Brad Baxter of Air Oasis: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Get clear internally on who you are as a company. We had multiple iterations of leadership and marketing summits and meetings to land on our core vision and brand promise. The simpler we made it, the more interesting were our ideas on how to make the brand known and appreciated by those we attempted to reach.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Brad Baxter, Vice President, Air Oasis.
Brad’s first professional job was as a U.S. Marine Corps Infantry officer after college. He spent one tour in a deploying infantry unit based in California and then a second in public relations and ceremonial duties based in Washington, D.C. Post-military, for over twenty years, Brad has been a ‘management generalist’, working as an operations manager for CarMax when it was a new and growing company, then in the staffing industry as a regional general manager, followed by a stint as the co-owner of a boutique executive search firm. Most recently, Brad has been the leader of customer-facing sales, marketing, and service operations for Air Oasis, a manufacturer and seller of premium air purifiers. In addition to his leadership and management roles, Brad is a trained executive coach and has served on a number of non-profit boards.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Most would look at my LinkedIn profile and think, “How confusing!” I have certainly thought that at times, wondering how or why I’ve moved from the military, to operations management, to sales and general management, to a start up, and then to sales and marketing with a manufacturing company — when I have no formal product marketing training or experience. (Sshh, don’t tell our CEO.) An executive coach once suggested to me that success most often follows our passion. That idea has stuck in my head and I often share it. As a result, I search out interesting challenges to solve and seek situations where my strengths are useful, preferably where I’m learning as I go. I have been so fortunate to work with great people, and anywhere I’ve stayed, it’s been because of passion for the work and the people I get to see each day.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
No doubt, our digital marketing agency partners have had more than a few chuckles at my expense. Not long ago, we did a complete strategic 180 in how we distribute and sell our products. Switching from 100% third-party resellers to selling directly to the end buyer via eCommerce created a steep learning curve for our internal marketing team and more than a few laughs — even some tears. Thank goodness for competent, patient, trustworthy service providers! There was not a digital marketing acronym I didn’t mangle or misuse. It became a running joke, yet we survived the experience of building the plane as we flew it. The biggest lesson from the strategic shift was to be honest when things aren’t working, and then take action without delay. As a smaller company, we’ve been able to nimbly make big changes and smaller course corrections with little time lost on our mistakes. More importantly, when we see an approach working well, we dedicate time and energy to maximizing it.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We compete on the upper end of the price range for air purifiers. As such, shoppers weigh their decisions carefully, especially when the purchase is aimed at protecting or improving their health and wellness. At Air Oasis, we put our best foot forward without overstating our capabilities or overpromising results. We’re thankful to have been discovered by well-known schools, institutions, government agencies and businesses. Specifically, doctors treating environmentally acquired illnesses such as those triggered by mold are strong supporters of our technology. We believe they feel a sense of security knowing our products work well and that we don’t beat our chests too hard about it.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are developing indoor air monitoring systems that will complement the air purifiers we currently make. Customers want to be informed about the quality of the air they breathe, knowing we all spend 90% of our time indoors. In the age of IoT and connected devices, this is a natural next step in our product offering.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
We talk about this often at Air Oasis, and here’s where we’ve landed: Branding is letting consumers (and ourselves) know who we are. Advertising sheds light on what we do. This is true of companies and it’s also true of each of us as people. Our activity is not our identity, but the two are connected and shouldn’t be strangers. The Air Oasis brand reflects that we are a family-founded and owned business. Families thrive on love, and we want love to motivate consumers. Through our advertising, we illustrate how our products help people live healthier lives every day. I know that sounds aspirational, but we see it that way.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
Let’s continue with the identity idea. The people in a company need to know who they are and how that is portrayed externally. If our internal vision and external brand promise are aligned, our team will know it and experience the security that things are as we say they are, feel pride of ownership of something good, and hopefully show humility knowing that it’s not about us but who we serve. Jumping into marketing and advertising without the brand foundation leads to confusion, distractions, and wasted effort.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.
- Get clear internally on who you are as a company. We had multiple iterations of leadership and marketing summits and meetings to land on our core vision and brand promise. The simpler we made it, the more interesting were our ideas on how to make the brand known and appreciated by those we attempted to reach.
