Authentic Brand Storytelling That Creates Connection with Katie Soy

Katherine Beck 
You're listening to The Voice of Your Brand Podcast. In today's episode, we're talking all about authenticity and telling your story with brand storytelling consultant, Katie Soy, that's coming up next, ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to stand out as the voice of your brand. I'm Katherine Beck, voice actor and voice coach. And after 20 years of being the voice of other brands, I'm here to show you how your voice is your most powerful tool to creating the impact, influence and income you desire. The world is your global stage. So get ready to uplevel your voice and your personal brand. This is The Voice of Your Brand Podcast.

Before we jump into today's episode, I want to give a big shout-out to Luke Page, who was on the podcast last week. You may remember his lovely Australian voice here on the podcast. And he sent me this five-star review and says, "What a podcast! Heaps of value,  great stories. And Katherine has a very talented voice. Oh, thank you very much. -Luke".

I really appreciate that. And hey, speaking of great stories, we are diving into that topic today with my guest, Katie Soy, and stories are something that I'm going to be bringing a lot more to this podcast. So if you're out there, and you're listening, and you've got a great story to tell about your journey, as an entrepreneur, the struggles that led to your success. Go ahead, drop me a DM on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you. That's @katherine_beck_ Having guests like Luke last week and Katie this week. As you tune in and listen to my interviews, I want you to pay attention. And notice on this podcast, if you can hear my three very specific intentions that I have for each episode.

Number one is to inspire those who are listening to take action based on the topic of the podcast episode. So that's number one is to inspire. I have been told by maybe one or two people that my voice is inspiring. So that's a very important intention for me.

Number two is to educate, to learn or gain insight into something that interests you or something new for you, the listener that you want to learn about you want to discover.

Number three is to entertain. I am a performer by trade for the past 30 years. And I like to think of you, the listener as I create these podcasts to create an enjoyable listening experience that entertains you and allows you to escape from the day-to-day and have a moment for you. So those are my three intentions. And I think it's important to set intentions when you communicate. And so my intention for you as we dive into this episode is to follow along with me and Katie Soy learn and be inspired by her. She is so amazing. So let's dive into talking about her. She is my incredible guest on the podcast today.

Now Katie Soy is a writer and brand storytelling consultant and helps business owners become bold thought leaders by shifting audience perspectives, effectively sharing their personal stories and experiences, and applying storytelling strategies in content creation, in books and in business copywriting. We had such a great conversation around authentic connection about brand voice, brand storytelling, and even Katie's own story into why she does what she does. So if you have a story that you're wanting to share, but you are not sure how to communicate it in your own way, then you are gonna love this episode with Katie soy. So let's go ahead and roll that interview. All right, well, today on the podcast, I'm so excited to introduce our guest Her name is Katie Soy I recently met her in a programme that I signed up to and I instantly was drawn to her and knew that I needed to speak with her more I could tell that we were very much on the same level in many ways, in terms of how we communicate, and just in very different ways, but both dealing with communication. So without further ado, I would love to introduce Katie Soy, everyone.

Katie Soy
Hello. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. I was so excited when I first saw you on one of the calls in that programme. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's so exciting. And we're also both big Taylor Swift Fans, I believe. So there's also that connection, right?

Katherine Beck  4:51  
Oh my gosh, yes, but I should say that I always liked Taylor Swift, but the buzz and the exciting meant of this tour. I just thought I've got to get tickets like something came over me.

Katie Soy 5:06  
Yeah, so we had a whole ticket debacle here in the US. So despite my best efforts unless I decide to go abroad, which there's still tickets abroad, I did I miss out on tickets. So maybe I can go to Australia and get tickets for the Australia show.

Katherine Beck  5:18  
No, you know what, it was so hard to get tickets. She's doing four shows in Sydney, three in Melbourne. And we were so lucky to get tickets. There's so many people that missed out and we ended up getting like, the highest level VIP package just get tickets.

Katie Soy  5:37  
Oh my gosh, that's the way to do it. I had I know, it'd be such an issue, I would have like gone into it with that by the time we kind of, you know, figure that out with multiple friends, myself and family members. Anyway, that's a whole that's a sad story. For today. We're focused on positive stories, but there's that connection, I'm happy that you're going in love to tag me in your pics and your videos.

Katherine Beck  5:57  
So let's tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what you do. Let's start there.

Katie Soy  6:03  
Yes, so um, I work with folks in brand storytelling messaging strategy, coaching and consulting. So I have a master's degree in communication and worked in corporate marketing at a financial organisation bicoastal huge company for over a decade. And I've also worked as an adjunct college professor teaching communication classes for several years. And so I finally kind of started the side hustle. And people were asking me for help on the side with marketing and copywriting. And how do I add personality into my brand? And how do I you know, what is brand storytelling. And so I started a side hustle a few years ago, and I'm happy to be full time on my own now working in consulting. So I work with some corporate clients, and then also entrepreneurs and small businesses on how to harness the power of their brand story and infuse more personality into their messaging, what they do, and how to tell stories that make an impact and all of that fun stuff.

