Brand Mastery: Part 1

Speaker 1: hi welcome to the sheu it experience with Melanie you're here because you want to scale and grow your business Master business strategy and learn about new tech Innovation join me and my inspiring guests as we dive into the topic of how how to create build scale and operate the business of your dreams in addition to being an entrepreneur I'm also a twin mom and Optimist who loves empowering you to experience the life that you crave Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so grab a coffee or cocktail get comfy and let's dive in today I'm thrilled to be chatting with Tracy sang Tracy you've had an incredible career working as associate publisher for Los Angeles magazine VP of marketing for click Brands which includes who what where and as head of marketing and custom events for Sunset magazine Tracy can you tell us more about you who you are and about the successful leaps that you have made

Speaker 2: throughout your career sure it's so nice to be here with you today and I'm delighted that you asked me to be part of your podcast just listening to your accomplishments you just fill me up with optimism so yes I've had this crazy wild ride in my professional career I am indeed a professional marketer I am a creative first strategist second or if those two things can be paired equally together that's absolutely in My DNA I've had 20 plus years of experience I started off right after college in some big ad agencies running multi-million dollar accounts then I took a leap the she built it way into publishing where I landed my first job in publishing as the director of marketing at Philadelphia magazine which then led me to another leap across the country which took me to Los Angeles magazine where I enjoyed six years as the associate publisher leading all of the marketing and events there from there I went on to click Brands which is the home of who what where and once birdie and my domain Beauty and Fashion space which I personally love and thrive in the most and then moving on to Sunset magazine which is a very well-known publication here on the West Coast for the affluent upscale lifestyle enjoying over a hundred years of communic ating with audiences about living their best lives in the western part of the United States currently there I have the opportunity to express the brand position through multiple events and as we all know with this pandemic the shape of events is is absolutely has to shift there's just no other way but we're able to carry things out in unique ways and make our clients happy and continue to communicate with our audiences beyond the traditional print and digital expressions of our

Speaker 1: content Tracy you have so much experience I'm curious along the lines of what you just mentioned with the shift in technology today what advice or tips can you give us about communicating a brand or a business to their followers in order to gain followers create a community like you mentioned hosting events and also to gain revenue because that's shifting for all of us and I love to talk to women like you who are out there working with companies and clients on the front line of seeing these shifts you and I have talked endlessly about social media in my spare time since we're all working from home I've actually been leading social for a couple of different businesses as well so this is a space where I absolutely think it's necessary I think there was a time long long ago when businesses started to recognize that they needed a website to be relevant and if you didn't have a website you were not a legitimate business now that game is social and if you don't have a relationship with your consumer or with your audience then you're not really a legitimate business as far as social is concerned it's the most amazing tool and the words that I kind of live by are Community First Commerce second that might come from my publishing experience where you'll often hear me say that we are not selling ads but we are selling audience we are selling content but first and foremost we are selling an audience to the brands that want to advertise whether it be in the magazine or on our websites ask the community what they want start a dialogue with them have a conversation with them answer every single DM that you get I find this to be a very common mistake where brands or individuals maybe even influencers won't answer their DMS or will not respond to comments and that is such a major flaw the way to communicate is to have this dialogue the dialogue is only possible if you put in the effort you will receive it back so that's I think the greatest piece of advice that I could give be authentic if you're an influencer or trying to be an influencer being authentic in your brand messaging is so critical what we're seeing a lot of right now in this time of the pandemic is that Brands suddenly want to express all kinds of empathy and jump on these bandwagons for different causes that our world is overwhelmed with and if they're not authentic the consumers can see right through them and seeing right through that gives consumers a sense of distrust that you really can't recover from so once you make a mistake it's very difficult to go back but being authentic to causes that you really do believe in so we could talk about she built it for example we know what she built it is it's a platform built for women the authenticity is there now if you started talking about something completely different or often left field that didn't have anything to do with leaps and professionalism and optimism and female entrepreneurs and supporting women women supporting women then that would just be you know offbrand confuse it would confuse the community and I think the other piece of this lies within the authenticity and an expression of passion being able to express your passion through Visual images through sto storytelling through comments through short captions really can be another way to communicate with your audiences but it doesn't happen overnight building an audience is very tricky and I really look to the publishing gods and say you knew long ago that by collecting the people and telling them what they want to know and asking them what do they want to hear and giving it back to them was the number one way to have a dialogue to have a relationship and then bring on the Commerce be able to sell them something they knew that long long ago the publishing business is truly the innovator in the building of the community space but it does take a long time so patience everyone patience which is hard patience it's difficult but it's not impossible don't expect it to happen overnight I follow a little bit of Gary ve and his Innovative practices is for social and he is always so quick to remind people that businesses are not built overnight these people that have success with entrepreneurial Ventures and speak about it and blog about it it looks like it happened over three days or over one year it's been going on for a long time 10 or longer one of my very good girlfriends has been in the jewelry business for about 15 years now and things are starting to happen but it really takes a long time so patience communication and having that dialogue with your audience is critical and

