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What are the best brands doing to stay relevant, build trust, and create content smarter?
At Share Your Genius, we have the same questions, so we're tapping the best in the space for their answers—one voicemail at a time.
Join us each week for quick hits of insights from b2b marketers and leaders.
Rachel Elsts Downey (00:00):
Rachel Downey. Most brands chase attention Mazzone, Matthew Mazzone. He earns it by building trust. Authentic connection is the core of how he builds campaigns that move people to action. From his experience on the campaign trails to now running campaigns for some of the largest consumer brands, he believes and knows from experience, that emotional connection is the fastest path to that desired action. Mazzone has carved out a niche by focusing on an overlooked consumer segment and creating content and campaigns that meet them exactly where they are. It's not about disruption, it's about resonance. So I had to ask him, when you're reaching out to a consumer segment that your brand hasn't really paid much attention to in the past, how do you build trust effectively and quickly? Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. At the tone, please record your message.
Matthew Mazzone (01:09):
Hey, Rachel, I know we've been playing phone tag all day, but wanted to leave a quick voicemail just to follow up on what we were texting about. My whole business is establishing trust with consumers, with viewers, whoever's viewing the creative, whether that's a graphic or a video marketing copy. Our goal is to establish trust and authenticity with that audience, to persuade them to a tangible action on the other end. Maybe that's buying a shoe. Maybe that's get out and supporting some sort of movement or objective and maybe a legislation in Congress or buying a t-shirt, right? It can be a number of things, but the goal at the end of the day is to emotionally connect with that consumer because we found that is the best way to then persuade to an action. And look, many agencies, many creative houses are focused purely on the art of disruption.
(01:58):
And I think in the environment that we exist in today, there's so much noise and there's so much disruption, and that genuine connection is a rarity. And I think that's why you found influencers to be so successful in what they do is because they create a connection with their audience. And so how do you do that? What does that look like? The art of connection can look very different. You can connect emotionally on a number of levels. Maybe that's empathetically, maybe that's through joy or comedy. Comedy's a big one, especially in the influencer space, in a way to connect with your viewer, with your audience, with your target segment that you're trying to talk to. And so we have based our company around the idea of authentic connection. So as a connection company, we are laser focused on authentically creating relationships between our content and the consumers or the viewers that are experiencing it.
(02:52):
And listen, we live in a world today where 70% of Americans buy brands that reflect their values. And so one of the key metrics, or just drivers of success for us is if the people that we're talking to can see themselves reflected, whether through lived experiences or what have you with the content that we're making, that's utmost success for us. When we can connect with the viewer on their level where they are, so it's not disrupting them, it's not taking them out of the world that they're in. It's connecting with them deeper where they are. It can look different for consumers geographically, ideologically, where they're at in life, even where they're at in terms of age, connecting with an audience that's older, just connect with them on a different channel because maybe they watch HGTV or the Food Channel, but you connect with them through what you're saying and the color schemes and the fonts you're choosing.
(03:45):
And all these things work towards connecting with this audience on a more authentic level where they are. So that's what we're laser focused on, making sure our consumers, the people that we're speaking to are reflected. They see themselves in the work that we're doing, that we're meeting them where they are. Because at the end of the day, if someone can see themselves in your brand, that is where genuine connection happens. That is where trust is built, and that is a sweet spot that we've found for companies to be in. And so that's what drives us. That's what motivates us, and that's what we're focused on every day. But give me a call back. Always happy to chat through a little bit more. Have a great day.
Rachel Elsts Downey (04:31):
Thanks for listening. Want your podcast to do more? Subscribe to Genius Cuts because it's never just a podcast. You can find it@shareyourgenius.com.