Grew more in two years than in their previous ten.

“Guy Richards has consistently provided sound ideas that have been the basis for increasing our connectivity with prospective members. Over the last several years, our membership growth has been nearly double of the previous ten-year period.” -Dan Busby, President

Successful rename and rebrand of global ministry.

“We selected Abiah for a highly complex brand project, including a name change for the USA-based organization (formerly John Stott Ministries) and an entirely new global brand identity—and we could not be more pleased. I refer to Guy Richards as a genius.” -Dale Losch, President

Nearly closed down, now has five new locations.

“After two years we realized that the marketing strategies that worked really well in southern New Jersey were not working in our new market. In fact, we were about to close the office. At this point we hired Abiah. We now have 5 locations in central New Jersey. Looking back, I see that our decision to hire Abiah marked the point when we stopped playing defense and started playing offense.” -Stephen McManus, M.D., Partner

Understanding our approach

Social strategy is built from the idea that people have more influence on purchases and donations than a brand does in traditional advertising approaches (TV, print, Internet, etc.). That’s because whether we acknowledge it or not, people talk. And what they say shapes how a brand is perceived.

There are only two ways to become Talkable. Deliver a great product and/or service to the market that no one else is doing. Or, deliver a horrible product and/or service to the market that everyone is doing.

The brand that falls in the middle of this continuum will become the clutter of the ordinary and be glossed over without a second thought. 

It’s rare for a brand to become successful from the inside out.  

The reason it is so rare is because most brands are driven by leaders who are held accountable by a board to trim, pack and squeeze every ounce of profit from their current resources. This results in the destruction of employee engagement, customer loyalty and brand reputation, but in the short term, delights the shareholders.  

I don’t believe leaders make these decisions to destroy their brands. I believe they make these decisions because they’re not offered or don’t know of any other way. And the marketplace hasn’t done a great job at promoting social strategies for the simple reason that an agency can’t make that much money from this approach.

Yep, here lies the secret: Social strategy is the most cost-effective way to profitable, sustainable growth. And the reason it’s not commonplace in the market is because a person like me, the CEO of a brand development firm, has to make a decision between: 

A. Do we promote low-cost social strategies and tactics that yield the client a great return and loyalty but we don’t make that much from?

Or

B. Do we promote high-cost tactics that yield the client an OK return and kill loyalty but we make more from? 

As for me and my firm Abiah, we have decided to make an impact over profit.