Savannah Wolfe Coaching Stories

My First Storytelling with Purpose Mastermind

Thu, 30 May 2024 05:00:15 GMT

Wow, what an incredible few months it's been!

I’m so grateful to share that I hosted my first-ever Storytelling with Purpose Mastermind, a workshop series that spanned five weeks and brought together a fantastic group of women. I designed this Mastermind to support women entrepreneurs in clarifying their value, building confidence in their messaging, and authentically sharing their stories in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Under Savannah's guidance, I witnessed each member of the Mastermind blossom into more confident storytellers and be set on a path to even deeper truth and connection with their businesses - myself very much included!" - Nikki, Deeva Music & Deeva Academy

The Structure

In Week 1, we dove into the foundations of each attendee's brand, focusing on purpose, vision, and mission. Participants learned that these foundational statements are more than words on a website or Instagram profile; they guide our personal and business evolution. I taught my signature foundations method so the women could take themselves through this exercise again and again whenever they were craving clarity. Then, we paired up for guided feedback sessions using "I" statements and guided, open-ended questions.

Week 2 was all about brand origin stories. I taught the 3 types of stories—the Aha Moment, Client Hero, and the Dip story—to build authentic trust and credibility with their ideal audiences. This week was so powerful! Sharing our stories made everyone feel seen, validated, and deeply connected.

In Week 3 , we discussed the importance of having an Elevator Pitch ready for networking, meeting new people, or sharing on social media. Each participant crafted a pitch that conveyed how they uniquely serve their ideal clients. By the end of the session, everyone had a concise, impactful pitch that aligned their value to their dream clients’ desires.

Savannah's guidance in helping me craft "my story" was amazing! I've never experienced someone with the ability to read between the lines so well. She is so keenly attuned to extracting exactly what we wanted to convey but couldn't articulate. - Michelle, Z & Me Photography

Week 4 was about vocal empowerment, and we had a special guest, Nikki Dee, teach us about breath control, articulation, and vocal warmups to build our confidence. We did practical exercises that were both fun and empowering. Everyone left feeling more confident in their speaking abilities—including me!—with so many insights into the mechanics and fundamentals of the voice.

For our final session in Week 5 , we shared what we'd written, discussed how to share our stories moving forward, and brainstormed any remaining stuck points. We enjoyed fresh raspberries and charcuterie while celebrating our achievements. Session 5 was joyful and full of reflection, sharing, and planning for the future.

Hosting the Storytelling with Purpose Mastermind series was an unforgettable experience. It showed me the transformative power of intentional storytelling in a supportive community. Through our weekly sessions, we didn’t just improve our writing skills; we built lasting connections and gained confidence in our unique voices. I’m so grateful for this journey and excited to see where these incredible women go from here.

Ready to join?

If you’re ready to speak your truth in a magical container designed to empower women, subscribe to my newsletter to get on the waitlist once I announce the next one.

XOXO, Sav

Walking the Talk & Sharing My Story with Strangers

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 00:04:41 GMT

Last, last Thursday, I made my way up the Dave & Buster escalator into a large dining room full of fellow entrepreneurs and business owners, none of whom I knew. All of us were here to learn more about Storytelling for Salespeople. I had no idea what to expect—I’d seen ‘Storytelling’ in the Eventbrite description, clicked ‘Tickets,’ and continued with my day the previous week—but I was all in for whatever the event entailed. I stepped in, grabbed my name tag, and sat down, looking to the front of the room where a large screen displayed a photo of the evening’s speaker: Bryan Heathman , founder of Made For Success Publishing , who would share the power of book marketing with us. I was thrilled.

The event began with a short introduction, followed by a call to serve ourselves from the banquet tables in the back of the room. Once we’d all resettled with plates full of oven-baked chicken parmigiana and crisp salad, Bryan began his presentation.

His passion is helping entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life successfully publish and market their stories. I loved Brian’s acknowledgment that most of us wouldn’t remember the statistics he shared nearly as much as we would remember his stories. He wasn’t wrong; while the presentation was fascinating, one story stood out most for me. Bryan’s story began with an elderly man at a Mercedes dealership who’d written a tome of a book that was, sadly, unsaleable in today’s market. This isn’t my story to share, so I won’t go into the details, but Bryan displayed his passion through this story, conveying the pain points he solved through emotion rather than numbers on a graph.

In the Hero’s journey of Bryan’s business, this pivotal moment marked Bryan’s reckoning with his purpose—to ensure that people’s stories and legacies are shared successfully with the world at large—and helped us get it instantly.

Then Bryan opened it up to the audience, asking, “Who would like to share their story?”

Several people shared ahead of me, and while I was listening, I internally spun around in my head, at odds with what I felt compelled to do (raise my hand), what I did not want to do (raise my hand), and what felt safe to do (stay quiet and seated), entangled as I was with my inner dialogue.

Just go for it! No one will judge you. What’s the worst that can happen? Exactly. No one knows who I am! NO, it’s SO weird to stand up and share.

I subtly shook the nerves out through my hands as if my anxiety could be cast out physically. I took some deep breaths, and then I remembered:

I’m over here telling people to share their stories with confidence, and I’m creating a global community of empowered storytellers who reach the people they are meant to inspire ... I literally have no other choice except to stand up right now.

By then, they’d moved on to Q&A, but I wouldn’t let that stop me.

I raised my hand and asked, “Actually, could I share my story?”

Bryan walked the mic over to me, and I stood up slowly—aware that this was the first time I’d worn heels in many weeks—to speak. I mentioned Bryan’s story and how much it resonated with me, talked about my work in guiding entrepreneurs to their stories, and launched into a story that’s stuck with me for several years.

The story was about one of my first Brand Storytelling Guide clients. My pitch smoothed, and my tempo slowed as I described her incredible mission, kicking back up as I remembered the nervousness of sharing what I’d written with her. I paused when I arrived at the moment it all came together as I looked up at her Zoom screen to see tears welling in her eyes as she found herself in the words I’d written.

My story was far from perfect. It lacked many of the creative flourishes I’d written back in November 2023 when I’d first drafted it. There was a rushed quality to my words because I was balancing remembering with staying present, but I’d stood up and stretched past my comfort zone. I returned the mic to Bryan, who kindly complimented my cadence, and sat down to listen to the Q&A session.

It struck me as I sat down that I’d finally walked the walk as a Brand Strategy and Storytelling coach. I’d done the thing I serve my clients in—standing up with authenticity and courage to share ourselves through a story—and it felt wonderful. Speaking up and showing up fully are two of the most challenging things we do as human beings, but as my idol Brené Brown writes,

“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” Daring Greatly

It would have been so easy for me to stay seated that night. My entire body wanted to stay put, but my mission pulled me through. My conviction that telling our stories matters made me decide to do the right hard thing for myself and my business.

Because what kind of storyteller would I be if I wasn’t willing to share my own?

There are so many ways to share your stories, and in this digitally mediated era, most of us only think about storytelling through social media, landing pages, websites, and ads. But as Bryan, TED Talks, and public speakers around the world show, telling your stories live, in person, is one of the most powerful decisions you can make.

Regardless of the industry you’re in, telling your story is a courageous choice to show up fully, lead bravely, and do the right kind of hard thing.

So the next time you get the chance, stand up, raise your hand, and say,

"I'd like to share my story."

Finding your Motivation as a Purpose-Driven Entrepreneur

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 01:25:03 GMT

I am an avid believer in the power of focus. As I’ve listened to speakers from Jim Rohn and Brené Brown to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Glennon Doyle, and Tony Robbins (just to name a few), two—there are many, but we’ll focus on two today—through lines have stood out most. Those throughlines are motivation and vision.

The two great throughlines.

Jim Rohn talks about how goals magnetize; Brené Brown speaks on how each of her achievements happened on the other side of fear. Arnold Schwarzenegger held a powerful daily vision for each new phase of his life’s accomplishments (from bodybuilding as a young boy in rural Austria to becoming Mr. Universe). Glennon held the vision of her untamed self to guide her through healing. Tony Robbins changed his entire world by committing to attending a Jim Rohn seminar because he was so captivated by the motivation to change his life.

Vision is the North Star of our lives. It can be personal, professional, spiritual, or some combination of all three. It can evolve. Vision is the grand idea of a life you want and a world you’re creating. Your vision must transcend the material—it’s not the car you want to drive or the money you want to make—because it’s not big enough if it doesn't.

Motivation drives you toward vision, guiding you to take the next right step and do the next challenging thing.

Vision asks, “What are you ready to create?”

Pull motivation asks, “What are you willing to do to create it?”

Push versus Pull Motivation

I attended Tony Robbins’ annual Time To Rise Summit this year and heard his live Q&A with a fellow attendee. The man was an entrepreneur who’d created success through push motivation. But through his personal journey of self-discovery, the man recognized that most of his success was fueled by guilt and shame. These two push motivators had kept him striving not out of joy but out of anxiety and a deep-seated need to “measure up.” He’d done the inspiring and courageous work of healing his shame and guilt, but it left him wondering, “What now?” His motivation was gone, and his desire to create had dwindled.

Tony responded with the two types of motivation we all experience but that I had NEVER heard of before.

Push motivation and Pull motivation.

Push motivators are the feelings and beliefs that push you toward your goals. They are rooted in fear, anger, shame, guilt, and martyrdom, to name a few. It is motivation based on lack and scarcity.

Some examples:

You’re pushed to write 100s of cold emails because you’re afraid your business will fail if you don’t.
You’re pushed to show up endlessly on social media because you feel anxiety about keeping up with the online world.
You’re pushed to say yes to a project at a lower price point because you feel unworthy of waiting for one that pays you what you’re worth.

(Sound familiar?)

There is nothing inherently wrong with push motivation. It gets us to change and try new things. But these things driving us with no clear direction—head down and nose to the grindstone—have an expiration date. Being driven by something behind you is called being chased. Being chased is called fight or flight. Our bodies and minds are not designed to be in fight or flight 24/7.

When they are, it is called burnout.

Finding Your Pull Motivation

So, what is pull motivation? Pull motivators are the things that light you up so powerfully that you can’t help but go for them. Being pulled is being inspired, connected, engaged, and attuned. It doesn’t mean things don’t get difficult or uncomfortable; they are the correct kinds of difficult.

Push motivation says, “You must.”

Pull motivation says, “You’re ready to.”

Creating your pull motivation starts with defining a vision. It begins with taking the time to slow down, sit back, and assess what all of this is for .

Who you are in relation to your vision is called purpose.

How you’ll bring your vision to life is called mission.

Simple as that.

When you’ve got a crystal-clear vision, the pull motivation springs forth. You discover who you need to become not because you are lacking but because you are prepared to grow . And then you follow your mission(s) to close the gap.

The 'gap' is the distance between who you are now and who you’re ready to become.

Vision asks, “What are you ready to create?”

Pull motivation asks, “What are you willing to do to create it?”

Who are you ready to become? What two things can you do this week to start closing the gap? Hint: they aren’t cold calling, social media, or redoing your website for the 17th time.

Here are mine:

Writing a long-form article like this instead of pushing myself to post the latest trendy topic.
Heading to a storytelling event tomorrow.

Whether you make it happen through sheer willpower and brute force — or creativity and passion — is up to you. If you’re ready for the latter, though, email me at sayhi@beachbumcreativehi.com with two things you’ll do today that are guided by pull motivation instead of pull motivation.

We can also schedule a 60-minute, no-obligation consultation to find out. Either way, I’m celebrating who you're ready to become.

5 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Copywriter

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 21:59:58 GMT

Are you ready to hire a copywriter to grow your business? If you’re constantly churning out new content, what other areas of your business are you not putting energy toward? If writing just “isn’t your thing,” but you’re pushing yourself to write copy all the time, is it worth it to write your own copy?

