How VALUE Based Marketing Can Grow Your Business from Sarah Hardwick

0:00I was brought up in a house where anything was possible. There wasn't as much of a standard of you've got to get straight A's and you've got to do this, but as much as this feeling of empowerment. And so I feel very fortunate to have had that freedom to be able to pursue my success. I definitely do. Growing up with this feeling of limitlessness really has impacted my understanding of what success is. You're going to be amazed today. Crowdfunding, how to do it, what works, how Sarah raised$140 million in crowdfunding. 19 ,000 investors. Great story. Amazing lesson. You have to care about what you do.

0:34So if you don't care about what you do, no one else is going to either. And you're not going to have that feeling of success. The hardest step I've ever gone through, it makes the success and the feeling of success even greater. Building your tribe, brand ambassadors, the 80-20 rule and how it applies to your business. Let's go with Sarah Hodgkin. So Sarah, what's your definition of success? At the end of the day, I believe that for me, success is actually a feeling. I think that you can't be successful unless you feel successful. And so for me, the only way that I really have found that I can do that is by aligning with my personal meaning and purpose.

1:14So I think for me, that meaning and purpose comes from my values. So getting honest with what that is, what my meaning and purpose is, has really been for me the key to success. And I think what's been kind of surprising for me to understand over my career is that it's not always about making money. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's funny how over our period of time that changes. So with your self-exploration and finding your meaning, finding your purpose, that I guess that makes you feel successful more because you know where you're headed. Is that am I understanding that right? Yeah, I mean, and I think I guess it's, you know, really because it's it's having gone through some experiences of having those really big wins.

1:55For example, I had an amazing experience. I actually sold a domain for a million dollars in 24 hours. And that was like one of the most, you know, kind of financially amazing, successful things that ever happened to me. And that was amazing. But it was the feeling was fleeting. So for me, I think especially when it's more transactional, even with those big wins, that feeling of success can be fleeting. So for me, understanding kind of what I what my meaning and purpose is and then aligning that with my work is important. So for me, I think that means changing the world, making it a better place for my son, Elliot, who's 10, being a role model for him.

2:37So those are the type of types of things that I think make me feel successful. So weaving those into my business and my work and my passion is how I can continually keep that feeling of success alive. All right. I got to ask then, you said it a few times. How did you, Sarah, find your meaning? What led to that? Was there a journey? Was there an aha moment? How did that come about? Yeah, well, it's so it's very interesting. So I started my company as an entrepreneur when I was 25 and it was a marketing agency called Zenzy. and I ran that business for a decade and you know we had great clients we had Nestle and Chiquita and Crystal Geyser and but over like after the first 10 years it just started to become a grind and it just even though you know I started to lose the joy in it so for me I started looking back at you know all the campaigns and the work that I'd done and you know what had you know which ones were the most successful and which ones was you know were the most meaningful to me personally And what I had covered was that all of those campaigns actually had one common ingredient, which was tapping into values.

3:44Those core desires and motivations and really making that human and personal connection. So at that time, there really wasn't any way to connect, you know, the psychology around values and emotions to marketing. So I decided, OK, well, if I'm going to give myself meaning and kind of and really figure out what my purpose and meaning is, I need to dig deeper into this subject. So I worked with I contacted San Francisco State University. I had them help me build out this framework of understanding values and measuring values and using all this research. And then I transformed my whole agency into the world's first values marketing agency.

4:24So for me, it was like this huge risk and, you know, following my passion. But it ended up in a successful exit for me. So that was really, I think, the pivotal moment when I realized I have to uncover what my, you know, my values and my purpose and meaning is. And I think that's kind of a journey that we all have to go on. And I've created some tools that kind of help other people do that. So for me, that was really the moment. So where do you feel success became like your performance standard? Where did you choose success? Young girl, college age, where did it happen? I mean, I think, gosh, I think it's something some part of me, I think it's kind of inherent in who you are.

5:06And, you know, there's not a choice. Is there a choice? You know, for me, I moved out of my house when I was 15. You know, I've gone through a lot of ups and downs and there really wasn't another choice. I just you know, I knew that, you know, for me, I craved that feeling. And again, it's it's really a feeling and I wanted to feel successful. And so, you know, for me, I think from a very early age, I always, you know, longed for that feeling of meaning and that feeling of, you know, just being connected and of, you know, having that sense of purpose. So for me, I, you know, I feel like I've chosen that kind of from day one.

