OnBrand with Sarah Grace McCandless

“That’s the biggest thing I would say. Just start. Really do it from inside of you. So really believe it, and feel it, and put everything that you have into it, and not be afraid of that. That’s the place of vulnerability I feel like people don’t like to go to, putting yourself out there. But the thought of ‘what if?’ is just so far greater than if you actually go for it.” Shaina Zaidi, Co-founder & CEO of TuMe Beverage Company Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Shaina Zaidi, CEO and co-founder of TuMe Beverage Company, about how she drew from her family heritage, along with her experiences as a professional athlete, to build a thriving health and wellness brand that’s redefining the world of sports drinks. After returning to the U.S. from playing professional basketball overseas, Shaina dealt with aches and pains and wanted to find a more holistic approach to healing. Thinking back to her childhood, she remembered her grandmother, who created natural remedies using turmeric. From there, an idea — and a family-based business — was born, and Shaina set out to create a line of turmeric-infused waters that could replace typical sports drinks and make the health benefits of turmeric more accessible to all. Shaina’s drive and passion are at the forefront of the TuMe Beverage Company, which is rooted in family, fueled by science, and infused with the resilient spirit of being an athlete. For Shaina, the keys to success were remaining vulnerable — and taking leaps of faith. Shaina explains: “Know that you’re going to fail at certain aspects. I feel like that was a big learning curve for me. And just being an athlete in that competitive mindset, it was something where I didn’t like failure. At the same time, I thankfully had become used to it. I mean, you’re going to lose a game, right? So there’s certain things you’re going to lose. And there’s certain things that you can know that you’ll persevere through. You’ll find a way. You’ll get back to practice. You’ll do it again.”  From athlete to entrepreneur, Shaina founded TuMe in 2015 and has steadily grown her team and operations over the past six years. Join us to discover more about Shaina’s story and the power of perseverance in building a brand in the latest episode of OnBrand! TuMe  Twitter: https://twitter.com/tumewater  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tumewater/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tu-me-beverage-company/about/  Website: https://drinktume.com/  Shaina Zaidi  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shainazaidi/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zshaina/ 

“A brand is more than just the products it sells, more than just the price it sells it for … A brand is an experience. And if you think about your brand as a total experience, then you’re going to build much greater loyalty and actually build a much stronger business as a result.” “Your values are what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Those are your values; because, unsolicited, it’s how they feel about you, how you make them feel, how you add value — those are your values. They say the same about brands. A brand is what a customer says about you when you’re not in the room — how they describe you … how you live your life is how people remember you.” – Jim Joseph, President of McCann Health NA, Author, Blogger, Professor, & Dad Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Jim Joseph, a global leader in the marketing and communications industry, seasoned author, esteemed professor, and current president of McCann Health North America. Through their conversation, you’ll learn more about how consumers have come to expect transparent, value-focused behavior from the brands they love, what it means to market to customers in a more conscious way, and the best ways for brands to get out there and speak up for the causes they care about. Don’t miss it! Customers want to know brands share their values, but empty words and gestures are just that — empty. And even though paying lip service toward an important social issue or cause might look good in a press release or on the company website, customers aren’t fooled by anything less than honest, transparent communication from companies that’s backed up by real, concrete actions. That’s why it’s so important not only to know what you stand for as a brand, but also when to speak up and show customers — and the world — that you’re ready to put your money where your mouth is. Step one is listening to your customers for direction, as Jim describes further: “That is probably the most frequently asked question that we get from clients: ‘Should I speak up? When do I speak up? How do I speak up?’ … And the answer, while incredibly complicated (in practice), is very simple,” Jim explains. “Let your customers be your guide: if there’s an issue that’s intrinsically important to them that’s relevant to your business, then you have to, at a minimum, be very much aware of that and alter your behavior as a result. But I would say, speak up about it. Contribute back. Add value to their lives by doing something about it. Make it easier for them to contribute if they want to contribute.” Starting his career with Johnson & Johnson, Jim has gone on to work with some of the largest and most influential brands in the world prior to his current role as president of McCann Health North America. Already an accomplished author of six books on everything from business to parenthood, his latest, The Conscious Marketer: Inspiring a Deeper and More Conscious Brand Experience, further explores how the marketing industry will need to evolve in order to meet the needs of today’s value-conscious consumers. Join us for this episode of OnBrand and discover how getting active on important societal issues, causes, or values can help brands build deeper connections with customers while contributing to a more equitable world! Episode ResourcesJim Joseph (Twitter) Jim Joseph

