Brian Sooy's Blog, page 3
July 30, 2018
Clarity Helps Your Brand Find its Voice
How well does your organization inspire, empower, and motivate people? Does your organization’s brand personality reflect its values and its unique voice and expression?
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What principles guide your organization's behavior and give your brand its voice?
Finding clarity is a cultural imperative for brands that stand for something. Achieving clarity of purpose and vision empowers leadership and your team to simplify, clarify, and transform your culture, and inspire people to listen, care, and ac...
July 21, 2018
How to Build a Brand that People Love
We see it time and time again. Sales are slowing, recruiting is down, donations are low.
Then comes the call, email, or conversation: “We need a new (website, logo, marketing campaign, brand identity etc). We patiently listen until we can explain what the problem really is.
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You’re focusing on the wrong things first. You’re jumping to solutions, tactics, and touch points before you address the real issue and define the real problem.
The problem isn’t your website or brochure or advertising ca...
July 5, 2018
Leadership and Power in a Culture of Communication
Leaders often operate inside a bubble of their own making, forgetting that communication is the language of leadership. The quality of their communication amplifies the conviction of their leadership.
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Many organizations have a communications gap of which leaders are unaware or just ignoring.
I don’t know about you, but I’m drawn to leaders who operate with “deep conviction.” They lead with certainty, unwavering in their beliefs, confident of the absolutes that guide them.
“When the leader wa...
April 21, 2018
Three Senses that Create Positive Brand Perception
When people ask you to describe the organization for which you work, what words do you use to describe it? I’m not referring to your position statement or pitch (a brief statement that declares why your organization is the only one that serves people for a specific purpose and outcome).
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I’m referring to the personality of your organization—the human qualities and attributes that embody the purpose, character, and culture of your organization.
Words like amazing, exciting, caring, bold, creati...
March 28, 2018
Why Trust is Important for Your Business
Trust is the most important business and brand asset you manage, especially in relationships with customers, clients, employees, and stakeholders. Our economy works because people trust each other and the businesses they support.
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When you consider the importance of trust in leadership and business ethics, you understand why trust is important to customers.
One can argue that the sole purpose of marketing and communications is to earn and nurture trust.
It is imperative for any values-led or p...
March 9, 2018
Toward Becoming a More Believable Brand
When we say, “everyone brands,” — I’m not referring to the frantic activity around logos, color palettes, or the visual expression of an organization – I’m referring to what any individual thinks about your organization when they interact with its people, service, product, or customer experience.
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When we say, “everyone brands,” — I’m not referring to the frantic activity around logos, color palettes, or the visual expression of an organization – I’m referring to what any ind...
February 26, 2018
Three Ways to Transform Customer Satisfaction
I joined a new association last week. After a disappointing signup experience ( A sign-up form that did not work, requiring me to fill out the form multiple times), I realized I never received any formal welcome.
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No email, no call, no member orientation automated campaign.
All I received was a transaction confirmation for my dues.
I belong to multiple industry and interest groups to which I pay dues. The associations I appreciate the most are those who celebrate when I join (or renew), follow...
February 21, 2018
One Simple Principle for Focused Communications
What’s the one thing that will challenge your focus today? Will it prevent you from achieving your communication goals?
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During the research phase of a mission focus and brand development project, a participant declared:
“I understand why focus is so important. As a board, we're busy doing our thing, advancing our cause, executing on our mission. We don't pay attention to the things that a business person would. Running the nonprofit, marketing, communications, our web site, our brand. I real...
January 29, 2018
Your Brand and the Illusion of Collaboration
Talking about collaboration as a core value without making it part of your organization’s behavior with those inside or outside your organization is not just an organizational culture issue, it’s a branding issue.
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Collaboration is a core value and integral part of the mission and purpose statements of many organizations, but if you observe closely, you’ll find that collaboration (much like the idea of innovation) is a buzzword added to fluff out a mission statement, appease stakeholders, or g...
January 15, 2018
Three Rules for Putting Strategy into Action
Let’s cut to the chase: if your communication initiatives don’t directly align with the objectives or focus from your strategic plan, you’re merely doing busy work. You’re in possession of a to-do list disguised as strategic communications.
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I know how you might be feeling right now. You aren’t sure what to do next in your communications strategy, and that leaves you feeling paralyzed with uncertainty.
You’re experiencing a form of paralysis I call “cranial interlock,” a state in which your mi...