5:37But, you know, along with that comes a lot of highs and lows and, you know, success is always winning. And I think that's really kind of a lot of the hard lessons that I've had to learn is a lot of the best times of my life. I didn't feel really successful, you know, but I learned a lot. Oh, I can relate. I can relate for sure. You know, I guess, you know, when you're brought up in a household or in a school or in around people that success is their performance standard, it's just natural. Do you think there was parents, friends, grandparents, where do you think it rubbed off from for you? Yeah, I mean, definitely.

6:11I think I was brought up in a house where I was told anything was possible. You know, I could be an astronaut. I could be, you know, so there was not there wasn't as much of a standard of you've got to get straight A's and you've got to do this. But as much as this feeling of empowerment around, you know, you can be, you know, success is whatever you want it to be. And you can be anything that you want to be. And so I feel very fortunate to have had that, you know, that feeling and that opportunity of just kind of, you know, giving me that freedom to be able to pursue, you know, my success. And I think I went down a lot of different paths to ultimately find that.

6:42But for me, I think I definitely do think growing up with this feeling of, you know, limitlessness really has impacted my kind of feeling around and my understanding of what success is. Love it. You know, is there a Sarah Hardwick like ingredients list for success or a formula for success? Yeah. Giving a shit. Honestly, I mean, you have to care about what you do. and you have to actually, you know, believe. And so I think when you care, when there's a resonance between your purpose and your mission and what needs to be done, that's, you know, that's what it is. So if you don't care about what you do, no one else is going to either.

7:22And you're not going to have that feeling of success. So I think for me, it's kind of working in my genius zone, doing what I love, turning down opportunities that aren't right for me and really following my instincts around really caring what I do and the types of work I do, the types of customers I take on and making some of those hard decisions. and really making sure that I really believe in this. And if I don't really believe in it, no one else is. So for me, it's actually kind of that formula is really caring. I love that way of looking at it. One thing you said there that I wanna delve into, turning down opportunities.

7:54Tell me more about that. I mean, I'm actually, you know, I've had that situation so many times as I've launched this new company, The Crowd, because my mission is to work with companies that are changing the world. And so I've had some companies that said, hey, you know, help me out. And, you know, I want to do this and this and that. But I've had to take a hard look at, is this something that I really think is going to change the world? You know, do I believe in this? And, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a scrappy startup. And so I want to, I, you know, I need to, you know, bring in revenue, of course, but I've had to make some hard decisions where I know, you know, going down this path, you know, it's not necessarily, it may bring in revenue, but it's not necessarily going to be aligned with my meaning and purpose.

8:34And so those, I think, are some of the hardest things because there's this natural pull between kind of wanting kind of you know wanting to have financial independence and freedom and so wanting kind of to take those revenue opportunities but also for me like I want to spend time with my family you know I want to I want to also prioritize other things and so I think there's always kind of this tug of war that we feel as entrepreneurs where we have to make these hard decisions and I think you know that's kind of you know there's what happens all the time and sometimes it's brutal but for me in the end, it always works out.

9:05And I always feel, you know, I'm always thankful and I always feel that that's the right decision, but it's hard. You really have to trust your instincts. And sometimes it doesn't like make financial sense. Um, but I always feel like there's something better that's right down, you know, down the line. So when that situation happens. So the trusting your instincts thing, what's yours way of knowing, like, cause a lot of people go, you know, you got to trust your gut. But how do you do that? How do you, do you ponder on it? Do you do it? What's your methodology of saying, yep, that's the right way?

9:38Yeah. Well, I think, you know, first creating space and that's something that's really hard for me because I've got a million things going on. I'm, you know, so I think, you know, meditating, I think you have to kind of have, for me, I have to create a connection, you know, with my more spiritual side. And that's where I kind of feel like intuitively, you know, and it's like, it is that feeling in your gut. But for me, when I'm overwhelmed with lots of busy work and all these things, and I just haven't given myself like some time to really, you know, create that space to look into my heart and soul and think about, you know, what that looks like, I think it's more challenging.

