SIMPLE brand With Matt Lyles

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, an established small business owner, a marketing leader at a large corporation—or somewhere in-between—the traditional ideas on building a “brand“ are usually considered essential to any solid marketing strategy.But, what if everything you’ve learned, or think you know, about branding doesn’t actually HAVE to apply to you and your business?This week’s SIMPLE brand guest is Clint White. Clint argues that most businesses, nonprofits, social movements aren’t actually brands. They’re actually what he describes as tattoos.Recognized as a Crain’s New York Business Top Entrepreneur, Clint brings 30 years of experience as a marketer, consultant, teacher, and business builder. He’s the host of the Tattoos, Not Brands podcast. And Clint just released his first book of the same name, Tattoos, Not Brands: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Smart Marketing and Business Building.Clint and I discuss how his flexible “tattoo” approach to consumer engagement is a better choice for most businesses.Unlike market-driven brands, Clint says tattoos are mission-driven. They’re personal, relatable, and nimble enough to evolve with consumer needs—and they don’t break the bank. They get consumers talking enthusiastically online and offline about how your product makes a difference in their lives.Not only do we talk about his “tattoo” approach. We also discuss the simple steps you can take to prepare for success and identify the right approaches to marketing that will best work for you and your product.RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:Clint's siteClint's book- Tattoos, Not Brands: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Smart Marketing and Business BuildingClint's podcast - Tattoos Not Brands

This week's episode features a "from the vault" discussion with Christy Wright.Christy is a #1 national best-selling author,  she’s a personal development expert, and she’s the host of The Christy Wright Show. She’s also the founder of Business Boutique, which equips over 40,000 women business owners to make money doing what they love.Christy and I get to talk about her new book: Take Back Your Time: The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance.   In Take Back Your Time, Christy gives you the method, framework and lessons to help you identify what balance looks like in your specific life. And she uncovers the steps to help you focus on what matters most and achieve your own version of balance. RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODEChristy's book: Take Back Your TimeChristy's site Christy's podcast: The Christy Wright Show

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Jenny Blake, author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business!In the last episode, I talked with Jeffrey Shaw about how you can gain more control in your business - and in your life - through his self-employed ecosystem of personal development, business strategies, and daily habitsIn this week's episode, I’m taking those lessons further to discuss HOW you can gain more control in your business and life through developing the right systems.Think about your own role. Can you honestly say that you’re consistently doing the work that you and only you can do? Or better yet the work that you and only you SHOULD do?If you’re like most people, then you’re likely doing too much of the work that you shouldn’t do and not focusing enough on the work you should be doing.But imagine for a moment that it could be better.Imagine being able to work fewer hours, while making an even greater impact since you’re working on more strategic work.Imagine empowering your team to answer their own questions or develop their own solutions BEFORE they even have to ask you how to solve a problem.Imagine being able to have more free time without that free time negatively affecting your business or career.Well, you don’t have to just imagine it. You can actually have that in your business. But it’s not going to magically happen just by you hoping for it, imagining it, or manifesting it.You’ve got to put in the work to build the right systems and strategies to make it happen.And this week’s guest can help you do just that. It’s Jenny Blake!Jenny is an author, podcaster, and keynote speaker who loves helping business leaders move from friction to flow through smarter systems.Jenny hosts two podcasts with over one million downloads combined: Free Time for heart-based business owners, and Pivot with Jenny Blake to help people learn how to navigate change.And she’s the author of three bestselling books including her latest, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business.RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODEJenny's siteJenny's book - Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your BusinessJenny's Free Time ToolkitJenny's podcast - Free Time With Jenny BlakeJenny's podcast - Pivot With Jenny Blake

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Jeffrey Shaw, author of The Self-Employed Life!When someone goes into creating a small business or becoming self-employed, one main reason is to have more control. Unfortunately, too many self-employed business owners find out the "self-employed life" can feel like a roller coaster where they have even less control than before. We’re being bombarded by and chased by way too many demands. It’s becoming harder to get traction in our business. And, if we do make traction, sometimes it comes at the sacrifice of our friends and/or family.  It’s exhausting. Too many business owners and business leaders become burned out, or sometimes, even worse.What if you could have far more control over your business than you previously thought? It turns out, you can. The key is setting up the right environment for sustainable success and happiness through a Self-Employed Ecosystem.Thankfully, this week’s guest can help with that! He actually developed the Self-Employed Ecosystem concept. It’s Jeffrey Shaw!Jeffrey's a highly sought-after keynote speaker. He’s a LinkedIn Learning instructor and a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine. He’s the founder of the Self-Employed Business Institute, the host of the top-ranked Self-Employed Life podcast, and the author of the bestselling book: The Self-Employed Life.Jeffrey and I talk about how to help business owners gain control of their business and life by creating the environment for the results they want instead of an environment that goes off the rails. And much of that is through creating Jeffrey’s Self-Employed Ecosystem. And honestly, even though these lessons are designed for self-employed business owners, I think they’ll help any busy leader!RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODEJeffrey's siteJeffrey's book - The Self-Employed Life

