Let’s begin with a basic question – why do we want to be big? Here are a few plausible responses to that:

1) I want to make a lot of money.
2) I want to employ many people.
3) I want to serve as many people as possible with my product.

Number one is the most popular because this society is hinged on the premise that the more you have the better you are (and the happier you’ll be). Your stockbroker-turned-baker friend will tell you – money doesn’t make you better or happier. More importantly in business, it certainly doesn’t make for happier customers. When money starts to matter more to a company than the quality and caliber of its product or service, its customers are exponentially more susceptible to competitors. Good products breed loyalty and loyalty means repeat business.

Let’s take answer number two. I want to be big so I can employ a lot of people. Why? If its a matter of power you have other problems. But if its a matter of responsibility or wanting to help people, then remember that happy employees are better societal contributions than people with jobs. A company being big and hiring many people means nothing if the employees are unhappy. Large companies are the poster child for this atypical largely depressed American workforce. It’s not that all large companies are bad companies, it’s simply that large companies are generally less able to scale an environment where everyone is doing what they love and feels valued and rewarded for it. Don’t focus on hiring more people, focus on growing a passionate team. That will take a lot more time than Groupon and Wal-mart may lead you to believe.

And finally, the most noble – to serve as many people as possible with your product. Why is that important? For a non-profit that’s easy – to help as many people as possible! (Mental note: There should be a lot more very large non-profits.) But if you’re a business what is the value of serving as many people as possible? A good answer is that you believe that your product makes people’s lives better in which case you really want as many customers as possible. (Apple and Steve Jobs are a reliable example.) But if that isn’t your response, which in most cases it isn’t, then consider that the more people you try to make happy the less people you will. Democratizing your product for the sake of quantity, makes you less able to serve your real customers. Take Jean Paul Gaultier. His fashion is weird and controversial, but its this exactly that his loyal customers love and what’s gained him global brand notoriety. Conversely, trying to please everyone is the reason (I believe) most American cuisine stinks. Pleasing the palettes of immigrants from dozens of countries across the world is no easy to task. Lesson? Create a brand based on who you really are as a company; customers that share your values will buy.

A good product, a good team and finally a strong brand are what make a good business – not size. Happy customers and profitability (not revenue!) are the result. I am not saying that growth is bad, growth is good (I wrote a lot about it last year.) But what is bad is growth for growth’s sake. Its the root problem behind America’s financial collapse and the fact that this country rates 150 out of 178 on the World Happiness Index (two slots above Rwanda). Focus on being the best possible business, not the largest, and chances are growth will come naturally.

I HEART Strategy is a bi-weekly blog post where I talk about strategy, good and bad, in the media, business, community and life.

While I don’t have television service, I still love watching shows. Thanks to services like Hulu, iTunes and Netflix I still do.  During a venture on Comedy Central’s Full Episodes video section, I encountered a very smart Sears commercial.

What it was?

A video ad touting Sears having 10 of the top 10 appliance brands under one roof.  Message – Thinking about going somewhere else?  Think again.

Why its good strategy?

Sears realized that people like having all of their options in one place. This is why data integrators like Google and retailers like Wal-mart have thrived.  Sears’ promises the same ease and access.

A psychologically astute tagline. Sure all calls to action are an imperative, but this one speaks to the consumer right before they are about to make a big purchase – susceptible to self-doubt and often reconsidering their options.

Appliances are big for Sears’ business. This campaign is  an investment in maintaining Sears’ position as a market leader to new and upcoming audiences (i.e. affluent 30 somethings starting families) who are more propense to shop online.

What we can learn?

• Learn about what your customers do and how they behave.
• Consider your customers’ mindset while decision making to develop emotive messaging.
• Use marketing as a tool to keep your core line of business sustainable.

Who this strategy is good for?

• Established businesses looking to stay relevant

While over the last 8 years Sears stock price looks like the American Eagle at Great America, the strategy revealed in this campaign is a great direction for a company that needs to stay relevant in a very dynamic marketplace.

The Mayor has done a lot for Chicago, but one thing in particular resonated strongly. He dedicated himself to create an environment where people and business can flourish. What that means is that it is not any one person’s responsibility, much less the government’s, to create prosperity, new jobs, and a great society. It means that when the fundamental ingredients are in place, in a city’s case – good education, business-friendly policies, safety and beauty, the city, its people, businesses, and communities will flourish on their own.

Now I love this philosophy for two reasons. Reason number #1 – it’s a fundamental principle of life. Case in point, human beings have evolved and prospered on this planet because over the course of billions of years, the chemical and physical environment on Earth has been one that has facilitated and allowed our existence and subsequent evolution. On a smaller scale, the same is the case with mold. When it appears on your bread, it’s because there exists a perfect confluence of factors for it to grow. Reason number #2 – it doesn’t rob the individual of self-responsibility. When you consider that the role of organizations is only to create an environment for good things to happen, it doesn’t mean that a person in that environment still doesn’t have to actually do things! On the contrary it provides the perfect stage for said individual to shine [and an inexcusable one for them to fail, or worse, complain].

So now, let me bring it down to business and strategy – my passion and our business. As an executive or leader this makes your job much clearer. It should not be your work to direct your employees to save the company money. Your hours should not be consumed with drawn out phone calls and conversations convincing prospects and contacts on why you can work with them. You should not stay up all night thinking about how you’ll achieve next quarter’s goals.

What you need to do is simple – create the foundation for your organization to thrive. Create a culture that empowers and rewards your employees to be conscious contributors to the organization’s financial and strategic goals. Create a brand and message that attracts the customers and partners you want to work with. Implement and follow a strategic plan that maps out your efforts for the year leaving you to focus on new relationships and powerful new ideas.

Leaders are people and people are flawed. The greatest leader Chicago has ever had is a great example. He however overcame himself to enable Chicago to become a global city; one with a reputation for good business, strong communities and getting things done. As a leader you have the power to do the same. By putting the right practices and tools in place you will create a fertile environment and your organization, like Chicago, will become much greater than the sum of the people, philosophy and services that comprise it.

Being that I’m a PC user and that I have a Droid phone any devoted Apple fan reading this is probably saying “She just doesn’t get it.” Perhaps it is the age old PC versus Mac battle that prohibits me from running to Apple’s website every time they drop a new product. Despite my tech preferences, working at a company that focuses on strategy & communications means I definitely have noticed that Apple does a fantastic job at creating buzz for their brand. I think a huge part of the company’s success is their clean design and sleek communications. Everything from their website, to their television ads, down to their packaging is always consistent and simple. Like I stated before the Iphone4 is just a cell phone but Apple makes us feel like it is a part of life as we know it. It doesn’t just have longer battery life; it has longer battery life so we can talk to our grandmothers longer. The phone doesn’t just shoot HD movies; it vividly captures your child’s first steps.

You don’t have to be selling an expensive high tech gadget to get people talking about your brand. Take into consideration banks.  They all do the same thing and give or take, offer the same services.  With campaigns geared towards the convenience of having the most ATMs available across the U.S. or telling us how savings accounts are how dreams start, banks are also selling us lifestyle versus financial services.

Whether it’s a new product or service you are launching just remember using strategic marketing geared towards your targets lifestyle and pairing it with beautiful design will always get you good buzz.

Hire Professionals! – Probably the number one step people feel they can bypass is hiring professionals to help them launch their brand. Most people avoid this step because they want to keep cost low. At first consultant fees may seem like a pretty penny but in actuality the money you will spend hiring experts is nothing compared to the money you could potentially lose by blindly going into a new venture. I recommend you seek out someone who can help you with the strategy of your launch as well as someone who can help with the look of your brand. In fact save yourself the hassle and hire a company that can do both!

Know your competition- Almost every wonderful idea you can think of belonged to someone else 5 minutes ago.  Competition is everywhere and it’s important to know whether you stand a chance in your market or not.  Research is critical in order to create a smart plan that stands out.

Strategic planning is your friend – Take your time to develop a thorough strategic plan. Most launches fail because the people behind them never bothered to create a plan. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a great idea which can sometimes lead to off-the-cuff decisions. Just remember all buried treasures require a map to get to them.

Baby steps- If your idea or product is as good as you think it is what’s the rush? There is no need to make a full investment right out the gate. A soft launch or test run to see how your new brand fares in low stakes situation will save you and your wallet from any unexpected curve balls.

Time to assess – Once you have taken all the above mentioned steps take a step back and assess what you have learned. If people are raving about your soft launch it’s a good time to start making a significant investment into your brand. Did your test run fizzle? Perhaps it’s time to tweak a few things and go for a round two.

Launching a brand can seem a little overwhelming but a good idea paired with a good plan is always a success.

Let’s lay the facts out, before I give you my two cents. We were hired to develop a brand identity after having a very fruitful and successful set of strategic planning engagements with our customer. We developed one round of concepts, the customer embraced one of the concepts. We refined it and they were happy. They then showed it to their board. The board thought it was not creative enough and suggested that our customer outsource. At this point, we told our customer that its ok, having multiple rounds of design is not uncommon. We will take their board’s thoughts into consideration and start again. We offered them a discount on the rework in order to stay within their original expectations of budget. Their response? Our board wants to outsource – thats it. We want more ideas on the identity, however they wanted to continue working with us on creating a brand system and collateral.

I am a fond believer in the democratization of talent and information that the internet creates. Throughout the years I’ve even engaged developers in Pakistan and India to support application development projects. I believe that outsourcing just seems like “out” sourcing now, but in reality it is just the first steps in a more important and meaningful global collaboration without borders and nationalistic illusions. (We need to stop thinking of ourselves as Indians, Americans, Serbians, etc and instead as citizens of the earth.)

A brand, however, is an incredibly delicate and powerful thing. It is the essence, the heart, the soul of an organization embodied in the absence of words. (No wonder we take ourselves so seriously here at Blue Daring). Its the one thing that people take away that allows them to recognize your work and your business again and again. That said, you don’t “crowdsource” or better yet, throw to the wind, your identity. Your identity is a careful process of creative and strategic collaboration, concepting, reworking and finally adoption. To allow something so intimate and important to be the subject of a desperate bidding war by out-of-work designers and would-be artists is a failure of vision and lack of responsibility.

Are these the rantings of a slighted vendor? Absolutely not. Not only were we paid for our work to date, but we walked away with a relationship intact. I respected my customer’s wish and they respected ours – they even committed to continue to speak highly of our work and talent. And let’s note… we are ALWAYS open to collaboration and being creative about work in order to get things done. We know that our value as a company is beyond simply design. Brand outsourcing, however, will never, ever, be the right thing to do. It’s the equivalent of having strangers dress you, speak for you and represent you in the course of your day. Needless to say when you are an organization representing tens of thousands of people – that is simply reckless.

Bottom line, I am happy that we did not answer to the dollar. It is never popular and sometimes costly to stand up in what you believe in. However, people who hire Blue Daring, hire us for truth, guidance and good advice. We better damn well have conviction.

We are in the business of communications and strategy and every day we work hard for our clients. We always try to give them great service, because we know that good customer service translates into good relationships. If we are a pleasure to work with, clients will remember this and want to work with us again and will hopefully also recommend us to others.

Here are some ways to play well with your clients:

1. Establish clear communication early: Communication is going to make or break your relationship. For any project, it is important to have clear expectations of the outcome of the project so that both you and your client are on the same page. Figure out what is the preferred method of communication with your client, whether it is by phone, email or face-to-face and keep the communication constant and fluid so that there are no questionable gaps of time. Establish a good rapport with your client and get to know them. This can spark future conversations and connections to them which is always value added.

2. Listen: Asking questions and listening to what your client needs, wants, and expects is key. Translating these into captured meeting notes and goals for the project is an effective way to show to your client that you are listening. Don’t be afraid to make sure that what was noted is what they meant or ask for any kind of clarification. It is in the client’s best interest that you have a clear understanding of everything.

