📺 Develpreneur YouTube Episode

Video + transcript

Branding Basics: How Small Businesses Build Strong Foundations

2025-10-14 •Youtube

Detailed Notes

In this episode of Building Better Developers, hosts Rob Broadhead and Michael Meloche talk with Kevin Adelsberger, founder of Adelsberger Marketing, about the branding basics that help small businesses grow.

Learn how to: ✅ Turn a side hustle into a real business ✅ Know when (and when not) to rebrand ✅ Focus your message and visual identity ✅ Avoid common marketing mistakes ✅ Build a brand that earns trust and recognition

🎧 Listen to the full podcast and explore more episodes at Develpreneur.com https://develpreneur.com/branding-basics-small-business-foundation/

A Little Background on Kevin https://www.linkedin.com/in/kadelsberger/

Kevin Adelsberger is the founder of Adelsberger Marketing, where they create work that grows their clients’ businesses, in a culture that values their team and the Jackson, Tennessee, community. After founding in 2014, Kevin went on to be a co-founder of Our Jackson Home and host its podcast from 2015 to 2019. 

In 2016, Kevin was recognized as an emerging leader by Leadership Jackson. Then, in 2017, Adelsberger Marketing was named the Emerging Business of the Year by the Jackson Chamber. In 2019, Adelsberger Marketing sold partial ownership to Alexander, Thompson, and Arnold, CPAs. In 2020, Union University recognized Kevin with the Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Media award. 

Kevin currently serves on advisory committees for Leadership Tennessee and Jackson State Community College and is a board member for theCO in Jackson, Tennessee. 

He also hosts a podcast about business in West Tennessee called 40×45. 

Kevin lives in Jackson with his wife and business partner, Renae, and their two children. They are active foster parents and are involved members of First Baptist Church, Jackson. They are also some of the few to cheer on the Minnesota Vikings from below the Mason-Dixon line. #Skol

#BrandingBasics #SmallBusinessMarketing #Develpreneur #BuildingBetterDevelopers #KevinAdelsberger

