Treebird Branding - 1:1

*(Two Fireflies transcripts merged — original meeting 13:00-13:31 EDT, with a brief reconnection at 13:30-13:40 EDT. Same Google Meet room.)*

Chris LaFay: I was going through and reading this again and I want to strategize this with you a little bit more. I need this to almost read like very short, bullet pointed slides so that I can pull up basically one horizontal screen at a time. I don't... Sa. Sam, there's...

Chris LaFay: Hi.

Jaci Lund: Hi. So sorry. It has been the most intense Monday.

Chris LaFay: You are a... Okay. Good things or bad things?

Jaci Lund: All good things. It's just like a lot. And of course, like, I bought a new computer on Friday and I just did the migration and I came in and then like immediately had to get on a call and then was like, oh, wait, I have to log in and I have to do it. So I just still... I've been in meeting the whole day and I'm like, I don't... where's my... Like, I'm just happy my keyboard works now because my first call, I'm like trying to listen and I'm like, huh? Like, I have nothing.

Chris LaFay: I'm currently working on two computers, so I have the one that I'm on now plus I have this one too. So she's still here, right? Yep. Exactly. I basically do all my, like during... on my laptop is where I do most of my like, intense work now because it's a new computer and it's better. So like, I'll be running Claude stuff over here and then like doing meetings and notes and this and all that jazz over here. Then be like, when the prompts are done, I'm like, oh, do this again.

Jaci Lund: That's why I bought the second one. Yeah. Because I couldn't get a mini Mac. And then my... I just happened to be on a call with my IT guy and he was like, well, how old is your computer? And I was like, it's 21. And he was like, it's... so he sent me over to Marietta. Have you ever heard of Micro Center? I was like, what the hell? How have I... why have I been...

Chris LaFay: It's like if Best Buy and Costco had a technological baby child.

Jaci Lund: It's true. And I tell you what, I don't think they get a lot of girls in there because everyone was like, really excited to help me on Friday. They were so nice. Like, when I was checking out, the guy checking me out, like, made like, eye contact. Like, long eye contact. He was like, have a great day. I was like, oh, geez, I gotta go.

Chris LaFay: It's one of the few places that actually has like a legitimate supply of like, Best Buy you can pretty much get all the name brand things, but like at Micro Center you can buy a $100 mechanical keyboard that's fully customizable, that's very popular, that you can't find at Best Buy. And then you can go and get it that same day versus Amazon you'd have to wait a little while.

Jaci Lund: Oh yeah, no, this thing. I was like, what is this? I was like, I'm never buying anything tech ever. And then I go in and I was like, there's Legos in here. Like, oh, what can I get for my daughter? But I was like, I gotta go. I wanted to explore, but everyone was being too helpful.

Chris LaFay: I think eventually we're going to see a resurgence of like in-store again. Maybe not like Micro Center. I don't know what it will look like, but I think there will be something about going and wandering around a place that I think will come back in style at some point soon.

Jaci Lund: I agree. I think that it's starting already with the rise of thrifting, which is also due to like, the economy, but it's also environmental and like all of these things. And like, you know, now our office is over here at Phipps, and I find myself just wandering around the mall. And I was like, I can't believe people don't do this more. Why aren't malls, like, engaging more? Because I remember, like, we grew up with mall rat culture.

Chris LaFay: Oh, yeah. Right? Like, I'm 36. You're close.

Jaci Lund: Oh, I'm a bit older than... I'm about to be 44. So yeah, I grew up with mall rat culture, but I did.

Chris LaFay: I did as well too. There were two malls within 20 minutes from where I lived. And I was not the personality type to go and spend a lot of time. But what I did do, the exact opposite, dumb version of that was I would just go to Walmart and walk around.

Jaci Lund: That was very trendy. Yes. Yeah. In the rural times, like, I don't.

Chris LaFay: Know what, like, it was either like Target or Walmart. And it wasn't even to like, go and buy something. Like, maybe I had to go get like a stick of deodorant, I'd be like, hey, buddy, my neighborhood friend. I have to go around and drive a place. Sure. And that's just what we did. But Ponce City Market's a mall, like, for all intents and purposes.