“You have to empower every single team. You have to empower them to know that their jobs matter, that they matter as people, that their insight and experience and wisdom matters for the entire company to glean from that. Customers and consumers rely on that wisdom and experience to give them thoughtful answers and responses.” - Sarah Hatter, Founder of CoSupport & ElevateCX Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Sarah Hatter, founder of CoSupport and ElevateCX about how to effectively build, coach, and train your customer experience (CX) teams — and how to support your employees as the landscape of CX evolves. We know that CX is critical for brands, though great customer experience comes from support teams who are equipped with the support they need from their managers — and the companies they work for. By adopting a people-first mentality, companies can create best-in-class CX teams that serve as both the voice of the customer, as they collect valuable insights during support interactions, and the voice of the brand. From pivoting language in company communications to bridging the departmental gaps between marketing, sales, and support, Sarah Hatter offers practical advice and wisdom to CX leaders through her consulting services. In an age when many managers feel disconnected from their teams due to working remotely and the continued impacts of COVID-19, she advises her clients to think beyond the processes of recruiting and training to focus on creating a culture where employees feel valued. “I’m big into what people sometimes refer to as soft skills, which I think is really underselling it quite a bit because soft skills are very hard to master. It’s very hard to master empathy. It’s very hard to master patience, to be a good listener, to understand different personality types and how they give and receive support. When you’re managing people, that is your job, to learn how to manage all types of people,” Sarah says. A leading voice for customer experience, Sarah has consulted for CX teams since 2011 and is the author of The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience for Your Brand, which has sold more than 30,000 copies since its publication in 2014. Join us to discover the difference and impact that empowerment-centered CX teams can make, in the latest episode of OnBrand! Episode ResourcesSarah Hatter’s LinkedInSarah Hatter’s TwitterElevateCX Website

“It’s not that easy to ‘think differently,’ because unconsciously, we are filtering the world through what we expect to see and what we have seen in the past. So, much of my work is trying to get people to change that mindset.” – Nigel Barlow, Business Innovation Speaker & Trustee of the David Lynch Foundation UK Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, host Sarah Grace McCandless sits down with Nigel Barlow, a business innovation speaker, transcendental meditation (TM) teacher, and trustee of the David Lynch Foundation UK, to discuss how wellness practices like TM can help people unlock creativity, why it’s important to think differently, and how this can lead to true innovation to better meet the needs of the world around us. Don’t miss it! Have you ever wondered why you have your best ideas in the shower? Often, when we let our minds be free to imagine and wander, creativity strikes much harder than it did staring at a blank page. That’s why practices like TM are so valuable both in business and in our day-to-day lives. “I think the interesting thing with meditation is, you’re using a technology of consciousness, but it’s an inner technology — not the same technology that makes your computer work — and connection,” Nigel says. “They key to really being creative is to turn your perceptions inside-out. See the world from the market, from the consumer, from the potential consumer, from someone else’s perspective. Usually we see black on white, here’s white on black. The other way around. The point is, it changes our perception. But it’s not easy.” Despite the difficulty, taking the time to transcend well-worn thought processes and start rewiring yourself toward creative thinking can make it much easier to start unlocking fresh ideas. Thinking through problems from all angles can help reveal new strategies to augment everything from the products you create to the experiences you design for customers. All it takes is time, patience, and a willingness to try. “We all have the capacity to think in terms of possibility — to think more creatively — and to bring it to our personal and professional lives,” Nigel says. Originally an Oxford-educated barrister, Nigel’s unique ability to inspire others and explain the science of thinking differently have led to his involvement with major brands like Hewlett-Packard, Louis Vuitton, Microsoft, Nestlé, and Apple Education. He is also the author of three books, including Rethink: How to Think Differently, Rock Your Presentation: A New Guide to Speaking With Passion, and Batteries Included!. Join us to learn how centering ourselves through wellness practices can help us create, innovate, lead, and inspire in this episode of OnBrand! Episode ResourcesNigel Barlow (Twitter) Nigel Barlow (Website)

