BROADEN YOUR NICHE WITHOUT ABANDONING CORE VALUES BY DOING THIS...

New World Marketing with Scott Harkey · Intermediate ·🚀 Entrepreneurship & Startups ·3y ago

About this lesson

"So much came rushing back to me when I grabbed this cup of Cartel Coffee during some recent travels. We did a branding session with the owners and key employees a few years back—and I can still recall how averse some of the most hardcore team members were to all of it. Not just to me as an outsider, showing up in a suit—but to the premise of growth all together. It’s sort of like discovering a great new band early on and not wanting outsiders on the inside—or for the band to “sell out” and go commercial. It’s “your” band and you don’t want those not in-the-know to take that feeling from you. I fully got where these passionate employees were coming from—so we focused on staying true to the core, but figuring out how to broaden the base; growing the niche and the business. There’s a way to not go vanilla, selling out on core values or abandoning your roots—while carefully and strategically growing the brand. You will experience some collateral damage, as some of the hardcore base will be averse to any type of growth or exposure—but for every one of them you lose, you have an opportunity to pick up a handful of new brand ambassadors and future loyalists.” — Scott Harkey, CEO and co-founder of OH Partners. OHPartners.com

Original Description

"So much came rushing back to me when I grabbed this cup of Cartel Coffee during some recent travels. We did a branding session with the owners and key employees a few years back—and I can still recall how averse some of the most hardcore team members were to all of it. Not just to me as an outsider, showing up in a suit—but to the premise of growth all together. It’s sort of like discovering a great new band early on and not wanting outsiders on the inside—or for the band to “sell out” and go commercial. It’s “your” band and you don’t want those not in-the-know to take that feeling from you. I fully got where these passionate employees were coming from—so we focused on staying true to the core, but figuring out how to broaden the base; growing the niche and the business. There’s a way to not go vanilla, selling out on core values or abandoning your roots—while carefully and strategically growing the brand. You will experience some collateral damage, as some of the hardcore base will be averse to any type of growth or exposure—but for every one of them you lose, you have an opportunity to pick up a handful of new brand ambassadors and future loyalists.” — Scott Harkey, CEO and co-founder of OH Partners. OHPartners.com
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