By BOB BLASS, guest columnist
Ever since I was a kid, the idea of pruning plants in order to make them stronger and better has always fascinated me. The idea that in paring back, it allows for fuller and stronger growth, seemed like a paradox.
In a similar way, the Brown County Chamber of Commerce is going through a transitional time that involves a critical look at what has been done in the past, and taking positive steps toward creating a vital organization that will engender solid business growth for the future.
Overall, there is a strong desire to refocus what we are doing to better support, educate and strengthen our Brown County businesses. Fundamentally, our job is to take the resources that we are entrusted with, and allocate them in a way that will facilitate growth and sustainability of each of our businesses, with the whole business community becoming stronger as a result. We are passionate about this.
Out of this exercise of pushing the single focus of supporting business was borne the idea of a series of educational workshops and programming that would be beneficial to our member businesses. The concept is to take a discipline that is a necessary component of any business and develop the year of programming around it. This could be finance, operations, marketing and the like as possible choices.
We decided to key in on marketing, as it is the lifeblood of business. If there is no awareness of the existence of a business and its product or service, it limits the possible revenue that can be generated. Strong and sustainable businesses are the goal. This seemed like a good place to put our emphasis, efforts and resources.
This is how 2019: The Year of Marketing came about. The focal point of our programming will have an aspect of marketing as its thrust. This is the case with our Connections events, as well as the series of educational workshops that are being developed and made available to our members and the business community at large.
In developing these workshops, care was given in planning to hit the basics in a way that would build a comprehensive overview of marketing activities over the course of the four events. We want to expose attendees to concepts that they may or may not have had any experience with. The workshops are meant to be collaborative with free discussion of the subject matter of the day, along with teaching from experts in their respective fields.
The first workshop, Marketing 101, was on May 23 and featured Raquel Richardson talking about various marketing ideas and concepts, and how to put them into an actionable plan. She challenged the group to commit a simple and basic plan to paper, then enact it and build on it as things progress.
Our second workshop is coming up on Thursday, June 27. It features nationally recognized speaker Josh Miles, author of Bold Brand 2.0 and brand development expert, speaking on the subject “Developing Your Own Bold Brand.” Assessing and deliberately creating your own brand is an important component of any marketing work. Josh will help each to understand the process of how to go about it.
Workshop 3 is currently in the process of being firmed up. The subject will be creating a web presence, including a look at ecommerce solutions. The speaker will be Dave Morse, who was the manager of the web properties at Delta Faucet in Indianapolis. He has a great technical background, mixed with real-world understanding of the integral part that a web strategy has as the hub of marketing.
Our last workshop will encompass online marketing and will feature Jenn Lisak Golding as speaker. Jenn is an accomplished marketing professional who has developed the Sapphire Lifecycle Model: an evidence-based blueprint and audit tool for optimum marketing performance. She will share her expertise and process, which has garnered appreciable return on investment for her clients.
The Year of Marketing is an exciting undertaking for the Chamber. It is designed to help business here in Brown County grow, prosper and sustain. The single focus on marketing will allow us to immerse in it and become more knowledgeable, leading to enhanced success.
It is the desire of the Chamber that each business take the opportunity to attend the workshops. Brown County Chamber of Commerce members are able to take advantage of these workshops at no charge, as part of their membership benefits.
Stay tuned, as there is much to do. Looking forward to a profitable 2019.
Bob Blass is an entrepreneur who has been in business since 1995. He founded Brainstorm in Indianapolis, which grew to be one of the largest branding and design firms in the city. His current business is oornj brandesign. Bob has deep and varied experience in brand development, design and strategic marketing communications. He has done significant work with such brands as Motorola, RCA, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stanley Security and many others. He is currently an at-large member of the Brown County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Send comments or questions to [email protected].
