Podim: Why Must Companies Know Their DNA?

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Podim: Why Must Companies Know Their DNA?

Date: May 16^th 2018

Author: Alenka Lena Klopčič

Category: En.vision

Topic: Economy

"Position yourself… or be positioned!" said Henry Hwong of the U.S. marketing agency Cunningham Collective at the central part of this year's Podim conference, adding that positioning is as important as branding. On the other hand, even branding is pointless without a favourable market position, that is, without the right positioning, he explained. So what is the formula for successful marketing? And when is a startup nothing more than a hobby?

“When your clients first hear about you, you create a consistent message, when they hear about you the second time, they remember you, and when they hear about you the third time, they start thinking about you,” the marketing expert Henry Hwong told the participants of the biggest startup conference in Slovenia.

He added that with time, the positioning of a company may also change. Amazon, for example, used to present itself as a leading online bookstore, whereas now, it is known as the leading online retailer for all sorts of products. Facebook, on the other hand, transformed itself from an Ivy League students’ network to a global social media platform. “So it is clearly very important that you position yourself and that you do not let others do it for you,” he stressed, adding that in order to do this, every company must know the intricacies of its own “DNA”.

“When you promise something to your clients, you need to be able to deliver – this means that before you make any promises, you must be certain that you have the skills and competences to fulfil them. You need to know your DNA,” stressed Henry Hwong.

Marketing that makes you release endorphins is successful marketing!

Meanwhile, Chris Out of the Dutch digital marketing company RockBoost stressed that companies – in order to truly know their DNA – must constantly test the adequacy of their offer in the market, that is, among (potential) users, as, according to Steli Efti, an entrepreneur and founder of the U.S. company CLOSE.IO who helped more than 200 startups achieve growth, »a startup without clients is nothing more than a hobby«.

Shira Abel of the U.S. PR agency Hunter & Bard, on the other hand, added that there are certain chemicals in the human body which affect its behaviour. “When you are physically active or when you are laughing, your body releases endorphins, so if your marketing creates an endorphin rush in your clients, they will repay you with a purchase,” she explained.

“And if your startup fails in Germany, you may not repeat your startup story, whereas if this happens in Israel, the situation will be different – you will identify your mistake and make sure that you do not repeat it,” said Shira Abel, adding that this, too, depends on one’s approach, that is, one’s success in communicating a concrete issue, in this case the success or failure within a startup system.

This article is available also in Slovene.