Telling Your Companys Story

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The marketing leaders from Carlisle FoodService Products, Move, dinCloud, and Digital Insurance on:

Telling Your Company’s Story: How to Share Your Company’s Brand with

Your CustomersBrian Hutton

Director, Marketing, Carlisle FoodService Products

Barbara O’Connor Executive Vice President, Marketing, Move Inc.

Ali M. Din Chief Marketing Officer, dinCloud Inc.

Elizabeth Chrane Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Digital Insurance

Chances are, your customers are more interested in your company’s unique identity — its history, mission, and record of innovation — than you think. Extensive customer engagement research across many

industries has revealed that people are more apt to invest in brands when they are familiar with the company’s background — the story of how a company came to be. This ExecBlueprint, authored by marketers from diverse industries, discusses how to create and share a company story to get customers excited about your brands. Your story should articulate the qualities that make you special in the eyes of customers: how your technology is state of the art, how your experts solve problems, how your products increase efficiency. Develop a storyline that will evolve as your company grows and your reach expands, but make sure to maintain your fundamental brand message across different channels and audiences. Ultimately, strive to create a company story that is authentic — reflecting not only the voices of the marketing department, but also those of your leaders, employees, and consumers. n

Action Points

I. What Makes an Engaging “Company Story”?Every company has a story to tell. Even amid others in the same industry, your company is different, owing to its unique history, expertise, and product/service offerings. Sharing your company’s “story” can be a valuable market-ing tool if you can emphasize the elements that matter to customers: How do your innovations make their lives and jobs easier? How can you solve their problems?

II. The Bottom LineYou can immediately benchmark the success of sharing your company’s story through customer surveys, focus groups, and traffic patterns on your web and social media sites. However, it may take longer to measure its actual impact on sales. But, as your brands are better under-stood, customers will be more likely to click on ads and links — and buy.

III. Must-Have Methods for Communicating the Company StoryThese days, there are so many ways for customers to access your content: websites, social media, blogs, e-newsletters, direct mail, paid media, PR events, and more. This means that you need to leverage all of these channels to share key elements of your story, and not just relegate them to the “About Us” page (that most custom-ers may never see).

IV. The Golden Rules for Engaging Stakeholders to Tell the Company StoryYour company’s employees cannot be effective brand ambassadors if they don’t know the company story. On the other hand, you need to hear the ideas and perspec-tives of leaders, employees, and customers if the story is going to evolve. From your customers, seek testimonials. And from company members, seek input at large and small meetings.

V. Essential Take-AwaysCompetitors may be able to approximate your company’s product or service offerings, but they will never be able to duplicate a well-rendered story. To ensure your com-pany’s story resonates with desired audiences, tailor your message to emphasize the elements most valued by your target audience. Finally, never let your story grow stale — refresh content continually to reflect the evolving needs and interests of your audience.

Contents

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2Brian Hutton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3Barbara O’Connor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.8Ali M. Din . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.13Elizabeth Chrane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.16Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.18

© Books24x7, 2013 About the Authors ExecBlueprints 2

About the Authors

Ali M. DinChief Marketing Officer, dinCloud Inc.

Elizabeth ChraneSenior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Digital Insurance

Ali Din manages partner relation-ships for dinCloud as well as marketing and communication.

Prior to this role, Mr. Din was the vice president of marketing and product development at En Pointe Technologies, managing key lines of business including HP, Microsoft, and e-business. Mr. Din

also launched the Software as a Service practice at En Pointe.

In 1999, he was employed at Sup-plyAccess, a B2B e-procurement soft-ware company that had received $36 million in funding from SAP Ventures, Tech Data, Peregrine, and others. As the implementation manager, he worked

with EDS EMEA to launch a multi-national software rollout. Other expe-riences include working in finance at Firstsource, a B2B e-tailer, which was later purchased by Office Depot.

Elizabeth Chrane, senior vice presi-dent of marketing and commu-nications, manages marketing,

communications, and business develop-ment activities for Digital Insurance. This award-winning, innovative execu-tive supports the company with her expertise in business-to-business and business-to-consumer communications.

Prior to joining the Digital team, Ms. Chrane had 15 years of experience in the

financial services and health care indus-tries. Based on her leadership roles at Opteum Financial Services, HomeBanc Mortgage, and TLC Laser Eye Centers, she was recognized by the Atlanta Busi-ness Chronicle as “Up and Comers: 40 Under 40,” and received the American Marketing Association’s Maverick Mar-keter of the Year award.

Ms. Chrane serves on the board of advisors for the Atlanta Metro Chamber

of Commerce and is a member of the American Marketing Association. She has also served as a Junior Achievement Fellow Program coach and a Buckhead YMCA team leader, as well as par-ticipated in leadership programs with Generative Consulting and the Buckhead Business Association.

Barbara O’Connor has served as executive vice president of mar-keting for Move Inc., since join-

ing the company in July 2012. In this role, she leads all marketing strategy for the company — including B2C, B2B, communications, brand, advertis-ing, creative, social media, performance marketing, events, and e-mail contract strategy.

Prior to joining Move, Ms. O’Connor spent nearly 10 years in senior roles at Yahoo!, including vice president of global consumer marketing, vice presi-dent of audience marketing, and vice president of customer contact strategy. During that time she led record-breaking, award-winning integrated marketing ini-tiatives for Yahoo!’s global media and commerce properties. She was also the worldwide group marketing manager for

Apple for more than 11 years, leading initiatives within the Internet group as well as the education division.

Ms. O’Connor has also won a num-ber of leadership awards and is fre-quently asked to speak on a number of marketing and management topics.

Barbara O’ConnorExecutive Vice President, Marketing, Move Inc.

Brian Hutton, director of busi-ness development, joined Carlisle FoodService Products in 1999. He

has been instrumental in implementing growth opportunities for Carlisle includ-ing government sales and innovation. Additionally, he leads the company’s annual improvement priority team in new product development processes.

During his time at Carlisle, Mr. Hutton has developed long-term growth strat-egies for marketing, communication, and new product development. He has conducted ongoing analyses of industry, customer, and market trends, and devel-oped strategies and actionable business plans for marketable products.

