0:00

Hi, my name is Siobhan and you're watching Disney Channel.

0:04

What? That's not what this is.

0:07

Fuck. Alright, alright. How about this?

0:11

What's up on fuckers? This is Siobhan Colleen from Industry Explorers.

0:15

You're listening to unfuck my business.

0:18

No bullshit advice for business owners who want to be resilient as fuck

0:23

without any further a fuck a dude ado, here are your hosts.

0:27

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Unfuck my business

0:31

show. I am Robyn Sales and

0:35

I'm going to be leading the conversation today with one of my favorite people

0:39

that I get to nerd out with about all things

0:42

branding, marketing, advertising, and the impact that

0:46

that has on your business. My friend, Shay Jeffers.

0:50

Shay, say hello to everybody. What's up, people? How are you all doing today?

0:55

So, Shay, we are going to dissect

0:59

and pull apart what tends to get all

1:03

clumped together, which is the concept of marketing

1:07

and advertising. Yeah, and I think I talk a lot about

1:14

the idea of commoditization. So especially

1:18

in the branding space, getting a good, solid brand helps you differentiate

1:23

yourself, set yourself apart from the pack and remove yourself

1:26

from being potentially commoditized. So I think specifically about

1:30

real estate agents. That's my favorite example. There are so many real

1:34

estate agents that it could be really easy for consumers to go,

1:38

well, all real estate agents do the same thing. And so it's the

1:41

real estate agent who has to take charge of that narrative and go,

1:44

no, we're not all the same. Here's. How I'm different. Right? And so when

1:48

a marketplace becomes saturated, when a concept becomes

1:52

overly used, that's when it becomes commoditized.

1:57

And so I very much feel in the wake of

2:00

instagram and influencers, the concept of marketing

2:05

has been commoditized, if you will.

2:09

And people have a sort of general sense of what marketing is,

2:12

but they tend to lump a lot of things in there and they don't realize

2:15

that there are different facets of marketing, there's different subsets of

2:19

marketing. And there actually is a hierarchy of

2:22

branding, marketing and advertising that need to be deployed at

2:26

the right place and the right time. And you have the

2:31

way you sort of conceptualize stuff and

2:34

break it down for people I really appreciate because you come up with these things

2:37

that are really easy for people to follow. So I want you to talk through

2:41

what you've determined and help people understand

2:46

the hierarchy of branding versus marketing versus advertising.

2:50

Yeah, and this really came from the need of when

2:54

I first really stepped into from just being designer or creative

2:58

to an actual strategist and helping people craft these things. So when they gave me

3:01

a product just to create they're like specific

3:05

needs, I'm actually fulfilling a specific need, just like not just giving gobligook.

3:09

And the big part of that was helping people break down and break

3:13

away from, oh, you're just a marketing guy, or I just want

3:16

some marketing and so three tiers, and he starts

3:20

on the top, which is more focused, and that's where your brand is.

3:23

If you look through the lens, it's like looking through the lens of a camera.

3:26

You look through the focal lens and the most focal point is in the middle

3:29

and it just gets broader and broader as you go out. So you go from

3:32

branding, which is super focused, to marketing, which is not as focused, but still

3:35

specific, and in advertising, which is just straight out open to

3:39

the masses. So with branding is all about your identity, strategy and tactics that

3:43

you implement through your marketing, which is about engagement,

3:46

connecting, developing a conversation. Because marketing

3:50

is that one to one engagement and that one to one engagement can

3:54

be you literally with one to one person or just with a very select group

3:58

of individuals. And then advertising is about enticing people

4:02

to you, creating more awareness around your product or service,

4:05

giving out information so then they have the knowledge so that

4:09

when they get engaged with a conversation with you, they can truly understand your

4:12

brand. So it works both equals from broad to focus

4:16

and focus to broad back and forth. And it's all about getting the sales,

4:19

to be honest with you. Absolutely. So I was actually just in

4:23

a conversation yesterday where we were nerding out about the topic of

4:26

branding and marketing and advertising and sales and how they all should be

4:30

connected. And unfortunately, in many companies, they operate in separate

4:33

silos. So I want to give a quick

4:37

call out to Heather Campbell, who runs Double Dutch Creative

4:41

in Denver. Heather and I particularly were nerding out over

4:44

some concepts, and she gave a sentence which I think

4:48

sums it up so clearly she said, marketing is the path

4:51

to the transaction, right? And so if we use

4:55

your lens idea there, the advertising is drawing

5:00

people in, the advertising is getting the attention,

5:03

but it's the marketing that more intimate back

5:07

and forth that should be the path to the transaction.

