How to Write a Media-Worthy Pitch (Plus, an Email Template Guaranteed to Get a Reply)

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So, you've registered your business, the website is up, and your product is ready to ship, but no-one knows about it yet. Now is the time to reach out to publications (both online and off) and create some serious buzz. But how do you pitch yourself to media? We've all been witness to the major changes to the publishing industry, both digital and print, over the past year but there's one thing that stays the same: pitching.

Ahead, our C&C editorial director, Sacha Strebe, has outlined a few things you should consider before compiling that pitch so you get the word out about your amazing new business and the customers start buying.

Priority #1: Grab their attention.

Editors have limited time. They receive a ton of pitches so make sure yours stands out. Really think about your angle and who you’re pitching to. Condense your copy. Add bullet points to amplify the main points you want them to read.

Priority #2: Don’t write clickbait.

Keep it simple and relevant to the pitch. Write a subject line that stands out but isn’t over-promising. Consider a personal touch. Don’t forget to consider WHO you're pitching to!

Priority #3: Tailor your pitch.

Don't pitch the same thing to all publications en masse. Pitch a different angle for each publication. Make it very clear in the email if this is exclusive to their publication or not. If you have pitched it elsewhere, let the editor know and when the other outlet plans on publishing (if you know).

Understand the brand you are pitching to. Read their sites, reference stories or franchises that you love in your pitch. Commend them on the work they're doing and reinforce why you’d love to be featured on their platform. Pitch headlines. Check their site for examples and write a similar headline with your brand/story in mind.

Pro Tip: Make sure you’re calling out the right publication in your pitch. If you’re pitching to Vogue, don’t have a rival publication in your copy.

Priority #4: Don’t guarantee an exclusive if it’s not.

Be transparent. If you can’t guarantee an exclusive then make sure they feel special, too. Perhaps you can secure different parts of the interview or exclusive photos, too.

Priority #5: Make it personal.

Tap into sentiment and emotion. Provide a brief but detailed synopsis of what the pitch topic is about. Make sure you are clear within the first sentence. Two paragraphs are ideal but don’t go beyond three. Editors are busy so you want to grab their attention first, then once they express interest, hit them with detailed information.

Pitch Email Template

Subject Line: Make it short, succinct, and timely (if it's an exclusive, then add that here!)

Email Body:


Hi EDITOR NAME,

I hope you are well. I’m reaching out to pitch you a [EXCLUSIVE?] story around our [LAUNCH, COLLECTION, FOUNDER etc].

We [SHARE NEWS/INFO HERE IN SIMPLE, CONCISE FORMAT]. I’m sharing a few story ideas below that might work for a story on your site [AROUND THE LAUNCH/ABOUT OUR FOUNDER ETC]. We are happy to [COMPILE QUOTES, WRITE AN OP-ED, GIVE EXCLUSIVE IMAGES] and anything else that will help if these are of interest. 


• STORY TITLE IDEA (research their site and write potential headlines/story ideas that look like stories on their site)

• STORY TITLE IDEA

• STORY TITLE IDEA 


I’d love for you to let me know your thoughts on the above pitches by EOD today if possible as we are holding this exclusive for you and would love to start pulling together the information and imagery you need for any of the story ideas listed. Let me know.


Kindest,
[FOUNDER NAME]
Business Credentials

Ready to pitch to the press and get online exposure?

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3 Branding Mistakes Most Startups Make (and How to Avoid Them)

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With gorgeous visuals dominating our social media feeds and splashy companies with impeccable design popping up all the time, it’s impossible not to think about branding as a modern startup. But, despite the amount of attention so many founders give their brand identities, I see some common mistakes that can hold their companies back. 

The good news is, developing a solid brand doesn’t have to be as complicated as many folks make it out to be. Here are the three most common branding mistakes I’ve seen startups make during my 15+ years working as a brand strategist—and how you can easily avoid them to ensure you’re putting your company’s best foot forward.

Mistake #1: Spending Too Much on Branding

If you’re like most startup founders, you’ve probably spent a lot of time fretting over your budget for branding. Is it worth trying to scrounge up the $50k you’ll need to work with your dream agency? 

I’m going to let you off the hook and tell you, no, it’s almost certainly not. What so many founders don’t account for when doing this math is just how often early-stage startups pivot as they’re trying to figure out their product-market fit. 

Considering that good design is all about tying your brand to your business strategy (more on that in a minute), you don’t want to invest a lot into your brand until you feel secure in that strategy. If you do, that investment is quickly going to feel like a waste when you realize you need to rebrand to match your company’s new direction.

But you also don’t want to try and create a sexy brand on the cheap. You get what you pay for in the design world, so this usually won’t end up looking as professional as you’d like. Instead, I recommend startups aim for simple branding that allows you a lot of flexibility for future changes. Think of this like a black dress: it’s nothing revolutionary, but it also looks timeless and sleek. 

For instance, make a wordmark—your company name in a timeless typeface, à la West Elm or Glossier—instead of trying to create an image-based logo. (I even created a tool to help entrepreneurs do just that!). Use a color-palette generator to choose a few simple colors based on the feeling you want to evoke. And make ample use of the templates available on sites like Canva for everything from websites to business cards to social media posts, customizing them with your wordmark and colors to make them yours. This sort of approach will get you good-enough branding, even on a budget.

Mistake #2: Focusing on Form Over Function 

Especially when you’re DIYing your company branding, it can be tempting to choose what you think looks coolest. The problems come when brands solely select design elements based on their beauty without considering their usability in the slightest. 

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen brands design funky logos that are impossible to decipher when they’re scaled down to fit in a social media icon, or choose a typeface that looks cool but is challenging for users to actually read, or pick a website design that looks unique but is difficult to navigate. 

Instead, make sure you think about your users at every step. When designing your logo or wordmark, test it at a bunch of different sizes to make sure it works. Check your color palettes against accessibility tools that ensure there’s enough contrast to be readable (and that your chosen palette will work for colorblind folks, too). Have a friend try and use your website to see if they’re able to navigate easily to where you want them to go. 

Any time you’re making a brand decision, just take a step back and ensure it supports your users rather than getting in the way of them engaging with you entirely.

Mistake #3: Not Tying the Brand to a Solid Strategy 

Of course, a DIY brand strategy may not work forever. At some point, once you’ve found your product-market fit, you’ll want to invest in professional design and branding work to take your company to new heights. But too many startups walk into that process with a mood board of what they want to look like, instead of focusing on what they want their brand to convey.

The best brands aren’t plucked out of thin air—they’re rooted in the company’s business strategy. All of the design elements, from the logo to the colors, are carefully selected to align with a company’s mission and goals, to attract their target audience, and to set them apart from the competition. 

So instead of spending time blue-skying about your dream design, use your energy to do some actual business exercises. When I work with clients, we go through branding workbooks that ask questions like: 

• What’s your company’s vision statement? Its mission statement?

• What are the in-depth demographics and psychographics of your target audience?

• Who are your biggest competitors and what does their branding look like?

• What characteristics do you want your brand to be known for?

Yes, working through these types of questions is a lot harder, and a bit less fun, than thinking about your favorite colors and fonts. But doing so will be infinitely more valuable to your brand, and the future of your business. 

“Any time you’re making a brand decision, just take a step back and ensure it supports your users rather than getting in the way of them engaging with you entirely.”

—Saskia Ketz, Founder of MMarchNY

About the author: Saskia Ketz is the founder of MMarchNY, an NYC-based branding agency that’s worked with world-class brands like Netflix, Ikea, Timberland, and Mojomox, an online wordmark builder that allows startups on tight budgets to create dynamic, professional-looking logos themselves.

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3 Ways to Boost Your Confidence During a Sales Call

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When I first started my coaching business, the thing I dreaded the most was hopping on Zoom for an intro call with a potential client. The term “sales call” made me nervous and at times it even felt like the walls were caving in when I thought of making an offer.

Ever felt that way? If so, you’re not alone.

Pitching your services in real-time with a person staring right at you can feel daunting, and in the beginning, it was definitely a challenge for me. I would do all these breathing exercises and meditations right before but still felt uneasy and ungrounded going into them.

Now? I've grown to enjoy sales calls, or what I like to call sales conversations because they're such a great way to build trust with a potential client. 

They also usually convert between 35-50%, which is much higher than email offers, which convert at 1%, or webinar offers which convert between 3-5%. 

So if you’re anxious when you do these calls, or even dread doing them in the first place, that’s ok! And it’s also important to embody the truth that they’re a chance for you to serve someone, get to know them in a deeper way, and potentially work with them long-term. 

Many of my clients, most of whom are also in the coaching, healing, and consulting industry, tend to struggle with this if they’re just getting started. But once they integrate a few key (and very simple) things, they’re off to the races. 

Here’s a list of the most important tips and tricks that help boost confidence (and sales) on intro calls. 

#1. Focus on the potential client getting clarity and confidence around their goals. 

One of the first questions I ask on these calls is, “If you could wave a realistic magic wand, what would you achieve in the next six months to a year?” This helps the person on the call get in a space of possibility and clarity about what they really want. What a gift!

With the focus on them and their needs, you can really tune into their desires and establish a solid rapport with them. And the more presence you bring to the clarity process, the more people will trust you and feel that you care about them.

People buy from people they trust so a side-effect of this is that it increases the likelihood of them investing in you and your services. Win-win!

#2. Keep asking open-ended questions. 

The #1 thing I advocate for when it comes to having profitable and feel-good sessions is to not coach during the session. If this is difficult for you, remind yourself of this intention: be of service and bring them to a place of clarity.

By asking great questions, you can reveal what they most need and want, but it’s not usually helpful to try and solve all their problems in one go. Once you get to the offer portion, the same applies. Tell them the basics of your service, let them lead with questions, and if they’re not sure about something, ask an open-ended question.

For example, if they say they don’t feel ready to invest, you can ask something like, “What would make this a yes for you?” or “Tell me more about that.” This often works better than attempting to convince or persuade someone into buying something, since people tend to naturally get defensive.

If you have great questions at every stage of the sales process, your prospect will be more receptive to hearing more about your offer, asking deeper questions about it, and potentially sign-on. 

#3. Help them make a decision that feels good to them.  

If your goal is to ensure your prospect is happy with their decision, they're more likely to sign on with you on the call or in the future. If they end up signing on at the end, yay! Signing on with you should feel like a celebration for both parties involved.

And if they don’t, make sure they “walk away” from the call feeling good. You never know when they might reach out to hire you! So release any attachment to that outcome and stay open to what may be because ultimately, it’s all of the highest good. 

In short, the best rule of thumb to follow for these types of calls is to follow what feels good. This will guide you towards the most intuitive and effective sales process and subsequently lead to more sales. Your gut never lies! So here’s to bringing more ease and flow to this.

