birkcreative

[birkcreative]

The Creative Dream, Deferred

I’m taking a creative reset, and I’d love for you to consider taking one too. I’m experimenting with other strategies so that I can consider alternative endings, and multiverses in my own creative life. My internal narratives have unchanged over the last decade. I’ve been motivated to grow my business and turn work into gold. It’s worked, but is there more than this? So, instead of trying to create a Disney-type ending to every aspect of my life, why not imagine things just not working out at all, every single time. How about creating art and writing stories that doesn’t solve problems, or provide a “how-to [fill in the blank]” tactic. No more quick fixes. Instead, dive deeper into the complete unknown and explore. Maybe it’s not about thinking positive and manifesting the secret. This is beyond taking out time to rest. Maybe it’s taking out the time in your day, to just think at all.

How can you create your own reset, in order to create unexpected outcomes? Follow me on LinkedIn leave a comment on one of my posts.

The creative dream, deferred.

Olivia had always been a creative person. She loved to draw, paint, and write poetry in her free time. She dreamed of one day making a career out of her passions, but her parents had always discouraged her from pursuing a "risky" path.

After completing her degree in marketing, Sarah took a job at a corporate marketing firm. She quickly became bored with the monotony of the work and yearned for something more. She began to dabble in art and writing on the side, but never felt confident enough to turn it into a full-time pursuit.

One day, Olivia stumbled upon an art exhibition featuring the work of a local artist. The vibrant colors and bold brushstrokes of the paintings struck a chord with Olivia, and she knew that this was what she wanted to do with her life.

She mustered up the courage to speak to the artist, who encouraged her to take a chance on her dreams. Olivia quit her corporate job and began working on her art full-time.

At first, things seemed to be going well. Olivia received positive feedback on her work and even sold a few pieces. But as time went on, she struggled to find steady work and make a living. She became frustrated and discouraged, and eventually returned to the safety of a corporate job.

Olivia sat at her desk in her cubicle, staring at the bland beige walls and fluorescent lighting. She couldn't help but wonder what could have been if she had just had the courage to stick with her passion. She resigned herself to a life of mediocrity and traded in her paintbrushes for a computer mouse.

This tale was written in collaboration with Ariana Industry.

[birkcreative]

How I Learned To Maximize My Reach: My Top 8 Strategies for Connecting with Corporate Buyers and Leaders Online

As a small business owner, one of my biggest challenges is developing new clients, especially when I'm already busy servicing existing ones. They say the best time to get a customer is when you already have one and are busy, but finding ways to grow my business in the professional services industry can be tough. That's why I've spent a lot of time researching and testing different strategies for reaching corporate buyers and leaders. Writers, like Dale Carnegie, have written traditional books (“How to Win Friends and Influence People") on how to mainstream and win relationships.

My content is presented as a list of tips that have helped me the most as a smaller agency in building relationships and growing my business. Each tip is accompanied by a brief explanation of how it can help a small business owner reach corporate buyers and leaders online.

Identify your target audience: Clearly understand the types of corporate buyers and leaders you want to reach out to, including specific industries, company sizes, and geographic locations.

Develop a compelling value proposition: Clearly communicate the benefits of working with your company and how you can help corporate buyers and leaders achieve their goals.

Create a professional website: A well-designed website is a crucial tool for reaching corporate buyers and leaders online. Optimize it for search engines (SEO) and include information about your company, its services, and any relevant case studies or portfolio items. To save time, use platforms like SquareSpace and Shopify, which have built in SEO and automation capabilities. If you are super broke or starting up, try Google Sites, which is 100% free, all you need is a Gmail.  If a static website isn’t your jam, you can always focus all of your efforts on creating videos and posting to your YouTube channel, and that can serve as a primary point of entry to your content.

Utilize social media platforms: Create and share relevant content, such as blog posts or industry news, on platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to showcase your expertise and build a following.

Build a network of industry connections: Focus on LinkedIn! Don’t just look, scroll, read and like. Write, write and write some more. Make an effort to comment on your network’s posts, reshare their content on your channels, with your own personal commentary. And have you considered launching a podcast for your business? Interview members of your network on your podcast, attend podcast industry events in person or virtual. Also, join interest-based online groups that are relevant to your industry, and participate in online forums to connect with potential clients.

Use email marketing: Create a targeted email list and send targeted emails that showcase your services and explain how you can help meet the needs of corporate buyers and leaders. Make sure 75% of the emails you send include educational or special offer content. Email after email of sales gets stale and feels spammy.

Utilize paid advertising: Use platforms like Google Ads or social media ads to reach corporate buyers and leaders. Test different messaging and targeting strategies through A/B testing to identify the most effective approach. My experience is that I’ve only used paid advertising when I am able to afford to spend a minimum $500/month on each platform. 

Offer free educational information: Provide whitepapers, case studies, webinars and workshops, to attract a diverse audience of corporate buyers and leaders and demonstrate your expertise. Track and analyze the results of your marketing efforts to continually improve and refine your strategy.

Being a business owner is really, super hard. Don’t stop having fun. No matter what. Find the fun parts, even if for a moment. And capture it to remind yourself you are still alive. (Shot on iPhone by Trace Birkenbeuel)

“My work still continues to bring me joy, and I get the most joy when light bulbs go off on my client’s faces and they learn or grow from my service to them.”

— JinJa Birkenbeuel

I really hope these eight strategies have provided some helpful ideas for reaching corporate buyers and leaders online. I’ve struggled my entire career to grow and scale my business, and it’s still a work in progress! I’m not giving up and neither should you. I am consistent and persistent, and I always focus on providing value to my potential clients. Sometimes too much to be honest, and I don’t take profits for all of my creative efforts. My work still continues to bring me joy, and I get the most joy when light bulbs go off on my client’s faces and they learn or grow from my service to them. Try out some of my ideas, and perhaps you'll also be well on your way to building strong relationships and growing your business in the professional services industry like I am. Text me with questions, ideas, suggestions or sunshine anytime at 312-834-7339.

