The Hummingbird Effect with Wendy Coulter

Host: Wendy Coulter, CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group
Episode Description: In this introductory episode of "The Hummingbird Effect," host Wendy Coulter shares her journey and the inspiration behind starting this podcast. Wendy, the CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group, has been helping business leaders redefine their brands for over 25 years. This episode sets the stage for what listeners can expect from the podcast, focusing on how small innovations can significantly impact brand valuation and business growth.
Key Points:
  • Wendy Coulter's background and experience in brand strategy.
  • The concept of brand orientation and its influence on business value.
  • The shift from focusing on marketing tactics to building a strong brand orientation.
  • The importance of culture, core values, mission, and vision in brand building.
  • The Hummingbird Effect: How small, adaptive changes can lead to significant business outcomes.
  • Stories and insights that will be featured in future episodes.
Quotes:
  • "Your brand is not your marketing; your brand is your culture, who you are, and what your reputation is."
  • "Like Jeff Bezos says, your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room."
  • "The Hummingbird Effect helps clients make small tweaks that evolve their brand, attracting more business and increasing value."
Takeaways:
  • Understanding the deeper meaning of a brand beyond logos and colors.
  • Recognizing the long-term value of brand orientation over short-term marketing ROI.
  • Learning how small innovations and strategic branding can enhance business valuation.
Resources Mentioned:
  • Steven Johnson's book, How We Got to Now
Call to Action: Subscribe to "The Hummingbird Effect" for more stories, tips, and insights on how to innovate and grow your brand effectively.

Connect with Wendy Coulter:
Tags: Brand Strategy, Business Innovation, Marketing Tips, Brand Orientation, Business Growth

Creators & Guests

Host
Wendy Coulter
As CEO at Hummingbird, I generate ideas that TAKE FLIGHT! I also have a passion to advocate for women in business, and I am an active real estate investor.

What is The Hummingbird Effect with Wendy Coulter?

Welcome to "The Hummingbird Effect," a podcast dedicated to uncovering the subtle yet powerful ways that small innovations can transform your business. Hosted by Wendy Coulter, CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group, this show delves into the stories and strategies behind successful brand building.

For over 25 years, Wendy has helped CEOs and business leaders redefine their brands through innovation and compelling narratives. In this podcast, she shares the insights and lessons learned from her extensive experience, exploring how a strong brand orientation can significantly increase the value of your business.

Each episode features engaging conversations with industry leaders, business advisors, and innovators who have harnessed the power of branding to make a substantial impact. Discover how focusing on core values, mission, and vision can drive your brand beyond mere marketing tactics, fostering a culture that resonates with your audience and enhances your business's reputation.

Inspired by the concept of the Hummingbird Effect—where small, adaptive changes lead to remarkable outcomes—this podcast aims to help you understand and implement the incremental innovations that can elevate your brand and business.

Join Wendy Coulter on "The Hummingbird Effect" and learn how to evolve your brand, attract more customers, and ultimately enhance the value of your business through strategic branding.

[00:00:00]

Wendy: Hi, I am Wendy Coulter. I'm CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group, a brand strategy agency I founded in 1995. I've been helping CEOs, business leaders, and marketing leaders redefine their brands through innovation and wonderful stories for over 25 years.

Many years ago, I learned from a business advisor. That brand orientation actually influences the value of a business. It was such an aha moment, and over the years I've learned this firsthand. I've watched my clients and other friends in business grow their brand orientation and in turn grow the valuation of their business.

This is why I started this podcast. We're gonna hear some great stories, learn some great tips, and really dive into how innovation in small ways can affect the valuation of your business.

So I found myself going into new business meetings and always being asked, [00:01:00] what's the ROI going to be on whatever marketing tactic I was being hired to work on, and what, what needs to happen in people's minds is this shift from, what's the ROI on this marketing tactic to what's the ROI on having a strong brand?

How can I innovate in a way that is going to provide me much more value down the road? Than just what is going to happen with the sales numbers today or tomorrow?

I think there's actually been a shift that is wonderful from talking just about marketing and tactics to talking about true brand orientation. And this has to do probably most of all with culture. We see so many brands now talking about impact. And how they're going to impact the community, impact their people impact the world.

This shift is actually what I'm talking about when I say focus on brand orientation. Yes, you can look at the numbers and the sales [00:02:00] numbers, but really focusing on culture and brand orientation is the shift that business owners need to make in order to grow their valuation through branding.

So many people think that a brand is a logo or their colors, but really a brand is so much deeper than that. Your brand is not your marketing, your brand is your culture, who you are, what your reputation is.

Like Jeff Bezos says, your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.

So unlike the day to day, just. Drive of marketing tactics. In order to create a very strong brand, you really do have to go back to strategy. And I know that sounds so consulting ish but you need to think about things that could drive a brand like core values. For example. Core values are something that Zappos really uses their core values to drive their brand and to drive that message home with their customers.

So [00:03:00] core values, mission, vision. Why are you here? Why are you doing what you're doing?

Every business should think about building a strong brand orientation.

So it doesn't matter whether you are ready to sell your business and thinking that way, or whether you've just started or if you're somewhere on that path in between. This podcast is for you.

A few years back, Steven Johnson wrote a book called how we got to to Now. And it explores six innovations. And one thing that he talks about in the book is the Hummingbird Effect. And the Hummingbird Effect has to do with how. The flower that has the pollen that the hummingbird needs to get to.

It caused the hummingbird to evolve so that the hummingbird could, hover in midair to get the pollen out of that flower. So originally the hummingbird wings did not really allow it to hover in [00:04:00] midair, but in order to get this specific thing that Hummingbird had to learn. And, and evolve to actually have wings that will, would hold it still so it could reach the pollen in the flower.

And so this innovation of the hummingbird turning into something that could be more. Effective at what it needed to do is The Hummingbird Effect that's what we see clients do. We help them make these small tweaks, these really gradual changes in their brand that really helps take things to the next level and helps them evolve to be better at what they do and to express what they do in a better way in order to attract customers.

Attract, more business and have more value in their businesses at the end of the day.

So as we explore what the Hummingbird Effect is all about, I'm so excited about how it can change your business and your outlook [00:05:00] on how to build your valuation through better branding.