Laura Sauter, strategic brand consultant and founder of Agency Bel

0:00 The topics and opinions express in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W four cy Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W fourcy Radio. Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen N believes that certainly applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W four cy Radio. That's W four cy dot com and now your host, Kevin helen N.

0:52 Thanks everybody for joining us again today. I am Kevin Hallanan and welcome back to Winning Business TV and radio. We're on talk for tv dot com, streaming live W four cy dot com. We're also on Facebook and that's at Winning Business Radio, and of course we're available in podcasts after the live show on tons of platforms pretty much wherever you get your podcast content. We're there, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, etc. And the list goes on the mission of winning business radio and TV. As regular viewers and listeners know, is offerings, insights and advice to help people avoid the mistakes of others, right, and that's to learn best practices. Those are the how tos, the what toos, the what not tos, to be challenged, of course, and hopefully to be inspired by the successes of others. Those folks are consultants, They're coaches, they're advisors, authors, founders and owners, entrepreneurs, people with expertise. But you know, virtually every successful person that I've ever had a chance to talk to has had some form of failure in their lives and careers. So, as I say every week, while we all have to get our knee skinned once in a while, I'm driven to keep those scrapes from needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to learn from history so we don't repeat it. I've spent the better part of my career equipping businesses to grow from solopreneurs to small and medium sized companies all the way to the fortune fifty.

2:16 I've seen some of those companies win into varying degrees I've seen some fail I've had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the highest performing people around and with some probably should have found other professions. In my own businesses, I've had a lot of success, but some failures too. So I like to think I've learned a lot from those experiences, and therefore you're going to hear from me my opinions and insights. But and because Laura, anyone who knows me will tell you, I sometimes have a hard time being quiet. But more importantly, you're going to hear from experts, those consultants, those coaches, authors, advisors, founders, owners, entrepreneurs, And today is no exception. My guest today is Laura Souder, strategic brand consultant and founder of Agency Bell. Laura is a speaker, a seasoned brand expert, and educator with brand strategy and design. She supports entrepreneurs and longtime company founders alike to feel confident during their time of corporate transition, whether launching, merging, or creating a succession plan. She's consulted for multinational companies such as Fidelity, Biogen, and TGX, as well as many small and mid sized companies. At Agency Bell, Laura leads brand transformations by turning ideas into actionable strategies.

3:29 With thirty years of experience in brand strategy and identity design, she specializes in helping established companies navigate transitions, whether they're facing M and A challenges, succession planning, or entering new markets. Her approach is defined by an ability to cut through complexity and deliver clear, effective strategies that drive results. Laura thrives in environments that require decisive action, helping brands move forward and achieve their goals. She excels it sorting through the noise to find the best path forward. She helps but he's identify opportunities and avoid pitfalls, ensuring that every move is aligned with long term success. She understands that every company and team is unique, and so she tailors her approach to bring out the best in every individual, creating cohesive, high performing teams that are greater than the sum of their parts. In addition to leading agency bell, Laura's an expert who facilitates branding and marketing conversations that resolve major business challenges. She's presented to and facilitated groups of all sizes and expertise levels, including boards of trustees.

4:32 As a former board chair herself, Laura brings a particularly deep level of empathy and expertise to her work with boards. She holds a BS in Design from the University of Wisconsin Madison. She lives in Milton, Massachusetts with their fiance Mark. She has two kids, Margot who's twenty and Gwyneth who's twenty three, and is excited to have two future step kids, identical twins, Charlie and vv who are sixteen. Laura, Welcome to Winning Business Radio. Thanks for being here, so good to be here. Thank you. I hope I pronounced all the kids' names. You did, right, I say Vivi, but it's all okay. His name, her name is Vivian Vivian. So first, let's talk a little bit about the personal side. Tell us about Mark. Oh gosh, we've been together for six and a half years.

