Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to your life and legacy. I'm Christopher Nudo. Today I want to begin with a question that sits at the heart of leadership, faith and legacy.
What kind of influence are we building and what values are shaping it? My guest today is Scott Schufer, founder and president of Frontgate Media, an award winning marketing agency and media group reaching the faith and family audience.
With more than 25 years of experience, Scott and his team have led over 7,500 campaigns for publishers, not for profit movie studios and brands, earning multiple industry awards and helping organizations connect authentically with a culture engaged audience.
This conversation today is going to be more about more than just marketing. It's going to be about communication as stewardship, as influence and how it influences responsibility and the legacies we create when we use business and media to serve people with integrity. Scott, welcome to your life and legacy.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Thanks Chris. Super good to be here. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: You're welcome. And this can be an exciting show today. Listen, as we begin, I want everyone watching to think about the messages you are sending through your life, your business and your family, the leadership you lead and the decisions you make.
Those messages will align with what you say and what your vat, what values you most.
So Scott, let's start with when you look at faith and family as an audience today, what do you believe organizations most often misunderstand about that connection?
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Well, it's interesting, you know, the, the faith and family audience, you know, faith is kind of an overlooked ESP or emotional selling proposition. So, so as brands, whether it's a for profit or a nonprofit, as, as they're seeking to cut through just the massive noise that is out there in terms of media and social media and everything else, you know, it's only gotten more and more important to be able to, to connect on a much stronger level. And you know, just like kids or babies or animals are, you know, a huge emotional touch point for advertisers, faith is another one of those ESPs. And so I think it's an often overlooked ESP because of all the different opinions about faith. But at the end of the day, people that hold faith usually hold it in a high, a high place in their life. So if something is connected to their faith and their family, you kind of have a double whammy with that connection
[00:03:36] Speaker A: and you just perfect segue into my next thought, which is what makes this audience different from a traditional consumer segment. And you kind of stepped right into it perfectly with the fact that faith is so important.
Equally as much as family, can you give us a little more about the faith family component and why it is people hold it so valuable to them.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Well, you know, faith is something that really people look to, to guide their life, to organize their life around.
It helps provide a framework to live in and a shared experience with other people. So it naturally builds a sense of community.
And community is one of the key things that's required for humanity. You know, after water, after community is kind of mandatory. You know, we're, we have to live in community in one way or another and we see the effects when, when we don't live in community, when people are isolated. So faith creates community.
It's a place to exercise community and, and it fulfills a fundamental need for what makes us human. So again, kind of like family does the same thing, but faith broadens. In essence, your family, if you'll, if you would go there, you know, having faith, believing that you have purpose, believing that there is an order to things, that it's not all random, creates a foundation for your life that you choose to act on. And so from a, from a life living legacy standpoint, it's foundational to the entire experience.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. And you know, you and I, having that faith grounded in Christ, we can go back to the garden and when it all started.
And so, and you know, it's funny, this past week I was at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC and what I learned was Billy Graham was like the first real evangelist preacher to use media, to use the tv, to use the political landscape really to get the message out. And here you are, Scott and your team using media to really change the landscape of faith based and family centered organizations. So tell me about how you use media really to communicate these values.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Well, yeah, so I, you know, I came out of school with a marketing degree and maybe I'm one of the few people that graduated with the degree they actually use.
But in, in marketing, things are always changing how you connect to people. You know, it changes every two or three years, so nothing really goes away. We still have all the connection points that we've always had for the most part. But, but things do change and there are new ones. So you know, in the 25 plus years now that, that I've been doing this, you know, we've seen the advent of the Internet, we saw the advent of email, the app world, the debut of social media, which is now a regular part of all of our lives.
You know, other technology, the, the cell phone came in. You know, there's a lot of A lot of changes, a whole ton of changes. And at the end of the day, as a marketer, we have to keep adopting the new opportunities that come in front of us.
Because when something becomes habit or becomes, you know, tradition or has been around a long time time, it starts to lessen in value to people.
So, you know, whatever's new is, is something that's important to anybody who's involved in marketing and, or media because it's going to influence how people get their information and how people experience their information.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: That's right. And, and probably the irony in it all is the message hasn't changed. And the authenticness in which you're presenting the message and about faith and family. We could go back and those values have been set literally for thousands of years.
But it's the communication vehicle that has, you need the right communication vehicle to cut the noise from the message, but that message just needs to be authentic, doesn't it, Scott? I mean, doesn't the message really matter and then it's just the delivery vehicle that gets it to them when speaking to people of faith?
