists in the Star Wars canon for any such Center or University and references to any characters, fictional or living, are purely coincidental. Or are they?

Education to Business Strategy for Colleges and Universities

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Higher education doesn’t always know how to talk to business, and business doesn’t know how to talk to higher education.

At a technology transfer task force meeting, I heard an excellent observation: “We can have the best programs for technology transfer and commercialization, but we can be in a room filled with business and industry and none of them will have heard of the programs, what they do or that they exist.”

In essence, the observer’s comments were, “ Higher education doesn’t always know how to talk to business, and business doesn’t know how to talk to higher education. Sometimes they don’t even know they’re in the same room .”

Why is this the situation? In our experience of over twenty years of creating design communications for education to business initiatives (E2B), the key issue has always been one of focused communication. Unfocused communication can be the result of mission creep at the institutional level, leading to lack of focus in marketing and outreach. Mission creep may not be avoidable, but it can be manageable.

Messaging may also be diluted by unsustainable communication initiatives that are sidelined by shifting priorities at the institutional level.

First, it’s a communications issue:

When a college or university is trying to engage the business community, it has to be focused. Laser-like focus. There must be a sustained and deliberate commitment to telling an effective story with the voice of the institution.

To engage the business community, it requires marketing that includes more direct communications touch points. In the past, traditional media marketing may have been effective (business magazines and the local/regional newspaper business pages) – but communication must include Twitter, LinkedIn, and other online platforms (where the content that entrepreneurs and business owners are looking for should be curated). It’s sharing information on specialized market niche web sites that serve a specific vertical industry.

It’s by contributing to Quora and being recognized as an expert in an industry segment in order to gain credibility. It’s by participating and engaging the businesses and entrepreneurs where they are – in their networks, in their LinkedIn groups, in their associations. Mobile media is the fastest-growing delivery medium for engagement and communications : what is your strategy to address it?

Second, speak the same language:

Broad-based messaging, unless it is simply to build awareness, is not an effective method of engaging the business community.

The key is focused messaging, delivered in the same language that business speaks. Read Fast Company or Entrepreneur or Forbes magazine; the flavor and tone of writers who are speaking the language of business everyday. Educators speak the language of academia; the marketing department and the program communications need to be the bridge, the translators, and speak the language of business.

Industry terms as identified in curriculum (or within a program that is developed internally at an institution) are not always current (or the usage has evolved), especially with the rapid pace of technological advancement and the conversations around those advances. Innovation happens at a kickstarter.com pace — rapidly and enthusiastically — whereas on the institutional level, adapting to industry changes and communicating to those changes occurs at a pace that just can’t keep up, or attempts to communicate in terms that are curriculum-specific and not industry-specific.

With the array of engagement tools that are available to an E2B program — whether it’s an incubator, business services or special programs helping to accelerate technology transfer — the program needs to be on the leading edge of engagement and not on the trailing.

Third, don’t dilute the message

An institution’s messaging becomes more diluted as it tries to demonstrate relevance of an institution’s service offerings in its communication, when it should remain focused and communicate what is of relevance to the specific audience targeted in the messaging.

A quick check for broad spectrum, unfocused messaging is: if there is more about the institution in the communications — whether it’s an ad, an email outreach or another form of electronic or traditional media — than there is “what’s in it for the audience,” (The benefit or “what’s in it for me?”) then the messaging is not focused enough and will not be effective in communicating with a business or entrepreneur audience. It’s tough to hear, but it’s not about the organization!

Fourth, create one point of contact

Institutions tend to create multiple layers of and pathways to programs (funded by grants and other funding mechanisms), that by their nature create multiple and confusing entry points for business and entrepreneurs who are looking for help and looking to engage the institution.

A single point of contact — a single, high-profile program or office, with a widely recognized community leader or ambassador — will be the most effective engagement point for the business community. Start from a single point of contact, and resist the institutional urge to create multiple paths. At a certain point, multiple paths will even cause confusion internally, and will certainly create obstacles to effective and clear business community engagement.

