The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Aespire grows beyond its beginnings
With its headquarters nestled in Sheffield Village on North Abbe Road, Aespire is influencing the way organizations communicate.
Over the past quarter century, President Brian Sooy has played an integral role in shaping how they craft their stories to find their own unique voice in talking to the public.
After attending Lorain County Community College and Bowling Green State University, Sooy founded Aespire in his basement. Stints on Cleveland Street in Elyria and at the Richard Desich Business and Entrepreneurship Center at LCCC followed, and he has been at his present location for the past three years.
Aespire is certified in the StoryBrand model — a framework developed by author Donald Miller which aims to close the gap between businesses and the message they desire to convey to their customers.
“What we find when we work with a lot of our customers and clients is, they have this great idea in their head but they don’t know how to express it in a way that their customers understand… In their mind it makes perfect sense, but not if you put it in front of their customers,” Sooy said.
“A lot of businesses try to be clever, and clever confuses. We are big fans of simplicity and focus. We have a model that we use for branding and design and communications and StoryBrand just fit that well and it gives us a proven framework for clarity and business communications.”
For Sooy an organization’s story is an essential part of the brand and marketing.
“Most people have this misconception about what branding really is,” he said. “They think, you know we put our logo on this water bottle and now the water bottle’s branded. Well, that whole idea comes from when they used to brand cows.
“The idea of branding is that when any business has a message with a story to convey and a message to tell, that starts to form a perception in the customer or client’s mind. And they start to create this story themselves about what they believe about the business
“A lot of businesses try to be clever, and clever confuses. We are big fans of simplicity and focus.”
— Aespire President Brian Sooy
or organization.”
In working with companies, Sooy and the Aespire team help identify the common denominator in finding a way to create a transformational experience for an audience.
Additionally, Aespire offers the Brand Reflections tool, allowing organizations to identify misalignment through a personality profile similar to Meyers-Briggs providing a heat map assessment of 16 organizational profiles.
Aespire is using the tool to help organizations in aligning their missions with future strategic planning.
“Because it’s analyzing this personality aspect and it’s related to brand, it can be used for HR and brand and cultural alignment, for messaging, teamwork to make sure that everyone on the team is on the same page in regards to brand attributes,” Sooy said.
He works with a number of area non-profits including Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio, United Way of Lorain County, Open Door Christian Schools along with the Lorain County Public Health. Also, for the past four years he has worked with global non-profit leaders in collaboration with the Cleveland Council for World Affairs in the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
Sooy also is the author of “Raise Your Voice,” a guide for non-profit organizations in advancing their cause.
“It does make me feel like I’ve done something significant. And not just me but the team here. ,” he said. “We all sacrifice in some way to be able to do some of the work that we do at a lower fee rate for the groups that we have worked with. When we’re blessed we try to bless others with that.”