Ruth Bay is a self-proclaimed branding geek. She joins Miranda to explore her perspective on brand storytelling, design, how it differs from marketing and how organizations bridge the gap between their intended brand identity goals and how are they actually perceived by audiences.
Connect with Ruth: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ruthbay
Connect with Miranda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandaoconnor-mba/
Learn more about The Art of Storytelling: https://www.theartofstorytelling.com/
Ruth Bay is a self-proclaimed branding geek. She joins Miranda to explore her perspective on brand storytelling, design, how it differs from marketing and how organizations bridge the gap between their intended brand identity goals and how are they actually perceived by audiences.
Connect with Ruth: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ruthbay
Connect with Miranda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandaoconnor-mba/
Learn more about The Art of Storytelling: https://www.theartofstorytelling.com/
If we can tell a story and we tell stories with everything we do in branding, whether it's, you know, through our brand identity, through our logo, through the colours, through the fonts, through the images and the best way through video. So if we can put out a great strong video where people can actually connect not just to the brand but to the person behind the brand, I mean, that is that is the strongest connection that we can make, and that is if we can make that connection strong. Everything else kind of falls into place. Welcome to Storytelling for Engagement, the podcast where we talk about all things creative and content related to make your story unforgettable. I’m your host, Miranda O’Connor from The Art of Storytelling, and I’m excited to start this storytelling journey with you. Today we have Ruth Bay, who is a self-proclaimed branding geek. And I was following Ruth on LinkedIn for a few months, and I was absolutely thrilled when I met her in a Zoom networking because she's like my LinkedIn branding hero. I love everything she says, and the way she talks about branding and telling your story is exactly how I relate to my clients. So I love to follow what Ruth has to give. She really shares a lot of interesting information. If you don't follow her on LinkedIn, you absolutely have to go and follow her right now. Ruth, thanks for being on our podcast today. I'm going to give you a little intro and then I'll let you tell us a little more about yourself. So Ruth got her first camera when she was nine years old, and she then went on to study photography and graphic design. And she has a lot of good creative direction, skills and experience. Ruth, why don't you tell us how you how you got into creative services and what you think your skill set really is? Well, I mean, as you can imagine, the road was windy and there was a lot of shifts and turns and setbacks. I started as a as a commercial photographer and I did that for a number of years and came to realize that my clients actually needed more than just photography. And so I got involved in design and I came to realize then that design is actually something that's closer to my heart professionally. I love photography and it's always going to be my hobby, but professionally, design was close to my heart and so I, I had a design studio for about 20 years and I loved every minute of it. I had some amazing clients who gave me a lot of freedom to do what I do. But there was one thing missing, and I think for the most part, most people saw me as a designer and they didn't really see me as a branding person. And I always thought that I was. And so I started studying branding and I got involved in art direction and I started doing the creative direction. And it was all built around developing a brand because brand is your business. If you have a business, you have a brand, and it is on the top of the food chain. If you don't start with branding can’t really do anything else. So that's why I'm here and that's what I do. And how do you think businesses should think about branding versus marketing or advertising? And I feel like what I do as well with the storytelling videos, I think that's more branding. I don't like to think of it as as marketing or advertising. There was a time similar to you, we had a much bigger studio, we had our staff, we were doing a lot of big projects and some of it was advertising. And the advertising part was not really what we had any passion for. What's, what do you think the difference is between the branding and the advertising? Well, I think that the way to look at it is branding is the umbrella is the overarching umbrella that encompasses absolutely everything you do in your business. Something that many business owners do not really understand is it really is how you answer the phone. It really is how you act at a party that you go to and then you post about it on social media. So it really is not just a logo, it's not just the website. It's not just all those tactical steps that you take, but it's everything. And so I'd like to think of branding as the story of the brand. It's the story of your purpose, why the business exists, what are the goals, what are the where do you see that business in the future and how is it going to make a difference? Marketing, on the other hand, I think that's the strategy of how we get the word out and that encompasses a lot of the tactical tasks, a lot of the tactical steps, or whether it be the strategy of developing a specific website or starting an ecommerce or getting involved on social media. That is all