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Secrets From a Marketing Pro You Need to Hear! · Business Roundtable

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Business round Table podcast. I'm David Carr,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: your host, so we're glad to have you here. We've
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: got a brand new guest this week, Monique James. Welcome
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to the podcast. Monique.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, David, thank you for having me.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely. I met with Monique and one of our
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: amazing networking group Success Champions Network. And when I met
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: with her, she has such a great background and I'm
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: super excited to help have her share and help you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the listener learn a little bit more about how to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: lead more effectively in building clarity and content and confidence
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in his digital age, like how do I do all this?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: How do I get myself out there as a business owner?
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And so Monique, thank you so much. I know you're
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the founder of the Rendinegade Creative Media group, right among
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: other things. And so before we dive into that a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: little bit, because I really want people to get into
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you know, how you help them with marketing and AI
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and all these tools, told our listeners a little bit
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: about what got you to where you are today, Monique,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and I love your background, so I want the listener
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to hear a little bit more about that.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was giggling when you said, among other things,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: because because Renegade Creative isn't the only business that I own,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and the business that came before this one, yeah, I
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: like to think of, gave birth to my marketing business
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: because I was, Yeah, I was not planning to get
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: into marketing when I decided to become an entrepreneur. Marketing
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: wasn't what I was going to do. I had started
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: another business. So my husband and I were both military,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: both service members were Army veterans, and after I got out,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: went to work and after a few years of working,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: decided I wanted to start a business on the side.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: And right as I was starting a business, we moved again.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: We got orders, and we moved to a new city,
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  Speaker 2: and I quickly realized, well, the version of the business
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  Speaker 2: that I had in mind was not going to work
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  Speaker 2: for the new city, the new market that we were in,
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  Speaker 2: and I had to pivot. And that business gave birth
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to the marketing business simply because at the time, the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: things that I was doing to promote I hosted events,
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  Speaker 2: I sold a pail and accessories online. I was simply
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  Speaker 2: leveraging social media platforms. These are the days where Facebook
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  Speaker 2: live wasn't a thing yet. It was kind of just
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: coming on the scene, and I was leveraging YouTube and
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  Speaker 2: Facebook and doing all of these things to get people
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  Speaker 2: to know about my brand and to come to my
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: events and to buy my Steff and other small business
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: owners in the city where we were started asking me
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: for help, were like, what are you doing? How are
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: you getting there? And I realized, oh, well, this means
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  Speaker 2: there's a gap there, there's a lack of information education resources,
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  Speaker 2: and so I decided to reach out. I actually attended
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  Speaker 2: a workshop that was hosted by the SBDC in that city,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and it was supposed to be about Facebook marketing. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm sitting in the back of the classroom and listening
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  Speaker 2: to the instructor and like, oh, well, if this is
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: the kind of information that people need and people are
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  Speaker 2: looking for, it was a room full of business owners,
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  Speaker 2: I can teach this. That was that the light bulb
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  Speaker 2: went off, and you know, that turned into a partnership
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  Speaker 2: with the SBDC teaching workshops and leaning into digital marketing.
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  Speaker 2: I was teaching as I was learning. I was teaching
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  Speaker 2: what I knew at the time, and I was also
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  Speaker 2: studying to keep teaching and did that for years. We
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: UH stayed in that city even after my husband retired
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  Speaker 2: from the Army. Stayed there for several more years after
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  Speaker 2: he retired, and I continued to teach workshops and work
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  Speaker 2: one on work, one on one with business owners, UH
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  Speaker 2: doing teaching workshops about social media and doing social media.
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  Speaker 2: I had an agency model in the previous version of
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  Speaker 2: my business, and three years ago we moved military life,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we moved again and came to a new city,
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  Speaker 2: another new city, and I started to think about what
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I wanted the version of the business to look like. What,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: because I recognized I was going to need to figure
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  Speaker 2: out what this new market can can stand, what what
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  Speaker 2: are the new challenges that business owners are dealing with.
