The Power of Storytelling: Master Video Branding with Elin Giczi

You can find Elin Giczi at
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elingiczi/getpodcastable.com

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Elin Giczi Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day I am your host, Kris Ward. And today we have in the house, Elin Giczi.

[00:00:08] Elin is a video branding strategist, and she’s going to talk to us about story framework. Welcome to the show. Elin.

[00:00:16] Elin Giczi: Thank you so much, Kris. I’m so excited to be here and let’s get started.

[00:00:19] Kris Ward: Okay, Elin, frameworks to stories. I have said this a hundred times. I’ve always pushed back on this a little bit because I find there seems to be a trend out there that we have to tell gut wrenching stories.

[00:00:33] It’s not my jam. It’s not my jam, not only publicly, but even personally. If things are happening in my life, I always want to move towards the positive and get going on it. So I guess when I hear story, I always feel like I’m supposed to dredge up something to get a lot of attention in the scroll, make people stop and, Oh, I suffered or I had this.

[00:00:54] So I’m hoping you’re telling us we don’t have to do that. And then let’s take a look at what is the framework for a good story.

[00:01:02] Elin Giczi: Yeah, so I think the beauty of storytelling is actually that it doesn’t have to be any fancy dramatic stories. It can just be the mundane things in life that you incorporate into your stories.

[00:01:15] Like we all fold laundry, for example. Maybe there is something there you can tie to the story you’re telling about your business.

[00:01:23] Kris Ward: Oh, okay. Hold on. That’s a really good point. Okay. The mundane. No one said that to me before. Here’s the thing that kind of reminds me of Jerry Steinfeld, where he’s always pulling out the mundane and he reaches a wider audience, right?

[00:01:36] So we can tell mundane stories to, to make ourselves relatable. And then do we sometimes just, okay, so my neighbor’s trying to teach me how to garden. God love her poor soul. I’m seeing the world from a whole new perspective now. A, I don’t know how elderly ladies dig these holes or do all the stuff they do.

[00:01:53] And then B, I think it’d be easier to kill somebody than dig the hole to bury them. This is my new perspective on life. I have new respect for holes. So do I tell that story? A, tie it into my business sometimes. And then B, sometimes do I tell it just to be relatable and entertaining and go on about that? Like where does one begin and end?

[00:02:14] Elin Giczi: So I think there are different ways to do it. I think a really great way is to tell the story and use it to tie it to your business. Like maybe a learning you had, like you just told us maybe there is something in the transformation you provide your clients that you can tie it into, but also you can also tell a fun relatable light story.

[00:02:36] You can do both, I think, because a personal brand is, it’s, there’s personal in it, right? And sometimes, yeah, sometimes it can just be something personal you want to share with the people out there who are following you and are very interested in everything you have to share.

[00:02:54] That is the silliest thing that I never write this moment.

[00:02:58] I just had an awakening. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I always thought of personal branding I guess is somebody like, okay, here’s the competitors in my industry doing something similar. And so then, oh, Kris is high energy, like a personal characteristic, but you’re right. Personal branding means you can be personable or tell personal things.

[00:03:18] Okay. So in that case, the gardening example, one of the things I did learn is I found it really interesting to go out and then you have to do some weeding. I’m told to pull these weeds out. If it’s a sunny day, you’re yanking and pulling and they break off. But another day I could just gently pull one at where it’s been raining or something.

[00:03:36] And then the root comes all the way out. So that ties into my energy management. So I could do a video on energy management that would work, right? Yeah, it would. Okay. And then here’s the question I have though. If I just do something like, let’s say I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. So if I’m just going to bitch and moan about, Oh my gosh, I have to now garden.

[00:03:58] It’s really hard. I feel like traditionally all my videos are about stuff for entrepreneurs so that they, the work supports their life, not consumes it. Will I be throwing them off by just doing a personal video? That should be in a story, but then LinkedIn doesn’t have stories or is that not the place or I’m overthinking it?

[00:04:18] I don’t know where the mix is dependent. Do you follow my question? Yeah. Yeah, I am.

[00:04:23] And I think, so this is a really cryptic answer, right? But you never know how it works until you try it. Oh, that’s a good one. Okay. But you set the boundaries of how personal you want to get. And there are always people who will like, sometimes you will overshare.

[00:04:40] It could be in the comments. It can be in the DMs. Like sometimes you just share things that it makes you uncomfortable after you’ve done it. You regret it, you can’t take it back. So having that in mind, I think it’s just a bit of experimenting to find your perfect balance. If that makes sense.

