Mastering the Art & Science of Corporate Branding with Rebecca Martin

"You can recreate equity, and sometimes rebrands are a great chance to go out and reconnect with your audiences as well."

Crafting a powerful brand goes beyond logos and colours—it’s about storytelling, audience connection, and strategic execution.

Branding expert Rebecca Martin shares how businesses can build compelling, long-lasting brands by revealing the key strategies behind truly effective branding.

In this episode, Rebecca dives into:  

• Why understanding your audience is the foundation of success.

• How data-driven insights enhance brand strategy  

• Branding for different business models 

• Common pitfalls to avoid 

• Measuring ROI 

• How to Align Personal and Corporate Branding

Guest: Rebecca Martin, Director, Crafted Comms

Host: Mark Bryan, Partner at Pemba Capital Partners

Podcast Producer: Martine McMahon

Have a question for an upcoming guest? Email viewtothesummit@pemba.com.au.

Transcript

Mark Bryan: [00:00:00] This series is produced on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. Pemba respectfully acknowledges traditional custodians throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connections to country and culture, and we pay our respects to elders and leaders past and present. A very warm welcome to View to the Summit, the Pemba podcast for founders looking to scale to their next summit.

Mark Bryan: For our many regular followers, we hope you enjoy this episode and for our new listeners, it's great to have you on the journey with us. If you like the show, please be sure to hit the subscribe button. I'm Mark Bryan, one of the managing directors here at Pemba. And today we're thrilled to have Rebecca Martin, founder of Crafted Communications, join us on View to the Summit.

Mark Bryan: Crafted Comms is a leading strategic branding agency covering rebrands, web content. Design and marketing. Rebecca is the founder and has personally led a number of successful rebrands across Pemba partner companies, including Horizon, Arteva, [00:01:00] ADDA, and my favourite, Oolio, amongst many others. Rebecca has a wealth of experience in branding and marketing, having secured multiple industry awards in recognition of her work.

Mark Bryan: Rebecca founded the successful crafted comms business some six years ago, and has built a deep portfolio of clients across various industries. Rebecca was also previously a journalist for the ABC. So Rebecca, thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate your time. 

Rebecca Martin: Thanks, Mark. Lovely to be here.

Rebecca Martin: I've been enjoying your podcast series as it's kicked off as well. 

Mark Bryan: Excellent. Great to have you on. So today we're going to explore the importance of branding, messaging and marketing positioning that all help drive growth initiatives. So with no further ado. Let's get into today's episode as a Rebecca.

Mark Bryan: I'd love to start if we can, if you can talk through your, your career journey to date and how you ended up founding Crafted Comms. 

Rebecca Martin: Uh, yes. Well, as you mentioned, I started out as a journalist actually. So I often say that writing is my craft. Everyone has a different craft, but [00:02:00] writing is mine. So I started out as a journalist and I did that for many years.

Rebecca Martin: I. Got to travel and live and work in Asia. You know, I've worked for all sorts of industry publications and I obviously also worked for the ABC and I freelance for a number of years as well. Um, look, and I loved it. And what I particularly loved about it was it was all about the audience. So no matter what information you were bringing in, your one job was to say, why, why should my audience care about that?

Rebecca Martin: And so over time I then moved into content marketing, journalism became a little bit less fun, a little bit worse paid and a lot fewer jobs. And really it was taking exactly the same skills, but using it for brands. And because brands have typically really not been very good at understanding what it is their audience might want to know.

Rebecca Martin: They're big on what they want to tell them. They're not really good at understanding what they want to know. And that's where content marketing really kind of took off. And from there I moved into, you know, brand and social media, basically all the different streams and all of them have that at the heart.

Rebecca Martin: Essence of everything we're trying to do really in this space is, is around audience. And then I'd [00:03:00] always wanted to own my own business for the ABC. I actually wrote about entrepreneurship and used to interview all these young entrepreneurs and wish I was one of them. Um, so it was kind of a really easy step for me to start up CrafterComms a few years back and probably just really good timing, you know, you tend to know a lot of people in the industry by the time you get to my age, so that made a lot easier.

Rebecca Martin: Yeah. And I love it. So it's been really, really, really rewarding. And obviously it's been great working with Pember and getting to see some really interesting clients too. 

Mark Bryan: Brilliant. And you've built quite a team around you as well. 