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  Speaker 2: But also what did I want the business to look
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  Speaker 2: like for me as the leader? How that I want
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  Speaker 2: the business to fit and support my lifestyle as a leader.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought back to the conversations that I would
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: have with my social media management clients every month when
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  Speaker 2: we would sit down to you know, discuss the content
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  Speaker 2: that you know, my might put together. There would be friction,
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  Speaker 2: There would be uh, heated debates, you know, about what
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  Speaker 2: we believed the brand was and what they saw the
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  Speaker 2: brand as and so as I was thinking, and that's
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  Speaker 2: that pause, I was thinking about, well, what was at
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  Speaker 2: the bottom of that. What was missing was the strategy.
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  Speaker 2: At the time, I as a social media manager, was
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  Speaker 2: not my offers, my services weren't about strategy. They were
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  Speaker 2: simply execution. But I realized that the strategy was the
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  Speaker 2: missing piece. And so I thought, there's a there's this quote, uh,
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  Speaker 2: I believe it's attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu where he
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  Speaker 2: says there times of time where you have to stop
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  Speaker 2: pulling people out of the river, go upstream and figure
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  Speaker 2: out why they're falling in in the first place. For me,
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  Speaker 2: I thought, oh, the reason for the friction is because
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  Speaker 2: upstream the strategy's missing. And so I decided that's what
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to focus on. That that's where I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to pivot and plant my flag and decide, I want
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  Speaker 2: to help small business owners, nonprofits, organizations get clear on
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  Speaker 2: these pieces. This it's the foundation. When you know the
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  Speaker 2: bottom the bottom bricks, you know clarify what that looks like.
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  Speaker 2: So when they're working with a social media manager like
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: I used to be, or a marketing vendor or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: somebody that's handling their execution. That business owner is going
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  Speaker 2: into it clearer and confident about their own brand, and
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  Speaker 2: now that vendor or that in house marketing team can
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  Speaker 2: better deliver for them and get them to the results.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a win win for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love that money. I think you recognize
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  Speaker 1: that in yourself, that hey, I'm better, I can better
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  Speaker 1: serve use my guests as a strategist versus an implementer.
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  Speaker 1: And there's nothing wrong with either one. It's just understanding
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  Speaker 1: where I'm gonna have the greatest influence impact. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's great that you found that money and you're like, hey,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: here's how I could do this, and be willing to
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: step out into that. That's why I love having folks
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  Speaker 1: like you, other business owners are taking that risk and saying, look,
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  Speaker 1: I'm betting on myself. I feel like this is the
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  Speaker 1: greatest way I can help people and going in the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: world and reaching them. And here's the thing. I think
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  Speaker 1: I love having you on here because I want as
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you're a listener here as a business owner, or you're
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: in a position where you're needing that outside input, you know,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you're getting to hear an expert that's gone through it,
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  Speaker 1: lived it. Like you said, I lived it, and I'm
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: learning it and applying it. You know. I love having
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: guests like yourself that live and share from what and
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: lead from what the experienced in life. They didn't, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they just didn't just take a course and oh I'm
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: not doing this. No, No, you're actively doing this. You're
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: learning this. I mean, we know AI is constantly evolving
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  Speaker 1: and marketing even without AI. Right, it's just just in general,
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  Speaker 1: like the channels and how we're doing it and the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: way we do it, whether it's video, written audio, how
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  Speaker 1: are we're doing it. We're doing the podcast today. It's
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: a different way of reaching people. Right, So you have
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to have a strategy. What is what I mean, You
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: have a strategy, whether you think about it or not.
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  Speaker 1: The strategy may not be a very good one, but right,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you know, and I think that's what I want to
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  Speaker 1: get through on the podcast today really is why do
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: business owners Monique feel like marketing is so hard for them,
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  Speaker 1: Like like they get overwhelmed the times and then and
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: oftentimes I see this marketing usually gets cut in professional
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  Speaker 1: development because I help in the professional things are tight.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever we're looking at how we're gonna spend money. Let's
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  Speaker 1: let's not that's not focus on that. Let's not focus
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  Speaker 1: on the marketing. Let's stop focus on the branding. Let's
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  Speaker 1: not focus on developing our team. In my case, that's
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: some of their words. That's usually but let's go by
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  Speaker 1: a widget or this, this machine thing or something and
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  Speaker 1: invest money there, And oftentimes I feel it doesn't get
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  Speaker 1: them where they really want to be. And so talk
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Why do you feel like it's so
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: hard for small business owners? Why does that feel to
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  Speaker 1: them as you approach them and as you work with clients?
