Considering a new website? Read this first.

There are many different reasons to consider investing in a new website for your company. The most common drivers include continuous poor performance in meeting KPIs, constant challenges with the user experience, an ongoing lack of lead generation and conversion, as well as internal limitations with content management. But how do you know whether to abandon your current site (redesign or rebuild completely) or try to turn things around with a simpler refresh? To help answer that question, we’ve pulled together a list of key actions meant to navigate your organization’s unique situation.

#1— Identify goals for your site. How could a website help achieve overarching business goals, whether that’s through creating awareness amongst a key audience segment, converting qualified leads, selling products or raising donations to support a cause? Does your existing site currently enable you to meet those bottom line objectives? If so, we may be able to focus on making cosmetic or usability improvements to the existing foundation versus starting over with a new build.

#2—Document functionality requirements. What do you need users to be able to accomplish on the site, and how does the site need to integrate with the rest of your organization’s technology stack? If your current site can’t accommodate functional requirements, such as specific accessibility standards or personalization requirements, it may be time for a new build. Additionally, here are a handful of common functionality considerations we weigh when determining how to proceed on a client’s behalf: 

– What actions do you want users to be able to complete on the site?

– What types of marketing or sales integrations and plugins do you anticipate using?

– How does your current technology stack need to interact with the website?

– Are there any authenticated states that need to exist on the site?

– Does the site require any transaction or e-commerce functionality?

– Does the site need to be presented in multiple languages?

– What are your needs around accessibility for the site?

– How dynamic and personalized does the site experience need to be?

– Are there multiple websites that need to be managed?

– Does the site require robust search capabilities?

– How much content does the site hold, what does that content consist of, and how often does it need to be updated?

#3—Account for the investment. Websites, albeit your most critical and powerful marketing tool, require a significant investment, especially when exploring custom solutions, robust functionality, complex user experiences, and enterprise-level builds. To better gauge what this means for your organization, identify what ROI you need the site to generate in order to support your business goals considering your costs per lead, per conversion, and per new client/donor acquisition. If your organization isn’t ready to commit to a greater upfront investment, consider working with an agency partner who can optimize what you have, allowing you to spread out the investment over time.

#4—Take a look at your internal team. Are they empowered to manage the website effectively? Understanding internal capabilities and considering goals around the internal content management experience will help determine if the site you currently have can grow with you or if you need to think about a new backend.

#5—Lastly, is your organization ready? From managing internal stakeholders across marketing, technology, and operations to working with teams and vendors that speak in actual code, the redesign process can pose challenges. Make sure you have the right team members in place to navigate the process, and answer the necessary questions, with whichever path you pursue.

All in all, the decision to build a new website isn’t one that should be made lightly. There are many factors to consider, some of which we’ve outlined here, but our hope is that we provided some useful information to help guide you through the process. So whether you’re looking to optimize what you already have or you’re ready for a new start, we’re here to help and encourage you to reach out.

Are you rebrand ready?

There are many different reasons to consider a rebrand. The most common involve a shift in operational conditions such as a recent merger, acquisition, product launch, or entry into a new market. But a rebrand may also be triggered by new leadership looking to reposition the company for long-term growth. In short, the reason for rebranding is usually pretty significant and straight-forward, but there is something more to consideris your organization rebrand ready?

If your company is considering a rebrand, look at the following checkpoints to ensure you’re truly ready to take on the challenge:

#1 Why now?
Have you articulated the reason for rebranding? Does leadership agree that it’s essential? Internal alignment is critical because everyone needs to be on board. If there’s not a clear driver, consider an exploratory effort aimed at conducting qualitative and quantitative consumer research and ROI projections before starting the full process.

#2 Is leadership fully engaged?
Rebranding requires a significant time commitment, and decision-makers have to be at the table for strategic conversations and key presentations. The entire C-Suitenot just the marketing division—should be eager to play an active role in the effort.

#3 Are you financially prepared to invest in a rebrand?
The financial commitment to a rebrand is just as important as the time commitment. Be prepared to spend roughly 1%-2% of annual revenue on the successful launch of a new brand (research, strategy, creative, implementation). And if your organization has a significant physical infrastructure in terms of office buildings, storefronts, automobiles, or products, make sure that is also taken into account.

#4 Do you have the time to do it the right way?
A successful branding engagement will typically run for 16+ weeks, and closer to a year if a new website is on the table. Rushing a rebrand invites costly missteps, so make sure your organization is committed to taking the time to do this the right way.

As branding experts, we’re focused on providing objective insight and strategic guidance. So whether your organization’s rebrand starts now or next year, make sure you can check all the boxes. And if you’re looking to get started, or just hoping to learn more about the process, drop us a note and we’ll connect you with the right team member.

Rebranding the Washington Football Team

Episode Summary:

One of the most exciting local rebrands on our radar right now? The Washington Football Team, which will kick off its season this Sunday under a temporary moniker for the first time in 90 years. As both a branding expert and a lifelong fan of the team, our CEO Lance Wain weighs in on Studio G with some of his hopes and hypotheses about what’s happening behind the scenes as a complete rebranding process gets underway.

Host: Clara Shannon, Marketing Associate

Interviewee: Lance Wain, CEO

Transcript 

Clara:
Hey there. We just wanted to let you know that since recording this podcast on August 26, new allegations of widespread workplace misconduct by team executives have spurred even more pressure on the Washington Football Team to change not just its brand, but the culture and leadership of the organization up to the very top. It’s a story we’ll be closely following over the course of the next few months as NFL investigations continue to evolve.

In the meantime sit back, and take a listen to our podcast all about team branding, fan loyalty, and more.

**theme music**

I’m Clara Shannon, and this is Studio G.

**theme music ends**

As racial injustices continue to spread across the country — a renewed demand for public reform amongst corporations have taken shape. From Quaker Oats, to GM – big organizations across the US have made public vows to change everything from their hiring practices, to their brand models.

One of the most exciting rebrands on our radar? The Washington Football Team, formally known as the Washington Redskins.

Sound Bite 1:
This morning the Washington Redskins are grappling with what history to keep and what to do away with…

Sound Bite 2:
…A sponsor of the Washington Redskins has asked the US football team to change its name.

Sound Bite 3:
…In a statement in a note to Amazon sellers. The company basically said that it’s going to pull a variety of products that feature the team including jerseys, t shirts, t shirts, rather and jewelry.

Clara:
After years of efforts by Indigenous activists, and pressure from corporate sponsors such as FedEx, Amazon and Nike, the football team announced that they would be dropping the Redskins name and logo of its all too familiar indigenous chief.

I sat down with our CEO Lance Wain, about this much anticipated and relatively quiet branding process.

Lance, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. We’re really excited to have you.

In many ways, this rebrand of the franchise formerly known as the Washington Redskins has been a really long time coming. As a diehard fan of the team yourself, what was your first reaction to this news?

Lance:
Well, Clara, thanks for bringing me into this podcast, because this topic is near and dear to my heart. And I actually wasn’t surprised by the timing with everything that’s going on and the financial pressure leading up to this announcement from sponsors and other investors. I was actually waiting for it, if not expecting them to make an announcement on the name.

Clara:
It seems like fans and corporations alike were not too surprised either, especially given the pressure the team was facing earlier this summer from sponsors like FedEx and Nike, which then led to a thorough review of the brand’s name.

In July, an announcement was then made confirming that the name change was indeed going to happen. And initially, a lot of those leaders were hoping that a new identity would come before the start of the 2020 season. However, everyone then seemed to realize that a proper rebranding process would take much longer than two months remaining until the season opener, which is how we got to this sort of temporary kind of replacement brand of the Washington Football Team.

Is this scenario something that you see play out often in the business world, where leaders take on the rebranding process and are then forced to shift course? And as a branding expert, how do you help business leaders plan appropriately for a rebrand so that they’re allowing for enough time and aren’t skipping important steps?

Lance: 

You know, Clara, it’s not so much about a formula, but it is a process, and I try to provide a rule of thumb in terms of timing and required resources to properly set those expectations. I’ll usually tell clients to be prepared for at least a 6 month strategic and creative engagement to properly define, as well as express the brand, and really start the implementation process, which actually could go on for another 6-12 months, if not more. Especially if you’re doing things in phases, which many of our clients do.

Now as it relates to investment, we also try to make sure that clients understand that an investment in the branding process like this is really starting in the low 6 figures, as a starting point, at least for Grafik.

I do see on occasion, you know, from other business leaders, that they are looking to fast track the branding process, you know, for one reason or another. And look, I’m certainly sensitive to a speed-to-market mentality, I kind of have kind of similar sentiments in that regard. And I will look at things on a case-by-case basis, and there always has to be some flexibility. But what I always tell our clients is we will never compromise what it takes to make sure the branding work is strategically right. And I would say the exact same thing for the Washington Football Team.

Clara:
We’ve observed that the Washington Football Team has largely been keeping this process under wraps. What do you think is the most challenging part of this process?

