Today, Microsoft generates $212 billion and is involved in far more than computers. It generates billions of dollars annually through federal cloud contracts alone, and has significant other revenue in everything from its Bing search engine to video games and AI.

It’s difficult to remember that Microsoft once was only known for personal computers, or that its first revenue came from providing software to IBM. That’s because Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen achieved their brand vision – to make personal computers accessible to everyone – and matured the Microsoft story right along with the company’s growth.

Every successful company tells a story. Smart modern start-ups do this quite well, especially with marketing tools dropping barriers to access almost to zero and the popularity of “thought leadership” and “influencer marketing.” But where many start-ups fail is:

• Understanding that their most powerful story is not (just) the founder’s. It is the company’s mission and its leaders’ vision that create change and scalable growth, much like Bill Gates’ powerful personal story about dropping out of college and building computers in garages was a distant second to the Gates-Allen vision.

• Maturing the brand story as the company grows. A PC software firm wouldn’t have invented the XBox or invested billions into OpenAI. But Microsoft did.

Many one- and two-person companies believe it’s enough to turn on the lights and say “we have a business.” And they’re right, if they want to remain small. Companies that want to gross $20 million, $50 million, $100 million in annual revenue, however, have to tell customers not just what it does but why – in a way that customers will care, even as the brand itself matures and changes.

Here’s how to think about your brand story, from before the first sale to when you lead your market.

Brand strategy before the first sale

Businesses that don’t effectively communicate brand value to investors or customers typically go out of business. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that only a third of small businesses survive more than ten years.

A lot of the reason for that is many start-ups fail to think about their brand story long before the first dollar is earned. You can call yourself an IT company – but there are about a million of those around. Is your specialty the customer service experience or the technical side of things? Are you focusing on cybersecurity or a different part of the IT world? And are you servicing government entities, enterprise-scale businesses, or small businesses?

Also, where does the founder want the company to go? Are you looking to sell fast, become a public company, stay in one industry or expand to many?

Each of these considerations requires its own strategic thought process to establish the right logo, name, tagline, URL, website design, initial customer base, and initial marketing tests. Otherwise, you’ll only stand out because you’ll be #OpenToWork on LinkedIn.

Building to takeoff speed

Like Microsoft, Apple had a history of a plucky start-up founded by geeks in garages who would one day dominate the business world. However, while Microsoft’s Windows platform made it a market leader with everyday users, Apple remained a niche brand for nerds and graphic designers for decades.

That’s not to say Apple wasn’t a major brand either – nearly $10 billion in revenue in 1996 is nothing to sneeze at. But it wasn’t until the company rehired founder Steve Jobs, who led the development of iOS, that Apple realized hockey stick growth and became one of the most powerful brands in the world.

What Apple didn’t do was compete with Windows for desktop or laptop revenue. The iOS operating software allowed it to reimagine how a phone could be reimagined to become an integral life accessory for nearly every waking (and resting, and working) minute of the day. This would transform the smartphone concept from a piece of business hardware ubiquitous with the Blackberry brand to a personal assistant device that leaving home without would become unthinkable.

And while the iPhone accounts for nearly half of Apple’s current revenues, the device and the iOS platform are drivers for the rest of the company’s offerings. Think about the iMac, iPad, and iWatch – then consider the seamless bridge for all of these devices through the iCloud. The concert of connectivity induces consumers to immerse themselves under one brand umbrella thereby encouraging long term brand loyalty and sustained growth as new products emerge. That’s why Apple’s latest annual revenues topped $390 billion – an exponential increase from what the company generated in the decades before iOS.

Maturation and expansion

The strongest brands aren’t stagnant – they evolve to meet customer expectations and adjust to market demands. For example, Chick-fil-A used to differentiate from the burger-oriented fast-food industry with cows encouraging you to “eat mor chickin” and by closing on Sundays. But as it sought nationwide expansion both geographically and beyond its Christian customer base – as well as to overcome controversy associated with its President’s political leanings – the company navigated brand maturation in a way that broadens its appeal to new audiences while maintaining the wholesomeness valued by its core customers.

In 2018, the company launched an award-winning ad campaign – The Little Things – highlighting stories of heart-warming interactions between customers and employees that capitalize on the company’s customer-friendly reputation. This came on top of the company’s continual Top 5 wins for most polite and favorite fast-food chain lists, and its industry-leading profit-per-restaurant.