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  Speaker 1: Monique in this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it feels hard because it is hard.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard. I have to say that as somebody who
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  Speaker 2: does it every day. It's hard. And I think sometimes
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  Speaker 2: I understand. I operate as a marketer, as a marketing consultant.
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  Speaker 2: I lean on my confidence, coaching principles, empathy and understanding
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  Speaker 2: and transparency. I lean on those things a lot, and
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  Speaker 2: so I understand deeply what it is to feel like
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  Speaker 2: to be a business owner who says my products are great.
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  Speaker 2: I've done you know, I've taken all the courses on
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  Speaker 2: how to build a business, and I feel like, I
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  Speaker 2: have a great thing, but for some reason, this marketing
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  Speaker 2: stuff is so difficult. I can understand what that is
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  Speaker 2: to feel like, well am I qualified to do this?
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  Speaker 2: You know? It can really make you question everything. And
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  Speaker 2: so it's hard because it is, and I believe that
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  Speaker 2: there is a gap in understanding what needs to be prioritized.
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  Speaker 2: And I partly I blame marketers for this. I blame
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  Speaker 2: professional marketers like myself, because we don't tell the whole story.
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  Speaker 2: We tell the part of the story that positions our
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  Speaker 2: businesses as a solution, and we don't consider or don't
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  Speaker 2: talk about, don't address the other variables in the mix.
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  Speaker 2: So a lot of times when we're talking digital marketing, especially,
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  Speaker 2: people automatically think social media. And I understand why it's
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: in our faces. And so when you think social media,
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  Speaker 2: it's always, oh, well, it's about tactics. Well, do a
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  Speaker 2: real No, just use TikTok Nope, just write long form
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  Speaker 2: purse on LinkedIn, Nope, just do LinkedIn videos, just do reels,
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  Speaker 2: just do YouTube shorts. It's very tactical. It's the general
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  Speaker 2: market offers simple solutions quote unquote for nuanced issues, yes,
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  Speaker 2: and without having a strategy in place. Every tactic can
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  Speaker 2: distract you and make you feel like, well, oh no,
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  Speaker 2: I have to quit what I was doing and now
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  Speaker 2: do this because that's what the people are saying, do
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  Speaker 2: or no, now I have to do this. So you all,
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  Speaker 2: you never feel like you have a grasp. There's no grounding, right,
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  Speaker 2: and so for me, that's what the strategy is. The
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  Speaker 2: strategy is the grounding and it's the filter. So when
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  Speaker 2: you encounter people saying, oh, well I do this, you
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  Speaker 2: can run that. Well, does my strategy account for that?
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  Speaker 2: Is this? Would this resonate with my audience? Is my
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  Speaker 2: intended customer? Do they even watch YouTube? You know? So
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  Speaker 2: you're able to make decisions from that place of clarity,
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  Speaker 2: and you can make those decisions confidently because you have
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  Speaker 2: something that functions as the home base for your business.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: Without that, this marketing thing will always feel difficult and overwhelming.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well to your point, I think. I mean I've
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: experienced it, Monique. We're getting sold a lot and people
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  Speaker 1: are saying like, I get this, especially as a coach consultant.
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  Speaker 1: Could you the way they ask to do? And this
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: is salespeople. They're not even marketing, right, They're just using
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: a can thing like I get this off on quick question,
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  Speaker 1: could you handle more clients or whatever? These things? And
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: then they want to like and then so it's like
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  Speaker 1: they're not understanding my business. They don't understand the nuances,
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  Speaker 1: and so how could you even do that? Like you said,
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  Speaker 1: you have to come and understand. And I see this
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: like you said earlier, like sometimes we feel like a
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  Speaker 1: business all I got to be on everywhere, I got
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  Speaker 1: to buy every platform, I got to be on all
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: these things, and that it's exhausting, you know, like to
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: your point, are you where are your clients? Where are they?