Transcript Text
[Music]
All Right.
There's Michael Malo.
Do you have a
set
agenda for this or
>> Oh, I thought I sent it to you in Slack.
We kind of it uh hang on.
>> You sent me kind of like what we'd be
talking about, but not like I don't know
if there was like a if you have a set
thing that you're going to walk through
or not.
>> Um Rob typically just kind of goes with
the flow. Um, we'll start with kind of
introductions, things like that.
>> Um, and then,
>> uh, like we'll do our little spiel, then
you jump in, do your introduction, and
then we kind of do it. We kind of keep
it more, uh, free flowing, so it's like
Q&A. Um,
>> okay.
>> Rob will kickfully kick it off, and
then, uh, we kind of flow into the, uh,
interview. We typically try to do these
in about an hour chunk and we'll split
it into two episodes. So, we'll do a
part one and a part two.
>> Okay. I have a hard out at three.
>> Okay. I'm trying to get him on right
now. He's online. He just probably
didn't see that we jumped in.
>> Okay.
>> We've been heads down. But, yeah,
whenever we cut, but um when we're
finished, uh once I get these cut, I
will, uh send you the links, everything
if you want to share on social media and
all that.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I would be happy to.
you in your home office?
>> I am. Yeah.
>> I don't I don't think I've seen it from
that perspective.
>> Oh,
>> I love that. I love that uh iron Iron
Man glove or the Goth. Yes.
Yeah, it's uh Infinity Gauntlet is the
technical title.
>> And then I've got some Lord of the Rings
characters here. And I got my all my
Viking stuff here.
And then someone drew a picture of our
team here. And my Westard graduate block
here.
Pretzel day. This is a client. That's
for my hometown.
you know, bunch of different fun stuff.
And then I've gotten enough uh that's a
waterproof camera housing and uh some
fun mugs.
>> Nice.
There you are.
>> Yeah. Having like trying to figure out
why
>> I know you notification.
What?
>> Oh, we've got white shirts to go with
the red background. I'm just I'm at a
client site today, so don't have the red
shirt.
>> Gotcha.
Okay. Let me put my myself to do not
disturb here. And
>> All right. Do you uh Michael, you want
to do the same way we did last time or
you want us to do a break and restart in
the middle of it? Did that work? Okay.
>> No, that worked great. Um Okay.
>> And just do our little intros and outros
afterwards. um one
>> start we'll start the first one we'll go
all the way through and then um yeah
we'll manufacture the end in the
beginning uh afterwards. So uh I guess
we'll do our little like pre here. Uh we
are going to be talking with Kevin today
for those of you guys joining in the
video world. We have not started audio
this time. Last time we actually just
ran it all together. We're going to try
this a little bit differently. Uh, so
you guys will get to see uh probably a
little bit of bonus material here and
there. Uh, we're trying to figure out
how we're going to do this around our
interviews. Uh, still figuring all of
that little those mechanics out. So,
welcome. Thank you. And today, um, I
don't want to get too far into it, too
far ahead and steal his thunder, but
Kevin is a marketing guy. We're going to
talk about foundations of marketing and
some of those kinds of great things. Uh,
we have spoken with him in the past. Uh
we will have links and such afterwards.
He's a great guy. So uh and his team is
so definitely reach out and we'll get
contact information before all is said
and done. That being said,
get my little like get started here
and we'll do our little dos. Oh no.
Well, hello and welcome back. We are
continuing our series, our season of
developer, building better developers
and we are building better foundations
and we're once again bringing a guest on
uh which if you're watching this you've
already figured that out. Uh but we're
going to be talking today about
marketing and some of the foundations
there. Before we dive in, I should
introduce myself. My name is Rob
Broadhead. I am one of the founders of
developneur also the founder of RB
consulting where we are boutique
consulting company essentially we sit
down with you we talk to you about your
business we help you create a roadmap
for success and then either help you
execute on it or we can go execute for
you whatever you need this is technology
agnostic we use simplification
integration automation innovation to
help you find a the best way to go from
here to where you want to be and make
the most leverage out of that most
expensive investment known as technology
ology outside of people of course like
the person I'm about about to pass it
over to go ahead and introduce yourself.
>> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash.
I'm one of the co-founders of building
better developers. I'm also the founder
of Envision QA where we help businesses
take back control with custom software
that we build around your needs, not the
other way around. We don't build cookie
cutter software. We build custom
software. Our focus is simple, great
service, smart solutions, and a rockolid
quality. We build tools that replace
frustrating systems, streamline your
operations, and are fully tested to work
right the first time. Check us out at
Envision QA. We combine development and
quality assurance to give you software
you can trust and support you can count
on. Again, check us out at
envisionqa.com.
>> And because nobody does it better than
him, I'm going to pass it on to Kevin to
go ahead and introduce yourself, please.
>> Well, thanks for that. Uh, Kevin
Adlesberger with Adlesberger Marketing.
We lead brands to conquer digital
marketing and uh we're I'm excited to be
here to talk to you guys about marketing
today.
>> Excellent. So see like this is a
marketing kind of person. He's quick to
the point and gives you exactly what you
need to know. So I want to dive right
into it. Uh we've even skipped the good
thing, bad thing, all that kind of good
bad stuff that we typically do. We want
to dive right into this one. So I want
to start right into like a foundation.
Let's let's start with a and really what
I want to do is back it all the way up
to like side hustle level because I
think that is where I find so many
people struggle in the marketing and
branding world and I know that we've had
some of that as well where you start off
on a side hustle and it grows into
something that is either it has enough
legs that it's a a product or a service
that you're going to do on a regular
basis or it's uh something to happen so
it essentially flips from side hustle to
day job or side hustle to an actual
company. And now while you're side
hustling, I think yeah, you know,
there's there's certain attitude that
people have towards it, the way they
advertise it, the way they talk about
it.
But I want to sort of see if there are
maybe some things that we should think
about when we are in that that startup
mode, that side hustle mode.
>> Yeah.
>> That will help us from a marketing and
branding point of view down the road
because we're not really like we're not
really in that marketing think right
now. We're really more in the just the
thinking through the process and
creative piece, but I'm wondering if
there's not some things that you that
you would recommend that maybe we could
do to to put ourselves in a good
position for the future.
>> Well, I'll go to my own story for that
even though I'm not a developer. Uh
never claimed to be one. Um but uh when
I started uh my firm a little over 10
years ago, a little over 11 years ago at
this point, um I started as a side
hustle. Um, I was working at a nonprofit
in Jackson. So, I'm in Jackson,
Tennessee, uh, near Michael. And, uh, I,
um, started doing a side hustle, more
marketing. Funny, I started working for
burritos. Um, which is how I got
started. There was a burrito shop called
the burrito meal, which is like this
like Jackson used to be at Jackson
institution and used to go there during
college. And he got to be friends with
the owner and I was like, "Hey, uh, can
I help you do some marketing in exchange
for burritos?" So for and that started a
beautiful friendship. Had lunch with him
a couple days ago. He said the business
has been closed for a few years. But um
I started working for burritos. So I had
a lot of good free food for many years
doing that. But when I started as a side
hustle
everything I would do anything for
anyone at any time if that makes any
sense. Right. So um
>> there's a quote by Leonard Bernstein
that when I talk about starting a
business I use this reference a lot.
It said, uh, I'm no longer quite sure
what the uh question is, but I know that
the answer is yes. And so when I when
you're starting out, uh, I feel like
frequently, unless you're coming from
decades of experience, if you're newer
in a field or younger and you're trying
to figure out what you're going to be
doing, um, I think the answer is yes to
everything that comes your way. the just
to you know make some money um build
some connections get some work done to
show to other people.
The problem with that is that uh when
you start to become more serious about
it and it takes up more of your time uh
you're going to be spread too thin doing
different things that maybe aren't in
your best strength area and so you are
setting yourself up for um not having
the highest and best use of your time in
the future. So, an example of that is we
have a client who's a friend
and he started working with me before a
lot of people were working with me and
um and I was grateful for that and he
needed a cooler with his logo on it. Um,
now this was this was uh you know 10
years ago. So Yeti was just becoming a a
thing
and uh and so I you know I didn't know
you had to like have a minimum order to
buy customized coolers and stuff. So I
figured out how to buy a cooler and buy
a sticker and then put it together and
give it to them.
uh I wouldn't do that today um because
swag is not our area of specialties
specialty uh expertise or specialty and
so that's kind of an example of like hey
at that time anything to make the client
happy that was going to move the project
down the field and build that
relationship a little bit deeper now I
can hand those people off to different
areas that they can be that is better
suited for them to to work with um and
I'm okay with that because I know that
um I am being more successful in these
other areas. So as so and I think that
kind of mentality would apply to you to
the developer world as well. Um the
further you get the more specialized you
can get and really the more specialized
you are over time um you can usually
charge more too and so uh who's ever mad
about that?
>> Exactly. And I I think yeah I think
we've just coined a new word that
specialties is specialty and then
expertise at the things.
>> Uh sorry to be clear I coined that word.
Uh I think the recording will show.
>> So uh uh just when the checks come in
keep me in mind.
>> Oh definitely. Yeah. You'll be at the
top of the we'll be like further down on
the the author list of that. So actually
all the way at the bottom. So I love
that. Thank you for So you've even
brought us a new word that we can start
using. That is always awesome. what do
you and so I guess one of the things is
what are your thoughts on
um in doing these kinds of things from
and particularly let's let's consider a
a side hustle business that's been
around for a couple years. So you do
have some uh you have some customers,
you have some history. It's not like you
just like made this up in your your head
and nobody knows about it. It's like
there's it has
>> some level of people know what you know
people know that it's there
>> and then you're getting into this point
sort which is often like you say is you
you know you start out you do everything
and now you start figuring out okay this
is sort of where I want to go and so how
do you see or or what are some maybe
some some thoughts on doing like a
either a relaunch or rebranding or
something where you say okay what I did
do I just get rid of it do I want to
create something completely new or maybe
what are some some thoughts that would
possibly go in if you're when you're
talking to somebody about that?
>> Yeah. So, the first thing I'd think
about is like audience versus brand. So,
if if you are uh if your new focus area
is different uh a different audience
than the one that you've been working
with uh for the last five let's say
you've been in business for 5 years.
Let's be side hustling for 5 years and
you've been working a lot of different
things and you've figured out the thing
that you want to focus on has nothing to
do with your pre-existing customer base.
Yeah. No, probably a decent idea. You
could do a rebrand without a lot of
cost. If there's a lot of overlap in
those two things, which there probably
will be, I think it's a harder decision
to make. Why is that? Uh branding is
valuable for a reason. like the most
powerful companies in the world, the
most expensive companies in the world.
It's not just they have a great product
is they have a brand that people want to
interact with. Now, not to say that the
Adlesburgger marketing brand is worth a
ton, but like our name is known in West
Tennessee for good marketing. Um, and so
what I why would I want to change that?
um
there's a there's a unspecified value in
having a name in an industry or in an
area for an extended period of time. And
so when you're thinking about changing
your name or your brand or your logo, u
visual brand, whatever you might want to
call it, you should think, am I am I
hurting my dollar value? Am I hurting my
networking opportunities? Am I hurting
my my exposure in the community by doing
this? And so that's a real cost that you
have to think about. Um, now I'm talking
about mostly a visual brand or a name
here. If we were to get into like
messaging um and verbal branding and
talking about your focus and that that's
a for sure thing that can happen within
the existing brand framework that
doesn't um that would not hurt you to uh
focus in on that. Um, now I think a good
part of that is being able to then
communicate clearly what your new focus
is. Uh, and then being willing to when a
customer, older customer comes to you to
do something that's not your focus, we
say, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'd love to help
you with this, but we're working on just
this now. Call my friend Rob. Rob does
that and he'll do take care of you."
Sort of thing.
So is that sort of to follow up that is
it when you're doing it more from a the
messaging side of it is it is it
typically going to be better to just
sort of ignore what you did in the past
or is it more like a hey you one of
those like hey we're we're new we're
changing we're evolving and so we're
moving into this area and to to sort of
pull people along with it or do a little
more of a I guess a harder cut or does
it does it is it situational
I think it's a lawyer's a good marketer
should answer things like a lawyer. Uh
it depends, right? There's a lot of
situational components to that. Um the I
would my encouragement is very rarely
like a hard change. Um because uh you're
going to lose some of that brand equity
that you've built up uh if you just do
this really drastic change. Um, if you
are doing a lot of continuous business
with the same people
um like um once a quarter they're coming
to you for the same thing sort of thing.
That's going to be a harder conversation
to have for them. And you might even
need to tell them to say, "Hey, we're
going to help you out for the next year,
but beyond that, we can't we're not
doing this anymore. We're not going to
like we're not going to we're not going
to throw you to the curb." Uh cuz I've
seen that happen. I've seen people make
pivots in their business and throw
people to the curb and I would never
send that company business ever again,
right? Like even if even if I understand
why they made their decision, but when
you cold turkey someone and you leave
people holding the bag, like that tells
me a lot about how you do business. Um,
but if you gave them a warning to say,
"Hey, in a year, you know, this is a
vital part of your business. In a year,
we're going to not do this, so you need
to and we'll help you find someone to
