Positive momentum has been building since our acquisition of Delightful Communications back in February.

Drew and I have been “delighted” by how well the transition has been going working with Mel Carson and Ashley Seffernick on our plan to integrate some parts of the Prime 8 Consulting and Delightful businesses and work together to ensure the very best results and experience for our clients and our people.

Today, we are thrilled to announce that Alex Mercer will be joining Delightful as Global Strategy Director.

Alex has a rich history of success in marketing and communications. More than a decade ago she managed some of Microsoft’s communications portfolios in global PR, public sector, and citizenship and also spent time at Gates Ventures, working on the Giving Pledge initiative.

Back in New Zealand, she launched an investment organization focused on funding women founders of start-ups and, more recently, global marketing and communications roles at Xero and Datacom, where she will continue to support their brand strategy.

Harnessing her global experience coupled with a superpower for building excellent teams and utilizing the latest technologies and trends, we have asked Alex to work with Mel, Drew, and myself to build a global plan that takes the successful Delightful Communications blueprint and scales it up and out to the world.

As the months have passed since we acquired Delightful, we have seen steady growth both in terms of client asks across our Integrated Marketing, Executive Communications, and Creative Studios service areas, and hiring new team members to join the company and reap the rewards of learning and growing in a business at the cutting edge of marketing and communications.

As I said back in February, our goal is to grow Delightful’s marketing and communications services so more brands and leaders across industries can benefit from their creativity, tenacity, and realize even greater results.

In a fast-moving business environment dominated by AI and a need for greater efficiency AND creativity, Alex’s appointment is just the catalyst our business needs to help take Delightful through to the next (global) stage and help us realize that goal.

Please join us in welcoming Alex to Delightful Communications.

– Nicolette Sharp / Owner at Delightful Communications / CEO at Prime 8 Consulting

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Metaverse—the biggest opportunity for modern business since the creation of the internet or a cartoony wasteland? Technology to transform the enterprise or just avatars with no legs? There are vocal proponents and naysayers. But a steady stream of data shows it’s real, it’s here, and effective thought leadership can be an influential force for business.

What is the value of being there?

According to a report from the World Economic Forum, 71% of executives say the metaverse will be good for business and 42% see it as transformational. There are big tech players like Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Intel. But corporations like Disney, Macdonald’s, Warner Brothers, and Walmart are also pursuing metaverse technology patents. Consulting partners like Accenture aggressively guide global clients through metaverse strategies. And, according to McKinsey, consumers picture themselves in the next five years shopping, seeing their doctor, attending a live event, and even going on dates. Corporate marketing is all over the messaging and branding at the enterprise level.

We think you should consider the possibilities of executive thought leadership in the metaverse. B2B decision-makers look to executives as influential resources for the latest thinking in an industry (71%) and future trends (68%). Executive thought leadership presence improves brand perception (93%) and directly increases revenue (91%). The metaverse presents a tantalizing opportunity to build and expand a leadership brand. However, before you dive in, we should take a more pragmatic look beyond the hype and mythology.

Where is “there”?

There are two distinct metaverse models: consumer and enterprise. The consumer metaverse is the digital place where people—as digital avatars—shop, trade, travel, and interact with one another. It’s a fully immersive VR-driven experience. For example, in the Decentraland Marketplace, visitors can buy and sell land. High-end fashion lovers go to the Gucci Vault to dress their avatars. Macdonald’s is working on a virtual storefront with home food delivery.

The enterprise metaverse embraces technology and the power of the cloud to deliver enhanced consumer experiences, flexible and traceable supply chains, data-driven business decisions, and the full promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Think manufacturing and medicine.

Do you have to choose one or the other?

It’s an interesting question. The answer is, “It depends.” What’s the industry? What’s the corporate strategy? Are you well-versed in the power of digital twins to harden global supply chains? More comfortable discussing the impact of nested NFTS? Or do you sit at the intersection of AI, machine learning, and ethics? Who follows you now and who do you want to reach in the future? What are your goals?

It’s an intriguing challenge.

Is it worth the risk?