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Innovating In Commercial Real Estate: A Quick Guide to Thriving in the Era of Remote Work

I been having fun again at work. I earned a fantastic content strategy, social media and corporate training contract with one of the world’s leaders in commercial real estate, BentallGreenOak.

Quick story, I got my start in the content strategy side of the real estate business by assisting one of my first large agency clients, Great Lakes REIT, who at the time had just completed their IPO. They needed a powerful branding and content strategy company like mine, to help them effectively communicate to their new shareholders. What an interesting experience it was working with property managers, real estate salespeople, and especially collaborating with the head of it all, the CEO, my earliest business advisor and mentor Dick May! I learned so much in my early years about growth, people management, location scouting, and also about how to ensure the mission fits the vision, and above all the strategic execution that pays the dividend. I killed it on that first job for Great Lakes REIT, such that Birk Creative was the agency of record for the next seven years, and I redesigned their complete branding system that appeared on stationery and door handles, but also the giant, highly visible exterior sign that ran along the IL88. So effective was my work, when GLR was acquired by Transwestern, the real estate team moved, and brought me with them to Inland Real Estate Corporation to bring their annual reports and investor relations communication to life. What a climb!

And as my content strategy and social media messaging assignment for BGO continues, it got me to thinking about the industry as a whole, with the dawn of remote work. What will #remotework do to the commercial real estate industry? An industry that has built a robust corporate and retail building ecosystem filled with commuting workers, transit, restaurants, schools and shops, not to mention the infrastructure that includes construction, utilities, water and government taxation. What can the industry to do stay ahead of this and innovate? How can the commercial real estate industry grow amidst the changing demographics of people that now want remote work and no longer desire going into an office building with windows that won’t open? Buildings are going empty, there are no butts in seats, rents are falling, new development seem to be slowing. Can the commercial real estate industry innovate? The answer is a resounding yes!

The commercial real estate industry can and should start to innovate and adapt to the changing demographics of remote work to drive growth. I brainstormed these ideas with one of my new content partners Ariana Industrial. Here are some ideas we came up with for how the industry can continue to grow and thrive in this new dynamic landscape:

Convert empty office buildings into co-working spaces: With more people working remotely, demand for traditional office space may decrease. One way for commercial real estate developers to adapt to this change is by converting empty office buildings into co-working spaces. Co-working spaces provide a flexible and affordable alternative to traditional office space and can attract remote workers and small businesses.

Develop mixed-use properties: Instead of building solely for commercial use, developers can create mixed-use properties that include both commercial and residential space. This can help ensure a steady stream of tenants and increase the overall value of the property.

Focus on sustainability and green initiatives: Sustainability and green initiatives are becoming increasingly important to both businesses and consumers. Developers who focus on sustainability in their projects, such as by using energy-efficient systems and materials, can differentiate themselves in the market and appeal to a wider range of tenants.

Invest in technology and amenities: To attract and retain tenants, commercial real estate developers can invest in technology and amenities that make the properties more attractive and functional. This could include high-speed internet, modern conference facilities, and on-site amenities such as fitness centers and restaurants.

Diversify the tenant mix: Instead of relying on a single tenant or type of tenant, commercial real estate developers can diversify their tenant mix to reduce risk and increase stability. This could include a mix of office tenants, retailers, and other types of businesses.

Clearly communicate the benefits of co-working spaces: To attract remote workers and small businesses to co-working spaces, it's important to clearly communicate the benefits of these spaces. This could include highlighting the flexibility and affordability of co-working spaces, as well as the amenities and technology that are available.

Utilize social media to engage with tenants and showcase properties: Social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram can be powerful tools for commercial real estate developers to connect with tenants and showcase their properties. Developers can use social media to share updates, information about amenities and events, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of their properties. They can also use social media to listen to tenant feedback and respond to their needs and concerns. By engaging with tenants on social media, commercial real estate developers can build relationships and create a sense of community within their properties.

Use data-driven insights to inform branding and interior design decisions: By gathering data on tenant preferences and behavior, commercial real estate developers can make more informed decisions about how to brand their properties and design the interiors. This could include conducting surveys and focus groups, as well as analyzing data from social media and other online platforms. For example, developers could use this data to choose a color scheme and font that resonates with tenants, select furniture that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, and control the air quality and sounds within the space to create a more pleasant and productive work environment. Overall, effective branding and interior design can help commercial real estate developers differentiate their properties and create a positive experience for tenants.

Create a cohesive brand identity: A strong brand identity can help commercial real estate developers stand out in the market and attract more tenants. This could include the use of a consistent logo, color scheme, and color scheme, and fonts across all marketing materials and online platforms.

Developers can also use elements such as storytelling and imagery to create a cohesive brand identity that resonates with tenants. For example, they could use visual storytelling to highlight the unique features and benefits of their properties, and create images that showcase the aesthetics and ambiance of the space. By creating a cohesive brand identity, commercial real estate developers can differentiate their properties and create a strong and memorable impression on tenants

Overall, the key to success in the commercial real estate industry will be the ability to adapt to changing demographics and market conditions. By embracing innovation, utilizing social media and design-thinking strategies, and using data-driven insights, developers can continue to grow and thrive in the era of remote work.

About Us

Birk Creative works with businesses as a plug and play brand strategy team or as a complement to existing creative and marketing capabilities. We deliver wraparound services across all advertising and marketing activities: Digital transformation, creative innovation, visual identity, branding, brand messaging, custom content creation, podcast, video and radio production, social media marketing, employee thought leadership training and development and digital advertising.

Our in-house team and remote network include brand strategists, copywriters social media marketers, podcast producers, book and publication publishers, graphic designers and Web developers, illustrators, media buyers and a 10-person remote team.

[birkcreative]

I've Spent 10,000+ Hours Over the Last Two Years Publishing My Own Songs

I've spent 10,000-plus hours over the past two years refining my process to release my own music. Here are nine tips that will help you protect, own, and release your own songs, music, or poems so that you can make your own money and be independent:

When you record your music, song, or poem, make sure not to share it online anywhere at any point in time until you have copyrighted your material.

