Go From Unknown to Unforgettable, w/ Just a Short Emotion-Driven VIDEO- Mariana from Brandmagnetic

In this episode of "Skyrocket to Success Podcast" with host, Paul Neustrom we are joined by the dynamic Mariana from Brandmagnetic.com She is an award-winning documentary film-maker. Mariana shares her expertise in crafting emotionally driven brand videos that resonate with audiences. Together with host Paul T Neustrom, they explore the power of storytelling in creating trust, establishing emotional connections, and ultimately influencing purchasing decisions in the digital space. From the importance of authenticity and uniqueness to the strategic placement of brand videos across various platforms, Mariana and Paul delve into the impactful world of brand marketing. Join us as we uncover the secrets to standing out and building lasting relationships with your audience in this engaging and informative episode.

The greatest thing Marina does for entrepreneurs is shows "How To Go From Unknown to Unforgettable, Build Trust Faster And Scale Quickly to 7 Figures With Just One Short Emotion-Driven BRAND VIDEO!"

Transcript

Paul T Neustrom: 0:00

Hi, this is Paul Neustrom and I have the podcast Skyrocket to Success. And today I have with me as my guest, Mariana, and she. Has BrandMagnetic and she's an award winning storyteller where she's won a national Emmy award and had two nominations for documentaries. I'm so honored to have you Mariana. So how are you today? I'm doing great, Paul. Great to be here. And so we know each other. We've gotten to know each other over the last few months. And you have quite a history of a lot of stories, and I'm so interested to dive into not only your business, but how you got here. And I think one of the things that I'd like to start out with is how you came on to this whole thing and why the brand videos are so important to you? Sure. So Paul, my background, as you said, is in documentary filmmaking. And really the reason I chose documentaries is because I realized early on that a great documentary is something that you watch and your point of view, your vision, your perspective on something is completely changed. So a good documentary will help you see the world through somebody's eyes. Not only that, but will help you feel the world through their soul. And really again, Go from seeing things in one way to being open to seeing them a different way and hopefully what that means is that you're compelled to action or you're compelled to think differently and maybe change your message about something. And so that's what would drew me to documentaries 15 years ago. I still am absolutely in love with documentaries for that reason. And so when I decided to become an entrepreneur, fast forwarding those 15 years, I came into the entrepreneurial space, the online space, which I loved. I love that people were bootstrapping their business. I love that people were finding new ways to getting paid. For their expertise and helping people, in a leveraged way, impacting so many more people through the online platforms. I also realized that a lot of people more and more, and this is such a big issue that we're facing in 2024 and beyond is people just sound like each other when they focus on the value that they provided that they're providing. They begin to sound like the next person who's providing similar value. I was blown away by how people were not telling their stories and not realizing the importance of that, not just to build connection, but also to stand out and to, we talk about no, like in trust, like that is the most important, most efficient, easiest way for you to build trust is for you to make that emotional connection Upon entry, when somebody comes into your universe. So I was like I do that really well. I've been doing that for 15 years. In fact, I needed to build trust fast with people when I was coming into their universe, to their home, to their Bedouin tent, to tell their story. I needed them to trust me. That I wasn't going to take what I was filming and tell a completely different story. In fact, that's why so many of my documentaries are not narrated, they are told in people's own words. And it was a very easy sort of, here's the path forward for me. This is what I will. It wasn't even here's the path where it's more I love doing this. And I can do this in the entrepreneurial space, which I also really love. So I always say that I'm obsessed with beautiful, passionate, intimate storytelling, as much as I'm obsessed with marketing and sales. And so this is really just the combination of both. Mariana, your background is just so stellar. You spent 15 years as an international journalist. You've been in war zones of Afghanistan. Yeah. You talk about the Bedouin tents Middle East, Finland, all these different places. And you've had features your stories on New York times, wall street journal, time magazine. So you have quite a background in this and. I imagine a lot of the preparation for this in working as a senior producer for NBC and such, you're coming down and it's basically, it's coming down to you help people to tell stories. Is that correct? I like to think of it as seeing the story that they have and understanding how to use that story to further their business and the way that you further your business in the most sort of authentic way. I know that authentic is a buzzword, but for a reason. Is that you use your story to create that emotional connection with people. So it's, I don't really consider myself a storyteller as much as I'm helping you see what parts of your story are going to create the biggest impact and emotional connection with your audience