Women in Cleantech: Beyond the Pitch. Building Your Founder Visibility System (June 25, 2026) transcript

Okay, I think we can go ahead and start it. Hi everybody. Good afternoon, good morning, depending on where you are. I am Barbara De Santos. I'm a volunteer here with uh uh Women in Cleantech and Sustainability. Before we start, let me just um tell you give you a quick introduction of myself. Um Yeah, that's my picture. I am Yeah, as I mentioned, I'm a volunteer. Usually Nagasri is our uh facilitator, but she is actually back today, so she's unavailable.

Um and I have been volunteering with the entrepreneurship community for a few months now. I I think I I've known some of you already from previous events. So, I'm excited to be here today. I I'm a senior manager at um Arcadia, which is a energy data uh tech company. Um very exciting. And let me just talk if you're new here, tell you a little bit about who we are at the WCS. Um we are uh an organization focused on supporting women in Cleantech and Sustainability, empowering women, and it's women empowering women, right?

So, we can grow in the industry and also advance uh climate and sustainability. Uh the entrepreneurship committee specifically, uh we cultivate in activities and resources to encourage tech founders or startup founders, small company founders as well. Uh and anyone who aspires to drive Cleantech solutions to the market. So, we are here to foster that community so we can also share our knowledge uh with each other. We have a few different events throughout the year.

Um this is part of the Founder Her. Uh it's a series of workshop to actually give you uh or give each other knowledge and and things that you can all actually use in your founder journey. Um and the goal is really to drive gender parity in uh tech and sustainability. Also [snorts] to inspire local and our global women community of entrepreneurs. Um quickly hands-on quickly program overview of what founder her is. So it is this is the second year that we're doing this and it's a combination of hands-on workshop like today we have a workshop with Sarah and Sarah will be very generously sharing her knowledge with us.

Um We also have fireside chats which is more like a Q&A more intimate discussion and we also have networking circles. I'll talk a little bit about our next event but our next event will be a networking virtual networking event. Um so we are now on week 11. So on June 25th we've had several workshops already and the recordings are available so if you're interested in getting in watching one of those let us know. They are in our webpage but also if if you are a member you can have access to them.

If you're not a member I'll encourage you to join as a member but you know feel free to reach out to us as as well. If you register for the event you definitely have access to to the recording. Uh so today Sarah is going to be talking about beyond the pitch building your founder visibility system. We have one more workshop on July 9th and that is women's founding network session sorry not a workshop. One more session which is a women's founding networking where we actually be able to share some experiences and ask each other questions and get to know each other a little bit better.

Um we've had a really wide variety of speakers so far. We've learned so much from each one of them. We had Cara Auther with SE Ventures talking about uh and and communication. Uh we have CC Jou, she is a uh venture capitalist. We have We had Ivan Markman, um a Climate X board member, also talking about um how to highlight yourself. We had Karen, uh who is the CEO founder of Emobia, um and a a a list of other people as well.

Arvind uh Ventures Council, Sarah as a Purpose Driven Design, and Donna uh founder of Sticking to My Story. All giving [snorts] precious uh ins- inspirations and insights. And you can see here the list again. Uh check out the recordings. They are fantastic. If you haven't seen them yet, if you weren't here, um I really encourage you to take a look at them. Um and today we have the fantastic Sarah uh Yeshukochi. I'm not sure if that's how you say her last name.

Please let us know. Uh yes, she's the founder and CEO of House Collective. We are super excited to hear your insights, Sarah. So, welcome and and please uh introduce yourself. >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Barbara. And hello, everybody. It is so good to be here with you today. I'm really looking forward to our time together to talk about Beyond the Pitch, uh building your founder visibility system. We're going to keep things moving and interactive, and my hope is that you leave with a few clear, actionable steps uh to strengthen how you show up online.

And let's get started. You can go to the next page. So again, hello. I'm Sarah. I'm the founder and CEO of House Collective. We're a certified B Corp marketing firm. And oh, I think we're going to be one more one We're actually one slide back. Oops, we're going the wrong way. >> [laughter] >> There we go. Here we are. am. Okay. Uh so, uh, we are a certified B Corp marketing firm. Uh, we we're based in San Diego, California, and uh, we are also certified women and minority business enterprise.