help you transition." um is more of what
I would think would be the appropriate
uh path for that. Of course, if you're
doing something completely different,
there's no crossover. You're not going
to burn any bridges. You're not going to
lose any business. Making a identity
that's more specialized to the
application would would be a reasonable
um process to take. And when we talk
about branding
um we like to think about in four
elements. Can I share my screen in here?
Is that going to be acceptable? No, go
ahead.
>> Sure.
>> For those of you that are listening,
you're you're not going to be able to
see as much.
>> I'm going to talk through it. I'm going
to talk through it, though.
>> So, this is just a from a PDF that we
use internally. Um, when we talk about
branding, that branding is actually four
things. So, branding is your visual
identity, which is what you guys think
of as a logo, right? Um, it's your
positioning. It's what you bring to the
market and how you bring to the market.
It's your identity. It's your mission,
vision, core values, who you are as a
company at your core beyond any colors
that you have on the side of your your
truck or uh on your shirts or whatever.
And then there's the messaging. It's the
how we communicate who the company is
and our tone of voice and our elevator
pitch and those sorts of things. Uh and
so uh changing any one of these elements
is a big deal. It should be a big deal
in your company. like these should be
solidified things, but as you make
pivots, um charging changing parts of
these things may make a lot of sense to
present a more true um a true approach
to the world for who you are and what
you want to do in business.
>> So, it's interesting that you brought
this up because my question actually was
going to be about this, but more for
kind of the side hustlers going into
becoming a more formal business.
um at what point do they need to start
looking at these points? You know, when
do they need to really start focusing on
like who am I? Things of that. Um can
you give us some examples of where
you've seen this be successful and see
where people make mistakes?
>> I the the if I'm being real uh I I'm
this is a side note. I'm I'm I'm trying
to retire the phrase, "Let me be honest
with you," or if I'm being honest. Uh
cuz I hate that phrase cuz it's like, "I
was lying to you previously." So, I'm
trying to switch that out with um if I'm
forthright or if I'm transparent in this
answer, you can be successful in a lot
of businesses without a lot of these
things dialed in. like you can make
money uh especially a lot of boring
businesses, you know, quote unquote
boring businesses uh can make a lot of
money not doing these things. But I
think if you want to have a culture that
is a competitive advantage, if you want
to have a business that is uh that is
going to win in a competitive
environment as opposed to a commodity,
uh you've got to have these things
figured out. Um, so it's a part of being
successful, but also you don't have to
have it to be successful, if that makes
any sense. Uh, in the the world that I
want to live in, the businesses that I
would want to grow, these things are
super important to get nailed in. Right?
Now, that being said, for my company in
particular, we didn't have mission,
vision, core, values for a few years in.
Uh, we were still figuring out who we
were. And so, while you don't need all
of these things right away, uh the two
that I would recommend you get right out
of the door is the visual branding and
the positioning and the messaging. Uh I
the identity is probably a little bit
more important to wait and figure out
over time. Um the the the positioning is
important when you figure out what
you're taking to market and how you take
it to market. For example, uh you know,
if if someone was to introduce in our
market, uh a guy that would come to your
house and do your oil change for you
instead of having to go to the oil
change uh dealer or the mechanic is what
they would be called. Most people would
call mechanic. I just I can't I don't
know. My brain doesn't work sometimes.
Uh
you know, that would be a unique
positioning that you would want to build
your messaging around. Um, and so as you
figure out what you're doing, I think
some of these things become more clear.
So I don't know that you have to have
them day one. Uh, you need a name or
some sort of visual brand to identify
yourself. Uh, and and and help people
see who you are. Uh, but the other
components, uh, I mean, the positioning,
ideally, positioning comes really early
cuz you figured out that there's a niche
here that I can expose and make some
money at. Um, but that doesn't
necessarily because sometimes you might
just be getting a side project from an
existing customer or so there's a lot of
there's a lot like you might might not
be doing anything different. You might
just be doing the same thing over on the
side uh and then you slowly figure out
your positioning over time. So it a
little bit depends.
If I had a preference like if I was to
like design this in a lab and do this
the exact right way, you would start
with identity. you would then go to
positioning, you would then go to
messaging and then finally you would do
the visual branding. Um, but frequently
it happens I think in the exact opposite
order of that.
>> Now, oh go right ahead.
>> Uh, so so you're given a good example of
this with u, so you've been in business
over 10 years. Can you give us some
examples of where
you've seen some bad marketing attempts
or where business has just gotten it
wrong completely? Um, and like how to
avoid that.
>> Um, avoiding bad marketing
um is uh part of bad marketing is in the
eye of the beholder. So there's that's
the first challenge. There may be things
that we think are really bad that make a
lot of sense for that customer and their
audience
because keep in mind we are not always
the customer of these particular
efforts. And so keeping that in mind is
really important. Now that being said,
there's been some really dumb stuff that
I've seen. Um, do you guys use Slack?
>> Man, I hate that they changed their logo
so many years ago. I'm still mad about
it. Uh, and but you know, talking to my
friend William Donald, William's like,
"Well, you don't know what design
challenges they were trying to solve
with that rebrand." And he's I was like,
"You know what? I don't stop trying to
make me sound reasonable. I'm mad about
this, William." Um, and so knowing what
the customer base is and what their
needs are is a super important thing to
deciding whether marketing is good or
bad. Here's an example. We worked with
an HVAC company here
and we knew that the owner was
not super marketing savvy. Okay.
Um had built a good business but not
super marketing savvy.
So, uh, he was not thinking his our
marketing was being very effective
because he wasn't seeing it, which is a
red flag for any marketing person that's
ever would ever have heard that me say
that. Like, they've seen that before
where the customer doesn't see the
marketing, so they assume it's not
working. Well, here's the thing. He's
not the target market. Uh and so what we
did to appease him though was we ended
up buying a set of ads, spending company
money, uh a little bit of it on ads on
stations we knew that he watched um so
that we could uh appease that concern
from him. And so uh while it was not the
best use of money uh it saved us all a
lot of headache. So um so
sometimes uh so bad marketing may not be
bad marketing sometimes it is and
usually that is because um you don't
have enough people having input and what
I mean by that is um
what we've seen the worst marketing like
for example recently Nike had um an ad
in for the WNBA da that said let her
cook. Um now uh let her cook in in let
them cook or let them cook in sports
parliament or in modern parliament is
like hey let them do their thing.
They're doing something awesome. Let
them cook. Uh but putting it in
juxtaposed to a WNBA game all of a
sudden feels very sexist. Um likely two
situations happened there. one, you had
uh a manager of some sort think this was
a great idea and didn't listen to
another soul saying, "This is going to
end poorly.
Don't do this." Or you had a room of
people who thought it was a great idea
and there's probably not a middle-aged
woman sitting there to say, "Hey, uh
maybe don't say this phrase cuz it's not
going to land the way you want it to."
Um, we've also seen some things where
there might be something that comes
across as racially insensitive and it
was likely a room of white older white
men making that that ad pitch without
having someone that has a diverse set of
viewpoints in the room. And so, uh, so
one, you may not be able to have a team
of people in a room making that
decision, especially as a side hustle.
But you can try to think, uh, if I've
got a friend down the street that thinks
about the world differently than I do,
um, how are they going to respond to
this? Am I am I am I stepping over any
boundaries that I Now, there may be
people who want to step over boundaries
on purpose, right? But if I'm not trying
to start fights, am I doing something
that's going to start a fight? And you
know, they say that every day there's a
main character on Twitter and you don't
want it to be you. Um, you know, am I
saying anything that's going to make me
be the main character on Twitter
tomorrow? Um, and, uh, and so thinking
through it that way, uh, is one of the
key things. Um, but the biggest thing
that people do wrong with marketing is
they stop thinking about their customer,
right? And so if you are doing something
just to brag um, and not providing any
value to your customer, you're going to
have a bad time. And so that's you
sometimes the easiest way to fix um bad
marketing is by focusing on your
customer.
>> So you mentioned u in some of the like
getting started in that is that you know
like the the coloring and the logos and
stuff like that. How might I I've and
there are stories of you I've seen of
huge amounts of money spent on logos and
colors and corporate you know fonts and
the whole kitten kaboodleoodle.
>> Sure.
>> Um and then sometimes and there are some
that you know they are in themselves you
can tell that there's like there's a
level of iconic or or ingenuity into
like I the one that jumps to mind is
like the Amazon where it's got like the
smile from the A to Z kind of thing. So
you've got the the hidden messages in
them.
>> How much is that
is that is that something that sometimes
where we over and I know I'm asking a
marketing person this may be like asking
the wrong person but is that sometimes
overthinking it a little bit? is that
especially when I mean I guess if you're
going to be like a you know a Nike or
something and maybe if that's your goal
then yeah you want to have something
that's you know lifealtering for people
to see that logo but if you're you know
a marketing company in western Tennessee
is it really how much do those things
factor in do you think?
>> Yeah. So uh let's talk about Nike for
just a second. Um, if I branded a new
shoe company today, Nike didn't exist
with that swoosh. I would probably get
shot at by the customer. Be like, "What
does that mean? That doesn't mean
anything." Whatever. So, so Nike's logo
is completely devoid of any meaning
except for the meaning that they've
built. Um, and and that's really what
the power of the brand is, is like they
have created the value to go with the
icon. Now,
your question was, you know, uh do you
have to have this showstoppping logo to
um a good, and you're right, you're
asking a man with a hammer, does the
problem look like a nail? And so, the
question is yes. Uh but, uh but a couple
things to think about.
>> Uh a good logo, maybe not even a great
logo, but a good logo used well, adds
professionalism to your product. And so
if you are in a competitive space or
you're new and you've got a
professionallook brand, you're like,
okay, maybe they you get some credit for
that. Also over time, if you have a
professional logo and you use it
consistently,
you ha you add some brand uh value. You
add some brand equity to yourself where
you can lean on that and tell you people
will begin to identify in the right
customer space. If you're marketing
yourself to the a certain demographic of
customers,
uh, a bad logo can get you confused with
other people, could have some imagery
that you don't want to have in it, you
don't even know about. Um, the biggest
thing that we see is I I can spot a
Fiverr logo from a mile away. Like I can
generally know, yeah, they went to
Fiverr for a logo pretty quickly. And
and so I may have a certain feeling
about that, but what that means is is
like other people, they might not know
that it's a fiber logo, but they might
be able to be like, "This looks like 30
other mechanic shops that I've seen."
Um, how am I supposed to tell them
apart? Sort of thing. Um, and mechanic
shops are generally mechanic shops and
real estate agents are generally the
worst. Like I see um I see Fiverr logos
constantly.
And a mechanic shop doesn't necessarily
need to have great branding to be
successful. Uh, real estate agents need
good branding to be successful. And so
it's kind of funny to me that they've um
invested in it that way. So, do you have
to have this showstoppping logo? No. You
should have a good logo that represents
your business. And uh in a in an ideal
brand kit like from a if you work with a
professional, you get a brand kit. So
you'll have uh vector and raster images.
You'll have uh um different color
samples so that let's say you sponsor a
local high school softball game or
whatever. Your logo can get printed on
the jersey the same color as it should
look. It should look right on that
jersey whether it's full color or not,
right? Uh a professional set you up with
that. And so, uh it's a little bit more
on the front end to have a professional
do it, but the the payoff is like you're
going to have a logo that will be
relevant for the next 20 years, uh maybe
if you're if you're lucky, I guess, 20
years. and you'll have a kit that will
give you all the tools that you need to
utilize it properly. Um, and a lot of
times the cheaper ends don't do that and
it's uh very frustrating from a design
standpoint when you when someone doesn't
have what they need and then you have to
go make it uh because they they were uh
cheap on the front end.
>> And that is going to be where we're
going to pause our conversation with
Kevin Adlesberger this time around.
Don't worry, we will unpause and we're
not holding our breath until it we like
went right on through it. So, don't
worry. We're safe. We're being healthy
here. Uh we'll come back with part two
and we're going to continue the
conversation and get into uh it really I
think this is really good like one and
two split of how we do this is because
really got some foundation and basic
stuff, but then we're going to get into
like applying that a little bit more uh
in the next episode. So, come back and
join us for that one. Uh, as always, uh,
I have to start off with if you have
comments on this, if you have feedback
of any sort, shoot us an email at
[email protected].
You can check us out on at
developer.com. There's contact forms.
You can leave uh, com comments, feedback
on any of the blog articles, anywhere
that you see podcasts or, you know,
listen to podcasts out on YouTube on the
developer channel, Facebook on the
developer page. We are pretty much
everywhere we can think of. X it is
developer. You can follow us there.
Follow us on all these different places
so you can hear about all of the latest
stuff we do. Uh we are as you've noticed
getting a little deeper into interviews
and stuff like that. We may have to even
update our schedule a little bit and do
a little bit more because we just are
starting to pile up a lot of stuff
potentially. And uh also we've got, you
know, the seasonal specials coming up uh
pretty darn soon. We are in October
right now as we're recording this and uh
pretty soon we're going to be doing the
November Thanksgiving specials and the
end of year and Christmas specials. So,
always some stuff to look forward to.
Hopefully you are looking forward to
your day. Go out there and have yourself
a great day, a great week, and we will
talk to you next time.
[Music]
Transcript Segments
1.35