- Run your brand through an objective professional framework. This is where fresh eyes can be valuable. An outside leadership consultant can be a great facilitator to make branding building work. There are also great books out there to be used as frameworks. We like Donald Miller’s book, Building a Brand Story. That framework was helpful to define our brand and it was also insightful about how key people viewed the company.
- Make sure it passes the employee sniff test at every level. Your own staff, especially those who may not work in marketing, know the company well and want to be proud of what is put out there. See if your employment ads resonate when using your brand promise.
- Make sure you have a way to project your brand through your marketing and advertising efforts. We want people to love the air they breathe. As a pure-play eCommerce company, we rely on imagery as much as words to project our brand promise. The Air Oasis brand must shine through in our ad copy, marketing emails, and social media posts, for example. We recently shot new images for our website. The models, including the dog, live under the same roof. Their love for one another really showed, especially in how the dog looked at its owner in the shots. (No offense to the couple!)
- Regularly reevaluate how the brand comes across, and cast a wide net of advisors in doing so. It seems little time passes before we start thinking about ways to freshen our brand. We work as an internal team, consult outside, and then measure results. A/B test content with and without the brand hint. If the non-brand test wins, adjust accordingly. Our vision and core values may not change, but the message and the way it is told may.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
I’m going to cheat a little here and say CarMax. I worked there in the mid 90s when there were just four stores and now there are hundreds. It was my first job after the Marines, and looking back, their brand continues to reflect their honest, transparent method of selling cars. Their website, CarMax.com is on point and personal, just as our car choices are personal to each of us. Their brand reflects who they are, so naturally it’s believable. What can one do to replicate that? Have integrity in the branding process. Test and challenge the portrayal of the brand against reality. If it doesn’t pass the sniff test, don’t do it.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
You won’t catch me saying happy customers and sales don’t matter — they absolutely do. And below the surface, it’s also important to get to know our customers. As an eCommerce company, we read every review and weekly we discuss feedback from phone calls, our website, chat stream, and social media. If we are honest with ourselves, customer input will show how well we meet our brand’s expectations. I’ll add a less quantifiable lens: competitors who start looking like you and even saying what you say is a sign you may be onto something.
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Social media is a great channel to consistently reinforce our brand, speaking to specific segments of our customers while drawing in new ones. By remaining on-brand, we drop nuanced messages speaking informally to our audience, organically, and we broaden our reach with paid social media.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
Marketers and business leaders thrive in challenges well suited for their strengths, where they have time to focus their energies in a way that produces meaningful outcomes, and where they feel a valued part of a team and community. None of us grows in isolation. Investing in professional relationships outside one’s company is healthy; it adds valuable perspective in a number of ways. Learning from peers’ ups and downs while supporting one another keeps us sharp and fulfilled. Following a few thought leaders on social media and regularly listening to podcasts that feed fresh ideas inspires and informs our thinking.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Nothing original to report here. However, the concept of grace and being gracious to others really resonates with me. I live in Southern California where traffic is part of life. If we were to treat being in traffic more like cotillion (compulsory fork and knife manners school) and less like tug of war (with only winners and losers), life would be a little better. Few kids enjoy cotillion. At best they tolerate it, though it is great comic relief for the parents. Those learned little acts of kindness, even when forced, do create feelings of good will. If we used our commute as practice time for good manners with a little grace sprinkled in, imagine how much more pleasant that drive could be. Let’s practice grace, in and out of traffic.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“None of us is as smart as all of us.” -Ken Blanchard
I started reading about business and non-military leadership in the early 90s as I prepared to enter the civilian workforce from the Marines. Ken Blanchard wrote “None of us is as smart as all of us.” That’s so true. Isn’t it? Too many times to count, the best ideas have come from teams trusting one another and working in a healthy environment where learning, growth, and making honest mistakes is not only forgiven but expected. The Marines debrief every operation to ‘hot wash’ it for lessons learned. Everyone attends. At CarMax, I saw C-level leaders participating in time studies of the sales process and in focus groups to glean valuable insights. At Air Oasis, the owners gather our leaders, staff, and our vendor partners regularly to work through difficult questions in search of solutions to better serve our customers. Isolation is dangerous, and we can’t leverage the power of a team without relationships that grow over time.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Donald Miller (https://storybrand.com/)
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