You can copyright your material at the US Copyright Office. Go to copyright.gov to start the process and set up your account.

If you're producing a song or a poem and it's audio, of course, make sure that you embed codes in the mastering process so that every time the song or poem is played on the radio or on TV, it tracks back to your special code. These are ISRC codes.

Go to https://usisrc.org to find out how you can get your own ISRC codes.

You don't have to get your ISRC code before you send your song or poem to the copyright office, just as an FYI. ISRC codes are put at the very end of the process after you've approved the mastering of a song or poem.

Once you have the ISRC codes embedded, even before you've published it or before you've sent it to a publisher, you can now share your songs with your friends.

The best source to release your songs or poem is tunecore.com. Go to tunecore.com, and you can upload your songs and make sure you keep a record of your ISRC codes.

You can get your barcode on TuneCore as well, or you can get your own bank of gtins by going to GS1. If you're in the United States, it's GS1 US. This is the company that manufactures and produces all the barcodes for every product that's on a shelf. This is not the same organization that produces barcodes for book publishing.

Finally, take a look at where you should publish. Do you want to use a performing rights organization like ASCAP or BMI? Either of these organizations does the exact same thing. I am a publisher and a songwriting member of ASCAP. These steps will actually help you release and produce your own material. This is the work that I've been doing over the last several years.

I share content like this in my monthly newsletter The Birk Creative Reset. Would love to have you join my community. Sign up today.

[birkcreative]

Another Easy Business Idea

Here's a super easy business idea: Charge $19.99 for a course that you produce based on your high level of expertise. Here's how:

You download Loom.

Set up a microphone or use your phone and record yourself talking about a subject that you're an expert in.

To make a slide deck to go with it, use Tome, which is a new AI tool, or you can build something from scratch using Google Slides. Put what you said into the Google slide.

Use a transcription tool. Take what you say and transcribe it using a tool like Temi, which charges you a little bit of money. And take that and put that in the slide deck.

After you've taken your content and put it in the slide deck, go to gumroad.com and load up your video that you've recorded yourself on Loom to Gumroad and charge money for it.

Advertise it on social media. Tell all your friends and write posts about it.

That's an easy way. It's an easy business idea, and it's based on your expertise. So it's something you know really well, which isn't gonna take you long to produce content for it because you're not trying to learn something. You're actually sharing information about what you already know with others, and you're gonna charge people for it. And you're going to put it up on a course, and you're going to sell it, and people can download it electronically, which means you're going to make money while you sleep.

Boom.

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Creative Agency Comparison: Pivot Design or Birk Creative. Which Agency is Right for You?

Pivot Design versus Birk Creative: Navigating the Best Fit for Your Brand

In the evolving landscape of brand strategy and digital marketing, choosing the right agency to collaborate with can significantly impact your brand’s trajectory. Pivot Design and Birk Creative stand out for their distinct approaches to branding and marketing, offering unique advantages depending on your brand's needs. Here’s a comprehensive comparison to help you decide which agency could be the right partner for your business.

Pivot Design’s Approach to Brand Building

Pivot Design focuses on a broad spectrum of creative services, blending innovative design with strategic marketing to propel brands forward. Their comprehensive approach encompasses branding, digital experiences, advertising, and marketing strategy, making them a versatile choice for organizations across various industries. Pivot prides itself on dynamic creativity and strategic thinking, aiming to meet and exceed clients' business objectives through engaging design solutions. Their expertise spans across sectors like healthcare, technology, education, and nonprofit, offering tailored solutions that address the unique challenges and opportunities within each field.

Birk Creative’s Approach to Brand Building

Birk Creative differentiates itself with a strong emphasis on digital innovation and brand identity, leveraging technology and storytelling to connect brands with their audiences. Specializing in digital transformation, Birk Creative integrates digital marketing strategies within the brand development process to ensure a cohesive and impactful online presence. Their approach is deeply rooted in understanding the digital ecosystem, focusing on social media, content marketing, and SEO to build and reinforce a brand’s narrative across digital platforms. Birk Creative’s strategy is particularly suited for businesses looking to modernize their brand and expand their digital footprint.

Comparison and Decision Factors

Versatility vs. Digital Focus: Pivot Design’s versatility makes them a compelling choice for businesses seeking comprehensive creative services across a variety of platforms and mediums. Birk Creative, with its digital-first approach, is ideal for brands prioritizing online engagement and digital market presence.

Broad Industry Experience vs. Digital Specialization: Pivot’s experience across multiple sectors provides them with a broad perspective on brand building, which can be beneficial for brands looking for diverse creative strategies. Birk Creative’s specialization in digital transformation and online branding offers a focused path for businesses aiming to leverage digital trends.

Strategic Creativity vs. Innovative Technology: Pivot Design employs strategic creativity to solve business challenges, making them suitable for brands seeking a creative and adaptable agency. Birk Creative’s emphasis on innovative technology and digital channels is best suited for brands eager to explore new digital opportunities and connect with audiences online.

Conclusion: Which Agency is Right for You?

Deciding between Pivot Design and Birk Creative boils down to your brand’s priorities and the scope of your branding or digital marketing initiatives. If your brand values a comprehensive and versatile creative approach that spans across various platforms and industries, Pivot Design may offer the breadth of services and strategic insight you need. Conversely, if your focus is on digital innovation, online branding, and leveraging the latest in digital marketing strategies, Birk Creative’s specialized approach could provide the targeted expertise to elevate your brand in the digital space.

Evaluate your brand’s goals, audience, and the digital landscape in which you operate. Consider whether a broad creative strategy or a digital-centric approach aligns with your objectives. Engage with Pivot Design or Birk Creative to explore how they can help you realize your vision and drive your brand forward. Your choice will set the stage for your brand’s future direction and growth.

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#QTNA How does a new writer even publish their first book to begin with?

This topic related to publishing and illustration comes up all the time. By now, you all know I love talking about publishing!

Here’s how my conversation ensued with someone on Reddit:

Question: How does a new writer even publish their first book to begin with?

Me: “I have so many strategies around this. Do you still need help?”

