Here are some key excerpts from Crew Capital’s Sonia Damian & Dylan Reider insightful piece, “Bobby Patrick on the Power of Marketing, Storytelling and Culture”, where Sonia, Dylan, and the CMO of UiPath discuss his journey at the company, how startups can leverage brand to establish market leadership, the importance of storytelling, and how to build effective company culture.
This article really provides tremendously valuable information about how professional marketing contributes to the overall success, evolution, and prosperity of a company.
1️⃣ “We absolutely wanted UiPath to be synonymous with automation. Of course, in 2017 the company was unknown. Our category, Robotic Process Automation, was relatively early in its evolution. Our top two competitors at the time were both 3-4 times larger than us. They should have won the category. But unlike our competitors, we built our brand around helping humans to be more successful, more creative, and more engaged.”
2️⃣ “Too many tech companies often skip over brand building and jump straight to demand generation. In their mind, they want to spend $1 in campaigns this quarter and have $10 or $20 in new business appear next quarter. Unfortunately, it is not this easy. I believe marketing’s goal should be to make the “top of the funnel” as wide as possible. This comes from constantly elevating a category and then firmly establishing a company’s brand equity (momentum, familiarity, consideration, and quality). At UiPath, we moved from last place to first place in brand equity in less than 18 months.”
3️⃣ “We wanted a rebrand that could take us to the next level. Everything from our company name and logo design, to our slogan and core purpose was on the table. We wanted to elevate the distinction of the UiPath brand – the clarity of the identity. We hired a third-party expert that really challenged us on our brand. We had options that radically leaned into some of our largest brand strengths. But, ultimately, we chose an evolutionary approach that built off the strengths of our existing identity. We tightened our logo and launched a new tagline that showcased our position in the future of work: Reboot Work®. It was the perfect move, and it drew widespread support.”
4️⃣ “My advice to founders is to consider the risks and expenses associated with rebranding before making any significant changes. Instead of a complete overhaul, I prefer evolutionary changes. At UiPath, over the past six years, we crisped up our logo just once. We bolded it up some and shifted from the safety of ‘tech blue’ to the power of orange. But, we did this only once. We also created an identity with unique visual features, such as “macaronis” (small fragments of our logo) that sit in the background of images. We also introduced seven robot characters (in 2D and 3D variations) that have become loveable additions to showcase our friendly brand.”
5️⃣ “We wanted early to be the employer of choice. It helped that our founder Daniel Dines cared deeply about building a company that people want to come into work every day; where they would be treated with kindness. We believed in “No Bosses” which helped us minimize the diminishing traits brought on by hierarchy. We actually hired 1,000 people in 100 days at one point. Automation was a huge part of this success. Everyone rallied around being a part of our mission. This ultimately defined our culture.
As a baseline, marketing efforts should be focused on establishing a strong presence through organic and cost-effective strategies. This includes producing compelling content through blogs and stories, becoming an expert at search engine optimization, leveraging video and animations and encouraging online customer engagement, such as through a product forum. Beyond the baseline, building up the profile of your founder/CEO/CTO is critical. The founder is a champion for your culture and your purpose. People root for founders that care deeply. Lean into this big time!”
As a final piece of advice, Patrick suggests that companies bring their culture to the forefront.
“Oftentimes your competitors may be larger, but they may not have the culture advantage you have. For example, our top competitors operated more commercially and proprietarily, while UiPath focused on openness and transparency – led by four key cultural elements that we lived every day: Be Humble, Be Bold, Be Fast, Be Immersed.”
To read the full article, visit here.
