137 - OWN Your Difference

In this episode Rachel Jenks show us how to shine a spotlight on your unique identity - and then amplify that through authentic, sincere marketing that’s all about nurturing genuine, long-term connections that building trust with the real people you serve.

Rachel is…The Brand Boss. With more than 23 years in Marketing and Communications, Rachel’s passion is empowering business owners to OWN your difference and rock your brand like a Boss.

”Trust comes before transactions. When you create an authentic experience, you build an unstoppable brand.”

 Her off-the-beaten-path career journey has spanned multiple roles in various countries, four cities, and three states – including professional ballet, event production, business strategy, national and international public relations, design, communications, and marketing.

She’s had the opportunity to work with organizations of all sizes and industries to amplify the power of their brands through brand strategy, consulting, brand development and design, UI/UX, multi-media, advertising, marketing, live event production, e-learning, 3D animation, video, photography, and art direction.

Rachel is also the host of The Brand Boss Show podcast and YouTube channel, an author, and an in-demand public speaker.

When not in the studio, Rachel can be found hiking the Colorado mountains, playing in her kitchen, or being “supervised” by her Studio Managers, Podcat and Lady Podcat. 

To learn more visit www.brandbossstudio.com

In this episode we cover:

3:15      Branding & Marketing Defined
7:14      Falling Flat
8:57      Building Trust
10:00    Identity
10:43    Deep Dive Exercise
17:53    A Complete Experience
19:40    Authenticity

Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. I appreciate you  🙂

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Special thanks to Rachel Jenks for being on the show.

If you have a question or comment for a future episode, visit https://www.speakpipe.com/lbovm.

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Transcript

Did You Know  0:03  
Did you know that branding and marketing are not the same thing? 

Intro  0:06  
Hello, action taker! Welcome to Live Blissed Out. A podcast where I have inspiration on informational conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help you get the scoop on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture? Wanna be in the know> Then this is the place to go. I'm your host Marisa Huston. Helping you achieve bliss through awareness and action. So let's get to it. In this episode, Rachel Jenks shows us how to shine a spotlight on your unique identity and then amplify that through authentic sincere marketing that's all about nurturing genuine, long term connections that build trust with the real people you serve. Rachel is the brand boss with more than 23 years in marketing and communications. Rachel's passion is empowering business owners to OWN your difference and rock your brand like a boss. Trust comes before transactions. When you create an authentic experience you build an unstoppable brand, Her off the beaten path career journey has spanned multiple roles in various countries, four cities and three states, including professional ballet, event production, business strategy, national and international public relations, design, communications and marketing. She's had the opportunity to work with organizations of all sizes and industries to amplify the power of their brand through brand strategy, consulting, brand development and design, UI/UX, multimedia, advertising, marketing, line event production e-learning, 3d animation, video, photography and art direction. Rachel is also the host of The Brand Boss Show podcast and YouTube channel, an author and an in demand public speaker. When not in the studio, Rachel can be found hiking the Colorado mountains, playing in her kitchen or being supervised by her studio managers Podcat and Lady Podcat. To learn more visit www.brand bossstudio.com. 

Ko-Fi  2:04  
If you'd like to support this podcast and engage with our community, become a professional tier remember for backstage access and monthly networking opportunities at www.ko-fi.com/liveblissed out. 

Disclaimer  2:19  
The information opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice. 

Marisa Huston  2:31  
Rachel, welcome to the show.

Rachel Jenks  2:33  
Thank you so much for having me, Marisa.

Marisa Huston  2:35  
We're gonna have a fun conversation here because I think this topic we're going to be talking about is going to be eye opening for a lot of business owners. Please share with our listeners what we are going to be discussing today.

Rachel Jenks  2:47  
Today, we're gonna be talking about branding and personal branding in particular, and how branding and marketing are not the same thing.