Question: “Yes. I have two books I'd like to publish in 2024. Planning on using mid-journey to illustrate them (or something like...). I am interested in your thoughts.”

Me: “Yes! I have thoughts! And I am so sorry I am just now seeing this! Firstly, Midjourney... I wonder if the resolution is going to be good enough for printing. Also, read their fine print--they don't indemnify against copyright infringement like Dall-e does.”

Question: “Do you have recos? I also want to get a person defined and reuse in different scenes and I haven't seen anything doing that well”

Me: The safest thing to do is actually hire an illustrator. You can get illustrators off of Fivrr, however, some of them are in other countries, and on other continents from where you are, and there might be cultural language barriers. There could be more difficulty in translating your vision to their output. Also, you'll have to negotiate the rights to the images that they create for you. 

For example, if they make a character for you and they haven't given you the rights to use the character in whatever way you want, that might pose a problem for you down the road because if for some reason, Amazon or Netflix is interested in your work, and you don't have the rights to your character execution, that might blow the deal. 

I produced a course on how to do all of this so you start off on the right foot in publishing. Check it out.

You have to get into a space of negotiating exclusive rights for the artwork to use in perpetuity, things like that. Also, the artwork has to be constructed in a way that you can break it down and repurpose it for other things for example, animation or a T-shirt, design or other types of things like stickers. Adobe Illustrator and/or Photoshop are tools that help artist create layers for various reproduction requirements. You also may want to look into Adobe Firefly and see if there is guidance on image construction that you can share with the artist you hire. You’ll need to give them instructions on your requirements to also make sure that their style works with your requirements. Some artists do not create any digital constructions at all.

There's a lot that goes into hiring artist to do your work. MidJourney and Dall.E, they don't create the necessary layers for you, so you will have trouble like I said, taking their images and reusing them. I do like MidJourney for ideation purposes. So maybe you could work with MidJourney to refine your vision for a character and then take that refined character, and then hire the artist to help you execute it. 

The best way to really do all of this is to hire a commercial professional artist in your country. Many are trained to work commercially. And it sometimes even helps if the artist has a rep/agent like a Friend and Johnson, because a rep can actually help you work through the negotiation in terms of the rights that you need for the artwork. They will be more expensive. 

So be careful because you want to own your property you don't want someone else to control your property. I hope this is helpful! I am a former Art Director and I have hired many artists over the last 20 years and it can get a little tricky.

#qtna Questions that need answered. Happy to help. Drop me, JinJa Birkenbeuel a text to 312-834-7339 anytime!

[birkcreative]

The Concrete Wall: A Black Woman's Journey to Success in the Creative Industry

A Teacher's Recognition

As a Black woman in a creative industry, my path to success has been circuitous. It began in art school, as it does for many young professionally-trained creatives. I could have felt lost, but a woman teacher recognized my talent, was unafraid of my own femaleness, didn’t fear my blackness, and she spurred on my creative development. Back then, it said a lot about a design student if they could hold a steady hand to create designs with an X-acto knife, and still love the entire process. It showed an attention to detail to my teacher, a requirement she knew was needed for a successful career in branding and design.

Breaking into Boutique Agencies

I also started winning student design awards, and recognition in national publications like HOW Magazine, which gave me visibility within the art school, and with my peers and later, for my job prospects.

However, there are many factors that play into success, and talent and hard work are only two of them. Design culture, around the globe, is overseen by the cultural elite: white curators, funders, and others who have resources for insider access. Rarely will you see Black people in prominent roles at the world’s greatest boutique, branding and design agencies.

Exclusion at the Top

The same can not be said for internal creative roles at global brands like McDonald’s, Twitter or Coca-Cola, which rely on Black talent in many areas, but this is because they have Black audiences that consume their products, and recognize the need to adapt their messaging as such. Consider prestigious assignments like annual report design, brand strategy or product packaging design, which involves development processes and buy-in from majority white leadership, shareholders, investors and the like. These are the kind of projects that you will rarely find spearheaded by Black people.

Lack of representation then creates a continuous loop environment where Black people are often excluded from and not recruited for coveted creative jobs at close knit branding agencies and white people (at any level) are not held accountable to bring Blacks to the table, in any capacity (outside of mailroom jobs, project managers or front desk receptionists).

Performative Support

While you will notice many white-dominated agencies voicing their support for Black Lives, it’s often truly performative. Yes, they may cover up by creating design and branding work for nonprofits that have Black audiences and customers from within the Black community. The actual agency however, doesn’t employ full-time, permanent Black designers or Black thought leaders. They may offer pro bono to Black Lives, but don’t have Black people serving on their board of directors. There are obviously exceptions to this, but from an industry-wide view, Black designers and leaders are absent at these preeminent agencies, nationally and globally.

The Tide is Turning

In the 2021 Graphic Design USA, not only do I appear on the cover, but I was selected as a “People to watch in 2021” as part of the annual celebration in the elite graphic design industry. It is not only a major accomplishment for myself, but it also perhaps signals the slow breakthrough of other talented, hard working, overlooked Black people in other creative professions. Recognition from a top tier publication like GD USA shows that the tide in these creative industries may be turning, pushing beyond performative gestures, towards a true meritocracy.

A non celebrity non entertainer-type of Black face on the cover of any magazine is highly unusual and worth recognizing. It is a full circle moment for me, as a creative technology leader also recently recognized as an independent, non celebrity leader in the annual Female Frontier Honoree for Transforming Technology award. 

Pay It Forward

I am so proud to have built a steady career as a woman in the creative industry, and have intentionally used my success to bring others up with me. I have used my experience and talent to pay it forward and open doors for other Black designers and creatives who may have not been given the same opportunities as I have.

I founded Birk creative, a multidisciplinary branding and design agency that focuses on diverse talent, to not only be inclusive but to also give back to the community. I want to use my platform and influence to create change within the industry and to inspire other Black designers and creatives to follow their dreams and never give up.

