Brand Scripts for Artists
Learn how the right messaging can help potential clients connect with your brand in an authentic way that drives conversion.
Transcript
Hi, this is Matt Stagliano and thanks for being
Matt Stagliano:part of the artists Forge. We're a community of creatives who
Matt Stagliano:help each other think like an artist. By discussing creativity
Matt Stagliano:as a process instead of a skill or a talent. We believe everyone
Matt Stagliano:has what it takes to create something amazing. We just need
Matt Stagliano:some encouragement and inspiration along the way. What
Matt Stagliano:you're about to hear is a live recording of one of our daily
Matt Stagliano:discussions on the clubhouse app. If you like what you hear,
Matt Stagliano:I encourage you to join our private Facebook group, or visit
Matt Stagliano:us on the web at the artist forged calm. Now on to the show.
Nicole York:Alright, so welcome back to morning mug and photo
Nicole York:talk with the artists forage. We are so glad to have you with us
Nicole York:on this Friday, as we end the week with a practical exercise
Nicole York:on how we handle messaging for social media. So during the
Nicole York:beginning, and last few days of the week, we talked about social
Nicole York:media, and how we approach it, what our philosophy of social
Nicole York:media is, and how we choose which platforms to use, which
Nicole York:things align with our business with who we are as people,
Nicole York:allowing us to be able to share the messaging for our brand, in
Nicole York:a way that we actually enjoy and doesn't want to make us pull our
Nicole York:hair out. And then we want to end the week today, with a
Nicole York:practical exercise, using the story brand framework built by
Nicole York:Donald Miller would really encourage everybody. If you find
Nicole York:just our bumbling exercise this morning, we've never gone
Nicole York:through this before of us who will be participating. We've
Nicole York:never gone through this before. And so you will get to do this
Nicole York:with us in real time. And just see what it looks like to try to
Nicole York:use this framework to build clear messaging that will help
Nicole York:clients understand why they should be interacting with us
Nicole York:purchasing from us, etc. And so if that becomes something you
Nicole York:think you know what this is really going to help my business
Nicole York:really encourage you guys to go check out story brand, Donald
Nicole York:Miller wrote the book, there's of course, a website with a
Nicole York:whole bunch of great information and books and templates and
Nicole York:worksheets and all kinds of stuff that you guys can engage
Nicole York:with, if that's something that you find works for you. But
Nicole York:we're gonna be doing that today. And in order to kick us off,
Nicole York:Matt will be in the driver's seat today. But Becca also put a
Nicole York:couple things up on social media, in order to help get us
Nicole York:rolling, you did not have the chance, go hop on and have a
Nicole York:look. Becca is taking over Instagram because she's amazing.
Nicole York:And she's got some really beautiful graphics up for us
Nicole York:just to try to get people to engage and give us an idea of
Nicole York:how we can approach this topic this morning. So Miss Becca,
Nicole York:what were our results from the Instagram poll.
Bekka Bjorke:Hands are full sorry. Um, okay, so our little
Bekka Bjorke:Instagram experiment, I was glad that a couple people were
Bekka Bjorke:willing to play. So what I put up, there was a couple options
Bekka Bjorke:to define this kind of imaginary brand that we're going to
Bekka Bjorke:explore today and who their customers are. And so our genre
Bekka Bjorke:of art is going to be fine art that was the winner after all,
Bekka Bjorke:and specifically Fine Art portraits. And then the last bit
Bekka Bjorke:there is kind of who our general audience and client that we need
Bekka Bjorke:to speak to and define as the cover story is. And we didn't
Bekka Bjorke:really have a consensus there. But I think my favorite
Bekka Bjorke:suggestion was just open it real quick, artsy people with a sense
Bekka Bjorke:of humor, who then need Fine Art portraiture.
Nicole York:Okay, rad. So we are looking at building
Nicole York:basically the core of our brand messaging, the things that we
Nicole York:will be putting on social media to speak to our customers aimed
Nicole York:at Fine Art portrait consumers with a sense of humor. So that's
Nicole York:going to be the core of what we're looking at today. And
Nicole York:Matt, who has experience with this framework is going to be
Nicole York:walking the rest of us through how we can try to build it and
Nicole York:what steps we should be taking. And just guide us a little bit
Nicole York:as we walk through the process. And as we go, the moderators who
Nicole York:can be here are going to be bumbling right along trying to
Nicole York:make this thing work. And we will be bringing some of you
Nicole York:guys up also to help us out. So Matt, you are in the driver's
Nicole York:seat. Good sir. Let's end the week with a great promise.
Nicole York:exercise that hopefully people can learn a lot from and maybe
Nicole York:take with them next week, as they move forward with messaging
Nicole York:on social media.
Matt Stagliano:Awesome. I'm looking forward to it slightly
Matt Stagliano:terrified, because I have no idea where this is gonna go. But
Matt Stagliano:we will figure it out together. So in the, in the interim, where
Matt Stagliano:I was not on the microphone, I did spill some magical bean
Matt Stagliano:juice. So I missed a little bit of what Becca you had said, but
Matt Stagliano:we can, we can bring that in the results of the poll as we start
Matt Stagliano:to develop this stuff out. Sorry. So the story brand
Matt Stagliano:framework is all built around the hero's journey, right. And
Matt Stagliano:so, in a very, very quick, nutshell, overall view of it,
Matt Stagliano:you have a character, which is not you. So let's think of this
Matt Stagliano:in terms of your business, right, you want to write
Matt Stagliano:something that is going to clarify the message of what your
Matt Stagliano:business is. But in order to do that, you've got to really
Matt Stagliano:identify who the customer is, what they want, what their
Matt Stagliano:problem is, how you as their guide, not the hero as the guide
Matt Stagliano:understands what they're going through. You give them a plan,
Matt Stagliano:you call them to action. And then you show them what success
Matt Stagliano:or failure looks like. So essentially, what we want to do
Matt Stagliano:is take all of this information that we're putting together, and
Matt Stagliano:we're developing this story, and we understand what this
Matt Stagliano:character's journey is going to look like, and how we as the
Matt Stagliano:guide are going to solve that problem. We're doing all of
Matt Stagliano:that. So that we can come up with a one liner, a one to two
Matt Stagliano:sentence statement about what it is that we do, and how we can
Matt Stagliano:solve the problem for that character. Okay, so that's
Matt Stagliano:generally the overall framework of the story brand brand script.
Matt Stagliano:So the first thing that we need to think about, and we'll try to
Matt Stagliano:get through this in a half an hour, I understand that we're
Matt Stagliano:going to be cutting some corners, we're probably not
Matt Stagliano:going to go as in depth as we've done, as you would do with a
Matt Stagliano:real brand script consultant. It's usually a four to five to
Matt Stagliano:six hour process to really think through all of this and get
Matt Stagliano:through it. But we'll do what we can in 30 minutes. So character,
Matt Stagliano:what do they want? So this is what I missed Becca, from the
Matt Stagliano:polling. Did we define a character a central person and
Matt Stagliano:what it is that they want from? Well, what is it that they want?
Bekka Bjorke:So our general profile here is that we are an
Bekka Bjorke:artist who sells Fine Art portraiture, to artistic clients
Bekka Bjorke:that have a sense of humor.
Matt Stagliano:So that defines who we are, and what we do. So
Matt Stagliano:we are fine art portrait artists, right? So that's our
Matt Stagliano:company, if you will. So Fine Art portraits. Now, if they have
Matt Stagliano:a sense of humor, and they are searching for fine art
Matt Stagliano:portraiture, well, what is it that they want? Do they want?
Matt Stagliano:And I'm asking these questions and looking for participation.
Matt Stagliano:So I'm just going to kind of throw out examples. Do they want
Matt Stagliano:fine art? portraits? Do they want to connect with someone
Matt Stagliano:that has a sense of humor like theirs? Are they looking for
Matt Stagliano:connection over the actual output? Let's think that through
Matt Stagliano:what is it that what is it that the character wants? So think of
Matt Stagliano:it like in the in the terms of Katniss, right? In the Hunger
Matt Stagliano:Games, she wants to get rid of the government and she wants
Matt Stagliano:things to just be nice and happy. Right? So what is what is
Matt Stagliano:it that the, the the customer wants?
Nicole York:I feel like we've got a couple options there. If I
Nicole York:were to put myself in the shoes of the customer, why would I
Nicole York:want that kind of portraiture? Well, either I want to have a
Nicole York:portrait like that of myself. So I can really display my you
Nicole York:know, fun nature, or I want to outfit my space, maybe my
Nicole York:business space with the kind of portraits that will really give
Nicole York:my customers a good idea about the environment that they're
Nicole York:stepping into, and the kind of business that we run. Okay, so
Nicole York:it was a B, maybe my two potential suggestions,
Matt Stagliano:and we want to stay focused on the customer.
