How to Build a Brand That’s Anchored in Truth & Impossible to Ignore

So today's session is on building a brand roots framework. And the idea is that by the time we're done, by the time we go through and answer this series of questions that I'm going to give you, we're going to build a brand that's anchored in truth and impossible to ignore. And I know that sounds very high in the sky, but I'm going to show you an example of how you can truly separate and differentiate your brand and your business in the marketplace. Again, welcome. We are in June, so we're six months into 2025 from the visibility transformation challenge. We have done goal alignment. We've created business onliners. We have done ideal customer Personas for our company. We've given that Persona a name, a visual look. We did all this really cool stuff around the Persona so that we could really hone in our marketing investment on the right kind of people. Instead of just throwing it and covering a bunch of people that don't convert, we built a brand Influence Kit directory structure. The idea is we built this massive directory structure with stuff that the idea is you fill it, not overnight. It takes time to develop this stuff, but ultimately, once you've got all the folders populated with the stuff that's part of your brand influence kit, your brand becomes unstoppable. It is absolutely incredible. So few people do this. If you do it, you are in the top 1% already in your niche and I guarantee you will dominate page one of search. You will come up in AI search results. This is the stuff that you need to do to be showing up at the top and differentiating yourself. We built custom GPTs around our brand and our business. And last month we did some offers, powerful offers that convert. And you'd be surprised. Most businesses don't actually spend a lot of time crafting offers. That's why Alex Rosi wrote a book called $100,000,000 Offers. Pick up the book. It is incredible. So let's just dive right in the interest of time. So the idea here is that we're going to build a brand that becomes impossible to ignore because it's different. If you're a realtor watching this, there's so many realtors, right? How do you differentiate yourself? We're going to talk about that. This is true in my space too. There's a ton of marketing companies. How do we differentiate ourselves? Because we all build websites, we all do social media grip clients. We all do. But trust me, I'm going to show you, we have the ability to differentiate ourselves in big, big ways. That helps us find the right people who believe what we do philosophically and align with our values and our approaches. So we generate great results for them. We love working with them. So that's the idea. So the I, you want to get away from being a commodity, and this brand roots framework is what's going to help you do that. Now I've got the tree here. It's not a mistake. It is like a tree because it's the roots, it's the values, it's the conviction, it's the stuff that no one else can copy. And when you've got the strong roots, when you've got the strong core, it really makes you unshakable. No matter what the weather. When I mean weather, if you own a business, you know what weather is. It's not like what blew through Missouri yesterday, but the metaphor makes sense. Like, stuff happens. Let's be real. Shit happens. Sorry for the. The whatever. Whatever you call it, but it happens. And it's when we've got the roots, when we got the message, when we've got the differentiator and the belief and the core fundamentals that we just don't. You don't move away from, it makes all the difference in the world. So we're going to walk through this framework and it's going to help you build those. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you through a series of questions. And I don't really see this as a presentation as much as an interactive experience. Now, you might not be able to talk back to me if you're on Zoom and you're live. Like, jeremy, welcome. I just saw you come in the room. But we're also broadcasting on Facebook Live. So if you're watching this on Facebook Live and you don't have the ability to interact, what I really want you to do is write down the questions and really write down the answers to the questions. Knee jerk. Don't overthink it. Just knee jerk. And then you can take it after the session and go deeper. All right, so let's just dive right in. The first one is.

What do you believe about your industry that truly goes against the grain? Now, we all, we all have stuff that may believe. Like, I've got some seriously strong opinions in the marketing space. I've had my company for 26 years. Those opinions are pretty deep and they don't change for me, as an example, I don't chase trends, I don't chase platforms. A lot of people sell platforms and they. I'M going to go back to. I'm going to date myself now. But anything about the web design industry. Back in the day, Flash websites were a big thing. There used to be these flash pages with a dancing something, and it was really cool, but they were terrible for the user experience. And so I would have people call my company, MSW Interactive Designs, and they'd want this Flash page, this Flash, Flash page. And I just didn't do it. I'm like, we don't do that. I'm sorry. It's not because we can't. We absolutely can, but we choose not to because it's not in the best interest. It does not serve you as a business owner to have this. This is not what your customers are looking for, it's what you're looking for. It's a vanity thing. So what are those strong beliefs that go against the grain for you and your industry?

