Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Raechelle “Rae” Johnson.
Dr. Johnson, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Success is built on strategy…
[We] start businesses to provide a much-needed product or service to a specific market. To do so, there is a level of planning and execution along with monitoring and evaluation. However, many do not consider how to communicate clearly with customers (branding).
The first iteration of my business was based on visual communications. As I would bring my client’s thoughts and plans to fruition through graphics and media, etc. I would see structural gaps in their business and strategic processes. In sharing with them how the lack of or how poor strategic planning would affect customer relations and growth I was asked to train, provide guidance in and speak on “Strategy”.
Branding and marketing need each other. When your brand looks good, it’s a lot easier to spread your business’s name, message, values, and products. This was the inception of Kreative. With the merge between innovative (branding and marketing) and strategy (planning, execution and monitoring, and evaluation).
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have had an opportunity to speak and work with many entrepreneurs and in doing so the responses to “why you are starting your business” usually are unrealistic for entrepreneurial endeavors.
Starting your own business is a worthy, rewarding risk, but still a risk. And it requires more work than the typical 9 to 5 and fluctuates in revenue. At the start of establishing my business pinpointing my target market was my first challenge. Everyone needs an innovative Strategy.
However, without knowing who to target for my specific service my net was cast too wide and I caught everyone and no one. Many whose attention I grabbed were confused by my messaging and their needs were not met. The customer I wanted to reach I had not properly positioned myself to capture their attention.
This was a major challenge, it created a huge bump in the road to Kreative’a success but a necessary lesson that I now pass on to my clients and others to aid in their success journey.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In addition to assisting those who seek my service understand better who they are, the service and or product they provide, and their target market(s); Kreative offers business branding and marketing strategy; tools and techniques; which will provide them visibility, established them as an influencer in the industry, and gain leads and sales.
Branding is not a one-and-done process but is a continuous and constant process to be ever-present in the sight and minds of the consumer. My most satisfying moments are when my clients are elevated through the eyes of the consumer–through consistent messaging, setting themselves apart from their competitors, and securing loyal customers.
Although providing the full gambit of brand awareness, what sets Kreative apart is my approach to branding and marketing for B2B and B2C. My services to B2B revolve around Brand Architecture, creating unity in the family of brands, brand housing, and the hybrid.
For B2C the benefits of brand consistency; gaining clarity in the marketplace: Grabbing consumer attention through storytelling, and expressing the full value of services.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
One concept I like to share in all I do, working with clients, training, or speaking; is my mantra, “Sell the pain, solve the solution”. This may not be the first time you’ve heard but I implore you, this time let it stick.
You want your brand message to resonate with your audience and forge an emotional connection to your product and or service. The quickest and most effective way to do this is to know…
1) What challenges does your product or service solve?
2) How do you want your brand to make people feel?
3) Who does your brand impact?
Now reach your audience. Tell your story. You do it by crafting the appropriate message, you can sell your brand’s story. The story you tell and sell will help your brand connect with its target audience, create loyalty, and increase brand memory. Take the time to craft an interesting story that includes all of the characteristics found in your start and or success journey: Characters, conflict, and resolution.
To craft, a killer story uses the Four Ps of storytelling: People, place, plot, and purpose. People, story’s characters. Keep in mind readers like to visualize themselves as the hero. Place, where the story happens. The plot, the conflict(s) in the story. Purpose, why should the reader care.
Contact Info:
- Email: Rjohnson@kreativeinkllc.com
- Website: www.Kreativeinkllc.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/kreativeinkllc
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/RaeAJohnson
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/KreativeInkLLC/
