Personal Brand Story and Simplified Marketing,
with Reme Mancera and Bianca Smith

Welcome to Intersection Chats. We are going to talk today about personal brand story and simplified marketing. I am here today with Bianca. Thank you, Bianca, for accepting this invitation. Thank you for having me with me.

Yeah. So you are a marketing strategist. I do personal brand stories. So we have a a lot of, things in common in the sense of how we focus our, our approach to messaging through storytelling. But, yeah.

Let’s dive in, and and let’s talk about how in your experience do you think personal brand story intersects with, simplified marketing? Yes. So it definitely intersects at least the way I work. Because as a marketing strategist, you do have different ways that you work, but I focus a lot on humanizing your brand through storytelling. So I work with service providers on simplifying their marketing and that’s through storytelling.

And so when it comes to marketing, I always look at things in, like, stages. Right? So your personal brand story, that is your foundation. So I work a lot on trying to get our clients what I call from the back end to the forefront. A lot of my clients like to hide behind the computer.

But it’s you know, and this day with marketing, for example, hiding behind a computer is not gonna serve you anymore, especially if you wanna be on the social media side of marketing, where especially in the day of AI as well, where you definitely need to be the the face of your business. So that’s where the personal brand story comes in. So that’s gonna be what I like to call it your foundation is your personal brand story. And I like to approach marketing with humanizing your brand with your personal brand story through storytelling. So that is pretty much the approach that we use.

And because I’m a marketing strategist, we, of course, gotta have a strategy in place for all of that. So we take your personal brand story. We use your personal stories, and we try to figure out how can we humanize your brand through that. And we take those stories and we highlight the value that you can bring to your clients. Yeah.

I love how you focus on personal brand story being the foundation because I feel that that’s one thing that we have in common. For me, having clarity on the personal stories that you want to highlight and use is a a foundational part in the sense of no matter where you are later going to use those stories, like, let’s say, your social media, let’s say, you want to go as a podcast, as a guest into a podcast or doing public speaking or so on, it’s like you have clarity on which stories you want to use and how they are connected with your business, with your offering, with the benefits of what you what you sell. Is like, okay. Now I know these are the stories that I want to share. No matter what is the new channel social media channel or what is the new thing that they want to try, I have clarity as in the foundations for that.

And, also, 100 agree on the idea of how using your stories and storytelling in general will help you to humanize your brand. Mhmm. I feel like we’ve when you are using your stories, you are you can create unique examples that that they are not, not interesting. Like, they are samples that make sense for you because it’s a combination of your background and what is important to you, your values, your personality. So So I feel that can bring a lot of personalization.

And at the same time, it’s easy for you because let’s say you have a specific hobby. If you bring that to your story, Sally, you have a lot of ideas on how to use those concepts and create examples that are unique. And no one else could have that combination because no one else has your life path. That’s one of my slogans. You go to my website.

Right in the beginning, it says marketing that is uniquely you. Because no one is gonna be you. We all don’t have the same life. We all don’t have the same stories. We all don’t have the same business.

Like, for example, like, you’ve read me. I live in Spain. So I use Spain in my storytelling. Right? I’m an empty nester now.

I use empty nesting in my storytelling. So, I mean, how many people are empty nesters living in Spain? Right? Or, you know, and so that sometimes helps that that storytelling aspect of something that’s uniquely you. But also, I focus out on video as well, but how you talk, how you bring those stories out.

And you will be interested to know that while we all have stories, people don’t know how to use it in their marketing. You know, I think that is the biggest piece a lot of my clients struggle with is I’m on a call. I have to record every call because they tell me the most amazing stories. But they can never use that, you know, when they’re using that in their marketing, whether that’s website copy or email marketing, and they wanna go straight to business, but it’s like, how can we take what’s about your business and make it more personal? So takes on pulling the stories out of them.

And I’m doing a lot of listening. And then I sit down and I say, okay. Wow. She helped her client do this. Wow.

She personal. She traveled with her family doing this. And then I help them, bridge those gaps together and and bring that story together. Love that. And this somehow I am, like, connecting the dots for for my clients too, so I love that you are doing that as well.

I the the way that I do is, like, we look for what are the key factors or the benefits of what they offer, and then we look for those meaningful moments that will have to highlight that. So I call those story connectors because they are connecting their story with their business. So I love that you are also helping them to figure it out how the these stories are connected to what you sell. So it’s helping you to to highlight those, benefits and and and to make it more memorable even your your you as a brand, your offer, and how I love to to bring as well this idea of how when you share your stories, you are helping people understand why this work is important to you and understanding the context of how you got into what you do now. Because, of course, we have different paths, but there are these common threads that even if we have done so many different things in life, it’s like somehow there are certain things that are showing up here and there, our values and our angle to work and all that.