Making Real Change

It’s important for the design industry to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black designers and to make a conscious effort to be inclusive and diverse. It’s not enough to just pay lip service to Black Lives Matter, it’s about making real and lasting change. As a Black woman in the creative industry, I’m determined to do my part to make that change happen.

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How Google-Sizing Her Mindset Propelled This Founder’s Career Forward

JinJa Birkenbeuel, CEO of Birk Creative, a brand agency, designs visual identities and multichannel strategies to scale brands and assist with their adaptability with the market. With over 20 years of experience, Birkenbeuel and her team work with established brands including Tesla and Google.

Birkenbeuel played an intricate role in establishing Google Digital Coaches as a part of a larger Google initiative called Accelerate With Google. The Digital Coaches program was designed to provide equal opportunity for all business owners and entrepreneurs to thrive online. Since launching in 2017, the program now has nine coaches across the nation. Birkenbeuel traveled around the country asking small businesses and entrepreneurs what they’re experiencing in business, where they need help and trying to figure out what problems they faced on a day-to-day basis. Through her research, she was able to show Google where they best could provide resources.

At the end of 2016, Birkenbeuel became a digital coach. “That was a big deal for me,” she explains. “But, it was also scary. I thought, ‘okay, if I become a coach, that actually becomes a job. How am I going to make it? How am I going to manage my other clients? What am I going to do?’ When you take on something like this, you have to basically say to yourself, ‘I'm going to have to Google size my results, which means I'm going have to Google size myself and Google size my process to get to the results.'” Three years later, Birkenbeuel is still helping small businesses and entrepreneurs scale their companies through the Google Digital Coaches platform.

Before Birkenbeuel became an entrepreneur, she worked in the corporate world as a senior level designer brand strategist. She worked on developing brand messaging, brand strategy, understanding how the company could communicate their products and services effectively to the customers they were trying to reach. She credits Accenture for establishing her professional career and learning how a corporation operated. “That was a tremendous experience working in a real tight, corporate controlling environment where you really had to align yourself with a brand,” she comments. “You have to understand what their supply chain is, their pipeline and how they make their money. It was a tremendously powerful training ground for me.”

As she advanced in her career, she realized that she wasn’t able to reach the end client; she had to work through the middleman to deliver services. After working for a couple other companies, she realized that her work wasn’t fulfilling; she wanted to work in a position where she brought her best ideas from ideation to execution. During this period of time, Birkenbeuel and her husband had a band and began creating music together.

Parallel to starting her firm, she also launched a record label with her husband. “We put a record out,” she explains, “Amazon pretty much had just started. It was around 1997. They launched a new platform on Amazon that allowed independent musicians to put their records on Amazon and sell online. It was a pilot. We were part of the first pilot and they featured us in the top 10 Americana albums of 1998.” Although she and her husband still create music, Birkenbeuel focuses on expanding her 20-year-old company by helping mid-market companies launch their brands.

As Birkenbeuel transitioned from the corporate world to starting her firm, she focused on these essential steps:

Address any fear you may have about the pivot before actually transitioning. Once you start to pivot and you haven’t addressed your fear, it will paralyze you from moving forward.

Ask for what you want. People don’t know how to help you if they don’t know what you need or where you want to go in your career.

Involve the people in your life who the pivot will affect in your decision to transition. Make sure it’s the best decision for all stakeholders.

“I never really thought of myself as a minority-owned agency,” Birkenbeuel concludes, “which I know sounds really strange. I always saw myself as a creative brand strategy agency.”

By Cheryl Robinson, Forbes Contributor. Dr. Cheryl Robinson covers areas of leadership, pivoting and careers.

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How Learning About Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain Tech and Investing in NFTs can help build your professional brand

Becoming an expert in bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency will help position you as a fintech innovation agency. Yet getting your business visible online will ensure your business success.

How much do you know about bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology? Earlier this year, our agency provided analytics strategy to Sullivan Wolf Kailus. Sullivan Wolf Kailus is already has unique legal expertise in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. However, our goal for them was simple. To help their woman-owned certified firm (WBE City of Chicago) become more visible and competitive online.

Recommended Methods to Enhance Online Visibility

Completing a discovery and strategy session to determine goals and outcomes is the first step. Then, determining the most effective online platform is fundamental to the success of your business of initiative. These include using [VIDEO] Google Analytics for tracking performance metrics. Finally, understanding how those metrics can inform strategy which leads to the growth of your online storefront is key.

Our agency can also provide a robust Google platform strategy so you have a digital storefront that is working for you 24-7.

Bitcoin is booming. Having an agency to help you educate the public, and provide lead generation to your expert company, would be critical to your success. In addition, an agency that provides research and international context can add value. Here's an example: Have even you heard of Bitcoin in Ghana? What are the top five countries that are interested in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?

Email us now for a quick cost proposal.

In conclusion, we can get your cryptocurrency agency business up and running with a powerful online web presence. Most of all, this can position your company to become more competitive in this accelerated technology space.

I share all kinds of tips like this in my newsletter The Birk Creative Reset. Sign up here.

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How To Get The Courage To Leave (For Solo Entrepreneurs That Want To Travel)

I continue to be inspired by my spontaneous trip to London (and Paris too.) I even wrote a short essay about my trip and posted it on LinkedIn.

It garnered so much positive feedback from it from my friends, family and connections, that I wrote and designed a custom blank travel journal to memorialize my experience.

It’s now available on Amazon for anyone that is looking for a reason to just leave. So many of us are stuck, afraid to make a move, to change. Whether that is our relationships, our jobs, our entrepreneurial journey that seems to be failing. Something you need to drop what you are doing, and get a new look, go to a new place, anything to get a reset.

Let me know what you think of my new journal, and I hope it helps you like it did me.

Excerpt from my recent essay Travel Hacks For Creative Entrepreneurs “Believe you can leave. Just believe it. First, your thoughts have to say yes, I can. And then visualize yourself getting up, packing a bag, taking the train, or Uber, sitting at the airport with a bourbon on ice, stepping into the plane, sleeping, and then stepping off the plane to grab your luggage and then riding the tube to your hotel or hostel. Do a Google search of images to help you visualize every step. Visualizing is required in order to create and before anything else is possible or doable.”