Katherine Beck  7:01  
I love it. Okay, so what would be your definition of brand voice, because mine's a little bit different. So I'd love to know yours. Oh, yeah, we

Katie Soy  7:09  
brand what you're like literally working with, with your voice as your brand. So for me, I feel like brand voice or brand storytelling kind of takes a step up kind of a step back, looking at sort of the whole ecosystem of your marketing. So don't say like, of course, you can use brand story and your brand voice is powerful in an email, or have social posts, like that's very specific for copy. But I always say, it's like the heart of your company. It's like the it's like the pulse. So you may have similar products to you know, another competitor, or you know, other people in your in your industry, but they don't have the same stories that you do, they don't have the same personality that you do, right, just like we both have brown hair, but we have different personalities. And so I feel like it's really kind of the pulse of your, the style, how you do things, how you say things, what you stand for. So that's, I mean, I could spend hours on just that. But that's kind of my first thing is like, it's a bigger picture. And then from what I would call the brand story and the messaging strategy, that's when you get the little pieces of your company that are so important, like your sales pages, and your social copy and your emails. But I always do kind of start here. And then that influences, you know, where we go in those more tangible aspects of marketing and communications.

Katherine Beck  8:26  
I love it. And so do you find because, you know, the, the angle that I always work on it with my students, obviously, is the voice perspective. But what uniquely makes them unique and allowing that to be communicated via the voice? D? Is that part of the overall brand strategy of finding the brand's voice in allowing themselves to, I guess, open up and let people see them? Or their their business or company for who they really are?

Katie Soy  9:02  
Yes, that's 100% I loved there's the way that you phrase that. Yeah, because for me, we would use, you know, I would encourage my students and people that I work with, to look at how they can share stories, to open up conversations to open up, you know, discussions about what they do, how they do it, how they're different, and really kind of frame their unique mechanisms, their products and offers through that lens because that is a unique lens. Or if we're all out there saying, Here's my product, here's my feature, here's my benefit kind of an old school and more traditional approach to marketing as you know, that's kind of not landing like it used to. And so it's through the story that that's unique that we can then open up those conversations that then become more natural. They're not salesy. Like I always talk about like I don't I always say I don't teach sales, but so much of storytelling is actually story selling, because it just naturally opens up these conversations and so yeah, and I'm absolutely fascinated by what you do with with voice it's such a you Unique, you know, area. And so I think in the same way, it's like we're kind of working with people's hearts on my side of thing like how can we? How can we get you out of your heart so other people can see it and see your vision the way that you see it like that's, that's the goal was with brand story and brand voice on my end of things. Yeah, I

Katherine Beck  10:16  
love it. They're very similar because, you know, coming from the voiceover world, one of the first things they teach us is that you're not selling a product, you're selling the feeling the product gives you. And basically everything is great, isn't it? Yeah, it makes so much sense. And to layer on to what you're talking about it, you know, when we're communicating, we're selling all the time. But we're not selling the thing that we think we're selling the product or the course of the programme or the this or that we're selling something on a much deeper level, there's that we're selling the connection, we're selling the feeling, yeah, we're selling that moment between two people that comes to life and goes, You're my person, I want to work with you further, I want to learn about what you're doing, right.

Katie Soy 11:06  
I love that so much. Because so many people I feel like I have to kind of say like, yeah, here's what you need connection. And you're like, like, this is what you're doing, you're selling the connection. And stories are the doorway to that connection, or one one way to get to that connection and trust. And, you know, credibility, and there's so much with story. And yet it kind of tends to be like the last thing people think of, it's almost like people go into going, Okay, I need copywriting I need my sales page, I need my emails, I need my offer. And you do need those things. But that's why I always start with like, well, what is it I kind of come up here, because I think everything flows, when you have that in place, it flows from who you are, you're not reacting to the world, you're not reacting to, oh, I have to have this feel on my sales page or you know, whatever it is like you're going okay, sure, like I can respond to trends, or I can do what I need to do or whatever. But it's coming from this place of you knowing who you are and who you're here to serve. And being confident in your own energy of sharing what you need to share that you've gone through or that your customers have gone through in a way that connects which builds trust, which then makes that I'll put sales conversation in quotes that makes that conversation much more natural.

Katherine Beck  12:10  
Oh, good. So what are some of the ways that you can connect with your audience via story? Like, are there specific? Are there different types of stories that you would utilise in your content, for example, versus when you're in a sales situation?

Katie Soy 12:27  
Yeah, that's a good question. So I think, I guess the way that I work with most of my clients would be to teach them how to create, how to add stories into content creation, into teaching into training, even into their programmes and their curriculum. So even not just the front end, but the back end as well, in a way that connects and builds trust. So you can use story in sales conversation. Absolutely. I would say I probably lean more into strategy, which is kind of another one of the pillars that I teach into the sales conversations. And I feel like you don't get to those sales conversations until they've connected with you on on some of your stories. So that's a great question. So for me, I think there are one thing about stories is we're always living life. So we're always creating new stories. And so understanding the framework for how to harness a few stories will will serve you well in the future, because you can always go back and go, Okay, how can I like, here's a new thing I'm going through, here's a new experience that my family is going through. And I really know that my clients, once I get the other side of this, I know that my clients will be impacted if I can share this in a meaningful way. Right? We've all felt that.

So the frameworks I look at are a we need to know your origin story. So I compare this to like, if you look at even in Marvel, like they're superheroes that we all connected with. And then what have they been doing the last five years like we've looked at, like the origin story for different characters like Captain America and Iron Man, and just recently in Guardians of the Galaxy? Like we like we looked at some of the, the the character origin stories for those characters. So how did you get to do what you do? Why are you doing what you do? Like, why does it why does it matter to you? And why are you here? Like, there's usually a story there. And then the other stories, I kind of grouped into one bucket, which I would call your signature stories. And so those are the ones that we're always living and experiencing different things like they could like a signature story could teach a, you know, a, like a huge lesson that you work with your clients on or you could teach. It could show credibility. It could be funny, it could connect, it could teach one of your core brand values, one of your core pillars, so you can kind of attach signature stories to the rest of your kind of company, marketing pillars, if you will. But those are more so so for example, Brendon Burchard, is a really well known example. His origin story is the car accident story, if you're familiar with him, like that's something that like that changed his life. He didn't know if he was going to live or die, and that changed his trajectory. But if you've heard him speak at all, you've probably also heard him tell what I would call signature stories. Like well When he was like trying to start his business, and he, I think it was like the bed was covered in bills, and his wife didn't have a place to sit down, because there was all these bills on the bed. And he tells this in a really engaging, almost Creative Writing type of way, where you're just kind of caught up in the emotions of the story, like, oh my gosh, like that was the thing that was driving him to succeed. He also shares about a skydiving incident that he had that is really, really funny. And so those are stories that have nothing to do with how he started his business. But he's become known for those and shared them all over the place as what I would call, you know, signature stories of his like, he's known for those stories, and they all relate to lessons that are very specific, when he's trying to inspire or motivate which then, you know, org or self. So that's kind of a long answer to your question.

Katherine Beck  15:45  
Okay, I got a question on that. So then, let's say that's starting to make sense. But let's say specifically, you're, you're doing a webinar. Let's say you're doing well, yes. Okay. So what story ties into the webinar? Your origin story, the origin story, right? And a signature story? Maybe something you might do for like a signature talk?

Katie Soy  16:09  
Yes, exactly. And you might have, you might have more like, you can always like there might be room or time for more than one. So for example, if you're sharing like your new webinar, and you're like, why should you trust me? Like, why am I here talking to you like, Why? Why are you here? Right, and you share how you arrived, right? That'd be the origin story. But then, you know, later on, if you're sharing something that was really meaningful to you, like, why you keep doing what you're doing that maybe has to relate to your family, because maybe you work with moms, or maybe you work with parents. So telling a story. That's a signature story, maybe not how you started your business, but a really impactful moment in time that's entertaining, then that's going to connect with them on that level, as well.

Katherine Beck  16:49  
And those signature stories would be things that you would also share on content.

Katie Soy 16:54  
Yes, yeah. I always say like your signature stories. And of course, those are those are things you can like, rinse and repeat. We're always like, you know, experiencing new stories. But your origin story should also be something that you are known for it like everybody knows, you know, Brene, Brown didn't want to be doing public shame research. Like she started researching it. And then was like, Oh, this is affecting me personally was in therapy. Like she's talking about this on her TED Talk. And she's like, I need to talk about this like this. It started affecting her in this really deep way. So she kind of like throws herself under the bus, in her shame research origin story, right. But along the way, as she's teaching, she talks about her has, like, we all know her husband, Steve, her kids are in like the HBO special like, it's just so those are kind of those funny anecdotes along the way. So I would say you should definitely talk about your origin stories in your content as well. But I think it's easier to kind of be like rotating through more of your signature stories that you just kind of create and build up over the years.

Katherine Beck  17:53  
This is so great. I you know, what I love about the way you talk about this, too, is you you bring in a lot of filmic themes. When you discuss story, which gets me excited because I went to film school.

Katie Soy 18:09  
That's right. That's right.

Katherine Beck  18:11  
So I'm curious, where did that come from? Like, how did that become sort of your way into communicate? How to tell a good story? Because I think it's fantastic. And it makes so much sense.

Katie Soy 18:25  
It's such a great question. I'm like, this is a great question. I'll try to do a short answer, because I could go on I could go on. So the short answer is, I've been a creative writer since I was little. And I'm actually still currently working on building success in that part of my business, like I'm actively working on a children's series right now. And so you know, figuring out all the all the storytelling all the messaging strategy plus writing, right, that's, that's a whole other project. But that said, one thing that one of my main pillars that I teach is, how do you tell a story that does not make it all about you? That's a question I get from a lot of, yes, yes, they go, I really, I really am into this. And they they know, deep down, they're like, I do have stories that I know could impact people. But they're like, if I tell a story then it makes about me, not my customer. So my solution to that is if you tell a story, according to the hero's journey, you really are telling a story, you're painting a picture so that your customer can your audience can see themselves in that journey. So I teach a creative writing framework for part of my storytelling and brand voice strategy. So that's why I talk about it a lot. And I have my movie posters in my office, which I think you've seen.

So the short answer is, that's part of who I am. And the The long answer is, it's actually part of my tested framework that I use with clients is how do you tell a story according to hero's journey, and some of the best examples of how to apply the hero's journey to stories that you're telling that my clients are telling is look at how it's done in films like Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars and Harry Potter that just are the is really obvious, like The Matrix, like just really obvious examples of how you can bring in and tell a story. So yeah, it's, it's a big part of what I do. And it's, it's part of who I am. It's part of my personality. And so I'm always telling my, my students and my clients, like, bring your brand personality, like it cannot just be just the facts in your business copy on your website, like you need to be like, Why should we work with you, like you needed to be showing who you are to attract your people. And so that's my way of living it. But it's also like, hugely related to one thing that I teach. So thank you for asking.

Katherine Beck  20:32  
I love it. So Okay, next question. Then, after that is how do you then use that to tell stories in your business? Like how you show up in your content?

Katie Soy 20:43  
Yeah, so I, I feel like, you know, creative writing, and film and books are kind of as part of my personal brand, I don't want to say it's a core value, but I think creativity is one of my brand values. So that's a way that I'm creative. So I share stories that reference movie themes. I talk about like movie themes and being like, you know, here's how you can, you know, do things like in Guardians of the Galaxy, like, share a little bit about who you are, like, help us get to know the characters, right? So I try to use it as fun teaching moments. I was talking, I was doing a training a couple of weeks ago, and I was sharing that in the same way that like people should like in like, like, let me go see, like a show with an ensemble cast, like friends, or Guardians of the Galaxy. Part of the reason why those shows are so beloved, is because we know that each character is different, right? Like the personalities are very different. And that's part of the fun. Yeah, and so in the same way, like people should know what your personality is like, they should know what they can. Like, we know that the character of Monica Geller is different from Rachel Green. And we know that Gandalf is different from Frodo, right? Like we know what to expect, and you become attached to those characters. And you can get attached to a brand in the same way like look at Nike and Brene. Brown, like you look at these brands, you just attach Taylor Swift, people are so attached to the different stories and backstories. Right. So I guess it's my silly way of teaching what I teach and like, bring in an example of what I teach. So like just using it in my content, I talk a lot about it in my actual, in my actual course, like it references the hero's journey, we give examples on, you know, Harry Potter and the matrix and all of that. But it's really a fun way to be me, I guess, is the short answer to your question.

Katherine Beck  22:23  
No, it's great. And I think that's so important that it is it's a fun way to be you and people to get a feel for who you are and your brand. And that unique likeability. It reminds me of recently, because now on Tik Tok, I'm saying probably 90% Taylor Swift still wrong. And there's this one woman in the States. And she's, she's brilliant. She is authentically her quirky self. I looked on her her page, and I think she's got like, something crazy, like 6 million followers or something like that she's got a podcast. And what she's been doing is she's been documenting her whole process of getting Taylor Swift tickets, not, I think not knowing much about her learning. There was this one video where she was learning the bridge to the song that that everyone's been hearing wherever and shouting from the stadium, like she tells them is it from? See, I don't know that.

Katie Soy  23:27  
I'm gonna go there, like several like things you say different songs, I think there's only six to 10

Katherine Beck  23:34  
song where it's like, I forget what the bridge is. But it's very complicated. And so she's learned it, you see her learning the lyrics to the bridge, practising and like, fully committed, like doing learning the dance moves, and like in it. And I was like, this is brilliant storytelling, because we're really getting a feel for her this person is in this one moment, which is just so genuine and relatable.

Katie Soy 24:03  
And that's the whole goal is to is to connect with your audience. And it's like, I feel like so many people have these amazing things that they've accomplished or been through or lived through, that other people in their audience are also going through or about to go through or are currently living through. And when you like, raise your hand and go, I'm going to tell them and of course, their strategy. And I get it like if you're if you're worried about like verbally vomiting or oversharing, I get all that. But I'm saying if you can raise your hand and like share in a genuine way you become that lighthouse, maybe it's the lighthouse for funny or clever or maybe it's actually for like empathy and going through it with you and going I've been here you can get here too. But it's really it's really powerful. And I feel like part of my deeper purpose I feel is helping people understand that they're not alone in this world. That's a really oversimplification. But I feel like stories are the way to do that in my little corner. Whether you're sharing an authentic story about your Life to help the person that you know you're meeting or somebody that you're serving in your audience. That's huge. And when you're in a moment of life that's dark or hard, we have the tendency to go, I'm the only one that's ever been through this or other people have done it, but they haven't screwed up as much as I have, or they haven't been as horrible as I have, or they haven't had the all this stuff happen to them. You know what I mean? Like we get in this comparison mode. And in reality, if you just open the door and turn on the light, there's so many people who have gone through it and made it and so to me, whether it's entertainment, because we're escaping life for a minute with like seeing the new Indiana Jones or the new Marvel film, or Barbie, whatever it is, that's one part of stories, but also like the sharing of mutual stories just goes back centuries, like that's how people shared, you know, history and traditions. And so I think there's something really special and reverent about it too. And kind of a maybe a nerdy way, I guess. I love it.

