In an IG Live with Sara of Stargazed Studio, we chatted about how I got to where I am today, my favorite way to connect with my community, and where I’m headed with my brand. Sara summarized it best: “If you only take away one thing from this conversation, let it be this: a strategy is only as good as it is implemented.” That’s one of my favorite philosophies in business!
Watch the replay here (and feel free to leave a comment directly on the post with your thoughts!) or skim through the transcript below.
________________________________________
Sara: Hello, welcome Ashlee!
Ashlee: Hi, how are you?
Sara: Good, how are you?
Ashlee: I’m doing well on this fine Wednesday afternoon.
Sara: Well I’m glad. I guess we can officially start now. Welcome, Ashlee and welcome everyone that is tuning in live or watching the replay for today’s Stargazed Studio connection. It’s our very first one with our very first guest, Ashlee Sang. Ashlee, do you want to tell us a bit about yourself?
Ashlee: Yeah, sure! So I’m Ashlee Sang and I run Ashlee Sang Consulting. I work with founders and solopreneurs who are conscious and caring, who know what they want to put out into the world and need someone outside of their head and heart to distill it to be able to reach the people that they want to reach. I do that through brand messaging strategy and marketing consulting. I really love connecting with people on their values and their why and the way that they want to operate in the world.
Sara: I love that! We talked a bit about that when we first met in a coffee chat a couple months ago, which is why I’m excited about continuing this conversation. Can you tell us a bit about how you ended up doing what you’re doing now? How did you end up with your own consulting business and focusing on messaging?
Ashlee: Like so many of us, I’m an accidental entrepreneur and had no plans of being in business for myself. I come from the international development sector in West Africa. That is where I learned about communications of all kinds–internal communications, brand management, donor communications, media relations, executive team stuff. That’s really where I learned a lot of the foundational principles of communication in general. I then moved onto local non-profits here in Central Illinois and that is where I’ve continued to have my hands in community development and social media and that sort of aspect of it. All the while I had been freelancing on the side. My husband is Senegalese, I was in Senegal with him and we were waiting for his green card. Anyone who has been through the green card process knows. When we finally got it I moved here and kept freelancing. I really liked the idea of working with different types of people on different types of missions. I liked the work I was doing in my day job, but it wasn’t my life’s mission to accomplish affordable housing, so I wanted a way to work with different people and different missions using my skill set. I eventually took this business full-time beginning in 2019 so it’s been about 3.5 years. It has been an evolution of a done-for-you, communications work, copywriting, content to slowly build toward the strategy side. As soon as I discovered brand messaging strategy, I have really leaned into it because I see that as the foundation of everything. When people were hiring me for website copy, or a blog post, or a newsletter, there was no strategy behind what they wanted to say, how they wanted to say it, who they wanted to say it to, who they were trying to reach. There was no strategy behind it. So now I like working with people at the strategy level. Whether they have momentum, they already have a business that has been thriving. But they often want to have more intentionality behind it. Or whether they’re launching something new and want to come out of the gates with something like their values, their core messages, or a very specific audience to lean into, I can support that growth from the get-go too. That is sort of how I have evolved from day job to freelancer on the side, to business owner and now to strategy work.
Sara: I love that so much and I’m glad I asked that because if you would have had me guess, I never would have guessed any of this. It’s just interesting to learn where people come from and how they end up in where they are, so thank you for sharing!
Talking a bit more about connecting: What is your favorite way to connect with your community?
Ashlee: My favorite one-to-many way of connecting with the community at large is my newsletter. It’s really fun and not a sales letter at all. I do have a section about my business, but mostly it’s just a really curated brain-dump of things I am experiencing in my business, resources I’ve heard about, people like you who I can spread the word about. It’s just a way for me to get my creative juices flowing. At the end of the day I love writing. I love words, so it’s pretty wordy, but I wanted it to be extremely useful. I get a lot of feedback from my list saying, “Wow! I’ve never heard of that resource!” or “This is such a cool course you’re promoting!” So that is my favorite way to reach my entire community.
But I’m definitely an introvert at heart, so I do love my one-on-one conversations whether it’s a catch up coffee chat sort of thing, or a one hour quick consulting call with a paid client. Either way, I love the one-on-on, behind the scenes brainstorm sort of sessions. I really thrive in those.
