Authentically Marketing Yourself with Rob Bunch

Rob Bunch: [00:00:00] We are there to be an extension of their team and to really kind of help them grow. And sometimes that growth, just like in family, is hard. And you have to get through kind of the muck together in order to do that.

Chris Hill: Welcome to We Build This Brand. I'm your host, Chris Hill. And today on the podcast, we're interviewing Rob Bunch.

He's a senior executive at The Leverage Group. Now, Rob and I have known each other for a few years now through professional organizations and through some conferences we've been to, and I've really enjoyed getting to know him over the years. One of the things recently I got to do, actually back earlier this spring, was get to see him give a presentation at the University of Tennessee's Sales and Marketing Conference.

And he did a great job. It was really fascinating. We talked, he talked a lot about the Savannah Bananas and some other brands and how they market and get people excited about selling. And he really integrated this theme of personal branding into [00:01:00] his talk that was really interesting to me. What I asked him about, After his talk, Rob and I talked a little bit about his take on personal branding and it just made me go, I should really connect with him.

After his talk, I went up to him and asked him if he'd be on the podcast because I thought what he had to bring in that conversation was really cool. And I wanted my listeners to be able to hear a little bit of that conversation on personal branding, but also talking about sales, developing business, and of course, being in the agency world, the challenges that come with it.

So this is my conversation with Rob Bunch. We talk about personal branding. We talk about marketing. We talk about building up the leverage group and some of their projects and successes. And overall, I think you'll find it to be a really good conversation. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you do, too. So, Let's just go ahead and dive in.

This is my conversation with Rob Bunch, Senior Executive at The Leverage Group.

Welcome everybody. Today I've got [00:02:00] Rob Bunch from The Leverage Group with me. Rob, thanks for coming on.

Rob Bunch: Thank you so much for having me.

Chris Hill: Today, I wanted to talk to you, really dive into like your experience in working with an agency like The Leverage Group, and then get a little bit of your insight and opinion on personal branding.

I know that's near and dear to your heart, and I'd love to spend some time talking a little bit more about what that's like. With that said, like, tell me about your background a little bit. Where, where, when did you start with The Leverage Group and kind of where were you before that?

Rob Bunch: Sure, sure. Thanks for the question.

I'll start by telling you that I'm a marketer by choice, not by education. My background and degree is actually in finance. When I got out of school, I started in construction management on the operational side of things. At the time, we lived in Florida. And so I was like, okay, this is great. And it was a great industry to be in.

My in laws moved to East Tennessee. And as the U Haul was pulling out, my wife said, I'm going to go with them and you can come too or not. And so I decided being [00:03:00] early wed that it was important for me to get into the U Haul and go as well. We moved to East Tennessee, which we love being here. When we got here, I was living in the in laws basement looking for work, and the construction industry was really tough to tap into here.

I had been without a job for a while. Watching TV one day, um, a local television station had an ad on that they were hiring a sales assistant, and I was like, okay, well, I'll send my resume in there. Know nothing about that, but we'll see what we can do. And jumped into the media world and was a sales assistant for just a few months.

And the general manager of the station called me into her office shortly after I had been there and said, you know, I need a marketing director and I think you're going to be the marketing director of the TV station. Didn't know what I was doing, but, um, rolled up my sleeves and started learning. Moved from that role into sales on the broadcast media side and sold television, airtime.

Uh, for a while, of course, digital was emerging then as well. And so really kind of learning all about [00:04:00] digital products and services and all of the things that people could do in that world. And at that time, I was working for a company that moved me into a corporate role where I oversaw digital operations and help sales team develop their sales funnels from a digital and broadcast perspective.

standpoint and was with that company for probably almost a decade. My wife and I started having a young family and I was traveling quite a bit across multiple markets and was like, you know what, I just need to try something different. Moved over to the agency side, started working with clients, helping them build their marketing and branding plans and strategies, and then how to execute those.

And so of course, working with salespeople, like I once was and those kinds of things. And at that time I started consulting with a leverage group. They, at the time, had been around for about five years, mostly a traditional ad agency house. Um, they were wanting to be more in the digital space, and the agency that I was running at the time was very digital focused, and so we were able to white label our services [00:05:00] for them, and so I consulted with them.