Matt Stagliano:Right? Because so in this in this case, they want a portrait
Matt Stagliano:of themselves in that fine art style. Right? So we're gonna say
Matt Stagliano:what is it that they want? They want a portrait of themselves in
Matt Stagliano:that fine art style. Let's make it painterly, if you will,
Matt Stagliano:right, because painterly is just another sub niche of you know,
Matt Stagliano:fine art portraiture.
Nicole York:So I've got a question. Yes, yep. When we're
Nicole York:defining what they want, are we defining it from what goods and
Nicole York:services they want or from what internal I'll need they're
Nicole York:trying to fill
Matt Stagliano:Ah, see. So that comes next. So oh, sorry, no,
Matt Stagliano:no, it's perfect. But these are exactly the questions that need
Matt Stagliano:to be answered. So what they want is a port and you can be as
Matt Stagliano:descriptive with this as you want or not. But let's say they
Matt Stagliano:want a fine art portrait of themselves. That is in the
Matt Stagliano:painterly style. And they want to stand out from all the other
Matt Stagliano:images that they see of their friends and family, right? This
Matt Stagliano:is what they want, they want something that sets them apart
Matt Stagliano:because of their unique personality pool. Okay. So the
Matt Stagliano:next part of that is to define the problem that they have. And
Matt Stagliano:there's a couple of ways that you're looking at this, you've
Matt Stagliano:got think of this, like the villain of the story, right?
Matt Stagliano:This is the the Darth Vader of the story in Star Wars, you got
Matt Stagliano:an external problem, an internal problem and a philosophical
Matt Stagliano:problem. What we're saying is, the, the customer has a problem
Matt Stagliano:finding this fine art portrait. So for example, an external
Matt Stagliano:problem might be they don't find photographers with good images
Matt Stagliano:on their website, they can't find someone that really speaks
Matt Stagliano:to what what they want to be seen as an internal problem
Matt Stagliano:might be a little bit more like they're afraid to get in front
Matt Stagliano:of the camera. The philosophical problem means something like
Matt Stagliano:they can't justify spending the money to get a to get a portrait
Matt Stagliano:like this. So the problem statement really comes down to
Matt Stagliano:you listening to the customer and figuring out, alright,
Matt Stagliano:what's the real problem? And oftentimes, as artists, if we're
Matt Stagliano:being commissioned for something, or if we're getting a
Matt Stagliano:customer in, then what you have is someone that's coming to you,
Matt Stagliano:and maybe not asking you the question that is really on their
Matt Stagliano:mind. Right? They might say, well, I'd love to get some
Matt Stagliano:photos. Well, what kind of photos? Would you like
Matt Stagliano:portraits? Well, what kind of portraits would you like? I
Matt Stagliano:don't know. But I know what I don't like, or I know I want a
Matt Stagliano:painterly portrait. Or they might not be giving you the real
Matt Stagliano:problem as to why they want it, or what their resistance might
Matt Stagliano:be that they're meeting. So let's define the problem. Now,
Matt Stagliano:in a case like this, let me throw out some examples. Maybe
Matt Stagliano:the market is saturated with fine art portrait photographers,
Matt Stagliano:and they don't know where to go. Maybe their problem is that they
Matt Stagliano:want to get this but they can't justify spending the money on
Matt Stagliano:what they know will be a piece of fine art. Or that the
Matt Stagliano:photographers are hard to deal with, or they're intimidated. So
Matt Stagliano:what do we think this person's problem? Really is?
Nicole York:Are we starting with? So you mentioned three
Nicole York:types of problems that we could? Which one are we going to start
Nicole York:with, like philosophical or, or a bad guy,
Matt Stagliano:or you really can go up and down the chain,
Matt Stagliano:whichever way you'd like, right? Whatever seems to be the easiest
Matt Stagliano:for you to define. And then we can look at that and say, is
Matt Stagliano:there an internal problem or a philosophical problem associated
Matt Stagliano:with that as well?
Nicole York:Okay. Anybody have any suggestions? So why what
Nicole York:would what problem is, is our client facing? I know there
Nicole York:definitely could be the potential that they just can't
Nicole York:find what they're looking for. Yep. I mean, find the right fit
Nicole York:for their sense of humor. Like there's a lot of similarity
Nicole York:between portrait artists and they feel like there's nobody
Nicole York:out there who really matches what they're looking for,
Matt Stagliano:find the right fit, it's too many options.
Matt Stagliano:Right?
Nicole York:Maybe they're also a little bit afraid of like,
Nicole York:maybe their personality is the kind of thing that they really
Nicole York:want to be comfortable in their personality, but they're also a
Nicole York:little bit afraid that they will be mocked or ridiculed for you
Nicole York:know, being so different from other people.
Matt Stagliano:So they want essentially a safe space to be
Matt Stagliano:themselves. Right? And they don't know where they can find
Matt Stagliano:that. Right.
Cat Ford-Coates:I think that people that are looking for
Cat Ford-Coates:painterly specifically right, but to a create artwork and not
Cat Ford-Coates:just photo and to don't want their work to look like
Cat Ford-Coates:everything else. All of their friends are just going to the
Cat Ford-Coates:lifestyle or location or whatever photographer and
Cat Ford-Coates:getting the same pretty airy raw images. Like this is really
Cat Ford-Coates:where the opportunity that we have to set that work apart so
Cat Ford-Coates:that the work speaks for itself even outside of the
Cat Ford-Coates:conversation. That I think is a really powerful avenue for Like
Cat Ford-Coates:the fine art specifically? Awesome.
Bassam Sabbagh:So maybe. So maybe we need to figure out if
Bassam Sabbagh:they were to define their version of fine art, how would
Bassam Sabbagh:it be different than everybody else's definition of fine art so
Bassam Sabbagh:that we can speak their language?
Nicole York:From our Greek humor was a big one. Right? So
Bassam Sabbagh:well there is they have a sense of humor. It
Bassam Sabbagh:doesn't mean that's how they define the art.
Nicole York:Well, that's so when Becca was fine art. Sorry.
Nicole York:Yeah, she was trying to find like, she was asking folks what,
Nicole York:what they were looking for. And humor was part of what they were
Nicole York:looking for. So we'd know at least that would be no
Nicole York:component, but it style wise, right? Like,
Bassam Sabbagh:no, but I'm coming from the angle of every
Bassam Sabbagh:Tom dick. And Harry says they're a fine art photographer today.
Bassam Sabbagh:Right. And that's probably one of their frustrations, even
Bassam Sabbagh:though they do want, they do want a sense of humor in their
Bassam Sabbagh:art, I'm talking about the actual definition of fine art
Bassam Sabbagh:for them. And how it's different so that when we define ourselves
Bassam Sabbagh:as fine artists, we stand out from the rest. And yes, we have
Bassam Sabbagh:the humor part of it into it.
Matt Stagliano:Awesome. Yep. And this is the next part of it,
Matt Stagliano:right? So we've defined the problem, it's great that you let
Matt Stagliano:into that person, because this is going to be our
Matt Stagliano:differentiation statement. So we're able to clearly say,
Matt Stagliano:Alright, we've got a person that wants fine art, they want to
Matt Stagliano:have that safe space, they know that there's a lot of options
Matt Stagliano:out there. And they want something that is not like
Matt Stagliano:anything else. Right, and it wants to reflect their
Matt Stagliano:personality. So where we come in as the guide, right as the Obi
Matt Stagliano:wan to Luke Skywalker, we want to come in and say, we've got
Matt Stagliano:empathy for your situation. And we've got authority. Right?
Matt Stagliano:We're subject matter experts in this. So this is where we get to
Matt Stagliano:be a little bit, you know, I don't want to say arrogant but
Matt Stagliano:self confident. So it might be something, for example, from the
Matt Stagliano:empathetic side, saying something like, we understand
Matt Stagliano:that there are a lot of options out there. But we have been
Matt Stagliano:focusing primarily on fine art portraiture, and especially the
Matt Stagliano:painterly style. For the past 15 years, we have created artwork
Matt Stagliano:for some of the leading celebrities in the market today,
Matt Stagliano:or we've got stuff in galleries all over New England, or
Matt Stagliano:whatever it is, this is where we get to establish not only the
Matt Stagliano:fact that we empathize with their situation, we understand
Matt Stagliano:that there's a problem that they have that needs to be solved.
