How to build a brand with Martha Cristina Garza

Your Dream Business

English - April 18, 2022 00:00 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Martha Cristina Garza who is a Marketing Expert & Brand Strategist. She helps visionary entrepreneurs find clarity, focus, and direction to expand their brand reach, revenue, and impact. We talk all about business branding and how to ensure your personality is included in yours. Then we move on to imposter syndrome and being confident to charge your worth!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

Brand strategy is NOT exclusively for huge companies – we all have a brand! No matter how big or small your business is.
Your own personal brand is what others think of you – and we can influence this.
Your brand should represent your knowledge and expertise (heart and values, but also your personality!
You can be professional and fun at the same time.
Be confident with who you are and put it in your brand.
Before you look at your colours etc you have to think about your foundations – who you are, why does it matter, who are your competitors and how do you stand out from them?
People love to hear your story and why you do what you do – it helps them to connect with you.
Our brand is bigger than ourselves and what we like and what we want. It is a reflection of us and who we want to be.
Your brand needs to look and sound the same everywhere.
Put the volume up! Find your personality and what makes you stand out and shout about it.
Not everyone sees everything you do – keep mentioning it/talking about it.
You can appeal to different levels of clients/customers – but you do have to find the balance between helping everyone and spreading yourself too thin.
You never know if someone can or can’t afford your services/product – never assume.
New level, new devil! Imposter syndrome doesn’t go away just because you are at a new level.
We can’t do this on our own! We need the right people around us.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

You can be professional and fun at the same time! It is ok to show your personality in your branding.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISS

How Martha became a brand strategist
Building your brand
Tips for tackling Imposter Syndrome

CHECK MARTHA OUT:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Build My List Self-Study Course

TRANSCRIPT
But like sometimes our brand and I feel most of the time, their brand is bigger than ourselves and bigger than what we like and what we want is just a reflection of all the pieces of flaws and that pieces of flaws that we want to be.
Yeah. Yeah. You said something in that while back there was really good.
And I wants to question you on what you meant. So you said, what makes it, you and put the volume up? Like, so what do you mean by that? So, Like, if you, you see something that you think 'Yeah I'm that sort of person.' So, you know, I like to laugh and I like to have fun and I, you know, how do you mean put the volume up?

Like, well, how would that sound in a practical way?
Absolutely. So you are fun and you like gin. And then if I go to your Instagram, for example, and I will see anything around that. For me, it least there's this like misconnection. Cause I hear you and

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

How Martha became a brand strategist
Building your brand
Tips for tackling Imposter Syndrome

CHECK MARTHA OUT:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Build My List Self-Study Course

I mean, we never even met, right? Like there's one thing, right like I'm like, guess I knew that when I was talking to you in my end. Um, but then that creates dissonance. Like you're saying you're one thing and you're, I see you somewhere else. And your other kind of what you were saying earlier. So putting the volume out loud, every touch point, which just every place that I talked to my clients or my clients sees me, I want to be the same.

You are listening to Your Dream Business Podcast Episode 238. You are listening to Your Dream Business Podcast and I am your host Teresa Heath-Wareing. If you are a business owner who is striving to build a business and the life that you dream of on your own terms and doing something that you love, then this is the podcast for you.

Each week, I will share with you business, marketing and mindset tools, and strategies that I have used to start and grow my own dream business, as well as the dream businesses of hundreds of business owners from around the world. So if you're ready, let's get started.

Hello, and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast as always, I am your host Teresa Heath-Wareing.

If you are new, welcome to this wonderful family that we have. You are most welcome. If you're a returning listener thank you so very much. I appreciate you all greatly. Okay. This week we have an interview with the lovely Martha and we're going to be talking all about brand. I know some of you might be sat there thinking, you know, brands and brand conversations are only for big businesses, you know, and things like value, brand values and tone and all this sort of thing might only be big businesses.
But what is so nice about this conversation is how we open it up to basically say, no, this is everyone and everything. And your brand, especially, I almost feel like it's more important when you're a small business, because it represents you entirely. It represents who you are. And if you've been following me for a while, you know, I went through a brand change, not that long ago.
And in fact, I was going through the brand change and design elements while I in the interview. And actually as a, as a business owner, as a solopreneur or someone who like me, you are the face of your business. That brand really has to represent me. And the reason I changed my brand was because it didn't fit. It didn't fit any longer.
I had changed from the person who initially started that, you know, the business with that brand. So it's a really good conversation. I really enjoy chatting to Martha. And I think you're going to get a lot from it. But before I introduce her to you, I just want to take a minute to remind you that build my list is open and you can buy. It's available on my website and at teresaheathwareing.com/buildmylist.
Last week, we talked all about email lists and the do's and don'ts. So if you are still thinking about that, if you are still thinking, oh yeah, that's on my to do list finally. Imagine or just imagine like ticking that off and getting people onto your email list.
So good. So yeah. Do go and check that out if you're wanting to build your list. Okay. So today when chatting to Martha Cristina Garza who is a luxury brand strategist and marketing expert, based in Brooklyn, New York. She helps visionary 6 and 7 figure entrepreneurs find clarity, focus, and direction to expand their brand, reach revenue and impact so they can change the world.