For quite a while and back in 2019, moved over to the leverage group kind of full time in a capacity where I was able to really kind of build at that point, our own in house digital operations and those kind of things. So I oversee the digital operations for the agency as well as go out and develop new business and help manage.

Accounts and help businesses build their brands and market every day. So it's, it's a fun adventure, Chris.

Chris Hill: So that's, that's really cool. Thinking about the, the move from running your own agency into basically being, I guess, absorbed by the leverage group. Would that be a fair way to, to state that? I mean, what was that transition like?

I would imagine going from being your own boss to now being under someone else has to be a bit of a shift.

Rob Bunch: Yeah, one of the struggles that I had running my own agency, and I worked for a group of investors really, was just managing people, scaling and all of [00:06:00] those kind of things. You know, I moved from where I was the one casting all of the vision and really kind of choosing the mountain and saying, okay, we're going to go climb this mountain and making sure that everybody climbs up the mountain to really more of, Being on a leadership team that we choose the mountain together, um, and decide how to climb and how to build the business together.

And for me, that's worked a lot better. I still obviously oversee parts of the business and oversee some staff overall. It's really more of being a support and a leader alongside somebody that's a visionary that knows, you know, how she wants to build her business and what the brand looks like and those kinds of things.

And that's been really refreshing, Chris.

Chris Hill: That's cool. That's really cool.

So now that you're with the leverage group, you said they're focused on digital. Tell me a little bit more about the leverage group itself. What is it? What do you all do? Who do you serve? All those fun things?

Rob Bunch: Great question. So the leverage group is what I would consider a boutique agency.

[00:07:00] And what I mean by that is that it's more about quality of work for us than quantity. We would rather work with a handful of clients than 300 or 400 clients. It has to be the right fit for us. And so when we sit down and start working with a potential client, We want to understand what their needs are and their goals are, but then also want to make sure that we're able to speak into their growth and that they understand that we have a level of expertise that we can bring to the table and help them with.

Really, it has to be about a mutual partnership that works with them. Really being able to make sure that we can make a difference by being heard and being the experts that they need us to be. to be. So with that being said, we are a full service agency, however. So we do everything from helping people really kind of understand what their marketing strategy is and what their brand strategy is and how that aligns with their overall business plan to how to successfully execute that throughout the customer journey.

Um, and [00:08:00] really kind of what each of those pieces look like, whether that's helping them build their brand. Whether that's helping them really kind of understand their digital footprint by helping them build their website or their social media channels or their directory management type aspect of the business, or whether it's advertising in the traditional or the digital space, we really kind of look at the whole picture and can help with each piece of that.

And so when we sit down with a potential client or potential partner, we look at what they need from us. And what those pieces are, and then we kind of insert where we're needed. So for some people it's that full picture and it's that full come alongside as a full marketing partner. For some, it's just, Hey, we're in a season and we have this campaign coming up and we just really need help with this creative and execution and really kind of Making sure that it's purchased properly and all of those kind of things and we can do that too.

So it really just depends on the client and everything's custom for the needs of those clients. And at the end of the day, [00:09:00] it's really about their growth and their return on investment and all of those kind of things. Because if they're growing, then obviously we're going to be successful as a marketing agency as well.

Chris Hill: That's, that's pretty, pretty comprehensive to be able to have to do all that and manage that for clients. Do you find, are you working with smaller businesses, bigger businesses, what size?

Rob Bunch: From an industry standpoint, we do a lot in the healthcare industry. So some of our largest clients, um, are healthcare oriented and, you know, we work with clients that have 20 plus hospitals, um, to clients that have one.

Car dealership, as an example, uh, One Rooftop Car Dealership, Retail, Higher Education is another category that we work in as well, Chris, but, you know, really, it's less about what their budget is and their willingness to allow somebody to come alongside and help them, really, if it's the right fit for us.

