064 The magic of brand messaging - how clarifying your message basically makes your life easier - clarity helps busy entrepreneurs to have less stress, less overwhelm - sign me up please!
Kelly Sinclair is your brand and marketing fairy godmother. She equips passionate entrepreneurs with the magic wand they need to get clear on their message and who they serve so they can attract their dream clients and grow their businesses.
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
064 The magic of brand messaging - how clarifying your message basically makes your life easier - clarity helps busy entrepreneurs to have less stress, less overwhelm - sign me up please!
Kelly Sinclair is your brand and marketing fairy godmother. She equips passionate entrepreneurs with the magic wand they need to get clear on their message and who they serve so they can attract their dream clients and grow their businesses.
In this episode you will learn:
More info <<HERE>>
Hello and welcome to the healthy, happy and mostly sane entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host national board certified health and wellness coach and Ayurvedic practitioner, and mostly sane entrepreneur Ellen Leonard. Each week, I share my obsession with helping you build a healthy life that works for you, your family, and your business. Because I don't think you have to sacrifice your own health and well being to be successful. So please stay tuned. For today's episode full of ideas to make staying healthy just a little bit easier. Don't forget to hit subscribe, so you don't miss out on future episodes. I am so excited for today's episode because we have a very special magical guest today Kelly Sinclair who is a brand and marketing fairy godmother. Sometimes I call her a fairy brand mother, but basically she equips passionate entrepreneurs with the magic one, they need to get clear on their message, and who they serve, so that they can attract their dream clients and grow their businesses. And it really is magic, what she offers the magic, brand messaging, how clarifying your message basically makes your life easier. I'll say that again. The reason that it's so magical, the reason brand messaging is so magical, is because clarifying your message makes your life easier. Clarity helps busy entrepreneurs to have less stress, less overwhelm. So sign me up, please, let's get into this because in this episode, you're going to learn number one, why brand messaging is an essential part of your business. Number two, how clarifying your brand messaging gives you the space to grow and evolve over time, meaning it does not lock you in. Because so often you can think that if I'm going to do this one specific thing, it locks me in. And Kelly tells us that's not how it is. And it was so interesting, I learned so much. Number three, what one thing you could do today to improve your brand messaging. And number four, how clarity can give you power and control back in your business and decrease overwhelm stress, and burnout. So let's get started. So Kelly, thank you so much for making the time to be with us today. I'm so excited to finally have you on the podcast.
Kelly Sinclair:Thank you, Alan super excited over here, too.
Ellen Leonard:And you know that I love hearing about how other entrepreneurs got started, you know your origin story. For sakes, I think we're all superheroes. But what inspired you to get started in your own business? Why did you start doing this?
Kelly Sinclair:So I'm glad you brought that up, because it's very connected as well as to what I do, because I talk to people about brands story all the time. And so in that process, I've had to figure out what mine is and how I share that. And the truth is that I never thought I would ever be an entrepreneur. I was like nope, that I don't I don't want to work by myself. I don't know, maybe I had this vision of entrepreneurship as No, you're just doing your thing all by yourself. And there's no other people involved, which is not true. Yeah. Because you get clients and you might have a team and you get opportunities like this to meet other people. And that's amazing. So I do love it. But I never thought I was going to do it. And then I was working. So I was kind of doing that like Check, check boxes of life where I got married, had my kids like graduated, working in my field of study, which is public relations, I have a PR degree and I had a career started working in that. And I was going down like that, you know, the corporate ladder climb, checking things off working for a big PR firm. And one day I was in a team meeting. And I got a phone call from my dad. And he said mom had a seizure. And she is on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. And I had totally froze because I knew I could get a call like that. My mom had cancer she had it had been going. Yeah, it had been going, you know, getting worse. And I knew that. And but that was the moment that made me stop and question everything. It made me question what I was doing, whether what I was doing was what I wanted to do. I was feeling like, separate to that health crisis my mom was going through. I was I was just fresh back from my second maternity leave. So I had like a one year old and a three year old at home. We had moved kind of out of the city so we had to commute. I was getting up before five, eight Am I don't like mornings and I was getting up at like 445.
