Victoria Blinova [00:00:00]:
If you meaningfully and really, really deeply know what your audience loves and constantly, consistently. By consistently, I mean every single week, if not every single day, show up. This is how you'll win. Another quick tip is just very good script writing. Those first three seconds matter. So every word that you use in those first three seconds, if it's a word, typically it's a word. It just really matters. It's how to versus how I makes a massive difference.
Paul Archer [00:00:39]:
Have you ever wondered why some brands grow exponentially, building legions of passionate fans that live and die by their logos and some, well, don't? I do, all the time. And that's probably because I'm a massive brand nerd. But I believe there's a secret sauce at the core of every remarkable brand. A formula that sparks the growth of passionate communities, of superfans, building a business and a reputation that will last for years to come.
In this podcast, we tap into the greatest marketing minds in the world as they share the exact tactics and strategies used to build the world's greatest brands. Dropping actionable insights every brand builder can apply.
My name is Paul Archer and I'm a specialist in Brand Advocacy and word-of-mouth. Having consulted for hundreds of brands on a topic co hosting with me is the wonderful Verity Hurd, expert on the bleeding edge of social media.
It's time to learn and build Brand Advocacy.
Verity Hurd [00:01:35]:
Hi and welcome to Building Brand Advocacy. Today I have a very special guest on the show, Victoria Blinova. You have already had an incredible journey working within the marketing industry. So from, you know, powerhouse that is Nestle through to the industry giant of Google, you're incredibly passionate about the creative economy and I'm so excited to talk to you today. So welcome to the show.
Victoria Blinova [00:01:58]:
Thank you so much, Verity. I'm super, super excited to be here.
Verity Hurd [00:02:01]:
Would you. Shall we just start off before we go into the nitty gritty, would you want to just tell us a little bit more about your role at YouTube and what that looks like?
Victoria Blinova [00:02:09]:
Sure, sure. At YouTube, I pretty much have potentially the best role possible. I get to work with the most talented, cool people out there. So top creators, typically large, large creators in the millions. And what I love about my job is that I get to work with a variety of them. So typically, I find some awesome creators that are maybe struggling on YouTube. I bring them onto the platform, and in a short period of time, I'm almost like a partner accelerator. I accelerate them in a few months through certain coaching strategies, helping them share certain specifics within YouTube.
And sometimes after a few months they blow up to a million subscribers. So that's my job.
Verity Hurd [00:02:54]:
That's fun. Very impressive. But yeah, sounds like a lot of fun and can imagine the day to day is very different.
Victoria Blinova [00:02:59]:
Oh yes, yes. I can talk about creator life forever. I think my job is fun but also weird, sometimes challenging where it's not that easy to grow a channel from scratch. And also I think approach with creators needs to be different sometimes. So it makes my job very, very, it's very engaging.
Verity Hurd [00:03:19]:
Awesome. Okay, so I want to just first of all, I do think that I mean we obviously have a big D2C audience. Brands that obviously work with creators day in and day out. But I think even from like a D2C perspective, like so many are really underutilizing video and sort of like creator marketing as a marketing channel. Like why do you think that is the case?
Victoria Blinova [00:03:45]:
Seen this challenge over and over again and now I have a theory and I think it's a very actually simple one. I think with, especially with D2C brands, they are aware of let's ads. Right. And with ads they know that yeah, I need to spend that thousand dollars or a million or multi million and they do that and then they get great results. Right. With influencer marketing and video, for some reason they think that they don't need to invest any money.
Verity Hurd [00:04:10]:
No, it's true though.
Victoria Blinova [00:04:11]:
Yeah, yeah. They think they don't need to invest any money, don't need to have an actual human resource managing all those projects and then they get really upset that they don't get results.
Verity Hurd [00:04:22]:
Yeah.
Victoria Blinova [00:04:23]:
So I'd say If you expect 100x ROI, whether it's paid or organic, you probably need to invest that 100 or 10x investment. And I don't mean only money very often it's if you don't have the budget to invest in paid, that's totally fine, then work 100 times harder or like you know, hire that team or you know, really truly focus, educate yourself and once you do that, wow, you can get amazing results.
