Just goes to show you that, like, that your brand is like the perception
of, like, what people think it is. Right? Like, it's
it doesn't matter. I mean, you know, it matters to an extent, like, what you
put into it. But, like, at the end of the day, it's what people get
out of it.
Welcome or welcome back Too legitimate to quit.
Instantly actionable small business strategies with a pop culture
spin. I am your host Annie p Ruggles, And my
guest today is the fantabulous, Megan Gerscc h.
Megan Gersch is a branding and web design unicorn that has been in the
field for over teen years. She has worked with some of
the most well known names in the entertainment industry,
including Netflix, Spaceland presents the echo,
Echoplex, Regent Theater, KCRW Radio,
Live Nation, and more. She also cohost the Your
Sparkly Brand Podcast, a show designed to empower
entrepreneurs with the tips, tools and strategies needed
to make their businesses stand out from their competitors.
Megan, our audience Can't see you, but I can see you.
So I get to look upon your glorious hair
as I ask you this pivotal question, The
question. What do small business owners need to focus on this
week? They need to focus on standing out on
social media, standing out with their brand, and being bold
with their marketing.
Alright. What does bold mean? Does bold mean that I have to be
flashy and go with all the trends? Or does bold mean I need to
be gregarious? What does bold mean? Well,
bold to me means that you are just differentiating from
everybody else in your market. So it doesn't necessarily have to be
flashy or trendy, although that might be a part of your brand, but
bold to me just means really embodying yourself,
like, your core values, your mission, in your business and
really honing in on that and staying true to that. I
love that you brought up values here because one thing that I've
seen With my, you know, salt of the earth
empath helper type clients is that they
Tend to be very values driven, but sometimes
their values foster, kind of like
accidental weakness. Like, oh, I need to be
I'm living in my values and therefore, I must be
generous and humble To the point
of undercharging and never talking about myself. Like,
I'm so interested in this idea that you're saying, like, you can be bold
in your values. Tell me more about that. Yeah. I
mean, I think a part of the reason that people fall into that
humbleness and that meagerness is because it's hard. Because
it's, like, it's not an easy thing to do to stand for something and to
actually give your opinion online because it opens you up to
all of this. Like, everybody's gonna have something to say about no no matter
what you say, people are gonna have something to say. Right? Whether that
be good, bad, or somewhere in between. And so
really owning that part of yourself can be really, really difficult, and it
takes time and it takes practice to really step into that
power. And it's a process too. You know? I don't wake up 7 days a
week being, like, you know, all gung ho about confidence in myself,
but it's a it's it's a it's a practice. This. Right? It takes time to
kinda build that over time. Yeah. And tools. Right? It takes
time, and it takes the tools that you know that you can
lean on of, like, okay. These are the things that I can do
to ground or center myself Or feel more confident
or these are the people in my work fam that I could pull on
for validation when I really need it. Not just when I crave it,
but, like, I'm about to jump off a cliff. Is this a good idea or
not? Okay. Hold on. Let me go to my advisors who are gonna give it
to me straight. Right? There are times for that. And You're
right, though, because it is. It's standing for something is
hard. And as a solopreneur or the leader of a small
army, the vision and the continuation
of that loud bold promise is on
you. So, you know, if you turn your light down, If
you turn your mic down, then you're making it
harder for other people to find you, but it's really only impacting you.
So I think that's so great to talk about, like, the energetic
cost of our marketing and the energetic cost of
confidence because it's not freaking easy.
No. No. It's definitely not, and it takes practice.
And there's so many different ways that you can build your brand too.
Like, you know, people say, like, oh, the the key to being successful
in business is consistency. Well, consistency looks
different for everybody energetically. Like, you know, there's different things
that you can do as far as, like, batching your content and, like,
figuring out different ways that you can integrate your branding into your process
us and stuff like that. But, one thing that I always tell to my
clients is, like, when it comes to building your brand, like, it's so important to
think of every single touch point in the
process as a branding touch point. So that way you're
not having to like yeah. So that way you're not having to
like post 3 times a day. I mean, you could, you know,
if you have the energy for that. Right. Definitely post 3 times a day. But,
like, most of us don't have that energy and the time to do that.
So when you look at your branding kind of from a bird's eye view
instead, you get lots more opportunities to
infuse that branding into every single touchpoint into your onboarding
documentation and your offboarding. You know, maybe there is a
surprise and delight factor that you integrate with your clients. Maybe there's that
yeah, like, you know, all of those, like, gifting opportunities,
support materials you can provide to your clients. There's, like when you start
thinking about this bigger picture of, like, what it is to create that
brand. You start to see so many different
opportunities where you can support your clients, and not all of them have to be
paid opportunities. Some of it can be as simple as, like, reposting their
content on social media and, like, shouting them out to your people. Like,
super easy stuff. Yes. Everyone's always like, Annie,
you're the queen of LinkedIn. You're so Killing it
on LinkedIn. You know what I do on LinkedIn, y'all?