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Where are they? Where were they residing? And oh I
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: didn't even think about that. Well, I know because you're
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: being solely people are telling you all these things right.
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  Speaker 2: These tactics exactly.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: And at the YU way, I hear you money coming
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: and you're kind of understanding that business owner the entrepreneur
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: where they're at. And you've done a lot of different things,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: like you said, over the digital in person, selling different
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: types of products and services, but like understanding where they're
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: at so that they can, you know, be clear about
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: what I need to be doing in the business, like
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: where where where are I to be focusing and helping
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: them instead of like too, I noticed this as well, Like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes the business owners are getting into the
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  Speaker 1: weeds of stuff and they need to be more you know,
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  Speaker 1: you're like I need you to be more present or
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  Speaker 1: how how what's the strategy how you're getting out there?
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  Speaker 2: You know? Right, it's a lot to juggle, it's a
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: lot to disseminate and filter through and way all the
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: time on top of doing.
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  Speaker 1: The business exactly. Look, I can see where it can
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: get over overwhelmed. Yes, you know, but I think helping
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the business owners so talk a little bit about brand,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: like getting the brand clear, because sometimes I think that
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: they're muney too in money money and that they're trying
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to like copy somebody else. So then you just sound
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: like everybody else, right, like can you impact how we
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: can you know, get that clarity of the brand out there?
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: How do you help them with that?
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: So? Yeah, so I have what I call a brand
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: clarity framework that rests on three pillars. Okay, first pillar
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: is the character of the brand. And when when you
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: think about character, you think about a person's character are honest?
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: You know, like how do they have integrity? So you
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: think about the all of the things that people talk
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: about in the books, the mission of the brand, the vision,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the core beliefs. What are the right and left limits,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: what are the what are the things that make the
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: brand special and unique? What's the story? What's what's the
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: thing that you want people to buy into? All of
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: those things and they're all invisible, I have to purpose.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: They're all invisible, but they become the guide post for
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: every single thing that the brand does based on character.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: That's the first pillar. The second pillar is the customer,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: because you know, we are doing business and we are
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: selling things to people, and so I work with clients
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: and help them uncover who their customers are beyond the
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: census data, you know, just oh, it's a two parent
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: household and they make this much money and things like that.
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  Speaker 2: We get into what's happening in the inner world of
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: those people and the outer world, the outer influences. So
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: what are they what are they desire? Do they do
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  Speaker 2: they want to reduce their carbon footprint when they're thin
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: considering buying a luxury vehicle or do they just want
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: to show off when they go to their thirty year
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: high school reunion? Like what's their motivation? Also, what's influencing
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: them externally. What are they motivated by? Are they motivated
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  Speaker 2: by status? Are they motivated by being aligned with a
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: brand as it relates to their values? All of those
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: things shape why people make buying decisions. So for the
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: brand to be able to understand that those things, all
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: of those variables, for the people that they hope to
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: sell to them more room to have a wide ranging
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: conversation with them. And then the last piece of that,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: the last C is the content system. Before you think
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: about publishing on the seven channels, you know, let's first
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: figure out do you need to be on seven channels?
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: And what channels do you need to be on based
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: on what your audience prefers, Where they consume information, how
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: they consume information, Where do you have potential for growth,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: and what can you maintain consistently Because the bandwidth, the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: capacity of the business owner their marketing team has to
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: matter if we want to be realistic. So thinking about
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: identifying the channels, developing the workflows, how do the channels
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: talk to each other so that you can create with
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: intention and not have to duplicate work? And then what
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: are you going to say on these channels? What are
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: your pillar topics? Or pillar themes, and what I call
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: the filler themes. So like if you think about, you know,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: building a house, the walls of the house, the walls
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  Speaker 2: of your room are your pillars. They hold up your business.
