We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ché Elizaga Castro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ché below.
Ché, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
96% of potential customers don’t trust your ads (inc.com, 2019). Come Alive Co is making selling human through the connecting power of Brand Story: specifically, the first Brand Story framework by a woman of color, for women and empathetic leaders.
And, it’s making us and our clients up to 22x more memorable. (Research on storytelling, cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner)
Working in the marketing industry for big Brands for 12+ years, it never sat right with me that things were sold to people using manipulation tactics. Specifically when advertising was utilized during the “Mad Men” age, ads were sexist and sensationalized.
When I left ad agencies to strike out on my own and start Come Alive Co, I noticed two personas used to pressure purchase in the entrepreneur space: the in-your-face, high price-tag “Bro” persona and the “Boss Babe” one, which glamorizes entrepreneurship for a price — without sharing the whole story of what it really takes to get to their level.
People filed 5.4 MILLION new business applications in 2021. That’s 1 million more than in 2020 (npr.org, 2022), representing people with real hopes and fears that keep them up at night.
As marketers, we tend to forget we’re selling to people: not just purse holders. It’s high time we humanize how we sell.
I created our Breakthrough Brand Story framework with a degree in psychology to use science FOR people and not against them, as ads traditionally do. The goal? To invite people to invest in products and services that aid them in achieving their dreams through how our brains digest story, rather than pressuring them to buy through manipulative tactics such as FOMO (fear of missing out).
That, along with choosing to serve and resource impact-driven businesses helmed by women and people of color, is how we intend to make positive, sustainable change through the work we do, focused on people — not just on profit.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My journey with Come Alive Co is a story of bucking what everyone else says is right to follow a yearning in my gut I couldn’t ignore.
Perhaps you have a similar story?
Come Alive Co started after 12+ years applying my Brand Storytelling tactics to personalize household names like King’s Hawaiian, GoDaddy at the Super Bowl, and will.i.am. My approach to connection, not conversion-first, marketing was garnering mad results: 4x ROI (return on investment), 400% increase in clicks, loyal following, and increased CLV (customer lifetime value).
I loved the creative collaboration in my agencies for my trusting clients but felt something was missing. Despite looking “successful” on the outside I was slowly falling into depression at work; it’s like the color had seeped out of my life.
This question wouldn’t stop percolating in my mind: am I using my gifts to their fullest? Am I truly making any impact on this world? I remember debating this with a co-worker. While he was fine taking home a paycheck, I wanted more than a 70/30 life: where 70% of our lives is spent looking forward to the other 30% (weekends).
I left agency life and the accolades and title I had worked my whole life toward on a 6 month missions trip to Hawaii, India, and Thailand. I was so far from my values, and my family, working at agencies; it was here I started to heal and come home to myself again.
On my travels I met so many dreamers like me, who unlike me didn’t have the same privilege to realize their vision and gifts: young men who could play CIRCLES around John Mayer on the guitar after teaching themselves through YouTube; young women who longed to escape societal pressure to marry young, and wanted to work.
When I returned home to San Diego I was sparked to merge my Brand Story savvy to help businesses grow, with my heart to help people flourish in their dreams. And so, I started Come Alive Co: a Brand Story Studio helping impact-driven women and diverse leaders SHOW UP fully in their businesses and lives, stand apart in a saturated industry (while staying true to their values) and make the money and change they deserve.
We do this through:
1. Brand Story Training: strategy and copywriting guidance in a group setting for better connection to self and others
2. Brand Story media: video marketing and copywriting to tell your business’ story and activate your audience
The future of selling is rapidly changing — for good. Is your business set up to connect well and thrive?
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The greatest lesson I’m chewing on currently: YOU are the one to give yourself permission. No one else.
I grew up with a triple threat over my life — no, not the singer/actor/dancer that was Gene Kelly in my favorite movie “Singing in the Rain” — but in identity: Filipina-American daughter of immigrants; female; Westernized Christian. With these 3 roles, I was destined to a life of submission and rule-following.
Except, if there’s one thing my dad always repeated from his own career story, it was this:
“When [supervisors] said jump, [most people] say ‘how high?’ I say, ‘why?'”
My life is a series of twists and turns deviating from the “typical” path in order to find what makes ME most come alive. And though this path has come with unforeseen struggles, I am so proud that it’s MY path and mine alone; I wouldn’t trade the freedom I’m operating from, nor the person it’s shaped me to become, for anything.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Everywhere you look there will be another coach giving you their “4-step plan” to reach “$10k months” or “your first 100k”. Followers or salary, who knows? They’re all the same.
What got Jenny from the Block to success is not the same blueprint that’ll get you there. Why?
You are a living, breathing human with your own worries, sparks, and dreams — not a machine.
Here’s the *real* real behind how I get my Brands meaningful growth: results like 4x the ROI (return on investment), 400% increase in conversion, and sold-out product in 16 minutes or less for the likes of King’s Hawaiian, Toyota, and GoDaddy x the Super Bowl…
WARNING: 85% of people won’t slow down enough to heed this. But the other 15%? They’ll be part of the 50% who actually *make* it after 2 years.
1) Confidence is sexy. Have the courage to be yourself and go after YOUR dreams.
The reason people get buried on social media is not because of the “algorithm,” reels, or any other external factor.
It’s because they’re trying to shortcut past deep-seated strategy, to the shiny tactics coaches sell by the barrel.
If it’s an easy-laden path, it’s not yours. Stop trying to copy what everyone else is doing. Take the time up front to pull out YOUR Story and YOUR true differentiator, and have courage to *stick out* like a sore thumb by being you… not blend in with the ones playing it safe.
2) Your message is your MVP: most valuable PLAN
Do you know the average person’s attention span? Less than 6 seconds.
That’s less than a goldfish.
Your audience needs to know WHO you are and HOW you’ll move them forward in their lives.
As a business, you’re a problem solver; a solutions dealer. Is your message clear enough to show YOU’RE the answer they’ve been waiting for?
And, is it deep-rooted enough to MOTIVATE them, not just manipulate like old marketing tactics do, along the way?
Remember: “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou.
Let the way you make ’em feel, be memorable. Not manipulated.
3) Dare to share quality > quantity, and see what lasts.
Watch any social media documentary. You’ll see the vanity metrics (likes; followers, etc.), are designed to trigger the dopamine in our brain that *feels* good. And so, we naturally seek to get more of that.
But when it comes to building a business, you must prioritize what matters: actually making profit to keep your business thriving. Because even as an impact-driven business, like the ones I serve, you can’t make a change if your business closes from lack of change.
80% of future profits will come from just a fifth of loyal customers (Zinrelo). Loyalty is built through keeping your communication, connection, and anticipation of service right — NOT from CTRL + V-ing what everyone else is doing on the apps.
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Work smarter, not harder, and resist the pressure to follow the well-worn path. By doing what no one else is willing to do, you’ll walk away with the gains reserved for the few.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://comealive.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comealive.co/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylelizaga/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrHATEYsBJRmJBuzqWRuiw
- Other: We’re taking a break from Instagram. Come join our thriving community + get an in-depth guide: “3 Steps to a Brand Story That Sells” fo’ free, here: https://comealive.co/email
Image Credits
Hannah Bernabe, HB Photos
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