In this episode, Bill speaks with communications expert Loreta Tarozaite. Loreta shares insights into the importance of executive presence and personal branding, particularly in B2B and manufacturing industries. From overcoming imposter syndrome to mastering video presence, Loreta offers practical advice on how leaders can build authentic connections with their audiences.
Key themes include balancing personal and corporate brands, creating impactful video content, and why it's never too late to start building your thought leadership. Loreta and Bill explore the barriers executives face in developing their personal brand and the strategies to overcome them. Loreta's unique perspective makes this a must-listen for executives looking to elevate their visibility and bring authenticity to their company's presence.
Loreta Tarozaite is a strategic communications consultant and founder of Loreta Today, specializing in guiding B2B technology companies and investors through pivotal growth phases like IPOs and acquisitions. With over 20 years of experience in TV journalism, corporate marketing, and executive communications, Loreta excels in transforming chaotic marketing functions into streamlined operations that align with business objectives. After relocating from Lithuania to Silicon Valley, she identified a key challenge for tech executives: effective communication and brand humanization. Based in Las Vegas, Loreta now helps organizations enhance their communication strategies, streamline processes, and elevate their brand presence, ensuring they thrive through transitions and achieve their goals of visibility, authority, and impact.
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Loreta: Think about it about the knowledge that you leave behind. Like that's what's driving me. It's like we're having this conversation. Somebody some X years later is going to come across this content, you know, and we don't need to be actors in movies to be captured with our knowledge in this content, right? And that's the amazing part. That's what's inspiring to me, to think that it's still not too late, you know, to to pursue something, to share something. Even if you have six or seven years of career left, it's not too late because you could be an advisor on a board later on. You could be a professor invited to teach something in a college or in a university. Your knowledge is valuable. And I don't think it's ever too late because we just have this amazing digital environment that we live in right now to leave the imprint for future generations.
Intro
Bill: Thank you for joining the Missing Half podcast where we're discovering what's missing in manufacturing and B2B marketing. I have a very special guest with me today, Loreta Tarozaite. Loreta, thank you for joining us.
Loreta: Thank you, Bill, for having me here. I appreciate that. Looking forward to our conversation.
Bill: Yeah, Loreta, I think you really deal in a space that has become very, important to myself, to our agency, and is becoming more of a popular topic with executives and leaders everywhere. And it's this idea of having this executive presence, having this personal branding, really getting out there in the marketplace and not hiding behind your company brand. Could you really maybe just talk a little bit about that and how you got into this space, and why you think this is such an important moment for executives and leaders to consider their personal branding as a priority?
Loreta: My background is TV journalism. So I spent a lot of time as a news anchor and journalist in front of camera. Then I converted those skills as a video producer and being behind the camera. So I have a perspective of two sides of that presence. Being front and facing and then directing somebody to be who they are on camera. So that's how I view the presence aspect of it, right? It's always through the lens of the camera. What comes authentic? What comes real? Because camera exaggerates things. So having that background, when I work in coach executives, I bring that forefront, right? And the main goal and the main thing that the executives need to understand is that their presence, how they come across as leaders in the organization, is really how they connect with their audiences or the stakeholders or peers in the industry or how they become thought leaders or have the impression that they're thought leaders within their space. So that presence is more about communication and visual of yourself combined together. Now, if we're talking about video as a medium, there's obviously stage and there's media presence, there's all these layers of presence. But let's say if we're talking about video specifically, that's one aspect of it. And the reason why it is important for executives to think about is more and more these days, people and audiences and customers and clients, they're demanding that realness. They're seeking for connecting with real people versus some digital formats of those people, right? Gone are the days when executives could hide behind corporate walls and then have somebody talk to you, we're not gonna show our faces. Actually, there was one really horrible PR situation with Kellogg's recently where there was an initiative inspired by a mom who was saying, hey, we need to have dyes and colors removed from our kids' foods, right? And they went and marched with a lot of people and signatures that they signed to the Kellogg's headquarters. And the executives never showed their faces. So imagine what kind of message that sends if you're not showing your face, if you're not confronting people that you serve or people that you interact or people who buy your products and services. You have to be able to face that and that presence, how you come across, how you talk, how you connect with these audiences. Very, very important these days, especially with AI in the mix of everything. That relatability and realness is really crucial and that's what people are seeking. They want that connection.
Bill: Yeah, I think, I feel like years ago, customers and clients were trying to relate to mission driven organizations and that's important and that has to be foundational. And then it kind of moved to not only that mission vision values, but truly the culture of an organization to make sure that they align with the culture. Now it's gone even beyond that to they want to have a, the ability to relate personally to the people who are the leaders, who are driving those mission and vision and values in that culture, that organization. And I feel like that's really the, the moment or the gap that executives and leaders can step into with this presence with thought leadership and, and you hit video right off the front, because I think, you know, while stages and media are important, for many mid-market companies, the reality is they're not going to have a lot of opportunities for stages just because the industry isn’t organized that way. And the media is kind of off limits unless you're a larger corporation, but anybody can do what we're doing today. They can sit in front of a camera. They can talk with people. They can record even if they want to, you know, grab their phone and, and kind of a more grassroots approach or guerrilla marketing approach. We can all get on video and communicate really quickly. And I think you hit that nail on the head. We, no one is accepting invisibility or that impersonalization. One of the things I'd like you to talk about, because this is something I struggled with a lot whenever I got started in this approach was the imposter syndrome and feeling like, okay, even though I had 20 years in industry, even though I'd been doing this for a long, time and worked with a lot of really successful companies and organizations or our company was successful, I still felt like, okay, I don't belong here. Nobody really is going to care or learn anything from me. I'm an imposter. I shouldn't do it. Could you maybe talk about how you help executives deal with imposter syndrome and just what you've learned as you've worked through this process with so many people?
