EP 352 How to Tell Your Story So That You Attract the Right Customers with Siobhan Maher - Edited
TTracy MatthewsMay 4, 2022 at 9:35 pm37min
SSiobhan Maher
00:00Storytelling has kind of become one of those things now that it's not a nice to have. It's an absolute essential. The impact that storytelling has on your customer is that it aligns you with your customer, it actually kind of says to your customer, this is who I am for. And this is how I'm going to make you feel.
TTracy Matthews
00:18Welcome to Thrive By Design the podcast for ambitious, independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you're a creative fashion or product based business, I want to welcome you to the show. I'll be dropping big tips on launching, growing and scaling your business. So you can spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money. You ready? All right, let's do this.
TTracy Matthews
00:50Welcome to the Thrive By Design Podcast, episode 352. Today on the show, I have a very special guest who is going to be talking about jewelry storytelling, amongst other things, but more importantly, how to use your story to really connect with the right audience and make more sales at the end of the day. Hey there, I'm Tracy Matthews, I am the host of the Thrive By Design Podcast. I'm the Chief Visionary Officer over at Flourish & Thrive Academy. And the author of The Desired Brand Effect: Stand Out in a Saturated Market with a Timeless Jewelry Brand. And I help jewelry makers and designers and other product business owners as well grow their sales to multiple six or seven figures and beyond. And I do that through our methodology called the desire brand effect. So we can help you in the startup phase, just getting to your first six figures. Or if you're scaling to multiple six or seven figures, we got you, boo.
TTracy Matthews
01:44So thank you so much for listening to this show. I'm excited to be here today. Especially because I love storytelling. In fact, your brand story is the key to so many things in your business that is going to change your life. And if you learn to become a good storyteller, not even just telling stories about your brand, your sales will become more easy because people find connection, they relate through stories. They you know, they can they say that so me if they relate to what's going on. So the more you can do it, the better opportunity you have for growth and reaching your goals, which is amazing. So I'm going to do an intro of Siobhan just in a minute momentarily. But before I do, I just want to mention this our Laying the Foundation program is open for enrollment. We just wrapped up our Jewelry Brand Makeover Bootcamp. And I'd love to invite you to join this next cohort. this cohort is going to be filled with a bunch of amazingness. First and foremost, if you don't know what Laying the Foundation is, it is our 12-week program for startups who are doing less than six figures who want to really hone in on their messaging, develop a brand story that connects and to get really dialed in with their marketing and their sales strategy so that they're building a business that supports what success looks like to them. This isn't necessarily about building a massive empire, it's about you, creating a vision of success, and then building a business around what that success looks like. So we walk you through everything that you need to create the desired brand effect in your business to get consistent, predictable sales, online and off. So if that sounds good, here's your invitation to head on over to flourishthriveacademy.com/ltf. We'll also have a link in the show notes.
TTracy Matthews
03:29And we'd love to support you in this life changing program. Plus, if you join in this cohort, you're going to get access to some bonus guest speakers who are coming in to talk about things ranging from collection development, pricing, storytelling, brand positioning, marketing message, how to get yourself out there, consistency and social media, social media strategies that are working right now. And so much more. You're gonna love it. So let's dive in to introduce Siobhan before we dive into the episode. Siobhan is a copy and content writer for the jewelry industry specializing in brand storytelling. Working worldwide with businesses of all sizes. She helps jewelry brands align with their audience and create authentic connections. A jewelry insider, she understands intimately the magic of our industry and the nuance of selling luxury goods. All right, you're gonna love this episode, let's see what Siobhan has to say.
TTracy Matthews
04:25Storytelling or story selling as I like to call it is going to be one of the most powerful sales tools you have as an independent jewelry brand. And if you are trying to reach more customers and connect with your audience, and become a standout brand so that you don't get lost in the saturated market. Your stories are going to have to be really good. But the problem is a lot of people don't know how to really dial in their story in a way that helps them connect with their perfect customers and or use it in a way that sells on social or across all of their marketing platforms.
