Brand Architect

In this episodes we discuss: Importance of the storytelling in marketing What kind of stories could you tell The importance of transparency How to find your differentiator what is a fractional CMO The future of work

In this episode we talk about Importance of the online communities How Appics managed to build such a loyal community Influencer marketing Authenticity online Importance of he cooperation with other partners Future trends of the social media platforms

In this episode we spoke about: Personalisation in marketing Community building How to choose your niche The personality behind tech brands How to get leads from LinkedIn Being real on social media Building and showcasing expertise online

In this episode we spoke about: The importance of the marketing involvement from the start The need for the tech and marketing departments to work closely together The role of the ego of the tech founders How do reach out to potential early adopters in a right way Non linear career paths The value of (real) diversity and tech recruitment Tech startup branding and the importance of building founder personal brand

My today's guest is Andy Foote. Andy is LinkedIn content and brand coach, founder of LinkedInsights.com and creator of FOOTE-NOTES podcast. In this episode we discuss: how much has LinkedIn changed over the years "overnight" success what to do when you're invisible on LinkedIn LinkedIn engagement pods LinkedIn algorithm how to succeed on the LinkedIn platform

In this episode we speak about The value of experience The experience economy Brand and commodities Becoming the story everyone is sharing Experience in marketing

In this episode we speak about - data driven marketing and human stories - importance of personalising content - how one chooses target audience - advertising and promotion - how to find unique angle

In this episode we discuss: Online content creation Personal branding and positioning The 7 Vs framework LinkedIn and its algorithms How to choose the right platform Monetizing your content

In this episode we speak about:   How to build audiences of buyers from scratch  Virtual events  How to adjust your marketing during the COVID 19  How to create a content that builds an audience  Cold emails and their impact on your brand  How do you choose a the right business mentor?  Predictions for post coronavirus period 

Today I spoke with Chris Walker. Chris is the founder and CEO of Refine Labs. Their Revenue Engine Optimization formula helps B2B companies grow revenue, increase pipeline velocity, and lower customer acquisition costs. In this interview talk about - how to start and grow your business - short term focused companies and the power of word of mouth - cold messaging on social and personalization - should you market during the coronavirus crisis - how to re-evaluate and adjust your business for these challenging times

Today I talk with Marc Mawhinney. Marc is "The Coach for Coaches", host of the podcast "Natural Born Coaches", and passionate about helping coaches achieve success. In this interview we discuss about: how Marc grew his audience and business how to pick a niche how much content you should give out for free how ti differentiate from others who offer similar services how to grow engaged Facebook group how did Marc create his brand podcasting and what it can bring to your business If you enjoy the podcast, please help it grow by subscribing and leaving a review!

Today I want to talk to you about something that you may not like to hear. Many people prefer not to tell you this. Many people prefer to pretend this is not the case. But I need to tell you this anyway. So you are able to look at things realistically. So you avoid being disappointed because you had unrealistic expectations. Here is the truth   Building an engaged and loyal audience takes time and loads of content creation. Of course all those who advertise the attractive “have quick results” model pretend that it’s not the case. You get “write a book in a day”, create an online course in a week, grow your brand in a month type of messages all the time. And of course that’s much more exciting than what I said. It sounds so much better than my “it takes time and work and you have to be persistent and patient” story. I get that. I totally understand. But nevertheless, I prefer to tell you the bitter truth than the sugar coated lie. I was walking in the city the other day and went to Covent Garden. Usually there are many different street performances out there - from music to magic tricks and stuff. And since I love watching people I took some time and stuck around for a while. So I ended up seeing how one of the performers, who had the largest crowd gathered around him finished for the day. He said good bye, gathered his last portion of applauses, bowed, packed his stuff and left. Obviously the crowd too, melted out and after few minutes there was no one around. Few minutes later, a slim guy with long hair came and started setting up his mic and took out his guitar. Now it was his turn to start performing. So there was this guy all alone with his guitar and mic standing there. I realized that probably that’s exactly how we look when we are just starting. We have no audience, we have the tools, we have not created anything yet and we get those uncomfortable fear of failure, self doubt and vulnerability of being judged. And the people - in our case the audience, pass by going to watch someone else performing because he already has a big crowd gathered around him therefore he must be good, right? So what happens next. Yup… the guy starts playing his guitar and singing his song. Did everyone run and gathered around him immediately? Nope… It took quite a while. For at least 2 full songs the guy was standing there, singing to no one. All by himself, creating his magic. He was not noticed yet, he did not have anyone to perform for yet… but he kept playing. That’s what happens to us too… we write blog posts, record podcast episodes, do videos, lifestream… and for weeks nothing happens. We feel like we are talking to ourselves. We feel invisible, unknown, unappreciated. At some point we are like “why the hell am I doing this, no one cares anyway”, right? So what happened to the guy? Well after a while few people came and stood to listen, then some more… after the songs they started clapping, few others paid attention and joined. After a while he got traction and gathered a pretty decent audience. Do you see the parallel? The guy showed up, took the courage to put himself out there, created his music, persisted even though no one paid attention for a while, kept going on and only after all that things started moving. What would have happened if he gave up after song 1. Yup, nothing… It’s the same with us. We have to realize that there are others who do similar things out there already, that no one is going to notice us from day 1, that we need to create awesome content consistently until people start gathering around us and that we need to stick around and do our best not to give up even when we think no one care… Because honestly... [No one will care in the beginning. But that’s ok. That’s how things are. Even the person who eventually fell in love with you did not care about you at your first encounter. Building...