specifically. So it's a whole framework that I have. I think a lot, I think there are so many aspects to storytelling that. Other folks teach or that you can learn. But the way that I've, I'm taking those the mechanism of storytelling and I'm really applying it to business. Some of the same principles in copywriting apply, right? It's understanding who exactly who your audience is, exactly what they're feeling, getting into the mind of the people that you're serving. And then going back and doing the work on yourself, understanding exactly what makes you unique. What is it that What makes you, what makes Paul what is your personality? What is your mission? What are your values? And then understanding what parts of your story are going to create the trust that you need to create in your audience. We all know, again, that know and trust is what we need to build. And so deciphering what trust looks like for your specific audience, Paul, and then Reverse engineering that to understanding what parts of your story are going to create those emotions in a two to four minute video. So the packaging is a two to four minute brand video. And then, that's where storytelling comes in and in a more traditional form, but really the superpower of that brand video is all of the thinking and the engineering that goes into the message of that video. That's great. I've heard you say,, in the past that having a brand video is a killer marketing tool. So could you talk to us about that? So the way the brand video works is that it's a two to four minute video. It lives top of funnel for those of you that may or may not be familiar with that terminology. All it means is when somebody comes into your universe. They may be saw a comment that you made on a post or they found you somewhere or they Googled you. However, they first come into your website or your social media profile. The idea is that they're watching their brand, your brand video first and foremost. And the reason why it. It should be top of the funnel. First thing that they watch is because that brand video, because of the way that it's engineered is going to reframe everything else, every other touch point that comes afterwards. There, there's some studies that say that it takes. six to 12 months of posting on social media to actually see results. So somebody needs to follow you for that long to really be ready to buy from you. Perhaps, obviously some people have bigger pain points and maybe you're messaging us killer and it just came at the right time. They were just thinking about it and boom, it's a perfect match. They're going to buy from you super quickly. Or they have a referral, there are many other things that can influence that timeline. But let's just say for the purposes of our conversation, let's say that those factors are not at play. Somebody is coming into your universe without having ever heard of you before. And there isn't like a strong referral or a strong sort of desire there already. And that maybe your copy isn't quite perfect yet. You're still working on it. And so every single touch point. That you would have over the next 6 to 12 months. is amplified. And the superpower of the brand video is that it's going to take that really long sales process that you probably have right now and shorten it because you're every time that they see an email from you, every time that they see your post on social media, all of the emotions that you created through your brand video. Are going to resurface. I talk about it as like your brand video is occupying real estate in this person's mind and heart, meaning you are going from being completely unknown. Now you're unforgettable. Now I know who Paul is. I know his story. I know what he stands for. And I like the guy. He's great. I actually, he could be my friend. I like him. And therefore, and this is the part of the know and trust that we often miss is the we go from Hey, you should know about me awareness to buy my thing. Because whatever trust looks like, right? We just skip over as if it didn't exist and the like portion is a huge part of getting to trust because once I identify and resonate with your values, once I really feel like you are not going to let me down. You really know your stuff. Yes, you're an expert, but you're also a really good human being. And maybe your stuff isn't perfect. Maybe your delivery isn't quite there, but your heart is in serving me to getting that result. I want to walk with you. I want you to guide me to get those results. And that's where the likeability comes in, right? And so the brand video is essentially establishing you as the person they like, and maybe they don't like you, in which case, you know what, that's great. They can go and be served by someone else. They probably wouldn't be a great client for you anyway. That's all right. It's also positive if you are steering people in a different direction, but the point being that now that I know who you are and that's what the brand video does, it's going to tell me who this person is behind the offer. I'm going to choose to work with you so much faster knowing that these are the values that you stand for. This is how you think this is what your soul looks like and your offer regardless. So this it's not really connected to what you're offering today because what you're offering today can be different. It can be named differently or look differently than what you're offering a year from now. But you, Paul are probably going to be the same person, right? You're not going to change radically in a year. Typically, we don't do that. And so it really is about understanding who that person is, connecting with them