Your Iconic Image : Telling An Effective Story

Your Iconic Image

Ben Baker

Your Brand Marketing

Over the last 25 years I have helped my clients tell their stories. Enabling them to communicate not only what they do, but why the do it, for whom and enabling those who listen to understand the value to them.

Currently, we work with large to enterprise-level companies to help them tell their story effectively inside their organization. To stem the tide of the great resignation, dismantle silos and create better and more aligned teams who believe in the mission, vision and value of the company.

www.yourbrandmarketing.com

www.communicateyourwhy.com

www.podcasthostforhire.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourbrandmarketing/

www.youtube.com/gettingyounoticed

www.podcasthostforhire.com

www.yourbrandmarketing.com/ebooks

www.marlanasemenza.com

Audio: Ariza Music Productions

Transcript : Vision In Word

Marlana: Over the past 25 years, Ben Baker has helped his clients tell their stories, enabling them to communicate not only what they do, why they do it, for whom, and enabling those who listened to understand the value to them. Welcome, Ben!

Ben: Hey! Marlana. Thank you for having me on the show. It is a pleasure talking to you again.

Marlana: Well, so let's talk about telling an effective story. Because we all know that we need to tell our story. But how do we make it effective? Where do we even start?

Ben: Well, the one thing we need to first understand is, our story's not about us. It's about the people that we affect. And it's about getting people to listen to us to understand the value to them and compelling them to engage or to act or whatever we want them to do. And it's about bringing them into the story, getting them to see it from their first point of view, getting them to understand how that story relates to them. And they can stick a Oh, okay, I haven't done this. But yeah, I've done something similar. And I can see how that relates to this. And all of a sudden, they internalize it, and when they internalize it, they can recall it. And they can retell it in their own words. And that's when the story becomes powerful. But when all we do is make it, I did this, and I did that, and I did the everything. Nobody cares. It's like, Yoh! I woke up, I made a million dollars, and I retired. Who cares? Tell me the story that went along with it. And tell me the lessons you learned and make it relevant to me. And I'm going to care about it.

Marlana: So then, what are some good starting points for us?

Ben: I think the first thing you do is understand who your audience is, because your story is your story. I mean, let's look at a corporate story. You know, your brand marketing started 15 years ago, we started for specific reason, you know, we had specific challenges, we had an idea, we had customers, it evolved, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And here we are today. And you know, we can get into that story. But that's what's relevant. I'm going to tell the story differently to you, as I'm going to tell it differently to a CEO, as I'm going to tell it to an operations manager, a technology officer, whoever, because they care about different things. And we need to make it relevant to the person and sit there say, okay, what are the analogies that I'm going to use that are relevant to this audience that that's in front of me, you know, how am I going to make this to a point where they're sitting up and go, Oh, I get that. And telling that story differently to different people, is what makes it relevant. The theme is the same, the lessons are the same. But you know, sometimes you can make it shorter, sometimes you can make it longer. Sometimes you can have more detail, sometimes less. Sometimes you're going to use, you know, this analogy instead of that. But you know, the goal is to sit there and say, Okay, who is this person? What do they care about? What's important to them? What's their frame of reference? Okay, now let's tell the story in a way that's going to be relevant to them and get them nodding.

Marlana: And, you know, I love all that, because even when it comes to photographs, I think people don't realize how important it is to know your audience and what they need to know. And tailor your message and your images because it all wraps into one package to tell an effective story. And the other thing too, I think a lot of people don't realize the importance of drilling down to tell that story. Because let's face it, the internet is a crowded, noisy arena. And you can walk into it and zillion people are all shouting at the same time. And the only way that you're going to get your message heard by the right people is to basically I'm going to say call them by name. Not that you're necessarily naming them. But if I walk towards you, and I keep saying a message that relates to you, it's in effect, calling your name. And so that way, I'm moving toward you and I'm directing it towards you. And eventually not only will you hear it, but your sphere of influence will also hear it

Ben: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, first of all, your pictures tell amazing stories.

Marlana: Oh! Thank you!

