Practicing What We Preach
By Mike Crawford
Just as we provide positioning, messaging and communications for our clients, we do the same for ourselves. And just as we stress branding to our clients, we place a great deal of emphasis on developing, communicating and living our own brand. At M/C/C, the central idea behind our brand is that we always provide the unexpected to our stakeholders, and our goal is to convey this brand in everything we do. So we have developed key messages that we use to explain our brand to our multiple audiences. Communicating these points is critical to the health of our brand, just as communicating your key messages is critical to yours. In the minds of your audience, effectively communicating your brand will redefine you – moving the perception of your company from simply what you do to who you are and what you stand for.
Because we cannot disclose the thinking that goes into our other clients’ brands, I’d like to share with you a high-level look at M/C/C’s brand. Hopefully, this will give you a much greater appreciation for all of the behind-the-scenes thought that goes into good marketing communications and a more critical eye for the not-so-good communications out there. If you pay close attention to various marketing campaigns, you’ll be able to pick up on various companies’ key messages or lack thereof. You may even discover that you could use your own key messages.
So here are the key messages for M/C/C:
- An unexpected way of thinking about creativity
- Proactive, straightforward advice that drives the success of our clients
- Our single greatest strength is the balance of our strengths
Our Unexpected Thinking
Unlike other agencies, M/C/C doesn’t think of creativity as being the exclusive property of the creative department. Regardless of whether we’re developing a media/public relations strategy, organizing tactics or building a web-site, we challenge ourselves to infuse creativity into every phase of every project. Finding creative approaches to challenges in every department helps us deliver more effective marketing for our clients. In our self-promotional communications, we share examples of this imaginative thinking, drawing on points from all areas of our business, not just the creative department.
Our Proactive, Straightforward Advice
It is our duty to provide timely, sound and insightful advice to our clients. This counsel creates success for them and earns respect for us in the process. We earn that respect because we have the confidence and expertise to tell our clients things they don’t necessarily want to hear – but need to hear – in order to be successful. This partnership-oriented approach not only drives results for our clients but also helps us strengthen individual relationships with the key decision-makers. As a result, they return to us for marketing communications services and guidance throughout their careers.
Our Greatest Strength
Instead of being labeled a “creative” agency or a “strategic” firm, we focus on providing our clients with the best strategies and tactics for the marketing challenges they face. While most agencies have a single strength or are identified for a particular area of marketing, we are committed to excellence across the board. All told, our clients get a solid, well-rounded and experienced partner that’s essential to their marketing success.
These messages aren’t just for soundbites with the press, and they’re not just advertising copy. Yes, they are part of a marketing strategy, but they’re also a pledge to our markets, to society. They are promises. They create a perception of M/C/C among our clients, prospects, employees and the industry-at-large. And the most important point of all is that they’re true. We cannot, just as you cannot, promise the market one thing and deliver another. That’s why it’s important that you not only invest the time and effort to brand yourselves, but to make certain that your branding is realistic, attainable and livable.
When it comes to branding, you simply must practice what you preach. In the case of M/C/C, as our tagline says, we’re “Living the Unexpected.”
Now, go forth and live YOUR brand.
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