10:13And so for me, I think it's, yes, it is, you know, connecting and, you know, mulling it over and pondering it. But it's first, it's like creating that space. It isn't just like a, you know, a binary thing. It's really creating the space to kind of have open, free thinking and keeping that open for a little bit to kind of let the intuition be better. So if you look back, you've not had only successes. You've had mistakes and failures and corrections along the way. What's your theory on the relationship between success and failure? Yeah. Well, the first thing that came to my mind when I was kind of thinking about this question was one of my favorite quotes by Khalil Gibran.

10:55The more sorrow carves out of your heart, the more room there is for joy. And so I feel like when you experience these failures, you know, the hardest step I've ever gone through, it makes the success and the feeling of success even greater and even more powerful. And so for me, like until you really go through it, you kind of don't know what you're capable of. And I think, you know, it really teaches you to appreciate, you know, those highs and those moments. And it also really, you know, kind of gives you that feeling of resiliency and confidence to take risks because, you know, you're strong enough to get through whatever that is.

11:29So for me, it's like that, you know, the harder it is, the bigger the failure, the more amazing and powerful that joy can be. I want to discuss that for a little bit because I've never really thought of it that way, that when you have the failures, it gives you the confidence to take risks. Teach me more about that. I love that philosophy. Yeah. I mean, I'll just give you, I mean, I have a million examples of this, but I can just, you know, one random example is I can remember when one time I was kind of first starting off in my career and I had this chance to give a speech in front of 500 CEOs.

12:02And here was my big chance. And I was so nervous and, you know, going up there. And I got out there and I had I thought to myself, I'm going to tell a joke because I'll just lighten it up. well I actually told the punchline of the joke before the actual joke because I was so nervous and you know so I went out there and I just froze and I stood there and I looked at the audience and they looked at me and they were all kind of confused and you know so I think it's like for me I got through that and I laughed it off and I kind of you know I you know I made it work and and then I'm not afraid to go up and give big talks and I know that like if I screw up or mess up or things happen you know I I can still be powerful and I can still you know kind of keep the audience and still be successful so I mean that's just a small example but I think you know if you didn't go out there you know then you would never know what you're capable of so for me now I know that even if I fail it's not the end of the world and I can remember my dad I can remember telling my dad dad you'll never believe what I did oh my gosh Sarah it's just a blip he said you're gonna look back at this and it's just gonna be a little blip.

13:10And you know what? He was right. I don't even remember that. And so I think when you start to look at failure like that, oh, it's just a little blip. And I now, I'll do it. I could do anything. And I know that even if I'm not successful, I still am a success. I love that. You know, when I started Action Coach, there was no such thing as a business coaching company. When you took Zenzy down the road of values-driven marketing, no such thing. You weren't just creating a business, you're creating an entire profession, an entire industry. What do you think it is that you've got to focus on when you're creating something that no one really understands or knows about?

13:50Yeah. And that's, and that's hard. And that's where, you know, it's a lot of, I think, branding, positioning. I think it's really doing a lot of your research. And so for me, I needed to understand what do people think about values? And I realized they don't know what values are you know they think values they think family values or political values and so I think number one it's really doing the research and thinking about when you're creating something new what is you know what do people think what do people know what is there what is that education level and it's really crafting your message and your positioning around you know what that value proposition is so for me I had to say okay we heard of demographics well these are psychographics and psychographics are values and then you have to say oh but we all were used to as marketers targeting people based on their age and their income but have you ever thought about targeting purpose seekers or freedom seekers you know we're not all the same and so for me it's really about kind of doing the research initially to understand and not just kind of throw it all out there and see what sticks and then doubling down on it so that message strong powerful consistent message you know and not deviating from that.

15:00And so for me, that was really kind of an important strategy in bringing that education to the clients and to the world, to the marketing world. Yeah. You know, for us, I'll use our company's example with Action Coach. Well, we've had a vision, a mission in our 14 points of culture and lived by it very strong. We've recruited to it. We've done all it. How else does values become a part of your brand or your market or your marketing out there in the marketplace? Yeah, well, I think if you think about it, like the 80-20 rule, you know, the customers that are going to be the most passionate about your company, who will be your raving fans, who will be your advocates, your ambassadors, they're going to be the ones who are most aligned with their values.

15:45So about your website, you know, first off, what are your company values? And so, and are they articulated clearly on your website? Are you telling stories about your value? You know, if your value has a good value, one of your core values is freedom, are you out there talking about calling all trailblazers, calling all risk takers, calling all, you know, mavericks, you know? And so the thing about values is they're polarizing. And so what is going to attract one customer is going to turn off the other. And so when you think about who is that ideal top customer, using messaging and words and images that are going to appeal to that customer based on their values, even if it's polarizing, is how you kind of bring that to market.

