Importance of Building a Human & Emotional Brand Ep 71

The Importance of Building a Human & Emotional Brand with Lydia Michael

When Lydia, a multicultural marketer, joins me, we don't just chat about run-of-the-mill branding tactics; we dive into the heartbeat of marketing—human connection.

Listen and learn why it's pivotal for brands to intertwine with consumer values and cultures in a busy marketplace.

This episode is great for those navigating the waters of branding, seeking that genuine resonance with their audience that can withstand the test of time and change.

Connect with Lydia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiamichael/
https://lydiamichael.com/
https://blendedcollective.com/

Learn more about Together Digital
https://www.togetherindigital.com/

Interview originally aired Tuesday, October 10, 2023

To see the list of upcoming interviews, visit:
https://www.mellermarketing.com/upcoming-live-interviews

WATCH on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/live/ooDt3ifFUyw?si=5Xcuz8ZpXpTeLFzG 

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.

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Transcript

Brenda Meller: 1:00

All right, my very special guest today is Lydia. Michael and Lydia, you and I met originally through Together Digital pre-pandemic, which feels like gosh a lifetime ago. We were moderating a panel discussion and it was at a business in Birmingham. I'm blanking the name of the company. Do you remember where it was? Commonwealth or McCann McCann I?

Brenda Meller: 1:20

think it was yeah good memory and this was like pre-pandemic. I was just talking to someone the other day, joe Rice from McComb Community College. I saw him at an advisory event last night and I saw him in person. I'm like I know who he is and I couldn't. We went around and did introductions and then I remembered and I went up to him afterwards and I'm like I'm sorry, I said I recognized you but I've still got the pandemic brain like trying to remember things pre and post. But Lydia and I we met pre-pandemic and we have remained connected. I've been following her, her career. She recently had a book launch. We're going to talk about that a little bit later, by the way, it's right up in here. But I also want to give you the chance to talk about who you are, what you do and who do you help. So, lydia, if you could please introduce yourself.

Lydia Michael: 2:03

Absolutely yeah, so thank you for having me. By the way, I'm excited to be here, brenda. And for those who don't know me, on a day to day I run blended collective, which is a multicultural marketing and brand consultancy, so that's probably where a lot of people know me from, but I also am a speaker and now an author of Brandlove, and so what I like to say, that I do, and I happen to do it through the vehicle of marketing, but I really am here to connect people of different cultural backgrounds through marketing. So, whether it's culture that we focus on or emotion, it really is the essence of what I do. Wonderful.

Brenda Meller: 2:40

I've learned so much from you and now we're reading your book, I'm learning even more from you. It's taken me back to my corporate marketing days. I have to say so. Today we are here talking about the importance of building a human and emotional brand. So I want to jump right into the discussion here today. Lydia and there might be people that are watching and they're like, why is this important? So let's start from there. Why is it important to build a human and emotional brand?

Lydia Michael: 3:02

The big question.

Lydia Michael: 3:04

We're in a very crowded marketplace and us as customers, as people, we really connect with brands and companies who not only cater to what it is that we're looking for, but they also cater to who we are.

Lydia Michael: 3:20

And what people a lot of times don't realize is we support and choose brands and companies who mirror to us who we are, what our values are. Right, you see it a lot of times and I know you referenced earlier the pre and the post pandemic but especially during times of difficulty and challenge, people are very selective as to what they spent their money on and who they support. And so, because of that, it's really important that we really reflect who we are as a brand and who we are as a company, and a lot of times that relates to these human elements and these emotional elements, and that's where, matter of fact, a lot of that connection happens and a lot of the loyalty in the long term results. And so the best way to do that is to connect with people on this human basis, this emotional basis, where we look at customers and at companies as people, essentially.

Brenda Meller: 4:15

Yeah, and this topic and I'm alluding to this earlier reminds me of my back in my corporate marketing days. We would have a lot of discussions about what the brand represents and our brand values and acting with our audiences. Is this a concept that only applies to the big brands? Lydia or this show? We really speak to people who are self-employed coaches, consultants, speakers and authors. Does it apply to the individual, to the solopreneur as well, or is it only the big corporations? What do you think?