The European Commission’s foreign aid department threw a party in their $470,000 metaverse…and nobody came. Well, five people showed up. When the New York Times publishes articles like My sad, lonely, and expensive adventure in Zuckerberg’s V.R. or well-funded research into working in the metaverse prompts headlines like “New Study Shows Working in The Metaverse Sucks,” you know the naysayers are jumping on a bandwagon. Is the metaverse a major disrupter or a hypothetical fad?

The benefits continue to be debatable

Public perception and research raise troubling questions about the impacts of life in the metaverse. What happens to privacy when increasingly more data is collected? Can we ensure equal access to connectivity and hardware? How do kids identify “stranger danger” in a virtual world? What constitutes a crime in the metaverse? When violence, racism, and misogyny become pervasive visuals, what happens? Is it the ultimate platform for misinformation?

What’s your strategy?

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Sun Tzu

Effective thought leadership in the metaverse requires a strategy. Done well, it shows you are a trusted advisor and are on top of current and future trends. It demonstrates you are someone who has something to say. You are the person people turn to when they want to explore relevant trends, learn more about a topic, and hear about companies who have successfully made a jump into a new space. Without a strategy, thought leadership shuffles along with random stops along the way. What’s the point of following someone who doesn’t really know where they are going?

We think the opportunities for relevant and influential thought leaders in the metaverse are there. However, it is increasingly clear it requires a well-thought-through strategy and plan of action.

When and where to jump in

Executives with an online presence can immediately start sharing perspectives on how the #metaverse shapes their industry. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is a hotbed of technology topics and announcements around immersive technology and 5G. Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June promises to be a hub for ideas with the first Metaverse Lion award for immersive experiences that push the boundaries of technology. There is a gold mine of significant and current content to share with followers.

Ready for a bigger step? Develop your avatar. Mesh avatars for Microsoft Teams (currently in preview) make avatars a common and accepted presence in business meetings. New employees at companies like Accenture now send their avatars to onboarding sessions. Want to boost your presence and credibility? Send your avatar to speaking engagements and industry conferences.

Note that we said “develop” your avatar. As the digital embodiment of how executives present themselves, creating an avatar within corporate branding guidelines may be a balancing act.

Start with a strong foundation

Your online presence and thought leadership strategy start with a clear personal brand—your leadership brand. Delightful Communications have been helping executives hone their brands with our executive communications services for over 10 years. We help develop an authentic voice with clear messaging pillars based on your vision, missions, and goals. 

We do a thorough analysis and identify gaps. Our specialists lay out a clear strategic and tactical plan that prioritizes moments and platforms for connecting with your online community.​ It’s a marriage of art and science, because as Winston Churchill said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

Let’s talk about how we can help you reach your full potential as a thought leader. 

– Mel Carson, CEO and Founder, and Bettijean Collins, Senior Content Specialist

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As dawn breaks at the start of a second decade in Delightful’s history, Ashley and I have decided it is time to pass the helm of our business to new owners.

Starting from humble beginnings working out of Seattle coffee shops back in 2012, we have since built a 35-person organization with global reach. We help some of the world’s biggest technology brands and their leaders be more discoverable, shareable, and memorable.

After 10 years of adventures (tripling in size since March 2020), we started to think deeply about what was next for us and our business.

We have a successful formula helping our clients with integrated marketing, executive communications, and content creation, and the constant asks for more capacity meant we should think about scaling purposefully and sustainably.

As a people-first business driven by our Delightful principles, we also wanted to ensure our amazing team has plenty of room for learning and growth, as well as the stability provided by a larger business infrastructure.

Recognizing our own limitations, we started to seek advice on how to take our business to the next level and through pure serendipity were introduced to Drew and Nicolette Sharp, Co-Founders of Prime 8 Consulting.

Prime 8 is a Bellevue-based consulting firm that has 150 consultants working in various business roles across clients like Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile, and others. Over the past few years, our team has worked with many of their employees, partnering on successful projects for our mutual customers.

When we came together to discuss a potential union, it was evident their management team had the experience, drive, and passion to help integrate our services into Prime 8’s portfolio and provide our employees with a continuous passage of career opportunities.

