December is upon us, and it’s feeling like a warm fire and a cup of cocoa that we all can enjoy as we wrap up and wind down for a well-deserved holiday break. In lieu of our usual monthly insights, we’re sharing an end-of-year note from our president and founder, Kathleen Lucente.
Red Fan has had an incredible 2021.
It’s been a year of reflection on so many fronts for people as they consider what they want from life. Such introspection extends to company management as well. When you remove the noise and sit with what matters, your mind clears and thoughtful, life-changing decisions bubble up.
The Red Fan team did some self-reflection at the beginning of the year and dove into our own data. The numbers confirmed what our collective intuition had suspected: Incredible referrals and our own marketing bring the right clients to our door. I trusted the data and doubled down on our marketing strategy.
We also reflected on what we love to do and why clients come to us and it became crystal clear. Triggering events push companies to seek a partner like us. For some businesses, the need for an established consultancy is evident from the start. Others are searching for guidance when preparing a major funding announcement, building a recognized brand in order to attract top talent or in advance of an IPO or acquisition. It could be an overwhelmed VP of marketing with a directive to expand the brand quickly while retaining quality or another executive’s struggle to establish a unique company narrative. Clients’ needs are as varied as the clients themselves.
One thing that remains constant is the reason clients stay. We are a group of seasoned, diversely skilled advisers who make great things happen for our clients. We show them how to build measurable brand equity that supports business goals. We guide them in the best way to establish consistent internal and external communications strategies that ring true and cement them as authentic industry leaders.
We’ve always known that people arrive at our door thinking that media coverage will solve their problems. We are able to show clients that such coverage is only one tactic but to be effective, it must be supported with the right mix of tactics to create a winning strategy. We do our best work with company leaders who understand the value of architecting a business with a scalable brand equity plan as its foundation.
During 2021, I realized that my favorite approach to sales is to lean into my authentic style of building trust with company leaders and having frank conversations around their challenges and our thoughts on how they should take action. As I often say, “Whether you work with us or someone else, I’m going to be honest and let you know what you need to do and the resources you need to have in place to hit your goals.”
We had these conversations with no expectation that a company would become our client, and do you know what has happened? Our client portfolio continues to expand, adding companies whose leadership truly enjoys thinking strategically around their brands. Every week, top-tier companies from around the nation and the world reach out to Red Fan to have a conversation, and those conversations are rich, enjoyable and fruitful.
As a result of reflecting and holding ourselves true to our mission and goals, my team now swiftly screens a company in need. If they are a good fit, we arrange a formal call and if they aren’t, we send them to another agency that better suits their needs.
By stepping firmly into what we love to do and where we make the biggest impact, we are doing our best work ever with clients who know the value of a proactive, invested communications partner.
In 2021, we stepped deeper into our superpower as senior consultants for our clients, helping them do amazing things:
- Build and launch brands with unique positioning that work with media, customers, partners, employees and investors.
- Adopt custom, integrated communications strategies that are backed by data, map to target audiences and use budgets more effectively and measurably.
- Recognize the need for establishing validated, data-backed target customer profiles by taking the information they already have and working with our data scientist to identify and segment the clientele they want to attract.
- Establish team members as experts in their field with robust thought-leadership campaigns that measure the experts’ impact on the brand vs. simple brand pickup.
- Craft and place byline articles with a 98 percent success rate on each one.
- Develop investor letters and decks that sing and bring in more of what is desired.
- Test and refine new products before launch to ensure public success.
- Announce A, B, C series funding and position for IPO or acquisition.
- Launch events, such as the ABC Kite Fest, with an approach that allows people to be outside on their own terms and in their own parks. Plus launch initiatives like the Mike & Sherry Project to provide affordable access to mental health support for the amazing people in our community that serve us through their hospitality and restaurant jobs.
- Tackle and establish strong internal communications for CEOs, including thoughtful messaging and engagement for companywide town halls and a regular cadence of communications for virtual teams.
- Move from no press visibility to outpacing the competition in less than 4 months.
- Establish industry analyst programs that provide insights for stronger company positioning, product launches and visibility with sales partners.
Oh, and manage through a crisis gracefully and undetected when possible!
In 2022, we’re doubling down on our mission as senior consultants for our clients. We will continue to be highly selective in who we choose to work with each year, and we value that level of review on both sides. Winners want to win, and we’re excited to be part of that journey. As a CEO, I am looking at my team and sharpening my focus on leading a people-first organization. My staff is the most important part of our business, and each and every person brings stellar insights and skills to the office. They are also tremendous individuals with robust personal lives, and I love seeing them thrive. We’re pouring more into thriving at Red Fan with education opportunities, off-sites, remote-work flexibility and so much more.
Life’s too short to not be doing what we all love, so let’s lean into 2022 with purpose together.
Onward!
Kathleen Lucente
President and Founder
Red Fan Communications