16:29So you can't be afraid to turn people off. You really have to double down on that ideal profile and really focus in on kind of bringing those values to life across your whole company. Yeah, when I started doing some reading and studying of all your work, it really intrigued me that it's almost like niching based on the values or niching based on the, as you use it, the psychographics. Is that something that people are used to yet even? Or is it still something people are learning to be the new way or the new thinking, even though you've been doing it for 20, 30, 20 something years? Yeah. Yeah, I think they're still getting there.

17:08I think that the idea of values seems a little fluffy to some people. The truth is there's 40 years of psychology backing this up. Three quarters of our decision making is based on emotional factors, not rational factors. And so I think, you know, kind of talking about some of the statistics and things like that, you know, definitely helps. But I think the biggest way to show people that this works is actually implementing it in campaigns. And so building a tribe around values, building a community, building a network, building a fan base, nurturing a group of people who are your supporters who share those values.

17:46I think that's that's really the best way to kind of say, hey, you know, does this work? Well, let me give you some examples. And so that's where I bring this approach and this theory to all of the different companies that I work with. And that's really how I think you show what the power is of that values-based approach. I'd love it, Sarah, if you could give us a concrete example that people can sort of hang the hat on it. Oh, that makes sense. I now see how that works. Sure. I'll give you an example. So after I sold my agency's ENZ, I came on board as the chief marketing officer of Aptera Motors.

18:19And they're a company. They were just a startup. And at the time, it was right after COVID. And, you know, we were looking to raise money and we, you know, it was very hard. The climate financially was very hard to raise money at the time. And so we started a crowdfunding campaign. And I think our goal was to raise like two hundred thousand dollars or something. And we ended up raising, you know, just initially over five million. And then we went on over the next three years to raise over one hundred and forty million dollars through crowdfunding. And the way that I did that was, number one, uncovering the values of the community.

18:55So I knew we had something magic, right? I knew that there was something, you know, how would we overshoot our goal, you know, so much. Like, what is this passionate and driving base behind us? And I had to uncover the values. And so, you know, I thought, well, hey, it's an EV company. It's probably about the environment. And it's about purpose. And it's about giving back and saving the planet. But what I didn't realize and what we kind of uncovered was there's also this kind of persona that's all about freedom and disrupting and first to market and early adopters. And so with those insights, I was able to craft messages and really speak to these two groups and build this community around what they really cared about and using those values insights.

19:41So we built an ambassador program and we had 800 ambassadors all across the world. And these people, they are from, you know, from high schoolers all the way up to, you know, centenarians, people who are 100 years old. And they didn't have common demographics. They all had a shared set of values. And so by uncovering and tapping into those values and then speaking to those, building a community around that, that's how we were able to create$1.5 billion of orders and 19 ,000 investors and raise$140 million because we really focused in on that idea of values-based marketing. Well, hey there, and thanks for listening.

20:23I've noticed that 78 % of you are brand new, which means you haven't hit the subscribe button yet. By subscribing, you help us bring on even better guests, better quality content, and serve you better with even more podcasts. So please hit that subscribe button. It only takes a second. It makes a huge difference. If you support us, we're going to support your success and help you achieve big success together. Love it. I love it. Now, I'm going to get to the crowdfunding stuff in a minute, I think that's really, really interesting. But I want to start with the brand ambassadors, 800 brand ambassadors.

20:58Take me back to how did the idea happen? And what are the main keys to execution, I guess? Oh, gosh. Okay. Well, so yeah, it's a big subject. I know. No, it's, and it's actually, you know, it's, it's funny, because it's one of those things where it wasn't like, I, you know, as part of my strategic plan, necessarily, as much as it was just by necessity. And so, you know, when I started there, I was the only marketing person and I was answering all of the info at, you know, emails and all of, all of those emails. And it started to get overwhelming as the movement started to grow. And so I just put out an email and I thought, well, there's gotta be some people who might want to help out, you know, and help because I'm just so busy and I'm only one person and someone's gotta, you know, help.

