Episode Transcript
Barbara Carniero 0:03
We need to understand your resources, I can give you an amazing brand and build something extraordinary for you. But then if you can't fulfill that promise that branding promise to a group of people, then I did you a disservice, right? That's why I say you cannot fall for the trends, you really need to understand who you are and who you're serving, because that's the the connection and relationship that matters. And so when I asked them, Who do you serve? Well today, how can you start today? Without having to buy anything, getting a piece of software hire like, who can you serve immediately if they were to hire you today? That is the person that you're most equipped now to serve.
Monica Pitts 0:47
You're on a mission, and you just need more people to know about it. And whether you're brand new to marketing or a seasoned pro, we are all looking for answers to make marketing decisions with purpose. I'm Monica Pitts, a techie crafty business owner, mom and aerial dancer who solves communication challenges through technology. This podcast is all about digging in and going digital. I'll share my marketing know how in business experience from almost 20 years of misadventures, I'll be your backup dancer. So you can stop doubting, and get moving towards marketing with purpose. Hello, again, and welcome back to marketing with purpose. We're going to talk about branding today, and maybe even go a little bit deeper and talk about some generational marketing and how you can define your movement paired with your audience and roll that all together into a brand that really makes you front and center and unique and memorable to your audience. And I said that all really nicely, because I just heard Barbara Carniero, no, I said that wrong. Carneiro No, I said it right. I just heard her say it. Like just before we came on air, and I'm sorry, names, if they're hard for me. Anyway. So she said this. And I was like, yes, it's it's so exciting. And so she is actually going to teach us about branding day. I'm, I'm a student, just like everyone else's when it comes to branding. So why don't you kick us off Barbara, and tell us about your business. Introduce yourself.
Barbara Carniero 2:18
Sounds good. Well, I have an agency called word revolution. And the if I were to go back to like, the milestones in my business, it was very accidental how it started. But I've always been in communications, I've always been around the arts in one way or another. And little by little, it just became a thing. And suddenly, it's like, oh, this is a business and it's working. And people are hiring me. And so it just took me deeper and deeper into understanding, you know, the intricacies of running a business, but also running a creative business. And little by little it's just like, I never imagined myself doing the same thing for this long. So I must, I must really like
Monica Pitts 3:02
it's awesome that you've found your niche. How long have you been doing it for?
Barbara Carniero 3:05
It's been a solid 22 years now. So yeah, that kind of yay, really fast. But yeah,
Monica Pitts 3:11
that is super exciting. I sometimes feel like an old codger in business because we've been building websites for 18 years, which is kind of crazy. Because like, how long have websites even been around? But yeah, so 22 years is awesome. So what did you do before that? Did you like Have you always been in a marketing field? Or? Tell me about that?
Barbara Carniero 3:36
Yes, somewhat. So I've traveled the world quite a lot I've lived in, in South America until I was 10. And then in Europe until I was 20. And then again in South America until 30. And now in the US, and it's been passed the four years I told my husband, it's time to leave because we fast the pattern like we broke the pattern we're supposed to have left a few years ago now. And so you know, I've always traveled a lot. I've always been entrepreneurial. I've had all sorts of businesses like dance academies, teaching people how to cook from my house, teaching Portuguese or you know, selling wedding dresses, from my living room, like literally a little bit of everything. And that's why I say I must really love what I do now because it never led me to pursue something else. I just feel like I've gotten deeper and deeper into just serving people with this particular service. So branding is one of them. Communications is a sick, a separate part that in many ways comes together. But I did have one job in the middle of all of that in Argentina at a previous marketing agency as well. So I was there for about a year before I moved, you know, started working on my own. Yeah. Do you
Monica Pitts 4:47
feel like all that moving around and touching different cultures and societies actually gives you really good insight on helping people create their brand and their message. It feels like it would
Barbara Carniero 4:57
100% Yeah, you do have a better understanding of human beings in general, just my experiencing how certain things are culturally different. And and I can tell you endless stories of funny things that happen simply because of a difference in culture. And so you know, where I come from people don't bring food to your house that is very disrespectful. Okay,
Monica Pitts 5:21
you know, every person who I've gone through like different bouts of food allergies, sometimes I'm like, it's cool. Like, I just I people be like, No, I need to bring something because I'm in the Midwest, right? And I'm like, no, no, you don't, you can, you can just not like, we are happy to cook everything for you. And then I feel like I'm leaving them, like, I'm being rude to them. But which culture? Is it that you're not supposed to bring food to their house?