I celebrate other people's good stuff. And then every
now and then, I come up with a reason to tag a bunch of my
friends in the post. That's it. Like, I am
running LinkedIn like a middle School click.
Yeah. I'm following along to see what my
own cool kids are doing, not who the industry says is cool, who I know
is cool. I'm blowing up their stuff and every now and
then, I'm throwing a little party and putting myself in the center of it in
LinkedIn. That's what I'm doing over there. That everyone's like, oh my gosh, your
LinkedIn strategy. Y'all, I'm a strategist and I get paid
a lot of money for strategy. Don't hire me for LinkedIn. Just go blow up
your friend's post. Come on. It's true though. I mean,
it's all about like creating that community and those connections and
really, building that
community where you can kind of lift each other up. Yep. Yes. And,
like, honestly, just like approaching client relationships as more
of like a partnership where you like when once you start working together,
you can just, you know, symbiotically kind of support each
other. I think because I've been doing this for so
long and because I have such a weird
and intense loving relationship with the majority of my
clients. I think it's so interesting that
you bring up this idea that it's really partnership
because in my mind, I'm like, duh, and then I'm
like, woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. I'm like, duh now after
doing this for almost 13 years. I'm like, duh now
when I show up in this full muppet empathy that I have to
reinforce boundaries every single day. Like, I say duh,
but I totally get that there are Times in my own
history that I've kind of glossed over when I think about it
where my client work did not
Feel like partnership or when I have hired people
and it has not felt like partnership. So I think what you're talking
about, Especially in terms of marketers and who's gonna be
out there amplifying you and helping more
people find you is that it has to be
That partnership energy. So how do we foster that, Meaghan? How do
we hire the right person, or how do we train the right person,
or how do we show up in partnership to make it
easier for everyone involved. Just riff on legit any of that. There
were, like, 57 questions in there. Pretend there was 1 and and answer it.
Yeah. Well, I think the 1st step is honestly getting really clear
on your mission and core values. Like, going to that 1st step of the
branding process. This is something that I tackle with all of my clients
first. We dig into that psychology of, like, who are you trying to reach?
Why are you trying to reach them, and how are you gonna impact their lives?
Right? When you get clear on that and so many people do not have
clarity on this. They think that they know, but when we start to dig into
it, they really start to uncover these details that they had not
been targeting before. Mhmm. So once you get clarity on
that, everything else becomes so much easier. You can
create a design like, a branding design that speaks to
that target person. You like, this is something that feeds
into every single part of your marketing strategy.
And it is the foundation that you need in order
to effectively reach not only the people that you wanna work with, but
the people that you wanna hire, people that, you know, you want in your
circle. Like, it it it goes to everything. And
similar to lead to this, like it also helps to repel the people that
you don't wanna work with, right? We've all had a corporate job
at one point or another where we've had a client where it's been a less
than ideal client, right? Like we want to work out those types. Now that
we are on our own, you know you know so,
you know Exactly. The beauties of entrepreneurship. Right?
Oh, yeah. I think the day that you fully realize
and embody that you only have to work with the clients you
wanna work with is such a Oh, yeah.
Glorious, liberating Shawshank
Redemption Day. Like, you are out of the tunnel
of corporate shit, and you are bathed in the Andy Dufresne
reign of partnership. Like, yes. I only have
to work with people that Appreciate me. Yes.
I only have to work with people that are collaborative and understanding.
Yes. And then You get to rise to the occasion of delighting and
surprising those people. Right? You brought up delight and surprise before.
That's basically my entire customer service strategy. It's like, Okay.
Deliver what you say you're gonna deliver. Chuck in some delights and some
surprises, and you're good. Right? But but that's what it Feels like
when you're in partnership because then you don't have to waste energy
on little interpersonal drama and instead both
of you could on delivering a superior whatever. Right?
Like, whatever the heck it is. So
why do you think Why do we default
to more corporate client service
provider relationships even when we know that we
don't have to. Is that stress? Is that just habit? Like, why do we get
pulled backwards into weird paradigms that we
think we've outgrown? I mean, I think a lot of it is
conditioning, right? Like our parents are just of a different
generation. Like we grew up hearing, like if you want to be
successful, you have to work hard. And that's just case in point, like
not the case anymore. Like, you can make a product
and sell it forever, and that can be your whole business model if
you want it that to be it. You know, and I
think that it's a lot of you know, we all have had, you know,
corporate jobs in the past, and we have had, you
know, places where essentially we would go. We have to
check-in at 9 AM. We go home at 5
PM. We have these like check-in processes with managers and stuff like that
and we're just conditioned. Right? Yeah.
To feel beholden, To feel
supervised, to feel judged, to feel graded.
