Episode 175: The Branded Things with Sarah Whitaker

Welcome to Skucast, the podcast for entrepreneurs in the promotional products industry. Skucast shines a light on our industry's best work, features maverick personalities, and discusses what's really involved in running a modern promotional products business. Skucast is the official podcast of Common Skew. Sarah Whitaker is the owner and client success manager for Williams Advertising and the founder of its newly launched division called Branded, which you can find at thebrandedthings.com. What Sarah does so incredibly well is that she obsesses over the user experience. And being a native to all things digital, she naturally bridges human-to-human engagement with digital sales proficiency. This engagement commerce we've been talking about for a while, she's doing it. She stormed into the traditional business model at Williams and Co. with her trademark positivity and energy, and she expanded their services to include social media marketing, digital marketing, and more. She knows the client well because she was the client before heading down her current path. Sarah worked in corporate marketing. What I love the most about her is that she moves fast and she's constantly in sales beta mode. Open to exploring new channels for sales and marketing. Before my chat with Sarah, if you're a Commonsku customer, you might know that we just launched Commonsku University Plus, a 2.5-hour event specifically for Commonsku users who are serious about becoming pros on the platform. Now, with all the events we do, I get this question frequently: who exactly should attend? If I were you, I would bring the whole team, and the reason is twofold. Number one, your team will see how others are using the platform to grow sales and collaborate. You know, we often work in our companies in little silos. We only know our way of doing things and seeing how others approach their day, manage their workflow is so instructive. For example, there's a session on how to automate your production workflow where Brandy Johnson with ScreenBroidery will share how her and her team is able to oversee 400 working orders at any time. The second reason your whole team should attend is that it's vital your colleagues understand each other's roles in the business and what they do. Because this is a concentrated time of just 2.5 hours, you're able to get a clearer picture of how everything works in harmony. You can check it out and register at commonskew.com/universityplus. Now here's my conversation with the always delightful Sarah Whitaker. Sarah, you recently revitalized a 35-year-old company, you rebranded and created Branded by Williams, and you started out by bringing social media management, digital marketing tools into the business. It seems you came into the business with this fresh vision, this fresh outlook. What was your intent with Branded?

With Branded, we wanted to have something that was a more concise, more directed approach. So we have been for the past several years full-service marketing. So we have our digital and social and web and graphic design and promotional items. And so with branded, sometimes all the full capabilities of what we can do get really lost in the space of all the capabilities that you can do with everything full-service marketing. So it's really a space to get really dedicated, whether it's on social, on web, and talk about all the things that we can do within branded merchandise. And also not all of our clients, it makes sense that we're working with them across all the different things that we can do. So, you know, that's a more dedicated space where we can answer that need. And I think a lot of times we have tried to communicate a little bit of everything to all people, and we communicate less by doing so. So it's really a space for us to be able to communicate more directly with those with the need of branded merchandise.

With broad brushstrokes, can you paint us a picture for what Williams does in those different categories that you provide services? Yeah.

So like social media, for example, we run social media accounts for people all the way back to just helping strategize. So we do different elements depending on the client within that. With digital, you know, we run ad campaigns, we do website builds, that sort of thing. Graphic design, it could be anything from branding, you know, to marketing pieces, that sort of thing. So really just depending on what's needed for that individual client, you know, we tailor those services.

So branded really simplifies the merchandising part. Does that also act as sort of a doorway into the business, into these other services?

You know, it's interesting. They work hand in hand quite a bit. And it's interesting that we develop logos very often in a different way than if we didn't have the merchandise to consider. You know, we know what prints well or what doesn't and what's gonna be viewable in different things. You know, something that I don't know that we would consider if we didn't have that in there. And then also it helps us develop campaigns more holistically with all of that involved.

What's been the hardest part of repositioning your business?

That has been me. I have, I guess you could say, analysis paralysis and waiting for things to be perfect before launching. This concept came back early 2020. Of course, there was a little pandemic in the midst of all of the things, but also making sure that website was perfect and the branding and all of the things, all the content that we can develop making sure that all of that was out there and perfect. That was probably the hardest thing for me is to hone in on who we want to be and what we want to look like and all of that. But we did have a deadline of, you know, we're launching this thing January 1st, '21. And so here we are.

Are you already beginning to see differences in what you've done?

Oh yes, yes. I think just specifically with social and our content, for sure more directed, more beneficial. It's already something that is, I'm using in sales support more so than ever before.

How does this cross-disciplinary outlook affect your overall business? Does that all work together in harmony, or how does it work together?

It does, you know, it really does. When we think about, especially when we're approaching a branded merchandise campaign or talking to a client about that, the understanding of their whole marketing mix is really helpful. You know, understanding their need as, you know, a specific industry or something, of course, but understanding the things that marketers are dealing with or the different things that they are doing, you know, and having a good understanding of how those campaigns work, it allows us to be able to say, okay, let's supplement your digital campaign in this type of way. Or, you know, we might say, okay, let's integrate this into social media. We were just having that discussion with a client and using branded merchandise to brand some of their things that they carry out on social media a little bit more.

Yeah, since you focus on so many different areas, what does your marketing toolkit look like right now? In other words, what are you utilizing the most and what's most effective for you?

So for branded, we're trying to integrate what we do the best, self-promo and using our merchandise, you know, but we also, I would say content marketing and just making sure all of that is really intentionally based, you know, in our client need and making sure that our blogs answer that, our social media answers that. And it all works in harmony with everything else. So that is our best thing. And that's the thing that is sometimes the hardest to do is sit and content plan and make sure all of that is exactly what you need it to be. But that's where it pays off.

You do focus on this from a very strategic standpoint. You're not one of those, it sounds like, that just says you try things. I'm sure there are some things in beta right now, but you also have referred to this before, a content plan, a strategy. That's all something you sit down and think pretty hard about. Yes.

And that is something that I try hard to block off time just to focus on those kind of things, or else it just gets away. It's much easier, much easier just to— well, I say it's easier, but it doesn't. If you're on your phone and you're realizing you haven't planned your next Instagram post, then it might be that just the next product to fly in your inbox is the thing that gets posted. And then is it really what you want to communicate out? Is it really going to address need? You know, it's You know, there are just so many things that can go into it and you go that way for so long and you don't end up accomplishing what you could if you had spent just a little more time on the planning. Yeah.

Where are you finding the most success? Is there a particular tactic or platform that you're finding the most success with right now?

You know, right now it's social and introducing the new, all the new things branded. We're getting some engagement in that way. And it could be because we're focusing more directly in on it than we have before, I think. But for right now, I would say social. We're really putting a lot of effort into launching our new website and having blogs that are going to get crawled and all the different things so that we can use that. But right now, yeah, I would say social.

Speaking of sales channels, you're using shops in such a variety of ways, some fun ways. We were just talking about this. Can you share an example of a shop that you love? Yes.

So our very first shop that— and we're using the common SKU shop— that we launched, launched out of an extreme need back when COVID first hit. Hit. And so we have a local restaurant that unfortunately had to lay off their employees. They had been open just a couple of months at this point. They had just launched, had 26 employees, and they came to us with a need to develop some t-shirts and then also get those out. You know, everybody's locked down. We didn't know how long, those kind of things at that point. And so we popped everything on a, you know, or just like a retail site, we popped it on the online store and we had those selling. And then that business was able to give those proceeds 100% to their employees. So that was really, that was a really cool intro into our shop's usage from an end-user standpoint.

You have made marketing your shops a priority as well. You're doing some really cool things with marketing your shops. What have you learned from that experience? What are you doing that is paying off, and then what are you trying?

Operationally, the shops are one of the best things to happen to us because it allows us to continue to to put the latest and greatest out there and it replicates everywhere. And when I say that, it's the, the shops that live on our website. So we have some that are living on our website all the time. And that allows us just to, you know, when we see a cool new product that fits one of our categories that we have out there, we just pop it right on out there. And then, you know, the next email or inquiry that comes in, it makes sense maybe sometimes to direct people to that store and use them in that way. We're using email marketing for our clients and we're linking out products to those curated shops. It just makes it very easy for them to shop and it makes it very easy for us to shop. And we're, you know, we're constantly evolving what that looks like without coding and different things like that.

Something I love that you do too, you really help the user experience. You create videos for how to purchase an item on the shop and you create tutorials that are sort of visual tutorials and guides and that really just helps pave the way for a great user experience.

Yeah, and I think from our role, it's to our benefit, of course, but it's also our responsibility to help that client because they're working with us to launch a shop. They shouldn't have to go to this extra step of, okay, now I've got to explain to my employees that this is now on their intranet. You know, it is something that we want to push information to them, whether it's a fundraiser shop, whether it is an employee store, something that they can use, and it just makes it turnkey for them.

You're doing a lot of great digital marketing. I mean, really, your social is fantastic. Your websites are gorgeous. You're really, I think, amplifying the brand so well. What do you think, when it comes to digital marketing, what do we as an industry do so poorly that we can do better?

I think if we want people to use product and use it to its full benefit, to its full extent, I think we have to show people how they would use it in life. And so I think a lot of— we have a list of suppliers that we like to use their imagery because it's great lifestyle imagery. You know, it's not just a white background, you know, styled shot of just one product. It is that coffee mug sitting, you know, right beside me here as I am on a Zoom call or on a meeting. You know, show it in use and keep that current and keep it a certain aesthetic that works. And then that allows us to get that product out there a little bit more. Yeah.

You mentioned to me that the traditional agency doesn't see promo as a real channel. Can you elaborate on that? Is that something you actively try to shift the opinion of?

Yeah, and I think really that just comes down to sometimes it's an afterthought when it comes to an event or something like that. It's not that, okay, we're thinking of goal XYZ and then how can we tie in promo throughout that campaign or at the very start? And so I think when we talk to especially like our agency clients or even just individuals planning campaigns, it's, you know, how can you think about this up ahead so that we don't come to the last minute and not have a plan in place for how you want to brand your event or campaign. It's how does this work alongside and really support your goals. I think that's the most powerful way it can be used.

What's the most challenging project that you've worked on recently?

Recently, it's— can I call it my most challenging, most rewarding, all of those things?

Usually they are, right?

The most fun and the most crazy as well. So we had a project recently where it was a, again, another give-back project. And so this was something that was going to go back and all of the proceeds donated to local organizations that were in need as a result of COVID you know, patronage was down, maybe in a local theater, or the library needed funding, different things like that. So we hand drew all of these images that were representative of its two states included in the campaign, hand drew, watercolored, then digitized and produced the designs on three different items. There was a gift tin and a little flower sack towel, some locally hand-poured candles that we did the labels that wrapped on those candles, custom branded to the campaign. And so all of that was going together and it went off really well, which was really great. In comes the challenging part in that all of the port issues happened, and the tins were unfortunately sourced in a not-so-easy-to-retrieve manner. And so we had to do some last-minute scrambling to, you know, because it was, it was a great campaign, everybody liked the design, and then the product ran out. And so we had to scramble and find some alternates. And finally, right before the campaign ended, we got our original order in. So we're talking about, this was going on from August through December as far as timeline. So we were able though to scramble in the middle there and have an alternate solution, which was great. It was just the scrambling that I would say was challenging. And you know, you want this to go off. That was a big deal. You know, you're talking about organizations that are in such need in 2020. So we definitely wanted to scramble to find that solution. Yeah.

It's usually those that are the most memorable, that drive us the craziest, that keep us up at night. And that, you know, that we have no idea where that solution is going to come from, that are the most memorable. Last question, who or what inspires you the most? Brands, people, who do you follow? How do you stay creatively engaged?

You know, I think just from an industry standpoint, I would say retail and kind of replicating that experience. I always want that shopping experience to be easy, better, whatever that means. But I think also when I think about creativity and innovation, it would be our clients really that inspire us. You know, it's what is their problem? How is that evolving? Because that's certainly, seems to be the case. And that, that's what keeps us on our toes. And that's what makes it really fun, I think.

Sarah, I think many people probably think it, but you're the first guest I've ever had that has said the number one source of inspiration is your own clients and the projects you get to work on. Probably everybody kind of feels that way, but you articulated it. So thank you for sharing that. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming on SkewCast and joining us again. You're such a delight. You are doing some brilliant marketing and we're just watching with admiration. So thank you.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of SkuCast. Be sure to keep up with our latest content by subscribing to SkuCast on iTunes or to our blog at community.commsku.com. Until next time, friends, thanks so much for listening.