"I think the digital care team was clearly one of our most valued assets … (knowing we always had a consistent) ability to stay connected through the social and messaging channels." – Karen Gillis, Director of U.S. Customer Service at Abbott’s Diabetes Care business Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Karen Gillis, Director of U.S. Customer Service at Abbott’s Diabetes Care business. Through their in-depth conversation, you’ll learn more about evolving customer care in the digital space, why it’s critical to collaborate across marketing, sales, and service to create a more customer-centric culture, how listening can inform interactions to feel like a one-on-one connection, and much more! No two customers are alike. Each comes with their own story and expectations. That’s why creating digital customer experiences (CX) that feel tailored to the needs of a diverse customer base can seem daunting. Where should companies even begin? According to Karen, anywhere, as long as they get started and stay motivated. As a CX leader in a regulated industry with teams responsible for solving problems for both consumers and providers, Karen understands better than most that even the longest and most complicated journeys begin with a single step. "I would say that the hardest part is really just getting started,” Karen explains. “Once you get started and you can kind of convince your team that they can do it, you build the capabilities slowly. We learned as we went — the hardest part was getting started. And just taking the risk — taking the leap of ‘we can do this in a regulated industry’ … that was a very important leap.” Listening to customers is also key to successful digital CX and the overall business. As Karen notes, “There are little mini stories and a lot of feedback coming into the customer service center that can be really utilized as you develop new innovations or new services to support that customer (experience).” Karen began her career in a clinical laboratory setting as a Medical Technologist in microbiology. Eventually gravitating toward point-of-care and near-bedside glucose testing, she’s utilized her wealth of practical, medical, and CX knowledge on the forefront of diabetes care ever since. Join us and discover how successfully prioritizing, building, and executing digital customer care can revolutionize the way brands form connections! Episode ResourcesAbbottAbbott Diabetes Care (Twitter)

“You’ve got to be able to hand-on-heart believe in what you’re doing. It’s going to drive your whole team; it’s going to drive business results; it’s going to drive what we would consider impact. We’re always looking at ‘How can we create more impact in the world given our set of resources — our set of talents,’ and ‘How can we set light to your set of talents and your set of resources?’” – Emma Barry, Global Fitness Authority, and Co-founder & Chief Creative Soul at Good Soul Hunting Welcome to OnBrand! In this health-and-wellness-inspired episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Emma Barry, a global fitness authority and co-founder and chief creative soul at Good Soul Hunting. Over the course of their conversation, you’ll learn how to infuse passion and purpose into everything you do as a brand, what’s next for the fit tech and lifestyle industries, and about Emma’s new book, Building a Badass Boutique: Your 10-Touch Journey to Designing a Fitness Studio That Rocks. Don’t miss it! Whether it’s crunch time at the office — or leg day at the gym — achieving big, important things means giving it your all. You can’t just phone it in and expect results. You have to stay motivated, passionate, and be 100% committed if you want to succeed. That’s why it’s so vital to consider your overall purpose, goal, or mission as a brand holistically and allow it to inform everything you do. Not only will it act as a north star and help you stay driven to push through the roadblocks and hurdles ahead, your mission as a brand, and your commitment to it, will also help strengthen the connections you build with customers, as Emma explains: “You’ve got to have a purpose bigger than yourself to get yourself out of bed on those days that you’d rather not — and let’s face it, we’ve had quite a few of those over the last year. So, it’s got to be that relentless drive that pushes everyone forward and unites a team that’s often disparate now. … Purpose is great for that; it’s the driving force of the business. Also, for customers … if you don’t have a purpose, they’re not a fan. They’re not going to buy, and they’re certainly not going to give blood, sweat, and tears.” A fitness and lifestyle guru, Emma has spent the majority of her career at the forefront of the health and wellness world, as a founding member of Les Mills International and later as a director for the lifestyle brand Equinox. Today, she works with her company, Good Soul Hunting, to connect passionate people with purpose-driven health and wellness companies to scale up operations and drive collaborative growth. Learn more about how and why the fitness, health, and wellness industry’s holistic approach to connection — mind, body, and soul — drives purpose, serving as a shining example for others as well, in this episode of OnBrand! Episode ResourcesEmma Barry (Twitter) Good Soul Hunting (LinkedIn) Good Soul Hunting (Twitter) Good Soul Hunting (Website) Building a Badass Boutique (Masterclass)

