Ever felt like your business has just hit a slump? It’s probably because you need a Brand Strategist to help you over this next hump in your business growth. One of the number one things that business owners need to admit to themselves is that they can’t do everything. There is a time and a place for being every person and thing in your business, but it isn’t forever.
They aren’t you, which means they can help you see through the bullshit you tell yourself.
I’m sure you’ll find this hard to believe **she says dripping with sarcasm**– Entrepreneurs tell themselves a lot of bullshit that holds them back from amazing growth and opportunity. News to you? LOL I didn’t think so. We all KNOW that we are telling ourselves things that aren’t’ true. But by yourself. Alone in your office. There’s typically no one there to wave the mega bullshit flag.
Most brand strategists (me included) can never fully stay in strategy only mode. We are constantly putting on the biz coach hat too! Not that we are stepping out of our lane–nay, nay! Quite the opposite really. The reality is, I can build the most amazing business systems and sales funnels. It can be a bomb ass marketing plan, and a ideal client that’s hungry for help. Heck! The entrepreneur can say it’s exactly what they want–but if they aren’t ready on the inside to do what it takes to make that plan work — it’s all just a heaping pile of steaming shit.
When you work consistently with a Brand Strategist, they will call you out when you are keeping yourself and your biz small. AND they will call you out when your goals are 100% ridiculous and impossible. When looking for a person to be your brand strategist, it’s very important that you are responsive to how they provide feedback. And you are honest with them about how you feel. The only way this Brand Strategy thing works is with complete and total honesty. Both on the state of your business and the state of your mind.
A great example of this is with entrepreneurs like myself who are neurodiverse. When I onboard a new team member or client, I am super upfront about the fact that I have tourettes and what that means. I also ask them if they have specific ways of processing information or emotions. That way, I can best plan and prepare their strategies in ways that make the most sense to their brain. They way I think and process is different, and I have this whole spiel on brutal honesty. Because without that 100% honesty only policy–nothing I create will work!
Brand strategists see the bigger picture and connect dots you didn’t even know existed.
When you get to the level where you are bringing on a brand strategist, chances are you’ve grown a successful business. Notice I didn’t say brand? That is mostly consistent and successful–BUT it’s not what you want. You’re either not getting the clients you really want, there’s too much manual work, or you want your income to be different.
Great, gotcha, no problem!
That also means that things you’ve done to this point are “working”, or at least so you think and feel. And in reality they ARE getting you clients, they ARE making you money, they ARE growing your audience–but there’s a catch. You want something more, or different. You’re not “happy” with where things are right now.
Most of the time that means who you are currently marketing to (if you are marketing at all) are NOT your ideal clients. And that means we have to change a lot of what you’ve been doing up until now. It doesn’t mean that what you’ve been doing up to this point is wrong. Only that it served it’s purpose in building your business. It taught you what you know now, and inspired you to want more. Now it’s time to let it go.
Which brings me to this–when you work with a Brand Strategist they are going to be looking at a lot more puzzle pieces than you probably knew even existed. And that’s perfectly normal. You are the entrepreneur with specific skills and creative talents. Your brand strategist is meant to know all the secret puzzle pieces you didn’t know existed. These puzzle pieces are important to taking you to the next level.
You may be resistant because it’s new, and unfamiliar–but trust your strategists experience. Having a strategist is a whole lot less expensive when you have confidence in what they know and give them the time to put plans in place and have them play out. (But if you do have immense gut wrenching feelings, be sure to tell them so you can talk them through. Chances are the thing you’re worried about they already thought through. Double checking doesn’t hurt!)
How things play out long term is always on your brand strategists’ mind.
When it comes to working with a Brand Strategist, a lot of what you will be working on is the long game. Things that you do right now that will pay off months from now. Because when it comes to building a stable brand everything takes time. Examples are pinterest strategy, Search Engine Optimization, website user experience, social media, nurturing emails lists. The list keeps going, but a lot of it takes time to develop and for the plan to play through.
In my case–when I am building a strategy for a client I am never thinking about single use efforts. They are just not worth it. Will we create things that an audience doesn’t respond to like we thought–of course. We aren’t psychic (I mean we’re close, but we’re not that good)!
Working with Brand Strategists means you get to focus on the things you love most about running a business.
Most of the time the work you do with your brand strategist is all about building systems that work behind the scenes to maximize your income while minimizing the amount of effort you have to put into it. Some of it may do with messaging and making sure that you are always attracting and speaking to your ideal client–which in turns means the people who inquire are most of the time the perfect fit. Or maybe it’s building and automating an email nurture sequences that helps them make mindset shifts getting them in the mood for a certain product.
All those automations and systems means more time for you. What you do with that time is up to you. Whether it means more family time, more beach time or more time focusing on your existing clients. The possibilities are truly endless here. Not to mention getting emails that say people paid that automatic invoice, or completed an inquiry form and booked a discovery call without lifting a finger is always exciting.
Brand Strategists make working with your Virtual Assistant so much easier.
Hiring a VA…that’s a big deal. It means you have more work than you either can or want to handle and delegating–well that’s another beast. When you work with a brand strategist they can actually make this process so much easier. Between visual branding guidelines, marketing plans and business systems, your brand strategist is actually giving you guidance on what to have your virtual assistant do. They are also minimizing the time and effort the virtual assistant has to spend doing the drudgy, sludgy boring admin tasks.
So, let’s recap here. The strongest point on why you need a brand strategist is that they aren’t you. They see the things that you haven’t been able to see in your business yet and will help you reach fully potential when you aren’t chasing all the things and not sure which one will work for you.
Don’t think you are ready for 1:1 services yet? But are fully convinced that you need a brand strategist yesterday? Check out my new Make Shit Happen Hour, a strategy membership where you still get amazing non-cookie cutter strategy on your biz, for a fraction of the cost.
