Barry LaBov, owner of LaBov and Beyond Marketing, is driven by his passion for originality and helping people achieve their potential.
From rock musician to marketing entrepreneur, Barry’s journey is marked by creativity and perseverance. He founded his marketing firm to channel his love for creativity into helping companies discover their unique strengths. Barry’s five-step brand re-engineering process—Brand Assessment, Technical Immersion, Design Brand Strategy, Execute, and Celebrate & Launch—focuses on leveraging a company’s inherent qualities.
His book, The Power of Differentiation, aims to inspire companies to win hearts, minds, and market share by engaging their people meaningfully.
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Help Your People Find Meaning with Barry LaBov
Good day, listeners. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint. I’m interviewing today Barry LaBov, the owner of LaBov and Beyond Marketing, helping companies go to market through a dealer or distributor network by training and inspiring their people. He’s also the author of the upcoming, The Power of Differentiation. So, Barry, welcome to the show.
Steve, thank you. I’m a big fan and it’s an honor to be here with you today. So I’m ready to have a lot of fun.
Well, hey, we’re going to start with a really fun journey that you had because you were a rock musician turned entrepreneur. So, two questions here. One is how the heck a rock musician becomes an entrepreneur, especially in a field different from their own, because some rock musicians are really good entrepreneurs selling their music. And secondly, what is your personal Why and how does that connect to what you do?
Well, that’s a great question. I wanted as a young boy to be a rock and roll musician. I wanted to write songs. So, at a very early age, I learned how to play drums. Then when I hit maybe 10 years old, I learned how to play keyboards. My dad showed me four different kinds of chords on an organ, and I figured out how to do that. So, I was in a band with my brother. I played drums and keyboards, keyboards with my right hand. And by the way, it did not sound very good, I guarantee it. But I was 14 years old, my brother was 12. He’s on guitar, I’m singing, he’s singing, and we’re playing in a two-man band. From that, I recorded songs, wrote songs of mine, played in bands for the next 10 or so years, had songs on American Bandstand, the Billboard charts, and had songs published by Barry Madelow and Natalie Cole. We had a song on American Bandstand that actually did well that day. So all of that, but I have to say with all humility, my music, Steve, sold well under 1 million copies. So I was not making a killing at that. But what happened was I then started to write jingles, those irritating little ditties. And here’s how I went from being a rock musician to running a marketing company. I was writing jingles and doing what’s known as audio work, recording work for companies. And North American Van Lines, very large moving company here in the United States, called me up because I had done a little work with them. And they said to me, Barry, we want you to take over our marketing department. We’re going to sell it to you and we will give you a three-year contract for all of our marketing. And being the great entrepreneur I was, Steve, I said, no I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m really a marketing guy. I’m a music guy. But I’m going to give you the names of all these different companies locally to help you out. And they went, okay. Well, they called me again, Steve. And they called me and called me and called me again. Then one day, about a year later, they called me up again and said, Barry, we want you to buy our marketing department and become our marketing agency. Please do it. And I said, I’ve given you the names of all these other companies. I’ve begged you to talk to them. Why are you coming back to me? And he said, well, we’ve talked to those companies, but Barry, we trust you. And I thought, wow, okay. So, I agreed to do it. Now it sounds like it was a brilliant, lucky move, but Steve, the minute I agreed to do that, it didn’t occur to me that since most of my clients were agencies, I was now a competitor of most of my clients. So, I became an ad agency and lost most of my clients overnight, but it turned out well.
And here's what I learned. I learned that music wasn't my love. My love was creativity. Music was a vehicle for me. Share on X
And now with marketing, I could do videos and I could do brochures and websites and technology and use creativity. So, every day, literally at my company, we conduct what are known as jam sessions. Literally, they’re jam sessions. And we create new ideas, hundreds of ideas every day. So, I love what I’m doing because I’m in the most creative environment imaginable.
Love it. Love it. And what is your personal why? So what is it that drives you?
I want to do things that have never been done before. I love that. Now, that also means helping people, and it’s really big for me. I want to help people be able to attain and achieve things they never would have attained or achieved otherwise. So, I can see things in people. I can see a magic in somebody, and I can awaken it if they want it to be reality. Now, sometimes I go, I can do that, but I don’t want to do it. And I go, OK, but I am driven to do things that have not been done before. I love originality.
Okay, that is very cool and exciting. The process of discovery, when you create something new and it’s very exhilarating. So, I know the feeling and I love it that you can articulate so well. So, one of the things that you have created is a process which you call brand re-engineering. So, what the heck is brand re-engineering and why is it important in the first place?