5:11

The thing that makes people go, yes, I need to purchase this

5:15

particular product or service. And I don't know about you, but I

5:19

see it all the time where people start on the wrong step,

5:23

right? How many times does somebody come to you and gone, well, I'm thinking about

5:26

doing some Facebook advertising. To whom?

5:32

What conversation are you creating? What are you going to be talking about other

5:35

than here's a price and here's a product or service?

5:41

I was at a training once where the guy was talking about digital marketing automation

5:45

in specific, and he, same as

5:48

us, gets those same questions about Facebook advertising. And he's like,

5:52

okay, so here's what you do. If you don't already have a clear

5:55

conversation with a warm audience in mind for that Facebook advertising,

6:00

what you want to do is go walk into the bathroom, take your wallet

6:03

out of your pocket, and just dump it out over into the toilet

6:06

bowl because that's what you're doing. It's just flushing your money down the

6:11

toilet if you don't truly understand who you're targeting

6:14

with this Facebook advertising, the other thing I hear all the time is,

6:18

oh, I need a logo, or I need a website. And on our

6:21

community calls, we have people coming to us for that all the time.

6:24

Like, oh, I need a website.

6:27

Have you made a sale? Has your product

6:31

or service been validated at all? Do you know if anybody even wants this

6:35

right? Yes, an ask coming.

6:38

Yeah. So they jump to logo. Well, your pretty logo doesn't

6:41

mean anything if it doesn't resonate with the audience

6:45

who actually needs your help and needs your product and

6:49

service. So when somebody comes to you, if I was a client and I came

6:52

to you and I was like, yes, I need a logo,

6:54

right? How do you sort of back somebody through that

6:58

thinking to get them to start where you know they actually need

7:01

to start? Well, I cut to the

7:05

chase. Very simply, your brand is not your logo. First and foremost.

7:09

That is the first thing I always get people to say to

7:12

understand is the aesthetics of your business does not trump the

7:16

actual quality and engagement of your service. And so

7:20

it is asking those questions like you touched on earlier. It's like,

7:24

okay, so what have you sold? What have

7:27

you put out there and gotten feedback on? Because a big aspect of

7:30

brand development is customer feedback. It's all good and well

7:34

to have an idea in your head of what you want it to look like,

7:37

but it doesn't matter if that does not actually create

7:40

a conversation or fulfill a conversation that people are naturally

7:44

having as they walk down the street in themselves. So a brand is

7:47

most effective when somebody has a running dialogue in

7:51

their head and they see an image. In terms of the

7:54

aesthetics of your business, they see that image and it connects with that running

7:58

dialogue. So without understanding that customer and

8:02

that dialogue that's going on in their head, that conversation that you're trying to create

8:05

and be a part of, we'll create a placeholder

8:09

brand, get some feedback, and then do this true development

8:13

afterwards. Brand development is not a

8:16

30 minutes, hey, I slapped together this

8:21

square and this triangle, and I made it look pretty. And then now

8:24

we have a brand that's going to make thousands and thousands of dollars of sales.

8:28

But you're not saying anything, right?

8:32

I love one of my favorite

8:36

pet peeves is there's so many

8:39

services out there that are offering, like, do it yourself logo

8:43

creation. My inhale exhale.

8:47

Yes. I was having a chat about the

8:50

commoditization of brand, and that's another thing

8:54

that kind of drove my desire to break this down because the

8:57

conversation was being commoditized. It was really becoming

9:01

so overly simplified and AI driven

9:05

where, oh yes, go to Wix and they'll easily

9:09

match. I cringe at that commercial where he's like,

9:12

oh yeah, I want this brand to be more organic and

9:16

natural, so I'm going to bring a mountain in it's like organic

9:20

and natural to who? To a

9:23

techie. Something that is more of

9:27

a chemical symbol or whatever can be just as organic and real to them

9:31

as some nature feel. So it

9:35

really drives me nuts. Yeah. Talk to me a little bit

9:39

about how marketing and advertising

9:42

should work together. Right. So if marketing

9:46

is a more intimate you've now

9:50

come into focus, you're in the inner circle, right.

9:53

You're thinking about, I think I want to work with this person. I think I

9:56

want to buy this product. If that's that type of conversation,

10:00

then how does that relate to advertising being more

10:04

of the town crier bullhorn? Like, hey, we have this thing

10:08

over here. Where do you see those two things?

10:11

Collaborating and working together best and most effective. All right,

10:15

so we always say that the best form of marketing is

10:19

word of mouth. That's the most engaging, the most

10:23

powerful, actual sales driving thing.

10:27

But the only way to get that is through brand allies, right? So this

10:31

whole idea of the double tap method, where you have the advertising and marketing

10:34

working in tandem, the advertising so, like you said,

10:38

they're close to purchasing. They engage in that marketing conversation

10:41

with you. But if you are not consistently

10:45

advertising where you are making a general offer and

10:49

presenting you your product or service to the world that is available at

10:52

this time, at this pricing, or at this is

10:56

how you get it you'll miss that sale because you

10:59

will miss the double tap because you only go in one side of the fence.