Rebecca Martin: Yes. Yep. So yeah, we, we kind of use a model, non agency model. I like to call us consultants more than an agency, uh, where I really bring in specialists.

Rebecca Martin: There's a bit of a bit of a misunderstanding that, you know, anyone who does marketing can do any aspect of marketing and it's just simply not true. So I've got brand specialists, I've got design specialists, I've got PR specialists, social media, like you name it, I have specialists, SEO, um, website builders.

Rebecca Martin: And then that way we're able to kind of, um, Um, plug together a team to actually meet what the client needs are. And [00:04:00] the benefit for the client is they're kind of getting exactly what they need instead of an agency saying, Oh, we're just going to try and give you everything, you know, because they're trying to pay, pay the bills.

Rebecca Martin: So that's worked really well. And I really love the people I work with. It was one of the big things when I was founding the business that I really wanted to work in a way that suited me and with good people. And yeah, I've succeeded on that front. 

Mark Bryan: You have, you have indeed. And so maybe setting the scene, perhaps on a rebrand project.

Mark Bryan: So PEM has had the privilege, Rebecca, of being able to work with you on various rebrands, corporate messaging projects, and content work streams. We've had some great results. We see ourselves very much as the Sherpas in the background. And so more often than not, our partner companies already have very strong existing brands.

Mark Bryan: So they don't necessarily need a full rebrand. It's sometimes needing assistance to refine the messaging. So I'd love for you, please, if you'd be able to describe the process of how you work with companies in terms of assessing their brand and their messaging positioning and really how a rebrand project works for our founder [00:05:00] listeners.

Rebecca Martin: I've been thinking about this as kind of an interesting one because, you know, particularly in the marketing space, it's all about data, data, data, you know, give us, give us some proof points when we come into work with and say one of the Pember companies and maybe they need a rebrand, maybe they need messaging.

Rebecca Martin: A lot of actually what we're doing is listening. So the first step in that process is called insights. Once upon a time I used to say strategy first. I now say insights first. I've learned my lesson and we go through a process of actually sitting down and talking with each of the stakeholders one on one.

Rebecca Martin: So it's really informal. We get a lot more out of it. And also looking at obviously the competitors, ideally talking to some customers and really getting a strong understanding of where their business is trying to go. And that includes the emotional aspect as well. You know, where do they feel their strengths are?

Rebecca Martin: What are their values? What do they think needs to change? So what we try and do is build a really, really strong foundation where actually what we're doing is pulling the information out of the founders heads. You know, half the time, 30 years they could have been running and building these businesses.

Rebecca Martin: There's nothing [00:06:00] I can tell them. What we're trying to do is distill the information out of all that stuff they know, and then really bring it down to something quite pointy that we can use to kind of take the business to the next step or take it in its new direction. So I kind of look at it as getting rid of all the noise and really going through a process of simplifying what it is that they want to do.

Rebecca Martin: And that insights process sets us up for whatever we might do next. And that might be a brand blueprint. That might be, um, creative, you know, logo redesigns that helps set the brief. It sets all the direction. But what I really find great about this process is each time when we come in and we say, this is how we go, they go, Oh yeah, yeah, we'll do some stakeholder interviews when we get to the end of that insights phase.

Rebecca Martin: They're so happy, they say every single time this has been so valuable because quite often in a buy and build situation, some of these founders that have might have come together, haven't really had a chance to really sit down and talk about what's our brand identity going to look like, what our, our value is going to look like.

Rebecca Martin: And so we go through this process and then bring everyone together to kind of talk through that. And the level of alignment that we managed to [00:07:00] get, um, is really quite rewarding. And also just reminds you of how much stronger a business is when everyone's, um, on the same page. So it's similar to Pember in a sense, it's very, very collaborative.

Rebecca Martin: We're not there to tell them what they should do. We're really there to kind of reflect what they've been talking about and then help them narrow down the focus. 

Mark Bryan: And certainly having been through that process a number of times with you, I know that the founders echo what you said there. They really do get a lot out of the process.

Mark Bryan: How do you think about the competitive analysis and looking at the competitors when you're thinking about branding? 

Rebecca Martin: Look, we're really looking at the competitors from usually from our brand lens, you know, so I, we go in, we're looking at like everything from like, what colors do their brands use? So for quite a few of actually the rebrands we've done, when we've gone in and looked at the, um, the competitor brands, they're all blue.