Lance:
You know, a challenge in terms of the process, it’s really going to boil down to is there a commitment to objectively look at this? You know, can they really focus on stripping a lot of the emotions out because brands, especially sports and retail brands, they do evoke feelings, they do trigger certain emotions. Like when people say, “I bleed burgundy and gold,” and I say that all the time, you know, that that’s the emotional reaction that I have to a brand that I’ve loved and the team that I’ve loved, and continue to love.

Now, while it’s important not to strip out sentiment and emotion, any decisions that are made, they really must be driven and based on research. And as best as possible, being objective. So I think that’s a critical challenge there in terms of the process.

The other challenge is really going to be in the outcome, because you have a very passionate fan base. And while it certainly has seen some decline over the last few years, there are many, like myself, who have associated themselves with this organization and with the previous name for decades, if not their entire lives. So any change is really going to be weird, (and) it will probably be a little uncomfortable. And you’re likely not going to be able to please everybody. So getting people to buy into a new name as part of the outcome, it is not going to be a simple task… Unless they start winning, because as I’m sure you’ve heard, winning cures all, right? So I think (that if) they start putting in, you know, wins on Sundays, I think any weirdness will probably go away pretty quickly.

Clara:
Absolutely, and on that note, when it comes to the importance of research, what types of testing do you think they’re doing behind the scenes right now?

Lance:
I could be completely wrong here, but I would guess that what they’re doing right now is they’re probably testing some names that they’ve had in the hopper for quite some time. And it could include some focus group testing, but I think probably because of COVID, there’s a lot of online surveys that are being conducted.

Now the reality is there isn’t going to be a perfect name, because there’s so many variables at play here. There probably will be some good names, there will probably be some good, you know, reactions to names. However, there probably will be a lot of ‘buts’ associated with that. So, “Oh, good name, but have you thought about this” or, “Good name, but you may want to consider that.” And that’s okay. I think that’s really just part of the branding process and the research process.

Now, the other type of research they may be doing right now is conducting some financial modeling research to see what naming options, you know, result in certain revenue streams. You know, are there gonna be any potential conflicts? Right now, I know one of the names that they were exploring is the Warriors, obviously, you’ve got the Golden State Warriors in basketball. So, I think they’re trying to weigh, you know, how all this is going to really come together. But what I was relieved to hear is that, instead of trying to rush this through within two months, they really are taking their time now, and I’m assuming that they are doing the proper due diligence, as it relates to finding out what the fans want, what the alumni want, how different communities are going to react. And those communities may also include non football fans, which I think is healthy and probably the right way to approach this.

Clara:
Absolutely. And other DC teams have gone through this process in the past, most notably the Washington Wizards, who changed their name from the Bullets over a two year period in the 1990s. What do you think the Washington Football Team can learn from other local teams when it comes to using this as an opportunity to retain and grow fan loyalty?

Lance:
Not only am I a big, huge DC football fan, but I’m also a big basketball fan within the DMV. And I vividly recall when The Bullets were going through the rebranding process around their name, there are teams such as the New Orleans Pelicans and the Charlotte Hornets that changed their name. And they did it without much fanfare, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of brand equity or fan loyalty that had been built up with his organizations over the years.

That clearly wasn’t the case with the Washington Bullets. And it’s certainly not the case now with our local football team. When The Bullets changed their name, the intent of Abe Pollin who was a former owner, it was right based on the timing and what had transpired, you know, both in the city and really on a global level. With gunfire. He made the right call. But the way they went about it, I think they ran a promotion through the Boston Market food chain where fans were really driving the naming process. And unfortunately, where they netted out, there really was no tie into the city or relevant meaning that fans could relate to. And even now, if you look at their visual identity, it has evolved. There is no wizard in their logo or identity, although, I actually like the fact that they’re bringing back elements from the old Bullets identity, which again, I think there’s meaning and there’s sentiment around that.

And even looking at our other sports teams, whether it be the Nationals, whether it be the capitals, tying it back to Washington, and the DMV, I think would be really special. But at the end of the day, whatever the football team does, they’ve got to make it meaningful. They’ve got to make it consistent. And let’s hope that we don’t have to look at this again for at least another hundred years.

Clara:
In speaking to brand loyalty and social sentiment online, there are a lot of really enthusiastic fans weighing in on social media right now with ideas for new names, logo designs and identities. During a rebrand, how much stock should organizations really be putting into external feedback like this?

Lance:
Sentiment is really important, especially as relates to, you know, fan involvement. And even though I was not a big believer in terms of how the Bullets did it, again, I think you have to hear the fans, especially if there is a majority of fans that are gravitating towards a certain direction. So I think listening is really, really important, and they should not be discounted. Because at the end of the day, it’s the fans that are buying your product, but there are other stakeholders that have to be heard as well. You know, you’re looking and thinking about alumni who played such a prominent role in building up the brand, you obviously have different levels of business owners that have a stake in the company and certainly have their opinion, you’ve got the sponsors. So I think you really have to look at all the different audiences, make sure you give them the opportunity to voice opinions and hear them out. And then again, let the ultimate research drive or let the research drive the ultimate decision in terms of where you’re going to net out.

Clara:
Absolutely. And in speaking to that, rumors of the team’s new nickname have been floating around the internet for a few weeks. Between the Red Tails, Red Wolves and Red Hogs, what name stands out to you the most and why?

Lance:
As a native Washingtonian, I can’t remember the last time I was so excited to see where our current sports teams are at. So I’m trying to find a delicate balance of, yes I am a fan and yes, I do branding for a living… So let me try to be as objective as I can in my response. I think that there’s meaning behind Red Tails with the Tuskegee Airmen, which I think is really important. So, there’s something to be said about, you know, keeping, the meaning behind the name. The Red Wolves, I’m not really sure the meaning behind it, but I am particularly partial to the R, just because I think they actually have done a very nice job of branding. I’ve got a lot of sports paraphernalia that just has the product.

So I’d like to see if there’s a way to keep that as part of the identity. And growing up here, the Hogs obviously means something special, especially during the Superbowl runs of the 80s and early 90s. But what I’m seeing from these options here, (is that) there really isn’t any name that ties into the city itself. And I think this name has an opportunity to galvanize an extremely loyal fan base and do so in a manner that is genuine, if they go about the process the right way. And if it coincides with winning on the field, we could really be known as a true authentic sports city. Very similar to what you see in Boston’s, the Chicago’s and the New York’s of the world. So I’m really pumped to see where things are going right now and I’m really looking forward to many, many years of rooting and success.

**theme music rises**

Clara:
I’m Clara Shannon, and this is Studio G.

**Creative imagery: The Washington Post

A checklist for optimizing real estate Facebook business profiles

If you’re a real estate marketer trying to promote  awareness of apartments or homes, a Facebook Business Profile is a must have. It’s just as important as your website, and often acts as the first touchpoint a prospective tenant or buyer has with your community.

It’s not uncommon for prospects who have simply heard about your property to check out your profile as a means of scoping out what it’s like to actually live there by reading reviews, browsing photos, and/or seeing what types of content your community is posting.

A strong Facebook Business Profile also acts as a hub of information about your community – its location, your leasing or sales office’s hours of operation, and a detailed summary of features and amenities.

Checking off these five basic elements of a strong real estate Facebook Business Profile can make a big difference.

1.) Upload Great Profile Imagery

Your profile image and cover photo will likely be the very first images a user will see, so choose wisely. Proper imagery allows you to put your best foot forward, and introduce your potential customers to your offerings and products. 

Facebook pictures are sized at 180×180 pixels, which is pretty small. When choosing your profile image, be sure to choose creative that is simple, to the point, and easy to understand. Logos, for example, are a popular choice. 

Facebook cover photos are much larger than profile photos, sized at 830×312 pixels. With more room to work with, cover photos allow you to become more creative to showcase who you really are. Most businesses use this space to post photos of their teams, highlight exclusive deals, or showcase their offerings.

When choosing your cover photo, use an interior image that speaks to what makes your apartments or homes so special. Do you boast large floor plans with high ceilings? Are your kitchens newly renovated? Is there a great view of your respective city from the living room? Take your cover photos as an opportunity to help users understand why your community should be their next home. 

In this example from Van Metre Companies, the company logo is being used as the profile photo to increase brand awareness and consistency, while the cover photo showcases a high-resolution image of one of their property’s interiors. The imagery is engaging, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to comprehend.

2.) Customize Your Page Template

Page templates are available for a variety of page categories, based on what makes the most sense for certain businesses. 

For all real estate business profiles, it’s important to always include the following:

  • Posts
  • Reviews
  • Videos (if you have them) 
  • Photos
  • About
  • Events

There is no limit to choosing how many tabs you would like added to your page. However, less is more. Too many tabs can be overwhelming to your followers. 

3.) Complete The ‘About’ Section

The details of your Business profile’s ‘About’ section are imperative, because they can make or break a user’s decision and ability to contact you. Your community’s location, hours of operation, and phone number should all be up-to-date and easy to understand. 

