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Authentically Marketing Yourself with Rob Bunch · We Built This Brand

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We are there to be an extension of their
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team and to really kind of help them grow.
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And sometimes that growth, just like in family, is hard.
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And you have to get through kind of the muck together in order to do that.
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Welcome to We Build This Brand.
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I'm your host, Chris Hill.
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And today on the podcast, we're interviewing Rob Bunch.
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He's a senior executive at The Leverage Group.
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Now, Rob and I have known each other for a few years now through
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professional organizations and through some conferences we've been
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to, and I've really enjoyed getting to know him over the years.
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One of the things recently I got to do, actually back earlier
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this spring, was get to see him give a presentation at the
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University of Tennessee's Sales and Marketing Conference.
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And he did a great job.
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It was really fascinating.
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We talked, he talked a lot about the Savannah Bananas and some other
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brands and how they market and get people excited about selling.
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And he really integrated this theme of personal branding
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into his talk that was really interesting to me.
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What I asked him about, After his talk, Rob and I talked
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a little bit about his take on personal branding and
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it just made me go, I should really connect with him.
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After his talk, I went up to him and asked him if he'd be on the podcast
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because I thought what he had to bring in that conversation was really cool.
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And I wanted my listeners to be able to hear a little bit of that conversation
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on personal branding, but also talking about sales, developing business,
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and of course, being in the agency world, the challenges that come with it.
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So this is my conversation with Rob Bunch.
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We talk about personal branding.
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We talk about marketing.
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We talk about building up the leverage group
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and some of their projects and successes.
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And overall, I think you'll find it to be a really good conversation.
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I really enjoyed it, and I hope you do, too.
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So, Let's just go ahead and dive in.
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This is my conversation with Rob Bunch, Senior Executive at The Leverage Group.
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Welcome everybody.
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Today I've got Rob Bunch from The Leverage Group with me.
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Rob, thanks for coming on.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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Today, I wanted to talk to you, really dive into like your experience
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in working with an agency like The Leverage Group, and then get
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a little bit of your insight and opinion on personal branding.
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I know that's near and dear to your heart, and I'd love to spend
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some time talking a little bit more about what that's like.
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With that said, like, tell me about your background a little bit.
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Where, where, when did you start with The Leverage
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Group and kind of where were you before that?
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Sure, sure.
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Thanks for the question.
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I'll start by telling you that I'm a marketer by choice, not by education.
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My background and degree is actually in finance.
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When I got out of school, I started in construction
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management on the operational side of things.
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At the time, we lived in Florida.
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And so I was like, okay, this is great.
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And it was a great industry to be in.
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My in laws moved to East Tennessee.
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And as the U Haul was pulling out, my wife said, I'm
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going to go with them and you can come too or not.
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And so I decided being early wed that it was important
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for me to get into the U Haul and go as well.
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We moved to East Tennessee, which we love being here.
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When we got here, I was living in the in laws basement looking for
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work, and the construction industry was really tough to tap into here.
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I had been without a job for a while.
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Watching TV one day, um, a local television station had
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an ad on that they were hiring a sales assistant, and
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I was like, okay, well, I'll send my resume in there.
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Know nothing about that, but we'll see what we can do.
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And jumped into the media world and was a sales assistant for just a few months.
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And the general manager of the station called me into her office shortly
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after I had been there and said, you know, I need a marketing director
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and I think you're going to be the marketing director of the TV station.
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Didn't know what I was doing, but, um,
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rolled up my sleeves and started learning.
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Moved from that role into sales on the broadcast
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media side and sold television, airtime.
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Uh, for a while, of course, digital was emerging then as well.
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And so really kind of learning all about digital products and
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services and all of the things that people could do in that world.
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And at that time, I was working for a company that moved me into a
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corporate role where I oversaw digital operations and help sales team
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develop their sales funnels from a digital and broadcast perspective.
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standpoint and was with that company for probably almost a decade.
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My wife and I started having a young family and I was
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traveling quite a bit across multiple markets and was like,
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you know what, I just need to try something different.
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Moved over to the agency side, started working with
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clients, helping them build their marketing and branding
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plans and strategies, and then how to execute those.
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And so of course, working with salespeople,
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like I once was and those kinds of things.
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And at that time I started consulting with a leverage group.
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They, at the time, had been around for about
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five years, mostly a traditional ad agency house.
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Um, they were wanting to be more in the digital space, and the agency
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that I was running at the time was very digital focused, and so we were
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able to white label our services for them, and so I consulted with them.
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For quite a while and back in 2019, moved over to the leverage group kind
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of full time in a capacity where I was able to really kind of build at
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that point, our own in house digital operations and those kind of things.