Well, Steve, you’re a process guy, okay? And you understand that you are, you’re great, you’re brilliant. And you understand that a process is needed because otherwise, you’re kind of lost and bumping into things and sometimes you’ll do something well and sometimes it’s terrible. You go, what did we do? What was it? So, what I did over a number of years was as we were working with clients, we started to identify some very, very important steps we needed to take to help them with their branding. And one of the things that’s really important, and this can be for personal branding, for branding with small companies or companies that have 10,000 people, it’s all the same. And that is, you do not create your brand, you discover your brand. So, you don’t try to create what you think somebody else wants because it’s very possible it’s not really you, you can’t live up to it. But if you can identify what it is that you do that’s unique and you maximize that, you’re highly likely to be successful because it’s so natural. And it’s a joy because after all, it’s you. So, what we did was we identified this five-step process. Two of the steps are not done by any other company I know of. And I always say, if anybody is doing this, please reach out to me because I’d love to talk to them. But the first step we have is a common step that most agencies will do. We call that a brand assessment. So, we talk to the leaders of the company, we talk to their clients, we listen, etc. Now, one of the secrets is we ask them what should this company not change? What do you want them to make sure they do not change? Because so many of us are entrepreneurs and we’re ready to change everything, right? Well, you could go through a process like this and end up changing what you do best and getting rid of it. So, one thing we learn in that phase, the assessment is what should they not change? Yeah, there are things they can improve. Our second step is called the technical immersion. And this is a step nobody does, except for my company. And that is we will go into a facility, it could be a plant, a factory, or it could be a service organization. We will go inside and we will spend a day with my technical people examining their processes and how they’re producing, whatever they’re producing, and how their machinery works, and all the unique things they’re doing to determine what are those special differentiators that they do that they’re putting extra time into that are valuable. Our next step is we then put a plan together for the client. We say, okay, here’s everything we learned from people. Here’s everything we learned about your processes and your parts and your procedures. Here’s what we recommend. Then we will execute, which every agency does, which could be, hey, here’s a logo. Here’s what a website should be, et cetera. We use all that information to create something meaningful. Share on X But the fifth step is another step that is just not used, which is we go to launch the new brand, but we launch it to the people that are most important in the world first, their employees. We launch it to the employees to celebrate it, to get them on board. Then we cascade out to the rest of the world. That’s my five-step process.
Yeah. I love the technical immersion. So, it’s brand assessment, technical immersion, strategy formulation, then you execute and then celebrate and launch. So, I love step two and step five because they really are unique. So, the technical immersion. So, how does it exactly work, that technical immersion and how do you discover that uniqueness in the brand? Is there a sub process for that?
There is a process. And one of our beliefs is your brand lives inside the product or service that you create. So, if you are a brilliant engineering company and you have brilliant engineered products and features, you know what, your brand is probably very engineering based. You see what I’m saying? It’s that’s what you’re creating is really part of your brand. So, what we do is we will enter the facility and we’ll work with the top engineers, designers, manufacturers, technologists, whatever, the people that are the ones creating this offering that the company has. And we will say, look, give us a tour from scratch and do not eliminate any step or any activity you take to produce that product? Because what happens so often, Steve, is people are so close to what they do that they don’t see that magic. You know, so I’ll give you a very brief story, but it was interesting. I was at a brilliant engineering company in Pennsylvania, and the leader of manufacturing said here’s a new product, and it was a manhole cover for a stainless steel trailer. So, it doesn’t sound exciting, but it was interesting. I said, well, what’s it do? And he said, well, it has a special latch that will activate if there’s too much pressure inside the stainless steel trailer. And I said, why? And he said, well, sometimes if you’re opening the man lid or the manhole cover, there can be an explosion coming out because of all the flammable gases. And I said, okay, so this saves lives. He says, yes, the latch will activate so whoever’s trying to open up that lid will not be armed. So, I said, that’s great. I said, now, do you charge more money for it? And he goes, no, we don’t charge more money for it. I said, okay. I said, do you promote it? And he goes, no, we don’t promote it at all. I said, okay, well, why did you create it? And he goes, well, we always want to do what’s best. We want to help save lives. I said, okay, you at least have a name for that, right? And he goes, well, we just call it Latch. And I said, you’re saving lives, you’re not charging more money, and you’ve created something brilliant that costs you, turns out it costs him about $2 million to create this. I said, can’t you celebrate this internally with your people? And he said, you know, we’ve never really brought it up. We just thought it’s our job. I said, well, your people need to know that you did all this to help save lives. And I said, you know what, if I’m your customer, I want to know. So, as an example, we dig in and we find those latches, those unique things that people are doing. And one of our key questions, because we’ll walk in and they’ll say to us, Steve, they’ll go, no, we don’t do anything unique. I go, oh, well, you’ve got to do something. No, no, we don’t do anything unique. So, I say, for instance, I went into a bakery and they said, no, we don’t do anything unique. We do everything typical, there’s nothing special. And I said, okay, is there any ingredient you spend more money on? And their CFO said, heck yes, there is. There’s a special grain that we pay three times as much for and it’s out of the Northwest part of the United States. And I said, why do you do it? And he goes, oh, it’s because it tastes better. And even though it hurts us profitability wise, it’s something that is really, really tasty and it’s great. I said, do you celebrate it? Do you promote it? And he said, no. I said, well, maybe that’s a unique differentiator. You’re paying three times the price. You’re not charging for it and you haven’t named it. And all the hard work they did, Steve, this is why I always tell you, you’re already doing the hard work and you’ve already paid the big money to go do all these things. So, how about letting people know? So, it’s discovering those unique differentiations that virtually every company has.
