A Strategic Approach to Content Production feat. Noelia Sanchez

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the off systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sell systems in your business the right way with your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:32
Welcome everyone to another episode of The all systems go podcast where we invite startup founders and digital marketers to discuss software and strategies used to automate to build automated marketing and sales systems that scale I’m your host, Chris L. Davis, the founder of automation bridge. And today I have my very own and I’m saying my because Noelia is a certified automation service provider everyone. I’ve gotten to Noelia Sanchez. She is a branding and digital strategist specializing in helping nonprofit organizations leverage content marketing, to increase their impact, elevate their voice, and better connect with their communities. Noelia is insight into design automation and growth marketing has helped shape projects such as the NSF funded abc net Ark asset, ABC Ark, network, a stem equity, brain trust and programming like the this is rural health, a podcast by the California State Rural Health Association, she’s had her hand and all of that her colleagues and clients agree she has an amazing left and right brain thinker, and the perfect blend of strategy and design. And I have the privilege to talk to Noelia a bit about her journey into marketing, and give you all insight on how she approaches growth via content. Noelia. Welcome to the podcast. Glad to have you on publicly officially How are you doing?

Noelia Sanchez 2:07
Oh, I’m doing great. And I’m so excited to be able to get to be here today with you. So thank you so much for having me on the show.

Chris Davis 2:14
Yes, yes. And so let me let me tell the listeners something about you. And then I’ll give you the floor. What one of the things that stood out to me with Noelia is when she first enrolled in the in the automation service provider program, she was very specific of what she was looking for, and where she was at in business. And I was like, Man, that’s so unique. Because most of the times people are like, I’m trying to just figure it out. Will this solve all my problems for me? And getting to know you? It was like, of course, that’s right on brand. That’s like the strategists strategizing for themselves.

Noelia Sanchez 2:52
Oh, gosh, yeah. I’m glad it came off that way. Because I often feel like I’m quite a bit scattered when it comes to my own things. But yeah, so that’s great to hear.

Chris Davis 3:01
Yes, yes. So when I hear your colleague, since she’s a great right brain left brain thinker, I have grown to experience that I’ve grown to see some of your notion pages that are just beautifully designed. It’s just like, wow, no, she can do that. You know, but still very strategic and informative. So Noelia, give us a little bit of insight about you. How did you make your way into marketing? Was this something that you just knew? When you were a little baby with the spoon in your hand? Like one day? I’m gonna mark it? Or was it more organic over time trial and error?

Noelia Sanchez 3:35
Wow. Yeah. Interesting. I don’t know of any five year old being a marketer. So if there’s one out there, I’ve never met them before. But that’s a cool idea. Yeah, so you know, getting into marketing. I think it definitely was more of an organic thing. So yeah, my journey into this is probably a little bit different than most folks, you know. So my degree is in linguistics. That’s my bachelor’s degree. And right out of college, I started working within nonprofits, so in nonprofit programming and administration, but I live in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area in California. And so when I got out of school, it was the first.com boom. And so all of my friends were getting what’s like now all the startup jobs and getting all into tech and getting all these cool benefits. And so I was like, I want to do this too. I want to get into it as well. So I went back to school and I got all my tech skills. And it’s a term that was used a lot back then and people don’t use it as much now but I got an additional degree in Multimedia design. So what that means is that you get to learn how to do all of the creative tech work. So video editing, audio editing, 3d design, web, front end development, you know, all of that stuff. So I got all those skills and then went back into the workforce as a multimedia designer, and I got the chance to work At a really large global semiconductor company, over 70,000 employees globally, and I was within their corporate affairs department. So I really loved that. But I had a really tough experience there as a woman of color in, you know, this corporate environment. And something that often happens is that you begin to withdraw for women of color, you know, lay it in these spaces that are not welcoming. And so I had a really tough time there and couldn’t really demonstrate my expertise and my skills, and was overlooked many times, ultimately ended up getting laid off from that job. And what felt so devastating at the time, ended up being a blessing in disguise, because then that got me inspired to take the tech skills that I had, marry it with what really I was passionate about is working with nonprofit organizations. And now fast forward 20 years later, and I’ve combined those two things, I get to do what I love, I get to control my own schedule work with the clients that I enjoy working with. So yeah, that’s kind of how I ended up here.

Chris Davis 6:07
Yeah, it definitely is a blessing in disguise when that that good get good old job just says, You know what? It’s not me. It’s you. Good. Good. And I, what I realized is that it’s it’s pain, it’s grief, it’s all of those things. And some people let the pain propel them. Right, and others, let the pain prevent them from progressing in life. And you It’s always refreshing to hear that story of look, this thing happened to me. And I had two options, I could frown about it and really get down or I can use it as a stepping stone into the next level. The next step for me, tell me this Noelia because there’s a lot of digital and email marketers that are that are listening. And everybody’s trying to perfect their craft. Everybody’s trying to figure out who am I? What do I do? What do I have to offer? What was if you can, if you can pinpoint one of the the lightbulb moments for you? Were not not I don’t want to talk about what a client said, This is great. You’re great at this, right? Because oftentimes clients said, and we don’t internalize it, or maybe we don’t feel that way about it. But what was that light bulb moment for you if you can, if you can, where you realize, you know, what, not only am I good at this, I really enjoy doing it.

Noelia Sanchez 7:30
Mm hmm. Yeah. You know, I definitely think it was when I figured out that I can be a creative person using technology, right? Because coming up, as as a kid growing up, you know, I was a very kind of creative person, I like to make things with my hands, I make my own clothes, I sew, I do things like this, but I never considered myself like an artist, right? Because I was like, I’m not a fine artist. And I didn’t go to school for fine art, you know, so I would minimize my aptitude for creativity. But once I got introduced to all of those, like wonderful platforms and software that exists out there, you know, my first introduction to like Photoshop, and, you know, premiere the whole suite, like the idea that I can do art on the computer was like thinking, like, Oh, this is what I’m supposed to do, you know, and so that I leaned really heavily into design, right, like, the beginning of my career, I would say it was primarily focused on design. But then kind of happened again, when I was working with my nonprofit clients early on in my career, the first half is that I became kind of like the tech whisperer, you know, like they couldn’t understand something that was going on with technology, in most cases, first started off with, you know, nonprofits not understanding how to run their databases, their donor databases. So the equivalent to that is in the Small Business spaces, like the CRM, right, like, they didn’t know how to get the data that they wanted out of there. And so I was the person futzing around with the computer all the time doing graphics, so then they naturally just asked me, and I was able to quickly kind of figure it out, figure it out. And so that was another moment of like, oh, I kind of like this, like, I know how to figure these out. And now I can kind of marry the two things together. Not only was I making graphics and writing emails, and coming up with the visuals, I could also then figure out like, who’s gonna get that message? Who’s gonna get the information? And so yeah, so it often happens when I would allow myself to explore technology and what I’m capable of doing. And so I think the same thing is happening to me again, right now, to be honest, because there’s so much new stuff that we’re in this new boom, right? The no code, low code, offerings. And so it’s happening again, right like now, and I think you and I share this interest of like diving into creating applications like what is possible that I can create on my out. Like in the olden days, I’m gonna give up my age here but like FileMaker Pro y’all remember FileMaker Pro I would create my whole system in FileMaker databases connected relational, all the whole thing. And so now I get to do it again with even like better tools. Yes,

Chris Davis 10:21
yes, I will say this Noelia I didn’t realize how similar our stories were, with respect to art. You know, I’m, I, you know, have artists art background as well. And I, for the longest time could not see the connection. I’m just like, how did the two ever work? Do I use marketing to sell my art? You know, I never saw it right. And of course, fast forward. Now. You see, you see it peppered through everything I do, like more. So the flowcharts and how I make everything visual and colorful. I believe it’s me flexing that art muscle and building that art muscle, and just using it in this realm. But I do remember Photoshop seven, when I learned this is when the logo wasn’t even in color. And it just was the hardest technology ever. There were no to tour. This is before YouTube had tutorials lynda.com And all of this. You had a few websites? That was

Noelia Sanchez 11:23
the software on CD, like you had the CD.

Chris Davis 11:27
Yes. Now, you know, I’m not saying I did, but I know those who downloaded it burned it.

Noelia Sanchez 11:32
Okay, that guy.

Chris Davis 11:35
There’s that person out there somewhere. And I just remember my journey with technology started with understanding that I can do a lot of the stuff I was doing analog, digital, and art was one of them. So I did not start in marketing. I did not start like yeah, let’s do this. Marketing was the last thing that I learned to do with technology. Prior to that I was at a I was in leadership at a local church. And I had to run a department and just naturally I lean towards technology, grooming you before GroupMe, was what it is now was like our group messaging app, I’m using Google Calendar and all of these things. And I looked back at him like Man, this has been a part of me, all of this time is just now I’m intentional with what the result is, right? The use of technology is now about your marketing and sales process to help these businesses scale. So I love to hear because I feel like that’s all of us. We’re just, we’re you’re throwing stuff out there seeing what sticks, hey, but a lot of times people don’t ask, Do I like that claim? And you will pay you will pay? It’s like, well, wait a minute. Do I like doing that? Right? Is that something that’s, that’s native to me. So we of course, are our our paths cross you enrolled in the automation service provider program. I want to talk just real briefly and then get into your business offerings for nonprofits and how you solve problems with content and all of that. But what just talk to us a bit about the state of mind prior to enrolling in the ASP program, where were you at in business and and what problems were you trying to solve for yourself?

Noelia Sanchez 13:18
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, for me at the time, I was starting to really try to figure out how I could scale my business beyond being a creative freelancer, honestly, like I, although I’ve been in business for many, many years, it’s primarily just been me. And I was wanting to be able to scale to really be able to expand, be able to really take on more clients. So I had a very limited capacity when I was doing everything myself. And so right at that time, I started to put together a small team of part time support and help to do some of the production work that I take on. And I realized that I needed support and being able to figure out like, what is truly the best offering that I have. And something that was told to me a long time ago was, you know, really the money is in kind of like the back end development less of the front end like because the front end development, you could always outsource you can get wonderful designers out there to help support you. But the money is really in the strategy and in backend development. And so I wanted to beef up that side of my business, and really focus myself more on strategy. And I have a colleague, a friend, shout out to Kronda She is also in the community. She’s an sp also. And so she told me about your community. She was already in your mastermind. And that’s really how I just started to explore it and realize like, Yeah, this is where I could really hone in on my skills of strategy and really leverage and flex that side of my brain and sort of leave the design and creative into a production space where I can hire people to do that work. So yeah, it turned out that way,

Chris Davis 15:06
I have to say, it’s been great to watching the evolution, I remember those early days. And I remember how the conversation started to change more and more. And then I would hear about more people, I was like, Hey, wait a minute, businesses growing. And I’ll say this, I’ll say this about you. Noelia. You’re a constant student. So I and I love that about you. Because when you’re not a constant student, of your industry of the art of the service that you provide, what happens is you start to erroneously or irregularly lean on one source of information and expertise. Whereas you use you’re in other digital marketing communities, you’re in other communities for video production and everything. So your learning experience is so comprehensive. And I wanted to point that out, because a lot of times people go and look for the silver bullet, even though they don’t realize they’re looking for the silver bullet. And it’s like, listen, I may be a piece, I may be the core piece. But there’s other pieces to play at play, for your business success. So that’s something that I’d love to see I love seeing for you. And not just that you’re also always looking at ways to improve. So you and I are in a no code community together. And it’s just wait a minute, are there ways that we can do these things even better and easier for our clients? Right for a better experience just overall. So it’s, it’s great. It’s, it’s great to be in these times, and with people like yourself, where we can share ideas and show hey, look, this is how I close the client, look at this proposal that I sent. And hey, what do you think about this? Where else Excuse me, where else can you bounce those type of ideas that safe is dangerous. And some of these things, public groups, and you say an idea, and somebody who just started a business yesterday, use this tool, it works. And it’s like,

Noelia Sanchez 17:07
happens all the time. You see it happen all the time. I really appreciate you saying that. And recognizing that because that definitely is one of the ways that I describe myself to folks is that I’m I’m a lifelong learner. And I love learning new things. And I love introducing people to new ideas and sharing ideas. And just the idea of like, the idea of ideas of you know, like people being able to share and come together. And that’s how we’re able to push the boundaries of things and really innovate on stuff. And so definitely like I’m someone that’s eager to always learn and improve my skills to my detriment sometimes. But the idea of shiny object syndrome to me, everybody calls that a very negative thing. But to me, that’s how ideas grow. And people push beyond boundaries. So I don’t see it as a negative thing. There’s potential and all of those shiny things.

Chris Davis 17:58
Yeah. Oh, yeah. You just have to be disciplined. I mean, you all know, and when I say you are, these are everybody, everybody in my community, specifically, those have finished the ASP program, and we have our weekly office hours, there are times where that shiny object is maybe the highlight of my week, because you have brought a tool to my to my under knowledge that I didn’t know existed. Now a process that I was struggling with can now be improved. And I am notorious for having my entire week scheduled in plan in one tool wouldn’t chase it off. But that’s the beauty of it, right? Being able to take it on and then share with you guys. Hey, this is awesome. Yeah. So you guys can adopt it even faster. All right. So we’ve we we’ve got a good understanding of who you are hope listeners, the reason why I’m asking these questions in saying these things about Noelia. Because she’s somebody that’s invested in her growth, I’ve invested in her. And when I say hey, look, this is a certified automation service provider. This is the level of acumen that you’re getting, you’re seeing that these I’m not just picking people off the street, like, hey, put, you put this back on your website make me look good. There’s a process, there’s a process into it. So I’m grateful for every single one of you. And your business is really unique. So I feel like your business is of course birthed out of the pain that you experienced in the corporate world, having your voice be silenced, and just not fitting in. Now you’re in a position where you give these nonprofits, voices, these, these these areas in entrepreneurship, where somebody minority may have been muffled in the past. Now’s like they’re ready. They’re like, No, I want to get the word out. And they have a noble cause big heart behind it. But as you know, they need strategy. They need content, right to do it. So so let’s start with strategy. Tell us a little bit about your approach because this is one of the things that are it’s easily glossed over, I think strategy becomes like, hey, you need a marketing strategy. And and then you just go on to everything else and then be like, Okay, what else? Can I touch? That I go by those things? We’ll talk a little bit I can, I think it’s safe to assume most nonprofits and most organizations that you meet, that’s the thing that they’re lacking. How do you kind of slow them down and get them to focus on that area of their of their business?

Noelia Sanchez 20:28
Yeah, definitely. So it’s quite interesting, because I think the nonprofit space, although there’s a lot of overlap and concepts. There’s also a lot of very unique things that are very specific to nonprofits. And so one of them that is just like right off the bat is that they don’t really think of it is marketing, right? Like they don’t have a marketing department, they’re not going to have a director of marketing or a CMO. Often, the first place that the conversation starts around is, you know, they refer to it as communications, communications, community building, donor relationships, PR, those are the kinds of terms that float around in the nonprofit space. Slowly, I think now, it’s getting more adopted to think about marketing, your nonprofit, but it’s in the past, and throughout my career, it’s always been like, oh, no, we don’t mark it, you know, we’re about creating impact. And, you know, so it’s very different. But I like to think of myself and I intentionally try to be the person that looks at what’s being done in the for profit space within industry, and bring over some of those strategies and technologies over to the nonprofit world, because it tends to move a little bit slower, right, like the tech that you have available to, you know, SAS companies is not often available on the nonprofit side, or it’s like the the early 2000s version of what’s available now to other folks. And that’s probably the most frustrating thing. But when it comes to strategy, the main thing that I start with, usually with folks is to really identify what you would say is the target customer. But identifying that on the nonprofit side is to really understand if you’re, if you have like a, you know, a donor community or you have a member community, or if it’s the end user, the end person receiving the services for a nonprofit. And the tricky part with the nonprofit is often they’re, they have a really wide breadth of people that they need to serve. So it’s often board members, they have lots of stakeholders, board members, donors, the end, you know, recipient, the benefactor, and then the general, the general community that is trying to get you’re trying to give them knowledge about whatever issue or cause. So many of the organizations that I work with are focused around diversity, equity inclusion, and so they tend to be member based organizations. So yeah, we’re often trying to figure out how to streamline communications to all of those different areas. And then they all have a different outcome. So some people you’re trying to get them to sign up for services, which is a money transaction, other people you’re trying to get them to sign up for programs. And that’s not a money transaction, but an impact transaction. And then other times the end user is a funder. So you’re trying to get grant funding or support from higher level organizations. So yeah, so the initial step is really figuring out who those target audiences, audiences are, how you serve them. And what’s the message that we’re trying to communicate?

Chris Davis 23:30
Yeah, yeah. And I would say, with this foundational work, it starts to really position you and enable you to do some of the most valuable stuff, right? The stuff that they really are seeking you out for, it’s like, hey, I need this content, or I need to do this, or I need to do that. And you after you’ve slowed, okay, yeah, we can do that. Just wait this way. Let’s get our strategy. Let’s get our foundation together. And now you can move into your content production, which I think you do such a good job. And this is where you really start to see the left and right brain at work, right. Because if you all just will put the website up later, at the end of the podcasts. But if you go to any page, or any thing that Noelia has put her hand on, it’s just a soft design, great use of white space, the font is welcoming. I mean, these are the types of presentations that organizations need, because their stuff often looks outdated, boring, or it’s it’s overly done. There’s like 50 images all moving on the screen and you’re like, where do I click? Right? So you do a really good job at balancing. But content has a variety of ways that it can be produced. I wanted to give you the floor a little bit and talk about some of the content that you produce and noteworthy lab for your for your clients.

Noelia Sanchez 24:59
Yeah, Thank you again for just recognizing that and calling that out. Because it really is something that I tried to do is to make sure that I’m giving my clients the ability to really compete and demonstrate like what they do in a way that is going to be appealing, right. And so that often happens with nonprofits, like you said, is that the stuff starts looks outdated, and, you know, to, to really, you know, understand the nonprofit world is to really understand that often, it’s really small teams of volunteers that are doing this amazing work. So of course, it’s hard to keep your website up, of course, it’s hard like you, you’re finding somebody to volunteer their time to create these things. And, you know, before you know it, there’s a 10 different people that have touched the website said, We got 100 Different colors, 20 different fonts, you know, things get out of control. And so, you know, what we try to do is, is really, you know, hone that in, give them a really strong brand. And then also give them the systems that they need to be able to maintain things on their own in a consistent way. So along with a lot of the, you know, work that we do, there’s a lot of what is called digital transformation that happens, where you’re actually implementing new systems, new techniques, a whole new tech stack, often. And then I’m training folks on how to execute this. on the content side, what we like to do is identify a platform for them to be able to put their voice out there. This is also I think, a challenge for nonprofits, because they’re so busy delivering services, that they don’t have time to talk about what it is that they do, because they’re they’re really in the trenches doing the thing. And it’s hard for them to see the value of stepping back and creating content. So we try to come up with the easiest thing. And so sometimes it’s video, if it’s if it’s a, you know, executive director that really likes communicating in that way, they’re really good on camera, the kind of person that likes to be on stage, we recommend video. But then sometimes there’s program folks that really like to share what they’re doing. And they have the connection with the person that they’re doing the work with. But audio might be better for them. They’re really good talkers, but they’re kind of nervous about being on stage. So in those cases, we recommend that people do a podcast. And what I’ve seen is often board, board members like to take on that responsibility of doing the podcast, and then let the program folks, you know, run the programs. So podcasts are sometimes what we do. And sometimes it’s a combination of both, or we just go straight with writing, you know, we go and get people set up with a really good space on their website where they can do really effective SEO and blog content, to try to drive traffic. And sometimes that’s all they can handle is just written words. But all of that is important to put the strategy behind it, it’s important to identify what is going to be easy for an organization because sustainability is the key when it comes to content. Otherwise, you’re gonna feel like you’re you’re on an endless treadmill of creation. And that’s not realistic for small organizations that are often volunteer based.

Chris Davis 28:00
Yeah. And they need that they need someone that understands because my experience with nonprofits is really similar to most businesses, like you said, there’s a lot of parallels, and they’ll see a result, they’ll see a colleague, a competitor, or a friend or when just another business in general doing something and they want that thing, but they had no idea what it takes to generate that thing. And to do it consistently. So with someone like yourself who not just has the the acumen, but you have the business in the in the team behind being able to solve that problem. So it’s like, hey, look, you guys want to get video out consistently. First off, let’s sit down and let’s talk about who’s on video. What it takes. Where’s your camera? Which, oh, we need a camera. That was one of the things you helped me with. I was like Noelia look at how good these cameras look of these YouTubers. What are they using? Are these magic cameras. You’re like, Oh, here’s a few, like, just like that. Go dig deep. So it’s extremely important, especially if you’re already in a slower industry, right that nonprofits often are, is that you are finding somebody who’s not just out to provide a service to make money, right, but somebody who was actually immersed in it is always learning. Fun fact about you is your video is you’re not the main producer of your video with this. Just talk about how you you handle video production.

Noelia Sanchez 29:39
Yeah, so in my company, I’m also I partner with my husband so we are partners in life and partners and business. And so he handles a lot of the creative work and I focus on the strategy with our clients and so, specifically he does all of our video editing does a little bit of the podcast work as well but when we need Do any video or photography or any kind of live video? He’s the one that handles it for us. Yeah.

Chris Davis 30:07
Yeah, yeah, I thought it was beautiful. Anytime you see couples that can partner in business like they do in doing life, it just lets you know that you’ve got you’ve got that that relationship often, where you don’t have to start from scratch every time you say, hey, look, nope, let’s get that’s wrong. And they don’t take it personally, you know, they’re like, Oh, I got the wrong shot. Yeah. Can we change this shot? It just allows you to move faster. And then on the other side,

Noelia Sanchez 30:34
sometimes not all the time. Right.

Chris Davis 30:38
Right. Like, tell me what to do. I know how to run the camera, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then you’ve got and I want to highlight these things just to give people insight. And maybe they can even start to see possibilities already. What would it be like working with somebody like Noelia Sanchez at noteworthy lab where she understands me, she understands my need to get my voice out, but also is strategic. And our approach understands technology. And I don’t want you all to miss it. And Noelia mentioned how she trains your team. That is extremely important. I think that it’s a shame, if any of you have a system built by anybody, I don’t care who it is. And they’re the only ones that can operate it. You are then imprisoned by that Freelancer in prison by that agency owner. And that just shouldn’t be the way so also, we talked about you mentioned, hey, if you’re not, if video is not your thing, we can do podcasting. And you’ve got like an entire podcast production team, right?

Noelia Sanchez 31:44
Yep, yep. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, something, in regards to what you mentioned, just now about training, you know, my experience with, you know, just working within the tech space is, it’s a very common thing for the tech people to be very closed with their knowledge, right? Like, they are going to keep it close. And they want to be the ones. I hate to say it, but it’s like the tech bros, right? Like, they like to be able to be the one that walks in and saves the day, you know, a problem happens, and only they can solve it. And they come in and save the day, and they get all the praise for it. One of the things that used to always get me in trouble in my corporate space is that I would call that out like, why is that the case? Why don’t you document it. And that way, anybody can save the day, anyone could solve the problem. But yeah, so having experienced that many times in my life, where a tech professional doesn’t share their knowledge, I wanted to be the opposite of that, right. So anything that I create for somebody it’s all about, and this is a core element, I think of being an ASP also is that you document everything, like that’s key, having everything laid out being client first focused, so that somebody can take the great thing that you created together really like it’s not just yours, you created it together, and they can grow it and turn it into something else. And they’re completely empowered to do that. So that’s the key focus for me is to make sure that that happens. Yeah. And so you know, along those lines, even though when we create support, folks with content creation, you know, we do take over your whole process to make it easier for you with podcasts, what we’d like to say is you just have to show up record, and then we handle the rest. And that’s really what we want to make it like really seamless and easy. And so we do show notes, we do audio editing and video editing. If you do a video podcast, we post it to all the different locations to make sure distribution happens. And yeah, so we handle all the different parts for people just so that it’s nice and simple. And but it’s documented. So anytime somebody needs to move on or bring it in house, because some folks like to it the podcast as well. You know, this is what we want. We want their team to grow and to bring somebody in and let somebody have that role internally. And when that happens, we turn over everything we have it all totally documented. We teach them how to do it, so that it’s the person on the inside can then pick up seamlessly.

Chris Davis 34:06
Yeah, and it’s a very unique approach. And I’ll say this podcasting, specially in certain industries, and when you have a good cause, you can’t produce enough content. When you’re doing good deeds, you know, and you got a great mission. It’s to the benefit. I think every nonprofit should have a podcast. And I want to say this. This is what he is, this is not fluff. This is real. A world where you can sit down, record a podcast, click in and upload that to some shared folder and sit back and let them do the rest. I’ve lived I’ve seen this with my own eyes, by the way, where they’ll produce the social media, different sizes for different platforms, the show notes the quotes, I mean this CES for service. So a lot of times people get overwhelmed, especially tech. Right? So you’ve got a tech element, then you’ve got just an operational element. So for you all to take that on. And again, you’re going to see the design skills, right? Your your thumbnails are going to be beautiful. You’re not going to have to look and go, hey, those are my brand colors. Right? These are small things, the Noelia that people don’t even realize they’re like, Oh, they’re going to help me. And then they give you something back here. Like what is that? And I’ve seen people go out in the marketplace, their colors are blue and yellow, maybe. And then somebody gives them a piece that’s money green. This is like you know, so these are, I like to highlight these differentiators. Because when people don’t know what to look for, they often accept the first thing that looks good. Yeah. But if you don’t know what to look for, and that looks good, it probably is a bad choice. Hopefully, we can educate you all on what to look for. So when you go and look, you can at least have some discernment and say, you know, what I remember on the podcast, let me run the other way that they do not even use their own branding, you know, on their, their stuff. So, alright, with that being said, and well, you know, I can talk to you forever. What’s next? What is What are you up to here at noteworthy lab that you’d like our listeners to know? And I’ll start it off, she is already on the website as a certified partner, she can you can go to automationbridge.com/ASP-directory , and you will see Noelia’s profile and reach out to her directly right there. But what else? What are you up to Noelia? What, what’s what’s in the oven right now?

Noelia Sanchez 36:43
Yeah, well, a couple things that we’ve been thinking about a lot lately is really working closely. As you mentioned, our staff, you know, what’s on the podcast and content creation side, something that’s really important to us is, you know, we believe in youth development. And so the folks that help us with production, we hire young people. And so we’re really looking at expanding that a bit more, because we want to train the workforce of the future and give these tech skills like I was given as a young person, and really allow them to help them flourish and grow. So we’re looking to expand our team and grow it in these areas of for young women and people of color to get these tech skills, and figure out a nice way to be able to rotate people in and out so more people get the experience. So we’re working on doing that program development, and then also really thinking about ways that we can bring together many of the professionals that we’ve met within the nonprofit space that do work within communication slash marketing now, and really gathered them in to a little bit of a mastermind for themselves to be able to share strategies as they sort of dive into more technology and really support them and create a space for them to collaborate.

Chris Davis 37:57
Yeah, I love it. Um, founders, CEOs, they need community, they need a place to go to bounce ideas off of to be inspired to be challenged. Because what I found is that when you don’t have that you will create it, because it’s a need. When you started your business, I hope you realize that was a need for you to be able to bounce ideas off people. And the unfortunate thing that I see a lot Noelia is when they do that internally in their business. And bless the heart of all of the people that work for these companies, they do their best, trying to give good feedback and support. But sometimes you just need to go to a bigger, deeper Well, right? You need to go, Hey, I’ve got the water at this level, I need to go a little deeper, what’s working in my industry, what’s not what are opportunities out there. So I love the idea of that community to bring them together to share these strategies and story so that they can shorten their learning curve, because especially minority based businesses is we don’t often have all of this breadth of knowledge, easily accessible and available. So that’s, that’s, that’s great to hear that. All right. So we’re towards our end, where can people go if you haven’t pieced it together by now everybody? Where can people go? To find out more to connect with you deeper? Where should we send them?

Noelia Sanchez 39:20
Yeah, so you can just check out the website, noteworthylab.com You’ll feel, find all the information there to connect. And yeah, schedule a call if you want to hear more about what we do and just chat about how you can leverage and use content marketing to get your word out about your organization.

Chris Davis 39:38
Yes, now those that link will be in the show notes, everyone. So if you’re listening on your device right now, go ahead, click Show Notes. It’s right there. Super easy to find. I’m on the site right now, right there in the upper right book a call. You’re not gonna have to work hard to get in contact with Noelia. Willie, I have to thank you for your commitment to growth. have brought you into my life and crossed our paths and your ongoing commitment to be a student. It has been a joy to watch you flourish and watch your business grow. And I hope that somebody that’s listening today takes you up on your offer to connect and learn how to properly leverage technology through a strategic approach. And content production. I think it I mean, you’re the missing piece for somebody that’s listening probably more than one person that’s listening. So I would encourage you listener to just take action, just take action. If you’re not watching. If you’re listening to this, you may want to check this one out on video too. How can you how can you say no to Noelia? You guys think I smile a lot. I’ve met my match.

Chris Davis 40:53
Thank you so much. Noelia for coming on the podcast is greatly appreciate it.

Noelia Sanchez 40:58
Oh, thank you, Chris. Likewise, it’s been a wonderful journey. Getting to know you and getting to be part of the community.

Chris Davis 41:04
Yes, absolutely. So I have the fortunate benefit to see you in the community online afterwards. So all right, take care. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The all systems go podcast. If you enjoyed it, make sure that you’re subscribed at the time of recording the all systems go podcast is free to subscribe to, and it can be found in Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts new episodes are released every Thursday. So make sure you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss out and while you’re at it, please leave us a five star rating and review to show some love but also to help future listeners more easily find the podcast so they can experience the value in goodness as well. We’ve compiled all resources mentioned on the podcast, as well as other resources that are extremely valuable and effective at helping you grow your marketing automation skills quickly and you can access them all at allsystemsgopodcast.com Thanks again for listening. And until next time, I see you online. Automate responsibly my friends

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the off systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sell systems in your business the right way with your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:32
Welcome everyone to another episode of The all systems go podcast where we invite startup founders and digital marketers to discuss software and strategies used to automate to build automated marketing and sales systems that scale I’m your host, Chris L. Davis, the founder of automation bridge. And today I have my very own and I’m saying my because Noelia is a certified automation service provider everyone. I’ve gotten to Noelia Sanchez. She is a branding and digital strategist specializing in helping nonprofit organizations leverage content marketing, to increase their impact, elevate their voice, and better connect with their communities. Noelia is insight into design automation and growth marketing has helped shape projects such as the NSF funded abc net Ark asset, ABC Ark, network, a stem equity, brain trust and programming like the this is rural health, a podcast by the California State Rural Health Association, she’s had her hand and all of that her colleagues and clients agree she has an amazing left and right brain thinker, and the perfect blend of strategy and design. And I have the privilege to talk to Noelia a bit about her journey into marketing, and give you all insight on how she approaches growth via content. Noelia. Welcome to the podcast. Glad to have you on publicly officially How are you doing?

Noelia Sanchez 2:07
Oh, I’m doing great. And I’m so excited to be able to get to be here today with you. So thank you so much for having me on the show.

Chris Davis 2:14
Yes, yes. And so let me let me tell the listeners something about you. And then I’ll give you the floor. What one of the things that stood out to me with Noelia is when she first enrolled in the in the automation service provider program, she was very specific of what she was looking for, and where she was at in business. And I was like, Man, that’s so unique. Because most of the times people are like, I’m trying to just figure it out. Will this solve all my problems for me? And getting to know you? It was like, of course, that’s right on brand. That’s like the strategists strategizing for themselves.

Noelia Sanchez 2:52
Oh, gosh, yeah. I’m glad it came off that way. Because I often feel like I’m quite a bit scattered when it comes to my own things. But yeah, so that’s great to hear.

Chris Davis 3:01
Yes, yes. So when I hear your colleague, since she’s a great right brain left brain thinker, I have grown to experience that I’ve grown to see some of your notion pages that are just beautifully designed. It’s just like, wow, no, she can do that. You know, but still very strategic and informative. So Noelia, give us a little bit of insight about you. How did you make your way into marketing? Was this something that you just knew? When you were a little baby with the spoon in your hand? Like one day? I’m gonna mark it? Or was it more organic over time trial and error?

Noelia Sanchez 3:35
Wow. Yeah. Interesting. I don’t know of any five year old being a marketer. So if there’s one out there, I’ve never met them before. But that’s a cool idea. Yeah, so you know, getting into marketing. I think it definitely was more of an organic thing. So yeah, my journey into this is probably a little bit different than most folks, you know. So my degree is in linguistics. That’s my bachelor’s degree. And right out of college, I started working within nonprofits, so in nonprofit programming and administration, but I live in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area in California. And so when I got out of school, it was the first.com boom. And so all of my friends were getting what’s like now all the startup jobs and getting all into tech and getting all these cool benefits. And so I was like, I want to do this too. I want to get into it as well. So I went back to school and I got all my tech skills. And it’s a term that was used a lot back then and people don’t use it as much now but I got an additional degree in Multimedia design. So what that means is that you get to learn how to do all of the creative tech work. So video editing, audio editing, 3d design, web, front end development, you know, all of that stuff. So I got all those skills and then went back into the workforce as a multimedia designer, and I got the chance to work At a really large global semiconductor company, over 70,000 employees globally, and I was within their corporate affairs department. So I really loved that. But I had a really tough experience there as a woman of color in, you know, this corporate environment. And something that often happens is that you begin to withdraw for women of color, you know, lay it in these spaces that are not welcoming. And so I had a really tough time there and couldn’t really demonstrate my expertise and my skills, and was overlooked many times, ultimately ended up getting laid off from that job. And what felt so devastating at the time, ended up being a blessing in disguise, because then that got me inspired to take the tech skills that I had, marry it with what really I was passionate about is working with nonprofit organizations. And now fast forward 20 years later, and I’ve combined those two things, I get to do what I love, I get to control my own schedule work with the clients that I enjoy working with. So yeah, that’s kind of how I ended up here.

Chris Davis 6:07
Yeah, it definitely is a blessing in disguise when that that good get good old job just says, You know what? It’s not me. It’s you. Good. Good. And I, what I realized is that it’s it’s pain, it’s grief, it’s all of those things. And some people let the pain propel them. Right, and others, let the pain prevent them from progressing in life. And you It’s always refreshing to hear that story of look, this thing happened to me. And I had two options, I could frown about it and really get down or I can use it as a stepping stone into the next level. The next step for me, tell me this Noelia because there’s a lot of digital and email marketers that are that are listening. And everybody’s trying to perfect their craft. Everybody’s trying to figure out who am I? What do I do? What do I have to offer? What was if you can, if you can pinpoint one of the the lightbulb moments for you? Were not not I don’t want to talk about what a client said, This is great. You’re great at this, right? Because oftentimes clients said, and we don’t internalize it, or maybe we don’t feel that way about it. But what was that light bulb moment for you if you can, if you can, where you realize, you know, what, not only am I good at this, I really enjoy doing it.

Noelia Sanchez 7:30
Mm hmm. Yeah. You know, I definitely think it was when I figured out that I can be a creative person using technology, right? Because coming up, as as a kid growing up, you know, I was a very kind of creative person, I like to make things with my hands, I make my own clothes, I sew, I do things like this, but I never considered myself like an artist, right? Because I was like, I’m not a fine artist. And I didn’t go to school for fine art, you know, so I would minimize my aptitude for creativity. But once I got introduced to all of those, like wonderful platforms and software that exists out there, you know, my first introduction to like Photoshop, and, you know, premiere the whole suite, like the idea that I can do art on the computer was like thinking, like, Oh, this is what I’m supposed to do, you know, and so that I leaned really heavily into design, right, like, the beginning of my career, I would say it was primarily focused on design. But then kind of happened again, when I was working with my nonprofit clients early on in my career, the first half is that I became kind of like the tech whisperer, you know, like they couldn’t understand something that was going on with technology, in most cases, first started off with, you know, nonprofits not understanding how to run their databases, their donor databases. So the equivalent to that is in the Small Business spaces, like the CRM, right, like, they didn’t know how to get the data that they wanted out of there. And so I was the person futzing around with the computer all the time doing graphics, so then they naturally just asked me, and I was able to quickly kind of figure it out, figure it out. And so that was another moment of like, oh, I kind of like this, like, I know how to figure these out. And now I can kind of marry the two things together. Not only was I making graphics and writing emails, and coming up with the visuals, I could also then figure out like, who’s gonna get that message? Who’s gonna get the information? And so yeah, so it often happens when I would allow myself to explore technology and what I’m capable of doing. And so I think the same thing is happening to me again, right now, to be honest, because there’s so much new stuff that we’re in this new boom, right? The no code, low code, offerings. And so it’s happening again, right like now, and I think you and I share this interest of like diving into creating applications like what is possible that I can create on my out. Like in the olden days, I’m gonna give up my age here but like FileMaker Pro y’all remember FileMaker Pro I would create my whole system in FileMaker databases connected relational, all the whole thing. And so now I get to do it again with even like better tools. Yes,

Chris Davis 10:21
yes, I will say this Noelia I didn’t realize how similar our stories were, with respect to art. You know, I’m, I, you know, have artists art background as well. And I, for the longest time could not see the connection. I’m just like, how did the two ever work? Do I use marketing to sell my art? You know, I never saw it right. And of course, fast forward. Now. You see, you see it peppered through everything I do, like more. So the flowcharts and how I make everything visual and colorful. I believe it’s me flexing that art muscle and building that art muscle, and just using it in this realm. But I do remember Photoshop seven, when I learned this is when the logo wasn’t even in color. And it just was the hardest technology ever. There were no to tour. This is before YouTube had tutorials lynda.com And all of this. You had a few websites? That was

Noelia Sanchez 11:23
the software on CD, like you had the CD.

Chris Davis 11:27
Yes. Now, you know, I’m not saying I did, but I know those who downloaded it burned it.

Noelia Sanchez 11:32
Okay, that guy.

Chris Davis 11:35
There’s that person out there somewhere. And I just remember my journey with technology started with understanding that I can do a lot of the stuff I was doing analog, digital, and art was one of them. So I did not start in marketing. I did not start like yeah, let’s do this. Marketing was the last thing that I learned to do with technology. Prior to that I was at a I was in leadership at a local church. And I had to run a department and just naturally I lean towards technology, grooming you before GroupMe, was what it is now was like our group messaging app, I’m using Google Calendar and all of these things. And I looked back at him like Man, this has been a part of me, all of this time is just now I’m intentional with what the result is, right? The use of technology is now about your marketing and sales process to help these businesses scale. So I love to hear because I feel like that’s all of us. We’re just, we’re you’re throwing stuff out there seeing what sticks, hey, but a lot of times people don’t ask, Do I like that claim? And you will pay you will pay? It’s like, well, wait a minute. Do I like doing that? Right? Is that something that’s, that’s native to me. So we of course, are our our paths cross you enrolled in the automation service provider program. I want to talk just real briefly and then get into your business offerings for nonprofits and how you solve problems with content and all of that. But what just talk to us a bit about the state of mind prior to enrolling in the ASP program, where were you at in business and and what problems were you trying to solve for yourself?

Noelia Sanchez 13:18
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, for me at the time, I was starting to really try to figure out how I could scale my business beyond being a creative freelancer, honestly, like I, although I’ve been in business for many, many years, it’s primarily just been me. And I was wanting to be able to scale to really be able to expand, be able to really take on more clients. So I had a very limited capacity when I was doing everything myself. And so right at that time, I started to put together a small team of part time support and help to do some of the production work that I take on. And I realized that I needed support and being able to figure out like, what is truly the best offering that I have. And something that was told to me a long time ago was, you know, really the money is in kind of like the back end development less of the front end like because the front end development, you could always outsource you can get wonderful designers out there to help support you. But the money is really in the strategy and in backend development. And so I wanted to beef up that side of my business, and really focus myself more on strategy. And I have a colleague, a friend, shout out to Kronda She is also in the community. She’s an sp also. And so she told me about your community. She was already in your mastermind. And that’s really how I just started to explore it and realize like, Yeah, this is where I could really hone in on my skills of strategy and really leverage and flex that side of my brain and sort of leave the design and creative into a production space where I can hire people to do that work. So yeah, it turned out that way,

Chris Davis 15:06
I have to say, it’s been great to watching the evolution, I remember those early days. And I remember how the conversation started to change more and more. And then I would hear about more people, I was like, Hey, wait a minute, businesses growing. And I’ll say this, I’ll say this about you. Noelia. You’re a constant student. So I and I love that about you. Because when you’re not a constant student, of your industry of the art of the service that you provide, what happens is you start to erroneously or irregularly lean on one source of information and expertise. Whereas you use you’re in other digital marketing communities, you’re in other communities for video production and everything. So your learning experience is so comprehensive. And I wanted to point that out, because a lot of times people go and look for the silver bullet, even though they don’t realize they’re looking for the silver bullet. And it’s like, listen, I may be a piece, I may be the core piece. But there’s other pieces to play at play, for your business success. So that’s something that I’d love to see I love seeing for you. And not just that you’re also always looking at ways to improve. So you and I are in a no code community together. And it’s just wait a minute, are there ways that we can do these things even better and easier for our clients? Right for a better experience just overall. So it’s, it’s great. It’s, it’s great to be in these times, and with people like yourself, where we can share ideas and show hey, look, this is how I close the client, look at this proposal that I sent. And hey, what do you think about this? Where else Excuse me, where else can you bounce those type of ideas that safe is dangerous. And some of these things, public groups, and you say an idea, and somebody who just started a business yesterday, use this tool, it works. And it’s like,

Noelia Sanchez 17:07
happens all the time. You see it happen all the time. I really appreciate you saying that. And recognizing that because that definitely is one of the ways that I describe myself to folks is that I’m I’m a lifelong learner. And I love learning new things. And I love introducing people to new ideas and sharing ideas. And just the idea of like, the idea of ideas of you know, like people being able to share and come together. And that’s how we’re able to push the boundaries of things and really innovate on stuff. And so definitely like I’m someone that’s eager to always learn and improve my skills to my detriment sometimes. But the idea of shiny object syndrome to me, everybody calls that a very negative thing. But to me, that’s how ideas grow. And people push beyond boundaries. So I don’t see it as a negative thing. There’s potential and all of those shiny things.

Chris Davis 17:58
Yeah. Oh, yeah. You just have to be disciplined. I mean, you all know, and when I say you are, these are everybody, everybody in my community, specifically, those have finished the ASP program, and we have our weekly office hours, there are times where that shiny object is maybe the highlight of my week, because you have brought a tool to my to my under knowledge that I didn’t know existed. Now a process that I was struggling with can now be improved. And I am notorious for having my entire week scheduled in plan in one tool wouldn’t chase it off. But that’s the beauty of it, right? Being able to take it on and then share with you guys. Hey, this is awesome. Yeah. So you guys can adopt it even faster. All right. So we’ve we we’ve got a good understanding of who you are hope listeners, the reason why I’m asking these questions in saying these things about Noelia. Because she’s somebody that’s invested in her growth, I’ve invested in her. And when I say hey, look, this is a certified automation service provider. This is the level of acumen that you’re getting, you’re seeing that these I’m not just picking people off the street, like, hey, put, you put this back on your website make me look good. There’s a process, there’s a process into it. So I’m grateful for every single one of you. And your business is really unique. So I feel like your business is of course birthed out of the pain that you experienced in the corporate world, having your voice be silenced, and just not fitting in. Now you’re in a position where you give these nonprofits, voices, these, these these areas in entrepreneurship, where somebody minority may have been muffled in the past. Now’s like they’re ready. They’re like, No, I want to get the word out. And they have a noble cause big heart behind it. But as you know, they need strategy. They need content, right to do it. So so let’s start with strategy. Tell us a little bit about your approach because this is one of the things that are it’s easily glossed over, I think strategy becomes like, hey, you need a marketing strategy. And and then you just go on to everything else and then be like, Okay, what else? Can I touch? That I go by those things? We’ll talk a little bit I can, I think it’s safe to assume most nonprofits and most organizations that you meet, that’s the thing that they’re lacking. How do you kind of slow them down and get them to focus on that area of their of their business?

Noelia Sanchez 20:28
Yeah, definitely. So it’s quite interesting, because I think the nonprofit space, although there’s a lot of overlap and concepts. There’s also a lot of very unique things that are very specific to nonprofits. And so one of them that is just like right off the bat is that they don’t really think of it is marketing, right? Like they don’t have a marketing department, they’re not going to have a director of marketing or a CMO. Often, the first place that the conversation starts around is, you know, they refer to it as communications, communications, community building, donor relationships, PR, those are the kinds of terms that float around in the nonprofit space. Slowly, I think now, it’s getting more adopted to think about marketing, your nonprofit, but it’s in the past, and throughout my career, it’s always been like, oh, no, we don’t mark it, you know, we’re about creating impact. And, you know, so it’s very different. But I like to think of myself and I intentionally try to be the person that looks at what’s being done in the for profit space within industry, and bring over some of those strategies and technologies over to the nonprofit world, because it tends to move a little bit slower, right, like the tech that you have available to, you know, SAS companies is not often available on the nonprofit side, or it’s like the the early 2000s version of what’s available now to other folks. And that’s probably the most frustrating thing. But when it comes to strategy, the main thing that I start with, usually with folks is to really identify what you would say is the target customer. But identifying that on the nonprofit side is to really understand if you’re, if you have like a, you know, a donor community or you have a member community, or if it’s the end user, the end person receiving the services for a nonprofit. And the tricky part with the nonprofit is often they’re, they have a really wide breadth of people that they need to serve. So it’s often board members, they have lots of stakeholders, board members, donors, the end, you know, recipient, the benefactor, and then the general, the general community that is trying to get you’re trying to give them knowledge about whatever issue or cause. So many of the organizations that I work with are focused around diversity, equity inclusion, and so they tend to be member based organizations. So yeah, we’re often trying to figure out how to streamline communications to all of those different areas. And then they all have a different outcome. So some people you’re trying to get them to sign up for services, which is a money transaction, other people you’re trying to get them to sign up for programs. And that’s not a money transaction, but an impact transaction. And then other times the end user is a funder. So you’re trying to get grant funding or support from higher level organizations. So yeah, so the initial step is really figuring out who those target audiences, audiences are, how you serve them. And what’s the message that we’re trying to communicate?

Chris Davis 23:30
Yeah, yeah. And I would say, with this foundational work, it starts to really position you and enable you to do some of the most valuable stuff, right? The stuff that they really are seeking you out for, it’s like, hey, I need this content, or I need to do this, or I need to do that. And you after you’ve slowed, okay, yeah, we can do that. Just wait this way. Let’s get our strategy. Let’s get our foundation together. And now you can move into your content production, which I think you do such a good job. And this is where you really start to see the left and right brain at work, right. Because if you all just will put the website up later, at the end of the podcasts. But if you go to any page, or any thing that Noelia has put her hand on, it’s just a soft design, great use of white space, the font is welcoming. I mean, these are the types of presentations that organizations need, because their stuff often looks outdated, boring, or it’s it’s overly done. There’s like 50 images all moving on the screen and you’re like, where do I click? Right? So you do a really good job at balancing. But content has a variety of ways that it can be produced. I wanted to give you the floor a little bit and talk about some of the content that you produce and noteworthy lab for your for your clients.

Noelia Sanchez 24:59
Yeah, Thank you again for just recognizing that and calling that out. Because it really is something that I tried to do is to make sure that I’m giving my clients the ability to really compete and demonstrate like what they do in a way that is going to be appealing, right. And so that often happens with nonprofits, like you said, is that the stuff starts looks outdated, and, you know, to, to really, you know, understand the nonprofit world is to really understand that often, it’s really small teams of volunteers that are doing this amazing work. So of course, it’s hard to keep your website up, of course, it’s hard like you, you’re finding somebody to volunteer their time to create these things. And, you know, before you know it, there’s a 10 different people that have touched the website said, We got 100 Different colors, 20 different fonts, you know, things get out of control. And so, you know, what we try to do is, is really, you know, hone that in, give them a really strong brand. And then also give them the systems that they need to be able to maintain things on their own in a consistent way. So along with a lot of the, you know, work that we do, there’s a lot of what is called digital transformation that happens, where you’re actually implementing new systems, new techniques, a whole new tech stack, often. And then I’m training folks on how to execute this. on the content side, what we like to do is identify a platform for them to be able to put their voice out there. This is also I think, a challenge for nonprofits, because they’re so busy delivering services, that they don’t have time to talk about what it is that they do, because they’re they’re really in the trenches doing the thing. And it’s hard for them to see the value of stepping back and creating content. So we try to come up with the easiest thing. And so sometimes it’s video, if it’s if it’s a, you know, executive director that really likes communicating in that way, they’re really good on camera, the kind of person that likes to be on stage, we recommend video. But then sometimes there’s program folks that really like to share what they’re doing. And they have the connection with the person that they’re doing the work with. But audio might be better for them. They’re really good talkers, but they’re kind of nervous about being on stage. So in those cases, we recommend that people do a podcast. And what I’ve seen is often board, board members like to take on that responsibility of doing the podcast, and then let the program folks, you know, run the programs. So podcasts are sometimes what we do. And sometimes it’s a combination of both, or we just go straight with writing, you know, we go and get people set up with a really good space on their website where they can do really effective SEO and blog content, to try to drive traffic. And sometimes that’s all they can handle is just written words. But all of that is important to put the strategy behind it, it’s important to identify what is going to be easy for an organization because sustainability is the key when it comes to content. Otherwise, you’re gonna feel like you’re you’re on an endless treadmill of creation. And that’s not realistic for small organizations that are often volunteer based.

Chris Davis 28:00
Yeah. And they need that they need someone that understands because my experience with nonprofits is really similar to most businesses, like you said, there’s a lot of parallels, and they’ll see a result, they’ll see a colleague, a competitor, or a friend or when just another business in general doing something and they want that thing, but they had no idea what it takes to generate that thing. And to do it consistently. So with someone like yourself who not just has the the acumen, but you have the business in the in the team behind being able to solve that problem. So it’s like, hey, look, you guys want to get video out consistently. First off, let’s sit down and let’s talk about who’s on video. What it takes. Where’s your camera? Which, oh, we need a camera. That was one of the things you helped me with. I was like Noelia look at how good these cameras look of these YouTubers. What are they using? Are these magic cameras. You’re like, Oh, here’s a few, like, just like that. Go dig deep. So it’s extremely important, especially if you’re already in a slower industry, right that nonprofits often are, is that you are finding somebody who’s not just out to provide a service to make money, right, but somebody who was actually immersed in it is always learning. Fun fact about you is your video is you’re not the main producer of your video with this. Just talk about how you you handle video production.

Noelia Sanchez 29:39
Yeah, so in my company, I’m also I partner with my husband so we are partners in life and partners and business. And so he handles a lot of the creative work and I focus on the strategy with our clients and so, specifically he does all of our video editing does a little bit of the podcast work as well but when we need Do any video or photography or any kind of live video? He’s the one that handles it for us. Yeah.

Chris Davis 30:07
Yeah, yeah, I thought it was beautiful. Anytime you see couples that can partner in business like they do in doing life, it just lets you know that you’ve got you’ve got that that relationship often, where you don’t have to start from scratch every time you say, hey, look, nope, let’s get that’s wrong. And they don’t take it personally, you know, they’re like, Oh, I got the wrong shot. Yeah. Can we change this shot? It just allows you to move faster. And then on the other side,

Noelia Sanchez 30:34
sometimes not all the time. Right.

Chris Davis 30:38
Right. Like, tell me what to do. I know how to run the camera, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then you’ve got and I want to highlight these things just to give people insight. And maybe they can even start to see possibilities already. What would it be like working with somebody like Noelia Sanchez at noteworthy lab where she understands me, she understands my need to get my voice out, but also is strategic. And our approach understands technology. And I don’t want you all to miss it. And Noelia mentioned how she trains your team. That is extremely important. I think that it’s a shame, if any of you have a system built by anybody, I don’t care who it is. And they’re the only ones that can operate it. You are then imprisoned by that Freelancer in prison by that agency owner. And that just shouldn’t be the way so also, we talked about you mentioned, hey, if you’re not, if video is not your thing, we can do podcasting. And you’ve got like an entire podcast production team, right?