On the other hand, hiring a copywriter is an investment. It’s an excellent investment into your business, but is it the top priority? Are there other areas of your business where that budget needs to go first? Are you ready to offload your copy to a copywriter in a practical way? In this blog post, I’ll outline 5 things to consider so you can decide whether you’re ready to hire a copywriter for your business.

What to Consider Before Hiring a Copywriter

Keep in mind that these are just general considerations. This list is a reference to help you make effective choices as you grow your business, not a set of hard and fast rules.

1. Where are you at in your business?

If you’re just starting with your business, it’s probably not the right time to hire a copywriter. To use a copywriter effectively, you need a clear sense of your Brand, Brand purpose, Brand vision, mission, etc. While some copywriters are Brand Storytellers and Brand Strategists (like me!), they cannot create effective deliverables without a clear picture of your Brand. That’s why, before I work with any business owners on copywriting projects, I do a Brand fundamentals session to ensure we are clear on the message.

If you’re just starting and don’t have a foundational sense of your Brand, you and your copywriter will go in circles trying to craft marketing content! When you’re just starting a business and lack a clear vision to give your copywriter, hiring a Brand Storyteller is a more effective use of your budget.

However, if you’ve gotten clear on your business mission, values, and offerings, it’s a perfect time to hire a copywriter to take over your content production.

2. Are you enjoying writing copy for your business?

Does crafting a killer Instagram caption light you up or make you sweaty? Does writing website copy make you feel excited or downright irritated? If you’re loving writing copy for your business, that’s amazing, and don’t worry about finding a copywriter just yet.

On the other hand, if writing copy drains your energy and takes you hours upon hours, it’s time to hire a copywriter. As small business owners, we wear many hats. Choosing which hats to keep wearing (and knowing which ones you seriously need to take off) will give you more bandwidth to focus on what you love.

3. Do you have the budget to hire a copywriter?

While copywriting isn’t necessarily a massive expense like renting a studio, buying equipment, or hiring an employee, well-done copywriting is an investment. You don’t want to jump around from copywriter to copywriter, re-explaining your Brand and getting them in alignment. Ensure you have budget to hire a copywriter who you can work with closely to offload your content. Hiring a copywriter for one-off projects can be effective, but wouldn’t you rather invest in one copywriter who can refine your content on an ongoing basis? Be prepared to invest in copywriting for your business to thrive.

4. What specific content do you need?

When hiring a copywriter, get clear on what content you need. Specific assignments help you determine which copywriter is a good fit. While many copywriters write a variety of content—

from blog posts to website copy to social media captions—having a clear idea of what content you need will enable your copywriter to provide accurate estimates and turnaround times and help you stay on track with your content goals. If you’re unsure what content you need, you might need to work on creating a content strategy first. A copywriter can also help you create a content strategy !

5. Is your messaging clear and consistent across platforms?

If your messaging and marketing are starting to look like a haphazard mix of ideas and strategies and juggling all the content you’re pushing is becoming a chore, then it’s time to hire a copywriter. Whether your target audience interacts with your Brand on social, in a newsletter, or on your website, they need to recognize YOU and your Brand. Chaotic messaging is confusing messaging, and your audience doesn’t want to feel confused. A copywriter will manage your messages across platforms to create cohesion and consistency that doesn’t just educate your audience but attracts and compels them to work with you!

Can you Beach Bum Creative me decide?

Absolutely! Book a complimentary 30-minute consult with me so we can assess all of the above and more together, and decide the best next steps for you and your growing business.

My Key Components of Brand Storytelling Workshop!

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 01:21:33 GMT

Last month, I had the pleasure of hosting “Key Components of Brand Storytelling,” a workshop all about the core components necessary to craft a Brand Story for your business. Hosted by the Oak + Pine Society , this workshop was an absolute blast! So, I decided that for this month, I'd write a quick blog post today all about what we discussed that day.

The Components of a Brand Story

I’m all about diving right in when it comes to writing because the only way we can explore our Brand Identity is by doing just that—exploring—or everything will only stay in our heads and never get onto paper! Since writing is the best way to start writing , the workshop had SIX writing breaks. During each of them, attendees followed simple formulas I’d created to describe each component of their story.

Those 6 Components are:

Who—The Hero of your Brand Story (your clients).

What—The services or products you provide to help your Hero.

Where—The location of the Journey your Hero will embark on with you.

When—The time (mental, emotional, temporal, physical) that the Hero is ready to go on the Journey with you.

Why—The impetus—aka driving force—impelling your Hero to go on this Journey.

How—How your Hero can start the Journey.

What is the Hero's Journey?

I use the Journey to describe all the work you (the Brand Guide) and your client (the Brand Hero) will do together. Whether a one-time transaction or a 6-month project, all the time you spend with your Brand Hero is what makes up the Journey.

And this Journey is important because the Journey transforms your Hero. After all, a journey is difficult, right? Most of us wouldn’t go on a 3-hour hike unless we knew we would get to a beautiful view. We wouldn’t spend hours on something unless we were certain we would get something from it.

That’s where the transformation comes in.

What is the Transformation?

The transformation is the core of your Brand Story because it conveys to your Hero how important your Brand is for them to reach their goals. Every time I think about Transformation, I break it down into four questions:

What will my Hero learn?

What will my Hero do?

What will my Hero feel?

What will my Hero gain?

For example, right on my website, I write, “create authentic content,” because that is something me and my Hero will do together. In another paragraph, I write, “give business owners more time for themselves, their dreams, and their time at the beach,” to describe one of the many things my Hero will gain from working with me.

Think about what you offer, whether it’s gorgeous jewelry, business coaching, or something else, and answer those 4 questions this way:

After working with me on (your service), my Hero will learn ____ and do ____. My hero will feel ____ and gain ____. Break down the transformation into parts, so you can clearly and consistently convey the Transformation to your Ideal Client.

How can I create my Brand Story?

You can create your Brand Story by sitting down and freewriting about:

Who your Hero is: what do they care about, what do they want and need, and how are they feeling?

What do your services offer them: what does your Brand offer to someone materially, emotionally, or physically?

Where do your services occur: Online? In-person? Via your website?

When your Hero is ready: What events have happened that make your Hero ready to work with you? Did they just start a business or get burnt out at their job?

Why should your Hero go on this Journey: what will they learn, do, feel, and gain from working with you? Why does it matter? How will it make their lives better?

How can your Hero start: How do they start working with you? Is it a phone call or a DM on Instagram? List all the ways your Hero can start working with you and make sure to include at least one in every piece of your marketing.

Or , you can contact me for a complimentary Discovery chat , so we can discuss how to bring your Brand Story to life!

My Five Favorite Tools for Running Beach Bum Creative

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 01:41:06 GMT

A Google search for "social media tool" or "website builder" will yield so many results that it can feel like choosing a new show on Netflix—you’ll spend hours scrolling but eventually get overwhelmed and just go to bed. This post is for you!

I’ve spent hours learning, implementing, and troubleshooting various software, online tools, dashboards, CRM, and web design-building platforms. I’ve explored the pros and cons of each, and here are my top five FAVES to help you spend less time troubleshooting tools and more time doing what you love—running your incredible business!

Mural for Copywriting & Brand Development

Mural is a super flexible, customizable online “whiteboard” that elevates my deliverables and streamlines my creative process. I learned about Mural from a fantastic client who uses this platform for large-scale projects and interactive online meetings. While I’m not hosting large-scale meetings, I use my custom-designed templates in MURAL for all my website design, brand storytelling, and social media management projects.

In the beginning, designing, honing, and finalizing my custom templates took quite a bit of time, especially as I learned more about the specific questions I needed to ask my client to generate the best results.

Now that I’ve developed my templates, my onboarding, design, and brainstorming processes are fast, efficient, and visually dynamic. I design website architectures in Mural so I can make sure my clients’ vision and mine are aligned for their websites; I write Brand Stories into Mural with added visuals, graphics, and brand colors to highlight how the story connects to the brand; I design custom social media calendars color-coded based on post type to make content planning a breeze.

Which Industries is Mural Best-Suited for?

Website Design : website architectures and scoping builds
Graphic Design: design concepts and brand strategy
Copywriting: create a visually stunning brand story that comes to life
Social Media: content creation, planning, and ideating
Coaching: visioning, strategy, and templating sessions

Duda for Usability, Page Load Speed, and eCommerce Functionality

I’ve worked with many website design platforms: WordPress, Weebly, Wix, Squarespace, Showit, and GoDaddy, and Duda is by far my favorite for its ease-of-use customizability, eCommerce, and SEO functionality. I started working exclusively with Duda in 2021 because backend is highly navigable and straightforward, with minimal click-paths (I’m looking at you, WordPress) to find what you need. You can give clients super customizable levels of access, and their preview links display sites on all 3 major devices (desktop, tablet, and mobile) to give clients a fuller picture of how their site will look.

Page Load Speed with Duda

What truly sets Duda apart is the site speed and performance. Duda sites load significantly faster than any other builder I’ve worked with. Since page load speed is one of the top factors influencing bounce rate (how quickly a visitor leaves your site), and the modern market expects sites to load almost instantaneously, their superior load speed is a significant competitive advantage.

eCommerce Functionality with Duda

I love the store's backend with Duda, which allows you to connect to PayPal, Shopify, Square, and all the payment methods a modern business requires. Their eCommerce platform is so flexible and functional that you can create, sell, and manage your online course directly through Duda instead of using a separate platform such as Kajabi or Teachable.

Which Industries is Duda Best Suited for?

Website Design
Online stores (product or service based)
Any industry looking for an edge on Google Ranking

Honeybook for Contracts and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Honeybook is an easy-to-use CRM without all the bells and whistles of some other CRM platforms, which is perfect for me as a small business owner. The fancier CRM systems like Asana, Trello, and PipeDrive are excellent for a team, but I found they offered too much for solopreneurs like myself.

Honeybook allows you to upload contracts, send them to clients to e-sign, helps you keep track of projects in your pipeline, and offers calendar integration with Google Calendar and Zoom, so all your meetings are simple to track. My motto for tools is that less is more, and Honeybook offers the perfect amount of support at a significantly more affordable rate than other CRMs.

Which Industries is Honeybook Best Suited for?

Professional Services
Coaching or services industries
Any industry where you’ll have an ongoing or project-based relationship with your client

Canva for Brand Collateral Design and Social Media

Canva is quickly taking the lead in digital and graphic design. I love Canva for its flexibility, massive database of beautiful stock images, videos, and incredible graphics. Canva is perfect for DIY designing your brand aesthetic if you’re starting your business and collateral for Social Media, online marketing, and website visuals.

Which Industries is Canva Best Suited for?

DIY Marketing for your business
Graphic Designers
Website Designers
Brand Designers
Social Media Managers

Sked Social for Social Media Management and Social Media Strategy

Having a Social Media strategy is a great start, but implementing a Social Media strategy can take up precious time and hours. There are hundreds of Social Media Management systems, all of which have fantastic benefits and offerings. But my favorite (for the price point and customer service) is Sked Social. They’re an Australia-based company with a fun, user-friendly dashboard I use to manage all my social media projects.

They send out emails to check on their clients, consistently add new tools to their suite, and their pricing is highly competitive. Suppose you want to manage your social media platforms and set up auto-posting or manage social media accounts for many clients. In that case, Sked offers simplicity, efficiency, and superb customer support.

Which Industries is Canva Best Suited for?

DIY Marketing for any industry
Graphic Designers
Website Designers
Brand Designers
Social Media Managers

Choosing the Right Tools to Grow Your Business

Do you LOVE a tool that didn’t make the list, or have you tried any of these tools and found them less fabulous than I described? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Stop Forcing Yourself to Use Social Media for Your Business

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 23:24:52 GMT

As someone who offers social media management and content marketing for social media and has gotten paid to run social media for clients, I am telling you right now that you need to stop forcing yourself to use social media. ��

My Experiences with Social Media

I was off Instagram for almost 5 years, from age 18 to 22, because I did not enjoy the scroll. Then, upon graduating college, I had the idea for Beach Bum Poet, which I decided was a solid enough reason to break my exodus from the app. I started my blog and posted about my writing on Instagram with the idea that I’d help my writing grow. It didn’t get me too far, but I liked it well enough to stick around (I was, and am, 95% motivated by cute animal content to keep going back on my personal IG account). I started Beach Bum Creative in 2022, and a brand-new business Instagram account came with that.