Uh, my corporate background was close to 20 years in a marketing leadership roles working Fortune 500, Global 2000 organizations. Um, mostly in national retail, CPG, some commercial real estate, um, but where my heart is, I think, is uh, obviously, um, anything marketing, but as it relates to education and a good portion of that in clean energy. Uh, today House Collective, uh, we're celebrating close to 10 years uh, in business and we partner with founders and teams advancing sustainability, culture, community impact, uh, to help strengthen their marketing strategies and build their growth system so that we can drive measurable results for them.

Most of our partnerships uh, begin with what we call our House Collective Blueprint. It's a strategic marketing um, plan and audit. Uh, it's an engagement that really helps kind of align goals, identify what's most impactful uh, for the next steps, and then we typically partner with our clients to help bring that blueprint to life. Uh, so, since 2017, uh, we've especially um, been active in the clean energy space. So, solar, battery storage, uh, supporting over 15,000 home solar installations and more than $60 million in clean energy sales.

Um, I mentioned education earlier. I'm also an educator. I build curriculum and teach uh, business and marketing courses at uh, local universities, and I evaluate pitch competition applicants, uh, and engage as a mentor, a guide and advisor for uh, several member organizations like WCS, um, and also higher ed institutions for their innovation and entrepreneurial programs. And we can go to the next slide. There you go.

Uh, so, before we dive in, again, I just want to say um, how happy I am to be in this room uh, with this group of women founders. I've been involved now with WCS for Oh gosh, I think all in maybe 3 years, but I've stepped in and out as my business has become busy. As it is for small businesses often seasonal, but in this last go round probably since last summer, I've been involved as Barbara mentioned she's been involved as well in the entrepreneurial committee and that's been so rewarding especially being the founder series.

So this is my second workshop through this program. So wherever you are in your journey, today is about giving you clear actionable steps to really strengthen how you show up. So we'll talk about why your visibility matters beyond the pitch. I know we had the pitch competition several was that a month ago now? So people are you know, they're forming impressions of you long before and long after any single conversation.

So whether it's through like pitch application or your presence online, they're definitely looking for you. So we'll also look at what people actually find when they look you up and a handful of assets that they're seeing. From there we'll walk you through how to build a simple visibility system so that becomes something that's repeatable for you including a few practical ways that AI can help make things easier and we'll also have a short AI activity as well.

And then we'll close with a few steps that you can take for the next month or so things that you can start today or whatever you know, whatever your budget whatever your bandwidth and capacity, you'll be able to take some actionable steps for results. We can go to the next slide. I'm going to start off first if we can have a quick poll. I just use the chat. There's no right or wrong answer. When it comes to how you show up in the digital space, so whether it be your website, your LinkedIn profile, social media, elsewhere, what feels most true to you right now?

So, drop a one, a two, or a three in the chat. One is it's on your list, but maybe you haven't really gotten to it. Two is you've done some things, maybe a little sprinkle here and there, but it's not quite a system yet. Or three, you've got solid handle on it. And you're here for a refresher, maybe. So, one, two, three in the chat. I see a lot of twos. That's awesome. So, I'm glad that you're showing up online in some capacity, and I hope that our time together you're able to build a system that helps tie those pieces together.

So, thank you. That's really helpful to start. We can go to the next slide. So, why visibility matters beyond the pitch. We're going to take a look at some numbers and see what our research shows to start. We can go to the next. So, the first is a Gartner report that shows two-thirds of business-to-business buyers prefer to research and decide what they're going to do with those next steps on their own before they even talk to a person.

So, that means what lives online is doing a lot of heavy lifting before any of the conversations are actually happening. And so, for me, for example, reviewing pitch competition applications, we're looking up your profiles, we're trying to understand your digital footprint. I'm trying to understand from a marketing lens what that customer journey might look like. And and that's what's happening. And there's, you know, reports and data that shows that this is not an odd anomaly.

It is something that's common. So, I want you to think about the last time you hired with or maybe chose a vendor or maybe purchase something for yourself B2B, you probably looked them up first, formed a type of opinion, have them part of your due diligence process, and maybe made a decision before narrowing down your next best steps. The next column is there's a lot of us. Women own nearly 45% of US businesses. So, that's 14 million of us.

