Brand Strategy Unwankified

By Bec Hughes | Brand Strategy MentorBusiness Arts Marketing Design

Brand Strategy Unwankified episodes

October 02, 2022 26. Preventing Budget and Timeline Blowouts
Budget and timeline blowouts are a reality for any creative business at one time or another.

But they shouldn’t be the norm.

I think the main reason they happen is because the stakeholders involved didn’t have realistic expectations in the first place.

In this episode of The C Word Podcast, I share my key tips for stopping or minimising budget and timeline blowouts:

✨Detailed scope
– Be clear on the deliverables and what is and isn’t included

✨Clear process
- Ensure everyone understands the full extent of what’s involved

✨Step out every stage in detail
- If it’s too broad you’ll overlook stages that take time

✨Agree the timelines
- Don’t be tempted to truncate or shorten timeframes and be realistic about how long things take

✨Lock it in
- Set aside meetings and time to do the work up front

✨Enough time for review, feedback and revisions
- Be clear on when the client will get work for review and when they need to respond with feedback

✨Communicate well and often with your client
- Give regular updates
- Let them know straightaway if something is out of scope or if there are potential delays

✨Penalties for delays
- This can be a good motivator to keep your client on track
- Give the client plenty of warning and make it clear up front, the relationship is important

✨Hold yourself accountable
- Stick to the timeline
- Keep your energy up to maintain the momentum

And don't forget doors are currently open for my Creative Value Incubator. This is Tthe 8 week program specifically for creatives in business who want to communicate their value, be valued and be perceived as valuable >>> bechughes.com/creative-business-incubator

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22 min
September 27, 2022 25. Mistakes Designers Make Pricing Their Services
In this episode of The C Word Podcast I cover the reasonably long list of mistakes that designers quite often make when pricing their services.
This combines the practical with the mindset hurdles, to examine why designers sometimes struggle to price their work and communicate their value.
I'll share 15, that's right one-five, of the most common mistakes I see solo creatives and agencies making. In highlighting some of the pitfalls you may be coming up against, I hope to help you price your work more confidently and accurately.
This episode is practical and value-packed, and I'm certain their will be lots of take-outs and new learnings for you to apply in your own creative business.
Just a reminder to save your seat for the Invisible to Valuable Masterclass at bechughes.com/binge
And don't forget doors open for my Creative Value Incubator on Monday 3 Oct 2022 so jump on the waitlist to be the first to know about the bonuses when I launch at bechughes.com/creative-business-incubator

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Episode 17: Ditch Your Price List and Do This Instead
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34 min
September 21, 2022 24. Cultivating Unshakeable Belief in Your Creative Work
In this episode of The C Word podcast I'm tackling the question of how to cultivate unshakeable belief in your creative work as a designer or brand-led creative.
Having absolute conviction that you will produce work that nails the brief every time can be an ongoing challenge for many designers. It's a skill, like many others, that we need to invest time in developing.
However cultivating that strong belief has an enormous impact on your own self-belief, the sustainability of your business and your growth. In other words, it's worth investing in!
As well as exploring why that belief and confidence in your creative work is so valuable, in this episode I also talk about 5 key principle that I use to develop my own sense of surety and conviction when it comes to my own work:
1. Trust in the Process
2. Beware When Seeking Validation
3. Positive Self-Talk
4. Know and Celebrate Your Strengths
5. Listen to Your Intuition

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33 min
September 13, 2022 23. Presenting Your Design Work with Confidence
If you find the prospect of presenting your design work to clients a little bit nerve-racking or uncomfortable, you're definitely not alone.

I think presenting creative work with confidence is something a lot of designers and creatives find challenging.

It’s not a skill we’re necessarily taught in any meaningful way, and designers are left to pick it up as they go.

In this episode of The C Word Podcast, I talk about some of the skills and strategies I've learned that have made me more confident when presenting my creative work. In fact, I'd say I'm pretty good at it these days, but that hasn't always been the case.