Rebecca Martin: And so we're like, well, don't use blue. blue. Uh, we also go in, we look at their kind of, what are they saying on their website that they do just because they say they're doing it doesn't mean they can, but what's their positioning in market. And we use all of that to understand what, what the [00:08:00] differences of the organization that we're working with and how we can use that knowledge to position themselves to be a bit more unique in market.

Rebecca Martin: You can't always be completely unique in your positioning, but by going through that process, you are the work. At whether you wanna be, try and be unique 'cause you see the gap or you just wanna lay really heavily into strengths and maybe communicate it more closely. So it's, it's kind of a process that you've gotta trust the process basically.

Rebecca Martin: And you don't always know where you're going to get to at the end. That's kind of how we treat competitors. We don't get too caught up on market share or things like that. It's really about how they're looking and feeling, presenting and, and also kind of what channels that they might be using. 

Mark Bryan: That's great, Rebecca.

Mark Bryan: Thanks for those insights. Maybe a natural segue into thinking about a brand that stands out in your mind as a really successful brand. It might well be a crafted comms project, or maybe not. Maybe it's another one. And why was that branding positioning so successful? 

Rebecca Martin: I'm going to choose a Pemba slash crafted one on this one.

Rebecca Martin: Horizon defense tech company is [00:09:00] probably one of my favorite rebrands we did. You know, you had two companies with a really strong heritage and legacy come together, and I think they made a really smart choice to create a whole new brand and, and they wanted to bring through some of that heritage. They also sit in a really interesting space within the market in a kind of this mid tier where they don't have a lot of competitors, but they, and they're really, really good at what they do.

Rebecca Martin: So there was a lot to try and explain, you know, they're known for being innovative, they're known for being nimble. They've got a real. That's a really great reputation. And on top of that, they're really passionate. The founders were really passionate about trying to do things that no one else had done and giving things a go and yet still remaining within those defense, you know, there's quite strict defense boundaries.

Rebecca Martin: And I think we managed to come up with something that actually nailed that on multiple levels. We came up with a tagline, um, around pushing boundaries, you know, used more broadly, which was really that emotional part of what they were trying to reflect of the brand of what their attitude was. Underneath that, you kind of had the expertise around AI and [00:10:00] simulation, et cetera, that clearly kind of set them apart.

Rebecca Martin: And then visually, and they were one of the ones in an industry where everyone was blue. They chose to go with, you know, a quite a bright purple, and that was their choice, by the way. This is always subjective. The founders always. They're always the ones choosing where they want to go. It was kind of a fun, it felt dynamic, the logo, the new identity we had for them, which really stood out in a very traditional and quite static market.

Rebecca Martin: Look, I know they've continued to grow. You know, this was a few years ago. There's a lot of changes, more additions to their business, but I think they actually created a very strong brand that completely reflected what I was hearing about them internally and where they wanted to go externally. So there was a real synergy there.

Rebecca Martin: So yeah, that's one of my favorites. 

Mark Bryan: So natural, uh, linkage, if you like to maybe, uh, we can talk about buy and build. And so many founders will have either assimilated a buy and build strategy involving acquisitions, or they may be contemplating part of this as their strategy. I'm sure many of our listeners are at that stage of development.

Mark Bryan: So what implications does [00:11:00] this have around rebrand? And can you talk about some of the strategies to consider in relation to branding and marketing when a business has executed a buy and build strategy? 

Rebecca Martin: Yeah, look, buy and build is basically a brand strategist happy place because this is where we come in.

Rebecca Martin: This is where we come into play, you know, and it is really important to have a brand strategy because what it gives you is a foundation for who you're trying to talk to, who you are and what you're putting out to market. I think about five different, you know, typical brand architectures out there and everyone falls, falls within them.

Rebecca Martin: You know, something like Horizon, they really went with the branded house, just one brand to rule them all. And that certainly has a lot of benefits. Um, from a marketing perspective, it's really focused, you know, you're not having to worry about marketing multiple products, which is, you know, that's time and time and cost intensive.

Rebecca Martin: And so you can have a really clear proposition, but that doesn't. always work, you know, so, and a good example actually would be Sterling, um, Sterling Grope, who is another PEMBA one that we've worked with, you know, they're now a [00:12:00] parent company with these specialist vet and emergency hospitals sitting underneath and one's in Queensland and one's in New Zealand and they've got really strong local.

Rebecca Martin: Brands. You don't want to lose that and just wrap that all up into Sterling that actually wouldn't do the business any good at all. So they've kind of kept their parent brand, which they'll use as their investment and recruitment. But what we've done is for the two local brands, you know, they're now part of the Sterling group.

Rebecca Martin: So they're, they're an empower, um, empowered brand. So they're, they're linked in. So there's. Always a way through, if that makes sense. I think where founders find it challenging is because we create brands because we want to create emotion and we love them. And it can be hard, you know, to think, Oh, I'm, you know, bring two companies together.

Rebecca Martin: Do we get rid of one of those brands? Because technically all the products are the same. You know, it's really quite an emotional feeling. And this is why I think what founders need to do is really try and separate themselves out from why they think they really want to keep that brand. Cause lots of times they say, Oh, it's got lots of equity, but brands change all the time.

Rebecca Martin: You can [00:13:00] recreate equity and sometimes rebrands are a great chance to go out and reconnect with your audiences as well. So there's pluses and minuses. So it's about asking yourself some hard questions about whether or not I'm just emotionally attached to this brand and fair enough. That's fine. Whether or not all of the products that might be brands are actually just.

Rebecca Martin: Products. Do you know what I mean? So, you know, there's kind of some questions they need to ask themselves before kind of hitting what's going to actually be the right structure. And then that structure should support you moving forward. Um, and one of the big considerations has to be the marketing spend.

Rebecca Martin: You know, the more brands you've got, the more you've got to market. And that makes perfect sense that House of Brands, you know, if you're a PG or if you're a Microsoft and you've got many, many millions of dollars and products that are completely aimed at different audiences, but for smaller businesses as a rule, that's not usually a model that typically we're going to recommend.

Mark Bryan: That makes complete sense. Excellent. Thank you for that. And I'm thinking about some challenges you've experienced. I mean, we haven't seen this, although our rebrands obviously have been [00:14:00] first class, but I'm sure in your, Hey, they're all perfect. Exactly. I'm sure though, in, in your career, or maybe actually even externally and what you've seen in the market, what are some of the issues and pitfalls either in the rollout phase?

Mark Bryan: Yep. Of a brand, but of course the aftermath as well. We should probably talk about how, how you utilize a brand once you've gone through a project. So common pitfalls in branding and marketing strategies and what are your learnings that you can share? 

Rebecca Martin: Well, first pitfall, actually the one thing that can probably not upend a rebrand, but certainly hold it up is having an internal stakeholder that doesn't agree.

Mark Bryan: Okay. 

Rebecca Martin: So, you know, I've seen, you know, I've done brand strategies and everyone seemed happy and then it turned out three weeks later, Oh no, no, we're not going to do that because we've had a bit of a chat and someone's decided it doesn't work. Uh, we did a rebrand recently and we spent ages actually working through values and some things that was a revision of a brand, um, with really large number of people actually involved in the workshops, but there was someone in the business that was not involved.

Rebecca Martin: And so then there were discussions [00:15:00] over those values that went on for a really long time. So that's. It hasn't derailed anything. It's pretty hard to derail a rebrand, but it's the kind of thing that can hold things up, chew up time, start, you know, if people starting to lose affection for the fact that you've got this happening.

Rebecca Martin: So getting more people involved in the rebrand early up is really good. I remember, uh, Arteva, when we did them a long time ago, I think we couldn't decide, they couldn't decide between two logos. So they actually went out to staff and said, what do you think? And that's like a really clever way of. Getting everyone in and getting everyone on board.

Rebecca Martin: So that's probably the first pitfall. The second one I see is they rebrand and then they just kind of miss the opportunity to go out to market and yell about it and connect with their audiences and reach out by emails to every connection and say, Hey, look, look at us now. And this is what we, you know, it's a real, it's a, it's news, you know?

Rebecca Martin: So, um, so they kind of forget to do that part. And probably the third pitfall is, um, it's the ongoing marketing. 

Mark Bryan: Okay. 

Rebecca Martin: You don't always have founders that think social media is important or emails are [00:16:00] important. You know, they want lead gen rather than brand building. And so you've got this beautiful brand and it's just sitting there, you know, and it's not necessarily being communicated and that's, that's probably across the board, doesn't actually matter if it's a rebrand.

Rebecca Martin: That's kind of an organizational flaw I see. Um, and it was interesting cause I was reading the other day about. In the B2B market, 95 percent of your customers are not in market at any given time. Only 5 percent are. So if you're looking for that lead gen, you're really targeting 5%. But they said, those that aren't in market are going to go for a brand that they're aware of or familiar with when they do decide that they're in market.

Rebecca Martin: You know, so I think the opportunities to have leadership that understands that this is important kind of work and brand building is an exercise in itself. That's going to benefit the business. The pitfall is obviously when. They don't do any, and it happens a lot, you know, you can make beautiful social media strategies that are quite tight, you know, great content strategies, but there isn't always the will or the manpower internally to make them happen.

Mark Bryan: I understand. So I think I heard you with three points there. One was. [00:17:00] Involve as many, so involve your stakeholders. Secondly, make a big splash when you do the rebrand, but then thirdly, most importantly, continue to invest in that brand, because I could imagine that a lot of businesses have let their brand wither at the vine for a period of time.

Mark Bryan: And when you go through a big change like this, there's a need to then amplify that new brand over the midterm so that you continue to benefit from that repositioning in the market. 

Rebecca Martin: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And, and look, that should be happening. You know, marketing should be consistent and persistent.

Rebecca Martin: You know, it should be kind of always on. It doesn't necessarily mean big flashy ads. It's about finding the right channels, but you've got to be out there talking to people, making sure those 95 percent of people that aren't necessarily a market remember you when they get there. 

Mark Bryan: Yeah, definitely. And at the start of the pod, Rebecca, you talked about the team and the capabilities of the team.

Mark Bryan: You talked about social media. Um, obviously over the course of the last five, 10 years, that's, that's been a big change and a big impact in, in the business. How do you think about positioning a brand and what does that play into when [00:18:00] you're building the brand strategy from a social media perspective?

Rebecca Martin: Look, social media gets a lot of noise and attention, if you know what I mean, but it's really just a channel, you know, it's a channel just like email. It's a channel just like newsletters. So the way, but it is essential in a B2B particularly. Um, I don't know of any industries really in the B2B space that aren't, aren't on there.

Rebecca Martin: So we always look to make sure that we, we try and create an entire marketing ecosystem. So. We do a go to market campaign. We're looking at, can we get some PR media? What can we put out on particularly on LinkedIn? Not typically Facebook sometimes, but you know, it happens. How do we get an email out to all of the current customers and prospective customers and, you know, be in touch with them?

Rebecca Martin: What other touch points can we possibly find? You know, is there an event, et cetera. And then social media should become part of your always on, you know, most. Brands should be posting at least once a week, ideally, at least a couple of times a month. It doesn't always happen. It's not always easy to do. And then ideally you've also got people in the business who are kind of [00:19:00] influencers who are out also posting on LinkedIn and making sure they're mentioning the good work that's happening with the brand.

Rebecca Martin: But we also see a lot of success with LinkedIn ads as well. You know, You've got to test and learn. You can't just run one and then go, Oh, that didn't quite hit our mark. So we won't bother again, but particularly for some of the global brands, we find it's a really good way to get into those markets because you can actually specify job titles, you know?

Rebecca Martin: So it's a fantastic way to get in front of the procurement person to make sure they're getting some of that brand awareness. I think where I caution is seeing it too much, particularly LinkedIn as lead gen, and saying it more as brand positioning and brand awareness. I think if you expect too many sales from LinkedIn, it's probably not the right channel for that, but it is a really great way to make sure everyone's seen your logo, has an idea of your proposition and get some attention.

Mark Bryan: Thanks for that, Rebecca. That's, that's really helpful thinking now about the next phase when a rebrand projects launched, can you talk about the next phases of the marketing strategy to ensure that that [00:20:00] brand remains very relevant? And in particular, how to crafted comms work with partner companies to make sure that continues?

Rebecca Martin: Uh, look, this is where I probably say strategy does come first, you know, and it's. This goes back to laying on those insights that you would have pulled out. And part of what we look at in the insights is who's your audience, what's the pain points, what do they need to hear, which informs your messaging and what channels can we get you on where crafted is really big on not doing marketing.

Rebecca Martin: You don't need to do, you know, it's expensive, it's time consuming and people burn out. And again, you know, marketing loses, it's doesn't loses its love. So really, once you've done the rebrand, the idea is what are our. You know, this should be a straight out marketing strategy for the next year. What are the channels we want to be on?

Rebecca Martin: Why do we want to be on them? Where do we need to be to get to our particular audiences? And then from there, what is it we need to say to them at different points of the year? You know, what content do we need to be delivering? So you should have a really clear 12 month marketing plan and you should have some measurements around that as well.

Rebecca Martin: It's the other thing we like to hand over and say, like, look at engagement, [00:21:00] look at this, look at that, try and find ways. In the business to find out, you know, for example, someone can say a LinkedIn ad and then chat to a salesperson. You don't know that there's been a, been a link. How else can you find out how people are hearing and finding about you to work out what channels are working?

Rebecca Martin: You should never stop trying to, to work that kind of stuff out, but you should then kind of not set and forget, but give it some time. You know, to start getting some real kind of data and feedback back in before you then pivot at all. So I wouldn't be changing a marketing strategy for around a year, unless it's completely bombing, but then, then there's something quite not right in the strategy and then at that point you go back and you take a look and go, what's worked, what's been too much effort, what's actually had a great return on effort, what should we do some more of and what's something new we can try, sometimes people forget to try something new.

Rebecca Martin: Particularly in the B2B space where they're busy, you know, they're really busy doing BAU and they're like, oh, cold calls work, that's all we need to do. But, you know, maybe not, maybe there's something new that can be tried. 

Mark Bryan: Well, Rebecca, that's great. Thank you. Maybe we can drill a bit more into that [00:22:00] in terms of return on investment, anything that you can say around how you try to measure the return, because obviously there's a, a time and a cost investment with a rebrand, how do you think about ROI on this, uh, investment?

Rebecca Martin: Uh, creatively, it's probably the challenge of every marketer out there. And it's, it's one of their biggest pressure points is finding an ROI. Um, look, the way I approach it is I go firstly channel by channel. So how is the channel performing? So for example, you know, the website, how many views are we getting?

Rebecca Martin: What kind of time, what engagement are we getting? What's the kind of things that they're looking for? Are they going to the contact us? Are we actually having people come through and contact us? And also where they're coming from. Are they coming from one of our paid ads, for example? Um, similarly with LinkedIn.

Rebecca Martin: You know, you'd be looking at all of the kind of statistics around that. And what you want to see is constant growth. You know, that tells you the marketing's working. If you're getting a bigger community, higher engagement, bigger numbers, something there is working. For events, you're probably looking at how many people you're talking to.

Rebecca Martin: It's, you know, it's a little bit more subjective. [00:23:00] What are the kind of questions they're asking? Are we getting any more leads? For things like PR, definitely. Are we getting coverage? Did we get calls from people after they saw the coverage? And that happens a lot. You know, a client rings me and goes, that.

Rebecca Martin: piece in the fin. We've had 10 phone calls, you know, there you go, job done. And then one of the jobs of the marketers is to pull that all together into something coherent. And that can be really tough. You know, a lot of marketers are under pressure to say, well, show me how you actually won me a sale. But you know, there's that old saying of people need to say something 10 times, you know, before they remember it.

Rebecca Martin: And similar with a sale, they can say a LinkedIn ad, go to an event, you know, they're still sitting in the 95%, but then they remember that. You know, they suddenly need the product and they're calling you sales guy. Part of that has been attributed, you know, contributed to by marketing, but it can be difficult to attribute.

Rebecca Martin: So it is about collecting all the statistics together and then working out how to make sense of it and pulling it all together. So it's not, um, it's not easy basically. 

Mark Bryan: Now, Rebecca, thanks again for all those invaluable insights. A question we ask all of our guests is describe in a few words, [00:24:00] what are the most important values to you?

Mark Bryan: Now they can be values you expect within team members or values that you live your life by. So with that in mind, what would be your three key values or principles? 

Rebecca Martin: CrafterComms has a mission to do good work and be good people and do good work for good people. That's it. You know, and I think very much our team, you know, embodies that.

Rebecca Martin: Um, interestingly, uh, someone did my personal values for me the other day, and I realized how much they actually linked back to the craft of comms, um, value. Cause it was around connection, which for us, you know, building relationships with clients is really, really important. It was about productivity.

Rebecca Martin: Clearly I'd like to work too hard, but you know, just doing good work. And it was about creativity, which is, you know, in essence, a lot of, a lot of what we do. So, you know, for me, I think really that. You know, just do good work is, is probably the essence of, of where we are. And what's nice is I'm now seeing, uh, now I have my own business, a link between my personal life and my professional life and actually being able to have those [00:25:00] same values.

