Adam Torres and Chase Friedman discuss brand purpose.
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Show Notes:
What is ‘brand-purpose’ and why is it essential for any business to stand out in today’s crowded marketplace? In this episode, Adam Torres and Chase Friedman, Founder & Brand Coach at Vanquish Media Group, explore brand purpose and why it’s so important for business success.
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About Vanquish Media Group
Vanquish Media Group is a digital marketing collective empowering purpose-driven people, organizations, and brands. Our holistic approach to brand strategy, storytelling, and marketing leads with mission-driven campaigns and maximum impact. A potent mix of creative storytellers and savvy digital marketing strategists provide an integrative approach to building your brand, cutting through the white noise of the digital marketplace, and sharing your story with the world.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of mission matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today I have Chase Friedman on the line and he’s founder and brand coach over at vanquish media group.
Chase, welcome to the show. Thank you. Psyched to be here. Appreciate you having me. All right, Chase. So we got lots to talk about today. So how brand purpose drives business growth for entrepreneurs and small businesses. So a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives that watch this show. So excited to get your concept and your ideas on brand, how we can use brand and how we can grow our businesses.
So again, great to have you on and just to get us started, we’ll start this episode, the way that we start them all with what we call our mission matters So Chase at Mission Matters, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That’s our mission. Chase, what mission matters to you?
So it’s a great question. I always love to start with a bit of my mantra and my intro. So, you know, my core belief is I believe in the ability for all people, businesses, organizations to do good and do well in life, to profit with purpose, you know? So my purpose in life is to help others find and unlock theirs.
So they can do good and do well and build a life and business of their dreams when you can have both. It is an absolutely beautiful balance. Awesome. Love bringing mission based individuals on the line to share why they do what they do, how they’re doing it, and what we can all learn from that. Good to have you here.
Just diving right in Chase. Where did this start for you? Like brand marketing, media, content creation? Like was that where as a kid, were you doing this? Like where’d all this start for you? Yeah. So it actually started, you know, my background is in storytelling. I was always enamored, inspired by that as a kid, watching movies and TV and film.
And so I started my career as an independent filmmaker, writing, directing, producing TV commercials, music videos. So that, that love of story was always in my bones and my DNA always have loved the craft. Over time, didn’t love the business, the industry of entertainment as much, but I’ve always carried that love for story.
And that’s kind of what really allowed me to start transitioning and working for consulting brands on helping them tell better stories and create better content, of course, you know, great content alone is, you know, can still fall flat and you can have a beautiful story. But if you’re not reaching people in the right ways and at the right touch points, it’s kind of still getting lost in that sea of sea of noise.
So that kind of evolved into not just great storytelling for brands, but really kind of the entire digital marketing ecosystem. How we’re reaching people that we can inspire, that we can motivate, that we can educate and entertain a new and interesting ways. When did you figure out that you had a gift for story?
Like that you knew how to tell a good story, that you could put something that was in your mind and bring it out into the world. Like, when did you realize that? You know, I look, I think it’s an evolving process. I think we’re constantly sharpening, you know, that skill and strengthening that muscle. I think it was a matter of watching things that inspired me as a kid, seeing the power of story to influence and inspire my own feelings and others.
I just felt that, that, that ability to. Not only convey story, but help connect the dots for people and help them see things that they couldn’t see for themselves. So in a way it’s kind of storytelling by proxy. It’s allowing the hero of the story, which is our clients, our customers, our audience to position themselves as a hero on this journey, right?
You know, what are the challenges that they’re facing? What are their hopes and desires? How do they overcome that? What does that call to action? What does that identity transformation look like? And the cool thing about it is, is whether you’re telling stories for TV and film or commercials, or you’re doing it from a brand and a business perspective, the formula is very, very similar.
And there’s a formula that I use today with businesses, big and small to help them have a simplistic formula to telling a more enriching and an emotional story. A lot of people. Get scared and be like, I’m not a storyteller. How to do it. I don’t have that experience and background. We all have it within us, right?
