Penweaver the Scrivener: Let Jane Clark Turn your Words into Powerful Prose!

"Yes Genius!" is a podcast that explores the power of affirmative thinking, celebrating the impact of saying yes to unexpected opportunities and the unknown.

This season of Yes, Genius will give you an opportunity to learn more about our 2024 Social Media Day Delaware speakers and panelists!

In today’s episode, host Dara McBride sits down with the talented Jane Clark, a seasoned brand strategist with over 15 years of experience and a remarkable track record of working with Fortune 300 companies, celebrities, and small businesses alike. Jane shares her journey into becoming a creative director, the importance of storytelling in branding, and her unique approach to connecting with clients. With a blend of humor and insight, she discusses the transformative power of saying yes to opportunities and the lessons learned along the way. Join us as we dive into Jane's inspiring yes stories and gain valuable digital marketing insights that can elevate your brand!

Transcript

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Welcome to Yes, Genius, a podcast from Epic Marketing that celebrates the power of affirmative thinking. In each episode, we explore the power of saying yes to unexpected opportunities, career changes, even the unknown, and the powerful results. This season, we welcome our speakers and panelists from Social Media Day Delaware. We hope you enjoy their yes stories and some digital marketing insights. Hello and welcome. I'm your host for this episode, Dara McBride. Joining me is Jane Clark. With more than 15 years of experience and over a dozen first place awards, Jane is a go-to brand strategist who helps her clients stand apart. She has worked with Fortune 300 companies, celebrities, and over 400 small businesses and nonprofits. Jane has presented for organizations like Temple University, the Women of Hospitality Conference, and SCORE Delaware. She has also taught web design as an adjunct professor at Cecil College and currently serves on the boards of End Child Marriages and the Delaware Press Association. Welcome, Jane. Hello. I think mostly people keep bringing me back because I'm funny. I should probably add that to my bio. Hysterical. Hysterical. Well, we have interviewed a professional comedian on this podcast before. So if you want to go toe to toe, we will have room for jokes later on. I can ask you. Is there like a joke school? Well there's clown school. Clown school? Are you kidding? Is that real? Yes I think the you know the well-known ancient art of clowning we must respect it as an art. Yeah I guess they do. But we don't need to clown around too much, because you are, though that sounded really, that was kind of clever, but also a little forced. I love it. Keep the jokes coming. But You are an incredible business owner. You have done so much with your career. You're 1 of those people where I feel like I know you, even though I don't know you, because your name is constantly being mentioned in conversation. And I know you're just kind of a businesswoman about town. So you own and operate a creative agency called BrandSwan, formerly Takedika, which is what I thought I was going to mess up, not BrandSwan. So we know you said yes to launching your own business, but then this go-to, can-do attitude kind of plays in day-to-day operations, how you land clients. So tell us, how did the power of yes help you land a major client? Well, it's a, all right, buckle in, guys. That's quite the story. I remember getting a call from someone, and she said she needed a graphic designer for a project. So I'm like, well, I happen to be 1. And at that point, I believe I had at least some of my team members with me. And I remember them helping me with the work. But ultimately, she brought me on as her creative director. And I think that's really the moment I became a true creative director. And power of suggestion, I'm gonna talk about that. So first of all, and if I can go back and I would have negotiated this, but I have an NDA, so I can't tell you who the client is, but what I can say is that they are a Fortune 300 company in the finance sector. So I remember Ashley knocked on the door, I opened it, and we just clicked right away. I just knew we were going to land a bunch of clients together. She's minority owned, I'm minority owned, and I'm like, we're gonna get so many projects. So I was already jazzed, like the moment I met her. And we totally clicked, even though she's allergic to cats, she just never met at my house again. But yeah, she did eventually get used to all the animals that we have here. But yeah, so she brought me on to design this whole campaign without getting too specific. And we, man, we busted our butts. I did all this work designing this campaign, actually almost like redesigning a campaign, right? And I can't say too much about it, but I can say it involved Apple and Google Pay during that time. So, 2 days before we leave