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.

The restaurant industry was just one of many hard-hit parts of the American economy in 2020. But like almost three-quarters of other small business owners, Wentz wasn’t just hurt by consumer fears and government lockdowns. He entered the unexpected pandemic downturn with a self-imposed anchor on success: unnecessary debt.

As we wrote last year, debt “decreases your company’s flexibility during a downturn, increases the costs of your outlays, and reduces the company’s overall growth potential.” Wentz’s company grew quickly, but now his company’s future – as well as his personal financial scenario – are on the edge of disaster because of his risky financial strategy.

We don’t want you to ever be in Wentz’s shoes, so our founder published a three-step plan with Forbes.com to eliminate debt and turn the savings into long-term company growth.

Cut where you can to invest where you should

First, eliminate unnecessary spending and put it towards faster debt repayment. This can be as simple as reducing the number of company-paid meals or buying in bulk, and as complicated as changing executive compensation or moving the company to a cheaper office location.

Second, streamline operations to reduce costs, improve productivity, and increase profitability. Southwest has famously done this by flying only Boeing 737 planes – reducing training and purchasing costs and improving pilot training – and making its planes’ flight patterns more efficient to decrease passenger transit time and to put more passengers on each plane.

One logistics expert told our founder that his former employer saved thousands of dollars per year just by changing their record storage procedures.

“Our vendor charged by both the number of trips made to our office site and by the number of boxes transported per trip. We streamlined the process by having four departments coordinate same-day pickups instead of each department ordering pickups at separate times,” said [Dan] Hoare.

One pandemic-induced example of operational streamlining is making sure that salespeople can effectively have prospect and client meetings remotely. This saves massive dollars and time costs, and may increase salespeople’s productivity.

Third, once spending is cut and operations are streamlined, pay down debt as fast as possible and increase cash on hand so you can focus on growth. With the debt anchor removed, mountains of possibilities suddenly exist to invest in matters such as:

1. Infrastructure which has short-term costs and long-term gain, such as better vehicles for home service and taxi companies and charting technologies for hospitals which reduce error rates and save staff time.
2. More-skilled staff who will further improve operational efficiency, stay longer, and develop profitable customer relationships.
3. Market research to fine-tune and/or expand your marketing and branding.

Debt-free is the way to be

No set of guidelines can cover all scenarios; cutting spending or streamlining operations will always have a point of diminishing marginal return – you don’t want to cut pennies when you could be earning dollars. And in rare cases, debt is a valuable tool to create durable, profitable scalability.

But most small business owners aren’t using debt to scale – they’re using it to get their company off the ground or to keep it afloat. This isn’t just a pandemic issue; more than 40% of companies surveyed by the Federal Reserve increased their debt load from 2017 to 2018, when the economy was strong.

What is popular is not always right. Being debt-free is the path less traveled to greater business success.

These differences helped Obsidian slide under the competition’s radar. The company came onto our radar because it built a scalable model with an underserved market. Like many successful companies, Obsidian didn’t try to take the competition head-on. Instead, it went around the competition.

Today, Obsidian is working with larger clients than ever across more diverse verticals than ever. It succeeded because it perfected its client process with underserved target markets.

Here are two other companies which used this same under-the-radar strategy to achieve success. One focused on getting more bang for its marketing and branding bucks. The other made noticeable moves after quietly building a company infrastructure for rapid growth.

Improve your marketing and branding outcomes

Our Director of Business Development is a 40-year veteran of launching entrepreneurial small businesses. One of his businesses involved marketing and branding consulting to regional MMA promotions.

A huge part of Dennis’ consulting success was his focus on reaching sports fans who had never considered attending an MMA event. While 10 promotions sought to reach the same 2,000 fight fans over and over, Dennis and his clients targeted 10,000 baseball, wrestling, and football fans. Dennis’ clients put 2,500-plus people in seats at each event; the competition averaged 800 attendees.

Dennis used many tactics to reach target markets; they were all based around seeking the underserved market. This strategy comes with a bonus — being perceived as the only game in town can significantly increase net profits because the right target markets served the right way may return to make more purchases. While the competition is slashing prices and fighting each other for ad space, you’re getting a much better bang for your marketing and branding bucks.

Make moves at the right time

Parabilis provides strategic lines of credit to help small business government contractors scale operations. Its competition is other non-bank lenders which have expensive fees and high rates, which makes Parabilis’ simple and transparent model very attractive to contractors, especially military veterans who relate to Parabilis’ veteran founders.

