Secret insights behind growing a 42K+ Instagram following, creating a national ambassador program, and selling snack bars with the world’s largest retailer from the CEO’s perspective. Learn how this Chicago group of 30-something entrepreneurs are changing the landscape in wellness, healthy eating, and lifestyle industries.

Last month, I moderated an amazing group of entrepreneur panelists hosted by General Assembly, on the topic, Building Brands People Love. Seated in the cozy setting of WorkingFrom_, a new co-working space inside Chicago’s The Hoxton Hotel, our conversation focused on how these Chicago founders are building community and brand affinity in today’s noisy marketplace.

From managing a national brand ambassador program, to maintaining a 42K+ Instagram following, and expanding the footprint in the snack bar category with the world’s largest retailers, our panel got real about what keeps them up at night, motivates them, and finding success.

How to Create a Brand People Love

1. Create Community & STAY HUMAN

Creating a memorable brand requires deep understanding of your audience (what they think, feel, believe and who they are as people) but it doesn’t stop there. Once you find your followers, ambassadors and customers, it’s about how you maintain the conversation with them that enables fast-paced growth. Ali Stone of the globally recognized, Those White Walls blog, shared that her 42k Instagram followers have stuck around because she engages them in meaningful, genuine conversation. From creating Instagram stories that go behind the scenes to showcase what it really takes to build those perfectly polished photos, to polling her audience to select the outfit she wore for our panel discussion, the takeaway here is clear - she engages her audience as people. Without compromising her consistent brand image in her posts, she has found real, impactful ways to cut through that glossy appearance and stay human - providing her audience with a true inside connection to the brand.

2. STRATEGICALLY Minimize Competitive Distraction

Embracing how you stand out from competition can make or break brand success. However, the true competitive advantage, comes when you turn off the noise and redirect your energy to everything you uniquely offer. Jeana Anderson Cohen, CEO of aSweatLife, stays focused on her growing community of 700+ national brand ambassadors. Her nationally-recognized wellness brand started in 2012 with a simple blog post and has grown to 100k unique content views per month. Her secret is cultivating genuine connection with and between her ambassador network. In the booming fitness industry, it would be easy to get distracted with the latest chiro technology, goat yoga, or diet trend. At aSweatLife, they listen deeply inside the brand rather than to the competition. With the clear understanding that their wellness ambassador audience cares most about cultivating adult friendships, they stay focused on building live fitness events and virtual opportunities for their network to converse, collaborate and connect.

3. Use the Tools that Work - Your Network

Once you begin to grow your brand, maintaining a consistent presence in the marketplace becomes the ongoing challenge. Engaging the right technology and marketing platforms is only part of the path to success. Blake Sorenson, CEO of Blake’s Seed Based, looks to LinkedIn as the tool that enables essential growth for his company. Leaning on his network when facing the most significant opportunity to date for his snack bars, distribution by the World’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, he engaged his industry peers in questions around what to expect when partnering with retailer operations, financing and distributorship. His willingness to constantly be curious and vulnerable with his colleagues and mentors has provided him with invaluable insight allowing him to quickly navigate and scale his business.

From Left to Right: Blake Sorenson, Ali Stone, Jeana Anderson Cohen and Karianne Michelle

Feeling Inspired?

Building a brand starts with knowing what makes your/your business unique. Try this exercise shared with the audience and our panelists during the event.

Bonus: What are one of Ali, Jeana and Blake’s top values?

aSweatLife: Friendly

Those White Walls: Transparent

Blake’s Seed Based: Inclusive

If you are looking for personalized, comprehensive branding and strategy support, I offer a few limited opportunities. Shoot me an email to get started with a Free Brand Assessment or hit me up to moderate your next event: karianne@getlofti.com.

Stay in touch with these awesome entrepreneurs:

Ali @alialistone

Jeana @asweatlife

Blake @blakesseedbased

The Power of Building a Brand Through Community