The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

Karey Mackin

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Branding 101: Let Your Clients Know WHAT ELSE You Can Do

Have you ever found your business in a rut, stuck in the niche you created but wishing desperately to be something else — something more? Your clients know you as a trusted expert, your peers think of you as the go-to person with all the answers, and you’re bored beyond tears.

Be careful how you brand yourself.

Branding 101

At a recent writers’ workshop, I met a woman who specializes in creating commercial real estate content. All day, every day, she writes blog post after LinkedIn article after tweet about all things commercial real estate. Her work is shared and liked and retweeted. She’s kind of a big deal and has moved on from branding 101 when it comes to commercial real estate content.

We talked for a while about our careers, and while she was describing hers, she mentioned that she’d really love to delve into the pop-up shop industry. Specifically, she wants to utilize all those empty storefronts and offices as temporary retail spaces. Genius, right?

She’s done the research, she has the first-hand knowledge of the viability for such an endeavor, and she quite possibly has a long list of potential clients and investors. It’s just that no one knows about her brilliant idea, except for me. What a shame.

Bringing Up Your Suite of Services

If you’ve got a goal to expand your services, but keep finding yourself unable to successfully accomplish it, you might want to reconsider your branding strategy (and go back to branding 101). Here’s how:

  • Educate your clients on what else you can do. Show them that there are more reasons to hire you than the skills you originally brought to the table (for example: we’re more than a content marketing agency. We help our clients create the perfect marketing strategy, design the process to generate awareness, develop the content and distribute it, and then analyze the data and tweak the strategy to maximize results). Chances are, your vision may match their needs perfectly.
  • Start doing the work you actually want to be doing. It’s difficult to make room for unpaid or unproven work, but it’s necessary to fit it in any way possible. In the case of my pop-up pal, she could benefit greatly by embarking on a one-day-only retail spot benefitting a local charity of her choice. She’d dip her toe in the pop-up waters and do some good while she’s at it.
  • Blend your new skill set into your client offerings. Initially, you may have to show your clients fresh possibilities before they believe in you. Be flexible, and give yourself some space to be authentic and strategic.

Above all, when you’re adding a new profile to your services, don’t undersell your skills; they’re now part of your complete strategic package. Remember to talk less about what you bring to the table, and show more.

If you’d like some ideas to rebrand yourself, just ask us instead of going back to Branding 101. We’ve helped a lot of clients reinvent themselves.

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You’ve Got a Million Ideas (But You Only Need One)

At The Found Gen, we’re all kind of obsessed with trend forecasting and idea architecture. What’s next, what’s after that…extra kudos for the marketing ideas that follow. Now, how do we make them come to life?

Yes, we’re swimming in ideas over here.

There are certainly worse dilemmas for a content marketing and production firm; after all, ideas are our currency. But for individuals and brands out there in the world of content and branding all alone, too many ideas can mean no ideas at all. At a certain point, an overflow of ideas becomes paralyzing and blocks significant progress.

So how – short of waving a magic wand and hoping for the best – do you translate lots of pretty okay marketing ideas into one fabulous driving concept to guide your brand’s next steps? Easy.

How to Develop Great Marketing Ideas

  • Time-Hop. The best ideas are equal parts nostalgia and post-modern, eliciting an immediate attachment while inspiring a fresh, new direction. Know the latest trends and preferences in your industry, and jump a few steps ahead of those, while remembering what spoke to you loudest yesterday. It sounds complicated. But when you land on such an idea, you’ll feel it in your gut.
  • Start small. We always begin with the basic product or message and grow from there. What specific product are you trying to create? What specific problem are you trying to eliminate? Identify the exact idea you’re trying to accomplish. The stronger and clearer the initial idea is, the better, more expansive the ultimate build will be.
  • Be ruthless with your time and energy. Give your best efforts to the ideas that’ll stand the test of what-ifs. Bonus points if the idea is met with strong disapproval from some in your audience, because great ideas are controversial and test our beliefs.
  • Consider the validity of the idea. No, really. Be very honest with its success rate. Will it help people or change them in some fashion? Make sure there’s enough of a market to make your endeavor worth it. Remember: You don’t need a huge audience to succeed. Just a loyal one.
  • Think prototype before full-fledged business. Rather than staff a soon-to-be multi-million-dollar company, start with a sample or small-run and let your potential customers in on the test. Their feedback is worth its weight in gold.
  • Know your limits. There are times when even the best idea needs to be better, and times when the only thing that’ll get it there is an outside resource. Ask for help. Ask for advice. Ask us.

At The Found Gen, we always have room for more ideas. Bring yours to us. We can turn them into brand-changing plans.

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Content Marketing vs. Influencers: Who Wins the Race for Results?

