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What came first: the brand or the deep conversations?
Published 7 days ago • 2 min read
I have a little story to tell you, Reader.
Last week I was at Craft + Commerce, Kit's annual conference for creators in Boise, Idaho.
With Anne-Laure Le Cunff & her fantastic book, Tiny Experiments
With author & coach John Meese at the neon-themed closing party
I met so many of our customers there and they're such wonderful people. But what really struck me about our conversations was how we kept skipping right past the surface level after introductions and immediately diving deep – discussing challenges, hopes and dreams.
It got me thinking about how like-attracts-like when it comes to a brand and customers. And how your brand doesn't just attract customers, it shapes the quality of relationships you have with them.
For over a decade as a company we've been building a brand based on helping creators earn a living – genuinely caring about them and believing in their value. We tell stories of creators (not only talking about their revenue or subscriber growth, but the impact they had on their audience). We only feature real creators in our advertising and content – no stock or AI-generated imagery. And our founder was a creator before he was a founder. He leads by example with heart, depth and a passion for the creator economy.
When we rebranded from ConvertKit to Kit last year, that sincerity was the main thing we wanted to ensure we kept from our old brand. And I think it's that sincerity that gives people permission to skip the surface level entirely.
Which came first: The deep conversations or the sincerity of our brand? Well, I think they inspire each other. They fuel each other. And they matter just as much as our product features do.
Case in point: I had a conversation with a creator about a different email marketing tool that will remain nameless. She was going to switch to them but their brand came across very 'tech bro' culture and it put her off using them – she canceled the migration. After experiencing Craft + Commerce, an expression of our brand in the real world, she decided to stay with Kit. 💙
The brand we're building as in-house creatives goes far beyond a logo or a landing page or snappy copy.
I'm feeling warm and fuzzy after so many great conversations, and feeling really proud of the brand we've built and continue to build at Kit.
Measuring the impact of brand isn't always easy, but 'anecdata' like I shared above adds up to paint a picture of the great job you're doing. So if you haven't spoken to any of your customers recently, get a call scheduled (or better yet, show up at an in-person meet-up or event).
Talk soon,
PS: I got so much inspiration for my own creator business at Craft + Commerce, especially from Anne-Laure Le Cunff's book and keynote talk on Tiny Experiments. So I'm gonna try a tiny experiment of my own: For the next 2 months, every week I'll send you a short note like this email. Just quick thoughts about something I'm learning, thinking about, or trying in my role as Creative Director. I hope it'll be useful for you to see behind the scenes, and I'm hoping it could be a path for me to get back into creating regularly again. Let me know what you think of the idea. I'd love your feedback!
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Join 17,000+ creatives receiving insider insights about brand and marketing design – featuring landing page and rebrand breakdowns, useful career content, and a behind-the-scenes look at running a Brand Studio team in tech.