Barbara Carniero 5:46
Yeah, so I was raised in Portugal, in Portugal. And so it is, it is not common at all, for people to show up with food, that that is normally a sign of, they don't like your food, they don't respect what you cook, or, you know, and again, this is, again, some of these things are changing little by little, but you have to remember, like some people still live the culture that they were they grew up in. And so when you go to certain cultures, it's like, if you bring something to someone's house, you're not supposed to take it back. Like if, if nobody ate it, it stays with the host. And never you never take the leftovers home. So little things about especially like the eating habits, but also what's you know, what's acceptable, what's considered rude, or, you know, so things like that, you get to understand people. And I think it just puts me in a place of simply observing like, am I a lot of people watching a lot of observing how others react and do things differently? I particularly love it. I find it fascinating. Yeah. So tell me a little bit
Monica Pitts 6:48
about how you start people in the branding process, especially a new business? Where do you start with that?
Barbara Carniero 6:56
Yeah, so we normally bring them through a process of discovery, my, my biggest recommendation for you is to assess like, you got to know where you are, what's around you, where you going. And so don't rush through the process of just moving pixels, before you have a good idea of where you are. And the process of discovery that we have is actually three meetings. And in the first one, we want to get really deep into who you are, like your DNA, why you exist, the milestones of your business. And you know, those things like what makes you get out of bed? What motivates you to take action? What are the things that you dread doing? And when it comes to your brand? What are you most excited about? So all of these questions, we brainstorm for a solid hour, in the first meeting to get really close to like the essence of a business, it is my belief that we all have a specific essence. And if I can just bring it to the surface, it's not like I'm creating something as much as I'm capturing from their heart. And they just see it. So it's one of those moments where like, Oh, this is who we are. And so realization of your identity as a brand is normally the the big aha moment, like we can really get a sense of, of what was inside of them when they're trying to start a brand and even rebranding. So some people will go into business without doing this exercise. And then later when they find out the thing, like it's funny, because they say it, I'm not saying that they're the ones saying it when I'm asking questions that prompt a specific thing, right. So that's meeting one meeting, too, we go into the people on the other side of you. So who are you trying to speak to? Who do you want to reach? Who can you serve? Well, today? Can we see that person and we talk about audiences in a way that is very sterile, right? It's like this faceless mass that we can't really see. So when I think of my audience, it's normally this like, oh, yeah, it's a group of, I don't know, these many ages. And it's men and men and women and children. And, and it's like, it's just very, very, like, superficial. So I might see it as I can only see the outlines of a bunch of heads. That's what I see. And what we try to do is get together and go down very, very deep to see one person sitting across from you at the coffee shop or at the dining dining table. So I want them to go to the process of saying, my ideal client, my raving fan, my ambassador, the person that I want to clone over and over and over and over and over and over, I can see their face. I can picture their story. I want them to go all the way to picturing a day in the life of that person. And so a lot of people feel very itchy about this part. Because it feels like we're excluding people. But the reality is, the more you can humanize your audience, the easier you will be able to actually connect with more people. So here's how I say it, you can you have everybody on a slow track towards you slow track. By doing this exercise, you can accelerate the path of one of them, which one you're gonna pick, somebody can have a faster track towards you. And so you can design that track, because you know, what would make them move, you know, what would make them take action. And so what I'm saying is, you're not slowing down everybody else, they're still coming toward you one way or another, a referral, they found out about you, they, they searched online, and you showed up. But there's one person one individual, that you can say, I want to fast track the path for them for that particular person. So if you do that, and you can picture them sitting across the table from you, the way you design for them, the way you communicate with them, the the language you use, all of these things will come to life by almost like, by itself in many ways. And then on the third meeting, we have to figure out how much of a gap exists between you and them. For example, if you're selling a service that people don't know, exist, yet, you have a greater gap than if you're selling sneakers, and people just need to pick you instead of the next guy, the guy next door, right? So understanding the gap between you and your audience is one of the components that we have to keep in mind when we're creating a brand. And that's just discovery. We haven't even done any work yet. But at this stage was simply asking questions. We're getting the company to sit down together, they're doing these exercises together, we're brainstorming, there's no wrong answers. We're kind of like just answering these questions as, as you know, almost like there's a lot of gut gut responses to and people try to get them sometimes, like, polished and and I'm always saying don't polish your answers. Like, I want to catch that thing that you're trying to polish that raw diamond is really what I want to see. So that is just discovery process.