21:42And we're getting here thousands of comments on social media. And I just started to feel overwhelmed. So I put out an email and said, hey, you know, if anyone's interested in being, you know, an ambassador for the brand, let me know. And at that point, I thought maybe I'd get like a handful of people. And I immediately started to get hundreds of emails back. So I thought, oh, my gosh, you know, I have to make you know, I have to figure out how to systematize this. So I created an application, you know, where they could say why they wanted to be an ambassador and what were their superpowers. Oh, some wanted to help with lobbying and legislation and talk to their congressman.

22:17Some wanted to go to EV events and, you know, represent the brand there, hand out stickers. Some wanted to be on social media. And in fact, one decided, they said, well, why aren't we on Reddit? And I said, I don't have the time to, you know, moderate a Reddit channel. And he said, cool, well, I'll do that. And so what I ended up doing is thinking about, you know, what were the key, what are the key initiatives happening in marketing and around the company where i needed support and then i mobilized these ambassadors behind these key initiatives so communications and marketing you know grassroots advocacy legislation you know events and and really mobilize them behind that and then then it's nice because then it kind of just starts it has a life of its own and so then you know what and so what's cool about this is these are these are volunteers right these are just people who care about your brand so you have to really think about what are they going to get out of it.

23:09So for these ambassadors, we started to do these quarterly webinars and they got to ask our CEOs questions and they got first access and early access to information. They got to see cool behind the scenes images. And for them, that was everything. Being able to be on the inside, we gave them business cards that said ambassador. And that was like their favorite thing here. And so it was really just this idea of being on the inside and being exclusive. And so that's kind of how it all started to take take life and then it just it grew grew from there yeah so what i assume then you have to build tools and give them things to make it easier for them to do the job that's that's right yeah so you kind of figure out where you want your community to live um and where and then you give them for example you know here's an email if you know any reporters or editors um Here's a draft email pitch you can send out.

24:04Here's a social media post. Here are images. And, you know, so you would create kind of almost like a library like of content and assets and things like that, that they can actually share. And then when you have big announcements and things that come out, you give them a heads up in advance and then you give them exactly what you want them to share. So then you've got 800 people out there, you know, commenting. We also, I think one thing is, it's like the transparency. And so we gave them, we put together an FAQ for them, where when they're out there on, you know, Facebook or Instagram or wherever they are, Reddit, and they see someone has a question and it's either it hasn't been answered or they know it was, you know, incorrect, they could go to the FAQ, find the right answer, and they would comment back.

24:48And so what started to happen was, you know, before I even got a chance to go or my team even had a chance to go and try to respond back Someone else an ambassador had already done that And so you have to give them the tool set and give them the information and plan it out in advance And then eventually we had like an ambassador program manager when the program gets so big Then you do maybe have to have a person who can kind of manage it because they've all got ideas And you want to be able to take those ideas? And, you know, some of those ideas are the best that, you know, that we ever came up with.

25:19And so you have to have someone to kind of listen. And it really is like a nurturing process. So, you know, there is a lot that goes into it. But the return for us, I mean, it's the reason why, you know, the company was so successful was having this network. It's the heart and soul. And I think that's what a lot of people, times people forget. I think it's sort of a natural progression. Values, raving fans, ambassadors. It's like that natural progression. But you built also, I think it was like you said, 1 ,900 people invested through the crowdfunding there. Yeah, 19 ,000. 19 ,000, dang. So 19 ,000 people, 140 million.

26:01All right, let's take it to the beginning of the crowdfunding thing because I know that's a big part of what you do today with crowd. Where did you start the idea to do crowdfunding and how did it get its origins, I guess, for a car company? Yeah, I mean, well, so I think first off, just there, I think people, when you think of crowdfunding, there's a lot of different types of crowdfunding. So a lot of times people think like Kickstarter. So there's rewards-based crowdfunding, like Kickstarter, where you're actually producing a product, right? Where you give them, you know, they're investing and they're getting XYZ product that you're producing for them.

26:38Then there's equity-based crowdfunding. And so that's when you're actually giving shares in your company in exchange for investment. So in this case, you're really making a promise and kind of setting the landscape of the future vision of the company and creating a reason for people to believe. So in the past, so this is a relatively equity crowdfunding is relatively new in the past. Really, only VCs and private equity firms and accredited investors really could become owners of companies in this way. And so over the past 10 years, the landscape has changed and with new rules and regulations now Anyone can have a voice so you or me or anyone who wants to say I believe in this company can actually invest You know, it could have missed 500 bucks.