Building Expert Brands

This time on BEB:
I'm joined by copywriter Judith Rafferty from Fruition Ventures. Judith has dropped by to help us shed some light on Tone Of Voice (ToV), so we’re better equipped to create great content. Here were my three favourite talking points:

• Should we emphasise our quirks? > (4:12)
• Is it tougher to get content ‘right’ nowadays? > (6:21)
• Figuring out your ToV—a starting point  > (23:06)

Judith's background:
Judith Rafferty is a commercially astute Copywriter who produces value rich income generating copy that connects using words that woo. Her mission is to help save bogged down business owners from getting headaches over content creation when they should be shining their unique brilliance on the world.

This week on BEB:
I'm joined by a couple of friendly faces from the local networking scene. Photographers Lincoln Roth and Perrin Read kindly took the time to tell us why we should opt for tailored photos over stock photography. Here were my three favourite talking points:

• Is it important to keep things simple? > (11:57)
• Is it ever ok to use stock photos? > (15:07)
• How dressing well helps us in business...  > (34:19)

Lincoln & Perrin's background:
Lincoln and Perrin own Roth Read Photography. They are professional photographers who help business owners drop their stock photos, and replace them with creative, authentic, story telling branded images.

This week on BEB:
I'm joined by familiar face and collaborative enthusiast Aidan Campbell—Brand and Marketing Consultant, Brand Manager, Specialist, and Strategist. Aidan decided to take a brief break from networking to tell us all about Brand Management. Here were my three favourite talking points:

• Is being cheap a good strategy? > (4:50)
• The illusion of free time > (12:53)
• Is networking a helpful way to build a brand?  > (18:53)

Aidan's background:
Aidan comes from a sporting background where he helped local sports clubs improve the way their brand looks online. From there, he grew into working with businesses to help look after all their branding needs.

This week on BEB:
I'm joined by the very polite and friendly Abigail & Chloe Baldwin—founders of the creative studio Buttercrumble. Abigail and Chloe dropped by to tell us all about how we can Communicate Well To Family Audiences. Here were my three favourite talking points:

• Why Businesses exist... > (15:25)
• Company partnerships and shared vision. > (19:12)
• Advice for listeners—provide a great personal touch.  > (25:20)

Abigail & Chloe’s background (In their own words):
We are Chloe and Abigail Baldwin, Yorkshire-born, twin sisters who founded the creative studio, Buttercrumble. We love to build creative brands for fun-finders, design enthusiasts and beauty-seekers, across the globe. We breathe life into organisations by embodying fun and we’ve had the pleasure of achieving this for brands such as John Lewis & Partners, Mamas & Papas and Chester Zoo. 

This week on BEB:
I'm joined by the very international and interesting Johnny Pawlik—branding, marketing and strategy expert. Johnny is kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to tell us all about Bad Branding In New Markets. Here were my three favourite talking points:

• Bad Branding In New Markets. > (0:30)
• What should listeners do to avoid the bad branding trap? > (23:21)
• Johnny's advice for listeners wanting to get publicity.  > (32:35)

Johnny's background:
Johnny Pawlik is the Founder and CEO of the international branding and marketing firm Mantra Media. With over 20 years of experience in branding, marketing, and strategy, Johnny has consulted with the European Parliament, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, British Members of Parliament, the NHS, the UKTI, and a plethora of others. 

He has featured on Good Morning Britain, the BBC Political Debates, BBC Radio, Osaka Radio, Asahi Shimbun, and many others. Over the last 10 years, Johnny has had his strategies implemented by governmental, private, and charity sectors in North America, South Africa, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

This week on BEB:
Design professional and tech entrepreneur Simon Glenn joins me to tell us all about Approachable Authority. Here were my five favourite talking points:

• What is Approachable Authority? > (0:43)
• The design is not for you. > (8:07)
• Keep your message short, clear and concise. > (13:24)
• Meeow's origin story. > (30:23)
• What were your considerations while designing Meeow's brand? > (40:36)

Simon's topic breakdown:
Approachable Authority

In this modern, noisy online world, it's more important than ever to speak directly to your core market in a language they understand and which draws them towards you.