[Music]

27.84

All Right.

30

There's Michael Malo.

34

Do you have a

36.239

set

38.879

agenda for this or

41.28

>> Oh, I thought I sent it to you in Slack.

43.04

We kind of it uh hang on.

45.6

>> You sent me kind of like what we'd be

46.879

talking about, but not like I don't know

48.079

if there was like a if you have a set

50

thing that you're going to walk through

51.36

or not.

52.399

>> Um Rob typically just kind of goes with

56

the flow. Um, we'll start with kind of

58.48

introductions, things like that.

60.559

>> Um, and then,

63.359

>> uh, like we'll do our little spiel, then

65.68

you jump in, do your introduction, and

68.159

then we kind of do it. We kind of keep

71.2

it more, uh, free flowing, so it's like

73.04

Q&A. Um,

74.72

>> okay.

75.36

>> Rob will kickfully kick it off, and

77.119

then, uh, we kind of flow into the, uh,

80.64

interview. We typically try to do these

82.64

in about an hour chunk and we'll split

84.56

it into two episodes. So, we'll do a

86.32

part one and a part two.

88.08

>> Okay. I have a hard out at three.

91.04

>> Okay. I'm trying to get him on right

93.28

now. He's online. He just probably

94.799

didn't see that we jumped in.

96.88

>> Okay.

97.68

>> We've been heads down. But, yeah,

99.28

whenever we cut, but um when we're

101.84

finished, uh once I get these cut, I

104.72

will, uh send you the links, everything

108.159

if you want to share on social media and

109.84

all that.

110.32

>> Yeah, absolutely. I would be happy to.

122.64

you in your home office?

124.88

>> I am. Yeah.

127.28

>> I don't I don't think I've seen it from

129.36

that perspective.

132.16

>> Oh,

132.959

>> I love that. I love that uh iron Iron

135.92

Man glove or the Goth. Yes.

140.239

Yeah, it's uh Infinity Gauntlet is the

144.56

technical title.

146.72

>> And then I've got some Lord of the Rings

148.56

characters here. And I got my all my

152.8

Viking stuff here.

155.519

And then someone drew a picture of our

157.68

team here. And my Westard graduate block

161.68

here.

163.28

Pretzel day. This is a client. That's

167.28

for my hometown.

169.28

you know, bunch of different fun stuff.

171.519

And then I've gotten enough uh that's a

174.08

waterproof camera housing and uh some

178

fun mugs.

179.68

>> Nice.

185.92

There you are.

188.64

>> Yeah. Having like trying to figure out

191.2

why

193.84

>> I know you notification.

197.44

What?

197.76

>> Oh, we've got white shirts to go with

199.36

the red background. I'm just I'm at a

201.519

client site today, so don't have the red

203.68

shirt.

204.64

>> Gotcha.

207.2

Okay. Let me put my myself to do not

210.319

disturb here. And

212.64

>> All right. Do you uh Michael, you want

214.159

to do the same way we did last time or

215.599

you want us to do a break and restart in

218.64

the middle of it? Did that work? Okay.

220.879

>> No, that worked great. Um Okay.

222.879

>> And just do our little intros and outros

224.799

afterwards. um one

227.36

>> start we'll start the first one we'll go

229.36

all the way through and then um yeah

232

we'll manufacture the end in the

234.319

beginning uh afterwards. So uh I guess

237.36

we'll do our little like pre here. Uh we

240.64

are going to be talking with Kevin today

243.12

for those of you guys joining in the

244.319

video world. We have not started audio

246

this time. Last time we actually just

247.599

ran it all together. We're going to try

248.959

this a little bit differently. Uh, so

250.959

you guys will get to see uh probably a

253.84

little bit of bonus material here and

255.92

there. Uh, we're trying to figure out

257.28

how we're going to do this around our

258.72

interviews. Uh, still figuring all of

260.799

that little those mechanics out. So,

263.52

welcome. Thank you. And today, um, I

267.6

don't want to get too far into it, too

269.199

far ahead and steal his thunder, but

270.56

Kevin is a marketing guy. We're going to

272.16

talk about foundations of marketing and

274.639

some of those kinds of great things. Uh,

277.04

we have spoken with him in the past. Uh

280.32

we will have links and such afterwards.