11:02

So they're having that one on one conversation, but they never know when

11:06

they could buy or when they should buy or how they could buy. And that's

11:10

what all advertising does, is it tells you, hey,

11:13

you're driving down the road, right? And I use the restaurant metaphor.

11:17

You're driving down the road and you start to

11:20

get hungry, and there's tons

11:24

of restaurants on the side of the road and you see a bunch of signs.

11:27

They all have their marketing. They all have their branding because they're different colors and

11:31

they're different shapes and size or whatever. And they have their marketing,

11:34

which is saying, hey, we have food available for you at this

11:38

particular time. But if they say, hey, we are selling two for one burgers.

11:43

Now you're combining the marketing conversation that's went on

11:47

with the immediate need in advertising, and that's a double tap as

11:51

sold. Sorry, go for it. Another piece of that is that brand ally

11:55

in the car with you that says, oh, I want to go to this restaurant

11:57

because I was there last week. And that's the word of mouth. There it goes.

12:01

And that's how you bring it all together, folks. Boom.

12:06

I was trying to think of another way to say it, but I'm just going

12:08

to use the quote that pops into my head. It's a little controversial and I

12:11

don't mean it necessarily in the way it was intended, but this is something that

12:14

I think of as an underlying subtext, especially when you're writing copy and

12:19

you're trying to create messages for folks. You cannot

12:23

over explain it. When we're talking about

12:27

marketing and advertising, so every entrepreneur,

12:31

solopreneur, small business that's worried about being repetitive

12:35

on social media or being repetitive in their marketing,

12:39

that's what you're supposed to do.

12:41

Repetition builds reputation and you cannot over explain

12:45

it or oversimplify it. Part of this is

12:48

the experience, right? And so when you talk about that double tap effect,

12:52

part of the reason why that's effective is because they've not only told

12:56

you what they have, but how you can get it.

12:59

And we tend to think that, like, oh, people know that they can pull off

13:03

the highway and go through the drive through and get our burgers. We just have

13:06

to tell them they're two for one. No,

13:09

that's why billboards say, get off at exit 27,

13:13

turn to the right and come through our drive through. Because especially when

13:17

people are in a space when they're making like a car trip on a highway,

13:20

you get like zombie brain and you kind of forget how to process

13:23

things. Things that seem obvious are not always obvious in

13:27

the moment and so you have to over explain

13:31

it. And so the quote that I use all the time that kind of

13:34

stays in the back of my head to remind me to make sure

13:38

that these messages are simple and are repetitive and do

13:41

explain is individuals are smart,

13:45

but people are stupid.

13:50

Right? Especially when you're in this sort of

13:54

I'm one of thousands of cars that are driving on the highway. If we

13:57

continue with your restaurant billboard example, right? Do you know what it's like

14:01

when all of a sudden you've driven 20 miles and you don't remember

14:04

the last time you looked at a sign or paid attention to where

14:08

you actually are? Right? So just having a billboard that

14:11

says, we've got juicy, delicious hamburgers isn't enough. Like,

14:15

you literally have to help my brain remember how to go purchase

14:19

a juicy, delicious hamburger and how much it costs, right?

14:23

And that all sounds ridiculous, but if

14:27

you take a minute to think about where your customers

14:30

are and what's happening for them at the moment they encounter

14:34

that bit of advertising, or by the time they come to you for the

14:37

more direct marketing, then you'll realize how important it is

14:41

to be beyond clear. You cannot

14:46

oversimplify it. You cannot over explain it. It's all

14:49

necessary. Without that continuous

14:52

explanation, that continuous presence, you start to have this roller coaster in

14:56

your business or your sales, and sometimes it's

15:00

easy to get locked into one or one aspect of

15:04

these three disciplines or the other. So, like, focusing on your branding,

15:07

but not having the marketing or advertising to maintain your presence

15:11

and the ongoing conversation about your brand.

15:14

Or you're focusing on the advertising, but you never say anything of

15:18

substance. So people start to tune out because it's

15:22

just noise. It just becomes white noise in the background. Or you're so honed in

15:25

on your marketing and you're having that conversation. You're so engaged. I engage

15:29

with everybody. I'm so good at engagement and building a community. And then people's

15:33

like, so what are you selling? Or when can I buy it?

15:37

So that's what I say, making sure all these three things are continuously

15:41

engaged. And I think we all I'm sure

15:44

you've been there at points in your business as well, but even those

15:48

of us who do this for a living, we have to keep learning this stuff

15:51

as well. Recently, we learned

15:55

yeah. Right. So I think about the evolution of my own website.

