June 20, 2023 • 34 mins
What does it take to become a captivating copywriter and brand storyteller? Our guest, Val Casola, shares her inspiring journey of discovering her love for writing, and how she's turned it into a successful career in communications and external relations. From early encouragement in second grade, to pursuing creative writing in college, and earning her graduate degree in writing, Val's story reminds us all that you should always chase your dreams.
Val is a copywriter and brand storyteller for service providers. She helps female entrepreneurs ditch the DIY messaging and align their brands with words that deeply resonate with their ideal clients, and represent them as the established business owners that they've become.
In today's digital age, communication has taken on a whole new meaning. In this episode, we delve into the importance of social media in large organizations, the challenge of understanding your audience, and the art of repurposing content to keep it fresh and engaging. Val also shares her thoughts on the fear of losing face-to-face interaction skills due to the pandemic, and how her experience as a copywriter and brand storyteller has helped her navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and virtual communication.
Enjoy this insightful conversation with Val Casola, and don't miss her free gift: go to https://view.flodesk.com/pages/639896f9cdbf00ebab867641 to get your own guide to write an "about me" page for yourself!
This is a show where ideas come together. The guest statements expressed on The Savvy Communicator Podcast are their own and not necessarily the views of The Savvy Communicator.
Thanks for joining us! Become part of the conversation at www.savvycommunicator.com, and follow me on social media: my handle is @savvycommunicator.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy (00:00):
Calling all entrepreneurs and business moguls.
If you want to know how toattract your dream client, this
is a show for you.
Welcome to the SavvyCommunicator podcast.
This is a place where wediscuss all things communication
, facial expressions, bodylanguage, but, most importantly,
(00:22):
how to talk when you're notsure what to say.
My guest today is Val Casola.
Val is a copywriter and brandstoryteller for lifestyle
service providers.
She helps female entrepreneurstell the story that make their
dream clients feel seen, heardand inspired to act so they can
step into the next level oftheir business and change more
lives.
Val, welcome to the show.
Val (00:43):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Amy (00:46):
Really excited to have you here today.
This is just really interestingall the stuff that you do, So
you're a writer.
Val (00:52):
Yes.
Amy (00:53):
Tell me about how you got started.
In writing.
Val (00:56):
Yeah, i have been writing ever since I really could.
I guess you could say When Iwas young, probably in like
second grade, i had a stutterand I got bullied in school
because of it and I kind of juststopped talking for a little
(01:16):
while.
and I think one of my teachersnoticed and she introduced me to
writing.
I remember one day at recess Iwas sitting at my desk and she
came to me with like a blankbook and encouraged me to write
a story and then from there Iwent to write like 12 more and
we had a little classroomlibrary so there were other
(01:38):
students who were writing thesestories.
But I think I really just tookoff with it and my books became
like the most checked out out ofour class library and they were
about, you know, like sillythings.
Like I did a series about a catand her family who, like, lived
in the woods, and things likethat.
I did a book about my dad,things like that.
(02:00):
So that's kind of how I firstgot into writing and then it was
just something that I kind ofjust carried through and you
know, did and otheropportunities when they came up.
I was on the school newspaper,things like that.
And then when I went to collegeI really didn't know what I
wanted to do.
I had this idea maybe I wouldgo into politics or be a lawyer,
(02:24):
but I kind of quickly realizedthat wasn't me.
And then I started to, you know, take some creative writing
classes.
And then I learned that myuniversity had a writing major
with all different kinds ofwriting courses, with things
like poetry, nonfiction, fiction, rhetoric.
So I took whatever I could.
(02:45):
I declared that my major andthen I had the opportunity to go
to grad school for writing aswell and I did a half
professional, half creativeprogram.
I took courses in screenwriting, i took a young adult novel
course and I kind of thoughtwhen I was like in high school,
maybe I'll write a book foryoung adults.
And then I quickly realized whenI took the class I absolutely
(03:08):
hated it.
So I think you know I just grewup a little in that time and
realized maybe that wasn't thegenre for me.
I also really fell in love withpoetry and writing essays about
my life.
So my thesis for grad schoolwas kind of like a memoir of me
meeting myself and I wrote thatthrough poetry and nonfiction
(03:31):
essays about my life And yeah,so that's kind of my history
with writing.
And then I got my first job outof school.
I got my first job infundraising at a non-profit and
I was writing like social mediaposts, direct mail, appeals,
email campaigns, i was writingblogs for their website and
(03:53):
things like that.
And then I transitioned fromthat job into a role where I
worked in social media for aprofessional development company
and I was on a team of eightpeople who managed all the
different pages that they hadand things like executive
communications and externalcommunications.
And then I started my ownbusiness.
Amy (04:15):
That sounds huge.
Val (04:17):
Yeah, so I guess like writing has always been with me
and it just kind of likeprogressed as I grew up and.
I was very into it and veryopen to like seeing what was out
there for me and I really neverimagined myself having my own
business, but I think myexperience in corporate America
(04:38):
and the desire to just like workon something that I was really
passionate about sparked thisidea in my mind You could do
this for a living on your own.
why not go?
Amy (04:49):
for it.
Val (04:51):
And so that's what I'm doing.
Amy (04:53):
You're chasing your dream.
Val (04:55):
Yeah, that is wonderful.
Amy (04:57):
That is what I think everybody thinks about doing,
and how fantastic is that.
What a story to start fromwriting through such a terrible
experience.
Yeah congratulations to thatteacher, yeah.
Val (05:11):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, she was definitelyinspirational to me at the time
and.
I think I always wonder likehow things would have like
turned up if that didn't happen.
But I do feel very fortunatethat I knew from a young age
like I wanted to write in somecapacity and I just didn't know
(05:32):
what that capacity would be.
But thankfully, you know,writing has a lot of opportunity
and all different kinds of likejobs and I just you know went
through a few different ones andfound really what I really
wanted to do, and I feel reallylike grateful and lucky to have
the chance to pursue that.
Amy (05:53):
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
You talked about wanting to bemaybe a lawyer or a politician,
and you know writing is at theheart of those.
You don't get anywhere withoutwriting.
So I'm not surprised that yourwork and your business has grown
, because you know that's reallywhat everybody needs.
Val (06:11):
Yeah, i think a lot of people underestimate the skill
that writing takes and the roleit plays in our lives, and I
think because it's such apassive experience like to
experience writing that'sreading and we read everything.
We're reading all day.
We're being consuming contentall day long and sometimes you
(06:34):
don't think about the idea thatsomeone had to put that together
or someone intentionally setout to deliver a message to you
in a specific?
way and being able to do thatand communicate with people and
bring them along a journey ofwhether it's through marketing
or just, like you know,communicating between friends or
in relationships and thingslike that just communicating.
(06:58):
It takes skill and I think youknow it's really awesome.
You're doing this podcast anduncovering those different
layers of the skill ofcommunication and like how it
manifests in everyone'sday-to-day life and it's such an
important skill that is justconsumed so passively but when
you are able to actively thinkabout it and how words come
(07:18):
together and work to influenceother people, it really is a
skill everybody needs in somecapacity to have a successful
career or successful friendshipsor relationships in life.
Amy (07:31):
Yes, i so agree with you and thank you very much, by the
way, but you know you're talkingabout someone sitting down and
deciding to convey a message,and I think that you're right.
It is so skillful, especiallybecause we just sort of absorb
it in a moment and we don'tthink about I certainly don't
(07:51):
think about all the time.
Okay, somebody studied the wayto bring this message to me and
probably tried in severaldifferent ways and came to this
conclusion that this was thebest way and, yeah, that's
really interesting.
That's really interesting andit sounds like you have a lot of
skill to be able to do that.
Val (08:13):
I was on the social media team of this organization with
over 700 employees, and we had avery large audience and I was
responsible for, you know,helping sell their products and
communicating member benefitsand helping sell the idea that
what this company had to offerwas useful to their audience and
people looking to grow in theircareer.
(08:34):
So it took a lot of skill inlike knowing who I was talking
to and what phase of life thatthey were in and we had
different personas to try tounderstand like there's people
at all different stages of theircareer journey who are
interacting?
with this organization and wehave to figure out which
(08:56):
products relate to which typesof people.
when was the most appropriatetime to begin marketing to them,
to participate in thesedifferent products or free
offerings, to get involved withthe organization?
So it took a lot of knowing whowe were talking to and trying to
find the right time to connectwith them make them interested
(09:17):
in these products or servicesand inspire them to take action
and purchase from the company orattend an event or, you know,
just engage with us on socialmedia and answer our questions
and just interact with thecompany so we could learn more
about them and what they neededso we could integrate that into
our marketing efforts.
Moving forward.
Amy (09:38):
Well, it sounds like an ever-moving target, because when
I think of social media, youknow, when I log on to, you know
, instagram or TikTok, whateveryou know, i don't expect to see
the same thing twice and if Isee something similar, it sort
of takes you back.
You're like, oh well, i mustnot have refreshed then if I'm
seeing the same thing.
(09:58):
So, yeah, it sounds likeconstantly changing directives
and goals, like you said, tomeet people where they are, and
yeah, that that sounds reallyinteresting, certainly fast
paced.
Val (10:12):
Yes, yes, it was very fast paced and there was a lot of
pressure to come up with newways to interact with people and
also repurpose content so thatit looked new or it hit a new
part of a thought that someonewas having or an emotion they
were experiencing.
So if it didn't work the firsttime, maybe, you know, we try
(10:34):
something different and we canget engaged with this person in
a different way.
Amy (10:40):
So one of the things that we were talking about previous
to this interview is youmentioned that we are getting so
good at communicating digitallyand virtually and quick, quick,
quick that it's almost takingover, say, written media or
(11:02):
face-to-face interactions in anew way.
Would you talk about that alittle bit?
Val (11:09):
Yeah, of course I think and just big speaking from personal
experience when COVID startedand there was that kind of like
mad rush to get set up and startworking from home.
I have worked from home eversince and the idea of going back
out into society and attendinglike networking events and
(11:32):
interacting with people inperson again gives me a little
bit of anxiety, because Ihaven't done it in so long and
I'm sure I'm not the only onewho feels that way and it's just
a fear of losing a skill or notworking on a skill for so long,
and then you're being thrownback into it and it's kind of
(11:54):
like a shock of like how do Iinteract with people again?
and I think that's kind of oneway that is manifesting in my
life.
But I also think another way is, you know, being at home during
that period of COVID all wereally had were our phones and
the television and the computerand kind of get like sucked into
(12:17):
that world and your primaryform of communication becomes
through those devices and I dothink that there has kind of
been a degradation of empathyand interacting with other
people, and sometimes we forgetthat we're talking to another
person through a screen, and Ithink that manifests in all
(12:40):
different sorts of ways.
Of course we've seen it inpolitics, we've seen it in
culture, but we've also seen itin marketing, where people think
that you know, they can saywhatever they want to try to
attract people's attention andmake promises that they don't
really follow through with andkind of like pray on people's
emotions to get them to actcertain ways or take a certain
(13:04):
action or spend money on certainthings that otherwise that
might not be the case if we wereall together in person more
often So.
Amy (13:18):
if it were a perfect world and you could wave a magic wand
and help to alleviate thoseproblems and help, to you know,
get people back in the worldagain, to create some kind of
balance in between the digitaland the virtual and the you know
(13:38):
in person, what would you do?
It was just a total fantasyquestion, but it just what you
said kind of inspired me so Ithought I would ask.
Val (13:48):
I think, just reminding people that it's important to
listen to each other and youknow, the emotions you might
feel at face value might not bethe full story, and I think
that's something as a societythat you know we've kind of
internalized and made thatreality, when that's not always
(14:09):
the case and people come fromdifferent backgrounds and
different experiences andwhether you agree with the words
coming out of their mouths ornot, we're all still people and
it's important to listen to eachother and try to understand
each other and when we do thatwe're able to communicate so
much more effectively and moveforward on certain ideas or on
(14:31):
certain paths much morecomfortably and with a plan.
And I just think that that'slacking in society today and we
just don't listen to each otherand we take what we're feeling
as the single source of truthall the time, and that's not
always the case and sometimesjust listening to people can
(14:52):
kind of unravel that and helpyou see a new perspective or
understand someone, and youstill don't have to agree with
them, but it just helps you moveforward and creates healthy
relationships with people butalso just communication in
general yeah, i think that youmust be an excellent listener,
(15:14):
especially growing up yeahgrowing up the way you have, and
and I don't know, of course,what that was like, but what it
makes me think of is that I canjust see you sort of being
barraged with whatever else wassaying and not being able to do
(15:34):
anything about it at that time,and so your listening skills
must be through the roof, andthat's exactly what you do now
is you work to get clients tosort of find their dream.
Amy (15:47):
You work to, you know, make things work for them.
So, yeah, you must be a greatlistener, and it's to their
benefit, i would think.
Val (15:56):
Yeah, I would say I'm a very like, I'm an introvert and
I'm a very like reflectiveperson.
So yeah a lot of the times whenthere's a lot of external like
stimuli happening around me, i'mabsorbing it like one item at a
time, and people's words or itcan also be that kind of
stimulus as well, and I justbeing a writer, naturally I put
(16:22):
a lot of thought and weightbehind every word that I say or
write down And it's important tome to make sure that I'm
actually saying what I mean andlistening to other people, to
make sure that I'm conveying myideas in a way that I think that
they're going to understand itbest.
Amy (16:43):
So clients come to you for your marketing expertise?
What kind of techniques do youuse to help a client really feel
seen and supported as you worktogether?
Val (16:58):
Yeah.
So I would definitely saylistening to them and taking
note of their current state andunderstanding what they're
struggling with in this momentand what they want to achieve
down the road, and understandingwhat's missing between those
two spaces in time and beingable to listen to a client who
(17:22):
comes to me and make it clearthat I am understanding what
they're struggling with, whatthey're desiring, maybe the
limiting beliefs they're tellingthemselves about why, they
can't achieve what they want,and using those items and
understanding them by listeningto them really helps me create
(17:46):
like a comfortable experiencewhere they can feel empowered to
share with me the informationthey need, to be vulnerable and
allow me to really get to theheart of the message that they
want to share with other peopleand then put that into words in
a way that sounds like them andfeels like them and makes them
comfortable getting out thereand repeating those words to
(18:09):
people that they want to selltheir services to.
Amy (18:13):
Yeah, i think.
Well, i know, and I'm sure youknow too, it takes a lot of
courage to be vulnerable,especially when you really want
something.
It's hard to say I really, youknow I'm doing X, but secretly I
want to be doing Z and kind ofputting that out there to
somebody and so to make yourselfthat safe place.
(18:36):
We don't think of that inmarketing or social media.
We don't necessarily think ofit as a safe place.
We certainly consume it andcreating that authenticity
certainly speaks to us, but itmust be a really interesting job
to be the one creating thatsafe space that they will be
(18:58):
vulnerable with, so that theywill be vulnerable with you.
Yeah, and I also.
That's really cool.
Val (19:04):
Thank you, and I also.
One of my goals is also torecreate that kind of atmosphere
for the client that the personwho comes to me is creating
their services for, because, inmy mind, if you can't be
vulnerable with someone, how canthey expect to really be
vulnerable with you?
and a lot of the women that Iwork with they have businesses
(19:27):
and services that revolve aroundbeing vulnerable, so like, for
example, if I was working with aprofessional organizer they are
asking people to becomevulnerable enough to let them
into their homes and see themaybe chaos that exists there
and just like thereal, like raw life behind
someone's front door that's alsonot on Instagram, set up to be
(19:51):
so aesthetically pleasing.
So it takes an amount ofvulnerability from the
professional organizer to makethe client they want to help
feel vulnerable enough to letthem inside.
And the same thing goes for ifyou're a nutritionist and you
want to help someone lose weightand you have to understand so
(20:13):
many things about why they makethe decisions that they do, and
you know you need to understandhow someone eats, how they
exercise, why they make thosechoices that they do And for a
lot of people that can be like areally just like tough thing to
talk about or a tough thing tolike face up to the choices that
they make that result insomething that upsets them.
(20:37):
And so to get to that place withsomeone where they can really
dive deep and participate in anempowering experience in an
empowered way, to get the realresults they're searching for,
requires a lot of vulnerabilityon behalf of the service
provider who's there to helpthem, because it's all about
making people feel comfortableand empowered and like they're
(21:00):
ready to invest and make a three, four or five figure investment
in a service that is going tochange their life.
Like you have to be open andhonest and just you know very
empathetic towards people, tokind of create that environment
where that can happen.
Amy (21:18):
Yeah, so many layers.
I'm seeing, while you'retalking about this, that I think
for a lot of us who aren'twriters, we think, well, you
know, you have an idea and youwrite it down.
How hard can it be?
but you are really explainingbeautifully all the layers that
have to go into it, because itreally is.
It's not just about the personreceiving, it's about you being
(21:44):
able to create the circumstanceswith which you know somebody's
going to see that and have itspeak to them.
We're going to take a quickbreak back in a moment with our
expert guest, Val Casola.
I want to go back to somethingthat you said earlier.
(22:26):
You were talking about that.
Some people who come to you arereally feeling like they can't
achieve.
What do you see in situationslike that?
Is there a pattern?
Do you see consistent thingsthroughout, or is it really
individual to the person?
Val (22:45):
There are a few patterns that I see, and I think the
biggest one is trying to do toomany things or be too many
things at once.
So for example, there's this oldsaying in marketing and I think
it really rings true If you'respeaking to everyone, you're
speaking to no one, and you wantto as a writer, narrow down the
(23:10):
person you're speaking to,because then you can have that
more intimate conversation withthem and make them feel like
they know you and they trust you, especially if you're trying to
empower them to make a largeinvestment and take their harder
money and give it to you toreceive some kind of
transformation that they've beendesiring.
So I think one mistake I see isthat people are trying to talk
(23:34):
to everybody, but in realityjust like you aren't for
everyone, your business isn'tfor everyone, and having the
understanding that that's thecase and that you need to really
know who you're speaking to tobe able to communicate with them
effectively is so important,and I do think sometimes people
(23:55):
are so interested in making asmuch money as possible that they
try to just go for and attractas many people as they can when
there's a lot of value inactually repelling people who
aren't a good fit for yourservices, because when you're
working with people who can'treally like get the full
transformation of what you'reoffering or it's just not
(24:18):
relevant for their life, you'resaving yourself a lot of time
and energy, you're saving otherpeople a lot of time and energy
and it allows you to focus onmaking the impact that you want
to make for the person that youare especially equipped to make
it for.
Amy (24:35):
That's so interesting because two things.
What I'm going to digress for aminute.
You talk about really focusingin on the type of person that
you want to attract, and that'sone of the things that I really
discovered early and often whenI was starting this podcast, is
everybody's like you gotta finda niche, you gotta find a niche,
you gotta find a niche, youknow, find what you want to do
(24:57):
and then focus it down and focusit down even further.
And you know and that's beeninteresting for me because you
know it's sort of like well, butI do want everybody, i want
zillions of people listening tothis.
And so then, what you saidabout how there is value in
(25:17):
repelling the people that aren'ta good fit for you, i think is
a fascinating way to look at it,but it makes a lot of sense.
Val (25:27):
Yeah, i mean also you're only one person, you can only do
so much and you want to if youwant to have a fulfilling
business and a fulfilling life,you want to focus your energy on
the type of work that fills youup and fills your cup and also
allows you to make the impactthat you set out to make in the
first place by starting your ownbusiness.
Amy (25:48):
Val, i want to sort of turn things around for a second, and
we've talked a lot about yourexperience and how that has
informed everything that you doand how vulnerability can lead
you to being able to get someoneto be vulnerable with you, and
(26:08):
so that made me think of youknow, just as you are working
with clients and invitingclients to come work with you.
you've also been a client,you've been a customer, you've
been a patient, you've been allof these things yourself.
How does that influence yourwork, would you say?
Val (26:29):
I actually.
So this is an interestingquestion because the type of
woman that I work with and thetype of business owner that I
work with I've actually hiredand made my own investment in,
and it really did shed a lot oflight on what I can do and how I
can help business owners in awriting capacity.
(26:51):
So I won't go into a ton ofdetail about the problem or
struggle that I was experiencing, but it was a health related
issue and I felt failed by thetraditional medical system.
I had been through a fewdifferent doctors who had told
me some things that I justwasn't super comfortable with,
(27:14):
and I was put on differentmedications and the side effects
of those medications weresometimes worse than the actual
symptoms that I was strugglingwith and I honestly felt like
the exception to all modern orholistic medical advice and my
life was really just kind oflike at a standstill and I was
(27:37):
experiencing these symptoms.
That made me feel really grossand just bad, and, as a consumer
of Instagram myself, i knowthat people share a lot of
useful information on Instagram.
So I started to kind of go downthe rabbit hole of like
remedies that I could try tohelp alleviate my symptoms, and
(27:58):
I found this holisticnutritionist.
I found her page and I feltlike she was listening to
someone just like me, and shereally showed me that she had a
clear understanding of what Iwas struggling with, where I
wanted to be and what waskeeping me from moving on to
(28:19):
that place of where I wanted tobe.
And I felt like she waslistening to me, like someone
was finally listening to me, andone of the best things that I
experienced and I also do for myclients as well is that she
used language that I have usedtalking to my friends, my family
(28:40):
and my doctors and she usedthat in her marketing and that
made me feel like she was reallyan expert in what she was
talking about and she knew meand she knew what I needed and
that made me feel comfortable inmaking a four figure investment
with her to improve my healthand it just made me feel great
(29:00):
as a client and you know myexperience with her was
wonderful, but I do think shedid a really great job of
attracting me to her servicesand setting me up to ultimately
take the action and empoweredaction
to improve my health and haveher be the person to help me,
and this technique is somethingthat's very common in
(29:23):
copywriting and it's calledvoice of the customer research,
and that is where you go to theplaces that your ideal client or
you know that the person youwant to serve is hanging out and
you eavesdrop on theirconversations and you learn from
them directly the things thatthey're struggling with, the
(29:44):
things that they want, what'skeeping them from achieving that
desire that they have, and youtake those phrases and words and
use them in your own copy toattract that person and show
them like, hey, i know you'reexperiencing this, i know you
want this, and then you positionyourself as a solution to help
(30:06):
bridge the gap between thoseplaces and you can really show
someone that you are the expertthat you know they've been
looking for and inspire them totake the action, to hire you,
and you can change their lifewhile also changing your own at
the same time through the growthof your business.
Amy (30:26):
Wow, that's really interesting.
I had never heard it put inthat way voice of the customer
research.
But it sounds like it's notonly attracting the person you
want.
They're not only attractedbecause you've said, hey, i
understand this, i know aboutthis, but because you've done
that research, you actually doknow and understand, so you're
(30:49):
ready to work with them.
Val (30:52):
Yeah, yeah, you know, anyone can go to places where
people are talking and see whatthey're saying and internalize
that and use it however theywant.
But there's also like you haveto do it ethically, to actually
give the client an experiencethat you're promising.
Right, and if you don't do thatthat's going to reflect in, you
(31:16):
know, that person maybedropping out of the experience
and asking for a refund, leavingyou a bad review or you know
word getting around and youstarting to get a poor
reputation.
So I would never encourageanyone to go do those things and
position themselves as anexpert in something that they
are not an expert in.
Amy (31:36):
Oh of course.
Val (31:37):
This is just a technique to create those connections and
develop that trust that you'regoing to back up with things
like testimonials from otherclients or client case studies
that you publish on social mediaor on your blog, or you send in
your email newsletter packingit up with credentials.
So your education, yourcertifications in a certain
(32:00):
field.
So this is only one piece ofthe puzzle that will ultimately
create an experience thatempowers someone to invest in
your services and support yourbusiness so they can receive a
transformation in their life inreturn.
Amy (32:15):
That sounds wonderful, Val.
thank you so much for beinghere today.
I really appreciate hearingyour expertise and your
perspective.
Val (32:22):
Oh, thank you for having me .
I really enjoyed thisconversation with you.
Amy (32:27):
I'm so glad Now I understand you have something
for our listeners.
Val (32:31):
I do, yes.
So, as mentioned in thebeginning of the episode, my
business is all about empoweringfemale business owners to craft
a message that they'recomfortable enough to get out
there and market and use to selltheir services.
And I know that somethingthat's really difficult for
people is writing aboutthemselves.
(32:53):
And when you have a businessand you have to write your
website and you have to writeyour about page, sometimes
that's where people get reallytripped up because they feel
like writing about themselves islike braggy or it just makes
them uncomfortable.
So I've created this guide tohelp you write your about page
in a way that's empowering foryou, but also empowering for
(33:14):
your readers, and it shows thatyou are an expert and that your
solution can really offer a truetransformation for someone's
life.
So I've provided Amy with thelink to that guide, so you can
just click the link in the shownotes and input your first name
and your email and that guidewill be delivered to your inbox.
And this is really great ifyou're a business owner and you
(33:36):
struggle with writing aboutyourself and you want to show
your expertise and buildconnection and trust and just a
good relationship with newpeople coming into your business
.
So yeah, that's why I createdthis free about page guide that
you're more than welcome to goahead and grab if you're
interested.
Amy (33:57):
That is wonderful.
Thank you so much, and foreveryone listening, that link
will be in the show notes.
I highly recommend that youtake advantage of it.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Savvy Communicator
Podcast.
Join us at our website onwwwsavvycommunicatorcom.
We'll see you next time.
Bye.
Calling all entrepreneurs and business moguls.
If you want to know how toattract your dream client, this
is a show for you.
Welcome to the SavvyCommunicator podcast.
This is a place where wediscuss all things communication
, facial expressions, bodylanguage, but, most importantly,
(00:22):
how to talk when you're notsure what to say.
My guest today is Val Casola.
Val is a copywriter and brandstoryteller for lifestyle
service providers.
She helps female entrepreneurstell the story that make their
dream clients feel seen, heardand inspired to act so they can
step into the next level oftheir business and change more
lives.
Val, welcome to the show.
Val (00:43):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Amy (00:46):
Really excited to have you here today.
This is just really interestingall the stuff that you do, So
you're a writer.
Val (00:52):
Yes.
Amy (00:53):
Tell me about how you got started.
In writing.
Val (00:56):
Yeah, i have been writing ever since I really could.
I guess you could say When Iwas young, probably in like
second grade, i had a stutterand I got bullied in school
because of it and I kind of juststopped talking for a little
(01:16):
while.
and I think one of my teachersnoticed and she introduced me to
writing.
I remember one day at recess Iwas sitting at my desk and she
came to me with like a blankbook and encouraged me to write
a story and then from there Iwent to write like 12 more and
we had a little classroomlibrary so there were other
(01:38):
students who were writing thesestories.
But I think I really just tookoff with it and my books became
like the most checked out out ofour class library and they were
about, you know, like sillythings.
Like I did a series about a catand her family who, like, lived
in the woods, and things likethat.
I did a book about my dad,things like that.
(02:00):
So that's kind of how I firstgot into writing and then it was
just something that I kind ofjust carried through and you
know, did and otheropportunities when they came up.
I was on the school newspaper,things like that.
And then when I went to collegeI really didn't know what I
wanted to do.
I had this idea maybe I wouldgo into politics or be a lawyer,
(02:24):
but I kind of quickly realizedthat wasn't me.
And then I started to, you know, take some creative writing
classes.
And then I learned that myuniversity had a writing major
with all different kinds ofwriting courses, with things
like poetry, nonfiction, fiction, rhetoric.
So I took whatever I could.
(02:45):
I declared that my major andthen I had the opportunity to go
to grad school for writing aswell and I did a half
professional, half creativeprogram.
I took courses in screenwriting, i took a young adult novel
course and I kind of thoughtwhen I was like in high school,
maybe I'll write a book foryoung adults.
And then I quickly realized whenI took the class I absolutely
(03:08):
hated it.
So I think you know I just grewup a little in that time and
realized maybe that wasn't thegenre for me.
I also really fell in love withpoetry and writing essays about
my life.
So my thesis for grad schoolwas kind of like a memoir of me
meeting myself and I wrote thatthrough poetry and nonfiction
(03:31):
essays about my life And yeah,so that's kind of my history
with writing.
And then I got my first job outof school.
I got my first job infundraising at a non-profit and
I was writing like social mediaposts, direct mail, appeals,
email campaigns, i was writingblogs for their website and
(03:53):
things like that.
And then I transitioned fromthat job into a role where I
worked in social media for aprofessional development company
and I was on a team of eightpeople who managed all the
different pages that they hadand things like executive
communications and externalcommunications.
And then I started my ownbusiness.
Amy (04:15):
That sounds huge.
Val (04:17):
Yeah, so I guess like writing has always been with me
and it just kind of likeprogressed as I grew up and.
I was very into it and veryopen to like seeing what was out
there for me and I really neverimagined myself having my own
business, but I think myexperience in corporate America
(04:38):
and the desire to just like workon something that I was really
passionate about sparked thisidea in my mind You could do
this for a living on your own.
why not go?
Amy (04:49):
for it.
Val (04:51):
And so that's what I'm doing.
Amy (04:53):
You're chasing your dream.
Val (04:55):
Yeah, that is wonderful.
Amy (04:57):
That is what I think everybody thinks about doing,
and how fantastic is that.
What a story to start fromwriting through such a terrible
experience.
Yeah congratulations to thatteacher, yeah.
Val (05:11):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, she was definitelyinspirational to me at the time
and.
I think I always wonder likehow things would have like
turned up if that didn't happen.
But I do feel very fortunatethat I knew from a young age
like I wanted to write in somecapacity and I just didn't know
(05:32):
what that capacity would be.
But thankfully, you know,writing has a lot of opportunity
and all different kinds of likejobs and I just you know went
through a few different ones andfound really what I really
wanted to do, and I feel reallylike grateful and lucky to have
the chance to pursue that.
Amy (05:53):
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
You talked about wanting to bemaybe a lawyer or a politician,
and you know writing is at theheart of those.
You don't get anywhere withoutwriting.
So I'm not surprised that yourwork and your business has grown
, because you know that's reallywhat everybody needs.
Val (06:11):
Yeah, i think a lot of people underestimate the skill
that writing takes and the roleit plays in our lives, and I
think because it's such apassive experience like to
experience writing that'sreading and we read everything.
We're reading all day.
We're being consuming contentall day long and sometimes you
(06:34):
don't think about the idea thatsomeone had to put that together
or someone intentionally setout to deliver a message to you
in a specific?
way and being able to do thatand communicate with people and
bring them along a journey ofwhether it's through marketing
or just, like you know,communicating between friends or
in relationships and thingslike that just communicating.
(06:58):
It takes skill and I think youknow it's really awesome.
You're doing this podcast anduncovering those different
layers of the skill ofcommunication and like how it
manifests in everyone'sday-to-day life and it's such an
important skill that is justconsumed so passively but when
you are able to actively thinkabout it and how words come
(07:18):
together and work to influenceother people, it really is a
skill everybody needs in somecapacity to have a successful
career or successful friendshipsor relationships in life.
Amy (07:31):
Yes, i so agree with you and thank you very much, by the
way, but you know you're talkingabout someone sitting down and
deciding to convey a message,and I think that you're right.
It is so skillful, especiallybecause we just sort of absorb
it in a moment and we don'tthink about I certainly don't
(07:51):
think about all the time.
Okay, somebody studied the wayto bring this message to me and
probably tried in severaldifferent ways and came to this
conclusion that this was thebest way and, yeah, that's
really interesting.
That's really interesting andit sounds like you have a lot of
skill to be able to do that.
Val (08:13):
I was on the social media team of this organization with
over 700 employees, and we had avery large audience and I was
responsible for, you know,helping sell their products and
communicating member benefitsand helping sell the idea that
what this company had to offerwas useful to their audience and
people looking to grow in theircareer.
(08:34):
So it took a lot of skill inlike knowing who I was talking
to and what phase of life thatthey were in and we had
different personas to try tounderstand like there's people
at all different stages of theircareer journey who are
interacting?
with this organization and wehave to figure out which
(08:56):
products relate to which typesof people.
when was the most appropriatetime to begin marketing to them,
to participate in thesedifferent products or free
offerings, to get involved withthe organization?
So it took a lot of knowing whowe were talking to and trying to
find the right time to connectwith them make them interested
(09:17):
in these products or servicesand inspire them to take action
and purchase from the company orattend an event or, you know,
just engage with us on socialmedia and answer our questions
and just interact with thecompany so we could learn more
about them and what they neededso we could integrate that into
our marketing efforts.
Moving forward.
Amy (09:38):
Well, it sounds like an ever-moving target, because when
I think of social media, youknow, when I log on to, you know
, instagram or TikTok, whateveryou know, i don't expect to see
the same thing twice and if Isee something similar, it sort
of takes you back.
You're like, oh well, i mustnot have refreshed then if I'm
seeing the same thing.
(09:58):
So, yeah, it sounds likeconstantly changing directives
and goals, like you said, tomeet people where they are, and
yeah, that that sounds reallyinteresting, certainly fast
paced.
Val (10:12):
Yes, yes, it was very fast paced and there was a lot of
pressure to come up with newways to interact with people and
also repurpose content so thatit looked new or it hit a new
part of a thought that someonewas having or an emotion they
were experiencing.
So if it didn't work the firsttime, maybe, you know, we try
(10:34):
something different and we canget engaged with this person in
a different way.
Amy (10:40):
So one of the things that we were talking about previous
to this interview is youmentioned that we are getting so
good at communicating digitallyand virtually and quick, quick,
quick that it's almost takingover, say, written media or
(11:02):
face-to-face interactions in anew way.
Would you talk about that alittle bit?
Val (11:09):
Yeah, of course I think and just big speaking from personal
experience when COVID startedand there was that kind of like
mad rush to get set up and startworking from home.
I have worked from home eversince and the idea of going back
out into society and attendinglike networking events and
(11:32):
interacting with people inperson again gives me a little
bit of anxiety, because Ihaven't done it in so long and
I'm sure I'm not the only onewho feels that way and it's just
a fear of losing a skill or notworking on a skill for so long,
and then you're being thrownback into it and it's kind of
(11:54):
like a shock of like how do Iinteract with people again?
and I think that's kind of oneway that is manifesting in my
life.
But I also think another way is, you know, being at home during
that period of COVID all wereally had were our phones and
the television and the computerand kind of get like sucked into
(12:17):
that world and your primaryform of communication becomes
through those devices and I dothink that there has kind of
been a degradation of empathyand interacting with other
people, and sometimes we forgetthat we're talking to another
person through a screen, and Ithink that manifests in all
(12:40):
different sorts of ways.
Of course we've seen it inpolitics, we've seen it in
culture, but we've also seen itin marketing, where people think
that you know, they can saywhatever they want to try to
attract people's attention andmake promises that they don't
really follow through with andkind of like pray on people's
emotions to get them to actcertain ways or take a certain
(13:04):
action or spend money on certainthings that otherwise that
might not be the case if we wereall together in person more
often So.
Amy (13:18):
if it were a perfect world and you could wave a magic wand
and help to alleviate thoseproblems and help, to you know,
get people back in the worldagain, to create some kind of
balance in between the digitaland the virtual and the you know
(13:38):
in person, what would you do?
It was just a total fantasyquestion, but it just what you
said kind of inspired me so Ithought I would ask.
Val (13:48):
I think, just reminding people that it's important to
listen to each other and youknow, the emotions you might
feel at face value might not bethe full story, and I think
that's something as a societythat you know we've kind of
internalized and made thatreality, when that's not always
(14:09):
the case and people come fromdifferent backgrounds and
different experiences andwhether you agree with the words
coming out of their mouths ornot, we're all still people and
it's important to listen to eachother and try to understand
each other and when we do thatwe're able to communicate so
much more effectively and moveforward on certain ideas or on
(14:31):
certain paths much morecomfortably and with a plan.
And I just think that that'slacking in society today and we
just don't listen to each otherand we take what we're feeling
as the single source of truthall the time, and that's not
always the case and sometimesjust listening to people can
(14:52):
kind of unravel that and helpyou see a new perspective or
understand someone, and youstill don't have to agree with
them, but it just helps you moveforward and creates healthy
relationships with people butalso just communication in
general yeah, i think that youmust be an excellent listener,
(15:14):
especially growing up yeahgrowing up the way you have, and
and I don't know, of course,what that was like, but what it
makes me think of is that I canjust see you sort of being
barraged with whatever else wassaying and not being able to do
(15:34):
anything about it at that time,and so your listening skills
must be through the roof, andthat's exactly what you do now
is you work to get clients tosort of find their dream.
Amy (15:47):
You work to, you know, make things work for them.
So, yeah, you must be a greatlistener, and it's to their
benefit, i would think.
Val (15:56):
Yeah, I would say I'm a very like, I'm an introvert and
I'm a very like reflectiveperson.
So yeah a lot of the times whenthere's a lot of external like
stimuli happening around me, i'mabsorbing it like one item at a
time, and people's words or itcan also be that kind of
stimulus as well, and I justbeing a writer, naturally I put
(16:22):
a lot of thought and weightbehind every word that I say or
write down And it's important tome to make sure that I'm
actually saying what I mean andlistening to other people, to
make sure that I'm conveying myideas in a way that I think that
they're going to understand itbest.
Amy (16:43):
So clients come to you for your marketing expertise?
What kind of techniques do youuse to help a client really feel
seen and supported as you worktogether?
Val (16:58):
Yeah.
So I would definitely saylistening to them and taking
note of their current state andunderstanding what they're
struggling with in this momentand what they want to achieve
down the road, and understandingwhat's missing between those
two spaces in time and beingable to listen to a client who
(17:22):
comes to me and make it clearthat I am understanding what
they're struggling with, whatthey're desiring, maybe the
limiting beliefs they're tellingthemselves about why, they
can't achieve what they want,and using those items and
understanding them by listeningto them really helps me create
(17:46):
like a comfortable experiencewhere they can feel empowered to
share with me the informationthey need, to be vulnerable and
allow me to really get to theheart of the message that they
want to share with other peopleand then put that into words in
a way that sounds like them andfeels like them and makes them
comfortable getting out thereand repeating those words to
(18:09):
people that they want to selltheir services to.
Amy (18:13):
Yeah, i think.
Well, i know, and I'm sure youknow too, it takes a lot of
courage to be vulnerable,especially when you really want
something.
It's hard to say I really, youknow I'm doing X, but secretly I
want to be doing Z and kind ofputting that out there to
somebody and so to make yourselfthat safe place.
(18:36):
We don't think of that inmarketing or social media.
We don't necessarily think ofit as a safe place.
We certainly consume it andcreating that authenticity
certainly speaks to us, but itmust be a really interesting job
to be the one creating thatsafe space that they will be
(18:58):
vulnerable with, so that theywill be vulnerable with you.
Yeah, and I also.
That's really cool.
Val (19:04):
Thank you, and I also.
One of my goals is also torecreate that kind of atmosphere
for the client that the personwho comes to me is creating
their services for, because, inmy mind, if you can't be
vulnerable with someone, how canthey expect to really be
vulnerable with you?
and a lot of the women that Iwork with they have businesses
(19:27):
and services that revolve aroundbeing vulnerable, so like, for
example, if I was working with aprofessional organizer they are
asking people to becomevulnerable enough to let them
into their homes and see themaybe chaos that exists there
and just like thereal, like raw life behind
someone's front door that's alsonot on Instagram, set up to be
(19:51):
so aesthetically pleasing.
So it takes an amount ofvulnerability from the
professional organizer to makethe client they want to help
feel vulnerable enough to letthem inside.
And the same thing goes for ifyou're a nutritionist and you
want to help someone lose weightand you have to understand so
(20:13):
many things about why they makethe decisions that they do, and
you know you need to understandhow someone eats, how they
exercise, why they make thosechoices that they do And for a
lot of people that can be like areally just like tough thing to
talk about or a tough thing tolike face up to the choices that
they make that result insomething that upsets them.
(20:37):
And so to get to that place withsomeone where they can really
dive deep and participate in anempowering experience in an
empowered way, to get the realresults they're searching for,
requires a lot of vulnerabilityon behalf of the service
provider who's there to helpthem, because it's all about
making people feel comfortableand empowered and like they're
(21:00):
ready to invest and make a three, four or five figure investment
in a service that is going tochange their life.
Like you have to be open andhonest and just you know very
empathetic towards people, tokind of create that environment
where that can happen.
Amy (21:18):
Yeah, so many layers.
I'm seeing, while you'retalking about this, that I think
for a lot of us who aren'twriters, we think, well, you
know, you have an idea and youwrite it down.
How hard can it be?
but you are really explainingbeautifully all the layers that
have to go into it, because itreally is.
It's not just about the personreceiving, it's about you being
(21:44):
able to create the circumstanceswith which you know somebody's
going to see that and have itspeak to them.
We're going to take a quickbreak back in a moment with our
expert guest, Val Casola.
I want to go back to somethingthat you said earlier.
(22:26):
You were talking about that.
Some people who come to you arereally feeling like they can't
achieve.
What do you see in situationslike that?
Is there a pattern?
Do you see consistent thingsthroughout, or is it really
individual to the person?
Val (22:45):
There are a few patterns that I see, and I think the
biggest one is trying to do toomany things or be too many
things at once.
So for example, there's this oldsaying in marketing and I think
it really rings true If you'respeaking to everyone, you're
speaking to no one, and you wantto as a writer, narrow down the
(23:10):
person you're speaking to,because then you can have that
more intimate conversation withthem and make them feel like
they know you and they trust you, especially if you're trying to
empower them to make a largeinvestment and take their harder
money and give it to you toreceive some kind of
transformation that they've beendesiring.
So I think one mistake I see isthat people are trying to talk
(23:34):
to everybody, but in realityjust like you aren't for
everyone, your business isn'tfor everyone, and having the
understanding that that's thecase and that you need to really
know who you're speaking to tobe able to communicate with them
effectively is so important,and I do think sometimes people
(23:55):
are so interested in making asmuch money as possible that they
try to just go for and attractas many people as they can when
there's a lot of value inactually repelling people who
aren't a good fit for yourservices, because when you're
working with people who can'treally like get the full
transformation of what you'reoffering or it's just not
(24:18):
relevant for their life, you'resaving yourself a lot of time
and energy, you're saving otherpeople a lot of time and energy
and it allows you to focus onmaking the impact that you want
to make for the person that youare especially equipped to make
it for.
Amy (24:35):
That's so interesting because two things.
What I'm going to digress for aminute.
You talk about really focusingin on the type of person that
you want to attract, and that'sone of the things that I really
discovered early and often whenI was starting this podcast, is
everybody's like you gotta finda niche, you gotta find a niche,
you gotta find a niche, youknow, find what you want to do
(24:57):
and then focus it down and focusit down even further.
And you know and that's beeninteresting for me because you
know it's sort of like well, butI do want everybody, i want
zillions of people listening tothis.
And so then, what you saidabout how there is value in
(25:17):
repelling the people that aren'ta good fit for you, i think is
a fascinating way to look at it,but it makes a lot of sense.