Today I am talking to a good friend Jon Nastor. Jon is not only a proud dad, husband but he is also an online entrepreneur who loves creating, marketing and selling cool things online. His Hack The Entrepreneur podcast is a show which reveals the fears, habits, and inner-battles behind big name entrepreneurs and those on the path to success. The podcast was launched with the initial plan of having 30 cool conversations but later became on of the most popular business podcasts which has already been downloaded over 2.4 million times (now Brand Architect feels really small compared to this...) In this interview we talk about: how launching a podcast helped Jon establish his personal brand how switching the attention from himself to his audience became a turning point for the podcast success how Jon makes money with his podcast how to get amazing guests for your podcast (special tip explained in details from Jon) how to get funding for your business (special tip from Gary V) being everywhere vs being really good at 1 thing Food for Thought Podcasting is very intimate. No one's gonna pick you up and push you and get you started, but when you're already in motion everybody wants to grab your hand and pull you along. [spp-tweet tweet="Nobody is going to care about your product or podcast more than you do!"] [spp-tweet tweet="If you try and be all things to all people you're gonna be nothing to no one."]   Useful Links 7 Day Podcast Challenge Hack the Entrepreneur Show List Rainmaker What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful (the book)

Today I’d like to talk to you about something that comes up quite often. These days I am being approached by people who, just like me few years ago are starting from scratch. No one knows them yet, they have not produced anything yet and they want to start but don’t know from where and how. And I can totally understand why they are confused. These days there is so much information on the internet. There are already many courses, podcasts, books, videos, tutorials and new ones are emerging with each day. So many choices, so many “gurus”. Who is the best? Which information is really valuable? Newbies get an overdose. Many end up consuming almost everything out there. I am sure some of you have bought online courses you never actually used, bought books you never read and downloaded a podcast episode, which you did not listen to. And with the ones you did… did you take action and apply the knowledge? Probably not… What confuses people even more is that there are many opinions and advice that contradict each other. One expert tells you the best proven method to do something and the other expert tells you the exact opposite. So what should you do? Well, maybe it would be best to start with the idea that there is no one magic button, no one solution fits all, no copy and paste template to follow. Many tend to market their courses by saying “I have made xxxx dollars in a month, let me show how exactly did I do that”. That might be true… or not, but that’s not the point. What is more important is that one has to realize that even if you copy the same strategy you may not get the same results. There are so many additional and not so obvious variables that play a role in the success… and some are impossible to duplicate… for example the personality factor, the fact that the guy might have already had strong network and connections in his niche and many others. Ok Ani, now you confused me even more you may think. Now where do I start anyway? The funny thing is that here too we have 2 completely contradicting options. And both sides claim that those worked perfectly well for them. Many say that when you are starting from scratch, before doing anything else you should choose your niche and come up with your ideal audience avatar. By knowing what your audience needs you end up providing content, service, product for them which resonates with you and your stuff, which leads to engagement, loyalty and success… On the other hand many others claim that you should decide what your passion is, what’s your main message and what you want to do and just do it. Be yourself and those who resonate with you will come and gather around you. So basically the short version of it is the expression - your vibe attracts your tribe. I have seen both methods to work. And in that respect you have a choice. It’s up to you which route you wanna take. But there is one thing in common: no matter which option you choose you will need to create content. Creating content is something I truly believe in and I think that most of the different successful strategies do have digital content creation as their core part. And what usually...

My guest is Joel Hughes and today we talk about websites. In this interview we cover: how to make sure that your website differentiates from other websites elements that demonstrate your brand what makes a good website website design elements that help with conversion how to use your website to connect to your audience how to make a good web developer brief what is an ideal website

Mark W. Schaefer is a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author who blogs at {grow} — one of the top marketing blogs of the world. Mark has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for 30 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of U.S.-based Schaefer Marketing Solutions. In this interview we talk about rebranding vs branding from scratch the importance of being known what to do in order to become known what does being yourself mean audience engagement I am sure you will also enjoy The Marketing Companion podcast Mark is co-hosting, so make sure to check it out.

  As you have probably noticed I have missed my schedule. That has happened only few times over the last 2 years… and in fact that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about in today’s solo episode. So why did I drift away from my schedule and skipped last week? Probably you expect a serious excuse but I am not sure there is any. The thing is… I have been going through lots of internal debate and spend a lot of time thinking about things and as a result I have partly lost my motivation, inspiration and drive. Did anything special happen to trigger this? Well, not really. I simply went through yet another paradigm shift. I came across the term paradigm shift ages ago back at the university. We had amazing communications professor, with who we went through Stephen Covey’s bestselling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The paradigm shift was described there by a powerful example. I will read it for you and those who don’t know what it is will immediate understand what I mean. So here we go… I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly - some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway.  The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people's papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing. It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control them a little more?"  The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either." Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn't have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man's pain. Feelings sympathy and compassion flowed freely. "Your wife just died? Oh, I'm so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?" Everything changed in an instant. Powerful example, isn’t it? I guess the short version of explaining paradigm shift is the quote from Dr Wayne Dyer: “When we change the way we look at things…..the things we look at change.” p...

Today me and Peter Ross are talking about producing honest content, not having a niche, and how he engages with his audience. Peter blogged for years without getting any traction, until one day few months ago one of his posts on Medium called Lifestyle Design? Please, Shut the Fuck Up blew up. It went viral and many people (including me) discovered Peter and his content. So basically, Peter got into a position where the audience found him. Join the Brand Architect Club here!