Tag: podcast

Road-Tested Tips for Driving a Marketing Department

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Without communication, businesses crumble. Sending a clear message is the only surefire way to get people to care about your brand. This need for coherence isn’t limited to the marketer-consumer relationship, however—all business branches should work in harmony in order to present a sharp brand image. Ann Davids, Senior Vice President and CMO of Direct General Insurance Company, specializes in coordinating her company’s identity on all fronts.

In this week’s episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Davids explains how a brand identity can become too abstract if it’s not managed well internally. It’s Davids’s duty to weave product language, internal language and consumer language together to create campaigns that customers and Direct employees can embrace.

Listen to the podcast above or continue reading for a summary of the episode.

Marketers should stay in close contact with their fellow departments, believes Davids. When the marketing department at Direct works in unison with the entire office, it can accomplish brand goals from all angles. Davids says, “I’ve often heard it said that marketing should make the rest of the organization uncomfortable. I couldn’t agree more. I’ll really advocate for anything the business needs, even beyond marketing if it helps move the needle.”

This strategy is mutually beneficial, Davids finds. In addition to orienting the marketing team’s attention to the overall business plan, she seeks to involve other business disciplines in Direct’s advertising campaigns. In previous years, Davids has laid out the blueprints of her team’s marketing strategy for all to see—literally—by distributing architectural blueprints in frames around the office. “We basically run our own internal campaign, and it tends to get people excited and raise intellectual curiosity,” Davids says. “We have people hand-raising to opt in to work on these things instead of having to recruit.”

The blueprints clearly illustrated the marketing strategies, but they also generated interest in the projects from the entire company. Let’s face it; if an organization can’t get its own team members excited about a campaign, how can it expect to make a lasting impact on consumers?

Speaking of impacting consumers, Davids notes how Direct aims to be, well, more direct. “We try to just always speak the customer’s language,” she says. “Whatever that happens to be for your particular customer, I think you have to really understand them and how they talk and process, and what they’re looking for.” Offering exactly what the consumer needs is only half the battle, however. Without clear, direct marketing, any campaign can fall flat.

Given the nature of Direct Insurance’s industry, it’s inherently tough to make consumers eager to engage with the brand, which is why Davids’s team goes the extra mile to make their experience enjoyable. Davids says, “A lot of people don’t want to pay for insurance, either, so we make it fun, we make it pleasant and we try to have added little surprises along the way that make it easier to do business with Direct Auto and Life Insurance.” These “little surprises” have resonated well with customers, she says.

Another challenge for Direct has been the transition to new marketing platforms. When the company knew it wanted to establish a strong digital presence, Davids was careful not to jump the gun with new channels. Her team decided that gradual changes would better suit the brand’s customers. “Our customer is still telling us that they enjoy other mediums, as well as digital,” says Davids. “They’re still heavy consumers of television and radio, so we’ve been careful in how we transition to digital.”

This kind of adaptability is an important piece of Direct’s marketing puzzle. Davids talks about the art of identifying the next big thing: “Really, what I consider state of the art is knowing when to jump on a trend versus waiting. Or how you might migrate within your own media mix.” Although her team is always looking for the next big thing, the marketing department acts slowly and steadily when integrating it into a campaign.

If Davids could offer just one piece of advice to her fellow marketing leaders, it would be to maintain a robust network of professionals. “I think you’ve got to find people that you connect with,” she says. “If you make investments in these relationships, they will be valuable. There’s nothing more valuable to me than my network and the mentors I’ve had over the years.” (these show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

Bank on a Unique Brand Image

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One of the most difficult but important things marketers can do is find a way to make their brand stand out from the competition. This is an especially weighty challenge in the financial industry, as Suzanne Copeland, the former CMO of Sterling National Bank, will tell you. Faced with regulatory restrictions and fierce competition, Copeland applied renegade thinking to separate Sterling from the pack. In this episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Copeland explains how the bank’s brand positioning allows it to provide one-of-a-kind customer experiences. (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

You can listen to the podcast below or continue reading for this episode’s highlights.

Creating a unique brand experience is crucial not only to marketing, but also to business success as a whole. At Sterling, this was no easy feat. As Copeland points out, “Everybody tells you that their customer relationship is better. It’s kind of hard to really tease that out to some specifics that explain exactly how you’re better.”

Abstract problems like these require creative solutions. For example, Copeland’s content marketing strategy at Sterling went against the grain to reach to its audience, and you may be surprised to learn that digital marketing had little to do with it. The company wanted to bring its message to the consumer’s doorstep—literally. The finished product for Sterling was Connect Magazine, a print publication featuring the success stories of some of its clients. Copeland says, “We have been publishing Connect Magazine for over seven years now, and a key feature is that we do client profiles. We have a cover story with a client talking about their business.”