After careful consideration, Ashley and I decided to sell Delightful and believe this is the best way forward for the company, our clients, and our employees.

Drew and Nicolette are keeping the Delightful brand, and Ashley and I are staying on for the foreseeable future to help with the integration. There is much work to do both on the client side and in assimilating our operational infrastructures to create the powerhouse we believe is possible.

There are a thousand stories we could share about our voyage to this time and place, but one conversation Ashley and I had stands out at this moment.

It was about the summer of 2017, and we’d just signed a big contract to help Microsoft with the IoT in Action global event series for which we won an award. We made a pact that our work with Delightful had to be more than just for the paycheck. We wanted to grow something with people at its core who would be part of a legacy we could all be proud of.

As we look across our team, many of whom have been with us for several years, we are so proud of the work they have done for the company, their clients, and themselves, and we are confident that as Drew and Nicolette take Delightful’s helm and chart a new course, they will continue to learn and grow.

There are so many people we need to thank for help and advice along the way and we will reach out over the coming weeks in appreciation.

For right now, though, it’s business as usual. We have live workstreams and trailblazing projects to maintain and grow, all while helping our clients and their leaders be even more discoverable, shareable, and memorable.

Onwards……

Mel Carson – Founder & CEO – Delightful Communications

Ashley Seffernick – Director of Operations – Delightful Communications

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Taxes. Jury duty. Changing the batteries in the smoke alarm. All things you have to do. Does developing and keeping a social media presence fall in the same bucket for you? Or, it’s just “not your thing?” 

Yes, it requires time. Yes, it takes brain space. But there is quantifiable value—both personal and professional—for executives who commit to a well-developed and executed social platform strategy. 

Your presence matters—a lot 

The days of thinking your social media activity doesn’t directly impact your business are long gone. Research shows that thinking went out with the flip phone. A 2022 Harris Poll reports your social presence improves relationships with clients and prospects (93%), improves brand perception (93%), and directly increases revenue (91%).  

The 2021 Edelman and LinkedIn thought leadership study points out that B2B decision-makers look to you as an influential resource for the latest thinking in your industry (71%) and future trends (68%). Your posts give you credibility that you understand their business challenges (63%).  

Still not convinced? Let’s look at the fierce competition for talent. A 2022 Brunswick report found, by a four-to-one ratio, employees prefer to work for a CEO who uses social media compared to one who does not. Nine out of ten employees say having a leader who communicates directly and transparently via social media is a factor for staying with an employer. As a research tool, 82% of potential employees use social media to scrutinize a CEO as part of their company research. 

Wielding your personal brand 

Your online presence starts with a clear personal brand—or as we like to say, your leadership brand. Your brand is more than your resume. It encapsulates your purpose, your aspirations, your deeply held leadership values. It looks at the ideas that get you up every morning and why you bring your best self to work. It establishes your credibility and amplifies your leadership impact. It makes you relatable–approachable. 

Done well, it shows you are a trusted advisor and are on top of current and future trends. It demonstrates you are someone who has something to say. 

How do you break through the noise? 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of executives who have something to say. A hefty number of respondents in the Edelman/LinkedIn study (71%) said that less than 50% of the thought leadership they consume gives them valuable insights. Harris poll respondents were a bit more pointed in their assessment of the noise: 78% of respondents agree that organizations check the box on thought leadership but DO NOT push the envelope on thought leadership.  

Ouch. Just showing up is not enough. 

Your online presence is a business strategy so put together the best team to help you push the envelope. Delightful Communications have been helping executives hone their brands with our executive communications services for over 10 years. We help develop an authentic voice with clear messaging pillars based on your vision, missions, and goals.  

We do a thorough analysis and identify gaps. We lay out a clear strategic and tactical plan that prioritizes moments and platforms for connecting with your online community.​ We look for synergies with other executives that allow for greater amplification of voice and leadership. 

Measuring effectiveness 

Science needs to validate the art of creating an effective brand. Are you increasing followers? What topics generate comments? Short posts, long-form content, videos, personal stories, technology solutions, acknowledging colleagues’ milestones? What engages your network? The data is there to show what’s working and what’s not.​  

It’s quantifiable and actionable. 

