write – 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.

Marketing

Cyber Exchange 360 – Insights and takeaways

November 11, 2024November 11, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

Last week I had the opportunity to join an afternoon packed with interesting conversations at the Cyber CMO 360 Meet-Up and Cyber Exchange 360 – ‘Talk to the board’ session, hosted at the Science Museum, London. The event provided a new invaluable chance to connect with peers, share strategies for maximising event success, and engage in meaningful discussions.

CyberCMO 360

Gathering heads of marketing, the CMO roundtable, hosted over a delicious lunch, presented the perfect opportunity to talk with other seasoned marketers and engage in a lively debate about the challenges facing sales and marketing teams, and aligning KPIs – specifically around events. The hotly contested topic of attribution continues, as does the desire for marketing not to be consider as a cost centre, but for sales and marketing to potentially report into a CRO. This approach would ensure teams are aligned, and trusted communications and good relations are at play – after all, marketing is a revenue generating part of a business.

Talk to the board

Following the roundtable, I was able to attend and hear Board Directors from Enterprise and Technology companies at ‘Talk to the Board’ session, part two, in which many questions were asked by moderator, Steve Hill, former global CISO, Credit Suisse, to the panel of experts. Forming a formidable line-up, the panel included Lorraine Heggessey, former controller of BBC1, Roger Flynn, Chairman, Cooke Optics, former CEO and Leader in Transformation Change, Virgin, British Airways, Prudential, Haydn Brooks, CEO and co-founder, Risk Ledger and Rupert Lee-Browne, Chairman and group Chief Executive Officer, Caxton.

There were so many insights to capture but here’s some sound bites from the ‘Talk to the board’ session, where they touched on the subject of mental fitness and the rise in the importance to talk more openly.

Key takeaways

Learn how to deal with stress in your own way, and in a positive way – there’s no such thing as a stress-free job
Be there for your team, they also need to be there for you – foster a culture that’s transparent, compassionate, empathetic and supportive
If you enjoy what you’re doing, stress can be viewed in a different way, we can thrive on it
Make sure you enjoy your job – we all have a choice where and how we work, empower yourself – take license over your own destiny
Leaders have a responsibility to empower their people and teams – install a culture that’s supportive. As a leader, you have to be able to lean on your team for insights, guidance and advice
The importance of executive coaching – from being a leader in your field to executive level, it’s imperative to work on your weaknesses. Learn how to lead and be a great leader, understand the bigger picture. If your organisation offers it, say yes to executive coaching
Transparency – where do we draw the line, to keep staff motivated and on board. How far do you go with it?
Company culture – If I was forced to choose one key takeaway, it is this. When growing or running a successful business, focus on your company culture, everything flows from here – it’s a foundational and core piece to your brand strategy – a subject I’m passionate about

Build your network

Thank you to Pulse Events for organising, and to Amanda Coles and Sarah Moss, founders of the Sphere network – a platform designed to bring together a community of great people to build meaningful connections in cybersecurity and data security marketing, for the invite to join and for hosting an insightful CMO round table discussion. Also, it was great to spend the afternoon with one of my clients, MD and founder, Paula Elliott from disruptive-tech PR agency C8 Consulting.

For those who don’t know me, I help forward-thinking, innovative MDs and founders build brand value by unlocking potential and creating change. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and say “Hello”.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich, Pexels.

Conscious Creator, Imagination

Connection in community

November 5, 2024November 5, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

There’s much to be said for working in community, living in community, and connecting in community. It’s being and operating in this way that drives human connection, enables people to talk more openly, and in many cases sparks our imagination, unearthing ideas that would never have materialised and seen the light of day, if that creative practice that we’d been invited to participate in, never came about.

Tap into your imagination

You’d be forgiven for wondering what I’m going on about, so let me explain… ‘Connection in community’ was the theme for day 5 of the retreat I went on in Ireland in the first week of October, hosted along the Wild Atlantic Way, in the depths of county Donegal, Ireland. The overarching theme for the retreat was ‘From Word to World’, and each day had a specific focus, with many practices to experience and experiment with having started the day in silent meditation and set our intention.

Experiencing ceremonies influenced by traditional healing tribal practices, playing with movement inspired by QOYA known as a compass for navigating an embodied life that is wise, wild and free, sounding to experience how sound resonates in our bodies and sounds when expressed, to writing practices led by meditation and responding intuitively to a series of questions, designed to encourage us to step into our creativity and feel inspired to unleash our imagination.

Here’s some of the questions that were asked during our warm-up writes, where we have 60 seconds to write down and capture what we creatively, intuitively get, before our logical, analytical brain kicks in and says “that’s rubbish, what does that even mean?”.

Right now, what do I want to say to my body?
What does my body want to say to me?
What do I want to say to my voice?
What does my voice want to say to me?
What do I want to say to my heart?
What does my heart want to say to me?

Courageous conversations

Every day on the retreat, between 5-6pm, we had a ‘Courageous Conversations’ circle. The purpose being to share what is landing for us and to share this with the group, the intention to be of service to everyone. During these vulnerable, challenging and most often extremely insightful sessions, we were invited to observe and follow some rules that enabled everyone to speak freely, with no judgement or interruption. In the Courageous Conversations session on day 5, we were invited to speak and present to the group what we had written in response to our writing practice earlier that day.

It was surprising the intrigue I felt about putting my voice to my words and sharing them openly with the group. There was also a lot of resistance as I felt vulnerable and exposed, some questions and mind games coming into play… “Would it resonate? Would it make sense? Will they think I’m odd? Perhaps it’s best not to share?”. So, in the interests authenticity, sharing and bringing the premise of the retreat ‘From Word to World” to life, here’s what I wrote…

Burn, let your spirit soar

Your voice is beautiful, it’s rich and mellow,
Deep and strong, from pitch to shallow,
Your voice will say what needs to be spoke,
Let it burn like a fire, until it needs to be poked,

Poked with a pole, rod or piece of wood,
Encouraged to talk until it’s understood,
No need to hide, no need to stay quiet,
In this place my voice… my voice,

My voice can be booming, mild and weak,
But here I’m seeking a 10-pin bowling streak,
To leave nothing unsaid, leaving nothing misunderstood,
Releasing what’s worrying me from under my hood,

Like a car has an engine, our brains and bodies need juice,
Petrol, diesel and mindfulness, to feel fully present where we stood,
We stood at the beach, at the rocks, and the shore,
With a question bubbling “Will there always be more?”

More to learn,
More to seek,
More to enjoy,
More to peak?

To peak my interests when the day gets dark,
And I begin to feel like I’m losing my spark,

Sparks come in November for fireworks galore,
Guy Fawkes, now that was a man who wanted more!
He set fire to London city, in a blaze, in a flame,
Many people and things never to be seen again,

We’re all on a big journey, and over mountains I’ll soar,
Spotting pigs, geese and chickens, and probably wild boar,
I like it smoked, dried or sliced, to celebrate the flavour is stores,
Completely unlike a digestive and marsh mellow smores,

I don’t like them, they’re too sweet, no flavour to savour,
Where will this journey take me, what will be my next endeavour,
I’ll endeavour to be strong, wise, kind and smart,
Much like a baby born at the start,

All innocence and joy, a tight bundle of fun,
For them life on earth has just begun.

The Heroine’s Journey

Whilst in Ireland, at the location of our Heroine’s Journey retreat, I was amongst the most amazing group of women. All from different cultures, having a range of backgrounds, a spectrum of ages, and a huge depth of life experiences – our week together has been challenging, joyful, reflective and transformational, so to my sisters who were called to join this journey together, I have the upmost respect, warmth and heartfelt thanks. Together, in our community, we created something very special.

If you would like to listen to me speak my poem, ‘Burn, let your spirit soar’, check out Colourful Conversations on TikTok – here.

@emmapottercolourful
Connection in Community This was the theme for day 5 on the Heroine’s Journey retreat in county Donegal, Ireland last month. It’s the first retreat I’ve ever been on, so lots of new experiences to explore – writing intuitively being one of them. Here’s the poem that flowed following a few questions to get our creative joices flowing! In the spirit of sharing, here’s what I wrote… a poem I’ve called ‘Burn, let your spirit soar’ 🔥 #intuition #creative #writing #poem #flow
♬ original sound – Colourful Conversations

Photo by Eric Sanman, Pexels.

