We never knew how much culture mattered until John Gregory Olson and I began to take a closer look at the goings on at Zenefits (the company with sex in the stairwells and alcohol every day) and Volkswagen.
We've been exploring culture in our Workplace Series because culture IS your heart core. It's the alignment of heartful business practice with values, vision, and mission. When culture heads into a downward spiral, then an entire business suffers.
In this episode of The Heart of Marketing, we take a strategic look at why culture matters and its impact on stakeholders from customers on the outside and employees on the inside.
In the examples we showcase, the impact of negative culture is obvious in how the CEOs made change following negative incidents on the companies brands.
When was the last time you took a good look at your company culture? If you're a small or mid-sized company, you have an opportunity to develop the how and why of your company and to also change it up should you need to.
It's the responsibility of a marketer to align with the intended culture leadership seeks to create, grow and maintain. It's also important to put the best foot forward so people on the outside of a brand want to align with that company.
This episode is a double-listen. It is likely going to take you a few times to grasp all that we have to say as you align your thoughts and vision from how your brand is positioned to grow your company.
Culture is a funny thing in the workplace, and John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati take an inside view at how the mission statement shapes culture shapes productivity shapes the bottom line.
Did you know that? John drops a bombshell with this little factoid about happier employees, happier profitability; sad employees, even worse profitability.
In this episode, another in our Workplace Series, we take a look at several examples of companies like VW, Radio Flyer, Starbucks, and Zenefits. (You know the latter, right? Its culture was so disastrous that...you'll have to listen.)
Our discussion is a sister to our most-downloaded episode 'Specialists v. Generalists,' and if you've not listened yet to Episode 21, do take a listen and tell us why you like that one? It's baffling to us!
Which company do you know that has a fitting culture? We believe Trader Joe's fits its culture very well (we did an episode with this #RockHot company, too), and Starbucks, golden child of Wall Street, is a maverick when it comes to culture; and, its culture is aligned to its mission...
Is Yours?
We are The Heart of Marketing!
Our guest today on the The Heart of Marketing 'Go for Heart' special edition is a genuine and natural heart marketer. Ms. Adrienne Smith joins us with her delightful Southern Belle drawl and her blogging intellect that puts community and connections first. Connect with her on Twitter, and her natural gratitude will invite you in.
There is no other blog on the 'sphere with a comment section so alive and well. When you visit AdrienneSmith.net, you'll find the love everywhere and especially in the oodles of comments she gets and answers daily.
Why is that?
Simply put, Adrienne is the consummate relationship builder. She treats everyone with genuine appreciation and gratitude. Even on Twitter when she thanks someone for sharing material, her gratitude shines through, naturally.
We are also grateful that Adrienne joined us to share her heartful story. We invited her here because she embodies the 5 Pillars of Heart Marketing -- helpfulness being one.
When you listen to Adrienne, you will learn from her tips, appreciate her course, get to work building your own blog community and develop a heart core that people automatically gravitate towards. Adrienne isn't stilted; she isn't phony; she's the real deal, and it's our pleasure to introduce Adrienne Smith to you.
This episode of The Heart of Marketing with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati is a lot like our most-downloaded episode #21, 'Specialists v. Generalists.' And, we can't figure out why that one is so popular. Can you?
Here, we wax and wane on the topic of marketing consultants. Should you hire one? When is the best time? Why would you ever need one? And, most of all what benefit might you derive from investing in a marketing consultant.
Jayme and John paint the case for making the investment in a marketing consultant because they can:
1. Enhance an experience gap
2. Outfit bandwidth for a specialty project
3. Conduct an outsider audit to understand performance deficiency
4. Become the insider team
There may be a few more ways that come to light in this episode that you've not thought of in re your own growing business. Take a listen, and grab some thoughtstarters to push your business toward another growth goal.
This is a solid conversation with good perspective from the business and consulting sides.
We're delighted to bring you an Instagram expert in Jenn Herman, one of the top 'dogs' in Instagram marketing for newbies and established businesses. This episode on The Heart of Marketing has us (John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati) so excited.
Jenn Herman shares some basic tips that you can incorporate immediately into your Instagram channel, and here are some to whet your whistle:
1. You get 30 hashtags to use in each post; should you use them ALL? Listen to what Jenn has to say!
2. There's only one clickable link allowed in an Instagram profile/bio; did you know this? So what should you do if you want to promote a podcast episode or blog post? Jenn knows!
3. How frequent should your images be uploaded to Instagram? If you do 65 in one hour watch what happens to your followers! Jenn had that client experience and what does she recommend?
4. How much fun can you have with Instagram? Listen to what Jenn has to say about your bio and personality...can you be quirky or stodgy?
5. What if you're a service business? Is it possible to be successful with this unique channel?
6. OMgosh...those memes! Ever feel overwhelmed with peoples' quotes and memes? Jenn sets the record straight with the Instagram rules you should follow!
You're going to want to listen to this episode twice, no doubt. Jenn's talks rapidly and everything she says is a pro tip for Instagram power!
Resources
Instagram: Jenns_Trends
You've been hacked, now what?
Yes, it's inevitable. Your business will get hacked, whether solo, small, mid-sized, large, or largest. The Wall Street Journal published a story about Microsoft's new gazillion dollar cybersecurity center to fight off the hackers.
How are you going to manage your cybersecurity crisis?
This episode of The Heart of Marketing is really more about crisis communications and the preparation for an event much like a data breach. Jayme Soulati, that's me, is speaking to the Napa Valley Vintners to help wineries prepare for their response in event of a cybersecurity matter.
Regardless of which industry in which you play and work, cybersecurity doesn't care. Hackers will take you down if you lack secure passwords, have not updated your software, don't have firewalls, do not have security plugins, do not encrypt your data, and don't know what your third-party vendors do for security.
Once the crisis hits, and it will, how will you respond? A message map is number one, but there are also other basics like control your message, develop owned media with approved messages, stay calm and be accessible.
Listen to our episode with John Gregory Olson and Jayme Soulati and see if we can teach you a few tips on responding during a crisis. It doesn't matter if it's cybersecurity or not; you can use what you hear for whichever matter you're managing.