As a leader of your organization, it’s easy for things to feel out of your control. Particularly once your company gets to a certain size, you need to begin handing over responsibility, communication, and delivery of important vision to people you trust.
In some ways, it’s a helpless place to be—especially if it’s not working.
I know, because I’ve been there before. You’re seeing stagnant sales, employees who are simply there for a paycheck, and overall the work doesn’t seem to have the momentum it had in the beginning.
If you’re like most business leaders, you’ll probably go one of two ways. You’ll either put your head in the sand and keep on running your company the way it’s always been run. Or, you’ll move onto the next thing—some bright and shiny new pursuit that will surely be the solution to your problems. But, here’s the thing: It won’t be the solution. Your new or existing business will eventually fall into the same trap, the same pitfalls, and the same stagnation.
So, if you’re a CEO, have “director” in your title, or have built a business, it’s time to listen up. You can’t keep making the same decisions and expect different results. Some say it’s the definition of insanity, but either way, it’s exhausting, unprofitable, and unfulfilling.
As a business leader who’s been in your shoes before, I’m tired of seeing other business leaders make the same mistakes and follow the wrong path over and over again. It’s time to discover something better for you, your life, and your company.
Purpose
Before we talk about your organization, we need to talk about you. Most business leaders want to start the conversation with things like sales, employee turnover, or a new logo design. But, all of that is meaningless if we don’t dig into the core of the problem—and that problem always exists within you.
The problem is that you’ve lost the reason (or have failed to communicate) the reason why you began or took over this company in the first place. You may know it, but more often than not, your employees sure don’t. So, at AM, we’re going to start there. We’re going to figure out why you even want this organization to exist, and translate it into a meaningful statement you can communicate to your team.
Through our one-of-a-kind processes, we’ll explore your motivation for running your business, and uncover the “real” reason you do what you do. We’ll nail down your purpose, core values, and what makes you unique. Once we have all of it down in ink, we’ll have a great foundation for setting you in the right direction
Brand
Once we’ve laid a proper foundation, we can get into the fun stuff. Uncovering and outlining your purpose can be a bit painful, but now we can use that hard work to start implementing real change you’ll see visually—and so will your employees and customers.
Our creative team will use your purpose, vision, and values to begin crafting a new image for your brand. We’ll tackle logo design, messaging, website, social media, brand guide, the whole thing. But, as I alluded to earlier, the point isn’t to make your brand look cool; that’s just a great side effect of making these changes. The point is to visualize your brand in a way that reflects its true identity.
Too many companies focus on the product or service you deliver, but the truth is that products alone are rarely what win you new customers. People connect with purpose, passion, and shared values. Sure, you may draw them in with a good deal, but they’ll use you and never look back. Rebranding your company with a greater purpose in mind means you’ll be creating relationships, not just transactions.
Culture
Once we’ve reworked the new face of your company, it’s time to go back to the difficult work of creating change within the company. All in all, your company is not you anymore; it’s the people who work for you every day. And, if they’re the wrong people (or simply just ill-informed), then you’re creating the wrong kind of business. We have to get it back on track.
While internal shifts can be painful, they’re also very meaningful. And, for those who buy into your new-found purpose, it will be incredibly rewarding. We’ll review everything that makes up your company, starting with internal communication, hiring/onboarding, and performance reviews. Then, we’ll bring in your existing team to talk about their purpose in the company.
They’ll see the changes you’re making and either buy into them or not—both facets are essential to the process. You want to embolden the people who need to be in your company and identify the people who don’t share your vision. You’ll be doing both a favor in the long run.
Ultimately, once we’ve covered this part of the process, you’ll have a galvanized team. They’ve been put through a rigorous strengthening process, but they’ll come out the other side invigorated with a clear vision of where they’re going and where the company is going, too.
Marketing
Fittingly, the last step of our process involves your customers. It’s a bit counterintuitive, as I said before. Most business leaders want to start at this step in the process. They think they simply need a new set of words or a new brand campaign to reinvigorate their business. But, here’s the thing: By following our processes, you’ll be reframing your marketing strategy the entire time without even realizing it.
A great marketing strategy is informed by your company’s purpose. It’s built on the heartbeat of your brand, the reason why you walk into the office every day and put up with all of the headaches and problems. Once you’ve uncovered and stated this purpose, you’ve taken the first step towards a brand-new marketing strategy.
You’ll work with our team to craft a new strategy based on your values. We’ll talk about lead generation, advertising, social media, email, branded content, analytics—all driven by things that your customers actually care about. Passion is contagious. People will truly care about things if you truly care about them as well, anything else is just a waste of time. Let’s put together a marketing plan that’s laser-focused, a tractor beam built on shared values and real connections.
This may sound like a lot of work. It is a lot of work. But, it’s much more difficult to continue doing what you’ve always done, trust me. You’re going to encounter constant friction, employee turnover, and it’s going to get harder and harder to walk through those office doors every morning.
I don’t want that for you. I want you to love what you do, for your employees to have meaning in their work, and I want your business to be more profitable than it’s ever been. Whether you sign on with AM or not, you’re going to be working hard. You may as well be working on a new vision for your brand, and reinvigorated company at every single level.
