Marketing: The Center of Corporate Strategy, with Rebecca Biestman

WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:16.679 Conversations from the front lines and marketing. This is be tob growth. Today 2 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.519 on BB growth I am joined by Rebecca Beastman. She's the CMO over at 3 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:26.039 reputation. Rebecca, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. It's 4 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:29.760 great to be on. So, Rebecca, tell us a little bit about 5 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.399 reputation and the work you guys are doing. Sure, reputation is a b 6 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:40.159 tob SASS technology platform and it's basically a feedback management tool for companies. So 7 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.079 we take all public feedback, like reviews and readings, which media comments, 8 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:50.600 all of a company's private feedback data, like direct messages or surveys, put 9 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.679 in our platform and we basically help companies understand where they're doing well where they 10 00:00:54.679 --> 00:01:00.280 need to improve so they can keep their customers happy and loyal. Fantastic. 11 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:04.840 Well, when we originally connected and we were chatting about things you're seeing in 12 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:08.079 marketing, things I'm seeing marketing, it was actually perfect timing. I don't 13 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.040 know if I mentioned to this to you, but we've been serving our audience 14 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:17.760 this past month or so and one thing that we've heard people mention several times 15 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.640 is a discussion that they want to hear more around brand right and the timing 16 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.159 is impeccable because I know you recently have also been in a couple conversations where 17 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:32.719 you're talking about, okay, marketing needs to be the center of corporate strategy. 18 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:37.480 I want and again it ends up being a conversation around brand and branding 19 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.560 and it all starts to kind of, you know, flow together. But 20 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.560 tell me a bit of these conversations you're finding yourself in recurringly. Yeah, 21 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:51.640 I think traditionally people have thought of the brand or a brand refresh or rebrand 22 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:56.920 is a marketing exercise and I feel like we're removing the conversation today and where 23 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.319 it needs to go in the future is that the brand is just your company's 24 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:07.640 strategy, and so figuring out who you are, what you do, why 25 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.639 what you do matters, how you do it better or differently than everyone else 26 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:16.599 in the market, those are all really core kind of corporate strategy questions that 27 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:22.000 end up informing the brand. And so when you think about a brand logo, 28 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:24.719 it's color Palette, it's a new website, all of that is the 29 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:30.960 cast skating end results. That's not where the meat of the work gets done, 30 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.199 and so having marketing be the center of that conversation is important because it 31 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.680 not only means that the brand exercise and all those cascading outcomes will go well, 32 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:45.639 it also means that marketing becomes this center of those strategic business conversations that 33 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:49.319 are being had at the highest level, and we'll dive into a lot of 34 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:53.000 that here over the next few minutes. I wonder where in the stages of 35 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.759 company growth you see this kind of need to step back and start asking some 36 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.759 of these bigger questions. Getting maybe more pilosophical here, you're kind of asking 37 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:06.439 who you are these types of questions, like where in the stages of company 38 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.120 growth should we be focused on that? It's such a good question. I 39 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:15.680 think most very early stage startups absolutely go in with a point of view around 40 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:19.479 where they're going to fit in the market, around the problems that their products 41 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:22.800 or solutions are solving, and then, as you know and so many of 42 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:25.879 your listeners know, over time in sort of the startup growth trajectory, you 43 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:30.759 end up pivoting, you end up experimenting, you end up learning so much 44 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:35.960 and then there's a period of time where they're sort of growth scale. Product 45 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.240 market fit has kind of all been established and you're really building that company. 46 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:45.520 Oftentimes there's that inflection point where then either the founding team or the current executive 47 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:50.039 team will look back and they'll think, oh, what we originally thought this 48 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.759 company was going to be all about has either changed or morphed over time, 49 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:59.960 or the market has changed and shifted over time, and we really do need 50 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.879 to codify what this is. And you'll find that externally that happens a lot. 51 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:08.560 And then internally these companies are growing rapidly with employees. So you start 52 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.439 with a founding team, maybe a few other hires. You all know what 53 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:15.759 it is you're doing and what you're trying to achieve. You have to codify 54 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:18.160 that. It doesn't have to be this big company exercise. You start to 55 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.160 add a hundred, two, hundred, three hundred Azero employees to that mix, 56 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:28.120 suddenly what everybody thought they knew through USMOSIS turns out to not be true 57 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.160 at all. So you go down the hall and you US One person. 