I was asked by Hilary Dunne to write and deliver a Podcast.

Hilary runs a Global Speaker agency called The Brand Activators.

I addressed this subject:

Deep recession. Pandemic. War, even.

Globally significant. Thankfully rare. Landscape-shifting.

But if they do occur, what should business owners do regarding brand, PR, marketing and sales?

Here’s what I said.

5 Things.

First, I defined Brand, PR, Marketing and Sales.

(Just to make sure we were all chatting about the same thing).

Brand
Our DNA. What we stand for. Purpose. Belief. The change we want to make. What we’re most famous for.

PR
Schedules and targets messages, identifies networks and channels, targets content and readership, reputation management. Includes digital PR (how found, what for), measures reach, engagement and effect.

Marketing & Sales
Identifies markets, how to reach them, what to say to them and how to close and grow accounts. Identifies targets, opportunities, responsibilities, relationship building and sales methods for developing insight and selling. 

Then, I listed 5 things to do during the Pandemic.

Here’s an overview:

1. Don’t crave normal. Crave better. This means, use the time to get those things we’ve just defined, amazing. Sort them out. Because there will definitely be work to do
2. Storify your journey to better. Tell the world, via Social Media and great quality email marketing, about your journey to better.
3. Invest heavily in generosity. Help people. Loads of them. Sincerely and without expecting anything back. Jump out of bed to do this, in fact. Commit to it.
4. Look for inspiration-and to inspire. Take a look at what other inspiring leaders are doing. Soak it all up. Then do something inspiring yourself. Imagine that other people, just like I am advising you to, were looking around looking for inspiring leadership during the pandemic. Would they find you?
5. The worst decision you can make is to stop making decisions. You’re a leader. So lead.

In summary:

1. Improve.
2. Storify.
3. Generosity.
4. Inspire.
5. Lead.

So it’s pretty much what you should have been doing anyway.

Before.

During.

And after.

I really do mean it.

When I say that I can’t.

Quite.

Fathom.

The media.

The Media. 

Arguably, I work in (or at least ‘with’) the media.

I rely on certain aspects of the media as channels for the delivery of the carefully crafted brand messages I create.

Yet I really do mean it.

When I say that I can’t.

Quite.

Fathom.

The media.

My Businesses. 

This, for example.

When I founded and ran 4 businesses.

Concurrently.

For 15 years through the noughties and after.

Winning 70 awards.

Selling millions of pounds worth of Brand, Marketing and Design Consultancy.

All of it intended to help my fellow businesses.

All of it intended boost the Regional and National Economy.

All of it meaning that I had to employ over 100 people to help me on my way.

The local newsroom never rang me.

Local Newsroom.

I rang the local newsroom a lot of course.

Encouraging clients to spend money with them as appropriate.

And working with great local PR Companies to help spread upbeat and positive news as it happened.

Through the local news channels.

Yet as I say.

The local newsroom never rang me.

For 15 years.

Until the summer of 2014, that is.

When they did call.

And they asked for me by name.

2014.

Hello

Someone said as I was handed the telephone.

Michael Owen? The MD?

They asked.

And I replied.

Yes.

That’s me.

How can I help?

The reporter continued.

I’m calling from The Chronicle. We hear you’re sacking 30 people. How do you feel about that? That’ll be quite a hit for the region. Would you like to tell us about it? Your side of the story I mean. Before we print anything.

I paused.

I had a strange swimming feeling in my head.

Just for a second.

Not an out-of-control feeling, you understand.

But the adrenaline was definitely pumping.

It was a busy time you see.

I was in the process of closing three of my businesses as calmly, as humanely and as sensibly as I could.

Taking on personal loans to cover redundancy payments that reserves could not.

Encouraging clients such as Virgin Money and Sage to, if possible, take the best members of my team on.

So the call threw me a bit.

Especially one of the words he used.

…sacking…

I didn’t like that word.

Sacking.

And as I say.

I really do mean it.

When I say that I can’t.

Quite.

Fathom.

The media.

The Pause.

But I didn’t want to keep them waiting on the line too long.

So after the pause.

Which extended to a full 15 seconds or so.

I worked out what to say.

Fuck off.

I replied.

As I gently popped the phone down.

And that was that.

Converse allow you to customise sneakers online now.

Which is great!

It’s great that they have developed this.

And that they’ve launched it.

But what’s not great.

Is that they’re not ready.

Converse.

I actually really like Converse.

As a brand and as a product.

So the opportunity to get a pair of Chucks.

A design and a quality that I know already.

With Izobel’s name on the side.

And the ability to customise the shoe design.

That sounded cool!

So that’s what I did.

Here’s how the experience went.

Experience.

1. Converse.com is a funky place. It looks good. And that’s fine.
2. The customisation engine is imperfect. Some customisation shows as-you-go. Some doesn’t. It seems that some customisation cancels out another kind of customisation. So you can’t have both. But I am not sure. And it wasn’t clear to me exactly how the name would appear on the side. So all of that is a bit crap. It’s not been user tested properly. So I didn’t actually know exactly what I was going to get. Nevertheless – on I went.
3. The product. On arrival from China. Is literally stuffed into a brown outer package. No inner. So converse are giving me a  higher level product, with a much lower level experience. They are reminding me that these shoes have been spat  out of a factory. And this is such a shame. It feels like they are user testing on customers. And that’s not right.
4. A final point is that the email correspondence from China (I chased the order) was quite nice. Responsive. But not well written and contained spelling mistakes. I don’t want the customisation arm of a business to write to me with spelling mistakes. It makes me uneasy.

Guinea Pigs.

‘Go before you are ready’.

We hear the a lot in business..

And you know what.

I agree.

But as with all things.

There is a line that defines a level of quality above which it is acceptable to take money off people for products and services.

And that same line also defines a level of quality below which it is not acceptable to take money off people for products and services.

Business owners have to know where that line is.

And Converse.

Because they are treating customers like Guinea Pigs.

Do not.

Part 3 is missing from most businesses.

And I think we should put  that right.

3 things.

The first 2 parts  feel super-important to most people.

And the third part, not so important.

But to me.

All 3 parts are equally important.

And I also think that the reason most businesses never really maximise.

Is because the third part is missing.

Part 1 – Mattering.

This is understanding what you do from the market way around.

Making sure you matter.

It is knowing what you are for.

It is knowing the difference you want to make.

And knowing that that difference matters.

And who to.

That’s your market.

Part 2 – You.

Ability.

Ability is not necessarily talent.

But you definitely need to be able to deliver on the promises you make in Part One.

With conviction.

Determination.

Imagination.

Creativity.

Focus.

Dedication.

Resilience.

And I could go on.

But you get my drift.

Part 2 is about being bravely all in.

Part 3 – Playfulness.

The best way to get noticed.

In a world that is.

Let’s face it.

Pretty boring.

Is to be different.

And one of the best ways to be different.

Is to be playful.

Humorous.

Stand-out.

Risky.

Outrageous.

A little bit zany, even.

That way – you noticed.

You get impact.

And if you can get impact.

You can start to communicate.

And if you start to communicate.

You can start to persuade.

And if you can start to persuade.

You are on your way to building relationships.

And building a business.

So there you go.

Part 1 –  Mattering.

Part 2 – You.

Part 3 – Playfulness.