Jaci Lund: Well, it is. And people just go and, yeah, let's go over to PCM. And like, that's where I... I think it just needs to be a better experience. But that's basically what people want, again, is like, mall life.

Chris LaFay: Yes. Interesting.

Jaci Lund: All right, tomorrow. So Sandy and Keith, they should have just RSVP'd.

Chris LaFay: Oh, wait, we got... Oh, we got two more people. Dope.

Jaci Lund: Well, it's one. They're in one company, so I don't know.

Chris LaFay: Okay, so I got... hold on, let me see. Oh, okay, I got... yes, I did get a thing from Sandy. And I went ahead and added her to the event invite for the workshop day. So it's actually two people are a part of the...

Jaci Lund: Sandy, double check with her on that.

Chris LaFay: Okay, awesome.

Jaci Lund: Now I'm like, I don't know.

Chris LaFay: Actually, who knows? I will send her an email. Sandy Hill Genfeld.

Jaci Lund: Yes.

Chris LaFay: Wow. Okay. That's a name right there. I like it.

Jaci Lund: But yeah, Keith and Sandy, they're a hoot. They are my, like, SEO nerds. And why we've been able to build upon that with this digital marketing piece that we're doing. That's just crushing.

Chris LaFay: So we launched a website yesterday. So I got an email, and I've never received this email before. Launched a brand new website. Website did not exist. Domain did not exist. All fresh, et cetera, et cetera. The email in my subject line that I just received was "websites pornography."

Jaci Lund: Oh, no.

Chris LaFay: And I look at it as like, you're not allowed to browse this website because it's categorized as a pornographic website. And I'm like, it's not. So that'll be a fun thing that I get to tackle after this. It's not actually hacked. It's just the domain name they think is porn anyway. Don't normally see that in your inbox every day.

Jaci Lund: No, you don't.

Chris LaFay: Okay, so for the... let's start at the beginning. The beginning is the easier part. The video shoot piece. We have 1, 2, 3... we have six people scheduled, shoot starting at 9:20 and going through basically 11:30. One of those people texted me saying he might not be able to make it, so we might have five.

Jaci Lund: I mean, I'll take a slot if no one... if we have a... I didn't take a slot.

Chris LaFay: Yeah, you can take a slot. And if there's anybody that pops in that wants to... that within all the emails that you sent out, if somebody's like, hey, I'm interested, we could slot them in at 9:00am or 11:20 or if they could just get there earlier. If my person, based on what he just texted me, he's not gonna show up.

Jaci Lund: I'll be there 9. So I can do that one.

Chris LaFay: Yes. So we're gonna be there at 8:30 at the place. That's when me and the video guy are gonna get there. We're gonna take one of the back rooms, not the back where we normally are. It's called the fishbowl. We're going to get that all set up and whatnot and we'll do basically what we'll do. The room is not close to where the entrance is. So one of us will just need to be by the door so we can then guide people back. I'm going to be sending out an email to everybody that basically says please get there about 30 minutes before your time slot. That's in the event description. But having that cadence has worked very well in the past. Actually, always finish early. So if we have extra time, you, me, Mickey, we all have, all three of us have never actually done a video shoot like this, like on camera. So any of us can take those slots.

Chris LaFay: I have a... slated to start at noon. Mickey is taking care of lunch. It's going to be like sandwiches basically from a local place down the road. I've had them before, they're fantastic. So lunch typically speaking, gets there right around noon. The coworking space handles all of the like ordering it, getting it, putting it out, the whole nine yards. We literally want to do nothing for that. I sent you a video over the weekend that I showed you the tool that I'm going to use for my side of the workshop. You can also... I put your stuff in there as well too. If you want to use it, you can, but there's no, no pressure on using it.

Jaci Lund: Yeah, I didn't get a chance to watch the video yet because again, I came in. But that is, I think it makes sense for me to like, walk through and do my thing. And then they get to like, should you do a pre... like before I start... should you instead start with "I want to introduce you to the tool." Then I go in.

