Temperamental Chucklefuck and friends - what content creators can learn from the true story of 3 cats who held a Vitamix hostage

I am cat. I do what I want.

(not the Chucklefuck or friends in question)

It may be the greatest story to come out of 2022.

At least it is, so far.

23 days into this year and nearly two years into the Covid-19 induced, global lockdown, the ridiculous story of three cats and the Vitamix box they love and won’t leave the F alone, is the endurance story we didn’t know we needed.

If you haven’t seen the Global News or Washington Post articles or all the other social media coverage this story has generated, let me sum up the details like this:

1. A Vitamix blender was ordered online and delivered to Jessica and Nikii Gerson-Neeves at their home on Vancouver Island in mid-December.

2. Their three cats took an immediate and unending (read obsessive) interest in the box that has had them sitting atop it guarding it like a prized dead bird.

3. When I say, “unending interest” I mean the floofs now live on top of the box 24/7. They have shifts. This is now their life’s purpose - guarding the Vitamix box so that it can never be opened and their human servants can kiss their smoothie dreams goodbye.

It’s been over a month since the floof occupation of this disputed territory in the couple’s kitchen. The three cats - Max, otherwise known as the “sentient soccer ball,” George: Destroyer of Worlds (“sentient potato”) and Lando Calrissian (“the questionably sentient dust bunny,”), are giving their “Middle-aged Lesbian” Moms (“MALs” for short) some truly hilarious content for their dedicated Facebook page and Jess’s Twitter account.

But it’s Jessica’s writing talents documenting the ordeal that has truly taken this random story into the consciousness of millions who are eagerly following the saga as it continues.

Even Vitamix has noticed and tried to help resolve the hostage situation by sending new decoy boxes to the home.

Temperamental Chucklefuck and Friends (the collective of cats Max, George, and Lando) were not fooled and decoy box carcasses soon found themselves as cardboard material martyrs in the story of our heroes and their cat overlords.

What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is mine. No, I will not take questions.

This story is about more than three cats who won’t get the hell off their moms’ new blender. For content creators it is a lesson about noticing everyday opportunities for connection with an audience and bringing those moments to life in relatable ways.

Their audience of pet parents cannot get enough of the antics of the Chucklefuck and Friends posse because the things that Jess and Nikii describe could be tales from their own homes.

Animals are universally weird. Really really weird.

Their shenanigans are endlessly delightful to those who love them, of course, but often make for awkward conversations with non-pet owning friends who aren’t charmed by their idiocy the way that you are.

The reason why this story has continued to find an audience is because Jess’ writing (and accompanying photographs) have brought this group of miscreants to life for us. People are invested in them. They feel like they know them.

Content creation is at its best when it is personal and relatable.

For folks like me, a fellow cat mom of three little floof monsters - Maple, Waffle, and Rolo - devouring the content that these MALs are putting out has been a much-needed highlight in a challenging time.

Jess’ writing skills have inspired me to level up my game, while offering the greatest of content benefits for us all during this (seemingly) never-ending Coronavirus garbage heap - distraction from our fears.

I can honestly say that I hope this Vitamix hostage situation never ends. And I know I’m not alone.

All good (and bad) hostage situations must eventually come to an end, but before this one does, I, for one, will devour every bit of social media content about the crazy (but true) story of the three cats who held a Vitamix hostage and apply the lessons they have taught me.

Here’s what I’ve learned: Personal content is amazing.

Relatable personal content is even better.

Relatable personal content written with style and substance - that’s the chefs kiss.

And finally, Everyone loves an idiotic animal story.

Victoria's Secret Rebranded - a Bad Strategy case study - Part 2

Part two of two

Read Part one here.

Rehabilitating a brand’s image.

In order to shift people’s perception of Victoria’s Secret brand, they tried to do a 180-degree turn - offering every kind of bra for every kind of woman. They took inclusion to the max.

They replaced the statuesque “Angels” with a diverse group of ambassadors they called “The VS Collective”. A group that featured activist and soccer star, Megan Rapinoe, actress Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and, advocate/model Paloma Elsesser, among others. The job of the VS Collective, it seems is to whitewash the history of the company rather than confronting it head-on.

And Victoria’s Secret has had many opportunities to confront their problems with open eyes and a humble heart - but they’ve chosen not to. Back in 2018, competitor ThirdLove took out a full-page New York Times Ad calling VS out for their toxic messaging and culture. Victoria’s Secret did not rise to the occasion but instead, hid behind the illusion of change by firing their problematic Director and calling it a day.

Throughout 2021, as VS began to proclaim and market its new brand identity, women were skeptical. There appeared to be more talk than action, with patchy roll-outs that made the announcements seem disingenuous. As late as October 2021, the VS website still showcased bombshell-style imagery with nary a curve or inclusive image to be seen. And while the website today has been updated with a range of bodies, skin tones, and identities (their first Transgender woman, to be specific), all of this image work still feels clunky and unbelievable.

The solution?

For women like me, who value a killer bra almost as much as their integrity as a pro-women activist, we want to believe that Victoria’s Secret can be rehabilitated. With Wexner, known toxic perpetrators, and other enablers gone from the company, former customers like me are looking for signs that Victoria’s Secret cares about the women they claim to serve and aren’t just offering lip service to these critical issues. So far, despite its proclamations of a “revolutionary transformation”, Victoria’s Secret has failed to convince me that they actually take responsibility for the damage they have done. By moving forward with a rebrand without issuing a genuine mea culpa for the harm they have caused, it seems as though Victoria’s Secret is trying to put a fresh coat of paint on an old house and calling it new.

While that strategy might fool some for now, as a long-term strategy it’s terribly insulting to women. Women don’t want or need performative displays, we want and deserve accountability and ownership of the problem. And we needed it BEFORE Victoria’s Secret launched its new identity. How else could we believe in their sincerity? But Victoria’s Secret didn’t do that. It’s not just the Victoria’s Secret “Angels” that needed to fall, it’s the VS ego, the excuses, and the facade that need to go, too.

It’s nearly 2022 and since Victoria’s Secret still hasn’t apologized, I’ve done it for them.

The NYT Full Page Ad that Victoria’s Secret should have written in 2018 in response to the critical ad by ThirdLove.

Copy reads as follows:

“An open letter to all women from Victoria’s Secret.

Dear women,

We owe you an apology.

No excuses.

No sweeping our mistakes under the rug or ignoring them altogether.

We are breaking our toxic communication patterns. ‘

We recognize that the history of the Victoria’s Secret brand is problematic – that the messages we sent throughout the past four decades contributed to a toxic view of women, body shaming, eating disorder culture, sexism, transphobia, racism, and misogyny. 

It is a legacy we can’t erase. 

That’s why Victoria's Secret has sent itself to “rehab”. We’ve taken a hard look at ourselves and are here to admit our wrongs as we try to make amends to all of you who have been hurt by our actions.

It would be easy to say that the world has changed and we were simply slow to keep up, but as you know, from the very beginning the Victoria’s Secret brand was built by a man for men – the problems existed well before the #MeToo movement, before the years promoting our “Angels”, before the over-sexualization of women in our ads, before our former owner’s awful connection to Jeffery Eppstein, and before our previous Director said those despicable things about plus-sized and trans bodies.

The rot ran deep and for far too long in the Victoria’s Secret company you grew up with.