Monica Pitts 12:25
I love it. And so I really latched on to what you said, Who do you serve? Well today? And I think, especially for small business owners? That is a powerful question. Because I find a lot of the times when they're at the beginning of their business, they just see so much opportunity, because I feel like entrepreneurs are excellent at finding opportunity. But then they get overwhelmed with opportunity. And I feel like asking them that question, Who do you serve? Well, today could help them narrow in on where they want to focus their opportunity right now. Is that why you asked that question?
Barbara Carniero 12:59
Yes. So what we're trying to see is, you know, we need to understand your resources, I can give you an amazing brand and build something extraordinary for you. But then if you can't fulfill that promise, that branding promise to a group of people, then I did you a disservice. Right? So that's why I say you cannot fall for the trends, you really need to understand who you are and who you're serving. Because that's the the connection and the relationship that matters. And so when I asked them, Who do you serve? Well, today, who can you serve today? Without having to buy anything, get any piece of software hire like? Who can you serve? immediately if they were to hire you today? That is the person that you're most equipped now to serve. And so we don't want to explain, we want to keep that person top of mind in these exercises. Can you go after a different person? Absolutely. But let's make that decision intentionally. You know what I mean? We can serve these guys really well. But we really want to start moving towards this, right. But let's be conscious about that decision that we're saying, we serve these guys well. But now we want to start working with this group of people. And that is going to require a, b and c. So as long as you are aware, I think it's okay.
Monica Pitts 14:17
I feel like that's also a really powerful statement for nonprofits. Because a lot of our audience are nonprofits, and they, they want to change the world. I love it. That is like so powerful, right? You want to change the world. And it's hard when you sit down with them. And they're like, Well, I want to make people be more environmentally friendly. And I'm like, I want 100%. Yeah, that is a great mission. And I think we should start by attracting the people who already have the same values as you to us so that they can help fuel your movement. And like, make it bigger, because you can't, like you're not going to change everybody's mind on your own. You need like all of these other wonderful supporters to help you do Do it. And so I love that question like, Who do you serve? Well today because I feel like that's gonna get them a really long way in their messaging, and I like the conveyor belt too. I said conveyor belt. But yes, so like that one person. So the person who's most likely to be attracted to you is the one that shares the values that you have. And then we'll want to jump on board with you and like help you make the change that you want to make whatever that is. And it's the same thing with businesses, like you don't like going through an actual process or having somebody help manage your project, you're gonna hate working with my company. Because you get to make up your process when we build your website. Yeah, we have one.