Then, upon starting Beach Bum Creative in January 2022, I was committed to growing my business, which led me to jump on the Reels train. But I started seeing I was forcing myself to put out a higher volume of content than I felt comfortable with, negatively affecting my mindset, workflow, and quality. Spending several hours each week or month producing reels content was not only time-consuming but draining. Which made me wonder, “What got me started making reels in the first place?”

Getting Real about Reels

There were a few reasons, some helpful and some less so. Anxiety was the first impetus behind reels. I was nervous that if I didn’t “keep up,” something bad might happen (who knows what). Once I started playing around with reels, my motivation came from joy… reels are kind of fun to make if you let yourself play around with them. Once I got that initial buzz of serotonin from seeing my posts do well, I began to get consumed by my numbers and metrics.

I’d check my stats all day after posting a new reel, wondering why one performed better than the other and questioning if it was any good in the first place. Instagram started giving me that old, strange feeling unique to our digital time, a feeling which had led me to get off the app in the first place: that peculiar blend of supreme boredom and hyper-stimulation.

Giving Myself Permission to Take a Break

My fiancé and I had two back-to-back trips coming up, and my original plan had been to record a bunch of drafts before we flew out and post them at regular intervals throughout my trip. And I recorded them, but when it came time to post and write a caption, I simply could not press “Post.” While fun and trendy, the reels I’d made didn’t excite me to share. There wasn’t anything about them I genuinely loved. Posting had become a chore rather than an opportunity.

And that is when I realized that “quitting” Instagram might be the best thing for myself and my business because forcing myself to use the platform was, I saw now, degrading my content and my joy around it. Your copy is what matters most when you’re a copywriter, and the fact that I had no passion or interest in writing captions for my post told me it was time to re-set and re-evaluate just precisely what Instagram was doing to and for me.

This got me thinking more about goals, creativity, sharing and promoting my business. Here’s what I came up with.

Why am I posting to social media?

I was posting because I thought, “This is what successful businesses do, and I want to be successful!” Then I realized there are all types of successful businesses out there and that confining my definition of success to metrics on a platform wasn’t serving me. It was just driving me crazy as I tried to figure out what would do well and what wouldn’t. I was getting so bogged down and discouraged with the performance of my posts.

You may not be like me in that way, but I’ve heard from several of my clients how challenging social media can be for them for various reasons. Asking yourself, at the core, why you’re posting to social media can help you discern whether it’s genuinely helping or simply hindering you.

For whom am I posting?

When I thought about this, I could clearly see that my social media is for fellow business owners. I wanted to provide high-value, informative content that speaks to my business and skill set. This helped me stop focusing so much on my metrics and look more closely at the type of information I was putting out. It honed my focus so I knew I could measure value based on my audience and business rather than numbers on a graph.

What is my long-term goal with social media?

Asking myself this question made me realize that I didn’t know my long-term goal. It showed me that part of the reason I was feeling so discouraged about posting was that I didn’t know what my overall plan was. It pushed me to re-focus and re-evaluate why my social media accounts exist. Because social media, when it has a goal and a strategy behind it, becomes a tool and opportunity. Without a goal or strategy, social media can become just another item on the long list of to-dos all of us small business owners are so familiar with.

How can I make social media serve me?

This is the biggest question I had to look at for myself and my business. How do I reposition social media as the tool it could be, rather than the drag and drain it had begun to feel like?

What I came up with was totally simple but definitely helped me :

Spend less time on my reels
Get off the app unless it’s to post
Unfollow high-profile creator accounts

Spend Less Time on Reels

Creating reels can be a fun, creative process that lets you get playful, dramatic, and silly for your audience. Reels are supposed to be REAL, not perfect. I'm not saying put out low-grade content, but allow yourself to create without rules or excessive editing. Set it and forget it! I decided to spend less time on my reels because I was outputting much more than I was getting back. The more time I spent on reels, the more discouraged I felt when they flopped.

As I spent less time obsessing over reels creation, I understood it wasn't the reels creation process which drained me most, but the entire experience of the app itself.

Get Off the App Unless it's To Post

In all honesty, I just downloaded Candy Crush and started playing that every time the urge to check my stats came up. Or I'd read, journal, stare out the window... do some yoga, anything except going back to scrolling. Because I wasn’t just overwhelmed by my Instagram account, but everyone's.

Unfollow High-Profile Creator Accounts

My feed was filled with tips, tricks, and recommendations. Do this, add a CTA, “10 Ways to Go Viral”, “How to make money with Instagram” … I was hyper-stimulated and totally bored with the same messages prompting me to do more, more, more on a platform that seemed to be serving me less, less, less. These creators were putting out excellent content, which helped me initially, but now I was inundated with information and overloaded with tips and ideas.

It reminded me of when I’d go surfing, and this coach I was friends with would hit me with five different tips at once: move your foot back, arms like this, paddle this way, do this thing. The information was valuable, but it was too much all at once. I’d try to balance so many different things in my head that it took me entirely out of the moment, making me surf worse than I had before.

Use Social Media How You Want To

After asking myself these questions, I realized the obvious, only rule I needed for social media: I can do whatever I want!

There are many ideas on rules, ways, and strategies for positing and performing well on social media. But at the end of the day, we don’t have to follow a single one of those “rules” if it’s not serving us. We started our businesses because we love what we do, and we love to share it with the world. Social media is a tool to help us share, not a prescription for success or a requirement for success.

So the next time you find yourself forcing yourself to post, ask yourself again:

Why am I posting this?
For whom am I posting?
What’s my long-term goal?
How can I make this more enjoyable?

Ask yourself these questions (Or don’t, because you can do whatever the heck you want!), because the answers you uncover may surprise you. ��

Copywriting and Hope-Centered Marketing

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 17:47:23 GMT

Copywriting & Brand Storytelling Focused on Hope

A few weeks ago, I went to a writing workshop hosted by the amazing Oak + Pine Society . It’s a fantastic networking group created by a female business owner, for female business owners. Highly recommend you check it out if you’re a female entrepreneur in Hawaii!

Writing Copy with Fellow Female Business Owners

So, this particular writing workshop was centered around dedicating time to some piece of writing you wanted to work on, whether it was a blog post, social media, a book or masterclass… anything you wanted to work on! We started with a tapping circle to clear our minds and open the creative currents in our minds and hearts, and then we wrote. For about 1.5 hours. After that, we paired up with other attendees to discuss what we wrote about and how the process felt.

I paired up with another member I truly admire and love. She has this lovely calm demeanor and energy about her that my frenzied mind always gravitates toward. And we started chatting about her process—she was focusing on writing authentic website content aligned with her Brand and values—and how it felt writing for her target audience. One of the things she mentioned was how uncomfortable, inauthentic, and “salesy” it felt to write about pain points.

The Role of Fear-Based Marketing in Business

Which led us to start talking about what I have been calling hope-driven or hope-centered marketing. In hope-driven marketing, as you might guess, we put the focus of our content on what clients hope to achieve, create, feel, do, or be.

Fear-based marketing for business services might sound like,

“Are you doing everything you can to grow your business?”

“Are you worried you’ll never achieve your goals?”

“Does marketing overwhelm and stress you out?”

“You have to do (insert anything) to achieve.”

These tactics also rely on scarcity, pushing you to act now because it might not be there again. Fear-based marketing in products, like skincare and clothing, is one of the easiest to see. Products like these rely on the fear of not looking a certain way or not having the newest things.

Health Campaigns & Fear-Based Marketing

Fear is a powerful motivator. Think about the anti-smoking and anti-drug commercials you’ve seen. I still remember an anti-smoking commercial I saw at the movie theater when I was a kid. The advertisement showed all the different ways smoking promised a spectacular life, from cowboys to show girls. Images of a lavish lifestyle all swirled together and then receded, showing a man—gaunt, sitting in a wheelchair, with tubes attached to him—barely able to speak. You can watch it here: Anti-smoking ad on YouTube . Fear-based marketing, in many ways, can make a huge impact.

But fear-based marketing also makes us feel afraid (duh). It pushes us to do or not do something based on what are afraid of. I just rewatched the anti-smoking ad and got goosebumps, anxiety, and a twisting knot in my stomach. That works for what this company’s goals are—getting you to quit smoking—but it’s not the only way to market your business.

Being "Salesy" & Marketing's Bad Reputation

Being “salesy” is uncomfortable. By now, many of us recognize a sales pitch. It’s pushy, possibly aggressive, and doesn’t feel true to who we are and what we do. I tried to do sales for a few months and literally couldn’t, because I felt so uncomfortable.

Marketing gets a bad rep, too. Many people (me included) might still have a subconscious belief that marketing is all skeezy tactics and infomercials. But that’s just one type of marketing (and an outdated one at that)!

Hope & Positive Emotion-Driven Marketing

In the last few years, positive emotion-driven marketing has become what we all gravitate toward. Think about your social feeds—are they trying to sell you something based on fear or joy? Scarcity or abundance? Happiness or fear?

Uncovering the pain points of your audience is an important step to finding out how to share your Brand with them, but it’s not the endpoint. And you can still highlight your audience’s pain points without making it about fear. For example, my website copy and social media mention several pain points like:

· NOT having enough time

· NOT knowing what to write

· NOT having someone to support them

But rather than focus on how difficult those pain points are, I focus on what the flip side of those paint points could be, which is:

· Having MORE time

· KNOWING what to write

· HAVING someone to support them

And then my content becomes hopeful and excited, rather than dreary and anxiety provoking. I’m still addressing pain points, but through hope rather than fear.

Use Your Imagination to Reimagine Your Marketing

When I write Brand stories, website content, and social media content, I’m always thinking about where the reader will get with a Brand, rather than where they are. Your audience doesn’t need you to tell them they’re stressed, overworked, failing, or in need of more. Your audience wants you to show them a new possibility that they can’t quite put their finger on… but you can. We can. Because we know how valuable our services are, and we believe in them with all our hearts. When you tap into that abundance and joy that you feel in your business, you can share that with your audience too.

When I mentioned hope-based marketing, the attendee I was chatting with lit up. She smiled, thinking of all the ways she could talk about her business in relation to hope instead of pain. Because none of us wants to prey on fear. We don’t want to push our audience to feel like they have to do something. We want them to know that we are here for them and to help them achieve whatever they’re dreaming of. As you explore your imagination of possibility, it will guide you toward how to speak to your audience in a totally new way!

Exercise to Try: Re-write Your Pain Points Around Hope

Now that you’re in the hope-centered marketing focus, check out your ideal clients pain points. Write them down, and tune into what exact deficit that pain point centers on. Is it a lack of time, energy, or money? Is it a lack of confidence, gratitude, or closeness? Is it a feeling of inadequacy, shame, or anger? Pinpoint the emotion underneath the pain point.

Then, take those same emotions and flip them. List, item by item, what you do to make them feel connected, proud, grateful, or whatever the opposite is of the pain point. Read these new hopeful messages over: how does your body feel? Are you excited to share? Do you feel authentic? I can guarantee you will, because you’re sharing yourself from a place of hope, rather than fear. And that feels absolutely wonderful, doesn’t it?

My Favorite Work From Home Strategies as a Small Business Owner

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 21:41:51 GMT

There are tons of Work From Home Strategies Out there...

Working from home as a web designer and copywriter means I spend A LOT of time at my desk. It also means that I’ve had a fair amount of time to figure out what helps me work smarter versus what sets me up for a frustrating and exhausting day. So, as we head toward the second half of 2022 (like what?!), I wanted to share some of the strategies I’ve been using lately to help me stay grounded, grateful, and grinding (in a way that feels satisfying and balanced).