Lydia Michael: 4:41

No, I think it applies to everybody, and the thing that's different for corporations versus the solopreneur or the small businesses is probably the way it's done, because you might have different challenges as a small business, you might have budget restraints, things of that nature, but nevertheless, it's just as important to do that. When I actually referenced that in my recent work, where I talk about how you can build a brand or grow a company that is more human, that is more emotional, that is more intentional, and so I don't think it's a question of my small brand and my big brand, but more so a question of how can I really create these genuine, authentic connections with my customers.

Brenda Meller: 5:22

There's a lot of different ways to do that, yeah, and is this something that we should be thinking of only at the start of our business journey? Or what if someone's watching right now and they're like, maybe I do need to have more authentic elements or weave in more of my brand values or my personality into what I'm doing? But gosh, I've been in business for three to five to 10 years already, so is it something they can start if they're already well established, or is it only work best at the onset? What do you think there? That's a good question, brenda.

Lydia Michael: 5:52

I think I know it's not necessarily at the start of the business. What makes it easier to implement and think about it at the beginning, when you're starting the business, is because you're starting out fresh, so it's very easy to determine how you want to position your company and what you want to go after. Right, because you're creating this new image, this new identity that people don't really know about yet. So you have it's really in your favor to do it early on. However, like you said, a lot of companies are already established and I like to say, as a company and as a brand, you're always evolving, just like we do as human beings. Right, we grow, we change with times and we adapt, and so, because of that, I think it's really important to recognize what have I already done as a business and where am I trying to go and how do I fill this gap?

Lydia Michael: 6:43

What are the action steps that I need to take in order to implement some of these emotional elements and I like to actually call them drivers. I, personally, I call them brand love drivers and essentially, there are these emotional triggers that that influence, that loyalty building in your company. So, whether it's things like purpose and sustainability or authenticity in your company, culture, diversity, things of that nature. How can you incorporate what is your brand about, first of all, but how can you incorporate some of these elements to help you build that journey and connect with customers through those elements? That, essentially, is all. It all contributes to this lifelong journey that you're building.

Brenda Meller: 7:31

That makes a lot of sense and I want to tie something into this discussion. I'm wearing this purple shirt today. I'm talking about this little in the pre show and I'll stand up to just so people can see professional movers. By the way, I am not. I'm not like an influencer, I am a fan, and you talk about in your book, Brand Love.

Brenda Meller: 7:46

You talk about this concept of people building an affiliation with a company and I saw I believe it's the president of the company, Andy, if I've got your title wrong, I apologize, but I saw him speaking at a conference and his business card. It's like a little cardboard box. It's actually a flat card but you can fold it into a box and I've been following them for a while and we use them when we move. They have these sustainable containers that you use when you're moving, and a few months back, when the Barbie movie was first being announced, I'm following them on Instagram. Of course, I'm following them everywhere because I really admire their brand, and they had a contest and they said hey, if you're going to go watch the Barbie movie, go into the chat, tag someone that you're going to watch it with, and I have to share. The picture that they use was like Barbie in front of her dream house with a little tiny professional movers van like sitting. Like Barbie was moving into the dream house.

Lydia Michael: 8:36

And.

Brenda Meller: 8:36

I was like it's, so it was so clever.

Brenda Meller: 8:39

It was so creative and I tagged my husband and I was a couple days later. I got a direct message and they said congratulations, you won the tickets and they gave me a gift card to one of the local movie theaters in this purple t-shirt and I'm like when am I ever going to wear this? But I put it in the closet and this morning, when I was getting ready, I'm like I know part of your brand colors are purple, the color purple. I'm like this is perfect. You talk about this concept of brand love. Is that kind of illustrated in the story I've just told you in the affiliation I have with professional movers, would you say?

Lydia Michael: 9:11

Yeah, you just mentioned a moving company which, if you really think about it, how many people are going to be in love with a moving company? Right? They obviously did something right to capture those emotions on your end. I talk about those examples also throughout the book where it's not just your typical obvious feel good brands, as I like to call them, where you know what they stand for and you support them. Big brands like Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream or Patagonia or Hood Up Beauty, and like the makeup in the cosmetic space. Those are really big known brands and it's clear why people love them. But also don't forget about the little ones and the local ones who are doing things in such an innovative and creative way to connect with you, where it's actually a lot harder to create these emotions and these connections because, again, it's a moving company.

Lydia Michael: 9:57

In the book I talk about an HVAC company. I was moving last year and I was remodeling my home and I had to hire somebody to clean the air ducts. Right. Like you would never think that a company like that could stand out for you to connect with, but I actually thought that was such a good case study because they did such a phenomenal job in the way they handled their customer service and in the way they chose to communicate and show up for somebody like myself who was using their service for the first time. And now, every time I get into conversations with family or friends, I'm like, oh, here's the name, you should use this company because they were so great and they were on time and just so, on top of their communication and everything.

Lydia Michael: 10:42

And so those elements a lot of times they're more on the rational side, but they're still so important to our brand customer experience because it's really this holistic experience in this journey where we connect with on a lot of different drivers Right.

Lydia Michael: 10:59

So it's not just the emotional side. It's similar to our brain and I compare it to that in the book Similar to our brain, where we might be a little more on the right side of our brain, where we're more creative and emotional, but also the left side is still very important, which is the logical side and the rational side. And so it's very similar in brand customer connections, where we need a little bit of both and needs to speak to a little bit of both. And so when we look at that rational side, it could be things like when you're moving. Things like this was a very convenient experience, or this was an accessible experience, or whatever it might be. Those are still very relevant factors to make sure that we're having a good experience and we want to come back or even just refer through word of mouth, which is super powerful.

Brenda Meller: 11:46

Yeah, absolutely. And what are your thoughts, too, on if you're developing what your brand stands for, should you be looking at your competitors and what the other folks that are doing out in the market, or should you be making a brand story that is uniquely yours, or is it maybe being aware of them and creating your own story? What do you think about that?

Lydia Michael: 12:04

Yeah, I think it's both for sure. Looking at competition just means that you're aware of what's out there, and it's really important not to say that you're going to copy what they're doing or anything like that, but one for awareness. But then, two, it helps you understand what is already in the marketplace and how do I need to differentiate myself so that I can build my unique selling proposition or my differentiator a lot better and offer something that perhaps is not out there already? And without identifying who your customers are or your competitors are, you can't really do that successfully.

Brenda Meller: 12:45

Yeah, that's a really good point. I don't know about you, but I actually surround myself with my competitors. I heard the term from Terry Bean.

Brenda Meller: 12:52

He called it co-opetition, and I'm going to give a shout out right now to Jeff Young, who is one of my co-opetitions, so to speak. Jeff Young is based in the Columbus area and he does LinkedIn coaching as well, and what I found, lydia, is that when I surround myself with other people who do similar work, we help each other, we help to amplify each other, we can help each other to generate more business, more referrals, more visibility. What's your take on that? Shouldn't you make friends with your competitors, other people who do similar type of work, or what's your philosophy on that?

Lydia Michael: 13:20

Yeah, I actually am right there with you, to be honest, and I've done that a lot, and I don't know that I even like the word competitors, do you think it sounds fun, right? I haven't even found a new word for it yet, but I think I'm going to put that on my to-do list, because competitor to me always has this negative connotation as oh, it's your competitor say a way but.

Lydia Michael: 13:41

I've done it in a very similar way, where I've actually reached out to them, I've connected with them, and you find that a lot of times, even though you might be in the same space and industry, the services that you offer are still a little bit different.

Lydia Michael: 13:54

Nobody really does it the way you do it. Brenda, this referenced another LinkedIn coach. Hi, jeff, by the way, there's a lot of people that do LinkedIn coaching. There's a lot of people that do marketing, but we all have a very different and unique experience and perspective that we bring to the table, and I think when you bring all of that together in a very creative and innovative way, it only makes your offering so much stronger and better. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into pitching for a potential client with what you called a competitor to bid on a project, and we've gotten projects like this in the past and we came together and they really did what they were good at and their specialty and their skill set, and we did that on our end and together we were an even bigger powerhouse right. And so I always say don't underestimate what the potential could look like with your competitor in the market space.

