The Right Collaboration is Key: How to Learn from a Bruised Ego

I'm going to be real honest with you guys. 

My ego was beyond bruised last year, so much so that I didn't even realize the lies I told myself to avoid feeling it.

Back in September, I tried my hand at hosting a solo workshop all about brand clarity. I worked really hard on the content over a period of months so that it would be incredibly thoughtful and valuable to my guests. I was presenting to a group of alumni at a college and later realized that I had relied too heavily on receiving support of the organization to help promote the workshop and get tickets sold. My contact there at the time who set it up is still one of my favorite people in the world, but unfortunately things just didn't work as we had hoped. They did some Insta Stories and sent an email out to their alumni, but it was buried in a long list of events and news. Not great.

It was the day of the workshop and I had sold 3 tickets.

To make things worse, one of the girls was sick. BUT I didn't cancel. I drove my butt downtown and did my very best. I threw my plan of a formal presentation out the window and dove into the content. I focused on providing these two women with a very personalized experience split between each of their budding businesses. 

In hindsight, I see that it's important to have these rough experiences to learn how to do things better, but after it was over, I felt exhausted and defeated.

I decided that workshops weren't for me.

I turned my focus to client projects and on growing a team at Written & Styled. So I did that. I put my head down and got to work. I added some wonderful new clients to our roster and some new amazing team members. 

So why was I feeling like something was still missing? I couldn't figure it out. I went to workshops, met with intuitive readers, coaches, and even a traditional therapist. Of course, it was more of my "woo" women supporters that opened my eyes. I'm told I have a lot of masculine "doing" energy and need to be more feminine and tune-in to my intuition and "feel" - that still confuses me a bit, but I agree and once I let go and connected to what made me happy, it clicked. 

I really missed coaching and working with new entrepreneurs. 

Before the workshop last year, I was collaborating with a co-working space in downtown where I provided free 30-min marketing coaching sessions for a day once a month. That was so fun. It was kind of like speed coaching where I helped people get out of their bubble and see things differently. In near every experience, I'd hear how clear they felt about their business and how excited they were to put these new ideas into action. Some turned into clients. From there, I started taking on one-on-one coaching clients and, in fact, this experience was what gave me the idea for the workshop in the first place.

It just goes to show you need to pick your collaborators well.

This brings me to last Saturday where Written & Styled presented and participated in an incredible panel discussion and speed mentoring event in collaboration with Savoir Collab (Founded by Tamalin Srisook of Savoir Agency) "Telling Your Brand Story" at Industrious West Hollywood (the prettiest co-working space ever).

Scroll down to see my list of top 8 takeaways from our event. 

Over the course of a short 3 weeks we had to work out all of the details, including the panelists, location, photography, food, promotion, etc. Tamalin has been in event production for over 20 years and I'll tell you, she knows her stuff. She loves supporting women-led businesses and loved my idea for the event right from the start.

Yet, it still takes a village! 

Without the awesome support of our panelists and our friends - sending emails, posting on social media and just showing up - it would never have been as successful. 

My goal was to help shine a light on brand storytelling from a group of expert storytellers. And no surprise, these women truly rocked it (listed from left to right in the image):

KRISTEN SCHELLENBERG- PHOTOGRAPHER & FOUNDER OF THE ATELIER LA

TASHA OLDHAM- FILMMAKER & FOUNDER OF MY STORY INC

HAELY WHITE- CONTENT CREATOR & CO FOUNDER OF LIKE TOTALLY

TAMALIN SRISOOK - FOUNDER OF SAVOIR AGENCY & SAVOIR COLLAB

ME - ARICA ROSENTHAL - MARKETING STRATEGIST & FOUNDER OF WRITTEN & STYLED

ERIKA HEET- EDITOR IN CHIEF AT INTERIORS MAGAZINE

MEGAN DIZON- CONTENT CREATOR & CO FOUNDER OF LIKE TOTALLY

The concept of "speed mentoring" is all Tamalin. It's awesome because attendees get to listen to a quick 30-min panel (I think we only got through each of our stories and none of the questions I had prepared!) then everyone is broken into small groups to speak with each panelists. 

The groups rotated every 15 minutes and then we ended with a little networking, photo ops, along with cupcakes and champagne for our birthday girl panelist, Haely. 

