With Anika Jackson brand Strategist and founder of Your Brand Amplified, we talk about the importance of your brand story, integrated marketing (what even is that?) The biggest mistake we make with our brand.

Anika is a mother, community volunteer, philanthropist, and brand strategist. So we inevitably talk about how she makes it all work.

What is a Brand Strategy?

How you want to be known that different to every other company in your industry. It’s about drawing out your ‘faux people’ as Anika puts it. Knowing your Ideal Customer Avatar.

Integrated Marketing

What is Integrated marketing?

This is where all your marketing efforts work together. SEO, press release and social are all integrated one. Whatever content you produce is shared in multiple ways.

PEYSO

• Paid media
• Earned publicity – mentioned in articles , podcasts, interviews, profiles, your product
• Shared – Social media
• Owned – content marketing

In an integrated marketing strategy you want each of these be a touch point in your marketing – go see our latest post here might be on your social media page for example.

How to Find Your Sellable Brand Story

What if you feel like no one is interested in your story? Or that you don’t really have a good brand story?

Everyone has a story. For most people its something that motivated you do to this.

It’s how to weave what you do together with your brand story.

The way you tell your story is different depending on the audience

People don’t want to just buy a product they want to buy from you

We’re still failing, learning, making mistakes. It’s authentic and people want to hear all about it. Those failings are useful. They mean you can help people avoid the mistakes.

A great example of a brand story that’s totally relatable is that of a a doctor and his wife that created a cleaning product. Because they’d be out with their girls and the toilets were disgusting. They always wished they had something to clean with, without touching anything.

Sharing that story makes it a lot more relatable to parents. And so adds connection to the brand.

Sharing Your Brand Story

Questions to help you draw out your story:

1. Start with your why – often this has the personal narrative
2. What are you solving? – sometimes it’s related and others it needs connecting

Practise sharing your story by starting small with smaller podcasts and publications.

Get comfortable with your speaking, practise your pitch and story then after time it will feel natural.

What is the biggest mistake people make with their personal branding?

Reluctant to Share Your Brand Story….

Some people don’t want to share their story. Unfortunately building a personal brand is not nearly as effective when you don’t share the story behind your journey.

Perhaps it’s confidence, they don’t think their story matters .

Yet we all have a different experience.

Or perhaps it involves other people and maybe too painful to share.

The other mistake is trying to share too many things at once.

Take advantage of what you have and where you are already to get to where you want to go next.

And your story can change over time… riches are in the niches..

Anika’s Advice for Business Owner Mums

Just how does Anika run a successful business, have a daughter and manage to do so much charity work?

There is no such thing as balance!

Give yourself some grace to let some things go. You have to give time with these kids.

The house might not be perfectly clean, you have to do what you can and be ok with it.

Time blocking is really good. But I set boundaries. Say no to the things that really aren’t important to me right now.

To make time for self, which might just be sitting on the couch and reading a book.

The reason we have our own businesses is that we want to balance our own time, right?

Build the right team around you to help.

The challenge is that we set up our business with the same mindset.

You have to navigate the journey.

Also as women we are people pleasers, often the first one to get up and clean up the mess, help people and volunteer. Sometimes we need to just dial it in and leave others to chip in.

More about our Guest

ANIKA JACKSON – BIO

Check out Anika Johnson Podcast is Your Brand Amplified

Social Media: Amplify with Anika

Anika is a mother, community volunteer, philanthropist, and brand strategist. As a marketer, she has done it all including experiential marketing/ event production, launch marketing, public relations, digital, and influencer throughout her multiple decade career. 

Currently, Anika is the VP of Marketing for Bastion Elevate, the US marketing arm of Bastion Agency. Most recently, she helmed Anika PR, a strategic communication firm based in Los Angeles focused on cause driven businesses and entrepreneurs to empower, celebrate, and strategically amplify their impact in the world, with an emphasis on entertainment, minority entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and tech.

She is a member of the Quickbooks Small Business Council, The Halo Collective, a consortium of primarily New York- based agencies across multiple verticals, and AIMM (Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing), as well as on the Advisory Board for the Women in Leadership program for UCSB’s PaCE; advisor for Junior League of Los Angeles’ Communications Council; and a founding board member of Learn Grow Lead.

I loved this episode, let me know what you learnt

Sue xx