1310: The Secret Ingredient to Incredible Brand Positioning w/ Crystal McFerran

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.509 Welcome back to BB growth. We are joined today by crystal mcphay and she's 2 00:00:09.589 --> 00:00:14.269 the Cmo at the twenty. Crystal, I want US jump off the ledge 3 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:18.949 with this interview and ask you a question that I've been loving asking lately. 4 00:00:19.269 --> 00:00:24.539 What was your AOL Instant Messenger screen name? That's a great one. My 5 00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:28.980 screen name was actually is, you know, nothing fancy like other people's are 6 00:00:29.019 --> 00:00:32.340 crazy these, crystal, six to six four, and the reason for that 7 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:35.929 my birthday, six hundred and twenty six. That was taken and so, 8 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:39.649 you know, they suggest names and so I was like, okay, six 9 00:00:39.770 --> 00:00:43.450 to six four. Funny because over the years I ended up using that as 10 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:46.250 the username for a number of things. That's so. It's so funny how 11 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:50.560 stuff like that works. Like my password growing up was yeah, it's something 12 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:53.840 that I came up with in like sixth grade or something crazy, and I 13 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.560 still use that password thirty years later. It's pretty wild. So and I 14 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:02.759 think it shows that you you were just you were professional when you were you 15 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:04.989 were coming up on a lol and supper. Instant messengers. Some people go 16 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:08.390 super crazy. Mine was sooner fan five hundred and eleven. Other people keep 17 00:01:08.390 --> 00:01:12.430 it simple with their name and some numbers, and so you're professional. Now, 18 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:17.709 you're professional, then I think it's on brand. Awesome, crystal. 19 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:21.099 We're going to be talking about positioning. I when I first came across your 20 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:25.140 profile several months ago on Linkedin, was looking at the twenty and and what 21 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:30.540 you guys are doing and was just really impressed with how you've positioned that brand. 22 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:34.290 I want to dive into some of the specifics of what that process look 23 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:38.370 like, what collaboration with the with with other senior leaders in the organization look 24 00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:42.810 like for you to nail that positioning. Before we do that, give us 25 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:48.239 just a little bit of context about kind of what led to the repositioning of 26 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:51.719 the twenty. Okay, so just start off, for anyone who's not familiar 27 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.799 with the twenty, we are essentially an MSPs MSPs, so we're a group 28 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:01.549 of MSPs across the country that came together to form a national footprint which enables 29 00:02:01.670 --> 00:02:07.310 fast growth and scalability, which are traditionally challenges for MSC's and for a lot 30 00:02:07.349 --> 00:02:09.870 of small businesses out there. So that process. When I came on board, 31 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:15.550 I'd actually worked for our CEO and helped concept of twenty years ago and 32 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:19.699 then I left, started my own company, came back and I came back 33 00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:23.060 to, you know, really a logos, marketing collateral, but not really 34 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:29.740 a brand fir ste or strong positioning and the market. And so that process 35 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:35.050 was pretty involved with our leadership team of specifically in my CEO, as strong 36 00:02:35.129 --> 00:02:38.169 collaboration with him. You know, we really step back to look at how 37 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:42.610 we wanted to be positioned, how we wanted to be perceived, what we 38 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.319 wanted, you know, the brand personality to look like, to sound like, 39 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:50.800 and how we could communicate not only the functional benefits to twenty but the 40 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.639 emotional benefits and not only that, but then to determine what our brand really 41 00:02:54.680 --> 00:03:00.550 our brand promises, and how that how we wanted that to resonate with a 42 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:05.150 MS piece Catta. So your CEO is pretty receptive to that, it sounds. 43 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:07.789 It sounds like you came in said Hey, you know, here's here's 44 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:12.550 what we have from in terms of marketing assets, but this is really what 45 00:03:12.710 --> 00:03:14.860 we where we need to go. We need to tell a story, we 46 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:19.860 need to figure out what the what the positioning is. And did he just 47 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.180 kind of say or she? I don't know if your CEO, as a 48 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:25.819 male or female but did they say yeah, take it and run with it, 49 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:30.250 or was it a pretty collaborative process? You know? So I consider 50 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:35.210 myself incredibly lucky and I have a CEO who, I wouldn't stay, understands 51 00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:39.210 marketing and the ends and outs