Coach – Brand Strategist | MarComms

Gratitude and joy

December 19, 2024December 20, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

It’s been a roller coaster year of pitches and prep, ups and downs, swings and round abouts, highs and lows, wins and losses, but ultimately, I have a massive sense of gratitude for all the amazing people and companies I’ve had the pleasure to work with in the past 12 months.

From managing the rebrand, brand playbook, website relaunch and marketing strategy for award-winning, female-led, interior design company KAI Interiors; running messaging and discovery workshops and creating marcomms programmes for award-winning tech consultancies; and developing marketing and communications programmes, content strategy, events and more for disruptive-tech PR agency C8 Consulting; 2024 has been packed with interesting and insightful work, and wonderful people.

On the personal front, it’s been a challenging year as I’ve also been juggling the renovation of my home – it had not been touched for the best part of 40+ years (think avocado bathroom suite, complete rewire, partially new roof and you get the picture). So, 2024 really has been a year of transformation and change, from the inside out.

I’m extremely grateful for the relationships built, the projects and contracts won, plus the people and teams I’ve had the privilege to work and partner with.

Reflections and learnings

At the end each year I go through a completion process. Essentially this is asking myself four critical questions and responding to them with authenticity and truth. It’s a great way to reflect on what I’ve created, good and bad; what I’ve learnt, good and bad; to help identify what I’m ready to let go of; and imagine what I’m ready to create next.

Completion questions are as follows:

What did I create good and bad?
What did I learn good and bad?
What am I over?
What will I create next?

My invitation to you is to set yourself some time, 30-60 minutes, to reflect and when going through the questions, I would encourage you to trust your intuition and to go with what you get first, don’t over think it. Capture everything in a notebook. I suggest you write, not type, as we connect differently to ourselves, our hearts and our imagination when we let the words flow from our body and out through our hand.

It’s an adaptable and flexible framework and process you can do on your own for personal and professional development, or with your team, to gather feedback and reflect collectively.

The end of a year and the start of a new one is a great opportunity to do a completion – to pause, reflect, get quiet and listen to connect with what you want to create next.

Adopt a growth mindset – you’re speaking my language

At a recent QBR hosted with a client in Central London we booked author, mind coach, speaker and trainer, David Rahman – to talk about ‘Preparing for 2025 and mental wellbeing’. As David says ‘Nothing changes, if nothing changes’, which reminds me of the quote from Charles Darwin…

It’s not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.

The talk David delivered sparked lots of enquiring, thoughtful and heartfelt discussion amongst the team, encouraging us to be open and share different experiences – a real opportunity to bond over something new.

To kick-start the year ahead with a joined-up approach, he posed many questions, two of which I’ve noted below to get you thinking…

What’s one thing I’m going to change about myself going into 2025?
1% improvement over the year equates to 14.4 minutes a day – how am I going to choose to invest that time?

Christmas stocking filler

Borrowing the analogy, when one door closes (2024), another one opens (2025), there’s aways an opportunity to reframe a situation and see things differently. Therefore, if you are looking to make some changes in your personal and professional life, I would highly recommend reading Mindset, a book to drop into yours, and potentially a friend or family members stocking this Christmas. I’m about half-way through Mindset, it’s a great read, is easily digestible, I find the content relatable, plus it’s easy to spot where I have a fixed mindset in some areas of my life, where I have a growth mindset in others, and where I’d like to make changes to how I think, approach, and respond to situations.

Mindset – Change the way you think to fulfil your potential

This book focuses on discovering the mindset for achieving success, in business, parenting, school and relationships. Author Dr. Carol S. Dweck.

The second book I’ve gifted myself is Atomic Habits. I’ll crack on with reading this next and share some insights in the new year.

Atomic Habits – Tiny changes, remarkable results

An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones. A revolutionary way to get 1 per cent better every day. Author James Clear.

Both books are available at all good book stores.

Five simple suggestions to take into 2025

• Be a team player – Be responsible and play your part in making 2025 a success
• Create success – Ask yourself, what can I personally do to make me and our team more successful
• Time is precious – Keep meetings short (30 mins where possible) and always be prepared
• Be on time – Or as Steven Bartlett says from Diary of a CEO, “Being on time is arriving 10 minutes early”
• Growth – Awareness and curiosity are key, all growth starts here

Without curiosity there is no desire to know more, to expand our thinking, to see things from a different perspective. Without awareness we shut ourselves off to opportunities that might enable us to flourish and discover our superpower.

