Forget CTAs, use these instead

Forget CTAs, do this instead.

Welcome to Useful–

Useful? Useful Not Famous!

Every time! I always mess up the intro!

It's perfect!

Welcome to Useful Not Famous. This is the show where we teach you how being useful helps build your brand and your business. I'm Amara Andrew.

And I'm Jeff Sarris.

I don't know why I said my full name, but–

That's fine.

Welcome to the Useful Not Famous cult!

So, how is this show

Ordered?

So, we have three 5-minute segments. We have this little timer here if you're watching on the YouTube. We set 5 minutes on the timer, and we talk about our topic: why you need to do this, then we have a little —

What, what?

And then at the end we have how. So, it's a 15-minute show, so why don't we dive right in?

A 15-minute show that's never 15 minutes!

We do our best. We do our best. I mean, we're losing time, let's go!

Our last episode was 33 minutes!

Okay, well, we just have so much we want to put in.

Yeah, if you listened last week, you actually– you would know why, because we were talking about scoops and the importance of scoops. But, we talked about one aspect of scoops that's extremely important that we couldn't dive into, so we pushed it to this week.

Yes. So, tell me a little bit about– So, the topic this week is brand closers. So, I guess just start with what is a brand closer?

So, I mentioned CTAs at the top of the episode. A CTA is a– What?

I was going to say, what's a CTA besides the Chicago Transit Authority?

So, a CTA is a call to action, so something like, "Click here for more info," or, "Call this number now for blah, blah, blah." It's–

Or, "I'm a Nigerian prince. Give me all your money." Is that it?

That– They'll have a CTA in that, but it's not quite that. But, yeah, it's a call to action. It is asking someone to take an action.

But what most people do is they'll, in every video, say, "Don't forget to like and subscribe," and things that now we have all learned to ignore. Like we learned to ignore advertisements. Like, that's just something like we can tune them out, whether we're listening to the radio or podcast, watching TV, any of those things.

You're just smirking. I feel like you want to say something.

I'm sorry. I just keep thinking of The Minimalists because "Advertisements suck!" I just keep wanting to shout it out.

Yeah, so The Minimalists, like, that's a brand that I've worked on for years, and when they do their tours, they do a podcast tour in front of an audience of about 2,000 people or so, and it's just funny because they always say, "This podcast is brought to you by no one," and then they just put the mic out–

"Because advertisements suck!" It's very fun to say.

Yeah, it's fun. That's their own little cult. But, anyway, so today we're talking brand closers.

So, what a brand closer is, it's different. A CTA is what's in it for me. A call to action is do this for me.

You as the performer, or the person putting out the content, right?

Yeah, the person on camera, on microphone, whatever it is. Like, "Do this for me. Like and subscribe." Where a brand closer is different.

A brand closer starts to build awareness and build your brand, but it also is about them, the viewer, the listener, the viewer.

The alien! Where are you going with this, Sarris?

I was going to say watcher, and I was like, wait, that's a viewer. Okay, anyway.

No, I like watcher. I don't know, they could be a watcher. Can you be a watcher and a viewer at the same time?

Is viewer active or passive?

But, anyway, it is– there's two parts to a brand closer: who I am, and then what's in it for you, for you the audience, for you the viewer, listener, watcher. So, we're going to dive into sort of a template on how to actually do it, but did you want to give any examples or have any input on this part before I go further?

I think we'll– Yeah, I think we'll sort of save that for later in the "how" section of how to create your own brand closer.

-. Yeah, so basically, this is identity and value, is what we're talking about. And brand, if you've listened before, is what people think and say about you when you're not around.

So, the value of crafting this identity and sharing this identity with someone, that's brand. You're handing them an identity to understand who you are and put you in a little box. We've talked about boxes, too, in an earlier episode.

And, too, when people sneeze you out to their Explain what that means.

Explain what that means.

So, it means that you have people who are so devoted to you and such a great fan base, like that they believe in you so much, that they'll literally– not literally! That they will figuratively sneeze you out to other people. So, they'll spread your message, your idea, your who you are, yeah, your idea virus, to multiple different people.

Like, it's so– it makes a whole web.

And that's the sneeze. Well, why it's a sneeze is because conceptually it's a virus. They are spreading your virus for you.

Yes! So, whatever it is, that is what your brand closer is, in a way, because you are telling people who you are, what you have for them, and what it'll do for them all in one. So, then when somebody's like, "Oh, have you seen this person who does the news or whatever?" like we talked about last week with scoops.

Timer!

That they'll be like, "Oh, this is–" They'll remember, it's a very Pavlovian sort of conditioning because you are conditioning somebody to associate your name with your whatever your occupation is, which we're going to talk about that more in the in the third section. But then also with what you provide to people, so why they should trust you, or why they should listen to you, or why they should know you or watch you.