to pitch the client, which by the way, I normally don't do, because this was in Texas, and I'm in Delaware, for those listening, and that's quite, and I don't even like planes, you know, I have a lot of anxiety, and so the entire time I'm on this plane, like I'm having panic attacks. I'm on 4 planes in 2 days and I'm just thinking, why couldn't we get like a, you know, 1 that goes all the way to the end? So that the travel part was what was the holdup for me, but somehow I pushed through it, and, and we got there and, you know, there was just so much that I learned from that opportunity and because she believed in me, I was like, I got this. It's going to be great. So I get these ideas and like, let's make sure we have a lead behind piece when we get there And, you know, we get it, we get it printed at like a, at a printer right by the client that we could pick up after we got the airport, you know, so we're really planning this down to like just the word. And I remember going to, she rented a beautiful BNB. It was hot as hell. Can I say that on podcast? So hot. And I do remember we ate a lot of sushi, and that was 1 thing I loved about her, is, I mean, listen, spend as much money as you want on as much sushi as you can eat, and we did, and it was just fabulous, And it was just like this weird, I don't even wanna say girl power, but it just felt like we were in this thing together. And by the way, this entire time, I think this is a formality. I thought she had the client in the bag and we're just going to pitch it because policy and expectations of companies, right? So for me, the most challenging part was the actually getting there. So When we get there, well, actually before we get there, there is a beautiful grocery store and Dogfish Head is just there. You just buy beer in the grocery store. That blew my mind. In Delaware, you have to go to a separate place to get your liquor. And so I'm like, wow, I'm in a whole new world. And so I get 1 later to celebrate. And that's another story. But I'll talk about it at the end. And then they let us into the conference room and we're prepping for it. And they're like, help yourself in the mini fridge. And I'm like, my god, I open it up and it's just glorious. And the 1 thing that I saw that just, it was Diet Dr. Pepper. And so I'm like, I'm gonna have this, I can't believe it. And I almost opened it and I realized if I open this, I'm gonna be burping throughout my whole presentation. So I just saved that for later too. So I have like this bag of just shit I'm saving for later, a can of dogfish head beer, Diet Dr. Pepper, and of course, the presentation notes. So I even remember what I wore to that event. I was wearing a black jumper that I still own to this day and a white shirt with canaries on it. It was well thought out, I'm telling you. I remember exactly what I was wearing. And when I stood up and I did my design and I did the pitch, having no idea this wasn't a formality, The VP at the end was like, well, what do you need for me? And we were like, stay, yes. And he's like, yes. And so he signed off on it and we walked out of there. And that's when I found out that she didn't get the job. She completely paid for this out of her own pocket. She hired me without knowing that she was going to get this client. And I had no idea. Oh, wow. So she took a risk on you and your partnership and was just waiting for it to pay off. Exactly. And the fact that she believed in me and that she had committed to this partnership was just absolutely mind-blowing to me. And until this day, I value it forever. And then on the way back, I remember being in the order or the Uber and drinking a can of beer, which may or may not have been legal, I don't know. But I was just like, you sell them in the grocery store, surely you can be in the backseat. But that was amazing, just going to the airport and knowing that you landed this huge client. But yeah, it was all her. And when I knew that, I had this horrible, like terrifying fear of success. That's amazing, isn't it? Yeah, I'm like, what if they become a whale client and then they decide not to use us anymore and then we go out of business, you know, like things like that is the kind of stuff I think about. What did it mean for someone to put that kind of faith in you? It absolutely just showed me I could do it. That I could have faith in myself as well, you know, and meeting a bunch of people who also didn't know what they were doing, but still doing it, to me, it's just like the best quality of a human being, the resourcefulness that you can have And just, you know, we always say, what's the worst thing that could happen? They say, no, right? But I think the worst thing that can happen is that we somehow lose respect for ourselves and we beat ourselves up because it wasn't enough. There's lots and lots and lots of clients I didn't get. In fact, I even got clients that ended up not even doing the project at all, you know, and so it's like a win, but