As one commentator put it, Chick-fil-A has prioritized eliminating pain points, building an effective team, and maximizing the customer experience. Yes, the company has the industry’s longest drive-thru lines, but customers keep returning anyway.

Chick-fil-A stuck in a single industry providing the same services as it expanded. Amazon, on the other hand, has become possibly the world’s most diverse company. And as it has expanded, its brand story has changed right along with its size. The origin story was Jeff Bezos dreaming up the company concept on a sales trip, selling books to get Amazon’s foot into the door of online retail, and then achieving global penetration as an online shopping platform.

And that would be great if Amazon was just a company that delivers things. However, Amazon is a delivery company that funnels new customers into its service ecosystem through diverse touch points. In 2017, Amazon acquired brick-and-mortar Whole Foods and integrated the premium grocer into its ecommerce platform, allowing a new customer base to take advantage of the company’s delivery network and skip in-person trips. Amazon also acquired MGM Studios to take ownership of the massive entertainment archive and provide a greater value offering for Prime members. The result is two new audience segments that Amazon can now touch for marketing its bread and butter online retail business.

And that’s just Amazon’s retail businesses. Its cloud computing subsidiary, AWS, has over 2 million business customers and controls 50% of the cloud computing market share.

None of this happened by accident. Bezos always wanted Amazon to provide everything. It just took time to get there. Today, if you remember Amazon was just books only 20 years ago – you’re rare. Most people think Amazon is Big Tech.

Market dominance

Brand maturation, or lack thereof, is intertwined with a brand’s narrative arc. Enterprises unable to further develop their brand often stagnate or go out of business, while more robust and mature brands are a value add for profitable sale of the business when the time comes.

But, occasionally, a brand makes the leap to become a true market leader.

Take the National Football League, for example, which practically owns a day of the week, 18 weeks a year. Over 100 million people tune in to watch a single game each February and the league’s revenue is 50% above that of the nearest U.S. sport. Its brand power has allowed the league to shrug off major crises and controversies such as accusations of covering up the effects of head injuries and player-led protests that became political lightning rods.

That’s because the NFL’s business model has become more than just selling tickets and games on TV. The league has aggressively pursued new markets scheduling annual games in London, UK and games in Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Brazil. In 2022, the NFL launched the International Home Marketing Areas initiative to develop fanbases for each franchise in international cities. The league has also partnered with the sports betting industry and promoted the fantasy football cultural phenomenon to generate wider appeal with casual audiences.

From start-up to dominance: what’s your brand story?

When Bill Gates started Microsoft, it was all about software for PCs. Amazon started out as an online book delivery company, and Chick-fil-A was just a burger joint that didn’t sell burgers.

Each of them became a behemoth on the back of leadership’s brand vision and mission. And as they grew and changed, their brand story also matured – but the vision only changed once it was achieved.

This piece was originally published at TabbFORUM by Dustin Siggins and Renee Frojo. 

You’d expect CNBC and Forbes to care when a high-profile company fills a top position. But what about everyday hires at everyday companies?

That’s the topic of our recent essay at PR Week. We featured several small businesses and corporations that generated tremendous marketing and branding outcomes from just doing their work, such as:

• Following the rules
• Being polite
• Hiring staff
• Getting a patent
• Opening a new location

From local headlines and radio shows to trade outlets and even the title of a book, everyday work created new value for these companies. And it can do the same for you.

Read more at PR Week.

For years, corporate America has been swayed by the push and pull of partisan politics. Major decisions have been made in response to a culture that demands acquiescence or cancellation.

But we believe in a different approach, one that maximizes growth and profits while minimizing risk: Putting the needs of real customers first, because consumers don’t care about politics – but they do care about quality, price, and service.

Below are the highlights from our recent essay on the subject, including research, real-world examples, and expert interviews.

