08 - Teresa Schell | Finding Your Company’s Why - The Value of Unique Identifiers

In the comeback episode of ReVive, Vive Marketing's President / Owner, Teresa Schell joins new ReVive hosts Kyle Naber, Marketing Communications Specialist, and Jared Falkner, Business Development Lead, to discuss the value of your company’s unique identifiers or the company’s why and why this is important. Learn more about the value of this and how discovering the why can drive successful businesses to new heights. 

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to ReVive, the marketing podcast for manufacturers, my name is Kyle Naber the Communications Specialist at Vive and I’m here with my co-host Jared Falkner, our Business Development Lead. Today on ReVive, we are joined by Teresa Schell, Vive Marketing’s President & Owner, who’s here to discuss the value of your company’s unique identifiers or the company’s why and why this is important. Let’s dive in!

Start: 

K: Hello and Welcome to another episode of ReVive, in this episode, we will be joined by Teresa Schell, discussing unique brand identifiers and specifically, why finding them are valuable in marketing your company.  Teresa, thanks for joining us today.

T: (50 seconds) Thanks for having me. I’m excited about our conversation. 

J: To start, tell us a fun fact about yourself, a little about your background in the industry and how Vive Marketing was started.

T: (59 seconds) To start with maybe a fun fact, I’m a wine enthusiast and my husband and I like to travel across the U.S and to Europe to taste the different wines and different terroirs established as based on their soils and atmospheric grades. We have to drink a lot of wine to be a wine enthusiast, but we do like talking about it. It’s very conversational. Every state in the U.S. actually makes wine, even Alaska. But Wisconsin, because of our hearty winters, there is only a few varietals that Wisconsin can grow, and they are very acidic. So, they are very sweet and very good for port wines or fruit wines, which is not my favorite, I prefer the hearty charbono's and cabernets that are in California. But anyway, we are talking about marketing not wine, so I digress. 

But manufacturing has been my professional career for decades, I began with a manufacturing rep firm responsible for the growth of investment castings, die castings, powdered metals, rotation molding, injection molding. I advanced to be the first marketing director for an injection molder where the success started by a complete rebrand, executed a marketing plan and equipped the sales team with the right sales tools. Well from there, I knew I could help other small to mid-size manufacturers, so vive is going to be 13 years old and all of our clients are in the manufacturing space. Plastic processors, plastic service providers, mold builders, metal stampers and fabricators etc... Essentially, we revive brands with strategy with a consistent message into the right communication channels. 

J: Perfect Teresa, I appreciate you sharing! There is clearly nothing to whine about there. 

K: Oh Absolutely not, so Teresa talking a little bit more about Vive, one of Vive’s main objectives is to fully understand the clients, but more specifically, why they are in business So, why would you say finding that why is important behind that company or product and how that kind of drives the company. 

T: (2:57) First note my fondness of Simon Sinek and if you know him his philosophy/book Starting with WHY was what really inspired me. Sinek encourages us to look at the bigger picture to shape our behavior and drive those long-term results. 

He uses what is called a golden Circle and it has three layers, almost like a bullseye. So that outer most circle is that “what”, It’s what you do. So, for example, – ‘you’re an injection molder’. The next circle is the “how”, and that’s where that specific action is taken, so for example – ‘through scientific molding or optimized tool builds’. And then that third circle is the “core” which is the Why, that represents what your cause is and what do you believe in. There are a lot of companies that fall short on this because not only do they not understand their WHY, they cannot clearly articulate why they do what they do. Why is all about your purpose - so for example why does ABC company exist and why should anyone care? So, the whole Golden Circle encourages starting from the inside and go out of the circle. Most companies will market themselves with ‘what and ‘how’s’ because that’s what their customers are asking for. They ask for price, quality and delivery (amongst other features). But the why is the reason we buy and the ‘what’ only represents that tangible item or the component part. 

K: That’s exactly right Teresa, as Simon Sinek said, the golden circle is what builds the framework of the organization, and then the why behind the product or service is what really allows consumers to buy into the product and really except that.

J: I completely agree. I think it boils down to an easy process. Simply asking yourself, what is my purpose? Why is this my line of work? Who am I trying to help and where can I solve solutions? Just identifying that purpose and why anyone should care what you do, compared to any other company will help identify that true empowering why. 

J: So how does Vive help brands find their unique why? 

·         ( 5:01) Do you recall the quote from Henry Ford, “If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said a faster horse”. This is part of the brain that controls decision making. It’s different from the part of the brain reporting back ‘why’ that decision happened. 

·         So how Vive helps company’s find their unique why happens when we launch with a strategic focus. We begin by conducting an onsite workshop that ask specific questions to the leadership team and its bundled in three categories to later deliver those why statements.  These statements are then seen on a client’s messaging platform and marketing deliverables. 

K: I love that quote by the way and kind of going back to that, I think starting with the why really allows your brand to think beyond the simple solutions. Such as a faster horse and look to true innovations and in this case the Model T, building off that I think brands then can highlight what is unique or special about their product and why the customers should really care about them. I think that so great we are talking about a faster horse and how funny that would be if we were still riding horses today and where we would be if we weren’t thinking deeper. 