Brenda Meller: 14:46

I love that point too, that you each have areas of specialization where you can go a little bit deeper, and I want to give a shout out right now to the folks that might be watching that are self-employed because you don't have a team that you're working with. But you can build a team I think is what I heard you say too through collaborations, and there's one moment.

Brenda Meller: 15:03

I'm not going to give her a shout out because I don't know if she's making it public yet, but she's building on her website a partners list and I'm going to be her LinkedIn slash marketing partner that's helping to support that side of her business. And then she's got someone else who's doing copywriting and someone else who's doing graphic design, so she's almost creating like her org chart, if you will, but showcasing her collaborations that she's working on. I think that's part of what you're talking about here too, right, Working with others to help with some of those areas of specialization.

Lydia Michael: 15:32

Yeah, I'm really big on collaboration because, again, there's only so much that you're good at. I think at a company the companies to me that kind of do it all and they do 30% here and 20% here and at the end you're a jack of all trades, right? What are you focused on? What you're really good at, and then surround yourself with people who can compliment the work that you either don't offer, you might not be that good at, and again, it just makes you so much more powerful and it adds this whole element of diversity and creativity in the problem solving space too and the way you approach a project. I think it really just enriches the whole situation.

Brenda Meller: 16:13

Absolutely. And since you're talking about diversity and inclusion, I know you have an emphasis in a lot of the work that you do on diversity and bringing in people from different backgrounds and making sure that we're talking to different audiences as well. I'm so glad the national conversation has shifted and we're now like this is a part of what we do. It's not an afterthought. It should have been this way all along, but I'm so glad to seeing that Because of that, are you seeing more clients coming to you looking for your services because you've offered this type of a focus? Is that something that's differentiating you? Perhaps?

Lydia Michael: 16:44

I think that's a big differentiator for us because, again, there are a lot of marketing firms out there. We specifically focus on multicultural marketing and brand consulting. For us, it's a very precise focus on how you can include both culture and emotion into your marketing journey. The process is a little bit different of how we approach a project. We really try to take the culture out of the brand that we're working with and look at elements that our potential client or a client doesn't think about as part of their brand and storytelling. I think that's really where we're able to make a difference. That's just in the early stages of brand building. But, of course, established clients that come to us and they might need help with their marketing or reaching different audiences or how to position themselves, whether it's online or offline, or even how to connect all of those worlds to make sure that they have this consistency in their marketing and in their brand, which is super important too. I think the combination of all that is key.

Brenda Meller: 17:52

Yeah, it's funny because some people you don't know what you don't know. As you were talking about connecting your online worlds and your offline worlds, there's probably people that come to you that are like, okay, we have this problem to solve, but also tell us what we don't know that you think we should know, Fill in the gaps for us and help us to understand how to bring our story to the present day. Because, let's be honest, Lydia, you've been in the marketing realm and branding building for a while. Things have changed. I think 20 years ago to today, social media didn't really exist 20 years ago, I think. Still in the college textbooks they're calling it new media. It's not that new. It's been around longer than some of the college students have been alive nowadays. I feel like I don't know about you, but I feel like digital media and social media is part of traditional media. Would you agree with that?

Lydia Michael: 18:44

I have never actually looked at it that way. Why do you say that?

Brenda Meller: 18:47

I feel like, because there are a lot of the college textbooks, it's a special chapter that still talks about it as if it's a newer technology, whereas traditional marketing it's the broadcast mediums TV, radio, outdoor print, billable and now there's social media and it was like a novelty. I remember in the beginning, marketers were, I don't want to say, challenged by it, but they were like is this a fad? Is this social media thing going to be long term, or will it be a part of marketing? I think there's many of us that embraced it early on and we're like no, this is it, this is here to stay. I see some similar things happening right now with AI and chat GBT. I think there's some resistance to embracing it, but I feel like social media and digital media is now a part of the traditional mix for folks.