Prior to Carlisle, Mr. Hutton served as a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division in the U.S. Army. He is a gradu-ate of the Officer Candidate School, Airborne Jump School, and the Adjutant General’s Corps Officer Basic Course.

Brian HuttonDirector of Marketing, Carlisle FoodService Products

☛ Read Ali’s insights on Page 13

☛ Read Elizabeth’s insights on Page 16

☛ Read Barbara’s insights on Page 8

☛ Read Brian’s insights on Page 3

© Books24x7, 2013 Brian Hutton ExecBlueprints 3

Brian HuttonDirector, Marketing, Carlisle FoodService Products

Company BackgroundOur company has a long and sto-ried history. Founded in 1955 as a small original equipment manu-facturer (OEM) called Continental Plastics, the company ventured into

food service supplies by developing the first plastic bain marie contain-ers (the big round containers used to store tomato sauce and other bulk ingredients at pizza places and other commercial restaurants). This quickly revolutionized food storage for the restaurant industry because, prior to that, restaurants were using heavy steel, fragile glass, or unsanitary cardboard containers to store their ingredients.

A few years later, Continental Plastics also developed the first commercially sold plastic pitcher. Carlisle calls it the VersaPour®, but in the industry, it is still simply called the beer pitcher. Today, while the form has changed slightly and there has been some innovation in how the pitcher pours, it is still the same basic plastic pitcher that it was almost 60 years ago.

From there, the company set a standard for innovation and growth, with a focus on develop-ing products for the food service industry. Over the years we have received various design awards, and our products have even been featured in the Museum of Mod-ern Art. Although our form is

important in our designs, function is never compromised: our cus-tomers’ needs have always been considered at the forefront of our development process.

Expansions and Acquisitions In the 1970s Continental Plas-tics was acquired by the Carlisle Companies, which remains our corporate parent today. Carlisle Companies is an approximately $4 billion company that trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CSL. Having a large corporate par-ent provided us with greater capital to expand both through acqui-sitions and innovation. In 1991, Continental merged with SiLite Incorporated — a 46-year-old man-ufacturer of plastic food service products, giftware, and decorative accessories — to form Continental/SiLite International. SiLite brought some of the most famous lines of Melamine to our company. Brands included American Cup, Arrow-head, Kenro, and Brookpark. In 1997, Carlisle acquired the food service assets of Plastics Manufac-turing Company (PMC), another historic U.S. Melamine manufac-turer. PMC had introduced the first Melamine Compartment Tray, and their Texas-Ware® dinnerware is highly prized among collectors

of 20th century tableware today. With the addition of the PMC lines, Carlisle became the largest commercial-grade Melamine din-nerware maker based in the U.S.

We then acquired Sparta Brush, a broom and brush manufacturer focused on the food service and food processing industries. This acquisition was a strong strate-gic fit and added another market leader and innovator to Carlisle’s market basket of products. In order to better capitalize on the combined strength of Continen-tal/SiLite International and Sparta, and to reflect the increased value

Brian HuttonDirector, Marketing

Carlisle FoodService Products

“Our company story is the differentia-tor between our company and a num-ber of competitors that offer similar products at a similar price and quality level. This is what helps us to sell our value above those competitors.”

• With company since 1999

• Previously lieutenant, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army

• B.A., Communication, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

• M.S., Northwestern University

Mr. Hutton can be e-mailed [email protected]

With an ever-changing stable of products and brands, we must be careful that the large number of brands and company names we own does not dilute our overall corporate brand message.

Brian Hutton

Director, Marketing

Carlisle FoodService Products


Brian HuttonDirector, Marketing, Carlisle FoodService Products (continued)

we represented as a supplier to the food service industry, we changed our name to Carlisle FoodService Products in March of 1996. The new name provided us with a rec-ognizable global identity and sup-ported our vision of bringing real value to the markets we served in the form of a broad variety of qual-ity products and services tailored to the needs of food service operators.

In April of 2000 we acquired the Dura-Ware Company, a manufac-turer of cookware and bakeware for the commercial food service industry. We later acquired Marko International, a leading maker of vinyl and fabric table coverings as well as table skirting. In 2001 we added Toppo, the company that invented the original Speed-Rak®, a system that holds liquor bottles and pourers in a bar set-ting, and the maker of the first bar condiment caddy. The purchase of Flo-Pac Brush in 2003 established Carlisle as the nation’s largest man-ufacturer of commercial brooms and brushes.

Most recently we acquired Dinex, which is focused on inno-vation in the health care meal deliv-ery arena; it was a pioneer in the induction heating and insulated tray meal delivery systems that make hospital meals much more palatable and presentable.

A central theme runs through all of the companies acquired through Carlisle’s history: we continually innovate within our core compe-tencies to better meet the needs of our customer base.

With an ever-changing stable of products and brands, we must be careful that the large number of brands and company names we own does not dilute our over-all corporate brand message. To

accomplish this, we analyze cus-tomer perceptions of any name and the impact of a name change. We typically try to use the Car-lisle name whenever practicable because we are continuing to build the equity of the Carlisle name. We maintain the brands of products attained through our acquisitions only if they have large end-user equity. In cases where brands have established a strong awareness and identity, we keep the name as a sub-brand. Dinex, for example, is sold as Dinex, a Carlisle Com-pany. Our pastry brush line is sold under the Sparta Brush brand, but is a sub-brand of the Carlisle San-itary Maintenance Products com-pany aegis.

Carlisle’s Differentiating Qualities There are several aspects of Carl-isle’s story that set us apart from others in the industry. The first is a long and established history of innovation that spans nearly 60 years. This positions Carlisle as a leader and the company to call first to find a solution to any oper-ational need or problem. This rep-utation was built through strong relationships with our customers

and by listening and responding to their needs many times over many years. That is a competency that is not easy to duplicate.