Most of these Strategies are ones you’ve likely heard before, but since it’s been many months of working from home, a little reminder never hurts, right?

My New Favorite… Take a REAL Lunch Break

I don’t know what psychological mechanism is working to make this happen, but taking “real” lunch break, where I turn off my computer and leave my desk, has been a game-changer.

When I first started working from home (back in 2020), I wouldn’t take a lunch break. Instead, I would just make myself some food and sit back down at my workspace. Sometimes I’d turn on a quick episode of a show, but most of the time I’d continue working on whatever tasks I had for the day.

Beat the Afternoon Slump with a Full Reset

Fast-forward to this year, and I make sure to move into a different space, giving myself a “real” lunch break. I was finding that when I stayed at my desk for lunch, I would end up scrolling on Insta, watching a show for several hours (instead of just one episode) and just overall feeling less motivated to get back to my work.

Now, when I turn off my computer, and actively give myself a full break, it’s easier and more exciting to come back to my desk and work on the rest of my tasks for the afternoon. The midday slump can come on as early as 11am for me some days, so giving myself a break to recharge and change my scenery has made a big difference in getting more work done in the afternoons!

Make a List of Non-Work Tasks & Let the Rest Go

On some days it feels like I can’t get anything done because I’m distracted by other tasks all day long. Dishes are dirty! Windowsills need dusting! The dog food bowls could use a good scrubbing… Laundry, sinks, sweeping… all of it can start to pile up and seem unending.

So, if there are non-work tasks I want to get to, I make a list of them for that day and do them, but I LET the REST goooo. Dishes aren’t on the list today? They can wait until tomorrow! Swiffering the floors on the list, but windowsills aren’t? Windowsills can wait a few more days.

I love having a clean and organized home, but I can get caught up in the minute details if I don’t watch out. Making a list and sticking to it helps me stay on track with my work.

Plan your “Big” Workdays

A few days of each month, (or week, depending on my workload) are “Big” workdays, where I don’t have anything scheduled. I know for a fact I will be in my office for a minimum of 8 hours straight (minus the lunch break), because I have a lot I want to accomplish. I love my “Big” workdays because I get to really jam on projects and find a nice rhythm. I don’t take Zooms, meetings, calls, or make plans on those days. I get myself nice and comfortable, and make sure to take water and eye breaks in between.

Not everyone works this way, but I’ve found it amazing for me. Rotating between several projects all day long without distractions or interruptions allows me to stay on top of my tasks and gives me some cushion for days when things are a bit more hectic with meetings, phone calls, and unexpected tasks.

Is Your Day Super Scheduled or Unscheduled?

I know lots of people don’t necessarily have the luxury of an unscheduled day like I do, but if you do, give it a try to see if you like it!

Plan on “Out of the House” Days

When I spend multiple days in a row working from home, I start to get a little… weird. My eyes feel funny, my brain spins around, and I become a bit of a zombie.

I love to plan days where I will actively and specifically work somewhere else besides my home. This was next to impossible for the first 2 years of the pandemic, but now that coffee shops and different stores are open, I like to plan days where I’ll get out of my home office and into a new environment. When I get back to my own desk the next day, I’m refreshed and more focused.

How Else do You Make WFH Work for You?

Let me know in the comments what other strategies you use to make the most of your work from home lifestyle!

Image Credit: Catwalkstudios

A Lesson for Surfers, Business Owners, and Everyone, Really!

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 18 May 2022 21:00:00 GMT

What do Surfing and Running a Business Have in Common?

One of the reasons I love surfing and running my own business is because they are two things that don’t always come easy. The best things in life often take the most time. Running a successful business and becoming a better surfer have both taken me hours and hours of dedication, but that’s also why I love both journeys so much.

If you’re anything like me, you love to challenge yourself and grow. But you also love to grow intentionally. You crave a challenge but thrive most when a challenge is meaningful to you. Each of us has special gifts and talents—certain things come naturally to each of us—that we can use. The skills we hone and craft though? That’s what takes us to the next level and gives us purpose.

Honing Our Skills

What’s beautiful about surfing in Hawaii is there are different waves all around the island. Waikiki is where you learn: small waves and longboards. Then there’s Ala Moana, Sandys, Makaha, Tongs, Chuns, Pipeline, Laniakea, Suicides, Makapuu…the list goes on and on! I have endless opportunities to hone my different skills in these different waves. I learn how to make a late drop at Sandys, and work on my carves at Chuns. I build my stamina paddling out to Laniakea and increase my wave count at spots like Makapuu.

And in your business, you have to explore A LOT to figure out what helps you most. I didn’t know much before starting my business... most of us don't! It’s a process of learning and exploring – new tools and ideas – to figure out how to help yourself grow. In your business and surfing, it's also about finding supportive people to guide you along the way.

Getting Honest and Getting Persistent

I’ll probably never surf Pipeline or paddle out at Sunset on a huge day, but I have 100% gotten comfortable in bigger and scarier waves over time compared to when I first started.

Surfing is a beautiful ongoing lesson for a lifelong perfectionist like me. It’s a lesson you’ve heard a million times already in different ways, but one of the hardest to keep top of mind when the going get rough:

The only person you should try to be better than is the one you were yesterday.

Breaking Down our Unreasonable Expectations

No one expects a beginner to paddle out at Pipe, yet we have these incredibly high expectations of ourselves in different areas of life. I still catch myself thinking I should be able to paddle out at Pipeline (one of my many weeds ) and I have to remind myself that the foundation of my surfing is strong. My foundation (my pop-up, paddling strength, breath hold) are consistently improving. I am better than I was yesterday.

When I first started my business, I was totally stuck in one definition of “entrepreneur” – fancy person in a fancy suit with a fancy sports car who made a bunch of money in some industry that was like a foreign language to me. All I thought was, “well I’m not that, so I must be failing”. When I surfed and saw a fellow surfer completely crushing it on a wave I would think, “well I’m not that, so I must be failing”.

But know what the person who catches a 50-foot wave, the person who catches a 2-foot wave, the person just starting a business, and the person whose been running a successful business for 10+ years all have in common?

They are better than the person they were yesterday.

Today is the Day! Start Right Now.

I can’t get back all the time I spent wishing I was someone else. That time is gone and done. But I can continue to focus on being better than I was yesterday. Everything else is just motivation. When we start a business, we have many preconceived notions about how it should look, how it should feel, what it should accomplish…what we should accomplish. We spend tons of time wishing things were different or better or more lucrative, but don’t spend much time taking inventory of all the amazing things we are doing better today than we did yesterday.

Beach Bum Creative is dedicated to reminding you of how far you’ve come while empowering you to continue to grow. Writing is history, memory, legacy, and story. Writing is the past, present, and an imagining of the future. Becoming fully connected to your own growth, achievements, and special skills is how you remember where you’ve been, protect where you are, and get really freaking excited about where you’re going. Beach Bum Creative helps you put it all into words so you never forget just how far you’ve come.

Update Content or Re-Design Your Site?

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 21:00:00 GMT

New Content or a New Website?

Your business and brand evolve over time. New colors, new logo, new strategies, new locations (if you’re brick and mortar), new items, new people…. Basically, lots of NEW is happening all the time!

What can sometimes happen with busy business owners is that they are making innovative changes to their business in tons of different ways, but their website hasn’t been touched since 2010. And, depending on the website builder you used, not touching that website for the last decade might mean it’s time for a complete redesign. Or it might mean you just need some fresh content that better represents your evolving brand.

Benefits of Updating your Site Content

Google loves to prioritize websites showing activity. Over time, even if your website has excellent SEO best practices and relevant content, those newer sites with consistently updated content will outrank you. Updating site content is like a little virtual flag waving at Google saying, “Hey! I’m still here, relevant, and ready to be found!”

Examples of Site Content Updates

There are tons of ways to update your website content. Here are a few of my favorites to get started with:

Updated Professional Biographies

You’re a growing business, and you might have added new team members. Adding in fresh bios about your team is a great way to highlight how your business is growing. As the founder or owner, you’ve also been busy too! I’ll write new biographies that are on-brand and consistent, so you and your team’s accomplishments are up to date.

Adding in Blog Posts

Adding a blog post page means we’re not directly editing anything in the existing website and gives you tons of flexibility to educate your audience. You’ve learned more and done more. Showcase it! Blog posts like FAQs, Listicles, Dos and Don’ts, and Case Studies are all excellent options for generating new content.

Updating your Homepage Content

Generally, your homepage is the page that receives the most clicks and website visitors. Add some new content about things like:

Additional services
New promotions
Updates about your business
New testimonials

More Plug-ins, More Problems

There’s no perfect website builder out there. Each one offers its own pros and cons. An easy rule-of-thumb to remember is that the more code and customizations, the more maintenance you’ll need over time. Beach Bum Creative specializes in simple, modern web design with minimal coding so you can maintain your website on your own!

You’ll likely need a redesign if your website was originally on WordPress and hasn’t been maintained for 1 year or more. You know how your phone is constantly prompting you to update different apps? WordPress websites rely heavily on additions called plug-ins. They’re like apps for your website. The more plug-ins your website has, the more often you’ll need to update. Eventually, some of those plug-ins will become outdated if they’re not maintained. That can lead to crashes, slow load times, negative SEO impact, and a poor user experience.

When to Redesign: It's Been a While

If you haven’t looked at the backend of your website in 6 months or more, you might need a website redesign… that’s how quickly some of these updates are happening!

When to Redesign: Brand Refresh

A redesign is pretty much a must if you're rebranding. My website used to be beachbumpoetllc . com. When I decided to change my business name and expand my offerings, I re-designed my entire website to better reflect my new offerings, aesthetic, and Brand. Making all those edits into my existing website would have actually taken more time and energy than simply starting fresh.

When to Redesign: Where's My Web Designer?

You might also consider a redesign if your original web designer has become inaccessible and making changes is no longer possible. Unfortunately, I’ve heard many such stories from my clients. That's why I offer the option of 2 hours of complimentary training once the website goes live. You've invested in a website and it's important you're able to maintain it on your own with confidence and ease.

Still Not Sure? Let’s Chat!

I started Beach Bum Creative to help businesses thrive and grow. I’ll never recommend a complete website re-design unless it’s absolutely necessary. There are lots of ways to make your site more relevant and SEO-friendly without a total overhaul.

If you’re not sure, book a free consult with me so we can come up with a plan that works best for you, your business, your brand, and budget.

What are Your "Weeds"?

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 20:00:00 GMT

Where do you Start?

When you are starting a business like I was over 2 years ago, it’s incredibly difficult knowing where to start. I looked out at this world of businesses and creatives, this acre of land and saw places to start all around me. Then I was so overwhelmed with the options that I would put it off until the next day. Starting your business is a lot like starting to pull weeds—you commit to a spot and just keep going—because if you don’t start it will never flourish the way you want.

Pulling the Weeds from Our Minds and Businesses

Once you start, it gets exhausting keeping up with the weeds. It seems like another one is popping up at every turn. When I started my business, it seemed like obstacle after obstacle kept popping up. Negative belief after negative belief would creep in and thrive on the sunlight of my self-defeating attitude. These weeds in my head and in the foundation of my business were scary; they were resilient and rooted deep.

But I kept going. I kept showing up in my business, just picking a place to start each time. Write a blog post, design a website, check out a networking meeting, write an Instagram post. I kept going with my mental health. Question a thought, journal my beliefs, dig underneath the self-doubt. And I kept going with the weeds. Pull one, and then another, one by one; get at them from the root and don’t give up.

I’ve been clearing out the weeds from the land, my business, and my mind for quite a while now. And in all of these “places” they have been tamed. Pop-up growth here and there (bitter melon blossoms and California grasses), obstacles there (pandemic, projects falling through), and spirals everywhere (self-doubt, fear, anxiety) persist, but I know what to do about them now.