Consumer research is clear

• At the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, Axios revealed which corporations Americans trust most. The winners did one thing: they gave customers what they wanted, from cleanliness (Clorox), home work and education (Netflix, Zoom), and sanitized delivery (Amazon, FedEx) and grocery experiences (Costco, Wegmans). To quote Axios: “Industries with a prominent role in life under quarantine” saw “especially big jumps” in consumer trust.
• In late 2020, the multinational research group McKinsey found that while one-third of Americans changed the source of their purchased goods, their reasons were consistently based around matters like value provided and convenience to purchase.
• And, finally, last year PwC found that just 19% of customers were driven by liberal political values, whereas nearly half of consumers prioritized values such as accountability, communication and consistency.

So are real-world business examples

While whole industries struggled to overcome supply-chain challenges last year, luxury car companies thrived. Their secret sauce was nothing more than Business 101 – delivering the cars customers wanted on time, thanks to a long-term investment in computer chips and supply chain continuity.

As entrepreneur Lee Rashkin, who turned a regional company into a national industry powerhouse, put it: “…[C]onsumers—and, therefore, sales—are driven less by social activism and far more by timeless core business values.”

Even companies known for their politics succeed by focusing on what customers want. Starbucks and Chick-fil-A have made extraordinary politeness and a relaxing customer experience, respectively, their core market differentiators.

Customers don’t care about politics

As our essay pointed out, there’s tremendous brand risk to engaging in politics…and none in treating people right, paying your staff well, and developing a culture of accountability.

Companies succeed best by building trust with real customers, not trolls and haters.

The situation was so bad that Southwest CEO Gary Kelly took take time away from growing his company to staunch the bleeding with appearances on Good Morning America and CNBC, and a public apology to customers.  

Today, every mistake can turn into millions of dollars of damage to a company’s bottom line or brand. In 2018, one Starbucks manager’s decision in Philly became a shutdown for every Starbucks store in America. Chick-fil-A angered conservatives when it stopped donating to The Salvation Army (donations which angered the left). Delta angered all sides when it ping-ponged about Georgia’s voting law. Burger King’s effort to promote female chefs ran into a Twitter mob that forced the multi-national corporation into a full retreat.

But as quick as the public is to judge and attack – we also have short attention spans. United is #3 in the trusted airline survey, despite its CEO blaming a customer when the customer was assaulted on a flight. The company recovered millions of dollars in stock losses within days. Chick-fil-A continues to thrive, including by earning the most revenue per location in the fast-food industry.

Businesses need to recognize that they may be attacked at any time. You may not actually do anything wrong – but when it bleeds, it leads in a social media-driven news cycle. Therefore, businesses should engage in a proactive marketing and branding strategy to build customer trust that will keep revenue coming during and after a crisis.

First, put value to customers before customer values. No liberal goes to Starbucks for accountants, and no conservative goes to Chick-fil-A for mechanics. Most people make purchasing decisions based upon quality, customer service, price, reputation, and/or convenience. Focusing on universal needs and timeless values allows company executives to focus on growth while creating a bastion for crises. Putting value to customers before customer values also protects you from getting the “wrong” answer as values change.

Second, build brand trust well before crises arrive. United, Chick-fil-A, and Starbucks held onto core customer markets even during the worst of their crises. This starts with a surround-sound marketing strategy which includes:

• Getting press which your target markets trust. This will help drive sales, giving you a bigger customer base and more revenue to overcome crisis-related dips. It will also help people see the good about you before and during a crisis. Quality press includes first-person interviews and op-eds by your spokesperson, a profile about your company or leadership, and inclusion in wide-scope articles, podcast segments, and TV clips.
• Turning press into website, social media, and newsletter collateral. In the short term, this will improve your marketing outcomes. In the long run, it will build a digital foundation for trust.
• Building relationships with influencers, such as media voices, industry leaders, and community leaders. Getting these people on your side before a crisis means they will hear you out and may have your back when times are tough.

Third, don’t panic during a crisis. A well-prepared company has customer trust, a positive digital brand, and a limited target market. Silence can be your friend; never punch down or respond to irrelevant haters. The public has a short attention span, so stay focused on what you do best, quickly own up to mistakes, and accurately deflect falsehoods through trusted media.

The bad news about owning a business today is that critics can turn one bad event into a groundswell of opposition. The good news is that the new rules of business branding have a time-tested solution: be the best at what you do, and build trust through company culture, and effective marketing and branding. Your company will grow faster, avoid and deflect critics more often, and bounce back from true crises more quickly.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at Inside Sources.

