Cath Sutherland is a dynamic Australian businesswoman who began her career as a creative director for radio stations throughout Australia and later worked in events, public relations and national marketing management.
In 2000, she established her Perth-based consultancy, now Conscious Business, which specialises in helping businesses activate the energy of their business to create a powerful reputation and brand.
Cath created her revolutionary Brand Creation Model to guide businesses through this process, which is outlined in her book Creating Brand Energy: How to Transform Your Business Energy into Market Power.
Whether you are a business owner or corporate professional this practical guide outlines a simple and innovative process to understand your true business identity, attract “like energy”, and grow market share and loyalty through connection.
Cath is also the Western Australian Founding Leader for Conscious Capitalism Australia.
Conscious Capitalism is about inspiring a new way of doing business. By being conscious and responsible and doing good, businesses can enhance their performance and enhance the quality of life for everyone their business impacts. The Conscious Capitalism movement challenges business leaders to re-think why their organizations exist and to acknowledge their companies’ roles in the interdependent global marketplace. To visit their website, click here.
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Franziska: Hi and welcome back to Basic Bananas Radio. My name is Franziska Iseli-Hall and I’ve got another fantastic guest with me today for you and her name is Cath Sutherland. Cath is a dynamic Australian business woman who began her career as a creative director for radio stations. She’s also worked in events, public relations and marketing.
In 2000 she has established her first based consultancy, now called Conscious Business. They specialise in helping business activate the energy of their business, to create a powerful reputation and brand. Cath created her revolutionary brand creation model to guide businesses through this process. Which is outlined in her fantastic book, “Creating Brand Energy – How to transform your business energy into market power.”
Cath is also the Western Australian founder leader for conscious capitalism in Australia. Please welcome Cath. Hi Cath. Welcome to today’s episode. I’m really excited to have you here today.
Cath: Thanks. It’s great to be here.
Franziska: We have already introduced you but if you could just tell us a little bit more about you, from your own perspective. And also your business journey so far.
Cath: Sure. Well I live in Western Australia and my business journey I started off my career as a creative director for eight years in radio stations around Australia. I then had a number of marketing management roles including I was marketing manager for Air Link which was Qantas Link Regional Airlines. So I looked after all of their branding. And in 2000 I started my own consultancy.
I started off as a marketing consultancy but then I realised that there are a lot of people that actually didn’t have their business plans organised. And I couldn’t leverage a marketing strategy if they didn’t have their business strategy. So for thirteen years I’ve been helping businesses, small and large, and develop their business and marketing strategies.
And in that time, doing that, I really wanted to impress the importance of relationships on business. A lot of CEO’s and general managers would say, “All this marketing stuff. It’s so fluffy stuff. How does that really impact the bottom line?” I really wanted to impress on them that a lot of the relationship marketing and things that they do might not have an immediate impact on your bottom line.
But your relationships and how you deal with everyone who deals with your business, really determines the flow of your profits to your business. So the strength of your business is based on the strength of your relationships. So it was then that I came up with the brand creation model which I’ve developed and written book about called Creating Brand Energy.
Franziska: And it’s a great book. I’ve got it. I came to your book launch and I love the book. It’s not only great but it’s also very visually appealing.
Cath: Yeah, thanks. Being a branding book and actually working with a lot of entrepreneurs and people who are busy… A lot of entrepreneurs that I know don’t read. And they’ve got small attention spans. They’re just, “Go, go, go.” They just move forward with great ideas.
So, this book I wanted to present it magazine style. So there’s lots of pictures, lots of quotes, lots of ideas. So you can deep into it, if you want, and pick up some great ideas or you can read it from cover to cover. So I tried to cross both bases with the book.
Franziska: I’ll love to talk a little bit now about two things. You mentioned that relationships are so hugely important for any business. I’d love to talk about that. And then I’d also love to talk about Conscious Business and why you’re business is called Conscious Business. So let’s talk about relationships first. Maybe you can share some tips with our listeners even about how you go, about building relationship and why it’s so important.
Cath: Yeah, well, successful business is based on successful relationships. And every interaction you have with everyone to do with your business either positively or negatively impacts your reputation or your brand. So, I’ve been a business consultant and marketing consultant for thirteen years, but on the side for the last six years I also studied energy therapy.
In energy therapy the modality is basically based on the eastern philosophy that your body isn’t just a physical body but it’s also an energetic body. And you see a lot of modalities like acupuncture works with your energetic body, there is pranic healing, Reiki… All the eastern philosophies understand that your body isn’t just a physical entity but it’s also an energetic entity.
