Heroes in Business - Do not Shy from Brand Evolution or Pivot

Episode Date: July 13, 2021

In part four of a four-part miniseries on how to build a brand, learn how it IS OK to evolve and even pivot your brand. I include an example of my own experience and why removing emotion is healthy! On this episode of Social Media on Steroids with Dan Shinder

Hi, and welcome to the Social Media on Steroids podcast. I'm Dan Schindler, and I created the Social Media on Steroids brand of education, training, consulting, and services to help others learn from my experience of achieving extraordinary results with content marketing on social. I attracted a following of over 1 million people and reach millions more online each month, 100% organically. In this series, I share the strategies that helped me cross all the milestones it took to get there and that we still use. And please, before we dive in, take down my email address in case you have questions. I answer all questions and I take suggestions for topics to be covered in this

series. You can reach me directly at dan at advancedsocialmarketing.com. And of course, the website is the same URL. Follow the blog there and the Advanced Social Marketing YouTube channel. Okay, let's jump in. YouTube channel. Okay, let's jump in. Okay, episode 14. This is part four of a four-part mini-series on how to build a brand. And of course, tied in with content marketing. That's why I'm doing this series. Part four, Well, it all began in case you're just jumping into part four and didn't hear the other parts. Let me give you a quick rundown. Began with episode 11 of the Social Media on Stairways podcast, which was your logo is not your brand. So for a bit of review, we talked in that episode about the fact that your logo is not your brand.

Branding is not your brand. It's part of your brand representation, but it's not the brand. Merchandising items with your logo on it, like shirts, hats, pens, other swag, is not your brand. In that episode, I also gave the ridiculous but true example of someone I hear say all the time of how they created a brand, quote unquote. They created a brand for this person and that person. And the person I'm referring to is a graphic artist who says this. They do not create brands. They might create the branding. Anyways, moving on to the fact that we also covered the 12 archetypes of brands developed by Carl Jung. For instance, the jester, the hero, the explorer, and so on. If you missed that episode 11, check that out. The

archetypes are very intriguing, and I'd love to hear from you. Which one are you? In episode 12, defining your market, we covered exactly that, breaking down your market by gender, age ranges, cultural demographics, interests, and more. One-size-fits-all marketing just doesn't work. People need to see themselves in the advertising and the promoting of the products and services you offer. And that's different from marketing. Marketing is the underlying foundation representing a brand that gives people a reason to respond and act on the advertising and promoting. Does that make sense? So when your marketing is done right,

people will respond and act on your advertising and promoting. Your advertising and promoting is not your marketing. Let that sink in if you're not familiar with that. Play it back a couple times if you need to. In episode 13, organize your company around desired brand identity. That really comes down to the promise you make to your consumers. That's really what a brand is. A brand is the promise that company makes to its consumers. And even if it's B2B, same thing, business to business. It's not the logo.

It's the brand's job to deliver that promise every day. In this episode, episode 14, I cover point number four of this four-part series, the fact that it is really okay to evolve your brand and even pivot in a major way. Some people are afraid to do that. Some people believe that when they designed their company, designed their brand, and even the branding, that they're stuck with that. You're never stuck with anything. Believe me, I've been divorced a couple, nevermind, we won't go there. But once you commit to your company image or even purpose, don't be afraid to revise it. Your brand can and probably will evolve as your company grows and gets more and more established within your industry.

For example, a travel agency has branded itself as an aid for domestic and international vacations. But after seeing a trend in study and work volunteer programs, they expand their services to helping people plan and execute educational experiences abroad. This could be the same for an artist who does artwork of different types. I know someone, my wife, in fact, and Jaoni, who then decides not only to teach art, but to create art retreats. So it's okay to evolve, and it's okay to even pivot in a major way. I'm going to give you a couple examples with my own company of how we've done that with Drum Talk TV, and one of them came very, very early within the brand's life. So I started the brand January, the first week of January in 2013. And that March, late that March, I met a woman who became a very good friend, she still is, and became our chief digital officer for the first four years. She's no longer with

Charm Talk TV, but still a very good friend, Lori Shube. Hi, Lori. And I knew Lori's background in so far as the chops she had with content marketing, with branding, creating a user experience online. She redid the user experience for Toshiba online, brought them out of the red into the black. Many different experiences like that are partly what connected us and made me want to let her run the back end of everything that Drum Talk TV did, pretty much. And as we were getting to know each other in April, just a month later, she came to me and said, you know, I think the visual branding of Drum Talk TV needs to be completely revised.