Well, and it's a little, — Oh, what's the best way to say it? I want to say manipulative, but not manipulative bad.

That's what I mean. It's very Pavlovian. You're You're training people to have this.

So, like for example, in one of mine– so, I will provide a small example. In– I have like 20 of them because I have so much different– I have so many different types of content. But in one of my brand closers, I have: "And I make videos just like this for local small businesses." And then I have a little extra afterward, which we can get into later.

But now people know, "Oh, she makes video for local small businesses." I've already had two people reach out, and I've only been creating this type of content for 2 months straight. I had, for a little bit–

I don't Not even. Probably–

I'm on my second month right now.

Yeah, you're entering it. So, probably like 4 weeks. Just thinking Miami was a month ago, which is crazy.

Okay, yeah. Never mind that. But, now I've already had people reaching out because they're like, "Oh, she makes video content!" or whatever.

She makes, in your region.

So, telling people who you are and what you can provide to them and also what you do, it will have that– It's I wrote it down because for the Pavlov experiment, which if you have no idea what that is, you should check it out. It's very interesting. It's basically a dog and a bell, salivation, and food.

And it's like It's a positive It's a positive conditioning. But basically, you have a neutral stimulus, which in this experiment is the bell, but for a brand closer, it's your name, becoming associated with a meaningful stimulus. So, in the experiment, it's food, but in a brand closer, it's being resourceful, being useful, helpful to people.

Yeah, what's in it for them.

Exactly.

And the word I said manipulative, or whatever I said, but it's influence. You're influencing them to remember this little thing, and it's consistent every time, so then it becomes– Like Walter Cronkite had, "And that's the way it is." He didn't say who he was because you've already been watching or listening for much longer, but that was a brand, an audible brand, that you just you would know from the repeated exposure.

So, actually, really quickly then, before we get to the next section: should you change your brand closer often, never, always? How often would you say?

Since we haven't given an example yet, I don't– I We might be jumping the gun to say, but I think we need to have it consistent a little. Like, for example, we both have long brown-blonde hair, and we always wear black.

I pay money to be blonde-blonde, not brown-blonde!

Well, I'm trying to just like– Like we have a specific look that people recognize us anywhere we go. People know the name Mayven.

Well, yeah. Like–

It's similar to the shirt I'm– The shirt I'm wearing says Useful Not Famous, if you're not watching, but in a similar font, I normally wear a shirt that says Mayven, or Amara wears a shirt that says Mayven when we're out and about, and then people recognize the brand.

Or even I wear– This is so silly, but I wear checkerboard Vans all the time because they catch your eye, and I love checkerboard. Like, I love black and white. That's like my favorite color combo, even though people would argue it's not colors, but whatever.

But, I wear checkerboard Vans. When people that I know wear checkerboard Vans or they see them on me, they'll be like, "Oh, blah, blah, blah." They'll send me photos and be like, "I'm wearing your shoes!" or whatever, which is so funny because that's just become part of our brand. But, anyway, we're going a little further away from brand closers.

Yeah, so consistency. Like, consistency with everything is so important, so consistency of the brand closer. Finding one that conveys what you want to convey, and sticking with it for a little bit, so people start to be like, "Oh, I remember– remember that person she, for scoops, like she always has the scoops in the news for XYZ town."

Yes.

Yeah. So, segment two. 5 minutes on the clock.

What, what?

Yeah, what are we doing here?

I don't know! I didn't get this far. I got to brand closers, and then I was like, "We'll just see." Well, glass, glasses, what if–

So, we might be recording two episodes today. I don't know yet, we'll see.

I think so. I'm not entirely sure.

This will be the first time we would be doing two, but we are about to hit the road again. Like, I am in the weeds building our product. Have I said the name of it?

Yeah, you did last week.

We said Hiveway, but did I say–

I think so.

Or maybe we didn't last week, I don't remember.

Yeah, so–

Everything grows and changes as you evolve. So, there's two separate products that we're building, but they might be evolving into one, potentially.

Which is exciting.

Yeah.

But, it's It's been quite a process. I do wish we have– I do wish we had documented everything so much more 'cause–

What do you mean? Like, documenting what you do for people so they can follow along and feel invested and feel like they had a part in something?

Yeah, it's almost like that helps build a business or something. But, we've just been so busy this past year, these past 2 years, that I didn't even think to be recording all of these moments. We've We've had so many pivots and changes, and especially with the products that we're building– you're building.

It's It's unfortunate, but I'm starting to record little bits and pieces now, 'cause then maybe I can eventually put it out. I need to put that back.

I mean, that's the beauty of the podcast. The more we talk about things here,

Yeah.

The better.