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Tamsen Webster, author of Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible! Have you ever had a big idea and you were trying to get others to believe in and buy into that idea?It can be frustrating knowing how great your idea is, how much potential your idea has, and then recognizing that the people you’re trying to convince just aren’t getting it. But what if there was a process you could follow to help people not only understand your idea and have it resonate with them but for them actually to "buy in" to your idea as well? It turns out there is a process for that - a pretty powerful process. And once you learn this process, you’ll be able to win over, inspire and influence your audience - every single time. Part strategist, part storyteller, part English-to-English translator, Tamsen Webster helps experts drive action with their ideas. Tamsen honed her trademark Red Thread approach in and for major organizations.Tamsen and I discuss her lessons and her process for taking your big ideas and making them irresistible to any audience. And it turns out that the key to doing this is by building the story that your audience will tell themselves about your idea.Some of the topics we discuss include:Why just identifying your audience’s problem and sharing your solution isn’t enoughHow our brains generate stories to make sense of our decisionsHow brands are doing storytelling wrong There are more storytelling structures behind just the “hero’s journey”Tamsen’s Red Thread elements that help drive any story forward Story structure is like a programming language for our brainsWhere most marketing and communications fail in using storytellingThe importance of giving your audience a choiceRESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODETamsen's siteTamsen's book - Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Nicholas Webb, author of What Customers Hate! When we look at the best brands in the world, they’re the ones that are delivering a great - and usually simple - customer experience. But beyond that, they’re also the ones that take steps to proactively avoid friction and the things that customers hate. These companies have learned that if you can eliminate what customers hate, you’ll automatically become the best option in your market.This week’s guest knows all about removing friction and what customers hate. Nick’s the author of many customer experience and innovation-based books including What Customers Crave, The Innovation Mandate, Happy Work, and his latest bestseller -  What Customers Hate!Nick and I discuss how to deliver an experience to your customers that will retain them AND turn them into loyal evangelists.Some of the topics we discuss include:Most promoter and customer satisfaction data is useless and wrongHow to take a true self-assessment of your customer experienceSelf-awareness will show where the things that customers hate reside in your organizationCustomer experience is an innovation activityHow brands can ensure they get the right insights from their customersHow to know why customers hate aspects of your customer experience. SPOILER ALERT: it’s not in the traditional scores and surveys How Lemonade Insurance became a success by fixing the top things customers hate about insurance customer experienceWhy most brands still tend to focus on customer acquisition over customer retentionHow to better understand your customer experience through “Customer Experience by Walking Around”Why “Happiness as a Strategy” is valuable in your employee and customer experienceThe five touchpoints that make up the human experienceWhy the first customer experience touchpoints are the most valuable RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODENick's siteNick's book - What Customers HateNick's book - What Customers Crave

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Joey Coleman, author of Never Lose a Customer Again! Across all industries, up to 70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company within the first 100 days of being a new customer. That’s a pretty shocking stat. And one of the main reasons customers leave in that timeframe is because they feel neglected in those early stages of customer onboarding.Thankfully, Joey Coleman can help you turn that around to not only keep your customers but also turn them into raving fans.Joey is an award-winning speaker and a customer experience design expert. He’s worked with hundreds of companies to help them deliver remarkable customer experiences while dramatically improving their profits. He’s the co-host of Experience This! podcast along with Dan Gingiss who’s a SIMPLE brand guest in episode 48.And Joey’s the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller -  Never Lose a Customer Again!Joey and I talk about his lessons that’ll help you turn one-time purchasers into lifelong customers and that’ll help you retain your best customers and turn them into raving fans. And the lessons are all from his First 100 Days® methodology.SPOILER ALERT: customer loyalty isn't about focusing on marketing efforts or simply closing the sale. Customer Loyalty is about focusing on the First 100 Days® AFTER the sale and focusing on ALL the interactions the customer experiences.And just when you think our discussion is all around customer experience, we take a hard right turn into a discussion that I've NEVER heard anyone talk about before: the value of empathy..........with yourself. Think about it. By now, many of us understand the value of empathy, and we strive to empathize with others. But we rarely empathize with the one person who usually needs it the most, ourselves.Want to know the other topics we discuss? They're right here:How companies over-emphasize the wrong things to contribute to the vibe of their brandThe dangers of silos to your customer experienceWhy business leaders have a tendency to focus more on customer acquisition than customer retention (half of the reason is biological)Why the majority of customers leave a brand within the first 100 days after their purchaseWhat brands can do in the first 100 days to retain customersThe eight simple phases in the customer life journey Empathy is going to be the single most important skill for humans to have over the next 20-50 yearsThe importance of having empathy for yourself RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODEJoey's siteJoey's book - Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale Into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 DaysJoey's podcast - Experience This!