Maintaining Healthy Growth

Because weeds, like challenges, and self-doubt, never completely disappear. The weeds will keep growing if I am not vigilant. And they will grow faster and stronger than any seeds I want to flourish. In my business, my spirit, and the land, I must stay conscious of these weeds. In fact, I have to stay grateful for them, because without them I wouldn’t be as tough as I am today.

If I stop being aware of the weeds, or pretend they don’t exist, they will come right back and take over. The weeds make me grateful for the flowers; they remind me how durable I can be, and they keep me on my toes.

Now, when negative thoughts pop up, difficulties in my business, and backslides in my mindset, I remember that this is part of maintaining my growth. The weeds don’t stop coming, but I manage and maintain them. I protect myself and the “land” of my spirit and business so I can continue to grow beautiful things, the things that are really worth growing.

What are Your Weeds?

Do you have thoughts about yourself and your business that keep you from growing? Are there routines or strategies you use to maintain the progress of your business and spirit? Share with me in the comments! I’d love to hear what you do to keep growing.

"Farming" & Growing a Business

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 20:00:10 GMT

Pulling the “Weeds” from Your Mindset

If you know me personally, you have heard me talk about working on the farmland my fiancé his parents own. I probably mentioned pulling sod and laying it in dirt to prevent soil erosion, spending hours pulling weeds, and laying down mulch to prevent said weeds from returning. This project has been about 3.5 years in the making, and I’ve been lucky enough to get to contribute to it in the last 2 years.

As I’ve put on my boots and gloves and headed out to do one of the many tasks that this land asks of us, thoughts about growing a business keep popping into my head. Metaphors and comparisons have been swirling around for a few months, and I thought it was a great time to share some thoughts, advice, and lessons from this time in my life.

To Start Anything, You Must Get Rid of the Weeds.

If you have read my personal blog Savvy Goes Surfing , you also know that mental health plays a very central role in my experience of life. Working through negative thought patterns, growing myself mentally, and becoming more mentally strong are common themes in my blog.

I love pulling weeds on the property, and for a while I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. After some weeks of pulling weeds (the winter rains had made weeds grow everywhere and for a while it was an uphill battle) it dawned on me why I enjoyed this (arguably annoying) process.

Seeing them removed, seeing the space I cleared, and getting the feeling of accomplishment each time gave me a sense of deep satisfaction. Completing a visual task with a measurable outcome bolstered my spirits and lifted my mood.

The Tenacity of Weeds

Weeds are a nuisance. They grow where they are not wanted and grow rapidly. If you don’t watch them, they spread faster and faster. This is what the property was at when we first started working on it; there were weeds everywhere and clearing them all out seemed impossible.

When I first started my journey towards a more balanced and healthier mind, everything in my head seemed insurmountable. Old thoughts and belief systems lived in every inch of my mind. They had spread speedily and surely through my psyche, taking over everything else I was trying to grow. The thing about weeds is that they are exceptionally good at growing and spectacularly resistant to death.

Before I knew about making piles of weeds, I would leave the pulled plants scattered around the land. A few weeks later, what I thought were dead plants had developed new roots. I had to become vigilant, persistent, and honest with myself about these weeds.

In the next post, we’re going to dive in deeper about what our weeds are and how to stay conscious of them so we can be proactive!

Let's Have an Amazing Conversation!

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 04:18:39 GMT

At some point, almost all of us have felt what it’s like to have a terrible conversation.

Whether we were bombarded with questions from the too-curious relative, or practically pulling teeth trying to get someone to talk with us, it’s no question in my mind that conversations take some skills.

What sets Beach Bum Creative apart is the conversations we will have and continue to have as we work together. I produce work that is written in your voice, your style, and with your passion fully infused into it.

I won’t just tell you; we will speak together.

What I love about a great conversation is that it is an exchange. It’s not a one-sided thing, where one person simply shares all their thoughts, ideas, and beliefs (that would be a speech)! A great conversation gives back to both people, and they walk away having learned more about each other and themselves, whether it's via Zoom, in-person, phone call, FaceTime, email, or text!

Our consultations are not about me telling you what we should be writing. Our consultations are about us creating together. Learning and sharing and uncovering how to talk about your awesome business in the best way we can. The authenticity of discussion, of learning from each other and seeing things in new points of view, is my favorite part of a great conversation. It’s also what creates authentic content that will resonate with your audience!

Beach Bum Creative is a content creation business that thrives on the connections we will build together. You are your business, and it’s my honor to get to share who you and your business are with the world. Because in a great conversation, we get to learn together. In a great conversation, we feel dynamic and thoughtful, and we get to build a relationship. It’s inherent to how I work and how I write to talk with people, instead of at people.

But what does that mean for you? It means that you will feel confident that the content I provide, whether it’s digital or print, website copy or email blasts, is genuine and faithful to who you are. It means you can focus on your business knowing that your message, vision, and voice are out there initiating conversations with your audience.

I don’t want to just hand over some words on a page. I want to hand you a mirror with my words—a mirror to show you and the world exactly who you are, why you matter, and why your audience should start listening.

Welcome to Beach Bum Creative!

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:48:59 GMT

Hi, my name is Savannah Lani Murray, and I am obsessed with your story.

Why am I obsessed?

Because I know deeply and with all my heart that each of our stories can have a radical impact: on our business’ success, our audience, and our lives. When we connect with why we do what we do and who we are doing it for, we become exceptionally clear on what matters most.

We Take the Leap Because it Matters

Successful businesses and brands all have one thing in common—they make their audience care about what they do. It doesn’t matter what the industry is…every person interacting with your brand cares about one central thing, “why does this matter to me.” Your story tells them exactly why they need to care so much.

Because you wouldn’t have started a business unless you cared about what you do. You didn’t start a business because it was “easy” (entrepreneurship is far from easy), or because it was the only option (there are plenty of 9 to 5 jobs out there), you started a business because what you do matters.

It is my unending goal to make sure each of my clients feels confident, empowered, and thrilled to share their story, so they can leverage that story to thrive professionally and personally.

Why Do I Care About Your Story?

I have cared about stories from the time I was a little girl. Stepping into someone else’s mind, someone’s world, and looking around from new eyes has always inspired me. In this time when we are divided by so much, stories allow us to come together. We need stories for our businesses to survive, for our passions to stay ignited, and for our audience to keep coming back.

Nothing drives me more than uncovering the nuances of people’s lives, experiences, and dreams. Helping you write a story you can carry with you, and that your audience will carry with them, is my passion. Writing your story is not just my business…it is my calling.

Why Do We Need Stories?

Like you, I looked around at the world, at the last 2 years, and I was frightened of the instability of our landscape—businesses shuttered, economies everywhere were in turmoil, and the world seemingly turned upside down about a hundred times over. What I noticed was that businesses who could be agile, who could stay connected with their audience digitally, and who were committed to their vision, survived.

I believe in local businesses, and I believe that the people who start them deserve to have a say. To share who they are with their audience authentically and repeatedly so they can succeed. What I also saw was that business owners were so overworked these last 2 years with trying to survive, that things like written content and their brand narratives fell to the wayside.

The stories that propel our business forward financially are the same stories that will propel us forward personally. When we lose sight of why we care, it’s easy to lose sight of why we need to keep going.

What Is Next?

Beach Bum Creative is a business solely dedicated to you—your story, your dreams, and your success. Beach Bum Creative delivers authentic, honest content that matters to you, your staff, and your audience.

Because if you aren’t radically committed to your story, how can you expect anyone else to be? It’s my job to show and share exactly why you matter so much, and to remind you why you started your business in the first place.

As 2022 starts, I am absolutely exhilarated to write stories of importance. Are you ready to fall back in love with your business? Are you ready for your audience to? Then let Beach Bum Creative write you story! Because life is too short to let our dreams go unrealized and unwritten.

Creating a Social Media & Content Strategy

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 07:12:50 GMT

You NEED a Strategy

For some business owners, social media represents a necessary—but unpleasant—requirement for their business. Some business owners love social. Whether you love it or hate it though, one thing is certain: you need to have a strategy to make it work for you and your business . A robust content strategy and social media strategy builds your Brand, engages your ideal audience, and helps your business grow.

Social is Part of Content Strategy

Like copy and content , these phrases touch on similar concepts, but they possess distinct characteristics.

Content strategy includes social media strategy, and social media strategy is a part of content strategy. Your content strategy is the umbrella term to define your online, offline, print, digital, promotional, and educational collateral. Newsletters, email campaigns, Facebook posts, flyers, website copy, and Instagram are all examples of content strategy routes.

Of those examples, Facebook and Instagram fall under the sub-category of social media strategy.

marketingsolved.com says it best: “ SOCIAL IS A CHANNEL; CONTENT IS A TACTIC ”

A social media strategy can be productive and valuable all on its own, but it gets super-charged when it’s designed with content strategy in mind. If you’re saying something completely different on your social channels from what’s on your website, or what you’re saying in-person, it’s confusing for the audience. Creating a unified content strategy streamlines and clarifies your social strategy.

Get Started on Content Strategy

According to terakeet.com , these are major considerations to address before you start:

What are you trying to accomplish?
Who are you trying to reach?
What types of content will you share?
How will content support Brand?
How will you measure success?

Let’s break them down further.

Content Strategy Goals

What is your goal with your content strategy? Is it sales, building trust, readability, showing authority, or something else? Defining goals focuses your content strategy. You can uncover goals by defining your audience.

Who is Your Audience?

Have you developed a target audience? Do you know what their interests are, what matters to them, and how your services or products offers a solution? Understanding your target audience shapes your strategies.

How Will You Reach Them?

Knowing your target audience enables you to craft a social media strategy tailored to them by using real-world data and statistics like this research study from Pew Research Center. The study outlines who are using which platforms, and breaks them down based on demographics like age, ethnicity, gender, and income. Understanding the habits and goals of your ideal audience clarifies the answers to the rest of the questions like...

How to Portray Your Brand?

Branding and creating a Brand Identity is crucial for a seamless and organized content strategy. How your Brand is perceived will be influenced by your content and social media strategies. How you want your Brand to be perceived influences how you structure your strategy.

A lot of the answers to these questions lead to more questions. Answering how you want your Brand to be perceived also tells you more about...

What Types of Content will You Share?

Do you want your Brand to be seen as authoritative and professional, playful and youthful, serious and rigorous, or artful and grassroots? Solidifying your Brand will define your strategy moving forward, so you know exactly what kinds of content you need to be creating.

Once you decide on the audience, types of content, how it supports the Brand, and how to reach them… it’s all about measuring results.

Measuring Results with Social

Social media offers built-in ways to measure the viability and success of your content strategy. You can use metrics such as engagement, reactions, site visits from links, and impressions to see what’s performing well and what’s not doing so great. Using measurable data will help you hone your content strategy over time to maximize Brand awareness, audience engagement, and relationships.

Creative SEO Copy for Your Business

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 06:36:40 GMT

Table of Contents

A basic understanding of how SEO and SEM works is very helpful for growing your business and increasing your website traffic. I'll also share why I'm partial to creative content-driven SEO services.

Let’s jump in!

What is SEO & SEM?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are similar in the sense that both focus on driving traffic to your website or landing page. The primary difference between SEO and SEM is money.

Search Engine Marketing requires you to invest money in an ad campaign such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Display Ads, Banner Ads, and Remarketing. When you search for a string of terms such as “copywriter near me” Google is doing a million things at once. The two actions you need to care about, though, are organic and paid search.

When you type in that keyword phrase “lawn mowing service near me” you’ll see 3 things pop up (in this order, unless you’ve configured your Google Search display differently:

Ads, as indicated by the small “Ad” + link (in purple)
A Map listing (in green) also known as a GMB - I'll be writing a post about GMBs soon!
Organic Search Results (everything underneath the ads)

New I use a Chrome Extension called Keyword Surfer which quickly shows me the monthly searches (18,100) and Cost-per-Click ($9.24).

Google Ads aka PPC

The Ads are a part of SEM, while the Google My Business listing is a part of SEO (although you can pay for GMB ranking as well), and the organic search ranking falls under SEO. So, each time angi.com gets a click to their ad, it costs them about $9.24. If they’re trying to get 100 clicks a week, that’s $924, or about $3,696 a month. And a click, of course, doesn’t mean a conversion. So angi.com needs to be getting at least $4,000 of business each month from their ad campaign, just to break even on ad spend.

Google My Business Map Listings

Map listings are a handy way to find out where the closest business is located that’s relevant to your keyword search. In my case, I live in central O’ahu, so Roys Lawn Mowing & Yard Services shows up #1 for me. If I lived in a different region of the island, California, Idaho, or New York, my search results would change.

Organically Ranking Sites

Under that, we have the organically ranking websites. These websites have excellent SEO, so Google chooses to display them to you.

Google’s primary objectives are to:

Make money off advertisements
Provide the most relevant information for a user

Websites that rank well for keywords and keyword phrases generally possess:

Optimized meta-data
Image alt text descriptions
Frequently updated content
H1, H2, and H3 headings
Internal (inbound) links
External (outbound) links
Backlinks

These factors (and others I haven’t listed) work together to show Google why YOUR website is the authority. There are hundreds of data points that Google uses to determine organic ranking for a website, but those 7 data points are some of the best current indicators for ranking.

Benefits of SEM

Search Engine Marketing creates immediate results. Because everything is trackable, you can easily and quickly calculate your ROI. People who click on a Google Ad are generally bottom of the funnel and ready to buy. Plus, you’ll hire an agency to run your campaigns, meaning you can focus solely on converting those callers and clickers.

Benefits of SEO

Everyone is wary of advertisements these days. One of the benefits of ranking organically rather than paying for ads is trust. According to highervisibility.com , “Organic search drives 53% of website traffic, while paid search drives only 27%”. Oftentimes, searchers tend to click on the organically ranking websites over the advertised ones.

Increasing your organic ranking over time also doesn’t cost as much. You’re not paying for those individual clicks like you would in an SEM campaign.

Challenges of SEM

Budgetary concerns immediately come to mind with SEM. If your business is in a competitive niche like tech, housing, law, or insurance, you may not have the budget to contend with larger companies.

A post on ppcprotect.com shows just how expensive some clicks can get. For example, a click on “offshore accident lawyer” would cost you a whopping $815 per click. While your keywords and phrases won’t cost nearly that much, it’s easy to rack up an ads bill in the hundreds or even thousands if you’re getting 100s of clicks a month.

Converting Pay-Per-Click Visitors

Another common struggle with PPC is conversion. You might get them to click on your link, but if you don’t have an informative landing page, you’ll lose the visitor to a more helpful link. Creating copy that converts those clicks is imperative for generating a solid ROI.

Challenges of SEO

SEM is instantaneous. You’ll see your Ads showing up almost right away. Using SEO, however, takes a minimum of about 3 months to see results. Google is a virtual giant, which means it’s not as agile when it comes to SEO. The ranking process includes indexing of your website pages, crawling of your website by bots, and the work of your competitors. Google is managing, indexing, ranking, and reviewing BILLIONS of sites at any given time.

If you keep this in mind, then the 4 to 6-month timeframe to see results (6-12 for lasting results) is actually quite fast. But 6-12 months doesn’t feel fast when you’re hungry for business and ready to start working with new clients ASAP. An SEO strategy is not ideal for businesses looking to generate sales quickly.

Consistency & Search Engine Optimization

Remember those competitors who are also doing SEO? One challenge with SEO is that once you hit that coveted #1 SERP (Search Engine Results Page) spot, you’re not guaranteed to stay there. Optimizing for organic rank is an ongoing process that requires diligence, patience, and a wealth of research so you can keep creating new, optimized content.

Optimize with Creative SEO Copy

In another post, I talked about the differences between Copy versus Conten t , emphasizing the subtle differences between them. Creative SEO copy is copy in the sense that ranking your site is a form of active marketing. On the other hand, providing educational content is also a form of content marketing.

That’s why I LOVE Creative SEO Copy for websites, blog posts, guest-posting, ghostwriting, and Social Media Strategy: it’s a 2-for-1 strategy to support your Brand and Business through education for Branding, content for SEO, and consistent engagement for all around benefits.

SEO on Your Own

There are 2 overarching components of SEO: on-page and off-page. Everything within your website that can be optimized falls under on-page SEO. Everything outside of your websites falls under off-page SEO—pretty self-explanatory, right?

On-Page Optimization

Optimizing your website copy for readers and SEO means balancing keyword-rich content with unique and engaging copy. Start with Keyword Research using tools like the ones in this post .

If you’ve got a WordPress website, be sure to download Yoast , a fantastic plugin for optimizing your WordPress website. If you’re using Wix, Squarespace, or one of the other Best Website Builders for 2021 , there’s tons of additional information, tutorials, and YouTube videos about on-page optimizing your site.

Blog Content for SEO

Content is Queen / King for Google Ranking. On average, top-ranking websites have a homepage with between 1k-2k words. All that content can start to look messy and cluttered, though, particularly on mobile, which is what almost half of your website visitors are using to scroll. Have you ever read 1-2k words on your iPhone? It’s not terribly pleasant.

That’s why blog posts are an excellent way to consistently add new content to your website, increase your ranking, boost your Brand, and keep your website’s design clean, readable, and user-friendly. As you can see, I practice what I preach, saving the high word count (about 1,000+ words per post) for my blog instead of my website.

Off-Page Optimization

You probably know that people buy Instagram followers, but did you know that people also buy links? Backlinking is the core of off-page SEO. Put simply, backlinking is a form of “votes” for your website. The more votes (links) your website has, the better. A common practice for acquiring backlinks (as with Instagram) is purchasing tons of low-quality links to increase off-page SEO. Google has gotten smarter, though, and penalizes your website for lower quality links.

Creative SEO Copy with Beach Bum Creative

Beach Bum Creative specializes in Search Engine Optimized website copy and Blog posts to help you increase your Google Ranking over time. By developing content that’s on-brand, relevant, and strategically written, Beach Bum Creative supports your digital marketing efforts for the long haul.

Have you paid for PPC, done SEO on your own, or run a different kind of digital ads campaign? Share in the comments how it went!

How Do Content & Copy Grow Your Business?

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 02:07:33 GMT

Table of Contents

Copy & Content for Branding & Marketing

Copy and content can help your business grow in a variety of ways. Who you hire (a Content Marketer, Content Strategist, or Copywriter) will depend a great deal on your Brand, Brand Identity, and platform(s) because copy and content can grow your business in a variety of ways.

If you’re not as interested in Content Strategy, read another Beach Bum Creative post about the difference between Content Marketing and Copywriting .

Content Marketer, Content Strategist, or Copywriter?

First, we will start with an overview of the roles and responsibilities of a Content Marketers versus a Content Strategist, versus a Copywriter (hint: they’ve got a lot of overlap), to help you understand which one is best suited to your business needs.

What does a Content Strategist Do?

Content Strategists help define and implement a content strategy (print, social media, advertising, email, etc.) that best matches the business’ goals and customer or client needs. Content Strategists are tasked with developing a content schedule, maintaining timelines, and reviewing metrics to see how well specific content is performing.

A content strategist works closely with the brand to outline and create content that’s unique, engaging, and increases brand awareness.

Think back to a brand you know and love. How often do they post? What type of content are they sharing? Why do you care about their content? A successful content strategist is generating content that’s clear for the audience, relevant to their needs, and displays the brand cohesively across platforms.

What does a Copywriter Do?

A copywriter crafts shorter, catchy language that’s pushing you towards a specific action. You’d hire a copywriter for objectives like:

Facebook ad campaigns
Instagram ad campaigns
Write copy for PPC (Google Ads)
Print advertisements
Digital ads (banner ads and retargeting)
Specific Promotions like a Black Friday Sale
E-commerce copy and product descriptions
Call-to-Action Buttons

What does a Content Marketer Do?

Copywriters are tasked with getting your audience to do something, while Content Marketers are focused on getting your audience to learn something. In an online essay , Mat Zucker writes, “For ads, I want creativity. For content, I crave authority.”

Content Marketers educate audience, communicate Brand Identity, and build trust with readers. You would hire a Content Marketer for tasks such as:

Blog posting and guest posting
Ghostwriting
Increasing Brand Awareness
Using social media to educate
Developing SEO content for Web and Meta-data
Improving your Organic Search Ranking

Oftentimes, a Content Marketer would work with a Content Strategist to develop specific topics, blog posts, ideas, and questions to answer for your Brand’s audience.

Which Role for My Business?

In a magical world, hiring someone for all three positions would be ideal, but budget constraints, timing, and other factors all make that challenging. I’ve created some parameters to consider when you’re thinking about which role is most helpful for your business at a given time.

Hire a Content Marketer

A Content Marketer is top priority if you have a complex business. Longform, keyword rich blog posts will inform website visitors while displaying your authority on the subject. Content Marketing is excellent for business owners with a variety of services that they want to further explicate without having a 5,000-word website!

If you’re in a highly competitive industry, a Content Marketer is a valuable hire because they will create content that sets you apart from the competition. Plus, a consistent blogging schedule full of keywords increases organic ranking over time. You’ll start ranking higher in search engines, helping you to beat the competition. Content Marketing builds trust and audience relationships, encouraging readership and sustained engagement over time.

Hiring a Content Marketer is a great starting point if your platform foci are:

Blogging
Website
Long-form
Guest-posting
Webinars
Essays
Case Studies

For a deep-dive into Content Marketing benefits, read The 14 Most Important Benefits of Content Marketing [With Examples] from Fractl .

Hire a Content Strategist

What I hear most often from business owners is, “I need you to help me with my content. I hate sitting down to write about myself and my business.” It’s part of the reason I started Beach Bum Creative—so I could write about awesome business owners and give them back time to run the business they love so much, not just talk about it!

Every so often, though, I’ve come across a business owner who loves to write, just like me! They are full of ideas, blog post topics, Q&A concepts, Instagram captions, and key knowledge they want to provide for their audience. That’s when hiring a Content Strategist makes the most sense.

A Content Strategist can create content for you, but they can also act solely as the organizer and strategist without ever writing a word. Content Strategists focus on compiling content in cohesive ways to highlight and draw awareness to your Brand.

If your Platform foci are:

Social Media
User Generated Content (UGC)
IG / FB Stories and Reels
Not sure yet

then a Content Strategist will help you take all those wonderful words and put them into a strategy that makes sense for your business. Starting a cheeky and hip zine? A Twitter-centric Content Strategy might be powerful. Product decision-makers are Gen X and Baby Boomers? Facebook ad campaigns with an interactive Facebook Page could skyrocket sales.

Your Content Strategist will create (or structure existing) content that’s aligned with your Brand, and help you share all that great content you already have in your head.

Hire a Copywriter

Copywriters are about ads, creativity, and economy of words. They are (generally) the Hemmingways of the writing industry. If you’ve already nailed down a solid Brand Identity and Target Audience, and your focused primarily on increasing sales, clicks, and purchases, a Copywriter is your go-to.

They’ll work on ad campaigns, CTAs, and other digital or print promotions like Google Ads and Retargeting, a Copywriter will help increase your Marketing ROI.

What's Your Choice?

Based on your current business needs, which role do you think is best matched to your goals? Drop a comment below and let me know whether you’re interested in Content Marketing, Copywriting, or Content Strategy!

Brand Story & Brand Identity Development

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 05:56:27 GMT

Table of Contents

Defining & Creating a Brand Identity

Your Brand Identity is visual, emotional, linguistic, and relational. People starting a new business frequently hire Graphic Designers and Brand Designers for their logo, typography, and color scheme. They also hire Brand Managers, Copywriters, Marketers, and Brand Strategists. There are tons of titles that address different parts of Brand, but they all have a central job requirement—create a Brand that’s unique, creative, and emotionally important to a potential buyer or client—that defines their success.