Verity Hurd [00:04:53]:
What do you think is like the most unique kind of opportunity that sort of like the video and the creator space brings to a brand engagement as.
Victoria Blinova [00:05:03]:
We all know, right. Video is incredibly engaging for any brand. Um, and now even more I'm seeing this movement or focus on authenticity. So one, you know, ads are getting expensive, but two, also people demand now authenticity and doing that through video is such a great way to connect. So if you want deeper, stronger engagement and stronger community building, video is usually the only way so far. Doing it at scale, at Least.
Verity Hurd [00:05:39]:
Okay, so thinking about video, even, like brands and creators, if they're getting started, because it seems really daunting to kind of like turn a camera on yourself and, you know, especially trying to get that authenticity piece because it's such a buzzword. It's. There's authenticity that is staged and then there's actual authenticity. Like what. How. What would you say your top tips are for getting started?
Victoria Blinova [00:06:03]:
Amazing question. I actually. So many thought leaders also talk about this, and I think I've borrowed for a few and have my own statement now these days is Scott Galloway talks a lot about it as well. So do what you love. So. And do what you're good at. I usually do this gesture. Do what you love.
Yes, that's great, but that's not enough. Also see what you're good at and marry the two together. So essentially, let's say you know that you love being creative and you love fashion. Great, but that's not enough. Look into what you're also good at and then you quickly find out maybe you're a great writer or you're actually very good at, you know, mimicking yourself and, you know, showing your energy on camera. Or maybe you're not really good at that. You're actually very good with light. Whatever it is, understand your strength and marry those together.
That's when you'll very quickly start having a passion for video. So I'll give an example of personal experience. I. And I love writing, and I'm a pretty good writer because I've been doing it for quite a few years. I really appreciate that art form. I hate video. Like myself. No, please, never.
I don't mind doing a podcast because someone's doing the video for me. Cool. I hate the idea of, like, talking into a camera by myself, but I love writing. So what I started doing is script writing and then just adding in a B roll, and that started kicking off and getting millions of views on platforms like LinkedIn. But each creator is different, so usually I'd recommend. Sit down with yourself, with your friend and really try to understand what am I good at? What do I enjoy? Marry the two together and create your strategy from there.
Verity Hurd [00:07:48]:
Awesome. And I suppose that that that connection piece there is when you're going to start bringing out the, like, the true niches. What do you think? Like, are there any particular D2C niches that really thrive in this space?
Victoria Blinova [00:08:01]:
Hmm. Well, fashion is a good example, I think. The reason being because it's lifestyle, there's so much you can cover in that content space. It's also ironically, a niche that I believe is not that what is it? A big part that not all brands realise is a big part of success is volume and being consistent all the time. And because if it's fashion, you have the opportunity to take a video of your outfit every day or your. Or if it's lifestyle, your day to day, as a result, you can truly produce volume. So what I see so far is that a lot of these kind of in dgc, these kind of verticals succeed because of the sheer volume that they can work with. So a specific example of a brand would be Kurt Geiger.
Do you know how many creators they work with?
Verity Hurd [00:08:53]:
No.
Victoria Blinova [00:08:53]:
Yes.
Verity Hurd [00:08:54]:
Oh my gosh. Just on one platform or just across.
Victoria Blinova [00:08:58]:
Across, across, like as a brand. I mean, they're a massive brand, but to be honest, they're not that huge of a company. Like they're not nearly as big as Nestle, for example.
Verity Hurd [00:09:05]:
No. Yeah, I would imagine that. Couple of thousand.
Victoria Blinova [00:09:09]:
Amazing guess. Yeah, 3,000. They work with 3,000 creators constantly. And if you think about it, well, they're already quite established brands. They really have to do that. They truly believe in that. So imagine 3000 creators constantly on a retainer. It's crazy, but partially why they're able to do that one, because it's a genius strategy.