What are they?

I've got another one. I've got people who tell me right now, ADA compliance is a big thing. And I'm pushing back on a company that is. I mean, they're not really a competitor. They build and service ADA client websites and stuff. And I've had conversations with them and they're like, last year, 25% of all websites that were served with ADA compliance lawsuits had accessity on them. So they are targeting, they're absolutely targeting people with these accessible widgets on their website. And I'm like, wait a minute, you said 25%. That means 75% warrants. That makes no sense. That makes no logical sense that you could come to the conclusion that those are being targeted. These are just things like, I firmly believe it and I don't bend. My roots are deep when it comes to these four beliefs. So what are some of those for you? The next question is like, what frustrates you in your industry? What drives you absolutely batshit crazy? I'm on a roll today with the S word. I'm sorry, I apologize, but this stuff gets me fired up. What frustrates you? You want to know what frustrates me? What frustrates me is like something that happened today. We're doing some amazing work for a client and the client brought someone else, like a. Someone who's not even. Not even a specialist in this industry to men and women, do some SEO on their website, which is what we're doing. Okay? So that's interesting to me, so I can learn from that. Maybe I'm not communicating as well as I need to be with the success and results that we're achieving. So lessons learned, I'll take that. But what actually frustrates me is the email we got from the person who's like, traffic's down, it must be a result of the hosting change. So I'm going to go in and I'm going to modify some of this stuff on this website and that are just saying all this stuff is just not correct. That drives me crazy and it takes a lot of my time because then I have to go back and I have to say, okay, here, but here, if you're going to go do this, here's what you need to do and here's some data that shows that actually what you said isn't accurate. So I just want to make sure we're on the same team with the same goals and we're making the right changes for our common clients. But these are things that drive me crazy. So what is it in your business that frustrates you, in your industry that frustrates you? Now, trust me, where we're going with this is going to become a differentiator in our final kind of about US state. But we need to have answers to these questions. So here's the next one. What do most people get wrong that you refuse to accept? In our space, people, there's so much they get wrong and there are things that I refuse to accept. Like.

People will spend a boatload of money on pay per click advertising.

I have nothing against pay per click advertising, but what I do have an issue with is investing a lot of marketing dollars in pay per click advertising. When you have shit her website and gosh darn it, there I did it again. Okay, I'm going to stop doing that anyway. And your website could be beautiful, but if you don't have a way to capture conversions on your website, capture user information, download a lead magnet or something on the back end that is collecting user data without them filling out the form. If you're not doing that, and if you don't have a retargeting mechanism set up on your website so that when you, when you take those paper click dollars and you push people to your website so that you can leverage and amplify those dollars, then you're wasting your money. So that is something that people get wrong that I refuse to accept. So I do not sell paper click advertising. We will do pay per click advertising, but we will not do it until all those mechanisms are in place on the website so that the client can maximize their return on their pay per click advertising. So core beliefs, what are core beliefs in your industry. And these are three really good questions to help you get to the stuff that really matters. So again, write it down because at the end of this we're going to put it all together into kind of about us statement or something you can put on your about us page on your website. That's really going to make all the difference and world. Next one is what you stand against, what you like. Who's the enemy? What drives you crazy about how your customers get misled, confused or underserved? What drives you crazy about how your customers get misled, confused or understood? Happens in every single industry. For me, it's a lot in the search engine optimization world and especially now with it changing related to AI. And now Google's just put in this AI mode which I predict is going to be the default mode probably within the next six months, if not sooner, which changes search in a big way. But there's still a lot of people that are pushing the old ways. The old school methodology that drives me crazy and it misleads people, it confuses people.

What are you pushing back on? So like I gave you an example already with what I push back on in my industry and that's the ADA compliance and that the accessibility widgets cause websites to be targeted. I totally disagree that they cause websites to be targeted. There are other ways that websites are targeted, but that is not one of them. I push back on it every single time. So what is it in your industry? What do you stand against? What drives you crazy? How are people getting the sled confused, underserved? Why does that bother you? And then what are you pushing back on? These are big things. I'm gonna pause for a second because I've got my friend Jeremy on the call. So Jeremy, I'm gonna ask you like, so we've done two step one and step two, are you willing to share like anything that you've written down or thoughts? Because I'm curious. I just want to hear a little engagement.

