Brand marketing channels that work better than Instagram.
If you don't want to rely on Instagram posts to grow your business anymore. Take a look inside my marketing strategy this year, metrics and all.
You know when you have those friends, the kindred spirits who just KNOW you?
My girl Louise is one of those.
She DM’d me this from Australia, and I read it while I was sitting here reflecting on the month just passed, a month full of IRL events, less full of Instagram.
And I realized, “Huh, she’s right. Look at all this amazing community traction we’ve built in the last 6 weeks”.
It’s exactly what I set out to do at the start of this year and told her when I was back in Australia.
If you’re a founder, feeling like the running of your business is a little chaotic, and focusing probably a little too much on social content, but not sure what else to do, then this edition of The Super Dose is for you.
Because that was me just a few months ago, and come Jan, I snapped out of the haze, and did something about it.
What’s Inside:
Changing our relationship to content and Instagram as founders
The channels I divested my time, money, and headspace into instead
The results on my business - literal screenshots of metrics + tangible takeaways
Disclaimer: This isn’t me saying I hate Instagram. It’s me saying divest your time, money, and headspace into other marketing channels that may move the needle more, and to change your relationship to content.
Because the fact is, I LOVE IG, I have made the most incredible friendships and collaborations there, in the DM’s or comments, planned trips, booked dinners, gone on hikes and activities - all based on content I’ve been fed there.
It’s just that I had a problem.
I was in a content k-hole.
You probably know it.
You’re saving Julia Broome content tips like mad.
You’re over-indexed on ideas so your saved collections folders are overflowing.
You’re reworking your “content chat” in Claude or GPT like your life depends on it.
You’re telling yourself you’ll only spend 1 hour on “this post” and all of a sudden it’s been 5.
You’re constantly saying “Wait, I’m just doing this post” to your partner while they patiently wait for you to do something or listen to them.
You’re trying to remind yourself that vanity metrics don’t matter, but why did that boring and basic carousel or reel someone else just posted in your space, got 457 comments and yours got exactly 1 - your own, or a “send me this post” bot.
It’s actually soul-destroying.
Not only that, it’s brand-destroying.
It’s business-destroying.
And like me, you should know you’re better than that.
I realized that the marketing advice I was giving all the founders I mentor wasn’t being applied to my own business.
You’re not a content creator.
You’re a founder, building a business.
Content, is not the be all and end all in brand building.
It’s a very important part of it, but only if it’s done in a way that reflects YOUR unique brand DNA (I call this Sticky Brand DNA ™ )
But what had happened is that in the midst of all the saving, consuming, trying, pushing, I was diluting my unique DNA.
I was being pulled away from other things that are my zone of genius, that are the right channels for me and my ideal audience.
That’s what I mean by it being destroying for your brand and business.
I decided to divest my time, money, and headspace into other marketing channels and KPI’s.
For me, that looked like different content platforms:
Tik Tok, a place I could give up the constraints of “hooks, scripts, covers, blah blah blah”
Substack, where I was sharing these weekly editions already, but really leaning into it more and cross-promoting on my other channels
Linkedin, I mean, I work with businesses, founders, investors, other marketers - a business social platform is where I wanna be
And, community (x 100000):
IRL, I’m a connector, I love building communities. I’ve done it my entire life. Why wasn’t I actively doing it for Creating Forward outside of IG DM’s? That meant going to events, and hosting them.
Press, that big ugly P word we all like to avoid or at least I had been, journalists, podcasts, substacks…
Email subscriber nurture content, I’d kind of let that go to the wayside since starting Substack, but the people on your email list are already somewhat bought into what you do, so we should be nurturing them
Collaborations, I love nothing more than a partnership or collaboration, for many reasons:
A/ you get to support another brand or business
B/ you get to share audiences
C/ you get to do it with someone else! Being a founder is isolating AF, you know that too.
CONNECTION is my #1 KPI.
The founders in my world will know this by heart, or should by now :)
Connection = Conversion.
It’s crazy how quickly my calendar filled up with newness, and my business picked up momentum once I’d cleared the space.
And yes, I live in LA, so while I’m very strategic and did the work to bring this to life…
I’m part wu-wu, so IMO it manifested.
Here’s what happened:
We’ll start with the community-driven channels, then I’ll show you the metrics from the content channels.
Podcasts/Press:
I recorded two podcast guest spots (coming out soon!)
I reconnected with a journalist from my Kate Hudson days over lunch
I met my quota to send 20 messages to 20 journalists (only 1 reply for now, but you don’t get out there if you don’t get out there)
Events Attended:
Walk Sip Chat - an LA brand and business girlies walk in Venice, where I was tagged in stories and a founder who saw it, contacted me to join my Incubator program
Fractionals & Founders - a networking mixer, by Michael Meo, where I met Hannah, the CMO for Ancient Brave, who I ended up doing a collab with later that month for their pop-up (below)
Friday Brunch Club - I got invited to this intimate brunch, hosted by Matt Gerlach, off the back of the above event by the founder of the networking mixer along with 10 other entrepreneurs, we become biz buddies, but then I have also got intro calls scheduled with 3 of the people there
Collaborations + Events Hosted:
Content Coworking: In collaboration with Sacia Ashe, a creative business owner. We hosteda 2-hour block for me, her, and 8 other founders at Zinque, dedicated to anything related to content that isn’t scrolling or saving inspo.
Personally, I wasn’t “that” productive in this session but -
The connection and accountability piece was useful for everyone
We all realized that we overestimate what we could get done in a 45 min block
Move Into Momentum community walk: I’ve been watching and chatting with the founders of Carry for a while, and often reference them as a brand to watch when it comes to launching. So when they were coming to LA for an investor event, I suggested we host a rucking walk with their weighted vest.
