"We give companies a face"

She is a publisher, agency owner - and networker. Together with a team of five corporate specialists, Manuela Stier designs corporate identities and communication solutions for SMEs - from individual measures such as an employee magazine or annual report to the overall concept. "The best thing is to create a new corporate identity on white paper," explains the agency manager.
 
If Stier Communications is to position a client in the market, the first step is to identify the company's values. What does a company stand for? And how does it act? The agency then makes these values visible. Not only externally, but also internally. "Many companies save on the internal employee magazine first. That's wrong!" The potential of employee branding is too often neglected. Stier believes it is important to give your customers a face through storytelling. Technology companies in particular often try to distinguish themselves through products. But: "We've known for 20 years that you can't position yourself through a product alone." Stier points to a magazine with pipes, screws and other building materials on the cover. "No company can stand out from its competitors with this." In this case, Stier advises not to present individual components, but to show what is subsequently created from them. After all, a building evokes more emotions than a few pipes.
 
The PR consultant and sales manager founded the agency 18 years ago. She originally focused on technology companies because they "weren't doing anything yet" in terms of positioning. More and more service companies, banks, associations and publishing houses were added to the portfolio. Today, Stier Communications is responsible for the overall concept of the BWB Group and Archi FM Verlag, among others. The agency designed the CD manual used worldwide for Brugg Pipe Systems.

Networked in the entrepreneurial world

Stier has maintained its down-to-earth attitude over the years. The credo is to be as close to the customer as possible. This is also embodied by the company headquarters in Weiningen near Schlieren. Surrounded by typical SMEs, including an architect, an office furniture manufacturer and a heating and plumbing company, the agency is located in a small industrial district. The PR woman also intensifies contact with the business world by publishing the business magazine. The magazine, which is published three times a year, is an author's journal in which business representatives shed light on a current topic from an entrepreneurial perspective and pass on their practical knowledge. With the magazine "by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs", Stier, as a small agency, wants to make its communication expertise tangible for potential customers. "You can read theory everywhere. We show entrepreneurs how their peers act," says Stier.
 
Her two roles as editor-in-chief and agency owner are intertwined. If Stier senses in contact with customers that a topic is of concern to entrepreneurs, she makes it the subject of the next business magazine. When she noticed that established companies are often skeptical about new media, she conducted a study on "Social media in corporate communications" together with a German agency and then presented the results in the next issue. Conversely, the business magazine is a showcase through which the agency demonstrates its skills. "Discreet self-promotion", as Stier calls it. And a means of getting in touch with interesting people and further expanding her extensive network - she currently has 1,300 contacts on Xing. Time and again, she succeeds in attracting well-known business representatives as authors. Guest contributions have already come from Petra Jenner, Country Manager Microsoft Switzerland, Pierin Vincenz, Raiffeisen Bank, and Carolina Müller-Möhl, Müller-Möhl Group. However, the fact that Stier publishes a magazine as an agency owner is not universally welcomed. When she launched the magazine six years ago, she was often told that she was not a publisher. Today she says with pride: "I am an enthusiastic publisher."

Present on all channels

Over the years, Stier has succeeded in anchoring its brand among entrepreneurs with the business magazine. In print, in the new media, at events and on television. On Wirtschaftsmagazin. ch and on the "Unternehmer" app, more than 700 articles by company managers are now available. Each issue is also accompanied by the "Unternehmertalk" broadcast on Tele Top, in which business representatives discuss the topic of the current issue. Entrepreneur events and a free entrepreneur app complement the active entrepreneur platform. Her latest project is a commitment to a charitable foundation for people with rare diseases in Schlieren, with which she organized the first business magazine charity event for children with rare diseases in October. And it goes without saying that the entrepreneur is using all communication channels to publicize her project. The charity event was filmed by Tele Top and subsequently broadcast on various websites and shared on the social web. Anyone who is somehow connected to Stier is constantly provided with news. Guaranteed.
 
Isabel Imper