In this Expert Insight Interview, Jon Schram discusses being “driven by purple.” Jon Schram is a successful entrepreneur with 25 years of experience leading business-technology services. He now leads the Kansas City team and marketing efforts of The Purple Guys.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- How The Purple Guys came to be and what they stand for
- Why do companies struggle with the concept of branding
- Why your company’s unique value is more important than logos and colors
The Purple Guys
The Purple Guys started as an IT support company 25 years ago. They had hired an ad agency to come up with a logo and a name, and the only thing Jon knew at the time was that he wanted his logo to be purple. Earlier, he had come up with the idea of purple pens that write in purple ink, so he wanted the logo to reflect that.
About a year into the business, the people at the company sat down for a meeting, each wearing a different-colored shirt with the logo on it. Once the meeting was over, Jon’s wife, who was also present, suggested picking a color, so Jon made sure to get purple shirts for everyone. Soon after, customers started referring to them as “The Purple Guys.”
Concept of Branding
Many companies spend a lot of money on branding and believe they have a uniform brand, but how they communicate it is very different from one person or department to the next. Everybody wearing different-colored shirts in the meeting mentioned above is an excellent analogy for how many businesses operate.
A lot of people have no concept of branding whatsoever, and it is somewhat understandable. Small businesses scramble for whatever they can get, and if something appears to be working, they tend to run with it. Still, the concept of “brand” is essential for everyone, starting with solo entrepreneurs and scaling up to major multinational corporations.
Brand Attributes
The brand is about a lot more than just the logo and the name, and understanding that concept is vital. Brand attributes are also something that people often overlook, focusing on logos and colors rather than what the brand stands for.
It took The Purple Guys a while to figure out who they are and what sets them apart from the competition. They now know that, instead of simply being an IT support company, they are a customer service company that deals with technical issues. What that boils down to is them trying to make technology stress-free, which is reflected in their tagline.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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