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Big-Picture Branding with Azadeh Yaraghi

Big-Picture Branding with Jane Atkinson and Azadeh Yaraghi
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Quote: “The way that I define branding is that branding is the image in your head and the feeling in your heart.” Azadeh Yaraghi

Is your branding doing all it can for you? Is it getting you business and getting you booked? Does your website say all it can about what you do and the outcome for your clients? Does it give the observer the feeling that you want to convey? On this episode of The Wealthy Speaker Show, we’re excited to welcome branding expert Azadeh Yaraghi to share her unique insight and ideas about how you can make significant improvements with just a few simple changes.

Azadeh is an insightful brand strategist, marketing expert, thought-provoking speaker, #1 bestselling author, and founder of Gogo Telugo Creatives. With 15+ years of international experience, she has built successful brands and earned several marketing awards along the way. She is passionate about supporting purpose-driven clients who want to grow their businesses and ultimately leave behind a positive and lasting legacy. She works with speakers, entrepreneurs, and organizations who want to get to the heart of their brand so they can attract their ideal clients, build trust, and shorten the sales cycle.

 

Read Full Transcript

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Jane Atkinson: Well welcome everyone to the wealthy speaker. Podcast I'm. Here with as a day as a day. I want to make sure that I get the the pronunciation of your name as a day uh correctly, and i'm not even going to say your last name, because you're a one woman. You are a one name Brand now yourself. Did I say it correctly? Welcome to the yeah you did, Jane. Thank you for having me.

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Jane Atkinson: Well tell everybody about what you do, and your business model. And and, by the way, it's working as one name brand for me, because I started hearing about you, and I would only ever hear your first name. And so people definitely have come to know you. Uh It's It's working just like beyonce. That's awesome. Well, it's it's a pleasure to be here with you and have your listen to this tune in uh. So yeah, I run a branding agency. Um, I've been doing it for all

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Azadeh Yaraghi: fifteen years. We're recording this on October the third and on the eighth will be my fifteen years in business.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Okay, Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So I've seen a lot of up and down turns in the economy in the last fifteen years, and I think we just are almost coming out of

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Azadeh Yaraghi: another one just now and then it's got its own particulars. So, anyhow, in my business I focus on branding. So I run a branding agency, and uh, we work with speakers, we work with health care professionals. We work with consultants. Uh, we actually don't have a particular niche demographic that we work with as long as the business owner

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Azadeh Yaraghi: or the business, so it's either solo partners running their business or their groups. They're a corporate business, and they they have teams behind them. As long as they have a bit they have a problem that they cannot solve, and when it comes to their brand and their marketing, so Usually the pain point is, you know we're

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Azadeh Yaraghi: we have a great service or product that we're selling, except we're not getting it out there, or the messaging is not clear, or our website is so old it doesn't speak the language anymore. So please help.

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Jane Atkinson: Hmm. Okay, love that. And we have a few clients in in a common. So i'm super excited to see kind of what comes out at the other end of your work. Um! So we're talking, branding today.

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Jane Atkinson: What do you think are kind of like? Let's just define it, and and lay out what you think The three most important aspects of branding to consider would be for somebody trying to map it out.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah, So i'd say, the first one is what is a brand? Because I think there's still some confusion as to what is really branding, and how do you use it to your advantage? Once you really know what that is.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: The second is determining your lane, which I love the fact that you do that with people. So what is that area of expertise that you're honing in on? And then what's your one idea, and i'll explain the one idea in just a minute,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and the third is, and this is specifically for speakers, and not necessarily speakers who keynote. But if you're out there facilitating running workshops, and you're out there, you're the brand. How does that? How is your in person? Brand

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Um. Where's the bridge where you close the bridge between your in person. Brand how you show up with people, experience you, and then your online brand. I've often seen a huge gap in between how those two things are expressed. So i'd love to talk more about that. Okay? Well, oh, i'm excited about this. So let's just talk like What is the definition? I'm. Sure I have one. You have one, and probably ten more people would have it ten

