How do you tell your brand story?
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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forever
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what's up everybody welcome back to
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another episode of greetings from the
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garden state i'm your host mike ham
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we're here in hoboken today uh with
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nicole tyler of nikki on the daily nikki
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welcome to the show thank you so much
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for having me it's exciting to be here
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um to be just straight up like i'm not a
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big hoboken jersey city guy it's just
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like two city for me i like coming in
00:38
and then i like leaving uh but you've
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made this your home right like you're
00:42
not originally from new jersey so i'm
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originally from long island um and
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obviously the way i say it comes off
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very long island right but during the
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pandemic i always uh had it in my mind
00:53
to kind of move to hoboken the past few
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years before the pandemic but then
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yeah once it just hit once the prices
01:00
went down a little bit a little bit i
01:02
was like this is the spot for me i've
01:04
been visiting for a while
01:05
started falling in love with the
01:06
community
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jersey city too i mean between the two
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of them right but
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i feel like hoboken has a lot more of
01:13
the community than i'm used to yeah and
01:15
now that i moved here it's kind of hard
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to imagine myself elsewhere so you
01:18
really only we're recording this in
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december actually right before christmas
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that's why we're all messed up so we
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stay
01:24
safe for everybody that uh we're gonna
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see on on saturday but um so
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what uh i just lost my train of thought
01:32
you came here how long have you been
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here in hoboken so it's been just over a
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year so i moved in october of
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and it was strange because the first six
01:41
months i was here people were still
01:43
wearing masks yeah right so fortunately
01:46
hoboken never closed down the way new
01:48
york did and in specific long island was
01:51
shuttered the same way the five boroughs
01:52
were yeah so when i moved here it gave
01:55
way to a lot of kind of comfortability
01:58
social distancing was in effect and
01:59
everything but i feel like i kind of
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gained a life in addition to the new
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life i was making which was a nice
02:04
change right and what was that like so
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you move here did you already have nikki
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on the daily when you moved here or was
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that something that
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started when you moved here to hoboken
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so nicki on the daily was first
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conceptualized 10 years ago in 2011. oh
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wow it started when i was a journalism
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major in college
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daily was actually a sorority name that
02:25
was given to me
02:27
because of my obsession with daily news
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and carson daly and all the other
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associations with that word
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so when i graduated from college and i
02:36
started working in
02:38
radio and television no one could say my
02:40
last name yeah people always said you
02:42
know different versions of title and the
02:44
way it was spelled i'm not gonna i got
02:46
it wrong the first time when i asked you
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so i totally get that it's uh it's a
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little chaotic when you i mean i'm used
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to that my whole life but hearing it
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professionally
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so i was playing around with it and
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thinking about like daily news and i
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love lois lane growing up so
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uh
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yeah so eventually i was just like you
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know what nicki on the daily i just said
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it one day because i was like that's
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what people were calling me daily anyway
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nikki daly
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and then um it started there back ten
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years ago
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and it was a journalism byline for a
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while i want to say in about 2015
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it's maybe 16 i forget the exact year
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but that's when i actually tried to
03:26
register it as a patent okay so that it
03:29
would be the first trademarked byline
03:31
yeah and this year in 2021
03:34
it finally went through oh
03:36
congratulations so it feels very
03:38
serendipitous that uh
03:40
that passed through as i moved to
03:43
transition
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not only my lifestyle but my branding
03:45
and all of that right and talk to me
03:47
about like what it is like what is nikki
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on the daily so nikki on the daily
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started off as just my way of trying to
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become a
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a brand within myself as a journalist
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that's what it started as so when i
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would write articles