8 key takeaways from our event:

1. Partners. Find a collaboration partner that has a true desire to have a good turnout. 

2. Description and pricing. Once you have your event concept nailed, make sure to share the description and pricing with a few friends (who love you enough to be honest) to make sure they get it and would want to go. If not, tweak early. 

3. Promote early. Begin promoting earlier than you think you need to and get creative about how to spread the word. In the days leading up to our event I had quite a few great suggestions from friends that I wish I had plotted out sooner. 

4. Everyone needs to pitch in. Make it clear to those participating in your event that you're going to need their help promoting ahead of time. No matter the budget, it always helps and can make all the difference.

5. You're not annoying. No one ever sees all of your social posts, so don't feel like you're being annoying when you are posting all over the place leading up to your event.

6. IRL Opportunity. Find opportunities for personal connections. We are in front of our screen enough getting talked to, let your guests get involved and help them create relationships with your experts.

7. Photography + Video. Probably goes without saying, but it's so nice to look back on all the hard work you put it. We were lucky enough to have the lovely Stephanie Tusler of TSLR Lifestyle take the gorgeous photos seen in this post. We took a bunch of videos for our Instagram story and shared portions of the event live.

8. End on a high note. Keep the magic alive with thank you emails/notes to your collaborators and guests. Get as personal as you have the capacity for. 

The moral of this post is that I encourage everyone to be OK with failing or whatever you consider less than ideal. It teaches us the lessons we need to do better the next time if we are determined enough to try again. 

"In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety." - Abraham Maslow

With love,

Arica

Don't miss out on future events! 

Get on the list. 

All photography provided by TSLR Lifestyle. Contact stephanie@tslrlifestyle.com for amazing custom content for your brand. 

5 Simple Tips to Boost Your Email Signups

I had an interesting experience in a local shop that sells greeting cards, small gifts organizational decor that makes my heart skip a beat. The shop was collaborating with a nearby tea shop in a way that was smart but missed the mark.

The promotion was quite simple. They had postcards with a discount for the tea shop at cashiers desk and samples of tea at the front. When making my purchase, the cashier politely told me about the offer, pointed to the discount card in front of me and to the tea samples at the front. I happen to like the tea shop, but my brain quickly processed the effort and time it would take to go over there.  In my mind, I already said no. However, I think that if they had simply placed additional samples at the cashier, I would have been much more likely to try the tea and if I had really liked it, I may have reconsidered. Without anything truly drawing me in on an emotional "feeling" level, my rational and logical brain took over.

My early career was in visual merchandising for fashion retail brands and I'll forever be intrigued by how small adjustments in layout can make big changes from a sales and service perspective. This small miss in placement at the greeting card shop made me think about how it translates in the digital space. And the place my brain went to first was with an email signup form.

Building an email list is one of the most important things you can do for your long-term marketing strategy. Even if you aren't ready to launch a consistent email campaign, start growing your list - today.

I know many businesses are doing amazing things selling via social media. Don't get me wrong, depending on your business, selling on social is a real thing and another important part of the puzzle. It's just not something I would ever want you to rely on as your sole marketing vehicle. Although someone may follow you on social media, you never really know when and how often they will see your content due to ever-changing algorithms and you never know what could happen to that platform in the future. 

With email, you'll have a direct line of communication to your tribe. Obviously, there are best practices to avoid the dreaded spam filter, but otherwise, it's in your hands to craft a great subject line and provide value in your content. For a quick jump start, I wrote a blog post called, Get People to Read Your Content. It was written with blogging in mind, but the advice works the same for crafting emails. Instead of the blog headline, think subject line.

When it comes growing your list, be sure you have a way for your website visitors to signup for your email newsletter. For some advice on designing and placing a winning email signup form, I reached out to a friend and collaborator Ariana Kamar, Designer and Strategist behind The Design Executive. Ariana works with clients to grow their businesses by creating a better user experience on their website.

To increase your odds of your website visitor to sign up to receive your newsletter, I’ve asked Ariana for her top five tips for making the most of your digital real estate.

Ariana:

Just like Arica’s example of the lack of visual merchandising, that failed to connect her to the tea shop, a poorly placed emailed sign-up can mean a make/break difference! So consider these as you think about where and how you’re placing your email sign up.

1. To pop-up or not to pop-up: Pop-ups for newsletter sign-ups are easily disregarded. So unless you’re offering a discount, download, or exclusive content, your pop-up will likely fall on deaf ears (or in our case, eyes).