[00:04:57] Kris Ward: It makes perfect sense. ’cause I do overthink things and I do over structure things like sometimes. Okay. So I always wanna okay, structure. All right. We’re gonna have five videos per week. Mondays we do a personal share. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, come up with one. Okay. So back to overthinking it.

[00:05:13] All right, so then let’s look at the framework. What is the framework for storytelling? What is the framework that you think does best for us?

[00:05:23] Elin Giczi: So basically I have, I’ve been looking at so many people who do stories and tell stories in different ways. It can be, like you said, it can be personal stories.

[00:05:32] It can be stories related to their business, but I’ve narrowed it down to a framework that I think, and I’ve, that I’ve seen works for LinkedIn really well. And just to say it’s super quickly, and then we can go into details, but it’s, Four steps. Okay. There is a hook, a description analysis and call to action.

[00:05:55] Okay. So it’s basically, you can, I like to visualize things, when I’m going to take in information and do something with it, record a video, I need to see it in front of me so that I can take it in and then get it out. So basically a hook, we all know what a hook is like the frog video you did.

[00:06:15] Oh, okay. That got me so hooked. That was a visual hook. That was so cool. I love that.

[00:06:22] Kris Ward: Okay. Let’s stop there for a second. Hold on. Just so I can expand. So I did a video on LinkedIn and I had a frog laying on a plate, like not a real frog. Hello. Like a ceramic frog. Let’s be clear. And I was talking about don’t, that whole thing of eat the frog first, that philosophy do the work.

[00:06:36] That’s the most boring and drain your energy first thing in the morning. And I’m totally against that philosophy, but it did look different as you scrolled by. Okay. And then you had the frog on the plate. So here’s my question. And again, I do get stuck in a lane and I overthink things and I, whatever. In the past, I used to do a lot of props and then everyone’s Oh no, you should be like walking down the path.

[00:06:57] Like you’re having casual conversation, or you’re in your car, you just thought of something. So again, I guess it’s a mixture because I did look at that and think maybe I should be doing more props again. But Lately, I’ve just been doing walk and talks. So that was a visual hook. I guess if I was going to do a walk and talk, then I would have to have more of a, a sentence hook, like a statement hook, right?

[00:07:19] So what you’re saying is it can be visually, it can be a statement, it can be whatever.

[00:07:24] Elin Giczi: Yeah, so there are, you can have, as you said, a visual hook, the frog, I think also walking counts as a visual hook because there are things happening already when you’re opening up the video. And I think also it’s always It’s easier to have a text hook as well, because some people gravitate towards text.

[00:07:43] Okay. When I post videos, I see that not everyone even watches the video, they read the text post I have with it. So we’re all like triggered by different things and taking information differently, but definitely visual text hook, even audio hooks. Depending on if you have the sound on in your videos.

[00:08:01] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:08:02] Elin Giczi: I’m not sure it’s, I don’t have that on LinkedIn. So what’s the audio hook? So audio hook, if I, it can be you saying something like just starting to talk at the beginning of the video, or it can be you like. Crunching a piece of paper, something like that. It’s very, there’s this genre on TikTok for videos called ASMR, which is a sound base, and they have the most amazing hooks that are audio hooks.

[00:08:31] So you can use all three aspects are really great to incorporate into your video.

[00:08:37] Kris Ward: Okay. So let’s break this down. The ASMR, that’s the correct initials, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That’s when you see like a commercial where you got to be, they zoom in and you hear the percolating coffee, which I don’t even drink coffee and I think they do a good job.

[00:08:50] I’m like, Oh, that sounds like I should try. Okay. So you’re talking about that. Or for us that is less sophisticated. You could have, I don’t know, a banging of a noise or something. And all of a sudden ” Hey, wake up because you’re tired.” You’re running your business. Whatever. Yeah. So there could be something like that.

[00:09:05] Yeah. Yeah. And then the text hook you’re talking about, if it’s written about your video, even if they don’t watch the video. But then when you said an audio hook, that’s just me saying, what, are you tired of being tired? That kind of thing. Just a statement. Okay. But it is good because I think for so many of us, we hear hook and we think we need some big, like three ways, blah, blah, blah is poisoning your breakfast, like very dramatic.