Lydia Michael: 19:32

I never look at it that way. I always think that the whole digital, the social space is separate from that traditional. That's how I viewed it. But you make a very good point too, as you reference AI, and we're here to talk about how to be more human and emotional. I keep telling everybody, as it relates to AI one there's been a lot of fear around it because people, especially in the marketing space, have this fear that it's going to replace their job. I personally think that, if anything, it is going to show us humans and people how to be more human and how to be more emotional, because if there's one thing that AI doesn't do, it's that I don't know how to be more emotional.

Lydia Michael: 20:15

At the end of the day, it's very dependent on your prompt. It's a computer, it does what you tell it to do, and there's obviously still a lot of challenges with it too, because of the misinformation that is shared through AI and chat GBT and all of that. Recently, I was experimenting with chat GBT and I put in a question that would have required the response to be very emotional. I can't remember the prompt and I think I took screenshots of it. I remember getting back a response saying I can't answer this question for you. I don't have emotions. I'm like that's right, you don't. This is why we're going to be so much more valuable, and we have to understand where we still come in and provide value in that space. With that in existence, it's more so, how can AI complement the work that we're doing and perhaps help us make our lives easier, where it will then allow us to be more strategic and to focus on the bigger picture and things that matter, versus taking up our time with little day-to-day stuff Makes sense.

Brenda Meller: 21:24

Right, I like totally. I was listening to I don't know if Kendra Corman. She's a local marketer here in Metro Detroit, her podcast. She was interviewing someone and I can't remember the name of the gas. Maybe she'll tag him in here. They were talking about AI and chat GBT and this analogy really helped me to understand where it could be used. Think about AI and chat GBT almost as a calculator.

Brenda Meller: 21:45

We still need to know math because when you put inputs into the calculator and you get the solution, you need to figure out does that make sense? Yes, right now my daughter is in seventh grade and she's doing algebra. It's like bringing me back to high school, when I used to do the algebras in middle school now for her, but it's like plugging things in and I'm like does that make sense? You have to know if the inputs coming in or giving you to what should make sense in the output. If it doesn't, you still need to know the equations to put in. But having said that, you and I probably use calculators all the time, lydia, because it helps to shorten to your point the busy work. We don't need to do long division and stuff like that. We can still plug it into a calculator, but we need to know if the output makes sense.

Lydia Michael: 22:26

We can't rely on it. I really like that analogy, Brenda.

Brenda Meller: 22:31

I can't take credit for it. I'll ask, Kendra. I can't tell you the person who did, but I love the analogy that it's created. You and I think are always paying attention to what the trends are. I'm not going to profess to be an early adopter. I'm more of a wait and see. I'm more of a traditionalist. Once things are almost to mainstream is where I jump on. I'm like okay, if this is going to be around this day.

Lydia Michael: 22:57

I'm going to get it to my mind.

Brenda Meller: 22:59

Yeah, same way for you.

Lydia Michael: 23:03

I think it depends. I think because of the space that I'm in with marketing, a lot of times I have to be an early adopter Whether it's a new app coming out or a new product and things that I just want to try, I'm in the know and I can speak to it and I can perhaps use it as a reference and client works have to be an early adopter there. Sometimes, when it comes to my personal life, I choose not to be for different reasons. I might do what you're doing and just say, okay, I don't know if this is worth my time yet. Let me wait another few months and maybe see what research says or what feedback people share and things like that.

Lydia Michael: 23:39

So I think it just depends on the situation. The situation, yeah, absolutely.

Brenda Meller: 23:43

What I want to do now is I want to change gears a little bit here. And we're still today talking about the importance of building a human and emotional brand in such great discussion. Comment below if you have any questions for Lydia, so feel free. I'm vamping a little bit as I'm waiting for some comments and questions to come in as we're doing that. Jeff, we appreciate you being here. He's saying thanks for the shout out, Thanks for the support.

Brenda Meller: 24:06

We appreciate it. Let's see what else. And Jeff is also adding in the thing he likes about social media is the focus on social relationships, and I think this really plays well into the topic the importance of building a human and emotional brand. I think social media is all wrapped inside there. At least, to be effective on social media, you have to be human and emotional in a social way, would you agree?

