Last month I had the privilege of being a panelist at the Growth Blazers brand summit, a global community of modern marketers, growth executives, and startup founders. We discussed lessons learned, trends, and seizing opportunities for Fortune 500 companies. I really enjoyed our conversation and thought I’d share a few excerpts.

Innovation vs. Stagnation

Moderator: One common issue that many large organizations face is they become stagnant for a number of reasons. How can you make sure that your brand [IBM] is still growing and innovating?

Stephen Mik: IBM has a history of innovation & reinvention from tabulation cards, helping NASA with the first moon landing, commercializing the UPC code, and now creating the first 2 nano-meter chip for quantum computing. On top of that IBM has consistently been a leader in patent submissions (~9,100 patents in 2020). Despite that track record, overtime w/ growth a company can become bigger, bloated, and lose its way. IBM over the last several years has continued our own transformation. With a refocus on our core business, divestitures, etc. now 70% of revenue comes from our consulting & software portfolio.

During our transformation we’ve listened even more attentively to our customers & observed the world around us. Innovation is no longer done in a vacuum we’re in a world where it’s much more open and collaborative between organizations, ecosystem, even “competitors” (aka frenemies). And so marketing at IBM has reflected that change, restructuring internally, prioritizing our messages, and launching a new brand movement. With this new platform we’ve recognized creativity does not just come from the arts, writing, music, etc. but can be found in business in the form of technologists, developers, data scientists, and engineers. Thus, our focus has turned to celebrating these ‘New Creators’ as a signal to the world that IBM has changed. Where we are more open to partnerships, more open to ideas, and more open to innovation than ever before.

Leveraging Communities

Moderator: IBM is a well established brand with huge communities. How are you leveraging your communities to grow? What insights can you share that other brands can learn from?

Stephen Mik: For us, community begins by listening to our various audiences and their needs, pain points, motivations, and aspirations. What’s most important for a community is to be a place where one can learn, share, and grow professionally along side their peers. There’s lots of different channels now open for communities both in the physical & digital world. IBM’s role has evolved from one focused on exclusively selling to its audience to one where IBM can act as a facilitator establishing a space where we can grow with our audience.

Generation Z

Moderator: With Gen Z, one thing that's important, is to support brands that have shared values. How are you thinking about shaping your brand to appeal to them?

Stephen Mik: What’s important now more than ever is a level of authenticity and integrity that comes from being a relevant brand. A fantastic agency partner I’ve worked with, Co:Collective coined the phrase “Story Doing” to express this behavior. Historically, brand marketing was thought of as just communications to craft the perfect narrative aka “Story Telling”, whereas “Story Doing'“ puts the focus on a brand’s behavior - as the adage goes “actions speak louder than words”. Thus, to be a genuine brand it needs to begin with your purpose.

At IBM, our purpose is to be the catalyst that makes the world work better. A great example of how our actions have brought this to life, not just in the technology space but in society, includes how IBM responded during a difficult time of social unrest in 2020. IBM recognized it’s role in society and recommitted to be an up stander through a “Be Equal” pledge internally to its employees and externally. IBM exited the facial recognition software category given the inherent bias that it perpetuated. Additionally, IBM focused it’s Call for Code open source initiative around racial justice, with a mission to find ways to leverage technology to drive progress and create a more inclusive, equal, and just world. While these actions were necessary because they were the right thing to do, I believe it’s a great example of behaviors aligned to a purpose, that illustrate the authenticity Gen Z is looking for in brands.

Brand Equity Matters for Startups Too

Moderator: As many startups begin, they often focus on growth and product/market fit, and focus less on building their brand. What lessons do you have for younger companies on how they can build brand equity?

Stephen Mik: The definition of brand means something different to everyone. It’s not just a logo or a tagline or a name. It’s been proven that strong brand equity equals higher valuation and that brands with loyal consumers grow at 2x’s the rate. So the first step is to really understand “your why” (your purpose in the world – why you do what you do beyond profit). Clearly understanding your core values is paramount, and then bringing these values to life by baking them into your culture. It’s critical to think about the actions your brand takes, your tone & voice, the full purchase experience, your supply chain partners, how you invest your revenue, and even the communities you participate in. Every action your organization takes is a chance to drive positive word-of-mouth and strengthen the equity in your brand. This isn’t to say product/market fit isn’t crucial, but the advocacy built from your loyalists can catapult your brand to icon status, making your organization more valuable when it’s time for an acquisition or public offering.

Advice for Established Brands

Moderator: For large enterprise brands watching this talk, what are your 2-3 actionable tips that they can easily implement in their organizations?

Stephen Mik:

1. Spend time articulating your “why” and your values then make sure the behaviors of your company, not just in the marketing department, reinforce these values.

2. Spend 2x’s as much time as you are today listening to your audience, to understand their pains, motivations, aspirations, and not just for what they say on the surface but also listen for what they don’t say (many times that’s where the gold is).

3. Don’t be afraid to fail. Sometimes in a large company it’s easy to get comfortable and insulated. Yet the daring, curious spirit that helped get your brand to this point can’t be forgotten. As a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan there’s a quote I love from head coach Sean McDermott: “You never lose. You either win. Or you learn.” This is the essence of a growth mindset and how large brands need to approach their mission.

B2C vs. B2B

As we wrapped up our session, a question from the audience came in highlighting how Business-to-Business marketing is extremely different compared to Business-to-Consumer marketing (because of the amount of technical information required and the number of decision makers in the process.) While this is true, these approaches are more similar than you might think, at the core we are all people with emotions and needs. If you approach your marketing with extreme empathy and take a human-to-human approach, I believe you can strike the right balance and make your brand resonate with your audience, not just from a rational perspective but an emotional one.