That is true. Well, yeah, maybe on the next episode or something we need to actually talk about sort of the journey a little bit of how it came about, 'cause I know we need to think about it. I don't want to put you on the spot right now, 'cause I'd be like, "Tell me!

When did you start?" so if you are building a product, definitely make sure you are recording every part of it 'cause that is very valuable.

Well, it's easy to do it for– It's easy for us to do it for other people because what we do is service. Like, we are, not in a like religious kind of way, like of service, but like we run service businesses. We do the things other people need done for them

At the peril of our own.

Oh, yeah. But, but like our whole thing is doing the things that they otherwise don't have the time and energy to do, which is something we could use as well.

-huh. I know, we need an us.

We need to clone ourselves. That's it!

I finally finished my book, Hitmakers.

-huh.

It was very good. That was by far one of the best books I've ever read.

I'm still about 40% of the way through because I have three books I'm reading.

Well, yeah. You read cyclically. That's actually a very interesting way that we read, 'cause I hated having to do that in like school where you would read three different books or four different books.

I like to just sink into one and like think in that mind space and then go to the next one. But, I think there's value in it because then you're taking all these ideas, all these disparate ideas, and blending them into one.

You mean me?

Yeah, you.

Yeah, so I'll read multiple books on different in different areas at one time, and that's why I like it, 'cause I don't like to just stick with one idea. I like how it forms disparate things in the back of my mind. Last week, three separate times, the importance of taking a break and letting your subconscious solve problems, it came up three separate times, which is really weird.

But that is what we've been doing now, too, is we've been home for about a month, almost a month. It's been very good. Like, we've gotten so– We've made so much forward progress on various things within Mayven, for our products, for the actual like what we're offering from Mayven, even,

Which is interesting. We'll talk about the VIP experience, I don't know, maybe in a couple weeks, because how that is going to be run in August is going to be completely different, but we're very excited into what it is to do what it is now.

Yeah, make friends with previous people, just FYI, 'cause you will not be able to get in.

But, yeah, the subconscious, letting that formulate all these ideas. Like, reading straight through a book is very valuable, too, 'cause you're focused. I was going to say I don't focus, but I really do focus.

No, you do. It's just a different way to approach ideas and knowledge 'cause there is definitely Yeah, there is definitely a benefit to that 'cause then you can take this little bit up here, apply it to this, and then be like, "Oh, okay." It's just like looking at like Timer. It's just like looking at history.

Like, you can see if you read various different things, it's interesting to be like, "Oh," I don't know, "Winston Churchill was up here," and you read a whole book about Winston Churchill. Then you read a book about this chair, and it was only made because Winston Churchill was so big, he couldn't fit–

Yeah, Winston Churchill and Winston Chair-chill.

And then you read about this hill, and then church, chair, hill. Anyway, but you read all these different things and you see how everything's so tied together. So, anyway, it's It's more life-like, the way you read, whereas I read very– I find that I get the most out of it when I'm just focused on one book, 'cause then I can take all my ideas from that one.

I don't know, it's just interesting, is all.

I think there's one more thing. I because I sort of savor the book a little bit, but I think not moving on to the next chapter or section has the last thing I read linger more, actually.

Yeah, ferment in your brain.

Yeah, 'cause I haven't moved I haven't like shifted the thought of this concept, 'cause like I have a philosophy book, sort of a business book, and then more like marketing. Sort of the three things it's so weird 'cause they're not It's, Hitmakers, Deep Work, and, The Third Grace were the three. But they're interconnected, but they're really different topics.

– very different.

So, it's I think being able to do that might I may have subconsciously figured out a little hack for me to have my subconscious subconsciously, whatever,

Carry the one.

But like my non-active thinking, problem solving brain, I might have I might, innately, do something that lets it function better. I don't know.

I would say that they all, though, are very closely connected. Even though they're very different, they're a lot closer than you would think.

Dear listener. Okay, so, 5 minutes, we've only been recording– I don't even know where it says on here. It doesn't say time on here.

Anyway, 5 minutes, and we are in the how. Like, how do you actually make a brand closer? How do you use it?

Where do you put it?

So, before What does it smell like?

Bad haircut.

I like that we have so many inside jokes that we'll never explain, 'cause it's it would take it would take longer than the episode to explain why saying "bad haircut" is funny to us right now.

But it's also like, it's funny to us, and when we have to explain it, it's not funny.

It's not.

So, okay, so, before How many parts would you would you say applicable brand closer?

Les compétences.

Okay, what?

Jesus!

How many parts are there to a brand closer, would you say?

So, I would say it's technically three, but I would say two.

Okay, so I would technically say three, but for me, it is starting with your name, what you do, so what your occupation is, like why just what your profession is, what sort of service you offer or whatever.

Yeah, the thing that will actually benefit you to say, so not just like, "I work at the mines."