Matt Stagliano:But that we are also the subject matter expert that is going to
Matt Stagliano:guide them through this process. We are the person that they've
Matt Stagliano:been waiting for, because we've got some level of subject matter
Matt Stagliano:expertise. So with that, how do we want to phrase that
Matt Stagliano:empathetic statement? What is it that we understand about their
Matt Stagliano:problem that is going to help us solve that?
Nicole York:I think there's a framework is issued to here that
Nicole York:we can ask ourselves to maybe clarify, is, are we going to
Nicole York:answer this question from our collective perspective with 1520
Nicole York:years in the business where we have accolades and have built
Nicole York:expertise? Or do we want to try to answer this question from the
Nicole York:place of somebody who's really getting started, maybe they only
Nicole York:have a few years in business. And so they don't have a lot of
Nicole York:those expertise, building things that they can pull on. And we
Nicole York:have to be a little bit more creative. When we think about
Nicole York:how we can position ourselves as an expert to help guide them.
Nicole York:Yes.
Matt Stagliano:I'm going to push back on you, Nicole and say
Matt Stagliano:that you're overthinking this, you're you're getting a little
Matt Stagliano:bit into the weeds in terms of who we are, right? Because this
Matt Stagliano:can apply to everybody this can apply to any situation, whether
Matt Stagliano:or not you have a lot of experience or very little
Matt Stagliano:experience.
Nicole York:So right, right, and I understand that. But what
Nicole York:I'm saying is, if you and I were to say okay, we'll say we have
Nicole York:this award, and we've done the celebrity clients, we've done
Nicole York:whatever, the folks that are listening to us in the audience,
Nicole York:maybe saying to themselves, I don't have any of that shit. How
Nicole York:am I supposed to position myself? You know what I mean? So
Nicole York:no absolute like,
Matt Stagliano:yeah, absolutely. And what I'm saying
Matt Stagliano:is we want to keep it at a level that we're solving a problem
Matt Stagliano:where we can say some of these things where we have that
Matt Stagliano:experience or don't have the experience but all of us have,
Matt Stagliano:you know, when we're thinking about the problem that our
Matt Stagliano:customer has, it shouldn't matter if we have one year
Matt Stagliano:experience or 50 years experience, the it's the
Matt Stagliano:empathetic part of us understanding what they have as
Matt Stagliano:a problem. And then what do we have that sets us up as the
Matt Stagliano:authority to solve that and that doesn't have to be experience.
Matt Stagliano:It could be the fact that right you know, This is my specialty.
Matt Stagliano:Alright, so that's all. That's all I'm getting out. So I think
Matt Stagliano:we're filing agreement.
Nicole York:Yes. 100 agree. Yeah, I just was asking, you
Nicole York:know, shows we could very easily just bring in our expertise and
Nicole York:be like, well, that answers that question. People trust people
Nicole York:who know things. But for people who don't have that, when
Nicole York:they're trying to put themselves in the empathetic perspective,
Nicole York:what can they say? That will help convince people sure that
Nicole York:they can be the guide when they don't necessarily have that
Nicole York:additional experience or accolades,
Matt Stagliano:something like this, you know, if I were to, if
Matt Stagliano:I were to, to approach this and try to come up with that
Matt Stagliano:empathetic statement, I'd say, yeah, the market is really
Matt Stagliano:saturated with people calling themselves Fine Art portraits,
Matt Stagliano:what we do, we've only been specializing in Fine Art
Matt Stagliano:portraits our entire career. Now, you don't have to define
Matt Stagliano:how long it is. But we can say, you know, we are are the ones
Matt Stagliano:that only shoot this, we don't shoot families, or babies or
Matt Stagliano:weddings or anything like that. We shoot Fine Art portraits. And
Matt Stagliano:we understand that a story needs to be told a story about you
Matt Stagliano:that needs to be told. And we can do that by keeping your cost
Matt Stagliano:to a minimum, and without sacrificing quality.
Nicole York:Right. Right. So we can basically establish
Nicole York:expertise in several different ways. Right. So we have
Nicole York:accolades, we have years of experience, we have specialty,
Nicole York:we also have process. And I know that that's one thing that
Nicole York:almost everybody could potentially use, is to say, you
Nicole York:know, we're the only or this is the only whatever, where not
Nicole York:only do we style and set up your portrait, but then we hand paint
Nicole York:everything in Photoshop and add whatever, you know, like, we can
Nicole York:all have expertise in our process that other people don't
Nicole York:have. So that's also a potential thing. Yes. We could be using.
Matt Stagliano:Absolutely. So I'm just writing some writing
Matt Stagliano:some notes down, we want to folk that we focus on fine our
Matt Stagliano:portraiture, we do hand painted, and we've been doing it for
Matt Stagliano:let's say, 10 years. We've been doing it and succeeding in a
Matt Stagliano:saturated market for 10 years, we've been doing it for 10
Matt Stagliano:years, right? Again, can I? Yeah, go ahead.
Bekka Bjorke:Just on the topic of breaking into something new,
Bekka Bjorke:just in my frantic research of what the story brand was
Bekka Bjorke:yesterday, one thing I heard said was that this, this step of
Bekka Bjorke:positioning yourself as the guide, this is really, you as
Bekka Bjorke:the artist or use the business opportunity. This is when you
Bekka Bjorke:actually talk about you, you know, this is the one where
Bekka Bjorke:you're talking about you and not about the client. So anything in
Bekka Bjorke:your past experience that makes you seem interesting or
Bekka Bjorke:relatable, or like you can have some level of expertise, this is
Bekka Bjorke:where you can drop that. So that can be things even like I come
Bekka Bjorke:from a background in museum art curation, so I have a knowledge
Bekka Bjorke:of classical painting that then applies to my photography, or
Bekka Bjorke:something like that, even if you haven't necessarily been working
Bekka Bjorke:in that genre actively things that you've done previously,
Bekka Bjorke:that lead to that this might be the opportunity to drop those
Bekka Bjorke:facts.
Matt Stagliano:100%, right. Remember, the the goal of this
Matt Stagliano:is to convince your customer, that you are the guy that's
Matt Stagliano:going to help them solve their problem, right, it's all about
Matt Stagliano:their problems. So there's so many aspects to how you can pull
Matt Stagliano:that from your background, or apply it to your business. You
Matt Stagliano:know, we have the best soap for window washing that you'll ever
Matt Stagliano:find. We've got a proprietary formula, because I come from a
Matt Stagliano:long line of chemists, right, whatever the case is, you've got
Matt Stagliano:the ability to brag a little bit here. This is where you want to
Matt Stagliano:establish that authority. And I think with some of the things
Matt Stagliano:that we just we just talked about, I think that gives us
Matt Stagliano:some some good stuff to work on. Again,
Nicole York:when we add the personal aspect as well, sure,
Nicole York:maybe we can say that we have come from our clients
Nicole York:perspective, because for years, we felt like we never were able
Nicole York:to express ourselves, you know, with with traditional portrait
Nicole York:photography, and we never had a photo of us that we felt like
Nicole York:really showed off who we were. And now we want to be able to
Nicole York:give that to other people or something like that.
Matt Stagliano:Yeah, that's great that, you know, our
Matt Stagliano:mission is to give that emotional feeling that we got
Matt Stagliano:when we were able to stumble upon that. Yeah, sure. We want
Matt Stagliano:to give back. Okay, so now, the next thing is we've got to give
Matt Stagliano:them a plan, right? We've got to give the customer a plan to get
Matt Stagliano:to where they want. So they've chosen us congratulations. But
Matt Stagliano:here's where they can start getting a little bit scared
Matt Stagliano:because we're giving them a plan. They can't necessarily see
Matt Stagliano:the road ahead. But if we can help give them plan to solve
Matt Stagliano:their problem and show them what that roadmap looks like. Then
Matt Stagliano:this is where they start to really engage and interact with
Matt Stagliano:us and start trusting us. So, for example, there's a process
Matt Stagliano:and agreement part of this. And now, the process can be
Matt Stagliano:something like, take a look at all of our image images and find
Matt Stagliano:out what resonates with you. Tell us your entire story. Let
Matt Stagliano:us create images that fit your vision, right. And then the
Matt Stagliano:agreement part of that might be something like, we are going to
Matt Stagliano:give you options, so that we can really fine tune what it is
Matt Stagliano:you're looking for. We will make any revisions that you need
Matt Stagliano:along the way, we will keep working on this process with you
Matt Stagliano:hand in hand, to make sure that the images that we create, tell
Matt Stagliano:the story in the way that you want, you can trust us to tell
Matt Stagliano:that story for you. We're going to be doing that by giving you
Matt Stagliano:storyboards, and wardrobe consultations and makeup
Matt Stagliano:consultations. And we're going to design a set for you, right,
Matt Stagliano:we're really giving them the full on experience, right? This
Matt Stagliano:is we're going to lay out our plan for how we do this fine art
Matt Stagliano:portraiture. So how do we want to define that plan for them? Is
Matt Stagliano:it just basically what I said, laying out that experience for
Matt Stagliano:them? Which could very well be? Go ahead.