part of marketing. Advertising is sort of a sub-header of marketing, and it is really a direct way of getting our message out. And in its promotion, it's really how we promote and differentiate the brand through advertising. So I think those that's how it kind of rolls down. Yeah, exactly. And what about just like how customers perceive your brand? That's like that is what branding is. So how do organizations really bridge that gap between their intended brand identity that they want their brand to be, and how are they actually perceived by the audience? How do businesses deal with that? Well, not very well, quite often, actually, which is where you and I come into play. The biggest point that every business has to really learn and understand before they can do anything else is who are they talking to? Who is their ideal client and what is it that they're helping them solve once they understand it. So it has to be very human centric. We have to really put our client first. It's not about us. It's not about what we do. It's not about the product we have, about the client that we're providing the services to. So that is the the first step. It’s how you communicate, how the messages go out there. And the messages have to be emotionally grabby. If we do not connect emotionally, it's just going to go right over their heads. It's not even going to going, going to connect. And the other thing that is very important is consistency. If the message is not being consistently put out there through all the different channels, if the visual brand and identity is not consistent throughout all the channels, it becomes confusing for people and it's really difficult to build that trust that we're hoping to build. So I think that those are the three points that really companies have to keep in mind. let's talk a little more about the emotional connection and, you know, the humanizing of the brand. I know you like to talk strategy, but what kind of tactical things do you think that includes? I think that one of the first things that we need to talk about is tell the story. How do we tell the brand's story? We're all storytellers. We all love stories. So if if we cannot put a strong story together about the brand, about how we got to exist and what is the plan, what do we want to change? How do we want to help? It's almost impossible to build the brand anywhere from there. Now, as as human beings, where we connect to to things, we connect to emotions and we connect to visual stimuli. So what is the best way of putting stuff out there? Is visually. So if we can tell a story and we tell a story with everything we do in branding, whether it's, you know, through our brand identity, through our logo, through the colours, through the fonts, through the images and the best way through video. So if we can put out a great strong video where people can actually connect not just to the brand but to the person behind the brand, I mean, that is that is the strongest connection that we can make, and that is if we can make that connection strong. Everything else kind of falls into place. Yes, absolutely. Because when you're watching someone in a video, that's the closest thing to actually being speaking and interacting with them and I always find, even though, you know, I have lots of different pre-production meetings with my clients on the phone or on Zoom, it's not until you actually go and sit down with them in person and you hear them talking about their passion for their job or what they do or what is so unique about them, at that point, then that's when I can leave and say, okay, I actually know this person and I really trust this person. And if I had to go and buy this service, I would go to them because they really do it well and you know, this could be people that you like, businesses you might know of that might be local to you. But until you actually get that personal connection, you don't really become their fan. I think that the other thing to consider is the voice. You know, I've worked with companies that are very even though the brand may be fun and they may be exciting, but the person behind it may be very subtle and may be very subdued. That is important to recognize because if we're expecting something from a brand and then we face it and it's completely different, then it's disappointing and that trust is not there. So I'm sure for you, especially when you're building a story of a brand, putting the voice together with the brand, I mean, that is I think that's the key, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So are you meaning like if someone if someone has chosen to be on the video, but they're not really as enthusiastic as expected. Yeah. Yeah. We do have that happen sometimes. But you know, the nice thing is our videos usually have more than one person in it, so we usually have two or three people telling the same story. So you can kind of highlight the better parts from each person and all the pressure isn't on one person to tell the story because storytelling really is multiple voices telling the story to form that impression of the brand. You know, it can't just be one person, one person can't tell the story or be able to build a brand on their own, right? Branding comes from so many different things. You know, so many different perspectives and opinions is is what your brand is. And it's really hard for an organization to control that brand thought like that thought about the brand because it plays on so many different, different parts. For sure, 100%. And I think that it's just it's also the especially for you when you're working with organizations, I think