K: So, diving a little bit deeper into the importance of the discovering the why, how does it drive decision making? 

T: ( 6:17) So, when we make decisions, the highest level of our confidence that we make up or conjure up is, ‘this decision feels right’. The ability to put a ‘why’ into words that provides an emotional context for decisions at deeper levels. You may recall the saying, we buy on emotion and justify later with logic.  The goal of a company should not be to do business with anyone who simply wants what you offer, but it should focus on the people who believe what you believe. Like buying an expensive bottle of wine, one of my favorite winery’s in Paso Robles is named Niner, not only are their wines really rich and luscious but I connect with why they are in business. They are a family owned solar powered 100% estate grown winery. Their commitment to the customer experience is a priority. That’s seen and no they didn’t pay for me to say that. And that is an example of a company who uses there why. 

J: I completely agree Teresa. Collaborating with someone who has the same vision and goal will make business run a whole lot smoother. Which can be done during the development of the brand messaging stage. So, 

J: How do you recommend integrating the “why” into a company’s marketing strategy? 

T: (7:27) Not only can the why statements be seen across all marketing channels, but it’s important for internal teammates to understand the why through a clear, concise ‘elevator pitch’ for lack of a better word. Companies with a strong sense of ‘why’ are able to inspire their employees and typically these employees are more productive and innovative. That’s where positive attitudes feed more positive attitudes. 

J: Yes, something I believe every team needs! A good wholesome positive attitude to really drive the room with great energy flowing. Work is always more fun when the office is full of the “half glass full” seer’s. 

K: Yeah, you totally want to be in an office where everyone is buying into the bigger picture and understanding their role. So,

K: Teresa, you mentioned earlier Simon Sinek as someone that inspires you, how about brands that inspire? Do you have any examples of brands or companies that effectively use their “why” in marketing?

T: (8:21) So, an example of a company effectively using their ‘why’ is Apple. Even though what Apple produces is no different than their competitors, Apple communicates from the ‘why’ which is to challenge the status quo and empower the individual. This is done in a repeating pattern in all they say and do, which positions their brand as authentic. To provide an example, Creative was the company responsible for producing the first mp3 player and they marketed their offering as a “5GB mp3 player” and that focusses on (the what). When Apple introduced their mp3 player, the iPod, they marketed as “1,000 songs in your pocket” giving us the ‘why’. Which is completely different. 

K: You know I just wanted to say that Apple definitely found that way to effectively capitalize on that why and they did it by highlighting what the product was specifically created to satisfy at that time most of us were still using our cd players, I don’t know about you Jared but I was on the bus using my cd player. I had maybe 22 songs. Having the ability to walk around with all my favorite songs, with no skips as you know you’re in a bus and hit a bounce it skips on the cd, didn’t have to change the cd because there is nothing worse than bringing a cd in a backpack and it breaks or something like that. All of that was a game changer with the iPod and the other thing with it is having that effective messaging and strong advertising like Apple did with the iPod. I think that was the reason it really took off and it was way more successful by making it look fun. All those commercials were catchy, and they did it a great job but beyond that it was that other marketing to it, which is 1,000 songs in your pocket and just how power this thing has and when you had all that combined it was really effective. 

J: Yeah, I know, I was pretty sick of writing down the name of songs on all those cd’s, so I was pretty jacked when the MP3 player came out. Even though it took about 2 hours for me to download a song back then and about $100 on my parents’ credit card, I am still very grateful for where we are at now. 

J: So now that were in the manufacturing industry, could you please transition and give us an example of a manufacturing company using their unique why?

T: (10:31) You bet, so transitioning to a manufacturing example, most all of our clients effectively use their ‘why’ statements because it’s what we lead with in our branding communications on their behalf. We recently rolled out a messaging platform for a new client and those statements are currently seen on their brochure we created, new website and their social media posts. So, instead of announcing that a company has ‘42 presses which make high quality parts and always delivers on time’ (Like my voice) on a website or sales PPT, we focus on the ‘why’ customers chose to do business with them and lead with these why statements. For example, I can think of client statement where we focus on the why with emotion, connecting where it feels right to the core. Their customers stated that the company’s ethics and values aligned with theirs and this company approaches business values with those solution-based and trusted ideas’.  So that messaging right there doesn’t do anything about promoting price quality and delivery but yet focusses on the ethics and values that align with their customers. 

J: I agree, there can be 100’s of companies that have 42 presses, state of the art equipment, awesome lunchroom cafeterias or a 20,000 sq. ft facility… but that isn’t why someone chooses to align with them. While those can be essential for production time and turnover, but it doesn’t identify that true purpose for why. 

J: Every company is backed with a unique strategy. Which marketing strategy or deliverable do you believe is most essential for executing in marketing?

T: (12:03) Hmm, I guess I’ve found success in identifying a company’s why through a specific onboarding process that is defined with several layers through internal and external analysis; so, learning from the leadership team certain values and areas of expertise but also learning from their customer base, about what sets them apart from competition. 