That field is large. So, having a great product, having a great service, um having amazing innovation, especially in the clean tech sustainability space, having an amazing offer, that is not enough on its own. You got to be findable. People have to find you and have to know what sets your business apart. Next is a stat that I really, really love. Um a landmark Boston Consulting Group study titled why women-owned startups are a better bet found that women-led companies generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar versus 31 for male-led startups. 78 cents per dollar versus 31.

That is more than twice as efficient. So, the performance is there. We already know it, but the challenge then becomes making sure people are aware of it. And then for anybody planning to raise, Harvard Business Review surveyed nearly 900 venture capitalist. 95% of them say that it's the team, it's the people. Um they want to know who's behind the curtain and and who's running the show and who's in the leadership positions and who's who's, you know, driving the ship forward.

That's what matters most, even more so when they're early stage. So, how do they size up that team? Well, they're going to use their online ability to search and figure out who those people are. So, whatever you're working towards, visibility is one of the few things that we have more control over. We can't, you know, single-handedly like change how capital or contracts are allocated, but what somebody finds when they search, that experience, those digital touchpoints, those are ours as founders to shape.

We can go to the next slide. Okay, so we know people are looking. The next question is when they search, what do they find? And what are they maybe looking for? So, it really comes down to I bucketed these in three different things. And again, consider yourself as a buyer and the journey that you go through. And when you're doing your due diligence, right? So, it's found, credible, and clear. First, can they find you?

I've gone through countless applications or, you know, through these innovation workshops where the biggest digital container of a website or a profile is missing. And you almost have to wonder, is this real? Is this happening? Is this a a true opportunity? So, first, can they find you? And next I would say is, if they can find you, is your information current? If you don't come up, if it's not current, then nothing else really gets a chance to matter for the person who's searching.

Then, if they do find you, and it's current, is it trustworthy? So, do you have logos? Do you have stats? Do you have results? Are you sharing things consistently across the board that turns the question from or maybe the statement from oh, I found her to I believe her. And then the third is is it clear? So, in a few seconds, can someone tell what you do, who you help, how you do it, what makes your innovation special or competitive?

Um if it takes a lot of work to figure those simple pieces out, people will move on. And a little bit across the bottom that's new, but everybody is talking about it, right? Is AI. A lot more people today, they won't even take the time to dig through all of the information that you can find online themselves. They might ask their favorite LLM. They might go to ChatGPT, they might go to Claude, Perplexity. They Those LLMs will pull the data that's available and out there, and then hand them the summary.

So, the online information will shape what the AI shares about you and your business. And I'm going to share in a few slides um moving forward where when we get there, uh but AI doesn't always get it right. So, either way, uh the real value is just understanding what's out there because once you know, then you get to decide where your visibility work begins. Go to the next slide. So, we know what people are looking for.

Uh we know uh what they find uh will include the things that you're putting out there or not. Uh and now, how do you build something that delivers visibility consistently? And this is where a simple system can come in to help save the day. A few connected pieces that work together. So, the path from "Oh, this is interesting." to maybe "Okay, let's talk." is there. Oh. Oh, are you? Yeah. Sorry. Yes, you're there. Um okay.

So, for our time today, uh I've simplified this process, so we'll focus on just the four pieces. Um and the good news is a room full of female builders, this is the kind of thing you're probably already used to doing so well is designing with intention, connecting all the parts, and then letting it all run. So, first is choosing your home base. Uh pick one place to prioritize. So, the ones who've marked twos, you know, pick one of those things.

And most of the time folks mark two because you're doing a sprinkle of this in the social area or a little bit of, you know, maybe you have Substack and you're writing some blogs. Maybe you have, you know, a website. Pick one as your home base to prioritize. And your job then is to make it complete and make it current. This is where your credibility is going to live. So, the assets that people look for are things like certifications, the results, any press releases, any white papers, um reports, any recognition.

