As part of the Founder Institute’s new series of free online startup events for entrepreneurs practicing social distancing, we were pleased to welcome Jessica Korthuis, CEO of Sohuis on Tuesday, June 16th (9am PDT) for a live, interactive webinar event on the topic of building and expanding your brand.
If business is the strategy around making something people want, branding is the vessel for showing people what that idea looks, feels, sounds, smells, and tastes like. Your brand is, by far, the most important function of growing your business, and it’s also one of the most difficult pieces of a company to get “right.” In this session, Jessica Korthuis, Founder & CEO of Sohuis, two-time entrepreneur and global brand strategist, covered how you can take advantage of the market changes that have happened as a result of the Coronavirus to build and expand your brand's impact, growth, and profitability. Jessica shared 6 successful components to all successful global brand strategies, and shined light on how any type of business can pivot and reposition their brand. If you're unsure of where to take your brand next and how to pivot, this webinar is a must-watch!
Full webinar replay
Webinar highlights
Brand building blocks for startups
How to get more customers to your startup
How to build a brand that customers trust
Startup marketing: how to get your message out
The best types of marketing for your brand
5 shifts in consumer behavior and mindset
What should I name my brand?
Webinar Timestamps
5:45 - Intro to who Jessica is and what Sohuis offers
7:34 - Companies Jessica has worked with
8:41 - The big shift
10:02 - Market highlights, “cognitive misers,” testing customer behavior
12:02 - Pros of startups vs. big companies
12:40 - 5 shifts in consumer behavior & mindset
13:20 - Shift #1
14:20 - Shift #2
15:45 - Shift #3
16:35 - Shift #4
17:45 - Shift #5
18:15 - Recap
20:27 - 6 components to successful brand strategies
21:15 - Thinking about the solution, not just the product
32:21 - Think access, not just place
24:50 - The Google Test
26:41 - Think education, not just promotion; 80/20 rule
29:07 - Community
30:41 - Transparency, authenticity, & values
32:05 - Graphic of how consumers define transparency
34:46 - “A friend to all is a friend to none” -- who does the brand serve?
38:13 - Bonus advice: spinning plates
Q&A section - 42:50
43:53 - Word of mouth marketing pros + cons
44:55 - How do you reach your audience? How do you create a brand that’s really memorable?
49:24 - How do you build trust?
50:36 - Building a brand is personal
51:26 - Founders putting themselves on social media?
53:30 - Coming up with a brand name or slogan?
55:52 - Marketing budget is a matchmaking exercise
59:28 - Final tip: patience and grace
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Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $950M in funding, and building products people love across over 185 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