And I was sitting there studying this on the weekend and I just thought, “You could really apply this concept to business.” That your business is not just a physical entity, but it’s also an energetic entity, and it’s the collective energy of everyone who works with you that creates your reputation in the market place. And your reputation is your brand.
So your business energy is your brand energy. And it’s how you express yourself energetically out into the market place that actually has you attracting the right energy for your business. So creating the right relationships for you. So if you understand who you really are as a business, and whether who you are as one person as a business, or whether who you are as thousands of people as a business. If you understand what your unique brand energy is, and you are being consistent with that in the market place you’ll attract the right energy for your business to create the right relationships. So your business builds energy and your brand builds. Does that make sense?
Franziska: Yeah, yeah. It make sense. And I am just wondering, you probably must be one of the first people to actually apply the study of energy to business. I have never come across anyone who has integrated the energy learnings into business practices.
Cath: I think I am. Yeah, I think I am and that’s why this is such a new and engaging model because everyone that I have gone and present this to… Before I wrote the book, I went around with my model and I presented it to CEOs of all these different businesses. I presented it to scientists, lawyers, financial planners. You know, those who would probably be more left brains.
Franziska: Yes, absolutely.
Cath: And more functional than the right brains energy side of things. And when I explained it to them they all got it and they all said it, “Intuitively makes sense.” And a lot of great businesses actually do this intuitively. Like Virgin for example, Richard Branson in the 80’s said I’ve got this brand Virgin and I’m gonna brand my music business, my vodka, my airline business, all those different businesses with the brand Virgin.
Back in those days the marketing experts said, “You can’t do that. You’ll be spreading your brand too thin.” What Richard Branson had shown us is it’s not about the business or the industry that you are in. It’s actually about your energy. And the Virgin brand is all about fun and irreverence so he has stamped the Virgin brand on all these different businesses in all these different industries and the brand has become an amazing global brand.
Because he’s recognized it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. It’s not the actual functional business but it’s about the energy of that business and how you engage people in your business that actually drives your brand. And that’s what my brand energy model shows people. If it is all about energy then how do we define the unique brand energy of our business? And then once we’ve done that, how do we then activate that? How do we leave that? How do we manage that? And how do we express that?
So we attract the right relationships for our business. Not only our customers, but we attract the right team members, we attract the right suppliers, we attract the right stakeholders to support our business and support our energy as a business.
Franziska: Yeah.
Cath: And by doing that, that’s how you can create a really successful brand.
Franziska: Yeah, I love it and we are going to look at the model in a second. and one thing that I love, what you said, is you can look at some of the biggest and greatest brands like Virgin and what you said it’s really what you do but it’s how you do it. And I think that is so important for all the listeners today.
To take that away, it doesn’t really matter what you do because some businesses come along and they say, “I can’t really market my thing because it’s not really marketable.” Well, it doesn’t really matter what it is you do, but it matters how you do things, and how you create your brand.
Cath: Exactly. And a lot of people think that, a lot of businesses think that if they polish and polish their product and make their product perfect then it will sell more; but it’s not actually about the product. If it’s sold more, I don’t know if people remember the beta video player, the beta max. That was a better product than the VHC. Do you know what I mean? There’s a lot of mediocre products out there that have done better.
You don’t have to have the best product. It’s about how you brand your business and how you market it. And it’s how you develop those relationships. So a lot of people concentrate on their product and try to polish that up. But what you and your product creates functional value for the customer. And sure, you’ve got to have a product, it’s got to work and it’s got to satisfy a need.
But when you understand the energy of your business, and activate the energy of your business, what you’re doing is you create emotional value. It’s how you relate to your customers. It’s how they engage with your product and there’s that saying, “People buy from people they like.” So it’s understanding who you are and putting that out into the market place, so you can attract likeminded people to buy your product.
The more emotional value you offer as a business, the more customers are prepared to buy, the more they’re prepared to pay and the more loyal they‘ll be to you as a business. Yes you’ve got to have the, “what” right, what you do right and create the functional value right. But what really builds your business and provides exponential value and profits to your business is how you do that and the emotional value you’re offering. How you engage everyone in your market place to be a part of your business.
Franziska: Excellent… Yeah that makes sense. I’m a huge believer actually in having a fantastic product or service, it doesn’t have to cost the world. But I do believe that it helps to have a great product or service. But I absolutely agree that your marketing and how you market yourself and the brand that you create around your product whatever it is, or a service, is so much more important.