5:16 I have been divorced twenty so I'm very excited to be on the path to marriage. Taking our time. Mark is a fractional COEO and we talk business all the time. That is one of our big connector points. He's actually next networks with me often and we you know, we go to different events together. So he and I are kind of a little power team, a little power couple in addition to being passionate parents and all the rest. That's awesome. Now tell us about the kids, your kids, and then your step kids or anywhere you want. Well, I have four daughters, well to to be. Gwynneth and Margo are mine, Charlie Vivi or his of course.

6:00 Gwyneth is wrapping up her masters at Columbia, so she's smarty pants a year old, is finding her way. She just left her first year of college, but she is emerging into the workforce and learning about what that feels like. She just had her first day today as a receptionist at a law firm. Cool. And then the twins are juniors. They're working so hard. They're great students and college bound. Nice. Love to hear that. All right, So where did you grow up, La? I'm a Chicagoan. I'm a Midwesterner. I live on the East Coast and when I moved here, everyone gave Chicago a hard time, and I said, Hey, it's the stuff between the bread that makes the sandwich. So just laying off the.

6:47 Show, listen. I think it had something to do with sports, but I could be off base there. But well, I am a Midwesterner. I went to college in the Midwest, and I grew up on the south side of Chicago, So I am an urban girl. Nice, nice, And what were your early interests? Actually, I went to a college prep private school. My mom was a professor, and I grew up in academia. But I was sort of the artsy FARTSI girl. And even though I was a good student, I just always loved the creative pursuits. And so in a senior year, we were given the opportunity to have what was called May Project but basically a young person's internship program, and we could do anything we wanted with our last month of high school. I chose to work in advertising, and I literally opened up the phone book back when that existed and went to the biggest print name in the phone book under advertising, called them, and they gave me an internship. It was J. Walter Thompson.

7:50 And that was the epitome of a cold call right there. Yeah, that is that is the epitome of a cold call. Had no idea where what I was getting into. And when I strolled up to the address, of course, it was the John Hancock Building and They had sixteen floors in that building and had Oscar Meyer and other big accounts, and that was the start of my young career. Well, I was going to say, it seemed like you knew you wanted to be in design judging from your bachelor's degree. Yes, that was my passion. I wanted to be in design, but I also wanted to be more than a design er, so I did a dual degree in journalism and design, my goal being to be a magazine designer, which is what my first jobs in New York were.

8:35 Yeah, I'm going to ask you about those what before I do? Though? Why'd you choose Wisconsin? I had done quite a bit of college touring Cornell in the East Coast, and when I came back from my big month long trip, my dad said, how about University Wisconsin. That's where he got his PhD. So I of course gave him a hard time being there urban girl that I was like, I don't want to be where the cows are. And of course when we drove up there, just me and my best friend, we fell in love with the campus and it really was the epitome of college. That's awesome. It sounds like a good experience for you. All right, so your first position was at Town and Country.

9:18 Tell us about I like to ask questions that I think the audiences, the viewers and the listeners are going to want to know. So how did you get that first job? That was it a cold call? And the yellow pages? And then tell us about the job itself. So my my cold call was softened by I had a strategic college class. So I, as I mentioned, had put myself into the journalism school along with my design school, which was actually pretty difficult in such a big college like that. It was two different segments of the college. So my magazine class basically was I was the art director of this magazine and we had other you know students in different roles. So as in preparation for writing the article, which was my particular article was featuring redesigns of other magazines, I got to basically call the art director of Time magazine, the art director of GQ magazine, and all these other magazines. And I had all these basically you know, interviews, but I was interviewing them for their jobs. And so when I came to New York, I had these kind of relationships and made the rounds and obviously not everyone needed a designer, but I'd say, who do you know? Who do you know? I was young and prea that was very brave, much braver than I am now because I know too much. But long story short, I worked my way into town and country,

10:50 which was almost one hundred and fifty years old, and I got to do some really amazing work with amazing photographers, other amazing desig I mean, really the cream of the cream. It was amazing. What would you say would be a key lesson learned or key takeaway from that first role. I was young and I was already a manager, and I think that kind of surprised me. I thought, well, young people need to do the grunt work. But this was right at the turning point of technology, and I grew up in technology. I was really the first level of people. So I knew how to do the production with the computers, and I knew how to, you know, really run and run the department if you will. And they saw that, and I was confident and really just stepped into some shoes. So folks that were in their forties, et cetera. Were under me, and I was running the department of how to actually produce the magazine, because that was really what I had studied.

