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A DISCUSSION WITH... TOM RIVERS, HEAD OF BRAND AT PEAK

In the first of our discussion series, Anna Heyes, CEO of integrated marketing & PR agency Active Profile, speaks with Tom Rivers, Head of Brand at decision intelligence company Peak.  

In this discussion, Tom shared his knowledge and experience from throughout his journey at Peak, as well as Formisimo, the start-up business he previously owned. 

Overview

About Peak 

Peak is an AI business that has gone through a significant period of growth over the last few years and recently hosted its 2nd Altitude X summit.  

Let's get straight to it... 

Should you invest in branding early? 

Tom explained that Peak’s main brand mission has always been ‘To change the way the world works’ and ‘Build an amazing company that everyone loves being a part of,’ showing that not only did they want to make a change to the industry, but they wanted to do it the right way - with a team who love what they do. Tom continued to say how branding is the ‘special sauce’ that gets people interested and engaged with your product before they’ve even tried it, and that it’s the hardest thing to do.

Once you’ve successfully achieved this, customers will interact with the business and products repeatedly. So, when thinking about the longevity of a company, the earlier you do this, the better.  

 What tactics can a start-up use to build a brand?  

Tom stated “At the time Peak started, we saw a sea of corporate logos, and when you looked at the imagery and messaging around this, it was a lot of brains, handshakes, and robots. We said, ‘screw that’, we think it’s possible to make AI seem accessible, brighter, engaging and more human.”  

You’re unlikely to see any handshakes or robots across the Peak website, but rather people representing those that would be using their product, which Tom believes really set them up for success from the beginning – by resonating with their target personas. 

The key takeaway from this is not to follow the herd, but to use your branding to stand out in the marketplace.  

Tom also addressed the common misconception that a brand is just your logo. He explained that to make your brand a success, you need to make sure your colour palette, tone of voice and messaging are all consistent with the feel of your business too.

Should you lead with your TECH product or company name in your brand strategy?  

Tom explained that when he first joined Peak, he noticed internally people were calling the platform different names, so he introduced the idea to give it its own brand identity. However, the result created a distance between ‘Peak the company’ and ‘Peak the business’ and investors couldn’t comprehend what they were buying into. In the end, they reverted this change.

Tom explained, “by doing this, we learnt what we shouldn’t have done. But we could have only learnt that by going on the journey”. 

It’s not a one size fits all situation though. Tom recognised that if longer-term you’re going to have a range of distinct and defined products that all fulfil a specific purpose, they should have different names, just like Adobe’s Photoshop or Apple’s iPhone. However, if you’re offering a variety of ‘things’ under one umbrella, then stick to your company name.   

How important is the alignment between sales and marketing? 

Tom expressed that as a business scales, this is the hardest challenge to manage, especially if you have a sales team. He highlighted just how important aligning marketing and sales is, 

“From seeing their first ad to becoming a super user of your product, your brand is representing the experience a customer should expect, so you need to stay consistent”.  

If the two fail to stay aligned, it undermines your brand, and you risk losing customers’ trust, which is very difficult to build back up.  

When it comes to ‘how’ this can be done, Tom explained that as a business starts to grow, it’s best to have a ‘single source of truth’ i.e., a brand book. Attending meetings and communicating with one another will help you stay consistent too. 

How should you structure your marketing team within a start-up?  

A few key points came out of this discussion. First, Tom mentioned that in the start-up phase of a business, the most crucial factors are that employees feel empowered and have the ability to do multiple things. Therefore, your structure should be as flat as possible at this stage for efficiency purposes. As you start to scale, the structure must adjust with the business. He explained that a business usually moves to a 'functions' or 'team' structure, for example, brand or marketing. At Peak, however, they’ve found that doesn’t work, instead, they’re looking at restructuring into ‘squads’ on a project level to become more efficient and collaborative.  

Tips for hiring as a start-up  

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one” 

Tom used Shakespeare's quote to explain how it’s best to have a group of ‘T-shaped people’ at the early stage of your start-up journey because they will have a self-learn attitude and won’t be afraid to get stuck in to solve problems. Only further down the line when you have the budget, should you hire people that are specialised in their field. 

When should a start-up use a third-party agency?  

Tom started this answer saying, “When you need therapy. Not on a personal level, but on a company level.” He continued, “Agencies are brilliant at helping with the non-urgent but important things. They are there to ensure you don’t drop the ball on matters that will pay off long-term.”  

Tom talked about how you should hire an agency when you don’t have the skills or the budget to recruit, as agencies bring knowledge and experience from other clients and are multi-faceted, so can add a lot of value to your company.  

What sort of technology should a start-up invest in?  

Tom’s biggest recommendation for a start-up was Zapier, saying it’s “one of the best things ever made.”  

Zapier is a tool that can connect all your work apps together to automate workflows and business operations, which is ideal in the initial stages when speed is crucial.

He also advised that as a start-up, your product and marketing is the most effective thing to invest in and should be your focus.  

Another useful technology would be a CRM system - examples he gave included SalesForce and HubSpot. He ended his answer by advising that you find the technology that works for you.  

How can you test your marketing channels and which metrics matter?  

‘Don’t be afraid to experiment with low amounts of funding in the initial stages’ was the main message from Tom. He also advised not to use channels for the sake of it, and to get a feel of what your target audience engages with.  

Tom spoke about the most important metrics Peak measure:  

  • Pipeline number – measuring performance against ambitious sales targets 
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) – measuring customer satisfaction  
  • Internal engagement surveys – measuring and tracking employee satisfaction over time 

Tom commented on how Peak obsess over these measurements as they ladder back to its brand vision of ‘building an amazing company that everyone loves being a part of”.  

Marketing predictions for 2023 

Tom’s first prediction was that short-form videos are continuing to be a success, but you should only engage with this if it suits your business. The other was that employer brand is going to continue to become as important as your external branding:  

“If you are promising something amazing, shiny and wonderful as part of your marketing, but stories leak about awful culture, this is super important to address to ensure you aren’t building a toxic workplace.” 

 

 Watch the full Q&A

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