A second differentiator is our breadth of lines and expertise. We have a large number of solutions that are focused on the needs of our customers, and this gives us a unique capacity to meet custom-ers’ needs. With our acquisitions came a wide variety of manufactur-ing capabilities, allowing us a great deal of flexibility to identify the best processes to use for different customers and operational needs. As an example, injection mold-ing is one of our core competen-cies and is ideal for reducing part costs. However, the tooling can be expensive. We can also manufac-ture using thermoforming, which may be a better solution for certain products since it takes less tooling capital to get started and is great for short production runs or prod-uct tests, though the part costs are a bit higher. We also can manufac-ture in both metal and plastic and work in a wide range of different materials. In other words, we have a variety of strengths tailored to the specific needs of our customers — not limited to niche capabili-ties. This breadth differentiates us

Expert Advice

Continuing the Evolution of the Company Story We work to ensure that we are not simply resting on our laurels. A product that is a unique, innovative design today does not stay unique and innovative for long, so we must continue to evolve and listen to our customers. There are ongoing threats from competitors and importers who will match our product offerings quickly, so we need to stay ahead of that. Our industry is also evolving and changing on an ongoing basis, making it incumbent upon us to always adapt to trends, menu changes, and increasing expectations of operators for better, faster, safer, more accurate. To stay in tune with our customers and ahead of competitors, we are always listen-ing to our customers, and staying connected with them so that we can continue to be their first choice.



from most of our competitors, who tend to be more focused on a sin-gle manufacturing capability, thus forcing the customer to adjust. In contrast, we are able to recommend the best solution based on the cus-tomer’s needs.

Communicating the Company’s Story Through Digital Marketing MaterialsWe communicate our company story through our marketing mate-rials in a number of ways. Our story is built into the narrative that we tell about our products, so it is certainly a part of our cat-alog and web presence. Our cata-logs and brochures reinforce and restate our history of being inno-vative, versatile, and durable, and of meeting customers’ needs. Every

time we show a product, we are demonstrating how we make prod-ucts that customers can buy once and not need to worry about — products that will make their work easier and meet their operational needs. We continue to tell that story through our descriptive bul-lets, features, and benefits, as well as through our larger story and branding on the web, in advertis-ing, and on direct mail pieces. At Carlisle, our story is far more than an “about us” page on the web — it is a key part of our corporate culture.

We are primarily a B2B manu-facturer, as we sell to distributors who then sell to restaurants and other customer types. Our primary focus has been on using technology to improve service, so we focused on e-commerce and on delivering

relevant information to our cus-tomers and end users through our front-facing web presence. The next phase of that evolution will be the launch of our responsive web. “Responsive web” determines what type of device you are using (e.g., computer, smart phone, or tablet) and automatically sizes and scales the content for optimum viewing, thus eliminating the inconvenience of having to pinch, zoom, and scroll while navigating content on a smartphone or other device. Since more customers are viewing our items in the field on mobile devices as opposed to traditional print cat-alogs, it is vital to provide the infor-mation they need in the format they need it and in a way that is easy to use. We even add QR codes to our catalogs and brochures link-ing to our website. Customers can

Carlisle’s Marketing Strategy: Using Old and New Mediato Convey an Ever-Evolving Company Story

Core messages:Carlisle sells products that…• Customers only have to buy

once• Make work easier• Meet operational goals

Media channels:Old media:• Catalogs• Brochures• Direct mail materials

Online:• The “responsive” website can

discern the type of device the visitor is using and scale content for optimum viewing.

• QR codes in catalogs and brochures provide links to company website

Social media:• YouTube demonstration videos• Facebook• Instagram• Twitter

Core company qualities:• Innovation• Versatility• Durability• Responsiveness to customer

needs



just snap a picture with a QR code reader and be redirected to our site and all the information they need:

Social media, however, is rel-atively new for us. We have cre-ated some YouTube demonstration videos, which we use to provide training and information to our sales team and a wider audience of potential customers. We are also starting to get involved in other forms of social media such as Face-book and Instagram. These are our primary focus areas, with Twitter as a secondary focus. We are using a third-party public relations and media consultancy group to help us first do internal and competi-tive benchmarking. We will use this understanding to create a social media strategy and build a pres-ence in this space that is relevant and impactful to our customers.

Tailoring the Company Story for Different Customer SegmentsWe tailor our company story and marketing presentation to our dif-ferent customer segments. We have three primary customer bases. First, our largest, is the commercial res-taurant base. We focus on their needs both in terms of front-of-the-house tabletop items, an area where the look and feel of prod-ucts is important, as well as in the kitchen and the back of the house

where we talk about efficient stor-age solutions, portion control, and product safety.

Our second customer base is health care meal delivery, which is focused on hospitals and long-term care facilities. These cus-tomers make large equipment purchases that have a long pur-chase cycle. We focus on some of the hospital’s unique needs that a restaurant would not necessarily have, such as the need to not only produce a high quality meal but also transport it and maintain its temperature for as long as 30 or 45 minutes before it is delivered to a patient.

The third market is the sani-tary maintenance market, which is a completely different indus-try. For this market we focus on the unique needs of janitors and building service contractors. There are some similarities because we are always promoting greater efficiency and tools that are dura-ble, easy to use, and capable of meeting their operational needs. We discuss items that customers do not want to think about once they are purchased. Our goal is to design these products and convey our story that customers can buy them once and not think of them again. Although there are some similarities from market to market, there are also some obvious differ-ences and unique characteristics we must address with regard to how various tools perform.

Value of Telling the Company StoryThe value of telling our company story may not be directly quantifi-able, but we see that building each brand through our story helps pull

through a full range of products. We use innovation and our well-designed smart tools as the basis for our story. We demonstrate this through our new and innovative products, which are also the ones that many people focus on. How-ever, the positive image translates across the entire brand and helps pull through the whole market basket that we offer, including the commodity products. The entire brand, the entire product portfo-lio, benefits from the story we tell with a new product, creating real value in the story itself.

As previously stated we have begun benchmarking — using sur-veys and voice of customer research — to better understand how cus-tomers perceive our brand. A large amount of the engagement is with people who do not have a set image of the company, so it provides us with the opportunity to gain insight regarding where we fit or where there are gaps relative to the com-petition. This is a great way for us to understand if our message is get-ting across and how well people understand and interpret it. In par-ticular, focus group research helps us gain these insights. If we see peo-ple have not heard our message, or do not understand our message, then we will immediately tweak how we are delivering that message — and the media we are using to deliver it. Sometimes the confusion is unique to one individual but such feedback certainly initiates the con-versation later conducted with the executive team to ensure we are evolving and tailoring our message to be responsive to our customers. Thus, this information we gather directly influences how we tailor our strategies.