A key element of your ‘About’ section is the summary under ‘More Info’. This section is a chance for you to highlight the best parts of your community and tell users, in your own words, a little bit more about yourself. 

As you dive in, ask yourself: What do you want your audience to know? How long have you been open? What types of floor plans do you offer? What types of amenities? How close are you to local attractions in your area? Are you close to transportation? These are all questions a prospective tenant or buyer will be interested in, so be sure to beat them to the punch.

In this example from The Aspen, you can see that the About section is complete with not only information about how to contact them, but also includes an in-depth summary of the property, staff, hours of operation, and even a founding date. 

While these details may seem granular, providing more information about your property and its history will make your community more human.

4.) Activate the Messenger Feature

The Messenger feature on your Facebook Business Profile is a powerful way to make a personal connection with potential renters or buyers. Talking to your audience directly in real time not only allows you to answer questions, but also saves the prospect time from having to do research on their own or make a phone call. 

It goes without saying that all audience questions should be answered as quickly as possible. But the expectation and pressure of responding 24/7 is not realistic. To make sure that all questions are responded to within an efficient timeframe, utilize the automatic response feature in Messenger. 

We recommend enabling your automatic responses during hours in which you are not operating, and during holidays when you know you will be out of the office. We recommend also keeping your away message short and to the point. Be sure to apologize for the inconvenience, and promise to attend to their question shortly.  

5.) Enable Appointment Scheduling

At the end of the day, your Business Page is meant to drive traffic to your website and/or get customers to book appointments for your services. And Facebook allows you to do that without using a third-party site or service. Appointment scheduling through Facebook eliminates extra work for a user who’s interested in renting your community. 

The appointment scheduler allows you to approve appointments before they are finalized with a potential tenant, make sure you do not double-book appointments, and allows you to sync to your Google Calendar. We recommend enabling all of these options. 

Leadership in a crisis: how small businesses can weather a storm

Episode Summary:

Being a strong leader means knowing how to weather a storm. Take a listen to our most recent podcast with Grafik’s founder Judy Kirpich and our CEO Lance Wain, as they discuss unique perspectives on the types of leadership, people and ideas that can help make an agency and a small business resilient and successful during turbulent times.

Host: Clara Shannon, Marketing Associate, Grafik

Voices: Judy Kirpich, Grafik Founder & Former CEO

Lance Wain, CEO

Transcript: 

Clara: 

The definition of what it means to be a leader has changed dramatically over the course of the past two months. 

In times of crisis, we long for someone to guide us through uncertainty — someone who will help us feel secure and safe, who knows how to push forward, exceed limitations, and come out stronger on the other side. 

As the world has struggled to make sense of COVID-19, we’ve seen leadership from all areas of life step up to the plate – from local governments, to frontline workers, to chefs, to school teachers, and more. 

Every leader has been faced with moments of crisis, ranging from brief bumps in the road to more sustained issues. But…navigating the global pandemic we’re currently living-in has no playbook -no best-practice, no modern-day precedent.

I posed a few questions to Grafik’s founder, Judy Kirpich and our current CEO Lance Wain, for their thoughts on what strong leadership means as well as ideas that can help make an agency, and a small business, resilient during turbulent times. 

Take a listen, and we hope you enjoy. 

Lance, as we get started, could you give us a little bit of background into your relationship with Judy? 

Lance: 

I’ve known Judy for 19 years, and she hired me in 2001 to run business development and over the first five to 10 years of working together, she really started to groom me in a manner of how to start to take a look at the business a little differently than what I was accustomed to. And she also set me up to eventually take over for her when she retired. And in 2005, when she moved on to her next chapter, we’ve actually kept a very strong bond. We talked quite frequently in terms of the state of the business, we talk about challenges that I may be facing, we talk about what’s going on in our personal lives and in our families and, and how to balance everything that’s going on in the work world as well as our personal lives. And it’s really been an invaluable friendship, and a trusted friendship that we’ve been able to establish. And I thought it would be great to have her part of this podcast, in terms of what she’s experienced as a business owner over a 37 year period, with a couple of different economic downturns and then also talk a little bit more about what I’m starting to experience now that we’re dealing with COVID-19. 

Judy:

Yes, I’m Judy Kirpich and I started Grafik with another person back in 1978. And I guess I left how long ago, Lance? Probably about five years ago I retired and still keep contact with the firm. And I’m so thankful that I am not the CEO right now, during the pandemic. I think about it often. But looking how Grafik has responded. I see a lot of really good lessons, historical lessons on some of the ways that we used to manage crises. While it might not have been a pandemic, Grafik was actually started in a recession. It was, you know, in ‘78 times were not very good. I wasn’t at the very beginning there. So I really wasn’t privy to a lot of the decision making. But, you know, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve been through the technical bubble bursting, we’ve been through 9/11, we’ve been through the Great Recession, you know, now there’s the pandemic and honestly, there’s a lot of less notable downturns that have occurred over the last 40 years. And I think that I give credit really to the people who work at Grafik because there’s a different kind of mindset. Not on how to operate a firm during a recession, but more importantly, how to operate a firm when things are going well.

Clara:

Each decade in business has presented its own set of challenges for Grafik and our peers. In an industry notorious for chewing creative agencies up and spitting them out at an alarming rate, Lance and Judy both agreed that it’s the relationships between leadership, staff, clients and other partners that have given Grafik its staying power.

Lance:

Leadership right now is being tested on many different levels. And you know, particularly in the agency space, which is often the most susceptible to economic downturns, Judy and I have really been able to, over the last really going on two decades, right now work collaboratively in terms of how best to ensure that Grafik continues to operate and succeed. And as we look at the last few downturns, whether it be 9/11 or looking at the financial collapse of 2007/2008, there’s a couple of important lessons that are learned. And I think this current situation is different on a few different levels. But what really jumps out at me, for starters, is going back to 9/11. It was a period in time that had this profound sadness, and a sense of most people just not feeling safe because of so many of the unknowns that were occurring at the time. But what was interesting about Grafik and what was actually very comforting about Grafik is the camaraderie of the staff and the culture that was built up by Judy, you know, and the Grafik team over the years, really helped us get through that emotional challenge that we all felt in a manner that I know many of our peers and competitors did not necessarily get through. And as we start to think about, you know, what happened after that in 2008-2009, and the collapse of the financial institutions, it was so challenging and so difficult, because there was so very little that we could, that we could control. And you know, when this collapse happened, there was this feeling of how best to hang on and, you know, not being able to get a lot of guidance from others in the industry. It was just this somewhat feeling of despair, but again, because of the people, because of the relationships that we were able to build with our clients, it really helped us persevere through what for me was probably, you know, the most challenging business experience I’ve ever had.

Judy: 

You know, if we’re talking about that particular period of time, the Great Recession, I think one of the things that  I learned more than anything else, is have a great relationship with your banker, which we did not. I was very proud. And this was a mistake, but I was very proud that for the entire tenure of my leadership, we didn’t have debt. We didn’t owe anything. We had a line of credit. There was always a cushion, it was great to know it was there and honestly every year it was renewed automatically. And then all of a sudden we had the Great Recession and our banker who I thought would be, you know, just stamped, no problem comes and says, “Well, you know, you haven’t borrowed money, so we’re not going to extend you a line of credit.” And it’s like, what are you talking about? I had no relationship because honestly, I didn’t care about it. I left that to others. And I think that was a huge mistake. I mean, we weathered the storm, but make sure that you have a landlord that you can work with.

Lance:

You know, I was saying 12 years later, you know, those lessons have served us well, because we have formed relationships with the bankers and it’s been invaluable in terms of looking at the different programs available to small businesses now. So again, what we went through in 2008-2009 really set us up to stabilize the business as it pertains to moving forward because of the current current crisis.

Clara:

Grafik looks very different now than it did back in 1978. But some business philosophies have been passed down from one leader to the next and are still very much alive in the Grafik of today.

Lance:

We’ve adapted as a company with each decade. It’s almost like the Rolling Stones. But we’ve been very consistent in terms of how we run the business and Judy, you said to me from the moment you hired me, is, we always need to operate like we’re in a recession that has really been a hallmark of how you run this business. And it’s how we’re running the business right now. So when you look at the operations, again, always operate like you’re in recession. Always Be kind to those that you work with. And, most importantly, never, ever, ever settle. So as hard as things can get, ensure that you continue to push you to continue to differentiate, because that will help you get through these times.

