With workforce shortages hampering many companies’ growth and changing customer expectations, culture and brand are more important than ever. Strong brands ring true internally and externally, so you can’t effectively address brand without addressing culture.

Michele Nichols, President of Launch Team, sat down with the AZO Network to bring insights from the latest research on company culture, brand building, and creating an authentic competitive advantage. During the webinar, Michele discussed actionable ways to attract and retain employees and customers and answered audience questions. You can also watch the full recorded webinar here.

The organizational culture that you establish may be your most valuable asset and the key to your growth. Although culture and brand are both thought of as hard to define, measure, and manage, it’s important to understand the impact of brand equity on profit margin, customer acquisition, and customer retention. Being able to measure the value of your business culture will ultimately drive authenticity within your organization.

Is your culture a true competitive advantage? In today's market, with little opportunity for face-to-face relationship building, your business culture matters more than ever to ensure a positive customer experience and win the war for talent. Brand development based on a strong culture supports connection, growth, and sustainability within the working environment. Take a look at 9 ways you can leverage culture in your company to help strengthen your brand and promote a positive company.

Effective product launches and rebrands are thoroughly planned out according to specific timelines – the best time to announce the name, events with the biggest audiences, tactics that get the most traffic. It's rare that product launch planning has a contingency plan for a global pandemic.

Whether virtual or in person, we’re spending our work lives in meetings that aren’t working. Research shows that 67% of meetings are ‘failures’, and have lost their primary reason–getting things done.

Where have our meetings gone wrong? Over time, the amount of time spent in meetings and number of meetings held has increased significantly. Daily, upwards of 11 million meetings are held in American businesses, averaging a time frame of 31-60 minutes. These longer meetings have led to a 10% increase in the time employees spend in meetings since 2000.

At a trade show that features the latest in the fast-developing field of unmanned technology, there is a lot of interest and noise. It’s the Wild West, and market leadership is up for grabs. So how do you make sure your company’s booth draws attention and traffic? Effective demos are key. Unique approaches to booth advertisement will get you noticed, too.

We noticed a number of powerful tactics at XPONENTIAL 2017. The following tactics are just a few your team could apply to any large trade show strategy.

Lessons from Upstate Social Sessions 2017

Last month I attended Upstate Social Sessions, a day-long conference in Rochester, NY focused on social media. The event, now in its third year, included presentations by national and local professionals who have used social media successfully in their fields. A favorite session among attendees was “Don’t @ Me: Navigate Controversy, Conversation and Comments.” 

John Martin is the CTO and cofounder of Martin Materials Solutions, a U.S. company that manufactures innovative glass products for the aerospace market. Martin, whose goal is to drive the technology necessary to support this unique industry, has coined the term “spaceglass”, a reference to this truly unique type of glass.

Whether you’re starting a new company, establishing a spinoff, or considering a total rebrand, your company name is an important decision that will drive a lot of other aspects of your business.

There’s no doubt that inbound marketing strategies are critical to the success of today’s businesses. However, traditional outbound strategies can still play a role in capturing your audience’s attention.

B2B companies can drive buyer awareness and action with print advertising in highly targeted industry publications, but without good design, ads can go unnoticed.

High quality product photos are an important asset to your business. Randy Tagg, owner of Tagg Photography, recently gave us a snapshot into his life as a photographer. Randy has 35+ years experience with advertising and industrial photography in a variety of markets. From classy wine glasses to sleek optical lenses, Randy has an eye for elegance among challenging subjects. Launch Team Account Manager Sarah Campagna, a wedding photographer herself, discussed with Randy the artistic and technical experience of capturing images in high tech industries.

Launching a company or product is an exciting endeavor. You’ve developed a solution to an unfulfilled consumer need, and you’re ready to share it with the world. But the extensive planning process, from content development to sales training to PR, means your launch team has a lot on its plate.