So, examples of this, House Collective, we're certified certified B Corp. So, we have a B Corp certification logo on our homepage, on the hero image. We also have been awarded an ethics award. And so, that logo um sits right next to the B Corp. Uh we also, um you would find impact stats and outcomes reporting, as well as all of our links, um anywhere from environmental policies to data use. And for my personal brand, because when I say you throughout this workshop, I mean you as a person and then you as a representative of your business as a founder.

So for my personal brand, it's uh LinkedIn, uh the communities and groups that I'm a part of like uh WeBank as a certified women business enterprise, um Goldman Sachs 10KSB, which I just graduated from, highly recommend. Uh you might find my bio with UCSD because I teach there. Or articles written on ethical marketing for Be the Change, right? Uh for you, it might include your LinkedIn profile, maybe you have a YouTube account, speaking engagements, or um third-party validation for your innovation, or maybe a letter of intent from a partner.

So whatever list um you have, filter through them, align them with your audience, then put those trust marks and communicate those stories where people land. And so whatever that home base container is. Second is a clear next step. So when someone's there, make the action obvious. Contact us, uh book a call, subscribe, whatever you want them to do, make sure that they have an open, easy invitation to engage with you.

So I mean, you can even also give them a sneak peek into your process, so they know what to expect should they choose to engage with you, right? Uh and then third is follow-up. And this is probably the one piece of a growth system that I like I highly, highly recommend. Um and it's the one where there's a lot of missed opportunities, unfortunately. Catch the interest before it fades. This is from a sales perspective where you might hear somebody say speed to lead.

If somebody fills out a form, get back to them right away. If someone picks up the phone to call you, call them right back. And it can be as simple as one automated like welcome email to acknowledge like yes, I have this and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. At least they've gotten something speedy. So, it it could even look like a quick text call back or it can be something more involved like a reactivation campaign which we've put together for folks.

So, um and just to demonstrate the power of that um Excuse me. As as a um marketing support team for a lot of folks who have sales teams as well, there's a lot of um you know, uh want and need for the freshest newest leads coming in through the door. But often times organizations and businesses have an existing database that they just don't tap into enough. And so, to demonstrate the power of like automated welcome maybe an email series or a campaign, we've been able to support anywhere from a quarter million dollars to half a million dollars of conversion in one month using one existing database.

So, your follow-ups though, they don't have to be fancy like that. They just have to exist. But that just gives you a range of what you can do with the speed to lead. And fourth, um make sure you stay visible. So, showing up uh consistently so you remain credible and top of mind. Uh you don't have to be everywhere as I've mentioned. I just pick one tactic, uh one medium that you can sustain. So, maybe it's adding one LinkedIn post a week.

That will be more effective than trying to be everywhere every day and then suddenly going dark. Or maybe having a volume um of content, but it's pretty thin across multiple channels without deep engagement. So, not a lot of folks are following or liking or commenting. So, pick one and then spend most time there as your home base cuz each piece kind of feeds into the next and then staying visible really brings brings those people back to your home base.

So, new, repeat, referred and that's really what creates the system. We can go next. Okay. So, let's talk AI. So, I've given you all the starting points of a simple system and AI can be used as a tool to help build all the pieces of it, right? Um tip, and I'm sure that you all know by now, train your AI, please, like a new hire so that it understands the need and generates something that is aligned with your voice, your brand, your audience.

My throat. Okay. Uh so, for home base, for example, consider using AI to draft and maybe tighten your bio up or um go through the content of your about page for clear next steps. As maybe a thought partner, AI can help you brainstorm on effective calls to action uh for your follow-up step, maybe AI can help draft a thank you response or a simple like welcome email workflow um or call scripts if you have a team or you yourself get on the phone.

Um so, that way the the experience becomes consistent for that customer or client. Um and last, uh stay visible step, uh AI can help you turn, you know, one idea into many posts, as you know, but it can also help you narrow down like maybe what the right tech stack is for you. And then a couple of things on using AI because in this room where WCS, I think I you know, it goes without saying, but also it's it's a safe space to bring it up, right?

AI isn't free for the planet. So we all know that it runs on real energy and it runs on a lot of water. So reach for it on purpose where it actually helps, not by default for all of the things. I know that's really tempting, but there's also a big one keep humans in the loop. So whether it's you yourself or you have folks around you who are using it, AI as a reminder it it doesn't know. It might hand you a wrong statistic or a false claim and that can really cause your business, especially at early stage, credibility.

