I am so thrilled to have my friend, Sara Gillis, on the podcast! Sara has been a friend for a while, a brand photography client of mine, a current member of my group coaching program, and I have loved seeing her grow over the past year.
When we first started working together, Sara was a teacher with a side hustle which she wanted to take full-time. Within a couple of months, she made that dream a reality, and her business has continued to grow!
In this interview, Sara and I nerd out for a bit about the state of journalism and communication, and then we dive deeper into communication from a business perspective. It can be something that trips up a lot of entrepreneurs and can be difficult to navigate. Sara shared some amazing tips on the podcast about stepping into your own, natural brand voice and owning it to reach your ideal clients.
Here are some of the things we discussed in this episode:
- The difference between copy and content
- What Sara says to people who say “I’m not a good writer” (but maybe can’t afford to hire a writer yet)
- Throwing grammar rules out the window and really writing for yourself and your business
- The Oxford Comma and other journalism insight
- Finding your brand voice and owning it!
- Sara’s 5 types of brand voices (use Sara’s quiz to help you figure out what type you are!)
A few highlights from this episode:
[4:06] – I don’t think you can have an effective business and an effective approach to messaging to your ideal client without both copy and content.
[14:30] – I used to tell my students I loved literature because you can see glimpses of yourself in the stories of other people. And that’s the best thing about being in this kind of frame of time, where we can storytell our way to that know-like-trust funnel or we can storytell our way to finding glimpses of ourselves in other business owners, moms, ‘Sioux Falls-ians’, anyone! It’s very cool.
[16:45] – The cool thing about it is it’s not a voice that you put on or try on. It’s a voice that you have already. It’s your natural, authentic voice.
[37:12] – If you think about business in general and just being a consumer, we respond emotionally to things when we purchase. It’s not just, “oh yeah, this fits in my budget.” It’s not just a financial decision, it’s emotional too. And a brand will make you feel a certain way based on what their brand voice type is. And I think owning your own brand voice type will help the right type of consumer find you and buy from you. And who doesn’t want that?!
This was a great conversation with Sara about not only finding your brand voice but also owning your brand voice. You don’t have to be proper and polite if your authentic voice is quirky and fun. Your brand voice reflects YOU which then plays into the personal brand you are building. If you want to take Sara’s quiz to find out your brand voice, click here! You can also connect with her at whatsarasaid.com and @hellosaragillis.
Some of the best conversations happen after the show in my private Facebook group, Take It Personally Podcast. Click here to join in!
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