← Simple Pin Podcast: Simple ways to boost your business using Pinterest
Simple Pin Podcast: Simple ways to boost your business using Pinterest
Telling Your Brand Story to Get Sales
00:38:22
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- [00:00]
Kate All
So every once in a while you meet somebody in this entrepreneurial space that has an amazing story and has done amazing things. And that is my guest today. Mariana has a really cool award which we're going to talk about. But she also has this gift and this expertise of telling people's stories in order to build trust so that people who are engaging with this business or this entrepreneur for the very first time can gain trust quickly. And what I talk about here is Pinterest marketing, which brings what we call cold traffic to our websites. These are people who don't know us. They don't have any understanding of who we are, what we do, what product we sell. And they have to very quickly frame up if you are going to be the person that solves their problems. And video is a great way to do that. But video is everywhere and it feels so exhausting. Whether it's YouTube or Shorts or anything, it feels like doing another video can be overwhelming. But this isn't just another video. It's your brand video. So I brought her on today to talk about not only her story, but how you can start to begin to frame out what a video, a brand video would look like for you in your business. Before we dive in, I just want to take a moment to address anybody who is considering hiring us or hiring anyone for their Pinterest marketing services. This can be anything from a cleanup of your Pinterest account, a complete overhaul, or maybe you don't even have a Pinterest account yet and you need someone to build it all the way to monthly organic management into our paid ads. Right now we're having a lot of success with our Pinterest ads clients. What we tell people is that if you have a proven product that you are selling on, well, not even selling on Pinterest, but selling and you want to get more exposure on Pinterest. Our ads clients right now are getting 4, 5, 10, even 44 times return on ad spend with their Pinterest ads. It's a great time to run ads on Pinterest. If you have been only running ads on Facebook or other platforms. All that to say wherever you're at with your Pinterest marketing, if you are ready to hire it out, we would love to work with you. Go to simplepinmedia.com services. You can browse all of our offers and book a call with our team so that we can help you figure out what is best with that. Here's my interview with Mariana.
- [02:44]
Mariana
You're listening to the Simple Pen podcast. Pinterest for business Advice that goes down smooth and easy. Here's your host, Kate All.
- [02:58]
Kate All
Mariana, welcome to the Simple Pen podcast.
- [03:01]
Mariana
So exciting. Yay.
- [03:03]
Kate All
I'm excited to chat with you. And let's begin because this is right behind you on a desk. You have won an Emmy. Tell me the story. I can't wait to hear it.
- [03:12]
Mariana
Oh, so cool. Yeah, my background is in documentary filmmaking. I have one Emmy. I almost won a second one, so I missed having a twin. But essentially I spent 15 years traveling the world working for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and then five years as a senior video producer at NBC Today, Peacock, where I was so blessed and extremely privileged to be able to tell amazing stories. And I know that sounds like so cliche and surface level, but what I got to do was be able to find amazing stories of people that exemplified bigger stories. But kind of the most important aspect of how I worked was that I didn't have months and months to create documentaries. And what I did were essentially like very short documentaries. I had to build trust fast with, with people that may be sort of ordinary people and find the parts of their stories and how to tell it that would create the most impact. So somebody that was watching a story about somebody whose reality they were completely disconnected with could feel something and hopefully either empathize or take action. And I love telling the story that one of my short docs was actually played in Congress and helped enact a new law. So that's the. That's the, you know, 15 years and.
- [04:33]
Kate All
5 seconds, kind of totally. So are you a natural? Like, you know, there's people who are natural networkers and then there's other people who are natural. Like, pull the story out of people. Do you find that this is something that just comes natural to you, that when you engage with a new person, you kind of go straight into fact finding and trust building.
- [04:51]
Mariana
Oh, that's so interesting. I've never thought. Thought about it that way. Unless I'm like, intentionally wanting to tell their story. And I feel like I hate to start this conversation with like a gentle stab, but most people don't know how to tell their story. And so for the most part, you might. Unless something sounds really interesting, I probably reserve a little bit of my mental bandwidth for someone whose story I have, like, picked up that's going to be fascinating or maybe they are kind of a fascinating person in and of themselves. And hopefully that's what we'll cover some of today, which is how to make your story fascinating to people. And most importantly, like, why is that important for your business.