So check, triple check, make sure what you're getting is correct and it's not a hallucination. And you know, it it AI used intentionally can absolutely create efficiency gains, but just like everything there are trade-offs. For us as a marketing team, how we handle it, House Collective, we've created an AI use policy. So that might be something that that you would consider for your team or for your clients. It's always for us human first touch, human last touch, and then depending on the scope of the project, multiple human touches in between.

And so responsible AI use is definitely highly encouraged. So we can take a look at our next 30 days. So we've considered Oh, we can go one. Uh okay, great. So, we've considered um a lot. We we've talked about why visibility, what people find, how to build a system to support you. Um we talked about AI, and so now it's time for action. So, I want to leave you with a few things that you can start today and then complete this month.

So, now we can go to the next. Awesome. So, first thing I would love to invite you to do is audit yourself. And again, yourself meaning could be you as a thought leader, a representative of your brand or innovation. Um or it could be just the name of your business. Uh search your name, search your company, uh look at what your LinkedIn might look like from a stranger's point of view. So, someone who doesn't understand what the backstory is.

Um and what I really want you to try, because we've talked about it, is ask your favorite LLM, so whether it's ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude, what it knows about you and your business. Uh then I would go over uh in the next 30 days, probably pick your one. So, um whether it's found, credible, or clear, which of those needs are calling to you uh the most right now to address? Not all three, just pick one of those things.

So, if you're not on as, you know, I um I think I saw a few ones, um pick one container that you're going to prioritize, right? Um or if you're in two and you have multiple, uh then pick like only your Substack or only your LinkedIn, whatever your favorite is to start. Uh so, I think that will make the biggest difference for where you're headed. Um and start small. So, one fix, one place, one month. You don't have to overhaul all the things, but pick the single thing and that will help move the needle and help you begin.

So, just remember that visibility isn't a one-time project. It's definitely something that you build and tend to over time. And it starts with just one honest look and one small step. So, uh what I want to do is take a look right now and invite you to open a device, uh your phone, um open your favorite AI tool of choice, whatever you'd like, and I would love to invite you to ask it, what do you know about me and my company?

And I'll drop that in the chat. And you can replace me with your name. And my company with your company. Mhm. And if there's anyone who would like to share what the results are, then we can get you off mute. And have you share that. So, when I did this recently, as people are searching, um so I did this recently, uh and most of what came back was very interesting, right? This is like Google yourself for 2026. What came back for House Collective was all accurate, for the most part.

Um it all very much mirrored the blogs that we've put out, the articles where we've been featured, the awards we've won, or um the partnerships that we've been aligned with, um case studies and clients. So, it the language and the messaging was very familiar because it was truly as our information being put out and then recycled back through. But in one instance, um it came back that Seri Oscochi is a Yale graduate and the leader of luxury hotel chain in Europe, which I absolutely was thrilled about and tempted to call my family and give them all the great news and maybe contact Yale alumni, I don't know.

Um but the what was I I'm not a graduate of of Yale and I I I Excuse me. Obviously, uh I have a marketing agency and not a hotel chain. But that sounds like a dream. Uh but it it for sure um told myself and my colleagues that this is what Seri Oscochi does. And so it was a great signal to me. It was good news. It could have been a lot worse. But it was a great signal to me that I had gaps that we had even though a lot of content in the digital space, there were still areas to fill.

Come to find that there is a House Collective that is also a B Corp in Europe who they probably have a team member who graduated from Yale. But somehow the information got crossed and AI served it as if it were fact. And so we have work to do on our end to separate and parse out and show up online the way we intend to. So just a call back to that previous slide of AI doesn't have all the answers all the time and then the most recent slide of human first touch, human last touch, and multiple touches in between.

So does anybody want to share or read yours or maybe share a couple of things or even just tell us if it was accurate, if there was something missing, or if there was wrong um anything wrong. If you can also paste it in the chat if you like. Lexity got my bio right. Oh, your picture wrong. Okay. That's interesting. I'm going to paste a few more. >> I found mine just took the copy straight from my website. It didn't >> Yeah. >> find it didn't look at LinkedIn.