Lydia Michael: 24:30

with that, lydia, 100%, 100%. When you take, for instance, the influencer space, you're really able to tell who's doing it because they're getting a pick check or are they doing it because they truly support the brand that they're representing. Right, that's just one example, but I think nowadays, especially customers and people on social are really able to tell who's genuine and authentic with what they're doing, versus who's doing it just for views or exposure and things of that nature.

Lydia Michael: 24:57

So that's again, where connection happens is when we feel like we can connect with that other person on this foundation.

Brenda Meller: 25:06

Good point. All right, thank you, jeff, for that. All right, so I do see a question coming in from Gaynor and she asks. She says I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to avoid oh, this is a good one how to avoid a cynical reaction to approaches taken to achieve an emotional connection.

Lydia Michael: 25:21

So can you elaborate?

Brenda Meller: 25:22

on that a little bit. So, gaynor, if you could provide some clarification. My interpretation is this let's say you go out with a new brand message and people don't react the way that you anticipated. So I don't remember the name of the influencer, but do you remember the Pepsi commercial that it was one of the younger influencers and they felt like it was a forced placement of the product with the person and there was a very negative reaction to that. And then the brand had to call back.

Brenda Meller: 25:50

I think it was Pepsi, if I'm not mistaken. Do you remember what I'm talking about?

Lydia Michael: 25:54

I think I do. That was a few years ago. I do remember that. Yeah, that's a really good point too. I think, again, it goes back to, especially when you're doing a partnership like that as an influencer, for example to your point, brenda you have to make sure that there's alignment between the person or that influencer and the brand and the company. I think that's where a lot of times it goes wrong before you've even done anything. Is this brand a reflection of what I want to promote, who I am? Does it support my values? Is it sort of an extension of who I am, and does that make sense? And then the second question is okay, what is this whole campaign about and how am I going to be a part of this, and does it reflect me in the way that I want to be promoting myself? And I think if it doesn't as you can see with the Pepsi example it's hurtful to not just the brand but also to that influencer in the end. What does Gaynor say here? Does she say that? So she says it does?

Brenda Meller: 26:54

seem that people are more cynical to language that can be seen as inclusive, so I think that might have been the example. And one thing I've observed, and I've even done myself, lydia, is consider the source First of all. Is that person in your audience's target or are they a troll? Unfortunately, we get a lot of trolls on social media nowadays, and people do tend to hide behind fake avatars and they're not real accounts. I think it happens less so on LinkedIn than it does on other platforms, specifically Facebook and Instagram, tiktok, some of the other places too where you're hiding behind an avatar that's not really a person I sometimes, lydia, I speak to.

Brenda Meller: 27:32

I respond, but I speak to my target audience. I'm not speaking to the trolls Because they're saying you're not doing X, y and Z. First of all, I say thank you for responding. Your comment is actually helping this post to reach more people with our message, and here's why we're saying what we are, and here's some examples of how we demonstrated this. If you have any additional questions, we'd love to hear back from you, and I think that sometimes people just want to be heard. Other times, trolls just want to start a fire.

Brenda Meller: 28:02

You know kind of like riled up on it, but I don't know if you've observed that, Lydia, and I guess I'm on the same lines. Should you delete a negative comment or should you let it stay on social? Do you have any thoughts there?

Lydia Michael: 28:13

I think it just depends on what the comment is. To be honest, I don't know that I haven't really run into any comment on our end that was so bad that we had to delete it. But I don't want to say you should never delete it, because it really depends on. Sometimes things can be very offensive culturally or just to your customers or your platform, to the point where it really doesn't need to live there. But I think in general, the way you approach that I really like.

Lydia Michael: 28:39

You can't be everything to everyone, and nor should you try to be, and so because of that, it's really important to figure out who is my audience, who am I speaking to, what information is relevant to, who I'm trying to attract right, and so you can make everybody happy and everybody is going to have an opinion and that's okay and, yeah, it becomes part of the conversation. I might even spark more conversation to your point by helping to reach more people and it's getting more visibility, but also it could stir up other interesting conversations that are not always bad just because they're not in alignment with what we're putting out there.

