Tiffany Wisnieski of Twiz Creative joins Jon, Lisa, and Trish today to talk about marketing and branding - and how important it is for your business.
Having graduated from the College for Creative Studies in advertising design, Tiffany has always been passionate about branding. She worked in several agencies, before deciding in 2020 to go out on her own and start Twiz Creative, which she did while going on a cross-country road trip with her dog, yes, in the middle of a pandemic. And while she can work from anywhere, she tells us what went into her decision to return to Michigan.
We ask Tiffany to explain the difference between a company and a brand; her answer is an important listen for any business owner.
With Twiz Creative, Tiffany works with freelancers to handle multiple aspects of her clients' brand marketing, from video and social media, to even direct mail where warranted. We ask her about the biggest mistake that companies make with social media, and her answer may surprise you.
Tiffany also tells us about her role as new President of the Business Womens' Network, and the events that they've done and are working on for 2023.
Connect with Tiffany at Twiz Creative:
Website: https://www.twizcreative.com/
Email: hello@twizcreative.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twiz.creative/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twizcreative/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/twiz-creative/
Phone:(586) 201-8877
Connect with our hosts:
Trish Carruth from The Personal Jeweler - https://www.thepersonaljeweler.com/
Jon Gay from JAG in Detroit Podcasts - http://www.jagindetroit.com/
Lisa Bibbee from Keller Williams - http://soldbylisab.com/
Jon: Welcome in to the Rocc Pod. I am Jon Gay from Jag in Detroit Podcasts.
Lisa: I am Lisa Bibbee, your neighborhood realtor with Keller Williams Advantage.
Trish: And I'm Trish Carruth, third generation jeweler and owner of Your Personal Jeweler.
Jon: Excited for today's guest. She is Tiffany Wisnieski of Twiz Creative. Welcome to the show.
Tiffany: Thanks for having me here. I'm looking forward to it.
Jon: Tell us a little bit about your background, Tiffany, how you got started and how you ended up becoming a business owner.
Tiffany: Yeah, I went to the College for Creative Studies for advertising design which was super fun. I enjoyed art school.
It was definitely the place for me. And then from there I got right into advertising. I jumped around agencies. I've been to a couple different ones in Detroit here. I've been to an internal marketing team for a medical spa. I also have been to a Detroit startup doing UX, UI, user experience. So my kind of experience in the design and advertising world is got a range to it.
Jon: And with all that experience, obviously you know the space very well. What drove you to start your own company?
Tiffany: I think 2020 really put the nail on the head. As it did for a lot of people. At the time I was working in-house on a marketing team and 2020 hit, there were a few other factors that was happening with the company and it was just really the perfect time for me to step away.
I retained the employer I was working with as a client, so I did some creative and marketing as needed. And just decided that I was gonna take a break. But that break ended up becoming me starting a business. So that's really how Twiz Creative started. I started doing things based on referral. Some people that were at that company left to go to other companies and then referred me to their new companies that they were working with and said, hey, I have somebody that does a bunch of marketing creative things that can help with design, advertising, and everything, so there she is. And I'm like I guess I'm starting a business. What do I call this thing? So that's how Twiz Creative started.
Lisa: Congratulations on launching your business. You had taken a trip in 2020 when you first started Twiz Creative. Was this a work trip or did you wanna get out and see the country before you started your company?
Tiffany: It was definitely both. I had some money saved up and I was thinking about moving to the west side of the country and I wanted to check it out. So my dog and I jumped in the car in my little Subaru and we hopped to cross the country. And let me tell you, starting a business and traveling during COVID, during all of the fires that were happening.
I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. It was crazy, but it was a lot of fun and yeah, I just wanted to see the country. And I stayed in Seattle. I stayed in Washington, stayed in Bellevue. I went to California to visit a friend. And then I was in Montana for a little bit waiting out the fires.
So it was just cool to get on the road, meet people, I was on calls day to day back in Michigan and other states, North Carolina. So the, there was that time. It was a little chaotic, but it was super fun.
