Creating Superfans Internally and Externally with Matt Barnett

08/10/20 • 31 min

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“The most important part of any brand is the team.” Matt Barnett would know. A serial entrepreneur, Matt’s latest venture is Bonjoro, a B2B asynchronous video platform helping organizations connect with their customers. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

About Matt Barnett

A British designer & Artist, Matt Barnett moved to Australia where Bonjoro was born from a sales hack for his first business. Matt and the team decided to go all-in on the idea, and 3 years later Bonjoro has snowballed into a startup success story with a fully remote team across 6 countries and 5 continents.

Matt’s love of building great products is only surpassed by his total commitment to building great business culture, and his goal is to be the next Zappos, to be the most-loved brand in the world.”

Episode Highlights

How to build your startup brand as a team? We talked a lot about the intersection of brand origins and team origins and how often, these two intersect. Matt says that you need to hire the right team first, noting that “brand happens later.”

“You have to build super fans internalizing and externally.” Matt focused his advice on two critical groups of people—your employees and your customers. How do you do that ...?

Let’s talk bears. Look at any of Bonjoro’s touchpoints and you’ll see that their brand personification is an adorable teddy bear. This bear branding makes its way throughout the organization, from the koala bears they sponsor as a company to the bear onesies every employee gets, including the self-proclaimed “Papa Bear” himself.

What should you do in the next five minutes? As Tom Peters said on this podcast, excellence is the best short-term strategy. We asked Matt what you should do in the five minutes after this show ... “Asynchronous personalized video messages.” Matt noted that he may be biassed on this front (that’s what Bonjoro does!) but he also reinforced this with the impact you can have with clients by recording a simple 30-second video.

What brand has made Matt smile recently? Inspired by other engaging brands, Matt pointed to “Hey,” the new email platform built by the folks from Basecamp, for the brand’s combination of fun and simplicity.

To learn more, connect with the “Papa Bear” himself on LinkedIn and go to the Bonjoro website to learn more about Matt’s company.

As We Wrap ...

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On Brand is sponsored by my book Brand Now. Discover the seven dynamics to help your brand stand out in our crowded, distracted world. Order now and get special digital extras. Learn more.

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About Matt Barnett

Episode Highlights

“You have to build super fans internalizing and externally.” Matt focused his advice on two critical groups of people—your employees and your customers. How do you do that ...?

To learn more, connect with the “Papa Bear” himself on LinkedIn and go to the Bonjoro website to learn more about Matt’s company.

As We Wrap ...

On Brand is sponsored by my book Brand Now. Discover the seven dynamics to help your brand stand out in our crowded, distracted world. Order now and get special digital extras. Learn more.

Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, and RSS.
Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to Apple Podcasts and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And, if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast.
OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out.

Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

How to Be a Forever Brand with Robbie Kellman Baxter

“Any subscription brand needs to know—what problem am I solving for my customers? What’s our forever promise?” With a career building subscriptions for brands like Netflix and Electronic Arts, Robbie Kellman Baxter knows what it takes to build lasting customer relationships. That’s been the focus of her books including her latest, The Forever Transaction. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

About Robbie Kellman Baxter

Robbie Kellman Baxter is a bestselling author, speaker, and consultant with more than 20 years of experience providing strategic business advice to major organizations including Netflix, the Wall Street Journal, and Electronic Arts. In the past ten years, her company Peninsula Strategies has advised over 100 organizations on subscription and growth strategy. Her first book, The Membership Economy was an international best seller. Her new book, The Forever Transaction, was released in April 2020. It has been described as a true game-changer taking readers through every step of the subscription business process—from initial start-up or testing of a new model to scaling the operation for long-term growth and sustainability to revamping your culture so everyone works together to optimize customer lifetime value.

Episode Highlights

What defines a subscription brand? “It’s all based on a trusted relationship that justifies a habit.”

“Consumers know the difference between a good and a bad subscription.” I had to know more. Robbie pointed to Netflix as an example of a good subscription due to their “subscription hygiene.”

What does it take to build ongoing relationships with customers? “You have to make sure you continue to solve their problems on an ongoing basis,” says Robbie. You also have to continue to onboard new subscribers for customer success.

What should you do in the next five minutes? As Tom Peters says, excellence is the best short-term strategy. I asked Robbie what you can you do in the next five minutes to help build a forever brand with your customers. Robbie says: “Define your forever promise and your best customer.” That would be five minutes well spent!

What brand has made Robbie smile recently? Robbie once again turned to Netflix based on their recent announcement that they canceled accounts that had been dormant for a year or more. “They don’t want revenue zombies.” This too reinforces the idea of building trusted relationships over time.

To learn more, go to Robbie’s website and find special resources at robbiekellmanbaxter.com/audience.

As We Wrap ...

On Brand is sponsored by my book Brand Now. Discover the seven dynamics to help your brand stand out in our crowded, distracted world. Order now and get special digital extras. Learn more.

Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, and RSS.
Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to Apple Podcasts and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And, if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast.
OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out.

Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

Why Context Is the Future of Marketing with Mathew Sweezey

“When new technology comes out, we use it in the old ways that we know. With the internet, it was free publication. So we made websites. We didn’t see this as a way of connecting better.” Better connections—meeting someone at their moment of need—is what context is all about. That’s the focus of Mathew Sweezey’s new book, The Context Marketing Revolution. We discussed this along with his work at Salesforce this week on the On Brand podcast.

About Mathew Sweezey

Mathew Sweezey is Director of Market Strategy for Salesforce. A researcher, thinker, award-winning marketer, and writer, he is the author of Marketing Automation for Dummies and the new book The Context Marketing Revolution. When not behind a podium at conferences around the world or sifting through data, he routinely works with the world’s largest and most well-respected brands, including UPS, Home Depot, AT&T, and Dell.

Episode Highlights

What are the key traits in high-performing marketing organizations? In studying the future of marketing at Salesforce, Mathew has spent a lot of time on this very question. The answer? “High-performing marketing organizations have full executive buy-in on a new idea.” What are the new ideas? “That marketing is no longer about the most creative messaging.” Buy in on that alone would create a very different marketing organization.

What’s the difference between content marketing and context marketing? While content marketing is all about publishing, “Context marketing is all about helping someone achieve the goal of the moment.”

What does context consist of? In his book, Mathew shares the five elements of context and why it’s critical for businesses to focus on them to be successful.

Available—helping people achieve the value they seek in the moment
Permissioned—giving individuals what they’ve asked for, on their terms
Personal—going beyond how personal the experience is, to how personally it can be delivered
Authentic—combining voice, empathy, and channel congruence simultaneously
Purposeful—creating a deeper connection to the brand beyond the product

“Context can be applied anywhere throughout the customer journey.” Mathew shared how the Trailhead community at Salesforce is an important example of context marketing as it’s about advancing better business outcomes and educating users on the platform.

What brand has made Mathew smile recently? Mathew went with his local climbing gym, Coastal Climbing, for the precautions they’re taking as a result of COVID-19.

To learn more, connect with Mathew on LinkedIn and Twitter and check out his new book The Context Marketing Revolution.

As We Wrap ...

On Brand is sponsored by my book Brand Now. Discover the seven dynamics to help your brand stand out in our crowded, distracted world. Order now and get special digital extras. Learn more.

Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, and RSS.
Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to Apple Podcasts and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And, if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and su...