This is How We Do
Recently a friend inquired, in very general terms, “how we do what we do” as a business owner? In a moment of clarity, I offered the following response:“We only hire the best talent we can find. We delight our customers. We charge what we are worth. We use technology when ever possible to be efficient, but are careful never to replace human interaction.” I’ve reflected upon this philosophy several times since. These answers still ring true to me, in regards to what our company values. Reflecting on these four values, here are some notes I assembled on each. Hiring the Best Talent The way we value the human touch in the workplace has ebbed and flowed over the last few centuries. In the industrial age, we broke down the delivery of goods and services into individual measurements. We distilled complex manufacturing into individual work units. We took the thinking out of work. Things once crafted by skilled craftspeople were suddenly manufactured. There are several industries that still thrive on this approach to work. But the fact is, professional services industries — accounting, lawyers, marketing, medicine and others — have developed a poor reputation of hiring throngs of free (interns), low cost labor (recent college graduates) or contractors to saddle with the grunt work (research, drafting briefs, auditing, making coffee) of managing client work. Recently there has been a cultural shift in the workforce regarding one’s attitude toward work. Employees no longer wish to be a cog in the machine. Rather, employees want their work to mean something. They are also increasingly interested in how their contribution affects outcomes. They are tired of micromanagement, and they are simultaneously seeing independence and autonomy while also desiring a collegial and rewarding workplace culture. These are the types of people that we like to hire. Cultivated in their craft, with an eye towards the final product — independent-minded, but not loners. Hiring people that are a strong cultural fit, in addition to being skilled, reaps a valuable reward. Not only is it vital to employee loyalty (which decreases hiring costs), it also fosters stability, which then leads to greater client loyalty. Delight the Customer Customers have no shortage of choice. Providing good service is key to retaining clients. Fear of losing clients however, is uninspiring. Anybody who has ever started a business or changed jobs knows that in addition to making more money, what drives us is a better way of doing things. Whether it be doing things quicker, smarter or perhaps more human, we see market opportunities that we believe we can exploit. One of the the opportunities we are seizing at MKTNG is exceeding expectations and creating delighted customers. Nothing is more rewarding than putting out great work that you are proud of. Delighted customers, much more than just satisfied, are more than return customers. They are friends… and they can eventually become family. We Charge What We Are Worth Competing on price in the modern business climate most often results in slashed margins. Narrowing margins do not sustain businesses, especially those focused on talent and delighting customers. Competing primarily on price is a short sighted strategy. Competing in a marketplace that values great ideas, results, and value is a far better place to be. If you find your customers are first and foremost focused on cost, you’re in front of the wrong customers. By seeking out customers that value what we do, high quality work and lasting relationships, we are able to produce greater results over time than we would while working with clients focused on the costs of individual transactions. We use technology whenever possible, to be efficient, but not to replace human interactions. Technology is a powerful tool in business. It has become so pervasive in our lives, and we believe businesses should actually be cautioned where and how they use it. Our company embraces the use of technology. Our client files and our project management software are all in the cloud. This allows our team to be collocated, or geographically dispersed. It allows us to access our entire company through apps on our phones in addition to our laptops. Any coffee shop can become an office at a moment’s notice. Technology keeps us lean and agile, while our competitors are stuck in their offices or to their desks. It reinforces our “out of office” culture and facilitates our work in the community. In an effort to save time and money, many companies place technology on the front lines of their business, creating a barrier between their customers. This is where we draw the line. Technology should serve to improve and enhance the customer experience, not hinder it. What makes companies in different industries successful varies. However, in service oriented industries, we see these as somewhat pivotal. What is most critical to your business?