Sharing the Company Story with International MarketsWe sell in over 80 different coun-tries and each region has their own responsibility for developing mar-keting materials that are specific to

that region or market. They under-stand the region, the unique mar-ket needs of each of those regions (along with the subtle nuances of each culture), and develop the messaging based on that under-standing. Any global message has

to tie back to our overall brand-ing theme, which is fairly univer-sal, but they have a large amount of latitude to interpret our story based on the unique market needs in their part of the world. n

© Books24x7, 2013 Barbara O’Connor ExecBlueprints 8

Barbara O’ConnorExecutive Vice President, Marketing, Move Inc.

Company BackgroundOur company has been in exis-tence for 17 years. Over this time, we have had multiple brands tied to different products and solu-tions. Some of the solutions were built from within the company and some were acquired. As a result, we have multiple stories for many of these brands. Part of my job is to consolidate the various solutions and create a B2C brand (consumer

marketing) and story as well as a B2B brand (business marketing) and story, each tied to the differ-ent audiences and to different prod-ucts. Ultimately, we tie the B2C story together with the B2B story since they are synergistic and create a virtual cycle that helps strengthen and differentiate our offering.

Comparison to Industry StandardsOver time, the products that we and our competitors offer have become increasingly similar, and more commoditized, thus mak-ing it imperative that we identify those attributes, values, and solu-tions that differentiate us. One area of differentiation is that we have a partnership with the NAR (National Association of Realtors), so we license our consumer brand

and listings directly from the Mul-tiple Listing Services (MLS). As part of that relationship and our own beliefs, we firmly believe that involving a professional in the real estate process is essential. As more and more of the information is published on the web and mobile platforms, a realtor may become involved later in the process than in the past but, nonetheless, the benefit of adding the expertise of

these trained professionals cannot be minimized. Involving a realtor also ensures that a human expert is providing the best assessment of property value, and considering the subtleties of each market, rather than using a computer algorithm to assign value.

A large part of our brand goal is to be human, approachable, and capable of establishing an emo-tional connection with our audi-ence. Our research shows that customers do not have the same per-ception of our competitors. Thus, we compete on the brand level as well as the attributes that we want associated with our brand, attri-butes the market has designated as important in their decision-making process.

Because we receive our data directly from the MLS, and update the majority of it every 15 minutes,

our information is the most accu-rate and timely of all our compet-itors. In a tight housing market, such as we are in at this time, hav-ing the most accurate and timely information gives our customers a huge competitive advantage since the home they want is likely one that others will want as well. Our audience does not need to waste time falling in love and chasing homes that are already sold or no longer on the market. Instead, they can focus their search on what is truly available and be the first to bid. This is a great competitive advantage, and the basis of one of our current campaigns.

Over time, the products that we and our competi-tors offer have become more similar, and more commoditized, thus making it imperative that we identify those attributes, values, and solutions that differentiate us.

Barbara O’Connor

Executive Vice President, Marketing

Move Inc.

Barbara O’ConnorExecutive Vice President, Marketing

Move Inc.

“Our story is a part of everything we do.”

• With company since 2012

• Responsible for all marketing strategies, including branding

• Previously senior marketer at Yahoo!

• B.S., University of California, San Francisco

• M.B.A., Marketing, Santa Clara University

Ms. O’Connor can be e-mailed [email protected]


Barbara O’ConnorExecutive Vice President, Marketing, Move Inc. (continued)

We also have more engagement on our various platforms (desktop, tablet, and mobile) than our com-petition. Customers are spending time on “For Sale” pages, looking at many potential homes rather than some of the “lighter con-tent” on our competitors. There-fore, we have more serious buyers and sellers spending more time on our sites than our competitors do. This engagement drives high qual-ity leads to our realtors, which is one of our ultimate goals and mon-etization strategies.

The Company’s Story as Part of the BrandWe started making the company storytelling part of our brand and marketing campaign after we con-ducted sufficient research (both quantitative and qualitative) to ensure the attributes in the stories we share resonated with our most valuable constituencies. We also collect and share our customers’ stories since their words are much more impactful than ours.

We communicate our story through both traditional and newer marketing channels, leveraging our website, e-mail/newsletters, social media, blogging, public relations, and events. We do some direct mail but have found it less effec-tive than some of the other vehicles because of its higher cost and our limited ability to test and modify sections or images/infographics, as compared to online channels. We put great effort into making sure all employees can tell the story with the level of consistency that is essential for our brand.

We include our story in the types of marketing campaigns we con-duct, in the type of partnerships

we choose, in the blogs we write, in the nature of our tweets, and in our overall social marketing strategy. We integrate it throughout every-thing we do directly and what we do with our partners, highlighting those aspects that shine in the var-ious channels.

In addition, every interview we do includes elements of our story. Although these elements remain consistent, they may be exemplified by a different “proof point” that leads back to our brand and our key differentiation. We also high-light our narrative by sharing cus-tomer examples and quotes.

Some of the best ways we bring our story to life are through pho-tos and videos. In companywide “all-hands” meetings, we show a “sizzle reel,” which is a short video of recent press, tweets, and men-tions. This approach allows us to keep our story fresh and engaging internally. We also create a one-page sheet — “Facts that Matter” — that we distribute to our sales teams monthly. We have a style guide that we share internally and with key creative partners to ensure that no matter who is doing work, we maintain the consistency and key elements that differentiate us

and engage our audience. Once the story becomes stale, the enthu-siasm with which it is told dimin-ishes and we know it is time for us to do a refresh.

Using the Company Logo, Icon, and Tagline to Convey the Company’s StoryTo share our company’s updated story, we conducted a rebranding effort of our consumer logo, icon, and tagline. We have a new logo, new colors, and a new tagline that together convey our values and the attributes we aspire to achieve. We conducted extensive research and segmentation, prioritized the var-ious segments, and then did more research with the most important groups to hear their input on vari-ous versions of the new logo, color treatment, and tagline. Given how much our customers loved the new look and feel, we even modified our site and all collateral to consistently use the new design.