Ben: And how I deal visualize those stories and how another person visualizes those stories. It's different, and how we emotionally connect to start. And I'm sure there's images that I look at it. Oh, yeah, that's okay. And there's pictures I look at they go wow! That's cool. But somebody else is going to have the complete opposite effect. And that's what's really neat, is that, you know, our stories will affect different people in different ways. Now, let's get back to the crowded effect of the internet. And what it is, doesn't matter if it's internet, it doesn't matter if it's, you know, creating an ad, or a TV, commercial or whatever, you're only going to affect the people that you can affect. Their 7.5 billion people in this world. If you can affect 1/10 of 1% of the world, you've done an amazing job. And you could probably be a billionaire. You know if you could affect and have 1/10 of 1% of the world. So, there we go… Oh my God! Marlana is amazing! I need to buy everything that I'm highlighting is God, yo, I'm just gonna send her money. And I'll worry about when this stuff appears, you're gonna do extremely well. So, it's about understanding, first of all, who your audience is, and mostly who they're not. Because there are the vast majority of the people in the world 99.9% of those people could care less about you, could care less about your product, could care less about your story, could care less about that, because you can't help them, or they don't perceive you can help them. And you'll The trick is to find the people that are part of your tribe, and the Seth Godin is you'll find your tribe, find your Minimal Viable audience, find the people that are passionate about the things that you're passionate about, see the value that you bring to the table. And those are the people that will retell your story for you.

Marlana: What about the people that say, Well, I serve everyone, or I have something for everyone. But we'll just say,

Ben: let me be blunt, everybody with a heartbeat, and a Visa card is not your client. When you have that mentality that I serve everyone that I can be everyone to everybody, you're no one to know what, you know, it's realizing that you'll be valuable to not be a commodity, to not be one of many to be a quote on a page, you know, to be the person that people sit there go, Marlana, you know, I know you're $10,000 more than the other photographer, but I don't care, I need you, you're speaking to a very specific audience, and sit there going, these are the people that I can serve. These are the people I add value to, these are the people that I can help. And everybody else Hey, listen, if you want to read my content on LinkedIn, fill your boots. But I know you're never gonna buy from me, and I'm not going to pay a lot attention to you. Because I know you are not the people that are going to see the value in what I do. If all you are is a commodity, you are easily replaced, you are easily forgotten. And eventually, all you are is another quote three, and maybe you're going to win it on price. Maybe you're not the next time somebody is going to be cheaper. And you're going to be out.

Marlana: Yeah, it's so important not to get involved in that race to the bottom. And I think a lot of people are afraid to hear no, because they take it as a rejection. And it's really not a rejection. It's somebody has eliminated themselves. Either you didn't communicate your value, or they have eliminated themselves for the Yes. So, let's dive into the you haven't communicated your value, right? How do we do that effectively?

Ben: It's interesting, because when I first started off in sales 30 or 35 years ago, I worked for Xerox, and they give you a mentor. When you walk in, you get it, you get a sales mentor, somebody who walks through and says this is Ben, you need to know the difference between now and not now. No means you know what? We don't need this. You'll think and it's those people. Thank you very much. Thank you for not wasting my time. I appreciate it. Now I can focus on somebody else. The not now may sound like a no, but what it is you haven't given them enough reason to say yes. And it's a matter of being able to dive down and realize, wait a second here. Can I truly help these people? And have I not done a good enough job myself? To give them reason to say yes because it's easy for people to say no. It's easy. Peoples just say, You know what, I've got too much on my plate. There's too much going on. I don't have time to deal with it. I don't have my bandwidth. I've got 1000 Other things on my plate. Yeah, I don't want to look at this. No. And that's easy. But the question is, have you given people reason to sit? There's got lazy, that could help me. I don't have time for this right now. But that could help me. I'm willing to listen a little bit more. I don't I'm not saying yes right now, but that can help. And it's a matter of telling that story and you can't tell your story just once. You need to be able to tell it over and over and over again in ways and little drips, people let people sit there go, oh, oh, oh. Oh, okay. And you know, that's the trick is to be able to, you'll realize what have you missed telling somebody that could be that one relevant piece of information that helps them say yes. And you know what, that's far less about talking? And far more about listening?

Marlana: When we are dealing with people on the internet, how do we effectively listen to them?