Chris LaFay: I'll do it after you're done with your talk, so I'll let you do.

Jaci Lund: Well, my talk includes just take time and start jotting down ideas.

Chris LaFay: Oh, okay, that's a good clarification. Mine is going to be, I'm going to talk about your stuff. Feel free to take notes on the side as you're thinking through this. And then when we're done, here's the thing. Go fill stuff out as you see fit. So I was going to divide mine up into two segments.

Jaci Lund: Okay. Because yeah, workshop section. Right. Mine is like less heavy handed than normal. Well, here's why this is important and here's why we're bad at this as marketers. And then why we need to do it and how we need to speak about it and what we need to do. And don't use AI, just write it. Literally write it with your brain. And then I want them to be able to like, I guess, yeah, I guess I thought they would just then get to jot it right in there.

Chris LaFay: That's not a bad idea. Like I actually hadn't thought about that so that that would work. Let me, I'm not going to give you the full diatribe on this, but I'm going to share my screen really quick. So you would log in, this would be empty. This is all my dummy testing things. Documents over here on the right hand side. Click on add, click on Beyond the Logo. And then here's all of your stuff.

Jaci Lund: And then yeah, this is what I would. And then I want to be like, okay, now start going in and typing in all of this stuff.

Chris LaFay: Yes. And then all of your examples live over here. So you had kind of like a page of filling in and then a page of examples. So all of those... they can always click on this whole thing here as they're going through it. And so, and then this all saves as you go and do it. So like I'm over here, I'm typing in, I'm typing in and typing in stuff. If I just refresh this page, it's all there still. So this was last edited just now. Voila. So we have all the stuff there. And then if we wanted to, as admins you have the ability to actually go and view anybody that types in the little code, which they'll type in a workshop code. We can then go look at their account, which of course is not working right now. But that's fine, I can fix that. You can go and look at their account and actually pull up their information and actually see so they had questions or whatnot. Later you could go back in and see what they've done so far.

Jaci Lund: It's like part of the fun too is that I want us to workshop with each other. And like, I want them to pair up across the room and be like, okay, now you guys share each other's... and they can. That would be great. If they're like seeing them in this way.

Chris LaFay: That's a really good idea, actually. So I'll adjust mine then because really my presentation, I'm going basically through. I have a basically a wireframed out page. They do not choose images, they do not choose colors, nothing. They just type in their text. And the fields look exactly the same as what yours did, where you're basically going through and typing in sentence by sentence, bullet point by bullet point. So you're not thinking about the visuals at all. How are you thinking about... are you thinking about getting them to pair up at the very beginning? Basically saying, find a partner. And then, yeah, they're adults.

Jaci Lund: I'm gonna say, go partner up with...

Chris LaFay: Someone you don't know and then sit with them. And then as you work it, you can kind of talk back and forth.

Jaci Lund: And then I usually would just go around the room and be like, okay. And then when we bring it all back, like, all right, who's got their category of one?

Chris LaFay: Yeah. Okay. And the good thing is between you, me and Mickey, we're all fairly smart at this level, so we could all actually help people that are in the room. They're obviously not all you, they're not all me. But like, Mickey does websites. He does this stuff too. So he doesn't do messaging, he just does website stuff. But his company did branding for a decade, so all three of us can answer questions for people and help prompt questions and all that kind of fun stuff.

Jaci Lund: But yeah, I'm just gonna take the presentation I did the other week for EO. I need to just like, take out some of the more obvious stuff that everyone within our group... but I think... but yeah, the whole purpose is like, we do this for our clients. Do this for yourself.

Chris LaFay: Yep, exactly. Okay. I would love for you to do before tomorrow. I'm gonna send you the URL for build.classiccity.com and I'll send you the code for the workshop. Create your account, which will take literally three seconds. Click on documents, add your own document. Just type in some answers to questions, push refresh, go back a couple of times. Like, try to break the saving feature by moving around the app a little bit for like, seven minutes.

Jaci Lund: Okay.