So, we work with all businesses, any size, [00:10:00] um, but we find that. Really, it's those, a little, you know, 10, 10 plus employees kind of is where we kind of hit our sweet spot.

Chris Hill: I gotcha. How has your brand evolved over the years as the leverage group? I mean, has it been leverage group since you've been there? Has there been any big evolutions like?

Rob Bunch: The Leverage Group has been the Leverage Group since day one, and really, the evolution of it has been less about the brand itself or the business brand and more about the people. It started as our owner, Meredith Mathesius, from her home, you know, she had had a successful business. Broadcast sales herself and was ready to have a family and have a little bit more flexibility and had a bunch of clients around the country that were like, we want you to continue to help us.

You can't just go home and have babies. She started the agency and, you know, really kind of handpicked who she wanted to work with and who she could make a difference with. Knowing that family was first for her, you know, that was a Early core value of [00:11:00] the leverage group and continues to be one today.

And so, but then, you know, she had to add people. So as her business grew, she needed to add, you know, an admin team that would help with the auditing of, you know, media buys and the invoicing and the accounting and all of those things that we have to do as business owners. And so, you know, she started that aspect.

Then she added, uh, an account executive that had a lot of healthcare knowledge because she wanted to grow in that industry. And so she did that. And then when she needed digital, she reached out because we had a previous relationship and said, Hey, Rob, I'm not ready to bring it in house yet. But, you know, why don't you help us with that?

And when it's time, we'll bring it in house. So she's added people that have built. Part of the brand as they've come, but the reality is, is the people are the brand of the leverage group. And most of the time when a business builds properly, um, that's how it is. The brand evolves because of the people that run it and do the work every single day.[00:12:00]

Chris Hill: For sure. And I think the people are very important to any brand. I mean, the image of any business is built on the backs of the people that run it and operate it, especially when you're a small company. And it can be so crucial to have the right people in the right place, especially those smaller organizations that, yeah, I could see how that would be very important to you all.

So I think that kind of leads into a question that I had, and I know you wanted to talk about, which is personal branding. Obviously everybody at the Leverage Group represents the company, but how do you represent. Your own personal brand and what makes personal branding so important to you?

Rob Bunch: Sure. So, you know, Chris, I think that we live in a world where there's just so much fakeness, right?

We live in a world that's very driven by social media and those are tools that can be very, very helpful, but they can be very harmful as well. And so we're inundated each day as humans by just a lot of. images and exposure to [00:13:00] messaging and all of those kind of things. And a lot of that is, is real. But there's a lot of that that isn't real, that's polished or filtered, that it creates an illusion that may not be what is real.

You know, for me, when I sit down and talk with a business about their marketing strategy, We really start talking about their mission, their vision, and their core values and the importance of that and what that looks like, um, because if this is who we say we're, we are, then we need to be those things because consumers can see through that.

We're smart enough as a human race that if we take that to the personal side of things, that if Rob Bunch is fake and phony, some people may buy into that for a short period of time, but eventually people are going to say, Hey, you know what? I don't, I don't want to do business with him or, you know, I don't want to hang out with him, or I don't really think that what he has to say is important because it's not true, it's not authentic, it's [00:14:00] not transparent.

When we talk about personal brands, in my opinion, we need to start at the same place that we do as a professional brand. It's that mission, vision, and values. So, personally, what is your mission? You know, what, what are you called to do? Why are you here? How are you supposed to interact with other people?

And then you move to the vision. What's that look like in the future? Not just today, but in the future. How are we going to measure that impact of your mission in the world? And then, of course, that ties into your four values. What are those values that you align yourself with based on? Based on your personality or based on your culture, based on your diversity or your religious background or whatever those happen to be, how does that help you align who you are and how you're going to go out and execute your mission and vision?

It's really about Living that mission and vision with those core values to the most authentic and real way that you possibly can. I think sometimes, [00:15:00] Chris, there's a lot of confusion around that, though, because as I talk to people about that, they're like, well, you know, I'm a very private person, or I'm an introvert, or it's a lot easier for an extrovert, or those kind of things.