Barbara Carniero 15:41
Exactly. Yeah, and you know, the people that will hire you are hiring you, because you have that process. They don't want to go through the trial and error. And this brings me to the generations and so when you start understanding the people that you want to reach in, think about nonprofits, this is a very clear example, like, the way that a baby boomer will engage with a nonprofit is very different than the way that a Gen Z will engage with a nonprofit, for different reasons. And they can all have buy in into a cause, but they will come in from different angles. And so you have to understand who which group can you serve, and connect with well today so that you can invite them into this journey, in the same, you know, in alignment with who they are. I one of the main areas that I've been studying recently about generations has to do with the sense of worth. So when you think of the four main generations alive today, there is something about the way that they assign worth to themselves that dictate how they relate to people, brands, the world, and so forth. So, when you think of baby boomers, they are what we call contributors. So they feel a sense of worth when they contribute towards something. Now, if I'm a nonprofit, and I want to get them involved, I would focus on casting vision towards, you know, the contribution that they will have towards something. And that would be the language will follow that even the way that I'm communicating with them, we focus on that. When I moved to Gen Z's we're the first generation of people that are not living the nine to five, we are entrepreneurs, business owners, we can now make our own schedule make more money than the previous generation, we have the ability to say, if I work two more hours, I will make more money, right? So we became what we call the consumer generation. And so my sense of words come from the things that comes from the things that I know that I can consume. So it sounds kind of negative. But so it's not like I don't want you to hear me saying consumerism as much as it is like, if I can have more than my parents that I feel like I was able to reach a sense of worth that is different. Because I saw them suffering. I saw them struggling. Yeah. And so the ability to consume shows me I succeeded. And so consumers will want results were results driven, I want you to tell me that every dollar that I give to your organization will help plant three trees, right, or how many trees like? So it's a result driven approach. It's the one isn't it for me, and I want to understand the impact. These are the people that will finish the goals like oh, we're $20,000 short, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to close that gap. And if I donate, I'm not going to donate to a cause. I'm going to donate to 20 bricks towards that house. And so there's a very, very tangible connection to results.
Monica Pitts 18:57
I hear you on that. Because I feel that way. I really do. Like when my daughters go to a school where they do like different community projects. And so one of my nonprofits, they were like, we need more clothes. For our secondhand store. We need kids clothes that are winter clothes, because we're going into winter. And I was like, Oh yeah, I got that. I got that we're going to we'll do a drive we'll get and I was so proud that I got like all these clothes in and that like on all the parents, you know, where am I age two? They're like, Yep, yeah, we're bringing close. This is great. Like, because we see that we're giving this to someone and it feels so tangible that we've like done this thing where it is harder when they're like, Hey, will you give $20 for X, Y and Z? I'm like, Well, I know and when they're like Hey, will you give or will you go by when you go buy toiletries for the homeless shelter in town. My husband's like heck yeah. And he takes my daughter to Sam's and they come to almost a whole truckload of stuff. And I'm like, what is happening here? Like, we did park in the parking lot, and all four of us had to carry it in. And I was like, oh, goodness, but no,
Barbara Carniero 20:09
more than the $20?
Monica Pitts 20:10
Absolutely, definitely at Sam's, will you tell our listeners, like the age bracket or, or birth times for the boomers and the Gen Z? Because not everybody just knows, right? Yeah, so
Barbara Carniero 20:25
this would be Gen Xers. And then let me bring you through the two other ones. While I pull up the exact data side, I'll give you the wrong information. And when it comes to the next generation, now we're talking about millennials. Millennials are what we call collaborators. So for them, their sense of worth is for front comes from what they can collaborate towards. They're very global. So they're thinking about ways to collaborate with others, even from a distance, or maybe even specially from a distance in the sense of creating a greater impact. So there's a great connection with purpose and impact. So here is not as much as you do $1. And you get 10 bricks, as much as it is the purpose behind it. So my communication needs to change the way that I even invite them to participate with change. So baby boomers are born between 46 and 64. So they're, they're in their 50s 60s. Now, Gen Xers are between 44 and 55, if I'm not mistaken, so it's between 1965 and 1980 81 to 97. You have your millennials, and then starting in 98, you have your gen z's. So we have contributors for baby boomers, consumers for Gen X collaborators for millennials, and then Gen Z's are what we call curators. So we've, we've gotten into a society that is just overwhelmed with options, information, everything. And so their sense of worth comes from what they can curate for others. And that's why they love the youtubers that will unbox stuff for them. Because these these YouTubers are showing them what they should buy next, and they don't have to do the research. And so between friends, they value the person that can talk to them about the next thing they need to buy the next Netflix show they need to watch, because who would have the capacity to go to netflix and pick something? Not me, right?