really keeping that brand consistent means that the leadership has to start with the leadership. If the leadership really understands the vision and the mission of the organization and they pass it down to everybody else, that's when you got a great story. Yes, that is absolutely correct. And I've seen that so many times where, you know, maybe larger organizations, they have a better grasp on their almost like their language. The language that they use is a little more consistent between all of the different executives or employees at different levels. They all understand the goal and the mission, and they use similar language to explain what they're doing. But sometimes you might go to a different business, maybe a smaller business, and that's not really embedded in the organization. So you can talk to different employees and you start to get different kind of ideas, but it's not very cohesive. So you can tell that the brand is not as strong in those those kind of businesses. Right, right, right. For sure. So what are some of the critical components of a brand strategy that helps to build trust and credibility? Well, again, I think we have to start with the purpose. I think that the purpose has to be clear, has to be defined, and it has to have a point that is bigger than the actual person that's in charge. It always makes me think of Simon Sinek and his infinite game, because that's when companies really do make a difference. That's when they really can change the world, you know, for lack of a better term. I think that one of the biggest things that companies can do to really create that trust is they have to minimize the brand gap. And I talk about that in a couple of my articles where brand gap is really the difference between what the brand promises and what the brand delivers. I keep telling the story about going to a restaurant. So, you know, you go into a restaurant, you want to go to a restaurant, you research it online, you get these beautiful images. Everything is just great and you're loving it. You can't wait to go. And then you show up and there is no tablecloths on the tables and the food is mediocre. The service is really not great. And you're disappointed. And when that happens, there's no way you're coming back. Or there's no way that you're going to recommend it. So I think that that is really the brand promise has to be strong and we have to, if not deliver, overdeliver. That’s what makes the biggest impact on people. Everything has to be done authentically. I think that, you know, you you build it, you make a promise. If it's not authentic, people can pick up on that. And if it's not authentic, people will. There's no way that you're going to build that loyalty. So I think that just that those are big, big pieces that have to be taken. In that restaurant example the restaurant was over branding or trying to brand themselves in a way that they actually weren't. Well, basically what happened, look, everybody wants to look the best, right? So we build Brett, we build websites, we take photographs, we set it up, we get it all beautiful and and we put it out there and that's great as long as you can actually make that happen in reality. And it's happened to me where I did go to a restaurant where they're talking about this beautiful service and there's candles on a table and there's a tablecloth and the food is fabulous. And I get there and I feel like, well, I didn't get I didn't get any of that. And so not only am I disappointed. So you did not deliver on your promise as a restaurant, and but I will never put the word out there. I would never recommend it to my friends. And let's face it, that is the best way of advertising is word of mouth. So if we cannot deliver on that, well, then how can you build trust? What's one of the first things you would you would do with a new client? Like if a new client came to you and said, Ruth, how can you help me with my brand? What's like? What are the first steps you'd have to go through? I’d want to hear the brand story. I'd want to sit down and I want them to tell me what it is that they're all about. And I don't want to know. I don't want to hear your vision statement. I don't want to hear your mission statement. That comes down the road. I want to hear exactly why do you get up every morning and do what you do? What drives you? If I can understand and if I can really pick up on that passion of the business, then we can start looking at all the actual aspects that we can look at their brand identity, their visual brand identity. Then we can look at their who's their ideal client. That's always where we start who’s your ideal client? And then we start rolling out all the different tactics that will connect to that ideal target market and you know, social media is going to be big, of course, for most businesses. And so it's also deciding what the what the content should be, what kind of content should be putting out there. Is it videos? Is it articles actually should be a little bit of all of it. So it's a really but it always starts with the brand story. Do you think the brand story always comes from the CEO? Not necessarily. Not necessarily. I mean, it should. The CEO should absolutely understand the brand story, but sometimes you get the brand story from the people who are working in the company. Yes. Especially those who've been there for a long time, because let's face it, most especially small businesses, they will probably have a team of people who were there on day one and they can tell the story and they can probably tell it better than the CEO or president of the company. Yeah, Yeah, I think so, too. And