I'm not saying that in the world that we live in that we need to go out and share every aspect of our lives with other people, but just like we would do from a business standpoint, we would do on a personal standpoint, and we would choose what things that we're wanting to share. What we can talk about, what we can be open about, what we can allow others to see that may help them in a situation that they're in.

And so for me, I think it's really important for us to understand that about ourselves, so that when we do go work for a business, um, that we can We know that we align with that business because if not, then we're just going to a job every day that we may or may not truly believe in the brand. And how can we be successful if our brand doesn't align with their brand?

Chris Hill: That is really good. [00:16:00] That is really interesting. So let me ask this then. Do you have like a documented mission vision values for yourself?

Rob Bunch: So that's a great question. I sit down every year and I outline that. So it changes, right? And so for me, as we grow and as we change as humans, that's going to change.

So I can tell you my mission in life, as it is right now on the 1st of May in 2024, whenever These folks are going to be listening to this, is Rob Bunch is called to love people for who they are and where they are. My mission is to love others for exactly who they are, the moment of life that they're in, regardless of what that looks like.

And I'm good at that some days and I'm really bad at that other days, Chris, but that's the mission and that's what I'm really striving to be. Whether that's in business or whether that's personal life or whether that's with my wife and my children, whatever that happens to be, that's my focus as I travel each day.

Chris Hill: And I can see how having that grounded, [00:17:00] Hey, this is who I am being able to write that down. There's something about writing things down or even typing it out or saying it out loud. I hesitate to use the word manifest because that is not at all what I think you're trying to say here, but like putting it down on paper, ingrains it in your head, like mentally, this is who I am.

This is what I'm doing. And I think to be able to compare that and then go into the next part, which you mentioned is employment and say, This is what I value. Do these people value the same thing I think is, is crucial. I can think of times in my life where I have not done that. And the, the culture clash just immediately hits you when you get into an organization that is not at all what you needed, but you needed the money or you needed the job, you know, everybody has a different journey.

Being able to do that. That's really, yeah, I like that a lot. That's, that's an interesting perspective on that. So thank you.

Rob Bunch: Yeah, for me, when I take that personal brand and I compare it to what we want to accomplish at the Leverage Group is we want business owners to be able to [00:18:00] successfully grow their businesses.

I want to love their business. I want to love the work that they're doing, and I want to help them be better at that. That's how I can justify my personal mission. With the mission of the Leverage Group to provide seller marketing and advertising methods to help clients grow their business. It's because I can truly be passionate about their business and really love what they do.

That's one of the things also that as a brand that I think the Leverage Group is really good about and I think it falls in that boutique agency that we talked about as well. There are some times where a potential partner will come in and meet with us and we had one probably six months ago that would have come in and sat down with us and potentially been a great partner with us from a financial standpoint and we'd have really been able to help them grow and that kind of stuff.

Our core values and our methodology wasn't aligned. Rather than trying to force that and rather than trying to make [00:19:00] something work, as an agency, we said, you know what, we just, we don't feel like this is the right season. We're not the right team to help you. And so we can help maybe provide some resources for you to find the right team.

And we want you to be successful, but we're just not aligned at this point. point. It's really refreshing to work for an organization that says that it's okay to turn away business because we're not aligned. But again, if you're aligned with your personal brand and you are aligned with the brand of your business, it's going to be easier to get up and go to work in the morning because you want to be happy about the work that you're doing.

And if it's fills you and fulfills you, then it's going to be easier than, Hey, something doesn't fit right. I'm not aligned. Um, and there's all this friction and, and cultural issues and all of those kinds of things like you mentioned.

Chris Hill: And I've been there being a small business owner. Sometimes you have to take opportunities or you feel compelled to take an opportunity or pursue an opportunity because it's there.

It's in front of you. You can make money. [00:20:00] And then you realize after the fact, Ooh, maybe that wasn't the best decision. Now, like I, I mean, without naming names, we've, we've definitely had one or two things where I was so panicked that every day something would show up in the news about someone we were working with.