15:58

I had this website that looked great and was very clever and

16:01

people but here's what would happen. People would come to me and go, oh,

16:04

Robin, I love your website, it's so fun. But I'm still not entirely

16:08

sure what you do then.

16:12

It's not working. Right? If you love my website

16:16

but you don't understand what I do, then my website is broken. It's not working.

16:20

It's only performing a part of its job. And so

16:25

to reinforce the point I was making just a minute ago, something that

16:28

I had to learn personally was you have to sacrifice cleverness

16:32

for clarity. So I had buttons

16:36

on my website to schedule a call that would be like,

16:39

Launch a call, because my business is called Launching Your Success.

16:43

And that's actually too clever. People were not

16:46

sure if they should push the button because they weren't sure what was going to

16:49

happen when they pushed the button. Right? And so the button literally has

16:53

to say, Click here to schedule a call because

16:57

it said Launch a call. What we did is, when we started investigating,

17:01

we realized people thought launch a call meant a phone call was

17:04

going to dial and start right there in that moment.

17:08

Yeah. And so that's why they weren't pushing the button. Right.

17:11

So my cleverness of trying to tie in all the wording

17:15

to my branding was actually causing people to not

17:19

take an action that they would normally take. Smart for

17:22

your own good. Well, too clever.

17:25

Which, go look at my report cards from school and you'll see that's been

17:29

my problem my whole life. I still have to keep going. Okay,

17:37

what do we really need to say here? And I

17:41

do think you can balance that, too, because there are some brands where

17:45

you do want some of that cleverness and craftiness to be there as part

17:49

of the messaging and be there as part of the marketing. Or I think about

17:52

some clients I have where they've cultivated very specific language

17:56

because of the industry and things that they're in. And I don't just mean

17:59

jargon, but like there are certain industries where there's a way in

18:03

which people speak within that community and within that

18:06

industry. Right? And you want that to be there. But when

18:10

it comes time to pushing a button, taking an

18:13

action, you want the cleverness to lead up to

18:17

the action, but you want the action to be very super clear.

18:21

Click here to schedule a call.

18:25

I can use all my fun, clever language to lead up to

18:28

that button, but the button needs to be super clear. Click here to

18:32

sign up for our email list. Like, you have

18:36

to tell them exactly what's going to happen the minute they click that button.

18:39

And so it's hard sometimes to turn

18:42

that mirror back on ourselves. And you need that outside help and that

18:46

outside influence sometimes to help you realize

18:50

where you've overcomplicated things in your own messaging and

18:54

in your own branding and marketing. Very true.

18:58

And like you said, you didn't add advertising to that piece. You just said branding

19:01

and marketing and you didn't talk about advertising because that clarity is the most important

19:05

part of advertising. The best jokes have the simplest punchlines.

19:09

She's like one word, three words, and then she did it.

19:12

And then everybody's bossing to laugh because that punchline

19:16

was just everybody understood it. And another thing is making sure that it's

19:19

accessible, properly accessible, making sure that you're projecting

19:23

that message correctly across the whole spectrum.

19:27

Yeah, those things. And we have to remember you've

19:33

talked around this, but I think I want to be super clear for

19:37

people who are listening that you do have to actually ask

19:40

for the sale. You do have to actually say, and this is how much it

19:48

costs to buy. Do you want to sign up right now? I'd love to

19:52

get you started. Can you start today?

19:56

And I could go down a whole rabbit hole about closing techniques

19:59

from a sales training perspective and a soft close and a hard close and

20:03

an assumptive close, and there's all these different ways that you can

20:06

approach it. But ideally it should sound authentic, it should

20:10

sound natural, it should sound intentional,

20:14

but we do have to actually ask for the sale and tell people

20:18

how they can purchase the thing and buy from us. You and

20:21

I have a mutual friend, Liz.

20:24

Hi, Liz. And she at one networking

20:28

event, she made a very good point, which is reducing

20:32

the steps and reducing the friction in that sales process

20:36

which it's tied. Right. So if

20:39

the advertising is leading to the marketing, which is leading to the transaction

20:43

leading to the sale right. We want to reduce the friction points

20:47

in that and make it as easy as possible for them to click the

20:50

button to buy or to sign up or whatever it is we want them to

20:53

do. And so she made a very good point, which felt

20:57

like a punch in the gut at the time, but has stuck with

21:01

me, which was, you should always be

21:04

ready to take the sale. Like, if we're having a

21:08

great conversation here in this moment, and I

21:11

want to buy right now. If I'm ready, I want to

21:15

buy right now. Don't make me wait. Because my sales

21:18

process at the time was like, great. I'm so happy you're interested.