Right? All of those things. Oh, am I doing my job, like a good
little worker bee. Will I make the boss happy today? And it's like, you are
the boss. Make yourself happy today. And then sometimes
Client is the boss. Make them happy unless they're being
unreasonable, and then make yourself happy again. Like, you know,
it's a dance. It's it's an interesting dance. Like, being your own boss and
doing your own marketing and and standing up in that way just like what you
said before, it's hard. You know? And and we're not
our parents' or our grandparents' generation. We don't have to,
you know, go to World War 2 or You know, my
dad got kind of forced into an engineering degree because his
uncle was the only one who had previously gone to college. And so they're like,
okay, Pete. You're gonna be an engineer now. Like, the
that kind of thinking has lessened a lot by the time our
generations rolled around and yet There's
still a whole lot of us doing a lot of self
limiting when it comes to self employment. Like,
we are out on our own
doing it, and then, you know, you don't have to work as hard at this
or that. I One of the main phrases that I that I love that I've
really kind of adopted in my life, and I wish I remember who said it,
is choose your hard. Right? Like Mhmm.
Ballerinas have broken toes, but they get to do
professional ballet. Choose your heart. Right? And and one of the
ones that's always been said to me in terms of with, like, my
weight and my autoimmune and and everything like that is, like,
losing weight is hard. Being a full figured person
is hard. Having an immune disease is hard. Choose your hard. You can
always choose. But when you can, do you wanna spend your effort doing this,
or do you wanna spend your effort doing that? And so when people are like,
oh, I'm gonna quit my job and become a
coach overnight and Sell a program that I never have to
market. I'm like, okay. Sure.
Are you gonna dedicate 5 years getting the reach That you
need in order to get to that point of overnight success? Are you gonna dedicate,
you know, hours upon hours on end in making that product
So sensational that it basically sells itself. Are you going to deal
with, you know, customer service and Stripe
and when Kajabi accidentally deletes your whole program, are you gonna
deal with all that? And they're like, oh, no. I'm just gonna be a coast
into it. It's like, no. Right? So
I think you're totally right that it's hard and it takes
effort and it takes power
and it takes a hell of a lot of confidence. And
when we don't do it consistently, It's like we
almost hurt our own momentum. Right? Like, I know
when I fall off the wagon of my marketing, I fall
off the wagon of my marketing. Like, I won't miss
an Instagram post. I'll miss, like, 20.
Like, if my scheduled stuff is not going out, that means that I have
totally, you know, shit the bed somewhere, and I
will probably continue to shit it for several days. Right? So
what is that? How do we how do we rein ourselves in?
How do we build ourselves up, and how do we
is the boldness something it's a chicken and egg situation. Do
we rely on boldness to put ourselves out there, or do we
put ourselves out there to find our boldness? What do we do? I
mean, I think it's a combination of 2 things. It's a combination of number
1, having that real drive and
that that laser focused vision on what it is that
you are doing in your business. And I love to
also back that up with systems and,
essentially, like, making your process a little bit easier, like, really leaning
into automation and getting the most out of your content.
I'm a huge, huge supporter of repurposing
content as well. So, like, even on, like, days when, like, I feel
like, you know, like, I feel like I can't show up on Instagram today. It's
just too much work. I will just go and take an old video and post
that because at least it's getting something out. And, you
know, nobody's gonna remember that you have posted that 3 months ago, you
know? And if they do, they get excited the way that I think about repurposing.
Mhmm. How old are you, Meghan? I'm 36.
Okay. So you're I'm 38, almost 39, so we're close. But,
like, Back in the day when we were
little and VHS was still the norm,
Disney would bring stuff out Of the Disney
vault? Do you remember this? They would have, like, Snow
White is coming out of the Disney vault, and you can
buy it now for, like, 2 weeks, and then it's going back into
the Disney fall. It's a movie that's been out since the forties that
you could go Get on VHS at a Goodwill for 25¢,
but okay, Disney. Bring that out of the vault. So sometimes when
I feel weird or cheap or lazy
about my repurposing. I have to be, like, excuse me.
Excuse me. If Disney can bring a 101 dalmatians
in and out of the vault 57 times during my
childhood And treat it like it's a new big deal
every time. So can I because not everybody will
remember and not everybody's paying that Close of
attention? Right? Exactly. Exactly.
Weird rant about the Disney Vault, but that was even as a kid, like,
Even as a kid, I'm watching Little Mermaid, and they're like, Sound of
Music is Earth Sound of Music. Hello. They're like, Snow White is
coming out of the vault. And I'm like, I already have it. Disney, calm down.
Like, please. But why
why do we think where did we get the idea that
reusing our content is any
of those things. Ghosh, lazy,
played out, whatever. What why where did how
did repurposing get such a bad rap? I
mean, I think it's years years years of Instagram
culture of having to be perfect and polished and
on your game and always traveling somewhere exotic and, you
know, recording every meal that you have, and it has to have, like, the
perfect angle of the spoon out of the bowl and stuff like that. Like,
it's years years years of that where we feel like we
have to have this picture perfect life where, like, I truly
feel like marketing at this point in time is
shifting. Like, it's shifting more towards that, like, realness, that
unpolished nature that show me the behind the scenes, show me
the messiness. And it's really refreshing, honestly.