Connect Magazine continues to spread brand awareness for both client businesses and Sterling National Bank. Copeland continues, “[Featured clients] sprinkle in where Sterling has helped them with their business.” By mentioning how the bank has assisted clients, the publication also gets people talking about Sterling. As Copeland notes, “There is some relationship building with regard to the prospects and, quite frankly, most of Connect is mailed to prospects and that helps build our brand. But at the same time, it is going to our clients…It is also creating brand ambassadors that will praise our services.”

Like Copeland, many marketers face the challenge of presenting a uniform brand image. The team at Sterling is constantly maneuvering to keep all employees on the same page. “We have a lot of different sales people with a very specific approach,” Copeland says. “It’s really hard to be efficient with that. So, for us, the challenge is how do you have a really lean organization? How do you create some level of consistency and some configurability so that you can address vertical markets?”

Copeland urges marketers everywhere to hone in on their core business to find a unifying message. She says, “The other thing now I think that we can do ourselves is just be maniacal about focusing on our business strategy, really understanding what is it this company is doing.”

Perhaps the biggest blunder a marketing team could make is to seclude itself from the company’s other operations. “The biggest ‘don’t’ for me is getting cornered in the marketing world,” says Copeland. “You’ve got to be able to have relationships beyond that in the organization, and really understand what other parts of the organization are doing, and not just say this is the marketing domain and that’s the only place that I stay.”

The Recipe for Marketing Success + Chuck Roast

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Customer experience is at the core of marketing success. Nimble founder and CEO Jon Ferrara explains where and how brands should be targeting their messages in Part II of his interview on the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast. (If you missed Part I of the interview, click here to listen.) Ferrara grew Nimble out of the idea that brands do best when customers recommend them to their networks. Nine years later, Ferrara’s business is stronger than ever and venturing into new marketing frontiers.

Listen to the interview above, or continue reading for the episode’s highlights:

During his extensive tenure in marketing, Ferrara learned that business doesn’t have to be impersonal. In fact, his experience at GoldMine CRM—and eventually Nimble—demonstrates that the best marketing strategies are personal in nature. Ferrara says, “I think the mistake that many businesspeople make is that they make business about business…[but business] is about connecting with people. That’s why they’ll remember you.”

Jon walks the walk on that philosophy, sharing both his personal and private social accounts with the people in his network to this day.

Ferrara didn’t originally foresee GoldMine, his first business venture, taking a turn towards customer-centricity. “GoldMine actually started out as an accounting software company,” he says. “I needed something to manage the relationships, so I built and designed GoldMine to do that. It turned out that GoldMine really was our future and we had to pivot.” Ferrara’s strategy at GoldMine was to “build relationships with editors and writers so [consumers would] see us being written about in publications; and then we started slipping in radio ads and airplane ads.”

Nimble, which launched in 2008, capitalizes on that same influencer-driven approach. “We’re here to help those influencers build their brands in social sales and marketing by helping them inspire and educate our customers,” he states. “So it’s a win-win situation.” The company anticipates user counts of multiple millions in the near future.

One of Ferrara’s top priorities is helping Nimble’s marketing team strike the right balance between telling a unified brand message and genuinely opening up to potential partners. He says, “The relationships happen at that one-to-one level across your team members, but you still need to have a unified message, be consistent about that messaging, drive the high level stuff, and then integrate.”

Knowing that he’s serving his customers is Ferrara’s biggest reward, and he takes every compliment to heart. “When somebody stops [me] on the street and says, ‘you know, Jon, you changed my life with GoldMine,’ or ‘you’re changing my life with Nimble,’ that’s the best,” he claims. “That’s why we do what we do.”

Marketing Your Business without Paid Media

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Building strong relationships with influencers in your niche is a tenet of Marketing 101. The folks you connect with can not only provide terrific insights about your target market, but they can also help get your brand in front of potential customers. Nobody understands this strategy better than Jon Ferrara, founder and CEO of Nimble. A pioneer of CRM (customer relationship management), Jon firmly believes in the power of connecting with influencers on a personal level. His company strives to help marketers reach consumers through social influencers on a variety of online platforms. As the world of social media continues to expand, Jon offers advice on how companies can break through to their target audiences by networking with trusted advisors.

Jon explains that in order to reach your audience, you must look beyond it. People would rather buy a product or service that’s recommended to them by somebody they trust, and that’s where social influencers come in.