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  Speaker 2: And the filler topics is the furniture. It's the things
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  Speaker 2: that you could talk about that indirectly relate to something
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: that ties back to those intended customers. So those three categories,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: those three elements of that framework, those are the things
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: that I help a business owner get clear on because
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: once that's established, their marketing vendor, their social media manager, whoever,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: the founder, every person on a team, everybody is now
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: operating from the same playbook, and so the marketing going forward,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: the content going forward can be consistent, aligned. And the
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: beautiful thing is once that's clarified, leveraging AI. The AI
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: now because central repository for all of it. So it
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: just makes it even even better because now the tool
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: is now doing the heavy lifting. But we want to
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: get you to the point so that the tool is
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: adequately trained to do that and represent the brand consistently
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: over time.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Well, you brought up some good points that occurred to me.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Even as is a business or monique, what you're saying
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: is like, I liked how you said the walls and
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the furniture, because sometimes what I found is there's confusion
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: in the marketplace if they if they haven't worked with
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: somebody like you, they have a lot of different offers,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of different things, and it's and they're like, I,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what you are or what you're doing,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: and so and I think helping them get crystal clear,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: like this is going to be most appaling to your
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: your client, your customer, right, and how do we get
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: them in there first? And then maybe there's other follow
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: up offers or other things that you can include along
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the way. But if there's confusion, they're like, I don't
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: want to buy anything because I'm confused with what's going on.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, I will drive, I will drive by your house.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: If I don't know what I think use it. So
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I love to entertain, like I love the host gatherings
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: and swallwerais at my house and I and this probably
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: comes from I believe it's come from my experience, my
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: time as an event planner. I used to again, David,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: I did a lot of things. I used to do
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: event planning, and so I would think about Okay, what
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: is the experience from the moment this person, my guest
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: arrives at the venue until and get out of their vehicle,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: until they return to their vehicle to go home. So
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: if you think about as the business owner, what is
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: the experience that I want this intended customer to have
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: from the moment they stop, you know, at my brick
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and mortar location, or my website, or my YouTube channel
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: or my lead magnet. What is the experience that I
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: love to have. I want them to know that they're
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: taking care of When when people come into my home
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: the first time, I'm going to give you a tour. Hey,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: take your shoes off, get comfortable. The drinks are here,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: the foods here, this is this, these are meet these people.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Get comfortable. You as the leader, you know. Taking it
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: back to our businesses, we're the leaders. So we have
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: a responsibility to cultivate and create an experience. Because once
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: that person gives us their attention, gives us their email address,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: gives us their money, they're trusting us with their experience
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: from that point. And so guided by that strategy, you
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: can think, oh, well, when people come to our YouTube channel,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: we want them to get this first or when they
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: meet me in person and they get my business card,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: I want them to know this about me. Or when
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: they come to our when they come to our bakery,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: whether it's first thing in the morning or during peak time,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: we want to like this when they come out in
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: the door. All of those things matter, and it just
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: allows the leader to make decisions that are so intentional
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: and so strategic. It's warm and cold. I feel like
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the intention the empathy is very warm. That's the woo
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: wool stuff that marketers to not talk about.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Strategy is very cold. It's just numbers. But when you
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: have both, the business grows. The customer gets an experience
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: that they love and they want to tell people about,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: which keeps the business growing, which keeps making people happy.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: So it just becomes a cycle that just perpetuates itself.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: No, it's that's a great way of putting in. I
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: love how you presented that as a event planner. I
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: hope everybody's listening in its fun. We have very background too,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: because I used to run a multile DJ business and
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: MC and all that stuff. To what your point is,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: But thinking about that, I love the way you presented
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: that like a what is their experience with you? Is
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: it all choppy? Is it? Or is it like existent
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: in in in their interactions from their salespeople to the implementation,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: because we're marketing at all different levels, right, But like
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: you said at the beginning, if the foundation is not there,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: then it's going to be all over the place and
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: so and we have to come back to that foundation.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And it's not like we just do it well. I mean,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: we said it right, But I think what I would
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: hear your money says, you're coming back and making sure
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: are we all in alignment? Are we still as we're
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: developing and growing the company, does it all make sense?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Or are we getting Are we drifting? Are we moving?