11:54 So what were the interactives, the interactions between those more seasoned folks and you, the young buck. I think initially surprised, just again because on principle, most folks tend to be older than their their underlings. But I was confident and kind and I wasn't snooty, so they respected me, and I did my job well and I allowed them to go home on time, so they really liked that. In the magazine world, that's not always the case. So you were a city kid, but you were still in a midwesterner, so I was kind. I could get the job done, but you did it nicely. Yes, I wore black, so I did the you know, the New York black yeah thing. But I was still a nice girl, nice all right.

12:42 Then a editorial designer role, which well that was how s Beautiful magazine tell us a little bit about that one, so. That magazine focus. On I should have said this, I'm sorry to interrupt, focus on what you learned during that process. I had a terrible manager there, actually, and I think as a young person, I was still quite young. As a young person, I had not come across that and the art director of this magazine was very abusive verbally and inappropriate. I mean this is very early in the nineties, you know, ninety three, ninety four, whatever, it was, ninety five.

13:24 And so when I went to the HR department, they said, oh, you've been there for a couple of months. We've been expecting you. Instead of saying, oh, well, bring it right away, they kind of gave me a little talking to and said boys with boys, And of course they reported it to the editor in chief and he kind of gave me a talking to about I shouldn't have done that. So what did I learn? I learned to leave, to leave abusive relationships. And so I loved that magazine. Amazing magazine, amazing product, and other amazing people. But I was not well treated there, nor were others in his care. That's not in a good way. But that's that's amazing. Yeah.

14:07 Then graphic designer for Waters, Oh, that was. A wonderful position. This was through networking. I had this kind of icky situation at this really good magazine, and I through the network, found this wonderful fellow, John Waters, not the filmmaker, who had a seventy person design firm in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, and he, I mean, he's really what I model my agency after. He was a really. Really high, really amazing fellow, good designer, but a very good networker and hustler in a positive way. And he empowered us to run our accounts, but he did all of the new business. So I learned. I I listened to him about how he spent his time, how he spent his mornings, what he did, and how he did it.

15:07 And I really learned a lot from him, without realizing that I was going to take these lessons into my own business. All Right, Laura, we're going to take our first break right here, everybody. We'll be back in about one minute with Laura Souder of Agency Bill. You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four cy Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. Have you ever dreamt of being on the radio, Well, now it's your chance. Be a radio show guest on the number one ranked internet radio station and promote you and your business for free. Yes you heard it, free business advertising right here on W four cy dot Call five six one five zero six four zero three to one.

16:04 Now to get booked on one of our shows. That's five six one five zero six four zero three to one. Geg. You're free advertising now. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene, presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helena. We are back with Laura Souder, strategic brand consultant and founder of Agency Bell. Let's talk about a couple of other roles. Then we'll get into your your firm. Let's see Future Brand and Borders. Was that like the Borders the bookstore.

16:54 Yes, I was a create structor, So Future Brand was really where I started to go global Waters Design incredible, but more of a local design firm. Future Brand was part of the IPG network of companies, so global. They have kill Holliday and others in Boston, very very large global company. So our accounts were airlines and national international banks and so forth. So this is really where I started up my game in terms of reach and strategy and the way that their organization was founded. It wasn't you know, I really came as the designer. But this is really where we had teams that were doing the upfront strategy piece, brand valuation, brand implementation, really really large programs and in their system. We all worked together from the start. So even though I was not at the time a brand strategist working in tandem, I was part of the interview process. I got to speak to CEOs and other stakeholders of these large organizations, and likewise, once it became more in my camp, the strategists were part of my team. So I've taken that model into agency bill where the brand strategy is part and parcel of every project. Even though I come with a designer's lens,

18:27 I do have that strategic piece. It's been built into me. Yeah, I definitely we're going to talk about that for sure in a little bit. And then Borders. I haven't seen the name Borders for years. Yeah, Unfortunately they went out of this bookstores are not as much of a thing as they were. I was very lucky to have this opportunity. My ex husband moved us to the Midwest, back to the Midwest in n Arbor, and I made Lemonade out of Lemons. I did not want to leave Manhattan, but I was provided this opportunity to be the corporate creative director for Walden Books and Borders Books. That was an incredible opportunity to oversee the creative marketing operations of over twelve hundred stores.