- [05:32]
Kate All
Right. And I think online there's so many different ways that people teach you to sell story. They teach you to tell and sell. Actually I should say, like there's both of those things. And I feel like people can get lost in a formula. They can get lost in these. Well, so and so experts said this and so and so experts said that. And so you have this mumble jumble of all these things in your head to pull together the story. So yeah, I'm definitely excited to get to that, but I want to like address this leap. Right? So you're working for other people, you're, you're pulling out the stories, but then you leap to being an entrepreneur. And that's a big deal for people who, you know, either you're wired to be an entrepreneur or you're not. So tell me about this leap that you made.
- [06:14]
Mariana
Love that distinction. I was actually chatting with somebody else this morning about that. They asked me, what do you mean certain people are not cut out to be entrepreneurs? I was like, oh, it's pretty obvious. You either have it or you don't. You need drive, you need consistency, you need to accept delayed gratification. You need to be cool with the fact that it takes a long time sometimes to see results. And I feel like a lot of folks online will sell you the opposite dream, that you can get such fast and easy results or quick results by doing so little. And most of us who are like your audience have been doing this for a while and are more established. You know that it takes hard work and you know that it takes like figuring things out and tweaking. And to some extent that's true as well with your story. And we can get into that. But my personal leap was I hundred percent was born an entrepreneur. Like, I started my own brand video, which we'll, we'll talk about what a brand video is. You know, essentially a two to three minute video that encapsulates your brand story so it lives, it does the work for you of creating that connection. Top of funnel. And so my brand video tells the story of when I was a little girl and I begged my dad to bother our neighbors, ask them to empty their garden shed so I can build my first school. I was in first grade and I wanted to teach kindergarteners how to read. And so my first sort of entrepreneurial slash low ticket, low ticket membership was 25 cents a day to come and learn how to read from me. And, and yeah, and so when, when some of the kids started showing up without the 25 cents. I wrote a letter to their parents and I, you know, show that in my brand video and all these things because I have always been an entrepreneur. And so when I got to NBC, you know, after, I guess after about 10 years doing this and then spent another five years there, it was really an awesome dream job. I really loved my time at 30 Rock and traveling everywhere. But it got to the point where I was like, you know what? I'm hitting the swimming pool walls here. I feel like some of my desires and ideas and ambitions just can't be contained within a big corporation like this. And as much as I got to live out a lot of my dreams there, there were dreams that were ready to be kind of like, if not now, when. And so I do tell that story in my brain video. And this is actually an awesome question because it go. It speaks to understanding which story to tell and how to tell it. And for me, that process was a lot about understanding what resonated with my audience the most about my journey. And I. There's so much to talk about. I feel like we're kind of going into new ways that I've never done before. But. Yeah, right.
- [08:59]
Kate All
And I think actually, as you're talking, I'm thinking you have all this. You have this first lived experience when you're so young, being an entrepreneur, you go into this place and you do feel this like, oh, my gosh, the walls are going in. Like, this is not now. I'm going to shed this old and I'm going into the new. And actually, when I watched your brand video, it did connect with me in the sense of there's both two experiences here that come out. One is that you can speak to the person who's made the leap from corporate to entrepreneurship, but then you can even speak to those who are current entrepreneurs. And so tell me a little bit about that part in the. When you leapt into this and you were thinking about the entrepreneur, as you're becoming an entrepreneur yourself, who were you thinking about like, and how were you framing up using all these skills to help them connect with their audience?