TTracy Matthews
05:00Well if you're struggling with how to use your story and how to use storytelling in your marketing, you are in luck today because I have a very special guest. Her name is Siobhan Maher. She is an expert in jewelry storytelling, and especially in how to connect your audience with what matters most to them through your brand story. So you're gonna love this episode. For those of you don't know me, I'm Tracy Matthews. I'm the Chief Visionary Officer of Flourish & Thrive Academy. And I'm also the host of this podcast Thrive By Design. And I wrote a book called The Desired Brand Effect: Stand Out in a Saturated Market with a Timeless Jewelry Brand. And I help independent jewelry makers and designers grow their brands to multiple six and seven figures, using my methodology called The Desired Brand Effect without feeling overwhelmed having to sell out and never see their kids again, or spend all their time on social media. So if you want to get more impact out of your marketing, make sure that you follow me on this channel, you like this video, and you click that little notification bell so that you don't miss an episode. Let's dive in to today's show with Siobhan Maher.
TTracy Matthews
06:08I am so excited to have Siobhan Maher on the show today she's going to be talking about something I'm really passionate about-- storytelling. So Siobhan thanks so much for being here.
SSiobhan Maher
06:18Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
TTracy Matthews
06:21I'm excited to have you here for a lot of reasons. I can't even remember where I first found out about you. I'm sure it was another podcast or something like that. Do you remember how we connected?
SSiobhan Maher
06:32I want to say Instagram.
TTracy Matthews
06:33Yeah, we connected on Instagram. But I feel like I saw you somewhere. And so I reached out. I can't remember anyway. All good. But your Instagram title is @jewellerystorytelling. So I was like, Oh my gosh, you have to I have to have her on the podcast, of course. And then we spoke and some time passed because we were busy or whatever. And now you're here. So I'm excited to chat and have this conversation with you. So I'm just interested to get to know a little bit more about you and your background. Why don't you share with us a little bit more about your journey and how you got here?
SSiobhan Maher
07:07Yeah, of course. So Jewellery Storytelling now the business I have now is kind of about two and a half years in. And it's really the point in my journey that's kind of brought together what I would say that the two kind of main pillars of my life experience. So I've got an English degree. And I did copywriting kind of throughout and after my English degree, but it was all very corporate. And I was a kind of evening class jeweler throughout my uni course. So you know, sort of doing the silver, you know, at the bench loved it. And I was just desperate to get in the jewelry industry. And I finally had to accept, I've got to go and do this properly if I'm going to get into this industry. So I went back to uni, I got properly trained, solid bench trained jewelry designer, worked as a designer as a fine jewelry designer for a big manufacturer here in the UK for about 10 years. But the kind of storytelling side of my background with the English degree and was kind of always there from the off like all of my designs were always proposed with, you know the story behind them. And this is kind of what 13 years ago, it wasn't the buzzword that it is now. But it was my USP that it wasn't just kind of an engagement ring or a range that I did it always had a story behind it. You know, I've worked on the shop floor, and I know what you need to sell jewelry. And it's the stories behind it. So I'd always pitch it that way. And over the course of my career, it kind of turned into as bigger part of what I did as the actual design to the product I was pitching. So when the time came for my next move to kind of strike out on my own, it had to be storytelling. And that's Yeah, well, as you can tell from the name of my business, it's the core of what I do.
TTracy Matthews
08:55So quick question for you. You had a product range and you sold it, or were you designing for a store?
SSiobhan Maher
09:01No. I was behind the scenes. So the company that I worked for was a manufacturer. So I was on the national accounts team. So I was head of national accounts by the time I left there. So I was kind of selling into the multiple retailers and really big guys, you know it here, it's like the Bond Street and the, you know, the High Street retailers and stuff like that. So no, very much behind the scenes doing my stuff.
TTracy Matthews
09:22I love that. So you kind of touched on it in your intro about why storytelling is so important, but why should every designer adopt storytelling in their marketing?
SSiobhan Maher
09:33Okay, there's a couple of reasons for this actually. The first, we'll talk about the customer side of things, storytelling has kind of become one of those things now that it's not a nice to have. It's an absolute essential. The impact that storytelling has on your customer is that it aligns you with your customer. It actually kind of says to your customer, this is who I am for and this is how I'm going to make you feel this is what my brand is going to bring to you and that's so important. I mean, you know, this is exactly what you preach out there, the market is saturated, there's no hiding from that. And you've got to stand out. I love that you just say that because you have to, you know, it's not just about your product, and actually saying to your customer, yeah, I'm the brand for you. I know who you are, and I know what you're about. And I'm actually going to connect with you emotionally. That's what storytelling does. And it's just absolutely vital. And it gets your customer to kind of make that jump as well, you know, so they're not just saying, Well, I quite like that brand. I like what I'm seeing, no, they're falling in love, and they're actually then making that purchase with you. And it's just become an absolutely vital step to make that happen.