I love the VP of marketing there. But the genius strategy, but also partially because it's footwear, it's handbags. I mean, you can wear a pair every single day if you'd like and create infinite amount of content around the topic.
Verity Hurd [00:09:43]:
It's a great brand. Do love.
Victoria Blinova [00:09:45]:
Yeah, I love them too.
Verity Hurd [00:09:47]:
Okay, so I want to dig into creators in a minute, but first of all, I just want to chat to you a little bit about content. And I suppose with this short form, long form, like how do brands tactically kind of like balance to balance the two, to kind of like dominate their niche? Because I mean, there's so much to think about across the two. Like even I'm like, yeah, it's super overwhelming.
Victoria Blinova [00:10:13]:
I think the short way or the TLDR to think about short versus long is short form is a way to introduce a new audience. Always think of it as the door to your brand. Literally someone knocked on your door, they quickly peep and maybe they'll enter. Right? So all your short form content needs to be very exciting. Those three seconds need to be really, really interesting. Something highly entertaining, highly educational, highly inspirational. Just really, really get that new audience into the door. So that's short form content.
Long form content is all about depth of engagement. So here is someone, let's say you're a DTC brand within the fashion space and it's that person that really cares about the fabrics and really wants to mix and match, really understand what's that perfect winter coat and willing to watch a 10 minute video about, you know, what are the different opportunities available to them. That's a long form, deep engagement. And that person, surprise, surprise, is more likely to buy and truly like engage with your brand. So I'd say really understand that these two types of video have different functions. They don't have the same function, not both of like the short form usually will get you the views, the long form or typically get will get you the engagement and the very, very strong interest and consideration into potentially buying right or truly doing the action. So one, understand it has two different objectives and then align it with your objectives. If you're a brand, let's say you're dtc, you have zero budget, you're really struggling, you really need to get started and show your investors that you need investment, whatever it is.
Maybe short form is your way to go and go crazy with volume and really, really put yourself out there as the most fun, cool, whatever brand you to engage that new audience. If you're a more mature brand, right? So D2C, let's say you're the Kurt Geiger. Balance it out to appeal to your fun, cool new audience with short form and then think of a show or something incredibly valuable with lawn form. So here maybe weekly you do episodes with celebrities that use your brand. Maybe that's a way to appeal through entertainment. Or maybe with lawn form you do in depth reviews that will be incredibly educational, valuable to your audience. Basically here I'd say be very, very strategic on what kind of shows are very, very valuable for your audience.
Verity Hurd [00:12:42]:
Really good examples and ideas there. And I've heard a lot recently actually about brands doing more around like these mini like docu series type things. I'd love to see how they play about with it next year. What going into sort of like 2025 and thinking about content like what do you think is going to really stand out next year?
Victoria Blinova [00:13:01]:
There's so many things I want to say, but I'll push on something that I believe, just truly believe in. It's two things. One is continued standout moment of authenticity. So the brands that will invest in that without the whole boring briefs that you send to creators and really force them into these legal loopholes and just stress them out with the amount of do this and do that kind of rules that. Those are the brands I believe that will be, let's say, have slower impact. So versus the brands that are there. Like, this is our key metric. This is the call to action.
The rest, it's up to you. Creativity, go crazy. Be as authentic as you can, because we really need to drive views or just something very simple so that authenticity, I think will be a very big trend next year. And the other part is scale. So here it says just the brands that will engage with creators at scale. There's some brands that are already doing really, really good job with that. Just like I gave the example of Kruger, but in B2B space, right there's. I'll give a shout out to Semrush.
They did a really good job in engaging with creators at scale. And this is how you get massive roi.
Verity Hurd [00:14:13]:
That's really interesting around because I imagine, like with platforms that they're established on, let's take Instagram and TikTok thinking about sort of like the D2C space, particularly fashion, let's just keep going with that. And then a platform that they might want to test out next year. I can imagine that that whole giving that narrative over to the creator probably feels quite daunting, especially on a newer platform that they're testing out. What would be your advice? They've just got to let go.