Lisa: So as amazing of a trip as that sounds, you ended up deciding to stick around in Michigan. So what was the deciding factor in why you chose Michigan to call your home?
Tiffany: That's a great question. I think with traveling, I just realized that, every city is just a little bit different, but it has more similarities than there are differences. Yeah, there might be a beach here, there might be mountains over here, but at the end of the day, Michigan is where my family is.
It's where I'm from and I just realized that I wanna make Twiz a traveling company anyway. So I wanna be able to work from anywhere. I don't want a huge brick and mortar office. I wanna work with freelancers, so I'm gonna be on the go anyways. So let me just stay here, continue to launch this business and then, grow from there.
Trish: Can you talk to us a little bit about the difference between a company and a brand?
Tiffany: Yes. So a company to me, is anybody that is making money, right? They've got clients, they've got customers they're doing the business, but they're lacking something. And that might be personality, that might be actually defining core values that might be defining the way that they look and present.
They're just lacking that. And so a brand is somebody that knows who they are, right? You can personify this brand. It's somebody who's confident in their core values. It's somebody that has a defined look and feel. Even if you just think about somebody in your life, like maybe they always dress a certain way, they always present a certain way.
They have a strong brand presence to them. And that's the same thing you wanna bring to a company. You want people to see or hear or feel something and think of a brand. So company is like, lacking personality brand is confident and has a personality.
Jon: I love that. So what are some of the ways you specialize in bringing out the brand of a company and fashioning that brand and giving that feel and that voice, social media and otherwise?
Tiffany: The primary thing when building a brand is to really just talk to the people who started it, and it's having a conversation like this. Any company, even the biggest ones, have somebody that started it, right? Somebody who started it in their garage, in their basement, in their grandma's living room, wherever it might be.
There's that passion and that soul that sometimes gets forgotten about. And so what I really like to do is when I talk with clients is hey, let's get everybody in the room that needs to be. Maybe there's one or two partners. I have a client that there was six, so it's let's talk to these people and really get down to the reason why we're doing this. And why we started in the first place.
So at that point, I'm trying to get to the guts of things because the gut is where we can find passion, where we can relate to their customers. Cuz that's what the customers care about. What do I wanna be associated with? Do I want this company or this one? Which one can I relate to? So I really try to pull that out of a client.
Lisa: And I love that you create brands and I've done the same for myself and one of the important things that I know I've done is really getting to the video and the photography side of things, you also focus on that, which is amazing because not only can you create the brand, but you can capture that, business headshot that they need and put together different types of videos. So can you talk a little bit about what you do with the video?
Tiffany: Yeah, absolutely. I think once we've defined the brand, and sometimes I go into clients who already have that brand defined, so it's really just let's start creating some content. So from there, what I really like to do is I've got a team of freelancers that are videographers, photographers, and depending on what the client needs, I will bring them into it to, like you said, get some head shots of a company.
And or start creating some social content. So that again, is building a social strategy first, right? And then coming in and shooting. And what I like to do is go right into a client's office, into their environment. And capture them there. Whether I'm bringing a photographer and videographer with me or whether I'm there with a ring light and a couple mics and my phone, and we're shooting, some vertical horizontal videos for various networks. It really just depends on what their goals are and what platforms they wanna be on.
Jon: Tiffany, let me ask you, what is the biggest mistake that you see that brands make? And obviously we've heard horror stories of, leaving social media to somebody you shouldn't leave it to and they post something horrible and it reflects poorly.
But aside from that, if you could scream it from the mountaintops on this podcast, what is one mistake that you see brands making consistently that you wish you could get them to just stop?
Tiffany: I think there's a couple things that I wish brands would stop doing. One thing, like you said, I'm gonna hint on, is giving the social responsibilities to somebody who already has a job within the organization, A full-time job, right?
They're like, hey, you can do social media. Of course, literally anybody can create a social page and get on there and do it. However, they might not be trained in marketing and messaging and branding and how to design and make everything consistent and feel like the same. And they don't have the time because maybe they're a receptionist or they're an assistant or they're taking phone calls and it's just very tough.
So I think designating somebody, even if it is internal within the organization, is great. Don't just give it to somebody who already has a job. They're not gonna have time. They might start, but it's not gonna be consistent.
Jon: Oh, hey, this person's new. They're in their twenties, they're probably good at social. Let's just dump it on their plate.
Tiffany: Exactly. Exactly. And they might be, but do they really know the company's goals?
Lisa: I was gonna say, I don't think people realize how much time and effort goes into being that social media expert for the company. It is a full-time job in and of itself. So yes. You need to hire somebody like you that can handle all aspects of that.
Tiffany: Exactly. The second part of that too is just posting generic things that don't have a real call to action for your viewers or don't really provide them any value. There's definitely a space for that type of content, but you need to mix it in with some high value content as well. Like to your viewers here's some free tips on how to do X, Y, Z, or if you're interested in more, visit our website and sign up for our newsletter.
Make it easy for them to receive more content from you. And then that way, from a marketing standpoint, you're gaining emails, right? To again, nurture those people who are following you on social, and now you can be in their inbox too. I think it's the mixture of content. People don't quite understand that you need to have more than just, one type of thing.
Jon: That actually is very common right now in podcasting and a hot topic in podcasting where people talk about posting your podcast to social media. If Mr. Zuckerberg decides that your post is not gonna show up in somebody's feed, that's not as effective as having the email address, having their information and being able to put something physically in their inbox every time you release an episode, as opposed to just hoping they see it on their Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or Twitter or whatever.
Tiffany: Yeah, that's you creating your own algorithm, which is empowering.
Jon: I love that. That's great.
Tiffany: Yep. You're getting off that algorithm and now you've got your own, you've got your email nurture sequence through MailChimp or whatever type of CRM you're using and now you have control. They might end up unsubscribing, that's up to you to create good content there too.
Jon: If they unsubscribe, that's on you.
Trish: Yep. I've seen that many businesses are focusing on social media and marketing and have moved away from print. But with print being desaturated now, would you say that using print as another form of getting your brand across is beneficial?
Tiffany: Yeah that's a great question. Thanks for asking. I definitely think that there is room for print. It just depends on what your company is doing, who the customer is, and if that print, whatever it might be. If it's a publication, it's a magazine or maybe it's even a direct mail piece, meaning it's a postcard that you create that's going to 32,000 homes in Royal Oak.
It just depends on what the company is, what that piece of mail or print is doing. And then if that customer is going to be there, if that ideal customer is there or not. I had a client that their main business was varicose veins and their main customer was people 65 and plus. Those people are still getting certain publications and reading them cuz that's what they are used to.
So it worked for them. But other clients, maybe they're even offering like a digital service. It's not gonna be as effective in print.
Jon: So you're saying I shouldn't advertise my podcasting services by sending a postcard to everybody in Royal Oak?
Tiffany: I would not recommend that. You could do it for maybe businesses. It would depend on direct mail, but I got a guy for that if you want him.
Jon: Fair enough. Fish where the fish are. Tiffany, what kind of companies and projects are you looking to take on as you continue to grow your business? Just for our listeners to see if there's a good fit there for them.
Tiffany: Yeah, so Twiz Creative, like I said, when I started I was doing everything. As you do. And then each year I just keep on niching down and I'm working with a client that's in the construction. Lighting and architectural interior design space and works, B2B. So business to business, and I really wanna focus on those companies too, and using social media to help connect them to other businesses and their ideal clients.
I guess what I'd be looking for is anybody in the space of architecture, interior design firms, engineering, construction, manufacturing. I think that those industries really. Actually, I know that they really lack in social presence and even just being on LinkedIn and interacting with their customers and really taking control of a firm's sales team and showing them, the powerful tool of LinkedIn and updating the site and being active as a singular person within a company. So I'm really trying to focus in on.
Lisa: So when did you become the president of the Business Women's Network?
Tiffany: Actually, just January of this year! We're three months, I guess almost four months into it now. And we just had our first event in March for Women's History Month. It was over at Woodward Corner Market and it was fantastic.