Sara: I have to say as someone who joined your newsletter about two months ago, I want to add myself to those people who have said, “I have never heard of those resources before.” You have shared really useful stuff. Your newsletter is one of those emails that I open and leave in my inbox because I want to go back through it and read the whole thing because I have enjoyed them so much.
Ashlee: Thank you so much! We spend so much time creating things, so I love to hear that people actually ready it, so thank you!
Sara: I love it and I can completely relate to coffee chats. I mean, that’s how we met! We were at a conference and I think it was in a group of introverts where we met and decided to jump on a coffee chat. So I can very much relate to that as well.
What aspect of your brand are you focusing on right now?
Ashlee: I’ve been focusing a lot on the behind-the-scenes systems. Really, professionalizing my business for my own sake. Sort of for my clients’ sake, because some of it is client facing, with having workflows and a welcome sequence finally after all of these years. So I have been spending a lot of time and energy on systems in my business, but on a more marketing, forward-facing brand side it has really been honing my offers. All of last year I was in this transition where I had one foot in done-for-you work and one foot in strategy work. This year I have just gone all in on strategy work and really having clearly defined offers. I have a really exciting half-day intensive that I’m about to launch. I want to get as many people through the door to my core, one-day brand messaging strategy intensive because I love it and it’s so effective for people who go through it. Or those quick consulting calls for one hour, or hopefully that half-day service once it gets off the ground. Really honing my offers to the very specific audience who can use them. I do so much work with my clients on their audience and their brand messaging, but we all know it’s so hard to do these things for ourselves. That’s why people need to hire me. If they could do it themselves, they wouldn’t need that outside perspective. So I’ve been trying to be introspective and reflective on my own brand, exactly the type of entrepreneur I want to be serving, and exactly the type of offers that I can create for that person.
Sara: I love that! That point you said where you are already leveling up what you’re creating. That’s very exciting!
I’d love to talk a bit more about brand messaging itself and your approach to it.
Ashlee: Let’s lay some groundwork so we’re all on the same page. A brand, in essence, is just perception. It’s just how people perceive you, how they talk about you when you’re not in the room, what sort of ideas and emotions come to mind when you pop up in someone’s Instagram feed. Do they think of your services, do they think of your vibe, do they think of your values? So that’s a brand in general.
I know you do the visual side, but I do the messaging side. So the words behind the brand. The things that the visuals are trying to represent. My approach is anchored in values on one side and audience on the other. Ideally the brand is the intersection between your audience and your brand values. That’s the sweet spot where all the magic happens. For example, in my messages that matter VIP day, which is a one day intensive, I go through with the business owner and they dump everything that’s in their head and heart. They always say, “I don’t know if this is relevant.” It’s all relevant! “I don’t know if this is interesting.” It’s all interesting! All these little nuggets that they are so familiar and intimate with in their business, I distill it for them. We come up with a brand statement–sort of an elevated elevator pitch and mission for the brand. Often we have these things but we haven’t revisited them in a while. Our businesses evolve just as we do as people, as founders, as humans, just as our audience evolves. So either revisiting that or creating it for the first time, same thing with brand values. You might know what steers you, but have you actually put that down on paper? Have you shared that with any teammates you have, contractors, or clients? It’s not enough to simply define those values, but to actually say what they mean to you and your business. Then figure out how that can play out in every aspect of your business. All of the decisions you have to make, whether it’s who to partner with, who to go live with, what type of clients do you want to attract, what type of pricing do you want to have–all of that should be rooted in your values and audience aspect.
Audience is the next part. A mini-audience persona of “Who is this person? How do they think? What are their issues? How do you solve them? What are their core messages?” That kind of marketing speak, those taglines, those content ideas, those messages that are going to resonate with the people you want to reach and the values that you have. So that’s my approach to brand messaging: All of the words that reflect your audience and your values and the way you’re able to show up and serve.
Sara: I like the way you broke it down into pieces and how it all fits together. I work a lot with the visual side of it. Sometimes people come to me just for the website part of it, but sometimes they don’t have a visual brand in place first. I ask them if they have a logo, but they don’t have the foundation of their brand message and what they want to communicate. It’s so important for people to have this! It’s literally what a whole business and brand is built on, those messages and values. The work that you do is so important and many people don’t even think about that. When you start a business it’s hard because there are so many aspects to it, but if you start by determining your messaging and values, the rest falls into place much easier than needing to come up with something and then need to go back and rework everything because you didn’t have a good foundation.