SSiobhan Maher
10:41But also from a business owner point of view. And this is kind of the secret bit of storytelling, the secret added bonus of getting your storytelling sorted. Is all of those things in your business that feel really hard and feel really difficult to do. Once you've got your story designed, everything feels easier. So doing your content, you know that kind of what am I going to write on Instagram? Or what am I going to write my blogs? Well, your story has told you what your communication needs to be because you know what the your core story is, you know what it is that you need to be communicating to people. And it lets you know lets you make a framework for what then your content and your messaging is going to be a messaging PR or right the retailer. Yeah. If you're, you know, if you've gotten a stockist approach and you're trying to think well, how can I pitch myself to appear in this, you know, magazine, whatever it is that you're promoting. Your story has told you, who you are for, and what your value to them is. And that's what you need, then be able to go make that approach to people? How am I going to approach or what am I telling them that the value is going to be what your story tells you that. And it also makes selling so much easier, because it's not hard selling, it's making authentic connections, so you don't feel like you're just sort of asking things of your customers, you're actually connecting on a really authentic level for them. So it's vital for sales, but it also is going to make life as a business owner so much easier to.
TTracy Matthews
12:11Okay, why don't dig into like everything that you just said a little bit more, because we know that like the obvious story, the obvious main story is a brand story, right? But you mentioned something about, you know, calling out your customers, or at least thoughts about how I'm gonna say it or the people before. And I feel like stories can run through so many aspects of your business, and they don't even have to be about you. So let's kind of dissect that a little bit like what kind of stories do people need to be thinking about?
SSiobhan Maher
12:41Okay, yeah, that's super interesting. Actually, what you've just said the fact that stories don't need to be about you. Really, at the heart of your story isn't about you? Yeah. Because it is about your customers. So it's kind of working out what it is that really matters to your customer. That's the absolute core and what I kind of call it as I use this phrase identification statement, which is sort of working out what is it that you're targeting, who are you targeting and why. And for some brands, that's really aspirational. So it might be I'm going to pitch my brand, you know, to people who want to live a kind of really edgy rockstar lifestyle. And so that's like aspirational.
SSiobhan Maher
13:21I mean, half the people that are, you know, the buyer, jewelry not necessarily going to be in that bracket themselves. They'll be aspiring to that, and they want to kind of bring that bit of yeah, exactly. Bring that bit of edge, you know, into their lives. And so you've had this aspirational identification statement. And then other people it's actually relatable because you're saying, Well, I'm you know, designing jewelry, maybe for like new moms, and I'm going to create something that kind of taps into that feeling of being a new mom, and whatever specific feeling, it might be that you're evoking there. And that's the really relatable story because you have got that specific niche that you are directly targeted. So the kind of core theme however, through all of that is the emotion so it's always the emotive bit. Yeah, absolutely. What are you going to make your customer feel?
SSiobhan Maher
14:06And I think a lot of the times when people hear you say that they think, well, that's sentimental, but feeling doesn't need to be sentiment, you know, your feeling can be I'm just gonna make you feel awesome. Because my jewelry is gonna make you feel cool, you're gonna feel like you're part of something, it can be aesthetic or it could be craft because you might be kind of tapping into the person's sense of self that there are creative and they want to buy into other creatives and support creatives. Obviously, there's the kind of ethical side of things as well and I always send a little bit of a note of caution with that it's not always as important to be front and center your story is deeper potentially think with that one. And sometimes you can be the story behind it. But if you can really define why you are the most interesting thing about your brand to your customer, you know if you've got a super interesting life that will inspire them, you know, and they've got something that you can, you know, you've got great style, or you've got an interesting life, and you can show them about the art galleries that you're visiting. And actually, you can bring value to their life by sharing what's going on with you and your individual perspective than that is relevant. But it's always focused again on that customer and what matters to them.
