www-canvanastudio-com-j1clebt3q-v1

Time Management for Creatives

kelly@canvanastudio.com (Kelly Brown) — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 13:55:25 GMT

A little cliche, but doable!

I remember as a child, when it cam time for arts and crafts, I would always want to keep going because it was tapping into my zone of genius just learned that term last week!) I was given a time in which to practice my future trade and I loved it!

Fast-forward 40 (ish ;)) years and I still get lost in my craft, but with A LOT more distractions!

During my master's studies, we were assigned the book " Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads" by Luke Sullivan. During my studies I was the Director of Marketing and Tourism for the city where I live and had a schedule full of meetings and time-sensitive errands that left me little time to be creative. When I did have the few free moments to design, I felt pressured, not something that leads to the marketing masterpieces that make me proud.

Too relatable. The empty page... the mortal enemy as the cursor lay blinking on the page and a fixed amount of time to design. Difficult, but not impossible!

A few years back, I learned about a time-blocking strategy called the Pomodoro Technique (a popular time-management method invented by Italian Francesco Cirillo .) Cirillo wrote, “I discovered that you could learn how to improve your effectiveness and be better able to estimate how long a task will take to complete by recording how you utilize your time.”

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Stroke of Genius!

The Technique works like this:

Pick one project or task you want to focus on.
Set a timer for 25-30 minutes (or whatever you feel will best serve you, I usually do 45 minute sessions), and get to work.
When the timer buzzes, take a break that allows for refueling the brain (I reserve this time for household tasks, a walk, or reading usually 10 to 15 minutes)
Repeat.
After four sessions, take a longer break.
Check the box!

I don't like to assign the work times, exactly. I have a to-do list of items that need to get done and pick what inspires me for the session. BTW, there are some great timer apps that you can download on your computer that very helpful in creating this space. I like Forest and Timork. This also makes billing clients super easy and allows my extreme focus when completing a project

But, don't take just my word for it, check out this article on Forbes and see what you think!

Happy creating!

Creativity = washing a pig

“I’m serious. Creativity is exactly like washing a pig. It’s messy. It has no rules. No clear beginning, middle, or end. It’s kind of a pain in the ass,”

― Luke Sullivan, Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads

Marketing Tools that I LOVE! 😍

kelly@canvanastudio.com (Kelly Brown) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:26:00 GMT

A GREAT TECH DECK CAN MAKE ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SUCCESS!

Spending months, and in some cases, years, researching the best tools to streamline my services has been PAINSTAKING to say the least! In order to give you a hand and explain what tools I like best and why feels like it might be a great way to save you time and energy while kicking off your business. I hope that this helps you to build a stronger and better business. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Design

Canva

Canva is my go-to when I am not working in Adobe products. I love that I have all of my brand assets at my fingertips for design and that I can work in a common space to make sure that I am consistent in my branding. I also love the flexible templates that I can easily incorporate my branding into. I use Canva with all of my clients because it makes it easy for them to create graphics on their own after I set them up with branding elements and custom templates. Want to learn more about our Canva setup package? GO HERE!

Artboard Studio

Artboard Studio is a bit more technical, however, also a very robust design tool. For those of you with a little more design prowess, this may be a good next-level, yet, not Adobe, solution.

SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS / CALENDAR

Calendly

I really love the flexibility of scheduling and workflow options with Calendly. I can set up package appointments and have the option to prepay or just a simple discovery call. It is also easily integrated into your website. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

Google Calendar

You know the drill on Google tools, G-suite is AH-MA-ZING! I can't recommend enough! NOTE: Calendly posts your appoints your scheduled meetings into your Google calendar with a touch of a button.

ASSET / PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Google Drive

See my notes on G-suite awesomeness above. :)

Click up

CONTRACTS AND BILLING

Hello Bonsai

COMMUNITY AND COURSE CREATION

Mighty Networks

EMAIL MARKETING

Flodesk

** FULL DISCLOSURE** The items with links are discount codes or are ways for us to either have input, get free months, or a small referral award.

How to Nail Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

kelly@canvanastudio.com (Kelly Brown) — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 21:13:59 GMT

Set yourself apart to attract your favorite clients

Arguably, the unique selling proposition (or USP in fancy marketing jargon) is the most important aspect of your business. In a sea of professionals offering services, what makes you different from the rest? What makes you the best option for me?

I like to illustrate what USP is by having you imagine standing in the cereal isle at your grocery store. There are literally hundreds of brands screaming to get into your cart, your belly, and, ultimately, your wallet.

How do your decide which cereal will make it to the preverbal finish line? Well, here are some factors:

Value - we are looking for something to nourish our bodies well while not paying more than the value we expect to receive.
Packaging - is the look and feel of the brand packaging in line with our values and preferences?
Taste - of course we want to enjoy what we are spending our money (and calories :) ) on, right?!
Promotion - likely something has spurred our curiosity and has led us back to this decision stage. We have major FOMO (fear of missing out) on the latest, greatest, even healthiest offerings. We see campaigns through digital and traditional media inundating us with why we NEED this brand (of cereal), so we consider giving it a shot.

How can you establish yourself as a stand-out cereal?

GREAT question!

Your unique selling proposition is one statement that describes your brand in a way that sets you apart from the competition. It’s not you a tagline, website headline, or mission statement, it’s something you can hang your hat on in your business to utilize in each interaction and move it makes.

What IS THE RECIPE FOR A GREAT USP?