Regardless of any other messaging concerns within the brand identity design sphere, every brand needs to project 'approachable authority'. That essential combination of attraction and confidence building which will convince your potential client that you're the people to speak to.

Simon's background (in his own words):
Simon Glenn wears 2 hats these days.

As a brand identity design professional styles himself as the Brandboy, a one man crusade to bring serious design thinking, logic and creativity to the SME world.

As a tech entrepreneur, Simon styles himself as Meeowman, the co-founder of Meeow Online Networking. Meeow is the biggest thing to hit the business connections world since Linkedin.

This week on BEB:
Branding expert Clare Froggatt joins me to explain why branding is like an iceberg. Here were my five favourite talking points:

• Why Branding is like an iceberg > (0:24)
• Content is king and consistency is queen. > (18:20)
• Why Lego? > (19:55)
• Some businesses don't need branding. > (23:28)
• Is success tied to self-development? > (27:49)

This week on BEB:
Graphic Designer and illustrator Christina Testana joins me to talk about emotional connections. Here were my five favourite talking points:

• Branding is the recipe you need to make an emotional dish. > (2:59)
• Christina's biggest brand discovery this year. > (8:13)
• Why you want your audience to relate to you. > (15:19)
• Why you should try talking to your past self. > (17:29)
• Specialising is like fishing. > (23:35)

And everything else in-between!

Christina's Background:
'I'm Christina Testana—Graphic Designer and Illustrator from Ontario, Canada. I have been working in the design industry for eight years. I am now looking to advance my career by niching down and building my own business. 

My wish is to help female mental health professionals create authentic brands to empower healing and positivity, so they can attract the right clients without negative stigma.'

This week on BBB:
Brand video professional and proud videonerd Nick Raeburn joins me to talk about storybranding. We had a brilliant chat, and these were my favourite five talking points:

• Reasons to be like Marmite.
• Building relationships before selling.
• Is it ok to shout about what you do?
• The best way to find out what your audience wants.
• Social media is an instantaneous feedback loop.

And everything else in-between!

Nick's Background:
Videonerd, father, husband. Lover of all things retro!

This week on BBB:
Brand Photographer Doug Banks joins me to chat about brand-led photography. We have a great chat about:

• What Brand Photography is
• The benefits of Brand Photography
• How it brings about tranformative change
• What is brand? Doug's thoughts
• Is it worth small businesses investing in branding?
• The difficulty of selling without trust
• The brands of tradesmen
• A concept from The E-Myth Revisted by Michael E. Gerber
• The values of a businessperson
• Branding is the impressions you create
• Doug asks me to share some actionable branding advice
• An analogy from Buddist Principles

And lots more!

Doug's Background:
I'm a Branding Photographer who takes images of business owners and their business in a way that will connect better with their customers and clients which results in greater success. 

The success often being measured in reference to the values instilled within the business owner and the business.

This week on BBB:
I take a leaf out of Craig's book and we go unplanned! I'm armed with a blinking cursor where my first question should be. Happily, we still manage to have an interesting chat loosely revolving about branding. 

We cover:

• Apple's brand in the modern day
• The folly of Features
• How Apple pull you in
• Microsoft's new direction and research
• The inevitability of tech habits
• Local pubs and the lost art of conversation
• The importance of a personal brand
• Promoting yourself as a British person
• Personal brand = portable capital
• Accentuating your quirks
• Podcasting and reasons to keep at it
• The appeal of Seth Godin's marketing books

And lots more!

This week on BBB:
The very friendly Kate Tyson from Snowball Communications joins me to chat about brand stories. We talk about:

• What a brand story isn't,
• Kate's thought's on buzzwords,
• The facts & psychology attached to stories,
• How to make your marketing more powerful,
• One of Kate's personal stories,
• How to discover your own stories,

And lots more!

This week on BBB:
Native's impressively eloquent Heather Ditch joins me to talk about brand truths. We talk about:

• Beginning from a point of truth,
• The dangers of ignoring the truth,
• Addressing difficult truths,
• The value in being a smaller business,
• The promises we should make in advance of parties,
• How you can unearth your own truth,
• How to road-test the robustness of your own truth,

And lots more!

This week on BBB:
I share some big news (!) and talk about the new format we'll be using from here onwards.