We’ve found 12 companies, small and large, which used operational success to get relevant press. They performed tasks and provided services better and faster; or they added or expanded services and products. We found that tech companies, a grocery store, Chick-fil-A, and a PR firm got good press by being better and faster. Walmart, an accounting firm, a pharmacy, and other companies added or expanded services to get the press they wanted.

Perform faster & better

We’ve all been at those restaurants where the food comes amazingly quick…but the meal was terrible or the waiter was rude. Conversely, everyone can remember great food that took so long your hair got gray.

The restaurant industry is one of many which relies on an operational formula of quality and speed. Chick-fil-A is the consistent fast-food winner with this formula. This summer, it the customer approval list for fast-food chains and earned a USA TODAY profile.

The same success formula is true for a number of other industries which are heavily reliant on operational efficiency to create success:

1. Even before the pandemic, some grocery stores recognized that some customers don’t want to spend hours driving to the grocery store, walking around the store, standing in line, and driving back home. Michigan’s Niles Martin’s Super Market launched Groceries to Go in 2019, earning press in the regional paper months before ordering groceries for pickup or delivery became the norm.
2. ServiceNow, SalesForce, and other technology companies were highlighted in Fortune last year for quickly creating apps which helped thousands of clients adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Crisis communications firms help clients create powerful and fast messaging to protect brand reputation and recognition. This is normally done behind the scenes. However, Levick Strategic Communications was in The New York Post after being hired to handle press and messaging for the board of directors of the recently collapsed Florida condo. A spokesperson told the Post that Levick is handling “important communications” with the press while board members “focus on…search and rescue.”

Add or expand new offerings

Adding new products or services, or expanding current offerings, are common business tactics. They can increase net profit, reduce cash flow challenges, and expand your target market. They can also, as the below examples prove, secure great press for companies large and small.

Let’s start with the big companies. Government contractor Peraton got a lot of press by purchasing two other contractor operations earlier this year. The company quadrupled in size, adding both new services and expansions on current services.

Accounting giant Grant Thornton, LLP likewise earned solid press when it hired Linda Miller as a principal of its expanded fraud and financial crimes practice. Miller is a former government employee who specializes in keeping a close eye on taxpayer money. She was most recently on the committee tasked to oversee five trillion dollars in pandemic relief. Her op-ed on relief oversight landed in a top government contractor outlet, and the press release announcing her hire was republished at Yahoo News.

Getting press is easier at a large company. Walmart recently got national media attention when its delivery services were expanded to service local businesses. But small businesses can use this same operational formula to secure valuable press. One New York-based health and wellness company did this multiple times over the last few years. An orthopedic firm added a new location in Pennsylvania, and a California pharmacy continues to expand its technological capabilities. A non-profit example is a Virginia library which recently opened a business center and a waffle shop for patrons.

How can your operations get you in the press?

From good Yelp reviews to getting in USA TODAY, there are many ways your operations can become marketing and branding opportunities. Contact us today to see how your operational success can become the path to reaching and influencing your target markets.

But small business owners should be sensitive about the values they promote. Legacy national brands often guide changing business norms and practices. However, major companies like Disney, Southwest, and General Electric have the brand trust and well-funded communications teams to be resilient even if they miss the values mark. A small business often can’t afford an unforced brand error or to dilute its limited resources. This is especially true if the business relies heavily on community trust or building personal relationships.

There are two types of values which companies must consider. The first – such as honesty and transparency, good pay and safe work environments for staff, and ethical treatment of customers — are universal. The second are more political, such as non-profit donations.

But before both of these customer values is the reason to be in business: providing a product or service that people want to buy. Contrary to the popular consensus and many headlines, value to customers is more important than customer values.

Provide value to customers to maximize growth and minimize risk

The political values business model has proven hugely successful for some companies. There are firearm manufacturers which have seized market share because they explicitly tie themselves to conservative views on the Second Amendment. Conversely, some co-working spaces successfully brand themselves as “progressive.”

But these companies first have to have a product or service people want (value to customers). They also must represent universal values to retain staff and to keep customers coming back. Without these first two, the politics don’t matter. Additionally, the political growth model’s disproportionate media coverage doesn’t represent most business’ actual life cycles.