What’s your super power?

On the tail end of busy year, in the last quarter I’ve continued to meet and speak with my community and network, talking with them to understand more about their business, the challenges they face, the potential economic headwinds as we move into 2025, and what they’d like to start doing, stop doing and continue doing.

We’ve discussed new opportunities to collaborate, what that might look and feel like, and where they want to evolve, elevate and pivot. I’d love to understand more about you and your business challenges and the potential to work together in the new year.

As individuals we all have a super power, and collectively that superpower gets super charged when we come together and work collaboratively. Collectively in my network, we open doors, make introduction, brainstorm, share ideas, ask pointy questions that encourage creative, fresh, innovative thinking and I cherish that sense of community and support.

For me? My super power is combining my three loves – marketing, brand and communications, applied behavioural colour psychology, and coaching – it’s a unique combination and it’s my magic sauce. I’ll be sharing more about how my clients benefit from this unique blend of experience in the year.

Happy Christmas!

Have a wonderful Christmas spending time with loved ones, friends and family. Wishing you all a colourful and prosperous 2025!

Stay curious 🧡

With joy and colour,
Emma

Photos taken at client QBR, Dec 2024.

Brand, Colour

Colour is emotion

September 6, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to Modulyss for raising awareness of the importance of colour in design. In their most recent Modulyss Talks session, held yesterday 5th Sept, they discussed an interesting topic, ‘The Impact of Neuroaesthetics’ with Karen Haller, who runs a behavioural design consultancy.

For decades, over 30 years, I’ve been fascinated by colour and its impact on us mentally, physically and emotionally. It’s a subject that I’m hugely passionate about and it’s one I’m always keen to understand more of, not only to apply to myself, but also for my clients.

Having studied with Karen a couple of times over the past five years with a focus on colour and its application and use in brand and marketing, and more recently from a creative artistry stand point, I jumped at the opportunity to be ‘virtually’ with people who share my passion for colour, have a thirst for knowledge, and are keen to understand more about how they can use colour positively in our personal and professional lives.

For clarity, at the start Karen defined ‘What is Neuroaesthetics’ as the field within neuroscience, that explores how our brain perceives, processes, and responds to beauty, art and design. And that it’s NOT creating spaces that are just aesthetically pleasing, creating a wow factor, slavishly following trends, or pleasing the brain with a dopamine hit.

“Neuroaesthetics emerged in the late 1990s, and nobody is clear on who coined the term, but a simple definition is that neuroesthetics is the study of how arts measurably changes the body, brain, and behaviour and how this knowledge is translated into practice,” said Susan Magsamen, founder, and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Let’s dive in

Throughout the talk there were many refreshers about what I know already, but there are always some nuggets that stand out and resonate, or perhaps land differently, deepening my understanding. So, in the interest of sharing and spreading my love of colour and its application with you, here’s some key takeaways to ponder and reflect on.

Nuggets and takeaways

Colour has duality, both positive and negative
From a colour psychological stand point, it can influence our metabolism, appetite, body temperature, water regulation, sleep, autonomic nervous system, and even our sexual and reproductive functions
All colours drive and create a different energy, response and emotion
We don’t live in a grey world, we live in a colourful world
Grey hides things in plain sight, it wants to recede, to hide, it doesn’t want to be seen
When we think about colour, we also must consider pattern, scale, shape, texture and placement as they all interplay
The right colour in the wrong proportion won’t work
If it’s a colour, we’ll have an emotional response – neutral doesn’t exist
Colour isn’t just a visual stimulus, it delivers an emotional response

Target market

Wherever you’re using and applying colour, in your brand or your business; in all instances, understand your target market. When working with a client, always get clarity on their target market and audience, this will help create the desirable outcomes that your clients will want to see.

As Karen mentioned during the webinar, from an interior design perspective, in a hospitality interior design space, in a restaurant or café, imagine an environment that creates the behaviours your client wants to see – excited, relaxed and staying longer, talking, networking, dining, eating and drinking, and ideally turning into a repeat customer. In a workspace, depending on the brand and business needs, there will be a very different set of requirements.