Some people will spend hours and hours working and re-working their logos but spend hardly any time on a Brand Style Guide. Others might invest thousands into a product that’s AMAZING, but if they don’t have a strong Marketing Strategy the right customers will never find it. You could be a fantastic consultant, but if your Brand doesn’t connect, you’ll never get clients to see how brilliant you are.

So Many Choices; So Many Brands

Walk into any grocery store today, and you’ll find 15 varieties of ranch dressing, 7 kinds of chicken noodle soup, 12 kinds of vodka, 10 kinds of water… it is exhausting to choose. How do you choose your brand of water, yogurt, cereal, floss, or deodorant? They all offer similar functionality and pricing, but you choose based on which Brand you connect with most, right?

A (Very) Brief History of “Brand”

The Industrial Revolution is a historical period from 1760 to 1840. It was one of the first major shifts in how we consume and interact with merchandise. The Industrial Revolution influenced the ways we live, work, dress, and market. The rise of “Brand” in the 1960s and 70s is connected to the results of the industrialization of products. Before the Industrial Revolution, people made their own clothes; there were no centralized factories.

Textiles and clothing were 2 of the first industries to get moved to factories. That meant the decline of small shops and home sewing. Mass production of clothing produced an excess of clothes at lower prices than ever before, encouraging people to start purchasing clothes for their style and design instead of purely for utility (take a peek at your own closet and I think you’ll agree).

More Choices Created More Brands

In the same way that industrialization gave us opportunities to choose our style, increased production of everything from toilet paper to salad dressing gave us opportunities to choose based on emotion and desire instead of needing alone.

In the 1950s and 60s, branding as a marketing strategy and critical aspect of business arose. Think Tide, Coca-Cola, Ford, Colgate, and Chanel. These industry leaders were talking about Brand before Branding became its own department. Because of this, they have remained staples in our markets and leaders in profits for decades.

Now, it’s not just clothing we choose based on our values, desires, and emotions—it’s everything. And the reasoning behind why we choose, how we choose, and what we choose are all influenced by Brand, Brand Voice, and Brand Identity.

What is Br and Voice?

Your Brand Voice is the language, style, and tone your Brand uses to communicate with your target audience. It can be created by using specific Capitalizations, punctuation marks (!!?), pronouns (“we offer” … versus “I offer”), and verbs. How you communicate is influenced by your target audience and the platform you’re using to communicate influences your message.

Brand Voice is a deliberate way of communicating your Brand to the world. You can use it to speak in a webinar, write a script for a podcast, develop copy for your website, or network at an event.

Developing a Brand Voice keeps your message consistent and focused on your Brand. It ensures seamless transitions between digital, print, video, networking, or however else you’re promoting your business.

Creating a Brand Voice

Your Brand Voice is a piece of the whole which is your Brand Identity. What does your Brand stand for? What does your Brand care about, love, get angry with, and cherish?

Uncovering the connections your audience will make between your Brand and themselves is where amazing marketing happens. Read that again.

Because we have literally hundreds (even thousands) of choices as consumers, finding the connection between your brand and audience will make a huge difference.

Brand Identity & Your Business

Brand Identity, as defined by 99designs , “is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer”.

But how do you know what the “right image” is? How do you define who you are and what you do? An excellent way to start is through Brand Voice Development. By uncovering key words, messages, and concepts, you can start to build your Brand Identity around central concepts such as:

Vision : What does your Brand want for the consumer?
Mission : What does your Brand do for the consumer?
Value Proposition : What makes your Brand unique for the consumer?
Pain Points : What problems does your Brand solve?
Persona : Who is the Persona behind the Brand?

(There are many ways to define vision, mission, value prop, pain points, and persona. These are the basic definitions I use in my strategy sessions.)

Can you quickly and easily answer the five questions above? If not, no matter how gorgeous a website, creative a logo, or outstanding a service you provide, your consumer might not know, engage, or purchase.

You can develop a Brand starting with visuals or with messaging, but you need to have both to create an awesome and impactful Brand Identity.

Working with Cristin Ertel, Your Well First

Cristin chose to work with Beach Bum Creative because she was adding a new service to her business: Health Coaching. Her company, Your Well First , had focused primarily on massage therapy and wellness. Over time, Cristin found herself getting more and more health-related questions from her clients that she wanted to be able to answer.

Cristin’s background in dancing, nutrition, holistic medicine, and massage all play crucial roles in her Brand Identity, values, Brand Voice, and mission. When we connected, Cristin had different pieces of her Brand Identity in mind, but no central document to refer to for a complete Brand Narrative.

What’s a Brand Narrative (Story)?

Your Brand Narrative (also called Brand Story) creates an overarching arc with relevant themes specific to your Brand Identity. Cristin wanted to identify how her target audience (high-achieving women in various stressful roles such as nurses, mothers, teachers, and business owners who were struggling to take care of themselves) was feeling and thinking. We developed an internal Brand Narrative for Cristin so she could quickly and thoughtfully generate content based on her values, mission, and beliefs.

Then we developed a Client Journey story, so Cristin could define this journey to her target audience. By creating a Brand Narrative and using it to develop the Journey, Cristin gained a “useable template to go back to when promoting myself and my business”. This Brand Narrative acts as a guide for Cristin, informing her social media, promotions, website copy, and networking.

How Do I Create a Brand Narrative?

I developed a 7-point framework that I use when working with all my clients, whether it’s for website design, copywriting, social media campaigns, or professional biographies. I drew this from a very simple storytelling concept many of us learn in grade school: The Five Ws and 1 H.

How Does BBC Use the Five Ws and 1 H?

The Five Ws are: “Who”, “What”, “Where”, “When”, and “Why”, plus “How”. I also added “For Whom” to define the Client Persona and their Journey.

Uncovering Your “Who”

The “Who” of the story is your Brand. Who is your Brand? How does it speak, think, and react? What does it care about, desire, or dislike? The “Who” can be the owner of the business, the Brand itself, or you can break it down even further and define the “Who” of your Brand and the “Who” of the Founder separately.

Simplifying Your “What”

The “What” of your Brand is the service(s), and / or products your Brand offers. Write out everything you offer, using only 1 or 2 sentences to describe each one. Don’t overthink this or get into super technical terms (you will lose your audience).

For Whom”, Client Persona

I added “For Whom” because the client or consumer is the key role in your Brand Story. Write out the “Who” the “What” and “For Whom” into a complete sentence.

For example, “Beach Bum Creative (Who) offers web design, copywriting, and social media strategy (What) for highly motivated small business owners (For Whom).”

Your Straightforward “Where”

This is probably the simplest to answer. Where does your service take place, or where are your products purchased?

My “Where” is online via Zoom, in the digital marketplace, and in-person in English-speaking countries.

Mental & Emotional “When”

Use the “When” to define your Client Journey starting point, not as a specific time.

For example, I wouldn’t write, “January, 2022” or “in the afternoon”. When, in this sense is when in the Clients life they would work with you, need you, or decide to hire you.

My Ideal Client’s “When(s)” are:

When ready to grow their business through content marketing.

When feeling overwhelmed developing content for their business.

When ready to get more time to focus on client relationships instead of marketing.

When prospect has a budget for marketing strategy.

When feeling exhausted trying create copy for their business.

When struggling to speak about their business.

When ready to bring on new employees or scale their business.

When ready to create a website, identity, or opportunity for their brand.

If you think of the Client Journey as a Point A to Point B, each of your “When” moments represent a possible point A and opportunity to write content that connects with that specific moment. Each Point A is a chance to create empathy and show your value to the consumer.

The Big “Why”

Branding is all about Why, and your business needs to be about the Why as well. Answering the Why for your Client and Your Business is crucial. Oftentimes, they will be different, but they must have something that connects them. You could have an amazing Why(s) that connects with you deeply, but if it doesn’t connect to a Why for your consumer or client, they won’t care, keep reading, buy, or hire you, plain and simple.

“Beach Bum Creative offers web design, content marketing, and branding because business owners have wonderful and important stories to tell.”

That’s a lovely Why for me, internally, but a business owner (who probably also knows they have an important story) won’t really care.

“Business owners hire Beach Bum Creative because they want to bring in more clients for their services.”

That’s a nice Why, but why Beach Bum Creative?

“Business owners hire Beach Bum Creative for story-driven web design and content because they know that having a deliberate, sincere, and unique Brand Story improves sales and audience engagement.”

3 Key Why(s)

Now, you've distilled down 3 crucial Why(s).

The Why for your consumer.
The Why for your business.
The Why for how they're connected

Finally, the “How”

I define the "How" around the action items and steps that the Client and Brand will take together to go through the Journey. This concept of Journey is based off The Hero’s Journey with the Client being the Hero, NOT the Brand, as Donald Miller explains in his pivotal book, “ Building a StoryBrand ”.

How will your Hero (client or customer) get from Point A to Point B? How do you help them get there? Is it with ridiculously soft yoga pants, advanced AI technology, delicious muffins, or incredible Doggy Daycare? Whatever you do, the "How" needs to clearly define the ways you get your Client to Point B (their "Why") so they understand why they need to work with you.

Try it Out!

Go through this exercise on your own and let me know what you come up with in the comments! Or, drop a question you've been wondering about Brand Development.

Case Study: Website Design & Website Copy

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 02:07:31 GMT

Website & Copy for Nā Mea Kūpono Learning Center

Nā Mea Kūpono Learning Center is a 501c3 non-profit on the North Shore of O’ahu doing amazing work in land stewardship including eco-tourism and Hawaiian cultural education. I was so lucky to connect with Felicita Garrido through Feed the Robot , a digital marketing company Beach Bum Creative partnered with from 2020 through 2021.

When Felicita and I hopped on the phone, she was wondering about updating Nā Mea Kūpono’s existing website. It was a WordPress designed site with limited functionality, no SEO, and very little content. Together, we came up with a plan for a complete website re-design using a different platform, one that would maintain itself regularly without the challenges of plug-ins or coding. Website copy was incredibly important to Felicita and we spent several sessions discussing the mission, values, and goals of Nā Mea Kūpono Learning Center via Zoom. Once I had a strong foundational sense of the organization, I got to work on content!

Content for a Cause

Content Creation is one of the many reasons I started Beach Bum Creative. I feel so honored to work with incredible organizations like Nā Mea Kūpono. This non-profit is doing wonderful work to support our local communities, increase awareness around key issues in Hawai’i, and create a better future for our keiki (children). Plus, they educate Hawai’i visitors with guided tours and experience days!

Felicita, Stephen, and Babes Malina have been stewards of this land since 2008, and it means the world to me that they trusted me to design and write their new website. So, developing content and a design for their website was no small task.

Website and Copy Objectives Achieved:

Create copy that educates Hawai’i residents and visitors about their mission, values, and goals.
Create copy that emphasizes key Hawaiian terms with clear definitions to give website visitors a deeper understanding of this important place.
Choose visual collateral to compliment copy and entice website readers to visit the site.
Place relevant, customized CTA (call-to-action) buttons throughout the site to encourage visitor navigation.
Provide a visually stunning website that makes a lasting impression of the Learning Center.
Develop a Connect page so people can purchase a virtual video tour of the site.
Create a professional digital presence to support grant applications and Hawai’i funding submissions.
Design an easy-to-navigate website that is visually interesting, breaking down long stretches of body text with informative H2, H3, and H4 headings.
Utilize on-page SEO strategies to improve organic website ranking over time.
Format for mobile friendliness, as most website visitors would be searching from their phones.

Website and Copy Challenges

We overcame crucial challenges throughout this process, including:

Streamlining Workflow

Felicita isn’t just an amazing Educator and Steward, she’s also a skilled and dedicated farmer. One of our main challenges was finding time for to get together and review the copy and website. We overcame this challenge with a thorough onboarding, site visits (masks and temp checks required), and Zoom meetings to cut down on driving time.

