1623 – Purpose, Profit, Peace of Mind with Vanquish Media Group’s Chase Friedman

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0:58with us right now chase friedman chase you are the founder and ceo of vanquish media group and you also do some work as a fractional cmo chase it's great to have you great to be here josh thanks for having me all right give us a little bit more of a deeper overview of what vanquish media group is sure uh well that's a great question a bit of a bit of a circuitous route to how it came to be. You know, in essence, we empower purpose-driven people, thought leaders, and brands to profit with purpose through strategic brand marketing and brand development to have a greater impact with their customers, their communities, and the world.

1:42You've worked with some pretty notable companies, including HP. A lot of folks within the, let's say, It looks like, you know, entertainment industry or film industry, certainly. Maybe, would you mind, maybe tell us a little bit more about who you've worked with and kind of the work that you've done? Sure. Yeah. I mean, I'll just give you kind of the brief background. So, you know, at my core, I'm a storyteller of heart. You know, I started my career as an independent filmmaker in film and TV, writing, directing, producing. So, you know, before storytelling for branding was in vogue, right? You know, doing it for audiences.

2:18But there was there was an issue there. Right. Even a great story without the right deployment, connection, activation of audiences can still fall flat. You know, so that was kind of the genesis of creating vanquishes, not only creating great content and storytelling for businesses and brands, but the digital marketing tools and techniques to make sure it is reaching your audience, impacting them, activating them, turning audiences into ambassadors. Right. You know, how I've worked with some of these clients, you know, we've worked with Fortune 500 companies, lean, lean startups. a lot of nonprofits, NGOs.

2:49I mean, it's a variety. Today, our focus is really in and around those purpose-driven organizations, businesses that have a desire or a means to do good and do well. What I mean by that is we're in this really interesting movement and age where a commitment to brand purpose, standing behind something, standing behind a purpose of value is proven to drive business growth, right? Not only from the consumers that you're reaching who are willing to pay more, be more loyal, be bigger advocates to the brands that align with their values. Employees want to work for value-driven businesses. Investors want to invest in said businesses.

3:31So it's this great thing. It's not just kind of value signaling, greenwashing, not just promising to do good in the world, but how are you connecting the dots and performing, walking the talk, so to speak? Yeah. And for, you know, and again, I should go without saying, but I'd love your take on this. So companies that are truly living more of kind of a purpose forward, like it's just part of their culture. It's just who they are. It's how they, you know, the inner workings operationally that are invisible potentially to customers and audiences, but yet it still exists there and everything they're communicating.

4:08Why is that a winning strategy for 2023 and beyond? It's a great question. You know, we are we've seen the move from what we would previously consider shareholder driven capitalism to stakeholder capitalism. Right. Stakeholders, employees, consumers, et cetera, really driving the force and what they demand, a more enlightened, the more demanding consumer and stakeholder that is pushing companies to commit to social, environmental issues and impact, to stand behind certain values. We've got more options than ever before, right? How does one cut through the white noise, so to speak? What is going to stand through?

4:50I mean, as consumers, we're looking for a match in terms of our beliefs, our values, our identity. You know, people buy on emotion first, logic second. So all that to say is there's a lot of companies out there that have the internal core beliefs, but maybe not the clarity or the messaging to help drive that home, right? Take nonprofits and NGOs, for example, they've got passion, they've got purpose, but a lot of them need that strategic roadmap, that clarity of how you're going to share that and activate your audiences. On the flip side, Fortune 500 entities, right? Great with strategy, sometimes not as great with authentic story and engaging in that more meaningful, emotional capacity with their stakeholders.

5:34So how do we do this then, Chase? So, you know, kind of the work that you do, you know, because obviously we're talking more about, you know, great logos, icons, typography, and colors, right? It's, you know, it's communicating a message. But, you know, we still want to do that in a way that, you know, a message is really important, but, but we also want to visually communicate with that message. And that, that to me feels, it's above my pay grade. So like, how do you accomplish that? So, you know, it's interesting because yes, visuals are a part of it, but a logo is not a brand. You know, the colors are not the brand.

6:17The brand is greater than the sum of those parts, right? It's not just the messaging either. It's, it is the common, it is the perception of your audience that defines your brand. So it's hard for a business to understand that. What do you mean we don't control the brand? No, your stakeholders, your consumers define what they vibe your brand to be. So there's kind of three sequential steps that we take our clients in. And I believe it's extremely important to go down this route, right? The first is discovery, getting clear, getting vulnerable, understanding with who you are as a brand, why you exist, right?

6:49The whole kind of golden circle paradigm. Start with why, what do you believe? Why do you exist as a brand beyond the bottom line. Clarifying that messaging, that brand identity, that unique voice as a foundation. Unless you have that clear picture, who we are, why we are, who we serve, nothing else matters. You can run all the social media campaigns, paid advertising you want. If you don't have a clear sense of who you are in that messaging, diminishing returns. So starting with discovery, then moving into identity. Once we have that kind of core ethos, Now let's put together the visual identity and packaging of what that means to the world.

7:25Our web design and development, right? Our logos, our story, our video content, right? How do we deploy that message? And then growth, right? So discovery, identity, and then growth. Growth is all the digital marketing tools and tactics to amplify that, right? Social, grassroots, paid, influencer. But I believe in measure twice, cut once. Unless you have those first key steps and foundation in place, you're just going to waste a lot of time and money. Yeah. And then, like, how do you tell me, can you maybe share just a bit about Vanquish Media, the company, like how you run it, you know, kind of the talent that you have and how that creates a really great solution for the clients that you get to work with?