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the message is foundational. Right. If there's no message, there's no reason to employ media.
And so whether we're working for a non profit or we're working for a for profit company or, you know, whatever, the core message is the starting point, you know, that's the foundation of the whole project, of the whole outreach. So.
Absolutely. I mean the, the core Christian message hasn't changed. Of course we're dividing it up into different ways to experience it, different ways to implement it.
And so there's a lot of variety there. But you know, the base of the message has stayed the same. Absolutely.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: So what, what role do you believe media plays in shaping culture and values and really long term legacy from family to family?
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Well, yeah, there's kind of, there's almost two different answers there. You know, overall, media shapes culture. Media shapes what? I mean, the information you receive, the, the choices that you're given through media, you know, that has a big effect on your life and, and media allows you to experience a much, or to have a much broader experience. Let's say, for example, I can listen to the best preachers, evangelists and teachers in the world because we have the Internet. Right.
But from a family standpoint, actually, I think, you know, in a lot of ways media distracts from family. It isolates. We're seeing right now a big pendulum swing back toward community because, you know, social media is misnamed, it's media, but it's not really social.
And so we're seeing from a legacy standpoint, from a family standpoint, we're seeing more isolation, not less. So there is a shift right now in culture and in community to drive back to a more personal connection.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Yes, technology isn't always our friend in so many areas. And then when we take that technology, build it with social media, it's just phenomenal that you point out the fact that social media actually is becoming isolating. And so what I really appreciate about this part of the conversation is the reminder that influence is never neutral. Every message carries values, whether we name them or not. When leaders communicate with clarity, integrity and respect for the people they served, they are not only building a brand, they are shaping trust.
Hey, Scott, we're going to take a quick, short break and when we come back, we're going to talk about marketing as stewardship and the responsibility that comes with influencing hearts and decisions and culture. Stay tuned.
Sam, welcome back to your life and legacy. Stay connected to this show and every NOW Media tv favorite live or on demand, anytime you like, Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish. Hey, are you on the move? You can catch our podcast version at NowMedia TV.
From business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, Now, Media TV is streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
I'm here today with Scott Shuford, founder and president of Frontgate Media. And now I want to talk about something every leader, business owner, ministry and organization needs to think about.
Marketing as stewardship.
When we communicate, we are not simply trying to sell.
We are shaping perception. We're building trust, we're inviting action and sometimes guiding people towards decisions that affect their family, their finances, their faith, and their future.
That means communication carries a lot of responsibility.
Scott, how do you see marketing as a form of stewardship rather than just promotion?
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah, actually, for us at Franke Media, stewardship is one of our core values. We really see ourselves as marketers, as stewards of the messaging, of the resources, of the mission for our clients, whether they're for profit clients or nonprofit clients. So to me, we have a unique role in stewardship, even though most of the time when you hear stewardship, you think of financial stewardship. At least I do.
And so, you know, I don't think most people think of it in terms of daily life, other ways. And for us, our marketing is stewardship. We're helping an organization move forward in what I call their kingdom life cycle, right in their in Their kingdom purpose.
And that could be as simple as helping an author or a publisher get the word out about a book or a devotional or a new resource of some kind. It could be a cause, you know, it could be helping with a medical situation. You know, the different organizations like Mercy Ships or, or Compassion International or Advancing Native Missions, where their message is critical, it really is, is a direct benefit to people. So how we steward their message and get it into the hands of the audience that can support them is, Is very, very important to me.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: And, and do me a favor. And. Because those of us of faith really have this core understanding of what stewardship is and how it difference from the secular world. But can, in your own words, define stewardship rather than just how is it different than traditional marketing?
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah, well, Stuart, I see stewardship like captaining a ship.
So it, you know, the, it's overseeing that it's being implemented in the right way, in a positive way, in a, you know, way that creates positive change. That's really how I would define stewardship.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Very good.
And so what responsibility comes with helping organizations influence heart decisions and behavior? Because we know that faith is so personal, family is so personal. So the messages you guys are curating really do influence the hearts and decisions and behaviors of others. So tell me about that responsibility.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: You know, to me, the responsibility is just foundational.
It doesn't change with each client. It just, it's really a core values issue.
So I approach each client as a unique situation.