PINK is for girls
This is what I thought when I was in the third grade. For a brief period in junior high, hot pink was all the rage, and I was in with both feet. Today, I love pink. I’m actually wearing a pale shade of it as I write this post. I enjoy wearing a variety of vibrant colors. Being colorful is bold, and also has an influence on arousal and memory. That’s besides the point however. For those of you who think pink is for girls, I’m okay with that, but we may disagree on just what that means. Let’s begin with the psychology of color. Whenever you begin thinking about a brand and a logo, color is top of mind. We often associate blue with business – think IBM and Microsoft. Red and yellow is owned by the fast food trade. Red is known for being bold, and purple is regal and inspires confidence. The problem with this, however, is that the psychology of color is a trailing indicator of what a color has meant over a preceding period of time. It does not represent the evolving perspective toward color or, in the case of pink, what it means to be a woman. Our idea of womanhood has changed. I know mine has changed since the third grade. Society’s view and portrayal of women has changed. As a father of two young women, I embrace the nature of women as strong and independent. We have seen an evolution in how brands approach women. An obvious example would be the Dove campaign. However, I am thinking of a couple more nuanced examples. These recent ad campaigns are a fitting indication of how society and, as a result, advertising is taking note of femininity’s new identity: Take the #LikeAGirl campaign from Always that recasts how young girls perceive their own physical capabilities. Or, another favorite of mine is ballerina Misty Copeland for Under Armour, definitely redefining your notion of strength and femininity. When we began working on the branding for MKTNG, we discussed with our creative team that we wanted our logo to reflect professionalism, but we also wanted it to exude innovation and fresh ideas. We were excited when they presented us with two color concepts with bold and fresh colors. The most appealing to us was the bright pink that we ended up choosing for the logo you see today. We were enamored with the color and the energy it brought to our logo. Sometimes a symbol changes or evolves. Pink represents femininity still, sure, but the symbol of femininity itself is evolving. Pink is fresh, it exudes love and passion. It is also growing to mean strength and innovation. The notion that pink = women = delicate is no longer the prevailing impression. Rather, it’s refreshing, modern, and confident. In many cases, femininity now represents strength. We hope that daring to use it in our branding conveys that we’re not afraid to make an impression, and that we’re confident that we’ll make an impression on our target market, brands that wish to make a unique impressions, as opposed to appealing to everyone. When representing yourself, in business or otherwise, we believe it’s important to be at once authentic and confident. Whatever that means for your particular brand, we encourage you to strive to meet that intersection, and have the courage to challenge convention.
Just What You Need
There’s something to be said for saying only what needs to be said. When we started MKTNG we knew the world didn’t need another typical agency that can ‘do it all’… we decided to focus on just what’s needed. A part of launching a new company is building on, or taking away from, existing business models. In our case we were bound and determined to strip away as much as possible, and to focus on a workplace culture that is as rewarding as it is productive. This thought leads us to a couple of questions. What is necessary and what is wasteful? What contributes to an organization’s culture and what dampens morale and creativity? Personally, I have long felt that the California Milk Advisory Board has it right, ”good milk comes from happy cows”*. In fact, I think that this pertains to each of us in our respective workplaces. Over the past decade major employers have begun to alter the work environment of employees to maximize employee satisfaction, hence the communal open office and work-from-home benefits that have proliferated. For us, we keep our focus on that “good marketing comes from happy marketers”. We believe; There is something about a finished product that shines when it has been imbued with the passion and ethos of its creators. There is something about the finished product when it reflects the culture on the inside. There is something about the finished products origin story that gives it integrity. ORIGINS MATTER In Sacramento we believe in this wholeheartedly, when it comes to our food, origins matter. We are surrounded by much of the world’s best food. Where our food is grown matters and how it is produced has a significant impact on the taste. So much so, we even concern ourselves with the quality of life of the farmers and their communities. This is the essence of the “Farm to Fork” movement. It differentiates Sacramento from anywhere else in our nation because it truly matters where our food comes from, the soil it is borne in, the water and nutrients it is fed, who grew it and how it arrived on our table. OUR ROOTS GO DEEP When I started MKTNG, I felt as though the roots of our company matters. The ecosystem surrounding our productivity and creativity seeps into our final product. Sacramento is a fertile environment rich with innovators, hackers, makers, designers, coders, ideators and more. New ideas are encouraged and risks rewarded. Birthing a company in this environment makes a difference. We have stripped away what we don’t need. We partner with people who get us, and who we can do something for in return – reciprocity is an important value in a professional community. At /MKTNG we produce things unlike any other agency. We believe that how we work keeps us more than competitive. We believe that how we work produces better results. We have discarded what was unnecessary for a modern agency and we have adapted the tools and workflow of a digital start-up. We have adopted a flat management structure to become more flexible. Our infrastructure is our people and creativity is our intellectual property. We are agile and adaptable, we are lean. This frees our team to focus on results and solutions that matter. JUST WHAT YOU NEED *At no time during the reading of this post should any MKTNG employees or partners be compared to cows.