58 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:33.399 Who are you as a company or what is your company do tell me in 59 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:38.000 a sentence you have from people. You get five different answers. That's a 60 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:42.439 problem for the company. So it's usually that inflection point and there's no stage 61 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.160 or revenue size where that happens, but it usually ends up being, unfortunately, 62 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:51.199 a reactive exercise instead of a proactive exercise on the part of companies because 63 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:56.639 they've basically just outgrown but they thought they knew about themselves. Yeah, and 64 00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:00.959 you end up feeling the tension internally and externally right like, because if you 65 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.319 were to go down the hall and you have these different definitions, that internally 66 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:11.600 does it's not great for momentum. And then externally, the like the look 67 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.959 larger market is hearing different messages depending on who they talked to from your organization. 68 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:18.920 So you end up with a brand problem that you might not actually label 69 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:24.759 or call initially a brand problem. And you know so much that determines the 70 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:29.959 success of be tob companies, be to be tech companies as you're going through 71 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.839 the stages of growth and scale. It's really about focus. There are so 72 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:36.680 many things a company could go do, especially early stage. The world is 73 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:41.959 always start. So it's all about tradeoffs and decisionmaking. And what is it? 74 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:45.920 What are the parameters that you use to make those decisions about what you 75 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:47.800 should go do, where you should go in best time and resource, the 76 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:54.920 brand and what you're building and how you're building it within the market helps to 77 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.959 answer so many of those questions. It's your point. It's not just like 78 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:02.079 a lack of alignment. That's anecdot. Role it really ends up impacting your 79 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:08.959 business is ability to appropriately scale in the market. HMM. So it almost 80 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.399 feels like what we're saying is that, while it's about brand, it's kind 81 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:15.480 of like not about brand, because it's a change in language, especially when 82 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.560 you're trying to change the hearts and minds of, let's say, key stakeholders. 83 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:21.759 They've seen this a certain way. Maybe they've been product led for a 84 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:27.120 long time, so they're going this needs to become a conversation, and I 85 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.959 love the word choice you have on corporate strategy, company positioning. Talk about 86 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.639 that a little bit, because it's it's a shift in the language, but 87 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:41.040 then it can shift mindsets just by using different words. It's so important to 88 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.720 use the right language around this, because the last thing you want is for 89 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:48.560 something like this to be siphoned off to the marketing team or to just the 90 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:55.040 marketing team in the CEO. That's not the point of this exercise and if 91 00:06:55.079 --> 00:07:00.319 it ends up going that way it will not be successful long term. So 92 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:05.519 that holistic cross functional alignment within the business all undergoing this exercise together matters a 93 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:11.040 lot. So when you talk about, for word, strategy, company positioning, 94 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:15.480 market positioning, those are conversations where a lot of stakeholders across the business 95 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:17.240 want to be involved and we can talk about how many people as too many 96 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:23.000 people and who should actually be involved in that, but realistically your entire executive 97 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:29.519 team should be bought in and taking part in the conversation and if that happens, 98 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:34.160 success us fully. You end up finding much more cohesion within the business, 99 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:40.959 especially those businesses that might still be founder led or product led and there 100 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:46.959 might be certain preconceptions around what a branding exercise means, what a marketing exercise 101 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:51.199 means, and so it's all about establishing that credibility really early on and, 102 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:56.319 to your point, often language is very important to do that if you're trying 103 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:03.279 to establish that credibility early on, because you they're probably wasn't a marketing department 104 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:07.639 when you know and then you have to start to grow that and then some 105 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.879 of these conversations start to come up. So how do you establish that that 106 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.920 credibility from the outset? I think every company, no matter the stage in 107 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:24.279 size, desires, strategic alignment, desires, really clear positioning in the market. 108 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:26.680 There is not a founding team that I've advised for. There is not 109 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:33.120 an operating CEO in place that doesn't want that to happen for them. And 110 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.279 again it's both internal and external. So when you start talking about it that 111 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.759 way and you lay the groundwork for what's to come, sort of circling around 112 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:48.120 that tent Pole, you'll suddenly find that you'll have very invested stakeholders from across 113 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:54.120 the business and again, the marketing output. That's that cascading effect down. 114 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.159 Once you've done all of this upfront work, and so that obviously comes you 115 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.879 start to talk about visual identity and verbal identity and you know, how do 116 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:07.279 we speak externally and what do we look like externally? So it's not as 117 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:11.279 if that work doesn't end up happening as a part of the exercise. It's 118 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:16.559 just that that's a corollary and it's really informed by the important strategic work up 119 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.200 front. So is marketing owning this from the outset? Like who's bringing? 