Speaker 2: crucial you've given us so much good information I have so many things that you mentioned that I want to touch on with selling products and services you are so right about building the community and getting people to trust you and trust your passion behind what it is you're selling now we are so inundated with different brands that's what you see when you look at your phone is now all everyone trying to sell so I think it's really going to be to your point figuring how to cut through that clutter and really connect with your consumers to where it's more than selling a product because from the women I've talked to everyone had to shift and pivot so fast someone that might have been selling their products in brick and mortar and had online sales also but had to do that shift to where it's now primarily all online and okay where else do we need to be online where our customers are living where we're not there yet and how do we get there it's been such an interesting shift and I'm

Speaker 1: sure you saw this with who what where also absolutely but I think you bring up another good point so I hear a lot of my friends say oh I saw this Facebook ad and I bought this t-shirt or I bought these leggings or I saw someone post something the other day where she purchased this beautiful cashmere coat that was displayed in a Facebook ad and the Cod arrived and it looked like a crumpled up Muppet costume right this is not about building a business that's a one-off consumer that's not who you want you want recurring Revenue you want to have a dialogue you want to have a relationship another important thing to think about is that you can't go dark if you go dark during this time you're going to lose your audience so you always have to have a presence and always have a voice so at who what where we talked a lot about always on so whenever we prepare a campaign for a client whether it was Estee Lauder or Gucci or J crew or Cartier there was this always on presence so that we could communicate with the whoare audience at on multiple levels through emails through social through our digital channels when we had who what wear collection at Target which they're really two separate businesses we have who what wear the media business and then who what wear that many people know if you have if you've got something in your closet from Target and it's cute and you wear it chances are it's who what wear because everything is adorable on Trend and completely affordable that was a completely different initiative but the always on mentality is another component that Brands need to think about as we move into this time where physical presence was a way that we could have a relationship with our consumer if you had people walking into a car dealership or on a Saturday brunching with your girlfriends and shopping along Montana or wherever you happen to be or live that's not a possibility so we've lost a leg of the always on component which for me in my professional World always on also meant events and getting brands in front of people into the physical hands of people to your point you have to get that marketing wheel spinning you can't just depend on one Avenue now you have to have the email marketing the social make sure you're everywhere where customers and clients are correct integrated marketing all channels all channels all the time in order to be a marketer you need to be a great communicator for younger people listening to this podcast one piece of advice that's a complete sidebar here is if you ever have the opportunity to work in an ad agency do it especially if you can do it right after college or early on in your career because it will grind you it will grind you and it is difficult and challenging but was the best opportunity for me to learn the entire marketing Communications advertising business everything from all the important temp Pooles from research to Media to data to the importance of direct response and Communications through Voice through imagery through digital through copywriting and design at the same time learning how to be a client leader and manage people's money and their campaign which is very important because if you make a mistake and you just spent half a million dollars on a campaign and your results aren't there someone has answer to that right that's a lot of pressure

