Many believe the value of a strong brand ends at revenue enhancement, but that’s just one part of the story. A breakout brand alters how people analyze, select and remain loyal at multiple levels. And we’re not just talking customers, this includes partners, investors, shareholders, employees and other critical audiences.
Messaging without authority = invisibility, no matter how trustworthy and authentic.
Breakout brands should focus on two goals. They focus on being a growth engine by reducing friction in the stakeholder journey. And, they also build brand awareness by creating authority that moves the organization from unknown, to one of the pack, to a market leader. These goals are interconnected; one doesn’t work without the other.
Organizations eager to build breakout brands should engineer them for the current AI era, characterized by the need for discoverability. Today’s AI tools enable prospects to filter out potential product and service providers before the sales process even begins. If a brand is not discoverable and referenced by credible sources, it’s invisible—and invisible brands don’t grow!
Create a Breakout Brand through rbb’s Proprietary Model
rbb’s model for creating breakout brands consists of three phases. The first includes creating discoverability through rbb’s proprietary Visibility Infrastructure™ methodology. This approach helps ensure brands enter the consideration set. It acknowledges that AI is significantly compressing the lead generation funnel and that stakeholders are using AI to conduct their own research and compare different products and services, build a short list of potential partners and then rely on third-party validation over brand messaging. Enhanced discoverability leads to improved lead quality, a shortened sales cycle and a lower perceived risk, all leading to a faster close.
To achieve discoverability, marketers must create a strong funnel infrastructure, recognizing that AI and today’s search platforms prioritize repeated mentions in credible media, clear category positioning, thought leadership in earned and social media, and consistent proof signals through case studies, third-party reports, speaking engagements and similar endorsements.
Achieving category ownership via rbb’s Authority Acceleration™ approach is the second phase of the rbb model, which helps brands dominate their category after achieving visibility. Awareness and category leadership aren’t built through impressions alone; they’re created through repeated, credible inclusion across media, community conversations and AI resources that position the brand as an authority engine.
Organizations eager to build breakout brands should engineer them for the current AI era, characterized by the need for discoverability.
rbb recommends three foundational strategies to becoming an authority engine. First, define 3-5 specific themes the brand wants to dominate and position one senior executive as the subject expert for each. “We’re innovative” is not a specific theme; “we are the leaders in equipment data analytics for the healthcare industry” is. Next, create media density by building campaigns that generate results through paid, earned, shared and owned content. Finally, generate third-party endorsements for the brand and subject expert on each theme.
The third phase is securing performance optimization through rbb’s Growth Accountability™ process, which maximizes return on marketing spend (RoMS) and ROI by continuously upleveling discovery and ownership strategies. This begins with creating a set of metrics against which rbb tracks progress. Each metrics set is unique and aligned with the organization’s brand goals. A small sample of potential metrics includes:
Discovery metrics – shortlist health
AI inclusion rate
Share of category visibility/reach
Authority metrics – preference building
Tier-one earned media frequency, authority score, quality
Executive POV visibility/citation volume
Unaided awareness lift/brand association tracking
Business metrics – outcomes
Sentiment and reputation indicators
Quality of lead flow, pipeline acceleration
Brand resilience/crisis mitigation
rbb’s Promise: We build breakout brands using integrated PR strategy, creative, digital and analytics to deliver discoverability dominance, authoritative awareness and measurable results.
About rbb Communications
rbb Communications is an award-winning fully integrated agency and Champion of Breakout Brands™. rbb’s talented counselors, creators and connectors drive communications programs that build emotional connections with audiences that show on the bottom line. rbb offers PR/media relations, digital, social & influencer marketing, corporate communications/thought leadership, crisis/reputation management, creative content and advertising. Specialty practices include energy/sustainability, travel/hospitality, professional services/B2B, healthcare, and consumer marketing. For more information, please visit rbbcommunications.com
About UPRAISE
UPRAISE Marketing and Public Relations is the technology PR business of rbb Communications. It is a smart, savvy, and scrappy agency that drives lead generation and brand awareness for B2B technology and financial services innovators. UPRAISE meets or exceeds program metrics in more than 85% of the campaigns it strategizes and executes, overcoming obstacles to deliver results. Every client team is led by a VP with at least 12 years in marketing and PR, ensuring the ability to tackle even the most complex challenges. The agency’s longest-term client has been with UPRAISE for 17 years, with an average client tenure of seven years. By learning each client’s business in forensic detail, UPRAISE continuously delivers ideas that drive success. For more information, please visit upraisepr.com
To set up a free 30-minute consult or to learn more, please contact Tim Johnson: [email protected].
