The Irrelevant Old Brand
A Business Fable About Taking Your Brand from Mediocre to Must-Have
More than half a million U.S. businesses fail every year. Big and small, they all have one thing in common: They become irrelevant. It doesn’t happen overnight or with one executive misstep, but as a slow drip.The brand quits giving. It’s no longer meaningful to the customer. In fact, its role in the life of the customer has all but dried up.
Author Jim Huebner has lived this story from both sides. He’s been the business owner teetering on the cliff of irrelevance, and he’s been the brand consultant called in to save the day. The Irrelevant Old Brand combines his experience in countless cases over the last 30 years into the story of a fictional CEO named Bob and his quest to save his failing business by re-discovering why it matters to his customers.
As a business owner or leader, you may be facing this reality now, or simply waking up in the middle of the night worried about how to protect against it. The Irrelevant Old Brand offers tangible advice for brands young and old, big and small on how to keep from falling into the same trap of irrelevance.
This is a compelling fable about keeping your brand relevant. Yet it is more than that. It gets to the soul of enterprise with the profound message that for a brand to live, it needs to “GIVE.” The framework is consistent with profits being an index of a company’s altruism—how well it serves others, giving before receiving any predetermined return. Jim’s message will help you keep your brand relevant in a world of wonderous possibilities.
Ronald J. Baker, Founder, Host, and Author
The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy, Founder of VeraSage Institute, and author of the best-selling book, Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms, and the forthcoming Time’s Up!: The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms. www.thesoulofenterprise.comIn the modern market, if you want to add value to your customers, you need to stay relevant. This book will start you down that path.
David Priemer, Founder and Author
CEO of Cerebral Selling and Author of Sell The Way You BuyAs an agency owner and advisor for over 30 years, I can tell you without hesitation that the organizations that truly understand, build, nurture and live their brand are the businesses that can thrive in any economic environment, attract the best talents, and deliver profits year-over-year.
This book is literally a blueprint on how to create and cultivate a brand that will earn you loyalty and love from both your best customers and team members! Follow Jim’s wise counsel and you’re on your way!
Drew McLellan, CEO and Author
CEO of The Agency Management Institute, host of The Build A Better Agency Podcast and Co-author of Selling With Authority
Jim Huebner has been helping brands and the people that build them tell their stories for more than 34 years. In 1989, he founded Huebner Integrated Marketing, where he still serves as Founder & CEO. Since then he has helped found four other successful companies in the marketing services and B2B SaaS arenas.
Jim has dedicated his career to meeting the unique marketing needs of big-ticket outdoor equipment manufacturers, as well as other manufacturers in several other industries. Along the way, he established "Huebner Lift" to support the needs of orphans around the world. A lifelong adventurer, Jim played basketball in college and now enjoys trout fishing in the Rockies when he’s not working on his next book.
Jim and his wife Robyne call Fort Collins, Colorado home near their three grown children and four grandchildren.