Consider how Starbucks went from being a seven-location coffee store to having almost 3,000 locations worldwide. Yes, Starbucks is often cited as a leading example of liberal corporate values. However, it became a market leader because its core value to customer is having an experience along with your coffee. It also created a brand around the universal value of heavily investing in its employees’ well-being. Politics came last, almost as a byproduct of who is their core target market.

The same is true for Chick-fil-A. Yes, it is perceived as being a socially conservative, political values company. But its success – grossing the most dollars per location in the fast-food industry – is based upon the value to customers of politeness with your food and the universal value of investing in employees’ well-being.

The best small businesses succeed the same way. A legal firm that provides top-level service (value to customers) and doesn’t nickel-and-dime the customer every six minutes (universal value) will build a brand for great service and great treatment. A roofing contractor’s leak-proof roof is a value to customers that is supplemented by taking care of your kids and pets by cleaning all the nails out of the yard.

A typical small business should prioritize value to customers and universal values to grow its market share for at least four reasons:

• Most people want great products or services to fulfill core needs. Values inherently come second even for services that have great elasticity, such as legal and financial services – nobody goes to a political values legal firm when they need a bank loan. Everyone goes to a trusted lender.
• Because most people seek to fulfill their need first, there is limited market space for political values companies. Greater market share is available by putting value to customers and universal values first.
• A small business’ resources are best used to create a great product or service and a strong company infrastructure. Diluting scarce resources to politics hurts your branding, business development, and other strategies for faster growth.
• Today’s political values may not be tomorrow’s values, so engaging in political values bears significant brand risk. Conversely, value to customers will always be relevant until an industry is extinct, and universal values will be important until people stop buying products and services.

Polling: Consumers have gone back to basics

Two national polls taken since the COVID-19 pandemic hit America’s shores prove that most 21^st-century customers put value over values. First up are poll results published on December 8, 2020. Conducted by the research group McKinsey, the survey shows that the pandemic has changed common buying habits. The new habits are driven not by consumer values, but rather by value to consumers. Here are some key numbers:

• 76% of consumers have changed their shopping habits, and most will continue to do so after the pandemic subsides. Over 70 percent of Americans’ changed habits included buying from a different brand or from a different retailer, store, or website.
• One-third of Americans use a different goods seller primarily for convenience, the value of the goods, and availability.
• Value to consumers – as opposed to consumers’ values – also tops the list for why people are shopping for different brands.

These results lead to another look at the Summer 2020 Axios consumer poll. We’ve highlighted it before, but it bears bringing up again because “Industries with a prominent role in life under quarantine have seen especially big jumps” in consumer trust, wrote Axios co-founder Mike Allen.

Thirty-four thousand Americans told Axios that Clorox, supermarkets, and Amazon were among their Top 10 most-trusted corporations. These are well-established firms which consumers trusted believed provided value during the COVID-19 pandemic. UPS and Amazon literally delivered their way into consumers’ trust. Netflix was the go-to source for mental health breaks, and Zoom took care of the telecommunication needs of students and businesses. All of these companies provided value to customers, and earned customers’ trust, without engaging in politics.

Having the “right” values isn’t easy – so just provide great value

Some companies will successfully differentiate themselves with politics. Chick-fil-A and Starbucks have benefited from cultivating this strategy, but they have periodically stumbled with even their core customers. This is the risk of having politics tied to a company brand — it’s not easy to have the “right” values all the time. Therefore, we encourage small businesses to put the politics to one side and focus on what appeals to the vast majority of actual and potential customers: great service and products supported by universal values.

While the rest of the world was doing inefficient straddle hops, Fosbury saw a better way to get over the bar. By 1980, no world record was set without The Fosbury Flop. Today, 52 years later, Fosbury’s revolutionary method is still the sport’s mainstay.

Don’t try to take your enemy’s lunch – create a new one

If Dick Fosbury had kept doing straddle hops, nobody would know who he is. He had to be different to beat the dominant high jump method of the times.

The American Revolutionaries did the same thing. In the 18^th century, much of the world’s warfare was done according to British standards – opposing armies lining up across from each other, firing, then fixing bayonets and charging. British discipline was key to their many victories around the world.