of it, but really understand the importance of 52 00:03:39.409 --> 00:03:43.280 marketing. And so when he brought me in, you know, I mean 53 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.439 I completely autonomous in my role and have a lot of room and you know, 54 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:51.000 basically the conversation was you're the expert, you tell me what we need 55 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.120 to do and you make it happen. Yeah, I think that's so important 56 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:58.789 and something that I've been hearing a lot of people talk about on Linkedin is 57 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:00.669 if you are CEO does not get marketing, they don't need to be a 58 00:04:00.750 --> 00:04:04.909 marketing expert, but if they don't get it and really buy in, it's 59 00:04:04.990 --> 00:04:09.590 just going to be crippling. Yeah, that's going to be crippling. So 60 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:12.780 what would you say, you know, crystal, to someone who is maybe 61 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:16.060 thinking about maybe they've stepped into a new role where they need to figure out 62 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:19.500 what the story is for the business that are stepping into? You know, 63 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:23.579 there's a lot of there's a lot of advice, there's a lot of kind 64 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:28.689 of thought leaders that haven't actually done this work spouting what people should do. 65 00:04:29.209 --> 00:04:33.329 What would you say is a commonly held belief as it relates to positioning that 66 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:39.199 you just passionately disagree with? You know, I think a lot of times 67 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:43.000 marketers look at positioning and they think, you know, I've mentioned earlier emotional 68 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.839 benefits, but I think that, you know, a lot of them think 69 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:48.600 that it's all about the functional benefits. And and so I would say that 70 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:51.949 the you tie on the emotional benefits because really, you know, I always 71 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:56.189 say that that people buy on emotion and back filled with logic. So I 72 00:04:56.269 --> 00:05:00.670 think that that piece is incredibly important and often. What were some of the 73 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:05.550 things that you did with the twenty to inject that emotional component into it? 74 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:11.939 You know, I would say the most powerful would be conversations with our we 75 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:15.579 call them members, not clients, but with our members, you know, 76 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:18.660 and and just hearing and dair words. What do you get out of the 77 00:05:18.779 --> 00:05:21.930 twenty? You know, what are the most important benefits of the twenty brings 78 00:05:21.970 --> 00:05:26.810 to you? How does the twenty help you grow? And tying that into 79 00:05:26.930 --> 00:05:30.930 our messaging got it and and I want to touch back on so you said 80 00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:33.569 you your customers are members, not clients. was that something you introduced or 81 00:05:33.649 --> 00:05:38.120 was that something that was already there prior to you joining? That was already 82 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.959 there, you know, and I think that one of the really big things 83 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.879 that we hear about, the twenty of the big benefits is a community. 84 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.680 The community here is unlike anything I've ever experienced in any business. It's really 85 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.430 cool. You know, these are mscs who are, you know, supposed 86 00:05:51.470 --> 00:05:56.230 to be competing against each other and instead they've partnered and, you know, 87 00:05:56.269 --> 00:06:00.589 they're committed to helping each other grow, to sharing resources and ideas and it's 88 00:06:00.629 --> 00:06:05.699 feeling incredible. Hey, everybody, logan with sweet fish here. If you've 89 00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:10.019 been listening to the show for a while, you know we're big proponents of 90 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:14.620 putting out original, organic content on linked in, but one thing that's always 91 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:17.379 been a struggle for a team like ours is to easily track the reach of 92 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.329 that linkedin content. That's why I was really excited when I heard about shield 93 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:25.449 the other day from a connection on, you guessed it, linked in. 94 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:30.250 Since our team started using shield, I've loved how it's let us easily track 95 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:34.360 and analyze the performance of our linkedin content. Without having to manually log it 96 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:41.079 ourselves. It automatically creates reports and generates some dashboards that are incredibly useful to 97 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:44.839 see things like what content has been performing the best and what days of the 98 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.670 week are we getting the most engagement and our average views proposed. I'd highly 99 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:53.310 suggest you guys check out this tool if you're putting out content on Linkedin, 100 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:56.470 and if you're not, you should be. It's been a game changer for 101 00:06:56.629 --> 00:07:00.750 us. If you go to shield APP DOT AI and check out the ten 102 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:03.660 day free trial, you can even use our Promo Code B to be growth 103 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:09.540 to get a twenty five percent discount. Again, that's shield APP DOT AI 104 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:14.579 and that Promo Code is bet. The number to be gross all one word. 105 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:19.730 All right, let's get back to the show. That's awesome. And 106 00:07:19.889 --> 00:07:26.610 so what has the brand done to create that level of depth in community? 