Branding as leadership

When you stop to think about it, asking the marketing team to lead brand or rebranding efforts is the kind of decision that probably results in the kind of high-visibility failures we marketers love to trail-rattle about.

This was the setup of my first column for Inc.com (view all of my columns here): Rebranding is sophisticated leadership work, and we rarely if ever give the marketing teams charged with executing it any leadership training.

But imagine if we did. As I wrote:

Imagine a branding effort led by a team versed in John Kotter’s principles of change leadership. A team that understands the importance of and knows how to instill a sense of urgency for the rebrand; builds the proper internal coalition to advocate for it; creates a compelling vision for the future state of the new brand; enables others to act by removing barriers (as opposed to imposing talking points); and seeks to highlight early and small wins to build momentum.

That’s the kind of acumen Three Over Four brings to the table. And the kind of intersection between leadership and marketing I’m captivated by.

Contributing Columnist for Inc.com

What an honor that Inc.com has accepted me as a contributing columnist. My column, Community and Conversion, explores the intersection of leadership and marketing. This has been a theme for all kinds of writing and speaking for me, serves as a differentiator for my agency Three Over Four, and pretty much the as point of my book Leading in a Social World.

Kudos, as always, to Nichole Kelly, a marketing exec in the DC/Baltimore area, for leading me in the direction of the column’s name. Nichole was able to generate some serious value in her social media community when working with a debt relief organization, and it captured my attention during my book research. I was lucky enough to interview her, and learned that among other things, we share the idea that interceding in social spaces (like social media) is more community building than marketing. She told me “recognizing opportunities for human connection is very different from opportunities for conversion.” What a pice of gold of an insight.

I featured Nichole in my June Inc.com column, 2 Little Letters that Can Change Everything for Your Social Media Efforts. Here’s an excerpt, distilling the main concept of Leading in a Social World:

Social scientists have recognized for some time that social groups acting together for a collective purpose while putting individual desires and goals in an ancillary position-—ike what Kelly was able to achieve and what social media marketers usually just fantasize about and promise—is what generates actual value in social groups. Namely, social capital.

This is called associability. Two little letters. Big difference.

How is associability achieved? A nuanced focus on the ties that bind the connections together (including structural ties), allowing for agency, and trust. In a word, leadership.

The first column I wrote, Why Your Marketing Team Should Go to Fewer Marketing Conferences (and Where They Should Go Instead) looks at leadership and marketing’s intersection from a change leadership perspective. Here's an excerpt:

Imagine a branding effort led by a team versed in John Kotter's principles of change leadership. A team that understands the importance of and knows how to instill a sense of urgency for the rebrand; builds the proper internal coalition to advocate for it; creates a compelling vision for the future state of the new brand; enables others to act by removing barriers (as opposed to imposing talking points); and seeks to highlight early and small wins to build momentum.

Grasping those kinds of concepts is a lot to ask of a seasoned C Suite, let alone a team trained to create logos, set up drip campaigns, and report keyword rankings. And you just won't find any John Kotter breakout sessions at your typical marketing conference.

We’ll see how writing for an actual deadline suits me… I’ve never done it before! Wish me luck, or offer sympathies!

-Aaron

Aaron (Again) Published in Marketing Profs

I was fortunate to be published again in Marketing Profs again. I co-authored this one with the brilliant Nicole Gravagna, a behavior design pro and neuroscientist. Frankly, I used it as an excuse to reconnect with her because I find her mind incredibly stimulating.

It excerpts some concepts from my book, Leading in a Social World., focusing on how marketers are in literally a different head space when engaging in social media. This creates strong biases in understanding how social constructs actually generate value. It also builds strong biases when evaluating the data related to social media marketing's effectiveness. I dive into this data in my book, and I’ve also excerpted it in this blog post). TL;DR: It isn't effective. It sometimes can even damaged brand value.

Thanks to Marketing Profs, and to you for checking it out! Reach out if you want to discuss it, or have a bone to pick.

Aaron Published In Marketing Profs

MarketingProfs was kind enough to publish a piece of mine, “Why Social Media Should Leave Your Marketing Department—And Where It Should Go Instead".” It's a distillation of a few chapters in my forthcoming book, Leading in a Social World (leadinginasocialworld.com). In the piece I basically try to deconstruct social media marketing, and reconstruct it in a customer care space.

Check it out!