Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
Let’s say your company just went through the rigorous process of crafting the perfect mission and vision statements (or a combo of both which is perfectly acceptable). Or it could be your values, purpose, manifesto, or any other term that describes why you exist, what drives you, what differentiates you, or what you aim to achieve in the long term.
Now what?
Those words are often then posted on walls, websites, and communicated to employees to help remind them why they are here and where the company is headed. Then the dust settles. Has anything changed over the next few months or a year? Sadly, at times nothing meaningful has changed.
Lack of change often comes down to these reasons:
CEO and the leadership team are not leading the way. Yes, everyone in the company is responsible, but you can’t expect a bottom-up approach to have change take hold. Leadership must empower the team and lead by example.
Lack of a robust activation plan. Communicating the statements is not a plan. Just like your brand, every element of the company from manufacturing to marketing, sales, operations, and service must look at their actions and make necessary changes to align with the statements.
Having a short-term view. Change does not come fast and if it means true change, it may not be easy. The actions must be consistent and continuously applied. Your statements and the behaviors expected from them are at the root of your company’s culture and that takes patience to evolve.
A tale of two companies
A classic example of where words didn’t mean anything was the resulting debacle from a company which had values of “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence” and further stated their mission as, “We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves….We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don’t belong here.” That was Enron. Founded in 1985 and went into bankruptcy in 2001.
Alternatively, Patagonia which updated their core values in 2022 on the eve of their 50th anniversary is guided by the values of Quality, Integrity, Environmentalism, Justice, and Not being bound by convention. These are just the titles that are followed by more detailed explanations for each value (https://www.patagonia.com/core-values/)
When it’s time to update your values, mission, and vision statement, be prepared for the hard work that comes afterwards. You may end up doing more harm than good if they are simply words that makes everyone feel good in the short run. The power of these statements resides in their continual and steadfast application. Do what you say.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved, surpassing its original concept to becoming a driving force behind marketing across industries.
From personalized customer experiences to data-driven insights, AI has revolutionized how businesses engage with their audiences and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing. Let’s look at the evolution of AI and explore how it is reshaping the strategies and tactics employed by marketing professionals today.
Personalization
In recent years, AI-powered marketing tools and technologies have empowered businesses to streamline operations, enhance efficiency and deliver results. Automated email campaigns, analytics and chatbots are just a few examples of how AI is revolutionizing workflows, enabling businesses to automate repetitive tasks, optimize campaigns in real-time and engage customers with personalized content.
Insights and Analytics
In an increasingly data-driven world, the ability to extract insights from large volumes of data is vital to success in marketing. AI-powered analytics platforms leverage machine learning algorithms to analyze complex data, identify patterns and uncover valuable insights for preferences and trends. These insights empower marketers to make data-driven decisions, optimize marketing strategies and stay ahead of the competition.
Customer Engagement
In 2024, consumers expect personalized experiences tailored to their preferences and needs. AI-driven personalization platforms leverage algorithms to analyze customer data and deliver targeted content across multiple channels. Whether through website content, personalized product recommendations, businesses can create seamless, relevant experiences that resonate with customers and drive engagement.
Ethical Considerations
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into marketing, it is essential to consider the ethical implications. Navigating the ethical landscape of AI in marketing requires a thoughtful approach that prioritizes transparency and accountability. Moreover, while AI can automate many aspects of marketing, the human touch remains essential. Authenticity, empathy and human connection are qualities that cannot be replicated by machines and are crucial to building meaningful relationships with customers.
The Future of AI in Marketing
As we look to the future, the evolution of AI in marketing shows no signs of slowing down. It is crucial to remember that AI is a tool and that the human touch is essential. The success of AI in marketing hinges not only on technological ability but also on human ingenuity and creativity. By embracing AI, professionals can unlock new opportunities and shape the future of marketing in 2024 and beyond.
Since the pandemic struck the US, the labor force is still struggling four years later. Many companies are not hiring, some are leaning towards a virtually centered workplace, thus sending people in different directions in their career paths. Many high schoolers are faced with the question of college. In the past, college seemed like the “be all” or “end all” decision, as to who can get in where, who has the best SAT/ACT scores, who ends up at the most prestigious college, and more. But in recent years while these questions have not entirely disappeared, one big question pops up. Do you want to go into college or the trades? Gen Z has in recent light been choosing the trades. Many are seeing the upside of going right into the trades, versus building up a tremendous amount of debt that has haunted many people, 10 to 20 years out of college. In this blog, let’s look at why many Gen Zer’s are choosing the trades over college.