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uh it became an instagram handle a
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youtube channel
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don't no one go look at my youtube it's
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terrible i think there's like an old
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video of me trying to bake with my
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friends and the gingerbread men did not
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come out the way they were supposed to
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um
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but that's what it started as
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but people kept telling me
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at the time
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you can't use nikki on the daily as a
04:20
journalist because it's a brand yeah and
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i said
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just because it's never been done
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doesn't mean
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like that's how things start someone
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does it yeah right yeah so it's always
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wrong and when someone does it the first
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time that's all because nobody knows
04:36
what it actually could be right
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look at the social media videos out
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there looking at the tick tocks right
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wrong at first yeah exactly and then
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they wind up being right exactly the
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more people do it and see them so that's
04:46
what it so that's what it has been and
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then comes when the pandemic it and when
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i moved
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i realized that my actual my journalism
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my newspaper had dissolved
04:56
the one i was working with for 10 years
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okay so they dissolved and when that
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happened everyone that i was writing
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about started asking me the
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organizations the businesses
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now that you're no longer with the
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newspaper because everyone was like oh
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yeah can you help us can you do our
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newsletters and our you know blog posts
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and all of that and i realized
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there was a niche for that there was a
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need
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to help people who knew my writing and
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who now coming to hoboken don't know my
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writing right so it transitioned from a
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journalism
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storytel newspaper storyteller to now a
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brand storyteller yeah so you're working
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with these brands and so when you move
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here to new jersey and you said like
05:37
people here don't really know your
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writing or that kind of stuff it's gonna
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be like a new audience to kind of
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connect with right um what was the
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transition like was that difficult to
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try to get in front of some of these
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businesses or were they more open to it
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because they needed to get stuff out
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there because of closures or whatever
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that kind of stuff it was a little bit
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of both so the positive was that when i
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moved here no one knew me
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in the sense where i was kind of pit
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cold pitching everyone for the first
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time i didn't have to ask do you need
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this do you need that so the easy part
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was getting my name out there where now
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i was just at you know it's holiday
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market season yeah uh yesterday i was at
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one and uh i had a few people being like
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nikki on the daily like screaming out my
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name because they've been following my
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journey or whatnot
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but when i first got here as i was
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pitching people i actually did research
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of
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every business in hoboken at the time
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yeah so i must have sent out
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out of the thou i don't know something
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like hundreds of emails i sent out and
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the response was some i mean
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unfortunately because this happened
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right away yeah it was people didn't
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have it in their budget and
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i was pitching these small businesses
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not bigger ones so it was hard to get
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footing when
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how do i sustain myself as a business
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writer when other people are barely
06:55
sustaining themselves right but people
06:57
people loved it they thought they were
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open to the idea
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the unfortunate part was that there was
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a mismatch and as a direct result of the