Loreta: Yeah, I think the imposter syndrome. When I think about imposter syndrome, and I have it too, by the way, I think all of us who are perfectionists or who we think we don't know enough, we all have that imposter syndrome, even though to the external people, when we talk to them, they say and admire what you have to say, for example, right? Or what I, or the experiences that we bring to the table. But internally, we all have imposter syndromes. You can't really hide from that, especially when you know that this is still not enough knowledge in my head. What you know, that person is better, they know better. You start comparing yourself, right? That's unavoidable. It's not something I or you can fix. It's psychological. It's a lot of work with yourself that we have to do and leaders have to do. And it will always be lingering there because we want to be that great one that people admire. We want to be that great one that people seek information from or learn from. So you want to give that best of you. So it's difficult to deal with imposter syndrome, but the way to uncover or the way I'm trying to uncover, you know, when I work with executives is just, just to try to understand what drives them to begin with, right? What are, what are their passions? Because in our careers, we normally start with one passion, then it evolves and it becomes things that you just have to do because you're growing into your role and it's just part of your growth into your role. You just have to do it. But there's always that that passion, there could be multiple passions. There are the driving things. So if you start going from that mode, from that internal driver, it becomes much more easy than to uncover these layers and have them start talking and building that content within those parameters of what truly is the driver. What are they passionate about? About their job, about the teams, about the organization, you name it. So that's one way how I approach it. Just try to understand where these things, know, these, these sparks come, come from.
Bill: I think that's a great frame framework to look at is if we can really encourage everybody just be their authentic selves they will outperform even their greatest expectations of how they'll communicate because they will be naturally passionate they will really shine because it's something they truly believe in if they don't believe in it they probably will struggle they it'll become inauthentic and then they'll have more
they'll be more convicted as far as imposter syndrome because they won't really be authentic. So what are the other questions I have for you? And this is something I got over early on. just kind of went to a place in my mind where I was like, listen, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do the podcast. I'm going to go on other podcasts. I'm going to do stages. I'm going to go out on social media and share my thoughts, which I once again, imposter syndrome, but one of the things I've gotten to, and I want you to comment on this, is I don't even look at our stuff. When we get done with this podcast episode, I will not look at it. The team takes care of it. They post it. They do all the thumbnails. They do like all of it. I had to go to...
Loreta: That's your coping mechanism.
Bill: That's right. Yeah, I'm avoidance, right? I just I repress it all. I get away from it. But I think we have to create some type of barrier because if you get into that perfectionist mindset, that type A personality, nothing will ever go live because you'll always want to tweak it or you'll be like, oh man, I looked really bad in that frame. You know what? I don't care. Like just go. So what, have you learned is you've, you've personally gone through that experience and then you've coached so many others in those experiences of how to get over yourself and just let it fly. And I mean, obviously like if I'm drinking my coffee and I spill it down my shirt, they'll let me go change my shirt. Like, and we've so far avoided any Gen Z edits, which I guess a Gen Z edit, I don't fully understand it, but it's where the younger people in the organization find all of the bloopers and flubs that I would have and then construct it into something that would be completely embarrassing. We've avoided that so far.
Loreta: But you shouldn't, you shouldn't avoid that because that's the fun part. That's gonna generate so many viral hits, you know, among your audience because back to what you just said earlier, it's you authentic. It's not everything was perfect. Like you're right now drinking coffee, who knows? Maybe you will spill it, you know? And my obsession is going to be you're gonna change your shirt and I'm gonna be like, is it matching the frame before? So we all have our things, right, that we deal with. But, you know, I created a blooper video, you know, about a year ago. So, you know, from something that I was recording and I kept messing up and messing up and messing up, you know? And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to embarrass myself like heck, but I will post it, you know? And that's that realness that I'm talking about that people want to see because we ourselves put ourselves so much pressure being perfect. I'm guilty of that. Every single time I'm guilty, you know, I'm writing some sort of a script or something or my bio, right? I nitpick every single word. I'm like, okay, Loreta, just let it go. You're the only one who sees the nuances. Nobody else literally is going to analyze your sentence the way I am analyzing it, right? They're going to glance at it. Okay, looks good. Move on. You know. But all these little flaws, when they, when they are shown, you become more human. That's all it is. And that's what executives need to embody. OK. From a high level perspective, any executive in high ranks represents a company. So obviously, you have to manage the reputation of the company. You can't just go rogue. There are boundaries. You have to understand the corporate dynamics. You have to understand the media dynamics, the stock of, how stock is being affected if you say something wrong, right? Reputation management. But on a personal brand level and your executive presence building level, you know, there are parameters within which you can function, build your own thought leadership, you know, in the organization to be more present, for lack of a better word, you know, with your team, to be more communicatable within your team. To also share your perspectives and your thoughts about the business, about the industry, about the environment outside of the organization's parameters to tie back everything to the organization's attention. So you know, there's layers within which you can function.
Bill: No, that's great. And I think if I was going to pull a word out of that that would really describe what we're talking about, it's vulnerability. We have to be authentically vulnerable and be truthful about who we are. if we do that, we're going to resonate more with the audience. And you're right, there are parameters. There are norms within society and within corporate culture we have to abide by. But that's true whether we're doing a video or we're at the corporate event or we're at the stockholders meeting or we're at the conference. Those things, I think everybody inherently understands those societal constraints or bookends that help guide us. Another question I have here, Loreta, is, and this is something I get a lot from executives, is balancing personal brand with corporate brand. So I think on one hand, we have founders. Founders who this is their life, this is their company, and they're probably going to cradle to grave this company. So having those things like completely tied together all the time is okay. For instance, Elon Musk. Elon Musk is Tesla, full stop. And he's in SpaceX and all the things he's doing, right? But like he is the brand as much as the product. Now there's another group of people who have to be a little bit more careful because if you aren't a founder and let's say you're an executive for hire, you're going to do five to seven years as a CEO of this company or as executive vice president at this company. And then you're probably going to move on to another company. And they get concerned that if they do too much branding and personal branding simultaneously, they want to kind of walk that line of definitely being loyal and performing for the company they're with, but not so much like pigeonholing themselves that that's who they are so that when they move career. So I'm asking a lot of questions and asking about a lot of dynamics, but yeah.