282.56

He's a great guy. So uh and his team is

285.44

so definitely reach out and we'll get

287.6

contact information before all is said

289.6

and done. That being said,

293.04

get my little like get started here

298

and we'll do our little dos. Oh no.

301.6

Well, hello and welcome back. We are

304.32

continuing our series, our season of

307.52

developer, building better developers

309.6

and we are building better foundations

311.68

and we're once again bringing a guest on

315.36

uh which if you're watching this you've

317.199

already figured that out. Uh but we're

319.68

going to be talking today about

321.039

marketing and some of the foundations

322.639

there. Before we dive in, I should

325.039

introduce myself. My name is Rob

326.4

Broadhead. I am one of the founders of

327.919

developneur also the founder of RB

330.16

consulting where we are boutique

331.759

consulting company essentially we sit

333.84

down with you we talk to you about your

335.52

business we help you create a roadmap

337.039

for success and then either help you

339.039

execute on it or we can go execute for

341.44

you whatever you need this is technology

343.68

agnostic we use simplification

345.36

integration automation innovation to

347.759

help you find a the best way to go from

350.08

here to where you want to be and make

352.24

the most leverage out of that most

353.759

expensive investment known as technology

356.16

ology outside of people of course like

358.479

the person I'm about about to pass it

360.08

over to go ahead and introduce yourself.

363.36

>> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash.

364.88

I'm one of the co-founders of building

366

better developers. I'm also the founder

367.68

of Envision QA where we help businesses

369.84

take back control with custom software

372.16

that we build around your needs, not the

374.72

other way around. We don't build cookie

376.56

cutter software. We build custom

378.16

software. Our focus is simple, great

380.319

service, smart solutions, and a rockolid

382.8

quality. We build tools that replace

384.72

frustrating systems, streamline your

386.72

operations, and are fully tested to work

388.88

right the first time. Check us out at

390.72

Envision QA. We combine development and

393.039

quality assurance to give you software

394.56

you can trust and support you can count

396.72

on. Again, check us out at

398.479

envisionqa.com.

401.039

>> And because nobody does it better than

403.28

him, I'm going to pass it on to Kevin to

405.039

go ahead and introduce yourself, please.

407.919

>> Well, thanks for that. Uh, Kevin

409.68

Adlesberger with Adlesberger Marketing.

411.36

We lead brands to conquer digital

413.12

marketing and uh we're I'm excited to be

415.84

here to talk to you guys about marketing

417.44

today.

418.8

>> Excellent. So see like this is a

420.96

marketing kind of person. He's quick to

422.56

the point and gives you exactly what you

424.24

need to know. So I want to dive right

426.56

into it. Uh we've even skipped the good

428.24

thing, bad thing, all that kind of good

430.319

bad stuff that we typically do. We want

432.08

to dive right into this one. So I want

434.479

to start right into like a foundation.

436.639

Let's let's start with a and really what

439.199

I want to do is back it all the way up

440.8

to like side hustle level because I

442.88

think that is where I find so many

445.68

people struggle in the marketing and

447.52

branding world and I know that we've had

449.919

some of that as well where you start off

451.28

on a side hustle and it grows into

453.759

something that is either it has enough

456.08

legs that it's a a product or a service

458.56

that you're going to do on a regular

459.759

basis or it's uh something to happen so

462.4

it essentially flips from side hustle to

465.039

day job or side hustle to an actual

467.28

company. And now while you're side

469.28

hustling, I think yeah, you know,

471.12

there's there's certain attitude that

473.44

people have towards it, the way they

475.039

advertise it, the way they talk about

476.639

it.

478.16

But I want to sort of see if there are

479.68

maybe some things that we should think

481.199

about when we are in that that startup

483.759

mode, that side hustle mode.

485.759

>> Yeah.

486.16

>> That will help us from a marketing and

487.599

branding point of view down the road

489.44

because we're not really like we're not

490.879

really in that marketing think right

493.039

now. We're really more in the just the

495.28

thinking through the process and

496.479

creative piece, but I'm wondering if

498.479

there's not some things that you that

499.919

you would recommend that maybe we could

501.36

do to to put ourselves in a good

503.52

position for the future.

505.199

>> Well, I'll go to my own story for that

507.199

even though I'm not a developer. Uh

508.72

never claimed to be one. Um but uh when

511.84

I started uh my firm a little over 10

514.56

years ago, a little over 11 years ago at

516.399

this point, um I started as a side

519.36

hustle. Um, I was working at a nonprofit

521.839

in Jackson. So, I'm in Jackson,

523.279

Tennessee, uh, near Michael. And, uh, I,

527.36

um, started doing a side hustle, more

529.279

marketing. Funny, I started working for

531.76

burritos. Um, which is how I got

533.839

started. There was a burrito shop called

536.32

the burrito meal, which is like this

538

like Jackson used to be at Jackson

539.92

institution and used to go there during

542.48

college. And he got to be friends with

544.24

the owner and I was like, "Hey, uh, can

546.8

I help you do some marketing in exchange

548.72

for burritos?" So for and that started a

551.12

beautiful friendship. Had lunch with him

552.8

a couple days ago. He said the business

554.16

has been closed for a few years. But um

556.48

I started working for burritos. So I had

558.32

a lot of good free food for many years

560.48

doing that. But when I started as a side

562.72

hustle

564.64

everything I would do anything for

567.12

anyone at any time if that makes any

569.519

sense. Right. So um

571.36

>> there's a quote by Leonard Bernstein

573.76

that when I talk about starting a

575.2

business I use this reference a lot.

578.56

It said, uh, I'm no longer quite sure

580.48

what the uh question is, but I know that

582.399

the answer is yes. And so when I when

585.6

you're starting out, uh, I feel like

587.68

frequently, unless you're coming from

590.16

decades of experience, if you're newer

593.519

in a field or younger and you're trying

595.12

to figure out what you're going to be

596.56

doing, um, I think the answer is yes to

599.2

everything that comes your way. the just

602.56

to you know make some money um build

606.56

some connections get some work done to

608.56

show to other people.

610.959

The problem with that is that uh when

613.92

you start to become more serious about

615.76

it and it takes up more of your time uh

618.399

you're going to be spread too thin doing

620

different things that maybe aren't in

621.519

your best strength area and so you are

624.399

setting yourself up for um not having

627.76

the highest and best use of your time in

629.68

the future. So, an example of that is we

632.399

have a client who's a friend

634.959

and he started working with me before a

637.36

lot of people were working with me and

639.6

um and I was grateful for that and he

642

needed a cooler with his logo on it. Um,

645.92

now this was this was uh you know 10

649.839

years ago. So Yeti was just becoming a a

652.399

thing

654.399

and uh and so I you know I didn't know

657.36

you had to like have a minimum order to

659.12

buy customized coolers and stuff. So I

661.68

figured out how to buy a cooler and buy

663.12

a sticker and then put it together and

664.72

give it to them.

666.32

uh I wouldn't do that today um because

671.04

swag is not our area of specialties

673.6

specialty uh expertise or specialty and

676.959

so that's kind of an example of like hey

679.04

at that time anything to make the client

681.12

happy that was going to move the project

682.8

down the field and build that

683.92

relationship a little bit deeper now I

686.16

can hand those people off to different

688.24

areas that they can be that is better

690.64

suited for them to to work with um and

693.44

I'm okay with that because I know that

696.079

um I am being more successful in these

698.16

other areas. So as so and I think that

701.04

kind of mentality would apply to you to

703.68

the developer world as well. Um the

706.32

further you get the more specialized you

708

can get and really the more specialized

710

you are over time um you can usually

713.6

charge more too and so uh who's ever mad

716.48

about that?

718.48

>> Exactly. And I I think yeah I think

720.72

we've just coined a new word that

722.48

specialties is specialty and then

724.48

expertise at the things.

725.839

>> Uh sorry to be clear I coined that word.

728.24

Uh I think the recording will show.

