We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dave Vanz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, 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.

I like to think that I do everything different from the industry standard. To do what everyone else is doing is quite boring and leads you to a place where you look and sound like everyone else – asking me to execute or produce in those type of situations you won’t get the full me. Give me the freedom to come up with something unique, and authentic, my creativity and passion ignite.

In 2008 I had finished developing a process that uncovers the unique characteristics of people and provides the data to position them for empowerment. At that same time, I realized my process also uncovered a solution to a problem that I had been thinking about for a few years: How to actually humanize a brand! In a growing digital world of social engagement, brands were jumping into the web 2.0 world, mostly spamming their messages. Social is a term that expresses engagement between two humans, but a brand isn’t a human. Knowing that there was no stopping brands from trying to use social tech, the only answer was to humanize the brands. My process (the Soweo Method) solved that problem. The only problem at that time was that the term “Brand Humanization” came across quite weird

Dave, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in the Detroit area, started a Brand and Web Development agency in 2003 with my partner and after discovering social media in 2004, we built our own social network called DetroitCity.com that officially launched in 2006. We became early web 2.0 pioneers building the webs first local focused social network. It was during this time that I started to create the process that I now call the Soweo Method. Unfortunately our site was not financially able to stay afloat during the economic crisis of that time and we closed our doors in 2009. In 2010, My wife took a position in Orlando, FL and we moved south. The move was tough. My identity and reputation was in Detroit. Fast forward 3 years and I took a sales position with a Ukrainian Offshore staffing company. In 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine and I was asked to stop selling because of the trending news. The company was moving into writing contingency plans to prepare for worst case scenario and wanted their clients to know they were prepared to keep things moving forward. Being new and not being able to sell It was looking like I may need to walk away. Instead, I asked if I could take over their marketing (something that didn’t really exist) With 200 employees in Ukraine and 4 of us in Central Florida, I started implementing my process. Not only did we not lose clients, the company grew from $5m a year to $6m that year. But that wasn’t all. Employee retention went to 96%, productivity picked up and the culture of the company started to thrive. In 2019 when I decided to open up my own company, they went from employer to client and they still are a client today.

My Soweo Method is all about humanizing brands and then empowering the humans who experience it. This includes what I call your 3C’s – your Culture, Clients and Community. Putting people front and center and valuing who they are allows you to put them in a position of authenticity that translates extremely well with the brand audience. The work I’m able to do helps brands go from trying to tell their story, to actually living out their story.

What I’ve really enjoyed over the last 2 years is hearing from companies who have hired me to run workshops and/or coaching that come to me and tell me they now use my process to effectively hire staff and that not only are they better off in communicating their brand and connecting with their audience, but also find the culture of their company far more engaged and exciting.

For companies looking to empower there brand through the Soweo Method I offer fun and engaging Culture Workshops, monthly Brand Coaching and Video Production.

What I love about my process, is that what I provide as a service is also a belief I live by. Putting people front and center. In 2017 I launched a brand called The Orlando Life. It’s a passion project that I run to this day where I promote Orlando through what I see as its most valuable asset. The people. Orlando is young culturally compared to Detroit, Chicago, NY, etc, and most people think of Orlando as only theme parks and warm weather. However there are incredible things happening with entertainment technology (gaming, simulation, metaverse), the space industry, food industry, life sciences, defense, simulation and more. Most people don’t realize that 80% of Orlando’s Employment is Outside of Hospitality and Tourism! What’s happening in the local Orlando area might be our countries best kept secret. The Orlando Life is telling the story of Orlando through the people that are shaping its culture. The goal of this publication is to use stories to connect people to community and opportunity.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Putting people first, caring about what makes them human, being genuine and serving them in a way that honors them

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

“When you start connecting with people on a human level they will listen. When they realize it’s authentic and not gimmicky, they’ll start to believe. And when your delivery matches the storyline and expectations promised, you will have loyalty.” – Dave Vanz

Contact Info:

• Website: https://soweo.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davevanz
• Other: www.theorlandolife.com