Victoria Blinova [00:14:44]:
You know what? I struggle with letting go myself on a personal, professional level, so I hate that advice. So I'm going to try to PR it a bit better, maybe create a process that allows you to let go. So here it goes back to resourcing and investment. So if you don't have a full time, I'm not saying they have to be full time, but a person who has an influencer management project, for example, and it's not an afterthought after doing five campaigns, and then as an afterthought, let's give them this Influencer management. No, no, no. Think of it as this is a massive project we're investing in this person. You know, we might not have a massive budget for this, but this person has a very clear okr, or KPI, whatever we call it, objective. And we're going to create a process for that person.
So maybe on Mondays they reach out to the creators. On Tuesdays they cheque on the deals signed, On Wednesdays they approve the creatives. On Thursdays they all go live. So that way you have a. Like. Just like we have with almost any other process of uploading content or what is it? Let's Say expensing our costs accounting. We have processes for this, process for everything. Very strong process for influencer marketing.
This is when all of a sudden becomes very easy to let go because you're not constantly stressed about, oh, what will that creator say? No, you know that on Wednesday you're going to review their content, on Thursday they're going to go live and you have this very smooth mechanism and all of a sudden you have the time to give them creativity, but also to give yourself peace. Does that make sense?
Verity Hurd [00:16:18]:
Yeah, it does, yeah. Defin. I suppose when it comes to creator campaigns, what do you think is the biggest missed opportunity that brands, when they're analysing the impact of a creator campaign.
Victoria Blinova [00:16:29]:
When analysing an impact, I touched upon it a little bit, but essentially having one metric, please, maybe three. I've seen this over and over again and it's, frankly speaking, very disappointing. I've seen, even when a brand approaches me as a niche influencer, big brand also not even too big to be, let's say slow, big innovative brand, big startup. Ish. And they basically, quote, unquote, said that they're looking for reach, but also leads.
Verity Hurd [00:17:03]:
I just, I mean, it'd be the dream, right?
Victoria Blinova [00:17:06]:
Yeah. I was like, what? But here I was so excited to get this brand deal from this really innovative company. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe myself. And then when they asked for the analytics from my side, they're like, yeah, tell me how many leads, how many impressions, how many of this? I was like, no, no, no, this can't be. I can't believe we're still doing this. But we are, unfortunately, partially because there's pressure from the management. There's CEOs or startups I work with still really lead focused, which is.
Okay, well then, okay, if your campaign just let's prioritise. If it's about leads, then the biggest problem that I see when analysing, then just analyse leads, do not look at views, comments, whatever it is, then only, only focus on leads and most importantly, brief that into the creator. Tell the creator, very specifically, in this specific case, we're going to track you via leads. This is where the creator will hopefully get very creative and very authentic and make it very clear to their audience that they need to click or they need to buy, because that's what the post is all about, whatever it is, and vice versa. So again, when you analyse one metric and you can have your second and third metric, but they just clearly need to be not important because that's when you'll get disappointed really, really fast when you have three metrics and none of them performed. It's as we all know as marketeers, it just doesn't work that way.
Verity Hurd [00:18:24]:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean we're even like, you know, just thinking about how we, what, what's our core focus? What's the one, the one thing that's going to move the needle and it's, and it is hard in this, in this space in the industry because it means you're probably just going to have to say, well that means I can't do this and like it's such a big mind shift change, but one that will actually be the most powerful.
Victoria Blinova [00:18:50]:
I mean there's, there's, I agree so much with it. There's so many books about power focus, about 4,000 days. I really love that book. But also in Google it's quite like a public common knowledge where in the company we're constantly challenged to prioritise things. So very often we say P0, P1, P2. So you need to be very clear with your management that this is a P0 project. Which then means this is the main metric that I will focus on right now, this week, whatever it is. Because if you don't like there's so many amazing opportunities out there, just like there's so many creators out there.
But you really need to make sure what you're prioritising, otherwise you'll just can not perform in all of the metrics.
Verity Hurd [00:19:35]:
Thinking about like the role of the creator and evolving in sort of like the larger marketing ecosystem, how is it, how is it changing and how do brands adapt?
