By Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster The marketing world is over-saturated with formulas. This is because formulas are intended to remove uncertainty. And because uncertainty is the boondoggle of human existence. There’s no way to remove uncertainty, folks. Life is uncertainty. And as part of that: all formulas are flawed. Most formulas only work for some people, some of the time. That’s the ...
An Open Letter
We believe every great brand is a spiritual experience. A movement. A brand is the only place in business where your inner world is experienced by the outer world. For too long, we have accepted the belief that these worlds are supposed to be separate. We say no. When these worlds are kept separate, dissonance occurs. Identity crises emerge. Leaders drift from the mission. Employees feel ...
You Don’t Need a Marketing Agency
By Emily Soccorsy + Justin Foster Small business owners are in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to marketing. You can either do it yourself or bring in a marketing agency. Let’s be real. Doing marketing yourself is not an option. Even if you enjoy it, there’s too much. Contemporary branding and marketing is not something you do in the seams and creases of running a business. A marketing ...
Ungrateful about marketing?
Marketing is a little bit like a Rodney Dangerfield quote. It can’t get no respect. Everybody in the business wants great marketing and basically nobody wants to do great marketing. This is fueled by an Industrial Age bias in many leaders that marketing still follows a direct, linear path. That there’s a straight line between Product A and Audience B. Leaders want marketing to be simple. ...
Synthesis Episode 10: Ron Price + Stacy Ennis on Growing Influence
LISTEN HERE (audio + video) Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them — and us — see the world differently. Our tenth episode features Ron Price and Stacy Ennis, authors of Growing Influence: A Story of How to Lead with Character, Expertise and Impact, which was recently published and is now available. Growing Influence is a modern ...
Synthesis Episode 9: CEO Tanya Hall on Bringing Honor to Self-Publishing
LISTEN HERE (audio + video) Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them — and us — see the world differently. Our ninth episode of Synthesis features Tanya Hall. Tanya Hall is CEO of Austin-based Greenleaf Book Group and author of Ideas, Influence and Income: Write a Book, Build Your Brand, and Lead Your Industry. She is also energized to ...
Synthesis Episode 8: Claritee Co-Founders Triana Newton & Doug McRae taking on Smokestack Thinking
LISTEN HERE (audio + video) Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them — and us — see the world differently. Our eighth episode of Synthesis features Claritee co-founders Triana Newton & Doug McRae. Doug and Tri were friends with Emily and Justin before there was either a Root + River or a Claritee! Based in Canada, ...
Who are Our Clients?
By Emily Soccorsy + Justin Foster Who are our clients? People often ask us. In a sentence, they are awake achievers. But there’s so much beneath, between, around and behind that descriptor. On the surface, our clients often look like typical practitioners, business badasses ready to do something different, entrepreneurs taking pioneer-level risks. But our clients are so much more ...
What does culture have to do with brand?
We are five years into the Human Age. In the 21st century, leaders must go beyond taking care of their people to embodying a new level of caring for people. Taking care of your people is a minimum requirement - compensation, benefits, work environment. And even in the Human Age economy, there are still plenty of places to work that are sweatshops and boiler rooms - just with healthy food, ...
Compassion makes branding better
You might not think compassion has much to do with branding. We don't like to disagree. Actually, that's not true. We do like to disagree. (See what we did there?) We think compassion has everything to do with branding. (When clients identify compassion as a core belief during Root Sessions, we get a bit giddy.) As evidence, look at how the least compassionate brands fare in today's ...