731.279

>> So uh uh just when the checks come in

734.399

keep me in mind.

735.68

>> Oh definitely. Yeah. You'll be at the

737.04

top of the we'll be like further down on

739.04

the the author list of that. So actually

741.2

all the way at the bottom. So I love

742.639

that. Thank you for So you've even

744.24

brought us a new word that we can start

745.76

using. That is always awesome. what do

748.399

you and so I guess one of the things is

751.44

what are your thoughts on

754.399

um in doing these kinds of things from

757.04

and particularly let's let's consider a

759.04

a side hustle business that's been

760.56

around for a couple years. So you do

762.079

have some uh you have some customers,

764.48

you have some history. It's not like you

766

just like made this up in your your head

767.839

and nobody knows about it. It's like

769.519

there's it has

771.6

>> some level of people know what you know

773.839

people know that it's there

775.92

>> and then you're getting into this point

778.399

sort which is often like you say is you

780.56

you know you start out you do everything

781.92

and now you start figuring out okay this

783.68

is sort of where I want to go and so how

786.959

do you see or or what are some maybe

789.519

some some thoughts on doing like a

791.839

either a relaunch or rebranding or

794.32

something where you say okay what I did

797.44

do I just get rid of it do I want to

799.2

create something completely new or maybe

800.72

what are some some thoughts that would

802.399

possibly go in if you're when you're

803.839

talking to somebody about that?

805.76

>> Yeah. So, the first thing I'd think

807.6

about is like audience versus brand. So,

810.639

if if you are uh if your new focus area

814.32

is different uh a different audience

817.2

than the one that you've been working

818.56

with uh for the last five let's say

820.8

you've been in business for 5 years.

821.839

Let's be side hustling for 5 years and

824.48

you've been working a lot of different

825.6

things and you've figured out the thing

827.279

that you want to focus on has nothing to

830.48

do with your pre-existing customer base.

833.92

Yeah. No, probably a decent idea. You

837.6

could do a rebrand without a lot of

839.44

cost. If there's a lot of overlap in

842.88

those two things, which there probably

844.56

will be, I think it's a harder decision

846.48

to make. Why is that? Uh branding is

849.199

valuable for a reason. like the most

851.44

powerful companies in the world, the

852.72

most expensive companies in the world.

854.48

It's not just they have a great product

855.92

is they have a brand that people want to

857.279

interact with. Now, not to say that the

860.24

Adlesburgger marketing brand is worth a

862

ton, but like our name is known in West

864.32

Tennessee for good marketing. Um, and so

867.68

what I why would I want to change that?

870.16

um

871.839

there's a there's a unspecified value in

876.16

having a name in an industry or in an

878.959

area for an extended period of time. And

881.76

so when you're thinking about changing

883.44

your name or your brand or your logo, u

886.639

visual brand, whatever you might want to

888.079

call it, you should think, am I am I

891.92

hurting my dollar value? Am I hurting my

894.72

networking opportunities? Am I hurting

896.56

my my exposure in the community by doing

899.12

this? And so that's a real cost that you

901.68

have to think about. Um, now I'm talking

905.199

about mostly a visual brand or a name

906.88

here. If we were to get into like

908.72

messaging um and verbal branding and

911.839

talking about your focus and that that's

914.399

a for sure thing that can happen within

916.32

the existing brand framework that

918.079

doesn't um that would not hurt you to uh

921.279

focus in on that. Um, now I think a good

925.279

part of that is being able to then

926.56

communicate clearly what your new focus

928.32

is. Uh, and then being willing to when a

931.76

customer, older customer comes to you to

933.36

do something that's not your focus, we

935.12

say, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'd love to help

936.32

you with this, but we're working on just

938.48

this now. Call my friend Rob. Rob does

941.68

that and he'll do take care of you."

943.36

Sort of thing.

945.04

So is that sort of to follow up that is

947.36

it when you're doing it more from a the

949.92

messaging side of it is it is it

954

typically going to be better to just

955.759

sort of ignore what you did in the past

958.24

or is it more like a hey you one of

960.48

those like hey we're we're new we're

962.56

changing we're evolving and so we're

964.32

moving into this area and to to sort of

967.92

pull people along with it or do a little

969.92

more of a I guess a harder cut or does

972

it does it is it situational

974.48

I think it's a lawyer's a good marketer

977.12

should answer things like a lawyer. Uh

979.279

it depends, right? There's a lot of

981.04

situational components to that. Um the I

985.839

would my encouragement is very rarely

987.839

like a hard change. Um because uh you're

991.6

going to lose some of that brand equity

993.12

that you've built up uh if you just do

995.199

this really drastic change. Um, if you

998.32

are doing a lot of continuous business

1000.24

with the same people

1002.72

um like um once a quarter they're coming

1006.639

to you for the same thing sort of thing.

1008.56

That's going to be a harder conversation

1010.079

to have for them. And you might even

1012

need to tell them to say, "Hey, we're

1013.759

going to help you out for the next year,

1016.399

but beyond that, we can't we're not

1018.72

doing this anymore. We're not going to

1020.48

like we're not going to we're not going

1022

to throw you to the curb." Uh cuz I've

1024.24

seen that happen. I've seen people make

1026.799

pivots in their business and throw

1028.16

people to the curb and I would never

1030

send that company business ever again,

1032.799

right? Like even if even if I understand

1034.959

why they made their decision, but when

1036.72

you cold turkey someone and you leave

1038.799

people holding the bag, like that tells

1041.12

me a lot about how you do business. Um,

1044.24

but if you gave them a warning to say,

1045.839

"Hey, in a year, you know, this is a

1048.24

vital part of your business. In a year,

1050.559

we're going to not do this, so you need

1051.919

to and we'll help you find someone to

1053.36

help you transition." um is more of what

1057.2

I would think would be the appropriate

1059.36

uh path for that. Of course, if you're

1061.2

doing something completely different,

1062.24

there's no crossover. You're not going

1063.52

to burn any bridges. You're not going to

1065.039

lose any business. Making a identity

1067.84

that's more specialized to the

1069.44

application would would be a reasonable

1072.08

um process to take. And when we talk

1075.12

about branding

1077.52

um we like to think about in four

1079.12

elements. Can I share my screen in here?

1081.76

Is that going to be acceptable? No, go

1084.08

ahead.

1084.48

>> Sure.

1085.6

>> For those of you that are listening,

1086.96

you're you're not going to be able to

1088.16

see as much.

1088.96

>> I'm going to talk through it. I'm going

1090.16

to talk through it, though.

1091.52

>> So, this is just a from a PDF that we

1093.76

use internally. Um, when we talk about

1096.08

branding, that branding is actually four

1098.08

things. So, branding is your visual

1100.64

identity, which is what you guys think

1102.64

of as a logo, right? Um, it's your

1105.6

positioning. It's what you bring to the

1107.44

market and how you bring to the market.

1109.44

It's your identity. It's your mission,

1111.2

vision, core values, who you are as a

1113.2

company at your core beyond any colors

1115.679

that you have on the side of your your

1117.6

truck or uh on your shirts or whatever.

1120.08

And then there's the messaging. It's the

1121.52

how we communicate who the company is

1123.679

and our tone of voice and our elevator

1126

pitch and those sorts of things. Uh and

1128.32

so uh changing any one of these elements

1132.08

is a big deal. It should be a big deal

1134.559

in your company. like these should be

1136.559

solidified things, but as you make

1138.48

pivots, um charging changing parts of

1141.12

these things may make a lot of sense to

1143.679

present a more true um a true approach

1147.28

to the world for who you are and what

1149.12

you want to do in business.

1151.36

>> So, it's interesting that you brought

1152.799

this up because my question actually was

1155.039

going to be about this, but more for

1158.08

kind of the side hustlers going into

1160.72

becoming a more formal business.

1163.2

um at what point do they need to start

1165.919

looking at these points? You know, when

1168.08

do they need to really start focusing on

1169.84

like who am I? Things of that. Um can

1172.4

you give us some examples of where

1174.32

you've seen this be successful and see

1176.64

where people make mistakes?