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So I oversee the digital operations for the agency as
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well as go out and develop new business and help manage.
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Accounts and help businesses build their brands and market every day.
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So it's, it's a fun adventure, Chris.
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So that's, that's really cool.
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Thinking about the, the move from running your own agency
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into basically being, I guess, absorbed by the leverage group.
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Would that be a fair way to, to state that?
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I mean, what was that transition like?
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I would imagine going from being your own boss to now
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being under someone else has to be a bit of a shift.
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Yeah, one of the struggles that I had running my own agency,
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and I worked for a group of investors really, was just
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managing people, scaling and all of those kind of things.
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You know, I moved from where I was the one casting all of the vision and
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really kind of choosing the mountain and saying, okay, we're going to go
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climb this mountain and making sure that everybody climbs up the mountain
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to really more of, Being on a leadership team that we choose the mountain
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together, um, and decide how to climb and how to build the business together.
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And for me, that's worked a lot better.
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I still obviously oversee parts of the business and oversee some staff overall.
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It's really more of being a support and a leader alongside somebody
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that's a visionary that knows, you know, how she wants to build her
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business and what the brand looks like and those kinds of things.
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And that's been really refreshing, Chris.
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That's cool.
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That's really cool.
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So now that you're with the leverage group, you said they're focused on digital.
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Tell me a little bit more about the leverage group itself.
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What is it?
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What do you all do?
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Who do you serve?
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All those fun things?
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Great question.
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So the leverage group is what I would consider a boutique agency.
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And what I mean by that is that it's more
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about quality of work for us than quantity.
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We would rather work with a handful of clients than 300 or 400 clients.
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It has to be the right fit for us.
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And so when we sit down and start working with a potential client, We want to
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understand what their needs are and their goals are, but then also want to make
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sure that we're able to speak into their growth and that they understand that
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we have a level of expertise that we can bring to the table and help them with.
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Really, it has to be about a mutual partnership that works with them.
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Really being able to make sure that we can make a difference
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by being heard and being the experts that they need us to be.
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to be.
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So with that being said, we are a full service agency, however.
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So we do everything from helping people really kind of understand
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what their marketing strategy is and what their brand strategy
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is and how that aligns with their overall business plan to how
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to successfully execute that throughout the customer journey.
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Um, and really kind of what each of those pieces look
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like, whether that's helping them build their brand.
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Whether that's helping them really kind of understand their digital
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footprint by helping them build their website or their social media
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channels or their directory management type aspect of the business, or
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whether it's advertising in the traditional or the digital space, we really
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kind of look at the whole picture and can help with each piece of that.
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And so when we sit down with a potential client or
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potential partner, we look at what they need from us.
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And what those pieces are, and then we kind of insert where we're needed.
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So for some people it's that full picture and it's
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that full come alongside as a full marketing partner.
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For some, it's just, Hey, we're in a season and we have this
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campaign coming up and we just really need help with this creative
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and execution and really kind of Making sure that it's purchased
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properly and all of those kind of things and we can do that too.
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So it really just depends on the client and
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everything's custom for the needs of those clients.
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And at the end of the day, it's really about their growth and
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their return on investment and all of those kind of things.
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Because if they're growing, then obviously we're
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going to be successful as a marketing agency as well.
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That's, that's pretty, pretty comprehensive to be able
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to have to do all that and manage that for clients.
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Do you find, are you working with smaller
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businesses, bigger businesses, what size?
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From an industry standpoint, we do a lot in the healthcare industry.
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So some of our largest clients, um, are healthcare oriented and, you know, we
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work with clients that have 20 plus hospitals, um, to clients that have one.
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Car dealership, as an example, uh, One Rooftop Car Dealership, Retail, Higher
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Education is another category that we work in as well, Chris, but, you know,
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really, it's less about what their budget is and their willingness to allow
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somebody to come alongside and help them, really, if it's the right fit for us.
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So, we work with all businesses, any size, um, but we find that.
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Really, it's those, a little, you know, 10, 10 plus
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employees kind of is where we kind of hit our sweet spot.
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I gotcha.
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How has your brand evolved over the years as the leverage group?
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I mean, has it been leverage group since you've been there?
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Has there been any big evolutions like?
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The Leverage Group has been the Leverage Group since day
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one, and really, the evolution of it has been less about the
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brand itself or the business brand and more about the people.
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It started as our owner, Meredith Mathesius, from her
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home, you know, she had had a successful business.
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Broadcast sales herself and was ready to have a family and have
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a little bit more flexibility and had a bunch of clients around
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the country that were like, we want you to continue to help us.
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You can't just go home and have babies.
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She started the agency and, you know, really kind of handpicked who
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she wanted to work with and who she could make a difference with.