65 people sign up, and 40 join us live
Snacks were provided by founder Sara Cullen, and her brand GEM
Content repurposing across TT, IG and LI
New connections made include beauty brand founder Andi Eaton and Noelle, from the JP Morgan startup office + many others
Guided by the Ocean panel conversation + party: I helped curate the speakers and moderated the panel for a pop-up with Ancient + Brave on Abbott Kinney with Creating Forward alumni founder, Christina of ocean-performance beauty brand, KOOK, and my biz buddies, Savannah (moss) and Sam (Papa Sweater)
All round this was a stellar event, great guests (2 turned into intro calls for me)
Moderating a panel was new for me and I loved it
City Walk Chats: This is a global series I’m going to do each month. The first one was a business brunch hosted in collaboration with Meredith DiSantos, focussed on helping founders “Step Into Alignment” leveraging Human Design X Sticky Brand DNA.
Again, founders loved meeting each other - KEY
I got to invite a few founders I had only met online, to meet IRL
Two of the girls have booked intro strategy sessions with me
Key takeaway: Events, workshops, and collaborations will stay as part of my foundational marketing stack.
Join Us In March
I have secured a bunch of AWESOME collabs, events and workshops for March, which are all live on my site here so come hang and build your biz with us!
Ok, onto the content platforms:
I’m posting here 3 - 4 times a week, plus resharing interesting news from people in my industry, with thoughts
I’ve been introduced to founders, investors, other business owners, podcasts, and journalists here
Metrics are all up
Impressions +45% vs. 90 day period with +50% in members reached
I’m sitting at ~2000 followers, up ~10% vs. prior 90 day period
Dec impressions vs. Jan/Feb
I show up there every day Mon - Fri to share raw, mostly unedited “Daily Biz Building + Marketing Tips”
The founder community over there is so awesome, it’s warm and juicy
I’ve met 3 people IRL from there already, including 1 founder who joined my Incubator program
Metrics range from Shares + 17% to Comments + 255% vs the 60 days prior
90% of my traffic is from the FYP (new people)
Follower count is +340% vs. prior 60 days
I must admit, I missed posting my edition last week…sorry!
But, I’ve continued to consume, engage, and share Notes here
And, cross promote my Substacks on LI and IG
I’ve got some work to do to increase my followers and subscribers here, but am happy with a steady, incremental growth pattern to begin :)
The other crazy thing is that my Instagram metrics are all up despite doing less.
Post views were 4X what they were vs the 3 months prior
Post interactions went from 14 on average to 150
Yes, I did post on Instagram. But hardly at all compared to my usual 5x/week.
I was just as active in the DM’s.
And I continued to show up on stories most days.
Remember, this wasn’t a boycott of IG. It was a reframe.
What I posted had NOTHING to do with what experts told me to post.
And EVERYTHING to do with my Sticky Brand DNA ™ .
Open, honest, raw, a little messy maybe, but very Creating Forward.
WTF is this Sticky Brand DNA I keep talking about?
Sticky Brand DNA ™ is my signature framework for building a brand people get, love, buy, and tell all their friends about.
It’s the foundational piece missing from most marketing plans and is what makes marketing make so much more sense, and sales.
If you want support figuring out your SBDNA and what the right channel matrix is for you, or if you have no idea how to actually execute all of ^this^ kind of marketing and workflows - that’s what we do inside the Creating Forward Incubator, or what I do for you if you hire me as your fractional CMO or consultant for a project :)
CFI is my 12-week high-touch program for cool beauty, wellness, fashion, and lifestyle founders or early-stage teams to launch, grow and scale, based on my Creating Forward Core Frameworks.
I built it because, while there are so many people starting brands, there are not enough options for them to get access to expert level support that isn’t a 5-6 figure consulting retainer or agency.
We develop your Sticky Brand DNA ™ so you have a solid foundation to build from:
core elements of your founder story + intention
future proof and clear market opportunity
BFF-Customer profiling
unique product positioning and brand POV, language
conversation themes for storytelling beyond product
We bring it to life visually and verbally across all the key customer touchpoints to cultivate BFF Level Connection ™ and make sure you have access to the right talent at the right price if you need it.
We decide what the right Marketing Channel Matrix is for you, based on budget, bandwidth, BFF customer and business goals.
We implement the Repeatable 3D Launch Method, from hype building to sales.
We build your 90-Day Aligned Marketing Campaign, with a strong multi-channel marketing, content and sales strategy to execute it.
We establish Scalable Systems + Structure in your business to streamline efforts, assign KPI’s, track metrics and adopt the test, learn, evolve process so you’re making confident and informed decisions.
And we implement I Fucking Got This founder practices and mindset all the way through, to keep you on track and in momentum.
It’s a hybrid of live 1:1 and group-format coaching from me, on-demand training videos and tools to consume on your schedule, access to my Little Black Book of talent, plus, a private platform to connect and collaborate.
We’re half sold out, and we close the doors for this acceptance period on April 15, then the next one will be in the summer.
It’s by invitation becuase I want to make sure it’s the right thing for you before you join, so if you’re intrigued, I invite you to book a free Supercharged Strategy Sesh with me so I can take a look at your brand and provide some guidance on your marketing plan.
There’s no pressure, and either way, you’ll get some free mentorship for your business, and will be on my radar moving forward so I can keep you in mind for brand partnership opportunities too!
Have a beautiful week my friends, I’m so grateful we are in a position to be founders, to be working on our vision, for it to be a reality, every day.
Sax - x
I hope this edition of The Super Dose (my weekly no-BS brand and marketing newsletter) helped you shift your perspective on content and realize that marketing doesn’t have to be hard , or removed from who you are.
I’d love to hear how it landed for you - where did we net out?
How are you feeling about your content?
How are you feeling about your marketing channels?