on an emotional level and getting to that point of trust in whatever they have to sell is going to be good because that person is good. It's great. I'm speaking with Mariana and she's with Brand Magnetic.Com. It seems what you're describing to us is the secret sauce of how you can really stand out in the crowd. And I know that having. Arrived at some authority when you become a best selling author, people really start to take attention. But I'll tell you about midway through last year, after I'd been on stages and talking to people, I arrived into my story that really resonated with people and I hadn't been telling it. And it's the fact that it was the most embarrassing thing in my life. And I'm not ashamed to say it. It's just that I thought it was just too much. And that was four years ago, I was sleeping in an abandoned church because I just left a monastery and I was searching for the meaning and purpose in my life. And all I knew is that I wanted to write a book and tell stories that I'd learned during my lifetime and to be able to help others. And from that, things have just gone viral to the point where in, Matter of a couple of years, my entire life has changed. So that story actually of mine was being like, suppressed. And so I just really sense that what you're able to do is to bring people out of their shells and to be able to expose a part of them that maybe they've never discovered before, because. When you're like trying to stand out from all of the masses and you have all of these people that maybe are in the same arena. And If 15 percent of the population knows you, you're doing really well. And I don't even think Russell Brunson has 15%, market share as far as awareness and people that really know who he is. So you could probably help somebody even like Russell Brunson to a standpoint of maybe he has all these video people and all this marketing teams and everything, but it has anybody really told the story of how he started? Yeah, I think, he's definitely somebody who understands the power of story and he, if you go, I think I attended a while back his first funnel challenge. So essentially it's geared towards people who are just coming to his universe, right? So that was me. I barely knew who he was at the time. And he definitely told that story and that story, if you have a story that shows you going from. Literally nothing, a ridiculous idea, an idea that's not worth millions of dollars, and yet you kept at it and you figured it out and you analyzed, telemarketing or those commercials that play at two in the morning that he talks about watching and just being amazed at how like people would pick up the phone and buy these things. And so I think it's just such an inspiring story and he understands the power of that. Now I know that I've seen a couple of depictions of his story in video with it. Russell Brunson's he invests a ton of money and resources into documentaries. For his programs because he understands the power of the immersion. He has a documentary for his to 2CX, which is his coaching program for early entrepreneurs. So yeah, I would argue that he understands the power of story and he's doing the work and it might not look like the brand videos that I make, but I feel like he's in a good spot where he's actually is doing that. He's telling a story he's using video, but to your point, not everybody knows him. So there are still going to be people coming into his universe every single day who are meeting him from the first time. And if he had a brand video pinned to the top of his profile, I could bet you that people would go from. Hey, you look like you have a really big following. You are obviously somebody like a celebrity. You obviously know what you're talking about in the online business space. But do I trust you? Are you my person? That's the question that people are constantly trying to answer. And the way I describe it, Paul, is that we microdose people. With tiny little bits of our personality, tiny little bits of our story and about who we are, we micro dose them for those 6 to 12 months. Instead, when we could be giving them that answer right away let me just show you in 2 to 4 minutes. Whether I'm your person or not. And people do business with people, when people are buying from you, they're not buying your product as much as they're buying you. They're buying the person behind the product because that's who they trust even more than the product. And I would say that the only exceptions to that are the few exceptions are if, again, if you're really desperate for a solution and the copy is like spot on and maybe you've been hit with 50, 000 ads that cost a million dollars. There are some situations, obviously, where we buy. Before we even know or without even knowing who's behind that offer. But most of the time, and especially if it's a high ticket thing, it's not an impulse purchase. And we're going to do our homework on, wait, who is this person, right? We're going to go to their social media and we're going to poke around. We're going to maybe follow, get their emails for a while. We're going to maybe watch a webinar. We're going to, we're going to be trying to answer the question. Is this the person? That I trust and that I want to the likability factors there right? That I actually want to learn from right and I can't think of a single coach that I've spent money on or program that was more hefty that I've bought where I didn't like the person behind it right where I didn't think this would be a great teacher for me because I actually like how they talk. In fact, I was just thinking about this. I get targeted, as I'm sure you do as well by so