And I was like, yeah, that's probably a sign that we need to, we need to move on. But yeah, I can totally, totally understand that. That part of it as well. I mean, having those, those cultural alignments, both as a company and as a person, like really make a difference in, in how that's done.

So does the leverage group do anything to help other employees with their personal brand or think about their Their own personal mission, vision, values.

Rob Bunch: They're obviously any good organization does training and does team building and those kinds of things. And so, uh, we're a fairly small team, Chris there, I think there's 15 of us. Um, and that includes full time and part time. There's a lot of. times where we'll come together and we'll just talk about, you know, what's happening in our lives [00:21:00] and where we are.

And if people need to share resources or those kind of things, they do that. And we've done things like, um, personality assessments and really who we are as people and how we interact with each other type activities. And that's really been beneficial. A lot of us have worked together for a long time, and so it's family, right?

Meredith started her agency, I think I shared, when, when she had her first child. And her first child is now a junior in high school. And like this past week went to prom, as an example. And so it's nothing for our team on a Saturday to receive a text message that says, Oh, look at my daughter's prom pictures, right?

And we get to celebrate that. Or yesterday, actually Monday, Meredith's was bringing Emerson to Clemson for a college tour. And so we got to talk about that as, as a team. And so it's truly about doing life with people. We did, we have, like I said, some, some activities that we do and some trainings that we do to kind of help align our [00:22:00] team.

But even more importantly than that, it is truly a family first type environment. The work life balance is really great because we all understand as working parents and as working people that have responsibilities and things and, and, you know. Activities we do outside of the office, that it's important for us to have that balance between here's what we're doing with our clients and our partners, and this is the great work that we're doing, but also these are the things that are happening in our life.

And those are, those are the fun moments. As an example, one of our creative services director has become a farmer. He and his wife. decided that they were going to start a farm and he'll have cows or calves that are born or goats that are born and they'll send pictures and we'll kind of all be excited about that and celebrate all of that together.

That's not my thing, Chris. You'll never see me on a farm. I get excited for Donald because it's his thing and it makes his, his family happy. And you know, they're, they're making a [00:23:00] difference in their community with, you know, The milk and the cheeses and all of those kind of things that they're doing. So it's exciting.

Chris Hill: Yeah. It's great when you have a culture like that where everybody's involved and engaged. I think that I've read some unique theories on team management, business management and things like that. Carol Sanford comes to mind as you're talking. And talking about how that alignment, that ability to have a community and that alignment of people really helps more to make a business efficient and effective.

I would imagine that with everything you're doing in the alignment, it doesn't just help you personally, and it doesn't just help the leverage group, but it also helps your customers too, because you're passionate, you're doing the hard. work for them and you're going to stick with them because you're committed to them.

You love them. You care about them. How does that spill out into your customer base? Have you ever gotten feedback that kind of validates, if you will, this approach to company culture?

Rob Bunch: I think a lot of times we hear from our clients that they feel like an extension of that family, [00:24:00] right? And so I think that's validation.

And I think I would be remiss if I said, as a family, everything's all hunky dory all the time. Right? There's good days and there's bad days. And I would tell you that there's a lot more good days than there are bad days at The Leverage Group. But, you know, there's some times where dad is mad at mom or mom is mad at dad and those kind of things.

And the good thing is this, that communication is important and we talk through it. With that being said, one of the things that I value when we work with clients is I have the ability to really ask some hard questions. In order for me to help you, I really need to understand the situation and be able to see the big picture.

I have found a lot of times that I have clients that will say, I haven't had nobody, nobody's ever asked me that, or Um, that's a really tough question. Or, hey, our last meeting was really tough because I felt this way when you asked me those questions. And that can be a [00:25:00] little challenging, but when we sit down with a client for the first time, and we really decide that we're going to work with them, we kind of set that expectation of, Number one, we want to be an extension of your team.

And number two, we want the permission to ask the hard questions. So do you give us the permission to do that? And of course, a lot of them say, of course we do. And then when you ask the hard questions, they're like, oh my gosh, you're asking this really tough question. But the reality is, is that I think if we Ask them permission and tell them why we're asking it, then really they understand that we're doing it from a concerned or empathetic or we really want to get to the root of this issue so that we can help overcome that or so that we can grow past it.