“If your goal is to ensure your prospect is happy with their decision, they're more likely to sign on with you on the call or in the future.”

—Kimberly Lucht, Business Coach

About the author: Kimberly Lucht is a business coach who helps women make their first six figures doing what they love. She’s been featured in Money, Business Insider, Well + Good, Greatist, Create & Cultivate, and more.

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How to Land Your Dream Business Collaboration (and Double Your Revenue)

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The word collaboration is being thrown around like gifts in Oprah’s Christmas special. From brand-to-influencer collaborations to employee collaboration and collaborative playlists, there are so many contexts in which collaboration is used. However, when it comes to growing a community and a business, collaboration marketing is the strategy you need to know about.

If you’ve ever spotted the likes of Uber x Spotify, Allbirds x Shake Shack, or Rimowa x Supreme, you’ll know how brand collaborations have the power to spark interest and, in some cases, cause a social media frenzy. So, how do you find your own dream collaborator? 

Much like networking, collaboration marketing can be likened to dating in more ways than one. You could say that a dream brand collaboration is like a “friends with benefits” for your business, and you’d be right. Collaborating with a complementary brand has benefits, for example, you can use them to:

• Double your organic reach

• Build buzz and engagement

• Attract media attention

• Boost a new or existing revenue stream

• Grow your community across social media, event audiences, and email lists

• Grow your network

In fact, Collabosaurus ran a research study that found collaborations to be up to 25x less expensive than digital advertising. Want to get on the collaboration marketing bandwagon? Here’s what you need to know.

1. Know your value.

Collaboration marketing is all about win/win value exchange, and you likely have a lot more to offer in a collaboration than you think. You don’t have to have an immense social media following, significant cash flow, or the ability to just give away “free things” in order to collaborate. Collaboration is about leveraging what your business already has to benefit another business and vice versa.

Perhaps you have a cool office or event space, content creation skills, excess product, an engaged social media community, or an email list—collaboration is possible for all brands, big or small, it’s about getting creative with value. Start conversations with what you can offer in a collaboration, then ensure that you’re communicating your marketing objectives.

2. Find the right partner and tie your collaboration to a marketing objective.

How do you find your dream collaborator? Start with complementary industry spaces. Look for companies that share values, objectives and have a similar brand aesthetic and target market to your business (so that any cross-promotion is super valuable).

Platforms like Collabosaurus are incredible for finding amazing brand collaborators for all sorts of campaigns in social media, products, or events. They also have a nifty idea and strategy generator that generates creative collaboration ideas for your business.

When it comes to finding a creative idea and executing your collaboration, don’t forget that it’s a marketing activity. Just like any marketing strategy, make sure you have a goal in mind, an objective that you can track against (such as growing your email list, getting content created, or increasing event shares on Instagram).

3. Leverage, leverage, leverage!

You could have secured the coolest collaboration in the world, but if no one knows about it, what’s the point? It’s crucial to have a promotional plan in place, for both yourself and your collaborator, that reflects a mutually beneficial sharing of marketing responsibilities. Identify all of the promotional channels and opportunities available to both yourself and your collaborator. Then, set a schedule so that everyone is on the same page when it comes to who is promoting what and when.

Want to keep things #legit? Consider signing a joint marketing agreement, or MOU document to keep things in writing, and using platforms like Bit.ly or Sked Social to track the impact of your collaboration against your original marketing goal.

4. Use collaborations in your broader marketing strategy.

Don’t be afraid to incorporate collaborations into your strategy frequently. Mix up your collaborators, as well as the types of collaborations (social media, product, event, etc.) you explore to keep your exposure opportunities fresh, and engaging. 

The benefits of brand-to-brand collaborations are endless, and if you’re interested in giving it a try for your own business, check out Collabosaurus, a match-making platform for brands to collaborate for win-win marketing collaborations that help businesses grow. It’s free to start, takes less than five minutes, and from over 6000+ collaborators to choose from, including Porsche, ASOS, Olay, and RedBull, your dream brand could be waiting for you.

“You don’t have to have an immense social media following, significant cash flow, or the ability to just give away ‘free things’ in order to collaborate.”

—Jess Ruhfus, Founder of Collabosaurus

About the Author: Jess Ruhfus is the founder of Collabosaurus, a marketing platform that match-makes brands for clever collaborations and partnerships. With a background in fashion publicity and marketing education, Ruhfus was frustrated sourcing cool brand partnerships in events, products, and social media. So, she launched Collabosaurus in 2015, which has now attracted over 6000+ brands including Porsche, ASOS, Olay, Topshop and one of the largest global retailers in the U.S. Jess has also spoken for Apple, Vogue, and The College of Event Management, splitting her time between Sydney, New York, and Los Angeles as Collabosaurus continues to grow. 

This story was originally published on August 5, 2019, and has since been updated.

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You Need to Stop What You're Doing and Make a Marketing Plan Right Now

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Very few small business owners want to sit down and write out a marketing plan. Even fewer want to regularly review what’s being implemented, how it’s performing, and what needs to be revised. 

I had a realization recently, after coming across an alarming statistic saying that half of small businesses operate without a marketing plan. My realization? Marketing plans are like annual pelvic exams. No one wants to do them, but we know we must so we call, make the appointment, and go in and get it over with. 

Unlike an annual pelvic exam, however, marketing plans can make us money. Marketing plans aren’t just nice to have, they’re imperative to planning where we’re going and how we’re going to get there. Baseball great Yogi Berra once famously said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” The same goes for marketing. 

Here are seven reasons you need to stop whatever it is you’re doing right now and draft your plan:

1. Direction: It forces you to think about where you want your business to go, in addition to what’s working and what’s not. 

2. Purpose: It sets measurable goals.

3. Motivation: A marketing plan creates motivation, and even better, once the plan is in place, it allows you to delegate and have more time to work on the things you are good at and love. 

4. Time: You’ll spend less time reacting to things if you are working proactively.

5. Value: You’ll provide more value to your clients because you’ll be laser-focused on their needs, challenges, and motivations. 

6. Organization: Your marketing plan will organize your time and prioritize what you are doing. If everything is equally weighted as a priority, nothing is a priority.

7. Revenue: You’ll earn more money. Do I need to say more?! You’ll maximize all marketing dollars you spend because it’ll be well thought out and you’ll put metrics in place to measure if it’s working.

How to Get Started With a Marketing Plan Outline

I've helped hundreds of small business owners over the years simplify their marketing to have more time and energy to do the things they love. (I've been in business development for 15 years and have owned a strategic marketing agency specializing in small business for the last five). 

In my business, we’ve identified four pillars of writing and effectively implementing a successful marketing plan. These pillars are intent, insight, infrastructure, and action. Answer the questions below to get in the right mindset for planning your business. Then go download our free content calendar template, which will help you organize the specific tactics on which to move forward  (including blog posts, social media, and email marketing). 

1. Intent: What do I want to accomplish? (Don’t get lazy here. “Get more business” doesn’t count. It’s not specific enough). Identify your SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely) for the next 30, 60, 90, and 180 days. 

2. Insight: What do I know about my customer? What data do I have about them? Who they are, what they do for work, where they hang out online, what questions do they have, what answers do they need? How long does it take for my customer to make buying decisions?

3. Infrastructure: What do I have already that can be used for marketing? Content (blogs, brochures, flyers, business posts, etc.)? An email list? Social media channels and an audience?

4. Action: Given what you've developed as a goal, what data you know about your customer base, and what you currently have, what can you accomplish? Does your goal fit with your overall goal and messaging as a brand? Does your infrastructure allow you to be successful?

Do you currently know enough about your customers to effectively motivate them? What additional assets need to be created? What is the flow of the user experience? What should your audience see first and where should they be pointed next? What information should be offered at each stage?

• Brief: Write down what everyone on the team should know about your business, including branding tone, mission, purpose, etc. 

• Brainstorm: Use what you have and build off of it! For example, we have over 1K subscribers - let’s email them weekly and include offers. We have 5K followers on social media - let’s create a piece of content where they can opt into our mailing list. We have a handful of great blog articles - let’s put them together into a guide and offer it to build our email list.

• Schedule: Look back at your SMART goals and your brainstorm list and make 30-day and 90-day plans.

• Delegate: Gather your team on a call, review your plan and creative brief, and delegate tasks to get started! (You may only have one other person; that’s OK! If you don’t have anyone yet, consider hiring a virtual assistant)

• Review: You will be continuously gathering more data and coming up with more and more ideas. The important part is not to STOP anything and pivot. Stick with your 30-day plan and check things off your list. Review and analyze what’s working, and what’s not, when jumping into the next 30 days.

After you take the time to go through these steps, I guarantee that you’ll feel your creative juices come back. You can move forward with confidence because the basics (the foundational pieces) are being taken care of.

It’s important to understand that there will be cycles to your marketing plan. You’ll start small; you’ll add things over time, based on what’s working and what’s not. You'll pass more things off your plate as they’re up and running. This will leave you the time and energy to actually focus on the part of your business that you love.

Also? The silver lining is that when you have thought things through and made the plan, each thing builds upon another thing. This means that your marketing dollars will be maximized because all the things are working together rather than the scattershot approach created when you throw 5 different things out. Better yet, you can diversify your efforts, similar to those 5 different “things,” but they will all lead back to the same specified goal. 

“If everything is equally weighted as a priority, nothing is a priority.”

—Shanna Goodman, Founder of AMP’D

About the author: Shanna Goodman is the founder of AMP’D, helping people build businesses that give them life. She is a brand strategist with 15 years in business development and five of those years as a brand strategy agency owner specializing in small business. She is a regular contributor for Business Insider, Forbes, Fit Small Business, and Working Mother.

About AMP’D: AMP’D arms small businesses with actionable insights to succeed and grow, helping create life-giving, sustainable businesses in the process. With comprehensive programs and resources, we help clients uncover, discover, plan, and implement ways to generate new revenue and a sustainable business. Download our free content calendar template or learn more at ampdnow.com.

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This story was originally published on January 7, 2021, and has since been updated.

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4 Things to Do Before Asking Someone to Collaborate

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Everywhere you look, it seems like brands are partnering up to run a giveaway, go live on Instagram, or launch a co-branded product collaboration. It makes sense then, that more and more people would be curious about whether or not their business should join the collaboration party, too. 

The short answer is YES, you should definitely collaborate. When we come together to share our resources, ideas, and communities with one another, we are so much more powerful than when we do things on our own. 

The long answer is, although collaboration can be an incredible strategy to achieve your business goals (especially during the current climate of social distancing), you can totally miss the mark if you don’t lay the groundwork properly first. Before you take a dip in the collaboration pool, there are a few steps to take so you don’t accidentally do a belly flop:

1. Know your company inside and out

2. Identify your “Asks & Gives”

3. Look for the overlap

4. Get a warm introduction

Here’s how to do it right.