The Continental Army and their allied militia had a different idea. They fought from behind trees and stone walls, confounding the British on the battlefields. They also engaged in a sophisticated public opinion campaign domestically and in Britain that guerrilla warfare historian Max Boot described as having revolutionized insurgent combat.

George Washington wasn’t the first leader to refuse to play on the enemy’s turf or by the enemy’s rules. Sun Tzu’s Art of War laid out similar principles for success. Small business owners should follow their lead.

First, know thyself

Dick Fosbury had trouble coordinating a straddle hop; George Washington’s military was less supplied and not as well trained as the British soldiers. Knowing these facts were the first steps on the road to success.

The same is true in business. Is your company well-armed with an established target market and branding plan, strong finances, and a desired product or service? Can your supply chain keep up with demand? What are weak areas you need to shore up, and how will you do it?

Microsoft’s success is built upon knowing what it wanted to offer the world. Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed an operating system that wasn’t fancy – but worked. They didn’t sell IBM the rights to use the system – they licensed it, thereby creating long-term revenue and keeping ownership. A few years later, they developed a marketing campaign around their upcoming Windows program which kept customers from switching to Apple’s Macintosh program.

Allen and Gates knew their strategy: Build mediocre technology around the revolutionary goal of putting a computer in every home. And it worked.

Second, know your enemy

Small businesses have several inherent weaknesses when going against larger, better-established competitors:

• They have better purchasing power.
• They may have the inside track on the next-generation products that make their purchases even cheaper for the same value, or new office space that puts them in a better geographical location for your competitive target markets.
• They’re better-known. Your ideas, services, products, and prices may be better – but you’re trying to break into an established market against a reputable and connected competitor.

Uber faced these challenges when it first launched. Taxis had owned the everyday person’s vehicle-for-hire market for decades. They had the inside track on business relationships, public brand recognition, and even preferential government policies.

Uber’s advantages were that it was agile and based upon new ways to use technology. You didn’t have to call for an Uber; you just had to press a few buttons. Wait times were shorter, payments were faster and more secure, and the company’s costs were lower because drivers owned their cars. Like Microsoft, Uber knew what it wanted to do and how to do it, and their strengths were built on the taxi industry’s weaknesses.

By targeting young people with cell phones, appealing to them through technology, and saving billions through avoiding car purchases, Uber created a simple and effective transportation process. Drivers and passengers are all linked to the same system, passenger credit card information is pre-processed, and the customer is just a click away from a ride at any time of the day.

By knowing its enemy, Uber blossomed across the country and the world, birthing the “gig economy.”

Create a new lunch

George Washington, Microsoft, and Uber literally changed the world. Dick Fosbury changed one event in track-and-field. But the principles of creating a new lunch – instead of fighting to get to the front of the same line everyone else is in – are the same, and they are how Chick-fil-A has taken the fast-food industry by storm. Unlike the other companies profiled here, however, it literally created a new lunch and delivered it with the oldest, most basic form of communication – words.

In 2016, QSR Magazine ranked Chick-fil-A the most polite drive-thru chain in America. This key differentiator led to Chick-fil-A 2,500 franchises averaging over $4.5 million in sales, according to QSR in August 2020 – about $1.6 million more per year per franchise than McDonald’s. It is the third-largest fast-food franchise in total sales, up from #8 in 2018.

Chick-fil-A does other things well – starting a franchise costs just $10,000, compared to competitors who require anywhere from $200,000 to several million dollars. In 2018, it accepted just .15 percent of franchise applicants – allowing it to pick the cream of the crop. But its core competency is providing you chicken with a strong side of good manners.

Your lunch is your brand

Almost 240 years after the American Revolution ended, “independent” still defines the American brand. Microsoft is a technological leader, Uber is a verb, Chick-fil-A has a cult following, and “The Fosbury Flop” is the way high-jumpers conduct their sport.

Your lunch is your brand. Taking somebody else’s lunch requires overcoming their strengths by cutting in line, shoving them aside, and risking direct confrontation. Maybe you’ll beat them head-to-head, or maybe you’ll just lose because they’re bigger, stronger, and in a better strategic position. Inventing a unique lunch nobody sees means getting in while nobody’s looking. This strategic method creates new markets, adds new value in existing markets, and implements new ways to provide old value in existing markets.

And, suddenly, your lunch is a powerful brand nobody saw coming.