Sophisticated—some say demented—algorithms surface or sink social posts. Our strategists understand the algorithms. We continually monitor trends which in turn inform tactics. This goes deeper than determining the best time to post and the optimum number of hashtags. It’s about knowing how to make your voice stand out when every other executive in the organization is sharing the same corporate earnings report. It’s about understanding the power of employees amplifying your messages and going a step further by providing appropriate ways to post. It’s about knowing what to do if an executive goes off script and the impact (and amplification) isn’t what they expected.        

Learn more about partnering with us 

We can’t help you with your taxes or change the batteries in your smoke alarm. However, we can partner with you to shape and amplify your leadership brand. There is a huge opportunity to create content that pushes the envelope. Let’s talk about how we can help you reach your full potential as a thought leader.  

You can keep up on the latest news by  joining us on LinkedIn. 

– Mel Carson, CEO and Founder, and Bettijean Collins, Content Specialist

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Winning an award for your hard work is always a pleasure, but to receive recognition towards the end of the year, just short of the holidays, has added extra bang to our festive crackers.

Last week we became the proud recipients of The Drum Social Media Award for Best Use of User-Generated Content for our work with Microsoft and the Excel Creator program.

I have outlined the entry below, but really this post is a shout-out to our incredible team who have worked so hard on this project:

• Bianca Hu and Amber Martin for guidance and strategic oversight
• Wayne Pua for splendid all-up leadership of the program
• Guillermo Garcia for meticulous research and analytics
• Hunter Hill for creative video and design materials
• Eric Fetters-Walp for engaging copywriting
• Chelsea Slocum for writing the winning award entry

Huge thanks too to Cuong Pham from Microsoft for believing in our team and the program and for being such a delightful client and partner on this project!

The Winning Entry – Public

Microsoft Excel has been a mainstay in the business application world since 1987, and its engineers are releasing new product features, hacks, and innovative ways to use Excel all the time. Delightful Communications was asked to position Excel as a fun, productive solution while reaching new, relevant audiences and driving amplified awareness across social media platforms. We did this by building an Excel Creator community of global experts who were already leveraging Excel as a tentpole in their own social strategy. These individuals were releasing content about Excel and making it incredibly easy to digest and engaging for a young, global audience, and we wanted to help them take it to the next level. To do this, we developed a symbiotic relationship with Excel Creators that promoted innovative ideas, highlighted product features, and helped them continue to create that emotional response that Excel can be fun. To date, we are working with 31 Excel Creators representing 16 countries and 6 languages. Excel Creators work with us to hear information live that’s fresh and relevant, and to be on the cutting edge. Reciprocally, we have an opportunity to highlight key features that are targeted based on what Microsoft wants people to know about. The end result is amazing, original user-generated content published by a robust community of global Excel Creators that are invested in learning about the latest Excel product innovations and driving awareness throughout their own user bases

Well done to all the award winners and those nominated. We thought the fine folks at The Drum did a great job with these awards and we look forward to sharing our great work with them next year.

Cheers, Mel Carson – Founder & CEO at Delightful Communications

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Just a quick note sharing a photo of the BEAUTIFUL award our team won at the Microsoft Supplier Prestige Awards Ceremony in the Trailblazer: Innovation and Creativity category.

We were thrilled to be shortlisted for our work across Microsoft helping various teams and priorities be more discoverable, shareable, and memorable through the influencer marketing and creator programs we have established over the years.

Microsoft recognized us (40 employees) and PWC (300K employees) as joint winners for the prize about which they said:

This award recognizes thought leaders who are driving next-generation concepts through discovery, Big Ideas, and innovative solutions – those who lead others to think deeper, push further, and embrace disruption. 

The Microsoft events team did an awesome job on the virtual ceremony and we especially loved the suspense Mitra Azizirad created when handing out the award to TWO recipients.

Huge kudos to the cast of many Delightful employees who worked on the programs over the past year, and looking forward to doing more of the same in Microsoft’s next fiscal year FY23!

Onwards and upwards!

