00:00Welcome to 10 Minute Talks. I'm Alison LaForgia, Managing Editor of HousingWare's Content Studio,
00:13and today's episode is about something that's often treated as a line item, but rarely is what
00:19it actually is, a powerful brand experience. My guest is Jessica Reed, VP of Marketing,
00:24Brand Recruiting, and Partnerships at Animac Home Mortgage. Jessica has a sharp point of view
00:31on events, not just as one-off moments, but as living, breathing extensions of a brand
00:37that can either build or break trust. Jessica, welcome to 10 Minute Talks.
00:43Thanks. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so glad to have you here. The idea for this episode started
00:49with an absolutely fantastic LinkedIn post of yours, and there were several things that stuck
00:55out to me about it. But there's one line that you wrote, which is, how you show up in person
01:01is what sticks. And I thought that that was fantastic. And one of the first things I want
01:09to talk about today in line with that is you mentioned that events should be looked at as
01:15brand strategy and not tactics, that there are really underrated brand tools. Where do you see
01:21most companies fundamentally miscalculating their impact when they plan them in more like line items
01:28instead of as brand moments? Yeah. I think a lot of people think events are really easy and you just
01:34show up, you sponsor, you leave, but events are really felt when you walk in the door. And I think
01:41that's something that I always take into consideration when we're planning an event.
01:45This is an experience more than it is an event. And so when people walk through the door,
01:51you want them to feel that. You want every moment to be memorable. My goal is always to have somebody
01:57walk away being like, wow, I can't wait until next year. Or I got so much out of this. I can't wait to
02:04take what I learned today and go apply it tomorrow. And just having that moment and almost like a
02:11think of it as like an Instagrammable moment at the same time too. Like people want to go
02:16and post this. They want to leverage it to support your overall brand, which I think is really important
02:21because then you get the momentum going of this overall success of the event too. If people want to
02:27talk about it, they want to post about it. It does become this moment in time for your brand where
02:35people can truly experience it live. A lot of people think brand is what you say we are, but this
02:43is a moment in time where people can actually in real life experience your brand by being a part of
02:49your event. Let's dig in more to that felt brand experience. What are some ways that an event can
02:58either reinforce or even undermine a brand's perception? Yeah. I think, you know, when people
03:06walk through the door and find that like feeling that they're looking for, you know, when you go and
03:14you, you, you get this feeling of, oh, I'm home or, oh, I can't wait to learn about it. I think a lot
03:20of it also has to do with how you communicate leading up to the event as well. Having proper
03:26communication, promoting the event, getting people excited for it. I also think sets the tone for the
03:32feeling that people are going to have when they go and attend your event. So I think that sometimes
03:37that can also be missed, but it's also a really key detail into setting the stage early on for having
03:43that feeling you want people to have when you walk through the doors. So I think it's just, you
03:49know, proper planning ahead of time and then knowing your audience of who's going to be there when they
03:56walk through that door. So whether it's your loan officers or your sales leaders or branch managers
04:01or the entire company, what do we want these people to take away? You know, almost the moment they walk
04:09through the door of, oh, wow, this is the best sales summit we've ever had, or this is the best
04:14gathering that we've ever had this year. I'm so excited because they really set the stage ahead
04:19of time. And then the moment they walk through that door, that feeling matches, you know, kind of what
04:25they already had in their head based off what you've been communicating with them.
04:28I feel like sometimes those are also the moments that you love in person that then become the talked
04:35about moments when everybody's home. A hundred percent. I think one of the interesting things
04:40when you look at just like, not only that, when you walk in the door moment is that take home moment
04:47and thinking about both options, how people feel about things afterwards. And then it almost becomes
04:55that event then intentionally or unintentionally, or that moment intentionally or unintentionally
05:02becomes marketing for the brand itself and for the event for future occurrences. What's your take on
05:08that? No, I totally agree. And that's kind of what I mentioned, like that Instagrammable moment
05:13of when you set the stage for what the event is going to be and you get there and the expectation
05:19is met and hopefully even exceeded, people want to post about it. They want to promote,
05:26oh my gosh, look at it. Look at what my company is doing. This is so amazing.
05:29And I think leveraging your audience for that event reinforces your brand identity because
05:36you have these people in mind. You have your brand in mind when you're planning this event
05:42all together. So when people get there and the energy matches that, they want to promote it.
05:47They want to talk about it. They want to talk about what they learned from the event and what they are
05:52taking home from it. And I think post event as well, people are going to want to continue
05:59talking about it. So not only are they going to get this really awesome feeling when they walk in
06:03the door, but as long as you have all of those people in mind, when you're planning the event from
06:09start to finish, that energy is going to carry through the event. They're going to have these really
06:14awesome takeaways. And then they're going to continue promoting the event afterwards, which then in turn
06:19promotes your company, it promotes your brand, it promotes what you stand for. And I think that's
06:25something really important. And I think that is something people don't maybe take into consideration
06:31when planning the event. Like, okay, we have these moments, we have these takeaways, we're planning the
06:36content. But then afterwards, hopefully it's still, it's going to carry and have some longevity to it.
06:43You also mention, or pose people to think about those small, maybe even occasionally almost unnoticed
06:52details that can be difference makers. Can you share an example of a subtle choice that had
06:57an outsized effect on how a brand can be remembered?
07:02Yeah, yeah, I think it can come down to as small as like, people are walking down an escalator or walking
07:09downstairs in the way in which you flow the event, the way in which you order your speakers, I think
07:17matters. And people don't take that into consideration, or that something, you know, as an attendee, you
07:23wouldn't think about. And it's not their job to think about it. It's our job to think about it for
07:28them. So I think it's really important, you know, for when we plan our sales summit event each year,
07:33for our entire sales organization and company, we're really thinking about the speakers we want on stage,
07:39and in what order we want to keep that energy up for our sales field. And we want it to be,
07:45you know, speakers that are really going to resonate with them. And so I think just even down to the flow
07:51in which you're organizing an agenda, you're organizing the timing, the flow of the actual
07:58event itself, you walk here, you want them to check in, but then you immediately want them to go
08:03to this next steps area, just so small little details that if they were missing, they would be
08:10noticed. But because they're there, it just feels natural. I think that that is such a fantastic point
08:16that sometimes gets overlooked in that curation piece of it. And it's those little things that can
08:22really have, like I said, that outsized effect. So let's end with discussing what the potential risk
08:31is here when people are thinking of skipping in-person events as a strategic move. For brands
08:37that could default to digital-first marketing, I'd love to hear from you the strategic risk
08:43of under-investing in these in-person experiences and how that shows up for them in long-term brand
08:49trust, recruiting, or even partnerships. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great point. I think now,
08:55more than ever, people are craving these in-person moments to build those relationships. And I think
09:01there are layers to relationships and going in-person allows you to kind of advance those
09:07steps faster. You're able to build trust quicker. You're able to have deeper conversations and it
09:13feels a little more natural. And I think it just adds that layer of trust in a sense. I think digital
09:22is great. Everyone should have it. Everyone is doing it. But I think there is something to be said
09:27about meeting in-person, building that relationship one-on-one, getting to know the brand, getting to
09:33know the company, what matters to the, you know, for us, for example, like we're such a people-first
09:39organization. Meeting in-person really is a difference maker. You get to see our leadership.
09:45You get to meet the people, you know, that really set Annie Mac apart. So I think if you skip an event
09:54because you think, oh, well, maybe it's not worth it or, oh, we'll just meet virtually, you know, I think
10:00you're doing yourself a true disservice because you might have a differentiator or something that really
10:05sets you apart. And that might be missed if you aren't willing to take that step of doing an in-person
10:10event. Jessica, thank you so much for joining me today. I love how you frame events as moments where
10:18a brand can really set itself apart as a differentiator and where trust is built.
10:24Thank you so much for sharing how you think about experience, intention, and details that most people
10:30overlook, but really remember. And thank you to everyone for listening. If this conversation
10:34resonated, take a look at the events that you're hosting or attending and ask yourself,
10:39what will people actually remember about this?
Comments