Chris LaFay: And that's all I really need you to do.

Jaci Lund: I can hear.

Chris LaFay: Awesome. That sounds good. Perfect. That also, by you doing a little bit of sharing at the very beginning, will give people time to finish their lunch as well, too.

Jaci Lund: So, yeah, I'm gonna talk and then.

Chris LaFay: Yeah, lovely. Fantastic. Okay. Cool beans. I have seven or eight emails that I sent out this morning to get a few more people signed up for the workshop side of things. So I'm hoping that we'll have about... my goal is to be about 12 people at the workshop itself.

Jaci Lund: Okay. So, yeah, my folks that I know are not... if they're not available, otherwise they'd be coming. So I've got a couple signed up, but.

Chris LaFay: Awesome. Yeah.

Jaci Lund: Then I'm getting a little outside of our original... like, I was like, well, it's like a stretch that they're in marketing.

Chris LaFay: Yeah. Yes. I reach out to about 30 or 40 people in general. I did stretch a little bit beyond agencies specifically. There's some fractional folks and some freelance types. There's one guy that's coming that I'm really interested. His name is Sahil. He runs a conversion rate optimization company, lives in Decatur, and his company, for all intents and purposes, is crushing it. And I've known of him for a very long time, but never met him before. And when I posted my little agency lunch club thing a couple weeks ago and was like, hey, the next event's over here. We're doing this thing, he commented, I was like, cool. I signed up. I was like, wait, what? Oh, really? It worked.

Jaci Lund: It's working.

Chris LaFay: Yes. Okay. Anything else that we should go over?

Jaci Lund: No, I know we need to talk about the white label thing too. And were you able to get a time scheduled with...

Chris LaFay: I called her because I called Heather because I need her to actually talk with Andrew, my lead developer, and...

Jaci Lund: Thursday they need to talk. Yeah.

Chris LaFay: Wait, say it again.

Jaci Lund: Lauren and Andrew need to talk.

Chris LaFay: Lauren. Sorry. Okay. I'm sorry.

Jaci Lund: No, it's okay. Heather's our project manager. Lauren is our senior designer, and she does all of our websites, and she's the one managing this one. And so, yeah, Lauren will be the one that's more aware of what needs to happen. And she and Andrew are the ones that speak the same language.

Chris LaFay: Okay, who did I follow up with?

Jaci Lund: You probably emailed Heather, which is perfectly fine.

Chris LaFay: I did. Yeah. Because she's the one that responded and had the phone number in her signature, which is what I called. Okay. I did request that one of them give me a buzz at some point. So.

Jaci Lund: Okay.

Chris LaFay: Yeah. And so we'll get... I'll get a call with Lauren and Andrew scheduled at some point this week. Thursday and Friday are tough for Andrew and then we'll get that moving. NightWise, I have a working session scheduled with him on Wednesday with Andrew as well too.

Jaci Lund: Oh, great.

Chris LaFay: I don't know what the scope is going to be, but I have... there's a minimal scope that I pitched them where I have about four grand earmarked for animation stuff. So I would love to see what we could do animation wise. Even if it's just like that one graphic with like the pill exploding and stuff like that, I would love to see what we could do with that for that. So I don't know how that would work. I know that you mostly do retainer stuff, but we could probably do it that way.

Jaci Lund: And it's just a project base. That's fine.

Chris LaFay: Yeah, it would just be that. My thinking is it would be that one because that's the one graphic that he's talked about. So I was like, if they're gonna reduce scope by half, how do we do that? But that piece is important. So that's what I was thinking.

Jaci Lund: He loves that video. The problem is that it's got blue on it. What if we just like edit the color?

Chris LaFay: What video are you talking about?

Jaci Lund: The one with the blue. The blue pill that's exploding. He said that people push back on the blue, that, you know, they're worried about dyes and stuff like that. I was like, I wonder if we could just keep that same video. And like, could we just edit the color?

Chris LaFay: Oh, does he have a video of it already? I didn't see one on his.

Jaci Lund: Yeah, it's on his pretend website.