Okay, I love that. This is great. And you know what I like most about this is it is a better version of this famous Schlitz beer advertising. I think it was David Collier who came up with it in the 1920s. Every beer was advertised the same, you know, drink this beer and you’re going to feel fine or whatever. You’re going to look cool. And then they came up with this advertising copy to explain how the Schlitz beer is actually manufactured, brewed. And they were the first ones to describe the process. And by people reading about the process, they said, wow, this must be a really cool beer if such an elaborate process creates it. And all they did was actually just write down the standard beer brewing process, but they were the first ones to do it, and therefore it built the brand. But now what you’re explaining is actually it’s one better because you are not just describing the standard process, you actually are discovering the uniqueness and then you describe that, that is something worthy of celebrating. So that is great. So that’s the technical immersion, you find that uniqueness in the brand. And then the celebration, is there a process to the celebration as well? So, is there a unique way to celebrate?
There is. I’ll give the audience a couple of interesting insights to make the celebration amazing. Many times, the people who are creating our products do not connect with our end users. An example is we worked with a mobility company. So, what they did is they retrofitted a van so that you could put a wheelchair ramp on it, and a wheelchair person, person in a wheelchair, could roll themselves in, press a button, the ramp goes up, they could actually drive the van. It was their lifeline to their world. It was a great product. Well, that company was suffering from very low morale. So, we put together a celebration for their employees and what they did, and I’m gonna share a couple things they did that were unique, okay? They held it, in their case, they held it somewhere that fit an automotive brand, they held it at a racetrack. So, they actually brought in some racecar drivers and they brought their vans in and they went around the track a few times with professional drivers, of course, and people were very excited. Another thing they did was they brought in their competition’s product and they had their competitor product right next to their product and had their employees experience them. So, they actually put their employees in wheelchairs, rolled them into our unit, rolled them into the other people’s units. So, all of a sudden the employees are experiencing what it’s like. But I’ll tell you one more thing, and if your audience does this, they will be so happy. Our client said to his 500 employees, he said, after we’re done experiencing the products and racing around the track, we’re going to have a ceremony at the end, and we have two special guests who will come and talk to us. So, they thought, okay, great. I asked some of his employees and I said, well, who do you think is coming? And they said, oh, you know, probably some sports figure or some political candidate or some big wig. And I said, okay, well, they were all wrong. In fact, nobody stepped up when he said, I want to introduce two people because they were in wheelchairs, they rolled up and they were two long time customers in wheelchairs that rolled up and everybody gave them a standing ovation. They’re crying because you know what? The people there were going, wait a minute, this is why I do what I do. And then they allowed the two owners of their products, the two folks in wheelchairs to tell their stories. How did they end up in a wheelchair? You know, we all think, okay, the person must have been born like that. Neither were born that way. One had polio when he was 11 and the other was an athlete who injured himself sliding in the third base during a baseball game. And they told their stories and you realize that they’re vibrant human beings. You realize the importance of your product because this was what made their lives as normal as possible. Share on X And how could you walk away from there as an employee not wanting to make sure you made that product as well as you could make it. So those are a couple of things I share when we talk about the celebrations.