120 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.600 Yeah, is that what you would say? I would say yes. Obviously 121 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:28.519 that was a quick answer. I feel very passionately about it. I think 122 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.279 that when you're undergoing an exercise like this, number one, you do need 123 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.440 an owner of the exercise, like let's just put it out there right now. 124 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.799 If no one owns it, that's a disaster waiting to happen. The 125 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:46.480 reason it should be marketing is twofold. The first is that the marketing leader 126 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.440 or leadership should have a point of view around this already, and that point 127 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:54.600 of view can often be, you want to say, less biased, but 128 00:09:54.679 --> 00:10:00.000 can often be more pragmatic, especially if you're working with bounding teams who these 129 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:03.279 conversations can get emotional for who have a long storied history potentially with the company. 130 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:07.360 So that's important. But the other thing is that marketing is going to 131 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:11.879 be tasked with the execution of this exercise and so at the end of the 132 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:18.639 day, you need that through line from the very beginning and inception from this 133 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:24.200 project all the way through that execution and that go to market. So for 134 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.360 both of those reasons, both sort of continuity and point of view, it 135 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:33.240 makes sense for the marketing leader to own this for the company. Hey, 136 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.840 everybody, Olivia here. As a member of the sweet fish sales team. 137 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:43.039 I wanted to take a second and share something that makes us insanely more efficient. 138 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.320 Our team uses lead Iq. So for those of you who are in 139 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:50.279 sales or sales ups, let me give you some context. You know how 140 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:56.080 long gathering contact data can take so long, and with lead Iq, what 141 00:10:56.200 --> 00:11:01.159 once took us four hours to do now takes us just one. That is 142 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.639 seventy five percent more efficient. We are so much quicker withoutbound prospecting and organizing 143 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.759 our campaigns is so much easier than before. I suggest you guys check it 144 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:16.120 out as well. You can find them at lead iqcom. That's La d 145 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:20.440 iqcom already. Let's jump back into the show. As with the end of 146 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:26.039 the day, you need that through line from the very beginning and inception from 147 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.480 this project all the way through that execution and that go to market. So 148 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.840 for both of those reasons, both sort of continuity and point of view, 149 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:39.879 it makes sense for the marketing leader to own this for the company. Right. 150 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:45.159 Let's talk about the execution side of things for a second. So it's 151 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:48.000 one thing to talk high level. We have these conversations, we clarify some 152 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.320 of this. Then, as you start to actually become a practitioner, what 153 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:56.720 have you found to be those keys, like this is what creates. We've 154 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:01.480 already in these first ten mints we talked fostering on the internal alignment because of 155 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:05.200 this and then that external message. So what becomes those first few steps in 156 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.080 actually executing yeah, so once you have the basis, late and you can 157 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:16.559 call it the messaging exercise, the core positioning exercise. Again, once you 158 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.720 have that documented and codified, the next steps are really figuring out your verbal 159 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.879 identity and your visual identity, and a lot of branding exercises, and I 160 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:26.559 would say the majority of them out there, end up bringing in an agency 161 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:33.279 partner to help with this entire process. There are some organizations that are staffed 162 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:37.480 with the internal resources, both on the brand side and the creative and content 163 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.200 side, to be able to incept this themselves. So I mean even the 164 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:43.200 largest companies. I'VE WORKED FOR GAP I've work for very, very large fortune 165 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.080 hundred companies that, if we use also used agency partners, even though we 166 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:48.360 have the resources. So we can talk about that if you want, but 167 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:54.600 eventually what ends up happening is the next phase is figuring out the verbal and 168 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:58.840 visual identity. That ties directly back to the brand messaging and architecture exercise. 169 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:05.360 Now how you incept those different options that you look at. You can do 170 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:09.879 competitive analysis, you can do aspirational brand analysis, you can talk to stakeholders 171 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:11.360 again inside and outside of the company, the same way you would have done 172 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:16.600 for the messaging framework exercise. You can do all of that same primary and 173 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.240 secondary research to provide a few options. But that's how you do it. 174 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.960 And then once you hone in on everything from the typeface to the logo mark, 175 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.240 to the Color Palette, to the adjectives and coloquialisms that we use or 176 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:33.559 don't use, that's when you start to really form that identity piece. And 177 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:39.080 from there it's really about, okay, what exists today? So taking an 178 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:43.440 inventory of everything exists that is