Chris LaFay: Oh, wait a minute. Hold on a minute. Maybe I'm not thinking of something because that would be...

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*(Brief reconnection — 10 minute follow-up, 13:30-13:40 EDT)*

Jaci Lund: I don't remember where it was on the website though. Oh, I can't hear you. Could you mute me?

Chris LaFay: There we go. Is that better now?

Jaci Lund: Yes.

Chris LaFay: Let's see here. I looked at this dude's website a million times. The science. And you don't actually know this guy Danny. He just reached out relatively cold if I recall correctly.

Jaci Lund: Huh. Because our digital marketing is crushing. So we're getting all sorts of crazy inquiries that I'm just like, oh.

Chris LaFay: What are you doing?

Jaci Lund: Just being good at it. Now it's a layered approach. I am, I'm just really... I was like, oh, I figured it out. It's like you own your keywords across organic search, AI search and then you do your PPC ads and then you also own, then you do remarketing ads. And so we're just doing really well. It's like that intention based part of the funnel and so that's the language that I'm going to be working on during the workshop is that specific retainer because it's doing so well. What's funny is Sarah Torville from Media Frenzy, we were talking and we just catch up anyways and then I was like, oh my God, this retainer is crushing. She was like, I think I need to hire you to do it for us. And I was like, yeah, sure. So I ran the report from Sandy and Keith, my nerds on the SEO side and who showed up as their competitor, who's showing up in AI search.

Chris LaFay: Me.

Jaci Lund: Which is hilarious because so not only do I have proof it works because I'm on their report. Like we are not in the same echelon. It also to me means no one else is doing it at their level here in Atlanta. Like where they need to be doing it. And I see an opportunity then to be like, hey, so if I'm showing up there, that means that people are coming to my website that automatically know that we're not the right size for them. However, people are going to come to us that aren't... they're going to be too big for us and I'm going to send them to you. But also like I want to make sure that we're not showing up as each other's competition and like, you know, there is going to be some overflow if I'm doing this for you. And what I need is for you to be my referral. Like anyone that doesn't meet your standard level because you do huge brands, they come to me then, you know, and then I'm willing to do it. But otherwise I'm not. Because then I'm taking away from myself.

Chris LaFay: Yeah. Yeah.

Jaci Lund: But it's also really fun. Like, we can kind of do it together. Like, I put up... like, we can blog about each other. Like, I put blogs up against people that are not actually my direct competition, but who are banging branders. But they work on huge brands. Actually, one of them... I put them on there and I put Son and Sons, whatever they're called now.

Chris LaFay: Interesting. I didn't... I know of them. A client used them. I just don't remember.

Jaci Lund: Oh, yeah, I used to. I know Rick Anwell was one of the original partners. He's no longer in it. I've known Rick since... God, I've known him for like, 15 years at this point. But, yeah, I don't think he's part of that agency anymore. I think he's retired.

Chris LaFay: Interesting. What are you doing so well to climb AI search results?

Jaci Lund: Well, I'm an early adopter and this is no secret. And anyone can figure this one out. I asked AI, what are people asking you? It's real obvious because it's unpaid for now. It's really the asking, what are people searching for? Okay, great. So work those into 20 blogs for me. Here's my positioning and value prop. And it's good enough because no one reads blogs. And so that's how we show up. I have had several conversations with people who I do believe have a little bit of AI psychosis because they're like, I can't believe, like, this is the best meeting of my life. And they just kept recommending that it was... you were the right team. And I was like, yeah, because I told them to. But it's also because I know the part of what we're doing in the... like, I know what people care about when they're... what they really care about when they're looking for a creative team. It's because I ask my clients about it, and that's how I know their human truths and their realities. And, like, it's beyond, like, their stats. It's about, like, the experience that they want to have. And that we provide. Why our clients that love us, love us so much. So that's all plugged in so that I just find more of those. Like, chat is just serving me up to people. And it's mostly in Atlanta because people are saying, I want a local team.

Chris LaFay: Yeah.