Judy:

I think the other thing that was notable about Grafik in the really early days is look you know, graphic designers, which is what I was called back then, we care about creativity, and most graphic designers ran very small shops, and they hated what I will call the business of design. And Grafik was successful because we focus not only on design, but also how to run a business. What does it mean to have payables and receivables? What does it mean to look at aging reports and work in progress? And what does it mean to not just have an accountant once a year, but somebody who’s advising you on a monthly basis? What does it mean to keep track of your time, and more importantly, back then, most staff had no clue what they were being billed out at and what our budget was. And in Grafik, one of the most notable things is from the very, very, very beginning. We made all of our staff understand the importance of a budget. Now, that’s not to say we didn’t blow budgets. We blew budgets, you know, on our side, continually because that pursuit of excellence unfortunately, you can’t. You can’t say you just have five hours if it takes 10 hours to get something great. You put the 10 hours in, but we set up some systems so that if a budget was blown, it wasn’t blown, like catastrophically.  And, and what we did, which I think was really important is we taught everybody that you can be a great designer, but you better be a great business person. And I think one of the things that I’m pleased about is, you know, there have been other firms that, you know, have designers who’ve left and moved or whatever and stopped, you know, started their own firms and they know how to start a business. And that’s because we trained them. And I think that that aspect, you know, is so important, you cannot, I don’t think you can, shield your staff from the business side. And, and I think that we always operated the business with a lot of transparency, probably more transparency than most firms. But you have to look not just at the big picture, which I’m not as good as Lance. Lance is much better at this than I am, but also at the small parts of the business, you know, where money tends to kind of leak out. And I think that if you share that philosophy with your staff, I think it really builds a strong foundation.

Lance: 

I think the operative word there is share, and you were always a big proponent of sharing whether it’s personal feelings, personal stories, you know, what’s top of mind. And I’ve continued that in terms of making sure that we are sharing as much information as we can in terms of the state of the business and this is in good times as well as in challenging times. Because part of the beauty of a small business is we all have the opportunity to to have an impact in terms of our success. And it is something that I think the staff has really embraced, that transparency and that opportunity to be in the know so that they can help make a difference in terms of how we are, you know, performing and moving forward as a company. 

But what I learned as a business person by working through some of these challenges, is that top line and bottom line, it really has to be balanced with humanity. Okay? Because it really was that humanity aspect to Grafik, which has kept people here for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years, it’s kept clients with us for decades because it’s not just about the bottom line. And I think being able to strike that right balance, again in good times and challenging times is really critical. And it really has enabled us to create kind of an impact for the people, whether it’s alumni or current staff or again, clients that still come back to us, that that’s what they know us for. And I think that really is a hallmark again, of how you built this agency.

Clara:

Economic downturns don’t just impact the way a business is run internally, they also impact the relationship between agency and client. Studies have shown that in 1984, the average client-agency relationship tenure was 7 years. By 1997 (13 years later), that number declined by 25% to 5 years. Today the average client-agency tenure is thought to be less than three years. Over our 40-year history, Grafik has learned a lot about how to continue growing and strengthening trusted client relationships in both good times and bad.

Judy: 

You can’t burn bridges. And you can’t let pride guide your decision making. So what does that have to do with a recession or tight times? Well, Grafik got through tight times, because during a tight time you take the business that comes in. And that often means dealing with some real assholes. People who understand that the power balance is changed. And it’s very difficult when you know, we like to be partners with our clients. And I think we’re excellent partners. During a recession sometimes the power balance changes dramatically. And so you will have clients who understand that you need their work, and they’re going to drive the price down, and they’re going to be unreasonable, and they’re going to be unpleasant. And we had in every single one of these recessions, and I will not name names, we had one or two clients that I remember to this day who were particularly unpleasant to deal with. But you know what? You smile. And you realize even though you’ve just walked away with, you know, 20 Best of Design Awards, you do their business card, if that’s what’s needed, or you do their, you know, some job that you thought you’d never have to do again, you do, because you’ve got to keep that cash coming in. And that, honestly, that is one of the things that was the hardest for me to deal with because I like control. And sometimes during a really tight time, you don’t have a whole lot of control. These recessions were totally out of our control, as is the pandemic, you know, we have no way of knowing exactly when it’s going to end and how the client’s gonna react.

Lance:

You know, it’s  interesting you say this because I agree with you. I recall the dot-com bubble bursting, I recall the 2008-2009 Great Recession. And when I look at it now, though it is different. And in a way, I wish you could experience this, but I know you want nothing to do with this….but there’s a level of professional courtesy, which I didn’t see in the last two downturns. And some of it is probably just a result of we’re all trying to figure this out together. But there’s also this, this…this sense of flexibility and not trying to take advantage of a situation.

You know, we’ve been fortunate that we continue to pitch new business, we’ve closed some deals. And the new clients, they’ve said to us, “cash flow may be an issue for the next four to six weeks. You know, if it makes you feel better, we can start at a later date or we can work on some type of promissory notes. We don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, we want to be very transparent in terms of where we’re at.” And that is actually a relief. Because, Judy, I think, to your point, then you’re not really losing control. It’s a matter of working more closely with your clients and your prospects in terms of a business arrangement that works for all sides. So it has been very reassuring, at least over the first six or seven weeks of this current situation where I don’t feel like, we’re losing control and I don’t feel like we actually have to go out there and chase the wrong types of business. It is the business that makes sense for us.

Clara:

Hindsight is 20/20, but the reality of most challenging situations is that in the thick of the storm, mistakes are made despite the best of intentions, and lessons unfortunately have to be learned the hard way. I asked Judy and Lance to reflect on some of the common mistakes they think leaders often make during a crisis like this, and what we can learn from those.

Lance:

Here’s what I would say, Judy, you may have a different opinion, but what I would say is, I think strong leadership in a sudden crisis really requires one to respond and not just react. For me, reacting is often emotionally driven. And that can often have negative consequences on creative, on financial and on staffing. You know, for me responding to the situation in a proactive manner that allows you to maintain that objectivity, I think is so critical and that will really help set one up to properly weather a storm. And again, I’ve been on the flip side, where in the past I have reacted more emotionally, but you learn from that, right? You learn from that and, you know, you know sometimes as an emotionally driven person…It is hard to suppress that, but I think that these experiences and for any small business, I can think about responding before you start to react. Again, you may have a different opinion on that.

Judy: 

I think that’s what you aspire to, you know, it’s not always doable. I think that the other thing…which is the issue of response, I suppose is it’s keeping those lines of communication crystal clear, open. I mean, whether it’s between your clients or your vendors or your staff. You know, it is picking up the phone and saying, ‘I may have trouble paying this bill, but you will get it and you know, Grafik has a stellar reputation. So that’s helped us over the years, you know, we’ve never not paid our bills. You know, I think, it’s always hard when something comes out of the blue, it doesn’t have to be huge. You know, it doesn’t have to be a pandemic or a terrorist event or a recession. Things happen in business all of the time. You know, a client goes belly up, and the next thing you know, is declaring bankruptcy and you’re our $100,000. And when you are building a firm, that’s a very difficult thing to bear. But I think that what you know, one of the reasons you bear it is because you’ve managed the firm all along. You know, I’m the person who was going out of business for 37 years. That is really true, for 37 years I believed every month we were going out of business. And I managed the firm that way and I promptly drove my staff insane. Lance had a lot of sleepless nights. Because it’s like, you know, where the hell is the business Lance? Bring in the damn business.

But that wasn’t enough. That wasn’t enough. You know, it’s never enough when you’re sitting in that corner office, and  you’re looking at books that are going into the red and you’re not used to being in the red. You know, it’s funny, looking at the books often is really important. And looking at it with the historical perspective is often important, and it’s so different, you know, right now I am not looking at any of my finances whatsoever at home, not Grafik. I’m not looking at Grafik finances either. But, you know, I with the market the way it is, I’m not looking at it, I’m closing my eyes. I’m thinking, Okay, you know, in a couple years I’ll look at it again and I just refuse to drive myself nuts. Well, when you have a business, you don’t have that luxury. Okay, you have to look at the reading. And you have to look at the downturn also knowing that there will be an upturn. So you’ve got to you’ve got to because sometimes it’s painful, you know, because it does make your stomach hurt. There’s nothing easy about getting through a tough time you know, but you have to just remember that good times will come back. You know, you just have to.

Lance:

One of the lessons you always taught me is yes, look at the numbers. But don’t let them paralyze you. And you can appreciate Judy, right, we’ve got more numbers at our disposal now than we ever have. And I, you know, what’s most important is really understanding trends versus just looking at, you know, where you stand on a day in and day out basis. I think that has really allowed us as a business, to continue down the path of not overthinking, or over analyzing any particular week or month, but making sure that you know, you are following trends. And I think that the historicals actually do come into play there, just so you can see in different climates and different cycles, because history does often repeat itself. I know that sounds cliche, but it’s so very true. And I think that that allows us to, to not get too excited when things are going well. And also not get to down when you have these challenges, and I think that’s kind of where we’re at right now in terms of the current state is yes, there are a lot of challenges, but we know based on those previous experiences that we will get through this.

Clara:

In a situation that seems to be changing by the hour, it can be tempting to get caught up in the immediate details and as Lance said, “react” instead of respond. As a leader, what’s the right balance of short-term and long-term planning? When should we be thinking about the “now” vs. four and five years down the road?

Lance: 

 Here’s my take. Again, you may approach this a little differently. But I truly believe it’s a balance because if we do use the current situation as an example, the first few weeks my attention was really focused on the stabilization of the business with a couple key drivers. 

