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Welcome to the Building & Branding podcast hosted by Amanda Stichter, produced by Virtual Vision.
On this show, we sit down with experts in the restoration & home services industry to hear their stories of how they built their businesses to succeed and stand out. Our conversations will uncover the challenges they've faced, the strategies they've employed, and the pivotal moments that defined their paths. We'll also dive into the critical importance of branding and marketing in this field, sharing insights on how to create a compelling brand that resonates with customers and stands out in a competitive market.
Join us as we blend practical advice with inspiring real-life stories, providing you the tools and motivation to craft precision and build a last brand.
Amanda Stichter (00:02.872)
Hello everyone. Welcome to a brand new and exciting episode of the Building and Branding podcast. I am still your host, Amanda Stichter, but today I want to introduce some changes that are happening to the podcast and kind of give you some background to what really even brought these about. So if you have been listening to this podcast for really any period of time, it all started as
what was then called the Digital Dialogues Podcast. This was probably like my really poor attempt at a good name or alliteration of a name to play on the idea of digital marketing and then the concept of bringing in experts in the home services and restoration industry and really just have some transparent and very raw conversation with them about
what brought them to where they're at, what advice they would give to people coming up in the industry and kind of where they'd go from there. And I have enjoyed every second of doing this. To be totally frank, like I wasn't really sure what to expect when looking at starting a podcast and what that would mean. But it has truly been such a blessing. The reality is though, fast forward, let's see, that was almost nine months ago, if not longer now.
that the Digital Dialogues brand really started. And here we are now, nine months later, realizing that maybe it's time for this podcast to really be branded and built on something that much more heavily identifies my passion and the conversations that we're having on this space. So as you know, if you've heard, this podcast is produced and brought to you by Virtual Vision.
and I am the chief of operations at that company and I'll tell you what, this company has been such a huge blessing to me. I am so blessed to be at a company that allows me to recognize my skills and my passions and to use them in a way
Amanda Stichter (02:13.166)
that really ignites who I am and ignites what I love doing in my job and in this industry. So with that in mind, really, maybe at the beginning of this year, it's July 2024 right now, in January 2024, I really started bringing out my passion for branding and branding conversations within the restoration industry.
Now, let me take a step back and make sure it's very, very clear for any of our listeners that when I speak about branding, I am not referring to a logo and a color palette. Certainly, those are a part of a branding strategy, a very essential part of a branding strategy because they're the visual aspects or some of the visual aspects that bring a brand to life. But the reality is there is such a deeper
foundational aspect to what branding actually is and how companies and successful businesses are built on good branding. And this is something that I have been extremely passionate about for years. You've probably heard me mention in previous podcast episodes that before coming to Virtual Vision, I ran my own company where I did
brand design and brand consulting for a lot of different companies and specifically entrepreneurs who were looking to take this dream that they had in front of them and build it to this real life entity and then to capitalize on that. Now transition that several years later being in my position, I'm in an industry where there's a lot of service work being done.
water damage, fire damage, mold, HVAC, things like that. These are all services that we're marketing to customers who need them. And the reality is though, it's easy in this sort of industry to look over or overlook the concept of branding. Okay, we have a logo. Okay, we have a website. We have a mission statement. But that's...
Amanda Stichter (04:33.07)
It easily becomes overlooked because it can lose the factor of what you're doing on a day -to -day basis. The reality is, specifically in the home services and restoration industry, it's very commoditized. Every single business at its core offers the same services. 24 -7 water emergency, you
Rebuilds and roofing and all of that at the core of that service regardless of what you're charging or how you do it or how you market it you You're offering the same thing and What's going to build your company into a way?
Amanda Stichter (05:17.42)
And what's going to build your company beyond those services is the way in which you position yourself foundationally as a brand.
If you're a business owner or you've really at any point in your life had that moment of, know what, I think I'm going to sell this or you know what, I think I'm going to start a business. Then you understand that there was that moment or that emotion and excitement that really came a part of that starting of a business. And that emotion that you felt plays a very big role.
in the branding of your business, the why, because that emotion identifies the why you got into it in the first place. And especially in a commoditized industry, it's really easy to forget that. It's really easy a year or two or five down the road to operate in your day in and day out tasks of what you're doing, whether
in front of a customer or you're at the office or you're running the business and you forget, you forget how you felt when you started
So in this podcast, this reboot of what was Digital Dialogues, I want to lean into that concept. So I'm super excited to introduce our new name and the new direction that I want to go with this podcast. And we're calling it Building and Branding because the reality is, is every single person that I talk to in this show,
Amanda Stichter (07:06.43)
started somewhere. And I want to start by talking about that. Like how did you even get here? What was that emotion you felt when you decided to start into this business? And I want to dive into that a little bit
Every single person is an expert in what they share. And I want to stress how they built a business and they built a brand beyond their services to stand out. And then the lessons that they've learned along the way and how that can apply. There have been some incredible truth bombs and wisdom that has been shared in previous episodes. And so I just at my core,
at my passion of what I want to do with this podcast and what we talk about felt like this new vision for it really much more.
Amanda Stichter (08:08.244)
matched the foundation of it, building a business and branding it to stand out. And I think it's important to mention too, and we talk about this in some of the upcoming episodes that sometimes brands are built very intentionally and sometimes they kind of just get built by themselves and they stick. The reality is whether you intend to build a brand or not, one is being built even in your hands off attitude of
A brand is being built. And so we're going to spend time relaunching this podcast, reintroducing the concept of what it looks like to build a business, to succeed and a brand that stands out. That's what those industry experts have a brand that is recognized, even if their brand is their person, it might have started with their business. It might have started with their story. And these are the conversations that I want to have.
So you'll notice in future episodes, some of these episodes, as always, I'm gonna have guests where we dive into raw conversation. We talk about their stories, we talk about what they built, we talk about the brand and the importance of that and how they feel it is in this industry to have a brand outside of your services. But then also in some of the episodes, we're just gonna dive deeper into the concept of branding principles.
into the concept of what's a mission statement, into the concept of the brand pieces that easily get missed. The things that are beyond your logo, beyond your color palette, beyond the front and center visualization of your business. And I'm so excited for all of the guests that we have coming up and even those that we've had in the past, because if it weren't for those conversations, we wouldn't be building this to where it is today into this new
super exciting concept of building and branding.
Amanda Stichter (10:10.406)
foundational brand builds a business to last. And that's what I want to uncover here. That's what I want to uncover in these conversations. The importance of what that actually means for each of these experts. I want you to hear their stories. I want to re -spark that fire and that passion for how they got into this in the first place so that you can grasp onto that wisdom.
and have it reignite your fire for what you are building, whatever that looks like, whether you're in this industry or not. So with all of that said, I am so excited to introduce you and welcome you to the new building and branding podcast. We are going to have so much fun. We are going to have so many valuable conversations and I cannot wait to kick this off and really get to highlight on something that I am so passionate
So if you've been a previous listener, Digital Dialogues is now Building and Branding. If you're a brand new listener, welcome. I'm super excited to dive into this space with you where we build and brand. We are going to craft precision and build a brand that lasts. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next episode.