Along the way, I’ve recognised that the quality of the presentation is so important to the success of a design or creative project. I’ve learned some key go-to skills to put my best foot forward, and they fall into 3 broad categories which I'll dive into in the episode:

1. Preparation
2. Energy
3. Rationale

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25 min
September 06, 2022 22. 7 Key Strategies that Grew My Creative Business
On this episode of The C Word Podcast I lift the lid on my own creative business growth.
My aim isn't to tell you what you should be doing to grow, but rather to inspire you with some of the things you could be doing. I hope to give you some food for thought, and ideas for what you could introduce into your business if growth is something you want to focus on.
I've reflected on the past 7 years as a Brand Creator and the things that have had the greatest impact on my growth, in particular my financial growth and profit.
In this episode I share how and why the following things have been transformational:
1. Brand Strategy
2. Up-skilling
3. Pricing Strategy
4. Networking and Collaboration
5. Profitability Management
6. Service Packages
7. Streamlined Processes

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27 min
August 30, 2022 21. What I Had to Unlearn After Working in a Creative Agency
In this episode of The C Word Podcast I talk about my own agency experiences as a designer and brand strategist, and share what I had to unlearn after working in creative agencies

I often find designers have an employee mindset in their own business. They struggle to let go of some past habits, beliefs and behaviours they may have as a hangover from freelancer or agency life.

This episode focuses on:

~ What you need to unlearn from being an ‘employee’ in order to graduate into being a ‘creative business owner’
~ The myths and unproductive cultural norms that are perpetuated in ‘agency-land’
~ Some of the key things you may need to learn to be an effective business owner if you didn’t work in an agency or haven’t exposure to some of the business side of things

I also share my own resume and journey to being a creative business owner, which took some surprising and maybe slightly unconventional twists and turns in the early days.

Whether you’re a graphic designer, web designer or brand-led creative that has taken or is planning to take the leap from agency, this is essential listening to prepare you for what might lay ahead. And if you bypassed the agency experience altogether and jumped straight into business there are some juicy insights for you too.

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43 min
August 23, 2022 20. Do Designers & Creatives Need a Niche? With Jessica Osborn
I hope you’re ready for an awesome episode of the C Word podcast, because I’m talking to Jessica Osborn all about niching.
Jess is the poster child of niching because she has made it her niche, and she has so much insight to share on this topic.
Jess is a business coach, podcast host and author who is all about business that puts family and lifestyle first.
When I think of Jess is think of sunshine and days at the beach because I feel like that’s where I see here hanging out the most. She’s all about a ‘less work, more life’ style of strategy that leads to faster, easier growth without succumbing to the hustle-hard mentality!
In this episode we go pretty deep on niching, and in particular we diving into the question do designers and creatives need a niche?
Jess and I cover:
~ What it is and what it isn’t
~ Why it's such a huge advantage for your business if you dare to do it
~ 3 key things to think about when developing your niche
~ How to leverage your niche once you define it

CONNECT WITH JESSICA OSBORN...
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47 min
August 16, 2022 19. Managing Your Client Through a Seamless Creative Process
In this episode of The C Word podcast I'm talking about one of the trickier parts of being a design or creative business owner... and that's managing your client through the creative process.
Sometimes I think this process is left to chance, but it doesn't have to be that way. There is so much you can do to be intentional and methodical throughout the process to ensure everyone gets an outcome they're super happy with.
I'll be talking about each step of the process from who's responsible for the creative brief, managing expectations and presenting your work, through to dealing with the feedback loop and off-boarding your client.

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19 min
August 09, 2022 18. Why Your Values are the Key to Financial Success with Eliza Ludwig
In this episode of The C Word Podcast I’m joined by Eliza Ludwig from The Flow Society.

Eliza is a wealth coach, and her mission is to make entrepreneurship a viable career for women. She wants women to have access to wealth, development, and a phenomenal career that enables them to do what they love, on their terms.

When she’s not doing that, Eliza loves baking, lifting weights and has swapped raves for the spin studio since her children came along!

This episode was going to be about making your numbers less of a creative drain. But it went much deeper than that, and I loved this conversation with Eliza about her own values, and how they influence what she does in business, for her clients and in life.

We talk about:

~ How your values are the glue that hold everything together in business
~ The reasons they should be central to your financial goal setting
~ The role of your values in pricing your services
~ 3 simple ways to commit to your financial data without feeling overwhelmed

CONNECT WITH ELIZA LUDWIG
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Take Eliza's Powerful Profit Quiz

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Listen to Episode 3 - 7 Strategies to Plump the Profit in Your Creative Business
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27 min
August 04, 2022 17. Ditch Your Price List and Do This Instead
This is a quick win mini-sode about why I think you need to ditch your price list and do something else instead.
In this short and sweet instalment of The C Word podcast I share:
~ Why I object to the term price list
~ The reasons having a price list is a missed opportunity
~ The benefits of creating a value-led proposal
~ 8 things to include in that proposal to convert more enquiries

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12 min

About Brand Strategy Unwankified

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The Brand Strategy Unwankified podcast, hosted by Bec Hughes, is the no BS space for brand designers and creators who want to learn brand strategy and sell it as a service.

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Brand Strategy Unwankified

Brand Strategy Unwankified episodes

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