Parabilis took three steps to steadily and quietly grow. First, it designed a product that is more cost-effective and flexible compared to its competitors. Second, it let word-of-mouth create a strong core of clients. Third, it incorporates non-lending support into its suite of client services, such as making introductions to key outside partners to help clients scale faster.

Once this core was built, Parabilis began making moves for massive growth:

• Key new hires who will increase the number and quality of its clients
• A bank partner which will increase Parabilis’ net revenue.
• A Proven Media Solutions-crafted media strategy to put its brand at the front of the industry.

From MMA to M&A, seek the underserved market

Every market niche has the potential to be a source of significant revenue for a small business. The question is whether you want to face the competition openly or if you want to grow unnoticed. If you want to perfect your process at your pace, get a better bang for your marketing buck, and grow unseen, the answer is simple: seek the underserved markets.

But getting that person to actually spend money with you? The online noise of 353 million Twitter users, 1.2 billion websites, 2.7 billion Facebook accounts, and $41 billion spent on U.S. Google ads makes that timeless challenge harder than ever.

We want to help you succeed, so in this post we’ll explain the three types of media necessary to build a great digital brand. We also recently published research on this topic at Forbes.com.

The three medias – paid, earned, and owned

The best digital brand uses three digital medias to reach your target markets, build brand credibility, and begin the sales funnel.

Paid media is advertising – paying money to put your product, service, and name in front of potential buyers. Digitally, it’s what people see first when they Google your company and keywords.

Earned media is getting in the press. Because you’re not paying for it, you have to earn credibility to be in the paper, on the podcast, or on the TV. Done right, it increases the quality of your digital presence when potential buyers search for your company and industry keywords. It also increases the value of your advertising because your target market is more likely to click an ad that has a credible media outlet’s name attached to it.

Owned media is the unique content on your company’s website. It’s what people see when your paid and earned media drive them to your company’s digital home. Done right, it improves your company’s digital presence when potential buyers search for your company and industry keywords.

Together, these three forms of digital media drive more sales and build a great online brand.

Create customers with the right digital media strategy

The best digital strategy:

• Targets potential buyers and algorithms with relevant website content (owned media)
• Drives decision-makers and their influencers to your website with advertising (paid media)
• Increases your brand credibility and improves the value of advertising with press (earned media)

The equation for digital success is different for each person and company. Some companies don’t need all three forms of media. A restaurant or home services company with a local market may primarily rely on word of mouth, paid media, and owned media. A relationship-based company like a law firm, accounting firm, or PR firm may need just earned and owned media because paid media is most valuable for commodity and product firms.

For example, our research included an interview with Salesman Podcast host Will Barron. He hosts has the biggest business-to-business sales podcast in the world, and focuses on paid and owned media. Advertising “initially helped people see our podcast,” but now – five years later – “our podcast drives its own credibility, and advertising amplifies it.” Barron’s podcast is downloaded 750,000 times each month, driving 17,000 website clicks each month – and driving more than half of his company’s revenue.

But for those companies that have a combination of services, products, and intellectual property, the right strategy uses all three types of media to identify your target market, reach your target market, and then convince a critical mass of your target market to become paying customers.

Once your strategy is in place, there’s just one thing left to do…

Invest early, continuously, and substantially

Branding 101 tailors your message and specific offerings to your goals and target markets. The next step is to ensure that your investment happens early, continuously, and deeply. “Users must be exposed to a brand or message seven times to consider taking action,” Joy Riot ad agency founder Jessica McCarthy explained in the Forbes.com article. Those seven touches require substantial investments over a long period of time – even during slow seasons and economic downturns – with:

• Paid media to drive initial website visits and algorithm recognition.
• Earned media to drive user and algorithm credibility and to drive greater value for paid media.
• Owned media with what McCarthy described as “keyword-rich” content to maximize the value of algorithms that connect your website to your target markets.

Many effective digital strategies take at least six months to begin producing more sales. In the meantime, the sales funnel should be taking shape through metrics such as:

• Greater reach into target markets.
• More website clicks.
• More social media followers.
• Greater engagement with social media content.

Turn potential buyers into paying customers

Paid, owned, and earned media are the Three Musketeers for digital branding success. Read our research at Forbes.com, look at our digital branding services, and contact us to turn your potential buyers into paying customers.