“What this data and analysis really provides is context around the conversation. … People are not shy when it comes to social media, and they let their opinions be known quite freely. So when they do that, we sort of try and put that all together, accumulate it, and really pull the insights out of it so we know what consumers would expect from a company and from their products, their services, and et cetera.” – Kellan Terry, Director of Communications at Brandwatch Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, host Sarah Grace McCandless speaks with Kellan Terry, director of Communications at Brandwatch, a powerful research platform that provides vital digital consumer intelligence ranging from brand perceptions across marketing, sales, and service, to industry insights and the impact of events like COVID-19. Social media makes it easier than ever to share opinions, connect with others, or make your voice heard. And for brands, the free, democratized data most of us post daily represents a treasure trove of insights for companies savvy enough to prioritize research and analysis. But more often than not, even with publicly available information flowing freely, brands frequently ignore the abundance of opinion data in cyberspace. Important conversations are happening at every stage of the customer journey, but many organizations are not taking part in them, or even aware where most are taking place. That’s why innovative tools like Brandwatch are so revolutionary when it comes to uncovering insights to form connections, understanding your brand, and exceeding the expectations of your customers. “Where Brandwatch really excels is defining conversations — making sure that the data you want to look at and you are analyzing is as relevant to you and your use case as possible. And then we have … tens of thousands of ways to slice and dice this data once you have the conversation that you’re looking at,” Kellan explains. “There is certainly a difference between data points and insights, and I believe that Brandwatch and our consumer research platform really expedite the entire process of taking data, pulling out data points, and revealing the insights within them.” With a background in social media communications, content creation, and analysis, Kellan brings a wealth of knowledge to Brandwatch. His experience includes successfully leading in-depth social and public relations analyses around events such as the Rio Olympics, two Super Bowls, and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Join us and learn more about how social intelligence can shed light on CX, including brand perceptions in global conversation and opportunities to create personalized, meaningful, and memorable experiences. Episode ResourcesBrandwatch (LinkedIn) Brandwatch (Twitter)

“People want to be engaged — they want to be excited — they see problems all around and they want to be part of the solution and to make things happen. … We all get so busy and caught up in our day-to-day lives, things we need to do, and outcomes that we’re going for, that we sometimes lose that sense of community — but it’s actually our community that carries us forward. It gives us our sense of identity, our purpose, and our place in the world.”  – Kriti Kapoor, Worldwide Director of Intelligent Automation Community & Digital Championship at HP  Welcome to OnBrand! In this digital transformation–themed episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Kriti Kapoor, the worldwide director of Intelligent Automation Community & Digital Championship at HP. Through their conversation, you’ll learn more about what it means to strengthen community connections digitally, the power of technology to augment human capability, the value of networking and maintaining a strong support system, and much more!   Digital transformation, including robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation (IA), may represent the next great leap when it comes to creating community and connecting virtually with the brands we care about. Communication has never been easier, more workforces are using digital collaboration tools than ever before, and artificial intelligence (AI) can now help us manage our resources quickly, efficiently, and mistake-free. The seamless brand experience of the future is being built here and now, and whatever comes next may be just as radical and revolutionary as what we’re seeing today, as Kriti explains:  “The future of work as we know it is changing extremely rapidly. (For instance), knowledge work. Factories, as we know, have gone through the industrial revolution — we’re now in a fourth industrial revolution, which is actually the automation era, or automation age — and so, what we’re seeing is that knowledge work as we know it … it’s getting impacted, it’s getting influenced, it’s getting determined and shaped by automation. You’re going to see more and more of that happening in the workplace.  “My role is about bringing a group of learners, users, superusers, experts, adopters, and industries together to have a dialogue and conversation about where the future of work is going, how we bring our communities together, and how I actually end up creating a community within HP, as well, of practitioners, champions, and advocates,” she says.   Formerly a leader for prominent tech brands such as Compaq, Dell, HP, Microsoft, and UiPath, Kriti recently returned to HP to accelerate and champion digital transformation for the organization, with a focus on cognitive and citizen-led automation.    Join us and learn more about how digital transformation efforts are revolutionizing the way we work, connect, and build community in this episode of OnBrand!  Episode Resources Kriti Kapoor (Twitter)  HP (LinkedIn)  HP (Twitter)   