Rebecca Martin: So that's fairly rewarding. 

Mark Bryan: That's great. Yeah. So connection, productivity, and creativity. Yep. Yep. Love it. Thank you for that. Now, Rebecca, you've dedicated your career to driving business success. Do you have any favorite apps, hacks, or business strategies that you're finding particularly useful? It may also be a great book that you've read recently on, on business.

Rebecca Martin: Good question. I'm trying to teach myself to switch off actually. 

Mark Bryan: Okay. You can help us there. 

Rebecca Martin: That's one of my hacks. Look, I, you know, I've worked in a pretty fast moving, fast changing industry. So one of, you know, just to try and keep ahead of the curd, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn kind of following, um, different research groups, you know, kind of in my space, um, the Ehrenberg Bass, I think that's how you say it, um, Institute, you know, LinkedIn's B2B Institute.

Rebecca Martin: you know, different kinds of influences just to see what they're all talking about because things change, but things don't change. So I try and work out, you know, what we can do with that. In terms of books, there's two that I definitely [00:26:00] recommend. And I actually really recommend the founders read this book because it's all about branding.

Rebecca Martin: It's all about understanding branding and the importance of it to their business. Um, so it's Byron Sharpe's How Brands Grow, which is kind of the quintessential branding book. He's, you know, he's seen as the As the person. And I think it's a really valuable thing for any founder to have dipped into that one.

Rebecca Martin: And the other book that I particularly like is a probably a decade old, maybe not a decade. Uh, it's called hug your haters. And it came out when content marketing was big, social media was beginning to take over the world and brands just didn't know how to manage social media, but it gives a really good understanding of the importance of that as a channel, um, how it doesn't have to take over, but how it's a really great brand touch points.

Rebecca Martin: touch point with your customers and how you should actually reach out to those people, you know, who might be putting up rude social media posts and, and engage with them, respond with them. And the reasons behind that, because you're giving them a positive brand experience, whether or not you change their mind.

Rebecca Martin: So that's, I think another really valuable one for founders to take a look at, [00:27:00] particularly those interested in social media. 

Mark Bryan: Brilliant. Two, two great suggestions there. Thanks very much for that, Rebecca. And finally, we'd like to offer our listeners the chance to ask any questions of our guests. For those listening, if you have a question for an upcoming pod, please email it to viewtothesummit at pemba.

Mark Bryan: com. au and we'll strive to have your question covered. We've had someone email us through a question for you, Rebecca. And the question is I'm a founder and I struggle with balancing my personal brand with my company's brand. How do you approach this? And should founders lean into their personal brand more?

Rebecca Martin: Absolutely. I mean, if you've got a platform and an audience. Wonderful. I mean, really what you want to do though, is bring together your company as well with that personal brand, use that, that platform to not just promote yourself, but also, you know, your, your company so that, you know, they're, they're more aligned, you know, a founder should be definitely promoting themselves through social media and LinkedIn, especially if they've got a knack for it, not everyone does.

Rebecca Martin: And then you kind of leave the company or brand promotion [00:28:00] through to that marketing or comms person. Um, but basically you align it, but there's no such thing as too much noise in this space. You're not going to cannibalize each other. Um, so as long as you kind of both sharing what each other is doing, you actually, you know, you create more, more reach.

Rebecca Martin: So I think that's fantastic. Do more. 

Mark Bryan: Excellent. Thank you for that. And thanks for posting the questions. So Rebecca, thank you so much for sharing your insights and experiences with us today. Congratulations on all your successes. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast and thanks for all the great rebrands and marketing strategies that you've deployed at Pemba.

Mark Bryan: Uh, founders and CEOs have always had a great experience with yourself and the team at crafted comms. And I'm sure our listeners would have gained valuable takeaways from this conversation. In particular, I really liked your comments around liaising with all the stakeholders in the business and also your comments around social media being another channel to consider.

Mark Bryan: So to our listeners, thanks for tuning into this episode of View to the Summit. We hope you found it insightful and informative. If you're enjoying the podcast [00:29:00] series, can you please help us out and take 10 seconds to subscribe and like the pod and please join us next time as we continue to explore topics that help founders and management teams scale their businesses.

Mark Bryan: Until then, keep striving for your next summit. Thanks for listening.