It’s time to pivot

If the goal is to engage the business community, college and university communications to that audience will benefit from a pivot. Stop how you’re communicating, and ask the business community how to best communicate with them, without institutional bias — and then do it. Think about consumer experience (ie the businesses and entrepreneurs you want to reach) — and then build your outreach around it.

If you’re courageous in doing this, you may succeed brilliantly — or you may fail spectacularly. If you fail, you’ll have the insight of what doesn’t work — the same insights that many entrepreneurs gain daily, and share more in common with them than ever before. You’ll gain one more opportunity to engage with and have meaningful conversation with the business community.

Social Media Metrics, Engagement, and influence

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 04:00:00 GMT

How often do you measure your social media?”

ROE and ROI are closely related; and neither should be considered independently. You need to define ROE as the Return on Engagement, and ROI as the Return on Influence.

How to begin measuring? We suggest a service such as SocialPilot.co which enables you to schedule your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn activity – as well as measure and evaluate how your information is being shared.

While there may not be a best way to measure your engagement with your advocates and your influence with your audience, measuring interaction (engagement) and reach (influence) will allow for intelligent insights and data-driven decisions on the type of content that is posted.

Engagement and influence is how you measure the level of interaction (engagement) you’re having with your audience and the reach (influence) those interactions have.

Think about it this way: You’re reading this article possibly as a result of a referral or a Facebook post or tweet. If you’ve read this far, you’re obviously engaged in the article. If you do nothing but read it, I can’t measure what influence the article has had with you, but I can measure its engagement. If you share it with your followers or like it, then I can measure the influence of the article as well as my engagement with you and your followers.

To begin with, consider:

What is my objective for social media? It could be awareness-building; cause-focused; educational; or simply to broadcast (counter-intuitive to interactions)
Who is my audience? Think through the persona of the roles of the individuals you want to attract. If you cast your content net broadly, you’ll get lots of followers, but of lower engagement quality. If you keep your content focused on your mission, you may get fewer followers, but they will be of higher engagement quality and more attuned to your content and your cause.
Is this audience using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others? You’ll need to identify where your audience is and if they are using the media. That means you’ll need to spend at least a little time looking at representative members of your target audience.

Engagement is interaction; interaction is conversation

Engagement is an indicator of how well you are interacting with your audience. Measuring your engagement in this manner is a key indicator of how well you’re engaging your audience and the interaction with your audience in order to build relationship, affinity and loyalty – which leads to influence*

Influence is interest; interest leads to action

Is your audience interested? Influence is an indicator of the growth of your followers across social media platforms, and level of interest of your audience in what you’re sharing. Simply put, influence measures the number of followers you have, and how they share your posts*

It’s a virtuous cycle; engagement and influence work together as in a face-to-face relationship. You’ll be interested in your audience, they will respond and express interest in you, and relationships will continue to be built.

Perception reflects your focused messaging

Using these tools to measure how you’re being perceived (an essential to brand alignment for any organization) will help you measure your focus of your messaging – because of course your social sharing will align with your communication strategy as defined by your mission!

While this may at first seem overwhelming, consider the measurement of social media return on engagement and return on influence as a path to follow over the next 4-6 months as you start to measure your ROE and ROI, and adapt your social media strategy based on the results of these tools.’

Don’t be afraid to start – your audience is looking for more ways to engage with your organization – you need to provide them the opportunities.

Branding Lessons from Steve Jobs

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

What made Steve Jobs so great?

Apple announced Steve Jobs' retirement as CEO on August 28, 2011. There will be many articles written, including this one from FastCo Design: What Makes Steve Jobs so Great?

Jobs’ insights are key to design thinking: put yourself in the user's place, and design for them. Recalling Jobs first meeting with Jonathan Ive, the writer states

“That single moment in the basement with Ive tells you a great deal about what made Steve Jobs the most influential innovator of our time. It shows you the ability to see a company from the outside, rather than inside as a line manager.”

Jobs understands that it's about the user's experience with the computer, with the operating system. That transcends to the user's experience with the company, and ultimately the brand. It's about the user, not the company. It's not about the technology, but how the user will feel when they are using. It's not about how great the company is, but how great the customer will think the company is.