Katherine Beck  25:51  
You know, when I'm one of the things when I'm teaching, and I talk about content and creation and communicating with your audience, I usually talk about like, there's kind of like three core reasons why somebody's going online to seek something. It's either entertainment, they want to be entertained, like watch a good movie, education, I want to learn something like there, what are the steps to do this thing that I really want to learn to do? Or it's connection? Yeah, there's so traction, especially in today's digital world, where there's so much disconnect, where we use so much personal connection, and there's so much more isolation. Now more than ever, is that need to connect to others?

Katie Soy  26:41  
Yeah. Yeah. And do it in a real way. I mean, even even with like, the the TIC TOCs. And the reals like it's hilarious how unedited so many of them like, it's just not this polished. Again, like perfect Instagram feed those days are over. Like, there's, there's something to be said about somebody who is comes on and there's not a filter, or it's just real, like, you know, it's a real moment. And I think that showing up not just in marketing, but I think also in the way that like programmes are delivered and, and you know, people are showing up in their existing groups to not not saying quality is lacking. But it's just, it's just more we're all asking for more reality, I think, and less polish. Yeah. And stories. You know, I always say stories are like the fingerprints of your brand, like I said, like nobody else has the stories you have, they might have similar services or products, but you owe your life your experiences. That's like that's so different than what anybody else has. So why not talk about it? If you can use it in a way that's going to connect an impact?

Katherine Beck  27:38  
Totally. Okay. Question. This does sparked my head. So what drew you to doing this? Why was such a passion for storytelling, and teaching others? This beautiful art?

Katie Soy  27:53  
Yeah, so that's a really good question. So part of my own origin story involves going through a really dark time in my young life, when a really important relationship just absolutely shattered. And I was in graduate school, and I thought my life is gonna be over. And it was actually the only time in my life where I'd had really dark, scary thoughts. And I remember, I had made a deposit to go on the study abroad trip to Thailand, and I went in to cancel the trip. And they're like, you've already made your deposit is non refundable. And I was like, at that point, I would have like, lost more money than if I had just gone and I was like, Okay, so right after this really dramatic Taylor Swift esque breakup happened. I'm like, on a plane first time, really out of the country other than like Mexico and Canada, and I was flying around the world. And there's a picture of me the night that I left at the airport in Seattle at 2am. And I am like ghost white with the group of people that were going on this graduate school trip. And I was studying marketing and communications, I was studying all the things that I was passionate about. I remember on that plane, telling myself that if I felt like a failure, I felt like just, I don't know, the worst person in the world at the time. And I was like, I'm going to create a persona that doesn't let people in. So that so that this isn't visible, because I'm too young. This is embarrassing. I should like this should not be happening to me. Like it was just very, like, you never picture yourself. You know, young divorcee, like dealing with all of that. Like it was just something I never imagined. And so what was so funny about this statement is like this was this very, like deliberate thing on this, like, very dramatic 16 hour plane ride. And I just if like, if I could see like God, or the universe, looking at me at that moment, like, Oh, honey, like, Oh, sweetie, like, this is so the opposite of how you're going to live your life and we're just gonna, like, we just have to catch you up to it. And so, in Thailand, I remember actively trying to not share part of the story out of embarrassment and shame. And it came out in the most hilarious, heart wrenching ways. Like we were on a bus trip and the bus broke down a roll, like sitting around talking and it was showing like I had my passport out and has a different last name than what I was using. And somebody was like, what does that mean? Like? All these are We were at a at a monastery. And it's amazing, amazing moment spending time with this monk. And it came out in the questions that other students were asking. It's like along the way, the story was just kind of ripped out of me. And my whole self was in the world. And at every point, people that I didn't know people that could barely speak English, there was so much empathy and compassion. And I met other women along the way, Thai women, other students, other instructors, professors who had gone through very similar, tragic things, who were also trying to hide it. And we all just kind of learned in this beautiful space, that we were so much better off to sharing it. And so I ended up learning all the stories people I could barely communicate with about, you know, miscarriages and infertility and divorce and cheating and shame. And I mean, so many things. And I was like, the exact opposite of what I decided on that dark plane ride over. And so I came home and still tried to employ that strategy a little bit. And my as I started my career, and again, every time I tried to hide, the stories were just come out in the most hilarious ways. And finally, I was like, you know, what, this is who I am, if I can ever weave this into what I do for a living, I would absolutely love it. And so things kind of evolved as I gained experience, and, you know, started my career professionally. And so this is, that's the why, with what I do now is a long answer to your question again.

Katherine Beck  31:17  
Oh, it's beautiful answer. Yeah. And you can see how you really come to life when you tell that story. Hmm. Thank you. Beautiful.

Katie Soy 31:26  
So you would know you're the author, you can hear my voice, you know?

Katherine Beck  31:30  
Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you know, why I love doing these interviews and asking questions like that, because you can start to see, you know, when you do an a podcast interview, like, Let's call a spade a spade, it is a little bit awkward and uncomfortable. You've got, you know, we're not in the same room, right? Like, it is kind of like, there's sort of like this level of like, professionalism? Or how shall I sound? You know, like, how will I be received. And it's amazing when I start to ask questions like that, where you instantly start to see that flame, that that that spark with in the person just shine and really come through. So

Katie Soy 32:09  
let's Beautify. So appreciate that. It was just funny, because I think I was meant to do this all along. And it was like the fact that I just made this very deliberate dramatic. I've never been against, like any new friend is not going to know this about my past. And I just felt like the universe was like, not laughing in a in a mean way. But just kind of a compassionate like, Okay, you have no idea what's ahead of you. And so now, when I get to work with entrepreneurs, and have that, like, I've worked with people who are like, I built, I've built a brand, let's say, as a as a as a mom, blogger. And they're like, but now I need to go into coaching, because now I've gone through things that I help people with. Yeah, and I want to come out and talk about my certifications in my like what I've done to be a coach, but they want to do it without sharing the story of the transition of what made that difference. Yeah. And so it's like, so many of us are like, and that's why I say it's funny, like just the facts copy. Like, we want to talk about the degrees. And again, there's a place for credibility. And for agent like there's I'm so for all of that and all like, you know, sharing why you're qualified to do what you do. Again, I'm not talking quality or anything like that. But if you have these life experiences, like what you do professionally will make more sense for people if you actually share why,

Katherine Beck  33:21  
instead of hide instead of hiding it. Yeah, and

Katie Soy  33:24  
usually, it's not usually it's not quite as dramatic of like, I'm going to try to hide this, like I was usually my clients are saying they're saying things like, I have things I want to say. But if I say this, I feel like I will hurt feelings, or turn people off. Yeah. And they're like, I truly don't want to like I'm not trying to be a negative influence, or I'm really just trying to share, so there's afraid of what to say. Or they're like, I really want to share but I'm a verbal vomiter Katie, like, I can't tell a story in a way like I just I don't know when to stop. Or they say things like, I just want to be myself in my messaging or my brand, but I know that right now. I'm kind of just like business only copy business only content. So usually, that's not like a deliberate I was trying to hide and I know some people do feel like that. But usually it's it's more like there's a good reason for wanting to hold back a little bit. And sometimes it's for professionalism.

Katherine Beck  34:16  
Yeah. Yeah, totally. And also a trend that I see you know, I'm curious if you see it as well is I'm I'm hearing and seeing from a lot of people who have started a business and then there's like that want to expand or do more than what they first started doing. And they don't know how to communicate that or change the conversation, elevate the conversation expand. Like that's a real struggle with a lot of people I'm noticing

Katie Soy 34:49  
it's so funny that you use that word elevate because somebody was just one of my one of my one-to-one clients, who has continued to work with me, just recently was sharing that with me. She was like, I feel like this L Aveda, what we were taught like this elevated how I show up. And I was I had never heard that feedback before. So I love that you just use that word. And again, this is why you're like you can always be learning and tweaking your own messaging as you learn and grow like everything. And because she had a thriving business before we start working together, and I fact on our first call, I was like, Why? Why do you what help do you need? Like, why are you here? No offence, but what? And it was this. There was more personally to share, because she's going from business owner, very effective business owner to thought leader.

Katherine Beck  35:37  
Yeah.

Katie Soy 35:38  
It was this thing. And it's very, it's very difficult sometimes to message that type of nuanced if I'm going to be honest and put my own hand up and say I you know, there are times I'm of course, we struggle with our own messaging. I'm sure you you work on your own voice. Right. 

Katherine Beck  35:55  
Right, exactly. So, you know, I've struggled quite a bit with that.

Katie Soy 35:58  
I've only heard I've only heard the Katherine now. So I guess I need to know more about your origin story, too. But yeah, just this idea that like, there's a place where people go from, okay, I can do this. And I've been doing, I've been getting great results. But now I'm no. I'm being called to more again, my mom shared more about their partnership. To share more about I mean, even in like different like relationships, I've had people go, I need to share more about what my partner and I have been through because we coach couples and business. So not talking about the real stuff that's gone on isn't really authentic anymore. Yeah, we're in the past, they don't, you know, they only focus on business coaching. And so it's it's areas like that, where it's like, okay, stories really start to matter in that area with strategy with how to tell with how to create demand with how to, you know, again, make it about the other person. 

Katherine Beck  36:48  
Right, and so, yeah, that's, that's, yeah, I I'm noticing that a lot with podcasting to where people have podcasts, and they're not sure how to. They're not sure how to tie in what they their their niches or their offer, as well as be able to talk about other topics as well. That seems to be a real big thing for podcasting.

Katie Soy 37:19  
Yeah, and I think it's funny, because it's kind of like when you're dating, right? If you're only talking about, okay, where's the relationship? And what are we doing? And are we serious? Not like how, like, if you're only talking about, right, like, the date, or like, the date or the next step, or what's gonna happen that night or whatever, right? You're missing out on someone to the shared connection? Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like, you know, so it's like, we have to like, if you're only coming on talking about your offer your pitch, like what you do how you get like, that's important, and we need it. But if you're only talking about that, it's like, well, where's the connection? Where's he going to get to know you? Where's, where's the flirtation part of this date? Right? The fun part. So yeah, I think I think that sometimes it can be like, and again, I applaud that. I'm going, Yeah, I'm going to show up. I'm going to sell I'm going to talk about how I can serve. That takes courage and a lot of some people don't have don't have that. But I Do I Do I agree with you. I think it can sometimes be tough to go. Okay, what What else am I talking about? If not my offer? If not what I do, then what else can I talk about? And stories and experiences? Both of you know, you and your audience? Of course play into that?

Katherine Beck  38:25  
Yeah, love it. Okay, so you've talked about some of your pillars? Have we missed out on any of the pillars?

Katie Soy  38:33  
That's a good question. So my three that I think we talked about all three. So my, my first pillar is, is is focused on identifying the stories that relate to your brand. It's the number one question I get is, How do I know what even relates to my business? Like, how do I know what's only a personal story? And what's, what relates to my business? And then we go through the next question, which is, how do I tell the story in a way that connects that doesn't make it about me, that doesn't overshare without permission, which is where I bring in it's my my alchemy pillar, which is about the hero's journey, and how to tell story with strategy and structure, which is where the creative writing comes in, like, you need your inciting incidents, you need your characters, you need your conflict, you need your lesson, right? That's another great way for people to not make a story about them or to share a story and make it about the other person is to share a lesson when they share the story or share what they learned share what's applicable. And the last part is, I call it wizardry, because, you know, I like Harry Potter, but it's really my strategy killer. And so that's all on, you know, kind of once we've got everything out, how do we add like, you know, the subconscious language patterns that help connect to your audience? And how do you plug those into, you know, content structure, what content frameworks, you know, copy tweaks, it kind of gets into more of the more of the tangibles at that point, so I love

Katherine Beck  39:50  
it. Okay. Now, speaking of stories, because you're so good at it, is there one particular story that's like your go to like your favourite store? I'm gonna tell

Katie Soy  40:00  
my favourite story to tell, I tell my origin story when I'm training or when I'm or when I'm, you know, like like coming in to do guests guests trainings. That's one of the ones that for me seems to land with people. But I've also told different stories about like absolute utter Fariba, utter failures at marketing and copy in my corporate career because there's so there's so much on like imperfection with brand voice and brand storytelling and content creation. So any fun story that I have imperfection is is great, like falling on my face in front of like, like literally emailing the executive board the wrong piece of copy that was a first draft. And like, that's just nobody wants to hear that. Nobody wants to deal with it. But the moral of the story is like, you made it out alive, everything was fine. I didn't die. I didn't get fired. And if I had been less worried about the perfection, and just gotten the second draft done, I wouldn't I would have had it done in time. Right. So yeah, that's very nutshell version of that story.

Katherine Beck  40:57  
And it's so relatable to like, it's so good to know that everyone makes mistakes, you know, like, things are gonna happen. Oh, yeah.

Katie Soy  41:05  
Oh, yeah, things are gonna happen. And like, that's, that's one thing too, like. So here's, here's a good example. You can always relate stories to like, limiting beliefs that your audience has, or ideas that they have to do something one way and so like, a lot of white people are like, Oh, I have to have it all figured out before I share the story, or before I create the content or add the language pattern to the sales page. It's like no, a lot of that we learn through testing and trying. And if we're always trying to figure out the perfect way to do it, we'll never get better at telling the story. Like how many times have we heard, you know, Brene Brown and Brendon Burchard tell those stories. We hear them and we're like, they're so good. Well, they've practice and they've they've stuttered, they've done it? You know, they've done all the things. So. So yeah, that's a good question, too. I like to tell embarrassing funny stories. I guess.

Katherine Beck  41:48  
I do. I think I do, too. That's it's yeah, it's more Entertaining. Entertaining. Exactly. Exactly. Alright. So I would be curious to know, from your perspective, because I think there's probably some connection between my audience and perhaps some people in your audience. Do you notice that people are a little bit afraid to show up and, you know, communicate stories on camera or even in person in talks? That sort of thing? Is there is there a bit of that struggle as well for your audience? And, you know, do they know?