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Jane Atkinson: of branding. I always think of Kleenex, you know this is uh, not actually. This is a clean X box. I'm just holding up here for those of you watching on Youtube. Um, but Kleenex kind of locked down the branding for uh facial tissues, and that became, I think there's a name for that in in marketing, but I can't remember exactly what it is we we, if if you can make your

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Jane Atkinson: brand, be the name of the product itself for everybody that that's pretty cool like that, so not every brand would have a Kleenex type situation, would they?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: That's exactly right, Jane, and that's where people want to kind of focus in on. Is that How do you get to be known for that thing that you really stand for, and the expertise that you're known for, so that people do refer to you as

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Azadeh Yaraghi: the expert about that issue. And so yes, branding has lots of definitions

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Azadeh Yaraghi: where usually people make the mistake is, they find that, or they think that their brand is their logo, their website, their business card, all of their marketing collateral. But actually that's not their brand. And I think a lot of people know this, except they still think that that's the brand, because what I usually hear from Speaker

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Azadeh Yaraghi: for speakers or consultants is, they first come to me and say, I need a new website, and that's great, because they know their website is a good sales representative for them,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and I always start with a branding question First, Who are you? What do you stand for? What's the value that you represent? What is the main problem that you're solving, so that one million dollar that you solve. What is that? And I still find that even season speakers

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Azadeh Yaraghi: have problem answering these questions. So I always tell sneakers

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Azadeh Yaraghi: forget about the website at first hone in on your brand. So the definition of branding that I give is more practical, and I like things when they're practical, because we know what we can do with them. So the way that I define branding is that branding is the image in your head and the feeling in your heart. It's those two things

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Azadeh Yaraghi: the image in your head and the feeling in your heart. And why is That is because anytime you know a brand is because you've got very specific images about that brand and emotions in regard that brand, whether you like the brand or not. So if I were to say

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Nike to you, and I use Nike because they're probably one of the best marketers in the world.

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Jane Atkinson: And so when I say Nike to you, do you have direct images and emotions that come to you again, whether you like the brand or not. Just do it. Swoosh: Okay. So I mean, talk about a slogan that's stuck. Yes, totally

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Jane Atkinson: that they're they need to ever have a different one. Yeah, I mean it's about empowerment, and it's about kicking button taking names, and it isn't that amazing that they've been able to build all that into a swoosh that's right, and that's exactly it right. The athletes at the top of their game, getting you to push to your throughout your limits and conquering the impossible. That's what Mit stands for. So that is the story that they tell. And so

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Azadeh Yaraghi: so, if speakers and consultants can become the Nike of their own industry, what would that be? That is the question. And that is the exercise to dive into when anyone is looking to find their brand.

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Jane Atkinson: Yeah. So yes, it is the colors on your website and the website, and the look, and the logo, and but it all is going towards this one outcome, which is how, What's the image in their head? What's the feeling in the heart. Do I have that right?

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Jane Atkinson: Well, Um: Okay. So let's let's talk about when it comes to this Number one. Ah, understanding what branding is and how to use it to your advantage.

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Jane Atkinson: What would be some ways that you're seeing that doesn't necessarily work

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Azadeh Yaraghi: well when it doesn't work is that when things are misaligned, and they're not consistent. So a is when there's no awareness as to what the brand is focusing on. Then what are you then focusing on? If there is no focus. There's a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and the end. Your audience is

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Azadeh Yaraghi: confused and plus. If so, you

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Azadeh Yaraghi: dodging, shiny things that come around is a is a particularly um challenging thing to do as entrepreneurs, because we all love things that are new things that we might want to do, and a lot of times the market also shift to say, Oh, now people are doing more of this.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So now maybe I should also be doing more of that. But your brand is never

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Azadeh Yaraghi: your brand is timeless.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: It's not about the latest trend. That's the thing that I think a lot of entrepreneurs have a challenge with just sticking to their brand voice and what they really stand for, because that actually never changes.

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Jane Atkinson: Yeah, I get that. And and I think you know Number Two, and your three partner is about picking a lane, and without having done that, you don't really know what you stand for, because you're trying to probably serve too many masters. How often do people come to you?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: And they say, Well, I've got three different markets and three different messages, and you're trying to say, Okay, Well, how do we say that on a website? It's incredibly difficult to write the copy for a website when you're trying to serve more than one master. Is it not

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Azadeh Yaraghi: the one expertise that they want to be the master of and known for? And that's a hard thing to do, because oh, you know this, Jane, the speakers that you've worked with, and the trainers and facilitators. They're so

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Azadeh Yaraghi: well well researched, and um experts and so many things, and and a lot of times it's challenging to just pick the one thing because some things override each other, and Then, all of a sudden, you've got I'm a resiliency expert, and i'm a change expert, and i'm a leadership expert, and and then it's like no but which one are you? Because we're looking for this?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: And so

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Azadeh Yaraghi: I think that's the challenging part A. To really just focus in on that one expertise. And again. I want to give an example. There was a

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Azadeh Yaraghi: interview done with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: where the interviewer asked them, What is the principal?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Um, what is the principle of your success, the two most richest successful men on earth? They, this person asked them, What is your secret to your success? And they both answered by saying the same thing at the same time. What do you think? They said,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: picking Elaine? I don't know. We said Focus. They said that the principal success to their success has been the fact that they focused. So these are the two most richest men on earth, saying, Don't, get distracted,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: take something and stick with it. So that's where the lane and the expertise comes in. Now the idea of the one idea It takes the lane down into like a deeper level.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So let's say you've picked leadership as your expertise and your lane. Now there are fifty thousand other speakers who speak about leadership.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: How is it that you're gonna stand out? What is it that that's different about you and the take that you have on leadership?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: That's the concept of the one idea. And so when speakers understand what their one idea is. Now, all of a sudden, they're a step deeper. So now, if I could give an example. Um. So the concept of the one idea is that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: people don't buy your products and services. I know usually when I say that you think Well, sure they are. They're buying my books. They're buying my shampoos, or whatever other things that I have. That's actually not what they're buying. They're buying into an idea and a brand promise.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So in order to get, and for those who are listening in order for you to get to your one idea, the first place that you start asking the question is, What do I add? That's a value to my audience. So then you come up with the first thing that comes to your head. You write that down. So let's say the first thing that come to your head is

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Azadeh Yaraghi: change. So then then you then you ask yourself

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Azadeh Yaraghi: if

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Azadeh Yaraghi: these people were to access change, What does that give them?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Hmm. New ideas? Then you ask the question again. If they have access to new ideas. What does that then? Provide them? Then you then you ask them. You come up with another word, and you keep asking that question to keep going like layer of the onions. You keep filling them off until you get to that place where you go,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: whatever that word is,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: because if they have access to that, then they have access to anything. Anything is possible from that place. And so when you get to that, that is the heart and core of your brand, and it's very exciting.

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Jane Atkinson: You can teach resilience. But what's at the other end of being a more resilient person, is it that maybe your higher performing. Is it maybe that you um have better work, life, balance? I don't know. So what is it that you, when you think about that, I love the What does that give them? What does that give them? What does that give them? Questions? Because I think it really helps lead you, and and And and also if you're mixing in there. Okay,

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Jane Atkinson: So what does that really matter to them like? Let's make sure that they're getting something that they really are interested in, and we'll really lean in towards that right. How do you suggest that your clients test a new brand idea?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: What do you mean? Exactly.

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Jane Atkinson: So we'll often get to a a promise statement. I think you call it a brand promise, and we'll say, Hey, run it up the flag poll with half a dozen of your clients, if they would like, lean into this one or this one, or something like that, maybe do a little bit of a B. Testing just to see whether or not people are resonating because I know what I think works. But I really want to hear what their clients

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Azadeh Yaraghi: I think works. Yeah. So that's a great question. And so usually what I do is suggest that they run it by not friends,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: uh, maybe colleagues. Because, okay, so not friends. Why, friends? Because your friends may not understand the demographic that you present in front of, and if you want to do it with friends and family. That's fine, but you gotta give them the context. You gotta take a few minutes and tell them about your brand, how you position yourself and give, Give them the business model before they jump into giving you more of a a subjective answer to say, Oh, I like this So usually friends and family. Don't really work for that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: for that. But who's really great? Are the people who hire you so past clients? Uh, if you have been able to keep in touch with some of your audience members because they might follow you on social media. That's usually also a really great platform

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Azadeh Yaraghi: to get gained. Some ideas. But the most important thing is, if anyone at any time is looking at a read uh at a brand, refresh is, explain why you're doing it. Refresh,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: because some people may see you in a certain way. You've created an impression for them. But then you know where the miscommunication or the misalignments are, yet people don't know that. So if you express that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and then say, Okay, So here's some some three options that i'm working on. Then you get some really good feedback,

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Jane Atkinson: and and you have to recognize to that you might be opening a giant can of worms that, too. Yes,

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Jane Atkinson: because sometimes, especially when asking other speakers. So I have found personally that you know, there's a handful of speakers that I think. Okay, they really understand branding, and they would really give me some great input. So I would go straight to them.

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Jane Atkinson: But a lot of people i'm helping them with their marketing, so I don't know that they are the ones to help you. So be aware of that. I think

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Jane Atkinson: so. Okay, we've We've talked about your one idea, and knowing your lane um talk about this idea of bridging the gap between the impression you create in person versus online.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah. So this has become one of my favorite things to talk about. And, by the way, if any of your listeners are coming to the Caps Convention, i'm talking about this, i'm presenting actually um on this topic at the convention, so I invite you to come See it.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So

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Azadeh Yaraghi: the challenge that I've noticed with a lot of speakers and keynoteers and um workshoppers is, they? They often say

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Azadeh Yaraghi: when I, when i'm in person and people see me online, it's a whole different experience than when they go and see my website, or they see my social media posts, and one of the best examples that I have, and I actually love sharing this anytime i'm on stage is I had this experience with Michelle Cedar.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So Michelle's universe is the current president of Cap, the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, and so her and I were at the same conference in two thousand and eighteen. I believe it was.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: She was the opening teen order, and I was one of the breakout sessions. So I saw her open this conference, and I was blown away by this woman. I just went.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Oh, my God! I want to be like her when I grow up like she's had the whole thing down energy. She had cool slides. She didn't need to look at the slides. She knew what was coming. It was just like boom, boom like it was, She was incredible.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: And then I was like I had my computer in front of me. So I went on to my computer. I wanted to check her out, and I landed on her website, and I just went. Oh, the person that I saw on stage was a complete different person than the person that I saw online.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So what would like her colors were totally off. Michelle is a passionate person, and her colors on her website were green,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and I thought she's not a green brand, and I wonder if she knows that. So a I'm i'm analyzing, because you know, I know all the psychology behind colors, and I I wondered why that was chosen for her. So lucky for me, She ended up attending my breakout session, and afterwards she came to talk to me, and

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Azadeh Yaraghi: so then she opened up by saying, As a day I hate my website, and I thought, oh, thank God, I didn't have to say it, but not not that I hate it, but that it just doesn't Reflect you. It's not you. So I wonder how many deals you're missing out on. Because if someone's checking you out and they've never seen you on stage, and at that time her videos weren't up to date, either

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Azadeh Yaraghi: they are not experiencing you at one hundred and fifty percent.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So yeah, so that she, we ended up working together, and her website is one that you can all check out, and I would love to hear from you to say that her new website, if you see it. Does that say Michelle Cuderberg, because you've seen her on stage. And now there's a closer gap between her online presence and her in person

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Jane Atkinson: That's Michelle Uh. With two l's, I believe C. E, d, e, R. G. B. E. R. G: Okay, good Dot: Com: Yeah. Oh, yes, dot com. So you, Del: you talked a little bit about colors. Can you talk about kind of what some of the colors mean? Or if if you're trying to convey this like, what are some ideas around colors? We've used a lot of red,

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Jane Atkinson: because bold and badass was kind of the goal that we had. So it was red. I don't know if that's right or not you tell me, is that bad choice? Is that a good choice? So

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Azadeh Yaraghi: this is a great question. Um. In order to choose your colors, you have to first determine what are the top three emotions that you want your audience to feel when they come in contact with your friend. So what are the three top

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Azadeh Yaraghi: most important, like at a priority intentional emotions.

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Jane Atkinson: Hmm,

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Jane Atkinson: Top. Three emotions. I would say, we want people to be inspired because we want to present a lifestyle to them the wealthy speaker school, and through private coaching that Ooh! I could have that, too, so inspired.

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Jane Atkinson: Um. We also want them to feel a sense of warmth coming from me that i'm approachable that i'm not. You know too rich to talk to them

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Jane Atkinson: mit ctl, and so inspired approachable warm. You said so. A warm and approachable work kind of together. And then what's a third one? One one hundred and fifty

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Jane Atkinson: that we know our stuff that we are credible, I guess. Yes. Good good word. Yes,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: okay. So when you talk about inspired, is it like

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Jane Atkinson: an excited uh inspiration? And again, I want you to think about the first impression, right? Not after they've worked with you. And now that's what they feel that very first. Yeah, let's do this like maybe it even is inspired. Slash urgency,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Oh, great, perfect! So then you're definitely based on that. What you just said. And then the fact that you want to create the warm, fuzzy and approachable feelings. You're definitely in the warm tones. So you're somewhere between either orange or red. So Red definitely creates more urgency. So if that's what you're going for, then Reds are perfect. You can also say I don't want it to be too red. But and if you work with me with maybe more women. Then you kind of go to more of a coral,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: which is more of a pinky red, or you go Okay, I want a little bit like orangey red, or like It's a fiery orange, so it's a little bit less intense than a red. So you kind of play around with that and see how that feels. Uh, but both orange and red would be great colors for you.

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Jane Atkinson: That color is always um teal, and I'm: Okay, so excited. My next book is gonna have a teal cover like different than I've ever done before.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: And uh, but it's all it's like the uh Robin's egg blue that you might get on a Tiffany box. Yes, okay, perfect. So because you said your third emotion that you want to create is trust. That's actually a really great color for you, because the the color of trust is blue,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and it's usually so. It depends. And what kind of intensity of trust you want to go. You want to go like bold and credible, and like grounded in so much knowledge, or like blue like

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Jane Atkinson: peace of mind, time of like, like just kind of air, and I can breathe, and it's easy on me. It's not like, you know, intense. You would know the Ibm blue, because that's just not the kind of trust we're looking for. It would definitely be a lighter, you know, feeling, and I don't know if you can see. But my office I'm: surrounded by blue. Yeah, I see a little bit of it and a bit orange. Yeah, my coach saw in there.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah, that is,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: I I choose clothes in that color. I just love it. It makes me feel good. It's interesting. Yeah, Yeah. So then, your teal is a mixture of it of green and blue. So what's really interesting about that is that you mentioned how you care about people's lifestyle creating a lifestyle around speaking. And so that again is a perfect match for you, so I think you've got the right colors.

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Jane Atkinson: Oh, cool! Well, I am. I am thinking about a new website here at some point in the future. So um! That's really good for people who are thinking about. What do my colors say about me? That's their place to start. What are the top three emotions

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Jane Atkinson: that you want? People and I think trust for a lot of people would do. Yeah, the credibility piece is, Yeah, when that gets repeated, obviously as an expert, any shade of Blue Trust.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah, again at all. So you gotta understand. Branding is a very energetic thing. It's all about emotions, so colors also have emotions behind them. So anytime in any color you go super intense. The The The meaning of that emotion is like either, you know, intensified by the color and the shade, or it's a little bit lighter. If you go towards the pastel, then it's like really really light. And so there's all these meanings in between. So, like one end of a color might be passive,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: and then the other end might be urgency. And and then for for speakers to remember that it's not about you. It's not about your favorite color or what you like. It's always about your audience and what they what you want them to feel.

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Jane Atkinson: That's really important, All right. So let's just talk about a few, maybe website

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Jane Atkinson: brand, maybe do's and don't do something that you might see people doing that. You think. Okay, I I like. We've already got number one, which is, Let's make sure that you're aligned between who you are really like. Well, how you show up on stage,

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Jane Atkinson: and what your website is saying. I think that that's something that I hadn't really given a lot of thought to before. And now you're just creating a a lot more awareness around that. Anything else on that before we talk just kind of general mistakes.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Um! So let's see. Gosh, there's so much to talk about when it comes to website. So one main thing that I see missing is that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: usually speakers don't have their um positioning statement

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Azadeh Yaraghi: above the fold. So when you land on their website, you know, when, if I were to be an audience member, and I land on your website. You have somewhere between three to seven seconds to create an emotional connection with me, which means I want to stay, and I want to read more. So the first thing that I look for is, who are you, and what do you do? And why would I want to learn more. So that positioning statement is exactly that.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Who do you work with? What do you do for them? And then what is the result or an outcome that I can count on for you to deliver to me Right

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Jane Atkinson: so above the fold on our home page, we used to say, Try to build it into every single page, and I think that's gotten too cumbersome.

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Jane Atkinson: You know it's, you know. People often will have

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Jane Atkinson: it, I think, promise statements have gotten longer and longer kind of like subtitles of books have gotten longer, And that's okay, like there are some websites that I absolutely adore, where they say we do this and this, and this, creating this and this and this outcome, and that's totally cool.

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Jane Atkinson: Um! So just on the home page, make sure that there's a promise.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So on the homepage definitely you want that to be there, because on the homep, your homepage is your most important page. You have that page in order to create intrigue, so that people stay, and they go start visiting your other pages. If they don't, make it past the homepage, then your bounce rate starts going up, which means

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Azadeh Yaraghi: they're really not finding something that's interesting to them. So again, you're using that homepage. It's almost like your your ads, right one after another. So the first thing is, you want to capture the fact that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: you tell them what it is that you do. So they're like, Yeah, i'm looking for someone like you who does what you do, and I kinda like your outcome. But I still don't know you. Then they scroll down, and after that the the hero image part. Oh, and let's talk about that a little bit more actually. So the first image that I see of you. It's got to be So you So

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Azadeh Yaraghi: my recommendation is, Please go get new headshots done.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Please go get like a cool video done. Videos are huge right now, and especially above the fold. If you can do a cool to a fifteen second ten-second video of just showing the energy that you bring you have it. It really connects of a website that you would go to if you don't. I have somebody. Um kindra Hall does. A great job with kinder halls is really nice. Yes, Do you have one that you would like to? Well, we actually just finished doing Michael Curr's website and his. We did it a little differently,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: because we did like different patches of him doing different things just because he's so different, like he brings on like kind of like a wacky energy, and then a serious energy, and then just the fun, loving energy. So we wanted to capture all that. So there there are just so many different ways that that can be done.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: So if if people can just concentrate more on this top of the fold, hero image area, Um, that's super super crucial. This is your prime real estate. Yes, it's going on when they arrive on the scene. You've got three to seven minute seconds second very expensive, because it's in those three-seven-thir to seven seconds that'll connect.

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Jane Atkinson: They're they're done and here you are you spend all this time energy and money on this website, and it just didn't capture their attention. So really, really important. Um, we'll put all of the websites that we reference on the show notes page. But Michael Kerr Kerr is one that you can check out Kindrahall, K. I. N. D. R. A. H. A. Ll. She's got um some movement on hers, and it's it's really representative of kind of the kinds of gate.

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Jane Atkinson: Oh, let's talk about hero images in terms of if you want to get, if you want to book big main stage work with thousands of people in the audience.

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Jane Atkinson: Don't show me a training room of you speaking to forty people on that in that hero image that's probably a miss, would you? I don't know. Would you agree? I definitely agree with that? Yeah, people have to see it to believe it. So

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Azadeh Yaraghi: you either fake it through Photoshop. Because, hey? Frankly, and that's not a bad thing to do sometimes, because through Covid, so many of us didn't. So i'm saying like they could, because you just didn't get a chance to do it

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Azadeh Yaraghi: in person for so long. Not to say you've never done it, and you put yourself in the middle of forty thousand people. Photoshop you into the you know Maple Leaf gardens with that you standing there surrounded by seventeen thousand people. If You've never done that. Yes, no, definitely. I I believe one hundred percent. And being authentic. And uh saying and speaking your truth and showing your truth. Um Covid created a challenge with

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Azadeh Yaraghi: new headshots and new photos, and being able to show that you do speak in front of large audiences, even if those audiences were online. So there's there's methods of of showing those pictures, uh, you know, not necessarily taken uh in a big stadium that still shows that you speak to big audiences, so that you do get booked for those gigs

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Jane Atkinson: front and center. What about having some sort of lead magnet, front and center? Is that?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah. So there's two schools of thought in regards to lead magnets. One is either you have it slightly above the full, so it's not just the hero image that encompasses the whole thing, so that people see there's more information down below, so one is like the um opt in is right below the four fold, or slightly above, so that, and that's like a prime. So research has shown that that is the best place to have it, because people opt in more when it's in that placement. The second school of thought is that

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Azadeh Yaraghi: people don't know you yet all that Well, So why are they going to opt in. It's too soon. Psychologically, they need to get to know you better, so it's usually better kind of lowered down on the page just above the footer. So you've got your footer that appears on every single page. But just above that that could be another great place to have it. Okay, fair enough. Um. Speaking of mindset,

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Jane Atkinson: I think when we go about building our new website, we have to come at it from a place of brave, because try to serve too many markets and too many masters based on fear that. But what if

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Jane Atkinson: they're looking for this? And I don't say it on my page? I can do that. But really like, How hard is it to get people to come down to that? That one thing space

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Jane Atkinson: where they're a little bit nervous about? What if somebody's looking for something else?

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah, that is, that happens quite often, and it is. It is very difficult to have entrepreneurs let go of certain things because they think they're leaving money on the table.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Um,

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Azadeh Yaraghi: i'm trying to think about moments where

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Jane Atkinson: they felt confident that by letting them go they're actually going to become more successful.

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Jane Atkinson: Yeah, wrap up what you do into a into a bunch of stuff. It waters it down, and then definitely, Yeah. And then One of the biggest questions I ask is, How has

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Jane Atkinson: how has it served you so far to say that you do twenty things,

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Jane Atkinson: and when you have ten talks listed.

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Jane Atkinson: I can often say to people, Well, how many times have you booked that in the last twelve months? Oh, I haven't get it off of there any times. Have you booked that one? Get it over there? Pick your top three, I would say three is a Max. Do you have a a preference for how many speeches somebody might list. Yeah, I totally agree with you, and I go with the top three, because people just can't usually remember more than three, and if you've got your top three, you know you can kind of weave it and make it theirs when when you know what their special events are

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Azadeh Yaraghi: is all about, and you know what their theme of that event is. But there's if if you're speaking, and I've had speakers that have six up there, or seven up there, and they still say I, I still do get hired once in a while for that, so i'd still like it to be present than non-present.

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Jane Atkinson: I i'd say, that has become less and less throughout the time, and I think Covid has helped us hone in on and start simplifying and bringing in more of a focus.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Yeah, And you know what, Jane, I'll just say a little bit more on that to say that it's actually not scary, but it's empowering to say to list out all the things that you talk about, and then you find the the thread that connects a lot of them together. You'd be surprised to be to see that a lot of things are actually the same, except throughout the years. They've just become more and more and more because you put this spin on this one, and that's been on that one. But at the core of the message you're really delivering just this one message, right?

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Jane Atkinson: That's so good,

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Jane Atkinson: and we kind of have a visual of an umbrella, and we want to have kind of one word at the top of the umbrella, you know. Maybe it's team building or something like that, and all of the threads need to come back to that one words so that you're not confusing your buyers. Oh, yeah, lovely. I love that. The old thing from Bob Bly, who was a copywriting expert, is a confused buyer doesn't buy, and this is what we we definitely don't want people to leave

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Jane Atkinson: confused.

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Azadeh Yaraghi: Well, you have given us so much if people want to get in touch with you. How might they do it, Don't. You have something uh exciting to offer us? Yeah, I do actually for those who made it this far something is probably resonating with you. So I have a gift for you, and my gift is a thirty minutes discovery session, and we can do whatever you want. I love doing this with speakers, because I just find that if this topic is of interest to them, then let's get to work and let's get you something that's going to be

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Azadeh Yaraghi: be helpful, so we can do one of the two things. One is, Just get on a call with me, and we'll figure out what your one idea is

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Azadeh Yaraghi: all, and and usually I find that it's better if somebody else does it with you, because you're so close to your own expertise that it's hard to know. So then i'll just keep asking you the hard questions. You know. You know they get to this. And then what does that represent for them? So in anyhow, it doesn't take longer than thirty minutes to to really um

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Azadeh Yaraghi: uh nail your one idea, or we can just go visit your website and just show me what you got, and I can give you tips as to

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Azadeh Yaraghi: what are some things that you can do to change it, so i'll give you my calendarly link. We can uh just have it be on your page right in the show notes, and thank you so much that is so generous, and I I think people would be crazy not to take you up on that. That's a really beautiful offer, so

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Jane Atkinson: for doing that. So? Um, I want to say this has been such a pleasure, and

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Jane Atkinson: I can't wait to kind of see you in person sometime. I'm afraid I won't be coming to the Caps Convention. This? Oh, no, I will see you sometime in the future. I am certain of it. I hope so. Yes, for those of you who are tuning in. Let's let's make sure we uh give your url as well. What is your website? Address?

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Jane Atkinson: Sure it's Gogo, telugo, dot com, and actually the calendly will be. Go, go to Lugo, dot com slash discovery, and we'll. We'll have the link there for you. But that's what it is, or just put as a day branding on Google, and you'll find me There's not a lot of as it is doing, branding There you go, and it's a Z. A. D, eh? Is uh? So her name Thank you so much for your time today. I really think that you've probably got a lot of people thinking about

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Jane Atkinson: their brand and their website. Beautiful job! Thank you. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, and if you're tuning in, thank you for being here, and with that we'll say, season wealthy speakers bye, for now everyone bye.

 

Highlights you won’t want to miss:

Azadeh is the current President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (BC Chapter), a proud mentor at Futurpreneur, an Advisory Board Member for the Healthy Heroes Foundation, and the past Communications Director at the Vancouver Board of Trade Sustainability Committee. In her free time, she enjoys flamenco and salsa dancing, playing beach volleyball, and taking long walks along the seawall in spectacular Vancouver.

If you could use some really great tips on how to show the world your best impression, you simply can’t afford to miss this episode.

I hope you’ll download and learn.

Links:

Azadeh’s website
Book a complimentary call with Azadeh
Websites to check out:
Michelle Cederberg
Kindra Hall
Michael Kerr
Azadeh’s LinkedIn profile
Jane’s LinkedIn profile
The Wealthy Speaker School

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