[ Heart + Smart ] Blog by Authentic Brand - Marketing content for B2B growth organizations

08May 2019 by Emily Youngblood

GoKart Labs: Marketing Traction Success Story

Brand & Messaging, Client Story, Community, Fractional CMO, Marketing, Strategy & Coaching

Digital innovation firm drives awareness for a national audience. The Authentic Brand team has been really instrumental in helping us organize and focus in on a really specific strategy. We have a tendency to want to do everything all at once, and they helped us pick out the most important things to focus on, drive the right metrics around that, and to tackle things in sequential order and gain a lot of confidence in what we’re doing in our marketing efforts." - Elli Rader, Vice President of Client Services, GoKart Labs Continue reading

07May 2019 by Emily Youngblood

Pro-Tec Design: Marketing Traction Success Story

Brand & Messaging, Client Story, Fractional CMO, Marketing, Strategy & Coaching

Growing ESOP levels up marketing strategy and leadership. Random Acts of Marketing: That would have been Pro-Tec prior to us associating with Authentic Brand. We decided last year that we needed to focus, we needed a roadmap, we needed somebody to help us to create a real marketing program at Pro-Tec. That’s how we engaged the Fractional CMO program.The biggest benefit was getting people onboard and understanding how important it is to tell our story, and how important it is to build our brand. Hiring a professional (Fractional CMO) who can actually sit at the table with the management team and lead us down the path of building a marketing roadmap is money very well spent.” - Eva Mach, President & CEO, Pro-Tec Design Continue reading

24Apr 2019 by Mike Bernard

Measuring Marketing Success: Where to Begin

Brand & Messaging, Marketing

I have a confession. I like to think that I’m a pretty hip guy but if I’m really honest, I’m pretty nerdy at my core. I like to read biographies of 19th century business leaders. The majority of my wardrobe is free corporate swag. I subscribe to This Old House magazine and am fascinated by genealogy research. These are not the activities of the “Cool Kids Club.” (more…)

19Apr 2019 by Emily Youngblood

Building an Authentic Brand in an Era of Fake News

Brand & Messaging, Digital, Marketing

Jennifer Zick makes guest appearance on "Marketing Is Broken" with Josh Braaten of Brandish Insights (more…)

12Apr 2019 by Jennifer Zick

What is a marketing plan? Discover your roadmap to results.

Marketing

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” - Earl Nightingale As a business leader, you understand the importance of courage. It took courage to take a dream and turn it into reality. You had to believe even when no one else did and push through the moments that would have made others give up. This courage has gotten you to where you are today. (more…)

08Apr 2019 by Jennifer Zick

What Is Marketing, Exactly?

Marketing

“Our jobs as marketers are to understand how the customer wants to buy and help them do so.” Bryan Eisenberg (more…)

12Mar 2019 by Mike Bernard

Hiring an effective marketing leader: Why a two-pronged approach makes all the difference

Brand & Messaging, Fractional CMO, Marketing, Strategy & Coaching

My job allows me the unique opportunity to speak with five to ten small business leaders per week. When you get the chance to connect with this many leaders you start to gain valuable insight into what concerns are top of mind for folks who are running successful businesses. As I ask questions about their business, we always get to the topic of marketing (probably because that’s what I’m there to discuss). Most of the time, the conversation about marketing goes something like this: “We don’t currently have anyone leading marketing. In the past we’ve tried some things, but I’ve never been very convinced that they worked very well. We haven’t had a great way to measure impact. I believe our company could benefit from marketing, but we haven’t proven…

11Mar 2019 by Mike Bernard

ACTION19: Conference Recap – The Resilient Business

Brand & Messaging, Community, EOS / Traction, Event, Fractional CMO, Marketing, Strategy & Coaching

The dust hasn’t even settled on ACTION19 and we’re already looking forward to ACTION20! Authentic Brand's first-year conference was a sell-out event, bringing together more than 150 local leaders for a half-day of content focused on building a resilient business. Topics included recruiting, retention, revenue-growth, and recession-planning. (more…)

08Feb 2019 by Emily Youngblood

Attracting Marketing Talent in a Tight Labor Market: Jennifer Zick published in Upsize Magazine

Brand & Messaging, Fractional CMO, Marketing

Authentic Brand CEO, Jennifer Zick, was published in the January/February 2019 edition of Upsize Minnesota magazine, on a topic that has become central to every client and prospect conversation: Attracting marketing talent. (more…)

01Feb 2019 by Emily Youngblood

Building a Financially Resilient Business

Brand & Messaging, Event, Marketing, Virtual Panel

Building a successful business that weathers the ups-and-downs of economic cycles takes tremendous resilience. Leveraging boom times to prepare for leaner times is critical. Knowing when to save, and when to invest, can be the difference between success and failure. (more…)