I only have 40 days until the Bupa Great Race. I am running for the charity I am connected with in Africa, helping to equip through education, support through work initiatives and bring relief to those in extreme poverty through food, accommodation and medical assistance. As a group of professionals we have the ability to change lives through influence and finances. Please support me, both personally (10k is just the start) and as a fundraiser for an awesome charity.
Fundraiser profile page - BT MyDonate
Sara's Blog
Exploring the world of branding, business excellence and creative inspiration.
Monday, 27 August 2012
Friday, 24 August 2012
Innovation Comes Through An Inquiring Mind
Out
there in the big wide world, people have broken boundaries in
exploration, creative thinking, science, transport, space and many
more environments. Combine that with the relentless questioning from
a young child of why, how, where or what? At what stage in life do we
start accepting the status quo and why do we? Shouldn't it be part of
life's excitement to retain our curiosity and seek to develop an
inquiring mind? Beyond that, isn't it those with lifelong curiosity
that break business boundaries, innovate and lead creatively and
courageously?
An
inquiring mind can be likened to being curious. It starts with a
sense of wonder, but beyond that it is the desire to understand
something, to create something new or solve a problem. In the words
of John Sculley (former CEO of Apple) “Curiosity is wanting to
understand something that you don't know something about; and
hopefully a lot of other people don't either because it means you can
really break new ground.”
Another
quote I like about curiosity is from Jaron
Lanier
(Computer
Scientist, Composer, Visual Artist and Author) “Curiosity is the
fact that our minds are verbs and not nouns, that we're in motion,
that we're self inventing, that we're seeking, that we don't know
what our destination is, that we're reinventing ourselves.”
A
rare breed of individual never gets out of practice. It's easy to
find them; they're the most satisfied, ingenious and high achieving.
Four distinguishing traits work in tandem to set them apart:
awareness, curiosity, focus, and initiative – they're the
innovators and they have developed an inquiring mind.
Innovation
is the direct consequence of curiosity. It allows us to start with a
blank piece of canvas, creating, innovating, evolving an idea.
Building on successes in the past, but also not being afraid to
challenge, raise expectations and quite often be a maverick. It
transforms us all into designers, the opportunity to create new
approaches to problems, to transform a business model, a product or
service into something better, or perhaps into something entirely
different. It requires us to look at things in
more than one way, because it is the only way you get a new insight
into a problem.
As
a call to innovate, it's time to challenge yourself:
- Challenge and ask yourself if you wanted to improve the environment for innovation, what specifically you can do in your current role to cultivate that culture?
- Go beyond what's expected, stretch yourself beyond your current environment
- Understand the big picture, and incorporate it into your day to day decisions and solutions. Always think for long term, think for future.
- Don’t be afraid. Learn to deal with your fear.
- Innovation always involves risk. Innovation always brings change. Be ready.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Emotional Branding - Building the Bond
Your
customer is loyal because of their emotional attachment to your
product or service. Irrespective of whether we are talking about
something desirable – champagne, perfume, the latest technology or
something that is simply a necessity – cleaning products, household
appliances or office stationery! As the CEO of Zappos.com says "every
call is perceived as a way to make a positive emotional connection
with a customer." So, what does "emotional connection"
mean? How is it developed and what impact will it have on your
business?
Emotional
and psycho-dynamic factors have long been known to drive brand
selection and loyalty. Even in today's price-sensitive economy, the
imagery attached to brands goes far beyond product attributes,
functional benefits and price. It's about capturing hearts and minds.
It's moving your customer beyond retention, to commitment, delight
and ultimately evangelism. According to Gallup, companies that
embrace the customer in this way, not merely as a standalone
activity, but in collaboration with
brand and business strategy, outperform competitors by 26% in gross
margin and 85% in sales growth.
The
route to building emotional engagement, goes beyond merely
acknowledging your customer preferences, to working diligently to
understand their values, character, desires and ambitions. Only an
insight-based, personalised marketing approach can form a strong
enough bond with a brand, that evokes a personal, emotional reaction
in customers. It is also important to understand that people aren’t
either “emotional” or “unemotional.” Consumers are typically
highly emotional about some brands and products while completely
indifferent and “unattached” to others. Business customers are as
emotional about their B2B purchases as car buyers, clothing shoppers,
and holiday makers are about their selections.
