Special guest post & giveaway from Genevieve Brazelton of Lightbox SF
In our first two years of working with clients on strategies to better market their business, we noticed that no matter how long they’d been in business we always tended to start in the same place – clarifying our client’s brand story and defining their target market.
All of the businesses we worked with struggled to put into words how they were different from the competition and what benefits they were really providing for their customers. And when it came to target market few of them could describe much about their ideal customer beyond, gender, age and general income. It’s hard to really engage customers if you don’t know what makes you different or why your customers would care.
Ink Yourself: Using Story to Make a Bold Impression is a guided e-course designed to get you thinking about all the details that make up your unique brand story and help you define your ideal customer. The course is based on the idea that you already know everything you need to build a strong brand identity and stand out in the marketplace, but you need a guiding hand and outside perspective to dig into the details and shape it into your unique brand story.
“It’s challenging to step back from (our businesses) to gain perspective about what our work says and means. I felt really well supported during this course.”
The lessons in this 5-week e-course build on each other asking you to dive deep in the big vision of your business, realize your strengths, and get intimate with your ideal customer. Then we help you bring it all together into a guiding statement that makes showing off your awesomeness a breeze. You’ll also have unlimited email access to both Shelly and I and a live forum to get feedback and opinions from all the participants. We hope you’ll make friends as well as get clear on your brand message.
Registration is currently open and the course starts May 21st.
As a bonus we’re giving away one spot in the course to an oh my! handmade goodness reader. All you need to do is tell us your biggest marketing struggle in the comments below and we’ll pick a random winner. We’ll notify you by email on May 16th if we pick your name. However if you don’t want to leave it to chance you can sign up right now!
This giveaway is closed! Congratulations to:
About Genevieve:
Genevieve Brazelton writes about creative marketing strategies over on the Lightbox SF blog. She also works with creative entrepreneurs to brand their businesses by telling their stories and embracing what makes them unique.
Wow. This course sounds great. My biggest struggle is understanding the potential of my business. I haven’t collaborated with anyone, my site is the only place where I promote my products yet I’m doing well. I have no idea what/where my competition is. Is there more out there for me?
Thank you for this opportunity! I would LOVE to win a spot in this e-course. In the blossoming world of graphic & web design, I need to work on ways to stand out among similar small businesses. My biggest marketing struggle right now is really identifying my personal style & letting that be the face of my business. I need to work on building my portfolio towards the types of customers that I want to have, and accept less custom orders for designs that don’t match my personal style. I’m not sure if that even makes sense.. but I would love to participate & work on building my brand.
My biggest marketing struggle is consistency. I know what I need to do and I begin doing it with excitement but I’m horrible with distractions and get sidetracked. So often I find that I’m not consistent as I attempt to build my business and it’s frustrating. That’s where my struggles come from.
Love this! 😀
I have developed a great brand- however I often undersell the points that really drive home my message- leaving it as Eco-Friendly… which is actually a watered down description of what really goes on at TrashN2Tees. Its often hard for me to share all of the facets of TNT & accomplishments that are market-worthly because believe it or not I’m bashful. I love to share new designs & concepts with my followers but actually stepping outside of my comfort zone & approaching other outlets is another story.
Thank you both Jessika & Genevieve for sharing this amazing opportunity with the OMHG community!
Really interested in this e-course. My biggest struggle is that I’m too reserved. I need to figure out how to get outside of my comfort zone and i’m also a bit baffled on how to figure out how to reach the people in my targe market.
I’m struggling, I enjoy what I do, that being drawing, design and wall art for kids, but I can’t market myself or sell anything for peanuts!! My pals tell me my work is good but I need direction and help in attracting customers. I really need help. Thanks
Thank you for this opportunity. My biggest struggle right now is time. I feel stuck in the weeds of production and there is little time left over for marketing.
This sounds amazing. My biggest struggle right now is determining where to find my loyal and ideal customers, as I work toward opening my shop! However I’m really looking forward to the challenge and process of figuring it out!
I opened my Etsy shop before Christmas. I’ve listed some collages (recycled fabric on drawings), but I’d love to experiment with everything from sewing to jewelry making in order to find out what I like making. Utimately, my hope is to create an online shop filled with all kinds of lovely things for girls of all ages.
I’ll soon be in a situation where I’ll be able to put a lot more time (probably full-time) into experimenting/ making, and also into building my brand. From what I can foresee, my biggest challenge will be to find some kind of cohesiveness whilst finding out what I want to continue making. So this will probably also be my biggest marketing struggle!
My biggest fear when it comes to marketing is actually putting myself out there. I keep thinking things like: “Why would anyone be interested in me and my product?”; “I’ll sound too pushy”…
My biggest marketing struggle is working out how to set myself apart from the crowd! I think to do that I really need to work out how to tell my story well and in a way that makes people want to buy my product (which of course Ink Yourself would be perfect for!).
My biggest struggle is finding out where my ideal customer hangs out and how to connect with them. I’d love to dive a little deeper into this, but could use some help. Thanks for this opportunity.
Tania
This looks great! Ummm, my biggest problem is where to start! 🙂 Thanks!
i have 2 business i run both in real life and on etsy. i don’t spend any time on them on line, bcuz i can’t seem to carve enough time out of my day to do that.
it seems that getting on the computer = diving into a black hole. and nothing ever gets accomplished.
i do have a retail space i use part time and in real life i do GREAT with both businesses.
i have no trouble putting myself or my products out there in person, i’m a gangbusters sales woman extraordinaire. i just don’t seem to know how to translate that online into many sales. even tho i do get told my products are beautiful.
i can only imagine the huge amount i could learn from you and the absolute 180º turn my business would take in working with you.
i want to thank Jessika for her always wonderful blog and Genevieve for the opportunity to submit my businesses and name for a chance to work with her.
thank you both!
I have two marketing struggles – defining my brand and finding a balance between marketing myself and marketing my craft blog. Marketing yourself is a big part of any business and I struggle with that part!