19:11 Wow, yeah, I love a good bookstore. That's another story for another time. But still go to Barns and Noble, you. Know, Yeah, I love books. Yeah, Gangler worldwide. Okay, that's more of a stint. I would say. I was asked to come in and transition the Fidelity account from New York to Boston. I did that for almost a year, and that was when I say Fidelity. This was bringing the brand to life in the investor centers. So if you think about colors and typography, that is something that most people think about on the web or in print, but a really well thought out program will also start to think about how does the brand and live inside of a building? Interesting, you know, how do the employees interface with the brand? And so we developed these large stripey patterns which got overlaid in the atriums in the larger conference rooms. You could see it from the street and really start to identify the vibe and the vitality of the organization of fidelity from every touch point.

20:26 Now this next part isn't exactly chronologically. I think this one is. But the next couple years, I mean for the audiences, not like you stopped doing one for the other, but you started teaching at a manual for a while. Yes, I coll itels about that, and then I want to hear about the Art Institute's as well. I was a professor part time for eleven years. Actually I was at Emmanuel in the New England Institute of Art. I loved this phase of my life. I'm also glad to not be a teacher because I have my days backed for my practice. But I did take a day off every week to teach, and I had over seven hundred students. That was a really incredible experience and I felt like it really kept me young and vited and with the times and so as you know, from technology to the trends, et cetera, and inevitably every student always asks their teacher something that the teacher doesn't know the answer to. So I was constantly learning and really keeping fresh.

21:26 And like I said, I had over seven hundred students, many of which were interns for me, and I still am in touch with today. So this is a deep sociological question. We were able to stay. Friend, tell me why women and girls can use the word brow to each other? Why? Well, I think it's I think it's you know, like, hey guys, let's. Go guy, but I get a kick out of it. That guy is a guy male usually, but it's become more of an overhanging for hey, yo, hey bro, let's go. That's our deepest question for the day. So I understand.

22:08 You know, I don't know where I saw it reference, but you were an accidental entrepreneur. Tell us about that. What does that mean? How did that happen? Well? I did mention that my ex husband moved us to Michigan from Manhattan, and he also moved us from Michigan to Boston area. All right, so at this point I had a fourteen week old baby. Oh well, I left my corporate job in the Midwest with no job here, so that was super awkward. I had a mortgage in Michigan, I had a brand new house in Hingham, Massachusetts, six bedroom home and a fourteen week old baby. So I said, hey, hey, bro, creative here and I'm going to start my own business.

22:54 I think I know how to do this. By now, let's do this. And so I used one of my six beds as the start of my business. And I started off with a hair salon and Biogen. Those are my two first projects. Well, two ends of the spectrum. Very very very broad spectrum. Yet so what did you do in general? For the hair salon? So I literally was getting my hair done there and I asked the receptionist, who do you use for your advertising? And I did photo shoots and the layout of the ads, placements of the ads in Boston Magazine and other publications. And you know, that was the start of that little gig.

23:35 And then for Biogen, they even though they were large, they were still operated very entrepreneurially, and they grew so quickly. They didn't really have their own brand, if you will. They had a logo, but they didn't really have what I would consider the framework. And I knew because I was part of this insular relationship with the VP of Strategic Initiatives, that Jim Mullen was looking to merge with another company in California and an oncology company. So they were looking to kind of fortify from below their brand and start to become a little more attractive and relevant to some of these other bigger players in the marketplace in order to be eligible to merge. So it was really part of two things. They were turning twenty five and that was sort of a signal to the whole community that they were a force. And then additionally, they wanted to have the real brand look and feel that would be attractive to this other company.