- [09:50]
Mariana
Oh, my goodness. Oh, such great questions. I think it might be a little bit more. So here's the thing. My brand video is a little bit meta in the sense that I tell my story in the same, obviously using kind of the same framework, the same paths and strategies that I teach. But ultimately, I'm speaking to the thing that I do. So it's a little bit. It's almost. It's. I rarely use my Own as an example, because it might get a little bit confusing to understand. But I do want to answer your question, which is the process. Is this the very first thing which should shock absence? Absolutely nobody listening to your podcast is that you have to understand your audience incredibly deeply. You have to understand them better than they know themselves. You have to be specific about who they are. And so I was actually just chatting with Caitlin Burgoyne. I don't know if you're familiar with it with her. She. She has the why We Buy newsletter, which is absolutely love. And it's all about buyer psychology. And the way that she described the idea of niche really was amazing. And I feel like I can't talk about niche unless I reference what we just talked about, which is you first understand the problem they want to solve. So across the board, what is the problem? What is the job that they want to get done? And then after that, you layer who is the exact person that I want to. Where this is going to be the most valuable for them. And obviously, there's probably some intersection of the passion to serve that person, right? So either however you define the person that you're speaking to, you must know them incredibly well. And for me, it was something that I don't recommend doing, is doing this process by yourself. I actually just sent out a newsletter about this, the DIY thing. I used to tell people all the time, even on podcasts. I used to say, join my program, don't join my program, just do it. It will be better than not having it done. And I feel like I have done people a disservice because having gone through the process myself, it's kind of like asking a surgeon to perform surgery on themselves. It's pretty impossible to do. And so for me, that process took a long time. I did go through it. It was very painful. I don't recommend doing this yourself because just like a copywriter will have a hard time, like, writing their own copy, you know, things like that. And so it boiled down to understanding who I wanted to serve, which for me are online audiences. There are two types of story. One type of story is what I call an overcome story, and the other type of story is a passion story. Now, a few of my students will get confused by that. They're like, which one do I have? I'm also passionate, even though I feel like I have an overcome story. You should be passionate about what you do regardless. It's just a framework to understand which of the story structures you should kind of be thinking about. Overcome is fairly easy it's pretty self explanatory in that if you are helping somebody overcome the thing that you have overcome yourself, then you have an overcome story. Passion story is like you're not helping the same person that you were before. Right? And so for me, I have a passion story in that I'm not speaking to filmmakers who want a career in filmmaking. Right. I'm not speaking to the person that was me 10 years ago. I'm speaking to entrepreneurs, which is more of my new identity. And so here's the nugget, that long winded prep, you know, like, here's the thing that you should really pay attention to, or as Amy Porterfield says, if you're multitasking, come back to me. The thing that you need to understand is that whether you have an overcome or a passion story, what you're looking for are the parts of your story that are going to create trust in your audience. And for me, that was, they obviously would resonate more with me as an entrepreneur than a filmmaker. Luckily for me, I am an entrepreneur. But that's sort of again, part of my new identity. And so I went back into my life and this is the framework. You go back into your own stories and you pick the stories that will create that feeling, not just of resonance. You're essentially trying to accomplish three things. You want your brand story, whether you put it into a video or not, you want that story to accomplish three things. The person watching or reading the story should feel like you get them deeply. So this comes back to knowing your audience so incredibly well. The second thing is that they should know that you care about them deeply. So you're not just out to make a big buck. The way that I describe this is like you're not just a number on somebody's stripe account screenshot. If you're in the online space, that will sound very familiar to you. The third thing is your expertise. So if that's, if that's what you're selling and connecting with, if you're, if your product is around your expertise, this will, this will apply to you. Oftentimes we lead with expertise. We feel like the value and the, our experience and our testimonials, all of that kind of speaks to us as experts, is the only thing people care about. And that is absolutely not true. They want to connect with you as the person who they can trust to get them those results.
- [14:49]
Kate All
Right. Okay. So I'm going to take that into pieces and parts because I think there's so much to extract from that. But I'm Going to go back to the beginning in the sense of somebody is listening and they're like, okay, my mind is exploding with ideas. I'm thinking of all of this. Where do we see? There's kind of two directions that I'm going here. One is there's a person asking themselves, okay, is a brand video right? For me, is this something that. So I'm going to put a pin in this or actually I'll ask it and then I'll go to the second one. Do you think every business should have a brand video? Is that something that as people are evaluating where they're going in 20, 25, 26 and beyond, is that an important component of building trust and authority in their business?
- [15:33]
Mariana
Okay, that's a fantastic question. Let me first explain what's going to sound like the most obvious thing on earth. But a lot of times when I explain this, people are like, oh, my gosh, yes, that's true. Which sometimes happens with obvious things. Right? Obvious sort of customer journey that happens online. We all, you know, we don't have to keep talking about how much noise there is, how much, how much we're really fighting for attention. We're fighting to become sticky in people's minds, become memorable, become ultimately, hopefully undeniable. So we're fighting all of that. The customer journey typically goes like this. So somebody comes across a piece of your content, and if you've hooked them enough, and ideally it's your face on there, hopefully. And so they. That generates curiosity about who you are. That's typically the second the question that they're asking themselves if they're intrigued by what you've just shown them. And so what do we do at that point? We check people out, right? We, we. The way that Mike Kim describes this in his book, you are the brand, is that we look for clues in our own. In the privacy of our own time and space. So it's in the privacy of anonymity. We go to their social media profile. We maybe go on their website. The about me page is the second most visited page on people's websites for a reason. People want to answer that question, like, who are you? What are you about? And then ultimately they're figuring out, are you worth following and are you worth paying attention to? If I follow you, how much, how much attention am I going to allot to you every time you show up? And unfortunately, Kate, we do. We typically do a really terrible job of meeting people in that sort of magical curiosity moment, which is a terrible name for this really amazing moment, albeit right.