Wow, this is very powerful. This is very powerful because I teach my clients about the why and you shared yours. And when they discover that they have this, they have the company, it’s already extremely powerful, but it’s still an abstract concept, right? But when you actually do the celebration and you bring that Why to them in a living example human beings who experience the impact of that Why, that just makes it a hundred times bigger. So, I love that. I have to think about how I integrate this into my work. So, it becomes part of the fabric of it as well. Thank you, Barry. That was very, very powerful. So, talking about powerful stuff, you are coming out with the book, The Power of Differentiation. And I think probably a couple of these stories are in the book, aren’t they?
Yes.
So, tell me about this book. Why did you write it? And what should we know about it?
The book is called The Power of Differentiation. The subtitle tells it all, which is win hearts, minds, and market share. So, it’s all about winning the hearts and minds of your people and those who represent your product. So, it could be distributors and dealers, and eventually of course, your customers. Of course, you’re gonna end up increasing sales and profit if you do this, because it’s almost impossible not to, because you have a product that you’re identifying its strengths with, you’re engaging your employees and the people behind it to explain it. They’re gonna make sure that they build it or serve it right. It’s an exciting thing. So, I decided to write the book because after three or four decades of these really great experiences, I wanted to share them. And almost like a time capsule to say, here are examples of how this is done. Here is how one company did it. Here’s how another company was in trouble. And they decided to focus on what made them unique. There’s even a section in the book on companies that are over a century old. There are companies out there that are 120 some years old that have now rediscovered what made them unique. Because it gets very easy for us, whether we are a startup or we’ve been around for, one of my clients has been around 212 years. It’s very easy to stop believing that what you’re doing is that special, but it must be pretty special if you’re 212 years old or a hundred years old or even five years old as a company. There’s something you’re doing that’s right. So, I wanted to share these stories. I wanted people to be able to take some of the lessons and I want as a goal to inspire and move the hearts and minds of 1 million people with this message, and that is not too much. I think I can easily do it because I’m working with one client and they have 16,305 employees and those employees are going to have their hearts and minds moved. They’re going to be inspired by this. So I’ve got 16,000 people already. So that’s what the book is all about.
That’s wonderful. I just made a note, this is a very powerful story you shared about the van and the wheelchairs and the human beings behind the wheelchair and the product. And I think if you have stories like that in the book, it definitely will inspire people. So, Barry, we have to wrap up very shortly. But before we do, tell me, what is it that you’re working on that most excites you beyond the book, which is already done, it’s coming out. So, what’s next for Barry?
I‘m working on a lot of exciting projects. We’re helping a healthcare company revitalize its workforce. We’re learning what’s important to them. So we’re talking, as I mentioned to you, to 16,305 people at 29 different locations. I’m excited about that. There’s a professional baseball team that reached out to us or to have us help them rejuvenate and transform their image in their community. And I think it’s exciting because we’re going to actually help their community rally around that team for various reasons. It’s very exciting. It’s a very meaningful thing. So, I’m doing those things. I have a really great team. So, as I’ve mentioned to you, we’ve got people all over the nation, all over the world that we’re working with, making a difference and trying to find ways to help people feel the significance in what they do, the meaning behind the products they’re producing or the service they’re providing. So, on a daily basis, that’s the feedback we get and it rejuvenates us on a daily basis.
Yeah, I love it. So that’s kind of another layer behind discovering the brand, because that’s just kind of a feature. But the benefit is helping people find meaning. That’s the layer below. So, love it. So, thank you, Barry, for coming on the show and sharing your great stories of creating meaning, discovering what we are all about and connecting your employees to it and then you have a process to actually re-engineer brands for other people using the same principles, celebrate it with the employees, have them be the first one to plunge into this experience of what this brand is all about. That is awesome. So thanks for coming and sharing these stories and if you’re listening, don’t forget to subscribe and like and comment on our videos on YouTube or LinkedIn. We’d love to hear your thoughts and your stories around this topic of meaning and brands, and we’ll definitely respond to it and engage with you. So, please do that and stay tuned because every week you’re gonna get better and better entrepreneurs and we are switching to two shows a week. So, you’re gonna get it in a higher concentration as well. So, thanks, Barry, for coming and thanks for listening.
Important Links:
- Barry’s LinkedIn
- LaBov & Beyond Marketing
- The Power of Differentiation by Barry LaBov
- Explore Steve Preda Business Growth tech https://stevepreda.com/business-growth-tech/
- Follow video shorts of current and past episodes on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/stevepreda-com/
- Management Blueprint Podcast on Youtube https://bit.ly/MBPodcastPlaylistYT
- Steve Preda’s books on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08XPTF4ST/allbooks