Noelia Sanchez 31:44
Yep, yep. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, something, in regards to what you mentioned, just now about training, you know, my experience with, you know, just working within the tech space is, it’s a very common thing for the tech people to be very closed with their knowledge, right? Like, they are going to keep it close. And they want to be the ones. I hate to say it, but it’s like the tech bros, right? Like, they like to be able to be the one that walks in and saves the day, you know, a problem happens, and only they can solve it. And they come in and save the day, and they get all the praise for it. One of the things that used to always get me in trouble in my corporate space is that I would call that out like, why is that the case? Why don’t you document it. And that way, anybody can save the day, anyone could solve the problem. But yeah, so having experienced that many times in my life, where a tech professional doesn’t share their knowledge, I wanted to be the opposite of that, right. So anything that I create for somebody it’s all about, and this is a core element, I think of being an ASP also is that you document everything, like that’s key, having everything laid out being client first focused, so that somebody can take the great thing that you created together really like it’s not just yours, you created it together, and they can grow it and turn it into something else. And they’re completely empowered to do that. So that’s the key focus for me is to make sure that that happens. Yeah. And so you know, along those lines, even though when we create support, folks with content creation, you know, we do take over your whole process to make it easier for you with podcasts, what we’d like to say is you just have to show up record, and then we handle the rest. And that’s really what we want to make it like really seamless and easy. And so we do show notes, we do audio editing and video editing. If you do a video podcast, we post it to all the different locations to make sure distribution happens. And yeah, so we handle all the different parts for people just so that it’s nice and simple. And but it’s documented. So anytime somebody needs to move on or bring it in house, because some folks like to it the podcast as well. You know, this is what we want. We want their team to grow and to bring somebody in and let somebody have that role internally. And when that happens, we turn over everything we have it all totally documented. We teach them how to do it, so that it’s the person on the inside can then pick up seamlessly.

Chris Davis 34:06
Yeah, and it’s a very unique approach. And I’ll say this podcasting, specially in certain industries, and when you have a good cause, you can’t produce enough content. When you’re doing good deeds, you know, and you got a great mission. It’s to the benefit. I think every nonprofit should have a podcast. And I want to say this. This is what he is, this is not fluff. This is real. A world where you can sit down, record a podcast, click in and upload that to some shared folder and sit back and let them do the rest. I’ve lived I’ve seen this with my own eyes, by the way, where they’ll produce the social media, different sizes for different platforms, the show notes the quotes, I mean this CES for service. So a lot of times people get overwhelmed, especially tech. Right? So you’ve got a tech element, then you’ve got just an operational element. So for you all to take that on. And again, you’re going to see the design skills, right? Your your thumbnails are going to be beautiful. You’re not going to have to look and go, hey, those are my brand colors. Right? These are small things, the Noelia that people don’t even realize they’re like, Oh, they’re going to help me. And then they give you something back here. Like what is that? And I’ve seen people go out in the marketplace, their colors are blue and yellow, maybe. And then somebody gives them a piece that’s money green. This is like you know, so these are, I like to highlight these differentiators. Because when people don’t know what to look for, they often accept the first thing that looks good. Yeah. But if you don’t know what to look for, and that looks good, it probably is a bad choice. Hopefully, we can educate you all on what to look for. So when you go and look, you can at least have some discernment and say, you know, what I remember on the podcast, let me run the other way that they do not even use their own branding, you know, on their, their stuff. So, alright, with that being said, and well, you know, I can talk to you forever. What’s next? What is What are you up to here at noteworthy lab that you’d like our listeners to know? And I’ll start it off, she is already on the website as a certified partner, she can you can go to automationbridge.com/ASP-directory , and you will see Noelia’s profile and reach out to her directly right there. But what else? What are you up to Noelia? What, what’s what’s in the oven right now?

Noelia Sanchez 36:43
Yeah, well, a couple things that we’ve been thinking about a lot lately is really working closely. As you mentioned, our staff, you know, what’s on the podcast and content creation side, something that’s really important to us is, you know, we believe in youth development. And so the folks that help us with production, we hire young people. And so we’re really looking at expanding that a bit more, because we want to train the workforce of the future and give these tech skills like I was given as a young person, and really allow them to help them flourish and grow. So we’re looking to expand our team and grow it in these areas of for young women and people of color to get these tech skills, and figure out a nice way to be able to rotate people in and out so more people get the experience. So we’re working on doing that program development, and then also really thinking about ways that we can bring together many of the professionals that we’ve met within the nonprofit space that do work within communication slash marketing now, and really gathered them in to a little bit of a mastermind for themselves to be able to share strategies as they sort of dive into more technology and really support them and create a space for them to collaborate.

Chris Davis 37:57
Yeah, I love it. Um, founders, CEOs, they need community, they need a place to go to bounce ideas off of to be inspired to be challenged. Because what I found is that when you don’t have that you will create it, because it’s a need. When you started your business, I hope you realize that was a need for you to be able to bounce ideas off people. And the unfortunate thing that I see a lot Noelia is when they do that internally in their business. And bless the heart of all of the people that work for these companies, they do their best, trying to give good feedback and support. But sometimes you just need to go to a bigger, deeper Well, right? You need to go, Hey, I’ve got the water at this level, I need to go a little deeper, what’s working in my industry, what’s not what are opportunities out there. So I love the idea of that community to bring them together to share these strategies and story so that they can shorten their learning curve, because especially minority based businesses is we don’t often have all of this breadth of knowledge, easily accessible and available. So that’s, that’s, that’s great to hear that. All right. So we’re towards our end, where can people go if you haven’t pieced it together by now everybody? Where can people go? To find out more to connect with you deeper? Where should we send them?

Noelia Sanchez 39:20
Yeah, so you can just check out the website, noteworthylab.com You’ll feel, find all the information there to connect. And yeah, schedule a call if you want to hear more about what we do and just chat about how you can leverage and use content marketing to get your word out about your organization.

Chris Davis 39:38
Yes, now those that link will be in the show notes, everyone. So if you’re listening on your device right now, go ahead, click Show Notes. It’s right there. Super easy to find. I’m on the site right now, right there in the upper right book a call. You’re not gonna have to work hard to get in contact with Noelia. Willie, I have to thank you for your commitment to growth. have brought you into my life and crossed our paths and your ongoing commitment to be a student. It has been a joy to watch you flourish and watch your business grow. And I hope that somebody that’s listening today takes you up on your offer to connect and learn how to properly leverage technology through a strategic approach. And content production. I think it I mean, you’re the missing piece for somebody that’s listening probably more than one person that’s listening. So I would encourage you listener to just take action, just take action. If you’re not watching. If you’re listening to this, you may want to check this one out on video too. How can you how can you say no to Noelia? You guys think I smile a lot. I’ve met my match.

Chris Davis 40:53
Thank you so much. Noelia for coming on the podcast is greatly appreciate it.

Noelia Sanchez 40:58
Oh, thank you, Chris. Likewise, it’s been a wonderful journey. Getting to know you and getting to be part of the community.

Chris Davis 41:04
Yes, absolutely. So I have the fortunate benefit to see you in the community online afterwards. So all right, take care. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The all systems go podcast. If you enjoyed it, make sure that you’re subscribed at the time of recording the all systems go podcast is free to subscribe to, and it can be found in Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts new episodes are released every Thursday. So make sure you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss out and while you’re at it, please leave us a five star rating and review to show some love but also to help future listeners more easily find the podcast so they can experience the value in goodness as well. We’ve compiled all resources mentioned on the podcast, as well as other resources that are extremely valuable and effective at helping you grow your marketing automation skills quickly and you can access them all at allsystemsgopodcast.com Thanks again for listening. And until next time, I see you online. Automate responsibly my friends