I think what's like what's interesting for me is when I do like multiple interviews with, you know, the owner or the CEO and long term employees, new employees, different types of people is you get different perspectives. And sometimes the CEO is not even aware of of those visions and perspectives from the employees, even more so from client testimonials. I absolutely love testimonials because it gives the business a different perspective again, on what what they're actually doing and how they're actually adding value to their clients. So yeah, so it's not always the CEO. And I find sometimes the CEO might talk very high level, but not actually understand like the day to day personal interactions that that the clients are experiencing. Well, I think that what you're saying about testimonials is so crucial because with testimonials, that's how we learn. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? What could we do better? What needs to change? That's the market strategy that we have to look at and we have to look and see. Are we still speaking to the right people and are the employees happy? Because I mean, look, if you don't have a strong culture in a business, it's not the CEO who deals with their client. It's going to be the people on the floor who are going to be dealing with the clients. So if they're not buying into the purpose of the business, well, the CEO doesn't really matter then. And okay, so what about branding or developing your brand story, not just for clients or sales? What about attracting and retaining the right employees? Well, I think that there's actually very important it takes a little different spin. I think we still have to speak about why are we doing this? Why does a company exist? What is it that we're trying to do? But it's not really about a high level vision anymore. This is about how can we collectively help and if we can get people excited about this and make them excited about the vision and about the purpose. And if we make them part of the story, I think that's when you really build a strong culture and those people will do anything to support that, that purpose and that vision and that brand. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And what kind of emerging trends do you see or technology do you see that's going to impact branding and storytelling? Well, I think that AI, you know, I we that's, that's really where it's all out. And, you know, it's interesting because you're looking at the VR, you look at ChatGPT, and generating content is no longer what it used to be. And it's very, very helpful because you can look at ChatGPT and I mean, I use it every day. Yeah, me too. I don't use it verbatim. I don't do copy paste, but I do use it every day as a source of research and it's a great way to start content. So you don't have to start with a blank page. I think there is a bit of a danger in that because I think that too many people become reliant on it too much. So until that kind of shakes out, then until that balance is restored, I think we're probably going to be seeing a lot of a lot of content that's not very human, But I think that is going to have a really big impact on on where we're going forward. I think that authenticity is going to be even more important in the future because of AI. So I think, you know, all of these you know, I don't mind AI assisted work, you know, in like Photoshop or video editing, but I think the authentic images of video and images, I think that's really going to be what's going to distinguish brands in the future because they are coming forward with their true self and they are showing how it actually is and people will identify that this is real and this is not real. I think this is where the understanding your markets and understanding your clients it's going to become really crucial because, you know, we automate almost everything right now. Right. And you look at lead generation on social media and everybody automates it and there's all these offers of people saying, we're going to get you 40 leads a day Yeah, but are they qualified leads. Sending these automated messages you can automate there's no problem with automation, but you still need to make sure that your messaging sequences are connected to the right people, that there are authentic and that there is that we we have to be careful so we don't lose that human to human interaction. I think that's the key right there. There's some great stuff happening and there's going to be a lot of more great stuff happening in the future. Yeah, I think so. All right, Ruth, I think our time is almost up. Is there anything else you want to add? I just really want to reiterate that, you know, telling stories is a huge, huge part of branding and it really we really need to pay more attention to it. And I think business owners do need to pay more attention to and I think they have to figure out what their brand story is. I think a lot of businesses don't. They just don't know. So, you know, reaching out to someone like yourself and do the interviews and really dig deep into what their brand story is. I think it's super important. Yeah. Yeah. And it's good fun, too. I love learning about other businesses. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Thanks so much for being on our podcast. Well, thank you very much for having me. And yeah, I look forward to talking to you in the future again. And that concludes another episode of Storytelling for Engagement. If you found value in today’s episode, don’t forget to like and share, and visit our website at theartofstorytelling.com to learn more about video storytelling content.