Now let’s talk a little bit about your brand energy model and if you can just walk the audience through how it works and what they need to know about the model. And maybe we can also look at where they can find out more about it.
Cath: Yeah, sure. Well to determine your unique brand energy, there’s five energy elements you need to define for your business. So in defining, okay, what is the energy of my business, the first thing you need to define is your vision. Where do you see your business in two-five years‘ time? What’s the picture? What do you want to achieve for your business? And your vision sets the overall action game for your business plans. So that sets out your strategies and aims and actions of how you’re going to achieve your vision.
What you’re wanting to achieve for your business; so that’s the stock of your energy. And as we’ve said you need a good, functional, sustainable business at the core of this model. So you need a good business plan and a good working business. That‘s at the beginning. Once you’ve got the spark of your energy, your energy that you create around that, what really ignites that spark is your global vision.
So that’s the first energy element you need to define for your business. Is your global vision. And your global vision is, if my business could be used as a vehicle for good, what would I want that good to be? What do I want to be able to contribute to my customers, my community, my environment, my market place, my global community? For example, Morrison, the fashion label that is in my book, their global vision is to strengthen the fabric of families. So everything they do strengthens the fabric of families.
Like they bring in women that had mastectomies from breast cancer and they style them for the day and give them the outfits for the day… So that’s strengthening the fabric of families. And your global vision sets your over action aim for all your corporate social responsibility. So you start defining what I want my business to contribute to on a greater scale. That‘s your higher intent… And that ignites the spark of your vision that gives you a higher meaning for why you are in business.
The second energy element you need to define is your purpose. And that charges your energy as your business. So your purpose isn’t you wanting to make a whole lot of money, or you wanting to make the best product known to mankind. Your purpose is how I want my customer to feel after experiencing my product. How do I want them to feel? What do I want their take out to be? So your purpose charges your energy. So you’ve got your global vision which ignites the spark of your energy, your purpose which charges your energy, the next energy element you want to define are your values.
And your values fuel your energy. And I look as values as like vitamins. If you are activating your values daily in your business, then you are keeping your business energy healthy. You’re giving it a boost when it might be a bit low and you’re also protecting your energy against any internal or external harmful influences. So your values fuel your energy and when they’re activated, they’re providing guiding tendances for how you do business.
And they provide your staff with guiding tendancies for how to do business so they understand. They can be empowered to solve any problem for your business as long as they’re within the guidelines of your values as a business. So your values fuel your energy. The fourth energy element you need to define it’s your personality.
Which sets the attitude, tone and style of everything you do. So, it‘s basically looking at if your business was a person, what personality would they have? Are you fun, are you passionate, and are you proactive? What are your personality attributes? And then, when you define those for your business, they become objective.
Once you understand these subjective brand elements and you make them objective, it then helps you to manage your team and it helps you have greater directorship and control of all the soft aspects of your business. So they are really handy. So your personality is your connection point, sorry, it’s the attitude, tone and style of everything you do as a business.
The final energy element is your product. And that it is your connection point. That’s what consumers plug into. So your product needs to be attractive and needs to do the job as we were saying before. You need to have a great product for people to want to connect. So once you understand your global vision, your purpose, your values, your personality and your product, when they’re all aligned you have internal power as an organisation.
And when they are all aligned you have authentic power as an organisation. And it‘s that energy that comes from you activating all those brand energy elements that attract the right people to you. So customers for example are attracted to your brand energy as a business so they connect with your product. And when they connect with your product they become an acquaintance.
And this is where you can determine your relationships as a business. When people buy your product is not the bill indoor, they’re just an acquaintance. They love your product, they stay connected and through that continued connection, all your relationship marketing, they get to understand your personality. And if they feel aligned with your personality, they’ll become friends with you.
So your relationship deepens into a friendship. So they stay connected, because they are friends with you and if they continue a connection with you, they get to understand your values. That you are the real deal you are a genuine business. And when they get to understand your values they’ll come to trust and respect you as a business. So the relationship deepens.
So they stay connected, they get to understand your purpose. That you are here to make them feel a certain way. And when they get that they come in deep to you… They come to love you. So your relationship deepens to a love. And when they understand your global vision, that you are here as a business to give something greater, to give back on a local or global scale and they are invited to be a part of that, they’ll become life partners for the life of your business.
So it’s about understanding your five brand energy elements, activating those and expressing those in the market place. And when customers, team members and stakeholders become connected at those different levels, you can determine the depth of relationship you have with all of your stakeholders in your business. Sorry, that was quite long winded but that’s the model in a nut shell. Does that make sense?