Jaci Lund: Like, yeah, sure, we work nationwide and we do, but I'm not going to change human behavior. People want an agency that they can meet in person, right? And that's, like, a benefit to me. It's a benefit to you to focus in on Atlanta.

Chris LaFay: My whole mission for this year is win Atlanta. That's it.

Jaci Lund: Okay, well, if you have any marketing budget, you can hire me to win that for you. But honestly, like, you could probably work with Sandy and Keith directly and do the rest yourself. Like, you don't need me. Like, Sandy and Keith, they're all about, like, owning local search. Like, they have this great platform for SEO. It's local SEO. That's what they're for there, and they're part of it. But, like, we do so much with that, and because of the data we get from them, it spins up all these other services that we were able to do for ourselves. And then I was like, oh, that's a retainer. And now I do it for clients.

Chris LaFay: Hey, look, here's a product just kind of sitting here.

Jaci Lund: Because they came and visited me in my office, and Sandy just happened to say this one thing. She's like, yeah, and then you own your keywords across, like, all of your different platforms, and that's how you get found. And I was like, oh, so you mean the thing that I'm already doing is, like, why it's working? And this is actually a service because, like, they don't want to do client facing. They're like, we're a software company. We're not doing client facing anymore.

Chris LaFay: Interesting.

Jaci Lund: And so, like, if you have a client that comes and they're like, oh, now we want SEO. And you're like, I don't do SEO. You could be like, well, here's like... and their program is, like, $500 a month is the service. Right? Whereas SEO agencies are charging an arm and a leg to get similar results, but they're not doing all the other things that we're doing. You know, we charge between, like, $3,500 and, like, you know, $6,000 a month for our digital marketing retainer. But that's because we're doing everything else. But the SEO... the SEO is baked into that, and we're open about it, and then we just do all the rest. But... and so it's like, oh, I can pay these guys $3,000 a month for SEO anyways. But we're also... my other team that I've worked with, they're coming tomorrow too, so it'll be interesting. I'll be like, don't you guys talk?

Chris LaFay: Who's the other team that's coming tomorrow. Who are they?

Jaci Lund: Oh, well, Michael Dorio. He's my best friend's husband. They do SEO. And then... I don't know. Is Bobby coming?

Chris LaFay: No, Bobby. Bobby texted me. Bobby's really good about canceling last minute. I love Bobby, by the way, but he was working out, and he chipped a tooth while working out.

Jaci Lund: Bobby.

Chris LaFay: I was like, how did that... he's like, I gritted my teeth too hard.

Jaci Lund: Bobby. I love him so much.

Chris LaFay: And at TopGolf a couple months ago, he freaking bungled his leg.

Jaci Lund: Also, thanks to you, I can't stop going to TopGolf. We were just there yesterday.

Chris LaFay: Oh, seriously?

Jaci Lund: Yeah. We keep going. Our friends want to meet up with kids, whatever. We're like, let's go to TopGolf. Because I like... because, like, I just really like dominating people. I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot. I'm good at this.

Chris LaFay: We need to do another one of those. That was.

Jaci Lund: Oh, we should just... I really enjoy it, but the problem is that when we go with my daughter, we have to play the Angry Birds version, and it drives Patrick and I nuts because, like, we can't just, like, crush the whole time.

Chris LaFay: Uh-huh.

Jaci Lund: Yeah. So it's just like, we like going with friends so that she and her little friends can, like, the... with the kids, they do theirs so that the adults can do our thing. But... but yeah, I was like, you reignited my love of driving ranges.

Chris LaFay: Hey, look at that. I'm good for something.

Jaci Lund: You are. Yes. All right. See? Which, though, I have to call Sandy real quick because she needs to know something before a client call, and then I gotta be on another call. It has been such a crazy day.

Chris LaFay: Yes. Go forth, prosper, and I will catch you tomorrow morning.

Jaci Lund: I'll see you tomorrow. I'm excited.

Chris LaFay: I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just right.

Jaci Lund: We're great. We're gonna be good. It's fine. It's wonderful.

Chris LaFay: Have a good one.

Jaci Lund: See you tomorrow.