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pandemic how that would happen yeah yeah
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so then talk to me about like some of
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the stuff that you actually do
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with these businesses like when you when
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you're gonna tell their brand story
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right what is that how do you go about
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doing that so
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what makes me a little bit different
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than let's say a marketing agency
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because you think of blog posts
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newsletters seo driven content in that
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regard
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typically that falls under a marketing
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agency yeah
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because i come from a journalism
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background i care for now my math keeps
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falling i might as well just go like
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that
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um
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my concern is yes i care about metrics
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but because my focus has always been the
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audience and connecting to an audience
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so essentially what i do is i tell brand
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stories that's why i don't say conte i
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mean essentially i'm a content writer
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yeah that's really what it is i'm a
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copywriter but to me that just sounds so
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cold when you're telling a brand story
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that's yes i care about seo yes i care
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about what the metrics are the opening
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rates the kpis all that stuff but my
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interest and what my goal has always
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been is like through the newsletters
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through the website copy through the
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content
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is that story being told where the
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audience is not only just opening it and
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interested it in it
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but they're sharing that yeah i want an
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audience to look at a brand and say
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that's that's a message that resonates
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with me yeah it's not just the bottom
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line it's not just the sales strategy
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this is something that they find value
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in and want to continue to share that
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right it's like engaging with it
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right right yeah exactly so um and then
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also you know like when we're talking
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about these businesses and working on
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telling their brand story and all that
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kind of stuff one of the things that i
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think is interesting is the fact that
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like
08:47
you know you see a lot of people that do
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maybe not what you do but similar type
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stuff like social media or marketing
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that kind of thing um and they could
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have their own instagram account and
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like you look at it you're like what the
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hell is this there's nothing going on
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right but like one of the things that i
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think is interesting about you is that
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you actually like practice
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like what you're preaching so you're
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like going to businesses you know you're
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posting about them all that kind of
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stuff does that are like all of those
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part of your
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base of clients or is that just
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something you do because you're just
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like engaging with the community and
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getting out there and trying different
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things that's always just been who i am
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i mean i think the beauty of what i do
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is that
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like every like you know when you're
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when you're a kid and you know your ass
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like what do you want to be when you
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grow up and how many people actually
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follow that
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nobody
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well maybe not nobody but like not me
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when i was a kid i used to go around
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with a hairbrush and interview people in
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my community in queens yeah and i would
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ask them like tell me your name and why
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you started your business so
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i used to create reals just for fun with
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like my mom's whatever camera she had at
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the time and would ask people about the
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history and just everything that's
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community related yeah and i was nervous
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when i first came to hoboken i was like
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am i going to be able to build that
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without or am i just kind of like a like
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a one-trick pony where i did it on long
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island and that's it yeah but no i
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really care about community and i really
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think that
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um that's why hoboken to me is so
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special
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is that
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i've been involved with the non-profits
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everyone else and
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so yeah when i something that i like to
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say is that when i go and i promote
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something i'm not getting paid for
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showing the candle that was on my
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instagram last night i'm not getting
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paid to show up at these like fairs what
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i hope is that in return for sharing
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what i think is special
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people will share my content because
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they think that what i
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my kind of like heart of it is special
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too right yeah because people i think
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people people can tell you know like i
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don't make money doing this you know i
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mean so like well that's why you and i
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connected because you're passionate
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about this right and like i post about
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it and all that kind of stuff because i
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do think that there's
10:53
you can you could tell like people's bs
10:55
meters as far as that stuff goes are so
10:58
finely tuned these days they know which
10:59
post is a paid post and which post is
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right not or which is sponsored or which
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is not you know what i mean and i think
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that that's what i like about like your
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content is just like it's just a natural
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kind of thing like hey i really like
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this so i'm going to share with you and
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that goes back to we talk all the time
11:14
on this show about community so that was
11:16
a great answer to that well that's why
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this is my first podcast i wouldn't have
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thought of a better way
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to be on to break in exactly tell a
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story in a different way now just like
11:26
with the spoken word rather than the
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written word right but it's also nice
11:29
because you know that's what you know
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when you and i met that's the the
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passion for community is what connected
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us so the fact that we're here now is
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really part of it yeah exactly i love it
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um all right so we're gonna take our
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first break of this episode uh so we're
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here in hoboken new jersey with nikki on
11:43
the daily i'm mike ham this is the
11:44
greetings from the garden state podcast
11:46
we'll be right back
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it is time for today in new jersey
11:51
history charles f hopkins the last
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surviving new jersey civil war medal of
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honor recipient died on february 14 1934
11:59
in bhutan new jersey hopkins was awarded
12:02
the medal for carrying a wounded soldier
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off the battlefield at gainesville
12:05
virginia in 1862. he was born on may 16
12:09
1842 in hope township new jersey and in
12:12
addition to his service during the civil
12:13
war hopkins also served as mayor of
12:16
bhutan and that is today in new jersey
12:22
history all right we're back this is the
12:25
greetings from the garden state podcast
12:26
i'm mike ham we're here we're here with
12:27
nikki on the daily in hoboken new jersey
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uh so nikki in the first segment we kind
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of talked a little bit about your
12:32
background uh we talked about what brand
12:35
storytelling actually is and what it is
12:37
that you do um and one of the things
12:39
that we were talking about kind of as we
12:41
closed out that first segment which we
12:42
talked a lot about on the show is the
12:44
idea of community and so like you were
12:46
talking about the community here in
12:47
hoboken us connecting because we have
12:49
similar mindsets on community but i
12:52
think one of the things that i think is
12:54
interesting is like
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the two of us are creators i guess and
12:59
like the last year and a half two years
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i guess now by the time this post be
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basically two years has kind of pushed
13:05
people to create you know whether or not
13:07
they want to or not you know what i mean
13:09
so like if you're a business if you're a
13:11
brand if you're a restaurant if you're
13:13
whatever you've been forced to actually
13:14
like put stuff on social media because
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you need people to see you because they
13:18
may not be able to come as frequently so
13:20
talk to me about like let's just define
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like what a creator actually is like
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what do we do so creators are
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essentially anyone that produces content
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in
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something in a creative sense so it