Ellen Leonard:Every morning. That's very morning, Kelly.
Kelly Sinclair:It's basically still night
Ellen Leonard:like, is basically the night.
Kelly Sinclair:Still night. It was not, it should not be allowed. She's like that is a non negotiable that I will not get up before 5am. So I was exhausted my kids, we had to drop them off at six in the morning. We're going down the highway. I remember having a coffee, but also a thermos to refill the coffee, like I needed to have two coffees before I got to my office, just to like be able to walk in and feel like a human being by 7am. And that was all happening. And I thought, No, I'm like, Kelly, you could do it. You did it before. It'll be fine. Just keep pushing through. And then when this happened with my mom, I realized, nope, I don't want that. So I took a leave of absence from my job. And this, the sad part was, was only eight days after that, that my mom passed away.
Ellen Leonard:I'm so sorry.
Kelly Sinclair:But you know, that loss really made me think about life differently. And I was like looking at my life and going, is this what I want. And I realized, no, I had no control over my time, I had no quality time with my kids. Because when kids are that little, you pretty much have to feed them immediately or everybody dies. So like, between the hours I was spending on the road and outwork and trying to get food on the table, which is like impossible before somebody eats somebody else was like, just insane. And I'd like thought, No, I'm not going to go back to that I want I want to take the knowledge that I have and the skills that I have to help the entrepreneurs around me because there's a lot of entrepreneurs in the community where I live, and I love my town that I grew up in. And that I live in now. And I raised my my family in and I wanted to be able to support those business owners in really, I knew that they were passionate about what they did, right? Because you'd see them you see them like pouring themselves into their business, but forgetting this whole big thing called marketing and branding. And they got Okay, now you're missing something here. And I want to help with that.
Ellen Leonard:Oh, my gosh, thank you so much for sharing that story. And, you know, it's just so interesting, the things that come up in our life that that are those aha moments where we're like, No, no, I get to choose what I really want. And I get to choose to spend my time, the way that I value in the way that would make my life better. And a feel like so many entrepreneurs have started this journey for similar reasons that they just weren't able to lead a life that they enjoyed or that aligned with what was valuable or a value to them. And it sounds like you've been able to do all of that now.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, and if I look back, now, I've been running my business for just over three years. And so since then, my kids have gone started school and everything and they've started extracurricular activities, like in a normal world, that's what they do, I would never have been able to deal with all of that if I was still going to that job. Right, I would never be able to, or I would have this even more guilt of, Oh, I have to leave at four and pick my kid up for gymnastics or whatever. And now I just have that freedom to do it. How I want and I think you know, when you realize how short life really is and how precious life really is, you make those things the priority. You allow yourself to choose your priorities, and then make them happen.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, yeah, totally. And you earlier spoke about you know, how you are so passionate about helping those people in your community like bridge that marketing gap and And you call yourself a branding Fairy Godmother or a fairy brand mother Do you have a preferred nomenclature there is there there one that I the official title?
Kelly Sinclair:We're going with fairy brands mother.
Ellen Leonard:Excellent share the fairy grandmother and I love that a lot of a lot of her marketing if you haven't seen it yet. does include some some magical things. There's some magical ones and and fairy dust and the like, which is appropriate. But I'm so curious to know why you think brand messaging is so vital for entrepreneurs to get into place as a foundation for their business.
Kelly Sinclair:It's funny, because sometimes I think, Oh, it's just so simple. But how many times do you have to introduce yourself and say what you do, whether you are meeting somebody new at a networking event, or you're on a podcast, or you are writing a page for your website, or you're writing your Instagram bio, or you're submitting something, and you need to write a bio, you have to be able to say, what you do, and who it's for, and why it matters. So that's really actually the little formula that I've created for what brand messaging is, who you are plus, who you're for, plus, why it matters. and pulling all of those things together. It's just, it helps you get so much clarity around, like, just how to talk about yourself and how to position yourself. And therefore, then you know, who you're going after and who you're serving, right with your business.
