Over 60% of scaling efforts fail.
If you tried expanding your business and didn't succeed, you are not alone.
These failures can be traced back to various reasons, but sometimes, the real problem lies in scaling without a proper plan.
Having helped Old Town Media (OTM) effectively scale from a web design firm into a full-service marketing agency, Kerrie Luginbill, OTM’s Partner, knows firsthand how businesses can fall short if they don't invest their time and resources into establishing a strategy.
In this interview, Kerrie will share with us strategic insights from first-hand experience on how to successfully scale a business.
Who Is Kerrie Luginbill?
After spending six years as a freelance fractional CMO for small businesses, Kerrie joined Old Town Media to help transition the firm from a web design company to a full-service marketing agency. Today, she is a partner and chief growth officer who leads a team of business and marketing strategists, supporting her CEO with sales and outreach and leading the development of new services, frameworks, and intellectual property.
Kerrie and I discussed the major challenges CEOs and business leaders face when scaling their companies.
She highlights that a key hurdle is knowing when and how to hire for marketing purposes.
“This is especially true for founder-led organizations. They usually make the mistake of hiring for marketing execution first, before investing any time or resources into establishing a strategy,” she says.
According to her, executing marketing tactics can (and regularly does) fall flat without a strategy to guide them.
“An effective marketing strategy includes a thorough understanding of your ICP (ideal client profile), a clearly defined market position, and a shared vision of what marketing is trying to accomplish,” she adds.
In a previous podcast, Billups Global Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Gutnik shared the biggest mistakes brands make when hiring a marketing agency. Watch the video to learn more:
Establishing a solid marketing strategy is key, but what’s even more important is recognizing when your business is truly ready to scale or invest in expansion.
Kerrie believes that many business owners and leaders misunderstand what the word "scale" means thinking it is a synonym for growth, but it's not.
The difference between "scale" and "growth" is that the former requires leverage, she says.
“To truly scale, a company must be able to increase its capacity to handle more business without increasing its operational costs.
Scaling requires an operational maturity that I believe only comes with time, product-market fit, and an established and proven business model,” she adds.
The Impact of Brand Strategy on Business Expansion
Understanding the role of brand strategy can significantly enhance your scaling efforts.
“The role and importance of brand strategy are directly tied to the type of business you're in, the market and your position in the market, and your go-to-market strategy.
If you are a highly niche B2B firm that acquires all of its customers via RFPs and relationships, brand strategy is going to play a much different role than if you are an eCommerce skincare company,” Kerrie explains.
She emphasizes that a strong brand should very clearly communicate what problems it solves and for who while aligning with its "why."
As a business scales, it should adapt and evolve its brand messaging to resonate with both existing customers and new audiences.
In a previous DesignRush podcast, global advertising agency Leo Burnett’s CMO, Emily Doskow, shared why branding is no longer just about ad campaigns. Watch the video below to know more:
Kerrie recommends brands to constantly revisit messaging, aiming for an audit at least every six months depending on the industry.
“Consumer behavior is always changing, and if the buying criteria changes or the competitive landscape changes, you'd better be changing with it if you want to continue growing,” she advises.
Kerrie also shares that OTM predominantly works with founders and CEOs looking to move from founder-led lifestyle businesses to professional services firms operating at scale.
“We've found that to help our clients make this transition, we have to take them from being founder-led with a seller-doer model to having an established leadership team, an operational system, tech stack, and ultimately a sales and marketing team that works together to build brand and pipeline,” she explains.
DesignRush spoke to Typeform co-founder and lead designer David Okuniev who shared how to keep your team aligned when scaling your start-up. Watch the video to learn more:
OTM typically starts by ensuring that the client has a solid strategy, with a clear understanding of its position, who it sells to, and how it wins business.
From there, it collaborates with the client’s team to build foundational processes that leverage technology and bring together sales and marketing.
When a client is on board, OTM can start to see scaling occur within the first 12-16 months, Kerrie adds.
“This process isn't a light switch. It typically requires behavior change and some uncomfortable conversations. But when it is successful, the leaders move from doing everything to running a business — and that's a really rewarding thing to see happen,” she concludes.
Brand Positioning for Lasting Business Growth
To effectively stand out in a competitive industry, businesses should focus on how they position their business in the market.
“Understanding the market you are in and how you can win that market is absolutely imperative for business success.
It's all about understanding the place your brand occupies in the minds of your customers, and how your business stands apart (or not) from the competition,” Kerrie says.
According to her, to effectively position their brands in a crowded market, businesses should be able to answer the following questions:
- If my business didn't exist, what would my customers do?
- When comparing my business to my competitors, what do I offer that is uniquely different or better than what they offer?
- Who is my ideal customer and what do they care about?
- How does my uniquely differentiated value contribute to the success of my ideal customer?
If you are looking for a reliable partner to help effectively position your brand in the market, our DesignRush list of the best brand strategy agencies is the best place to start.
“Once you can answer these questions, you can define your position in the market and talk about that position with authority — and that's how you continue to grow in a way that enables you to scale,” she adds.
Watch our video to discover what’s are Ideal Customer Profiles and how to create them:
While refining their brand positioning, businesses should also consider how these changes might affect their existing customer base, especially when expanding to new markets.
Given this, I asked Kerrie how businesses can ensure that their brand positioning does not alienate existing customers while trying to appeal to new markets.
“If you are changing your brand positioning so much that you feel it will alienate your existing customers, I think you have to stop and ask yourself 'why?’ Are you switching market positions? Moving up-market? Establishing a niche?
If those changes are drastic enough to potentially alienate your customers, you need to think long and hard about the vision for your company — which position will get you there?
Sometimes you have to let go of the wrong-fit customers to make room for the right-fit ones. It's not easy, but neither is running a business,” she explains.
Getting your brand positioning right is key to standing out and growing in a crowded market.
However, it's also equally important to find a balance so that you don’t alienate your current customers while reaching out to new ones.
It’s a tough challenge, but addressing both aspects thoughtfully can pave the way for successful scaling and long-term business growth.