Bekka Bjorke:Oh, I was gonna say, I think this is to kind of
Bekka Bjorke:tie back to our general social media topic of the week. I mean,
Bekka Bjorke:this is where like a website is going to be a very, very useful
Bekka Bjorke:tool, or I know when we did like the email templates a couple
Bekka Bjorke:weeks ago, that also establishing that full well laid
Bekka Bjorke:out plan to really real people in through that first point of
Bekka Bjorke:contact, I think is really great. Or you can even, you
Bekka Bjorke:know, tap into that through however you're using social
Bekka Bjorke:media, right, like, show people what that process is, so they
Bekka Bjorke:know exactly how it's gonna go when they commit to using it as
Bekka Bjorke:a artist.
Nicole York:Yeah, and I mean, we also have the option for
Nicole York:things like behind the scenes as well, because that kind of shows
Nicole York:the plan and action, right, like, people get to see other
Nicole York:people going through the plan. That's what I do for my
Nicole York:illustrations, is I let people when they ask me, you know, how
Nicole York:much does it cost? I say it costs this much. And you send me
Nicole York:your favorite portraits of yourself, and you get to see the
Nicole York:sketch and make the approval. And you get approval through the
Nicole York:whole process so that by the end, you have something you
Nicole York:contributed to help make that you love. So, and that certainly
Nicole York:seems to, you know, you talked about building trust, Matt. And
Nicole York:that definitely seems like when they feel like they've got to
Nicole York:say, and how things go, at least with the illustration, because
Nicole York:they don't get to participate in the actual making of it. It
Nicole York:definitely seems to help people feel like they can trust a
Nicole York:little bit more because they know they have a veto card. Yep.
Nicole York:So I definitely think that that could be a positive way to move
Nicole York:forward.
Matt Stagliano:Awesome. All right. So now, so Oh, go ahead
Matt Stagliano:beside.
Bassam Sabbagh:Yeah, Matt, I just want to ask if you don't
Bassam Sabbagh:mind for the benefits of at least for my benefit, and maybe
Bassam Sabbagh:for some others. Um, it's it's 30 minutes in, can you summarize
Bassam Sabbagh:where we are in the process right now? What have we done?
Bassam Sabbagh:What's next? Just kind of in about 30 seconds.
Matt Stagliano:Absolutely. So we're about halfway through. But
Matt Stagliano:the rest of this is going to start to move really quickly. So
Matt Stagliano:we've defined a character, which is going to be the hero of this
Matt Stagliano:journey. Our customer is the character. We know that they
Matt Stagliano:want Fine Art portraiture, and they have a sense of humor. And
Matt Stagliano:they want that reflected. They have a problem, which is it's a
Matt Stagliano:saturated market. They can't seem to find the right fit for
Matt Stagliano:them. They're afraid they want to be comfortable. They want a
Matt Stagliano:safe space, and they want a painterly portrait that really
Matt Stagliano:reflects them. They meet the guide who is us, and they find
Matt Stagliano:out that we focus only on fine our portraiture we have a degree
Matt Stagliano:an MFA, we've got we've been doing this for 10 years and
Matt Stagliano:focusing only on painterly portraits. And we've got the
Matt Stagliano:expertise that they need. We give them a plan. This is step
Matt Stagliano:four, giving them a plan where we can say go to our website,
Matt Stagliano:download the PDFs, or subscribe to our emails. And we are going
Matt Stagliano:to show you how this plan works. You get to become a partner with
Matt Stagliano:us throughout this entire process. And we are going to
Matt Stagliano:help you create and craft the story. But instead of us doing
Matt Stagliano:it for you, you're going to be a partner with us in this. The
Matt Stagliano:remainder of this process is going to be calling them to
Matt Stagliano:action, showing them what Success and failure looks like.
Matt Stagliano:And then we're going to come up with our one liner to summarize
Matt Stagliano:all of this together. So we've only got a couple more steps.
Matt Stagliano:And I think we're making some really good progress to give an
Matt Stagliano:overall general view of how we come to that one liner to
Matt Stagliano:clarify the message of what our business does, and how we can
Matt Stagliano:solve this for our customer. Does that summarize I
Nicole York:think, yes. Now that we're at the halfway mark,
Nicole York:what do you all think about grabbing some folks from the
Nicole York:audience and letting them maybe complete this last part?
Bassam Sabbagh:Sure. Absolutely.
Nicole York:Okay, great. So you're in the audience today,
Nicole York:and you want to come up and fill in the rest of our plan for our
Nicole York:new business and how we're gonna handle messaging, raise your
Nicole York:hand, Oh, I did not make people months today, because I'm a
Nicole York:complete loser. I'm so sorry, guys.
Matt Stagliano:I'm grabbing you right now. And while we're,
Matt Stagliano:while you're going through that, Nicole, Ari shot me a message in
Matt Stagliano:the background? Thank you, Ari, for sending this because it's a
Matt Stagliano:really, really, really good question. And he says not being
Matt Stagliano:in the industry, not your client avatar. So I don't understand
Matt Stagliano:why being a portraiture specialists versus a general
Matt Stagliano:photographer is, you know, a way to brag one genre over another.
Matt Stagliano:And I think, Ari, that the point of this why specialization is
Matt Stagliano:important is we defined at the beginning that the character
Matt Stagliano:wants a fine art painterly portrait type of photographer,
Matt Stagliano:someone that specializes in that. And as a photographer, you
Matt Stagliano:know, you can be broad in general, and know your
Matt Stagliano:techniques and know photography, and be able to provide that as a
Matt Stagliano:general service to as wide a group of customers as possible.
Matt Stagliano:The people that tend to specialize in a certain genre
Matt Stagliano:weddings, or babies or maternity or fine art, tend to only live
Matt Stagliano:in that space, the majority of the time, and therefore can be
Matt Stagliano:seen as more of an expert than someone that knows how to use a
Matt Stagliano:camera, but doesn't necessarily know the finer points and
Matt Stagliano:techniques of fine art portraiture. I hope that makes
Matt Stagliano:sense.
Nicole York:Right? So it's hiring a cardiologist instead of
Nicole York:a general surgeon to talk to you about exactly that exactly that
Nicole York:I see, we've got some hands up, okay, I was having problems, I
Nicole York:wasn't able to grab people earlier. So for some reason, my
Nicole York:refresh is not working, I'm just gonna have to trust you guys
Nicole York:that were snagging the folks who raised their hand.
Matt Stagliano:And I'm
Bekka Bjorke:real quick, on the topic of them being you know, in
Bekka Bjorke:a niche or not, because this is something you know, that I've
Bekka Bjorke:personally, like, struggled with, like, where do I define
Bekka Bjorke:that do I don't want to segment, you know, my branding off into
Bekka Bjorke:little sub brands, you know, I want to just be me and what I
Bekka Bjorke:do. But I feel like keeping the messaging the general messaging
Bekka Bjorke:that you put on the world, you know, whether that's your
Bekka Bjorke:website, or your ads, or your media or whatever, not confusing
Bekka Bjorke:people as to what you do really needs to be the key. So just
Bekka Bjorke:because you might specialize, say in, you know, high school
Bekka Bjorke:seniors, doesn't mean you don't take other clients. And it
Bekka Bjorke:doesn't mean that someone's gonna see your website and be
Bekka Bjorke:like, Oh, well, they, you know, their marketing is towards high
Bekka Bjorke:school seniors, but I like their style, you know, so I'm just not
Bekka Bjorke:going to email them. So just, you know, wanting to really have
Bekka Bjorke:a clear message in the general scope of the work that you do, I
Bekka Bjorke:think is better than keeping a really, really broad and having
Bekka Bjorke:seniors and headshots and landscape all together in one
Bekka Bjorke:place and confusing people, and they don't know if you're going
Bekka Bjorke:to be the right fit. If that makes sense.