Ellen Leonard:And you've broken it down into what sounds like a simple formula. But the you know, I'm sure listeners are thinking of it as well. Well, that sounds simple, but it's really so complex and detailed and probably takes a lot of work for some people to really get at the core of what it is they're offering, who they're offering it to and why that is so valuable to that person. Yeah,
Kelly Sinclair:yeah, it is. I'm working through a group program right now, which so I've taken that formula and put it into a six week course. And we're, we're still like working on the same stuff, right? Like over the course of the six weeks, we have to keep digging more into your brand values more into your niche. That one is a huge block for a lot of people like choosing who you're targeting with your business, because a lot of the times we either think we can serve everybody or we if we are too narrow about who we're trying to reach as an audience, then that's probably not a good idea. Because that's leaving money on the table. Right? Or that's, that's rejecting business, and we shouldn't turn away business. We're entrepreneurs were what are we? We're scavengers? I don't know.
Ellen Leonard:Know, and that would be like an omnivore, right, like, you're not really discerning at that point.
Kelly Sinclair:But right. Yeah, exactly. So it does take a lot to choose, like, and ultimately, I think the challenge is in the fact that it's hard to make decisions. Like as a as an entrepreneur, you're always questioning whether this is the right choice or not. But ultimately, you just have to make a choice, and then you'll find out.
Ellen Leonard:I love that it's like well, I mean that that is the only way through, right? You have to make a decision, you have to make a choice, and and then you just hope that it works. But you're gonna find out either way, right?
Kelly Sinclair:Yes, and maybe that's my enneagram eight, or I'm like, well just do it. Just do it. And then we'll find out we'll get the information by by way of if you start targeting your messaging at a particular audience, and it's not working, or you'll start targeting your messaging at a particular audience, and then you'll learn more about them. And then you'll be able to target that messaging even more. Ultimately, your brand, your message and all of that will evolve, your whole business will evolve. You start with a core and understand like your values and who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. And who's involved in that as far as who your clients are, then all evolves over time.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah. And I think that's it's so important to remember as entrepreneurs that we are allowed to grow and change and evolve, and that what we start out doing might be completely different from what we end up doing and the end, but it's a process. And we have to go through it. It's not for most of us, at least it's not just going to instantly work.
Kelly Sinclair:Exactly. And I always bring up the example of Rachel Hollis here actually, because she started as like a party planner. And she started writing cookbooks. And now she is like one of the top personal development and business coaches, and she does live events and she does. She's an author and all this stuff right? It seems like wow, that's quite the transformation. But I heard her once say that her tagline like her theme, her brand basically has been the same. Since day one, she has always said, giving you the tools you need to change your life. At first, that was how to plan a meal, right. And now it's different. But it was still that core message stayed with her that the entire time, which I think is super interesting.
Ellen Leonard:And so it sounds like once we get this foundation in place that can really set us up to be able to grow and evolve in so I'm so curious if you had one thing that listeners could do today to clarify their brand messaging, what would you want them to do?
Kelly Sinclair:Choose your niche. I think it's all about that, in any course I've ever taken related to business, it's always about, it's always about the niche, right. And when it comes to your marketing strategy, or your communication strategy, or your brand strategy, whatever you want to call it, there's sort of the same sort of different, the first thing you need to know is who you're talking to, you can decide like this, this dictates whether you should be on Instagram or Tiktok. Or whether you should be meeting people or advertising in a certain way. Like, all of that comes back to who are you trying to reach? So where are they? Right?
Ellen Leonard:Yeah. And also, how are you going to speak to them? Because they're going to care about different things. And another group that might be, you know, just as similar, and those small differences, end up mattering so much like how would that person speak? And what would they care about? What language would they use? And so much of that goes into it? So yeah, identifying your niche. So listener, she is on to us, she knows that we have not done that yet. So she's, she's on to us?