1. KNOW YOUR COMPANY INSIDE AND OUT

This includes knowing your mission (why you do what you do), vibe (how you communicate what you do), audience (who you do it for), offering (what you do), and execution (how you do what you do). Having that information top of mind will make you sound like the ultimate polished business owner, plus it’ll help you identify great potential partners down the line. 

It’s also important to have a super-tight elevator pitch that explains who you are, what you do, for whom you do it, and how you do it. For example, mine is, “I’m a collaboration consultant who teaches individuals, entrepreneurs, and organizations to solve problems and achieve their goals by thinking collaboratively and harnessing the power of their network.”

“It’s important to have a super-tight elevator pitch that explains who you are, what you do, for whom you do it, and how you do it.”

Having a clear and concise elevator pitch not only makes it easier for you to explain what you do, it makes it easier for other people to explain what you do when you’re not around (and THAT is how you get great referrals.)

It’s totally fine if you continue to tweak it regularly, in fact, it’s encouraged. My elevator pitch has changed nearly a million times over the last few years, so don’t get too hung up on making it something that will last forever. The most important thing is to make sure it remains true to what your business is today, not six months ago.

2. IDENTIFY YOUR ASKS & GIVES

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they begin collaborating is not taking time to figure out what they need to get from a partner in order for the collaboration to feel like a success. If you haven’t identified your “asks” (what you'd like to get from a collaboration), you’re much more likely to take whatever the other party offers you, which may or may not be valuable to you or support your goals. The last thing you want to do is not express your needs, and ultimately feel taken advantage of. 

“The last thing you want to do is not express your needs, and ultimately feel taken advantage of.”

Another big mistake is when people aren’t clear about what all they have to offer a partner before entering into a collaboration. Thinking through your “gives” (what you can give in a collaboration) helps you identify all the ways in which you can create an even value exchange between you and your potential partner. 

There are four main “asks” and “gives:”

1. Promotion for your/their offering to the other’s community

2. Content for your/their channels

3. Hookups for your/their community

4. Barters for your/their business

The key to creating a collaboration that won’t make either side feel taken advantage of (a big fear I hear from people who are hesitant to collaborate) is to always aim for an even value exchange. What feels beneficial to one person might not matter at all to another, so it’s important to have an honest conversation at the beginning of the relationship to find out what each side values. That way you can ensure that each partner is getting what they need in order for the collaboration to feel like a success. 

3. LOOK FOR THE OVERLAP

Much like romantic relationships, not every brand is going to be the right collaborative partner for you. One of the best ways to know whether a potential partner is the right fit is to make sure you share a similar mission (why you do what you do), vibe (how you communicate what you do), and audience (who you do it for). When those three things are aligned, it’s much more likely that a collaboration will be well-received by both of your communities. 

“Much like romantic relationships, not every brand is going to be the right collaborative partner for you”

You can also have an overlapping offering (what you do) or execution (how you do what you do), but not both. If you offer the same thing in the same way, you're basically the same company, and that doesn't make for a good partnership. Looking for the overlap also means finding common ground from the get-go. What is it that your brands (or you and the other person) have in common? When you start from that place, you’re both likely to feel seen and respected from the beginning, which ultimately leads to a better working relationship.  

4. GET A WARM INTRODUCTION

It’s always best to start collaborating with individuals and brands you already know personally rather than reaching out to total strangers. I like to encourage my clients to build up their collaboration muscle with some "test and learns" with people they trust while the stakes are low. Once you feel confident about your ability to be a great partner and run a successful collaboration, then you can expand past your immediate circles to the brands you don't yet know. 

Once you’re ready to take the leap beyond your first-degree network and begin reaching out to some brands that you don’t know (yet), the next move is to get a warm introduction to them from a mutual connection whenever possible. If you can avoid reaching out cold (meaning they’ve never heard of you and have no connection to you), you’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll respond. 

“If you can avoid reaching out cold, you’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll respond.”

Consider how different it feels when a stranger emails you directly vs when a friend connects you to someone via email. Our guard naturally goes up when we see a stranger’s email in our inbox, but the same isn’t true for when someone comes to you through a friend you trust. 

The easiest way to figure out who might be able to connect you to someone at the brand you want to reach is by using LinkedIn. When you search for the person at the brand who you ultimately want to connect with, you’ll be able to see what connections you have in common. If you can find someone that you know well enough to ask for an intro, reach out (preferably via email instead of LinkedIn Mail) using this template.  

“Collaborating with the right partner can be an exciting, rewarding experience for everyone involved, especially when you go about it intentionally and strategically.”

Just a little housekeeping note: once someone introduces you via email, do them a favor and in the next email response, thank them and move them to BCC. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve been trapped in long past my warm introduction! Also, remember to reach back out to let them know if anything came of their introduction. As someone who connects people all the time, it’s always nice to know if it worked out.

Collaborating with the right partner can be an exciting, rewarding experience for everyone involved, especially when you go about it intentionally and strategically. Always aim for an even value exchange, and remember that it’s in the overlap where communication, connection, and collaboration can happen. Start there, and the rest will follow.

About the Author: Baily Hancock is a collaboration consultant, speaker, and the host of the “Stop, Collaborate & Listen” podcast who’s on a mission to save humanity with collaboration. Join the Collaboration Coalition Facebook Group to find potential partners and receive Baily’s collaboration templates, tools, and tips.

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This story was originally published on May 26, 2020, and has since been updated.

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3 Proven Strategies for Generating Hot, Inbound Leads Without Spending a Dime

Photo: Create & Cultivate

“I'm struggling with attracting hot leads because I can't figure out how to get myself in front of the right people and resonate with them.”

“When we’ve been able to get in front of the right people, it’s great—and we see a huge influx of new members. But I’m struggling to find them, attract them to our platform, and retain them” 

“I’m not hitting my income goals because I can’t get in front of the right audience.”

Generating quality customer leads is one of the most persistent concerns for entrepreneurs. One of the things I hear most often from our potential clients and community is that they struggle to get in front of, and convert, the number of clients or customers they want to (and need to) in order to meet their goals. 

Plus, constantly promoting your business can feel exhausting for you and redundant for your community. But, the fact of the matter is, you’re running a business, and a consistent flow of leads and reliable client or customer-acquisition method is necessary for the sustainability and success of your business. 

Here are three ways to generate leads for your business without burning yourself (and your community) out.

1. Perfect Your Brand Messaging (Really Perfect It)

Ultimately, generating inbound leads starts with rock-solid brand messaging that is unique enough to capture your customer’s eye, but not too creative that it gets confusing and forms a barrier to purchase. Start by getting clear on your ideal client profile, your company values, and unique value propositions. Then, craft a transformation statement or brand bio. This is a one-sentence statement that describes what you do and who you do it for. You’ll use this statement on the home page of your website and in your social media bios. 

Example: Curate Well Co. helps impact-driven entrepreneurs intentionally scale while maintaining the integrity of their work and leadership, and without losing connection to their community.

Next, write your elevator pitch. This statement answers the question, “So what do you do?” and highlights the problems you solve and the unique ways you solve them. 

Example: Impact-driven entrepreneurs want to transform the lives of thousands of women but they lack intentional systems to scale. At Curate Well Co., we help you amplify your impact while maintaining the integrity of your work and without losing connection to your community. We take a data-based approach (because spreadsheets are sexy!) Best of all? We provide a top-shelf experience that you don’t have to put makeup on for. 

Finally, create a mission statement. This is your big picture “why.” Why did you start your brand or business? Why are you so passionate about it? If you really want to stand out, know how your ideal client self-identifies and speak to their personality, values, and soft skills — not just their goals and challenges — and get clear on the role your brand plays for them in their journey. 

Example: When I first entered the entrepreneur space, I noticed there were a lot of people doing high-level strategy and vision work, and there were other people doing purely execution. But there wasn’t anyone teaching women how to exist (and see success) in the space between manifesting and making shit happen. So I created Curate Well Co. to help impact-driven entrepreneurs put processes behind their purpose (by connecting their big vision to the data-driven details) so they could implement thoughtful strategies, instead of copy-paste solutions, to scale their businesses intentionally. The best part? We believe you don't have to change who you are to be successful — everyone has a gift that uniquely and exceptionally solves a problem.

Make sure that your messaging is consistent across your whole online (and offline!) presence, and test it to ensure it resonates with the right people. Testing your messaging will lead to higher conversion rates because you can verify that your ideal client feels a connection to you and your brand, feels confident you can support them, and feels like your product or service is a no-brainer purchase for them!

2. Prioritize Community Activation and Relationship Building

Building relationships is never a waste of time, even if they don’t seem to pay off immediately. Not only is relationship-building essential with your potential customers and clients, but being active in your community and generating a network will also help you become omnipresent in your space, and garner referrals for your business. 

By building relationships and ensuring every person feels seen, heard, and known, you’ll create champions of your brand. While there are plenty of ways to market your product or service, very few are as effective as a glowing review from someone who has experienced it first hand, can speak to specifics about their experience, and is excited about sending someone your way.

A few of our favorite ways to activate a community are to: 

Bring humanness to your online connections.

Slide into someone’s DMs and ask them to a Zoom coffee date, send voice memos, and ask personal questions to really get to know someone! Aim to get to know someone, rather than convert them.

Co-host an event, workshop, or giveaway. 

Partner with like-minded peers to cross-pollinate communities and support each other’s endeavors. 

Ask for introductions.

Need to hire someone? Looking for an expert in X? Ask your current connections to make an intro for you! This is one of the best (and easiest) ways to organically grow your community.  

When it comes to engaging your community, it’s really about removing anonymity. We pull from leadership practices to infuse connection in our business model. A few of our favorite ways are: 

Speak to each person.

Welcome people by name onto your webinar, share individual customer or client stories, hold space for people to ask unique-to-their-situation questions. 

Send personal invites.

Hosting a masterclass? Opening enrollment for a new program? Pre-selling a limited run product? Make your best customers and most engaged clients feel like VIPs by sending personalized invitations—they’ll feel special, and it supports true relationship-building. 

Make connections. 

Introduce two people in your network to each other, send referrals to businesses you believe in, share a guide of resources you love. 

Once you have effectively enrolled people in your community, be sure to reward their stewardship! We love to send holiday cards at the end of the year, birthday cards, and support our clients’ businesses by leaving reviews, promoting their offerings, and offering them our platform (such as our Instagram Stories or blog) to share their voice on. 

One of our favorite ways to encourage community participation and reward our brand champions is through a referral program. Since we focus so heavily on our client experience, a lot of our business comes from referrals. By formalizing our referral program, we not only build long-term relationships with current and past clients, but we can also maintain a consistent client acquisition funnel. 