Like, it's it's refreshing to see, like, oh, there are actual human beings out
there on the other sides of these screens and not just, like, these, like,
travel influencers. You know? Right. Show
it show it to us real. Right? Like, one of the guests
on this show, one of the previous guests on the show was like, show the
striving, and I'm like, oh, Show
the striving. Right? But that's it. Like, we're not
as keyed into glossy guru culture
as we Once were and that's not required of us as
content providers. And so, yeah, if you've got something really good that you're
really proud of And or moreover, if
you put something out and people really love it and go, oh my gosh, I've
been waiting to hear this, I need this, Then that needs to go to the
top of your repurposing list and you need to set that to repeat,
like, all the time.
All the time. And I feel like like even, like, the the throwing away of
this perfectness, like, and embracing this realness that
we're seeing cross marketing is just like that's forcing
people to be bold. Like it's forcing people to
get really, really clear on like, okay, well, I can't show this picture perfect
thing. I guess I gotta be a little real with it. Like,
what am I gonna show behind the scenes? Like, what do I actually want to
say and share with the world.
Isn't that interesting? Because so many people come to me and they're like, I'm
not showing up, but I know it's just my ego and da da da da
da. And sometimes it is. Like, I didn't sleep great last
night. I got bags under my eyes that you can see from where you
are and I could swim in from here. Right? But But,
a, I'm not doing video right now, which is easier for me to kind
of adjust into. But sometimes people come to me and they're like, it's not
vanity. I just don't know how to show up like that and da da da.
And you're like, they don't know what they wanna say. Right? Because
sometimes it is like, oh, my hair looks weird today. And sometimes it's like, hold
on. Do they really wanna hear me rant about x or y
again? Yes. Yes. They do.
Do people really wanna listen to me flail audibly on a
podcast? Yes. Yes. They do.
Yeah. And I mean, I think it's worth saying too that, like,
people care less about what you look like than you think.
It's more of like a a thing where the person who's speaking
cares a lot more about those things. So,
you know, oftentimes when people show up, you know, hair up in a messy
bun, like no makeup on and just kind of give it to you straight on
video, like those are the pieces that really
connect with people because it feels like a FaceTime call. Like,
it feels like, you just picked up the phone and you just needed to say
something and get something that was out of your mind onto the camera.
Instantaneous know, like, trust. It's like, oh, wow. Mhmm.
Although, y'all, if you would stop taking pictures while you're actively driving,
in a car fine. But, like, the people that live stream while driving, I just
want you to get home safely. Arrive alive, people.
Yes. Absolutely. Click it or ticket, people. Eyes on the
road. Like every time I see those I'm like, too
authentic. Too authentic.
You're freaking me out. I don't know. Maybe that's because I, like,
live in a major metropolitan area, and I'm like, what are you doing?
There's thousands of other cars on the road. Anyway
so, you know, I think the one thing that's so interesting is
that this idea of greatest hits of content or repurposing
or, you know, I just hired somebody literally to take all
these old episodes and and cut them up into some way new. And it's
like, There's so much room for new growth and new
discovery there. When you're looking at your
repurposing, how do you know,
a, what you are gonna choose to repurpose
or b, how you wanna purpose. Like tell me a little bit about
lift the veil. What's your repurposing process look like?
I try to repurpose as much as possible. It's not a pick and choose thing
for me. It's every piece of content that gets created, we're stretching it
as far as it can go. I usually start with
a vertical piece of video. So I usually start for TikTok
first. I have several automation set up in my business
where once I post a TikTok, I use a tool called Repurpose.
Io to auto repost that onto
several platforms. I also do some manual
reposting in my strategy as well. And I have just like a good old
fashioned Google sheet where I plug in the name of the
video, plug in the date that I posted it, and then I have a column
for, did you post this on Instagram? Yes or no? Did you post this on
YouTube? Yes or no? And that's how I keep track of it. It
works pretty well. And it's like one of those things where I hear
people tell me all the time, like, I just see you everywhere. Anytime I go
online, you're just there. Like, you are just omnipresent no matter
what platform I go to, you're just always there. And I'm like, this
is partially due to the systems that I've set up in my
business. So that way, I can look like I'm in a bunch
of places, but in reality, it's not that much
of a heavy lift on my end. Like that repurposing on my end from
a manual perspective maybe takes me like 10 or 15 minutes a
day. Not too shabby. So all the rest of it
is automated. Gorgeous. Now I love that you're talking about omnipresent
marketing because That's the goal, and I also feel like it's
so misunderstood from a kind of
lean and agile perspective Because what you're talking about
underneath this is you have systems, you have processes, you have
automation, and you have a vault of back catalog
copy and stuff that you can play with. Right? And
so people are like, oh, you're everywhere. I gotta be creating for all these things.
Okay. And they come to me, and they're like, here's my editorial calendar. And
they're like, I gotta post to LinkedIn 4 times a day, and then I gotta
do the blog post. And then over here, I gotta do Podcast, and then the
podcast has its own blog post, and then this, and then then that, and then
I'm gonna use AI, and I'm gonna do all this, and I'm gonna get 15
tweets. And I'm like, okay,
slow down. That's the trick of omnipresence. Right?