you still lose somehow. So what this this was just like that 1 thing that made it all worth it, like, Look how far you can go. And it showed me that I really, really loved a partnership as well. So I said yes to a lot of things. I said yes to stretching and growing, my anxiety on the plane. I said yes to having the confidence to pitch a vice president of a Fortune 300 company. And at the end, she was like the MVP and then she's talking football with him, which by the way, I know a little bit about the Eagles, but that's it. And it was just like the perfect ending, the icing on the cake, that she could connect with him in that way. And so, yeah, it's amazing how you connect with people that you aren't even in proximity with. How did you connect with her originally? She just contacted me. I have really great SEO. And so she typed in probably, you know, creative agency. And here I am. I think, you know, women really like to partner with other women because it just feels good, you know, like we're, it feels good. It feels like you're entering a relation, an equitable relationship, I think. If you could go back knowing, you know, how things turned out and then it wasn't just, you know, already in the bag, Would you have changed anything about your presentation or how you approached it? Oh God, I mean, knowing where I am now, I'm like, my God, I could have done so much more, you know? But again, yeah, I would have prepared the presentation more. I would have prepared the follow-up. I would have prepared a lot of things. And I think ultimately, I would feel more confident, absolutely, going back. For me, I think it was a fun experience. And again, we already had it. So it's real low pressure. But I think that authenticity is really what connected with the client. You know, because we were chill, we nothing to prove. And so I think that energy he can kind of sense it. But yeah, we stayed until we made it. Absolutely. And it's still 1 of the coolest things I think I've ever done, for sure. That's so exciting. So tell me about, if I were a client coming through your doors, like what is it like to work with Jane Clark and BrandSwan? Yeah, yeah, this is a great question on a really timely I'm doing a presentation, like my topic this year is about uncovering your competitive edge. And so being able to walk someone through the story behind their brand I think is really critical and helps connect some dots. But also it's the difference between, okay, this design's okay and wow, this is it. And so I always wanna get to, wow, this is it. And the 1 thing I'm trying to do right now is to gamify the process because some clients can be frustrated with the back and forth. I think it's also based on generation and experience and how we prefer to strategize and plan. And so I think honing that process and just making it way more fun. And you can see where you're going, you can see where you've been. And even like, I'm thinking of a game board and they see themselves and it's like, well, you gotta do this, back 3 spaces. It does fun stuff like that to just make it more lighthearted. But I think it's fun. But when we start talking data and like who your competitors really are, it can feel like the thief of joy when you compare it yourself to others. Right. So again, it's just this narrative that we have to retrain ourselves and how we think about that. You get stuck in the licorice forest. Oh, the licorice forest. I would just eat my way out, unless it's black licorice. Then probably not. I think it is. I don't know. Good and plenty's were kind of cool. I'm showing my age a little bit here, but. I love that game board analogy because I think it is a fun process to get to understand your brand or work with someone else, but it can be challenging and it can be disheartening when you have those setbacks, but ultimately you still have the chance. You're still going to keep advancing through the project and reach to the finish line. So I love that you're using that. I know that you are someone who has collaborated with others. 1 of the creative outlet of yours is Dark Mode, which you co host with Heather Cox of Heather Cox codes, you know, so you're talking about understanding your brand and your positioning. What have you learned from working with peers in the industry? Wow. When I first started my business, I did a cold email outreach to like every company that did graphic design in the area, you know, But I actually have an associate's degree in photography, so I couldn't lean on my education. A lot of what I do, again, professional photography, but I busted out of college wanting to focus on web design, built that company, and then all the brand stuff happened on top of it. But I have met some really amazing people who have absolutely transformed my business. My friendship with Heather is super special because I feel like I can tell her things. Here's my pricing. Here is how I do it. Because ultimately, we're all trying to carve out where we belong and