Yeah, no, absolutely happy to participate. I'm not an auditor by nature for me, so my space is in optometry, eye care. And for me, I think the belief that about the industry that goes against the grain is doctors really aren't cheap.

So that's my against the grain. I truly believe they are not cheap. I see the money that they invest into their practice on certain items, equipment, some team, some processes, some consultants. I see the money that they put in. What frustrates me is that they act cheap.

Oh, interesting.

And their willingness to that Old adage of stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny, that their willingness to do that time and time again is what facilitates that thought. So I think what people get wrong that I refuse to accept is.

They'Re so willing to spend time on low value.

Items.

Because the cost is low without taking into account the revenue aspect of it, what's the output, what's the outcome. So I think, I do think that they get that wrong. What I stand against, what drives me crazy, all websites are created equal and the $89 website is delivering as much as the thousand dollar website. So that's something that drives me bonkers.

Yep.

Because you and I both know that's not not the case. As far as what I'm pushing back on this, I think has to do more with my inner team is getting them to think you just brought it up. I'm new to this space. You've been living in it for decades. But I'm new to it.

You're talking about marketing.

Yep. Not necessarily marketing, but the website piece.

Website. Okay, got it.

Yeah. So.

What I'm challenging, I'm, I'm coming into it with fresh eyes and I'm going, oh, crap. This SEO piece is becoming a big deal, especially with AI, and we need to be prepared for that. And there's this hesitancy to change something that they've done the same way for years and years. Because I have a very experienced team, I'm like, no, we got to challenge ourselves to move further out. So, yeah, that's what I'm pushing back on. More within my team, but less within the industry at this point.

Love it. Love it. Thank you for sharing that because I just wanted to give like people who are watching on Facebook and people who will be watching in the future on YouTube, another perspective. Like in from a different industry, from a different angle on answers to these questions. Number three. So your difference, your way. What makes your approach fundamentally different than your competitors, than other people in your space? Something about it is different. What is it? And we're not talking about your tools. We're thinking about your methodologies, your mindsets, or your motivations. I'll share mine while you're jotting down yours, just to give you an example. And I'll go backwards. So my motivation for my clients is to get them off of the ad spend hamster wheel. So if you aren't even thinking about your website, don't care about your website. You have one and then you want to invest just a ton of money in pay per click and meta Ads and all this stuff. You are on a hamster wheel because you can throw a lot of money at it and you will get some results. You could get 100 times those results, but you're not going to. You're going to have to keep spending money on it. You're on this proverbial hamster wheel that you can never get off because you haven't made the changes that are necessary on your website and in your marketing system. So my motivation is to get clients off of that hamster wheel. They definitely should still probably invest in ads, but not until, like I said earlier, these foundations are in place, then you get the return on investment that you're really looking for. That goes to my mindset too. I believe that marketing is a system. I don't believe you just put up a website and walk away and think that things are going to happen, like you're going to get business from it. You're not. You met the bare minimum. You met the cost of entry, which is to have a website online. But no, you have to have the system underneath. And so hence my methodologies. And this is what we're, how we're different. So think about what makes you different in your space. Like how is your approach fundamentally different and write it down. We prefer to build marketing systems. The systems include the website. We have systems around how the website's built, what it includes. We have systems around the lead magnets and the nurturing funnels and all of the things, the retargeting, all the stuff that makes up the system that captures the data that you need and get from the advertising investment that you need. So what's your difference? Jeremy, you want to share yours since we're on a roll?

Yeah, I happy to. Mine stems back from the reason why I'm not an educator today is the fact that my dream job was to be in a secondary high school and have a writing lab and that every student in the entire school could come to me with all their various writing assignments. So in that I'm going to simplify that, boil it down to one statement. I wanted to be the resource, not the source. And the same kind of continues on into this role as I, I want. My motivation is to become a resource for every optometrist that's out there in every aspect of marketing. Currently we're focused on the website side and content development, but it can and will extend much further past that.

Yeah, yeah, it sounds like you're, you have the same mindset and philosophy around marketing that I do. And full disclosure you and I spend a lot of time together in similar groups and masterminds and trainings and things like that. So it makes a lot of sen sense and I love that you're bringing that to that space because it's super important. They're going to be far more successful with that approach. Next one, number four, your origin or proof. So this is like your credibility. So give some thought here. What story, statistic or legacy things back up all the stuff that you're saying. We tend to not do a good job at this because most of us are pretty humble and we think it's bragging, but it's really not. You have stories, you have successes, you have things that you know work. And you know they work because you've seen them work. So you have evidence. So where and how are you collecting that evidence and turning it into case studies and stories and things that you can share the backup, all the stuff you bring to bear. One of my favorites. So I started MSW in 1999. That was a very long time ago, but one of my very first client. Actually, not one of my very first client. New Concept Photography. Dan Bedell is the owner. We were both much younger then he hired me. I did a postcard mailing in Colorado Springs for MSW Interactive Designs. He got one of my postcards and he called me and we built him a website. And since then we've built him five new versions of his website over the years. How things have changed and evolution of technology and whatnot. And we just built and launched another one for Dan. So Dan has been my client since 1999. You can imagine the massive amount of solicitation, emails, phone calls, texts from other marketers, web design companies that Dan has gotten over 26 years. He has stayed with MSW Interactive Designs because he's gotten results. His company has grown. His company has grown right alongside of my company, which is amazing. And I see that as an origin story. It's proof that what we do works. And oh, by the way, I got a lot of other clients from 1999, 2000, 2001 that are all still clients. So I take a lot of pride in that. I could do a better job of putting those testimonials and case studies on our own website. But this is the reason we're going through this exercise because we don't often give that a lot of thought. Curious Jeremy, since we're going back and forth, talk to me. What's your origin or proof that your approach works?

I think what comes to mind for me is the fact that I've been fortunate by, on purpose or by accident to have been a part of products that were really early in their infancy or didn't exist before I was a part of it. And we had no choice but to listen to the customer in order to grow the product. And all those products have been tremendously successful. And as a result, I feel like.

The legacy that I can carry through is I know what it takes to, I guess, to be different in a space that didn't exist before we were in there. And I can help practices all over the place operate effectively and be successful in a. In an area that they've spent years in just by listening to their patients. And the patients, their patients have all the answers to where they want to head. If they want to know what they're great at, just ask their patients. Legacy is more about understanding the patient interaction or customer interaction.

Yeah, I love it. That's so good. Thank you for sharing that. All right, here's the fifth one. The human hook. Why you care. So why does this mission matter to you personally? Why should someone believe that you're still going to care 10 years from now? For me, my company's been around 26 years, so, yeah, just the legacy shows that I didn't care 10 years from now, assuming I'm still around, like, I'm getting better, but not that anyway. But why though, does it matter? For me, I just love small business owners and entrepreneurs. They drive the economy. I wish I could do more for them. I love working with people that inherently were born to take risks. We're born to help people solve problems. Those are entrepreneurs. That's what entrepreneurs do. And I just love working with those people. So that's the hook for me. I don't think Karen's on this call, but if she was, she would attest. I told Karen when Karen started helping me hire people for the MSW team. As if someone ever answers the question, why do you want this job? And they say, because I love small business owners and I want to help them succeed. I'm like, hire them on the spot. Because we never get that answer to that question. People interview with us, right? It's the standard, oh, because I love marketing. I wanna. I like learning social media and the blah, blah, blah. But if you're coming to my team and you open the door by saying, I love helping small business owners and I know you want them to succeed, that is what matters to me. So that's what this is. So when you're thinking about your space, what's the human look. Why does the mission matter to you? So, Jeremy, I'll turn it over to you. Why does the mission matter to you?

Because I can't physically. I'm not trained as an optometrist. I'm not personally involved in helping patients see better, but they are. If I feel like if I can help them do more of that, then I'm achieving something that's important to me. So doing more of what they're great at, essentially providing exceptional clinical care, helping patients see better, putting a smile on their face. That patient end in mind came from my first job out of college and it's still sticking with me today. Thank you. Keller Laboratories. Tom Keller, Larry Zank, Larry Weiss, Bill Keller. All of those folks. More aids.

Very cool. It's a beautiful world and people should be able to see it. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, next one and the last one. This is where we put it all together. So what you want to do is take the responses that you wrote down to all the questions that we just went through and that response that you pull all together into one statement is going to become sort of a paragraph style About Us page when you think about your website. So I use that as the example because that's where people's brains naturally go. It's an About Us page that really differentiates you in the marketplace, makes it so you're not a commodity and it captures your philosophy, your values and your unique edge. If you did not go through and answer these questions, chances are your About Us page or anything about you that you have out there online sounds just like your competitors. There's no differentiation. But if you take the time to answer those questions, you can see it's impossible for it to sound like anyone else's. So I'm just going to show you an example while you're putting yours together. And so this is MSW Interactive Designs. And it's very small, so I'm just going to read it to you. So this is about us. MSW Interactive Designs. At MSW Interactive Designs, we're fierce advocates for small business success. Since 1999, we've stood against marketing hype and short lived trends. We don't sell ads, we don't chase gimmicks. We built strategic sustainable marketing systems that help real businesses grow organically and with integrity. We get fired up and sometimes use the S word. It doesn't actually say that, but we get fired up when we see hardworking business owners getting burned by overpriced, underperforming marketing solutions. That's why everything we do is grounded in proven strategies, straight talk, and real results. No fluff, no flash, just rock solid visibility that works long after the campaign ends. Excuse me. We are not an ads agency. We are an organic dominance agency. And we've been doing it for over 25 years. In fact, our very first client from 1999, still with us. Because when you treat clients like partners and focus on what actually works, trust lasts. Your success is our obsession. And we're just getting started.

That isn't About Us page on a website or on a brochure or in front of an audience. That is entirely different than any other About Us statement that you will see online. I guarantee it. Because that's no one else's story but my own. Does that make sense, how that all comes together and unfolds when you spend time answering those questions? And Jeremy, I'm going to. You probably didn't have time to assemble yours because this takes a lot of time and. But I. Talk me through. What does that look like for you? And do you think about this? First of all, does that sound like me? Does that sound like msw, you know, the company? Do we live up to that?

Yeah, it's spot on. I'm in the midst of creating a presentation for an event that's coming up and I felt compelled to explain the purpose of a website because it's more than just a digital brochure. And one of those things is trying to. You're trying to guide.

The audience. In this case a doc, in my case a doctor. I'm trying to guide a doctor on whether or not on how to make a decision on whether or not to do business with you. One way or the other is good. It's really good. But it has to lead to one. It can't lead to a maybe if it leads to yet, it can either lead to a yes, I should do business with them or I should look into them more, or no, I should not based on what I saw. So same thing for a patient. Meaning don't put a whole decision on whether or not to do business with you one way or the other is good. It's really good. But it has to lead to one. It can't lead to a maybe it leads to yet it can either lead to a yes, I should do business with them or I should look into them more, or no, I should not based on what I saw. So same thing for a patient. Meaning don't put a whole lot of pediatric content on your site with kids faces and kids frames. If you don't want to see kids or you don't like seeing kids? Like, that would be an obvious thing. I think for me, when I'm looking at this about us, Paige, it's about helping guide patients to figuring out whether or not they should or shouldn't do business with that practice. I think that's a real critical thing about what we do. I don't know. There's a lot to this. Everybody heard my answers going through it. I would just have to spend some time to build this together. I don't want to do this any. This is fantastic. So I don't want to mess this up by. By adding in my own take. But this is.