The trick of omnipresence is have the systems
push you out to the platforms you choose to be on
consistently. Right? Have your
best branded stuff forward. Be bold. Get your
differentiators out there Because part of being like,
Meghan is everywhere, is because when I'm scrolling, you stop
the scroll because I know it's yours. Right? It doesn't really matter
To be everywhere, if you're putting out your generic stuff, I'm just gonna scroll
right past it. Yeah. Right? Yeah. But people are so
worried about being seen on
multiple platforms, but then they wanna be seen on multiple platforms, but then they don't
wanna be redundant, but then they don't wanna be and then they don't wanna be
annoying, but then they wanna be everywhere. And then they were like, okay. Do I
need to be on lemonade? Like, Like, break
down these myths of omnipresence for us, please. I
mean, first of all, I don't really worry about people
seeing me on multiple platforms and getting, like, annoyed or turned off by that
because, like, I think about it this way. Like, how many times have you
talk to, tried to talk to somebody about like TikTok. And so that
person has said, oh, I will never get a TikTok account. It's like, you
know, or I'll never get on Instagram or I left Facebook a long time ago.
It's like, okay, well, I'm still gonna post my stuff there because there are still
people over there. There are still people consuming that content,
no matter what platform you're talking about. And even if,
the person happens to see it a 2nd time. Like, it usually
takes a few different times for somebody to see that message for them to
actually, number 1, retain the information and to also
take action on it. So, you know, maybe there's a higher chance there of them
saving that post or for them being like, oh, yeah, that's something that I need
to do. And that's a really good tip that I need to integrate in my
business. And so I really don't worry about, like, the cross pollination
of content across platforms. You know,
you also brought up saves. I'm Fascinated
by the Instagram save. Everybody talks about, like,
the regram or the comments
Or the this or that. And I know that we know that, but I am
always freaking fascinated when I look at my social
analytics that some of my least performing
post otherwise in terms of engagement are, like,
the highest save. Do you have that too?
What is that? Is that, like, a weird intimacy thing where people are like,
well, I don't wanna like it, but I'm gonna away forever. Like, do
you am I alone in this? What's going on with the Instagram save? It's so
it's like my favorite Agatha The Christie myths mystery. I'm like, gotta get
to the root of this. I found that, like,
people either save things for later for, like, or they
save it for inspiration. So I've had, like, a lot of, like, other
web designers, like, save my posts for later for maybe
like and I'm like, why are other web designers like saving my content? Like, they're
either consuming it for tips or they're consuming it because they wanna make a
similar type of content. Like, I don't know. But that's what
I've noticed. What are some ways that
You know, obviously, we all wanna have the
multimillion dollar marketing and branding
budget and, you know, all All the bells and the whistles and the
fabulous, you know. If I could give everybody, like, a puppy and a matching
sweater, I would. They would be adopted out of shelters,
but they would all be wearing matching sweaters. So you know?
But since I can't go around and,
Give everyone I have ever met a puppy with
my logo around its beautiful neck. What
are some things that every brand can do
to polish their boldness or to polish their differentiators,
And stand out a bit more. Yeah. One of the
most important key things is to get a brand new
style guide in place for their business. This is one of the
key things that I help my clients with. It's one of the
assets that they walk away with after we finish working together.
This is basically a guide that goes into not only your mission and core
values, but also the graphic designed elements that
you're gonna be using, your logo, your font system, your color
palette, your patterns, your iconography, all of the,
you know, different ways that images should play with text
and, like, how these assets should be used in real world
scenarios. This asset is just such a valuable piece of the
puzzle because it essentially will allow you to take that document
and then give it to anybody on your team for implementation.
And that way it's not you that's having to do the actual implementation. You
can essentially teach someone how to effectively use
your brand without you having to, like, sit there and, like, hold their
hand while they create the assets. Yeah. Without having to babysit.
Yes. And I love the idea because then the boldness will come through
as consistency. Right? I say all the time, if you don't
get Selective about your brand, people will select it for you.
Meaning, they will cobble your brand together of the
disparate things they see. When you have something so critical as
a brand guide or a style guide in place,
both in your visuals, your hex Codes your fonts and all that, but
also your language. How do you make this sound like you? I
use these words. I say, hey there and I
say y'all. I don't say hi, I don't say hello. I say hey there and
I say y'all. You'll know it's an anti post if I say y'all. Right?
Like It's like for good or for ill, you know, Trump is tweeting if it's
in all caps and, you know, one of his handlers is doing it if it's
got good punctuation. Right? Like, With me at the word y'all in it, you
know it's either coming from me or somebody who's been well trained by me to
be like, oh, this doesn't sound like Annie. Right? And it's like because that's consistent.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's all about the consistency too, especially
when you're bringing on team and, you know, you're expanding what you are
doing in your business. Like, it's so, so important that you have
that foundation in place so that it just feels seamless
on the client's end. Yes. Yes.