Gallup,
who have worked extensively to quantify the emotional connection
benefit, cite a metric based on Confidence, Integrity, Pride and
Passion; Confidence in the brand’s promise, belief in its
Integrity, Pride in being a customer, and Passion for the brand.
Ultimately it has uncovered the powerful financial consequences,
ranging from share-of-wallet to frequency and amount of repeat
business produced through fully engaged customers.
Moving
forward, consider the emotions you wish to produce in your customer.
Understanding the core emotional need is the most important element
to emotional branding. It becomes part of your brand essence, being
communicated across every touchpoint of your internal and external
communications. It becomes the raison
d'ĂȘtre
of the brand.
It
is important that messaging remains consistent, the brand story is
reinforced at every level; this is particularly important at
emotionally heightened touchpoints – customer services, social
media, telephone helplines.
In
essence, building an emotional bond is not dissimilar to the
development of a personal relationship. Once established it becomes
hard for a person to separate themselves from the brand and begin a
new relationship with a competitor. Emotional branding at this level,
can only be achieved by putting what customers deem most important
ahead of everything else.
Monday, 6 August 2012
An Engaged Mind
Recently
I read an article which highlighted CIPD's latest quarterly Employee
Outlook survey. Astonishingly, it appears we have a nation of
employees who are simply ‘not bothered’ about their work, with
58% of respondents reporting only ‘neutral’ levels of engagement
with their job.
According
to the article, Peter Cheese, Chief Executive at the CIPD, drew links
between employee disengagement and recent high profile cases of
“unethical behaviours and corrosive cultures overseen by senior
leaders”, emphasising the importance of establishing positive
working cultures from the top down. He went on to warn:
“We
know that strong employee engagement drives higher productivity and
better business outcomes, so such a prominent display of ‘neutral
engagement’ in the workplace should act as a real wake up call for
employers.”
Within
the realms of brand and management consulting, a lack of engagement
is of great concern; it will have direct correlation to the levels of
creativity, innovation and credibility delivered to the client. It is
clearly evident that whilst employee engagement is frequently written
about, it now needs to become a lifestyle choice of both people and
organisations, to develop and maintain an engaged mind.
An
engaged mind is developed holistically, through a healthy lifestyle.
It incorporates physical, spiritual and mental well-being. It cannot
simply be confined within the four walls of a place of work, it is
curious, excited, receptive, engaged, tenacious. Most likely, someone
with an engaged mind commits to lifelong learning, demonstrating
intellectual curiosity, pursuing education, new activities, reading,
learning new languages or developing new skills. In its most simple
form, an engaged mind comes from understanding ones strengths and
interests, and how this translates into being a valued contributor to
relationships, both in and outside work.
With
this in mind, the role of good leadership is to find the most
appropriate and productive ways to stimulate employees in developing
and cultivating their well-being. Providing an environment of
authenticity – it is proven that employees who are themselves in
the workplace are more effective. Those who are clear enough about
what their organisation stands for and are at ease with the culture
are more likely to bring themselves to work and to share stories
about their family lives, hobbies, likes and dislikes. A simple
concept to nurturing this is to encourage employees to try something
new everyday, from travelling to work via a different route to trying
new foods, attending lectures or trying a new social activity.
Beyond
that, it is about recruiting with purpose – finding future talent
who demonstrate these traits. Whilst it may not be the easiest
paragraph in a job description, it will be clearly evident via
experience, interests and most certainly on meeting. Engaged minds
are obvious from the outset, a genuine smile and welcoming, inclusive
attitude. They are receptive and confident, with an openess about
sharing new activities or experiences, being able to listen actively
and offer insights and challenge, largely because they care about the
outcome.
Personally,
two character traits stand out for the engaged individual –
proactivity and energy. A proactive person will seek to understand
their environment so they can make suggestions, take initiative, and
innovate for the greater good. Their primary focus is on adding
value. And they do so with high energy, setting the momentum, rather
than it being defined. It will come of no surprise that a person with
an engaged mind will inspire others, being the most effective brand
ambassador with partners, investors, customers and employees.
My
challenge for you today is to find your own, individual path
to creating an engaged mind.
Monday, 30 July 2012
Branding Excellence
Holistic
branding, Conscious Capitalism, Branding 360; are these simply a
collection of phrases to define Branding Excellence? If so, what is
branding excellence and how do we pursue it?