So for example, you with this simplified marketing, this approach of simplification on how to make it seems, like, easier and not complicated for people. This is something that I am sure, you know, there are moments in your journey is showing up if when you analyze your own story. So that’s what I like about this. It’s like how we use our stories in a way that highlight these natural skills that are valuable for our clients, and it’s something that for sure you you have in during your life and has been relevant in other moments. So you can use that as a bridge to talk about that topic, but also as a way to show that this is something natural to you.

So it’s easy for you, but it’s really valuable for your clients. Yeah. Exactly. I think a lot of times with you talk about the journey. So I always talk about, you know, your journey of business is different.

My story is so long, you know, and nobody’s gonna have the same journey that I’ve had. And I mean, I was an agency owner. I just rebranded. I used to only work with financial professionals. I had a financial marketing agency.

Now I’m back to being a solopreneur. I’m working with, you know, just just myself. And so that story also can be used when I’m talking about the difference between having a team. And right now, I’m focused on partnership with our clients. So what does that mean?

What does it mean to be a one on one partnership with my client versus an agency? And sometimes people wanna hear that. They’re like, I I wanna partner. I wanna work with somebody one on one because not everybody likes the agency model. I know that.

It’s not that they wanna work one on one. But I think with storytelling, I think what people make the mistake talking about this connection in business is sometimes they don’t always connect with business. It’s me, me, me, I, I, my story. And that’s great. Right?

We wanna showcase our story. Of course. We wanna tell people, you know, how do we get started in our business, lessons that we’ve learned. But I like to approach storytelling when I when I’m looking at your ideal clients, I want it to be relatable to them. I want them to look at your marketing and say, oh, I connect with her.

Oh, I understand. Oh, wow. She helped her client do this. I want that same solution. So you need to talk a lot about your clients and your experience and how you help those clients and not so much, you know, you you you I I, of course, you’re missing your vision and your values, but also how you helped your clients.

Like, if I’m talking about strategy for a client, I talk about my onboarding process. I talk about how we meet every month. I talk about how I renew I, I look at their analytics on a quarterly basis and how we get on a call and together, you know, I feed off your energy. If you say, Bianca, I don’t wanna do video, then we don’t do video. I explain that to people And then people can say, you know what, I don’t like video.

And a lot of marketers are, you know, you know, promoting video. But Bianca is saying I don’t have to. And she’s showing me how she helped another client, you know, with her marketing without showing up on video. Or someone says, I do wanna be on video. Bianca just showed me how she’s you know, they went from being scared, and now they’re showing up, you know, on video all the time.

So showcasing the those stories as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think this is really important. Like, the idea of how you are sharing your stories, but having in mind who is your audience.

Because it’s like one of the things that I hear a lot is, like, people wondering why their story is relevant for their audience or for their business. And that’s how that connection back with you the offering is so important because then you know exactly why you are sharing that specific story because this like, okay. It’s highlighting an aspect of of, my offer. So it’s not just a random story that might be interesting, might be nice, but it’s like, what is the intention? What is, like, how strategically this will make my messaging getting clear to people so they can decide if we are a good fit or not.

So I feel like that point of, of focus on on your item or your on their audience is really important. And when you say this that you were rebranding, your own business, back to solopreneur, that connect me with you being an empty nester. How now you’re back to to an early Yeah. Situation, but with a lot of different experiences and backgrounds. So it’s kind of, yeah, going back to a a a situation that you were before, but really not because you are a different person and you are above.

So the same with your business now, you are in in having all this expertise. I’m bringing that back to them. So I love that approach. Yeah. I, you know, I I talk about this as well because I have a podcast.

And I always say, I thought that this stage of life this is the story that I’m sharing with people, that I will work harder. I will go harder, that I would do more in my business because I now have more time, but now I don’t want to, I don’t wanna work hard. I wanna go for long walks and I wanna sleep in with no alarm. And I talk about this all the time and maybe someone they’re not there yet, but they wanna be there. And I talk about how you plan your marketing around your life because you may be in a season where your kids are home, Right?

So that’s the season that you’re in. So your marketing is gonna look look a little bit different. The stories you tell are gonna look a little bit different. Like, hey, guys, I’m sitting here for three hours at dance class, and I’m working, you know, and another person can relate to that because they’re also used to tell my clients all the time. I have one client who this is exactly her story.