Brenda Meller: 29:19

Yeah, sometimes I've noticed too if I get the trolls that are attacking me or my brand. Sometimes I get people like Jeff that will jump in. And Dan Roth was another friend who will jump in the?

Brenda Meller: 29:28

comments and he'll be like okay, you missed the point, buddy, here's really what the point was of this post. But I and to your point when you're creating this brand, that's creating this really strong connection with people who are your advocates and your consumers and your customers you do get them jumping in and being protective about you and helping to support you. Jeff does a really great job. Part of his personal brand is he creates a lot of acronyms I used to publish this I love it.

Brenda Meller: 29:54

Yeah, I used to publish this LinkedIn rock star list and Jeff actually had created an acronym for the word rock star, where every litter stood for something. In this example, he's saying in order to make it who you are, you should always brand, be real and never doubt and never bland, never be a loser and never distinguish. This is really good, did you?

Brenda Meller: 30:14

put that on the spot, or did you have that already? I have to believe this was like a back pocket, like you had that at the ready for it's great Thanks for sharing. Very good, so awesome. So I want to start to kind of change gears now and talk a little bit about if people are interested in, first of all, connecting with you on LinkedIn. I'm going to pull up your website or whether you're LinkedIn URL right now and are you open to folks connecting with you, lydia, if they're watching the show here today?

Lydia Michael: 30:42

Absolutely yes. Please feel free to connect.

Brenda Meller: 30:45

I'm going to pull that up on screen right now. And do you know, do you have the creator mode set up on your profile? I'm pretty sure I do. Okay, I'm going to pull it up on screen and as I'm doing that, I'm going to remind people because you do have. You do have creator mode and I can always tell at a quick glance because it has the talks about. The hashtag list is at the top of the profile.

Brenda Meller: 31:04

So if you want to connect with Lydia because she has creator mode set up, if you visit her profile, I'm already connected with her. So mine looks a little bit different. But if you go to her profile right now, you're going to see the blue follow button. If you want to connect with her, you can, but you'll have to click under the more button and then you'll see an option that will say personalize, invite or connect. Just mentioned that you saw her on the interview with Brenda Mellor named drop me, and then she'll know. You know how you came across her on there. And then I also know that you have a website that I wanted to pull up on screen here and that is lydianmichaelcom. And can you remind us Lydia, if somebody is watching today and they're thinking about. Maybe I should talk to Lydia a little bit more. What can you tell us a little bit about the products and offerings that you have?

Lydia Michael: 31:49

Yeah, so you're specifically on my personal site, which has it's my personal brand. We also have blended collective, which is company space, the marketing that we do, marketing and brand consulting. Here specifically, I focus on a lot of my speaking engagements, the book that I just put out brand love and I'm really able to help you with your own personal brand. So whether it's hosting workshops, webinars for your teams, working with you one on one to help you develop your personal brand, is something that I do quite a bit, so feel free to reach out to me there and anything that's more on the business side related to, again, marketing, branding, helping you with your positioning or communications and messaging. All of that lives on the blended collective space. But you can actually click on if you hover over about me and then go down to blended collective. That's one way to reach it, or just the website directly. Yep, blended collectivecom.

Brenda Meller: 32:45

Okay, and your primary focus is it multicultural marketing and emotion. That's one of the primary areas of focus that you do for brand building for organizations.

Lydia Michael: 32:54

Yeah, so we have. We actually have all of the services listed under what we do and that talks about whether it's brand development, whether it's content development, helping you with research and marketing, or building and growing your brand, different marketing initiatives, brand activations you name it really anything in that brand and marketing space that helps you get more visibility and helps you position your way successfully.

Brenda Meller: 33:22

Awesome, so I'll invite people to go to LydiaMichaelcom or you can go directly tocom. I think part of it in my mind because when you were moderating the panel we were having a discussion about I think it was multicultural marketing.