Plus, our leads that come from referrals are generally more bought in, faster to make a buying decision, and excited to talk about their experience with us.

3. Create a Holistic Brand Experience

Last, but not least, focus on the details to create a holistic brand experience that embodies your values, which reinforces your brand messaging and community activation efforts. 

When generating leads for your business, steer clear of hard sells, pushy conversations, and anything else that feels “salesy”—after all, we’ve all had that awful sales experience that left us traumatized. Instead, try the following strategies: 

Ask permission.

Whether it’s telling someone about your program, or getting on a call, offer people a choice.  

Have clear tone guidelines. 

Ensure your communication is straightforward yet empowering so your community knows they can count on you for tangible info that genuinely supports their goals. Answer strategic questions thoroughly, with consideration for each individual’s nuances. 

Ask for feedback and involve your community in your evolution.

Listen to your ideal clients and community and make changes that account for their experience and feedback. This will allow you to continue to hone your brand experience to embody your values, and also meet your clients and community exactly where they’re at with what they want and need. 

From investing in high-quality photo and video assets, sending carefully curated client gift boxes, sharing discount codes to your favorite brands with your community, to asking for objective feedback from your clients and community (and actually implementing it), ensure that everyone who interacts with your brand has an experience you feel proud of. 

Just because you say your business is something, doesn’t mean it is. You have to show up, create processes, and grow in a way that really brings those qualities alive. Doing this will result in authentic word of mouth, leading to inbound leads that already have awareness and affinity for your unique value add.

By merging your selling strategy with your brand experience and incorporating community-based selling tactics into your processes and systems, your ideal client will already know who you are, what you stand for, and why they want to work with you before it’s actually time to close the sale—making the process of generating hot, inbound leads more natural and efficient.

Everything you do on a daily basis—your content creation, your client touch-points, your problem-solving—will do the heavy lifting for you, so you can do what you do best. And, in the meantime, you’ll build relationships that will have incomparable ROI for years to come.

“Just because you say your business is something, doesn’t mean it is. You have to show up, create processes, and grow in a way that really brings those qualities alive.”

—Pia Beck, CEO, Curate Well Co.

About the Author: Pia Beck is a life and business coach known for turning pain points into action items. As the CEO of Curate Well Co., coined “the queen of implementation,” her expertise is in connecting the big picture vision with the nitty-gritty details in order to create an instinctual strategy, systems, and steps. She helps her clients and community organize, implement, and execute. 

At Curate Well Co., she combines purpose and process to help emerging and established entrepreneurs start and scale savvy, streamlined, sensational businesses, make an impact, and launch a life they love and leave a legacy. At Curate Well Co., we believe in a curated life on purpose through sharing your unique gifts. Curate Well Co. has been featured in Thrive Global, Darling, Buzzfeed, Medium, and more, and has collaborated with brands like Bumble, Havenly, Lululemon, and The Riveter.

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5 Branding Lessons from an Influencer with Over 1.35 Million YouTube Subscribers

Photo: Karen Rosalie Courtesy of Aileen Xu

Here’s one thing that has remained consistent since I started Lavendaire in 2014: My hair color is constantly changing. My subscribers always notice when I go from pink to blonde to lavender to blue, and everything in between. 

At this point, my changing hair color is part of the Lavendaire brand. I encourage my audience to experiment with their looks as a form of creativity and self-expression, which are core values for Lavendaire as a personal-growth brand. 

Framing my hair changes as an example of how to embody Lavendaire values is just one way I’ve been intentional with my brand.

If you’re looking to start or refresh your own brand, here are five other lessons for you.

Lesson #1: Choose your brand name wisely.

It would have been easy to name my brand after myself, but “Aileen Xu” is not easy for people to spell or pronounce. I wanted it to be easy for people to recognize and—more importantly—to share my brand name.

“Lavendaire” was unique, easier to spell and pronounce, and it also reflected the aesthetic of the brand itself: dreamy, fresh, and clean.

Bonus tip: Think about Google-ability. If you Googled your brand name, would you get a bunch of results unrelated to your brand? Since I made up the word, if you Googled “Lavendaire”, you’d only find Lavendaire-related results.

Lesson #2: Be strategic about your niche.

Here’s a lesser-known fact: I used to be involved in the Asian American YouTube community, mostly through music videos. It was a fun experience but not related to what I wanted my brand to be about. 

So, I made the decision to distance myself from that niche and create content in my own niche of personal growth. I wanted to be “Aileen of Lavendaire,” not “Aileen from that music video.” If I hadn’t made that decision, it would have been harder to position myself and my brand as separate from the entertainment niche.

Lesson #3: Make what’s missing, and make it your own.

Self-help content already existed online, but it didn’t feel like it existed for me. The people creating the content were generally older white men that I couldn’t relate to as a young Asian woman. 

So, I made the content I wanted to see, but I also put my own spin on it. I wanted to bridge the gap between practical self-help and woo-woo topics like manifestation. Other people who couldn’t relate to existing self-help content could turn to Lavendaire instead and get that extra value from the woo-woo topics.

Ask yourself: What gap does your brand fill and how can it stand out even further?

Photo: Courtesy of Aileen Xu

Lesson #4: Have a long-term vision.

Here’s mine: In ten years, I want Lavendaire to be a household name. It sounds a little vague, but having that vision allows me to ask, “Okay, so what would it take to get there? Marketing, PR, maybe projects with a wider reach.” And so, we planned projects with that in mind.

Your vision doesn’t have to be super specific, but you have to have some sort of idea of where you want your brand to be a year or five years from now. That way, you can work backward and plan projects that will get you closer to that vision. 

Otherwise, you might just keep churning out work without direction, using your time and energy just to keep your brand relevant.

Lesson #5: Curate your brand with one person in mind.

I create content for Lavendaire with one person in mind: a girl in her early twenties who’s looking for her path in life. She loves inspiring books, yoga, astrology, and journaling. Her fashion is feminine and relaxed. Ultimately, she’s the ideal client for Lavendaire.

She’s who I had in mind when I created the 2021 Artist of Life Workbook. I know this girl wants to plan her year with intention, and it would be a bonus to do all of her planning in a pretty notebook that she’d be proud to keep by her side at all times. 

By keeping this ideal client in mind, Lavendaire’s branding and messaging stay consistent across the board. Obviously, not everyone who follows Lavendaire fits perfectly into that mold, but enough of the brand resonates that people are drawn in. 

If you know who your brand is for, you’ll reach and attract people who resonate with it. You’ll also naturally repel people who don’t resonate with it, which is perfectly okay and even beneficial to your brand! Don’t think you’re shutting anyone out or losing potential audiences. 

As Lavendaire subscribers know: It’s more valuable to use your energy on people who effortlessly vibe with you than to use it trying to convince people who don’t.

About the author: Aileen Xu is a content creator and entrepreneur in personal growth and lifestyle design, inspiring people around the world to embrace their true potential and create their dream life. Her YouTube channel, Lavendaire, has over one million subscribers and her podcast, “The Lavendaire Lifestyle,” has over five million downloads. Aileen is the creator of the Artist of Life Workbook, a detailed guide to creating your most inspiring and successful year, and the Daily Planner by Lavendaire, a tool for designing a productive, effective and meaningful day.

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How to Get Better Results From Your Marketing Efforts (Without Spending a Ton of Money)

Photo: Anthony Shkraba from Pexels

As an online business owner, one of the most important parts of your marketing strategy is your messaging. What you say to your ideal clients and customers (and how you say it) is just as key to your overall success as where you say it, which makes sense when you think about the fact that how we connect and communicate with other humans is through storytelling. 

Unfortunately, the “messaging” part of marketing is often overlooked, in part because it requires time and effort. It’s easy to set up an account on the social media platform of your choice or throw some money at paid-for ads, but it’s harder to actually dig into and strategize what you’ll spend your time saying to your audience once they’re sitting in the room. 

This is one of the most common mistakes online business owners and entrepreneurs make when it comes to their marketing: they spend A LOT of effort (and time and money) bringing in new leads to their business but they forget to take a minute to think about how they will convert those leads into actual clients or customers.

Which is where your messaging comes in. 

So, what do you need to be hitting on in your messaging to see more results, more revenue, and more impact from your marketing efforts? 

Here are three key things to lockdown so you see better results from your messaging.

1. Cultivate a strong brand identity.

In order to stand out from the crowd with your messaging (and let’s be honest: in the online business world, it’s BUSY), you need to first cultivate a strong brand identity. This means digging into and defining your core messaging aspects like your why, your mission, your values, and your beliefs. It also means shaping your story and putting into words what makes you different from all the other [insert what you do here] out there. 

These are the things that make you and your brand truly unique. By clarifying them, you’ll ensure that your brand identity and personality are completely aligned with who you are (which means your messaging will draw in your dream ideal clients who are actively searching for someone like you).

2. Optimize your offerings.

Your offer is more than just the thing you’re selling. It’s how you change your client or customer’s life. But in order to convert the browsers into buyers, you need to make sure that the messaging and copy around your offer is telling them everything they need to hear to be ready to buy.

This means diving into things like understanding where your ideal clients are right now so you can make sure that your offer is exactly what they want and need, seeing what others in your niche are offering so you can position your offer as different (and better), and then clarifying the core aspects of your offer from a messaging perspective. If you can understand exactly who it is for and what big transformation it will bring them, you’ll be able to create the kind of messaging and copy you need to see great conversion rates and results from your funnels.

3. Create a scale-worthy strategy.

In order to achieve anything in life or business, you first need to have a plan. When it comes to your messaging and marketing, I call this creating a scale-worthy strategy. This is where getting clarity on things like how to share your vision with your team, what kind of content you need to be sharing to prime your audience, and what your big goal map for your business actually looks like comes into play. 

When you have a strategy like this, it means sustainably scaling your business will be so much easier, and it means you can finally stop spinning your wheels thinking you need to be doing all the things and being everywhere in order to achieve your goals. A simplified strategy that is focused on building your authority, creating real connections with your audience, and crafting impactful messaging is way more effective than throwing spaghetti at the wall or copying what your competitors are doing (top tip: do not do this. You want to stand out in your industry so that means zigging when everyone else in your niche is zagging).

So there you have it, three things you can start working on today that will allow you to create the kind of messaging strategy that will bring better results from your marketing and get you closer to your business goals.

“In order to achieve anything in life or business, you first need to have a plan.”

—Ciara Gigleux, CEO of The Copy Atelier

About the author: Ciara Gigleux is CEO and chief copywriter at The Copy Atelier, a boutique copywriting agency for online business owners and CEOs that specializes in pairing conversion copywriting with a high-impact strategy for maximum results. She’s also the host of The Copy Coach podcast. She is (slightly) obsessed with all things messaging, marketing, and copywriting, and the main mission of her business and podcast is to help entrepreneurs use their copy and messaging to cut through the noise, stand out online and maximize their results, revenue and impact. Find her on Instagram and Clubhouse @ciaragigleux.