Franziska: Yeah, it’s so important what you outlined and I love how you … we went from the big vision down to the product but then I love how then you explained how you‘re the customer connects to you is first through the product or the service that they buy. But then as they move up it becomes stronger.
And their involvement becomes more emotional and I love how you explained that, because those are such important. If we want to call them foundations, they are basically the foundation of a business. But most businesses don’t have them. So, I’m really glad that I’m talking to you today.
Cath: That’s the energy about a business. But you’re also expressing those energy elements all the time. So, you might find that customers might connect with your global vision first, and then become introduced to your product. Do you know what I mean? So, it’s all of those working together that will attract different people at different levels. But yes, they can come through your product.
So it’s happening simultaneously, together. But that’s a simple step of, “just because you’ve got a great product and people are buying it, don’t think that’s the bill and handle?” It’s not. You can have a much more powerful connection with everyone that is involved in your business.
Franziska: Excellent. Do you have another really good case study of a business that it’s doing exactly that, really, really well and it’s very obvious that they have thought about it?
Cath: Yeah, I’d say. Have you heard of Anion? The cleaning products?
Franziska: Yeah, I’ve heard of it but I don’t know so much about them.
Cath: They’re chemical free cleaning gloves and mitts. And these mitts have cleaning nooks, have microfibers so you don’t need to use soap. You just use water. They’re very environmentally conscious. And they have a great brand personality, and the way that they connect with their customers and their global vision is to enhance healthy living.
So everything they do is about enhancing healthy living through their chemical free cleaning products. Through too above the CEO level is actually taking part in a seven hundred kilometre ride actually at the end of March. And that’s for youth focus, for the prevention of teen age suicide, self-harm and depression.
So they’re enhancing healthy living by doing a number of things. And also the consultancy sells their product above in the office. She brings in personal trainers for the staff, she brings in nutritionists to give nutritional advice to her consultants, so it becomes part of who they are. It’s not just the product that they sell but they are all encompassed into the product. And it’s the energy around that product that can mean a lot more than just the product.
Franziska: That‘s a great example, and obviously for our listeners to, it’s a great example because it’s a cleaning product. And normally you would think a cleaning product, so what? But they actually manage to use your model and live what they dream for, what they do in their business, what the purpose is for their business. So that’s a great example.
Cath: Yeah.
Franziska: Yeah, you go.
Cath: No, sorry, go on.
Franziska: So, one other thing that I wanted to briefly chat about is Conscious Capitalism because I know you are highly involved with that movement; so if you can just share with us a bit about it and what it is about, why is it so important, what does it mean, how can people become part of Conscious Capitalism, what can they do.
Cath: Yeah, great, thank you. My business is called Conscious Business because at the end of the process that I’ve developed, I believe businesses become conscious of not only who they are. But they become conscious of their impact on their customers, their team, or their stakeholders, their environment, their markets and the global community.
So when Conscious Capitalism was launched in March last year in Sydney, Conscious Capitalism Australia, I was right on board. And I thought, “Great, this is a great movement,” because one of my visions is to build Conscious Businesses and build a Conscious Business network work with other conscious businesses, employees look for work for conscious businesses to work for, customers look for conscious businesses to buy from, etc., etc.
So you create a conscious business network. And that was my vision. When I started my conscious business company five years ago. So last year Conscious Capitalism started in Australia which was very exciting. And Conscious Capitalism Australia is based on the USA model which is Conscious Capitalism Institute in America.
The chair of that is a man called Raj Sisodia. And he wrote a book called Firms of Endearment which basically looks at all those firms that did so well during the global financial crises and how these businesses were all conscious businesses that they really looked after everyone who worked with them and how by doing good was really good for business because they actually outperformed.
Those conscious businesses actually outperformed a lot of the businesses that you’d expect to do well during the GFC. So, he’s done a study of those in his book called Firms of Endearment and he heads up Conscious Capitalism in America. So that’s basically what conscious capitalism Australia is about.
It’s about showing, inspiring Australian businesses and showing them that doing good is actually good for business. By being really conscious of who you are as a business and how you interact with your market and not just your customers but all of your stakeholders, your suppliers, everyone. How that can actually be great for your business profits and your business health and sustainability.