She was sitting at dance class. I’m like, host the story. Host the story that this is what you’re doing because people are gonna be able to relate relate with that. She goes to her summer home and she has to load up her office. Show us how she sets up she sets up a room in her house that she keeps underneath her bed a desk that comes out.

I mean, she’s telling me all of this and I’m like, why are we talking about this to people? You know, so people can know as an entrepreneur that we can move our business where we go. And she’s a tax strategist. So you’re thinking on this busy time, that you know, she’s taking this time off the tax season to go to the beach for her family. So people know, yes, I’m working hard for you.

But I also take time for myself. So when I work with clients on marketing, I give them two options. We don’t just talk about business. I’m always asking some I always ask them what is something that is personal to you that you would like to talk about? So the secondary piece of their business, that to me is the storytelling piece.

So, yes, we’re gonna talk about your business. But what else do you wanna talk about? Is that sustainable living? Is that, you know, health? Is that family?

And then let’s find a way to weave all of that into your business. Yeah. These are, a a way to to bring nuances to the storytelling to the marketing. So I I really appreciate that approach because of that. It’s like you and as as you mentioned before, especially nowadays, with the AI and everything is like you want to be specific in the sense of something that has your voice, something that has your touch, and people can feel like that expression of yourself, not just in the way that you run your business, that services that you provide, but also, like, being in that part of you.

So learning more about who is the person behind the brand. So, yeah, I I think that’s a a really powerful way to use storytelling, if you will. And at the same time, it’s like when we are allowing ourselves to share that parts of our our journeys and our our what is important to us, it’s also as well a way of leading by example because I’m sure your client talking about how she’s taking care of having space for the for the lifestyle and all that is a way to inspire her own clients in okay. Yeah. I am working hard, but I am also deserving, taking care of myself, and, having the lifestyle that I want to because I created this business to be my own boss and and be the one in control of my agenda, my time, and so on.

So I feel that that’s a way even for starting that conversation around how being a business owners also means to be in charge of those kind of decisions and deciding what is success for you, deciding what is important for your business, and leading your business in a way that makes sense and is aligned with what is important to you. Yes. Yes. I agree. But you also get to decide what you wanna share.

I’ve always been really big on boundaries. Like, I have a personal social media that I share about my life in Spain. But for example, you will never see the inside of my home. Right? And that’s a boundary that I put.

And so when it comes to your business and storytelling, like, I don’t show my kids on my business social media account. Right? So in storytelling, you get to decide what personally you wanna share. So, you know, if you don’t wanna talk about, you know, where you live, you don’t have to. But share something.

Share something. You have to make make it make your business relatable to people. So decide what you’re comfortable with sharing. And then the other thing is when it comes to your business, like, if you’re telling clients stories, decide, you know, what stories you wanna tell because some you don’t wanna use your clients’ names. Right?

Like, if I have a leadership strategist, I talk a lot about her and her overcoming video, And I don’t use her name, right, to protect her because sometimes people only wanna know that somebody’s outsource outsourcing their marketing to someone else. And so that’s also the part of story time as well is how do you make it authentic when someone else is doing your marketing? And how do we make it that it sounds like you and that’s the storytelling. So I have my clients fill out probably this two page form. And it’s just talking about them and how they help their clients, but it’s coming from them.

And then I take that and I just optimize it for social media. But those words are actually coming from them. I think that’s very powerful as well. And that’s how we make sure that those stories that we’re telling are your story, and that’s something that I just made up. Yeah.

Totally. And this was something that, also when I work with clients around personal brand story, we identify those stories. We record that and and articulate those. And then they have these as a resource that they share with the people that have them in copywriting, in social media, and so on. So I totally get that part where you are getting the words of your client and how they are expressing certain story, what they are sharing, what they are not, the emotions that they bring.

And then with that, you can work on this content for them in a way that is them. It’s like you are bringing the words or or how you structure the the the content for them, but it’s their their ideas, their way of communicating. So it’s still, like, aligned with their brand and their voice. Exactly. So even when I’m on a call with them, I am just quiet.

I always have one or two prompt that I’m asking them. And then that way, I’m just hearing them. And then I listen back to the call and I’m actually writing down the stories that they told me. Because sometimes with our clients, they don’t know the stories unless I’m pulling it out of them. Right?

And sometimes they know the stories, but then how do you take that and optimize it for a newsletter? How do you take that and optimize it for social media? How do you take that and optimize it for your website? Yeah. And this idea of how you know your stories or you know your life, but sometimes you are overlooking certain parts that can be interesting for others to to hear and can be interesting for other to get your brand more memorable.