21:21

I'll send you an email when I get back to my office. And then you

21:24

have to click the link, and then you have to fill up the form,

21:26

and then you can purchase the thing. There was, like, five steps that

21:30

involved waiting until I got home, right? And she's like, no, you need to

21:34

have the little thing in your bag. You need to plug it into your phone.

21:36

You need to check my credit card, and I need to be able to buy

21:39

from you right now, capture the interest in that split second.

21:43

PayPal me. Strategics.

21:45

S-T-O-H-D-I-X. It's just that simple. Like,

21:49

having those links in the email in hand, on hand,

21:53

ready to go. Yes. I have stuff

21:56

that I keep on a Notes app, right?

22:00

Maybe I don't have the dongle or on my new phone, the dongle doesn't

22:04

fit. Right? I would need an adapter. So having a customized link,

22:08

and I go, Great, I'm so excited. Here, I just texted

22:12

you to the link. You can click it and sign up and complete the purchase

22:16

right now. Right? So having those things so that

22:19

the friction is minimized and making the information available,

22:23

we had I don't know if you were on that call, but in one of

22:26

our Tuesday night community calls, we had somebody who was kind of

22:29

talking us through their new business thing, and we were all

22:33

like, great, send me a brochure. Send me to a website. And she didn't

22:36

have it. And it turned out that there was a valid

22:39

reason why she didn't have it. It was new, new, and that

22:43

stuff was still being built. But if you're going to

22:46

start talking about it, then you need to be prepared with the things that,

22:49

you know, people are going to ask for. And so I think she lost

22:53

interest because so many of us were like, send me a one sheet.

22:57

Send me a brochure, send me to a website. And she didn't have anything that

23:00

she could point us to that was hers.

23:03

Right? And so I think even if it's not

23:07

a sale directly, just when someone's curious

23:10

and wants to know more, you need to have a place ready

23:14

to go to send them to learn more. Never be

23:17

a dead end. Yeah, never be a dead end or never be sure.

23:21

I'll email that to you when I get back to the office.

23:25

Right? Once you have done the right storytelling

23:29

and engagement, and you build up all that energy, that energy,

23:33

the amount of effort think about it, the amount of effort it took to build

23:36

up that momentum. You're grinding and you're pushing

23:40

this rock up the top of this mountain, and you get to the

23:43

top of the mountain finally, and they say, hey, I'm ready. And you don't have

23:47

anything to keep them or get them over the cusp,

23:51

it's immediately rolling right back to the mountain, usually right over you.

23:55

So it's definitely a good thing to have on

23:58

hand. Such a great metaphor. And so we've talked about how

24:02

our experience, particularly, has been people not understanding

24:06

that you can't jump straight to advertising. You can't even

24:10

jump straight to marketing. You have to start with the brand.

24:14

And so I know that I have things that I, like, will get on a

24:17

soapbox at the drop of the hat and chirp about when it comes to branding.

24:21

But what are your soapbox things? Like, if people take nothing

24:25

else away from this conversation today, Shay, what's the thing you want

24:28

them to understand about where they need to start

24:32

or what their brand needs to start with?

24:34

So especially if okay, let's say we're all in, quote unquote,

24:38

in business, right? Guess what? There's literally only

24:41

one you in business. So don't forget the

24:45

you in that. That is my

24:48

my primary thing. You need to brand beyond your logo. You need to go beyond

24:51

the aesthetics. You need to maintain who you are

24:55

in your organization and what it means, because that trickles down.

24:59

Whether you think that you have salespeople or whatever in front of

25:03

you, they all take leadership from you.

25:06

They all take messaging from you. It all starts from

25:09

the you. So don't forget the you. Make sure that you're distinct.

25:12

Make sure that you are creating contrast with

25:16

the world around you. That contrast is what allows you to then be different.

25:21

So a bunch of pebbles at a beach,

25:24

you see black pebbles, you see the white one, or vice versa.

25:27

It's whatever. A bunch of pigeons, the pigeon that is oddly colored in some

25:31

weird way, that's what you see Robin, her red hair, you see

25:35

her, it stands out. That it's to her. It's to you in

25:38

her organization, in her business, in what she does. Don't ever forget that.

25:42

That's the most important part of me. I believe in building a brand.

25:47

What people listening to this can't see right now is the minute you're like,

25:51

don't forget you, I'm literally, like, spazzing out over here on my end of

25:54

the camera. Like, yes, cannot enthusiastically support

26:01

and encourage that enough. And I think

26:04

understanding that, it really does start from you.