Nimble, a social selling software, lets its influencers talk about the brand to its target audience, rather than toot its own horn. “I think it’s more powerful when other people talk about you than when you talk about you,” Jon proclaims.

Jon began marketing Nimble not by talking about how great his brand is, but by adding value. Whenever he found a great article from a relevant influencer, he would share it on social media. Jon states, “Once the influencer who wrote that content reached out and thanked me, I then reeled them in and started a conversation.” Many of those conversations turned into relationships, which in turn resulted in more clients for his brand.

Jon’s example shows that by giving a little, you can get big returns providing more proof that we are in what I call “The Give to Get Economy.” Jon even goes so far as to say, “I think service is the new selling… Even if it means recommending somebody else’s product, that’s social selling.” Jon bases his business model on this message, and believes that “giving to get” is the future of marketing.

Jon’s doctrine has significantly expanded Nimble’s footprint. “As you see it, share it,” he says. “So that’s the way I built the Nimble brand…by identifying the influencers, sharing their content, engaging with the people that responded and engaged with those influencers as they’re responding, and turning them into evangelists.”

When getting in touch with influencers, Jon makes a point to genuinely connect with them rather than advertise to them outright. He’s been teaching salespeople to get to know the people they do business with from day one. Whenever we meet a new potential connection, Jon urges us to look around that person’s office and take note of the books or knickknacks. Jon says, “All those things are opportunities for you to discover things that you might have in common with that person to develop the intimacy and trust that you need in order to get that person to open up to you about their business issues, which as professionals you could then solve.”

 

How BNY Mellon Marketing Sings with Hamilton

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Unlike the rest of us, brands truly have no age. The ones that endure for decades—centuries, even—merely find a way to reinvent themselves time and time again. And sometimes that “way” comes in the form of an opportune moment in popular culture, like in the case of 232 year-old company BNY Mellon. BNY Mellon saw and seized the chance to engage with an insanely popular Broadway musical whose starring character just happened to be its founder—Alexander Hamilton. As Global Head of Corporate Marketing Aniko Delaney tells it, “Hamilton” opened a stage door that allowed her company to share its story in a more engaging way than ever before.

(To listen to the podcast click here. What follows was originally published on AdAge.com in late 2016).

The Opening Scene

When Aniko Delaney became the Head of Corporate Marketing, she was well versed in the BNY Mellon brand, having been the head of marketing for six of its businesses. In addition to further building a reputation as a respected and trusted organization, says Ms. Delaney, BNY Mellon’s executives also hoped to modernize its message.

Fortunately, when Ron Chernow’s book, Hamilton, became Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation, the real Mr. Hamilton had already been playing a starring role at BNY Mellon—for over two centuries. “As long as I’ve been at the company,” says Ms. Delaney, “we’ve always celebrated our founder Alexander Hamilton and his pioneering and innovative spirit.” As the show garnered acclaim, Ms. Delaney and her team understood that popular culture was celebrating a hero they knew well. They seized the opportunity, launching a year-long campaign to complement the moment.

“We affectionately call it the Hamilton campaign,” she says, “but we officially call it our ‘Invested In Our Legacy’ campaign.” Throughout, BNY Mellon’s message can evolve into something relatable and relevant, with a story well-suited for digital and social media.

Act I: The Content

Ms. Delaney and her team worked with creative agencies like Chiat/Day to bring the BNY Mellon story to life, launching on the organization’s 232nd anniversary. The company rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, deployed shareable fun facts about Hamilton’s bank on Facebook and LinkedIn, GIFs during the “Hamilton”-swept Tony Awards and a dose of humor from the voice of Alexander himself. For example, this Tweet: “Lin-Manuel gets a Tony for Best Book! Much-deserved, tho at a mere 20,000 words, I call it a pamphlet. A.Hamilton.” Says Ms. Delaney, “Hamilton was such a prolific writer, so can you imagine him trying to tweet?”

With a blessing from the C-suite, the social component of the campaign allows BNY Mellon to enter conversations where it may not have been welcome before, Ms. Delaney says, ultimately boosting brand visibility. “Gerald Hassell, our chairman and CEO, is an Influencer on LinkedIn, so he really has set the bar very high for our company,” she says. “It’s very important to reach out to our diverse constituents in channels that they use.”

The campaign also features a series of videos for web and social, as well as TV spots bookending PBS/WNET’s documentary, “Hamilton’s America,” of which BNY Mellon is a sponsor. “It really brings to life not only the story of the show, but also the story of Alexander Hamilton,” says Ms. Delaney.

