Build Better Brands

Danielle spoke with Susan C. Allen Augustin, Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer of Here We Flo, which makes natural plant-based personal care for life’s messiest moments. They tackle sustainability and stigma with natural products and funny, feminist and fierce approaches.KEY TAKEAWAYSSusan shares how Here We Flo came about from meeting Co-Founder Tara in the toilets at The London School of Economics, to taking the business global.Menstrual care brands have always been built around being discrete. Susan explains how they had to cut through a lot of cultural shame and embarrassment around menstruating, and build a dedicated fanbase.Susan tells the story of how they won the Sky Zero Footprint Fund, which recognises brands that are committed to driving positive behaviour change and tangible impact towards a more sustainable future. This secured them £1 million worth of ad spend with Sky.Here We Flo launched their products in Tesco recently, Boots is a long term partner who’ve quadrupled their distribution and they are soon to be launching with the UK’s second largest grocer. BEST MOMENTS‘It was really helped by a lot of progress around the climate change movement and recognising the damage that single use plastics were doing in the ocean. As a small business, there's only so much pressure you can put on your manufacturers or suppliers to use alternative materials’.‘There's a reason why funny is first, and funny feminists and fierce is really using humour to break the ice, because there is generally a stigma and a shame that's been socialised around these topics’.‘Early on, there was a tendency to challenge or question what we were doing, but we met in one of the top universities in the world. We did the research and Tara wrote a dissertation on the business case for this so what we were saying, we weren't saying flippantly’.‘We were really intentional from the start to spend the time thinking about our mission, our vision, our values, and then we got to design our recruitment processes, which is super important. That's how you're bringing people into the company and those values are a part of that from that first phone interview’.CONNECT WITH THE GUESTHere We Flo’s website: https://www.hereweflo.co/Search ‘Here We Flo’ on social mediaABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Grant Mitchell, Creative Director at Future and Associate Lecturer in Graphic Design at Staffordshire University. Grant is an international award-winning graphic designer with over 25 years industry experience. As Creative Director at Future he works with his team to design brand identities and creative communications for clients across a diverse range of sectors including; healthcare, cultural, not-for-profit, education, property and SME's.KEY TAKEAWAYSGrant talks about his early steps into branding and how he started his own business but it isn’t for everyone.Danielle and Grant know each other from Staffordshire University where Grant is a lecturer and Danielle was a student. Teaching wasn't part of the plan but Grant has found it to be humbling and flattering that he’s been able to have a positive impact on so many students' lives.Future is a creative agency working across four key disciplines; design, websites, branding and motion. Grant talks us through how working with a client is about collaboration and that pushback can help the project become stronger.Grant and Danielle talk about the changing world of creative design and how time and circumstances have played a huge role in that. BEST MOMENTS‘When you get feedback, when you're generating ideas like the process we go through, do your homework, speak to clients, speak to stakeholders, understand the audience, understand the parameters of the project, understand the sector and then generate, generate as much stuff as you possibly can.’‘What you are trying to do is move a client forward from one position, to a much better position that will help support their business objectives. Whether that's designing a better website that helps drive inquiries or creating a campaign that communicates important information, making a difference, it's very hard.’On working for Future: ‘I feel like I'm starting again and in a good way. I love seeing the team create stuff and I love us winning new clients and I love us pushing on, adding to the team.’On advice for starting a business: ‘You've got to love what you do but that love and passion has to be coupled with business acumen.’CONNECT WITH THE GUESTGrant Mitchell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantatfuture/Future: https://designbyfuture.co.uk/ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Stephen Houraghan, brand strategist, consultant, CEO and Founder of Brand Master Academy and BrandBuildr.ai. He hosts The Brand Master Podcast, featuring guests like Seth Godin and Marty Neumeier.With a background in business and finance, he later gained qualifications in design and marketing, founding the Iconic Fox Agency, and offering brand strategy and creative services globally. Stephen has contributed to publications such as Hubspot, Marketo, Creative Bloq and has appeared as a guest on countless industry podcasts and summits.KEY TAKEAWAYSStephen talks about his early career in finance and stockbroking, moving into creating design and how he pivoted into branding. All of this experience has given him a great understanding of business and how to speak the right language to business owners.Artificial intelligence is already a big part of life and Stephen speaks about his AI-powered platform, BrandBuildr and how it streamlines the brand development process and enhances strategy outcomes.Stephen explains how the last four to five years have been spent on building the corporate brand of Brand Master Academy and how he became obsessed with the idea of being consumer driven and consumer led.BEST MOMENTS‘I didn't want to go back to a job, I wanted to work for myself. That led me down the road to asking, if there are all these other designers in this space, how can I convince my prospects to choose me over them? It's a fundamental question at the centre point of first positioning and then broader brand strategy that I didn't even know existed.’‘I knew I needed to get my ideas on my concepts out there and I struggled with the idea of, why would I put all of this in an article if people are just going to take it? It was a real struggle to overcome that mental challenge of look, this is how the industry works now, this is how the world works.’