One of the colors we chose, deep teal, generated early debate. Some executives questioned its choice. As a result, we conducted further research and found that teal was an ideal choice given its association

Expert Advice

Enrichment of the Company Story In the next 12 months, we will continue to enrich our consumer story and conduct a complete rebranding exercise on our B2B business. We will use all the best practices we learned from our work on our B2C business and follow the research and focus group findings to hone the telling of our B2B story. We will also try new channels, because I am sure there will be plenty of new approaches available during this time period. As always, we will test and learn, and select the winning approach. We will work with our outside agency to help us with the creative development of our brand logo, colors, and tagline, and work with our outside research firm to conduct the action-oriented research that is critical for this type of project. We will get early buy-in from our executive team and share widely with people from various parts of the company and from key partners on the outside.



with prestige, security, and money. It is also an up-and-coming web color as companies seek to move away from the omnipresent blues and greens that have been popu-lar in recent years. Others ques-tioned changing the lettering of our logo from upper case to lower case. We reminded them that we made that design change directly

from customer feedback that said it made the brand feel more alive, friendlier, and less stodgy. The lower case letters resonated with both the old and the younger audi-ence. For a company that has been around for 17 years and is now fac-ing competition from new, nimble startups, this was a good result.

Using the Company Website to Convey the Company’s StoryContent related to our story is not isolated to just one page of our website labeled “About Us.” This approach may have worked 15 years ago, but today sites are accessed via mobile, e-mail, and

Compare all results to prior years.

Conduct pre- and post-awareness surveys.

Track stories in press and by social writers on topics discussed.

Analyze customer behavior on websites:• Traffic patterns• Return visits• Time spent on site• Usage of mobile apps• Sales patterns

Benchmarking

1

Note: ROI results will not be evident until at least a year following the campaign.

Analyze how they monetize in the short and longer term:• Increase in the lifetime value of a

customer• Decrease in acquisition cost per

consumer

Measure increase in site metrics on all platforms.

2

Measuring the Success of Spreading the StoryThrough Benchmarking and Calculating ROI



social networks. All of these ele-ments must have components of the story built in to be successful. In the world of search engine mar-keting, search engine optimiza-tion, and social, there is no longer one main homepage that everyone touches to enter most sites.

Using Paid Advertisements to Convey the Company’s StoryI think of paid advertisement as just another channel that provides us the opportunity to win a spot in the end-user’s mindset. While paid media may be more promo-tional in nature, we still try to con-vey our unique selling proposition in a way that is relevant to the tar-geted sub-segment. Additionally, as we move more and more toward video advertising, we feel we have a rich canvas upon which to con-vey our brand and develop an emo-tional attachment to our audience. When we request content as part of promotions or sweepstakes, we are asking our audience to add to our story and hence make it theirs as well. This technique is power-ful, and one that has proven to be extremely successful.

Best Practices for Working with Senior-Level ExecutivesGaining buy-in is essential if you want authenticity in your approach, and the best way to gain buy-in from the executive staff is to com-municate frequently and openly. In doing so, I have gained tremen-dous agreement with our approach as well as new ideas that I had not thought of before. People in differ-ent groups have different vantage

points, and employees who have a longer history with the company than I have can add tremendous context to our story telling. The executives are part of the story itself and part of our process of tell-ing our story.

When we have disagreements, we discuss the reasons for the vari-ous points of view as the first steps. If that does not help the concerns, we see if we can do a quick test with our customers to gain insights. The beauty of the digital world is that it is easy to find out quickly how your constituencies will respond. When we encountered differences of opin-ion, we conducted some A/B tests and shared the results openly with the team. Since storytelling is part art and part science, gaining key data points can be helpful in set-tling disagreement. At the end of the day, our chief executive officer has established areas of account-ability; if I need to make a tough decision for an area where I am accountable, I do so.

Modification of Strategies for Different DemographicsWe absolutely modify our strategies to meet the needs and wants of our sub-segments; however, this does not mean we tell one group one thing and another group something different. In contrast, we empha-size parts of our story differently for different segments. We certainly modify our story for demographics, but we also adapt to psychograph-ics, and to where the user is in the lifecycle.

Different generations are com-fortable with different ways of communicating. For example, my children feel that it is absolutely appropriate to break any news with

me via text message. A text mes-sage to tell me they are engaged? Of course! But I could never send a text message to my mother to share that information; she would expect a phone call followed up by a well-written letter (or maybe, just maybe, an e-mail) with lots of information and context.

The same is true with the var-ious age segments of our audi-ences. We try to learn the preferred communication channel for each audience member and seek to com-municate via that channel. There-fore, we send e-mail newsletters as well as postal newsletters. We also place the newsletters on our web-site and tablet platforms. We are looking at conducting more short videos and webinars to convey other messages that audiences can view at their convenience. We use the control panels of our systems; you name it, we consider it depend-ing on the audience and the degree of seriousness of the message.

Benchmarking the Effect and ROI of the Company’s Narrative on Customer EngagementWe benchmark our success in two main ways. The first is in customer behavior; we monitor the traffic patterns, return visits, time spent on the site, and usage of our mobile apps, as well as sales patterns. We then compare the results with those of prior years. Additionally, we look to measure pickup by the press and social writers on topics we have discussed and compare our SOV on these versus prior periods. The second way we benchmark our success is via a pre- and post-awareness survey, which provides key metrics on aided and unaided



awareness and allows us to com-pare our Net Promoter Scores with those of our competitors. We see how we perform on the key attri-butes that are core to our story and hope to find a lift on those we have prioritized as key to our future growth and success.

The ROI of effectively telling our company’s story is measured by the increase in our site metrics on all platforms, and it monetizes in the short and longer term. The

ROI ties to an increase in the life-time value of a customer and the decrease in acquisition cost per cus-tomer. As our brand and story are better understood, all of our other marketing channels perform bet-ter for the same cost. Audiences remember something about our brand and are more likely to click on ads and links.

However, the ROI is different than a direct marketing program, where you can see an immediate

result from your actions. The ROI measurement is much longer term in nature, typically at least a year in length, and unless a company invests in a holdout group, it cannot be directly tied to the brand storytelling alone. A well-run brand campaign coupled with direct marketing can be an effective combination to stay top of mind with customers and con-tinue to drive traffic to the site. n

© Books24x7, 2013 Ali M. Din ExecBlueprints 13

Ali M. DinChief Marketing Officer, dinCloud Inc.

