Rachel Tapscott and Greg Monaco, Personal Brand Stories

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Mark (: 00:03

Welcome back everyone to unlocking your world of creativity. And this is the podcast where we get to talk to creative practitioners all over the world about how they get inspired for new ideas, but also how they organize those ideas. And then ultimately gaining the connections and the confidence to launch their work out into the world. And one of the most important pieces of our work is our own personal brand. And so today we're gonna have a little mini global summit on personal branding, and we're gonna go to each corner of the world. I've got Greg Monaco up in the New York, Connecticut area, and Rachel Tapscott in Brisbane, Australia, Rachel, Greg, welcome to the show.

Greg (: 00:45

Great to be here Mark.

Mark (: 00:47

Yeah, well, I, I know it's gonna be a great thing to talk about. Well, when we say our favorite subject, everyone says their favorite subject is me, but we have to say me not just as a personality, but for me as a brand. Right. Rachel, why is it important to think of as a creative professional, whether it's an independent or whether you're trying to build a company, why is the personal brand so important?

Rachel (: 01:13

Yeah, I think the short answer to that is that people connect with people, you want to buy from a real person and work with a real person. And so if you can build that personal brand, and that's why my medium is video and I love it gives you that three-dimensional appearance online because we go online for everything these days. So if you can build that personal brand, especially, in your, video, get your face out there, it helps people actually see who you are. It gives them a really quick indication of whether you're someone they wanna do business with. I think it's really important just to actually connect with your audience on a deeper level and be able to be real with them, I think this is the really important thing about personal brand, and if you're trying to be fake, people are gonna see through that. Especially if you're really, putting yourself out there on video. So it's all about just making that connection face to face with your potential audience.

Mark (: 02:15

And Greg, everything's been written now about the brand story and creating stories around a brand, but now let's translate that into the personal brand. Why do we need to take control of our personal brand story?

Greg (: 02:29

Well, the way you ask the question is the perfect way to answer it because you can either take ownership and control it as you say or just leave it up to how others are going to be perceiving you. So you have an opportunity to take agency over the story that's being told. You can influence it. And so you just have a choice that and I think people are getting clearer and smarter about how they can go about telling their own story

Mark (: 03:04

when they come to you Greg, and say, almost in a way that we would approach a brand, and they give you their creative brief, I'll use that in air quotes, but what do people say they want to try to build as a personal brand? Where are they starting from when they talk to you?

Greg (: 03:24

Well, most of the people that I talk to are starting from too much, there's too much context and it's very hard to get clear and focus their story on just one thing, even folks in early career, they have experiences and skills they've acquired. So where do I tell my story? So to get to the brief that you, talk about is an exercise in prioritization. It's not distillation it's prioritization. What is the one thing that you want to be known for? And that's where the story is centered around

Mark (: 04:02

and Rachel, ultimately then you're trying to translate that into video, in which you talk about prioritization. You can't go on and on, on video, can you?

Rachel (: 04:12

Absolutely right. The shorter, the better, if you can get your message across with as few words as possible. . And niching down and getting really specific, as Greg said, do you wanna focus on, like, what's the one thing that you wanna get across to your audience because they're much more likely to remember one thing and you'll be able to target your messaging so much easier than trying to dilute it for everyone in the whole world.

Mark (: 04:41

And are you trying to then I think about video, I think about storyboarding but to make that real personal connection, how do you see the storyboarding of that kind of personal brand video?

Rachel (: 04:54

when I work with clients about trying to get it across to the right people, we narrow it down to focus on one person. It's not like your target audience, it's your target person. And it's like, who is your ideal client or customer? And, sometimes you might take it as far as you're doing an exercise. And it's like, if you're creating a business avatar, you work out who is this person? What is their age? What are their circumstances? And then what is the thing that they're struggling with the most that you are targeting to be able to help them with? And you really narrow it down to the specifics of who this person is that you want to target with your product or service. And then when you're making your video, you imagine talking to that one person, and sometimes it's easier if it's already a client that you've worked with because you know a real person that's, been, your target clients. So you focus on that one person and your messaging and your language is gonna come out differently to whether you are just trying to spill your message out into the whole world.