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This Female Entrepreneur Built a $500K Company Helping Women Grow Their Businesses on Instagram

“No one can do it alone. The most important part of entrepreneurship is knowing when to ask for help.”

—Madison Tinder, Marketing and Visibility Coach

As I write this, I’m sitting on the porch of my home, which I bought on my own at 25 years old. If you had told me a couple of years ago that I would be able to buy a home in a new city and not only be financially independent but thriving, I wouldn’t have believed you. 

Back then, I thought my path was clear, a bachelor's degree, a master’s degree, then working in the sports industry in my dream city, Dallas. Things didn’t go as planned. I graduated with my masters and, despite internships, classes, and a 9-5 job throughout my program, when I graduated, I didn’t get my dream job at my dream team. I was crushed.

But I pulled myself together and got a job. It wasn’t “the job” but it paid the bills. I decided to start doing social media management on the side as a way to bring in a little extra income. I never thought it would grow into anything more than a side hustle. I quickly went from one client to eight and realized that maybe I could really do this. 

Fast forward to today, I transitioned from social media management to marketing coaching online for entrepreneurs. For the past two years, I’ve been growing my business and helping women all over the world grow theirs. My business has become so much more than I ever imagined. I could say it was luck or any other cliché thing people attribute to success, but that’s not the truth. 

The truth is a six-figure business doesn’t happen overnight, and there is no formula that you can follow. However, there are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way that I believe helped me reach $500,000 in sales in only one year and launch my first product-based business, Soulful Scrunchies.

Tip #1: Own Your Confidence

No one wants to buy from someone who doesn’t believe in what they are selling. If you don’t believe in your product or service 100%, you should reevaluate. I fell into imposter syndrome when I first started out, it’s normal. But, once I took a step back and looked at the results of my clients, it reminded me that not only are my skills valuable but that I deserve to be in this space. 

For me, a huge step was realizing that I didn’t need to be someone else. When I first started as a marketing coach, I didn’t fit the mold of the other coaches in the space. I was younger, didn’t show up on Instagram with perfect curls and cute blouses, I was much more comfortable in a scrunchie and top knot. Being confident in yourself and your business is an ongoing process but it is one of the most important pieces to success 

Tip #2: Trust Your Gut

You know how doctors say that you know your body best? Well, the same goes for business. You know your business inside and out. You might get to a point where you aren’t involved in every single aspect of your business, but there are always going to be decisions that fall solely on you. It can be easy to wobble back and forth on big decisions, second guess yourself, and let others' opinions influence you. You have to trust your gut. 

A potential client is giving you red flags? Worried that someone on your team isn’t a good fit? You are probably right. Sometimes the best decisions for our businesses are not ones that we stew over, make pros and cons lists for, and are super logical. 

Tip #3: Know Your Audience

The key to growth is focusing on your target audience. You need to speak to your audience in a way that is aligned with where they are at. You need to know everything about your audience, beyond demographics. You are going to have to dig deeper to find their story, their struggles, what they are looking for, and their goals. If you don’t have that information, you might as well be speaking to a wall. 

Tip #4: Serve First

So many people in the online space get caught up in the next sale that they forget your most important asset is a happy client or customer. They are a walking billboard for you. Showing up and giving them your all should be your number one priority always. Not the likes on your Instagram photo or the sales numbers on a launch but the questions people ask and going above and beyond for your people always. 

Tip #5: Invest in Support

No one can do it alone. The most important part of entrepreneurship is knowing when to ask for help. The type of support will vary based on your business, but I suggest taking a look at where you are spending your time and reflect on what is draining you. This may mean deciding to hire help for social media, client management, accounting, design, etc. Or it could mean realizing that you need a mentor to get you to that next level. Having a community will help you prevent burnout, feel less isolated, and have people you can bounce ideas off of. 

There is no one-size-fits-all model for building a six-figure business. If anyone tells you otherwise, run the other way. But, through my time as an entrepreneur I’ve learned how helpful and important the tips above can be. If you are feeling frustrated and like your business is not having the momentum that you hoped for, be patient, take action, and remember that no one’s entrepreneurial journey is the same. 

About the Author: Madison Tinder is not like most 25-year-olds. Instead of stressing about finding “the job” or making rent, she is a homeowner and runs a six-figure business. She is a marketing and visibility coach based in Louisville, Kentucky, and helps her entrepreneur clients grow and market their brands through Instagram. She’s an Instagram story pro and launched her first product-based business this fall, Soulful Scrunchies.

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7 Tips for Working With Influencers, According to a Top Talent Agency

Photo courtesy of Aimee Song

Working with influencers is an essential part of growing your brand. They can help spread awareness, garner press, and introduce you to a whole new audience. Here, our partner Digital Brand Architects (a.ka., DBA), a digital talent agency that reps some of the top talent in the influencer sphere, put together some tips for building great partnerships and successful relationships that will keep everyone happy.

1. Identify goals for your campaign.

Setting goals is one of the easiest ways to ensure your brand’s relationship with any influencer is a smooth one, and most importantly, a productive one. Be it brand awareness, product sales, or heightened engagement, make sure you have a clear outline of what it is you are trying to accomplish before the start of any campaign.

2. Investigate before you take the leap.

Do your homework. Ask for media kits, and consider influencers and content creators who have a track record of helping brands reach their goals.

3. Mind the details.

When you do your initial outreach, have as many details ready to share as possible. This helps avoid surprises and keeps all parties on the same page.

4. Set a timeline.

Timing is everything and that is especially true when working with influencers. Always be sure that your contract outlines set times for content previewing and posting. And don’t forget to be specific about which time zone the deadline lives in.

5. Provide a briefing document.

A brief creates sets the guidelines so creativity can flourish and it’s a very necessary tool when working in the influencer space.

Make sure your brief includes:

• All image requirements (do assets need to be in portrait or landscape?)

• Styling directions

• Copy guidelines (key messaging, hashtags/tags, FTC disclosures)

• Do’s and Don'ts (do they need to avoid competitive products? Does the outfit need to be head-to-toe? Can talent use affiliate links?)

6. Understand your influencer’s creative lens.

When you work with influencers, you do so to capture their unique spin on your product or service, so keep in mind their voice and the types of content they are known to produce. Most importantly be sure to identify the style of post you are envisioning (a collage board, a personal-style post, etc.)

7. Set up a kick-off call.

This should be done before any work is done by the influencer.

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This story was originally published on March 4, 2019, and has since been updated.

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The Power of Personalizing Your Brand in 4 Steps

Photo: Anna Shvets from Pexels

Take some time right now to step back and reflect on all the brands that you love. What is it that makes you love them? Is it the product quality? Customer service? The branding? The company’s mission statement? 

While product quality and customer service are crucial in getting repeat customers, the personality of a brand is what really sets it apart from its competitors in the digital age. A next-level brand has its own personality and is much more than just a company you buy a product or service from. You also want to follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter, and engage with them beyond the point of purchase.

By focusing on personalizing your brand, not only will you be able to produce more sales, but you’ll also develop strong brand loyalty that will generate more longterm leads. The four tips below will start you off on the right foot by adding more character to your brand and making your customers and audience feel more connected with your brand.

1. Nail down your brand voice.

Who is your brand? If you had to put a face to your brand, who would that person be? How would they talk? Are they chill and relaxed? Fun and upbeat? Mellow and more serious? 

Nail down the tone, and make sure that this voice stays consistent on all your marketing, both online and offline. The goal is to make your brand more personable rather than a company. This is what adds true character to your brand and can give your brand a leg up on the competition who still is trying to nail down how they should sound like to be more relevant to their audience. 

You know who you are, so make sure you not only know what your brand is but who it is as well.

2. Invest in some humor/cheekiness.

Unless you’re in the business of funeral homes and mortuaries, there is always a way to add humor to your marketing strategy. Not only does it attract more customers, but it also helps build great communication that not only will help your followers and customers be more engaged with you and it can help with having your community refer you to their networks as well. 

We will say this: ditch the knock-knock jokes. Investing in humor is much more effective when it’s smart, witty, and timely. And in today’s digital age, it’s time to push aside the “professional” image that many brands are trying to stick to. As stated in an article by INC., focusing on “establishing a professional image means making it look like what’s expected, which often results in boring and forgettable websites, PowerPoint, and videos.”

The key is to always do the unexpected. Don't be so predictable.

3. Mirror your customers and be relatable.

Just as your voice relates to the voice of your consumers, so should the content that you’re creating for your brand. Mirroring your customers and creating content that they can relate to increases your content’s shareability and strengthens brand loyalty as well. Take some time to really analyze your audience: their likes, dislikes, habits, goals, struggles, etc.. Integrate those into your own brand’s content and show your audience how you come from a place of understanding and relate to them.

However, be very careful to not take away from their experiences without TRULY understanding who they are. It’s easy to sense when your grandparents are trying too hard to be cool, and even easier to sense when a brand is trying too hard to be relatable. (Point and case: please refrain from using bae, YASSS, on fleek, or any Drake lyric that can consequently cause some serious eye rolls and unfollows.)

4. Be transparent. 

If there is one thing that reeks more than grandparents trying to be cool, it’s a phony. And if there’s one thing that you need to invest in the most more than reliability, it’s trustworthiness.

In today’s digital age people can find out EVERYTHING about your brand with one Google search, so be aware of how this can affect your brand positively or negatively. Whatever it is, be real and upfront with your audience. Don’t cut through any business shortcuts, don’t be shady, and watch how you can have a leg up on the competition that chooses to keep things behind closed doors. That simple. 

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This story was originally published on March 24, 2016, and has since been updated.

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The Anatomy of a Killer "About" Page

Photo: Christina Morillo for Pexels

If you think about the pages on your blog or business website like the squares of a Monopoly board, your about page would be Boardwalk. This piece of virtual real estate is so valuable, people come barreling through your front door like it’s a never-ending open house, whether you invited them in or not. They’re intrigued! They’re curious! 

So what have you planted on your about page?

Remember, you’ve got approximately three seconds to seduce your Mr. or Mrs. Right (customer) before they jump ship to the instant gratification of another shiny domain. They’re instinctively going to head to your about page. When they get there, this is what they need to see: clear content, with a hook, that answers questions, and has an element of surprise. 

How are you faring in these five areas? Let’s take a look.

The Hook

There’s a clever little tool in writing you’re going to need to get to know intimately if you don’t already.

It’s called the hook.

It’s your angle. Your “bingo!” Your “aha” moment. Your “slap me down and call me Suzy, this person really gets me” statement. And the writers who produce the most memorable work are masters of the hook.