Monica Pitts 22:37
I literally text people and be like, Hey, what did my next Netflix show with you
Barbara Carniero 22:41
watching that? Exactly. So we're now in the curation age, everybody's pursuing curation. And that's why Gen Z's is care are characterized by this is because they're there, they're being forced to be curators, they live in a world of curation, that is just mandatory, so our brains don't explode. So now, my daughter probably wouldn't ask me, What are you watching on Netflix, mommy, because she would be extremely upset with all of my terrible choices of, you know, reality TV that she doesn't want to watch. But she would pursue curators that she trusts that will then tell her here are the three things that I've been watching lately. So that is, again, they they they assign worth to that person as a curator, and they assign awards to themselves if they can be curators, for others. And now, if you know all of this, how will that change the way that you present yourself as a brand? And then also, imagine trying to speak to all four at the same time? Right? So who's sitting across the table from you, I want you to picture that one person, see their face? What are they telling you? What are they? What kind of conversation are they having with you? What was their like? How did their day go before they got to this coffee shop with you. And by humanizing that person, you will now be able to have conversations instead of just like broadcasting noise to the rest of the world. I love this
Monica Pitts 24:17
and and to so I feel like the amount of energy that it would take, like, let's say that you really can sell your service to all of these generations and all these different people. Yeah, the amount of energy that it would really take to maintain relationships with all those people in a way that's meaningful to them is it's kind of debilitating. I feel like
Barbara Carniero 24:40
it's exhausting.
Monica Pitts 24:42
And imagine, you know, and I do so when it comes to websites, when people have multiple audiences. Like let's say that you have a commercial audience and you have a residential audience that I would always tell people you you don't necessarily have to have two websites, but you do need to have a page and a section. For each one of those people, and you're going to speak to them very differently, because they are motivated by different things. And they think about it different ways. They could be different ages, they might have different lives, right. And so we just have to talk to them separately and make sure that they really know that we hear them and we know them, which simplifies things a little bit, at least. Because you don't have to have a whole new website for both people usually give me a huge sigh of relief when I say that they're like, oh, looks good, but you probably are gonna have to have two portfolios and two sections, because sorry, friends that just don't get it.
