The Swag Rules Songbook
Swag is not a thing — it’s a momentum strategy — and it’s not always for prospects and customers. A big part of what we do when we research and create niche banking concepts is to “get into character.” This helps us build a compelling brand and creates internal conviction around the niche; and I am a big believer that how you feel about something internally manifests externally.
One of my favorite Nymbus niche concepts is Convoy — a bespoke bank for truckers. To get into character, leveraged the Swag Rules and came up with an idea that helped us fine tune the persona we would be trying to reach…a custom song written and performed by a recording artist!
This may seem like a random (or hard to execute) idea, but it wasn’t.
Here’s how it happened:
· Getting into character means picturing the environment (in this case the cab of an 18-wheeler)
· Once we pictured ourselves in the cab, what would we be doing? Probably listening to the radio, mind wandering, thinking about home.
· So, what could we create to remind us of this environment and moment when we need inspiration for Convoy? You guessed it — a road song!
And here’s how we did it:
· We went to Songfinch.com (amazing website and customer service)
· Then we typed in what we were looking for (vibe, type of artist, etc.)
· And got our song!
“Each Mile I’m Getting Closer” by Michelle Pereira (listen here).
Outro
Here are the Swag Rules — use them to create momentum in your own corner of the work world.
· Foster creativity — in my organization, we have bi-weekly show-and-tell sessions where you can bring anything cool that you have seen, experienced or heard about. It’s not about swag, but it gets creativity flowing org-wide. We also have a #creativeinspo Slack channel (again, it’s not about swag, but it is about what’s out there that is moving us).
· Develop the right mindset — swag isn’t about how you can mobilize a bunch of things to be mailed. I think about swag as showing gratitude. How can I show gratitude to this person or group for what they mean to me and to the company?
A good way to be consistent with gratitude is to schedule time and budget for it. My team has access and budget for Thnks.com so they can quickly show their gratitude — which makes it an easy transition to “how can we show our customers/employees/prospects/board/etc. that we care?”
· Start small — as you can probably tell, we invest in swag. So, as with any investment, we test and learn. This usually means starting with something 1:1 versus 1:many and getting feedback on it as we would any product. This also means that conversation is key — the person you are talking to could unlock the next big idea for you (!) so really connect by noticing what’s in their meeting background, asking non-agenda questions (we typically start calls with ice breakers) and truly conversing.
· Support the story — it’s essential that what you send out into the world, whatever form it takes, supports your brand story. This is the main reason why you can build brand momentum without having to major on corporate items. When we started doing custom skateboards (more on that later), it supported our primary message of new thinking (get on board with new thinking — get it :)?).