[birkcreative]

I Have Little Secret About Book Publishing, That Big Publishers Don’t Want You To Know.

My Little Secret About Book Publishing

I'm going to let you in on a secret. You are self-publishing your books all wrong, and you're losing opportunities to control your own supply chain of publishing a book. Here are six tips that will help you learn how to avoid losing some of your intellectual property to help you be effective with publishing:

🖼 Think about the big picture. What type of book are you trying to publish? Take a look at the environment online to see where those books are being published. For example, if you're publishing a children's book or if you're creating one, that's a very different audience than a business book. So before you do anything, take a look at the genre.

🖥 Digital book or printed book? It's important to ask this question because a printed book requires a different set of steps to produce it than a digital book. They are different processes, not in the same lane, parallel universes.

🍎 🌳 Publishing platforms. Decide if you want to publish on Apple or Amazon or both. These two platforms have different requirements for how to publish a book.

✍🏾 Design your book. Once you've decided whether you want to go digital or print, you'll need to choose whether to design your book yourself or hire someone else to do it. A digital book designer is very different from a print designer who designs covers and typesets copy on the inside.

📚 Consider your publishing volume. Are you in a career change? Are you making major adjustments to what you're doing for a living? Do you think you might be doing five or ten books, or do you think you're going to be doing one book a year? Or is this the only book? Depending on the number of books you produce, that will impact whether or not you should get your own bank of ISBNs.

⏰ Finally, consider how much time you have to promote your content. Do you have your social media channels set up to talk about your book or not?

These are six considerations you should plan for before you start a book publishing process because the worst thing that could happen is you start your book, and you write your book, and then it sits for six months because you haven't done any of these things in advance to prepare for the release of your book on different platforms.

If you'd like to get more on this, I am offering a fast 26-minute virtual class and it teaches you how to publish your book, and also how to launch your own book publishing company. My class will also provide you with cautionary tales and other self-publishing secrets that you won't find anywhere else.

Many book publishing gurus trick you with the basics to get you coming back to them again and again, but they don't tell you the whole truth. I'm a one and done type of teacher. And that's what my class will give to you.

https://birkcreative.gumroad.com/l/JinJaBirkenbeuel-HowToLaunchYourOwnBookPublishingCompany

I share other tips like this in my monthly newsletter, sign up: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60662f4dc9533f4419aaa4ba

[birkcreative]

The Elite Design Industry Is The Gatekeeper of American Culture and Brand. But Can The Elite Designers Be Motivated to Create Diversity In Business?

As a Black woman in a creative industry, my path to success has been circuitous. It began in art school, as it does for many young professionally-trained creatives. I could have felt lost, but a woman teacher recognized my talent, was unafraid of my own femaleness, didn’t fear my blackness, and she spurred on my creative development. Back then, it said a lot about a design student if they could hold a steady hand to create designs with an X-acto knife, and still love the entire process. It showed an attention to detail to my teacher, a requirement she knew was needed for a successful career in branding and design. I also started winning student design awards, and recognition in national publications like HOW Magazine, which gave me visibility within the art school, and with my peers and later, for my job prospects.

However, there are many factors that play into success, and talent and hard work are only two of them. Design culture, around the globe, is overseen by the cultural elite: white curators, funders, and others who have resources for insider access. Rarely will you see Black people in prominent roles at the world’s greatest boutique, branding and design agencies. The same can not be said for internal creative roles at global brands like McDonald’s, Twitter or Coca-Cola, which rely on Black talent in many areas, but this is because they have Black audiences that consume their products, and recognize the need to adapt their messaging as such. 

Consider prestigious assignments like annual report design, brand strategy or product packaging design, which involves development processes and buy-in from majority white leadership, shareholders, investors and the like. These are the kind of projects that you will rarely find spearheaded by Black people. Lack of representation then creates a continuous loop environment where Black people are often excluded from and not recruited for coveted creative jobs at close knit branding agencies and white people (at any level) are not held accountable to bring Blacks to the table, in any capacity (outside of mailroom jobs, project managers or front desk receptionists). 

While you will notice many white-dominated agencies voicing their support for Black Lives, it’s often truly performative. Yes, they may cover up by creating design and branding work for nonprofits that have Black audiences and customers from within the Black community. The actual agency however, doesn’t employ full-time, permanent Black designers or Black thought leaders. They may offer pro bono to Black Lives, but don’t have Black people serving on their board of directors. There are obviously exceptions to this, but from an industry-wide view, Black designers and leaders are absent at these preeminent agencies, nationally and globally. 

In the 2021 Graphic Design USA, not only do I appear on the cover, but I was selected as a “People to watch in 2021” as part of the annual celebration in the elite graphic design industry. It is not only a major accomplishment for myself, but it also perhaps signals the slow breakthrough of other talented, hard working, overlooked Black people in other creative professions. Recognition from a top tier publication like GD USA shows that the tide in these creative industries may be turning, pushing beyond performative gestures, towards a true meritocracy. A non celebrity non entertainer-type of Black face on the cover of any magazine is highly unusual and worth recognizing.

The feeling of finally being both seen and celebrated by an industry that has historically ignored the significant contributions of women designers, and excluded Black designers and Black culture that inspires all levels of global art and creativity, is a relief. I am so proud to have built a steady career as a woman in the creative industry, and have intentionally used my success to bring others together at the intersection of branding, technology, and design. It is a full circle moment for me, as a creative technology leader also recently recognized as an independent, non celebrity leader in the annual Female Frontier Honoree for Transforming Technology 2021 award. 

Above all, recognition like this from GD USA publicly validates what my clients have been telling me for years: that my work is beautiful and effective! I love seeing my clients succeed, being in the vicinity of their success, celebrating with them, and knowing that I made a contribution to their growth. By building diverse networks and ecosystems, where all perspectives are not only tolerated but well-funded and championed, the path for future generations of women, and Black people, in creative industries, becomes that much smoother.

[birkcreative]

How To Launch Google Shopping For Your Business

How we established Google Shopping for 7M Woodworking, a thriving local, retail business.