26:08

And let's talk about folks who are entrepreneurs for

26:12

a moment. All of this applies whether you're running your

26:15

own business, you're a part of somebody else's small business, or you're

26:19

a part of a larger machine in a corporate setting,

26:22

right? The way to get ahead, the way to get

26:26

better at whatever it is you're doing, is to understand who

26:30

you are, how you work best, and what is the

26:33

unique and intrinsic value that only you can provide within

26:37

that situation. The better you understand that, the better you're

26:41

going to be at representing your company, at representing the product or

26:45

service you're trying to sell. So I would say that that bit

26:48

of advice is not only critical,

26:52

like not just important, it's fucking critical from a brand

26:56

perspective when you're trying to build a brand for your product,

26:59

for your business, for your service. But that bit of advice is also

27:03

applicable in just building your own personal brand

27:07

within anything that you're doing. If you're

27:10

trying to cultivate thought leadership if you want to get out on the speaking circuit,

27:15

if you want to be known as the expert for a certain thing,

27:19

if you want to be the go to person for something within your organization.

27:23

If you're trying to pivot from one area of your organization

27:27

to another, really, truly starting with you

27:30

and understanding what that value is and what you can

27:34

contribute is so critical. And then I think

27:38

what I'll add to that, the other side of that coin is once you're

27:42

really clear on who you are and how it impacts your

27:46

brand, understanding why people are

27:49

drawn to that and why people need that,

27:52

right? And so, as Shay said,

27:56

you're the only you in business and I don't

28:00

care. This is my favorite joke to make when

28:03

I'm giving speeches and stuff is like,

28:06

I don't care how weird,

28:09

subversive, ultra niche or

28:12

bizarre your particular specialty is, I can guarantee you

28:17

there's at least a dozen people on Google right now looking

28:20

for exactly who you are and what you do. And the only

28:24

reason that they haven't found you yet is because you haven't figured

28:28

out how to clearly explain I'm the one who does

28:31

these things, right? Yeah. I'm the one who can

28:35

provide this. And so we've

28:39

talked about understanding who you're talking to from a

28:43

marketing and advertising perspective. But I think that starts with

28:46

the brand and not only understanding yourself, but understanding who's

28:50

naturally going to be drawn to that, right? Because it's not I

28:54

don't know about you, but for my brand, my ideal client is not other people

28:58

like me. I'm not working with

29:02

other people like me. People are coming to me because of

29:05

these things that I do and have and I'm

29:08

filling a gap or I'm providing something that's not already there.

29:12

Right? And so it's one thing to

29:16

understand who I am, but then if I don't understand why

29:20

people would be drawn to that, I'm going to aim

29:23

my marketing and advertising in the wrong direction.

29:26

Right? So I don't want to aim my marketing and advertising towards people

29:30

like me. I want to aim my marketing. And advertising towards the people who

29:33

are looking for people like me. Yes, you want to have the right

29:37

people, in your viewfinder. Taking it back to the idea of the camera lens and

29:41

the focal point and all kind of stuff. You want to have the right scene

29:45

in focus. I love that part

29:48

about that there's at least a dozen people, and to me, I would say

29:52

there's at least 1000 people. And the way this works because your

29:56

brand has a subculture and that subculture

29:59

has another subculture on top of it. So I definitely believe in the whole idea

30:02

of the thousand community and

30:06

developing that organic sense of who you are,

30:10

getting that out to ten people, and then those ten people into ten

30:13

more people. And now you have a growing and growing, growing group of

30:17

individuals that are focused on a similar shared

30:21

value, and they want to be part of a community to share the language.

30:24

I think Cenks was talking about it last time in guerrilla marketing was shared

30:28

value, shared language, shared shared forms of communication.

30:32

And that's where you kind of start from in terms of finding those

30:36

individuals that are not like you,

30:39

but need your services to fill the gap. Once you understand

30:44

yourself, you can then take a glimpse at what

30:49

things you aren't. And then once you understand what you aren't,

30:53

combine those and then find the overlapping areas

30:57

where you can fit in to improve

31:00

those things for other individuals. So I have five forms

31:05

of people that they can use. You can be an educator, you can be

31:08

energizer, you can be an engager doer

31:12

or somebody who likes to put out directions. You're one of those five things.

31:16

And me, I'm an educator and an energizer. I like following,

31:19

I like helping, supporting causes, and I'm always out educating you. Find those

31:23

things that you are and you leverage those strengths.

31:26

Don't be afraid to leverage your strengths. Absolutely leverage

31:30

your strengths. I'm a big believer in screw your weaknesses,

31:35

their weaknesses for a reason. Don't waste your time trying to improve the

31:39

areas where you're weak. Like no,

31:42

hire somebody, find a system, find a software

31:46

that does those things if they have to be done in your business. And we

31:49

all have those things that have to be done in our business that don't

31:53

float our boat. So be smart about how you leverage your time,

31:57

because that's going to allow you to do exactly what Shay said, which is leverage

32:00

your strengths. Right? So find out the things that you are and the role

32:04

that you can fulfill for the people who are looking for you and

32:07

focus on that and don't waste time trying to figure out how

32:11

to be better at things that you're not good at. Right?