24:50 So I'm going to get into that, but I'm going to ask I was going to ask that in a few minutes, but I'll ask, now, how do you desire how do you begin that process, that transformation process. I'm sure this is not an easy answer, but. Right well, with Biogen, we knew it was going to be somewhat temporary because if that merger did go through, we really wouldn't have to roll it out. Typically the rollout or the implementation is the most complicated and time consuming, but for us, we were really looking to almost do an internal campaign because at the end of the day, the employees are the brand ambassadors for a company, so we really wanted to do more internal communications, i would say, versus external communications, to really get everybody on the same page about these are our values, this is our mission, this is who we are, this is what we stand for and really identify and not just wing the values that most people followed, but really put out to the employee base the strengths and values that they embodied. And then there was a little bit of a refresh from the identity standpoint, a little bit of a a framework for the way that their outward facing communications looked. And like I said, it was their twenty fifth anniversary, so we did some billboards and some other kind of external promotion just to let the world know that they were celebrating.

26:17 So when you say a little bit of a refresh, this wasn't a whole new brand. It was a welth I'll use the word again, refresh of the current brand. Is that what it sounds like. Yeah, In this case, it was more of a refresh and an internal employee communications process. A true rebrand is going to be a brand new logo, everything looks and feels different. This was more of a solidification of what they had been kind of winging for all those years, because again, they grew fast, but they still kind of operated like a entrepreneurial venture even though they were at the time I think a billion dollars already.

27:00 Well so here. This is something that's just I'm curious about, and I think others probably are too. Where do ideas come from? I mean, you say somewhere probably in your bio. You lead brand transformations by turning ideas into actionable strategies, and I want to get to that question in a moment. But where do these ideas come from? How do you start? You must talk to a lot of people internally, externally I do. And I liken it to being someone who's panning for gold. There's a lot of muckety muck in there, and I Am going to sift through it and shake it and find the glimmers of gold, and then usually I present it back to them. They think I'm very smart, but they've given.

27:42 Me most of it. It's just that things get so cloudy and confusing, especially for larger companies. And this happened at Borders as well. We had so many different stores, and every store manager tried their best to make their store seeing you and sell. But at the end of the day, we were a chain and we wanted it to be consistent. So I had to go through and again help things kind of fall to the bottom and let those glimmers of gold, be more of the focal point and get rid of the junk and just focus on the gold. So once we have the gold identified and I present it back to them and they think I'm very smart, we usually further edit and then we'll start to check in with the marketplace. Is this resonant, is this powerful? Does this have a place in it? Is there anybody's you know who we have to kind of elbow out of our way and protect our space. That's also part of it is we look at the competition and where they're going and try to stay out of you know, either carve out our own space in the in the in the competitive marketplace, or really make sure that our elbows are sharp and keep them away from us.

29:00 Do you do this? Do do you surveys? Do you make phone calls or maybe zoom now? But do you have meetings? How does that communication take place? Well, at first, it's the stakeholders, the leadership, so it's the founder, it's you know, depending on the level of company, it could be five or eight people. I try not to have it be more. Even for a large company. If it's a very large company like the Biogens or the Fidelities, they're going to have their own internal reporting structures. But at the end of the day, it's still only five to eight people. For smaller businesses, we might have three to five. And again it's those stakeholders who have either built the company from the ground up or who have been charged with really establishing the program. It always goes back to business. Branding is business. It's what does the business need and want. I mean, not a business advisor, although I do end up doing some some negotiation and some mediation for that. But at the end of the day, we are reflecting where the business is going, and branding is aspirational. So this is something that we want to be in the future. This is not where we are now.

30:16 We are looking out five to ten years in the future so that that business has room to grow into that space. One last question before the commercial do you involve legal in this process too, for copyrights and that sort of thing. We do. I have checkpoints along the way once we get to the design phase, naming phase, anything that can be trademarkable or registered. I do have a way to take the pulse. A full full research will be done after we've decided the path makes sense. All right, We're going to take our second break, everybody. We're going to be back with Laura Souder. She is a strategic brand consultant and founder of Agency Bell. Will be right back in about a minute.