Company Background My company, dinCloud, helps its customers migrate their IT infra-structure to the cloud. dinCloud provides “business provisioning,” which means really focusing on the on-boarding for our customers. It is not just about having an infra-structure sitting in a cloud envi-ronment; it is the journey that they take to get into the cloud. We try to hand-hold them as much as possi-ble throughout that journey.

This company spun off from a former company two years ago. We took what we had learned from the larger company, along with some resources, and incubated it for a lit-tle while. We then started becom-ing more independent to the point where we were totally independent from the bigger company.

Our target customers are busi-nesses that range from 25 to a few hundred employees.

Setting Ourselves ApartOne of the ways that we differ-entiate ourselves from other com-panies is through our philosophy. Generally, the biggest concern peo-ple have with the cloud is security. When we started this company, we focused on cloud security. Our logo is a picture of a cloud with a lock on it, which is our way of letting our prospects know we understand their concern and want to address

it head on. We had the luxury of being able to address this con-cern right from the start when we formed our company.

Providing an excellent user expe-rience was the other component of our philosophy. We wanted to deliver a reliable service that was up and running 24x7 and consis-tently performing to high expec-tations. In a nutshell, we wanted to offer secure cloud computing our customers could rely on to

perform well at all times. Once we on-boarded a customer, their expe-rience with our service would help us retain their business and boost loyalty.

We were fortunate that we were able to design from the ground up as a cloud-based company. Every-thing was already virtualized; we did not face the traditional problem of having our data center geared into separate “boxes.” This charac-teristic helped distinguish us from our competitors, as we were able to offer a much higher level of flexi-bility and options.

As a company, we do a lot of continued work with our custom-ers and partners; we do not just close a sale and walk away. We help our customers through the post-sale process to ensure that the initial impression they have of our service remains excellent throughout their lifecycle with us.

The Evolution of Our Services Without question, high tech — and in particular, cloud computing — is a very dynamic industry. In this industry, you have to be willing to pivot on your entire business model if the industry starts trending in a different direction.

Originally, we began with the intent of being the leader in hosted virtual desktops. Over time, we have evolved into “busi-ness provisioning,” meaning that we provide the entire IT infrastruc-ture in the cloud. Our hosted desk-top story stated that we combine

Ali M. DinChief Marketing Officer

dinCloud Inc.

“From a marketing perspective, we have been consistent in how we pres-ent the company.”

• Manages company’s partner relation-ships, marketing, and communication

• Previously VP, marketing and product development, En Pointe Technologies

• B.A., Economics, University of Cali-fornia at Los Angeles

• M.B.A., Marketing, University of Southern California

Mr. Din can be e-mailed [email protected]

Given that our service is intangible, it’s impor-tant to give the audience something tangible [such as video] that words cannot convey.

Ali M. Din

Chief Marketing Officer

dinCloud Inc.


Ali M. DinChief Marketing Officer, dinCloud Inc. (continued)

the concepts of Apple’s iCloud and Netflix, enabling customers to access their entire digital world from any device.

We changed that messaging as we worked with customers and realized they needed more than just a hosted desktop. The value we offered customers was turning more toward business provision-ing, and we realized that while peo-ple have desktops, they also have applications running on servers. From there, we realized the appli-cations on the servers generate data our customers wanted to store and back up, so we provided cloud stor-age and backups.

Our latest evolution is to move toward business continuity. After Superstorm Sandy hit the northeast U.S., customers were seeking ways to weather the storm, so to speak. Our customers need to be able to continue running their businesses even if they do not have access to their own computers. As a result, we are now working on helping our customers handle disaster recovery as well as business continuity.

Using Social MediaOnline marketing and social media are important components that we leveraged from the begin-ning. To market most effectively to our demographic of small- and medium-sized businesses, we eval-uated all of the possible social media sites. While Facebook is not a major focus for us as a B2B (business to business) marketer, we realized we could not neglect it completely, so we use it to show-case the personality of our brand, and to display the lighter side of our company. On LinkedIn, we

participate in online groups and make company announcements.

Twitter, on the other hand, is more about sharing useful infor-mation. We do not tweet ads or try to persuade viewers to buy something. There are three types of Twitter users: listeners, talkers, and gurus. We wanted to be a guru. We wanted to evoke thought lead-ership and have people come to us, not constantly barrage people with our message.

YouTube is also part of our social media arsenal. While video is pervasive on the Internet, most company websites do not use it. Through postings on our own site and on YouTube, we use video to help people understand our company from a storytelling perspective.

Measuring Audience Engagement The problem with using so many social media channels to reach potential customers is that we have to measure engagement through all of them. On LinkedIn, we look at the number of followers. That site has an engagement percentage meter and we can track whether we are keeping engagement levels

high. We also monitor the number of visitors sent to our website via LinkedIn, a site that tends to send us the highest amount of traffic. Facebook enables us to track the number of followers and visitors to our site as well. Based on these metrics, we have learned that while fewer people come over from Face-book than LinkedIn, those who do visit our site from Facebook stay far longer. This insight suggests that once we have engaged custom-ers and they know our personal-ity, they are willing to invest more time to learn more about the com-pany. In summary, when we eval-uate engagement of social media sites, we look at:

• Followers and growth over time

• Pages per visit once they arrive and compare to other sites

• Average time spent on the web-site and compare to other sites

Using Graphics and Color to Tell a Story Our website has gone through four major renovations in the past two years. We wanted a site that was welcoming, but also on-trend with

Expert Advice

Marketing Strategies The challenge that we had in the start-up environment was working with limited funds. We couldn’t spend a lot of money on demand generation. Also, since our product was new technology, education was required before our potential customers could really understand what we were offering.

We decided to focus on building our brand. To do so on a limited budget, we turned to media and analyst relations and invested in a PR firm. In order for people to become comfortable with our technology, we felt someone else needed to spread the word about our abilities; we couldn’t toot our own horn. This third-party credibility has really helped get our name and products to people who had never previously heard of us. Once the brand became known, we could start to leverage it and shift into demand generation and lead generation.