Kelly Sinclair:Yes, I know, you're thinking you're thinking, I don't want to do that. Because that means that I'm going to exclude somebody or that means that I'm going to have to turn somebody away. Or that means that I'm going to leave money on the table. And it's not true, actually, and one of the things I love about getting really clear about who your Nisha is and who you're talking to, is that it actually gives you more confidence. Like, as a business owner, you now know, who you serve to such a level of detail, that you know, that what you're doing, that you're offering them is making a difference, you know, that it changes their life, you know, the transformation it creates? And how amazing does that feel? When you know that about what you do, you now have the confidence to go out and start marketing yourself. Because one of the key things when it comes to marketing is that you believe in it, you have to believe in what you do yourself. Right? So you have to choose who you're serving. Choose now shift later if you need to, but just choose.
Ellen Leonard:And I love how, like you just lit up there because clearly you know who you're talking to, like you know who your niche audiences and you were just talking to her right now, like, I heard that in your voice, you were like, it's gonna allow you to show up and be who you want to be and be that person that that you want to be able to be when you show up and serve your audience. So yeah, that that's gonna be the quote that I use, by the way. You want you just said a few moments ago to promote that to promote this episode. That's what I'll be using
Kelly Sinclair:amazing soundbite.
Ellen Leonard:And so I know you've helped so many clients work on on their brand messaging, you've got all sorts of programs going on. And I'm so curious about how brand messaging and having that clarity and that authenticity, how can really help me as an entrepreneur, stay healthy, happy and sane, because that level of clarity and understanding of my values. It seems like there be a correlation there.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, absolutely. So when you have hooked clarity is power. First of all, like as soon as you have clarity, it's it just keeps you from being that feeling of stuck from that feeling of I don't know what to say, I don't know what to post. I'm not doing anything because I don't know what I'm talking about or who I'm talking to you like we've peeled back all of the layers to get to the core foundation of your brand. And it gives you permission to show up as you are because you know that you're not trying to be somebody For for the show. You're not trying to fit yourself into a box. And it just, it feels right I, you can't see me. But I always have this feeling of alignment where you just know, you know, down at your core that the way that you're showing up in how you're promoting yourself on social media, the way that you're showing up in how you're serving your clients, it all feels in alignment. And I don't think there's anything better than that. It's just so amazing. Because when you understand your core brand, and message, that's where it all comes from, and everything comes out of that.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, and it almost sounds like, all these pieces of a puzzle come together. And it's almost like you'd feel a weight lifted off your shoulders, like you'd be lighter and things would just be easier.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, exactly like all of the frustrations that you currently have around. Oh, I don't know what to post on social media. I don't know what to write. On my website. I don't know how to introduce myself, when I go to an event. All those things go away. When you have your message figured out.
Ellen Leonard:You know, sounds like it gives you such clear action steps and entrepreneurs are really good at action steps, right? Like, once we know what we're supposed to do, we're so good at executing that, once we have all those pieces in place. But sometimes one of the biggest challenges that leads to inaction is just what you said, like I don't know what to say, or I don't know what to write.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, so whenever I talk about brand strategy, I like to define it as everything that you wish that you had done before you started your social media accounts before you started writing your website, copy, etc. Like, we tend to want to go straight into the tactics, right? Like, Oh, okay. And people always ask me, well, where should I market myself? Right? Should I be on all these platforms? Or should I do an ad in the paper? Or should I, whatever it is tactic? And I'm like, Well, that depends. That's a great approach. But who are you trying to reach? And what are you trying to say? And so the message and the audience is a key key part of that brand strategy, and why you need to figure it out before you go and start, like pasting yourself all over randomly, like seeing what sticks. That's that that's that whole like spaghetti on the wall marketing approach, when you don't know who you're talking to your what your message is.
Ellen Leonard:So you're saying that that approach does not work?