31:05 You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. The yp dot com website is your local search engine. If you're looking for a good restaurant, it can help you find the right one nearby with ratings and reviews. Or if your car breaks down, you can use the YP app to find the closest repair shop. Or maybe you're just looking for something to do on a Friday night. While it has great local coupons for all sorts of things in your area, no matter what, when or where. If you're looking for something, YP local search can help you find it. So go to YP dot com or download the app to search local, find local, and save local.

31:55 And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene, presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helenett. We're back with Laura Souder of Agency Bell. All right, so actionable strategies, how do you arrive at those? And this is very general. I know I do want you to provide a couple of sort of case studies at a moment here, but how do you turn those ideas into actionable strategies? So the team gets together multiple times, typically going through again where are they going, what's been the stumbling block?

32:44 These They have their own homework that they bring to the table, and once, you know, once we've done some of the number crunching and ideation, we come up with really a set of attributes actually quite simple. The bottom of the triangle are things that they are that typically most of their competitors might be. The second up middle of the triangle is what starts to set them apart. And then the top of the triangle, the apex, is the thing the brand essetce that really is their differentiator. That leads to taglines, it leads to mission statements, leads to value statements. Those attributes become kind of the lifeblood of every communication messaging that is now trying to capture their identified audience. So that's really where the action comes in is you take these attributes and you don't even have to use them literally, let's say passionate or you know, agile.

33:48 These attributes are embodiments of where their brand is going and we let go of the old ones that have been holding them down. Be difficult for some, it is sometimes. But some of them are really obvious, like maybe they were the cheapest when they first started. That was one of their differentiators. Well, you know, starting to see yourself as a luxury product or service is something that will really start to change the way their mindset and how they think about themselves and how their team thinks about themselves as they're sharing and promoting the brand. So the action gets into really those messaging touch points that are connecting.

34:33 Those messaging touch points could be the obvious like websites and brochures, but it could be scripts for sales folks, or other types of motivational videos or social media advertising posts. That's really where the juice comes. Alive, and it really does sounds to me like it becomes part of that DNA after a while. It does. So oftentimes you'll see a tagline. Sometimes you'll see just three kind of atmospheric words you know, intelligence, motivation, aspiration. Those those are I call them kind of clarifying lines.

35:14 Those aren't officially taglines. They start to give that feeling about the brand and that connective tissue that the associates and other staff need to feel connected to where the brand is going. That's such a good term, connective tissue. I get that. Can you and you can keep it confidential if you want to or need to, but can you provide some examples? Not quite a case study, I did say case study, but some examples of some of the work you've done, you know, describing the project, et cetera. Well, I'll use one that didn't go well. This was for a bank, And I say it doesn't go well because I, again was this was not my client, an agency bell. But when I was still in the agency world and we were we were working with the marketing director, which isn't a bad thing, but typically the marketing director has the reporting lines to the CEO because he or she's been charged to do this big project. In this case, it was a nine hundred thousand dollars project and we had whittled down the logos to the final five and we were doing a presentation to the CEO our first time, our first touch point with the CEO, and this CEO was someone who literally started in the mailroom and worked his way up to become the leader. And he had charged his marketing director to quote unquote do a rebrand.

36:42 Their logo had been done in the seventies and this was multiple decades later. And again we had a very holistic, very inclusive relationship with the marketing director and many many, many layers of the organization except for the CEO. When it came to that meeting, we thought it was a shoe in. This man started to cry. He looked at us, he has looked at he looked as a marketing director and basically gave her the stink eye. And it wasn't our fault, but but he we had taken it way too far for his comfort, and so we ended up really just doing a brand refresh, to be honest. And so what I learned from that situation was absolutely, always have a early meeting with the CEO. She doesn't have the time or the willingness to participate in the in the daily stuff. They have to be involved very very early on, and we have to hear it from them about what their vision is for the change. So that was a complete and utter, you know, waste of time.