We had a few women's speakers, people are laughing and crying and asking questions and learning about how these women started their business. And it's just really cool. And the idea is just to really take that sentiment and bring it through the rest of the year doing these quarterly events, through the Chamber, right?
Because if you're in the Chamber, you're automatically, a BWN member, whether you're a male or female. So it's been fun.
Trish: I know that you love traveling, but outside of traveling, what else do you do for fun when you're not working?
Tiffany: I just talked to somebody and they're like, how come you don't go out anymore? I go out. But I find that I've been doing a lot of events that are industry related to what I'm trying to get into. So I talked about being more into the interior design, architecture community. So I'm going to these types of conventions and events where these people are in learning about that type of industry, cuz it's not my industry, but as a marketer, it's really cool because whatever, you're marketing, you have the opportunity to learn.
So I do a lot of that. And then other than that, I like to get out in the woods. I like to get out in nature. I have a golden doodle, so we like to go on hikes and, get muddy and disgusting and have fun and so it's really been that nature. And I also like to paint too. I paint on wooden canvases.
Jon: Wow. Very cool.
Tiffany: Yeah. Thanks!
Jon: It is now time for our fishbowl question of the day where Tiffany, we ask you a totally random question. So Lisa, would you please pull our fishbowl question of the day?
Lisa: All right, let me dig in and get a good one. Ooh, so it is spring. What is your favorite flower?
Tiffany: Ooh, it's gotta be a sunflower.
Lisa: Ooh.
Tiffany: Yep. I love the yellow.
Lisa: Now are you into the giant sunflowers that grow up to I don't know, 20, 30 feet tall, or?
Tiffany: I think the bigger the better. Like when I go into a grocery store, especially Trader Joe's and I see those huge sunflowers, I'm like, yep, they got me. I'm definitely gonna buy those.
Jon: Random story, we have a guy on our street I don't wanna make fun of the guy. He's an older, gentleman. He's got a lot of stuff and he has these sunflowers that he grows every year. And like Lisa was saying, they're just ginormous to the point where when we walk our dog, we have to go into the street and around them, or we're gonna get smacked in the face trying to walk by them cuz they're huge.
Lisa: Did you know, fun fact here that a sunflower isn't actually the flower itself? You zoom in on it and there's basically hundreds of little teeny tiny flowers inside of that center part, and that's the technical flower.
Tiffany: Wow. I did not know that.
Jon: Learn something new every day. Tiffany, we appreciate you spending a few minutes with us today. It's great to get to know you as you are a part of the Chamber and of course the Business Women's Network as well. If our listeners wanna reach out to you at Twiz Creative, what are the best ways to find you?
Tiffany: Yeah, absolutely. You can find me at Twiz dot Creative on Instagram and then as well. Twiz Creative on LinkedIn. My email is, hello@twizcreative.com, and yeah, that's pretty much the best way to reach me there.
Lisa: Do you have a cell phone?
Tiffany: I do. It is (586) 201-8877. Thanks, Lisa.
Lisa: Thank you. It's been such a pleasure to have you on and talk to you about branding companies, which is so important. My name is Lisa Bibbee, and I'm a realtor with Keller Williams Advantage. I put the real back in realtor, unsure of how the market is shifting and thinking of selling this year?
Call for a free consultation. You can find me on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram at SoldByLisaB.
Trish: And I'm Trish Carruth, third generation jeweler, and owner of Your Personal Jeweler. You can find me online at The Personal Jeweler or our website, www.thepersonaljeweler.com.
Jon: And I'm Jon Gay from Jag in Detroit podcasts. I'm the podcast guy. If you like the way this show sounds, we all recorded this in different places. You want me to create a great sounding, professional sounding podcast for your business? You can find me online at jagindetroit.com, where I also have a guide on how to start a podcast.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The ROCC Pod produced for the Royal Oak Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
For more information about chamber events or how to get involved with the chamber, you can visit us online royaloakchamber.com. Thanks everyone.