On Brand with Nick Westergaard

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City — Jay and I discussed a recent report on how Instagram’s algorithm works. While many thought the algorithm would kill the social network, Instagram is actually stronger than ever. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week’s show.Beyond the Sound Bite Here’s the full story at Social Media Today – Inside the Instagram Algorithm. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we’ll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Branding is complicated when you try to define it." If there was an ongoing theme of the On Brand podcast, this week's guest hit the nail on the head. Of course, your brand is more than your logo but how do you organize the words and language around your story and communicate that internally. Brad Flowers co-founded and leads a language and story-focused branding firm, Bullhorn. We talked about all of that and more on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Brad FlowersBrad Flowers co-founded Bullhorn in 2008. A graduate of the University of North Texas, Brad’s degree in Literature serves him well in his strategy and language work during the branding process. It does not serve him well in his operational work, which is primarily informed by his rugged real-world experience and self-taught MBA. He is also an avid cycler – for commuting and for competition. He co-founded and currently serves on the board of a non-profit community bike shop called Broke Spoke. Spreading the good word.Episode HighlightsWhat does Bullhorn do? "We're a branding company but really people hire us to help them talk about their brand." Unlike other more visually focused firms, Bullhorn starts with words and stories. In the end, they provide a brand manual. But it's not the standard style guide you might expect.A coffee table book for your brand. While Bullhorn provided the digital assets most expect with a style guide or brand manual, they also include a printed document that's more aspirational. "It's like a coffee table book for your brand. Employees can read it. It can be used for onboarding.""Your culture is a culmination of your brand voice." As Brad reminded us, there's no one-size-fits-all approach for brand voice. How can you maintain a consistent brand voice internally without encouraging your team to talk like robots? "It really depends on the organization. The culture." Flowers went on to share a story about a more formal, hyperbolic client that needed help with their brand voice. Instead of more jargon — that would almost certainly lead them to sound more robotic — they provided a visual inspiration in the form of a photo of Paul Newman playing ping-pong. (I know, I said I'd put it in the show notes but I can't find a creative commons pic.)What brand has made Brad smile recently? After reading Kondo's best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, Brad set out to find the objects that gave him joy. His Patagonia fleece fit the bill. And also provided a textbook example of a brand that's made him smile many times through the years.To learn more, go to the Bullhorn Creative website.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Alex Mastrianni gave us a shout on Twitter for our recent episode featuring Marcus Sheridan. Thanks for listening, Alex!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City — Jay and I discussed some recently released numbers from both Facebook and Snapchat. As the upstart Snapchat prepares for their IPO, use, growth, and revenue are faltering. Over at Facebook, it's the exact opposite. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Here's the full story at TechCrunch – Snapchat Stumbles Toward IPO. And now for something completely different over at eMarketer – For Facebook, an Exclamation Point to Cap a Chaotic Year. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The art of the question has fundamentally been lost.” As a global speaker and consultant in digital marketing and sales, Marcus Sheridan has made name for himself and his business by answering all of the questions. I couldn’t wait to talk to the content marketing legend and author about all of this, on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Marcus SheridanCalled a “web marketing guru” by The New York Times, the story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer.”Today, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today.Episode HighlightsThe 20-second version of Marcus’ story. “In 2008, I was going to lose my business. I had two consultants tell me to file for bankruptcy. I started reading about inbound marketing and content marketing and created a four-word philosophy.”They Ask, You Answer. This philosophy applied to content marketing helped Marcus save River Pools. It’s also helped countless marketers who have read his story and heard him speak. “If you can’t explain it — if you can’t answer the questions — it’s no good.” These four words are also the title of his new book. They Ask You Answer, which is full of case studies of “digital Davids” like River Pools. “It’s 50% marketing, 25% sales, and 25% implementation.”The most important social media question. “It’s not ‘how can I be great on Facebook today?’ It’s ‘how can I be great on Facebook forever?’ You do that by solving customers’ problems.”How can you cultivate a culture of questions? “Businesses need to think more like buyers and less like businesses. Marketers aren’t subject matter experts.” You have to get out of your bubble and seek the expertise of leadership, engineering, and sales to effectively answer your buyer’s questions.What question is Marcus asked most often? “It’s not, ‘I’m a leader/business owner — how do turn my business around?’ It’s ‘I’m in sales and I need leadership’s buy-in.'” Marcus recommends getting leadership re-acclimated with customers’ needs for a better connection between the business and the buyer in your sales and marketing execution.What brand has made Marcus smile recently? “I’m gonna use this example because it would be easy for them to say, ‘but we’re too big’ — Home Depot.” Citing their “exceptional blog where they teach, teach, teach,” he noted that it features products without being too sales-y.To learn more, go to The Sales Lion website, check out his book They Ask You Answer, and follow him on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed some new stats on Instagram Story use vs. Snapchat Story use. While everyone loves talking about Snapchat, it looks like Instagram is currently winning the story wars. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week’s show. Beyond the Sound Bite Here’s the full story at TechCrunch – Instagram Stories is stealing Snapchat’s users. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we’ll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The only way to stand out is to build a brand." B2B marketers often focus most of their energy on sales funnels, lead generation, and analytics. But how do you stand out in the noisy marketplace? A few weeks ago, Jay Acunzo told a story on the podcast about how Drift made the bold move of un-gating all of their content. I couldn't wait to hear this story first hand from Drift's Director of Marketing Dave Gerhart on this week's episode of the On Brand podcast. About Dave GerhardtDave Gerhardt is the director of marketing at Drift, a Boston-based startup that helps sales and customer success teams connect with their customers. Dave has spent the first seven years of his career working at SaaS marketing companies, including HubSpot and Constant Contact, and he was recently named one of Boston's 50 on Fire for 2017. He's also the co-host of Seeking Wisdom, a podcast about health, wealth, life, and learning.Episode HighlightsWhy would a brand un-gate all of their content?? Content marketing is powerful — especially in the B2B space — because you can drive leads and measure everything. Dave Gerhardt was initially taken aback when his boss, Drift CEO David Cancel, suggested they un-gate everything.Standing out. "So many products today are free. They want customers to dive in, try things out, and ultimately use it (and pay for it) more." Drift embraced this approach and extended it to their content, making it accessible and, in the end, more helpful as well. "The only way to stand out is to build a brand."How do you create stand out content? "My approach is simple. I create content that I would like. There's no sexy playbook."How do you establish a strong, consistent brand voice? Every brand wants a voice but it seems like we only have two gears — bland or irreverent. Dave sat down with CEO David Cancel and developed thirteen core values that guide all of their efforts. "Internally, we call this being 'Drifty.' We know we're about being authentic and human. When we come out with something new we make sure there's real people on it. Real people are Drifty."What brand has made Dave smile recently? “I'm gonna go with two — Slack and Mailchimp." Both excel at creating little moments of delight throughout their online brand experience.To learn more, go to the Drift blog and follow Dave on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Drew McLellan gave us several shouts on Twitter for the episode of the podcast he recorded with us last year. Drew also has a great podcast called Build a Better Agency. Thanks for being a guest and listening!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed recent "rogue tweets" from Badlands National Park, in response to an alleged media blackout for federal agencies from the Trump White House. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Badlands National Park Twitter account goes rogue, starts tweeting scientific facts (CBS News). After the "rogue tweets" were deleted, some employees created an Alternate National Park Service Twitter account (on their own time and without public resources). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You are the steward of the cluster that’s drawn to your brand.” Today, we’re simultaneously in control of our brands and not in control, as we build an increasingly diverse audience across diffused media platforms and touch points. It’s this dynamic that Gabriella Mirabelli spends most of her time helping big media and tech brands navigate. We talked about millennials, media brands, and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Gabriella MirabelliGabriella Mirabelli is the foremost authority on translating millennial behavioral trends for executives at major media enterprises. She was listed on Inc. as one of the "5 Unsung Heroes of New Media" and is the CEO and co-founder of ANATOMY, a New York based, Emmy Award winning creative agency and branding consultancy. As the host of The Up Next Podcast, she talks with the brightest innovators, risk takers, and disrupters on the front lines of change from Hollywood, Wall St., Silicon Valley, and beyond.Over the last half decade, Gabriella has studied how the practices of media brands intersect with the media consumption habits of millennials. Her most recent in-depth report “Millennials At the Gate” is an examination of streaming, ad blocking, and piracy habits of young millennials. It has been cited by major publications such as Forbes, The Wrap, MediaPost, and Yahoo Finance.Episode HighlightsWhat are the top millennial behavioral trends that brand builders need to be aware of? First, Gabriella focuses on what she calls "young millennials — ages 18–24. Two-thirds of millennials are ad blocking. Sixty-nine percent are pirating and, of those, 67% think there’s nothing wrong with that."How can we translate these trends into brand initiatives? “It’s all about the touch points, the overall experience. Social platforms are giving that emotional payoff.” As brand builders, we have to make sure that we’re creating a brand that means something to our audience.Surrendering control of our brands. “We’re both in control and not in control of our brands today. You are the steward of the cluster that’s drawn to your brand. Apple is a great example of this."When it comes to media, are we marketing the show — content brands — or the larger network brand? As Gabriella noted, “I have a strong opinion about this. It’s the show brand. You go to see the show. You don’t go to the AMC theater. You go to see the movie playing there. Unless you’re an art house theater that curates and adds meaning. They’re about creating a better experience