Picture for a moment a successful, midsize engineering firm. For the first 30 years there are strong values, great people and no dedicated marketing staff. Then I show up without an engineering background, and needing tools to market. I needed design software, collateral pieces, a website, a clearly defined value proposition and a brand to tie it all together.

For my tried and true engineers, I represented a tidal wave of change and that made them uncomfortable. The firm’s motto was simple – do good work and our clients will hire us again. This had worked successfully in the past. So, why change?

We had a problem (you may face such challenges too).

Brand confusion

We had modified the logo many times throughout our history. Old logos were used and the colors had changed slightly over the years (new colors were added without much deliberation). We added taglines almost every year to publicize our annual external focus. We also called ourselves by different versions of our name – abbreviating the name because it was hard to say.

Externally, we looked confused. Which logo, which color and which tagline was current? I use the word “we” because I was a part of these changes and (I can now see) … part of the problem. Our messaging wasn’t compelling. Our words and our look didn’t make it easy for new clients to want to choose MacKay Sposito.

Everyone was a brand expert

Colors, fonts, shapes, styles, placement of the logo all brought opinion after opinion. We spent a lot of time discussing options and not moving forward with a clear decision.

Legacy allegiance

Changing the brand and colors felt like a betrayal of our legacy. We wanted to honor what made us unique. Changing the logo (or the name) meant leaving behind what made us great.

We can do it ourselves

We historically did not have a budget for branding or website design, so taking the leap to hire a brand consultant was too much of a financial risk. We did everything we could in house. In fact, I designed our website on a free platform (wix.com) and am embarrassed to admit it!

With the problem defined, I began (with a small team of brand believers) a seven-year journey to raise awareness among my firm leaders that this was a problem. The world around us was changing, and we had to adapt and change too.

Here are some of the lessons we learned, and tips for business leaders considering a rebrand:

It cannot be done in house

Any firm that could would offer branding services to its clients. Our founder once said, “Do what you do well and let others do what they do well.” Stick to your expertise.

Commit to the journey

Momentum (and financial investment) is lost when there are starts and stops. In fact, people end up repeating the process over and over again. If the necessary resources can’t be committed to the journey … wait.

Find a partner and trust it

It took us a while to find the right firm to help us create our brand. Once we did, it was a fantastic match. They got us. They utilized data to drive our brand decisions. They interviewed our clients and the community.

Select a small team of decision makers

For us, we utilized our six majority shareholders – our brand leadership team. They attended all branding meetings. They discussed, debated and made decisions. We later formed a brand ambassador team of managers, but that team’s mission was to help implement the brand and not help create it.

It’s never just about the logo

Branding is most powerful when it’s used in a whole system – name, colors, typography, placement, messaging.

People may not like the logo’s colors and design

It’s not about you; it’s about your clients and employees. While our personal preferences do play into how we choose a brand that fits our company, remember that it’s about the buyer connecting with you. Think about what will appeal to the buyer first.

A brand can link to sales

Today, we have tools at our fingertips to track who looks at our website, for how long and which pages, etc. We can track proposal statistics and debrief after wins and losses to discover how our brand has impacted buying decisions. With tools, we can finally begin to articulate return on investment.

We launched our new brand Sept. 6, 2012. We did this while honoring our legacy and becoming clear on who we are and what we do well. I couldn’t be happier with this process; it was worth the seven-year investment.

If you or others in your firm still need convincing to rebrand, then watch the video at: http://youtube/Hzgzim5m7oU. It’s about the power of words, and while they are only a component of a brand, what a difference they can make!

Have you faced a similar challenge at your firm? Tell me what you think.

Lisa Schauer is the vice president of business development at MacKay Sposito. Contact her at 360-600-8373 or at lschauer@mackaysposito.com.

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How can you improve your marketing program and your company’s profitability? Analyze the personality types in your firm and then create strategic teams to bring in more work.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator provides descriptions for 16 personality types through a four-letter system, or “sign,” that offers a basic understanding of each personality and its strengths and weaknesses. It also illustrates how different personality types process information and communicate.

I have taken the Myers-Briggs assessment various times at different workplaces during my career. In the past, after a couple of weeks the four letters that described each employee’s personality were filed in a drawer never to be seen again.

Recently, I had a different MBTI experience. With our national economy in turmoil and increased competition for projects, we needed a strong strategy for bringing in new work. One idea was to dust off the personality assessments and walk the firm’s six partners through an exercise to see, using the lens of the Myers-Briggs assessment, whom in the firm is naturally inclined to take the lead in each stage of bringing in new work.

Our analysis of the data led to better decisions about chasing new work. This new, disciplined and systematic approach has increased the amount of incoming work, as well as our efficiency and revenue.

What did we do? First, our marketing team reviewed the MBTI assessment for each person responsible for bringing in new work, and then analyzed the results. We scheduled two sessions with the principals to present and discuss the data. Our presentation focused on strengthening existing marketing talent, increasing marketing efficiency, capitalizing on the MBTI investment we had already made and offering recommendations.

In the presentation, we:

• Identified the steps needed to bring in new work.

•Conducted a hands-on exercise. We asked each principal to write their names on post-it notes and place them next to the steps they enjoyed the most in bringing in new work. Did their choices match their talent, or what they would like their talent to be? Some tough questions yielded eye-opening answers.

• Reviewed the management team’s style. We reviewed the combination of the individual personality styles, what it meant and discussed how that translated to bringing in new work.

• Reviewed data. Time-card data was split by percentage of time allocated to marketing, proposals, administration and billable work per team member. We looked at work generated, contract and budget amounts – who identified it, sold it, secured the contract, performed the work and closed it out. We also sorted, by team, the work billed in the past 12 months.

Through this exercise we discovered that not everyone is naturally inclined to perform well in all stages of marketing. But specialists are nevertheless necessary in each area. Every firm needs folks bringing in new work, ensuring contracts are signed before work begins, managing the budget and schedule and closing the project out. If everyone in the firm can sell, but no one can deliver what was sold, then you have a problem.

Overall, the exercise was extremely helpful to our firm. We focused on the data and less on our opinions or emotions, and discovered how to support teams in need of assistance. Knowing your “sign” can help bring more new work to your firm.

Lisa Schauer, a Certified Professional Services Marketer and a member of SMPS, is the business development manager and an associate with MacKay & Sposito Inc., a consulting firm with four offices in the Pacific Northwest.

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