Ariel Schochet:amount of time, you can just quickly quickly
Ariel Schochet:clarify. Sure. I think I missed like it was a little bit
Ariel Schochet:misunderstood. I am the avatar. I am not the creator. And what I
Ariel Schochet:was saying is that I was suggesting that being clear to
Ariel Schochet:the client, why the specialization, why it's
Ariel Schochet:important to have the cardiologist versus the
Ariel Schochet:generalist, because that's not intuitive to me. You explained
Ariel Schochet:it very well, just now. Okay. I was just saying that. That's
Ariel Schochet:what I was trying to say, No, I
Matt Stagliano:totally get it. And apologies for, you know,
Matt Stagliano:misinterpreting, but yeah, I think you get it. That's the
Matt Stagliano:whole point of how we define being a guide. Right. So we take
Matt Stagliano:their problem, whatever it is, and then we distill it down to
Matt Stagliano:how we are able to guide them to their solution. Because of
Matt Stagliano:whatever expertise that might be in in photography. It's, you
Matt Stagliano:know, the specialization is that is that expertise. That's all it
Matt Stagliano:comes down
Bassam Sabbagh:to, but that's fine, but that's part of
Bassam Sabbagh:educating. I mean, what are you saying it's educate me? Because
Bassam Sabbagh:I don't know, right? So it's part of educating them? Just the
Bassam Sabbagh:same, you would educate them about the difference in two
Bassam Sabbagh:types of prints that you're offering? You know, why is this
Bassam Sabbagh:paper better than that paper? Like, why would I want that? And
Bassam Sabbagh:he's saying, why would I want to, you know, why would I want
Bassam Sabbagh:to specialize portrait instead of a generalist? Right, right.
Bassam Sabbagh:So it's just so I guess the question is, in our statement,
Bassam Sabbagh:eventually when we get to it is educating the client on certain
Bassam Sabbagh:things is it should it be part of it, can it be part of it?
Matt Stagliano:Right. And And remember, the intent of this is
Matt Stagliano:to come out of this with a like a one to two sentence statement,
Matt Stagliano:that is going to be the top of our marketing funnel, right?
Matt Stagliano:This is going to be the thing that draws people in so that as
Matt Stagliano:they're cruising around and they find our website, we happen to
Matt Stagliano:summarize in one or two sentences, exactly what they're
Matt Stagliano:looking for. And it's extraordinarily clear. And that
Matt Stagliano:is the reason that they're going to interact with us. Right? So
Matt Stagliano:there might be better fine art photographers out there and more
Matt Stagliano:prominent ones, but because we're able to clearly solve
Matt Stagliano:their problem clearly define our messaging, that indicates that
Matt Stagliano:they want to come interact with us. Cool. Okay, so the the next
Matt Stagliano:part of this is the call to action, right? And these are
Matt Stagliano:generally the the similar calls to action. What do we want them
Matt Stagliano:to do? Do we want them to call us schedule an appointment,
Matt Stagliano:download a PDF? What are the things that we want, and if
Matt Stagliano:there's two ways that you can go about there's there's the direct
Matt Stagliano:action, which is, hey, give us a call, schedule an appointment,
Matt Stagliano:go to this link, do this thing. The transitional is, if you want
Matt Stagliano:to learn more, here's a PDF on good fine art versus bad fine
Matt Stagliano:art. Here's 10 things that you want to look for in a fine art
Matt Stagliano:photographer. Here's the real costs of you know, creativity,
Matt Stagliano:here's how to tell a story, right? It's the it's the not
Matt Stagliano:direct stuff to continue to bolster that subject matter
Matt Stagliano:expertise. Me, when I go through this with clients, I tend to go
Matt Stagliano:for the direct action. What is the direct action that you want
Matt Stagliano:them to do? Is it scheduling an appointment? Is it making a
Matt Stagliano:phone call? Is it sending a form on a website? What do we want
Matt Stagliano:them to do? To interact with us? In this, this, don't overthink
Matt Stagliano:this, like do we want them to call us email, website form?
Matt Stagliano:Direct Message carrier pigeon?
Nicole York:So we did bring up gene Ari, if you're also
Nicole York:interested in participating in this part would be great to have
Nicole York:you. So what do we want him to do? Guys?
Gene Sizemore:Well, so I've been working on my, all my
Gene Sizemore:HoneyBook stuff here recently. And so I guess one of the things
Gene Sizemore:that comes to mind, for me, is, you know, definitely, I don't
Gene Sizemore:want, I don't want a call to action, that's going to require
Gene Sizemore:a final decision, or that's going to require some kind of
Gene Sizemore:finality, that might scare somebody away from from
Gene Sizemore:executing that call to action. So I definitely like the idea of
Gene Sizemore:it being kind of a soft call. And because I'm trying to
Gene Sizemore:establish a rapport, and a relationship with this person, I
Gene Sizemore:feel like, you know, I need to get some basic information about
Gene Sizemore:who they are, and what they're looking for. And so I think
Gene Sizemore:asking for more information through either a contact form or
Gene Sizemore:a questionnaire and framing it as a way to get to know them a
Gene Sizemore:little bit better. So that we can come together and, and make
Gene Sizemore:sure that we're delivering exactly what they want. So I
Gene Sizemore:guess, you know, I mean, that, I guess, kind of pre loaded the
Gene Sizemore:question. But you know, it's definitely just a soft call, you
Gene Sizemore:know, to fill out a contact form so that I have some more
Gene Sizemore:information about them so that I can make a decision about
Gene Sizemore:whether this client is a good fit. When I want to talk to the
Gene Sizemore:client, when I'm going to need in order to satisfy them, can I
Gene Sizemore:satisfy them, but not frame it that way with them? For them, I
Gene Sizemore:would want to say, I would want to frame it more like I'm I'd
Gene Sizemore:like to get to know them a little bit better, so that we
Gene Sizemore:can be friends.
Ariel Schochet:Again, and that is brilliant in terms of the I
Ariel Schochet:would also put something in there like you know what
Ariel Schochet:artistic style or whatever it is that that specific genre that
Ariel Schochet:are what are you looking for in this? What are you looking for
Ariel Schochet:in that? Now you're engaging them in what their need is?
Ariel Schochet:That's, that's, you know, that's awesome.
Matt Stagliano:Okay, so we'll say we want them to fill out
Matt Stagliano:this questionnaire, and that will enable us to schedule an
Matt Stagliano:appointment and have a better consultation. Does that work?
Matt Stagliano:And we can have a face to face conversation. Yep. Cool. works.
Matt Stagliano:Okay, so now, we have to define for them. And this is kind of
Matt Stagliano:the last step before we come up with the one liner. So we're
Matt Stagliano:right on time. So we need to define what success looks like
Matt Stagliano:for them, and what failure looks like to them. So for example,
Matt Stagliano:success might be images that tell their story. They want to
Matt Stagliano:stand out from the crowd. If you go with us, you're going to
Matt Stagliano:stand out from the crowd for sure. You're going to stay
Matt Stagliano:within your budget, but failure, confidence, right?
Nicole York:success looks like confidence. Right, like the
Nicole York:confidence to be this weird, weird person that you are and
Nicole York:fly your freak flag. Hi. Yep. Okay. I feel like that success
Nicole York:there.
Matt Stagliano:Okay. And then failure. What does failure look
Matt Stagliano:like? For them wasting money on a photographer that is not fine
Matt Stagliano:art. Boring Botos overpaying. Like, what do you think that
Matt Stagliano:failure looks like?
Nicole York:Maybe continuing to be stuck in the shadows. Okay.