According
to branding expert Ron Strauss, 83% of a company’s market value
today is represented by their intangible assets (brands, quality
processes, relationships, etc.) Most think of brands in the context
of communications. But building a strong, credible brand starts with
building the right foundation across the entire company. Using the
acronym developed by marketing Guru, Raj Sisodia, it is thought
leadership built on embracing and collaborating with SPICE; Society,
Partners, Investors, Customers, Employees.
It
is evident that the pursuit of excellence within branding has to be
thought of as a holistic system in which there are a number of
elements present. It moves beyond simply being about making profits,
to embracing the very raison d'etre to create something of intrinsic
value that resonates with the needs of customers and with society at
large, whilst embracing the needs of varying stakeholders.
From
the outset, it is clear that senior leadership support is essential
in creating and driving the sustainable brand journey. It has to be
approached in a purposeful and meaningful way. Such credibility is
all about trust, setting and delivering expectations consistently
over a prolonged period of time. True brand excellence merges both
the external facing products, services and experiences with
operational credibility across supply chain, culture, recruitment and
processes.
The
key to keeping this real is to keep things fresh; not allowing the
brand to be ladened down by actioning of the strategy, but creating
strong differentiated brands which deliver real benefits, in a fresh
consistent way allowing them to evolve and mature, in a similar way
to that of one's personality and character which grows and develops
through experience.
There
is much to be said with personification of a brand; for a true brand
should be able to stand such a test. What values does it uphold? What
is its character? How and with whom does it engage? What benefit does
it bring to society? Essentially, (in the words of P&G)
every
brand must define its purpose of how it uniquely touches and improves
lives with its superior benefit.
To
do that, we need to embrace and acknowledge the role of every
communication channel, not purely digital, design, PR, sponsorship,
partnerships (the list goes on), but every applicable tool that is
going to actively connect with people in your world.
To
close, I would like to leave you with three challenges:
- Understand what drives you and how you can make a difference in your sphere of influence.
- Find new ways to broaden your horizons, educate yourself and learn.
- Get creative – listen to a new radio station, take a different route to work, go to a different performance genre, read a difference newspaper, step out of your comfort zone.
In
challenging yourself, maybe you will bring something different and
more insightful to your next brand session, planning meeting or
pitch.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Building the Foundations
I have always had aspirations to write, to share thoughts and inspirations and perhaps one day, even write a book. However, until today most of what I have written has remained under wraps or for project related eyes only. The tipping point from thoughts to action came recently, in a series of well meaning comments from friends and colleagues; 'You should write and share your insights', 'Can you write for my magazine', to the most honest 'you should write, get focussed on you and not others!'.
So as way of introduction; I am passionate about brands, creating, building and nurturing them. However I believe that brands are more than an identity or compelling customer proposition, brands should be like an iceberg. The visible element should be the smallest part, brands should run through the deepest parts of a company; people, processes, actions, thoughts and mindsets. In this way, brands like icebergs are beautiful.
Aside from brands, I am passionate about culture, business excellence, integrity, start-ups and poverty alleviation. I have lived in three different continents and love the experience and understanding that each of these experiences have given me.
Now located in Scotland I am a brand and business strategist working with fabulous clients across lots of different industries. I am also a mentor at Entrepreneurial-Spark, a non-profit social enterprise, with one thing at its heart; helping and nurturing early stage businesses to succeed, so they can make it to their first and second birthdays and potentially get investment or an exit. Finally I am a board member of a charity working in Africa helping to equip through education, support through work initiatives and bring relief to those in extreme poverty through food, accommodation and medical assistance.
I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you, adding value and food for thought.
So as way of introduction; I am passionate about brands, creating, building and nurturing them. However I believe that brands are more than an identity or compelling customer proposition, brands should be like an iceberg. The visible element should be the smallest part, brands should run through the deepest parts of a company; people, processes, actions, thoughts and mindsets. In this way, brands like icebergs are beautiful.
Aside from brands, I am passionate about culture, business excellence, integrity, start-ups and poverty alleviation. I have lived in three different continents and love the experience and understanding that each of these experiences have given me.
Now located in Scotland I am a brand and business strategist working with fabulous clients across lots of different industries. I am also a mentor at Entrepreneurial-Spark, a non-profit social enterprise, with one thing at its heart; helping and nurturing early stage businesses to succeed, so they can make it to their first and second birthdays and potentially get investment or an exit. Finally I am a board member of a charity working in Africa helping to equip through education, support through work initiatives and bring relief to those in extreme poverty through food, accommodation and medical assistance.
I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you, adding value and food for thought.
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