“Hey there cool cats and kittens”
If that phrase rings familiar to you, it can mean only one thing. That you too have binged on Netflix’s the Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness while locked down during quarantine!
The familiarity of Carole Baskin’s standard, but now famous Facebook Live greeting demonstrates something pretty incredible. The power of brand authenticity. Learn how to harness it yourself, and you too can be top of mind to your potential customers.
Over the past few weeks, my eyes have been glued to this train wreck of a reality show. I know I’m not the only one. Celia of Celia Werner Productions and I have been sending each other memes non-stop. Then we figured, why not go live and discuss the show?
In our discussion, you’ll learn that there are four key lessons in branding any small business owner can take from watching this show.
Lessons in Branding from Tiger King
Consistency is King
Both of the main cast members, Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, are on social media. All the damn time.
Doesn’t matter if they’re doing a live stream, or pre-recording a scheduled show. If they’re not in a tiger cage, they’re always on a mobile device or in front of a camera.
They don’t always have a specific plan either. On the show, you’ll often witness that they go online just to share how they feel, or to provide updates on what’s going on in their worlds.
This my friends, is how you build an audience. Everyone wants to hear what happens next, and by remaining consistent you provide an opportunity for them to do so.
Equipment Doesn’t Matter
You’ll notice while watching the show that Joe Exotic has a fairly elaborate “studio” complete with green screens and mixing boards. Carole tends to do most of broadcasts from either a webcam or her smartphone while riding her bike.
Is the quality of Joe’s content necessarily better than Carole’s? No way. This goes to prove it’s more important just to show up and be authentic, than wait to have the perfect equipment to do so.
Same operations (kind of), different missions
At it’s core, both GW Exotic Animal Park (Joe Exotic’s establishment) and Big Cat Rescue (Carole Baskin’s establishment) both include the same thing: big cats in cages.
However, both Joe and Carole have extremely different missions. Joe’s in it for the fame and glitz exotic animals can provide and his right to own them. Carole is driven by getting exotic animals eventually out of captivity altogether.
Because each stands behind what they value, they’ve managed to amass a giant audience that each believes as strongly about the same things as they do.
When you have a strong mission and share it, it helps you attract the right audience for you.
Authenticity is Everything
The #1, most influential reason Tiger King became as popular as it was is the authenticity of it’s ENTIRE cast. Everyone featured on the show is 100% unapologetically who they are. And let’s be honest… they’re a bizarre, motley cru!
They make zero apologies and take action on what they believe is important, even gay polygamy. When you’re building a brand, honesty helps build trust.
It’s that imperfection that makes people human, and what sets apart small businesses from big brands.
In Summary…
During this pandemic, people have a lot of time to be sitting in front of screens, consuming content like Tiger King. Now’s a chance that they could be consuming YOUR content.
It’s up to you to get visible and get out there.
When you do, just remember to show up regularly, use what you have, share your mission, and remain authentic. This will allow you to build a brand worth talking about. Just like Tiger King.
Ready to make your business more visible?
Take my small business Marketing Personality quiz to find out where you should be focusing your advertising efforts. It takes your unique products and services and personality and recommends the best style of marketing for your small business.
Connect with Us
? Connect with Celia: www.celiawernerproductions.com
? Instagram: @celiawernerproductions
? Facebook: @celiawernerproductions
? YouTube: Celia Werner Productions
? Connect with Corrie: www.corrielo.com
? Instagram: @iamcorrielo
? Facebook: @iamcorrielo
? Twitter: @iamcorrielo
? YouTube: @iamcorrielo