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Knowing that family was first for her, you know, that was a Early
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core value of the leverage group and continues to be one today.
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And so, but then, you know, she had to add people.
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So as her business grew, she needed to add, you know, an admin team that
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would help with the auditing of, you know, media buys and the invoicing and
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the accounting and all of those things that we have to do as business owners.
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And so, you know, she started that aspect.
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Then she added, uh, an account executive that had a lot of
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healthcare knowledge because she wanted to grow in that industry.
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And so she did that.
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And then when she needed digital, she reached out because we had a previous
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relationship and said, Hey, Rob, I'm not ready to bring it in house yet.
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But, you know, why don't you help us with that?
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And when it's time, we'll bring it in house.
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So she's added people that have built.
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Part of the brand as they've come, but the reality
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is, is the people are the brand of the leverage group.
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And most of the time when a business builds properly, um, that's how it is.
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The brand evolves because of the people that
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run it and do the work every single day.
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For sure.
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And I think the people are very important to any brand.
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I mean, the image of any business is built on the backs of the people
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that run it and operate it, especially when you're a small company.
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And it can be so crucial to have the right people in the
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right place, especially those smaller organizations that,
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yeah, I could see how that would be very important to you all.
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So I think that kind of leads into a question that I had, and
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I know you wanted to talk about, which is personal branding.
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Obviously everybody at the Leverage Group
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represents the company, but how do you represent.
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Your own personal brand and what makes personal branding so important to you?
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Sure.
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So, you know, Chris, I think that we live in a
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world where there's just so much fakeness, right?
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We live in a world that's very driven by social media and those are tools
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that can be very, very helpful, but they can be very harmful as well.
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And so we're inundated each day as humans by just a lot of.
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images and exposure to messaging and all of those kind of things.
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And a lot of that is, is real.
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But there's a lot of that that isn't real, that's polished or
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filtered, that it creates an illusion that may not be what is real.
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You know, for me, when I sit down and talk with a business about their
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marketing strategy, We really start talking about their mission, their
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vision, and their core values and the importance of that and what
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that looks like, um, because if this is who we say we're, we are, then
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we need to be those things because consumers can see through that.
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We're smart enough as a human race that if we take that to the
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personal side of things, that if Rob Bunch is fake and phony,
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some people may buy into that for a short period of time,
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but eventually people are going to say, Hey, you know what?
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I don't, I don't want to do business with him or, you know, I don't want
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to hang out with him, or I don't really think that what he has to say is
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important because it's not true, it's not authentic, it's not transparent.
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When we talk about personal brands, in my opinion, we need to
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start at the same place that we do as a professional brand.
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It's that mission, vision, and values.
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So, personally, what is your mission?
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You know, what, what are you called to do?
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Why are you here?
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How are you supposed to interact with other people?
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And then you move to the vision.
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What's that look like in the future?
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Not just today, but in the future.
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How are we going to measure that impact of your mission in the world?
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And then, of course, that ties into your four values.
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What are those values that you align yourself with based on?
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Based on your personality or based on your culture, based on
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your diversity or your religious background or whatever those
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happen to be, how does that help you align who you are and how
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you're going to go out and execute your mission and vision?
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It's really about Living that mission and vision with those core
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values to the most authentic and real way that you possibly can.
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I think sometimes, Chris, there's a lot of confusion around that,
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though, because as I talk to people about that, they're like,
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well, you know, I'm a very private person, or I'm an introvert,
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or it's a lot easier for an extrovert, or those kind of things.
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I'm not saying that in the world that we live in that we need to go
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out and share every aspect of our lives with other people, but just
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like we would do from a business standpoint, we would do on a personal
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standpoint, and we would choose what things that we're wanting to share.
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What we can talk about, what we can be open about, what we can allow
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others to see that may help them in a situation that they're in.
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And so for me, I think it's really important for us to understand that
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about ourselves, so that when we do go work for a business, um, that we can
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We know that we align with that business because if not, then we're just
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going to a job every day that we may or may not truly believe in the brand.
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And how can we be successful if our brand doesn't align with their brand?
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That is really good.
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That is really interesting.
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So let me ask this then.
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Do you have like a documented mission vision values for yourself?
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So that's a great question.
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I sit down every year and I outline that.
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So it changes, right?
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And so for me, as we grow and as we change as humans, that's going to change.
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So I can tell you my mission in life, as it is right now on the 1st of
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May in 2024, whenever These folks are going to be listening to this, is
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Rob Bunch is called to love people for who they are and where they are.
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My mission is to love others for exactly who they are, the moment
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of life that they're in, regardless of what that looks like.
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And I'm good at that some days and I'm really bad at that other days,
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Chris, but that's the mission and that's what I'm really striving to be.