8:13Yeah, I mean, I think with any sort of commitment to purpose or purpose-driven organization, it's got to start from within. It's got to start in here, right? You can't just go out on social media and start value signaling and saying, we believe in X, Y, and Z, and yet you're not doing that in your own backyard, in your own teams, right? So listening, nurturing your team members from within, what are you passionate about, about the job, the company, what we do, how we do it? and making, you know, your employees are your frontline ambassadors. They're the best spokespeople to kind of get the message out there versus trying to kind of have higher influencers, so to speak.

8:49So I think it really starts from within getting a deep understanding of why we exist in the world, why it's important. There's far too many branding, digital marketing agencies out there, right? So we had to take a hard look. I had to take a hard look at myself and say, you know, what was driving me to make a difference? And for me, that was helping elevate and empower those who were on the front lines around trying to drive social environmental change right we're not saving the world we're not saving social injustice but our small part and how we can do that is helping others define their message their story their collateral so they can reach more people and impact and impact more lives so all that is is starting from within and vanquish in terms of what our values are and making sure that's consistent in who we work with how we work what we deliver.

9:36And it's certainly not for everybody, but those that stick with it, incredible metrics and data around how it will drive sustainable business growth. It sounds like, Chase, I pick up on, you know, integrity is pretty important to you. And, you know, and I think a lot of leaders have, you know, maybe earlier on gone through this transformation, come to a conclusion, I suspect you have. And that is, let's say you're given the opportunity to work with a client that is not in alignment with your values. You turn that down. And why do you turn that down other than, well, we just don't agree. It's more to it than, well, we just don't agree.

10:18It's easy to just turn it down and say, no. I believe that every entrepreneur, leader, business has the potential to do good, to do better beyond just the bottom line, right? So, you know, we've worked with a lot of clients that initially maybe not value aligned, but how can we help nurture and get them there? They have to desire it as well, right? So for me, it's not just giving up if they're not like checking the boxes. Okay, are you the divine right client? If I see something that maybe they don't see in themselves immediately, that could be interesting to help develop and nurture, and they're willing to build trust and be a bit vulnerable and exploring it.

10:58Great. Most of the clients we work with, I wouldn't say come to us saying we are a purpose-driven organization, right? But there's a desire to, hey, I want to grow my company. I want to scale my company. I want to find more passion in my job. I'm burning out. I'm stressed. I'm overwhelmed. All right, great. Having a kind of a clarifying, motivating purpose can resolve a lot of those things. You know, you can do good and do well. So to your question, it's, you know, I don't like to take it at face value, but what is the potential of anyone, quite frankly, to have a clear understanding of why they show up every day as a thought leader, as a business, as an expert, and how you can benefit and profit from that as well.

11:44Yeah. Chase, at what level, like what, what kind of requirements would you say? Well, listen, you know, you kind of need to be at this level, you know, kind of projects we work on kind of start here. Like who would make a, or a different way to ask this would be, who would be a great, perfect person to be sending your way. And you know, and again, go ahead and you know, If it's not just size as a factor or budgets as a factor, you know, what are some of those other requirements that you think would be pretty valuable to like, oh, we would be potentially a perfect match? Right. So, you know, honestly, I find the most joy in, you know, working with SMBs and sort of thought leader entrepreneurs, right?

12:31Because they tend to be, I like being able to work and get my hands dirty, roll up my sleeves, get in the trenches with the CEO, the founder, the president, you know, the executive team for a reason, the willingness to be agile and nimble and transparent every step of the way, right? It's harder to move a bigger ship like a Fortune 500 company, like an HPE or an Acer or Samsung. We could do great work and execute for them, but I like being able to really impact foundational change and clarity. And that oftentimes comes a little bit easier with more of a small to medium sized business or a thought leader that has been an expert in their field for a number of years.

13:13And it's time for them to scale. And how do I reach more people, impact more lives, grow my sort of personal professional brand? That's kind of the ideal size and mix. But in terms of kind of the qualitative, you know, once again, anyone and everyone that that is willing to embrace the core tenant and mantra of profit and purpose, right? It can be more than just the singular bottom line. I can do a greater good for myself, my team, my community. That's a great indicator for a match. Yeah. Your website, vanquishmediagroup.com. When somebody goes there and it may be, again, they've been listening to our conversation.

13:57What would you say would be kind of those next steps if they really want to dig into your world and maybe potentially have a conversation? You know, look, open book, first step is a conversation. You know, you can take a brand assessment. You can download some e-books. You can read some blogs. But I think familiar with the sequence approach that we take, discover identity and growth. And if it's something that you are willing to kind of gain true clarity and understanding about the path forward and how you can kind of do good and do well, book a call with me, book a consultation through our website.

14:30You can find me on LinkedIn. Let me know what you're wrestling with, what you're trying to achieve, what you're aspiring to do. And each and every client and experience is unique and different. For me, that's the most enjoyable part is that discovery is understanding how this constellation, the stars align for you that you might not be able to see for yourself. Yeah. Again, vanquishmediagroup.com. Chase Friedman, you're the founder and CEO. It's been a great pleasure having you. Thank you so much for the work that you do in the world, Chase. Likewise, Josh. You rock. Thanks for having me.

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