Don’t know what to talk about on camera? Connect to your brand’s values and you will.
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
In conversation with Creative Director and Brand Consultant Toni Din
@toni.din | www.tonidin.com
This conversation is part of a series of chats on camera confidence. In speaking with experts in different fields, my hope is to share with you their unique insight & resources. To embolden you to connect to your audience on camera with authenticity & empathy.
Is knowing what to say holding you back from showing up on camera? If so, today’s blog post is for you.
In my interview with Toni, she shares her expert insight for how to distil your brand’s values, and in turn craft your messaging & content to align with that. So not only will you know what to say, but you can be certain it embodies your brand.
My first question to Toni was:
How would you identify what topics to share with their audience?
Before you even start, it's important to really understand your purpose - what are you trying to achieve and what are your goals? This will help you get a clearer idea of how you want to get there.
Truly know who you are as a brand. Because what can quite often happen, especially with individuals presenting themselves on social media, is that people jump on the bandwagon of a current trend: they see a number of people talking about a specific topic and then think “I should really be doing that”. If a story or post isn’t relevant to their business or the message they wish to purvey, they can quite often end up muddying who they are and in turn confusing their brand message. So I think it’s really important to understand the foundations of your brand, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. What is your reason for being - beyond financial success. If you’re unsure - write it down, then hone it. Stick to your story and stick to what you know.
Knowing your brand, knowing who you are and why you exist not only informs video content, but all output. If you’re inconsistent you can end up really confusing people and in turn, alienating potential customers.
Having said all this there are obviously certain global and social topics that we all should shout about and which should be ingrained in the very fabric of every business.
Toni speaks clearly to the negative impact of not taking the time to reflect: muddying your story, alienating your audience… what a strong deterrents! It promotes taking the time & space to do the prep work beforehand. Especially with social media, you can become flippant and think “oh well it goes away after 24 hrs” but if that becomes a habit or your default position, then you can find yourself in a space you didn’t actually intend to be.
CONTENT PILLARS
What would you suggest to someone who wants to start using video as a platform but they don’t feel excited to speak to their content pillars?
It’s about making sure you have solid brand foundations. Look at what your story, your product/services are, why you started your business, what do you believe in etc. – write it all down. I always advocate writing this stuff down - it’s almost like a brainstorming session with yourself and will help you work through what works and what doesn’t. This will help you create indicators of your brand values. What are your true beliefs and what do you stand for?
Before you even think of any content try and define your purpose (what are you offering), your vision (the why - what does your ideal future look like) and your mission (how will you get there) - this will help you focus on your journey and the goals you want to achieve.
Try to work your way through the different brand building steps first and eliminate any ideas that aren’t relevant to you. Keep coming back to “why do you exist?” Because if you rush this stage there is real potential for damage.
A couple of years ago I started getting pulled into a very different business direction which I didn’t feel comfortable with. It didn’t feel true to me but the content I exposed myself to on Instagram, in particular, kept telling me otherwise. It took my friends and partner to tell me to take a step back and re-evaluate and look at my brand from scratch.
In business, like in life, surrounding yourself by things, businesses and people that don’t bring out the best in you can really pull you in unwanted directions.
PRO TIP: Have a ‘follow audit’ every now and then, and make sure you only follow and engage with accounts that enrich your mindset, compliment your aspirations and interests and are relevant to you, your business and your vision.
Learn what your potential customers are looking for, check out what your competitors are doing and then make it your own.
The idea of content pillars can feel a bit rigid sometimes - but all they do is help you focus on relevant and enriching content. Start small. Choose one content pillar, add subcategories and start from there - it can be daunting to come up with five pillars and subcategories.
What’s one thing a brand or business owner can do to reconnect to their values?
Your values inform your messaging which in turn informs your content and what you talk about!
People often think that defining their values is writing down a bunch of meaningful words that sound nice, they feel they should believe in or may be relevant to their business. If those values aren’t actionable - they aren’t much use. So by all means, write them all down, then weed through them and define how you will act upon them as a business.
For example, a lot of brands will have collaboration as a value but if they are forever going to work on their own - this is only a nice sounding word.
I love how that shift from identifying values as single words or statements, to focusing on the ‘how’ transforms them into a tangible jumping off point. Perfect for having clarity around what to speak about on camera. Connecting to your values & core is key to be a business owner who is mindful and intentional. I find your way of explaining it empowering & it just makes a lot of sense!
This is being confirmed to me more and more, that that’s what makes a brand. Understanding a brand’s core influences everything they do and stand for: it impacts their visual representation, their product, services, commercial decisions… It goes beyond a logo and any physical marks.
It’s what people will remember you for, and the emotional imprint you leave on your customer. It's like the soul of your brand.
And I think especially nowadays where there’s so much uncertainty in the world, people want to feel connected to brands.
And through video, people seeing someone speaking to them adds to that human connection; so I think it’s important.
As always with this series of interviews, I finished our conversation asking two questions:
Do you have a ritual or routine before going on camera?
I check my environment. What I usually do is prop up my camera and make sure there's nothing dodgy in the background! I also make sure I have water by me as I tend to get a dry throat. I also like to have a structure to what I want to talk about. It depends on the format - with interviews or IG Lives it’s nice to know, roughly, the questions because I hate being put on the spot. What happens to me is that I know the answer but when I’m caught off guard, I can lose my train of thought and that throws me. Even if I don’t prepare, it allows me to collect my thoughts. And if it’s just me talking, I will write down a few pointers for myself: “why am I doing this and what is my conclusion?”etc.
Structure can is such a useful resource for many. And such great advice for both those who interview and those being interviewed! It’s helpful to remember every guest is different, some will really want to have that structure in place beforehand.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone who wants to take a step forward, and be more confident on camera?
Have your foundations and brand core defined. Have a strong and relevant content structure, or, even better, a content plan set out. It just makes it relevant for your brand. So you’re not just chatting about something random because everyone else is.
Content pillars are difficult and people can find them quite static, ‘ohmygod I can only talk about these topics for the rest of the existence of my brand!’ But it’s good to have them to give you structure and relevance. Like with everything around your brand, you should review them regularly and make sure you are on track.
I also recommend having a content plan over 3 months for small businesses. For big businesses, we used to do it over 12 months because big budgets and large shoots were involved. But for both big or small, knowing what your output is going to be and what you’re going to talk about will help you be clear.
Many thanks to Toni for sharing her insight on camera confidence.
Toni is a Creative director and Brand consultant and the founder of Studio Toni Din. She has over twelve years experience in the UK and German markets. Working both agency and in-house for some of the world’s biggest names, leading creative teams and working on major international campaigns as well as supporting individuals on their journey of building successful brands.
Toni founded Studio Toni Din based on the belief that strong brands need to be built on solid foundations and strategies of integrity and inclusivity. That the most effective, relevant and honest design approaches are simple.
That brands whose setup is collaborative, fluid and flexible are the ones that not only survive but thrive.
That as a collective of complimentary cross-discipline professionals, who share the same philosophy, we can offer the most elevated and relevant services. That as such we can learn from and encourage each other and our clients.That as businesses we must look to the future and the impact we are having on our environment and society and take action through creativity.
Find out more about Toni and Studio Toni Din here.
Want to feel more confident on camera? Check out Camera Confidence: Your Director’s Notes - a new way to work with me, your resident presentation skills coach, to empower you to show up on camera feeling like the best version of you.