Yeah, this is the only part as people do. Well, people actually still do. But this is this is like what your business is, essentially.

Just this is your tiny little advertisement that doesn't feel like an ad because then the next part is why like what people should expect from your content. So–

Yeah, it's so like to me I say two parts because it's identity, value.

I like how you emphasized "identity." I don't think you've ever said "tity."

Identity. Oops!

Pardon me. So, for example, some brand closers we do with some of our Top Bananas, as well as for me, 'cause like I said, I have 40 of them now. One of them is for Mr.

Kevin Goldman in LA, LA Calabasas area, and he does, "I'm Kevin Goldman, LA chef realtor, and I keep up with all things Calabasas so you don't have to." He varies on them sometimes, just because he's

Yeah, he has fun with them. Truly, he's Kevin.

Just because he's hilarious. So, like one of them is like, he has a gluten intolerance that he just learned and he eats all the gluten. So, one of them was, " my name's Kevin Goldman, LA chef realtor, and I eat all the gluten so you don't have to." It was just very funny.

So, that's one of them. And then, another person, "I'm Amy, realtor and fourth generation Lombardian, and I know this area inside and out." Lombard is a town near Chicago, so–

Yeah, "and I know this area inside and out." And that's an implied value. It's not, because we actually were sort of playing with it, like, "Do we say, 'so you can learn more, da-da-da'?" But that actually is already implied from saying, "and I know this area inside and out." It says, "I've lived I'm a realtor who's lived here forever, like my whole life, and I know this area very well," which then conveys, "Oh, well, I want to know the area better.

Let me follow, let me like, let me do whatever you have to do on the platform to get more of it."

Exactly. And like the fourth generation, like her family has lived in that town for four generations, so she's very like connected to the community and then thereby knows way more about the area than most normal people would know. So, then like I teased one of mine for a secret profile we have.

If you find it, don't follow it.

Yeah, if you do, like truly, if you find this the scoops account that Amara's face is on, all over, don't follow it because it really is only–

Yeah, please don't.

The goal is to only have local people. So–

We actually did have somebody that we know from another thing find it and follow it. It was super sweet.

Yeah, which is sweet. But it's But that's the thing, is like we truly like, again, useful, not famous. We'd rather have 23 followers who are in the town than 223 or 2,023 who aren't, because the whole point the whole point of it is hyper-local.

Yes. So, then one of my other ones is, or one of mine is, "My name's Amara, and I make videos just like this for local small businesses, and I keep up on all things town so you don't have to." And then, finally, my final one, "My name's Amara, and I fly all over the country to film with realtors in their market,

And I keep up on social media news so you don't have to."

And I think that's it, actually.

So, this "so you don't have to" is very easy to replicate.

Yes.

But there's other templates we can If you have questions and want your own template that isn't "so you don't have to" kind of thing, we can always help. Just DM us on Instagram.

Yeah, we're a lot more creative with our Top Bananas' brand closers just because for me–

Timer!

Just because for mine, it was let's just get this out there and just make it as easy and quick as possible. And don't be afraid to try a couple and see which one feels the best for you. I guess at the end of the day, that's it.

So, your name, what you can personally benefit from, like you as the person presenting this to someone, and then what people can expect from your content. Try out a couple different ones. Like, I've tried a few different.

Definitely. But I mean that is something to really like It's not one and done.

Yeah.

Like, see what feels right.

I just don't want people to have analysis paralysis like, "This is it! This is the only thing I can do," 'cause so many people get caught up in that for all manner of social media creation.

In both sides of that.

Yes.

Like, not doing it because it's not perfect, but also not changing it when you feel like, "Oh, wait. This isn't quite right."

Exactly. So, just like just try a couple. Like, it has to feel right coming from you, otherwise it's just going to look kind of weird on video.

You're going to sound kind of weird. You're just You're not going to embody it, and it's not going to seem as confident, whereas when you find yours, then it's like, "Oh, cool! Like, this person knows what they're doing," or, "They know what they're talking about." So, again, like Jeff said– It's so weird saying your name!

I never– I call you Honey Bunches!

No, you don't. We have other nicknames, but, again, we're not going to share them on the podcast.

Go to our Patreon if you want to hear what I call him!

Useful Not Famous After Dark!

On that note, if you have any questions, please make sure to share them in your story, and we will answer them on next week's episode, which I think we're going to record in like 5 minutes.

Yeah, maybe. It might be the first batch recording. Also, we have an article all about brand closers if you go to whatismayven.com/brand-closers, you'll find all of that there where you can dive deep and find everything.

Are you going to put it in the notes?

I don't know.

I just realized we didn't put the Descript link in the notes last week…

Well, it should be there now by the time this comes out.

No! I'm going to forget.

See you next week.

Bye!