We acknowledge that you’ve tried to tell us how we were hurting you and we have done a disservice to you by brushing off your feedback or minimizing our culpability in the wider social issues we’ve negatively impacted.  When one of our competitors called out our former Marketing Director for his ugly remarks in a full-page letter just like this one, we acted quickly to remove him from VS but bristled at the critique.  We didn’t do enough to address the issues back then.

In the intervening years, we’ve worked hard to bring on a new team to help lead us towards a better version of our company – one that feels more inclusive of bodies, ethnicity, gender, and identity.  We believe that the women working in leadership positions here at VS are changing us from the inside out.

Over the past ten months, you may have already noticed some of these changes reflected in our advertising, website, and social media accounts.  You may have heard about our new VS Voices podcast amplifying a cross-section of women in leadership or heard about our VS Collective featuring diverse voices like Megan Rapinoe and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, among others.

But we don’t expect a trophy for these significant changes in our business.  We have not yet earned a place at the leadership table with our contemporaries and this letter isn’t about promoting ourselves, our initiatives, or our new products. 

This letter is the apology and acknowledgement of wrongdoing you all deserve, not a step we are begrudgingly taking to quickly move past our mistakes and pivot to selling you comfortable thong underwear with a clear conscience.  We acknowledge that this is only the first step and not one to be brushed past.

We want to thank all of you for not giving up on us and for holding us accountable all these years.  It’s thanks to you powerful women that the world has come this far.  Your tenacity to speak up has finally brought us to this point of reconciliation.

Thank you for teaching us that sexiness has nothing to do with being a “bombshell” and everything to do with how you feel in your skin.  We hear you and you are right. 

There is nothing fashionable about being late to the women’s empowerment party, but we are here showing up in our imperfections.

We now understand that we cannot ever empower you because no one has the authority to give or take away the power that’s already inside you.  It’s always been yours.

So no, we are not here claiming to empower women, but we are inviting you.

We are not the same company that sold you that great push-up bra back in 2001.  Today’s Victoria’s Secret is so much more than a sexy lingerie company.

We invite you to give us a chance to prove it.”

Sincerely,

The Team behind the new Victoria’s Secret

Victoria's Secret Rebranded - a Bad Strategy case study - Part 1

Part One of two.

For more than four decades, the Victoria’s Secret (VS) brand has been synonymous with lingerie. The first two decades saw VS rising quickly into mainstream popularity thanks to its luxury appeal at affordable prices and aspirational marketing popularized by the Victoria’s Secret Angels.

But for the past decade, the VS brand has been steadily losing market share. As our society has shifted, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement, women have embraced a larger narrative of inclusion and body positivity, increasingly rejecting the overt sexualization of women and outdated ideas of beauty. Victoria’s Secret has struggled to meet this moment while its competitors have moved into the lingerie space that they once dominated.

While VS has recognized that the history of Victoria’s Secret brand is problematic – that the messages they sent throughout the past four decades contributed to a toxic view of women, body shaming, eating disorder culture, sexism, transphobia, racism, and misogyny. It is a legacy they’ve never fully acknowledged and can’t erase.

But, a new podcast from Cadence 13 and Campside Media, ‘Fallen Angel’ explores the fall of Victoria’s Secret and its trademark “Angels” revealing in great detail exactly how Victoria’s Secret lost its iron grip on the lingerie business - exposing the imperfect underbelly of a world built on male fantasy.

As a feminist and strategy-first marketer, examining the case of Victoria’s Secret provides an opportunity to discuss, not only, what went wrong but also, what could have gone right if only the powers that be at Victoria’s Secret had understood their audience better and genuinely cared about what consumers were telling them over the past decade of declining sales. Instead of building a way forward with a strategy in-tune with the severity of their PR crisis, in 2021, Victoria’s Secret forged ahead with a piece-meal rebrand that is unlikely to turn the tide.

This post will discuss the ‘Fallen Angels’ podcast, the history of VS, examine their rebrand efforts, and suggest a strategy more likely to see positive results as they attempt to move forward.

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WERE TOXIC MEN.

From the beginning, the VS brand was targeted toward men purchasing lingerie for women in their lives. The Victoria’s Secret brand was never about what women wanted - only what would please their partners. They did not create a space that positively impacted women in their own journey with their bodies and their sexuality. As a result, they have contributed to a culture that objectifies women and values only a certain type of beauty. Women have been deeply offended and hurt by the actions of former VS representatives and affiliates and the abusive and toxic male culture that has surrounded the brand in its imagery and messaging.

Further, the ‘Fallen Angels’ podcast details a work environment that didn’t allow for body autonomy or authenticity, instead, tales of unrealistic expectations and pressures created a culture of fear and pain for VS models behind the scenes. Women on both sides were affected.

The podcast delves into the cognitive dissonance that kept Victoria’s Secret brand from truly seeing what consumers, critics, and society were trying to tell them - their brand was toxic and they needed to change. According to Bloomberg reporter, Jordyn Holman “When you think about culture-shifting, it wasn’t just that consumers wanted new merchandise and products, they also wanted to make sure that the companies selling them were representative of the world. Lots of people say that Victoria’s Secret did not respond quick enough to that.”

The body-positive movement has been around since the Victorian era but the idea of what an attractive body could look like has recently been driven by women-led businesses, in particular. These smaller brands like Aerie, ThirdLove, and Savage X Fenty marketed themselves as a brand for every body with increased sizing, and messages of self-love and body positivity. As the industry evolved, Victoria’s Secret lagged behind. Retaining their board of directors full of old white men, the brand refused to evolve with the times until finally in 2016, when owner, Les Wexner, finally looked up from those pink striped curtains and realized that the world around him had changed.

But was it too little, too late?

Probably. Wexner’s efforts since 2016 have continued to miss the mark. Removing swimwear, cutting the VS catalogue, and moving away from their core product - push up bras, in favour of unpadded “bralettes”, may have made sense to Wexner to reduce marketing costs ($150 Million to print the VS Catalogue every year), but profits continued to fall despite moving 5 Billion dollars worth of merchandise a year as costs rose on the back end and VS began to flood the market with nearly constant sales promotions.

By heavily discounting their products, the VS brand began to lose its identity as an exclusive lingerie retailer. Since its inception, VS was positioned to be an American version of high-end French lingerie retailer, La Perla. By offering constant sales, they undermined their position in the marketplace and confused customers.

Wexner’s obsession with malls (and certainty that Smart Phones were only a “fad”) didn’t help the situation either. Even as late as 2018, he failed to understand that women wanted to shop online, bypassing awkward trips into a VS store where you never quite felt like you belonged no matter how good you looked that day. And as e-commerce grew, VS retail stores began to close, pushing the VS brand even further from the minds of customers.

As Les Wexner stepped down, and the Covid-19 pandemic forced all businesses to re-imagine themselves, Victoria’s Secret attempted to break away from its toxic brand image by becoming a publicly-traded company with no ties to the previous problematic brand.

Read Part two of two of the Victoria’s Secret case study here.

The lost art of longform copywriting

In a world where everyone wants easily digestible content in 60 seconds or less, long-form copywriting is often seen as ineffective or even abusive to your audience’s time.

Why spend 3-5 minutes reading or watching something when social media has trained our brains to take in only seconds worth of content at a time before deciding to scroll on by?

