SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I'm wondering how you communicate with your customers, employees, vendors, and those connected to you and your business. And do you have a cohesive strategy for unified communications? Well, our guest today is Joshua Altman, and he shares with us what a chief communications officer is and why you might need one. Now, Joshua is an experienced storyteller and strategist with more than two decades of experience shaping how people see, hear, and connect with big ideas. Today he leads Beltway Media, a DC-based communications firm that helps brands and organizations cut through the noise. Before founding the firm, Joshua was a multimedia journalist at The Hill, diving deep into federal policy and covering high-stakes election cycles right from the front lines. Now he works from everyone from startups to federal agencies, helping them refine their message. You're going to love this interview, so let's go ahead and jump right into it. Joshua, thank you so much for being a guest here. And one of the things that I was looking forward to having you on to talk about is this idea of a chief communications officer. And so I'd love, just as a starting point, just to talk about what it is and what are things that this person might do or the responsibilities here.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33

It's not a totally new role. It's taking on a lot more prominence, especially in larger companies. And that's of course now trickling down into smaller firms. What we do is different from a chief marketing officer, it's different from a chief branding officer, which people are much more familiar with. The chief communications officer has two main focuses. You know, we are shaping perception and we build and maintain trust. Those are our two big things. And we do that with taking an integrated, big picture view of how messaging it impacts your reputation, your growth, and your stakeholder confidence. So we're not just looking at your marketing. We are not just looking at branding or just at advertising. We are not just looking at investor relations or internal communications. It's how all of those things are working together to impact your reputation because they do. And that's one of the reasons you're just kind of seeing this, you know, become more prominent in larger companies and why it's trickling down is you are bringing a lot of these functions that might have been separate under one umbrella, under one leadership structure. And, you know, it's a very hands-on role. You know, it is consistent storytelling across your internal and external channels. And we're really making sure that you do stay on your message and also figuring out what that message is.

SPEAKER_01: 2:58

Very well said. And when I think of a chief communications officer and some of these chief fill-in-the-blank positions that might exist, oftentimes I think of mid to large size organizations, lots of staff and so on. Oftentimes, and most of our audience that will tune in, they are still founder-led organizations, maybe a small franchise system or a growing small business. So I'd love for you to talk about how you see small to mid-size businesses integrating with this type of role or position, or how you've seen maybe in your own line of work, companies successfully implement this type of position.

SPEAKER_00: 3:37

We work with a lot of those founder-led businesses, or, you know, they have, you know, two to three, you know, core employees, you know, maybe at a headquarters, and then distributed teams, which is very common these days. But it's still very much founder-led. And what we're going to do with them is work with those founders or, you know, that employee two, employee three, who's kind of taken on that, you know, marketing communications role and been leading it because they're just the person there. But it's taking 10 to 15 hours a week for them. But they're actually, you know, the VP of technology. They are, you know, a chief revenue officer, but they just sort of got it because they were there. And now they have this core team, but a lot more staff somewhere else, you know, distributed. You know, if they're home services, they might be, you know, the people in the trucks who are doing the work, you know, of that business. You know, if they're food service, they might be, you know, that front of house, you know, serving the customers every day. And now, what do we do? These aren't people who have time for this, obviously. They're out there doing our work, our you know, serving our customers. So we're gonna come in and be like, what part of this don't you want to be doing personally? That you see taking, you know, those 15 hours away from focusing on revenue or focusing on finance. And then we start doing that for them because they might not have that need, especially if they're in that growth stage, like you talked about, for a 40-hour week W-2 full-time with benefits communications leader role. That's why they never brought someone in.

SPEAKER_01: 5:15

And thinking about this role and some of the various duties, you started going down some of these different tasks that might be, it sounds like the chief communications officer centralizes these tasks into one position or one, it sounds like in your case, organization. But what are some of the common tasks that maybe a person's doing a handful here, someone else is doing some there, et cetera? What are some of these tasks you generally see?

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

Sometimes they have their email newsletters, especially, you know, things like food service, home service, things like that, you know, that are sending out, you know, reminder, you know, we're getting cold here in the winter season in the northeast, at mid-central states, you know, check your wallet, you know, if their plumbing business, it's things like, you know, check your pipes for the winter, and they're sending out these newsletters, maybe with discounts and coupons. One person's doing that. Another person, totally separate, is managing their social media. Another person might be handling investor relations if they have external investors. You might have another person who's, you know, just handling, you know, branding and making sure that you know things look the same. And they're not reporting to or part of the organization that's handling the email or the social media, but they're using all their assets. You know, those assets are crossing between. So you find a lot of that kind of across a company, especially when they might say, you know, at their stage where they're kind of hitting that you know, seven-figure, mid-seven figure mark. Well, now we need to start organizing. Now we need to start getting this stuff together. Well, the time to do that is when you're first getting going, when you're first, you know, getting your business up and running. And you will not need a 40-hour a week, you know, communications expert in your leadership structure when you're at that stage, which is why we do things fractionally, which is why we come in and we're easy, we could be five hours a month, which is you know, roughly one hour a week, a little more, or you know, 20 hours a week if you're at a much later stage and we can grow with you in that role. So we know where you are, we know your business just like if you had brought on, you know, someone fully in-house. We know you and we were with you long term.