Mark (: 06:00

Yeah. Greg, you're nodding about this sort of personal one-to-one communication.

Greg (: 06:06

I a hundred percent agree with what Rachel's saying there. I actually call it a bullseye no longer a target. You want to get absolutely clear. I often tell my clients to think about someone that they work with in the past that they have a relationship with and they yearn to repeat that kind of relationship with others. And that way the storytelling just comes across with so much more authenticity and power because there's this desire to want to help these people.

Mark (: 06:39

It's been said in marketing and branding and advertising for so long, but sometimes the medium is also part of the message. I can't help but think of all the brand platforms and social media platforms that are out there. So making the video is one thing, but now we gotta disseminate it, post it, share it. What are some of the challenges that you've seen there? Rachel,

Rachel (: 07:04

Every platform is different and every platform is looking for something different. Especially when my business started and it's still the heavy focus is making really polished corporate and, branding videos for people. But then seeing this transition, especially, on Instagram, which is one of the platforms that I'm on the most, people are really looking for this raw, authentic, you jump on your story, holding your phone up and you're just talking and people are really relating to that, which, it's because it feels like it's more real and, you're just stepping into someone's life stepping into their thoughts. So it's, designing your video for the right platform and the right purpose. And, there's definitely a place for the really polished videos for, different reasons.

Rachel (: 07:51

You wanna put that on your website and in, LinkedIn and different social media, but you also wanna disperse that with the real raw content, I would say, where it's less polished and less edited, or even not even edited at all. Because then I think people believe that more and they buy into that more. And it's a bit of a psychological thing, I think as well when you're just seeing someone jump up and just talk instead of, doing it again again, you can see that it's edited and polished. So looking at who your audience is on, what platform and if you're across all the different socials, I think it can a bit hard. And I'd say, maybe focus on one first, like focus on, nailing Instagram first and then focus on the next platform. And instead of trying to, again, target everyone with the same message and the same video on all the different platforms. It's like, what is each individual person even looking for when they're jumping on that platform?

Mark (: 08:50

I have to smile because you are talking about authenticity. I'm trying to imagine myself doing one of these, I'm lying in bed talking to my phone kind of videos or my TikTok video. I mean, that's where the channel, I guess, does have to align with the brand, so to speak. Have you found that Greg?

Greg (: 09:12

Yeah. Yeah. Again, I think, you're kind of flu with different platforms and as Rachel says, it's great to just kind of focus on one and gets clear. I mean, you want a prototype and you want to experiment and you wanna make sure that the message is landing. And if you're kind of spraying and praying the message out to all the different platforms, it's really hard for you, to learn. So, I, I happen to pick LinkedIn as, my channel of choice, and I know that LinkedIn likes to have the videos uploaded, directly to the platform and not just sort of linked out to YouTube. So there are nuances in each platform as Rachel stated that you need to get, smart on.

Mark (: 09:59

I see what you're saying that, to know how the sort of under the hood operations of each channel work.

Greg (: 10:07

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Takes time.

Mark (: 10:11

Yeah. And I wonder about the tracking of all this, in your gut, it says it's the right thing to do, but there are the numbers that bear this out. What are some of the differences between Rachel in the video, in connection and translation to real meaningful relationships?

Rachel (: 10:29

Yeah. Look, I think video is a tool to use to get to a real relationship. It takes time to really get comfortable with putting yourself out there and just, talking really raw to your audience. So there are, to, go up to do that. But I think if you use video and social media as a way to make a connection with a person, so I'll give you an example, like, I just posted an Instagram reel, and in Instagram, real analytics, it flopped, it got like 200 views. I thought, oh, well, that, that's not the one we'll try again tomorrow. But out of that video, because I was just talking about, making video, just what I do in my business.