As media costs have risen, and our attention-seeking economy has flourished, devoting budgets to long-form advertising can seem wastefully ineffective. Marketers are encouraged to think in relevant and timely quips rather than paced storytelling.

The skilled long-form copywriter may be as challenging to find in Marketing agencies today as the elusive Big Foot.

And that is a shame.

Because storytelling at its best takes you on a journey. It offers more than quick “hits” but instead draws you in with a slow deliberation of purpose that soothes the mind as it engages it.

When done right - long-form copy breathes.

It gives time for reflection.

It builds towards something worthwhile and the payoff feels like time well spent.

For brands who are looking to distinguish themselves, long-form ad copy can showcase deeper thought and vulnerability that lead to deeper connections and community building.

It uses words thoughtfully to build brand affinity with longevity in mind - defying our impulses for more, now, faster - asking us instead to hold a brand front of mind; to pause and notice it.

As advertisers and marketers, isn’t that what we really want to accomplish? Beyond just “impressions” or “views” - we want our audience to hold on to a piece of our brand, to let it into their mind and have it stay for coffee.

Long-form copywriting asks for your attention. It doesn’t demand it with flashy graphics or pithy comments.

In today’s marketing landscape, it is a lost art.

And that is a shame not only to our industry professionals but to our clients who could truly benefit from the craft.

Mind vs Brain - a paraphrase of something smart Dan Nelken said.

Copywriter, Dan Nelken, of Nelken Creative, is a pretty smart guy.

While I don’t often sing the praises of non-female identifying professional creatives, I’m making an exception for Dan.

I was first introduced to Dan through his delightfully written and charming LinkedIn posts, a few weeks ago. After finding myself nodding my head and lol-ing repeatedly, I finally took the bait and subscribed to his weekly newsletter to ensure I didn’t miss out on any of the fun and wisdom.

Dan describes himself as a '“Creative Director + Dog Walker (and) Author of ‘A Self Help Guide for Copywriters’”, which is due to be released soonish. He’s also done some terrific copywriting for lululemon. While we wait with collective bated breath for the release of his book, here are some of the things I learned when I had the opportunity to listen to Dan share his thoughts on creativity during a recent marketing class.

One of the golden nuggets he shared with us was about the battle between the creative mind and the creative brain.

You might be tempted to think those are the same thing but oh ho, they are not!

What follows is a paraphrased and possibly bastardized version of what Dan explained as understood by me and recorded in my notes.

The creative mind thinks real good. It has focus. It works through the problem like an adult, considering, revising, questioning, expanding, flowing, and ultimately producing.

If the creative mind was a picture it might be something kind of like this.

In contrast, the creative brain is like an idiot dog. Dug from the Pixar movie, ‘Up’ comes to mind.

The creative brain is easily distracted (squirrel!) and, like a dog, needs to be lead where you want it to go. You can’t let that doofus be in charge, chaos will rein! You will assuredly get little to nothing accomplished and the creative journey will be as mentally exhausting as trying to get my teenagers to clean their rooms. JUST FOCUS FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!!!

Behold the idiot cat. Since I don’t have a dog, I will think of my creative brain like this idiot who clearly thinks he is a hat.

With this in mind, it really is no wonder that creative professionals of all levels can still struggle to create. Even after 20 years, I know I still do.

But as I laid in bed this morning with my brain running like a thousand hamsters in the Boston Marathon, I was finally able to tell my brain to “Shut Up You Dog!”, and you know what? It helped.

For a few minutes, this morning Dan Nelken’s idea about mind vs brain helped me interrupt my early morning anxiety-fest and remind myself that I am in charge of what goes on inside my cranium. Yes, my anxiety with a chaser of depression is a biologically based challenge that can’t just be ‘willed’ away, but I can separate myself from my idiot brain when it says stupid stuff or tries to self-sabotage my successes with shiny objects and insecure feelings.

Dan Nelken taught me something critical about the battle between my mind and my brain and it was the smartest thing I’ve heard all week.

Lessons I learned the hard way

When I first started my photography business I had no idea what I was doing.

I loved the idea of making a living working for myself doing something I loved, but entrepreneurship was a totally foreign concept to me. Register my business? How? Why?? It felt like a lot of unnecessary hoops at the time.

As I fumbled my way through running a business, I made so many mistakes. Cringe-worthy mistakes like forgetting my spare batteries at home and running out of battery life in the middle of an elaborately planned styled family photo shoot when I was impossibly far from anywhere.

Oof, that one was embarrassing, to say the least.

Or the times I let bridezillas bully me into drastically photoshopping their wedding photos because they were unhappy about their bodies. I feel such sadness and shame for not having the words or the guts to say “no” to that and it pains me to think of these women out there somewhere with albums full of pictures that aren’t an honest representation of who they were back then. That was nearly 20 years ago and it still bothers me.

More recently, I found myself in an awkward situation with a stressed-out client. She was on a tight budget and opted to cast her brand film from a pool of personal friends and family rather than hiring professional talent. Sadly, the lovely couple who volunteered to be in the film had an emergency the morning of the shoot and had to cancel at the last minute. I was literally in my car full of props and gear headed to our shoot location when I got the call.

Obviously, my client was not happy. It was an unfortunate situation that could have been mitigated by hiring from an agency instead of relying on friends. But the client made a budgetary decision and there wasn’t anything to do at that point but to reschedule.

Sadly, the client stopped responding to my communication efforts and the project was eventually shelved.

6 months’ worth of planning went out the window.

All the nights I had spent scriptwriting, designing, and storyboarding for this person’s unique brand story were wasted - the results would never see the light of day.

I was incredibly sad to see this project come crashing to a stop like this. Devasted at the idea that I had somehow failed my client, even though what happened was beyond my control.

I felt shame.

But over time I’ve come to realize that sometimes you can do your very best and people can still be unhappy. I learned that nothing is guaranteed to us and that you can make all of the detailed plans you want and it is still possible for the wheels to come off. I learned to qualify my clients a little bit more thoroughly to ensure we were on the same page and equally committed to seeing the project through.

And I learned that entrepreneurship is incredibly hard no matter how many years you’ve been doing it and that while things like registering your business or having contingency clauses in your contract may seem like unnecessary hoop-jumping, they are, in fact, essential foundations for building a business you can do more than fumble through.

Finding your anchor points in turbulent Business Times

Over the past 20+ years of entrepreneurship, I’ve been wrong many times.

Most of the time, my mistakes were fairly low stakes - no one dies when you forget your extra camera battery at a photoshoot, after all.

But I’ve also had my fair share of shame-inducing moments, times when I wished I had an invisibility coat to quickly put on so I would never have to show my face around my peers again.

You already know that we all make mistakes, but I wonder, do you have a strategy for how you find your way back from rough business waters? Most people don’t. Most hope to simply avoid mistakes altogether and never consider how they will handle it when things go wrong.

But you should. Because things will go wrong.

No one is guaranteed a smooth ride. Strategy is what will minimize those bumps so that you can keep your business sailing and avoid having to get a fake identity in Mexico.

Finding your anchor points in turbulent Business Times.

Step 1: Breathe Deeply.