Number one, obviously finances. You always need to make sure you’ve got the finances in check, make sure that the cash flow is still there. And to your point, we still do not subscribe to debt financing, that that’s not how we operate. 

So finances number one, frequent communication as you were alluding to, and in this situation, as you know, Judy, because we talk often, is, I over communicate with the staff. I think that’s actually really important right now, especially while we’re all apart so people know what is top of mind and how are we doing. I don’t want silence to be deafening in that regard. 

So finances, frequent communication, and ensuring that we could still support our existing client load, which I think is important. And as you referenced, you know, being able to reach out to your clients and letting them know where you stand and what we need to do moving forward to ensure that we can support them, while also nurturing our pipeline, because you can never forget about, you know, what’s down the road. And as I look at that, finding that right balance, there was the situation of, yes, let’s make sure there’s stabilization. But as I just mentioned to the staff, (I’m doing video diaries for the staff) I’m of the mindset right now that we have to have a kind of, ‘let’s go’ mentality. Let’s start to think about what are the next steps, where do we continue to move as an agency? 

For me, it’s not four or five years because I think that’s an eternity. What I’m focusing on right now is, what does the next 3, 6, 9, 12 months look like? Because there’s so much…aA lot of uncertainties and unknowns. And if I plan too far ahead, I feel like I’m being really short sighted in terms of making sure that we’re able to address any immediate challenges. So, my mindset right now is really focused on getting through the rest of 2020 and then continue to evolve and start to think about, you know, the future from there. I don’t know if you have a different perspective.

Judy:  

No, I think that’s absolutely right. As you well know, I have often been asked by people what my five year plan is, and I answer I have no idea. I don’t do five year plans. I will say that one of the things that has helped me currently is a podcast, and every business owner should be listening to it. It’s on NPR, it’s, ‘How I Built This,’ and the reason it is so valuable as a podcast is it provides… Basically, you know, owners who’ve built all kinds of businesses small, large, behemoths. And every single situation there has been a huge crisis. Okay, every single one, you know, there’s almost no business that has just gone straight to the top without some type of horrible thing happening. And when you hear these stories and you look at the firms that they’ve built,, one thing that’s constant is… you marshal your reserves and you push forward. You don’t give up. I guess it’s grit. That’s the perfect word for right now. You can’t just tear your hair out and say, “Oh, my, woe is me,” because you know what?You’ll be out of business in a second. You have to realize that if you can get through a period like this, and Grafik will, I have no doubt about that…If you can get through a period like this, man, the picking is pretty ripe. Because there’s so many people that go out of business because they have no idea what to do. And if you get to the other side of it, you’re going to come out a lot stronger than you ever thought, you know.

Lance:

I know you study leadership a lot. Who has really impressed you in the current crisis?

Judy:

In the current crisis, oh God… Well, not Donald Trump, how’s that?

Lance:

I was waiting for you to throw something in there.

Judy:

I mean, right now, I feel that there are…God, there’s so many companies and corporations that are so disingenuous that I want to vomit. 

Who does it well? Well, you know, I’ll tell you I had an experience this morning that maybe was an example of who does it well, and that’s Trader Joe’s. They’ve kept to their brand, I will tell you.

So there’s a greeter at the door. Who is in front of your face disinfecting every single cart, who is as pleasant as pleasant can be. You walk in, there are rules there. They’re very clear but they tell you those rules with a little bit of tongue in cheek. And if you don’t know you’re not allowed to bring your own bags (all these years we’ve been trained to bring our own bags, now we can’t bring them in) they have accommodations for those of us who bring our bags in and didn’t realize. And then there’s little signs all over that kind of tell you you can only get one of these or you can only get one of these, but it’s done in a very friendly low key way and and the stores are…you know, well i’ll tell you I never got through a line so quickly in my life, there was no line because they’re monitoring how many people come in. And so yeah, there was a pain in the ass to have to wait for 20 minutes, but once I got in, it was a piece of cake, and I use them because every checker, every person stocking the vegetables and the produce, are Trader Joe’s employees, so they were all very hip and very friendly and they were not disingenuous. I think that too many of the corporations right now are so disingenuous. 

I got a letter from the CEO at American Airlines. It was the worst letter I ever saw because you know, I think that they, you know, they say they care about people, but they’re, laying off their staff, they’re not paying for benefits, all kinds of stuff. With Trader Joe’s, they’re going to get through this and they’re going to get people who will continue to shop there because I really felt like they cared about ME. They cared that you know, I could get in and out and they made it safe and still an enjoyable thing. So I guess that would be one that I’d think of as, as you know, kind of a corporation that’s doing it the right way.

Lance:

I will not try to bring politics into this. But I do believe a leader that has been very true to who he is and very genuine, is actually the governor of Maryland. I think Hogan has done a stellar job in terms in terms of being ahead of the game. He has never settled. And he, really more importantly, wasn’t fazed by opinions or partisan politics. And really, you know, focusing on his constituents, focusing on the people that he represents.

Judy:

 I agree. 

Lance:

I think he has done a hell of a job, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican or independent. I don’t know anybody that can argue with what he has meant to the state of Maryland, and not succumbing to everything else that’s going on out there in the market. So I’ve been very impressed with his leadership style. 

Clara:

As other small businesses and agencies navigate the current situation and uncertainty around us, for many this is the first pronounced period of hardship they’re experiencing after several years of growth and success. I asked Judy and Lance to share any parting wisdom they have for other CEOs and peers based on their own shared experience.

Judy:  

Well, it’s what I keep saying, always manage your business like it’s a recession. Okay, you’re gonna get out of it. But then, you know, don’t start spending lavish money and, you know, big fancy parties. I guess I would say spend and manage your business like it’s always a recession, and make sure that your business relationships are solid, and that’s between your bank, your clients, your real estate broker.

Lance:  

Yeah. And what I would say is, and I learned this from our leadership groups on a part of is, you know, the advice I really have to offer is don’t wait for clarity to make a decision. Because by the time the clarity happens, it will probably be too late. So part of our job and your leadership Role is we have to take some risks. We have to use again, knowledge and and lessons learned to help inform how best to move a business forward. And you know what, while things are a little cloudy right now, we are forced to make certain decisions. And that’s just part of the part of the being in this role. So, again, don’t wait for clarity to make a decision is my advice.

Clara: 

As developments of COVID19 continue to surface, we urge you all to stay safe, and to stay at home. 

There will be more updates to come – so please follow along on our site, grafik.agency or follow us on social media, @grafikagency. 

I’m Clara Shannon, and you’re listening to Studio G.

How to use customer feedback to ensure great CX

What is customer experience, anyway? Customer experience (CX) in its most basic form, is how you make your customers feel. It revolves around the perceptions and relationships between your customers and your brand. And it is worth investing in. A 2019 Walker study found that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for great customer experience. And by the end of 2020, “customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.”

By putting your customer at the focus of all you do, you can begin to weave your customer’s, wants, needs, and desires into your everyday work. The first step in improving your CX is gathering insights on your key audience through quantitative and qualitative research. This customer research can take many forms. Your research can include a combination of interviews, focus groups, social listening, surveys/polls, card sorting, heatmaps, and usability testing, depending on your objective. In the research phase, you should be working towards answering the following questions: What are my goals and objectives? Who is my audience? What is his/her journey? How can I improve his or her journey at each stage?

 Many organizations understand the importance of research in informing business decisions, but too frequently that research is viewed as a formality, rather than a valuable resource to serve as the basis of strategic business decisions. Below are three steps to help you transform your audience research into actionable insights to improve your CX.

Step 1: Analyze your research:

One of the greatest challenges is how to organize and make sense of all the information you collected. Easily analyzed data is the result of well documented research. Well documented research starts with clearly outlined goals, objectives, research methods, and discussion guides (if applicable). With a strong foundation, the research process itself will go much more smoothly. Immediately after your research, look for patterns across your research. Begin to document these insights in a spreadsheet or use a tool like Optimal Workshop’s Reframer tool that allows you to import qualitative research and create themes using tags and theme builders. 

Step 2: Organize your findings in the form of a customer journey map:

Once you have these insights, you can use them to inform your customer journey map. A customer journey map is a visualization of customer touchpoints and engagements with your brand. It is a great tool to keep all your tasks CX focused. First, start by outlining key steps your audience takes, before their first experience with your brand, through purchase, and beyond. Include brand touchpoints, barriers to engagement, your customer’s thoughts and feelings, how you might change touchpoints or steps to address barriers and any other insights from your research. HubSpot has numerous free customer journey templates that show you how to create a customer journey map and allow you to customize as you see fit.

Step 3: Disseminate learnings and delegate:

All departments are responsible for great CX, so coordinate onboarding sessions with your team members. Walk them through the research you conducted, any personas you created, the existing customer experience, the ideal journey, gaps between the current and ideal journey, and the tactics needed to bridge that gap. Once your whole team is onboarded, prioritize actions from high to low and delegate tasks to bring your customer-centric approach to life. Hold semi-regular brainstorming sessions to understand how your team might bring a new perspective to challenges your customers might be facing. 