And a lot of times we get feedback of after we're through that process. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to do that because nobody's ever done that. Or people have always assumed that I understand that, but I'm not a marketing person. I took one marketing class in college and [00:26:00] as a business owner, I'm expected to know that.

And so the reality of it all is that we are there to be an extension of their team and to really kind of help them grow. And sometimes that growth, just like in family, is hard and you have to get through kind of the muck together in order to do that. And so one of the things that I find the most rewarding is when we get through some of those challenging times and those challenging questions for them to say, you know, really, Rob, thank you for caring enough.

Or your team cared enough to ask those questions. And now I feel like I need to look at my customer journey differently, or I need to approach this marketing strategy from a different angle. And to me, that's the most rewarding.

Chris Hill: That's great. Yeah,

I'm sure you've definitely been in situations where the client asks you to come in to do one thing and you realize once you get in there, it's like, uh, this is not, nope, nope, that's not what you need.

Rob Bunch: Yeah, [00:27:00] actually, a really great story about that is we had a freight company in South California call us this past year and they said, we want to be on Instagram. We want to do some Instagram ads. Can you help us with that? And I was like, sure, we can help you with that. And I actually was on a call with them, with Meredith.

And Meredith was like, yes, of course, we can help with those Instagram ads today. And but can I ask why we want to be on Instagram? And they were like, well, you know, we hear a lot of people do well on Instagram. Okay, but you're a freight company. Are the people that you're trying to, like, reach from a target audience on Instagram?

Wow. We don't know. Well, who are we trying to reach? Well, we're not exactly sure. Okay, time out. Let's go back to your marketing strategy. What's your voice? What's your mission? What's your vision? What's your core values? Who's your customer base? Your [00:28:00] prospects? What does that look like? And so as we began to dig through some of that, they didn't know those things, and they had been around for a really long time, or they knew them, but they just couldn't verbalize them.

And so, you know, our job was really to help craft that so that they could verbalize that. Our response back to them is, as leaders of your business, if you can't verbalize what you do and what you're trying to do, your employees are not going to be able to verbalize it either. And so you have to know it.

in order for them to know it because otherwise they're just going to make it up. And then God only knows what's being said out there. Um, and so, you know, we help them with that and they're not on Instagram, uh, Chris doing advertisements. That's the moral of that story.

Chris Hill: And that makes a lot of sense.

I mean, I can definitely relate to that just in my own business because everybody wants a podcast. It's like, well, what are you going to do with it? And what's your commitment level like? Cause this isn't easy. And so I, I totally understand that. And I've definitely had my [00:29:00] own moments of like, basically, I feel like I'm more of a counselor here in this moment.

I, I know you all wanted me to come in and help you build a podcast, but There's some other things we need to work out before we get into that. And yeah, it's, it's a challenge when someone comes to you with an idea and having to coach them through that, but that's good that you're able to be that transparent with them and that authentic with them.

Cause yeah, there's nothing worse than just being like, yeah, we'll take your money and do it. And then of course they come back to you and they go, well, this didn't work. You guys lied to us. Yeah.

Rob Bunch: No, I, um, I respect what you do, you know, to put together an hour long podcast. I think what people don't realize that that probably takes two to three hours of prep time easy beforehand and then another two or three hours after a lot of times.

And so it's the time commitment and people think, oh, I'm going to just turn on a microphone and talk about whatever I want to talk about. And that's not how it works. But.

Chris Hill: We say for every one minute of recorded audio, it's going to be about anywhere from four to eight minutes of work. [00:30:00] So it gets intensive.

Yeah.

What do you see as kind of the future for the leverage group?

Rob Bunch: The future for us is just keep working with businesses that need help with their marketing and branding and ready to take it to the next level. We don't have any huge dreams of being an agency in 50 states or anything like that. It's, it's really about.

Continuing to make a difference for the clients that we work with. And obviously, we would love to have more clients and more partners that we help, but it needs, like I said at the beginning, to be the right fit. Right now, there's a lot of conversations about AI, and AI and how that works within the agency realm.