That might sound trite by study after study has shown that breathing deeply genuinely helps to reduce our stress levels. According to stress.com, “Deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to your brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes a state of calmness. Breathing techniques help you feel connected to your body—it brings your awareness away from the worries in your head and quiets your mind.”

Breathing deeply helps you to stop the panic cycle that might be happening in your head after a mistake has been made. Instead of feeling like running from the problem, it helps to anchor you in your body, so that you can handle the issue with greater clarity and from a place that is proactive, not reactive. That’s particularly important if you are inclined to react with a lot of emotion right away.

Step 2: Remember who you are.

For a lot of us, our work often feels like our identity. It isn’t.

Work is something you output. The value of your existence is not simply about that output; you are worth so much more than what you produce or the role you fulfil.

Sure, you may have made a monumental mistake -the mother of all mistakes. But very rarely are mistakes in business life-defining moments. We think they are because we tend to only remember extreme examples of when the proverbial *ahem hit the fan.

Remembering your value as a human, wife, mother, sister, friend, chess champion, volunteer organizer, etc. will help hold things in perspective in turbulent business times.

Step 3: Let small things be small things and big things be big things.

If the situation is really that critical, acknowledge that. It does you no good to downplay critical issues, nor does it help to dramatize smaller issues. Knowing this difference and reacting with the appropriate level of action is a key part of finding your anchor points. If it pushes emotional buttons too much, you may overreact and make the situation worse. If you fail to recognize something severe, you may harm your reputation permanently. Neither one of those outcomes is desirable.

Instead, carefully weigh out the issue. Who is actually affected and how big is that effect? What emotions might be out of alignment with the actual issue? Are you (or someone else) reacting from a place of defensiveness?

In business, you will encounter hard times. But what you do from there can make all the difference in the outcome. So the next time your business hits turbulent times, remember to use these easy strategies to find your anchor points to pull you through.

The RIGHT clients for your business (and how to spot the wrong ones)

If you’ve been online (basically, AT ALL), you’ve probably read countless posts from business owners asking advice, in every Facebook group known to mankind, about finding the right clients for their business.

As our economy moves to connection based brands and services, more and more business owners are beginning to understand the true value of identifying and connecting with their ideal client base and how that can make all the difference in whether a modern business succeeds in it’s industry or falls short and disappears from the eye of social media forever.

At a basic level, the right client is obviously someone who values what you do and has the bank required to pay your prices without haggling or offering you “exposure” instead of money for your services.

But the right client is more than just a lucrative opportunity to pay your bills and grow your business empire, she is also someone who fully invests with you.

Investment is much more than money, a kindred client buys into what you offer by demonstrating trust in you, your process and your policies and procedures.

She does not ask for a discount because she is at her max budget and needs to make cuts somewhere or because she’s your second cousin, once removed. She does not refuse to participate in the process but instead actively engages with you in an honest desire to bring about the best results possible from your work together.

Your kindred client, is someone who INSPIRES YOU. She brings out the best in you by bringing her best to the table, too.

From personal experience I can tell you that working with the wrong client is miserable. Straight up hellish. The wrong client is always asking for more than what is fair/contracted/appropriate. She doesn’t follow through on her responsibilities, making your job incredibly challenging. She misses meetings, and doesn’t complete tasks required of her. Often, she believes she is better/more talented/more special than others and therefore is above the rules of business collaboration which is so very critical to the success of any project.

The wrong client, is painfully un-self-aware.

Here’s how to spot the wrong clients before you work with them:

• They offer you exposure instead of $ (nobody has ever paid their bills with exposure)

• They repeatedly question your pricing

• They miss meetings or agreed upon times to connect

• They don’t have a realistic view of themselves (or their business)

• They are half-hearted in their communication with you

• They are comparing you to others in your industry (and not understanding the difference)

• You don’t like their work (or them as a person)……..yikes, I know that sounds so mean but let’s be real, it’s VERY VERY hard to do your best work for someone you do not like or respect.

Friendlies, keep your eyes out for these warning signs and remember The Right Client is someone who:

• Pays her bills on time without trying to guilt you

• Communicates deeply, honestly and readily

• Puts her faith in your process, letting you lead as the expert while holding up her end of the relationship.

• Participates fully in the project from beginning to end

• Reads her entire contract and understands her responsibilities to see success from working with you

• Makes you want to work with HER. She brings something inspiring and worthwhile to the table.

Remember that working with the wrong client can cost you a lot in the end. Your time and energy are valuable resources that need to be carefully managed to ensure you are giving your very best to yourself, your family, your community and your other clients. By being very choosy in who you work with, you limit the risk that you will burn out, be stressed out, or feel disconnected from your work or your family.

In the end there is a very real cost to choosing the wrong client, a cost you might not be prepared to pay if you don’t look out for the red flags which always seem so very obvious in hindsight.

Until next time,

Lisa

Promotional Films - A giant waste of your money (mostly)

*Walks into room full of people

"Heya Friendlies!  Tell me about the last promotional video you watched?"

*sound of crickets

"Er.....you know, a promotional video.....like, uh, a video where the person is being interviewed and talks about their business and there are, like, scenes of them doing business type stuff.....uh..showing what they do and smiling a lot........anyone??"

*sound of brains thinking really hard

Then...

"Uh, yeah, I've seen a few of those.  I don't remember what they were for exactly......"  *voice trails off in deep thought...

*puzzled looks are exchanged

"What about the promotional video for Bud Light?  With the puppy and the horses?  Anyone remember that?"

*80% of room nods in agreement.  Smiles appear everywhere

"Oh my gosh - YES," shouts someone from the far corner.  "That video made me cry like a baby!"  "So.Stinking.Sweet."

From the other corner of the room...

"OMG, do you guys remember that IKEA promo with the lamp?!"  "It was sooooo sad!  But then so funny!"  "One minute you were all...awwww poor lamp and the next you were like, wait....lol....it's just a lamp!" lololololololol

"The lamp doesn't have FEELINGS!", shouts a man in front of me. *"Bahahahahahaha".

*small conversations break out in the room.  Laughter, awww-ing and passionate remembrances are overheard.

"THAT, I say turning to my client next to me, is why promotional films are a giant waste of your money (mostly)."

Friends!  If the promotional video someone offers to make your business doesn't make you tear/awww/lol/nom nom nom/eeeek/weeeee/yaaaayyyy or make your face hurt from smiling, it will have basically NO IMPACT on your prospective clients.

Gals!  I'm not just telling you this because I want your business, I'm telling you this because I KNOW that there are many of you out there who want SO MUCH MORE than what is being offered by a lot of video producers and I do not want you to do what I have done many times with my previous businesses, and waste your incredibly precious time, energy and hope on something that is utterly forgettable.

There is only one reason to invest in an Emotive Brand Film, instead of a Promotional video:  CONNECTIONS + FEELINGS = MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET.

If that's not you - if your business isn't about profitability, sustainability, filling a market need, and providing a valuable service or product, and you are just doing this because you love it and you think maybe you're pretty good at it - then, my friend - THEN yeah, go ahead and make that promo video.  It won't matter.

The Problem with Online Courses

Raise your hand if you have ever purchased an online course.

Me too! (who hasn't?!)

Would it surprise you to learn that in this digital age of learning, where hundreds of thousands of courses are available online: 

less than 10% of people actually finish an online course they've paid for?

That's right, people left and right are plucking down hard earned money to take courses they don't actually complete.