Nicole York:Awesome. Eugene, I saw you're unmuted. Well, so
Gene Sizemore:I guess I'm I don't maybe this is overthinking
Gene Sizemore:it. But I'm just thinking like, mainly because I'm in the
Gene Sizemore:headshot space right now. So I'm trying to like think in terms of
Gene Sizemore:portrait, so I, I think it's a beautiful thing. I don't
Gene Sizemore:remember who said it was cat, or somebody recently said something
Gene Sizemore:about how sad it would be, you know, if somebody went an entire
Gene Sizemore:lifetime and never had a portrait of themselves, you
Gene Sizemore:know, it's like, do they do they really exist? Like, what is
Gene Sizemore:their legacy? What is their? Where's the proof that they
Gene Sizemore:actually graced the world? You know, with their presence and
Gene Sizemore:all that they are? I think it's interesting, it's fascinating to
Gene Sizemore:me to think about why somebody would want to get a portrait
Gene Sizemore:other than vanity, I think that there's a significant number of
Gene Sizemore:really amazing and important and substantive reasons why somebody
Gene Sizemore:would need to have a portrait done. And I'm just wondering if,
Gene Sizemore:if there's a difference between somebody wanting a portrait
Gene Sizemore:because they just, they want to have that, that feeling of
Gene Sizemore:being, you know, dressed up and having it captured and looking
Gene Sizemore:beautiful. Which is something I'm doing today, actually, with
Gene Sizemore:a friend of mine, the whole reason that she wants to do it
Gene Sizemore:is because she wants you know, that that, that she's never had
Gene Sizemore:a beautiful portrait of herself done. So I'm also wondering if
Gene Sizemore:you know that people are doing this because they're, they're
Gene Sizemore:looking for work as an actor, or they're, you know, so So the
Gene Sizemore:success and failure question comes, you know, down to making
Gene Sizemore:sure that when you when you do engage them on a on a q&a, and
Gene Sizemore:as you're getting to know them, definitely, it's important to
Gene Sizemore:understand why, what what made them come in for a portrait,
Gene Sizemore:make that decision so that you can decide, so that you can use
Gene Sizemore:that information to determine what pass or fail looks like,
Nicole York:yeah, Jane, and I think you hit the nail on the
Nicole York:head, which is why we began asking who our client was, and
Nicole York:what they're looking for. That way, when we get to success, we
Nicole York:recognize. So remember, each individual person is going to
Nicole York:have a slightly different flavor of need. But what we're trying
Nicole York:to do now is figure out how We clarify our messaging. And we
Nicole York:can't talk to every single individual person, when we're
Nicole York:putting out an advertisement on Facebook, or, you know, when
Nicole York:we're posting something on Instagram, what we're trying to
Nicole York:do is have a general general brand may be really clear, and
Nicole York:becomes the heart of our social media presence, etc, etc. And
Nicole York:then, of course, we address people on an individual level.
Nicole York:But when you're creating advertisements, you have to look
Nicole York:at, you know, the, the broader scope of your, your clientele,
Nicole York:and not every single individual subset. So it's that that we're
Nicole York:looking at here, which we began the process by defining who was
Nicole York:this person and what do they need. So our hero needs, you
Nicole York:know, a fine art portrait, painterly portrait of themselves
Nicole York:that has a sense of humor, and showcases their personality. And
Nicole York:then when we looked at their pain point, we recognize that,
Nicole York:you know, what they need is to be able to have a safe space to
Nicole York:feel confident in who they are, and have something that
Nicole York:represents the story of their life. So then we get to take
Nicole York:this part and transfer that to the success part, right, man?
Matt Stagliano:Yeah, absolutely. And it's important
Matt Stagliano:to know that the brand script method that we're doing now this
Matt Stagliano:framework, you can apply this to every niche that you do, you can
Matt Stagliano:do it for headshot, like if you do headshots, and personal
Matt Stagliano:branding and fine art and commercial work, you can apply
Matt Stagliano:the same method to each one of those and have a clear message
Matt Stagliano:for each thing that you do. But it's important, like Nicole
Matt Stagliano:said, to be focused on that character avatar, and make sure
Matt Stagliano:that you're talking directly to that person to solve their
Matt Stagliano:problem. And I think if you do that, you can do this as many
Matt Stagliano:times as you want. It's really a framework for you to better
Matt Stagliano:understand what it is that you offer to the customer and why
Matt Stagliano:they should choose you. Right? So with success and failure, we
Matt Stagliano:can now talk about what their character transformation is.
Matt Stagliano:This is the very last step before we define our one line.
Matt Stagliano:And it's just a general summary to say Alright, well, what were
Matt Stagliano:they before and what are they now? Right so before coming to
Matt Stagliano:Acme photography, the Customer felt like they couldn't have
Matt Stagliano:their story told, and they couldn't find a photographer
Matt Stagliano:that they resonated with in the fine art portrait space.
Matt Stagliano:However, after engaging with Acme portraiture company, they
Matt Stagliano:feel way more confident that their story is going to be told,
Matt Stagliano:and that they'll be able to have a timeless portrait of
Matt Stagliano:themselves in this painterly style that they love that shows
Matt Stagliano:off their their humor, his sense of humor tells their story, and
Matt Stagliano:they can really be proud that they stand out from all of these
Matt Stagliano:other images, you know, that they could find anywhere else.
Matt Stagliano:And that is the successful part. Right. So that's the character
Matt Stagliano:transformation. So now, now, we get to put that into one or two
Matt Stagliano:sentences. Now we can do with three sentences, four sentences,
Matt Stagliano:it doesn't matter, you want it to be a concise statement, that
Matt Stagliano:isn't some big long paragraph on your homepage. Right? So start
Matt Stagliano:thinking about this a little bit. So we've got some of the
Matt Stagliano:the topics of storytelling, that we have the expertise, that
Matt Stagliano:there's fine art, elements of this, that we give them a safe
Matt Stagliano:space, that if they choose us, they are going to be part of the
Matt Stagliano:process, they get to direct it, they get to be an inclusive part
Matt Stagliano:in this. And that if they don't go with us, and you don't know
Matt Stagliano:what you're going to get, it probably won't be exactly what
Matt Stagliano:you want, right? You want to make them a little bit scared of
Matt Stagliano:that failure. So we're writing
Nicole York:this Are we are we centering? Are we writing it
Nicole York:from the customer's perspective again? Or are we writing it from
Nicole York:our perspective, from a place of expertise? Like are we, if you
Nicole York:like, yeah, we have, you know, like, like, where do we go?
Matt Stagliano:Sure, sure. So in and we can say something
Matt Stagliano:like, we understand that it's really hard to find a fine art
Matt Stagliano:photographer to tell your story. All we've done is fine art
Matt Stagliano:photography, we would love to tell your story. Write something
Matt Stagliano:to that effect where you're focusing, I mean, that's off the
Matt Stagliano:top of my head, not very good. But it's targeting,
Matt Stagliano:understanding what their problem is, how we solve it, and what
Matt Stagliano:success looks like. So the first line, for example, could be
Matt Stagliano:something like that empathetic statement. Right? When we said,
Matt Stagliano:you know, it's hard to find the right fit when you're looking
Matt Stagliano:for fine art portraiture. We understand fine art. Because
Matt Stagliano:that's what we do. Talk to us, and have your story told through
Matt Stagliano:Fine Art portraiture.
Ariel Schochet:Right. So yeah.
Matt Stagliano:Do you understand what I'm getting to?
Matt Stagliano:Like, I'm trying to try to craft this one or two lines, that
Matt Stagliano:summarizes everything, we cut grass best, you're gonna make
Matt Stagliano:your neighbors jealous. Right, right. Right,
Nicole York:right. No, I totally understand you, I guess
Nicole York:what I was thinking of is, you know, as a, as a writer,
Nicole York:there's, there's a couple ways that you generally look, you
Nicole York:have kind of passive and active. And then you have point of view.
Nicole York:If I'm writing this, from my point of view, as a portrait
Nicole York:photographer, maybe I'm saying, I'm going to take a portrait
Nicole York:that will never make you feel like you're misunderstood ever
Nicole York:again. Right. But if I'm, if I'm writing it from the client
Nicole York:perspective, maybe I'm saying something like, you don't. If
Nicole York:you feel like your personality is too much for other people,
Nicole York:and like you're lost in the shadows, don't worry, because
Nicole York:right. So like, there's a couple of ways that you can approach
Nicole York:writing that sentence,
Matt Stagliano:it really comes down to Nicole, like what feels
Matt Stagliano:best to you, right? So as long as you're staying focused on the
Matt Stagliano:customer's problem and how it gets solved. There are a myriad
Matt Stagliano:of ways that you can go. And I think you being a writer, this
Matt Stagliano:is right up your alley, right, of being able to pull from all
Matt Stagliano:of those skills, you'd be brilliant at this. So I think it
Matt Stagliano:really comes down to what sounds best to you. What do you feel
Matt Stagliano:most comfortable with? What do you think really hits the mark,
Matt Stagliano:but it does need to stay focused on them not we take the best
Matt Stagliano:Fine Art portraits you'll ever see. It's all about them. So
Matt Stagliano:however, whatever voice you want to put that in is perfectly
Matt Stagliano:fine.
Nicole York:Okay, yeah, the only reason I wanted to ask that
Nicole York:was just to clarify for folks who are in the audience who may
Nicole York:be going, if I'm going to go at this, am I going at it from my
Nicole York:expertise perspective? Where am I going at it from? What is the
Nicole York:client's pain? And then how does my expertise solve this
Matt Stagliano:stay focused on the client and how your
Matt Stagliano:expertise solves it? Yes.
Nicole York:So what ideas do we have guys, what kind of sentence
Nicole York:could we put together from this information that we have?
Gene Sizemore:This might be way too simple, but I just wrote
Gene Sizemore:down Fine Art portraits. typography is our world. Let us
Gene Sizemore:introduce your unique legacy to your world.