Marisa Huston  2:55  
And I know for a fact that so many people misunderstand those terms. They bundle them together. Branding is marketing, marketing is branding but that's not the same thing. Many business owners are confused, and they don't really know how to apply it effectively. Maybe we start by defining the difference between branding and marketing.

Rachel Jenks  3:15  
Absolutely. When it comes to branding, and marketing, these are two very different things. Now you do need them both, and you need them together, and the power comes in their partnership. But in order to understand that, we have to step back for a minute and really look at what branding is and what marketing is. So when it comes to branding, people think that it's about putting our mark got something right? I put my logo on this water bottle. I have a branded item. That's not really what branding is. And where that comes from is that old cowboy thinking of branding cattle. That's not actually what branding is. Branding is not about us putting our mark on something. To really understand the power of branding, have to think about it in reverse. Branding is the mark that the experience that someone has with you makes on their minds. It's not about a logo on a water bottle, or, hey, I did this thing I put my logo on a billboard. So now I have branding. No, it's not about that. Every interaction that anybody has with you on any level is that opportunity to build or break trust. That is the power of branding, is that experience. And branding really is about the identity of who you are as a company of who you are as how you're showing up. Because that influences that experience that they have with you. Marketing is the communication of that identity of who you are of your brand experience to the people that you serve. Marketing has become twisted into so many things it was never designed to be. It was never supposed to be about manipulation. It was never supposed to be about gimmicks and tactics and all this stuff and trying to twist people's arms. The purpose of marketing is to connect you with the people that you serve, and build and nurture those relationships. Marketing is not about manipulation, marketing is about connection. And branding is not about, hey, like, here's how awesome I am. Branding is about identity. So branding is about identity and marketing is about connection. And so if you don't have your branding dialed in, then you are going to be sending all of these mixed messages out into the world of who you are that's going to confuse people, right? And customers you confuse become customers that you lose. But if you have that dialed in, and you don't have partnered with marketing, that's why we say things like, oh, it's the best kept secret. Well, is that what you want for your business? That's not a very good way to grow, right? So this is a very simplified kind of quick description of the power when branding and marketing come together.

Marisa Huston  5:45  
Do you think then Rachel, that part of the problem is the advertising that we get exposed to all day long. Whether it's on social media, whether it's on TV. We get bombarded with messages. In our minds, we're thinking advertising means they're trying to push something to us.

Rachel Jenks  6:05  
A lot of times they are. Yeah.

Marisa Huston  6:07  
Yeah. I think that then marketing gets a bad rap. The other confusion, if we're gonna throw another word into here is the S word, which is sales. And people again, don't understand the overlap between marketing and sales and how they work together.

Rachel Jenks  6:22  
Absolutely. The purpose of business is to solve problems and take care of people. And so marketing connects you to the people that you can take care of the people that you're here to serve, and sales is how you solve their problems.

Marisa Huston  6:36  
Exactly. And I just think that these three words, get interchange all the time and looped into one. 

Rachel Jenks  6:44  
Yeah. They do.

Marisa Huston  6:44  
So people will just use it as a way of explaining the same thing with three different words...branding, marketing, sales. But they really are very separate entities that work together. 

Rachel Jenks  6:55  
Correct. 

Marisa Huston  6:56  
I'm so glad that you were able to define it and really help us understand and see the picture of how that works, and why it's so important. If we're not sending the right message through our branding, then there's a disconnect with everything else in terms of who we want to serve, how we serve them, all of it.

Rachel Jenks  7:14  
Absolutely. And that's why this idea of just putting your mark on something being branding, that's where it falls flat. Because then what you have is that you have people changing it up. And here's the thing, and I'm not just talking about visuals, I'm talking about the experience, right? So every interaction that anyone has with you on any level is branding. It's so much more than visuals. So here's an example. This was years ago, there was a particular mortgage company that had a sign. And I was at the time looking into considering buying a property and so I wanted to reach out to them. And their tagline was, "we're always here for you." Well, I called them Marisa and went straight to voicemail. And then nobody called me back. And so after a few days, I called again, and got voicemail. And I think it was after about two weeks, someone finally called me back, left me a voicemail saying, hey, corporate could probably answer this question for you. So I called corporate and got transferred to voicemail jail again. And that made me wonder, okay, you've put this mark on things that says, we're always here for you. But who is the "you" that you're always here for? Because it's clearly not me.