TTracy Matthews
15:17I love what you said about being part of something bigger, because I think people kind of struggle with this. But there is like a huge element of that, especially for people who designed for a cause or give back to charity, because that's a big thing. And I agree with you about the ethical jewelry thing, I think it is a really important, as most people would call it USP, a variety of reasons, if you like, obviously, we want to try to recycle as much as we possibly can. But it's not as impactful. I don't think as it was 10, 15 years ago, when it was kind of the beginning. So an important cause or mission, but I don't think that that's necessarily, it's sort of like handmade used to be something that got people to tip overhead. But now everyone's like a handmade jewelry designer. So it's definitely not, that's not as impactful anymore, as it was, you know, 20 years ago, when Etsy was starting or, I was, you know, when I was a designer, because it was so different. When I was designing that kind of product that was sold. But you know what I mean? I do, I love that, and it's the range of emotions.
TTracy Matthews
15:18You know, one of the things that we say, one of the examples I always give, like when I'm teaching a class, or as this podcast is airing, we just finished our Jewelry Brand Makeover Bootcamp, there's always this element of like confidence. So I'm always like, well, if you design bold jewelry, maybe that gives someone confidence to get the job, or maybe it's that they feel sexy or confident in their beauty when they're going on that first date that like, you know, gets them feeling like flirty, or whatever it is. Yeah. But the other thing, too, it's like, everything that you've just said, is really about what matters to you, that also matters to the person you're selling to. And people want to make it so hard. They're trying to make it like, super hard. Like, I can't even think of anything that matters when it's really like, what matters to you probably matters to the people you serve. Would you agree?
SSiobhan Maher
17:17Yeah, I do agree with that. Because I mean, really important, like a word that I use all the time is authentic, because that's what independent designers at every stage of the market, that's what you have, you know, you don't have the wheels, turning have a massive marketing campaign that can make your brand anything that it wants to be. So make your brand was authentic, because the people behind it, the person or the people, the processes behind it, what's unique about the brand, actually, then you're targeting the people that are going to buy into that. It's just not, it's almost not letting yourself get distracted by the minutiae that might matter to you, for instance, like you just said, you know, it's great that if you know, if you have an ethical brand, that really matters to you, that should be in your brand. But it might not need to be front and center. And I think that's the difference, that it's working out what matters to you and what your values are, because actually, that's one of the stages of storytelling, kind of working out what your values are. And then sort of aligning that with what matters to your customer, but it's deciding what comes front and center, the thing that actually really gets to the heart of what matters to your customer. But you're right, most of the time, when you're creating a brand. You've created it because you've you know, spotted the need for it or you've got a passion for it. And so, you know, there's a like-minded audience out there, it's just kind of formalizing it rather than going on that.
TTracy Matthews
18:49Yep. What are some of the things that we need to be thinking about in order to get the wheels turning to drill down our story?
SSiobhan Maher
18:55Okay, perfect. So let me take you through the process that I do if I'm doing a brand story with somebody because the process is going to be similar if somebody's doing it themselves as well, or sitting down and doing it with someone like me. So the first thing that we do is that we look outwards. So market research is so important. There's no getting away from it, you know, even when it's your own brand story that you're looking at, you know, what are your audience? Who do you share an audience with? What are they talking about? What are they responding to? And what kind of stories are other brands putting out there? And how are they putting it out? There doesn't even necessarily need to be other jewelry brands, you know, other brands that are in your arena or share a kind of customer base with you? How are they communicating? Because actually I think the thing with storytelling is how do you know what's going to feel right if actually, you don't go out there and sort of look at what everyone else is doing anything? Oh, I like that. I don't like that, you know, and because it's not just the actual story. It's a storytelling as well. So it's how that story is being told. So part of doing that research is looking at how people are communicating. And so you might find, well, I really liked the fact that that brand is using, you know, a kind of sophisticated, warm, welcoming voice. But actually, it's a little bit too youthful for me they're using slang, they're using emojis that doesn't feel right for my customer is, you know, it's teasing these really specific things. It's teasing out what feels right for you and your audience. So there is a kind of look bit of outward looking to be done before, then you can kind of draw back in.
SSiobhan Maher
20:34And then when you think you've known, you kind of worked out what matters to your audience, it's then looking at your own values and your facets of your brand story. And sort of laying them all out. Because these are the different angles that you could have, when I'm doing a brand story for people. It's part of what I do there isn't you know, I don't do the research and then pitch one brand story, I do the research and then pitch two or three brand stories. So there's something to choose from, because there are so many different angles that you can tell a brand story from, most of those angles will end up on your website somewhere. So don't feel that just because you're not making the fact that you're made in New York or the fact that you're ethical or you as a designer, just because it's not the center of your story doesn't mean that it's not going to be somewhere in your content. But it's really important to have that one focus for impact, because you've just got to be able to capture people's attention and let them know what the point of your brand is, you know, snappily.