If content is king, then what do we term the influencer? Upstart cousin, twice-removed, tanned from spending the summer in Portofino, about nineteen million followers, intent on taking over the kingdom? Yep. That sounds about right.

Do you ever find yourself confused about the differences between content marketing and influencer marketing? Are you wondering which approach will best carry your brand to blazing success and maximum exposure? Here’s a helpful primer for you, then.

Content vs Influencer, Defined

First, let’s define the two concepts. Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable, relatable content to attract and engage an audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Influencer marketing involves collaborating with a prominent individual (or a group of individuals) to distribute content.

One career path sounds way more exciting, doesn’t it? Who among us doesn’t dream of being an influencer? Earning such a title means we have sway, authority, and even the envy of our millions of followers.

But the problems with relying on influencer marketing are kind of complicated.

When you hand off your brand for someone else to hold, you run the very real risk of diluting your message. Our recommendation is to make sure your brand is strong enough on its own before letting an influencer make it her own. At The Found Gen, our goal is to find brand complements, not competition.

There’s also a lot – a lot, a lot! – of blind faith involved in joining forces with an influencer. Social media changes on a dime, so what guarantees do we have that an influencer will stay on the same message tomorrow as she’s espousing today? We have none.

About the ROI

And what about ROI? An influencer’s amount of followers does not necessarily translate into clicks or sales. We’ve always been swayed by the endorsements of people we admire and idolize, but the internet has blurred what it means to be influential. Sure, we can look at the metrics behind the trending and reach of an influencer, but it’s not a certainty that the strategy will match our brand’s specific goals.

Perhaps most importantly, the problem with influencers is that their very definition is changing at the speed of light. Forget celebrities in the traditional sense. Seventy percent of teen subscribers think YouTubers are more relatable than celebrities.

With 88% of consumers trusting online recommendations as much as personal recommendations, selecting the right influencer seems key. And pricey.

The best strategy is to join forces with an influencer who loves your brand – legitimately, wholly, and passionately. And then get ready to pay. Because influencers are free agents in the content world, always looking for better deals.

If the very thought of an influencer-reliant marketing strategy makes you shudder, we’ve got you. At The Found Gen, we create content that strives to build a loyal, active customer base, affordably and effectively.

Basically, we turn your content into the celebrity. Try us out. Or you could have a go at Lilly Singh, the highest-earning woman on YouTube this year.

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Are You Hearing What Your Client is Telling You?

It’s so much easier to tell your client what you’re thinking than listen to their thoughts. After all, you’re the expert, right?

Maybe. But probably not.

No matter your level of knowledge, it’s crucial to become a master listener – especially during client meetings. And don’t forget about client phone calls, strategy meetings, and idea generating sessions. Basically, if your client is speaking, or you’re speaking on behalf of your client, it’s time to listen up.

  • Have conversations. Real ones that make room for back-and-forth exchanges of ideas and reactions, savoring all the information gleaned. This is the good stuff.
  • Absorb what your client is telling you. Don’t interrupt. When they’ve finished making their points, ask more questions. They know their business better than anyone, but they need you to tell their story so everyone else can know their business better than any competitor’s. Impatience, especially when simultaneously considering billable hours, is a real information-blocker.
  • Ask questions. Better yet, ask questions that begin with “If I’m hearing you correctly, you’re telling me…”
  • Don’t tell them you’re listening – show them. Do the work and employ the ideas you both took the time to discuss.
  • Feedback is your friend. Even negative feedback is instructional, guiding, and vital for growth, so make sure to listen even more intently when it appears. (Because it will appear.) And remember: In any client relationship, it takes twelve positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience – the key word being unresolved.
  • Stay far ahead of your client in social listening. Pay attention to conversations that aren’t even about your client, and extract insights about brand new influences and leads. The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
  • It’s not about you. But it is totally about what you and your client can create together.

Did you know that an overwhelming majority of clients leave because of a perceived attitude of indifference? So communicate clearly, be responsive, and listen hard. You may have heard what they’re telling you a thousand times before, but it’s fresh to them.

It’s been said that listening is being able to be changed by the other person, and we agree. At The Found Gen, our clients’ stories constantly reconfigure how we view the world. We love traveling alongside them.

If you ever need someone to listen to your brand’s story, we’re all ears.

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Networking 101 in 2017

Five tips on how to reconnect and reinvent your brand

So you want to start your own business. Excellent. You can count on us to be in your corner, especially if you need assistance with your branding and story. It’s kind of our thing.

Tell us who else has your back. Who do you consult when you’ve got questions? Who’s your go-to when you fail or, better yet, succeed? Who have you referred, boosted as much as you can, and who are you excited to meet?