“My business fuels my passion and my passion fuels my business.”  – Jala Smith-Huys, Founder & Chief Blanket Boss of Seek & Swoon  Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, host Sarah Grace McCandless sits down with Jala Smith-Huys, founder and chief blanket boss of Seek & Swoon, to discuss what established companies can learn from emerging brands, how story can be the missing link when it comes to creating connection, and the value of building and growing your brand with passion as your roadmap.     After a two-month overseas sabbatical with her family, Jala felt ready to make a change. Inspired by her trip, Jala wanted her next business venture to capture that same excitement, purpose, and passion she felt during her adventures abroad.     “I’ve always been intrigued by starting businesses — you know? Creating something from scratch … I wanted to do something new and different, I just wasn’t quite sure what it was,” Jala recalls. “I sat down, literally, and made a list of all of the things that I really was passionate about, all of the things I enjoyed, all of the things that I thought I was good at, and I tried to kind of create something from this list."    Motivated by her own passions instead of a perfectly formed business plan or a clear path toward profit, Jala knew that following her purpose might not make the best business sense on paper; but in the end, if she was passionate enough about what she did, she’d always be able to find a way:    “Even though I knew nothing about textiles, I knew nothing about the industry, I knew nothing about home décor … I started doing some research into designing and creating knit blankets, and I became more and more intrigued by this idea.”    What Jala may have initially lacked in industry know-how, she more than made up for in dedication, drive, and, above all else, the passion to persevere as a brand. She wanted to tell her own unique story through her blanket business, focusing on innovative design, environmental sustainability, and exceptionally well-crafted home goods. “One of the things that I knew I needed to incorporate into this business, if I was going to make it happen, was some sort of story. And it needed to be a story that I connected to, but also a story that consumers could connect to as well. And so, I decided that I was going to design these throws inspired by places that I had traveled,” Jala explains. “That’s kind of how Seek & Swoon came to be.”    Now the blanket boss of her own burgeoning comfort empire, Jala recently retired her successful freelance social media consultancy firm to focus her efforts 100% on Seek & Swoon.     Today, you can find Seek & Swoon throws online at seekandswoon.com, as well as through over 80 retailers and boutiques worldwide. Seek & Swoon focuses on sustainability as well as quality, so all blankets are made of a recycled cotton-poly blend and manufactured in the United States in partnership with a family-owned and -operated knitting mill.  Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from every Hope Throw sold goes to Breast Cancer Action and OCRA, two organizations that support breast and ovarian cancer research and cures.  Join us and find out how pursuing passion can lead to building an inspiring brand with a unique, memorable story that truly connects with customers in this episode of OnBrand!  Episode Resources Jala Smith-Huys (Twitter)  Seek & Swoon Twitter  Seek & Swoon Instagram 

“We spend so much time worrying about our SEO — how are you optimizing   for trust? Before you post that thing, before you send out that email,   how are you optimizing for trust?”   “First of all, trust you can’t buy. I can’t just go out and spend X amount of dollars and end up with trust. … You can’t buy it, so how do we do this?   How do we teach people, or cultivate trust, on purpose through our communications? That is something that is worth so much more time   than any marketer is giving it right now.”    – KiKi L’Italien CEO & Host of Association Chat    In this episode of OnBrand, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with KiKi L’Italien, CEO and host of Association Chat, about what the for-profit world can learn from associations and nonprofits, how community can be a haven when we need it most, and how companies can inject trust into the way they operate.   When it comes to enabling trust, community, and connection, brands in the for-profit arena can learn a lot from nonprofits. The associations, charities, and nonprofit organizations we engage with constantly communicate their purpose beyond dollars and cents — that’s why we trust them. So if you want to inspire similar trust, create a community of like-minded individuals around a common goal, and demonstrate your higher purpose as a brand, you have to show them you’re in it for the right reasons.  “The reason that associations are able to oftentimes have that (trust) when other types of organizations don’t is because there’s this underlying understanding that they’re not just there for the transaction — they’re not just here for the bottom-line or to make a buck — they’re there because of a purpose, a mission, and to support their membership,” KiKi says.   The host of the hit podcast Association Chat, KiKi has cultivated a massive community of listeners since founding the show in 2009. Today, she offers community consulting services through her company Amplified Growth, where she trains businesses to lead and grow communities through trust.  Join us and find out how communicating your purpose as a brand can help you begin earning the trust of your customers as you work to build community in this episode of OnBrand!  Episode Resources KiKi L’Italien (Twitter)  KiKi’s Website   

“I like to demystify story and let people know this is not the purview of artists —   this is not just for people who consider themselves to be writers, it’s for everybody.   And basically, if you have a message that you’re trying to communicate — which   pretty much everybody does — story is really just the delivery system for   that message. It’s just a way of packaging it.”   – David Nadelberg, Creator and Expert Storyteller    Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, host Sarah Grace McCandless sits down with David Nadelberg, creator of Mortified, a celebration of stories revealed through strange and extraordinary “teen angst artifacts” that were never meant to be shared in public. The project, now worldwide, has been hailed as a “cultural phenomenon” by Newsweek and has been featured in This American Life, Entertainment Weekly, Time, The Today Show, and more.     Sharing from his own expertise, David discusses the DNA of storytelling, how brands can start mining and telling their stories, and the value of both honesty and transparency as we seek to create meaningful relationships with consumers.    If the hero of a story got everything right, and never ran into any problems, it’d be a pretty short story — and completely unrelatable. At the end of the day, it’s often the vulnerabilities of a character or story that end up illustrating strength, which helps us connect and identify. This can also prove true when it comes to telling a brand’s story and connecting with customers.    “I think there’s a place for vulnerability in all parts of our society, and I think it’s a weakness of our society that we believe weakness is weakness.” David explains. “If you’re talking about a relationship, whether it’s a human relationship, or whether it’s a company to its customers, or whatever, trust — you can’t have a relationship without trust, you can’t communicate without trust. It is the bedrock. So, that’s the unspoken agreement, and you know, being vulnerable is a great way to do that.”    Having created the hit project Mortified in 2002, David has since expanded his unique on-stage show into multiple television and film productions, a podcast with more than 200 episodes, hilarious books, and even a new game. Today, he works to teach individuals and organizations alike about the power of storytelling as a means to communicate, all while continuing to work on Mortified Live, which now operates in 20 cities worldwide.    Join us and learn more about why it’s important to include trust, transparency, and vulnerability in the DNA of brand story in this episode of OnBrand!  Episode Resources Mortified Podcast  Ooh You’re In Trouble Podcast  I Can’t Believe I Did That (Amazon)   