We treat each client uniquely. We create custom marketing plans, advertising, pr, social media, marketing, radio. We really look at each client individually and create a custom tailored campaign for them, which we then test. I mean, we want to make sure that we can know, embrace our learning curve, that the client can embrace their learning curve in figuring out how to best deliver the message. You know, it's, it's interesting. You know, if you go to a church where they have more than one service, you're, you're gonna, if they have three services, you're gonna hear three slightly different messages because they're gonna do the first message and refine it.
And then the second message maybe is a little, little tighter, a little more on time.
And by the third time, you know, it's. They've got exactly where they want to be, hopefully, and they're good to finish.
So I see that responsibility just as a foundational thing.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And where I was going to go with this is, you know, how do you help clients pursue growth while staying in line with their values? And you've already Answered that by saying the values are core values and, and just kind of unpack what some of those core values are for our audience. So you know that. Who don't have as strong of a faith back, faith based background as you and I may, what are some of those core values that never change? They're unwaveable?
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, you know, in our space, authenticity is critical. Right.
We don't, we don't, we don't waver, we don't make up messages. Right.
The, the messages that we have are, are established, they're truthful, you know, to the best of our ability. We're not trying to sell something in quotes. That classic cell attitude. It's not a matter of making somebody make a purchase necessarily. It's about matching people up so that whatever product we're offering meets a need they have, you know, that we're trying to show them the connection between what they need, what they want, how they feel, and match that up to a product or in some cases a service or a cause that they can support. So yeah, I think it, it's. I almost take for granted all of the core values items. I don't even think about them anymore because they're ingrained in what we do.
So yeah, to think about it, I'd have to think even more to come up with a longer answer. But really the core values are just a part of our everyday life now. So it's not, it's how we are, it's who we are.
Not so much something we're trying to be.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: That's right. And so if I can kind of influence this part of the segment a little bit, Scott, core values to me revolve around, you know, knowing what Christ said and trying to live my life the way Jesus modeled and instructed, learning from the mistakes that all the Old Testament leaders, you know, they were just humans making errors and we're, they're there as examples that we can learn from taking, like you said, authenticity and truth and using those as elements in which to then promote. And I love the way you said that we're not trying to sell something, but rather match up the consumer and the message. For those that you know will come together appropriately and for those that don't come together, then that message and product were not made for them. Is there anything you would add to what I said there?
[00:21:14] Speaker B: No, I think that's a great summary. You know, it, it's important that we do what we do with integrity, with authentic authenticity, that we do it with excellence, that, you know, we don't have a crystal ball. We don't know what's going to work every single time. There is no silver bullet in marketing, but we make our best guesses, we test that out, and we find the things that do work, and then we do more of that. So it's. I think the way you phrased it is great.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: So in a. In culture today, especially in marketing, you know, you got to work on, you know, people's attention deficit.
You know, we all have some form of attention deficit disorder at this point. Right. It's not even like a label. It's a. We need things fast because we're in a. Especially here in the United States. I noticed, especially where I'm at in Chicago, I noticed the Midwest, especially the Chicago area, is just like, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed. We need it now. Our attention's this big, and, you know, and.
And there's a lot of noise, and there's a lot of people competing for my attention and with. With that as kind of, you know, the environment in which you have to work. This digital culture that is out here, you have to stay within, you know, you have to create this ethical persuasion, this message that aligns with truth and those values. So tell me a little bit about, you know, what it's like trying to navigate those things that almost feel conflicting in some terms.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that.
When I went through college, you know, there was a concept that was taught called minimum effective frequency, and it was the minimum number of times an ad needed to be seen before it actually registered, before there was comprehension. And you don't hear about that concept really ever now.
And I think that's because of what you just said. We're so oversaturated. There's no shortage of messages.
And so now, really, to get your word out, you just have to reach as far as you can, as wide as you can, based on your budget. And this idea that there was a minimum number of, you know, three times or seven times, it's just very, very difficult to cut through the noise now. And so you get different types of campaigns that hopefully, like. I favor multiple touch points. I'm a big fan of campaigns that include a public relations element, an advertising element, a social element. I love when I can go back to the same consumer or audience target, audience member, and.
And get in front of them several times through the same.