Differences in Outcomes: Trade School vs. College
Before we truly dive into why Gen Z is moving more towards a career in the trades versus going into the traditional route of college, let’s look at the basic notions of what each entail. According to The Best Schools, trade schools offer a condensed program, that takes a shorter amount of time to complete, unlike college programs. This allows the student to get into the workforce faster, and to start earning money and the experience the specific job, sooner than college students would. In trade schools, students earn the opportunity to go out onto a worksite with a mentor, in order to get a feel for what the job is actually like and get hands-on experience.
For college students, instead of going out onto a worksite to immerse themselves in a job, they learn about it via lectures in a traditional classroom setting. They also go through years of schooling (six or more years if they choose to add on secondary education), until they get out into an actual job (excluding internships). Due to the trades gaining more popularity as a future source of career, there is a need for parents and teachers to encourage this career option. The idea of being able to take pride in your work, and helping people can be a satisfying feeling at the end of the day. With the hard work of it all not being ignored, you are helping people in the end of it.
Rise in AI
One of many reasons why Gen Z is beginning to gravitate more towards the trades rather than college is due to the rise in AI. According to The Wall Street Journal, AI is beginning to change many career options for those who are in jobs that can be done by a computer system. Therefore, the demand for humans is not as high as it once was in the past. At the same time, the demand for electricians, plumbers and HVAC techs has risen, since AI is not able to perform the many tasks that tradespeople perform. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average age of a tradesman is 55 years old. Due to this, more tradesmen will start to retire as Gen Zer’s begin entering into the workforce. Overall, there will continue to be an extreme need for all types of tradesmen.
Debt Avoidance
Another reason why working within the trades is becoming more appealing is being debt free. According to NPR, those who have gone into the trades tend to be at an advantage compared to their peers from a debt perspective. Those who come out of college tend to have as much as six-figures worth of debt, but those who decide to enter into the trades avoid debt and enter the workforce with a high-paying job. With a current demand for wind turbine installers, the median salary for this type of trade worker is approximately $100,000. This allows young people to enter into the work world debt-free with a high paying job and the potential to purchase a house at an early age, thus jumpstarting their lives. In addition, blue collar jobs were found to have offered better job security compared to white collar jobs, thus the less money you have to pour into paying for health care, dental insurance, etc.
Hefty Price Tags
Adding onto the monetary aspect, another reason trade school is looking like a better option is due to how expensive college has gotten in recent years. According to Labor Finders, the average cost of a trade school is a little over $10,000 for yearly tuition, while earning for work at the same time. On the other hand, a public college has a median cost of $23,603 and a private college has a median cost of $42,162. The hefty cost of going to a private college versus a trade school, when the plumber and accountant can end up with the same salary is something to consider.
The Toolbelt Generation is upon us and is coming in as hot as welding a pipe. Even though we are going through a shortage currently in the trades, we are seeing more people moving towards working within the trades. From that, we might see the gap close soon. The facts behind the notion of leaving the idea of college in the past and accepting the new generation of tradespeople is something interesting to dissect.
Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
There’s always been a sort of pendulum that companies go through with their marketing between a focus on brand vs. product-based marketing. Both have an important role and require completely different approaches and expertise to do them well. Each company will have their unique level of investment between the two and that will change over time. It’s a normal requirement to balance short-term revenue goals with long-term brand sustainability and the necessity to continuously innovate to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving market. However for brand marketing, there also comes a time when it needs to be refreshed or even completely updated.
But how do you know what and when it’s time?
Whether you call it repositioning, refreshing, or a rebrand, all of which may or may not include a design update, if it’s been more than several years, it’s time to take a look. The fact is that your target audience, competition, and the market landscape is constantly changing. If you are standing still with the same brand voice, positioning, messaging, appearance or customer experience, then the world is moving past you. The need to stay modern, relevant, and agile never stops.
Beyond simply time, some signs that your company may need to rebrand include flat or declining sales, stagnant marketing metrics, competitors that are taking larger market share or growing faster than your company, or realizing your messaging is not saying anything new that is relevant and distinguishing. A simple logo or design change won’t do the trick. Read more about why your logo is not your brand here: https://www.lasoi.com/points-of-view/2018/4/29/your-brand-is-more-than-your-logo
What does rebranding entail?
Rebrands vary widely in approach, effectiveness, and ultimately cost. Established brands must modernize without losing their identity. Reaching a new market or target audience requires a better understanding of the target audience and crafting new messaging along with rethinking the tactical marketing approach. However, this can be tricky because you never want to erode the core essence of your brand and alienate loyal advocates of your brand.
So, what is a company to do?
It starts with assessing where your brand stands today and the perceptions of your brand vs. your brand aspirations. It’s basically an audit, or in simpler terms, a reality check on the current situation. The good thing about starting with insights is that it will reveal areas of improvement, potentially discover new opportunities, and most importantly, help determine if the brand just needs some updating vs. a larger rebrand effort. Most fall into the former category.