many different things I bet their program is good, but there's so many times where I don't actually like you, like I, you're not for me, we don't vibe, we don't have the same style. There's something about your presentation that just isn't. What I'm looking for in my teacher, in my guide. Maybe I would even argue that maybe if I knew who they were, if I watched their brand, I was like Oh, wow. Like our values align. This resonates. I actually think this person would get me. I would probably not even care what their teaching style was, or at least not as much, it wouldn't weigh as heavily on my decision to buy from them or not. But the idea is that, this is what influences us to buy from people or not. I was looking at a brand video that you did for one of your clients and her name's Elizabeth and we both know Elizabeth. But one of the things I was thinking about is that you went in and explain things about her and her business. that were pretty revealing in the respect of, you can't always get that story out through text or pictures because there's something that's powerful in the aspect of video and audio. The power of the voice. There's nothing that's more powerful. But can you tell us a story about how Maybe you worked with her or another person that, what is it that you try to really, as far as creating a brand video, what are the things that really go into it besides just the story? That's a really good point, Paul. So there's a reason why I do this in video and it's because video is. Such a strong, not only storytelling component, but a medium for emotional resonance. So I really look at visuals when I'm thinking about a brand video, planning and brand video, working with a client on their brand video. I look at visuals as. An equally important force as their story. And the reason for that is because you can elicit so much emotion with the right visuals and to your point with the right sound as well. Sound is incredibly important, not just their voice, but also what we're hearing throughout the story. And so you're going to have to remind me what exactly was your question? It was about maybe telling a story, working with Elizabeth and, or maybe another person of what are the things that you should think about when you're creating a brand video? Because to me it really comes down to validation is when you have that validation factor. Sure. They're going to trust you and the no one like you and all of that. But. It like shows that you've documented that this person is real. This stuff is genuine because there's so much fake stuff now, especially with AI and all of the things going on. It's like the more real you are and it doesn't always have to be perfection. No, it can be the fact that, maybe you started out from a less than storied past. Yeah. You're constantly reverse engineering the feeling that you want to your audience to have, and then the feeling that they will have when they're ready to buy from you. So the better you understand what that feeling is, what does trust feel like for your audience? The moment that they purchased from you, when you know that in and out, you reverse engineer that. to look at your story and to understand what parts of your story you're going to tell. Now in terms of the visuals it's really there's some science to it and then there's some sort of art to it. So that is fascinating, Mariana. Can you tell us where is the best place for your brand video to live? Yeah. That's a question I get asked a lot, Paul, for good reason, right? It's like I've, once you've created this asset, how is it going to work the best for you and your business? And there were like the five top places. I used to say the five places period, but now I'm discovering so many other use cases for the brand video. Some of my clients are experimenting with a brand video in different places that are not in the top five. So these are the top five. The first one is. Pin to the top of your social media profiles. Every time somebody sees you on social, typically the first thing they're gonna do is they're gonna click on your name or they're gonna go to your profile. Whatever that looks like, this is the thing that you want them to watch first. So pin right up there, super visible. It's the thing you might get tired of watching your own brand video. But it's meant, it's not meant for you. It's meant for your audience coming in. The second place is if your business, if you're the face of your business, let's say either it's a personal brand or you're an author or you're a coach and you're the face of your business, whatever that looks like then your website will typically have your picture on the homepage. If that's the case, your brand video should be on the homepage of your website. The second most visited page on your website is your about me page. So do not neglect it. I can't tell you how many people will write their bio for their about me page reluctantly. Cause who actually likes to talk about themselves in the third person? They probably wrote it back in 1991 and never reviewed it. So don't neglect that. That's really important. Real estate, your brand videos should absolutely go on your about me page. And then also, if your sales page, if you typically have an about me section or meet your teacher or about the author or whatever that looks like, if you're selling something and you have a section on there that talks about you pop your brand video in there. Now you're like, wait. When they have seen my brand video by now am I putting this in too many places? Consider that, people coming to your sales page aren't always going through the cycle of your, sales. They're not always, they might be