"You don’t need to prove your self-worth to anyone ...   if you believe in an idea, be empowered to put yourself as a priority.”  – Natasha Case, Co-founder and CEO of Coolhaus    In 2009, when Natasha Case was in her mid-20s working as an architect for Walt Disney Imagineering, she realized her passion for design went well beyond physical structures. Combining this with her love for creating delicious dairy and non-dairy desserts led to the idea that would become a women-led, women-run ice cream empire.    But it didn’t happen overnight. To figure out initially if her idea had any metaphorical wheels, Natasha would first have to get creative and find some literal ones:    “We bought a postal van with no engine that was masquerading as an ice cream truck and a AAA platinum membership that came with a 200-mile tow, and we towed the truck to Coachella. That’s how we launched the company — that’s how I became an ice cream lady.”     From the start, Natasha knew that the brand was never going to be just about ice cream — every sandwich and pint flavor was a chance to tell her own story, shed light on important issues, and create a unique brand experience.    “I met the other co-founder, my now-wife, Freya Estreller, who had more of a business background, and together we saw that there was an opportunity to make better ice cream, but also to make a brand that we felt represented us. As women, as gay women, for Freya as a woman of color, as millennials — we just didn’t feel that there was this authentic, ‘creator-to-customer’ element happening on the shelves, so we decided, ‘Hey, why not us?’”    Since its humble beginnings at Coachella, Coolhaus has grown tenfold, including food trucks in multiple cities and distribution with more than 7,500 retailers across the country. Natasha’s impressive list of achievements also includes accolades from Zagat and Forbes, being named UCLA’s LGBTQ+ Alum of the Year, as well as serving as a guest judge on Food Network’s Chopped and King of Cones.     More recently, Coolhaus has partnered with other purpose-led brands and initiatives, including Allegro Coffee, which is produced in East Africa by women dedicated to creating positive change and economic equality in the region, and Black Girl Ventures, an organization dedicated to creating access to capital for Black and Brown women entrepreneurs.    “I would say that the biggest thing from the social mission standpoint is how can we use Coolhaus as a platform, as leaders, to empower the next generation of women and girls from diverse backgrounds to also create their entrepreneurial business dreams? That’s something that we know and that’s what we’ve built, so how can we pass that on?”    Join us and learn more about what it truly means to let purpose inform brand development, product innovation, and connection with customers on this episode of OnBrand!   Episode Resources Coolhaus (LinkedIn)  Coolhaus (Twitter)  Coolhaus (website)  Black Girl Ventures (Mentioned) 

“Today, if you want to compete and win, your experience is what’s going to differentiate you — that’s what’s going to stand out.” – Latané Conant, Chief Market Officer at 6sense Insights Inc. Welcome to OnBrand! In this episode, host Sarah Grace McCandless speaks with Latané Conant, chief market officer at 6sense Insights Inc., to talk about the importance of relevance in B2B marketing and sales, why delivering data-driven, personalized experiences matters, and her new book, No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls. Knowledge is power in the fast-paced, metric-driven world of business-to-business (B2B) marketing and sales, but all too often, companies still take the tone-deaf, scattershot approach to networking and creating business connections instead of spending the time to research what’s out there, taking aim, and shooting for the accounts or relationships that will ultimately produce the most value. Every account, leader, and buying team is different — and they all have specific needs or metrics they’re looking to meet. That’s where companies like 6sense shine. By taking a much more thoughtful, data-driven approach, their account engagement platform helps the B2B market deliver targeted experiences to buying teams that are timely, personalized, and, above all, relevant. “We’re not just selling software, we’re selling change, and our market and our industry — it’s ready. But it’s scary. Change is hard. And this is a completely different approach,” Latané explains. “I told my team, I said, ‘hey, let’s apply customer experience to martech (marketing technology), and let’s challenge ourselves to create a process that generates results — and really good results — but doesn’t use forms, spam, or cold calls. … I really believe we’re igniting a change that’s very necessary.” Bringing her extensive history and B2B experience as a leader in marketing strategy to 6sense, Latané continues to empower companies with effective technology capable of delivering experiences that are not only relevant, but engaging and backed by research and insights. Join us as we learn more about the value of data, insights, relevance when it comes to connecting during the buying stage and much more in this episode of OnBrand! Episode ResourcesTalking Sense (Latané’s podcast) Latané Conant (Twitter) 6sense (LinkedIn) 6sense (Twitter)

“The thing that we’ve got to take a step back and remember is: Without customers, we don’t have a business. You can’t look at the customer as the problem, or as an annoyance. The customer is why we’re in business. If you’re not in business for your customer, you probably should be doing something else.”  – Dan Gingiss, Customer Experience Speaker & Coach    Welcome to part two of our unique two-part episode of OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she returns with Dan Gingiss, an insightful author, experienced speaker, business coach, and innovator in the customer experiences (CX) space. This time around, they’re building on their previous discussion by breaking down the anatomy of a positive brand experience, why word-of-mouth or more organic marketing can make or break your brand, the value of personalization in an experience, and much more!    Everyone knows that the proper response to “thank you” is “you’re welcome,” but all too often, brands leave their customers hanging when they approach for a virtual high-five on social media. Those brands have gone the extra mile, and even created a fan, but now they’ve moved on — and left their happy customers with a hand in the air.     Why do brands do it? Limited resources combined with misaligned priorities can be common root causes. Often, they’re also more concerned with losing customers than keeping them — but when brands ignore their fans, they also miss out on strengthening relationships that translate into long-term business and powerful word-of-mouth marketing opportunities.     “One of the things that happens when you create remarkable experiences consistently is you get more positive chatter on social media — you get more people talking about how much they love you — and it’s such a missed opportunity when you ignore that,” Dan says, highlighting the often-overlooked responsibility of brands to respond to customers giving them kudos.     “When we create positive experiences and people talk about us, they’re actually doing the marketing for us. And as a marketer, I remember the holy grail is word-of-mouth marketing — that’s exactly what this is.”    An incredible keynote speaker, author, and CX coach, Dan has a worked for more than two decades helping to create and refine next-level experiences for multiple major brands. He currently hosts both the Experience This! Show podcast as well as The Experience Maker™ Show, which airs live at noon EST each Thursday. In addition to speaking and teaching, Dan is also the author of the book Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media. His latest work, The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Customers Can’t Wait to Share, will be published mid-2021.     Join us and discover why it’s important for marketing and customer service to work hand-in-hand to respond to your customers and be there for them during every stage of their experience in this episode of OnBrand!  Episode Resources Dan Gingiss Twitter   Dan Gingiss Website   Experience This! (Dan’s Podcast)   The Experience Maker™ Show    Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Experiences on Social Media (Amazon Store Page)  

“We have to focus on our customers. And the mistake that so many companies have been making is they pour all this money into marketing and sales and they forget about the customers that are actually keeping the lights on.”  – Dan Gingiss, Customer Experience Speaker & Coach    Welcome to part one of a special two-part episode of OnBrand! In this episode, join host Sarah Grace McCandless as she speaks with Dan Gingiss, a prolific speaker, author, coach, and expert at honing customer experiences (CX) for progressive brands. Through their fascinating conversation, you’ll find out more about the cutting-edge world of CX today, how progressive brands are focusing on their customers through digital channels to create powerful connections, and what might be around the corner post-pandemic.     Everyone likes to feel heard — especially your customers. But if you don’t understand their needs, don’t respond to them, or put out tone-deaf messaging, customers can feel like you don’t care about them or their business. That’s why it’s so important to get social media engagement right in the ever-evolving future of brand marketing.     Unlike other channels, social media gives brands the opportunity to have a two-way, asynchronous conversation with their customers — to listen, learn, and provide the kind of personalized service that can turn an ordinary transaction into a lasting relationship. And for the brands themselves, social media presents an incredible opportunity to get to know and serve customers better.     “I will tell you, as the ‘customer experience guy,’ when I have a question or complaint or something that I want to talk to a brand about, the first thing I do is go to Twitter DMs. I go to direct message — I’m not trying to embarrass anybody publicly — and what I find is, I get the best, fastest service through that channel,” Dan explains. “It’s got all of these advantages of chat — it’s got all my history. I can go to Hyatt on Twitter, and you know, I gave them my loyalty number 17 chats ago, and they still have it, so they don’t have to ask for it again; which is amazing. It just makes the whole experience a whole lot easier.”     The author of Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brand Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media, Dan possesses a unique understanding of what it takes for businesses to form connections through digital channels. In addition to writing, Dan currently hosts both the Experience This! Show podcast as well as The Experience Maker™ Show, which airs live at noon EST Thursdays. His latest book, The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Customers Can’t Wait to Share, will be published mid-2021.    Join us and find out how getting to know your customers and communicating with them on a more personal level can help you form lasting connections in this episode of OnBrand!    Episode Resources Dan Gingiss LinkedIn  Dan Gingiss Twitter  Dan Gingiss Website  Experience This! (Dan’s Podcast)  The Experience Maker™ Show   Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Experiences on Social Media (Amazon Store Page)