Remember, when applying colour, make your KPIs measureable as we do want to know we’ve got things right; we can’t see or measure a mood or a feeling, but we can measure behaviour.

Unlock potential, create change

From a brand strategy perspective and in the projects I lead and get involved with, when a company is rebranding their colour palette will be an evocative and foundational point for discussion. Of course, a brand is much, much more than a colour palette, and that’s a topic I’ll touch on separately, but for now, remember, colour is emotion, it makes us feel something, and a brand will want to connect with its customers on an emotive, emotional level – not just sell its products and services.

I’m a very intuitive person and like to feel into and connect with what my clients want, which means really listening to what they say, and what they don’t. I also like to dig deep to understand their values, vision, purpose, what they want to create next for themselves, their teams and for their business. So, whether I’m feeding back following a 121-consultation process or a group brand strategy discovery workshop, I will back up my thinking with logic and information, not just a hunch.

Immersive memorable experiences

Fundamentally, colour creates immersive and memorable experiences. Humans are complex beings, we all have different needs and we all react and respond differently to our environment, be that at home, our work space, and when out socialising. What appeals to me, won’t appeal to everyone, and that’s a good thing – we’re all unique.

Let’s continue to use the power and application of colour to celebrate our differences, to build environments that encourage positive change, and build brands and businesses that are a force for good.

Have a colourful weekend!

Links for reference

Quote source – Artandobject – How art is scientifically proven to help brain health, Feb 2023
Discover more about Modulyss
Discover more about Karen Haller

Brand, Coach

Find your sweet spot

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

In the past 18 months life has been pretty hectic and many things have changed, personally and professionally. I’ve been made redundant, I’ve moved house, I’ve renovated my home – from top to bottom, inside and out – so a bit of a makeover and transformation on both fronts; and I’ve also started contracting, making a conscious choice to specifically connect and work with businesses that are in a stage of growth.

Contracting and working in this way has given me a huge degree of flexibility to manage my time effectively and efficiently, ensuring I deliver what my clients need whilst also dedicating time to what I need for me – it’s a balancing act and it’s one I thrive on.

But what exactly do I do?

I’m a marketing, communications and brand specialist and I typically work with small and medium sized businesses that are looking to build brand awareness, drive growth, and create new revenue opportunities. Moreover, I have a desire to work with businesses that are people focused, are driven by their values and want to make a positive impact in the world.

Here’s what I’ve got

Experience – I’m a commercially and creative minded B2B marketing, brand and PR professional with 20+ years’ experience of working with innovative, forward-thinking and disruptive-tech businesses spanning multiple sectors including HRtech, digital, PR, mobile, customer experience (CX) and interior design
Knowledge – With an action and outcome orientated mindset, I operate at both strategic and tactical levels and I view myself as a collaborative and confident leader who inspires those around me
Holistic human approach – My approach is holistic, human to human, I believe in blending the creative analog right brain which calls for creativity, intuition, art, emotion and imagination, with the digital left brain that calls for facts, figures, data, analytical and logic – combining the two is where magic happens

Here’s what I can do for you

Brand strategy – I work with CEO’s, founders and MDs at start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs to help them achieve growth and build brand value
Marketing & communications – I help businesses define their marketing and communications strategy, create a narrative that delivers differentiation in their market, and engage with the right audiences
Coach and mentor – I’m a certified NLP Practitioner and Coach, I’ve studied various modalities incorporating traditional and experiential practices and applied behavioural colour psychology, I’ll coach and mentor your team to help facilitate change

Let’s talk

With a growth mindset, I understand that navigating change can be challenging and uncomfortable. Acting as your head of marketing or marketing director, I will help you fuel business growth by embedding marketing and lead generation processes that deliver results whilst also injecting a unique blend of creativity that unlocks your potential.

Think of me as your strategic partner and trusted advisor who delivers all streams of work on-time, to budget and my support comes with integrity, passion, and a smile.

If you are a founder, MD or CEO seeking to make a positive impact in the world, I’d love to talk with you.

Drop me an email – emma@emmapotter.com

Photo by Alex Rumford – You will find him on Instagram and LinkedIn