Act II: The Continuing Story

As Ms. Delaney and her team move forward with the campaign, she floats the idea of using new media, even VR, to tell their story. But to remain effective, the message must still resonate. “More and more, especially with social media channels, we have to be really careful to make sure the content is educational and meaningful, but then have some fun with the creative,” she says. “Again, this is a theme we’ve been using as long as I’ve been with the company. Now, we’re just able to tell the story in a much more engaging way.”

So far, the collective effort to modernize has put up impressive numbers, with triple-digit increases in engagement and awareness on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, according to Ms. Delaney. Maybe more impressive, however, is the intangible impact on not just BNY Mellon’s public audience but also the company—the true measure of a good story. Call it the Hamilton effect.

“The content resonated, and I think it’s more than just how cool Hamilton has become, but it’s the person he was. He was truly insightful and innovative, but he also got things done. He was an implementer,” says Ms. Delaney. “Having that special connection has inspired our employees, clients, and other constituents to be really proud of the company that Hamilton founded.”

 

(This article first appeared on AdAge in late 2016).

How Cirque Du Soleil Soared Above Vegas

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To keep a brand fresh, one must inevitably change it, but as the former VP of Sales & Marketing of the Retail Sales Division at Cirque du Soleil, Alma Derricks knows that not every trend is suited to reach the customers in every industry. In fact, her discerning tastes were part of the reason why The CMO Club awarded her with a Customer Experience Award late last year. So, follow the marketing ringleader as she guides us through how Cirque Du Soleil kept delighting audiences in a highly unusual, highly competitive market. [Note this podcast episode was recorded in late 2016 and this post is based on my AdAge column that ran on December 14th, 2016. Derricks has since left Cirque but I suspect you will find her insights timeless – click here to listen now.]

Step right up

Throughout her career, Alma Derricks has gravitated towards moments of inflection, the latest of which found her with Cirque Du Soleil last July under a new ownership structure. It was her ideal scenario. “I love getting to ask questions, top to bottom, without any regard for how things have always been done. And that’s what I walked into,” she noted.

She soon learned that Cirque, even as a 30-year-old institution, largely grew organically and as a consequence hadn’t relied on marketing thinking to drive sales. Today, sales are still strong, but the market has tightened thanks to competing residencies from artists like Britney Spears and Celine Dion. “In Las Vegas, we sell as many as 20,000 tickets a night. It’s a lot of inventory in a very, very busy town,” she says. “My job is all about keeping our shows top of mind.”

To make Cirque the most prominent carnival barker in town, if you will, Derricks’ team had to reinvent their marketing. “We have to always make the loudest noise in that environment and make sure that visitors are still aware that we’re around, that we’re exciting and that we’re vital,” she said.

Backstage access

A big barrier for Derricks’ team was helping consumers differentiate between Cirque’s shows. “One of the real challenges we have is needing to flip the brand script in Vegas and emphasize the show ahead of the Cirque brand.” After all, no two productions are alike. “They all have very, very different personalities,” said Derricks. “The thing that I’ve been working on quite a bit is: how do you communicate that each show is the only show you have to see?”

One strategy involves pulling back the curtain—something Cirque had previously been reluctant to do. ”It’s something that our founder was very, very cautious about in the early days of social media,” explained Derricks. However, audience expectations have changed, and social media is one marketing tool not to ignore. “So we’re trying to find ways to facilitate that via social media and social content and by creating events in Las Vegas that are complete behind-the-curtain experiences.”

The show must go on—again

Another strategy—one that Derricks was particularly proud of—was to refresh one of its most popular shows: The Beatles’ LOVE. “I didn’t completely understand until we were well into the process that Cirque has never rebranded an existing show,” exclaimed Derricks. For LOVE’s tenth anniversary, Derricks and her team revamped the music, show and visual identity of the production, recognizing that advancements in tech over the last decade would enable an enhanced experience.

“Cirque has always taken pride in its fusion of technology and artistry,” she offered, “so it seemed very natural as the tenth anniversary approached to rethink the staging, effects, and imagery. The original show was very nostalgic. Today, it’s more colorful and, at the same time, showcases the fact that The Beatles are as relevant today as they were in the 60s.” For fans, the revamp was a couldn’t-miss.

Audience participation

Lastly, Derrick and her team seized the chance to use their expertise for an additional source of income. “We’ve actually created an entire line of business called SPARK that serves as a learning laboratory for corporate teams,” providing interactive business training and team building with a customized curriculum. Companies like Adobe and Google number among the participants. “It’s both an amazing bucket list moment and a chance to really learn about trust, team building, operational excellence and customer service in a very tangible way,” explained Derricks. “It’s taking off like a rocket, and has not only created a new way access the brand but also makes a strong statement about who we are.”