37:50 Just complete disconnect, right, he disconnect. We really took it on as a brand redesign, and it wasn't. And there's an example of where someone was deeply emotionally connected to that organization what it had become because as you said, he started from the ground up. Literally, Yeah, this process is more emotional than most people. To use a smaller company example, was brought on to work with a founder of a twenty year old interior design company and he had the ultimate goal of retiring and wanted to sell the company to one of his employees.

38:35 So the vision was to kind of bring his brand up to the current days esthetic and represent what he had grown his company into. I did a name change, I did a logo change. It was pretty big for him and very emotional. I mean, this is their baby, baby children, but you also have baby businesses and people can get very emotional about it and stuck. And also I love working with business owners who have business coaches because like I mentioned, this is this is you're moving into territory you're not at quite yet, and it takes a mindset shift to really be willing to be that business owner, that new business owner of that new company that we're doing.

39:26 Talk about some of the fractional CMO work that you do and explain what that is to those folks in the audience. I may not get that yet. Sure, Well, most of what we're talking about is the upfront stuff. Now, what do you do with the assets that we've created? The new logo, the new name, the new tagline, the new look and feel, the new website has to actually be used and updated. Every website that I build, you have to keep it fresh. You need to add more content, you need to change things as the business changes. So that's where the fractional CMO work comes in. I stay on board with every client for at least the first year to make sure the brand is being implemented and rolled out correctly. Because we design a basic brand guideline for colors, typography, the look and feel, and I do the first of everything, but to really have it be done correctly. Early in my in my business, I really just did the logos and gave it to the business. Then crazy things started happening.

40:33 Oh get your heartbroken later. Yeah, I can't wait to put a Santa hat on my new logo. Oh, I can't wait to add polka dots to my green and blue you know brochure. It just is crazy what people will do, so I try to protect them their brand as much as possible and keep the brand alive the way it was designed and the way they agreed to it. The first year, of course, is part of the proposal, but then they have the option to stay with me for years to come, and I've had clients for over a decade. Love it stay with me. Who are you know? What's the profile of your ideal client? I'm sure geography doesn't matter a whole lot anymore, or maybe it does, but who is that ideal client?

41:19 I am industry agnostic, but I love because of my house beautiful days. I really love working with companies in the home sector. So I've had furniture manufacturers and lighting designers, and the service based businesses that use those types of things, like the interior designer I mentioned or architects are good folks to work on their brands as well. So I would say the products and services for the home. But then I also love healthcare. Boston has a bazillion biotechs and other startups, small and large, but then you know, it could be a pediatrist or a yoga mat company.

42:00 Again the products and services for health. So I am B and I'm also B two C in that health arena. I've done power bar companies. Oh yeah, we wanted to get into whole foods, so packaging and other types of more of the B two C world. Here's a question that you might have to think about for a second. What's the best lesson you've either learned recently? And recently is twelve months or so? Who knows, but or that you've taught somebody in that same time period best lesson you've either learned or taught. I think it's really important just to be out there.

42:41 I'm talking really more business owner to business owner, right, I think. I mean some of my projects I've gotten standing in line at the same restaurant. That's how I got TJX. I was literally standing in line for a restaurant and somebody had a Bank of America pin on his lapel I said, Oh, I used to work on Federal Street, Da da da cha chat and his partner worked at TJX, and they invited me to sit down with them for dinner. And I was I was dining alone, and I think really being again eyes up and available and communicate. I think in this cell phone culture, and this is obviously way longer than twelve months, everyone has their eyes down. And you know, in the old days you'd be on an airplane and make a new client connection or in the lounge of the airport, everyone has their their their eyes on their phone. So I really believe that eyes up connect with people and you never know what could what you guys could make of it.

43:45 I see you do a lot of public speaking. I do. How'd you get into that? And I've got a couple of topics I want some nuggets from here. Well, I was a TV actor in middle school. In high school, that does not surprise me. I was a fit and smile girl for Domino's and that paid for college. Wow. I am not shy in front of a camera. Uh. And I like to talk. But I also think that it's it's good, you know, promotion, and and it also helps me kind of know what I'm talking about because I get to practice. And I think that practicing is is always important no matter how old you are or how long you've been in the profession. Practice makes practice practice makes not perfect, but practice makes practice.