just landing on your sales page through. An ad or through it might be the first time they're interacting with you is that sales page. So this is the moment where you're going to bring to them or reinforce, let's say they've watched your brand video already. You're reinforcing to them. This is Paul. This is what I stand for. This is my story. This is what I've been through. And this is what I. This is what drives me, all of these beautiful emotions that we can create in the brand video are going to be resurfaced on the sales page. And then a couple other places, two of them recently, one of them is if you have a welcome sequence and maybe third, fourth email or second email, you are talking about yourself, you're introducing yourself. Definitely put your brand video in there. So I have a client who took her brand video and created gifts from it. And her response rate went through the roof. So at the end of that email, she always asks them, what's your story? Tell me your story she prompts people to tell them. her their story. And she said her response rate skyrocketed after she, she created those gifts from the brand video. And then her click through rate was also, I think a triple or quadrupled where people were clicking through watching her brand video, going back to the email and responding to it. So that's amazing. If you think of how many times we want to elicit a response. From somebody who's just met you cold through a lead magnet, they don't know you. How many of them are actually gonna respond to an email, share their story? Not many. But again, her response has gone through the roof since adding her brand video on there. Then another kind of interesting place, these are the bonus places, that I'm mentioning is, this happened to me recently where I followed somebody. Somebody has a really big following, and in response he. Said, Hey, great to meet you. This I really value personal connection. Just so you know, this is not a bot. This is actually me writing which was definitely the thing that made me respond. If he had not written that I would not have responded because I would assume it was a bot. And he included a video that could be called a brand video. So it wasn't like in my own framework or anything like that. It was, we, he wasn't a client of mine, but I was like. I love this. I love the idea that you're meeting everyone. You're welcoming people who are now following you. In this case, it was Instagram and you were sending them to a video that boom again, top of funnel, right? It's a video that introduces who you are right away. So these are the top places. That's great. One of the things that I did when I started to go to events and to fly in for a speaking event or a workshop is I would document the whole trip and, just doing 5 second shots of being on the airline or the jet and, coming in, picking up the rental car, seeing the big, buildings in the city, you And, being on stage or, whatever, but at the end of it, I would just do like a 50 or 60 second reel that would have six to eight photographs and some really compelling music or a voiceover. Are those things that qualify as like a mini like brand video? Listen, Paul, I feel like people, your audience watching that will get a better understanding of you than if you didn't do that. If you didn't share that, right? But the way that I look at it is like there is a jar. And that's the jar of trust. Now, you can either use a jar and we're going to use the, the metaphor of putting coins in that jar, or you can think of it as climbing up a hill with a different metaphor, but ultimately a full jar means they trust you, so it's the jar of trust. And every time you do something like that, you're depositing coins in that jar. And that is what I call the micro dosey. Now micro dosey can be like super micro, or it could be a little bit. A bigger of a dose, if you will, but the point being is that it's, you cannot replace what would be the feeling that you would have from meeting somebody on zoom or even better for a coffee, right? And the reason the brand video is such a special unbeatable tool is that we are trying to recreate that feeling of intimacy, that feeling of. There's no barrier here, and this is who I am, So think, once you meet somebody in person, once you meet somebody over a zoom call that you'll never forget who they are. They'll hopefully they'll remember your name. They'll remember your story. They'll remember how they felt. And so every time that they see you, they're going to be all like, Paul, I know his story. I know what he does. I get him like he's a cool guy. So all of these feelings. I really just again, the superpower of the brand video is that it brings that into one single two to four minute video versus, again I love that you're showing up and that's really great and it's so much better than not showing up, but the point is, how much did I really learn about who Paul is in this? little reel of his trip. I learned that he is busy and he's speaking and he's making moves and he's investing in his business. And I'm getting snippets of Paul from that, but I still don't know the heart of Paul. I still don't know who he is from watching that one piece and they will eventually, but that's why it takes so long, right? When we're giving people little snippets. It takes a long time for them to put all of that together. And so the brand video just does it for them. Being in the online world is you see a lot of introductions where, you'll have a multimillionaire or a billionaire that starts and whether it's Grant Cardone or Russell Brunson or Eileen Wilder. And they usually start out with the brand video, I would