Cliff Kuang also points out Jobs' impeccable timing, and patience with the market:

"...many of Apple's recent signature products, such as the iPad or the iPhone, were based on products first conceived of in the 1990s or even the 1980's--they had to bide their time."

Steve Jobs legacy and inspiration runs deep at Aespire. As a dedicated Apple user, shareholder and (unpaid) evangelist, we've been closely aligned with Apple from the day I first turned on the Macintosh 512K , to the Powerbook 520 , all the way to my custom-built MacBook Pro.

Beyond that, my early love of calligraphy and handlettering became the foundation of my professional and business alter ego, now named Altered Ego Fonts , where we design fonts that make words beautiful. Even Seth Godin acknowledges Jobs’ contribution to fonts . At Stanford, Jobs said:

“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.”

In 2008, Steve Jobs gave a thoughtful commencement address at Stanford University. I highly recommend that you read it:

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address

In addition to being a college dropout, he's been fired from the company he started, and been diagnosed with cancer. In spite of that he says: "Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

How long ago do you think that he started the strategy that has resulted in the iPod , iTunes and now the Intel-based Macs ? (A brilliant strategy. How long before corporations see the value of moving to the Macintosh platform?) He's proved that a company doesn't have to be the size or scope of Microsoft, as long as it's focused and creates products that are preferred by its customers.

And although he's surrounded himself with product designers and those capable of executing the vision he has set forth, it's largely in part to him that Apple has enjoyed this success. He is the quintessential entrepreneur and business leader.

Truly remarkable. Thanks, Steve, for the commitment you made to design, branding, and your customers.

Apple will continue to innovate, to flourish, to lead. I hope I can connect the dots as well as Steve Jobs has for a long, long time!

Read some of Job's best quotes at Wall Street Journal .

Why You Need a Design Brief and Clear Objectives

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Why your design and marketing projects need a design brief so you can avoid skeet shooting in the dark

A conversation with a colleague brought up the General Theory of Design, as we discussed the numbers of options that must be presented at in order to receive approval for a design project.

The General Theory of Design is as follows:

In this particular instance, a new corollary became evident:

For example, an annual report may require one or two visual concepts (a focused shareholder and investor audience), but an ad (a broader and unfocused audience) may require many concepts and revisions.

It is apparent that in larger organizations, at times there is less clarity about positioning and messaging, and a tendency to want to reach as many audiences as possible with as little investment as possible.

There is a correlation between organization size, its audience, and its messaging:

Instead of targeting a specific audience with a specific message, a less focused message will be developed in order to attempt to communicate to as many people as possible with the lowest level of investment. We call it institutional marketing.

An experienced agency understands that the challenge is to define the problem, more than it is to create the solution. It's critical that as we deal with ambiguity surrounding the project (what will the CEO approve; varying opinions on a marketing committee; lack of research) we stay focused on the objectives and not let the ambiguities become a distraction. We need to be able to associate meaningful visual and thematic symbolism with a concept rather than simply create surface decoration in order to convey the message.

Without defining the problem, the standard practice is to submit multiple concepts in order to second-guess the direction that the concept must follow in order to satisfy ambiguities and effectively communicate the message.

Without a strategic guideline (a design brief), the entire process becomes an “I‘ll know it when I see it” scenario. I call it skeet shooting in the dark.

We guide our clients with the (revised) antithesis of The Theory: “Strategy flows from a creative brief, and all outcomes (solutions) will be evaluated based upon that brief.”

When we work through the Clarity process to guide the client to a solution (within the guidelines of the brief), the General Theory of Design is never invoked. What is your experience?

Successful communicators know that you need to target your message to your audience, and that your organization's positioning will be the filter for your messaging.

Strategy will inform design decisions and solutions, and you’ll avoid the temptation to skeet shoot in the dark.

Be True To Your Values for Brand Differentiation

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Three companies recently caught my attention with their direct mail, email newsletters and a blog. It’s clear they are trying to be something that they’re not.