Barbara Carniero 25:35
Exactly. I hear about your bathroom. And people see it and people feel seen, like I'm I only feel seen when people speak my language. And so and that's the other part to branding. So as soon as we finished those discovery meetings, you would think that now is when we move into design, but it's actually not true. So we first start by understanding language. And there are several exercises that we do together, we create a what we call a language blueprints. So at the top we would have, okay, this is your archetype, because now we know we been through discovery together, we know what your archetype is. And we know the tone of voice, this archetype would have couple of examples of archetypes, you can have archetypes that are leaders. So you follow that brand, because that brand takes a leadership role in engaging with you. Or you can have archetypes or teachers, or you can have archetypes, there's like the friend next door. And so a brand will have a personality, whether we want to or not, because we relate to brands emotionally. And so I'm relating to every single brand out there. From an emotional standpoint, the question is, as a brand, do, I want to have control over that, or just leave it to chance. So by identifying what your archetype is, you now know, and you can live it out. So I have the tone of voice that corresponds to that person, that archetype. And then below that, we start with what we call our communication, core values, your your organization can have your normal operational core values, but I do believe it's nice to have your communication core values. So how are we going to communicate? And I and Sally in my business, one of our core values is to communicate with wit and grit. So that means we always bring some light heartedness to the conversation, like we don't want to be super serious about ourselves. But at the same time, when one of the brain grits, like, we're gonna do the work we're supposed to do, yeah. So in my communications, I try to infuse things with this, I never have to say it is just there. It's almost like it's the perfume that you put in everything. And so if we can capture those core values, we try to stay within like five, because you know, you can remember five, you may not be able to remember seven or eight. And normally we'll grab those from discovery, it's really easy to capture, because people will say those, they just don't realize that that they're they're expressing communication, core values. Okay, here are the core values. Great, we have them. Now let's move on to what we call our tribe language. If you were to have a tribe, is there an expression or a saying that you would want your tribe to repeat? So one example that I say all the time is no, Nationwide is on your side, like everybody says it, it's, you know, you can hear the song in your mind. When you go to Chick fil A, and you say thank you. They don't say You're welcome. They say it's my pleasure. And so if I hear if I hear, it's my pleasure, somewhere outside of Chick fil A, I'm like, I'm sure you work at Chick fil A. And so it creates a tribe language that brings Association This is not internal language that others don't understand. It's simply like, it's that one thing that I want to repeat so many times that others start saying it to when I'm not in the room. And so I love for brands to have at least one sentence, it does not have to be their tagline like nationwide. It could be an expression like what Chick fil A does. So we want to have something that we repeat over and our employees are saying it our team members are saying it our clients are saying it, and people start recognizing us for that. And then finally we take it a step even deeper. And we create what we call your movement language. So I love telling brands that whatever you do, it doesn't matter if you're selling candles on Etsy, you're starting a movement. We're just going to pretend that's what you're doing. Because the way you do candles could be different than the person that is next door. But even if not, let's just pretend that what you're doing is starting a movement. And so there's four questions that I like to ask people meditate on them. You don't have to answer right away. But it starts with this. What is it that you refuse to do? What do you commit to doing? What is the biggest lie that you're silencing? And what is the greatest voice you're elevating? Let's go to a very basic example. I'm selling candles. Okay? So what do I refuse to do? I can simply say, I refuse to utilize ingredients that are not good for humankind. I refuse. That's it. I'm standing by this, this everything we're going to make. We're not going to utilize ingredients that are not good. I commit to always innovating and creating candles. Right now. Monica, you're like, I want to buy your candles, because now it's not just the candle. Now there's a desire, there's a there's a conviction, there's, and I'm saying to you, hey, I'm gonna care for the ingredients I'm using. And I'm committed to just innovating. Like, I'm just going to continue to study. I'm going. I'm about to buy candles to see. So, you know, I'm committed to like being the person that is always willing to think about the next possible way to do a candle. What is the biggest lie that I'm that I'm silencing? That? The biggest lie is that, you know, there are people in the world that can live without candles, I believe everybody should be should have candles in their house. Yeah,
Monica Pitts 31:23
my husband was a total candle buyer eighth, and he started making them himself. And, and, and I make lip gloss. And so we give them to the teachers for Christmas. And the teacher is like, Oh, this is so great. And I'm like, hey, the family that melts together stays together. And anyway.
Barbara Carniero 31:43
Oh, I love that. I love that. And I didn't know about. So that's so amazing. And then when it comes to like the biggest, what is the greatest voice that you elevate? I'm elevating divorce, that every house should have candles in them. And my husband is like that, like your husband, he has candles everywhere. Like he buys more candles tonight. But you know what happens is like, I never think about them. But every time I get in a room and there's a candle, I'm like, You're so nice. Like? Yeah, so
Monica Pitts 32:13
smells so terrible. And every time I walk in the room, and like why do I feel uncomfortable? I feel uncomfortable right now. And then I'll be like, No, I'm falling out. And
Barbara Carniero 32:24
so you know that now we have a movement. Now we have a candle movement, you and I just started one without even knowing. And but this just starts from the principle of saying there's something in the world that I want to change, even if it's through candles. And so it doesn't matter if you're doing accounting, it doesn't matter if you're doing a nonprofit for you know, saving the trees, it doesn't matter if you have a restaurant, there's something about the way you see the world that you think it should not be that way. If you can answer that question like what is that? What is something that you look at you like, it should not be that way? For you? When you look at businesses with bad websites? I'm sure you thinking, a variation of like, it should not be that way.