Truthfully friends, I'm one of them.

Maybe you can relate....

Are you guilty of signing up for a course you didn't finish?  Is your hard drive full of courses you paid $50 for when it was offered as a special deal and you just KNEW it would help you understand that thing that everyone else seems to know but that you can't quite get?  Things like growing your email list, leveraging Instagram, building a community, how to get followers and likes or how to convert your followers into more bookings....

Every business owner I know has tried to learn something from buying an online course.

If you've been on Facebook in the past year you have, no doubt, seen a crazy amount of sponsored ads for online courses;  everybody (and possibly their dog) is offering an online course these days.

So many people, you have never heard of.....

When you consider it as an opportunity for a lucrative additional revenue stream, and you acknowledge the reality that most of our learning is now done on the internet, it's easy to see why so many people are making and selling online courses.  The demand is definitely there.

Even courses offered by renowned experts and Thought Leaders aren't immune to high dropout rates.  Business Marketing icon, Seth Godin, even revealed in 2016 that he experienced a dropout rate of 80% for his highly sought after online courses.

It turns out learning online isn't the easy solution we hoped it would be to take our businesses to the next level...

So if we, as consumers, want learning delivered to our fingertips, where is it all going wrong?

The truth is - Most entrepreneurs don't know what to focus on first to bring greater success faster.  They don't know what will make the most impact for their specific business so they try and learn a little of everything all at once.

Business owners often don't know what to focus on first;  they want to keep up with what everyone else is doing but constantly feel like they don't know enough.  As a result, they tend to make multiple small investments (both time and money) into many items on their to-do list in order to feel like they are making significant progress.

They are constantly trying to DO MORE instead of doing what MATTERS MOST.

Instead they are making incremental progress in an unclear direction.

They are overwhelmed by all.of.the.things. they need to do and, understandably, choose to minimize their financial and time management risk by investing a little into a lot of different things.

Subconsciously, they are seeking the emotional payoff that comes from accomplishing something without realizing that they aren't growing as far or as fast as they could if they were to invest in the foundations of creating a truly flourishing business.

Foundations that would eliminate unnecessary items from their to-do list and help them concentrate on learning that substantially grows their business in the right direction.

People love to buy crash courses on topics that seem too big and scary to tackle fully. And online course makers know how to sell you a shortcut to those happy feelings of accomplishment.

What they don't tell you is that most people get distracted, confused, bored, lazy or overwhelmed and never fully reach their well intentioned goals.

The Problem with Online courses is, there is no accountability. 

For Business owners, and Creatives particularly, there is always something else that grabs our attention.  Shiny Object Syndrome is real ya'll.

One minute you are updating your website and the next thing you know you are surfing the Net and you are lost down the vortex of the millions of things you realize you don't know or NEED to learn about like yesterday.

So you watch a few free podcasts until you realize, you REALLY NEED to learn about this critical thing and then decide to spend the money for a quick course that promises the systems and secrets not available anywhere else.

And the first few modules are great and helpful and you feel like you are finally GETTING SOMEWHERE and then your kiddo gets sick and you don't have time to do the next module.  And then you read an article about something else you REALLY REALLY need to be focusing on in your business and you start researching that and before you know it, that super helpful course of yours is just sitting there making you feel super guilty for not having enough time to complete it even though you REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED to know this stuff.

Online courses make us feel like we are accomplishing something just by signing up so we can pat ourselves on the back and feel like we are really tackling that thing.  

But after the feeling of accomplishment fades, most people lack the consistent internal motivation and discipline required to actually follow through with completing the self-driven work required in an online course.

The reality is that learning at your own pace without someone to keep you on track is extremely hard.  Life is busy, there are always reasons to delay the "non-urgent" items;  always more and more items on our to-do lists.  There are also way too many distractions;  our phones are beeping text messages at us, our email is alerting, our Instagram account is notifying and our sister is tagging us on a funny cat video, it's no wonder we can't get anything done!

Online courses have to fit in between our work and our life and most people are already struggling to find enough time for just those two things.

Have you ever paid for an online course and then found the exact same information being offered for free elsewhere?  Isn't that super annoying?

While good sales copywriting can make you feel like you NEED to buy a course to access the most valuable secret information, the reality is that a lot of helpful material is available already for free.  Courses are sold as a way to learn this valuable information faster.  A solution that would be welcomed if it addressed all of people's needs but...

People don't just need information fast, they need help applying that information in their own lives.

Online courses are meant to generalize.  They aren't specific to your business goals, struggles or needs.  Having general information about a topic doesn't actually help you understand how to best apply it to your individual business.  It doesn't help you sort through your thoughts and make decisions with clarity.  Online courses offer knowledge without application.

So what's a person to do, then, when they need help with some aspect of their business?  If online courses aren't an effective strategy for growing your business, then what works better?

Invest your time and money in Good PEOPLE.

Hiring a professional person, in the "Real World", who can either do that thing for you or who will work one-on-one with you to make sure you actually accomplish your goals, is a far more efficient use of your time and money.

Yes, you can DIY just about anything.  You are a creative - you ROCK DIY but........sometimes, you shouldn't.  Sometimes, you need to know what will take you where you want to go and what will keep you stuck where you are.  Sometimes you need to NOT do-it-yourself.

Spending your hard-earned money on online courses will keep you stuck at a crawl in your business, when you were always made to soar.

Online courses can't truly know your needs.  

They can't dig in with you and talk you through the hard stuff when you're unsure.  

They can't sit on your couch and drink root beer floats and hold you accountable for how and where you are spending your time that week.

Courses can't answer your stressed out email at 9:00 am on a Saturday, or remind you over and over again what makes you special when you are questioning yourself.  

Online courses can't cheer for you, celebrate your wins, leave you the best IG comments and tell all their friends about you.

Online courses can't invest in YOU.

The Problem with Online Courses is they are a poor substitute for the kind of life changing growth that happens when you invest in building your business right from the ground up.  The kind of growth that happens when you invest in people who will walk WITH you as you learn and grow.

If you are craving

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The Overwhelmed Mompreneur: How I stopped feeling like a failure.

It's 3 minutes past three o'clock and you are throwing your coat, boots and scarf on like a mad woman.  You are running late.  Again.

You make a mad dash to the kindergarten wing to pick up your little one, who promptly gives you the stink eye and demands to know, "Why you late Mommy?".  All the other kids are gone, having been picked up on time, bussed home, or kept inside for after school care.  Your kid isn't happy to have been kept waiting, he won't hold your hand walking home and you feel both super annoyed and super guilty.  You are, after all, trying your best but these are days when you wish there were two of you.

Sound familiar?  Yup, welcome to the club, Mompreneur Friend!

Being a Mom and an Entrepreneur is crazy hard.

Literally, it will make you crazy some days....

You will feel so guilty every time you have to say, "Sorry kiddo, I can't play trains, Mama's working right now."  You will second guess whether you should be pursuing your work at all.  You will wonder 100 times over if you are being selfish.  You will constantly feel like you are letting your kids down by not being with them as often as they want you (newsflash - that is 100% of the time).

It is no wonder that so many women don't fully pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.  It is no wonder that those who do, feel utterly overwhelmed trying to balance everyone's needs all at once.  It is no wonder that some of those Mama's give up on their dreams after struggling to make them a reality and just become exhausted by the battle to find balance.