107 00:07:26.649 --> 00:07:29.449 Community building? I've found it to be incredibly hard. I mean you have 108 00:07:29.529 --> 00:07:32.680 to be really consistent, you've got a spearhead, you know different experiences that 109 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:36.519 cultivate that community. What has the twenty done? That's that's allowed you all 110 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:43.199 to build such a thriving community. So prior to covid and our you know 111 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.230 current environment. We did a lot of events and so that was a great 112 00:07:46.230 --> 00:07:50.149 opportunity to get people together and meet facetoface. But I would say now, 113 00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:55.589 you know, the collaboration on teams. We use Microsoft teams and it's a 114 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:59.699 daytoday. Think you know, our members are in there every single day asking 115 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:05.500 questions, sharing resources, getting feedback, and so there's huge collaboration there and 116 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:09.420 I think that that really serves to foster that community. Is that engagement driven 117 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:13.889 by things that you guys are doing? Are you guys dropping a you know, 118 00:08:13.009 --> 00:08:16.970 question of the day or like? Is there anything that you're doing to 119 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.410 cultivate that, or you just grew the community to a size where it happens 120 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.490 naturally? You know, I love that idea question of the day. That's 121 00:08:24.529 --> 00:08:26.129 something that we definitely could implement. We are not doing that. You know, 122 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.159 periodically we do post holes and questions and, you know, get feedback 123 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:35.519 on new vendors things like that, and we do member survey so that we 124 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:39.159 know have a pulse on our and PS and that sort of thing. But 125 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:43.950 so we do moderate it and manage the different channels in there and that that 126 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:48.950 ranges on everything from you know, sales, marketing technical. It's all across 127 00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:50.710 the board. It's utical. What are some things you all have done to 128 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.309 grow that community? Is it just as the business grows, the community grows 129 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:58.019 naturally as a byproduct of it? It is, you know, it happens 130 00:08:58.059 --> 00:09:01.259 organically. So as we bring in new members and they go through the on 131 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:07.500 boarding process, they're added to, you know, teams and immediately dive into 132 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:13.090 this conversation. I love it. How much have you got to I've been 133 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:16.730 thinking a lot about customer on boarding and trying to figure out how do you 134 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:24.049 how do you acclimate a new customer into kind of the the environment that you're 135 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:26.840 in and how they're going to get the most value from working with you? 136 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.200 What, what are some of your thoughts? Crystal things that you guys have 137 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.519 done at the twenty as it relates to customer on boarding that you think are 138 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.950 different than what you see a lot of other folks doing? You know, 139 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:43.190 I think we've incorporated video and so we're on boarding. I think that that 140 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:46.509 has been really powerful, not only from, you know, a training standpoint, 141 00:09:46.590 --> 00:09:48.629 so that they're fully educated on the the text AC and how to use 142 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:52.259 it and what they need to do to complete the technical side of onboarding, 143 00:09:52.500 --> 00:09:56.820 but I think also just being able to, you know, put a face 144 00:09:56.899 --> 00:09:58.620 with a name and to that's the closest thing that you get to face to 145 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:03.340 face interactions. So I think videos is work on my way. I love 146 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:05.620 it. Awesome, crystal. So I've got two questions for you that I 147 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:09.169 want to I want to close this interview at the first one is as it 148 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:11.570 relates to be to be marketing, which is the world that you and I 149 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:18.929 both live in. What what is something that you think bdb marketers should start 150 00:10:18.129 --> 00:10:24.879 doing this month or this quarter that they're probably not doing right now? You 151 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:26.879 know, if you're not doing video, you know, whether it's like this, 152 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.039 you know, the video podcast, or just video content. I think 153 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:35.590 video it is truly where it's a I used to say that, you know, 154 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:39.750 digital marketing was a piece of marketing when you look at marketing as a 155 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:43.509 whole, and really now it's marketing in a digital world, and so, 156 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:48.029 you know, because of that, I think video videos what I would recommend. 