Val (25:27):
Yeah, i mean also you're only one person, you can only do
so much and you want to if youwant to have a fulfilling
business and a fulfilling life,you want to focus your energy on
the type of work that fills youup and fills your cup and also
allows you to make the impactthat you set out to make in the
first place by starting your ownbusiness.
Amy (25:48):
Val, i want to sort of turn things around for a second, and
we've talked a lot about yourexperience and how that has
informed everything that you doand how vulnerability can lead
you to being able to get someoneto be vulnerable with you, and
(26:08):
so that made me think of youknow, just as you are working
with clients and invitingclients to come work with you.
you've also been a client,you've been a customer, you've
been a patient, you've been allof these things yourself.
How does that influence yourwork, would you say?
Val (26:29):
I actually.
So this is an interestingquestion because the type of
woman that I work with and thetype of business owner that I
work with I've actually hiredand made my own investment in,
and it really did shed a lot oflight on what I can do and how I
can help business owners in awriting capacity.
(26:51):
So I won't go into a ton ofdetail about the problem or
struggle that I was experiencing, but it was a health related
issue and I felt failed by thetraditional medical system.
I had been through a fewdifferent doctors who had told
me some things that I justwasn't super comfortable with,
(27:14):
and I was put on differentmedications and the side effects
of those medications weresometimes worse than the actual
symptoms that I was strugglingwith and I honestly felt like
the exception to all modern orholistic medical advice and my
life was really just kind oflike at a standstill and I was
(27:37):
experiencing these symptoms.
That made me feel really grossand just bad, and, as a consumer
of Instagram myself, i knowthat people share a lot of
useful information on Instagram.
So I started to kind of go downthe rabbit hole of like
remedies that I could try tohelp alleviate my symptoms, and
(27:58):
I found this holisticnutritionist.
I found her page and I feltlike she was listening to
someone just like me, and shereally showed me that she had a
clear understanding of what Iwas struggling with, where I
wanted to be and what waskeeping me from moving on to
(28:19):
that place of where I wanted tobe.
And I felt like she waslistening to me, like someone
was finally listening to me, andone of the best things that I
experienced and I also do for myclients as well is that she
used language that I have usedtalking to my friends, my family
(28:40):
and my doctors and she usedthat in her marketing and that
made me feel like she was reallyan expert in what she was
talking about and she knew meand she knew what I needed and
that made me feel comfortable inmaking a four figure investment
with her to improve my healthand it just made me feel great
(29:00):
as a client and you know myexperience with her was
wonderful, but I do think shedid a really great job of
attracting me to her servicesand setting me up to ultimately
take the action and empoweredaction
to improve my health and haveher be the person to help me,
and this technique is somethingthat's very common in
(29:23):
copywriting and it's calledvoice of the customer research,
and that is where you go to theplaces that your ideal client or
you know that the person youwant to serve is hanging out and
you eavesdrop on theirconversations and you learn from
them directly the things thatthey're struggling with, the
(29:44):
things that they want, what'skeeping them from achieving that
desire that they have, and youtake those phrases and words and
use them in your own copy toattract that person and show
them like, hey, i know you'reexperiencing this, i know you
want this, and then you positionyourself as a solution to help
(30:06):
bridge the gap between thoseplaces and you can really show
someone that you are the expertthat you know they've been
looking for and inspire them totake the action, to hire you,
and you can change their lifewhile also changing your own at
the same time through the growthof your business.
Amy (30:26):
Wow, that's really interesting.
I had never heard it put inthat way voice of the customer
research.
But it sounds like it's notonly attracting the person you
want.
They're not only attractedbecause you've said, hey, i
understand this, i know aboutthis, but because you've done
that research, you actually doknow and understand, so you're
(30:49):
ready to work with them.
Val (30:52):
Yeah, yeah, you know, anyone can go to places where
people are talking and see whatthey're saying and internalize
that and use it however theywant.
But there's also like you haveto do it ethically, to actually
give the client an experiencethat you're promising.
Right, and if you don't do thatthat's going to reflect in, you
(31:16):
know, that person maybedropping out of the experience
and asking for a refund, leavingyou a bad review or you know
word getting around and youstarting to get a poor
reputation.
So I would never encourageanyone to go do those things and
position themselves as anexpert in something that they
are not an expert in.
Amy (31:36):
Oh of course.
Val (31:37):
This is just a technique to create those connections and
develop that trust that you'regoing to back up with things
like testimonials from otherclients or client case studies
that you publish on social mediaor on your blog, or you send in
your email newsletter packingit up with credentials.
So your education, yourcertifications in a certain
(32:00):
field.
So this is only one piece ofthe puzzle that will ultimately
create an experience thatempowers someone to invest in
your services and support yourbusiness so they can receive a
transformation in their life inreturn.
Amy (32:15):
That sounds wonderful, Val.
thank you so much for beinghere today.
I really appreciate hearingyour expertise and your
perspective.
Val (32:22):
Oh, thank you for having me .
I really enjoyed thisconversation with you.
Amy (32:27):
I'm so glad Now I understand you have something
for our listeners.
Val (32:31):
I do, yes.
So, as mentioned in thebeginning of the episode, my
business is all about empoweringfemale business owners to craft
a message that they'recomfortable enough to get out
there and market and use to selltheir services.
And I know that somethingthat's really difficult for
people is writing aboutthemselves.
(32:53):
And when you have a businessand you have to write your
website and you have to writeyour about page, sometimes
that's where people get reallytripped up because they feel
like writing about themselves islike braggy or it just makes
them uncomfortable.
So I've created this guide tohelp you write your about page
in a way that's empowering foryou, but also empowering for
(33:14):
your readers, and it shows thatyou are an expert and that your
solution can really offer a truetransformation for someone's
life.
So I've provided Amy with thelink to that guide, so you can
just click the link in the shownotes and input your first name
and your email and that guidewill be delivered to your inbox.
And this is really great ifyou're a business owner and you
(33:36):
struggle with writing aboutyourself and you want to show
your expertise and buildconnection and trust and just a
good relationship with newpeople coming into your business
.
So yeah, that's why I createdthis free about page guide that
you're more than welcome to goahead and grab if you're
interested.
Amy (33:57):
That is wonderful.
Thank you so much, and foreveryone listening, that link
will be in the show notes.
I highly recommend that youtake advantage of it.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Savvy Communicator
Podcast.
Join us at our website onwwwsavvycommunicatorcom.
We'll see you next time.
Bye.
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