44:33 That's it. Yeah, exactly, So a couple of nuggets. We hate our name, I just weren't. I was intrigued by these titles. We hate our name, but we're afraid to change it. Change like I Like I mentioned, Brandon gets very emotional. It's also disruptive, and it takes time and energy away from the business owner, and it takes more marketing dollars to communicate what the change is all about. Business as usual isn't very expensive, but if you're going to disrupt your business and send a new signal to the marketplace, that takes some time, energy, and sometimes some dollars. So that is probably where that comment came from.

45:18 So it says five ways, but just one or two to build and authenticate brand, and in particular interest in the authenticate part. Oh authentic actually is what I'm authentic. Authentic. So even what I'm doing right now is creating an authentic brand. The business owner can really talk, and I'm a big fan of video. When the business owner can really be the face of the brand, that is a wonderful thing. We can polish messages, we can scrub and all that, but having the business owner really be known and seen by their ideal consumers. I think is very powerful. Another way is for a smaller company is you know, to be more kind of vulnerable on social media and talk about what their what their interests are, or a little bit about their family or what drives them or motivates them.

46:19 And again that's more of the kind of the softer side of the business owner than the stuff that you and I are doing. But you know, you started off this call with my kids. I mean that's wonderful. I you know, I'm a mom and being a mom is a nurturing kind of feature, and I bring nurturing elements into my business relationships. I nurture the business owner to really take those big steps that he or she needs to make. I love that, all right, last couple of minutes here. You've been involved with a couple of charities but or nonprofits New Arts Center. You've been involved for a number of years. In fact, you're currently or was an executive officer.

47:01 Tell us about the organization, how you got involved, and a quick plug for why others should get involved in what drives them. So I'm actually off that board and the national board that I was on around the same time three year stints. It's so wonderful to volunteer, and I think that's a great opportunity to kind of get out of your own business head and give back typically with you know, some of the skills that you bring with you business. I'm actually interviewing for another board role, which is a organization that works with this kind of disadvantaged plots of land in Boston to beautify them and kind of make the neighborhoods better. The New Arts Center was in Newton. It is a wonderful organization that is for the arts, and they initially were just painting and ceramics, but we really started to look at them as a art center, so performing arts, culinary arts, you know, and really broaden the scope.

48:05 Since COVID made online learning more accessible, really start to broaden beyond the Newton walls to nation and other countries. Very cool, All right, what's the best way for people to get in touch with you? I know, we put up your website agencybell dot com. One word, best way. I have a link on multiple pages just to connect with me, to create a zoom call to get to know each other. Of course, I'm on social media at Agency Bell one l some people like to put too. I only have one and LinkedIn. I love new friends on LinkedIn. Laura Souder on LinkedIn, and that's I'd love to connect.

48:47 Well, thank you so much for the time. I've enjoyed it. I hope it was enjoyable for you too. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin, and thanks everybody for watching and listening every week. This is a show about business, business challenges. Listen. If you've got concerns about the growth of your company, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook or LinkedIn at Winning Business Radio or drop me a note. It's Kevin one of my many email addresses I say every week at Winning Business Radio dot com. Our company is Winning Incorporative. We're part of Sandler Training. We develop sales teams into high achievers and sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. We're not right for everybody, but maybe we should have a conversation. Thank you every week to producer and engineer one one. Thank you so much for the job well done.

49:32 Please join us next week. I'll be traveling, so it's going to be an encore episode. But again, Monday, September thirtieth. That's two weeks from today. I'll be live again with guest Tim Kanneely. He's an employer side employment law attorney with Foley and Foley. Until then, this is Kevin Helenan You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host, Kevin Helena. If you missed any part of this episode, The podcast is available on Top four Podcasting and iHeartRadio. For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio dot com or check us out on social media. Tune in again next week and every Monday at four pm Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on W four CY Radio W four cy dot com. Until then, let's succeed Where others have failed and win in business with Kevin Haleanan and Winning Business Radio