Soul Stirring Branding Emma Brownson

Today, we're going to be diving into everything lead magnets and how to set up a functioning lead magnet from start to finish. Now, this is a topic that I think quite a few of my clients are confused about, and they don't really understand the steps involved. I often have conversations with clients about what we actually have to do to bring it to life. So if they're a little bit confused, you might be too and I hope that this podcast episode today illuminates everything for you, so that you understand what is required. 
Setting up lead magnets can be confusing and overwhelming because there are so many steps and moving parts required. 
There are three key stages: 
1. Create the lead magnet itself. 
2. Inside your email marketing platform: set up the email list and welcome email delivering the freebie link. 
3. Set up the landing page (on your website, or in your email marketing program), with the form fields for someone to opt-in. 
In the episode I break down the considerations for each phase and tell you what to consider from strategy to tech. 
Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.

In this episode, I talk about where you might be going wrong with your client testimonials and how to get really good testimonials instead. I take pride in my client testimonials being really good and I believe that didn’t happen by accident. If you jump onto the testimonials page of my website, you’ll be able to and see what I mean.
If you’d like to grab a free copy of the exact questions I ask clients to get really good testimonials, you can nab that here! 
Here are the top 3 things I see clients and businesses doing wrong with their testimonials. 
They never bother to request them in the first place! I know, we wear so many hats and this can just fall off your radar. Don’t worry if this is you. You can start from today!


They get a testimonial, but not a photo to pair with it. Around 50% of my clients do this before they start working with me! Seeing an actual face behind the testimonial builds trust, and relatability and draws the eye to the text. 


They ask clients to write their testimonials with no guidance. Most clients simply don’t know how to write a good testimonial and what will be the most help to us. 

What we want to do instead is to paint the picture of the before and after transformation! And we want them to get SPECIFIC, rather than giving us vague details. 
You may want to try either creating a fillable PDF form or a Google Form with a set of questions they can answer. You could also try jumping on Zoom with them and hitting record, asking them your questions and then transcribing the call to form your testimonial. Getting on Zoom takes more work on your end, but will likely produce a better result because you can ask follow-up questions. You’ll also learn so much about your clients' experiences that you can learn from! 
Once your testimonial is formed, you’ll want to clean it up, fix any spelling/grammar, and choose a “headline” for your testimonial, so we’re not just dumping a wall of text on the page with no styling. Remember: not everyone reads every word of your website, testimonials included. But they will likely read your testimonials headline at the very least, and hopefully, it draws them in enough to read the whole thing. 
Also don’t forget to ask clients to review you on Facebook, Google my Business, Yelp, LinkedIn or anything else that is important to your business. 
If you’re a product-based business, make sure that you get a great reviews app/plugin/program that will send your customers email reminders to review you. This is well worth the investment if there is a cost involved! 


Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.

Every offering you have will have some kind of promise. The promise is basically the outcome or the transformation that someone can expect from working with you, buying the thing, doing the course, whatever it is.
These days in the online world, it’s full of these BIG, sexy, sometimes outlandish promises. 
Have a 6-figure launch, 5-steps to a $100K coaching business in 90 days, Launch your dream business in just 5 days, write your book in 90-days, 10x your revenue in 1 month, sell out your next event, learn how go viral consistently. 
Some of those ones I’m mentioning were literally what was in my Facebook feed today that I noted down. 
Of course, big, flashy promises get noticed. I’m in a coaching program right now where they tell us we need to make our offer so damn good, someone would be stupid to say no. And I’m all for delivering an AMAZING offering to your clients. 
But I think a lot of people out there are taking that idea and just saying ANYTHING to make their offer sound good, but does it really deliver on it? Or are we over-hyping and over-promising here? 

And how do we approach this as heart-centred business owners who probably take more of a long-term sustainable results kind of approach rather than a quick-fix solution approach. 
I’ll be diving into my top tips for this in the episode! 

Action Item I mention in the episode: 
Map out those two questions: 
Number 1: What problem does my ideal client care the most about solving? 
Number 2: What problem do I care the most about solving? 
Are they the same? Are they different? Do your ideal clients care about the same things you care about?
Ultimately, your intuition should be your best guide to find the best way to balance your personal beliefs and values about the work that you do while meeting someone where they are at with their particular level of awareness of the problem. 
If you have a question about whether now is the right time for you to work on your branding, I’d welcome you to DM me to chat about it. 
Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.

