Personal Branding That Attracts the Right Audience with Vanessa Larry Mitchell

Episode Summary

If everyone likes your personal brand, there is a good chance no one remembers it.

In this episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast, Fractional Marketing Strategist Chantal Gerardy sits down with internationally touring comedian Vanessa Larry Mitchell, creator of Teardrops on My Dildo, for an honest conversation about personal branding, finding your audience and having the confidence to be yourself.

Vanessa has built her comedy career around telling stories she once thought she needed to hide. Rather than trying to appeal to everyone, she has learned to accept that some people will love what she does and others will decide it is not for them.

That same principle has powerful implications for business and marketing.

Chantal and Vanessa explore why a strong personal brand should attract the right people while naturally disqualifying others, why personality is one of the few things competitors cannot copy, and how Vanessa markets her live shows using Meta Ads, organic content, posters, free event listings and word of mouth.

They also discuss the difference between building a social media following and selling a live experience, adapting marketing to different locations, dealing with criticism and knowing when doing everything yourself begins to limit your creativity.

This episode is particularly useful for founders, business owners and personal brands who find themselves watering down their message because they are worried about being judged, misunderstood or considered “too much.”

Key Takeaways

• A memorable personal brand does not need to appeal to everyone. A clear message should attract the right people and disqualify the wrong ones.
• Your personality is a genuine point of difference because competitors can copy tactics, but they cannot replicate who you are.
• Vanessa believes personal brands should lean into what makes them different, provided it remains true to who they genuinely are.
• Audience feedback matters. Vanessa developed her comedy by repeatedly performing material, watching how audiences responded and refining her delivery.
• A large social media following is not the only measure of successful marketing. Vanessa has built successful live shows without having an enormous online audience.
• Different audiences discover events in different places. Posters can work strongly in one location while Facebook or Instagram may matter more somewhere else.
• Word of mouth has become one of Vanessa’s strongest marketing tools as existing audience members introduce new people to her shows.
• Authenticity does not mean sharing everything. Vanessa deliberately avoids putting too much of her show online because the live experience is part of its value.
• Doing your own marketing can help preserve your voice and deepen your understanding of your audience, but there comes a point when delegation can create more space for creative work.
• Being visible means accepting criticism. Both Vanessa and Chantal highlight the importance of self-awareness, boundaries and looking after yourself when your personal brand puts you in front of other people.

Personal Branding That Attracts the Right Audience with Vanessa Larry Mitchell

One of the clearest themes in Chantal Gerardy’s conversation with Vanessa Larry Mitchell is that effective personal branding is not about making everyone like you.

It is about making it clear who you are.

Vanessa’s comedy career demonstrates that principle in a particularly bold way. Her internationally touring show Teardrops on My Dildo immediately gives potential audience members an indication of what they are walking into.

Some people will be intrigued.

Others will decide immediately that it is not for them.

That distinction is valuable.

Chantal explains that marketing is constantly qualifying and disqualifying people. When your message is clear, it can capture the attention of people who connect with it while allowing those who are not a fit to move on.

Trying to remove everything distinctive from your marketing in the hope of pleasing everyone can have the opposite effect. You may become acceptable to more people, but memorable to fewer.

For a personal brand, the goal is not necessarily universal approval. It is recognition and connection with the right audience.

Vanessa Larry Mitchell on Being Yourself in Your Personal Brand

Vanessa’s advice for people worried about being different or outspoken is simple: lean into it.

But there is an important qualification.

She does not suggest becoming outrageous simply to attract attention. She believes you should take what makes you different as far as it remains genuinely true to you.

That distinction matters.

Authentic personal branding is not about manufacturing a louder personality for social media. It is about removing the masks that make your communication inconsistent with who you actually are.

Vanessa experienced that process personally.

Before becoming a comedian, she had worked in professional environments including training, disability services and education. People who knew her in those settings sometimes saw a very different side of her when they eventually attended her comedy shows.

For Vanessa, comedy became an “unmasking.”

That willingness to show more of herself has also become central to her brand.

Chantal makes the connection to business clear. Your personal brand is about who you are and how you consistently show up. When you begin putting on different masks for different audiences, the passion, personality and joy behind the brand can disappear.

Your personality is also something competitors cannot easily replicate.

Someone might copy your marketing format, content idea or advertising strategy.

They cannot copy you.

Chantal Gerardy and Vanessa Larry Mitchell on Finding the Right Audience

Vanessa did not begin by creating an ideal customer profile and then designing a comedy show around it.

The material came first.

Many of her stories developed from real experiences she had shared with friends, particularly stories about dating and her life as a single woman. She tested material through open mics and MC work, repeatedly performing jokes and learning what worked.

Once the show developed its title and identity, Vanessa started seeing the audience it attracted.

She describes her core audience as largely middle-aged women, often people who enjoy theatre and attending shows with friends. She also attracts older men, and as word of mouth has grown, younger people and partners of existing audience members have started attending.

This demonstrates an important marketing principle.

You can have a clear audience without needing everybody outside that audience to dislike what you do.

Vanessa has found that people who might initially hesitate because of the show’s title can become fans once someone they trust recommends it.

That is where word of mouth becomes particularly powerful.

A strong brand can attract an initial audience. A positive customer experience can then help that audience introduce the brand to people who may not have responded to the original marketing.

Vanessa Larry Mitchell Explains Why Marketing Should Change by Location

Vanessa’s approach to promoting her shows also provides a useful lesson for businesses running events, workshops or location-based campaigns.

The same marketing channel does not necessarily work everywhere.

She has found that some communities have a strong poster culture. In places such as Mullumbimby, people may genuinely discover local events through posters around town.

Other locations rely more heavily on platforms such as Instagram.