we wanna be different. And so long as that difference is super obvious, then we're not competitors in that way. So it's really, so our dynamic, I can tell right away if it's a good client for Heather. Like, let's say someone's in the audience, they own a restaurant. I'm like, boom, Heather's got that question. And I don't think that mindset is very common. I think it's certain companies can be cut throat with how they do it. You know, they don't want any competitors. They want to keep everything private. And I'm just like more the merrier, because the more we can elevate the industry. So, if I raise my prices to match Heather's, now we're raising the industry, right? And I'm not undercutting her. So for me, the more you can talk to your competitors about what their favorite client is. I think it's a beautiful thing, but I do think that, and I still struggle with it for sure. I get pangs and I'm like, oh, they're doing so awesome, how dare they? Those are my thing, and they're killing it. I even talk shit politely to my competitors, but they're all amazing. And that's the hard part. You know, they're like, why you I'm like, I don't know. But yeah, we want to make the process fun. And Jen Wells definitely taught me about systems. I partnered with her for BrandSwan. She works in the nonprofit sector now. She loves it. She didn't really like being a business owner, but we're still work besties, you know? And she taught me, I think, how to run a good team. She took the team I already had and she optimized everything. And she focused so much on like the customer, what are they saying about the work? Where are they frustrated in the process? How do we fix it? And boom, and then she moves on, and it's just lovely. And I would also credit my husband. Very strange, I would credit my husband. We're very, very different people. He is introvert to the extreme. We like to hang out with each other and that's it. We're kind of weird in that way. But he's taught me a lot about patience, doing things right, thoughtfulness, mindfulness, you know, like, so he really helped ground me in being able to foster a place where people can feel safe and grow. So I really credit him with that too. I've heard you talk about yourself as both like an introvert and an extrovert. How do you balance those sides of yourself? It's a button. It's a switch I can turn on and off so long as my cup is full. It is kind of hard to put me in a place because when I connect with someone here in my heart, it just becomes a different relationship. I would say some of it, I'm gonna be real with you, some of it's a performance, you know, because people have to like me in order to buy from me, right, Even though I have, by the way, I have no sales training, right? And I always call myself the worst salesperson in the world, which makes me the best salesperson in the world, right? Because I'm like, here's my prices, yes or no? Like there's no haggling, it's just full transparency. And that really works for me, you know, in that way. I get it. I mean, I remember in my training that they tell you that sometimes you have to be like you have to be like super marketer or super reporter, like you have to put on the performance. And it is like you said earlier, like kind of fake it till you make it. And that can be good advice because it gets you into the mindset of being the person that the moment needs and being an effective communicator in that moment. Yeah, I'm doing some intense coaching right now. I've never been coached before. I never really spent, I never really did any continued education. You know, I just, when responsive design came out, I just said, okay, let's sell 1 and I'll figure it out when we build it. So that's what I mean, which is weird because I'm not a big risk taker. I like certainty. And this is the only part of my business that is uncertain. But if I don't have good vibes on someone, I'm like, now we're not going to work together. And if they keep coming to my boundary line, then I just know we're not a good fit. But ultimately, I can kind of turn it on and off. There are days where I'm like, guys, I can't do another meeting today, please reschedule. And they understand that. And I love that I have a team that values my mental health as well as theirs. In so many of these conversations about saying yes and having a yes story, so many people mention setting boundaries and also being able to say no, because you can't say yes to everything and have it not take a toll on you. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I mean, I was mentoring for Square Delaware for a little bit and then I realized, you know, to be a real CEO for BrandsOne, I had to kind of step back and really get the bird's eye view, pun intended, and see where I wanted to go. And this whole gamification part of the process, I'm really excited to build out. I don't totally know what it looks like yet, but I'm really hoping everyone loves it. Clients anyway. Can you tell me, I heard that Brandswan, the name might be rooted in the ugly duckling story. Yes. Is that true? Yes, absolutely. Me and Jen sometimes, Jen Wells, my co-founder, sometimes talk about it because that's really where the Brandswan came from. She swears I came up with a name. Like, I think we're thinking like, oh, black Swan and the ugly duckling, beautiful brand Swan, blah, blah, blah. So we ended up running with it 1 day. She just came in and she was like, let's create a company called brand Swan. Like, that's genius. She's like, you came up with it. I'm like, I don't think I did, but let's go anyway. And I love that excitement. Oh, I miss that. But my team are so involved now that it just feels like I have a bunch of partners in crime. I think that comes up in so many good stories, where it's like no 1 can eat the each partner credits the other person with how the name came about. No 1 can actually remember. That's beautiful. And I love the element of transformation that's in it, because I think that really relates to what you do in terms of creating brand identities and design, just making something beautiful of something that was there before. Yeah, yeah, definitely, gosh. The interesting part is like when I'm working with my coach and brand messaging and you know, she leans in And she's like, do your clients, you know, associate themselves with the ugly duckling? And I'm like, no, they don't. They don't. And so what I've been doing is pulling the ugly duckling out of the brand narrative and inserting fairy tale. Because ultimately that's what it is. It's a fairy tale and they always have a lesson, you know, and of course a hero, a hero's journey. So, because I don't think people, I don't think companies who are over 10 years old think of themselves as ugly duckling. And so I think that concept, although there is a, I think people can relate to it if they're in that space, but someone who's looking to level up, I don't think they can, I don't think they can affiliate themselves with that newbie fledgling of a bird? So I think I'm bringing in all the magic, all the stories, so that people can connect with it and just, like silly things like, okay, this person's super late filling out this questionnaire, let's send them a GIF with a white rabbit with his watch saying, I'm late, I'm late, I'm really, really late, you know, and be like, hey, can you send us the stuff we asked for, you know, and then, you know, just that interaction alone makes the process a little bit more enjoyable. And so those are the kinds of things I really want to bring in. So. I'm going to remember that the next time I, something's running late. I love it. I love all the elements of, of the fairy tale and transformation. Okay. I want to switch gears to a little bit of rapid fire this or that game. Hopefully going to reveal a little bit about your brand personality. Ready. Okay, so branding and graphic design, this or that. Warm or cool? Warm. Monochromatic or complimentary? Complementary. Serif, sans serif, or script? Script. Minimalist or maximalist? What's that? I'm a rebel. I like a good third choice. Minimalist or maximalist? Minimalist. Traditional or modern? Modern. Very nice. Okay, and now we're going to ask about you. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Oh my gosh. That is an interesting, oh my gosh. You know, there's been some like, oh my gosh. My parents almost called me Lindsey. I know that. I honestly don't know. I've been the only, which is so bizarre because I know this is supposed to be fast, but Jane's coming, but yeah, I don't know that many people who are Jane. So I'm going to keep my name. I would have to rebrand myself. This opens up so many. Huge can of worms. Yeah, no, you do seem like a Jane to me. Thank you. I think I'm a Jane. Aside from black, what is your favorite color? Orange and green, for sure. Have you ever written a song for someone? Not a song, but a poem. And then just bringing it back to the clowns, what never fails to make you laugh? Cat memes, like cat videos with like Tony Baker being the set, like the voiceover. And I, you know, I've certainly brought my cat into the mix, you know, and she's learned some things from Tony Baker. Do you have a joke to share? I'm putting you on the spot here. Oh, do I have a joke to share? Gosh. Is there, do you have a graphic design joke? Is there like a, I don't, but you know what I do have? A TheraPet card. Okay. Let's see what today's is. What's this? Oh, it's so beautiful. You are doing enough. It's gonna be okay. Kat Snuggaluggan. Okay. So yeah, we do weird stuff like that here. Brands, like, oh, you're having a bad day. Let's read some therapeutic cards. But the jokes, they tend to come in the moment for me. That's beautiful. And then just because we keep talking about games, board games or video games? Oh my God, no, you didn't do that to me. Oh my God, video games. Video games, okay. Well, this is an appropriate roll in to our final section, which is chatbot says. So we