Mel Carson – Founder and CEO at Delightful Communications

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When Delightful made the choice in March 2020 to shut our office doors and asked employees to work safely from home indefinitely because of the pandemic, we needed to rethink many ways in which we did business.

One big question was how we would continue to give back to our community – a core value for all of us at Delightful. 

As we shared awhile back, central to our company culture is giving back to our community through volunteering and financial contributions to nonprofits and community organizations. While our in-person volunteering is largely on hold, we’ve found alternative ways to continue to support the important work happening in our community.

One of our principles is Surprise and Delight and part of that means that at Delightful we encourage team members to recognize one other regularly. We formalized our recognition program during the Covid shutdowns, and we call it Kudos.

It can be as simple as saying “Thank you for making me smile today” and that one act can easily brighten someone’s day.  For every Kudos shared in a month we make a financial contribution to the Nonprofit of the Month. To date our Kudos program has raised $2800 for a variety of organizations – you can learn more about these below.

Through our company matching program – Delightful matches up to $1500 to nonprofit organizations per employee. While many nonprofits moved to a focus on virtual fundraising efforts, Delightful made the commitment to provide event sponsorships and co-marketing efforts for the organizations we’ve had longstanding relationships with including Birthday Dreams, Seattle Theatre Group, and WestSide Baby.

Not so easy to figure out was how to continue to give back through volunteering.

Up until March 2020, our team was doing group volunteering every 4-6 weeks. We also offer our team members up to 20 paid hours of time off to volunteer.  In the past 18 months, as a team, we have hosted a Holiday Card Campaign for senior communities and online Wishlist fulfillment for families needing a little extra support. With the availability of the vaccine, we are encouraging team members to find safe ways to volunteer in their local communities. We now have team members doing a variety of volunteer activities again like running a Girl Scout troop, volunteering at school lunchtime, and volunteering as their event manager for the Resuscitation Academy.

Lastly, we are also committed to continuing to support BIPOC and women-owned businesses through our company gift purchases, team celebrations, and guest speaker program. Recently these included Paper Delights, Champion Wine, Belle Petale, Eighth Generation, and Refugee Artisan Initiative.

While Delightful won’t be returning to a traditional office environment as we recently announced we will be an #IntentionallyRemote company, we will continue to give back to our community and look to expand our impact through both financial contributions and volunteering.

Learn more about our Kudos “Nonprofits of the Month”:

African Wildlife Foundation (awf.org)

Alzheimer’s Association | Alzheimer’s Association

API Women | AAPI Women Lead | United States (imreadymovement.org)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (advancingjustice-aajc.org)

Black Girls Code — About Us

Black Lives Matter

Breast Cancer Foundation | Susan G. Komen®

Byrd Barr Place – Supporting self-sufficiency in Seattle

Childhaven –

Community Passageways

Girl Scouts

Great Peninsula Conservancy

League of Women Voters (lwv.org)

Mary’s Place (marysplaceseattle.org)

Neighborhood House (nhwa.org)

Northwest African American Museum (naamnw.org)

Pride Foundation

South Kitsap Helpline – Serving the needs of those in crisis (skhelpline.org)

Stop AAPI Hate

Women’s Global Empowerment Fund – Equality, Opportunity & Entrepreneurship for Women in Africa and the World | Women’s Global Empowerment Fund (wgefund.org)

WWIN – Empowering women to achieve economic stability

Ashley Seffernick – Director of Customer Learning and Success, Delightful Communications  

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Crafting and reinforcing high-quality, custom B2B marketing messages—whether in words or via visuals—requires insight, experience, and that sometimes elusive quality called creativity.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Creative Studios to enhance what we’re already doing for our clients: creating persuasive and detail-oriented text and eye-catching, innovative graphics and digital content in a variety of formats.

It’s just another way in which we’re striving to help your message stand out, connect, and endure.

People Not Just Pixels

People are always the center of our work. We focus on telling the stories of people who create, use, and benefit from our clients’ products and services.

Data is our Creative Guide

We know that creativity, strategy, and hard data are not exclusive of each other. Data is our guide in keeping our approach and resulting work relevant across the fast-changing digital landscape. Creating stunning visuals or soaring text has limited value if it’s not also clear and purposeful in illustrating your message. Data also drives the methods we use to analyze and measure the end results of our efforts.