Networking Tips

All this is your networking reach. How far does yours stretch? Here are a few ways to network better this year:

  1. Find your people. And then meettheir people. The chain never ends if you’re networking correctly. So attend industry specific events with cards and keep an open mind about contacts you might not need today, but perhaps will someday.(A special note about business cards: Treat them like money.)
  1. Make sure your people areable to find you. This means current social media sites and proper contact information. Try not to change your email address. Consistency is key; if you and your information are constant, your branding and message will benefit.
  1. Work on your elevator pitch. The elevator part isn’t crucial, because when’s the last time you found yourself on an elevator with an individual who could possibly change the trajectory of your company’s success? The point is, you must craft a one-sentence statement to offer when asked “What do you do?” Answer: “I (insert service or product) for people who (insert description of dream client’s needs).”Even better than one sentence? A unique title. Now, maybe you’re lucky enough to hold a job that’s easily identified by your audience. Think surgeon, U.S. Senator, ghostwriter, and baker. But what if you’re a design blogger? A wellness professional? A creative consultant? A neon sign maker? Be prepared for the follow-up questions those titles elicit, and get specific. See elevator pitch, above.
  1. Think small. If you’re talking about your business with a potential influencer or partner, narrow your focus. You don’t need to tell everythingyou can do; this is the moment tosqueeze everything into that one thing. You may be an architectural designer who wants to focus only on the designer part of your career for a while. That’s fine. In networking environments, just be sure to highlight your design talents and projects, throwing in your architectural background when necessary.
  1. Quality, not quantity. At a certain point, the amount of connections and followers you enjoy will max out. Ever heard of Dunbar’s number? Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, posits that 150 is the most social connections we can manage all at once. But do we only want 150? Nope. We want hundreds of thousands, more, more, more.

No matter your ideal number of connections, focus on that tight group who can really help you get where you want to be. And make sure that you’re creating content that will resonate with them.

One final tip that always guarantees success, both personal and professional: Spread the love. If you know someone who’s great at something, tell others. Share their social media accounts. And then do it for the next peer who impresses you with their own additions to the world.

Goodwill begets more goodwill. And we can’t imagine a better networking outcome than that.

Need help with your message? We’ve got some good ideas for you. Just ask.

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Just Ask: Get What You Want

Whether it’s a new client, a bigger audience – by preparing well and not being afraid of rejection

The Rolling Stones were wrong: You can always get what you want. You might just have to manage your wants a little better.

I have an incredibly talented friend who deals with corporate numbers all day, and then designs jewelry as soon as she gets home from work. And not just any jewelry: the gaudiest, most non number-crunching pieces you’ve ever seen. Think stuff your coolest great aunt wore for special occasions back in the day. It’s crazy amazing.

So this friend of mine was getting a little frustrated with the amount of hours she was putting into her main and side gigs, wishing she could somehow stop with the conference rooms and negotiations and all those numbers…and just make jewelry. Of course, she came to us for help. Here’s what we advised:

  1. Set real goals. There are goals, and then there are real goals. It’s easy to say, “I want to quit my job and design jewelry for a living,” and much more difficult to achieve a specific goal like, “I want to set up an online shop and social media accounts, and sell at least $25,000 of my designs the first year. Then triple that the next. Then sell directly through Neiman Marcus and other luxury outlets.” Whoa. See the difference? When you’re starting a business, be precise about your goals.
  1. Enlist some help. Sure, we’ve got her back. We’re a highly effective content marketing group who knows exactly what, when, and how she needs to do this. But she’s going to need more. She’ll need social media partners to spread her goodness through native marketing, peers in her desired demographic to be seen in her wares, and friends involved in the same line of work, from design to production to retail.
  1. Collaborate wisely. If your end game involves luxury retailers, do you really want to sign an exclusive with a dime store? I know, I know, it sounds amazing and it’s your first meaningful purchase order, and when you’re starting a business this is huge, but I encourage you to resist. Keep your real goal always at the forefront of your brand actions and decisions.
  1. Collaborate on the fly. Wise is usually the way to go, but sometimes an opportunity pops upthat completely changes your path. Be open to those collaborations.Trust your gut. They might be the way to go.
  1. Craft your message with care. From the minute my friend decided on her real goal, I advised her to refresh her current social media. No more mixed messages about the lunch she just ate, the socks she’s wearing, the table her puppy chewed up, or anything unrelated to her jewelry. Her content had to be pure in at least the early days of her branding.

We decided on her primary sharing platform, which was a blog connected to an Etsy shop, and got to work. Later, we added support platforms through Facebook Live and Instagram, where most of her customers hang out. Starting a business: that’s really all it takes (note: you should also speak to an attorney and an accountant — we know some great people that would be more than happy to help you out).

I could tell you the rest of the story, but it’s still in progress. (Neiman Marcus, she’s coming for you!) If you’d like help forming your own wants into reality, we’re right here. Just ask.