Now, remember, we're only like hardly four months old at this point. And I said, OK, like, what do you mean? And she said, well, the logo and the fonts and everything are just I don't know. And she I could tell she was holding back and hemming and hawing. And I said, just tell me, I'm a big boy. I could take it. She said, okay. So it looks like all the branding was created by a 50-year-old man. Well, guess what? I turned 50 the week before, two weeks before we had this conversation. I said, okay, no problem. Let me ask you this. Do you feel you have a grasp of our audience and the varied personas that make up our audience enough to come

up with something that would resonate with these different types of people, these different fans and followers? She said, I do. I said, and based on that, do you feel you can come up with something that would resonate with them graphically, the logo and tagline, all that stuff? She said, absolutely. I said, great. So why don't you come up with three or four mock-ups and in a couple weeks, three weeks, if that gives you enough time,

we'll go over them together and pick one. She said, really? And I said, well, yeah. Isn't that why you brought this up? She said, yeah, but in all my years of working as a consultant, whenever this comes up, inevitably I get to that point of the conversation and people say, oh, but that's my font. It really says me. And the clouds with the unicorn and the lollipop, that really defines who the brand is and who I am. And I'm so attached to that. And I interrupted her. I stopped her and I said, okay, I get that. But let me tell you

something, Lori. I'm never, and I'm going to edit my language here for you. I said, I am never going to personally buy an effing thing from Drum Talk TV. I don't even have to like the branding as long as the rest of the world likes the branding. It's not for me, it's for them. That was the start of a very, very great working relationship because she knew that I was not emotionally attached to something even though I created it as far as the look and the feel or the non-look and feel of our original branding, the logo, the graphics, the tagline, and everything like that. The original tagline was insightful interviews within the world of drumming. And we changed it to the heartbeat of the global drumming community. And we changed the look of everything else. And

our logo has even evolved a bit since then. So that's one example of a major visual pivot that we did pretty much from the beginning, just three, four months after the brand came out onto the scene and really took our industry by storm. And for those of you who don't know, Drum Talk TV is an online media company within the music industry. And we do interviews. We curate content from our fans. I'll get to that in a moment because that's a big part of the pivot story as well. We report on industry news. We cover events, do documentaries.

Did I mention that already? Different things like that in the world of drumming, which you might've guessed already. So we used to not in that first year curate content from our fans. And we had this auto response message in our Facebook page messaging where we just took off like a huge bomb. We surpassed all of our industry peers, which is a fluffy word for competitors, and we surpassed them by 900% in online reach and engagement in the first year. All of them combined. They had no idea what was going on. And for the most part, they still don't. No disrespect, but they still don't, mainly because those companies are run by old farts my age or older, all seniors that have not grasped content marketing, let alone the

digital side, let alone social media marketing. But that aside, we had this auto response message because we were just getting hammered by fans who saw that we were growing and growing and growing, wanted to ride our coattails. So we constantly got messages. Will you share my video on Drum Talk TV? Can you post my video on Drum Talk TV? Can you share my video on Drum Talk TV? And that's not what we did at the time.

So we had this message that I admit I wrote, and it probably came off as snobby. It was not intended to be snobby or off-putting at all. In hindsight, I'm sure it probably was. And it said something like, there are plenty of Facebook groups for you to share your video in. The Drum Talk TV Facebook page is for the content that we create, interviews with the stars, and da-da-da-da-da-da-da, you know, basically described what we did. Have a good day. So one day, I happened to notice there were like 300 messages stacked in there.