SPEAKER_01: 7:28

You talked about two important components that the chief communications officer does. They focus on shaping perception and building trust as two key items here. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about how you help shape that perception. And you, meaning this role or this position, you know, what are things that this role is doing to make that happen?

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

So when it comes to shaping perception, it's going to be, you know, things like just making sure your name is out there in a positive way, you know, that people know what you you you are and what you do, and they have positive associations with it as best as possible. If you are, you know, an exterminator company, people generally call you when they have a, you know, a problem they are very, very angry about. So the positive association with you is going to be pests, but it's going to be cleaning, it's going to be prevention, it's going to be, you know, helping mitigate that situation. So you're good, we're going to take that and make sure people have a good association. Yes, people associate you with bugs and rodents, but it's going to be associated with that in a good way that makes people happy. When the other is, you know, the building and maintaining trust, especially for like a home services business, they're coming into your home. We're going to make sure that they know you or, you know, in a way that they are comfortable doing that. And that could be things like, you know, videos, you know, showing your professionalism, showing how you do this and that you are someone who they should feel, you know, very comfortable letting into their home with if you are an exterminator company, pesticides, poisons, traps, things like that around their kids and pets. So that you know, can be very important. And it also just means doing it consistently over a long term. Just because you put out, you know, one video doesn't mean it's done. It takes seven to 14 touch points, is the often quoted statistic of how long it takes people to, you know, take an action based off of seeing, you know, marketing materials. To take trust, it usually takes more than that. It takes positive experiences. And that's really, you know, building on positive experiences people have is crucial.

SPEAKER_01: 9:38

That's really, really good. And so, as I think of some of the things you just mentioned, the seven to 14 or more touch points, plus not to mention all of the marketing trends, social media trends, technology things that come along the way, you know, how do you see this position helping kind of bring all that together? And, you know, maybe even just kind of forward thinking this, I guess, part two of the question. Where do you see some of these trends heading?

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

A lot of people think, you know, you can beat the algorithm with technology that, you know, or you are just totally opposed to it and it doesn't help, you know, work for your business. Neither of those are true. You cannot beat it because it constantly changes. Even if you, even if you figured out what works today, that might not be what works tomorrow, because those algorithms can change. Just because you've mastered TikTok doesn't mean it will translate to whatever platform comes next. And there will be something after TikTok. There will be something that comes next because we all remember, or some of us remember, friendster and MySpace. When was the last time you checked your friendster?

SPEAKER_01: 10:47

Never. And my MySpace has not been checked in probably decades at this point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:53

So something will come next. And that's important. Remember that you know, just because you figured out this one doesn't mean you're gonna get the next one. And also it means certain core things will matter more than mastering TikTok or mastering Instagram, because that won't be the thing forever. So if you have, you know, the basics of the storytelling, you know, the basics of how you use the technology, you know, the recording, the video, the audio, those sorts of things, lighting, you know, that makes it look good and that people can watch. If you understand what connects with people, that's much more critical long term than just understanding a particular platform. With that said, understand the particular platforms. They are what is live now, and you need to use them in a way that benefits your business. But also that not every platform will be great for every business. You know, Pinterest is great in home decorating and some home services. It has its you know, area and people, it dominates. But outside of that, it's not gonna be the best for you. So don't necessarily rely on it. You know, Instagram might be great for you, but not, you know, TikTok. You just kind of gotta know where you are.

SPEAKER_01: 12:16

Joshua, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least ask this question. Uh, someone who tunes into this maybe has thought this throughout the interview and said, Well, Joshua, can't I just use uh Chat GPT or Grok or one of these AI tools out there to be my chief communications officer?

SPEAKER_00: 12:34

I get that all the time. And you know what? We come in with people who are doing this themselves, and it takes hours a week from them. Guess what? If you're using Grok or ChatGPT or Claude or whatever that is for you, guess what? You're still the one doing it. And maybe you've cut down from, you know, 10 hours a week to five hours a week doing it yourself, but you're still doing it yourself, which is what you don't want to be doing. We use AI, we love AI, it's great. AI does not replace a human because you've read AI stuff. I'm sure your listeners have seen AI stuff. We can tell when it's AI stuff. When you have seven different bullet points that are all emojis, that was written by AI. A human does not do that. You know, we all know what it that you know looks like. And we fix that, you know. We don't, you know, we come in and yes, we'll use AI. It makes a great outline. It can do a reasonable first draft for some things. It's great for research. You know, if we want to know what's trending today, but it doesn't post live and it also doesn't just solve it. It's a tool. Like everything else is a tool.

