Caren Williams's guest appearances

Caren Williams

How Brands Are Built

The Everyday Entrepreneur Podcast

Jerry Seinfeld

Brian Collins

Jeremy Miller

Alina Wheeler

Sunny Bonnell

Eli Altman

Anthony Shore

Armin Vit

Jeff Chang

Denise Lee Yohn

Holly Knoll

Marty Neumeier

Jonathan Bell

Gareth Kay

Allen Adamson

OwlTail

Episode Summary:To think it all started with marketing laundry detergent and coffee, how one Brand Strategist and highly successful business owner, Caren Williams, built her freelancing business. Caren shares her journey as a business owner - what it was like to be responsible for marketing major brands such as Folgers Coffee and Tide and what brought her into the world of freelancing. Caren Williams is a brand and marketing strategist with over 15 years of experience building brands on the agency side and also in-house. She loves sharing both her passion and expertise with brands big and small, old and new, helping channel their own passion into real growth.Caren works as a member of brand and marketing teams to discover, craft and build some of the world’s leading and fastest growing brands.Prior to working independently, Caren was a Director of Strategy at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy and also worked in-house at both Procter &amp; Gamble and Nestle in Brand Management. When Caren is not strategizing about brands, you’ll find her volunteering with the four-legged type, both as a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind and with the San Francisco SPCA in the Animal Assisted Therapy Program.Join Caren and I as we chat about all things freelancing, including how to build a successful freelancing business, stand out from the crowd, and how to find dream clients.  Episode Takeaways:How to stand out in saturated business, the importance of standing out, and key steps to build your own niche freelancing company.The importance of selecting clients that are a great fit both ways - for you and for them.How to build relationships organically - a key factor in securing business for a very long time.Maintain contact with clients you have enjoyed working with as there may be other opportunities in the future.How to deal with a gig that isn’t ideal and how it could lead to something that is better.Don’t compromise your values and your integrity. Articulate your services clearly. You can do this by asking yourself.. What is it that I’m selling? What are people buying from me? Why am I the person people want to buy from?It’s critical to be really clear on what you offer and at what cost.If what you offer is not clear to you, it is probably not clear to your potential customers.An easy way to stand out from others is how you can describe your business and how you will answer your ideal client’s prayers. This is something many people struggle with, if you can nail this down you’re already ahead!If you want something, put it out there. The more people you tell, the more they will ask you about it and want your help.Remember...If you want to become a freelancer, take that first step. The worst thing that could happen is that it doesn’t work out! You Don’t Want to Miss…03:05 – Caren’s journey from employee to freelancer05:33 – How to finding your brand identity, and why this is important as a freelancer08:40 – How Caren began her brand strategy freelance business 15:20 – A day in the life of a freelancer, what really happens behind the scenes 19:10 – How to find dream clients26:28 – …. and how to effectively manage those not-so-ideal client relationships while maintaining your professional integrity34:45 – How to differentiate your brand37:19 – How to hone in on your “what”, the exact services your freelancing company provides 44:28 – Practical steps to become a freelancerFind Caren At…Website – www.caren-williams.comLinked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carenwilliams/Grab your freebies:Free Business Action GuideFREE Checklist of 7 Tools to Save Time and Reduce OverwhelmChat With Me and Find More Free Resources At…Website - http://hollyknoll.com/Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hollyknoll/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/consult.hollyknollEmail me – holly@hollyknoll.com