Our visual branding or our visual brand identity, is, as the name literally says the VISUAL part of how we’re communicating who we are as a part. So what visuals make up our visual branding exactly. There are actually 5 key categories
Your logo, colour palette, typography (fonts), graphic elements (illustrations, icons, textures, patterns) and photography style. 
The first place to start isn’t Pinterest. Most people start there, just scrolling down the endless rabbit hole for ideas. You can spend hours pinning ideas, but you’ve got to ask yourself if that is actually time well spent. Especially if you aren’t clear on what you’re trying to say with your visual branding. 

Before you jump onto Pinterest, the first thing you need to get is actually decide what you’re trying to communicate. What’s the message we’re sharing here? 
Because these visual elements we choose are more than just red being red, right? Or choosing between a circle or a square for no solid reason. 

EVERY SINGLE choice you make is actually saying something about your brand and by extension, if you’re creating a personal brand, YOU. 
So if every visual choice says something about you, what do you want to be saying? 
Key mistakes to avoid are: 
Not defining your visual branding at all, so you’re using random colours, fonts, graphics, stock photos etc. Chopping and changing your visual branding on a whim so your brand feels unrecognisable to your audience. Getting so stuck in your head with what everyone else thinks of your brand that you’re constantly second-guessing things. Not bothering to define your brand strategy and direction BEFORE you start your visualsContinuing to DIY your branding with no support or investing in learning how to do things properly if you’re not happy with what you’re producing and it’s affecting your confidence with marketing your business.To rate or review this podcast, please jump into your podcast player, scroll to the bottom and you should see a “Ratings & Reviews” section. I would be ever so grateful!  


Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.

Is marketing to pain points unethical or is there a compassionate way that heart-centred business women can get behind? 
There’s been a lot of conversations popping up in my in the last few years or so about not using pain points in your marketing because it’s unethical. 
So I wanted to share my take as a mission-driven business owner here to bring so much love, support and inspiration into the world through my work (not sleazy marketing tactics and manipulation).
Pain points are any struggles, fears, worries, concerns and so on that people have, and in a business sense we’re specifically looking at problems your business solves. This could be any type of pain - physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. 
I did a bit of Googling and here is how some people online are describing it, which included: “If you're exploiting someone's pain to gain a sale, that's unethical.” or “Pouring salt on the open wounds of your deepest pain.”
So should we be leading with our ideal clients’ desires, dreams and goals only? Even if we know from psychology that humans are more motivated to move AWAY from pain points, than we are towards our goals. 
Or is there actually a caring, sensitive, tactful, compassionate way to go about it? 
I’ll be sharing my take in this episode! 
If you have a question about whether now is the right time for you to work on your branding, I’d welcome you to DM me to chat about it. 
Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.

Writing your brand’s story is probably up there as one of those things many business owners dread. Why do so many people hate it? Maybe because it feels too personal so blocks can come up. Some people find it cringey to talk about themselves. 
Humans are wired to share information through stories. We’ve been doing it since the dawn of time. Telling a story can often cut through because it doesn’t feel like you’re selling anything. It makes people lean in. 
How to NOT approach it: 
Many people make the mistake of writing their story like a chronological history of their lives or some kind of resume. 
Your readers don’t really care about this stuff. 
Instead, you’ll want to sharing how we can relate to, understand and empathise with what your clients struggle with. By showing you have a  real, embodied experience of the struggle or pain you help your clients through it will show them you’re naturally going to have a deeper insight into the problem. You’re going to have more empathy because they’ve been there. You’re just going to be able to hold space for you in a different way. 
You also reduce the stigma (if applicable) around whatever the problem is and normalise the experience, which is incredibly validating for them. 
In the episode, I explain that you don’t need some kind of “rock-bottom” story where something dramatic happens to force or motivate you to transform. 
It’s also totally valid to have your story be a series of small experiences. Whatever form your story takes is ok. 
I also share how much you should share and whether or not you should stretch yourself to get vulnerable. 
If you have a question about whether now is the right time for you to work on your branding, I’d welcome you to DM me to chat about it. 
Feel free to DM me @soulstirringbranding on Instagram
or jump onto soulstirringbranding.com for more info.