Monica Pitts 33:06
Yes. Especially the ones who I'm like, I've watched their stuff on social media, or I've watched a video like a training video, there's on YouTube. And then I click over to their website. And I'm like, what just happened? What is happening here? Like, I feel like I don't I don't reach out to them and tell them that their website sucks. But I feel like maybe I should because they are so much cooler than that thing. And then I think to myself, if they would just give me four hours with this landing page, I could get them so much business, because who wants to pay on that price tag when they aren't even valuing themselves enough to have something that's not ugly? Exactly. So clearly, yes. And it's fun. It's not fun, but it's fun. And I'd like to your story. We we had a website years and years ago, probably 10 years ago. And I I went out we were getting ready to redesign it, I read it and I was like, I don't even know who these people are that that own this business. It's me. I own the business. But I was like, I don't like them. And then I started thinking what are the things that we always say around the office? What are these things? And we always they need like snarky, like really in your faith comments. Like if you think your website sucks, so does everybody else 9092 called they want their website back. And so like we have all these old things that we say and so I told my staff, that's it. We're stopping this stupid little red riding hood at and we're not going to be everybody else. We're going to be these weird people that we are and we're going to put it all over everything. And what's so fun is that when you go to a trade show, I hope that you don't have a booth next to ours because we have these signs with all these spam I rude things on them. And people stop and they take pictures with the signs and they're like send them back to their bosses. And it's so funny and they I'm like a hot so whatever. Weird stuff you don't have going on over there my weird stuff Trump's it. And it was just because we were willing to go out on a limb and everybody was a little uncomfortable at first. But I said if, if your tummy doesn't hurt a little bit, you're probably not doing it right. So
Barbara Carniero 35:16
you see, like, there's a uniqueness about you, that should be elevated and hidden. And there's a lane for you, like people will choose to work with you exactly because of that. And why, you know, instead of shying away and try to fit in everybody else's box, we need to elevate the uniquenesses of that we have. And you know, that's the work that I've tried to do with branding is to say, Okay, let's capture what's in the air. Because I'm not pretending to create something out of nowhere and make you look different than what you really are. Now, I don't want to lipstick, put lipstick on a pig like that, that makes no sense like, but hey, a lot of people love pigs. And they love playing with them, like my kid loves feeding pigs. And so there's nothing wrong with whatever it is that you have there. But we're not calling people paying them, you just make that very clear. But whatever that is, is good. And it should be celebrated. And it should be lived out. And so when we finish the process of branding, at the end of the day, I want you to say I am unapologetically who I am. And I love my audience because I don't want you to just know them, I want you to just to love them to be in that place of saying, This is who I serve Well, right now, I'm creating a fast track for this person. And I want them to take that track and find us, you know, so that's it. Yeah,
Monica Pitts 36:37
everything, which is crazy. So because as a graphic designer, I think, oh, branding logo, this is what I did. And then what you just described is like, it's it's part of your business plan, almost you know what I mean? Like, this should be something that you it's part of your culture, it's part of the way that you talk internally, it's how you talk with your clients, it's how you present yourself, when you're out in public or in your marketing. So like it feels like what you're saying is that my brand isn't just my logo. Yeah, like the culture of my company that I'm like presenting both interior and exterior and allowing myself to be what I really am.