Matt Stagliano:Choose to focus on us. Yeah. Right. So that's
Matt Stagliano:putting us as the hero. We want to be the gun. Okay? Yep, yep,
Matt Stagliano:yep. Right. So I like we're that was going fine. Our portrait is
Matt Stagliano:our world, but let's introduce the customer first by
Matt Stagliano:understanding what it is that they want. And I think Nicole,
Matt Stagliano:you had you had said something in there, I cannot quote it.
Matt Stagliano:But, you know, you're looking to have your story told or
Matt Stagliano:something to that effect. But, you know, let's, let's think
Matt Stagliano:about putting that problem statement first. And then how we
Matt Stagliano:solve it in the second sentence.
Nicole York:All right, I had you unmuted a moment ago. Yeah,
Nicole York:I
Ariel Schochet:just, you know, again, is as the non creator in
Ariel Schochet:the room, but the the avatar, the one thing that that I just
Ariel Schochet:wanted to add to the sort of problem, but I think it's so
Ariel Schochet:important for the statement is that you're going to not abandon
Ariel Schochet:me that you're going to take me all the way to the finish line.
Ariel Schochet:Because, you know, yes, you're gonna let me be part of the
Ariel Schochet:creative process. But that's also scary to me. And so I need
Ariel Schochet:to know that I'm gonna get end up getting a finished product.
Ariel Schochet:And my example is my PTR picture from my wedding seven years ago,
Ariel Schochet:we still don't have prints because they gave us 10,000
Ariel Schochet:proofs. And how do I pick something out of there? I didn't
Ariel Schochet:have the idea. Face it. So just again, that's part of the fear
Ariel Schochet:that I would suggest, you know, I don't think I'm alone in sort
Ariel Schochet:of being afraid of artistic pursuits when trying to get in
Ariel Schochet:our artistic pursuit. Can't talk today. Sorry. Sure.
Matt Stagliano:So from that, it might actually that might
Matt Stagliano:actually stimulate something really good. Finding a
Matt Stagliano:photographer to tell your story can be overwhelming. How does
Matt Stagliano:that sound?
Ariel Schochet:Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Stagliano:Okay. So finding a photographer to tell your
Matt Stagliano:story can be overwhelming. What's the next sentence? What
Matt Stagliano:is it that we do that solves that problem?
Ariel Schochet:We will guide you.
Matt Stagliano:Okay. How?
Nicole York:Well through our expertise, right,
Matt Stagliano:right. So what I'm saying is that the next
Matt Stagliano:empathy, yeah, we like finding a photographer to tell your story
Matt Stagliano:can be overwhelming. Our process involves you directly and
Matt Stagliano:telling your story. We will focus only on that we are
Matt Stagliano:experts in this. This is all we do. Like some of those things
Matt Stagliano:that put us in the position of we are going to guide you to
Matt Stagliano:getting your story told, and not overwhelming you.
Nicole York:Right, that's exactly what was something along
Nicole York:the lines of like finding a photographer to tell your story
Nicole York:as hard. We've been storytelling for 10 years. And we'll guide
Nicole York:you through the process one step at a time until you have a
Nicole York:portrait that represents you to the world. Nope, something like
Nicole York:that.
Matt Stagliano:Something I like the I like the idea way too
Matt Stagliano:long. We're talking like you know, 15 words. So finding,
Matt Stagliano:finding a photographer to tell a story can be overwhelming. Our
Matt Stagliano:portraits will tell your story easily and correctly. I'm
Nicole York:guided, or guided expert process will present your
Nicole York:best version of you.
Matt Stagliano:I like that I like crafting like this
Matt Stagliano:question. Yeah,
Ariel Schochet:exactly. It journey.
Cat Ford-Coates:Yep. Yeah, the subject of a piece of
Matt Stagliano:artwork. There you go. Now you're talking. You
Nicole York:also raise their hand as well. Attached What do
Nicole York:you think?
Unknown:I think I think there's always this breaking point back
Unknown:that's like it's a until now to kind of brace people for what
Unknown:you're going to say. And I think that so you bring up the the
Unknown:issue finding photographer to tell your stories usually is
Unknown:overwhelming. Until now. It's a break in a bridge over into the
Unknown:next over into the solution. Sometimes the solution right
Unknown:after is jarring. Not all the time, but sometimes it is. So
Unknown:yeah, that's just my opinion. Just my opinion on it. But uh,
Unknown:the next part is, it's kind of hard.
Matt Stagliano:Yeah. And this is you nailed it, Todd. I think
Matt Stagliano:that that carryover is great. It's a it's a great
Matt Stagliano:conversational transition. We're finding a photographer to tell
Matt Stagliano:your story is overwhelming until now. We create photographs.
Matt Stagliano:Because you deserve to be a work of art. Right? I'm trying to
Matt Stagliano:combine cats thing in there as well. Yeah. Yeah. So this is how
Matt Stagliano:you craft this statement. Right and I love where cat was going
Matt Stagliano:because it's that simplicity, you deserve not to be
Matt Stagliano:overwhelmed by a photographer, you deserve to have your story
Matt Stagliano:told, you deserve to stand out from the crowd, you are a work
Matt Stagliano:of art. Let us help you tell your story. Right. So something
Matt Stagliano:along those lines, very short, very concise wraps all of the
Matt Stagliano:elements together. And this is something this is the this is
Matt Stagliano:the issue. It's a big framework, you're trying to boil this down,
Matt Stagliano:we're trying to do it in less than an hour. This takes some
Matt Stagliano:time to craft and think about and brainstorm and put some
Matt Stagliano:things together. But any other ideas that we can kind of craft
Matt Stagliano:this into?
Nicole York:Yeah, and I think really quickly, I just want to
Nicole York:remind people and double down on what you just said, Please don't
Nicole York:forget that marketers go to school and then make a whole lot
Nicole York:of money to come up with these sentences. Like they do this for
Nicole York:big brands. They, I mean, and it's this isn't something that
Nicole York:they get in a room and go, how about this? And everybody goes,
Nicole York:Yeah, nope, this is something you brainstorm over and you
Nicole York:fight with, and you come back and you change words and try to
Nicole York:find words that are more suited. So if you're, if you struggle
Nicole York:here, please don't give up. And please don't be upset with
Nicole York:yourself. This is just a process that takes time and will need to
Nicole York:be refined, and you want to get feedback and all that stuff. So
Nicole York:just know that it's going to be a little bit a little bit of a
Nicole York:struggle, but don't give up.
Gene Sizemore:Yeah, I mean, this is, this is not my
Gene Sizemore:strength. Anybody that knows me, even in this room knows that
Gene Sizemore:concise is not my, not what I'm known for. But you know, I was
Gene Sizemore:going to listen and I came up to talk a little bit to already
Gene Sizemore:kind of said, what I wanted to come up to say, so I wasn't
Gene Sizemore:planning on participating in this, but you guys make me feel
Gene Sizemore:like I can't. So I appreciate that, Nicole, and I'm trying,
Gene Sizemore:but it's not something I'm good at. But what I've written down
Gene Sizemore:here, I've just kind of landed on, I've got a lot of lines
Gene Sizemore:scratched out here. So I'm doing this on paper, but something
Gene Sizemore:like your, your journey is your legacy. We can partner with you
Gene Sizemore:to share that legacy through a fine art portrait or something
Gene Sizemore:like that.
Matt Stagliano:Not bad at all. But you know that that is
Matt Stagliano:something that's a really good base, you've got the intention,
Matt Stagliano:correct. It's just crafting it right. And like Nicole said, and
Matt Stagliano:you're not a copywriter, right. So this is something that you
Matt Stagliano:work out, you bounce off the walls quite a bit. You deserve a
Matt Stagliano:fine art photo that tells your story. What do we do? To solve
Matt Stagliano:that,
Bekka Bjorke:I just gotta say, I watched a video on these one
Bekka Bjorke:liners yesterday, and then had an existential crisis over how
Bekka Bjorke:it was. And one thing that stood out to me that was actually it
Bekka Bjorke:was a, like a workshop or conference, something with the
Bekka Bjorke:guy who wrote the story Brand Book. And he specifically said,
Bekka Bjorke:Leave out the poetry for the one liner. Yep. Which I thought was
Bekka Bjorke:very interesting, because I definitely kind of lean into
Bekka Bjorke:that also with myself where it's like, I want to get, you know,
Bekka Bjorke:philosophical with the art of it, yada, yada, no, no one wants
Bekka Bjorke:to hear that in one sentence, you get to that later, once
Bekka Bjorke:they're already brought in by your solution. So tossing that
Bekka Bjorke:out there for my own crises with this one liner idea.