It’s all about infusing the theme of your message with the emotion that will reach right into the belly of your readers, make them spit out their muesli and pay attention to what you’ve got to say.

It takes in the worldview and assumptions of your reader and challenges them with a new idea.

Hit them right between the eyes with a powerful intro statement or heading to your about page that does exactly that. Surprise them, shock them, and most of all… become a master of intrigue through words.

The Language

Nobody ever made a lasting impression by thinking, “I hope I sound professional.” Be bold in your language choices and work hard to ensure you don’t sound like everyone else.

Go through your copy with a big red pen and underline any words or sentences that feel too generic or cliched. If you think you’ve heard it all before, so will your readers, which means you’re not capturing their attention (refer back to the hook and try again)!

The Photography & Design 

You may be a word nerd through and through, but if your about page doesn’t look pretty (or work well on mobile) it’s going to be pretty easy for potential customers and clients to left swipe you right outta there.

Invest in design. Use subheadings to break up chunks of text. And for the love of WordPress, do not publish your page without a photo that shows the world who you are (eye contact and smile, people!).

You wouldn’t buy anything from a shopkeeper if you walked in and they were wearing a paper bag on their head, so don’t be shy. Show yourself!

The Personal Touch

Don’t be afraid to stamp your personality on the page, but don’t feel you have to tell the world your ENTIRE life story, either.

Think back to your connectors, to your audience, and don’t get too caught up. They want to know your story but they also want to be able to relate.

Give them just enough of what they need to know about you, but ultimately keep the page all about them (uh-huh, that’s right… this page is all about THEM).

If you’re still chomping at the bit to tell more of your story, why not write a blog post called “10 things you never knew about me,” or tell your story in an emotion-fueled post?

The Call to Action

Once you’re satisfied your copy is alluring, interesting, informative, and tells your customers everything they need to know, you’re ready to rock!

Think about what call to action you want to include on the page? What’s your priority?

Is it...

• Directing people to your services page so they can book to work with you?

• Asking them to contact you to make a booking?

• Getting them to sign up to your email updates?

• Sending them onto the blog posts you’re most proud of so they can immerse themselves in your brand?

Don’t overwhelm your customers with multiple links – keep it clean and simple so your about page can perform at its best.

This piece originally appeared on BlogSociety and has been reproduced with permission. 

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This story was originally published on April 16, 2019, and has since been updated.

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Ask an Expert: How to Boost Your Engagement and Build a Following on Instagram

We’ve been spending a lot of time at Create & Cultivate HQ discussing how we can best show up for and support our community during this uncertain time. Community is at our core, and connecting with others through one-of-a-kind experiences is what we love to do. While the world has changed, our mission has not. We’re committed to helping women create and cultivate the career of their dreams, which is why we’re proud to announce our new Ask an Expert series. We’re hosting discussions with experts, mentors, and influencers daily on Instagram Live to cure your craving for community and bring you the expert advice you’ve come to know and love from C&C. Follow Create & Cultivate on Instagram, check out our Ask an Expert highlight reel for the latest schedule, and hit the countdown to get a reminder so you don’t miss out!

Photo: Create & Cultivate

Have you ever found yourself on a rollercoaster of emotion when it comes to Instagram? One day you’re flying high and people are clamoring to engage with your content—and the next? You’re shouting into the void with only crickets to respond. It’s time to ditch the not-so-fun ride and cruise into sustainable growth, engagement, and community building.

In this installment of our Instagram Live series Ask an Expert, Dre Fox, the CEO and founder of TimeOfDre Media, lays out a framework to follow to boost engagement, build sustainable growth, and cultivate a community on Instagram. Scroll on for her tried and true tips and be sure to follow Create & Cultivate on Instagram to tune into our next Ask an Expert Live.

Why Does Engagement Matter?

Instagram is a fickle platform that judges success by your ability to create conversation and interest amongst your online community—a.k.a. you keep people on the platform. So IG favors those that receive high engagement as a way to incentivize that creator to keep going, but also the platform reaps the rewards of your community building.

In short, the more engagement—likes, comments, and shares—you get, the more Instagram will push you in front of new eyes.

Engagement Is Not What You Think!

Creating an online community is not a product of spending 10 hours a day on the platform dropping “cute pic” comments on everyone that you see, it’s the product of alignment.

Here is how I like to break it down:

When your message, your audience, and your content are all aligned, you can easily boost your engagement, your following, and your impact within the online space.

So, Let’s Break It Down

Find Your Niche

The specialist advantage or “your niche” is the most critical piece to nail on your Instagram page, because if your profile is hard to understand, most won’t click “follow,” which results in lower engagement.

So ask yourself, what topic or area can I provide the most insight or help to someone else in the online space? This doesn’t mean you need to be an award-winning expert or a top person in that space, but where can you draw the most insight and knowledge?

We want you to be a “go-to” or a wealth of knowledge to one group of people!

Attract People Who are Invested in You

If you truly want more engagement, you’ll want to have an audience of people that are invested in your content and inspired by your words. That can’t be created when your audience is filled with the wrong people.

So your first task is to revamp your bio to be geared towards your new topic and the people that would be interested in your niche. The goal here is that once you’ve made over your bio, you can hand your phone to a stranger and they’d be able to clearly state what you do and what you talk about!

Create Valuable Content

Think back to the best friend or mentor you ever had. They likely helped you, made you feel good about yourself, made you think deeper and pushed you to be better. This is your job on social media as well!

People are HIGHLY attracted to those that add value to their lives, for free.

So, identify the top 10 problems someone in your niche is having and break it into the following categories:

• Tips

• Example: 3 tips about (problem 1)

• Advice

• Example: Ways to avoid (problem 2)

• Resources

• Example: Struggling with (problem 3)? Here are some apps for….

Once you start creating value-driven content for your aligned audience, engagement will naturally increase without having to spend hours a day engaging.

Be a Champion of Others

Picture this, you get a nice comment, a thoughtful comment on your post from someone, you take a look at their profile and realize they’re speaking about topics you have interest in—you are clicking follow and bingeing their posts.

Conversely, you get a “cute pic” comment from an account that has nothing to do with your topic. You’re not going to follow them, right?

It’s pretty simple really, engagement is most effective when your heart is actually in the game and you’re trying to build an audience of like-minded people, not collecting likes.

Some best practices around active audience building is to comb through related hashtags and competitor accounts for people that will LOVE your content. Reach out, leave them a nice comment, engage with their stories and encourage a future relationship!

Once they are able to pop over to your page and see that you have amazing and helpful content, they’ll click that “follow” button and become a long term fan.

So What Does This All Mean?

It means that engagement is not about working more or working harder to scour the internet, it’s about being intentional and thoughtful with the relationship we are building. Having that narrow focus and an audience full of excited fans will carry your account much further than one full of thousands of dead accounts.

It’s time to niche down, create more value for others and spend your time creating relationships—the true secret to increased engagement!

“T

he more engagement—likes, comments, and shares—you get, the more Instagram will push you in front of new eyes.”

—Dre Fox, Founder and CEO, TimeOfDre Media

About the Expert: Dre Fox is the founder and CEO of TimeOfDre Media, a Forbes and Washington Post featured social media agency located in Austin, Texas. After many years of helping Fortune 500 companies improve their social experience and brand awareness online, Dre was inspired to focus on building the brands of small businesses and public figures. Her core passion is helping people just like you, realize their dreams online.

Right now, TimeOfDre is offering 30% off The Elevated Instagram, a foundational Instagram course using code: CC30 for all readers of Create and Cultivate. Please check out Dre over at Instagram for more free social media advice each day.

Psst… Want more intel on how to build a following on Instagram? Buy your ticket for C&C’s Digital Beauty Summit on Saturday, July 25th to tune into Dre Fox’s IG workshop.

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How Brick-and-Mortar Businesses Can Pivot to Sell on Social Media During COVID-19

Photo: Lisa Fotios for Pexels

Just because your physical doors are closed doesn’t mean your virtual ones aren’t open.

Instead of sitting back, kicking your feet up while binge-watching Netflix, consider making some changes in your business right now. The best part? If you go online now, you’ll be ahead of the game for the future and set your business up for success as we further enter the digital world.

Ready to get online? Here are the five things every brick-and-mortar business could be doing right now—and no, you don’t need to discount every product just to make ends meet!

1. Make It Personal

First, make sure your marketing materials include creative, thoughtful, and personalized touches. Uncertain times call for personal connection, right? So be sure to include something that will stand out to your customer.

Here’s an example: My fiance and I ordered takeout from a local Greek restaurant. When they came to the car with our food, they gave us a squirt of hand sanitizer so we could eat some fries on the way home. Who doesn’t want to dig in while they’re still warm and not have to worry about getting sick?! 

2. Go Virtual

Second, the one that should be a bit more obvious, go online! Everyone’s showing up virtually, so you should be, too. This is the time to get hooked on Zoom, Instagram, and Facebook Live. If you’re offering a service, now’s the time to get creative and provide virtual support. If you’re offering a product, start showing, selling, and shipping using live video.

If your events keep getting pushed back, instead of canceling, switch them to online events. Own a clothing boutique? Perfect. Host a “live” fashion show. Or maybe you sell stationery, crafts, or flowers—why not sell your items live, but make it even more interesting with a three-day challenge where everyone crafts at home with you? Get your community involved not only to try to drive sales but also to give something back to your community! 

3. Discounts, Anyone?

Third, discounts. I know I said don’t discount every product in your inventory, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do any discounts at all. This is a time when many people aren’t making money, so they’re typically not wanting to spend money. What better way to convince them than special (and strategic) offers?

You can do this in a way where you’re selling more but not seeing a dip in profit—meaning, don’t discount just for the sake of offering discounts. Instead, you can bundle items, make a major flash sale with “almost out-of-season” pieces, or offer to match a credit. If someone pays you $30, match them 50% of their payment in credit towards future purchases. Just don’t forget to set a maximum.

If you want to make it even more appealing, you can switch things up and offer a give-back program. Donate a portion of all proceeds, match purchase prices, or accept donations. And remember, if you’re passionate about something, the better it will do. I donated $100 from every course sale in March 2020 to a woman in need, totaling over $6,000 in donations.

4. Time to Advertise

Fourth, surprise, surprise! Many don’t know this, but online advertising costs are cut in half right now. Two words: take advantage. If you don’t have an online offer that you can get creative with right off the bat, consider just running ads for your quality content and focus on building your email list for when this is over.

5. Cut Through the Noise

Last but not least, cut through the noise. Offer an element of fun to help get people through these difficult times.

Try doing a social media scavenger hunt and ask your followers to find a post where you talked about XYZ, or encourage them to watch today’s story and answer a riddle. Facilitate a little “playtime,” your audience will appreciate it. 