SSiobhan Maher
21:34 So it's working out what kind of feels most authentic. And part of that is thinking, Well, you know, that we talked about handmade for some brands that still be relevant. But if you're making your hand craft, the core of your story, but actually, you don't really get to your bench that much. So you're not going to be able to take photos of your handcraft in action, you know, because perhaps you are outsourcing it a lot. And so you're not going to be able to communicate to your audience, that part of your story, maybe don't make that the core of your story. If you can't make it the core of your content, it's got to feel something that you can kind of authentically communicate. So it really is and sort of cross referencing your values, the facets of your brand, your USP, what matters to your customer cross referencing those two things? When you've got that center point? It's what then am I going to be able to communicate authentically? And that will help tease out what should be the front and center bit of your story.
TTracy Matthews
22:31I love it. That's so good. That's amazing. So let's talk about how do you use these stories in your written materials and any of the work that you do with the visuals that you're using for promotion and marketing?
SSiobhan Maher
22:44Okay, yeah. Love that. So I'll start with the Yes. So I'll start with the visuals, actually, because that's kind of cool. Yeah, the two halves of yeah.
TTracy Matthews
22:53I think this is a really important thing, because sometimes people can write the story, but the visuals don't match. So I really am excited to hear what you have to say about this.
SSiobhan Maher
22:59This is great. So I think visuals and storytelling, they have to go hand in hand. I mean, it would be I mean, I think people do get that, you know, the visuals are really important. You know, your photography, your product, anything that's visual is super important. Your Brand these days, you can't have you know, you just can't have it if you haven't got great photography, and great graphics, whatever it everything has to look right. But storytelling is a really important thing to start off with. Because your visuals you know, your commissioning photos or graphics, actually knowing what feeling it is that you're trying to communicate first can be really important to get that in place so that you can then go when you're creating these visuals, and say what story am I trying to communicate so that those visuals can communicate the same story, because to kind of illustrate the way that they work together.
SSiobhan Maher
23:50It's one of my favorite analogies actually, to kind of illustrate the way that sort of visuals and written things like to get that I always talk about the different types of desire that you're trying to incite in your customer. And visuals are that really immediate desire, you know, you see something the heart beats a bit faster you like it, you know, there's an immediate attraction when it comes to visuals, then the words are then kind of turning that immediate desire into something a little bit deeper, you're kind of getting your customer to fall in love by then evoking the emotion as much as the sort of immediate aesthetic response to what they've seen. And so the storytelling is how you turn the attraction that your visuals have kind of sparked into commitment, which is then sales following your brand, you know, that kind of thing. So they really do dovetail so visuals and written word really important to dovetail in that in terms of how I use brand storytelling then in my written copy, so there's obviously copywriting and content writing and both of those, the storytelling sort of runs through it all.
SSiobhan Maher
25:01The word I use to describe storytelling is I say it's the backbone of a brand because everything kind of comes off it. So your Homepage, you know, you're sort of drilling down, you're immediately capturing people with, who is it for, you know, I think I mentioned before I call that identification statement, I'll say, Well, you got to tell let people self-identify on your website, make it clear who you are for, and what it is that you are bringing to them immediately. And then leading people deeper in About page again, of course, this is a classic one, which is a really important page on the website. An About page is not about you page, the About page is about your customer. So with the storytelling plays into that, you know, first and foremost, the first thing that grabs your customer, when you go on to the about page is, you know, what do you bring to the customer, you introduce the customer to your brand and say we are for people who this is what the brand is going to give you, you know, and then you can take them deeper and let them know about you. So that's another piece of story is really important. And content.
TTracy Matthews
26:11Can I stop you right there? I love it. Because like the number one piece of feedback I give to designers is like, no one really cares about your JIA certification and your 10, 20 years of school and that you have a Master's in Fine Arts, they really don't care about that. That what they care about is like why should it matter to them? So my biggest piece of advice is to open every About page with a bold statement, calling out who you're for and why.
SSiobhan Maher
26:40Absolutely love it. Yeah,
TTracy Matthews
26:41I didn't mean to interrupt you. But I just I wanted to just say that.