Once the scope is determined, the next step is to dig deeper by gathering more insights from customers, the market, and perhaps an even deeper dive into your company than the initial audit. These will serve as the basis for defining the brand and messaging, and also determining any potential changes to the visual identity and marketing plans (both brand and performance based). One other critical item to keep in mind is that once the brand work has been done (let’s call it the plan) – it must be activated. Otherwise like many other efforts, it will just be a document and wasted money. The depth and potential cost of implementing the changes can vary widely and are important to discuss and understand prior to beginning the brand work.
How can success or improvement be measured?
There are a number of ways to measure how effective your branding efforts are paying off. Though you can’t directly attribute only brand marketing directly to sales, that is obviously a strong indication things are going in the right direction. Other ways to measure effectiveness include a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
One in particular that comes up is fielding a brand awareness and perception study. This can stem from a need, though often more of a desire, to have metrics associated with their branding to get some numbers behind the investment. That typically takes the form of a before and after quantitative brand awareness and perception study. We often advise against this unless it is absolutely necessary. A company must have a clear plan on what to do with the data, be committed to both the pre and post study (which should be at least a year after the rebrand is implemented), and have the money – it’s expensive. These studies are generally reserved for larger companies where the rebranding will result in far reaching downstream strategic and tactical changes based on the results of the insights. And, important for communicating to stakeholders the result of the overall investment.
Regardless of the type of branding effort required, if it’s been a few years, are experiencing flat or declining performance metrics, or it is simply clear that your company or products are losing relevance, it’s time to assess, gather your insights, and determine the best path forward.
Recently, Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect and President at Sonnhalter, discussed our 15th Annual Tool Drive on the “And So It Flows” podcast. Hosted by PM Editor-In-Chief, Nicole Krawcke, Matt tells all of the ins-and-outs of what our Tool Drive encompasses. They converse about how the Tool Drive started with Habitat for Humanity, why we decided to implement it as a crucial part of who we are, our milestones thus far, and more!
Check out this podcast to hear more about our Annual Tool Drive and visit our website to read more about this month-long event.
This summer, I had the pleasure of being Sonnhalter’s PR Intern. I can still remember the whole process of vying for this internship a couple of months ago. Throughout the rounds of interviews that I went through and then finally receiving the email confirming that I had landed the role, I was ecstatic knowing that I had been chosen. As my internship is coming to an end, I’d like to recap how high my expectations were before beginning and how it most definitely has followed through.
Throughout my time here, I was exposed to different writing styles that I wasn’t as well-versed in when I began. I was used to a narrative way of writing and had barely tampered with the ways of professional writing, such as news or press releases. Quickly, I learned the golden rule of “short and sweet” and how the implementation of this is imperative in news and PR writing.
Another aspect of my internship that taught me a lot about the PR, marketing and advertising industry would be generating graphics for our various clients (Wright, NIBCO, PHCC CONNECT, etc). While attending John Carroll University, I currently serve on the board of two different clubs and create content for their social media profiles. Before my internship at Sonnhalter, I had toyed around with Canva but only on a minor level. Now, as my internship is approaching its end, the Sonnhalter team has taught me a great amount of knowledge about how to use Canva while utilizing a brand’s coloring, font and logo. This skill, amongst many that I’ve learned while being here, will be forever useful for future endeavors, especially with the continued rise of social media.
Following previously from talking about writing styles, one other way of writing that I learned how to do well throughout this internship would be blog writing. For blog writing, it does incorporate a more narrative style of writing, but it still insists the notion of “short and sweet.” While at Sonnhalter, I have written many insightful blogs on a various amount of topics, ranging from biographical to educational to technological. Be sure to check out all of our blogs written on our website.
One of the major factors in working at an agency is to actually face the clients that you are working with. Throughout my internship, I’ve been given the opportunity to actually visit the places that I am writing about. Babcox Media and Wright Tool Company, both located in Ohio, were happy to give me a look into how each of their companies function on a day-to-day basis. Both were great to visit, and it was nice to actually see these companies, versus just typing about them. For our Annual Tool Drive as well, I was able to visit each manufacturer’s site to see how they function, while dropping off each donation box. It was a beneficial experience since I had never really been exposed to any trade workplace before.
As an overall, I can confidently say that I have gained and learned so much from being apart of the Sonnhalter team for the 2024 summer. The insightful information that was taught to me about all of the ins and outs of the PR, marketing and advertising industry, especially in a niche industry such as the trades, will be valuable information that I’m able to bring with me anywhere I go and end up.