[00:09:28] Okay. So the hook can take different forms. That is a good reminder, but we do want to have one and I think often I forget that I just think, Oh, I’m just going to talk. That’s fine. Okay. The hook. Let’s get into the description.

[00:09:43] Elin Giczi: Yes. So the description, wait, I just want to add one thing with the hook because I think it’s just interesting because you know that LinkedIn is pivoting towards more video content.

[00:09:53] Okay. With a video feed they have coming up. And for that, I think having more, let’s say more impactful hooks will be so important to capture the interest of the people scrolling. So while in the regular feed. The audio hooks might not be as impactful in a video feed, they will be. Okay. Okay. All right.

[00:10:17] Kris Ward: So what you’re leaning in, what you’re saying is, yeah, treat that step, that framework step one, the hook even more importantly. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? It makes such sense though, because we’re just choking in video. Everything we turn around, there’s all, everything, tick, everybody’s following each other Tok, and now LinkedIn is going to have even more and more video.

[00:10:39] And then you just get fatigued and you go, I’m just going to talk in this damn thing. And hopefully they think what I have to say, the first sentence is interesting, but I think Not that you need to script everything in your video, but I think when there is some purposeful planning, if anything else we do, we spend a little time on that hook, it will help.

[00:10:57] Okay.

[00:10:58] Elin Giczi: I completely agree. Completely agree with you.

[00:11:00] Kris Ward: Okay. Back to the hook. I got a hook. I’m writing that down. I have to be better at my hooks. Okay. Got it. Description.

[00:11:07] Elin Giczi: I think you’re doing a really good job. Kris.

[00:11:09] Kris Ward: Oh she’s on my show. What is she going to do?

[00:11:11] We need to meet. Okay. Description.

[00:11:14] Elin Giczi: Description. Okay. So you have now established, like you have grabbed the viewer’s attention with your hook, right? Okay. And now you need to hook them in a bit more because they know what the video kind of is about, but now you want to tell them why this is important to them. Okay, because obviously you on LinkedIn, you want to get the attention mostly of your ideal clients.

[00:11:38] Okay. Where is who you’re talking to? And now you want to describe more in depth why the topic you’re talking about is so important for them. Okay. So that you capture their attention even more. So it could, it’s almost like a second hook, but it is a couple of sentences, okay.

[00:11:55] Kris Ward: So can you give me an example? Okay. Cool.

[00:11:57] Elin Giczi: Oh, yeah. So maybe I sent something about everyone needs to try out video on LinkedIn. Maybe that is my hook. And then I say, because video is incredible for building emotional connections with your audience when you are a service provider.

[00:12:16] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:12:17] Elin Giczi: And that is the description. So it’s really short.

[00:12:20] It sums up why this is important.

[00:12:24] Okay. That makes sense.

[00:12:25] Kris Ward: It does. I think I’ve been doing this wrong. So I think from what you’re saying is, let’s say I had a hook whatever, here’s the I don’t know if it’s too cheesy, but three reasons why your virtual assistant didn’t work out. Yeah. And then I would maybe go into either A, go into those right away or B, at the end say look, your business should support your life, not consume it.

[00:12:48] I think your description is my ending.

[00:12:51] Elin Giczi: It might be.

[00:12:52] Kris Ward: These three things you need to know about a virtual assistant are really important because your business should support your life, not consume it. All right. Number one. Okay. So I think, okay. So I think I’ve been doing that as an ending, but it’s okay.

[00:13:07] All right. That’s good. All right. I’m writing this down. People, I barely have time to talk to you people because I have to go make videos now. Okay.

[00:13:14] Elin Giczi: So it’s

[00:13:15] this is just my

[00:13:15] framework.

[00:13:16] Kris Ward: But it works. I think it makes sense because I think it’s almost like when you see a little summary or when you see a title of anything like a blog or a book, it’s or even a movie, like you’re scrolling Netflix and you see a title and you go what’s that about?

[00:13:32] So the hook is good. And then you look at the little summary and they give you a little bit more, right? And then you dive in. Okay. That makes sense. I think that formula use is used in a lot of aspects. I just didn’t understand it before. So it does make sense for us to be doing it. Okay. Go ahead.

[00:13:50] Elin Giczi: And then after that, are you, should I move on?

[00:13:53] Kris Ward: Of course.

[00:13:54] Elin Giczi: Yeah. So then we have the analysis, right? Okay. That is where you dive deep into and really bring out the desires. Of your audience, what do they desire and how will you get them there? So this is where you talk about how this will help them and how your approach to this. So here’s where your personal brand comes in a bit more.