32:14

And let's bring this back around because something just connected

32:17

in my head. Shay, let's bring this back around to

32:21

marketing and advertising. There's a lot

32:24

of when we go back to the concept of marketing and

32:28

advertising being heavily and branding even being heavily commoditized. Right now.

32:32

There's a lot of people pitching scripts, pitching funnels,

32:36

pitching swipe copy right here,

32:39

use my swipe email copy here. Use this funnel that

32:42

I've already built. Oh, here. All you need to do is follow this pattern

32:46

for your email onboarding. Right. What is

32:49

the biggest problem with that? It's not you.

32:57

It's not going

33:01

to say you can start because if it gets helps you

33:04

get rid of the blank page problem, that's fine. But you

33:08

have to then take this stuff and test it

33:11

and get feedback and get data like we talked about and start

33:14

to learn your way of speaking. You have your own way of talking

33:18

so far in your life. You've gained friends and community

33:22

by speaking a certain way, by having a certain language.

33:25

Don't diminish that. If you talk with big words,

33:29

talk with big words. There are people who want that

33:32

from you. If you talk like you're

33:37

just a bloke from Australia, talk like that,

33:41

it's just your thing. It's going

33:44

to resonate with the people that is going to gain the most value from

33:47

you and the people that you can then generate the most feedback,

33:52

the most community, the most value, the most

33:55

connectivity, all with you have to start speaking your language.

34:00

Yeah, 1000%.

34:04

And I love the idea of if you are facing that sort

34:07

of blank page, use these things that are

34:11

out there abundantly at the moment, but use it

34:14

as a starting off point. Don't just copy paste and go

34:19

because let me tell you, especially right now, consumers are

34:23

pretty fucking savvy and they can smell a formula and they

34:27

can smell a funnel from a mile away. Like, look,

34:30

no shade to click funnels. But when you send me to a

34:33

link, I can tell in about 3 seconds if it's ClickFunnels,

34:37

right? And so if you haven't taken

34:40

the time to customize the fuck out of that and really

34:44

make it your brand, if I've ever been through ClickFunnels,

34:48

or if I have any familiarity with it, I'm going to sniff out ClickFunnels in

34:51

about 3 seconds. Right. And positively

34:55

or negatively, that's going to impact my impression of you

34:59

and your brand. Right. If you went to a

35:02

LinkedIn lead generation course and are copying and

35:06

pasting their DM things to send me a DM

35:10

in LinkedIn and I've already gotten four of those from

35:14

other people who graduated from the same course that you did,

35:17

guess what? That's going to impact how I view you and

35:20

your brand. Because you can't even fucking take the time to

35:24

make it sound like you right. Hi,

35:27

Shea. I read your profile and I've seen that you've had

35:31

a great journey just like me. I'm looting

35:34

to the area. I just want to get to connect with you. I don't even

35:37

have a journey on my profile. Like, what are you talking about.

35:40

Or we all like the MLM situation where

35:44

you're walking down the street or you're in the grocery store and it's like,

35:47

hi, so are you in the market for new income

35:51

or new opportunities? No, I'm not.

35:54

I've been down their throat. I know exactly where this is going to end.

35:57

I'm cool. Goodbye. And here's the thing.

36:00

I wish there was a way that I could tell, god, this is going to

36:03

make me sound like an asshole, but I'm going to say it anyways. I wish

36:06

there was a way that I could tell LinkedIn. Like, I don't need any

36:09

more bropreneur. LinkedIn lead generation people,

36:13

so please stop showing them my profile as someone

36:17

that they should connect with, right? I don't need

36:20

any more of them. And then I really want to respond to these

36:23

guys. Like, the whole reason you found me proves

36:27

that I don't need your lead generation

36:31

bullshit tactics, right? I showed up on

36:34

your page, dude. You're reaching out to me. Clearly my shit is working

36:40

that drives me crazy. So I think there's

36:44

a lot of that. There's a lot of stuff out there that will tell you

36:47

you just need to follow this process or follow this formula, or copy and copy

36:50

and paste these emails that are guaranteed to work and guaranteed to get

36:54

your results. And it is sort of that same MLM

36:57

philosophy of being a numbers game. And if you want to play a numbers game,

37:01

great, go for it. But just understand that everyone who's

37:05

not one of the winning numbers in that numbers game now has a shitty impression

37:09

of you. If you're truly trying to cultivate a brand, then you don't want to create any

37:17

opportunities for that, right? You want to

37:20

be speaking directly to the people who are speaking

37:24

your same language, who need what you have to say, and not just

37:28

blanketing a whole list of folks and hoping that

37:32

one person's going to go, okay, sure, and. That goes with a

37:36

piece. Now, we've said that advertising goes to the masses,

37:40

but that doesn't mean that your message is

37:44

as broad as that. You still have to have that connected tissue

37:48

of who you are and the way that you speak being presented through

37:52

that advertising message, through that marketing conversation, through that branding

37:56

presence. It is the same tone, the same language.

