Dana Birkes MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
1: You've moved from the construction industry with Flintco to power generation with Clifford. What is the learning curve in your new job?
The clients and their motivations are different, and so is the length of engagement and the overall value of the investment. However, the fundamentals of marketing remain the same.
The foundation of any successful marketing program is having a thorough understanding of the industry and how your company operates. You take this information to define and communicate the differentiators (your company promise) in a compelling way that will influence a client to purchase your product or services over others.
You must understand and influence how your business operates because success only occurs when the promise is aligned with operations' ability to deliver.
2: Can you describe what Clifford Power Systems does?
Founded in Tulsa in 1985, Clifford Power is a privately held company providing generator sales, service, rental and parts. The company has 10 offices spanning Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.
Clifford Power is unique in that generators are the sole focus of our business, and our technicians are experienced and certified to support all makes and models. Not only do we sell generators, but we also provide generator life cycle support through a comprehensive set of solutions from preventative maintenance programs to emergency support to rental and parts.
3: What are Clifford Power's growth plans for the near future?
Owners (and brothers) Tom Clifford and Ken Clifford have defined a 10-year growth plan that calls for $100 million in sales and additional geographic expansion. It is an aggressive plan, but the Cliffords have a clear strategy and have made significant investments to establish the foundation necessary to achieve this vision. This includes a complete reorganization with a new senior management team, the addition of my position and role within the company and new supporting systems and infrastructure.
4 Numerous Tulsa-based and longtime family-owned companies have sold to outside ownership in the past year - Flintco, the Tulsa World and F&M Bank. Why are we seeing so much of this?
First, businesses often need to merge with larger businesses to achieve efficiencies of scale to be competitive and access additional capital to grow. Second, to effectively drive an organization requires leaders with enormous commitment and passion for the business. This is combined with the pressure of knowing many employees and their families are relying heavily on its success. However, this commitment does not always translate from generation to generation. In these circumstances I applaud business owners who know themselves well enough to make the difficult decision to sell.
5: What is the biggest challenge in corporate public relations over the past 10 years?
Social media! The ready access to information and an individual's ability to communicate to large groups makes it a totally new field for corporate public relations and marketing.
This medium has also shifted the traditional "push" marketing model to "pull" marketing. That is, instead of companies pushing messages out, stakeholders are defining what information they want and how they want to access it.
Today, deeper segmentation of audience types has increased the need for detailed marketing strategies to deliver responsive, relevant messages over multiple channels.
Dana Birkes is chief marketing officer for Clifford Power Systems. She has three decades of experience in corporate public relations, including as vice president in charge of marketing, corporate communications and business development for construction company Flintco LLC. In 2012 Birkes won the Weld Coxe Marketing Achievement Award, the highest honor given by the Society for Marketing Professional Services.
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