You know, those are, if we pull the curtain back a little bit, those are some of the discussions that we're having as far as an agency and what our stance is going to be on that. And I think there's a lot of fear. Chris about how AI is going to replace people in the future and, and different activities and stuff in the future.

[00:31:00] And so those are all things that we're trying to decide because the world continues to change at a rapid pace. But I'll bring it all back to why the people at the leverage group are so important is because really, for us, it's about relationships and about providing value through those relationships.

And AI is not going to be able to do that. AI can be a tool that we use to help be more efficient at our jobs and manage those relationships better, maybe, but at the end of the day, my belief is that the value with teams like the Leverage Group is the relationships. And so we're going to continue to build brands and build people and continue to look at ways to.

Build the agency through bringing on talented folks. You know, you and I recently were at UT and sat down with some marketing students. And I don't know if you felt this way or not, but after I walked away, I felt so good about the future of marketing in our [00:32:00] region because they were some stellar students that are going to do amazing things.

And I was just really blown away by their professionalism and their knowledge and their desire to. Be great humans, but also great marketers.

Chris Hill: I think I would agree. There's definitely some motivated kids there. And it was encouraging to see because you hear all the cynical talk about the next generation and all that, which I feel like is every generation talking about the upcoming one, right?

It's like, oh, they're lazy or they don't know what things or they're going to ruin society. And no, I think it was really great to see those students. To your point on AI, I think, I think you're in the right boat. Like, it's about relationships at the end of the day. And even from where we're at with AI right now, it's not ready to take over anybody's job.

Anybody who's telling you that is lying or making something up. There was a great example of this. I don't know if you saw this or not, Rob, but there was a comedian who they, um, or a comedy podcast that actually talked [00:33:00] about, Oh, we got this new AI and it's George Carlin's voice. And they proceed to play this video of George Carlin's voice saying that it was AI making up AI jokes and all this stuff.

And it was so extreme that the family of Carlin, who's most of us know has passed, the family had come out and sued them. And they took it down and in doing that, they backtracked and they said, Oh, actually, this wasn't all AI. Actually, we wrote the jokes and we, like, they had to admit a bunch of stuff and they were like, no, no, no, no.

They, you know, we had somebody do the voice and then we modified it to sound like Carlin and you know, they, they really walked back the joke, but that's, that's kind of where we're at still. There's still that man behind the curtain running things. And I think what's more important is that. You have people there to guide you through that so that you can make it look like magic, so that you can make a product that people are really pleased with.

But yeah, that just really surprised me.

Rob Bunch: You know,

Chris, we

all have the same amount of time every single day. We have to be good stewards of that time. And the [00:34:00] reality is, if there's technology out there that's going to help me do my job better, or resources out there that are going to allow me to be more efficient so that I can spend more time building relationships and building other people up, then absolutely I need to use that.

But that's. To me, that's where that needs to lie. That technology is there to help me not to control me or not to become me. And I think we just all need to keep that in mind as we move forward.

Chris Hill: Absolutely. Absolutely. Alrighty.

Well, at the end of every conversation, I always like to ask this question. And since this is a branding podcast, it's always a good one to ask.

What brand do you admire the most right now, Rob?

Rob Bunch: Oh, goodness. Um, Chris, there are so many. Um, and I think actually, you know, you were at, um, a talk that I did recently on the Savannah Bananas, and I could go for another 35 minutes on their brand and the good work that they've done there. And, and that's a really great example of, um, [00:35:00] Personal brands that align with a vision or a mission of an organization.

And so I think that's one that a lot of people should study. If they're not, I would encourage people to do that. I am bummed to report that I was part of the lottery for tickets in DC and did not get chosen. And so if, By chance, somebody from the Savannah Bananas is listening to this podcast. I would love tickets, so just a plug there.

But one of the brands that I've admired for a really long time is Harry's. And I'm not sure, Chris, if you're familiar with Harry's or not. They started as a subscription based website. razor company. So two guys, I guess, formulated a special type of blade and we're excited about that, went to market. Their mascot is, I think, some type of mammoth or something along those lines.