I knew Felicita, like many other busy individuals pursuing their passions, didn’t have time to sit down and review multiple drafts.

I visited the site directly via appointment so I could get a full experience of this very special place. I read articles and watched videos to strengthen my understanding and put myself in the shoes of a visitor. This helped with streamlining our copy process and minimizing back-and-forth, allowing Felicita more time to do what she loves.

Articulating Hawaiian Culture and Values

Felicita Garrido, Steven Bolosan, and Babes Malina know that indigenous cultures around the world have valuable knowledge we all can learn from; however, they offer education through the lens of Hawaiian culture and values. I worked with Felicita to develop and list of definitions and their English translations so I could seamlessly integrate key Hawaiian concepts throughout the copy.

Expanding Professional Biographies

Customized biographies showcase staff, build connections, and put a story to each face. I expanded on each of the brief biographies they provided me to highlight their unique skills, valuable knowledge, and personal achievements.

I love writing biographies, because so many people are incredibly humble! With additional research and questions, I provided these talented individuals with biographies that made them feel more confident, professional, and well represented without taking up much of their time with multiple drafts.

Project Outcomes

An important part of ranking a website with a brick-and-mortar location is optimizing the GMB (Google My Business). Once we designed a new website, I utilized the copy we created to completely optimize the GMB for Nā Mea Kūpono. That means, although the website is still getting indexed by Google for organic ranking, Nā Mea Kūpono is showing up #1 in Google Geo Search for “kalo farm oahu”, “taro patch oahu”, and “taro farm oahu”.

Project Summary

I created a readable, navigable, and mobile-friendly website for Nā Mea Kūpono that showcased their unique offering and mission. I achieved this with a robust content strategy focused on Hawaiian values and themes. A highly professional website with beautiful visuals provides a digital presence for tourists and community members to visit and learn more.

My GMB optimizations put Nā Mea Kūpono’s listing in the #1 spot for primary long-tail keyword phrases. My streamlined content creation and website design process reduced needless back and forth so Steven, Felicita, and Babes could stay focused on their important work.

Visit nameakupono.org to learn more about all the amazing work this organization is doing, and share your favorite thing about it in the comments below!

Copywriting, Content Marketing, & the Power of Writing

hi@savannahlani.com (Savannah Murray) — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 03:24:15 GMT

Table of Contents

Copywriting and Content Marketing… What’s the Difference?

If you asked someone in the publishing industry what a copywriter does, they’d likely respond, “Someone who writes copy (duh).”

But if you asked someone in marketing, they’ll say, “It depends.”

That’s because, thanks to the proliferation of digital content, copy, platforms, advertising, and media available to us, we have had to create different definitions to clarify the context of the copy (or content) being created.

Copywriting and content marketing go hand-in-hand. That can make them difficult to separate, because they often appear together. They work in tandem to create brands, call audiences to action, convert website visitors to clients, and improve your website’s rank in Google.

Differences & Overlaps with Copy & Content

Content marketing and copywriting can take the form of blog posts, SEO copy, website content, ad campaigns, reels, tweets, headlines, and more.

But which one goes with which? And how can we tell them apart?

K.M. Wade sums it up nicely in this blog post about the difference between copy and content, “ All copy is content but not all content is copy”.

That’s because copy is a type of content, but content can also be images, videos, dances, color scheme…you get the idea. In this post, I’ll go into the specifics of each, how they work together, and how they each contribute to your business’ success.

Copywriting, as loosely defined by marketers, is the act of writing copy that provokes the reader to take an action.

Buy Now!

Become a Beach Bum

Let’s Get Started

These are some examples of call-to-action copywriting. The copy provokes the reader to click the button and buy / become / start. Simple enough, right?

However, headlines also fall under the category of copywriting and SEO copy.

Did you know that "The ideal length for a headline is 6 words"? Buffer

“Copywriting and Content Marketing…What’s the Difference?” is a headline that provokes you to read more and contains two keyword phrases to encourage indexing by Google. That makes this headline copywriting that’s also SEO. And SEO copy can also be content, because a lot of times SEO content is educational, rather than promotional.

Encouraging Curiosity versus Offering Knowledge

I personally like to think of copywriters as People Magazine writers, but they’re calling your attention to something awesome, instead of terrible. We have all been in the supermarket line waiting to buy groceries and seen one of those headlines: “Celebrity scandal! ‘It’s not my Baby’ claims (insert famous person)”. We cannot help but read and be curious. A good copywriter drives curiosity in the same way but backs it up with a legitimate offering instead of sleazy gossip.

Then I imagine content marketers are more like journalists. They’re searching for relevant topics and ideas that their audience wants to learn more about and offering an objective viewpoint that seeks to inform and educate instead of sell and promote.

Does a Content Marketer need Copywriting Skills?

If we extend the journalism metaphor, think about the last article you read online. What’s the first thing that caught your attention? Likely, it was the headline which—you guessed it—is copy! So, a successful content marketer also needs a strong understanding of copywriting but won’t always be titled as a copywriter.

Excellent content will always have elements of copywriting in it. You could write the most amazing piece of content, but it wouldn’t impact your audience if they never felt enticed enough to read it, right?

Isn’t it all Copywriting?

Even though content comes in written form, it is still a type of copy. The difference between copywriting and content marketing isn’t as clear when we think about the deliverables. Instead, we can focus on the intention to see where the subtleties of copywriting and content marketing shine through.

The intention of content is to produce valuable, interesting, engaging, and educational content without an obvious call to action. In that sense, a blog post can be copywriting or content marketing; it will depend on the strategy behind the post.

Did you know that “The ideal reading time for a blog post is 7 minutes (roughly 1,600 words)”? Buffer

This blog post, for example, is a form of content that could become copy. I’m offering education about the nuances of copywriting and content marketing without a directive action. If I were to add an explicit directive such as, Tired of writing? Hire Beach Bum Creative Today , this piece of content marketing could become copywriting. But I’m not going to do that, so this is a piece of content, not copy! The form of each service is distinct, and the goals are different, even though both rely on words.

When Would I Hire a Copywriter?

You would hire a copywriter for your website copy, ad copy, and promotional copy. Think Facebook Ads campaigns, flyers, brochures, and attention-grabbing messaging. Copywriters have less time to connect with a prospect, so they rely more on imagistic language, time-constrained actions, and a specific request that’s clear and to the point: succinct, engaging, and imaginative.

You’d hire a copywriter to help you get your audience to do a specific action such as buy, contact, or call.

When Would I Hire a Content Marketer?

Content writers focus more on the long-game, and content marketing is a wonderful strategy for building brand awareness, relatability, and trust. Content marketers don’t focus on getting a reader to do a specific action or behavior; they connect the reader to education and information that’s relevant and useful, using language that’s grammatically correct, with proper spelling.

Did you know that “More than half of us (59%) would avoid doing business with a company who made obvious spelling mistakes”? RealBusiness

You’d want to hire a content marketer for SEO, because keyword-rich content boosts your website ranking and readership. You’d also want to hire a content marketer for your social media, because people love following accounts that help them in some way. A content marketer could help you decide on videos, relevant topics, and interesting facts to share with your audience. Sometimes, a content marketer can source that content, or they can just write the copy to go along with it.

Did you know that “Longer landing pages are more comprehensive, giving you greater scope for links and a better search ranking” and that “More copy could increase your sales by 52%”? Unbounce

A content writer can expand your landing pages with relevant content and improve your ranking, credibility, and sales.

Copy, Content, & Your Business Goals

So, a copywriter drives the audience towards a specific action, while a content marketer builds value and trust over time. Both help with growing your business, but they work in two different ways. Sometimes they overlap or work together, and other times they are clearly independent.

Now you know the differences, you might ask, “Okay, Savannah, but which one is best for my business?”

And the truth is that all businesses, no matter how unique their goals, stories, audiences, and objectives, will benefit from both!

That’s because a marketing strategy that plays the long and short game is going to give you the best overall results. A content marketer with a strong grasp of copywriting will deliver more powerful copy, while a copywriter who clearly understands your content will deliver punchier, more relevant ad copy.

Content and copy, when done well, are a symphony. They build off each other, one keeping rhythm while the other riffs; one reliably bouncing along to the beat while the other sings the melody. Without both, the music just won’t sound quite as beautiful.

Savannah Wolfe Coaching Stories

My First Storytelling with Purpose Mastermind

Wow, what an incredible few months it's been!

Under Savannah's guidance, I witnessed each member of the Mastermind blossom into more confident storytellers and be set on a path to even deeper truth and connection with their businesses - myself very much included!" - Nikki, Deeva Music & Deeva Academy

The Structure

Savannah's guidance in helping me craft "my story" was amazing! I've never experienced someone with the ability to read between the lines so well. She is so keenly attuned to extracting exactly what we wanted to convey but couldn't articulate. - Michelle, Z & Me Photography

Ready to join?

Walking the Talk & Sharing My Story with Strangers

Finding your Motivation as a Purpose-Driven Entrepreneur

The two great throughlines.

Push versus Pull Motivation

Push motivation and Pull motivation.

Finding Your Pull Motivation

5 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Copywriter

What to Consider Before Hiring a Copywriter

1. Where are you at in your business?

2. Are you enjoying writing copy for your business?

3. Do you have the budget to hire a copywriter?

4. What specific content do you need?

5. Is your messaging clear and consistent across platforms?

Can you Beach Bum Creative me decide?

My Key Components of Brand Storytelling Workshop!

The Components of a Brand Story

Those 6 Components are:

What is the Hero's Journey?

What is the Transformation?

What will my Hero learn?

What will my Hero do?

What will my Hero feel?

What will my Hero gain?

How can I create my Brand Story?

My Five Favorite Tools for Running Beach Bum Creative

Mural for Copywriting & Brand Development

Which Industries is Mural Best-Suited for?

Duda for Usability, Page Load Speed, and eCommerce Functionality

Page Load Speed with Duda

eCommerce Functionality with Duda

Which Industries is Duda Best Suited for?

Honeybook for Contracts and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Which Industries is Honeybook Best Suited for?

Canva for Brand Collateral Design and Social Media

Which Industries is Canva Best Suited for?

Sked Social for Social Media Management and Social Media Strategy

Which Industries is Canva Best Suited for?

Choosing the Right Tools to Grow Your Business

Stop Forcing Yourself to Use Social Media for Your Business

My Experiences with Social Media

Getting Real about Reels

Giving Myself Permission to Take a Break

Why am I posting to social media?

For whom am I posting?

What is my long-term goal with social media?

How can I make social media serve me?

Spend Less Time on Reels

Get Off the App Unless it's To Post

Unfollow High-Profile Creator Accounts

Use Social Media How You Want To

Copywriting and Hope-Centered Marketing

Copywriting & Brand Storytelling Focused on Hope

Writing Copy with Fellow Female Business Owners

The Role of Fear-Based Marketing in Business

Health Campaigns & Fear-Based Marketing

Being "Salesy" & Marketing's Bad Reputation

Hope & Positive Emotion-Driven Marketing ﻿

Use Your Imagination to Reimagine Your Marketing

Exercise to Try: Re-write Your Pain Points Around Hope

My Favorite Work From Home Strategies as a Small Business Owner

There are tons of Work From Home Strategies Out there...

My New Favorite… Take a REAL Lunch Break

Beat the Afternoon Slump with a Full Reset

Make a List of Non-Work Tasks & Let the Rest Go ﻿

Plan your “Big” Workdays

Is Your Day Super Scheduled or Unscheduled?

Plan on “Out of the House” Days

How Else do You Make WFH Work for You?

A Lesson for Surfers, Business Owners, and Everyone, Really!

What do Surfing and Running a Business Have in Common?

Honing Our Skills

Getting Honest and Getting Persistent

Breaking Down our Unreasonable Expectations

Hope & Positive Emotion-Driven Marketing

Make a List of Non-Work Tasks & Let the Rest Go

Social is Part of Content Strategy