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Whether that's in business or whether that's personal life
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or whether that's with my wife and my children, whatever
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that happens to be, that's my focus as I travel each day.
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And I can see how having that grounded, Hey,
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this is who I am being able to write that down.
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There's something about writing things down
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or even typing it out or saying it out loud.
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I hesitate to use the word manifest because that is not at all
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what I think you're trying to say here, but like putting it down on
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paper, ingrains it in your head, like mentally, this is who I am.
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This is what I'm doing.
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And I think to be able to compare that and then go into the next
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part, which you mentioned is employment and say, This is what I value.
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Do these people value the same thing I think is, is crucial.
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I can think of times in my life where I have not done that.
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And the, the culture clash just immediately hits you when you get into
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an organization that is not at all what you needed, but you needed the
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money or you needed the job, you know, everybody has a different journey.
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Being able to do that.
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That's really, yeah, I like that a lot.
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That's, that's an interesting perspective on that.
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So thank you.
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Yeah, for me, when I take that personal brand and I compare it
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to what we want to accomplish at the Leverage Group is we want
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business owners to be able to successfully grow their businesses.
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I want to love their business.
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I want to love the work that they're doing,
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and I want to help them be better at that.
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That's how I can justify my personal mission.
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With the mission of the Leverage Group to provide seller marketing
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and advertising methods to help clients grow their business.
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It's because I can truly be passionate about
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their business and really love what they do.
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That's one of the things also that as a brand that I think
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the Leverage Group is really good about and I think it
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falls in that boutique agency that we talked about as well.
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There are some times where a potential partner will come in and meet with us
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and we had one probably six months ago that would have come in and sat down
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with us and potentially been a great partner with us from a financial standpoint
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and we'd have really been able to help them grow and that kind of stuff.
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Our core values and our methodology wasn't aligned.
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Rather than trying to force that and rather than trying
18:59
to make something work, as an agency, we said, you know
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what, we just, we don't feel like this is the right season.
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We're not the right team to help you.
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And so we can help maybe provide some resources for you to find the right team.
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And we want you to be successful, but we're just not aligned at this point.
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point.
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It's really refreshing to work for an organization that says
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that it's okay to turn away business because we're not aligned.
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But again, if you're aligned with your personal brand and you are aligned with
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the brand of your business, it's going to be easier to get up and go to work
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in the morning because you want to be happy about the work that you're doing.
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And if it's fills you and fulfills you, then it's going
19:40
to be easier than, Hey, something doesn't fit right.
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I'm not aligned.
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Um, and there's all this friction and, and cultural issues
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and all of those kinds of things like you mentioned.
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And I've been there being a small business owner.
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Sometimes you have to take opportunities or you feel compelled to
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take an opportunity or pursue an opportunity because it's there.
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It's in front of you.
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You can make money.
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And then you realize after the fact, Ooh, maybe that wasn't the best decision.
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Now, like I, I mean, without naming names, we've, we've definitely
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had one or two things where I was so panicked that every day something
20:12
would show up in the news about someone we were working with.
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And I was like, yeah, that's probably a
20:17
sign that we need to, we need to move on.
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But yeah, I can totally, totally understand that.
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That part of it as well.
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I mean, having those, those cultural alignments, both as a company
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and as a person, like really make a difference in, in how that's done.
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So does the leverage group do anything to help other employees with their
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personal brand or think about their Their own personal mission, vision, values.
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They're obviously any good organization does training
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and does team building and those kinds of things.
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And so, uh, we're a fairly small team, Chris there, I think there's 15 of us.
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Um, and that includes full time and part time.
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There's a lot of.
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times where we'll come together and we'll just talk about,
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you know, what's happening in our lives and where we are.
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And if people need to share resources or those kind of things, they do that.
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And we've done things like, um, personality assessments and really who
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we are as people and how we interact with each other type activities.
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And that's really been beneficial.
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A lot of us have worked together for a long time, and so it's family, right?
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Meredith started her agency, I think I
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shared, when, when she had her first child.
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And her first child is now a junior in high school.
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And like this past week went to prom, as an example.
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And so it's nothing for our team on a Saturday to receive a text
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message that says, Oh, look at my daughter's prom pictures, right?
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And we get to celebrate that.
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Or yesterday, actually Monday, Meredith's was
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bringing Emerson to Clemson for a college tour.
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And so we got to talk about that as, as a team.
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And so it's truly about doing life with people.
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We did, we have, like I said, some, some activities that we do
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and some trainings that we do to kind of help align our team.
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But even more importantly than that, it
22:02
is truly a family first type environment.
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The work life balance is really great because we all
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understand as working parents and as working people that
22:13
have responsibilities and things and, and, you know.
22:17
Activities we do outside of the office, that it's important for
22:20
us to have that balance between here's what we're doing with our
22:23
clients and our partners, and this is the great work that we're
22:26
doing, but also these are the things that are happening in our life.
22:29
And those are, those are the fun moments.
22:31
As an example, one of our creative services director has become a farmer.
22:36
He and his wife.
22:38
decided that they were going to start a farm and he'll have cows or calves
22:43
that are born or goats that are born and they'll send pictures and we'll
22:46
kind of all be excited about that and celebrate all of that together.
22:50
That's not my thing, Chris.
22:51
You'll never see me on a farm.
22:53
I get excited for Donald because it's his
22:55
thing and it makes his, his family happy.
22:58
And you know, they're, they're making a difference in
23:00
their community with, you know, The milk and the cheeses
23:02
and all of those kind of things that they're doing.
23:04
So it's exciting.
23:06
Yeah.
23:06
It's great when you have a culture like
23:08
that where everybody's involved and engaged.
23:10
I think that I've read some unique theories on team
23:15
management, business management and things like that.
23:17
Carol Sanford comes to mind as you're talking.
23:19
And talking about how that alignment, that ability to
23:23
have a community and that alignment of people really
23:26
helps more to make a business efficient and effective.
23:29
I would imagine that with everything you're doing in the alignment, it doesn't
23:32
just help you personally, and it doesn't just help the leverage group, but it
23:35
also helps your customers too, because you're passionate, you're doing the hard.
23:39
work for them and you're going to stick
23:41
with them because you're committed to them.
23:43
You love them.
23:43
You care about them.
23:44
How does that spill out into your customer base?
23:48
Have you ever gotten feedback that kind of validates,
23:51
if you will, this approach to company culture?
23:54
I think a lot of times we hear from our clients that
23:57
they feel like an extension of that family, right?
24:00
And so I think that's validation.
24:02
And I think I would be remiss if I said, as a
24:05
family, everything's all hunky dory all the time.
24:08
Right?
24:09
There's good days and there's bad days.
24:10
And I would tell you that there's a lot more good
24:13
days than there are bad days at The Leverage Group.
24:16
But, you know, there's some times where dad is mad
24:18
at mom or mom is mad at dad and those kind of things.
24:21
And the good thing is this, that communication
24:23
is important and we talk through it.
24:26
With that being said, one of the things that I value when we work
24:30
with clients is I have the ability to really ask some hard questions.
24:37
In order for me to help you, I really need to understand
24:39
the situation and be able to see the big picture.
24:43
I have found a lot of times that I have clients that will say, I haven't had
24:47
nobody, nobody's ever asked me that, or Um, that's a really tough question.
24:52
Or, hey, our last meeting was really tough because
24:55
I felt this way when you asked me those questions.
24:58
And that can be a little challenging, but when we sit down with a client for the
25:02
first time, and we really decide that we're going to work with them, we kind of
25:06
set that expectation of, Number one, we want to be an extension of your team.
25:11
And number two, we want the permission to ask the hard questions.
25:15
So do you give us the permission to do that?
25:17
And of course, a lot of them say, of course we do.
25:20
And then when you ask the hard questions, they're like,
25:22
oh my gosh, you're asking this really tough question.
25:25
But the reality is, is that I think if we Ask them permission and tell
25:32
them why we're asking it, then really they understand that we're doing it
25:36
from a concerned or empathetic or we really want to get to the root of this
25:41
issue so that we can help overcome that or so that we can grow past it.
25:45
And a lot of times we get feedback of after we're through that process.
25:49
Well, thank you so much for taking the time
25:51
to do that because nobody's ever done that.
25:53
Or people have always assumed that I understand
25:56
that, but I'm not a marketing person.
25:57
I took one marketing class in college and as
26:00
a business owner, I'm expected to know that.
26:02
And so the reality of it all is that we are there to be an
26:07
extension of their team and to really kind of help them grow.
26:11
And sometimes that growth, just like in family, is hard and you
26:16
have to get through kind of the muck together in order to do that.
26:19
And so one of the things that I find the most rewarding is when we get
26:24
through some of those challenging times and those challenging questions
26:27
for them to say, you know, really, Rob, thank you for caring enough.
26:31
Or your team cared enough to ask those questions.
26:35
And now I feel like I need to look at my customer journey differently,
26:39
or I need to approach this marketing strategy from a different angle.
26:43
And to me, that's the most rewarding.
26:47
That's great.
26:48
Yeah, I'm sure you've definitely been in situations where the client
26:51
asks you to come in to do one thing and you realize once you get in
26:53
there, it's like, uh, this is not, nope, nope, that's not what you need.
