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What sets this podcast apart? We believe in the power of meaningful marketingโa holistic approach that prioritises authenticity, connection, and purpose, whilst still turning a profit.
Chantal Gerardy is an International Award Winning Marketing Strategist who empowers purpose-led businesses to revolutionise their online marketing approach and create a brand that resonates deeply with their online audience. If you're tired of cookie-cutter marketing advice, and seek strategies that truly make a difference, this podcast is for you.
If you are a business owner feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or struggling to cut through the noise online? We've got your back!
Our podcast is tailored for entrepreneurs hungry for clarity, confidence, and tangible results in their online marketing. Our podcast isn't just about boosting sales; it's about creating an efficient marketing machine that reflects your values, passion and purpose. Whether you're stuck or looking to maximise your marketing, we're here to guide you every step of the way.
Our episodes dive deep into practical skills, customer-generating strategies, and streamlined systems to help you thrive without relying on paid ads. From mastering social media, creating content that converts, ranking on google, getting your website to work, lead list building and email marketing, each episode is packed with tips and techniques to help you thrive online.
Join me each week as we explore management and monetisation online marketing strategies designed to reduce your time online while increasing your impact. With our guidance, you'll align your business and marketing team more closely, ensuring every effort moves you towards growth. From overcoming challenges to seizing opportunities, each episode is packed with actionable advice to help you thrive in the world of online marketing and effective management.
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social media, Google email marketing systems, website traffic, and the endless content creation that comes with marketing. It's overwhelming, right? Say goodbye to endless stress and hello to clarity with the meaningful marketing podcast. In this podcast, I will share with you fast and free practical methods to help you manage, monetize, and market your business.
All infused with a healthy dose of motivation. Let's do this. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. Today in studio I have the amazing Moana Robinson. From be styled for life. She is a personal stylist here on the Gold Coast and also works online. And today we're going to be talking about some meaningful styling methods as well as marketing that she does within her business.
So welcome today to our session. And I'm so excited to chat to you. For those of you who are watching on YouTube, you can see what I'm wearing. And it's funny how you immediately get self conscious when you're hanging around. When you go and you're hanging around a stylist and you're wearing something and you're like, OMG, I hope that color works.
Um, so if you're not watching on YouTube and if you're watching on Spotify and Apple, jump onto YouTube, Chantal Gerardy Online Business Marketing and have a look at the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. Check out what I'm wearing and let me know if I chose the right app for today. Welcome to the studio, Moana.
Thanks for having me, Chantal. It makes me feel like a tax agent or something.
I think what you do is a little bit sexier. Thanks so much for coming and joining us today. So because it is the Meaningful Marketing Podcast, I always say to our guests, tell us a little bit firsty about yourself and how you got into what you were doing.
Like were you always into fashion? Was it something you always liked? For me, never. I've always been into my active wear, but for you, how
did it start? I've always loved colour, and I've always loved shopping, so now I get to shop for other people and spend other people's money, or help other people spend their money.
I've always been interested in art. I've got art in my family. My great, great grandfather was a famous painter. And I think art has a lot to do with style and colour and people, how people dress themselves. But I'm more interested in people, not so much fashion. I love fashion, but not the fast fashion.
It's just Yeah, I'm sort of a bit different to a fashion stylist.
Yeah, and I think it comes down to that functional, functional kind of styling. Because I always say to people I'm very functional, right? Today I'm wearing my Birks, with a dress. And I'm known to wear my Crocs all the time as well. So I'm very functional.
However, I'm also aware of the fact that when I do go to function and go to awards, I've got to be able to dress. But I still want to be authentically me. But I still also want to, obviously, be comfortable in the environment. I am in with what I'm wearing. Now, one of the rules or the kind of the laws that I made for myself when I first started out was I wanted to grow a six figure business without, without wearing high heels or makeup.
Now people have heard me say this over many years. I don't want to have to wear high heels or makeup and I want to grow a six figure business. And I always tell everybody that I did do it. It doesn't mean that I don't wear high heels or makeup. Actually, I don't wear high heels mostly because I'd break my neck and fall on stage.
But I, I have gotten away with it, but a level of confidence, I've had to have a level of confidence and get really confident in myself in order to be able to do that. There's a lot of imposter syndrome, there's a lot of, you know, can I do it? Will I do it? Do I have to dress like everyone else? When that is just not authentically me.