1179.36

>> I the the if I'm being real uh I I'm

1183.76

this is a side note. I'm I'm I'm trying

1186.32

to retire the phrase, "Let me be honest

1187.919

with you," or if I'm being honest. Uh

1190.16

cuz I hate that phrase cuz it's like, "I

1192

was lying to you previously." So, I'm

1193.84

trying to switch that out with um if I'm

1197.12

forthright or if I'm transparent in this

1199.6

answer, you can be successful in a lot

1203.12

of businesses without a lot of these

1204.88

things dialed in. like you can make

1207.28

money uh especially a lot of boring

1209.84

businesses, you know, quote unquote

1211.36

boring businesses uh can make a lot of

1214.32

money not doing these things. But I

1216.64

think if you want to have a culture that

1219.44

is a competitive advantage, if you want

1222.32

to have a business that is uh that is

1224.64

going to win in a competitive

1225.919

environment as opposed to a commodity,

1228.559

uh you've got to have these things

1230.48

figured out. Um, so it's a part of being

1234.559

successful, but also you don't have to

1236.64

have it to be successful, if that makes

1238.96

any sense. Uh, in the the world that I

1241.76

want to live in, the businesses that I

1243.36

would want to grow, these things are

1245.52

super important to get nailed in. Right?

1247.76

Now, that being said, for my company in

1251.44

particular, we didn't have mission,

1253.36

vision, core, values for a few years in.

1255.919

Uh, we were still figuring out who we

1258.08

were. And so, while you don't need all

1260.24

of these things right away, uh the two

1262.64

that I would recommend you get right out

1264.48

of the door is the visual branding and

1267.039

the positioning and the messaging. Uh I

1270

the identity is probably a little bit

1271.919

more important to wait and figure out

1273.679

over time. Um the the the positioning is

1277.44

important when you figure out what

1278.559

you're taking to market and how you take

1279.919

it to market. For example, uh you know,

1284

if if someone was to introduce in our

1286.4

market, uh a guy that would come to your

1288.96

house and do your oil change for you

1291.28

instead of having to go to the oil

1292.64

change uh dealer or the mechanic is what

1296

they would be called. Most people would

1297.039

call mechanic. I just I can't I don't

1299.36

know. My brain doesn't work sometimes.

1301.039

Uh

1302.64

you know, that would be a unique

1304.32

positioning that you would want to build

1306.4

your messaging around. Um, and so as you

1309.52

figure out what you're doing, I think

1310.64

some of these things become more clear.

1312.159

So I don't know that you have to have

1313.12

them day one. Uh, you need a name or

1316.08

some sort of visual brand to identify

1317.679

yourself. Uh, and and and help people

1320.4

see who you are. Uh, but the other

1322.559

components, uh, I mean, the positioning,

1324.559

ideally, positioning comes really early

1327.52

cuz you figured out that there's a niche

1329.28

here that I can expose and make some

1331.12

money at. Um, but that doesn't

1334.64

necessarily because sometimes you might

1336.88

just be getting a side project from an

1338.24

existing customer or so there's a lot of

1340.96

there's a lot like you might might not

1342.32

be doing anything different. You might

1343.52

just be doing the same thing over on the

1345.36

side uh and then you slowly figure out

1348.72

your positioning over time. So it a

1350.4

little bit depends.

1352.32

If I had a preference like if I was to

1355.039

like design this in a lab and do this

1356.96

the exact right way, you would start

1359.12

with identity. you would then go to

1362

positioning, you would then go to

1363.84

messaging and then finally you would do

1365.6

the visual branding. Um, but frequently

1369.52

it happens I think in the exact opposite

1371.28

order of that.

1374

>> Now, oh go right ahead.

1377.36

>> Uh, so so you're given a good example of

1380.08

this with u, so you've been in business

1382.08

over 10 years. Can you give us some

1383.84

examples of where

1386.64

you've seen some bad marketing attempts

1389.12

or where business has just gotten it

1391.039

wrong completely? Um, and like how to

1393.52

avoid that.

1395.84

>> Um, avoiding bad marketing

1398.96

um is uh part of bad marketing is in the

1402.32

eye of the beholder. So there's that's

1404.559

the first challenge. There may be things

1406.08

that we think are really bad that make a

1408.48

lot of sense for that customer and their

1410.48

audience

1412

because keep in mind we are not always

1413.84

the customer of these particular

1416.08

efforts. And so keeping that in mind is

1418.559

really important. Now that being said,

1421.76

there's been some really dumb stuff that

1423.44

I've seen. Um, do you guys use Slack?

1428.799

>> Man, I hate that they changed their logo

1432.88

so many years ago. I'm still mad about

1434.799

it. Uh, and but you know, talking to my

1439.2

friend William Donald, William's like,

1441.6

"Well, you don't know what design

1442.64

challenges they were trying to solve

1443.76

with that rebrand." And he's I was like,

1445.679

"You know what? I don't stop trying to

1447.6

make me sound reasonable. I'm mad about

1449.6

this, William." Um, and so knowing what

1452.88

the customer base is and what their

1454.24

needs are is a super important thing to

1456.799

deciding whether marketing is good or

1458.72

bad. Here's an example. We worked with

1461.6

an HVAC company here

1464.32

and we knew that the owner was

1469.679

not super marketing savvy. Okay.

1473.84

Um had built a good business but not

1476.4

super marketing savvy.

1478.96

So, uh, he was not thinking his our

1482.559

marketing was being very effective

1483.919

because he wasn't seeing it, which is a

1487.2

red flag for any marketing person that's

1489.279

ever would ever have heard that me say

1490.88

that. Like, they've seen that before

1492.72

where the customer doesn't see the

1494.4

marketing, so they assume it's not

1495.76

working. Well, here's the thing. He's

1498.4

not the target market. Uh and so what we

1502.32

did to appease him though was we ended

1504.799

up buying a set of ads, spending company

1508.159

money, uh a little bit of it on ads on

1511.2

stations we knew that he watched um so

1514.88

that we could uh appease that concern

1517.36

from him. And so uh while it was not the

1520.4

best use of money uh it saved us all a

1522.64

lot of headache. So um so

1527.279

sometimes uh so bad marketing may not be

1530.559

bad marketing sometimes it is and

1533.84

usually that is because um you don't

1536.88

have enough people having input and what

1539.679

I mean by that is um

1544.159

what we've seen the worst marketing like

1546.48

for example recently Nike had um an ad

1551.36

in for the WNBA da that said let her

1554.799

cook. Um now uh let her cook in in let

1559.84

them cook or let them cook in sports

1562.08

parliament or in modern parliament is

1564.32

like hey let them do their thing.

1566.32

They're doing something awesome. Let

1568.08

them cook. Uh but putting it in

1571.52

juxtaposed to a WNBA game all of a

1574

sudden feels very sexist. Um likely two

1579.12

situations happened there. one, you had

1582.4

uh a manager of some sort think this was

1585.919

a great idea and didn't listen to

1587.76

another soul saying, "This is going to

1589.679

end poorly.

1591.76

Don't do this." Or you had a room of

1594.159

people who thought it was a great idea

1595.52

and there's probably not a middle-aged

1597.84

woman sitting there to say, "Hey, uh

1602.64

maybe don't say this phrase cuz it's not

1604.88

going to land the way you want it to."

1607.039

Um, we've also seen some things where

1609.919

there might be something that comes

1611.039

across as racially insensitive and it

1613.44

was likely a room of white older white

1615.679

men making that that ad pitch without

1618.32

having someone that has a diverse set of

1620.32

viewpoints in the room. And so, uh, so

1623.44

one, you may not be able to have a team

1625.039

of people in a room making that

1626.4

decision, especially as a side hustle.