‘As we venture into the world of AI, that human connection and that ability to connect with your audience and to provide them that human guidance and that arm around their shoulder, that's going to become increasingly important in the coming years and it's a big part of what we do beyond the steps and the processes.’‘When we sit down with our clients, what ingredients we get is dependent on the questions we ask. The better the question, the better the ingredient. The better the ingredients, the better the outcome.’ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Adam Housley the founder and coach at T3 Functional Fitness. Adam’s mission is to help you discover an active, healthy lifestyle that you love making it possible to regain your energy & reduce your stress in a way that is easy & enjoyable to sustain.KEY TAKEAWAYSAdam talks through his journey into the fitness industry and how he ended up creating a training method that was very different from his competitors.Danielle and Adam discuss how running a business is hard, the key skills you need to make it work and how help and support are invaluable.Adam explains how he had a belief that he needed to target a certain type of person to make money, or do a certain type of thing from a content perspective. When in actual fact he needed to do it in a way that sits well with him because that will attract the audience he wants.You’ll also hear about the challenges Adam went through when moving from an in person training business to an online coaching one.BEST MOMENTS‘One of the biggest shifts that I've made recently is instead of focusing on necessarily just time efficient strategies, it's wanting to really emphasise the enjoyment because my journey with health was a long one.’‘I've maybe kind of stuck with a message that didn't quite resonate because I was like, maybe if I give it enough time and people start coming in, it'll sit with me better. That kind of stuff, it takes a lot of experience, knowing the difference between this is right, but I need to give it time versus it just doesn't feel right and I need to change it early.’‘It just got to this point where I was like, why is this so hard? It came so easy beforehand and it was just over that time, trying something and thinking, okay, it's not quite working, and just kind of building that resilience. Every time I got knocked back to be like, no, there is a way that I can make this work.’‘When it comes to health and fitness, I believe the key is changing the beliefs because when you're stressed and tired, you think doing exercise is going to make you feel worse, whereas weirdly, kind of doing that physical exercise makes you feel more energised and helps relieve the stress.’ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and University Lecturer. She spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Mike Kirby, Founder of Find & Finance. Their focus is not on selling cars, but on guiding people through the various stages of buying a used vehicle and making it simple, safe and special. KEY TAKEAWAYSMike takes us through every element of Find & Finance from the challenges of launching, the customer journey, recruitment, growth and scaling. At the centre of everything they do is - Simple, Safe, Special.Find & Finance have an exciting year coming up in terms of growth but Mike explains they’ve had challenges along the way and he’s very open about how he faced them.Danielle and Mike discuss what success looks like and how, as a business owner, you don’t always have time to step back and assess what success would be.Mike finishes the episode by sharing advice for anyone who wants to start a business, has an idea and wants to build a brand.BEST MOMENTS‘There were a few key factors why I decided to start the business and what I identified quite early in my motor career was a few, I don't want to say negatives to the industry, but some challenges within the industry.’‘We're trying to create a relationship with our clients. We're not selling the car to them, we're selling a service to help them to effectively find a car. Right from the first communication, we're trying to find out exactly what's important to the clients.’‘If you don't have that clearly defined set of values and you don't have a clear direction with your value statement, when you start growing your business and you bring staff on, you bring people in that might not have lived and breathed these values before. They're highly likely not going to work within your business even if they have the experience that you're looking for.’‘This year is very exciting for us from a recruitment perspective, growing the team and also some key accounts, and then the launch of our three key brands, ensuring that we stick to our core values.’ABOUT THE GUEST - MIKE KIRBYMike Kirby is Owner & Director of Find & Finance Limited CONNECT WITH MIKE ON LINKEDINFIND & FINANCE ON INSTAGRAMABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and University Lecturer. She spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Ria Burrage-Male, founder and director of Kibo, which helps leaders achieve personal and professional growth through mentoring, communication, and performance. Previously the CEO of Hockey Wales, Ria has a background in sports coaching, having been an international hockey player and a Commonwealth Games athlete. KEY TAKEAWAYSRia takes us through every step of her life, from growing up in Wales, becoming an international hockey player, rising to CEO of Hockey Wales, her family and how they’ve inspired her latest project, Kibo.Danielle and Ria discussed how life experiences, good and bad, make you the person and the brand that you are.Sport has played such a crucial role in Ria’s life and she explains how she competed at an elite level, representing Wales at hockey, while juggling a full time career and how there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Authenticity and confidence are key themes for Ria and she explains that you’ve got to be kind and positive to yourself as you are the most consistent voice in your head.BEST MOMENTS‘I'm very passionate about exposing people or holding up a mirror to people to show them that they have so much potential and people are there to support and guide them. I think as women, there's still a lot we need to do on that.’‘I was a teenager in the valleys, in a church school, knowing that I was a gay, and I spent my whole life being somebody that I wasn't because of that inability to be authentic and therefore not being able to be vulnerable.’ ‘I feel like I've gone through all of these experiences and now I'm in a position where I can reflect and also share those experiences with people and help them on their journeys, because I feel like I've lived through so many different iterations of authenticity and vulnerability and weakness and communication and, you know, psychological safety and also working in high performing teams and all of those facets that I think are imperative for leadership skills and leaders at executive levels.’‘Another part of Kibo as well as the coaching is eat, sleep, breathe, connect. I talk a lot about and with businesses and with individuals around these four pillars that before you look externally, before you challenge culture that might not need to be challenged, let's stop and pause and look at ourselves first.’ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and University Lecturer. She spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Caroline McQueen, Founder and Chief designer at Impulsiv®, a digital consultancy specialising in branding and custom Shopify Themes. Impulsiv® helps independent companies in fashion, beauty and lifestyle connect with customers through engaging brand experiences. They blend neuroscience, brand psychology, and cutting-edge design to craft engaging customer interactions.KEY TAKEAWAYSCaroline delves into how she decided to pivot during the pandemic from focussing on tech and, thanks to a grant from Baroness Karren Brady, founded Impulsiv®, an ecommerce consultancy specialising in interaction design. Danielle and Caroline discussed how brands can enhance their online presence and make meaningful connections with their audience. Caroline suggested a good starting point is to do a website audit. Making sure the brand is communicating its values in a way that customers can really understand.Caroline shared a case study of working with a client and how Impulsiv® helped reduce the bounce rate from the clients website from 70% to 40% by making one change.BEST MOMENTS‘If you can get your customers to engage in the brand building process with you, especially if they're early adopters, then they are very open to giving you their feedback on what they think of your website or what they think of your products and how you can actually use that.’On working with clients - ‘I take it all the way back to the beginning and start looking at the strategic approach. What their goals are, what their visions or intentions are, and then also who their customer is and also what research they've done on their competition and how they're different’‘It was a lifeline because it came during the pandemic. If you're running a tech company, you are burning cash. She (Baroness Karen Brady) awarded us the grant money and I was chuffed to bits when that came through because it was just enough for me to just kind of go, okay, this is what we're going to do’‘Depending on what conversation you're having on social media will depend on whether or not someone will sign up to your list. If you've taken the time to understand what their needs and wants are, that would determine whether or not they're actually going to click through onto your website and buy something.’ABOUT THE GUEST - CAROLINE MCQUEENImpulsiv®: https://impulsiv.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinemcqueen/ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and University Lecturer. She spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTHWORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROWCONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDINSUPPORT THE SHOWThis show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders

Danielle spoke with Andy Starr, Managing partner of Level C, an education program teaching principles of modern brand to business professionals, which he co-founded with international brand expert and author Marty Neumeier. Andy helps clients outmanoeuvre competition and conditions in their markets, and make marketing, advertising & PR content work better, land stronger, and drive real results.KEY TAKEAWAYSDisruption is something that Andy is really passionate about so he and Danielle talked about what this really means and why it’s so important.Andy explained to Danielle how his collaboration with Marty Neumeier began and how Level C originated from his personal circumstances at the time.Branding hasn’t always been Andy’s thing. He’s a trained musician, majored in English Literature, worked in finance and studied law before coming to the world of brand.Andy spoke about how his branding classes with Marty work, why they are different from traditional teaching and how they teach you how to think about brand.BEST MOMENTS‘These days, if you're a brand, if you're a business and you're trying to stand out and you think that just being different will get you there, we make an argument that it won't, that it's not enough’.‘Creative thinking, strategic thinking, design thinking - more and more so called experts and coaches and mentors out there, they've been doing the whole how to do thing - how to do this, how to use this template. More and more of them have been trying to copy us now and it's kind of weird because they end up almost completely contradicting what they were doing just a couple of years ago’‘I won't work with anyone now who won't acknowledge that this is what I'm doing, who won't allow me to have the opportunity to teach them how to be a great client, teach them where I'm coming from right now’.‘We believe that creativity is more valuable in problem solving than just being more productive, but it needs more people who are able to think about what they do before they do it, while they do it, and after they do it’.ABOUT THE HOST - DANIELLE CLARKEDanielle Clarke is a Brand Strategist and University Lecturer. She spends her time consulting and working with health and wellness business owners to help them attract and retain their ideal customers.GRAB YOU 3 ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR BRAND GROWTH: https://danielle-clarke.ck.page/b1043e5d05WORK WITH DANIELLE TO BUILD THE BRAND STRATEGIES YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO GROW: https://calendly.com/d/48p-6ck-vy4CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-clarke-brand-strategy-consultant/SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/danielleclarke This show was brought to you by: The Media Insiders