Vanessa also sees differences between her Facebook and Instagram audiences. While she is working on developing her Instagram presence, she suspects much of her core middle-aged female audience is still active on Facebook.

Instead of assuming one platform should work everywhere, she pays attention to where people in each market actually find information.

She combines these channels with Meta Ads, organic social media, posters, free event listings and word of mouth.

The lesson for business owners is straightforward: marketing needs context.

Do not choose a channel simply because it is currently popular.

Look at your audience, the location and the way people actually make decisions.

Chantal Gerardy on Personal Branding and Clear Marketing

During the conversation, Chantal describes marketing as a process of qualifying and disqualifying.

A clear message helps the right person recognise that something is for them.

At the same time, it allows somebody else to decide that it is not.

That second part can feel uncomfortable for personal brands.

Business owners often soften their opinions, personality or messaging because they worry about what will happen if someone disagrees.

But Vanessa’s experience as a comedian provides an extreme example of why disagreement does not automatically mean something has gone wrong.

People occasionally leave her shows.

Others may watch without reacting in the way she expects.

Earlier in her comedy career, that could have triggered self-doubt. With experience, she learned not to interpret every audience response as a personal judgment.

Sometimes somebody simply is not your audience.

There is also a difference between being deliberately offensive and accepting that your work will not suit everyone.

Vanessa is very conscious of creating a show where audience members feel safe. She talks about reading the room during crowd work and avoiding targeting people who appear uncomfortable.

Her brand can therefore be bold without abandoning consideration for the audience.

That distinction is equally valuable in business.

Strong personal branding does not require being controversial for attention. It requires enough confidence and clarity to communicate what you genuinely stand for.

Why Authenticity Still Requires Practice

Being yourself does not mean simply showing up without preparation.

One of the interesting lessons from Vanessa’s comedy career is how much repetition sits behind a performance that feels spontaneous.

She has performed some material hundreds of times.

She practices, watches audience reactions, refines her delivery and learns how different material lands.

That same thinking can be applied to marketing.

Finding your authentic voice does not mean your first attempt at communicating it will be perfect.

You can test your messaging.

You can notice which stories connect.

You can improve how you communicate an idea without changing the idea itself.

Vanessa also talks about the importance of confidence in delivery. When she felt uncertain about particular material, audiences could sense that uncertainty.

Once she knew why she believed in the material and delivered it confidently, the experience changed.

For business owners, there is an important difference between changing your message because it is unclear and changing yourself because you are afraid somebody might not like it.

A Large Social Following Is Not the Same as a Successful Business

Vanessa openly acknowledges that she does not have what she considers a huge social media following relative to the success of her live shows.

That creates an interesting question.

Does she actually need one?

Social media can help her reach audiences and sell tickets, and she is interested in developing her online following. But she is also conscious that her audience ultimately wants a live experience.

Some people see a poster, click through, buy a ticket and attend without consuming large amounts of Vanessa’s content beforehand.

In fact, sharing too much can create another problem.

Vanessa tells the story of an audience member who had watched much of her available material on YouTube before attending a show and then felt disappointed that she already knew some of the content.

That has made Vanessa careful about how much of the live experience she gives away online.

For businesses, this is a useful reminder that follower numbers are not the objective in themselves.

The right question is whether your marketing helps people take the action that matters to your business.

When Doing Your Own Marketing Starts Limiting You

Vanessa currently handles much of her own marketing.

She runs ads, creates organic content, designs posters, updates QR codes, finds event listings and manages many of the practical tasks involved in promoting her shows.

There are advantages to this.

She understands her audience.

She knows her voice.

She also genuinely enjoys parts of the business and marketing process.

Chantal supports business owners being involved in their marketing, particularly when the business is closely connected to their personal brand.

However, both recognise there can eventually be a limit.

Vanessa is reaching a stage where she wants to explore additional creative projects, including writing and potentially podcasting. That means some of the work she currently handles herself may eventually need to be delegated or outsourced.

Chantal shares her own experience of moving from doing everything herself to working with virtual assistants.

The goal is not to surrender control over your brand.

It is to create systems that allow other people to support the work without requiring you to personally execute every task.

For creative founders and personal brands, that can become especially important. Every hour spent completing a repeatable marketing task is an hour that cannot be spent creating the work only you can create.

Why This Matters for Business Owners

Personal branding requires a willingness to be seen.

And being seen means accepting that people will form opinions.

Vanessa’s experience is an example of what can happen when you stop trying to make yourself universally acceptable and instead build around what is genuinely yours.

For business owners, CEOs, marketing managers and sales leaders, that does not mean deliberately dividing your audience.

It means getting clearer.

What do you actually believe?

How do you naturally communicate?

Who is the audience you genuinely want to serve?

Which parts of your personality are you hiding because you think you need to appear more “professional”?

And are you making your marketing less memorable because you are trying too hard to make everyone comfortable?

Chantal also raises another important part of personal branding: looking after yourself.

Visibility can bring rejection, criticism and difficult self-talk. If you are going to build a brand around yourself, self-awareness and personal boundaries matter alongside marketing strategy.

Vanessa has learned that not everyone will like her work.

She has also learned that they do not need to.

The people who connect with it remember it, recommend it and come back.

That is the power of a personal brand with a clear identity.

Listen to the Full Episode

Listen to the full episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast to hear Chantal Gerardy and Vanessa Larry Mitchell explore personal branding, authenticity, audience building, criticism, creativity and the practical marketing behind Vanessa’s touring comedy career.

Vanessa can be found as Vanessa Larry Mitchell on Facebook, @larrylaughsloud on Instagram, and through her website, where audiences can also subscribe to her mailing list.

Connect with Vanessa Larry Mitchell

Website: https://vanessalarrymitchell.com
Facebook: Vanessa Larry Mitchell
Instagram: @larrylaughsloud