So kind of a fun look. I early on was, uh, Introduced to them through a co worker who sent me a referral. And so that was my first [00:36:00] introduction. He had ordered and was pleased with their brand and that kind of stuff. And so he sent it hoping that he would get some free razors or something like that from it.

And so I ended up getting the email. Cute, quirky, simple, and ended up ordering a razor from them. Like their subscription model, like I shared, they would send you different types of blades each month as kind of your refill. At the time, I wasn't hairy like I am now. I was 12 or 15 years younger looking because of not having the facial hair.

So I had the baby face still, but anyways, um, as soon as I ordered, I received, of course, not just the generic reply email, but I received a thank you email from the owners that didn't look like a direct reply. Regular email that, um, a company would just send out as a thank you to the order. So it, it was directed to me, it was personal, seemed personal and those kind of things.

And so that was really great. Um, once the product came to my [00:37:00] home, someone from their organization picked up the phone and called me to make sure that I received the product and that I was happy with that. And so that customer service was really amazing as well. And at that time, they encouraged me to sign up for text reminders.

And so, they would send me text reminders of when my razors needed to be replaced. So, you know, they were like, Okay, Rob, it's time to order. Can we put in the order for you? And I would just respond back, Yes, great, thanks. And they would charge my card and send it to me and those kind of things. The interaction from a customer service standpoint was just amazing because it wasn't just an automated drip campaign.

Obviously, they had the customer journey outlined and they knew how they were going to handle that. But the reality is, is that throughout that customer journey and throughout that drip campaign, they still made me feel like I was important to them. Even though I was only spending 12 or 13 on blades every single month, that touch, that human touch and that relationship and that rapport that they built with me made a huge [00:38:00] difference.

Kind of tying back into our personal branding conversation today, they built a relationship with me. Through that, and it made a huge difference. I think they've gone off and have sold that business now to a bigger company and are in Target and those kind of things. So I just run down to the Target and get my blades each month when I need them or ask April to put it on her list.

But, um, still use the product. I think it was a great example of an early company trying to build, but knowing the importance of their consumers and knowing that if they created a good experience for me. That then I would tell people like Chris, Hey, Chris, Hey, you look like you shave every other day or every day, or, you know, twice a day.

Try, try Harry's great brand.

Chris Hill: That is great. I have a online subscription service. I get my hair care products through, they, Or not nearly as good as what you're describing. I'm like, I'm a little jealous because I have to guesstimate like when stuff is [00:39:00] due. And if I don't, then they auto ship stuff. So I have a lot of like extras at home that I'm not using and things like that.

So to think about that customer first strategy and having that connection in that relationship, even if it's just a yes to a text that orders more razor blades, like not a bad idea. I mean, that's obviously it's worked out well.

Rob Bunch: Yeah. And even though it was automated, it was, Hey, this is Sam from Harry's.

Don't forget to, you know what I mean? So it even, it felt like it had that human, that human touch and it may not have because it was automated, but it still felt like Sam. I was important to Sam enough for Sam to remind me, Hey bud, don't forget your razor blades.

Chris Hill: And we all know how expensive razor blades are to 12, 15 bucks.

Like, I'm like, that's a steal. That's great. Yeah. None of that was one of their big things too, was their positioning against. Major big razor, if you will, back in the day. Yes. So, awesome.

Well, Rob, this has been great. I've really enjoyed this conversation talking about personal [00:40:00] branding and the leverage group and things with you.

If people wanna connect with you, learn more about you or reach out and ask questions maybe related to this podcast, maybe related to the leverage group, where can they reach you?

Rob Bunch: Yeah, leverage group advertising.com. Um, again, it's leverage group advertising.com. And so that's the best way they, if they just go to.

The employee section, they'll see me there towards the top and they can feel free to click on me and my contact information is there. So I'd love to talk with anybody about their personal brand or their business brand if they would like.

Chris Hill: Excellent. Alrighty. Well, Rob, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you, Chris. Have a good one. Alrighty, you too.