And to tell you the truth, if I was wearing a lot of makeup and high heels and had to present every day, I'd be so uncomfortable that I probably the juice that comes out of my mouth wouldn't be juicy. So I know that you very passionate about, you know, your own style and your own story. So tell me a little bit about that.
When I was growing up, I, my father actually thought it was vain to like clothes. So I probably may have got into fashion a lot earlier. instead of doing what I did, which was work in legal offices, but I did have an interest in fashion when I was growing up, and I used to sew a lot of my own clothes at an early age.
My dad bought me a Singer sewing machine for 50 dollars I think, and I loved making my own clothes as soon as I could. But I went on to do other things and then my interest in style started after I started taking friends shopping and relatives shopping and I just used to help people shop and choose clothes and I've just always had that interest in colour and style and helping other people.
I can tell you right now that it excites me when you say you want to go shopping with someone. Cause I hate shopping, right? I'm not your normal girl and I have three daughters. So I don't know how that happened, but I got three daughters and they love shopping and they're completely different to me when it comes to fashion and clothing and makeup.
They are so good. In fact, they've been known to do my hair and makeup, but I am just not into it at all. So the idea that someone can take me out and help me spend my money and help me. By clothing that I'm still going to feel comfortable in and enjoy. I mean, I absolutely love the whole idea of that because it's not something that I like doing.
It's not something I aspire to doing. And for me, like my time is short. Like I don't want to be spending it in the shops doing something. So if you had to go that, that, that I'd be over the fricking moon going. Yes. And I know I've got a wedding on the cards at the moment, not my own, but my daughter's wedding and Moana has.
said that she's going to help me as mother of the bride to, you know, find something to wear. So I'm looking so forward to that experience as well. So tell me, you know, meaningful style, mindful choices. Talk to me a little bit about that.
Meaningful style is really thinking about where you're going and adapting your style so that you, for, for, for a meaning like you, I've done a few talks where I've actually Discovered what the backdrop is going to be, like what the stage is going to be and then I will adapt my style so that I build rapport with the audience and I just look appropriate, appropriate for the job that I'm doing.
So the meaningful style is all about thinking about what you're doing and also making mindful choices so that you are choosing to wear what you're going to be comfortable in. If you're not comfortable, you're not going to be confident.
Oh, I absolutely love that. So again, just getting back to my daughter's wedding that's on the cards, you know, they've got a theme, they know what they're wearing.
So it's so lovely to be able to talk to you and go, well, like this is how the photos are going to look. So this is, you know, I don't want to be, I don't want to wear something that's going to be inappropriate or not stand out. But also if you're sitting for a long period of time, I like to have a little bit of stretch in my clothing so that I can feel a little bit comfortable and I'm not going to feel like.
Like a boa constrictor, like I'm being boa constrictors, it's crushing me. So, um, that's awesome. So let's talk a little bit about, you know, is it one size fits all? So whenever I talk to people about their marketing strategies, I always say it's not one size fits all. If somebody is an extrovert, I'm going to give them like a webinar funnel if that's what they want to do.
Podcasting because that's something they want to do, that's going to be a good marketing strategy for them. However, if someone's an introvert, I'm not going to say to them, Hey, listen, I now want you to go stand on stage and present unless that's an aspiration that they have. So I always say that there's a marketing strategy for everyone and if you enjoy it, you'll do it.
So is it one style fits all? Because I shared the story with you where a personal stylist had said to me, Chantel, You won't look good in mustard, mustard will drain you. And if you go onto my Facebook profile, you'll notice I wear mustard all the time. Tell
me, is it one style fits all? No, definitely not.
No, definitely not. Because if we all followed fashion and just wore exactly what a stylist told us to wear. Or told you to wear and followed fashion to fads and trends and things like that, which are very short lived. We wouldn't really be dressing as ourselves and I'm so passionate about people dressing.
as themselves. So it's not one size fits all. I do a style personality assessment. I also look of course at colours and it's really about replicating the colours that are inherent in you. So your skin, your hair and your eyes and basically replicating that and I explain to people why they suit certain colours and then I say to them.
Now you've got the information, you can break the rules if you want to.
I love that, break the rules. So, you know, like I said earlier, I, I am a very casual dresser. When I go to Sydney, I try to scrub up a little bit more. And when obviously when I speak on stage, I do scrub up a bit more and I do wear a little bit of makeup.
And for awards, I normally get a hair and makeup person to help me. But my preference is to be in my active wear and to work in my active wear. But my level of confidence and how I position myself. When I will present myself, I believe allows me to get away with it. But that, that has been, it has been a work in progress.
It wasn't something that, that always was, it has been a work in progress. And I had to obviously work on myself, love, and how I feel about myself in order to be able to do that. And I often joke with people about it as well. And sometimes that just lightens things as well. You know, I had someone the one time say to me, Oh, did you forget your shoes today?
And I said, no, these are my shoes. I don't leave home without. them. They work so amazing. Um, and I have people make fun of my crocs all the time as well. So
I saw Katie laying in concert. In New York, and she was on stage in bare feet.
Yeah, I love that. Barefoot is amazing. I do love that too, so. So you say style should be simple, effortless, and uniquely yours.
Talk to us about that.
Simple as in, really, we're all busy, we're all time poor, and you don't want to be rifling through your wardrobe, wasting so much. The average woman spends about, wastes about 90 minutes a week. deciding what to wear. If she hasn't had a stylist in her life, but really you should be able to reach into your wardrobe, get something out to wear within five minutes and feel comfortable and not even think about it again for the rest of the day.
But if you are dressed in something that's uncomfortable, you're going to be adjusting yourself all day, you're not going to feel comfortable and you're not going to feel confident. So it's all about effortless style and Just look feeling as though you look the best that you can.
Well, a couple of things there.
Firstly, my daughters probably do 90 minutes a day and I know they don't listen to this podcast, so they're not going to say anything, but they probably do 90 minutes a day of trying to choose something to wear. Secondly, I'm one of those mannequin buyers. Meaning if I walk past and I see a mannequin and it looks great, I'll want the whole outfit because I don't want to mix and match because I just will mess it up.
And lastly, I choose dresses because that way I don't have to mix my top and my bottom. That's smart, that's smart thinking. Awesome, so let's talk about your business for a sec now. Let's talk about some of the meaningful marketing strategies that you have within your business in order to get new customers.
Marketing for me is really about connection and As well as raising your profile and just being involved, being involved in the community, being involved with your clients, being interested in your clients. That way you get more referrals because they, you've built that rapport with them. A lot of my clients I feel as though I'm friends with now.
So it's really building those connections and that's my way of marketing. I really believe in organic marketing and just. Looking at all the different marketing pillars that you can have, you know, I've done a TED Talk and that's because it was something I was passionate about at the time, but that I think has raised my profile.
Then I've got a podcast myself and I also help run a networking meeting once a week with a friend, Karen Clark, we've got Tuesdays on Target. What else do I do? I write blogs, I've got my website. You've got your books, two books. Yes, I've written two books. I've written chapters in other books and magazine articles and I actually enjoy doing all that sort of work.
To me that's not like work, it's something that I really, and I really enjoy doing everything that I do.
I'm so excited about what you said because it's everything that I believe in when it comes to meaningful marketing. You spoke about connection, you're talking about conversations, you're talking about genuinely being interested and caring about your audience.
And that those are the type of business owners that I work with, you know, purposely passionate business owners who actually enjoy their marketing because it is a relationship that they're having online with people who they're interested in. And that's how, that's why it becomes so easy for you to get clients.
And it's not a chore. It's an absolutely not a choice. I love everything that you said there. Well done. So you also have a virtual assistant in the Philippines and I've had the privilege of working with Moana's and working with and meeting in the Philippines, uh, her virtual assistant Natasha as well. So talk about some of the tasks that she supports you with.
She supports me if I'm out at an event, I'll just send her some photos and she'll put a post up for me. So she helps me with social media. She keeps a track of my calendar, she helps me with my blog, so I write the blogs, and then she finds some images for me. She always double checks with me before she posts anything.
She's really got to learn what I like and what I don't like. So everything that goes out there is really coming initially from me. And she's, like I was saying before, before we started, she's got my flavour now. Like, she really knows. How to put my message across because I don't want to seem inauthentic and I feel that people have to know that it's coming from me.
Again, I love that so much. So when you have a virtual assistant, it's worth putting the effort and the time into them so that you can start to connect with them. They can start to better understand the brand that you are and they have some of your key messages as well. So your key messages or your juicy words, your glitter.
So tell us a bit about your juicy words, your glitter words that you use.
I find that I use a lot of the same words all the time and that's because they're kind of coming from me. But something from my books was, I've got my book, Be Styled for Life, Living with Sass and Style over 50. And the next book, Teddy's Revenge, Overcoming Challenges, Life's Challenges with Sass and Style.
My name is the Sassy Stylist and I believe SASS stands for Self Awareness and Self Sufficiency.
Ooh, love it. So
Sassy, Self Awareness, Self Sufficiency. for you. So it's really important to be self aware. Once you're self aware, you can understand other people more and you understand how to take responsibility for the way that you feel and your behavior.
I'm also a qualified life coach. I've done, I'm a master's in NLP and hypnotherapy, passion and purpose coaching. That part of it, I really loved as well. So I'm really excited to be doing what I love doing.
So marketing is always about what you do that's different to everyone else. And you can see here that Moana is going out on a limb.
She's got her point of difference and she is going out there. She's got her mission statements, her key messages, you know, she's got her positioning and credibility, which she brings to the table as well, which is so fundamental when it comes to marketing and getting your name out there. there, because people then will choose you over everyone else.
So you doesn't, you don't have to be cookie cutter and fluffy. You don't have to go out and say, you know, I'm same, same. I'm going to do things the same. Find your juice, find your glitter, find your point of difference where you can stand in the marketplace and do those things that are different. That is absolutely.
Awesome. What was I going to talk to you about now? Oh, we spoke about as well. So I'm a partner in OBM Hub software, which is an all in one marketing platform that we use. And Moana and Natasha, her VA, are using that platform. So could you talk to us a little bit about the platform and how you found the platform so far?
I've really enjoyed using the platform because I think we're not using it to its full extent, but Natasha's working on that, learning more about that. I'm really pleased with the capabilities that we've got on the platform. You know, it covers calendar, email, all sorts of different capabilities, so it's really exciting to have this platform and My VA in particular is very excited to be learning more and more, more about it.
And you've supported her so much as well, which has been really great.
Oh, no, it's an absolute pleasure and we do have a help center now to live chat and everything, which has just made it so much more easier for virtual assistants and business owners to get support in the platform. So I am so, so, so excited.
So thank you so much. So if people wanna connect with you, where would they, where can they find you?
I've got a website, so the normal www which , uh, b style for life.com au. And also the link tree, which is Be Styled for Life. And also, yeah, so go on the website and also my podcast link is on there as well.
So the podcast is on Spotify and all the podcast stations. Awesome. What's the name of your podcast? It's Take a Moment. So if you look up Take a Moment with Moana, you'll find it. And that comes from, everyone calls me Mo. So let's take a moment.
Take a moment.
So it's really just an informal chat with women who are around about the 40 year age group who have overcome some sort of a challenge and they're now living their best life.
So it's very inspirational and I have a huge variety of interviews on there and that's a passion of mine as well. I started doing that when I was travelling overseas as an interest and then when I was Yeah, someone said, why don't you include your podcast in your business, so that's what I do.
Ah, it's wonderful.
So, we did a podcast just recently, so if you do go onto the, onto Spotify, go and have a look for the platform, and have a look for the podcast, and you'll find the one that we did. What was it called? It was called something, finding your, working your confidence muscle, or Confidence, yes. It was on confidence.
But if you want to hear about my story, I delve into my story a little bit more there, which is great. Um, so thank you so much again. So for those of you who are listening online through Apple or Spotify or one of the podcast providers, make sure that you go and you give this a like and you give it a rating as well.
I'd really appreciate that. For those of you who are curious to see what it is that I'm wearing today and whether or not it meets the standard, not that I care because I'd wear it anyway. Apparently it does. So I nailed it and it took me two seconds to get it out of the cupboard as well. So I didn't actually make an effort, but go and have a look at YouTube as well because we do have the video on YouTube for those of you who haven't watched.
So make sure you subscribe, make sure you like, and follow us, that you leave us a review as well, and then also you can jump onto the website online businessmarketing. com. au and you can find a whole bunch of free resources on there, which can support you in your marketing journey. So thank you Moana again for joining us today.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you. We always have fun. .
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