Feb-burr-uary at Speak! Agency
Speak Agency • March 6, 2020
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Can you believe March is already in full swing? Though we did get an extra day this year, February has flown by in usual fashion. It was a very busy month for our team at Speak! Agency. While we were hard at work for our clients, we also left a little time for fun and celebrations! What exactly have we been up to? Read on.
Celia's 6-month Speak-aversary!
Yes, we did just make up our own word to celebrate our agency's anniversary's. We celebrated Celia's 6-months of working with our team by laughing together over tacos and brownies. Margaritas may have been on the table as well. We have loved working with her and we're so glad she moved all the way from Virginia. Cheers, Celia!
Client Meet-Ups!
Speak! was very happy to host our client, Dell at our office this past month to discuss collaboration on future projects and how we can help to achieve their goals. It was a pleasure to have quality face time together and lay the groundwork for continued success. We also met up with our client at Edge Networks in Vancouver, Washington to talk about new strategies for the next quarter. We always have a great time when we meet with our clients in person, but of course we love phone calls too!
Celia & Jason Talk with High Schoolers!
When the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce invited us to speak(!) at their Business & Entrepreneur Academy about entrepreneurship and marketing, we couldn't say no. The event is part of the Chamber’s School to Career program. The School to Career program facilitates career-related learning experiences for Washington County high school students. These real-life experiences give the students vital information on potential career interests and help prepare them for the future. These experiences are now a requirement for graduation in Oregon. We had the privilege of sharing the fundamentals of branding with class of 20 students. It was fascinating to see how many young people already have the passion to become a business owner after high school.
Other Fun Stuff!
In other news, some of our team members traveled to the beautiful Oregon mountains for sun and winter sports. Jason shredded the mountain on a snowboard, Celia sat in the snow while admiring the other skiers and some of the team members awed at the snow-capped volcano from miles away. No matter where we were, we were having fun.
That's it for now folks. See-ya-later, February!
Marketing and sales are supposed to work in sync. Marketing creates the messaging, sales takes it to market, and customers get a consistent, compelling brand experience. But in reality? That almost never happens.
For tech startups, creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) — the stripped-down version of your product that allows you to test core assumptions with real users — is a common approach to product development. But what about your brand? Enter the Minimum Viable Brand (MVB): the essential elements needed to present your company professionally and connect with early customers, without over-investing in elaborate brand development.
Let's cut to the chase: In a world drowning in digital noise and AI-generated content, brand authenticity isn't just a nice-to-have — it's your survival kit. Today's tech-savvy customers can smell manufactured messaging from ten browser tabs away, and they're not afraid to hit "unfollow" faster than you can say "corporate values." The Power of Brand Truth Here's the deal: brand authenticity means getting real about who you are as an organization. We're not talking about your product specs or your tech stack — we're talking about the raw, honest truth of why you exist and what drives your team to show up every day. Your brand truth might be buried in your startup story, your unique approach to solving gnarly problems, or the way you're fundamentally changing how your customers work and live. Take Microsoft's transformation under Satya Nadella. When he took the reins in 2014, he didn't just pivot the company's technology — he unleashed its authentic truth as an enabler of human achievement. This wasn't some slick marketing play; it was a fundamental shift from "Windows first" to "empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more." The result? Microsoft's stock price soared over 600% since 2014, and they've become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Why Truth Matters More Than Ever The numbers don't lie: According to Stackla, 88% of consumers say authenticity is crucial when deciding which brands to support. Even more telling? A recent Edelman study found that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they'll even consider buying from them. In an age where every startup claims to be "disrupting" something, customers are developing highly sophisticated BS detectors. They're not just looking at your product dashboard — they're scrutinizing your GitHub contributions, reading your engineering blog posts, and watching how you handle service outages on Twitter. Uncovering Your Brand's Truth Finding your brand's authentic truth requires serious introspection. Ask yourself: What technical problem made you angry enough to start this company? What conventional wisdom in your industry are you willing to challenge? What keeps showing up in your customer success stories? What principles would you defend even if they slowed down your growth? Sometimes your truth is hiding in plain sight. Look at Twilio. Their brand truth isn't about APIs — it's about democratizing complex communications technology. This core truth drives everything from their developer-first approach to their acquisition strategy. Expressing Truth Through Story Once you've nailed your brand truth, you need to tell its story in a way that clicks with your audience. And no, we're not talking about another "Our Journey" blog post. Consider how Stripe tells its story. Their truth isn't about payment processing — it's about increasing the GDP of the internet. This bigger narrative has turned what could have been dry technical documentation into a compelling story about empowering entrepreneurs worldwide. Their transparency about their engineering challenges and public infrastructure investments has built unprecedented trust in the developer community. Building Trust Through Consistency Real talk: authenticity means walking the walk. When Zoom faced security criticisms in 2020, CEO Eric Yuan didn't hide behind PR speak. He admitted the problems, implemented a 90-day feature freeze to focus on security, and hosted weekly webinars to address concerns. This transparent approach turned a potential crisis into a trust-building opportunity. The data backs this up: According to PwC, 71% of consumers say they'll lose trust in a brand if they perceive it's putting profit over people. And once that trust is gone, 46% say they'll stop buying from the company altogether. The Bottom Line In the tech world, where every other company claims to be "revolutionary" or "game-changing," authentic brand truth is your secret weapon. It's not about crafting the perfect message—it's about having the courage to be genuinely, consistently, unapologetically you. The next generation of successful tech brands won't win because they had the most sophisticated tech stack or the biggest AWS budget. They'll win because they dared to be real in an increasingly artificial world. In an industry obsessed with automation and scalability, never forget that authenticity is the one thing you can't fake. Remember: Your brand truth is like your source code — you don't write it from scratch, you refactor and optimize what's already there. When you commit to pushing authentic commits to your brand repository, you're not just building a better story — you're compiling a more resilient business that resonates with users on a fundamental level.