Ben: You know, I am a big believer of I spend an enormous amount of time reading other people's posts and responding to other people's posts. It's not just plugging my stuff and just say there, here's another post by Ben, here's another post by Ben, here's the only post by Ben, I do that daily, every single day, I put thought content on the world. And guess what, I'm one of less than 5% of the of the world that does that. So, when you do that, when you actually are putting consistent thought practices out there, you're differentiating yourself. However, the big thing is to be able to sit there and look at people's posts of people that you know, and people that you don't know, reading through their posts and sit there go, wait a second here. I can add value here. It's not another me to type comment, or Yeah, yeah, that's cool, or whatever. It's like, you don't What have you thought of things this way. Or, you know, what, I had some experience with this, and this is what I learned. Or, you know, what I'd like, you know, don't shoot the messenger. But this is, you know, this is what I've seen. And I really don't think you're looking at the right way. And this is why. And if we can create intelligent conversation by listening to the other person first reading their stuff, and referencing back to it, instead of just slamming them on the internet, you know, what we're gonna gain their respect. And all of a sudden, they're just figuring Who is this Ben Baker, he feels over the last month, he I don't know who this person is. But they've responded to about 10 of my posts, maybe I should go look at their profile, maybe I should find out who they are. And all of a sudden, this person starts commenting on your posts, all of a sudden, this person starts sharing your information, all of a sudden, this person starts wanting to connect with you and say, um, Ben, do you have 30 minutes that we can pick up a phone and have a conversation? And, you know, that takes work? It takes effort, it takes caring. And that's the big thing today is nobody cares anymore. Everybody is out for themselves. Everybody's looking for the quick buck everybody's looking for how can I do this easy to do social media? Well, it's hard. It takes effort. And it takes consistency. And it takes real, baring your soul to some degree. And the people that are willing to do that are going to build some incredible relationships that are going to turn into some very serious work. But if all you're doing is, you know, doing drive bys, quick, quick hits and leaving. Nobody's gonna pay attention to you because you're not paying attention to that.

Marlana: And you know, you hit on something. Because at the end of the day, that's exactly what we're doing, we are building relationships. And if you those take time, any good ones take time. And if you are not looking at it in that regard, and not putting the time into it, you're already fighting an uphill battle, because you're just not going to get where you hope to get.

Ben: Yeah. I mean, you and I met on LinkedIn. We met on the day; I don't remember how; I don't remember when. It's been a while; it's been well over. I mean, I think it's pre COVID, you and I met. So, I mean, that's how we measure times, you know, pre COVID After Covid. But we've had an enormous number of conversations, both online and offline. And you've shared stuff of mine, I've shared stuff of yours. You've commented on my stuff, I've commented on yours. We've built a level of trust. And that doesn't come overnight. I mean, I tell people that trust takes time to build. It's easily broken. And it's really, really hard to fix once that trust is broken. So, we need to sit there and say forget about the 10th out I mean, yeah, okay, I've got 10,000 people on my LinkedIn profile, who cares? I've got maybe 200 people that I truly connect with on a very regular basis, though, those are my gold standard. Those are the platinum people. Those are the people that I pay attention to on a regular basis, and they pay attention to me. You can't do that. 10,000 people if this is your relationships and that kind of stuff. Just don't scale. And it's those 200 people that give me all my work that give me all my connections, that give me all, you know, that are the people that share a know, like and trust thing. And by concentrated on those people, that's how I've made a living, and now I built relationships.

Marlana: So, what if we aren't quite sure what our story is? How do we start to dive into that? Because, you know, I've encountered so many people, even with what I do that say, Well, I'm just like everybody else, or I don't really have a story. And, you know, part of my job is to mine down into it a little bit. But how do you do it?

Ben: Yeah, first of all, everybody's got a story. Your six-year-old has a story, your six-year-old story is much shorter, far more condensed and a lot simpler than somebody who's 95 years old. Because they just don't have the tapestry. They don't have the years, they don't have the mileage, they don't have the scars. But we all have a reason that we do what we do. You know, I authored a book in 2018, called Powerful Personal Brands, a Hands-on Guide to Understanding Yours. And it's all about understanding who you are, what you do, and why you do it. And at the end of every chapter, I asked a question, and I leave two pages of line boats for people to write their own question, you know, the right answers. You know, but really, it's about understanding, why do you do what you do? What do you care about? You know, if you were going to see one movie 100 times, what would that movie be? And why? Who were the three teachers that you had? You know that that influenced you growing up through high school? And what did they really teach you? Never mind that they were math, social science, and chemistry? What did they really teach you? You know, what is the hardest thing that you ever did in your life? You know, whether you succeeded, or you failed? What did you learn from it? And how has it made you better? You know, we all have a story to tell. It's a matter of sit there going, what is my life been. And some of us have had more hardship, some of us have things easier than others. But we've all had challenges in our life, we've all had things that we've learned about. We've all met people in our lives that have changed our lives. And that's the start of your story. And as you...