By Jennifer Lawhead Jennifer Stevens built her company, JHL, around her own credibility and reputation. Jennifer was the brand. Her public relations client list grew as she landed high-value media placements on behalf of her clientele over and over again. As she began planning more events, Jennifer quickly became Austin’s go-to event planner, overseeing some of the community’s biggest ...
3 Unexpected Ways to Share Your Story
By Jennifer Lawhead The biggest mistake I see businesses make with storytelling is they put it in a box. That box is assigned to the marketing team where they are responsible for caring for the stories and sharing them as they see fit. Why this is a mistake, you ask? After all, isn’t storytelling the job of the marketers in the building? No. No, it’s not. It’s a responsibility that ...
When You Brand from Your Beliefs, Marketing Execution Reveals Itself
Sara Hertrampf, Sales & Marketing Manager, looked around in amazement at a packed house in October 2019. Filling the Alpine Communications event were business owners, community leaders and economic development champions throughout Iowa. As she marveled at the connectivity happening among local influencers before her eyes, she couldn’t help but remember a time when Alpine Communications was ...
Doers v. Thinkers
By Cat Weise Freshmen year in college, I lived on the same floor with a bunch a young, smart women. One decided she had a new theory about the world as many young people do when they first exercise their independence muscle. Her theory was that the world could be divided into doers and thinkers. She rattled with authority who she believed was in each category. It was presumptuous, ...
How Branding Led to a $8M Revenue Increase
By Jennifer Lawhead We always say, “a strong brand solves a thousand business problems.” When a business moves away from obsessing about bottom lines, profitability and ROI, and instead adopts a brand-centric mindset, it fundamentally changes the fabric of the business. Suddenly, financial milestones are reached; not because a CEO fixated on them, but because the quality of the brand became ...
Why Branding Matters in the Face of the Unthinkable
By Jennifer Lawhead It wasn’t their first rodeo, but in terms of cancelling, it was definitely their first rodeo. In the first weeks of March 2020, as the nation was just beginning to consider shutting down, Rodeo Austin faced a seemingly impossible decision: cancel its entire lineup filled with live music acts, a popular livestock show, a carnival and more, or try to press on, even though other ...
How Do I Do Big Marketing With A Small Team?
As the director of marketing, you are one person. You are one person who acts as the chief mouthpiece, the brilliant broadcaster and the tenacious town crier for your big organization. With limited resources, it’s up to you to manage publicity, message, brand voice, campaigns, digital, visuals, and video, all while vetting new marketing advice and services, newfangled technology and CEOs who ...
The Future of Your Brand Starts Now
By Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster One of the downsides of being an engaged leader in a company is that you really want the company to succeed. You want the profitable business venture that leads to you and your team getting paid, furthering your cause, enjoying accomplishments to succeed. Badly, day-in and day-out. And as fast as possible. You want it to succeed so much it creates ...
The Off-The-Record Factor: Share Stories You’d Normally Hide
If you were being interviewed by The New York Times about the success of your brand, what would you say? (I’ll give you a moment). Would you explain how you made some smart investments? Would you describe your strong work ethic? Would you acknowledge all of the things you did correctly? Yes, I’m sure you would. As you should! Undoubtedly, if a national newspaper has recognized you as an ...
BrandLab Attendee, We’d Like You to Meet Someone. Yourself.
When is the last time you raced against your buddies to make and fly a paper airline? Or when have you last handwritten something sacred and private, folded it up carefully and discreetly passed to a friend? How about taking the time to sit back and let someone read aloud to you? Has it been awhile? I’d venture to guess it’s because you’re an adult and most of us haven’t done these things ...