Victoria Blinova [00:19:45]:
Could you repeat that? So basically the question is how is the ecosystem changing and how are brands adapting?
Verity Hurd [00:19:50]:
Yeah, so the role of the creator is evolving and yeah, like first let's break it down. So I suppose how do you see the role of the creator evolving in the next sort of like let's go year one because we can't go any further than that these days.
Victoria Blinova [00:20:05]:
Yeah. Oh, that's very true. I think the way I see the role of the creator evolving is that some of them will like more, more creators will become more, let's say, quote unquote, mature businesses. Meaning right now I'm constantly surprised but essentially there's not that many creators actually that have a team or even most creators that we know, even the most biggest ones might have only one person. And yeah, then that person is, they don't share an office, that person is virtual, et cetera, et cetera. So but potentially what I see next year because I am seeing a bit more movement around investing creators and brand deals. They would, more of them would hire. But to be honest, I don't know if that will be more of a one year thing.
And what that means to brands, to DTC brands, is that essentially it'll be hopefully easier to work with creators because then they have that person that will probably streamline their communication or be really focused on those brand deals because at the end of the day, that's financial security. So that's one thing. Creators maturing.
Verity Hurd [00:21:12]:
It's a really interesting point though about creators actually having teams as well. Yeah, I can definitely see that happening.
Victoria Blinova [00:21:19]:
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, a lot of them, when I talk to my creators, it's really surprising. They are creators, so they're creative and they're so good at doing what they're doing, where sometimes their priority essentially is creation versus the business. And sometimes I tell them, you can hire someone, you need to hire someone, you'll be so much overdose. They're like, no. And they think they don't have enough income to hire someone. I was like, you do. You can.
And they have this also. Just like brands have this hard time of letting go of their process. And very often I tell them, well, you know, focus on the creative process, but that other person can take your content, cut it up, put it on many, many different platforms, you know, make your life so much easier. So, yeah, I see a lot of creators doing that as a result being more approachable because they're essentially not, you know, working 24 7. There's someone helping them.
Verity Hurd [00:22:15]:
And I suppose with your experience working with a huge range of creators, what do you think is one thing that brands misunderstand about this kind of industry and that if they were to get it right, would fundamentally change a lot of things for them?
Victoria Blinova [00:22:28]:
I honestly, I love this question because I think there's a big, massive miscommunication between brands and creators. I think. What do you find the most unique? Like, what would you say the biggest difference between a creator and, let's say a brand manager at a D2C company?
Verity Hurd [00:22:48]:
Oh, great question. Oh my God. I don't like being interviewed, but what.
Victoria Blinova [00:22:53]:
Do you think is the biggest difference?
Verity Hurd [00:22:55]:
Oh my God. Between a creator and a brand?
Victoria Blinova [00:22:58]:
Yeah, massive. Yeah, massive creator. Millions of followers and a brand. Brand manager at. I don't know, Gucci.
Verity Hurd [00:23:07]:
I suppose there'd be a lot of difference.
Victoria Blinova [00:23:09]:
Is that the number one? The number one. This is where I often see the biggest difference.
Verity Hurd [00:23:16]:
Oh my God, I can't pin it down. So many things are going through my head, but then I think of it and then I'm like, no, because a creator would be doing that.
Victoria Blinova [00:23:22]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, I'll point it out. Lisa. That's, that's what I really firmly believe in. Brand managers in a 9 to 5 job creator either never had a 9 to 5 job or very willingly left it. And a lot of people, I think the stereotype is, oh, the creator left the 9 to 5 job because they are making so much money and they're such a creative genius now. Now they left, probably true, but also a lot of them left because they hated the 9 to 5. They basically just didn't fit into this bulk.
I wouldn't say the 9 to 5 is a box light approach, but it's a very, if you think about, it's a very disciplined area to be. And if you're in an office, you need to come on time, you need to clock in whatever it is. You need to send your emails, respond to your emails, send those briefs in, whatever it is. It's a very, you know, office, very professional, strict job. Even if it's your brand manager at a creative company, you're still expected to be in the office a certain time and left at the same time. Creators are pretty much the opposite of that. So what I've been noticing over and over and over again is that brand manager, brand manager so disappointed their emails are not answered and. Or that their briefs are not followed or that, you know, that campaign didn't convert.