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: And I think how? I mean, how many of you've
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: seen companies that have started actually had a good foundation
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and they've drifted and I'm like, I'm not sure who
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: this company is. I mean we've seen big companies too.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I remember like Time Warner about like AOL and I
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: was like, what is this? And then eventually it broke
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: down and they had to like sell it off. And
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: so like companies like they try to merge or they
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: bring in other folks and it gets muddy, and you
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: would think they would have a that you think whatever
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: skin you think they would get this, But they didn't, right,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: They missed the mark. It did not communicate clearly. And
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: so I know we're not going to get to go
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: way deep into this, but you mentioned AI and you're
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: an AI Marketing is consultant, and you're helping them in
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the strategy. So I do want to get into a
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: little bit about how do we use this if we're
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: getting the foundations right the branding, I like to talk
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: a little bit about how do we use AI as
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: an accelerant not necessarily replacement, but how do we How
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: are you seeing that right now in the marketplace money
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: when you get the strategy right, when you get the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: branding right, When you get that, and then you can
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: start to access this tool right.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I totally agree. I'm one hundred percent in
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: alignment with how you how you already positioned it. It's
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: an accelerant. The human has to stay in the loop.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: It still needs a driver, you know, It's if it's
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: a vehicle. We use vehicles to go from one place
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: to another, It's still needs a driver for the for
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: the initial setting of the vision and setting of the
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: direction and also to did we get where we said
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: we were going? Are we at the destination that we
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: said we wanted to go to? So we have to
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: stay involved. We have to drive the tools and ensure
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: that the tools are doing what we want the tools
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: to do for us. I definitely my approach with AI
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: is it's a thought partner can't replace. I actually believe
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: it's unfair to the tools. It's unfair to the technology
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: to expect it to perform like human beings because we
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: are walking contradictions and kaleidoscopes.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you know we.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Contradict ourselves knowingly and unknowingly at in a given moment,
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: like we are so multifaceted, it's not possible. In my opinion.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know what the AI nerds are properly cooking
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: up right now that we don't know about, but it's
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: just it's just not possible to expect the technology to
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: be able to function the way we do, which is
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: why we as responsible business owners have to stay involved
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: and yes, once we have done that work to get
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: to get clear on the brand when it comes to
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: the marketing piece. Now, the AI tool simply simply helps
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: you spread your message. It speeds up your execution. It
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: helps you stay true. It becomes like an accountability measure
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: because if you've done the work to clarify the strategy
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: to your point earlier. There are a lot of brands
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: that do that, and then over time we veer off,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: We forget, you know, the brand strategy documents get put
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: in a binder, you know, on a shelf, and over
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: time we stop going back to it to remind ourselves
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: who we said we are. Yes, when we leverage AI
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: to house that information for us, we're we can we
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: can mostly trust that the AI will honor what we've
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: said we want to do and what we've said we
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: want to go. So allowing it to house, you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: the the nucleus of the brand, I think it's great,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: and then put it to work to accelerate your content ideation,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: your content creation. There's a lot of fantastic tools out
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: there now that are doing that, are doing video, that
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: are doing visuals and again ensuring that there is a
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: human on the back end to do the quality control,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: quality assurance piece before it gets published representing the brand.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: But the AI, it is, it just accelerates everything. It
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: helps us save so much time, so much man ours
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: brain power as well, because the tools come up with
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: those ideas and help us flesh them out so much faster.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Right, Right, So you're your you're you're using this tool.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: It's not replacing it, but you know it's understanding I
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: think probably working with you, like what how much do
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: we delegate and lean on it? And where do we
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: have to own this message? Because it can give you
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: lots of different ideas, but you need to make sure
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: that that fits an alignment like with your culture. And
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: again you're feeding it, but still nonetheless you know things
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm thinking I'm gonna throw back five years COVID, Right,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: remember when COVID hit, everybody had all these messages about like, oh, well,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: we're doing this to protect you, and we're doing this
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to protect you, Like how are you know? What are
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: you doing as things change and evolve and staying relevant
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and you in the AI, you know, if you're not
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: being cognizant of that and you're like just get whatever
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: it takes out of it, you have to like know
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: how to feed it. And that's why I guess where
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: you're helping Monique is you're like, hey, how do we
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: get this working for you in the right way.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: And for some businesses that might look like starting with
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: developing ai USED policy. That's I help people do that too,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: deciding how will we you is it, how does it fit?