Through the same outlet. But, yeah, it has become very difficult with the clutter, and we're actually seeing, you know, shifts over time. You'll remember in the in when the Internet was new, email boxes were empty and mailboxes were full. And today the reverse is true. Email boxes are full. People are trying to figure out how to get out from drowning in email. But if you walk out to your mailbox, not much in it anymore. So, you know, I like the mailbox now, again, as a marketer because there's not as much competition for the attention and there's, that's not, you know, you're not choosing just one way to reach people that you really do have to do the best you can to reach out in multiple touch points across all of the potential places that they might be so that you can get your message in front of them enough times that they can consume it and absorb it.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: Yeah, well said. And that really, that's real clarity right there in, in how you approach things. Given today's culture, what really stands out here is that stewardship is not limited to money. As Scott said, we steward attention, we steward trust, we steward influence. And for any leader who wants to build something meaningful, the question is not only did the campaign work, the deeper question is, did we honor the people we were called to serve? We're going to take another quick, short break and we'll return and we'll talk about trust, how it's earned, how it's lost, and why it matters so deeply in the faith centered communication realm. Stay tuned.
Sam.
Welcome back to youo Life and Legacy. I'm continuing with Scott Shuford. And now I want to focus on trust. Trust is central to legacy, it's central to faith, it's central to business.
And in the faith and family space. People are not only asking, can this organization deliver?
They are also asking, can I believe them? Do they understand me? Do their actions match their message?
SCOTT what creates trust with faith in family? Consumers, before they ever make a purchase or support one of your campaigns or engage with a certain brand that you're
[00:27:18] Speaker B: promoting, you know, you've got to have a foundation of what I would call validation available when somebody sees something. I mean, there's a lot of impulse purchasing. So, you know, people buy things just on the spur of the moment as they see something that they think they'll like that meets a need or meets a want, but in a more extended type of a relationship with a customer, there needs to be kind of validation out there. They're going to go look you up. So you, if, if you don't have an active social media, if you, if you don't have some level of, of publicity coverage, then they're going to be inclined not to trust you. Right. If they can't find you, if they can't validate through third party information who you are or who you say you are, then it's going to be hard for you to, to break in. And everybody starts with nothing. I mean you, you don't have, if you don't have a lot of initial exposure in something, you've got to build it, but you do have to build it. So, you know, when we start out with a project, we'll typically look at the foundation. Do they have a website? Do they have social pages? What does their content look like? Are they updating? Do they show up in the search engines? And now actually do they show up in AI as AI is starting to replace traditional search.
So having that strong, you know, foundation of validation is really critical to being considered legit when someone goes to, to find out more about you.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say that the default position of all of us because of, you know, scams and spam and people taking advantage of people and you know, viruses and computers, malware, all of that stuff really has caused all of our default position to be a no.
And so the marketer really has to start from a point of no and gain that consumer trust.
Because I, I suspected, you know, 15, 20 years ago there, the consumer trust was much easier to obtain. Today you have to overcome the default of no because so many people have taken advantage of others.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah, unfortunately, I mean that's, that is only getting worse. With all of the fake AI, fake news, there's just so much garbage out there that it's getting harder and harder to tell what's real and not real. Which again is just going to drive people, you know, back toward community. We're seeing an increase right now in the value of your personal network. Not that it's never not been important, but you know, people are checking with their friends, let's say more now than they were maybe five years ago.
Again, nothing ever goes away. It's not like people, social media came on the scene every, we all stopped talking to our friends. But, but right now you know that that small inner circle has become more important in the last several years because of all the fake stuff that's out on the Internet and in the social spaces. So it, it is an interesting situation. And you do, you're right. We're starting from a. People, people being in a place of disbelief or non belief that whatever they're seeing, you know, it's, it may not be true. I catch myself looking all the time on My social feeds, which largely I'm on for work now, not so much for personal, but I'm looking, wondering, I wonder if that's fake.
So it's an interesting, it's interesting situation, trying to decipher the truth, you know, which could be an indication of where we are in the timeline.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: It is scary.
Over the weekend I was reading an article on how AI is influencing us and the fakes, and they gave me a test of 10 pictures and they asked me to identify the real pictures versus the pictures generated by AI. And out of 10 pictures, I got five correct and five were incorrect. So it's almost a scary place we're at right now, at least as I see it. So, Scott, what mistakes cause organizations to lose credibility with value conscious audiences? What are some of those mistakes that you see often and you're just like, oh boy, now we have to overcome that.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Oh, I think one of the major mistakes is just not really honing in your message. You know, a lot of folks have kind of routine things. There's no differentiator.
They're not making a unique message. They're just assuming that if they use the right language, you know, right being in quotes, if I say it the right way, you know, then people will respond. And that's, I mean, to some degree there's truth in that. But it, it's not the best answer. It's an answer. So I think, yeah, one of the big mistakes is not really experimenting with and, and creating unique messaging. You know, if you, if you just want to feed a kid, that's easy. I get it. Feeding kids, it's good.
