Steve McKee’s Power Branding to close out 2014 Counselors Academy Conference

I’ve known Steve McKee for a very long time.  I was new in my career, working at another PR agency in Phoenix, and he was an account executive at one of the local advertising agencies.  We shared a client.  Little did I know then that as our careers advanced and he would leave the market that our paths would continue to cross… again and again. He’s now president of one of New Mexico’s finest firms, McKee Wallwork + Company, and a successful author, publishing his second book, Power Branding late last year. (Take two minutes and watch the trailer!)

And as luck would have it, he is the closing keynote speaker at this year’s Counselors Academy Spring Conference in Key West, May 4-6.

It may seem that talking to a bunch of PR agency owners and managers might be a bit like preaching to the choir. After all, isn’t this we can get paid to do?  Help our clients strategically grow their business? Sure it is, but admittedly, couldn’t we all use a bit of a reminder of some of the best of the best and how they’re doing it.  And heck, it doesn’t just to have to apply to our clients – shouldn’t we be interested in strategically growing our own business, too?

In the book, Steve explains why some brands have the ability to continuously grow bigger and better, while others stumble year after year, never winning the race.  In his talk, he’ll take a look into the practices of some of the biggest brands in the world and show us how their strategies can also serve small and mid-sized companies.

As his book points out, branding

• Improves visibility of and respect for a product, service, or company and drives sales;
• Enhances margins, as customers will buy from names they know and trust;
• Improves the dynamics of an organization, impacting recruitment and retention; and
• Affects the company’s financials.

And if learning about those four points isn’t reason enough, how about the fact that the session takes place in the famous Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, where the prolific author lived and wrote for more than 10 years.