It just went straight to my Yeah. >> Is it all accurate on your website? >> Um it found a typo. So I fixed that. >> [laughter] >> And you can also ask it I added a few more additional questions. Um Who is Michelle Frey? Um what does Michelle's company do? Um one that I personally loved uh was would you recommend House Collective for marketing? So in putting that in, we found, you know, reviews or um articles or we won an award.

So that was really reassuring. But it also was a reminder like, hey, we've got a lot of work to do for our case studies cuz we've got all these great stories to tell. So it's a great signal. Uh Copilot nailed it for me, Danielle says. But that's probably because it's synced with our internal Ah, yes. That That is a good uh tip. Um I didn't mention that at the start. When I did the exercise, it was uh on a uh we had wiped out um cleared the cache uh and went to new browser to do that.

So that could also influence uh the information that comes through. Um and we also traded phones. And tried to search friends that way, too. So it's really interesting. I would welcome all of you to uh do a little bit more of that. Use the prompts uh in the chat uh and do that as homework. Uh we can go to the next slide. Okay, so before we wrap, um just one additional uh poll if I can. Uh just a quick check um that I I love to hear from you as how are you feeling about strengthening how you show up online?

Uh are you clear on why it matters um and still mapping it out? Uh do you know what to do now or have some quick tips in terms of what that system might look like for you? Um and if you got your next move, you know, and pick number three and you you're on it. So type one, two, or three um and let us know how how you're feeling after this quick summary. And then we've got the final page. Twos and threes. Danielle, do you want to share what you're going to do then since you've got the uh I've got my next move. >> Sure.

Um so we uh so my company's called T3 Consulting and that name is um while we thought it was innovative, it is not uh and there are a lot of companies out there with T3 Consulting and we have a hard time uh with people who are looking for us specifically cannot find us online. >> Mm. >> Um and so our our uh you know, we've we've got a goal over the next, you know, few months where we're working on um redoing our website and the SEO that comes along with it.

So really getting that, you know, working on that found piece of actually somebody who wants to find the company and the website can do it without having our um the the website address specifically. >> Yeah, absolutely. And then I would also be curious around um the organic strategy that you have uh and how much blog content you have and what that means for your keyword search um and what your health looks like on Google Search Console, but also knowing that AI is pushing everything down.

When folks are searching, they're giving you the AI results versus even over an ad, over websites themselves, how you're showing up on those LLMs are going to be really important, too. Especially if it's attached to your name or a team member's name. >> Mhm. Yep. >> Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So, we can go to the last page. Um and this is where I have uh some time for Q&As. Um I wanted to thank you all so much.

It's been a um pleasure to spend this quick time uh with the group um and with fellow founders, women founders who are passionate about people and planet. Um again, my hope is that you leave with a clear way to think about how you show up and why visibility is so important. Um and put that quick system into place. Um and if anything today sparks a question, you can ask it now, or you can drop it in the chat. Um usually we have a little bit of time to go back and forth, but I can also kick us off with some of the most common questions that we get.

Um because that is often uh something that will help answer maybe what's on your mind. Does anybody have questions? >> We have uh hands raised. Um Sarah, are you able to see them, or you want me to call the questions? >> Oh. Mhm. Oh, I do see them. Yes, hi Laura. >> Hi there. Thanks Sarah for a really great presentation. Um I have a question about the example you used with the European hotel chain. >> Oh, yes. >> How would you remedy that by putting information out?

Like you can't put an info say like I'm Sarah, I don't have a in Europe. Like how would you What would you do about that? >> Yeah. Well, that's a great question and it is something on our strategy list to do, too. Um and it is really putting more information and content out and available that links us as House Collective, the name. Um I think the tricky part, too, is both of our organizations, both of our businesses happen to also be B Corp and so we live on same directories that are similar around the world.

Um because B Corp is a global organization. And so um it's us putting more content, more information out there that overrides and signals to LLM that wait, no. House Collective is talking about marketing and it's talking about founder Sarah Yakubachi and those go together and so we're going to keep those as a bundle and serve that as, you know, the product to whoever's searching. Um and that's our goal and I think that's where LLM can become really useful, too, too, as a tool to inform you of maybe your next blog post or maybe your next directory listing or maybe your next opportunity to, again, correct or inform um to ensure that you're showing up and being visible in a way that you intend to.