Step 4: Measure your CX and calibrate:

You may be wondering how to measure something as abstract as customer experience. If we define CX as how you make your customers feel, the metrics you choose to gauge should measure how your customers feel about your brand. Some ways to measure customer experience are to flat out ask them how you’re doing (customer satisfaction and customer feedback surveys) eavesdrop on them (social listening and sentiment analysis), observe their post engagement behavior (customer loyalty data) or a combination of all of the above! Salesforce found that 52% of marketers adapt their strategies and tactics based on customer interactions and feedback. And while 52% is certainly not bad, that means that only half of marketers are focusing on customer experience and putting their audience’s needs first. Ensure that once you obtain these new metrics, you use them to shift your tactics accordingly.

Great customer experience is an ongoing process and continually assessing how your team is meeting the needs of your customers and what others are doing, not only in your industry but across industries, is key to providing great customer experience. For more on customer experience, see what CX trends we have observed in the real estate market or how fellow DC brands are leveraging what they know about their customers to design solutions that address the needs of their audiences. 

The first month of brand responses to COVID-19

Episode Summary:

As the Coronavirus has disrupted our daily lives, we’ve been keeping tabs on how this global pandemic has affected businesses big and small. Take a listen for some of our favorite brand responses to COVID-19, here.

Host: Clara Shannon, Marketing Associate, Grafik

Voices: Hal Swetnam, Chief Brand Strategist

Lauren Leva, VP of Marketing Services

Jay Kerness, Director of Client Strategy

Shadi Talhouk, Project Manager

Tanya Nazarian, VP of Business Development

Gregg Glaviano, Partner and Creative Director

Lance Wain, CEO

Transcript: 

Clara Shannon

It goes without saying that we’re in a moment that feels scary, uncertain, and unsettling. 

Cities have grinded to a halt. 

Businesses have suffered. 

Millions are navigating remote work. 

As the world tries desperately to make sense of the destruction COVID-19 has brought upon us – brands and small businesses have done the same. 

Over the past three weeks you’ve likely received and seen hundreds of COVID-related content, from corporations big and small, all emphasizing how seriously this viral disease is being taken in their corporate offices. 

But how many brand responses have actually been effective? 

For the past month, we’ve been observing how the Coronavirus has affected all corners of our industry – and as we all work from home, I posed a question to my colleagues – what has been your favorite, most effective, response to this global pandemic, and why? 

So from the voices of Grafik, take a listen to some of our favorite COVID-19 observations. 

Hal Swetnam:

This is Hal Swetnam, Chief Brand Strategist at Grafik. It’s times like these when we see what people are really made of. And I think the same can be said for brands. In the past few weeks I’ve seen a few big brands make really horrible decisions, pushing campaigns that are no longer appropriate or exploiting the situation for short gain. But what I’m really impressed with is the way some brands are focusing on how best to respond to America’s fear and anxiety. And they’re doing it with truly brilliant marketing and branding experiences.

Popeye’s Fried Chicken is giving 1,000 customers free access to Netflix. Disney is pushing some of their newest movies to Disney Plus. Chiquita took the Banana Lady off their logo so she could stay at home and Burger King is touting the Coronavirus burger, you know, the quick and easy way to have it your way in your own home? 

Why do I think this is important? Well, because I think people need to have their spirits lifted right now. They need to know that the brands they love, love them back. And in the end, these are the companies that will come back in a big way. They’ll emerge from all of this mess, having invested in their customer base, having built brand equity, having been noted for working on how best to address the needs of our country. Profits don’t come first. People come first. And as far as I’m concerned, that is truly the right idea.

Lauren Leva:

Hi, this is Lauren Leva, VP of Marketing Services. I’ve been really impressed, and pleasantly surprised, by the response from a lot of different types of organizations in every industry over the course of this crisis. Zoom’s freemium model was really perfectly poised for this massive shift to telecommunications and I think they have really presented the combination of quality and affordability that people are looking for, both professionally and personally, right now. For example, last night, my whole family had a Zoom meeting where my little brother told us he was engaged, which was super exciting!

I’ve seen Zoom take a lot of those personal stories and content and share that on social media in a way that’s reminiscent of the Apple ads from over the years of these really heartwarming, touching moments, despite a lot of scary challenges around us. 

And then in the professional world, Zoom has kind of been the go-to model. So I’ll be interested to see how they take this market dominance and potentially stay on top over the course of this. That’ll be interesting to see. 

Another brand that really brightened my week was the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma. If you haven’t seen it, it’s part of the Good News Movement online. The regular marketing staff was ordered to stay home, so the head of security was assigned to social media duty. And it’s a role that he has really taken on with gusto. He’s learning how to use hashtags and abbreviations and people are just going nuts for it. Ironically, his folksy tone is completely authentic and on brand with the cowboy museum. It’s a great reminder that everyone’s kind of taking on multiple roles right now and sometimes branching out of their comfort zone. There’s been a lot of really positive reinforcement and community positivity online. So that’s been really uplifting to see.

Jay Kerness:

Hi, this is Jay Kerness. I’m the Director of Client Strategy for Grafik. The question was, what brand response stands out in this new environment that we have with Coronavirus? I think what stands out is actually all the posting coming from musicians. [They’ve] had kind of stay-at-home concerts. I know that Michael McDonald did one and I know that Indigo Girls did one. 

Quite frankly, that is something that I think is helpful. It is certainly promoting the brands for each of the musicians. And it’s not just professional musicians, local musicians, everyone trying to just make things a little bit better and basically promote their brand at the same time. I also wanted to reference one other. Ford Motor Company is offering a new promotion to assist buyers in the first six months of payments so that they can buy now, but not worry about the finances until later this year. That definitely seems to be directionally right and in line with what folks need right now. It did a really nice job of striking a balance between the sales promotion, but at the same time, it seemed to tap into what folks need and what is appreciated.

Shadi Talhouk:

Hi, my name is Shadi Talhouk. I am a Project Manager at Grafik. For me, Cristiano Ronaldo has done an amazing job of spreading awareness about Coronavirus and how to take care of yourself and protect yourself and others. 

He has 209 million followers on Instagram and his last few posts were about taking care of yourself, taking care of others, and staying fit and exercising at home. He’s recently posted something from the World Health Organization regarding how to wash your hands, maintaining social distancing, avoid touching your face and everything of the sort. He is really taking care and trying to spread awareness through his large social following. 

Tanya Nazarian:

Hi, this is Tanya Nazarian, and I oversee Business Development at Grafik. Well, it has been a really interesting time. I’m sure it has been extra interesting for brands who are trying to develop impactful and relevant ads. One that stood out to me was IKEA. I felt their “stay at home” ad was a better way to look at the social distancing circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Even more so, I liked that there wasn’t a product push there. It was more of a positive PSA encouraging everyone to stay home, while still keeping IKEA top-of-mind. And come to think of it, Ford does a good job in demonstrating the importance of what their products enable with their “built for right now, built to lend a hand” ad. Overall, I’d say it’s the empathy and social awareness of these ads that resonate with me most.

Gregg Glaviano:

Hi, it’s Gregg Glaviano from Grafik and I’m Partner and Creative Director. One of my favorite responses I’ve seen online comes from the Actors Fund. And if you don’t know the Actors Fund, they help actors, stagehands, customers, makeup artists, that whole group of people that contribute to the arts. We’re currently, you know…since all of the theaters are dark, and what they’re doing is…Seth Rudetsky, if you haven’t heard him on the radio. He’s great. 

He is hosting a series called “Stars in the House.” “Stars in the House” are performers that are at home and perform for everyone in the effort to raise money for the Actors Fund. So if you get a chance, go to YouTube, look up “Stars in The House” or the Actors Fund and you’ll probably hear some of their episodes. It’s great. And if you can, at this time, please give to the Actors Fund.

 Lance Wain:

Hi, I’m Lance Wain, and I’m Grafik’s CEO. Over the last three weeks, I’ve been paying close attention to how our world is responding to the current crisis. Political leaders, business men and women, the medical heroes that have been on the front lines, celebrities, athletes, educators, white collar and blue collar, and really just everyday people. Creativity, resourcefulness and humility have really surfaced in a manner that I haven’t seen on such a global scale. And while there are numerous brands that are stepping up to the cause, for me to call out anyone in particular is negating the ultimate breadwinner thus far in my life…

And that’s humanity. Yes, there are some weak links and we’re still in the early stages of this pandemic. But as I witnessed the speed and rapid nature of the virus spread and its impact, I’m also seeing how quickly mankind is coming together, while apart. Humanity is now focused on a mission, vision and a purpose as the most successful brands always do.

Clara Shannon:

As developments of COVID19 continue to surface, we urge you all to stay safe, and to stay at home. 

There will be more updates to come – so please follow along on our site, grafik.agency or follow us on social media, @grafikagency. 

I’m Clara Shannon, and you’re listening to Studio G.