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could be a podcast it could be a
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designer
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uh writers
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um pretty much anything that that's not
13:40
that's driven by creativity yeah it's
13:42
just the
13:43
most like it you could be a woodworker
13:44
that's creative right
13:47
so it's pretty much anything that this
13:49
has to do with that side of your brain
13:51
at least i would think so
13:52
right that's my definition i would say
13:54
so like because we talked about actually
13:55
the episode that posted today at the
13:57
time of this recording uh was with main
14:00
street wine cellar in madison new jersey
14:02
and we were talking about like the art
14:04
of pairing wine with food like that to
14:06
me is kind of like a creation of you're
14:08
not making the wine or making the food
14:10
but you're like making this thing to
14:12
create something that becomes even
14:14
better you know what i mean you're
14:16
thinking i think
14:17
if i were to you know i never thought
14:19
about how to define a creative i would
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say a creative is someone that thinks
14:23
empathetically rather than logically
14:24
yeah
14:26
i would agree with that would that does
14:28
that make is that
14:29
make sense
14:30
yeah
14:31
say one more time a creative is someone
14:33
that thinks empathetically rather than
14:36
logically
14:37
uh i think you could be creative and
14:38
think logically
14:40
i think
14:42
i don't know but like you're doing like
14:44
i write because i care about
14:46
people you're doing this because you
14:47
care about people people who are in
14:49
woodworking have like an empty i don't
14:51
know yeah
14:53
well that's you know we can work on it
14:55
we can think about that we'll flush that
14:56
part out exactly um but uh so and we
14:59
talked about one of the things we were
15:00
talking about before we actually got
15:01
started was just the idea of like you
15:04
know um demand for creators so like
15:06
maybe you're a restaurant owner let's
15:08
just take that as an example you cook
15:10
food you know you know how to run the
15:12
front of the house back of the house you
15:13
know how to interact with your customers
15:15
you've never put anything on social
15:16
media you just had maybe have a
15:17
following because somebody takes a
15:18
picture of your food and posts it um so
15:21
so one of the things that you would send
15:22
over to me is maybe like a talking point
15:23
for this episode episode was the demand
15:26
for creators right you know and that's
15:28
obviously up a ridiculous amount i think
15:31
what was the number so
15:32
um
15:33
the exact number was actually 220
15:37
ironically since 2020. oh yeah i didn't
15:39
think about that so uh so daniel
15:42
daniel roth who's the editor in vp for
15:44
15:45
uh he produces this uh creator's weekly
15:49
sort of
15:50
just article on linkedin and he posted
15:52
the other day so if we're like you know
15:54
second week of december he posted the
15:56
first week of december that without
15:58
getting ahead of himself that 2021 is
16:00
the year of the creator yeah because
16:03
it's something like 40
16:05
since 2019 have upped their job titles
16:08
to include the word creator on linkedin
16:10
yeah and like 15 jump since 2020
16:15
and that exact demand for it has been
16:17
like we said 220 since last year right
16:20
which basically means that okay so it's
16:22
not even just restaurants
16:23
not even necessarily you know
16:25
industries that you would think that
16:26
would need someone creative but you have
16:28
tech space you have especially
16:30
healthcare now more than ever they need
16:32
people to understand how to really talk
16:34
to an audience and how to get out video
16:38
content graphic content just in every
16:41
podcast content yeah
16:43
new ways to basically connect with
16:45
people right that is interesting because
16:47
now i have another question maybe about
16:48
like more geared towards what you do um
16:51
when you're writing and you mention like
16:53
the audience and i think that that's
16:55
like a big thing because you need to
16:56
understand like who
16:57
you're talking to you know i mean like
16:59
whether we're doing this or whether
17:00
you're writing or whether somebody's
17:02
cooking some food like you need to
17:03
understand like who you're trying to
17:04
attract to bring to your content so when
17:07
you're working with some of these brands
17:09
are you cognizant of that i would
17:11
imagine right like who they're trying to
17:13
attract to come to whatever business
17:15
that may be so before i work with anyone
17:18
as i'm in the you know the preliminary
17:20
stages i go through their entire social
17:23
media the stuff that they are everything
17:24
that's already out there yeah i comb
17:27
through it i want to know who's insur
17:29
what kind of content are they putting
17:31
out i i don't want to say the word stalk
17:33
but i do look at like who's interacting
17:35
with that content who's sharing it i try
17:37
and get as much as possible but also in
17:40
that process i ask each business that i
17:43
work with or each and it could be a
17:44
personal business too just like one uh
17:46
one individual brand
17:48
what matters to them because if the
17:51
thing that's mattering to them is not
17:52
translating well onto their social or
17:55
onto their blog posts or web copy
17:57
then that's not their target demographic
18:00
that's a missed opportunity because
18:02
people like you said before you can
18:04
always tell when people are being
18:05
insincere yeah so if a brand is
18:08
accidentally aiming for a target
18:09
demographic
18:11
but they're missing their mark and they
18:12
ask themselves why yeah maybe it's
18:14
because of that uh like that
18:16
disingenuous
18:17
is coming off
18:19
yeah i i agree with that and also one of
18:21
the questions i would have about that
18:22
too is like do you ever work with brands
18:25
because like i think if you you comb
18:27
through what they have out there already
18:29
right and maybe that's not exactly what
18:31
they need out there um and that's where
18:33
you come in right but like if they have
18:36
like a message that they're trying to
18:37
relate to their clients or their
18:39
customers or whatever
18:40
like that could be the wrong message it
18:43
could be totally genuine but it could
18:45
not maybe it's not like the actual thing
18:47
that is gonna get that person that
18:49
they're looking for right in the door
18:51
you know what i mean like maybe it's not
18:52
like as well defined so how do you drill
18:54
down and like figure out that kind of
18:55
stuff well now having switched because
18:57
now i'm in the you know the client is
18:59
always right right which is true in
19:00
journalism it was i don't care what the
19:02
client wants i have to do what's honest
19:04
right but it's so when i work with
19:06
people i ask them how much creative
19:08
liberty do i have so
19:10
um fortunately it's been uh 50 50. some
19:14
people are like go with it we trust you
19:16
others are like we need to stick to this
19:17
message
19:18
and then i think the biggest thing with
19:20
the clients that i work with is are you
19:23
open to failing to succeed right because
19:27
if something's not working
19:29
i'm not going to tell the client i don't
19:30
think that's right if they're dead set
19:32
on doing it yeah my job and
19:35
my ethos with the client is building up
19:37
that connection building up whatever
19:38
they need getting it out and then coming
19:40
back and saying you know three months
19:42
down the line and saying okay
19:44
how are the metrics how is this looking
19:46
yeah are you open to reevaluating and
19:49
move forward with that right so we
19:51
obviously interview like a lot of people
19:53
on this show that own businesses or
19:55
restaurants or
19:57
run nonprofits all that kind of stuff
19:59
and a lot of them do the stuff
20:01
themselves right you know uh or maybe
20:03
they have like one person that kind of
20:04
does it like you know on this like as
20:07
part of their job description i guess
20:08
but they may be like a manager and also
20:10
run the social media type stuff right so
20:13
if you're a brand specifically one here
20:15
in new jersey because that's what we
20:16
talk about um like when
20:19
do you decide like
20:22
what's like the the moment you think
20:23
that people have that they're like hey i
20:25
need to get somebody in here like
20:27
yourself that can help me get this thing
20:30
out there because i think maybe
20:31
sometimes people look at it you know
20:32
like i mean we've had brands on here
20:34
that have had upwards of like tens of
20:37
thousands of followers on instagram all
20:39
that kind of stuff and it seems like
20:40
they're doing great right you know as
20:42
far as like total followers and all that
20:44
kind of stuff but there's more to it
20:45
right like we talked about the
20:46
engagement factor before so like how do
20:48
people
20:49
like they may be like leaving some you
20:51
know meet on the bone when it comes to
20:53
that uh that respect so like how do you
20:55
like if you're a business owner like
20:57
when do you when should you try to look
20:59
for someone like yourself when you're
21:01
stressed stressed
21:02
so it's a very long-winded question to
21:04
get to my opinion no i think you might
21:06
know but it makes sense because you're
21:07
describing the client right describing
21:09
the person as i'm sure
21:11
you've you know you've interviewed some
21:12
incredible people for this podcast so
21:14
you're describing that person
21:16
so um i don't like named i'm not name
21:18
dropping clients i will avoid that but
21:20
one client in particular which is a very
21:22
uh big client of mine
21:23
i reached out to them
21:25
they were not looking
21:27
but after i worked with them and you
21:29
know we got you know some very
21:31
successful things out together
21:33
they're like oh my god
21:35
i'm not stressed anymore what is this
21:37
i'm like what do you mean you're not
21:38
just like no like i didn't even know i
21:40
needed you
21:42
you know but now i don't have to think
21:43
anymore
21:44
you just get the bra i mean it's such a
21:46
nice feeling to know that
21:49
not because i'm good at what i do but
21:50
because i actually listen to people yeah
21:53
and i care so much
21:55
that it's not my job just to write their
21:58
story it's my job to actually make their
22:00
life easier yeah so i would say to
22:02
businesses businesses out there where if
22:05
you're producing content like some
22:06
people i reach out to and they're like
22:07
no no i have it
22:09
and they're actually better off without
22:10
me because that's their creative side
22:12
yeah that's the part where maybe they
22:15
deal with business every day and writing
22:16
the blog post is the one
22:18
part of themselves their outlet yeah
22:20
right like this is my outlet exactly and
22:22
i've had instances with that where i've
22:24
worked with people and they're like you
22:25
know what actually miss doing it
22:27
so to answer so my long-winded answer to
22:30
your question is
22:31
when a business person or a
22:34
employee or somebody is stressed over
22:37
creating that content that's when they
22:39
should outsource it
22:40
and i mean they could always reach out
22:42
to me obviously but outsource it to
22:44
somebody who
22:45
not only gets them
22:47
but who cares about it because
22:49
the last thing you want to do is have
22:51
someone else get stressed over it and
22:53
then they do a shoddy job right because
22:57
they don't feel like doing it anymore
22:58
yeah are there specific types of
23:00
businesses that you work with or just
23:01
kind of like your equal opportunity
23:03
marketer
23:05
so i wouldn't say there's a specific
23:07
business but there is a specific ethos
23:09
so i like working people who are trying
23:11
to make the communities around them
23:12
better cool so um
23:15
if you know i have clients in tech who
23:18
are out there trying to make people more
23:20
successful and sincerely trying to teach
23:22
them the tools to make them more
23:24
successful and giving those stories i
23:26
have others in health and wellness food
23:29
so
23:30
any so i like saying that my job is to
23:32
connect communities to come through
23:34
conversation right i love that and i
23:36
think that that's going to be a great
23:37
way because we're going to we're going
23:39
to i think i know what we're going to
23:40
talk about in the next segment i'm
23:41
pretty sure we're going to brainstorm
23:43
here in a second but we're going to take
23:44
our second break our last break of this
23:46
episode so this is the greetings from
23:47
the garden day podcast i'm mike hamm
23:49
we're here in hoboken new jersey with
23:51
nikki on the daily we'll be right back
23:56
it is time for new jersey fun fact of
23:58
the day did you know that camden new
24:00
jersey was the site of the first ever
24:02
drive-in movie theater
24:04
and that is your new jersey fun fact of
24:06
the day
24:11
and we're back this is the greetings
24:13
from the garden state podcast on my cam
24:14
we are here in hoboken new jersey with
24:16
nikki on the daily so in the first two
24:19
segments we talked about your background
24:20
we talked about the background of nikki
24:21
on the daily we talked about a lot of
24:24
different things what a creator is why
24:26
businesses are you know basically being
24:28
forced for lack of a better word to find
24:30
creatives to come and work for them and
24:32
just tell their brand stories so one of
24:35
the things that i thought would be an
24:35
interesting thing to kind of close out
24:37
this episode with because a lot of the
24:38
people that we have on this show are
24:41
business owners right that could
24:42
potentially whether they know it now or
24:44
not maybe after hearing you talk for
24:45
this episode maybe now they're like i
24:47
gotta call her hopefully hopefully um
24:50
but uh so let's talk about like maybe
24:53
what makes content successful content we
24:56
talked a little bit about that we've
24:57
touched on it a couple times throughout
24:59
this episode but like when you're
25:01
working with someone like what are some
25:02
things that you're hoping to see
25:04
like make that content work for that
25:07
business something that people want to
25:08
share
25:10
it's a very simple answer i mean i take
25:12
a i don't know if you're familiar with
25:13
who gary v is gary vaynerchuk like
25:16
he's literally one of my idols when it
25:18
comes to the industry and his whole
25:20
thing is about you know create more
25:22
content so that people actually
25:23
eventually will see it it'll resonate
25:26
with them and then they'll want to share
25:27
that stuff too yeah obviously he's
25:29
successful because i'm sharing his
25:31
content
25:32
so it works yeah exactly so my version
25:35
of successful content is
25:38
is it
25:39
is it being seen
25:41
because as a writer as
25:42
as a writer that's like rule 101 like if
25:45
you're writing to no one
25:47
what's the difference yeah shouting into
25:49
a void exactly yeah like this is not
25:51
something where you're in the financial
25:53
you know you're not you're in finance
25:54
and it's like oh like no one really
25:56
needs to see your work as long as the
25:57
numbers are proving themselves oh
25:59
there a creator is someone with who does
26:01
visual work
26:04
yeah could that be it going back to this
26:06
isn't visual though okay
26:08
i mean the youtube version is going to
26:10
be visual but okay so skip that yeah
26:12
we're working on that we're going to get
26:14
we're too creative people we should
26:15
figure this out we'll figure it out what
26:17
it is that we actually do here no
26:19
dictionary.com works but yeah shareable
26:20
content shareable content so another
26:23
thing that i think is interesting about
26:24
this stuff is and i run into this with
26:27
my other show which kind of supports my
26:29
actual nine to five job
26:31
is the idea that like sometimes when
26:34
you're putting content out it's
26:36
frustrating because you said you got to
26:38
keep creating creating creating until
26:39
someone sees it right and then it
26:41
becomes that shareable content or
26:42
whatever that piece of shareable content
26:44
is but i think that when you're i would
26:46
imagine i'm not going to put words in
26:48
your mouth that
26:49
when you're working with these
26:50
businesses maybe they don't see like
26:53
returns on stuff like that right away i
26:55
would imagine that they don't i didn't
26:57
when i was doing the other thing the
26:58
morning spotlight show but like so how
27:01
do you kind of
27:02
massage that conversation i guess that
27:05
is definitely one that i have and it's
27:07
very difficult to
27:09
convince somebody who especially when
27:11
they're small businesses when they are
27:13
investing and they're not just investing
27:16
in the content they're investing in me
27:17
right and i have to explain that when it
27:20
comes to
27:21
any content you know like
27:23
it's a gradual process i'll put it this
27:26
way when people have and not being
27:28
bought but when they got like 10 000
27:29
followers if they're not bought
27:31
followers god for you know whatever
27:34
that didn't happen in a month or a week
27:36
that took
27:38
like months or potentially years to
27:40
build up that following yeah and then
27:42
all of a sudden they're in that
27:43
following and their success right so and
27:46
using kind of like the algorithm of
27:47
social media
27:49
because not all content is social media
27:51
a lot of it is on websites it's web copy
27:54
you have to think of it like
27:55
it's a patience game
27:57
it's really one of those things where
27:59
you wait so a good example is one of my
28:02
clients has actually seen
28:04
their newsletter open rate double oh in
28:06
three months yeah they didn't see in the
28:08
first week they didn't see in the first
28:09
month but now in looking back they're
28:12
like um how is this possible like it's
28:15
literally doubled yeah since we started
28:17
working right
28:18
and now they want to continue to work
28:20
and increase it so
28:22
if you're an inpatient person
28:24
no matter what i do you're not going to
28:25
be happy yeah but if you can under if
28:27
you're in it for the long haul
28:30
i mean i'm pretty confident saying that
28:32
it's a guarantee that done done right
28:34
the business will go sure
28:36
yeah so maybe like
28:38
outside of calling you or working with
28:40
someone like you what are some things
28:42
maybe that you mentioned like figure out
28:44
uh who the who the potential customer is
28:46
right what the message is that you're
28:48
trying to relay to that customer are
28:50
there other things that people should be
28:51
doing as like a very broad strokes basic
28:53
type thing interact interact interact so
28:57
you had mentioned before about the fact
28:58
that i'm constantly posting on my
29:00
instagram stories or on my instagram
29:01
just
29:02
you know i'm not no sponsored content
29:04
i'm sincerely doing you know out for
29:07
dinner doing a video on it at a local
29:09
market doing a video on it um just
29:12
posting stuff that i buy
29:14
i don't do that because i'm trying to
29:17
you know say look at me i'm doing that
29:18
to engage people right and to and then
29:21
from there i'm going all over i'm like
29:23
you know i love i l i love what you're
29:25
producing like if if you want people to
29:28
look at what you're producing you need
29:30
to look at other people that you within
29:32
the same field yeah
29:34
so if you're you know you brought up a
29:36
restaurant if you're a restaurant in
29:37
hoboken
29:38
start commenting on restaurants that are
29:40
out in like morris or like you know even
29:43
in new york
29:44
like new jersey and new york people
29:47
travel to the other state connecticut
29:49
you know pennsylvania all these other
29:51
places like think outside your
29:52
demographic because no matter what
29:54
you're doing even as a you know a wine
29:56
liquor store or plant store no matter
29:57
what you are your demographic is outside
30:00
of your immediate community yeah so the
30:02
more that you're commenting the more
30:04
people are thinking oh what is that i've
30:06
never seen them before yeah right love
30:08
that um and then so like as we kind of
30:11
progress so one of the things that i
30:13
think is interesting and it's like
30:15
maybe some basic like you said kpis and
30:19
statistics and open rates and all this
30:20
other stuff that like if somebody
30:22
doesn't really know anything about that
30:24
they're just like what the hell does
30:25
that even mean right um like one of the
30:27
things that i think is interesting and
30:29
this can be a very specific example but
30:31
like a good open rate on a newsletter or
30:34
an email blast or whatever is like 20
30:37
is that true
30:38
i've heard that that's true i don't know
30:40
because they don't come from a marketing
30:43
background okay so the d
30:45
if i throw out terms that use because
30:47
i'm self-taught
30:49
i am i'm my reference lingan i am all
30:51
over linkedin and those in those courses
30:54
um i don't know for sure but the uh the
30:57
newsletter metrics that i was talking
30:59
about just a second ago
31:01
they went from 15 to 30 with me right
31:04
so
31:05
um
31:06
and again i'm not saying that to to my
31:08
own horn i'm saying because i was
31:10
doing more than a sales pitch in their
31:12
newsletters yeah i was providing content
31:14
that people were like oh i have a
31:17
talking point
31:18
for a friend and i for dinner
31:20
conversation yeah because then that's
31:22
also engaging and sharing and all that
31:24
stuff so um i don't know as far as the
31:27
marketing stuff like that goes no it's
31:29
okay terrible question terrible host but
31:31
when you think about it that's like one
31:32
because no because that's one in five
31:34
people yeah so if you're sending out an
31:35
email and one or five people are opening
31:37
it right right i remember when i first
31:38
started doing those i was just like you
31:40
know like 18 22
31:43
20
31:44
like what the hell like why aren't
31:45
people opening this and then someone
31:47
else's letters
31:48
yeah none exactly
31:51
there's 10 000 unread emails on my phone
31:52
right now that could guarantee that for
31:54
you but um so all right so i think one
31:57
of the things that i do also want to
31:58
round this episode out with
32:00
is we're going to do this a little bit
32:01
differently because we do this for every
32:03
episode we always talk about community
32:04
driven stuff right so we've talked a lot
32:06
about the community so far you're
32:08
obviously new to a new jersey relatively
32:11
new to a new jersey community but you've
32:13
been to new jersey before you know
32:15
you've been around it you made the joke
32:16
when we talked on the phone like i guess
32:18
last week or two weeks ago that when you