SPEAKER_01: 13:44

What's the best way to get in touch with you, learn more about what you're doing, and connect with you?

SPEAKER_00: 13:48

Yeah, the best way to reach me is by email, J Altman at Bel Oi.media no.com. Uh, you can also find me on LinkedIn, you know, LinkedIn.com slash in slash Joshua. I alt. I check my email. I love email. It's probably the best way to reach me. We love hearing from people. Yeah, even if you just want you know a consultation, see where you are, reach out.

SPEAKER_01: 14:13

Perfect. Well, this is a great time in the show, Joshua. We make a transition. We ask every guest the same four questions before they go. And the first question we ask is have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it?

SPEAKER_00: 14:25

Two, three, four, more than that. Sometimes it feels like, you know, we didn't get a client. A project didn't work out, people weren't happy. You know, I could go down and list things that, you know, didn't meet the metrics that we wanted to. I won't disclose those clients because it didn't meet the metrics that we wanted to. But, you know, you got to get up. You know, at the beginning, I got really hung up on when things just didn't work. And I would, you know, really just focus on, you know, how to fix it. And sometimes you can't. Some things just it's live. It happened, it's published. You could fix some things, you know, send out a corrected link, email a correction, do whatever. But sometimes you got to get up, take those lessons, and apply it to the next thing. And that's the best you can do. And knowing when that is really just made a big difference.

SPEAKER_01: 15:14

Well, let's talk about a make or a highlight. Let's look at the other end of the spectrum there.

SPEAKER_00: 15:20

Like there's a lot more. Every time we put ourselves out of a job because the company grew enough that it needs that full-time in-out W-2 person. And if you want us to, you know, get you to that point and, you know, help you find that person and transition to that person, we're here for that. We will put ourselves out of a client. And that means success for us.

SPEAKER_01: 15:44

Have you used a multiplier to multiply yourself professionally, personally, or any organizations you've run?

SPEAKER_00: 15:52

Diverse experiences. Yeah, we were talking before the show. My background was in video production, going back a long time. I was a tech, I was a news producer, you know, doing the shooting, doing the editing, running the wires, setting the microphones, knowing the content and knowing content principles, knowing tech, but more importantly, knowing the tech principles and how things can work. And or alternatively, don't work. And sometimes, you know, that's important. And also account management, applying those, those things are great separately. But with you know, us knowing them together, they are a lot more powerful when you can use them together to amplify each other.

SPEAKER_01: 16:32

The final question we ask every guest is what does success mean to you? Doing good work. As we bring this to a close, is there anything you were hoping to share or get across that you haven't had a chance to yet?

SPEAKER_00: 16:45

Yeah, you know, when it comes to communications, a lot of people think you've got to respond to everything. And I, you know, for some of the businesses, I'm sure the owners listening to this, they really rely on Yelp reviews and Google reviews. Responding to bad reviews, they're very important because that does affect how you rank. But you do not have to respond to everything on everything. You know, we say all the time, you want to communicate strategically, not voluminously.

SPEAKER_01: 17:13

Joshua, thank you so much for a fantastic interview. And let's go ahead and jump into today's three key takeaways. So, takeaway number one is when he talked about what a chief communications officer is and how it's different from a chief marketing officer or a chief branding officer. And he said the chief communications officer has two main purposes. Purpose one is shaping perception, and purpose two is building and maintaining trust. I thought those were great. Takeaway number two is when he talked about mastering technology and to avoid falling into that trap is essentially what he was saying. Technology is always changing, there's always something new on the way, it's always evolving, and we just never know exactly how it's going to work. So do our best, but don't ever think that you know all of there is to know on that. Takeaway number three is when he said right at the tail end of the episode, I really liked how he summarizes, and he said, when it comes to communication, some people think they need to respond to everything, but you don't need to do that. And he said it's better for you to communicate strategically, not voluminously. So I thought that was a nice little nugget. And now it's time for today's win-win. So today's win-win comes from defining and describing perception and trust. And I really liked how he talked about that. And he said, perception is when you're making sure your name is out there in a positive way and positive associations with your brand. And he said that can take seven to fourteen or more touch points. And then to build trust takes positive experiences. Building trust takes positive experiences with your brand. I thought that was just a fantastic, fantastic nugget. And it's a great way to close a show with a win-win because if you are creating these touch points with your customers and creating these positive experiences with your customers, I'm certain that they are going to have a better experience and likely become a referrer or a referral person or promote quality word of mouth, which as a business, we're always looking to do that. Ultimately, this is helping create goodwill. And so that's the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at BigSkyFranchise Team.com where you can schedule your free, no obligation consultation with myself or someone on our team. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.