3 trends that impacted nonprofits in Q1

Grafik’s extensive work with different dot-org clients gives us a unique perspective on how branding and marketing can help build thriving member and donor communities. In an effort to expand the ongoing conversations and research we’re conducting here at the agency, we’re excited to share our first “trend watching” report specific to nonprofits!

Our hope is that these insights will bring a new perspective to a project or task you’re currently working on, or spark interesting discussions with your team. While some of these topics fall outside your specific industry, we believe these macro trends represent meaningful implications and opportunities for the important work you do.

Happening Now: COVID-19

Wherever you are reading this, it’s likely that the coming weeks will be forever present in your memory as coronavirus takes its toll on the global community. Here is a quick look at how brands, big and small, are responding to COVID-19:

Increased spending: eMarketer reports that 42% of advertisers plan to increase spending on mission-based marketing, 41% on cause-related marketing, and 37% on brand equity messaging.

– Museums are going virtual: Although their doors are closed to visitors, these 12 famous museums are offering virtual tours to keep patrons engaged.

Big tech is helping teams stay connected: While the licensing costs for premium collaboration tools may usually be cost-prohibitive for nonprofits, many tech giants like Microsoft and Google are offering extended free trials of their enterprise plans to support the newly remote workforce.

Trend 1: A focus on trust-building

Our 2020 data from market research tool GlobalWebIndex shows that across all demographics, “trustworthiness is the most important quality a charity should demonstrate” (ranging from 66% among 16-24s to 82% among 55-64s).

chart showing most important charity attributes to donors

But demonstrating trustworthiness requires more than simply saying, “you can trust us!” Consider conducting a brand sentiment study to measure where your customer relationship may need some work. Some “drivers of trust include: ensuring a reasonable portion of donations make it to the end cause and having good management practices overall; ensuring fundraisers are honest and ethical; making independent decisions to further their cause; and making a positive difference to their cause.”

chart showing charity donor expectations

Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, it will be easier to outline a plan for the content, resources or marketing materials that need to be created or updated in order to address audience concerns.

Trend 2: Dedication to longer-form content

A trend we’re observing across social media channels is the use of longer-form captions and more in-depth storytelling. The average caption length on Instagram has doubled since 2016, with some predicting 2020 will see an average caption length of between 65-70 words.

chart showing average instagram caption lengths

chart showing how instagram caption length impacts engagement

For dot-orgs, we think this represents an opportunity to tell more emotional, personalized stories through social media. Marketing and fundraising tactics that are highly personal, whether that be detailed stories about those you serve or the downstream impact of a donor’s gift, will prove effective in forging stronger connections with your audience in 2020.

Trend 3: A shift from me-centric to we-centric discourse

Online communities like Reddit have emerged as the go-to platforms for user-generated content. While we have seen the sheer volume of posts, photos, and reviews published on social media platforms increase exponentially, the frequency in which individuals are sharing has decreased over the past few years  (from 27% in 2014 to 20% in 2019). People are moving away from the “broadcasted self”, a marker of social sharing transitioning from “me centric to we centric.”

This shift in behavior creates an opportunity to engage with your audience on a new platform. Reddit and GWI found that 82% of community site users would be receptive toward brands participating on these sites. What does this mean for you? Find where your audience is having these conversations and join.

Want to contribute to our ongoing research about nonprofit branding and marketing? Respond to the survey link below, and we’ll share the results!

powered by Typeform

Launching the Alliance for Automotive Innovation

The combination of the nation’s two largest auto industry associations, Global Automakers and The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, has resulted in the new Alliance for Automotive Innovation. Branding and marketing agency Grafik was chosen to introduce the new entity and provide ongoing support. The Alexandria, Virginia-based firm led the naming, visual identity, brand strategy and transition planning, culminating in a national launch at the recent annual CES conference in Las Vegas, NV.

The integrated campaign introducing the new brand featured outdoor billboards in key auto markets, digital display campaigns and a VIP launch party for members and stakeholders at CES. Early campaign results feature high audience engagement on both the organization’s new website as well as on social media channels.

“Launching the Alliance for Automotive Innovation is an important milestone as it introduces a singular, clear and respected voice of the automotive industry,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “We valued our long-standing partnership with Grafik and their work with Global Automakers. It was a natural choice to have them lead us through this important transition and establish a strong brand and industry presence for Auto Innovators. We are very pleased with the positive feedback we have received from our members and the visibility the Alliance for Automotive Innovation has received across the industry.”

Having successfully created Global Automakers’ marketing site and authenticated portal, promoting both membership and engagement to international automakers and technology firms­, Grafik leveraged its thorough understanding of the industry and key stakeholders in service to the new association. Grafik also brought to bear its deep experience supporting such trade associations as the American Physiological Society (APS), the Institute for Public Procurement (NIGP), National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI).

“It is always special to launch a new brand,” said Lance Wain, Principal and CEO of Grafik. “Introducing the Alliance for Automotive Innovation was a truly collaborative effort, from establishing the brand’s strategy to seeing it come alive in a national, omnichannel campaign. Positive market reception was both exciting and rewarding—but most importantly, it established a strong foundation for the brand’s future marketing and communication initiatives.”

About the Alliance for Automotive Innovation

Formed in 2020, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation is the singular, authoritative and respected voice of the automotive industry. Focused on creating a safe and transformative path for sustainable industry growth, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation represents the manufacturers producing nearly 99 percent of cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. The newly established organization, a combination of Global Automakers and Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, will be directly involved in regulatory and policy matters impacting the light-duty vehicle market across the country. Members include motor vehicle manufacturers, original equipment suppliers, technology and other automotive-related companies and trade associations. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation is headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in Detroit, MI and Sacramento, CA. For more information, visit our website http://www.autosinnovate.org/

About Grafik

Based in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, Grafik is a full-service branding and marketing agency serving clients in a wide-range of industries including real estate, technology, higher education, associations, and professional services. For over 40 years, Grafik’s creative thinkers have combined business know-how, inspired design, and smart technologies to increase awareness, influence customer behavior, drive results, and grow market share. To learn more about our services and work, visit https://grafik.agency/

Back to basics: the age-old human needs behind 2020’s biggest tech trends

Imagining the future has always seemed impossible, but that didn’t and won’t stop us from trying. In the 1950s, Popular Mechanics magazine predicted that 2020 would bring personal helicopters and a network of pneumatic tubes to replace roads. And while we may not have exactly ended up there, we are heading into 2020 on a wave of increasingly personalized technologies that are impacting not just how consumers move through the physical world, but how they discover, experience, and interact with brands and with one another. 

You’ve probably already read a lot about how innovation in areas like AI, voice, and video will shape the coming decade of marketing. If you’re struggling to decide what or how to invest in new strategies as an organization, it helps to consider the fundamental human needs that are actually helping drive and justify each of these buzzworthy trends. We see these age-old desires reflected across both the client-specific research we conduct at Grafik as well as in macro trends highlighted at the industry summits we attended this year like INBOUND, Brandweek, and DC Adweek.

The Trend Watching 2020 event, in particular, placed a heavy focus on the following five human elements that are driving macro trends:

The human need for connection 

The desire to build relationships, in tandem with the takeoff of virtual reality and assistants, has primed consumers to accept, and even expect, relationships with virtual representations of brands. 

What do we mean by virtual representations? Consider what Trend Watching analysts call “brand avatars.” As digital channels continue to multiply, consumers will want to see characters who embody the brand with which they are interacting, allowing them to absorb a brand and/or service in a more immersive and memorable way.

One of the first successful examples of this we saw in 2019 was Wendy’s appearance in the video game Fortnite. The burger chain’s red-hooded mascot seized the opportunity to drive home the “evils of frozen beef,” and quickly went viral as she located and destroyed as many freezers in the game’s city as she could find.

Wendy's brand avatar [Source: PCGamesN
Trend Watching encouraged attendees to consider the following when debating brand avatars: “If you were to code your brand into life, what would they look like and what value would they deliver?” 

The human need for relevance

With the sheer amount of data that brands now have access to, people increasingly expect personalization as a standard of service. Trend Watching experts assert that this cultural shift in expectations will now prompt a period of what they’ve dubbed “metamorphic design,” in which products change, grow, and adapt to each individual user.

The more personalized a product is, the more “relevant” its value. These days, you can find personalized services for just about everything, even nutritional recommendations based off of your blood tests from services like Habit or Baze

It’s a great conversation for a marketing and product team to have together: how might your offerings and services continuously adapt or evolve based on an individual customer’s needs and wants?  

The human need for recognition

It’s nice to feel seen and appreciated. And in an increasingly cashless society, the human desire to be recognized creates the perfect conditions for what Trend Watching experts have termed “brand coins.” Brand coins act as currency for customer loyalty. 

One company effectively using brand coins is Miles, a transportation rewards app that incentivizes the use of public transportation, walking, or biking. The greener the transportation method, the more points users get, which can be redeemed at Zipcar, Oakley, and other stores. This incentive not only allows consumers to limit their carbon footprint, but rewards them for doing so, encouraging them to continue and potentially even tell their friends about it.

How can your brand engage your audience in a way that gamifies or provides recognition of their loyalty? 

The human need for self-improvement 

Research (both psychological studies on willpower, as well as my own first-person reflection on the mounting fees I’ve incurred from missed workout classes) shows that despite the best of intentions, failures of self-control result in negative consequences across almost all areas of life, from financial to physical wellbeing. 

On the heels of a widespread cultural focus on wellness, Trend Watching experts predict that in 2020, consumers will begin to welcome “interventionist” brands that act in their best interest rather than exploit their temptation to indulge in an unhealthy behavior. Take Apple iOS 12’s introduction of Screen Time tools, which allow users to track and limit the time they spend looking at mobile devices. Or British bank Monzo, which allows users to block certain purchases like gambling and fast food. 

The human need for privacy 

According to Salesforce, 92% of people are more likely to trust brands that give them control over the personal data collected about them. If 2019 was the turning point in data privacy awareness and regulation, 2020 will be the year consumers truly attempt to take back the reins on their personal information.

Consider AirlinePrivacy.com, which launched a platform that informs passengers of the airlines using facial recognition to identify people during the boarding process. This tool prompts visitors to send pre-populated tweets to the airlines that use facial recognition without consent, or book through alternate airlines who do not use this technology. 

What controls are you putting in place to ensure your audience has ownership over what data they sharing with you? Are you proactively communicating to them about how and why their data is being stored? Compliance with CCPA regulations, which go into effect next month, are a good place to start. 

New technology is exciting and inspiring, but any organization’s short-term success and long-term brand power are hinged on its ability to meet its audience’s most basic human needs, no matter the tool or channel. 

Counting down the clock to CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a new consumer protection law set to take effect January 1, 2020, with enforcement beginning July 1, 2020. This legislation loosely follows Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and aims to give Californians control over the use of their personal data. While this piece of legislation specifically applies to California residents, at least 15 other states have developed similar “copycat” laws, suggesting a widespread adoption of similar legislation nationwide is near. 

To help you prepare, we’ve answered some common questions below with preliminary recommendations on how to ensure you’re compliant. We encourage you to speak with your legal team to determine an approach that fits your organization’s specific practices. 

New rights for consumers under CCPA

According to the California Department of Justice, the CCPA gives Californian consumers the following rights:

• Right to know what personal information is being collected, used, shared, or sold.

• Right to delete personal information collected by you or your partners.

• Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. This includes sharing personal information with third-parties.

• Right to non-discrimination in terms of prices or services when a consumer exercises their rights.

Qualifying for CCPA 

If you collect information—whether voluntary through contact forms or involuntary through website cookies—from current or prospective Californian consumers, you will need to comply if one or more of the following criteria applies:

• Your annual gross revenue is more than $25 million.

• Your organization receives, shares, or sells personal information of more than 50,000 individuals.

• Your company earns 50% or more of its annual revenue from selling personal information of consumers.

Complying with CCPA

Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to CCPA compliance, but we’ve outlined three basic recommendations to help you get started. 

    1. Document the data you’re storing and where it’s stored: create a data inventory that identifies the personal information you collect, how you collect and use it, the partners and platforms that you share the information with (think paid search providers like Google, CRMs like HubSpot, website optimization tools like HotJar, etc.), and how the information you collect is retained, secured, and disposed of. 
    2. Review vendor/third-party data practices: identify all vendors and third-parties with which personal information is being shared, review the existing contracts with those parties to ensure compliance, and confirm the vendors and third parties, themselves, are compliant. 
    3. Make updates to your website: update your privacy policy to reflect the data inventory and vendor/third-party contracts and practices you’ve documented. Simultaneously add a consent pop-up to your website that educates users on the personal information being collected with a link to your privacy policy. Finally, add a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link to the homepage of your website. Click here to learn more about making your website and privacy policy compliant.

If you have questions about CCPA or would like a quote for integrating our ready-made consent pop-up solution on your HubSpot, Pimcore, or WordPress website, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sources not cited above

• American Bar Association, California Consumer Privacy Act

• BakerHostetler, The California Consumer Privacy Act: Frequently Asked Questions 

• The National Law Review, Top 10 Things to Do to Prove CCPA Compliance

The early adopter catches the competitive advantage

Think back on some of the most impactful digital marketing technology to hit the mainstream over the past two decades. Search engines. Customer relationship management tools. Twitter. Were you one of the first to join and master these platforms, or were you late to the party?

There’s no shortage of companies that classify themselves as “innovative,” but the reality is that less than 200 early adopters paved the road for digital marketing to evolve into what it is considered today: normal, industry-standard marketing. These early adopters were the first to subscribe to new tools and ideas that had the potential to disrupt markets and provide a competitive advantage. They tended to be open-minded, active within industry communities, well-spoken within their fields of expertise, and unafraid of failure.  

The concept of early adoption was first addressed by a theory called the “Diffusion of Innovations,” popularized by Everett Rogers in his 1962 book. Rogers classified individuals or groups into five categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. 

Image source

In the graph above, the normal distribution in blue shows the percentage of Innovation adopters by category, while the yellow curve shows the aggregate market share progression of those groups.

Rogers’ theory makes many classical claims about each category in reference to age, prosperity, community connection, risk appetite, education, and authoritative influence. 

INNOVATORS
Very young in age
Very prosperous
Well-connected to the community
Highest risk appetite
High level of education
Heavily respected as an authority within the community

EARLY ADOPTERS

Young in age
Very prosperous
Well-connected to the community
High risk appetite
Highest level of education
Highest respect as an authority within the community

EARLY MAJORITY
Older in age
Prosperous
Connected to Early Adopters community
Medium risk appetite
Medium education
Some respect within the community

LATE MAJORITY
Older in age
Somewhat prosperous
Connected to Early Majority community
Low risk appetite
Low education
Low respect within the community

LAGGARDS

Oldest in age
Low prosperity
Low connection within the community, if any
Very low risk appetite, if any
Low education
Low respect or not known within the community

Wow, some of that seems harsh! Maybe there’s more to the story?

These categories were first created in the 1960s, a time long before the Internet and the digital revolution. In the modern day, I’d insist on the following caveats:

“Education” has taken on a different meaning. Back in the day, the only recognized way to become knowledgeable about a topic was through a higher-learning institution. But today, some of the best developers and tech experts in the world don’t have a bachelor’s degree. In the spirit of modernizing this theory, it is probably wise to equate “education” with expertise in relevant knowledge domains.

“Age” does not necessarily refer to years of existence. It may be true that from an individual perspective, younger tech experts are usually more inclined to adopt a newer approach to solving a problem. But does this hold true for a company’s “age” based on its number of years in business? Sure, we hear about contemporary, innovative start-ups pushing for new paradigms, but even though Google isn’t adolescent in years, it would still be considered an innovative leader. An example outside of the tech world is Walmart and its cutting-edge applications of information systems that began in the mid-1980s (when the company was already over 20 years old). In this sense, it might make sense to think of “young in age” as a willingness to introduce change or new ways of working. 

Caveats aside, there are some timeless and valuable lessons to be learned from this theory, namely around prosperity and risk.

“Prosperity” speaks, in part, to available opportunity. Unsuccessful organizations are less likely to have the capital to sustain a high risk appetite, and thus experience more friction when attempting to move to earlier categories of the curve. And some Early Adopters are prosperous not because of innovation adoption, but because of earlier successes or infusions of capital that allow them to take on more risk.

In terms of “Risk Appetite,” consider Brene Brown’s modern wisdom: “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” If you don’t know Brene, she’s a badass deliverer of tough truths. Risk implies the possibility of failure, and this shouldn’t be feared. It may feel uncertain and scary, but failure is one of the most important parts of innovation. Failure is progress, and it should be treated as a constructive investment. Failure can be learned from and reveal new opportunities. Organizations that promote a culture that accepts constructive failure are more likely to obtain competitive advantages through innovation. Companies that fear failure are more likely to find themselves at a disadvantage; technology moves too fast to plan on a long term status quo.

So early adopters are good, and late adopters are bad?

For a business, yes. Technology is everywhere, and flourishing industries tend to be intertwined with it. For a company to avoid being left behind by adversaries, it needs to have some semblance of observance towards riding the tech wave as it matures and unfolds. 

However, when it comes to individuals, I just don’t think it’s that simple. As a developer, I have worked with professionals that are eager to adopt new tech as well as those who are more conservative and set in their ways. I have seen greatness on both sides of the spectrum. It is fascinating to observe the contrast in how these different kinds of thinkers approach problems and craft solutions. Though their methodologies may be divergent, diversifying a development team with resources that fall into different innovation adoption classifications can result in a strengthening of the entire team. With the right blend of professional respect and active listening, they have the capacity to shed new light in unlikely places. 

There is strength and opportunity in diversity of perspective. It feeds imagination; the very essence of invention. What’s more innovative than that? 

Want to know what kind of adopter you are? This quiz is a fun place to start!

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