Rachel (: 11:16

I got a client from that video. She just messaged me on Instagram, just out of the blues saying, "oh, I just saw your reel about this. And, I've been thinking about doing video and basically, I like the way that you come across, let's work together." And so I think, it's a way to get people to know you and, and trust you. But it's, I think it's just like a vehicle to get to that real relationship where you're actually talking to them and conversing with them, but, it's about experimenting. So that one, it wasn't me with my talking head. It was literally behind the scenes of me doing my thing, and then someone has been thinking about that already thinking about, oh, I want a video. And then they've seen that. And I guess they've seen the way that I work. And so that's connected with them and then that's gotten them to then send me a message. And then we talk on the phone. You build a client out of that. So yeah, it's like just a tool to really get to where you wanna go and experiment with how your specific audience will actually relate to you with the different videos that you might create.

Mark (: 12:21

And Greg, what kind of translation into the, I always think of it as the funnel, I'm even holding my hands up in a funnel right now. Because I just think of it, the big reach to the actual transaction.

Greg (: 12:35

Well, what Rachel stated there is, video is such a powerful medium to establish the connection because they can actually feel you, they can hear how you speak, the tenor of your voice. They nothing quite like it. So I'm a huge advocate for you, Rachel. Because it's really the closest kind of proxy that we have to the actual, conversation that you're gonna have, and that's, really where the gold is, is that actually one on a live, very improvised conversation with your bullseye customer. And so, Rachel, whether the video is at top of your funnel or in the middle of the funnel, or even at the end of the funnel, it's gonna be a powerful kind of accelerant for telling your story.

Mark (: 13:35

I see what you mean. Well, Greg, we're also, since we're talking about personal and, branding strategy, we can't just focus on the medium. What about the quality of a personal brand offering? It's often been said that getting a great message out, just makes people know about the product faster, but if the product isn't any good, it's gonna expose that even faster, too. What, sort of personal insight, when we think about branding, do we have to have into the quality of our deliverables?

Greg (: 14:09

That is a fantastic question, Mark. What I like to do is help people get it clear about what they love to do, and if it comes from that place, from that place of just passion and energy, you're, you're going to have a better chance of delivering a really great product. Because there's love in it. You love doing it. And very often, the people that I, that I speak with and work with they would, they would do it for free. It's almost like they feel like they're cheating. They just happen to get paid for it. So if you can get to that place where even if you're, working for somebody else in a full-time job, like, what is it that you're really just naturally good at and get clear about that and build your brand around that, then the odds of you delivering great stuff has just increased.

Mark (: 15:11

Rachel, are you able to sort of ascertain that passion? That what you're good at with your clients?

Rachel (: 15:20

That's the whole thing, and yeah, exactly like what Greg says, and if you really find that thing that you are passionate about, and I'd say, the majority of the clients that I've ever worked with, their business is their passion. And when we're making any kind of branding video, they normally come to me and go, "oh, I wanna make this video, but I don't know what to say about my business." I go, "Okay, just tell me about it, how to get started?" And then, they'll go on for 10 minutes about all these different ins and outs and the story and how they really came to what they love. That's the video you just told me, like all these things that you love about it and the reason behind it and everything just because it's already there.

Rachel (: 16:05

So we just have got to put that on video. And so, yeah, that's the case of getting an out interview setting, whatever it might be. But most of the time, people don't think that they, know what it is, but I think they do, you already feel it there and, you might need someone else to help you get it out and get the story out there because you're so close to it. You can't always see it as clearly anymore. A hundred percent the, I think it's, your passion is gonna be there already, and it's just tapping into that and using that as like the core of your, your personal brand.

Mark (: 16:42

I can't help but think here's three, branding people on a zoom call for a podcast. How many, ways of convergence are we here? But, sometimes it is a lonely business being that entrepreneur being that personal brand. How do you find, I mean, let's kind of get out of ourselves. There's almost a physician healed by the self moment that I'm looking for here. What challenges have you faced with your own brand? As you've been trying to build it out in the marketplace, Rachel, maybe I can start with you.