Ashlee: It’s easier for service providers, too. If someone were to do brand messaging on their own or with me, or however they want to do it, if they are able to at least identify what is the message I want to put out in the world, what is it want to stand up for, how do i want to stand out, then they are able to tell their web designers, graphic designers, copywriters, and can reflect on themselves what they want to portray. Especially online, but even in person. It makes it so much easier for you, the business owner, and all the people you are going to hire. Whether they are one-off project contractors or the staff that you have. All day, every day they need to understand who you are as a brand and what you stand for.
Sara: When clients come and have something like this already, it makes my work so much easier!
Ashlee: I’m sure they’re also so much happier with the result, too, because you are able to deliver something so much more accurately. It’s exactly what they had in their head and they didn’t even need to come up with the words for it because they already did the brand messaging strategy.
Sara: And I didn’t have to read someone’s mind on how something is supposed to motivate or be portrayed.
I’m also remembering a couple years ago in 2020 with everything that went down, I had a whole business and personal crisis. A sort of burn-everything-down and rebuild it crisis. My whole foundation was off and I hadn’t really thought about it since I started my business. I hadn’t thought about my values and I hadn’t thought about my purpose. I wasn’t able to move forward and realize what I really wanted to do until I did that part. Even though I know the process because I’ve studied it myself, having a brand strategy has helped me a lot. It really is so different having someone else to guide you on finding that foundation that you need in your business, so I highly recommend anyone building a business to get help with their foundation, their message, and their values, because that really is the core.
Ashlee: Even if you can’t afford or don’t want to invest in an official strategist, get a business besty. Have them ask those hard questions. If you downloaded something free somewhere and it has some of those prompts, work through it with someone. Sometimes you just need that reflection and validation that you’re on the right track. Sometimes you just need someone else to repeat exactly what you just said for you to hear how great it was. I definitely recommend you get an outside perspective in whatever way you’re able to at whatever level you’re willing to invest.
Sara: If you could give one thing you want people to take away from this conversation, what would it be?
Ashlee: One of my catchphrases is “A strategy is only as good as it is implemented.” It’s all well and good to think about your values, to go through brand messaging strategy, or to go through whatever. But if you don’t implement it, or act on it, or actually go through your business and determine where this can show up, where can I make this shift, where is this actually reflected, how can I use this language or leverage this system, or whatever kind of strategy you’re working on. If you’re not actually implementing it, then it’s not worth much. The reflection process is worthwhile, but it is really the implementation that moves your business forward. I think that is the closing idea I would like to leave you with.
Sara: I like that! Is there anything else that you want to share, or something you would like to say?
Ashlee: For people who want to get the ball rolling, either DIYers or before you hire someone, I do have a freebie. It is a stand-up and stand-out kit essentially. One is a mini workbook on brand messaging essentials. Really the building blocks that go into brand messaging, so a bunch of reflection questions there and space to brainstorm. What I think is most valuable is a consistency checklist. Once you have some of these ideas, you can actually go through and check off “Yes, I am applying this in my website copy, or my IG bio, or affiliations I’m a part of.” It really combines that reflection and the implementation. It’s available for free at ashleesang.com/standout. You can download it there and reach out with any questions because I’m always happy to chat. I love a peek behind the scenes of people’s business, so reach out if you download it and have any roadblocks or epiphanies.
Sara: We’ll have the link in the description of this video, so anybody who is watching the replay will be able to find it there so that you can access it quickly.
It’s been great to learn more about what you do and I’m excited because next week we are actually going to have another conversation but on your account. That’s going to be on May 18 at 9:00 AM Pacific / 12 PM Eastern. We are going to continue talking a bit more about brand messaging and values, but I’ll share a bit about my journey. I mentioned a bit about my whole brand crisis and redefining it and I think we’ll get into a bit more of that.
I loved this conversation Ashlee and thank you for being so much for joining me! Thank you for being the first guest on this experimental live show that I’m trying to do.
Ashlee: Thank you so much, and I’m excited to flip the script next week. Thanks for joining and thanks for watching the replay.
Sara: Thanks to everyone that joined. We had a couple people come and go live and I’m sure we’ll have a few more watching the replay. If you have any questions feel free to go into the comments, feel free to visit Ashlee’s account. Her account is also linked in the description so you can go check out what she does and talk to her more if you’re interested. Thank you everyone and have a great day! Bye!
______________________