SSiobhan Maher
26:44I know I get that. I love it. Yes. Yes. This is the thing. You're absolutely right. So yes, and content. So I think the next thing I was just gonna say was a really big thing that I do after brand storytelling is content pillars, because again, that kind of harks back to the thing I was saying earlier about making everything else easier. Because your brand's story that informs everything that you're putting out to your customer. It's not just the copywriting. It's not just when you're selling and persuading and drawing people into your world. It's actually then when you're giving your customers value in content, your brand story informs all of that. Because you know what particular things you need to communicate to your customer all being tied into what that kind of core goal, that core feeling that core value that you give to them is.
SSiobhan Maher
27:01Can you discuss how you would use stories across the different types of content pillars?
SSiobhan Maher
27:41So in terms of how you might break the content pillars down? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so let's have a think about that. So let's say that your story for your brand is that it's going to be traveled jewelry. So it's jewelry that's inspired by travels. So your designs all come from the fact that you're you as a designer, a super keen traveler. And but of course, because you've made this about your customer, you've chosen a story that's really focused on them. So you've said right, I'm gonna, I'm targeting keen travelers. So I'm making jewelry that can be traveled in it can be slept in, it can do lay overs in and 12 airplanes, this is what I'm targeting. So your content pillars might then be product. So you might, you know, that's a key pillar, because, of course, your content pillars are not all for sales. Most of your content pillars are for providing value, but you do need to sell you can't avoid that, that's, you know, you'll know that that's one of the one things that people often shy away from, so you need the pillar where you're actually showing off what you do. And you can actually, you know, sell and show what you do. So you've got your product content pillar, and you can talk about your product there and show it off. And then it would make sense to have a travel pillar, and that might be tip from the road, it might be inspiring pictures of the places that you've been, or obviously, you know, user-generated content can be something for that if you've got kind of your community because that would be another one. So in terms of the purpose that it's having, you know, it's entertaining, but it's community building, then you might decide right well actually my customer they love travel but they're stylish travelers hence the reason why they want jewelry they can they can travel in. So we'll have a styling pillar that because we're a travel brand, it's all going to be about travel style. So you know, it's kind of like capsule wardrobes, capsule jewelry wardrobes, that kind of thing. And then you might think well do you know, and that's sort of an education pillar as well but it's entertainment you might depending on how your pieces are made want to have some kind of like handmade pillar. If it is about the craft, if not it then might be a you pillar. So actually you as a designer, interesting enough that your audience want to see your sketchbook you know on the tray table in front Have you, they want to see the fact that you, you know, sort of been sat on the ground in front of the Eiffel Tower sketching, because you were just overcome by inspiration and had to design there. And then so it might be the really, really personal pillar showing the people behind it, and so on, you know, you could use three to five pillars or more, but you know, there's some examples of what you would do. And each and every one of them kind of reinforces that brand story, but does something slightly different on the customer journey with it.
TTracy Matthews
30:28I love that that's so great. And that's a great example. Because it's a really, it's a specific niche. And I think one thing that I would add to that is like how to travel with your jewelry will be a great just like value add post. Perfect. Yes, that you know, like a lot of people how many people have gone somewhere, and then they show up all the necklaces are tangled, which is so?
SSiobhan Maher
30:49Yeah, absolutely. That and perfect education and relevant. Yeah, that's a great example.
TTracy Matthews
30:53So why does storytelling, make everything in your business easier?
SSiobhan Maher
30:58Okay. It's because it defines it all for you. And is the very nature of storytelling is that you have got to get it down, you know, snappy. It's so tempting. When you're writing out your brand story think well, what you know, everything that I want to tell people about where it's made, how it's made, who made it, who designed it, what's inspired by what purpose is it for, but that's not your brand story, that's just everything there is to know about your brand. That's all the information there is to know about your brand. And you might have that somewhere in your content. But that's not your brand story. Your brand story is that super defined and super specific. And that narrative that says, This is who I am aligning my brand with this is who I'm for, this is what I'm about. And this is the value I give to them. And when you've got that it's like the clouds have parted because you're not, you know, trying to pull in too many different threads, which is where you get inconsistency, you know, you're not trying to work out what messages you're trying to send, you know, what your core message is. And so with every piece of content, every kind of communication, it's this relevant, you know, is this magazine that I'm pitching to actually relevant for my story, because of course, you're not getting anywhere. If you're sort of pitching something that's not but the moment you kind of get, you know, for instance, let's let's continue with our travel jewelry. You know, once you decided that was your niche, then you that's your pitch, you can you know, email Conde Nast Traveler or travel magazine, as well as fashion magazines, and say I have jewelry that's for traveling, because you know who you're talking to, and you know what your value is. And obviously, you've kind of got the emotion connected to that. So you can sort of say to you, the people that you're pitching, say to the, you know, airline boutique, you know, this is what I will bring to you, this is the value my brand brings to you. So it just makes everything so much less kind of blank page syndrome, because you know, where you're starting, that you can build it from. And you don't feel like you're asking people for favors when you're selling because you know, you have a genuine value to them. And it's connecting, it's a genuine connection, because it's like minded is community. It's based on something really lovely how you're going to make people feel.