Unknown:I also like the idea of you deserve what we know. You
Unknown:mean, being the singular, and then what we know, the we is it
Unknown:just gathers and lets you know that collectively, we understand
Unknown:something as professionals, and the note shows the
Unknown:professionalism. You deserve what we know. And then I think
Unknown:there's a dash there, a semi colon, excuse my butt, like,
Unknown:yeah, you deserve what we know. And know, either italicized or
Unknown:not too bold or too cheesy or anything like that. But
Unknown:depending on what the type faces, I guess, but I'm just
Unknown:saying, like, you deserve what we know. And that is inviting to
Unknown:is inviting. And that's like it's welcoming to, to your
Unknown:expertise. It's a statement in itself is like hair there for
Unknown:the for the person or for the
Matt Stagliano:I love that concept. And I love where you're
Matt Stagliano:coming from with the empathy and how we are the subject matter
Matt Stagliano:experts, we want to make sure that we're not the focus of the
Matt Stagliano:statement, that we want the customer to be the focus of the
Matt Stagliano:statement. And so by saying you want what we know, we're
Matt Stagliano:inserting ourselves as the hero and not the guide. Right? Ah,
Matt Stagliano:that's good. I understand. Right? So we want to give them
Matt Stagliano:the the plan because we're altruistic and we're empathetic.
Matt Stagliano:But we don't want to say you're not going to do anything without
Matt Stagliano:us. Right, because it reverses the roles. So I love where
Matt Stagliano:you're going with that though. So I think you know, your people
Matt Stagliano:are starting to get the understanding of what can go
Matt Stagliano:into a one liner like this and I I really do encourage everybody
Matt Stagliano:to go out and watch the story brand stuff, because I'm
Matt Stagliano:probably not doing nearly the justice that Donald Miller would
Matt Stagliano:want me to do it. But think about crafting these statements
Matt Stagliano:in a very concise way. So thinking about this, we've got a
Matt Stagliano:couple of things. Finding a photographer to tell your story
Matt Stagliano:can be overwhelming. You deserve to be a work of art, you are a
Matt Stagliano:work of art, you deserve Fine Art portraits that tell your
Matt Stagliano:story, we're going to give you a fine art portrait that tells
Matt Stagliano:your story. Fine Art portraiture is difficult to find and reflect
Matt Stagliano:your story. It's Wow, what we specialized all we do something
Matt Stagliano:like that. But thinking about crafting that problem statement
Matt Stagliano:and the solution in one to two sentences. So I'm not sure you
Matt Stagliano:know, Nicole, this might be something in the interest of
Matt Stagliano:time that we craft in the Facebook group. And yeah, we can
Matt Stagliano:write a summary. And we can craft that one liner and give
Matt Stagliano:people a chance to come up with exactly what this one liner
Matt Stagliano:would be. And I think it would be a pretty decent common thread
Matt Stagliano:because we can all start to brainstorm off of each other.
Matt Stagliano:What do you think about that?
Nicole York:Yeah, I love that idea. I think that that's a
Nicole York:great way to go back. You got some All right, that was
Nicole York:clapping. Yes. Yeah. So absolutely. Um, first, just want
Nicole York:to give Matt a big round of applause for this week for
Nicole York:jumping in as the guide. Amazing. You did so beautifully.
Nicole York:Thank you so much for guiding us through. Beautiful. So big ups
Nicole York:to you, my friend, it was fantastic to have you in the
Nicole York:driver's seat to hear that velvety voice every morning,
Nicole York:guiding us through this process, and asking all the questions, so
Bassam Sabbagh:go ahead. No, that was my mistake.
Nicole York:Okay. Um, all right, y'all. So basically,
Nicole York:let's just do a quick summary. This week, we really focused on
Nicole York:social media on how we engage where we're at what our
Nicole York:philosophies are. And then today's exercise, the point of
Nicole York:today's exercise was really just to help each one of us find a
Nicole York:framework that we could use so that we clarify our messaging.
Nicole York:That way, when we go to post things on social media, we
Nicole York:understand what the purpose of those posts are, and they're
Nicole York:going to fall somewhere within this message that we're
Nicole York:crafting. So some of those posts are going to be we understand
Nicole York:your problem posts, right? Like you have this problem, we
Nicole York:understand it, some are going to be, here's our expertise that
Nicole York:can help you, you know, that will solve this problem for you,
Nicole York:some of them are going to be Look, here's what success looks
Nicole York:like somebody who had your problem showed up. And this is
Nicole York:the success that they got with us. So you know, all of these
Nicole York:things are gonna fall within this framework that we're
Nicole York:talking about here. If this framework does not work for you
Nicole York:don't feel bad. There are lots of different frameworks out
Nicole York:there. We just chose this one, number one, because Matt was
Nicole York:really conversant with it. But also because story brand fits
Nicole York:really well with the overall ethos of the artists Forge,
Nicole York:focusing on storytelling and mindset and things like that. So
Nicole York:it just was really copacetic. But if this doesn't work for you
Nicole York:don't stress about it. There are a lot of other frameworks out
Nicole York:there. You can look at marketing framework, you can look up
Nicole York:messaging framework on Google, like all of those things will
Nicole York:give you different results. But at the end of the day, what we
Nicole York:want to focus on is that when we're engaging on social media,
Nicole York:we have to realize that we are marketing all the time marketing
Nicole York:just means the things that are client facing that help them
Nicole York:understand who you are, what they get from you, etc. And not
Nicole York:all marketing is advertising. But everything else is
Nicole York:marketing. Advertising is just when you pay for placement,
Nicole York:right. And so in order to be able to engage on social media
Nicole York:well, and in a way that is functional and profitable for
Nicole York:ourselves in our business, we just need to have a good idea of
Nicole York:what we're doing. And for some people, the story brand is going
Nicole York:to be the way that helps them engage. So if that doesn't work
Nicole York:for you, don't stress but I think it's clarified a lot of
Nicole York:things for me, I think for the rest of the panelists when we
Nicole York:had to kind of go and do a little bit more research so we
Nicole York:could engage with this today. It clarified a lot of things for us
Nicole York:in general. So think about your philosophy. Why you're engaging
Nicole York:on social media is your business on social media who is the hero,
Nicole York:your client? Who are they? What do they need from you? What
Nicole York:problem do they have that you are going to guide them through
Nicole York:helping them solve with the framework that you have built?
Nicole York:And what does success look like from your clients perspective,
Nicole York:remember that the only reason businesses exist is to provide
Nicole York:value. And so you are out there solving problems in the world.
Nicole York:And that is why people need you. If they didn't, they would do it
Nicole York:themselves. So when we're engaging on social media, let's
Nicole York:keep those things in mind. And then let's get in the Facebook
Nicole York:group, and try to see if we can craft these sentences, you can
Nicole York:use our Acme portrait photography company and what we
Nicole York:talked about today, you can go through this process for
Nicole York:yourself and try to share what your one liner for your business
Nicole York:would be. And we can give each other some feedback, try to help
Nicole York:out where we can, remembering that we're always centering the
Nicole York:client as the hero and ourself as the guide. So thank you for
Nicole York:being here with us this week. Guys, this was a really cool
Nicole York:conversation, I think, hopefully, clarified a whole
Nicole York:lot. And man, I hope that it helps people feel more
Nicole York:comfortable engaging in social media posts, you know,
Nicole York:understanding what they want to post and feeling like they're a
Nicole York:lot more in control of how your messaging is going out into the
Nicole York:world. So one more time, thanks for being here this week. Well
Nicole York:done. Matt, thank you so much for guiding us through all of
Nicole York:this stuff. Hopefully, we will see everybody in the Facebook
Nicole York:group. And then Monday morning, bright and early next week on
Nicole York:Thursday will be our first official post Visual Literacy
Nicole York:Live stream. So we'll be doing that on Thursday. 7pm Mountain
Nicole York:Standard Time. So come show up. Come hang. We're gonna be
Nicole York:getting together again in person and we want to have you there.
Nicole York:Y'all are amazing. Thanks for being here. This place wouldn't
Nicole York:be what it is without you. We'll see you next week. In the
Nicole York:meantime, go make something amazing.
Matt Stagliano:Thanks again for listening to this live clubhouse
Matt Stagliano:discussion moderated by all of us at the artists Forge. We hope
Matt Stagliano:you found the information useful and that it helps you gain a
Matt Stagliano:little bit of insight as to how you work on your craft. For more
Matt Stagliano:episodes, please join us each weekday on clubhouse or visit
Matt Stagliano:the artists forge.com and go make something incredible