In 7M Woodworking, founder Paul Miller turned a hobby into a passion. The Chicago-based business brings natural beauty into homes and other spaces, with pieces made from reclaimed, recycled, and refurbished wood.

7M turned to Birk Creative after struggling with its online advertising. Miller and his team were spending more time and more money, but not seeing the results. It was time to lay a new foundation and build a roadmap for 7M’s success online as a small business.

The Process

First, we took a deep dive into 7M’s day-to-day, familiarizing ourselves with its products and key audiences through a discovery. We conducted a thorough audit — a full-scale review of all components of their digital program: website, social media channels, content, visuals, brand identity and messaging, and Google advertising. Birk Creative’s analysis focused on evaluating execution against best practices and identifying opportunities to guide our recommendations.

We quickly found that 7M’s advertising challenges were symptomatic of bigger inefficiencies and gaps within its entire digital ecosystem. They needed new content, new messaging to go up against clients as big as Walmart, and a new strategy for advertising, with better targeting and copywriting. One of our most impactful findings was that 7M was advertising on the wrong Google platform, and Birk Creative migrated them to Google Shopping, which offers personalized shopping suggestions and directs customers to purchase products through Google, a third-party site, or in-store.

Not only did we make data-informed recommendations, we helped see them through. A photoshoot, mood boards, interviews, social media strategy, and custom videos brought 7M into the next chapter of its digital program, with the tools they need to create strategy-aligned content. In addition to the Google Shopping migration, we also integrated Yoast SEO into their website’s back-end, making it simple to attract more visitors.

The Results

Birk Creative’s recommendations and implementation support was only the beginning. With training and additional one-on-one consultations — on top of new strategies for telling the 7M story, and smart tactics for reaching the right audiences — 7M is poised for digital success, and ready to make the most of its marketing.

Are you a small business owner who’s ready to take your digital program to the next level? We offer the above solutions as our Small Business Online Transformation for $15,000. Start the conversation today.

[birkcreative]

How To Transform Technology To Include women

We need to understand invisible barriers. Every year, the progressive forces of our world tear down walls, unlock chains, rewrite laws, and much more, in order to liberate discriminated groups and provide opportunities for all. But what about the barriers that hide in plain sight, or lurk invisible in the power structures behind a progressive front?

Consider the curb. When sidewalks were developed to protect pedestrians from traffic, it’s likely that nobody thought the three inch drop from sidewalk to road was a barrier. However, while three inches is a small step down, it’s an extremely dangerous drop for someone in a wheelchair. The introduction of the curb cut ensured smooth, safe sidewalk access for all, and broke down a barrier invisible to many, but impenetrable to some. We need to recognize the fact that, for the tech industry to fulfill its lofty goals of connection and innovation, everyone must be given the chance to participate and provide input.

“Those who run the technology must ensure access for everyone, all around the globe, both as members and beneficiaries.”

Those who run the technology must ensure access for everyone, all around the globe, both as members and beneficiaries. A tech-driven world requires tech-literate users, so education, training, and community for all groups and ages, including governments, must be prioritized. This utopian goal requires input from all perspectives on the design and development of programs and tools, or the old power structures will continue to perpetuate through new media.

My approach is to use technology to help people live fuller lives, with opportunities to collaborate, free from the damage of constant competition. It involves young people learning to use technology in productive ways, rather than having their lives overrun by them. It involves using technology to not only make money, but make lasting change as well.

For information to become accessible to all, universally understood, and to drive positive customer actions, the tech industry must embrace diverse cultural, gender, and ethnic perspectives. These will be used to design, communicate and create processes that speak to individuals and audiences in the way they’re comfortable, rather than bulldozing cultural context in a quest for universal adoption.

Social and digital media have taught us that people want to be seen and heard by the brands they love, but only when these brands recognize the beauty of their individuality. We’ve seen how hard brands can stumble when they create advertising, messaging, and products that speak to one segment of a culture at the expense of another, trampling underrepresented voices in the process. As our society becomes more accepting and inclusive, and promotes all voices and people equally, the damage of such a branding stumble will be increasingly devastating.

In my role at the head of Birk Creative, technology surrounds me, and I’ve learned how to apply it in order to amplify my unique voice within the industry. The collective left and right brains of my entire team are always engaged in new challenges for using tech to open the conversation to new audiences. Once we capture and release the power of technology we can use it to lift up those who have been left out.

These are some of the aspects of my approach and philosophy, as a woman in tech, which has led to my winning a 2021 Female Frontier award in the Transforming Technology category.

[birkcreative]

Five Basic Rules To Follow While Working With Celebrities or Pedigree Corporations

Working with or being seen with celebrities, high profile politicians or pedigree corporations and organizations from the view of a spectator looks easy and fun. Fancy clothes, elegant dinners, designer purses, smiles lighting up all the way to the moon, perfection in hair, clothes, make up, shoes, convenient friendships and top shelf mixed drinks in particular appear everywhere and are seemingly for the taking.

You can likely imagine, that working as a consultant or agency with this special group can pose significant professional challenges. Examples could be 1) forgetting that you are actually getting paid to work while at a celebrity or client event, 2) getting too chummy, 3) drinking too much, 4) failing to cater to your client are a few of the obvious.

However, there are some not-so-obvious things to think about before you close the deal with your new celebrity client. So here are five basic rules to follow while working for celebrities or pedigree corporations:

1. Always keep a respectful and professional barrier between you and your celebrity client. They are your friend (sort of), and can be your friend (sort of), but ultimately, they have a job they want you, and only you, to do. So make sure you've been listening, show up, snap into super pro mode on demand, and deliver the job.

2. Be discreet about your work with your celebrity client. You have been granted a special place in this person's life. What happens with your client, stays with them, unless they tell you otherwise.

3. When you want to meet one of their friends to potentially expand your business, ask permission first.

4. Research and read. Make sure you are prepped with what is in the news about them, what they have published. Search their name on Google images to find a new perspective about them that you didn't know. And yes, find out all the not so good news about them too. Learning about the good and the bad (whether it is true of not) is part of your job.