Conscious Creator, Imagination, Wellbeing

From word to world

October 20, 2024by Emma PotterLeave a Comment

FROM WORD TO WORLD – This is the overarching theme of a fabulous, inspiring and magical retreat I’ve just been on in Ireland, our location deep in the depth of County Donegal, a stone’s through from Horn Head along the Wild Atlantic Way. Our Heroine’s Journey was led by retreat facilitator, author, psychotherapist, Qoya and mindfulness teacher Victoria Smisek, and vocal alchemist Martha Rice.

To provide some context, each day on the retreat follows a similar structure allowing time for silence, mindfulness, movement, writing, vocal expression and free time, which is essential as some of the exercises are intense and took me to and beyond my boundaries, into discomfort and the unknown – the place of awareness, insight and growth.

After silent mindfulness practice, offerings to nature, and a delicious vegan breakfast prepared lovingly by our chef for the week Ellen-Meave, Victoria and Martha opened our morning session by having candles lit in the middle of the room. There were three circles of cards, each circle getting smaller, and the invitation was to pick a card from the outer circle, to read that card then dance QOYA into that card, then the invitation for the second, then to dance QOYA again, then the third and to dance QOYA again. The process being that we had 5 minutes to write after each card was chosen and the dance was danced – each stage and each card evoking different movement and words.

The first card I picked was the ‘The Spiral Dancer – circuitous route, perception
The second card I picked was 32. Iseutt – Goddess of Perseverance
The third card I picked was the ‘Owl’

After my dance and writing with all three cards was complete, followed the invitation to write freely with what flowed when I put pen to paper. In the spirit of sharing, here’s what I wrote…

Sunrise at Horn Head, County Donegal, Ireland

The Spiritual Dancer, Perseverance and The Owl

Once upon a time I felt your heart it’s beating fast,
Faster than it ever knew,
I raced, I crawled, I’m sure I drooled,
But was I ever really ruled?

The rules are, there are no rules,
Break free with delight, let your wings take flight,
The current of the wind will carry you high,
Higher than a star in a glittering sky.

Gour gong, gour gong, gour gong, gour gong,
This is the rhythm of my song,
My voice is ready, my heart is too,
To speak and express the words that are true.

No right, no wrong, the song is mine,
To sing silently, sing softly, to sing loud and proud.
Perseverance is key, my goddess knows the way,
Feel into my movement, feel into my sway.

There’s magic in the winds, feel the whispers, feel the song,
It’s time for me to ring my gong,
My spirit is high, the dance is strong,
Swirling, circling, perception is my song.

Perceiving a new future,
Perceiving a new me,
Perceiving a new way of being,
Creating a new me.

A me that’s magical, a me that’s fully expressed,
A me that’s most likely wearing a dress,
A dress that’s flowing and moving – no static, frozen or still here,
This babe has really shifted gear.

A sports car I’m not sure, but with wheels I’ll spin,
Spin directly into a new ‘everything’,
I don’t know what it is yet but I think it will include paint,
Painting with my fingers, brushing and saint.

Saint equals spirit, a spirit a new,
It’s time to put on my new golden shoe,
A golden shoe, I spot a shrew,
My wise eagle owl eyes, spot me like glue.

I’m now in my vision, I can no longer remain unseen,
It’s time to shine, don’t be afraid to be seen,
My wings are huge, there’s scope for so much more,
Soaring over mountains higher than ever before.

My head rotates left, my head rotates right,
Is it possible for this bird to take flight?
My wings are huge, my sight is too,
Will I have time to find the accompanying golden shoe?

The Heroine’s Journey

This piece, The Spiritual Dancer, Perseverance and the Owl, is the first of a series of writings that emerged on my Heroine’s Journey retreat. I’ll share a few more in the coming weeks.

You can find out more about The Heroine’s Journey retreats here.

Photos taken at Horn Head, near Dunfanaghy, County Donegal, Ireland