Rachel (: 17:19

I think it's kind of ironic, I'm this person that helps people become confident on camera. And I was so terrified of getting on camera myself. So as much as I wanted to get the message out there and I wanted to, help more people be confident on camera, I would sit in front of the camera and be that deer in the headlights myself. And so it was really just overcoming that. And I think, with any creative person, like, the audience of your show, mark, like, we all have this fear of releasing our work to the world and because they're so attached to something creatively. So, it's really, I think just getting over that and, getting, it's not gonna resonate with everyone, but it's going to resonate with the right people.

Rachel (: 18:06

And that's what you, you have to aim for. And it hasn't been, a quick kind of fix, like, okay, I've got that mindset now I'm just gonna do it. It's been building up to it and doing videos and getting on podcasts and, doing stuff too, help myself find my own voice when I could do that one on one with, clients or people that I might work with getting out to, everyone in the whole world. It's just built that. And I'd say, practicing, just even hearing the sound of your own voice, that's actually not something that we grow up doing.

Mark (: 18:43

It does take a while. Do people say, but Rachel, it's so easy for you to look at yourself. You're a natural, I don't know if I can do that.

Rachel (: 18:52

Yeah. And I think that 99% of people, that wanna make a video for the first time, that's it. But, it's just practicing. And I guess the aim I had a goal, I wanna start my YouTube channel and focusing instead of focusing on subscribers, like stuff I wanna make a hundred video videos was my goal. Because once I've made a hundred videos that I might be okay at, talking on camera, so it's just really working on refining. It's a craft. Like anything else, speaking is a skill that you can develop and you can get better at. And if you watch any great speaker at all in the world, unless, there's some really, really gift superhuman. I don't think they were born being a great speaker. It's repetition and just making your message clearer as you go through and practice being a speaker, being on video, being on podcasts, whatever it might be until one day, honestly, you wake up and you feel more confident. So every time you do it, you're just solidifying in your mind that you are the kind of person that does this and you can be confident doing it. So doing it again and again, and, I can't tell you how many times I have done it now to like, get to a point where I think I feel confident doing it. It's not just a quick fix, but it's really, really worth putting in the reps and doing it and building yourself in that way.

Mark (: 20:14

I love that, Greg, what are some of the obstacles you've overcome on your own personal brand?

Greg (: 20:20

I think it was more on the product side. I have been in brand development for, you can see the gray hair here, so I've been in it for a while. And to be honest, mostly it was, it was corporate work, but I, I had a notion many years ago that I could bring the skills and experiences that I had as a corporate brand strategist and as a copywriter to a personal level to democratize them. And I remember having conversations with people about this idea, like, how can I bring this to individuals? And I remember a friend of mine just going," do people pay you for that? Are people gonna actually pay for that?" And for the first couple of years, the answer was no. So how do I turn this into a business model? Because I know I love doing it and I'm doing it for free anyway, cuz I'm talking to my friends, how do I do it? So I can actually transition into an actual vocation here. How do I get paid to do the work I love? So that was the gap that I had to bridge

Mark (: 21:33

That's terrific. Well, I've been dominating this moderator microphone, but I wanna give you guys a chance to ask each other, maybe, as if we were in that virtual coffee shop here for a second. Rachel, do you have any thoughts or observations, or questions for Greg?

Rachel (: 21:50

Yeah, I mean, I guess just to, follow on from what you were just saying and with the product saying, how did you actually then get that to, more the stuff like make that into a profitable business model for people? Was it through, connecting with people, and just tell me a bit more about your story there?

Greg (: 22:11

Well, I mean, just as you had talked about the virtues of trying and, and prototyping and, and exercising the muscle for you being on camera, I had to exercise the muscle of what my product was and I tried many, many different iterations and it's still not fully baked. I think this is gonna be an ever-evolving pursuit. I think the conversation for personal brand development and people investing in themselves in this way has really taken off over the last few years. I think COVID was really an accelerant for that. Because people are realizing that even if they're in a full-time job, that's not secure. So I should invest in myself. So that has been one marker. And the other one is like, well, people don't have $25,000 to invest in a brand strategy.