Marisa Huston  8:22  
Right? That is so true. And that applies to so many different things, like, for example, businesses that say that they are quick. And then every time you go in there and order something they have an excuse as to why things are going to take two weeks or three weeks. So, I guess your definition of quick is different from mine. 

Rachel Jenks  8:40  
Right! 

Marisa Huston  8:41  
When you say quick, I assume I'm getting it either today or tomorrow at the latest. I mean, I want something there now. If they just use it as a statement to attract people, but then they don't live by those standards, then that's almost deceptive. And you wonder whether you can even trust them.

Rachel Jenks  8:57  
Absolutely. And this is the power of branding. If there is one thing that you take away from this episode listener, I hope it's this. The true power of branding is in building trust. And every experience, every interaction that anyone has with you on any level, whether it's in person, online, through your website, through your customer service, through calling, through whatever the case may be, every single interaction through your social media. All of those interactions are that opportunity to build or break trust, which by the way, can happen in a moment. And people do business with people they trust. Trust comes before transactions. This is why branding matters so much. And this is why consistency in branding matters so much as well.

Marisa Huston  9:46  
Thinking about all this. The challenge that a lot of businesses have is how do I build my brand? How do I even know what elements need to go into it so that I am sending the right message or the kind of message that I wanna send?

Rachel Jenks  10:00  
Absolutely, that's a great question. The true foundation of every successful brand begins with identity. Because when you know who you are, you can operate from that place. If you don't know who you are as a brand, then whatever facet of the experience it is, there's going to be a mixed message sent, because there's not clarity on who you are. So the very first step is to get clear on the identity of who you are as a brand, which is true, whether we're talking about a company brand, or a personal brand. And there is a very deep dive exercise that I love to walk through. It's actually the first step that I do with all of my clients that I would be happy to share with your listeners here right now, if you'd like that Marisa.

Marisa Huston  10:41  
That would be so great. Thank you.

Rachel Jenks  10:43  
Absolutely. So when it comes to branding, when it comes to marketing, we kind of put on these hats, right of like, oh, it has to sell in this way. And I have to think about this. And I have to think about what my competition is doing and I have to da, da, da, da, da. No, no, no. We need to start with who you are. One of the most powerful ways that I have found in my 23 years in marketing, to help people kind of take off those, this is who I should be versus this is who I actually am, is to step back and think about your business as if it was a person. Now, I am not talking about the person that you serve. By the way, Avatar is a great movie, but a terribly dehumanizing term for the human you serve unless they're seven foot tall and blue. I'm just saying. So, step back and think about your business, your company, your brand, as if it was a person. These questions that I'm going to walk you through in the next few minutes, remember, we're not talking about the person you serve, yet. We're talking about the identity of your company, of your brand, of your personal brand, whatever the case may be. Got it? 

Marisa Huston  11:50  
Yeah. 

Rachel Jenks  11:25  
All right, what makes your brand come alive? I'll give you a couple of minutes to think about that.

Marisa Huston  11:58  
Come alive. What exactly does that mean?