It’s, it’s in our, it is in all of our DNA. It’s been a long story since the dawn of time. So you have it, you just need a little bit of a framework and a little bit of a guide to help you tell. What are some of the components that you feel go into making a great story? Like, what are some of those ingredients?
Obviously, understanding stories are going to be different, right? That’s a given. But like, what are some of the components, if there are some, that are commonalities? I mean, I think the first thing is, is vulnerability. Being willing to be vulnerable with yourself and with others and sharing that, that authentic story.
This goes back to purpose, right? As we’re talking about today. Purpose is, is what you believe in. Why you do what you do. So that compelling purpose of who you are as a person or as a business or as an organization, you’ve got to leave with that. That passion story is a very, it can be simplified and distilled into, you know, a great showrunner director.
I used to work with, you know, what do I want? Why can’t I have it? And how are we like the curse in the show? Why do I give a shit? We can all relate to each other in many more ways. Once we are open and honest. But it starts with a challenge, a struggle and overcoming adversity or a desire and an aspiration to grow, to transform into something else, but being met with a challenge, right?
How do we overcome that? Who do we kind of need to rely on and work with that kind of get to that next level and life and business. So once you can be real and honest with the challenges you’re facing, the struggles, the internal emotions that you feel from it, the philosophical challenges, then you’re starting to invite people into an emotional journey.
I’m a big fan and you don’t know this, but I’m, I’m a big fan of people that come from the commercial world of entertainment, like commercial specifically shooting commercials and things, and then transition or add to their toolkit, helping small business owners. And the reason I’m such a big fan of that is because I feel like.
In commercials where every single frame is like poured over. There’s not a frame wasted in a great commercial. And some of the budgets are, you know, pretty substantial. So when you go into like creating content for businesses and things like that, like I’ve heard, you know, business owners say things like it’s only going to be a one minute video.
Well, I can’t tell a story in one minute, or I can’t like, and I’m just thinking like Instagram or whatever, the real, it’s only a minute. It’s like, how could I possibly. Tell a story in a minute, but people that come from the commercial world. I mean, if you’re talking about that’s an, that’s an eternity, a minute, like, especially depending on the format you talk to them, do they even have many commercials for Superbowl?
No, I don’t think so, but obviously that’s the highest level, but talk to me a little bit about what goes into now that you’ve made this. One of the things you’re doing is helping business owners. Before we get into like the craft of the brand and everything else, what’s it like working with business owners?
That’s different. That’s different. Small business owners can be, I’ll say myself, I can be challenging small business owners versus entertainment. It’s a little bit different. What’s that like? How have you liked that working with small businesses? I’ve been fortunate to work with businesses of every shape and size from, from lean startups to fortune 500, B2B, B2C, nonprofit for profit.
And I love it because it stretches different muscles. It allows you to kind of explore and experience different people and different missions of the organizations. But what I keep coming back to is I really do love helping small, medium sized businesses. Startups because they’re still so kind of new and agile and nimble in their process and their journey in a lot of ways, you know, it’s really hard to move or to steer a large ship like a Fortune 500.
Yeah, right. You’re in kind of a, you know, sometimes a two seat sort of speedboat cruiser when you’re running a small business and you can take risks, right? And you can, you can make more discernible and immediate. Change within that business and organization. I love it because I’ve been in those shoes myself.
I didn’t start out as a business owner. I was an entrepreneur school, the hard knocks, right? It’s the same way I kind of learned filmmaking. Didn’t go to film school, but learn by doing and by growing and by making mistakes and learning from it. So same thing in business. I love being able to help people on that journey, give them the advice and consult and guidance that I wish I had earlier on be a guide, be a coach, be a mentor, be a consultant.
You know, it’s something that I I’ve always had the ability and I’m grateful for it to help to see things in people. They don’t readily see for themselves, help them in their dots, the skills, the innate abilities, that passion, that purpose they have in here. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting clarity, right?
You can have passion for what you do. You can be purpose driven. But to also have that clarity, it’s that constellation of where you’re going and how you’ll get there. That’s often the missing piece. And I just love exploring that and helping guide people on that journey. Yeah. And I think this is a good transition.
So let’s go further into purpose. So brand purpose, how do you define that? Like, how do you approach that? Really simplistically? It’s why you do what you do, right? What you believe in, what you stand for as a person and as a business and a brand, you know, when you’re a smaller organization, I do believe it should start from the inside out personal development, leading to professional development.
So being real, being honest, being authentic with why you do what you do, what you stand for, what you believe in. That to me is purpose, you know, beyond the bottom line, right? What’d you believe in beyond the bottom line, making money is great. We want to do that in business, but hopefully there’s a little bit of a deeper meaning behind it.
Why is this concept of brand purpose so important for standing out in today’s marketplace? Great question. I think, I really do believe that brand purpose is the ultimate differentiator in today’s marketplace. Standing up and standing out for what you believe in and your values and your mission is what separates you from the sea of sameness in a deeper and emotional way, which is how people want to interact.
People buy based off of emotion. More people want to buy from, work for, invest in purpose driven businesses and companies that align with their values or help them, you know, make good on their aspirations in life. So I think it’s not only is it, is it. Is it feel really good when you’re doing work that is fulfilling and motivating and aligned with your passion, but it’s strategic, right?
It is absolutely strategic in helping you make decisions that for the state of your business, how you’re going to serve and support your customers for your product, for your services, and ultimately I look at it as purpose positioning. It’s how you’re positioning yourself in the marketplace, aside from the rest of the competitors out there that may be competing on.
Price and features and functionality and things of that nature. There can only be a few winners when you’re going based off of, you know, price and specs and more tangible benefits like that. The thing that I think has staying power and deeper meaning is that why that cuts. Deeper to the minds, the hearts of your clients and customers.
And oftentimes, and I’ll be interested to hear your opinion on this. Oftentimes when I’m talking to, like, for example, when I’m doing an interview like this and I have a CEO or founder of a company on the line and they’re telling me about their company and this and that, and I’ll be kind of. Drill deeper, trying to figure out like the story behind it.
Like what makes it tick? And I feel like many have, even, even for businesses that have been around for a while, like maybe they have some trouble telling their story or their purpose. It’s not that they want to be inauthentic, by the way, like nobody’s doing it intentionally. But. But just maybe they didn’t have, they don’t have the skills or the tools to kind of make that happen.
Are there any frameworks or tips or anything like that, that can help some of those that are watching this program to kind of figure out how to tell their story better and how to represent their brand better. Yeah. I mean, look, I think there’s a few great frameworks out there. I’m a big fan of story brand, you know, Donald Miller.
It’s, it’s kind of a great framework for brand storytelling, which is really rooted in the core of storytelling in general, you know, Simon Sinek, golden circle, you know, why I start with why it’s a great model as well. But again, I don’t think there’s ever too soon or too late to kind of really dig deep.
You know, these are tools that. You know, are already in our consciousness. That’s just kind of simplifying the process, you know, but ultimately I don’t think there’s ever too soon or too late to kind of dig deep. This is something that I’ve found, you know, midway through my career. I didn’t start, I didn’t start that way.
Starting a new business, you know, dealing with imposter syndrome and, and you know, fear of failure and, you know, all these different things, you tend to say yes to a lot of opportunities and deals that are going to help you get your start. We all have to go through that process to kind of build and refine our skillset.
I get that revenue in, but over a certain point in time, you know, you look at where you started in the initial inspiration for starting that business. And a lot of those yeses can veer you off course to the point where you look back and be like, wait a minute, this isn’t exactly where I thought I would be or where I intended to go.
So being willing to take a look in the mirror. Recalibrate what is important to you, what you do love about what you do and who you serve. And for me that, you know, what I understood and what I kind of had to unpack, and this was kind of hitting some low points and in life, you know, personally, professionally, you know, being brought to my knees with some tough decisions and tough breaks on the business side, instead of hanging it up.
You know, I had to pick up the piece and say, all right, if I’m going to proceed with this, who do I really enjoy serving and where’s the greatest difference I can make in people’s lives. And for me, that was with those sorts of people and organizations that had a deeper, more passionate, purpose driven drive to serve, right.
And yes, make money and yes, profit, but do so with purpose for a greater good, whether for themselves and their own families. For their team, for their community, for the world at large. You know, I do believe there’s many different frameworks about how to tell better stories, but quite frankly, you’ve got to get in the mindset of not trying to be all things to all people.
You’ve got to be willing to stand up for what you believe in and know and trust. And this is, this is true that your tribe, your core audience, your super consumer will find you. Right. They will connect on a deeper level with, with who you are and what you believe if you’re willing to share it with them.
Yeah. I love it. And speaking of that, connecting with that core consumer, how can this like being purpose driven and really understanding your brand? How does that drive growth? Like how can that in today’s stakeholder driven society, like how does that drive growth? Exactly. Yeah. So we’re in this an amazing time right now where it is very much stakeholder driven economy, this conscious consumerism, people demanding more out of the businesses and products they buy from and support, right?
So, and the data is there to support it. It is not, this is not a trend. This is not. A fad. This is where business is going in society. And so, you know, for example, consumers are four to six times more likely to purchase from protect and champion purpose driven companies that align with their values. Right?
2 and 3 consumers are willing to pay more pay a price premium for those products and services. Okay. You know, purpose driven companies that stand by and stick with their values. Outperform their competitors, those that don’t have a clear purpose or mission by over 400 percent of the marketplace, right?
And I can go on and on, right? In terms of workforce and, you know, over 85 percent of. Eligible employees want to work for companies that help that align with their values. So, across the board. Margin, market share, employee recruitment, retention, innovation, across the board, people want to buy from, work for, and invest in these sorts of companies.
So, very clear to see when you do have that core purpose that does align with, you know, your core audience or employees, it absolutely drives business growth. Yeah, I can see that by the way. And I’ll tell you a quick story. So I know when we, when we started this company it was called money matters and and not saying there’s any, we have anything to gun against money, by the way, but as we, when we kind of shifted and that wasn’t like an inauthentic thing, it was actually a growth thing.
So when we first started, all that we were covering was money content. Like that was it. I was a financial advisor at that time. I was in that business of money. So it was just a little bit different. And so just to be clear there. But as we look back and we reflected on the content, we were like, eh, there’s only like 15 percent of the content that we’re actually shooting is actually about money.
Like it was only 15, maybe 20 percent of like the hardcore content. So we kind of reflected, we look back and I was actually interviewing somebody one day and they said, you know, Adam, money matters, but mission matters too. And it hit me like, we always thought of ourselves as mission based. We just didn’t like lead with that.
And when we, when we changed and when we changed the entire company, the shows, everything over to mission matters, that’s when things started to get interesting. And we still have our money show by the way, it’s a, but we just, but the overall brand pivoted to something that was more closely aligned to what we were doing as we were finding our identity and we were rewarded by the marketplace.
So I share that because. For those that are out there, maybe watching this or listening to this that are like, yeah, they’re talking about a bunch of brand stuff, but how does that apply to me? And yeah, of course I’m purpose driven, but I’m just starting out. And my purpose right now is how do I keep the doors open?
I get it. I understand. And I’m with you. Like I’m not, but the things that Chase is sharing, they’re not like in lieu of like once upon a time, it might’ve been, this was in lieu of, it would have been like a trade off. Now. The marketplace is actually rewarding people, right? That are authentic, that are, that are purpose driven, that are thinking about their brand, that are staying consistent with their brand.
I think it’s a great time to be in business. Yeah. I mean, look, you just shared a great anecdote. You know, the fact that you unlock that, you know, a lot more interest and audience and impact by shifting to more of a purpose or mission based, you know, just name orientation of, of who you were as, as an entity that resonated on a deeper level.
Then just kind of, you know, money. Right. So, you know, this is something that you’ve made a great point. Profit and purpose are not mutually exclusive, right? A lot of, you know, business owners, especially small business owners think they feel daunted, intimidated. Like this purpose has to be this world saving, you know, revolutionary statement.
It doesn’t. I mean, you know, this is just something that means something personally to you that fuels and inspires you. And guess what? Odds are it’s going to inspire somebody else as well. It doesn’t have to be solving world hunger or climate change or social injustice. If you can do those things, that’s great.
For me, that was also a motivating factor. I understand that I am not on the front lines of some of these big existential challenges, but I know that my place and my purpose is in helping and serving and elevating those who are right. So they can make a greater impact. And that’s kind of my, my place. You know, give yourself some grace.
You know, being true to, you know, what, you know, what, what means something to you and not trying to make something that that is bigger than you can really fulfill. Because the last thing you want to do is what we call purpose washing, right? You’re just talking to talk, but purpose washing. I’ve never heard that.
What? That’s interesting purpose washing. You said. Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of like, you know, we’ve maybe heard a greenwashing, right? So basically, yeah, it’s, it’s checking a box. It’s saying, you know, you’re going to do a lot of these great things in the world or your company’s committed to X, Y, and Z and not really backing it up.
And unfortunately, you know, we’re getting better, but there’s not a whole lot of regulations or standards or measurement protocols that we’re holding companies accountable to. So it’s not just greenwashing. Purpose washing right companies that are simply speaking it out loud and speaking into existence or putting out a social post because they think, you know, sounds good, or it might, you know, be good optics or PR, but they’re not walking the walk.
Right? They’re not bridging promise. With performance and so don’t set out with something so lofty that you don’t feel you can actually make a tangible impact do something and even start small, right? For yourself for your own team doing better and doing right by your employees, right? Or the community around you, right?
And go from there. Start from the inside out and you’ll be on a pretty good track. Amazing. Well, Chase, this has been a lot of fun having you on today. And I learned a lot. I’m hope the audience did as well. I have to ask what’s next. What’s next for you? What’s next for your business? Great question. I mean, I’ve been running this agency for the last seven, eight years, which has been fabulous.
Have some great clients, but I have found myself more called into coaching and consulting for leaders, entrepreneurs, SMBs, where I can get in the trenches with them, you know, get my hands dirty and helping them solve more, more complex challenges. And that’s something that I’m inspired by. That’s, you know, obviously alignment with my mission, you know, for me, just, you know, it’s like a, it’s like a roadshow trying to continue to educate and evangelize that you can have this beautiful balance of profit purpose, do good, do well, because, you know, I’m still working towards it every day, the journey as a pursuit.
But when you can, when you can have both of those things in life and business, it’s, it’s really a beautiful balance. And Vanquish Media Group, if somebody’s watching this and they want to connect with you and your team, how do they do that? You can connect directly with me on LinkedIn, you know, always love to have a connection to chat and in person meeting if we can, if you’re in Los Angeles area or virtual coffee and then on Vanquish Media Group as well.
We’ve actually got a really great sort of white paper that curates a lot of the data and statistics that we talked about today around the ROI of purpose, right? Making the business case for committing to brand purpose. For everybody that’s watching, we’ll put all the information for Vanquish Media Group in the show notes, so you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t hit the subscribe or follow button, this is your personal invitation. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. This is a daily show, that means daily. Each and every day, we’re bringing you new entrepreneurs, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration that helps you along in your journey as well.
Chase. This has been again, so much fun. Thanks again for coming on the show. My pleasure, Adam. Thanks so much for having me.