Speaker 2: it is I was thinking about what you said about Brands like with the she built it shop I know every woman that's in the shop and I know the dedication that they put into their products so I know if someone buys a product it's not going to show up like the crumpled coat right but for someone building a brand it's very hard to try to get all those marketing tools kind of in the right place and in front of the Right audience because I know how incredible the

Speaker 1: products are in the she builted shop and how incredible the women are behind

Speaker 2: those products yes I am familiar with most of them myself there's no crumpled coat no in the she built it chop no you're right now I think the other thing that you can say about all of those brands that live in the sheb built it shop is that they all Express their passion they all Express their Vision they all Express their authenticity and they're all unique and different in their own way and yet they all have something in common they have many things in common but that is a trusted place where people can come and Shop whether it be for skin care or Rachel cat's amazing pieces that I aspire to I know I love it I wear it every day and it's your signature never worn a piece of jewelry every every day ever until I got this necklace so it looks amazing what's kind of fun to build a curated shop where I can have that trust in what's behind it right and then you can be an advocate for it that's another Avenue so absolutely I mean I personally use all of the products that are in the shop you are a media channel so that's why Brands by media right and that's why they want that extended voice because these Brands like to communicate with your audience and be affiliated with you because they know that you attract the right customer for them using what wear again as an example because I'm sure it'll resonate very well here same thing with Los Angeles magazine or with sunset the brands that advertise with us are brands that want to be affiliated with our brand and at the same time know that the audience that we provide and that we serve up is exactly the cohort that they're seeking to attract and to Target

Speaker 1: you have been very successful in managing teams and projects and making events happen can you tell us how you approach building a team and what you think makes a good leader when thinking

Speaker 2: about building a team someone taught me long ago that you should surround yourself with people who have skills that are outside of your comfort zone or outside of your skill set so for example at Los Angeles magazine I produced well over a hundred events per year I had a pretty significant team for a relatively small company Los Angeles magazine operated much like The Wizard of Oz where we were a couple of munchkins behind a big curtain and there was a lot of things going on with a very small staff but to be able to surround yourself with people who know more than you or are better than you in certain areas yet have the confidence to not be envious or jealous or be in control of those people at all times to me makes a successful leader someone who can give the team the space that they need to do their best work give them the space that they need to be trusted and to work autonomously that's a great leader and not to Pat myself on the back but I think I've been at enough companies now to leave a trail of expert colleagues who have gone on into great roles who continually send me texts and emails and say I just want to thank you for being the best boss ever right things like

Speaker 1: that just but see that motivates me so another attribute of a great great leader is to always act positively and with honesty so having a transparency in order to have the tough conversations but at the same time always encouraging people to do their best work and sore in the way that you know that they can sometimes that means pushing them sometimes that can be uncomfortable but over time and with wisdom and a little bit of experience you can conquer that and it becomes easy it can be kind of scary to surround yourself with people that know more than you but that's the only way a business can grow when I'm looking to hire someone I'll say to them I'm looking for someone who's going to push me I don't want to work with someone where I have to keep moving them along and you know

Speaker 2: people are people that we're going to make mistakes sometimes like you mentioned the challenging conversations and I love how you say to be positive cuz we've all been in roles where maybe we couldn't flourish like we wanted to because someone above us might be threatened or something but the fact that you are saying to surround yourself with people who are really good at what they do and can kind of push everything forward is such good advice thank you

Speaker 1: and and I know that you know that because we've had those conversations in the past I think it has a lot to do with the type of person you are the P the leader that you are and if you feel threatened by someone else's success or you feel that they may outshine you then that's not the kind of person I I would personally like like to work for I think I've also been really fortunate to work for some amazing leaders I've been really abiding by this philosophy of the more you practice something the better at it you will get if you practice positivity you practice being happy you're going to be happy you're going to get better at being happy if you worry all the time or you feel threatened all the time you are practicing the worry you are practicing being threatened you are practicing negative characteristics that will then become part of your way and everyday life and sometimes this can happen subconsciously so I've been very cognizant of trying to practice things that are good being happy being positive and so on but smart I've been very fortunate to have had some great leaders that I have learned from along the way through the different companies where I've worked and the different types of careers that I've had I've picked up a little piece of what each of them has taught me and offered me so I'm a hybrid of all of these other great leaders and I'm not just bsing oh that sounds great doesn't it no it's