Rachel Jenks  12:00  
What is it that excites your brand? We're not talking about what your brand does yet. What makes your brand come alive? So if I were to ask you, Marisa, what makes you come alive? What is that feeling that makes all of like the cells in your body stand on end and you're just like, oh, this is what I was born for, right? That's what I'm talking about. That kind of feeling? What is it that makes your brand come alive that gives your brand that feeling? Okay, that's question number one. Question number two. And remember, we're thinking about your brand as if it was a human. So if your brand was a human, what makes that human come alive? And we're not talking about your customer, yet. We're talking about your brand identity. Then the next question being, what drives your brand crazy? I'll give you a couple of minutes to think about that. And, by the way, this is a much more in depth exercise that I go through with all my clients. We take about 90 minutes to go through and really go deep. I'm kind of throwing these questions out there and I would encourage you listener to write them down, jot them in your phone, whatever the case may be, and really take some time to go back and think about these. Because when I go through this exercise with my clients, every single time the light bulb comes on, they say oh, wow, I never thought about that. So we have what makes your brand come alive? What drives your brand crazy? What does your brand love? Now, again, we're going much, much deeper than even messaging or visuals or anything like that. Because if you think about somebody that you have known that you know really well, the way you would describe that person to me, you're not going to tell me what they're wearing. You might not even tell me what they're saying. The way that we get to know, the people that we're close with, goes way deeper than anything on the surface. And so to truly tap into the identity of your brand, we have to go way deeper than just what's on the surface. 

Marisa Huston  13:49  
Yeah. And that's a totally different way of looking at it, isn't it? 

Rachel Jenks  13:52  
It is. So we have what drives your brand crazy? What makes your brand come alive? What does your brand love? If I were to walk into now that we can do this again, right, a networking meeting and let's say there's 200 people in the room. How would you describe your brand to me as if it was a person in such a way that I would instantly recognize that person? Again, we're not talking about your customer. We're talking about your brand as if it was a person. How is your brand interacting in that room?

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Marisa Huston  15:02  
So in that case, are you thinking of things like, exciting, funny, charismatic? Are those words that you start to think about when you're coming up with the answer to that question?

Rachel Jenks  15:15  
It's really deeper than that. That can be a part of it but it's really deeper than that. Because if you tell me to go into the room and look for the person who's funny, that's not as descriptive. Like, that's a piece of the equation, I'm looking for, how is your brand interacting in the room. And again, this is a deep dive exercise that I'm just giving you a little snippet of. And so these are guided questions that we go into in much more depth in the exercise. If I told you, Marisa, go in the room and look for the person who's funny. That only tells you a little bit of it, right? 

Marisa Huston  15:43  
Yeah. 

Rachel Jenks  15:44  
So that is part of it. But that's why we go deeper as far as, how is that person interacting? What is the presence that person has in the room? If somebody sees that brand, from across the room what are their first impressions? What about when somebody has a conversation with that person? Again, thinking of your brand, as if it is a person for the first time? What does that brand look like? What is their outfit? How is that brand being perceived? What conversations are they having? With who? About what? It's a much, much deeper conversation, than we can get into here. But I just want to give you these things to start thinking about. And if you write these questions down listener, and you start thinking through them, as if your brand was a person, every single time a business owner has done this exercise, they have come back and thanked me and said, wow, you really helped me think about the identity of my brand, in a way that we haven't thought about before. Because when it comes to brand, another thing people think about is mission and values and all that. And those are important. And we do touch on those in our conversation. But to really get into the identity of your brand, you have to get so much deeper. And they're not necessarily questions that you can just answer off the top of your head. Some people can. Some people have to think about it a little bit more.

Marisa Huston  17:05  
It's a process. And I think that we're looking at it from the surface. For example, there are a lot of people that like to change up the colors of their logo. This is just the common thing that I see happening. And so let's say their brand colors are red and black. And then next month, they decide they're going to go purple and yellow. And the next month, you know, they think it's fun and let's go orange and green or whatever change ups they want to do. And it actually confuses customers.

Rachel Jenks  17:30  
It does.

Marisa Huston  17:31  
Colors are definitely one way to be recognized and so that consistency is very important. But that's a very surface element.

Rachel Jenks  17:40  
Right? 

Marisa Huston  17:40  
Like you said, it goes a lot deeper than that. But it's a very small component that oftentimes businesses overlook, because they just love to have fun with things not realizing the consequences that it might have in terms of how people perceive them.