157 00:10:48.309 --> 00:10:50.539 The second the second question is similar but kind of the opposite. What 158 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:56.340 is something you think that bb marketer should stop doing that they're probably that they're 159 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:01.700 probably doing right now? Um, you know, a couple of things number 160 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:03.649 one, I would say stop using the buzz where you know, all the 161 00:11:05.049 --> 00:11:09.929 doing these uncertain times and that type of language that feels so forced because again, 162 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:11.850 you know, at the end of the day, you know it's not 163 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:18.250 be to be fun to see is age stage, and so that that type 164 00:11:18.289 --> 00:11:20.799 of language doesn't really resonate with anyone. I think taking a step back and 165 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:24.440 looking at content, you know, like, okay, would this appeal to 166 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.759 me, with this resonate with me or what? I just deleted it. 167 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:31.480 Yes, I love that, crystal. If there's somebody listening to this and 168 00:11:33.149 --> 00:11:35.590 they want to stay connected with you, they want to learn more about the 169 00:11:35.669 --> 00:11:39.350 twenty, what's the best way for them to go about doing that? Linkedin, 170 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:43.269 one hundred percent linkedin is the best way to get in touch with me 171 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:46.909 and to find out more about the twenty. Or you can visit the twentycom. 172 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:50.779 That's www dot zero. Awesome. And then, crystal, can you, 173 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:54.620 can you tell us a little bit about what you're doing with the social 174 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:58.860 movement as well? Sure, thinks so. The social movement is what I 175 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:03.850 refer to is my passion project and I was actually recruited for it initially through 176 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:07.730 Linkedin. The producers found me really like the content that I posted and felt 177 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:11.570 like I might be a good fit, and so I became involved initially and 178 00:12:11.730 --> 00:12:16.720 was selected as a participant and I'm now a producer. So the social movement 179 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.919 it just and a nutshell, is kind of like the apprentice, meet Shark 180 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.440 tank, but for a social cause. And so they bring together all of 181 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.960 these incredibly intelligent people, ceeos, entrepreneurs and festers, and put them on 182 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:35.149 teams and get them four days to solve a major social issue. So this 183 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:39.429 season, you know, we have suicide, racism, women's in powerm it. 184 00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:43.940 So some some pretty huge, daunting social issues. So I'm partly excited 185 00:12:45.340 --> 00:12:46.980 to be a part of it. And where can people find that content? 186 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:50.340 They can find that. I have posted, you know, quite a bit 187 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:56.899 on my linkedin and they can also visit its red night dot TV flash the 188 00:12:56.019 --> 00:12:58.610 social movement, and I can send you that link as well. Yeah, 189 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:01.529 we'll put that in the show notes. So so definitely check out the social 190 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:07.169 movement. Make sure you connect or follow crystal on Linkedin. I see her 191 00:13:07.289 --> 00:13:09.889 content my feed all the time. She's putting out incredible content there. So 192 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:13.879 make sure you stay connected with her there and and we hope you got a 193 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:18.840 ton of value out of this conversation. Crystal, thank you so much for 194 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:20.159 your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you, James. I 195 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:28.230 appreciate it. For the longest time I was asking people to leave a review 196 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:31.789 of BB growth and apple podcasts, but I realize that was kind of stupid 197 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:37.950 because leaving a review is way harder than just leaving a simple rating. So 198 00:13:37.110 --> 00:13:41.190 I'm changing my tune a bit. Instead of asking you to leave a review, 199 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:43.379 I'm just going to ask you to go to bb growth and apple podcasts, 200 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:48.059 scroll down until you see the ratings and reviews section and just tap the 201 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:52.899 number of stars you want to give us. No review necessary, super easy 202 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:56.730 and I promise it will help us out a ton. If you want to 203 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:00.289 copy on my book content base networking, just shoot me a text after you 204 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:03.690 leave the rating and I'll send one your way. Text me at four hundred 205 00:14:03.690 --> 00:14:05.769 seven four, and I know three and three, two eight