Why that particular organization, though? There's, you know, lots and lots and lots of organizations that feed kids. So why should I support this particular organization?
So it's, I think that's one of the biggest, big mistakes is getting generic in your messaging.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: So, Scott, what you, what really you're touching on is the fact that consistency and clarity and character really shows up in a brand's message over time.
And you know, some of those mistakes in, you know, the customers and clients that you're working with is them not, you know, staying consistent, really true to who they are. So tell me about character in the different brands and that differentiation you were talking about.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Well, you know, there's a kind of a funny example in our world.
There is a magazine that used to be called Christian Musician and has now been renamed to Worship Musician as of many years ago. And the publisher there and founder Bruce Adolf, kind of pioneered the idea of a music magazine for Musicians that were in the church and the church of course has become a major purchaser of, of gear. So you know, a guitarist that plays in the worship band at church, you know, plays as much or more than some professional musicians. So you know, whether you're, you know, guitar maker, an amp maker, sound boards, lighting, you know, churches and church musicians are a giant part of what is called the NAMM industry, the national association of Music Merchandisers. And so when Bruce was kind of pioneering this new magazine for musicians in the church, he you presented to various NAM related companies who made gear of all kinds and demonstrated, kind of persuaded them that, you know, this church audience could be a good market for them.
But the, some of the initial ads that came in from the guitar companies or really any of the music related companies, you know, they would turn an ad with a woman drinking a martini with a low cut, you know, top and you know, Bruce had to kind of stop and go back to them and say, you know what, maybe not your best message for pastors here.
We need, we need an ad that's designed for our audience.
You can't just use the ad you're using for everyone else because there are differences in this audience. What makes it a market.
It's got unique qualities. So you really, you got to give us an ad that's got our message or a message at least that would appeal to the target audience you actually want to reach. And you have to understand that market in order to reach it. So he did a great job of educating them. And, and today, you know, when you open up a worship musician magazine which is all digital in now, there's no printed issues anymore.
When you roll through that, you see a much better targeted ad, you're definitely not going to see a woman in a low cut top holding a martini.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: Yeah. What excellent example. And honestly, this reminds us that trust is not built in one movement. It's built through repeat, repeated alignment. What we say, what we do, how we treat people and how we respond when the pressure is real. We're going to take another quick break and when we come back, we'll close by looking at long term influence, business, legacy and what it means to build something that serves beyond the moment. Stay tuned.
Foreign.
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I'm here with Scott Schufer, founder and president of Frontgate Media. And as we close, I want to bring this conversation back to, to legacy.
You know what, campaigns come and go, platforms change, trends shift. But the deeper question remains, what kind of influence lasts for people of faith, leaders, business owners, and organizations that care about more than immediate success.
Legacy is measured in not only by reach or revenue, but, but by whether the work helped people, honored values, and pointed towards something that was memorable and meaningful.
Scott, honestly, after more than 25 years in the media industry and marketing and being the faith driven man you are, how has your understanding of legacy and messaging changed over the years?
[00:39:19] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's, it's interesting. For me, this is a massive convergence of milestones. I'm hitting a milestone birthday this year. My little guy turned 30 years old this year, and my company turned 25 this year. So there's three massive milestone events going on all at the same time right now for me. And I think, you know, what I've, what I've realized over time is it's, it's really sobering, a little bit of a reflective time as I enter kind of what is probably the fourth quarter of my game overall is just how important grace is. And, and that there is. So we are just so far from perfection that, you know, there's got to be a lot of room to let people make mistakes. And that works for how you extend grace to other people and also how you extend grace to yourself.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: That's right. And the, and, and on the other side of that grace is forgiveness. Correct. So while we're in our imperfections, we extend that grace, thereby giving people the freedom of forgiveness along the way. And, and not being judgmental, such an important message. And you know, in the marketing industry, Scott, you're influencing so much of these messages. And I love the fact that right now, at this point in your life, grace is the loudest, the loudest voice in, in your head. That's, that's phenomenal.
So, so what kind of influence lasts beyond a single campaign, a platform or cultural movement? What is something that is, you know, and I know the answer to this one, but, but I want our audience to hear it from you. Scott, what influence? It just has just been consistent generation after generation after generation, no matter what campaign, what the product is, or where we're at in society.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, with, with people of faith, you know, the foundation is Christ and, you know, the unchanging God.