- [17:23]
Kate All
Like 30 seconds a minute sometimes.
- [17:26]
Mariana
Well, especially if we don't have something there that really grips at them, Right. That really keeps them there and that capitalizes on the moment, this amazing moment where, oh, my gosh, they're actually out of their own free will, spending time, spending energy getting to know you. They still barely know you, but that's exactly what they're trying to do, is again, assess whether they're going to pay attention or not. And so what the brand video does is essentially package your story in a very intentionally curated way so that in two, two and a half, three minutes max, they will never forget you again. We use, we don't use B roll, we don't use just like cover images. We. We really think about how the visuals will complement your story, bring people along. And the entire way that I think about your story and my program, et cetera, is to, to think about your story from the perspective of, is this going to create the feeling of trust that I want to achieve in the person watching this that barely knows me? Will they walk away feeling those three things that I get them, that I care about them deeply and, and that I'm worth their time? Right. Whether that's expertise or not, like, I'm legit. And so all of those things will make you sticky as hell. Like, it'll make you unforgettable and it will make you. Every time you show up, it will maximize that impact. Because neuroscience explains when you tell a good story, there are certain, obviously serotonin, all the good, all the good chemicals are released. Not only that, there's. There's a bit of a emotional memory that happens. And so when you create that emotional blueprint or imprint rather in somebody's brain, that immediately connects them with you and your face and your voice and your image and your story. Every time you show up, all of those feelings resurface again. So it's like I followed. So just, just do a quick contrast of what I just described versus what happens most of the time when we sign up for a lead magnet but can't remember who the heck that person is two minutes later when they show up in our inbox, much less like, you know, however many contact points later. It's so easy to unsubscribe because we haven't created that connection. Once you create that connection, it's much, much harder to not pay attention, which.
- [19:46]
Kate All
I think this is so important for those listening. Obviously, if you haven't started connecting the dots, Pinterest is that cold traffic. We've talked about that A ton here on the podcast. So creating that magical moment. You know, a lot of our listeners are asking that question, okay, I'm using Pinterest, I'm getting all this traffic. How do I convert them? And you just said it. So if they sign up for your email lead magnet, and then they can't remember who you are because They've clicked on 20 other pins that day, what you're trying to do is create this moment that creates that magical memory moment where they go, oh, yeah, I remember I have a connection. There's something that kind of fired in me where we say, oh, yeah, I don't want to unsubscribe from that. I remember really liking her or him or whatever. And so I would say step number one for anybody even listening to this is to say, go back to those foundational moments and begin to think through, is a video the right place for me to pursue this next year? But is it really important for me to create that moment? And I would argue, yes, it's obviously important for you to create that moment. But we so easily forget the about page and potentially a video because we move on to other things, right? Like, we're so concerned, consumed with, like, all the blog posts I'm writing, all the courses that I'm building, all of these things. So it's taking number one saying, I'm going to set aside an hour of time to devote to this to either put a few steps in place or make a decision around about a video. So then I kind of want to jump to, this person has said, yes. They're like, I'm all in on this brand video idea. You said something really important earlier that was, it's really hard for you to do this alone because you're so close to the product yourself. Let's say somebody is beginning to even brainstorm their person now. There's a lot of, you know, we have. We talk about Pinner Persona or I, and all these things. And that for me, has always felt, I don't care if I'm doing it with other people or I'm doing it alone. It feels very. Hokey is not the right word, but it's kind of the one that's coming to my head. It's like, do I have to describe this person in super detail? Do I have to give them a name? Tell me a little bit about what you feel is most beneficial to somebody beginning down this process. Like, are they going to have to go deep?