Rachel Jenks  17:53  
Which is why it's important to remember that your brand is a complete experience. It's not just visuals. And the power of your brand, whether it's your personal brand, which is my specialty, or your business brand, is building or breaking trust. So these little things that people are like, oh, this is boring. I've seen it all the time. I want to change it up. Well, is that going to break trust with your customers? So here's another example. You're talking about visuals. So when I said, what outfit are they wearing? So let's say you tell me that your business is wearing a suit and all this and you describe this and it has kind of this very sophisticated professional appearance. But then somebody has an experience with your company that's more of a t-shirt and jeans experience. What did you just do? You just broke trust. Because if this is your brand, and this is communicating who your brand is, I'm not just talking about like physically what you wear, I think you get what I'm saying. But if you create this sophisticated, higher end, luxury kind of feel, experience, excellence, polished professionalism, and then they have an experience that's more colloquial, casual, that doesn't meet the expectation that you have set in their minds of what the experience of interacting with you should be like, you just broke their trust. 

Marisa Huston  19:13  
So essentially, the word that comes to mind is a disconnect. 

Rachel Jenks  19:17  
Yes. 

Marisa Huston  19:17  
And it could go the other way as well. You project yourself as an easy going casual kind of experience. And then you show up at a meeting and everybody's dressed in a suit and they're stuffy and very formal. And you picked them for the very reason that you want a place that makes you feel comfortable and now you feel uncomfortable. It could switch it just like that.

Rachel Jenks  19:38  
And I want to clarify like we're not just talking about wardrobe.

Marisa Huston  19:40  
Right.

Rachel Jenks  19:40  
These are analogies of experience. Wardrobe is a different conversation that does factor in. But when you think about the experience that somebody has with your company, or with you as a personal brand, this is why authenticity is so important, Marisa. And this is another point that I really want to make clear especially in your personal brand, but also in your company brand as well. And this is why brand identity is so important. Because if you are not showing up authentic to who you are, if you are putting on a persona of what you think you should be, at some point, somebody's going to have an authentic experience with you and it's not going to align with the expectation that they had based on that persona, you projected. And there is a craving in society for authenticity. When we meet somebody we like we say, wow, that's really a genuine person. What does that mean? Authentic? You don't have to be afraid that they're actually not who they say they are. We have all been hurt in our lives by somebody who was not who they said they were or who we thought they were. And yet, for some reason, in business, there's this idea that it's okay to project this personality that's not who you are. Well, you wouldn't want that in a relationship with somebody in real life. So why would you give somebody that in a relationship with your business? Authenticity is so key. And here's the other thing, There's actually brain science that backs this up. There is an identity center in our brains and over time, these neural pathways get worn and get woven because of experiences we have, things people say to us, circumstances, etc, etc, that block us from functioning in the true identity center of our brain. People whose identity center resonates with your identity center will be drawn to you. It's not woo, it's actually brain science. People will be attracted to you, whose identity center resonates with yours. If you are showing up, not authentic to who you are, it will actually repel them. And they won't even be able to communicate what the disconnect is. But they will feel it, they will sense it and it will drive away the very people who were coming to you, because you showed up in a way that was inauthentic. Now, the reverse of this is true. When you show up authentic to who you are, again, as a personal brand, as a company, etc, it actually starts to unravel those neural pathways that have blocked the identity center of their brains as well. So when we show up in the authenticity of who we are, we actually jailbreak the minds of those around us and the people that we serve, to be able to function from their authentic identity as well. That is the power of authenticity in your branding. Not only does it draw to you, the people whose identity center resonates with your identity center, the people that you are here to serve an impact in the world. But it actually has the power to jailbreak their minds, literally their physical brains as well, which is absolutely incredible. So this is why authenticity matters so much. You are showing up in the world that is not authentic to who you are. At some point, there's going to be a breakdown. First of all, your brain is going to know it, there's probably going to be physical stress in your body or at some point, somebody's going to have an interaction with you or your company that is authentic, that doesn't align with the expectation you have set of the experience for them to have with you. And that shatters trust. And that will also shatter business relationships. Because trust comes before transactions. When you focus on the relationship, the transactions will follow, but it has to start with trust.