imagine, but I'm going to put you a little bit on the spot and you don't have to answer this question. We can edit it out if you want, but how would you change Eileen Wilder's brand video? I've never seen Eileen Wilder's brand video. Oh, you have it. No. So it's not top of funnel. She gets introduced. She gets introduced as the queen of stages shows her on funnel hacking live. Are you talking about her speaker reel? Yeah. That's it. Yeah. So I would have to watch it again to give you my honest answer, but I think speaker reels are amazing. They're amazing for introducing a speaker on stage. They're a lot of, pretty flashy and that's not bad, right? We're getting excited about this person and this person obviously has amazing credentials, but it typically, and I'm not speaking specifically to our Eileen's because I'd have to watch it again, but typically in even in the best of speaker reels, you're not really getting to the heart of who that person is. And so it, to me, what it shows is like you're accomplished. You have been on big stages. There's a lot of. Flashing going on, there's a lot of like fireworks and there's excitement and that's awesome. Like those are probably a facet of who you are, but not the entirety of who you are. But if you take a lot of speaker reels and put them up against each other, they might start to look the same, they might start to follow the same pattern. Whereas a brand video, there, there's not a pattern to follow. There might be a framework, but ultimately everyone's story is so unique and it speaks directly to their audience that works best for them. So there's I would probably make the very blanket statement about speaker reels that they're amazing for introducing you on stage. They're not amazing for getting to know who you are. It seems like the brand videos do a deeper level connection to where it becomes personable. And so this is going to be my final question for you is why are brand videos more important than ever? You touched on this earlier, Paul, and we're in the age of AI where content just, if it didn't look the same before, it's really starting to look the same now. We're also just, from a productivity and efficiency standpoint, there's a lot of folks migrating to the templates or the easy hacks or like here's, just fill in the blanks. And those are, listen, I'm not. Criticizing those because I feel like I would prefer to see you as an entrepreneur taking action, even at that level, then not taking action. But even the folks who create templates will say, don't copy this, just use this as a guide. And what happens is. The folks who are not spending time developing their own voice, understanding what makes them unique, truly understanding the heart and soul of their audience. I can't see them succeeding in the long run because. There's going to be so many more people in this space competing and this is where competition comes in. When you sound like everyone else, there's competition, my friend. This is why it's so important to own your story and really own who you are because that's when you don't have competition. I actually saw a meme today that I was like, I like this, which is when you're in your own lane, there's no traffic when you're just, when you're really. When you really understand what you stand for, what your voice is, all of that, when you have that and you know what speaks to your audience, then you shouldn't actually care about competition at that point. Just keep going because you're going to magnetize the right people to you. Just make it easier for them to know who you are with a brand video is my thesis. But yeah, it just, even as I scroll, I have a personal account on Instagram and I have a professional account on my brand magnetic account. And even as I scroll through my professional account, it's hard to remember who's who, unless I've had a conversation with them. Everyone just blends it. It's so easy to blend in Paul. It's so easy to the reels look the same. It's the same sort of B roll read the caption. There's a lot of value. There's a lot of information. I follow a lot of folks who are in the coaching space or in the business space, in the online marketing space. And. It's going to be more and more critical that we own. Our uniqueness, that we understand it in and out, that we own it, that we lead with it, that we don't hide behind providing value, that we understand that our audience wants that from us. They want us as people who happen to be experts, who happen to know our stuff, who happen to provide value, who happen to be the right person for them to help them get the results that they need, but they want us, I feel like we so often. Feel like they don't want us. They just want the results. And yeah, ultimately, yes, they want the results, but they want it with you or they want it with somebody else. And if you're not doing the job of telling them why you they're going to go with somebody else. That did tell them why them and that they connected with. It's been wonderful. My name's Paul Neustrom, and this is Skyrocket to Success. We've been speaking with Mariana. She's the founder of brandmagnetic. com, and she works with digital entrepreneurs to kill painfully long sales cycles, build trust faster, and close more sales with it. Two to four minute emotionally driven brand video Mariana. It's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much. Of course, and I'd love to connect with you guys. I am on@brand magnetic on Instagram. That's the easiest place to find me. And then as Paul mentioned brand magnetic. com is also where you can find me. Thank you so much. Paul is awesome being here. My pleasure. Thanks so much.