Norma Dorst is an experienced marketing professional with a background in engineering and roles centered around strategic marketing and corporate storytelling. She has had numerous marketing roles in her nearly 30 years at National Instruments (NI).
I had the pleasure of chatting with Dorst to talk about all things launch related and uncovered what she loves and likes about product launches and something she would recommend leaving behind. I was especially excited to sit down with Norma because of her background in engineering and I wanted to see how that played into her insights. Let’s dive into Dorst’s best practices and discover how they can be applied to your next successful product launch!
Love It: Rebrand: Stay Authentic and Create Emotional Ties
Dorst’s most memorable launch was recently, when National Instruments underwent a rebrand, as they transitioned from National Instruments to “NI.” With this rebranding, NI wanted to focus on authenticity and the employees. The goal was to ensure everyone at NI could theoretically act as a brand ambassador and truly embody the values of the company. Dorst noted it was important for the employees and even their customers and the industry to establish emotional connections and build a relationship with the new NI brand.
To make the launch of the new brand a success, it was imperative to execute a comprehensive rebranding process. With the key goals of forging connections and creating emotional ties, Dorst highlighted three key elements NI incorporated in their rebranding process and she recommends for any rebrand.
- Start with Leadership: First things first, Dorst mentioned, that when you are rebranding a company, you cannot do it without the CEO or senior leadership team being involved. They must believe in the change and lead the charge.
- Be Clear on Who You Are: The leadership and team need to understand that the rebrand is not just about external marketing, and taglines and phrases you always see. It is about the company’s identity and who they are.
- Understand How You Are Perceived in the Market: Conducting interviews and external research helps to get a sense of what your company is already known for. Generally, the people you conduct interviews with and reach out to for information know who you are authentically and can provide useful insights. Then, organizations should see how this intel compares to the internal strategy of the rebrand direction.
“Rebranding is hollow if you do not build on something you already are. If you really want to be something different, you have to actually be something different before you can tell the whole world that you’re different,” Norst shared.
Like it: Bring Engineering to the Forefront and Connect to End Users
Dorst’s background in engineering gave the “Like It” section a unique take that I haven’t come across in my interviews before and made me eager to share the insights. Continuing with the rebrand National Instruments went through, Dorst discussed the process of evaluating their company values. As they went through this process, it was apparent that their current values were very generic and common to what other companies use. For the new brand, they wanted to have fewer, more action-oriented values. One way to achieve this was to bring engineering to the forefront, Dorst shared. Using engineering as the focus and the connection point for end users was how they were going to showcase their values. “It was important to get people to understand that engineers are the heroes of the story,” Dorst mentioned. “It is oftentimes you do not see them as such.” Taking this unique approach to the rebranding positioned NI for a very impactful launch.
This approach ended up playing perfectly into their launch as it took place during the beginning of COVID-19, which was a challenging and new time for every organization to navigate. The original ideas NI had for the launch campaign were reimagined into something different, leading them to focus on bringing engineering to the forefront. NI engineering teamed up with GM, and utilized their warehouse space to help scale ventilator production, providing hospitals with more ventilators and saving countless lives in the process. This gave the world a story about how engineering gives us hope in a time when things were not so good. “Having the real things that you can point to and say, we need to live our values every day and tell those stories about engineering makes a difference,” Dorst said. “It is not enough to just provide the tech.” Providing a connection point to audiences made their launch much more impactful and allowed them to showcase a unique part of their brand.
Leave It: Connect with the Audience and Key Pain Points
Dorst’s “Leave It” component is focused on the product and the customer. “It is important to understand when the times are to be product-focused and when to be customer-focused,” Dorst commented. She went on to share that when there is too much focus on the “what” and not the “why” it can take away from the value of the product. It is important to look at it from the customer’s viewpoint. The customer thinks and cares about so many things and in the grand scheme of things, one thing they do not necessarily care about is your product. Marketers need to figure out a way to connect to the tiny slice of their brain that might care.
To make that connection, Dorst shared, it is important to ask why. Why should audiences change their status quo? Why should they change from what they are currently doing and have been habitually doing for so long? There needs to be a significant impact or turning point for a customer to change their normal way of doing things and one way to put that change in motion is to connect with them through the pain points they experience. “Always ensure there is time invested to connect with the audience and key pain points as this achieves better results,” Dorst stated. “When you can connect with your audience, you thrive.”
Product Launch Lessons Learned: Insights to Takeaway
Dorst’s emphasis on audience and customer connection throughout our conversation made it very clear that her customer-centric approaches to launches are what have made them so successful. From creating authentic, emotional ties to bringing unique components of the company to the forefront and showcasing the company to facilitate connections, these components of launches can make a huge impact. In a crowded market with significant noise, be sure to focus on connecting with the audience and their key pain points. Take the time to get to know them and market to them in a way that will get them to change their status quo and venture into a new way of doing things.
If you’re seeking a trusted partner to elevate your product launch experience, your search ends here with Launch Marketing. Our expert branding and design services have helped elevate B2B brands for their launch for over 20 years. Take the first step towards crafting a solid brand for your product or company launch by scheduling a consultation with our experienced team. Together, we’ll ensure your product or company launch is a resounding success.
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