Marisa Huston  23:11  
Everything revolves around trust. And the funny thing is, it takes so long to achieve trust. To gain somebody's trust is not easy to do and yet it can be broken in an instant. And that's why that consistency is key. Because the minute you break that, then they start questioning whether or not you are who you say you are. 

Rachel Jenks  23:32  
Absolutely. 

Marisa Huston  23:33  
For our listeners today. They're listening to all this and now it's starting to make sense. How do they even start, because they've probably broken a lot of these rules, without intentionally wanting to, because they never really understood what we just talked about today. What's the first step you think that they need to take in order to move the needle so that they can build that trust and send the right message and bring everything together for themselves and for their businesses?

Rachel Jenks  24:00  
Well, the first step, like we were just saying is identity. That's why the foundation of every successful brand is identity. Because when you know who you are, you can operate from that place. Before you can make sure that you're sending the right message out in the world, you have to make sure what the right message is. And so that really starts by tapping into and taking that deep dive and stepping back and looking at what is the authentic identity of my brand, of my personal brand, of my business brand, etc. You have to start with identity. Because then when you know who you are, then you can know whether or not you're sending the right message. But if you don't even know what the right message is, chances are you're probably sending some confusing signals.

Marisa Huston  24:42  
And it's so in line with everything we do in the podcast. It's all about awareness. You have to be aware, because without that awareness, you can't take that next step. And if you do, you're likely going in the wrong direction. 

Rachel Jenks  24:54  
That's right. 

Marisa Huston  24:55  
It's really about having a strategy.

Rachel Jenks  24:57  
Yes.

Marisa Huston  24:58  
And really understanding where you want go. These are things that are difficult to do on your own. Based on that, what services do you offer?

Rachel Jenks  25:06  
I offer strategy sessions, I offer done with you consulting and we have complete done for you services for your personal brand to really dig into what is the identity of your personal brand, and then amplify that message so you're no longer best kept secret?

Marisa Huston  25:19  
How do they get information about the different programs that you offer?

Rachel Jenks  25:24  
So the best way is through my website, which is www.brandbossstudio.com. You can also check out The Brand Boss Show podcast, which has new episodes every Tuesday that talk about branding and the power of branding for your business, as well as marketing and give you some tools and strategies. And then you can connect with me on LinkedIn at www.LinkedIn/in/thebrandboss. You can also find me at The Brand Boss Show on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok.

Marisa Huston  25:51  
This is so eye opening. I know that this is a struggle that many people go through personally and professionally. There's a disconnect with all these words...branding, marketing, sales, authenticity. They're used a lot but the truth is, people don't know how to put it all together. 

Rachel Jenks  26:10  
That's right. 

Marisa Huston  26:11  
It's a recipe that people don't really have and they don't really understand. And without that, what they put out there is not working and then they struggle trying to figure out why. Why am I not reaching the right people? Why am I putting people off? It could even be just that you keep doing the same thing and not getting results and primarily because you're setting it up in the opposite direction of where you want to go. And just building awareness, really understanding where you want to go and setting that foundation so that you have that roadmap to help guide you. 

Rachel Jenks  26:45  
Absolutely. 

Marisa Huston  26:46  
Rachel, thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Rachel Jenks  26:49  
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me today.

Outro  26:51  
That's a wrap for this episode of Live Blissed Out. Thanks to Rachel Jenks for joining us and thanks for listening. If you have a question or comment for a future episode, all you have to do is go to www.speakpipe.com/lbovm or click the link in the show notes to leave a brief audio message. If you find value in our show, please visit www.liveblissedout.com to reach out, subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward!