Everybody Brands

Perceptions influence and determine how we experience the world. In this conversation with Rob Meyerson, the creator and podcast host of How Brands Are Built, we talk about how your brand name influences people, and how you manage expectations for all the decision-makers on your next naming project

Rob is the principal of the branding agency Heirloom, and the author of the new book, Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for your Company, Product, or Service.

Listen to discover insights into the best practices and techniques you can find in Brand Naming, and the five key aspects of brand naming that every business owner, entrepreneur, or startup should know.

• Discover everything you need to know about Rob at brandnamingbook.com
• Buy Brand Naming on Amazon

Subscribe to our Substack at https://extraordinarystrategist.substack.com.

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As Brian celebrates the five-year anniversary of being a StoryBrand Certified Guide, he invites Dr. J.J. Peterson, Chief of Teaching and Facilitation at StoryBrand, for a conversation about storytelling, your customer journey, and how to tell a compelling brand story.  

J.J. is the Host of the Marketing Made Simple podcast and co-author of the book, Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business.

StoryBrand is fantastic for short-term marketing and for helping companies create coherence and continuity for their long-term brand strategy. You can find success stories and examples of how companies achieve success when they work with Aespire to create long-term brand strategy and marketing that works with StoryBrand framework at Aespire.com.

You can find Dr. J. J. Peterson and learn more about the StoryBrand framework when you:

• Follow StoryBrand on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter
• Subscribe to the Marketing Made Simple Podcast
• Buy Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business
• Register today to create a clear message and 5-part marketing plan for your business at the StoryBrand Marketing Livestream
• Subscribe to Business Made Simple University to get a step-by-step plan to grow a business that works, or
• Sign up for the Business Made Simple daily.

Brian Sooy is a leading dual-Certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Certified Guide.

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Tom Schwab believes, “Marketing at its heart is starting a conversation with someone who could be an ideal customer.”

So how do you start that conversation? If you can’t make it through the noise, how will you drive traffic and leads?

The answer is not to add to the noise but to speak directly to your dream customers. There is no easier or effective way than being featured on targeted podcast interviews they already listen to.

Tom Schwab is the Chief Evangelist Officer of Interview Valet, the most trusted partner in the podcast industry, and the leader in podcast interview marketing. Tom helps leading brands, coaches, consultants, and nonfiction authors build their brand and business with targeted podcast interviews.

Tom’s clients include culture, marketing, entrepreneurship, leadership, design, consulting, and management experts.

Tom says, “We’re all adding to the noise. Nobody’s getting heard. If you think you’re going to outyell your biggest competitor, it’s not going to happen. I believe that the best way to get heard is to get in on the conversation.”

“I’d say in most companies, the biggest problem today is obscurity. There are thousands, maybe 10s of thousands, perhaps even millions of people that would gladly buy your current product, version 1.0. Right. They’re praying for it right now. The only problem is they don’t know you exist.”

Here are some tips and insights to keep in mind if you think working with a podcast guest marketing service is suitable for your personal or business brand.

• To talk directly with your dream customers, it’s critical to find a podcast guest marketing service that speaks directly to your niche. Interview Valet specializes in placing guests in three verticals, not necessarily where their clients are, but where the client’s target markets are in business, faith and Christianity, and health, nutrition, and wellness.
• Find out who works with the podcast guest marketing service you’re interviewing. If you own an agency and are recommending your client with a podcast guest service, you want your client to feel comfortable that their name or logo will appear alongside other clients that the company represents.  Both your agency’s and client’s reputation are affected by your choice of podcast guest marketing partners.
• Define your brand awareness goals. If you want to nurture your current leads and your current customers, then have your podcast. If you’re going to go out and get new exposure, if you’re going to get new leads, if you want to get new backlinks, if you want to get new opportunities, you must tap into somebody else’s audience. Seth Godin is an excellent example of somebody who is doing that.
• Exposure brings opportunity — an opportunity for the person speaking — and people to hear something new about the company the guest or brand represents.
• Podcast guest appearances can fill gaps for authors. Three to four months before a book even launches, authors can do podcast interviews and then work with the host to schedule the podcast release to coincide with the launch date (plus or minus a week), so they get a boost of exposure and potential sales.
• Being a podcast guest is a brand-building strategy for individuals and companies. People are looking for help and expertise, and a podcast conversation is a great way to establish empathy, authority, and credibility.
• Being a podcast guest might be the best lead generator into which you can invest. Develop a sales funnel that you can direct people to after they listen, with an audio feature (since you know the visiting people are in the mood to listen). Check out some practical case studies on Interview Valet.

Connect with Tom Schwab from Interview Valet on LinkedIn.

Sign up to connect with your dream customers at InterviewValet.com

Check out the resources Interview Valet has for listeners at https://interviewvalet.com/brand/

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We all have a problem: We’re addicted to busyness. Busyness is a distraction that erodes our attention, drains our energy, and minimizes our effectiveness. Best-selling author and serial entrepreneur Jordan Raynor shares how we can overcome busyness and redeem our time.

Jordan Raynor is a serial entrepreneur and national bestselling author who helps Christians do their most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others. Through his books, podcast, and weekly devotionals, Jordan has helped millions of Christians in every single country connect the gospel to their work.

In addition to producing this content, Jordan serves as the executive chairman of Threshold 360, a venture-backed tech startup that has built the world’s most extensive library of 360° experiences of hotels, restaurants, and attractions.

Time is the one resource we never seem to have enough of. Once it’s gone — it’s gone! We can earn more money, but we can never gain any more time. So who can show us how to make the most of our time?

The gospels don’t show Jesus walking around with a to-do list or a calendar. But they do show him dealing with distractions at work, fighting for solitude, and seeking to be busy without being hurried. 

The  gospel biographies show Jesus facing many of the same challenges we face today as we seek to steward our limited time. And because he was infallible God, we can assume that Jesus managed his time perfectly, providing us with the ideal model to follow.

In Jordan’s new book, Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive, Jordan shows you 7 timeless time management principles from the life of Christ and 31 hyper-practical practices to help you live out those principles today.

Listen for answers to the questions:

• If God’s grace is sufficient, why does it seem the amount of time we have to be insufficient?
• What’s the difference between being busy and being hurried?
• I don’t mind being purposefully busy, but I don’t want to be hurried. What principles and practice can you share with me to speak to that genuine tension I feel every day?

Connect with Jordan Raynor:

• Order the best-selling book, Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive on Amazon.
• Connect with Jordan at jordanraynor.com

The Everybody Brands podcast is hosted by Brian Sooy, certified Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide.

Everybody Brands gives you insight into branding and brand strategy that helps you focus on your customers and empowers you to outmaneuver your competition so you can achieve your company goals and grow your business.

• Find Brian Sooy’s books on Amazon.
• Book Brian to speak or help you grow your business at Aespire Brand Agency.

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Brand owners and marketers can learn a lot from... wait for it... recovering ministry professionals.

Why are people drawn to brands that demonstrate credibility and trust? We might not have all the answers, but we talk about that question and more in this conversation between Jake Zufelt and Brand Strategist Brian Sooy.

Jake is the founder of Weldwood Marketing, an agency that specializes in marketing for Realtors.  If you're a realty professional, you've got to hear what he has to say about how you market your business.

It's not much different than what we say at Aespire.  If you're a frequent listener, you'll know what we say.  If not — listen now — for an insight that everybody who brands and markets their business needs to practice.

We throw in the usual references to music, too.

Find Jake at Weldwood Marketing.

Get a poster of the 12 principles from the Aespire Brand Clarity Credo and a year’s worth of practices you can apply to your brand and business when you signup for the Clarity Credo at claritycredo.com

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Not content to leave a pile of brand myths unkicked in the middle of the road, Andy Starr, Managing Partner of Level C, and Brian Sooy, Brand Strategist and Founder of Aespire Brands ask (and answer) questions about brand and branding.

• People don't understand why differentiation matters. What's the value? Why should someone who works in brand care about the brand being different? 
• “What are the three questions every brand and business owner should ask?
• How do you know when an idea is innovative?

This episode of the Everybody Brands podcast is Part Two of an extended conversation with Andy Starr, Managing Partner of Level C.

Andy Starr is the managing partner of Level C, an education program teaching principles of modern brand to business professionals.  Andy co-founded Level C and with international brand expert and author Marty Neumeier.

Andy calls himself a "provocateur-for-hire" at the intersection of education, business, and brand. He helps clients outmaneuver competition and conditions in their markets, and make marketing|advertising|PR|content work better, land stronger, and drive real results. 

Because he's a provocateur, you can understand why I invited Andy for a conversation about brand and business on the Everybody Brands podcast.  We mention Dune, Marty Neumeier, and make a connection between the practice of brandind and music that you don’t want to miss.

Connect with Andy Starr at

• LevelC.org
• Andy Starr on LinkedIn

Brian Sooy is the only dual-certified Level C Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide. He is the author of multiple books on brand, communications, and culture, and the agency principal of the Aespire Brands Agency.

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What is brand? What is branding? Why does it matter?

This episode of the Everybody Brands podcast is Part One of an extended conversation with Andy Starr, Managing Partner of Level C.

“We believe that the brand is defined by and owned by you. Branding is what we do what I as the owner of the business, it's what I do to influence you.”

Andy Starr is the managing partner of Level C, an education program teaching principles of modern brand to business professionals.  Andy co-founded Level C and with international brand expert and author Marty Neumeier.

Andy calls himself a "provocateur-for-hire" at the intersection of education, business, and brand. He helps clients outmaneuver competition and conditions in their markets, and make marketing|advertising|PR|content work better, land stronger, and drive real results. 

Because he's a provocateur, you can understand why I invited Andy for a conversation about brand and business on the Everybody Brands podcast.

• LevelC.org
• Andy Starr on LinkedIn

Brian Sooy is the only dual-certified Level C Brand Strategist and StoryBrand Guide. He is the author of multiple books on brand, communications, and culture, and the agency principal of the Aespire Brands Agency.

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In this episode of the Everybody Brands podcast, we’re talking with Merrell Sheehan, the Vice President of Marketing, and Cole Godsey, Marketing Manager at Electronic Merchant Systems about how a B2B brand wins trust and earns customer loyalty through exemplary customer service and transparency (with a technique many businesses can do).

• EMSCorporate.com
• EMS on Facebook
• EMS on Twitter
• EMS on LinkedIn
• EMS on YouTube

Connect with Merrell Sheehan or Cole Godsey on LinkedIn

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Stephanie Owens is a Certified Brand Strategist and the founder of Gold Sheep Design, a collaborative branding and design studio based in Southern California that helps musicians and instrument makers grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

In Part 2 of this two-part episode, we talk about how any business can crank their brand to 11..

Stephanie is a self-described Introverted rocker helping musicians grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

Get to know Stephanie at

• Gold Sheep Design
• on LinkedIn
• on Instagram

Build a brand that inspires your fans to listen, trust, and buy with Certified Brand Specialist and StoryBrand Certified Guide Brian Sooy from Aespire, the brand agency that helps family-lead business and ESOPs implement the StoryBrand framework. You can build a beloved brand that engages customers, reduce sales costs, and grow revenue when you work with Aespire.

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Stephanie Owens is a Certified Brand Strategist and the founder of Gold Sheep Design, a collaborative branding and design studio based in Southern California that helps musicians and instrument makers grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

In part one of this two-part episode, we talk about how businesses in the music world can crank their brand to 11.

She's a self-described Introverted rocker helping musicians grow crowds of super fans by cranking their brands to 11.

Get to know Stephanie at

• Gold Sheep Design
• on LinkedIn
• on Instagram

Build a brand that inspires your fans to listen, trust, and buy with Certified Brand Specialist and StoryBrand Certified Guide Brian Sooy from Aespire, the brand agency that helps people implement the StoryBrand framework and build beloved brands that engage customers, reduce sales costs, and grow revenue.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.