32:20
told me you're from new york i made like
32:21
a face you did make a face i don't think
32:23
i made a face it doesn't sound like you
32:24
know because i remember and this is a
32:25
fun anecdote we we met at a networking
32:29
event and there were new york sports
32:31
teams on in the bar and i was like
32:33
oh yeah because new jersey doesn't
32:35
really have like aside from the new
32:36
jersey devils like new york
32:38
and i was like there's no oh yeah
32:40
figures new york sports and then you
32:41
were like oh are you a new yorker
32:45
i mean you know again i cannot confirm
32:48
or deny that conversation actually
32:49
happened um but uh but tell me like the
32:54
being here and working with businesses
32:56
here and in
32:58
grossing
32:59
engulfing in the encompassing area no or
33:02
like you immersing immersing yourself in
33:05
the community and those businesses and
33:07
all that kind of stuff
33:08
like what's that been like has that been
33:11
you don't have to say better or worse
33:12
but just like what's the relationship
33:15
become like between you and the
33:16
community at large i would say humbling
33:19
humbling because
33:20
um
33:22
and i don't think it's because i moved
33:24
here freshly i think it's because
33:26
you know i came here i knew one person
33:29
when i moved here
33:30
um maybe two technically but
33:34
during the pandemic you know you have a
33:36
lot of people who i mean we're still in
33:38
the middle of the pandemic as we're
33:39
wearing masks
33:41
who feel as though
33:43
distancing i mean you're in the i moved
33:45
in the middle of social distancing
33:46
keeping your you know keeping your mask
33:48
on not being able to see smiles right so
33:50
when i started getting involved
33:53
it was really me kind of being like the
33:55
new kid in school you know that same
33:56
feeling of coming to school and you're
33:58
like oh you don't know anyone who's
34:00
going to be nice to me who's going to be
34:01
mean yeah who was already set up with
34:03
their intricate little you know niche
34:06
um so for me to come here and then
34:10
i did it the right way i think i started
34:12
getting involved in non-profits like the
34:14
hoboken shelter yeah the the hoboken
34:17
community boathouse fund for about a
34:18
waterfront but to have people say
34:22
yes i'm willing to try working with you
34:23
or
34:24
no i'm not interested but yet they still
34:26
see me out and because of social media
34:28
we know each other's faces
34:30
they wave me down they say hello um
34:33
to me that's very
34:35
it's not only making me
34:37
obviously everyone's afraid to fail when
34:39
they start over sure
34:40
so i literally started a community from
34:43
scratch all over again yeah
34:45
and
34:46
to have that sense of being like oh
34:48
not only was i the new kid in town
34:51
but
34:52
i feel like there's a connection there
34:56
it yeah it's just it it's made me want
34:58
to stay originally my lease was only for
35:00
six months we're a year later and i'm
35:03
already like oh how are the schools
35:06
you know like i don't i don't plan on
35:07
leaving right right and that wasn't the
35:09
case in the beginning yeah and then like
35:10
the businesses and stuff i know we talk
35:12
a lot about jersey city a lot about
35:14
hoboken because we're here in hoboken
35:16
um but
35:17
you work with other businesses outside
35:19
of this immediate area and we're just
35:21
gonna focus on new jersey for now um but
35:24
like that's obviously the goal right is
35:26
to try to like expand the tentacles of
35:28
nicki on the daily throughout the state
35:31
so i have clients down in like the shore
35:34
you know asbury park area i do have a
35:36
car i love raspberry park it's one of my
35:38
favorite places i love it i love it
35:40
i've gone like four times this year
35:42
already like twice in like the last
35:44
couple months i think that area is just
35:46
something else i've been going there for
35:47
years yeah i have very close friends in
35:49
that area too but i also have a car i
35:51
feel like as someone who lives in
35:52
hoboken it's rare it's rare yeah
35:55
probably from growing up on long island
35:57
i will never get rid of my car right so
35:59
i like the fact that i can travel to
36:01
people
36:02
like i can just say oh like you're a new
36:04
business we signed a contract
36:06
you know you've never met me how are you
36:08
going to feel comfortable with me
36:10
helping you yeah and supporting your
36:13
business right if we've never met like
36:14
zoom can only go so far exactly so i'm
36:16
like oh okay let me grab my car let me
36:18
go explore coffee shops in the area and
36:20
see what's around and then meet the
36:22
people who run the business and be like
36:24
okay
36:25
now you know who's going to support your
36:26
business and who you're working with so
36:28
it's not just because other than
36:29
otherwise you could just easily go on
36:30
like
36:31
whatever those like online hiring
36:33
platforms are for freelancers right um
36:36
awesome so if people are
36:39
interested so like i mean a lot of
36:41
people that have been on the show will
36:43
be on the show people that people that
36:45
listen on the to the show
36:46
listen to the show um so if they're
36:49
listening to this they're just like hey
36:50
they check you out on instagram is that
36:52
the best place to go and reach out to
36:54
you to maybe like get a conversation
36:55
started about potentially working
36:57
together i do use instagram a lot i will
36:59
say that i need to post better content
37:01
so do not judge me solely for that
37:03
um but also my email to uh come 2022 i
37:08
might have a more professional email
37:10
but as of now should i spell it out
37:12
uh no just tell us what it is and then
37:14
i'll i'll make sure that if there is a
37:16
more professional email that i'll put it
37:18
in the show note so what is it it's and
37:20
tyler gmail.com got it best way to reach
37:22
me also on instagram you know get a
37:24
conversation going with me instagram is
37:26
good because if you have a business
37:29
that is on instagram
37:31
reaching out to me there so it's like oh
37:33
you could start i can start right away i
37:35
can start getting a sense for exactly
37:37
who you are and what you're about and
37:39
what your business is about awesome love
37:41
it love it um and then yeah so this has
37:44
been tremendous tremendous episode
37:46
you can't see them smiling right me too
37:48
i've got a big smile on my face i've had
37:49
it the whole time uh our first in an
37:51
apartment episode so this is like a new
37:54
experience you know christmas tree and
37:55
fire in the christmas tree crackling
37:58
obviously real fire in the background um
38:00
but uh nikki on the daily thank you for
38:02
having me here having doing this episode
38:04
with us uh you know this has been
38:07
phenomenal well thank you for having me
38:09
my first interview yeah i know yeah
38:11
right you're always doing interviews i
38:13
guess like talking to people but it's
38:14
sometimes different to get on the other
38:16
side and actually have to talk about
38:18
like what it is that you do right yeah i
38:19
hope everyone listening thinks it came
38:21
out okay i think it came out great
38:23
it came out great so i'll make sure that
38:25
i put the instagram handle the email
38:26
address in the show notes along with
38:28
greetings from thegardenstate.com and
38:30
greetings from the garden state
38:31
gmail.com which is the website and the
38:33
email address of the show uh nikki thank
38:36
you again and everybody listening thank
38:37
you for listening we will catch you next
38:39
time
38:40
[Music]
38:46
[Applause]
38:46
[Music]
38:54
[Music]
39:13
you