5. Be available. Be ready to help them. Answer the phone and be responsive. And don't ever share their phone number or contact information without explicit permission. (This is actually true for anyone you know!) And remember, you are not their gatekeeper, that is someone else's job. You are their consultant, a creator for them, maybe even a muse, so be armed and ready with ideas and concepts--at all times.

What are your rules when working with your own celebrity customer?

[birkcreative]

What is Social Media Content Strategy?

Birk Creative’s Social Media Strategy Services Help Brands Get Back to Business 

After a year of isolation, social media became an essential source of communication, not just for personal connection but professional services too. For many businesses though, built on interpersonal relationships and an old-school brick n mortar model, the wild wild west of social media can be a daunting feat. For Birk Creative CEO JinJa Birkenbeuel, she frames the hesitation as a missed opportunity for revenue and retention and is committed to help business owners strategize their social success. “Small business owners often have difficulty being the face of their brand. They’re so busy in the business that they don’t look up. But the most successful businesses are led by confident people who want to share what they know and can find the path to a personal conversation with their customers.” Your social media strategy is a blueprint for your business’s social channels, answering what, when, why and how your content lives. At Birk Creative, a social media strategy goes far deeper than hashtags and likes, it’s a detailed multi-channel plan that ensures every social-facing appearance of your business remains on brand and aligned with your brand DNA. It’s a blend of ideas, purpose and pathways to grow your business, expand your reach and achieve your goals. It can be a challenging road though,  but Birk Creative strives to guide small businesses through scaling their social media, offering:

Social Media/Ad strategy

Social Media Marketing

Custom Content Creation

Visual Identity

Branding

Social Media Planning

Digital Campaigns

Digital Mindset Training

Copywriting

Our passion for Small Business Social Strategy is so anchored in our values that Google tapped Birk Creative to be a collaborating architect of its Accelerate with Google Platform in 2015. Due to the positive impact of the program on small historically underserved businesses across the US, the program was acquired in 2017 by Grow With Google to become the Grow With Google Digital Coaches program. Through this expansive partnership, we helped build a national network of industry leaders to provide digital skills training and coaching to help Black and Latinx small businesses reach new customers, thrive online, and grow. As the internet’s go-to service destination and owner of YouTube and key performance analytics, the more Google savvy a business is, the stronger it’s social media reach will be. Through the GDC initiative, JinJa acts as the Chicago Coach offering digital skills workshops, hands-on coaching on various topics like social media strategy,  and more, creating space for like-minded entrepreneurs and local businesses to glean, gather and grow.    

When Birk Creative was tapped by the CPASS Foundation tapped Birk Creative as its foundational branding partner, we helped the educational organization expand its digital footprint and visibility by developing a web interface, digital platform and extensive social media channels from scratch. CPASS provides underrepresented students access and advocacy to professional industry mentors, and other STEM-related resources to thrive. And as a youth-centric organization, social media is an essential tool for engaging its digitally-motivated audience and potential investors. To raise visibility for such an impactful youth-centric program, we needed to develop goals-driven content that was as inspiring as it was informative. Our strategy started with designing CPASS’s branding and visual identity, from which we designed social media assets for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Expanding CPASS’s mission across a multi-channel strategy, we developed an IG Live series of “STEM Stories” interviewing STEM influencers to inspire the STEM leaders of tomorrow, a Facebook channel and support group for STEM parents, and a robust Youtube Channel with industry leader messaging. The CPASS Foundation now has a vibrant platform and user-friendly resources for the marginalized STEM leaders of tomorrow. CPASS was acquired by Rush Mini Med School, and continues to generate significant engagement through social media, radio and the press. 

Proving the power of social media, Birk Creative’s impact-driven strategy proved indispensable in our partnership with Advocate Healthcare. As the State of Illinois’s largest healthcare provider, Advocate hired Birk Creative to build social media visibility for their COVID public awareness campaign, targeting underserved communities to instill trust in the healthcare system and provide support in unprecedented times. Meeting the cultural complexities of our audience required a strong social media strategy, we had to create confidence through common ground. Expanding our  slogan: “We Got You,” or “Estamos Contigo,” in Spanish, with this snackable, shareable messaging we closed the communication gap with a universally translatable visual language for people across multiple social/digital channels. This campaign was a testament to our adaptive strategy capabilities, constantly pivoting in real time: from early COVID myths and contagion questions; to a Mask Up campaign; and a large-scale vaccination adoption campaign transforming to “Go get yours.” Beyond the project’s social media success, this rewarding partnership helped in saving lives as Illinois residents hit 70% full vaccination as of June 30.  

From strategy and copywriting to planning and social collateral, we envision a client’s social media through a comprehensive and collaborative approach to best reflect the essence of the company’s values. Contact JinJa Birkenbeuel at hello@birkcreative.com when you need a full-service creative agency to design your social media strategy. 

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JinJa Birkenbeuel is a writer, podcaster, creative, brand strategist, professional speaker and entrepreneur. Featured in Fast Company, and again in Fast Company as well as Forbes, she is the CEO of Birk Creative and digital coach and trainer for thought leaders, entrepreneurs and small business owners. She loves sharing what she knows with non-celebrity business owners and leaders who are killing it in the marketplace by engaging in vibrant conversations on her podcast platform The Honest Field Guide(tm). Listen in on your favorite podcast platform like Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

About Birk Creative

Birk Creative works with businesses as a plug-and-play brand strategy team or as a complement to existing creative and marketing capabilities. We deliver wraparound services across all advertising and marketing activities: Visual identity, branding, brand messaging, custom content creation, podcast/video/radio production, social media marketing, employee thought leadership training and development, and digital advertising.

Our in-house team and remote network include brand strategists, copywriters, social media marketers, podcast producers, book and publication publishers, graphic designers and web developers, illustrators, media buyers and a 10-person remote team.

We are a Grow With Google Certified Partner and are Google Ads Certified.

Subscribe to our podcast, The Honest Field Guide https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-honest-field-guide/id1406059045