Yes. And if you're doing any kind of service delivery, if you're
in the marketing or branding spaces Or the
visual or graphic design spaces, then, yes,
absolutely, you're going to rely on the things that they have
chosen to amplify and polish for the boldness.
We just gotta apply that to our own shit as
well. Yeah. You know, I love that like, today,
we've been talking about repurposing. We've been talking about omnipresence
and showing up been consistency and and it's so interesting that
our our pop culture choice today is a musical one
because the I am convinced that
every person in the entire universe knows 1 song by the next
band. 1. And they don't even play it anymore because everybody
knows that one song, but
it's still so distinctly part of their brand
that if you went to a far flung corner of the world and started to
sing Creep, they'd be like, oh, Radiohead. But
Radiohead is a lot more than that and a lot more vast then
then just creep. Just as we are all repurposing
our greatest hits material, but we are not one hit wonders either.
So Meghan, what marketing, branding,
differentiation, consistency, boldness, showing
up, omnipresence, What lessons can we learn
from Tom York and his merry band of wonderful weirdos, Radiohead?
I mean, I could literally talk about this band for an
entire podcast episode, but, I really think
that they are so special in the way that they
present themselves as a brand because it feel like the first time that
I ever heard Radiohead, I was like, what is this? I
I don't know what that I've never seen this or heard this before.
And so that's really the thing that you should be aiming for, like with
your branding and with your business. Like, how can you create that?
What is this with your audience? And
really kind of tapping into that uniqueness like that that
what the fuck factor of, like, what what is going on here, you
know. Not to mention, like, if you've ever seen
Radiohead live, like, they take an extreme amount of
care with their live show. Like, it is a
visual extravaganza of sorts. Like, it
is to delight your senses to the max.
And I just really appreciate, like, that level of care and
detail that they put into all of their different shows,
because they understand the, you know, the
value of bringing people there and them having such an experience
that that's gonna be something that they talk about for years.
Yep. So that's that's definitely something to think about, you know,
when you are crafting your brand experience, like how do you create
that stickiness of like
creating those clients for life, you know, creating those fans for
life, creating those brand partnerships for life.
Oh, man. I remember seeing Radiohead at Lollapalooza, and I
was, like, laying on one of the side hills.
And I told myself I was only gonna smoke a little bit of
pot, but I was laying on the hill that basically, like, all of us could
just be in a contact eye for forever. And I remember just, like,
melting into the grass on this hill and just having Radiohead melt
my freaking face because of exactly what you're talking
about, not just the sound, but the lights and the
presentation and the set list and the, you know,
the chatter and the everything was just freaking
Perfect. It was perfect. And, no, I think you're totally right. I think
Radiohead is a perfect example of the first time you
hear them, you're like, don't think I've ever heard a band like this
before, let alone this band before. I don't think I've ever
heard a band like this
before. Absolutely. What your 1st Radiohead song was?
Like, what your gateway drug was for Radiohead? You know, I
feel I mean, I feel like everybody's heard kid a,
and and, like, that was, like, really big when I was growing up. But I
feel like the the first album that I really got into
was the king of limbs. It was just like that was
kind of like, then I started really digging into the archives and, like,
I was, like, just obsessed at that point. So
That's wild. What about you? I'm curious. Oh, see,
I'm a little as as a couple years older than you. I totally agree.
Like, Then I I would kind of bounce in and out and be
like, oh, yay. I love like this or that or the other thing or I'd
go all the way back to Pablo Honey. I'm like, whatever. Like, the way back.
I was in 3rd grade when Pablo Honey came out. Like, I'm not trying to
claim to be that cool, but 1990,
either 5 or 6, Baz Luhrmann
gave us a present. He gave us Romeo and
Juliet starring Claire Danes and Leonardo
DiCaprio, And he gave us the best soundtrack
of the entire nineties, and on it was
my favorite Radiohead Song to this day and the first one
I ever heard, talk show host. It's a good
one. And I was just like,
What? And they started with, like, all this, like,
Leonardo, like, talking and you're like, oh, it's edgy because they're
using a sound thing on the soundtrack like they did all the time
in the nineties. Like, oh, okay. Right? But then it
goes, and it's like this weird noise. And then
it just go the 1st lyric is I want
to I want to be someone else or I'll explode.
And I was in 6th grade when this lyric hit me and I was like,
yes. Yes. What? Okay.
What? Finally, somewhat. Finally. And then they're like,
I'll be waiting with a gun and a pack of sandwiches. And
I'm like, you lost me. A gun in a pack of sandwiches. What?
I'm, like, I feel totally seen. And
then they're, like, guns and sandwiches, and then we're busting doors
I don't understand what's happening to me. I am 12 years
old and I feel like I'm hearing the voice of an angel tell me
to, like, get a gun and go to subway. Like, I don't
know what's going on. And I just remember being like, what?