So I I totally, see your point of this. And I feel like listening is so big in the work that we do in the sense of they are telling and you are the one, oh, this is interesting. Oh, I am going to ask them back about this part because I feel that that can be connected to the and nowadays, I am, using more the term. I I know about storytelling, but my work is a lot about being a story listener. And I put myself a T shirt even because I went into this in person event, doing some micro interviews there.

And it’s like because I feel like that’s what is a lot about. Like, I am listening and returning back this and think I’m asking you, hey. Do you think this is connected to this approach that you have? And how you use your stories in a way that, again, helping to be memorable, to to stand out as you because you don’t need to perform. And then 100% agree on the idea of the boundaries.

I am also I am really private person, and to me, that’s really important that you are the one deciding what you want to share and what is the level of detail that you want to share. Because even you can share a story in a way and you don’t share, like, details there, but you are highlighting the experience that you get from that moment, the the lesson that you get, the takeaway, or the emotions that you were leaving there and how that’s relevant for the work that you do because maybe you understand where they are at. Your clients, where they are at, but you don’t want to bring the details, the personal details, and you can keep that. You are the one deciding what to share. You don’t need to perform.

You don’t need to overshare. And I feel like setting the boundaries is really important. And then decide it because maybe in one scenario, you want to share a bit more that let’s say in social media or let’s say you are onboarding a client and there you want to be a bit more expand a bit more into certain details because you feel that that can help you in some way to build a trust relationship with your clients, for example. But, again, you are the one deciding, and that’s part of what you can control 100%. Yeah.

And you said the keyword that I use a lot, which is trust. So I think trust is is one of the biggest factors when somebody decides that they wanna work with you, and that trust is gonna come through with storytelling. Right? Because I I actually just did a video on this the other day where I said, you know, marketing’s, you know, change, platforms change, but who you are, that’s probably not gonna change. And storytelling in your in your business is gonna help build that trust.

Because if we know anything right now, is that people do business with people who they know, like, and trust. Right? We say that all the time, But there’s a truth to that. And what better way for somebody to know that they trust you than if you’re sharing, you know, who you are. So they can kind of feel like they, you know, you want them to to feel like they they like that they’re getting to know you.

Right? Because when you’re talking about those stories, it’s it’s gonna help them trust you even faster. It’s gonna help them remember you like, oh, Bianca, the empty nester from Spain. Right? And you keep telling those stories over and over and over again because we’re the only ones tired of our own marketing.

Right? But, you know, I hate to break it to a lot of you, but the percentage of people that see our content is very minimum. So we have to talk about our story over and over and over again. It’s almost like your, you know, your your brand. You have your colors.

And I remember I brought this mouse. And somebody said, I know he’s and I posted it on my story. And I said, oh, I brought a new mouse. And I said, I know exactly that was you just by the color. Because my shirt too, my shirt is the color of my business.

So they can visually see that, but those stories over and over and over again, especially if you have something like a podcast. Right? Sometimes I feel like I’m telling the same stories over and over and over again, but you need to because that person then left you to another podcast, another podcast, another podcast. Honestly, they probably forgot you by the time they got to the second and third podcast. But if you can keep telling them those same stories, it builds that connection so people can actually get to know you a lot better.

Yeah. And something else is how for example, when you are going to podcast, different podcast, you are the one listening to your own words all the time and you get bored. But, yeah, people need to to listen to the same several times. And maybe you change the way that I I like to talk about narrative angles. Maybe you are sharing the same story, which is connected to the same factor of your offering, but you are telling from different angles.

Maybe one time you start, in the moment of the story and then moving back to the end of the story and then going back to the connection to your offer. Or maybe you start, like, highlighting that benefit in your offer and then connecting back to the to the story. So you can use different ways even to share the same same story focusing on little elements one time or highlighting others aspects another time, let’s say, the emotions, in another time you go more into the takeaways of that moment. And that will help you to think about, okay, how I can share the same story because I know that it’s powerful for me to share that story. But how I can do it in different ways where I don’t get bored?

Because people will not be, like, getting all your work all the time, all your messaging. But I know how it feels like when you are like, here we go again answering with the same exact expression and on that. So I know that feeling, and that’s one of the reasons that I try to do this, okay. Let’s articulate your thoughts. So let’s see let’s even rehearsal how you will do this if if you want to go to a podcast.

But I feel like repetition is so key that you need to be boring about your own message. You need to be more because otherwise means you are not repeating yourself enough. So and something that I would like to to know also your thoughts is, how I feel that from both sides when I am the the consumer as well. Like, people that are sharing a narrative, stories, a way of connecting with them that I trust them, but then in a certain channel, the communication is totally different. Let’s say I get to buy something from them, but then their marketing email is super, let’s say, corporate style or dry style.