38:00

That way, when they find that breadcrumb way on the outskirts of

38:03

your advertising, they can follow it back to you. Oh my gosh,

38:07

I just said you again, didn't I? So bringing that

38:10

trail has to be consistent all the way through.

38:13

I love it. Clearly, you and

38:17

I could go on and on and on and on and on about

38:21

this forever. And we

38:24

both have some horror stories that we've touched on a little bit, but I'd love

38:28

to hear if you could, before we wrap up here, do you have

38:32

any examples of a success story of,

38:35

like, when they came to me, it was like this.

38:38

And here's what we work through and here's the results that they're getting.

38:41

Now. Can you share, like, a quick case study with us of when you figure

38:45

out how to do this and how to do it in the right order?

38:47

This is what can happen? Yeah, actually it

38:52

is a mutual friend, and I was happy to hear back that they took

38:56

a general concept of messaging,

38:59

of really leaning into their community and what a community

39:03

means to them and how they speak to that community and making sure

39:07

that they weren't afraid to share themselves with the community. They then

39:10

took that and over the course of two years, doubled their business year

39:14

after year. So the power of showcasing

39:18

you, you will find the returns

39:22

to be exponential. Because now people aren't just

39:26

invested in your product or service, they are invested in

39:29

you on a regular basis. Now you're in their head on a day to

39:32

day and a moment to minimum basis. They're thinking of you. They're not just waiting

39:36

to see the advertisement. They are now brand allies. They're speaking out

39:40

about you and your organization and what you're accomplishing. And that's what

39:43

they did the next two years. They just really took

39:47

the time to express themselves, learn more about themselves and express it fully.

39:51

And that doubled their revenue. Yeah. And I think

39:55

so many folks out there right now need to hear that because there's

39:58

so many folks who are thinking, well, I can't share that.

40:02

I can't truly be myself. If I was truly myself, nobody would want

40:05

to do business with me. No, dude, actually, probably two,

40:08

three, four times as many people would want to do business with you if they

40:11

really knew who you were. It's a bit of a paradox,

40:15

but I think we just have to lean in. The more you lean into that

40:18

paradox, the better it's going to be on behalf of your business.

40:22

Oh, Shay, my friend, thank you so much. This has been so fun.

40:25

I love sort of dissecting this. Thank you for

40:29

crystallizing it in a way that I think people will easily be

40:33

able to wrap their head around. I love the driving

40:36

down the highway, restaurant billboard analogy. That's going to stick with

40:40

me in particular. I think it's such a great way to explain the impact

40:44

of this and how one thing connects to another.

40:47

And I cannot reinforce enough that it all

40:50

starts with you. You have to really understand who

40:54

you are, how you add value, how you can be of service to people,

40:57

the types of people you can be in service to. And then if you

41:01

really get that right, if you get that core of your brand right and

41:04

build out your marketing and your advertising from there,

41:09

that's when the magic happens. That is when the magic happens,

41:13

folks. So if you do nothing else,

41:16

folks, please take some time today to think about where

41:21

did I start? Did I start at the end and did I start with advertising?

41:25

Did I start in the middle and I start with marketing, or did I start

41:28

with branding? And even if you did start with your branding, is it truly

41:32

clear? Have you taken the time to really understand who

41:36

that ideal audience is and why they need you specifically?

41:41

And how can you make your branding, your marketing, and your advertising

41:44

messages speak more clearly to those folks? Take a

41:48

few minutes today. Think about if you can get

41:51

clarity in any of those areas. And if you have more questions,

41:56

you can always email us. We love getting questions

42:00

in from our community here at unfuckmybusiness,

42:04

so you can email us at [email protected].

42:10

And we always love dissecting these things on

42:13

our Tuesday night calls as well. So if you're not already in our

42:16

Facebook community, click the link that's in the Show Notes. Get your ass in our

42:20

Facebook community so that we can help you master your marketing

42:23

along with everything else for your business. Shay, thank you so

42:27

much for joining me today, and we will see you

42:31

next Tuesday. Bye, y'all. Ciao.

42:42

What the fuck are you waiting for? Take what you learned in this episode

42:46

and do something with it. You'll find all the links and resources

42:49

we talked about in our Show Notes for this episode. Go to unfuckmybusiness.com

42:54

to subscribe ride to the show.