Katie Soy  42:30  
Yeah, no, I think showing up that's why I was like, That's why God like the example of the the executive copywriting disaster. Yeah, is it? Because I think so many people struggle with, you know, the first time I tell a story, how does that feel? How did like how, like, how do I do it? And so I always say, like, yeah, like, yeah, you won't know how to make improvements until you have the first time. I'm sure, like, actually, I've seen you do this, where I won't, if you're taking me through a voice exercise, I won't know the feeling of the correct way to do it until I've done it the wrong way. It's kind of like riding a bike. Yep, that's it. You can't like I can read a book about the bike, and I can get a coach to ride a bike. But until I ride the damn bike, and you feel like what feels right and what's off or like with you, I've seen you work with people where you're like, oh, try it again. And like I've seen them go, oh, I can tell the difference that time versus the time before. So Stephanie was sharing a story. So my biggest tip for this is to share on the platform that you're most comfortable. So in the way that you're most comfortable. So for your, for the first time, you're going to share a story, try it in stories on Instagram, we'll go after 24 hours. If you don't like it, take them down. Like it's just the you don't have to make it to the highlight doesn't have to go on your website doesn't have to be a filmed video, like, just try it or try it in one social post or do a series like start with part one, then do part two, if you need to chunk it down, like I'm like, we just need to get it out there. And of course, you'll go, Oh, I could have oh, I didn't share the lesson. Or I could have been more persuasive. Or I forgot the background information. So I had to explain the end of it. Well, that mean, we learn as we go, and we know what feels good. And ultimately, I'd rather have you sharing a story that feels good to you then following my framework to be quite honest.

Katherine Beck  44:16  
Yeah. Because it's got to really connect to you instead of just following the steps, right?

Katie Soy  44:21  
Yeah, exactly. And that's what so I mean, there's ways to make it easy. Like I teach, like, I think the actual hero's journey from Joseph Campbell is, I think it's like the original is like 27 points on that framework. 25 points, like it's extensive, and you wouldn't need to know I mean, in creative writing, you can really nerd out on that research, but you wouldn't need that as a business owner. So I have a very boiled down like six seven point version. So that you know, like you understand like, Okay, did like did I share my conflict? Did I share what the battle was about? Right? Like, did I share that this was what I wanted, right? Like, I was going to Thailand. I wanted to hide who I was and then all of it came out without me trying and a number of embarrassing situations. And so it's like That's the conflicts I was actively trying to hide. And so what are you going through? Like, what what are you want versus what happened? Right? Like, let us know, because that's what makes a good story and share the lesson like tell us like, why did this matter? You know, tell us that your audience can learn from it. So, you know, there's so many things you can do to you can tell a story and go into teaching go into like a how to or educational content moment, you can tell a story and go into sales, you could shift a perspective and like change, you know, change up an old belief, like there's so many things you can do with it. So it's really flexible. I think that there's a flexibility with stories with content creation, that is unique as well.

Katherine Beck  45:38  
Love it. This has been so wonderful to chit chat with you on the podcast, learn more about what you do. I think you are brilliant at storytelling, and would love others to get in touch with you. So if anyone wants to get going on their storytelling skills and work with you on their communication, what's the best way for them to find you?

Katie Soy 46:00  
Yes, you can go to my website, Katie soy.com. And I also am on Instagram at Miss Katie solely on Instagram, and I have a link tree, I think I sent you the link as well. I have a free guide. I call them I guess journal prompts, like things to get you going to start to learn to share your story if you're wondering about it. So you can definitely jump in there and you'll be on my waitlist automatically if there's updates or things going on. But that's the best place to get started if you're interested. And I so I so appreciate you having me, Catherine. I am just such a fan of your work and what you do. And I just wanted to say I really appreciate the invitation to be here. And I'm just so excited to connect with you in the future too.

Katherine Beck  46:39  
Oh, thank you so much. It's been I'm so glad that I reached out and you're on the podcast and I definitely recommend working with Katie that journal prompt. Sounds amazing. I'm gonna go check it out myself. And yes, this is the start of a beautiful business friendship. Thank you, Katie. Thank you so much, Katie for joining me on the podcast and next week. I am sharing with you something I have never shared before on the podcast. I am taking you behind the scenes with me on a one on one coaching call to show you what I do with my clients. And for the past couple of months. I've been working with messaging expert Brandon Lucero, and then next week's episode, you are going to hear some of the tips and tricks I share with my one on one coaching clients. That's coming up next week. So make sure and stay tuned for that. And hey, if you are ready to discover how to get your audience to know like and trust you within the first six seconds of hearing your voice, then join me for a six second soundcheck and I will let you know how your audience is receiving your voice and your message. Every time you speak.

Head over to www.katherinebeck.com/amplify and we can get started. Thanks for tuning in today and I'll see you back here next week on the voice of your brand podcast.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai