Marketing Happy Hour - Your Guide to Small Business Marketing | Brie Shouppe, Content Strategist

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

In this episode, I sit down with Brie Shouppe, a marketing expert and storytelling strategist who helps brands define their identity and craft compelling content. We dive into small business (and entrepreneur) social media strategies, brand messaging, and how to create content that truly connects with your audience.Brie shares insights on common branding mistakes, the importance of defining your "why," and why real stories and real people drive the best engagement. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your strategy, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways to help you level up your marketing.Key Takeaways:// The biggest mistakes small businesses make in branding and social media—and how to avoid them// How to balance messaging and design to build a strong, authentic brand// Why trying to be everywhere on social media can hurt your brand// The secret to creating content that truly connects with your audience// How to evolve your content strategy as your business grows// Brie's #1 piece of career advice for marketers and entrepreneursConnect with Brie:LinkedInSee Brie’s Work:Everva Systems +The Kraft Co.____Say hi! DM me on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - I can't wait to hear from you!Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠Join our FREE Open Jobs group on LinkedIn:⁠Join now⁠Get the latest from MHH, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

The content that was the most engaging and performed the best statistically was when it showed real people or real stories. There's a balance that you need to include some other content, but people want to connect with the people behind the brand as well. And so I would say that that's like a huge mistake that people can learn from and is probably a relatively easy one to fix. Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. I'm Cassie, consultant, podcaster, and your host. Every Thursday, you'll hear episodes packed with insights from brand leaders on an array of topics

from crafting effective marketing strategies and hitting career goals to building leadership skills and launching your own business. Inspired by those unfiltered happy hour combos with peers, this show is all about practical, empowering chats to support your professional journey. So grab your favorite drink and let's get to the episode. Hi, Brie. Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. How are you? Hello. I am doing well. How are you? Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh, of course. You and I met over the summer. We collaborated on an internship program that we were both a part of, which was so fun and just learned more about what you currently do,

which we'll dive into here in a minute. And you're just a wealth of knowledge and expertise and everything. So I can't wait to learn more about you personally, but also I just think everyone's going to benefit greatly from this conversation. So again, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Thank you. That was so much fun. I'm so glad that we were partnered for the internship program and worked with some really, really neat students and it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was such a valuable experience. I think for me personally, I, I love the, the next generation, like hearing about what they're thinking through and just the way that they learn and everything. And I think that's something I tell my peers all the time. I'm like, if you have that kind of opportunity to speak to, whether it's high school, college students, there's a lot we

can learn as marketers from them, but also just the value of being able to like pour into that age group is really, really awesome. And I know hopefully they enjoy it too. So I hope so too, but yeah, I completely agree with you and just the energy that they bring and their curiosity and their questions too. It's yeah. Anyone that has the opportunity to, it's an amazing experience wherever you can do something like that. Yes. Yeah. Great way. A great goal to kick off 2025, I guess when we're recording this, we're talking early in the year. It's a really good goal. It's something I'm hoping to do more this year. So we'll see. Uh, but Brie, I have to ask you in true marketing happy hour fashion,

what have you been sipping on lately or what do you have in your glass right now? Oh goodness. Okay. Well, I, um, have been consuming so much water cause I told you I've been a little sick. So I've been really boring there. Um, I'm also currently trying to keep the holiday feeling going and I am obsessed with my coffee with the Chobani peppermint mocha creamer. Oh, it is on. It is so good. And it's probably like the amount that I drink is so unhealthy, but I absolutely love it. Other than that, I was telling you, I just got back from Canada. So I had some like fun cocktails while we were up there, some holiday. I was very much in a Canadian holiday spirit where it was cozy. So that's been, that's been my go-to lately. That's so fun. I, I too have been trying

to hold on to the holiday season and to Christmas and everything. So any chance I can get, like if I go to Starbucks, peppermint's always in my drink, you know, that kind of thing pretty much year round, which I don't know if that's like a best practice for coffee purchasing, but it's okay. Like we'll, we'll just run with it. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm really trying to hold onto the season. It was wonderful. And so I am right there with you. I do the same thing. I get some funny looks when I get an iced coffee with peppermint in it in June. But it's kind of refreshing in a way.

It's fine. I mean, we live in Florida. We're both here in a very hot state. And it's kind of nice. I don't know. I totally agree. I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yes, absolutely. Well, Brie,

so tell, tell me, tell us a little bit more about what you do. You're in a really interesting, fun space, a space that we have not talked really much about on the show. So how did you land where you are today? And kind of what are you, what are you working on lately? Oh my goodness. Okay. Oh, I, I've thought about this cause I knew we were going to like kick off in this direction. And it's like, where do I even start with that? There's so much to say. So you'll, you have to cut me off too. If you're like, stop, free, stop. Um, so I'll like just some brief history. Cause it actually kind of ties into where I'm at right now, which is really weird.

But out of out of school, I went to University of Florida. I'm originally from Iowa, actually, but then moved on to Florida to go to school and for a few other reasons. And out of school, I was an associate producer for a TV station in Tampa. And that is like the, not the beginning, but I knew early on that I just loved storytelling. And working in TV, that is basically all you do is share people's stories, even on the associate producer side. You do so much writing, so much video editing.

And so that was where my career kind of kicked off. And very random story. But I'll just share it and feel free to cut it out. So I was working there. I was in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend, who is now my husband. He was over in southeast Florida. And I knew that I kind of wanted to make a jump to marketing, a marketing position of some sort and to eliminate the long distance that we were dealing with.

So I was with some friends up in Tallahassee, Florida, which is where my husband is from and someone has asked me, you know, what I'm doing. I said, I'm working at this TV station. I really want to get into a full-time marketing position though for some other reasons too and they go well I think you should reach out to this person who can put you in contact with somebody else and so I contacted that person they put me in touch with somebody else. That person ended up becoming my boss at a company called Invera. So at the time, they really had no one dedicated to their marketing efforts. They had minimal content.

They also needed some assistance with business development, BD. And so I took a huge leap of faith and joined this company because I wanted to learn. I wanted to grow. I wanted something new and they were going to allow me to work out of Southeast Florida. And so I moved to that company. I left the TV world and the media world, which is also what I grew up around. It's what my parents did. So I moved to that company and I sort of was time for a new chapter two. I was the director of marketing and business development there and was really ready for the next thing. But I'm not going to lie, at the time, I didn't know what it was. And I know you and I have like briefly talked about that over the summer. So I resigned from my position at Invera and I ended up, well, I took a break from work actually for a while. I was in a really fortunate position at that point to be able to take some time off, which I felt like I needed.

And I started freelancing. I was mainly freelance ghostwriting and editing as well as doing marketing for individuals, businesses, and other organizations. At the same time, my mom was also doing that, and we would collaborate on various projects. It's just nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and we, although we have different backgrounds, I would say our backgrounds typically complement one another. And so we were both freelancing and we were approached to take on a client together. And at that point, we actually ran some like test meetings to see how we really worked together in a business setting in a meeting scenario. And that was the beginning of our boutique business called The Craft Co., which she had actually like already established a few years prior.

She purchased the LLC and everything to have a small business just in case she ever wanted to. And we officially decided to do that in early 2023. We were going to go down that path of building our small business, our small marketing and communications business. And so that's what we did. We specialized in that for companies of all sizes. So small businesses, as well as large ones, nonprofits, and then some individuals as well, mainly being authors and other writers. And so that was really the beginning of CraftCo. We grew it to a team of four, which was really great and still is like a fantastic team. And then a couple of months ago, I was approached by Invera and I am now back at Invera as their VP of marketing. And so I'm sort of functioning

in both spaces. And that is the very long story of how we got here today. Oh my gosh. That's so awesome. I love, I love that you work with your mom. I think that's so fun. And that could be a whole conversation of just navigating work with family members or close friends or whatever. But I want to go back to something that stood out to me earlier on in your journey. When you first started with Envera, this idea of sharing with others, like what you're looking to do and your goals, like for you pivoting out of the media space and news and everything and sharing with others like, hey, I want to get a marketing role. I want to kind of step into this. I think that's so important. It's such a simple idea of like actually speaking out loud to other people in your circle, like what you're looking to do. But I think until we do that, it's really hard to be recommendable for opportunities or even like your network is so powerful for landing different, different jobs and positions.

So just that idea of like, don't be afraid to share with others, like, Hey, this is what I'm looking to do or what I'm working on. If you know anyone, let me know. And you never know what can kind of come out of those conversations. It's so true. And yeah, never underestimate your network and never be afraid to like extend that to and meet new people. I think one of the biggest things that I learned early on in my career too, that kind of works in connection with this is like saying yes to

opportunities and obviously with healthy boundaries I know that that's really important especially today but there were so many things that I would just say yes to random opportunities to learn something. For example, I remember in college I I had an opportunity to sit in on a surgery. I learned very quickly that the medical field was not for me. I was like, this isn't it? My husband works in it and that's great. But I was like, that's not for me.

And then through internships too, I said yes. I said yes to working overnight hours at a location. I said yes to working overnight hours at a location. I said yes to jumping on a boat to cover a story about lionfish. Like, just saying yes to the different things. And then along with that, not being afraid to. You really don't know where it's going to take you, what someone's going to say. And it is, it's so scary. But when you can move kind of past the, well, what's the worst that could happen?

And that was part of it too. And I reached out to my contact at Invera who ended up becoming my supervisor there. It was like, what was the worst that could happen? He was going to say he wasn't going to respond, okay. Or he was going to say, hey, no hey no sorry I don't think you're the right fit um it's just don't underestimate the network and don't be afraid I wish that was something I had really recognized early on but I share that with everybody now I'm like don't be afraid you're probably over analyzing it yourself just make the jump ask the question anything along those lines

absolutely and chances are one thing I think about all the time is like most of the people it yourself, just make the jump, ask the question, anything along those lines. Absolutely. And chances are one thing I think about all the time is like most of the people that you are probably reaching out to at one point, they were in a similar position to you where they were looking for their next step and kind of reaching out to their network or putting themselves out there. And so most of the time people are pretty willing to pass that along. Um, and I think again, like 1000% relationships are so incredibly important for just opportunities and everything. And I love how you mentioned as well, just saying yes to things, you never know what happens. And then worst case scenario, it's a notch on your belt. It's, it's part of your experience and you kind of step into the next, uh, the next chapter or whatever when you're ready.

So, um, both huge, huge, huge strategies for career, I think. Absolutely. Yeah. I was just talking to like a young entrepreneur yesterday about it. And I just said, I was like to say, say yes, learn everything that you can. Yep. Yep. 1000%. So I want to talk a little bit about marketing

specifically. And something that you've mentioned in the past is how brands struggle with defining their why, which 1000% agree. And I think this is like such a foundational element for brands to figure out because it helps you articulate your message and how you're speaking to consumers and how you're promoting your products and services. So can you kind of walk us through how you specifically help businesses uncover their core identity and story? Like what's kind of the thinking or the strategizing that you'll do when you first start working with a client on that? So it definitely looks a little bit different for each one. But I'm happy to go through at least some of the things that we try to cover. I think one thing I always start with when needed and often needed is helping them to understand that strong

brands don't just typically happen. Like they are intentionally crafted with clear messaging authentic storytelling and a really deep understanding of who they are and what their goals are who their target audience is and i know and it's really hard to see that sometimes without another perspective if you're really in deep with your business and the operational side of your business, it can be hard to have that perspective and actually remember why you're doing something or what's really driving the goals of your business. So it can be extremely helpful to bring in another perspective, even on a personal note, if and when I do this for myself, which we try to do regularly, I like to have somebody else there too, because you just don't always see it on your own when it comes to your own business or your own organization.

So like I said, it doesn't look the exact same for everybody. It really depends too like is it an existing business or organization or is it brand new too? I've worked with a couple that are launching their brand new business. So that process looks a little bit different whereas if they're existing we have some data and some content that we can kind of analyze that they've already created to see okay how is that really resonating? What does that look like today? And that can be helpful. So the process of what we typically go through is normally we do a couple strategic planning sessions for the organization that we're working with or in VERA we would do that internally. And that can involve,

that often involves like a SWOT analysis. So strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. I don't underestimate like the tried and true. And that one is, I love the brainstorming that can come from those sessions to really doing them like on an annual basis at a minimum, because new opportunities will have presented themselves throughout the year that you didn't recognize previously and should that be a part of what your marketing plan is for this next year since it timing wise it works out well that we're talking in January so we're looking at that um are there are there new threats to like recognizing that things can change from there? From there, we will typically do so a content analysis if they have existing content. Otherwise, we are doing like

a competitor analysis as well. And I don't like people to get like too hung up on the competitor side of things, but it is good to know what someone else is doing out there if they're in a similar space. What does their content look like? What is their brand saying? What's their messaging like? So that you can see what your differentiators are as well too and how would you show up in a similar space if needed. And then we often will spend some time identifying their target audience or audiences. For me too with Invera, that often comes with creating like a target persona or multiple target personas. So for example, like with Invera, I know that I have a couple. And each one is different in what messaging resonates with them, where they're at in terms

of digital marketing and media, where they're going, what they're looking for, their motivations for purchasing something, all of that. So really analyzing that and putting together a plan with all of those different, I even like pulled one up so I could reference it too as I'm like talking about all of this. It is honestly like a bullet point of, you know, okay, this is their type of media usage where they're at. This is, these are their pain points. This is the marketing approach that often resonates with them the most. And it gives you a foundation for just about everything going forward. And I think that that in particular is really important because it's so easy in this space. And we know that because we work in it.

But people are like, oh, just create an Instagram and just do it. And just post a few pictures and you'll be great. And there's so much more that goes into that with being really intentional to make sure that one, you're being authentic to yourself as a brand, but that it's actually going to resonate with the people that you're trying to reach as well. Yeah, 1000%. And I think to your point, too, just kind of analyzing this occasionally and just ensuring that depending on the brand goals, the business goals overall, like everything

is kind of aligned and on the right track. Do you feel too that there are any like mistakes or things that brands get wrong when developing this brand identity or just overall strategy really for marketing that a lot of brands you feel are doing but should probably kind of pivot in 2025 and beyond? Yeah. Okay. So this is one that I talked a lot about last year, and I would say it's continuing to, is I see so many brands that want to be good at everything or they want to be everywhere. And I would say the opposite is true. You really don't need to be good at everything.

You can be really good at one thing. And at the Craft Co. we refer to it as like the halo effect. And we didn't coin that too. That came from other places. But it is a halo effect. So when you're really good at one thing, you do have sort of a halo effect. It extends beyond. But if you're trying to be everything and be everywhere, I would say you often lose sight of really who you are and you're not as memorable or recognizable to other people because they don't understand what you do as well. And like, don't get me wrong, I think that's really tricky because a lot of businesses have more than one, you have more than one thing that you're doing, but it's really being intentional and focusing on what is that main

message that you want to get across and then determining based on your target audiences, what is the most impactful place for me to be? Where should I really be putting in the most effort for those places? And the answer isn't that you should be on every social media platform that exists. You should really be selective of it too. Like where can you show up and be consistent with that? You know, not show up one time and then leave for the rest of the year because you felt like you needed to be there. But where can you be consistent? Where can you be yourself to? And where is your audience? Are they actually on that platform? Because if they're not, then I'm not sure

it's the best place for you to be as well. I would say another one too that I had a lot of conversations with this past year, and I think they'll continue is recognizing that your brand is more than your logo. I know that's kind of, it might sound cliche for everyone listening here, but I think it's a really important reminder for either people on your team and at your business or for your clients too, depending on the situation that you're in, because it goes so much farther beyond than your logo. It's really, your brand is the connection that you create with your audience. It is their perception, their emotions, and their feelings when they think about that. And that brand is like where you build trust. It's where you build relationships. It's how you connect

with people or with your target audience. And I see people always like slipping and forgetting this too. And I get it's really, really easy too because you automatically, when you think of a logo, like you're like, oh yeah, that's that brand. But if you go just a step beyond that, it's so much more than that. I was having a conversation with someone, and this is kind of a dramatic example, more than that. I was having a conversation with someone, and this is kind of a dramatic example, but I said, I was like, look, you could change your logo to pink tomorrow and it won't change the perception of you. People might say like, oh, wow, they went from that color to pink. That's abrupt and kind of a random change, but it's not

going to change how people actually perceive your brand. That's a good reminder. Cause I think a lot of times, especially small businesses will kind of start with the visuals first, like whether they're establishing their business for the first time, or they're doing a rebrand, for example, like they really want to start with the visuals. Cause it's so, I understand it's very tangible, right? Like we can immediately see it come to life. It's something that's like semi rewarding right away, you know, but, um, I think to your point, just kind of knowing the essence and who you are as a brand and who you're speaking to and like values, what do you want to be known for and everything. And your visual brand really design wise should flow from that because there's so many different elements with colors and fonts

and everything that speak to some of those brand values and everything. So we have to remember like the psychology behind it too. So as, as fun as it is, it's, it's important to get those other details down first, I think. It really is. And that doesn't mean not staying true to you too. It's really finding the balance and the blend of all of that. Like you're saying, like taking into account the psychology behind, I know some people are trying to get away from it, but colors do like tend to evoke certain emotions and at least making sure that you're recognizing what some of that means and the impact that it can have visually before you're recognizing what some of that means and the impact that it can have visually before you're really just jumping in and saying, well, this is

my favorite color. This should be my brand. And it goes a little bit further beyond that. And it's worth it to take the time to actually analyze that and be really careful about what you select. Yeah, absolutely. So speaking to of kind of messaging and everything. So let's say you have, you've gone through the process of getting your strategy in place. You kind of know how your brand wants to speak online, who you're talking to, what kind of those goals are. How important do you feel being a writer, especially like how important do you feel is copywriting and just overall, whether it's messaging on your website, on social, how does that play a part in connecting with the consumer? I know that's a pretty like straight up like, well, duh question, but what do you feel just coming from the background that you

have? How important is good copywriting and ensuring that copy is aligned with your strategy and just everything really there? Oh, no, that's okay. I really like this question and I feel like it's actually, it's so timely right now. Copywriting right now, everyone is kind of like, well, I can have someone else write it for me. And I don't mean someone else isn't an actual person, obviously. Like they're like, oh, I can have a guy write it for me. And I'm not saying that that isn't a tool and a really good resource for writers. But I would be really careful today that your copywriting doesn't come across like a robot wrote it or that someone else didn't. Because it can be really pretty obvious when there hasn't been any oversight or editing

and we can tell that someone else wrote either the web article, whether that was on your blog or a social media post, anything like that, it's pretty telling when it's not you. And like I said, I'm not saying like don't use the resources that are available to you and as someone who has to write a lot and for a lot of different voices, like it can be really, really helpful to have that as a resource, but you have to be a really strong editor too, not just a writer. And at the end of the day, you need to understand your audience really well and the goals, the style, the tone for whatever format you're writing. You really need to understand what the structure should be because to me, that's one of the biggest concerns now when it comes to copywriting. And the most obvious is when people are using it and it's not, it's not them and it's not coming across very genuine.

Yeah, absolutely. So I want to pivot really quickly and ask more about like just your personal writing skills and then we'll go back into more of that strategy piece. But how are you as a marketer continuing to build those skills? I know, obviously, consistency of just practice and making sure it's a regular part of your day to day. But anything else that you'd recommend to especially new marketers who are just getting those skills honed in for the first time?

Like, what can we be doing to really grow in that area? Yeah. So I would say my recommendation and something that I try to practice a lot too is writing for different structures in different formats. I think it's really easy to get stuck in just one and say, oh, I'm, I'm just writing, you know, the social media copy, or I'm just writing the content for the website. And to me, that is such a good skill if you're new to the space, but also continuing to learn too, because in the time that we have been in this space, it's shifted and it's evolved. And so you have to continue to evolve with it too. But I think that's really how you hone the craft is working with different structures

in the digital marketing space and I know that that's one piece that I like because it challenges me to make sure that I am using the different voices that I need to the different structures the different grammar everything like if you're writing an article you're gonna be a little bit more grammatically correct depending on where that's going and ideally you're still working with an editor but you're going to have a lot more structure to that story a flow logical build an argument and a key message for that whereas the website content you're probably going to be a little bit more conversational it needs to be really easy to

read there's some technical side to that too that you need to take into consideration. And then social media, you're looking at, okay, is this concise? Is it engaging? Is there a call to action? Are we showing personality? There's length. There's so many different considerations. So that would be my biggest piece of advice to anyone, but also to myself is to really make sure that you're not getting stuck in one. Even, I would say, even if you really, if you only work in social media to like try to branch out every now and then and say, okay, you know what? I'm going to write a blog post for about this or for this person, anything along those lines, or write a full article for something as well because I think that that'll really push you in this space and help you to continue to learn. Yeah, I couldn't

agree more. I think just being able to expand your horizons and a lot of times that's something that we personally as professionals have to take on ourselves. Like unfortunately, if you're a social media manager working for a brand, for, if you're a social media manager working for a brand, for example, you're not always going to be given the opportunity to like write a blog post, for example. So that's why I think we're seeing more and more professionals are starting sub stacks or they're writing articles on LinkedIn

or like starting their own blog on a website, which is so awesome because it's them being able to share their experience with other people. But it's also a way to kind of experience with other people, but it's also a way to kind of push your skill set too, I think. So that's a great reminder. Absolutely. No, I love, I love seeing people sharing, you know, where their lessons learned to in those formats and it is, it's kind of a win-win. It's a win for your audience and a win for you too. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. So going back to

kind of the brand strategy process for a minute, we talked a lot about, you know, the brand identity piece and how do we think about that? We talked about target audience needs. Now combining the two of them and preparing to start to create digital content, how do you recommend we approach thinking about those different pieces and creating content that not only aligns with that identity, aligns with your mission, vision, you know, brand voice, things like that, while also fulfilling needs that your audience has and providing value to them, et cetera? Sure. So I would say when possible, my first thing would be collaboration. And I don't mean that it needs to be collaboration with a huge team of people. Even just having one other person or a couple other people involved in that is really important for the overall message and the design of something when possible. And I know that that's not always the case as someone who often has to tackle both sides of it. But even if you do, making sure that you're still collaborating with someone else, someone who does understand the core message, the values, the mission, and the unique proposition too, so that they can have another set of eyes on that.