Now…the most essential marketing deliverable in my opinion is a website. Designed with an optimum user experience. When a site is easy to use, navigate and design elements are used to evoke emotion and appreciation, it provides positive experiences and keeps users loyal to the brand. 

J: I was actually reading earlier today that the average time someone spends on a website is 45 seconds. If a customer or prospect can’t find what they are looking for in that time frame, it’s pretty much a lost cause. 

Because if you’re not updating your website for easy accessibility and feasible information, the next guy definitely is. 

K: And you mention that, and people take just a millisecond to decide whether or not they are going to spend that time on the website. And once they do it’s that 45 seconds, it’s even that up-front thing where you really want to make sure your website is designed and looking sharp so that people think this is the website I want to continue to look through. And the other part to that is more and more, consumers first contact with your brand is on the internet, so making sure that your website really serves as an extension of your sales team is kind of that growing importance where you need it because that’s going to be where they’re going to greet you first. It’s just like walking in the door you want someone to shake your hand. So, the website kind of has to be that doorman where it’s there and saying hello. Showing you what they actually do. 

T: (13:46) I agree, your website is that virtual front door. Your reader or user should enjoy scrolling through, learning and interacting in order to connect with your brand. 

K: Let’s transition to my favorite part of all this, which. is messaging and how the why really drives it. So, in your words, what benefits does creating personalized messaging have and why is it important? 

T: (14:09) Perhaps you’ve heard, ‘before you start a business you have to do a lot of market research, you have to know who your customer is and then build a niche.’ When you start with ‘why’ it does not come from looking ahead at what you want to achieve and then figure out an appropriate plan to get there. It comes from looking where you are right now. When you know the decision is right, not only does it feel right, but you can also rationalize it and easily put it into words. Finding the ‘why’ is a process of detecting specific words. Simon Sinek has been known for saying, ‘we can only see the things we have words for.’ The why is already within you.

J: Yeah Teresa that’s an excellent example. The “why” should be the driving force behind what your goal ultimately is. As we wrap up our discussion today,

J: What is the best way for our listeners to start evaluating their why and what can they do? 

T: (15:00) I’m going to quote another person, seems like I’m quoting a lot of famous people. One of my favorite quotes (proclaimed to be from Albert Einstein), which I’ve been known to say which is, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Therefore, the first recommendation I have for our listeners in order to get started in evaluating their why is to step back and do something different. Yes, your company has been successful for many years, but we talk differently today than we did a decade ago. So, the need is there to reposition your brand perception with distinction. Research is important in order to implement a strategy that will be appealing, genuine and long-lasting. An objective, outside professional can help you by leading a workshop with your leadership team to find your why and then lead the initiative of the customer driven voice. Great companies that start with WHY but differentiate the ones that keep there WHY are more successful year after year. 

K: And that why does change year after year as well 

T: (16:09) It can! Absolutely. Yes, depending on a new focus or capability or a market change. So being flexible to adapting to that is key too. 

K: I think that’s really important to mention because so many of these companies start with maybe, 50 years ago or 75 years ago and we see that a lot in our industry. The thing that we have a hard time communicating to them, you get these companies that have been there forever but what they started as and what they are now might be completely different. 

T: (16:39) Exactly. A lot of times they don’t think they need marketing, but we are in a fast paced moving environment where marketing is critical and if you don’t have your branded voice in those channels identifying who you are and what you offer more importantly your purpose for being in business you’re going to miss out on new business opportunities

K: I think you know, Jared and I, we definitely see this right now in the COVID time, we are seeing a lot of companies transition into that medical market. That’s a completely different change so these companies are having to maybe adjust their old communication to jump into that medical market and serve it right now a little bit better. 

T: (17:20) I think that’s where the connection, that emotional connection, making it known to your audience those core values and ethics that you have are going to connect with your audience base. Because people want to do business with people they like, people they are like. So, I think that is where a connection would be worthy for those companies to reposition their why 

K: Yeah, I mean that’s for sure, we always want to be able to work with a company that we understand and that understand us. Because there is nothing worse than sitting on hold or having to go through the phone system pressing ones and twos to get to the real person. So, Teresa, let’s just give the audience a little bit more about how they can work with you, how they can find you and maybe a little bit more about what that process looks like, starting with Vive. 

T: (18:07) So, Vive can be found at marketingformanufacturers.com. Our virtually front door will welcome you to encourage you to get started. Understand the process of our internal and external analysis where we help define what your why statements are and then feed those marketing channels with a consistent voice so that every marketing channel is saying the same thing. And not just the external marketing channels, but the internal channels. That means your team, your team is saying the exactly the same that your external branded voice. 

Outro: K: Well Teresa thanks again for joining us and discussing with the importance of finding the why. For Jared, I’m Kyle that wraps up this episode of ReVive. Thanks again for listening in and for Teresa for joining us today. Check out marketingformanufacturers.com and stay tuned for more episodes of ReVive. THE marketing podcast for manufacturers.