I'll tell you what you can do as well, and this is where you can leverage AI. So now you've got the questions. AI cannot answer these questions for you. You have to bring your perspective and experience and all of that stuff to the table. So you've got the questions. You have your first pack of the answers. So you can actually go and take put those questions and your answers into ChatGPT. If you have a custom train chat GPT, even better because it knows even more about you. Watch the custom GPT YouTube video to learn how to do that if you don't know how to do it. But then ask Chat GPT to craft it into a great about us story or statement and then rework it from there so you can leverage the technology. Leverage ChatGPT to help you build something like this by just bringing it your initial answers. And when you're doing your prompt for it, you can even elevate it even more by telling ChatGPT to ask you questions to things that are unclear or ask you questions. That would help elevate the About Us page even more with more detail from the stories and the philosophies and the mindsets and the approach that you create that will give you something that you can walk away. Send it to your web team, have them put it on your website, send it to your graphic designer, put it in your brochure, and then as the owner, really learn and embrace it. Teach it to your team. Share it with your team. Ask your team. I did this with my team. When I rewrote ours, I asked my team, I'm like, hey, does this sound like us? And they're like, oh, my God, yeah, it totally does. Which is perfect, because that's what I want. And you are spot on, Jeremy, because this would really help someone decide if they are a good fit for you and you're a good fit for them. So this is either a yes or no. It's very clear. We don't sell ads. We do organic stuff. Organic stuff takes a long time, takes commitment, takes persistence. And if that's not for you, that's okay, right? That's the whole point of it. All right, I am not going to belabor the point. I hope this was helpful and that's going to wrap up. Jeremy, do you have any questions with anybody else's live? Of course. So if you have questions, let's go. Brandon.

I do. I have one. Working through this exercise, I found some questions that were more challenging to answer than others. When you take other when you take some of your clients through these, which question or questions do you feel like they get most stuck on? And then maybe some advice to help them make their way through it.

Yeah, I think I'm just going to go through these with Sometimes you're crazy. People are very quick to tell you what drives them crazy. I think when you ask what are you pushing back on? As business owners, a lot of times we don't push back because we're afraid to lose the client or lose the opportunity to get the business. So if you can get yourself past that point, because if you are uncomfortable pushing back on something, you are not going to want to work with that person anyway. Because that rub that's happening is only going to get bigger over the course of the relationship. So that's one. This also will stump a lot of people. Like, what makes your approach fundamentally different? That's why I put like in parentheses, your mindset and motivation and stuff. Because ultimately, and I'll just talk from my business, what makes our approach fundamentally different when it comes to websites or using the story brand approach last month, it is different. Not all agencies do it, but since Donald Miller's book, a lot more businesses do it. So that's not fundamentally different. We do SEO. We do a lot of the same things that all these other agencies do or people who know what they're doing do, because that's what works with Google right now. So it's hard sometimes to think outside the box, like what makes your approach fundamentally different? So people will get stumped on that one quite a bit. But by guiding your client through. So if you're talking to your client, try to get them into methodologies, mindset and motivation around what your difference is. So even though we're going in and we're touching stuff and doing things this way, like fundamentally, we believe that the whole system needs to be built and most agencies don't necessarily believe the whole system needs to be built, so it could take a while to get to that. So you can guide them through.

The origin or proof. A lot of people don't document that stuff, so it can take some time. But what I would recommend is going forward knowing that this is going to be of part. Part of your story, your about us, your credibility, start documenting it. So when you see stuff that's working, results your clients are getting, start documenting it now. And then spend some time thinking, reflecting, and going back on former clients. But people will get hung up here as well just because they haven't documented it or constantly in motion. We forget things. And if they're not documented, it's yours. That's a big one. And I don't think that this one's too challenging. I think those are the big ones.

Yeah.

Yeah. We can also. We can always describe what frustrates us, and we can usually clearly state things that we fundamentally disagree with. So those are easy. It's more of the positive stuff now that I'm kind of reflecting on what I just shared there. It's a lot of the positive stuff that we have a hard time articulating, which. How weird is that and how sad is that?

It is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Any other questions, Jeremy?

No, this has been fantastic, as always. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. So grand roots framework, how to build a brand that's anchored in truth and impossible to ignore. Because it's exactly how you do it. It's not that hard. And we literally did it in 40 minutes, Jeremy. 40 minutes. Time well spent.

Yeah. The fact that you did that. All this took place with me being on the call and talking and interacting is. That's a win in itself. That would Normally just take 40 minutes on my own.

Yeah.