Episode Summary:To think it all started with marketing laundry detergent and coffee, how one Brand Strategist and highly successful business owner, Caren Williams, built her freelancing business. Caren shares her journey as a business owner - what it was like to be responsible for marketing major brands such as Folgers Coffee and Tide and what brought her into the world of freelancing. Caren Williams is a brand and marketing strategist with over 15 years of experience building brands on the agency side and also in-house. She loves sharing both her passion and expertise with brands big and small, old and new, helping channel their own passion into real growth.Caren works as a member of brand and marketing teams to discover, craft and build some of the world’s leading and fastest growing brands.Prior to working independently, Caren was a Director of Strategy at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy and also worked in-house at both Procter &amp; Gamble and Nestle in Brand Management. When Caren is not strategizing about brands, you’ll find her volunteering with the four-legged type, both as a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind and with the San Francisco SPCA in the Animal Assisted Therapy Program.Join Caren and I as we chat about all things freelancing, including how to build a successful freelancing business, stand out from the crowd, and how to find dream clients.  Episode Takeaways:<ul><li>How to stand out in saturated business, the importance of standing out, and key steps to build your own niche freelancing company.</li><li>The importance of selecting clients that are a great fit both ways - for you and for them.</li><li>How to build relationships organically - a key factor in securing business for a very long time.</li><li>Maintain contact with clients you have enjoyed working with as there may be other opportunities in the future.</li><li>How to deal with a gig that isn’t ideal and how it could lead to something that is better.</li><li>Don’t compromise your values and your integrity. </li><li>Articulate your services clearly. You can do this by asking yourself.. What is it that I’m selling? What are people buying from me? Why am I the person people want to buy from?</li><li>It’s critical to be really clear on what you offer and at what cost.</li><li>If what you offer is not clear to you, it is probably not clear to your potential customers.</li><li>An easy way to stand out from others is how you can describe your business and how you will answer your ideal client’s prayers. This is something many people struggle with, if you can nail this down you’re already ahead!</li><li>If you want something, put it out there. The more people you tell, the more they will ask you about it and want your help.</li></ul>Remember...If you want to become a freelancer, take that first step. The worst thing that could happen is that it doesn’t work out! You Don’t Want to Miss…03:05 – Caren’s journey from employee to freelancer05:33 – How to finding your brand identity, and why this is important as a freelancer08:40 – How Caren began her brand strategy freelance business 15:20 – A day in the life of a freelancer, what really happens behind the scenes 19:10 – How to find dream clients26:28 – …. and how to effectively manage those not-so-ideal client relationships while maintaining your professional integrity34:45 – How to differentiate your brand37:19 – How to hone in on your “what”, the exact services your freelancing company provides 44:28 – Practical steps to become a freelancerFind Caren At…<ul><li>Website – <a href="http://www.caren-williams.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.caren-williams.com</a></li><li>Linked In - <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carenwilliams/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/carenwilliams/</a></li></ul> Grab your freebies:<ul><li><a href="https://holly-knoll-1.mykajabi.com/business-action-guide" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Free Business Action Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://holly-knoll-1.mykajabi.com/7-tools-to-save-time-and-reduce-overwhelm-checklist" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">FREE Checklist of 7 Tools to Save Time and Reduce Overwhelm</a></li></ul> Chat With Me and Find More Free Resources At…<ul><li>Website -<a href="http://hollyknoll.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> http://hollyknoll.com/</a></li><li>Instagram –<a href="https://www.instagram.com/hollyknoll/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> https://www.instagram.com/hollyknoll/</a></li><li>Facebook -<a href="https://www.facebook.com/consult.hollyknoll" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/consult.hollyknoll</a></li><li>Email me – <a href="mailto:holly@hollyknoll.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">holly@hollyknoll.com</a></li></ul>

From Marketing Laundry Detergent To Building A Highly Successful Freelancing Business with Caren Williams

Caren Williams and I met in 2012 at Interbrand San Francisco, where she was a Director of Strategy. Caren's since become an independent brand consultant, working with brands like Google, Sunrun, and Sandbox VR. One reason I wanted to talk to Caren is because of her diversity of experience, which includes an MBA from University of Texas, managing brands at consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms like Proctor &amp; Gamble and Nestle, strategy and innovation consulting at a firm called Jump Associates, and, finally, brand consulting. This background gives Caren a unique perspective on brand strategy and brand experience. I asked Caren about the difference between building brands in the CPG space versus corporate and B2B brands. She says that while the fundamental approach is the same, the inputs and outputs are often slightly different. Consumer product brands can require deep consumer research and the resulting strategy can revolve around functional and emotional benefits and "reasons to believe." Corporate brands, on the other hand, may require more internal stakeholder research to get to the "spirit and ethos of the entire company," and some of the strategic positioning pillars might be "almost tagline-y." Next, we talked about brand experience. Caren and I talked through a model we both have experience with, which breaks brand experience into four dimensions:  People includes corporate office employees who don't interact with the brand as well as customer-facing people, like retail store employees or drivers for Uber/Lyft. The People category also includes performance reviews, job descriptions, and on-boarding processes. Places (and spaces) means physical places, like stores, lobbies, and conference room names, but also digital spaces like websites, assuming they can be considered "a place you can go. ... [Visitors are] entering into your brand world." Products (and services) are simply "the things that you make and sell." For Google, products include the G Suite, which houses Gmail and Google Drive. Caren says, "If you're trying to bring your brand to life, it's not just how you bring it to life across your advertising and your communications and your messaging. The things that you make and sell need to represent that brand." Communications include anything written or spoken on behalf of the brand. Most marketing and advertising falls into this category, including email marketing, social posts, responses to emails/chats/phone calls, as well as keynote speeches from the CEO and blog posts.  Then Caren shares some simple, straightforward tools and exercises (or "creative brain games") you can use with clients to tease out the best ideas for building a brand experience. She recommended an "old school" book called Why We Buy, by Paco Underhill that explains purchasing behavior such as "why we reach for things on the middle shelf versus the lower shelf." (To see another book she recommends, as well as recommendations from many past interviewees, check out the Useful List: Books recommended by branding experts.) To close out, Caren shared some great advice for people just getting into brand consulting. To learn more about Caren-her approach, the services she offers, and her client experience-check out her website at Caren-Williams.com.

Caren Williams and I met in 2012 at Interbrand San Francisco, where she was a Director of Strategy. Caren's since become an independent brand consultant, working with brands like Google, Sunrun, and Sandbox VR. One reason I wanted to talk to Caren is because of her diversity of experience, which includes an MBA from University of Texas, managing brands at consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms like Proctor &amp; Gamble and Nestle, strategy and innovation consulting at a firm called <a href="http://www.jumpassociates.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Jump Associates</a>, and, finally, brand consulting. This background gives Caren a unique perspective on brand strategy and brand experience. I asked Caren about the difference between building brands in the CPG space versus corporate and B2B brands. She says that while the fundamental approach is the same, the inputs and outputs are often slightly different. Consumer product brands can require deep consumer research and the resulting strategy can revolve around functional and emotional benefits and "reasons to believe." Corporate brands, on the other hand, may require more internal stakeholder research to get to the "spirit and ethos of the entire company," and some of the strategic positioning pillars might be "almost tagline-y." Next, we talked about brand experience. Caren and I talked through a model we both have experience with, which breaks brand experience into four dimensions: <ul> <li>People includes corporate office employees who don't interact with the brand as well as customer-facing people, like retail store employees or drivers for Uber/Lyft. The People category also includes performance reviews, job descriptions, and on-boarding processes.</li> <li>Places (and spaces) means physical places, like stores, lobbies, and conference room names, but also digital spaces like websites, assuming they can be considered "a place you can go. ... [Visitors are] entering into your brand world."</li> <li>Products (and services) are simply "the things that you make and sell." For Google, products include the G Suite, which houses Gmail and Google Drive. Caren says, "If you're trying to bring your brand to life, it's not just how you bring it to life across your advertising and your communications and your messaging. The things that you make and sell need to represent that brand."</li> <li>Communications include anything written or spoken on behalf of the brand. Most marketing and advertising falls into this category, including email marketing, social posts, responses to emails/chats/phone calls, as well as keynote speeches from the CEO and blog posts.</li> </ul> Then Caren shares some simple, straightforward tools and exercises (or "creative brain games") you can use with clients to tease out the best ideas for building a brand experience. She recommended an "old school" book called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416595244/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_-iXSDb6N7S04X" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Why We Buy</a>, by Paco Underhill that explains purchasing behavior such as "why we reach for things on the middle shelf versus the lower shelf." (To see another book she recommends, as well as recommendations from many past interviewees, check out the <a href="https://howbrandsarebuilt.com/blog/2018/11/16/useful-list-books-recommended-by-branding-experts/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Useful List: Books recommended by branding experts</a>.) To close out, Caren shared some great advice for people just getting into brand consulting. To learn more about Caren-her approach, the services she offers, and her client experience-check out her website at <a href="https://caren-williams.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Caren-Williams.com</a>.

Caren Williams plays creative brain games with clients