Ali M. DinChief Marketing Officer, dinCloud Inc. (continued)

“hip” web properties. In develop-ing our site, we studied many of our competitors’ sites to see what they were doing. We wanted lighter imagery to tie into our cloud-based offerings. The goal was to make people feel as if they were floating through our site. Another factor that drove our design was that our desire to create a site that reflected our ambitions, a site resembling that of a billion-dollar company. When we put all these factors together, we were able to create our site and logo.

For example, because our logo has minimal colors, the cost of reproduction is low and it can still be clearly seen when faxed or printed. We leveraged a minimal color palette to contain costs.

Our graphics tell a story, and we use them liberally throughout our website so that people can gener-ally understand our message with-out taking a lot of time to read our information. Because our service is intangible, it is important to give the audience something tangible that words cannot convey. This is also the reason we tend to use more video than the average product-based company.

Staying ConsistentWhen you are telling a story, even one that has a few twists and turns in it, consistency is essential. Avoid frequently changing your slogan or logo or altering your key posi-tioning statement. Start broad so

you don’t pigeon-hole yourself into something that is too niche. For example, instead of saying you are a “railroad company,” call your-self a “transportation company.”

When changes are necessary, ensure any adjustments blend into the original storyline so they appear as though they have been part of the message all along. As we started expanding our product offerings, we were able to convey the same story simply by pointing out how a desktop leads to a server, which generates data, which leads to data storage, which in turn leads to the need for backups. We wove every element together so that the leap from one item to the next was credible. n

Essential Strategies for Telling a Company’s Story

Stay consistent: don’t keep changing the slogan, logo, or

key positioning statement.

Start broad: don’t pigeon-hole the company into a

niche.

Blend in changes, so that they appear to have been part of the story all along.

Tie all elements of the offering together.

© Books24x7, 2013 Elizabeth Chrane ExecBlueprints 16

Elizabeth ChraneSenior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Digital Insurance

Our Story of EvolutionOurs is a story of evolution: one that is opportunistic and entrepre-neurial. Our company was formed in the “dot-com” heyday with the idea that employee group benefits could easily be sold online. Mil-lions of dollars were invested in technology…and then no one came to buy. Instead of giving up, the founders decided to use that same technology as an effective man-agement platform and convinced

the largest agencies in the world to outsource their small-business employee benefits to us. They did the selling, and we managed the accounts for approximately half of the commission. Time went on and the employee benefits industry continued to evolve, producing an opportunity to buy blocks of busi-ness from agency owners searching for a perpetuation plan for their cli-ents. This was a new way to grow our business to mid-market-sized businesses.

As the size of the business increased, so did the need for more face-to-face interactions. The com-pany subsequently expanded by acquiring successful small agen-cies that could use our platform and our brand and become experts in the local markets. Now, health care reform is upon us and many in the industry are worried about their capability to succeed in the current environment. They need

our platform and our resources, and they can benefit greatly from a local market advisor with deep knowledge. A big part of our growth is through mergers and acquisitions, so this part of our story has been instrumental to our success.

Then there is the client story. Our client story evolves as the needs of employers change, and as we add new capabilities and ser-vices. When we were strictly an

outsourcing solution, we were able to provide services and tools for small employers that most brokers never provided. That was our dif-ferentiator. As our clients grew in size, we added capabilities and new advisory roles to meet their grow-ing needs.

Demonstrating What Makes Us UniqueEmployee-benefits brokers could easily become a commodity-type service if the industry were strictly about the health and ancillary ben-efits offered. However, the advisor plays an important role in helping middle-market and small employ-ers make business-savvy decisions about employee benefits.

Right now, many advisors are taking a “wait-and-see” approach to health care reform. Accord-ingly, we have decided this is an opportunity to offer education and

consulting services that other bro-kers do not. Our goal is to help our clients and their employees become better health care consum-ers, and we provide these resources free of charge to all of our cli-ents. A unique offering we provide is our Customer Advocate Cen-ter, which focuses on the needs of employees and their dependents. In addition to supporting our own business goals, this service helps

Elizabeth ChraneSenior Vice President,

Marketing and Communications Digital Insurance

“We use our story to help people understand our evolution and recog-nize we are in a unique position to help our clients.”

• Manages the company’s marketing, communications, and business devel-opment activities

• 15 years of leadership experience in the financial services and health care industries

• Bachelor’s degree, Business, Wake Forest University

• Completed executive certification program on marketing strategies and analysis at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

Ms. Chrane can be e-mailed [email protected]

One way we have adapted our storytelling is by sharing more about individuals in the company and our involvement in local communities.

Elizabeth Chrane

Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Digital Insurance

© Books24x7, 2013 Elizabeth Chrane ExecBlueprints 17

Elizabeth ChraneSenior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Digital Insurance (continued)

combat health care challenges and educational issues at a deeper level.

An Evolving StoryOne way we have adapted our story telling is by sharing more about individuals in the company and our involvement in local communi-ties. Our name, Digital Insurance, immediately conjures a technology firm in people’s minds. We want people to understand that technol-ogy enables us to build stronger, more personal relationships with our clients.

To make our story more per-sonal, we are engaging in more social media initiatives. We have a team of internal bloggers who occupy a variety of positions within the company, from IT profession-als to managing principals to our receptionist. They share stories about internal matters, as well as client stories that illustrate the cul-ture and character of our company. (Privacy, of course, is carefully protected.) They may share how our company is doing a wellness challenge to become healthier, or they may talk about our commu-nity involvement with the local children’s hospital. Providing this glimpse into the inner workings of our company gives our investors, clients, and prospects a better idea of the type of company we are.

In terms of sharing our story on an internal level, one of our found-ers holds regular “Storytelling

Sessions” during which he picks a current industry topic and tells the story from a Digital Insurance point of view. Company employ-ees attend and ask questions. Every question originates from a different listener’s perspective. For instance, those working directly with cli-ents may choose to tell the story slightly differently than a sales per-son would. We record each session and then post it on our intranet for others who were not able to attend.