branded in some way, and it's a lot, 179 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:46.000 and that's that. That's an exercise in and it itself, which we 180 00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:50.200 can talk about, and figuring out what needs to be updated, how, 181 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.399 how does it to be updated? And then the net new piece, which 182 00:13:54.519 --> 00:14:00.799 is what doesn't exist today in that brand architecture, in that tactical output that 183 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:03.600 we need internally, what doesn't exist today externally, what do we need out 184 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.679 there in the market and not then becomes that execution layer, if you will, 185 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.360 and depending on if you're architecting a new website, if you're going to 186 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.039 launch an out of home campaign. I mean, depending on what this looks 187 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.399 like for Your Business, that piece could take months and months, it could 188 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:26.039 take quarters to get that piece of work done. It's interesting in this conversation 189 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:30.600 because when you think about it, like you have a team that knows, 190 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.399 okay, we probably should focus on this, but also, like at the 191 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.279 highest level, you know how long it's going to take, you know all 192 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.720 the work that needs to be put in. So a lot of times you 193 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.440 see companies put this off as long as possible, like see, we have 194 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.639 a product and it's kind of working, so we don't really need to re 195 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:50.559 establish who we are, and we've added all these employees. But maybe we're 196 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.000 not drifting too far from what you know, and then you lose momentum and 197 00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:56.519 it's like a little too late in you're trying to get to a place where 198 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:01.320 you actually have the market fit and the internal language to drive like again, 199 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:05.440 like further growth. So I think this is you super key. If you're 200 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:11.440 let's say you're talking to someone like a founder who's highly been been highly product 201 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:16.000 driven. What is it look like? Maybe bringing them along getting this kind 202 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:20.080 of like buy in from the outset, because that's no small saying if you've 203 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.159 already seen some level of success and now we're kind of trying to become like 204 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:28.960 who we are. It's a very different type of conversation. And if you 205 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:33.919 ask most founders whether their product let or not, they'll tell you we know 206 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:37.200 who we are because they know who they are. So that even it's a 207 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.679 it's another layer that you have to break through, because sometimes there's cognitive dissonance 208 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:46.879 there where they don't even think it's a problem. If you ask the team, 209 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.399 they'll be able to tell you. They might not all say the same 210 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:54.399 thing, but they have such a clear vision in their mind and they either 211 00:15:54.679 --> 00:16:00.000 haven't done a great job of democratizing that information throughout the organization or it's just 212 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.960 changed and morphed over time as they've grown that they might not even see that. 213 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.159 So the best way to get buy in is to be able to show 214 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:15.279 examples of companies who do a really good job at this, where the founder 215 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:21.360 or founding team they might not have, I even identified that that's a brand 216 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.360 problem that they have. They might not even know what that looks like. 217 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:27.200 So showing them what it looks like, especially if it someone in the space 218 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:33.240 who's doing it really well and gaining competitive advantage. It's always helpful to have 219 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:37.679 key studies and examples, and it doesn't need to be some indepth study that 220 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:40.399 you've done. It's just to say, look here people who are doing it 221 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:44.519 really well in our market or in ancillary markets, and you can see how 222 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:48.840 much momentum that's driving for their business. And yes, it might mean that 223 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:52.559 in order to take ten steps forward, it's going to feel like we have 224 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:56.200 to take three steps back, but that's okay because in the end it's going 225 00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:59.759 to be worth it. And I also think the second thing is maybe not 226 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.919 right at the beginning, but at some point setting the expectation that it never 227 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:06.039 stops. I think that's the other piece, is that sometimes people feel, 228 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.480 okay, we're doing this brand exercise and in six months or nine months it's 229 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:15.240 done. That's not the case. The brand is living, breathing, ever 230 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:18.799 evolving, constantly updating. If you really do want to be leading edge there 231 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:22.599 and you see companies we're all the time, before we've even thoughting you to 232 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.680 do anything to their brand, they're announcing something or they're reinventing themselves or they're 233 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:30.599 tweaking something and modernizing something in some way that's best in class. So it's 234 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:37.200 all about expectation setting early on in the process that this is just a behavior 235 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.279 that the company it's a behavior in a discipline that the company is going to 236 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.200 have going forward. Can you give us some, like a real world examples 237 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:49.039 of how you see this play out? Well, like if this is done 238 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:52.000 just excellently, what does that look like? Who Do you think of? 239 00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:57.599 