And that whole soundtrack was good, but I would listen To that
song over and over and over and it didn't
occur to me that everyone around me
Singing fake plastic trees was singing my band. And
then they're like, yeah, Radiohead. I'm like, oh, that's Radiohead. Oh,
of course, it's Radiohead. Okay.
I get it. But it is it's that gateway experience,
you know? It's that seminal holy
cow. You're doing something different. You know,
fabulous strategist Kat Stancic calls that your,
Firecracker moment of, like, boom. Here it
is, folks. Here we go. So I feel
like they're also, like, so, so brilliant when it comes to, like,
creating, like, these, like, special experiences for fans. Like, they had, like, that
1 album where it was like a giant experiment where it's like, hey, what do
you want? And then, like, you know, like, you know, the music
industry was kind of turning at that point and, like so it was like this
giant thing of, like, will people actually pay for our music? Like, do people
actually really support this?
And, you know, I just look at that as well as like so many other
like points in time where they have really tried to
create these other experiences for their fans. There was like
a, I think there was like a, like, an
online world or something you could you could go into. There's been,
like, merchandise. Like, it's it's crazy how many different touch points that they
have thought about when it comes to that overall brand of,
like, what it is to be a Radiohead fan. Right?
So it's just And to the perfect example. Make music
videos. Like Yeah. Video head's videos are
sensory overload gorgeousness. Like, I remember
when The freaking burn the witch claymation video
came out. Yes. I just watched it and watched
it and watched it, and it was like I had never seen claymation before. It's
like, girl, go watch Rudolph and calm down. Like,
the 50th anniversary of your age back. Did you
ever see the, there was like a subreddit that was all about, like, a
deep dive when the daydreaming video came out. And it was
like this guy being, like, literally going through every single part of
the daydreaming video and, like, breaking it down, like, scene by
scene, like, really I mean, some of them were like, alright, this
guy's like kinda reaching here. But like, you know, for the most part is like
he'd like create created this whole story of like
what was going on, but really interesting. So cool.
I think that that is so awesome. The the fact that there's
even that type of conversation going on. Like, that is what
you want as a brand. It's just like people, like,
creating their own world from your world. You want your brand to
be bigger than you. You want your brand
To have, you know, legs and
an imagination of its own, people are going to deduce what
they want to deduce. Right? So, yeah, We could be like, woah. Like, I was
really reaching and Tom himself could come out and be like, what on
earth? Right? But, like, I I saw this a bunch with,
room 30 I think it's 236, which is a documentary about all
the fan theories in The Shining. And Let
alone the fact that, like, Stephen King hates Kubrick's
version of The Shining. Like, it all he is Stephen King has
talked many, many times about the fact that, like, people are
bet their whole house, like, put a new mortgage on a bet
convinced of things in The Shining, and they
bring it up to him. I know George r or Martin has said the same
stuff where people are like, this is the lore.
Like, I know that this is true. This is what is happening. And these people
that created the world are, like, that never even occurred to me. How cool is
that? And the people are like, wait, what? And they're like, yeah,
I didn't. I I gave the hotel room a number and moved on
with my life. Like, I wasn't trying to conjured the
Illuminati or something. Like, what? Right? But, like,
people are gonna come and they're gonna be like, oh, When you wrote the
okay. Perfect example. I wrote the coach who would not sell to help coaches sell
and because yeah. It's called the coach who would not sell. And then
everybody came to me and they're like, Annie, you wrote this scathing
allegory about toxic coaching and the importance of,
quality mentorship. And I'm like, I did? They're like, oh, you didn't
mean to? And I'm like, I wrote a sales book for coaches, but
sure. Just goes to show you that like that your brand is like the
perception of like what people think it is.
Right? Like, it's it doesn't matter. I mean, you know, it matters to an extent,
like, what you put into it. But, like, at the end of the day, it's
what people get out of it. Oh, I love that. Your
brand is in the eye of the beholder. Truly.
That's both liberating and challenging. Yeah. I mean, there are
ways to manipulate that. But,
you know, that's where branding comes in. Yes. That's where being deliberate
and consistent comes in all over again.
Yes. All over again. Alright. Well,
I'm gonna release you back to your glorious day, but I have 2 more questions
for you. The first one. So we've been talking about
re repurposing and and reinvention and everything. But,
like, let's say that you pull
a true Radiohead album release. And what
I mean by that is you're all over the Internet,
You get really tired of people requesting Meghan's
Greatest Hits, your own versions of Creep.
And you're like, I'm getting off the Internet for a while. I'm going underground, and
I'm gonna make some art, and I'm gonna come back out. And when I do,
Everyone's gonna know it's undeniably Radiohead, and, yeah, we're all gonna be so
shocked that this is Radiohead. So, Meaghan, you go underground
because you don't wanna say creep anymore and then you come
out, let's say, in it's 2023
right now. Let's say you come back out in 2026
with a whole new edge.
What Is the album cover of new Megan or the
album title of new Megan or anything about
the new bold direction Of the Megan Kirsch
company giving yourself the Radiohead treatment.