The best thing you can do during this time is to be human. One thing we truly need to survive is connection, and that’s what’s missing for many right now. So get online, offer weekly video segments around trends and pop culture, make quizzes, introduce your staff in fun ways, and be a beam of positivity. Remember, there’s always an opportunity to help those in need. 

About the Author: Shannon Lutz is the owner of The Social Bungalow, and the go-to marketing strategist for female entrepreneurs devoted to making a purpose-driven impact while earning a wildest-dreams-status income. The Social Bungalow is a clever, creative, and collaborative online education space dedicated to helping women market their expertise and structure their businesses for big-picture profit. She said “peace out” to a 10-year corporate marketing career where she assisted in building multi-million-dollar businesses and marketing A-list celebrities (*cough* ARod & JLo *cough*). Now, she uses this marketing-prowess to turn solopreneurs into 6- and 7-figure CEOs.

8 PR Pros on How to Stand Out in a Sea of COVID-19 Headlines

Photo: Ekaterina Bolovtsova for Pexels

Unprecedented. Uncertain. Extraordinary. It’s safe to say you can’t scroll through your news or social media feeds without coming across at least one of these coronavirus-related buzzwords. Of course, these terms are completely justified seeing as we’re in the midst of a global health crisis of unparalleled proportions, however, it does beg the question, how do you stand out amid the coronavirus headline saturation to get your brand’s message heard?

To gain insight into how brands can lead with humanity, stay relevant, and be of service during the COVID-19 crisis, we tapped some of the leading public relations and digital marketing pros in the industry and asked them to share their #1 tip for cutting through the noise. From setting up virtual desksides with media editors to re-engaging existing customers in new ways, keep scrolling for their innovative and mindful tips—you’re going to want to write these down.

Melissa Davis

Founder & Co-Owner, Ruby Press

Experience: 19 years

The Tip: Make it relevant and solve a problem. Many of us are working from home, many of us are concerned about finances, and we are all concerned about staying healthy. While my agency represents lifestyle brands, there are many stories we can share with the media and influencers that are very relevant to the current situation.

Why It Works: While we are all keeping up with the news about the pandemic, we need some good news too.  It's a balance. Those fun, light-hearted features are also important right now—but they need to be sensitive to the current state of the world. The best results we have seen from outreach over the best couple of weeks have been surrounding positive, problem-solving stories.

Benjamin Almeter

Founder & Managing Director, Dispatch

Experience: 7 years

The Tip: Lead with authenticity. 

 Why It Works: Speak to what's most authentic to you and your brand, that's where you'll organically resonate and find the most success in growing your community, standing out and driving conversion. Now, more than ever, we're surrounded by brands pushing product and leaning into a timely conversation where they're not always the most relevant. That's off-putting to consumers, easy to spot, and can have long term negative effects on your brand’s perception.

 The Tip: Don't undervalue your existing community. 

Why It Works: We're always focused on ways to engage and acquire new customers—now's the time look back and reengage your existing customers to do just that. Utilize your existing customers as a tool to share your brand’s story and introduce the product to their community. Consumers highly value the opinion of those within their direct communities.

Kamari Guthrie

Founder & CEO, Kamari Chelsea

Experience: 15 years

The Tip: If you're looking to make headlines right now, your brand has to tell a story about one of the following: novelty, altruism, practicality. 

Why It Works: I use the acronym "NAP" to help people remember this, but don't be fooled by the name. You'll have to put in work.  

Novelty: Is your brand saying or doing something new right now that no one has ever heard of? For example, are you offering a unique service to help women-run small businesses survive? Or, are you launching an at-home manicure kit that creates salon-perfect results right at home for half the cost? Be honest with yourself about whether your brand offers something new, unique, and essential that people need during these times. And if so, pitch it as a novel solution to the many new challenges people are having.

Altruism: Maybe you don't have something to offer that fits within your business model, but you have extra cash to donate or a robust and influential network. Mine your business for resources that you can give to those who have lost everything. For example, you can start a new campaign with your brand's influencers or extra cash to help fund and inspire those who are struggling. Then, pitch it to the media to get the word out that you're offering support. 

Practicality: If your brand has a utility or a good use that can be applied to support those impacted by COVID, double down on telling stories about that thing. For example, if you're a designer and you can design masks—talk about it! Or, if you're running an accounting business, offer to write an op-ed or pitch a podcast interview, where you will provide tangible advice to companies and employees who've lost revenue and income.

Meghan Donovan

Founder, mmd communications

Experience: 13 years

The Tip: My goal is always to be a helpful resource for editors, and now is no different. I am, however, being extra sensitive in my pitches and also more cautious in follow up. There's so much more at play in the world right now than beauty and wellness, and so I think the majority of publicists are trying to be more in-tune with the stories that make the most sense given the current climate.  

Why It Works: I got into PR because I value communication and relationships. Now, more than ever, we need to be resources for one another. I always tell the brands I represent that my style is not mass-pitching or trend pitching but rather I want to meet the editors where their needs are and try and tell the best stories.

This is more important than ever as—work aside—we're all human and we're all trying to manage both stress from working under new constraints but also managing our new normal in the world. I think we all feel stress and anxiety at how our lives are evolving and no one needs overly zealous or tone-deaf pitching in their inboxes. (I've seen a few horror stories circulating that exhibit that!)

Jaspre Guest

Founder & CEO, NOISE 784

Experience: 9 years

The Tip: At NOISE 784, we are focused on keeping positive momentum through this uncertain period. I believe you need to be open to shift strategies by changing the narrative. When everything changes the ability to pivot quickly is almost the surefire way to be still standing when the dust settles. 

Why It Works: During this unprecedented time, consumers are craving direction. We are meeting a need. One of my mantras is to find the hole and go through it. Currently, there are a ton of holes. You just have to reframe the situation. We are highlighting how our clients' expertise can provide guidance to consumers on how to thrive despite the circumstances. 

Simona Rozhko

Founder & CEO, evna media

Experience: 8 years

The Tip: My number one tip for standing out during this time involves a two-step approach. First, you have to quickly let your clients know you're aware of the climate and that things are rapidly changing (for them and for you). Setting up a dedicated call and agenda regarding the situation is crucial so that the next steps can be created to navigate together.

It's an important time to let the world know that brands are still okay, given the circumstances, and that we're in this together. There are many questions that arise week after week, so the client-publicist conversation should remain a two-way street—what changes are we experiencing in PR should the client know about? What changes is the client experiencing that PR should know about?

This leads me into the second step, which is to identify that a pivot has to be made as well as a plan to restrategize for the next TBD period of time featuring new goal-oriented programming for the client. For evna media, it was moving current and future initiatives into a digital-first protocol and making sure we could support our clients beyond PR if need be.

Some initiatives were easily applied to a digital version while others needed more definition and finesse. These initiatives included meetings, product launches, events, desksides, social media, and of course pitching-- heavily monitoring the news cycle and checking in with editors. We were able to quickly create meaningful moments with media while connecting with widespread communities and supporting our clients through this unusual adjustment. 

Why It Works: Relying on digital tools and virtual workshops has worked pretty seamlessly for us because the majority of the world is checking the news, universal updates, stats, government regulations, etc. on our smartphones already. We're creating content in real-time while everyone's user-activity is surging.

On top of that, we are working from the comfort of our own homes, which creates much less physical effort for someone to attend a virtual event or make time for a digital meeting. I think there are going to be many permanent changes post-COVID-19, not only in the PR but across all industries. Some of the tools we're using now that maybe didn't have a place before—because of the forces of innovation—will carry over when we're all back in our offices.

Megan Bell

Senior Account Executive, Sharp Think

Experience: 7 years

The Tip: Be human! It’s important that we’re compassionate and socially aware during these uncertain times. 

Why It Works: The current COVID-19 crisis has impacted all of us on both a personal and professional level, causing us to rethink how we’re communicating with our clients and the media. A sense of compassion for all and sharing relevant, impactful news are the driving forces for our current strategy. We’re checking in with our media contacts to see how they are holding up and asking how we can be most helpful with their editorial plans—after all, we’re all in this together!

This way, we can be sure that we’re sharing the most relevant, topical news to meet their needs. We’re providing solutions for their readers to help tackle everyday issues, from financial anxiety and coping with the changes to our everyday routines to providing a temporary escape through virtual experiences that readers can enjoy from their living rooms. We’ve seen great success in highlighting these much-needed topic areas and feel that our media contacts appreciate this approach. 

With the state of the media landscape changing on a daily basis, my team has made it a priority to check-in with our clients regularly. We’ve shifted our status calls to video conferences for some much-needed face time, which allows us to have a more open and organic dialogue while strategizing. We’ve been nimble and thoughtful in providing creative recommendations for clients, with a primary focus on consumer and community needs. My team is implementing virtual experiences in lieu of in-person meetings or events, and we are crafting solution-based pitches for our product-focused brands.

Now more than ever, we need to prioritize collaboration with our client partners and journalists, as we’re all working towards a collective goal! 

Beth Bassil

Co-Founder, b.good PR

Experience: 7 years

The Tip: Keeping it real. It's not about being self-serving right now and worrying if your brand is making sales or included in every single story. We are encouraging our clients to focus on rebuilding community, take this time to network and collaborate with one another.

Connecting with your network on another level. B.good PR has been hosting virtual coffee meetings where we ask for 15 minutes to meet with our media contacts to learn more about them, the work they do and to pump some fun into our days—it's not all business.

We consider our media relationships like an extended family. In exchange, we share virtual gift cards to their favorite coffee or juice shop to help support local businesses during this time. The response has been so positive—it's really nice to see we're lifting people's moods during this time.

Why It Works: Through the virtual meetings, we're able to connect on a whole other level—learning fun personal quirks about each other, too. We're able to share what our clients are doing during this time to help spread positivity and bring communities together… by keeping it real we've actually landed a lot of opportunities for clients through these meetings.

Up next: How to Adjust Your Media Strategy and Connect With Customers in a Crisis

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Shop This Way—How 3 Entrepreneurs Are Leveraging Their Websites for Profit

All successful businesses start somewhere and it takes just scratching the surface of a new idea to get the ball rolling. But with that ah-ha! moment comes a lot of hard work, late nights, and coffee to make your new business venture  happen. Oh, and a digital platform to make your new idea look beautiful and profitable, too. Think you’ve got what it takes? Well, we partnered with Squarespace for a three-part series called From Scratch to Success: How to Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Thriving Business to find out what really goes into launching a company from the ground up. To do that, we interviewed three female founders—Michelene Auguste Founder and Owner, Dem; Karen Rose, Owner and Herbalist, Sacred Vibes Apothecary; and Gina Correll Aglietti, Yola Jimenez, and Lykke Li, Co-Founders, Yola Mezcal—to share their story from that lightbulb moment to selling their products online, and everything in between. And don’t forget to keep scrolling to the end to read about our exclusive Squarespace offer for Create & Cultivators.