Greg (: 23:08

How do I get something that's as valuable as that down into a budget range that people would be willing to invest in? So that is where I have a, I have an online program that I deliver for people. And it's basically the kind of thing where it's democratizing, the teachings. So that is me working through the problem and trying to figure it out. And so I'm getting clear and clearer every day. I don't, have it cracked though, to be honest, Rachel

Mark (: 23:46

Are we ever really all the way done? Greg, what questions do you have for Rachel?

Greg (: 23:53

Well, I don't know if this is a question or a comment, but I remember some of the videos that I had done early on and when I could impair the progress that I've made over time. And I actually, what I did is I exposed one of those videos and I actually tagged it on YouTube, like terrible video example and I showed people just like, look, this is where I was, back two years ago and faltering and messing up. Even, if you just don't look at mistakes as mistakes, even if your, if your clients just look at 'em as like, this is an evolutionary pursuit and you're just gonna get better and better, but don't let that hold you back. Don't let that hold you back from doing what you love to do. Would you agree, Rachel

Rachel (: 24:48

A hundred percent. And, I think I look at my first videos and I think, wow, what was I doing? And it's definitely, I think it's a real personal growth thing too. Like the, just the person that I was when I first started doing videos, I think out, like, I just feel so much more confident in myself. So I think other people have, I dunno if you have that same kind of experience or, but, it's just, you gotta start somewhere and to be honest, it's not gonna be good to start with, but I think, yeah. Don't let that stop you from just starting, because, every one you do is gonna get better.

Greg (: 25:29

And I think, you as a brand builder, have, a responsibility to help the people that you wanna help. And if you're pumping the brakes on your voice, you're not gonna be able to help people. So, you kind of has to get outta your own head in a way.

Rachel (: 25:48

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Right.

Mark (: 25:52

Well, and so many of these channels are new. I mean, I do think back to what you're describing Rachel is if I went back to episode four of this podcast, I would be august at the technical quality, but the idea was there. And like you said, Greg, you just keep doing it. And Rachel, you said called it, doing your reps. You just gotta keep doing it and keep at it. Right?

Greg (: 26:13

That's right. Branding is consistency over time and you just have to keep hammering that one nail over and over and over again. And eventually, it's going, you're gonna hit a state of momentum. And once you hit that momentum, it's gonna come easier and you're gonna enjoy it more. I never gave golf a chance. I go out there and I have to literally talk myself off the ledge every time I go out there, cuz I haven't gotten good enough. I play once a year. I can't expect to get better at it. So I just have to just realize that I'm not gonna be in a state of flow. I'm gonna lose 12 balls and that's gonna be okay and

Mark (: 26:53

Just keep moving. Well, what a wonderful conversation I've enjoyed it so much. And listeners, I hope you've enjoyed sort of dropping on our virtual coffee here from New York and from Brisbane Australia. Wonderful to talk to you, Greg MoCo of Monica branding, and Rachel Tapscott, that video girl. And I know that,, Greg, you had to bring up hair as a brand, but I do think Rachel has the best hair brand on this podcast for sure. And mine is under a hat, I'd have to go back to the nineties to when my hair was relevant to my brand.

Greg (: 27:31

You had the beard though.

Mark (: 27:32

The Beard's gone. Yeah. Yeah. The Beard's gone too all face coverings must go. that's my feeling here. Well, what a great way to, to, by the time episode airs, it's the new year we're well into, our new year's resolutions to build our brand. And I just really appreciate your perspectives on how to build our personal brands. Thanks for being on the program. and listeners. This is just the kind of discussion we want to continue. So keep coming back to our podcast, we'll continue our around-the-world travels to listen to creative practitioners, how they get inspired, how they organize their ideas, and most of all, how they gain the confidence and the connections to launch their work out into the world. And that's what it's all about. So until next time, I'm Mark Stinson and we're unlocking your world of creativity take care.