Most of her clients are high ticket coaches, luxury brands in jewelry, fashion, and hospitality industries. But before opening her boutique consultancy, she led her marketing efforts for brands like Cartier. So she always has, she has sorry, almost a decade of corporate marketing experience. And her background is in industry and jewelry design.

So yeah she was fab. So-so good. Really good conversation. I think you're going to take away a lot from this. So here is the lovely Martha.
Okay. So it's my pleasure today to welcome to the podcast Martha Cristina Garza. Martha, how are you doing?

I am doing great. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me Teresa.
No worries. And you guys can't see because you're listening to podcasts, but Martha's got the most amazing lipstick on. Love, the color. Obviously get the important stuff in out the way, uh, yeah looks fabulous, fabulous. Martha what we do at the beginning of every interview is we get you to explain to my audience who you are and how you got to do what you're doing today. So if you are happy, that'd be a great start.

Absolutely. So I am a Brooklyn based Mexican luxury brand strategist. And I got here in a various funny way. When I was little, I thought I wanted to be a jewelry designer and I actually went ahead and went for it. I went to industrial design school, went to New York, Gucci, majority designer, and then I got this, um, scholarship for a master's in Italy.

So I went ahead and did a masters in marketing for luxury, super specific. I was like, great. Now I know how to design jewelry, how to make it. And now I'm going to go learn how to sell it. That was my master plan. And then I got there and then I fell in love with marketing there. Why? Because in Mexico where I grew up.

Marketing was only about numbers, entity, and it also is not right. It's about this beautiful storytelling. And everything I did in Italy was around that. So I fell in love and I was like, this is fun. This is easy. And I love it. And I wasn't looking for it. But my director from the program got me an interview of my dream company, which was Cartier. And I landed that job does my fridge up at 23. And I wanted to, I remember crying cause I was like, I am not European. My chances are on the floor. I ended up getting it and I fell in love. I was in Italy for another year working there and then I moved to the US to work with European company.
So it kind of what's the journey I was not expecting in the US. I went from retail to hospitality to even manufacturing jewelry, which was kind of back to my left to zero. Right. And it was beautiful and I loved it. And for me, I think my favorite part was the part about like taking care of the brand, helping the brand move forward, helping like convey the message.

And the fun thing is I got to work with a lot of European brands, Italian, German, French and Danish and bringing how they talked in their countries to the US and how the US talks was such a cool challenge. So I think that's translation of like values and heart and story really, really, and I'm like me. And I always thought though, brand strategists was they're very special people and I wasn't one of them I watch in that says, well, it wasn't, then I could never be one.

Last year, there was something that clicked inside of me. When I heard two people, three people talking about brand strategy, wonder what it actually was, they were like, yeah, this people have an eye for design. I'm like, I have a design background I'm in kind of designing and secret and all my career. And they're like, yeah, they understand business and marketing.

I'm like, I almost have a degree for corporate marketing. I have that too. And then 2019, I got certified as a life coach. And I'm like, I know not to ask questions. A brand strategy strategist in a nutshell. So I decided to go for it and it was the scariest thing I've ever done. Um, last year during the pandemic I was for load and then I was let go and might the moment I was let go.

I already had the big smile on my face. I already had sold my first thing for $500, which is nothing if you live in New York, but I was so excited, but. So the reason I got here was this bring me to storytelling bees. And it just feels like right now, my job is to be a matchmaker, but instead of like two people that love each other, it's a client and a company.

And I really, really, really that that's my job as a brand strategy. And I enjoy every single day. I love it. I love it. So, and I really liked the way that you just talked there about the fact of, you know, you're bringing people together and sometimes, like, I think, cause my, my background is fully in marketing.

I've done it like 16, 17 years. I have a degree in it and I worked for some huge, huge companies like land Rover and Jaguar and. I think when people think brand and brand strategy, they think it's just exclusively for those massive companies. And in my experience, it's not, is that what you think? Yes, exactly.

It's not, I think we'll have a VR. Are we curating it or not? And the thing is nice, I believe is that we don't create. People created their own, their own head. So my Martha gardens the brand, they in people's heads. And I love that right now. Most of the time it matches with what I want it to match. Right.

That's the job. And I have a brand and you have a personal brand and you have the buckets, but your own. Personal brand is what others think of you. We can influence it though. And if we're not actively pursuing the act of influencing it in an ethical way, then people can think whatever they want. And that's what they're going to tell others about you.

And that's how the chain works. Right. And we think because we're small, we're like, oh, we're not ready to be a brand that you are already a brand. You're just not taking care of it. Yeah, absolutely. I think. It changes as well, even on a personal brand. So funnily enough, I am going through a rebrand as we interview, as we record synergy.

And the reason I'm going to rebrand is because, although I like my brand and there are elements that are reflective of me, there are some elements where I'm more grown up than that, man. Where I have find myself fall in the industry. Like I saw her brilliant quote on a lady coming on actually. And she said, she's Chanel, not target.

And it's like, you know, so that's like, yeah, I'm Chanel not target. Like, and that's fine. That's just understanding who you are and what you offer. And I have a lot of experience. I coach coaches, I, you know, and therefore some of my branding was a little bit silly or I felt, I think silly is a wrong word to describe it, but it just wasn't quite sitting.

Right. But there's still elements of my brands and it's funny. Because I had a photo shoot done a while back. And then one of the part of the photo shoot was me holding a cocktail glass because I talk all the time and of like, I love a J and if there is, and celebrating and having fun and, and again, it was like showing that persona in that brand.

Isn't it. Yes. And I love that you say that actually, we love that from your website where you're like, because everyone thinks of British. We love tea, I hate tea. So I being, yeah, there's like this two aspects and I love that what you said, because for me, I consider myself the same. Like I worked in luxury and for the longest I love one part of your, one of your buckets where you were saying, it's hard for me to say all the things, the great things I do.

And I struggle with that so much. And I feel like. It's marrying that like all the knowledge and the expertise, I feel like sometimes expertise people perception is that it's fought with having a good time or being fun or showcasing personality. And I always say there's like this two sides of the coin of brand one is your brands like hearts and values.

Like how you do things like the mastery that you show the knowledge, the expertise, like you said, coaches, coach of coaches. The other side of the coin is a brand personality, which you can do. Pretty much anything new ones and still this doesn't move like the foundation of who you are and your values and your purpose in the world in how you deliver and how you do it.

Like you said, I am a 10 I'm to target exactly that and I was telling my friend, you could beat one of my clients. I was telling her you could be the joker or the fun person and be elegant, like. I am a luxury brand. I mostly wear relaxer. Wrens are hyped to get coaches, consultants, experts. And I am always laughing.
I'm always having fun. I feel like people think like professional or expert or luxury has to be worrying or stuffy. I'm like, have you seen our man? Like they are the luxury brand and they're having fun. They're even hard card gets yours on their windows. Really playful. You didn't be luxury and you can be playful.
You can be luxury and you can have a good time. And I think it's kind of like when you and me go to a ball, we wear a gown. And when we go to the beach, we wear a swimsuit that doesn't make us, let us. Right. And that's exactly how brand shows up. Yeah. That's such a good point. One thing we go on a lot by in marketing is authenticity, and sometimes it can be a bit overused, but that's exactly what that brand is there to do.

It's to show us as we are, whether. You know exactly as we, as we are as a human, because if you come to my site and you see fun and you see, you know, me with a glass of fizzy in my hand, or smiling or laughing, or some of the Fe, you know, when I've got like big laugh on my face, and then you meet me and I'm serious.
And I'm like, well, I don't drink. And I'm like, what are you setting people up for? So it's being confident and going, this is who I am and putting that in your brand. And again, I guess it, you know, you have conversations around things like colors and fonts and imagery and. Yeah. So we first start with, uh, the foundation.

So where you are, why does it matter? Who's your competitors and how do you stand out from them? Like, let's actually bring that. The thing that makes you, you and put the volume up because that's the thing that's going to kill it. And then the last part we go is the personality. And after those three pieces are done, then we jump into colors and then we job into.

Uh, design. So colors, funds, and then your final design that showcases all that we do here. What I find is a lot of intrapreneurs, just jump to the color or just jump to the others things without thinking of the things. And honestly, it's, as a business owner myself, I don't have a brown book. I always joke about this.
I was like, my claims ramblings are incredible and they want to see mine and I'm like, you cannot be.

That's brilliant. I think it's normal, you know, for us not to sit down and think of other things. And sometimes it feels like a hard thing. That's why having someone to chat with even a good trend and say, okay, let's talk about why I'm doing this. Why does it matter? Why do I care? Because we think that our experience is shared.

That's another thing, like we think like, oh, everyone feels this way. I used to tell my sister, I thought everyone that wanted to see a Broadway show wanted to be on the stage. And she's like, Nope, that's definitely not me. That's whole year. It's like, we think I would stuck into one of my clients and he's building this bread business and she was saying, I mean every time I, I only do it because it's a good business idea.

I mean, every time I enter a restaurant, the bread is not good. And I'm like, you realize that not everyone just goes into our restaurant to check the brand like he's French. And he's like, well, when, and then I told him white bread, he's like, oh, when I was little, I used to go get the bread with my dad every morning.

And he was my favorite part of the day. And I always dreamed of being a baker. And then I couldn't because my parents went on. And I'm like, that's your story. That's what we were looking for. And sometimes we just hide that because we think it's irrelevant because we think people won't care. And I always tell my clients, like people fall in love with those stories because it connects them to themselves and their own story of what they do and they do.

So going back to that, yes. Like I feel like that feed