And I thought, I'm going to watch one of these videos. And I felt my whole physiology and body language change. I sat there frowny faced with my arms crossed like I am now. You can probably hear by my voice. I kind of had like this attitude. And as I started to watch a video of someone playing drums, my arms uncrossed, dropped by my side, and my face loosened up and morphed into a smile. And right there, the giant light bulb went on above my head that said, oh my gosh, I'm a member of the community that we cater to. If I like this, there's no way I'm that unique. Other people will like it. I got on the phone right away with Lori. I said, Lori, Lori, we need to create a portal through the website where people can submit videos and we'll

have tips and guidelines and rules and I'll create all that. And she said, wait, wait, wait, I thought we weren't curating content from our fans. I said, no, no, no, we're changing all that. And I explained what happened. And I got to tell you that, and that's going to be what the next podcast episode is going to be. It's going to be all about user generated content and how to get your fans and followers and prospects and clients involved in what you post and all of that.

I won't ruin it with too much of a preview right now, but it was that that was the biggest game changer in Drum Talk TV, by making our fans part of the experience. And that's when I coined the term of what social media on steroids is all about and what our services are all about at Advanced Social Marketing.

And it's basically what I teach. Love what you do and get others to fall in love with being part of it. You can't do that unless you're inclusive. You can't do that unless you create an experience for them to be part of. And that's exactly what we did. And our numbers soared and everyone loves the dig me factor. Look at me, look at me, my videos on Drum Talk TV. It was just a huge, huge game changer. So that was another way that our brand totally pivoted in a really big way. Now we're working towards yet a couple other pivots. The only one I'll give away right now is the fact that something I've always wanted to do, and we've done this to a degree in the short term when we cover the NAMM show every January. The Winter NAMM show is the largest industry-only trade show,

and it started the very first time was three weeks after I started Drum Talk TV. It was me and a guy who I taught how to use the camera in the parking lot. Four days of the largest music trade show doing interviews with big artists, educators, and makers of gear. We expanded year after year after year. We now have a team of between 14 and 22 people, depending on the year, of people that cover the show with us, the Drum Talk TV NAMM show team. We have our own booth now, so it's not just Dan Schindler doing the interviews. We have three, four, five other people sometimes also doing interviews, and I groom them. I teach them how to do it the Drum Talk TV way, but without being me. Believe me, we do not need another me, okay? I hired them to do these interviews because of their personality and their skills and

their knowledge of drumming and the industry. So I tell them, be yourselves. But my point is what we're doing now is we're getting ready to have a talent call and we're going to groom probably four to six VJs. If you think of how MTV started out way back in the day when they actually had music videos, remember? We had Martha, wow, I forgot Martha's last name. Martha J.J. Jackson, the late, great J.J. Jackson,

who started out on L.A. radio. At least that's where I knew him from, through the 70s and 80s. And then there was, wow, the names are escaping me, Nina Blackwood, Mark, and like five others. And they resonated with different people the same way that disc jockeys do on the radio. So that's what we're doing. We're getting ready because eventually someday I won't be doing Drum Talk TV. And in the meantime, I am going to kind of pull back in the visibility role and I want other young and diverse talent to kind of take over. basically me basically not completely but basically it's me and we're moving towards expanding that so people can enjoy not everybody likes me i'm sure i'm sure my style doesn't resonate with everybody and that's okay but we're bringing other people into the mix so there's

three big ways our brand has pivoted over the last eight and a half years, as I'm recording this, July 9th of 2021. And the first big pivot came just three, four months after I started the company. So each of these pivots we've done so far always brought greater success, always. And it's really important that as you go through your marketing and branding changes, your marketing and branding needs to be congruent with these changes. That's very important. So changing the logo and all of that, that doesn't really change much in the behavior of the brand unless you're going from a really clean look, a really sharp look, a really wholesome look to something that's maybe more rebel or more rogue. Then, of course, you want the personality of the brand to stand out that way and be reflected in the visual branding. Not to be confused with what the brand is. Let's get that straight. Listen

to episode 11 to really get your head around that. If you've already heard it, listen to it again. It's very, very important. But there are so many changes that a brand can go through and, like I said, probably will as it grows. And don't feel like you're stuck with what you originally created. Do not become so emotionally invested in what you created that that prevents you from elasticity. You've got to have elasticity. You've got to be able to flex and adapt and morph with better ideas, new ideas, new ways of doing things like we did when we started curating content from our fans. That accounts for probably 40% of our content now. It's just been phenomenal.