And then I am looking into their social media there, someone really, like, warm and welcoming and that. And then I receive this kind of messages that, okay. This this doesn’t fit the emotion. So how to make sure that every interaction that we have with people, they are getting the same type of communication style and how there is this consistency in the way that we communicate in the emotions that they receive. I feel that that’s also trust building in a way.

So I would love to know your thoughts on that. Yes. I love this question because I just had this happen. So I had a client come to us and I I look at your marketing as a whole. I may not do all of your marketing.

I don’t do her email marketing because I do her social media marketing. But I look at her whole funnel Because my thing is if I’m gonna do your social media, when they leave social media and they click that link to go to your website, there needs to be a connection. And then they, you know, would would tell them to sign up for your newsletter. But if I’m doing your social media, somebody else doing your email marketing, there’s this disconnect. Right?

This is also why you wanna repurpose your content. So the social media is very warm and fun, and she’s showing up on video. We’re just talking about life and business, but in in a fun way. But then the newsletter we were getting was very corporate. It was too corporate.

So I said, well, what this person can do is rather than you, you know, you’re creating two different types of content, let her repurpose from my content. Right? Because I’m talking directly to the client. We’re pulling your stories, and I’m using that for social media. But then your emails doesn’t relay that.

It’s very here’s five things to do. So I always tell people one story, one story on one platform. So if that is newsletter, that that is your social media, tell one story upfront. Don’t confuse people with two or three stories, and then get into the content and then one part of action. So you can do that by by repurposing.

And if it’s you, it’s easy. It should be pretty easy. It shouldn’t be too much disconnect. If you’re the one that’s doing your marketing. You shouldn’t be sounding the same across the board.

So that’s what you don’t wanna do. You don’t want to be business here on this platform and then be this fun person on this platform because it’s a disconnect. And then people start thinking, is that her? Like, I’m so confused. And I also talk about being uniquely you.

And I said this last week on a reel that I made that how you are on social media should be how you are offline. I know there’s a lot of fakeness right now. Right? But if I’m this bubbly person and then I get on a call with a client, I’m like, hi. How are you?

Or I do videos and I’m like, hey, guys. So today we’re gonna learn about but then in person with the client, I’m, like, kinda more bubbly, but they like the more toner me. There’s a disconnect, and it’s gonna automatically throw them off. So that’s also gonna throw off your audience. So you don’t wanna be two different people.

So pick one long form content, whether that’s a blog or a podcast, and then repurpose from there. And then but change it up a little bit for that platform. Right? And tell add that story. So use that content.

And then say, how can I turn this business post into a story? Like, what is something that an experience? There’s always an experience. Sometimes we don’t know, but there’s always an experience tied to your your marketing. There always is.

And sometimes with our clients, they don’t know how to relate that. That’s why they hired me so we can sit down and just talk it out. Because you can talk it out to someone. So if you don’t hire a marketing strategist, what I want to say is record yourself. I love I use WhatsApp.

So I always record. Whenever I go on my walks, ideas start popping. And I record and I send messages to myself. So if this is you, talk to yourself, see how you’re coming across, use those voice notes for your marketing so then you can use it for for your social media as well. But you do wanna be one person across all platforms so that there’s no disconnect.

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that’s something to to think about, especially if you have several people of helping you in in different areas. But even as a way to be sure that you are not performative in a way or or showing up in how you feel you should be showing up. It’s like, be true to yourself because then no matter in which way they meet you, you you are going to be like you, and you are going to show up in the same way.

So so yeah. And about the repurposing, of course, I love, repurposing. I am a big advocate to wherever you do something, how you make the most out of it. For example, these live chats, we are doing the live chats, LinkedIn and YouTube. Then I am repurposing into an article for my blog.

I am using also it must be my podcast. I am going to create short clips. So the idea is to okay. How this piece of content we are here talking about, our approach is talking about how we do things. Okay.

What we can do with that, you can multiply the impact that you are having. And as we said, people will not get all the impacts from you. They will maybe some of them will see this post. Some of them will, get to the articles. Some of them will get the email.

And then you are being consistent with your messaging and put putting outside your message. So that’s an invitation for anyone to now go back and see which piece of content you have already. Or if you don’t have a podcast, have you been a podcast guest? How you can use that piece of content to repurpose in different ways so you are repeating your messages, again in different ways. So that’s an invitation to people to think about how they can repurpose things because actually that’s something to incorporate.

Yeah. Because we all I would say we all don’t consume content the same. I don’t read blogs. I am an avid podcast listener though. But for somebody else, it may be vice versa.

