“It’s all about making your brand accessible and relevant.”
Pia’s post-show comment in a text to me, encapsulating the core of our conversation. Pia Dorer, Co-Founder, and Managing Partner at Orange Identity sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about brand strategy and design, her professional passions. Our conversation took an interesting turn as we talked about her concept of ‘dating’ being the first step in working with a brand. You create the story and core message; then these things together make the path much clearer as far as target markets, strategy and what types of communication methods and brand expression need to be integrated into a successful campaign. Creating a compelling story that makes people want to keep turning the page and drawing them deeper in emotionally is what smart branding is all about. This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:- Working with the Impact Hub in Santa Barbara
- Pia and her team worked closely with Mark on TEDxSantaBarbara to bring the theme of “What If” to life
- Creating an agency that has 90% of its clients on the West Coast of the USA, while living north of Sydney, Australia – and teams in both Santa Barbara and Sydney.
- Working with a distributed team – challenges and opportunities
- How she came to in Santa Barbara, then back to Sydney
- Why she’s so passionate about marketing and design
- How she approaches new clients and the onboarding process. What she’s looking for in new clients
- – How well do they know their brand
- – Her 26 question Questionnaire
- – The Brand Disclosure survey (I want to take this after hearing about it
- How the Brand Disclosure Survey is like speed dating, as influenced by eHarmony’s in-depth profiling to best understand what and who you are
- Why she loves the research side of Marketing
- How to say no to a potential client where it’s obvious you’re not a good fit
- The challenging conversation you must have about Budgets – and getting good at being able to accomplish it
- Personas (We’ve talked a lot about them on the show) – Pia thinks of brands as unique personalities
- Why she loves the collaborative approach to working with clients
- If you do Public Relations, you’ll want to hear her tips for getting your PR out more effectively
- We’re going to invite Pia back to talk about Speed Dating for Brands – as that is something she’s thinking about a lot these days.
Creating a compelling story that makes people want to keep turning the page and drawing them deeper in emotionally is what smart branding is all about.”