And I feel like the tooth fairy. Every time we curate a video, and we do a few times a week, from one of our fans, or any of our fans, or all of our fans, all over the world, I feel like the tooth fairy. It's such a great feeling. And like I say, in the next episode, episode 15, we're going to cover that in a very deep way of how you can get your fans, your followers, your prospects,

and your clients involved so that you're using their content as well in a very legit way. There's nothing sneaky about this or anything. Let's talk about a couple other ways that a brand might morph. The brand might find a new voice. Currently, Drum Talk TV is, and I'm pretty sure this is never going to change because we've been so successful with it, but we're the jester brand. Again, in episode 11, I go through the 12 archetypes of brands. Find out which one you are if you don't already know, but we're the Jester brand. We're playful. We're kind of silly. We're a little bit snarky sometimes, a bit tongue-in-cheek. Nothing's ever too serious on Drum Talk TV. Believe me. And the voice of the brand really is me. It's really the voice of me. But I see that voice and that archetype perpetuating for the life of Drum Talk TV. I hope it never

changes even after I'm gone someday because it's been a huge, huge part of the success. So you want to get familiar with those 12 archetypes and figure out which one are you. It may give you ideas of how to expand the voice of your brand and how to amplify the voice of your brand. Once you identify your brand's voice with an archetype and you read, what does that mean? What is the explorer? What is the jester? What is the hero? What are the other nine? So go through that and learn how you can be elastic with what your brand is all about. Do not be afraid to change, to expand, to evolve, and even completely pivot. Let's take Amazon for a moment. It's almost an absurd example, but it's a real one. If you think, if you're old enough to think back to when Amazon was just books, do you remember that?

When it was just books and then they started selling, well, basically everything, everything everything is for sale on Amazon. And that's quite a pivot. And they did it not that little by little, actually. It was like in one fell swoop, they just became something else. So a grocery store could do the same thing. Grocery stores, specialty groceries can do the same thing by introducing many, many new items that are, let's say, more health conscious. A whole dietary section for, well, there's gluten-free now, of course, but like for diabetics. Maybe introducing a kosher section, whereas they didn't have that before. Or maybe it's only in certain locations where it's, not to stereotype, but more likely that that would be needed. Where I live, there's basically no kosher section. In Globe, Arizona, where we're currently living,

it's a small town up in the mountains of about 7,200 people, no kosher section. There's some kosher foods, but not kosher sections, if and you know what I mean. So listen to all four parts of this miniseries, please. That's episodes 11, 12, 13, and we're ending right here with 14. And episode 11 is very important to get really involved with what your brand archetype is. And then ask yourself, are we taking advantage of the archetype that we are identifying ourselves with? Are we really amplifying the qualities and the traits of that archetype? And if you're not, go ahead and embrace them. Maybe you'll identify yourself with a particular archetype or your business, and you'll see a different one that you'd rather become that might resonate more with what you do, who you serve, and how you serve your clients and customers and followers. And that's okay. Be flexible and adaptable. There are no rules etched in stone other than those.

So I hope you found this interesting. I hope it was helpful. And if you want to learn more, if you need your team trained, if you want to work with me one-on-one, need a service provider who knows how it really works to get trained on doing it properly yourself, or if you just have questions, please reach out. Easy to find my contact info. It's in the outro, in the intro, and I'd love to hear from you. And even if you just have suggestions of what you'd like me to cover as well. Thanks so much. Happy marketing. And what was that other thing I was... Oh yeah, cue the music.

So remember, if you're serious about what you do, get serious about how you market it. Sign up for my newsletter and get my six steps to daily success PDF at advancedsocialmarketing.com and get notifications about my free workshops and other learning opportunities, as well as the wacky changes on the major platforms. Stay up to date and see how I can help you further at the same URL. Check out the blog there and follow the advanced social marketing YouTube channel as well. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn

at linkedin.com slash in slash Dan Schindler. Happy marketing.