[00:14:18] Talk about your approach to this. Okay. And why? And tell them why you are the one that would do this. Best for them.

[00:14:28] Kris Ward: So is this the meat of it? Is…

[00:14:32] Elin Giczi: yes.

[00:14:32] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:14:32] Elin Giczi: It is. Oh yeah.

[00:14:33] Kris Ward: Okay. So then does that kind of just become evident? So one of the things I always talk about too, is we’re not a virtual VA agency that we do find, hire, onboard for our clients.

[00:14:45] It’s one of the things we do to get them to the real work and get them to streamline processes. But we’re not an agency because. They, there’s a whole thing about that. They take a lot of money if they have to sign NDA. So the person and big long contracts, they don’t know how much the VA is making. It’s all this complication and it’s billable hours.

[00:15:02] So with I’m saying, Hey. Now I’m talking, I’m just in a mess here because we have to be also careful that our analysis doesn’t get too long. So if I say, “Hey, here’s three reasons why your last virtual assistant didn’t work out, your business should support your life instead of consuming it. And I give the three reasons.”

[00:15:23] Really? Could it be just a short summary or now I say okay. Because now I don’t want to get into that whole virtual agency thing.

[00:15:30] Elin Giczi: Because I think what you’re saying, all those points, if you would elaborate on them even more, I think every one of those could be a separate video.

[00:15:38] Kris Ward: Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

[00:15:40] Elin Giczi: Make one like where you collect all of them short, sweet, and then you have one video about each maybe.

[00:15:47] Kris Ward: Okay. So I can do all that one video, make it short, make it tight. Yeah. And then I can do another one where I expand on each subject. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. And then the call to action. Yeah. Where are we going with that?

[00:16:01] Elin Giczi: Where are we going with that? So we are going to talk about how we do it for different audiences, because I think this is important to address. So of course I, I usually do my call to action is usually I’m Elin. I build personal brands on LinkedIn with video content. If you want to learn more, give me a follow or something like that.

[00:16:23] Okay. But I also, I always introduce myself in a way, and then I tell them why they should, what they should do next.

[00:16:31] Which is really interesting because we’ve been told at different times for different reasons oh, that’s a YouTube thing. So now on LinkedIn or other platforms, even Instagram, are you still at the end introducing yourself and then giving them a CTA, a call to action?

[00:16:45] Yeah, I am. Because in one way it repeats who I am and what I do, which kind of brings me more top of mind for them. And then also, if I appear in the video feed and someone has never seen me before, they don’t know who I am. They’re just watching a video. And then that introduction at the end can be super valuable.

[00:17:07] Kris Ward: Yeah. That’s a really good point. So here’s the thing. I never introduced my name cause I assume that they’re looking at it and they can check my name in the post. But a couple of things. Especially where the world is a global village. Sometimes I want to reach out to somebody or I might want them on my show or whatever.

[00:17:25] And I can’t figure out how to say their name because I’ve only been reading it right now. I’m trying to find someplace that because I don’t want to mess it up. I’m like, Oh, I’ve been following your content all this time. I think you’re great, but I’ve, how invested am I? If I don’t know how to pronounce your name, but it’s because I’m reading it and no one’s show me which way to say that.

[00:17:43] So there is that, but then also we are putting the onus on them to go back and look at the post. So if I say my name now, Oh I’m another opportunity. Hello, advertising McDonald’s, with all its business around the world is still advertising all day, every day. So we remember their name.

[00:18:01] So that is, that is a huge thing I was overlooking because I just thought, ah, they know who they’re on my page there. They read by post. They saw my fit picture. They know who I am, but not so much. Okay. That is good one. Make sure we say the name in the call to action. Oh my gosh. Okay. Where there must be other things.

[00:18:19] Cause you brought up some very subtle seasoning, powerful points and and very gentle, but significant. So what are some other things that you think we’re missing in this game of, personal branding and video content?

[00:18:35] Elin Giczi: So see, I think I want to add one more, one or two things to the call to action because I think I, I forgot to say them.

[00:18:45] So I’m just going to swoop them in because these are like. So basically, when you’re making videos, you make videos for some of them you make to talk to your ICP, your ideal clients. Some of them might be for your networks of peers.

[00:19:05] Okay.

[00:19:06] Depends on what kind of videos you do, but I don’t make all of my videos for my peers.

[00:19:10] Just only for my ICP, sometimes like things that would be interesting for my community or my peers. And depending on that, do you want to format your CTA differently? Okay. Or at least that’s what I do, because if I tell my peers or my community that might not be my ICP, if I ask them in my CTA to, Send me a DM to work with me that might not be as relevant to them. She just won a contest for saying as much acronyms in one sentence. CTA, DM, ICP.

[00:19:44] Kris Ward: Okay. Yeah. You know what? I think we’re back to the personal branding part, which I had never looked at. We’re so I like, I have to make a certain amount of content. I got to get it out there. Wherever you’re putting it, LinkedIn, Instagram, all these boom.

[00:19:56] We got to go. We got to go. But I think to the personal part is even if people are not, I know they’re set up. They don’t need my help, but they are chiming in on my posts. So I could be making content just to engage and have a conversation with people and not always be about pitching and selling or saying, where can this video get me the next lead?

[00:20:19] So just being liked. If that peripheral move, that other person is like, Oh, they like you, they’re going to refer you to somebody. So just again, forgetting the personal in personal branding.

[00:20:31] Elin Giczi: Yeah. I think the networking part of LinkedIn is amazing. Like I’ve met so many inspiring people and also people who has referred clients to me.

[00:20:40] And I think that is. It’s a beautiful thing. And that happens when people get to know you.

[00:20:45] Kris Ward: Okay. Oh my gosh. We have to keep it right. Capital P E R S O N A L. Personal. I think you, it’s so easy to say things so often. Personal branding. And then it becomes one word and then you forget.

[00:20:58] What that first word was supposed to mean, why it’s there. Otherwise it’s just branding, right? We don’t talk about Nike and personal branding. So we stuck the word there for a reason and now we pay no attention to it. Oh my gosh. Okay. This is really, I think like you, you do have an elegance about your Elin and you got a gentleness to you.

[00:21:16] And I think that this stuff really comes out in your communication about the videos. It’s it’s really easy to get seduced into blasting, it’s not my cup of tea. It’s the whole Gary Vaynerchuk style. And so I think for this, not only is it a good reminder to be ourselves and to be positive Personal and personable without having to share your trauma of your entire life or spill your guts.

[00:21:41] But that just remembering that all these little tweaks can make them just more relatable and engaging.

[00:21:48] Elin Giczi: Thank you for saying that first. And also I think that I like, I recognize what you’re saying because in many ways, we associate a personal brand and someone talking on video with a person basically shouting and only being super high energy.

[00:22:05] And I love watching super high energy content, but I also love seeing people that are more like low energy and calm. I love. I love seeing everyone because there are so many different people out there, right? And there is a service provider for everyone. There is someone to follow for everyone. And that diversity is just amazing to see.

[00:22:28] Kris Ward: Yeah. And I think even though I’m high energy, I still feel like it’s not, I don’t want to be blasting or yelling or the whole circus act is not my cup of tea. Yes. I am high energy. Cause I get excited about things, but it’s not me forcing my energy upon you. And so you’re right. Even for me, who is high energy, I see other people with a very aggressive blasting and that’s not my style, but it does give you the impression that the loudest one wins.

[00:22:56] Whereas your are very gentle, but I think profound.

[00:23:01] Elin Giczi: Thank you for saying that. I think, oh, sorry. I might’ve hit the phone microphone there, but I think there is someone for everyone.

[00:23:11] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:12] Elin Giczi: Yeah. And I like, I have nothing against the loud approach either or the quiet approach.

[00:23:17] I think everyone has.

[00:23:18] Kris Ward: But that there’s more than one approach. That’s the thing. Oh yeah. Definitely. Oh my gosh. Okay. Elin, where can people find more of your brilliance?

[00:23:27] Elin Giczi: If they want to learn more from me, they can find me on LinkedIn. I’m there. I post videos on there, text posts. That’s where I am actually.

[00:23:35] I’m very much a one platform girl.

[00:23:38] Kris Ward: Good. I like it. Okay. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn as well. Okay. Check her out. Our notes will be we have show notes. We’ll give you the link right to her LinkedIn, everything you need right there. Share this. show with a business buddy for sure. Cause there’s some really powerful gems in here that I think are constantly overlooked and don’t let them bang about by themselves.

[00:23:58] So everyone, thank you again, Elin, and we will see you in the next episode.

[00:24:04] Elin Giczi: Thank you so much, Kris.