Barbara Carniero 37:18
Yes, and So picture this way, we always think of branding as the visual. But besides the visuals, you actually have the sounds, the smells, the feeling. There's so many things that come with your brand that you just honestly, if you saying I'm just gonna do the logo side, you're just saying I don't want to have control over the rest. That's all you saying, I don't want to have control, that means people can perceive you any way they want to, because you're not controlling those pieces. So imagine taking control over those pieces and say, when they hear us speak, I want them to hear in this tone. When we when we present ourselves in a certain way I want them to feel this way. And so it's like, control the perception because you have control over it, you can at least be intentional about it. And, you know, have you seen the you know, when the coronation that we had recently with, with the King, the King of England now, and you see the kids, and they're like all well dressed in your life, like they don't want to be there. It's the same thing, you put a nice little clothes on. But what's inside is not what's coming out on the outside at all. And so I would rather you have that kid playing in the yard and happy than just put a nice little piece of clothes on, which is just the logo, part the visuals, and then send them to the wrong place. And so your brand is the same way. Like don't just dress it, you've got to let know, you know what makes sense for you, and there's a lot of freedom, if you know what's inside, if you know what it is freedom.
Monica Pitts 39:01
And by being yourself, you're going to attract the people that are going to respect and love you and want to work with you. And that's a really powerful thing. And that's gonna make you happier in the end for sure. Yeah, like, Yeah,
Barbara Carniero 39:12
well, because it's clear if you know people follow clarity. If you have confusion, you lose, right. I think Donald Miller said that, like if you confuse you lose. So if there's confusion, then you can't expect people to follow along and to embrace and to become ambassadors of who you are. But if you make it clear, then the the choice is just yes or no. Either I want to associate myself with that or no, people have no doubt what Apple does. Your choice is simply to say do I want to associate myself with Apple or not? Because their brand is very clear.
Monica Pitts 39:49
Yeah, I agree. Well, I really appreciate everything you've shared. I was actually like while you were listening out things I was like, I cannot wait to transcribe this podcast so that way I can read some more questions again and like journal about them, because this is really great branding advice. And this is coming from a human being who I mean, I do websites. So I think about brands, but and they usually come to me fairly well packaged. Not always though. And so like, I just haven't heard it put quite the way that you have phrased it and and so I really appreciate you bringing that to the marketing of purpose audience and hopefully, the businesses and the nonprofits alike can take these questions, and really like wrap their minds around what you're proposing, which I think is fabulous. So if they want to, like find out more about you, where do they do that, tell them how to meet you.
Barbara Carniero 40:41
So my agency is word revolution.com. By the way, if you go there, it's specifically designed for my niche, don't be scared, you can still get a one on one clarity call with me through that website. If you want to figure out what your archetype is, there's a simple exercise that you can do. And it's literally brand archetype, dot type form.com. My personal website is just my name, barber carnera.com. And there you can find places where I'm speaking at and, you know, work that I'm doing. So there's several options. But one way or another. If you go to wordrevolution.com, there's a place there to apply for a one on one clarity call. And I can at least get a conversation going and see if we if we're a good fit to help you. Yeah,
Monica Pitts 41:29
I can understand why you've stuck with this for the last 22 years, you've got a great way of presenting it. Thank you so much. And thank you everybody for listening today. I appreciate your time, I know it's valuable. And until next time, go forth and mark it with purpose to get a copy of the show notes, and all those links that we just heard from our guests, head on over to Mayecreate.com and MAYECREATE.COM. And of course, I have to tell you the things that all podcasters are supposed to tell you at the end of your episode, like if you thought this was awesome, you could subscribe and then I would like get to tell you when I have new stuff for you to learn and new episodes, new people to meet new stories to tell. And of course, I would really love it if you left a review. So head on over to Mayecreate.com. For those Show Notes MAYECREATE.COM. Or maybe even contacted my team about building that next website. We can do it for you. And we even have our better than DIY website program that teaches you to plan and build your own website. So head on over to mayecreate.com MAYECREATE.COM I'll meet you over there
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