TTracy Matthews
33:25So wonderful. So I just have one final question. What are some of the hallmarks of good brand storytelling? Like how do you make it effective, get to the point and make sure that you've covered everything that needs to be in there.
SSiobhan Maher
33:39Okay, love that. Well, first of all, hallmark of good brand storytelling, which I think we've probably made this point by now customer-centric, what matters to your customer. So I think pretty good, that consistent is really important when it comes to your brand story. You know, so you've worked out what matters to your customer, and you know what your kind of key angle is going to be? tell the same story across your platforms, your Instagram, your Facebook, your website, they all need to be telling the same story. I think I touched upon earlier that you can you know, there's going to be other places on your website that you can have all those different facets, so FAQs, your evergreen content, you know, there's blogs, there's loads of places that you can tell other bits of your story because it does matter. But your core story has got to be the same across all of your platforms. And your your story and your storytelling also need to be consistent. So the story that you're telling needs to dovetail with how you tell it. So your language needs to be appropriate for the story that you're telling and the audience that you're telling as well. So it's your touch points, everything's gonna be the same story. Specific, again, we touched on that you've got to have a front and center of your story. You can't include everything. It's got to be specific. And then finally, it's got to be authentic. customers know and it's a story isn't the one that you really want to tell? And you'll struggle to tell it yourself. If it's not so authentic and emotive. Yeah, tap into an emotional being. Absolutely.
TTracy Matthews
35:12That was amazing. Siobhan, thank you so much for being here today. Where can everyone find you?
SSiobhan Maher
35:16Oh, thank you. Well, I'm on Instagram @jewellerystorytelling, which is spelled the British way. With extra, all the extra letters, @jewellerystorytelling, and my website is jewelrystorytelling.com.
TTracy Matthews
35:31Awesome. Thank you so much for being here today. This was awesome.
SSiobhan Maher
35:34Oh, you're so welcome. I really enjoyed it.
TTracy Matthews
35:37Thank you so much for watching this episode. Today. If you haven't done so yet, make sure that you pick up my brand new book, The Desired Brand Effect: Stand Out in a Saturated Market with a Timeless Jewelry brand over at desiredbrand.effect.com. Thank you so much for listening to this episode today. If you haven't done so yet, make sure that you go say hello to Siobhan over on Instagram. And I just want to thank you that you come here every single week that you put me in your earbuds, and we're having this conversation. So I just want to acknowledge that I am so grateful for you. And I love it when you guys tag me and share these episodes on social media. So if that's something that you are loving this episode, and you really enjoyed it, make sure that you post it in your stories and tag me and Siobhan in there. I'm @tracymatthewsny and Siobhan is @jewellerystorytelling, spelt the British or English way. And we'd love to hear from you. And also if you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating and review on Apple podcasts. When you do it helps the show get served to other people who are like you. So I'm trying to get the word out about what we do to as many jewelry makers as possible. So if you know someone I would be honored if you'd share the show with them. And if you're inspired, I would love to read your rating and review. So thank you so much if you've already done so, takes about two minutes if you haven't done one yet. And you know I'd love to hear what you think and what you have to say about the Thrive By Design podcast.
TTracy Matthews
37:03Thanks so much for being here today. Until next time, this is Tracy Matthews, signing off. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. It's my mission to help 1000s of creative businesses inside and outside the jewelry space use their creativity to make money. Make sure that you're subscribed to thrive by design on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever podcasts are played. And we'd love to hear what you think. Please rate and review the show and if you're inspired, please share this with your friends. Cheers to seeing you flourish and thrive!
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