We Combine Art & Science to Create Engaging Content

Analytics and metrics provide a framework for the goals we set with clients but we also know that there’s more to a successful campaign than numbers, and that one size doesn’t fit all. That’s why we pay attention to the intangible qualities—design, imagery, language, composition. It’s the small details, we’ve learned, that make a great story really pop. ​

Video & Audio Production

We specialize in audio and video-based digital content because we believe that businesses are about people, and that the human voice remains the most powerful medium to share your message today. 

Information is everywhere. Attention spans are short. There are countless competing distractions vying for your audience’s precious time. Little wonder that we crave messages that feel personal, compelling, and are easy to digest. That’s why high-quality audio and video content are essential to any successful business campaign, and it’s why brands have come to rely on these media to project authenticity, credibility, and build lasting emotional connections with the audiences they are trying to reach.

We can bring your project to life through animation, location filming, webinars, podcasts, event coverage, photography, and a range of similar assets.

Content & Design Production

We effectively convey marketing messages in innovative ways that stand out and are remembered. By combining informative and persuasive text with striking graphics and design themes, we enhance the comprehension and impact of content.

We’re highly experienced in creating written text for ebooks, informative white papers, marketing emails and newsletters, blog posts, social media content, and more. We can add visual themes and graphic touches to emphasize and enhance written content. The end goal always is to engage your audience and attract the attention of your desired customers.

Creative Strategy & Brand Development

The most beloved brands don’t materialize, fully formed, out of thin air. Their missions are defined and then redefined, their messages are crafted, tested, and honed, and their values evolve based on a combination of insight, analysis, and empathy. 

When we partner with clients to create a winning brand strategy, we get into the weeds. We’ll do a deep dive into the marketplace, find out where the currents are heading, and develop a message that matters and stay ahead of the curve. 

Customized, Collaborative Approach

We take a customized approach with all our clients, as they all have unique needs and objectives. The Delightful team works with you to decide how best to amplify your message in the most effective ways.

Our in-house specialists are ready to collaborate with you to bring your message and vision into reality through striking images, inventive storytelling, and marketing that mixes proven strategy with creativity.

One-Stop Digital Marketing Shop

Delightful already is a one-stop shop for digital content marketing, demand generation, social media, influencer marketing, executive communications, and employee advocacy. Our integrated marketing team experiences focuses on helping businesses and individuals keep pace with their online audiences through the combination of strategic planning and compelling content. The leadership and personal branding team assists busy technology professionals from all over the world optimize and grow their personal brands by establishing strategies to grow their networks, optimize their social media profiles, and establish themselves as industry thought leaders.

We’re excited about the addition of our Creative Studios, which will only reinforce our company’s central purpose. Delightful will continue to keep people at the center of our work and help our clients achieve their goals with unique, best-in-class content that combines the creative art and science of marketing.

Contact us and see what we can do for your business.

Mel Carson – Founder & CEO

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When I started Delightful Communications back in 2012, one of the niche services we offered executives was called personal branding. At the time, there was a lot of talk about TRUST in business, and I felt strongly that big companies were missing the mark by not having their leaders more visible at a personal level, building trust and engagement through their own personal brands that also benefited the corporate brands they represented.  I wanted to reverse engineer the strategies and tactics I’d employed during my time at Microsoft as their Digital Marketing Evangelist to help leaders become more discoverable, sharable, and memorable within their industries.

It was a slow burn.

Back then, few executives prioritized social media for professional engagement. Even now, research shows that while 75% have LinkedIn accounts, nearly 25% haven’t posted anything in 90 days.

Given the reluctance of some leaders to invest in leadership branding efforts at a personal level, this part of Delightful was successful, but at a small scale.

Then along came 2020, which changed everything.

Suddenly business professionals were at home in front of a screen rather than networking at in-person events or speaking at conferences all around the world. But they still had a message to share. They still wanted to engage with customers, partners, employees, potential employees, and journalists. But how? Enter social media stage left.

