Mar 12, 2018
<h1>Us humans, we have all these labels for people,
right.</h1><h1>Us humans, we have all these labels for
people, right.</h1><h5>Some are mean like calling
someone a nerd or a moron. Some are self-applied like goth or
grunge. Some clearly state a specific spiritual philosophy
like Christian or Pagan. Some are about ancestry, others skin
color, still others define the generation you were born. We
use these words as a way to categorize traits or behaviors and all
of it is a way for our brains to create boundaries. Wars are
fought, rallies are held, weddings are arranged, all in the name of
these boxes we create. When it comes to business, the words
that create our box, our brand are important too. We can
incite love or hate, connection or ambiguity just by our choice of
label, the words and actions that define
us.</h5><h5>Our guest today is in the business of
creating these connections through stories that building better
brands. Labels that describe him would be extrovert,
connector, describer, storyteller. Dmitri Vietze has
been building brands for decades. His business <a
href="http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/">Rock Paper
Scissors</a> helps musicians, tech companies, and
entrepreneurs of all kinds tell their story. In this episode,
he’ll tell his.</h5><h3>We’re glad you joined
us!</h3><h4>Listen Here:</h4><h4>Here are
some highlights:</h4><h6><strong>What childhood
memories led Dmitri to start a marketing business?
(2:45)</strong></h6>Dmiti was born in Nashville, TN and
lived there for the first decade of his life. His family then moved
to Queens New York in the 1980’s. He spent his high
school years there attending the New York City school for
Music and the Arts (the high school from the FAME TV show).
Dmitri was heavily involved in activism there speaking out against
racism and cultural inequity. His activism involved a ton of
public speaking, marketing, and sharing the story of the inequity
he saw. After high school, he got a scholarship to attend the
liberal arts college Antioch College with a focus on
activism.<h6><strong>What’s the origin story of Rock
Paper Scissors? (4:10)</strong></h6>At Antioch, Dmitri
really drove towards the business maragement side of things.
He still felt powerful about activism but he wanted to find a way
to connect it with building a business. After college he took
a job in Portland, OR. He started digging deep into the root
of the music he loves. 80’s progressive hip hop used a ton of
jazz samples so Dmitri started listening to more of that.
That led to a love of African roots, afro-beats, and world music in
general. Eventually, a record distributer asked him to use
that knowledge to do PR work for their global clients. After
doing that for a while he decided he wanted to pick his own
jobs. In 1999, Rock Paper Scissors was
born.<h6><strong>Dmitri is known for wearing vibrant
colorful clothing. Where does that choice come from?
(11:45)</strong></h6>Bright colorful cloths have been a
think for Dmitri since he was a kid. He’s always just felt
like it represented him and nis personality. As a business
owner, he realized that people were noticing it and the bright
clothes really proceeded him into business conversations. The
work he does is creative, fun, and colorful. He wanted that
to be represented in the visual palette people saw when he entered
their space.<h6><strong>How has the music industry
changed in the time you’ve been connected with it?
(13:45)</strong></h6>The 90’s was really to boom of
record sales and that feel off when online streaming of music
became a thing. As physical record sales dropped, live music
took more of a center stage. Huge festivals have been a thing
and continue to bring in big bucks while offering artists of all
sizes the opportunity to connect. The club scene has grown as
well. In addition, digital sales have become more streamlined
and paid for. Napster offered music for free, really hurting
musicians, but iTunes, Spotify and other streaming mechanisms have
monetized music in a way that ultimately help musicians.
Another trend is that more and more musicians are publishing.
Recording music and videos is easier which is great but it also
means there’s a ton of competition. The best thing to do is
just kep producing and marketing the music you
create.<h6><strong>How has Rock Paper Scissors Evolved?
(21:55)</strong></h6>Dmitri loves technology.
Rock Paper Scissors developed a ton of tech to support their PR
work. He realized that he could apply his systems not only to
World Music but also to tech companies, and all kinds of other
entrepreneurs. The stories are very much the
same.<h6><strong>How can businesses tell their own
stories? (39:00)</strong></h6><ol>
<li>Don’t use cliché terminology.</li>
<li>Start with the origin story and build from
there</li> <li>Have someone else interview you
and discover your own answers. Get that outside
perspective</li> <li>Figure out what truly makes
you unique</li> <li>Focus your story around a
human. Give your listener someone to connect the story
with</li></ol><h6><strong>Rock Paper
Scissors has focused on technology for music public relations but
now you're serving pure tech companies as well. How do they
connect? (21:55)</strong></h6>Healthy tech brands tend
to have four concepts at their heart: Equity, Transparency,
Innovation, Networking & Research. This really isn't any
different than the musicians we've always worked with. It
seemed like an obvious fit so we connected with some tech brands
and the results have been great.<h6><strong>How has
Rock Paper Scissors Evolved?
(37:00)</strong></h6>Dmitri wants to grow into the pure
Tech PR business and he wants to continue using Storyfinding
methods where the masses are telling the story of the business in a
way that’s decentralize from the business
itself.<h6>Mentioned in the
episode:</h6><ul> <li>Fela Koti – Afro
Beats artist</li> <li><a
href="https://us.napster.com/">Napster</a></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.apple.com/itunes/">iTunes</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.cdbaby.com/">CD Baby</a>
– “The onramp to the music industry”</li>
<li><a href="http://www.perrinlamb.com/">Paren
Lamb</a> – <a href="https://www.spotify.com/us/">Indy
Coffee House Playlist</a></li> <li><a
href="http://diymusiciancon.com/">DIY Musician
Conference</a></li> <li><a
href="https://twitter.com/jackconte">Jack Conte</a> -
<a
href="https://www.youtube.com/pomplamoosemusic">Pomplamoose</a>
& <a
href="https://www.patreon.com/">Patreon</a></li></ul><ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.storyamp.com/">Storyamp</a> – Automated
music marketing platform</li> <li><a
href="https://www.developertown.com/">DeveloperTown</a> –
“Software is eating the world”</li> <li><a
href="http://amzn.to/2Dh4s5g">The Innovators Dilemma</a>
& <a href="http://amzn.to/2Gd9ToM">The Innovators
DNA</a> by <a
href="https://twitter.com/claychristensen">Clayton
Christensen</a></li> <li><a
href="https://www.edelman.com/trust-barometer">Edelman Trust
Barometer</a></li></ul><h3 style="text-align:
center;"><strong>Special thanks to Dmitri Vietze for
taking the time to share the <a
href="http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/">Rock Paper
Scissors</a> story with us.</strong></h3>The show
was produced and edited by me Jeremy Goodrich.
The music is by my good friend Mark VInten. In college we would get
together most Friday nights and play music to the wee hours of the
morning.. Here’s the thing though. He lived in a tiny
apartment with about 200 neighbors. We had a drum set,
amplifiers, and we loved to turn it up. Kind of can’t believe
that the cops only showed up twice.
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