So in that sense, that's an easy answer in some ways, but the ease of the answer betrays how difficult it is.
So it's, you know, we get caught, caught there a little bit. But I think that, you know, really the impact comes from a lot of little impacts and how you live that out, what's your, you know, how do you put it into practice? And so there really isn't one.
I don't think there's one answer. I think there's daily and in some cases minute by minute answers to refocus or stay focused and not get distracted from the goal.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Excellent. Yes. And how do leaders build organizations that reflect what they truly believe?
And I think the bigger question for you, Scott, is how do you help leaders build organizations that reflect what they truly believe?
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Well, I think again, going back to, we've talked a lot about foundations of things and you have to have a foundation in your business with your team, with your customers, with your vendors.
And so, you know, in marketing, we, we basically, we both help create that foundation. That's, to me, that's the definition of branding.
There's a lot of other ways you can define branding, but branding and developing a brand is about creating a core set of message, message and mission.
And then marketing is how do you get that word out? What systems do you set up to, to allow that word to get out? So, you know, we do a little bit of both sides of the equation there in creating the foundation for an organization.
Again, whether it's for profit or non profit, doesn't really make a difference from a foundation standpoint.
And then, you know, how do we, how do we then get that message out to the people we're trying to reach? That's marketing.
[00:43:47] Speaker A: So on a very practical level, what are some of those systems that you mentioned that you put in place so that our audience can really get a sense of how you're really helping focus the organization? I'm sure those systems help keep them on track. Give us some examples of those systems that you help organizations put in place. Place.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Well, for, for both new organizations and, and older ones. You know, we, we do full brand evaluation where we'll come into an organization, look at their existing materials, talk to their existing management team, their existing customer base, their vendor base, kind of all the potential stakeholders, and give them a third party independent analysis of where they really are. You know, we, we have a lot of, almost every organization has some kind of a brand bible. They have core messaging, they have core values.
Where, where that hits reality is not necessarily where they intend it to be. So we do a lot of brand analysis work to help management teams to understand where they really are in relation to where they want to be. And then once we have that in place, we'll look at how do we design a communication system, what's on the website, what are we talking about, what are we feeding into the search engines and AI systems, what are we doing for social content? You know, the messaging really becomes how do we slice up the messaging into the different distribution vehicles for it? So we need to adapt it to TikTok and YouTube, we need to adapt it to Facebook and Instagram, we need to adapt it to our email. There's just so many different ways to implement and a lot of people have ended up chasing the distribution channels rather than employing the distribution channels. And what I mean by that is they know they need to do social posts, so they sit down one day and do some and they know they need to do an email, so they sit down one day and they do it.
But it's not guided by an overarching strategy.
And so that strategy is where we start. And then we take that and slice it up into all the different distribution opportunities, whether it's email, regular mail, PR, social media, etc.
[00:46:23] Speaker A: And, and I'm sure that when you are meeting with people, the message that a company is giving versus the message management thinks they're giving versus the message that you think they're trying to achieve often can be very different.
And so it's you trying to align each one of those pieces so that management's message, their, their core systems message, the message you're aiding with, all align towards one message.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's difficult. You know, even the same message is interpreted differently over time by different people, different generations.
So you may have perfected your message for the 70s and in the 80s it goes out of fashion. It doesn't make sense anymore.
So it's, it's kind of never ending really.
It's the reason that marketers have jobs is that, you know, the way, the way the audience perceives things, the way the audience takes in messages is always evolving and changing. And so we have to evolve and change with that.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: That we do. And Scott, we just have a, a few seconds left here in this segment, but can you tell our audience the best way to connect with you in Frontgate Media?
[00:47:49] Speaker B: Yeah, actually our website is really number one. We have a great contact form on our website and if you fill that out, it, it guarantees that you're going to get, get to talk to someone here. So the website at www.frontgate media.com is number one on the list. And then after that all of our so we're on all the the major social platforms. So if you look for Frontgate Media, you'll find us those. Those would be the two best ways.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: Great. Listen, I Scott, I really want to thank you for joining us and sharing your insight on faith, media stewardship, trust and family driven influence.
What this conversation reminds us is that legacy is not only what we leave behind after we're gone, but legacy is also what we communicate, what we build, what we protect, and how faithfully we steward the influence we've been given.
And to everyone watching, we invite you to align what you value most with how you live and lead and give and serve. Stay connected for more on NOW Media tv. Have a great day and we'll see you next time. It.