- [22:00]
Mariana
Oh, yeah. The deeper you go, the better that connection you will create. So that's something I really, really reinforced both in my program and in my messaging. It's, it's, you want surface level results, you stay surface level, you want deep results, like a lot of impact. And to your point, Kate, you mentioned something really important that I want to highlight, which is the fact that we do spend so much energy on the consistency, on the showing up, on the posting, on the creation, like, what a waste, right? Of all of this energy and all of this time if we have not focused on creating that connection first and foremost. Because we are still, we're giving ourselves the long road to conversion if we're not capitalizing on that magical curiosity moment, that first moment. And so I talk about this a lot because that was, that was what hit me that, like, this is the business that I want to create. This is the problem that I want to solve that nobody else is talking about. And to your point, we write our About Me page as if like, oh my gosh, I hate writing about myself as a third person.
- [23:05]
Kate All
Can't chat. Dbt do it for me. Yes.
- [23:08]
Mariana
When I started, there wasn't even chat dvd. So, you know, I think my first webinar I kind of mentioned, like how torturous it is to write about ourselves in the third person. And we literally do it and we don't touch that page ever. Again, like, what a waste because again, that is the second most visited page on any website. And then there are so many other ninja ways if you're doing it as obviously I love the idea of the brand video, so I'll, I'll keep talking about that, but I'm sure there are other ways if you want to just kind of a simpler first step way to do this. For example, I had a client, Casey, who awesomely, like used to work at Marketing and L'Oreal. So she had this brilliant idea that I have to credit her every time I mentioned this. And now I, I work with my clients doing this. One of these strategies, which is she took her brand video, she created gifts from it, and she interspersed those gifts inside of her welcome sequence, which that one email where you kind of tell your story, right? It's typically not the very first email you get, but maybe the second or third. Again, what you're trying to do is reinforce to people like, this is, this is who I am. This is why you should pay attention. But the way that she did it once again was bringing her video, her brand video to life with these gifs linking her brand video. Obviously at the end, if you want to watch my story, Here it is. People were very intrigued by seeing kind of the visuals in motion already. She said that her. So not just her click through rate, but her response rate skyrocketed to that. So again, cold audiences. So somebody clicked on your pin, they landed on your. Just think about how magical this is. Right? They don't know you from Adam. They're, they're. There's a lot of noise. So the idea that you could have people responding to your second email that they got from you with their own story, with their own, like, oh my gosh, I loved your story and this is mine. This is the kind of responses that she gets. I use it in a really interesting way too, that I also was inspired by somebody else. I wish I remembered his name. But I followed somebody who had a lot, a big following. And in response I got a message that I've now tweaked and I do the same thing. So when somebody follows me, I don't have an automated response. I very specifically don't do this with manychat or whatever other automation I have. I do have a copy and paste version of this. So it's kind of easy for me to go into my notes app, copy it and paste it. I should just create a keyboard shortcut on my phone. But it's basically saying like, hey, thank you so much for following me. And I do check out their profile, try to add something a little personal if I have the time. And then I say, I really love human connection. I also say, this is not a bot, this is actually me. And this to me is like the key part of that message because I don't respond to bots. And I think more and more people will. They understand what's going on and they won't respond to bots either. That's where I share my brand videos. Like, I love to learn a bit more about your story. Here's mine. And I can't tell you the amount of conversations that started. Once again, pure cold traffic. Right. Or maybe they came, you know, through a podcast or something. But they haven't yet connected with me. And that is like a way to encourage them to watch my brand video, encourage them to remember me through my story, encourage that conversation and that response. Really beautiful, pure engagement without selling anything, without just human, straight up, good old school human connection.
- [26:35]
Kate All
Yeah. And even as you're talking, what I'm thinking is a brand video. And I. The more stories you tell, the better. Like that's what you excel at, right? Is telling people stories. So I love hearing what you've already said about your clients that you've worked with, with and other people that you've had experience with is. I'm thinking in my head like this is not something you're going to have to redo every year. It's like this is something that you can create and use for the next five or ten years.
- [27:00]
Mariana
Absolutely.
- [27:01]
Kate All
You don't change. It's not like. And I think when people think of video, especially right now, they're thinking, I'm creating shorts, I'm creating long form. Like I'm churning out all of this. And this is kind of one of those one. You get so much value out of one video that can last for years and be repurposed. Like you just said your client did.
- [27:21]
Mariana
So many different ways to repurpose it, Kate. And you're absolutely right. It's a, it's a nearly forever asset in your business. Unlike so many other things that we spend time creating. You know, obviously it does take a bit more time than your average reel or your average post and that's very intentional. You know, I didn't win my M and E on something I filmed on my phone for two seconds. So I think it's, it's a lot about understanding that there's a certain commitment of time and energy to a thing that's going to be working for you 247 with every single person that comes into your universe. So the payoff is massive and very long term. The ROI is definitely there, but there is an investment of time and energy to get it right, to like get it to work right.
- [28:07]
Kate All
So I know that you have a freebie. It's I believe, the five things that need to be included in a brand video. Is that correct? Did I get that name right?
- [28:15]
Mariana
Yes, I, off the top of my head, I, I think I have the URL to that one. The, the one that I send most, most people to nowadays is my ultimate cheat sheet for brand stories that convert. So it basically is the framework that we might have run out of time to, to get into in terms of like really understanding how to think about your story in, in a sort of. And to your point, sometimes frameworks are a little much. So I have simplified it to the maximum where if you have an overcome story, I'll just give it to you right now because it's so simple. Instead of a whole hero's journey. Shingamab all you have to think about is what was your old normal, what was your turning point and what was your new normal? And then I do have an added twist which is the pivot to your mission, which is why do you do what you do? If you have a passion story, it's a little bit more. There's less of a framework and it's a little bit more about understanding what are the one or two stories that are going to speak to my strengths and the things that people love about me. Specifically why you. Which is part two of the framework. Part one is understanding them deeply. Part two is understanding not just understanding yourself, but understanding what your audience really loves about you and why they choose to work with you. Why do they choose to partner with you, why do they choose you? So understand the intersection of those two things and finding the stories that are going to speak to both of those things. In the passion story, it's a little bit more of like a collection of two stories and then your. Why?
- [29:45]
Kate All
I mean, there's so many. My brain is now exploding with ideas because I think for me, and this is why I love talking to people who specialize in certain areas and they are go really deep on, you know, like your expertise. Because what happens for me is as I listen to you talk, I think of all these things that I know would be really valuable assets to my business that I have never done. And I think it's one thing as a podcast host to tell people what they should do, but it's also really important that I listen. And I am someone who teachable and take action on those things as well. So it's common for me to. To record these and think. You're right. I haven't taken time to review my about page. I've never thought of a brand video, but it's really something that I do video all the time. And it's something that I've never even thought about putting the framework into place to do it. So one, I'm so glad we're having this conversation because I know that it's exciting me and I know people who are listening. It's exciting them as well. So I know we didn't get to the whole framework, but if you, if you would like to, I would love for you to walk through one through five, if that works for you.
- [30:53]
Mariana
Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.
- [30:55]
Kate All
And then we'll definitely put a link to the cheat sheet that you have because I think that's great. But let's walk through it. What. What does that whole framework look like? And then obviously button it up in the end with where people can go to work with you because I know that like it's. It inspires taking action Right.
