Bain Capital Ventures’ Post

Takeaways on brand from one of the best, Tracy Lloyd... Last week I had the chance to interview Tracy, founder of Emotive Brand, and ask questions along with our marketing leaders community and friends of Bain Capital Ventures. Some takeaways from our conversation: 🖼 Reframe the discussion: Sometimes it is easier to have a conversation about brand without calling it brand. Founders can carry misconceptions about what brand is (just a logo, doesn't have impact on the company's performance, etc.) and by reframing it as a conversation about product or growth, you get better results. 🔍 You're too close to it: It often feels like the people inside a company who are closest to it are the best ones to rethink the brand on their own. But just like you miss typos the third time you edit something yourself and someone else instantly catches them, you're often too close to your own company to see what's important about it to the external world. Bringing in outside perspectives to help shape your company's story is key. 📈 Near-term wins: Startups live in quarters, and brands live in years. How do you show progress in the interim? Tracy suggests looking at ‘time to close’ as a metric for enterprise startups that is heavily impacted by brand. Big brand studies can be really pricey, so this is a great way to think about showing impact without breaking the bank. 📖 Narrative = Brand: I've long advocated for comms and brand to be more closely tied in organizations. Your narrative is effectively your brand's story. Asking great questions that elicit powerful stories is the first step in building a brand that lasts. Thanks to everyone who attended - more to come!