Kind of how I mentioned like never edit your own article. Hopefully you're working with someone else too. The same would go for a design, own article. Hopefully you're working with someone else too. The same would go for a design, but making sure that you're collaborating with the right person. But I find that that is so crucial. Once you're really balancing the design and the messaging piece, having another set of eyes or another team member involved in that is so, so, so important. But then remembering too that like your design should ultimately enhance and align with that foundation message too. I think it's sometimes really for us as creatives, like sometimes you want to, you want to branch out, you want to do something new too. And there can be a space for that, but you really need to make sure that you're evoking the right emotions and reinforcing the brand that you've really worked so hard and strategically

put together. The other thing I would say is when it comes to the design and almost all messages, like simple and clear is often the most powerful and the most memorable. Like don't overcomplicate it, which I would say I probably have a tendency to do because like my brain goes a million miles a minute. So being really clear and concise with your design is going to make your message shine through so much more. It makes it, when you do that too, like you're going to be more consistent. It's a little bit more seamless and then ultimately more recognizable. And when

you're consistent with that, like I was saying, you should have like the same underlying message, sort of the same visual cues, the same tone. And all of that is really going to help resonate with your audience for people to build trust, to know who you are, and ultimately to know what you're about, like we were talking about. So to kind of talking specifically about social, I know social is always evolving. It's very hard to keep up. But do you feel there are common mistakes just in general? I know you talked about you mentioned storytelling and making sure that's a, that's a priority and everything, but just common mistakes you see brands making on social in general, no matter what the algorithms are doing or kind of the formats that are available to us and how those are changing on a regular basis. Yeah. Um, so I think one of the easiest ones that I, even though I've heard a lot of people shout it from the rooftops, I still see so many people not doing it is just not engaging with their audience,

no matter the platform, um, whether it's LinkedIn, whether it's Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, any of the above, not engaging with their audience. And that truly can be like one of the simplest ways. Um, if your audience is engaging with you, that is such an amazing thing too. And so to just take a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes to give some genuine responses and not, they don't have to be paragraphs, but just to show that you put in a little bit of thought, I think is one of the most powerful things you can do and is such a common mistake across social media today. We already talked a little bit about it, but like not being focused on who they are and what they offer, that's a big one. And we see that. And then the other one that I would say where I see a lot of brands moving in the right direction, but there are still some,

but just not being authentic, you know, not showing the real faces and the real people behind your brand and your story. And sometimes that's hard. And I know there are a lot of factors going into that, but I just spent past month, like analyzing the marketing metrics for Invera, as well as a couple of other businesses. And the one common thing across all of them was that the content that was the most engaging and performed the best statistically was when it showed real people or real stories. And I know there's a balance. There's a balance that you need to include some other content, but people want to connect with the people behind the brand as well. And so I would say that that's

a huge mistake that people can learn from and is probably a relatively easy one to fix as well. I agree. I think that's a huge, huge, I don't even want to call it a trend because I think it's something that is we've known for a while, but I think it's becoming a non-negotiable really for social media. And I love to, I'm starting to notice that there's new content creator roles opening up brands. So like brands are hiring people who can serve as the face and the human element to a brand on social media, which is really interesting. So we're seeing more of that and just identifying a spokesperson or getting your founder involved in videos and everything. And I think just overall people connect better with people anyways. So they do. No, they do. I love seeing to the businesses that

are really maximizing on like the personal brands at their company too. And it's not that that needs to be a necessity or like pressure for your employees. But when you have some employees that are doing that, I think that's so amazing when I see businesses really lifting up their voices and their stories. And that's really impactful for your organization's brand. Again, we mentioned that social is just an ever-evolving, ever-changing element to marketing. But how do you feel brands should either – there's kind of two parts to this question. Like brands should be staying on top of all of that stuff and ensuring that they're evolving with these platforms, but also just in general, as a business grows, like how

should a presence not necessarily be changing completely, but just growing with the business, if that makes sense. When it comes to like the trends, well, one, so I think it's important to have someone that is sort of, that is like staying on top of what's changing, but not someone who's going to jump on every single trend that is there. And I mean, it can almost be like fast fashion too. So we don't want that. It is good to be aware of what's going on in the space and the impactful changes, what is trending, but balance that too with not necessarily needing to jump on every single thing. Just a related example too, AI is such a buzzword across industries right now. And then there is a technology company, a security technology company. So for them, it's like everyone has questions about it. And that is a big thing for us as an organization to be aware of and know how technology is

evolving as well too. But again, like recognizing that not every form of AI is what is needed for our audience. So taking into account like their voice as well too of, well, would this really match what they're looking for technology wise? And if so, then okay, we need to explore that. But if not, then it's probably not a necessity. And I think you can say the same thing about marketing and social media and all of the trends with that too. Take into account your audience's voice too. Like if they have ever given you any sort of insight into if they would want to see you in that space or do that. And then if they have, that might be a really great opportunity. And if not, then you should definitely be considering that, too. That goes back to our you don't have to do everything or be everywhere.

I have to tell you, I love the parallel of fast fashion and jumping on trends. I think that makes so much sense to me. I think the funny thing about that is like, it feels really good for like a minute when you're like, oh, I bought new clothes that are on trend, but it's like, oh, it doesn't long-term, it doesn't really work or it doesn't last, or it's not contributing to myself as a human being, for example, long term. So I love that. I think that's such an easy way to to think about whether or not you should jump on trends. I think that's great.

Oh, yeah. I know. It's just it's so it's so simple for people to be like, oh, this went viral. We should do it, too. And it's so then I go back to the why. Okay. Well, if you did this, you know, what, would it resonate with your audience or no? Um, what value does it get? Does it bring either to your business or bring to your audience? And it, and it's, it's easy. Like we are so inundated with brands and trends every single day that to even think about

the exposure to the number of brands that you have daily is wild. And I've like sometimes gone down rabbit holes to actually like try to find out what that number is. But I would avoid doing that if I were you. I don't recommend. But it's finding that balance too of like not necessarily jumping on all of that. And it can be really hard, but that's too why it's really important. Like if you're a business owner, for example, it's hard. I get it. Like there's a reason that larger organizations are hiring

people for the content and all of that, because it is hard and you want to be present and you want to be there. But I think that extra couple minutes that you spend to really dive into the why is so important. Yeah, I think so too. I think that's the moral of this episode of just understanding why are you doing what you're doing and how do you communicate that and everything. Yeah, that's really important. I'm curious too, just like as marketing professionals, I feel like we get into this almost hamster wheel cycle of doing our day-to-day work and marketing and being on these platforms and everything.

And I think it's a lot easier to keep your brain kind of fresh when you are working with a number of different types of brands and industries. However, I don't know about you. I still personally face that from time to time. Like I kind of hit a wall of inspiration and it's, um, again, we're in this every single day, but there's also professionals out there who work in one specific industry and one brand and that's it. And so I'm curious if you have any, you know, resources or things that you do on a regular basis individually, just to like stay inspired in this field and like keep the ideas fresh and, and, um, get excited about what you're doing on a day to day, anything you read, listen to do anything there. I'm really curious to hear what you say. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so, so many things. So

I, one, I'm an avid reader. Um, I, I love reading for multiple reasons. Like one, I think that it's just so good for us mentally. Um, I, but I'm also, so I'm a big, if you can't tell, like, I believe in marketing as like storytellers. Like I like that aspect of marketing. That's why I got into all of this. And so I am like fascinated with how stories are structured. And so I read them because I enjoy it and I love it. And I think it's fine to read for escapism.

But I also really enjoy analyzing how a story came to be and what the process was like, what that flow looked like. And I do find that that can be really inspiring for me, even if it's totally unrelated, unrelated to security technology. I'm not going to lie. I don't, I don't read a lot of like fiction about security technology. So that's definitely one way that I stay fresh. I think it's good for like mental well-being, but it is really inspiring too. And it helps with my skill set too, with writing and editing across different platforms and structures and all of that. I also think sometimes one of the simplest things that you

can do is go work somewhere else. And I know that that is not an option for everybody. For me, being someone who really has to balance like the creative with the analytical, sometimes being in a different space, it's not very distracting for me. Like I can put headphones in, but I do like to work from a different space and that can just really like jog my brain a little bit. Especially I write a lot of articles for Invera too because that's a part of my job, but I really like to educate people

on where security is headed for them too. And so being able to write from a different space just helps so much with all of that as opposed to being stuck in like the same four walls. So that is one thing. I'm a big podcast listener to all sorts. I love this podcast because I feel like I learn something from every guest that you have. But other ones as well too, like because it's interesting to just hear how they communicate, whatever they're talking about. And so I find that can be really impactful. Those are definitely some of the way, probably the key ways that I would say I stay inspired. But then too, like I,

I love to just follow different organizations that like really are inspiring me no matter what industry they're in on social media. I think it's really neat to see like how they create and sometimes they'll take a note. I'm like, oh man, that was so good. You know, I wonder if there's a way for me to apply that, like spin it and make sure that it's like this, make it my own. But I really liked the way that they did that. And I like being able to share that to you across my team at Invera too. Um, I know even like I was listening to marketing happy hour and the whole warm email concept. I was like, Hey guys, we have been talking about this and we need to have a conversation about warm emails. Oh, I love that. Yeah. That one comes up so much. That was such a good,

a good little nugget there. Um, I love that. I, I love to read as well. That's, that's something that is, I think to your point, so beneficial. I may be putting you on the spot here, but are there any fiction and or nonfiction books that you've read lately that you recommend? Oh my goodness. Okay. Hold on. I might even have to like pull up my good. I do see you have happy place by Emily Henry behind you. I haven't read that yet, but I'm a big Emily Henry fan. Um, I also, I have Ashley Poston's newest, which is a novel story. I haven't read that yet, but I did in 2024. I read the seven year slip and I still think about that book. Highly, highly, highly recommend.

