“Today I have a FreshBooks announcement to share with you. But first, a story almost 10 years in the making…”
And so starts an open letter
from Mike McDerment, the CEO and cofounder of FreshBooks, an online
company based in Toronto, Canada, that specialises in cloud accounting
for small businesses.
The
letter, which recently appeared on the company’s blog, is how the
company chose to communicate to customers, partners and the media the
brand’s change in positioning from ‘online invoicing’ to ‘cloud
accounting’.
FreshBooks
caught my eye some time back for the way it goes about its marketing.
It appears to be very connected with the marketplace so it’s probably no
surprise the brand leverages online content and social media better
than most companies. It’s also no surprise that McDerment penned an open
letter like this.
Here are four lessons - from a brand communications perspective - gleaned from McDerment’s letter:
1. Establish a company blog
Having
a corporate blog is a definite plus for companies of all sizes. A blog
is an effective tool for small companies because it gives them a global
stage from which to tell their brand story, add value and connect with
customers and partners; large companies can benefit from a blog for the
same reasons but more importantly because it can help an organisation to
appear more ‘human’ with posts written by employees and, preferably,
senior executives including the CEO.
2. Be open
People
appreciate openness and a sense of transparency from company leaders.
Earlier this year PR firm Edelman * released its annual Trust Barometer,
a global survey that gauges the public’s trust in government, business
and the media. One damning statistic from the survey was that only 35 per cent of Australians
found CEOs credible as a company spokesperson. Being open and
transparent at all times in your communications is one way to win back
the trust of people - if you personally have made a mistake or the
company has mis-stepped along the way, say so. Be open to your foibles
as much as your strengths when the situation requires it and people will
respect you (and your brand) all the more for it.
In his open letter, McDerment writes:
“The
road hasn't been easy. It took over 16 months to bring a product to
market. When we launched no one cared and 24 months after starting we
had only 10 paying customers and revenues of $99 per month. We moved
into my parents' basement for 3.5 years. But despite all the evidence
pointing to our failure, we carried on.”
3. Tell stories
Going back to the first line of McDerment’s open letter: "But first, a story almost 10 years in the making…”.
Stories.
We humans love ‘em. We’re hardwired to tell (and listen to) stories,
it’s in our DNA. If companies in Australia want to improve their levels
of communication and engagement with stakeholders, they could do worse
than to develop and tell authentic stories that move people to action
rather than bore them to tears.
4. Use your own voice
Too
many senior company executives rely on the crutch of jargon and
‘gobbledygook management-speak’. Their words - whether spoken or written
- are impenetrable to the point that people - customers, employees,
journalists - switch off.
Use
your own voice, speak to people as you would at a barbecue rather than
how you would to your executive board. Don’t try and emulate other CEOs
who baffle people with impenetrable language designed not to communicate
but to impress. You won’t get your message across and you will lose
standing as a leader.
McDerment finishes with: “I
know this note was long – perhaps unnecessarily so. I wanted to put it
all in one place. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. If you
have any questions, feel free to send me an email, I'd love to hear
from you.”
When
you read this, you know it’s from the heart of the CEO who wrote it and
not some highly-polished blurb written on their behalf by the internal
PR scribe.
(Oh, and there’s a bonus lesson there: Be accessible! As McDerment writes: If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.
In the letter on the FreshBooks blog, McDerment has embedded a
hyper-link to his email so people can write him directly. Rather than
back away from communication with his customers, he embraces it).
* Disclosure: I consult to Edelman Australia.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON LEADING COMPANY
