Building a brand | Big Ideas Welcome podcast episode two drops today!
Host, Chris McAdoo sits down with Bill Malkes and Tommy Nguyen to discuss how brand building can differentiate companies from competitors.
Season three, episode two of the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC) founder-focused podcast went live this morning. We sat down with KEC’s Chief Experience Officer, Chris McAdoo to learn more!
In a world overflowing with noise and competition, a strong brand is more than just a logo, it’s a business’ identity, reputation, and connection to the people it serves. A brand can be a company’s biggest advantage or biggest liability.
Episode two is a conversation between Bill Malkes, the Founder of Grid Smart, Chief Executive Officer of NellOne Therapuetics, and a local investor and mentor, as well as Tommy Nguyen, the Founder of Storage Pug, which has been on the Inc 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for a few years now. Both of these founders managed to pave the way through dense industries by finding a branding niche.
“Instead of trying to be the Goliath, they figured out how to be the David, and that approach had a lot to do with brand differentiation,” McAdoo shared with us during an episode teaser.
In episode two, the three discussed how a brand isn’t just a logo or a color; instead, it’s the promises made and promises kept. Using Chik Fil A as a standout example, McAdoo said customers can always expect to hear two words during every Chik Fil A experience: “My pleasure.” The phrase is so embedded into the brand of the company, that customers come to expect it as part of the experience.
Like Chik Fil A, McAdoo said that a brand is what people talk about when you’re not in the room.
“It’s shaped by the experiences a business creates, not just an aesthetic,” he said.
In the episode, Nguyen detailed his own strategy.
“From day one, we said: we’re just gonna out-love our customer better than you can out-love yours,” he said about Storage Pug.
Malkes took a bold approach to branding, one that paid off in dividends. GridSmart had a black-and-yellow “Traffic Control Freaks” branding, that caught the eyes of everyone in the industry.
“We wanted to be the antithesis of every other company in the space. So if someone rolled their eyes at our brand or didn’t get it, that was the validation. If it strikes a nerve, it’s working,” he said.
McAdoo, Malkes, and Nguyen shared additional tips for how other entrepreneurs in the region can improve their brand presence to stick out in the market place. You can listen to the full episode here.
The special question on Tuesday’s episode came from Lauren Glass Mullins, the Founder of Personality Pool in Kingsport. She made the drive to Knoxville from Northeastern Tennessee to represent SyncSpace, KEC’s sister organization.
As exemplified in episode one with Jaleria Rivera and Randy Boyd, this season of Big Ideas Welcome features conversations with some of Knoxville’s most prestigious, well-respected business leaders paired with up and coming entrepreneurs. Each conversation revolves around a specific topic with both mature and new viewpoints.
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