To assuage reluctant executives uncomfortable with the potential perception of “personal” in personal branding, we coined the moniker “Leadership Branding” and interest in our services suddenly skyrocketed.

Here’s a closer look at the discipline we call Leadership Branding—what it is, why it’s important and how you can fine-tune it to your organization’s advantage.

After all, your brand is out there already whether you own it or not, you might as well take control and start emanating the wisdom and experience you have spent so many years cultivating.

What is Leadership Branding? 

Leadership Branding is the discipline of uncovering and shining a light on your professional purpose, what you do, who you do it for, and the value people and companies get from having you work with and for them. 

It’s the art (your brand, your message, how you want people to feel) and the science (how you come across online and in person, what you share on social media, what shows up for your name on search engines, how people find or recommend you) of the experience you want people to have with regards to your wisdom and experience. 

Putting yourself out there on social media doesn’t mean you have to make yourself an open book. Instead, it’s personal because it’s YOUR experience, it’s YOUR career story, it’s what YOU have to offer the world after however many years in your industry.  

Just be aware, like in marketing and advertising, whatever you share has to be authentic in order to resonate with your target audience. More on that in a moment.  

By building your Leadership Brand, not only can you cement yourself as a thought leader and become more discoverable, shareable and memorable, the brand associated with you—your company— will reap additional related benefits.  

Leadership Branding helps better position aspiring leaders to reach higher in their careers and it gives established leaders a podium from which they can share their own success stories and the lessons learned for the benefit of others.  

How to establish your Leadership Brand 

When we start working with a new client, we ask who the leader is trying to reach, what message they are trying to get across and what value they bring to the conversation. This helps focus and target future messaging. It may require some soul searching at first. After all, you have to reflect on and understand your own story—and career path—in order to form meaningful connections. 

We’ve found many executives are so focused on building their businesses they haven’t taken time to step back and assess their career trajectories. That includes success and challenges, of course, but also where they want to go and what impact they want to make. 

As part of our Leadership Branding services, we ask what we call the Legacy Question, which is: When you’re sitting on a beach in retirement and looking back over your career, what is the impact you want to have made on the world? Did you take all the opportunities that came your way? Were you able to close the “regret gap” because you were purposeful about your career and grew through it with intent? 

For many leaders, this question is often one they’ve not thought about, and by reverse engineering how they want to feel about their life at some point in the future, it sets them on a path to plan better while still being present in the here and now. 

Build out Leadership Brand messaging pillars

From there, we recommend leaders establish three or four messaging pillars, or topics to focus on. We work with many tech leaders, so they might pick digital transformation, customer advocacy, diversity and inclusion, and something more niche like partnerships within the fintech sector. This helps executives and their communication managers curate and eventually create the content they want to share with their target audience and adds focus. 

Assess the competitive landscape

Once you’ve established this baseline, look at what other leaders in your industry are doing. What are they sharing? Where are they sharing it? When? Is it engaging? If you were going to be on a panel speaking at an event, who from other companies might also get asked? Being cognizant of who else is in your industry or professional space will keep you relevant and up to speed with your industry, showing you are in touch.  

Make time to engage on social media

To make the most of your work so far, you have to commit to sharing digital content. I find the best way for busy professionals to do this is to simply schedule a recurring time every week and we recommend tools like Buffer to help with scheduling posts. 

It’s important to commit because—let’s face it—your Leadership Brand is there whether you cultivate it or not. And as well as sharing your ideas and other people’s content, to truly enjoy the benefits of Leadership Branding, you have to engage with other people—and be engaging yourself. 

Create and share your own content

Often, we find the act of sharing content tends to spark creativity among leaders who realize they have their own perspectives on a given topic, so think about what you could create whether a long-form article or video series to get your thoughts across. Plus, research shows only 15% of decision-makers rate the quality of existing thought leadership as excellent. That means there’s still a huge opportunity to create GREAT content. 

These are just a few Leadership Branding tips from our book and that you’ll find posted to our blog and social media channels. 

Hope they provide some valuable insight as a starter for you on your way to helping your wisdom and experience become more discoverable, shareable, and memorable. 