2. Your website header or footer is where email sign-up forms go to die. It’s the easiest place to stick it, but unless you have the catchiest copy, color and font choices, you may as well forget about it. Add it to the middle or end of blog posts or About pages to grab people while they’re already engaged with you and want to know more.

3. Keep it short: From your Call to Action to the form itself, shorter can be better. Don’t create “form friction” by asking for too much info upfront!

4. But don’t be too short: Don’t rely on a “Sign Up” header and “submit” to get you far. Branded, clever Call to Action text can go a long way to attract people to join in.

5. Use your data: Looking at how many people sign up using difference Calls to Action and different placements is the only real way to know what’s working. So try it out, wait, and adjust!

Thank you, Ariana! Be sure to check out The Design Executive website and follow Ariana on Instagram at @thedesignexec for great tips on designing a website with intention.

As mentioned earlier in the post, even if you aren’t ready to begin regularly emailing your list, start building your list today by simply adding or revamping a signup form to your website.

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For more tips on email marketing and list generating ideas, be sure to join our list below.

Getting Started Part 2: Define Goals

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Hi Love! Thank you for popping over to read the second part of this series to get our ducks in a row and build a strong foundation of knowledge around your brand. These discussions and exercises will inform how to develop the best strategy to attract customers/clients for your business.

If you haven't had a chance to check out part 1 which helps bring clarity to your mission, you can go here to read and see how I suggest you use the free Brand Clarity Workbook that I created for you.

Ok let's get to it. 

I remember way back when I was in one of my first Director of Marketing roles. The business was growing quickly and I think a lot of times small business owners are too busy to think through a marketing strategy. They just want results, and fast. So it means a lot of trial, error and quick pivots. However, I feel this leads to a lot of confusion and frustration for the people running marketing efforts. As much as we want the owner to be happy and for the business to be successful, we also believe patience can be a virtue. In most cases, marketing initiatives require multiple variations of testing before it can be ruled out. One single change can alter the outcome drastically. For example, the day/time you send an email blast can be huge.

So what do we do? Well, first we need to be clear about our goals. This way when we begin to develop a strategy or when we are creating a single campaign or piece of content, we can always check ourselves to ask, "Is this ___ supporting my main goal?" It will help avoid a lot of wasted time on potential projects that don't support the goal. Sometimes you have to know when to say no to efforts that are not the right move in the current state of your business.

Now, when I say "goal", I'm speaking in general terms, but it's important to break down and clear some confusion around the differences between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.

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GOALS: The easiest way to think of a goal is that it's the "What" not the "How". Goals are what you want to accomplish as a broad primary outcome. 

Example for a children's clothing brand, their "goal" might be: To be the preferred choice of organic cotton, casual children's clothing for suburban mothers in the United States. 

It doesn't matter if the goal is lofty. The point is to keep everyone in the company focused on efforts that support this main outcome.

OBJECTIVES: Here is where we get a bit more realistic and measurable. Objectives outline necessary steps to achieve the primary goal. Think of objectives as actions, such as: increase, double, sell, deliver, convert.

Example for the same children's brand: Grow an email list of women ages 27 - 45 with children, who reside in suburban communities. 

STRATEGIES:  A strategy is the "How" and also the "Why" when it comes to fulfilling the objectives that relate to the main goal. It's both because the strategy is speaking to what the approach will be and it's why you are taking it. Might be easier to understand in the example.

Example for the children's brand: Create authority and credibility via endorsements of the clothing brand and designs by collaborating with top mom bloggers and editors.

TACTICS: These are all the action items to be fulfilled in order to carry out the strategy that will meet objectives and support the main goal.

Example list of potential tactics for the children's brand as it relates to the overall goal, objective and strategy outlined above:

1. Compile list of potential bloggers and editors for outreach.

2. Coordinate a photoshoot to showcase product.

3. Design a visual representation of collection (potentially a digital lookbook).

4. Outreach to media with pitch, imagery and offer of physical samples (or actually provide).

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Now that we have the difference between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics clear, I invite you to download my free Goal Worksheet and fill in based on your particular business.

As always, feel free to share with me via arica@writtenandstyled.com if you have questions or would like feedback. 

Don't miss Part 3 next week, where we will close out this series with a discussion all around determining your target audience and why it's so important to get clear now before you start creating content. I'll be sharing some really interesting ways to use Facebook as a tool to get tons of great data. Sign up here to be the first to know about the post. 

Cheers to creating content with clarity!

-Arica