Creativity is a gift as an entrepreneur.
But sometimes our creativity can overtake our decision making in business.
Like when we get a little too precious with that canva graphic, trying to make “just the right quote card” that perfectly blends our aesthetic while making a statement.
But it gets little to no engagement on Instagram.
Meanwhile, a screenshot of your notes app gets hearts for a week!
And let’s get real, sometimes we get a little too attached to our marketing creative and make emotional decisions, versus data driven ones.
That’s exactly why I brought on marketing strategist Dawn Foster to share her approach, which is rooted in data, helping you incorporate you and your WHY into your brand while being making strategic.
Topics Covered:
- How do design and communication show up in your business and what means to bring those two things together
- Infusing yourself into your brand to connect more with your audience
- Distinction between intentional share vs an overshare
- Discovering your brand personality and listening to your own voice
- Filtering questions to ask yourself when making decision for your business
- Tips and strategies to bring a little bit more of yourself into your brand
- And so much more!
Episode Show Notes
Design and Communication – what does it mean to bring these two things together in your business?
When you think about marketing and advertising, you think about what it looks like and what it’s saying. On the back end of that, you can look at the numbers to see what people are responding more to, to then know how to tweak with that creative is so that you can continue to build and do better with whatever that marketing initiative and what’s the channel is.
It’s all going to funnel up to a complete strategy, but you can tweak and hone and really perfect to make sure that you are capitalizing on what your opportunities are, really speaking to your audience.
Importance of infusing your why into your brand
You can kind of feel when people aren’t connected with what it is that they do. When you aren’t showing up with that same passion, people tend to kind of pick up on that for sure.
The way we live today, people want to connect with who you are. There are smart ways to do it where you can still feel like you’re protecting yourself but still putting some of yourself out there in order to connect with your audience to build your brand and solidify what it is that you do as a business.
Intentional share versus an Overshare
Just because you can share a video does not mean that you should share a video.
You have to figure out what you sell and what your brand is. You have to define what your brand positioning is. This all comes back to knowing your why and what you like, what you stand for, and how you want to connect with your audience.
Things do to discover your brand personality so you can filter what you share in your marketing
- Centered back with who you’re talking to.
Know how do you interact with them and then think about how do you give them a taste for that.
- Naturally engage with people and bring in that kind of engagement conversation into your social wall.
Instead of having a checklist around all the things you should post, go to your already existing business and life. Ask yourself, do I normally challenge people? Am I a little provocative? Do I push people? What kinds of things would I say to a client? Then take that to your posts.
- Show up who you are as opposed to someone else.
If you’re hiding behind all of your marketing channels as one particular person and then you get into a meeting or you’re having to discuss your business, you’re going to get someone totally different. Show up not as if it’s the first date when you have your first engagement but this is the person you’re going to get when you are continuing to work together.
In getting comfortable listening to your own voice
It is what it is – it is too much energy to not be. You want to make sure that you’re staying true to who you are for your business and that your business aligns with the morals that you have, personally, and the tone that you’re setting with your clients as well.
Two simple filtering questions to ask yourself to help you make a sound decision for your business
- How are you going to feel with this decision?
Are you going to be okay or uneasy? Does this align with your morals? (both personal and in your business)
- Is this the direction that my business wants to go in?
Think about how you want to impact the people involved with that. It’s really just doing what feels good.
Tips and strategies to bring a little bit more of yourself into your brand
- Think about your brand and your “whys” and give its own personality.
Think about everyday life and where your brand may possibly show up to help you better put a personality to your brand.
- Pick and choose where your brand shows up.
Show up where it makes sense for your brand to be.
How do people get playful but still keeping it professional?
It really depends on what your business is. You need to gauge and think about:
- Does it make sense for your business?
- Can you do it successfully with the audience that you’re trying to serve and does it make sense for your brand?
Things solopreneurs could be doing when looking at their numbers now.
“Before digging into whatever that platform’s numbers are that it’s providing you with, look at what your overall goal is. If your goal is to get more people to your website, then look at those numbers. The numbers tie directly into what your goals are.
If your goal is to sell courses, where you’re starting people, the introduction of where you want them to go, look at how many people are making their way all the way down that funnel and pay attention to those numbers.”
About my guest Guest, Dawn Foster
Dawn Foster is a marketing strategist and branding expert who sees shapes and colors before words. After leading marketing teams for over a decade, Dawn now shares resources to small businesses who want to uplevel their marketing. She’s worked with budgets that ranged from non-existent to multi-million dollars and everywhere in between.
Dawn’s experience, creativity, and analytical skills are helping solopreneurs, C-Suite operations, e-commerce and online retailers create original branding and marketing strategies that are exceeding revenue goals and standing out from their competitors.
D.Foster Marketing Consulting: www.dfostermarketing.com
Connect with Dawn on Linkedin and Instagram
Tune into the episode with the player on the top of this page, or read the full episode transcript here.