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: What won't we do? What will we do? But really
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: creating those that those guidelines. Again, I know what we
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: tend to think. We tend to think about structure as
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: something that limits us, but structure in any person who's listening,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: who's a parent will probably will probably agree structure creates freedom. Yeah,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: within the structure, there is freedom. So for brands that
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: are in those in that stage of trying to figure out,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: you know, what to do, what can it do? They're
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: thinking five years in the future that might look like, okay,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: well let's let's develop our ai US policy first so
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: everybody's on the same page, and from there we'll know
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: exactly how we can make the technology work for us.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's why I love with humaniqu because you're
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: bringing us and you're looking at that particularly from the
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: marketing lens. But I think working we work with Synergy
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Partners and sc Anglia, work with other folks that are
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: different strategy from UH from insurance to legal other than
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: how are we doing this cohesively and well and collaboratively.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: And that's what I love having partners like you here
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: on the podcast because I don't focus on that marketing SIPE,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: but I can tell you when there's off because I'm saying, Hey,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: this person I'm working with with this team, they don't
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: even understand all the services that your company offers. They
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: don't even know. So there's a problem here. And and
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: that's why we're going to have you on the podcast
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: money because that you can share and then people know, Okay,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: here's another resource I can lean into. I know we're
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: getting close to endo the podcast. We're gonna have to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: have you come back because there's more to cover. But
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I want to say, Okay, we've covered a lot. I
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: mean from from just getting our strategy, branding AI. But
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: you know, if if I'm the business owner or the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: individual I'm feeling again we talked about earlier, overwhelmed, I'm overwhelmed,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: or maybe I'm maybe even the person that's like, I
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: got an idea for our business, but I don't even know,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: like is it viable? Where do I go? Because I
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: think how many we talked before we started recording the podcast,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Like people have started their business, and they would be
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: so much better off if they would have backed up
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: earlier on and brought you on earlier on in the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: process instead of now they spent months and probably even
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: years possibly like oh this is so painful. You know,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: what would you say to that person that's either just
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: thinking maybe that you're just starting, or they're frustrated they're
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: not really getting where they want to be Monique and
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: saying what would you help them? Is it a mindset?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: What is an action something that they consider? What would
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you advise them?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: What comes to mind is what I think. It's Steve Blank,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: so i'm as I am a student of lean sic
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: signal methodology as well, and one thing that he talks
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: about is getting out of the building, like get out
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: of the building so that having the idea is great,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: but the only way to really know if it's going
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: to work is to get out of the building and
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: talk to people. Talk to people who don't love you,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: because there mom will always tell you it's a great idea.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, other people who don't love you.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: People who can be who can be objective, and whether
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: it's the person with the idea, hey, well what do
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: you think about this? Or you know when was the
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: last time you did this? Get that real feedback, and
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: similar for the business owner who is stuck. Get out
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: of the building and find the persona that you think
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: is the person the buyer for the thing that you
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: sell and hear from them what are they buying? What
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: aren't they buying, why are they buying? Why are they this?
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Instead of that that feedback. For me, I too am
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: very much. I'm solution and oriented, so I will sit
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: in my office and figure out the solution by myself.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: But sometimes we need that external perspective, somebody outside the
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: jar who can read the label, like somebody needs to
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: read our labels right, so we can we have that
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: real world feedback and we can use that feedback to
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: make to create insight that helps us get clear which
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: helps us make you know, those decisions from a place
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: of confidence.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I love that you said that. Get out of the building.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: And for those that are listening, you know, we're going
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: to make sure you guys connect with money because we
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: look to our show notes. Minik and I are connected
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: on LinkedIn, Come visit us in success Champions Networks, among others.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: So you guys make sure you come in and follow
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: along Monique, it's been a pleasure having you on the podcast,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and I hope you definitely will come back and share
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: more with us. You have just some great insights, love
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: your energy. Thank you so much for being here.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I would love to come back. This is this is fun.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I could talk about this alliday. So yes, I.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, Monique, and thank you
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: guys for listening and following along on the Business Roundtable podcast.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Week after a week, we bring you great guests. Whether
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: you follow us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, whatever the case
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: might be, please share, like, and subscribe. But that's always
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: appreciated and we look forward to you guys coming back
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: again next time. Thanks again, Lennie, Thanks everybody for listening.