know that artificial intelligence is only as smart as the people using it. So given your experience in graphic design and your love of games, we asked our AI friends for assistance in coming up with a signature Jane Clark character name and tagline for you. Oh my god, tell me. We're wondering which 1 of these you are most likely to pick and hopefully I can pronounce them all correctly. Okay. All right, Strategica Shadowheart. Join Jane Clark as she weaves your brand story into a tapestry of success. Penweaver the Scrivener, let Jane Clark turn your words into powerful prose, perhaps that poem. Pixel Pixie, watch Jane Clark craft digital music. Actually, sorry, wait. Watch Jane Clark craft digital magic with a touch of pixie dust. The Bard of Branding, listen in as Jane Clark sings your brand story to the world and the insightful oracle relax as Jane Clark sees beyond the surface into the soul of your brand. Oh my god wow I play a lot of D&D and I love every single 1 of these. Probably the prose 1. I'm actually in the middle of writing a book, a haiku book. Yeah, the very first thing I gave my husband when we started dating was a bit, I wrote him all these like tankas, which is like a little bit of a longer haiku. And I just sort of bound it. I had all these weird scarfs I cut up and put fabric on it, like it was a complete like, like scrapbook thing. And I gave it to him. I wrote all these haikus for him. And Yeah, I'm not cheesy. I love it. And you also, you recently had a story of yours featured in a book, Great Dames. I did, yeah. What does it mean to ignite someone's great dameness? You know, there was 1 event I went to and it was fabulous and the title was I Quit. And I will get you this information, but this woman was incredible. And basically the entire concept was, you decide to quit. If something isn't serving you, let it go. You know, and I think that's really, really empowering. And so I just think, you know, along the lines of saying no is okay, I think, you know, the Great Dames is certainly a more personal story, like when I was younger, but I just want all young women to know that, you know, if someone does something terrible to you and tries to embarrass you, we have AI now. Can't, don't worry about it. Just say it's AI. I've heard that actually, this just came up in another conversation. It's like whatever it is, it's just it's AI. Yeah, I mean, I find that if I don't, if I can't control something I try to just disengage from it completely or it'll make you bad, right? You can't change it, so just boop, go over here. I don't have to acknowledge you. Any other closing pieces of advice to share to someone else who might be in a position where they have an opportunity to say yes to something, to take 4 planes across the U.S. And make a presentation and eat a bunch of sushi? So fun. Go for it? I would just say don't sign the NDA. And you know what's so crazy about that is they're basically saying we're afraid to be associated with you. And so therefore you can't tell anyone. You know what I mean? Like if we're starting that relationship without trust, I would have followed my gut probably and not done it. If it happened today, back then I think I needed to go through this. I needed the journey. I needed the experience. I needed to know what I wanted And I got it. Who are your favorite types of clients to work with now? Nice clients. Clients who are kind and empathy driven and who want to tell a different story, who are change makers. 1 of our clients at the ACLU of Delaware, so we know our views tend to be rather democratic and we put out our ethos and So we attract the kind of clients we want because we put it out there. So do the same thing. Find the commonality of the client, your favorite clients, and then just go for those people. And don't be afraid to turn your client down. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Jane. This has been a lovely discussion. My pleasure. Yeah. That nice cat card makes me feel good. I'm going to buy you the deck, okay? So send me your address. I'm going to get it for you. If people would like to connect with you online, find out more about who you are, what you do, where can they find you? You know, LinkedIn is great and somehow I actually got the URL, Jane Clark. Can you imagine how many Jane Clarks there are? So LinkedIn is great. I Go to my website, janeabrandswan.com. You can find me, connect with me directly there. Okay. And of course, we're going to be having you at Social Media Day Delaware 2024. So Thrilled to see you there. I'm excited to be there. I'm looking forward to seeing all you people. Okay, take care, Jane. Bye! Thank you for listening to Yes Genius, a podcast from Epic Marketing. Join us again to hear more unique stories. In the meantime, find us on social media or online at epicmc2.com. You can also connect with Delaware's digital community at socialmediadayde.com. Don't miss out. Remember to follow or subscribe, wherever you get your Genius content.