Speaker 2: really the truth seriously Tracy you have so much insight and you are so good at what you do we're all shifting and pivoting at such a rapid speed today and I love how we can learn from others in how they have overcome obstacles can you share with us a business challenge that you came up against and how you were able to overcome it because we are all we're all up against challenges I'm a

Speaker 1: positive person and I understand that I am working within a positive role she built it is very positive you know when someone that works for me makes a mistake I try to think of myself and that I'm a human being too and that I don't do everything perfectly I tell myself that I care more about this cuz I deeply care about she built it and inspiring women and empowering women but then I tell myself I care more about this than anybody else so I try to understand that if someone makes a mistake they are a human being and I make mistakes too and just try to work it out in the best positive light that we possibly can but there are challenges

Speaker 2: that we have to overcome I couldn't agree more and listen Melanie what keeps you up at night does not keep me up at night and even if the two of us were working together and something happened you will go to bed and remember what happened as it was associated with she built it I already forgot and I will think about anything else so yes it's your baby and it's your business and we all have things that keep us up but I so appreciate everything that you put into it because it shows it is a reflection of you it's on brand for you you're a fabulous brand ambassador for she built

Speaker 1: it I just finally gave in and I'm like this is what I was born to do I sat on the board of Step Up who helped underserved teen girls graduate high school and get accepted to college for 10 years and I loved being a part of that organization and then at Dodger Stadium I helped start the women's organization there with Jamie MCC I've always gravitated towards supporting and empowering women because while I love my husband and the men in my life and they are very supportive there is something amazing that happens when women come together and really support and Empower each other and even collaborate at times this is absolutely so essential that's another piece of advice that maybe we don't say often enough because you have introduced me to a lot of wonderful people and you got me involved and step up at a greater level than I ever thought was possible and I loved it do good feel good it's a way to live and especially now we all need supporters so what you do I think is really special because it's your passion and not everyone has that passion to help people or to be supportive of others a lot of people are afraid of that a lot of people feel threatened a lot of people don't want to see others succeed it seriously makes me happy when a woman in the sheilded community when her business is flourishing and she's doing really well and that's what she built is at the core all about and I'm sure we could talk for days about the opposite of that where we see too much of the degradation and I don't just mean in what's going on in our world at any given time right we all know a little bit too much and maybe we've we've gotten too smart over time but there are people who just don't want to see people get happy or flourish could be someone going through a hard time too I mean I moved to LA at 19 I worked a full-time job and attended College full-time and I mean I certainly have had times where I worried about losing a job or worried about paying rent I mean I know what that feels like but you know at the time I took a meantime job thinking I'm going to do this to stay on my feet and then I'm going to start looking for something that I really want because we will get through this and during those hard times I just surrounded myself with the most positive people and content that I could when I find myself in a hard situation that's my go-to and it's not in a way of not being realistic about what's going on because not being able to pay your rent that's real but it's getting in a mindset where you can move forward instead of being paralyzed kind of in a state of fear to where you can't go

Speaker 2: forward that's right surround yourself with people that feel like sunshine we love this episode with Tracy saying so much that next week we are bringing you part two join us next week

Speaker 2: she built it we'd love for you to join

Speaker 2: please also check out our sheb built it shop curated products from women-owned businesses who put their heart and soul into their beautiful and Innovative products we offer Sheil it business Consulting and the Sheil it blog thank you to everyone around the world who joined today thank you to my editor Rich stalino please download And subscribe wherever you get your podcast and until next time together let's let nothing stop us from experiencing ing the life that We crave