Make it memorable and original. Be authentic and assert your expertise.
Cater your USP to embodying the needs of your persona/avatar client
Ensure that everything in your business leads back to your USP and use it in every piece of interaction that you can!

A good way to get going is to think about what the customer is looking for and how your service/product has a unique and different approach to solving their desired outcome. It may not be the end product itself, instead it may be the journey to get there, the special touches you place along the way... either way, in the end, it will be about the limbic response (or how the customer feels) about the transaction.

Here is an example of how I developed my USP at CANVANA

Through a lengthy research process, I learned that, for a while, people were looking to courses or Google to solve marketing problems. I was all set to make my processes into courses when I recognized the course fatigue that was plaguing my potential clients. Instead, I started a community as a safe and quick place to get the exact answers that budding (and seasoned) business professionals were seeking at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-on "done-for-you" marketing pro.
I also saw that helping the client be prepared for a full-on "done-for-you" marketing pro, when needed, made clients feel like they are better prepared and feel that time (and $$$) are more effectively spent after spending some time in their own brands. I created workbooks that take my clients through the process as a package for a full marketing experience or singularly for specific facets of marketing.

I was inspired by the book Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne ( blueoceanstrategy.com ) described as "the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand. It is about creating and capturing uncontested market space, thereby making the competition irrelevant. It is based on the view that market boundaries and industry structure are not a given and can be reconstructed by the actions and beliefs of industry players."

In other words, focus on the great things that make your product / service stand out from the rest without giving the feelings of competition.

HERE ARE A FEW ideas TO really DIAL INTO YOUR USP:

Make a list of everything that unique to your brand; keep it simple
Help identify your stand-out features by researching what would usually be your competition's offerings (stik to the Blue Ocean in your thinking)
Identify the direct matches to your persona's wants / needs. Dig into the analytics and data that provide in-depth insight into the minds of consumers
Be authentic! Don't bolster the products or services that are still in the idea stage. Instead , ensure that the featured items are fully developed and ready to market.

Since you have (hopefully, but if not you can by visiting canvanastudio.com/freebie ) identified your persona, it should be easy to align everything to your audience. It's ok that this USP is so established that it won't appeal to all audiences, you don't want to have to sort through all of the cold leads to fins thse precious warm leads.

Now, with a clear USP, it will help you in promotion your product / service as well as simplifying the options when it comes to choosing your company to do business with and trusting to carry through with your promises.

What you do and why you do it

kelly@canvanastudio.com (Kelly Brown) — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 22:06:17 GMT

WHERE DO I START?

The list goes on, and on, and, on, and on!

Let's break it down and simplify this madness a little.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

At first blush, this seems innocent enough, but, are you able to articulate clearly your "why"? It sounds so simple, right? However, all too often we are talking in circles when we try to describe what we do and why we do it because the ideas are swirling and we are excited to release the product/service to the world. Let's see if my story helps.

Opportunity struck! My new hubby saw the stress in my eyes on the daily. I loved my job, but struggled with the never-ending list of non marketing and design tasks that plagued my creative spirit. Pair that with missing out on enjoying my last couple of years before my nest was empty and the stress of choosing a position that wasn't honoring my purpose and I was miserable! So, I gave my notice and started dreaming of the business that was growing in my mind and my heart. I had been studying tourism marketing while I was in this position and it felt natural to continue on that path. Right out of the gate, contract were happening and I was HAPPY!

Then, COVID. No one was traveling and funds that usually supported marketing efforts for communities were being redirected to helping local businesses stay open. Because of my love for economic development in communities, I was in full support of the funding practices. I decided to aid in the continued growth and pivot my business to helping struggling establishments to flourish and burgeoning businesses to succeed. Since April of 2020 this is where I have found the most joy of my career in coaching and creating for businesses of all shapes, sized, and stages of development.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PASSION

Recognizing your passion makes it easy to know your ""why," it is explaining it that makes conversation surrounding your business difficult. Even as a marketing professional, I feel like I am constantly refining my story. However, the other day, my 17-year-old daughter was telling me that she was asked what I do. Her reply was simply: "My mom is a marketing coach and a graphic designer." AH HA! So simple, yet on the nose. I felt like I had to give a long-winded explanation that is basically my resume. Nope... simple is SO much better!

SHOUT YOUR STORY

Once we can clearly articulate what we do along with our why, telling others about our business feels so easy. Here are a few ideas about how to establish what you do and why:

If you had to explain to a 10-year-old what you do, what would you say?

EX "I help people tell the story of their business so that their customers know that they exist and how to find them. I love telling stories and creating art that helps to tell the story." Now, polish it for adults that understand the basics of your profession.
EX "I coach business owners in how to tell their story through simple marketing. techniques. There are so many factors to consider and I understand how the rabbit hole that research and decision-making can take us down can paralyze people from creating a great plan for promoting their brand."

While that explains a lot, it is A LOT! So, let's simplify again:

"I make marketing smarter, not harder"

Cue the fanfare, I've done it! ️��️��

THAT'S COOL, NOW WHAT?

Now it is time to shout it from the roof tops! But, where? How? We'll dive into that next! But here is a hint:

Establish a business name
Create a logo that represents your business well. (*HINT: Make sure it is appealing to you, but more importantly, your audience!)
Establish brand colors and fonts to create brand consistency
Build your brand voiceBuild your graphic support system
Well, and, of course, BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL with me and I will help you build something GREAT!

Until next time, happy marketing!