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Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Ep. 1 Connecting Businesses with the Heart of Virginia Beach
Launching a podcast on the cusp of the COVID-19 pandemic was no small feat, but it taught me the art of resilience and adaptability—themes that resonate throughout this episode. Join me, Denise Taylor, as I share how the Good Neighbor Podcast has become a beacon for connecting the vibrant Virginia Beach community with its local businesses. These stories of struggle and triumph highlight the pivotal role of branding and marketing in achieving business success, especially when traditional ROI calculations are challenged. Through personal anecdotes, like a fundraising experience that underscored the power of multiple marketing touches, I aim to provide insights that empower our local business community.
This episode isn't just about the nuts and bolts of business; it's an invitation to deepen our community bonds through storytelling. I’m thrilled to offer listeners the chance to nominate families for feature covers in local publications, amplifying the unique narratives that weave through our neighborhood. Your favorite local businesses can also be spotlighted in future episodes, as we celebrate the spirit and achievements of Virginia Beach. This journey is about building lasting connections and fostering a true sense of belonging—a mission I'm passionate about sharing with you.
Denise Taylor
Denise Taylor Branding
denisetaylorbranding.com
gnpvirginiabeach.com
757-377-6347
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2:Welcome Good Neighbors, to episode number one of the Virginia Beach Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have host Denise Taylor and we're going to learn a little bit more about her. Denise, welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Thanks for doing this for the community here in Virginia Beach. So I guess we should ask how did you get involved in starting a podcast?
Speaker 3:Oh wow, Good question
Speaker 2:Connect local businesses with the community. So are there? Are there certain types of businesses that you're looking for?
Speaker 3:Any business that really um, I tell businesses, if you can scale a widget, it's probably not a fit for you, but if you're bread and butter in terms of your clients, live in a specific area and they live in the areas that I cater to, then I'm a good fit for you. So we provide branding, we provide marketing, we provide performance and long-term marketing in their specific neighborhoods, and if those neighborhoods are important to either all of their services and products or their high-end services and products that have those higher margins, then it's a good fit to work with me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and, as mentioned, this Good Neighbor podcast is something free for businesses. We don't charge for them but if we help them connect a little bit deeper with the community, that's where your services come in. So I guess another question I should be asking is it's not easy to set up a podcast and get one up and running. Have you had any? You know even personally, though, but have you had any maybe challenges or obstacles along your journey that you can look back at now and say you know what? I'm in a better place because of it, but not necessarily happy. I went through it, but I'm in a better place now, not necessarily happy.
Speaker 3:I went through it but I'm in a better place now. Yeah, you know, I think in terms of life and work, raising children, relationships, you know, sometimes the hardest lessons we learn teach us something that we're able to contribute and help with future. And so I always say to you know even my daughter and you know just people in my life like, what lesson am I about to learn and how will I help other people with that lesson in the future? So, in terms of my business, I think you know some of the hardest things were I started the business two months before March 13th 2020.
Speaker 2:Good timing right.
Speaker 3:Yes, shutting down, and so you know, none of us had navigated through a pandemic before and you know, navigating through that and being able to be very flexible in that situation has taught me quite a bit and really if you can make it during a pandemic, you can make it any, at any point. It's kind of like being in New York City If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, and so it's. It's taught me a lot of grit and being able to turn on a dime in terms of my presentations were in person, in person until march 13th and then quickly shifted to a zoom approach and being able to and actually wasn't even zoom, we did phone calls. I sent a presentation to people and they would have the presentation and I would ask them to flip to the next slide um Well, hoping they would do it right.
Speaker 3:That body language that you at least have a little bit with Zoom and being able to close some business during that time.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so talking about that, you know, are there any maybe myths or maybe misconceptions surrounding what you do for businesses that we can maybe clear up for the our listeners today?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So you know, what I want to be in this community is somebody who is the expert in marketing and branding. I've raised quite a bit of money through the nonprofits I worked for, really through a multi-channel solutions, and so, as we would always say, marketing is All. Marketing is good. Marketing Doesn't mean you're spending your money the best way, but any kind of exposure is good exposure, and so what I want to be in this community is an educator in terms of branding and marketing, and I think there is a misconception, especially around the it's a hot word ROI. There's a lot of people who really come into meetings with me trying to understand what the roi would be and really, with so much digital, we really can't detect an exact roi, because you've got billboards, you've got digital ads, you've got podcasts, you've got social medias and you've got your print, you've got word of mouth, and really we can't pinpoint exactly where a client may have made a decision. It's all those steps leading up to that very point that got them to buy your goods or services.
Speaker 3:I do have a story in fundraising we I raised one point two million a year for the medical school in Norfolk, virginia, and we sent out all sorts of things like letters of appeal. We would send emails. We would have people calling and asking for money to raise money for the medical school. I think we had five different sorts of approaches that we would reach out to donors five different sorts of approaches that we would reach out to donors. And it was the November of a year I think it was 2018.