Um and it could be worse, right? We could be like, oh, you know, uh we're a mat distributor or um we're a dry cleaner or something like that. Um that could be very far off. Um but it also could be potential communication or partnership with the other folks because they also would not want to show up as, you know, um in having uh intended audience going to them asking for marketing service and that's not what they do.

So, it's going to be a lot of additional content um getting to those spaces so that the LLMs understand and serve the right information. That help? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Michelle? >> Hi, yeah. Thank you. Um this presentation has been helpful. So, I have a question kind of regarding say testimonials, kind of client references. You So, I'm noticing the AI results said, "There are no client references." Yet, I have testimonials on my website.

So, I think there must be another way to incorporate this kind of reference I mean, is there another like tasteful way to kind of get your kind of recommendations out in the world? Or any suggestions around this? >> Well, that and that's something on our list as well as definitely case studies can do that. Um ensuring that you have multiple mediums and ways to serve those testimonials. So, if you have clients who are open to recording a video versus sending you know, typing something um into computer and you know, going through a dashboard [clears throat] of sorts.

Uh so, that way you own that video and you can distribute that then through social channels whether it's LinkedIn or YouTube or whatever your uh channel of choice would be. Um that would be really helpful. Um and also just ensuring that you have as much detail and information that links that person or that testimonial and that service to a real business. Right? Because this is like websites, like anything anyone can create a website today and say they have a business tomorrow.

Anyone can say they got a five-star review and have somebody else post it and we don't know if, you know, Jane S is a real person. But, the more detailed they can be in their experience and how they've engaged with you and your business like Michelle from the start from our I'm not sure if I'm making it up, but from our discovery call to our project completion. You know, like and something that's unique to you like so for us it would be oh, Sarah's walk-through and her team's execution of our blueprint marketing plan, which then it's it's already linked that House Collective has a blueprint and we create marketing strategies and plans.

So, those kind of keywords, it's not just a matter of having them anymore. It's a matter of thinking of it as puzzle pieces that they all go together and link because again, that way we can serve We're kind of it's so interesting in marketing where we half of my career it was definitely creating, you know, for communities and for humans, but the other half is like we've got to always create for people and for technology so that the technology understands what we're saying, too.

And the strange thing is, you know, the two don't converge, at least not yet. Does that help? And Petrina? >> Yes, hi. Um, thank you for the presentation. I also find it very helpful. I have two questions if that's okay. The first one with that little AI search about me, um, so I have a a weird background where I've pivoted my career and I'm trying to launch two different companies that do different things. So, um, it's it's actually pulled up a lot of data that's no longer relevant.

Like there's even an old resume up there somewhere with, you know, my cell phone and email address. Like, what do you suggest to how do we scrub some of the old stuff that's out there? >> Yeah, and I think we we do that with just more content and more of the right relevant content in on established platforms that are trustworthy. And so, for example, if you have, um, if you have a LinkedIn, um, you know, it's and you have a profile that's lived there for a while and the the information has been updated, then they're more likely to grab from that than they are from an outdated directory.

Will they still grab from the outdated? Likely up until a certain point. We don't quite know. So that's why letting the information and getting the right content and the right keywords, those right puzzle pieces out there, I think will be more service to you. And also it works from an organic standpoint because as people are searching, whether it's through just a good old fashioned search bar, then your information is more likely to come up.

So there's still kind of this wild wild west feel and experience of what's happening in the AI space because there are no guardrails yet. And we're still kind of in a wait and see mode, but the solution so far has been get more content out that is correct and relevant. And that's why the visibility piece of, you know, building trust and creating that clarity for the person that's searching is going to be more important now than ever. >> Yeah.

Yeah, cuz it it's no point like going back to I don't know how many recruitment agencies and and deleting all the data. >> likely they Yeah, likely they won't either. And or they'll they are likely won't know even how to access it sometimes themselves. >> Right. That's crazy. And then follow on from Laura's question, >> Yeah. >> would you suggest buying search words? Like I I'm I'm starting a a company now and it's called Remade Trade, but the word trade and the word remade as two standalone words are very generic. >> Yes. >> So but you know, so tying them together, like is there a trick to I don't know, keyword search?