- [31:13]
Mariana
So I'm going to, I'm going to commit a criminal thing in, in podcasts or any sort of speaking where I'm going to. I'm going to send you two places. So before I go into the framework, to pause this episode for a second, watch a brand video. So if you want to watch mine, it's brand magnetic.com/mariana. Mariana. M A R I A N A. Watch that so you can actually like visualize it so you can see it. And it'll be so much easier to go through the steps in the Cheat sheet and that I'll go over right now. Once you've seen one, the first step in the framework is know your audience deeply. Right. We've kind of covered that one already. The second one is also a little bit covered before is knowing yourself deep. I call it the neon fox. You can call it whatever color and whatever animal you want. We're all different. It's finding the thing that makes you different, not just for yourself. So this is, this is where I really differ a lot from what other people say. Like, you know, I think Simon Sinek start with why a lot of, lot of folks who talk about knowing yourself for the purposes of building a business that's authentic and like your messaging and all of that, I focus on this a little bit differently in that in this one curated story that is the story that's living inside of your brand video, it's not about you. It's really not. Ironically, it's not. It really is about what parts of your story, what are the aspects, what are the, the things that are going to make people feel those feelings towards you, those feelings of trust. And so you're not telling your life story oftentimes in this. I see this over and over working with my students. They know that there's like a big milestone in their life, right. And when we put it in the framework of understanding that it's all about the feeling that you want to create at the end of this brand video. Oftentimes those big milestones have, are not that relevant. And so you have to keep in mind as you're going through this process that this is not your biography, this is not your origin story, which I have lots of problem with. I think it's such a wasted energy, like such a wasted resource to tell an origin story versus a very curated brand story that's going to like really cut through and make people feel. So once again, it's understanding what makes you unique and special and desired and the IT person for that specific person that you want to speak to. And then the third part of that process is the intersection, right. Understanding which stories are going to speak to my audience, where they are, but not just that. It's all, they're also going to highlight my personality, my traits, my drive, my whatever je ne sais quoi that people love about me. So the story needs to do several things. This is why it's a little tricky to do it yourself, because you're like, because it's very intimate, deep work. And then once you have that, you are writing your script. And this is kind of like a more practical part of it. We sort of get into the more practical side of things. We're also thinking about the emotional visuals. So we covered that a little bit also where we're not just using regular old B roll, which is, to me, again, another crime, where, like, your, your visuals should be a character in your story. They should push those feelings forward. They should really facilitate that entire emotional journey of your story. And so if you're not thinking about your visuals in an emotional way, you're missing out. Why, kind of like, why do this in video? Your emotional visuals, you know, your shot list, if you will. You're filming it, and then you're editing it and distributing it. So it's, it's a bit more than five parts, but those are kind of the, the steps to getting it done.
- [34:49]
Kate All
I love that. And I, I, it's so easy. It's easy for me to visualize. Obviously, it's not easy to do, which is the whole extra thing. But I just want to say I love that you have taken both your experience, but how you're wired too, and you're bringing that together to serve entrepreneurs in this space where they need to have that story drawn out so that they can grow their business, so that they can convert where they want to convert. And it, it's so counter to what the world is, what's happening in the world with AI, Right? Like, you're pulling in and saying, create a human connection. Because that human connection with your story and how you want to serve your people cannot be rewritten by a robot. Like, and it never will be, because you have all this unique stuff and think the business world, the entrepreneurship world, is craving that as we've kind of swung so far. And they're like, wait a minute, I want more authentic. And this is authentic.
- [35:52]
Mariana
Yeah. I would even say, I would even take it further, Kate, and say, this is what's left. This is what's left. Information's not it anymore. Right. It, like my framework, AI probably already has my feet. You know what I mean?
- [36:04]
Kate All
Yeah, totally.
- [36:05]
Mariana
It's not about that. It's like, why would you work with me to go through this process? Why would I work with you to understand how to leverage Pinterest to build my business? Right. It's what's special about you that's going to make me choose you as the guide, as the person I want to connect with on the journey to get to the results that you're promising. And so to me, it's way more important than the actual information. And again, I'm not saying that your expertise and your credentials and your testimonials aren't important, important, like supporting characters of that. But ultimately, we have so many choices, right? We could work with so many people to achieve. And everyone's promising everything. Right, Exactly. So that's not. You're. We're not being differentiated by that and what we're doing instead, when we're not creating that connection, top of funnel is what. What I call microdosing our audience. We're literally giving them tidbits about who we are. So in their heads, they have to collect these little tiny pieces of information over 6 to 12 months in order to build the picture of who we are. At which point they might be ready to work with us, or it might be the right time or whatever it is, but if we instead put that connection front and center and that. I'm not saying talk about yourself all the time. I'm saying do it in such a ninja way. Right. As soon as they meet you in that moment where they're actually wanting to know who you are and accelerate that trust.
- [37:29]
Kate All
I love that mic drop right there, for sure. That was so. It was so helpful to hear your story, what you're passionate about. So, again, will you tell people where they can go to connect with you?
- [37:40]
Mariana
Yeah, for sure. So I'm pretty active. I'm not active on Pinterest, unfortunately. But if you hop over to Instagram, if that's your jam, find me there at Brand Magnetic. And then otherwise, you know, grab that cheat sheet. It's such a nice little guide@brand magnetic.com cheat sheet. That's such a weird thing to say.
- [38:00]
Kate All
I know, it's true, but it's totally great. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and your expertise, and I hope everybody goes and checks it out.
- [38:07]
Mariana
Thanks, Kate. We appreciate it.