Brenda Meller: 33:34

Yeah, and that was in the pre pandemic. So in my mind you will forever be in my head branded as a multicultural marketer. I will always remember that of you. But I've continued to follow you and, by the way, I did show the book up on screen. I'm going to pull my copy of it up right now. I'm going to give you a heavy shout out, if you don't mind. I did purchase a copy of your book and I have to say, lydia, it brought me back to corporate marketing, a lot of the concepts that you were introducing, and when you're self employed, you don't get the chance and I'm not focusing on marketing consulting anymore and focus on LinkedIn now so you don't get the chance to go deep into some of the marketing concepts. So you brought me back there and I'm really enjoying reading the book and this is something folks can buy on your website. Is that right? Is it also on Amazon or is it just direct through the website?

Lydia Michael: 34:21

Yeah, it is on Amazon and really anywhere you can find books, so get a copy there. We have it on lidiamichaelcom and blendocollectivecom. You can locate it too, but Amazon is usually a lot quicker and easier.

Brenda Meller: 34:33

Yeah, I think it's like a lot. It's the convenience thing. It's like nowadays we used to go to Barnes Noble, like now I just go to Amazon. Let's look at a button on the opulence down there. All right, so as we wrap up the discussion here today, Lydia, I want to just give you the chance. Any final comments for our viewers and listeners on the importance of building a human and emotional brand.

Lydia Michael: 34:51

Yeah, I think my note to you this is not homework, but maybe just some food for thought is really think about who you are as a brand, as a company, and how you can show up as that through all of your efforts every day, right? So, whether it's when you have a booth at a conference or you're doing a webinar or a workshop or whatever it might be, how are you living out those values on a day-to-day basis?

Brenda Meller: 35:16

And that is really one of the ways to help guide this emotional and human journey, good point and I funny that you say that, because I hear from people all the time and you said this earlier there's a lot of LinkedIn coaches out there. But I chose to work with you because and they'll say this because I felt like you were real. They showed me that there was that picture of you walking your dog and you were giving marketing advice and people know that I love Pi and it's part of my personal brand and I was just traveling the day and one of my friends texted me Kenneth Langham.

Brenda Meller: 35:45

they give a shout out on his hey, did you get to enjoy Pi while you were in Colorado? And I said I didn't because it was a quick trip. He's oh, that's so sad. It's not like much. I love to enjoy Pi while I'm traveling, but Pi has nothing to do with LinkedIn and training people on LinkedIn, but it's become part of my personality and part of my personal brand. So I just want to echo what Lydia is stressing to all of you. It is perfectly fine, and even more so, you should be personal in what you're doing. You should have a human and emotional brand. I think that's where you can really be successful. So, lydia, thank you so much for joining me. I really enjoyed the conversation and I'm hoping we'll have the chance to see each other in person here in the future too.

Lydia Michael: 36:25

Absolutely. Thank you again for having me, Brenda.

Brenda Meller: 36:28

I appreciate it. All right guys. Hey, if you enjoyed this discussion today, could you do me a favor? Before you leave, drop a comment below and let us know if you enjoyed the discussion. And, by the way, if you have not yet posted on LinkedIn this week, this month, hey, maybe not even this year. You've not yet posted. This is your chance to do so. Go ahead and click on that share button and share this video along. You never know who you're going to help with that. There might be someone in your network who's struggling right now with building their brand or evolving their brand, and they can learn something from this discussion.

Brenda Meller: 36:59

With all these awesome tips from Lydia. Please make sure that you tag us in your post when you do share it out. Remember to tag. You use the little at sign, lydia. I never like to assume, because there's still confusion over hashtags versus tagging, so I always like to give people that additional instruction and I know if I see that notification popping up and it says someone tagged Brenda in a post and I'm guessing you're the same way, lydia If you see that, you'll comment back on there as well. Is that fair to say? Yes, fair thing, yeah, awesome. All right guys, and we don't get performance reviews anymore, so if you enjoyed the discussion, we appreciate it. With that said, stay safe and stay healthy, everyone. We'll see you on LinkedIn and have a great afternoon, take care. Thanks, lydia, Bye-bye.