They may love to read, but they don’t like to listen to podcasts. And so you’re reaching different audiences. So that’s why you wanna repurpose your content. So again, if you have you’re only gonna have one long form. And then like you said, you you gave a prime example.

You’re gonna you’re gonna cut it up. But even when clients come to me, we talk about, you know, their personal brand story, how we’re gonna repurpose, how we’re gonna work on their marketing. The one thing I asked them is, how do you wanna show up? Like, what is your energy level? Because I don’t wanna have you cranking out for a video, because that’s a lot of editing for me.

If video isn’t your thing. So can we start with one video, maybe two? You know, and I help my clients along along that that journey. But I do ask them, like, do how personal do you wanna get? And my clients, a lot of them are actually very private.

And sometimes you won’t even know half kids because they don’t wanna talk about their kids, and that’s the boundary that they set. Yeah. And it’s totally okay. It’s not that that’s because we were talking about trust, and some people, they feel the the pressure of shame more than they feel comfortable with. And that doesn’t mean that you are building more trust.

You can still build trust, having your boundaries in place, having clarity in what is your strategy, what is your intention, and deciding really being, like, really intentionally intentional, reciting which stories are you sharing and which one not. For me, one of the keys is having that clarity on how they are connected to your what you offer and with your audience because that way, you you you feel the confidence of, okay. I know why I am sharing this specific story. I know how I have my boundary. It’s not sharing this other part of my of my life because I feel that that’s something that I want to keep it private.

But still people get to know how I am as a person. They get to know about my values, about what’s important to me, about the context of why I do what I do. So I feel that that connection building and trust building is still there. So it’s not about over like, not respecting your boundaries. It’s about deciding intentionally what you want to share and how you’re making sure that you are showing people, like showcasing who you are and how you are someone to explore this, someone relatable, and how they can connect with you in that human level.

Yeah. I think you said you talked about deciding what you wanna share. I think in the beginning, if you sit down, I have my client I think it’s like a two or three page. This long. But my clients, I have them fill out this form.

It’s, again, a lot about them, a lot about their business, and, you know, some other personal stuff. And they get to share how they what they wanna share. But this is a good practice for, you know, for anyone, you know, when it comes to simplifying their marketing is to sit down and just take some time and think about pull those stories out and think about what do I wanna share and then make a column that says boundaries. Don’t wanna talk about kids. I don’t wanna talk about where I live.

I don’t wanna talk about, you know, certain clients. You don’t wanna be negative because sometimes we have those negative client experiences. You don’t wanna be that that like, I don’t talk anything negative about any clients. That’s the boundary that I have. But also on the left side is maybe, you know, say what you do wanna talk about.

You know, I do wanna talk about my mission, my vision, my values, and the cost of my business. I do wanna talk that I, you know, I I travel a lot. I do wanna talk about my kids, but also I wanna talk about these particular clients. And then when you have those particular clients, then another list I love list guys. So another list where you have, like, client a, client b, client c, and you start think again, voice note if you have to.

But I’m also a writer, so you can just sit down and start typing out these stories. You know, how did you help this client get from a to b? Because that’s what your audience wants. Again, earlier, I talked about not so much I I, but your clients, other people can say, wow, I wanna, you know, I want that. I wanna work with that particular person.

You know, so for example, I talked earlier how I used to run a financial marketing agency, and I will have bookkeepers and they will always sell accountants and they will say, hey, it’s the first of the month, do your books, here’s a checklist. And it’s like, okay, thanks for the checklist. But I will always say, can we reframe that a little bit? Can we say something along the lines of, I just saved my clients $5,000 Boom. You got me.

I’m locked in. So you think, like, I wanna save 5,000. You tell the story how this client came to me and she was so nervous. She hasn’t done her books in three years because she was so stressed and every year that went by, she didn’t wanna do her taxes or her books. You know, let’s say we’re talking about from the tax strategist point because she would think that she was gonna owe and it just spiraled out of control.

So one was mindset. We got on a call, we talked about how is she feeling about her numbers? How is she feeling about her books? How is she feeling about taxes? Let’s get that out the way.

And then the next meeting, I cleaned up all of her books. And then the third meeting, for example, if you’re a tax strategist, I sat down, I did her taxes and come she didn’t even know she’s actually owed money to her. So now she’s excited, you know, because I saved her all this money by looking at her books, say, okay, what can we cut? And she didn’t even notice she can claim some of these business expenses. And then she has a refund due to her.

So now this client left me, she’s feeling positive, she’s excited, she’s happy. That’s the story guys. That’s the story right there versus, hey, it’s a person to mock, do your books. Like, no, like, talk about how you help that. And if you’re not attached to it, just bookkeeper, just say how you help get their books in order and how they feel so much better.