Like? I'd love some examples, for I always say be to se brands 240 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:00.759 are just a million times at this kind of marketing. The Need to be 241 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:06.200 though I do there are cool cousin right exactly. I mean I definitely have 242 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:08.319 you to be companies that I admire what you're doing a really good job of 243 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:15.559 this. There's just the perennial examples of companies apple, Nike, the ones 244 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:18.839 that you've always heard about forever. I think there's also just some really great 245 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.519 examples of more like mission driven brands who really just know who they are and 246 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:29.440 know their personality without having kind of flashy brand campaigns or staffs of people doing 247 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:33.480 it. You think of somebody, even a company like Pedagonia or Ben and 248 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:38.160 Jerry's, where like their brand is something that would just spark an emotive response 249 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.960 from anyone, positive or negative, but it's like they knew who they are. 250 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:45.319 They are very set in that identity, and so I think companies like 251 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.640 that do a great job. I think that there's some big tech companies who 252 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.880 do a really wonderful job of this. I think there's some startups that are 253 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:55.759 coming up. Attentive is one who I think is doing some really interesting stuff 254 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.640 with their brand and out of home. There's just some really good examples out 255 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:04.880 there of people who are not trying to be everything to everyone, they're not 256 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:08.559 trying to dilute that brand equity, which, again it's all about focus, 257 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:15.079 and they're really just staying simple, approachable consistent. Like those are some of 258 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.039 the core pillars, because it does take time to build things like this up 259 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:26.200 all right. So I think there's probably two groups we should chat with specifically 260 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:30.200 as we start to wrap this conversation up. Which one would be early stage 261 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:34.000 startups who could kind of get out ahead of this thing and start to put 262 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:37.680 a plan in place maybe before they're like, oh, we should have done 263 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:41.680 this earlier and then you have maybe later stage startups right, this would be 264 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:45.440 the second group who need to have these conversations like now, or they're in 265 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.400 that right. I want to talk to both. Let's go early stage first. 266 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.000 Maybe it's advice input that, Rebecca, you would give. What would 267 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.240 you say to that early stage start up trying to get ahead of it? 268 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.400 First of all, I would say you're doing the absolute right thing. Congratulations, 269 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.240 because ninety nine percent of startups are not doing that thing, so you've 270 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.960 already won. I would say you don't need to overcomplicate it. So you 271 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:11.880 know, bringing exercises can get very complex, especially for later stage companies, 272 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:15.400 which we can talk about why that is. But if you really are early 273 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:21.279 stage and you're just starting out, think about something that's enduring, knowing that 274 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:25.119 you are going to pivot and Morph and change over time, knowing that that 275 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:30.000 might happen and at the market might change around you. So I would say, 276 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:33.759 Bifur, keep the exercise. Think about who you are today, who 277 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:37.359 the market is today. Again, you are, what you do, why 278 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.000 you do that better than anyone else, why it matters. Those are some 279 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:44.519 key questions to answer one sentence, make it really simple. Think about that 280 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:48.240 for today and then think about that five years from now. If it looks 281 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:49.480 exactly the same, great, if it doesn't, that's okay too, because 282 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.559 you're going to be building and changing over time and they and just know that, 283 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:56.680 their fluid in my pivot, and so I would say just thinking about 284 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:00.240 that, thinking about the exercise and doing the extra size cross functionally is really 285 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:06.000 important, and then having that verbal and visual identity, having the output stem 286 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:11.720 from that, it's much easier to go and tweak the original artifacts that are 287 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:17.920 in place then incepting something totally new. And from a very tactical perspective, 288 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:22.960 the good news is you probably don't have hundreds of data sheets or depth, 289 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:27.680 but it's awesome. Well, he's using a slightly different deck to go out 290 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.359 there, so you're in a really good place when it comes to the execution 291 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.680 element of that. But really what you want to think about in your mind 292 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.920 is enduring, like knowing that there's so much that's going to change over time. 293 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.160 The more you can find something that you can like really stick a stake 294 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.799 in the ground here and hopefully for tomorrow, will actually be a really helpful 295 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:49.200 guide post again as you consider making all of these strategic decisions for the business 296 00:21:51.079 --> 00:21:55.279 for a late stage startups, which I've been through this Rodeo three times now, 297 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.440 and emit vising for a couple of later stage startups. It's a really 298 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.119 common time, you know, between that thirty five hundred and eighty five million 299 