So, you have this incredible idea to turn your passion into a profitable business—now what? Where are you supposed to begin and who is going to help you reach your end goal? Well, in the beginning, when you don’t have any capital, all you really have is your idea, so the only person you can rely on is you. But the good news is there are a plethora of online tools that can help you get started. Does your new business idea include a product line? If you answered yes, then say hello to the world of e-commerce! To put yourself on the map (and find customers) you’ll need a website that will showcase your unique products in a way people just can’t resist. The rest will come from you, your vision, and your drive for success—but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

In the first chapter of our three-part series, From Scratch to Success, we introduced you to some incredible women who are crushing their business goals online with the well-known platform, Squarespace. We asked them about their new business venture, how they got started, and why they chose Squarespace to launch online. In part two of this series, we’re diving a little deeper into the commerce side of their business and how these three unique businesses—Dem, Sacred Vibes Apothecary, and Yola Mezcal—use Squarespace to turn their passion into profit. You’ll want to take notes for this one!

Create & Cultivate: Squarespace makes it easy to start a website from scratch. Can you walk us through the process you took when creating yours? 

Gina Correll Aglietti: “Anticipating YOLA’s launch, we felt a video was the best way to communicate our brand story to depict our farm and team in Oaxaca. Squarespace gave us the platform to share this story with a new audience and made it easy for us to help curate first impressions of our brand. We've been using Squarespace for over three years now. I especially love the marketing tools we can use to create newsletters, collect emails, and keep our audience engaged.”

C&C: Squarespace has great features for brands that want to introduce e-commerce. What commerce features do you rely on the most and advise others to use too? 

GA: “We will soon be launching our merch store through Squarespace. We had initially looked at embedding a third party e-commerce platform on our website, but then realized how simple it was to add e-commerce tabs into our Squarespace without straying from the brand’s aesthetic. We have also had the opportunity to embed a link to sell YOLA direct to consumers, which is often very difficult to do because of strict alcohol compliance laws.”

C&C: There are so many websites online—how do you make your website unique? 

GA: “Squarespace allows us to maintain a simple and minimal design that aligns with our brand's aesthetic. We have been able to incorporate our own fonts and imagery to customize the experience.”

Create & Cultivate: Squarespace makes it easy to start a website from scratch. Can you walk us through the process you took when creating yours? 

Michelene Auguste: “When I started building my site, it was very easy to navigate. I started with an e-commerce page, a homepage, and basic information—I’ve been adding to that ever since. I love that I can easily move things around and change the site. I also love that I can rearrange the products on the e-commerce page so it looks the way I want it to.” 

C&C: Squarespace has great features for brands that want to introduce e-commerce. What commerce features do you rely on the most and advise others to use too? 

MA: “I have the Squarespace app which helps me edit on the go when I have to. I’ve found that the app is very helpful.”

C&C: There are so many websites online—how do you make your website unique? 

MA: “The Dem site is a curated experience of the clothing and objects I’ve discovered throughout my life. It’s a bit personal and I think that’s what makes it unique. I love taking photographs and updating the site often with new material.”

C&C: Do you have any shortcuts you can share with other users for making their website? 

MA: “My advice would be if you can’t figure out something or you’re stuck, don’t stress—all the information and help is there for you on the site which has helped me out a lot.” 

C&C: What are some more advanced tools that you use for building out your website? 

MA: “My favorite thing about Squarespace is that I don’t need to know any coding tactics or use any advanced tools. Everything is already there for you to create and run a beautiful, successful site.” 

Create & Cultivate: Squarespace makes it easy to start a website from scratch. Can you walk us through the process you took when creating yours? 

Karen Rose: “I started with Squarespace about five years ago. I saw  how beautiful other Squarespace sites were and wanted mine to be just like that.” 

“I have come so far. I have an online shop now and in many ways I have grown that on Squarespace. We are currently working on creating an online membership/educational portal utilizing Squarespace’s collaboration, Memberspace to offer global access to our work.”

C&C: Squarespace has great features for brands that want to introduce e-commerce. What commerce features do you rely on the most and advise others to use too?

KR: “I rely on our online shop greatly. It is super easy to track inventory and monthly sales.”

C&C: There are so many websites online—how do you make your website unique? 

KR: “We make our website unique by using it to tell the story of our brand. When folks are on our site, we want them to get the whole picture of who we are: not just an online shop but a community.”

C&C: Do you have any shortcuts you can share with other users for making their website? 

KR: “I decided to hire a designer familiar with Squarespace for the initial site design. This allowed us to use our time and resources in a way we felt our business could benefit from most. We still work together closely. He was able to show us a lot of what he has done. But now, most of the everyday maintenance we do is on our own.”

Head to squarespace.com and use the offer code CREATE2019 to save 10% off your first purchase. And or more information around Squarespace’s commerce feature and to understand how you can start selling online today, visit Squarespace Support here.

And don’t forget to tune in next week for part three of our From Scratch to Success series for everything you need to know about SEO and ensure your website ranks in Google.

Free Download: How to Take Better Instagram Photos, According to Our C&C Photographer

Have you always wanted to shoot professional imagery for your brand but don’t have the budget to afford a photographer? Well, what if we told you that you can do it yourself?

Now that’ we’ve shown you how to use Lightroom to create gram-worthy images, Create & Cultivate photographer and founder of Smith House Photo, Becki Smith is taking you back to basics with her new online course, The Develop Course.

Smith specifically designed the program to help amateur photographers learn the basics from how to use a camera or find the best light so you can shoot gram-worthy imagery for your personal brand, website, or business.

Read on to learn more about the course modules and to get the exclusive free download on how to up your Instagram game by shooting better photos on your iPhone.

The Develop Course includes the following modules:

1. The Basics of Photography
   To get you started, this first section of the course will teach you all about how to use your camera from the aperture, ISO, shutter speed, the exposure triangle, and more to take better photos.
   
   
   

2. The Best Light
   Any photographer will tell you that snapping the perfect shot is all about finding great light. This section teaches you how as well as what to do when there isn't any, the temperature of light, and what it all means to your camera.
   
   
   

3. Introduction to Composition
   Learn the rules of composition so you can shoot great images that not only engage your audience but draw in new followers, too.
   
   
   

4. Shooting in Real Life

   Now that you’ve learned the basics, it’s time to take your skills out into the real world. This part of the course will show you how to take great photos even when you’re on the go and put them into practice for Instagram.
   
   
   

5. Bonus Module for Create & Cultivators: An Intro to Editing
   Because we know you want it, this section will teach you how to utilize Lightroom, how to make adjustments, and export photos to look their best and make you look like a professional—because now you really are, right?

Visit SmithHousePhoto.com to sign up! This one is sure to fill up fast.

EXCLUSIVE: Free Download for Create & Cultivators!

Have you always wanted to shoot professional photos just using your iPhone? Well, now your feed can look just as beautiful and bright as the Create & Cultivate Instagram thanks to Smith’s exclusive download.

The C&C photographer lets us in on the secret app she uses to shoot manually on her iPhone—you can download it HERE, it’s genius! Click the link below and follow her simple instructions, then be sure to tag us in your profesh photos on Instagram so we can see!

Camera 101—An Introduction to Manual Mode

Happy snapping!

Want more? Sign up for the full course at SmithHousePhoto.com —you don’t want to miss this!

Download Alert: This Design App Will Up Your IG Game (and Save You Serious Time and Money)

This post is in partnership with PLANOLY.

Tap, tap, tap​. Skipping mindlessly through your Instagram Stories again but nothing catches your eye or grabs your attention long enough to digest what you’re viewing? We’ve all been there. In this over-saturated, digital world we live in, it requires unique and cutting-edge content in order to be seen and resonate with your audience—and we know the algorithm isn’t on our side, either.

Trying to scale your business or personal brand is tricky. But the best way to kick-start you or your brand’s Instagram presence is with quality, interactive, beautiful, and engaging content. With over​ ​500 million active users​, Instagram Stories is one of the best ways for businesses to connect with new audiences, boost engagement and drive sales. We know that taking a new strategic approach on Instagram Stories can be time-consuming (and costly), but we’re thrilled to let you know that you don’t have to spend your entire budget on graphic designers to create impactful Instagram Story designs that captivate—you can do it yourself for that matter.

Introducing​ ​StoriesEdit ​by PLANOLY who has done all the legwork for you. The C&C team loves (and trusts) the original PLANOLY app to map out the @createcultivate Instagram grid ahead of time. Being the first visual planner on the market for Instagram, it was a no brainer for PLANOLY to drive into the world of beautifying and strategizing Instagram stories. Their beautiful templates turn your lackluster Instagram Stories into a stylish and chic design at the ​tap, tap, tap​ of the app. In fact, the C&C team loves the StoriesEdit so much, we partnered with them to create an exclusive, limited-edition template collection for our San Francisco Conference​ attendees on September 21. (You’ll find them under the “collections” tab in the app or on desktop, but more on that later.) The fun and artistic designs will be available to everyone before, during, and after our event so you can share your experience in style. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #CreateCultivateSF so everyone can see!

If you are one of our lucky San Francisco conference attendees (or need a little nudge to purchase your ticket), we are excited to share that PLANOLY’s Founder, CMO + CCO, Brandy Pham, and Director of Marketing, Priscilla Castro, will be leading a Digital Storytelling on Social workshop for VIPS and C&C Insiders at the event. Be sure to stop by for some social wisdom!

The designer templates are completely customizable and can be edited to your liking, making them your own to fit your own brand guidelines. Simply drop in your image or video clip to the template and play around to see what direction you’ll be taking with your next post. Follow our simple step-by-step guide below and see how easy it is—your friends and followers will definitely be DM’ing you to find out your secret, and not only that, you’ll definitely start seeing your engagement go up with your Stories

We’ll be using these templates at #CreateCultivateSF and we can’t wait to see your customized stories!

Step 1:

Open the app and navigate to the “Create & Cultivate” collection on the featured page or under the “collections” tab.

Step 2:

You’ll be able to preview the 12 available branded templates. Select your favorite and begin your creation by tapping the plus sign in the gray box to add your image.

*Pro-tip:

Anything that has a white background is customizable to your liking. Choose the icon with the three overlapping circles to update the color.

Step 3:

Add any shapes to your template by tapping the Shape tool (the circle and triangle icon) in the center of the navigation bar.

Step 4:

Add text overlay by selecting the letter “T” in the bottom left-hand corner of the navigation bar and shapes by selecting the triangle in the center.

Step 5:

When you are happy with your creation, tap the down arrow in the top right-hand corner to save directly to your phone or upload directly to your socials!

Want the app? Download for web, IOS, or Android.