Whereas all their other posts are so much better. And why did all the other posts are, you know, do so well versus mine? Well, to me, it's a massive miscommunication.
Verity Hurd [00:24:41]:
Yeah.
Victoria Blinova [00:24:42]:
So here, just try to make creator friends if you can, or if, you know, not doing it organically, maybe have those, have them on your board. Another thing that KurtGuyKir does, they have creators on their board and they advise them a little bit. Have that very strong insight into the creator mindset because that will help you write briefs that will actually get you insane roi. And moreover, I'm almost against briefs. So example here is bridge that miscommunication gap and think of a new way to communicate. An example would be get on their WhatsApp or get on their, you know, text them or surprise, surprise, create a video for them because they're a video creator and they're actually spending a lot of time analysing other videos throughout the day. So when I send it like a selfie video to a creator and I tell them like the instructions they like. I get so much more responses and such much more engaging content because they're like, oh, you sent me a video instead of sending me a boring email with like hundred do's and don'ts.
Instead you chose to communicate the way I communicate. And that I think is the biggest, biggest gap. So if you have an in house person or whoever agency that like, like adopts a communication style that works for creators, it can be just incredible ROI in terms of the type of content they'll put out for you hopefully.
Verity Hurd [00:26:08]:
I love that. That's really interesting and I would never have like, I get the 9 to 5 thing. Although I do think a lot of creators, I've got friends in the space and they're not, they didn't leave necessarily their nine to five because they were, they could afford to. It was actually one of the biggest risks, especially the ones that treat this like and actually do a really good job at it. They had, they had to do it, they had to go full time being a creator and you can tell the ones that really have the passion and the love for. It's an art form for them. So yeah, I get that. But yeah, really interesting viewpoint.
I love it. And in terms of like the types of content created by creators, like which do you think is the most effective? Particularly for sort of like, I know we've touched on authenticity and that is obviously the, that is obviously something that builds trust and advocacy amongst their audiences. But is there anything else that's standing out to you?
Victoria Blinova [00:27:05]:
What's standing out to me is when a brand or a creator truly knows their audience. So I can't share like you know best practise right now. This is what will get you viral. But I can tell you if you truly know what your audience wants. Let's say again, you're a jeans brand and you know that your audience loves XYZ type of content they love. These are their best selling, the bestselling products. This is the colour they hate, the trend they love, whatever. If you meaningfully and really, really deeply know what your audience loves and constantly, consistently, by consistently, I mean every single week, if not every single day, show up.
This is how you'll win. Another quick tip is just very good script writing. Those first three seconds matter. So every word that you use in those first three seconds, if it's a word, typically it's a word, it just really matters. It's how to versus how I makes a massive difference because how I is a lot more authentic, a lot More personable. How to. Sounds like you're trying to be smart and trying to be that thought leader that no one really wants.
Verity Hurd [00:28:18]:
There's so many of us. Yeah, we're all.
Victoria Blinova [00:28:21]:
I make that mistake all the time. And I think that the how to. How. I've heard from LinkedIn creators as well. I've heard this hack a lot. There's a lot of these. Just every single word really matters. So maybe write that script very meaningfully.
Victoria Blinova [00:28:35]:
Don't get discouraged. There's AI that can help you optimise it so well right now. But just know that those little details really, really matter, especially in the first three seconds for a lawn form in the first minute because that's your little invite into the video. And if you get it wrong, no one's going to come because the invite is a bit weird. I don't know.
Verity Hurd [00:28:54]:
Yeah, I was going to ask you actually, just really quickly on sort of like AI and whether you do see it, particularly in this conversation of like, you know, being really authentic. I feel like we're saying authentic too long, too many times, but.
Victoria Blinova [00:29:09]:
Yeah.