Loreta: I understand what you're saying, and I'm thinking through every time you kind of introduce a new concept, I'm thinking through what's going on these days in the market in general, right? Personal brand building for executives or senior level people is a fairly new concept. Like you alluded to, founders, yes, that's their livelihood. They know they're the face of the company. They're trying to build it out. They're the face in front of the investors. So they know it's on them to execute. When you're an executive for hire, what I believe might change in the future is maybe there will be contracts drafted so where the person's thought leadership and their own personal branding is slightly detached from the organization itself. And the organization may be hiring that person because of their presence that they bring, because of the following that they have, because of the thoughts and ideas that they shared, because they resonate with whatever that next company needs to, wherever the next company needs to go at. So it could be that this is the future where your personal brand will be slightly detached from the corporate brand. Right now, yes, if you're for hire, you're sort of representing the company, but I still feel you are in control of your own thought leadership. You are in control. You are a person. You are the one that, how to say, you're the one influencing either your peers or either your industry or whoever is going to be looking at you as the next potential CEO, CFO, CIO, whatever C’s, CMOs exist out there. And that is your selling point. Your knowledge, your skills are transferable no matter where you go. It's more about how do you then fit in into that new organization and how does that organization's culture then match with what you have to say or do or deliver for it? So it's, in a way, it's a tricky, you know, balance to walk. And I can see the executives being, how to say, cautious about that because, you know, I've gone through similar, similar experiences myself when I worked at Sandisk and at Western Digital as a video producer, but I was eager and I wanted to do more than that. So I thought, okay, well, how do I branch out and build my own thing outside the organization's walls without feeling guilty that I'm doing that? It's really difficult, I have to say, because it's always, I always have had questions in the back of my mind. Am I interfering with the ethics? Am I interfering with, you know, in a way stealing time, you know, from this organization's attention and dedicating it towards, you know, the initiatives that I'm doing? But as long as you're executing on your primary responsibilities, that should not be an issue. Now, if let's say the performance suffers because you're doing some other things, that will become very obvious. But that is for sure one of the things that a lot of people think about, and it's a fine line to walk. And that's where I believe in the future. It just may become further, further more detached from the company's boundaries, because we are all people. And we all want to make and share the good that we bring to the world. And it just happened so that some companies benefit from that goodness.
Bill: Absolutely. I think the other thing we're going to see is I think as executives are recruited, those executives that have a personal brand that are influencing the industry, that have established thought leadership, that are out there with their presence are going to be in much higher demand than those who are the kind of old school, invisible, behind the scene, pure operators. Now, there are still opportunities, and I'm sure there are boards and investment groups and ownership groups that are going to possibly prefer more of like that operational, just keep the trains running on time, manage the expenses and the P and L and that's all we want. But if you have a high growth company or a company that's aspirational to do a lot of things, to move forward and have impact, you're looking for someone who understands how to personally create that impact and that momentum and drive it forward. So I had a conversation with a CEO the other day. We had a get together and they shared with me that they're thinking of making a career change over the next several years. And I just encouraged them I said, you need to keep going with your presence, with your thought leadership, with building your own personal brand, because the, just said, this is my intuition. I don't have any empirical data around this. I just said, listen, if you do this, the probability that you are going to attract larger companies and better opportunities is very high because their HR team or their search committee or whoever's doing whatever is going to go on LinkedIn, is going to go on YouTube, is going to go on and see these different interactions. And that is going to be more impressive than, I sat in my office 14 hours a day, seven days a week and pored over the financial statements. Right. So that's just something I've been seeing.
Loreta: And your intuition is right. Actually, before our call, I was looking up some data. And I found some data that I had saved a while back, where it said, I'm reading off here of my list of data that I have in front of me right now. But it says that 82% of consumers are more likely to trust a company whose CEO is active on social media. 82%. It's a lot, you know.
Bill: That's a lot.
Loreta: And look at what's happening in general. It's not, you know, that many CEOs or any C-level executives that are online present. Right. And again, you have to choose your platform carefully, depending which industry you're in. In this case, we're talking manufacturing, right? B2B. You don't want to be on TikTok, you know, as a CEO doing some crazy stuff. That's not your platform. You know, that definitely can damage your reputation. You know, that type of visibility. You have to choose your platform carefully. And I always, you know, because we both are in the same environment, technology and B2B and manufacturing, right? I always advise LinkedIn is at least for now, still the safest platform to be present on. And you can start slowly in it. That's where all your connections are. The premise of LinkedIn was professional connection. So still the majority of that foundation is still there, even though the algorithm is changing a tiny bit, but the foundation is still there. And in terms of the timing of when you should start building that authority of yours outside of the corporate walls, it's not at the time necessarily when you think about changing the career, because there has to be enough time for you to build out that authority before you think about changing the career or let's say before the unfortunate things happen and the layoffs happen or something else happens in an organization where people are being let go. So you have to think about your authority building not in the time of need but in advance. Set the foundation for that future knowing where you want to be in five years from now. Start thinking about the content and the message, participate in different activities, industry events, find yourself opportunities to speak, you know, in different presentations or, or keynotes or webinars, wherever that is, to have that library ready and present. We're using a lot of word present today. Online so that when people do seek you and you know, the recruiters, executive level, the recruiters, HR people, know, former CEOs who are retiring, looking for a replacement, whatever the story is, they see you there and they understand who you're all about. It kind of cuts 50% off of the interview cycle.
Bill: Absolutely. One of the other compelling reasons why I've invested in this and I think other folks in my age bracket have is they've looked at people who are 15 to 20 years younger than them. And I did this who were grabbing market share, who were grabbing eyeballs in space, who let's be honest, and I'll just go from my perspective, not judging these folks. When I was 25 years old, and just out of college, I didn't know anything. I thought I knew a lot. But I didn't know anything. So whenever you have someone who has 25 years of experience, they're likely going to have, just by time and just time and grade more experience and have different insight than someone who's brand new. And I was looking at these folks who were just out of college claiming that they knew how to do B2B marketing. They knew how to do all this stuff. They were authorities. They were amazing. It was wonderful. And then I would watch their stuff and I'd be like, wow. That's, a lot of that's really naive. It's they don't really understand and good for them, whatever. I hope it all works out. then I was like, you know what? I do have something to share. In my age bracket, there are a number of people who in their careers have the experience that they should be sharing. They should be going out there and saying, hey, there may be something you can learn from the mistakes I've made. And even if it's not that we don't know anymore, but that the fact that we've made more mistakes and learned from them, maybe that's the frame we should use. But I feel like that's an opportunity for mid career executives to really start to build on that brand. Cause if nothing else, even if you have imposter syndrome, even if you lack self-confidence, know that you've screwed up and made more mistakes than a lot of people and they can learn from those. That could be like the worst case frame, but then also, hey, I do perform well and do some exciting things and have achieved results. So that's more of the positive look at that.
Loreta: Yeah. And, you know, there's also categories of, not industries, what is the word I'm looking for? Categories of functions within the organization, where just that executive presence, is not as prominent because of the types of personalities within those categories like finance, you know, or let's say you're working at the back room of the manufacturing facility, leading the manufacturing team and production line, there's some types of personalities which may not necessarily pursue that route, even though logically they understand they have to. But that's where personality also comes into place. And your personal characteristics come into place, know, how you choose your career, you know. It's much more difficult to open up these types of people because they don't necessarily understand the value and they don't necessarily understand why they need to do it to begin with. Like, I have a job. Why do I have to worry about my LinkedIn right now? Right? It's also a lot of that depends on the type of function you're in. But what I've learned also is if the executive has a slightest like question in their brain, say, am I visible enough? What is my next path in my career? How do I get there? How can I get myself noticed? These are the people that I admire. If they're asking themselves these questions, there's a chance they want to get there. And they're much more coachable in that sense.
Bill: So here's maybe a controversial topic that I think is going to be dealt with in the very near future and in an ongoing basis is, should the corporation include in the executive compensation an allowance for personal branding? I mean, if you get to the very large corporations, Fortune 500, they include media training. They include a lot of those things. But let's talk about the mid-market where that is not prevalent or common. Do you see a movement towards even the middle market companies providing resources for executives, recognizing that everything they say in this personal branding isn't going to be about the company? Some of it's going to be thought leadership. Some of it's going to be about management, entrepreneurship, their personal journey. What do you see happening there?
Loreta: You know, it's an interesting topic because there's very few companies these days that I observed and correct me if I'm wrong, if your perspective is different, I'm happy, I would love to hear that. But in my observations, a lot of companies these days historically have been very quick to fire. They don't really grow their own executives inside the house anymore that much, right? So for them to invest into somebody at that level is a business decision. Their culture has to be such that they are looking to grow that person inside the organization into the next level. And I think until that changes, in budget allocation for this mid-level management is probably going to be an expense versus an investment. And most of the time they may say, well you're a senior director. OK, maybe you have $2,000 per year to spend on your self-development. That's pretty much where it ends, right? And they expense it, then they're done. Yeah, is it enough? Is it not enough? Nobody tests, nobody cares, right? So it is a business decision and strategic decision within the company itself, what that investment looks like, how do they grow these leaders inside the organization, versus for hire like we discussed before. It's easy to just go outside and hire, right? But I think where the companies are losing out is they're just very quick to fire. Just go, leave, you know, and then boom, the economy is back. Let's hire them back again, you know? It's like paintball, you know? So that is the dynamic that exists, unfortunately. Hopefully that answers your question.
Bill: Absolutely. I think we're going to see even middle market companies in their executive suite are going to have to start investing in executive coaching and personal branding because as we've experienced, I do not have the capacity or the technical ability to do all of the things that are necessary to put my personal brand out there, nor do I want to learn. I just really am not interested in clicking on social media accounts and all that. have people for that and God bless them. They're very, very good at what they do. And I am not that person. Whenever you expect an executive to be leading, we don't want that CEO also learning all of the nuances of LinkedIn or video production for Pete's sake or any of that, right? We just want them to like, so my role here at 50 Marketing with the Missing Half podcast is I do interviews. I talk on the podcast. I write some thought leadership pieces. And then the team takes it and does it, whatever they do, they do it. And that exactly, and our company has allocated resources. So there is a team that executes that. And I think we're going to see more and more of that as we move forward, because it is, if you see social media, and I say this to people all the time, if you see social media and thought leadership and personal branding that's really, really good, that person is not doing it. They have like the biggest names in the business. Gary Vee has people that follow him 24 seven. Like it's almost like that movie that Jim Carrey was in where they filmed them 24 hours a day. Dan Martell, Hormozi, all these people have tremendous production teams that follow them around and do it all. And I'm not arguing that every executive needs to become a social media sensation and document everything they do. But there's a balance where you can hire agencies, coaches and professionals to help you get there. And we're not talking about $100,000 a month. These can be for very reasonable fees. And when you look at what some of these companies are spending on marketing, on trade show booths, like they'll spend a million five on a trade show booth, but they wouldn't allocate 100 grand a year for professional videography, professional social media support, all those things. So I think we're gonna see that transition because I would argue, and I was on your website, there's some tremendous facts which we’ll have a link to your website in all of the postings about impact on market share that an executive's presence can have online. And I mean, when you talk about market share, that's what's talked about in the boardroom. That's what's talked about on Wall Street. These are big important numbers that impact stock price. It impacts raises, bonuses, who gets hired, who gets fired, like all those things. So these are the important things, not whether we have some spinny deal that's three stories high at the trade show that gets thrown away five minutes after the show by the trade show workers.
Loreta: I know, I know. And you know, it ties back to what we discussed several minutes ago, know, executives for hire and the importance of building your own thought leadership online, right? Let's tie it back to the boardroom, the conversations that are happening in the boardrooms. Well, if you're, if you're a C-level executive, for example, and the company is struggling, of course, the decision makers are going to look out there, who is out there that that's making it happen, right? Who is that visible person that we can just ride on their back, get some visibility tied to our company because they already have that authority built out. So it definitely, it is important and it is very difficult for people to understand. Again, it's something new. It's something that only celebrities dealt with before. It's something only actors, it was only for actors, models, whoever, right? And kind of new generation influencers, the way we understand them, but not for regular people, white collar executives or whoever they are, right? It's just that it has to happen slowly in the mind shift, right? But the more people in those roles are doing it, the more the peers see them, the more that openness and adoption of that medium and that type of self-promotion becomes natural to participate in.
Bill: So one of the things I'd like to switch gears to, I mean, we've talked about personal branding. We talked about thought leadership. We've talked about the state of the industry, the need for it. And hopefully if someone is listening, they're agreeing with us or they see some value in what we're talking about. Now let's transition to, okay, I'm a believer. I want to get started. Maybe we can talk about some practical tips of how, if I'm listening to this and I don't have a personal brand, I post on LinkedIn once every three months and it's really just sharing a company update. I'm not on videos. I'm not doing it. What are some practical tips that you would recommend for someone to get started in this space?
Loreta: Time is of essence for everybody who's working or who's busy, who's trying to build a business. Time over wherever you spend that time on, right? So it's either you're generating business or you're creating your content. You have to pick and choose, right? And sometimes we prioritize the content even though we logically know it helps in the long run, but it always becomes like an afterthought or I just don't want to deal with it. It's not important. Right. Until it becomes important and until it affects your business in the end. It's like a chicken or the egg. What comes first? But the, know, when I, so there's three parameters within I function with, right. And presence is one of them. So people process presence and communication is at the core for me. So everything stems from communicating whatever it is that you have to share. And if you choose a platform, let's say a LinkedIn platform in this case. The easiest way to start is just to post something very, very simple. You know, let's say you attended an industry event, you learned something, you post, you add a picture from that event. See what happens. You had a random thought, you were reading an article and something in that article struck, struck, you know, your core, right? And it resonated deeply with you. You post a little post, you know, with your thoughts, you'll link to the article for more things. You don't have to do many elaborate things in the very beginning to just ease yourself into the idea of doing something. Because even that is already a challenge. It's a huge step for somebody who's never done it before. And if, let's say, you're on LinkedIn, you have other leaders that you're following, they posted something, comment. Comment something to tie it back to you, to your values, or what resonated. All of that appears in your network's feed. It starts generating your visibility more and more the more you do or engage on the platform. So those are the really simple things that one can start doing right away once per week. I have my time limitations too. I set the goal for myself when I started, decided, okay, I need to be more present myself instead of telling others what to do. I have to actually do it myself too.
Bill: Sometimes that's annoying, right? That's self-truth that we experience. Yep, I hear you. I hear you.
Loreta: Even if you said you went to my website, I'm like, my God, I have to update my website. People are going to it and it's not really all of what I do is there. Right? So, but it's much more easy to tell somebody what to do than to do it yourself. But when I said to myself, you know, two years ago now, okay, my goal is going to be built to build my own authority on LinkedIn. I chose LinkedIn as a platform. I have Facebook, I have Instagram, but those are just, they're not clicking with me. It's just like afterthoughts, whatever. I haven't even posted on them for a while. And I said, okay, what can I afford? What is my bare minimum I should do? And I set to myself the goal. Okay, we have four weeks and a month. At least once per week, I will post something. Doesn't matter. I picked a Monday. I'm like, okay, Mondays, there's going to be a post of some sorts. And once per month out of that month, I will do a video story, a video message of some sorts, right? Because obviously I have to use video because that's my background. It's something that I always talk about and promote. And I set those parameters for myself. It was difficult. I'm not going to lie. It was difficult even to achieve that. It's like once per week, like anybody can do it. But you have deliverables for your projects, you have families, you have all these other life happening to you where just unless you get into strict, boundaries with yourself, it's not gonna happen. So I had to be very strict with myself. I just had to pass through this, I'm not up for it. Yeah, maybe tomorrow. You have all these conversations just to get yourself out of this situation, right? So I'm not gonna lie, it's really difficult to get into the habit of just doing it. And then of course, when you're uncomfortable in doing it, and a lot of people are, that's even more excuses not to do it. We always find more excuses not to do it because it's uncomfortable in addition to just not wanting to do it. But you have to, if you're serious about it, you will have to overcome all these self conversations and sort of procrastination that you endure. And like I said, start small. I told myself once per week. And then last year I said, you know what, I'm going to post twice or three times per week. I started doing it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's way too much of me right now. Like I really didn't. I'm like, feel like I'm way too frequent in everybody's. So I went back to just once per week. That's my comfort zone. My goal, my personal goal, and that's what I advise people to ask themselves, what is ultimately their goal? Is their goal to get viral, get a lot of followers? What's their ultimate goal? If that's their ultimate goal, I can't help them because I'm not like a growth hacker. I don't do this kind of stuff. But what I can help them with is to help them start building authority, find the avenues, find the ways, unclog them, I guess, open them up to doing it. And I don't know where I was going with this thought. But once per week is the bare minimum that I think anybody can start easing into.
Bill: It's a habit. You have to form a habit. Like for instance, I have a morning routine to build my authority. I try to write three days a week. I try to write three posts a day. And then my team looks at it and they decide which ones they're going to use. They never have to check back with me. I try and give them nine a week. They pick the ones they think are the best and the most relevant and the ones that they have film for or the ones they have pictures for or whatever. And then they go and do it. But, no, I think that's right on. Let's talk about a practical step to get into video. And I'm going to frame this a little bit. I think a lot of folks who have been around for 15, 20 years and have done video, have all or most of them have had an experience where they've done a monologue, where they've sat somewhere, a video team has come in and they say, OK, we're going to point the camera at you. You're going to look at the camera and you're going to basically be a professional actor and you're going to deliver lines and talk about something. I've done that before. I've failed miserably at it. It is very hard. I am not a professional actor. I am not a line rehearser. I am not a script reader off of a teleprompter. I am a person who has conversations and thoughts and likes to communicate them. So they've had that experience. Let's fast forward to today. It is very natural and commercially acceptable for us to have a candid conversation like we are right now. And that content is all over LinkedIn. It is all over YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, everywhere. It's all over people's websites. You go to corporate websites of fortune 500 companies, and they'll be a CEO who's having a conversation like this. And that's the content, not a $200,000 produced Super Bowl commercial. So one of the things I personally believe in is if somebody wants to get started in video, they should start by getting booked on a podcast or having a conversation like this. Because when I started this podcast back in February of last year, I had no idea what I was doing and thought most of the episodes would be five to seven minutes long because I would have nothing to say and people wouldn't find me interesting to talk to. We're right now at 45 minutes and I'm looking at my outline and we're about a third of the way through. I've found now it's like they can't get me to shut up. Because we explore interesting topics. You have much more experience in film production and being an on air personality and producing video for other people than I certainly do. What do you think about that old way that it was, the new way that it's acceptable, and what's a great first step for executives or people who want to develop their presence?
Loreta: Yeah, the old way, how you call it, know, the big productions will still be there and they still are there, you know, not necessarily, you know, Super Bowl level commercials. But, you know, if you wanted nice corporate video or nice brand video, you have to invest, right? Because storytelling sometimes finding the right words to tell the story requires talent to help develop the storyline, the visuals, and all of that. But you can also do quite good video content out of stock footage if you're into that. Now, I 100% agree with you that trying these platforms like video podcasts is so, so, helpful because what it does, and I can speak from my experience because this year I specifically invested into podcast guesting, you know, so thank you for inviting me, Bill. But what I've learned through this year is, the more I talk about different things that I do, communications, marketing, architecting the function, executive presence, brand presence, you name it, variety of topics, video presence, the clearer I become in my own message because you practice to deliver the same thing over and over and over. And I was like, okay, now I don't even need to prepare. I know a high level topic. I know where I'm going with it. And we just talk. And sometimes, you know, can, the over-preparedness sometimes, you know, that's where people get stuck, you know, let's say you send the questions, right? I was very, very appreciative that you sent the questions. I looked at them, okay, I know what we're talking about. Others will start scripting themselves. They're going to start writing things out, you know, they're going to start, again, finding the right words on how they will deliver. They come into the conversation and they're like, it's not flowing. Everything is just out because you wrote it down. You're not supposed to read what you wrote down. You're supposed to talk what you wrote down. And if you're not, if you're not talking through like how to say, it's one thing to read off a paper or write on paper. And it's another thing to deliver verbally. Right. So sometimes we get stuck on the words that we put on paper and we want them exactly the way they are on paper versus just having a conversation, a natural conversation. And that's what video is all about. Honestly, you know, that's what people don't get it. That it's literally just a conversation with whoever is on the other side of the screen. It's not about this camera lens that's millions of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people looking at this. No, I'm talking to Bill right now. Bill is talking with Loreta. That's it. That's all there is. We are at the bar, we are at the restaurant, or we are in a virtual environment. We're talking with each other. And that's the biggest thing and misconception people get. They think that the moment there's a camera, it's something big is happening, but it's not.
Bill: We ran an experiment with one of our manufacturing clients. We have a concept we call a content create session where we go in with our podcast rigs and our regular rigs. And we started to do interviews with their people. And we first started with just the, look at the camera and talk about this. Whoa, it was rough and ugly and terrible. And the people were uncomfortable. So then we said, okay, time out everybody. I was there for the experiment and our crew, said, let's sit me down beside them, let's put the mics up and let Bill have a conversation with them. Solid gold. These folks who, like you said, have non-front facing roles, they might be in quality control, they might be in procurement, they might be in logistics or whatever. I was able to elicit conversation out of them that was very natural. The video production was amazing. These folks look like they were professional spokespersons, not, you know, uncomfortable and trying to remember what did you want me to say? So I think it's one of those things where, and this goes back to authenticity, vulnerability. If we're willing to have these conversations in these informal environments or these more candid environments, one, we're going to get practice. It's going to help us to get started. And I think like you said, it helps us clarify what we're talking about. And it also will, it's like anything else. You build muscle memory. First podcast I did was 12 minutes long because I had no idea what I was doing and I started into it and it was a good conversation and I was well-prepped for it. I believe in preparation. I like the lists. I like to kind of know where we're going. But 12 minutes, I was like, yep, that's what we got. Thanks for joining. And the funny thing is that guest has, I know him well and we've done a lot of business together over the years. We get together for like off sites and we'll talk for four or five hours. So I do need to have him back and run it back.
Loreta: I was going to suggest, do an experiment with yourself right now, revisit those guests from a year ago that you started or whenever you started and have new conversations with them and see what you can extrapolate because now you have that muscle memory built in. Now you know that you don't have to stress too much. Just pull the answers of whatever is interesting to you will be interesting to your audience because you know your audience. And you're completely right. It's two different ways on delivering the message via camera. You can either have a producer or director ask you questions or interviewer, right? So it's a conversation where the interviewer is sitting next to the camera and the person is answering the question to the person asking the question. And then there's direct to camera message delivery. So both are important, but their applications and use cases are different, right? So let's say if I wanted to, which I will do, every year I try to record a video for holidays, Like happy holidays, blah, blah, blah, that was my life, maybe this year I'll make it shorter. So for me, it's important that I look into the camera because I'm the only one here. I need to connect with whoever's going to be watching me later on, right? So that delivery is still important. And yes, it's much more uncomfortable to talk directly into the lens with no interaction and you have to constantly remind yourself to not to look anywhere else, but into this little dot, you know, so it's much more difficult and, and, and no acting will teach, you know, let's say a procurement lead, you know, to deliver that on the spot. It has to go. Yeah. You have to go through a little bit of coaching to, to, frame yourself into that mode. And, and, and yeah, so both of them have their places and use cases, but it's much more easy to have a conversation and the interview because it's just you're talking and somebody's listening.
Bill: Whenever you are coaching executives on building their presence and becoming a thought leader, what do you see? So this is the Missing Half podcast. We discover what's missing. What do you think is one of the biggest aspects or attitudes or pieces of skills or whatever? What could be missing most often from executives’ approaches to building their presence online and building that authority and just getting out there?
Loreta: I don't think it's about something that's missing. It's more about that they don't have the tools and knowledge of what they need to do. Like, where do they even start? Because the information and their skills knowledge is there. But now how do you talk about that to somebody else, you know, who's going to be watching you or hearing from you or reading your posts? That's where I think is the lack of knowledge, right? Because not everybody is born a marketer or a communicator. That's why there's all these billions of people out there doing different things, you know, even though you and I are in the same market, but we are doing different things within the same parameters, right? We both bring something completely different to the same market. And imagine those who are not extroverts who are not, you know, type A's who like being behind the closed doors, just working their paperwork in front of the computer. And now they're asked to go forefront and start doing and talking about something, right? So they just don't have the tools. They don't have the knowledge how to get comfortable with themselves, what to even talk about. They don't have the concept of, I have to have a content calendar. What does that even mean? You know? What is content? You know, do I have to write a book? Do I have to write, you know, blogs and articles that are 1500 word long? Or do I have to write a paragraph? You know, so that's, think, the biggest roadblock that prevents them to go forward. But once you explain, once you educate, once you give examples and open up that mind a little bit, it becomes more comfortable. And then you give them just the path, the framework, right? Okay. Well, why don't, like I said, why don't you just do one post format? Well, just pick a topic, maybe something that you're dealing with or have a common question from the customer that you can give an answer to in a post format. Just pick something where you feel comfortable just to start testing and seeing the feedback. And earlier I said, what's the goal? If the goal is to just build your authority and visibility so that you are there when people seek information about you, that’s all there is, that's all, it's all enough. And then the best featured posts or whichever you're happiest with, you can just feature on LinkedIn on your profile. You know, there's a section, featured posts. You know, nobody's going to go and scroll and dig, know, in a year old worth of posts, you know. So you have to then present that information, what you want them to see, you know, easily available. And that's, I think, biggest thing. But once they learn, once they see the impact, once they feel that feedback, it builds confidence, it builds that more belief in themselves that they can do it, they can manage it, and then it becomes fun. Then it becomes fun, then they want to do it.
Bill: No, I agree because when I started the podcast, it was so much work. When I started doing my posting and being more out there with personal brand, it was so much work. Now I can probably get it done in two to three hours a week. And I'm back to doing what I need to do to run this business and deliver for our clients and that type of thing. I think it's just like everything else. You have to take a professional approach to it. It is hard to get started, but once you get in a rhythm, there's no reason in the world that an executive couldn't get to the point where they're out there performing personal branding efforts that are effective and probably get it down to an hour, maybe two hours. I'd say like an hour or less if it's just static and written. You're probably up in the two-hour range with some expense if you're gonna integrate video, but you don't have to become the biggest influencer on the planet.
Loreta: Exactly, exactly. And you know, there's other avenues, sorry to interrupt, but there's other avenues, right? Let's say if you're an executive and you have opportunities to speak on stage, just invest into video crew. Just have them come in, record you, because that's gold. You can transcribe it. It can become an article. It could become like 10 posts for you, you know, on LinkedIn. Alone, out of that one engagement that you prepared hours and hours for, you can get multiple, multiple pieces of content out of that. This is how you're using your, you dissect them, you promote them. This is how I do it as well. Okay, we've talked for about an hour and we know that we have snippets that we can promote this podcast with to build your authority, my own authority, through the knowledge that we bring to the table.
Bill: Yeah, absolutely. This podcast will turn into LinkedIn posts. It'll turn into shorts. It'll turn into reels. It'll turn into two and three minute topical videos. So yeah, it's just the gift that keeps on giving. One of the other things I want to talk about, and you've mentioned it or referred to it a couple of times, I think it's very important that we very specifically talk about it is the target market. Like, for instance, my personal brand, I am not trying to be Mr. Beast or some global phenomenon. I would like to establish authority within my ideal client profile, in my space of peers, which is executives and marketing leaders in manufacturing and B2B companies. That's who I want to resonate with. I don't care, and I know I never will be a household name, and I don't want to be. So is it also something we need to really make sure when we start as a practical tip is to set the proper expectation and understand who the target market is in that goal setting area to make sure we dial in what we're doing?
Loreta: Yeah, I'm thinking through because I think there's different layers of how we define the market. Let's say we as service providers, we pick a market niche what we want to be authority in, right? From executive level, I'm not as familiar in terms of how frequently, let's say one executive hops around between different verticals of markets, right? Let's say if you're in a data industry, can you hop into, let's say consumer industry now? Although we have seen historically some big names make big moves, it was like, really? They went there? Like, how are they going to do now? This whole thing, they have no experience in that, right? But they end up bringing that diverse look at everything out of a different market segment, right? So when you're building as an executive, within executive parameters, not service provider parameters, within executive parameters, when you're building your authority online, that's currently my personal opinion. I have no data to prove it if it's right or wrong, but I believe that, your thoughts and your values, sort of what you share will play a big role and it doesn't matter which vertical market or target audience you're, you're, you're talking to, it's who you are as a leader, industry leader, perceived industry leader within, with your content. Right. I'm trying to think through as I'm talking and thinking at the same time, you know, is it really important? I don't have a clear answer. That's why I think I'm struggling. I don't have a clear answer to your question because if your goal as an, let's say, you'll have to clean up this video by the way, because I'm stumbling right now. I feel like what is it right to say here?
Bill: I think one of the things we have to differentiate, and I think this is great, because you're working it out as we're talking, as service providers and consultants and leaders in a space where we've chosen a niche, we can really double down on our ideal client profile. If you're an executive at a large company, you have much more responsibility to diverse stakeholders. So you have not only your clients, but you have your suppliers, you have your current employees, your employees you're trying to recruit. There's a lot of diverse, stakeholder responsibility. So there needs to be some, foundational broad content, but then there also needs to be, like you said, if you're in consumer products, or if you're in data or tech, you need to also show that you have proficiency and authority in that space, because I think what you said before is that's the exception, not the rule. You don't have a CEO of a car manufacturing company who then takes over a data company or a tech company, unless they're Elon. He does everything. But most people kind of stay in one swim lane in industry for a long, time.
Loreta: Yeah, yeah. And that's why I was struggling with that answer. You know, when you asked me, I'm like, does it influence, does it not influence? What that you refer to, what is that foundation that doesn't quite change? And that's why I was leaning towards value system, right? You as an executive, what are values that are driving you that either resonate with a particular company or they do not resonate with a particular company? But no doubt industry knowledge is important. But when you think, but when you're thinking and going back to the content strategy, when you're thinking about building your own authority, I think it's a matter of choice what you want to lead with, right? Are you leading with ideas that are more inspirational of you as a leader, you know, or are you leading with your industry knowledge content? Or it could be the mix of both, right? Sometimes, for example, you know, you mentioned Gary Vee, you know, is he's purely inspirational to me, right? All his content is just, entrepreneur, you do it, don't wait until you're 36, try everything right now and if somebody's telling you, you shouldn't be doing that, don't listen to them, right? Like that drive that is just so inspiring to somebody young who's looking to do something different and just want to get at it. If you look at, let’s say, what example can I give? Actually, a lot of high-level company leaders like even Microsoft or current Apple or even Elon Musk and Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson, I think they're at that level where they lead with inspiration at that point because they have so much business experience and knowledge and they have that personal brand that's so recognizable, that's associated with the company that they have that luxury to just blurt something out and their name is underwritten. It's their knowledge. But I think those middle level managers, again, thank you for allowing me to think this through as I'm talking through it. I think for them to get to that level, they first probably have to lead with this knowledge base. Why are they the experts in the field? What are they solving in the current company so that other potential companies who are looking to hire can see that, this person can solve my problems too, because they are that expert in the field within that space.
Bill: No, that's great. And sometimes it's just great to like workshop these things, right? Talk through, because like, and I think the other thing you pointed out, and I think this is very true as well. There is not a lot of data. There are not a lot of studies yet because the, there hasn't been enough consistent performance to execute this, to be able to have the studies that prove it. Now I think there are some studies out there that we've referenced about market share, about value, about customers resonating that are true and have been measured. But on some of these other things, specifically personal branding for executives is so new, is in its infancy. And I think if let's, so we've been at this an hour and I apologize for going over time, but thank you so much Loreta for hanging with me. The last thing I think I want to leave our audience with is what if I feel like it's too late for me? Right? Like, so I've talked to some people and they're like, I'm kind of in the twilight of my career. I've only got five to seven years left. When is it too late to start?
Loreta: I don't think there's ever too late, honestly. Although, know, some years ago, actually there was the year when Steve Jobs died, which one was it? 2002 or something, 2003? Whichever year it was. Back that year, I was like, my God, this massive person, you know, the brains are gone pretty much, right? And the idea sparked in my brain thinking, I want to create video content and interview people in early stages of their career to understand their struggles as they're building the company. But life happened. I didn't pursue it. I started, but then I got a corporate job then I went into corporate, life happened. Right. And now look at everything video content based, all these podcasts, all these video interviews. I'm thinking to myself, dang it, I should have done it then. I should have done it then. But, you know, there's always time when your knowledge and expertise is needed. It will always be found by somebody in that time capsule. Think about it about the knowledge that you leave behind. Like that's what's driving me. It's like we're having this conversation. Somebody some X years later is going to come across this content, you know, and we don't need to be actors in movies to be captured with our knowledge in this content, right? And that's the amazing part. That's what's inspiring to me, to think that it's still not too late, you know, to to pursue something, to share something. Even if you have six or seven years of career left, it's not too late because you could be an advisor on a board later on. You could be a professor invited to teach something in a college or in a university. Your knowledge is valuable. And I don't think it's ever too late because we just have this amazing digital environment that we live in right now to leave the imprint for future generations. It's just crazy when you think about it.
Bill: Well, Loreta, that's inspiring. And I want to take a moment. We're all about shameless self-promotion and whatever Loreta is going to share with us here about where she can be found online and her socials will be linked in the notes and the comments and wherever this is posted. But Loreta, tell us about your business, where people can find you online and connect with you.
Loreta: Thank you so much, Bill. I really appreciate that ability to do shameless promotion. I felt all I've been doing is that, throughout the conversation. But thank you. Yes, as you might have heard, I reside primarily on LinkedIn. So you can find me by my first name and last name on LinkedIn. If you want to connect with me there, just reference this podcast, and I will accept the connection. I have my website, Loreta.today. Loreta is spelled with one T, so Loreta.today. You can download a presence checklist. It's a very elaborate document that I hope will add a lot of value if you go through the checklist thoroughly and honestly. It has a brand presence checklist and a executive presence checklist. You can take both or one of and get your score. And if you feel like you need some help or your company needs some help, let's have a conversation. I consider myself a communications and marketing architect, so everything to me comes from message, story, and then how do we deliver that story to the masses through the marketing vehicles. So that's my world.
Bill: Love it. Loreta. That's great. Yeah, everybody definitely check out that checklist. Whenever you're trying to get started, there's nothing better than a practical assessment document guide that you can go through the kind of kickstart things. And then as always, if you need help, you can reach out to Loreta and I get that extra help from her. Well, Loreta, thank you so much for joining us. This has been a blast. We're going to have to run it back again in a year and see if I am doing better and we'll see whatever, what other things we've learned.
Loreta: Maybe it's gonna go shorter then.
Bill: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we'll be like, yeah, we covered it all last time. How are you? Great. Things are going well. Good. Okay. See you later.
Loreta: Yeah, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, Bill. Thank you for having me here.
Bill: Thank you.