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Maria Brito, author of How Creativity Rules the World! Innovation and creativity are absolutely necessary in order to evolve your customer experience or even your employee experience. And you’re going to need to constantly evolve the experience so you’re going to need to constantly focus on innovation and creativity.In the last episode I talked with Sara Frasca on the importance of creativity and innovation and how to build a culture of innovation. And I’m following that episode up this week with another episode on the importance of creativity. We’ve established that creativity is important, and we’ve established that everyone can be creative - not just a select few. But when it comes down to being more creative and really building your creativity muscle, you can only do that through establishing and committing to the right creative habits.And Maria Brito helps you learn how to do just that. Maria is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, author, and curator who was named by Complex Magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art WorldShe’s written for and she’s been featured in Entrepreneur, HuffPost, Elle, Forbes, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and lots of other outlets. And she’s the host of The "C" Files with Maria Brito on PBS.And Maria’s the author of the bestselling book -  How Creativity Rules The World!In her book, Maria helps you overcome limiting thoughts and dispel the traditional myths we tend to have about creativity. And she helps you and your team learn how you can cultivate the habits, the actions, and the attitudes that inspire creativity and innovation.Some of the topics we discuss include:How creativity has been stifled in the corporate environmentCreativity is the top skill that employers are looking for across all job openingsHow some brainstorming sessions can kill the creative process all togetherCreativity doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and commitmentHow empathy ties to being more creativeHow the digital world has taken away the ability to empathizeHow the more diverse your team is, the more creative it can beWhy analog habits (using real pen and paper) help strengthen your creative muscle RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODEMaria's siteMaria's book - How Creativity Rules the World

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with innovation expert, Sara Frasca! If you’ve been following me for a while, then you likely know that I preach “Innovating to stay ahead” as one of the key behaviors that goes into creating simple experiences. But there’s a challenge that most people face when it comes to innovation.Most people make innovation much harder than it has to be. Most people think innovation is confusing, complicated, intimidating, complex. Most people think you need a special degree or training to do innovation right. Or they think that only certain people - an elite few - are capable of being innovative.And not only do most people think that they’re not innovative. They also think that they can’t be innovative.  Most people don't recognize their ability to be creative and they don’t understand how to exercise or hone their creative thinking skills.If you’re like most people, then I want to bust this myth wide open for you.The truth is, coming up with innovative, creative ideas isn’t a talent you’re born with. Anyone can do it.But at the same time - you can’t just wake up one day and flip a switch and say, “Oh! Now I’m going to be creative. I’m going to come up with something innovative today.”You have to learn how to have the right innovative mindset. You have to learn how to have the right innovative habits. You have to learn HOW to be innovative.Thankfully, Sara Frascahelps you learn how to do just that. Sara is a keynote speaker, global business coach and innovation expert. She helps leading organizations cultivate human imagination, build a culture of innovation, and solve complex problems in creative ways - all while helping teams recognize their ability to help all of their employees develop and strengthen their creative muscles.Some of the topics we discuss include:Creativity being one of the most sought-after job skills by employersHow creativity has been stifled in corporate employees How the crazy idea of painting cows to look like zebras helped save $2 Billion in the Japanese cattle industryWhy borrowing ideas from outside of your industry is a valuable way to innovateWhat holds most companies back from being creative and innovativeHow creative habits help increase creativityThe core mindsets that are common across the most creative people How to keep your composure in the face of distractions RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODESara's sitePoint Northeast site

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Tim Schurrer, author of The Secret Society of Success: Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) Again!When we think about success, there are a number of messages that have been given to us that say, “If you want to be successful, you have to step into the spotlight, you have to climb the ladder, you have to become the boss, you have to be ambitious, you have to hustle. You have to focus on and chase success, or else you won’t reach it.”But what if there’s another way? What if there’s something different we should focus on and be chasing?That’s exactly what Tim Schurrer teaches.  Tim is the former Chief Operating Officer of StoryBrand where he worked alongside New York Times bestselling author, Donald Miller to launch and operate two brands, StoryBrand and Business Made Simple. Today he’s the host of the Build a Winning Team podcast, where he interviews top business leaders to bring you actionable advice to help you improve your leadership.  And Tim’s the author of The Secret Society of Success - it’s out this week! Some of the topics we discuss include:Why what we've traditionally been taught about success may not be rightHow our culture's primary message around success we hear makes us exhausted What the spotlight mindset is and how to avoid it The value of surrounding ourselves with others whose strengths complement our liabilitiesThe question we should be asking ourselves instead of "What's in it for me?" The value of recognizing people who report to you, and people who you report to, for their work RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODETim's siteTim's book - The Secret Society of Success: Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) AgainTim's podcast - Build a Winning Team With Tim Schurrer