The envelope I received reads “INSIDE: Branding Strategies to Help Differentiate Your Business.”

The email and direct mail newsletter promised to teach me about “Social Media Benefits for Designers and Creative Professionals.”

The blog wanted to teach me about “Altering the Basics of Modern Marketing” (with a mnemonic based on the letter ‘P,’ with a photo of peas for emphasis (in case I didn’t get it).

Was it expert advice from a branding firm, a social media expert, or a marketing agency?

Not at all. The “expertise” was offered by American Express, a local printer, and a national printer supplies company.

It’s as if they all suddenly became experts in things they don’t know anything about...

Last time I checked, American Express has diluted its primary brand by offering cards in several colors (Blue, Plum) and in different metals (Gold, Platinum, and now ZyncTM, a rather dull-looking ore).

The selection includes 12 small business cards, 16 personal cards and other options. their newsletter claimed to offer tips for differentiation, but focused on the tactical, rather on true differentiation, or positioning.

The printer’s newsletter didn't include any expertise, but was a summary of the obvious: "One advantage to most of the social media sites is that they are free," and "Social media are an increasing part of today's marketing mix and should be on your radar" were just two of the nuggets that were shared.

The blog was well intentioned, but I think a business owner who looks to implement marketing expertise from a printer supply company should buy his supplies there, and find marketing expertise elsewhere.

Your audience seeks out your organization for its specific expertise, products or services. If you find that you have to offer expertise on other subjects, then perhaps your own organization isn't focused enough on its own unique characteristics.

Just because social media is popular, and you started tweeting, doesn't mean you need to write about it – perhaps more one-on-one sales calls are in order.

Claiming expertise outside of your business area is a desperate attempt to be all things to all people. It's best to leave the expertise on other topics to the experts, and become the expert at what you're best at.

Get people to love your brand for the experience it offers: simple clear choices in business or personal credit, outstanding customer service, cost-effective commodity products delivered quickly. Be true to yourself – your customers will reward your honesty.

Your Brand needs Words. And Type.

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Type supports a very important aspect of visual branding: consistency.

Typography may seem like a small element of your branding, and easy to overlook, but it's not difficult to find many examples of weak and poorly-executed typography gracing strong or new logos (and the supporting brand identity standards).

Type is the thread that holds your brand together in every media, from the first experience a consumer has when they encounter your brand, as social media drives consumers to your web site and builds perception, and internally as your brand maintains employee moral and loyalty.

If your knowledge of typography is limited to the list of typefaces (or fonts as many users call them), I recommend this hilarious video Font Conference from the esteemed cultural commentators, College Humor. It won't teach you much about typography, but does show that type has character (no pun intended).

This is typographic expression, and by extension supports your brand promise. Does your brand promise trustworthiness and reliability? Perhaps your best choice is a classic typeface. Is the promise of leading edge, forward thinking product or service?

Then perhaps a serif typeface is not the best choice, but you should consider a sans serif. Whether your choice is trendy or timeless, it makes a difference.

Whatever your choice, it should be different than what can be found, by default, on your computer. After all, isn’t your branding worth being different at every opportunity?

Social Networking Builds Community during Social Distancing

brian@aespire.com (Brian Sooy) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Is social networking a meaningful replacement for social distancing?

When clients ask for social networking features on or linked to their web sites, or specify "we want to do social networking," we always have to dig deeper.

Just like with branding, it's not what you think about being social, it's what your customers think about it.

And by they we mean everybody else. Do you want your marketing to have meaning? Then find out what is meaningful to your community.

Whether you manage a business, a nonprofit, or an education institution, community exists whether you’re trying to build one or not.

It's not always about your product or service or cause, but what makes people passionate about it.

Email lists, group-based networks (like Facebook), moderated forums, feeds, social messaging, video... Discover what works for your community (which may not necessarily be what you want to do, or what is convenient).

After all, it’s really not your community, your community belongs to your fans.

In an uncertain future filled with social distancing, embrace the opportunity to ensure your customers and fans have a place to gather, to communicate, to exchange ideas.