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:07.400 dollar are our piece. You have product market fit established, you're growing, 300 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:11.039 you're scaling. Oh, but things are things aren't as easy as they used 301 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.519 to be. Oh, things are breaking, things are getting hard, there's 302 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.079 a lot of friction in the system. Now that's usually the time when this 303 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:22.960 exercise comes around. Totally doable, absolutely, not too late, just a 304 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:27.480 lot harder. So I would say is for the later stage startups. You 305 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:33.759 definitely need cross functional alignment. You should absolutely be talking to customers or perspective 306 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:38.680 customers in your primary and secondary research. There's so much to do on the 307 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:42.759 tactical execution front that you need to make sure that you're giving yourself and your 308 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:47.599 team's enough time to do that piece, because, in addition to all the 309 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.039 new great stuff you need to produce and want to produce, there's a whole 310 00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:53.920 host of stuff that already lives in your company today and you don't even know 311 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.319 about two thirds of it. You don't know who's using it. You don't 312 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.680 know what team owns it, you don't even know where it is. So 313 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:07.960 that's the other piece where don't cram that timeline and have it potentially adversely affect 314 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:11.799 the execution piece of it, because you and the team don't have worked so 315 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.119 hard on this that you don't you don't want to get caught at the end. 316 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.400 Yep. It's interesting because the sooner you can have these conversations and do 317 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.960 some of these exercises. Granted, they get more complex over time, which 318 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.920 you've alluded to, but this sooner you do them and you have gone through 319 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:30.119 it once before, people see the value of it, and then doing it 320 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.880 again down the road as things shift, as they always do, you already 321 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.160 know how beneficial it was last time. So to call yourself back to it 322 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:41.880 you're going to be. That's where I see you setting yourself up for success 323 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:44.640 like that's where I would advocate, if you are in early stage startup, 324 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.319 do the exercise now, even knowing it's going to shift a couple years down 325 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:52.599 the road, because then everyone internally is speaking the same language externally. You 326 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:55.759 feel like proud of your message. You know that it's clear and you can 327 00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:00.160 always go back and people are understand why you did the exercise last time. 328 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:02.559 So now you when you do it again, it's not this like, Oh 329 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:04.160 man, we got to get all the stakeholders back on board for this. 330 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.480 That's exactly right. And set up a keydence. Just say to your executive 331 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.880 team, Hey, every year we're going to look at this stuff once a 332 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.000 year and we're just going to see what's changed in the business. HAS ANYTHING 333 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:19.359 CHANGED? And even that will set a really good motion in place and the 334 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:25.079 expectations again. It's all about setting expectations. If there is one little mindset 335 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:27.880 shift to me, it's always I want to press all of our listeners over 336 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:33.319 communicate from a marketing standpoint. If you're the type of person that goes out 337 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.480 of your way to overcommunicate with the rest of the organization using your language, 338 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:41.000 because it's probably one of your tools that you already have, it's probably one 339 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.680 another reasons you got hired. If you can help your language translate to the 340 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:48.079 rest of the organization, you make yourself extremely, extremely valuable. So that's 341 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.839 one of the little cheeks we can take away from this episode with with Rebecca. 342 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:56.559 Man, this's been fun. I really like this conversation. There's so 343 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:59.440 much more we could roads we could go down. But for those that want 344 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:02.480 to stay connected with you and what reputations doing, tell us a little bit 345 00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:04.839 of how we can we can connect. Yeah, find me on Linkedin, 346 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.440 Rebecca Beastman. I'd be happy to connect, talk more answer questions. Very 347 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:14.839 passionate about the subject, so you'll free. Linkedin is always the best place 348 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:18.440 to connect with me as well, so feel free to search Benjie Block over 349 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.039 there. For our listeners who haven't connected, always talking about marketing, business, 350 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:25.079 in life food. Would love to answer a question or just get in 351 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:29.079 conversation with with all of you. So if you are listening and you have 352 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:33.279 yet to follow a podcast on whatever your favorite podcast player is, go ahead 353 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:37.720 and do that so you never miss an episode. And Rebecca, thank you 354 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.279 so much for stopping by B TOB growth today. Absolutely thanks for having me. 355 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:57.519 We're always excited to have conversations with leaders on the front lines of marketing. 356 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.319 If there's a marketing director or a chief marketing officer that you think we 357 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:06.279 need to have on the show, reach out email me, ben dot block 358 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:08.799 at Sweet Fish Mediacom. I look forward to hearing from you.