If you are a creative trying to create a business that actually succeeds so you can justify all of the hours you've invested in it, all of the days you could have spent with your tiny people, all of the times you sacrificed your sleep, your free time or your sanity, friend you are not alone.

The Overwhelmed Mompreneur: How I stopped feeling like a failure.

Some of the best advice I've gotten trying to build up my business while raising my three kiddos over the past 12 years, without family here to help, has been to: 

Embrace Community

Many of us don't have the support or physical proximity of our families.  We are literally trying to do everything ourselves because childcare and babysitters are often out of the budget and, if we are on maternity leave or a stay-at-home parent, we feel like we can't justify spending money for someone else to watch our kids.  There is a very real societal pressure to be a SuperMom, because after all, we chose to have kids so they are our responsibility.  *insert eye roll here

While we did choose to have our kids and we wouldn't trade them in for all the business success in the world, the truth is - We Can't Do it Alone.  That's why embracing a community of like-minded folk who can mutually support each other in both raising our kidlets and achieving our business goals is so critical to our success as both Moms and Entrepreneurs.

It wasn't until I stopped apologizing for needing help from supportive friends in my community and started seeing this support as a vital part of every entrepreneur's journey that I could let go of the guilt of not being able to do it alone and the constant overwhelm of trying to.

Do you have people in your life that provide that community?  If not, put yourself out there and find some.  Your local Moms group or your church are great places to start developing those relationships that can sustain you in hard times and offer the kind of practical support that every.single.mom. needs to succeed at her goals.

We all need each other friends.  Please don't be an island.

Recognize that pursuing your dream makes you a BETTER Mom.

There is an idea in our culture that women are at their best when they are focusing on only one thing.  That choosing to be both a Mom and an Entrepreneur means that you are taking away something from your children in order to pursue your business and conversely that you aren't able to run a fully capable Entrepreneurial business while you are also taking care of your children.  It's an idea that can make you feel selfish, as though your role as a Mom should be more than enough to fill you up and that any pursuits outside of that role are, not only, less worthy of your time but fueled by selfish desires.

Don't believe that nonsense for one minute!

You are not selfish for having life goals that utilize the gifts and talents you have been given.  You are not selfish for having a calling beyond your calling as a Mother.  You can be more than one thing at once, and you can be AMAZING at all of those things (this is still true even on days you are struggling, you'll note I said amazing and not PERFECT).

If you are lucky enough to feel called to your entrepreneurial work, trying to ignore that calling or to bury it deep within you will only lead to one thing - depression.  Not living the life that you were called to, is a soul crushing choice.  But when you choose to pursue your dreams, you are giving your kids permission to pursue theirs, too.  You are showing what it means to love yourself and the courage it takes to follow your dreams even when it is challenging.  Even when others seek to define what you should and shouldn't do, you are modeling the value of each person's individual journey and the work they are uniquely called to.

When I am working on my business, I don't see it as a distraction from being a Mom.  I see it as a source of LIFE to my soul.  Pursuing this calling helps me feel WHOLE.  Without it, I am not fully being who I am.  Without it, I am not living my very best life.

And if I'm not living my best life full of passion and courage and joy for my work, then I can't be my best Mom-self either.

By being both an Entrepreneur and a Mom, my kids are learning that the whole world does not revolve around them.  They are learning to value the time they spend with me and not to take that time for granted.  They are learning patience and respect for my time.  They are learning that Moms are people too (whaaaat, that's crazy talk, amiright?!).  They are learning to dream big for their own lives.  They are learning what it takes to be your own boss and someday they will have a much clearer idea of what Entrepreneurship requires of them and whether this is a choice they would want to make for themselves.

Did you know that juggling these two roles can actually be a gift to your family?

You are helping to teach them about living a life in pursuit of MORE.

So no, you aren't a failure because you are an Overwhelmed Mompreneur.  You are a great Mama and you are a great Entrepreneur doing your very best. 

I believe in you sister, keep going!

The space you take up

When my daughter was a baby I started a blog.

Like many moms, I felt lonely and isolated and needed a place to put my feelings into words; a place to connect with others feeling the same way.

My blog was unique - it was a commentary about our life but written from my baby's perspective, rather than my own.

To protect our identity (as was standard practice back in 2008), I gave everyone pseudonyms. My baby daughter, the "author" became "BlogBaby" and I was "BabyMama".

I wrote nearly every day for the better part of four years. Writing from the perspective and tone of a baby stretched my writing and creativity skills. It satiated my creative urges for a while. I loved connecting with mothers from all over the world and formed kindred friendships that still exist to this day.

Reflecting on my experience as a blogger has helped me realize a few not-so-great things about myself, though.

I realized that blogging, for me, was about hiding.

I had subconsciously set up my blog like a front for my chaotic reality (nothing to see in back officer).

By writing from my baby daughter's perspective, I could let her be the focus. I hid behind her happy baby cheeks. And I wasn't very happy.

There was more to me than being a "BabyMama", but by blogging from the perspective of my baby, I could protect myself from letting others into my vulnerable truth.

Behind the scenes, I was losing the battle to depression and my family was in shambles.

I was too afraid to write the truth and I had pigeon-holed myself in with my “BlogBaby” concept. I felt like I couldn't honour the other parts of who I was.

The whole me. The messy me and the version that existed beyond motherhood.

It is so easy for mothers to hide behind our kids.

• We deflect, gushing over little Susie's successes at ballet instead of disclosing how we are really doing.

• We let the focus be on their accomplishments, their needs; all under the guise of "putting the kids first".

• We post every.single.thing.our.kids.do.or.say on Facebook but curate what we show of ourselves.

• We push them in front of us in photos to hide our never-quite-right bodies.

And why? Why do we do this?

We do it because it is easier.

We let ourselves become invisible because sometimes we want to be invisible, Fighting the feelings that lead us to that dark place can seem like an emotional mountain too steep to climb.

Whether we are fighting a mental illness (or two), or are burned out by your life - hiding can feel like the only safe option we have.

Some days we feel like we aren’t enough.

Other days, we are overwhelmed at how much of us there actually is. Have we always been this much? This EXTRA? Have we always taken up this much space in the world?

Invisibility seems preferable to people looking directly at every insecurity we have. Preferable to being wholly seen in our imperfect fulness.

Being a mother is hard. It is a sacred gift that most of us don't feel qualified to get. We must be, either, brave or crazy to allow children the power to define or destroy us.

But bravery isn't about having no fear.

Bravery is facing our positively-certain-we-are-not-enough voice in our minds and pushing it back into the dark pit over and over again. Brave is in the battle.

It's stepping out from behind our kids and participating in our messy lives.

It's saying, "I am not too much and I am not lacking. I am enough exactly as I am."

Letting your children know that you value yourself is a life-changing lesson for them. It ensures that the children you raise will become adults with the confidence to put themselves out there, too. They won't hide but will embrace their own imperfections when those not-enough or way-too-much voices push themselves into their minds, one day.

When we, as women, make ourselves smaller (or more invisible) pushing the world's attention onto our kids, we diminish the world they live in.

We strip it of vital, whole and complicated female role models. We allow mothers to become background props, caricatures and stereotypes. We create a world in which women are defined by their challenges, rather than their accomplishments.

We also make it even harder for other mothers to come out of hiding. We add to the collective shame and guilt mothers feel when they declare themselves to be whole even when they don't present the perfect picture of motherhood.

Own the space you take up in the world. Every beautiful/chaotic/brave/resilient inch of you.

3 Tips to Figure out what your Dream Clients ACTUALLY need from you

If you just read the title of this post, you are probably thinking...."Well, I'm a wedding photographer so my clients obviously need great wedding photos from me," or "I'm a graphic designer so my dream clients need balanced, clear brand design."  And you'd be right, both of you, except.........what your dream clients actually need is THE THING that is motivating them to specifically hire you to take those great images or make that gorgeous design.

It's your Brand Advantage.  The reason behind why they are drawn to you and your work.  The thing that makes you special.

In my, nearly, two decades as a photographer I have seen countless very skilled photographers who have had to close their businesses because they didn't invest in truly understanding their dream clients needs.  These professionals were counting on the quality of their work and the strength of their personality alone to sell their work to prospective clients.  They didn't know who they were meant to serve or how to authentically serve them.

And it cost them, big time.

Friendlies, I don't want that to happen to you.  That's why I'm giving you these:

3 tips to figure out what your dream clients actually need from you (so you can ensure your business beats the odds and is around for a LOOOONG time):

1.  Do the research.

Chances are you know people who are totally your tribe.  Why not use them as a case study?  Are you making assumptions about your clients?  How well do you truly know them?  If you had to paint a picture of their lives, their passions, their style, their values, their favourite activities or restaurants, could you?  

During the coaching phase of my work, I ask my clients to identify 3 dreamies of their own and to ask questions that will help them to understand their needs and wants better.  Does knowing their favourite restaurant help you sell your services to them easier?  Maybe, maybe not, but the more information you know, the more points you can connect with them on, the more they see you as the right fit for them.

Not sure what to ask?

Subscribe to our Newsletter and get some of the specific questions I used with my kindred clients.

Not sure what your people want?  Dig in and start asking them!  Which takes me to my next point..... 

2.  Ask Better Questions (and ask them first)

This one seems obvious but most creatives I know ask the same general set of questions from prospective clients.  Have you considered what the things you ask actually SAY about you?  Your questions need to match with the type of clients you are seeking.  If they are boring and repetitive, your clients might think you are too. (the horror!)

If you want to attract clients who are madly in love romantics, why not ask them about the most romantic date they've had?  If adventurous hippy travellers are your jam, why not ask them which vegan shoes they find the most comfortable for walking around India?  Okay, I'm being a little cheeky with that last one :-) still........

Asking these types of more personalized questions let's your clients know exactly the type of person you are looking to work with.  It qualifies those who can identify with your questions and builds the type of trust that leads to a booking.  (woot woot!)

Sure, you should ask the basics like what, when and where but when you lead with questions like, "How would you describe your fiancee to a stranger?" or "What do you want people to know about your family?" You are acknowledging the deeper motivations that subconsciously determine the products they buy and the services they hire.

3.  Listen like a Boss

Doing client research and asking great questions is going to make a significant impact on your ability to connect with your target clients but if you don't have ears to hear, it's all worth nothing.

The most successful people know how to listen to what is said and what is unsaid.  They know when to dig deeper past someone's initial answer to get to the good stuff underneath.  That takes some serious listening skills to truly understand what people are telling you.  To get their WHY.

So the next time a prospective client says, "I just want some family pictures done," take the time to ask what prompted them to feel like they need pictures done now?.  Ask them what they feel when they look at pictures of their family?  Ask them about their most treasured picture and why it means so much to them?  Ask them what their dream photoshoot would look like?  What would it feel like?  Why do they want to feel that way?

And when you do ask, listen well and I guarantee you will have a much richer understanding of what your dream clients actually need from you.

The Two Big Reasons you aren't attracting more clients

Let me ask you this:

What do you know about your ideal audience?

If I asked you to describe them to me, could you?  

What type of jobs do they have?  Where do they invest their money, energy and time?  What are they passionate about?  What frustrates them?  What do they like about you?  What do you give them that they aren't getting somewhere else?

If you are scratching your head at these questions, then friend you are not alone.

The number 1 reason you aren't attracting more clients is because you don't know what truly motivates them.

As creatives, so much of your time is spent either on actually doing the work or on seeking new clients/customers that you often get lost in the busyness of business.  It's this kind of day to day strategy, just trying to do the basics, that can keep you stuck.

But the most successful brands know that you have to dig deeper to develop a real understanding of your target clients/customers in order to build your business successes from the ground up.  They understand that investing in this foundational work is what will allow you to build a long term business strategy that will make you GROW.

Friends, it's exceptionally easy to follow the well worn path of your industry peers, and simply to do as they do in order to try and generate the same kinds of results you see others getting.  You see success all around you and you want a piece of that for yourself.  You might think, "I am as talented as he/she is; I can do that too."   You might be doing all.of.the.things everyone else is doing and wonder why you aren't booking enough clients, why you aren't getting the type of clients that you really want, or why you hear crickets when you post something up on your fan page or IG account.

In a competitive market, knowing your audience and speaking directly to their hearts is the single best way to effective content marketing.  It's the hard work that needs to be done FIRST before you spend your time creating products/services, doing trade shows or printing your business cards.  

As the kooky scientologists say, you have to "Begin at the Beginning."  And let your energy, time and investments be made with the confidence that comes from understanding who you serve and what they need from you.

After you have taken the time to know and understanding your ideal clients, you have to connect the dots between their values, needs and wants and WHAT YOU OFFER.  And you have to do this by connecting with their hearts not their minds.

The #2 reason you aren't attracting more clients is because you aren't connecting deep enough.

Statistics prove time and time again that the best way to motivate a sale is to generate an emotional connection.  This isn't new information but where most people go wrong is by only scratching the surface of that emotional connection.  

Have you read the "About me" page for your industry peers?  Photographers, in particular, all say pretty much the same things.  Yes, preserving memories is important to your clients, it's important to EVERYONE, yes, you want to give them a timeless keepsake they can enjoy forever......so do your competitors.  

But what do you want your kindred clients to FEEL about you?  What is your competitive edge?  What would make them jump up and down and call their partners to immediately demand they look at your website?  What will make them cry the best kind of tears?

If you aren't aiming to captivate your audience, you won't be able to motivate them to hire you either.  It's only in creating those deep heart connections, that you will be able to attract those dream clients.

Want to learn more tips on how to attract more clients?

Get our "How to stand out in a saturated market" free guide.

Why YOU need a Brand Film - The Stats don't lie

You've probably heard people say that video is the next BIG THING in marketing your business online, the reality is that video is NOT an up and coming strategy to reach your target clients;  video is already HERE.

Which begs the question - Why aren't you using it?

I posed this same question to a sample group of my creative peers.  This is what I heard back:

"I don't like being in front of the camera."

"It feels overwhelming to know what to do or say in a video."

"I can't afford a big production company to do it for me."

"I don't understand how I would use it in my business."

Do these reasons sound familiar to you?  

Chances are if you are reading this, you have an interest in creating a Brand Film but maybe you aren't sure how to overcome the reasons you aren't yet using video to set your business apart.  If you are stuck in that place, I so feel you.

Being in front of a camera is terrifying for most people, but great news friends - Your Brand Film doesn't necessarily need to have you in it!  (I know, I just blew your mind, right?)

The best Brand Films captivate their audience.  They make you feel things.  They touch the deeper parts of you causing you to ACT.  It isn't something you watch passively, successful Brand Films are about emotion and story.  They are about creating a connection that lasts, making you unforgettable to your ideal clients.  You do not HAVE to be in your own film for it to be about YOUR brand.  Your brand is basically the collective result of how people experience you and your business.  It's more about the values and feelings you represent - the intangibles, than it is about anything else.  So, if the idea of having to put yourself in your Brand Film is a major stumbling block to creating one, take heart friend.

Did you know, 80% of users recall a video ad they've seen in the last 30 days? 

---->This beautiful Emotive Campaign film for Flora Apothecary by Arizona filmmaker, Ale Vidal, has been stuck in my head for a year.

People who interact with video ads remember them long after they are done watching.  The best ones solidify your brand into the minds of your audience, building trust and connection with you that is far greater than your competition who aren't connecting to clients in this way.

According to statistics, if people enjoy your video ad it increases the likelihood of them buying from you by a staggering 97% AND it increases your brand recognition by 139% which means having a Brand Film can not only help people notice you, but also remember you and want to hire you specifically because of the connection they had with your Brand video.

"But Lisa", you'll say, "how do I even know where to start with video?  How do I know what it should look like or what to say?"

More great news, friends:  You don't have to figure it out alone!

Hiring a Filmmaker who specializes in Emotive Brand Films means you have someone who will guide you through the confusing stuff to help you find the clarity you need to create a brand film that feels so RIGHT for your specific brand.  It means you get someone who can help you discover the meaningful answers behind your brand so you can feel confident with your message and translate that into visuals that have just the right tone and feeling to reach your kindred clients.

While there are some amazing production studios out there with large teams of people ready to create a video for you, at Salt and Light studio I want to create a Brand Film WITH you.  Relationship, Intimacy and vulnerability are so key to crafting a Brand Film that actually connects.  For that reason, I keep my equipment simple and my team small so the focus is always on your story and you are comfortable enough to do the heart work required to get to the good stuff.  This means the final film feels more authentic to your Brand and not overly produced or sales-y.

Creating an Emotive Brand Film doesn't have to be a huge overwhelming production.  And you shouldn't need to sell your first born child to create a marketing piece that is worth it's weight in gold.

Once you've created a Brand Film, you will have a marketing resource that can be used on many different platforms to maximize it's impact and generate the most excitement for your brand.  

Most of my clients are excited to use their film on the homepage of their websites, which is a great start, of course, but a Brand Film can be used many different ways.  

Since we know that '5% of viewers will stop watching a video after 1 minute and 60% will stop after 2 minutes', creating a short film that is under 1 minute is ideal for use on Instagram and will retain the maximum amount of viewers.  Since people will engage with video 22% more than with any other content, it's worth posting video across all of your online social platforms to reach the most people in the most efficient way.  (We'll talk in a later post about the perfect length for your video)

Have you ever thought about including your Brand Film into your response emails with inquiring clients?  It's a perfect way to set yourself apart right from the start!  Clients might be sending out inquiries to several people in your field, but they will definitely remember the reply that included a beautiful video that "had them at hello".

"Dr. James McQuivey estimates that 1 minute of video is the equivalent of 1.8 million words."

Have you thought about producing a series of smaller Emotive Brand Films that tell a larger story?  Create buzz and excitement by showcasing a video series that creates a reason for your kindred clients to keep coming back to you so they can't stop talking about you to everyone they know even after your work with them is complete.  Stay fresh in their minds and boost your word of mouth by using short impactful videos to reinforce your messaging. 

Hate blogging?  Why not Vlog instead!  Let me help you clarify your messaging and articulate it into short films instead.

The bottom line is:  Brand Films are more than just a nice thing to have on your website.  They are the single best way to reach the most potential clients in the most impactful way.

The stats don't lie.

Why this is a safe place not to be safe

“I don't think anyone aims to be typical, really. Most people even vow to themselves some time in high school or college not to be typical. But still, they just kind of loop back to it somehow. Like the circular rails of a train at an amusement park, the scripts we know offer a brand of security, of predictability, of safety for us. But the problem is, they only take us where we've already been. They loop us back to places where everyone can easily go, not necessarily where we were made to go. Living a different kind of life takes some guts and grit and a new way of seeing things.” 

-Bob Goff

Last year I stumbled across a song called "Renegades" by X Ambassadors.  It has become my new anthem.

I put it on many mornings after Yoga and crank the volume.  (Since my husband has been working from home, I have learnt it is best to do this with my headphones ON.)  ;-)

The song is catchy with a great beat and driving emotional lyrics.  It is no surprise, then, to find it was crawling up the charts.  (I'd probably know that if I listened to the radio...)

The song itself is essentially about zigging when everyone else is zagging.  It's about finding your unique voice and not being afraid to destroy the box.

It's about living a life that is in contrast to what most people are doing.

It's about being a game changer.

When I started my photographic journey at 17, I had no idea where it would take me.  I only knew that this art form was a way of narrating the things happening around me.  It was my voice but I didn't know what I wanted to say with it yet.

Over the past 20 years, having photographed numerous weddings, families, kids and couples, I've done my very best to learn from the experts who have come before me and to "do what they do".  And what I've learned is this:

 I am a Renegade.

Let me get very real on you here, most people can't tell the difference between one photographers work and another.  Websites often look very similar and every.single.person is using a brush script logo these days....

There, I said it. (Let the controversy begin)

It's not that photographers want to be the same as everyone else, they are just stuck.

Stuck in trying to do what the experts say to do;  stuck playing it safe.  Stuck trying to make a living in an oversaturated market and following strategies that have worked for others.   Stuck following trends when they could be redefining them.

When your brand identity isn't distinct, potential clients don't feel the emotional connection they NEED to choose you above all others.

A distinct brand identity starts with taking the time and energy required to truly dig deep into who you are at your core, who your ideal clients are at their core and what these kindred folk truly value most.  If your brain just answered, "having their memories preserved", then you aren't going deep enough yet...

One of the greatest mistakes new photographers make is to cast a wide net for potential clients with the mentality that any work is good work.

The truth is, without taking the time to truly understand your "Why" and who you authentically serve, you can't have a distinct voice in your work and the people you want to reach most can't see you.

It's like shouting the same words into the wind as 100 others;  no one can hear anything but noise.

My friends, don't let your work become noise.

You were created to be exceptional.

Focusing your brand visuals and messaging at a niche target audience means serving a smaller group of people. The right people;  people you connect with on a deeper level.  People who will become your greatest fans and influencers for other like-minded potential clients.

It means being specific about the "Who, What, Where, Why and How" of your work.

It means having some folks not "get it" while others are jumping up and down yelling, "Yes, yes, and double yes, I so hear you! Sign me up like yesterday!!"

I believe with my whole heart that there are a special group of you out there that yearn for something that is unique and deep and meaningful and different.

Some of you are longing to find a brand identity that will pull you out of the endless cycle of "doing what people do".  A brand that let you claim your own space;  your own voice.

And to you I say, "This is a safe place not to be safe."