About Us
Meet Justin
A facilitator helps a group of people understand their common objectives and work better together to achieve them.
As Founder and Visionary at Mercury Creative Group, Justin Bieganek has been a leader in the brand strategy and design space for more than 20 years. His career niche is helping member based associations discover and communicate their brand to drive organizational growth by acquiring new members and increasing member engagement.
![2018 Conference 4](https://mercurycreativegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2018-Conference-4.jpg)
Why Organizations Hire Justin
Justin’s facilitation style brings neutrality and a fresh perspective to effectively help leadership teams, board members and association committees find clarity, create alignment and take action.
Moving an organization forward requires difficult decision making and buy-in from all collaborators. Justin asks the difficult questions and helps teams work through messy issues. He brings enthusiasm and fun to what can often be dull or challenging topics.
Are You:
Losing revenue?
In need of organizational change?
Losing clients or members?
Trying to gain buy-in + create alignment?
In need of clarity?
Looking to re-imagine an event?
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In need of strategic planning to move your organization forward?
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Facing a marketplace shift?
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Battling negative perceptions around your brand, organization and/or industry?
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Attempting to unite all parts of your organization?
![Justin Bieganek speaking at a conference in 2018](https://mercurycreativegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2018-Conference-2_crop-1024x1020.jpg)
Creating Solutions Together
Navigating the journey is Justin’s sweet spot. Justin has worked with groups of varying sizes with a wide range of goals. A good working session is one part destination and one part exploration. As important as it is to stay focused on the end goal, it is just as important to remain open to the possibilities of collaboration. One of the most important outcomes of any strategic meeting is the ownership that comes when a group creates the solution together.
Justin’s natural leadership and varied practical experience allow him to flow seamlessly between the roles needed for effective facilitation.
A Facilitator That Wears Many Hats
Justin’s natural leadership and varied practical experience allow him to flow seamlessly between the roles needed for effective facilitation. His constructive method is as impactful in-person as it is virtually. Learn more about the critical roles that Justin embodies to bring teams together to drive growth.
Connector
“Before this process, we were all separated. We worked in our silos and didn’t even know what others were working on. Now, that has completely changed, and our team is working together better than ever.”
Merry Beckmann
Associated General Contractors of Minnesota
Clairvoyant
“Justin intuitively understands when to talk, when to listen, when to let conversations continue and when to re-direct them. I’m consistently impressed (and mystified) at how well he reads a room.”
Mark Francis
EOS Integrator
Detective
“Justin and his team led us through an in-depth strategic value proposition session, which I highly recommend. We learned so much about our organization and messaging. We developed our essential value, and it really made us look at our brand from a unique lens. MCG helped us evaluate all of our communications, e.g., website, newsletter, e-communications, marketing materials to ensure everything had a succinct look + feel. We couldn’t be happier.”
Angela Kisskeys
Associations North
Navigator
“By breaking down what was truly important to our association, Justin led our strategic board meeting and helped us take 13 nebulous goals and turn them into three actionable ones. We couldn’t have done it without his skillful facilitation and invaluable outside perspective.”
Kevin Lewis
BOMA Greater Minneapolis
Motivator
“It was amazing to watch you work. The way you get everyone involved and overcome obstacles while remaining positive is inspiring. I have never attended a session that was as engaging and effective as this one.”
Julie Steel
Engineering Alliance Minnesota
Peacemaker
“As a 100-year association steeped in tradition, some key staff and members were resistant to change. This resistance was expressed verbally during some very lively working sessions. What could have easily devolved into disruptive disputes instead became productive conversations. I appreciated the way Justin addressed the issues and made sure everyone’s opinions were heard.”
Tim Worke
Associated General Contractors of Minnesota
Cheerleader
“Justin made sure even the quietest voices in our group were heard. His gentle prodding and positive reinforcement made everyone in the room comfortable sharing their thoughts.”
Cassie Larson
Minnesota Nursing & Landscaping Association
Enforcer
“I was surprised (and appreciated) how much Justin held our feet to the fire…really grabbed on and said you’re going to get this right…he wouldn’t let slide back into old habits.”
Renee Horsman
Associated General Contractors of Minnesota
Available For
Keynotes • Workshops + Training • Virtual Presentations • Webinars • Panelist • Facilitator
Recent Presentations
Discover + Communicate Your Association's Essential Value
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The Essential Value of your organization is your value proposition, differentiator and brand characteristics distilled into a single word or phrase. Justin will talk about the importance of discovering your Essential Value and how to ensure all of your audiences have clarity and alignment on the value your organization brings to the world!
This session includes:
- An exercise for determining clarity of your Essential Value
- How articulating your Essential Value helps set vision and direction for your organization
- How to communicate your Essential Value from the inside out; across your organization and beyond
Stand Out by Looking In, Define Your Essential Value
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It can be hard for member based associations to stand out in their industry because their brand messaging is often similar to their competitors? This workshop will walk attendees through how to discover their essential value and who they serve best, so they can differentiate themselves and grow their membership.
Strong brands are key to organizational success. A strong brand helps leaders, team members and board members all speak the same language. If you don’t know your ideal audience and can’t describe your brand in a word or two, then you have a brand problem.
Brand clarity empowers everyone with the words and confidence to speak consistently about your organization and connect with your audience in a memorable way.
This session includes:
- A deep dive that outlines how Brand Strategy, Strategic Goals, Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plans fit together.
- An exercise to help attendees distill their essential value into just a word or two.
- A storytelling exercise to help attendees identify their ideal audience.
- A working session introducing attendees to the value proposition framework and how their ideal audience fits into this framework.
- A “how to” for creating a communications and content strategy that focuses your brand messaging
3 Simple Secrets For Identifying Your Ideal Audience
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When your messaging tries to be too many things to too many people it gets lost in the mass of content that exists in today’s world. Defining your ideal audience helps focus your messaging so your members and prospective members can self identify that you are the organization for them!
The traditional sales cycle has changed dramatically over the past 10 years and even more over the past 3 years. Your ideal members have more information about you now than ever before. Your audiences are flooded with content and communications and they can find out lots about you before ever interacting with your association or meeting anyone from your team. It’s important to bring your authenticity and value forward so your ideal members can meet you halfway and self identify that you are the organization for them.
This session includes:
- A storytelling exercise to help attendees think about their favorite member.
- A “how to” for capturing demographic information and creating an avatar.
- A working exercise introducing attendees to the value proposition framework and how their ideal audience fits into this framework.
Speaker Details
![Justin Bieganek](https://mercurycreativegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Justin-headshot-upd.jpg)
Fee Ranges + Travel
United States: $5,000 – $10,000* | International: Please inquire
Traveling From: Minnesota, USA
*Ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees vary by engagement type and are subject to change. Speaker fees do not include travel and lodging expenses. For an exact quote, please contact Mercury Creative Group.