And now you got a client every year or now they’re able to understand what’s deductible, how to even keep their receipts. So that’s what you want. You wanna tell those stories. Yeah. And if you go to if you want to go in the road of using more, like, personal instead of client story, because I feel that this combination is really powerful when you are sharing both client stories to make your point and then in another piece of content or something you are highlighting the same point from your personal point of view, that’s really powerful, I feel like.

So maybe you can’t you want to highlight how these natural skills that you have of being organized, and being on top of thing, how has been relevant not just in this work that you do, but maybe you had a different work role before and that helped you to move through that career as well. And think I always invite people to think about what is the angle that makes your approach different to someone else offering. I I work a lot with, service providers and coaches. So how the the service that you provide that someone else offering something similar, but your approach is unique. For you, something is important, and it’s different to someone else.

For example, I do personal brand story, but I don’t focus in one epic big story. I do these 10 meaningful moments. So I highlight that. And for some people, that will be they are focused on being, like, innovative or for some others more about getting results quick or being more effective in terms of the respecting the people’s, like, their clients’ boundaries. So there are certain things that is not one is better than the other.

It depends on what your audience needs and what is the people that you want to have. So focusing on that and seeing how you can highlight your stories as a way to being, like, really intentionally intentional emphasizing that part of what is your approach, what is different in your approach. I invite people to to consider what is something that their clients are highlighting and they are telling them, oh, I love this for you. I love how you help me with this. And, of course, can be results in terms of numbers, but it’s also thinking about what is emotions that they are highlighting, how they feel when they work with you, how that is something that you can use when you are telling your stories and highlighting that as well.

And that could look like clarity. They feel a lot of clarity when they are working, after working with you, and now they have the confidence to do the next step. You want to highlight that that as well as part of your your messaging. So think about you can also start thinking, I mean, okay. What is the what are the the words and the expression that your clients are going back to highlighting from the work that you do with them?

Yeah. It always starts with the word. We just need to expand on that word because you say you are with service providers and I do too. So I can say I’m a marketing strategist who helps service based business owners with their content and help them simplify their marketing. I mean, that sounds great.

That’s an Instagram bio. Right? That we wanna go a little bit deeper when we’re posting or we’re talking about it. So I can say something like so for example, after years of watching business owners burnout, trying to keep up with every marketing trend, I realized that most business owners, they don’t need more tactics because that’s actually what I talk about. We don’t need more tactics.

They just need a simple strategy that is going to fit their current state of life. And that’s why I focus on helping service based business owners simplify their marketing through who not in their brand through storytelling. I help them tell better stories. I help them pull their stories out, which in returns, you know, they can show up more consistently without feeling so overwhelmed. So you see how I went from a simple okay.

I help service based business owners, and I went to a little bit more, like but this is why I decided to do that. Because with marketing, I am not the marketing strategist for you. If you want trends and you wanna go viral, I’m not that person. But if you wanna build a deep relationship with your clients, and you wanna, you know, be a partner with them, I’m that market strategist for you because I’m gonna help you do that through personal stories, through your personal brand, through who you are making making sure that they see you on social media because a lot of financial pros, they focus a lot on graphics and it’s all these graphics. And then when it come to work with me and I do an audit, I say I have no idea who you are.

There’s no wonder nobody’s clicking because you’re dealing with somebody money, you’re you’re doing their taxes or my my client that were financial planning for me, you’re helping them with retirement. And you want them to you want them to give you an insight into their life. That’s like a messy drawer. When it comes to finance. People don’t want you to see that.

And so people don’t want you to see into their finances and they already am a little bit reserved. And then you want them to book a car. They don’t I don’t know who you are. Besides this car we just got on. I had you know, I have to do a lot of research to find a photo of you.

You know? And so that’s what I really help my clients with, like, let’s just rebrand everything. And everywhere they go, anywhere along your marketing funnel, where you market your whole ecosystem, with throwing in some personal brand stories. Yeah. 100%.

As you said, with, topics like this where you you need your they need your clients to really trust them because it’s like, or I I work a lot with life coaches, business coach. You really want to trust them, before you you decide who you are going to to get services of this level. So I feel the trust is so key, and that for that, I want to see you. I I want to hear from you. I want to understand why this work means something to you and why for you is important, the work that you do, and why for you that angle that you have is important as well.

So sort of that. Okay. Let’s go to the final question. How would you summarize the connection between personal brand story and simple marketing in a few words? So a cup one of the things we talked about was trust.