26:59
Yeah, actually, a really great story about that is we
27:02
had a freight company in South California call us this
27:05
past year and they said, we want to be on Instagram.
27:09
We want to do some Instagram ads.
27:10
Can you help us with that?
27:12
And I was like, sure, we can help you with that.
27:14
And I actually was on a call with them, with Meredith.
27:17
And Meredith was like, yes, of course, we
27:19
can help with those Instagram ads today.
27:21
And but can I ask why we want to be on Instagram?
27:27
And they were like, well, you know, we
27:30
hear a lot of people do well on Instagram.
27:32
Okay, but you're a freight company.
27:34
Are the people that you're trying to, like,
27:36
reach from a target audience on Instagram?
27:40
Wow.
27:42
We don't know.
27:43
Well, who are we trying to reach?
27:45
Well, we're not exactly sure.
27:48
Okay, time out.
27:51
Let's go back to your marketing strategy.
27:53
What's your voice?
27:54
What's your mission?
27:55
What's your vision?
27:55
What's your core values?
27:57
Who's your customer base?
27:59
Your prospects?
28:00
What does that look like?
28:01
And so as we began to dig through some of that, they didn't
28:05
know those things, and they had been around for a really long
28:07
time, or they knew them, but they just couldn't verbalize them.
28:10
And so, you know, our job was really to help
28:12
craft that so that they could verbalize that.
28:15
Our response back to them is, as leaders of your business, if
28:19
you can't verbalize what you do and what you're trying to do,
28:22
your employees are not going to be able to verbalize it either.
28:25
And so you have to know it.
28:28
in order for them to know it because otherwise they're just going to make it up.
28:32
And then God only knows what's being said out there.
28:35
Um, and so, you know, we help them with that and they're
28:38
not on Instagram, uh, Chris doing advertisements.
28:42
That's the moral of that story.
28:45
And that makes a lot of sense.
28:46
I mean, I can definitely relate to that just in
28:48
my own business because everybody wants a podcast.
28:50
It's like, well, what are you going to do with it?
28:52
And what's your commitment level like?
28:54
Cause this isn't easy.
28:56
And so I, I totally understand that.
28:58
And I've definitely had my own moments of like, basically,
29:03
I feel like I'm more of a counselor here in this moment.
29:05
I, I know you all wanted me to come in and help you build a podcast, but
29:08
There's some other things we need to work out before we get into that.
29:12
And yeah, it's, it's a challenge when someone comes to you with an
29:15
idea and having to coach them through that, but that's good that you're
29:18
able to be that transparent with them and that authentic with them.
29:21
Cause yeah, there's nothing worse than just being
29:23
like, yeah, we'll take your money and do it.
29:24
And then of course they come back to you and they go, well, this didn't work.
29:27
You guys lied to us.
29:28
Yeah.
29:29
No, I, um, I respect what you do, you
29:31
know, to put together an hour long podcast.
29:34
I think what people don't realize that that probably
29:36
takes two to three hours of prep time easy beforehand
29:40
and then another two or three hours after a lot of times.
29:43
And so it's the time commitment and people think, oh, I'm going to
29:46
just turn on a microphone and talk about whatever I want to talk about.
29:50
And that's not how it works.
29:51
But.
29:52
We say for every one minute of recorded audio, it's going
29:55
to be about anywhere from four to eight minutes of work.
29:59
So it gets intensive.
30:01
Yeah.
30:02
What do you see as kind of the future for the leverage group?
30:06
The future for us is just keep working with businesses that need help
30:10
with their marketing and branding and ready to take it to the next level.
30:14
We don't have any huge dreams of being an
30:18
agency in 50 states or anything like that.
30:21
It's, it's really about.
30:23
Continuing to make a difference for the clients that we work with.
30:26
And obviously, we would love to have more clients and more partners that
30:29
we help, but it needs, like I said at the beginning, to be the right fit.
30:33
Right now, there's a lot of conversations about AI,
30:37
and AI and how that works within the agency realm.
30:41
You know, those are, if we pull the curtain back a little
30:43
bit, those are some of the discussions that we're having as
30:45
far as an agency and what our stance is going to be on that.
30:49
And I think there's a lot of fear.
30:52
Chris about how AI is going to replace people in the future
30:56
and, and different activities and stuff in the future.
30:59
And so those are all things that we're trying to decide
31:03
because the world continues to change at a rapid pace.
31:06
But I'll bring it all back to why the people at the leverage
31:11
group are so important is because really, for us, it's about
31:14
relationships and about providing value through those relationships.
31:18
And AI is not going to be able to do that.
31:22
AI can be a tool that we use to help be more efficient at our jobs and manage
31:26
those relationships better, maybe, but at the end of the day, my belief
31:29
is that the value with teams like the Leverage Group is the relationships.
31:35
And so we're going to continue to build brands
31:38
and build people and continue to look at ways to.
31:43
Build the agency through bringing on talented folks.
31:46
You know, you and I recently were at UT
31:49
and sat down with some marketing students.
31:51
And I don't know if you felt this way or not, but after I walked away,
31:56
I felt so good about the future of marketing in our region because
32:00
they were some stellar students that are going to do amazing things.
32:05
And I was just really blown away by their
32:08
professionalism and their knowledge and their desire to.
32:13
Be great humans, but also great marketers.
32:16
I think I would agree.
32:16
There's definitely some motivated kids there.
32:18
And it was encouraging to see because you hear all the cynical
32:21
talk about the next generation and all that, which I feel like
32:24
is every generation talking about the upcoming one, right?
32:26
It's like, oh, they're lazy or they don't know
32:29
what things or they're going to ruin society.
32:31
And no, I think it was really great to see those students.
32:35
To your point on AI, I think, I think you're in the right boat.
32:37
Like, it's about relationships at the end of the day.
32:40
And even from where we're at with AI right
32:42
now, it's not ready to take over anybody's job.
32:44
Anybody who's telling you that is lying or making something up.
32:48
There was a great example of this.
32:50
I don't know if you saw this or not, Rob, but there was a
32:54
comedian who they, um, or a comedy podcast that actually talked
32:59
about, Oh, we got this new AI and it's George Carlin's voice.
33:04
And they proceed to play this video of George Carlin's voice
33:08
saying that it was AI making up AI jokes and all this stuff.
33:11
And it was so extreme that the family of Carlin, who's most
33:15
of us know has passed, the family had come out and sued them.
33:20
And they took it down and in doing that, they backtracked
33:23
and they said, Oh, actually, this wasn't all AI.
33:25
Actually, we wrote the jokes and we, like, they had to
33:27
admit a bunch of stuff and they were like, no, no, no, no.
33:30
They, you know, we had somebody do the voice and then we modified
33:32
it to sound like Carlin and you know, they, they really walked
33:36
back the joke, but that's, that's kind of where we're at still.
33:38
There's still that man behind the curtain running things.
33:42
And I think what's more important is that.
33:44
You have people there to guide you through that so that you can make it look
33:47
like magic, so that you can make a product that people are really pleased with.
33:50
But yeah, that just really surprised me.
33:52
You know,
33:53
Chris, we
33:54
all have the same amount of time every single day.
33:56
We have to be good stewards of that time.
33:59
And the reality is, if there's technology out there that's going to help
34:02
me do my job better, or resources out there that are going to allow me
34:05
to be more efficient so that I can spend more time building relationships
34:10
and building other people up, then absolutely I need to use that.
34:13
But that's.
34:14
To me, that's where that needs to lie.
34:17
That technology is there to help me not to control me or not to become me.
34:22
And I think we just all need to keep that in mind as we move forward.
34:27
Absolutely.
34:28
Absolutely.
34:30
Alrighty.
34:31
Well, at the end of every conversation, I always like to ask this question.
34:35
And since this is a branding podcast, it's always a good one to ask.
34:38
What brand do you admire the most right now, Rob?
34:41
Oh, goodness.
34:42
Um, Chris, there are so many.
34:44
Um, and I think actually, you know, you were at, um, a talk that I
34:48
did recently on the Savannah Bananas, and I could go for another 35
34:52
minutes on their brand and the good work that they've done there.
34:56
And, and that's a really great example of, um, Personal brands
35:02
that align with a vision or a mission of an organization.
35:05
And so I think that's one that a lot of people should study.
35:09
If they're not, I would encourage people to do that.
35:12
I am bummed to report that I was part of the
35:14
lottery for tickets in DC and did not get chosen.
35:17
And so if, By chance, somebody from the
35:19
Savannah Bananas is listening to this podcast.
35:22
I would love tickets, so just a plug there.
35:25
But one of the brands that I've admired for a really long time is Harry's.
35:30
And I'm not sure, Chris, if you're familiar with Harry's or not.
35:33
They started as a subscription based website.
35:35
razor company.
35:37
So two guys, I guess, formulated a special type of
35:40
blade and we're excited about that, went to market.
35:44
Their mascot is, I think, some type of mammoth or something along those lines.
35:49
So kind of a fun look.
35:51
I early on was, uh, Introduced to them
35:55
through a co worker who sent me a referral.
35:58
And so that was my first introduction.
36:00
He had ordered and was pleased with their brand and that kind of stuff.
36:03
And so he sent it hoping that he would get some
36:06
free razors or something like that from it.
36:08
And so I ended up getting the email.
36:11
Cute, quirky, simple, and ended up ordering a razor from them.
36:17
Like their subscription model, like I shared, they would send
36:20
you different types of blades each month as kind of your refill.
36:24
At the time, I wasn't hairy like I am now.
36:27
I was 12 or 15 years younger looking because of not having the facial hair.
36:33
So I had the baby face still, but anyways, um, as soon as I ordered, I
36:38
received, of course, not just the generic reply email, but I received
36:42
a thank you email from the owners that didn't look like a direct reply.
36:46
Regular email that, um, a company would
36:49
just send out as a thank you to the order.
36:51
So it, it was directed to me, it was personal,
36:55
seemed personal and those kind of things.
36:56
And so that was really great.
36:58
Um, once the product came to my home, someone from their
37:01
organization picked up the phone and called me to make sure
37:03
that I received the product and that I was happy with that.
37:06
And so that customer service was really amazing as well.
37:10
And at that time, they encouraged me to sign up for text reminders.
37:14
And so, they would send me text reminders
37:17
of when my razors needed to be replaced.
37:20
So, you know, they were like, Okay, Rob, it's time to order.
37:22
Can we put in the order for you?
37:24
And I would just respond back, Yes, great, thanks.
37:26
And they would charge my card and send it to me and those kind of things.
37:30
The interaction from a customer service standpoint was just
37:33
amazing because it wasn't just an automated drip campaign.
37:36
Obviously, they had the customer journey outlined
37:39
and they knew how they were going to handle that.
37:41
But the reality is, is that throughout that customer journey and throughout
37:45
that drip campaign, they still made me feel like I was important to them.
37:49
Even though I was only spending 12 or 13 on blades every single
37:53
month, that touch, that human touch and that relationship and
37:57
that rapport that they built with me made a huge difference.
38:00
Kind of tying back into our personal branding
38:02
conversation today, they built a relationship with me.
38:06
Through that, and it made a huge difference.
38:08
I think they've gone off and have sold that business now to
38:12
a bigger company and are in Target and those kind of things.
38:16
So I just run down to the Target and get my blades each
38:18
month when I need them or ask April to put it on her list.
38:21
But, um, still use the product.
38:24
I think it was a great example of an early company trying
38:28
to build, but knowing the importance of their consumers
38:31
and knowing that if they created a good experience for me.
38:35
That then I would tell people like Chris, Hey, Chris, Hey, you look
38:39
like you shave every other day or every day, or, you know, twice a day.
38:43
Try, try Harry's great brand.
38:46
That is great.
38:47
I have a online subscription service.
38:49
I get my hair care products through, they, Or
38:53
not nearly as good as what you're describing.
38:55
I'm like, I'm a little jealous because I
38:57
have to guesstimate like when stuff is due.
39:00
And if I don't, then they auto ship stuff.
39:01
So I have a lot of like extras at home that I'm not using and things like that.
39:06
So to think about that customer first strategy and having that
39:09
connection in that relationship, even if it's just a yes to
39:12
a text that orders more razor blades, like not a bad idea.
39:16
I mean, that's obviously it's worked out well.
39:19
Yeah.
39:19
And even though it was automated, it was, Hey, this is Sam from Harry's.
39:24
Don't forget to, you know what I mean?
39:25
So it even, it felt like it had that human, that human touch and it
39:30
may not have because it was automated, but it still felt like Sam.
39:33
I was important to Sam enough for Sam to remind
39:36
me, Hey bud, don't forget your razor blades.
39:41
And we all know how expensive razor blades are to 12, 15 bucks.
39:45
Like, I'm like, that's a steal.
39:46
That's great.
39:47
Yeah.
39:47
None of that was one of their big things too, was their positioning against.
39:50
Major big razor, if you will, back in the day.
39:53
Yes.
39:54
So, awesome.
39:55
Well, Rob, this has been great.
39:57
I've really enjoyed this conversation talking about personal
39:59
branding and the leverage group and things with you.
40:02
If people wanna connect with you, learn more about you or
40:05
reach out and ask questions maybe related to this podcast,
40:08
maybe related to the leverage group, where can they reach you?
40:11
Yeah, leverage group advertising.com.
40:13
Um, again, it's leverage group advertising.com.
40:15
And so that's the best way they, if they just go to.
40:19
The employee section, they'll see me there towards the top and they
40:23
can feel free to click on me and my contact information is there.
40:26
So I'd love to talk with anybody about their personal
40:29
brand or their business brand if they would like.
40:32
Excellent.
40:33
Alrighty.
40:33
Well, Rob, thank you so much for your time today.
40:36
Thank you, Chris.
40:37
Have a good one.
40:38
Alrighty, you too.