It is magical realism. So, so yeah. So if you like romance, that one though, it'll tug on your heartstrings too. But I love that. I absolutely love it. So I read the Crescent City series, which is fantasy. I read that late last year. And so if you're a fantasy, romanacy, Sarah J. Maas fan, I've officially read all of her

books that are out. So I read those. Another one last year, like late last year that I read that I would highly recommend is The Flame of Prometheus by Taryn L. Davidson. And this is going to be more of your, it's a dystopian book. It's not fantasy, but it does kind of have that feel to it. It's very much an adventure, enemies, well, friends to enemies to lovers setup. But Taryn L. Davidson is fantastic, too. She's really good. And that is book one in what will be a series and it will 100%

leave you wanting book two. Oh, amazing. Yeah. Those are, I mean, some of my recent ones I need to read darkly. Um, that one's at the top right there. I'm talking to that author in a couple of days. I need to read her book. Yeah, this is my TBR. TBR. Oh, fun. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, I'll follow you on Goodreads and I'm excited because I need to get into the reading inspiration for 2025. So I always love to ask everyone. Yeah. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. Anytime I've fallen off the bandwagon, I feel like I know it. But the second I'm back on, I just feel so much more inspired across the board. So I agree.

Highly recommend. In terms of nonfiction, I don't, I'm not going to lie. In the only nonfiction I think I read last year was Save the Cat Writes a Novel, which if you're interested in writing books, I would definitely recommend, but that's probably not very exciting if you're not. Um, and then On Writing by Stephen King, which is about writing. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Last year I too didn't do a lot of nonfiction. I think the only nonfiction I read, which was fantastic. I was late to the game on this one, but, um, unreasonable hospitality

by Will Gadara. Yeah. It's very good. Um, but that was it. I was in very much a fiction mode last year, which I think is good. Like as, as a professional, just like mixing it up a little bit prior to that, I was on a nonfiction train for a very long time. So I think just allowing our brains to kind of switch modes on a regular basis is good for creativity. I don't know, at least for me, but I tell myself, yeah, yeah, it's fine. But I'm, I'm excited to hear what you read in 2025. And, um, I am excited to follow you on Goodreads. I'll definitely do that. But Bree, I have to add, I feel like we could go in a million different directions just overall having more conversations,

which we definitely will down the road. But I would love to ask one more question just as we close out here. But if you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice at the start of your career, early on in your career, what would you share with young Bree? Oh my goodness. A lot of things. Never start drinking coffee. No. It's okay. I'm fine with the fact that I developed that habit.

There's so many things, but I think one that kind of encompasses a lot of what I would tell young Bree or anybody else is to cultivate resilience, especially in this space. And I think some of the ways you do that are like not being afraid, like we talked about, not really listening to those inner voices that maybe tell you you can't do something or that it's super scary. Learn from every experience, no matter what it is. Adapt to change. Don't, again, don't be afraid to ask for help when needed. And I think part of cultivating resilience too is like practicing stress management, being mindfulness and exercise for me. So to maintain like mental and physical wellbeing, um, without all of that, like you can't enjoy the process as much. And, but when you do that, you, you can, and you can lead and you can continue to have this posture of learning from every single experience, overcoming challenges, and all while taking

care of yourself as well. So I think that's what I would say. Yeah, so good. I couldn't agree more. I think you got to take care of yourself first and foremost, so you can serve others, help the brands that you're building, you know, things like that really contributes to how we show up. So I could not agree more. Well, on that too, would love to be able to just stay connected with you and the brands that you work with. What's the best way to get in contact with you, follow your professional journey? Where can we do that online? Sure. So for my professional journey, it's probably easiest to find me on LinkedIn, um, Brie Shoup and the craft co is also on LinkedIn as well, as well as in Vera. Um, that would be at in Vera systems and then at the craft co there.

Um, I also have podcasts on books, which is called narratives and nightcaps. And you can find that on Instagram. And I talked to lots of different authors. So if you're ever interested in books, it's probably why I got so excited talking about books. Um, but that, those are some of the best places to find me. Um, but yeah, LinkedIn is probably best for me. You can find me on Instagram if you like to look at pictures of my dog. Excellent. Well, thank you so much. I feel like this was such a good, like kind of reset for 2025 episode, just thinking about our social strategies. How are we building those moving forward and just setting ourselves up for success and our brands up for success in 2025. So thank you so much for

just sharing everything with us today. Really appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, I would love your feedback. And if you're ready to take things to the next level, sign up for my weekly newsletter in the show notes. You'll get weekly career and marketing insights straight to your inbox. And if you have an idea for a future Marketing Happy Hour episode, shoot me an email.

Hello at marketinghappyhr.com. Thank you again, and I'll see you next Thursday.