Cheers,

Mel Carson – Founder & CEO

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Monday March 8^th marks International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women–as well as a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The day is celebrated differently around the nation and the world, but we at Delightful are using today to raise awareness and support our favorite women-owned businesses, organizations, as well as non-profits who provide crucial services to women and children.

We spoke to some of our team Delightful colleagues to grab their thoughts on how they support and uplift women in aspects of their personal and professional lives, and explore what the day means to them. Check out their thoughts below and read on for a list of women-owned businesses and organizations our team wanted to highlight.

“Since our inception, Delightful has worked to give back to our community and spend our dollars thoughtfully. We’ve made a financial commitment donate at least 3% of company profits annually to non-profits including several organizations that support women like: WWIN, League of Women Voters, Trans Women of Color Collective, Be Bold and more.

We also work to spend money with women and BIPOC-owned businesses, from our lunch and learns, social hours and client gifts to our professional services. We are actively looking to partner with other small businesses headed by incredibly talented women and people of color.” – Ashley Seffernick, Director of Operations

“Women entrepreneurs can control their own job descriptions, pay, and work environments. WOB tend to create diverse and inclusive workforces and hire people of different backgrounds. They create safe spaces and empower their employees.

International Women’s Day reminds me that I am valued. Raising a daughter, I want her to be appreciated and celebrated. I was raised by two strong women, my grandma – who worked three jobs to support her family when her husband died suddenly at 40, and my mom – who worked for as long as I can remember.  They taught me I am valuable, and my worth is important. This day reminds me of the strength of women and all our achievements.” – Leesa Stevens, People Engagement Manager

“The intersectionality I experience as a woman and Latina, navigating between “too soft,” or, “too vocal,” is now the place I find my greatest strength, unique voice, and joy. This International Women’s Day, and every day here at Delightful, I’m proud to witness the magic that unfolds when women are supported, heard, and empowered to use their voices, too. It’s my International Women’s Day wish that we can achieve gender equality in the nearer future than estimated, so every woman can feel and know that same value.” –  Victoria Solis, Executive Communications Strategist

Here are a few women-owned businesses to consider supporting today, and every day.

Consulting & Training:

• Co-Create Work: Co-Create Work helps founders build companies of the future through leadership coaching, culture consulting and on-demand courses.
• Kawaoka Coaching: Kawaoka Coaching offers multisport coaching for motivated athletes.

Arts & Design:

• Arts Aloft: Arts Aloft helps children ages 4-12 experience the pleasure of artistic self-expression.
• Paper Delights: Paper Delights offers a wide range of wedding and party invitations, unique cards, high-quality stationery, and hand-selected gifts.

Health & Wellness:

• Eat.play.be: Learn how to master mindful eating in order to improve health and maintain optimal digestion.

E-Commerce:

• TheWMarketplace: The W Marketplace is an E-Commerce or shE-Commerce marketplace that offers a wide array of products. Shop now!

Food & Dining:

• Champion Wine: Champion Wine Cellars has offered Seattleites access to world-class wines since 1969.
• Fran’s Chocolates: Create colorful, and chocolatey moments with Fran’s Chocolate!
• Gourmondo: Seattle Catering and Lunch Boxes: Gourmondo’s offers home delivery and catering services for virtual and in person events!

Shopping:

• Peace Organics: Give the gift of nature with Peace Organics.
• Cedarhouse Flowers: Delivers lush, colorful, and inspired arrangements to Seattle with Cedarhouse Flowers.
• Island Books: Island Books is an independently owned bookstore proudly serving Mercer Island for over 45 years.

Here are a few non-profits that Delightful supports that also support women:

• WWIN: Empowering women to achieve economic stability: Empowering women in Washington state to achieve economic stability through higher education and living wage careers
• League of Women Voters: The League of Women Voters of the United States encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
• Trans Women of Color: Trans Women of Color is dedicated to uplifting the narratives, lived experiences and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color.

Check out the women-owned businesses and organizations above! Follow them on social media and see how they elevate the message of International Women’s Day today, and every day.

Cheers, Maggie Gnadt, Iqra Sharif, and Kylee Schmuck.

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