So that’s always I feel like it’s gonna be the foundation of your personal brand story and simplify your marketing and doing your marketing as a whole because I talked about earlier about you being you are the brand. So trust because, again, people aren’t gonna buy from you if they don’t trust you, especially my clients who are service based business owners. And like I said on my website, I have a big old thing that says be uniquely marketing that’s uniquely you. And I emphasis that a lot because you are unique, but I think that ties into being authentic. So long as you can be authentically you because at the end of the day, no one is you.

No one has your journey. No one has your life experiences. No one runs your business like you do. Yes. There’s people out there that are gonna mimic that and still they will steal from you in a heartbeat these days.

But they’re they’re not you. They don’t have that history that that you built over all the year to be able to help your clients. Right? So again, that that authenticity and then, be be relatable. Honestly, just be you.

I I don’t know how what better way to say it. Because when you are you and you want people to see you in in in in in the way that they think as well. So they can say, oh, I was so a lot of it is looking at if you’re looking at your clients and looking at the thing that they struggle with and seeing how you can input that into your marketing. And are there other ways that maybe you have the client with the same thing? Right?

And so just be relatable. Be you. Trust. Be authentic. Be uniquely you.

Nice. Love that. For me, I will summarize as strategic focus because I feel that in both personal brand story and simplified marketing, the idea of focus on something specific, not just all the stories, but deciding which one makes sense for your audience, for your business, for your offering, and then being intentional that strategic part of, okay, having in mind that goal that you want, how you want to convey your messaging, how you want them to know about you and your set of, like, this combination of personality, values, expertise, and so on. So I feel the idea of I I feel the idea of when you have something simplified, business’s marketing strategy is like you have something to focus on, so your impact is going to be higher. So I feel that having that simplified marketing strategy can be so useful for them.

So my invitation is add to analyze, okay, what you are doing now, how you can make things simpler, maybe and this I am speaking about my own experience. Sometimes I try to be to be, like, simplifying things. I’m focusing on something, but then you get into all these ideas that you have. And then it’s like, oh, I want to do this. And maybe I will try that.

And and then it’s like, wait. Wait. Wait. Let’s analyze. Let’s decide.

Okay. I want to focus now on this. Give it a try. Give time to work, and then maybe you decide to try something else or pivoting a bit or wherever. But trying to focus on something that will help you to even measure the results because otherwise you are trying here and there with someone’s strategy.

It’s going to be difficult to see if this is working or not because you are trying so many different things at the same time. So I will say that strategic focus I feel that is both of the side, like, the personal brand story and the simplified marketing. Yes. I love that. I love you talk about just that one, and I talk about I have a one by one marketing queries session that I do, and it’s, you know, one issue, one solution, one sheet that they get from me.

But I think that also applies to your marketing. Like, I’m always about simplifying. I think we make marketing way too hard than what it should be. So one piece of long form content, you know, that can be a blog, a podcast, YouTube, whatever you wanna do that’s your long form. Pick one platform because if you have to be I’m everywhere because I’m a marketing strategist, but you don’t have to be everywhere.

So pick something that but a platform that your ideal client is on that you also love. That can be LinkedIn. That can be Instagram. That can be Facebook. Focus on that one platform.

Focus on one message. Focus on one solution and focus on one story. And tell that story over and over again. And then as you grow, start bringing in those more stories and then bring in a secondary platform if you want to. But just start with one across the board.

It’ll make your marketing so much easier. Yeah. So thank you for this. How can people learn more about what you do, learn about your approach? Yes.

So I actually if you go to my website, www.besimplified, beesimplified.com, under resources, I have something called storytelling social media prompts. So all of these prompts I was telling you that we help our clients with, I give you some of those. And if you love AI and you’re thinking like, how do I actually put this into marketing? There’s a little AI prompt that you can then put into AI because it’s still coming from you. Again, sometimes if I’m not doing your marketing and you’re still confused, AI can kinda help you with that as well.

I’m on all social media platforms under be simplified, so Threads, Instagram, and Facebook. I am on LinkedIn under Bianca Smith, and I have a podcast. You guys can tune into simplified marketing. Nice. I will make all the links available in the description so come, people can, check your resources and check your podcast.

Thank you so much. And for people curious about learning a bit more about my approach to personal brand story, they can go to my website. There are there are resources. One of them is a small video sharing about the different ways that they can use their personal brand story in creative ways because, we want to go beyond and implement our stories in every touch point with our clients as we were talking about before. So thank you so much, Bianca.

This has been a pleasure to share to have a a you, listen about your insights. So thank you so much. Alright. Thank you, Reme. It was a pleasure.

Okay. Until next time.