Verity Hurd [00:29:09]:
Do you think AI is a. Is something that they should be tapping into brands and creators?
Victoria Blinova [00:29:13]:
Yeah. So here I just. Basically, I can't comment that much about AI, but essentially it's a tool and it's a tool that helps you optimise content really fast, focus on those little details that you might not see and helps you scale. Right. You can write 10 scripts immediately, whatever it is. Right. So if you're not using that tool, like I actually quite often tell my creators that, then that's a challenge. Means you will be 10x or 100x slower.
So just obviously don't let that replace your creativity in no way. Just use it just the way you would use Microsoft Word or Google Sheets, whatever it is, to have better formatting. Same thing. But do learn to use the tool.
Verity Hurd [00:30:00]:
Yeah. And then I just want to talk about, like, consumer, like, I suppose, audience behaviour more. So what shifts do you think is happening in 2025 that brands should prepare for?
Victoria Blinova [00:30:14]:
Well, I'll just drop this one in as podcast is becoming a very big deal. This is just public information from YouTube. Right.
Verity Hurd [00:30:22]:
One thing I'm ahead of the curve on. Yes.
Victoria Blinova [00:30:24]:
Yeah, I mean, yes, this is great. I mean, the studio is gorgeous, the video is amazing. So I mean, this is great. Yeah, podcast is a very, very big deal. As you can see a bunch of articles out there that there's a lot of, like podcasts becoming video. So as in a lot of people are Watching video podcasts. And I think if you're a DTC brand that's, let's say, really struggling with, you know, being that fun, authentic brand, maybe you're super established and you're. You have like crazy legal policies, PR approvals, et cetera.
Maybe start a podcast and just make sure it's really fun, really cool, very valuable. Not just about talking about how amazing your brand is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe that's a massive opportunity because if you look at the stats, podcast is growing and will grow in 2025.
Verity Hurd [00:31:16]:
Yeah. Bella Freud have just started a podcast and that's super interesting. And the founder of the fashion brand, like, she actually treats it like a therapy session and they have like, you know, the people on the couch and actually lying down and yeah, it's. It looks super, super interesting. So, yeah, there is definitely ways that. Yeah, just going back to. We seem to be focusing on fashion in this episode. But yeah, there's loads of ways that I think many brands can tap into it.
Victoria Blinova [00:31:41]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, just, I guess if I had to leave one piece of advice. I mean, very, very cheesy, but basically be consistent. But by. I'll follow up this. Just build a system that works for you. Don't expect yourself to be consistent. Just like I don't know myself when I want to be consistent on a human level.
Right. I want to go to the gym. I'll probably get a subscription where hopefully someone coaches me or whatever it is. Or if I want to get a nutrition plan, I don't tell myself I'm going to. I'm going to actually build that plan and buy that nutritionist subscription. That will push me the same with consistency. Invest in something, mess in a very strong plan, get a good person behind it. That will constantly push the team to create consistent content and that will.
That one action will take you really far.
Verity Hurd [00:32:29]:
Yeah, I 100% agree with it. Not always the easiest thing, but once you get that process in place, then it makes such a huge difference. Speaking from experience with this podcast, Victoria, that was super fast, but absolutely loved it. Thank you so much. Where can people find you if they want to get in touch?
Victoria Blinova [00:32:48]:
LinkedIn is the best platform. I'm very active there. Victoria Blinova.
Verity Hurd [00:32:54]:
We'll put it in the show notes.
Victoria Blinova [00:32:55]:
Yeah, thank you. And also a bit active on Instagram, but Honestly, I prefer LinkedIn.
Paul Archer [00:33:01]:
That was another episode of Building Brand Advocacy, the world's top brand building podcast. To find out more about Building Brand Advocacy and how this podcast is part of a bigger plan for our brand building cookbook, then make sure to search for Building Brand Advocacy in Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere else that podcasts are fine. And make sure that you click subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. Thanks to Duel for sponsoring. To find out more, go to www.duel.tech. That's D U E L dot T E C H and on behalf of the team here at Building Brand Advocacy, thanks for listening.
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