Like is it worth buying it? But it's going to be so expensive cuz it's so generic. >> It is. And I think it depends too on who your audience is and if that piece is really going to be um uh challenge and a pain point for folks to be able to find you. And so it's a matter of I guess identifying um who your persona is that you're really trying to call in um and then what they would be searching for. Are they searching more for the solution?

How much brand awareness do you have now that you need to protect and guard that? Or could it benefit you to keep it open so that it widens the fishnet and you're able to capture more folks in. So I think that opens up question too. I'm curious like then tell me about the product and tell me about the persona and tell me about the brand awareness that's available now before you invest in something. Um but really you could find workarounds too. >> Right.

So it's almost like we make trade, you know, the company that does X kind of thing. Like like constantly using that together as a phrase. >> Yes, the solution. And not necessarily a tagline either, right? Because people want results. Like we're we're going to search for um the thing that we need that's going to solve our problem. And so it may not even be attached to an actual brand, but it's going to be attached to, you know, this solution that I need for whatever that issue is. >> Got you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome.

And I know we're at 11:50 now. So we have about 10 minutes, but Barbara's got some some things to cover. So I wanted to just ask um if you have any additional questions, feel free to uh scan the QR code. Um you'll find my information there. Uh we've got quick links to resources if you'd like to uh download one of our um one of our surveys and list uh for your reference. Uh or if you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then I'm happy to answer and kind of keep the conversation moving.

Yeah. >> We have time for one more question if anyone else has questions. Yeah. Don't be shy, ladies. >> You all had great questions so far. I know it's it's there's so much to cover within a little amount of time. Uh but I think we did a good job with it and hopefully uh if you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer. >> Okay. Well, thank you, Sarah. That was incredible. I learned a lot. Um and thank you for being available for questions after we're done here as well.

Um Okay, so just a little bit more about WCS. Um if you are not aware yet, we are a membership-based organization. Uh everybody uh there are two types of membership. The first is individual membership. You can join as an individual or you can join uh as an organization. Um as a member, you receive access to the calendar, happy hour events for free, webinar events for free, those types of both happy hour and the webinars you can participate uh not being a member by paying a fee.

Um and the WCS Connect, which is our um there's a Slack and there's also a very um a great I blanked the word, but uh directory. There's a really great directory of members uh where you can identify other women that you can uh ask questions or network. Um and there's also discounts on talks and we also have a student discount for memberships. Uh Uh, with the corporate memberships, members uh, you get a membership for employees and associates.

You also get access to the Slack. Um, you can have unlimited postings on the job board if you're hiring. Uh, there's also monthly onboarding Zoom call. And you can also you also get your logo on the WCS, um, website. Cool enough, we also have a merch store where you can buy some, uh, the WCS gear, which by purchasing gear you also supporting your organization. We are a non-profit organization. We rely on memberships, uh, and merch, uh, sales.

Um, and then thank you for the volunteers. We have, uh, myself and Evan here today. Thank you so much for, uh, making this happen. And that WCS has a very large variety of organ of, uh, opportunities if you want to volunteer. Uh, so we have the entrepreneurship community committee, but there's also other committees doing other things. Uh, if you if you're available, if you want to support other women, this is an an excellent opportunity.

Um, we are everywhere in online, so feel free to join us. We have the links here. And I think this is the last slide. Oh. Um, yeah, we have a few other events that we have. The pitch competition, the Founder Hers climate. Uh, the next event will be, um, I think it's the [clears throat] reverse pitch in September. Um, the they are more exciting things coming, um, by the end of the year. Now, before we wrap it up, I want to see if we can try to get a picture of all of us here today.

So, if you're able to turn your camera on, let's try to get a nice picture so we can post on the on the socials. Um, Evan, would you would you get a picture for us? >> Yep. I'm taking it now. 1 2 3 1 second. One more time. 1 2 3. Another one. Thank you so much everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you again everybody. Thank you Sarah. This was fantastic and I hope to see you on the 9th everybody for our virtual networking event. >> Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. >> Bye Freddy.