with real butter on the popcorn, where the ushers care about film.”What brand has made Gabriella smile recently? “Netflix. And what I love is that they don’t market to me obnoxiously but they still have meaning to me. They care about audience and experience."To learn more, go to Gabriella’s podcast website (UpNextPodcast.com) and check out the ANATOMY website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Brands that we look to, that are charismatic, know their audience. They know who they are.” Stories, personality, and experiences are the building blocks of modern brands of all shapes and sizes. This week, Carla Johnson of Type A Communications and co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing stopped by the On Brand podcast to discuss all of this. About Carla JohnsonCarla Johnson helps marketers unlock, nurture and strengthen their storytelling muscle so they can create delightful experiences for audiences. She works as a trusted advisor at the highest level of blue-chip brands to establish open conversations, instill creative confidence and inspire an environment of receptivity that develops highly prized teams and stellar business results. Carla has worked with companies that include American Express, Dell, Emerson, Motorola Solutions, VMware, Western Union and Smurfit Kappa on how to tap into a wellspring of ideas and unveil new ways to bring their brand stories alive in fun and captivating ways.Named one of the top 20 most influential content marketers, one of top 25 business-to-business marketers, and one of the top 50 women in marketing, Carla is the co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing, which teaches marketers how to develop, manage and lead the creation of valuable experiences for their organizations. She serves on the Executive Committee and as the Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for the Association for National Advertisers Business Marketing Association, an instructor for the Content Marketing Institute and the Digital Analytics Association, is a frequent speaker and writes about creativity and innovation, the power of brand storytelling, and customer experience for numerous media outlets. Dig deeper at Type A Communications and follow her on Twitter.Episode Highlights"When you tell a story driven by empathy, you’ll always see results.” Understanding your customers is a cornerstone of effective brand building. Yet with our focus on quantitative analysis and data, we often know too little about our customers and what they want. How can we fix this? Carla reminds us to “Just talk with them.” Conversations can yield powerful results.After talking with your customers, don’t forget your employees. Internal brand communication is key. Carla cited a study from Gallup noting that less than 40% of employees understand what their company stands for. If properly educated, your employees can be a powerful marketing engine. “If you get the internal right, you can reallocate your external resources."“Experience and story are tied together. Hand in hand.” As Carla notes, you have to ask yourself, “What are we going to be known for.” She then shared a great example from Big Ass Fans on how a simple brand touch point can inform an entire brand experience.As we head into the new year, what’s one thing brand builders and marketers should do more of? Look for ways to be “more creative, interesting, and different. Look at brands from outside your bubble.” What are they doing? How can you do more of that?What brand has made Carla smile recently? Carla pointed us to HP and their recent rebranding. “They spent us much time (communicating that) internally as they did externally."To learn more, go to the Type A Communications website and check out the site for her book with past On Brand guest Robert Rose, Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“All advice is bad advice unless it’s contextualized to you.” As marketers and brand builders, we get advice left and right. Do this, not that. Send this many emails. Write this many blog posts. This week, Jay Acunzo of the Unthinkable podcast reminded us that we need to always ask ourselves why we’re doing this and who we’re doing it for if we want to close the chasm between average and exceptional. About Jay AcunzoJay Acunzo jokes that he’s the world’s most passionate “craft-driven” marketer. He is a highly sought after keynote speaker, writer, and host of the atypical-sounding podcast Unthinkable. Jay launched his career at Google as a digital media strategist, led content marketing for multiple startups, followed by the VC firm NextView, and today, he hosts his weekly show and travels the world exploring how people can trust their intuition to do more exceptional work.Episode HighlightsJay calls himself a “craft-driven marketer.” “Anything that’s craft driven is where the process is the point.” While your overall volume of work is important, ultimately you need focus.The chasm. As Jay defined his work on the Unthinkable podcast, he framed it as answering one question: “How to be exceptional? There’s a chasm today between average and exceptional.”How do you bridge the chasm? “You need an aspirational anchor. Something that you’re striving toward. If you ‘why’ something to death, you’ll find clarity.” Jay told us of Drift in Boston who ungated all of their content and ultimately grew their subscriber list.How can you get started today? As it’s the new year, I asked Jay if there was an easy exercise to move your brand toward the exceptional end of the chasm. “There’s a real simple exercise. I call it an extraction.” Simply put, you find something from outside of your echo chamber or industry that you admire and you extract the aspects of their brand that make them exceptional. For example, you may want to be the Anthony Bourdain of business. How would you go about doing this?What brand has made Jay smile recently? He pointed us toward Bill Simmons and the project he has going at TheRinger.com.To learn more, go to unthinkable.fm and follow Jay on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Dylan Diewold gave us a shout for our 100th episode featuring Seth Godin. Thanks for listening!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices