Podcast #10 What Does Authenticity Have to do With Marketing?

In this episode, we will learn what authenticity has to do with marketing, and how as women, we sometimes don’t give ourselves the credit we deserve.

We will be discussing disruptions in life that teach us how to really own what we bring to the table, moving into entrepreneurship and changing our way of thinking.

My guest, Titilayo Ellis, is founder and owner of Vivify Strategy. Vivify Strategy focuses on de-mystifying marketing for the entrepreneur and business owner so that they can create messaging and marketing that resonates with their clients and ultimately brings in revenue for them. She is also a podcast host for The Art of Balancing It All and a mom of two. 

Titi helps her clients start connecting the dots between what they bring, or what your product brings to the client, relationships and how important they are to your business!  She works with her clients to create goals, which in turn become her goals and her passion. 

If you would like to know how to create long-lasting relationships, which equals long-lasting income - then grab a pen and paper because this episode is for you! We will get into detail about who your clients should be, and why you need to enjoy working with them and creating partnerships! 

In this episode we will be talking about what disruption motivated Titi to change her life and her entrepreneurial spirit. In Titi’s journey she realized that she could have BOTH a career and be a mom while feeling fulfilled in each one. And she wants the same for you too!

                                5 Rapid Fire Questions for Titi:

1. What is your mantra? - My mantra is the four agreements, which include be impeccable with your word. Don't make any assumptions, always do your best and just don't take anything personally. And then a second thing is I live and breathe and have my being, through God. So that's another mantra and I just wake up and I remind myself of that every day.
2. What three words would you use to describe either yourself or your brand? - Be authentic and true to myself and true to others, living in my purpose and then connecting people to their purpose. And fierce! That’s my third!
3. What is your least favorite mode of communication? - Text message
4. What outfit makes you feel like a badass? - A crisp black suit with red heels. 
5. What are your brand colors and why did you choose those? - Rose gold, but for Vivify Strategy more blues and teal because it really needs to be about trust and the experience that I have.

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• Episode #9: Are You Disruptive?

You can view Full Transcript Here:

*Note- The Brand Disruptors Podcast is produced for the ear and made to be heard not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it in print.

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, welcome to brand disrupters. I am your host Mia LaMott. And today I have with me TT Ellis, and she is going to give us a little bit of background about herself before we jump into our fast rapid five questions that we ask our guests. So we can get to learn a lot about them in a quick way, and also in a really fun way. So take it away.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, so Iam Titilayo Ellis of unified strategy. I am the founder and owner of Vivify Strategy, and really what we focus on is de-mystifying marketing for the entrepreneur and business owner so that they can create messaging and marketing that resonates with their clients and ultimately brings in revenue for them. I'm also a podcast host for the art of balancing it at all and a mom of two.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for being here. I want to welcome. Yes. And we're going to, we're going to get all the TT's information so you guys can have that it's going to be in the show notes, but also she's also going to let you know how you can get in touch with her and how you can work with her because she actually does demystify marketing. She helps me on one of my projects and she's helping a lot of my clients. She's also in the freedom lounge membership site. So if you want to work with TT and find out what she's all about, she has a program in the freedom lounge membership site, and you can find a way to work with her in there as well. So again, I want to welcome you to today's podcast episode. And here we were with the five questions. What is your mantra?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
So my mantra is the four agreements, which includes the impeccable with your word. Don't make any assumptions, always do your best and just don't take anything personal. I incorporated those four things into my life, probably at the end of the quarter, of 2019. And I just live and breathe that. And then a second thing is I live and breathe and have my being through God. So that's another mantra and I just wake up and I remind myself of that every day.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Oh, I love that. And that must be a really great way to start the day.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's a good way to start. Write it on your mirror.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Do you have the post it notes or do you do it in lipstick?

Speaker 2 (02:34):
I actually have mirrored shock. I'm right now I'm using white. So I have these different phrases that I have on my mirror and the great thing is my daughter she's always come in as Dylan, Maya products or something in my bathroom. So she gets to see him too.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
I love that we made some mirror talk. I hadn't heard of that. I usually move the Sharpie or not a Sharpie, but the the dry erase ones. So I'll use that one

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Come in different colors for your mirror. Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Alright. So the second question is what three words would you use to describe either yourself or your brand?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Ah, so I think, you know, if you're authentic, you should be your brand. So I would say for, for me the three things that describe me, I always want to be authentic and true to myself and true to others. Purposeful for sure. It's all about having living in my purpose and then connecting people to their purpose. I just genuinely think that if you're living in your purpose, it comes out in your marketing and it resonates with others. And then I would say

Speaker 1 (03:46):
A little sassy. That's my other fears fears. Let's go with these. So

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Definitely that third word.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
So what is your favorite mode of communication?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Oh, my least favorite mode of communication is probably texts. I am not a texter but this is the generation of texting, unfortunately. And you know, I just feel like the short form can take out so much context of people can really assume things, but in the marketing world is also a way to get in where people are consuming information. So it's a catch 22 when it comes to marketing.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's an everything, right? There's always, these are these paradoxes when it comes to marketing and like being on brand. Right. All right. So what outfit? This is my favorite. What outfit makes you feel like a bad ass?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I actually do have an outfit that makes me feel like about it. And it's the Chris black suits with red heels. I just absolutely feel like red heels are an essential for a woman and a girl. So my daughter would always have red issue, no matter what,

Speaker 1 (05:15):
What season it was

Speaker 2 (05:19):
To have her have her red shoes. And I just feel like that pop of color with a basic black really, really stands out.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
I love that. Cause now she's going to have this, this memory of red shoes and want to do that as an adult, right. Because you taught her that. I love it. Absolutely. I love it. Alright. And then finally, like what are your brand colors and why did you choose those?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
My brand colors. So it depends. Right? So for the art of balancing it, all you see that I have on is what I call Rose gold, which, you know, some people call it what is the other mob or blush, right? A lot of things call it blush. I absolutely love this color because to me, Rose gold stands out from all the others, the silver and the goal. Right. But then it has this beautiful feminine side to it. So you'll see in the art of balancing it, all that I have that because I believe all women are unique, but we have this special thing that makes us feminine. But then for Vivify strategy and TTY line LSU

Speaker 1 (06:31):
More towards a blue because

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Or teal, because it really needs to be about trust and the experience that I have

Speaker 1 (06:40):
And the loyalty. So it just depends on where

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I am that the colors change, but every day probably you'll see me in more of the goals and the roles goals, and some greens in there as well.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah. That's beautiful. And I'd love that you kind of talked a little bit about some color psychology for the people who, you know, who are out there that don't really understand that D as in marketing, she knows all about this. And when you're, when you're building your brand, you have to know color psychology before you that you like,

Speaker 2 (07:16):
You really need to understand it because colors mean different things in different societies. So yeah. You have to be conscious of it.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Absolutely. All right. So let's jump into, let's jump into what it means to be a disruptor for you. Like I wanted folks to get to know you a little bit better based on like the principles of branding, but not talk about how do you see yourself as a disruptor or what was there like a point in your life where there was this huge disruption and you were like, I don't like what's happening, but when you got on the other side of it, you were like, yes, this is exactly what I needed.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yes, yes. So I think I did disruption in two phases, right. I came into my career really early. I went to interview for just this small position at education week and ended up being a manager of a department in less than three months. And it was a $4 million department. It was stressful. And then my career just kinda went up really fast. And so then I got to the point I was 30 and I was burnt out.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
And so I was working long hours and, you know, making good money. And I had two kids single going to graduate school with,

Speaker 2 (08:34):
With a baby and with a six year old. And then all of a sudden, my dad walked up on the porch. One day I was at my parents' home and he said, every time I see you, you look exhausted. It's time to make a change. That was my dad. He had spoken. And I said, you know what? And I looked at how money I had saved and I took a year off. Wow. Just took a year off. And it took me some time because my company was like, well, just stay six more months. And we did this. And they were like, okay, well maybe you could just stay on part time. And then I was like, no, you know, I need to do this. I have this entrepreneurial spirit I'm going to take off. I'm going to be a mom. Best decision I have ever made changed my whole perspective because I was so career driven.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I was like, I am a career woman. But then I realized, Oh, there's this other side of just being a mom. That is pretty cool. And then there's this entrepreneurship side. So after that year, I ended up moving to North Carolina and I went back into my career, but I also hung on to the entrepreneur side of it because I realized how good I felt when I was doing my own thing. I come from a family of entrepreneurs. So it was a phase disruption. And so now I am both that. And I made sure that I am fulfilled in both things. Right. but definitely with an eye towards complete entrepreneurship, that is purposeful. So that was my disruption. And it was pretty disruptive to have your dad come to you and say, you look exhausted. I think you need to, you need to read, look at some things in your life.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah. Yeah. That's scary. Right. And you guys, he said, and you should never look this exhaustive for someone else. If you're going to be this exhausted, at least be the same exhausted for yourself. Those are wise said, daddy, I hear you some wine. Whereas did you, did you feel compelled to stay in that position? You mentioned that, you know, they asked you to stay on for another six months as a woman of color that you couldn't say no, I actually had the blessing and I didn't realize till I got here, how blessed I was. I always worked at places that felt like work family. And I always operated. And even some of my coworkers said I needed to be a mentor of sorts, but I always operated as sort of a mentorship and manager. Right. It's always been in me that I want to make people be better.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Right. So it was never just a job. So, you know, these were people that when I left, I mean, it was 40, 50 people around some in tears. So yeah, it was tough for me because I was connected to them in a way that went beyond work. And it was, I love marketing and it was fulfilling, so it was tough. But then it was to the point where I just had to be selfish. I had to be really selfish and yes, I felt compelled at one time and take that part time. But then I felt, well, how am I going to achieve what I want to achieve? And so I had to be selfish. Yeah. You have to say yes to you. Yes. To me. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
So what, what did this teach you about the world and how you fit in?

Speaker 2 (12:03):
What it taught me is that often as women, we don't give ourselves a lot of credit. And so it took some time for me to think about all that I've bring. And I had never thought about all that I bring to the table. So this, you know, moving to North Carolina and kind of going way out of my element as a person who lived in breathe DC, all my life,

Speaker 1 (12:27):
You forgot to tell us where you were originally,

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Which I will always say is my best, my favorite place and the best place in the world. But coming here as an introvert, I had to really go out of my, out of myself and really think about, well, what am I bringing to the table? And I always, you know, as feedback from some of my mentors who were white men and white women and some black women and black men, but a lot of them would say, you know, you don't, you don't give yourself credit. You don't say all that you've done. They would pull me to the side after a meeting and say, why didn't you say you did this, this, this, and that. And so moving to an entrepreneurship side of things, you have to own what you bring to the table. And so that was huge for me to start thinking that way. And you know, it's still, sometimes I don't and people say, Oh, you did this, you did that. And I just kind of looked at them, But it's, it's a struggle. It's still a struggle for me.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah. Because it's not really braggadocious, right?

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
But when you talk about the four agreements and not taking things personally, you know, most sides, right. We want it personally when they're perceived to be good, but one of them like, no, we don't want it personally. And as women, we think that we can't talk about ourselves and we can't talk about our accomplishments. So my next question is gonna be really hard for you because I want to ask you, like, what sets you apart from other people who are in the marketing business? Like what different I think

Speaker 2 (14:16):
What sets me apart in marketing, at least when I think about my interactions with my consultants, I mean, with my clients is that I really, I want to know their goal and their goal becomes my goal and I become passionate about it. And sometimes I have to control my passion because my mind starts whipping, boom, boom, boom. You can do this, you can do that. And you can do that. And earlier on what I had to do is remain has a key, had to learn how to keep some of those ideas, press down and do baby steps because I was, I get so excited about the purpose that entrepreneurs have and about their business and about the possibilities that I can see. Sometimes I can just, you know, over, give them so many ideas that it could become overwhelming one and then two I've given them everything. So that to me is something that I bring to the table is that when I'm with them, I become one with their dream. Right. Becomes my dream. It becomes my mission. And then the strategy from there. And because of that in me, I know you understand this, I interview my clients and you know, you have to have a certain level of passion and drive and ambition was YouTube because I want to see some success, you know? So in that, in that way, I also evaluate whether we were a good match in that.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Absolutely. Because, you know, I think that a lot of entrepreneurs, especially people who are starting out, they think that everybody is their client or they say to you, Oh, my ideal client is everybody. Right? And it's not,

Speaker 2 (16:09):
If you don't decide on it, it's going to be painful for you. It's going to be miserable. But if you decide to be very specific about your clients and for me, the client has to be extremely purposeful about what they're doing. Then it makes it easier for you. It could be anything for you, but you have to figure out what it is or LSU, or you will get drained with it.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Absolutely. So do what, like what are three things that you would tell? So if somebody is like, I come to UTT and I'm like, I need marketing help. So where, where would you tell me to start? Like give me three things to do immediately.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yes. So I always say step back, you know, we always, as entrepreneurs, we get excited about the idea that came to us. We can always tell you where that idea came to us in the car and the shower as I was cooking, we can say exactly when it came. So most of the time the idea is founded or rooted in something you wanted to do, but you have to take a step back and think about, well, how is it going to serve others and really, really examine that. Right? And then once you realize it will fit, fit a need, then you need to examine who is fitting a need for. So I always tell people, step back, start with the customer. And the reason when I tell them that it's cause this is a proven, proven philosophy as a proven foundational thing for marketing. And if you look at anybody that you love Apple, Coca Cola, Nike, Ikea, you love them because that's where they start with you. So that's the number one foundation. And then the other thing is where we go into similar to what you do with the personal brand and come back to yourself. And you start connecting the dots between what you bring, all your product brings to the client. And then after that, we go into

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Three, which is how do you build relationships?

Speaker 2 (18:11):
Definitely. we could say we could sell all day. But if you think about it,

Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's true real sales rep. Do you really want to be friends with them? And after you,

Speaker 2 (18:21):
You don't want to deal with them anymore. You want long term money. You want people who are going to tell other people about it. If you ever get into that one off sale. I just, I hate to say it, but you're not going to be in business for a long time. So that's why, so one step back, you know, and then to connect the dots and then three build those relationships.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Relationship building is so important. I think a lot of months, you know, when we first get into business, like we don't really realize that the relationships, those are the corner, that's the cornerstone of business.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yes, yes. In so many ways from clients to partnerships, right?

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
It means a lot. You have to build a relationship.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Absolutely. Cause you and I are in like two different to other partnerships. Right. We're just here and then there's partnership over there. We have, we both have like the same clients. So it's important to, to have those kinds of relationships with people who you want to collaborate with, people buy from you and then you just want to like hang out with, cause we're going to be hanging out on Friday. Yes, exactly. Exactly. People buy from people they like and people that want to actually have, if you drank, like have a drink with, or have a meal with, if we think about, you know, we both love the Obamas. Like I would have a meal with either of them any day of the week.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yes. I might be gawking during the whole entire thing, but yes, I would,

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Even the girl, like even the girls I'd have, I'd have a meal with the girls too. Cause I feel like to bring so much value to the comments and ask about their parents. But anyway, I'm sure they used to it. I'm sure they all right. So tell the listeners how that first of all, do you have anything coming up? Like, do you have any new programs? Do you have, I know you have the podcast, but do you have anything else that's coming up that people can go to your website or you might want to learn about?

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes. So I do have a few things. As you've mentioned, we have the triangle, entrepreneurship, leadership, triangle, entrepreneur leadership that we will be doing a very well. We announcing soon as you have stating we will be announcing something that will help you Excel and the top areas that you need to really take your brand and skyrocket and become unique and have a position in the market. So that's the first thing that's exciting. I can't give you too much,

Speaker 1 (21:10):
But then also I will be releasing

Speaker 2 (21:13):
My own courses that people will be able to get to digitally. You can always get in touch with me and have one on one consultations strategy session that we can do to start off things saying,

Speaker 1 (21:26):
How do we do that?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
You can go to www.titilayoellis.com is where we can connect to do the one-on-one strategies. But I will definitely be rolling out some webinars that I feel are essential for you to just that whole demystifying marketing. Cause I do truly believe that entrepreneurs have a natural marketing S side of them within them. So those webinars will help bring that out of you. And if, if anything gets you ready for consultation or marketing strategy so that you can understand it. And then I have been contemplating and this is part of the branding challenge. I have been, I'm producing some weekly, if not biweekly marketing content that will help people and little tidbits on how to use too, really help people, lever social media, more, you know, you're doing all of these different lives, but there's some ways, some cool ways to like really generate revenue from those lives. And I really want to get out there and teach some folks. Some of the things that I've seen and learned about leveraging social media.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, sign me up for that one cause around that. Right? I think we can all use help around leveraging social media.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Huh. Yes. Social media is the way to go. It's a no brainer. You can reach more people it's far cheaper. But it does have, it does require you to have your brand thought out. It requires you to have that personal branding session, the services that you provide me to really get out there and hone it. So if you look at any of the social media influencers out there, they've likely had some personal brand consultation behind them. So it definitely is something where you're taking your game to the next level. For sure.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Absolutely. Because people, people are not going to listen to you if they're not like attracted to you

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Exactly. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I don't mean that in like a sexual way. I mean that, you know, but for the most part, like people have to, people have to be attracted to you to even listen to you. And in the first place I love Gary V but he's not like I'd rather read his books then actually. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
B a S and that's the thing is he reaches the millennials, the hardcore millennials. And so you have to, again, so we get back to the audience,

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Right? You know who your brand wants, who wants to read, you have to think about what who's authentic and what is the audience that's authentic to you because you know, that's who you want to reach. And Gary V is just like, he's all millennial, he's an older guy just hitting the millennials really hard. So yeah, they do love them. Some Gary V they live it.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
And they had before they listened to their parents in some cases though.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Well, and that might not be a bad thing for some

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Those parents out there who have the dream about their kids going to college. And you know, like Gary V said, I don't have to go,

Speaker 1 (24:43):
But talent is not for everybody.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
And I agree but lower for those parents who just had that.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah. Well, this has been so much fun TTT. I'm so glad that you're on today and seeing you in person this Friday. But so for all of you go look in the show notes, you can find TTS information in the show notes, but also she is in the freedom lounge and she does have a training in there. And she's also going to be joining us in the next couple of months to do a live question and answer session. So once you joined with freedom lounge, you could do her course and then she'll be available to answer any questions that you might have around her course or how to market your home brand. So I want to thank you again for coming. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. And that's a wrap. So we'll be seeing you guys on the next brand disruptors!