3. Delivery: It is our job to know what is expected and also our goal to exceed expectations by delivering great work in a professional and timely manner. Presentation of work should always include your logo and branding, and a thoughtful explanation of the concept and process. It is a nice building block to help the client understand where you are coming from instead of expecting them to understand everything.

4. Feedback: Clients feedback varies, sometimes you hit the mark and other times you don’t. In this case, you need to bounce back and not let it bring you down. Talk with your client, accept any criticism they may have and if need be go back to the drawing board with them and try to brainstorm new ideas. Chances are the collaboration will yield a better solution overall. Showing that you are flexible and nimble makes the process less frustrating on both of you

5. Follow up: Sending a thoughtful email or note after meeting someone or finishing a project. It is a good way to stick in people’s minds for future work.

In the past Maker’s Mark advertising has been consistent with the look and feel of the product — a very classic, refined and exquisite spirit. They usually pair their classic image with tongue-in-cheek copy to keep it current, modern, and with the times. While out and about our president Melissa noticed this new billboard and snapped this photo with her cell phone.

This ad is a prime example of a company trying to keep up with changing trends but losing their brand consistency in doing so. Simply slapping what appears to be a cut-and-paste friend request button onto an existing company stock photo not only lacks creativity but weakens the company’s brand. If I could give this ad a makeover I would love to see a picture of someone serving a Maker’s Mark cocktail and copy along the lines of “Watch the friends start pouring in.” with a URL to their social networking site.

It is important to be conscience of the delicate balance between current trends and your brand’s integrity. I commend this company for including social media into their marketing approach but what looks like a lack of strategy and creativity has left them with an ad that has missed the mark.

Judging from most political campaign logos out there, my guess is that they are done by someone who “dabbles” in design and/or knows how to use Photoshop. Campaign materials is something they do on the side. But what value do amateur materials bring to an overall campaign? The campaign brand is something that needs to have strategy and a marketing plan behind it; it’s not just a logo. The way you choose the people that do your design and branding should be viewed the same way you hire the rest of your campaign staff. You will likely hire an intelligent staff of people with experience and expertise in areas that help you build a strong and smart campaign that will get you elected. The same should be said for the people that create your brand, they should have experience and expertise in design and branding. That expertise will translate into a unique, smart and noticeable campaign that will help you win. Case it point…Obama.

Dear Recession,

The two years that you have been in my life have been the most unstable and yet transformative that our business/organization/department has ever seen (our balance sheet was particularly shocked by your arrival).

When I first heard of you in 2007, I figured that after years of banks and mortgage brokers gorging themselves on unqualified homebuyers, you were just paying them a visit to make amends. Next, when I heard the talking heads on television warning me to stop shopping, I thought it was a scare tactic. It took the near collapse of the auto industry to convince me I was mistaken. I quickly realized you were not particularly selective and further how much the world economy was interdependent.

As soon as 2008, my funding/customers/clients began to fall away. When a grant that was cut off/account who couldn’t afford us anymore/partner going out of business, we began to feel your wrath. First we had to make amends by cutting expenses, pretty soon we were cutting jobs. The swiftness of it all caught me so off guard that I think I failed to lead where I should have, bringing my business/organization/department further into the hole.

With cash flow at a minimum and a dozen or so of my staff members gone, you got me thinking. I mean really reflecting. I started to ask myself questions I hadn’t thought about since I took the helm of this operation. What is it that we do best? What value do we provide our customers and distributors/partners? Why do we do business? How are we going to sell/operate?

This thinking quickly propelled me into a week-long period of sleepless nights, research and maddening note taking… It took my husband/wife/partner pointing out to me that I hadn’t been this excited in years. That’s when it hit me…I was actually planning for the future! I had been so taken up in my success over the last 10+ years that I forgot to do what got our business/organization/department here to begin with… plan for the future!

There is a Spanish song called “Me Asustas, Pero Me Gustas.” (This translates to “You Scare Me, But I Like You.”) I never thought I’d say this about such a difficult time for our business/organization/department, but this has been a hidden blessing. I have realized that no matter how successful I become, I less not forget the importance of setting goals, adapting to change and strategizing for our future.