1628.799

But you can try to think, uh, if I've

1632.4

got a friend down the street that thinks

1634.24

about the world differently than I do,

1637.039

um, how are they going to respond to

1639.039

this? Am I am I am I stepping over any

1641.84

boundaries that I Now, there may be

1643.76

people who want to step over boundaries

1645.2

on purpose, right? But if I'm not trying

1647.44

to start fights, am I doing something

1649.2

that's going to start a fight? And you

1651.12

know, they say that every day there's a

1652.64

main character on Twitter and you don't

1654.32

want it to be you. Um, you know, am I

1657.6

saying anything that's going to make me

1658.96

be the main character on Twitter

1660.24

tomorrow? Um, and, uh, and so thinking

1663.6

through it that way, uh, is one of the

1665.76

key things. Um, but the biggest thing

1668.24

that people do wrong with marketing is

1670.159

they stop thinking about their customer,

1671.919

right? And so if you are doing something

1673.84

just to brag um, and not providing any

1676.48

value to your customer, you're going to

1677.679

have a bad time. And so that's you

1679.919

sometimes the easiest way to fix um bad

1683.12

marketing is by focusing on your

1684.64

customer.

1687.52

>> So you mentioned u in some of the like

1690.32

getting started in that is that you know

1691.76

like the the coloring and the logos and

1695.039

stuff like that. How might I I've and

1697.44

there are stories of you I've seen of

1700.88

huge amounts of money spent on logos and

1703.76

colors and corporate you know fonts and

1706.159

the whole kitten kaboodleoodle.

1708.32

>> Sure.

1708.64

>> Um and then sometimes and there are some

1710.559

that you know they are in themselves you

1712.96

can tell that there's like there's a

1714.08

level of iconic or or ingenuity into

1718.08

like I the one that jumps to mind is

1719.6

like the Amazon where it's got like the

1721.2

smile from the A to Z kind of thing. So

1723.12

you've got the the hidden messages in

1725.12

them.

1725.919

>> How much is that

1728.48

is that is that something that sometimes

1730.24

where we over and I know I'm asking a

1732

marketing person this may be like asking

1733.84

the wrong person but is that sometimes

1735.6

overthinking it a little bit? is that

1737.2

especially when I mean I guess if you're

1739.039

going to be like a you know a Nike or

1740.64

something and maybe if that's your goal

1742.159

then yeah you want to have something

1743.679

that's you know lifealtering for people

1745.44

to see that logo but if you're you know

1747.679

a marketing company in western Tennessee

1749.919

is it really how much do those things

1752.88

factor in do you think?

1754.96

>> Yeah. So uh let's talk about Nike for

1758.96

just a second. Um, if I branded a new

1763.36

shoe company today, Nike didn't exist

1765.279

with that swoosh. I would probably get

1768

shot at by the customer. Be like, "What

1769.679

does that mean? That doesn't mean

1770.96

anything." Whatever. So, so Nike's logo

1775.2

is completely devoid of any meaning

1777.12

except for the meaning that they've

1778.559

built. Um, and and that's really what

1781.2

the power of the brand is, is like they

1783.679

have created the value to go with the

1788.24

icon. Now,

1790.96

your question was, you know, uh do you

1794.799

have to have this showstoppping logo to

1798

um a good, and you're right, you're

1801.2

asking a man with a hammer, does the

1802.799

problem look like a nail? And so, the

1804.72

question is yes. Uh but, uh but a couple

1808.64

things to think about.

1810.32

>> Uh a good logo, maybe not even a great

1812.96

logo, but a good logo used well, adds

1815.279

professionalism to your product. And so

1817.919

if you are in a competitive space or

1819.679

you're new and you've got a

1821.36

professionallook brand, you're like,

1823.12

okay, maybe they you get some credit for

1825.679

that. Also over time, if you have a

1829.679

professional logo and you use it

1830.88

consistently,

1833.36

you ha you add some brand uh value. You

1836.72

add some brand equity to yourself where

1838.88

you can lean on that and tell you people

1841.44

will begin to identify in the right

1843.2

customer space. If you're marketing

1844.72

yourself to the a certain demographic of

1846.88

customers,

1849.12

uh, a bad logo can get you confused with

1851.76

other people, could have some imagery

1854.48

that you don't want to have in it, you

1855.84

don't even know about. Um, the biggest

1858.72

thing that we see is I I can spot a

1861.12

Fiverr logo from a mile away. Like I can

1864.799

generally know, yeah, they went to

1867.2

Fiverr for a logo pretty quickly. And

1870.159

and so I may have a certain feeling

1872.159

about that, but what that means is is

1873.76

like other people, they might not know

1875.2

that it's a fiber logo, but they might

1877.12

be able to be like, "This looks like 30

1879.919

other mechanic shops that I've seen."

1882.24

Um, how am I supposed to tell them

1883.6

apart? Sort of thing. Um, and mechanic

1886.559

shops are generally mechanic shops and

1888.32

real estate agents are generally the

1889.84

worst. Like I see um I see Fiverr logos

1893.44

constantly.

1895.6

And a mechanic shop doesn't necessarily

1897.2

need to have great branding to be

1898.48

successful. Uh, real estate agents need

1900.799

good branding to be successful. And so

1902.559

it's kind of funny to me that they've um

1904.559

invested in it that way. So, do you have

1907.2

to have this showstoppping logo? No. You

1909.6

should have a good logo that represents

1911.2

your business. And uh in a in an ideal

1915.12

brand kit like from a if you work with a

1918.159

professional, you get a brand kit. So

1919.279

you'll have uh vector and raster images.

1921.84

You'll have uh um different color

1924.88

samples so that let's say you sponsor a

1927.44

local high school softball game or

1929.6

whatever. Your logo can get printed on

1931.519

the jersey the same color as it should

1933.279

look. It should look right on that

1934.799

jersey whether it's full color or not,

1936.72

right? Uh a professional set you up with

1938.799

that. And so, uh it's a little bit more

1940.799

on the front end to have a professional

1942.24

do it, but the the payoff is like you're

1944.08

going to have a logo that will be

1945.2

relevant for the next 20 years, uh maybe

1947.76

if you're if you're lucky, I guess, 20

1949.36

years. and you'll have a kit that will

1951.2

give you all the tools that you need to

1953.039

utilize it properly. Um, and a lot of

1955.84

times the cheaper ends don't do that and

1958.159

it's uh very frustrating from a design

1959.919

standpoint when you when someone doesn't

1961.919

have what they need and then you have to

1963.519

go make it uh because they they were uh

1966.96

cheap on the front end.

1969.36

>> And that is going to be where we're

1971.679

going to pause our conversation with

1973.519

Kevin Adlesberger this time around.

1975.6

Don't worry, we will unpause and we're

1977.679

not holding our breath until it we like

1979.279

went right on through it. So, don't

1980.64

worry. We're safe. We're being healthy

1982.08

here. Uh we'll come back with part two

1983.919

and we're going to continue the

1984.96

conversation and get into uh it really I

1988.96

think this is really good like one and

1990.559

two split of how we do this is because

1992.799

really got some foundation and basic

1994.559

stuff, but then we're going to get into

1996.399

like applying that a little bit more uh

1998.159

in the next episode. So, come back and

2000.399

join us for that one. Uh, as always, uh,

2004

I have to start off with if you have

2005.679

comments on this, if you have feedback

2007.44

of any sort, shoot us an email at

2010.64

You can check us out on at

2012

developer.com. There's contact forms.

2014.399

You can leave uh, com comments, feedback

2017.6

on any of the blog articles, anywhere

2019.84

that you see podcasts or, you know,

2022.48

listen to podcasts out on YouTube on the

2024.32

developer channel, Facebook on the

2026.24

developer page. We are pretty much

2028.96

everywhere we can think of. X it is

2031.6

developer. You can follow us there.

2034.399

Follow us on all these different places

2035.84

so you can hear about all of the latest

2037.679

stuff we do. Uh we are as you've noticed

2041.2

getting a little deeper into interviews

2043.519

and stuff like that. We may have to even

2045.84

update our schedule a little bit and do

2047.84

a little bit more because we just are

2049.52

starting to pile up a lot of stuff

2051.28

potentially. And uh also we've got, you

2053.919

know, the seasonal specials coming up uh

2056.159

pretty darn soon. We are in October

2058.24

right now as we're recording this and uh

2060.8

pretty soon we're going to be doing the

2062

November Thanksgiving specials and the

2064.079

end of year and Christmas specials. So,

2067.2

always some stuff to look forward to.

2069.44

Hopefully you are looking forward to

2071.04

your day. Go out there and have yourself

2072.96

a great day, a great week, and we will

2075.2

talk to you next time.

2079.679

[Music]