Create the place where they can be inspired, and be informed.

Extraordinary Strategy for Service Companies and Brands

Digging Through the Past: Uncovering Designosaur Bones

We sold our office condo last year, which meant my business partner and I had to dig through and dispose of forty years’ worth of stuff. We felt like archeologists and paleontologists.

Big Brother

30 Years of Design Leadership

Design Paleontology

The ROI of Compound Brand Interest

Investing in digital marketing for your home services company is expensive and time-consuming.

The Compound Brand Interest Principle

The Compound Brand Interest Pattern

Compound Brand Interest Performance

Don’t Just Sell a Product, Sell a Process

“Don’t just sell a product—sell a process. Help clients build a strategy that converts leads, nurtures relationships, and retains customers for life.”

What is your professional background?

What communities do you run?

What is your approach to client relationships?

How do you balance team and client priorities?

How do you approach strategic planning for businesses?

What's your view on long-term planning?

How do you manage time and productivity?

How do you approach relationship building in business?

Five Alternative Strategies for New Customer Growth

1. Intent-Based Marketing

2. Zero-Click Search Optimization

3. Revenue Analytics Integration

4. CTV & Audio Integration ﻿

5. Journey-Wide Message Consistency

One last point:

Faith, Family, and Freedom with Brett Baker

Co-founder Brett Baker joined Brian Sooy to talk about the virtual staffing business and the great things VAUSA® does for its employees, the military community, and clients.

What Inspired You to Found VAUSA?

Business Exists to Build People

Shared Values Create a Win-Win Culture

Are there silos in your business ?

Cast a Vision for the Future

Is it Possible to Successfully Run a Faith-Guided, Profitable Business?

Align Purpose and Profit for the Good of People

Leaders are Responsible for People

I Need People to Fight For And a Cause To Stand For

The 120-Day Service Company Sprint

There are typically three strategies that Olympic racers follow:

Think About Creating — and Sustaining — Long-Term Value

Here are a few service company consumer and marketing trends we’re watching:

The Secret Ingredient for Maximizing Brand Value

Is Your Business Flight-Ready?

﻿ No Tail? You Can’t Fly.

Your brand provides two critical functions:

What does brand alignment do?

﻿ Does Your Service Company Need Brand Alignment?

A brand is a story customers share about their experience with your company, product, or service.

Three Types of Website Policies Every Business Needs

They disrupt your website visitor experience and are the first thing a new visitor sees when they visit your website.

It feels like websites are becoming a series of overlapping consent and sales popups!

Every Website Needs a Privacy Policy

How Can You Get a Privacy Policy on Your Website?

Do you own a digital or web agency? Web agencies that apply receive a free set of auto-updating policies and 10% off their first purchase if they want to resell Termageddon’s licenses.

Your Website May Need a Cookie Consent Feature

Your Website Needs an Accessibility Widget

Why You Need an Accessibility Widget for Your Website

What Are My Options for Getting an Accessibility Widget?

My First Book Was a Failure. And a Success.

“Raise Your Voice” is 10 years old.

It’s OK to skip to the end if you are the tl;dr type.

I Would Begin Building an Audience Two Years Before Publishing

I Would Engage Future Readers and Reviewers Differently

I Would Understand It’s Up to Me to Promote My Book

I Learned Several Valuable Lessons and Monetized What I Learned

What About Those Other Books You Haven’t Published?

Authors Resources

Book Design and Publishing for Experts and Advisors

You wrote a manuscript, and wonder, “What’s next?”

Who will edit, design, and produce your print and ebook versions?

Author Services for Thought Leaders

Authors select Aespire:

Authors who work with Aespire

Author Websites (StoryBrand Web Design)

Publishers that work with Aespire

What Do Business Owners Worry About the Most?

Why can’t we have an operating system for branding?

Why a Branding System Helps Independent Small Businesses

4. CTV & Audio Integration

No Tail? You Can’t Fly.

Does Your Service Company Need Brand Alignment?

Nonprofits with niche brand identities can learn a lot from businesses about how to make data-driven marketing decisions.