How are you reinventing? Oh my god. That was not the question that I was
anticipating. So I had all these answers, like, stored in my head, but now I
have to come up with a new answer. I don't know if I
had to, like, reinvent myself. Like, I've always wanted
to be a musician myself, and so I wonder if I would
take that direction. I
feel like I've tried and maybe just kind of I don't know.
Just it's never stuck with me to, like, really learn an
instrument and, like, really kind of dive into that world. But, like, I
feel like in another life, like, maybe I was some kind of, like,
musician or something. Alright. I
love it. Come out, like, Suddenly, all the brands will be
fully musical, and all the websites will be fully musical and
orchestral and lush and incredible, and I love it. Well, Before
you are driven underground by your fans to create your new
musical existence, before that happens, how
do our listeners come into your world and start a conversation with you?
Absolutely. So if you need help with your branding or your
website design, and you really want to stand out from the rest of
the people that are kinda doing the same boring, bland, beige
thing online, get in touch with me. My website
is megangersch.com. It's megangersch.
If you go to megan gersh.com/resources, there's a bunch of freebies there you
can grab as well. And you can find me on social media at
megan gersh. Phenomenal.
Megan, it has been a delight having you here today. Thank
you so so much For lending your brain and your brilliance
to our little shell. My god. Thank you so much. This was
super, super fun, and I'm just exciting to be here. Thank you so
much for having me. You are so welcome. Y'all, I will
be back in just a second with my final thought and
your homework For
this week. Well,
hey there. 1st and foremost, I absolutely cannot
start this episode without celebrating and
sending so much gratitude out to you, the
listener, for the fact that our little show here
just turned 3 years old. That's right. As of December
7th, TLTQ is a toddler.
Making the show is an immense and glorious labor of
love that I could not do without my die hard writer
die producer, Andrew Sims, and each and every one of you
liking the show, commenting, sharing, guessing,
you name it. So Thank you. I tried to
pick which Radiohead album I was gonna listen to to celebrate, and
I couldn't pick. I just kind of wound up listening to a mishmash of
it all and it was all so distinct.
I almost decided to change today's homework for you.
But I was looking for that one thing that would
make it so distinctly a Radiohead song
or a Radiohead album. And the only commonality I
could find y'all was that they were always
completely willing to be a
150% radio head. It's not always the same.
There are concept albums. There are poppier albums. There
are anthems, ballads, and boppers. Right? There are so
many different styles. But in every single one, they
allow themselves to come across and have their
artistry at the forefront. It also,
as a band, showcases the individuality of every single
member within those own styles. And I think
there's a real lesson for us in there because many
of us don't do just one
thing. We do many things. We're renaissance
people, multi potentialites and we get bored when you try to
pigeonhole us into just 1 service or one offer.
But differentiation matters in crowded
markets and it matters even more When you dilute your own
message by having so many things. So you may have heard the riches and the
niches and in a lot of aspects that is true.
But Because I'm gonna assume you out there
have many passions and contain multitudes as
Walt Whitman would say. Your homework this week is to
reconsider one of the best questions I've ever been asked
by my work sister and coach, Chris De Grasso.
What is the cross section of you?
What is the cross section that makes your work
yours? For mine, It's my enthusiasm. Maybe my
relentless millennialism. I don't know.
Combination of the 2. But whether I'm teaching you how
to sell or rewriting your website or putting out an episode of this
podcast, you know you're gonna get me Because I work
hard to differentiate myself in this way to the point
where I was recently dubbed the Cyndi Lauper of sales. How
lovely is that? But I can't get named stuff like
that if I'm not working hard to differentiate myself
in my lane and in my industry. Now the point of
this week's homework is not to self label with some,
you know, adorable title that you can throw up on LinkedIn. And if
you're inspired to do so, I did. Please feel free. But
instead, I want you to imagine your
friends, your competitors, your peers Sitting in a
room with you, look to the left, look to the
right. How do you serve your
target market differently than they do. I used
to say better, but people have a real issue with better.
Instead, your homework is how are you different?
And then to get bold about
Those differences in the way that Meaghan talked about today. And don't
forget, just like Meaghan said, if you're looking for something to turn up
the volume on, Your values are always a
great place to start. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
But for now, I'm gonna go listen to some Radiohead.
Hey. Thanks for listening. If this episode kept you laughing and
learning, I have 2 requests for you. 1st, make sure
you hit that subscribe or follow button depending on your platform
so you never miss an episode. And also,
more importantly, if you are looking for support,
inspiration, networking, collaborations, Or just
a chance to hang out with me, Annie p Ruggles, and our
fantastic guests. Make sure that you are a member of
Our LinkedIn community, the Legitimati. It is a
weird and wonderful place. I can't even believe it's on LinkedIn,
and we want you there. You'll find the link in the show
notes. Big shout out as always to the fabulous dudes
who helped me make this show, my producer and editor,
Andrew Sims of Hypable Impact, my theme
composer, Riley Horbazio, and my show art creator,
Francois Vigneault. See you next time.
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