Raj Sisodia gives a great example about the Whole Foods Market. It’s now a multibillion dollar business internationally and when they first started they were great conscious business and looked after their community. And when they first started they had a massive freak flood in their store and the owner John Mackey set down with his stuff and said, “Look, we’ve had this massive flood. I don’t know if we’re gonna get through this and I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to pay you as employees. But all I know is, I’m wanting to try to get this business back on track.”
And as he was giving this speech to his team some of their customers walked in the door with mops and buckets and said, “Come on guys. How can we help? We love you, we love your store, we love the organic foods that you bring, that you have in your store and how you support local farmers and we are here to support you. How can we help?” and in seeing that the employees said, “Great, we’ve got our community around us. Let’s try and get this store back up and running.”
Then the suppliers saw that the customers were behind the store so they said, “Look, we could write off some of this stock and we’ll give you some stock on credit so you can replenish your shelves.” And then the bank saw that the suppliers were behind the store and they said, “well, we can extend your credit.” so this Whole Food Market nearly went bankrupt before they got huge.
This is when they were one store. But because they were so good to their employees and their customers and their suppliers, when they had troubles, all of their stakeholders put in their business. And that’s what this is all about. It’s all about understanding who you are as a business and understanding how you impact everyone around you and how you create those strong, solid relationships. Genuine relationships, with integrity and who you are as a business.
And how that will keep you strong and now Whole Foods honestly, is a tens of billions of dollar business and they have whole foods markets all over America, England, all over the world. And I have a similar story. I had a client on Faraway Bay which is a luxury bush camp right on the top of the Kimberly. And years ago when I first started doing work for Bruce and Robin on Faraway Bay, they’re just a mom and dad operated business.
They had a massive cyclone that went through Faraway Bay and ripped up all the cabins and Bruce who is like sixties was just thinking, “Should I rebuild this wilderness camp? Do I have the strength to do this?” When he was sitting there contemplating that he had past guests calling up and saying, “Bruce, we’re wanting to come up and help you rebuild”
He had builders in Cananara put down their tools and say, “Look Bruce, we can help you with prefabs and cabins to put back on, put Faraway Bay back together” and they even had Jimmy the Barge Man because this camp was so remote they have to get everything in by barge which takes a week to go from Cananara all the way around to Faraway Bay.
Jimmy the Barge Man rang up and say, “Bruce, what can I do?” So because he had such great relationships with everyone in his community and with his past‘s guests, some pasts guests flew up from Adelaide and they spent an entire … it took a month to six weeks to get the cabins completely rebuilt. Everyone had tools and helped them rebuild.
Franziska: What a great story. And I couldn’t agree more about not only treating your customers really well. Obviously customer service but also your team, providing training for your team, looking after them, really caring for them and really caring for their needs and also the same with suppliers. Sometimes as a small business there are people that are trying to squeeze everyone as much as they can.
Cath: Yes.
Franziska: But I actually believe if you really care, it doesn’t mean that you have to pay them double the price that everyone else is, but just caring for them and also looking out for what their needs are.
Cath: Yeah.
Franziska: Your business will absolutely boom and grow and will not only have an impact on your business branding but even on the bottom line. So I totally I couldn’t agree more.
Cath: Yeah, because successful business relies on successful relationships and it’s about understanding who you are as a business, how you want to be and being consistently genuine in all your contact with everyone who contacts your business and having genuine good intent and that’s what conscious Capitalism is all about. so basically I’m the Conscious Capitalism leader for Western Australia, and what we are wanting everyone to do is to sign up to our community online.
You just go to the Conscious Capitalism Australia website and sign up with our community. And being signed up you, can then share the stories of other conscious businesses and how they’re being conscious in the market place and how they’re making a difference, and how that is positively impacting their business and their communities.
Franziska: What’s the website for Conscious Capitalism? Is it just consciouscapitalism.com.au?
Cath: Yeah, consciouscapitalismaustralia.com.au
Franziska: Excellent. And if people want to find out more about you and Conscious Business, where can they go?
Cath: Yes, my website is consciousbusiness.net.au.
Franziska: Excellent.
Cath: But, yes, and my book is Creating Brand Energy.
Franziska: And they can get the book on your website as well?
Cath: Yes, sure, they can. And my book is also with AIM, so the Australian Institute of Management around the country. Yes, they can just come to my website and have a flick through. There’s some pdfs that people can download for free on the model if they are interested. Yeah, and just get to know a little bit more about conscious business. They can see it all there.
Franziska: Fantastic. Thank you so much. That was just brilliant and I think very timely for our listeners to. So thank you so much Cath.
Cath: Thank you so much Franziska, I really appreciate your time and interest.
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