What Does it Take to Turn a Brand Around?

For everyone who knows me well, you know that I'm happiest when I'm on my soapbox talking about the art of the sales process and demystifying marketing hype. I love sharing real-world examples of customer service hits and misses and I use my talks on Networking and What Entertainers Can Teach Executives as platforms to share the mechanics and steps for success. And for this article, I want to showcase how I was able leverage that networking mindset that I always talk about to turn around a dying brand for a company that had shown very little growth for over 20 years.

The following bits were taken from a review and interview that I did for Front of House Magazine.

“Earthworks is the sound of Now. We changed the look and feel of YouTube. And now we’re changing what you should expect from live vocals for stage and for worship.” Mike Dias, Front of House Magazine

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The brand refresh for Earthworks Audio

Earthworks Audio had historically been known for being a top-shelf boutique microphone manufacturer. They catered to sound engineers and they were probably best known for tuning studios and performance halls with their measurement mics. But over the last 3 years under my guidance, Earthworks had undergone a massive transformation.

Starting with their drum microphones, Earthworks began appearing with nearly every online drum personality and on all the online drum tutorial YouTube channels. Then came the ICON and ETHOS broadcast and streaming microphones and with those introductions, Earthworks became an essential part of the creative space and video landscape.

Earthworks began to represent a younger, more vibrant, more diverse — cutting edge customer base. And the look and sound of Earthworks condenser microphones began to become synonymous with global content creators and style and clout.

They became the microphones of choice that represented the look and feel of the artists. And this change happened both on screen with the creators and on stage with the world’s top performers.

Of course the FOH feature doesn't go into the exact details of how we achieved Earthworks Everywhere Status so that's what I want to focus on here. Besides for tapping into my network for product placement and press reviews and applying that networking mindset to all aspects of the business, here is how I started the Earthworks Audio brand refresh.

Tackle these 3 steps first when your brand isn't performing

The first thing I did when I came on was work on cutting down the SKUs and failed offerings. I was vicious and relentless in trimming fat. Feeling were hurt. People were sad. I certainly made people mad. And then I continued to cut more and more whenever the opportunity presented itself.

The second thing I did was to hire the best Creative Director I could find to create true brand style guides that captured the essence of the product and that represented where I wanted to go — not where we were historically.

And then I focused on aligning price to market expectations and overdelivering tremendous value. That's the recipe right there. For any business or service. That's how to turn around your brand. And don't forget the grit

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Mike Dias is a business leader with over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of Pro Audio and Consumer Electronics. He is a huge believer that life is about who you know and that success is about who's in your network. This is why he writes and and speaks so passionately about Why Nobody Likes Networking and What Entertainers can Teach Executives. From time to time, he shares business wins like this to illustrate the power of adopting a networking mindset for work and for life.  If you or your teams need more sales & wins or if you want to infuse your organization with that same can’t fail attitude and work ethic that goes into building out all of your favorite shows and concerts, then simply get in touch.

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