Speaker 3:No, maybe 2015. We got a white envelope with a check for $50,000. Just a random gift. Well, we went back into that person's record, because we kept good records. We said, okay, this person got 12 emails this year. They got 14 letters. They got 20 phone calls. They've been invited to five events. We didn't know what to attribute that $50,000 gift to. Right, because they had been touched a hundred times over the course of the last 12 months. Right, because they had been touched a hundred times over the course of the last 12 months. So what I I try to do is educate people that really, it's the culmination of all these touches and all these great things that we're doing in the community.
Speaker 2:That builds awareness and then, ultimately, somebody makes a decision to purchase a product or service absolutely, you know, because back in the day not that I'm old or anything, anything, but you know back then you had what you had TV, radio, the newspaper and the old pages, and that was it. You know. So, four places advertising, that was it. Now, like you said, you've got hundreds of different ways to get your name and brand out there. And what do people normally say? How'd you find me? Oh, I Googled you. Well, how did you know to Google me? When you Google somebody and you see a name that's familiar, because you've seen them on the billboard, you've seen them in the magazine, you've seen them on the Facebook or wherever you're at, you're going to connect with them and that's where that connection is made.
Speaker 2:So I love, I love what you're doing. So I guess, going off a little bit, do you notice anything trending within that industry as far as helping businesses connect?
Speaker 3:Well, I do think there's a trend for some sort of traditional values in terms of marketing. So, you know, people jumped on the digital bandwagon. You know it's been 15 the last 10 years and then really specifically with tiktok and instagram, really social media focused, but you're not reaching everybody through those venues and so you really some of some of that is incorporating print back to what you're already doing, not not, you know, taking your foot off the gas in terms of those other pieces, but adding some of that print back and that traditional advertisement back to your portfolio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because every avenue has a different audience per se and you want to make sure you're covering the whole audience. So are you from the Virginia Beach area originally.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:You are.
Speaker 3:Yes, my dad was in the Navy. I was born in Norfolk, virginia. I stayed here through high school, went away to college, came back for some time, lived on the West Coast for some time, came back here in 2010, raised my children here. They love it here. So it's a wonderful place in terms of we. You know we've got the beaches. We've got good weather. We're not as hot as Florida beaches. We've got good weather. We're not as hot as Florida. And it's small enough to where you run into people. That you know almost everywhere you go, but I still meet new people every single week.
Speaker 2:And that's great and that's what you want in a community, and I'm again glad you're helping connect the community with local businesses as well too. So I know running a business and being a mother can be very demanding, but when you do get a moment of free time, are there certain things that you enjoy doing?
Speaker 3:Um, let's see, I work out, I lift weights at Jim White Fitness, um, which has been life changing for me. Um, especially as you know, we age, there's so many different things and I was taught, you know, you got to get your cardio in, you've got to get the certain diet in, and really they've changed my whole mindset in terms of really having to lift weights and eat more protein. So that's what I do in my free time, besides watching my kids play their, you know, baseball, football, volleyball, basketball, playing their sports and watching that. And then you know, I just I have girls trips quite a bit and spend my time in that way. But, yeah, pretty typical mom.
Speaker 2:There we go and being healthy. It's a healthy mind, healthy body. You know it all connects. So is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about, what you do for the Virginia Beach community that maybe they're not aware of?
Speaker 3:What I do for the Virginia Beach community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, help businesses connect and things like that that you know.
Speaker 3:I think what's really nice about what we do is we're in front of the homeowners every single month. We have a platform that has the digital piece, but what we also do is those business owners that are getting the magazine every month, who participate in what I do. They're seeing all of the new sponsors, and so that networking, that web, really is spread out not only to the homeowners but also the business owners. Specifically, all of my magazines are mailed because I added certain people to the mailing list and so I have some of the most influential people in the Virginia Beach community on the mailing list, and so those people do see our advertisers every month.
Speaker 2:And that's great A great way to connect and get in front of the influencers in the community as well too. So if our listeners were interested in learning more about what you do, how would they go about contacting you?
Speaker 3:Well, they can always call or text me at 757-377-6347. They can go to my website and that's denisetaylorbrandingcom, and I have an Instagram site, cavalier Coast Neighbors, and I also have a Denise Branding Instagram site, so we can always connect there also. And then also on Good Neighbors Podcast, virginia Beach. They can connect with me there and sign up for a free conversation that they can push out to all of the podcasts. I think we have 15 different Is it 12 different platforms. They can go on and then, if they want to nominate a family to be on the covers of our publications, I always love to hear from people who have a really unique story that we can share in the community.
Speaker 2:Very good, Denise. It's been a pleasure getting to know you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for being such a good neighbor.
Speaker 2:Thank you for doing what you're doing for the Virginia Beach community and best of luck with the podcast moving forward.
Speaker 1:Yes, Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpvirginiabeach. com. That's GNPVirginiaBeach. com, or call 757-797-8852.