Kelly Sinclair:Not not. And but would probably be more,
Ellen Leonard:they were probably more like chance that it worked, right? Like, let me try all the things. And then we'll see what sticks. It's just almost like that you're spinning your wheels.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah. So you can be much more intentional when you know, the audience and the message.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah. And so I'm so curious, you have so much going on, you've got a family, you've got your kids, you're running this business, taking care of clients. How do you stay healthy, happy and sane while running your business?
Kelly Sinclair:denies denial. I don't know. I do. I do a few things that I that, you know, I try and make sure that are always happening. Health and like fitness is a huge one for me. I know I realized this. I had this like epiphany that your body is actually connected to the your brain. You can actually like, do amazing work by just sitting there typing on a computer all day, huh, weird. I think I also told you previously, like I had written down I went to a conference once and I wrote down food is fuel. And I was like, really? How is that so mind blowing, but all of it is connected. So right before I talk to you, I actually did a quick workout. And I've had a goal this year to do 20 workouts a month all year for 2020. And I it's December and I've hit that so that means I've done 220 workouts, my gosh. And like that doesn't have to be crazy, either. This is the thing. It's like a 20 minute targeted thing. It's not like an hour every single time. But I know that if I don't move my body. I don't have a good day.
Ellen Leonard:That's amazing that you've done 20 workouts every single month and 2020 even with everything that's going on, that is such a big accomplishment.
Kelly Sinclair:I feel like I went like you know, there's some people who went I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna drink wine every day and eat junk food and I was like Oh, no, that can easily happen to me. So I went the other way, it was like, make sure the workouts happen.
Ellen Leonard:And I know you also love planning, you have several calendars that you you guys can't see her, but I can see her. She's got several calendars going on, how do you think that supports your health, happiness and sanity?
Kelly Sinclair:Planning makes me excited. So planning is my coping mechanism. Also, I think I don't know if it's an enneagram eight thing or whatever it is, but I just like to know what to create whatever I can control, right, I can control my goals, I can control my actions that I take. And the more control that I have, the happier I am. So planning makes me happy.
Ellen Leonard:And I think that's often overlooked by so many entrepreneurs that like, so much is beyond our control, like whether or not somebody buys or whether or not the website crashes. Like there's so many things that that can go wrong. And so planning is such a beautiful way, even just checking off a list every day to exert that control when things feel chaotic, right.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, and I don't like tend to let myself get to a place of chaos. Maybe maybe that's a result of the constant checklists and the calendars and the things because, yeah, I just kind of steam train through. What's on the list is make it happen.
Ellen Leonard:I love it. I love it. So if people want to get in touch with you, or work with you, where can they reach you and I will put all the links she's about to say in the show notes. So don't you guys worry.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, so I love hanging out on Instagram. I'm at Ks underscore columns with two M's. I also do weekly training videos on Facebook, but I share them on Instagram too. So Facebook and Instagram and my website is k S dash communications.ca because I'm Canadian.
Ellen Leonard:Oh, you are the secrets all come out.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, let's save that for the end so that you wouldn't turn it off.
Ellen Leonard:That's no it was gonna happen. I'm gonna try to see if I can come move in with you. But no pressure.
Kelly Sinclair:Great new chickens.
Ellen Leonard:Excellent. The ladies would love to go further north. They really enjoy the cold. They don't know, really hit the goal. Well, thank you so much for making time to be with us today. Kelly, I had such a great time having you on the podcast today.
Kelly Sinclair:Thank you, Ellen.
Ellen Leonard:Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I had so much fun with Kelly. I hope you learned as much as I did. And if you'd like to connect with her, you can find all of her links in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening. And don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes full of actionable tips to help you do what you love without sacrificing your health or losing your mind. And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to go and leave a review by clicking the link for podcast love in the show notes or by heading over to Apple podcasts to leave a review. I love reading reviews on the podcasts are going to be more of those to come soon. And I'd love to include yours. Thank you so much for listening. Have a healthy, happy and mostly sane week. I'll see you next time.