Understanding Different Client Needs Understanding specific consumer profiles is an integral part of our story and a key factor in promot-ing better brand awareness. Busi-nesses of different sizes tend to vary in their needs and interests, and awareness of these differences enables us to provide optimal ser-vice to each of our clients. For instance, we have a team that man-ages our smallest business clients, who have anywhere from two to

ten employees. Typically, small-business employers wear many hats and do not employ a separate per-son or team to manage human resources and employee benefits. These clients have less time to deal with these responsibilities and they require a wide range of services within a specific time frame. So “optimal service” to these clients means spending less time on the story and more time on getting to the point.

Larger companies may have more resources, but their needs are different. They want to know more about who we are as a com-pany, and how our culture and eth-ics will integrate with their own.

Other interesting demograph-ics within our consumer base are the decision makers and the day-to-day contacts. Decision makers want a strong advisor who can help advance their business objectives and analyze return on investment. Day-to-day contacts are often most interested in how we can help them do their job better. n

Expert Advice

We also use our intranet to encourage internal collaboration and to improve our performance as a company. The site is called DISH (Discuss. Inform. Share. [what’s] Happening). On DISH we build communal spaces where employees can share experiences, challenges, and insights that help us become better at what we do. Often a forum will begin with a discussion about one topic and gradually, comments back and forth will build a valuable story. Our employees are dispersed all over the nation and many work remotely from home offices. Therefore, DISH has served as an important tool to promote company unity, as well as help share and grow our story.

© Books24x7, 2013 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 18

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points I. What Makes an Engaging “Company Story”?As the term implies, narratives about your com-pany are what makes your organization — and its brand(s) — unique in its industry and markets. In a word, the story contains elements that differenti-ate your service and product offerings from others, even those in the same niche and price point. Ulti-mately, an effective company story can be used to help customers, stakeholders, employees, and the community understand how and why your com-pany evolved the way that it did. Interesting facts to incorporate in your company’s story are:

• For older companies, how your company developed, and how (and why) it has changed course over the years

• How your company’s products/services repre-sent innovations for the industry

• How your technological capabilities enable a broader and more flexible suite of product and service solutions

• How you build relationships with customers and demonstrate a commitment to service

• How customers can leverage your company’s personal expertise and accurate information to make wiser purchasing decisions

• How your products/services make your customers’ lives (and jobs) easier/better

• How you can address customer concerns and solve their problems

II. The Bottom LineYou will probably not be able to quantify the full value of telling your company’s story because a lot of these efforts will not yield immediate sales — even though they are enhancing your custom-ers’ overall impression of your organization and brand(s). However, as your brand and story become better understood, you will find that all of your marketing channels will grow more efficient at gen-erating results. “Hard” and “soft” ways to assess the effectiveness of your messages include:

• Asking customers how they perceive your brand(s) and key attributes that are core to your story through surveys and voice of the customer research

• Conducting focus groups with customers to learn more specific reactions to campaigns and product/service offerings

• Analyzing web and social media activity, such as:

• Traffic patterns, including how visitors arrive at your site(s)

• Number of return visits

• Time spent on site(s)

• Usage of mobile apps

• Number of followers

• Tracking message pickup by press and social writers on topics you have previously discussed

• Comparing sales patterns with those of previ-ous years

• Calculating lifetime value and acquisition cost per customer

III. Must-Have Methods for Communicating the Company StoryTo be maximally effective as a marketing tool, your company story should be part of all your messaging, and not just relegated to the “About Us” page on your website. These days, because customers have so many ways to access information about you and your brand(s), one portal is no longer sufficient for sharing such critical content. To ensure broad expo-sure, the authors suggest spreading your story by:

• Using “responsive” websites that determine what type of device the visitor is using, and express the company story and themes throughout (without requiring extensive reading)

• Incorporating key attributes in your com-pany’s logo and taglines

• Mounting demonstration videos on YouTube and your website(s)

• Establishing a presence on Facebook, Insta-gram, and LinkedIn

• Becoming a “guru” on Twitter

• Blogging about internal developments and client stories

• Distributing e-mail and postal newsletters

• Sending direct mail

• Continuing to invest in paid advertisements

• Conducting webinars and other PR activities and events

IV. The Golden Rules for Engaging Stakeholders to Tell the Company StoryBrands are not built in a vacuum, but rather involve the continual input of your company’s leadership, employees, and customers to ensure the messages you share about your offerings (and company) remain fresh and relevant. You should also ensure that your employees are able to share this infor-mation with consistency and enthusiasm. Effective ways to involve these various groups in commu-nicating the latest news about your brand(s) and company story are:

• Gathering customer testimonials and experi-ences with your brand(s) on video

• Communicating frequently with the execu-tive staff to circulate new ideas and resolve disagreements

• Distributing fact sheets to sales teams

• Developing a style guide that informs staff on how to present and discuss your brand(s) in various contexts

• Sharing short videos of recent press, tweets, and mentions at companywide meetings

• Holding “storytelling sessions” with staff where a current industry topic is presented and employees contribute their perspectives through questions

• Establishing communal spaces on the company intranet where employees can build stories by sharing experiences, challenges, and insights

V. Essential Take-AwaysIt’s a well-worn fact: to survive today’s rapid pace of business, a company — and its offerings — must continue to grow and change. Your competitors will, no doubt, be able to match your products and services quickly, which is why you need to contin-ually identify the attributes, values, and solutions that differentiate you, and convey these elements in the form of an ever-evolving story, a story that does not become diluted no matter how many brand(s) you have. When developing, refining, and shar-ing your company story, you should endeavor to:

• Use your story to address identified concerns and expectations of your customers.

• Incorporate, as appropriate, content relating to new trends, customer quotes, employee accomplishments, and community involve-ment in your messages.

• Tailor the company story to different customer segments by emphasizing the parts that are most apt to resonate with particular groups.

• Learn the preferred communication channel for each audience segment, and communicate in that channel.

• Make prompt adjustments if you suspect that the intended audience is misunderstanding your message(s).

• Stay as consistent as possible in the pre-sentation of your slogan(s), logos, and key positioning statements.

• Blend inevitable changes into your existing story so that they appear to have been part of the story all along.

• Keep your story sufficiently broad so that it can accommodate future growth into related business areas. n

© Books24x7, 2013 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 19

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points (continued)

ExecBlueprints is a subscription-based offering from Books24x7, a SkillSoft Company. For more information on subscribing, please visit www.books24x7.com.

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Documents

Telling Your Companys Story