Internal Marketing – the True Core Strength

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Do you know what set of muscle groups affects every activity you do? Your core. Biking? Try lifting a pedal without your core. Golfing? Your core is at the heart of every swing.

It’s not just related to sports. Try standing up without using your core. Or sitting down. Getting in or out of a car? You can’t do it without your core.

Say it with me… “Your core.” It is so simple and so foundational that it’s often overlooked. The fact that it rhymes should help, yet so many of us forget it until we get back pain or other joint issues that can be directly attributed to an underdeveloped core.

Attributed? Underdeveloped? What the heck does that have to do with your brand? Everything. Too many brilliant ideas and branding campaigns are put together in the shrouded secrecy of marketing departments and then revealed to target markets without ever even being shared with the internal teams.

Are you surprised that this backfires every time? Think Kelly Ripa, people. An internal strategy revealed to the public before sharing it with the team produces the most incredible result imaginable – it made Kelly Ripa a sympathetic figure.  And it made everyone on their internal team look at best disorganized and at worst, dishonest.

No marketing or branding program will ever be successful unless the people behind the brand are aware of it and buy into it. These people are the key touchpoints of any brand. They are the living, breathing and customer-facing personification of any brand.

No matter how brilliant you are or how unbelievably fantastic your idea is, it is doomed to a spectacular demise unless your people learn it, know it, and live it. Couldn’t resist a Fast Times at Ridgemont High reference.

If you think that this only refers to consumer brands, think again. In fact, it is just the opposite for B2B. Since you have less paid media, you have an even stronger emphasis on your people.

How can you build your brand’s core muscles? Plan an internal marketing campaign to launch before the public ever gets wind of it. Unveil it to your team. Listen to what they say and what they don’t say. Don’t just pay them lip service. You are all in this together. Pay them ear service.

Remember your brand’s true core strength… your people.

Bernie Sanders is Brandie Senders.

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There is one candidate who gets branding – Bernie Sanders. Maybe we should call him a brandidate. No matter. Whether you like him, love him or hate him, you have to give the devil his due – he has established the Bernie brand.

It doesn’t matter how small or how insignificant the New Hampshire primary turns out to be, Bernie’s message has resonated. Why? Here’s the key. It is so obvious that even one of the political talking bobbleheads got it right – Bernie has made the message about you instead of about him. He tells the crowds, “This is all about you.” He has engaged people who have felt left out of the process.

And they love him for it.

Brand builders think they have to build a brand only about the brand. Successful brands know they have to build the brand about what it does for its audience.

Sound too simple? It isn’t. If you don’t believe me, look at the brands that resonate versus the wanna-brands that turn into resin.

In New Hampshire (where is Old Hampshire anyway?), Bernie, an older guy with rumpled pants, scored with every key demographic group. He outpolled Hillary with women.

Will Bernie be the next President?  There are businesspeople across the country that are shaking in their Oxford boots dreading the thought. Maybe they should not fear Brandie, uh, Bernie. He understands branding better than most businesses.

There’s a special place in heaven for our branding angel, Bernie.

 If you'd like to talk strategy about your brandidate, drop me an e-line at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Brand Opera – Find Your Own Voice

Luciano Pavarotti was the ultimate brand manager and executer. He turned around a dying category (opera) despite warnings of its inevitable demise. Not only did Pavarotti make opera popular with opera lovers, he expanded the category of opera to an entire new universe – pop music lovers.

Classic critics dismissed him as not serious enough, about music nor keeping his weight down. It was true – Pavarotti grew larger than life and larger in life at the same time.

How did Pavarotti do it?

He stayed true to his voice. When he started singing in 1961, advisors told him to hurry up because opera would be dead within ten years. Critics had no idea what was about to hit them… a Pavarotti tsunami.

Steve Jobs once famously said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Pavarotti showed newbie opera fans and music critics alike the colors of opera. According to a New York Times obit after his death in 2007, Pavarotti was able to showcase his powerful voice in “elegant, brilliant colors.” His pristine sound was the voice for a new generation of pop-opera fans.

Of course, whenever you do something new, you are going to upset the establishment. And Pavarotti did. Critics were savage about his dedication, his ability to read music and his weight. He shrugged off critics who contended that he was not serious enough with charm and a smile. As Master P says, “Shake off them haters.”

Pavarotti was an unparalleled social media strategist – he did not sing at audiences. He engaged audiences. He did not just have fans. Through his talent and the warmth of his personality, he developed brand fanatics who loved him and defended him so he didn’t have to defend himself.

Do you have Pavarotti’s voice or talent? No. You have your own. So does your brand. Use it. If your brand is not authentic, you will know. If you know, your audience will know.

There will be a lotta drama in your brand opera. Stay true to your voice.

As Pavarotti said, “You couldn’t confuse my voice with another voice.”